>> first air strikes in syria, the u.s. and allies expand military action against the islamic state. >> moving shop to avoid taxes, think again. u.s. treasury are cracking down on companies. >> and losing momentum, there is warns of risk to europe's recovery. germany, france and the whole euro zone reports manufacturing ata. >> welcome to countdown.

>> the u.s. has carried out its first air strikes in syria and represents a major escalation against the islamic state mill militants. we have more. a big move but not necessarily a surprising one. >> president obama a couple of weeks ago said that the u.s. wouldn't hesitate to strike islamic state militants inside of syria and to that extent he has been good to his word. because of the early hours this morning, the pentagon confirmed that the u.s. had carried out strikes inside of syria using a mix of bomber and toma hawk land missiles joined as well by regional allies. others took part to the extent

that they allowed the us air bases on their soils to use as launch pads for those strikes. couple of important things. first of all, the u.s. has got support from its regional allies and would lend legitimacy to strikes being carried out inside of syria and the fact that they have now escalated to carry out those strikes inside of syria takes its battle against the islamic state to a whole new level. >> what do we know about syria's role in this, the level of contact that u.s. and others had about syria before this took place? >> interestingly enough, we knew beforehand that the u.s. was invited by iraq to carry out strikes inside of iraq. no doubt about the legality there. syria is a bit more complicated. its biggest ally, russia, said

putin would need permission. interestingly enough, damascus said it was informed by the u.s. in advance of these strikes that they were going to take place, but doesn't mean that it agrees with them, that it wanted them or supports them to any degree. it will be interesting to see the syrian+++ president assaad doesn't have much control over that part of

the country and up until now he has been content to sit on the sidelines to try to beat each other. if the u.s. succeeds in degrading and destroying islamic state to any degree inside of syria and now he may keep his cards close to his chest and see how this one plays out. >> manufacturing in china is better than expected. we are looking at the numbers. hat is it telling us then? >> good morning to you, it may be telling us that the target stimulus here in china is helping offset the weakness we are seeing in housing. the preliminary reading of this p.m.i. coming in is 50.5 after slumping to a three-month low in august. still in expansion territory and the factories are pumping out but right on the cusp of hitting contraction. the survey pegged the number at 50. between expansion and contraction. the last time it was in contraction was back in may and got targeted stimulus and sentiment picked up and the

numbers fell off the cliff and causeded us to pause. new lending all fell last month. when we got this interesting p.m.i., we weren't expecting a pickup, but we did. targeted stimulus seems to be working. >> will today's figure dampen calls for broader stimulus measures? >> it could. i don't think the government is listening too closely to those calls they are steadfast saying they won't overreact to short-term fluctuations. and during the summertime, too. they have $81 billion liquidity injections, but no major stimulus. reports are that the big banks will ease lending and overnight we got the china's bay book report while the economy may be

stuck in low gear because of struggling property markets, the report also said that hiring and corporate profit margins this quarter have improved a bit and this could help explain why beijing has a bit of reluctance to introduce more large-scale stimulus. >> thank you for reporting from beijing. >> tackling tax inversions. the obama administration has announced new regulations to make it more difficult for u.s. companies to move their headquarters overseas to lower their corporate tax bill. our international correspondent has the details from berlin and how far do the rules go, because we talked about u.s. companies making the most of these rules many times so far this year? >> there are eight pending deals that would be affected. these new rules are not retroactive for deals that closed before yesterday. so if you got in the wire before september 22, you are in the

clear. what it does it prevents so-called hop scotch loans if a u.s. subsidiary has abe broad and rehead quarter their ompanies for tax purposes. metronic, burger king's purchase of a chain would also be affected. here's what the actual rules do. what you have here, their purchase is loaning some of its untaxed profits outside of the u.s. to its irish parent company and that would be penalized by treasury. treasury secretary said for companies considering deals means that inversions make no economic sense. 13 deals have been announced. and look at the burger king,

total number for this year $173 billion. but looks like it would affect the eight ones that have been announced but has nt been completed. future deals, it will always have an impact. >> what does this do with the overall tax reform in the u.s. looked like it might be caught up with a larger project. >> republicans are crying blood murder and said they want to do something comprehensive to lower the overall rate. this will muck things up before the midterm elections. no deal was going to get through in the next two, three months. if anything, it would be an early 2015 project potentially when republicans control the senate. looks like any legislation may be happening this year. it may poison the waters, but

allows the administration to say they are doing something about these companies that are inverting. >> thanks very much. >> join in the conversation whether it's telling us your views on what is happening in hina, in syria or elsewhere.

