>> stepping back. putin trying to cool tensions in ukraine saying russia has no intention to fight the ukrainian people that reserves the right to use force. >> no slowdown in the site. the chinese premier targeting 7.5% growth this year. we are live in beijing with the national people's congress meeting. >> former chief executive of microsoft steve ballmer talks regret and what keeps him going. industry.hed an i was many people who was a part of it and i feel good about

that. >> hello. welcome to "countdown." it's justna edwards gone 6:00 in london. let's start with the chinese story this morning. setting the same growth target for this year that it did in 2013, 7.5%. they made the announcement at the annual meeting of the legislature in beijing today. stephen engle was there. let's go to him now. give us the headline. >> good morning. i want to set the stage. this is a very rare occurrence where we can broadcast live from the heart of the chinese capital . this is the forbidden city and to my left is the square. here is the great hall of the people. we have turned the camera around a little bit because of the sunlight.

this is the halls of power and where the premier just spoke and morning a few hours ago gave you those headlines, keeping the target for the full at 7.5%.th rate does this matter? it's a symbolic number but it does have meaning in the sense that many economists were looking at and perhaps the chinese authorities lowering that target to perhaps seven percent. that would have sent a strong signal that they are steadfastly on the path of reform. there are some painful reforms that this economy has to undertake right now. premier chong in his speech this morning said the most important thing is employment and maintaining a strong enough growth rate to maintain jobs. there is a lot of discontent in this countryor because pollution is a problem,

rising inequality between the rich and the poor, the debt loads at the municipal level. the rising cost of housing and the rising cost of living. about five minutes ago -- wrong.wrong, wrong, he jumped immediately guy security -- security police and we filmed it. we will have that on tv a little later on. a van anded him into sped off. we were not harassed. we were not hassled one bit. i would have to give the authorities a tremendous amount of credit and i'm not being paid to say that because we have not been hassled at all. we have had unfettered access to the national people's congress on day one. for me, a longtime cover of china amid this is indeed is reform and progress, to be able to have this kind of access.

>> absolutely, to be able to standing where you are standing. the government then in china declaring war on pollution, to use those words and some are wondering how they will balance that war on pollution with the 7.5% growth target which is no drop-off from last year. >> that's right. we have had 7.5% growth in 2012 and in 2013 and now they are targeting again 7.5%. many of the people i spoke to said there is a real opportunity here for authorities as they try to embark on this reform path and also tackle pollution. some of the biggest industries that need reform are also the biggest polluters. steel, power producers. 65% of the energy needs are produced by: this country and a lot of these producers are around the city of beijing. they do not necessarily have the

filters on the smokestack and that is why we get stuck with the smog. today, absolutely what they call a blue sky day here in beijing. it oftentimes is the opening of the biggest party. temperatures drop, skies clear, and then they all gather and do their thing. like magic. stephen engle reporting their live from beijing. to reducetic evidence issues in the crimea, they consider a loan to help pay its debt to the national gas exporter, gaza problem -- ga zprom. ryan chilcote filed this report. >> in independence square, calling on the men in the crowd to sign up for the ukrainian army to take on russian forces in crimea. theexpectation here is that

next round may not involve troops at all. the ukraine relies on russia for most of its energy. they use the natural gas to fuel its industry and heat homes. that reliance will be russia's next weapon. they could punish the ukraine by cutting the gas off altogether. >> they are considering this. fax if russia turns off the gas, what would you do? try to turn this in another way. russia can not refuse gas as a weapon. >> back in independence square, they know a thing or two about dealing with the cold. they've been out there for more than three months. they also know about gas shortages. russia has turned off ukraine's gas twice in the last decade in the first so-called gas wars. not everyone is convinced the russians are up to a bad fight.

>> for how long will russia be able to be in the situation? they will be able to turn this off also. what will happen? >> night falls and they are celebrating in kia back in their homes, the gas is still flowing. the next front, still an invisible threat. ryan chilcote, bloomberg, kia. tothe diplomatic efforts resolve the dispute, let's get over to ryan chilcote in kia. good morning to you. what is the latest? >> the biggest incident, perhaps, the most devastating incident of these gas wars was back in 2006 when i was based in moscow at the time. it's a huge story because a

cause massive disruptions in western europe as far west as germany. that me tell you one reason why at this time might be a little different. is naturally an abundance of gas in western europe right now which means two things. not only have we been hearing from western european countries and gas providers that they may be able to cover their own gas decide told gazprom turn off the flow of gas to in transit tos western europe but they may be able to cover ukraine's needs for some time. in other words, turn the flow back and send it east. that might provide a little of a to curb thee supply. they offered to the ukraine to lend about $3 billion so that it could keep up with its payments.

