>> iphone sales boost apple. >> marissa mayer forms alibaba in a separate company. quirks singapore's -- >> singapore's central bank expands monetary policy. >> waiting for the fed. will u.s. policymakers pledged to be patient on the timing of a rate increase? ♪

>> hello, welcome to "countdown." >> we have earnings from roche. sales come in at 47 point 5 billion swiss francs. but is pretty much in line. the estimate was for 47.1. fast that is pretty much in line. they raised the dividend. they see the full year guidance being low to mid single-digit sales at a constant level. oncology and pharmaceuticals are the two key areas. it is up 4% for the air -- for the year. these are the numbers i am getting. the core operating profit comes in at 17.6.

rossi is further dividend -- roche sees further dividends in swiss francs. we are going to be speaking to the ceo, going through these numbers, just after 7 a.m., so the dividend is rising. the headline in terms of guidance, and the big issue is the majority of the revenue outside of switzerland as they report in swiss francs. i asked what impact we can expect in 2015 from the impact of the swiss frank cap being abandoned. they say net impact will be impacted by restructuring. the bloomberg forecast was 8.2.

when they raised the dividend it was below they were -- what they were estimating. restructuring charges of 279 million swiss francs. >> apple's latest numbers puts all the others in the shade. sales have pushed quarterly net income to a record $18 billion. caroline hyde is here with more. nine consecutive quarters speeding estimates. >> let's dig into it. this is one of the biggest rockets. -- profits. $18 billion in the quarter.

it. this is one of the biggest rockets. -- profits. $18 billion in the quarter. microsoft made 5 billion. it is more than triple what google is expected to be making an more than what general motors would poll in an entire year. profit is rising 38%. it's all about the new iphones. they are bigger. they are 4.7 inches. asia loves them. chinese sales up 17%. because the new iphones are more expensive, you are pushing up your margin, you are pushing your profitability. apple pay is interesting as well. >> i did read the story. >> two thirds of all purchases made in this way. -- apple already owns.

carl icahn says i want you worth more than a trillion. >> no one wants to focus on the downside, but there are some. >> apple is saying this is going to be a bit of an issue. they say the sales could have been 5% higher in terms of the forecast if it wasn't for the strength of the dollar. most of the sales, from outside of the united states. -- come from outside of the united states. in russia we suddenly saw the demolished man of the ruble. they couldn't -- demolished the ruble. they couldn't take the hit. we are going to be focusing on where it is ipad go. >> four quarters of decline. >> they are trying to make them better. they made them slightly bigger. when you have a five and a half inch smart phone, why do you

need a tablet? we understand they will make a bigger version. >> tell me a little bit about marissa mayer and yahoo!. >> tax landing. -- minimizing. >> is that where you're going to go? >> people are up in arms>> people are up in arms because too many pay too little taxes. they are calling on yahoo! to minimize. they got what they wanted. alibaba went public. he still owns a $40 billion state. alibaba went public. he still owns a $40 billion state. that is basically the same as the market value.

there is good to be a new publicly traded company. they are going to keep hold of yahoo! japan, worth a cold 7 billion. together these assets are worth more than yahoo!. you have some wheeling dealing. they are happy. what about the company? and you look underneath all this, it wasn't looking all that pretty. sales down almost 2%. at the moment investors want to see what marissa mayer is doing. >> that is what they would say under the hood. >> thanks, caroline. >> we are getting used to big

numbers out of apple. we are getting used to a big surprise from the banks. the nations central-bank sinks the singapore dollar. the currency is the weakest since 2010. talk us through what has been happening. >> a big surprise in singapore most of because of the timing of all this. the central bank meets twice a year every april and october. now they met halfway between those meetings for this shocking move. this is how it usually works. the central bank policymakers used the currency as their main policy tool. it guides the singapore dollar against currencies. it changes the pace of appreciation by changing that band. today they announced they were going to reduce that.

they are the weakest in five years. 6% down against the u.s. dollar in the past three months. if you look at the six -- the singapore dollar against its asian counterpart, it is strengthening against nine out of 11 asian currencies. that may be what prompted them to move a step ahead of their next meeting. there are people speculating this surprise move was made because of economic uncertainty we have been seeing. >> take us through what the rationale was. you mention some of it, perhaps some of it with how the currency trades against a more reasonable partners. >> they really had room for it in terms of inflation in singapore. they had to cut their forecast for inflation for 2015 to half a percent.

that's a benign outlook for the year. they expected growth of 2% to 4% in terms of the expansion and the economy for the fourth quarter it was half the pace of the previous quarter. you talk about being number nine this month in monetary easing. let's talk about the ones that came before that. we had the ecb and plans for qe. we had canada cutting interest rates. more maybe to come. >> thank you for joining us from hong kong. >> let's look at the other stories. here comes the chinese yuan. taking the yuan as the sixth most currency.