>> we run forecast in each country. >> how do you have the resources to do that? >> time for today's company .ews, swiss bank has to pay ubs said it is disappointed at the decision and will appeal the ruling and fight the underlying investigation. the administrator will close 1,700 jobs.ps and

the u.k. chain is selling off assets. 200 shops are being sold by e.e. the buyers will take about 2,000 stock members. foreign bank most at risk in ukraine and russia predicted its first annual loss this year. rates are rising due to the risis in the region. >> e.c.b. will do everything it can to shore up europe's economy. draghi said his number one riority is to deflate in the region. he made clear why the e.c.b. must boost assets. >> the economic recovery is losing momentum. following some moderate expansion in the recent

quarters, growth of the g.d.p. came to a halt in the second quarter of this year. >> chinese and european p.m.i. data are out today. we have more on this. chinese p.m.i. data, a narrow beat, does that tell us that the targeted stimulus is helping china withstand this property slump? >> to a degree. what is not so encouraging is china again relying on exports for growth and we don't need another exporter out there. euro zone is trying to grow. other emerging markets trying to grow. what we need is domestic demand and it comes from countries like the u.s. and u.k. and hopefully others out of the euro zone. what investors were hoping is that china will emerge as a

source of domestic demand that could support growth elsewhere. and from that point of view, the data is supported, but the overall picture may be one of subdued global growth. too many exporters and few importers and global growth remaining fairly subdued. >> what does china need to do to increase the number in the middle classes? >> one important reform is linking productivity and wages and taking more measures to support domestic demand via better functioning banking sector. that's the problem. hampering banking lending when china needs balanced growth. if anything, a speedier reform there, potentially even more measures to shore up bank capital and providing that support for future domestic demand. >> talk about the euro zone

which you cite as one of the areas needing to export more balance and we'll get p.m.i. data. it will be fairly flat if you look at the composite forecast around 52 1/2, what does that tell us? >> similar to china, it has been the case the story this year has been resurging domestic demand like germany and spain. what is changing on the back of the lingering tensions between russia and the west. yet again, if anything, there may be export growth on the back of growing exports to the u.s. beyond that, domestic demand remains subdued and the data may continue to the point which if anything means that the e.c.b. may have to do more. similar to china, it is about the leapeding channel in the

economy. consumers will have to be able to borrow against future income to spend today, which will have positive impact on the economy today so growth can continue from here. as lopping as that's not the case, euro zone may struggle to recover. >> draghi was talking about high unemployment and other factors curbing the recovery. many people point to spain and say, look what has been done in terms of reform but the unemployment picture there is significant. issue. reation is a germany -- spain, case in point. very elevated unemployment. if anything, what draghi was saying, yesterday was a continuation of his speech at jackson hole. he was making the case for scal stimulus to avoid -- so

the cyclical issues we are having at the moment don't go into structural issues. what seems like cyclical downturn -- >> he is going to put more pressure on the germans to spend more. >> it does include more spending by those with the savings. the exporters, if you wish, and the pressure is still on them to do more. >> how low would draghi would he like the euro to fall? many say it is the last fight against deflation. >> further drops to 120 which .ould be consistent it would actually generate inflation. which could then, core inflation remains subdued and falls further and may be the only

option to deliver on their forecast. so it could be the case of aggressive. last remaining option and they are realizing, if anything you do see them expressing growing concerns about the fact that inflation is not responding to all the measures that they are implementing. if anything, looking at japan for example, has been quite as clear if you are successful and push it low, engineer aggressive depreciation before long, you may get the inflation you want. >> more on the e.c.b. and the fed. lots to discuss after the break. ♪

>> we are trying to bring some order to the traffic of immigrants to the united states from central america. -- this phenomenon is the lack of development and violence in many places. >> that was the president speaking to bloomberg about the illegal traffic of immigrants to the united states.

welcome back to "countdown." you say a weakened euro boost inflation, but will it boost growth, though? >> to a degree, according to various experts weak euro does support exports and that could mean we could see a boost for growth. if anything, exports contribute close to a bit more than 25% to euro zone growth. but i guess you should -- using japan, a word of caution may be warranted. what happened in japan and i will say similar to to the euro zone, over the last 10 years, it was holding out the manufacturing sector in japan and big manufacturing companies were actually exporting their production capabilities to low-cost destinations abroad.

the positive impact from weaker currency did not materialize as it would have if they had most of the production at home. and importantly, again similar to the euro zone, japan is relying extensively on impovertied energy. happened after the earthquake in 2011. and oil foras, coal production of electricity. germany had nuclear power energy and relying on domestic resources. >> but they have to be concerned about import costs. >> impact of weaker currency, you have support exports without necessarily boosting the value of imports at the same time. difference between exports and imports. and weaker currency in the case of japan did not produce that.

