brought to you live from london, singapore, and around the world, this is "worldwide exchange." welcome to the program. the head lines today from around the globe, hsbc says it's confident it will meet its target after a pretax profit shy of consensus expectations. finance ministers line up a rescue fund to fight the debt crisis but raises the pressure on europe to put more money into the global war chest. australian prime minister julia gillard scores a leadership ballot victory over labor party challenger kevin rudd, but questions persist

about her ability to win the next election in 2013. and we speak to the ceo of nokia as the giant unveils six new hand sets. that interview first on cnbc in 15 minutes. hello. you're watching "worldwide exchange." together with ross westgate in london, i'm christine tan here in singapore. first of all, earnings out and hsbc says it is confident about meeting its targets, reaffirming 2013 profit guidance and assuring investors it will meet the upper end of its cost saving range after report 2011 profits are in line. shares are trading slightly lower in the uk right now, down 375.81. joining us now to talk

everything hsbc, head of sovereign institutional strategy asia at jpmorgan asset management, and our guest host for the next hour, patrick armstrong, managing partner at armstrong investment partners. patrick, let me start with you first. straight into the numbers. more or less this line what people are expecting, no surprises. >> numbers came in just under the $22 billion the consensus was looking for. boughtttom line number was righ line. when you compare it to the other banks, the uk-based banks that showed large losses and disappointing results. exposure to emerging markets really showing this we're. >> do you think asia will continue to be the bright spot for the bank going forward? >> the bright spot for the bank, are for the world, i think the west is mired in recession, stagnation at best, and asia is showing growth at a very high savings rate and hsbc funding advantage is really the time to shine for hsbc while the rest of the industry is suffering.

>> andrew, let me go to you. i know you can't talk specifically earnings but you can give us the general banking outlook over in asia. banks like hsbc benefiting from growth in asia. is there a reason why because western counterparts are pulling back and that's why hsbc stand to benefit and are finding opportunities? >> well, hi, christine and ross. first off, i'm here to speak about all things jpmorgan, not about the competition. but as to the industry in general, i think it's breaking down to the haves and the have-nots. the haves are those that have the strong balance sheets, the financial wherewithal to continue to grow despite very fragile macroeconomic backdrop and still a lot of sketchiness and indecision around the regulatory environment for banks and financial services in general. the second component that they need to have which is a strategy, how do i move forward, and those are the banks moving

aggressively into the emerging markets or have been there and have a presence. that's the part -- those are the banks you should be focused on and that will continue to come out of this and start to earn a premium by the stock market. >> andrew, we keep focusing, of course, on the potential in china, particularly for the bad loans and whether the bank system is strong enough until we stand any property market. what's the view of that? >> the chinese banking system, of course, has its problems. e ironic, of course, that most of the big issues that flared up in the banking sector came out of europe and the united states. and the chinese problems we all anticipated and fully discounted have materialized, but only to a lesser degree than their western and developing marketing counterpar counterparts.

they are extremely regulated. the regulators are being extremely careful, so i think there are issues. we are concerned. but the banks are well capitalized and the regulate roars really have their thumb on credit growth. recognizing the risks inherent in the property market, in this really rampant credit growth we've seen in asia and china in particular, the regulators are working to bring down available credit using all sorts of tulsa and reserve requirement ratios, reverse repos but they're coming into some semblance of order. >> which stand to grow the most in asia? >> i think the big banks are the ones that you know without naming names. look at the share prices of the stocks of the banks that have broken away from the pack. and i think that's key. the market is recognizing quality and is starting to

assign a premium to the quality financials. i know one, starts with a "j" and ends with an "m" but there are several banks that are global competitors and will be tough to beat as this industry consolidate. the weaklings get knocked out and they continue to grow because we do need banks. as long as we have a fractional reserve system, credit growth is necessary, the banks play a role. >> hmm, i wonder who the starts with the "j" and ends with an "m" is. thank you, andrew, head of sovereign institutional strategy asia at jpmorgan. ross? >> that's a bit of a mouthful. ramping up pressure on europe, finance mince it terse from the world's biggest economies want the eurozone to boost its bailout fund before they commit to a second global rescue package worth $2 trillion. it has put germany in the

spotlight. the company has been criticized for its tough starts on greece and objections to inkracreasinge firewall. the head says she is confident an agreement can be reached. >> i have suggested an increased imf lending capacity of $500 billion which would need to be combined with an equally high quality and credible properly signed firewall of the european level. i was encouraged by the reaffirmation of the closest. i did not hear any of the g-20 argue that this is not appropriate or deny specifically pursuing this process and keeping the momentum. >> this basically comes down to germany. the rest of the world is saying we're not sticking in any more honey unless you stick in more money. germany is saying they don't want to do that.

politically it's tough for them. >> germany will get to the point where there will be more money, maybe a combination and a permanent structure and you will get a bigger bail wrout fund. the implications with greece, i think, greece will need morme money and will they have access? it's still a lot of request questions. germany will get to where the rest of the world wants them. >> clearly greece is going to go through continual restructuri s restructurings. you already hear german politicians talk about this, they would like them to exit the eurozone. they believe the rest of the country could deal with that. what's your view of that? >> more able than a year ago, i suppose. no one really understands the low j logistical nightmare that would happen if a country decides it's better off to leave the eurozone or if the eurozone decides a country should be kicked out.

