alix: it is 3:00 p.m. in london, tenneco a, new york -- 10:00 a.m. in new york. i'm alix steel. dani burger is in london for guy johnson. welcome to "bloomberg markets." we spared back some of the earlier losses -- we've paired back some of the earlier losses, but it is still a lower market. dani: i love how andy brenner at natwest put it. it is an ugly day for equities, but it is the least dirty shirt within the laundry. alix: we are pretty much flat now for the major indices within the s&p. you are seeing the dollar also coming in mixed. in the bond market, the highlight was the 10 year yield, the real yield hitting its

lowest ever level. now seeing the 10 year yield at 1.27%. ullman sax lowering its forecast for the next year and the couple of quarters coming out -- goldman sachs lowering its forecast for the next year and the couple of quarters coming out. dani: definitely each new piece of data we get increasingly important, and u.s. new-home sales data just crossing the bloomberg. let's get the data from michael mckee. michael: i'm afraid it shows us more confusion because on friday we had existing home sales that went up. everybody was talking about inflation and housing prices. now we have a decline in new-home sales, down 6.6% in the month of june to a 600 70,000 annual rate, down from a 700 24,000 annual rate, so disappointment in terms of new-home sales. prices dropped, and we haven't

seen that in a while. the new-home sales average median home price, $306,000, is lower than the $374,000 we saw the prior month. the one thing that is consistent is the number of new homes for sale goes up. so more supply coming to market. people worried about how much supply there is, and that is having a depressing effect it appears on the price of new homes. we will see how this goes and how it translates. new-home sales have been an important component of gdp up to this point. we will see if that continues. alix: in brooklyn, prices are coming down a tiny bit. bloomberg's michael mckee, thank you very much. one of our top stories happening in from china. abigail doolittle is looking at all of the moves. it started over in asia, now it spread to europe and the u.s. abigail: is incredible the selling we are seeing in asia.

the csi 300 down 2%, the worst two days since may 2020 as beijing cracked on private education. this is a continuation of the clampdown we saw last november, when they halted the ipo of ant and recently on didi. the stoxx 600 down a little bit. the s&p 500 index, the tech index down just a little bit, so not a lot of contagion from a risk sentiment standpoint yet. however, when we take a look at the golden dragon etf, down 3% over the last three days, down about 15% at the lows. that was the worst three days since 2008. if we put it into the perspective of the s&p 500 versus the csi 300 over the last year or so, we are going to see a massive divergence. are we going to see some sort of contagion if we flip up the board -- contagion?

if we flip up the board, we can take a look at the divergence between u.s. shares and china shares. china shares down sharply, so the question is not from a contagion standpoint of the regulatory issues from china heading to the u.s., but just the risk aversion. dani: abigail, thanks so much. both the u.s. and china are highlighting deep differences, and that is after their first high-level talks in months. let's get an update from bloomberg's emily wilkins. does the relationship seem like it is continuing to deteriorate, or are we having progress in these talks? emily: we are today from deputy secondary of state wendy sherman , speaking with foreign ministers there. these are the first face-to-face discussions with u.s. and chinese diplomats since we saw that acrimonious meeting in alaska several months ago.

what you heard from the deputy secretary of state was that this was a forthright conversation, a professional conversation, but also a tough conversation. the stated goal from the white house is really to keep the lines of communication open between the u.s. and china, coming at a time when the u.s. has really criticized china for a number of things, from the microsoft exchange hacked that they blamed on actors related to the chinese government, to human rights abuses. last week we even saw the white house blame china for stonewalling the world health organization investigation into the origins of the covid-19 virus. these talks are coming at a time when the relationship between the u.s. and china is difficult, but a lot of people are hoping that these talks will pave the way for president biden and president xi jinping to have an in-person meeting, perhaps later this fall at a g20 summit. at this point, nothing is set in