>> can i ask you about the pound because we spend a lot of time talking about scotland and now the conversation has switched on to constitutional reform. are international investors applying a discount because of concerns about the levels of which the government will be distracted by this reform agenda? >> many people believe that following the vote things would be better. that noise created by the referendum so we can focus on fundamentals and policy and improving economic output. it is the case that the referendum is having lasting implications. the constitutional reform, the initiative for english issues promoted by the prime minister is having an impact. there are two ways to view that. on the one hand if cameron is

successful, that could mean the conservatives will have greater say to say next year after the general election on english issues, which necessarily not a bad thing for the pound. it shored up fiscal budgets. but the thing is at the same time, the labour, when it comes to english issues may be dealing with a hung parliament where the lead that the labour is enjoying may be taken away if the scottish m.p.'s aren't able to vote. if anything, a mixed blessing for the pound but overall, coupled with hawkish improving data. >> the euro and dollar, is there any currency you shouldn't shore the euro against? don't answer. we'll leave that to our

audience. ♪

>> welcome back. thought we would look at the australian dollar climbing. after china data on manufacturing. topped analyst estimates. china is australia's biggest trading partner. rising earlier against all of their 31 major pairs after the data yesterday. since february 4. currency of other commodity exporting nations fell yesterday after the bloomberg commodity

index fell to a five-year low. >> when you measure it against a basket of 10 other currencies, second best major performing curnssi this year. hat's the story, aussie dollar rebounding after a seven-month low. preliminary manufacturing reports. >> these are the bloomberg top headlines this hour. the united states has begun air strikes against islamic state militants in syria. first time that america has targeted the extremist group in the country. the pentagon says the strikes are being carried out with partner forces. the u.s. estimates that 2/3 of islamic state fighters are in

syria. xports demand is helping the country. contrasting with data from august that showed weaker growth. virg georgia latic plans to -- irgin gal arch ctic feels they will go to space. >> and that's not very long to go. what held us up was the rocket. it took us a lot longer to build rockets that we felt completely comfortable with. we have now tested those rockets. they passed all the tests. , citizen e show

financial group. here more with the sale. let's have the details. how much are they selling? >> 25% of its overall units. 140 million shares up to $3.5 billion is up for grabs. and this is a way for going back into the u.k. and focusing on businesses and lenders here at home and to start paying down that it owes the government. the government took a hefty state more than 45 billion pounds. this is a huge sale. this is set to be the biggest initial share sale in the u.s. by a bank. goldman sachs all the way back says it could come out with $14 billion. we will get the pricing today. $23-$2 on the market for.

set to be the 11th publicly traded bank in the u.s. 1,000 branches. and this is amidst a company that didn't initially wanted to sell it. they didn't want to go for an initial share sale. >> why is it trading -- why is it going to probably trade at discount. what is it about their performance? >> $23-$25 would be just over one times net tangible book value. now, 1.9 times is the average. coming in at a discount. but i think also this is a company that doesn't return -- not as profitable as other banks. they are trying to beef it up.

t aims to double that. but kem pet -- competitors are ahead of it. back in march failed the fed's stress test. it wasn't foolproof. the fed rejected the capital plan and said they were flawed. basically they had concerns about how you estimate revenue for citizens. they said under these economic tests, they didn't quite buy it. this is the first that it put u.s. you unit to the stress test. so it wasn't the only one out there. not as profitable and didn't score that many brownie points. >> some would like the business detached from the u.k. owner. and there are some hopes in some quarters with that detachment

might come appear ability to turn around? >> yes. the finance director of r.b.s. and now chief executive officer for citizens and might have a financial benefit if it does sell well. some reports say he could be awarded up to $5 million for his tough work but he is looking to expand and go into -- expand beyond. they have been hiring more. they could be hiring up to 550 people. they want to buildup and expanding, imagining more in the u.s. and then focus on themselves not having to worry about the fact that the owner isn't focusing on its subsidiaries. look, this is a key component to

r.b.s. strengthening its balance sheet. it's a win for r.b.s. >> it allow r.b.s. to increase its capital ratio by two percentage points. by 2 friday, shares rows 1/2%. a one day bounce. >> thank you very much. world bank ng president sat down with trish and explained why it was so vital to put a price on pollution. >> the chinese delegation came to me and said this is terrible. we are going to move much more aggressively. so for them, the cost was live.

if you go to members of the world bank group, the cost is very real in terms of the water rising. going to lose their country over the next decade and a half or so. there is something costing the world a lot. now we have 73 countries that represent 52% of global g.d.p. who have now committed along 1,000 major companies to move towards getting a price on carbon. >> when you look around the world right now and look at the united states and look at california, can you point to a specific example of places that has got it right? >> california is doing really, really well. the phillipines are doing well. if you look, they were just hit by a hurricane. i was just there meeting with the president and what he told me was this is very real to us.

climate change is very, very real to us and we can't believe it's not real for everybody else. >> getting enough countries to recognize it is a threat and getting everyone to respond. you say china is making headway. >> this statement on needing a price on carbon, china, russia and the european union all signed on. we were hoping they would, but we were surprised they went so far to say, that there should be a price on carbon. >> you were surprised? >> these are big emitters and what they are saying is we understand the ineff built and we want to be part of the conversation. ♪

