dani: good morning from bloomberg's european headquarters. i am dani burger with yousef gamal el-din. this is "daybreak: europe." various concerns continue to mount from california to city, as africa raise its alert level. treasuries are holding. the u.k. joins the crypto crackdown. regulators ban an affiliate of

finance, giving it until wednesday could -- to comply. bitcoin trades higher, and another twist to return to the office of story, ubs splits with wall street, with two thirds of staff to mix working at home and in the office permanently. so great to start the week working beside you. when it comes to the market story, it feels like resiliency is the word, you have concerns of the delta variant, be it a new lockdown in south africa and continued restrictions in sydney, yet we are seeing a market charting higher and future positioning's on the s&p 500 hit their highest in about a year. it seems like there is not a lot of concern. maybe we won't see concern until the end of the week and jobs numbers. yousef: i spent all of last week in the swiss alps, and as much

as i had a sense of normalcy, the reality is we are seeing more and more countries take action to combat the delta variant. you mentioned south africa. that caught my attention for a lot of reasons. they are locking down schools, banning alcohol and public gatherings as well. mohamed el-erian had some quotes that stood out to me, the recent examples around the world of significant disruptions because of new waves of covid, with bangladesh being a striking example, there is little right now that delta is particularly damaging economically and financially in the advanced world -- advanced world. dani: you have to be worried about the delta variant because of a citizen -- as a citizen of the world, but does it creep through? someone said even if there is economic image, you hide out by buying big tech.

that is not exactly taking shelter somewhere. yousef: absolutely. we have a very busy week ahead in terms of economic data. i want to get through some of the particular asset class indicators, some of the highlights to get you started on your monday morning. many futures looking to extend record highs, very -- barely above the flatline. u.s. 10 year barely changed. the csb see commit of traders report indicated some long positions in eurodollar futures in the week ending june 22, they saw the biggest short position from twitter -- february 2019. the dollar currently down. brent crude holding out about $76 per barrel. we are looking ahead to the opec-plus meeting on the one hand, on the other hand, there is very real geopolitical tensions vis-a-vis iran.

we understand there's been airstrikes on some iran backed militia. it might make a nuclear deal less likely. our top story in more detail, concerns about the delta variant growing across the world. we talked about south africa, the country has raised its alert level. sydney has gone into a two week lockdown to fight an outbreak of the variance. it raises questions about the opening of the economy. joining us for more is bloomberg's rachel chang. how has the world been facing the new variant, rachel? rachel: we are seeing delta spread quickly and aggressively across the world. we know it is the most transmissible variant that has emerged so far and there is evidence it causes worse disease, and in young people. it is linked to certain symptoms. at the same time, the calculation doesn't change, the

vaccines are effective against the delta variant, and prevent serious engine -- serious illness and death. dani: thank you so much, rachel. let's get more on this with our guest host for this half-hour, eleanor taylor. first off, thank you for joining us. we were just discussing the resiliency and markets despite concerns about delta variant. do these new surges in the variant change your outlook or positioning when it comes to global equities? eleanor: it doesn't. for us, it has been very clear we weren't going to wave a wand and covid-19 would vanish. we have to adapt and know how to live with this unpleasant disease, distressing disease.

the countries you mentioned that are going back into lockdown, they are countries facing winter. australia and south africa. south africa also unfortunately has not had the rollout of vaccine programs one would have wished for them. if we look at equity markets and the major equity markets that concerned investors, it tends to be in areas where the vaccine rollout has been stronger. it does look again, the vaccine rollout's, if indeed delta is very infectious, the vaccines have some effect upon it him and i think that would explain why equity markets don't seem to be overly concerned about delta at the moment. in terms of positioning, i think any sensible investors will be positioning -- will be bearing in mind the diseases and going to go away. you will have some reopening but

