to fight deflation. the bank of japan keeps his policy untouched while expanding the loan programs. bank of england holocene maker speaks exclusively to bloomberg. he said britain's economic may see the central-bank forecast stop -- bank of england policy these exclusively to bloomberg. >> it may be beneath it. in theunt of slack economy will decline gradually. >> $25 billion deal for activists, it is said to be close to agreement to by novartis.

welcome to "countdown." i am mark barton. it is 6:00 here in london on a tuesday morning. moberg reports are standing by ready to deliver the stories that will drive your day. -- bloomberg reporters are standing by ready to deliver the stories that will drive your day. why it is chilcote will talk about the possible data ryan chilcote will talk about the deal.le activis jonathan ferro has more. we are looking ahead to car sales figures next hour. another month of growth would keep the industry on track. since 2000expansion seven. news overnight from the bank of japan that boosted lending programs a while sticking to the plants unprecedented asset

purchases. zeb joins us. >> good morning to you. the bank of japan is signaling to the market that the stimulus perhaps is on the way after the disappointing gdp report we got yesterday showing a slowness and weakness in terms of the economic recovery. the third arrow of abenomics may not be working as planned. the bank of japan said it will double the size of funding facilities and a loan programs to ¥7 trillion. this was a bond markets have been watching very closely and will extend the loan the program by one year and will continue the easing the campaign until two percent inflation target is a staple. they said they will continue to watch the situation for risks. surveyed expected no change. the bench mark arent is no change -- benchmark rate is no

change. they have referred and from a forecast for 2015. what does it mean? it avoids signaling a specific time. maximum flexibility given the runs --t the stock of and the run of stocks seems to have lost steam in recent months and investors are asking will japan and deliver on abenomics? latest u.k. inflation figures should confirm that consumer prices are at 2% which is the central bank's target. our exclusive interview, the bank of england policymaker talked about inflation. >> i think the crucial thing is perhaps a not so much aware inflation is now what to wear our expectations are -- but where our expectations are down the road. probably has, it

its main impact on inflation and not a few months for probably 12-24 months or beyond. the crucial factor will be where does a like the inflation is 12,g and where it might be 18, 36 months down the road? is said to be near a deal to buy a rifle. ryan chilcote has the story. >> it could get a word or confirmation of the deal later today. or not. " saying the journal deal could fall apart. if it goes through, good for fourth lapse. the stock will -- good for forced -- forest labs. acquisition cost would be $25 billion. that is over 25% making carl

icahn a happy man because he has the second biggest holding in forced -- forest labs. and get a scale, activis, two drugs. one is alzheimer's and the patent expires quite soon. and a height pressure -- and a high blood pressure drug. both of the companies have been busy in acquisition. the inquiry also pretty busy -- ree the a choir -- the acqui pretty busy. >> it would be the biggest deal after comcast and time warner. who would lead the new company? labs wouldof forest lead of the company. he has been there for under four months. like i said, he did lead in

acquisition and the four months at a nutter company for under $3 billion. they said it would boost earnings. -- from another company for under $3 billion. it is an attractive target. carl as well. of he is happy all the way around. >> he is. it follows a longer fight wrangling that he had with activis after he took his stake. it stems the fight. they came to a bit of an agreement and we are seeing the fruits of his labor. >> thank you. more on that. sinceosted is best start 1980 three. will the winning streak last the year? >> yeah, look. the best start since 1980 three.

last year was a big move lower. the long term chart of gold never ceases to amaze me. concern that qe would increase and we could get higher inflation and that concern are really throws the gold higher through the years. from 2008 two last year, we see the expansion of the arrow reserve balance sheet. it is been quite remarkable. the problem is it has not generated higher inflation. it has struggled. i remember back in april of last year, they released a very bearish report. it was about $1600. the following week, $1400. $1050 by looking for the end of the year. as the world gold council has issued. where is the demand? 15%. is down

it is down from 20 tepid levels. we saw -- it is down from 2012 levels. the decline. some strong demand from consumers. the summers and in china and india, still a big appetite. -- consumers in china and india, still a big appetite. they cut back. this year, it is gold for sure. as all reserve its bases safe haven. going forward, the underlying storage the drove entire, it is not there right now. >> thank you very much to stop -- thank you very much. miss it. the third interview of the day. for a preview, let's go to hans nichols. he is in berlin.

>> we will he about an hours time looking at european auto sales for the month of january. it is supposed to show the fifth month of the growth. one thing we will drill down to is country by country. a little bit of stimulus and a spain but we will look closely at france. very important with what is going on with peugeot. >> thank you. we'll focus on the u.k. and the bank of england and another policymaker has a spoken. our next guest will way and all policy makers behind the inflation report that came out last week where forward guidance was retargeted. ♪

>> time for today's company news. activis is said to be nearing a deal to buy forest labs. it could be announced as soon as today. the ceo is expected to lead the combined company. the chinese carmaker is in talks to buy a stake in peugeot.