more than 2% of payments were in the want. that is up from 1.5% in october. >> the heaviest snow has been falling in eastern massachusetts and rhode island with homes and businesses losing power. flights have been canceled across the u.s., and travel obstruction is expected to continue throughout wednesday. >> and the pig will be making the transatlantic crossing with a big new new distribution deal. the company is targeting the u.s. and expects revenues to double this year. >> there is the conversation on twitter. i don't know where to go from

that. >> that will make the former producer of this show -- >> i got the sound effects in my year. -- ear. >> i don't know the side effects. this is where you will find us on twitter. >> coming up after the break, why sony is slashing another 1000 jobs in the smart phone division. ♪

traders reaped $300 million. that is according to people with knowledge of the matter. the surprise positions in the frank soaring against the euro. deutsche bank and berkeley suffered $4 million in losses according to people with knowledge of the matter. and shares are down after the

producers said it needed significant funding for day to day operations to expand the slump. the stock has been following in its longest losing streak since 2011. >> what are the impacts on the euro? i am looking at my euro-dollar page. since the greek election, the euro is actually up. is the bad news priced in already or not? >> i don't quite agree. i don't know what people expected. it was suspected nothing spectacular would happen right away. greece seems to be in a

collision course rain now. >> potentially reacting to the scale. >> the debt relief and the restructuring. >> it's ironic. we thought the whole hub part of greece was going to be on the debt restructuring. what is the big issue? wouldn't europe and the euro be stronger if they just let go? >> in the long-term. we would have to get through the short term, which would be catastrophic for many things

including the euro. you cannot do this in any smooth way. theoretically you can argue any union would be stronger without the weaker members. the way it would happen would be very disruptive. >> as we spoke to one investor yesterday who talked about how this is a new arab for the euro this is not modeled quite so much -- a new era for the euro this is not modeled quite so much on the deutsche mark. >> clearly, there is increasing resistance in germany to the idea and how that will pan out when we have this

>> "countdown." you are watching time for a quick -- you are watching "countdown." them for a quick look at the markets. they have gone early. have cut their inflation. they're going to see deflation by half a percent. they have moved before april. this is the dollar rising. singapore dollar falling. the momentum in the singapore dollar has a decidedly been the dollar strength.

that is the dominant force in most of these currency markets. 13515 is where we are at the moment. this is the third biggest losing her and see in the agent market. that is impact of the singapore essential right. today want to keep an eye on the dollar as well. we do have a bit of a wobble. was i did on those durable goods. but i was off by 300 points. it is fed they. will janet yellen and her cohorts remain patient in terms of where the languages from the -- no change in the linkage will allow the dollar to actually build their position again.

any little bit of a dip is something that you want to reenter for the busiest desk foreign-exchange trading is that a record. that is the highest since 2004. keep an eye as well on the aussie dollar. they broke trend. the aussies would cut rates next week. that probability is drop to barely 70%. hello again. who said it was a bygone era? anna, back to you. >> apple reported one of the

biggest profits ever made by public company. revenues jumped 30%. the better-than-expected numbers were fueled by strong iphone sales. apple shares rose as much as 6.7% in extended trading in new york. on the day, a new cabinet was unveiled. in a statement, greece said it opposed and eu communique that held responsible -- present responsible for recent violence. the required unanimous support from the 28 eu governments. and the ease policy in an unscheduled statement, and singapore they said they would week a slower pace of appreciation and the countries dollar. the monetary authority also cuts its inflation forecast -- forecast for 2015.

>> greece is preparing for a fight on renegotiating its debt. another bill that nation was to pay its obligation off early. portugal went to make an early repayment of its loans after seeing it fall in its borrowing cost. portugal has raised almost half of its cash. lower yields than estimated. 3.7% of imf loans. islamic state has been to kill a captured jordanian pilot. that is according to an intelligence group. a video shows a photograph being held while a voice reporting to be the -- japanese prime minister had repeatedly said it's government would not negotiate with

terrorists. >> let's go to our middle east editor who has got more. elliott, a reporter says the ball is in the jordanians court. >> yeah. this is all from an audio recording that was distributed by the islamic state to twitter accounts and picked up by the intelligence group. the deadline was 24 hours. the japanese government said it came aware of its recording around 11 p.m. local time. 2:00 p.m. u.k. time. what islamic state is demanding or has demanded through the japanese reporter in his comments is the release of -- and iraqi for jihadist unit she is on death row for the power she played in the state of hotel bombing in 2005. her buzz than that her husband

blew himself up with a bomb -- her husband blew himself up with a bomb. that is the person they want released in exchange for the japanese reporter. they would also release the jordanian pilot who ejected while on a mission against islamic state over islamic state held territory in syria. it is the after damien hostage who is the main person at the center of this. >> how likely is it some swap will take place? >> well, the japanese government and the jordanian government have basically said he won't negotiate with islamic's eight -- islam state. they tried to open the release of that japanese reporter and potentially the jordanian pilot as well. of course, there's no guarantee that this will happen.

they want to secure the release of those people. they had described it as a despicable act. it is possible there might be another convict did jihadists -- journalists -- another. of course, we don't know what is going to be negotiated. we don't know if islamic state will keep it toward. -- keep its word. a very concerning time right now. back to you. >> thanks, elliott. >> joining us on twitter, if you fancy us. join us with what your thoughts are you i will interview a ceo. -- don't us with what your thoughts are. i will interview a ceo -- join us with what your thoughts are.