not a full-blown reopening. yousef: -- a developing market program, a lot of struggles in the developing nations, the reality is at some point, this is going to feed across. we live in an interconnected, global economy. there is nothing that says it will truly be segregated. is that something that could flow onto the shores of the fed or ecb? will they have to take that into consideration as well, that areas outside of the primary markets are struggling? eleanor: wouldn't it be nice if they took that into consideration? obviously i think if the delta variant or the pandemic in general continues to be a pandemic for longer than what is currently in people's estimates, we might see a slower move in terms of tightening of monetary conditions from the central bank. you are correct, the world is

interconnected, but some parts of the world are more interconnected than other parts of the world. i am afraid the more interconnected ways have found better ways of dealing with the pandemic and we haven't been as concerned about the parts of society that are less connected. dani: does that mean we could see less volatility from here on out potentially? eleanor: i would say in the short-term, we might have quite a bit of volatility as people try to second-guess what central banks are likely to do, and people deal with use flow regarding the pandemic. not necessarily the delta variant in areas of the world which are less important in terms of equity markets, but certainly in terms of central-bank action may preoccupy a little more. on the other hand, central banks

are very aware of the impact they can have on equity market heavier and economic behavior, and i have the impression at the moment they are trying to talk carefully to the market to prepare them for any tightening they might do, and i would be surprised if it was going to be a full-blown interest rate hike anytime soon. it is more likely to do -- to be tapering exercises and someone in the short term. but clearly central banks are trying to avoid that happening by -- yousef: i was talking to mark matthews from ubs earlier and he was saying there is little point to him around the debate of growth versus value. to him it is best to stick with quality and both can be represented at this stage of recovery in a balanced portfolio. do you agree or disagree? eleanor: i was saying to one of your colleagues a couple of

weeks ago that -- investing is fraught with difficulty. it is not something i would choose to do myself, very much and echo of the comments, if you think quality is a signal of a company capable of creating value, really investing in their business or three accusations in a way that will be value created , clearly those of companies that could withstand in any economic cycle. value investing is investing in a company that is desperate for some kind of economic action away from their own activities have a decent performance i don't find that a particularly attractive way of investing. i would prefer companies that are value created, or as your previous commentator was saying, would have quality. yousef: hold that thought.

we have a lot more coming. eleanor stays with us. let's get you the first word news with simone foxman. simone: the u.s. has launched air strikes against iranian backed groups in syria and iraq. the pentagon says the strikes were aimed at facilities used by militias that launched drone attacks on u.s. personnel and iraq and were intended to send a clear, deterrent message. the uk's health secretary says his top priority is ending the pandemic and getting the country back to normal. the former chancellor was named to the post after matt hancock resigned following the emergence of a video of him embracing a senior aide in his office in breach of covid guidelines. the uk's financial watchdog has banned finance markets from doing any regulated business in the country. the financial conduct authority

says the exchange must make clear on its website and social media channels it is no longer permitted to operate in the u.k.. binance said it had not yet launched in the u.k. and doesn't offer services on its website. global news 24 hours a day on air and on quicktake by bloomberg, powered by more than 2700 journalists and analysts in more than 120 countries. this is bloomberg. yousef, dani? dani: thank you. coming up, permanent hybrid work at ubs. sources say this was lender will let employees mix working from home and the office. we will discuss next. this is bloomberg. ♪

yousef: welcome back to "bloomberg daybreak: europe." we are talking about ubs, the bank will permanently allow most employees to adopt a hybrid model of working at home and in the office. according to sources, the plans would apply to two thirds of this was lender's workforce and the hybrid schedule would come as many u.s. banks take a more hard-line approach. joining us for more is our asia finance reporter. are there any particular sources of inspiration that has pushed ubs in this direction? >> that's a great question. this issue of how to get workers to engage and the future of the office is affecting everyone you talk to across the business in the finance community. this is an interesting move from ubs, at a time when workers are demanding flexibility. perhaps that is the inspiration.

