stock stimulus. asia pushes towards his best performance in three years. anna: proposals to launch the grease finances failed to satisfy european senators. mark: deadline dadate for iran talks. john warns of unresolved issues ahead of the final day of talks on iran's nuclear programs.

welcome to "countdown." anna: coming up cracking down on tax evasion. we are lies in guernsey for a look at one of the key issues ahead. >> i will look to make sure we have a reduction in tax evasion and avoided, and to the extent people want to work with us we will work in partnership to reduce evasion as people seek to stand in our way. anna: we have to story covered from all angles and we will be on the ground, coming up. manus: strongest quarterly performance since 2009, driven

by stimulus measures. overnight in china, equities hit a seven-year high. let's get straight to manus. manus: welcome back. up 16.73% so far. last week was the worst week in 2015. have a look at the industry groups that really led. auto up 33%. chemicals up 23%. let's have a look at the industry groups. financial services rose by a further 20%. goldman sachs says you still want to be a long of these equity markets. so much for the asian performance of 7% -- a paltry performance relative to this 17%. that is really being driven by the greek -- one thing that caught my eye -- down 13.8% by

pulling in money. let's have a look at the greek chart. this has drawn money in every single day this year. more of that when we get to our digital pick. when it comes to the trend -- when we talk about europe, it is a big place. so i thought what we would do is have a little bit of a look at what the dominant themes are. this is trending higher through the quarter. copenhagen, portugal -- these are the stalwarts of the european market rally. copenhagen up by 30%. portugal up 25%. the question is can that sustain? will that sustain? the mario draghi be able to execute his 60 billion euros worth of buying bonds? let's have a look at the oil

market because we are down 1.36% overnight. west texas down 12.5% on the quarter. the longest running loss since 2003. stockpiles are at a record high in the united states. no acid check would be complete without referring to the new benchmark. have a look. the biggest quarterly loss since 2009. prices are hitting levels you haven't seen since 2000 or-2005. -- 2004-2005. iron ore is down. peak steel consumption is coming in china. have a look at the dollar. if you want a currency in your pocket that gives you a bang for your buck, this is it.

the dollar is up nearly 9%, the best quarterly performance since 2008. when it comes to the underperformer, have a look at the euro. the euro is the worst performing currency out of the basket. hard to trump. anna: chinese stocks are rallying to the highest point since 2011. let's get to even on -- to yvonne. yvonne: good morning. talking about that rise for a fourth day -- because of what you mentioned, those new measures, they want to put this far back into the housing market in china the situation that has

gone from bad to worse. new home prices are sliding. yesterday they announced they would be cutting that down payment requirement for second home. also they are exempting homeowners from the sales tax. we saw how much these property stocks surged. the highest level in seven years, china stocks trading, rose to levels they haven't seen since 2011. analysts say this goes to show that the government has a very strong intention here to prevent the property market from collapsing as well as preventing it from any kind of major default. we asked -- the governor was talking about the economy, saying the growth has tumbled too far and they need to remain vigilant to make sure it does not enter into a deflation situation.

caroline: tell us about the international investors. they are coming out of the market after this. yvonne: we are seeing profit from the foreign investors. they may be losing some space in this world beating rally have seen in the china markets already. some analysts say they have hit the bubble stage already. on the other hand we are seeing mainland investors opening accounts at the fastest pace on record. while locals are focused on the revival, international investors are concerned that it hasn't done enough to revive growth. we will be getting those china official state manufacturing data coming in tomorrow morning. we are expecting another contraction here 49.7. this is yet another case for

monetary easing. caroline: thank you. mark: the dutch company is to sell 80.1% of its business. that sees the cash proceeds before tax at 2.8 billion. the transaction will be completed in the third quarter of 2015. they had already told us a few days ago that they plan to carry out an ipo next year to focus on a 100 billion euro consumer health care market. what it is betting on right now is that patients will increasingly monitor their health on smart phones and other devices and it is creating

something called health tech bringing together standards like toothbrushes and discretion machines -- and espresso machines. that will so 80.1% of its components business, valuing the unit at $3.3 billion. manus: let's turn our attention to one of our top stories. greece faces a payment. the prime minister told his parliament last night that he is trying to stop the bleeding in the country. he was trying to -- april could be a crueler month. let's get to hans nichols who has been following the developments. the official list -- when mice the finance minister need to approve it?

