>> the european central bank launches qe, but greece's financial fate hangs in the balance. >> chinese exports surge on the back of the u.s. economic recovery. japan emerges from recession. >> apple launches its first smart watch. >> the global crude market will balance out in the second half of this year. we take a look at what it means for the oil price.

welcome to "countdown." obama says he is ready to walk away from a nuclear deal with iran if it does not meet his conditions. we will bring you the latest on the talks. plus the reaction in tel aviv. let's start with europe. stimulus and greece. mario draghi launches his fight against inflation in the eurozone with an unprecedented program of qe. the ecb begins its asset purchase program amounting to 60 billion euros a month. >> the greek finance minister said if the country's creditors

make requests that are not acceptable to the government the greek people might be asked to decide on how to break the deadlock. the prime minister signaled the referendum option could be on the table. let's bring in david powell. he joins us bright and early this monday morning. good morning to you, david. let's talk about the start of qe . we have been talking about it for years, it seems. other central banks enacted it years ago. can it live up to expectations ? >> we saw the reaction in the markets after the announcement from mario draghi last thursday that today would be the start date. stocks went up and the euro went down. he managed to strike a tell him that was cautiously optimistic.

-- strike a tone that was cautiously optimistic. >> remind us david, how much they are buying, what they are buying, so on and so forth. if you have been asleep for the last few weeks. >> they are going to be buying 60 billion euros worth of assets per month and that will be mostly government debt. a few other sites in europe as well. that is going to go on until september of next year. the only -- the other detail was they will not buy anything with a negative yield. >> things look a little bit fragile for greece. various ministers in greece including the prime minister and the finance minister about the

possibility of going back to the polls if the greek proposals do not manage to convince european creditors to give them the next round of aid. what concerns you? >> it is a negotiating tool. a couple of years ago, the europeans were very upset about the referendum in greece. essentially it even though the greek -- to a certain extent it would depend on how the question is worded. if you do not give us a little room we may have another referendum. they will have that in mind as they go into their meetings today about the next steps. >> how precarious is greece's financial position, david?

>> if you run the numbers, it seems like if the aide were to come through as planned, they would be able to meet their financial requirements. that is contingent upon -- the real problem they face is cash crunch the tax receipts were lower than expected. possibly as a result of the election turmoil. they really do have to make those payments. they have tried to explore a few avenues, increasing the issuances of t-bills. the ecb said no to that. it is dependent on the generosity at this stage. >> greece probably will not receive any aid in march they stop on the latest proposals. those proposals have been described as amateurish, not substantial enough. what are we looking at?

what more details do they need to come through with to convince their creditors? >> two weeks ago, they said it was vague. they will want more details on how exactly they will implement the reforms. >> they were suggesting they could have tourists posing as tax collectors. that was an off-the-wall suggestion. >> china's exports have seen a massive boost, soaring 48% last month. in let's go to hong kong. >> good morning. >> exports, quite a number. talk us through it. >> 48% jump, yes.

what we are seeing is a combination of factors. more shipments to the u.s., the shipments grew to 21% in the first two months of this year. they are trying to follow the u.s. economy. a 3% boost in the u.s. economy does lead to an increase in chinese exports from eight to 9%. distortions because of the chinese lunar new year they fell in february and companies were trying to get orders processed ahead of the holiday. because of that, we are going to see exports this month in march grow by less than 10%. analysts look at the trade figures for january and february

combined. those numbers were up 15%, which is still more than double the government target. exports leading to a record trade surplus of $60.6 billion. >> imports in china have remained weaker than exports in recent months. did that trend continue? >> we are seeing another month of weakness. imports falling by 20.5% in february. that was the fourth consecutive month of declines. this was the sharpest drop we have seen since the global financial crisis. this not only reflects lower commodity prices, but also weak domestic demand. the domestic investment momentum

is not there. producers seeking to maximize exports in order to make up for that week domestic -- weak domestic demand. the economic data has added some pressure on the yuan against the dollar. it will only help exporters marginally. given that it has risen against other currencies. >> staying with asia, japan's rebound from recession was weaker than first estimated. gdp debated -- let's move on. today we get the details on the new apple watch. tim cook will try to convince us

why we need his new product at all. here to help us cut through the speculation and the hype is caroline hyde. >> the day is the event, spring forward. 10:00 a.m., it is an invite only guest list in san francisco. another event is going on in berlin. we know that they have three models. we know it starts at $349. it has touchscreen, two different sizes, aluminum rose gold. still so many questions. that is going to be what people are going to be sending out tweets, the price point.

$349 is where it starts. some speculation that it could go anywhere up to $20,000. >> for a bit of bling. >> 18 karat gold, apple promises the gold to be twice as strong as any other standard gold. it has a polished sapphire crystal screen. the addition will start at close to $5,000. the average will cost about $7,500. price point is what everyone will look at first. we will want to see that you can wear it all day. when we you be able to plug the sin? -- to plug this in?

we understand -- tim cook has been speaking in other press reports. he wants to be able to open car doors with this. apps will be what makes this the must-have gadget. >> how will tim cook convince mark barton that i need this gadget? >> back to the ipad we have not seen them become you can -- become ubiquitous. with the help of apple, this would become the must-have gadget. we expect them to sell 14 million of them this year. they have to convince us why.

