francine: china's slowdown. the economy grows at its weakest pace in years. duration doubts. no change in policy expected on the ecb, but president draghi will be questions about an early exit. europe takes on google. the tech giant told it will face charges for using its dominant position. the french government stays out of the way. welcome to "the pulse" live from

bloomberg's european headquarters in london. breaking news from the iea, the international energy agency. the report is out and the iea says opec's supply -- they see opec's supply jumping the most in four years on saudi surges or beget we had a story saying iran is the latest country to jump on the bandwagon, asking for opec production to the cut. nymex at 54 brent 59. china's economy is in the spotlight with all global economic indicators pointing to a deepening slowdown. stocks are headed for their biggest drop in weeks. bloomberg's chief asia economist joins us now from beijing. tom orlik. gdp came in target on 7%. the data actually disappointed.

what should we read into all this? tom: i think that is right, francine. there was some good news. the premier said he wanted 7% growth for the year. in the first quarter, he got it. gdp coming in at 7%. there was also bad news. a lot of the monthly data was disappointing, in particular industrial output which is the main monthly measure of growth. it slumped in march. the lowest level since the financial crisis. if you look at the headline, it is reassuring, but the markets are paying more attention to the high-frequency monthly data. what that is suggesting is that china's slowdown has further to go in the months ahead. francine: what does this data tell us about the risk of deflation? tom: i think signs of deflation are nothing new for china's

economy. we have falling factory prices for much of the last several years. what is new in today's data is that it shows deflation has become an economy-wide issue. the gdp deflator has gone into negative territory for the first time since the financial crisis. i think that raises a couple of issues. falling prices mean that real interest rates are higher. that means chinese businesses are paying more tomorrow, more to invest, at exactly the time the government needs to be ramping up this kind of activity. secondly, as we know from the experience in japan, if deflation is sustained, the result could be a vicious spiral down as consumers delay purchases, demand weakens growth slows, and prices fall even further. francine: tom orlik there from

beijing about the latest gdp figures from china. now to one of our top corporate stories. no kia to by alcatel for $16.6 billion. the alcatel lucent ceo joins us now on the phone from paris. first of all, congratulations. this is hugely exciting to investors. how confident are you at this point that this will go through without any hitches? >> first, thank you. i guess i should say that i am very proud of what has been achieved. we announced today that these -- that this new global leader in the tech industry is the clear outcome of the process i started a few years ago. [indiscernible]

proud of that and proud of the success. i'm quite comfortable on our ability to get in different jurisdictions. it could take 9-12 months to close the deal, but i don't foresee any major issue. francine: mr. combes, you expect this to go without any problems? where do you see the toughest regulations? michel: i see this deal going straightforward. [indiscernible] it should be well-received in the different jurisdictions. as you can expect, we are

involved in -- we need to get the clearance in all of them. as usual, the french, u.s. europe, china and some other -- [indiscernible] that is iwhy i say 9-12 months. i don't expect any issue in most of them. francine: what about the political scene? it seems the french government has given this merger its blessing. do you have the same blessing from the u.s. and chinese governments? michel: as you can imagine they have welcomed this project for quite a while. i explained to you -- [indiscernible]

now, to find the right partner to get the opportunity to work. we are working with different governments to make sure that all the stakeholders would support such a combination. the french government as of yesterday announced that they were supportive of the deal. [indiscernible] that is i guess, a good example of strong roads in all countries. francine: you were saying that you already have the support of the u.s. and china or you think it won't be a problem to achieve? michel: i am convinced that all

the governments, in the same way france is doing, will support this. the world needs technology to drive the transition to digital. that is what we are doing right now. i don't first see major issues. let's wait and see in the coming weeks. we will see how it will be heard by the others. francine: on the french government, we also understand that of course they seem to support this, but at the same time they will monitor any developments. have you had to promise them no job cuts in france? michel: the discussion with the french government was easy.

first, the research in france has been done. [indiscernible] when people say it is impossible to restructure in france that is not true. now, this new stage we have said to the french government, we will keep the same number evident boy he's for the years to come -- same number of employees for the years to come. we have said that we would recruit up to 500 new engineers in france. that is something which was needed by nokia. [indiscernible] all in all, in the interest of the enterprise, it is great to

invest more in france. francine: what happens to alcatel lucent as a stand alone company trying to divest assets? what happens to those assets in the combined group? michel: there is only one. we have said months ago that this company is quite dependent -- quite independent from the rest of alcatel lucent. what i have reconfirmed today is that it will not be part of the new nokia group. either it will be for an ipo, or it could be just a matter of disposal. it will become independent and

will become an enterprise of its own. francine: we were speaking to a lot of analysts yesterday and today. they say this is a merger which strategically makes sense, a merger which is difficult to pull off operationally, but how did you do it now? how did it start? michel: i guess it is perfect timing, meaning that today we have a fantastic acceleration of the industry which will require lots of investment. it is better to do it before. that is first. second we are facing strong competition from the chinese, from the u.s., so we needed to react. third, the two companies are now clearly healthy companies.

you have two healthy companies, so it is the right time to put them together. that would have been much more difficult in the past. so that is a good way to move forward. what you have always to be careful of is to make sure that you have the right governance which provides clarity, and which provides -- [indiscernible] that was one of my recommendations. there is a clear company which is leading, which is nokia . we want to avoid any ego fights between each other. i strongly believe that the timing is right the setup is

right, and the companies are ready in order to win this new exciting journey that they are going to enter in. francine: what is your biggest aspiration for the new company? we were talking about how you could rival competitors not only in china but in the u.s.. what is the first thing you should go after? michel: my best wish for the company is that we embrace what alcatel lucent did. the world of 5g, which requires broadband access and cloud for providing the applications and functions it needs to have all those components together. that was the strategy i prevented a year ago.

we see that chinese and americans are trying to follow the same now. we feel that we have shifted the industry. my real wish is that the new nokia takes the lead in this new industry not only for the providers, but also extending the portfolio towards other types of customers. that is what i am aspiring for. francine: michel combes, thank you so much for joining us on "the pulse" today. still ahead on "the pulse," the european union takes on google. we will look at the charges the tech giant faced and we will hear from george soros. why he doesn't expect the fed to raise rates. later, an exclusive interview

with a2a. stay with us. we are just getting started. ♪

francine: coming up later today, the ecb rate decision is out at 12:45 p.m. president mario draghi will face questions on qe. stick with bloomberg for all of that coverage. that is at 1:30 p.m. london

time. joining us is our chief euro area economist. great to have you on the program. we had that really good forecast from the imf for the eurozone yesterday. today, no policy change expected from mario draghi. i guess he will be fielding questions on whether he is optimistic. why are we so worried about whether qe stays? we've just started it. >> first of all, he will be quite pleased with himself, with what the ecb has accomplished in such a short period of time where inflation expectations are headed, and the growth prospects improving. on this background of cheaper oil, weak euro and investment prospects.