>> the point is, though, if they say we're not giving you any more money, what happens? >> greece needs to run a primary surplus or it has no access to funds at that point because it can't go back to the debt market. if it's running a primary surplus, that's one thing but greece isn't anywhere near that. yes, there's a lot of questions that need to be addressed. >> the imf -- what's the ecb at that point maybe take losses. >> well, yeah, if there's a hard restructuring and greece doesn't ho honor anything, the ecb will have to take the losses. i think you'll have to have a form formal fiscal integration for this to work and those are the discussions that will be happening, i think. >> patrick, it's interesting. what about money from china and japan? surely that can't be ruled out, right? >> can't be ruled out. that probably will am come from the imf. even russia is indicating they

may participate in some of the funding, and there's a lot of currency reserves in these countries. i think through the imf would be the most likely scenario. if you do get a very strong safety net there, there's no reason these countries couldn't invest directly as well. >> all right, patrick. good to have you on. plenty to get through. let's bring up global markets. christine? well, here in asia, mostly low lower. once again oil prices going to a certain level. starting to weigh on concerns. people are wondering whether that will choke global growth. off 0.1%. but the down side was capped by strength in the exporters which got a lift are and the topix is up. over in shanghai 0.3%. now this market is interesting because the carmakers apparently led the way higher after china came out with a list of vaex approved for purchase by state agencies and it ex claweded foreign banks so it's giving

local carmakers a lift this this particular market. hang seng profit taking going on. still holding on to the key 21,000 level, watching hsbc, of course, a little bit of nervousness ahead of that driving this particular market lower. the kospi is up 1.4 ers. they are watching what's happening, worrying their exporters will not be able to compete if the yen goes much lower and this will hurt the competitiveness. australian market down 0.9 ers. the political dewhackbacldebacl gillard winning, the sensex trading to the down side 2.6%. some caution in the markets today, ross. >> we're just hitting session lows, christine. advancers being outpaced by decliners here by more than 9 to 1 after slim gains last week for european stocks, the ftse 100 just after half a percent. the cac up nearly 0.8%.

xetra dax up. the ftse mib down nearly 2%. 0 oil prices certainly weighing on stocks are weaker. bp is an outperformer. as far as currencies are concerned, euro/dollar 1.3424 is where we stand at the moment. remember, euro/dollar hit 1.3486 which was a two and a half month high. yen continues to weaken. stronger today. 108.52. we did get up to 109. dollar/yen pulling back as well. we did hit 81.66. the yen is weaker, around 7% on the month before this morning's session. sterling/dollar steady 1.5866. as far as the bond market, tr treasury yields back below 2%

6789 we have the minutes last week suggesting there might be more qe. gilt falls down. ten-year btp below the 5.5%. ten-year bunds below 1.9%. we're keeping our eyes on brent. $125 a barrel. a lot of profit taking since is then. back down to 124 flat and thigh mex as well. strong gains in oil prices. still to come on today's program. nokia is launching six new hand sets including two windows mobile smart phones. but will it be able to fight off competition from the iphone and android devices? we'll be joined by the ceo first here on cnbc. [ female announcer ] want to spend less and retire with more?

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the trial of the decade has been delayed. a federal judge has decided that the civil trial over bp gulf oil spill will start a week later. it had been skcheduled to start and the judge says bp is making progress and settlement talks with a committee overseeing thousands of lawsuits aimed at determining the amount of damages to be paid by bp and other companies involved in the

worst offshore oil spill in u.s. history. offshore drill translation posted a fourth quarter loss, meanwhile, of more than $6 billion. carolyn is following that story as well in zurich and joins us with more. hi, carolin. >> reporter: that comes on a contract drilling services unit to the tune of $5.2 billion. now contrary to what you would expect, ross, we're seeing transocean shares rise by 1.6%. why is that? let me try to explain here. first off, this goodwill impairment charm was expected though we didn't expect it to be this high. we're at $5.2 billion. this is the equivalent of two-thirds of the goodwill value. however, for the first time transocean also made a provision regarding the macondo well incident and that was only $1 billion. this is much less possibly than what many analysts had had feared also signaling an end of

this legal dispute after two years after this incident had happened. now apart from the massive goodwill impairment, the underlying business performance by transocean was actually pretty good. that may be another factor for the outperformance of shares today. revenues in the fourth quarter rose by 14% to $2.4 billion and a cash flow was quite positive up $71 million in the fourth quarter. ross? >> all right. thanks for that, carolin. patrick, bp is an outperformer. a lot is linked into the 0 oil price as well. with oil prices at these levels, can you play -- how can you play a high oil price? it's all about sort of political risk grooming. >> there's a big risk premium priced in right now. wti at $16, $17 right now. there's apple supply. brent probably has about a $10 premium risked in, i'd say. long term the consequences of

banks' printing of money and emerging market growth, all of that is bullish in the long term for oil companies. i think playing an oil company now is more possible than buying oil outright. it's the high cost given the wti curve in particular. oil companies are cash rich. they're inkracreasing dividendsd that would be the best way to pay longer term oil. >> all right, patrick, thanks for that. now, nokia is no longer making any phones in finland. they have an important launch going on in barcelona. karen is there and will be joined as well by the nokia ceo. karen? >> reporter: good morning, ross. yes, i've moved to nokia land. quite a few participants in this facility. joining me is the ceo of nokia. great facility you have here. this is the biggest presence in about three years. >> that's right. we really are here in force and what's really exciting is just a

short time after our press conference you can see on the floor below our booth is packed with people looking at the new products. >> reporter: we had to turn the volume down on the floor. you've launched the fourth phone suite of product. this is about 190 euros? >> actually 189 euros and it is the lumia 610. we're very proud of this. we worked with microsoft to engineer a version of the lumia product range that could come down in price points and this was a really important part of our strategy with microsoft is to make sure we could bring products to market at the tull range of price points and have demonstrated that ability today so we're very excited about that. >> reporter: i gather you're targeting the younger consumer? >> yes. younger consumers, people who may be buying their smart move phone, moving up from a feature phone, and targeting markets around the world. where cost competitiveness can be a real concern. >> reporter: how does this move the gaming on your market share?

