Themes for the Week

Holiday Deals A-Plenty

A number of themes to look at this week, which will kick off the global holiday season with Thanksgiving in the US, Black Friday and Cyber Monday.

Walmart is leaving no stone unturned in its battle with Amazon, rolling out holiday deals as early as today in what it is calling “Cyber Week”. You can get Gold’s Gym AbFirm Pro for $49 plus shipping if you buy today – or you can just whip out that gym mat you’ve been keeping in your garage for 7 years and start doing some sit ups at no extra cost.

Focus Turns to European Politics

Angela Merkel has just announced she will be running for a 4th consecutive term in Germany, as the political limelight turns to Europe. Next door, former French Prime Minister Francois Fillon has become a serious contender for the French presidency. Although he still has to face a second round runoff with Alain Juppe, the 62-year old is likely to face Marine Le Pen next year.

Further south, the Italian referendum on constitutional reform has entered the final 2 weeks. The final polls published last week do not bode well for Matteo Renzi, who will most likely step down if the “No” vote wins.

OPEC, Volkswagen and M&A

OPEC countries are prepared to offer ‘some flexibility’ to Iran in a bid to finalize the first deal in 8 years to limit the supply of oil. Iran has been stubbornly refusing a deal because it wants to regain oil market share after being shut out of the Western market for a number of months. Sanctions have been lifted in January.

Volkswagen’s cost-cutting efforts in the wake of the ‘diesel-gate’ scandal will see it cut 30,000 jobs by 2020, with two-thirds of that coming from Germany alone. CEO Matthias Mueller said it was “the biggest reform package in the history of our core brand.”

Symantec has made the merger and acquisition headlines with its $2.3 billion purchase of LifeLock Inc, giving it access to its ID Security software. The maker of the (in)famous Norton anti-virus software has been pushing into cybersecurity in recent years, and this purchase is a further step in this direction.