i will interview a ceo. >> we will take a quick read. we will state to the ceo of the mobile payments company looking for its share in its booming sector. stay with us. ♪

>> they have made it safe, easy and pass to pay on any -- and fast appeal in any iphone 6. have lots of other types of loans out there. apple itself works with an existing ecosystem. it is processing debit and debit cards. it is making it simpler for the consumer. it is super innovative in this sense it is a brand-new way of paying or a new instrument? no. it is important. it gives if it is to the whole industry. >> because it is there in front of you every time you use your phone it does as you say. it draws attention to it. look at what is happening to the amount of mobile paceman activity with our seeing since the launch of apple a.

innovation or not if it draws attention to it, that is material. >> exactly right. it does draw attention to it. it gives consumers the excitement to pay with their mobile devices. think of starbucks. they are using 50% of transactions. are going through their app already. you have graded that behavior that will lead to more people using mobile payment technologies at more merchants. >> and it takes away the need for 90 percent of the fisa court to pay for things. you are removing those barriers. you're giving the 90% more detection. >> where give you more than 90% of protection. not to be too technical, when you're in a mobile device, you sit behind a shared ip address. the way we detect fraud is by looking that ip address it we cannot see those are mobile devices. by using through that address

and fingerprinting the device, i can have a high level of confidence that it is a real person using the phone with a real card that cleared through the networks. my level of security that we can give to those merchants is incredibly high. >> who is going to win the mobile commerce game? is there room for everyone? how many players will be in the market? >> in the e-commerce world, thousands of companies that are part of the ecosystem. heavily 20 or 30 that are very large. multi-chilean dollar market across the world. there will be a single winner or two or three winners. we will see the market fragment dramatically during it will come back together along agreed rules. we will have some big layers like apple and maybe google. certainly a lot of existing technology layers that goes deeper than just providing -- >> that is an old phrase.

fragment and no one is quite sure which one is going to fix which product everyone else is going for. how can you be so sure where we end up? >> this is history replaying itself to look at 15 years when e-commerce was at its infancy. people say, i don't think i want to be using the computer devices. it took the initial steps to really push the consumer behavior and almost overnight we saw a step change in the way we engage in that form of commerce. the same thing is happening on mobile. we getting consumers trained on what they expect. now they expect every merchant to deliver a similar experience where they will leave in droves. >> some of the names you work with our kfc. there is some take names here. how hard is it when you have those? do they understand what they want? are you teaching them what they need? >> combination of both get our

best interaction is when business is really understand that consumer is one that matters most to their is this. they are the ones that really understand it and want to create that consumer experience to bring lauro -- loyal customers. >> what to do with the money raised? what is the vision? >> it is a revolution. you have computers in our pockets that change how we engage with brands in ways we don't even understand today p it with this initial fundraising we're pushing and growing our team for about -- all based in london and expanding. >> who do you compete with? >> world pay. legacy gateways. >> i sign up for everything.

when am i going to be card list? >>. for quite -- cardless? >> not fora quite a well. until you can get rid of your cards, your cards will stay with you. >> how soon? [laughter] >> i think it is closer than we think. further than we hope. it would be great to walk around and glance. >> i don't want to glance and accidentally buy things. [laughter] >> you can return them. >> for business, anything that moves the ball into experiencing -- expand mentoring is a good ring. -- thing. >> are you sure about that? >> i'm quite sure. there are 15 zeros.

until then, we have to grow the business. he loved the team that we have here. we will continue to march on. >> good luck. see you soon. >> the annual toy fair. the so-called smart toy. they're hoping to shake up t hings. an exclusive report. >> he may like an ordinary -- look like an ordinary, cuddly toy. but it is much smarter than that. he is transformed into a smart toy. >> a smart toy takes a lot of time. they could create smart toys faster.

there are plenty of others that do. >> having a dedicated team outside are really working on the technology and expensing -- i think that would be a good collaboration to a lot of toy companies do not have the budget or the manpower. taking a solution from an outsider -- >> with more than 70 million children crying out for smart toys, visit manufacturers are eager to get on board. >> the first one to hit stores is this. comprises a number of freddie here. plays out a story both on the tablet and on the board. all of which is controlled either child. >> it all looks a perfectly good

fun to me. i'm not the target market. ♪ >> do you like this game? >> do you like it? does it sound like a fun game? >> making smart toys. there is a pretty good chance your children will never give you that your tablet. >> advancing technology winningly quickly.winningly quickly. we will have a look at our favorite stories from bloomberg's digital output. and beautiful shot of snow -- shots of snow. all of that coming from the u.s. stay with us. ♪

>> welcome back. time for a look at the top choices from bloomberg. business is limitless. it is rebellious. it is transformative. it is bloomberg business. we have gone for an entirely new look and experience. digital first is the message. is it the right time? the right place?

it is about market. hello, luxury. i have got to say, it is quite sexy. a whole new brand. a whole new look and feel. it is in black and white so you can read it. [laughter] >> there is blue too. i like the blue. that's probably the most insightful thing i have said. i like lou. >>-- blue. >> me too. >> i've got something on the snowstorm. not as epic as what forecasters projected. it is safe to say it trailed analysts estimates. i found a series of images and videos that bloomberg together

that is very relaxing. it but me in that mood this morning -- it put me in that mood this morning. >> can we see some imagery? >> apple. >> apple. we have been banging the apple drum. quarterly profits, it quite sums things. the stats are incredible. there is a bloomberg view article that says "apple's domination shows no sign of stopping." this is this kind of growth will flatten one day. just like the ipod will become obsolete. that is her view.