a lot of mobile phone companies are trying to get around the apple dominance and trying 0 to target other areas of the market. >> what we've done with our new strategy and four new lumia products is demonstrated we can have a different point of view. smart phones and the experience can be quite different, something users can, for example, on the screen see all the information they need and as they need it in real time. it's delighting consumers already. and so the secret is differentiate, demonstrate something unique to your cons e consumers. >> reporter: the lumia 900 launched in the united states this year and you are now pitching it at new markets. which ones in particular? >> we haven't been precise but are broadly taking it to the world. it's going to canada in an lte, the highest speed version, but will be going around the world to many other countries quickly. we expect to see that in the months ahead. >> reporter: what's the exact strategy here? >> the strategy for all of our

rollouts of the lumia products is to establish beach heads, get started in countries, one at a time, learn from that, and then introduce more products to fill out the portfolio. so we began in europe. have expanded to the united states, into parts of asia. we also talked today about how soon we'll be coming to china, again, with some new work with the windows platform to make that possible. >> reporter: when we've talked about your company in the paths, we talked about moving to windows. this is the future of your company which leaves me puzzled about one of the other key announcements you made today. you spent about five years developing the best smartphone camera ever, the 808 pure view. why invest this sort of techie for a product operating on the simeon system? is. >> this is the pure view 808 and it has, as you mentioned, an incredible system, 41 megapixel camera which itself is magical

but the software we have that allows you to work with that technology so you can take a brilliant picture, scale it down to something you can deliver on face back. it's truly an amazing experience. what we have been doing is working on this for a number of years to set a new bar and we were able to bring it fastest in the symbien product line but you should expect to see this on oth our other platforms. >> reporter: i'm trying to pressure you for an outcome on this. >> absolutely. >> reporter: in terms of connecting the next billion people to the internet, key growth market, emerging markets, developing market, you've also launched new devices and this is interesting because we have smart phones at one end of the category but also the traditional hand set at the other. what you are launching is somewhere in between. it's a smartphone people are calling it? >> what's happening at the lower

price, those devices are getting smarter and smarter. so people are downloading applications. they're using a special browser that takes advantage of compression so that the browsing experience uses very little data which is great for emerging markets where data plans, people worry about the prices and so forth. we've introduce d three new products for this range today includes a qwerty device. it includes the ability to connect to your business e-mail and your personal e-mail to text and do everything that you need to do very quickly. what we're doing is helping a whole tier of consumers get their first internet experience and that's really a statement not just about selling devices but about improving people's lives as well because part of what we deliver with these devices are things, for example, we call life certificaservices help people with education, with agriculture, with raising children and things like that to give them a whole digital

experience. most off their first in a way that helps them improve their life. >> reporter: i'm going to dive in and take a look at what you have on the floor. i very much appreciate your time today. thank you for joining us on "worldwide exchange." christine, back to you. karen, thank you very much for that. we have some flashes coming up from our -- about the story of elpida. they hope the rehabilitation process moves in a way that domestic operations can be maintained. continues to say no public burden will emerge from the ehpida program. the bankruptcy was a result of the strong yen, the earthquake and thai flooding. weaker prices also contributed to the bankruptcy and said that earlier government aid to elpida was a sensible decision and says that he would like to implement measures to lessen the impact of firms working with elpida and

would like to take measures to help stock and likely to take the same path as -- according to one analyst we know the bankruptcy is, of course, the largest filed by a japanese manufacturer so these are some of the things coming up through the wires and we will continue to monitor the situation closely here in asia. ross? >> be a did you listen to steve in there? i thought it was interesting position of the nokia brand to help us raise our children. mobile phone company going to help us raise our children. interesting, right? still to come on the program, germany set to vote on the company's contribution to greece's bailout but his public support waning. a preview from frankfurt. julia gillard in a leadership vote beating kevin rudd. will she enjoy the same support in next year's election? and "the artist" swept the board at the oscars with pretty big wins, best picture, best actor, best director. we will be in l.a. in one hour for more.

hsbc says they confident. finance ministers lane up a

trillion dollar rescue fund but have raised the pressure on europe to put more money into the global war chest. julia gillard scores a decisive victory. the questions persist about her ability to win the election in 2013. and in the u.s. top forecasters are more optimistic about the economy this year, but they are still cautious about prospects for gdp and consumer spending. lawmakers set to vote this afternoon on the country's contribution to the second is bailout package for greece. it is widely expected to be approved by the bundestag. opposed to further rescues for greece.

