>> center stage in frankfurt. the ecb president promising to boost inflation in the euro area. how will that play into today's monetary polity during -- monetary policy decisions? governor mark carney is left with the heavy lifting on the u.k. economy. we will have coverage through the morning. prepares toputin make a nation address. we have an exclusive interview with the founder of tcs bank. >> you are american, i am

russian. we would never get along, anyway. >> the former england football captain tells bloomberg about his latest business venture. >> i am looking forward to this kind of venture, because i think it is one that hasn't been done before. it is a partnership that is special. >> i am mark barton. >> i am anna edwards. >> it is 6:00 here in london. very good morning to you all. decision day for the european central bank. the ecb may have an expensive -- and expansive new headquarters. there are familiar problems to contend with. setting the benchmark interest

rate for the eurozone. >> it could come in the druggie news conference. give onications may he how fast the ecb will go to stimulate the euro zone economy? >> announcing the benchmark interest rates. that is likely to stay at the record low 0.5%. mark carney says the u.k. economy still requires stimulus. we will have to wait to see if more members of the monetary policy committee wants to raise rates. last month, two of the nine committee members favored a race. >> we are watching to banks today, to broad decisions. joining us now is david powell. good to see. -- seeyou. tackle raising inflation in the eurozone. how does that play into what they are doing at the ecb?

>> those words that you just brought up -- they are essentially do in the sense that it is a sense of urgency. they hadvember meeting a horizon of two years for purchasing covered bonds and asset-backed securities. there is a sense of urgency now and we need a follow-up. the ecb is likely to ask by the first quarter of next year. >> how will it impact? they have bought covered bonds, asset-backed securities. there is a sort of in between, which involves corporate bonds. how far will the ecb go? how will they communicate that today? >> it seems that the ecb may be prepared to skip that intermediates step. bondsy were to first by in the knowledge of several

months -- and that speech, he mentions a sovereign bonds as another option. ecb's -- the bank of france lawyer said recently that the ecb is the only game in town. how do we get to that point? who are the other players that should be acting here? we were sitting right in front of him when he made that remark. the idea is that the central bank, these monetary policies need to be acting, structural reforms. which is code word for making it easy to get rid of people. those reforms have been very slow. ecb is the one party that can act with speed. >> was also suggested that when the ecb does move, it will

probably discuss sovereign purchases after next week's ltro. this is the second long-term lending program. to be moret the ltro of a success than the first round? that was disappointing. >> it was disappointing. i can't see any reason why the second round would attract any more demand. ecb, whileis that hoping it will attract more attention, is not banking on it. figure would increase the probability of buying sovereign debt, but a that pushfigure, with back the probability of them buying sovereign debt? does it all depend on this number or not? >> i would say it all depends on the number. these liquidity injections -- we have similar programs that have

done nothing to increase lending . isn if for some reason there a huge amount of demand i don't think the ecb thinks it will translate into more lending. >> thank you very much. we will see you later on. just a reminder of when to expect those rate decisions. the bank of england's decision comes out at noon. the ecb announces its decision 45 minutes later. you'll want to taint of bloomberg for our coverage of the ecb press conference at 1;3:30 u.k. time. mario monti isn't on the ecb but he will have lots to say about it. we have a exclusive interview. that is a conversation you will not want to miss. >> six minutes past 6:00. vladimir putin will try to ease

growing concern as he delivers his annual address. and an exclusive, we hear from a man with onions and track on all things russia. tingoff. -- tinkov. he joins us now with more. a fascinating man to talk to. >> absolutely. a big day for russians. there is a lot of concern right now, a lot of big issues of their. awayhat they have chipped at his popularity, but russia's relationship with u.k. and the west -- one thing that is a concern is oil. i started by asking what he thinks, what it is that bothers him about the decline in the price of oil. sanctions,here were

it doesn't really matter for us. we had nothing to do with it. t could not slow down. it was not good but we were ok. oil price, i think, will cause unemployment. time to economy is the oil price. think -- once the people lose jobs, they start to fall on their credit. that is my business. they are my defaults and bad loans go up. that is my concern. i thinthi think the only price t --ld affect my bank >> when you talk -- >> i don't think it is good for russia.

the russian economy is structured. away from the middle approach. i don't believe in it, no. >> you have seen the price of oil fall before. in 2008, but there were changes in the russian structure of the economy. some people believe that the russian economy, the structure will change because of oil price. i am not so convinced. -- wek we will sophomore will suffer for a couple years. >> you mentioned unemployment. that is something that russia hasn't had much of at all. that is what led to the collapse of the soviet union. >> we will have some, i am sure.

we will make this amount of money this year, but still, this -- unemployment will -- on the russian consumer sector. >> sounds very negative. [laughter] >> we will survive. it is normal for russia. it is a normal environment for us. it is pretty interesting -- we have talked a lot about the decline in the price of oil, but we haven't heard a lot about this issue of unemployment. we generally talked about it in the context of the ruble. we talked about economic growth.

you hear him talk about the rise of unemployment, which as i was pointing out, is something that has not been an issue in the last 25 years in russia. they have had very full employment, very low salaries but very full employment. too many people are prepared to share that kind of thing -- he is not an oligarch, he is an entrepreneur. i found his answer to be interesting. he actually supports, like most russians, the policy in ukraine. he thinks that the west misunderstands the situation and is encroaching on russia's borders, that this is really about their backyard and nato getting too close. what i found most interesting was he also said -- he said he was not a huge fan of the kremlin's thomistic policy. he loves obama's domestic policy but hates his foreign-policy.

