anna: great deal optimism. asian stocks follow europe hoping that the greek default can be inverted. they gather for third time in a week as talks go down to the wire. you've heard of grexit and now there is frexit. le pen tells europe that a greek exit is inevitable and britain and france could be behind it. at one point or another, every country suffering in this currency will only want one thing -- escape from it. anna: the owner of the miami

dolphins football team is reportedly set to buy a stake in formula one. and hanging up on dryahi, rejecting an offer for his telecom business. welcome to "countdown." but start with a look at what we are seeing in the equity markets. optimism once again surrounding the greek talks. euro area finance ministers will meet and we have seen the global theme of optimism and equity markets. just to give you a sense of where we are, this is a chart of the past year on the euro stock. if we look at your today, we are up 15%, thanks to the rally we

saw at the beginning of this year. let's have a look at how the european equity markets closed. another decent day of gains, the biggest rally since january. the athens a stock market is up more than 6%. we saw strong performances coming through on u.s. indices. the s&p was very close to a record. greek optimism is one of the factors, along with a reevaluation on how quickly the fed is going to raise interest rates. there was reduced volatility in the session. the lowest in a month. that is the optimistic picture. asian stocks continue to climb overnight with the nikkei headed for a more than 18 year high. david ingles is in hong kong with the details.

david? david: when you talk about the nikkei 225, and i will show you the chart in just a moment we have in our left before trade, we have seen a dip across a lot of these markets off the highs of the day. you look at regionals, including japan, we are just about flat. the aggregate of everything together, most of the stocks are rising. we will see over the next hour or so how we end the day. but on the fifth day of gains we are back to levels where we are racing a lot of these losses from the successive days of decline. that said japan is at about 1000. striking distance to 21,000.

this goes all the way back to december -- we are off the highs of the day 20891. let me show you the market -- topsy-turvy morning session. it gets more interesting in the afternoon. i want to mention -- we are up for a second day with about 120, 130 points short of a racing that massive drop on friday. ubs putting out an interesting note -- they are saying get used to these wild swings on the chinese market. they are saying that we could fall further, to about 4000 -- a substantial drop. it will rally to above 5000 before the end of this year. if you look at the options market right now, the way these prices are being bid up shows

you that the market is still fairly optimistic that this rally could continue. we were looking at japan and the japanese yen -- a day of the strong u.s. dollar that is playing out across a lot of the emerging markets here in asia. a strong dollar continuing. we leave it there for now. anna: thank you, david ingles in hong kong. euro area finance ministers will meet for the first time in a week today, of course talking about greece. let's head to hans nichols in brussels. hans, how is it looking from brussels? what is the latest where you are? hans: the important thing to look at is the two votes in athens and berlin, and the sequencing. athens has to go first -- that is clear from german officials -- before there is a vote in

bundestag there needs to be a vote in athens. there is a thing called prior actions -- it means a list of deliverables. here is how any you official put it -- "we would like to see these prior actions to be spelled out in the form of a list, a complete list of deliverables." that gets to the lack of trust between the greeks and their creditors. they want to have something that is verifiable -- a distressed but verify. the bundestag could vote on monday or tuesday cutting it awfully close. when you land a plane on the aircraft carrier you catch the last wire -- the arresting wire. that is what it is like. madame lagarde is privately assuring her board that they will make that payment due june 30. the reason why that is important is that publicly she has been a little more skeptical. privately, she seems like they

will get their but publicly she says there is an enormous amount of work to do. also on the positive, we have the prime minister of spain. in the past, spain has been more negative about the prospects for a deal -- here's a statement. he says "i'm absolutely convinced that an agreement will be reached." it is all going to kick up here in brussels in a few minutes. the greek prime minister has meetings here. anna: thanks. let's get to guy in athens -- we get a sense of how tight the scales are. how does it look in athens? guy: the prime minister departs today. he will be meeting druggie later on today in advance of the eurogroup meeting. we then get the signoff, the leaders meeting thursday.

we may be looking at a greek boat over the weekend. we have been talking to the leader of the left faction -- he talks about the level of destruction against this country by the institution, whether or not he votes for it or doesn't vote for it is absolutely important. he could sway 10 to 40 votes with him. he is the energy minister. as soon as we get through the votes and that is by no means certain, we get to the 30th. whether it is midnight athens time or midnight washington time when it comes to paying the imf -- that question is still hanging out there. for the general secretary for economic policy he says that they have the money, they can

make the payments, it is just a political decision as to whether or not it has to happen. if we have a deal in place, it is likely that payment will be made. the timeline is incredibly tight over the next few days, and greek politics will play a big role. anna: interesting to see that domestic political situation. when we look at what's happening in brussels, we have talked a lot about greek debt being renegotiated. when we look at the detail done this time around any sense that we will get any sense of restructuring greek debt or is that something we will have to wait for? hans: it will be in the ether but i don't six back -- i don't suspect it will be in the document, because that will make it very difficult for angela merkel to get it through her

parliament, if there is a third bailout that includes a restructuring. that is not to say that the bundestag and german public isn't aware that eventually you will have to have a third bailout and restructuring. it is just going to be difficult to attach it to this process this program. the line has always been greece needs to complete the second program, and then after the completion, you could potentially talk about a debt restructuring. clearly, every economist you talk to believe that it needs to be lower you need to do something about that 108%. anna: guy, thoughts on the restructuring? whether that is a dealbreaker? guy: i think hans's point about the bundestag is going to be a step too far, but talking to people here -- when we were