>> open secretary-general says the global crude oil market will balance out in the second half of this year after a glut of 2 million barrels a day sent prices plummeting. opec will not cut production because of the rise in shale output. few answers to questions surrounding flight 370, which went missing one year ago on sunday. authorities found one unusual detail, the expiration of a locator beacon battery before the plane took off. it is unclear whether that hampered search efforts. a russian court indicted five men on sunday in connection with the murder of boris nemtsov. one of the accused admitted a role in the murder.

the charges come just over a week after his death sparked protests in moscow. results congressional heads denied involvement in the country's largest corruption scandal -- brazil's congressional heads denied involvement in the country's largest corruption scandal. the politicians allegedly took kickbacks. the president said brazil is learning from the scandal. >> with courage and pain, brazil has learned to practice social justice in favor of the poorest as well as applying the harsh hand of justice to the corrupt. this is what has been happening in the investigation. >> the block should have its own army, he told the german sunday

newspaper military force would give the eu more credibility and show russia it is determined to defend european values. >> we will take a short break on the program. it will be another big week in british politics. the u.k. business secretary will be joining us this morning. we will be speaking with horace johnson later on -- boris johnson later on in the program. we will take a break, see you on the other side. ♪

>> welcome back to "camp ountdown." let's bring in the ceo of armstrong investment managers. thank you for joining us. q we starting -- qe starting seems like some of the data around the eurozone is picking up. what is it doing for your strategy? >> it is going to continue well into 2016. growth is expected to pick up from zero to 1.5% next year,

1.8% the following year. however yields are responding will be a question mark. if you need to follow examples of the u.s. and u.k., we have high yields. japan, progressing buying by the japanese central bank resulted in even lower yields. since the qe was announced, the bond yields, negative yields with a maturity of over a year. now we have something like 1.6 trillion of those bonds, investors are paying to lend money. we will see how the yields pick up. global yields are increasing. equity markets have been responding quite well. we have seen an increase in different sectors in european

equities. all of this will have a further weakening of the euro and this is good for quite a few exporters. >> if you are holding a bond and someone offers you a good price and then you have to reinvest that money and you look around and yields are negative, what do you do? >> a couple of investors are betting they will be selling those bonds. over a trillion of european bonds will mature this year. that money will have to be reinvested. >> it is interesting. there is a link between who owns the european debt and what that does to the currency. because so many foreign investors own eurozone bonds, if

they can be persuaded to sell them to the ecb, that could put downward pressure on the euro. >> that would be great for european companies. the euro was at a 11 year low versus the dollar last week. that pattern will continue well into the year. this qe will have a good impact on the european economy. i think the ecb is on track to achieving that. another market that is quite interesting the japanese market. based on the initiatives of abe. his policies seem to be working. >> that was the date of easing but also a lot of talk -- quantitative easing but also about big investors in the

japanese market would diversify. there was another angle in that story. >> it creates exposure to something like 35%. qe had a great impact on equities in the u.s. and the u.k. >> how much of the structural side of the equation will be carried out by eurozone governments? is most of the weight going to be taken on by the euro to give a lift to the eurozone economy? >> manufacturing needs to be put in place. there are two countries not participating. eurozone thinks they have

already contributed to 68% of the debt of the greek economy. there will be pressure to conduct some of those structural reforms in addition to the monetary stimulus. >> you mentioned japan. you have some investments there. the japanese economy as a result of qe. we got some gdp data overnight. big companies in japan are reluctant to invest fearing the consumer does not have the confidence they thought. what is your latest take? >> japanese companies are going to corporate restructuring. they will increase transparency. they will have discussions with shareholders. it is a big transformation happening in japan.

it is a slow process, but they are getting their. -- getting there. they have been doing business in the same way for the last 100 years. they are cautious when it comes to investments. pension funds, sovereign funds, they are looking to increase exposure. >> you have been upping your exposure to russia, you've been adding to your position. since december, it has been a good bet, up 44%. if that trend going to continue? >> it was based on the fact that the situation in ukraine is working itself out. oil trade is something we are

looking to increase over the next months. we think this is a good entry point. next to go long oil? -- >> to go long oil? >> we believe this is a good time. >> what makes you think that oil will had higher? -- head higher? >> you would buy oil at the price now? >> we are looking to build up a position slowly over the next month. >> outside of russia, he would added to your u.s. momentum -- you have added to your u.s. momentum basket. the u.s. has certainly had some momentum. >> based on the sovereign debt

momentum driven. we are looking at the strength of the buying and the quantitative overlay. it is a lot of noise in the market. markets have not been driven by fundamentals. the news about greece has had a big impact on the market in general. >> ana, thank you very much for joining us this morning. >> you can join the conversation on twitter. let us know what you think of the show. tell us the stories you want to hear about. >> it is 6:26 a.m. in london. the deadline looms, but the deal is not inside. we get the latest on the iran nuclear talks.

we will go live to tel aviv and get reaction as america's middle east ties are tested. ♪

>> you are watching "countdown." let's have a look at the bloomberg dollar-spot index. that is how it has done over the last 12 months. it has gone in just one direction. a 17% gain. what happened on friday was fairly special, because the dollar rose by 1.1% on the bloomberg index after the u.s. jobs report. it was the biggest one-day gain since november 2011.

it ensured a record high for the bloomberg dollar-spot index. after the jobs report traders see a 23% chance of a u.s. rate hike in june, with a 17% chance at the end of february. the index is up for nine consecutive months or is it -- it is on track for its ninth consecutive monthly gain. interestingly, investors were getting slightly nervous about the dollar's performance in february. those who stuck with the dollar through its worst months since last june have been rewarded. hedge funds and other large speculators reduced positions benefiting from dollar gains for a fourth consecutive week at the start of this month. if you step by the dollar, you've been rewarded with that 1.1% gain. when you look at the dollar against the broader array of

currencies, 31 major peers year to date, the dollar is up. just for currencies are gaining against the dollar. they are the swiss franc, the russian ruble, the indian rupee, and the taiwanese dollar. the dollar today, slightly lower on the bloomberg index, but after that rise following the u.s. jobs report that was not a big surprise. the biggest one-day increase on friday since november 2011. >> the top stories on bloomberg this hour -- with 60 days to go until the u.k. casa general election, labor leader ed has told voters in scotland that supporting the scottish national party risks handing power to conservatives. miliband said the election is set to be closest in a generation. >> every vote cast for another party including the s&p makes that prospect of a tory government more likely.

