♪ manus: nasdaq closes at a record high. we bring you the latest on the markets. anna: u.k. finance chief to send on rega before the country runs out of cash. we are live from the capital. mark: time warner ditching its plans for a merger that would create a cable giant. we bring you the details of this bloomberg school. manus: another merger looking towards asset management -- in a

deal worth $5.8 billion. we bring you the details behind the megadeal. anna: u.s. authorities identify the trader libel at deutsche bank. we take his role in what looks like a fine for germany's largest lender. mark: hello, welcome. i'm mark barton. also coming up today, emily chang sits down with facebook's chief officer and virgins richard branson for an exclusive conversation on the balancing of work and family. we will bring you that later in the show. manus: the nasdaq futures are trading higher this morning, as

we get started here in europe. the end of asia signaling a potential for record high. that comes on the back of the nasdaq composite topping its.com era peak. why investors are so bullish the tech woman is in the house with these stories. caroline: think it so much. look this record high in the nasdaq. whenever this dotcom boom? i'm sure you do. we search past that 16-year high. it looks like we could rise, once again. all down to three key points. let's get to the biggest in terms of sales. and that is not other than amazon. it is all about retail, e-commerce for amazon. this is a company that brings in $22.7 billion per quarter. in sales, sales up 50% -- they

be the estimates. and drastically, they start to break out in terms of what they do in terms of the cloud computing. this is about a retailer, a company that actually wins when interest gets bigger, when netflix get bigger. why? they preventovide with the power via their web service. they break it out by showing them they are up 49% in terms of sales. clearly, the cloud is a key growth area. again amazon just flashing that cash. they have spent $22 billion this quarter. they made it, but they spent it to invest in their future. once again, we are seeing investing in new warehouses, new data centers -- in media content. remember, he is trying to make us completely addicted to amazon. by getting amazon prime to watch

videos. on your tablet, there might be on your fire or kindle. also, your worldly needs -- the goods on your house at the touch of a button. you can order to detergent with amazon.. tens of millions have amazon prime, but more use it to shop. he wants to make us all a prime addict. to make it an every day necessity to our lives. amazon beating as it goes. let's go to microsoft, it is the second biggest in terms of sales. we have them up 22 -- we see them up 6%. $22 billion is what this company is bringing in. 3% up in terms of the share price. once again, we are seeing this theme -- it is all about cloud computing.

this is where we are seeing the growth being driven for microsoft. office 365, you can use it on your microsoft hardware, and you can access it via apple and android made by google. they are selling more expensive services the of their internet search. that was up. gaining on google a little bit there. a bit of a slowdown in the pc market. but it is a beat for microsoft. let's look at google. we talk about google as such a key player, such a huge company and terms of market value. interestingly, it doesn't have as big a sale as microsoft or amazon. it is some $17 billion. revenue they pass on to partners. that was up 14%. investors seemed to shrug it off. shares thriving after hours. they're getting more clicks,

more are going to their advertisements. prices per click, that the volume is up. clearly, the interesting area is youtube. youtube is why we are seeing the amount they are getting per click going down. they're saying it is less lucrative. mobile has the momentum. it is all about mobile and the availability there. it is also about video too. google still managing to woo too. mark barton: the indices are trading lower right now. let's go over to david in hong kong. good morning, what is happening in your part the world? david: good morning, guys. what i can tell you, the regional benchmark was what was in the green. we were poised to in the week on a high note.

that being said we are looking at four straight weeks of gains. we are barely underwater right now. this is from the weakness of the chinese markets in the past. as you can see here, it is fairly mixed -- you do have the bigger markets like japan, rea, hong kong and the red. perhaps singapore is an exception. the top performer is australia -- we are up. the market just about wraps up its trading day, we have just a few minutes left. that said, the volume is quite light. again, as i mentioned, we are going for 14 days of gain. we see things turn around a bit after the last 17. we have seen a bit of a run as far as equities this side of the world. we'll get to australia and a bit , i will flesh it out in a moment. let me show you what is happening in fixed income.

a big spike yesterday as you guys will know. take a look at japan, we are about falling 5-6%. and it depends on what japan and germany are doing. let me flesh things out, as i mentioned. that is a cross-section of what is happening in that market. two things, first -- oil prices. that is continuing to push up in australia, up 2.4%. this is where you have the mining stocks. iron ore rprice is valued up 50%. that is moving up for mining stocks. i mentioned metals. why? a few things they are talking

about their cash flow situation -- there debt flow situation. a lot of details here, but to make a long story short -- we are looking at an additional $2 billion in debt repayment. things are under control, take a look at shares and the top performers. 5.5%, 12 months back, this was north of five dollars. icbc is now the world's most valuable bank. this 120% rally up on wells fargo. we are north of 310 billion dollars for valuation. mark: news that some progress has been made on its restructuring plan? david: yeah, that was the big news over japan. we know the challenge of the company's been in. what you have is the debt

restructuring plan. in principle, and based on our sources, two of the main lenders have a great for a debt/equity swap. in exchange, this is only a principal based on our sources -- they will have to commit to austerity measures. shares right now, these are sharp shares. we are down 1%. 269 yen a pop. over a two-year period, it is a loss. thank you. mark: david in hong kong. manus: the euro area finance chief's meeting in reg and

let the of. aon the negotiations with greece to stay solvent. with talks about to get underway, hans, we have the greek prime minister urging angela merkel -- that is only a few days away. is it remotely possible is there a commonality? what other percentages? hans: well, it depends on if you think the deal should be cut in brussels. or you think that should be done at the eurogroup level. where everyone is meeting here in latvia. we just heard from the v and finance minister. he says there needs to be more trust. the information coming out of greece needs to be better. there is a little bit of frustration from him, that the information on the granular level is not that good coming out of athens. downplaying expectations has been the general theme for the