it doesn't look as if this document has been warmly received. hans: this 15 page document is a draft. we don't know if the official list has been submitted. the deadline was last night. if you are going to release any of that 7.2 billion euros, you are going to have to have finance ministers meet -- that is unlikely to happen this week. but that cuts it awfully close to. -- close. 3.7 billion in new tax collection -- the biggest chunk is 875 million from offshore accounts. that is essentially a tax on wealthy greeks that half money stashed away abroad. there is another 350 million in streamlining tax collection another 350 million in selling broadcast rights. all this isn't impressing brussels. brussels wants to see what they are doing to reform labor

markets. there is what he said last night in athens. he said "it is true we are seeking an honest compromise with our lenders, but don't expect an unconditional agreement from us." one thing about this debate is that it was supposed to last 70 minutes and went on for more than four hours. he also hinted that it will likely have a third bailout he will discuss with creditors in june. he said he had an agreement that they would talk about an additional bailout in june. that will be very difficult for angela merkel to get through parliament in germany, but in finland she did indicate that she was willing to buck popular opinion. "wh i am doingat politically doesn't rely on the polls but rather will greece be able to fill the expectations that we have." she said that the greek math

needed to add up so it is not a blank check, but she is open to bucking popular opinion, which is opposed to a third bailout. the opposition was asked for their backing, and the man that was thrown out of parliament indicated a willingness to work with cerise the. that could be an important development of greece's unified. manus: where does the ecb fit into this? they are the lifeline in terms of stopping the banks, but not being allowed to fund the government. that message has been reiterated time and again. the ela isn't it?

+++ anna: the departure of the head of its markets unit.

that is according to people familiar with the matter. hsbc has been slow to -- a report has found. the report says it is falling short of its agreement with the u.s.. ahead head of scotland security unit is leaving the country. you can find much more on all these stories at bloomberg.com. mark: join us all in the twitter sphere. --manus: join us all on the

twitter sphere. there is another barton in the family. congratulations. anna: coming up greek stocks heading for a fourth quarter of losses. after the break, we will ask our guest why investors can't keep their hands off these volatili ties. ♪

mark: the greek prime minister is looking for a consensus in parliament after his proposals for a bailout failed to satisfy european creditors. i have been away for a week -- what has changed? jen: i think the key thing to understand is that it is a political discussion, which means it takes a lot of time to get these things through. it is a bit frustrating because we all get excited and we hear monday is the deadline of monday comes and goes and we aren't any closer. the point is -- the proposals haven't been made public. what we are hearing is that there is not enough detail, not

enough tangible, hard, defined timelines. this is what they are trying to iron out. what i think we need to focus on in terms of the markets is what happens next. we think the most likely scenario is that some warm of political compromise is ironed out, but it is not going to be a sustainable solution that will take us much further into the end of june. we have already had those hands all the way back from february that greece is warming up to us for another bailout package. come the end of june, we will have more discussion. i have a feeling we will be sitting here again, talking about this topic quite frequently. but this is probably the best scenario we can hope for politically. if greece were actually to step away from the euro area i think

the economic consequences would be dire. the irony is in that situation the rest of europe would still have to help greece because greece needs funding from somewhere. i don't think from a political point of view it is acceptable that greece looks around elsewhere in the world. anna: you have said in recent notes that they could miss their next payment. how much of a concern is it that they start being delayed in their payments if they can't get a hold of their transfer? >> what we are seeing -- and this is one of the things the prime minister has been complaining about -- is that greece is being kept on an incredibly tight leash. we have seen these increases in the ela facility. there are no funds being made available upfront. and i think this tight leash is clearly intended to keep greece under pressure and to keep

things moving forward in the negotiation. if greece were to have a delayed payment on the imf, i don't think that in itself would be a disaster, but it is clear that the imf being senior to everyone else, once they are delayed to the imf then you are in the countdown to the next payment, which they would not be able to make -- and so forth. manus: let's set greece aside for a moment. hopefully it is something that will get resolved. if we look at the broader context of europe the mongering seems to have tapered out. consumer prices in germany are up. spain, things weren't as bad on the inflation outlook. you see and you look of very yeah -- you see a very holistic picture. >> of what i think we are seeing in europe today -- and this is something we have been hearing from the ecb -- a cyclical

recovery, below oil price, the weaker euro, improving credit channels, these factors that have been helping the european central lift higher. the danger that i see is that if we don't continue with the reform process, is that, a year or two this recovery could run out of momentum. when you look at the details of the recovery, they have -- the sector has been quite important. when you look at the other side of the atlantic, it is back at precrisis levels. now we get this? question ark -- we expected to see through, but there is a big debate going on. the stronger u.s. dollar the oil price with the downside there has been the weather, the

strike. but of course, the question is do we get that relay? there are a couple of tailwinds coming in. we also have to drag from ecb qb on u.s. treasuries. we believe it's being dragged down by 80 basis points which helps u.s. financing conditions. we can say that debate panning out. imagine europe in a year or two. if we don't have that really in place i am afraid that the future is out. our expectation is june. mark: what the fed said a week hasn't changed? >> when we listen to the fed they are giving us a clear message which says they are data dependent. coming into the spring, when you look at the economic surprise index there has been a bit of a

seasonal pattern to it. we have had a lot of disappointment coming into march but last year we saw the disappointment turned with the better weather. ♪

manus: you're watching "countdown," time for check in on the foreign exchange markets. earlier, the dollar was one of the lead currencies in the quarter. 98.21 is where we are on the dollar. this is coming through more on the dollar ---yen. it has been difficult. the dollar is up 16% against the yen. that is one of the best

