>>?is now the time to taper? awaiting on the decision to slow the stimulus program. click the demonstrations continue in kiev. completing the $15 billion financial aid deal with the russian president vladimir putin. >> with christmas orders in full swing, how doesn't work? hitting the streets in germany. strikes over wages and we are live at the amazon center in leaps it. >> attention chocolate lovers. liepzig. a recent cocoa shortage may have you hiding your chocolate supply.

>> hello. welcome to "countdown." i'm mark barton. >> and i'm anna edwards. a standingeport is by across the world ready to deliver the stories that will drive your day. marcus cranny is following ahead of the fed decision and we are also in berlin on the latest deal in brussels. pre-k's hans nichols is in leipzig and caroline hyde has the most difficult assignment. she's outside a chocolate shop in london with the story on the surging cocoa. click some people get all the tough diggs. let's get a gauge on whether the markets are pricing in the tapering this evening in any form. click to the speak to anybody, whether it comes tonight, january, march, the markets are

prepared. as people who have kids, if you take sugar away from children, is anything preparing you for the ruckus that might actually come? there will be a reaction. it will come for a day, says goldman sachs. they make it very clear. 90% of the bond market have priced this end. i think that's the issue. aboutd el-erian will talk that tonight. have a look at the bond market. this is the essence of what we are dealing with. you have the build up to september and disappointment. could this be another day? yearnted to focus on 30- bonds that have gone to nearly 4% and staying at the top end of that trade range. the bond market to a certain extent is ready. the critical issue is this. one year money, five years time. event that1994-style is what they are trying to do. one year money and five years

time is trading up at a rise of four percent and that's not what happened in 1994 but they are a bit more skittish. the rising streak of volatility in record, 14 of the past 16 days. the equity market, they want to protect the biggest rally in a decade and investors put in $126 billion into equities this year. >> forward guidance is the key. >> yes, it will be the critical issue. i liked what mohamed el-erian had to say. they have to give us a package of information. what might they do with reserves at the bank? could they reduce that interest rate? what will they do with v6 point five percent unemployment rate and the inflation rate? would they lower the unemployment target? e don't have inflation, do we?

the essences this. no matter which way this might go, there is one message and one message only that will be reiterated. thating is not tightening will be the epitaph of ben bernanke. >> will he have it tattooed on him, manus? theince i'm an investor in tattoo business. >> where would you put it? >> european finance ministers trying to hammer out a deal. angela merkel telling them to get on with that. let's get to david tweed. any progress? flex angela merkel after months of not wanting to rock the boat because she was trying to get a coalition together has spoken. you are right. she told them to get on with it. she said they've been talking about banking unions for months and they help as heads of state and government won't have to deal with it at the summit.

that will be a moot question. it looks as though they made a little bit of progress last night on one big sticking point and that sticking point is the backstop to the resolution. let me try to explain. if you're going to have a resolution fund, there will eventually be 55 billion euros in it. if there's not enough money to should it neednk to be recapitalized, there needs to be a backstop. that is what they are bickering over at the moment. will they use the european stability mechanism, the european imf, the permanent rescue fund that will have 500 billion in? wolfgang schauble says no. it will not be a credit line. they refused to talk about it after the meeting that finished at 2:30 a.m. we will probably find out more today when the rest of the european union finance ministers join the ministers there in brussels. >> david, there was some progress in the eu parliament on

a deposit safety plan. how will that work? thing. is a separate it's a safety plan for depositors, a deposit guaranty fund. inks will have to pay in 0.8% into these funds. it will not be a common fund, something that some euro ministers wanted. it will be separate funds. at the end of the day, if you look at the deposit guaranty fund and the resolution, you will have about 100 26 billion euros locked up in that. i have to build up that money over the next 10 years and will be difficult when they actually want banks to be lending that they have actually made progress in that particular area. happensfind out what later today when all these pieces will start to come together and do it angela merkel once the finance ministers to do. european editor. tracks russian president vladimir putin and the ukrainian president striking a deal channeling russian financial aid

