>> good monday morning from embers monday morning headquarters in london. this is "bloomberg daybreak: europe." protests in europe, some violence spreads as lockdown measures come into force amid rising covid cases. jay powell and lael brainard find out who will become the next fed chair as the course

calls for faster tapering. and bloomberg sources say u.s. intelligence has detected a buildup of russian troops to prepare for a rapid, large-scale push into ukraine. we will have the details. good morning. the simplicity of the rise in cases across europe versus the difficulty, the complexity of the policy response. i want to show you the rate of infections across the eurozone. the infection rate, the death rate, and the impact on the health care system across the continent leading to these measures across austria, the netherlands, germany, to try and combat record infections. seven day average in cases in europe, 250,000, the rest of the world is 80,000. this despite the relatively high level of vaccination rate. we will get more details from maria tadeo on the policy

response, but i wanted to visualize what has triggered the kind of action we have seen from governments in the euro zone. that is pressuring the euro. we will look at that shortly. picking up on china, the csi 300 and focused today, gains on the mainland after the pboc put out its quarterly report, and it changed the language. goldman sachs sees the pboc expected to step up support for an economy where the data is suggesting the economy is looking more fragile. that is a significant change according to the likes of goldman sachs and mara. -- namura. broadly you are seeing a loss of 2/10 of a percent. the futures for the u.s. with gains as in europe, tech was a standout stateside, the reopening trade was punished,

concerns about the trajectory of paper from the fed but also higher covid cases in europe. that weighed on european equities. the pound in focusing given comments by the bank of england on sunday, talking about the inflation forecast into suggesting possibly there is ambiguity around the december meeting. the pound and focus this morning. also looking in the oil space. reports out of japan that tokyo and washington are looking at a combined and coordinated release of reserves, this after china said it would also be releasing its reserves. iron ore is up, tied into expectations for more support for the chinese economy, and bitcoin at 57,000 after hammering last week. no upside gains in terms of trading over the weekend for the top cryptocurrency. pressure remains on bitcoin. let's switch focus to the

details out of china. the central bank has signaled possibly easing measures to aid the economy's recovery after a sharp downturn in recent months fueled by a property slump. joining us is our north asia economics correspondent. enda, what is your take on the language change within the quarterly report from the pboc and the implications for potential additional support? enda: it signals authorities are concerned about the economy and growth, and is looking like they may have to step in with extra support. economist are not sure what kind of support they will chip in. the language had changed come as you explained, but expectations are still around, perhaps another rate requirement or another measure to funnel money into the money markets or failed sectors.

we should say the other message from the pboc over the weekend was a hint of concern over the yuan, they came out and reminded everybody that it is best performing em currency and encouraging caution among traders and investors in terms of how they invest and bet on the yuan. when you consider the language on the exchange rate and -- exchange rate, it seems they are concerned about where the economy is headed. the question is what kind of support they will tip into the economy. tom: ok, thank you very much. let's focus on the oil market with crude extending climbs on signs the u.s., china and japan are preparing to tap national crude reserves. let's get more on that with our energy reporter. what are the latest comments we are hearing, or at least reports around how governments are

preparing to potentially tap into strategic reserves? >> what we have is over the last week, the united states has passed japan, china and india to release reserves, and yes, china and japan appear to be moving forward. china said officially last week they are preparing a release, we don't know how big it will be or when they will make a release. japan has been a little more evasive, they have not publicly said they will make a release but there are local reports in japan saying the government is prepared to release the excess of the reserves. whatever excess the iea says they must have for emergencies, they are looking to release because legally they are able to do that they made comments last week with a set legally they might not be able to make releases based purely on bringing down the oil price, and south korea said they are considering it. while there will be some sort of coordinated release with the

u.s. and other asian nations, it is not clear who will be going up. we know that president biden will be making some sort of statement on tuesday about lowering prices and helping consumers, but we are not sure who will be joining him in those comments and what form it will take. dani: ok, the coordination we are seeing to ease pressures around the oil space. we are listening out for those comments from the u.s. president later today. austria returns to a full national lockdown. protests against new restrictions at -- aimed at curbing covid-19. from midnight, austrians told to work from home and nonessential shops have closed. people also clashed with police in the netherlands and belgium. joining us from our berlin bureau is maria tadeo.