performances in a clutch of currencies. the resistance level -- we are pretty much at it. 120.17 is the resistance level. one other currency that caught my eye this morning is this. sterling. currency headwinds are up and coming for this currency. 147.77 was where we are at dollar sterling. we have got headwinds for morgan stanley. there is no overall winner in the u.k. election. it is heading for its -- the pound is heading for its worst month. down 4.87%. this is the worst month for sterling in almost two years. dollar sterling is under substantial pressure. that is a dollar strength story. volatility is at the highest level since 2011 -- that is the

critical point during this conversation. we haven't seen volatility in sterling like this since 2011 -- this is the worst performing currency that we measure here on bloomberg across the day, the week, the month. the ozzyaussie dollar isn't one we talk about what it is critically important. iron ore is that a 10 year low. i told you the biggest quarterly loss since 2009 of the dollar kiwi. back to you. mark: top stories this hour -- today marks the hour of the countries deadline of the asian infrastructure investment bank. the u.s. firm is rejecting membership to the china led bank, saying it may lack standards of institution.

taiwan confirmed it will seek to join the bank, along with australia, while japan has expressed revelation. and of the gas to -- one of the world's biggest copper producers. they held early-stage talks and agreements. both companies deny they are in negotiation. saudi arabia and the gulf coalition's say they completed a blockade of the yemen port and are ready to step up their supply against shiite rebels. it is the last stronghold of the yemeni president. it has ties to the rebels. today we get the latest results from kingfisher. the numbers will be presented by

the new chief executive, who took over in december. she has got a lot on her plate, not only stagnating sales but a multimillion euro deal. caroline, you have got more on what we can expect from the diy retailer. caroline: yesterday, the stock moved up a bit higher on the back of its unraveling of a deal, at 275 million euro deal. also by a rival in france, which is the number three player in home improvement. they agreed last year and the deal was going through, cautions came in. how are they going to get regulatory approval? he started to disagree about how they would get the signoff. a company that was to be bought felt it would cause a lot of closures and this was the key

concern, that many stores would close and it would "jeopardize their interest." meanwhile, there are challenges that you just outlined facing kingfisher -- a slow housing market. 40% of sales come from france. if you have us -- if people aren't improving houses -- hitting margins in the u.k. that they could chain they own in the u.k., competition really hitting them there, it could be detrimental to their margins. they also have the euro weakening. that will affect the french sales. the other key areas they play, french in particular, when you are importing pounds, that is

not looking so pretty. the french housing market is a mixed bag and overall you could see concerns for margins. let's have a look at what the strategy could be. this is the first time we are hearing -- we could see store closures.. that is what many analysts are expecting. the analysts at bernstein say that 17% of the b and q could go. you have to pay to end your releases so that could be a store closure plan. this would help with the margins going forward -- they could cut costs. but it takes time to implement and they want to see an acceleration. we could see that shift with 313 million pounds of benefit. meanwhile, you have ongoing foreign-currency headwind. the euro is continuing to

weekend, leaving that sales don't look quite so sweet for kingfisher. nevertheless, many of these company analyst are saying yes there are pressures, but we could see some big steps being taken. she could really take some daring initiatives. she joined kingfisher 11 years ago. she became chief executive in december. we are going to start to see the metal coming from her -- the meddle coming from her today. mark: thanks. a bit of breaking news. net-a-porter -- there were talks

back in 2013 the luxury distribution company soared in 2013. they will do a deal where it will put them together with yoox. they will seek to raise around 200 million euros in capital. voting rights will be limited to 25% and they will receive 50% of the share capital. it is a one-time accounting game. we will keep an eye on that. a lot of flurry in the market. let's return to a very big issue -- the u.k. election campaign that kicked off yesterday. that miliband -- ed miliband found to crack down on taxes.

he about to make a tax blacklist unless they improved transparency. >> they are not part of the u.k. and they are not part of the eu. the channel islands are actually owned by the british crown, just off the coast of france and a short flight from london they remain islands. that people here to carry british passports and enjoy the protection of the u.k. when it comes to defense, but they are governed by different systems that are created to be extremely favorable to offshore finances. and accounts to close to 40% of gdp, making it the largest contributor to the economy.

anna: you can join the conversation on twitter and let us know what you think. we want to hear whether tax evasion and avoidance will be affecting companies. also, itjay-z challenging spotify. mark: i refuse to talk about jay-z. anna: they will be launching a new streaming service. calvin harris would have been one hell of a festival. manus: coming up -- where are we going to go? the clock is ticking for karen. -- for iran.