stone, and we will be waiting to see what next moves from beijing and washington are. alix: thanks so much. china one risk in the market, the virus is the other. goldman sachs worried about the recovery driven by infections. dr. anthony thought concerns about rising cases in the u.s. -- dr. anthony fauci expressing concerns about rising cases in the u.s. dr. fauci: we are going in the wrong direction. if you look at the inflection of the curve of new cases in the run into this interview, that is among the unvaccinated, and since we have 50% of the country not fully vaccinated, that is a problem. alix: max nisen of bloomberg opinion joins us now. what is the state of play in the u.s.? max: the state of the play is headed in the wrong direction, with significant and growing

case growth, especially concentrated in parts of the country that do have that lower vaccination rate. that is something you can only expect to continue, and unfortunately we are likely to see some case upticks even in those places that have a higher vaccination rate, just given how transmissible the delta variant is and the fact that even places doing quite well, think about new york city, use to have significant parts of the population unvaccinated in concentrated areas. the delta variant is one that is more likely to find those people, and more likely to create mild infections, but also be retransmitted through even vaccinated people, so that is what we are facing, and there should be a sense of urgency to get that right up -- that rate up and thing about -- and think

about where you have some of the highest restrictions. dani: coming up, a huge week in tech earnings. david leibovitz joins us next to go over the details. this is bloomberg. ♪

laura: let's check in on the bloomberg first word news. china lashed out at u.s. policies in the first high-level talks between the who countries in months. they handed counterparts lists of demands. china's at ice -- china's vice

foreign minister said the u.s. is trying to contain the chinese. the state department says it welcomes competition between the two, but does not seek conflict with china. the white house and democrats have moved to reach a compromise with republicans on that $579 billion infrastructure package. bloomberg has learned that last night, they made an offer covering all outstanding issues. among those items, funding for highways, bridges, water, transit, and how much unspent covid money can be used for infrastructure. congress goes on a five week break august 9. jeff bezos will follow his trip to space with an offer to nasa. he wrote to the space agency and said it must quickly return to the moon, and said he would wavie up to two billet -- would waive up to $2 billion in fees as he competes with spacex's

program. 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. i'm laura wright. this is bloomberg. alix: thanks so much. it is like the amazon model, but in space. it is a good week for u.s. earnings, especially it is a big week for u.s. earnings, especially in tech -- it is a big week for u.s. earnings, especially in tech. what is so interesting to me is that for the third time in the last four quarters, investors aren't rewarding stocks for beating. they are definitely punishing. you can look at an average 2% stock decline versus the s&p if you miss. if you beat, you're looking at a gain of about 0.3%. so it is really about those expectations to the downside where you are seeing volatility. dani: i think that exactly gets to that point of questions about peak earnings, peak growth. that is on the mind of everyone as we head into this earnings season. on that same note, goldman sachs

did lower its forecast for u.s. gdp in the third and fourth quarter, and it says that recovery in the service sector spending could take longer than previously anticipated. david kostin said in a note, "the new strain should not pose a major market risk." we recommend tactical positions in virus exposed cyclicals alongside longer-term investment in high-quality, secular growth stocks. let's get more on this growth trade and the trade our next guest wants to be in. that is david lebovitz, j.p. morgan strategist. would you may making -- would you be making a tactical allocation to cyclicals right now? david: you don't want to completely abandon the cyclical trade. we come into the year with the

view that cyclicality was going to outperform quality. obviously that has been put on ice as growth concerns have percolated and interest rates have come back down. but it does feel like the rates market is priced given our outlook for the economy. i would agree with the guys at goldman that the recovery is going to be more uneven than perhaps a lot of people penciled in, but still very solid, particularly on historical basis. i think you want to stay the course, and the back of my mind there's also the issue of valuation. the big roast -- the big roast -- the big growthy, quality names. i end up with a view that maintaining a cyclical bend and portfolios makes sense. alix: if you look on a relative basis, the recent rally and bonds, you can make the argument that now equities are even more attractive in relation to bonds, and that lower trend of lower yields seems to be going

