walks free asy president putin signed a decree pardoning the former oligarch. >> the writing is on the law as european eaters meet in brussels. >> shares slump as typhoon euro fighter sales try out in the deserts of the gulf. good morning. you are watching "the pulse." we're live from bloomberg's european headquarters in london. >> this is what we are focusing on this hour, russia's most famous prisoner is now a free man. president putin has just signed a decree pardoning former oil

baron mikhail khodorkovsky after more than a decade of imprisonment. ryan chilcote joins us now with more. around half an hour ago, he walked out of jail. >> that is right. ,bout 20 minutes after 12:00 russia is four hours ahead of us, this was up in the far north of russia. he was released from a prison there. he spent the last decade in prison. some of that time knitting gloves. he was before he went to jail russia's richest man about $13 billion. the principal owner of the country's largest company called ukos which eventually was optioned off and became the main of another will company. vladimir putin yesterday told russia reporters that mikhail khodorkovsky had requested a pardon. he said it was going to grant it. we learned about an hour ago that that pardon had been granted and we got the news that he indeed has been released from

prison after 10 years in russian jails. >> ryan, do we know where he is going? >> the thinking is that he will now go to germany. president putin yesterday said that he was being released on humanitarian grounds. that he had requested to be released so he could go see his mother. his mother is in germany where she has been fighting cancer. his family says he wants to spend time with his mother and with his family. is,date question in russia will he return to politics. he was the first and last hall of famer to really take on president clinton back in 20 -- 2003. the word from the family is he has no intention to return to politics. looking at a quiet life, possibly in exile in germany. we are going to have to hear from the man himself. >> somewhere warm, i would have thought. was a time at which putin was

really tightening his grip and making sure that his authority was unquestioned in russia. >> that is exactly right. onsident putin came to power december 31, 1999. president yeltsin then retired. he passed over the reins. he has been cementing his power in the three years preceding that. the oligarchs were named. mikhail khodorkovsky was in 2003 actually funding the political oppositione communis and another liberal party called yabloko tha broke what many people believe was a gentleman's agreement between president putin and his other government officials and the oligarchs. if they wanted to keep their money they would have to stay out of politics. mikhail khodorkovsky said that he was going to continue doing that and he didn't care. many people told him he would end up getting arrested.

like you said, when he was arrested, in october of 2003 at gunpoint on a runway in siberia, it was a shocker probably for him and every single journalist covering russia at that time. >> we will get there. more on this later. thank you very much indeed, ryan chilcote on the release of mikhail khodorkovsky. >> the european union has lost its aaa rating. dinner and pours cut the eu to aa plus. a victory is in berlin with the latest. what do we make of the timing of this? >> the timing is perfect. it comes right in the middle of the two-day meeting of the eu leaders in brussels. it is probably the only thing that would really grab their attention. at any other time, people probably wouldn't have noticed that the eu, a supranational institution, has been downgraded to aa plus. for theost of borrowing eu might rise a little bit.

if you look at the markets right on the 2021 notes is down by about one basis point, about 1.75%. not exactly a lot, not a huge thing. the real interesting thing was the reason why they have been downgraded. one was because we have seen a worsening financial position of some of the eu member states. also, the eu budget negotiations have gone so tense that there is a risk according to s&p of some eu member states not supporting the eu. that is the reason they are giving the downgrade. >> it is that i find the most interesting. this is a criticism of the sort of common thread that has ultimately run through the european union now beginning to be teased apart. if you look at what merkel said yesterday, you have to wonder about the more europe argument that is being pushed.

well, what exactly are you referring to? which statement from merkel? >> she was talking about this idea that we need to basically move europe forward. she had a vision for how that was going to happen and you look at what s&p has said. this almost feels like a political statement from s&p. there is a -- >> it is a very political statement. particularly where it is coming up the moment. it is going to put the brakes on -- i don't think anything that s&p is going to say will put any brakes on the european union integration. angela merkel did say and she was referring to the specific agreements whereby european union states were supposed to agree to various measures to continue reforming. said we were moving forward

millimeter by millimeter. that is exactly what is happening. it is happening millimeter by millimeter. that banking union isn't really going to be set up for at least a decade. >> david, thank you very much indeed. >> moving onto our top corporate story, bae hits turbulence in the middle east. the deal with the united effort parrots -- arab emirates fell apart. now, our bloomberg aerospace and defense reporter. was always going to be seen as a bonus. cameron had been pushing pretty hard. why are we in a situation where abu dhabi is saying -- >> there is no pressure really on the uae tab. to modernize their fighters but they are very much in a buyers market. everyone wants to sell especially to the middle east.

they are just waiting for the right terms. they have a list of things they want. there are some other arrangements they want on technology. they are not going to buy until they are fully satisfied. >> how much of a setback is this? is it a big setback in terms of money or because they came out saying they had almost secured the deal? >> it is more the latter. i was a bit surprised at the second half of the year how optimistic the noise was coming on this deal. having gone through this with seoul a couple years ago, they were the front runner. the uae says, we are not really interested. i thought there was a bit of a rational exuberance here. i wouldn't say it is a huge shock, but the messaging was certainly somewhat confusing. >> very briefly, u.k. has a long relationship with saudi arabia. that is a longer-term story. >> that is interesting as this

is the second year they have not been able to close what they call the salon contract. it is about pricing and price negotiations. s hasead of bae system said repeatedly he won not sign a deal that doesn't make financial sense for the company. for the second year, not to get this done, it is a bit worrisome. >> thank you so much for all of that. systems.t from bae >> let's go to shopping of a different kind now. bleak numbers, with just a few days until christmas forcing many retailers to offer steep discounts. with more from london, caroline hyde. sentiment, not that good. we brits spend more than anybody else so that is serious. >> it is serious. usually in britain we go a bit

bonkers for christmas. ramps up by usually 40% in december. that is why the likes of john lewis start their advertising campaigns in the beginning of november. that is why we see all the streets lined with lights six weeks ago. they want to start getting us into those shops spending early. we spend far more than the united states and we spend earlier than the united states. there is an air of desperation on the high street right now. if you look to my right, marks & spencer is currently offering up to 60% off of gifts. 30% of clothing. others are slashing their prices by 50%. over the road, they are offering 30% as well. the list goes on. h&m, selfridge, evans, all of them slashing prices just desperate to get us in and start spending.