that is something you could not have imagined gazprom saying eight or nine years ago. >> we will come back to you later, ryan chilcote live in the ukraine. >> russian markets bore the brunt of the emerging market follow its. jonathan ferro has more on the emerging market reaction. yesterday was a bit of a bounce. today? >> let's call yesterday monday and reverse. seeing stronger markets in asia and with all money going into the swiss franc and the japanese yen, a bit of a turnaround. dollar-yen high if you ever nikkei,to trade the it is up 1.5%. escalation has diminished somewhat. markets rarely have 2020 vision but people can get a little blasé. is 175ual gdp of ukraine

billion dollars, four days of gdp and the u.s. and the entire stock capitalization is about the size of the disney company. this was never about ukraine. it was about spillover effect and what happens with russia and the eu. can you say that putin really stepped back yesterday? language and he did seem to step back somewhat. investors have jumped on it and they are almost back to where they were monday morning. >> you're describing it as a move back from the brink of war to a war of woods. >> the fact of the matter is you are dealing with political risk which is always a little bit tense. when you're dealing with politicians, you never know what could happen and if we see sanctions and russia has to hit back, that is when things could get messy. a lot calmer than monday. >> for a preview on what's coming up, let's bring in david with 99tching adidas

days until the world cup, david. >> that's one of the things we will be looking at in those earnings wednesday, and around about half an hour because they are aiming for 2 billion euros worth of soccer sales related to the promotion of the world cup, of course. you and most know that adidas is providing the football that will be used in the world cup matches. doing with sales up to 15 billion euros? we will be looking at that as well and why they have extended the ceos contract or two years. we will be back to explain that as well. >> the football world cup. >> it has a name. it's taken on a life of its own. mark is counting down those 99 days. china says the same growth

target for this year as in 2013 and challenges remain. that conversation and pollution and how it could be choking its biggest cities. we will pick that up with a guest after the break. ♪

today's company news. general motors selling more vehicles and china than anywhere else says deliveries gained 20% led by the new vans accounting for half of the gm deliveries to the country. sales rose 32% in february. the fourth biggest mining company is working on separate to revive rio tinto struggling: nickel operations and they are assessing a bid for assets in western australia. global mining companies are looking to make cost savings after a decade-long boom in crisis between increase supply and slower economic growth in

china. air france-klm is getting a luxury makeover. the changes from high-end seats to bigger entertainment scream come as they attempt a turnaround from near bankruptcy. in july and is coupling luxury perks, such as gourmet meals, with pushing spending. welcome to "countdown." >> it is 6:16 a.m. in london. growthas said its 2014 target at 7.5%, the same as last year. here to discuss this and many other matters, bank of america merrill lynch fixed income strategist john. good morning. >> 7.5% growth target. can it achieve it whilst at the same time speeding up perform, managing that risk, fighting pollution? those are three big

goals. >> forecast is in line with ours and it will be hard to tighten lending standards, improve the environment, and so on. the priority appears to shift from investment to consumption domestically and china. we think they'll timidly will prevail because the main determination they have is to keep it running at those sorts of levels. in the last 24n hours after consolatory words from the russian president, vladimir putin. will the calm last? market pointestern of view interrupted so violently over the weekend and the beginning part of this week that it does seem to have a renewed call man did is very welcome and

it certainly fits our view that this will unfold more in the corridors of politics and hopefully anything more violent. that being said, there are a lot of concerns about where it is leading the concerns about the outlook for commodity prices, what happens with ukraine's gas deal with russia, so on. the markets will remain nervous. >> one of your analysts making the point that one reason why violence on the ground may be less likely is the fact that russia has leverage over the ukraine in the shape of its economic relationship with gazp rom. >> when you hear the messages that are being put out, albeit there is a more conciliatory tone on one front, there is the warning about the end of the deal with regards to the concessions on gas prices which as it potential applications for the ukraine but more widely in europe given the way that the pipelines are built.

frame of still in a mind, first quarter 2014, where we are wearing in a very general sense about emerging markets and this just adds to one area of concern. obviously, the spillover into other emerging markets is innocent. >> as you said, the nerves were getting frayed for other unconnected reasons and things that just started to look like they were stabilizing and maybe the worries about emerging markets in general had been a bit overdone and now this adds to the concerns that the global recovery still faces a lot of headwinds and will be less than robust on the coming months and that is something -- >> will debt restructuring be part of this imf package that might come out of the presence in key avenue? -- in kiev? it might have to be. they are in a fragile situation regardless of what has been

happening over recent weeks and months. torn upas contract are and rewritten and gas prices go up, it will confront them with some insurmountable challenges. from bank ofus, america merrill lynch. plenty more to discuss and definitely a more european flavor when we come back. more to come on "countdown." ♪

>> welcome back to "countdown." 622 a.m. in london.

let's talk about the ecb and the dilemma there this week. the data out of the eurozone, how do they justify a change in policy in the ecb? it seemed in the last meeting they seem to be setting the markets up for some kind of shift. >> it seemed they were moving closer to that point and in some ways they clearly still are. activity data has been ok. it's not great. it's holding up. the key reasons that we see her -- we certainly think they will hold is because of the inflation numbers and the rates of inflation are too low but it has been steady. >> and dropping projections for 2016 inflation. >> for the first time, yes. >> we are expecting them to forecast gradually picking up towards 1.5% in 2016. it's a bit low, but not this

month. you have to bear in mind they do not have a lot of ammunition left. they will want to keep it in case they needed more urgently. if it does start to go more rapidly toward zero, they have to react but we think that they will just bow out. >> of these will be -- so these like" policies. >> we think that will happen if it potentially moves towards negative territory. they will have to move was something much more divisive than the policy they been using so far and the problem in the eurozone is that qa is not as easy to sanction as proven in the u.s. or u.k.. there's a lot of national sensitivity around the form it takes, what bonds are purchased, outright monetary financing remit. the banks' very would have to be careful. >> talking about spain here.

are they justified without ecb action? plex as long as they think the markets would act were there to be a need going all the way back to july 2012, whatever it takes. clearly, investors still believe that it holds true and therefore, in a world of very low yield on any sort of sovereign bonds of quality, there's a reason why people are buying them. >> what is your response to guidance from the bank of england? they have moved away from anymore outright specific labor market statistics. >> in hindsight, they have realized that pinning guidance on one indicator that did not have any control over was perhaps not the wisest things to do. we have had some sympathy for the need of guidance. rates need to stay on hold. rates have been moving higher. >> they're starting to etch up.