she says it is so important when it comes to tech innovation and taking into consideration apple pays a great example of how have has helped stir a trend far better. the results are better. no apple watch into the mix. she says the smart watch could get into the cycle of hardware and software and consumers trying new stuff in the company making new stuff. she does not think they make the best software, that it is creating extraordinarily -- she finishes by saying the popularity is helping drive more innovation and interest in technology than most of the shots we hear about every day. early -- purely on interest level. >> indeed.

"countdown" continues in the next hour. it is a ceo interview. join us for that conversation after the break. ♪

>> apple shines. blooming iphone sales help deliver a record quarterly profit, a cool $18 billion. >> marissa mayer transforms yahoo!'s $40 billion holding in alibaba into a separate company in a move that slashes yahoo!'s tax bills. >> the singapore dollar at its lowest level since 2010. >> and waiting for the fed. will u.s. ecology makers -- policymakers pledge to the patient?

>> hello, welcome to "countdown." >> joining us now on the line is the ceo of wash. great to have you with us this morning. i know you've just finished your call with the analysts. you said 82% of your costs are outside switzerland. that leaves you with 80 -- 18% in switzerland. will you review what level of business you do in switzerland? >> we constantly work on our productivity. as we've always done in the past, not too long ago, the swiss franc was at 1.60. it came down to 1.20 now. we have another strength to parity against the euro. this is an ongoing effort and we

continue to work on our productivity. >> obviously, you are referring to parity there. can you give me a swiss franc impact on 2015? is that your base case? are you doing more hedging? how much hedging are you doing, and the impact on 2015 numbers? >> we look at the underlying currency. that's what we are planning for. we are optimistic for the future. we expect sales to grow low to mid single digits as we go forward. it is very difficult to predict where the currencies would end. but it is very important in our context that the u.s. dollar plays a much bigger role than the euro.

in fact, as far as the u.s. dollar is concerned, it appreciated quite a big against the euro. u.s. dollar -- we are today where we were one year ago. >> that dollar strength prevails in a number of other currencies around the world. that begs the question, you must be doing more hedging to perhaps mitigate those risks in china brazil, russia. >> actually, we have a very good natural hedge. we have a complete value chain outside of switzerland. we have a complete value chain in europe a complete value chain in the united states. we do have a complete value chain from research to distribution in china, and other markets such as japan. we enjoy a natural hedge in our business. >> oncology is 62% of your

business. you've got a couple of drugs that i want to talk to you about. cats a lot which has had a good run. you hit a bump in trials just before christmas. how do you look at that? how do you review that bump in terms of clinical trials just before christmas? >> it has been another very good year. the oncology franchise was growing strongly, mainly driven by the new medicine. it will certainly remain important as we go forward. more specifically, it has clearly changed the standard of care in a specific form of breast cancer, a very aggressive form of breast cancer. it will remain a very important

area. we did not meet the clinical trial and point -- end point for first-line treatment. we will analyze the data and continue to test it in different settings. overall, it will remain a very important growth driver as we go forward. >> can it still give you 2.5 billion swiss francs? do you still benchmark? is it fair to benchmark it at around 2.5 billion by 2020? >> we didn't provide peak sales in the past. i wouldn't do it as we go forward. >> i want to talk more about some of the changes by the regulators, the fda, particularly in drugs.

they are not easy to copy, are they? but the fda have granted the first win to novartis against amgen. does this shift your thinking in how the fda are going to approach bio similars? >> not at all. there is nothing wrong about bio similars. it is the normal course of business, when patents expire bio similars would come in. that's a healthy thing to have. otherwise, health care costs would be unsustainable. our strategy is constantly moving the standard of care, to come up with better medicines and replace our own medicines. the standard of care in breast cancer today, we have moved this standard of care by introducing a very innovative medicine, by

providing additional survival benefits for patients, and we will do the same for our other franchises. that is really what our strategy is about. >> severin, i'm trying to understand where we are in the great debate of the united states of america. the people who buy the drugs are putting pressure on pricing. cancer is an incredibly emotive subject for anyone who suffers from it. i've had it in my family. getting the best drugs at the right time is important. pressure on cancer drugs coming from the drug buyers in the states, is that the next big challenge to roche? >> there has always been and there will continue to be price pressures. no doubt about that. at the end of the day, what it comes down to is, what is the additional value we can provide for patients?

if you can extend life, if you can improve -- >> i understand that. i empathize with the sentiment. unfortunately, when it comes to drugs and pharma companies it is about dollars and profit. will the price pressure come to bear on cancer drugs from the players in the united states? >> primarily, it is about making a difference for patients. that is what i want to emphasize. if you provide value for patients, then the societies will also be prepared to reward this kind of innovation. we do see exactly that with our portfolio in the. it is a reflection of the innovativeness of our portfolio. >> talk to me about the diabetes. how long can you injure -- endure those price pressures? i was discussing this with