and caroline, are there still hopes of a last-minute rush? i know i haven't done my christmas shopping for one. i shouldn't admit to it but i haven't. >> at the moment, we have christmas coming up on a wednesday. that means we have got five more days of shopping. many are going to be finishing work this friday. that gives them for straight days of shopping. we are going to rush into the shops and get those last-minute bargains. that is what the shops are counting on. marks & spencer's is having a one-off sale this weekend trying to get us in to spend our cash. we see wages rising slower than prices. energy utilities are eating into our disposable income with higher bills. one promise comes from visa isope, that monday the 23rd going to be the busiest shopping

day of the year. billion pounds spent on the high street. george osborne says it is turning around. maybe the retailers can hold their nerve and we will start spending over the next four or five days. certainly there are bargains to be had. >> caroline, thank you so much. surprised. i think the shops will be open and 45 minutes time. it is kind of quiet there still. >> i shop on the 24th of december so it is always empty. >> ok, let's find out what else is on our radar. more than 80 people were hurt in london when part of the apollo theater ceiling collapsed. fire officials say heavy plaster fell from the ceiling during the performance. >> france is looking into taxing web video according to a newspaper. authorities are preparing a report that calls for creators

of video content to contribute to the financing of film production. sites likeinclude youtube. >> overstock.com may become the first big u.s. retailer to accept bitcoin according to the financial times. starto expects to accepting the virtual currency next year. perhaps by the kindness of the second quarter. -- end of the second quarter. >> coming up, the eu loses its top-notch credit rating. we will dive into the implications next. ♪

>> welcome back. we are live on bloomberg television. deals the eu a below. the company blames weaker cohesion among the group and did. -- deteriorating financial profile is. for more perspective, let's welcome the chief european economist at me the whole international. ray to have you on the program. we are trying to assess the implications of this today. it is unclear to me exactly what they were looking at. was this a surprise to you? >> the timing was a surprise. perhaps they are already applying the new standards for

financing changes in ratings. the timing is surprising because i don't see any new signs that point to decreased cohesion. perhaps you can argue in the --. >> that was four months ago. >> perhaps they are looking at polls that have been coming in. the timing is a bit surprising. the assessment also, because the compared is very low to the size of the budget. you really have to go into a worst-case scenario to imagine that european countries will not make good on the obligations on the capital market obligations of the eu. >> when you talk about cohesion, there is one thing that the last couple weeks showed us. europe needs time. we were maybe six months ago thinking that we would get the foundation over solid banking. we lacked details.

we don't know what is going on with it. there has been a little bit less of a will for reform to come together. >> maybe this simply reflects the fact that prices are looking less serious. germany was always against this. certain things in 2012. the crisis meeting, seemed very serious. ecb saidghi of the things and now the crisis is looking less threatening. because of that, germany is taking a less cooperative approach. progress on the single supervision. they are making progress on the resolution. harmonization of all these areas.

discuss howwe can over asolution is funded period of 10 years. it won't be fully into effect until 2026. it is a very long time. they're going to fund it with bank levies over the ten-year period. it is obviously a lot more gradual and a lot less impressive than what has been promised. >> is this just a reminder that maybe markets are a little too complacent on europe? i have a lot of investors coming on this program saying we are in a much better place than we were a year ago. no one is talking about a euro exit. we are also, because we are not really going ahead, there is a danger that we may be violently surprised in 2014. >> of course.

complacency is a big risk. i think if heads of state extract the late then we will not have any further challenges, they will be making a big mistake. nowmost important thing is that the ecb will be taking over, supervision, several banking systems have been recapitalized. the sovereign risk side of things. it is not just that banks. is a mistake to think in terms of banks causing risks for severance. it is also severance the cause risks for banks. the banking system went down because of the sovereign. there wasn't a banking crisis to speak of. had to be bailed out because of the sovereign. banks tosis is to move the macroeconomic stimulus, structural reforms and making

the whole economic framework more consistent with the goal of going back to growth. >> and you so much for all of that. now, over to you. >> some of the company news that you need to know about. talks with alitalia. the struggling italian airline is seeking a new international banker after air france said it will not inject fresh funds. deutsche bank is forfeiting 221 million euros and a derivative contract with monte paschi. that is as regulators in germany and italy investigate the transaction. teenage mutant ninja turtle come back. the television revival of the cartoon by viacom has pushed a hong kong company to the best- performing stock among the world's toymakers this year. demand for action figures rose sixfold in the first six months of this year.

they are back. still to come, as we countdown to christmas, the tales are red hot at london's world-famous luxury department store area or are they? we will tell you how harrods is investing heavily. we will be back in a few minutes. ♪

>> welcome back to "the pulse." >> right, to the markets now. manus cranny standing by. having a markets fairly good start to the day. we have had the best week on this map since april of this year. european stocks are up over 3% this week. financial services insurers and telecoms have been the real drivers. week,tandout names of the media set. consumer confidence in the u.k. dips. it is strong in germany. we wait for the overall temperature of confidence to come out. gdp also on the way out of the u.k. equities aren't reacting to

taper tantrums but foreign exchange is. have a look at this. this is the indonesian repeat. dollar is generally stronger. what we have got here, the indonesian repeat at a five-year low. just off a five-year low. then you add in the malaysian ringgit. down 1.5% this week. down from nine straight weeks. emerging market currencies have a variety of issues. karenf them have got account issues. they have structural issues. taper is really beginning to have an impact. look at something like the turkish lira. that is at a lifetime low, record low. this is dollar/round again. the impact of taper is being felt. back to you. >> thank you very much indeed. breaking news coming out of cathay pacific. it is going to buy 21 boeing jets.