the u.k. recovery, albeit it seems to be on track and has been for six to nine months. >> within the global bond markets, how do we make money right now? >> these markets are where you need to be. the central banks mean business. even if the recovery stays on track as we all hope and things fixup.own and u.s. data >> do not believe martin when he says rates could rise in the election next may. >> you can believe that they might than they may, but they will rise, as they've all said and that includes martin gradually to a much lower peak them before. >> great to see you this morning. thank you so much for coming in, fixed income try to just at bank of america merrill lynch. >> the latest earnings report from adidas. have i said it's 99 days to the world cup? >> it you confess to

not counting individually but that is your job before we return. see you after the break. ♪

i mark barton and the user the bloomberg top headlines. u.s. president barack obama and german chancellor angela merkel reach consensus on how to deal with russia over its actions in ukraine. the two leaders agreed to remain in contact and coordinate closely. they want to deploy international observers and initiate direct talks between russia and ukraine. >> there is a strong belief that russia's action is violating international law. putin seems to have a different set of lawyers, maybe a different set of interpretations. foolingthink that's

anybody. i think everybody recognizes that, although russia has legitimate interests in what happens and its neighboring state, it does not give it the a means ofe force as exerting influence inside that state. >> early ray, secretary of state john kerry said the u.s. would hold russia directly responsible to any escalation in the ukraine. ahn kerry offered ukraine package of loan guarantees and send a warning to moscow. >> none of us want to escalate this so that it becomes the kind of confrontation where people cannot find a reasonable path a result,d where, as you're stuck in a place that's very hard to climb down from. slowlyian markets are recovering from monday's selloff, the biggest loss in five years in the ruble dropped to a record low.

non-russian companies with exposure are still worried about their aspects. >> how much of this is a shadow about what is going on in ukraine? >> if it deteriorates, we all have ramifications in terms of economic activity. i sincerely hope it gets resolved before that. welcome back. i am mark barton. 6:32 a.m. in london and is getting breaking earnings from the second biggest sportswear maker, adidas sporting goods company, number two after nike and earnings for the fourth quarter beating estimates. fourth quarter net income for the $2 million. analysts estimated 37 $.1

million and the big news though for 2014.jections it is a given a net income forecast between 830 million and 930 million. analysts were estimating a billion. $1 they have proposed a dividend of 1.5%. sales in the fourth quarter, 3.4 8 billion euros and they were estimating 3.41, so a narrow be there. it is next year's rejection earnings, this calendar year, that will certainly be the focus of analysts. they said that it would be significantly impacted in 2014 by currency effects. it's a big year for adidas which competes with nike and selling athletic gear for soccer, running, basketball, and other sports. it is gearing up for the world

cup tournament in brazil in june. it is supplying the official, brazooka.e ,ews from the company yesterday the chief executive, his contract was extended by two is aiming017 and he for 2015 sales of 17 billion euros and a profit bouncing faster than sales. fourth-quarter profit beating estimates but the projection for is beneath analyst estimates. i will hand it to you. >> we will return to that story later. but stuck about china. the national people's congress and the chinese legislature has started this week. the government has declared its growth target for this year at 7.5%.

let's get a perspective on this from the author of "the end of cheap china" and the founder of chinese market research. thank you for joining us. how do you think the government is going to achieve 7.5% growth target, the same it's set in 2013 him a while the same time following through on commitments about pollution and getting a handle on debt and the economy? >> great to see you again, anna. 7.5% gdpd announce the growth target because those questions are right. how will they get this. it is clear that the overall economy is quite weak. seenis the worst i have early last five years. the only way you will be able to hit those numbers, if you increase infrastructure spending like they did by building more airports, more subway systems, and by continuing to have large factories and continued to move. the problem with that is that

the pollution is really quite bad right now. the second problem is there is too much overcapacity. i would rather see the premiere not set a growth target because it is why dangerous right now. the economy is quite weak. >> chinese governments are very in thef avoiding unrest streets. what do you think the chinese people are more concerned about right now? it is wages, job security, and the economy? which story is dominating? >> great question. my market research firm has gone out into 10 cities and the biggest concerns right now are pollution and health care, access to clean food and water. wages are quite strong right now. if you look in january of this year, 26 providences raise the minimum wage by 18% and more

importantly, the chinese new year ended in february and the labor markets were still quite tight. manufacturing was very weak. pmi came in at a contraction rate. means that it is still really quite easy for low income chinese to get a job and wages are going up as we mentioned for most-20% blue-collar workers. >> what about debt markets in china? we have seen in the latest sign of stress one particular shanghai solar company suggesting it may not be able to meet its obligations in suggesting we might see the first onshore bond to fault in default.onshore bond allow theed to onshore bond markets to go bust if need be. the solar company has two more

days to return the interest rate if they can raise about $14 million u.s. they just liquidated and declared bankruptcy in cayman. i think it's really important that the government will allow for some of these bankruptcies and allow for some of the wealth management projects to go bust in order to create an end to the slippery slope that the government will bail everybody out. what is the key and this is if you look, there's a lot of lack of trust in the big state-owned banks which is why 80 million consumers went out and got wealth management assets in alibaba. u.s.sold about $40 million in wealth management. the first day that they started selling. the you will see a lot of fluctuation in interest rates and a lot of pain for banks demandingey're both

reform and this is why they're doing so well on financial products. >> i know in the light of whatsapp, you think it is undervalued by many in the market. think it is grossly undervalued. when we speak with hedge funds, it is a much more robust system. they launched this a red envelope where people could give money to their friends. in order to receive or give up withu had to link your bank account. a lot of consumers who may have been worried about connecting to the banks are now doing it. >> thank you for joining in today, shaun rein, from the china market research group. >> let's get back to the earnings from adidas. they are in the midst of a five-year plan to increase sales.

