Bloomberg Audio Studios, podcasts, radio news. It is the Bloomberg Dabacurate podcast, available every morning on Apple, Spotify or wherever you listen. It's Wednesday, the twenty fourth of July. Here in London. I'm Caroline Hepke. Coming up today. Tesla prophet falls short again as Musk demands investor patients and kicks plans for a Robotaxi down the road. BNP Pariyberg cashes in on French election on certainty as European banks report
earnings plus. Kamala Harris hits the campaign trail for the first time as the presumptive Democratic nominee, with fresh polls showing her closing in on Trump. Let's start with a round up of our top stories. Tesla shares have fallen after the ev maker reported a fourth quarter in a row of disappointing profits. The company's operating income was one point six billion dollars compared to the estimates of one
point eight billion. The electric vehicle giant also admitted that it won't unveil a highly anticipated Robotaxi until October, and that will only be a prototype during the earning school. CEO Elon Musk discussed the delay.
I wanted to make some important changes that I think would improve the sort of the robot taxi. I think that I think that were the main thing that we're going to show, and we're also going to show up a couple of other things.
Musk's company is far off the pace of one point eight million cars that it sold last year, and warned for a second time that it expects to see a notably lower growth rate in twenty twenty four. Tesla Scheer has fell eight percent in extended New York trading, eating into the stock's recent rally but not fully erasing it. Meanwhile, Google parent Alphabet is reporting second quarter revenue that beat
analysts expectations. The results were boosted by demand for cloud computing services and search advertising, but YouTube missed sales estimates. We got reaction from Bloomberg Technologies ed Ludlow.
This was the first quarter where cloud revenues exceeded ten billion dollars, but also for the first time they kind of had more to show around artificial intelligence, all the investment and work in that field. The way that Ruth Parrott described it on the call with me was that, look,
it's AI infrastructure solutions and generative AI. They're meaningful drivers of growth for the cloud business, and on the analyst call, she kind of expanded and gave an almost granular kind of run rate figure, which was that year to date the company's generating billions of dollars in the context of cloud from generative AI and AI infrastructure.
Ed Ludlow speaking there well, second quarter sales were seventy one point four billion dollars, just ahead of an estimate of seventy point seven billion. Alphabet shares fluctuated in extended trading. The stock has gained thirty percent so far this year, and consumer giant LVMH has reported muted sales for the last quarter in big news here in Europe. The results come amidst a luxury spending slump in China Bloomberg's Tea where Adebayo has more.
Its brands include the likes of Louis Vuitton Fendi, but household names weren't enough to bolster the sales at LVMH last quarter. Wealthy customers reigned in spending, resulting in a one percent rise in organic revenue from the fashion and leather goods unit. That's just half the gain analyst expected bond was coolest in China, which saw sales tumble fourteen percent during the quarter, although the slump was partially offset
by strong spending from Chinese travelers overseas. Savvy shoppers from the country took advantage of the week yen, prompting a fifty seven percent increase in Japanese sales, but LVMH's CFO says the practice is hurting their margins. In London, to add a bio Bloomberg.
Radio now, BNP Pariber has beaten estimates with net income of three point four billion euros in the second quarter. The French bank's results showed profit of four hundred and fifty million euros, higher than estimates on surging equities trading revenues, giving a boost to the CEO's plan to raise profitability. BNP Pariber's CFO, Lars Marschanil says that there has been election volatility across Europe.
There was all that uncertainty that all of a sudden started to crystallize out. Yeah, so you saw these evolutions. You saw that what we had in the UK, you saw it in France, you saw it in Belgium, you saw it in many of those countries. And yes, there was some overall European volatility related to the elections that were going on all over the place.
NP Pariba, CFO Lars Maschil now BNP Pariber. The share price for the lender is down about ten percent since these snap French elections were called in and more breaking news out of Europe today. Santander beat profit expectations in
the second quarter, even as net interest income slowed. Spain's largest lender posted a profit of three point two billion euros compared to the three point one to three billion estimated by analysts, but a surge in interest income over the last year and a half is now slowing as central banks turn attention to rate cuts. Santander, of course, overtook BNP parry Bat earlier this year to become the European Union's most valuable bank on the back of record
profits and increased plans to return capital to investors. And one more, of course, Deutsche Bank, which has reported second quarter earnings that have come in below expectations. The German lender reported a pre tax profit of four hundred and eleven euros versus an estimate of close to four hundred and ninety million euros. Fixed income trading revenue slightly below the estimate two point one billion versus an estimate of
two point one five. CEO Christian Saving says in a statement that the bank is on track to meet its twenty twenty five goals and distribution commitments to shareholders. So that from Deutsche Bank. Okay, So that's all of the earnings. A quick moment to think about politics. Presidential hopeful Kamala Harris is vowing to present her political record against rival
Donald Trump. Speaking to her first campaign rally in the swing state of Wisconsin, the Vice president sought to draw a stark contrast between their agendas.
Do we want to live in a country of freedom, compassion, and rule of law.
Or a country of chaos, fear and hate.
Vice President Kamala Harris speaking they're at an event in Milwaukee. The lightly Democratic nominee also promised to focus on healthcare and childcare if elected, stating that building up the middle class would be a defining goal. Meanwhile, the Trump campaign has complained to the Federal Election Commission that the transfer of Joe Biden's ninety six million dollars in campaign funding
to Kamala Harris is unlawful. Here in the UK. Meanwhile, Kis Starmer has suspended seven of his own MPs for rebelling on a key vote. It comes as the new UK Prime Minister met one hundred and fifty business leaders to promise stability and called for a new partnership with the private sector. Bloomberg's James Orcock has more.
