>> last round of help. european finance ministers meet today in athens as greek eyes more aid. finance minister yannis stournas says this'll be the last time. thee don't see a need for fed bailout but let's stick to our gum. -- guns. >> japanese consumer ca sales salesse to 8% -- see a tax rise to 8%.

welcome to "countdown." i am anna edwards. bloomberg reporters are standing by across the world ready to deliver the stories that will drive your day. athensweed is in looking at more prospects for greece. are we seeing signs of weakness in china? we have the latest manufacturing data from hong kong. twitter wraps up its efforts in social tv and airline hide has the details on its new acquisition. -- caroline hyde has the details on its new acquisition. interviews coming on bloomberg. we will speak with the ceo of heathrow airport. he will look at heathrow's place in the u.k. economy.

that is during the next hour of the program. then on "the pulse," there will be a an exclusive interview with -- formerminister prime minister agrees. finance ministers in athens are likely to sign off on the next package of aid to greece so the country can avoid default. david tweed caught up with the finance minister yannis stournas this week. will greece need more money after the charge that is being discussed today? >> this is a subject which has been discussed in great detail. greece has still got problems. the economy contracted last year by 3.7%. this year, economists are mixed in the outlook whether it will be a further contraction or whether the economy might actually return to growth. there has been some good news. one is the fact that greek is

left with a budget surplus. it is one of the reason the finance ministers are looking at greece and thinking, we are going to be able to let that next payment of eight to go out. that will be just -- payment of aid go out. that will be decided today. muche fiscal situation is better than expected. , along the program money with the better performance on the fiscal side, are enough to cover us fully for the next month. under certain conditions, that could continue inside 2016 under certain conditions. everything is conditional. the conditions that he put out there is the banks would need to raise capital and can raise that

capital from private funds and not have to resort to the bailout funds which have been reserved for the banks. the of the condition is the banks pass the european central bank's stress test later this year and do not have to raise more money than is already on the books. finally, economic growth must return. i went back to him and said, at this stage do you think there will be a need for a third bailout for greece? seet the moment, we do not the need for a third bailout. let's stick to our guns. i think the economy will continue to perform well. this is going to be the catalyst. >> he looks pretty optimistic at the moment. there are a lot of tests that they need to do. one of the key tests is a bond market. will the government be able to

tap the bond market? the minister says they hope to do that in the first half of this year. >> lots on your to do list for today. tell us what is lined up. >> we have got a busy day. in about half an hour i will be sexiest to someone from bank. ------ axias bank. at the end of the day, we will be talking to the former greek prime minister. of theing for signs greek recovery from the ground up. the buying power of japanese consumers will take a hit as the 5% to 8%.rises from the tax hike puts their policy

to the test. is the economy ready for today's sales tax increase? what are you expecting? >> no, not really. if you look at the most recent report, which is a survey of business confidence, there is not a great deal of confidence at the moment. the economy is performing relatively well from a gdp standpoint, but the big issue is will companies pay employees more and so they can spend more money and boost the economy? that is the problem. wages are not being raised. the tax increase could hurt consumer spending going forward. how does japan boost the economy when it is raising taxes on the very part of the economy, the consumer, that is hoping to boost growth? it is a bit of a paradox. what is most important is for the government to come forth and do a lot of the reforms as it

has promised to do. it needs to liberalize the labor market, it needs to make the economy more entrepreneur. it needs to lower corporate taxes and until we see those types of reforms, we are not going to see consumers excited about going out to the stores and buying more, especially at a time when taxes are rising, they are not making more money, and japan is getting a little bit of inflation at this point. the economy is at a pivotal moment and it is up to the government and the prime minister to come forth with a lot of the reforms that he is promised. 15 months in, we have not seen anything very tangible from him other than changing personnel at the bank of japan. we have seen a lot of liquidity coming in from the bank of japan. what is him orton is the window of opportunity to push the reforms through his closing. if the prime minister steps up and does a couple of things that impress consumers and companies, we could be in for a rough year. >> what should they be doing to

repeat of 2009? >> you have seen this impressive tsunami of capital from the bank of japan. that helped asset markets. the prime minister has come forth with a program for deregulating the economy. it is a marketing campaign without a product. we are waiting for the prime minister to come forth and do some of these reforms. there is a lot more proactive talk and planning to boost the economy and avoid the lessons and ghosts of 1997. the problem is follow-through. we have not seen a great deal and would need to see some immediately. >> thank you very much. chinese manufacturing indexes are pointing to weakness in the world's second-biggest economy. we are joined from hong kong to recap the numbers.

ava, we are looking at the health of the manufacturing sector today. id, we are looking at the health of the manufacturing sector today. >> we have two readings on manufacturing. they look at different parts of the manufacturing sector. we have the official numbers for the bunch of -- the month of march. coming in at 50.3. a little bit better than estimates. better the and compared to february numbers. there was a little bit of a positive surprise. the look of the ozzie dollar, there was a bit of a spike. oneou look at the hsbc which looks at smaller firms, that dropped to 48 and is the third straight month and has shown a contraction. it shows you where the pain is being felt the most. policy implications are concerned, hsbc's chief

china economist says they expect beijing to tweak policy sooner rather than later. the pace of growth in the first quarter may have come in below what beijing was comfortable with. target was 7.5%. it comes off as promising because the premier said if that china needs to do it, they do have a lot of these policies in reserve to support growth ahead. at this point, two separate reads. not the best. back to you. >> david joining us from hong kong. twitter is wrapping up its social tea efforts in europe, brian a french company as well as the u.k.'s second sink. will do forat these twitter bird -- twitter. are at homele

watching television, they are not just watching tv but also on their tablet or computer tweaking away. this is what many want to leverage. twitter was to realize and show tv broadcasters and advertisers how much they can get in terms of aim for their buck, bang for their euro, bank for their pound. it is something they push forward in the united states. it teamed up with nielsens and they have something called the twitter tv rating system. it allows tv companies to see where the engagement is and what sort of extra they're gaining from the conversations that are happening on twitter. een approvedved -- b by nielsen that when twitter ombre sessions are going on about your program, more people tune in. that is why they are making these riches is in france in the u.k. they're also going with an analysis company.