european editor david tweed joins us now from berlin. what are the targets in the five -year plan? collects they are being hit by currencies and they're being hit hardest in the markets where they are trying to grow the fastest, russia but also latin america. it's going to be a huge focus with the world cup coming up. it's worth pulling up the pie chart where you can see where the main markets are. this represents about 10% of adidas sales. growth was 19% latin america altogether. they had particularly strong growth in colombia, mexico, argentina. these markets have all declined by currency. in terms of euro sales, it was only 6% and this is why they have warned that the moment that

looking ahead, they expect reallyy weakness to impact the process going into 2014. what we are looking out is a net millionf about 830-930 euro versus analyst estimates around one billion euros. 2015, thek for the five-year target program, 17 inlion euros to achieve that 2015. they have cap that for the time being. >> yesterday, we learned that the chief executive officer has had his contract extended by two years. what is the thinking behind that? looking for a new chief executive and they're talking about generational change.

saleslly has doubled since 2000 eight and this is the extension of the contract and an extension of the job he's doing. they want to keep a steady hand all the way through this with the sponsorship they are doing. i'll up another and you can see the big competitor, nike has 17% of the market and adidas with 12. i want to increase their market share and this is their opportunity. youeibel chat more with later, david tweed from berlin. >> microsoft is a two trick pony working on a third according to steve ballmer. we will have more on what that third trick might be after the break. ♪

>> welcome back to "countdown." 645 a.m. in london. india will go to the polls to see if they can hold onto the 10-year rule. who is likely to form the next

government? >> between the bjp and led government. the world's largest democracy will go to the polls only seventh of april. the verdict will be out on the same team -- 16th of april. india is faced with slow growth. bjp-led grouptingbjp0 to be in the lead. but the markets are watching out is to become the next prime minister of india. he means business and promises

better government. they do not want an unstable government that the center because it could mean more out of itsrtainty current font. >> what else is corporate india expecting and hoping for? things india has been working on the largest deficit is one that is pretty sudden. they will behind going with the smaller parties and it is like a game of cricket. but they really want to see is to find the stable location that will bring in certainty and bring it back to the table. we will see that by the 16th of may.

the upcomingout indian elections. >> when we come back, we will hear more about microsoft and the somebody who knows a thing or two about it. stay with us here on "countdown." ♪

>> welcome back to "countdown." microsoft former chief executive

steve ballmer speaking one month after leaving the tech giant and bloomberg was there. for more, let's bring in caroline hyde with the details on what was a fascinating evening. >> wait for it. wait for it. there, on the bottom right. >> bloomberg presents the oxford union debate. with bloomberge having this relationship with the oxford union and he was fascinating. this is the first time he was x ceo. speak as the he is still on the board and one of the bigger shareholders but no longer running a. he spoke very eloquently about the concern that he did not have the third arm. teaming software with hardware quick enough, he spoke about how

companies usually only have one trick. it keeps on giving. >> it is worth billions. tricks and they brought him back and developed a touchscreen. microsoft had two tricks as well in now they are looking for the third. >> why did you not do the third trick right? say i did not know if we were too busy or he only knew the tools of the first two tricks. we have done two and you know what the challenges are now? yearsill go for a lot of but in our industry, you need a third trick. are the pct's tricks and the windows operating system and the second was getting microprocessors into data centers. now he is wishing they could have got the software and

hardware together quick enough. and hegym doing weights is still just as passionate as ever. >> did he speak about where microsoft needs to head next? he still has some vested interest. >> as a speaker, he is fascinating to watch. he says he wants to be a good ex-chief executive. he still has a lot of money in the game. areechnology businesses like sharks. you either move forward become either you small, irrelevant, or both. my greatest joy for microsoft in the long run will see if they achieve even greater heights in the next five or 10 years. he does not want to see an

unwinding of the business. he vehemently told me that afterwards. analysts, investors, and the media are saying to divided up. he wanted to be a juggernaut. he thinks they can invest in areas that would potentially have products. if you have that data on the searches you can wear devices that will give you reviews on who you are. i can mock up human the technology would be there to just about guess what your name is. that is where it is going and where he wants microsoft to go, machine to machine technology. 40 on the bloomberg billionaires list, the sixth biggest microsoft shareholder. does he have any ambitions left? what is left on his to do list?

earth would i go to a b list company? 10,000the company with employees and he has seen them grow at every single stage. they have made big mistakes. the wife has said do not choose something for a year. give yourself time. >> he can take a year off. he has three or clocked rose use in the world he wants to work on. look at the u.s. health-care system. they spend about 17% of gdp on health. what can you do with that five percent of u.s. gdp per year? amazinginvest it in things. health care, education. none of them are up-to-date. some of the debates

about which sectors would be disrupted by technology next. we have seen it having to do with travel and telephony as well. the commentators there were suggesting that health care and education could be where they are disrupted and you have those with experience bringing that into one of those industries, that could be fascinating. >> he says, interestingly, they are not asking to be on his board. he thought that would happen. not so. it seems to be quite quiet in that respect. he says he has an appalling golf track record and he might work on that. it's actually quite sad because he said all he's done his entire life is work. clips of the the microsoft internal conferences. he is big, brash, loud.

