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US-EU tariff truce may end soon; Waymo to launch robotaxi service in December

TOP NEWS

* European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker said a July agreement with the U.S. on putting-off import duties would last only until 2018-end, particularly on autos and auto parts, Bloomberg News reported. U.S. President Donald Trump is set to meet Nov. 13 with senior members of his trade team on how to move forward on a proposed 25% auto tariffs on national security grounds once the U.S. Commerce Department has completed its investigation. The White House is circulating a draft report on the investigation, Bloomberg News reported.

* Alphabet Inc.-owned self-driving company Waymo LLC plans to launch a driverless ride-hailing service under a new name in early December to compete with Lyft Inc. and Uber Technologies Inc., Bloomberg reported. Waymo's service will initially be available to its Early Rider Program volunteers in Phoenix, Ariz., before it expands to other locations. The Google affiliate was pegged to be worth $80 billion by Morgan Stanley analysts in August.

CARMAKERS

* Volkswagen AG is negotiating a $1 billion investment in Ford Motor Co.'s self-driving tech Argo AI as part of reported partnership talks between the firms, Detroit News reported. While VW declined to comment, a Ford spokeswoman reiterated that the companies are having "conversations about potential collaborations across a number of areas" and that it is "premature to share additional details at this time."

* Bayerische Motoren Werke AG is considering selling its credit card division and has held discussions with banks on the matter, Bloomberg reported, citing sources. According to filings with the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp., BMW's banking unit BMW Bank of North America had about $289 million in credit card loans and about $1.1 billion in unused commitments as of Sept. 30.

* Chinese SUV-maker Great Wall Motor Co. Ltd., or GWM, will roll out a lineup of passenger vehicles in India by 2021, The Economic Times reported, citing people familiar with the matter. The report added that GWM recruited Maruti Suzuki India Ltd. executive Kaushik Ganguly to lead its India operations.

ELECTRIC AND AUTONOMOUS VEHICLES

* Tesla Inc. senior securities lawyer Phil Rothenberg left the company to join a hospitality startup on Nov. 5, Bloomberg News reported, citing a message from Rothenberg. The exit comes at a time when the SEC mandated the electric-car maker to retain an experienced securities lawyer.

* Tesla will further expand its Northern California presence by setting up a 500,000-square-foot site in Lathrop, Electrek reported, citing a regulatory filing. The electric-car maker also secured long-term leases for three other buildings that add up to over 1 million square feet of space in the city along with another 870,000-square-foot building under construction near Lathrop. The new sites may be used as a warehouse "loading hub" for its Model 3.

* Tesla ended its free Supercharger credit program for Model S and Model X vehicles for vehicles sold after Nov. 2, Electrek reported. The firm began transitioning to a paid model in 2016 after CEO Elon Musk said free Supercharging is no longer sustainable.

* Volkswagen CEO Herbert Diess told Automotive News that the company could build up to 50 million electric cars on its new electric vehicle platform, MEB, and is looking at expanding its manufacturing footprint in the U.S. The group said its VW brand aims to sell 1 million electric vehicles by 2025, with nearly 150,000 EVs in 2020. Premium-car unit Audi forecasts selling 12 purely electric models and about a third of its turnover to be from EVs by 2025, while Czech brand Škoda Auto's all-electric SUV and Spanish unit Seat's first EV are expected in 2020.

POLICY, REGULATIONS AND SAFETY

* Increasing electrification demand brought by electric vehicles and other technological changes will not have a significant impact on carbon emissions without stronger efforts to increase the share of renewable energy and low-carbon sources of power, according to the 2018 World Energy Outlook. The International Energy Agency report, however, said that electrification will cause oil demand to peak by 2030 and reduce harmful pollutants.

* Germany's Schleswig-Holstein Administrative Court denied Opel's appeal against a 96,000-car recall over an alleged manipulation of emissions data, Handelsblatt reported. German transport authority Kraftfahrt-Bundesamt ordered on Oct. 17 the Peugeot SA unit to launch a recall campaign that will remove inadmissible defeat devices and refit software for its models Zafira, Insignia and Cascada. The carmaker appealed to hold the recall Nov. 2.

* Audi AG will start the first of eight recalls for German vehicles with emissions software glitches involving about 151,000 cars. The Volkswagen AG-owned luxury-car manufacturer said it will remove a software module from the engine management system in the recalled vehicles.

AUTO PARTS AND EQUIPMENT

* The Toronto Stock Exchange accepted Magna International Inc.'s notice of intent to repurchase and cancel up to 33,200,000 common shares, about 10% of its public float. The buyback worth $1.62 billion will commence Nov. 15 and will terminate no later than Nov. 14, 2019.

The day ahead

Early morning futures indicators pointed to a higher opening for the U.S. market.

In Asia, Hang Seng rose 0.62% to 25,792.87, while the Nikkei 225 fell 2.06% to 21,810.52.

In Europe, around midday, the FTSE 100 rose 0.23% to 7,069.93, and the Euronext 100 gained 0.36% to 989.78.

On the macro front

The Redbook index for retail sales and the Treasury budget are due out today.

Click here to read about today's financial markets, setting out the factors driving stocks, bonds and currencies around the world ahead of the New York open.

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