i think he should be quite happy . the banks are indicating that lending numbers are gradually improving. francine: he has been doing a good job at putting the euro that were. how much of the relatively less weakness in europe has to do with cheap oil prices? antonio: there is not only what they've engineered themselves with qe but it is a bit of a mixed blessing. it is also dragging down inflation. also, it is interesting to see how this week euro will affect inflation. overall, i think it is quite positive. there is a lot of leverage in the euro area. in terms of the cyclical support, i think the forces are quite positive. francine: it seems that he will

have to end qe a little sooner. i don't know why they are not more worried about greece instead of qe, but qe has been in place for six weeks. how is mario draghi going to respond to these questions? are you going to have to pull out from providing stimulus earlier than expected? antonio: it is too early to have that discussion. i agree with you. it just started. right now, we have a lot of tailwinds, but those could reverse. the underlying structure of problems are there. you need to go through that. as draghi has said many times, this will provide support for governments to do the right thing, to put forward structural reforms perhaps to launch public investment. all of these issues, if those

policies are not enacted, you will see a problem. you will see problems coming up in 2016. even inflation, we believe that inflation is probably a little on the optimistic side. our forecast is lower than that. september 2016, the right time to exit, too early to say. i don't see why we should be discussing earlier than that. francine: what would you ask draghi? is it greece? antonio: certainly, greece, but i'm afraid that this is more the politicians. i think i'm interested on some technical aspects of inflation. how does he see inflation with the latest developments on oil and exchange rates? how does he see this pass through from the exchange rate

into inflation? i would like to see how on the other side he sees those pass-through from the weaker euro into higher inflation. that would be quite interesting to see. francine: i'm sure he will be asked. thank you so much for joining us. antonio garcia pascual there. coming up, billionaire investor stan druckenmiller sat down with bloomberg for an exclusive interview. ♪

francine: stan druckenmiller has one of the best track records in the history of investing. he's worked with george soros and he's been sounding the alarm about the feds zero interest rate policies. stephanie ruhle got his view in an exclusive bloomberg interview. stan: we are not going to see anything for a year and a half. they set up metrics eight or nine months ago. they were met three or four months ago. then they changed the metrics. i have no confidence that you are going to see rate hikes in september or december or whenever. when they lay out metrics and they change, and they changed again, and again, who knows when they are going to go? by then, how far will the debt

go? this is all pay me now or pay me later. i agree if you go a quarter, it might do a few things to markets, but if you wait and go a year later, it is going to do much more. stephanie: you have been worrying about fed policy for over a year. why did a you ringing the bell so loud? stan: i'm not really ringing it so loud. i gave a private speech to my private community in florida in january, where there would be no press. stephanie: seen on you. welcome to the world of social media. stan: it has gone viral and there's all sorts of headlines. i'm predicting a crash, i'm predicting doom -- i'm not. i'm simply saying that the risk reward of going early is a much better bet than waiting and going late. why am i saying this? mainly because every article i read says just the opposite.

francine: he's quite a character. we will have more of that exclusive interview throughout the day right here on bloomberg tv and bloomberg.com. ♪

francine: welcome to "the pulse" live from bloomberg's european headquarters in london. china's economy expanded at the weakest pace since 2009 last quarter. outlook investment and retail data are pointing to a slowdown. nokia has agreed to by alcatel lucent. the purchase will create the world's largest supplier of mobile phone equipment. the deal will see nokia surpass

huahue. google has been told it will face new charges on violating antitrust rules. google could face fines and constraints on how it delivers internet search. rivals, including microsoft have excused the search giant of highlighting its own web services and results at their expense. let's get more on google from our team of reporters. we are joined in brussels and here in the studio. let's start with you. what are we expecting today? >> we are expecting action for the first time in more than four years. when you start investigating these allegations over search we are expecting objections. we are also expecting an open investigation into android. that is what we have so far. it also brings up the threat of

fines or an order for google to change the way it does business. francine: this is huge. >> this is a four-year probe. what google is afraid of is what it could do. does it change the way it presents search results? does it change the algorithms it uses? francine: what are we expecting? i guess it depends on how much the commission wants, right? aoife: to start, it raises a lot of risks for google. they have a chance to defend themselves. they have a chance to argue that what they are doing is justified. there are a lot of other companies that complain that google doesn't play fair. when you search for something, you get google's results and you don't get theirs. anything that would force them to change the way their page looks, to give space to rivals,

that matters a lot. that hits them where it really matters. francine: tony, is this not only about -- this is basically about -- they could potentially ask google to change the way it runs in certain instances. how significant could it be? tony: they will have to have two businesses. they will have a product for the u.s. and a separate product for here in the eu. they won't be able to control the user experience. it will be a fundamental change to the way they do business. francine: and we are not going to find out about this today right? what we are expecting today is something more general and they will have a lengthy process to come down on them hard if they want to. aoife: anything like fines or an order could be a long way away. today, what we see is the eu saying what it wants to do with this part of the case.

there are other parts of the case. it has complaints about travel and mapping. we could see other escalations in the next year or two. this is just a turning point. it hasn't been clear that the ecb sees a huge problem here. now it is saying it definitely does. francine: is this a signal that this commission means business? is it the first case that will really get to understand how the situation will play out? aoife? i was asking whether -- aoife: it is one of the eu's biggest cases. there's a huge number of complainers. there's a lot of pressure on the european commission from politicians and other countries, complaining, why doesn't it act?

even obama has mentioned that the eu is aggressive with internet companies. it feels that there are genuine problems here and it is acting on those. this is something that it is doing. francine: i guess that's what we need to make sure of, that they are fail and balanced -- they are fair and balanced. tony: google has challenges all through europe. last year it came under fire from privacy regulators over the way it handles court rulings. the european parliament last year made an unprecedented move saying they urged the eu to look at breaking up google if it didn't change its business practices. they are under fire on a lot of fronts. francine: you were talking about the fact that it could force google to make changes. would you and i notice as users,

or is it more for the competitors saying they've been using their advantage to an unfair level? tony: something in terms of how they do it. if it is the algorithm, we might not notice as much. if the eu forces them to put different boxes all over the page, that would be immediately apparent to everybody. francine: thank you so much. check out today's twitter question. how tough should the eu be on google? tweet us your thoughts. guy johnson is doing a debate on the elections. i know he follows the story as well. coming up, an exclusive interview with the head of italy's largest regional utility. as we go to break, let's take a look at golf's numerous superstore. -- superstar. jordan spieth sporting his new green jacket. ♪