flexibility equals trust, and giving workers the hybrid model shows an employer is willing to trust and empower them. workers are saying we've worked from home for more than a year and got the job done, it was fine, let's do that. ubs definitely thinks this is a way to retain talent and also attract talent. it is so different from what we are seeing with the wall street banks. dani: exactly, the tone, basically what we hear out of all street is get a vaccine and get into the office and get to your desk. is that just the divide between the u.s. and europe we are seeing? is that where the comparison breaks down? >> absolutely. that chasm is widening rapidly, as you say. u.s. banks have been very proscriptive about people coming back into the office, and those like jp morgan are even pondering whether to mandate vaccination as well. in europe, you've seen some banks be a little bit more

easier than that, you've seen societe generale saying something similar to ubs, and there is only one bank in the u.s. so far that has said it would be happy for its workers to work a hybrid model for longer. the owner even gave employees a day off, reset day, acknowledging it has been a hard pandemic for people. dani: the no zoom friday, you have to love that move out of citibank. thank you so much, our asian finance reporter. eleanor is still with us. these headlines about banks, whether people come back into the office or not, it says a lot about workplace culture. for you, does it affect the bottom line or the attractiveness of the banking sector? eleanor: absolutely not.

a bank functions on the quality of the talent it has employed, the strength of its balance sheet and strategic direction it has. if those elements are altogether, i don't think it matters tremendously where that talent is working, as long as it is able to carry out. yousef: european stocks have been on a tear, and i have begun to wonder if the outperformance will last, especially with a new earnings season upon us. within that spectrum, are banks going to be able to shine this time around? eleanor: [indiscernible] just because you are a bank doesn't mean you are the same as another bank. it will very much depend on the quality, the strategy of the different banks as opposed to just saying we can by this sector.

there's often a bit of rotation or change of direction, people will think there is a sector that is interesting or a type of company that is interesting, and there may be some people who are less informed as to how to invest to just go into a given sector. i think the time has come now with maturity into this reopening and how to live with the pandemic situation, where people would be well advised to look at what is different between different companies within a sector. dani: one thing that might be the same across a lot of companies are earnings expectations. the citigroup global revision index for earnings has seen a spectacular stretch of analysts continuing to see higher earnings. is it possible we could be headed toward peak earnings? eleanor: i don't think we are at

peak earnings yet, no. there may be some expectations which are disappointed, but i would rather say that in the current environment where we seem to have a strong fiscal support, which has been embraced by governments, where we have an easy monetary situation, and where we are still in a reopening phase -- remember when we see strong results, we are often not yet at 2019 levels of performance from companies. we still have some improvement ago post-pandemic, and i think we have still got quite a bit of travel on the earnings side. regarding the multiples you pay for those earnings, that might be on the higher side currently. yousef: brent is trading at about $75, $76 a barrel.

if the rally continues and opec-plus later this week decides not to do anything and prices go up to $80, $85, at what point does it become a problem for the european economy and recovery? eleanor: certainly one of the concerns a lot of investors have at the moment is raw materials in general, not just oil, and to what extent the higher prices would become a problem. we are seeing some commodity prices correcting downward. remember this recovery is being steered in part by governments and super government organizations, we are seeing the infrastructure plans, they are trying to steer the economy to be a slightly more environmental, sustainably friendly economy. there may be some losers who are very heavily dependent on heavy raw materials, but some of the success stories we might see emerging are the ones that offer

alternatives to the more traditional and polluting raw materials. again, what you are investing in, see what the future is rather than just the box standard recovery. dani: related to that point, when you see oil continuing to be resilient, oil equity, oil stocks and oil companies, they really haven't looked as strong. does that an environmental concern account for the difference or is there something else that is making energy stocks less attractive to the market right now? eleanor: i think it is the long-term vision. certainly the market was taken by surprise to see the shareholder behavior a couple of weeks ago at shell, where there was a clear indication they would have to do more in terms of renewable energy. we are seeing regulation from governments becoming much stricter in terms of carbon em