inside the finance ministry, they talked about the restructuring needing to be a concrete part of the process. yes, we may not get it now but there needs to be some sort of commitment that we will see some sort of restructuring further down the road whether or not that is psi osi official restructuring, we don't know. it could be all kinds of different things. but they want to see it. they are pretty adamant that they want to see a commitment at some stage to this. anna: fascinating. that restructuring -- will it be in the text or either? thank you very much. that leaves us nicely onto our twitter question of the day -- from grexit to frexit. will the phrase catch on? we had a conversation with marine le pen. she said she will be madame

frexit if she doesn't return elements of sovereignty to france. she says that grexit is inevitable. she is leaning in the first round of the presidential election polls. 2017 is the date for that election -- a long time to go. as we had to break, let's look at what else is coming up. here on "countdown," we will speak to the retail gurus about the rise of the discounters and the international festival for business in the u.k. it is a year away but there seems to be some buzz building. then there is data due out later on -- first, the german phone confidence index from

recent polling. we will get a third reading of u.s. gdp, and look out for monsanto earnings later on in the afternoon. that could be interesting because they have been bidding. stay with us here on bloomberg for that exclusive interview with marine le pen -- more on that coming up after a short break. ♪

anna: welcome back. 60 minutes past 6:00 here in london. here are the stories you need to no. alexis tsipras will meet with the head of the european creditors ahead of a separate gathering of euro area finance ministers in the belgian capital later today as they discount the

remaining differences over the greek aide package. they will convene on friday for a summit in which they will discuss migration policy defense, and britain's call to renegotiate membership in the eu. byougue has said it rejected patrick drahi's offer. they added that the decision to turn down the offer was unanimous. people familiar with the matter said the unsolicited approach value the business at around 10 billion euros. the french president francois hollande has called a high-level emergency meeting following this week's report that the u.s. had spied on him and former french president nicolas sarkozy and jacque chirac. according to the report, the nsa listened in on the euro debt crisis and french minister's

about the possibility of greece leaving the euro area. 17 minutes past 6:00, let's stick with the french team. been talking a lot about grexit in recent weeks, but also the threat of a brexit should they choose to leave the european union and the forthcoming referendum -- but what about frexit? we sat down with marine le pen, the leader of france's third-largest political party. she began her exclusive interview by asking if we should regret the current situation in greece. >> i don't regret it. the greek government has conceded ludicrous reforms. the delay allowed by the european union shows that the eu has zero good solutions. they could have either give a way to greece, which is unlikely, or observed a greek exit from the euro, which could

have created a domino effect with other countries with the risk of demonstrating that outside the euro greece was doing better -- just like the economic nobel winner said. for could have accepted to renegotiate the debt and a series of countries would have knocked on the door saying they would want to renegotiate their debt, too. we are at the end of the logic and the problem will come back. >> you stuck this weekend about the social nightmare that the greeks have lived for the past five years. do you think that the french are ready to leave the same nightmare because the eurozone cannot happen overnight? >> what is horrible today is that we are threatening to throw grease out of the euro, hoping it will be chaos and a catastrophe. it is the organized deconstruction of the eurozone

altogether, calmly and coolly that will solve the problem. today is grexit, tomorrow is brexit, then it will be frexit. every country suffering from this currency will only want one thing -- escape from it. engage in battle with the european commission that is what mr. cameron is doing -- predicting a referendum in the u.k. is putting such a pressure on the european union that the eu will see to the demands of the u.k. it is really the battle between the form of tort tell terrorism from the eu and the sovereignty of the people who don't want to live the mastery of their destiny. >> party for a frexit, madame le pen? >> i will be if they don't give us back our monetary legislative, and territorial sovereignty. i believe the sovereignty is the twin sister of democracy. if there is no sovereignty there is no democracy. i am a democrat and i will fight till the end is to defend democracy. >> they will call you madame

frexit. >> i will ask the french to leave the european union, and then you will be able to call me madame frexit. anna: we speak to caroline now joining us from paris. caroline, what would a frexit mean, do you think? caroline: anna, it is the first time that marine le pen called herself madame frexit. of course, she is held by the current situation of the greek crisis and the possibility of a referendum in the u.k. she has two scenarios in her program of the national -- one is a pure and simple exit of friends, and the other is a whole breakup of the eurozone which she thinks would be a preferable scenario. she told me that the german chancellor, angela merkel

wouldn't hesitate to sit down with her and discuss this breakup of the eurozone if she is ever elected. as part of her plan, she wants 20% evaluation nationalization of the banks, and all these scenarios are scary for many economists that we talked to -- they said that creates a vicious circle of inflation and trade imbalances. marine le pen remains very strongly in france -- 25% in of the votes in the last election and some are predicting she will leave the first round of the 2017 presidential election. anna: caroline, thank you. let's get another view on this. let's talk to david lee. good morning.

sticking with this frexit -- it is a nice catchphrase, but will it catch on? does it have legs? david: i don't think it does. i think the french people and the french political establishments have shown themselves to be in favor of the euro and european integration. and as caroline said, le pen may well get into a position where she can get into the presidential election. unless she can carry this has a banner to lead people with, i don't think it is that popular. anna: what is the eu without france? david: exactly. many people say -- eu or u.k.? anna: let's talk about grexit, then. it has become all about winning the debate around greece. have we lost sight about what is the right outcome of all these talks taking place? it's just coming down to whether

the creditors or the greeks can declare themselves "the winner?" david: i think yanis varoufakis well known as a game theorist -- the thing is it comes all about winning. the actual quality of the decision that gets reached paves the way. what we are seeing in the last month, really, is all sides a multilateral situation, they want to protect their interests and they want their interests to come first. anna: but isn't the nature of compromise meeting that they have to cross those redlines? david: exactly. if you are following them on twitter on monday night, which is what i do -- anna: don't we all? [laughter] david: the commentators on the crisis were -- i hesitate to say