our governments pushing ahead with restrictions despite protests, anything that suggest they will be watering down measures? maria: now, and that is where it gets interesting in the story across europe. we did see sectors of protest in vienna, the hague and also brussels. this is a pan-european story, but nonetheless governments are pushing ahead with these restrictions. the focus today is austria, going into a 20 day lockdown. when the lockdown is completed, we expect restrictions on the unvaccinated to continue. and then of course the vaccination mandate, it is not a personal choice, it is an obligation. what is interesting and this goes back to your question, facing what is basically a political crisis, and the economic ramifications of shutting down a country for two weeks, the austrian government has decided they want to focus on the health crisis even if that means of social pushback

and potentially an economic contraction, the health sector is a priority in europe at this point and that's where it gets interesting in terms of the precedent it could set. dani: maria tadeo on the ground in berlin with the latest in terms of the restrictions put in place by government's across eurozone. thank you. a line crossing the terminal right now, erickson is to buy vonage. it's looking like they are looking to buy them for $21 a share, that would be in cash and represents a total acquisition price of around 6.2 the leak in u.s. dollars -- 6.2 billion u.s. dollars. we will keep you abreast of any other details through the hour. let's get the first word news now come here are the top stories. police in wisconsin say several

people were killed when an suv drove into a christmas parade. more than 20 people were injured when the vehicle broke through barriers and sped into the street while the parade was happening in a town near milwaukee. police say a person of interest is in custody and the investigation continues. kkr has offered to buy telecom italia. the cash offer is a 46% premium. however, we are told telecom italia's largest shareholder is likely to oppose the offer, which it use as undervalued. the company's shares have lost half their value in five years. the international olympic committee chief says he held a 30 minute video call on sunday with a chinese tennis star where she assured him she is safe. he said she told him she wanted her privacy respected.

she disappeared from public view earlier this month after alleging sexual assault by a former chinese vice premier. the u.k. has added two chinese covid vaccines for those approved for travel to the country. it is opening up travel for millions. those who have received the vaccines will now be treated as fully vaccinated at the border. that is your global news 24 hours a day on air and on a bloomberg quicktake, powered by one 700 journalists in more than 120 countries. coming up, u.s. intelligence set to show russian plans for a potential ukraine invasion. we get the details on that bloomberg scoop next. this is bloomberg. ♪

tom: welcome back, this is "bloomberg daybreak: europe." bloomberg sources say the u.s. shared intelligence with european allies that shows a buildup of russian troops and artillery that look ready to, or are prepared for a rapid, large-scale push into ukraine. that's what the intelligence seems to suggest. bruce einhorn joins us. what does the u.s. assessment say about russia's plans and intentions? bruce: according to people familiar with the matter, u.s. intelligence is saying vladimir putin is potentially planning an invasion in january or february that involves up to 100,000 russian troops who would be invading from russian occupied crimea, from russia itself and belarus as well. they are also saying russia is

mobilizing reserves, the largest such mobilization in post-soviet history. and at the same time, working on a disinformation campaign targeting the ukrainian government. according to u.s. intelligence, there are all sorts of troubling signs, and this is information the u.s. is sharing with european allies. tom: that is the u.s. line on this. what have we heard from the ukrainian government? bruce: the ukrainians are saying similar things. we know the ukrainians are on the diplomatic offensive at the moment, trying to shore up support western countries. the ukrainian foreign minister was recently in brussels, the defense minister was in washington, the head of the defense intelligence agency told a u.s. newspaper over the weekend that they are seeing the same possibility of the russian

invasion, similar time, january and february. tom: have we heard anything from vladimir putin? bruce: over the weekend, russian media called this hysteria, so not surprisingly russia says there's nothing to this. putin is very concerned by what he sees as a u.s. overreach, western overreach, working too closely with ukrainians on defense matters. so putin sees this as something the west is instigating and not him. tom: ok, burstein corn in hong kong with the latest on the scoop around u.s. intelligence sharing with your -- european allies. the bank of england's top two officials raise questions over a december rate rise. how should u.k. business

interpret these comments? next, we will speak to the cpi president. send in your questions. this is bloomberg. ♪

tom: welcome back, this is "bloomberg daybreak: europe," a line just crossing about the turkish lira. it appreciated past 11 against the u.s. dollar, currently at 10.96. this is a snapping a long string of losses for the turkish currency. you had a third straight month