they want to bring that twitter tv rating system and extended into africa, asia, and southern your. >> it certainly seems to be the classic environment. people take to twitter to give you a running commentary. >> doesn't it make you mad? >> people join together to watch. how will this work in the terms of the international users? >> this never fails to amaze me. users of twitter comes from united -- from outside the united states. of revenue comes from outside the united states. they have -- they want people to realize the power of twitter outside the united states and paying for. in companies that can provide them the analysis and discourse thesethey can have with

types of companies. if they can educate the broadcasters and advertisers as to how much more they can engage with their viewers via twitter, it will lori and more advertisers. -- lure in more advertising. the company they got in the u.k. already has a partnership with facebook. we will see where that goes. twitter has some coffers after its ipo. we could see more ambition. >> thank you very much. just ahead, as japan sales tax hits consumers, our next guest will tell us when we might expect more easing from the tank -- bank of japan. ♪

type per day's company news. overseas corporate he -- ocbcse banking corporationocb

bought wing hang bank. it would give them more access to china-related business in a city that is the biggest center offshore trading. it gives them a network of about 70 branches. general motors announced a new recall of 1.5 million vehicles for faulty power steering. this brings the total number of 6.6 recall this year to million. the chief executive officer is set to testify before congress today about a previous recall. that hearing will focus on why it took more than a decade to people -- million vehicles that had a faulty ignition switch. telecom italia sold its headquarters. sixcarrier were made in the story building as a tenant.

-- will remain in the six story building as a tenant. welcome back to "countdown." japan is raising its sales tax from 5% to 8%. can the country handle it? thank you for coming in. our commentator in tokyo does not think that the economy can handle this increase in sales tax. you think the academy can handle it -- economy can handle it? >> we are in for a tough quarter. it will be a deep contraction. going beyond that, you have to look at policy determination. it is what it has not been in a long time. there are some positive as it is to suggest that we are going to get some degree of nominal wages like we have not seen for many years. >> we are running up into the shinto spring wage talks.

you think they'll be crucial. maybelooks like something under 1% in terms of base wage increase agreements that have been put into place. then you will see -- if you see some employment growth, there are bonus increases on top of that, we could be in the region of 1.5% in terms of wage increases agreed. on top of that, even though you have these agreements you have to look at the fundamentals of the labor market. we have the unemployment rate at 3.6%. historically, those levels on those two gauges have triggered nominal wage increases. i think it points to a tightening of the labor market that bodes well for nominal wages. >> how close as japan to something that looks like a self-sustaining the economy? are we going to see more qe before we see less? >> yes.

having said all of that, you were talking about guessing that consumer expectations that inflation to change after 15 years of mild deflation. i think that needs more work. we are in a situation were you have had the benefits of the yen depreciation through imported inflation print but if you look at the imported good side, we are starting to see disinflation. the annual change in dollar-yen is falling back towards zero. that disinflation environment is going to take hold. it is perhaps likely that the bo j will have to step up again. there inflation target is 2%. it is more like 1% where we will stabilize. have been disappointed in the third arrow and a lack of structural reform in the economy. are you disappointed? you stand in the disappointed cap?

>> i think expectations were unrealistic. after what happened last year, it was likely that boj policy was going to have an instant impact on the financial market. the process of the third a rrow is ongoing and will take many years. i think that gradual reform is going to take some time. perhaps we are in a situation where expectations have now become very low. that means the hurdle for the markets being surprised as we go forward towards the next of these -- the rest of this year is also low and i think he could trigger another bout of optimism. >> stay with us. tour after a global a short break. will do you up to speed with all the breaking news. ♪

>> welcome back to "countdown." i am anna edwards. let's talk briefly about china. hsbcd the official and the today. >> the hsbc was weaker but the official figure with a touch higher. all in all, we can conclude that

we are seeing some degree of stability coming back to the economic days. appetite,general risk that is the optimism. i am sure that could feed into encouraging further risk in trade and support for equities. >> let's talk about janet yellen, the chair of the federal reserve, speaking yesterday. the market had taken her comments as hawkish, putting the six month mark between the end of tapering and the start of an increase in rate rises in the u.s., whether intentionally or not. is she talking more devilishly now -- dovishly now? >> she was talking where her concerns lie, which is the labor market. she was reiterating there is slack and policy will have to remain supportive for some time. she probably does not want to go down that road again. the market's perceptions were

dovish. we should not get away from the simple fact that it is that -- bad economic data. if we get a good market on friday, it is back what she said in march. cpi coming up .5% year on year yesterday. a negative surprise for some markets, a week number. how worried is the ecb going to ?e worrie >> they give the impression that price risks are evenly balanced? the problem is the strategy has not been agreed. >> some say it is about cyclical things like energy and food, that they cannot control. >> if you look at a chart for german inflation, it has been

trending lower for a year and a half. >> thank you very much for joining us today. we will take a short break. ♪

welcome back to "countdown." let's get to manus cranny. >> let's kick it off of the dollar. you can see post-yellen's comments yesterday, saying we need stimulus for some time. there is considerable slack in the economy. it defied me. it was dropping for two days in a row but we will keep an eye on the bigger trend in the dollar. it will be critically important

to the next leg in terms of where the dollar goes. aussie dollar.he we did just break .9300. this is after the central bank left rates unchanged and the governor said racing games -- recent gains made it -- greater you very much china's manufacturing sector is showing in 60 -- increasing signs of weakness. he's index fell to 48.3 the lowest since march. a different reading showed manufacturing improving from the month before. australia pot central bank left its benchmark rate unchanged after record lows. it's widely expected move was meant to offset the loss of investment in australia's mining industry.