optimistic. they did at least show what came out from monday night that there is movement toward some sort of practical solution which has been sadly absent. anna: do you see the creditors united in this? the imf has been disappointed -- it has seen the lack of spending cuts. do you think any divisions amongst the creditors -- is that going to be material or will they fall into line? david: because it has been increasingly divisive the package proposed by greece doesn't really politically, in terms of economic policy and socioeconomic policy, doesn't really appeal to most of the sense of right-leaning governments in the eu, and the imf have been clear from several

months ago that they need a more -- so there are differences. but as you say, i think now that we are getting to decision time there will be some sort of compromise. anna: is there a risk that trying to get the athens government to pass this through parliament very, very quickly puts so much strain on the domestic environment in greece that we end up with the government collapsing in some way? david: i think there is. i think the nature of it as a movement -- their nature as a party means that they are necessarily going to come across hurdles and there is going to be the greek rebellion within them. i spoke a moment ago about the faction -- sooner or later that will become a problem. anna: david lee joining us. 6:20 6 -- we will take a break.

coming up, rejecting an $11 billion bid for telecom unit. everything you need to know about this french telecom company after the break. ♪♪

anna: welcome back. it's a 6:30 here in london. let's take a moment to check in on the foreign exchange markets. we have a one year of the dollar index -- the strong dollar has been a phenomenon that a number of companies have complained about as of late. they have all talked about how that has taken a chunk out of earnings or could threaten to. it was certainly a part of the earnings. when the first quarter -- how much will a feature in the second? you can see that we may have come off the highs of the dollar we saw in the first quarter, peaking in march, but compared

to last year, the dollar is elevated in the second quarter compared to where was this time previous year. that explains why we have a great piece today about how what is to calm for u.s. companies being stung by this currency phenomenon. and decreases profits when they are converted into dollars and makes dollar-denominated products a little bit less attractive, and you get that double hit. here are some of the top stories you need to know. the greek prime minister will meet with the heads of the ecb imf, and european commission in brussels. tech comes ahead of a separate gathering of euro area finance ministers in the belgian capital later today as they discuss the remaining differences in the greek adie packages. tim armstrong says that verizon will charge for the content business.

a comes as the carrier completed its acquisition of a well yesterday. -- of aol yesterday. >> are access and content is much more powerful than market share, and connecting with verizon will turbocharge it. i wouldn't be surprised if we end up being in the top three market share holders in the space. anna: you do has rejected patrick drahi's bid for its telecom unit and said it can get profit without being taken over. they added that the decision to turn down the offer was unanimous. the unsolicited approach to buy and bill value the business around $10 billion. let's get more on that story -- caroline hyde is standing by. a big price tagged being turned down. caroline: it certainly is. it was 10 million euros that was up for grabs for bouygues, if you are looking to dispose of

it. looking at terms of valuations, it is valued at about 14 times earnings, according to analysts. 10 billion euros is about double an offer done by a rival last year. a hefty price tag coming but the board wit unanimous -- but the board unanimously opposed it. the independent board members as well. some ink the french government party lines. the party minister has been voicing discontent about potential consolidations and effect it would have on the economy, employment, investment. but why did they turn this particular deal down? we can dig into why bouygues is so important, because this is a conglomerate, that does construction and broadcasting, but only 13% of revenue -- the

bulk of the valuation. 10 billion euros could be the entirety of bouygues. this is a hefty chunk of a business, and they are saying -- there is a new dawn, a new era. they see that there could be an area of ramping up. they say the telecom market is the dawn of a new era of growth particularly because of digital usage. they also voiced concern on execution risks. of course you will be struggling when the government doesn't like consolidation, and if you brought together the second and the third biggest names in french telecom, and and numericable-sfr sas and bouygues they are upping it even in the face of competition that we see.

the question is -- what next? what have they turned down? what is patrick drahi swallowing? he could have created in one fell swoop the biggest telecoms player in france. he would have had in excess of 30 million subscribers. 15 billion euros, thank you very much, in terms of revenue per year. four carriers to three is what we have seen in many other countries. we see that happening in austria, germany, ireland. we saw the number one player, orange, say four are unsustainable. i think we might be getting some more on this particular m&a deal. anna: thank you. caroline with the latest. let's stick with that theme as

we introduce our guest for the next hour -- allen higgins. thank you very much for coming to spend an hour with us. let's start with consolidation. the idea, according to those who practice consolidation, is that you take out the competition and get to drive up the pricing. pricing has been a bone of contention in the market. allen: thank you. whenever i see any m&a, i look at the finances. this low interest rate regime is important. bouygues -- my french is not very good -- when there is m&a, you no longer pay the 4%. anna: the bouygues telecoms part. alan: exactly. i noticed that they were issued

$10 billion overnight. they take it at very low interest rates. one of the reasons we are seeing such an interest in m&a is that the inquirer is looking at the idea of -- there is a business rationale, but even more than that, there is a great financial rationale. anna: interesting. they are trying to combine that. let's stick on that and get your thoughts on our top story -- greece once again. finance ministers meeting in brussels. you say that even if we get a bad outcome on greece, that could be final. define a bad opportunity. alan: the worst outcome is grexit, because that is not predicted by anyone. this is much longer term -- in

essence, we like to go against geopolitical situations. we put our money where our mouth is in russia last year. that is a general investment philosophy, that life goes on, business goes on, corporations come back. that is one. but generally, we always thought there would be some kind of deal and the issue is when we are talking about default, what does it mean? the main bonds have been defaulted on already. there is not much left. we are a fan of extended to pretend. we think that is underrated. anna: how much of the greek debt is currently noncommercial institutions, with other members of the european community and ecb and imf? alan: it is nearly all of it.