issions. and oil usually in a recovery period is coming from depressed levels, let's be honest, that is a question as to how long that can last. i think that is probably also in the structure of the companies producing oil and how they will have to adapt and invest in order to be part of this extremely encouraging sustainability revolution happening at the moment. yousef: eleanor, thank you very much for sharing some of those insights. in fact, it turns out we've got quite a bit more coming up. the parties of marine le pen and emmanuel macron hit by poor results in france's regional elections. the outcome of next year's presidential race increasingly uncertain. the full story, next. this is bloomberg. ♪

dani: welcome to "bloomberg daybreak: europe." our guest from ubp is still with us as well. eleanor, we still -- we seem to have a lot of geopolitical events on the horizon, yet the french election and the tensions between the u.s. and iran over the weekend. stocks unmoved. what accounts for the lack of reaction, at least for now? eleanor: iran and the u.s. tensions are not new could we are used to these -- not new. we are used to these flareups. as regards some of the european

political scenarios, i think the big point wasn't the german election. -- was the german election. the proportional representation in german politics, it doesn't mean you have these lurching -- like you would have in the u.s. or u.k. in terms of a change of power, it is a more subtle evolution, probably easier to handle. that is to me the biggest concern on the geopolitical side, when you look at the french regional election, it is the extension. that means there is very little faith from the electorate in the government at the moment. obviously you do need people to vote for a democracy to function. that is problematic. yousef: eleanor, we have to leave it there, we are pressed for time. upb cohead of the swiss and global equity there. we will be looking at the hong

kong reopening after its store morning, holding an afternoon session that will happen momentarily. it is expected to be quite a volatile resumption. more around the corner. this is bloomberg. ♪ [ "me and you" by barry louis polisar ] ♪ me and you just singing on the train ♪ ♪ me and you listening to the rain ♪ ♪ me and you we are the same ♪ ♪ me and you have all the fame we need ♪ ♪ indeed, you and me are we ♪ ♪ me and you singing in the park ♪ ♪ me and you, we're waiting for the dark ♪ in business, it's never just another day. it's the big sale, or the big presentation. the day where everything goes right. or the one where nothing does. with comcast business you get the network that can deliver gig speeds to the most businesses and advanced cybersecurity

to protect every device on it— all backed by a dedicated team, 24/7. every day in business is a big day. we'll keep you ready for what's next. comcast business powering possibilities.

yousef: good morning from bloomberg's middle eastern headquarters in dubai, i am yousef gamal el-din with dani burger, this is "bloomberg daybreak: europe." concerns continue to mount from california to sydney, south africa raises its alert level, and treasuries hold losses. the u.k. joins the crypto crackdown, regulators ban binance, giving it until

wednesday to complain. bitcoin trades higher. and ubs is the latest to split with wall street, two thirds of its staff set to mix working at home and in the office permanently. welcome to the program, let's get straight to what is happening in hong kong. we are keeping a close eye on the resumption of trading on the hong kong stock exchange, and basically what we have here is an initial disruption from a rainstorm earlier that prompted the cancellation of the morning session. the warning had been lowered for the rainstorm to amber after a black morning at 11:00 a.m. local time. stocks resuming just moments ago, currently higher at 1/10 of 1% at the moment. a fairly calm open, but let's wait another minute or so and see how it evolves from here. dani: it is tough to have this delayed opening after the weekend because there is a lot to be pricing in.