777-9x deal.new gdp coming after the break. ♪

>> good morning. you are watching "the pulse." we are live from bloomberg's european headquarters in london. u.k. data breaking out. gdp has come in exactly in line with estimates. 0.8. ever the less, a fairly strong number as we work our way into 2014. we are looking at strong numbers being generated. we have had some fairly weak consumer confidence data over the last 24 hours. that was released at midnight. the pound is up a little bit on the back of this.

1.63 is where we are trading. what is happening in the british economy is a question that needs further investigation. the sense is that we are actually on the road to recovery. maybe this is a little bit unbalanced. the consumer is leading but that it doesn't point to that. earlier this week, we talked to jim o'neill, formerly of goldman sachs asset management. this is his take on the rebalancing that could actually be underway. interesting things going on in small business growth. profit and nonprofit. this might be something that we will only be able to look back in hindsight and say, what a big structural change that was. >> the jury very much still out on that story. it would be nice if it actually happened. that's talk to our next guest and see if she agrees with that

analysis. kathryn parsons is the chief executive and cofounder of a topany that offers courses teach anyone to code in a single day. good morning. jim o'neill thinks that what we are seeing is restructuring of the british economy. you probably have a finger on the pulse. what do you think? >> absolutely. it feels like there is a movement going on at the moment in the startup scene. growth, it is a great time to be in technology in london. you can see it because investors are moving from the west coast of america to london. they are looking for the next big deals here. >> is it just london? >> for me, there is a lot of hubs of technology. ideally everywhere becomes a technology sector. berlin has a very lively scene. london has a very lively scene. -- it is stillt

a london centric model? >> my decision is based in london. manchester, nottingham, it is actually a bit of an international movement. for me, the heart of it is in east london. this is where my business grew up. >> in terms of 2013, you have had a great year. you have one some amazing awards. was 2013 a pivotal year? being quite afrom small team with a very big vision, very big mission, to take anyone and make them feel hunted and about technology in a single day whether it be in schools, the ceos of companies, that was a really big dream. in the last year, we have managed to teach thousands of people from the ceos of ftse 100 companies down to people just starting up their own businesses

to teachers in schools. we have launched in new york. we have been to shanghai, dubai, singapore. , we are on the way to something. you have beenat doing and what jim o'neill is sortng about, is there a of structural issue that is going to limit the growth that he is referring to? this lack of education when it comes to computing and technology? >> absolutely. i am seeing an incredible willingness among board members and big businesses to embrace change. no longer is technology something to be dismissed. it is something that is affecting their business so dramatically, it means if they don't embrace it, if they don't learn about it, their businesses might not exist in three years. these technology companies growing in such a fast space of time, actually changing the

landscape of business. >> people are talking about a second industrial revolution happening. and the past, people try to use land as a store of wealth. a kind of destroyed wealth. where is the bigger shift happening? if you look at the financial sector, this goes to our left right now. if you look at the tech city story to our right, are we getting a meeting of minds? how the a shift is happening in terms of the mindsets of the financial community around us? >> i think it is big. i have been in that scene for three years now. to see the collaborations, the fact that innovation isn't just something that sits in a box within big business, it is being taken very seriously. innovation and technology are one and the same thing. huge companies like barclays are beginning to invest in the startup scene in a serious manner. they bring together and support the community. i think there is a real

understanding that it is all about learning and advice. if you look at the world of technology, it is very much about technology and sharing. -- collaboration and sharing. there is a cultural shift which is beginning to happen. catherine, thank you very much indeed. kathryn parsons, ceo and founder of decoded. >> let's stay with the u.k.. harrods, christmas is just days away. harrods is investing a heavily to stay ahead of the game. >> harrods has been selling goods from this spot in london for over 160 years. with over 90,000 square meters of selling space, harrods ranks among the largest apartment stores in europe. >> we have 28 restaurants. every day, somebody can spend an entire day. we employ over 200 chefs.

everything in our food halls, we make from scratch. everything is fresh and fantastic. >> michael ward is harrods managing director. the world-ob to keep famous store at of the competition while protecting its heritage. he says in the tough economic climate which has hurt so many other retailers, it has been harrods ability to draw international customers which has been key to their success. >> we have a fantastic balance. china is now our biggest customer base. 20% of our international customers are chinese. still growing at a fantastic rate. nook countries coming in, thailand, very important to us. nigeria, very important to us. all of the middle east customers. by arrods is now owned well-funded. millione invested $300 to buy the store in 2010. including building this

multibillion-dollar escalator. >> you have to reinvent the game. the great thing about harrods is we continue to reinvent ourselves. we are never complacent. sales acrossretail the u.k. and stiff competition, harrods knows it can't rely on its name alone. its new owners are ready to dig deep and invest further. >> i went to have a look at harrods and i never go to harrods. i am one of those londoners that things it is a little bit old school, not really funky. they have done so much work to it. it is actually a very nice store. >> i have a really good sense of direction. it is the only place i have ever come across that i really can't figure out what is up, what is down, what is left, what is right. i get properly lost in there. there is no logic to how you get from one place to the next. >> it is the size of a small town. luckily everyone is helpful in

there. you do get information. don't ask for directions. are you kidding me? we look forward to seeing more about that later on. in the last few minutes, we have breaking news ongoing. cathay pacific is purchasing planes from the aircraft maker. $7.5 billion. what are they buying and talk to me about the price. >> what is really critical is what they are buying. they are buying the 777-9 x come in larger model. that is the new airplane just put into the market. at the dubai air show, they came away with lots of orders. emirates alone, 150 of this new version. it is the first asian buyer of this aircraft. >> this is the highly successful aircraft out there at the moment. it has two engines, not for but it is very big and it has an incredibly long range.