last few days about what could happen here in rega. he was speaking yesterday, this is how we put it. he says the greek government has got to show some backbone in its reform efforts. time is of the essence, it is an urgent matter. think of these talks as a one-our meeting between merkel and him. think of the talks here as technical. the germans seem to want to funnel all of the talks to the technical level. they want a decision made by the 19 members of the eurogroup. we see here if a deal can be cut overall, the big question -- do you want greece to stay? that seems to be his preferred option. on the low merkelangela merkel and others will start funneling into this building. we report back. manus: medication and the way

that it is done it is a make or break in his discussions. between all the parties, what efforts are in place? hans: bloomberg news has occurred at about a special hotline between the greek government and its creditors. from the greek's side, you have papas and the imf director. you also have benoit and a couple of other officials like jean-claude. according to one person familiar with the matter, they want to make sure there isn't an accidental default. they want to stay in close contact with each other. one person we do not believe on that list, the finance minister. a key question for this summit here in rega is how much good ability he has with his counterparts? to what extent do they think he can deliver on the technical or

overall structural deal to keep greece in the euro zone. manus: that is a great point. hans is in rega. we will have more on the greek situation later in the day. we will be joined by the mayor of athens. and you can see the interview right here at 12:00 london time. mark: we are getting more details about deutsche bank. they say that the one trader responsible for the scandal, it resulted in a $2.5 billion hit for the lender. anna: he is called trader three. or christian, by people familiar. he was most profitable derivatives trader in 2008. taking in over 19 million pounds. manus: he worked at deutsche bank between 2001-2007.

he sent april in a very notice of fines last year. he was trying to rig benchmark interest rates. that is according to another person familiar with the matter. he has not been charged with any offense. mark: top stories this hour. comcast is dropping their deal with time warner, according to people familiar with the matter. the proposed merger which took over a year for federal approval, faced opposition from the u.s. justice department. they announced the news earlier today. due to credit they agree to merge their asset management groups. valued at about 5.4 billion euros that would be about one third of the new business. and general atlantic will own the rent.

pre-ordered apple watches will be delivered today. next to you, you will be able to pick up the most anticipated product in years from select stores in cities around the world. federal reserve tampering is the greatest risk to the economy. we talked to the chief executive,. >> the thing that worries me most is what happens when the tapering ends. and i think that growth is going to be a long and interest rate will be longer than people think. anna: you can join the conversation on twitter. let us know what you think. training at the moment is the time warner cable potential comcast moving away, and nasdaq trending at a record high. mark?

manus: we take a look at how greece can control its deposits. we also talk sports and the business of sports. let me bring you a bloomberg exquisite conversation with sheryl sandberg. but first, join us after the break, when we talked to greece about the finance minister's meeting in rega. he is going to join the three of us for the start of the trading day.

♪ anna: as greece talks continue capital is leaving the banks at an alarming rate. 24 billion has been taken since november. one way to stop this could be capital controls. but with the greek people except this? >> greece is on life support. in the greek people know it. they are pulling cash out of the banks. deposits currently stand at 140 billion euros, 12 months ago that figure was 160 million. the european central bank is maintaining liquidity in the economy, with an assistance program.

so far, 75.5 billion has been injected by the ecb. but greece cannot agree on the next course of treatment. unless they do, the triage could come to an end -- turning off the funding and leaving greece alone. that could require an emergency procedure -- capital controls. those controls could restrict the amount of money that could be withdrawn or transferred abroad, as happened with cyprus. it limits daily cash withdrawals to 300 euros. without a deal, the greek people could be with a bitter medicine to swallow. mark: we are joined by charlie head of microstrategy. greeks default without an exit is inconceivable by most. the chance that greece missing

the debt payment we put up 40%. most respondents said it will not trigger an exit. do you see a default, could that not lead? >> if, for example, they are late on a payment, the mf says theyimf says they are in default. they have 30 days to pay back. even when we had the first greek bailouts we almost immediately came to the conclusion that another debt forgiveness or debt transformation package would be required. and because of what is been going on that situation has been hastened somewhat sooner than people would think. nonetheless, it still leaves us in the same situation -- the

debt gdp is 170 something. it is too high and unsustainable. have to be adjusted. clearly, the europeans want to see some process and if you like, a willingness on the government to play the game. and to move to their side of the bargain solution. i think both sides have a vested interest in coming to compromise. but we haven't got the numbers and we haven't got, at the moment, they are still quite away apart. anna: we haven't seen things in portugal be contained. what are you expecting the markets to do throughout this. of volatility and uncertainty? >> that is the key differences time around. last time, although greece was the debt that blew out widest

we did see portugal and italy move along with it. this time, you are not seeing that at all. and i think that is also, to use the game theory analogy if you like, the two parties involved -- the balance of risk has changed. within the eurozone, a lot of the thought process has gone into possibly someone could exit. thereby, it is not quite as scary as it was last time around. on the other hand, you could say it set a precedent. and a year later, their economy is looking quite good -- they are valued at prosperity is that something that the europeans want? austerity such as portugal? i think the answer is probably no. there are pros and cons on both

sides. at the moment, it still seems that greece wants to remain in the euro. most greeks people want to remain. holding a referendum to hold up a new deal is probably a very viable solution -- largely because then it is a way that the politicians and the thoughts they have had can be used to modify the population as a whole. and then everybody has signed up to it and they cannot complain. manus: i want to bring you back to this week. we had a quote yesterday according to bill gross, the short lifetime. we saw years despite higher, the biggest move and the second-biggest day ever. would you view that against the burns? would you short them? you saw 190 billion euros. >> it depends on the time frame.

