1. Let's make a deal: European traders are getting excited about a potential takeover deal between the French pharma giant Sanofi (SNY) and the Swiss biotechnology firm, Actelion (ALIOY).
The deal could be worth roughly $30 billion and could be announced as early as next week, according to Bloomberg.
Shares in Actelion surged by about 9% in Europe. Sanofi shares slumped a bit.
Actelion and Sanofi declined to comment on the matter.
American pharmaceutical firm Johnson & Johnson (JNJ) recently ditched plans to buy Actelion. The Swiss firm immediately said it was in talks with another bidder, but refused to name names.
2. Update from Wells Fargo: Wells Fargo is scheduled to give an update at 9 a.m. ET on how customers reacted in November to the bank's fake account scandal. The bank already reported that new account openings plummeted 44% in October compared to last year.
3. Global market overview: It looks like it could be a relatively mellow Friday in the markets.
U.S. stock futures are holding steady.
European markets are slipping a bit in early trading, though the moves are small.
Asian markets are closing the week with mixed results.
All three main U.S. indexes hit record highs earlier this week. The Dow Jones industrial average is very close to the 20,000 point level.
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4. Economics: The U.S. Census Bureau is scheduled to report new real estate data on Friday that will give insight into the state of the American housing market.
Details on housing starts and building permits from November will be released at 8:30 a.m. ET.
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5. Coming this week:
Friday - "Star Wars Rogue One" nationwide release in the U.S.
