TOP NEWS
* Wal-Mart de México SAB de CV said total consolidated sales for September rose 4% year over year to 50.13 billion Mexican pesos. The Mexican unit of U.S. retail chain Walmart Inc. said total sales in Mexico jumped 4.4% year over year to 41.08 billion pesos during the month.
* U.S. supermarket chain The Kroger Co. has decided to discontinue e-cigarette sales in its stores because of regulatory complexity over the product, CNBC reported. Meanwhile, drug retailer Walgreens Boots Alliance Inc. also said it will stop selling e-cigarettes as health officials "continue to examine the issue."
FOOD RETAIL & DISTRIBUTION
* Food services company Aramark appointed John Zillmer as CEO, effective immediately. Zillmer will replace Eric Foss, who announced his retirement in August.
* The U.S. Supreme Court declined to hear Amazon.com Inc.'s bid to avoid a lawsuit that seeks to ensure that warehouse workers get paid for the time spent on post-shift security screenings, Reuters reported. The lawsuit was filed by a group of Amazon warehouse workers in 2010. Amazon did not immediately respond to S&P Global Market Intelligence's request for comment.
* Debt-ridden food chain Dean & DeLuca Brands Inc. has closed its flagship store in Manhattan, N.Y., Bloomberg News reported. It reportedly will reopen soon. Pace Development Corp. PCL, the grocery chain's parent, did not immediately respond to the newspaper's request for comment.
BEVERAGES
* PepsiCo Inc. priced its $1 billion green bond to help fund its sustainability initiatives and appointed Simon Lowden as its first chief sustainability officer, effective immediately. The U.S. food and beverage giant said the bond will help the company build a more sustainable food system by addressing challenges like carbon emissions, access to clean water, and plastic waste.
AGRICULTURAL PRODUCTS
* Commodity trader Louis Dreyfus Co. BV said it expects trade tensions, weather conditions and African swine fever to continue to persist for the rest of the year, adding that it would recover in profitability in 2020. For the six months ended June 30, net income from continuing operations came in at $73 million, down from $91 million last year. Net sales decreased 6.1% year over year to $17.5 billion.
TOBACCO & SMOKING PRODUCTS
* Officials of school districts in Long Island, N.Y.; Johnson County, Kan.; and St. Charles County, Mo., sued Juul Labs Inc., alleging that the e-cigarette maker deliberately targeted teens for marketing its products, Bloomberg News reported. According to the Long Island district's complaint, it has been forced to expend "significant resources combating this public nuisance." Juul spokesperson Josh Raffel had no comment on the lawsuits, the news outlet said.
PACKAGED FOODS
* New Zealand-based dairy group Fonterra Co-operative Group Ltd. said it appointed Fraser Whineray as COO, effective early 2020.
RESTAURANTS
* U.K.'s PizzaExpress Ltd. is in early discussions to refinance two tranches of debt worth £665 million combined, part of a debt pile that had reached £1.1 billion by the end of December 2018, The Guardian reported, citing sources familiar with the matter. A Pizza Express spokesperson reportedly declined to comment on the matter.
* U.S. burger chain Red Robin Gourmet Burgers Inc. said it named David Pace as board chairman, effective Nov. 1. Pace, who most recently served as CEO of Jamba Inc., will replace Pattye Moore.
* Baking company Aryzta AG said it will continue to focus on its core frozen bakery business, as well as dispose its nonstrategic assets. The company said its earnings stabilized in fiscal 2019 as the company's underlying EBITDA increased 1.9% to €307.51 million, compared to €301.82 million a year ago. Underlying diluted EPS slid 24.4% year over year to 9 euro cents from 11.9 euro cents.
INDUSTRY NEWS
* The U.S. and Japan signed two trade accords, including an agreement pursuant to which Japan will eliminate or reduce tariffs on about $7.2 billion in U.S. agricultural exports, including beef, pork and poultry, among other goods.
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The day ahead
Early morning futures indicators pointed to a lower opening for the U.S. market.
In Asia, the Hang Seng rose 0.28% to 25,893.40, and the Nikkei 225 lifted 0.99% to 21,587.78.
In Europe, around midday, the FTSE 100 fell 0.31% to 7,175.52, and the Euronext 100 was down 0.96% to 1,062.34.
The Producer Price Index - Final Demand and the Redbook Index for retail sales 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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