they prepare to vote for the proposal that would raise 3 billion euros for the french carmaker. alcoa will close its unprofitable plant in southeast australia. reducer set -- producer set it is unsustainable. the closures will reduce capacity by five percent and will result in the loss of 1000 jobs. welcome back to "countdown." i am mark barton. get minutes from the bank of england meeting from early. the next guest said after the publication, the rope toward, policymakers -- the report, the policymakers will try to justify. let's welcome richard jeffrey. good morning. joining us.r another policymaker has spoken.

he spoke to us yesterday. to havethe economy has more spare capacity than the bank of england's main population has shown. they said the capacity is 1%-1.5% of gdp stop it shows a greater debate going on within the bank of england on this specific matter. >> i think spare capacity is a difficult concept in economics. it is rather nebulous. i would not want to put policy on estimates. what's in bank of england did say is just about everything and the economy is taken by surprise. the strength of the economy and the pace of which unemployment has fallen, it has grown up. all of those sort of things, the bank is saying we do not expect that. why do we look at the inflation report now and put any faith in it? they're forecasting a record is poor.

>> they are wrong to tie it to spare capacity in part. >> you have to be very careful. the range, that is an incredible he tight range. we cannot be certain to that degree. i would say in statistical terms, it is probably not very different from zero. unless they are saying it is five percent or 10%, that is a pretty meaningless analysis. >> you said investors expectations for a hike for the rates to be 2% by 2016 is unreasonable. themarkets are ahead of bank of england because many anticipating a rate hike this year not next year. talking are some people about into this here. i do not think the mainstream expectation. what people are sent toward the end of the year we will be talking about rates rising next year. that is perfectly viable to take

at the moment. we'll wait and see how things pan out. if you look at the contrast between the bank of england forecast between growth this year based on market expectations and growth of based on no change, it is quite a bit of difference. if there is no difference, forecasting three .8%. that seems an astonishing figure to me given they told us they do not expect interest rates to change this year. that seems to be the case. >>se forecasts look very -- will we see more balance in the economy and business and investment will be getting benefit from the trade? mark carney has almost admitted that. will it be, more balanced? >> i hope we will see that. we saw a drag last year in the trade position.

somereflects problems and of our main overseas markets. it is still disappointing that in the u.k. has not managed to get close to balance. we still have a significant level of access and demand. i think policymakers need to reflect on that estate and -- and think about longer-term implications. not only an improvement in trade is what i would like to see but a rebound and capital investment. that will probably come through. we have not seen it so far reflects a high level of uncertainty. want to see that rebound and capital investment. through, it will lead to better productivity growth. we should see better margins. and we should see better wage growth on that basis. the wage growth at the moment has been pretty low. exceptionally low. added negative in real terms. the growth in income will come from increasing the employment

rather than growth in capital. ande see investment productivity, we are not going to see unemployment come down so quickly. >> and inflation is not such a worry, is it? cpi on an annual basis should remain at 2%. that is but joe had a korean mood. , inflationime being is subdued. what we do not know is what the policy makers do not have a clue as how inflation in the longer term among quantitative easing. that could be -- everybody has all types of elephants in the road. that could be the real elephant in the room. in the longer term, we see more pressure because of quantitative easing. it currently seems likely. >> refer -- richard jeffrey. more from richard and next on equity markets.

three gained all of his losses for the year. will see what richard has to say. -- regained all of the losses from the year. ♪

>> welcome back to "countdown." i am mark barton. richard jeffrey is here. richard has risen for 10 days.

longest winning stretch since june 2010. the early year jitters, have they been anywhere eight, are they behind us -- had they been anywhere east -- have they been erased, are they behind us? >> we do not know. in the short term, we talk about reaction. we can begin to understand what is happening in financial markets. we are likely to see higher volatility going on than we have experience in the past few years. one of the benefits is to reduce and one of the objectives of qe is to reduce volatility in financial markets. it is slowedce of down, we can expect more volatility. what people are going to be focused on is not additional liquidity but performs underlying. that is one of the things that is because of a dilemma and the last few weeks because would've seen the tapering and at the

same time, we have seen disappointing numbers out of the u.s. economy. but a lot of it has to do with the weather? >> is it whether or something more fundamental? people's expectations have run ahead of the reality of things. yes, the u.s. economy is growing probably about two percent of more. it may pick up more momentum this year. people are start to produce heavy forecast in 2014. they may have to bring those in a little bit for the early month figures have not looked too exciting. >> does it mean a gain of 30% like we saw last year? will it repeat? it cannot be repeated. we have to see validation and earnings growth which has inentially been an expansion the markets. the market is going up because it has been anticipating growth.

if you and adjust it, it is looking quite high. margins in the united states are looking very high. we need to see more earnings momentum. if that comes through this year and we start to cds and, positive surprises on corporate earnings, yes, the market has a more scope. i do not think we will see total western markets like 2013. those were abnormal returns and they were anticipated with good news to come. >> any good news will be welcome in europe. is it the year where we do see some proper earnings growth in the u.k. economy? >> i think we will see some growth this year. forecast 10%ys activity began at a year and they changed their forecast up and down from that. will we see 10%? that would be a surprise if we were to see growth of that

amount. i hope it will be positive. it comes back if we see companies starting to invest in getting productivity through, and that will help margins and we will see it growing the back of that. i do not think we'll see many earnings on pure volume. >> in japan, they want companies to invest. shinzo abe certainly does. no change in the underlying policy of buying 60 choy indian word of at ¥60 trillion of yen worth60 trillion of access. it is keeping liquidity lose. it was half of what the markets expected. is abenomics running its course? undermineddata was by a very poor trade session like the previous quarter. demand a look