to the ukraine. this comes as the president of ukraine grapples with the biggest protest in the country since 2004. ryan chilcote has the details. >> he got everything he wanted out of this meeting and what we don't know was what president putin got. that's what's remarkable. a $15 billion bailout on the russians will start buying ukrainian bonds this month. perhaps as much as 3 billion before the end of the year and even get a discount on the price of gas. perill be one third less million cubic meters. that is a real bargain basement price. it is below the european spot price which is about $400 even after you take out the transport for the ukraine, it's a good price. prom,ways talk about gaz the stick that they can use to

punish countries they do not favor. here it is being used as a carrot. what does president clinton get? we know he wants ukraine to be part of the russian trade union. >> they said they did not talk about it. >> they were asked and they said the topic did not,. -- it did not come up. one of the former central banker said the only place you can get free cheeses in a mouse trap. >> i love that quote. >> it's a russian expression. time russiahe first has been involved in a bailout of this magnitude? >> they were on the receiving end of bailouts themselves in the 1990's. we had ukraine going to the european union asking for money. the european union declined. thosef back in april, conversations ended in they were not able to come to any kind of

arrangement. china and now russia steps in. we talk about russia lending money for ideological reasons but they've done very little of that. you have to remember there's a lot with the russians lending money and in the end they did not lend to anything. the only country they have really helped out was cyprus and two that was 2.5 3,000,000,000 euros. >> a lot of the europeans have money and cypriot tanks. >> when they really needed the money, the russian said no. quite an extraordinary move using their own sovereign wealth fund, their own savings, the rainy day fund, rating the cookie jar to help prop up the ukraine. >> thanks, ryan. >> a workers at the amazon german warehouses are on strike to mandate higher pay. hans nichols joins us for more on the story.

>> good morning. right behind me is an amazon distribution center. they are backing into base but at the same time, protesters are starting to arrive. some 400-500 protesters and what they want to do is call for higher wages. the dispute centers on what they are paid. amazon says they are getting 950 per hour and that's on the upper end of the logistics side but the workers want to be paid more as retailers. their average wages are about 11.4 euros per hour. when we have is potentially 1100 workers out of the 23,000 striking and it's a test of wills. it's a question of logistics. will amazon be able, with nine distribution centers in germany, deliver christmas packages on time? or will the union force them to

bend, to break? not have had a policy of dealing with unions. they had a bit of a setback in delaware where arty technicians have earned the right to unionize but that's a small fraction of the number of employees they have in delaware and worldwide. from amazon is a lot of bluster. we see no advantage entering into a collective wage agreement. we will try to talk to the company later today. >> what are amazon's options from what you said? they don't seem to be any negotiating mood. >> they can move distributional centers abroad and there is talk of opening up redistribution centers in neighboring: dan two in the czech republic. europe.hem all over germany is the second-biggest market. can they work around strikers in germany if the union continues to gather strength?

>> hans nichols live there in leipzig. >> it's the season of overindulgence. chocolate will be consumed in this year, the confectionery trend is catching on in asia. correspondentess caroline hyde is outside a chocolate shop with more on the cocoa supply story. good morning, caroline. >> am actually inside a piece of heaven. it's the only handmade chocolate company. of the finertaste quality chocolate in western europe and as china and asia demand surges, the prices of and are rising through through. we are telling all about the trends and the lack of supply to meet that demand. in the meantime, some investigative journalism is in the cards. it's only right that i try one. amaretto, ginger,

and caramel. >> amaretto? add 12 minutes past 6:00 a.m. that is punchy. >> never too early. >> she will never return. we've lost her. be poisedmarkets may to move higher in 2014, but our next guest says it depends on keeping the storm clouds that day. bay. ♪

