. this is "bloomberg markets." vonnie: we are live in new york and in london for the next hour, we are covering stories out of geneva and washington dc. comey is setjames to give testimony on capitol hill. food one of the biggest and beverage companies in europe taking a bite out of the u.s. planning to buy white way for $10 million. reboundingcks are from the lows of the week. can the markets and the week on a high note? 19 minutes to the close of trading in europe. this is the thursday session. first day of gains.

group rising on the stoxx 600. helped in no small part by yesterday's fed meeting. still, the stoxx 600 is a low the close of june the 20th. this is the big piece of macro data. business confidence sinking to a four and a half year low in the days after britain voting to leave the eu. sliding to six in the wake of the record random -- referendum. the lowest level since december of 2001. the height of the european sovereign debt crisis. this gauge fell to -33 at the

height of the financial crisis. the first negative reading since july 2012. let's focus on u.k. property. have u.k. property funds frozen withdrawals this week after four more joined the list. to dump realking estate holdings in the aftermath of the brexit vote. these are how asset managers and companies have fared. declines of 8% to 23%. be beingortugal might hit by eu sanctions. an unprecedented step to break budget deficit guidelines. this would be to enforce the rules to prevent another debt crisis. according to the european , he said both spain and portugal have feared off

track in respect to their debt. i can tell you that spain is not having an impact on stocks, up one point 3% and portugal up 1.8%. 1.3% and portugal up 1.8%. fbi director james comey set to give testimony. he will likely be grilled by on the investigation and hillary clinton. we will bring that to you live. the u.s.minutes into trading session, d markets desk. -- trading session, let's hit the bloomberg markets desk. julie: a relatively modest gain. be a commodities

led rally. we have materials as the best-performing group, up three quarters of 1%. as well, we see a bounce in the bond yields and a rotation out of defensive stocks. pepsi reporting to beat earnings. i look think the north american -- ness is where pepsi businessny's frito-lay is strengthened. we have been watching them gain ever since the earnings report. watching at&t this morning. that stock, we are seeing a rotation out of telecom. at&t is elevated relative to historical levels according to

an analyst at citigroup. the shares are down by 8/10 of 1%. preliminary numbers for the fourth quarter that are higher than the previous forecast. the western digital shares have been rising. it is pulling up seagate right along with it. also this morning, we are watching costco. they are coming up with comfortable sales, unchanged in june. they were up by 2%. thank you. we are looking at a live shot of capitol hill where fbi director james comey is set to give testimony. most likelyrilled on how he and the fbi concluded that no charges should be brought in the investigation of hillary clinton and those e-mail servers. we will bring you testimony live . we will hear from the state

department inspector general and charles mccullough. and of course the chairman of the oversight committee, elijah cummings. mark: let's turn to the big news of the day. the french yogurt maker agreed to build -- bill -- purchase white way. is this the chief executive laying down his marker? their biggest acquisition in 10 years so i think you could say so. he came in about a year ago. he is really transforming the portfolio by adding sorts of products like soy milk, protein shakes and kale. mark: is he overpaying?

thomas: that is a good question. people are saying it is quite a high price. then again, it is the fastest-growing food company in the u.s.. if you look at the shares right now, they are trading a tiny bit above the bid which would indicate that some investors are speculating that maybe somebody else may come in. it's rare to find a company in the food sector that's having such strong growth. they had something like 19% average growth over the past four or five years. danone need this acquisition? thomas: they have claimed that they didn't need to make a big

acquisition, but then of course they go ahead and do one. existing business is yogurt and dairy. that is a market in europe that has been extremely sluggish. there has been a lot competition and inflation. that.re trying to restart as they do so, they have this opportunity to add a high-growth business to their company and they went ahead and took it. wave -- whitewave, where is it likely to grow for danone? thomas: may make all sorts of things. they own silk, which is the best-selling brand of soy milk. suchhave a lot of products

as soy milk, coconut milk, almond milk. , withcompany like danone rich customers who want to switch an alternative, that is a bit trendier. mont elise has moved towards hershey. is the sector of buzz right now? thomas: it is interesting that the focus is on the u.s.. it wasn't that way a couple of years ago when the food companies were trying to make acquisitions in emerging markets. 's ceo said of the

advantages is the u.s. market is less volatile. suddenly the stable market becomes interesting where you can find growth. there.homas mulier vonnie: back to capitol hill where james comey is said to give testimony. he will big role by lawmakers on how he and the fbi concluded chart -- no charges should be brought in regard to hillary clinton's e-mail years. we will bring that to you live. elijah cummings, the ranking member of the house oversight committee is speaking. we just heard from the chairman, jason chaffetz. told the director you set a dangerous precedent on clinton. and now elijah cummings is speaking. we will bring you the testimony