stronger. the bank of japan will be looking at that. they will be sent, it is not a favorable mix. what is happening and the domestic economy looks ok. nonetheless, the policy what have to stay in easing mode. what we have is a tightening and consumer taxation. when that comes through, we will see a slowdown in household demand. inmay see a further take up inflation as well. that's sort of backdrop might be slightly uncomfortable for the bank of japan. it was try to put in the accelerator. >> thank you for joining us. richard jeffrey. goals year and touche -- is a gold's year to shine? we will talk to the gold council. that is after the break. ♪

i am mark barton. >> the top headlines. bank of england officials said interest rates will only be used as a last resort for the housing market. in our interview, he also said the u.k. economic slack may be in the forecast. on average,ind is it looks like inflation will stay close to target maybe a little beneath it. the slack in the economy will a declined gradually. designated talks with party leaders. renzi wants to win the support for his political program.

the 39 year old democratic party leader has pledged to overhaul the labor market and change the election law in the first 100 days of his administration. and the duchess of cambridge have been playing host to british film and theater stars. on the heels of their success. .t includes steve mcqueen the evening was an honor of the industry. ♪ >> welcome back to "countdown." i am mark barton. is it a bull or a bear year for gold? forecast are conflicting. it has had its best start of the year since 1983. the fed continued tapering and a drop from the three-month high.

the head of the world gold council. thank you for joining us today. when it came to demand in 2013 it was all about the consumer? >> absolutely. we had a drop in the price and reductions in trading funds. the consumers stepped up and it was the year of the consumer. a record year of buying coins and jewelry all over the world. largely concentrated in asia. >> the biggest gold maker in the world. >> it is. for the first time, china is the number one market. to give an example of where it was, it was 32% lower the previous year. the gold market in china was a lot smaller five or six years ago. it has tripled in five years. up ine manufacturing kept china to cater with the demand?

>> it has indeed. there is an interesting detail in the report we published. that are 600 tons of gold is not featured in demand. it is in stock flows or otc investment by banks. we think there are more tons in china. it is probably around 1400 tons last year. works india's demand -- >> india's demand is quite high. reports unofficial record in official imports taking place? >> absolutely. it was trading at two different prices and the indian market. gold throughy india from neighboring countries. we think the estimates are up about 50 tons a quarter. inbe 200 tons of gold came

last year through unofficial channels. >> do you think it will continue to supplement official flows? strictgovernment imposed controls on gold imports and exports and the summer and increase taxes making it very expensive. naturally, this trade has grown up in india and we hope the restrictions will be relaxed with an election year and there is speculation in the markets they will, off around the middle of the year. chinatalk about india and but there are other markets which saw sizable increases in consumer demand. thailand and turkey. 2 countries saw above 50% in demand. >> that is true. everybody focuses on china and india because of that are the largest. was broadly spread across indonesia and vietnam and other smaller countries in india as well.asia

and a pickup in jewelry and in the united states. just as the phones were selling out at today's exchange rate it. the consumer was the key. upmajority -- jewelry picked here in europe. lower than the eastern consumer. why is that? >> the leverage to be really economy. if you go back to last year, european assets started to do well again in the summer. into managers moved back european equities because you saw better growth numbers in a eurozone countries. the eurozone has gone through a tough time. that correlates with a pickup in jewelry demand and countries. at last, some type of recovery is feeding through the countries that have been hit hard in europe. >> we have to talk about investors. the next outflow from the exchange traded funds, 180

trillion. that is continuing to reevaluate their portfolios in response to all sorts of matters. what do you think the market will remain polarized with the jewelry and coins demand on one side and etf outflows on the other? not think it will. that polarization was a factor of last year. funds mostly selling gold on the back of tapering. the longer and stronger economy. huge consumer demand. what you are seeing now is a lot of the investors who were bullish on the dollar and u.s. equity markets and japan continue the things and the first part of this year. in many cases, they have not paid off. they have gone in the other direction. you will see more images in gold as a hedging by the managers. etf's past few weeks, the have seen a new and flows around

the world. we may be in the position where will have the first month of new inflows into the gold funds in 13 months. we had 13 months of selling off. nearly at a point where investor demand is stabilizing and picking up again as managers see there's a lot of risk in the market. not give a price for cassel to i try to get around it. you give me a good answer. $1400, downt was 15% year-by-year. could gold be higher than the average price? take into account if go by quite a degree last year. in decembern record for being a more positive because of the number of macro views we disagreed with. such a strong dollar.

we saw the goldmark was finding a new equilibrium. we stand by the views. we are over $100 higher in price. we would definitely say we expected 2014 to be a year for a positive return to the gold market stop into and up at a higher price. quick how much will be driven by central banks? -- >> how much will be driven by central banks? 2012 was the highest level for demand in 50 years. >> absolutely. i agree. a 32% face, it looks like decline in central bank demand. buying. 300 69 tons of part of the reason it suffered was we had to be emerging market crisis last year in the middle of the year and the volatility makes gold market which central banks take a step back and wait and see you when is the

best time to enter the market. the bottom line is a there are long-term programs to accumulate gold. they see it as a hedge against currency risk and country risk. as sovereign debt risk. they are adding gold to the portfolio. we expect them to continue this year to by similar amounts to last year. we do not have the forecast yet. we still expect to see net to buying by central banks not only this year but far into the future. goldy are we not adding and in the tea? it is used in dentistry and it continued its trend of going down. >> it has to stop industrial and technology will demand -- and demand held up. one trend is in the long term dental use of gold is in decline. other than a fashion oriented.