the big picture -- only 18%, may be circa 20%, our bonds in the private sector. including the bonds that were issued last year. there were two issued last year. the interesting aspect is that if the bond market was opened, greece would not be making a lot of money. over 500 investors applied for bonds last year paying a 5% coupon, so there is interest. i even give an analogy that the u.k. is running out of money. our gas is worse than -- our guess is worse than greece. it is all about the power of the bond.

if the government was credible and were able to come to market there would be no grease running out of money story. anna: so you say you would like to go against the geopolitical grain. if you had access to the greek bond market, would you be buying them right now? alan: good question. the reasoning is this -- the scenario we see is that basically, when they defaulted on bonds last time the debt of germany, france, and the efsf got extended from five years to 30 years. very low interest rates. we think that will get extended again from 30 years to 50 years. it will get extended. for the german people there have been no defaults so those bond geeks out there -- but the issue is that european authorities say

we can't let the bonds get off scott free. it is a political binary that i'm willing to take. we in portugal say -- [laughter] anna: thank you. alan higgins. 6:41 in london. the chunnel has been closed and euro stock services have been suspended. let's get more with benjamin cat. what is the status right now? benjamin: good news that came through this morning -- it has restarted. they are running as per usual. people are able to exchange filling of the trains. anna:? what was it that sparks the events in the first place

benjamin: there were protests on the french side. that happened after the tunnel was told that they were unable to maintain rail service to cross between the channel. the workers were concerned that it would result in some job losses. they went forward and things got out of hand. there was the burning of tires on the rails and some rubble. anna: the train operator -- what impact will this have on their underlying business? benjamin: because it just seems to be a contained event, probably not to significant -- too significant. they are reliant on the tunnel. yesterday we saw that with the suspension of service, traffic that was awful. there is a capacity question and there was a fire. but it seems to be under control now.

anna: thank you very much. benjamin katz with that update. could you have trouble with that alan? alan: no. anna: you can weigh in on our top stories on twitter. you can find me there. the question -- will frexit catch on? we had an interview with marine le pen, talking about how she would become madame frexit. coming up, they have been making cuts for more than 100 years, but they will be hosting their big launch today. that after a short break. ♪

anna: welcome back. 6:46 in london. here are the stories you need to know this morning. the greek prime minister will

meet with the head to the ecb, imf, and european commission in brussels ahead of a separate gathering of euro area finance ministers in the belgian capital as they discuss the remaining differences over a greek aide package. that likes declared a seven to one stock flip, rewarding shareholders after the stoxx doubled -- the stocks doubled. they have stored more than $40 billion since 2012. the uk's queen elizabeth ii has begun a three day trip to germany, making her first initial trip to a world war ii era concentration camp with a visit to a memorial and lower saxony, and meet angela merkel. david cameron will also be in the country to attend a banquet. let's turn our attention to

sport. reports are circulating that the owner of the american football team the miami dolphins and investors in qatar have teamed up to bid in a major stake in formula one. ryan chilcote is here with the latest. walk us through it -- who is betting? ryan: you can read about this in the budget papers. stephen ross is the owner of the miami dolphins, he bought them for about $1 billion. before that, he is the guy across from you on the monopoly board. he owns 50,000 residential units, giving him about $5 billion of net worth, including some real iconic ones in the pipeline like west manhattan. he is a big sports fan. between the miami dolphins and an american soccer team the

olympics and he and his team are reportedly looking at the books right now for formula one, though no eyes on the other side have confirmed that there is a possibility. . but it looks pretty serious. their decision to buy formula one is hailed as one of the best private equity decisions in history. that has returned something like 750%. they put into billion dollars to get it and have gotten $8 billion out of it. they may just get their opportunity. liberty global and discovery communications last year tried to make a deal with the principal stakeholder, and that didn't go anywhere. but this feels like maybe this could be something. anna: what would this mean for bernie ecclestone?

ryan: he is going to tour 45 in october of but they are sort of inseparable. the idf from people close to the deal is that he would stick around, even though he would sell his stake. what stephen ross probably wants to do, together with qatar would be involved ross and his team, really bring formula one to the united states, which is something bernie hasn't been able to do yet. nascar is king in the united states. if you want to do that, you want bernie on board. i don't know if you remember -- they went to bahrain. it is difficult to imagine how formula one would get organized though some might disagree without bernie. has been the alpha and omega of formula one from the beginning.

the idea is that in an operational sense, he would stay there as long as he wants. anna: thank you very much. ryan chilcote with the formula one story. sticking with the theme of autos and bringing in philippe. you heard him running through the headlines as it unfolds. . phillippe: it is sort of underdeveloped in america, and it is very important and it hasn't developed the u.s. angle. anna: would oppose a significant growth opportunities? philippe: there are a number of

places where it could take place. anna: on a different note, we were going to talk to you this morning about a new release from alfa romeo. you say expectations are quite low -- ways that? philippe: we have thought of turning it around and it has been disappointing. the technical choices made behind the cars in the past were a bit of a veneer and the quality of the product wasn't up to snuff. this time, the cars will be beautiful. two, the technical choices proper engine choices, proper wheel drive, will help a lot. finally, the quality gap between different brands has closed a lot over the past 10 years. i think the gap between our quality and other brands will be

closed. anna: it is really competitive, this premium market. bmw, mercedes, lambo. you have an interesting start in terms of what happens as the demand slows down. think that is good for the challenge? philippe: we have seen a lot of growth in premium share. the growth is normalizing a little bit, and you want to be a little bit different. for bmw, you don't want another bmw in town. alfa romeo jaguar, those friends are set for a comeback. anna: doesn't have to be a limit on the ambitions of these premium cars? philippe: there is a cap, or consumers will look for something different. all the brands have history they all almost went bankrupt in the past 10 years because consumers want the difference.