of rate cuts, inflation around 20% in turkey. a little bit of strength against the greenback at least today. we will keep you updated on that story. questions raised about a december rate hike. governor andrew bailey says the decision is finally balanced. he told the sunday times that risks to the british economy are two-sided at the time, with slowing growth and rising inflation. how should u.k. business interpret the comments? joining us is the president of britain's leading employment organization. thank you for joining us this morning. is there concern amongst british is in us about the prospects of a rate hike or finally a move higher in interest rates from very low levels in the u.k.? lord bilimoria: we have had

these very low levels, the lowest in the history of the bank of england. going back to may when i cheered the -- chaired the g7, i remember a chief economist saying the u.k. will have a strong recovery because of the 400 and pounds -- 400 billion pounds supporting the economy. despite of these things, we have since then had so many issues, one after the other, whether it is the energy crisis, label shortages across all sectors, inflation that was meant to be temporary. we still hope it might be temporary but it has already hit 4.2% this month. if that inflation persists, of course there is pressure for interest rates to go up and people predicted interest rates will go up in november, go up a quarter and gradually edge up.

it looks like interest rates will have to go up as businesses prepare for this. the recovery is very fragile. that's why we are calling out to the government for the start of our first pan u.k. conference, today through wednesday, from the north of england to wales, to the midlands and london, and we are saying we have to work more collaboratively together through this critical recovery phase. what hasn't helped is on top of all of this, all of the challenges, the government has been putting on tax after tax after tax. corporation tax going up. we have the highest burden of tax in 70 years. this is absolutely the wrong time to put up taxes when we suffered so much for 18 months.

what we need now is investment more than anything else to generate growth, which will generate jobs, which pay the taxes, which pays down the debt. tom: i know you and the cbi has been very vocal about the impacts of tax hikes and tax rises we are seeing by the u.k. government. when it comes to supply chains, what are we seeing in terms of british businesses's ability to adjust to supply chain pressures that remain. how acute are these problems and where on the list of issues you outlined for us do these feature as a priority? lord bilimoria: absolutely, supply chain issues across all sectors. in my own business, we've had severe supply chain issues. it is affecting everything, every industry. every event i go to, everyone is suffering from one supply chain

issue or another. especially labor force. this is why we say to the government, you got to be more flexible when it comes to labor shortages. you have the migration advisory committee, make it like the monetary policy, which is independent and every month recommends what happens to the interest rates. it can be ramped up to include not just academics but economist and business people so that regularly they advise the government sector by sector, you need to allow more people, so many thousand per year or years, to be brought into address labor shortages. we have said you've got to do this, these businesses need the labor if there are shortages and there are severe shortages in all sectors. tom: those shortages leading to higher prices, as our the input costs, which are rising. you expect u.k. businesses to

pass on the costs to consumers? lord bilimoria: when you have high costs, we all try our best to give our customers the best value, but there comes a time when you have to pass those on. the government also wants a high wage economy. we all want a high wage economy but you can't have a high wage economy without high skills, without high investment and without high productivity. you put those together, yes you can have a high wage economy without generating inflation. that's what we will work on his skills, investment, productivity, and then we can carry on. but we've got to show resilience right now. it is a tough time. so far business has done a good job despite these problems. we are growing but it is a fragile recovery. tom: we are seeing the impact of higher covid cases on the entire continent into the response from governments in the netherlands, austria, belgium and germany as well. reconsidering policy reaction to

high levels of infection. we have to think about what might happen in the u.k. and the government has not ruled out plan b. what with the impact be, could u.k. businesses whether another lockdown -- weather another lockdown? lord bilimoria: from the outset we have been very involved in the pandemic in terms of encouraging the vaccination program. the second aspect, we now have these -- available to businesses and everyone free of charge and delivered free of charge. we have businesses that test employees regularly, identify those that have covid and isolate them and everyone else carries on with work. the third thing that is really good news, since january, asking the government to focus on treatment. we've had good news after good

news. it started with work -- merck and now pfizer with pills. that is a game changer. when we have the availability of the tablets, combined with vaccination and testing, i think we will stay on top of the virus and not go down anymore lockdowns. tom: ok, thank you for your time, ways a lot to discuss. -- always a lot to discuss. coming up, we count down to biden's fed nomination and discuss what could mean for the world's most important central bank. u.s. futures have gained 3/10 of a percent and also in europe. euro-dollar, 112.76. stay with us. this is bloomberg. ♪