in the short-term, we've come a long way. we have faced with a very weak run particular from the u.s. is allowed yields to move towards the lower end of the range. i think the second course is going to look better. i am believing that there will be something of a deal or a compromise reached with respect to greece, thereby a safe haven of support could evaporate. i think we could see a little bit more correction. we are talking only 10 or 20 basis points. in the longer term, this juggernaut of the ecb is going to keep the yields close to zero. mark: 20 seconds, where do we buy? >> i think coming from a government bond point of view you have to start looking at where you start seeing

corrections? i think the peripheral spreads are in spain. they're starting to offer some value giving how much they haven't beaten up. i would go all in right now. i would maybe start nibbling and make my way in. ♪

manus: we have the friday feeling on "countdown." we have the nasdaq topping out at the new record high, the dollar swept it higher. however, a very one-day myopic view of the dollar is perhaps not going to look at it. 30-day, we go for the longer trend in the dollar. the overall trend as you can see in the last momentum part of this month is a little bit of a turn. you are looking at potentially

the first monthly loss. we are only a percentage into the green here. the dollar index itself is spiking higher. one currency which is moving is korea's. the dollar down is rising by 3/10 of 1%. this is week six of gain for korea. this is the longest rally, just always from her that. when you see that, the red, it is down. 8/10 of 1%, the market growth. they have had three rate cuts, they're at 1.75%. this is the second best performing currency. that rate cutting cycle can be caused in the marketplace.

they're betting that in april you will see a cut of 1.5%. and that is the view of most analysts. keep an eye on the euro swiss, as well. euro swiss, the momentum here has been for the euro to decline and the swiss to continue a little bit higher. that is proving a heck of a challenge. we have the momentum move there. are we beginning to restart the down slide there? on that trade? we keep an eye on the agm today. i'm pretty sure there will be a web stream on that. mark, caroline? anna: let's have a check on some other stories. the nasdaq close at a record high. gains in ebay beat estimates for

the first quarter results. it did manage to push this forward. we see that gains extended and beat earning estimates after hours. previously, it was held by lehman brothers. it is valued at around 36 billion. the former cia director, david petraeus, was sentenced to two years probation and ordered to pay a $100,000 fine for giving information to his biographer and mistress. more on that story later. mark: finance ministers met in rega today. for look ahead, we are joined by the chief political global analyst. the new term to describe greece citigroup pointed in 2012, the

new term you have coined is grimbo. greece in limbo, explain what this means? >> it comes from the term greg exit. grimbo, is great limbo. we should not think about the exit as a binary event. there are an interim's. anna: what are you expecting for this day in rega? angela merkel said she needed a deal by april? >> do-nothing the markets are expecting that. we are talking about a rolling deadline, as our finance minister put out an op ed yesterday for a new deal for

greece. he mentioned getting the creditors to change the way that they look at the man. there is very little likelihood of that. the greeks do not have a lot of leverage going into these talks. i do not expect a surprise kind of result. as greece gets closer to running out of money. manus: just a patchwork quote. we cannot even get our heads around that. the austerity that they are living through. the reality of it is that you need something dramatic to happen, to change the situation. or we just keep coming back to the same situation, making it worse. the truth of it is, europe is a massive debt. >> there are teams of the

of economists thinking how it might work out. what i'm suggesting is what we are seeing a moment is that the greats are telegraphing to their people. they're trying to find the best deal they can get. meanwhile, germans and other members of the troika are taking a hard line. this is not just about race. that is my point. the greece government is seen as having making negotiations that with complex and it is made it difficult for other parties. spain goes to the polls at the end of the year. it is not just about greece, it is not just about debt dynamics. mark: have the discussions between greece and its creditors become trickier than the discussions after the u.k.

elections in the formation of the next government? in the betting marketsm should they believe? tina: judging by the media maelstrom here, tempers are flaring. and there is an awful lot of its t of anxiety. think about the political events. if it is a complete surprise, we tend to see volatility. we typically see a five-day delay for forming a government. there has not been a coalition government in britain since 1974. this time, markets will be a lot more saneguine. we are not expecting anything like those kinds of raises. it could take a while. on the other hand, maybe it won't take so long. for all of their denials, i would not be surprised if there is not some back general

discussion about coalition right now. anna: we had flareups in the middle east with yemen. and that rocked the oil market. when julie looking at? at should we be looking at? tina: we saw the annexation of crimea, . and we saw isis. and the migrant disaster bringing them to shores. and yet, markets have not reacted as strongly as they might have done. none of these developments have become systemax. mic. why not? we get neither a growth shock or something else. mark: coming up, the news

managing to promote the biggest names in british force. garth champion, phil taylor, and lennox lewis talk about business acumen. ♪

mark: here is the second part of my interview with barry hearn.

the reach of his company extends to bowling, will smokerpool, snooker -- i started asking if there was any sports missed out on? barry: the two that i cannot afford i would love to run the ryder cup. it is the greatest golf event. i think i missed a trick, cricket has got my hand. you don't catch them all, do you? but in particular at the moment what we have achieved has blown everybody globally. mark: the indian premier league? barry: steady on. we just have a little tiny piece of the market. mark: having a piece behind it.

berry: i don'tarry: i don't believe that players can be behind things. what we're looking at, some of the sports are worried about this at the moment. golf is falling which is disappointing. it is not accessible because of the cost. there are no barriers to entry and there should not be. whether it be sex or religion there should be no barriers to sport. it should be about ability. we have to bear in mind that the blue-collar sports fan people who do not have a lot of money, but they're desperate to have fun. not just the traditional corinthian values what we want to see is a tear up.