>> he is far more controlled. >> thank you very much, caroline. you can see the rest of that speech online. bloomberg presents the oxford union debate. ♪

>> putin talks tough but cold tension in ukraine. no intentiona has to fight but reserves the use for force. >> seven and a half percent growth this year. we are live in beijing with the national people's congress. >> and beating third-quarter estimates. a significant impact from currency movements and 2014. the sporting goods maker is gearing up for the biggest challenge. the world cup is just months away.

hello, welcome to countdown. >> just on 7:00 here in london. numbersxpecting some from allied irish banks expected to report any moment. >> it has not come out yet. this is the bank bailed out i the irish government, which owned all but a small portion of allied irish. we are expecting a first-half loss. sure enough we have a pretax to 1.7 billion. the company is focused on returning to profitability this year. some details on the earnings and what the future holds.

the chief executive joins us live from dublin. good morning, sir. thank you for joining us. >> thank you for having me. >> can you confirm you will be profitable in 2014? >> i think you will have seen from our results we made a lot of rugrats with our revenues up. improved.s pretax profit is $755 million. if you take that with the provision capital strategy we were pursuing, i think we have real confidence we have crossed the line with restructuring that we will come to full profitability during 2014. >> just to clarify that is net or off it? >> -- that is net rough it -- profit, isn't it? >> yes. losses continue to

decline? that is two years of declining loan losses? can you give us an estimate? a andbelieve our early pre-our readers have come down pre-arrears- 3 -- have come down materially. we have alsoding taken the substantial part of findings from the central bank. we believe with 70 billion provisions on the balance sheet, thatapital ratio of 4.3% we are very strong with a trend on declining provisions. >> so mortgage arears have peaked. >> you have many different

categories of arrears. all of them are showing positive trends. we believe there will be declines in the total risk of this year. >> we have got to talk about the irish central bank assessment and stress test, which will take place this year. how have you come out of the irish central bank assessment? did it rescue to set aside more for bad loans? >> it was a very thorough process. i think we were comfortable with how we came out of it. we want to be very conservative going into the european stress test, so we have taken all of the findings and included that. down, so i think when we look at it we came out very well. to be able to be 25% down and looking forward to the european stress test with the capital , we believe we

are very well positioned for the european stress test coming up. >> you are not going to need more capital after the european stress test? you are capitalized enough? >> i believe we are well capitalized. test.e been through this with the capital levels i believe we are capitalized and will not need more capital. allied irishbout pushing the government to set up a bonus plan for executives. and theichael noon finance minister basically said no to this. what is your reaction? >> i tend to agree with many of the comments minister made. the team ispective brand-new. most of them have come from higher paid jobs. they are here as a matter of

rentable, so i agree with the sentiments expressed. , so iatter of principle agree with the sentiments expressed. i agree with looking at it in the future only when they are profitable and returning significant funds to the taxpayer. in that marketplace it would be much more competitive, and there are exploratory talks about what should we do to make it stable with guarantees we will be able to execute it, so not really talking about bonuses at all for this year. the executive team is not talking about that. it is when we are distributing significant funds to the taxpayer and looking at incentives that would be market sensitive and only delivered when shareholders targets have been met. comfortable, and it is an important discussion around a topic we don't think was represented.

>> this won't affect your future with allied artists? you will talk with the government and get that extended? >> i would like to be very clear my discussions with the board and the central bank will occur this year. i have made it clear to the board about the contract without any change in terms and contributing to the final resolution of the bank, which is in profitable position, well capitalized, so i am committed to that with regards to discussion in the past. >> the irish housing market rose for the first time in six years and 2013. yes, it is still roughly 50% it did fall in january for the first time since march. a simple question, did the

housing market bottom? >> i think it has. we have seen 30 plus increases, but we have seen the beginning positive house prices across ireland. if you take a macro view of the housing market, the precipitous stopped, and we are seeing stabilization in various parts of the country. >> a final question. the european central bank meets tomorrow, and there are calls from many areas for the ecb to cut rates to fight off deflation. should the bank cut off its main lending rates, or should it cut ?ts deposit rate what's your assessment of what the ecb should do? >> i don't have a strong view. i think the irish economy is a very open economy. our growth rate was about 1.5% in the quarter last year. we expected growth rate of two percent going forward, so

anything policymakers can do to stimulate growth and europe is a big help in ireland. i would be supportive in that regard. >> thanks for joining us today. >> dina is setting the same growth target this year as it did for 2013. that's 7.5%. the premier made the in beijing today. stephen engle was there. let's get to him. an impressive backdrop behind you. >> yes, an extremely rare opportunity to broadcast live from the heart of the chinese square -- innewman tian an men square. there is the actual square itself. we are right in the middle thing -- of things. the square has actually cleared out. the session kicked out this

today was theded. big work report from the premier , and the big headline was status quo. 7.5% gdp growth target. that's the same target as last year. we had 7.7% growth rate last year. we are expecting a similar type of growth this year. why did they not lower the rate? jobs.mportant is and sustaining growth momentum. officials have been deemphasizing growth this past year with a new leadership team as they embark on these reforms to make it more market oriented. there are other issues discussed in the halls of power to my right. national security.