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tom: good morning from bloomberg's european headquarters, it is 6:30 a.m. in london. i am tom mackenzie and this is "bloomberg daybreak: europe." protests in europe, some of them violent, spread as new lockdown measures come into force amid rising covid cases. powell and brainard find out this week who becomes the next fed chair.

and calls for faster tapering. u.s. intelligence has detected a buildup of russian troops and artillery to prepare for a rapid , large-scale push into ukraine. we will have the details. the top story very much of course the policy response to these rising covid cases across the euro zone. this chart will tell you part of the story. 250,000 cases is the seven day average now in europe. that compares to 80,000 in the rest of the world, and it is that reason we see reaction in parts of the euro zone. it doesn't tell the whole story. testing rates are very high in europe, that accounts for some of this. vaccination rates relatively high as well. but clearly there is enough going on to concern policymakers to take drastic dubs -- drastic

steps. what has been happening in asia? the msci asia pacific is now 2/10 of a percent, some optimism in china gaining about 5/10 of a percent on the csi 300 on the back it seems of a change in language from the pboc. goldman sachs and others saying there is likely to be more support coming down the pike from china's central bank. futures in the u.s. gaining three tens of a percent after a mixed close on friday. futures in europe gaining 2/10 of a percent after a selloff on friday on covid concerns. here is euro-dollar. currently trading at 1.12 point72, the weakest in 16 weeks. covid concerns, and that it will factor in as they had to the all-important december meeting.

oil in focus as well given reports that japan will be coordinating with the u.s. to release service. -- release reserves. pressure on brent by two tents of a percent. gains of 5% off the support for the chinese economy. bitcoin down. let's get back to central-bank action. the fed and joe biden in a bit of an inflation bind. regardless of whether it is jerome powell or brainard running things next year, officials may have to pivot soon toward a quicker tapering schedule as prices continue to climb. here is what some market watchers have had to say. >> who will be the chair of the fed? >> between governor brainard and chairman powell.

>> i don't see much daylight between them. >> fed monetary policies still extremely loose. >> inflation definitely running hot. >> whoever comes in will have to tighten this. >> the differences are more on regulatory policy. >> the reshaping of the fed. >> governor brainard. >> chair powell. >> whoever is in the spot has a hard job ahead of them. tom: ok, joining us now is our guest, thank you for joining us. i will let you weigh in on whether the markets are prepared for a change in leadership at the fed. we count down to this decision by president biden. it could still be powell, he is still very much in the running. what do you think the market reaction will be if there is a change? >> well, i think if brainard, the outside contender, were to

be nominated as the fed chairperson, we would likely see a bit of weakening of the dollar, which has been appreciating relentlessly the last few weeks. brainard is less likely in pushing for rate, so that could lead to some weakening of the dollar. tom: do you expect a change in the pace of taper? that is the debate that has formulated last couple of days, with vice chair clara -- clara rida suggesting it is in the mix. is that is something markets need to start thinking about? christian: that is a theme the last couple of days. i had a call with chair bullard in october. he was the first voting member of the fomc who came up with the idea of tapering faster to set the conditions for rate hikes starting in the summer of 2022.

he has been joined by richard clarida, who also argued inflation is on the rise. it makes sense from a precautionary perspective to end the asset purchases sooner than originally anticipated. that is definitely a debate gaining steam. tom: if we get more clarity on that debate in december, if indeed they change the asset purchases to bring taper forward further in december, what do you expect the market reaction will be? some will see that as pulling the rate hikes cycle forward as well. christian: absolutely. i would rule out the decision to speed up the tapering in december, there could be a debate. that is all that richard clarida is calling for. if they were to speed up the tapering, that is a decision that would likely have to be taken in the spring of 2022. we have different forces pulling

and pushing on euro-dollar exchange rate, and the possibility of faster tapering in the u.s., which would lead to a stronger dollar, at the same time the possibility of an appointment of brainard, which could push the dollar weaker. tom: those factors are playing into euro-dollar. what about the impacts of covid-19 across the euro zone and the lockdowns and more restrictive policy measures? the economic impacts across the euro zone and how that plays into euro-dollar? christian: ecb president lagarde gave a speech at the european banking congress on friday here in frankfurt where she argued we must not rush into premature tightening of monetary conditions. a warning against anybody speculating for fast rate hikes in europe, and that had a big impact on euro-dollar. you can see intraday, the dollar appreciated on the back of those comments. we have a fourth wave of the