anywhere anytime soon. david: i do think the move we have seen in rates has been somewhat technical. you have the treasury throwing down the general account. you have portfolio rebalancing. people spend a lot of time trying to explain what is going on with rates over the last couple of weeks, but i do think it is important to recognize that the current level of the 10 year yield is very inconsistent with what we are expecting from the economy over the next 12 months. to me, it doesn't mean that rates need to go to 3% on this idea, but we could certainly move up back towards to percent. the question in my mind and for the equity market is does that happen very quickly? is it a snap like we thought the beginning of the year? or is it a grind higher? i think unfortunately, it is looking like we are due for a snap, and that could drive volatility over the next couple of weeks. dani: i wonder if we don't get that move higher in the 10 year yield, if it stays around where

it is at this point, do cyclical stocks need that perk up in the nominal 10 year yield in order to outperform? or can you still see a world where small-cap cyclical still does well, even if yields stay depressed at the current level they are at? david: i think if the rates story does not play outcome of the cyclical trade will continue to be challenged. we are still in a very macro driven market. it is becoming more increasingly driven by beats and misses during the earnings season. but generally, as rates failed to move higher, you will see growth can to outperform not only because financials are such a large part of the value indices, so those aren't going to move if rates aren't moving higher, but also if rates don't backup here, what that says to me is that the global economy is experiencing a failure to launch problem and we will not see the type of outcome that everybody has penciled in.

alix: david, where does that leave us with small caps? it has been a sort of 364 them, particularly -- a sort of 360 for them, particularly. david: the small-cap story is an interesting one. we know that size does matter in small and mid-cap stocks over a very long period of time. the small-cap story is interesting. you have a lot of financials, so they don't benefit from the investment banking and the asset management streams of revenue you getting the large-cap space. but you are also seeing some very interesting begin to materialize, particularly as a relates to that issue of margins . one of the things that happen in the aftermath of the financial crisis was that businesses were willing to increase wages, but they weren't willing to increase selling prices. they effectively ate that increase in costs. what you are seeing in some of

the most recent data is not only are businesses looking to increase wages, they are looking to increase prices as well. if small caps can defend their margins vis-a-vis higher prices, maybe the story there isn't quite as dire as it is for the cyclical complex more broadly. dani: how important is that during earnings season, that these corporations have the pricing power, they can pass on the costs to the consumers? is that going to be a dominating theme from you as we hear from more corporations? sam: i think it is -- david: i think it is. you look at operating margins for the s&p 500, the earnings reports that have come to the door thus far, and effectively have of companies are acknowledging downward pressure on margins or get the other half of companies are knowledge and upward pressure on margins. you have the sell side calling for further margin expansion, and everyone on the buy side worries that this can't be sustained, so to me, the margins will set us free. as we get more clarity from management on what they plan to do, i think that will make the

earnings picture very clear, and that will be useful in terms of how to allocate per folios -- allocate portfolios in the next few months. alix: thank you very much. some breaking news here, boeing stock by about 1%. an announcement they will deliver airplanes with 100% sustainable fuel 2030. that is interesting because the current plans offer biofuel right now, but there's not a lot of supply. what is that sustainable airplane? is it an easy kind of plaint -- an ev kind of plain? that is the next question in the market, but you need a completely different plane to do something like that. i'm doing this in honor of guy. this would be the next step for airbus and boeing as they try to meet the demand for an industry that cannot quickly sustainably change themselves.

dani: i'm so ready for flying taxis. i am over being on the ground. get me in one of them. i'm all for it. but it also comes at a time when boeing and others are looking at space travel, which is not great for the environment. that certainly uses up a lot of fuel. alix: yes, i want that to be my second installment of the space race that will be airing on bloomberg. coming up, we will take a look at what that means. chinese versus the u.s.. this is bloomberg. ♪

laura: it's time for the bloomberg business flash, a look at some of the biggest business stories in the news right now. i'm laura wright. the swiss automation company avb has agreed to sell its transmission division for $2.9 billion in cash. dodge had roughly $600 million in revenue for the fiscal year

that ended in june. the sale indicates the abb ceo is making progress on reforming the company. -- wants to decrease workloads for students. education companies will be banned from making profit, raising capital, or going public. that sent shares of education technology companies plummeting. there is a brain drain taking place at credit suisse. more than 40 managing directors across the dealmaking side of the business have left since a pair of scandals rocked the swiss bank's profit an image -- profit and image. the bank isn't commenting. that is the bloomberg business flash. dani: laura wright in london, thank you so much. chinese stocks have been under pressure as beijing clamps down on some companies. our senior stocks editor dave