>> they should swap teams. [laughter] >> thank you very much. more from him through the morning. 11 minutes past 6:00. join in the conversation on twitter. >> busy day today for the central bank. what do you think the ecb entered bank of england should and will do? >> coming up, we will talk more about the ecb. it announces its rate decision later today. we will talk about the possibility -- ♪

>> the chief executive who tried to turn around the french nuclear reactor me has died. he was 55. he was named head of the company 's appointment came less than four months after explosions at the plant in japan which crop -- which rocked the nuclear industry. >> 900 jobs are cut in north

carolina to reduce costs. the uk's biggest drugmaker is eliminating position and its u.s. department. it is part of a global restructuring under pressures to reduce costs. >> former employee is suing a drugmaker after she was fine for blowing the whistle. she claimed they paid $34 to hospitalsckback and pharmacies to switch to its diabetes drugs. she reviewed nine contracts that were intended to fund the kickbacks. the ceo was unhappy when she declined to sign off on the agreement. he declined to comment. >> a $250 million round of funding. they are trying to send of competitions from uber. it theestment makes

largest investor. it was founded by a japanese billionaire, it owns the largest stake in alibaba. >> paul walsh is lined up to become chairman of the board according to the financial times. he would replace the nestle chairman, who is at the top job for two years. >> 17 minutes past 6:00. it is decision day for mark carney. nation's budget in his on statement and put the chalice of the central bank to stimulate growth. what do you make of this? because of the autumn statement -- any heavy lifting to stimulate growth has to be done through the monetary policy

challenge. >> that seems to be the case. that itinteresting is is clear how different it is from where things were expected to be four years ago. the economy is much stronger than anybody thought at the time it would be. -- what it said is that for the next four years, the chancellor's index chancellors will have to rely on a strong economy to bring public finances in order. but they cannot be relying on public finances to support growth. it is very much on the bank of england. >> the onus is on osborne to meet the deficit cutting targets. he is artie vowed to eliminate the deficit. do we believe it is credible he can eliminate the deficit within three years? -- he next track record has also created -- on the one

hand, it looks like the chancellors have been cutting the deficit at a pace that has been consistent with keeping the economy growing. that is not such a bad thing, particularly when it had a aaa rating. time, he is only halfway through his spending cuts in the next half is going to be the deepest, hardest. in terms ofeasy -- what's gotments to happen, is either he has to do the impossible, cutting the westminster budget outside -- the economylf

is growing and inflation is rising. more than 100 billion. the only way can goes through the welfare. the only way you can go is through labor. >> if we still have further cuts to come, i remember years ago reading a piece by piece and lanchester -- reading a piece and lanchester. things like the nhs and pension. from a numbers perspective is it possible to meet the targets without tackling, without changing the rules, tackling those places that had previously been declared out of bounds? >> it is a toxic area. not only is there a conservative government, but in the u.s. the congress is locked behind -- you

cannot bring public finances in order to let you start touching those labor sensitive parts. but when you have a recovery that has failed the social test, this isal arithmetic -- not necessarily due to global migration. it is the same in the eurozone in the u.s. and all developed countries. the recession was bad. you don't have taxi drivers competing with lawyers and engineers and surgeons, but this has been a difficult recovery for everybody. you don't have the real incomes. the fact that they came up with decreasing thef tax threshold and giving money back to those who can't really afford -- or shouldn't -- be supporting the welfare state, that is a good thing. what are you going to take away the next four years? that is why this is such a

politically important statement. it shows that the next four years are going to be between the whole of the uk's society and atop top and bottom 5% of the economy. >> thank you. we will get her thoughts on the ecb after a short break. ♪

>> let's get back to our top story -- the ecb will get a fresh economic projection later. we realistically expect from the mario draghi today later? >> i think mario draghi is facing a different backdrop. that is the final meeting of 2014. he has gone further than anybody thought he would go. he has announced asset purchases, a very ambitious program to grow the balance sheet by one trillion over the next two years. he couldn't have done more and yet he has to do more. it was a very difficult environment. an impossible situation. inflation. . >> i read an interesting piece that says that mario draghi faced a lose lose.

you can see the downside of either path. >> the difficult thing here is that the ecb could go the route of bond purchases which is not possible the short-term. what draghi told us was that there were two conditions -- the ecb has to see the measures are not working. particularly given the difficulty with buying asset-backed securities. also, they have to see evidence of further degeneration in the economy. will have to accrue through that. what we want to get a sense of is whether mario draghi feels that the balance sheet is not growing fast enough to fall further. >> thanks for joining us. coming up on "countdown," why

worry about airline strikes when you can fly private? we will speak to the head of a private jet charter company who was already reaping the benefits of other airline strikes. ♪

>> welcome back, i am anna edwards. we are focusing on the ruble. it has had a roller coaster ride, the ruble against the dollar year today. the central bank was intervening yesterday to calm things down, about 53 rubles to the dollar after a 60% drop in six days. this concludesd, where the currency might be going in the future.

options traders are now paying the highest premium since 2009 to protect themselves against further decline in the russian currency. positioning in particular at the short and in terms of the next 30 days. where option be traders are most concerned. of course all of that is coming to the sanctions environment and the balls we have seen in the oil price. the ruble is down 38%, the most among more than 170 countries'currencies. later andutin speaks he will be no doubt talking about the economy in russia when he does. >> these are the top headlines today. the ecb holds its last benchmark interest rate meeting of the year. markets will be watching the president mario draghi for any indication of whether stimulus measures. there will also be fresh economic projection, likely to

lower expectations for expansion and inflation. it is decision day for mark carney. the rate is likely to stay at the record low. a member of the royal family in charge of its sovereign fund.l he controls $100 billion in assets. stakes in credit -- up a jointis setting venture with the hong kong global brand. he is developing backup brand. he told bloomberg he learned his first is this lesson from alex ferguson, the former manager of manchester united. manchester, and that is where i learned how to be successful by working hard. i had a manager that was the

first in and the last to leave every single day. the manager with so much passion, so much inspiration, that i gained from him. that is what set me up for having a successful career. i think that is where you take it into the business world. >> my dream scenario. they are going long. the chief executive will press ahead with the new low-cost carrier in the face of opposition from pilots who announced another strike. our international correspondent brings us the latest from berlin. good morning. what did he have to say? along, are going to go base this new long-haul carrier in cologne. they will have wide-body jets that can carry 310 passengers.