pandemic here, especially in germany and other german-speaking countries in europe. it is unclear at this point how much it will impact activity. we have a lockdown in austria. discussions about a lockdown in germany as well. if we were to get a lot done in germany, i would expect that to have a detrimental impact on activity and further delay any tightening of monetary conditions in europe. one important thing that comes up in december, the pandemic emergency purchase program of the ecb. many people have argued it should come to an end in march 22, but it is a pandemic program and if the pandemic lasts longer, chances are it will also last for larger -- longer than march. tom: that is an interesting point because it is almost consensus that pep ends in march of next year, and now we are in a fifth wave in europe. that is a fascinating point in

terms of how it changes the toolkit the ecb is looking at. what are the inflation expectations and what is the data telling you across the euro zone around the stickiness of inflation expectation and if that is starting to feed into a wage hike cycle? christian: inflation is on the rise, as we have seen. on the 29th of november we will have the first inflation print in germany, in excess of 5%, in decades. it is a a lot of controversy. you cannot open a newspaper or look at social media without having a discussion on inflation here. i personally don't think it will have an impact on rate decisions or the pep for the time being. we have a very strong view that inflation will decline gradually through 2022 and reach levels below the ecb target of 2% by the end of 2022. inflation conditions in the euro area are not yet in place to justify rate hikes.

tom: how do you take all of this together and inform your positioning within fixed income? what is looking attractive in this incredibly complex environment? christian: ok, so we have done a couple of things here. first of all, we took a profit on our long dollar position last week because it was a berlin this move here from 116 to 11270. we think it has moved a bit ahead of itself. there is not enough consideration to the rise between deficits in the u.s. we have strong economic growth in the u.s., new fiscal stimulus that was passed last week that will add to the u.s. deficits, and that may put a lift on the dollar here. in europe, we do have a good recovery, we will likely see gdp growth in excess of 4% next year in spite of the pandemic. it is very positive for our outlook for high-yield for debt

in europe. that's where we are is a should on fixed income. overall, we are optimistic when it comes to growth and the economic recovery in europe. we think it is a good year ahead for equity investments in europe. tom: solid insights. christian kopf, thank you very much indeed. let's get the bloomberg first word news. here are today's top stories. bloomberg sources says the u.s. has shared intelligence with european allies that shows a build up of russian troops and artillery to prepare for a rapid, large-scale push into ukraine. putin last week denied any intentions to invade but said he welcomed the alarm as evidence his actions have gotten the attention of the u.s. and its allies. it is reported wisconsin police now say five people have died after an suv drove into a christmas parade.

more than 40 people were injured when debris -- the vehicle broke through barriers and sped into the street in a town near milwaukee. police say a person of interest is in custody and investigations continue. u.s. private equity giant kkr has offered to buy telecom italia. the preliminary cash officer -- offer is a 46% premium. we are told telecom italia's largest shareholder is likely to oppose the sale. japan is reported to be preparing to release accrued from its strategic stockpile as part of a joint effort with the u.s. the government has reportedly determined it can do so legally as long as it taps surplus supply. the u.k. has added key chinese

that vaccines to those approved -- chinese vaccines to those approved for travel to the country. those who have received the vaccines will now be treated as fully vaccinated at the border. global news 24 hours a day on air and on bloomberg quicktake, powered by more than 2700 journalists and analysts in more than 120 countries. coming up, just five months before the next french presidential election, could a far right firebrand be a real threat to president macron? we will bring you our exclusive conversation with him next. this is bloomberg. ♪

tom: it is monday morning and this is "bloomberg daybreak: europe." just five months before the next french presidential election, a far right hundred and author, eric zemmour has passed marine le pen in opinion polls. his controversial views have created fascination and some ultra conservative circles in france, but he also has wider appeal. could he be a real threat to president macron's chances of reelection? we sat down eric zemmour for an exclusive conversation during a visit to london. eric: in order to reassure everyone and reassure the markets, particularly to justify european central bank's not to increase interest rates and not

to interrupt quantitative easing policies. but if the european central bank under pressure felt obligated to increase the rate, we would not be laughing so much. the french, the italians, and the greeks even worse. i think potentially there is first of all a source of concern. >> one thing fueling inflation is energy prices. russia is one of europe's biggest suppliers of gas and gas prices are surging. what needs to happen there with russia? eric: look, it is not russia solely responsible for the increase in gas prices. what is far more serious is we are also paying for germany's decision and the european commission's decision to play a game with nuclear, and the french government that has neglected for years nuclear

industry -- energy. caroline: emmanuel macron has said he wants to relaunch nuclear reactions -- reactors, so he is right? eric: you do realize the presidential campaign is in six months and many people have said they wanted to relaunch nuclear power stations. there was a disdain for nuclear for 4.5 years. he had time to do it and he did not do so. now he is saying that is fine and dandy. but frankly, that has been converted last minute. caroline: you have been accused of dividing the national camp. would you unite behind marine le pen if she is ahead in the polls? eric: there is nothing divisive, everyone is allowed to present themselves. we are not talking about a parliamentary race like in england where the political parties have campaigns.