the 777 that it is replacing or renewing has been hugely successful and very popular with customers. for going to get this right was important. so far the airlines seem to be embracing the product. >> the rumor has been kicking around for a while. there was the possibility that this would be done at the dubai air show. who is in front as we head into the year? >> the total orders, even though boeing has had a nice run here, airbus will probably end the year with more orders. for bowling, this has been a tremendous second half of the year. the first few months, all we talked was 787 grounding problems. at the end of the year, big 777 orders. they had a big share repurchase. a are really gaining momentum. >> does that mean that they can discount it less? 7.5 billion is a meaningless number. tell us, does this aircraft get

discounted less or is it discounted more because they want the first? >> the launch customers will get good terms. as you say, they want that hallmark name out there in asia. clearly, down the line, they will be able to extract a premium price for this product. people will be having to wait for it. 770 seven-x doesn't come until 2020 and they have effectively already sold out a lot of slots early on. presumably, this will be good for margins in the next decade. >> which kind of swings back to the big buyback and the sort of disposal of cash. thank you very much indeed. come, how to beat stress from your desk. we are going to speak to a buddhist monk turned circus performer turned meditation app developer. you heard that right. it is what we are talking about. the founder of headspace is

joining us for top tips on how to meditate. a more relaxed christmas right here on bloomberg tv. ♪

"> welcome back to "the pulse life from bloomberg's london headquarters. a veto threat from the white house over iran sanctions reveals risk between president obama and fellow democrats.

hans nichols has the story for you now. ofit a real risk or a case good cop/bad cop? >> it might be a little bit of both. let me walk you through it. what we have is 26 senators that have decided to introduce legislation calling for new sanctions on iran after a six- month period if this interim deal doesn't hold. what is interesting about the veto threat is that they read it from the podium in the white house briefing room. there are a variety of the ways the white house can communicate a veto threat. they can issue a piece of paper late in the night. they're called statement of administration policy. it is a boring way they communicate it to capitol hill that they don't like it. doing it from the podium at half. they clearly don't mind this being out there in public. extent don't know is the of how hard they have lobbied reverently to prevent this bill from even being introduced. they say they lobby privately.

capitol hill members are saying that it was fairly intense. we don't have a calculation on how intense they were. it might be a little bit of both. it would reduce iran exports to zero. their oil exports. it would have more on their mining and other industries but it is really some of the strongest tensions you could imagine. it wouldn't take effect for six months and president obama would always have the ability to waive the sanctions if he thought there was a national security exception. >> hans, is there also a partisan split in congress on this issue? >> the irony of this is that iran is one of the few issues that bring democrats and republicans together. you look at those 26 senators that introduced this bill, equal numbers of republicans and democrats. republicans are trying to exploit this but at the same time, there is a great deal of unanimity on capitol hill that sanctions need to be stronger.

the white house might be giving away too much in these negotiations. if these negotiations fail, the sanctions and the consequence for iran needs to be much harsher than perhaps what the white house wants. >> hans, thank you so much. guy. >> thank you very much indeed. brazil is due to pay bondholders today. if it can't afford to do so, that would be another blow for its founder. our bloomberg billionaires reporter john does now more with more on this. -- he has had at least two of his companies go bankrupt. this is another one, a unit of a company that has already gone bankrupt. of the implications of this for his standing in the world of what this all means, walk us through the ramifications.

>> it has been a horrible year. last year, totally different picture, one of the richest guys in the world. this year, dramatically different. he is worth -$1.2 billion. er probably richer than he is at the moment. this is not good for his perception. he obviously still has these companies. the are not out of his control. he could stage a comeback but it is more of a perception thing. >> interesting question. someoes effectively owns of these companies? who are the debt holders? >> one of the most notable is the abu dhabi sovereign wealth company that converted their equity stake to debt. now, he is really on the hook. >> anything he can do about this? around?urn it the numbers now negatively stacked. what happens in 2014? >> he is a very kurz medic guy.

-- charismatic guy. only 57.ll young, he could change things around. he has a lot of convincing to do. he is essentially selling. he has to get some cash. he has sold some yachts. has discovered an oilfield that they are ending their hopes on. >> some yachts and some private jets. interesting. thank you very much indeed. francine, back over to you. >> thank you so much. that good use and company news. facebook is selling shares for the first time since last year's ipo. it expects to raise about $4 billion. most of the shares are from chief executive mark zuckerberg. he says he will use most of the cash to pay taxes. europe's largest defense contractor says the united arab emirates has halted talks to buy europe later typhoon combat

jets. negotiations over an earlier accord are also delayed. in the last few minutes, we have had breaking ongoing. cathay pacific is buying 21 planes from the aircraft maker. it is a deal with a value of $7.5 billion. coming up, as europe's recession received, trading and the billion-dollar carbon market is plunging and brokers aren't biting. details next. ♪

>> welcome back to "the pulse" live on bloomberg television and radio and also streaming on your tablet, your phone and bloomberg.com. in today's new energy, europe may be out of recession but the carbon admission market is plunging. brokers share of the market slumps to an all-time low of 10% this year. for more on what is prompting the decline, i am joined by matthew carr. right to have you on the program. we have had a slump overall. why is that? >> the slump is basically due to the carbon market's oversupply. there is about 2 billion extra allowances in the market. that is mainly because the eu handed out to many because they didn't want to hurt industry.