>> jordan, here you are. help us understand what goes through your mind at this moment. >> well,--

francine: welcome back to "the pulse" live from bloomberg's london headquarters. italy's biggest regional utility posts earnings along with a plan that will see the company invest over 2 billion euros. for more, we are joined by the ceo. great to have you on the program. thank you for coming in. give us a sense of energy prices. this is something that could boost companies or hold back companies. how do you see prices going from here? >> for the time being, prices are quite low. this is why, for example -- [indiscernible] francine: so what is your

prediction for prices? how much will it actually filter through? valerio: prices will stay quick. we are looking for a slight improvement on prices. as a result of the low recovery of gdp and the gradual decrease as a result of the decision -- [indiscernible] this is pretty much the trend we expected. francine: what is your take on italy at the moment? is it still tough being an italian company? now that some of the reforms are being pushed through, how are you seeing the international investors cycle? valerio: a2a is a company of great tradition, long tradition. it has over 100 years of activity. most of the business is within

the richest area of italy. we have an important economy that is behind our business. there is optimism for the recovery of energy consumption. [indiscernible] i think we are optimistic regarding the coming years. francine: how much does what mario draghi due at the ecb impact the way eufinance yourselves are the way you see your customers being able to defend, and how much do you look at oil prices? valerio: clearly, we think the entire interest rate scenario is very interesting for the

company to issue bonds, but also to balance the balance sheet. we will have opportunities to raise more capital. we will continue to keep that plan. from that point of view i think the scenario is favorable. there are other opportunities coming from the market. francine: you said there are no official m&a negotiations. why not, as valuations seem to be -- this seems to be the perfect time for m&a. valerio: there is clearly a potential for inflation of the markets. the market is quite fragmented. there is also potential for constructing value from synergies. we do expect -- francine: next year, by the end

of the year? is it a story for 2016? valerio: it could be the end of 2015, or 2016. francine: and you will be the alkali error or the acquiree? does it make a difference. i was speaking to the ceo of alcatel. as a ceo, how much do you worry about consolidation in general, how much do you worry about being the one dishing the cash? valerio: it is a great opportunity for a2a, being the largest utility in italy. i'm definitely convinced that we will be playing a role in that. we will be maintaining a balanced attitude. we will be managing our scope of work. [indiscernible] francine: your biggest concern we talked about business, and a day, financing about utility

prices. what is the one thing that you need to make sure you are on top of? valerio: i think we should be very proactive. it is not time to wait longer. we need to take actions. exposure will be reducing by 40% in the next coming years. i think reactivity will be our goal for the future. at the same time, we will accelerate investment. we need to accelerate our investment in other key sectors. [indiscernible] francine: thank you so much. activity, not reactivity. valerio camerano, ceo of a2a/. here are some of bloomberg's other top headlines. japan is said to overtake china as america's largest overseas creditor.

china cut investment in treasuries, while japan added $7.7 billion. julian roberts is planning to step down. roberts has spent more than six years at the helm of the london-based company. the company has declined to comment. a standalone team of 200 employees working on apple's macbook and ipads. the move strengthened ties between the companies. tomorrow, we will be taking an in-depth look at how the outcome of the u.k. election could impact london's position as a global financial hub. guy johnson moderates a panel of exclusive voices from the industry. that is tomorrow on our politics show at 11:00 a.m.

welcome to "the pulse." we have plenty more coming your way. ♪

francine: welcome back to "the pulse" live on bloomberg tv and radio. cognac makers are eyeing u.s. drinkers to make up for falling sales in china. hennessy has found a great

relationship and its products. two barrels of hennessy were sailed to the u.s. on a replica frigate. caroline: a historic day. for the 250th anniversary of the world's biggest cognac maker, barrels are about to be sailed on the replica frigate. it originally sailed to offer help to george washington. >> it is a signal of the strength of the friendship between the united states and france. caroline: this time, the french are seeking american help. sales of cognac to china have

evaporated in the past two years. a crackdown on lavish spending is hurting rough its at companies like remy cointreau and hennessy. >> you have many different ports in asia. some are a bit more difficult. caroline: for the cognac industry, the u.s. was one reason to cheer last year. with double-digit growth compared to 26% collapse in china hennessy is now counting on the booming cognac market in the u.s., where they sell 30 million bottles a year to compensate for china's weakness. >> thanks to the dynamism of the american market -- [indiscernible] this has made a very positive impact on our activity.

caroline: after crossing the atlantic, the barrels will be auctioned in the u.s. the ship which took 18 years to build will then return to france by late summer. without the cognac, but with the hope that this journey helped revive france's iconic brand. caroline connan, bloomberg, france. francine: really, not a bad gig if you are a reporter on the story. it does seem a little bit expensive for a massive the are stunned. now to one of our top corporate stories. nokia will buy alcatel lucent. let's go to that deal. caroline hyde has the details. we spoke to the ceo of alcatel lucent. he said he's pretty sure that there is not going to be any regulatory hurdles. caroline: the officials were

talking to the government on all of this. they need the french government to sign off. they seem to be making a few pr stunts themselves, telling the government they will make a startup fund to look into the internet of things in france. they are dedicated to the hiring practices alcatel lucent signed up for. the french are worried they will see the employees moved to finland. this is where the entire company is going. they are going to be nokia as a huge entirety. the chief executive is taking the helm. he's going to be leading this particular company. for 15.6 billion euros this is the number that is being paid up. it seems that the all share offer is not sitting well with investors. the share price was down about 11% having rallied 16% yesterday.