it is a friendship situation. this is a meeting between a man and the people, if not a meeting with a political party and financing. tom: ok, french presidential hopeful eric zemmour. austria has returned to a full national lockdown. protests against new covid restrictions have taken place across europe this week. from midnight, austrians have been asked to work from home and nonessential shops have closed. people have clashed with police in the netherlands and belgium. joining us from our berlin bureau is maria tadeo. maria, are these governments across europe still pushing ahead with these restrictions? the images out of some of these countries were pretty powerful over the weekend in terms of the level of violence. is there anything that suggests governments are going to be walking back these steps?

maria: tom, no. that is even after looking at those pictures like you said over the weekend. we have them happening pretty much across europe, protests in brussels. i was stuck in traffic yesterday from one hour. we also have them in the hague, and austria. the focus point today is the austrian government. we know there is a general national lockdown starting today the government has said will last about 20 days. they are hoping with this, the infection rate will come down. once the lockdown is competed, restrictions for the unvaccinated will stay in place. we know the most controversial decision of all, there will be a mandate for vaccination, it is no longer a personal choice. it becomes an obligation. what this tells you, and the austrian case in particular, given it is a small country, it sets a big precedent for other countries, the government

deciding the economic ramifications and political crisis that come with shutting down a country, they still want to focus on the health crisis. the priority is the medical situation they worry about. as i said, there is no backtracking, vaccinations will become a government mandate and you have to get the vaccine whether you want it or not the -- or not. tom: what are you hearing about measures germany might put in place? is there any chance they might look to the austrian playbook when it comes to the question of vaccination? maria: that is a good point because german politics tend to look at austrian politics. that feeds and big ways into the german political debate. i have to say, over the weekend, the debate here, especially in political circles, not so much the nationwide lockdown, but whether the government should go for a vaccination mandate for the entire population.

what is clear is that germany has a big pocket of unvaccinated citizens who don't believe in the science and don't believe in government forcing this on the population. the big thing in germany is whether to go the austrian way when it comes to a bigger mandate from government. one thing i would note, germany is a country in a big moment of transition. we have an outgoing government, and incoming government in the next few weeks. a lot of these decisions may take time because the government is not in the right position to enact those decisions. tom: our reporter on the ground in berlin, maria tadeo, with the latest in terms of covid restrictions and the complexities of the political environment in germany. coming up, a chinese tennis star has a video call with the head of the ioc, but questions remain about her safety. we get into the story next. this is bloomberg.

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tom: welcome back, this is "bloomberg daybreak: europe." the heads of the international olympic committee says he held a 30 minute video call yesterday with the chinese tennis star, when she assured him she is safe. the let -- for the latest on the saga, let's bring in our china government reporter in beijing. does the ioc call ballet -- a llay fears about her health and safety? >> i think they do a little bit. at least we can see she is physically safe, the point is what we really want to know is is she free?

is she free to express her position to tell us what happened and to seek some sort of solution to her situation? so far, we don't get any of that from her directly, everything seems to be through the lens of whether it be a friend's wechat or the ioc. it seems to be out of her hands. probably better than late last week when we had not heard from her whatsoever, but there are a lot of questions that remain to be answered. tom: yeah, unfortunately we are running short on time, but it is a fascinating topic and you've done a great job covering it. we know suspicions remain about recent videos as well posted on wechat. we should assume that your report has been blacked out by the authorities there. thank you. up next, bloomberg markets europe. u.s. futures pointing up 3/10 of a percent.

gains of 1/10 of a percent for the european market. in the asian space, the msci asian-pacific down. this is bloomberg. ♪

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haslinda: -- anna: welcome to "bloomberg markets europe." the cash trade is less than an hour away. here are your top headlines. protests in europe. some violence as new lockdown measures come into force in some places amid rising covid cases. the treasury yield curve near