as it begins. let's check in on first alert news. --lor riggs has from been taylor riggs is from the newsroom. taylor: home secretary theresa may and -- are in the running. lawmakers are voting today. the two top vote getters will go before the parties wider membership. the new leader will be declared by september 9. angela merkel says there can be no sustainable security in europe without russia. at the same time, she says germany and the nato partners say offering a dial-up -- a three-day truce in syria's civil war appears to be holding. the government announced they would halt military operations

in regards to the end of ramadan. devious cease-fires have not applied to islamic state. satellite data from nasa shows the toxic air threat joking the indian subcontinent. data indicates as much times more sunlight was blocked by pollution in india than the u.s.. new delhi is trying a number of measures including taking cars off the street. prime minister malcolm turnbull it looks like a victory for his coalition. according to an australian tv projection, he has 173 seats with 82% of the vote counted. has won 73 -- he seats with 82% of the vote

counted. grains, dairy and meat were higher. global news 24 hours a day powered by more than 500 journalists -- point 400 journalists and more than 150 news bureaus around the world. vonnie: we are going live to washington where james comey is about to give his statement before lawmakers. elijah cummings, the ranking member of the house oversight committee which is hearing this which is in- relation to the outcome of the investigation into the hillary clinton e-mail server usage. at the time, james comey has said that even though it was extremely careless, there was no clear evidence of an intention to violate laws. that's why there are no criminal charges being recommended. the house oversight committee called the hearing. it is about to take place. who pled guilty last year to

intentionally and knowingly compromising highly classified information. the problem is, mr. director. we never had that hearing. this committee ignored that breach of national security because it did not match the political goals of house republicans. were withcerns today finally addressing a broken classification system in which security levels are arbitrarily changed up and down, that would have been a legitimate goal. that would have been a valuable to reforming and improving our government. hearings one held zika. preventing gun massacres like the one in orlando, or a host of

other topics that can actually save people's lives. but that is not why we are here. that is not why our chairman called this emergency hearing 48 hours after you make a recommendation. everyone knows what this committee is doing. i would not be surprised and i say this with all seriousness, i would not be surprised if tomorrow, republican set up a new committee to spend $7 million on why the fbi failed to prosecute hillary clinton. komi, let me conclude with this request. ,ven with all that i have said i believe that there is a critical role for you today. i have listened carefully to the coverage on this issue. i've have heard people say recently as this morning that

they were mystified by your decision. the chairman repeated a minute ago. gap betweenerceived the things you said on tuesday, and your recommendation. there is a gap. moment, i beg you to fill the gap. gap is not filled by you, it will be filled by others. ande with us your process you're thinking. explained -- explain how you examined the evidence, the law and the precedent. explaining clear terms how you and your team arrived at this decision. if you can do that today, if you

can do that, that could go a long way towards people understanding your decision. that ito make it clear condemn the is completely unwarranted political attacks against you. they have attacked you personally, they have attacked your integrity, they have impugned your professionalism and they have even suggested you were somehow bought and paid for because you majored recommendations based on the law and the facts. i know you are used to working in the world of politics, that these attacks have been beyond. you did not deserve this. your family does not deserve this and the highly skilled and dedicated agents of the fbi do not deserve it. i honor your professionalism and your service to our country. even if it takes until hell

freezes over, i beg you to close the gap. tell us what happened between what you found and your decision so that not only the members of this panel and this congress would understand, but so that under -- but so that americans will understand. if you do that, it will be all worth it. with that, i yield back. indulgence. to the ranking member of which i have the greatest respect. you asked for a hearing on general betray us and how that was dealt with, you've got it. we will have one in the oversight committee. in the judiciary committee i repeatedly questioned attorney general holder, i repeatedly questioned the fbi director about the disposition of that case probably more than any member of the house and senate. if you want a here -- hearing,

we will do that. you complain we haven't done a hearing on the zika virus. the oversight committee was the first committee to do a hearing on zika that was chaired by mr. mica. i am proud of the fact we did a here -- zika hearing first. >> can we have another one because the promised all there. >> absolutely. >> i request to put the date of the hearing at this time. thate ranking member knows we have held multiple hearings on the criminal justice -- in criminal justice reform. you ared for it and passionate about it and we did that as well. to suggest we haven't addressed these is inaccurate. : withentative cummings the problem in minnesota, the