already you are playing catch-up, but not only are you playing catch-up from the weekend but the morning session as well. the rainstorm, the warning was so severe that vaccines were suspended as well. that's where you get that volatility, right? yousef: what caught my eye is the delta variant and the new warnings from south africa. they are closing schools, banning alcohol -- this is not a small restriction, this is going to extra mile, a warning sign for the rest of the world. dani: right, and you pointed out before mohamed el-erian saying this hasn't seeped into the data yet, and our guest from the last half-hour saying it hasn't factored into her view. let's see what equities are doing this morning, it is reflected in the prices we are seeing. we are seeing a fractional weakness in european futures. i don't even know if i can call it weakness if we are down a fraction, but we will say it anyway, we are little red there. we have a higher session, not a

ton of reaction. we are seeing a bit of yield curve steepening when you look at the 30 year, the rest of the curve is flat and ahead of opec-plus have $36 per barrel on crude maybe we will sit and wait until we head to the risk event and see what comes out of opec-plus. yousef: remarkably sanguine, some, and equities in particular. let's talk about investors that are balancing the opening in reopening of economies around the world, and increasing cases of the delta virus variant we've been talking about. joining us is the alley and's chief economist. -- alliance chief economist. it is important to us to get your initial analysis on where this anxiety around the delta variant and what governments do to mitigate it could go. >> it is quite complicated, in

the foreign affairs article, people call it the forever virus. the delta variant is one more variant. we know the u.k. grand reopening is costing billions of pounds every week, to the tune of 3 billion pounds every week. we look at the lockdown could in my -- lockdown. in my country, france, the delta variant is 10% of new infections. we know it is there, and the base case scenario is it comes on top of a highly vaccinated population, even though we don't reach herd immunity, it will be slightly higher. we hope to stop and go will be avoided in most situations, but it is something we will have to live with for some time, so we have a couple of great quarters ahead of us in the u.s. and europe, with the caveat that the

delta variant could create more volatility. i think this is what investors are trying to price in the way they can. there is this new wave-let, knowing we have vaccinations and ways to respect social distancing without having to pause the economy. dani: we are three quarters ahead in the u.s., this is a risk simmering in the background. is it possible by starting the discussion of tightening policy, even though we are on the threshold here, that the fed could be headed toward a hawkish policy mistake. again, these risks are very present. ludovic: this is the risk the all have on our radar, right? the fed pricing the recovery, the tightening of the u.s. financial cycle. but the continuing of commitments by the fed and its

board is to stay in and see that the pressures are not a good enough reason to tighten. we are still in the camp of people that think inflation of transient. with that the people that think maybe 2022 will be the beginning of something. we don't think the fed will stop -- monetary policy the way it did from 2013 all the way through 2015. the risk is there, the major visible risk. i am more worried about risk, fraud and overstretched assets. this is the unknown. [indiscernible] yousef: i would like to leverage your economic expertise because we had eric rosengren, who said this hype over inflation is overdone, it will be transient,

he will be a voting member of the fomc in 2022. you talked about it being transient as well, what does that mean or look like? ludovic: it means you don't have to think happily, the first is monetary inflation, so liquidity by central banks creates undue inflation -- we don't see that happening. the money gets stuck in banks and in the u.s., in markets, and it goes back into the economy. -- and it does not go back into the economy. we don't yet see a wage price loop. we are seeing wages and people and demand and some sectors, like hospitality, but we don't see wage growth as a pervasive part of the recovery. wage moderation will be part of the recovery because people will be concerned about their jobs.

several sectors of the labor market, one of them the hybrid workplace, that will continue to push down wages. so if that doesn't happen, this is transient. i am sorry, it is a weak position. this is the best we have right now to continue to invest in the market without believing there is structural -- in inflation. dani: as you say, there are some of these wage effects. disney over the weekend giving a $1000 bonus to its hospitality staff , trying tolure people -- to lure people entered having money in people's pockets and the high level of household savings, does that not mean there is more purchasing power among consumers and we get something that is more than transient? ludovic: that is fascinating. we had one of the worst rotations in world war ii.

