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VW Chairman, CEO charged with market manipulation; Nissan, Ghosn settle with SEC

TOP NEWS

* German prosecutors charged Volkswagen AG's Supervisory Board Chairman Hans Dieter Pötsch, CEO Herbert Diess and ex-CEO Martin Winterkorn with market manipulation. The Braunschweig public prosecutor said the officials "intentionally" delayed telling investors the risks surrounding its "dieselgate" scandal.

* Japanese carmaker Nissan Motor Co. Ltd., its ex-chairman Carlos Ghosn and former director Greg Kelly will pay more than $16 million in fines to settle charges in the U.S. related to false financial disclosures, the SEC said. Nissan agreed to pay a $15 million civil penalty, while Ghosn will pay a $1 million penalty and agreed to a 10-year ban from being an officer or director. The SEC accused the automaker of omitting from disclosures more than $140 million to be paid to Ghosn in retirement, though the regulator added that Ghosn never received the money.

CARMAKERS

* The EU's General Court rejected Fiat Chrysler Automobiles NV's appeal against a European Commission decision that forces the carmaker to pay up to €30 million in back taxes to Luxembourg, from which it was illegally exempted from 2012.

* The second week of the United Auto Workers strike against General Motors Co. brought more temporary layoffs as plants idle in the U.S. and Canada. About 525 hourly employees at GM's DMAX engine plant in Moraine, Ohio, and 700 at the St. Catharines powertrain plant in Ontario were furloughed, a GM spokesperson told S&P Global Market Intelligence in an email. This is in addition to approximately 4,500 members of Canadian trade union Unifor who were temporarily laid off last week.

* A Tennessee court granted General Motors a temporary restraining order that keeps the 3,300 striking United Auto Workers members from blocking the entrance to its Spring Hill Assembly plant, CNBC reported. The order was also filed after reports of damaged property and other "unlawful conduct," CNBC added.

* Hyundai Motor Group, which owns Hyundai Motor Co. and Kia Motors Corp., said its venture capital arm, Cradle, opened an office in Beijing. China is the fifth country with Cradle's presence after South Korea, the U.S., Germany and Israel.

* Fitch Ratings affirmed Honda Motor Co. Ltd.'s long-term foreign and local-currency issuer default ratings and its senior unsecured rating at A with a stable outlook, citing the company's strong market positions in key markets such as Japan, North America and Asia.

* Honda signed two virtual power purchase agreements that will supply the automaker with more than half the electricity it consumes in North America. Honda will not receive the electricity directly, but it will receive and retire an equivalent amount of renewable energy certificates, resulting in net zero carbon emissions-equivalent from its vehicle manufacturing facilities in Alabama, Indiana and Ohio.

ELECTRIC AND AUTONOMOUS VEHICLES

* Honda plans to discontinue all diesel cars in Europe by 2021 in a bid to focus on electric vehicle production, Reuters reported. The Japanese automaker aims to electrify all of its European cars by 2025 and launch commercial energy services in the U.K. and Germany in 2020.

* Volkswagen invested €1 billion to open a plant for battery production and development in Salzgitter, Germany. The site, which is now piloting production systems, will hire more than 1,000 people through 2024. Volkswagen said about €900 million of the investment will go to its battery-making venture with Sweden's Northvolt AB, which will begin production at the site in 2020.

* Chinese electric-car maker NIO Inc. posted an adjusted net loss of 3.2 billion yuan in the fiscal second quarter, compared with a loss of 2.50 billion yuan a year ago and missing the S&P Global Market Intelligence consensus adjusted net loss estimate of 2.6 billion yuan. The Tesla Inc. rival said it will cut its staff down to 7,800 in the next quarter, slashing nearly 20% of its workforce, after a recall of 4,803 ES8 dented its profits.

* South Korea's LG Chem Ltd. started producing batteries for Tesla's Gigafactory in Shanghai, Electrek reported, citing South Korean technology news wire The Elec.

* China's FAW-Volkswagen, a joint venture between the state-owned Faw Car Co. Ltd. and Volkswagen, will produce new electric-vehicle models in its Foshan plant from 2020, Gasgoo reported, citing local authorities. The vehicles will be based on VW's MEB electric-vehicle platform, the report added.

* China's Chery Automobile said it developed a self-driving parking solution that costs less than 10,000 yuan, Gasgoo reported, citing Chery's smart vehicle business head Wu Xuebin.

MOBILITY SERVICES

* Transport for London granted Uber Technologies Inc. a two-month operating license with "new conditions to ensure passenger safety" and demanded that the ride-hailing app provide more details on its practices, Reuters reported. Uber, which lost its long-term license in 2017 on poor conduct, said it will continue to work closely with the city's regulator.

POLICY, REGULATIONS AND SAFETY

* The U.K. Labour party said it will provide £60 billion in interest-free loans for electric vehicles through 2024 as part of plans for the "green industrial revolution," and invest £5.8 billion to speed up the adoption of EVs, the Financial Times (London) reported. Of the investment, £3 billion will be allocated for carmakers to invest in future technology related to cutting carbon emissions, £2.3 billion to build three gigafactories for battery plants, and £500 million in metal reprocessing plants.

* The prospect of a trade pact this week between the U.S. and Japan was thrown into doubt following U.S. President Donald Trump's threat to impose tariffs on Japanese vehicles, according to media reports.

* Ford Motor Co.'s European arm issued a recall for about 322,000 vehicles, including Mondeo, S-Max and Galaxy models, on fire risks caused by acid leaks, Automotive News reported, citing a spokesman.

* General Motors issued a safety recall for 93,693 Chevrolet Trax models to fix an improperly welded joint at the front lower-control arms of the vehicles, according to a notice from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.

* Hyundai and Kia are recalling a total of 41,505 new Hyundai Tucson 2.0 and Kia Sportage 2.0 vehicles to fix defective exhaust components, Yonhap News Agency reported, citing South Korea's Ministry of Environment.

AUTO PARTS AND EQUIPMENT

* Faurecia SE saw net income for the first half of 2019 inch up 1% year over year to €346 million, beating the S&P Global Market Intelligence analysts consensus net income estimate of €322.33 million. The French auto parts and systems maker confirmed its full year outlook of an operating margin of at least 7% and net cash flows of at least €500 million.

AUTOMOTIVE RETAIL

* China saw vehicles imports plunge 49% year over year to 90,000 automobiles in July, Gasgoo reported, citing data compiled by state-owned Sinomach Automobile. Though figures from the prior-year period were high, harsher emissions standards and tariffs from the U.S. also pushed down sales, Sinomach Automobile said.

COMMERCIAL VEHICLES

* Volkswagen's Scania commercial vehicle brand said it will halve its CO2 emissions by 2025 and transition to fossil-free electricity by 2020.

MOTORCYCLES

* The EU General Court dismissed Italian motorcycle-maker Piaggio & C. SpA's copyright infringement claims against China's Zhejiang Zhongneng. The court said Piaggio, which alleged that Zhejiang Zhongneng infringed on its Vespa LX scooter's three-dimensional mark and line art, did not register the mark and that Zhejiang's scooters use rounded lines instead of the Vespa's angular ones.

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The day ahead

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

In Asia, the Hang Seng rose 0.22% to 26,281.00, and the Nikkei 225 lifted 0.09% to 22,098.84.

In Europe, around midday, the FTSE 100 fell 0.12% to 7,317.41, and the Euronext 100 was up 0.24% to 1,091.47.

On the macro front

The Redbook Index for retail sales, the S&P Corelogic Case-Shiller home price index, the Federal Housing Finance Agency house price index, the consumer confidence report and the Richmond Fed manufacturing index 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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