also, the recession hasn't helped. >> the benchmark carbon price yesterday closed at a seven-week high. >> that is right. we have had a bit of a recovery since april when we saw prices below three. the eu has been working for about three years to get a temporary fix to the carbon market. they had some success yesterday. they announced a so-called back loading, they call it when they take some supply out of the market. they are going to return it back into the market later in the decade. they put out a statement yesterday indicating exactly what volumes might be involved there. 900 million over three years. that is the equivalent of half a years supply for the entire eu market. >> this is not actually a done deal but we are expecting them to seal the deal next month. >> it is a fairly done deal. -- the laws that

allow the back loading to go ahead was approved by agriculture ministers. there is one more vote and that is on the details and that is the climate change committee on january 8, a vote on that. usually, these votes don't take place unless the eu is pretty confident that it is going to get the answer at once. >> you are right. that theyly indicates are pretty certain this will go through. why has it taken so long to fix this oversupply in the market? >> this is the european union. there is a fair bit of resistance by big business to tight admission caps. of the bigsome chemical companies and others have challenged and eu decision to cut back free allowances by 12%. also, there has been a lot of countries involved. poland is sort of arguing that the eu is going too fast

according to the rest of the world. having said that, you have got brazil, india, china, indonesia, the u.s., the five biggest countries by population are all considering carbon markets. the next two years are going to be crucial because the world is trying to put together a global deal in that timeframe. there is going to be increased ambition in the eu perhaps over the next few weeks. >> matthew, thank you so much for all of that. to you. over >> ok, what are we going to do coming up? for those listening on bloomberg radio, it is the first word. for our viewers, it is a second hour of "the pulse." what do we have for you? mikhail khodorkovsky is out of jail. he has been freed. you talking about the implications of that for the russian market. the eu has lost its aaa status. we are talking to the btb capital about that. in the run-up to christmas, how do you beat stress?

it has been a year in which senior executives have suffered from stress and made that open to the public. we are going to find out how to beat it with the founder of headspace. ♪

quarks president hu jin signs the release for the former russian oligarch. a list price of $7.5 billion for boeing. >> good evening to those in asia and a warm welcome to those just waking up the united states. i'm guy johnson. >> and i'm francine lacqua.

>> russia's pulse." most famous for his and her has been set free. bloomberg's ryan chilcote joins us with the very latest. comes as a surprise. the official news came today. >> here's the decree itself. everything about this is intriguing. the only thing more extraordinary than president putin granting the pardon is that yesterday he said that could or coax the himself asked thatkhodorkovsky asked for it. he was on the receiving end of a vendetta third basically, a guy that routine pushed out of the way as putin

moved to cement his power. released an hour and 40 minutes ago. the question is, where is he and what is he going to do next. .eople want to know an explosive number of messages on twitter amongst journalists and people watching this. he mayily has suggested go to germany. his mother is ill they're fighting cancer. -- is ill there, fighting cancer. >> why is he doing this and why now? >> i think president putin would not have released him. if he really thought that the man was a threat. for what it's worth, his family says at this point he just wants

a quiet life with his family. that is very different from the kind of political activity, even from prison when he was 4000 miles away from moscow, that he led. constantly sending out interviews, written answers to journalists questions, writing op-ed for newspapers to my talking about routine as an autocrat and thief. asutinng about an autocrat and thief. want this? he's under a lot of criticism the russian anti-gay laws. he is under a lot of pressure from the west. >> ryan, thank you so much. later this hour we will speak to

a senior partner at mac advisory. macro advisory. >> let's change gear. to ay pacific has agreed multibillion-dollar deal to buy boeing's 777-9x aircraft. about the a in a minute. this is the first asian customer and a very famous airline that is signed up for it is one of boeing's most popular airplanes that has come to market recently. it is a big deal in an important market. really pay $7.5 billion? >> no. i don't think it is anywhere

close to that figure. >> we were talking about a setback for bea systems. that theynnounced were close to a deal with a uae. ended.talks have uae is not buying anything else right now. withre here two years ago another deal and a uae also said no to them. we will see where this goes next. >> the positioning tells us a lot about two very different market ishe civil booming. bea detents sell its typhoon to anybody. >> this week we had the brazilians announce that they're griffinbuy the saab fighter.

on the commercial side you have this massive order back on and on the other side does the sat line have to close itself. the saudi arabia pricing negotiations are probably not going to conclude this year. we went through this last year. that is important because it has really implications to earnings. their share buyback is predicated on getting the deal signed and it also has an eps hit to their earnings. >> thank you so much for all of that. bloomberg aerospace reporter rob wall. are europe editor david tweed

is in berlin covering the story very interesting timing. is pretty curious. i suppose not from the point of s and p. it is come bang in the middle of this meeting. quiet apart fairly from this. also, it is curious because it reflects two things. one is the fact that we have seen many of the 28 european union countries downgraded over the last year or so, the netherlands being the last ones, going from aa plus to aa minus a few weeks ago. the other thing that it reflects, according to standard and poor's is that european budget negotiations have become increasingly contentious. s&p says there is a risk that some eu countries may not support the eu. the last time we had those budget contentions, those

negotiations, was exactly a year ago in brussels in december of last year. it is a little strange that things have taken quite so long to get around to doing this downgrade heard by the way, it concerns 56 billion euros worth .f debt the budget for the european , son is one trillion euros it is really just a drop in the water. >> let's talk about how this sits. it feels like a very political talk aboutom s&p. the union of the european union. the language used is fascinating. particularly at a time when there is a debate about whether or not europe does progress towards more europe, whether ,ountries will give up particularly economic sovereignty. walk me through what we have merkel'sng here and efforts to make some of these economies more competitive. >> some people are looking at

what the banking union, which was agreed by the european union leaders at the meeting after the finance ministers meeting. they talk about that agreement as being the biggest loss of sovereignty for any eu member since perhaps monetary union was wrought into place. even though it is going to take a long time, what we're seeing is quite simply further eu integration. angela merkel talks about it happening millimeter by millimeter at a time. those are the words she was using to describe the fact that the contractual agreements, these are agreements that the germans want some european countries to adopt in order to commit to further reforms and things like labor markets and other areas that need to be reformed like judiciary. what we have is, i don't see downgrade affects this, but we do see a march toward further eu integration.