silvia, the rest of the world says we're not going to put any more money this unless you do first. that doesn't seem to be likely either. are we reaching the limit of germans stumping up extra cash? >> reporter: anecdotally the rest of the world, no, not quite the rest of the world. another good european, vladimir putin, said he could imagine russia directly supporting some of the eurozone countries either as a whole or on a bilateral basis. russia is the country with the third largest currency reserves on the planet, so that could be a very interesting twist. aside from that, the story with the hen and the egg, which comes first? who puts money in first? the bottom line is that what we like to see -- first of all, the stock is a done deal. angela merkel, thanks to the support of the opposition, will get a three-quarter majority, not even a two-third majority, not a simple majority despite the noise and saber rattling

mostly from within her own coalition like the interior minister saying in an interview that everybody kind of went about, the greeks should be encouraged to leave the eurozone but not kicked out. i'm sure angela merkel had a little bit of a fit over that but aside from that she will go through quite easily. in terms of more money coming rng the likely would be they will be combined. that means we have the firepower by 250 billion and that's probably where we're going to go to now. >> at the same time, of course, "the financial times" is reporting they are volunteering to help greece sort out its tax system. unpaid taxes total around 60 billion euros with tax evasion 5 billion to 6 billion a year. is this one going to work? are they going to parachute the tax advisers this, silvia? >> reporter: i don't think we have that good historical

experience with parachuting in but as to 0 volunteering, i don't blame them. better wine, better food, better weather. i would rather go to greece as well. it's actually a scheme not only german tax collectors but is set up by the eu commission to send european, other european tax collectors to greece because the greek authorities say, hang on a minute, we don't quite know how to collect taxes. they said it in slightly different words but it amounted to roughly the same thing. so support probably necessary whether it's the support from the germans, they want to remain to be seen, i daresay, if they go there they should keep a low profile. >> patrick, let's bring you in on this as well. it's pretty clear, no one expects the bailout to work. the numbers don't stack up which means we have endless renegotiations, restructuring of

greek debt. you have heard the interior minister, silvia saying what he said, where do we end up eve eventually? >> that gets to the crux of the issue. greece isn't set up for taxes. that's one thing that they really have to work on over the next couple of years. they have 130 billion which will probably see them through the next couple of years before we get to the next big bailout and that has to be the focus. they have to get their system aligned with the rest of europe with where you can collect taxes as you increase productivity as well. >> reporter: is it almost the bigger problem we have now rather than money that the whole institutional framework this it greece does not exist or is not functioning, which probably sets it aside to a larger extent from the other european countries that are at the moment in debt troubles? >> that is the big issue. just culturally there are people who aren't amenable to paying taxes. they don't believe it's their duty. a very different culture than

germany and northern europe and the system isn't there even if people were amenable to do it so that is a big project. i'm glad i'm not involved in it. i have no idea how it will be done but must be done for greece to co-exist in the eurozone. it has to have the ability to collect tax revenue. all right, silvia. thanks for that. we'll talk to you later. the global head of financial market research joins us for more. we are wait iing for ltro. if we get a consensus number, $490 billion, say, is that good for greater market risk? is a big number good or is it the other way around? >> well, it depends of course on what you are asking for. first off, a bigger number will be good for the periphery. we could see some reaction there obviously as it is seen that money is ultimately supporting the periphery. trade which we are skeptical of

and still results in that buying of the bonds. i wouldn't say it's negative for the core out there and that is because, question, initially you could see reaction on the negative side but we've seen the first ltro with the rising tide lifts. this is not a zero sum game. this money ends up to am some extent in core bonds. >> do you have any estimate what proportion of the $500 billion will go into the carry trade and peripheral debt? >> we do. we published the report on friday. we've broken it down to a number of components and 0 our estimate is around about $400 billion so that is short of the consensus figure which is a range around $450 billion to $500 billion. the key reading for that lower reading, if you look at last time around, we had sort of rolling over debt and $300 billion of that ended up locked up in ltro. we have a much lower base of rolling over debt at $175 billion. if we use the same share that

leaves 0 only $100 billion and look at the collateral freed up by the banks. we estimate 75% of that will be used up to make for $150 billion, then we come to the most guessing element and that's the new bids around about $150 billion. >> does that mean that somehow we removed all systemic risk from the banking system as a result? >> away from the banking system, you mean. >> yes, away from the banking system. >> i would say what we have close add couple months ago, if that's what you refer to, i agree. if you look at the bigger picture, take a step back, removing risk of the peripheral government to the peripheral banks. that's absolutely what we're doing here. that doesn't solve the crisis at all. it just means we're buying time and in that time we hope we're building a better structure in

europe. it continues to be simple. you cannot have a monetary union without sufficient degree so the circuit breaker here is a de facto pooling of risk, of government debt and risk there and that is euro bonds in some form. >> okay, we want you to continue staying with us. we have one more segment to go through with you focusing on china in the latest, the world bank saying that beijing needs sweeping reforms or risk a hard landing. more on the report with tracey chang. the world bank and research center released a report today names china 2030 at around 4:00 p.m. today. the study is aimed at helping china avoid a middle income trap that has to stall growth and productivity. once incomes hit a certain level. it forecasts china's gret will

slow down to 5% to 6% by 2030 and calls for market reforms to avoid a hard landing. of course world bank president zoellick says china's current economic growth model is, quote, unstainable and some with the broad recommendations this report has for beijing include strengthening a market based economy and fostering innovation and social security for all. of course the report also calls for gradual reform and very sharp reform for enterprises and zoellick acknowledged beijing and the world bank don't see every issue eye to eye in this report but these issues cannot be ignored and hopes new generation will take the recommendations seriously. >> thank you very much, tracey. that was tracey chang. let me get you a reaction, do you agree with that world bank repo report, is china setting itself up for an economic crisis many years down the road if they