it is just a matter of arithmetic because everyone less labor mp makes it more likely the tories will be the largest party. >> u.k. green party later natalie bennett called for a "peaceful political revolution" at her party's conference. she called for in and to what she described as the failed experiments of austerity. the leader of the welsh nationalist party leanne wood is seeking an increase in funding for the welsh government. he says he's calling for an additional 1.2 billion pounds a year. we will be covering all of the major parties taking part in the u.k.'s general election bringing you every result as we get closer to polling day on may 7. london's financial services companies are set to step up their hiring. that is according to a recruitment firm.

the company says that more than 3000 new jobs were created in london's financial district integrate. >> negotiations continue between well -- world powers and iran over the country's nuclear program. the latest in the dispute included a meeting between u.s. secretary of state john kerry and french foreign minister fabius. the two leaders met this weekend to relate the status of the talks. joining us now is bloomberg news correspondent, and in tel aviv, elliott gotkine. what has been the reaction in iran to john kerry's latest travels? >> normally, the iranian media try to play up the government's line, which recently is to say things are positive by and large, but in the same way that obama tends to speak for the

u.s. audience, it is the same in iran. iranian officials, their rhetoric tends to be geared towards concerns in iran domestically. >> what would be a good outcome as far as the iranian government is concerned in terms of the limits imposed on their nuclear capabilities, the amount of oversight they have to agree to? >> one thing the iranian government is quite determined to secure is a complete removal of sanctions and repeatedly, iranian officials particularly the foreign minister and the president, have said that it is a redline for them the complete removal of sanctions. that is one of the sticking points in the foreground of the talks. many of the technical issues have been, according to iranian officials, have been ironed out.

they said last week that the stand up on the technical side has been removed, and this week we have some iaea inspectors in the country. those talks are always going on. > give us an idea of how sanctions are affecting the economy. >> the economy has been extremely negatively hit by sanctions. it hasn't helped the fact that the mismanagement happened under margaret of the -- mahmoud ahmadinejad. a lot of the structural weaknesses in iran's economy were worsened under his tenure. sanctions have definitely made things worse. they have increased inflation. they have slashed oil exports. it is pretty bad.

> should we get out to elliott? thanks for joining us. last week, israel's prime minister benjamin netanyahu urged lawmakers in the u.s. to be tougher on iran. he took his argument to american tv, as well. >> i think if you are based in the united states, you would've had to have been living under a rock to have missed print -- prime minister netanyahu's arguments. that controversial speech to the u.s. congress controlled by the republicans, much to the chagrin of president barack obama. yesterday, i talked to the u.s. network cbs where he reiterated his arguments, which he has outlined not just last week but prior to that as well, and focused on where he and present obama or on the same page, and where they are not. >> i do not trust inspections with totalitarian regimes. it didn't work with north korea.

they violated it and played a good game of hide and seek. >> what netanyahu wants three things -- he wants to extend the length of time that it would take for iran to get a hold of a nuclear bomb the breakup time. it wants to limit the amount of nuclear infrastructure that iran is allowed to have, and the third point -- this is the one that is least likely or most likely to fall on deaf ears as far as the negotiations -- it wants iran to stop calling for israel's annihilation and to stop supporting other groups like hezbollah if those sanctions are to be lifted. it doesn't want sanctions to be lifted if iran still continues to call for israel's disruption. >> how much of netanyahu's rhetoric is related to the israeli election on march 17? >> i suppose it is fortunate or unfortunate if you like that the next rounds of nuclear talks

begin on march 15, this coming sunday, and the israeli elections take place two days later. it is impossible to have these elections and not be talking about iran, especially when netanyahu is the prime minister. from his perspective, he's being seen as much more tough on security matters. going on about iran doesn't lose him and he votes, at least among his core constituency. as the anti-netanyahu rally on saturday night demonstrated there are plenty of people who want change. they don't want to see a third term. they are more concerned with things like sky high house prices, the high cost of living and they are concerned that the netanyahu government inevitably would have to include ultra-orthodox parties who might then secure more privileges for ultra-orthodox jews, just when this current government had been making inroads into getting ultra-orthodox jews more

included in the economy, making sure that they serve in the army and the like. a lot of people are more concerned about these other humdrum issues. the opinion polls, they say it's too close to call. the zionist union, which contains the labour party, more and more -- more or less in the. it comes down to who can make the negotiations with the smaller parties to get the numbers to form a government. >> bloomberg's elliott gotkine in tel aviv. >> you can join in the conversation on twitter. let us know what you would like to see more of on the show. still to come on the program britain has had a coalition government since 2010. is the country headed for more of the same after the general election in may, and who might the powerbrokers the? analysis is straight after the break. we have a couple of political

heavyweights joining us on programming on bloomberg this morning. u.k. business secretary vince cable will be joining us first and we will stick to the conservative mayor of london boris johnson. all of that is coming up on "the pulse." ♪

