. >>> commerzbank swings to a loss in the second quarte dragging the shares lower, while socgen suffers as the french lender sees both profits and revenues decline the bank's deputy ceo tells cnbc emerging markets are helping >> we have an advantage from the improving environment in central europe, from the dynamic in africa, which has compensated the still negative interest rate environment in the eurozone, and the low market volatility. >> an apple a day keeps the bears at bay the iphone maker's better than expected earnings boost european suppliers, and set apple shares up to open at a record high. >>> good morning, everyone it's hump day, that means it's wednesday, of course the stoxx 600 is not doing too much this morning. we're off bay fraction the german and french markets are higher, but seeing pressure when it comes to the ftse. that's in part because we're seeing the mining shares on pressure rio tinto off by 2.5%, this on the back of a disappointing dividend the divi not as big as some expected revenues were a touch lighter than anticipated by in large, we are not seeing too

juliette: commerzbank has reported its weakest quarterly revenue since 2014.ue at germany's second-largest listed bank fell to 2.07 billionaires -- euros. the plan to focus on the retail and corporate business. grapplingnerale is with the burdens of litigation for past misconduct which overshadowed a jump in demand for structured products. it increased its legal provisions by 300 million euros but it did not specify that 28%ed push net income down to 1.06 billion euros matching analyst estimates. >> definitely there is a better mood in france, better level of confidence and we saw in the second quarter an increase of long-term investment loans increasing by 10%. we saw also as you know gdp nowth figures pretty solid for france as well as for europe. we have a growth rate around 2%. i think it definitely reflects the new confidence level improvements and i am pretty positive for the outlook for the next 12 to 18 months. provided there are new steps toward building eurozone, continental europe can do pretty well. apple shares are on course to open at a record hi

i've just read a research note from commerzbank analysts.erals would push for more privatization and ironically, that could avoid commerzbank. remember, the german bank holds a 60% stake in commerzbank. if the liberals push for selling that stake, we could see the return of bank m&a. met with the prize investors, on the bright side. guy-- that would surprise investors, on the right side. guy: so, watch the finance ministry and the makeup the coalition. thank you, eyk henning. back to berlin. matt? now, angela merkel is pulling far ahead of martin schulz. questions around what coalition government might look like are still way open. our next guest says a potential game changer could be the leader of the liberal democrats. joining us is the deputy director of the german marshall fund here in berlin. let me ask you, first of all about the chances for a martin schulz comeback. it was not too long ago, that his lead evaporated, seemingly for no one solid reason. could angela merkel's lead do the same? >> thank you for having me. that is an intere

commerzbank shares down by 3%. it's a bank heavy day again. vonnie: yes it is. it seems like most are bank heavy days. we will be diving into some of those stories and a little bit. his volatilities vacation about to come to an end? bloomberg going back 20 years shows august has brought the biggest monthly jump in the vix on record. for more on this august angst we are joined by sam stovall. joins from his office in new york. what is so special about august? with thek it has to do old adage that investors focus more on their tans than their portfolio. august is sort of a precursor to the more challenging performance in september and i think that has more to do with mutual fund window dressing because their fiscal years tend to end in october so let's get rid of the dogs in september so we don't have show that we made some bad moves prior to reporting to our shareholders. vonnie: except that we are hitting records. that might be less of a concern this year. with washington so volatile will investors be inclined to make changes in august? >> you bring up a good po

the ceo wants commerzbank to focus on the retail and corporate business.your bloomberg business flash. francine: thank you, taylor. the amount of treasuries owned by foreign central banks and held in custody at the federal reserve bank in the ark for example dropped to $3 trillion last week. today fed watchers will be watching the refunding announcement and could provide guidance on how the debt ceiling and balance sheet normalization could affect the yield curve. let's get back to paul donovan and kit juckes. kit, do you worry about the debt ceiling, or just about the fed? >> i worry about the debt ceiling if it gets in the way, if it becomes some kind of protracted, big, ugly fight that affects fiscal policy. there is a lot being invested in the idea of sfiscal policy from the united states. if the debt ceiling gets in the way of that, then the fed's the only game in town. that becomes more important. francine: so, the fed is watching this, paul. let me bring you over to my chart that hillary clark kindly added. hillary added the swiss national bank. doe