>> that is assuming everyone goes along with it. editor david tweed joining us from berlin. >> the bleak numbers come with just a few days left until christmas forcing many retailers to offer steep discounts. it will they work? with more from london's oxford our european correspondent caroline hyde. >> francine, you're right. usually brits go a bit bonkers for christmas. last year we spent more than 40%. the decorations around they have been up for six long weeks. in thated to lure us much earlier. there's definitely an air of desperation growing on the high street. it isl, look around me, not exactly packed. we have five days until is not gettingt

into the shops. the battle is on. prices are being slashed. off third the0% battle is on to get up spending. >> caroline, in terms of the battle becoming successful, is it any chance that francine leads the charge on saturday or sunday morning to get these numbers up? >> there got to be holding out for that third we understand that mark spencer's will be unveiling a flash sale. that is what the "financial times" is reporting. christmas is on wednesday so that means many people are finishing work today and not going back to work next week. monday the 23rd is going to be the biggest day of shopping. 1.2 billion pounds can be spent on that day alone.

that is why the competition is so fierce. this is why we are seeing closing retailers in particular -- closing retailers in retailers in particular slashing prices. >> our european business correspondent caroline hyde. sales are coming. ?ember that expression good things come to those who france is looking into taxing web video. authorities are preparing to report that creators of video content should contribute to the content of film production. that includes sites like google's youtube. overstock ceo told a newspaper

that the company expects to begin accepting the virtual currency by the second quarter of next year. the world's largest sporting goods store has been increasing products such as the flying at running shoes that sell for $160. >> still to come on "the pulse." khodorkovsky walks free. ♪

>> good morning, everybody. you are watching "the pulse." we're live from bloomberg's headquarters here in london. follow continues for some of the fragile five third let's talk about turkey, first of all. today we saw another leg higher for the dollar versus the turkish lira. it is a war on his currency. he is very unhappy with what he is seeing. there are some political developments in turkey adding to that story. this is a 30 year chart. you can see the wrap up to the right side of that. did return it the wrong way

around? almost head and shoulders. currencies have really been suffering. the latest like high up on the dollar. it is a process that is been coming for quite some time. let's wrap this up. perspective, here's a global macro specialist. one of the economists that correctly predicted the timing of the fed's taper decision. congratulations on that. let's talk about the fallout. the taper story was tuesday the certain extent yesterday. we are still seeing the fallout in the em currencies. >> what is a problem for turkey is a deteriorating political situation which certainly looks as though it is not getting better anytime soon.

five orthat the fragile the wobbly bits as they're called in the foreign exchange market have been under pressure. afterre under pressure an the fed's announcement. any sort of suggestion that the fed is withdrawing monetary stimulus results in a reversal of the capital and we have seen going into these economies. currencies weaken and investors where those currencies there is a deficit problem and a potential funding problem. a depreciation of the currency may be necesry adjustment. where we have problems in the past is where that adjustment mechanism has been blocked off because there were -- because they were either pegged to the dollar or the countries in question have intervened in the foreign exchange market third to no avail. that is something we had in the

1998 financial crisis in asia. this is a release valve for promoting the adjustment mechanism. some of these countries, -- i thinky turkey, that is going to be a key theme for the markets in the early part of 2014. hashat depreciation store not been available to eu countries within the european zone. there's been part of the problem. today we had a downgrade for the eurozone, the supernational entity that is the eurozone. the increasing lack of unity between the members probably is significant. increasingly see this highlighted. only this week we could sit highlighted in the banking union and the tension that exists. we end up with a sub par story. >> the rating downgrade is

hardly a surprise. of southernt half europe, most of southern europe , the ecbemi-depression has to contend with deflation risks, germany is unwilling to act as the -- as it should do any monetary union as the surface credited company and promote adjustments. were germany saying we will tell you what to do we want you to be like us, but we're not to pay for it. that is not a tenable basis for a striving monetary union in the longer-term. i think that given current policy settings, giving the unwillingness of germany to expand its policies is putting all the pressure on the inipheral countries, which 2014i would be surprised to see a resurgence of crisis pressures in the eurozone. useost people i talk to

language that seems to suggest that the crisis has dissipated, that the existential nature of the crisis -- >> is been a true story for this year. 's omt problem when a -- they without being unintended consequence at all the liquidity that the ecb has provided to eurozone banks has gone to increase exposure to domestic sovereign debt and done nothing to break that doom loop as it is called. it leaves him open to interest rate risk and funding risk. the ecb is increasingly boxed in as nominal interest rates move to zero. it now has to think what it does next. negative deposit rates, don't think that would work very outright qe will put us back in the german constitutional court.

they have to turn japanese, if you like, otherwise the depression pressures in the eurozone will intensify. >> have a great christmas. francine come over to you. >> president obama is threatening to veto legislation on sanctions for iran heard why the administration says the bill would increase odds of a war. details next. ♪