"bloomberg intelligence." we know that this side of the business is also important diagnostics. give us your take. >> right, this is a challenging market environment. we have seen a declining market in particular in the united states. this is a result of price pressure of new entrants into the market. as far as rocgehe is concerned, we slightly grew at 1%. that environment is a good result. we gained market share. i would expect that it remains challenging as we go forward. i don't see a major shift here in the short term. >> severin schwan ceo of roche . thank you for taking time to be with us on bloomberg. >> breaking news from h&m europe's number two clothing

retailer. it looks as if the pretax number is below estimates. that is 7.8 billion versus an estimate of eight alien. -- eight billion. there was a lot of focus going into these numbers on how much the gross margin could have been impacted by the warmer weather and the discounting that some retailers have had to do. there was also concern that any strength in the sales environment might not translate into the bottom line because of discounting, input costs, spending on new formats, and the online environment requiring investment. some of that is coming through here. the online rollout is continuing to be something the business is investing in. h&m plans nine new online markets in 2015. in terms of store openings, they are saying that h&m and other stores will open more new stores in 2015 than in 2014.

h&m is going to introduce its beauty range in the fall or autumn of 2015. bit of an update on their strategy coming through. speaking for the sector as a whole, one of the issues bloomberg has been talking about is the impact of the stronger dollar and what that is doing to businesses that buy in dollars. we will see how that unfolds through the season. >> unexpected move out of singapore. the nation's central-bank is the ninth of this month to ease monetary policies, singing the currency to its weakest since 2010. let's get over to yvonne man. >> hi, mark. big surprise from singapore, partly because of the timing. the central-bank meets twice a year. this is not a scheduled meeting. it was four months before the next scheduled meeting. it sent a shock to the lion city.

policymakers their main policy tool is the local currency. what happens here is, they move -- they guide the singapore dollar against a basket of currencies within a band. they change the pace of the appreciation and deep appreciation of the currency by changing the slope. today, they announced they were producing the slope of that policy band. that sent the currency falling the weakest in five years. 6% down against the u.s. dollar in the past three months. if you look at the singapore dollar against it asian counterpart, it is strengthening against nine out of 11 of its asian currencies. that may have prompted what policymakers are saying in terms of this move, to move ahead from their next meeting. some analysts say this move opens up the currency so that it can underperform against its asian peers. >> what is the rationale behind

this unscheduled move? >> they really had room for it because of how low inflation is. the singapore policymakers and economists had to cut the inflation forecast to 0.5% for 2015. pretty much a benign outlook for the year. if you look at it in terms of growth, 2% to 4% expansion in the fourth quarter was half the pace of what they saw in the previous quarter. they said that in terms of the economy, not much uncertainty but we also saw the slump in oil prices not helping either. you talk about singapore being number nine. talk about the other nations before that. the ecb announces plans for cutie. we also had canada, denmark india and there may be more to come. we have seen possibly the boj

with further stimulus. thailand as well. >> thanks a lot, yvonne man of bloomberg news live in hong kong. >> let's look at some of the other stories we are moving. here comes the chinese yuan. the yuan overtook the canadian dollar as the fifth most used currency for payments last month. more than 2% of the world's payments were in the yuan up from just over 1.5% in october. >> looks like the blizzard has fizzled somewhat in new york. the heaviest snow has been falling in massachusetts and rhode island. more than 4700 flights have been canceled across the u.s. and disruption is expected to continue. >> when the snow clears, pepper paid will maybe taking -- pepper pig will be making the

transatlantic crossing. that is according to "the financial times." the company is targeting the u.s. and expects pepper revenues to rise this year. >> doo doo dood doo. >> everything you ever thought you would never hear on a financial news channel. pepper pick. >> i feel like i'm at home now. >> a very homey feel this morning. you can join in the conversation about pepper pig or anything else you want to talk about this morning. that is where you will find us in the twitter world. >> coming up after the break why sony is slashing jobs in its smartphone business. ♪

>> apple just reminding investors why it is considered among the most valuable companies in the world. caroline is here. it has beaten earning estimates 37 of the last 44. how can it continue to outdo itself? >> it keeps giving. if it keeps having new products

such as the iphone 6, record profits. record profit for apple up 38%. $18 billion. let's put that in perspective. they are making $200 million per day. basically, by the time i finished beginning they will -- finished speaking, they will have made half $1 million alone. when you see it compared to the likes of google and microsoft, there profits are more than triple what microsoft brought in in the last quarter. this is a juggernaut. sales are increasing at a rate of 30%. what they just managed to bring in in profit last quarter is the same as yemen's gdp, the same as microsoft and google put together, and the amount that gm makes in an entire year. bigger screens when it comes to the phones, and that is really

liked, particularly by china. we saw china sales up 70%. they are expanding stores there. what about the future? they have chinese new year's to come in february. that is when they are likely to see it going even better. all aspects of the business are doing well as well. the novel apple day, they are now two thirds of the market in that area in the united states. they've got in the three major credit card networks, two of every three dollars going through their system. no wonder shares are up and you have carl icahn saying $600 billion isn't enough. i want you to be worth $1 trillion. >> the numbers are truly staggering. is there anything -- does this momentum continue in perpetuity? you then have emerging markets

and the most number of new people signing on for the first time. what can stop the juggernaut? >> potentially the dollar. the strength of the u.s. dollar -- apple sells more than half of its items outside the u.s. when you bring that money back you are getting less bang for your back. >> but they are holding a huge proportion of their earnings offshore. >> when you are translating them in quarterly sales, it might not look so impressive. it is not going to look 5% impressive. that's what the cfo said. they are saying sales will rise 14%. that is a slowdown from the 30% we saw last year. it could have been 19%. >> if you didn't have the dollar strength. >> that is going to be an issue for them. also russia in particular.