domestic security. the terrorist attack. the chinese calling it their own 9/11, but pollution is a big concern on people's minds. beautiful blue skies in beijing. the temperatures have dropped, but the skies have cleared off. there is a lot of unrest, even though you don't see it on the surface often. about an hour ago we had a protester run to the streets saying, i have been wrong, i have an wrong. he was quickly tackle. see, and the leadership knows this. there is corruption throughout the country, and they are trying to crack down on that. that is being discussed this week. >> the premier says the priority is jobs. we spoke to shaun rein, who does market research in china. he says most people are concerned about pollution. these goals,nce

economic growth of 7.5% and getting a handle on pollution and the debt situation in china is going to be front and center for many analysts, isn't it? >> now you are kind of seeing the challenges this country has. 1.3, 1.4 billion people and the world's second largest economy. this is all new territory for the chinese. the smog issues have come on really badly over the last 10 years or so. power consumption has tripled over the last 10 years. guess how most of the power is generated. it's from coal. guess which industries are some of the worst looters and need to be reformed? polluters thatst need to be reformed? they are steel mills.

politicalto have will. that is what is happening in the halls of power this week and next week. >> thank you very much. lex coming up, how the $2 played intodebt tensions in the ukrainian crimean region.

>> time for today's company news. u.s. companies honeywell and dupont face and eu complaint for violating antitrust rules. this is over the only car coolant chemical that meet standards for greenhouse gas emissions. those familiar with the probe say the eu may settle the complaint as soon as next month. they are supposed to be considering a norwegian business after failing to win in the country. the company trails in revenue in norway. no finalmiliar say decision is made and tele2 may keep the business. -- open airport may own a premium lounge.

manchester airport group is spending one million pounds on the escape lounge. >> welcome back. this is countdown. >> time in london, 7:16. >> in ukraine diplomatic efforts to reduce tensions over mobilization of russian troops in crimea region continuing. russia considers a $3 billion pay to ukraine to help it its debts to russia's natural .as exporter gas from ryan filed this report. >> the speaker calls on the men in the crowd to sign up for the ukrainian army to take on russian forces in crimea, but the expectation is the next one may not involve troops at all. ukraine relies on russia for most of its energy and uses that natural gas to fuel its industry and heat homes. the fear is that reliance will be russia's next weapon.

punish ukraine by cutting the gas altogether. gas, russia turns off the what would you do? to turn it in another way. not misuse gas as a weapon to gain ukraine. >> an independent square they know a thing or two about the cold. for have been out there three months. russia has turned off ukraine's gas twice in the last decade, the country's first so-called gas wars. not everyone is convinced. >> ukrainian production would stop. russia will be able to be in , because 60% of

gas goes through ukraine. what will happen to them? what will happen to the economy? >> nightfall, and they are celebrating in kiev. in their home the gas is still flowing. it is still an invisible threat. johns. secretary of state kerry will meet with russia's foreign minister today in paris. for more on diplomatic efforts to solve the dispute between russia and ukraine, let's go to ryan in kiev. good morning, brian. ryan. >> those diplomatic negotiations continue. the russians say they will allow confrontations. getting back to gas, the first and most devastating taste of these gas wars you might remember in 2006. that was based in moscow, and

remember, russia for the first time kurt hailing the gas to ukraine, which is a transit point for all the gas going to western europe, and that caused severe disruptions going as far west as germany. interesting this time around, because there is the prospect of that happening again -- is that the markets changed a bit, thanks to lng. actually an abundance of gas in western europe. the shale in the united states has something to do with that, and that means this time western europe could probably cover its needs for longer. we heard russian gas suppliers talking about that over the last week, that they have reserved beyond one month, and they could also help ukraine cover its interesting is an

concept, that they would send the gas eastward to ukraine. some of that gas which originated in russia. this time russia may have a disincentive to use natural gas or gas from the world's largest natural gas producer as a weapon because it might not be that effect is. -- effective. that is why we are hearing about them loaning ukraine the cash so they can continue to pay their bills. >> a calm dissent over markets speech.esident putin's is there a sense the calm will last? >> that's a good question. there is in the sense that many people here in ukraine have

written off crimea. they believe that the russians and putin will control crimea for exactly as long as they want , and what president putin indicated yesterday in his first comments since this crisis began was that while he has no intention of standing down from the position he has taken and that troops are likely to remain in crimea, he has no intention of escalating things and send tens of thousands of troops into eastern ukraine, at least if you take him at his word at yesterday's press conference, so people have relaxed a little bit here, which allows them to focus on the large financial crisis, which really needs to be at the forefront right now. >> thanks, ryan. >> we are going to take a short rate. when we come back we will have more market action. we will have a look at earnings from standard charter. they are out as well. stay with us.

>> welcome back to countdown. >> it is seven: 25 in london. standard chartered reports results in precisely 45 minutes. it focuses on emerging markets in asia and africa. what will take headlines today? the earnings, the bonuses? who better to ask?

>> i think there could be bonuses. that was the fascination with barclays and hsbc missed on its earnings. the like for like comparison is hsbc, but it is about bonuses. have a look at this. will sachs renumeration come under question. 5.6 billionad dollars or 2.7 times earnings. >> the company is in the process of selling some businesses. >> they are small. they have some pretty big issues. korea is a big issue. they are selling some businesses. we wait and see if there is any more detail on that, and we want to see if there is more capital position. loan losses. that will be the fascination because of china exposure. >> 8:15 london time. >> 8:15 london time.