anna: what about the premium electric side of things? philippe: you could argue that it is a form of luxury. people who buy the tesla don't need the $10,000 subsidies they get in california. you make a difference and establish that you are a customer. anna: thank you very much for joining us. comments on the premium segment in europe. now we have breaking news on the retail environment in the netherlands and belgium. nara? nara: this is a decision for holders -- we heard that this might come today and they might announce the agreement today, and these are dutch and belgian grocers. base hit the transaction will be completed in may 2016. shareholders will have 61% of

the combined company. as this has happened, our poll says it will cancel its share. it has been years of speculation, but what has sped it up is the increased competition in the u.s. from discount retailers such as walmart. this announcement coming today -- we will keep a close eye on both those shares. anna: thank you very much. nejra with details of more m&a's. miss coming through -- this coming through. plus take a look at stories on bloomberg.com. tim joins us. what do you have for us? tim: we have a number of great stories today. far and away the most read story of the last day -- a lot of people interested in a big study that comes out every year in asian finance, the future of

energy. the readership has been tremendous. not surprisingly, they decided that the future is about solar, about small-scale solar, not so much the giant things. people with solar panels and a battery. anna: do you buy into greener technologies, one of the things you like? alan: no, we don't have it as a theme but it does make an awful lot of sense. the issue from a company point of view has been that china learned to produce these things cheaply and it became a very competitive bu i didn't like to think, in my own home, i'd have a solar panel connected to a battery. tim: it seems that the people

making money now are the developers. anna: i have no time to talk about it -- go look out for that. we will talk to the retailers. ♪

host: greek deal optimism. following the idea that the default can be averted. the talks go down to the wire. you have heard of grexit and brexit. now, there is frexit. britain and france are not far behind. >> tomorrow is the grexit. the day after tomorrow will be the frexit. everyone suffering from the

currency will only want to escape from it. anna: they call it a true merger of equals. the owner of the miami dolphins football team is set to buy a controlling stake in formula one. ♪ anna edwards: a warm welcome to the second hour of countdown. let's start the second hour with a look at how global equity markets are performing. the nikkei has risen above the peak and is the highest since 1996. significant levels in asia. i will share the chart in europe over the past year. it emphasizes how far we have come on the european equity markets. they are of 50% on the euro stoxx 50. we have seen i pull back on the greek tensions and a bounce in

the last few days. that is what we talked by the headlines will stop the euro area finance ministers meeting today and that is the headline story of the day, if you like. the equity market closed up yesterday and we have moved higher across the equity markets. once again, there is enthusiasm towards a deal and greece. the s&p is near a record on that greek optimism and there is a little bit of optimism fort the fed. when will they begin the moving up of rates? let's get more on the asian equity session. david ingles is in hong kong. david ingles: not a bad session. it could have been better if we had cut -- better, if we had cut the trading day by two hours.

you look at the nikkei and what matters is the closing level of 20,000. we are short of the 21,000 level. you mentioned that it was 1996. december 5, if i'm not mistaken. that was the high. that being said, it has been a 900 point run over the past four days and it has gone up so much. let me give you the year to date for the year. we are very near the overbought levels. this is the voluntary demand and the rs iii is at 68 or 67. it is the second-biggest market compared to china. it does not go where everyone else is going. what is happening is that a lot of the markets, australia, south

korea for example, they are hitting lower highs. everything peaked in april and we have been in a downtrend. it is lower and lower. taiwan and you take a look at the australian. let me talk about one of those things. it is a wild fling. let me show you how wild the gyrations have been. we get to the charts for today and we are about one hour from the close there. so this, it is a 1.5%. it went down over 2.5%. we will see how the things pan out in the last hour. back to you. anna edwards: thank you very david inglis in hong kong. -- thank you very much david inglis in hong kong.

-- ingles in hong kong. how are things looking from a brussels perspective? >> everyone is positive and the remaining hurdle is athens and berlin. germany and the finance ministry there is very clear that they want to see the affirmative vote from athens in the parliament before they vote and they need to vote before they disperse any money. you are going to hear "prior action." that means a firm list. and means committing to doing something before you get the money. here is how the u.s. officials put it. he says, "we would like peoplethe prior actions to be spelled out." you will have it in the bundesta g either wednesday or thursday.

christine lagarde is confident and is telling the board that she thinks the greeks will make the payment. that is important. before, she was publicly saying there was enormous differences and work needed to be done. another prime minister being publicly positive after b eing skeptical the minister of spain. everybody will arrive here today. we will have to see. >>anna edwards: the germans want to see a "prior actions" plan. is this deliverable? the timeline is getting tight isn't it? guy johnson: it is and is not. a lot is being made.

with have talked to the guys about whether or not we will see this and if the money is there. we talked to the general secretary for economic policy and i tim if they had the money to pay the pensioners civil servants, and the imf. this is what he said. >> yes. we are ready to pay the pensions and, most likely, the imf. we are responsible for making the payments. as far as i know, we are ready. guy johnson: can they make the payments and can they get the vote through? we spoke yesterday to the leader of the left platform and the energy minister here. we asked him about his views and he was not very polite about how

the institutions have handled the greek economy and what they prescribe for the greek economy. he could get 40 votes with them and if he does tsipras does not have consensus in his party and you could see early elections. there is so much to play for. it is not certain the vote goes through. anna edwards: let's go to paul gordon. it seems like we were having another increase in the emergency look pretty assistance provided. what can we expect from here? paul gordon: there are two ways they could help with the money. it is increasing the flows from banks. and a tough clien -- in a tough climate, you would not expect that. the ecb says they will discuss that when there is a need to.