wilson is looking at how this is all playing out in the markets. is this just going to be massive divergence between the u.s. and china tech? is that how this is all playing out? dave: it is really a matter of whether you cross borders, in a sense. if you look at the nasdaq 100 and the u.s., it is doing just fine. you can say the same for a mainland focused indicator of tech companies. whether you look at hong kong were something like the nasdaq golden dragon china index in the u.s., that is where you get the crossover. chinese companies with their main listings in the u.s., that is where the weakness has been, and it is showing up in both of those indicators because you have a number of companies that, even if they have their main listings in the u.s., they also have listings in hong kong. it has been an increasingly popular secondary market for a lot of these companies. beyond that, you look at what is hurting the nasdaq golden dragon index, and it really is those

companies based in china with american deposits received in the u.s., their main listings here. the biggest decline belongs to baidu, the online search company. beyond that, you see a lot of internet retailers, the alibaba group. you heard a moment ago about the online education companies. it is a mix of companies, but there are enough of them dragging down the markets, so to speak, that when you look at these chinese companies with u.s. listings, they are really getting hit here. alix: talk about overall big tech earnings this week. how is this going to filter through that? dave: you can focus on the biggest u.s. companies to some extent as they group unto themselves because of the way they dominate the s&p 500. it all begins after the close today with the electric car maker tesla reporting.

tomorrow is the big day, considering you have microsoft and alphabet reporting, then facebook on wednesday, amazon on thursday. by the time you get done with this week, you're talking about all told, close to half of the value of the s&p 500 reporting. they are going to be the ones to watch. alix: thanks a lot. really appreciate it. it is going to be a fun week. coming up, how fintech is making an impact in the health care industry in the global reopening. also, what does the tech crackdown in china mean for that sector, particularly if you are a u.s. company wanting to get in on it. we will speak to the former chairman of go when sex asset management. she has a new gig now. this is bloomberg. ♪

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♪ alix: china's crackdown -- dani:

china's crackdown on its tech and education sectors is sending ripples through markets. they say they need to overhaul the education sector because it has been hijacked by capital. we have seen investors betting on china's ed tech industry. going us now is the china business council vice president of affairs. what a perfect day to have you on. before you already knew of china's crackdown on didi and ipo's, does this extension change the calculus of how we view china's involvement in the private sector? >> i think it has to change the calculus a little bit. it is clear that the chinese government is wanting to ensure that any companies that foreigners are investing in our companies that are managed soundly and abiding by all chinese law. i think that is the fundamental driving factor from what we understand.

alix: if i am a company in the u.s. i know want to invest in certain sectors in china, do i have to rethink that? anna: tech is tricky. i'm not in the business of giving advice on where investors should put their money, so i just want to caveat anything i say with that. but the u.s. and china rna tech competition, according to most u.s. policymakers, and that has meant that even on the u.s. side , there are increasing restrictions on which companies can seek u.s. dollars, and which can list on stock exchanges. more and more chinese companies are being put on the commerce department entity list, companies being added to the chinese communist companies list, and tech is an explicit piece of that, especially surveillance technology, because

of the biden adminstration's concerns that there might be some overlap between chinese based surveillance tech companies and human rights and democratic rights issues that the u.s. has with chinese government policy. dani: i guess within that, do you kind of have to assume that relations aren't going to improve at this point, and look at investments in china based on that? we are having talks between mid-level u.s. and china diplomats today. the u.s. whom the picture is going to get at her, or do you hold off? anna: i don't think we can assume the picture is going to get better, but that does not necessarily mean that it is going to get worse. our two economies are very much intertwined. that has not changed. data suggests that we are actually doing even more business with each other than we were prior to the trade war, interestingly. we are certainly hearing from

