Overall i would say it was not as good as the First Quarter, but still very, very strong quarter. And bp under pressure. The oil giant admitting it must raise provisions for its gulf of mexico Compensation Fund while underlying earnings also come in below expectations. Record quarterly profits, though, for sprint to acquire softbank in japan, thats thanks to big returns from mobile Games Developer gung ho online. A very busy day on the earnings front. Lets delve in. Ubs, solid performance in the Second Quarter, pretax profit of 1 billion swiss franks. Earlier, the banks ceo said the time is right to buy back the toxic assets that it offloaded on to the snb back in 2008. Take a listen. I guess the positive developments in the last few months allowed us to take this important decision for us, which we allow our capital base points the option, exercise to increase our improve our capital ratio by 70 to 90 basis points. To me, it seems like a huge success for the government, the smb and you too, would you agree . We are pleased with the outcome, yes. A tickup on the share price opt market today, one of the best performers on the banking space and the banks reporting today. Deutsche Bank Reported a miss on the Second Quarter pretax profit, bringing in 792 Million Euros. Analysts were expecting a number in the region of 1. 3 billion. Results were hit by a 630 million euro hike in litigation provisions, and you can see the share price taking a knock as a result. We have a bigger slide in barclays and right at the bottom of the ftse today, barclays posted a 17 dip in its Second Quarter pretax profit from a year ago. The bank also announced a leverage plan. It aims to raid 5. 8 billion pounds by a rights issue, more expected. There was enormous speculation yesterday, down 4. 6 on the stock. Elsewhere in spain, santander posted a it t29 rise in profit compared to a year earlier th. Bps Second Quarter results missed expectations, but it adjusted net profit coming in at 2. 7 billion compared to forecasts of 3. 4 billion. The oil giant increased its 2010 oil spill net provisions to 42. 2 billion, and the share price is down 2. 7 . This is the overall tone on european markets today. There is a fair amount of green on the boards today. This means that the overall benchmark index remains in positive territory with a modest rise of. 4 . Let me show you the individual indices. The call has been performing fairly strongly today, starting at the ftse where were ahead just over. 5 . Closing to the 6,600 point handle. Xetra dax, solid day for the German Market, above 8,300 points. Ibex in spain solid, ahead almost. 4 . We had the news out from santander and also from the actual Macro Economic viewpoint, Second Quarter gdp numbers, the headline numbers shrinking just. 1 in the quarter. Thats down 1. 7 on year. The market, though, Still Holding on to the green. The French Market firm, you can see just off the 4,000 point handle. Elsewhere across on bond rates today, were coming up for a key bond auction in italy. This is 2 billion euros to 3 billion euros in june, 2018, bonds that come up for auction. Also, longer term paper, 3. 75 billion, this is tenyear paper on office. The market looking out for that. This is how it placed on the rest of the markets. Bonds, yield of 1. 66 . Portugal yields tracking close to the 6. 5 mark, still treasuries a fraction of 2. 6 own own and on gilts, 2. 31. Investor watching debt markets and on we can its and forex. Lets just dive in and see what some of the trades look like. We have a little Dollar Strength now on some of the baskets. Euro dollar the exception, still seeing strength on the euro, 132. 73 currently on the charts. The dollar yen rates, 98, inching back to the 100 level. Australian dollar, very much on the back foot today. We have seen steep fall, 1. 5 here. This was after the Central Bank Governor said there was more room for the currency to fall and also the Interest Rate cuts. And this comes up to a Key Central Bank meeting next week. Some of the market anticipating this as a sign that Interest Rates will mark lower. Sterling dollar trade, 1. 5345 is what were looking at. On to the asia equity Market Action to li sixuan in singapore. Looks like you have some green across the region today. Youre right, karen. Asian markets in fact shrugged off mixed japanese data advancing cautiously ahead of this weeks fed decision. A weakening yen helped the nikkei 225 rebound 1. 5 after yesterdays 3 tumble. And china shares also snapped a fourday losing streak. Shanghai composite added. 7 , still about ten points shy of the key 2000 mark. Were also watching indian shares. The sensex down by. 7 , this despite the rbi left rates unchanged as expected and also sounded a dovish tone for future support. As for individual movers, japanese exporters chalked up nice gains. Sony gained by 3 today and olympus jumped over 6 . Automakers also got into gear with toyota causing higher by almost 3 . Earnings news also very much in play. Kawasaki heavy industry surged nearly 9 in todays trade after raising its q2 profit forecast. And daywa securities surged, but Hitachi Construction tumbled 3 on weak operating profit. In china, the pboc injected funds through open Market Operations for the first time in five months, only a modest 17 billion in fund, but it is helping to ease fears of another cash crunch on the markets, especially toward the month end. I remember that. The tight liquidity