German Manufacturing Boost, French Businesses Hit By Heatwave | The Pulse 8/21/2026

Germany’s manufacturing sector recorded its best performance in more than four years in August, helping overall business activity expand for a second straight month. Meanwhile France’s private sector unexpectedly weakened this month as extreme summer temperatures took a toll on the services sector. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said that he’s prepared to expand efforts to buy back costlier debt and that the administration will be unveiling a new fiscal initiative to address the highest borrowing costs in years. Plus, Anthropic expects to match or beat the size of SpaceX’s record-setting initial public offering, according to people familiar with the matter, in the latest sign of overwhelming demand from investors looking to profit from the artificial intelligence boom. Today's guests: Modupe Adegbembo, Jefferies, Economist; Marina Zavolock, Morgan Stanley, Chief European Equity Strategist; Majid Jafar, Crescent Petroleum CEO. -- "The Pulse With Francine Lacqua" is all about conversations with high profile guests in the beating heart of global business, economics, finance and politics. Based in London, we go wherever the story is, bringing you exclusive interviews and market-moving scoops. Chapters: 00:00:00 - The Pulse 00:00:24 - Eurozone August Composite PMI 52.1, Manufacturing PMI 52.8 00:03:17 - Market roundtable: Jefferies' Modupe Adegbembo & Morgan Stanley's Marina Zavolock 00:15:36 - Paschi offers to buy BPM, Banca Generali for €34 billion 00:19:31 - Anthropic said to aim for SpaceX IPO record 00:23:23 - Friday headlines 00:24:02 - UK economy speeds up as firms and shoppers splash out, PMI Shows 00:25:23 - US to unveil Iran economic isolation plan on Monday 00:30:25 - Majid Jafar, Cresecent Petroleum, CEO 00:39:36 - How Germany lost its industrial edge 00:41:17 - Germany faces regional elections next month 00:43:49 - Poland's economic transformation -------- More on Bloomberg Television and Markets Like this video? Subscribe and turn on notifications so you don't miss any videos from Bloomberg Markets & Finance: https://tinyurl.com/ysu5b8a9 Visit http://www.bloomberg.com for business news & analysis, up-to-the-minute market data, features, profiles and more. Connect with Bloomberg Television on: X: https://twitter.com/BloombergTV Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/BloombergTelevision Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/bloombergtv/ Connect with Bloomberg Business on: X: https://twitter.com/business Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/bloombergbusiness Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/bloombergbusiness/ TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@bloombergbusiness?lang=en Reddit: https://www.reddit.com/r/bloomberg/ LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/bloomberg-news/ More from Bloomberg: Bloomberg Radio: https://twitter.com/BloombergRadio Bloomberg Surveillance: https://twitter.com/bsurveillance Bloomberg Politics: https://twitter.com/bpolitics Bloomberg Originals: https://twitter.com/bbgoriginals Watch more on YouTube: Bloomberg Technology: https://www.youtube.com/@BloombergTechnology Bloomberg Originals: https://www.youtube.com/@business Bloomberg Quicktake: https://www.youtube.com/@BloombergQuicktake Bloomberg Espanol: https://www.youtube.com/@bloomberg_espanol Bloomberg Podcasts: https://www.youtube.com/@BloombergPodcasts