>> top stories this hour. u.k. investigators called and former traders from barclays and

deutsche bank for questioning surrounding a probe into the rigging of libor rates. former traders are being called for interviews under caution of a procedure that indicates the authority have a reasonable suspicion of wrongdoing. general motors plans to announce it will buy back shares and settle with activist investor harry wilson who will give up his request for a board seat after agreeing -- after reaching an agreement with the automaker. tesla is cutting jobs in china and poor sales are being blamed. "economic observer" says the electric carmaker will cut 180 of its 600-strong workforce in china because sales haven't met expectations. tesla entered the chinese market last year. how's this for a record attempt? a solar-powered plane has taken off from abu dhabi, aiming to

become the first aircraft to fly around the world without a drop of fuel. solar impulse is the name of the plane, and its pilot is andre borchard. the journey will take months and some parts of the trip crossing the pacific and atlantic oceans will mean five or six days straight of solo flight. >> we have 60 days to go until the u.k.'s general election, and there is no clear winner insight. let's bring in our guest. he says a coalition government is the most likely outcome after polling day. a coalition rather than a looser, less formal minority government. you still think there is room for a coalition. >> i think there is room for a coalition, but the most likely outcome is one of the two things . one thing that is entirely

clear, no party is going to win an overall majority. it is all going to come down to who can build some form of majority coalition in the parliament. at the moment, everybody is saying we don't want coalitions. coalitions aren't that popular after five years that conservatives have led them. in fighting and arguing. once the numbers come in after the election, those assumptions might need to be revised. >> is it fair to say right now looking at the data that the snp are the powerbrokers? >> they are very well placed to become the kingmaker in parliament, looking to make huge gains in scotland, anywhere from 40 up to 50, 55 of the scottish seats, and that is really what could put a labor minority government potentially with support from the liberal democrats over that magical 326 seats figure.

>> it is probably international -- important for an international audience to bear in mind the numbers. it is one thing to look at percentage support numbers amongst the electorate, and it is another thing to turn that into seats. it's amazing to think that if you cap and the greens could take around 20% of the vote, that might only be a handful of seats, and get the snp, with less than four been percent of the popular vote, could take him 50 seats just because it is so important to have your support concentrated in geographical areas. >> exactly. some polling indicated that ukip were polling between 10% and 15% of the vote but could come second with around 100 seats which goes to show you need that concentration in certain key areas of the country. >> how likely are we to have another election within a certain period?

i know there is this fixed term which is set into place various conditions. remind us into -- of those conditions. >> exactly. before, of course, it would be much more likely to have another election if there was a hung parliament, but with this fixed term parliaments act, there are really only two ways. it's other if the government loses a no-confidence vote, and you have another two attempts to form some kind of majority government and win confidence, but if that doesn't succeed, new elections could also, if two thirds of parliament vote to dissolve itself and call into election. this essentially means other the conservatives and labor have to agree in order to break the deadlock, we need new elections -- >> which is unlikely. >> it's unlikely. or coalition talks, some form of

deal talks fail, and successive prime ministers need to lose a confidence vote. that could happen. there is some talk that conservatives are planning for a second election as a contingency. at the moment, it's on the balance unlikely. >> lord baker was floating the idea of a grand coalition to save the union. he is a tory. , of course. david cameron, a tory prime minister, has been saying, you can't allow a party that wants to break up the u.k. into u.k. government, in reference to the snp. where does that had? is the threat of enough to bind together the tories and labour? that seems a momentous event. >> it would be a momentous event an almost unprecedented in the u.k., whereas grand coalitions happen and other european countries such as germany. currently, it's unlikely.

it's notable that labor over the weekend during the scottish conference went through great pains to not rule out a coalition with the snp or some kind of deal. they didn't explicitly say no, whereas the leader of scottish labor specifically said there would be no coalition with conservatives. that is partly because, in order to win votes in scotland, you have to say you won't work with conservatives, but i think snp and labour could find enough common ground. >> we mentioned ukip. maybe the sound is bigger than what might actually happen to ukip. the talk was as much as 20 seats, but the reality might be far fewer. what sort of power will they post if they get as few as five seats? ultimately, they want a referendum. that is their pledge. >> i think ukip's power hasn't

been about how many mps they are going to get. one is putting pressure on the conservatives about any referendum, making their back-ventures quite nervous that they are going to lose support. secondly, it could affect the vote in many marginal constituencies where conservatives are facing a challenge from labor or live jams -- lib dems. >> adrian, thank you very much for joining us. >> i just remind you u.k. secretary vince cable will be joining us later. we will also speak to the conservative mayor of london boris johnson. he will be running for a seat in parliament in the election. >> fascinating conversations to on "the pulse." before that, we will be looking

at our favorite stories from bloomberg's digital output including u.s. companies sending more than $2 trillion offshore to avoid taxes. more on that when we come back. ♪

>> 6:54 in london. what have you got? >> i've gone for a story about tax. how much are you as companies

stockpiling abroad to keep away from the taxes? the total is now more than $2 trillion. five companies account -- five companies with the most profit stored overseas account for nearly 20% of the total. just five companies make up 20% of that 2 trillion dollars. ge, microsoft, pfizer apple and ibm. their combined tax liability if they brought the money back would be more than $90 billion. that would be enough to fund for three years nasa, the commerce department, transport, labor, and energy. we are about enormous sums of money. it seems that microsoft is suggesting, we are fundamentally a global business. that is their rebuttal. google says, making reference to how much they need overseas to make various investments, and cisco going as far as to say

that the tax policy is forcing them to make investment decisions they would not otherwise be making. >> it is something i often do on monday, look at how films did in the u.s. the number one film over the weekend is a film called "chappie." it is a sony film. it's an r. it's about a robot top that learns to think and feel. the director directed district nine, which became a big hit. it only opened -- i say only because this time of year we are approaching the biggies -- next weekend, we have "cinderella." it's the sort of call before the storm. it made $13 million, which for a film produced for 49 knowing dollars -- sigourney weaver is in it, hugh jackson is in it.