>> and maybe u.s. rappers. good to see you. the head of the world gold council stop -- council. are we in a housing bubble? that is next. ♪

>> time for company news stop three former barclays employees are charged by prosecutors with conspiring to commit to libor. the number of accused people globally is more than one dozen. the firsts are related to manipulation of the u.s. libor. previous case were linked to interest rate benchmark tied to the japanese yen. is said to be considering getting full control of medical device maker. government firm is to bank. it is in talks with several banks about financing the deal. netflix talks to secure a place on time warner cable set top boxes is said to be on hold. discussions may not progress until time warner's acquisition

by comcast is completed. welcome back to "countdown." i am mark barton. staying with company news. we had earnings from bhp. ryan chilcote is here with more on the biggest mining company. >> investors loved it. investments went to $8 billion. just under $6 billion. the second half of last year. iron ore was the biggest contributor. it was $6 billion. that is on the back of a huge price increase. 15% the second half of the year. they have come down. last year, the chinese were stockpiling. slowing and calls. this year, 7%. it is set to decline every year for the next four years.

concur on the view that iron ore because of the increased supply might be lower. theyat is correct and highlighted the issue and the conference call. ubs said in the battle, bhp is better situated as it is a lower cost iron ore. >> when it comes to lower-cost, it is a big theme? doit is and they need to catch-up. they cut $5 billion in cost on an annualized basis. 5.5 say they can cut billion dollars this year. capital expenditure this year will be $60 billion as opposed to 22 billion dollars last year. the problem isn't bhp just announce increasing the dividend is bhp justem announce increase in the dividend. the issue is that they have more

than $27 billion of debt as of june of last year. 20 $5eed to get that to billion. they said they can do that by june. the ceo has indicated they can have a shared a buyback program. they hinted that can do that and that is what investors want. >> more money for us. >> the mining companies made a lot of money during the heady days when prices were rising and they poured a more into capital expenditure. investors want more of the pie. >> u.k. home present have surged this year brazing concern it may be heading toward another bubble. is beingaker said it skewed by demand in london. housing prices has risen something like 11% or 12%.

is more like whole 5%. if you to london now, the rest of the u.k. would be about 4%. it is a different situation. in terms of the level of transactions and the housing market, it moves up. really rather a long way below the transactions as they lead up to the financial mess. at thetgage lending is low levels even in now. they have not a bounceback significantly. is a mixed picture. if you focus on house prices to the exclusion of anything else, one can have a misguided view about conditions about the economy. clearly, something the financial policy industry is focused upon move intohat we might

a situation where the market more generally is over peaking. i do not think we are and the situation but they are mindful. ,> for the u.k. housing market the latest data recorded 6.9% rise in prices from a year earlier. a deeper look at the question that he addressed, are we facing a bubble? manus cranny joins us. >> mark, what am myl -- what myles did is illustrate what is happening between u.k. and the supported by the governor. the bank of england control in central london because it is foreign cash buyers. using interest-rate, to change the leverage or rate. these people do not have mortgages. chain to myhe food level, it is actually very --

artists and young -- ernst and young said you are seeing the normal people having to take multiples. that is back at precrisis levels. even though the prudence of how changing, is lent is that is intervention that is necessary but something to be focused on. prices in london are 600,000 pounds. i do not know where they did this research. 3.5 times. 3.3 times the price and the northeast. continue to will rise. nowhere near the base level in 2007. >> the transaction. what about global, where are the hot spots? what is driving it?

>> the hottest spot. new york and london. where you want to be. looking at other destinations stop monaco and geneva and paris. if you look at dollars per square foot, monaco and hong kong and london at number three. nucleus of a knowledge. centers of wealth. wealth begets wealth. to that end, you get to these hubs of culture and political and intellectual power. you put the billionaires and small square miles in monaco and they bump into one another. take it to a broader dimon should, -- taking a broader dimon should, is from -- it is high wealth individuals. where are they coming from? what will a have on design and

architecture and what they want from luxury? the great growth and high net worth and billionaires come mainly from asia followed by africa and latin america. besides -- the size of billionaires growth will come from asia. individuals from asia and latin america and europe. those are going to be what prime londonrom property. >> thank you stop film and stage of stars gathered at buckingham palace. we will talk about appearances and performances next. ♪

>> welcome back to "countdown." i am mark barton. an hour away from most equities trading. picks from newspapers. hans nichols is here. ryan chilcote is on set with me. take it away. >> good morning. all of the papers in germany are going go report advanced property values in berlin are 25% overvalued. a lovely picture of an apartment. i know where it is. .ere is my metric the property market is overvalued.