when you look at what this company is doing, it is looking to offset issues with the dollar. it is ramping up pricing in europe and canada. in russia, they stalled sales. when we saw the ruble fall out of bed, they said, we are not going to sell our phone online anymore. they are doing what they can to minimize the strength of the dollar. also, one chink in the armor is the tablet. tablets are slimming down. they are trying to do more corporate tablet deals. we are seeing sales down in the last quarter. >> let's talk about yahoo! because we have an announcement that many people have been waiting for. >> again, shares rose after hours. the underlying business is not doing very well, but what they have done is shown how they can minimize taxes when it comes to alibaba. yahoo! has been doing so well because it owned a hefty chunk of alibaba, the dominant chinese

player when it comes to the market in e-commerce. they are going to spin off their alibaba stake, $40 billion worth, into a separate company. that means minimizing any sort of tax hit that investors have to take. they aren't, though, spinning off the yahoo! japan unit. that is another $7 billion stake. these stakes in alibaba and yahoo! japan, is more than the entire market value of yahoo!. once you start spinning off these asian units, what does the business look like? not as good as they have been hoping, perhaps. fourth-quarter sales down almost 2%. we need marissa mayer to show us how the acquisitions she has made are going to win over the appetite. >> caroline, thanks a lot. caroline hyde, who has just made

according to her calculations how many millions? >> apple has made half $1 million. >> the new greek prime minister alexis tsipras unveiled his cabinet yesterday. the picks suggest that greece is on course for a confrontation with the eu. marcus, thanks for joining us. tell us about the members of this new cabinet. >> yes overall -- [indiscernible] the new finance minister, a lot has been written about him. he is a bit of a maverick. overall, the number of ministries has been reduced. if you look at the faces at yesterday's swearing-in ceremony, they are the faces you would expect to see at the swearing-in of a radical left party cabinet. it would herald a change in

approach from a whole range of issues, foreign policy to policing, potentially. >> where are we likely to see the relationship between greece and the rest of the eu tested? it could be around foreign policy and russia, not necessarily around the economy. >> that would be the first potential flashpoint. we have a meeting tomorrow of european union foreign ministers to discuss more sanctions against russia over ukraine. the eu president issued a statement on this yesterday calling for more sanctions that should be taken. this is something that annoyed the greek government. they hadn't been consulted over this. they issued a statement saying proper procedure wasn't followed and we don't consent. the new foreign minister has advocated in the past for russia. he was a familiar of the

communist party. he came out yesterday and spoke, saying that because of the debt issue, we won't surrender our sovereignty. the big test will come tomorrow to see if he will veto further sanctions against russia, which could mean a rocky start to the relationship between the new government and its eu parliament. >> we saw the euro quite resilient on the face of what has happened in greece. bankshares in athens, not so. >> yes. the stock market did not have a great day in athens yesterday. banks in particular. investors are reacting a lot to the prospect of political brinksmanship to,. -- to come up. >> ok. marcus, thank you so much.

>> coming up, details of islamic state's latest hostage threats. stay tuned. ♪

>> first there were eight, then there were nine, central-bank that is, that took action to move their currency. today, it is singapore. they have decided to move their currency. that is the critical news coming from the central bank of singapore. we have got the dollar moving higher, the singapore dollar moving lower against all 16 major currencies. this is the weakest level since 2010. they have cut their inflation target. it is going to read -0.5%. a lot of central banks trying to

shock or move ahead of the markets. the canadians did it, the singaporeans have done it, you could see 1.40 on the singapore by march of this year. easing of monetary policy by the singapore central-bank authorities is trying to join in on the currency wars. it is fed day. it is fomc federal open market committee. janet yellen and her cohorts will release a statement tonight in terms of the language they use. dollar, look at that, it wobbles. it shook the market. it shook the equity market down 300 points. caterpillar, microsoft, all talking about a strong dollar. 300 points isn't enough to stop the juggernaut that is the dollar. goldman sachs say, by the dips.