don't do something about it? >> if you look at what the world bank's done, it's not too prescriptive. they admit that themselves. they are looking at great gains. when i look at their key six recommendations, i felt it was hard to disagree with any of them but they are vague to that extent as well. china ends up in some crisis, over 20 years this report is about, sure, but most economies actually can. i think one of the key challenges will remain whereas five to ten years ago covering china you could see china broadens all the world to listen to them and best practice. i'm afraid that china itself and key policymakers have become more disillusioned with the rest of the world and that marries communistic ideas with a very capitalistic idea is perhaps the way to go forward. less willing to adapt and take

onboard what bodies like the world bank are recommending and i think longer term that may hurt china. it's more philosophical but that is my key concern on china. >> an interesting take there. in the short term a lot of concerns about china's banking system. i mean, the government has been told to tell the local banks to roll over debt of local governments in the short term. is there a risk in the banking system in china that's being underplayed right now? >> i think the risk short term is limited. part of the crisis response from chinese policy is makers has been to take out insurance and force the banks, persuade them to lend more. the latest rolling over of government debt on the local level may seem heavy handed. they are relatively limited. ultimate hatly the government is underwriting these banks and the federal government, if you may, in china is very low in terms of

gdp ratio. there is significant margin for error in china as well. and local governments there do note their tax intake, their revenue are enormous. even if they make mistakes and infrastructure projects, et cetera, et cetera, they take in a lot of revenue. they can afford to make a few mistakes left and right. >> we do miss you here in asia. thank you for your thoughts. head of financial markets research. patrick armstrong is continuing to stay on with us as our guest host. bourses mostly lower. oil prices moving higher fueling some concerns in the market. it could choke off global growth. the nikkei 225 is down. we are seeing some support coming from the exporters who are getting the softer yen. the topix marginally higher. over in shanghai, 3% higher. we had the carmakers leading the way. china came 0 out with a list of

vehicles, proof of purchase by state agencies and excluded foreign brands so that's lifting the local carmakers. hang seng suffering profit taking going on now. 0.9%. 21,000 level is the key psychological level they are holding on to. the kospi down. interesting market because they are watching what's happening in the japanese market, they might lose their competitive edge if the japanese yen continues to weaken and that could give them a lift. down 0.9%. julia gillard winning the leadership ballot. in fact, they were the ones that pulled this market lower. new zealand 50 down 0.5%. sensex up 0.28%. some caution in this particular market as traders are are worried about state election results. so overall, a softer session, a lot of caution in the markets today for a monday. ross, what are european bourses looking like? >> slim gains last week that have been swamped by the loss this is morning. we're down a percent.

the yen has just come off multimonth lows against the dollar and the euro. y euro/yen is where we stand at the moment. we have gotten to the high of 109 earlier. dollar/yen coming off nine-month highs. 80.42 is where we stand. euro/dollar has just slipped down from those 1.3480 highs. as far as the bupd markets, steady 1.8%. ten-year. more qe coming. they have fallen back down. yields below 2%. keep your eyes on the oil markets. a lot relates to the oil price. here we have seen profit taking up to $125 a barrel. brent down. nymex off a little bit.

we still have a 108 handle, christine. >> well, ross, over here in asia focusing on what's happening -- what's happening in usaustralia leadership tensions coming to a head today. former foreign minister kevin rudd challenging prime minister julia dwil agillard and he lost. matthew taylor has been following the story for us. >> reporter: the leadership ballot decided a victory for julia gillard out of the 102 member vote, she managed to secure 71 against kevin rudd who only managed 31 votes. speaking shortly after the ballot was announced kevin rudd saying he'll continue working with the government from the back bench and work to ensure that julia gillard is re-electeded in the 2013 campaign. >> i congratulate julia on her strong win today. the caucus has spoken.

i accept the caucus' verdict without qualification. >> reporter: julia gillard says now the battle has been decided the party needs to reunite so they can work to defeat tony abbott at the 2013 election campaign. julia gillard believes as a united party they can accomplish this task and they need to be forceful advocates of delivering the government's messages. she also says that she feels impatient and is looking forward to getting on with the job. >> so today i want to say to australians one and all, this issue, the leadership question, is now determined. you are the australian people expect government to foe can cuss on you. >> reporter: the opposition leader tony abbott continued his attacks saying all we saw was australia continues to be let down by bad government and the only way to go about change is to seek an election. i'm matthew taylor in canberra,

back to you. more on the road ahead, neal a ashdown, from ihs. good to have you on the show, first of all. this it really highlights the internal differences, how damaging is it for the party as a whole? >> it's very damaging. what you've seen is a party that's shown it's more interested in preserving its own party loyalty, the right to decide who is the prime minister, then in the interest of the party at large in the country and clarity around the country of the respective candidates. >> does this kind of set themselves up for the 2013 election? will they be able to defeat tony abbott? >> it's not so much a question of defeating tony abbott at the moment. he isn't as popular as opposition leaders. not as popular as gillard. the question is whether gillard can get victory and base d on te

moment that's still unclear. >> what is unclear about rudd? what is his political career now? what will he do next? will he return to the politics bench, do you think? >> i'm sure he will go it to the back benches which isn't a comfortable place for him to be. he's been pasted by many colleagues over the last week. he's had his character called in question. he's asked for that to stop. it's clear some people said some nasty things about him. in the long term he said that he's going to support julia gillard if there's another leadership challenge and another election. this is kevin rudd, however, so we don't know entirely if that's true and he could resign. if he does resign, unlikely, labor wouldn't be sure to win. >> what about what's going it on here with the party? there's this feeling gillard is unelectable. 2013 election is why rudd decided to have this challenge.