>> time for today's company news. tesco plans to enter the supermarket business in india. the largest grocer is likely to invest about $110 million in a unit of the group that runs in indian supermarket chain. sony is said to be exploring a sale of its audio recognition business. the software is best known for leading apple itunes quickly identify songs from a cd. they acquired the business in 2008 and a deal could be reached by the end of the year. to have picked bank of america goldman sachs and hsbc

to work on a public offering of its retail arm. watson would be valued at more than $20 billion in an ipo. they plan to list in hong kong. welcome back to "countdown." i'm anna edwards >> and i'm mark barton. ifestors are waiting to see the announcement will start tapering. our next guest says with more qe we can expect that the markets to head higher. let's bring in matthew beasley. markets with hold ? >> theywere to occur tried to forecast it forward and we see a lot of the trends in german markets higher this year continuing into next year. everyone is very focused on the u.s. tapering and we have to

remember that the bank of japan is going to further expansion to provide some level of support. >> it's the reason that tapering does not derail that rally because it will be replaced by a stronger growth story in the u.s.. bottom line for us. we look at the tapering that's occurring and yet it is not the foreshadowing in rate rises. ande having this debate when it tells us the economy is better, all things being equal, it should be good for corporate profitability which should be good for stocks. >> can we narrow the game we see this year, the msci that's had its best game since this year. you mentioned the boj up by almost 50%. could we replicate the sort of games we've seen in some of these big equity markets in 2014? >> we need to see a lot of profit growth for that to happen.

markets have been driven higher by quantitative easing and by the anticipation of an rising. there are still some support and is a lot of tapering, stopping a bond purchases in the u.s. plus there is everything going on in japan. we nasty corporate profitability rise and the guest would be after what true or five years, pretty jerk roan he and cost- cutting and there is more profit leverage and a lot of corporate p&l than management believes and if they can rise substantially and surprise people, yes, markets can go higher in 2014 as well. >> and particularly in europe, outperform its might surprise. you think there is more room to play, more to go for in terms of increasing profits for european businesses? many traditional business models especially looking at the dislocation because of the severity of the economic downturn which we

suffered. cuttingcorporations costs for four or five years consistently trying to catch up with the declines in revenues from underlying economies. if that reverses, things have gotten less worse and there are still pockets of weakness. maybe france, for example, but things are looking a little bit better and our guest would mean surprise on the bottom line. look atup by 10% but germany and france. they've outperformed because of our dominance within the ftse 100. ftse is up. -- the >> mayor global investors and we look at them bottom-up. ofis the greatest example

the common sense approach to global investors. there are so many companies in the ftse 100 that are not u.k. sensitive than the 250 is a much more sensible barometer of the u.k. economy and i would point to that as a representative of the outlook for the u.k. economy which is towards the top of the list. ask matthew beasley will stay with us. when we come back, his thoughts on which individual stocks from the list he favors. ♪

"countdown >> welcome back to." -- >> welcome back to "countdown." >> one week until christmas. if anyone wants to put any stocks in your wish list, what would they include? >> if you believe that there will be 11 recovery in europe, the top line will surprise people. significant gdp growth, but we will see these companies benefit from lots of aggressive cost cutting. i point to they are dominantly spain.y and it is very tightly correlated. they have a very strong relationship. i have been decimated given the dramatic downside and willing to advertise. as these things normalize, they have been aggressively cutting costs to keep up with the dramatic revenue decline.

i would suggest that has the potential to be a surprise for us all next year. >> they are cutting costs better than other media companies? >> in line with revenue and how it's exciting more precipitously than you expect because of the unwillingness to advertise. as that normalizes, you expect to see some topline recovery. you get leverage. >> another stock you like thomas alcatel lucent. it had a good year if you look at the stock price. the big talk is if it will hook up with the new nokia, the non- handset nokia, the mobile network. will that happen? >> there is a great chance it will. there's lots of self-help. >> it can compete with the likes of wah way -- huawei and others. pricing is better than it has been for a long while in the company is on some steady footing with some competent

aggressive management. we think we make money where there's lots of change occurring bottom-up that people understand and i'll could tell, this is not the world's leading player in terms of returns but it's a company where there is significant scope for recovery and scope for profit leverage as the topline stabilizes. >> in a year when the review of the banks will take center stage , matthew how do you decipher which bank you favor amidst a whole load of banks within europe? >> there are a lot of banks that are still investable. they have shied away fearing the unknown. strongd a very performance and in the third quarter when the prospects for europe improved, i would point towards a bank like abc and belgium where the terms are very high and it's a very consolidated market. i would also point towards unicredit and lloyds.