placesll be going to like florida, the indian ocean, and potentially the caribbean. >> this is all about offering the customer an additional choice, in additional brand and business model and product. we are convinced that this innovative idea to create long-haul, low-cost lights will be successful. >> the strike continues. it will have another 37 flights canceled today. the german government official said it is costing the economy $25 million a day, costing the million -- sorry, that is euros. the they are fighting -- pilots want to be able to retire earlier. they see a successful company in ag, and mr. spohr expressed some

optimism that they may be able to hammer out a solution. >> i am sure that we made a significant move forward today by addressing all the partners in the cockpit over the fact that we believe there should be a mediator bringing us together on the difficult issue of transfer payments for early pensions. at the same time, we have communicated through the union that we believe unsuccessful talks should come to an end. there is no solution in sight. the reason for this striking is something for the mediator. mark, if you were booked you could always fly private. if you really need to get to your destination. you are a private guy, you were less low-cost. lunajet is a private booking company. they are balking because the

strike has been up 50%. it is great if you are flying private but not so good for the german economy and not so good for the bargain family checkbook -- the barden family checkbook. >> luckily, our low-cost flag carrier, anna edwards, will be doing that interview. >> thank you very much. we will continue having conversations about airlines. there are two sides to every story. one private jet leasing company has seen its rentals shoot up, lunjaetajet. it ceo joins us for an exclusive interview. thank you. about theking uplifting sales you've seen as a result of the strike activity, put some numbers on the. -- on that. >> good morning, thank you for having me. when we look at the statistics,

these kinds of strikes this week, we know that about 80,000 passengers are affected. it is a lot of stranded passengers. we have seen at lunajet a two fold increase in flight requests, which has allowed us to organize and book more than an extra 50% additional flights. it is proof that private aviation is a very practical, last-minute solution. >> tell us about the types of people who were booking on to your private jets at these times. these are people who are panicking, last-minute, stuck at the airport? or is it people who are planning ahead? >> there are two types. the first type is what we call the risk-averse passenger. they're the ones who will call us as soon as the strike has

been confirmed in the press. they will cancel their commercial ticket and shift their trip onto a private jet so they have a guaranteed itinerary and guarantee time of arrival and departure. the second category is the risky passenger. these are the ones who will show at the airport, hoping that they are not affected by the strike. when they find out that their flight is canceled or delayed or that they have to stay overnight, they will call us in despair and basically say, get me out of here. are job in this instance is very different. we have to identify very quickly the aircrafts that are positioned in that airport so that we can action the flight plan and make them -- have them take off. >> you have given me some clues -- why do you have this capacity sitting around?

i take it that you buy in more capacity as it is required. areo, the private jets on-demand products. you haveome -- companies that are taxi companies, waiting for customers and calls from us so that they can fly the passengers. the extra capacity also comes from the fact that a passenger may have flown, for example, to frankfurt and stay there for three or four days. we know we have proprietary software and that this aircraft is already positioned in frankfurt and ready to go to its next destination because it does not need to fly for the next three or four days while the passengers doing business. >> thank you for joining us. >> breaking news out of shanghai.

the shanghai compass it is rallying. this is an index that is in a tear, it is up 4% today, biggest rise since 2012. in the last three trading days it was up 70%. ride it has been since july. >> morgan stanley has been putting out some very positive numbers about the potential for strong returns in the chinese market. you will see coming up on cap bill -- coming up on "countdown." takata is facing another recall in two minutes time. ♪

>> time for today's company news. german opposites have been rated as part of a probe into alleged vaccination. prosecutors say the search to place a few weeks ago. getti -- it confirms - according to reports. 100 85,000 vehicles in japan after an airbag ruptured in one of its cars, according to a japanese transport ministry official. potentially defective airbags

have been tied it to at least five deaths worldwide. >> business in west africa is suffering from militant insurgencies. , the evil outbreak, and conditions are deteriorating for the food maker which has forecasted a challenging fourth quarter. audi is rolling out an electric crossover to challenge tesla. due in 2017 and it will be the luxury automakers first mainstream all electric vehicle. as part of its push to go green, audi will introduce a battery-powered variant of another car. > we have got breaking news on russia, specifically around the lowering its repo rate and trying to stabilize the russian ruble. the depth to this, which has plunged.

a 60% drop in the russian ruble over six days before yesterday. there was much speculation that the central bank had intervened to shore up the ruble. if we look at the year today it is down 38%, the most among more than 170 countries. >> we know it intervened earlier this week and it is likely that it intervened yesterday. let's shift gears to global growth. the outlook has been released for next year and it paints a positive picture. that is likely to bring better growth and low inflation and they stress that -- joining us verio -- isai is mario. >> high-end good morning -- hig and good morning.