the other is more difficult, raising the limits of treasury bills and short-term debt that banks increased can hold. the greek government wanted this to happen and mario draghi has made it clear that he needs perspective to allow further disbursement by that. it is possible as one of the topics coming up when mario draghi meets in brussels. anna edwards: thanks to hans nichols, guy johnson, and paul gordon. higgins is an investor. we have touched on greece a little bit earlier. where are you, at the moment, if you are looking to take advantage of the things that are cheaper than they were?

higgins: we have equities lower than before. we have taken the equities and we see a decent correction in europe with the chart. it is not enough for us. in terms of what we are doing for the markets, it is difficult. you have the bonds that are intrinsically negative or a low revenue stream. we are looking for more esoteric bond investments and special situations, in terms of that. the area we remain confident on is property and the u.k. being focused on that area. it tends to be globally. i'm talking about bricks and mortar, as opposed to commercial property. with think it is attractive.

and -- we think it is attractive. and edwards: -- anna edwards: 2015 is shaping up to be a bumpy year. there is a merger in the retail sector. is retail something you are looking at? higgins: no. it is interesting. tesco is down and out. we have talked about the financing and it reflects the fact that there is an awful lot of debt. it has also gotten $18 billion in debt. when we invest, we go for the tesco bond. we think the company is being run for the benefit of bondholders and that accounts for the dividend. it is like the financial where

you take a company over and you no longer have to pay the dividends. you issue the bonds and it does not really apply. fill of green -- philip green debt-financed. he could not get that through. it is dutch-belgium. they tend to be quite friendly. anna edwards: thank you. we had to break and we look out what is coming on bloomberg tv later this morning. i will speak to the veteran with the words of tesco ringing in his ear. it is due out later today. the index for june is not bad

lately. monsanto reports earnings around 1:00 u.k. time. that is coming up later on in the day when we return here on countdown with more from our bloomberg-exclusive interview with marine le pen. marine le pen said she would be madame frexit. we will see you on the other side of the break.

anna edwards: welcome back. it is 7:16. here are the stories you need to know. the greek prime minister will meet with the head of the ecb imf, and european commission

president in brussels today ahead of a separate gathering of euro-area finance ministers. they will discuss the remaining differences over the greek aid package. the telecommunications unit can revive profits. they have a decision by the board that was unanimous. people familiar with it say that the value of the business is around 10 billion euros. acquiring the dell-hayes group. it makes the sixth of biggest retailer in the supermarket industry and is the biggest deal and almost a decade. one of the most outspoken europe p.m. politicians on immigration is marine le pen.

-- european politicians on immigration is marine le pen. >> first, those who come into our territory cannot come anymore. there is a little bit of power the state has. we will get back control of our borders and a country is not free and sovereign if it does not control its borders. we will write dissuasive immigration policy. migrants come to the country because france is one of the most attractive countries, offering accommodations, food schooling, health, for free. we no longer have the resources. we will reserve the means of the french and explain to everyone else we no longer have the ability to receive them in the conditions that we have. the trip from north africa to --

[indiscernible] >> we have to send strong signals to the whole world stopped we do not just undergo immigration from north africa. the whole world. we can no longer welcome you. we no longer have the means. we have 7 million jobless and 9 million poor. now, it is over. it is the end. >> do you turn the boat's back? -- boats. marine le pen: absolutely. we meet the boats and bring them back to safety. instead of bringing them back to their port, we bring them to the shores of europe. we help the traffickers and provide safety for the migrants. we must rescue the people so they do not die and bring them back to their port of departure. once we have done that several weeks in a row, no one will pay

to risk their lives crossing the mediterranean. it is the australian tactic and the results is zero migrants off of the coast of australia and deaths off of the coast. anna edwards: what else did she have to say? caroline: she is famous for her views and is very anti-european union and anti-euro. she predicts a domino affect from a grexit to a brexit to a frexit. she wants to see a french exit of the euro and she wants to start a deconstruction of the eurozone and have each country

come back to its national currency. she says the summits will only mask the problems that will come back. the referendum in the u.k. to possibly leave the union she says this adds pressure and the eu will have to cede to u.k. demands. anna edwards: let's get further reaction and talk about the greek situation. the chief economist at lloyds joins us. the chief investment officer, ian. let's start with the grexit. there are markets feeling a sense of optimism and they have been buying in an optimistic

mood. are the investors right to be optimistic? >> we never got that pessimistic. we settled with nothing compared to 2012. there is a sanguine view if greece exits. i have no idea if this is the beginning of the end. whatever happens, greece is set for sluggish growth over the next 2-3 years, given the scale of their debt and the lack of deep structural adjustments in the economy. it is hard to see greece being able to rid itself of the underlying debt problems. anna edwards: they focus in on the soon-to-come deadlines.

alan, we talked about how it helps institutions. doesn't matter if they miss payments to the imf? -- does it matter if they miss payments to the imf? higgins: it does not make it a reliable bond market, for sure. anna edwards: rating agencies would not collar to default. it is not a commercial creditor. higgins: you go to the debt and it is with europe. it can be extended and not a technical default because the reason is agreed. they extend it and you are not in default. anna edwards: just to be clear.

higgins: that is the likelihood. the force default -- forced default would reduce the interest rate and would be a default. anna edwards: what about the underlying picture for europe? we expected better measures for the purchasing manager indicators coming through. what is the underlying picture for euro zone growth? ian: the greek crisis got worse until 24 hours ago and the economic outlook for the rest of europe has improved. in improved the most in places that were previously recession stricken. this is good news from the end of last year. maybe the monetary system is rogan and quantitative easing will re-live -- will arrive too

late. that is not the case. the bank lending survey says that demand for credit has picked up and there is a rise in incomes and the euro is having an effect. it is one of the biggest prizes on growth, albeit from a low place. anna edwards: many european investors talked about getting into europe and not the u.s. and buying european stocks. the has been tested by the greek crisis. it has not come down so far over the last year with the europeans . is that something you are buying into? higgins: ian mention the credit side and a big surprise is the credit growth in the surveys and hard data. so, we are positive on that and it means that we are positive on financials.