it is coming up after the break. ♪

mark: top stories at this hour -- campaigning for the u.k. general election kicked off yesterday. the independent party is

expected to accuse the government of deceiving the public over the promise of reducing immigration. that will be the subject of a billboard campaign the party will launch and over today. the party leader says that you case message is in line with the majority of the public. >> we are the ones talking about our relationship. where the parties saying -- i think we are more in tune with the british public. mark: the liberal democrats say they will expand in england over the next parliament, launching what they call an manifesto. nick clegg has insisted that his party already have a big influence government policy. >> i think what the vast majority of people in this country want is that we keep

this country and our government anchored. we have balanced the books and have provided the right resources striking the right balance between a stronger economy. that is the message of taking the country on behalf of the liberal democrats. mark: francois hollande will hold a joint cabinet meeting in berlin today. the negotiations are likely to be high on the agenda and they will hold a joint press conference this afternoon. the deadline for nuclear talks with iran is upon us. they have until tonight to agree to a framework for a long-term accord one that could curtail their nuclear program in exchange for lifting sanctions. elliott gotkine reports. elliott: after a decade of sanctions, time is running out

for iran and world powers to reach a deal. the security council in germany want to ensure that iran is unable to build a nuclear bomb. they want limits on to rant enrichment capacity -- on tehran's enrichment capacity. for iran has always said. it has no ambition to build a bomb. the supreme leader says they are unnecessary and harmful. but a watchdog found them hiding in enrichment facility out wide a mountain. that brings us to sanctions, imposed after the 1979 -- and they have cost the economy $120 billion in lost revenue. given if they reach an agreement they will have just three months to conclude a definitive deal. republicans in congress are threatening to blow up with a

fresh round of sanctions if they don't like what they see. anna: meanwhile, oil is headed for a third quarterly loss when discussions continue. let's bring in our chief economist. the reason is because once upon a time iran was a pretty big provider of oil. but if they manage to get and accord how much of an impact would that have? >> you run when not flood the market at this stage. the last time you run exported above 4 million barrels a day -- today, there are 2.7. bringing it up, that could happen over the course of a couple months. but ramping up back to 4 million which is the amount

they were producing prior to the sanctions is going to take some serious investment. in particular technology. it is not so much just about financial investment. it is more about the underinvestment. mark: how have sanctions infected foreign investment in iran? >> quite a lot. they have brought them to a halt essentially. today, and there is another current that iran has to swim against which is that oil prices are low. anna: double what the prices -- >> absolutely. ioc's are looking carefully at what new investments to make. it is not going to be a stampede of investment to help iran bring up its capacity.

nor does iran have an interest in flooding the market at this stage. if oil prices decline it doesn't help them. but i think there is a lot of hype around it ran returning to the market and i think that needs to be considered a bit more carefully. manus: if it is not, as you say, bearish for the market -- what about iran's potential behavior? would opec be able to corral them in terms of behavior? >> iran lost a lot of its market share to saudi arabia. and saudi arabia has demonstrated pretty clearly that it is serious about detecting its market share. iran has friends in asia as well, just like saudi arabia does. the chinese, the russians. i think there is going to be a

competition for market share, but it is not clear to me that iran can unwind what saudi arabia has gained very rapidly. anna: you were saying how needs technology investment -- it needs expertise. which oil companies, if any would be interested in iran? >> i wouldn't want to name oil companies at this stage, but all of the majors are looking at iran. iran has 10% of global reserves and oil, 17% in gas. the opportunity is vast, but it is not something that can be leveraged. europe is looking to diversify away from russia in particular in gas. iran is a fantastic opportunity for people waiting to go in -- it is just important not to overestimate the speed with

which it will happen. mark: how are you feeling about the price of oil? have we found a bottom? we have been as low as $43. are we bouncing along the bottom or is there another leg lower? >> it depends on what happens next. we might have found a bottom but there are two variables that can come into play. one is the potential deal -- i attribute a low probability of something emerging today -- but i think people are going to work seriously toward it. the other is the situation in libya. an additional 100 million barrels per day. say libya stabilizes and resumes its capacity backup to its peak. those could be two additional

variables that could affect prices further. but the way things are today, it is not clear what would, nor is it necessarily clear that chinese businesses going to accelerate and help support this bottom. manus: what about yemen? they have agreed that they could have the ability to invade on the ground. what are people saying to you? florence: the action that has been taken by saudi arabia -- i personally agree with. yemen is a neighbor that is very, very dangerous to have fall apart at the seams like it looks like it was doing. the question now, really, is how to bring the parties of the table for a level playing field discussion. because we all know empowering

the people from the area doesn't make them friends, in the long-term challenges is how to create friends across the arabian peninsula. anna: wonderful having you when. -- you in. mark: coming up, we will look at our favorite stories. has rapper jay-z just launched a spotify killer? ♪

mark: time for a look at the

world of bloomberg internet. carolinas here with her boyfriend. caroline: i wish. [laughter] jay-z -- i would like him to be my best mate. he announced he is launching a music streaming, versus spotify, why didn't they saying the most amazing lineup? calvin harris madonna, nicki minaj beyonce. ball there in silence. -- all there in silence. meanwhile it was alicia keys he gave the standup proclamation as to why they were doing it. is going to be $20 per month streaming. mark: what would they have song

if you could have had them sing together? caroline: big pimpin'? [laughter] mark: "countdown" continues next. ♪

mark: european equities head for their strongest quarter since 2009. caroline: proposals to boost greek finances, the prime minister seeks to rally a consensus and parliament. manus: deadline day for iran talks. john kerry warns of issues in front of talks on iran's nuclear program.

