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.
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“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
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