we take that to financials and equity worldwide and also in europe. you have the economy and credit growth which is the engine behind the improvement of profitability with financials. anna edwards: we have been talking about grexit and brexit could be on the table. talk about that very thing. you talk to business leaders. what is the feeling you are getting? is there a lot of uncertainty around the vote, i am guessing? ian: the survey of chief financial officers showed the central concern was around the general election and the possible grexit. it is a big change from the last 7-8 years where the economic and financial concerns are on top of the list. this is far up the list and we are running a survey in 10 days about what they are worried about. anna edwards: thank you, we will

mark our diaries. -- thank you. we will mark our diaries. for more than 1.5 decades he was the biggest figure in u.k. retail sales. ♪

anna edwards: welcome back. 7:30 here in london. we are looking at the foreign exchange markets and we have the bloomberg dollar index over the year and we will show you how far it has gone in the rally and it is a three month chart. what is important about this is that, in the third quarter this year, some of the u.s. companies were complaining by the strength of the euro and the dollar, of course, and what that was doing to corporate earnings. has been since the third order. if you -- third quarter -- it has been since the third quarter

of last year if you look at the chart. it will be a feature of the second quarter as well. it has doubled and it is not just the level of the dollar. it is volatility and other currencies that add to the exposure to the businesses. we could hear facebook, microsoft who have complained about the strength of the dollar, talking about that once again. we will keep an eye on that with the corporate earnings story. let's get you up to speed with the stories this morning. the greek trimester will meet with the ecb president -- the greek prime minister will meet with the ecb president. they will discuss the remaining differences over the aid package. netflix awarded a split.

the market value of the against online subscription video service has soared eightfold since 2012. stephen roth is teaming up with sports investments to take control of formula one according to the financial times. they are spending for 35.5% of the holding company. in a half an hour, let's recap what we see coming through in the asian equity session. the nikkei gained in the session and rose to the highest close to his 1996, passing the 2000 mark. -- the highest close since 1996, passing the 2000 mark. we are expecting it to move

past, but not by much. 1% higher on the euro stocks right now. it is a stormy year for . we will talk about the rise of the discount retailers. it is notable in our conversation. we are going to be talking to him. we spoke to higgins earlier on who was talking extensively about tesco and why the bond situation -tesco and the bond situation around -- tesco and the bond situation around that. we will be talking about telecoms after the break. we will tell you everything you need to know after the break.

anna edwards: 7:36 and these are the stories you need to know. the great prime minister will meet with the head of the ecb and in the belgian capital later to discuss the remaining differences. francois hollande has called for emergency meetings after wikileaks has shown that the u.s. government has spied on them and former ministers about the possibility of greece leaving the euro area. draghi says they can revive profits without being taken over. they have said that the offer was unanimous -- the turned down

of the offer was unanimous. they value the business at around 10 billion euros. let's get more on that story with caroline hyde standing by. it is a big price tag. caroline hyde: the price tag was 10 billion euros and you put that into context and it is pretty pricey and a big premium, compared to previous deals in the industry, 14 times the industry of weeds -- bouygues. ' telecom unit. it is 7-11 times the earnings. clearly draghi wanted the asset. they shrug it off and said, no thank you -- no, thank you. this is a closely-held company

to some extent and the ceo is mr. bouygues, himself. we have seen concerns about this deal and the competition with the economy and investment and employment. that comes from the economy minister in france. we have to look at why they are so keen to keep the telecom units and why the conglomerate that is vague and construction keeping the telecom that is only 13% of the revenues and is the bulk of the valuation. compare that to the entirety of f bouygues. they said the telecoms market is at the dawn of a new era of growth. that is why they are feeling the potential is in bougygues

telecom. what will they say when they become the number two player with the number three player? they can still be felt the company -- beef up the company. 25% of the revenue from bouygues will become profit. what is the industry losing? we could be seeing a new number one player. at the deal is allowed to go through, you would have seen the biggest french telecom company jumping over 30 million subscribers. four becoming three is what many want to see. the number one player could have

lost their top spot and says that four is unsustainable and they want to see consolidation. we have one deal off and another one on. let's face it, they are buying dell hayes. this is being bought. you can see the share price over the last months and the chief executive will become the -- the chief executive of ahold will become the head. and edwards: -- anna edwards: 7:41 in london. a copper license in the democratic republic of congo was not announced. let's bring you more from johannesburg with this story.

the details for those who are not familiar with this. why should the deal had been announced? reporter: congo has criticism from major organizations including the international monetary fund for selling state -- fund, for selling state assets on behalf of the president. who has benefited? companies like glencore and the friends of the president. in 2012, a got so bad that the imf canceled a major loan program to the congo. anna edwards: why should it affect glencore shareholders? franz: they would say the deal is immaterial to the share price.

there are thousands of illegal and in mining workers who depend on the concession for their livelihood. for them to be put on glenxcore's doorstep could present an issue for them. anna edwards: how could it happen this way? fraznz: a friend of the president will not tell us how much they paid for it. we have not been able to get a proper answer from any of the departments. anna edwards: thank you for joining us. franz in johannesburg. accommodations and a stormy year for tesco, as they hold the annual meeting.