what happens here? where -- if it's not rudd and it's not gillard, who else is it and when does the party decide it's time for a change? >> there are a number of people who could do it. there are people like steven, could be a way of endearing imself to the approach. equally there's been a bit of a shake-up. we've had the leader of the house. mark arby who resigned recently. he was another influential person who was considered to be behind the replacement rudd. >> does any of this matter in terms of the australian economy? how much of this relates back

into what happens to the economy in usaustralia? >> it wasn't about policy. gillard and rudd are very similar in terms of ideology. in terms of program they were going to try to pursue, they were similar. rudd wouldn't have done it in the mining tax. he did crucially come out and say he wanted to restore business confidence when he was making his pitch. i think that was politics more than change. if anything, if this has an effect, by keeping gillard in power, they've made labor less likely to win the election and then you would see a transition to a liberal government led by tony abbott and he has said he would to a certain extent wipe things it clean on things gillard and rudd have done. in terms whether he could do that is uncertain but that would be the implication for business and the australian economy. >> interesting.

neil, we'll have to leave it. let's focus on what's happening in japan. tokyo markets started out strong with exporters on the back of the weaker yen. the nikkei 225 touched a high but later they lost steam as investors moved to lock in profits. it finished 0.1% lower snapping the three-day winning streak. for more live to tokyo and check in with makiko utsuda from the nikkei. >> reporter: hi, christine. after the market closed alpida memory filed for production, saddled with debt. the group expects to book a net loss of $1.2 billion for the year ending march due to falling memory chip prices. joint talks with u.s. and taiwanese rival makers did not progress and efforts to refinance loans turned out to be unsuccessful. the tokyo stock exchange said elpida shares will be delisted

on march 28. meanwhile, japan's securities watchdog has launched a full scale investigation on investment advisory firm aig. along with a related securities firm who took charge of aig's pepgs sales. aig has allegedly lost corporate pension assets it had been managing for over 80 clients. most have been pension funds representing small and mid sized businesses drawn to aij's claims of returns. that's all for the business report. back to you. >> makiko utsuda, thank you for that, from the nikkei. ross? we'll take a short break. still to come "the artist" swept the board with best picture, best director, meryl streep picked up best actress. we'll have more on the implications for business when we come back.

a final thought from patrick. you are holding long asian and emerging markets, simple dollar and you are looking at defendable property margins in light of oil prices. where do we go for gains in equity we've had had so far this year? >> yeah, equities have gained but they're still cheap by most

metrics compared to bonds. they look reasonable compared to bonds, they look compelling. exposure to emerging markets, to asia. coca-cola, swatch, things that can offset higher prices with higher margins and those are the companies who have a lot of cash. and the themes playing generally are the ones of the last months. the west is stagnating. you need more consumer buying to offset the current account. >> good to have you on today, patrick, interest armstrong investment managers. we still have over an hour to go. mr. shactman joins us this morning. good morning, brian. hey, guys, forget about the global financial markets.

let's talk about global star fest in hollywood. the 84th academy awards last night. meryl streep won her first since 1982. she portrayed margaret thatcher in "the iron lady." but the night belonged to "the artist." the black and white silent movie won five including best director, best actor for jean dujardin and best picture. stay tuned. we'll go out live actually to los angeles in about 30 minutes and ask how much of an impact an oscar win has on box office and dvd and download sales.

welcome to the show on a monday. here are your headlines from alm across the world. in the u.s. top forecasters more optimistic about the economy but still cautious about gdp and consumer spending. >> g-20 finance ministers line up a rescue fund to fight the crisis but they need europe to put morme money into the war chest as well. and hsbc says it is confident it will meet its medium term earnings target after posting a $22 billion four-year pretax profit just shy of expectations. and nokia unveiled six new

hand sets in barcelona. they tell how the company is taking on rivals like apple and android. >> we have demonstrated we can have a different point of view, that smart phones and the experience can be different, something where you see all the information as needed in real time. it's a differentiated experience. welcome to "worldwide exchange." of course with the lovely christine tan and my colleague, ross westgate, good to have you here on a monday. u.s. stock futures, of course, though everyone talks about 13,000, the dow is symbolic, it's kind of acting like resistance here. we're down about 55, 56 points against fair value in the dow. the s&p about seven points. that's a decent chunk of a set back if we were to open at these levels. the nasdaq down about 14 points. ross, great to see you.

the g-20 tough talk on europe. what's going on? >> show us the money is the message from the g-20. they're ramping up the pressure to stop it from spreading and want the eurozone to boost its bailout fund before they commit to a second rescue package that went up to $2 trillion. the country has been criticized for its stance on greece and increase the eurozone. >> treasury secretary tim geithner saying europe has cut the risk of a financial disaster which he said of steve liesman in that interview late last week but still has to put stronger firewall together. speaking of the g-20 meeting, some kcountries at risk from a spreading debt crisis, italy and spain, are on stronger footing right now but he repeated he will not ask congress for more money for the imf. joining us now is our guest host for the next hour, partner at kirkland and ellis. i'll go macro with europe.