mark: "countdown welcome to caroline: we are getting some breaking news. a flurry of u.k. numbers today. kingfisher is the u.k.'s largest retailer. we are expecting sales to drop by about 1%. we are expecting profit before tax to be down $.11. we have gotten something from thomas kerr. mark: we are expecting numbers from the operator any second. the chinese company will buy a stake. this is the big news. you are getting some details? caroline: 6.85 pence is the

final. slightly less than expected. sales are up 2.9%. adjusted pretax profit, 6.7 5 million pounds, exactly in line with analyst estimates. she is outlining plans to organize kingfisher very differently. we have seen a reported basis that sales have come in line with analyst estimates. down 1.4% on the total. if you are taking constant currencies a weakness in the euro will drag it down when you report it in pounds. you are s+++

the average. sales are down 1%. france is clearly the issue. the different tact it will be taking. they want to create a single unified company. this is all about moving their product from single areas. we will see if there are any store closures. mark: kingfisher is up the only company to have a new ceo. she resigned, surprisingly back in november. she is pushing through a second round of restructure. green push through a second round. this was following the need for

emergency funding. thomas cook was just releasing a trading statement. she said it was winter 2014-2015 season is almost sold. the 2015 season is almost 50% sold. trading is in line with expectations. the u.k. business continues to train ahead of last year. conditions continue to remain tough in other markets. it does expect growth in 2015. the big news surrounding thomas cook was the news back in early march that thurston international will buy a stake to foster cooperation between thomas cook and club med. thomas cook is at about 18%. that is the big news from thomas

cook and trade fisher. this is driven by central-bank stimulus. overnight in china equities hit a seven-year high. let's get straight to manus. manus: getting set for a slightly lower opening today. second homes, is that a good form of stimulus for the market? when it comes to putting the quarter in context, never mind year a -- your asian rally. it was the worst week for europe in 2015. you can see that it would be even better if i went here today. 70% of 3.94. it shows you the auto industry

the chemical, and the financial services. the stock this morning has been the real boon for the european market. when we talk about europe and this banner headline, which is the stoxx 600. this is on a global basis. on a global basis. copenhagen is up 30%. portugal is up 25%. check out some of these stock indices. the dax up 23%. these were the movers. take us back to some of the misery there has been on the greek index. 9.3% today. money is loaded every single day into exchange traded funds in greece. betting against greece, that is

short interest. it is similar to that of france and germany. the banks are in a record low. when it comes to commodity, here is oil. let me just pull up wti. down 12%. down 10% in the quarter. you just heard from that discussion about potential supply. the stockpiles are right there in the united states of america. that's the oil. let me show you what is happening that has an impact in australia. iron ore, the biggest loss since 2009. this is over five years. let me show you the chart over the year to date. down 26%.

prices are back down towards 2004, 2005. this is the fifth quarter of losses for iron ore. the peep reduction of steel in china will peak this year. undeniably this is the currency where you get bang for your buck. nearly 9%, the best quarterly performance on record since 2008. the dollar remains strong. when will the yen pull the plug in terms of zero rates. caroline: all you need to note across the markets. let's focus in more on chinese stocks. they are rallying to the highest level since 2011. let's get straight over to hong kong. you have been looking at this

surge in stocks that happened yesterday. particularly over the next four days. >> that is right. we are seeing this reversal from the government after four years of tightening property. you remember that they brought access to these lower down payments and mortgages. in december we saw the first year on year increase in 12 months. once we reached 2015, we saw a home sales slide in china. this is happening for a fourth day in china. benchmarking's were the first -- highest since 2008. they hope they will put the spark back in the housing market. they are cutting the down payment for second homes. these measures came earlier and stronger than expected. there could be a boost in home sales.

this is after hitting pretty high on thursday. this just goes to show that china has a very strong intention from keeping the housing market from collapsing. or perhaps a major default here. caroline: hong kong all over the chinese move. manus: the prime minister elect told parliament that he is trying to stop the bleeding in his country. athens has sent a proposed list of reforms to brussels to try to lock all bailout funds from the european creditors. april could be an even crueler month. let's get to hans the goals, who has been following the developments. 15 pages of a document, i understand that. when do the prime minister's get

together? do we just go through another four days of prevarication? >> such strong words for early in the morning buried we have a 15-page document that has not been formalized. if they would like to meet next week there is just not enough time to get everybody together this week with the holiday. this is a preliminary list. they want to raise 3.7 billion in new money for 2015. a lot of that is with new taxes -- more tightly enforced taxes on the wealthy. then there are 400 million from streamlining income tax rules. 350 million from auctions of television broadcast licenses. before, the old government had talked about 2.2 billion from state asset sales.