some investors and analysts are saying, the ratio looks pretty good. analysts saying that share transaction ratio is reasonable. they are getting 0.55 new shares per alcatel share. both boards have signed off. now we've got regulatory hurdles. michel combes was speaking about what he thinks will happen with the deal. there are two big contracts backing it as well. it is about scale. francine: when i was talking to michel combes, he was very confident. he said he's been working on it for a very long time. he said this was the only way to survive when you have so much competition from the chinese and so much competition from u.s. carriers. caroline: exactly. you got huawei coming into the mix. big savings promised by this

particular deal. 900 million euros in synergies, in terms of operating costs. they have interest costs cut. they are talking up the synergies, the premium being given to alcatel lucent shareholders, 20% premium versus the three-month average of the share price. and they get a third of the company in its entirety. nokia takes two thirds of the company. if you look at it yesterday, nokia's market value is only about a third bigger than alcatel lucent but they are getting two thirds of the company. you are right, it is about pressure coming from china. it is about the demand on infrastructure. the u.s. morning investors a lot already. francine: if you look at the share price, yesterday, alcatel gaining 14%. today, down. what is going on? caroline: everyone is trying to

analyze whether the all share offer is what they hoped. the 15.6 billion euro price tag, analysts thought it would be slightly less than that. perhaps it is not quite as sweet as some had hoped. some saying the share ratio seems reasonable. the boards are signing off on this. this is a company looking towards the future. they are talking about being the innovation leader. we are talking about you and i wanting more data running through our mobile devices. it is about fixed line. it is about mobile. it is about being able to offer that to particularly asia, where you've got 1.3 billion people subscribing to mobile. these are the guys who make telecoms equipment. they want to be up there with a in huawei, and i think they are going to manage it in terms of scale. francine: thank you so much, caroline hyde. for our viewers, a second hour

of "the pulse" is coming up. this sounds a bit ominous. here's what we have coming your way. we will be talking about google. that is our twitter question of the day. we are also talking greece and the ecb. ♪

francine: china slowdown. the economy grew at the weakest pace in six years. data take a leg down. duration no change in policy expected from the e.c.b., but six weeks in to q.e. president draghi will be questioned about an early exit. europe takes on google. the u.s. tech giant is said to have been told it will face charges for abusing its come nant position. and al at that kell teams up to make the world's bigst equipment deal.

francine: good morning to our viewers in europe, good evening to those in asia, and welcome to those just waking up in the united states. i'm francine lacqua. this is "the pulse" live from london. now, china's economy is in the spotlight with multiple economic indicators pointing to a deepening slowdown. stocks are headed for their biggest drop in weeks after g.d.p. growth, output investment, and retail data all dropped in the world's economy, in the world's second biggest economy. our chief asia correspondent joins us. tom, china's g.d.p. came in on target. we had very disappointing monthly data. how worried should we be about them? tom: i would tend to pay more attention to the monthly data. if you look at the headline reading, 7% growth in the first quarter, the premier says he wants 7% growth for the whole year so they're on target. if you look at the monthly data if you dig in a little

bit, retail sales are slowing, the real estate sector continues to contract in terms of sales. exports contracted in march. so really, some fairly troubling signs in the more high-frequency data and signs that china's economy has further to slow heading further into 2015. francine: are we expecting a policy response to all this? tom: so i think the policy response has already started. we had a rate cut last november . we had another rate cut at the beginning of this year. my expectation is that with this run of weak data, we're going to see a ratcheting up of the government's policy support. i think that's also the message that we're hearing from china's policy makers. the premier visiting china's rust belt northeast last week talked about how supporting growth and jobs was now the urgent task of policy makers.

francine: overall, how worried are you? if you look at 7%, sure, it's the slowest in six years but in world growth, china is very present. 7% growth in this environment is very good. but then we have reports, also from bloomberg intelligence, saying that when you walk around china and look at their consumption of commodities, the picture is terrifying. tom, i think, really, the issue is that we're now looking at two separate economies. there's the old industrial economy, the economy which drove demand for australian iron ore, brazilian iron ore, copper from chile. that section of the economy is really not doing very well at all. the contraction in real estate sales has hit the demand for commodities, the construction materials really extremely hard. the second half of the economy

the half which is doing better is the services sector the sector which is focused on china's emerging consumer class. i think the big question going forward is that transition going to take place. is it going to be the old economy dragging the rest of the economy down, or is it going to be the new economy lifting the rest of the economy up? at this point, i think the jury is still out. francine: yeah, interesting. thank you so much, tom. staying with the country's growth outlook, it was said yesterday that india is set to outpace china. the group upgraded its outlook for europe ahead its spring meeting tomorrow and friday, saying a strong dollar would boost growth in the region. we spoke to the i.m.f. chief economist. >> it probably hasn't helped yet very much, but it will and so this is leading us to higher

forecast for the ozone for this year than last year. in other words, the main risk that we saw last year is because we've got a recession in the eurozone. that seems -- it hasn't disappeared, but it's much smaller than it used to be. francine: for more on the eurozone and today's e.c.b. interest rate decision -- yes, it's on a wednesday -- we're joined by r.b.s.'s head of macro credit research. thank you so much for joining us. first of all, when you are mario draghi and you looked at what you've done over the last six weeks, you'd be pretty pleased. how much does it have to do with a weak euro, and how much does it have to do with weak oil prices? >> a lot was the experts and also expectations moving higher. but now we're starting to see some green chutes in the economy. for example, banks are starting to lend. they're starting to see more demand from companies. in the periphery you're

starting to see lower unemployment job creation confidence across for entrepreneurs going up. so there is a chance that q.e. spills over to the real economy if the euro stays low and if the e.c.b. remains. i think that's exactly what draghi wants to do, to reiterate there's not q.e. exit, q.e. is there to stay, and they're committed to keep buying assets until they see a rising inflation, so not just a blip to 2%, but a stable rise. that's going to take potentially longer than the 18 months of the minimum length of q.e. francine: what the market is focusing on, and another question is why are they not focusing on greece, and they're actually focusing on when q.e. will end in europe, but what the markets and investors want to know is if the economy is going higher does it mean that he will have to retrace his q.e. sooner than expected, and you think the message is no, we're not going to do that.

>> it's definitely here to stay. if you think about european q.e., it is a q.e. that works a bit slower through the real economy than the u.s. the transmission channel goes through the banks, and banks appeal themselves also because in the u.s., household and corporates were able to restructure and cut their debt, cut their balance sheets when the crisis happened, while in europe it's very hard to default on a mortgage or restructure your debt, or if you're a company, nonperforming loans are still there. there's still bad loans in the banking system, so the recovery is a lot slower in europe, and they're going to have to keep q.e. longer. but the message will be dovish, and potentially in the future, they may have to change the composition of q.e. there's 38% of bonds government bonds in europe, which is now a negative yield. so the message is, if you look at the data from what they have bought, they bought longer

maturity spain, ireland, so they want risk premium to compress. we're starting to see spill over in the real economy but i keep thinking that q.e. is necessary, but not sufficient to the recovery. you need investment, and you need financing, so it's like something that protects the economy from greece and other issues, but what you need is the plan for investment, you need capital markets union to encourage companies to borrow, not just from banks, and find other ways of funding. these things will have to happen this year. francine: and the structural reforms, how much time are we giving them? they're starting to happen in countries such as spain. one of the reasons why we're seeing turnaround is we're seeing much more reforms in the last two years than the previous two decades. >> we saw reforms in spain, also portugal. this year, the surprise, which the market is overlooking, is italy, where they've done a jobs act, reform of the banks, and a combination law and these things were a bit

