Weekend roundup

Here’s what you missed while you were living your best life:

• 🛫 Boeing agreed to plead guilty to criminal fraud over 737 Max crashes. It’ll also potentially pay up to $487 million in fines to avoid prosecution, a fraction of the $24.8 billion that families of crash victims wanted the aircraft maker to pay.

• 🚗 China’s car sales slid in June, falling for a third month. Vehicle sales fell 6.9% from a year earlier, as government incentives failed to stoke consumer demand.

• 🫗 Carlsberg agreed to buy soft drinks maker Britvic in $4 billion deal. The brewer will pay an increased 1,290 pence per share, after a previous offer was refused last month.

Featured weekend story

Paramount and Skydance agreed to merge

Paramount Global is merging with Skydance Media in a landmark deal that hands control of the Hollywood studio to producer David Ellison. Paramount Chair Shari Redstone agreed to sell National Amusements, which controls about 77% of the voting stock in Paramount, for $2.4 billion. Paramount owns assets including CBS, Nickelodeon, and MTV.

Talks between Redstone and Ellison had collapsed last month, shocking Paramount’s board and investors. But the new deal will see Ellison become chairman and CEO. Former NBCUniversal executive Jeff Shell will be president.

The deal could mean a fresh start for Paramount, which has struggled to compete in streaming. The company is saddled with more than $14 billion in debt and posted a net loss of $544 million in Q1. As part of the deal, the Ellison family and RedBird Capital Partners will invest more than $8 billion into Paramount, including $1.5 billion to help pay down debt and $4.5 billion to buy shares.

What to watch this week

European stocks started the week higher after the far right fell surprisingly short in France’s snap election. That follows record highs on the S&P 500 and Nasdaq following a soft June jobs report, which raised expectations that the Fed will cut in September.

Indices at 12:00 AM (ET)

Here are your upcoming market events:

• 🛒 US and China CPI. Investors will be looking to the US reading on Thursday to support the case for a September rate cut. China’s figures on Wednesday will give an insight into the state of the country’s economic recovery.

• 🏛️ Powell testifies. The Fed chair gives his semi-annual testimony on monetary policy to the Senate Banking Committee on Tuesday and Wednesday.

• 💰️ Q2 earnings. Companies reporting include JPMorgan, Citigroup, and Wells Fargo, all on Friday.

Off-balance sheet items

Here’s what we’re reading this week:

• ❤️ Five women who have actually dated a man in finance confess what it’s like (Business Insider). Men in finance are a hot topic right now, but dating one may not be as fun as it sounds.

• 🇬🇷 Greece introduces ‘growth-oriented’ six-day working week (The Guardian). The pro-business government says the measure is needed due to a shrinking population and a shortage of skilled workers.

• 🎤 The millennial cringe of Taylor Swift (The Atlantic). Dorkiness is the pop star’s core appeal.

Chart of the week

The bottom line

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