>> welcome back.

remains the biggest revenue generator thanks to the fact at it actually owns it the stadium in the italian league and why is it so important. live from milan. thanks for joining us today. >> good morning everybody. italian the only top team to own its stadium? italy. a situation in ll italian soccer stadiums are very, very old. there is lack of strategy from italian clubs. the momentgue -- and we have our own stadium.

just to give you some number. in 2010-2011, with the older 10 million up to euro. they are very close to 50 million euro. that demonstrates how important it is. >> it's clear owning your stadium impacts your revenues. how long is it going to take to reverse this trend? could we see more clubs owning their stadiums? there is a plan for romea to build a stadium. >> with a new stadium, we can pect two, three years before these rising receive news. it is an ambitious project.

not that easy, but we think in two, three years, we can get the new stadium. we estimate the worth of the project around one billion euro the also consider and services linchinged to the project. it is a very ambitious project. the owner is pushing a lot. they are ready to get the new venue, new stadium. but it will take a minimum two, three years to build a new stadium and two years more to receive very interesting receive news from this venue. > and it pays off. between still a big gap

barcelona and manchester city. do you think investors could close the gap between those clubs in europe? >> i think overall, the italian clubs needed to change their policies. they have to push -- and only if you consider that this is the australia andt to indonesia. one of the top three in italy and first time that they are pushing a brand. so the franchise, all italian lubs and they didn't do that until now. >> how does the market compare of europe. of rest

is the auction price likely to increase? how does it fare in italy compared to the rest of europe? >> not so bad. we have the european markets, value of the tv rights in italy s around the one billion euro. but in italy, tv rights represent 65% of the receive news. this is on balance absolutely. need to be changed. > thanks for joining us today. >> industrial giant is expanding its digital and some cases its

virtual deep water offerings. special training on their new software. >> offshore rigs necessary to extract oil, hard to get to and dangerous. hey have developed a three-d game to train workers. they are far away, remote. i'm going to visit one, but virtually. my task is simple enough, find a leaky pump, find the valve and shut it off. but my instructor threw me a surprise. >> oh, i see a valve that's leaking. can't get over there. a man is dead, the question is do i save him and stop the process and then save more lives? >> at first i'm slow and awkward

and then i get the hang of it, that by design. >> it is made to be game-like so experts don't have to be experts. they can use it as just a simple game. products like this one is trying to go digital. the company employs 17,000 software engineers more than s.a.p. after i put out the fire, i try a soonand jump off to be exploding rig. doesn't know how cold north sea waters can be. film "gone girl," how many stars it was awarded. ♪

>> welcome back to "countdown." o better to talk about chivalry? >> i will get your take on this. first date still fits the bill. i was pretty shocked by this. over 1,000 people when asked who should pay for the first date. 82% of men said it should be the more ut 77% of women or

than 70% of women thought that men should, too. very few think that you should share it. less than a quarter of women think it should be split. 14% of men think it should be split and 4% think women should be paying for the whole thing. are seeing the pay gap -- women being paid the same as men. i always thought -- onep of my best mates in new york would be shocked to hear -- >> you think it should be split? >> yeah. >> around the first date rule. maybe they would ask a long-term question who should pay what. >> a lot of men want a token. i remember i paid. >> eventually or maybe on the

fourth date, would you like me to pay and you just keep saying no. [laughter] >> true chivalry. >> start it off with just drinks. >> that's what went wrong with my wife. >> we'll leave it there. >> let me talk about climate change. kerry says, u.s. secretary of state, u.s. will lead on climate change and a picture of learnedo joining others. promised to put climate change front and center. we heard from the world bankers. first time leaders have been meeting on this subject in five years. quite significant, but ill-defined objectives is possibly going to hinder the progress and china, india, australia and canada are not

attending. interesting. and another story at the bottom here how the rockefeller legacy decided to back away from backing fossil fuels. and this is quite significant. there is a campaign to stop managers including those coming from universities, religious groups from backing fossil fuels and is imagining momentum. movement ppy campus but signed up 30 numerous cities. >> and talking about relationships and chivalry. "gone girl" has been released. and it's about what is seemingly a perfect marriage. the wife goes missing and what really is happening.

en affleck i'm assuming is stunning. for all its simmering malice and secrets this is david in fun mode, unnerving, shocking and provoking in sickness and in health but mostly sickness. >> that is in fun mode. >> they award it four stars and david, you can't go wrong. social network. he book was written in 2012 by gillian flynn. >> what is the intent -- doesn't say. they are usually a 15. my guess it would be a 15. >> caroline, thank you. air france hopes to have a

solution to end the pilot strike euro s costing 20 million a day. will it be enough for the strikers? ♪

.>> first airstrikes in syria the u.s. and allies expand military action against the islamic state. >> the u.s. treasury is cracking down on companies moving overseas to save money. >> losing momentum. risks to europe's recovery. manufacturing data is reported. ♪