mark: can i see the big bash? would that be the dream? barry: i'm halfway there. i think the big bash is great. i think there is too much cricket. i think oversupply can be a killer. we need to be more selective. and also, i have to say, i'm looking at things that may be involved women to extend. maybe superstars was to mar i think we should try? i think we should try to encourage that. mark: she is a 12 time champion in the women's four. sport. berry it isarry: it is based on

ability. no doubt, she hasn't heard other women to the cup again. however snooker is opened or. it is based on how good you are, not whether you are a man or woman. i do not like an excuse, it is only because i'm a woman -- it has nothing to do. a player, not a woman player -- there is the opportunity. she can go to q school. she is good enough to beat maybe half the players out there. is that good enough? with more experience, how much better could she be? it has you talking about it, me thinking about it -- she is a fine ambassador for someone trying to break into a sport they were born to play. mark: are you going to buy it? do you care? barry: no. i am over the moon

what was i thinking. i was having one of those control freak days. you know you want to buy everything question. i do a decent job in the amateur game, i keep people interested. at a level that i cannot cope with. last week there was a very good comparison. look at my offense, so the difference. you saw how good it was for my ip value. every now and then, i will look ll acquire someone. they have been a little bit replaced by the youth, the best young players -- in three or four years they are going to be unbelievable. because they are chasing her dreams. but the media still have to function. it only upsets me that they call

their annual event the world championship. i am not so bothered by that. i doubt that will last. the standard is so inferior that people will wake up and smell the coffee. it is the kiss of death. mark: you have phil taylor, a legend in your camp. you had steve davis. you promoted lennox lewis, legends of sport. this is a business of sport, did anyone have the most business acumen? barry: most of the ones you mention their were top of their field because they had brains. when they gave enough time to think about business, they were quite astute. i mean, some of them were successful and some of them were failures outside of their own sports, but they all had a

little bit. i was with lennox lewis last weekend in miami. absolutely the most laid-back happy, successful investor. he has a great lifestyle. look it me, he has the greatest heavyweight in the world. he has done well. you don't want to read stories about this guy was arrested stop lifting, and he was an ex-world champion. you cannot actually advise to much because you fall into that gap that you are not registered to advise. people like coral arearl are very sharp. he will never be a poor man. you try to help the younger ones to establish a routine of saving money, putting your tax money away. depending on how much they earn, if you get to the very top of

any professional sport, you should be set for life. that is what we want our heroes to be. anna: looking at live video live clips from the vlatvian capital of riga. officials are arriving to talk about greece. we bring you more live coverage throughout the morning. ♪

manus: women can have it all. that is the message from facebook's sheryl sandberg. she spoke with richard branson from with richard branson from virgin and emily chang about their companies and balancing work and family. >> one the reasons i'm honored to be here with richard, he will say this is government company. we do not have diversity at facebook. we do not have enough diversity in any company. the reason we wanted, because we think we will build a better product and company. we can motivate companies and organizations to really take diversity seriously. when they realize that not taking it seriously, it is harming performance. emily: this capture the

fascination of the company -- highlighting the issue of gender discrimination in silicon valley. what did you see in that row? >> so many women, not just in technology but across the industry, saw their own experience. you saw women saying i would a whole book about the experience. what is happening we have systematic stereotypes of women. and systematic biases of women. for men, likability and success are correlated. for women, they are negatively correlated. as they get more powerful, she is less like. i asked men all over, have you been told you are too aggressive? i do not know a senior woman in the workplace who hasn't been told she is too aggressive.

we know in gender-blind studies that men are more aggressive. but men are getting in the way. emily: hillary clinton is running for president. carly fearing justiorina just announced. >> this is the first time we've ever had to women running. the more the merrier. emily: coming from the world of market stature. richard: i rather it be henry the markethillary the marg aret thatcher. what was i trying to say question> ? emily: have either them called

you for advice? sheryl: what is exciting about having women on both sides of the aisle, i want more women in all parties. whether they be liberal or conservative, having women makes a difference. manus: stay with them, for more from that conversation we will play it later. mark: the nasdaq past its previous record. there is a lovely these on bloomberg.com. it has lots of headlines. that was the hottest ipo back in the late 1990's. and then it is kind of a then and now. a nonstarter the dotcom raised

110 million and was shut down roughly two months later. they are putting that one in that can't do. a great deal of that money shows no public sighting. manus: samsung, you wanted curved edges -- there is no such thing as a curved edge. mark: i like beveled edges. manus: the demand is soaring. they will get excited over strange things. mark: yes, you do get excited by strange things. anna: it has driven up their share price. bye-bye beefcake, you do not

have to be hot anymore. check that story up. manus: back in an hour. mark two minutes. ♪ :

manus: the nasdaq closes at a record high. "countdown e.u. finance chiefs looking to strike a deal on the greek unlocked bailout fund. mark: comcast is set to drop its plans for time warner. we bring the details of this bloomberg scoop. manus: merging asset management units in a deal worth 5.8 ilion dollars.

we bring the details behind the megadeal. caroline: u.s. authorities highlight the traitor they say is most responsible for most libor-rigging requests at deutsche bank leading to a $2.5 billion fine for germany's largest lender. mark: hello, welcome to "countdown." also coming up, emily chang sits down with facebook ceo -- coo sheryl sandberg and richard branson for an exclusive conversation about their companies and balancing work and families, later in the show. caroline: first, breaking numbers. electrolux the biggest home appliance maker in europe beating analyst estimates when it comes to operating income.

516 million swedish krona beating first-quarter operating income. organic growth is down .5%, but they say that europe continues to improve, the environment in latin america has been challenging with brazil at the moment. cost savings has been impacting earnings in a positive way and overall demand in europe has stabilized and they see growth of 1% to 2% this year, trimming down on costs putting production and lower-cost countries, and it's working. mark: astrazeneca, their total revenue grew by 1%. this is the company that turned down a $117 billion offer from pfizer. they are facing increasing competition after their acid

reflux drug is facing competition. first-quarter revenue up 1%, the first headline. crestor sales in the first quarter 1.1 7 billion euros, analysts estimating 1.22 billion, so the crestor sales figure was below analyst estimates. the company that analysts are hoping will rise with adjusted earnings at constant exchange rates. we are getting further details of other drugs. core eps in the first quarter 1.8, in line with analyst estimates. little river new growing 1%. we are just awaiting details on the forecast for revenue this year and profitability for this year as well.