the trajectory of this currency is still on the upside. if you wondered who was the busiest, it is of course the fx desk. currency trading was at a record. the highest level since 2004. not to be left out of the party, aussie dollar makes a comeback. 80, hello 80. they've got inflation. higher inflation than the market originally anticipated. that is why you see a rate cut from the aussies next week. how quickly the trade has changed. 1.7% now. hello, 80. >> thanks, manus. these are the bloomberg top headlines. apple has reported one of the biggest quarterly profits ever made. it enjoyed a net income of $18

billion after revenues jumped 30%. the better than expected numbers were fueled by strong iphone sales. apple shares rose by as much as 6.7% in extended trading in new york. greece's government suggested it might resist an effort to take new sanctions against russia. greece said it opposed an eu communique that holds russia responsible for recent violence saying that it hasn't been consulted. it is unclear whether greece would veto sanctions which would require unanimous support from the eu government. singapore's central bank has eased monetary policy. the monetary authority of singapore said it will seek a lower pace of depreciation of the country's dollar. the announcement sent the currency to the league level since 2010. also cutting inflation forecasts

for this year, predicting prices may fall as much as 0.5%. greece is preparing for a fight on renegotiating its debt. another bailed out nation wants to play it -- once to pay its obligations off early. portugal now plans to make an early repayment of its bailout loans. the islamic state has threatened to kill a captured jordanian pilot and a japanese reporter within hours if jordan doesn't release a convicted terrorist. that is according to an intelligence group. a video released yesterday shows japanese hostage kenji goto while a voice urged japan to pressure jordan to make the exchange. >> let's get to the middle east now. the islamic state very much at the center of the conversation.

let's get to elliott gotkine for more details on the story. >> anna, this latest video which you've just described was distributed by islamic state-length twitter accounts in which the japanese reporter kenji goto implores the japanese government to put pressure on the jordanians to help secure his release and spare the life of the jordanian pilot also being held captive by islamic state. what islam asked eight is asking for in exchange for the release of the japanese reporter is the release of an iraqi-born jihadist. she was arrested for her role in bombings of hotels in the jordanian capital. her husband blew himself up but her bomb failed to go off. she is currently on death row. islamic state wants her

released. the deadline, if you use the time of the japanese government as it became aware, the deadline would appear to be early afternoon, write about 2:00 p.m. u.k. time. >> how likely is it that some kind of swap takes place? >> japanese prime minister shinzo abe has described the demands and the captivity of kenji goto as a despicable act. he says that his government will not negotiate with islamic state, a position also held by the jordanian government. negotiations are taking place between tribal and religious leaders and islamic state to work out a solution here. it is possible that in addition to the female jihadist in jail in jordan, that islamic state might also want another person held in jail in jordan on

terrorism charges as part of the agreement. there is no guarantee that an agreement will be reached. there is a lot of internal pressure in jordan and japan to secure the release of their citizen. there is no doubt that this will be a massive propaganda victory for islamic state. >> elliott gotkine joining us there. >> join the conversation on twitter. tim cook, by the way, has 914,000 followers on twitter. he follows 38 people. such as the itunes festival u.n. human rights, satya nadella , one republic, the band. >> things you can find out about people by who they follow. >> he's not following you. >> that's just an oversight at the moment. >> he is following cover pig as

well. >> of next, talking about the markets. >> it is bart chart time. stay tuned. ♪

>> time for today's bar chart.

russian corporates are facing significant risks. those are the words of the director of rating in moscow. russia has been cut to junk by standard & poor's. refinancing foreign-currency debt just got a lot harder. this chart shows that $42 billion of non-ruble denominated russian corporate bonds and loans are coming due this year. it shows every month. on the right side, it goes from no rubles to 10 billion rubles. as you can see, february is the big month. $10 billion worth are maturing in february alone. most companies will suffer the fate of the sovereign. they will have their rating downgraded threatening to boost borrowers costs. this man says it will be more expensive and more complicated to redeem and refinance debt. dollar denominated bonds of

companies in russia have lost 15% in the last 12 months as sanctions were imposed on the biggest banks, the biggest energy producers, following president putin's incursion into ukraine back in march. that compares with a gain of 3.2% for its developing nation peers. individually, russia's largest oil producer rosneft has a $.3 billion due this year. -- $8.3 billion due this year. rosneft is the company to watch. as this man says, russian corporates are facing significant risks after that s&p downgrade to junk. >> let's turn our attention now to the eurozone and the litany of geopolitical tensions complicating the ecb's moves to jumpstart the economy. joining us now is the

international chief european economist. welcome to the show. i'm going to go straight to greece. a rather inauspicious start. they are already haggling over sanctions between europe and russia. what do you make of the current state of syriza? are they strong? will europe relent and forgive its debt in part? >> it feels to me that we are opening a new chapter in the crisis, which is, we move from financial crisis into political crisis. you mentioned russia. we have a number of issues on the political front. in terms of risk, it is one of these bizarre situations that we've seen before where no one really finds out what it is that

the outcome is going to be. by looking at all the possible combinations, you think, this cannot work. if you look at the european position the great physician there is not going to be any space for agreement. we have been before through this. i think we need to find out what it is going to be. it is probably going to be on both sides. the two initial positions are extraordinarily different. can they show their hands at the very early stage? they can't. they will be, as they have been before, as stiff as they can. they've got a framework. it is pretty robust. that is the framework in which the greeks are maybe going to be invited to join. we will see from there.