>> hello and welcome to countdown. i am mark barton. edwards.nna has carried out airstrikes in syria and it represents a major escalation against militants. elliott gotkine has more. a big move. not necessarily surprising, given what obama has said. he said, in ago, his address, that the u.s. would not hesitate to carry out the islamicnst state wherever they may be. the u.s. is really making good on the threats and, this morning, we had confirmation from the pentagon that the u.s. has carried out strikes with tomahawk land missiles on islamic state targets. i understand that the associated

press reports that more than 20 militants from the islamic state were killed in the strike. the u.s. was not carrying out the strikes alone. they had support militarily from allies. bahrain allowed the to carryse their space out the attacks. that gives the u.s. some comfort in legitimizing the operation that might have been seen as perhaps another aggressive act by the west on muslim . >> we are hearing that, states arearab supporting united states. what do we know about syria? >> syria is clearly not in the box of allies in the region right now.

they say that they were informed by the united states ahead of the strikes that they were going to take place. it does not mean they accept them or support them. it means they knew they were going to happen. various rebelwed groups, be it extremist or to bludgeon each other into submission. if the u.s. pushes ahead with airstrikes in an attempt to degrade and destroy the islamic state, that may give the rebels wind.of a second they will turn their attention to fighting assad. we heard from vladimir putin, who said that the united states needs syrian permission to carry out attacks inside of syria, in the same way they have for

mission from iraq. it is unlikely that we will get too much from the russians after this strikes -- the strikes. start ofannounced the a probe in for suspended executives. profit estimates. allan stewartt will join the board. formerppened is that the cfo said he was going to leave. he was not going to start until december. there was a bit of a hole. had not been there for recent weeks. cfo whomitted that the said he was leaving had not been in for weeks. >> 2 billion was the market cap

with a 12% decline in the share yesterday. a horrible start. it kicks off in september. >> let's bring in sugar and other things. they are cutting the profit outlooks. isore tax, it 230-245,000,000 pounds. iny cite lower performance ingredients they make and they are saying the first half performance has been disappointing. they are reviewing the planning and supply chain. we will keep an eye on tesco. >> i will look at phillips and you can look at jimmy chu. phillips is a lighting and health care company that looks to sharpen their strategic focus. they are establishing to market-leading companies and

combining health care and consumer lifestyle, as well. want to capitalize on the convergence of professional health care and consumer ed markey it's -- consumer end markets. looks to sharpen their focus. know enough did not about shoes -- you do not know enough about shoes. intends to list in the premium segment of the london stock exchange. it will comprise a partial sale , who wants to target a minimum free flow. they announced their intention to ipo. >> there was discussion, of course, wasn't there?

the scottish referendum might see more companies come to market because of less uncertainty. >> let's talk about manufacturing. >> manufacturing in china is that are than expected. high, stephen. -- hi, stephen. >> the market is telling us a few things. and say targeted stimulus exports are helping to offset weakness in housing. is the biggests drag in the slowdown in growth. in at 50.5mi comes iner slumping last month august. economists expected a flat reading. expansionne between and contraction. they are still in expansion

territory. the pro-growth camp is going phew. maybe they do not have to unleash the stimulus. the government unleashed targeted stimulus and the sentiment picked up. then, the august numbers we have been reporting have caused it to pause. you name it, they all fell in august. this is an interesting pmi. we were expecting a pickup. albeit, a slight pickup. keep in mind that it is not going gang busters. >> will this dampen calls for broader stimulus measures? >> well, the government has repeatedly said they will not overreact to fluctuations in the market indicators. we had 81 billion dollars of

liquidity injection into the big tanks last week. no major stimulus. there were reports today about lending and housing being a drag on growth right now. we have a report that says that the economy may be stuck in low gear because of the struggling retail and real estate industry. the hiring and corporate profit margins have improved incrementally and that could explain why beijing is reluctant to throw out large-scale stimulus when they are still trying to work off the 2009 package. >> stephen engle reported from beijing. >> air france says that they are expanding in a bid to end a pilot strike. we talked to --

thank you for coming in. has the move done anything to resolve this? >> yes, very angry. the two sides seem as far apart as ever. the words used yesterday were, "deadlocked. " they said, outside of france and holland, they will delay the expansion of the plan until the end of the air. on the flipside, they said they want to accelerate the growth in france. very much not a complete concession on their part. frustratedredibly and said that he did not understand why the strike was continuing. he said he and the chairman of the company had spent 40 hours in discussion with union representatives and there is a lot of frustration. >> is the strike continuing question mark how much is it costing air france? >> 20 million euros a day.

outlook, the pilots have said until the end of this week. they thoroughly rejected everything that was offered yesterday. they will be in paris today in uniform and protesting somewhere near parliament. very much in front was dubbed it seems like neither side is coming. -- very much in front. it seems like neither side is coming. this is one issue where it is so important for the overall structure of the airlines. it is a question of low-cost competition that has to be resolved. >> thank you very much. >> follow us on twitter. chu will sell shares. phillips is sharpening their

strategic focus. i am mark barton. there is a lot to discuss today. china pmi data and what is happening in syria. >> coming up, a merging markets are on a streak. is it sustainable? we will talk about that.