conditions jacked up shortterm money rates and caused severe market manic. Banking shares as you can see, they made a rebound today. Property developers and also some brokerage stocks also among the top gainers. Back to you, karen. Thank you very much, sixuan. We have an earnings deluge out today, particularly from the Banking Sector as well. We are not seeing a huge move forward. It is as though investors are waiting to see what the central bank is going to tell us. Not healthy to see that sentiment, is it . Im not sure it is unhealthy. I call it idiosyncratic rather than thematic. The earnings in aggregate wont tell us a great deal. There is no fresh story that appears to be emerging from the slew of individual company data. You can point to barclays, point to individual stocks, we can, you know, we can see individual stories. Does anything inform the overall Investor Sentiment out of sneeze these . Im not so sure it does. Youre right in saying were waiting for the central bank. The earnings would give us a look at how individual countries are performing, where the sources of tension was, where the growth was. Were following the Central Banks. The Central Banks, read mr. Bernankes testimony, he didnt once refer to corporate earnings anywhere in his speeches or his testimonies as something that would guide fed policy. Inflation, jobless rates, we know all that. Not once did he mention corporate earnings. Corporate earnings at this moment, in the macro picture, very relevant. You look at the tone coming through from some of the ceos in the Bank Reporting season and corporate reporting season, most are cautious. This is interesting because initially as we were starting out 2012, many people were hoping 2014 would start to look better. We have that in our eyesight now. On our horizon, yet confidence is not starting to return. Confidence isnt quite returning yet. I think it is also very important, karen, for Business Investment. If firms are not finding any capacity constraints, if theyre not finding any big increase or sustainable increase in consumer demand, then where is the incentive for Business Investment . I think thats one of the real concerns we have. Even if the united states, capacity is running 80, 80. 1, that sort of level. There is plenty of idle plants and machinery, plenty of idle labor. Where is the impetus for Business Investment . We dont see it. Factories and labor in china too. Well discuss the picture across the asian region as well. Nick staying with us. Want to dive into the Macro Economic news. Spains Economic Contraction eased in the Second Quarter to 0. 1 , in line with expectations. It is the smallest decline in gdp growth since the countrys recession in 2011. Does that sound like a Silver Lining . Lets get out to stephane and see. Are we starting to see a turn in the curve for spain now . Thats the big question. Exports and tourism, to main drivers for the economy in the Second Quarter. Investment was stable. But Consumer Spending was extremely weak on the quarter. Spending gdp contracted by 0. 1 on this quarter. It is a relative improvement if you compare with the 0. 5 contraction of the First Quarter. Is it the early signal for gradual recovery . The spanish Prime MinisterStill Believes that the spanish economy would grow out of recession toward the end of the year. Recently the finance minister said there was some early signs of improvement, especially after the jobless data that we had last weekend, that showed a small decline of the Unemployment Rate in spain. But on the ground, unfortunately plenty of economies believed that the country is actually really far from sustainable recovery for a couple of reasons. First of all, because the improvement that we have seen in the Second Quarter was due partly to some seasonal effects including the sector. We knew the effects unlikely to last until the end of the year. Secondly, because the Consumer Spending in spain is still very weak and unlikely to improve significantly as long as the Unemployment Rate remains close to 27 . And thirdly because the country remains very far from its budget consideration target. Everyone here knows there is more austerity on the cards and everyone knows also that austerity measures will not have a positive impact on the gdp in spain. Stephane, thank you very much for that. Nick, dive in here. We have been looking at the numbers across on spain. Feels as though many were worried about spain being pushed to try to get this bailout at some point. Is there any chance of that now . We start seeing improving numbers in. The best we can see about spain is things appear to be getting worse more slowly. I dont see bunting being put out on the streets in this kind of news. There are some seasonal signs of an upturn, whether they last into the fall certainly remains to be seen. Grave doubts about the sustainability of spanish public finances. The debt to gdp ratio will go up, not down. We have a problem of the denominator. If gdp continues to shrink, ever euro added to the deficit will increase the debt to gdp ratio. We have some serious, Serious Problems still in spain. I dont think we should be taken in or fooled by the fact that things are getting worse more slowly. Good point. Lets come back to some of the stories we have been tracking to you on the corporate side again. K plus s is trading at the bottom. Shares sank to a sixyear low. One trader told reuters the news is a catastrophe. Ali Alcatel Lucent soared a Second Quarter earnings beat forecasts. Alcatel eeked out a narrow operating profit in the Second Quarter. Its first of the new ceo who said the company has also announced a Research Profit with qualcomm. This will see the u. S. Firm take a stake of just over 5 in the group. The share price soar iing 1. 