take a walk around. less than 50% of the lights are on the apartments stop to many foreign buyers. way andnot feel that germany. the bank is warning about easy credit. i will not ask you what you pay for your place in london. >> no comment. thank you. ryan is here. >> you got in early. old man.n age was on my side. >> it is all about the red, white, and blue. can read itn," you anywhere. meryl davis and charlie white wedding the issa dance -- winning the ice dance. time forfor the first the u.s. a beating out russia and canada. russia was already bitter about hockey. the u.s. winning. of thescoundrel ahead

administration. >> you better tell our viewers. they played in the group stages stopped >> they are likely to meet again. >> russia had a disallowed goal. it was tied. they won in the shootout. a huge down the. >> it is. for russians, very important. the russian president showed up. wasybody in russia who alive in 1980 remember when the soviet union a loss to the u.s., a seminal moment. everybody was watching this game. they are very disappointed in russia. we will see. >> a very quickly her majesty was celebrating the arts at foringham palace last night john collins. the duchess of cambridge spoke to helen mirren who did a piece.

celebrating the arts. we continue in the next hour. we will have a earnings. intercontinental hotels and we will talk to the ceo. ♪

>> sticking with stimulus to fight deflation. the bank of to pan keeps it stimulus policy untouched while expanding loan programs. miles speaks exclusively to bloomberg. britain's economic [indiscernible] may exceed the central banks forecast. >> it looks like inflation will stay close to the target, probably a little bit beneath it. the amount of flak in the economy will decline gradually. >> a $25 billion deal for activists. the world's second-biggest generic drugmaker is said to be in agreement to

buy forest celebrities -- laboratories. hello and welcome. anna is on assignment, getting the latest car figures. sales rose for a fifth consecutive month in january. under $900,000 -- 900,000 vehicles. that compares with a 13% jump in december sales. this stretch of gains is the period since a 10 month ended in march. volkswagen and

sold. year fell to the lowest level since 1995. the biggest markets posted gains last month. growth propelled by new models brandand its premium audi compactult's crossover. sales risingcar for a fifth consecutive month in january and that stretch of gains is the longest since a ten ended in march 2010. from thetting numbers intercontinental hotels. pretax profit, $600 million full the full year. the company is making strong

progress. full-year revenue, 1.9 billion dollars as well. those are the headline figures from intercontinental which owns chains such as crowne plaza, holiday inn, hotel indigo as well. most of its sales come from the u.s. it is pushing big into china as well. it will be fascinating to hear what the ceo has to say in a few minutes time. fully -- full-year profit before tax, $600 million. the company is making strong progress. revenue 1.9 billion dollars and i will be speaking to the chief executive in just a few minutes time. do not miss that. let's go to news overnight from the boj. it boosted lending programs while sticking with a plan for unprecedented asset purchases. good morning. >> a good morning to you. the punchline is no change.

we are staying the course in japan when it comes to the asset purchases. the central bank plans to expand the monetary ace to 70 trillion per year. in line with economists we surveyed. if you hone into the statement it says they doubled their core part of the gross lending program to ¥7 trillion. the bank of japan doubled the scale of this unlimited lending facility and extended the time frames of both programs by a year. individual banks can borrow twice as much low-interest money as previously under a second facility. that is all fine and dandy. the impact of this is likely to be limited because companies already have record cash. it looks like steady as she goes . polemists in it from

expect the july to september time frame. they could preserve firepower perhaps for later on. let's get back to intercontinental hotels latest report. this stitch -- ceo joins us from the london stock exchange. good morning and thank you for joining us today. >> good morning. >> net income beat estimates, full-year sales beat estimates. what were the driving forces, richard? rex i think we are a global business, we are in 100 come -- countries. the u.s. is about 60% of our business and that was up four percent. the fastest-growing region was middle east africa. any changes inng the markets especially with the

concerns that have plagued him since the start of 2014, how might that play out into your business this year? are volatilearkets and we are used to that. we saw just one percent growth in china. even though we opened a lot of hotels that year. in 2013. we see ups and downs. road, weok across the had the highest number for five years. broadly, there is a lot of momentum in our industry. the longy positive in term. >> you are expanding into china. how do you categorize and how successful is your expansion progressing? >> there has been some impact from the government austerity measures.

we signed a lot of deals in china and opened a lot of hotels. the business model is where partnering on the business people in the hotels and they -- we run them. emerging markets are volatile. there may be ups and downs in china but we are a long-term business. we just celebrated our 30th year in china. we have been there longer than any other company. we look at much of the long and we are positive. will that remain the case, will that continue to play out that way in 2014? it may.nk that was at the bottom meant across the world as we look at it. i think in the shorter term, hotel revenues are linked to corporate profits, disposable

income, and europe seeing slower growth. it is a big market, it is an important market. we have been opening more hotels than we have opened in recent years. if you look ahead you can be positive even if you have got sets theot a year that world alight. >> you have the crowne plaza, hotel indigo, holiday inn. that includes resorts express month stay bridge suites, candlewood suites as well. brand right now is outperforming all others? >> we see very good performance of the intercontinental brand. holiday inn and holiday inn express continue to be our engine of growth and we just launched holiday inn express into new markets where it has not been. we're growing it faster. we pushed in india and china as well as the first express into singapore. thatwe're seeing is