african-american man being killed. i would like to have some hearings on the criminal justice system. i will work with you on that. without objection, the chair is -- will request a recess at any time. i will now recognize our witness for the first panel. the honorable james comey, the director of the federal bureau of investigation. thank you for being here. all witnesses are to be sworn before testified. we rise and raise your right hand. and raise youre right hand. do you swear the testimony you are about to give is the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth? thank you. the witness answered in the affirmative. mr. comey, the

floor is yours. if you'd like any rhythmic -- written statement afterwards, you may submit that. director comey: thank you mr. chairman, mr. cummings and members of the community. i am proud to be here representing the people of the fbi who did this investigation as they do all their work in a competent and independent way. i believe the investigation was conducted consistent with the highest tradition of the fbi. politicaldid it in a political way. in my statement i said there would be significant public debate in this decision. whole lot of folks have questions about how we reach the conclusion we did and what is our thinking. i hope to get an opportunity to

explain that. or disagree,sagree but they will at least understand the recommendation was made the way you wanted it to be, not about politics but about what is the law. say a few words that would help frame how we think about this. there are two things that matter in a criminal investigation of a subject. what did the person do, and when they did that, what were they thinking. thehundred years plus of at theent's search mishandling of classified information. what did they do and did they know they were doing something unlawful. that has been the characteristic of every charge criminal case involving the mishandling of classified information.

in our system of law, there is a thing that says it's important -- we don't want to put people in jail unless we prove they were new -- they knew they were doing something they shouldn't do. there is a statute passed in 19 1970 that its face -- on its face makes it a crime for gross negligence. at the time congress passed that , there was a lot of concern in the house and senate about whether this would violate the american tradition of requiring that before you lock somebody up, you prove you knew they would doing some -- they knew they were doing something wrong. as best i can tell, the

department of justice has used it once in the 99 years since, reflecting that same concern. years of the0 department of justice, they have grave concerns about whether it is appropriate to us to prosecute someone for gross negligence. they have done it once in a case of espionage. when i look at the facts, ic ofdence of -- i see evidence great carelessness. ofo not see evidence secretary clinton or though she was corresponding that they knew what they were doing was against the law. my understand -- from i understand the fact and law, my conclusion remains no reasonable prosecutor would bring this case focused on gross negligence. i know that has been a source of some confusion for folks, that is just the way it is. i know the department of

justice, i know no reasonable prosecutor would bring this case. nobody would and nobody did. resolution was the was not with a criminal prosecution. folks can disagree, but i hope they know not just my view, but of my team, was held fairly, -- fairly investigated with transparency. forward to this conversation and answering as many questions as possible. i believe transparency matters tremendously. i thank you for the opportunity. >> i am going to recognize myself. . -- physically, where were hillary clinton servers? director comey: the operational server was in the basement of her home in new york. after they were

decommissioned, they were moved to storage facilities. the live device was in the basement. >> was that an authorized or unauthorized location? you are watching fbi director james comey speak to lawmakers in washington in an emergency hearing on hillary clinton's e-mail server decision. you heard the directors say nobody would bring a second case in 100 years of tro -- gross negligence. you can watch the full event on the web at bloomberg.com\live >> you did find more than 100 e-mails that were.

e

♪ live from bloomberg world headquarters in new york, you are looking at midtown manhattan. i'm vonnie quinn in new york.

mark: i mark barton. you are watching "bloomberg markets." taylor riggs has the latest from our newsroom. taylor: republicans wasted little time grilling director grilling fbi- director james comey on his decision for hillary clinton. as we have been reporting, spain and courtroom -- portugal may be .it by sanctions they are rules designed to prevent another debt crisis. eu finance ministers meet in brussels must decide on whether to endorse the ruling. jpmorgan ceo has a warning for the u.k.. italian newspaper he

may relocate a few thousand of his employees from britain if the country decides to leave the eu. the u.k. may be able to reverse the vote and diamond called on europe to address the uk's complaints. 17 former barclays traders have received prison sentences. they were convicted of conspiring to rig for more than two years. u.s. and british regulators fined barclays. global news 24 hours a day powered by our 2,400 journalists and more than 150 news bureaus around the world. -- 120 countries. stocks are higher ahead of tomorrow's jobs report. in phil campar

oriali. we've had a lot of news, how has the landscape change for you? -- changed for you? phil: it looked like the u.k. would stay in the eu. .obody saw the jobs cut you have a fed that is been pushed all the way out. you need at least 50% to move. you had that on june 2. untilu don't see 50% 2018. for us, we think tomorrow's number will validate a continued strong job market. the 38,000 is more of an outlier than a trend. on brexit, i wouldn't underestimate how powerful european -- is. you have data showing that the

eu and ecb brought more peripheral -- thought more peripheral than germany bought. think about the last time we had european chaos going into 2012. away.b was three years italian bonds are at one and a quarter. mark: what would be 8 -- vonnie: what would be a game changer for you? phil: another below 100,000 number. also keep an eye on participation rate and wage data. mark: let's talk about matters closer to my home. it has outperformed many other