all of this gets you about 1.2% of a primary account surplus. what he was saying last night in this remarkable debate in athens is that he wants to have a fair deal. here is his quote. it is true that we are seeking an honest compromise with our lenders. do not expect an unconditional agreement with us. that debate was posted -- supposed to last 70 minutes. it lasted over four hours. he talked about red lines. that is anything that he would define as recessionary. it couldn't warm -- include labor market reforms. these are reforms that his creditors want to see implemented. angela merkel was speaking in finland. she said that she would be willing to buff public opinion

to help greece stay in the euro zone. he talked about a third bailout package. creditors started talking about that in june. he ended this all with an appeal to the opposition, asking them for their support. that is going to be crucial as you do see some fractures. one final note, we still need to talk about the ecb. daniel the head supervisor and the vice chair, she will be testifying in brussels today. listen carefully to what she has to say about greek banks and whether they are willing to purchase greek debt,. there will be another 2.4 billion that they will need to roll over this month. let's see what she says about that. manus: it is interesting, there is some breaking news at the bottom of the screen.

the prime minister says that they oppose sanctions with russia. what it goes on to say, it sees the potential for cooperation, especially in energy and tourism. it is interesting that we are beginning to weight these kinds of leanings again towards russia. >> i asked janus about a month ago if they would take any russian bailout money. his answer was unequivocal that they would not take russian bailout money. they start saying at least rhetorically positive things about russia. their positions about sanctions, that has been the position since they came to power. they do not think that sanctions are effective because of crimea and ukraine. not a lot of shift there.

until he says something definitive about accepting bailout money from russia, we should probably focus on the negotiations with russells and the people that they owe all this money to. manus: hans on the greek story. mark: as i ran nuclear talks head to their final day, john kerry says that there are issues that need to be resolved if there is going to be a deal. what are the main sticking points? oil seems to be in the picture too? >> that is right. this is a wonderful diplomatic word from the secretary of state john kerry. the biggest stumbling block would be sanctions. what kind of sanctions relief should iran have and at what pace should

those sanctions be lifted? world powers seem to be proposing something like u.n. sanctions to be lifted. they want to get a mechanism in place where they can reimpose sanctions on iran if they are found to have cheated. of course were these sanctions to be lifted, this is a framework arrangement. they want to do a deal by the end of june. were a deal to be reached with i wrong -- iran you could bring in the country that has the second-biggest reserve of gas. we have seen prices come down a little bit. that could partly be because of the spike that we saw last week when saudi arabia launched its offensive against yemen.

shipments up towards the suez canal have not been disrupted. it is important to remember that although iran is blessed with all of these oil and gas resources it will take a lot of money within its infrastructure to get it act pumping to where it was in the 1970's. iran has up to 35 million barrels of oil sitting in its supertankers which could come onto the market almost immediately. almost as soon as it is allowed to start trading freely again. that is almost half of the oil production we see globally every day. iran could have a long-term impact on those prices. you would need to see that investment come in. in order to see some kind of long-term impact.

that is one of the elements that investors are watching very closely to see if it is done with iran. if it isn't done, we could see them further. caroline: coming up, we will return to our perspective on europe. investors were surprised about the speed of the recovery.

mark: welcome back. this is "countdown." a stock having the best quarter since 2009. our next guest says that recovery could be quicker than expected. how well european stocks have done. in european terms, not so good in dollar terms. have you been flabbergasted in terms of european benchmarks? >> for big markets like germany it has been surprising. it's hard to keep up with these in this is. -- indices. caroline: do you worry about any sort of contagion spilling over? >> from greece, cyprus,

portugal, spain. italy stands out as not suffering from contagion. manus: it is quite interesting because we are beginning to see stories. selling up part of the duty-free business. media bank and protest the it is interesting. tell me why you like the banks? are you long on the banks? when did you get long? >> we have been long on the banks over the past year. we are starting to see some metadata from italy. business conference, again, the numbers are well up. particularly for the banking sector, it is going through some restructuring on mutal ual banks.

you will see some of the branches rationalized. manus: ubi is up 20%. those are pretty hefty performances. >> they came from low ratings. some of the spanish ones for example. mark: on a sector basis this is up by 33%. the banks, oil basic resources and utilities. what will we see in the second and third quarters? >> they are worried about the current lack -- there are not any potential for profits. we are seeing some inflation picking up. the revaluation of the euro if

that does not restart europe's industry, i would be surprised. caroline: we have cpi numbers out today. you are saying that inflation is starting to improve. it is not as bad as last. what is driving it? >> no, it's not. in germany in particular, you are starting to see wage growth. one or two other markets we may see some wage growth to pick up inflation. manus: one of the other things we have been looking at is shanghai. shanghai is at a seven-year high.

they are selling the exchange traded funds. what do you make on china. do you stay long? >> overall, the emerging markets comes in slashed. they have kept their trade going with the dollar and the basket of currencies. we saw that yesterday. there is a bit more of that cap -- to come. china can deal with this. manus: in my mind, there is good stimulus. there is speed stimulus. that strikes me as lunatic stimulus. >> you are risking the shadow banking sector. the bubble that is really happening in shadow banking. manus: you are being a bit generous. mark: the stock market itself is

heading for a fourth quarter of losses, but money is flowing into an etf tracking greek shares. there is a huge amount of money in the big scheme of things. does greece become investable at some stage to you? >> it will turn around at some point. there will be stimulus for it. there is the potential for greece to get itself sorted out. once we see the conference return some of that cash will flow back into the banks. he certainly need some stimulus. caroline: it has been wonderful having you on. the managing director at sbf. mark: the market opens in

roughly 34 minutes.