france's new prime minister has been announced. his party suffered heavy losses in local elections. u.s. secretary of state john kerry is in the middle east for urgent talks on the peace process. he made a surprise visit to jerusalem to meet with israeli prime minister benjamin netanyahu. then meet with the palestinian president. he has been working frantically to resolve an impasse centered on a promised israeli prisoner release. heathrow is only months away from opening its terminal two, it's revamped terminal two. we have been looking at it and the future of heathrow and we will be bringing you a conversation with the ceo of heathrow airport a little bit later.

will be talking to: matthews colin matthews. david tweed is live in athens for us. he has been speaking to the financial minister whether greece is on track for a financial recovery. >> greases and a good vision -- greece is in a good position to feel confidence enough. you're going to have the best possible result. >> you saying that, maybe outside investors say that, at about the unemployed guy on the street who is relying on his grandmother's pension, which has been slashed, to get by. how do you stop that silent crisis from turning into a crisis for the economy and

seeing people leaving the country because they cannot find work? >> you raise an important issue. indices moment that started to improve to the moment people feel it in their pockets, there is a time lag. the argument has to be presented clearly to the people. -- where the argument has to be resented clearly to the people. we should be clear with people. greece has done so much so that the country can be saved. more than 88% of the necessary fiscal adjustment has already been achieved. we can tell people that we can attend the future with much more optimism compared to the previous year in greece. >> maybe you can convince me. what i come into greece, i see

that there is an improvement that has come about because you have a slowing economy, imports have collapsed. you don't have exports, it seems to be the part that is missing. your tourism -- you have tourism -- haveports of goods increased in volume by more than 2%. export of services, tourism in partular, by more than 15%. exports of goods as, what ever exports of goods and services, whatever weight you look at it, 4%. not a bad performance in a economy suffering from liquidity. >> let's go straight to athens and david tweed. >> george has been an advisor to many of the hedge funds that

came into greece in 2012, like third point which made a bomb with their investments. investing -- advising on a new wave of investors that have been coming in, maybe be looking for the longer-term. what is the difference between the sort of investors that first looked at greece in 2012 and the investors looking at greece now? there is not. investors started looking at greece and were initially optimistic -- opportunistic. it was the only type of investor group that would look at a country with the uniqueness of greece at the time. as things are evolving, and it looks like greece will come back to growth this year and some normality,adi -- we're seeing normality in the market. the market has been downgraded into an emerging market and writerly emerging market funds are looking at it. it is still mostly hedge funds

that are looking at greece, but it will take time. there will be three elements that completed. one is the return to growth. and capitalquidity raised by the banks. emergingtime for markets funds to reeducate himself about a new market like greece. >> it is interesting to see the slight change in the profile of the investments and what they're looking for. one of the other interesting things is if you look at the capitol issues made last week by anks, you get a sense that there is an optimism about greece from outside investors which you do not feel here on the ground. how do you match that up? >> that is a good question. thank you for asking it. i get the sense that the locals start to sense a little bit of it, but just a little bit. the reality is you have to be an

outsider and you have to be sitting miles away with a clear head to see the opportunity on the ground. most of the people on the ground are faced with very severe problems, especially businessmen. most of them are already entrenched into a number of issues. the opportunity lies for people with a clear mind and those who do not have legacy issues backing them. both are for usually people outside of greece and both are things -- >> one of the issues, one of the things we really need to be -- asng on his outs outside ventures is looking at privatization opportunities agrees. it does not seem to be -- privatization opportunities in gree. it does not seem to be happening. >> it is a slow process. it is a combination of things. i am not so sure that the greeks themselves were so convinced about it to begin with.

secondly, it was a negative market environment. don't forget -- for all of these p -- very few people showed up to begin with. people outside of europe were not pushing for position, but when it is happening, none are showing up. it is a combination of factors that led to that. think that as it returns, privatization will pick up. >> quickly on the economy, you talk about normality returning. what is your prognosis for the economy? growth this year? >> i expect we will see growth this year, about what the program expects. they expect .6% growth. i think will be police 1% of gdp. >> >> you are positive. >>i think a lot -- >> i think a lot of people will see it. to government will be able top the markets within the next 30 or 40 days.

>> that is a pretty optimistic bid. we will see if that turns out. >> thank you very much, david tweed reporting from beautiful athens. group leaders and european finance ministers have been arriving in athens for various meetings that are going to take place over the next day or so. these are like pictures we are bringing you of those arrivals in greece. they're going to be discussing the next bunch of aid to athens and maybe improving that. the country downplaying its need for any further assistance after this. we will leave the greek story there for a moment. we will be back to athens later on. he throw's new terminal opens in a few months's time. we will see if it is learned from past mistakes. ♪

>> welcome back to "countdown." i am anna edwards. another day, another piece of data. today it is about the emi -- pmi.

manus is here to tell us what we need to know about today's data. >> tortured by macroeconomics this week. these are the second and final readings. the flash estimates were strong, the strongest in three years. france was the real eye popper. that is expected to be confirmed. the shape of the data can growth. it looks to be a rubber stamp. is it a jobless recovery? you are looking at record levels of employment, 12%. if you look at italy, 12.9%, the highest since 1977. will the reforms begin to bite? you just heard the whole great debate. there is a lifetime between what happens in terms of wages and impact in the pocket.