-- since the brexit result became apparent. would you rather play the u.k. by shorting sterling? why aren't you a buyer? why aren't you recommending investors by u.k. stocks? phil: it is a tantalizing opportunity because you do have the sterling at 31 year lows. europe.e outperformed the uncertainty around the brexit fallout. for us leads us to a better overweightet's be than guilt instead of the u.k. market. let's focus on the european credit market. you take much less exposure in financials, which have been the ground zero of a lot of volatility. sterling, guilt and european

credit. it is tantalizing getting the sterling tailwind. mark: what about european stocks in general, europe including the u.k.. valuation is the weakest since 2012. does that become enticing or not? phil: things can be cheap for a reason. the price information is new information for us to digest still. it doesn't mean we can't selectively find opportunity, i specially for income. european companies pay more than u.s. income. -- companies. europe, we within like it for the income, but not as much for the capital appreciation. vonnie: earnings beginning next week. what are you looking to see out of them? phil: we are looking for payback

from last year, payback in terms of two things, oil prices trading closer to 50 then 20. 500 earnings come from outside the u.s.. we are looking for payback for some serious headwinds. validations of the consumer resilience. we have seen them in retail sales being resilient. that will validate our u.s. -- no recession call. u.s. high yield will continue to give the yield we want. mark: does the dollar concern you at all? ,'m looking at the dollar index we are well below the highs of november. we are creeping upwards. at what stage does the dollar become an issue for u.s. corporate's again? phil: it's the stage really get the fed to be priced in and that

is not happening right now. it is the pace that is most important, not if they move in september. it is the pace. is that thefference fed has shaved a lot of tightening off the table. the dollar is behaving itself which helps earnings and emerging currencies. vonnie: if we are speaking , it has the united kingdom probability. phil: specifically i think it will be taken as a good thing. ist the bank of england going the other way and addressing the problems in the u.k.. it is tricky because negative interest rate policy hasn't

worked. it is more the balance sheet. investors.ay some phil of j.p. morgan asset management, thank you. fbi director james comey is continuing to testify before lawmakers taking questions on to be criminal charges brought against hillary clinton for using private e-mail servers containing classified information. he has said there is no evidence that clinton knew she was doing wrong. he also said there was no evidence that she lied to investigators. he said people made the decision didn't give -- didn't care about politics. ♪

♪ mark: you are watching bloomberg, i'm mark barton. vonnie: i'm vonnie quinn. mcdonald's has stores in china and hong kong, we will tell you who is on the short list. danone is buying whitewave foods. why abortion clinics have been up vanishing and how the supreme court's texas abortion ruling could change that. mcdonald's has selected

bidders in china for a $2 billion deal. selling's is twenty-year mass franchise rights in china and hong kong. most stores are company-owned. the chain wants almost all outlets there to be under local ownership. vonnie: clothing sales have dropped at british retailer marks and spencer's. it was much worse than estimates. the ceo says consumer consonant -- confidence weakened in wake of the referendum. clothing sales of been falling for four years. the french yogurt maker will buy whitewave food for about $10 million. silk, the best-selling soymilk brand in the u.s.. danone is the global leader in french -- -- in darien health-food brand.

-- in dairy and health-food brands. people familiar with the discussion say italy favors a precautionary approach under the european unions bank rule that allows government to bolster lenders when capital gaps emerge. earlier on bloomberg -- they have been slow at selling nonperforming loans. they have had limited success in getting information ready, preparing the rating agency. bloombergme for our quick take where we provide context and background on issues of interest. ruling onme court's

abortion was the most sweeping in a generation and left providers with the seizure -- procedure and their allies on an unfamiliar ground, the side of victory. >> since 2011, the number of abortion clinics that have shut their doors has skyrocketed. 162 providers have either closed or stopped offering. just 21 have opened. there are five states with just one abortion clinic. what happened? abortion opponents move their background -- battleground for the picket line, to state -- the state house. testing how far abortion rights can be limited without being overturned. here's the situation. the supreme court in its landmark roe v wade case legalized abortion. court laid thegh