mainstream business growing very strongly. holiday inn is the only global mainstream brand in the world. we're seeing a lot of demand there. particularly with domestic travelers in these markets. even in a market like china over any percent of our guests are domestic chinese. a really strong brand where we see an awful lot of further opportunity into the future. of yourca is a big part business. it is a huge proportion of your sales. what are the worries when it ines to the u.s. economy 2014? are there any clouds on the horizon for you on the economic horizon, the macro economic horizon? economist. an i find it hard to predict that. as we look at the u.s. we saw -- you see the numbers. good growth in 2013. and good signings, a lot of activity. an uptick in expectations to

travel. to travel inlikely 2014 than 2013 and they are saying yes. overall the trends are good. there's a lot of knowledge or on the debt ceiling or anything else they can have an impact on confidence that impact our business. other than that we see some good momentum. >> you can be generous when it comes to dividends and when it comes to special dividends. you announced one last august of $350 million. could that be forthcoming and more special dividends in the next year or two in buybacks? >> one of -- the great thing about our business as we have seen a lot of growth as an independent company which we just celebrated that anniversary. the business model enables us to overn funds to $9 billion our lifetime. and invest heavily in the business. we continue to invest behind our brands and technology and we have over $100 million to go in the current ibex.

we will talk about the future. >> what do you love most about your job and what is the hardest part? >> getting up early in the morning for interviews. we are a people business and we talk about the brands and physical buildings but we are a people business. any out there in spending time with our colleagues, 350,000 live in hotels around the world is exciting and they are very dedicated and hospitality is something you want to do -- have to want to do. we have amazing people around the world. customer tastes changing over the years? >> they're becoming more picky. we did a very big survey last year looking at segmenting the we have and out of that driven more focused brands. our existing brands we are developing but we launched two .ew brands, one in china

which isls in the u.s. a wellness brand. that is a huge market. as you have seen in other markets when people are more specific about what they want and their needs grow, we just launched a trends report which we do every year now which highlighted, people want the power of mobile brands and they want local aspects. they also want more personalization of brands and that was an interesting study that we would launched last month and got a lot of take up. being clear what the customer wants and how you deliver services for what is going to drive success in the future. >> let's say i have all the money in the world which is not the case but that's pretend. i will say to you, decide on my hotel for a two-week holiday anywhere in the world. which one is it going to be? >> it depends on what you're

trying to do. if this is a romantic break with your partner, that is an amazing resort in asia. that is probably where i would send you. >> my wife will be happy to hear that. good to chat to you. next we will dig into european car sales. the region just posted the fifth straight monthly gain. ♪

>> pharmaceutical company buying forest labs. and motor shares were halted in trading. the chinese carmaker is in talks to buy stake in persia. persia prepares to vote on the proposal that would raise 3 billion euros from the french carmaker. profitableclose its port henry smeltzer. the u.s. aluminum producer said

all three assets are unsustainable. the closures will reduce the smelting capacity by almost five percent and will result in the loss of 1000 jobs. welcome back. it is 7:17 a.m. in london. new car sales rose 4/5 consecutive month. for those on those latest numbers, let's go to our international correspondent. >> the numbers are strong and they show growth that is positive but also reveals to what extent automakers have to to dig out of the whole. let's look at the numbers. five .2% a little bit of a slow down when the increase was 13%. when you look at total new registrations 900 67,000 new vehicles. that is the second lowest month on record since they have been

keeping me stats. all fiveh was across major economies. 7.2% and even in france, .5% growth. some grooves in spain is because they have a stimulus program. demand sotimulating spain is the number that might be a little off. the growth in france, a positive sign. >> how is persia doing? peugeot doing? important., it is the word is meeting on whether to announce -- accept this

offer. it is a remarkable moment for the company. will they have enough cash to turn this around, they will need cash flow from sales in addition to capital infusions. >> it could be the second biggest pharmaceutical deal since 2009. rival drugmaker forest labs. more after the break. ♪

>> welcome back. time in london is 7:22 a.m. let's talk about interest rates or shall we not? let's talk about the tavis.ceutical company aca labs couldth forest be in the offering. deal since 2000 nine. >> massive. the story originally coming from "the wall street journal." we have confirmed it. according to those quiet voices can -- talking within companies, we are hoping for confirmation. some people cautioning this

could fall apart. icahn, he hasl got over 11% of this company. the market closed on friday. billion.14 was $19.3 we are expecting them to agree on $25 billion, more than a 25% premium. we checked his twitter account. his last tweet was about house of cards. he said he was looking forward to watching it. resumable he he know about this because he has been on the board for three years and has been pushing for change. he brought in a new ceo and they have done them in a. he has got to be happy. he is worth $22 billion or even if he gets half a billion off this deal which is what i recommend he would get he would be happy.

there is that silver lining. abbott.d the ceo of that ceo could become the ceo. he has only been there for four months. the acquired palace farmer for under $3 billion. he was a career farmer guy. so obviously he has been pretty busy. it is an alzheimer's drug. it is meant to improve cognitive function. the patent runs out pretty quickly but it does follow a trend. avis is a drugmaker.