overlooked because the market is focusing on q.e. france is doing something, but a lot more gradually than italy with lower problems. but, you know, i'm positive. i think that in markets, q.e. will be definitely affected. we're looking at lower yields. we're very long on european high-yield bonds. in the economy the effects will be also positive, but we need more to get out of debt in the next three years. francine: you also talk and write extensively about greece. how is mario draghi going field questions? it seems it's completely not a monetary issue really a political issue, and they just had to get on with finding a deal as the deadline moves. >> the e.c.b. is extending emergency liquidity to the greek banks, even though this goes through the bank of greece, the e.c.b. is still responsible for that. if greece had to take a decision, like for example, not paying a coupon to the i.m.f. they be the emergency

liquidity assistance could fall into question. if there is a question on that i would expect draghi to answer very strictly, very strongly on not allowing greece to do unilateral decisions. having said that, it is political decision. greece has the same g.d.p. as a large european city, like milan or madrid. so the size of the problem is manageable, but it is a symbolic problem. you don't want to give greeks free lunch. on the other hand, greece needs more flexibility because if you have 170% debt to g.d.p., you cannot reason in terms of interest rate cuts and discounting these gains over the next 30 years, 40 years. greece will not be there in 30 years if you have one or debt to g.d.p. you need to do a different type of policy, where this year we probably have an agreement. i think they will get to an agreement, but in the next two years, you need some deeper debt restructuring. for example, with growth and bonds.

francine: and then we talk about seniority and all of that jazz. thank you so much. here's a look at what else is on our radar this wednesday morning. u.s. president barack obama has told congress that he intends to drop cuba from a list of state sponsors of terrorism. the move comes a week after obama met cuban president raul castro, and it marks a significant shift toward restoring relations between the two countries. congress now has 45 days to respond to obama's notification. foreign ministers from the g-7 nations hold their second day of talks today. u.s. secretary of state john kerr will i join the meeting after spending tuesday lobbying congress on the iran nuclear deal. the german and italian foreign ministers criticize russian's plan sale of air defense systems to iran. here in the u.k., the manifesto rollout continues this morning ahead of next month's general election. the liberal democrats will unveil their party platform in south london in the next few minutes, and we'll be followed

by the u.k. independence party, who will lay out their campaign pledges at an event in essex. you can see both on bloomberg. still ahead on "the pulse" -- the european union takes on google. we'll look at the charges the tech giant could face plus the large manifestos, we'll bring you nick clegg's announcement. we'll hear from one of the men who broke the bank of england. he talked about greece, all of that coming up. that brings us to today's twitter question of the day on google, how tough should the e.u. be on good snell tweet us with your thoughts. ♪

>> of course there will be some antitrust clearance so that's why it will probably take in between nine to 20 months to close that deal, but i don't foresee any major issue and i feel like it's the right momentum to make it work. francine: welcome back to "the pulse." that was alcatel-lucent c.e.o. speaking earlier about his company's merger with nokia. he's confident that the deal will get through any government antitrust concerns. he also said they should -- well, there shouldn't be any regulatory concerns either. a company with concerns is

google. the european union could issue charges against the company as soon as today for violating the antitrust laws. the implications of a decision could be severe. hefty fines and potential requirements for change to google's online search engine could be on the table. now let's get to hans nichols who's tracking the developments on the story. what do we care about most? is it the fines or the fact that we could see a new google that has to change the way it operates? hans: if google has to alter their formula, that has much bigger implications for the search giant. the fine, having said that is not insignificant. it could be up to 10% of google's global revenues. that puts you at $6.6 billion in u.s. dollars. about a 1/3 of their revenue is from europe, so it's clearly crucial. when you look at what this is about, it could really damage their longer term ability to sell ads against the

information that they're organizing every day. now, we do know that one thing is clear, and that is that google has a very strong market position in the european unit, close to 90%. you compare that to the states. the google is only at 65%, so there's a much higher penetration here much more sat you're asian in europe. what they are talking about is bringing formal charges to google. now, this would take place sometime today. we may hear something from the e.u. commissioner that's in charge of this. then you'd have the process of google likely contesting this in court going there perhaps all the way to the european high court in luxembourg. all that said, this does -- this could potentially affect the company. you've heard the company talk about that. we've had an acknowledgment from the company this may be coming. this is from an internal memo from google's top lawyer. here's what today say. this is very disappointing news. we have a very strong case with especially good arguments when it comes to better services for users and increased confidence.

that is kent walker google general counsel. good kell pay the fine. that may not be the biggest issue. although you do have to wonder, will this invite other regulatory challenges, not just in europe, not just in the americas, but also asia? there's there was a report that india is looking into antitrust cases. this could snowball for google, and they may have to change their algorithm. francine? francine: yeah, and at the same time, hans very quickly, how much protectionism is at play? it's very important that it's not seen as a protectionist measure. hans: the e.u. commissioner in charge of the digital economy, he spoke at a fair in hanover just yesterday. he's clearly talking about how e.u. companies need to be more competitive and they're not in a competitive position right now, and we can't let that happen. these are different arms of the e.u. commission, but at least their digital commissioner is very concerned that europe has fallen behind some of its u.s. counterparts. francine?

francine: hans thank you so much. hans nichols with the latest on this google versus e.u. affair. the liberal democrats here in the e.u. are launching their election manifestos this morning in london. party leader nick clegg is speaking now. let's listen in. nick: your decision made us take the decisions with compassion and a sense of fairness. your decision meant that instead of a conservative government chasing off to the extremes you have the liberal democrats to keep the government stable and anchored firmly in the center ground. but the truth is i could be stood right here in front of you today in very different circumstances. five years ago, when you gave no party the right to govern on their own, when you gave the liberal democrats the chance to join the government for the first time in generations we

could have ignored you. we could have left the conservative party without a majority in parliament to deal with an economy on the brink of collapse. we could have watched them fail. we could have stood by as the economy went under and people lost their jobs. we could have watched the conservatives, make the poorest in society pay the price. i could have stood in front of you today on platforms like this and criticized them for it. but the liberal democrats, we didn't do that. we did the responsible thing. we did the fair thing. we did the gutsy thing. we stepped up to the plate and put the good of the country first, even though it meant working with people we disagreed with, even though we knew we would have to make some compromises, even though we knew we would take a hit to our