germany, we are expecting a drop for the fourth month in a row. have building unemployment stories. >> what clues will this give us as to how much slack or spare capacity there is in the eurozone? this is something a lot of economists are saying there is a focus on. >> i think slack is the new unemployment target. you have yellen, carney. yellen is talking about slack. there's is talk of underutilized capacity and spare capacity is mark carney's reference point. it is a phrase of language rather than a target. it is revolutionary for the ecb to use this kind of terminology. when you look at it, it is hard to define. draghi has said that himself.

the imf try to measure it. gdp is underperforming by about 6% and it is going to be 2018 before that gap closes. >> thank you very much. your quick primer on everything macroeconomic. russian forces started withdrawing from the eastern border of ukraine. diplomats were to lower tensions over the crimean peninsula annexation. could russia ramp up pressure from other sources? to become the next for non-ukrainian gas prices? >> the way they measure it is 1000 by 1000 cubic meters. $268.e is now paying that is really cheap. they were paying about $500, but they got discounts. the first and most recent discount was given by the russians to the ukrainians on december 17. billionthat $215 --

dollar aid package that they offered president yanukovych. ousted, russias indicates that that discount will go the way of the buffalo. now they're going to negotiate and the price will go up by at least 1/3. it could go up by another 1/3 because another discount was allowing the russian fleet to perk at the black sea fleet at the crimean naval base. it is now part of russia. basically, the ukrainians have to come up with a lot of cash. they're telling industrial users of gas they will have to start paying 29% more starting today. , households will pay 50% more. -- next month, households will pay 50% more. is $387., the average

in yoursing that household, use about 2000 cubic meters a year. >> i would have to check. [laughter] >> the wholesaler is paying about $750. your ukrainian counterpart is paying $170. incomes are much lawyer. -- lower. they would like to bring consumer yes prices and retail gas prices up to market levels. that is one of the big demands of the imf. the meantime, the west is going to pony up the cash. >> what is this mean for exporting the stuff? we talk a lot about the moves of the ruble in recent weeks. i'm sure that factors in here as well. >> it does. state-controlled company, but it is listed. investors want people to pay the most they can of the products of their company they're invested in. the idea is the ukrainians will pay more for the gas and that will come in line more with

market prices is something that would be greeted by investors. you have one politically -motivated handout place with another. the crimean's have an energy problem because they rely on ukraine proper for the gas. ukraine saying, that is your problem. there are he talking about spending up to $1 billion on building new pipelines to crimea to help them out. the gas share price right now is the threat of sanctions, or in this case, the lack of likelihood of sanctions. all of the analysts, none of them think you should sell gas prom. none of them think it is a buy. they don't see economic sanctions on the horizon. five anna p/eund ratio. it is a buy. >> thank you.

heathrow is only months away from opening its new turn them all -- terminal. have they learned from mistakes? >> heathrow's latest terminal is three months from its grand opening. it will handle 25,000 passengers a day. memories of the 2008 nightmare terminal five launch our freshen the airport's mind. >> it was appalling. lost, 600 flights were delayed, it was embarrassing, and it cost $26 million. >> it was a very poor day. the man responsible for making sure it doesn't happen again. >> opening a new airport terminal is the most challenging thing any airport can turn on. one of the advances we haven't terminal two is that we have the experience of terminal five.

>> the plan is to open it in slow motion. united airlines is the only carrier that will fly in first, then a new carrier will join every three weeks. the opening comes as heathrow's future is under review. the u.k.'s only hub airport is fighting to expand. he argues this investment strengthens the case. later on "countdown," we will develop the conversation further. we will speak to the ceo heathrow airport, colin ma tthews. royal opera's top audience takes center stage. ♪

>> welcome back to "countdown." i am anna edwards. over an hour from the start of most european equity trading. let's look at some of the newspaper picks our team has put together. caroline and ryan are here. >> i was going to talk about something trivial and i discovered this at my conscience got the better part of me. from thea war story "times" who took out a british not oneho took out taliban fighter, but another five because the one he had is wearing a suicide vest and it

exploded upon impact of the bullet. they're taking an opportunity to look at british troops in afghanistan. there is one british forward operating base in the country. this war has been going on for 12 years, 448 perdition lives have been lost there. 5000 british troops still on the ground, all of them who should be home by christmas. >> caroline, take us to paris. , but itce is not dead is weighing a lot, it would seem. this is a wonderful piece by "the guardian" highlighting the ed is that many have fear becoming a mania. bridges have padlocks. they symbolize love. you write your initials, and you throw away the key. >> this is a bridge and the side

of the bridge is completely and utterly covered. >> it is about the bondage of marriage. >> that is deep. [laughter] footpath.s a little tonsw weighs 93 metric because of the locks. there are campaigns not to stop it. i noticed that the millennium bridge in london -- padlocks have a mars. -- have emerged. >> royal opera's popcorn akes center stage. they out now -- they estimate that cinema audiences will outnumber theater audiences. forward the cinema for less than 10 pounds and some of these theaters cost more than

200 great countdown continues in the next hour. we will look at heathrow's importance to the u.k. economy. ♪

native --eyes more more aid after the finance minister tells us this will be the last time. >> we don't see any need for a third bailout. let's stick to our guns. >> japanese consumers grapple with a sales tax rise. 8% today. will it stand the test of time. ? >> twitter is expanding its global wings.

welcome to "countdown." i am anna edwards. it is the second hour of the program. bloomberg reporters are standing by ready to deliver the stories that will drive your day. lookingeed is in athens for the prospects of that economy and the question of more aid for greece. we're joined from tokyo with a sales tax hike. we are seeing signs of weakness in china. latest a handle on the manufacturing data and hong kong. twitter ramps up its efforts in social media. caroline hyde has the details. us throughout the morning on bloomberg. we have big interviews coming for you later. we will speak with the ceo of a heathrow airport, colin matthews. "the pulse," we will

have an exclusive interview with the former prime minister of greece. you do not want to miss that. four years after the your pre-and debt crisis -- the european debt crisis erupted, leaders are likely to sign off on the next bundle of aid to greece. they will be back in athens and talking about the country's debt sustainability. will greece be asking for a debt white down -- right down? -- writedown? is whathe big questions is going to happen to the debt. it is unsustainable. something will have to be done. there are options on the table. option is theme public-sector lenders actually have to take a haircut. i asked the finance minister what would greece's negotiating position be welcome back to "countdown."