>> welcome back to "the pulse." >> a veto threat could reveal a rift between president obama and some fellow democrats. that cop, good cop, what is going on? old, could be a little of guide. whenever a veto threat is issued from the podium by the press secretary or by the president himself, he gives you an indication that they don't mind having this fight in public. at the same time, white house officials did lobby for a sick senators on capitol hill for preventing the introduction of this legislation. it would reduce oil outputs in iran too close to zero, something in their mining

industry as well. it does have a couple of safety valves. president obama would have an exception where he could waive certain provisions on a national security exemption. he look at this and it does appear that it is oil to the part where the white house -- it is a question of what they could do to let iranians know that they still want to give it diplomacy time. there a partisan split in congress on this issue? >> this is a most interesting thing about iran. it unites republicans and democrats. 13 republicans, 13 democrats, the white house has a bipartisan fight on their hands. francine? nichols speaking to us from berlin. this relaxation tool has been called a gym membership for your mind. >> find out why a british

olympian credits this app for his gold medal. next. ♪

>> welcome back to "the pulse." we are here at bloomberg's headquarters in london. i'm francine lacqua. >> and i'm guy johnson. these are the top headlines. hasikhail "khodorkovsky" been released from prison. 2003. arrested back in said he was released for humanitarian reasons. standard & poor's dropped the

unions rating from aaa to aa plus. lamborghini has unveiled images of its new supercar. hurican.oking at the the time brands all-star lineup will have to stand out in a crowded market for luxury sports cars. gallardo.eplacing the it has a feet 10 in it. it looks a lot like the car i got to drive. the performance is better, but you're paying a lot of money. zero-60 in 3.3 seconds. is 1-60 in three

seconds. we have seen a handful of high- profile examples lately. lloyd's banking ceo took a nine week loop week of absence for exhaustion. >> barclays head of compliance followed suit. trott took a break from the sport due to stress. what is the solution? many increasingly say meditation. >> joining us now with tips on how to relax your mind is a buddhist monk turned circus performer, turned app developer. ncludeients in qua gwyneth paltrow. >> if you look inside the the single thing

executives but their success down to is meditation. it is been there a long time but is only now starting to become more socially acceptable. >> you're bringing it to the masses. your app on the itunes store has become a best-selling life and -- lifestyle app is out there. >> we have done well. we are well over 750,000 people using it now. 150 differente in countries. >> happy with the performance so far this year. there is a science in this. we're able to scan the brain in ways we haven't before and we can understand the implications of what meditation actually does and how changes patterns at different points in the brain. whenever learned recently? the early adopters out

running on the streets were seen as crazy. as a sense that stronger people started to realize that there are benefits to this. weirs findinge that we can have, and clearer minds. our attention can be stronger, our focus can be stronger, performance improves. we're not just talking about something fluffy. we're talking about a very tangible benefit which could impact our lives as well. to do much time do need meditation? this should be my concern, which would be the same for exercise. is it a 10 minute thing or a 15 minute thing under needed our? you can get a lot of benefit in as little as five or 10 minutes a day with real impact on the mind.

>> what is meditation? how can i meditate? >> the simplest thing to think about are two different words. meditation and mindfulness. mindfulness is being present in the moment. think about the times when you don't have a distracted mind. that happened sometimes. you feel focused and relaxed at the same time. you can do that anywhere, walking down the street, in conversation. it is difficult to learn how to do that very it so we need an action size in which we learn the skill of being present. that is all meditation is. we are removing our self and the distractions around us and focusing on one thing. i normally suggest the breath. that way wesing in find a space in mind where we are calm on the one hand and relaxed on the other. it is a very efficient state of mind. we listen to her intuition better, we make better decisions and generally speaking we are not so caught up in our own stuff that it starts to impact the relationships we have at those around us. for a guyuld be great

who is up early in the morning and talking about a lot of stuff. >> the more you do it, the more benefit you will get from it. we have a lot of users he's a three to five times a week. over 60%e have just use a one to three days a week. you can real-time monitor what is going on. >> exactly. you get a feel of when you are getting in that's own. for most people, and sports it is been talked about for long time as getting in the zone where you're focused and yet there is that degree of relaxation where you just feel like everything is happening intuitively. >> give me two tips. if we were to do something now, what am i thinking of or what am i not thinking? is not about thinking,

meditation. it is equally not about trying not to think. massive misconception about meditation. it is about learning to step back and witness the mind. imagine the mind like a giant tv screen. normally we jump on it and get involved in it. we start in mind drifts off towards christmas. maybe it is an unpleasant thought you don't think about it heard meditation allows you to see the thought see clearly and let it go. we are in an interesting position where we can choose what thoughts we get involved in and pretend to engage more in productive thinking unless an unproductive. >> you can do this on the tube as well? >> you can do this on the way home from work. >> that is exciting. i was feel guilty about not exercising. i meditate. that would be fine.

in just 20 minutes, surveillance with tom keene. he joins us from new york. look, tom. he is meditating. it is a stressful job. >> scarlet woke me up. i'm sorry. i was finding my inner peace. francine, here's my stress tip for the day. move to france. those would tell everybody in america who thinks he really have to get rid of stress. move to france. >> unless you you use google. >> the other part of the plan is that she is married to a frenchman as well. >> you're in the mountains in the air and finding her inner peace. we are going to find her in her piece today. is it friday. we will look at china, we will look at that continuing emerging-market impact from the feds taper.

far more important, we will look at the news flow coming out not only as you have been covering khodorkovsky. bruce ratner will be with us on real estate. robert kaplan will join us from harvard business school and we will talk to him about a very interesting earnings announcement right at the top of our 7:00 hour. blackberry will be coming out with earnings. this of course is a very troubled canadian company with all new management that has a lot to explain at 7 a.m.. >> tom, we have a shopping team here. what is tom keene expecting for christmas echo what would you like for christmas e >> i would like a child that doesn't ask me for money. that is the number one thing i would like for christmas. you know what? the kids are all home. what is really great is everybody is spun around the

globe and various offspring will be in the united states here that is a great christmas present. francine, for you? what are you looking at? botega? >>ld now actually i would like to have a day away from the husband and son. >> that is a bit green sheet. >> yes it is. >> equity markets are rising. they've had the best we can almost six months. driven high by financial services heard with got a nice set of numbers from the u.k.. that is helping things. london is up 2.4% or it this up over fouris percent on the week. it has been a cracking week. where do we go in 2014?