the patent is x -- is expiring. >> i think i said abbott, not forest. it is forest. >> thank you. u.k. inflation figures should confirm consumer prices remained at two percent which is the central banks target. damon myers commented on the long-term effects of monetary policy on inflation. is not social thing much where inflation is right now. it is where our expectations are as to where it might be down the road. when you move monetary policy it has its main impact on inflation within 12 or 18 or 24 months and beyond. where does it look like

inflation is going and where does it look like inflation might be down the road. is -- is itd, it the united states of america or of confusion? that is what our last guest asked last time he was on the show. ♪

>> these are the bloomberg top headlines. policymakers will only use interest rates as a last resort to cool britain's housing market. in an exclusive interview, he said the u.k.'s economic slack may it seed the central bank's forecast. >> what we find is on average it looks like inflation will stay close to the target. probably a little bit beneath it. the amount of slack in the economy will decline gradually. italy's designated prime minister will start talks with party leaders later today. matteo renzi wants to win support for his political program.

to overhaul the labor market and change the election law in its first 100 days of administration. lisbeth andqueen the duchess of cambridge playing film and theater stars. celebrities include the film director steve mcqueen and actress dame helen mirren. honor ofng was in britain's germanic art industry. welcome to countdown. he is a managing director at the high-stakes public firm. he joins us now. ray to see you. always good to chat with you. you said to me you'd did expect

another shut down and you expected it to be another 18 months before janet yelling and -- janet yellen started tapering. wrong?nt >> the politicians finally got their act together. i think the tapering thing started a bit early. if you look at what happened in the last job numbers, there was significantly less jobs. the tapering should have been delayed. her marks started off on a good terms so far. >> she said tapering will remain at a steady rate. do you think it will be finished? >> there is no additional rush. there were less jobs created means that they should reevaluate and there is no rush to judgment. give her a chance to get in here and ask what is going on and ask the chairman or chairwoman. >>

how much of that is down to the web until they know whether if it is whether related or structural. >> it helps the weather for us to be able to say we need to slow things down a bit more given the unprecedented weather patterns that are happening in america. no one believes in the final change in america. there has been quite a bit of whether that has. >> what is the sense of -- on the ground in the u.s. about how the economy is faring and how it will fare this year, 1.9% was the growth last year. expectations for the economy. >> things are moving in the right direction. we get past the midterms and will see what obama has been able to do. he has not been clear with economic agenda will be. he wants to focus, i do not know

what policies he will put in place but he has two years before people start to turn their attention to the next one. >> he wants new immigration laws and he wants to raise the minimum wage and more affordable college education. as you say he has been pushing theme,onomic inequality hasn't he? can he achieve any of those? >> i do not. none of those really bode well. very -- been very successful in moving his agenda without bringing them along. i would focus on getting this health-care thing fixed and i would focus on immigration. justunny thing is i was joking with someone that the waivers are for high-tech and plumbers. there is a number of jobs, the question is, are these jobs that

americans want to do and that is something americans need to get their arms around. jobs to be done. americans need to be focused on what those are. recover from the botched rollout of obamacare, does he have enough time or not? >> i think he does if he makes that one or two things he focuses on. if he has this grand ambition of doing a lot of different things, i think he is trying to do too much. this will be his legacy and trying to make sure the economy is in good shape two headed off to the next president. >> you think republicans can win control of the senate or not? >> on a chance. things are not boding well for them. they have a lot of crazy candidates out there. this inequality issue will come back. >> they will continue to attack obamacare.

they will say it is unworkable. >> they will say that the president fumbled the ball. he promised if you like your plan they can keep it. that is something that is driving home and it works. the president has to get that right and i believe it has been -- they need to spend time making sure that this thing works before he leaves office. >> francois hollande was in town. >> he was there alone. >> he was there alone due to personal matters. and how did he go down because he was trying to improve the first stage. >> it is apprising it has been that long. he did a great job. reallyured up america needs france and there are a lot of interesting things happening. the french are doubled down on

africa. america is starting to focus so there's a lot of opportunities to play. this is something the british and americans can do well. i thought he did well. the question for him is will the translate -- will it translate back home? this is interesting because if you think about entrepreneurship , you do not think of france first. he wants people to start thinking of france. >> what is surprising is the number one foreign group are the french. entrepreneurs,h young men and women who want to be entrepreneurs and they do not see the opportunity. it does not make sense to leave paris to go to san jose. >> he wants google and amazon to pay taxes. isanslate the devil

in the details. >> he is giving it lip service right now. while he is back in office, he needs to double down and focus. this entrepreneurship is interesting. if this is the future, they're going to have to structurally because everyone i know there said it -- if you want to start a business you have to leave france. >> those are -- they have really moved off from the question. choosingt is like between your two beautiful dollars and francois hollande joke, i have four children. is france the new u.k. when it comes to the close relationship or is that position not usurpable. tothe language issue allows

-- continues to allow them to edge out france. america needs a partner on technology. france has volunteered. i think it is -- it started with sarkozy. the french -- they have been and greatt of things britain will always be the closest ally. be number two. >> always good to chat with you. morris reid at mercury. -- hot property. is it a bubble, we will have more after the break. ♪