Kis Starmer suspended seven of his own MPs for daring to vote against the new government last night. It's a ruthless move designed to send a firm signal to his party rebellion, especially from the left, will not be tolerated. The decision also showcases Starmer's large majority. A less powerful prime minister would have needed those votes. But it remains to be seen if the PEO will end the issue, or so the seeds of further internal disagreements to come in London. James Wilcock, Bloomberg Radio.
Let's get some more then, on Tesla, which reported another quarter of uninspiring profits. Shares in the EV maker dropped eight percent after market. Elon Musk did give us a date though, on when the Robotaxi would be unveiled. Let's get more now. With Bloomberg's ev supply chain reporter Danny Lee, who joins me, Good morning, Danny.
Good morning Caroline.
What were we expecting and why was it such a big disappointment? What happened with these results?
I think the biggest disappointment is around the product lineup of the future, which we see officially being kicked back a little bit, both on the robotaxi and a bit more specificity on the more affordable ev that Tesla has been touting, which will be produced and sold in the first half of twenty twenty five. So it's a little bit further than what Tesla had been guiding towards initially.
But the frustration clearly is all around the earnings at the moment, the fourth straight earnings decline in a row, or the fourth straight miss in a row, and so when you know Musk talks about pleading for patients, it's clearly going to be a tough period during this twenty twenty four of anemic lower growth, and so we did
see that come through in the profitability. Although revenue was up, it was a revenue did beat on expectations, but clearly when you have high costs coming to the business and lots of talk as well on tariffs, which Eenil Musk has a direct stake in given his, for example, support of President Trump.
Yeah, no, absolutely, and also the robot taxi prototype that's not going to be unveiled until the tenth of October. I mean investors have big hopes for Tesla. How much is the valuation based on what is to come?
Yeah, And this is where Elamask is trying to reframe Tesla into more than just being an EV player, into more of an AI trade. And so when you look at the MAGS seven stocks you see the likes of Navidio and others. Clearly Tesla has to do a lot more to try and prove its credentials. And so with stuff such as you know, having a robotaxi, having humanized robots, and these are all things which will really boost this kind of valuation. But clearly these are really hard things
to accomplish. And so by having pushed back officially on the robotaxi date by a couple of months, it's still only going to be a prototype and that's the problem. How hard is it to get into a more realistic kind of production and so there is that challenger, and especially when you talk about autonomy or autonomous driving, these
components which underpin the product as well. If it doesn't work as design and with the regulatory scrutiny, that's going to really take a hit to its prospects and its product line up off the future of which this very much hinges on.
Yeah, absolutely, Elon Musk talking about using humanoid robots next year. And thank you so much Danny for being with me, Bloomberg's EV supply chain reporter Danny Lee there on the Tesla results. One of the key results are driving markets then today and last night of course in the US, but I also want to talk about the politics in America. With just over one hundred days before election day, the likely Democratic nominee Kamala Harris held a rally in the
swing state of Wisconsin on Tuesday, criticizing Donald Trump. Was talking about how she would proudly put her record against Trump's any day of the week. Joining me now is our senior editor Bill Ferries. Good morning, Bill. You've been great in kind of passing what's been going on in this political fray in the US. How did Harris reintroduce herself to the nation on the paintred as it were?
It's thought that she will energize women and young voters, and black and Hispanic voters in the US, perhaps also independence. What was the tone like in the rally.
Well, I think you saw a lot more energy in that campaign rally than what we've typically come to expect in some of the Biden rallies. And listen, it's coming after almost more than three weeks of the Democrats engaging in this massive wave of infighting over should Biden step off or should he not? And who would be the
nominee and who shouldn't be. So that is largely resolving itself now, all behind Kamala Harris, and she took the stage and there was a lot of enthusiasm in the crowd, and she really leaned into her experience as a former prosecutor. She was, of course, the Attorney general of California, and she tried to basically remind the audience and voters of the convictions that Donald Trump has faced, the court cases
he still has against him. She said that you know, she's gone after predators and cheats and and so she knows you know, this line that she has now she knows Donald Trump's type. That got a huge roar from the crowd. It's it just has a it has a very different feel than what I think we u what people had grown accustomed to in the previous months in this campaign.
Also, the fundraising looks like more than two hundred and fifty million dollars raise for Kamala Harris or the Democrats since Biden dropped out. And also Trump his campaign challenging the fact that Biden's war chest will go to Kamala Harris.
Right the Trump campaign filing trying to file a legal suit against this decision to transfer it's ninety six million dollars that was in the Biden Harris campaign war chest to basically just allow that to get transferred over to the Harris for President campaign. Most election law experts say
that that has little chance of going forward. Kamala Harris was already on the ticket when those delegates were chosen in the primaries, So it might be a different situation if there had been a third a third person or a different person picked who would have to come in and set up their own legal structure and campaign basically
starting from zero from scratch. But yeah, yeah, a huge amount of money flowing in partly reflective of money that had been held on the sidelines over the last month, and then I think there is just there is some enthusiasm out there for you know, Kamala Harris would be the first female president the United States has seen, so that is that has drawing some attention in the same way I think Hillary Clinton's candidacy did in twenty sixteen.
Yeah.
Absolutely. Just lastly, who do we expect to be Harris's VP pick? This again is another big question.
Still, Yeah, the short list is still full of, you know, leaders from some of these key battleground states. We're talking about Governor Josh Shapiro of Pennsylvania. He has not been in office long, but a Democrat winning in Pennsylvania, would you know, could bring a lot. You have Mark Kelly, the senator from Arizona, the former astronaut who could help secure Arizona. Gretchen Whitmer would be the first would make for the first female all female ticket in American history,
the governor of Michigan. So those are the kinds of candidates, largely from battleground states that I think the Harris campaign is going to be vetting quickly.
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