Valeant Pharmaceuticals has reviewed the company's accounting for its Philidor arrangement and has confirmed the appropriateness of the company's related revenue recognition and accounting treatment. "In light of the recent allegations, however, the Board of Directors has decided to establish an ad hoc committee to review allegations related to the company's business relationship with Philidor and related matters," Valeant (NYSE:VRX) said in a press release. Last Wednesday, Citron Research accused the company of using a network of pharmacies to create phantom sales of its products, sending the stock plunging. VRX -11.3% premarket. Conference call at 8:00 a.m. ET.

Economy

IMF representatives are set to give the all-clear for China's yuan to be included in its Special Drawing Rights basket, laying the groundwork for a favorable decision by policymakers, Bloomberg reports. As part of the process scheduled for every five years, staff members will present their recommendation to the fund's executive board for a vote in November. China took another step toward liberalizing its financial system on Friday, after the PBOC removed the cap on deposit rates (and cut interest rates for the sixth time since last November).

Meanwhile, the Central Committee of China's Communist Party kicks off its fifth plenary session today, a key four-day meeting where the nation's economic and social policies for the next five years will be finalized. Plenum topics will include accelerating state-sector restructurings, redoubling efforts to reduce pollution and initiating reforms to face off slowing growth. Investors will be particularly focused on the government's new annual growth target, which is expected to be set at 6.5% for the 13th FYP period.

Argentina's voters have set the stage for a presidential run-off next month after a surprise first round on Sunday in which Daniel Scioli of the ruling Peronist coalition was denied an outright victory. Preliminary results showed both he and Buenos Aires mayor, Mauricio Macri, were neck and neck with 35% of the vote. Any winner will have to deal with the difficult economic legacy of Cristina Fernandez, who with Nestor Kirchner, her late husband and predecessor, ruled Argentina for the past 12 years. That legacy includes slowing GDP and one of the highest inflation rates in the world.

German business morale dipped slightly in October, suggesting Europe's largest economy remains resilient in the face of a slowdown in China and the emissions scandal at Volkswagen (OTCQX:VLKAY). Ifo's business climate index came in at 108.2, down from 108.5 in September but well ahead of economists' forecasts of a reading of 107.8. "The Volkswagen scandal has had no impact on the German automotive industry," as the mood in the sector picked up further in October, said Ifo President Hans-Werner Sinn.

U.S. lawmakers will begin voting today on legislation to resurrect the Export-Import Bank through a so-called "discharge petition," a procedural maneuver that has been successful only a few times in the past century. House passage could move Congress toward reopening the federal credit agency, but the effort to renew the bank's charter still faces obstacles in the Senate, where Majority Leader Mitch McConnell is among those who oppose it.

Stocks

Toyota has regained its crown as the world's biggest car company by sales after releasing figures for the first nine months of the year. The Japanese carmaker sold 7.49M in the first three quarters of 2015, beating Volkswagen's (OTCQX:VLKAY) 7.43M and General Motors' (NYSE:GM) 7.2M. In the first six months Toyota (NYSE:TM) sold 5.02M vehicles compared to VW's 5.04M. The reversal could prove the tip of the iceberg for Volkswagen, which is engulfed in the worst scandal in its 78-year history.

However, Volkswagen may soon offer VW owners in Germany discounts on new cars if they turn in certain old models affected by its emissions scandal, German news agency DPA reports. According to Manager Magazin, Volkswagen (OTCQX:VLKAY) has also decided to freeze managerial promotions next year as part of a savings drive to help meet more than €30B of costs arising from the crisis.

The United Auto Workers union and General Motors have reached a tentative agreement for a new four-year labor contract, averting a strike that could have cost the automaker as much as $1.2B in lost revenue a week. The proposed deal will now go to a council of several hundred UAW leaders from GM's (GM) U.S. plants meeting on Wednesday, who are expected to approve of it, and will then head to a ratification vote by UAW's 52,700 workers.

Exxon Mobil responded last week to mounting calls for a federal investigation into accusations that the company knew for decades about the risks of burning fossil fuels and the effects on climate change, but withheld the information and sought to sow doubt among the public. The allegations are "inaccurate and deliberately misleading," the firm declared. "Activists deliberately cherry-picked statements attributed to various company employees." The scandal has implications beyond Exxon Mobil (NYSE:XOM), as other oil companies that conducted their own research could also face public scrutiny.