barclays say that on a five-year view, europe is underinvested. your viewme down to on growth and interest rates for 2014. you'll get a better reflection of that later in the u.s.. u.s. gdp should grow, so equities are having a pretty joyous time in the run-up to the christmas season. i will tell you what is not, emerging-market currencies. overall, dollar rent moving by half percent very protracted moves on things like the indonesian rupee. a 21% drop, a five year low on the rupee. in 2013.t for me oc both in 2014. much.us, thank you very very zen, manus cranny.

we will hear from chris weafer as we head into break eak. the real question is that lamborghini used to build crazy supercars. the germans are involved now. this is clean. this is efficient. this is an amazing piece of engineering. is it really living up to the spirit of the lamborghinis of old? we will talk about that later on the program. ♪

"the pulse." >> welcome back to"the pulse." "the pulse." khodorkovsky has been released. this isgovernor -- lookdent putting trying to

more reasonable. >> resident routine has been putin isent attempting to deflect some of the criticism that he is been getting from western governments. also at the same time trying to improve russia's investment climate which has really been suffering. if you think about it, at the end of the day he is being released after a decade in prison. he did lose his $36 billion company. why we saw aasons little bit of an uptick in the .tock market >> doing or he is going? >> we don't. there's some talk that he may go to germany. president putin said that he requested a pardon on humanitarian grounds. he can be with his mother who is

fighting cancer in germany. we have not heard from mikhail khodorkovsky himself. he's only person who knows. his lawyer just said he has definitely left the prison. it is a big question. is he going to moscow? will he return to politics e t is the oligarch, the first oligarch who broke the unwritten deal with president putin that if you want to keep your money, this is back in 2003, you have to stare politics. he didn't follow that rule and many say that is why you get punished third >> ryan, thank you so much. it's bring in someone who predicted the pardon earlier this year. chris, was this just a smart public relations move on the part of president putin? >> it started when we were looking at forecast. we saw it as a possibility in that context is a build up to the olympics.

that is certainly part of it, but it is not the only part. as rent is mentioned, is also a the wayut-face in president putin has been talking about the economy in a downturn this year. case has been one of the most egregious in russia's history over that. the efforts in 2014 to bring more investors back into the economy are part of it. expecting that't we might get something like this until after the president's traditional address when surprises like this can be announced. the timing right now this week also has a lot to do with the ukraine deal. every journalist in russia is now going to be stocking get akovsky trying to

photo or a comment. it pushes the ukraine off the front pages and refocuses on this issue. i think there aren't couple of the mores for it, but sentimental reasons will be the reforms. >> it is very clever, because he is managed to turn on the news cycle within two days. powers a demonstration of ? still managed as a monopoly of one man and he is showing the power to wield that. >> that is a very interesting point. 's releasedorkovsky not done as part of amnesty. the pardon just requires a signature. clearhim demonstrating

power, that he is a person who made this decision and who has released mikhail khodorkovsky early. it does demonstrate that we are very dependent on one individual in russia. the hope is that what we have heard from the president and his recent relations drive is the refocus on the economy. if the most powerful person in the country is paying a lot more attention to the investment case , and that can only be a good thing. >> some people are saying this is a masterstroke by putin in his attempt to improve the investment climate. at one point khodorkovsky was the poster child for the case against investment. isn't it the case that he has been replaced as a poster child and while this is meaningful for

some investors, most investors are focused on other issues that and have egregious moved on. we go to the same investment conferences and everybody stopped, not to make light of it, but from an investment perspective it feels like a couple years ago because her new cases that people worry about. that is exactly right. we should not look at this is some sort of magic wand. automatically transforming russia into an investable attractive location. absolutely not. it is a positive indicator of future intent to focus more on reforms. that is it. investors are much more focused on continuing high-level of corruption, poor rule of law and bureaucracy within russia. in the last couple of years we have had much more egregious incidents.

obviously it is a big issue between russia and the u.s.. this changing the picture of that substantially. as a positive indicator. it does depend on whether or not we see follow up next year in dealing with some of these more difficult issues. but think the one difference it is it will encourage investors. they might start to be doing more due diligence and the closely at the story. >>? so much for that, weafer. >> details of what investors are watching for, coming up next. we are staying with luxury as we break.to the

you're looking at pictures of lamborghinis new h supercar, isn't excitingn. enough echo it looks like a mini aventador. i've driven one of those. ♪

>> you are watching "the pulse." as you can see, continuing strength for the greenback.

the lira under pressure. >> international correspondent whatnichols is back for you need to know about the trading day. lamborghini is not as fast as the one that guy drove. >> i know we want to talk about lamborghini, but i'm going to curry favor with you and talk about product. latert earnings expected today. 867 million euros. who is buying the shoes? is that all your expense account? we will have accounting audit you, francine. >> seriously, look under the desk. it is like a shoe store under there. i can't get a lamborghini under my desk. she can get a lot of shoes under there. >> i am like emelda marcos. we do have blackberry figures out later. cathayut for that boeing

pacific. we do have more development on a massive order. >> injure the shopping weekend. "surveillance" up next. ♪

>> this is "bloomberg surveillance." >> the president of russia has pardoned a criminal before the olympics.

it is an unsettled december for china. stocks plunge. i am bruised and battered after visiting chanel. luxury and it's ever higher prices. good morning. we're live on friday, december 20. i am tom keene. joining me are scarlet fu and alix steel. busy markets and a lot to talk about. the last week to shop before christmas. >> did you buy my christmas present you? make sure you do it this weekend. >> you look beautiful. >> overnight, we have data from the u.k.. the bank of japan is maintaining its record easing. that is after the federal reserve decision to taper. we also have the third gdp number. the last look there.