Caroline Hepker

Iran's mission to the United Nations said that it's ready for dialogue but will respond like never before if pushed.

I'm Caroline Hepka and this is Bloomberg.

And I'm Caroline Hepker.

Despite those gains, doubts are persisting among some investors that firms can recoup their massive AI outlay.

Shares in Microsoft dropped in after hours trading as the software giant announced a 66% increase in capital expenditure for the second quarter.

The higher than expected spend of more than $37 billion came as the firm also announced a slowdown in cloud services growth.

But Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella says that he expects AI expenditure to deliver for the firm.

Satya Nadella was speaking as Microsoft's total sales increased by 17% to $81 billion during the quarter.

Meanwhile, the information is reporting that Microsoft, Nvidia and Amazon are in discussions to invest as much as $60 billion in OpenAI as part of a major new funding round.

This as analysts are increasingly warning of a potential AI bubble forming in part because of the circular nature of some investments.

Now we have some breaking news this hour.

Deutsche Bank has announced a €1 billion share buyback as it reported pre-tax profits of just over €2 billion for the fourth quarter.

That figure came in ahead of expectations as revenue from fixed income trading at the bank also beat estimates at €2 billion.

The results come less than 24 hours after Deutsche Bank's offices were raided by German authorities as part of a money laundering probe looking at past dealings by staff with firms linked to Roman Abramovich.

The news had driven the bank's share price lower.

It closed down 2%.

Now, let's turn to some geopolitics.

UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer has called for a more sophisticated relationship with China during an historic visit to the country.

Speaking during a meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping this morning, Starmer also called for meaningful dialogue on areas of disagreement.

Peter Burnett, chief executive of the China-Britain Business Council, says firms are hoping for more favourable conditions following the talks.