>> matthew beasley, thank you. >> coming up, amc public offering before the stock hits the nyse later today. ♪

>> stays in a bloomberg top headlines. mark carney and his message about interest rates. the bank of england governor says the recovery needs to be sustained before considering a rate rise. carney says it will be sometime in the future when the central bank pulls back stimulus. way to runvery has a before it would be appropriate to consider adjusting the appropriate level of monetary stimulus the me continue to provide to the economy. >> ben bernanke will hold his last schedule the fed newscast after the fomc releases its latest policy statement. the central bank has pledged to continue buying bonds until the labor markets improve.

today's statement comes after u.s. payroll jumped more than expected in november. jpmorgan and deutsche bank are ban on chat rooms. deutsche bank wants to widen the restrictions to other parts of the bank and the move comes amid allegations of investigations into currency market manipulations and interest rate beginning. ♪ hello. welcome to "countdown." 631 a.m. in london. the amc rates about 300 $32 million in its initial public offering. let's get the details from zeb eckert who joins us now from hong kong. >> good morning to you. this marks the return to the public market of amc after nine

years going public on the new york stock exchange. the ipo priced at a discount to its peers. $18 per share here are offered at $18-20 dollars and its main competitors, regal cinemas and cinemark trade at a higher multiple. this is seven times the forecast 2014n km partners for earnings. even thought is a value of about $3.4 billion including debt -- ebitda is about $3.4 billion. they operate in the biggest american cities facing higher rents and we also understand it's later to the game in terms of updating theaters and still grappling with costs. we should note the chinese billionaire, the third most successful in the third against, richest -- the third richest, he bought the chain back in 20 12

and he's banking on a rebound in the united states for amc and it's properties outside of the u.s.. >> how does it rank in terms of its american peers? >> it is ranked at two. it has been around for many years, decades in fact. it's been a pioneer in the movie business. in terms of prop larry, you have to look at the box office returns for those numbers. according to analysts late to the game and upgrading theaters, it has a plus of being in the major cities in new york and los angeles where it charge higher ticket prices at its key cinemas. >> zeb eckert reporting there from hong kong. we will hear from the amc ceo and gerry lopez will join stephanie ruhle on "market makers." don't miss that.

>>'tis the season to be jolly. europe and the u.s. alone in the holiday craving developing a a bigto stand it's having impact on the trade in cocoa. european business correspondent caroline hyde for nothing other than the chocolate shop where she has been talking to them already. this plenty of cocoa where you are but globally, it's in short supply. demand isecause hitting a record high this year. they are creating more these truffles. ands absolutely sensational we develop more of a taste for luxury.urious

we are seeing demand outstripping supply. we are seeing a shortfall at the moment in terms of cocoa supply. tons more some 70,000 cocoa is going to be demanded dan will be supplied and it's enough to make half a billion of this. that's what the shortfall is for this year and it will continue for the next six years. effect on the an cost of cocoa in the price is up 15% next year. that's the expectation that is already up 25% so far this year. >> what's preventing an increase in cocoa supply to meet surging demand? >> 70,000 tons is a lot of cocoa that needs to be provided. wired am not managing to produce a quickly enough. the two main players on the ivory coast, when it's gone, it's gone. using all the crops. the yields are falling.

it takes years for the new plants to produce these amounts of cocoa that you need. not, the governments are subsidizing pesticides as much as they used to. i will have a knock on effect in happening. they need to invest. it'swill be talking and the amount of investment. we need to see more money paid to the growers. they need to get more on that 25% increase in prices. they just rose 3% and they are not able to invest. >> are they able to cash in on this escalating demand? ablee growers are not yet to cash in yet but they are at the moment and they are investing heavily themselves. butr costs are going up hershey and cargo are opening

new plants in asia. that is where they are betting the demand will continue to drive higher overall. at the moment, about 10% of the cost of a chocolate bar like this is cocoa. the rest of it is an ok need use for the product. lindt, they are looking at increasing supply and we will see more from hershey opening plants in indonesia. >> will she tucked into another one? which one do you fancy? >> one of those white ones look nice. it will throw you off the rest of the morning. caroline, thank you. more from her in the chocolate shop, if we can find are amongst the truffles, later. allowing you to enjoy chocolate without the calories. a chocolate massages just the right tree to get you into shape for the party season.