the drugmaker which turned down the $117 billion dollar offer from pfizer. pastors and ago. manus: the nasdaq 100 futures are still trading higher, up 10 points. the second day of record gains on that exchange. that comes on the back of the nasdaq comp has a -- nasdaq composite yesterday. after the closing bell, three of the biggest tech players remind the market why investors are so bullish. caroline hyde, arotech who rue, has the details. -- our tech guru, has the details. "countdowncaroline: if you bought the nasdaq in 1971, you would be over 3000% higher. finally we are back above the dot-com boom.

three tech titans have come out after the bell, kicking off with the biggest by terms of sales. that is amazon. this company pulls in a cool $22.7 billion and first-quarter sales. phenomenal amount of money. sales up 15%, a boost. this is a company that is also making inroads in computing. it is not just about selling goods, they really show growth when it comes to amazon web services. now we are seeing them offering cloud computing. when that does well, so does amazon because they offer data storage, the computing power with aws, sales up 49%, an area of growth. of course, this company continues to splash the cash. they love to plow money into future investment, getting products to you quicker, investing and content so you become addicted to the amazon

kindle fire so you get all of the prime video and content and that makes you purchase more detergent when you need it. they're really trying to push it forward to keep investing in new warehouses, data centers, media content that has made amazon prime get tens of millions of users but they want it to be hundreds of millions of users addicted to amazon prime. they want people to use this. this is a feature of amazon, and we are still liking the fact they are plowing money into growing the business. sales up 15%, but a net loss still because they spend more than they made. amazon set to open higher because they drove higher after hours, up 8%. microsoft also rising after hours as we got results. $22 billion is how much they made on the quarter, sales up 6%.

they beat, and again cloud computing, cloud sales doubling again. we have seen that seven straight quarters. explicit services as well. and the last one we are looking at, google, $17 billion of sales, 14 billion if you strip out in terms of what they pass on to revenue partners, but it was a slight miss. still, shares rose after hours more clicks, even though prices are falling because of youtube. mobile is where it is at. mark: our international correspondent hans nichols joins us about greece. we are getting comments from the german minister, who said he does not see big progress on greece today. they are essentially saying the same thing, they do not expect a great decision today to be fair

-- to be fair that is not a big surprise, is it? hans: we were also hearing that from three finance ministers who are heading into this meeting saying they don't expect a lot of progress and no decision today. also hearing frustration bubble up from the eu commissioners and members saying not enough progress has been done on the technical side, the tactical side. just where greece is in terms of their committing to reforms that they setback on february 20 that they said they would commit to. they were notably subtly -- they were noticeably silent when they walked in. we do have some comments from earlier, from a website, appearing last night. first time we will read them here -- "our task is to convince our partners are undertakings are strategic rather than tactical and that our logic is sound. their task is to let go of an approach that has failed."

clearly we have tension at this meeting. the greek want to see an entirely new approach, the finance ministers asking for actual numbers, tactical updates. what is happening on the ground. and to some extent, his prime minister wants to talk about strategic questions, what do you do to keep greece in the euro. whether you think it is tactics or strategic, that could be the answer of whether you think greece will find a way to stay in the euro. strategically, everyone seems to agree, but tactically how you get there is a difficult process and not a lot of expectations coming this morning. hopefully we will get a read on these meetings to see the status update that they are sharing with creditors. mark: how have the communications channels between the parties, what efforts are up in flames? hans: bloomberg has been reporting there is a hotline, a back channel between the greek government in athens and its

creditors, including people from the imf and ecb the european commission. from the greek side, it is the state minister. it is not yana slurve fox. the fact there is a back channel to avoid accidental default, there is a hotline, and he apparently is not picking up the phone and is not part of that hotline. guys? mark: thanks, hans nichols in riga. stay with bloomberg on more of the greek situation for step we will be joined by the mayor of athens. that interview will be on bloomberg this afternoon. manus: asian markets are poisedtop to end the week on a high note, but the trading indices are just a little higher. what's good over to david standing by on hong kong. we still have the nasdaq futures

, but looking at the nikkei a little bit of a fade as we go to the end of the week. david: yeah, there has been a little bit of a loss of momentum. good morning, guys. a loss of momentum over the last hour, 90 minutes. across the regional markets this was not the picture when we started out friday. we are at the low point of the day. a lot of the major markets are about to close up shop for the weekend. the nikkei 225, last few minutes of trade, the asx 200, that is just about the only major market that is keeping the losses from moderate losses. i think we are just about flat. still a very good week. we are poised for a weekly gainful stop you go back four weeks, it is a fourth straight weekly gain.

i think at most we are looking at three days of red over the past 3, 4 weeks in asia. that said, a quiet day, the volume is light. australia, the big movers are the energy players, the oil prices playing a big part of that six straight weeks of gains for oil prices. in japan, it is a mixed story. still, earnings sony, and a chemical company leading the gains. in hong kong, we are still down with an hour or two of trading left in hong kong. a gaming stock leading the way. that said just about 70%, 80% of the stocks in the hang seng are down for stop china on the day was down as much as 2%. that said, i want to point out three stocks we have been following in asia. metals is one of them, shoring

up their cash flow. you look at where iron ore prices are added at this point, they are up 15%. i think 54 per metric ton, four dollars basically goes towards paying interest. we are trying to really bring down the debt obligation basically looking at an additional $2 billion more of debt they meant. -- of debt payment. china eastern air, the airline eastern carrier listed in shanghai, playing catch-up today. the past two weeks they have been shut from trades. of course, the world's most valuable bank that title now belongs to icbc the industrial commercial bank of china, this ridiculous rally we have seen up 120% over the past 12 months.