mark: 7:30 in london this morning. the dollar is still managing muster again. the best quarter since 2008. how does that manifest itself? look at this. this is a critically important level. that is what is happening over the quarter or the year to date. just trying to get itself act -- back on this up trend.

when it comes to sterling, over the past two days, this is a currency that has some headwind. there is no winner in the election polls. had the worst month in two years. volatility is back on a level that you have not seen since 2011. the worst performing currency and a basket of 10 currencies. the dollar has hit 10-year highs. you look at the cross currencies. the australian dollar against the new zealand. iron ore at the lowest level for almost 10 years. the lowest since 2009.

westpac is still making the point that this is in the cards. more rate cuts to come from the aussies. that would take us down to the parity level. this pretty much speaks for itself. mark: the top stories on bloomberg this hour. today marks the deadline for countries to become founding members of the asian infrastructure investment tank. the u.s. stood firm in rejecting membership to the rank saying that they lacked standards of institutions such as the world bank. japan expressed reservations. a merger could create one of the world's a guest copper producers. they have held early-stage talks on the approval of the families that control those minds.

those companies deny that they are in negotiations. saudi arabia and the gulf correlation say they have completed the yemen port and they are ready to step up airstrikes against shiite rebels. the yemen president's allies with saudi. they are escalating the regional rivalry between saudi arabia and iran which has ties to the rebels. caroline: let's talk about m&a that is emerging. there are talks to sell a materials is this to a spanish business. let's bring in men well. tell me about the consolidation in the auto sector. is it a theme? >> we are seeing auto-parts consolidating. carmakers are squeezing margins.

they are trying to save costs. mark: what are the plans going forward? >> we have an interesting spanish company that is family owned. they create interiors, roofs. it is one of the biggest carmakers in the world. they want to become the world's biggest interior maker. maybe down the road they could launch a potential ipo. that has been rumored in the press. they prefer to raise some funds and grow all of the parts of the business. manus: you look at this story. everybody is betting against the euro. we have a spanish company doing

this in terms of looking outward. where are we on that story? >> you look back at what you were saying. we see companies being suffering big-time. they were crawling between the crisis with a lot of debt. now they are in position to buy abroad. we saw telefonica last year. it is crazy. companies are generating to pump up their operations abroad. caroline: good to have you on. a bit of a theme of m&a this morning. right now, let's turn our attention to the u.k. labor leader who vows to crackdown on tax avoidance if he becomes

prime minister. they might put guernsey on a tax blacklist. joining us is the executive director for tax. thank you for joining us. just spell it out for us. when you are looking at the reputation, are they really a tax haven? what are the benefits you can have? >> good morning. a lot of people like to label this as a tax haven. we certainly are not. guernsey and the current dependencies are moving towards tax transparency. the ocd announced reporting

standards amongst these and other territories. guernsey was one of those. we are at the forefront of information exchange on a global scale. we have been doing that for so many years now. based on what we offer, it is a well run respected financial services. we have a services commission here. they have been regularly reviewed by the imf. we see guernsey as highly reputable and well recognized for good quality, value service products. caroline: talk to me about some of the changes that are being floated about.

the conservative government is talking about a central register. the ultimate beneficiary of a company might not be the owner, but who ultimately benefits from the companies that are put together by the sorts of offshore countries? is that something that you are for or against? surely, there will be compliance costs involved. >> that is an interesting one. behold whole question about the benefit of ownership. for the last 15 years or so, the commission has required -- if you are a u.k. resident or anywhere for that matter, if you want to run a company you have to get the rights to run the company for you. they are required to gather that information. not just the legal owner of the shares of the company, they have

to identify them and keep a record of who they are. that is not a matter of public record. those running guernsey, they are known here. they can do that through the appropriate channels. that is something that in many countries, they are not able to do that. caroline: you feel that it is something already imposed. this should not be too much of a problem for those that are currently registered in guernsey? >> the information is already held. caroline: talk to us about some of the other policies that we have already seen coming in from chancellor george osborne. we are based offshore, but we want to be able to bring the tax home to the u.k.