one man who has kept a close eye on the proceedings ran tesco and has been a long-time shareholder. he joins us now from the london stock exchange, where he is spending his day talking about the growth story. thank you for coming on. one of the thorns in tesco's side is discount retailers. how much do you think they can take out of the rest of the market? :: it i -- >> it is a competitive market and it depends on the coming years with the long recession we have seen in the last five years. it has, i suppose, favor discounts to some extent. it gives the opportunity for the middle-market players to get considered again by customers

and it depends on what they do whether they innovate and improve their offers. it will continue to stay competitive and it is hard to predict who'll be the winner over the years ahead. anna edwards: we have seen price cutting. is that something that will make life more difficult for the discounters? terry: it is understandable that all the players in the market will be battling to try to stay relevant to customers today and it is never changing in the industry. the consumers have been the winners. the retail sector is stand out because it is so competitive and it means that they have to be on their mettle and be dedicated to improving the lot of the ordinary consumers. it is a good benchmark for the

economy. that is what we are talking about today. the more competitiveness you see through the economy, the better the british firms will be and the better able they will be to execute services around the world. anna edwards: talking about tesco and where it is we had the conversation about the bonds. you have envisioned this would be sub-investment grade? terry: i do not think anyone envisioned that. tesco had a strong credit rating because of the property backing and there is a new management team that has to address the issue they have had. it is a strong's miss with a strong consumer base and a

dedicated staff. provided they focus on the customers, which i believe they are doing they will have a good future, i am sure. anna edwards: they are focusing on the changing relationship. is that the right recipe? teri: i think -- terry: i think all businesses must focus on the customers and how they live their lives to put themselves in a position to respond in a useful way with improved products and services. if you do that, you have a good business and tesco has demonstrated they can do that over the years. they -- look, this morning i am not here to talk about tesco. i'm here to talk about what the ifb kit do for the -- can do

for britain. anna edwards: what can it do to showcase british's mess -- british business? terry: 3000 firms reported doing more business as a result of being at the ifb. other firms reported exporting more and others thought it was an important showcase for improving the reputation in their industry sectors. a big success. 2016 can build on it. it is an important time and a competitive world. the company's confidently go out and engage with the rest of the world to see what is the best in

the sector to learn from them and take them on. they can do well. we have a broad-based economy in lots of sectors and we can match that with the ambition and grow with the very best. anna edwards: international investors and low productivity. is that the investment case? terry: i do not think so. i think it is the slow recovery which, by the way, is a good thing ahead of investments. that is changing now as the wages rise and investment is growing. it has been a mixed picture with some sect verse --, with some sectors -- mixed picture, with some sectors' productivity

affected. the big issue is regulation which is too high and grows too fast. if we can trust customers more and markets more, you will get more productivity in the u.k. economy. more competitive markets will get more productivity. anna edwards: is that homegrown regulation or european regulation? terry: you get it from both sources. i would say it is more from the u.k. there is a lot of focus on eu regulation, which is, itself, a challenge. there is also homegrown regulation. anna edwards: it comes in all shapes and sizes. good luck with the event at the stock exchange today. one year until the international festival for business in the

u.k.. we have 10 minutes to go until the european equity markets open up. edmund, good morning to you. stick with retail. you do not like it much. edmund: i have to admit that i look at the consumer habits and i have stopped going to the big supermarkets or hypermarkets. they are too challenging and there is too much choice. i think what the retailers are getting their head around is that we do not need that much choice. we want to get in and out quickly and anything that helps us do this is better for the consumer and not necessarily for the retailer. anna edwards: i easily get lost on a website. edmund: if you are naughty, you can do it during work.

anna edwards: that hurts u.k. productivity. edmund: you may say that. it gets lost in the morass. that is where retail is moving and presents gross changes. -- growth changes. anna edwards: you have a book called "the idle investor." have you been idelle? edmund: i invest in a system and i believe in it will stop i stick my money and it. funny enough -- believe in it. i stick my money and it. funny enough, the system said "stick it out." in the eurozone in june, it said, no.

we are at a turning point. my basic message is to forget about greece and buy europe anyways. it represents great value right now and we know the european growth will accelerate to the rest of this year, like the u.s.. there is the ability for corporate growth to grow. there is massive overlap. what are they going to do? they're going to strip out cost and the profitability will race. -- raise. there are opportunities to see that more and more. anna edwards: it is shaping up to be a bumpy year. is that a feeling you will be investing around? edmund: it is massive and it is a or i like. -- it is a sector i like.

the final element of the program -- of the puzzle is the m&a which will improve productivity and profit growth for the sector. m&a is fantastic. you see the semiconductors and i and positioned in the mid-sized. anna edwards: we will hear about the challenges of the volatile foreign exchange market to tear ourselves. -- to prepare ourselves. edmund: that is certainly the mantra we had in q1. you should look the on that and not focus so much on the earnings. what a company does from a month to the next should not be worth

focusing on in the long-term. the longer picture is that we will see the strong dollar abating and domestic growth the cup. -- pick up. it is picking up sharply. anna edwards: thank you very much. edmund from asset management speaking to us. that will do it for "countdown." on the move is next. we see bounce. will we see the finance ministers in brussels achieve any kind of deal in the latter part of this week? that is on the mind of the investors and i will see you tomorrow. ♪

mark: welcome to "on the move." . i am mark barton. let's get to your morning three. area finance ministers meet on greece as the country's prime minister flies into the capital duck with leaders. japan's benchmark index closed at the highest level in more than 18 years. the dutch growth merges with a belgian rival in the supermarket industry's biggest merger in

almost 10 years. that is what we are watching today. european markets just opening. will it be five consecutive games in a row? futures look mixed. let's check in with caroline. caroline: there is a little more caution in the air after the euphoria of the past couple of days. will we finally get a deal? a week to go before we get the bail out for greece. finance ministers are gathering once again and alexis tsipras is flying over to see the european commission had. -- commission head. they are seeing each other more than their own families at the moment. the stock market is a little bit higher if you are looking at the ftse 100. not any caution but not money piling into the riskier assets the equities that we have seen in the past few days. we had about