last i checked despite being down 3.1%, evaluation of #314 billion. -- $314 billion. that is number seven. apple is number one. guys? manus: david, thank you very much. who can catch apple? mark: we are getting more details behind deutsche bank's record fine. u.s. authorities say there was one trader responsible for the libor-rigging scandal. caroline: he has called trader three by the trading commission or christian bitter with people finley with the situation. he was deutsche bank's most profitable trader.

manus: he specialized in short-term contracts and worked at deutsche bank from 2001 to 20 11. the u.k. serious fraud office sent a notice to bittar last year for trying to rig bench interest rates. bittar has not been charged with any offense. mark: comcast is set to drop its proposed deal with time warner cable, according to people familiar with the matter. the proposed merger, which took over a year to win federal approval faced opposition from the justice department. comcast could not announce that news today. a new entity valued at 9.4 billion euros will have to lenders controlling 1/3 each of the new business.

pre-ordered apple watches will be delivered today and a select few will be able to pick up the most anticipated apple product in years from select stores in cities around the world. someone is still awaiting their gold apple watch. manus: bling, bling. caroline: i would be much obliged. manus: jay z is on your christmas card list. caroline: oh, yeah. you can join us in conference, we can accept your feedback. let us know what you think of the show. manus: be kind. caroline: be generous to manus. still trending, the nasdaq at a record high. mark: he is sensitive today, you have to be kind. could we have a second day of record highs on the nasdaq?

more after the break. ♪

caroline: welcome back. the nasdaq 100 feature still trading higher, signaling a second day of record highs after the nasdaq composite hit a peak yesterday record trading high. for more, we have carry greg.

i want to talk about the euphoria that seems to be going on in tech. microsoft, amazon google all seem to be wedding the appetite. is it misplaced? guest: i think u.s. stocks still have room to run. they are at record highs. i think it is more about the valuations and what you are paying for the companies at the moment. the nasdaq had a record high. the valuations on those companies are nowhere near what they were in the peak level, and that is what investors need to remember. they need to remember what they paid for those companies what they can expect from here on a market that has moved higher. manus: what is the biggest risk with all of the equity markets? guest: in the u.s., the biggest risk is the attitude of what the fed is going to do and when they will raise rates. we have seen expectations pushed out to the end of the year. if they come forward again

people are not pricing it in and the volatility will come back and stocks will react badly. manus: typically we show retracements. will we get the same philosophy on retracement in the u.s. when the fed hikes? guest: i think the fed is doing a better job this time of signaling what they are going to do. they are saying we will be very gradual, very slow, but there is still a massive disconnect with the market is saying and what the fed is saying they are going to do in the coming years. there is the chance of misunderstanding and you could get a large retracement. that does not mean to say that you will have a air market in the u.s. equities. sure, you will get backs, but you don't have recessions or extreme valuations, there is not an inflation problem more extreme tightening, nor are you seeing a problem with a commodity shock. mark: so you're saying oil has reached its bottom?

guest: that's a hard one to call. it looks like it is stabilizing a little from here, but i think you will have lower oil prices a little longer. how fast it comes back is another thing. i think it will be a gradual move up. we are not releasing the u.s. production declining at all. the total level has not inclined at all. it depends on your level of risk. i think you good look at them and say there is a attractive all uh and, particularly if you look at the larger ones and stay away from services. i think it is one of those that it depends on how much risk you want in your portfolio. caroline: oil perhaps greases to exhausting to call, not anyone knowing where to turn. are you expecting greece to remain in the eurozone? guest: we think they will stay part of the eurozone, part of the european union.

today you have the meeting nothing will change. i think the markets have become so used to these meetings and deadlines that are constantly missed that they have largely become arbitrary. i think the real deadline is june. if greece defaults on the bond to the ecb, that will be a big problem. until then u.s. fire he rhetoric between the parties. that does not mean that you will not see a default by greece but i think they could default on not paying their debt but to stay within the european union because it largely comes down to not what the eurogroup is saying, it is about the ecb. the ecb makes the rules. if they want to prop up greek banks after the default, they can do that. manus: asset management with citi. the dax, investors are losing faith with the dax. 27 record highs in 2015 but are they pulling their money?

investors are pulling over 3 billion euros from it. would you pull money from the dax, jpmorgan accident management --j.p. morgan asset management? guest: we think it is profit-taking probably. will they reallocate in european stocks, more than likely. some are looking relatively cheap. the german markets, the companies there. i think you will see relocation and to other european equities. the upside potential is so great. we are seeing earnings eat analyst expectations. at the same time, there are quite strong improvements in the economic momentum. we think there is a bit of improvement in the current environment, and the confidence of consumers, and the oil prices. mark: why hasn't elect oral

uncertainty carried the u.k. market? summer near their record highs. with uncertainty facing us, why haven't we seen bigger moves in equity markets? guest: i think the first is as you look at the ftse 100 they are benefiting from growth in the globe. more portly, it is the pic above growth in europe. 45% of our exports of goods and services go to the european union. if the eu is doing well, the u.k. will do well. the volatility in the u.k. elections is in the currency. you are seeing it priced in. people are looking at this election saying maybe it will be like 2010 and we get a resolution in terms of a coalition quickly. is that the case? i figure will be uncertain after the election.

any of the promises the parties are making now they largely could be broken because they will have to do deals, compromise, forming coalitions. a lot of uncertainty will be sitting for a long time after the election, and that will be the real damage that is done to the pound and may be the u.k. equity markets. again, the government is as important as the markets as the risk of the global economy, and even what the fed plans to do. caroline: kerry thank you much for being here for stop. manus: later, we will look at deutsche bank's record penalty for rigging libor markets. and then the final chart of the week. and before the market open, we will count you down with joe from ups. this bart chart is stunning.