going into those talks about sustainability? -- which speak to the greecef and when and produces a -- and other parts of the program on track, it will take the necessary measures to bring that down even further, if necessary. i stick to this. lines,ing between the yes, they do want to see an extension of the debt but for great to -- greece to see a haircut, that would be ideal. i would not go far enough to say that is exactly how the greek government will go into that negotiation. >> there have been questions about the future of the finance minister and whether he will stay at the ministry. did you talk about that? >> i could not resist asking him

that. there have been some press reports saying that he would like to step down and become the next central-bank governor. i said to him, did he think that he had come to we did the main task of his job -- completed the main task of his job as finance minister? >> the initial targets and tasks to my yes, they have been completed. >> do you plan to stay on as finance minister for much longer? ll that depends on the wi of the prime minister. the fate of the minister is in the hands of the prime minister. i have not talked to him. >> would you be interested in being a central banker? >> i have a finance minister now. >> you know how difficult it is to can someone down on something like that. what i am taking away is when he actually said the words, the initial targets and tasks have been completed.

i'm taking that is he is ready to leave and do something else. >> thank you. re.id tweed reporting the the buying power of japanese consumers will take a hit as the sales tax rises to 8% him 5% today. boostedelettes has consumer buying power. is the economy ready for today's sales tax increase? all indications are know. if you look at the survey they cannot today of business confidence going forward, not very impressive. companies are not raising wages that they have been expected to. we are in a situation where summers are not increasing consumption and we're raising taxes. is japan better off this time

around than it was in 1997? that was the last time japan raise consumption taxes and it tanked the economy. back then, the economy was recovering from the bubble your of the explosion, and couple it that point.t at the government has been trying to offset with central-bank money and pledges of more government spending. we are at a pivotal moment. we do not know. >> what should the boj be doing to avoid a repeat of what happened in 1997? there was a tax hike and subsequently be country went into recession. this is not supposed to be an april fools joke, but japanese consumers have been stocking up from anything on rolex to toilet rolls ahead of this increase in the sales tax. >> one thing the boj should be doing is doubling down. it should be increasing its bond purchases. they have created a bit of inflation.

it has not stimulated a lot of credit growth in terms of people are owing and banks lending. the second thing is for the government to do its job. the prime minister has promised a variety of reforms, liberalizing the labor markets, tweaking corporate tax rates, making the economy more entrepreneurial. none of that has happened. we have had a lot of talk, but no follow-through. abenomics remains a pr campaign and we are waiting for the product. if companies are confident that two years from now things will be thriving. if consumers believe that, it will be fine. the confidence is lacking and it is up to the government to take the steps, do its job, and create the confidence. raising taxes in this environment on consumers that are not receiving wage increases

, that are seeing a bit of inflation, is really not a wise thing to do, i would argue. >> we will look ahead to those spring wage negotiations set to take place try. thank you. manufacturing's indices are pointing to weakness. we are joined from hong kong to recap the numbers. we have two sets of numbers. one painting a picture of contraction, the other expansion. a mixed report, wasn't it? >> good morning. you look at two different parts of the manufacturing center -- sector. was the official numbers out of beijing and that was ok. it showed 50.3. it is a little expansion and a little better than compared to february. 50.3 does not tell you that it is the roaring 20's, or in china's case back to the early 90's. if you look at the one from hsbc

, that one dropped to 48. it is the third straight month that we have seen a contraction for this reading. it looks at the smaller private firm. it is also smaller in terms of sample size. you give an idea that should get an idea of where -- you get an idea of where the economy is being hit. the chief china economist did say they expect beijing to fine tune policy sooner rather than later. we finished the first quarter yesterday and they think they growth in china may have come in a little bit below the comfort zone of beijing's target of 7.5%. this follows on from premier li's commentsier last week. they have ideas to promote growth and that is what the chief economist at rbs said.

it confirms the government is going to take some measures to support growth ahead. that is a little bit of a bright note. back to you. >> twitter is ramping up its social tv efforts in europe. see what the purchases will add to twitter. caroline high joins us. it is no longer enough to -- caroline high joins us. it is no longer enough to just watch television. >> it is a second screen. you might be watching your favorite show. it is close to your fingertips, might be a tablet or smartphone. might be tweaking. twitter has realized the power and potential money it can raise interaction. when you have twitter trending on your broadcast, you get more viewers. they're trying to educate

broadcasters and advertising companies to get more bang for their buck. not just bang for the buck, bang for the euro, bang for the pound. they have already played with this in the u.s. they have hooked up with nielsen and they have twitter tv ratings to show you how much traction your tv shows getting while it is on. they're making acquisitions in europe. they're buying companies in france and u.k.. they are getting analytical devices to show you how much. this could be a value to tv companies and advertising companies as well. they want to extend the relationship with a u.k. analytics company. they want to drive those tv twitter ratings in europe as well. >> if the u.s. experience is anything to go by, there is room for them to repair revenues in europe, perhaps by doing these deals? >> they're trying to make room for advertisers.