>> you raise your estimate on the global economy. what is behind the upgrade? see thepect to finally long anticipated breakout of the u.s. economy. 2.3%u.s. has done 2.2%- growth over the past few years. we have the recession and now we think that finally we are going to see better growth from the united states. at the same time, we are quite positive on asia. we do expect to see a slowdown growth, to around 7.1% but it is still strong. we expected pickup and activity in places like india. it is in our view going to be a better year in terms of growth. there is still something missing. what we see missing is the so-called "animal spirit."

let's talk about animal spirit. phrase, any say that is what the world lacks. what do you mean by that? >> indicators are one thing. indicators are improving in the world, especially growth. that the same time, we do not see the confidence, that they confidence for households, for corporations to go out and act positively. allumption, investment, these things are not really a strong as they should have been. gdp growth numbers suggest that these confidences should have been higher than what it is. it is good that growth is picking up. it is good that 2015 will be better. but there is still something

missing that will make us confident that momentum is coming back and this growth will be sustainable over the medium-term. i think this animal spirit policy will play a key role in 2015 yet again. >> you produced the best stat of the day. i read your outlook. it is the stats on the eurozone. you say the top 11 economies in the eurozone are growing less than they did during the great depression. that is in the last seven years. but in the seven years around the time of the great depression -- that really sums up what a problem the euro zone economy is right now, doesn't it? >> it does, indeed. if we do see better growth in

2015, which we expect to see in the eurozone, we should keep reminding ourselves of the context. eurozone, 1.5% in the it is not good enough, given how performance has been over the past few years. the eurozone did better in the great depression rather than between 2007-2014. one more piece of news is that gdp per head in the eurozone right now -- we have 2006 levels. of growth will not be enough to make us conclude that the eurozone is back. we are a long way from that. >> can the world withstand an increase in u.s. interest rates? how it affects going to time it? how are they going to manage it, to communicate the increase in interest rates? >> i think this is the key risk for 2015.

well and themes it communication is spot on and the interest rate hikes up slowly and gradually, i think the world will be able to cope with that simply because the u.s. economy would be also growing faster than before. but the risk is -- if the fed hikes too much too soon, given the lack of animal spirit, it could risk derailing the u.s. economic recovery. we expect the fed to get it right, and we think the hike will probably happen sometime around september in 2015. we only expect about 50 points of hike. we only expect interest rates to reach around 1.75% in 2015. even if the fed is hiking i think it will still apply u.s. interest rates for the next two years. the big risk is if we do get andied away by better data

we see much more aggressive interest rate hikes, the risk is that this could derail the economic recovery. that has happened many times in the past by many different central banks, where aggressive interest rate hikes killed off the long economic recovery. >> quickly -- you think oil will rebound next year. why are you so confident? >> we think oil will rebound in the second half of next year, around $85 per barrel. but we do expect the first quarter of the year to be very volatile. we would expect opec to finally cut production later on in 2015, which would eliminate the small surplus that is present in the market right now. a simple case of demand and supply economics for us, but we do accept that the first half would be softer. you, thankschat to

a lot. ahead of macro research. knowming up, how do you when you have made it? we will be discussing that in our newspaper segment. there is a great story on this, stay with us. ♪

trading -- equity let's put that aside and discuss the story that caught our on. carolinas with us, let's go to your's first. >> it is ridiculous. success, apparently, means a big tv. but it also means 50 other things, according to a survey. 2000 people responded. if you to have "made it," you need to have a tv that is at least 55 inches. you need it holiday homes, frequent shopping trips to other cities. some are hilarious -- you need a home gym, and orangery. you need an electric garage. bedsheets, a pedigree dog.

that dog needs to be taken to certain treatment rooms. >> i'm not successful. >> you have not made it. money will buy you many things but it also it doesn't -- but also it doesn't buy you taste. >> george osborne gave us christmas presents yesterday. "million given free." looking at the figures. -- anyoned last night who is buying a house under $937,000 will pay less tax. the more expensive, the more you will pay. if you buy a 5 million pound house, you will pay 163,000 pounds more.

>> we will take a break. " continues, stay with us. ♪

>> draghi sets the stage in frankfurt. the ecb president pledged to boost inflation. into today's play monetary policy decisions at the central bank? >> as the bank of england meets on interest rates, governor mark r in a with the heavy lifting. we will have coverage. >> vladimir putin prepares for his state of the nation address. we have an exclusive interview with the founder of pcs bank on sanctions, oil and russia's relations with the west. >> these are provocative questions.

we would never get along anyway. ask your provocative questions. >> and, branded like beckham. the former football captain tells bloomberg about his latest business venture. >> i'm looking forward to this kind of venture. i think it is one that hasn't really been done before. >> welcome to "countdown." >> it is just on 7:00 here in london. is decision day for the european central bank. the ecb might have a new headquarters building in frankfurt, but mario draghi has some familiar problems to contend with at today's meeting. all this against the background of a risk of deflation and questions over quantitative

easing. >> the keywords will come from draghi's news conference. what indications might he give on how far and how past -- how raise interestll rates? to be an intense discussion of monetary policy and the economy in the wake of yesterday's autumn statement by george osborne. >> we are watching two central banks, two sets of deliberations. joining us now is david powell. what do you expect -- do you think this line about the bank of england left with the heavy lifting to generate further growth, is that actually what you think after yesterday's autumn statement? >> well, monetary policy has of thesponsible for most recovery we have seen in major economies.

certainly, a lot of weight has been put on the bank of england's shoulders. we are not going to get anything from the bank of england today. probably the attention will be on the ecb. >> we did discover at the last meeting, the minutes. among the seven that want to keep rates at a record low, there is more of a debate than one might have assumed. does that make today's meeting a little more interesting than it otherwise could be? >> i think if we look at the latest growth numbers, they have shown some slowing down. the momentum has been moving away from the camp for early rate hikes. there will beat the monthly meeting of the boe. >> let's talk about the ecb, you think there might be more room to make some news there? we could get a change of forecast. some have in talking about how

with changes of forecast, that will be a good time to make any big announcements on further asset purchases. do you think so? >> the ecb has historically used its forecast as an excuse to change tone, to change policy, and today is one of the four times of the year we get the forecast. near-universal expectation for those to be downgraded. that would be a good excuse to become more dovish. >> can the ecb meet this target to expand the balance sheet to 3 trillion euros? that target without buying sovereign debt? >> it looks pretty unlikely. the ecb announced that goal in september. here we are in december and they have made zero progress. part of that is because they in the fight the decline