groundwork to undermine that ruling. the state could pass restrictions that don't cause an undue burden on women. said -- found that restrictions aimed at clinics were more effective than aiming at women. enacted that -- a love required abortion doctors to of admitting privileges at doctors. that caused half of the state clinics to shut down. in a 5-3 ruling, the supreme court struck down the law saying on aposed the undue burden woman's constitutional right to an abortion. the ruling is likely to doom several restrictions and other states. court turned away

appeals from wisconsin and mississippi to revive their doctor admitting privileged laws. here is the argument. how do abortion clinic limits actually affect women? is ourhalf of pregnancy unintended and almost half of those and an abortion. outlawed abortion tomorrow, the vast majority of women would still travel to states that remain legal. the impact on women who can't or won't travel could result in a 50% drop in abortions nationally. there is evidence that diminishing access results in more women resorting to dangerous and illegal means to avert motherhood. vonnie: that is your global business report. visit bloomberg.com for more stories. bragging rights, why the vacation are great better than souvenirs.

fbi director james comey continuing to testify before lawmakers, defending his recommendation that no criminal be brought against hillary clinton for using private e-mail servers containing classified information. the chairman of the committee, republican jason chaffetz, accused him of setting a dangerous precedent. the director said there was no evidence clinton knew what she was doing was wrong. he also said there was no evidence that clinton lied to investigators. we will continue to monitor. ♪

♪ vonnie: live from bloomberg

world headquarters in new york and london, i am a vonnie quinn. mark -- i'm mark barton. earlier on bloomberg, we explained why he doesn't think italy's banks are in a financial crisis. it ultimately has an anglo-saxon decisionmaker. after brexit, england will be fine because the pound adjusting, let's go to europe where there will be a breakout. is the secret anglo-saxon dream to break up the euro. with mario draghi, you will not break anything. here, it is a great

long-term investment. ,f you look at the ecb results it is the bank with most capital in europe and you can buy it at an all-time low. >> i need to interrupt. mont back.ing about there are rules that the eu is saying you need to stick to and you can't subsidize. should the eu be flexible? euros, some of0 the commission said go ahead and put those in italian banks. rules will be followed. there are rules and circumstances you can do preemptive recapitalization using state money. of its assets in public banks.

no one made any question. italy has been privatizing every bank. believe that a country that did not require state aid. every bank and system has used state money. aw we are discussing about couple of billion? >> what you are saying is completely opposite of the panic out there. does the derivative structure helps solve the problem or do they need to be more draconian and lower bondholders value to get this fixed? specialize in we hybrid. i think hybrid capital as a

potential for a conversion tool. event -- ato have an 2008 event. gdp is running at 0.5 plus one. whether we will see a repeat of the crisis. your capital might get converted into equity. the biggest risk you run is -- clearly you are not getting paid if there was no risk. david sarah other -- davide serra speaking there on bloomberg. with luxury it is more about doing than buying.

emma rosenblum is the editor. she joins us now. i will begin with your lovely introduction. we feature making it pizza with a neapolitan master, training with a brazilian jujitsu master and watching two baby silverback to relatives -- guerrillas playing rillas wild -- go playing in the wild. we are seeing a trend of buyers purchasing things they will remember, not just what they can hold. mark: do i go for pizza or gorillas. they may not be around much

longer. what's special about this experience? emma: this is a trip we can feature to a national park in congo. you can see these in danger's over back -- you can see these endangered silverback gorillas. endangered and they might not be there for much longer. they are very protected. the entire experience is very well done. you only see them for an hour. vonnie: it is very respectful of their population. the pizza portion, i can get why you would want to go to naples and learn a 300-year-old technique. want to go tone brazil and get in shape with jujitsu masters? growing in the u.s.

because of mma. you can go to brazil and train with the gracie family and have an authentic experience with learning how to do the grapples and holds. that is something our readers are interested in. vonnie: if i was in charge of i would sendple, you there. i would go to naples and send mark with the goerillas. -- fbi director james comey continuing to take questions from lawmakers on capitol hill on the fbi decision not to recommend charges against hillary clinton.

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vonnie: it is 11 a.m. in new york, 4:00 p.m. and london and 11 a.m. hong kong. i'm vonnie quinn. mark: i mark barton.

you are watching the european close on bloomberg martin's -- bloomberg markets. vonnie: first, oil inventories are due to be released at any moment, so let's go to julie hyman. have a seventh straight week of declining inventories in the united states. a drawdown of 2.2 million barrels, slightly bigger than the 2.1 million analysts had been projecting. i'm also seeing a drawdown in gasoline inventories and in distal ends -- distillates. byinery utilization falling .5%. these numbers appear to be bullish for oil prices. looks like oil is holding relatively steady with an advance of about .8%.