facebook is also engaging with advertisers. of twitter's users are outside the u.s.. of the revenue is outside the united states. it needs to grow internationally. >> thank you very much. we're just getting some new developments coming through on the ukraine story. ukraine facing a higher energy prices this morning. to 385.5. raising this is according to isx. 385.50. contextualizes. >> that is what they were paying in december. they had a cheap first quarter thanks to a deal between russia and ukraine, aqua and viktor yanukovych was in power. -- a deal when it viktor

yanukovych was in power. they have gotten rid of that ok, now of 1/3 and said you will pay $386, which happens to be the average amongst eu countries that consume russian gas. what they have not done, and this is a diplomatic overture from the rushers, is hike it by yet another 1/3. there were two discounts in the price for the ukrainians. one was the political one, the second was a discount that the russians gave the ukrainians because they parked their black sea fleet in crimea. russia asnow part of far as the russians are concerned. there's no reason to pay that discount. he has suggested that they might also take back that discount. >> things could have been worse for ukraine than this? >> that is correct.

nonetheless, it will be painfully poor ukrainians. today, industry and ukraine will pay 29% more for their gas than they were. this is an attempt by the ukrainian government to try to ramp up the money it gets that it needs to pay the russians, and on the first of next month, ukrainian households are going to spend 50% more than they are ready are. aboutnow they're paying $84 per 1000 cubic meters. that is how you measure. you probably use 2000 cubic meters of gas per year. if you are ukrainian, you will be paying $170. you are probably paying fivefold -- inere in the mining the united kingdom. gas and ukraine is heavily subsidized. a big bone of contention with the imf. pay say ukrainians need to market prices despite the fact incomes are way behind anywhere else in europe. the imf wants incomes to,. --y said over

>> we will see how businesses cope with that development. ryan chilcote with the latest on ukraine. we will speak with the ceo of heathrow airport. he will look at its place in the u.k. economy. ♪

>> welcome back to "countdown." i am anna edwards. heathrow airport has just banned named among the top 10 best

airports in the world. the topbeen named among 10 best airports in the world written joining us now is heathrow ceo colin matthews. thank you for coming in. terminal two getting ready to not reopen, it is a new terminal. of the summer months, the busy. . our preparations going? >> well. it is a busy thing to do. 24,000 people need to be familiar with it before we get going. 160 organizations. we are busy commissioning trials. the first flight will be on june 4. we have a brand-new airport at the west end. this is right in the middle of the oldest part of the airport, turning it into something contemporary that we will be proud of. >> is the focus going to be on not losing bags? >> the focus is on making sure

everyone coming through -- >> i am thinking of the opening of terminal five. >> it is a complicated thing. we want every journey to be smooth and comfortable on the first day and continuously. nothing is perfect. we can always make things better. there are opportunities right across the airport in every terminal to improve. that is what we try to do. >> you had opportunities to do -- to learn what not to do from terminal five. >> we had a hundred up -- we had 100,000 opportunities every day. 100,000 passages come to the airport every day. >> let's talk a little bit about the role of heathrow. you say that heathrow is the best way to connect the u.k. into the global network of aviation. you would say that. thers say that in the u.k., economy and a whole and its aviation network, two things -- things are too focused around the southeast. >> we are publishing a report today.

we are launching at the british jibber of commerce annual conferences afternoon. people often think of the debate as if it is a london debate. heathrow is a national asset. , 12e are 12 case studies companies from around the region, to plain white really matters to them that they can connect through heathrow. heathrow is the hub airport. it is the airport whereby they can connect to more than 90 destinations right around the world. there is in a company and no rich that needs to get his product like we around the world. saudi arabia is a huge customer for them. they are long-haul destinations. >> that if the argument around regional airports. regional businesses benefiting from heathrow is a big help. if the manchester airport ceo was sitting sa, he would say that businesses around manchester would like to travel across the globe from manchester not have to go to heathrow. >> around the world, there are

only six airports that have more than 50 long-haul destinations. either was one of them. -- heathrow is one of them. we could do 130 of we had the capacity. look at the case at least -- the case studies. our strongest support comes from businesses and the region and business in the region. the airport can next people directly to the capital and connects them to those long-haul markets. >> stay with us. colin matthews, the ceo of heathrow airport, stays with the. -- stays with us. ♪

welcome back to "countdown." i am anna edwards. your back with the chief executive of heathrow airport, colin matthews. about the latest on the third runway for heathrow. that is your preferred option. there are others in the pipeline. what is next? >> on may 9, all of the shortlisted proposals update them, submit more refined version and that is what we will do and others will do on that day. option ishe heathrow the best one. it is the one that brings the best long-haul connections to u.k. business. it will bring the most trade and

investment and jobs in in the u.k. as a whole. >> the mayor of london has a different view. he is talking about redeveloping the heathrow site entirely in moving the airport to the east of london. that option seems to be in the running. >> it is. he agrees on many of our argument. he agrees that we need to have a hub airport and a big one. that is why the airport commission workers are so important and they look at all of the options. none are easy and the take of you. -- they take a view. to build a new airport would cost a huge amount of public funds. all the options have challenges and it is important that the omission of objective we look at it from the point of view of the country. what brings the most benefit to society as a whole? >> what your submission be changing much? >> it is not dramatically different. slightly north

and west of the existing two. we think that gives the best connectionshe best and also puts us in the best position to continue reducing the amount of noise that heathrow generates. >> how is heathrow standing up to competition for middle eastern rivals in a low tax environment? >> airports and airlines in the gulf are tremendously powerful. they are shifting flows of passengers around the world. it makes it even more important that we fight in this country to hang onto the fact that we have one of six airports around the world that has that amazing, more than 50 long-haul destinations. keeping that position for the u.k. as a hub for business and aviation, i think is critically important for the airport and the economy as a whole. matthews, thank you very much. good luck with the launch of the new terminal two. we hope no bags go astray. we will take you behind the