size of the balance sheet from the repayment of the three-year program we had seen earlier. what they are buying right now is small and being offset by those repayments. they need to up their game to come close to meeting their goal. >> david, thank you very much. david powell on the deliberations at the various central banks. when toeminder of expect those decisions, bank of england comes out at noon. its decisionnces at 12:45 u.k. time. the ecb press conference at 1:30 in the afternoon. minister italian prime mario monti joins bloomberg for an exclusive interview at 9:15 u.k. time. that is a conversation you will not want to miss. >> breaking news from mulberry, the luxury handbags and luxury andhing manufacturer

designer that has had troubles of late. they are saying that first-half operating expenses have come in at 14 million pounds. pretax loss, 1.1 million pounds. retail revenue is up by 8% in the nine weeks to november 29. perhaps trying to point to the roast -- the most recent period of trading. first-half retail revenues at 45.1. >> still looking for a new chief executive. it has a new chief creative director but still looking for a new chief executive. of itspany lost 2/3 value during the last chief executive's reign. exclusive, weerg hear from a man with an inside track on all things russian. the owner of pcs holdings. he has ventured in industries ranging from beer to banking.

ryan spoke with the man known as the richard branson from russia. he was in quite a playful mood. >> he was. we have the russian president addressing the parliament in two hours. tim ash saying this is high noon for the russians. perhaps the most important speech to parliament from the russian president in his 14-year reign. a lot of that has been reflected over the last couple of weeks and throughout the year in the ruble, which we have spoken about quite a bit. the ruble today, surprisingly strengthening. we have heard the central bank oning that what is going with the ruble is divorce from the fundamentals. the ruble is now a threat to financial stability. they have just lowered their minimum rate on all affects repo -- fx repo options. they say --

>> the threat to financial stability, that means they can and probably will do more this week. now that it is free-floating, that is the warning sign. >> that is exactly right. they say, we are going to be a like other central banks. if things get really bad, we will move in. we can move in in a large way if we want to. i discussed the ruble. he says it has come as a surprise. have a listen. everything changes so quickly, so dramatically. this is a very difficult place to do business. that is why it is profitable. it is much more risky but much more rewarding. competition, plus it is still as unpredictable.

horizon990's, my time was maybe two months, one month, now it is two years or one year. still, we are not thinking five years or 10 years. >> you mentioned the ruble. it has been a pretty dramatic decline. bet with youve to in switzerland. november,said 62 in i would have bet with you for one million euros. what it is. that is russia. >> what does it mean for russians? the decline of the ruble. >> it doesn't mean much because they are operating in ruble

environment. for them, not much changed. general, they consume a lot of foreign products. hitting the ones who travel abroad for holidays. it is very shocking number. [indiscernible] it is very interesting statistics. it is a tiny fraction of people that are traveling abroad. when you see them in the supermarket in milan, but it is very tiny for russia. 10% of the people traveling abroad. russian consumer doesn't really much care about

the affect of the ruble currency. >> oleg tinkov says the central bank seems to be concerned about the ruble today. the ruble is up about 2%, still down almost 40% on the year, and it is definitely something that people are going to hear about when the russian president speaks. >> thank you very much, ryan chilcote. >> the shanghai composite index is running as much as 4%. investors have been piling into large company shares. it is up 40% since the middle of the year. >> nice quote from jefferies, back to the future. thes talking about economics of the 1990's. low bond yields, no inflation. he says that is good for equities. independent economist who he sayswell-respected,

the recent rally is another bubble driven by increased use of leverage. leverage is one factor. every spike in the air sharemarket was a bubble. why shouldn't this be any different? and talkswitch gears about some breaking news from a company we talk about quite often, sky. sky has said they are selling their sky bets business for as much as 720 million pounds. the ceo of sky really putting this in context, talking about how this was a business founded over more than 10 years. grown intoessively one of the leading online gaming companies. really positioning this move as a focus on their bread and butter. us toransaction allows focus further on substantial growth opportunities. this is a business that has just recently come together --

>> german assets, italian assets, renaming itself. join the conversation on twitter. we are always there. tell us what you think about the news you are hearing today. massive news from the ecb. the boe meets. which one are you keeping your eye on today? lots of news we will be following. will also be talking about oil and fracking. coming up, oil prices are hitting their lowest in years. will the market be able to correct them without help from opec? we will put that question to our next guest, the ceo at u.s. global investors joins us in two minutes. ♪

>> welcome back to "countdown." to fall in oil prices and opec's has rippled through the markets. the question remains whether the market can decide prices for its health under the u.s.-led shale boom. the ceo and chief investment officer at u.s. global investors, thanks for joining us tonight. texas, in many people's eyes home of the u.s. oil industry, although that is an accurate.

what do you make of the big falls in the oil price and how sustained they are going to? 7ke i think it is only for billion people -- going tok it is temporary he has had people. it is nation. settles and. you need special fans. stuck for 20 minutes because there is a train in the sand. special sand is coming from illinois or michigan. all the railways have been on fire, shipping back and forth. very well-paid people have to load the sand, move the sand,

unloaded, then go and frack. investors take advantage of this fracking boom and the huge movements in the oil price? >> i think you are going to see a contraction take place for those who have the most debt on their balance sheets. spots.re sweet $35 for as only barrel. other places, they are $85. there will be a disruption and companies will merge and this will make them stronger and better. so if opec thinks they are going to be turning the screws on the american oil industry with the strategy of allowing prices to fall, when are we going to start to hear these u.s. fracking companies squealing? >> it is already starting.

the banks have called. it is the first real call that starts this process of merging and streamlining. america is so innovative and creative. just the idea of fracking, every week there is a new process. now they are going to take brackish water and take it under special pipes to be able to reinvigorate these wells. >> is everybody on board on the fracking debate? you mentioned the creativity surrounding the technology. aread this morning that county in texas is considered by some to be the creative hub where fracking was invented. a town not far from there has voted against fracking. is that just a marginal vote? is this something we need to worry about? >> the putin's of the world would love to see that.