is that going to affect the attractiveness of basing yourself in guernsey for doing business in the u.k.? >> it is hard to tell how that will play out. the profits that should be generated in the u.k. going away from the u.k.. in many cases, a lot of businesses have diverted profits away from the u.k.. it is not a good impact from our perspective. it's not google and apple did not run their operations out of guernsey. it is not about taking profits away from the u.k. they expect the impact just

because of the nature of the business we do here. caroline: it sounds like you are saying that the guernsey channel islands are not tax havens. does it matter whether we get a labour government or conservative led government in terms of costs? >> i do not think it does. in many ways whatever the color is after the seventh of may, there will be problems other than dealing with these perceived issues. you look at guernsey, we are a significant contributor of funds into the u.k. we have done research into the importance of the investment sector in guernsey. there is 25 billion pounds of net investment coming from outside of the u.k. into the u.k. coming from guernsey

structures. whatever party is in government postelection, they can look at this for an important source of investment. caroline: a bit of a cash cow. the executive director for tax. mark: sergey lavrov will return to switzerland to take part in the final day of iran's nuclear negotiations. this is according to a member of the russian delegation who did not want to be named. the russian spokeswoman said that if there is a realistic understanding of the deal tomorrow, he will come back. it leads us to believe that possibly a deal is in the offing. john kerry said that diplomatic

issues remain to be resolved. this is the deadline. he spoke to cnn. this effort has been going on for 12 years. iran is entering its deadline date with negotiators talking about restrictions on research. it seems that sergey lavrov is heading back to switzerland which is a positive sign for those looking for a deal to be struck on the nuclear program. manus: join us all on twitter. we are all there. running title, that is jay-z, beyonce they are all there. mark: up next, you had better

misted. find out after the break.

mark: what is 2015's top-performing asset class? let's whiz through the asset class.

the first is the world index. it includes developed and emerging markets. it has risen by 2.7%. the most in 2014. digging within the index, asian stocks are heading for their best quarterly advance since the beginning of 2013. they gained almost 7%. the standout region for the quarter, europe. the stoxx 600 rising by 7%. that is the best quarter since the third quarter of 2009. in local currencies denmark, copenhagen, it topped the charts. in dollar terms, the stock market is number one this quarter. followed by argentina and china.

denmark is number four in dollar terms. the worst in dollar terms ukraine's equity index. peru, lima general index has fallen by 60%. let's move on to currencies when it comes to currencies. this is the bloomberg dollar index. 10 of its major peers. for the quarter, it is up by 6%. this is the third straight quarterly advance. it has risen for nine consecutive months. the longest winning streak since the series began in 2005. it has risen against all but two of its major peers. the swiss franc is up by 2.6% followed by the taiwanese dollar. if we expanded the universe to 174 currencies, the best

performing currency against the dollar is the malawian currency. the worst -- the bloomberg commodity index the gain of 22 commodities is down 5%. three commodities again had a bad index, silver, cotton, and gasoline. let's look at the bond hemisphere. fixed assets from government debt to corporate bonds at 1.8% in the first three months of the year. that is the seventh straight quarterly gain according to the bank of america. yields for global bonds are just shy of record lows just below the universe. i dug deep to find the best performing country or region. u.s. treasury is confounding many.

the standout local bond market is the russian local bond market with the return of 13% as measured by the russian local sovereign bond index. these are very much to be found in equities. head to venezuela. manus: i do not know quite how to follow that. he is back with an under vengeance. have a look at the eye of london. it is waking up just a shade lower after that splendid performance after the -- around the asset classes. ♪

mark: let's look at the stocks we are focusing on today. a strategist is here with us today. two new ceos, thomas cook and kingfisher. creating more products and a new leadership team, what do you think? >> good morning. it has been a rocky 24 hours as far as kingfisher is concerned. maybe a little bit of a surprise to the markets.

when you consider the turbulence, the exposures that they already have maybe it is those apprised that they have decided to hold fire their. maybe the markets do like a proactive mindset when it comes to if this is. when you look at home depot, one of their competitors, they have not done great either. i think this is action you market will like. mark: the thomas cook share price, they have a new ceo. this was a 20-piece stocker a few years ago. what do we make of today's trading segment? >> the last six months have been a very turbulent time for thomas cook. the departure was a surprise. the share price dropped about 25%. they promoted from within. that area provides a bit of continuity.

what grabs the attention is that china's international took a 5% stake in the company. that is going to give some greater exposure to the chinese market with the chinese regulators freeing up the red tape as far as lending to the middle-class chinese. it is a great region. they are targeting the right area. with this news, it is pretty good. 95% of their winter sales have been completed. this is fractionally above where they were a year on year. mark: what do we think of the first quarter? the last quarter for european equity since 2009. is it sustainable? >> qe is the driving force as much as we do not have the economic data to back up the enthusiasm. i think that equities still

appear pretty attractive. mark: thanks. good to attract -- talk with you. say goodbye. caroline: have a good day. ♪ . .

anna: welcome to on the move. we are moments away from the start of european trading. stocks surged and equities could have their test quarter. of the best-performing embassies, eight of them are in europe. taking on oil for it the third quarterly loss. flooding the market with more crude. the prime minister searches for allies among lawmakers in a fight against cutbacks.

he fails to satisfy creditors and the nation faces billions in payments. that is what we are watching and what the european equity market has to digest. strong trading in the u.s. and asia. some of it had to do with the news coming out of china. on the touchscreen, man is. -- manus:. manus: forget asia. 7% return. this returned a negative market and greece and has managed to pull in every single trading day of the quarter.