"the second-best exotic marigold hotel" opened in third place. >> "countdown" continues in the next hour. we will be live in athens. stay with us. ♪ .

anna: the european central bank launching qe. european officials lifting platforms as an adequate. we are live in advance. mark: the back of a u.s. economic recovery but japan's emergence was weaker than estimated. anna: apple launches its first smart watch. but will it be a bigger hit as the iconic iphone? mark: the crude market will balance out in the second half of this year and we take a look at what it means for oil prices. ♪

mark: welcome to "countdown." i am mark barton. anna: i am anna edwards. mark: he said he is ready to walk away from a nuclear deal with iran. we will bring you the latest on the talks and the reaction from tel aviv as american-israel ties. let's start with europe. two big themes -- stimulus and greece. mario draghi with an unprecedented program of qe. today is the day that the central bank up against asset purchase program and managing 60 billion euros a month. in brussels, the eurogroup finance ministers meet terry anna: yanis varoufakis said if the creditors make requirements of that are not acceptable the greek people may be asked to

decide on how to break the deadlock. and tsipras signaled a referendum option could be on the table. let's bring in david powell he is chiefly euro area economist at bloomberg intelligence. he joins us. good to see you. let's talk about the data coming out of the eurozone. it has been getting better, hasn't it? this qe really needed? david: it has been getting better and part of the reason of confidence and etc. but inflation is at a record low. record low, so inflationary pressures have never been so weakened in the euro in terms of qe. mark: a yet they ecb meeting last week and the forecast was for inflation to get back to its target of the forecast period.

are you confident will live to the threat in the eurozone? david: they looked optimistic quite convenient over the horizon and brought us to the target of close to 2%. it is an extreme had went and elevated. essentially unemployment as bad as it was in the u.s. after lehman brothers does not stand up to the size of the fed's program which is one trillion euros short of that. it is not as great. there are doubts. anna: what are all of the applications of quantitative easing from the ecb? countries not in the euro area, do that manifest through currency and exports? david: currency markets have been the number one focus and you have seen dramatically, the

s&p toward the end of is peg and euro and peg between danish krone is in question. we saw that last a month that intervention of by the central-bank of denmark. a lot of volatility, i should say a lot of pressure and in the u.k., here, too. mark: finance ministers meeting and greece could call a referendum. euro area membership but on the outcome of talks between greece and a euro. part of the games taking place between all sides. david: another negotiating chip they do not like referendums a you know that from the past. and the threat of the meeting today. mark: david stay there. david powell.

thanks, david. let's talk about -- breaking news. a company led by martin sales crossing the bloomberg terminal. revenue beat estimates. making up for slower emerging markets a revenue rising 6.6% to 11 billion pounds compared to 11.3 billion pounds average by bloomberg. taxes gaining 1.1%. that is interesting. in october wpp they recorded that sales grew slower. and the strong pound was hurting. and said at the time that it was on track for sales growth of 3% for the year. it has said that 2015 revenue

will rise over 3%. anna: sometimes over the weekend around greece and some of which we told you about earlier and achieve has called the proposed -- and the economic chief is called the proposal in adequate. good morning. how are fellow greeks on a resolution to today's meeting? it seems like the two sides are not on the same page. >> it is true. finding solutions today has faded. asking for a financing of some sort and should be asking for the gift but -- got between the two countries and it is incomprehensible that after the last meeting it is deemed as far from complete.

and in adequate from the eurozone partners. it either means that europe has not been clear or greece has not been clear to europe of what it can actually provide. the communication needs to be [indiscernible] the clock is ticking down. we are running out of time. greece will face a liquidity crisis very soon in a matter of months. i am afraid it is less than a matter of weeks. varoufakis said patients and we will see about the rest. and i do not know the greek economy can handle a tough situation for a long time. anna: could the referendum floated by the prime minister actually be a reality? could we see some kind of referendum? vassilis karamanis: indeed prime minister tsipras said on

saturday the referendum asking if greeks want to back their dignity could be place. varoufakis said a referendum in general might be needed. well, i think after the end of the day, it will be a pro europe or not kind of referendum. and then we will see another round of outflow in greece. much faster pace than we have seen so far. a liquidity will melt even further inquiries will probably enter a more severe recession. maybe after the end of the day, bring a resolution but time is of the essence. i do not think we have that much time. anna: thank you for joining us vassilis karamanis . for more over to sheri ann, what

is driving up the numbers? sheri: that was one factor why chinese exports surged by so much. shipments to the u.s. jumped to 21% in the first month of this year and analysts say they intend to follow the u.s. as the boost of the u.s. economy of 3% what it leads to an eight -- 8%-9% bump. another fact there was the distortion caused by the chinese lunar new year which well in february. companies were trying to process orders ahead of the holiday and that affected the traded numbers. goldman sachs saying because of this, we will see march exports likely to grow by less than 10%. analysts look and agenda where he and february combined in order to smooth out the distortions.

when you combine them, exports rose by 15% which is more than double the 6% government target for this year. you are seeing the exports helping chinese traded data trade surplus reaching a record in february of $66.6 billion. anna? anna: imports are weaker than exports. how did they do this time around? shery ahn : -- shery ahn: they didn't do any better. slumping 25%. that was the sharpest drop since the global financial crisis and sharper than analysts had estimated of a decline of 10%. it is not only lower commodity prices but analysts said it reflects a weak domestic demand. they say it is relieved that

exports have surged so much because he you are not seeing that domestic investment momentum. analysts saying they may be seeking to maximize exports to give them the weak domestic demand we are seeing. back to you, anna. anna: shery ahn thank you. mark: weaker than first estimated. the economy grew less than the preliminary reading of 2.2%. we get the details on the new apple watch. chief executive tim cook is to convince us we need this new product. here to help us through, cutting through the wall of speculation caroline hyde. what is the biggie? carolina bike we have -- carolina bank we have the details. we were told that a new product

would be unveiled and we have spring forward. also one going on in berlin. finally we get to know the nitty-gritty. we know there will be three types of watch. a sport and high-end and gold and rose gold. we know there are two different sizes. what we do not know are the various price points and what is the timing it will go on sale. we are going berserk on the price point. what does it go up to? could it cost and outrageous $20,000? some are expected that for the high end gold. they are promising solid gold. polished sapphire crystals and could see a very luxurious device. anna: it takes apple into a

different market? bordering on luxury. where else are we going to be looking for details? what are they going to tell us to convince us we need the internet on our wrist? caroline: we need to know the battery life will be significant. anna: som believes it to last the entire day. what about the apps? messenger devices calendar. what about health? what about cars? caroline: tim cook said you should be able to unlock your car with its just -- with this device. bmw is working with apple on this. the apps will be crucial to how well it sells. and where they sell it. we have seen the product already on the china. officially, they said it will only be in the united a spree of tim cook has been traveling to berlin.