it is going to be difficult noisy. we think it is going to escalate from here. it is not going to get better anytime soon. ask what is the most political insight together right now? is it to work out what berlin is doing? >> i don't know. it is a process. europe is multidimensional. there is brussels, there are other countries. we haven't heard, neither has europe heard, what it is that the new greek government wants officially. there is a need to have some sort of interaction which is going to take place very quickly , to try and get a sense of how far they are from where europe would like them to be. and then, the situation will last a few weeks, and it will probably be extraordinarily difficult. >> are we going to focus on the debt? wolfgang schaudbler told me

there is no interest to be paid on greek debt. is it a red herring? >> to some extent, it is. long-term, it is a problem. this is not the problem at this particular juncture, especially in turn -- in terms of contagion channels. it is a sort of initiative type situation. time is on the side of the creditors, which was not the case at the early stage of the crisis. there was a financial crisis. that is not the case currently. it is a shock for greece. the pressure is going to be more on greece than on the rest of the system. most of the pressure will stay in greece. because of the nature of the shock and the nature of -- >> are you saying that even if

the debt is lifted -- >> that is not what i'm saying. there will be a shock to sentiment and confidence in greece which will be helpful. the problem i think is that the europeans have an issue with that. if it is a redline, we have to respect that. if they don't change that position, we have to live with that. i think that from an economic standpoint, the debt servicing is not the most pressing issue. there is a social chapter to those programs. i thought 10 years ago the lessons from the failure of the imf rogue rams -- programs was that you needed to have an element of a social safety net provided by world bank, or this kind of mechanism, which was not provided in the case of greece. the economic hardship they've had has led to this political crisis.

a lot of people expected that to happen. people were surprised it hadn't happened yet. now, europe needs to find the means and the ways to help greece. so we see, i think -- it is pretty difficult, undoubtedly. >> thank you for joining us, jacques cailloux. 7:48 here in london. more on this conversation when we come back. ♪

>> we are still with chief european economist jacques cailloux. the european central bank it is nearly a week ago now. your notes, we believe the ecb's decision will have little impact on the economy. >> i guess you need to separate out the market impact and the economic impact. if you focus on the economic impact, i do find how it is that by buying german bonds, you create jobs in spain or italy. or if you buy italian, you achieve that. especially, because the effect is likely to be somewhat muted compared to what it could have been a few years ago. i think it is going to be muted.

the traction you get on the economy is going to be limited. the reason is because, from an economic standpoint, we are finding there is little sensitivity to interest rates in the system. if you are in a normal functioning economy, you cut interest rates, borrowing picks up, demand picked up, investment picks up. we have tried that for five years. there is a point at which you have to question that it is not working. there are explanations as to why this is not happening. the answers are relatively difficult to accept. it essentially says that monetary policy is not the appropriate tool. you need to think about other tools which are outside of mr. draghi's toolkit. that creates huge problems because you say, the sovereign crisis has to become more fiscally aware.

analysts say, the solution is, fiscal easing. very difficult to take that as a solution. >> if the germans can't stomach quantitative easing, they will have a hard time with fiscal easing. >> it should be fiscal easing financed by the central bank. no. there are elements that need to be thought through. there was the juncker plan which was discussed in december. these are the more interesting ideas. they are not economically significant, but the ideas are more in the direction of what is needed in the system to support growth. you need to have investment demand. the euro is falling, oil is falling, interest is falling. give the option to spend. give the ability for people to decide. they are not deciding. they are failing. forest spending, in a sense which is in the realm of his school tools -- fiscal tools

far more effective. they force people to revise their outlook. >> is the juncker plan to small? >> i think the principles of it are very interesting. they could lead to something which -- >> there wasn't much money in it. >> the selection of projects might take a long time. we have seen the eib space. it works, but it is trip speed rather than a big bank. >> how long is qe going to go on for? are we talking years and years of qe even though it doesn't do the desired effect? qe infinity? >> it is unfortunate that we have this difficult situation where it is not going to be that effective but you carry on anyway. that is what we have seen in

other jurisdictions. once you've started, it is very difficult to stop. we are probably in it for the long haul. >> they have -- >> they didn't have the stomach to do it until recently. they probably don't have today the stomach to do it for longer than they think. if i'm right on the economy, and right on the combination of so-called fiscal and financial market dominance, it is going to be extraordinary -- >> how much will they spend? 2 trillion? >> if we put the ecb in a beauty contest or the ugly contest of qe in the world and accumulate the number of assets which have been bought today by boj, boe and fed, we are talking about a minimum of 20% of gdp to up to

60% of gdp. >> thank you very much, jacques cailloux. >> "on the move" is next. we have more on apple's record quarter. see you tomorrow. ♪

>> good morning, and welcome. we are moments away from the start of european trading. european equities are expected to open a little bit higher. crushing expectation. apple exhibits $18 billion in corporate profit, selling over 74 million units of the iphone. more easing. singapore unexpectedly eased monetary policy overnight sending the currencies to the weakest level since 2010 against the dollar.

patience is the word. investors await the latest federal reserve decision do this evening. the american company bemoaned the strength of the u.s. dollar. i am looking at futures markets pointing a little bit higher. it looks like it is going to be higher. >> we have the equities a little bit unsure of their direction. currency trading was the most active. it is a record for market since 2004. nine central banks have moved on rates. they have tried to toy with and surprise the markets and move their currencies. japan bought 50% of their gdp cumulatively in terms of quantitative easing. the federal reserve bought between 20% and