-- it is just the right treat. fine darkilled with chocolate. you are not allowed to eat any of it. instead, they are destined for something altogether more decadent, a chocolate full body wrap and facial. >> it's a luxury treatment. first, we do the massage and then we massage with the chocolate. >> therapist and beautician parisa works at beauty and the melody spot in london. she says it's gaining in popularity and not just with women. >> these days, men take her of themselves and they really enjoy the luxury treatment. long chocolate facial will cost 130 dollars. a full body treatment including being sealed in sheets for 30 minutes will set you back $155.

-- does it work? it's not all about the science. a little of what you fancy does you good. angus bennett, bloomberg. >> what a waste. don't you think? just eat the stuff. >> don't slap it on you. next, a surprise decision from the indian central bank to hold rates unchanged. what wanted the move. >> a little blue pill goes generic. viagra on the generic market more than two years ahead of schedule. ♪

>> tempe today's company news. silver lake management will be buying img worldwide for more than $2 billion. they went on the deal with serb williammorris -- with morris, talent agency. some of the tech giants meeting with president obama and on top of the agenda, the nsa surveillance program. yahoo!'s marissa mayer warned

that the backlash over spying could make countries adopt different standards. itse shack is making russian debut. the new york burger joint has expanded globally since 2001 and this comes two decade after mcdonald opened its first russian location. welcome back to "countdown." is 6:43ime in london a.m. the indian central bank unexpectedly left the rates unchanged. that risks exacerbating inflation, still above 11%. for more, let's go to mumbai. shukla is there. >> the markets have been pleasantly surprised by the bank decision. the consensus among economists as well as market experts was rate would increase by 25 basis points but they have

remained unchanged. what is the rationale here? we're at a three and a half year agh and inflation is also at 14-month high at this point in time. overlyy policy cannot be reactive. basically, inflation is on a thisard trajectory at point in time. instead of reacting to the spikes we are seeing in the inflation data, they would rather wait to see more data points in the next few weeks at least before taking any further decisions. themow, the rate hike has concerned but they have mentioned very clearly they may policy.k at they will be costly monitoring the situation. also on the tapering front, one governor said india is now in a better place of withstanding the impact of the table when it happens. we are relatively in a better

rough place now. the rupee now we can take. this is probably a few months needed tot has now keep in mind inflation a still relatively high, beyond the comfort level of central bank and they will be keeping a close watch. >> tanvi shukla, thank you. bloomberg tv in mumbai and we will see how timely the comments are from governor rajan. we will see what happens when the fed makes their decision. question eric viagra coming to the united states. israel-based -- teva fighting with pfizer. let's talk with elliott gotkine. not a total victory for teva, is it? >> some might even see this as a defeat for teva.

it all goes back to 2005 when parts of the patent for viagra were invalidated because they were deemed to be too similar to the chinese herbal medicine known as horny goat weed. since then, teva has been fighting to get the rest of viagras patent for invalidated. as part of a broader agreement december 2017,om they will be able to market generic copies of viagra while paying patent royalties to pfizer. in 2020, they will no longer need to pay those royalties. it's worth noting that generic viagra is already available in much of the european union. teva started selling generic copies back in june when the patent expired in the eu. it'sod news for teva, but failed to prop up the shares.