6 today. Most are facing an explosion of data and proliferation of smartphones, tablets and all those types of new equipments driven by video usage and that requires more and more equipment in their networks. So i think that we have the right product set in order to embrace the transition. On todays show, earnings central heads to tokyo where softbank has just reported record quarterly profits. Well have live Market Analysis in 30 minutes time. And could the party finally be over for Silvio Berlusconi . Live from rome, ahead of a trial that could end the disgraced politicians career, thats coming up at 10 45 cet. President obama takes the pulse of the real economy from an Amazon Center in tennessee. We discuss as we preview the u. S. Gdp report that comes out tomorrow. U. S. Pharmaceutical giant pfizer reports Solid Earnings after announcing plans to split its generic and paid and protected business. Well hear from one analyst who is bullish on the drug sector. Thats all ahead. Stay tuned. [ agent smith ] ive Found Software that intrigues me. It appears its an agent of good. [ agent smith ] ge software connects patients to nurses to the right machines while dramatically reducing waiting time. [ telephone ringing ] now a waiting room is just a room. [ static warbles ] Chinas Central Bank injected funds into the market today for the First Time Since february. Traders involved said the pboc offered 2. 8 billion in reverse repos, that could mean policymakers want to stem Interest Rates from rising, given the interbank cash crunch in june. Chinas state council reportedly given the green light to the pbocs plan to liberalize Interest Rates. Also a new benchmark lending rate is in the works based on what banks charge their top customers. Nick parson staying with us. We have seen big swings and round abouts when it comes to liquidity crunch in china. This different tone to inject money into the system. What is this telling us . It is six weeks ago that the chinese authorities said theyre aiming to teach a lesson to the tier two and three banks. Now, that absolutely put the skids on the equity market, shanghai composite plunged. Now, the pboc blinked first. And they then did inject funds, they didnt teach the lesson to tier two and three banks. Fastforward a month and here we are now with another month end approaching and theyre injecting liquidity. I think theyre very mindful of the need not to see a collapse in domestic equity markets. We do know, maybe the chinese are just quick learners. Thats absolutely possible. Maybe it did teach them a lesson, yes. Thats absolutely quite possible. But if it did teach them a lesson, what it therefore does expose is the lack of liquidity in the system. We wouldnt be having the spikes as we approach each month end. And it is that very fragility which has been undermining confidence. There was a point around the turn of the year and into the First Quarter when chinese equities were doing rather well. Thats all been given up and more. Were now one of the worst performers globally in the shanghai composite. There is some real justified jiters. When we go back to the gdp figures we had, Second Quarter gdp that were okay, theyre only okay because they appeared to be a roguishly low gdp deflator. If the gdp deflator was anything like its been over the last five or six quarters, that gdp figure wouldnt have come near 7. 5 . It would have been near 6. So real concerns there among international investors. Trying to match up Balance Sheets between hong kong and china and seeing what the trade was like. You see the discrepancies that have been there, this tells us the story about chinese gdp, thats how people look at it. What do you think is playing out . How slow is the china growth story . Well, many ways of measuring the china growth story. One, you can look at the factor inputs, energy and railroad and all these sorts of things. The other way of looking at it is to see australian exports. Unless the chinese are stockpiling vast amounts of iron ore and coal, you can check google earth to see if they are or not, you cant hide half a billion tons of coal. If you look at exports, theyre holding up quite well. It does suggest we have not seen a collapse in output and growth in china, but certainly i think very, very valid doubts about that 7. 5 figure. Good point. Thanks very much for that, nick. Youre staying with us. Well discuss the situation across an emerging markets and here in europe as well with nick in a moment. Lets return to the earnings. Bps Second Quarter results missed expectations with its adjusted net profit coming in at 2. 7 billion compared with forecasts for 3. 4 billion. The oil giant increased its 2010 oil spill net provisions to 42. 2 billion this is what investors are focusing on today. Lets get out to our uk Business Editor helia brahimi. Thank you for joining us this morning. Can you tell me, first of all, why have earnings come in so far below analyst expectations . Well, helia, good morning. Pretax earnings come right in line with what we expected in the upstream and downstream. It has been an unusual quarter with a 45 effe