>> thank you very much. >> next we are going to take a look at the battle of the brands. it will come to a head at the football world cup.

pre-k's these are the top headlines. barack obama and german .hancellor angela merkel agreed the two leaders agreed to remain in contact and coordinate closely. they want to deploy international observers and initiate direct talks between russia and ukraine. a strong belief that russia's actions is violating international law. president putin seems to have a different set of lawyers making a different set of interpretations, but i don't

think that's fooling anybody. i think everybody recognizes that, although russia has legitimate interests and what happens in a neighboring state, that does not give it the right to use force as means of exerting influence inside of that state. >> u.s. secretary of state john kerry will meet with russia's foreign minister in paris today. the diplomats aimed to reduce tension. earlier in kiev kerry offered ukraine loan guarantees. he also said the u.s. will hold russia responsible for escalation in ukraine. >> none of us want to escalate it becomes the kind of confrontation where people cannot find a reasonable path result and where as a you are stuck in a place that is hard to climb down from. >> market recovering from monday's selloff. it was the biggest loss in five

years. the ruble dropped to a record low. non-russian companies with exposure to russia are still worried about their prospects. guy johnson caught up with the chief executive sergio at the geneva auto show. >> how much of a long shadow over ukraine? >> if it deteriorates, it will have ramifications in terms of economic activity. i sincerely hope it gets resolved. ♪ >> hello, welcome. i am mark barton. >> the time in london is 7:32. the 2014 world cup is less than 100 days away. our next guest says that is where the big battle will take place between adidas and nike.

our next guest nigel joins us now. thank you for coming to talk to us. these are different strategies when it comes to sponsoring football offense. which one do you think is going to pay off in the world cup? >> adidas has always gotten a much more traditional route of being a sponsor whether it is the olympics or the world cup. a more always taking andulative approach sponsors key individuals. adidas does that as well. be hoping their teams come out on top in the world cup, which is a big spotlight. >> it does generate revenue, and it was proven by the last world cup in south africa four years ago. it has incurred significant market expenses up the same

time. >> it does. they spend a huge amount with individual teams across the world. it's a huge expenditure, but they know their business, and they get a massive return on it. are geared players to sales. they know exactly what they are doing. they know who to target. >> in the days of social media is there an argument for not doing any of this activity and just trying to create some sort around an event that costs a lot less and promoting it that way, just launching something and hoping it is going to take off in social media? >> at the risk of sounding old-fashioned, no. there will be millions of eyes watching the world cup on television and all over the world. it's such a big event. big global event for

branding. they will really be focusing on that opportunity. >> these teams do well in the world cup. does that always do well? nike is sponsoring brazil. england, france. adidas has spain and germany. nike are going to do the best because they are sponsoring england, and england is going to win the world cup. >> don't that on it. the biggest is the captain in july and cup whichever brand. >> so when stephen girard lift the cup that is the money winner. >> how to sponsors manage the fact that sometimes you get a conflict between an individual sponsorship deal and the team as a whole? >> it's a key area. the wholeot conflicts

time. he has a huge personal deal with adidas. each players allow their own deal. they have to work around that. >> two they also have to accept infuriating guerrilla marketing that takes place in the stadium. i remember one time there was a beer brand that wanted to put people in the stadium attracting attention. >> there are always attempts for that. there is usually a bookmaker who will try something speculative. they clamp down enormous flea. they have strict rules in place. they can impose big fines, and they have good things to stop it happening. always be something. >> what is the best way of deriving maximum marketing value from a big tournament like the world cup? >> it think it is capitalizing on the fact there will be so

much media hype around the world. nothing else will attract the sort of media attention. you can then go onto social media platforms and other ways of maximizing that. that is what they will be aiming for. >> has adidas taken a hit to its brand? they had to recall a series of t-shirts. they came under fire with brazilian authorities for being regarded as sexist. does the brand take a hit from something like that or not? >> i think they take a short-term knock, but actually, they get publicity, and it doesn't do harm at the end of the day. >> all publicity is good publicity. >> as long as it is not disastrous and people don't take it too seriously, they will ride that. >> inc. you, the managing director. >> what happens when two of the five.trongest brands tom gibson reports.

one makes top-end phones. the other, luxury cars. they are two of the world's most sought after brands. now they are working together. apples car play is a new platform for its devices on four wheels. >> this is sort of a factor. possibilityds, the to be connected. >> it can be used to get directions, make calls, listen to music. whether it is controlled by voice using or the steering wheel is up to the driver. for areas cutting the number of sars it makes, which means les

ipods in your car. it has also partnered with two other highbrow brands. mercedes and volvo. that's before 12 more carmakers join later this year. by fitting in with for ari and mercedes, apple looks like it's sending a message. it wants to maintain its luxury status. >> ever wondered how you should dress while buying your groceries? me.ou don't want to see >> should now has the answer. .otshots is coming up next >> it's time for hotshots.

a look at some of the most compelling issues of the day. of grande walls palais, paris, chanel anstructed a supermarket for fashion show. rainlagerfeld continues to at the grandiose fashion show.

converted in 1857, the penitentiary is in despair, but not for long. the jail attracts more than 250,000 a year. it was used to house dangerous and repeat offenders. it was destroyed by a fire before the 20th century. the restoration project is expected to be completed by the end of the year. world tennis day in new york. murray inbeat andrew madison square garden. how could they play without stopping? they couldn't, taking it to twitter. they tweeted selfies to their followers. welcome back. >> thank you. on the move starts at the top of the hour. francine joins me now for a preview. monday markets were very nervous because of everything that was

happening in ukraine. we saw that expressed in russian assets. yesterday was a bit of a bounce. >> we are going to have a big focus on china today. you spoke about it during the show. chinese shares fell on concerns the country may face corporate default. this is one of our main focuses. let's get futures. the dax is pretty much unchanged. you can see ftse futures down. we have a couple of stocks we are watching. >> a focus on sportswear manufacturing. >> adidas was talking about currencies. they were talking about the fact 2014 would be significantly impacted by currency. we will try to get a sense of what companies in switzerland but also germany will struggle because of the currency swings of 2014.

