holger us now, schmieding. let me ask you what is going on in germany. we have had confirmation of the -- relatively good. i suppose you could say a gdp picture. german businesses and confident seems to be picking up just a touch, and we look for progress around job support schemes. how likely is it that the government will add to the job support scheme, the furlough skin, and allow it to run longer. >> that is very likely. we have an election next autumn, and none of the major party wants to be seen as being too restrictive. that it will help people who are waiting for their jobs to come back. the scheme is working well, it will be extended, it will probably be modified. economic data tells us that germany is recovering from the drop in gdp in the second quarter, which is about as bad as the drop we had seen in the u.s. so the furlough scheme, to make this point for international viewers, it covers typically or at least at the start, 67% of net wages of german employees. what are the latest signs her mother german economy and how it is recovering? becau

going me now is holger schmieding, berenberg chief economist. you heard mike and i talk about the dot dot dot. are we off to a solid v, or more of a w shaped recovery? david: i don't get is going to be a v -- david: i don't think it is going to be a v. i don't get is going to be a w. it is likely to flatten off over the course of time, and with the resurgence of cases in the u.s. and in spain over the balance of the third quarter, we could see some significant flattening in consumer spending. having said that, unless the virus really gets badly out of track fore are on this. alix: there was an interesting note from kit juckes of socgen. the rhetoric has clearly been europe is handling everything coming out of the recovery, so go ahead and invest in europe. he says if u.s. infection rates slow down from here, europe is set for-- europe's outperformance may actually be question. david: the data is telling me the u.s. had less of a lockdown in the second quarter, and u.s. gdp fell less in the second quarter then in the euro zone, not annualized. lo