In doubt. The hedge fund heads to court today after being charged by the u. S. Government of systematic Insider Trading. All right. Were into the last Worldwide Exchange of the week. One hour into the trading day here in europe. Pretty even stevens really on the dow jones 600. Yesterday, the ftse was down, what, half a percent, 32 points lower. It tried to crawl a little higher this morning. Mit mixed earnings session yesterday. Xetra dax down 15 points. Ibex continuing outperformance from yesterday, up another third today. And cac reasquarante up twothi. Number of stocks to focus in on. Renault lifting core profit despite slumping sales. A rise in first half earnings after reducing costs. The stock up 2 . Lvmh is battling a slowdown in markets including china. Results are still posted, though. Amazon shares in frankfurt are down about a percent. It posted an expected 7 million loss in the Second Quarter. Sales particularly weak in europe. And it looks like investors approved of anglo americans restructuring plan. Pretax profit of almost 2 billion in the first half, stock just up around twothirds. In focus, active vision buying back most of the controlling stake from vivendi. The total shares, 8. 2 billion is what it is going to cost them. Active vision is buying 529 shares on a Investor Group. Vivendi will own 12 of the company, makes games like world of war craft and call of duty as well. When you add into the fact they also solved their controlling stake from morocco as well, giving 37. 7 billion, they want to invest somewhere else. On the bond market, a year since draghi said well do whatever it takes. Look at the peripheral bond yields. Below the 7 mark where they were trading for a number of weeks. Flirting rate auction coming up and the dollar index at a fiveweek low this morning. Dollar yen is down at twoweek lows, 98. 63. Stronger yen today, not helping the nikkei, down over 3 . More on that in a second. Sterling dollar, trying to bounce back from yesterdays losses, 1. 5391. Right. So, thats where we stand right now in europe. Lets recap that Asian Session with sixuan is with us in singapore. Also over to sherry as well in korea. But sixuan, with you, first of all. Thank you, ross. Happy friday. Without a clear cut lead from wall street, asian markets actually wrapped up the week on a mixed note. The nikkei 225 was the worst performer in the region closing down by 3 . As you just mentioned, japans june inflation climbed at the fastest pace in five years but a stronger yen and weak earnings dampened the market sentiment. The shanghai composite extended a threeday losing streak, down half a percent today, despite the pbocs comments to maintain prudent Monetary Policy. Hong kong and south korea ended marginally in the green. And australias asx 200 showed pockets of strength, on hopes that a possible call for a federal election could ease the countrys political uncertainties. In china, authorities published a list of companies ordered to reduce overcapacity. Among them, paper producers came under some pressure. Chungming paper, down by 1 to 2 in todays session. But some bigentm rallied on hopes they wont benefit from the industry consolidation. And beijings mini stimulus package will help boost demand. Anhui conch gained by about 3 . Nikon tumbled nearly 4 . And shipmaker had an operating loss for the june quarter. Samsung electronics also lipped nearly 1 , despite posting a record q2 profit. More on that with sherry in seoul. Sherry . Thanks so much for that. We have been warned of such slowdown in the growth of this Smartphone Market in recent weeks, right . This time coming directly from Samsung Electronics itself like you saw on the board there, Samsung Electronics shares off by a percent today, even after giving up some 14 since early june on those the smartphonerelated worries. Samsung saying in Earnings Statement this morning that it is a Smartphone Market is expected to continue growing, but at a slower pace and i thought it was pretty interesting that samsung said this morning also in the statement that the components business contribution will gradually increase. Remember, it does have chips and panels on top of its Consumer Electronics businesses as well and they did pretty well this past quarter, especially with memory chips and premium displays. But, still, samsung is citing one delayed economic recovery in europe and, two, risks from increased competition from for its smartphone and other set products as potential Downside Risks in terms of moving forward. So all and all, so far, so good. But questions about what now are dampening Investor Sentiment here. Ross. Back to you. Thanks very much. Well also look at japanese corporates as well. Nomura holdings racking up 662 million in profit in the First Quarter. Which is better than estimates. Shares up more than 50 so far this year. Joining us now ben collett, good to see you again. What do you think of the japanese brokerage houses . Well, you know, nomura is the best one there. They have been doing a lot all of the deals in japan of late. The on a relative basis, nomura seems to be the better trade. The issue with these things too, nomura is down 4 today, under performance in the topix of 1 . There is a lot worse out there. I think the issue in japan at the minute is we didnt see the selloff today. There are a lot of expectations in the price. We have been last time we talked, we talked about shorting the autos. If you are short those, and short the brokers and banks which we were talking about, then were seeing any support today, we think is covering. But from to answer the question, the broker outlook, right here, we tend to trade in shorter time frame, one week, two weeks. I think it looks vulnerable. Im not expecting a lot of volatility in japan. Consequently, you