you have to remember, where that is, it is too close for people to feel comfortable. if you go to san antonio, it is basically a desert. cactus. there is very little animal life. that is totally different than having oil and gas underneath your home. >> talk to me about gold. $1200. is it on track for the second annual decline? >> it certainly is and worse. this is going to be a four-year drought on stocks. it has been brutal. if you take a look, when gold hit $1900, the 10 year government bond in the u.s. had a negative over 200 basis points yield and the five-year government bond had -300 basis points. now you are seeing the 10 year as positive. theever you have a swing to negative, gold goes up in dollar terms. now we have seen it start to

rise and the euro is under pressure. now you are monetizing. you have negative interest rates in europe. to buy gold, buy in euro rather than dollars. >> correct. you have a 5% in gold and gold jewelry, by beautiful gold jewelry. >> i'm not wearing any today. >> you should have your money in great blue-chip companies. things do go through this reversion. you shouldn't put all your eggs in one asset class. >> looking at commodities more broadly, i was reading this quote about going back to the future, commodities being well-behaved. do you see commodities as well behaved at the moment? >> sure. goinge commodities are well and interest rates are low. it has been exceptional for cars.

the efficiency of cars has gone up greatly. ago, thea, two years average car on the road was not fuel-efficient. there has been a big push. >> what is the best way of making money right now? give us some tips. >> zinc is going to remain healthy and strong. you need zinc for cars. >> it is one of the commodities that is rising this year. up 6%, not as much as well. >> nickel and zinc are both very strong because of lack of supply. in 18 months, you are going to see that apply -- the supply start to decline. these fracking wells, they hit 1000 barrels a day, a year later it is 100 barrels a day. you have these massive decline rates. unless they keep that treadmill running, that supply is going to start to shrink.

that will be the balancing factor. >> thank you very much for joining us. frank holmes, the ceo of u.s. global investment. >> lufthansa is going long. the chief executive will press ahead with a new low-cost long-haul carrier in the face of opposition from pilots who announced another strike yesterday. hans nichols is with us from berlin. we caught up with him. what did he have to say? >> they are going to base this new low-cost long-haul carrier in cologne. it is going to fly to southern africa, the indian ocean, and florida. he is quite optimistic about their ability to compete. >> this is about offering the customer an additional choice. brand, additional business model, additional product. this will be successful. but this strike continues.

it is either the 10th or 11th strike that lufthansa has had this year. there is a report out that they cause the adjournment economy -- the german economy 25 million euros per day. what you have here is a standoff between the pilots that see a very profitable company and the company itself that wants to make its flight unit more profitable. take a look at all the different divisions. see, their airline division, quite profitable, around 697 million euros. it is maintenance repair that they get almost as much from. catering, they get 404 million euros. and then logistics. the pilots are looking at the company, they are not willing to give. the company looks at what they see in their airline business, they want to increase the margin. now they have appointed a mediator.

the hope is that the mediator can bang out some sort of compromise. have a listen. >> i'm sure they made a significant move forward today by addressing our partners in the cockpit with the fact that we believe there should be a mediator bringing us together on the difficult issue of transfer payments for early pensions. >> 37 flights have been canceled as a result. these are long-haul flights. option,always the flying private. i know that is usually your default. company, this private they have seen their bookings up 50%. holiday, you ski can always fly private. ryanairn that subject, is just announcing some stats on its traffic figures. a seamless transition. november traffic grew by 20%.

the traffic for ryanair rising 22% to 6.35 million customers. >> we got a november update from easyjet this morning. they were talking about 12-month passenger numbers being 65.2 million. the load factor there also up at 90% versus 89.3%. the winners and losers from the strike action that has been taken by the march were additional airlines in europe. thank you very much nichols in berlin. ceo held, microsoft's his first investors meeting of his tenure. where does the software company stand? we will talk software when we return. >> check out our twitter home. residing at these handles. is that english?

>> i'm not sure. i think you've gone off script. futures by the way indicating stocks across europe will open higher today. stay with us on "countdown." ♪

>> welcome back to "countdown." let's look at the foreign exchange markets. the ruble against the dollar. just this morning, we heard from the russian central bank. the central bank reducing the rate that it charges banks to borrow foreign currency. this is designed to stabilize the russian ruble. you can see the fall that we have seen in the ruble in months gone by. some stability perhaps in the most recent couple of sessions. stability has not

been the name of the game this year. year-to-date, the ruble is down by 38% against the u.s. dollar. that is the most among currencies that are monitored by bloomberg. vladimir putin will be speaking later on today and economic pain no doubt going to be part of his speech. are betting its seems on a further decline. they are paying the highest premium since 2009 to protect themselves against the kleins. >> my second favorite stat of the day. the currency is the worst among 170 globally. wick -- weaker now than it was during the great depression. the recent decline over the last seven years. >> the great recession as some

call it. >> worse than the great depression. these are the bloomberg top headlines today. the european central bank. markets will be watching the ecb president for any indication of further stimulus measures for the eurozone. also fresh economic projections are likely to be lower for expansion and inflation. the rate is going to stay at a record low 0.5%. policy will focus on the economy in the wake of yesterday's autumn statement by britain's chancellor george osborne. >> qatar has but a member of its royal family in charge of its sovereign wealth fund. the fund controls more than $100 billion in assets. he takes charge of running the fund, which has stakes in barclays and credit suisse. >> david beckham setting up a

joint venture with a hong kong company to develop beckham branded products worldwide. the former football captain told bloomberg he learned his first lesson from alex ferguson, the former manager of manchester united. manchester and that is where i learned how to be successful by working hard. i had a manager that was the first in and the last to leave every single day. passion, with so much and had so much inspiration that i gained from him. that is what set me up for having a successful career. i think that is where you take it into the business world. >> breaking news on ryanair. they are increasing their profit guidance for full-year traffic as they are crediting their always getting better program