-- it won't be sold in the united states. -- it will be sold in the united states. clearly, it will be sold worldwide. going back to the tablet, it was a relatively new genre of products. yes, a few others had been in the markets. our got in on the tablet making the ipad -- apple got in on the tablet making the ipad. last year, we saw less than 5 million of these iwatches sold it with expect that to go up to 22 million. mark: a fraction of the amount of smartphone sold. caroline: we see apple ramping up in owning half of the market. remember, iteration after iteration this product will improve a be more useful. i think tim cook will go the stage and go into details on why

you need an iwatch. anna: caroline hyde, the latest on apple. opec secretary-general said the crude oil will balance out for the second half of busy year after a glut of 2 billion barrels of oil a day have sent the price plunging. he maintains opec will not cut production because of the rise of shell output. an report by malaysian a safety investigations team gave if answers to questions surrounding flight m h 370 which went missing one year ago yesterday. they found one unusual data. it is unclear whether that hampered search efforts. families held vigils and protest. a russian court indicted five men in connection of the murder of opposition leader boris ne

mtsov. one admitted a role. it is one week after nemtsov's murder prompted protests. denied a role in allegations of corruption. they allegedly took kickbacks. the top court does not have authority to probe brazilian president who said brazil is learning from the scandal. president: with some pain brazil has learned to practice social justice and apply the hand -- that is what has been happening in investigations against petro graph. anna: and juncker said -- and should have their own army.

he said of military force would give the eu more credibility. mark: join the conversation on twitter. tell us what you think of the show. england has to win to keep their chance of progressing to the quarterfinals bring it to matter to me even if it does it matter to any of you. @mark bartontv. anna: if it matters to you, it matters deeply to me. we have the interviews. u.k. business secretary vince cable will be joining us this morning that will be later today. we will be speaking to the conservative mayor of london, boris johnson. he will be running for a seat in parliament. all of that to come later. we will take a short break on "countdown." ♪

mark: today is the huge bond buying plane. the ecb convince qe will boost the eurozone economy substantially. joining us as a senior economist . good morning. thank you for joining us. was draghi fortuitous when the economy seem to be turning? guest: it will be much more

effective if the economy is turning around and asked to the tailwind we have any way also in terms of political resistance, very because as of january, we had a week data we were talking about and the russian risk and germany it seemed as since the 22nd of january we have had all types of hostage of surprises from germany. if you remember, the retail sales in that context would've read much more different to announce a large-scale program. -- would have been much more different to announce a large-scale program. economically, clearly the right thing to do. anna: just how strong is the eurozone economy? i am looking at the german factory orders and they are weaker than estimated. you see a very clear, positive picture? christian schulz: these numbers

are so strong, you take retail sales for example, the monthly retail sales were 3.4% above the average. that was suggests consumption was around 2% quarter on quarter. we are one part 3% up. -- we are 1.3%. 1.3% quarter over quarter, we have doubled our forecast from 0.3 after 0.7. germany and the moment is growing 23% annualized in the first quarter. that is pretty strong. mark: if inflation picks up, is it -- or not? christian schulz: as a whole, we have a large amount of slack. unemployment is still high.

unemployment will probably fall back around 2020. that is a long way away to get to the level where the u.k. economy and the moment which is unemployment rates closer to precrisis. for the ecb, we need to entertain potentially in some point in the future non-rising rates and we have to watch. anna: can i get your thoughts on greece? to quote your colleague rarely has a new government donna so much a dad mitch so quickly that are done so much damage so quickly -- pretty squad -- done so much of damages so quickly -- saving. christian schulz: the uncertainty came in and that numbers a we have had so far suddenly deteriorated and confidence is plunging, consumer confidence is increasing in greece for the first time in a long time. consumers expect these nice

presence from the government but somebody has to pay for them. and it seems to be business and businesses are running scared. it is a pretty miserable record for a government that has only been in place for couple of months. mark: and popularity for the party is declining from 80% to 50%. christian schulz: read the letter a letter they sent us on friday to the europe. to read what they are proposing, the ideas. mark: called amateurish, is that fair? christian schulz: reading it, it seems to be in the case. in the letter, you wouldn't expect these types of errors. a letter we have been looking at and everybody has been commenting on. if you are geek and a government that represents you in negotiations -- in -- if you are

greek and a government there represents you in negotiations. anna: mario draghi has gone out to's l out the support the ecb is give -- has gone to great lengths to spell out the support the ecb is giving to greece. a great reliance, but what should we watch out for? christian schulz the ecb's rules-based. they cannot bend the rules. they have been to the rules in the past but did they have to have political cover from the eurozone and concerned countries. back in 2012 they extended repayments from the greek government i'm raising the limit -- by raising the limit. that was a repayment from that the -- greek government to is self to the ecb. it was a good-faith negotiating deal. that is not a worm we are right

now. the greeks want to pay teachers and pensioners and not to the ecb. -- that is not where we are right now. mark: they are going to run out of money in a week or two. christian schulz: essay are going to run out of the money but the gap can only be plugged by the ecb. the imf is not going to come forward. it has to be the eurozone. it means a weaker negotiating position for the greeks. anna: thank you very much. christian schulz senior economist. common up -- the deadline looms. the latest on the iran nuclear talks and the likelihood an agreement can be reached. we go to tel aviv to get reaction. all of that coming up on "countdown." stay with us. we will take a short break.