know, were not really sure if there is a great trade there to start buying the stuff here. You talked about, you know, you were pushing shorts on the autos and steals and say youre covering those shorts. How much is also dictated by the view of dollar yen. Yes, significant amount. I think thats actually the risk to thats the risk to even shorting more of these here. Were telling our clients that havent put the shorts on in autos, auto parts to cover them and the risk to the nikkei is the dollar yen. We think the dollar shows signs it is going to start strengthening and strengthening pretty fast. Now, we think thats maybe 60, 65 chance, but still a lot of we believe there are a lot of investors Still Holding this in the hope that will happen. Consequently were just closing out our short call. Were certainly not going long here. Were going to see what happens. We have some earnings next week. We do have also the month end coming up and i dont think you should ever underestimate that in a very or currently heavily retailed driven market like japan. So we think the chances of some optimistic trading and gains are relatively high, so if you are sitting on profits from many shorts from today, obviously cant today, but on monday morning, you should very much consider just closing those shorts out. Yeah, and we had sherry talking to us about samsung. What is your view . Well, samsung hasnt had a great ton of it but formed a base, around 130,000 level. As you guys pointed out, it is a Consumer Electronics play. But it has a more integrated chain than apple. We have been looking at samsung as a funding trade for the rest of the market since the decline. We think actually that samsung will gain, again, based on dollar strength. But were going to be looking to sell this. I think the outlook for this Company Still represents a little probably a little too optimistic. And as far as career goes, a big component of the kospi, again, a lot of currency stuff in there. While we dont think the outlook we think growth, the market is right to be pessimistic about growth in smartphones, high end smartphones in particular, where the margin is, so we are, again, you know, not that keen on samsung. Certainly not long. We do think it is probably going to go up again if the dollar moves, the kospi will go up, but generally speaking, over the next month, i dont see much of a catalyst. If it goes up another 5 , well be short that. Well come back to you in a second. Well talk about japan inflation, usually bad for countries but not for japan. The latest data showing Consumer Prices up the fastest pace in five years last month. Core cpi up 4 . Good news for the Prime Minister who wants to end deflation. The pank of japan is aiming to reach 2 deflation in two years. This is the third structural reform that remains a key challenge. Japan needs impetus, catalyst with which they can change the rock bottom of the regulations, invested and interests. And in order for them to do that, what was most necessary was the amount of Political Capital with which they can break the ice and break the regulations. And when asked about the possibility of Corporate Tax cuts in japan, he said the talk is not just about reducing taxes, but also providing incentives for companies to invest to help boost the economy. Ben, what is your view . You when you came on in may, you said you were going to sell the nikkei. And that was a good call. It went down straightaway. What are you doing now . Yeah. Well, look, im not the timing actually we were surprised by the timing of that. Anything can happen and we got quite fortunate with that call. The issue really is what we try to do is anticipate what is already priced into the market. You talk about cpi numbers today, which were positive, which should be good. Should be good for the market. But the markets tend to move ahead of the data, because the people in japan that know generally most markets, especially in asia, they know before the rest of us do. When we see price action like today, which is really long positions exiting, based on good news, what that tells us is the anticipation of more good news down the track is probably pretty low. We think there is a lot of optimism in that. Cpi numbers are up. Thats great. It also focuses the market on the fact that the monetary good news is out, the Monetary Policy news out, it is all priced in, thats good. We look at earnings which, of course, is a major driver of the equity market. I know that sounds quite sad, but now without the policy, without any immediate good news in the next month, obviously abe is extra political, he may be able to put some positive policies through in august or september. August and september, you know, there are there is possibility a little too much expectation in japan. Thats not to say we think it is going to collapse. But if you look at for example where your risk is or relative risk is, volatility in japan, you can buy some short data nikkei options around 24 volt. But to put that into perspective, the same thing in the u. S. Will cost you about 11. Were looking at a spread in volatility. Currently that tells us really there is a little pessimism and protection pricing into japan. Probably going to be pretty steady. What we think is the right thing to do is to actually buy the cheaper risk. The s p is still failing, we think, to break significant new highs. So the risk really is that japan does nothing and the u. S. Goes down, also, we think the probability is that that happens. So as far as the policy the monetary driver Monetary Policy driver of the market at the moment, we think the next few weeks is out of it. Now it is about earnings. We had most of the big boys in the u. S. Report about earnings. There have been mixed, but generally quite decent. In japan, we