>> time for company news. a bail required by french investigators. the supreme court held up the request made in july for the penalty for money laundering. ubs says they are disappointed and will appeal the ruling and fight the underlying investigation. will close and cut 1700 jobs. they are selling off assets. almost 200 shops have been bought by vodafone. will take 2000 staff members. in ukrainest at risk

and russia predicted losses. bad debt charges are rising because of the crisis in the region. it will rise 1.7 billion euros. >> let's go to investment strategy despite heightened volatility. of money managers failed to outperform their benchmarks. themore, let's welcome chief strategist. let's talk about the emerging markets in data that beat estimates. the emerging market index is lower today and has been on a since september. before then, of 20% from february to september. what is going on with emerging market equities? why the recent dip? >> let me just say that it is significant and the main reason

is the valuation that is depressed. everybody -- this is one of the main reasons we have seen this in emerging markets. we have seen weakness in chinese data. lastis the story of the few weeks. i think the investors are becoming more cautious on emerging markets, in general, because growth remains quite weak. about thee made notes differences between the performances of stocks and currency. >> let's say that emerging market currency is doing relatively well in february and emerging markets, what we have seen is a decline and currency and a rise in stock until recently. this is unique. >> unsustainable, you think?

>> in the long term, it is. in the short term, not. >> talk about matters closer to home. we have data out of the eurozone today on a region and national level. looking france and germany. -- look at france and germany. what is the underlying view on equity and growth being so weak. >> let me just say that we have been bearish on european stocks until recently. what we have seen is a big decline in the euro and i think it will have a positive impact in earnings. i think that this is going to have an impact on earnings and on growth. so, i would say a weaker euro is supported and we will become optimistic. >> you think we will see a weaker euro, do you?

you think mario draghi is trying to talk down the currency? >> i would not be surprised. it would be positive for earnings. could have anllar impact on u.s. earnings, could knit? -- couldn't it? we had something yesterday that was very rare from a central banker. talking about a currency. in the u.s.. not so rare in the eurozone. >> certainly. know, onmarket, as we a valuation level, is more valuable. and, asia, as well. what is your assessment? >> equities are expensive and, on the other side, we have a strong trend in the dollar that attracts some investors into the market. i think the trend with the

dollar will continue and the risk has become too strong. there is a side where they may sign they may convince the fed for a little longer. >> stay with us. the u.s. is making moves to try to end the inversion trend of u.s. companies moving their headquarters to europe to save on taxes. we will get more when we come back.

>> welcome back. we are with luca. let's talk a little bit about the inversion trend we saw this year. u.s. companies are trying to move their headquarters to europe to avoid taxes. that seems to be one of the reasons they are doing it. to u.s. has made moves contain that trend. you think it is something that is a brief phenomenon and goes away or does it continue? think the issue of corporate taxation is going to become very important for the investors in the next few years and we expect the government to become less patient on these issues. it will continue. corporate taxation is going to be less good than it was for

companies. >> i realized it is 23 minutes past seven -- 7:00 and we did ion scotland. >> we did. >> in the last 23 minutes we did not. very rare. i have to ask you. what is your assessment of assets, weather currency or equities, after the vote last week. >> i think there was a lot of concern in the market about the outcome and it was market-friendly. we have to wait before making it an assessment. i do not think it is going to be a market-mover for assets and stocks. implications are for the eurozone and catalonia. don't thinkcome, i

it is dangerous. it takes time. i do not think it will be a market-mover. >> geopolitical tensions are evident around the ukraine earlier in the year and continue to some degree. we have the united states and partners taking action in syria. do you worry, from the investor's perspective, about if this affects oil prices? is this what we look for? check out politics in our investment strategy. the fundamentals are important. an impacts can have in the short-term and we have seen the situation in the emergingot prevent markets from doing well. we look at the fundamentals and are aware of the risk. we are worried about the ukraine and russia. >> what are you excited about?

what region and what assets? >> we feel that most of them are expensive and we prefer to look within each asset class and find a good valuation to look at. i would say that we are becoming a little optimistic on european equities. potentially even japan. we are becoming more cautious on u.s. equities. >> they are more expensive. >> because of valuation. with bonds, we prefer germany and some of emerging markets. >> thank you very much for joining us. the chief strategist. announces a, tesco new cfo. the details are next on countdown.