do you think the crisis is averted? >> no, i don't think the crisis is averted at all. i think maybe we have a little bit of a stopgap measure but not much. if you think about greece first, right, just take the bailout package of greece, which is hard to call it a bailout, you have about $172 billion, the equivalent of that, going into greece. in order to get it, they have to put their austerity measures up. a 75% haircut for private investors. they're not going to take any hair can cut in the ecb. and you'll have some monitors come in to watch what greece is doing. the greece democracy, do we have it? athens is where it started. it seems like it's ending there as well. and can they get it done and if they get it done, what are we talking about? by 2020 they'll be at 120% debt to gdp. it's still really high. i'm not sure they fixed anything. they kicked the can down the

road longer. >> you think there's a chance they may not get to the 170. there are a couple of things i want to ask you. the european union is okay. the euro is at 133. that's not crisis levels, but i guess you think they're going to go to getting this $170 billion and then have to leave the eurozone after that? >> potentially. we'll see. first of all, you have to get to 170 so they have to get the austerity had measures in place. that may happen. we have elections maybe as soon as april. what happens then? at some point i think people are going to say enough is enough. what are we taking the pain for? we're at an unsustainable level of debt now. if all goes well in the next eight years we'll still be at an unsustainable level of debt. it seems to me the can is being kicked can down the road. there's money being thrown out

there but there's going to be a massive default. >> kicking the can down the road seems to be the theme of this millennium. ross, go ahead. what's happening, everybody here believes we'll get continued restructuring on greek debt. the question is whether we can do it and keep them in the eurozone at the same time, those in germ thiany are trying to pu because they feel we can deal with it. this is likely to drag on, what happens to the rest of the world? is there a fear of a feedback? >> i think there is. i think -- look, there's been some good about kicking the can down the road. if you look at it now and you said in the opening italy and spain right now their yields have come down because of the l it tro. you have banks that have done a better job getting themselves prepared for a greek default or if greece leaves the euro. i do think there is the law of

unintended consequences. what happens if greece defaults and does leave the eurozone? i don't know what happens. i don't know if anybody does. i think what we're seeing here is could there be a feedback loop or a contagion. of course there could. what we're hearing from germany and it's interesting because there has been a little bit of a change in some politicians there is that i think they do believe at this point the markets are copacetic, that if greece does leave the eurozone that europe will be okay and so will the rest of the world. they may just let that occur. >> stick around, job. economists seeing more room for optimism. they are raising forecasts for business spending and new home construction but they still see gdp growing at 2.4% versus 1.6% last year. they expect consumers to pinch

pennies. that's below historical average of 2.8% so let's switch it to the u.s. and we'll get to gas and oil in a second. how do you view the u.s. economy right now? >> the u.s. economy seems to be getting better. in my day job i see companies that are struggling. i'm not sure the everyday person right now is feeling really good about the economy, feeling really good about what's happening. and i think with rising oil prices, we'll see where they go. this they do continue to rise that will hurt consumer spending. we have a huge amount of people that drive every day to work. they have to fill up their cars to get to their jobs. what are they going to cut back on? while we're starting to see some positive news in the economy, i'm not sure we should be overly optimistic about it. we have a couple of things.

>> we'll get to that especially at 10:30. just quickly because we have to go to break, do you think that high oil and gas can derail what's been built so far? >> if it gets really high, absolutely. >> this isn't really high? >> i still think it has to go higher, but if it does, absol e absolutely. >> jonathan he th es is with us for the entire hour. we're going to go live to barcelona where some of the most influential names not named apple are gathered tore the world mobile congress. we hear from the ceos of sony and erickson next.

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just had a t-bill auction out 0 of italy this morning. they've sold nearly 8.7 billion in six-month t-bills average . is.1.2%. they had a total of 11 billion and 7 billion flexible t-bills so the kae point is the yields

here have gone sharply lower versus the previous auction. bid to cover is 1.3 and the flexible t-bill sharply lower yields for italy. the debt on the ten year later this week. this comes out of the ltro which will be the real focus this week. this is the mobile world congress under way in barcelona. just about every mobile maker you could think of it is there. karen tso is on the ground. >> reporter: there's tradition, ross. haven't seen apple on the ground and they avoid this industry event, probably goes to show what the company's direction is, focused on what it does, not what everyone else does, but in terms of one of the big themes here, partnerships, marriages and divorces. i may sound like i'm attending a relationship counseling event but, in fact, these tie-ups are one of the biggest impacting the

landscape in the industry. when it tomorrows could marriages, it's this tie-up between google. when it comes to other partnerships on the ground, visa and voda sfone. the other key focuses for the industry is a split or divorce and this is sony and ecicsson. what's been happening is a lot of uncertainty as to where the company will be. a lot of uk carriers in particular refusing to restock prot duct because there was no certainty on direction. now sony has been quick to unveil a new suite of products and rely very much on its strategic advantage being an entertainer. i spoke to the ceos of both companies about their future direction. take a listen.