>> one of the banking businesses during much at the center of anything that is happening in emerging markets. we will get numbers later. >> reported at 8:15 london time. they are basically set to report earnings. they want to report about asset quality. get to the numbers and see how the stock moves at the open. >> russia and ukraine. russian assets are falling, aren't they? >> outside of that we had some moves yesterday. >> escalation risk has diminished to some extent in their eyes. i am not saying markets have ever got 2020 vision, but that is the sentiment. you saw equities climbing. >> a record high on wall street. >> dollar yen higher. futures are a little bit low.

>> the ecb tops it off tomorrow at 12:40 five london time. i know you have been looking at history. >> the editor upstairs has written a great article. just to give you a quote. at present there is no reason to expect overall prices will drop pressure onexert the economy. that was the report from japan in 1998. we know what happens after that. is the ecb and inflation threat? i think they are concerned. it will be very interesting on the forecast as well in any language that comes out of it. >> he likens conditions in both areas, and they are remarkably similar. >> they are. we get economic expansion. a reluctance by len -- by banks

to lend, a debatable monetary stance. japan 1990's europe. >> they make a point that depend vacation of the area -- that is high andon rising. >> our next guest says we may not have seen the last of her. what else does she want? the ukrainian impact on the market. we will have more ahead at the market open.

>> welcome back to countdown. >> the time in london is 7:49. >> let's talk about european equity markets and see how they are going to fare. futures pointing downwards. --ket commentator warden david buick is here. >> good morning. if we had and pulled the duvet cover back on monday morning and had just woken up today you would wonder what the fuss was about. everything reclaimed. the equityses on markets regained. oil is back to its correct price. >> the ruble is down. it's not over, is it? iswhere i think the naivety

badly, butdid putin when you think about where he is with the black sea, it's like saying to the labour party, we don't want to in the south of england. he's there, whether we like it or not, and his people are there. he's not going to see western democracy come into the ukraine when he surrounds the basin and makes his credibility. the thing is to stop talking about sanctions. stop talking about freezing assets. .top bullying both sides otherwise, you're going to have serious problems. he has the gas. the banking sector needs this problem like a hole in the head, because billions of dollars will be affected by this. then you have got the china situation. some concern about the exposure to chinese banks. politicians are up for it,

and it's just nonsense. as wings saying just , from the start of the year when we were more relaxed, more challenges have come. >> the domino effect is that once things start to go wrong between russia and the west, europe, which is hanging on by its fingernails, tips into recession. we don't get our growth. one percent.o all of a sudden, the seven and a half percent suggested today that china would grow by, that is history. we need a little bit of grown-up thinking. be sensible. football, our favorite subject. squirming every time i

mention football. doldrums in the recently, but 80% of marketers like adidas. the overall composition retail sales were up three percent. you pay a reasonable dividend of about one euro 50, and you have got the world cup. want their shirts, west germany, brazil, whatever it is. there is a really strong situation there, and i think they will capitalize on that. >> that's the positive. the negative might be currency. you think that is a theme people will see? degrees of the foreign exchange markets get exacerbated.- if it is based on sales it will

be quite happy for the next six months. man who was on before was talking about the of the eurozone. do you see big similarities? >> it possible. i think mario draghi has been a fantastic orchestrator. i think he has done a fantastic job. he has got 27 heads of government. running around like headless chickens not knowing whether night follows day. read, bute is hard to i think he is a clever operator. i think deflation is a prospect. it's a distinct possibility, but it really depends whether global recovery can be orchestrated, and the imbalance is still shocking. have a huge budget surplus. until we stop this meeting we .ave the next one in sochi

do something, because until somebody actually does something about these imbalances, the problems are there, and the threat is it is going to be very difficult for europe to get on with it in the wake of what is going on. and 19% increase in earnings help sales rebound. >> i think this is really clever marketing in the true sense of the word because france has not been a good place to be. it has been horrible in the last two years, and the amount of disposable income hasn't grown at all. in fact, it has gone in reverse. it so dominant in france. you talk about tesco. there are others that do well, but that is fantastic, and i think it is a good achievement.

>> thank you. >> it is 7:50 five. guess what is next. >> i think it is on the move. >> adidas is lower today. i think it expect a significant impact from currency movement this year. ♪ . .

>> welcome to on the move. we are in bloomberg promised european headquarters in london and we are just moments away from the start of european trading and our markets team has everything covered from companies to currencies. we have the oxford union debate. many people who was part of it and i feel good about that. >> here with me now is jonathan

ferro, manus cranny, david tweed, they're all standing by. we have a lower direction today. bit and strong gains yesterday. the escalation risk has diminished and china comes out with a growth target. bear in mind that we have a can they haved that target? >> we hear about the corporate to her and let's go land. they talk about currency effects today. >> want to give you an idea on how the currency is affecting them. they get 10% of the sales in latin america and the growth is by 19%. when it was translated, it was only six percent.