have the pharmaceuticals, which is, again, something that if youre safe playing in japan, you probably only need. The pharmaceutical numbers in japan arent that great. That could potentially initiate another leg down. But, again, the risk we think to the japanese market on the macro perspective is more moves in the u. S. You can buy protection in japan, but will cost you a lot more than it will do in the year. We think thats what were trading now. Thats what were talking about now. Okay, ben, good to see you. Have a great weekend. Thank you. Ben collett from sunrise breakers hong kong. Japanese Consumer Prices up the fastest pace in five years in june. Is this a clear sign the bank of japan is winning the fight against deflation . Not so fast is what analysts are saying. Find out more on cnbc. Com. Dont forget, you can follow us on twitter cnbcworld. Sac capital in federal court in manhattan today. They have been charged with systematic Insider Trading. Steven cohen was not charged, he is present throughout the criminal complaint, which names several times as sac owner. The indictment comes with a companion civil case, seeking forfeiture of any and all assets of sac and its funds and penalties for money laundering. The latest on that story as well with cnbcs Mary Thompson in the next hour of the program. Also still to come today, german elections are just eight weeks away. After the break, well have an exclusive interview with one of the candidates, the leader of germanys antieuro afd party. Plus, today marks the oneYear Anniversary since mario draghi promised to do whatever it takes, he said those comments in london, to preserve the euro. Has he . Will discuss that at 10 30 cet. Spanish banks got a spring in their step. Even though it is summer. They return to profitability in the Second Quarter. Well break down the earnings from madrid in around half an hour. And amazons Second Quarter profits missed. Starbucks sales heated up. Leaders are looking to clamp down on Corporate Tax avoidance as well. We have a Panel Discussion on that at 11 30. [ kitt ] you know whats impressive . A talking car. But ill tell you what impresses me. A talking train. This ge locomotive can tell you exactly where it is, what its carrying, while using less fuel. Delivering whatever the world needs, when it needs it. After all, whats the point of talking if you dont have something important to say . Bit of a dilemma for the church of england. One day after the archbishop of cant bu canterbury, they invested 1 Million Pounds in a main player. The churchs pension fund hol z holds should payday lenders be driven out of business and made illegal . Join the conversation on Worldwide Exchange. Get in touch with us, email, worldwide cnbc. Com, tweet cnbcwex, or direct to me, rosswestgate. U. S. Federal elections are eight weeks away and germanys political candidates are stepping up their campaigning efforts. Annette is tracking it all for us out of frankfurt and joins us now. Hi, annette. Hi, ross, actually i had the chance to meet up with the new face to the political scene here, the alternative for germany, that already sounds like a little bit of a dutchie thing, but, well, actually the party owner not party own, the party founder, i should say, comes very much hes a professor in hamburg for economics and his biggest claim is that germany actually and the euro, that is not a thing which goes together too well. So take a listen what his take is on the effect of the euro on germany. Germany has mostly done fairly well with its own National Currency as long as we have the german mark. When we introduced the euro, we became actually the lag arts of europe. The German Growth rate was the lowest in the whole eurozone for several years, 1999 to 2007. We have clearly not benefited from the euro. Well, the alternative for germany is more or less a single issue party, even though theyre not expanding as well on the topics of energy, family and integration. But their biggest claim is and the reason for their foundation is this concern or that theyre not agreement with Angela Merkels europe policy and their plans for Southern Europe are not surprising if you listen to what he said before. First things first, the Southern European countries should leave the euro because they have proved not to be competitive and the alternative for them would be decrease in wages of about 30 percentage points, which is unacceptable, actually, for working class people. So they should leave the euro in order to be able to devalue and a National Currency against the euro. So, ross, for now, theyre not a big force here in the german party scene. But recent polls suggest their potential electorate is roughly around 20 . So we should probably watch out for them as well during the forth coming election. Annette, stay there. Well talk more. Joining me in the studio, welcome to you both. As we head towards the election, what chances is there of the Current Coalition still being in power post . Youve probably seen the changes in the latest polls, the liberal party is doing a little better than it had been so far. But my baseline call is still the formation of a grand coalition. Simply because i expect the social democrats doing a little bit better in the end than what they are currently predicted at. If the fdp does better, what if they retain representation in parliament . They have to cross the party center. I think this is likely, this is still a very well organized and well funded party. But it still might not be enough for the Current Coalition to continue, simply because if the social democrats do a little better in the polls, in the end, say somewhere around 27, 28 , then we might as well end up with Angela Merkels solution. If we have the grand coalition, what does that do for the politics o