with stronger-than-expected growth. just to underline how much their load factor has increased, despite increasing their november seat capacity by 13%, and opening a large number of new routes designed to appeal to business travelers, the november load factor rose by seven percentage points to 88% in -- >> and i've got the profit figure itself. it has raised full-year profit after tax forecast from its previous range of 750 to 770 oflion euros to a new range 810 million to 830 million. ryanair has said that final full-year profit is reliant on bookings and yields in the fourth quarter. that is its january-march period. it often says that. >> the caveat. let's move on. satya nadella held his first

investors meeting of his tenure, but he didn't use his platform to talk about the future of software. he emphasized the importance of diversity in the workplace. let's bring our next guest into the conversation. daniel gleason joins us from ihs. thank you for coming in. onto the subject of software in just a moment. no surprise perhaps that they are giving this message that diversity matters after a bit of a gas back in october. how did you view not ella -- nadella's performance? >> he is a very calm persona versus steve ballmer. i think when you are looking at where microsoft was going and where it wants to be, there is a very reassuring presence. >> and he came to this meeting at a good time.

results,ast set of sales beat estimates, profit beat estimates. you have the cloud software, the online version of office. things seem to be moving in the right direction. >> even if you look at the pc part, even though that market is decline isn, that beginning to slow down. it is growing in a lot of industries. there is also the feeling that nadella is able to pull all of these pieces together and create a cohesive vision. you look at the last few months of steve ballmer's tenure. they bought gnocchi a, bought a few bits and pieces. there is generally a stronger lla has ahat nade bigger vision of how everything goes together. >> how does it all fit together? what do we know about their intentions for nokia>

? they have been criticized in the past for being late to mobile. now they are putting mobile first. what do we know about where their mobile strategy goes? >> it is sort of like a trojan horse. they are putting out windows, they want to have windows phone, skype, all those services. microsoft the year, did something very drastic. it stopped charging license fees for its windows phone product. fromis a huge change charging for windows licenses. that is the legacy of the company. changed to drive those online services. i think that is where you see a lot of its revenue, both on mobile and on desktops.

>> does it need to be in hardware? phone, need the lumia the xbox? many say, focus on what you do best. right now, it is very important for microsoft to have the lumia line. nobody else is making a microsoft phone. everybody is focusing on android, if you are not apple. that is why they are in that position. they needed someone to push windows services and windows phone products. they were the only ones in that position. xbox is actually quite a good business in its own. it gives microsoft a key position in the home in terms of being that center of media, which is where the xbox one is being placed. >> some people have been critical about a lack of consumer identification with his brand.

xbox thosesk box -- some way to creating that identity. >> exactly. one of the toughest things that build up its own brand over ,he last 10 years or so particularly xbox 360. it operated within its own unit of microsoft. there is a greater push now to integrate microsoft services into the xbox experience, to make the xbox the center of the media hub of the home and to make the microsoft name jump out. >> he is the right man, as you say. definitely the right man to take microsoft in this direction. what will microsoft be in five or 10 years? >> you won't think of microsoft as the windows company. will be still a major

part of its business, just because of the way it is set up. oft'sstically, micros growth and profitability will be all about cloud services. >> daniel, thank you very much for joining us. beckham'sup, david latest business venture. stay with us. ♪

>> time for today'barth shot. what is happening to germany's dax index? if you witness the roller coaster ride that is the dax index since the middle of the year, have a look at this chart. over 2014. dax index lots of circles, lots of colored lines. i'm going to make it very clear. the record high for the dax was the blue line. that blue circle, that was july. that was an all-time high. month, right down there, the purple line. throughdeclined 10%

august. from july to august, it fell by 10%. is that purple line, or pink, to the white line. from august to september, the dax then rose by 9%. from that white line, down through october 16, fell by 12.5%. the roller coaster ride didn't end there. from october 16, that orange line, through to yesterday, the by 16%. it is now 0.5% from the record high when it started back in july. on tuesday, it briefly surpassed that level. it rose 12 days in a row through last friday. that is the longest winning run in 18 months. what happens after this incredible roller coaster ride

for the dax index? the 50-day moving average is the purple line. the 200-day moving averages the green line. everything is ok on the momentum trade. the price is above the 50-day and the 200-day as well. keep an eye on the 50-day moving average. that is below the green line. between thegap price, the widest gap in 18 months. the relative strength index, this little chart at the bottom, this tells you whether the dax is overbought or oversold. overbought, 30 oversold. right now it is at 72.8. it has been above 70 since november 24. that is the longest stretch above 70 in a year. it has been oversold since the back end of november.

to many technical analysts, that indicates the dax's advance may have been too quick. what a roller coaster ride. >> it is definitely paying. not purple. >> that is pink. >> i think they are both pink. hackers of sony pictures have exposed more embarrassing and potentially damaging information on executive pay at the studio that is set to release a comedy about north korea. here with more on the story is caroline hyde. what is the latest in this saga? >> phenomenal digging being done by fusion, the cable channel. highlighting some of what has been leaked by these sony hackers, leaked to north korea we understand. sony pictures is set to release "the interview," which is a

comedy that has in it a plot to kill kim jong-un. the koreans aren't finding the funny side. they decided to leak an awful lot of data on sony. five sony films for free on file sharing websites. more worrying, films that haven't been released. is released. so damaging is the payroll data that has been unleashed. employees' social security numbers, performance reviews. the top executive pay has been revealed at sony pictures. , hisop paid executive credit card has been leaked. this huge gender and racial gap at sony in terms of top executive pay, 17 top owners over $1 million. two are white and only

one is a female. when you look at the copresident's production, hannah per year than her equivalent, the other copresident of production who is a man. this is going to be incredibly embarrassing. seth rogen, the actor in the interview, apparently he was paid more than $8 million to create this film. the budget of the film, $44 million. props, there is apparently a st $240.t co even deloitte is involved in this. in 2005, their information has been leaked again. high paid men vastly outnumber high paid women.

