AstraZeneca has agreed to sell its small-molecule antibiotics operations to Pfizer (NYSE:PFE) in a transaction that could eventually be worth $1.575B. The deal will allow AstraZeneca (AZN -0.15% premarket) to focus on three main therapy areas and realize value "from the strong portfolio of established and late-stage small molecule antibiotics." Pfizer will pay $550M upfront plus $175M in January 2019, and as much as $850M in milestones and sales-related payments.

Economy

An earthquake measuring 6.2 on the Richter scale and strong aftershocks have struck central Italy, bringing down buildings and killing over 35 people. The natural disaster has wrought major damage to several towns and villages, but while residents in Rome felt shaking, major population areas seem to have been spared from serious harm. Despite the quake, Milan shares were +1% at the time of writing.

Stocks

European shares and U.S. stock futures were higher at the time of writing following a mixed day in Asia as investors stayed cautious amidst the deep summer vacation slumber and ahead of a speech by Fed Chair Janet Yellen on Friday at the annual central-bankers parley in Jackson Hole, where she may or may not signal when the Fed may or may not raise rates. Japan's Nikkei closed +0.6%, apparently boosted by a fall in the yen versus the dollar.

Lloyds Bank CEO Antonio Horta-Osorio plans to stay in his job despite a tabloid newspaper reporting earlier this month that the married executive ran up a £3,826 ($4,962) hotel bill while spending time with another woman. The article in The Sun alleged that Horta-Osorio improperly claimed the spending as a business expense, although he told staff in a memo that Lloyds (NYSE:LYG) had cleared him of wrongdoing.

Better-than-expected demand for Samsung's (OTC:SSNLF) new Galaxy Note7 has caused the South Korean company to delay the launch of the premium smartphone in some markets. The demand for the large-screen "phablet" follows good reviews since it was launched last Friday in the U.S., South Korea and other countries. The strong orders encapsulate Samsung's recovery in the smartphone market following two years of woe. Still, shares fell 2% in Seoul.

Glencore's H1 adjusted net profit slumped two-thirds to $300M and missed consensus of $318M. Revenue dropped 6% to $69.4B, hurt by broadly lower commodity prices as well as falling copper, zinc, coal and oil output. Still, Glencore (OTCPK:GLCNF) cut its debt to $23.6B from $25.9B in December by divesting assets, and today said that it's agreed to sell future output from an Australian gold and copper mine for $670M to Evolution Mining (OTCPK:CAHPF). Shares were -5.7% in London at the time of writing.

The U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee plans to hold a hearing in late September to discuss the merger of Dow Chemical (NYSE:DOW) and DuPont (NYSE:DD), and ChemChina's purchase of Syngenta (NYSE:SYT). Committee Chair Senator Grassley of Iowa has expressed concern that the deals would result in farmers paying more for seeds, pesticides and herbicides, and reduce the companies' incentives to innovate. However, the committee has no formal say over whether the deals can go forward; the Justice Department is reviewing the Dow-DuPont merger, while the FTC is looking at ChemChina's purchase of Syngenta.

Four major banks have teamed up with broker ICAP (OTCPK:IAPLF) to create a digital currency called the "utility settlement coin." UBS (NYSE:UBS), Deutsche Bank (NYSE:DB), Santander (NYSE:SAN) and BNY Mellon (NYSE:BK), as well as ICAP, hope that the currency will become an industry standard used to clear and settle financial trades. The project is competing with similar initiatives from the likes of Citibank (NYSE:C), Goldman Sachs (NYSE:GS) and JPMorgan (NYSE:JPM).

Tesla's new versions of the Model S and Model X will come with improved acceleration and battery packs, with the extra power cutting the 0-60 mph time on a Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) Model S to 2.5 seconds and to 2.6 seconds for the Model X. The new battery improves the driving range on both models to over 300 miles.

Elon Musk is buying $65M of bonds from SolarCity (NASDAQ:SCTY) in the latest debt issue by the money losing solar-panel company that Musk's Tesla (TSLA) plans to buy for $2.6B. SolarCity CEO Lyndon Rive and CTO Peter Rive, who are brothers and Musk's cousins, are each buying $17.5M of the $124M offer.

WPP's revenue rose 13% to £3.46B in Q2, driven by western continental Europe and emerging markets. Comparable net sales at the world's largest marketing company rose 4.3% and topped analyst expectations. WPP (OTCPK:WPPGF) expects full-year revenue growth of "well over" 3% versus a prior outlook of "over" 3%. Shares had jumped 6% in London at the time of writing.

Empire State Realty Trust has sold a 9.9% stake to the Qatar Investment Authority for $622M. The REIT, which owns New York's Empire State Building, has issued new Class A common shares for $21 - just above yesterday's closing price of $20.52 - to the Qatari sovereign wealth fund. Empire's (NYSE:ESRT) president, John Kessler, said the investment will help it "plan for the future, now with more capital and one of the most sophisticated and reliable real-estate investors in the world as our partner."

A World Bank arbitration tribunal has ordered Venezuela to pay Canada's Rusoro Mining (OTCPK:RMLFF) over $1.2B after ruling that the government unlawfully expropriated the company's gold mines in 2011. It is far from clear whether Venezuela will comply with the order; while Gold Reserve (OTCQB:GDRZF) said this month that it had reached a settlement in a similar case, Venezuela has said it will fight an order that it pay $1.4B to Crystallex International over similar claims.

Today's Markets

In Asia, Japan +0.6% to 16597. Hong Kong -0.8% to 22821. China -0.5% to 9791. India +0.25% to 28060.
In Europe at midday, London -0.2%. Paris +0.5%. Frankfurt +0.4%.
Futures at 6:20, Dow +0.1%. S&P +0.1%. Nasdaq +0.1%. Crude -1.6% to $47.32. Gold -0.3% to $1341.75.
Ten-year Treasury Yield flat at 1.55%.

Today's Economic Calendar
7:00 MBA Mortgage Applications
9:00 FHFA House Price Index
10:00 Existing Home Sales
10:30 EIA Petroleum Inventories
11:30 Results of $13B, 2-Year FRN Auction
1:00 PM Results of $34B, 5-Year Note Auction