popularity but you know what? every day has been worth it, because we made britain better. [applause] today, because of what you chose and what we the liberal democrats, did, we have a stronger economy and a fairer society. we brought stability. we turned around the economy. we stopped the conservatives from putting people like them above people like you, and we made britain fairer. we cut taxes and lifted the lowest paid out of tax altogether. we directed more funding to the poorest children in our schools. we created a record two million

apprenticeships. we undertook a bold, liberal reform of our pension system, and i've given millions generous rises in the state pension. we oversaw a quiet revolution in renewable technology with twice as many homes powered by renewable electricity. and we legislated so that all love, gay or straight, is valued equally. this time around, it is obvious once again that neither labor nor the conservatives will win a majority. it is over. i'm not denying that either david cameron or ed miliband will be prime minister. but you know and they know that neither of them will win outright. neither of them will have a majority in the next parliament. so what really matters is who they will have with them to decide what the next government will do.

someone is going to hold the balance of power on the eighth of may, and it won't be david cameron or ed miliband, but it could be nigel forage. it could be alex or it could be me and the liberal democrats. so ask yourself this. do you want nigel walking through the door of number 10? do you want alex sat at the cabinet table, or do you want the liberal democrats? the liberal democrats will add a heart to a conservative government and a brain to a later one. we won't -- we won't allow the conservatives to cut too much and jeopardize our schools and hospitals, and we won't allow labor to borrow too much and risk our economy again. but imagine for a moment, just

imagine what will become of our wonderful country in the next five years if nigel is friends on the right wing of the conservative party are calling the shots. our public service is cut to the bone. our community is divided. our shared british values of decency, generosity just cast aside, and now imagine it run. by the way the reason i'm talking about him and not nicholas is he's the one running for parliament. he wants to sit in westminster having his say over how our whole country is run, and if you want to stop him the best way is very simple, vote for the fantastic christine jardine in gordon. so -- so -- so imagine for a

moment miliband and salmons, our economy crippled by reckless borrowing. our children destined to pay for it for years to come. the future of our united kingdom in the balance once again. last time round, you chose to end the pendulum swing that has short changed you time and time again. this time round, you decide what comes next once again. and that is why every vote for the liberal democrat matters. that's why every liberal m.p. elected next month matters. only the liberal democrats can make sure the next government keeps britain on track. it makes reckless borrowing less likely. every m.p. makes george

osborne's ideological cuts less likely. and every liberal democrat m.p. is a barrier between nigel forage and alex salmons and the door to 10 downing street. because the liberal democrats, we will always act responsibly. we will always act fairly. and we will always act in the best interest of the whole of the united kingdom. the truth is just a few hundred votes in a very small number of seats could decide whether it is liberal democrat m.p.'s or the next prime minister will be forced to listen to. that is a very thin line between britain being governed by a coalition with a

conscience or a coalition with a grievance. i've seen for myself over the last few weeks the momentum that is building behind liberal democrat candidates lisa smart, vickie slade, and when they win, when we have the chance to influence the next government this is what we will set out to do. this manifesto is a blueprint for a stronger economy and a fairer society. this manifesto is a plan to finish the job of balancing the books and to do so fairly, by protecting our schools, hospitals and public services. this manifesto is an insurance policy against a government lurching off to the extremes.

i think this is one word that is absolutely central to what we liberal democrats believe, opportunity. no matter where you were born, what sexual or religion you are, what color your skin, is you should have the same opportunity to get on in life. we want to tear down the barriers that stop you from reaching your potential. we want to smash the glass ceilings that keep you from achieving what you want to achieve, your talent, your hard work, not the circumstances of your birth, should decide what you can be. [applause] when we formed the coalition in 2010 three-quarters 75% of our manifesto, became part of the government's agenda. the priorities on its front

page fairer taxes, investments in the poorest children in our schools, fixing the economy and political reform became central to what coalition government did. and that's why this manifesto matters. it is a program for a liberal government with decency, tolerance, and generosity. and once again, we've set out our top priorities on the front page. prosperity for all with a budget balanced fairly and investment in a high skill, low-carbon economy. francine: here with more from bloomberg politics is the anchor of that program and we're just hearing from nick clegg. he's launching his manifesto, and he talks about voting with conscience. he said that they're on course to what we had. of course, he's part of the coalition we had the last five years with the conservatives, but he seems to be playing on people's dignity, on saying you know, what hurt the dignity, and i guess the

scottish national party. >> he's joining a contrast between what he calls the coalition of convenience. he wants to get out of the european union and the s.m.p. that wants to take scotland out of the u.k. union, he's putting those in the camp of greeance, saying those parties are going to be governed by grievances, whereas he said if the liberal democrats were to enter a coalition of conscience, and that's the line they've been taking for a little while now in terms of their role in government. they've seen themselves as applying some kind of conscience, in their words, to the conservative government. it was really interesting he took the time about this because as we get closer to may 7 and the election, everybody wants to work out what those coalition negotiations or even if it's not coalition, what those negotiations after the election are going to look like between the parties, who's going to be there and what's going to be said behind closed doors. so interesting that he was

reminiscing about the gutsy thing that they did, about putting the country first. these are the words that he used just a few moments ago. he was saying this time around, who do you want to be having those coalition conversations with the conservatives in labor? do you want it to be forage and salmons, or would you like it to be the lib dems? really saying -- francine: i guess that's the crux of the matter is, because the polls are so close. anna: we know we're expecting some kind of coalition but because you don't know the number of seats, it's hard to negotiate ahead time. francine: germany as a coalition, but here we have no idea what we're looking into may 8. anna: yes, although they don't talk publicly before. you get from the labor party and the conservatives. you continue to get the line that they want to go for a majority even though the pels as you rightly suggest, point us toward some kind of coalition.

a hung parliament at least. so yes, there is some contrast between how the terminal that nick clegg is -- between how the terminology that nick clegg used, where's the other parties are still talking about the possibility of labour. francine: in 25 minutes, we're also hearing from the politics schoop, we'll hear from him, and he's launching his manifesto. anna: exactly. we've heard from the lib dems around bank tax, opposing the airport, balancing the budget, cutting taxes spending. up next, as you say,, they are going to launch their manifesto to the east of london, a place where they hope that they can win a seat. they really are standing on the campaign that is get out of the european union. they think they can say 32 billion pounds, by changing the way scotland is scrapping the route.