our companies that have operations in china that they buy in large have no intention of leaving and want to stay in the china market and be able to pursue china market opportunities. it is certainly a good sign that we have some additional government to government engagement happening right now, but there's no reason to be bullish that it is going to get better either. alix: so sort of status quo with some risk. anna, thank you very much. anna ashton of the u.s.-china business council. let's break this down with sheila patel. she retired from goldman late last year and is now vice chairman of b capital. they have more than $3 billion in assets and is looking to expand in china. gratz on the gig. it is so good to see you. sheila: thanks, it is great to be with you. alix: i want to start with the news of the day. if b capital does want to

expand, how do you take this latest crackdown on the education tech sector? sheila: i think it is part and parcel of what you see going on as the government tries to enhance regulation in certain sectors. as you think about it, i think growth and regulation is some that we are all used to in emerging markets, and the u.s. went through 100 years ago when it was a burgeoning market itself. so this is not something new. it is tough for investors to navigate, and as i said, hard to bear, but it is something we have to get used to if we want to invest in china. dani: a lot of the discussion today has been is there any contagion from china to the wider market, and the public markets. but in the fintech space, there is some decoupling between the western world and china. do you see any mechanism for contagion that some of what china is doing spills over into some of your other investments? sheila: i see what china is

doing right now, the education question in particular, is something that has a contagion effect, per se. i do think it will cause investors to think about every sector that might draw enhanced regulation. you can think about the medical care sector, pharma, a lot of areas where and many other countries, including the u.s. and europe, there is quite significant regulation, and where you still see that emerging and china. look at gdpr in europe, very stringent data protection regime . as you see china into into -- china enter into more data protection for what it considers sensitive, these are the types of growth and regulation we expect. alix: that is a really excellent point. let's get to specific potential investments here. if you are dealing a lot with fintech, how is that different from the traditional banks? how do you invest as that rotation and that shift is happening?

sheila: i think it is a fascinating time to be investing in the startup stage, when you are really thinking about the innovations that will change society for the better and our economy for the better in the future. in fintech, there is so much broken in our plumbing. we always tend to focus on the immediate consumer facing business of fintech, but when you think about what companies have to endure, when you think about global flows of capital and the way they work, there's a lot more that can be done to improve the global flow of capital, and extending that, there's a lot more that can be done to improve general corporate enterprise. dani: does that mean that this pie is just going to keep it in bigger in terms of fintech and the innovations that can be made? or is it limited, and it means either the startups have to win or the traditional banks have to win out? sheila: when you take a very large view, you see large corporates and the startups

eventually coming together. when you think about the long cycle, and that is one of the things i find really unique about joining b capital because it has the unique ability to connect with entrepreneurs, but has great partnerships that lets us bring big corporate global connectivity to these small, great ideas, i think that connection is what will make fintech work best on a global level because once you get global with fintech, we are back to that regulation question. alix: i wonder if, in some ways, traditional banks become b capital's exit strategy when it comes to fintech. sheila: many different things could be for various fintech businesses, but i think when you look at large cap acts globally, they are searching for innovation. i also think when you look at corporate, they are looking for ways to improve their businesses. if we are able to come up with those kinds of ideas, i think you can see a lot of different ways to exit. dani: to that point, what do you see the m&a activity looking like when it comes to banks and

fintech? jp morgan recently bought nutmeg based in the u.k. are we going to see more of that this year, do you think? sheila: it wouldn't surprise me to see more. i think companies have money to spend, and more importantly, you have seen such a revolution in the use and adoption of technology due to the pandemic. you have seen it in fintech, and health care, and consumer growth , and i think you have seen it in the enterprise space, which has probably been a quiet hero as people have used new technologies. a great health care company that we have been working with, it is really focused on the interoperability of data and making data work for both the patient, but for the health care system. when you think about things like that, i really think you could see m&a long-duration out there as large corporate try to engage in the way we can improve the flow of data, the use of data,

the application in ai and machine learning, but particularly in big sectors like health care, fintech, and enterprise. alix: when you are finding investments, when you are looking at it, what stage are you doing it at? what kind of proven use case today have to have for you to be interested? or is the early idea in innovation going to be enough? sheila: we've invested at various stages of early growth, and i think you will see us continue to engage and work with companies, particularly that partnership with btg allows us to span the very early stage of a company all the way up to extreme growth. a great example in asia, where b capital was very early engaged investor, and today when you look at southeast asia, billions of people have come online if you thing about indonesia, singapore, malaysia, and you think about a logistics company