>> welcome back. i am mark barton. look at the australian dollar against the u.s. dollar after pectedronger-then-ex data. china is australia possible are just trading partner. 31 major peers. sincel to the lowest february 4. it is not the only commodity

currency to decline yesterday. a whole batch fell yesterday after a five-year low. fallen off of the eight month high against the u.s. dollar. still, your today, you measure youus -- year to date, measure the australian dollar and it is the second asked performing currency this year, according to bloomberg. it is rebounding from a seven-month low following chinese manufacturing data. >> he's are the bloomberg top headlines this hour. the u.s. -- these are the bloomberg top headlines this hour. the u.s. has begun air strikes syria. they are being carried out in conjunction with forces. they are using tomahawk missiles. the u.s. estimates that two

thirds of the islamic state combatants are in syria. erdogan spoke about the islamic state would charlie rose. >> if you only consider airstrikes -- with charlie rose. >> if you only consider airstrikes, it means you are not fully involved in the struggle because airstrikes are only one dimension. there are things that need to be done from the air, on the ground, from an intelligence perspective, from a humanitarian perspective. we have to look at this as a whole. if we do not have a comprehensive approach, the job will be half-done. >> you can watch the interview in full tonight on bloomberg television. chinese manufacturing unexpectedly picked up pace. it is helping the economy

withstand a slump. came in at 50.5, contrasting with data that showed weaker growth. has a probe of accounting practices. halfoverstated their first profit estimates. shares of the supermarket giant more thanhe lowest in a decade. how bad could it get? here to talk us through it is bernstein. atormer supply chain erector -- director at tesco. alan stewart will join the board and cfo on september 23. if i am right, today. he said he was stepping down in april and has been absent for a few weeks. good news, isn't it? >> it is.

and in on cfo acceptable situation, almost. an unacceptable situation, almost. >> perhaps tesco had been recognizing earlier than they should why suppliers have not been paying. >> you try to build a long-term relationship. transaction. from a supplier view, if you are smaller, you want deeper store distribution. and it iss more money a give and take relationship. normally, give and take are never quite at the same time in a relationship. grows, it allat averages out. tesco has been declining for 3-4 years in a row. the pressure on people to bring

in money gets out of hand. therelationship between supplier and the retailer has a greystone and a bit of a judgment. it has gotten out of whack, in tesco's case. >> they overstated earnings estimates and you scratch your head. it is the same rationale that was in the first half. it applies to previous years of reporting profits. they say they could go back to other years. it is size and scope. how far back does this go? foreonly came into the in this first half of the year. >> it would have started when tesco's problems started several years ago. it also means that it probably will not be bad in the new year because you have the increase in

the amount of rebates. you will not have several million pounds of stimulus. you look at a slight increase of how much they are pushing. off billion pounds wiped might be an overreaction? >> in my view, it is an overreaction. i think it is rightly so. there may have been a few individual transaction -- transgressions. at this stage, you should have known it was coming. you had the ceo change and that was a kitchen-sink incident. the biggest question for tesco be appealing on price and quality? if they do, and has nothing to do with historical shenanigans. >> this is something they need to address and fix. the bigger problem is tackling

discounters. >> correct. the sooner, the better. >> are you suggesting they intod sort of split premium, middle, and low-cost? >> they have a bit of a winner's curse. everyone tends to shop at tesco. whether you are less affluent or more affluent, you go there. they cannot rely on price. if they do, they will have to make cost cuts which will be less appealing to wealthy people. stuckat is where they are tween and possible choices. and splitting off is a way to avoid this. mary's -- since various bury's has this.

why do they have to be as extreme as you are suggesting? historically, does a bit of everything and it only works if you have limited competition. today, consumers have more choice than they ever had to go to supermarkets nearby. it is great if there is not competition. certainly, people want to save money and have quality rates. they are ok. you have to be great. >> would you buy shares at 39% lower with $10 million of market cap wiped away? >> i rarely sit on the fence. because, the biggest thing is, can they [indiscernible]

ultimately, he is a man with the keys to the car. i am going to fix it. i would not want to put my money and without knowing. >> the u.k. is an extent of the business. all the rest is ancillary. -- >> all the rest is ancillary. >> would anybody buy tesco? >> there is too much uncertainty. you want that out of the way. there is not any rush until you know it can be fixed. >> in the meantime, will they continue to lose market share? >> in the short future, yes. and iteclining rapidly is still falling down. quickly can is, how they respond and how good is the response? retainher they can

middle management is an issue talked about. >> clearly. the next stages, if tesco keeps struggling, is wages and bonus options. they have not seen any of that in three years. up more than 100 stores a year. when you lose the middle leg of store management and directors, you get shrink and that is the ultimate step. >> phil clark's legacy is further tainted? what do we think of him now? >> what legacy? >> that says everything. >> doesn't it, really? really great to get your insights, bruno. >> 7:40 in london. stay with us. jimmy chu to go public. after the break.

not talking about a fish.