stay tuned. ♪

manus: "countdown." the nasdaq is trading at its record highs. the dollar trading a little lower. the view that we just heard from the j.p. morgan asset management is if and when the fed rate hikes come there will be more volatility. the dollar is the backdrop going into the final trading day of the week. this is where we are seeing a

little more movement, which is the dollar is down, the south korean wuan is up. it is the longest rally since 2013. they beat market estimates. the central bank may slow down the rate of rate cuts three since august of last year. this is the second best performing currency in asia. so far this quarter it is up 2.8%. when and if the next rate cut comes, keep your eye on euro-swiss and the overall momentum on the euro-swiss. obviously that dramatic move was when the cap was removed. then you saw this momentous drop

, rally in swiss drop in the value of the euro. the question is, are you beginning to reassert a new downtrend. thomas jordan, the main man at the essen be -- of the snb will be meeting today. keep an eye on the euro-swiss. caroline, back to you. caroline: manus, thank you. the other top stories -- an american then italian being held hostage were accidentally killed in a u.s. drone strike on an al qaeda compound. president barack obama says he takes full responsibility for the deaths. president obama: as president and commander in chief i take full responsibly for all of our counterterrorism operations including the one that inadvertently took the lives of war and and giovanni. i regret what happened.

on behalf of the u.s. government, i offer our deepest apologies to the families. caroline: a canadian investor and chairman of a uranium export company has died at the age of 59. he was found dead in a hotel room in mongolia. he was in the country on talks for an award related to a dispute with the mongolian government and the cancellation of uranium licenses in 2009. the award was granted last month. and astrazeneca reported a better-than-expected operating profit, the first quarter coming in at 1.81 billion dollars, beating analyst estimates. mark: goldman, jpmorgan, morgan stanley posting strong revenues. let's take a closer look. i just looked at the numbers, goldman has beaten earnings 14

of the last 15 quarters, on a net income basis morgan stanley six of the last eight. are the banks becoming boring? guest: historically q1 has been very solid, especially for u.s. banks. the shareholders have become almost spoiled by the performance of u.s. banks in particular in q1. i think the rest of the year will not be so normal, should we say. we have reits moving higher in the u.s., which i think is a big challenge for investment banking. caroline: but we get see more volatility coming into the market and that should be helping in terms of expectations? guest: especially in stocks. it should be something we will look for. summertime we normally have the summer doldrums but i think this summer will not be quite as usual. caroline: i'm not sure there have been doldrums the past few years. guest: the volatility overall is

very low now almost too low. i think that is reflecting complacency. that's not going to last. manus: volatility? guest: i would be a buyer. the vicks, which reflects the s&p 500 options -- the vix, i think at 12, 13, that's him as too low. the historical average for the vix is 20 to 25. any chance we get to purchase volatility low, we can protect sales for the stock portfolio and protect sales. manus: i have that bad mismatch in my head of whether you write put options with volatility. talk to me about deutsche bank $2.5 billion of libor. we can now move on. is that the general consensus? guest: yeah, $2.5 billion is a

serious charge. even for deutsche bank, that is not something that you want. that is something you want to move on from. other banks have to resolve the matter. fx is the next big thing on the horizon. they have things going on that need to be resolved. five years libor has been going on. the fx scandal will not last that long. mark: what is the outlook for the european banks? guest: it's kind of two-dimensional. european banks have different problems. we saw it happen overnight. european banks were not as positive overall. european stocks have done very well. but yeah, i mean u.s. banks have streamlined their businesses. here we are, six years after the crisis, it is almost like european banks are several years

behind in terms of calming down their businesses combing down the balance sheet, focus on areas that are less capital-intensive. wealth management is a high-margin business, and i think that is an area. caroline: we have seen a rally in european banking stocks. you think people are just getting in, looking to the future? we know the next few years it's still going to be an arduous process, but have people got into quickly and valuations are not -- guest: yeah, listening to your previous guest, we have the dax up almost 20% your today, some profit taking going on right now. yeah, here we are the fourth month of the year, i don't see much more upside in europe despite all this money flooding in from the u.s. i think some moderation is required. manus: you have been doing a lot of strategies for a lot of asset

managers, sounding like a contrarian. i sat down with brady dougan the other day. can they all run on the west model and slicing down? guest: competition and wealth management is something completely different to other parts of the business. credit squeeze ubs -- credit suiseese, ubs, they are known for their wealth management. i will like to see what other banks do in terms of catching up. ubs and credit suisse should be wealth managers, first and foremost. i don't think what they were doing before really forms the core of the business, and that is why they move to fix income a couple years ago, ubs. mark: thank you for coming in, garreth ryan. manus: join us all on twitter. we are all there. the dax, it has made a number of

peaks. it is all about art and today -- it is all about mark barton today, with his business of sport, the bart chart. mark: up next, it is bart chart time. does china need to rein in its stock price? stay tuned. ♪

mark: time for today's bart chart. does china need to rein in its stock price, making it easier for short-sellers? measures so far have not done much to contain the rally, the shanghai composite rising. china security regulatory commission denying the government department suggested raising the stamp tax, resuming capital gains taxes, and controlling risks. the question will remain, how long will authorities let this rally run before stepping in to cool things down? on wednesday, the shanghai composite closed at its highest level for seven years, on track for its seventh weekly gain. your today data has surged 36%. since the red circle just five months ago, the index -- or the green circle, just five months ago, the index has surged 74%.