like ninja van bringing the internet to your doorstep. you really find this kind of opportunities to keep going back and help those companies grow their footprint globally. alix: thank you so much. it is a pleasure to see you again. let's keep the conversation going when you make some investments. we would love to hear about them. sheila patel of b capital, vice chairman, thank you so much. coming up, ev maker lucid motors abuse on the nasdaq today. we will speak to the ceo peter rawlinson, coming up next. this is bloomberg. ♪

laura: this is "bloomberg markets." laura wright come alive in the pins of the room -- laura wright, live in the principal room. this is bloomberg. ♪

alix: ev maker lucid motors -- dani: ev maker lucid motors begins trading on the nasdaq today. it is going public with a blank check merger. joining us now is bloomberg's ed ludlow. what are the expectations as lucid starts to trade today? ed: lucid finally a public company. at got a little hairy last week as they needed devotes to get that approved. the stock now up around 13%. the focus does change to execution. they haven't announced an official production date, but they will unveil around 570 limited-edition units this year. look for the roadmap from here because it is a dramatic ramp-up. in they add new models and an suv coming in a few years' time. by 2026, they want to be in the hundreds of thousands of units. but as we know, production of electric vehicles has proved

very difficult for some of the names. they expect to burn almost $10 billion over the next few years. the focus is on expanding footprint of their spac -- of their factory, getting that built over the last 12 months or so. but they have hit some supply chain issues. this is a company the copy i with its technology. its debut car can do more than 500 miles on a single charge. it has a hefty price tag. the ambition in the near term is to take on those luxury german automakers, but they really see this as the ability of different knology to scale to a more mass-market model. the question is execution. alix: thanks a lot. really appreciate it. joining us for more is peter rawlinson, lucid motors ceo. congrats. you are up by 13% on the first

day. congratulations on being able to ipo. let's get into it. you're going to get 4.4 billion dollars here. can you start production now? peter: absolutely. we are going into production with the lucid air this year, and we are on track for this year's production schedule and next year's, and the $4.4 billion means that we can accelerate on growth as a company and mitigate execution risk. dani: so production can start this year. i'm sure a lot of shareholders are looking forward to that. but speaking of your shareholders, you did have to make an appeal in order to get this transaction done because a lot of the shareholders are retail investors. what does it mean to you to have such a large retail base who owns your shares? peter: isn't it wonderful that the reach of our mission has reached so many people in the retail sector? but we have such an illustrious

roster of traditional institutional investors as well. so we have this dimension, this diversity which is attracted to our technology and our mission. i think it is a great situation. alix: in terms of that, it feels like it is going to set you up for a lot of execution risk. you've got to meet your target. with a valuation as big as you have, with the retail basis, you've got to meet the targets in order to deliver. what are some of the question marks you need to be monitoring to make sure you can hit those numbers? peter: execution is everything now. i tell my team that every day. we haven't achieved a thing as a company until we have delivered our car to satisfied customers. i spend time in the factory every week now, making the teams operate cohesively. this is a huge push in execution mode. the main factor is just getting

the quality right. we started building our run of production plants. we have already started that. quality validation run. make no mistake, these are the cars that once the quality is right, they will be sold to customers. dani: if you are in the factory every day, surely you must see some of the supply chain issues that have come through. we saw trivia and delay the start -- we saw rivian delay the start of its production. how bad is it out there? peter: the supply chain has been hit by covid, and that is undeniable. our quality people have not been able to visit certain suppliers to do their audits, which would be the norm for a business like ours. so we rely upon 250 suppliers from around the world for about 3000 parts. so this is a significant logistic operation. many of those suppliers have produced wonderful results.