we will bring you coverage of that story when we come back. ♪

♪ mark: you are watching countdown. time for a look at your foreign exchange. the dollar against leading global something quite spectacular happened on friday after the release of the u.s. jobs report. the index rose by 1.1% its biggest gain and since november 2011. the index as a whole hit a record high while a trade after the jobs report at 23% of a rate hike in june versus 17% at the

end of february. the bloomberg dollar index is up for a record going back to when it began in 2005. some investors were a bit cautious, reticent of the string of the dollar in february. february was the week of the month for the dollar spot index going back to last in june. hedge funds and other large speculators reduced positions of benefiting from dollar gains for a fourth consecutive week. those stuck with a dollar game through the worst month since june have been rewarded. following from that stronger u.s. jobs report. when you track it against all 31 all the major peers, only 4 are rising against the dollar. the swiss franc, the russian ruble, the india rupiah, and the

taiwanese dollar. slightly off the record high today said on friday. as you can see, after 12 months the dollar only heading in one direction. anna: top stories this hour. 60 days to the u.k. general election, ed miliband has says supporting the scottish national party threatens handing over power. he said it is set to be the closest for a generation. ed miliband: every vote cast for another party including the s&p mays our prospect of a tory government more likely. it is just a matter of arithmetic. every less labor mp makes it likely the tories will be the largest party. anna: the green party leader calls for "a peaceful, political revolution," she called for an end of what she calls they'll

field austerity desk for the field austerity and said the poorest has been blocked -- for the failed austerity and set the poorest have been a blank. calling for an additional debt and sat in the poorest have been -- and she has said the poorest have been blamed. let's move on. the first and were -- the first anniversary of malaysian flight 370 is a reminder that last year was a challenging year. when a goes to the rate of just accidents, 2014 has the lowest in history and that is according to a report published. joining us is the organization's ceo, tony. thank you for joining us.

in interesting picture painted the insurance industry no doubt deals and lost. everybody thinks of the number of lives lost. 2014, not such a strong sorry -- story in that sense. tony: the number of fatalities went up as slightly over the ivy year average. let's put it in context. the industry is a safe and these terrible tragedies occur so infrequently one year or not the other a makes a huge number to the number of fatalities. let's remember, it was a safe year and improving safety. only one flight in 4.4 million had a serious accident. that is a lot better than the five-year average of 1.7 million.

we have to keep it in context and recognizing that any fatality is one too many. anna: one flight not included in your record of air accidents ismh17 and that wish -- is -- i s mh17, that was shot down. has enough of been done since then to make sure such a disaster can never happen again? tony tyler: we are on track to make sure their flights become safer. the international organization, itaa, is going to set up a system to disseminate accurate information to airlines. and make sure it is unequivocal information so they can know where they can fly's daily. the other thing we have been calling for is weapons that can bring to down aircraft pretty

you have a regulation on about chemical weapons and nuclear weapons, it is important of landmines and so on. it is important, we believe, regulations brought into this area as well. anna: mh 370 disappeared a year ago today and people still do not know where it went. it's a enough being done on their front to locate it -- if enough being done on that front to locate it? tony tyler: i think the government is doing a fine job in locating it and it is important they do the searching through to a successful conclusion. when we do find the aircraft, we will be to solve the mystery. again, the industry guided by our overall regulator are moving towards a more organized way of tracking aircraft where war

would be looking at a implementation that will lead to aircraft every 15 minutes. and that is something the industry except as a positive way forward. anna: tony, you have years of experience and do you think mh 370 will ever be found? tony tyler: it has to be found. we have to find the aircraft free it continues to be a serious challenge. -- aircraft. it continues to be a serious child. anna: one of the initiatives is using data to improve safety and you have a data management system that you say is aimed at doing it. what is the potential of mining that data to find out what to make flight safer than others? tony tyler: it is very important. the way their record -- the industry has built its record is

looking at accidents. once the wrinkles are determined, fix the problems. it is such a safe industry. these terrible accidents are so rare. we need to learn what happens in safe operations and where nothing untoward has happened. and we learn from the experience of the flight. that is why we are calling all of the information in. and make sure what diagnostic tools and stop them before they happen, prevention has to be better than cure. anna: tony, thank you for joining us. tony tyler. mark: to us what it -- tell us what is grabbing your attention today. you can join us on twitter. anna: almost. mark: keeping an eye on the

england again. anna: you are preoccupied. mark: it is bart chart time. stay with us. ♪

mark: time for bart charts. is euro-dollar parity imminent? at the start of 2015, 93

analysts we surveyed forecast the euro would finish the year at 1.18. that forecast has been cut to 1.10. on friday, the euro closed below 1.10 -- below 1.10 four the first time since 2003 after the u.s. a jobs report signaled the fed might hike rates. it has dropped 10% or more than $.10. it only has to fall another eight cents to reach parity. the drop since the peak last year you see that green circle at the top left of your screen? that was the peak 1.39.

that was a 2.5 year high of the euro of this the dollar. since then, the euro has lost a quarter of its value. it is on record for its9th -- it is a record for its 9th monthly drop. it is possible the euro can drop to parity after draghi called the bond buying program, which starts today, the finals date -- a set of measures. who a person and rbs said we do not have corporate investment or government investment and we are relying on our feds to do our job. chris is bearish and said euro-dollar should break lower as we should expect. you was short-term rates start to move higher, over cutting parity should be reached by the end of the year.