that means the aggregate compensation by governments of lost output is very good, very strong. i see that as a good use. the question will be whether raising wages and purchasing power will be good enough that people don't feel that life has gotten pricier. in europe, the election is ahead of us, your former guest talked about this. you want to make sure people have the impression that wages will catch up. i don't think it is bad that people have a bit more money in their pocket. the question is -- the tendency to consume is low. the fed of new york tells us only 37% is spent, and the rest is saved. i am more concerned about savings and people being uncertain about the virus and they are saving instead of

looking at an investment cycle. yousef: everybody could use a bit more money in their pocket, nobody could complain about that. i was a bit surprised over the weekend, what got completely lost is the infrastructure bill. just short of $6 billion, and a fraction of some of the trillion dollar figures that were bouncing around earlier. how important is it that there is a follow-up for successful implementation? because this is the physical side of the equation, where the u.s. has to live up to it. ludovic: i am always been very cautious about infrastructure, because it is very good and easy to pledge, but dispersing his heart. i worked -- dispersing is hard. i worked somewhere where we announced to bill and the numbers looked good, but then what do you spend it on? in five years in the u.s., you have to spend it, i don't think

you will have the structure, i think you will do roads that lead to nowhere, museums and bridges that are not needed to create the boom in the economy. this is where we needed to look for policy mistakes also. how fast do we want to disperse the money and how effective is the info structure to boost growth? i think it is great news, i think infrastructure and building back better is the key to making it past the virus, but i would look at the details of where the money is spent, how it is spent, and leverage from the private sector. in the past, there's been a lot of disappointment from the big infrastructure announcements. you have to do it, you realize it takes a little more time to make it in a good way, or in a growth intensive way. dani: perhaps that's why we are seeing a boundary market -- bond

market so unreactive. i'm sorry, that's all we have time for. thank you for joining us. let's get to the first word news with simone foxman. good morning. simone: good morning. australia has extended virus restrictions as it cites the latest wave of infection. sydney's 5 million people were put into lockdown on saturday, while queensland and western australia have also imposed new curbs. south africa has banned alcohol, outlawed public gatherings and closed schools. it is to move to alert level four, the second highest as it rattles the spread of the -- rattles the spread of the delta very imputed united airlines poised to buy airbus and boeing jetliners and one of the largest deals in its history. sources say the u.s. carrier is looking to revamp its single aisle fleet with more efficient planes. united is expected to purchase

more than 150 boeing 737 max jets and over 50 airbus a-21 neos. we are told it will be announced on tuesday. china's envision group will spend as much as $2.4 billion on a battery plant in northern slants to power renal -- renault vehicles. they will also invest in a startup that makes power packs for larger and premium models. the carmaker says the factory will help toward its target of producing one billion electric vehicles in europe by 2030. global news 24 hours a day on air and on quicktake by bloomberg, powered by more than 2700 journalists and analysts in more than 120 countries. this is bloomberg. electric vehicles and more efficient planes driving the headlines. yousef: absolutely.

although i miss the sound of the larger engines, there is just something to a v8 that cannot be replicated. thank you, simone foxman in doha . i also want to check on the markets in hong kong because we are back online. the morning session got literally washed out because of the severe rainstorm. at the moment, we are just a little bit to the downside, by a whisker or two on the hang seng. the broader story is fascinating, the tech heavy chinex rising as much as 2.2 percent, set to close of the highest level since june of 2017, seeing -- is were markable how parts of the index have been able to outperform by -- it is remarkable how parts of the index have been able to outperform by comparison. coming up on the program, we speak to the last and only scientist to work at the wuhan

lab. the virologist paints a eager picture -- a different picture. that is next. this is bloomberg. ♪

dani: welcome back to "bloomberg daybreak: europe." let's turn to covid, the outbreak and the lab. we have the last and only foreign scientist to work in what has become the world's most of tory us laboratory, -- most notorious laboratory, the will hand -- in wuhan. her most recent stent ended in november 2019. the emergence of the coronavirus in the same city where institute

scientists study the same family of viruses has stoked speculation it might have been released from the lab, but danielle paints a different picture. danielle: there was no chatter of anything. so yeah, nothing strange from my point of view going on at that point that would make it seem like something was going on here. dani: let's get more with rachel chang. now that we have heard from danielle, a scientist at the laboratory, are we any closer to figuring out the origins of covid? rachel: to be honest, we are not there is no smoking gun evidence for either side. danielle says she believes it is more likely that there was a natural origin of the virus, that it jumped from an animal, but she is not naive to ride out