The global meat industry is up in arms about the prospect of its products being declared carcinogenic by the cancer research arm of the World Health Organization. The agency is due to issue a report on Monday that is expected to rule that processed meat such as bacon and sausages is a carcinogen, while red meat is probably carcinogenic. "Red and processed meat are among 940 substances reviewed by IARC found to pose some level of theoretical 'hazard'," said Barry Carpenter, President of the North American Meat Institute. "Only one substance, a chemical in yoga pants, has been declared by IARC not to cause cancer." Related tickers: CAG, COST, HRL, OTCQX:JBSAY, KHC, SYY, TSN

Keurig Green Mountain is planning to import coffee beans into the U.S. through duty-free sites - an unprecedented move in the coffee industry - as the company seeks to cut costs amid plunging sales of its pods and brewers. The plan is the next overhaul to the corporation's buying strategy and follows the recent relocation of its coffee sourcing operations to Switzerland from Vermont to take advantage of an obscure tax exemption. GMCR shares have tumbled 60% so far this year.

After a thirty-year run with MasterCard, USAA is switching its portfolio to Visa (NYSE:V), the latest in a scramble of large portfolios sought-for by Visa, MasterCard (NYSE:MA), and American Express (NYSE:AXP) (which recently lost Costco (NASDAQ:COST)). "While we pursued the business, we reached a point where the economics did not make sense for our company and shareholders," said a disappointed MasterCard. USAA was the company's largest debit-card issuer with $26B in purchases last year.

Standard Chartered intends to exit its equity derivatives and convertible bonds businesses, as part of a plan to cut costs and focus on using capital more efficiently. The decision is StanChart's (OTCPK:SCBFF) latest move to reshape its operations under new CEO Bill Winters, and follows plans to ax thousands of jobs worldwide by dismantling its stock brokerage and equity research divisions.

Philips has warned that the planned $2.8B sale of its Lumileds business hit a regulatory hurdle in the U.S., as it returned to a net profit in the third quarter. Earlier this year, the industrial group agreed to a sale of an 80.1% Lumileds stake to a consortium led by Chinese GO Scale. Philips' (NYSE:PHG) net profit for the period came in at €324M, compared with a net loss of €103M in the same period a year earlier.

Walgreens has "no concrete plans at this stage" to open any new Theranos blood-testing centers until the startup resolves questions about its technology. "We're trying to figure out where we are and what we do going forward," a Walgreens Boots Alliance (NASDAQ:WBA) source told WSJ. "We need to understand the truth." The drugstore chain made the decision after meeting last week with top brass at Theranos, including CEO Elizabeth Holmes.

The growing caution shown by some private tech investors towards richly-valued late-stage firms apparently isn't affecting Uber (Pending:UBER) much: The ride-hailing leader is looking to raise nearly $1B at a $60B-$70B valuation - up from the $51B valuation obtained this past July, and far above the $17B valuation in June 2014. The NYT report comes shortly after CEO Travis Kalanick suggested an Uber IPO could still be years away, given the funds and multiples the firm is currently able to get as a private company.

EU regulators will actively pursue Google parent Alphabet (GOOG, GOOGL) on multiple fronts ranging from its contracts with advertisers to its Android mobile-operating system, the bloc's antitrust chief Margrethe Vestager declared. In April, Vestager became the first global antitrust regulator globally to file formal charges against the U.S. search giant. She has shaken the corporate world several times in her first year, most recently whacking Starbucks (NASDAQ:SBUX) and Fiat (NYSE:FCAU) over their tax structures in Europe and demanding millions of euros in repayments.

Toshiba is nearing a deal to sell its image sensor business to Sony (NYSE:SNE) for around ¥20B ($165M) as part of a restructuring plan laid out earlier this year, sources told Bloomberg and Reuters. A deal would continue a string of asset sales at Toshiba (OTCPK:TOSYY) (in the wake of its recent accounting scandal), including a stake in medical equipment maker Topcon (OTCPK:TOPCF) for ¥49B ($404M) and 30% stake in Finnish elevator maker Kone Oyj (OTCPK:KNYJY) for €864.7M ($945.6M).

The coming of a new era? Yahoo (NASDAQ:YHOO) put out a live-stream of yesterday's Jaguars-Bills matchup for free, marking the first NFL game to be available primarily over the Internet. The move was symbolically significant for the league, which wants to start experimenting with digital distribution, and likewise for Yahoo, which has become very interested in Web video under CEO Marissa Mayer. According to people familiar with the agreement, Yahoo paid $20M for the rights to the game.

Today's Markets

In Asia, Japan +0.7% to 18947. Hong Kong -0.2% to 23116. China +0.5% to 3430. India -0.4% to 27362.
In Europe, at midday, London -0.3%. Paris -0.6%. Frankfurt +0.2%.
Futures at 6:20, Dow -0.1%. S&P -0.2%. Nasdaq -0.2%. Crude +0.4% to $44.78. Gold +0.4% to $1167.90.
Ten-year Treasury Yield flat at 2.08%

Today's Economic Calendar

10:00 New Home Sales
10:30 Dallas Fed Manufacturing Survey