in the last 12 months, the red circle, the shanghai composite has more than doubled, rising 114%. that in perspective, that equates to almost 20 trillion yen of gasiin or $3 trillion. $3 trillion is more than the entire french stock market which is worth $2 trillion, the german stock market worth 1.5 trillion, or the canadian stock market. in those past 12 months, on the -- only venezuela's benchmark stock market has fared better of the 93 global benchmarks we cover on bloomberg. that is in dollar in local currency terms. if you compare the first 15 months of the current rally to the first 15 months of that rally from 2005 to 2007, there are some interesting

comparisons. the current rally is outpacing the earlier one, meaning the advances over the last 15 months is steeper gaining 121% versus just 77% in 2006. new account openings are higher, as is a measure of momentum, meaning the index is more overbought on a technical level. rowenta the mix the vet -- throw into the mix the valuation multiples have risen on this cycle and the value of shares trading has surged at a faster pace. china has a lot more to consider. one more point, does china need to rein in the stock rally? they have posted an average peak to trough retreat of the 8% after six rounds of previous policy interventions, going back to 1996. that is according to bank of

america. something to consider. i will leave the rest to you. manus: these are the top stories -- the nasdaq hit a record closing high, topping the d-t ot-com era peak. gains at ebay help to drive the benchmark higher, and we could see gains extend today as microsoft and amazon beat earnings estimates after the hour. google's eric schmidt has bought a 20% stake in a hedge fund manager previously held by lehman brothers, no price disclosed. the company is valued at $36 billion. the recent departure from the euro is not so likely -- is now so likely that officials from the euro area have acted as if they have come to terms with such an icon. speaking to francine lacqua, he

said the odds are higher than 50/50. guest: obviously, emotionally psychologically, it might be damaging. whether from a financial stability point of view i think we have come to terms. i got that impression in brussels this week. i got the impression from some of the officials they all must have a mind of, look, it's going to happen. caroline: let's turn to the u.k. election. the labor leader david miliband will face david cameron today. anna, it is an argument that we expected? anna: it is interesting one of the criticisms leveled against ed miliband is he statesmanlike enough. with two weeks to go into the election he will be making a big speech about international

relations, about the role of britain in the world. the tabloids have launched a blistering attack on the prime minister. he will say it is time to reject small minded isolationism that diminish the office of prime minister and shrunk the influence of written. specifically on libya, he will lay just a portion of the blame for the libyan refugee crisis on the door of david cameron. he will say the conservatives failed plan for the 2011 fall of colonel qaddafi is one thing he will say made this crisis worse. on europe, he will say he is going to take -- david cameron would take the u.k. to the brink of leaving the european union just to hold the conservatives together, and he will be critical of what he sees as the lesser role we played in the ukraine crisis. you remember francois hollande and angela merkel try to fix the crisis. this comes a day after david

cameron was in brussels offering worship said helicopters to the efforts in the mediterranean -- offering warships and helicopters to the efforts in the mediterranean. manus: kind of a counterattack from the conservatives, this is quite a heavy issue. this goes to the crux of the s&p. anna: with the snp on the rise, it seems to be one of the things they will be going for. that is something they want to get from the next parliament. english vote for english law things that do not affect scotland, that something conservatives will talk about. they will possibly have the first-ever english manifesto setting out english rate of income tax. some of the tax setting has devolved in scotland. they will also talk about how they will get these interfaced english laws into the first 100

days of the new conservative government. how they do that, with the presence of the snp is not clear because the snp argue some of the seemingly english laws have an impact on scotland. caroline: anna edwards, we will be tuning in at 11 a.m. mark: a live shot of london. equities expected to open like this, futures indicating stocks will open higher. see you in two. ♪

caroline: just a few minutes ahead of the market open, let's get to the trading floor. that looks like we could open higher. how much do you think we will see a followthrough in terms of the techs? we had record highs on the nasdaq. any follow-through with european stocks? guest: i certainly think it gives a good positive feeling of continued upward trend in the market and i think the nasdaq will probably touch new highs again, especially as we have apple watch day, which drives the tech stocks. i think that settlement -- i think that sentiment will help the european stocks. caroline: before we came on, you said it would be relatively quiet on the equity markets.

give us a sense of what we should be looking for. guest: there is not much reporting, but you have asters and a got today -- you have asters and ago -- astrazeneca today, there results were good. that should pull higher. we are calling those up about 1%, 2%. caroline: give us a sense of the political equation. many will be looking at latvia what may or may not be said talking about greece. any view of how the market will digest this? guest: i think greece is a cease all. i think the market is largely ignoring that. i don't think they expect a deal today. i disagree with what the eurozone and ecb is saying, that the greek fact is priced in.

i think if it were to happen there would be a disastrous effect on the european stock markets. i think as we get closer to the real headline in june, we will see significant volatility and more urgency to do a deal. caroline: we have heard reports, great stories on bloomberg talking about money being withdrawn from germany at the moment, people feeling the rally has gone too far. what are you looking at in terms of the various sectors. arnie overpriced, overvalued? what is the sentiment? guest: i think the money coming out of germany is largely profit-taking. i think german markets have had a fantastic run, but it still competitive. i think anything in the german market, the automobiles will do fantastic, any manufacturing sector the pharmacy sector is doing well. i think all the negative side, you have to look at banking because the sentiment is so dangerous. we have seen the libor penalty with deutsche bank today, which

is a significant amount, and that will be used as a political tool to bash and get political points. i think you want to stay clear of banking. it will be volatile. it is a volatile sector. caroline: joe rundflle thank you very much. we wish you a good friday and good weekend. mark: right, about a minute away from the start of the session. futures indicating stocks will open higher. it is all about riga? i think that is what hans is saying. manus: does not seem to be featuring in terms of negotiations. and you heard what joe said, a relatively quiet day. the nasdaq at a 15 year record high. we had that discussion this morning, a big discussion in terms of high. mark: citigroup coined "grexit."

it is now called "grimbo." caroline: too many. manus: we leave it to jon ferro to sort it out for you. that is next on "on the move." ♪

>> good morning. the plan for greece has failed. eu officials expect no deal. is the monster deal dead? comcast is said to be walking away from a deal with time warner after a merger that would create a new internet and cable giant. after a something erased about

$6 trillion from u.s. equities the nasdaq reclaims a record courier was a little bit higher. less theaters a little bit higher. >> investors are pulling money at the fastest pace since 2012. we made the peak on april 10. the dax is overvalued by about 15%.