the last time the euro traded below parity was in december 2002 and a sale to a record 83 u.s. cents. in present, there is now one endless with a formal forecast this quarter. rbs has a 1.06 forecast. most bearishness 1.03. some are forecasting parity as is td securities. the fourth quarter is when it gets interesting. some call for parity including barclays and morgan stanley goldman sachs, and citigroup. keep an eye on those 93 analysts to see if they continue to slash their year end forecast.

is it euro parity with the dollar imminent? anna: negotiations continue between iran over the nuclear power. the latest in a dispute including animated between secretary of state john kerry and french foreign minister. the leaders met this weekend to review the status of the talks ahead of the deal's deadline set for the end of the month. joining us is our analyst and elliott gotkine. let's start with you. what has been the reaction in iran to carry out the latest? reported bank -- reporter: there is not be anything official to what kerry has said. they have repeated the previous on the talks and they tend to sound a more positive note is a lot of the rhetoric coming from

congress in netanyahu's speech amplifies the dangers of some americans feel about the deal. i think iranian officials are stressing these talks are important and have to continue. what do the iranian side is extremely important. mark: the rhetoric from netanyahu was firm when he spoke to congress. golnar motevalli: the rhetoric in iran, there are -- there are harder lines. there are opponents of president rouhani in the same sense there are opponents in america, who oppose the policy of president obama. it is interesting, on both sides they are very loud and they make their voices strongly heard. but whether they reflect how iranians generally fill across

the board is debatable. from the iranian side invariably very much the talks. they want essentially de-sanctions and normalization of the relationship. anna: let's bring elliott dokken. last week, benjamin netanyahu urged u.s. to be tougher on iran in took it to american tv. elliott: that is right. the controversial speech last week, yesterday he spoke with cbs, the u.s. television network and effectively repeated the concerns of which of themselves were not necessarily anything new. and also noted where he and president barack obama agreed on iran and disagree. now to stop iran from getting a hold of nuclear weapons but disagree on how to go about it.

benjamin netanyahu: i do not trust inspections with totalitarian regimes. it didn't work with north korea and they violated and played a good game of hide and seek. it didn't work with iran. elliott gotkine: she was three things to be included. worst of all, a longer -- first of all, a longer time for iran is able to get a hold of a nuclear bomb. and wants to reduce the amount of infrastructure that iran is allowed to have. finally, it could be a sticking point it wants the lifting of sanctions against iran to be conditional on tape run -- tehran stopping the destruction of israel. one more point, in a letter written from republicans in the

congress to iran's leaders warning them even if they reach an agreement with president obama, once he leaves office, it could be a change. it could be changed at the stroke of a pen. anna: anna -- netanyahu's frederick, how much is related to elections later this month? elliott gotkine: the presumption of these talks and the so-called p5+1 resumed on tuesday -- sunday and two days later, netanyahu is stronger on security measures whether in regard to iran are palestinians, no surprise netanyahu is mentioning that. at concern faced by many as israelis, a number of israelis evidenced by anti-netanyahu

protests over what a change. they do not want to see a third term of netanyahu. they are more concerned about the skyhigh cost of living and house prices and do not want to see netanyahu remaining in office after next tuesday's election. anna: elliott gotkine and golnar motevalli here in london. thank you to you both. we will be back in a couple of minutes. ♪

mark: living in the heart of the action comes at a cost. prices going through the roof. in many places the added pollution. however, john dawson checking out a healthy eco solution. john dawson: i am in downtown hong kong with streets and they go back to the 1850's. a german eco developer has developed apartments for the healthiest of living. it was rewarded in the category was being the most green and most sustainable. >> what goes into the flat creates a healthy or can create a healthy living environment. john dawson: a kitchen island? >> it is 50% recycled materials.

and what a lot of people do not know is it can -- the number one cause of -- lung cancer. we went for green materials even to the level of adhesives. we install professional water purification on top of that. it is fully automated. it has led lights, energy-saving lights. and light can help you not only fighter jet lag but make you much more alert. it is more effective than a cup of coffee in the morning. john dawson: what is your favorite? henning voss: if you want me to pick one gadget that has transformed my life is my -- which really helped me to train and work. we like to save time and on money and a great way to combine

2 things. it helps. sitting is at the new smoking basically. john dawson: it is not cheap is at the snack break it comes as a cost. the sourcing materials and expenses. how expensive is it? henning voss: if you focus on the basics, that is 10%-15% more expensive. costs would tumble if more jumped on the bandwagon. john dawson: he is working his legs for the next big marathon maximizing his time and so we'll call it german human engineering. john dawson. anna: you think if i have a word with engineering, they will get us one of those treadmills? mark: i like it.

anna: "on the move" is next. the launch of qe. we will see how the equity markets react. we will leave you in the hands of "on the move." ♪

jonathan: good morning and welcome to "on the move." i'm jonathan ferro. minutes away from the start of european trading this monday morning. let's get to your morning brief. qe kicks off. the european central bank begins buying bonds at a rate of 60 billion euros a month. the purchases will continue until at least september 2016. referendum risk. eurozone finance ministers meet in brussels. greek ministers float the prospect of a referendum if there reforms are rejected. japan lifts out of recession. readings show gdp expanding at

1.5% in the fourth quarter, much less than the 2.2% estimated as companies in japan unexpectedly cut investment. and a bittersweet anniversary. six years ago today marks the start of the u.s. equity bull market as u.s. stocks comes off losses. they are three of the things i'm watching this monday morning. futures pointing a little bit lower. dax futures off by 46 points. are we set for a lower open? let's get your market open with caroline hyde. caroline: just 20 seconds in, let's see how we are opening up. v-day for the ecb, bond buying begins. europe and the u.s. so stark and their contrast to what is going on. we opened down 0.3% of the foot to 100. we start that bond buying, the ecb sounding very