scenes of one man's plan to use tech to drive greece's economic recovery. ♪

>> welcome back to "countdown." i am anna edwards. let's get the fx check. >> let's check in with the aussie dollar against the dollar. it is tamikaing back to his four-month my. rates left unchanged by the r.p.a., but the governor made it clear that currently high by historical standards. pimco has a report saying get ready to short the aussie dollar because china is going to slow down to 6.5% to 7%. let's take a look at the u.s. . llar post yellen

it needs l.s.u. for sometime, slack in the economy. almost flat on the day. we will see how that plays out. we have the i.s.m. later. >> it is a data heavy day. these are our top headlines. china's manufacturing sector is showing increasing signs of weakness. the hsbc index fell to 48 in march, the lowest reading since july. anything below 50 means contraction. australia's central bank left the interest rate unchanged at a record low. it is a widely expected move meant to spur employment in residential construction. that would offset the down time in the mining industry. john kerryy is in the meester for urgent talks on the piece

process. e met with netanyahu, and he wit also meet with abbas abbas. kerry has been working on an impasse because an israeli prisoner release. today we are focused on greece. when you think of start-up incubators, you don't think about the dutch diplomatic corps. he started a start-up incubator, appropriately named orange grove. david reed reports. >> what is orange grove? >> orange grove is an incubator for yuck entrepreneurs. there are about 60 young people from greece, but also a couple from who will hand that learn how to set up a business here. >> what is so extraordinary is this is an initiative of the dutch ray emery. they don't normally get

involved in economic stimulation. where did you get the idea? >> we are doing this with a number of dutch and greek companies and universities. why are we doing this? because we think that one of the big challenges for greece is to do something about the brain drain and the university unemployment that may be the cause of a lost generation in greece if you don't do anything about it. we thought let's try to do something using the fact that we have a flourishing start-up community in amsterdam nowadays. >> when you first came here to athens, what was the reaction when you came up with the orange grove idea. a lot of people why greece would look towards the netherlands, they are the people who are putting the kybosh on it with the austerity. some dutchmen have very strong opinions about other countries. but that was also a reason to do this. we want to show it pays off to collaborate, that we are

positively engaged in a country like greece. that worked very well. it got a good reaction. you are trying to help the younger generation. >> what sort of companies are here. what kind of start-ups do we see? >> all kinds. there are all people that work that work in tourism, agriculture and the creative sector. >> and our editor is still in athens, where well join him now. >> anna, george is another entrepreneur if you like. he is part of a group called open fund. george, thank you very much for talking to us about it. let me ask you first of all, how did you get involved in being in venture capitalism? >> thank you for helping us. it is a great honor to appear-your audience this

morning. our story starred a few years ago. i was doing my phd here in athens, and i tried to create a company out of my research. my company failed, but at the same time we started organizing a number of events trying to bring together people who had an interest in technology and entrepreneurs. this has been going strong for the last seven years. >> an open fund itself, how much money has it got to invest? where is the money coming from? >> we understand that pretty much everybody is facing the same problems. we try to provide a solution to them. we offer capital from 100,000 euros to 500,000 euros. the problem for most of the people was lack of advice and

lack of seed capital. we started with a small fund in 2009 with 500,000 euros. and we have fund number two, and we manage 10 million euros. >> and you were telling me some of that comes from the european investment fund? >> correct. the government has been very receptive to ideas and the change that we are facing, and they are trying to respond. for example, 70% of our capital comes from the european investment fund and local sources. under the very same terms to provide investors. full of basis. >> give us an example of a company you have invested it? you get the opportunity to set up a very private trip with locals. for example, if you ride to athens, can you get some people to pick you up from the airport

and show you around and treat you like a friend. hundreds of local available. >> take me to the really good restaurants? >> exact limit >> and they are not going to get a commission when they take me there? >> exactly. it is like finding a friend on a friend. it is called dobios.com. >> how do they capitalize it? >> they take a small amount charged. >> you said you can set up a company in athens lounge? >> it takes a day or so to set up a new company. what is really important, though is that more people are considering an entrepreneurship as a solid option for their career. so a small echo system has been corrected. but we are still taking baby steps. but there are some companies ut there, and we try to create

role models for young greeks who want to pursue their dreams in order to create some global companies. >> educated in athens, living in athens. >> they may be educateded in the best universities in the u.k. and u.s. and coming back here. >> what is the biggest obstacle for starting a business in greece now? >> i think we need more time to see how to set up a business. pretty much time is the only thing we need. >> george, i am wondering if you are giving advice right now to someone looking to start up, what would that advice be? >> we think that taking some risk and failing is fine. at the same time, failure is the shortest path to learn and experience what you have len. it is only good if you start a company. >> that is the real entrepreneurial spirit we hear.

we need to change in greece and in all of europe that you can fail and go on to suck. it is something they do in silicon valley all the time. thank you for talking to us. back to you in the studio. >> it does seem to be a consistent message. i love the idea of using local people as a local concierge people. following his tweet sunday, france's president has replaced manuel minister with valls. caroline has been following the story from paris. why this choice and who is the new prime minister, manuel valls? give us the low-down. >> clearly with this choice of manuel valls, who is considered quite right-wing within the socialist party, the president wants to give a message that he

is making a you-turn, giving a shock treatment to france. last night on television, trindon holliday said he was hollande was a -- ready to open a new chapter. >> the time has come to start a new phase, so i gave manuel valls the mission to lead france. he has many strengths. it will be a tight, charity and unitted team. the first objective i am giving him is to power our economy. >> now, manuel valls is consider more market friendly prime minister than his predecessor. he is often described as the french tony blair. he is in favorite of more flexibility of the labor market. he doesn't hesitate to criticize the 35-hour week.