>> how do we know this is related to north korea and a retaliation for this film? sony is conducting an internal investigation. they have said all of this is linked to a group associated with north korea. it is korean language coding that seems to be coming up. has wiped out computers in south korean banks. this could go on. the foreign ministry spokesman told korean central news agencies back in june that they will have a strong and merciless countermeasure if this film is released. that sony isned carrying out its investigation. is that where their focus is? >> it is. .hey are not deciding to change it is still due to come out. they are not wavering. they've still got plans in terms

of promotion. they've still got the publicity going on. seth rogen is on the road publicizing. clearly, this is something they still intend to release. but they are worried. seth rogen told rolling stone magazine that when north korea initiated a round of missile attacks, sony executives were calling him up saying, we are really worried about this. comedye sticking by this that has clearly not got north korea laughing. >> thank you very much. >> david beckham has revealed his latest move into business. the former england football captain is setting up a joint venture with the hong kong company, global brands group, to develop beckham branded products worldwide. bloomberg's david beckham, he is john dawson. his image already has been used to brand many different products.

people assume that i've got so many brands but i haven't. not so many. over the years, it has been cut down a lot. i'm very lucky that i get to work with the best, and good people. this takes me into something else now. something i've done for many years, but now this takes me into a different area. ownership arean where i am more in control of for otherve side brands and other iconic individuals. it is something i'm excited about, something i'm going to learn a lot from. bruce has been very successful for quite a few years. i'm looking forward to this kind of venture. that hasn'ts one really been done before.

a partnership that is special. >> what do you expect out of it? >> that is what is great about this partnership. we have the funds. >> that was a very good question. >> obviously, we have global brands. i wouldn't be stepping into this if we both didn't feel that we could have a huge success out of this. plays tennis professionally, you play football. what do you take from sports to get you into business? >> i'm a good example. i started in sports and went into business for long time ago. that athletesve who are great are incredibly focused people. they are very dedicated. they think fast.

when you are on the football field, you make split-second decisions constantly. a lot of what you learn from the field, or in my case on the court, definitely comes into your life. i think this is a moment where personoing from being a who is out of of somebody else's grand to owning the rights to the brand. >> many sportsmen have the same passion and drive. you have come over and taking it is. is it luck? a risk? taking >> you always need a certain amount of luck in life. i think that is important. but the biggest thing is passion. the biggest thing is hard work. bruce will tell you, you have to be bold with decisions. we are lucky that we've entered

into a partnership with bruce and global brands where we are going to be bold and we can afford to be bold. beckham speaking to our very own john dawson. what a lucky guy. >> one of your heroes. >> john dawson is too. >> time for today's company news. the ceo who tried to turn around a riva has died. luc oursel was 55. he was named head of the company in 2011 with a mandate to rid areva of debt. less thantment came four months after explosions at the fukushima plant in japan. countxosmithkline will 900 jobs in north carolina as part of its plan to reduce costs by one billion pounds. -- biggestaugust drugmaker is eliminating positions as part of a global restructuring.

glaxo is under pressure to reduce costs as earnings have slumped. >> a former sanofi employee suing the drugmaker after she was allegedly fired for blowing the whistle. she claims sanofi illegally paid doctors, to entice hospitals and pharmacies to switch to its diabetes drugs. she says she reviewed nine contracts that were intended to cover that. sanofi's ceo was unhappy when she declined to sign off on an agreement. won a $250taxi million round of funding from softbank. the app is trying to fend off competition from uber. the ceo said the investment makes softbank its biggest investor. they owned the largest stake in ali baba group. >> the former chief executive of

diageo is being lined up to become chairman of the formula one board according to the financial times. he would replace the nestle chairman, who has had the top job on the formula one board for two years. 350 million euros over budget, three years late, and later on today, it will host a pretty important press conference. the ecb will set out their latest monetary decisions from the home of its new tower in frankfurt. >> here is a short explainer about what it is all about.

>> on the back of that piece on the new tower of the ecb building in frankfurt, there is a lovely piece today which says, five questions for mario draghi from asset purchases to ltro's.

the first question is, how fast is as fast as possible? >> he said, we need to raise inflation in the eurozone as fast as possible. how fast is that? does he have the rest of the ecb governing council on board? when manus and i spoke yesterday to b.n.p. paribas, they were saying that we were going to see full on quantitative easing, sovereign bond buying, today. will no doubt get more detail on what the thinking is around that. yesterday, don't they need the rest of the governing council? they thought that draghi might be able to carry this with other supporters. 's, wet about the ltro will have the second operation next week. is the ecb announcing purchases

of sovereign bonds? is qe the only stimulus option? we spoke to pimco's andrew buzz and worth. doesn't seem like many things are off the table. that will do it for "countdown." "on the move" is up next. keep an i on sky. big interest-rate deliberations and broader monetary policy conversation. s we will bring you all of that through the morning. >> welcome to "on the move." just moments away from the start of european trading. a very busy day ahead. question, as the ecb meets, the euro drops. president mario draghi faces the

same old question. will they or won't they begin to buy government debt? as thek of england meets eurozone struggles and the u.k. government continues to try and tighten the purse strings. are rates going to stay lower for longer? and ryanair gets an upgrade. faces a slowdown and the legacy carriers battle with strikes, ryanair continues to pick up the slack. they are the three things we will be watching through the next hour. if you are looking at futures, euro stoxx futures up seven points. if you are looking at dax futures, up 17 points. we could well get that higher open. for more on the open, caroline hyde at the touchscreen. thatuld we go sailing past six-year high on european stocks? looks as though the appetite for risk is there this morning.