they want to take that money, that 32 billion, and spend it on police and defense. that's what we're going to get in the manifesto. they've been given a lift this morning perhaps from the europe story that quotes in bruce he will as saying there's no change. the conserve tives said yesterday they wanted to have a vote on a e.u. referendum out of the e.u. by the end of 2017, so something in that time might be giving the conservatives a headache if that story in "the times" can be stood up. that's certainly going to lift the experts today. we also have later in the politics program the deputy leader he'll be speaking to us about what role that party could take in any talks, any alliance talks after the election, maybe we'll play him what we just heard from nick clegg. francine: anna edwards thank you so much. here are bloomberg's other top

stories. china's economy expanded at the weakest pace since 2009, with data pointing to a deepening slowdown. growth was 7% in the three months through march from a year earlier. nokia has agreed to buy alcatel-lucent worth 16 billion euros. the deal will see nokia surpass ericsson to wireless infrastructure already. and google has been told it will face e.u. charges that it violated antitrust rules, according to people with knowledge of the matter. a decision will probably be announced this week. google could face fines and constraints on how it delivers internet search, while rivals using microsoft and expedia have accused them of highlighting their own web services and key results at their expense. now let's check in on the markets, and jonathan is your man. jon? jonathan: just about getting to session highs. we've got gains of .8% over in

spain. the dax really punching higher now, up by almost a half of 1%. we get back to the all-time highs, up .4%. i look to china, g.d.p. growth comes in line with estimates of 7%, but it is the weakest growth for some six years. you got to go back to 2009 for that. but it's the bad news-good news scenario and that's what's taken the ftse 100 a little bit higher. industrial production out of china, ugly. retail sales not looking pretty either. will the chinese authorities have to put one of those leaders? that could give them some support. it's that kind of day, bad news good news. over in greece, they got away some t bills yield coming back on the 10 year, but still a yield of 11.8% for greece. german yields near record lows. yields in germany come lower and quite remarkable moves in the bond market over the last week or so. and it's those moves in the

bond market, the two, three, four in germany below the threshold of negative .2%, the stuff the e.c.b. can't buy that's leading more people to talk about bond scarcity . as we go to decision time over the european central bank, no change in policy expected, but plenty of questions expected to be aimed at mario draghi on whether he will think about ending that program early, already talking about an e.c.b. taker, quite remarkable stuff. for the euro stocks higher, guess what's weaker. the euro dollar up by .6%. francine, back to you. francine: jon, thank you so much. although china expanded at the weakest pace in six years, billionaire investor is betting on an improving economy for the country. he worked for george soros for more than a decade making billions with bets against currencies such as the pound.

he sat down with stephanie ruhle for an exclusive interview where he talks about china's stock market. >> the chinese stock market subpoena 146% after objecting a down trend, and it's doing so on record volume with record brept. if it was any other stock market or certainly any developed market, i'd tell you being a market observer, there's a 98% chance china will be in a cyclical boom six to 12 months from now. because it's china, and we don't know the nature behalf we're dealing with here relative to a normal mature developed markets, i would downgrade that assessment from 95%, but i would still hold it over. stephanie: because you don't trust the data? stan: no, it's not the cat, i'm watching the markets. whenever i've seen a stock market explode on record volume

and record breadth and move to that degree, like day follows night, six to 12 months down the road, you're out of a recession and you're into a full-blown recovery. the reason that happens, i think there's enough of that that it's certainly greater than 50% china will be in six to 12 months, and just think of how differently the world is thinking about that. the fed had it in their minutes last month as one of the reasons to delay or one of the reasons of concern was the chinese economy. christine lagarde was on the cover of the "financial times" last friday, her biggest worry, the chinese economy. as someone who's trying to think of what security prices might look at six to 12 months down the road, i'm very intrigued with, a, the possibility of a chinese economic recovery and how differently we all might be thinking if it's actually unfolding later in the year.

francine: we'll have more of that exclusive interview after this break. up next, stephanie ruhle will join us, and we'll get his thoughts on europe and greece. ♪

francine: welcome back to "the pulse" live from london. stan truck en miller has one of the best records of invegs.

he spent years working with george soros before starting out on his own and for a quarter century, his fund was returning 30% annually. he spoke exclusively with stephanie ruhle. take a listen. stephanie: you think greece is leaving the eurozone? stan: probably. stephanie: do you care? stan: i'd care a lot more if i were greek. i think if you mean do i care as an investor -- stephanie: yes not as a vacationer. stan: draghi has q.e. at his disposal, my guess is there won't be contagion. but even if there is, he can contain t. i don't get this theory about how greece plushes themselves down the toilet, oh gee, let's do that too. i think a more rational response is for them to go to reform and become more embeded in europe, not less.

so i frofere see greece stay in the yours for a lot of economic market reasons and maybe humanitarian reasons. but as a market participant, i think it's way overanalyzed and way overrated. francine: that was famed investor, stan drumen miller speaking with stephanie ruhle. stephanie joins us from new york. this is exciting, having you on the show. is that bullish or bearish on recovery? stephanie: without a doubt it's bullish. it's so exciting, look how early i woke up to talk to you. he is pretty bullish on the european economy, and i said, is it just a trade? i mean, there's tons of distressed investors to say i love europe, but they don't actually love it. they love it for a short period of time. stan disagrees. he actually thinks there are great companies out there, specifically he likes telecoms. he also likes china. he sees the recovery in china being a real positive.

if you pair that with the weaker euro, he thinks it can really help european companies. francine: yes, on the euro, you asked about the euro. i listened to the interview, and you really quizzed him. it was also very funny, so make sure you check it out on bloomberg com. what did he say about the euro? stephanie: do you think the euro could get into the 80's? take a look. stan: there are a number of things that point there. number one that would be about the average move in a currency when they get into a big trend. i can't quite remember, but i think it's 55% or 60%, and that would target that. number two when people kind of look astounded when you say it could go to 80, it was an 80 in 2000. just roll back in your mind where we were in 2000, perception of europe versus the perception of the united

states. do you think the united states is stronger or weaker relative to europe than it was in 2000? stephanie: i do hope you will join me throughout the day. we're going to air my entire sitdown with stan. he's quite positive on europe. he likes china. it's here in the u.s., the fed policy has him so concerned, he doesn't want rates raised in june, he wants them raised yesterday. he's saying it is a call to action, as opposed to the layer summers, the blinders stan is saying wake up, fed, raise rates. francine: all right. what a great interview. thank you so much. i'm looking forward to hearing it all day. stephanie ruhle there, who got up nice and early. stephanie: too early! francine: never too early. you can see the rest of the interview throughout the day right here on bloomberg tv and bloomberg.com. you've got lots more to say about the fed, about china, and what he thinks of the big increase in activist invest. here are some of bloomberg's other top headlines.