>> looking at the function on the bloomberg terminal.

have a look at the acquisitions that have taken place in the united states this month. look at the top companies. what do they have in common? they are all german. merck agreed to buy sigma. that would be the biggest acquisition in their history. buy as said they will provider. to by concorde technology. what is going on? have $63 billion in u.s. deals. 80 times the total of last year. escape routeis the from the crisis-written eurozone. -- crisis-ridden eurozone. what is interesting about these

deals is that they differ from this year's major takeover trend. the inversion deals by u.s. companies, who by european companies. pursuing european abroad to re-domicile and lower the taxes they pay. the news today will hinder some of those moves. the news is out of the united states today. it goes against the trend. it is all about german companies snapping up u.s. rivals today. sap --ziemann's, and seinm,. >> here with more on the brand is caroline hyde. another company is making the most. listing, herendon

we come. it is going to be a 25% stake. at least 25% stake in jimmy chu. a private equity company holds it at the moment. luxury shoes and bags. belts and perfume were made in "sexy terry bradshaw in the city." equitythree private earnings. >> i wonder if they will get the sex in the city ladies on the roadshow. that could shine a light. >> they have doubled their money stop this could be anywhere from one billion. they bought it for half a billion. maybe you would like to get in on this. it is not just for females. this is expanding.

>> not the ones in the picture. >> i want you to have some sloan or shoes. sloan shoes. they want to go big into asia. they are selling like hotcakes because they have kept an aura of exclusivity. felt tod louis vuitton presence in china. as rareeeing jimmy choo in china. everybody knows about the brand and they are clamoring for it. she created this brand in 1996 with jimmy choo, who is a designer. he exited and she has written a despiseswhere she private equity. she felt back stabbed and did not like the way men were

pursuing her brand. interesting to see her reaction. they have obviously managed to grow the business quite a lot. 995 pounds for sandals. >> your eyes are twinkling. >> you are going to have to --d that on cal-print cow print sloan. this is a company that is looking to expand, like montclair. we saw ferragamo. these are brands that sell and fuel investments. clearly, they want to do a similar thing and, so far, they have ramped up the value of the company. sales have been ramping up and have climbed this year. they are up from last year. thank you very much.

7:48 in london. you are looking at a live view of the city of equities. indicating that stocks will open. what will drive the markets in just a second? stay with us.

>> welcome back.

i am mark barton. >> it is 7:51 and jonathan ferro has a look ahead to the market open. good morning to you. danceled us on a merry and we have more news out of china today. >> if you are looking at the data released, you are seeing that things were not too bad, 50.5 is better than most expected. it is on top of the estimates of the bloomberg survey. you look at iron ore and, there you go. right there. we are down 40% on the year and we are at a low. stocks fall and china consumes two thirds of iron ore. what is going on combined with slowing sales. china --, the news for is at thety index

lowest levels since 2009. producerhole commodity . >> he says china has not generated enough internally. it is all about exports. what are you watching? >> pmi. >> pmi. i will be watching that carefully. there was not much pick up in the new program by the ecb. >> details in december? >> look at them in conjunction. look at them together. he expected something in the range. no one else did. the problem is for a lot of people who said they want the balance sheet back at 2012 levels and if you cannot do that by cheap lending, how are you going to do it? the story being sold is that, if you cannot do it through the program, he will have to do qe.

>> he has won every quarter, hasn't he? >> six auctions total. >> we are ready for more unconventional measures. who is the we and that. -- in that. doing thatdrug he is -- rocky -- mario draghi is doing that now. you are comparing it -- >> the dollar yen and inflation is higher. the people in japan are starting to question. inflation is not all that. it is pushing up import prices. in the short-term, it will boost earnings. fantastic. will it solve the big problems? probably not. what drives inflation. it is driven by increase of taxation and is a different

story. let's look at stocks that could be on the move. we have spoken to caroline about jimmy choo. how much for those boots? >> they may fit you more than may. >> keep it on tesco. the cfo will be joining today. >> joining today. >> that gives some relief to shareholders. this could be a big mover. he talked about the problems with their business and opening up profits. dudleyyou see william talk about the dollar? very rare. he talked about how the dollar might expand. reserve federal member to talk about currency, is this a way forward? >> we will be back at the top of the hour with "on the move." >> john have all the action from

the european open. the iceland finance minister. hedge funds caused a banking failure and may be close to getting repaid.

>> welcome to "on the move." it's my favorite time of day. we are minutes away from the european market open. the stuffing data is people are looking out for. getting a little happy about china. when wering you numbers have big things to watch. caroline, let's start with you. >> i am talking share sales. they are pretty hot, almost as hot as you me to cost

of shoes. rbs with the biggest backed ipos since goldman sachs back in 1999. >> and 28 minutes we are going pmi.t germany's the expectation was for 51.2. it has been a steady decline all year. we will see if the negative trend continues. >> that is going to set the tone . european markets are opening up. the dax looking for a drop of a will we get a positive open on the ftse? caroline has the open. >> it is all about fundamentals.