we are having to support some of those suppliers that need that extra help to get them across the line in terms of component quality. but we are getting closer every day now. i am confident we are going to have a fabulous motorcar in production this year. alix: it is not just chips, but also things like cobalt or lithium, the guts to make the cars. longer-term, there are still going to be some resource problems. are you going to have to bring some of that internally? do you have to make acquisitions to help shore up the supply chain? peter: that is not an immediate solution. regarding the chips, we are pretty good because we bought ahead for the near term. longer-term, i think the problem will go away. the medium-term planning, at the beginning of next year we have risk mitigation strategies including alternative sourcing for some chips, and alternative b2b designs to accommodate

those. i think we are in a good position. we have a number of backup plans in place. remember, it is not like we are going to mass production immediately. we will gradually scale up our production on an s curve, and because of that, we don't have the demand in the near term that a major automaker would have it we play that to our advantage. dani: can you get more specific about that? exactly what is production going to look like this year, if it is a ramping up type approach? peter: we will move from two cars a day to four cars a day and so on, and we will be limited by our ability to make the quality right. if the quality is not right, we will slow things down and get it perfect or get is the sort of approach that our discerning customers rightfully demand. alix: something else that has come up is a growing number of shareholder lawsuits against lucid and c civ -- and cciv.

how do you handle that right now? peter: we are confident we have done everything by the book, and i am very confident that we will prevail. dani: peter, thank you very much, indeed. that is peter rawlinson, lucid motors ceo, listing today via spac. this is bloomberg. ♪

laura: it is time for the bloomberg business flash, he look at some of the biggest business stories and news right now. i'm laura wright. bitcoin sword today and is now desperate going sore -- bitcoin soared today and is approaching $40,000. this question about amazon's involvement in the cryptocurrency sector.

the european said friday night it will let a cap on dividends and buybacks expire at the end of september. nbc saw a huge decline in viewership for the opening ceremonies of the olympics. friday's event drew about 17 million viewers, including who streamed the event on nbc's digital platform. that is down about 36% from the opening ceremony in rio five years ago. i was watching the gymnastics over the weekend. alix: i didn't watch it. don't judge me, laura. but i am definitely into it. but i didn't watch it. my bad. what i did find interesting, and this is something you highlighted as well, is that there are five new sports. you've got skateboarding, surfing, karate, sport climbing, and three on three basketball. dani: i have to say, i kind of feel like i did watch

gymnastics, and it is always depressing because they are really young and it always make me think, what am i doing with my life? but skateboarding, i kind of love it because i feel like the peak of skateboarding was 10 years ago, maybe 15 years ago. but because japan won the gold medal, japanese skateboarding stocks took off today. why not have a market twist to it? alix: absolutely. doesn't it take an insane amount of time to get a new sport in there, so it makes sense that the peak of skateboarding would have been 10 years ago? dani: that does make sense, and it means that the u.s., isn't that the skate boarding hub? it only got a bronze medal instead of japan. i can't really think about what stocks would you well if it was a u.s. story, but in a day where it is pretty grim in asia trading, it does give japanese skateboarding stocks the big w. alix: you brought that story to our attention which i thought

was a good positive spin on it. do we know what sport climbing is? is that like a mountain climbing thing? dani: i don't know, but i guess the hope would be that if i may, that it performs better than the usa basketball team. i don't know if it is too soon, if i can go there. but that was a pretty harsh beat. alix: yeah, that was really rough. basketball is like the u.s.'s thing. that was pretty brutal. i didn't even know that france had a basque about team. but then again, that shouldn't surprise anyone. coming up, we have the european close. james athey, aberdeen standard investment director, will be joining us. what do you do with assets detect crackdown? this is blue ash assets with the tech -- assets with the text crackdown? this is bloomberg. ♪

>> the countdown is on the europe -- is on in europe. this is "bloomberg markets:

european close," with guy johnson and alix steel. ♪ alix: 30 minutes to the close of trading in europe. here's everything you need to know at this hour. china's tech crackdown spreads. china announces new rules for education companies, disrupting global risk appetite. european stocks fall from record highs due to the delta variant i had a very big earnings week. ryanair's tipping point. the low-cost giant could break higher. dani burger and for guy johnson -- dani burger in for guy johnson. dani: i've been saying this all day, that it is able market that