>> time for today's company news. selling shares of the london ipo. they will have a free float of 25%. the company expects admission to take place in march this year.

three barclays employees have been charged with conspiracy to mid to late libor. that rings the number accused more than a dozen. the charges are the first related to manipulation of u.s. dollar libor. benchmarks were tied to the japanese yen. toflix is in talks to buy -- [indiscernible] welcome back. i am mark barton. in 19e move" starts minutes. >> this is european futures are climbing. we are expecting equities to rise for second day in a row. also watch out for japan and china. is all over the story.

japanese start's -- stocks dropped. china shares fell after we had policymakers [inaudible] be the top of the story. they were expecting a little move on the share price. also rising for the fifth consecutive month. we will be all over the automobile sector. >> we have an exclusive interview with the chief executive. we were speaking to a lot of analysts and they were saying this was as expected. i want to talk about strategy. does he want to go for that high-end asian drinker and acquisitions, that is a big one. >> thank you. "on the move" in 10 minutes

time. the big macro themes, taken away. >> a lot of people are touring bank --s fund is bundesbank comment. this actionoes take? a property bubble in germany. we hear about the italians and spanish consumers. the germans have been for a number of years. if you get any more action or get another cut to the interest rate, that will feed into the german economy. home prices in cities are about 25% overvalued. can you imagine the bank of england saying that about u.k. property? on the one hand that is them saying if you're thinking about doing about -- doing any easing, take a look at germany and

property prices. there was a lot of talk about ending the sterilization of the s&p program which is kind of funny considering the constitutional court said the program exceeds the mandate and they want the ecg to rule on that. if they do and the sterilization of that program that makes monetary policy incredibly confusing. i do not understand what these guys are doing. that.n the court say lot about heard a negative deposit. a lot of jawboning. they said they are ready and it is an option. think you have a negative deposit rate and you are charging banks. therefore they have to lend it out right. not necessarily. the theory does not end up like

that in practice. >> the gdp number came in slightly ahead of expectations. inflation numbers, they do not seem to be can -- too concerned. they think it will move back to two percent. march's meeting is incredibly interesting because we get those forecasts for 2016. mariottext guest said and starwood are edging ahead of continent -- intercontinental. more after the break. ♪ x welcome back.

it is 7:50 a.m. and we are 10 minutes away from the start of european markets. watching intercontinental and bhp billiton. profit beat estimates first cap -- half up. lots of interesting parts to this story. the company is delivering on its cost reduction program. on a pleasing to see narrow consensus. it is a genuine surprise and the fact that shares are marked up over two percent means the market likes it.

a better 2014? investors are sensing this value out there. this is something like 22% which is attractive. you are starting to see the effect before in recent weeks. richard sullivan earlier and he was in good spirits. that is operating half it. insold a hole in -- a hotel san francisco. >> what i was going there, .9%. it is looking rather poor. i'm interested to know that started with last week.

they are in the business for the long term. it is unreasonable to expect good numbers for china. >> you need to make sure the company has a stock. immediates no calculus for re-rating. it is something of a discount. largely closed. unless there is a significant -- i think the arcade is looking for a little bit more juice. att workers were looking $300 million or $500 million in

capital return this year. see, i did not see anything structural. >> at&t. it has been a tricky time. it is reorganizing because of that. how is that going? >> the company has once again this morning declined to give formal guidance. isy see trading additions still tricky. if you look at the numbers they turned in this morning, even though that was the number i had penciled in, if you look at the range, it was anywhere from 30 105.

this ebony has two thirds of the revenue from europe. it is extreme sensitivity and there is still not a great deal of conviction in terms of economic momentum in europe. there are layer -- layers of gearing. if you believe europe has turned the corner, into next year you should buy the stock. historically it was seven percent or eight percent. the question is are we [inaudible] 2%, that would be the second month. we spoke two miles and he said that capacity as the top and of the forecast. is it even worth debating, spare capacity, who knows? which is thelous key. it is not a number which economists can beat.

-- beat the bank of england overhead with. oddly enough inflation did not matter when it was about mandate. everyone is wearing about it. if you look at the picture in g3. cpi forecasts [inaudible] probably quite the opposite. it seemed quite a regressive -- an aggressive reduction. to react to that as well. with a deflationary weight from markets. deflation is not a theme troubling the eurozone. >> nice to chat to you. "on the move" is next. toual profit rose thanks

growth in the americas. francine is next. good night. see you tomorrow. ♪ .

>> welcome to "on the move." i am francine lacqua. away from the start of european trading. our markets team has everything covered. will join uscutive later in the hour for a conversation. we'll have more from guy johnson. >> what we find is that on average, it looks like inflation is close to target. probably a little beneath it.

the amount of slack in the economy will decline gradually. >> but first, ryan chilcote and our markets editor. hans nichols is also standing by. let's pick up things with you. futures indicating a higher start. >> all of the losses we have had this year, it is back in the green. we have almost $3 trillion worth of losses. equity markets, a couple of things to focus on. car registrations. it comes a point where we all have to buy a new car. the u.k.. a little bit of inflation data later on today. and the housing prices. >> that is the one thing we are watching out for. some indication of what the ecb will d