a lot having to do with earnings reports and european financials like commerzbank in germany and societeenerale in france and ing in the netherlands certainly the european markets a focus. >> oil prices are soft again this morning wti sits below $50 a barrel. 49.02. brent crude, 51.69 noticed strength in chevron leading the dow yesterday. nat gas goes a bit higher. as for the u.s. dollar, finally got a little bit of a bump yesterday. not much the euro is back to strengthening this morning, 1 1.1854 there's a strong bid for the euro strong dollar against the yen sets the risk appetite mode better it is up 0.3%. the pound is up 1.3241 as for gold prices, on the flip side, you have a weaker dollar against the euro, stronger against the yen. gold off a half percent. >> turning to your top corporate story, it's apple shares they are set to open at a new high after the company reported better-than-expected earnings. joining us is tim leskow apple is one of his firm's top ten holdings tim, you got to be waking up happy about what you heard yesterday. >> certainly we went to bed happy and nice t

commerzbank.but again the markets showing you that there are still interests in the banking sector. if you look at it, nothing really wrong with the results, a bit lackluster, but momentum is stalling, i think. francine: is this expectation? i'm going to the figures in a taking is it just dividends? do shareholders want dividends in banks more than they ever have? >> no, topline growth is what it is about. banks that are delivering topline will continue to outperform. but there is fatigue for certain investors. mark: let's go to standard charts, they seem an uncertain future. chief executive bill winters says that the overhaul of the bank is imperative. shares falling for a third straight day after it reported revenue gains. give me probabilities on this year, 50, about 50, below 50? it will be reviewed at the end of the year. we said really that there would be two things important for us, one is that we are comfortable that there is a profit stream and an earning stream, which is going really wel

that helps the struggle on banks in germany and the french banks listed here, deutsche bank and commerzbankwer. a classic safehaven trade below 109 yen for every dollar so the gold miners rally in part because of the weak dollar, but they raise the price of commodities and also because gold itself is another safety trade. so take a look at the polymetal and randgold novo nordisk specializes in diabetes care. up 8% after raising growth targets for the year carl, back to you. >>> michelle, thank you very much michelle caruso-cabrera. disney leading u.s. stocks lower this morning, and investors are watching growing political tensions with north korea. joining us this morning from palo alto, always good to check in elevation's co-found er, roger, good morning to you >> good morning, carl. how are you? >> i'm good. you have been cautious for the last year or so, i can't imagine how you feel now that things are getting a little spicier between us and the north koreans how does this change your thinking, if at all? >> it just makes me -- it keeps me up at night and, you know, i don't -- i've been

commerzbank has reported its weakest quarterly revenue since 2014, revenue and germany's second largestted bank fell 7.7% to 2.0 7 billion euros as it struggles to make money out of new plans. the ceo is focusing on the retail and corporate business. that is your bloomberg business flash. guy and matt. matt: thank you. german auto executives are gathering with government officials in berlin today to discuss measures for cleaning up diesel cars and avoiding bands and cities which are now ever more likely. according to people familiar, carmakers are closing in on a tackle of initiatives to diesel emissions that could cost up to 5 billion euros. joining us now is professor dudenhofer. howme talk to about important these automakers are to the german politicians because although they do not ,ant to be seen as too close having a liability in september at the elections, they do provide germany with at least 800,000 jobs, what is at stake here? take the: if you theliers and the carmakers, politics are looking and discussing with carmakers for decades if you want that and the strange thing is th

still with us, max kettner, across asset strategist at commerzbank.rst let me ask you about how much you can extract politics from your investment decision-making? dalio, we heard from ray it will become a much bigger part of the investment environment? do you try to take it out though, because it is so unpredictable? >> again, my answer is partly yes, partly no. i think what we can see at the moment is expectations have been january,in february and after the elections. expectations for the u.s. and what will see through in terms of fiscal stimulus, tax cuts and so on, the equitation's have been too high. -- the expectations have been too high. the problem now is we are in an environment that is to politicized. both on the growth side, but also on the investment side. we do have an environment where we all must consistently look at what is donald trump tweeting, what is the administration going to do and who is going to resign? when we look at the reactions, the him is pretend li,ke, the trump tweets can change potential growth over the next 30 years.