japan is set to overtake china as america's largest overseas creditor for the first time since 2008 when the u.s. is holding issues later today. china cut its investment in treasuries in january, while japan added 7.7 billion dollars. old mutual's chief executive is planning to step down, according to sources. roberts, who is 57 and spent more than six years at the helm of london-based company, is africa's biggest insurer. the company has declined to comment on the report. and samsung has created a stand-alone team of about 200 employees working exclusively on screens for apple's macbook and ipad. the move strengthens ties between the companies and confirms apple as the biggest external customer for samsung's components. coming up -- more on google and the possible e.u. antitrust charges. ♪

francine: welcome back to "the pulse." scientists at the institute of technology are showcasing their latest creation. meet fiscal cliffee, your new loyal robot service. >> fivee is the best controlled robot. at fifi, we focus on easy interaction, so you just can wave at fif sandith system follows you and can carry heavy

stuff. i work at the institute of material handling and logistics. fifi is a research and we worked on fifi foreabout three years. fr ifi is very useful in areas where people have to carry heavy stuff. for example, if you order something in online shop someone will walk around, up to 25 kilometers per day so fifi could assist them, follow them. it's a lot easier for them to work. with this recognition we can detect when someone is walking, making a gesture, and then fifi walks behind you like a well trained dog. francine: matt needs to be cooking, needs to be involved so he can really, really help you out in all matters of

domestic bliss. here's whammings you need to know for the rest of your trading day. first, a rate decision at 12:45 london time. then mario draghi will deliver his news conference 45 minutes later. you can watch the whole conference right here on bloomberg, and we're now taking a look at what we're watching for the rest of the day. for that, we're joined by the one and only hans nichols. we're expecting the e.u.'s report into antitrust complaint against google soon. hans: we're expecting something. we know there's a press conference scheduled in about eight minutes' time in brussels. we don't know for certain if it's on google, so we've got to be very careful there. if and when we get google news, there is a great deal of concern. you saw the company acknowledge yesterday in an internal email they were bracing for something. this is part of a broader strategy, a broader challenge for google all across the european union, and now in countries like india you saw the b2b report earlier there there may be antitrust concerns in india. there's some reports out there

about france as well. so big question on google. i know we are both big believers because we have so many embarrassing clips out there. when we google ourselves on an hourly or daily basis in your case, you want those clips to be forgotten. so google has been dealing with antitrust issues and the european commission before, so we'll see how they respond this time. francine, you can deny you don't google yourself. francine: well the problem is there are actually embarrassing clips. you have a knack of getting people to say exactly what they don't to want say, but yeah, there's some stuff which i'd rather not have out there. how much protectionism is at play here? hans: we talked to a german politician, now the head of the digital commission at the e.u. and in some ways he's very open that he wants a regulatory framework within europe that is stronger and protects european companies and protects european priorities.

i mean he's, frankly, embarrassed europe hasn't competed as well. i talked to him about three, four months ago in munich, and it seems like one area where he wasn't overly concerned was the auto industry. he said the auto industry can compete, but this is the next fight. we have autonomous driving and all the major auto manufacturers start coming one self-driving vehicles. so that could be another potential fight. but that's one where at least the germans feel like they have the know-how advantage. but at least the rhetoric, it seems protectionist to me. francine: yeah absolutely. hans we have google, and this i think would be my top story of the day. this is a huge corporate story. we'll see whether we actually get anything beefy the fines, whether we still have to wait six months, a year from now, if we get anything today. we also have the e.c.b. how much should we look into this? i know you've been covering greece day in and day out.

this is mario draghi that's been put in a position where he actually has to see about when q.e. may end. he started q.e. six weeks ago. hans: remember the tantrum in the states where they indicated they'd taper sooner? to me, the most important question mario draghi can be asked is what happens if you don't get the april 24 agreement between greece and its creditors. there's no agreement. are the lines of credit, are the windows to cash, liquidity windows, going remain open? because i think they're at 74 billion, the current ceiling for emergency liquidity assistance f. that window is closed there will be a very difficult -- there will be a great deal of difficulty by the greek banks to stay liquid, to actually get money out there. and then we'll see whether or not they impose capital controls. to me, yes, april 24 is interesting but it will be very interesting to see what mario draghi says the e.c.b. standards will be if it looks like greece doesn't have an

agreement. francine? francine: of course, they have the best interest because of the liquidity they provide to the bank. it will be interesting. i think they should have a new benchmark, but depending on how many questions mario draghi gets on a certain topic it's basically the opposite of what investors should be worrying about. if he gets 100 questions on greece, the markets don't even see greece and we're at record highs. hans: it's inversely related, you're on to something, francine. if we wouldn't go to jail on it, we'd go to jail for it but we wouldn't expose our attentions on live television. we also need to see what happens when john kerry arrives at the g-7 meeting in germany, and how does he sell what happened overnight in the states in terms of the u.s. congress getting more say in an ultimate iran deal how kerry sells that to his german and french and other counterparts? that's the crucial thing we should also watch throughout

the day. francine: we certainly will be watching it. thank you so much, hans nichols, in berlin n. his new book "dealing with china," we've been speaking to investors and we'll hear plenty more from tom on china. in terms of the biggest interviews we have coming up, we have mr. paulson these are two great interviews you don't want to miss later. he's the chairman and founder of the paulson institute. he was the former u.s. treasury secretary. it will be interesting to get his take on this new book that he has out in dealing with china. today we found out that china's economy expanded at the weakest pace since 2009. we've been trying to discover whether that means you should be worried about it or whether it just means there's a shift in balance that actually just becomes a stronger economy because it's gotten rid of all that overhang. another interview is the u.s. treasury secretary. he's coming up a little bit later today. now, just a reminder you can follow me on twitter.

for u.s. viewers, it's "surveillance" with tom keene and his team. there's guy john sofpble he's doing a debate on europe and the u.k. coming up now, anna edwards with the politics show. ♪

>> this is bloomberg "surveillance.

tom: china is the new mediocre. greece unravels. can eu deflation -- this is bloomberg "surveillance." wednesday, april 15. i am tom keene, joining olivia sterns and brendan greeley. our top headlines. olivia: chinese gdp rose at the weakest pace, 7% was in line with estimates. a slowdown that seems to be getting worse. china is trying to transition to an economy or consumers and services make a bigger share. >> the new impetus is showing momentum. in general it is still small, although it is going fast.