what is importantly for ollande is that manuel valls is popular. as as been rising hollande's popularity was falling. he was an advisor to various prime ministers in the 1990's in france. he was actually home running against hollande in 2011 during socialist primaries. how he changes the french economy remains to be seen. but he is planning to slash ublic spending for payroll tax cuts. he announced last night a new solidarity pact where he could cut taxes on wages in order to boost consumer spending. obviously that would depend on -- rest of the cabinet, the

whether the finance minister will stay or go, and we will know about the other members of the new cabinet possibly tomorrow. >> thank you. coming up, we will tell you why panda pockets was at st. peter's square over the weekend. hot shots coming up next. ♪

>> it's time for hot shots, a look at some of the most compelling images of the day. over the weekend the vatican went dark for an hour. the only illumination were paper bag lights guarded by panda puppets. cities around the world turned off their lights for earth hour. the movement began in sydney in 2007 and has now spread to 7,000 cities. what is horse race without ladies in fancy hats? world e eye -- the dubai corvette. the winner wore a giant floor on her head and went home with

there are 8,000. over in berlin, a restaurant t meant for picky eaters, in a place that translates the toilet. they have toilet seats. the restaurants have been around for 40 years. now that we have well and truly put you off your breakfast. there should be rules against that type of reporting at 7:46. >> i was watching and now i feel like throwing up. >> man is joins us to talk about the trading. let's look at the futures. >> they are higher. >> up. >> we are looking for a little bit of a most. it is interesting when you listen to what they had to say. batting away that rates may have to rise in six months' time.

i think yellen's comments that there is a great deal of slack and capacity. >> she was naming names. she was talking about individually unemployed people a bit like politicians do. >> correct. the real way to say we are there. we are going to keep these rates as low as we need to depending on the date. i think today is all about p.m.i. disappointing in chin. will they go for m.r.i. stimulus? janet yellen holding firm at the moment to convince the market that the fed are committed to helping the economy. then you get european unemployment. will that define the word slack for mario? it is the central banker's favorite word at the moment. one could use the word spare capacity, underutilized capacity. >> does he talk about spare capacity? >> he talks about that, a lack

of utilized capacity. the bottom line is how much space is there left in the economy. if you are a full-time worker, you want more hours. if you are running a factory, have you got more capacity on the right side of the factory. rises, do you have the capacity? futures indicating higher. >> before we get the unemployment number out of germany and some of the other data out of the euro zone, we have some more individual countries reporting. we have spanish purchasing managers index and the italian purchasing manager index. both of those are expected to show growth. that is a continuation of that trend. >> a three-year high is the blockbuster top-line level you are looking at. you then look at france, which

is the number two economy, and that was the surprise last week. today's data in europe will be a rubber stamp of last week's flash estimate. you are right on the periphery seeing that bit of spark. >> that is the trouble for the e.c.b. on the one hand they have this trouble with inflation, which some would expect them to worry about because it looks as if inflation is weak in the eurozone. but on the other hand they have see signs of things picking up economically in the block. >> and this is the debate. there is a great piece written on the bloomberg terminal this week, which is this debate, everybody saying how terrible the inflation data was, the nsumer price index coming in low. we will have a look at that. >> thank you very much. that is a look ahead to the

macroagenda. we are going to take a short break here on "countdown." the time is 7:49. bloomberg here on television. ♪

>> welcome back. you are watching "countdown." 7:52 here in london. we are getting reports the weir group is in merger talks.

let's get more details on that. caroline joins us on set. could be some movers ste tart of equity trade today. >> a finnish company could rise as much as 22%. the weir group, a scottish based company, but it is the u.k.est supplier of pressure pumps. it could be offering to mrge with this company for .5 billion pound. that is how much the entire merger would be. it is over-all valued about five billion pounds. stand s a share we under is being offered, valuing it at about three billion pound. weir is turning the corner as an engineering company. oil and gasses markets pick back up. their business has been improvement.

maybe that is why there is the appetite to spread the cash. the reports are in the times at the moment, the u.k. press. they have been talking informallyly for a couple of months according to people who are family. people are going to be trading off of this news. >> yes. and a few details i am learning this morning. mother than 60% of the world's natural gas flows through their valves. >> and they are looking at emerging markets. >> you are covering twitter for us. they have been doing a few acquisitions here in europe? >> they have. an essentially u.k. company. it is a fascinating trend we are seeing social networking going into it. it is the power of television, the second screen. when you are watching tv, many watching us will have a tablet or smartphone close to their fingers, and they may decide to

tweet on the back of something they have her. >> it is no longer good enough to do one thing at a time. >> it is ridiculous, at least two or three things. when it is brand such as x-factor, or breaking chef or breaking bad, can you get value from that. you can get engaged with the viewer more. it entices more to view your broadcast. this is why twitter is buying mesagraph. they can go to the tv broadcasters in europe, africa and asia and say this is how much more you can engage. ere is a good interview with huffington where she says we put down the technology and don't do so many things. we need to have better quality sleep. stop shopping. >> thank you. on the move is up next. stay tuned.

we are going to be talking to the c.e.o. of grease's second largest back. more from david tweed live from athens throughout program. stay with bloomberg. ♪ .

>> welcome to "on the move." i am anna edwards. we are moments away from the start of european equity trading. team has everything covered. here with me now is manus cranny and caroline hyde. and david tweed also joins us from adsense. let's kick off with you. 20 of european data to look out for. -- plenty of european data to look out for.

europe, and of italy, you are looking at emergence. you will get the three year highs. urgency managers index. today's the data is another piece and is a big jigsaw. in its capacity and the ability to keep rates low and dual another piece of work to help the economic situation. and it is an indicator of mario draghi forcing her to act. >> the interest rate. david, you are focused on any sign of recovery in the greece economy. anna, i will give a real anecdotal side of what is happening in the greece. behind me, we have the square. this has been the scene of protest and even molotov cocktails. right now, there are people out there replacing all of the