>> they initially spiked about 1% yesterday. they are also traded in israel where they are the biggest listed israel company. if you look over a five year basis, the investors stake has just been adding away. the main reason, i suppose, is the blockbuster banded -- branded drug for multiple sclerosis. there is a risk that faces generic competition as early as next year. this accounts for more than half of tebow's profits. this is so huge for teva but in general terms. -- this accounts for more than half of teva's profits. they will sell generic viagra in the u.s. and it will not make a huge dent or make up for that essential loss of revenue of this drug. at the same time, have a is looking for a new ceo after the last one left after a spat. they are anticipating lower

sales and profits once the generic competition comes in. also, this year a setback when they asked a patent infringement case for a heartburn treatment and ended up having to pay $1.6 billion to pfizer. thanks, elliott gotkine, middle east editor. >> let's look at another story. israel has the fastest rising housing prices in the oecd according to goldman sachs. they are the most likely to see a correction. on the best-known boulevard in tel aviv, the tallest residential tower. it will probably be the most expensive. the apartments in this residence, some with private plunge pools, star. $1.5 million-- start at $1.5 million. 55%,li house prices rose

faster than norway, switzerland, and every other member of the oecd. they are surging due to a strong economy, lack of supply, and low interest rates. housing prices have been rising so fast especially here in tel aviv that many israelis find lvessericed out of the market. they would love for the prices to come down and in that sense they are not alone. developers say they also want cheaper homes. showing me around the $50 million penthouse, he says the current situation helps no one. >> rising prices in the short term may be good for some. for the buyers, prices going up and it's much harder to get an apartment. even for developers, the lending prices are increasing at a steady state. after a certain point, it becomes too risky to buy a new land and going to new construction. wish.may soon get his goldman sachs is israel is the most likely oecd country to see a housing price crash.

the finance minister does not see that happening. >> housing is just way too expensive. that the supply of new houses, of new construction is much bigger and it will enable us to be more helpful through the process. click the israeli government has repeatedly failed to build enough homes. interest rates may fall further to weaken the shekel given the housing boom yet another risk -- boost. elliott gotkine, bloomberg, tel aviv. --up next, let the morning mourning begin. england loses australia and the ashes. oh, dear. ♪

>> welcome back. i'm anna edwards. had youew, we have not on in a while. take it away. one morning, he drove it all the way down to france and scaled the mountain and returned 3:57 a.m. within 22 seconds of his 24-hour time

ignoring the 150 #that goes with over borrowing the bike. >> all for charity -- ignoring the 150 pound fine. >> i remember when the parisian system was launched they found some in north africa that had been entrepreneurially shipped. >> scaling it on a bike. >> they're not designed for hills or speed. >> they are 50 pounds. >> not carbon fiber. mine is a bloomberg story. might as well celebrate our own accomplishments and journalism. nastys a story about how divorces tend to get and the dirty laundry generated. also a little bit about how london has become a capital for divorces. a wife accusing a former banker

at deutsche bank of using their tigers, save china's fronted by jackie chan, an ambassador, to hide assets while she use the money to buy furniture, wine, and go out to expensive restaurants. he says it's not true. nonetheless, they are fighting over this in a london court. $81 million on the line allegedly, their assets in this charity. i hope i never get divorced. i've never established a charity either. [laughter] this one, as a parent. ending the segregation of toys for girls and boys. boys toys and girl toys are going to become a thing of the past at least in marks and spencer's. they have pledged to end the practice and just have toys is

gender neutral i think is incredibly sensible. they've gotten racing cars, fire stations, planes, all labeled boy stuff. i find this one particularly shocking. there is a joke book that reads "boys know the best jokes." despicable. >> i do like the fact -- they give you pointers in the stores. >> there will still be a lot of pink, ryan. you'll be ok. race and ton england. congratulations to australia -- commiseration to england. >> that's big of you. >> 115 days ago, they lifted the ashes in the summer. in 14 miserable days in australia, the urn has been taken away. examining what went so horribly wrong. >> everything. [laughter]

>> australia has performed very well. done, australia. >> we will see them in the next hour. stay with us on "countdown." ♪

>> the following is a paid program. >> i am lisa. i never had cosmetic surgery. i am not afraid of high definition cameras. closer, closer, good. your skin to look as line-ful, fresh, and as