-- right off something is happening she wasn't privy to well she was there. but what is interesting about her account, painting the picture of the fact that this is a normal lab. the protocols and restrictions taken by the scientists, the work being done, she was there, she had meals and hung out with fellow scientists. it wasn't the kind of dark had a ring or organization that unfortunately is now being painted in some places. yousef: what kind of color did we get in terms of how the lab was run? some of the day-to-day operations, whether or not she would've been able to see any of this? rachel: she was close to her colleagues, and one of the things that has been said is some of these researchers got ill, but the names of these people have not been disclosed, and she is saying she wasn't aware of anybody being sick. they shared the same shuttle bus

to work every day. when she left china, she didn't have any antibodies. she also talked a lot about how the lab had very high security protocols, researchers had to undergo 45 hours of training to work independently. they had some of their own unique systems for designing disinfectants to make sure the lab was clean and there would be no outside infection. these things have been adopted in her own lab after she left wuhan. another thing she contributed is she is a researcher working on this virus and other viruses and she is saying the truth is, this sort of gain of function type of work, which some people say might be how the coronavirus was created, it is not that easy to do even if you had the intention. there are a few researchers have been able to successfully manipulate a virus in that way. that is another thing she is saying about what happened. yousef: rachel, i wish i had

yourgig getting into the details of these investigations. if you want to read today's big take in full, it is on your terminal. let's talk about the outcome of next years of french presidential election, it looks increasingly uncertain after emmanuel macron and marine le pen, who leads the national polls, registered dismal showings in sunday's reckoned -- second round of ballots. give us a bit of perspective on the results and how it sets us up for next year's election. >> the political earthquake here in provence did not happen. the far right wing of marine le pen did not manage to win the region. she wanted to make provence a

region where on one side you have the french riviera and the other side, a housing estate in marseille. she wanted to make it a laboratory for her program for 2022 on immigration and security. she failed. it's also a failure of president emmanuel macron, who did not winb any -- win any of the 13 mainland regions of france. instead, the old party system is back, with the north of france, a rival to emmanuel macron and marine le pen is therefore next year's presidential election. even though these elections are not necessarily a bellwether for next year, clearly this lowers

the chances of emmanuel macron and marine le pen to get some local support for their campaign. who knows, this might change. -- might change the campaign between now and april 2022. dani: caroline, thank you for giving us the story and those beautiful views. coming up, the uk's financial watchdog bands binance markets. we will have more on that next. this is bloomberg. ♪

yousef: welcome back to "bloomberg daybreak: europe." an interesting development, what is happening with binance, they have been banned from doing

regulated business in the u.k. by the financial watchdog. for more, our editor. joanna, what is going on with these restrictions? a bit of confusion around whether it is directly related to the binance hq. joanna: binance has these arrangements where it is a big, global crypto exchange, but it will have an affiliate, like a u.s. or u.k. affiliate. this is an affiliated company, it is not directly binance, but it is the binance boss's coming, but the u.k. did say that there needed to be warnings on binance .com, the bigger company, so it is alluding to the broader company as well. dani: it is definitely interesting to see despite the fact that they have thisban, we are seeing bitcoin move higher. that's all we have time for.

our cross asset market editor, thank you for joining us. that will be it for us on this monday. keep your eye on hong kong, on bitcoin, and next, we have the european market open. anna and mark walk us through that. ♪

anna: traders less than an hour away. here are your top headlines. very concerns mount -- variant concerns mount. south africa raises its alert level.