>> i think that after ten years on ericsson it was a moment the phone is something totally different, to be an extension of the network. today it's a gadget. something designed to have application and content. so it was a moment where sony, ericsson at the right time. for us we need 0 to work with anyone in the industry being the biggest in mobile infrastructure. we need to work with anyone who will have the connective devices. we are working with all of them. [ inaudible ] >> now we have a consumer company, it has exactly what we need to connect to connect at home, it has to have the ent

entertainment experience we need. for me sony is optimal. you can take the two we have. ericsson was great with the technology. but really this has become a game and is much stronger. >> the ceo of sony and ericsson is talking about the future. both are talking about the merits of the split. sony hoping for a more dynamic response than a competitive smartphone market but ericsson in the market, a space moving so quickly, there's this move to convergence so partnerships that made sense a couple of years ago don't make sense anymore and this allows both companies to try and position for the future. so that's the latest from the mobile world congress here. back to you.

looks fwor zblus gorgeous in barcelona. we're down about 49 points against fair value on the dow, about five or six since our last check in. we have sort of joined the dow with those four-year highs looking to give back 6 1/2 points to the open. 13 1/2 to the down side in the nasdaq. we're starting to move a little bit here, ross, but we're in a tight range and are definitely down. >> we're on the session lows. we've come off that but weighted to the down side around 8 to 1 decliners outpacing decliners at the moment and we had slim gains. the ftse up about half a percent. we wiped those out with losses today. xetra dax down with the ftse mib up 1.4%. oil has been a factor today 0. high oil price it is dragging down oil sectors as well. euro dollar weaker. we got up to the two and a half

month high. the yen is just recovering from multimonth lows on the euro/dollar. 108.10 moving away from the highs of 109.09. again moving away from those highs we had back in july. now as far as the bond markets are concerned, yields lower. ten-year gilt, up 2.19 last week. ten-year btp not enormous reaction to the t-bills. we did see a sharp fall yielding 5.46%. german bunds down back below 1.9%. 1.87%. brent hit $125 a barrel. we've fallen about a dollar. $123.94. nymex trading 108. a little bit of profit taking

setting in today. christine, what kind of day have you had? >> well, those oil prices that you mentioned, ross, weighing on sentiment as people worry whether that will choke off global growth. some support came from japan on the soft er yen. the topix is up. over in shanghai the carmaker's in focus. a list of vehicles and proof of purchases, state agencies and that excluded foreign brands. hang seng, the profit taking going on. also nervous about hsbc results which, of course, came out after the bell. south korea exporters worried about the competitiveness. over in japan the yen is boosting japanese rivals and that's weighing on the south korean market. julia gillard won the leadership ballot. sensex down 2.6%. a lot of concerns about state

election results. overall, a lot of caution still in the markets here today. that's it for me. i'll be back tomorrow with the news moving markets here in asia. thank you, christine. have a great night. coming up, silence is golden in hollywood. "the artist" the big winner but who benefits from the best picture, actor or director award? we'll discuss the business of hollywood after the break. ng. but why energy? we've got over 100 years worth. is it safe to get it? but what, so we should go broke with imports? look, i'm just saying. well, energy creates jobs. [announcer:] at conocophillips, we're helping power america's economy with cleaner, affordable natural gas. more jobs, less emissions. a good answer for everyone. we gotta be careful. it's cleaner. it's affordable. look, if it's safe, i'm there.

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hsbc says it's confident about meeting its target, reaffirmed its 2013 guidance and cost savings range. this after reporting 2011 profits in line with forecasts. hsbc the most profitable western bank on the planet. stock down 2.7%. they're making over 20 billion in profit. so, yes, they took a hit from the eurozone. if you're big enough you can make earnings interest other parts of the world. >> yeah, and if you don't look at estimates, it's an impressive number, too, ross. usually warren buffett says

berkshire board has picked his successor but doesn't name the person. buffett said there are two backup candidates. buffett continues to stress he's not going anywhere anytime soon. he says he remains opt 0 mystic on the u.s. economy although he admits he was dead wrong on the timing of the recovery and the housing market. buffett says he's still on the prowl for takeover targets. berkshire has $37 billion in cash although fourth quarter profits fell. buffett will be answering your e-mail and twitter questions with our own becky quick on u.s. "squawk box" from 6:00 to 9:00 a.m. must-see television. an interesting guy to listen to. a federal judge delaying the civil trial over the bp gulf oil spill by about a week. the trial had been scheduled to start today in new orleans. the judge says bp is making 30 degrees in settlement talks overseeing thousands of lawsuits. the trial is aimed at determining the amount of damages to be paid by bp and

other companies involved in the worst offshore oil drill in history. the stock up 1.75%. well, of course the stars always come out to honor their own at the 84th academy awards. meryl streep won her third but first since "sophie's choice in" 1981. i was 11. she portrayed margaret thatcher in "the iron lady." the black and white silent movie won five oscars, best direct or best akor, best picture, the first since "wings" in 1929. but does it translate into box office gold? a partner for entertainment and media. thanks for being up early for s us. "the artist" made $32 million so far and weinstein company wants to use it to make more movies.

what does it mean financially for all those involved? >> it means a lot particularly for a smaller film like "the artist" that didn't have a gigantic marketing budget going in. it means awareness not only in the united states but around the world. it's likely to bump its box office numbers and help down the road with dvd, sales and rentals, video on demand. it will be great for financiers. >> we talked about the changing landscape, that people aren't going to the movies the way they used to. so many people didn't see half the movies that were nominated. when it comes to streaming and everything else and so few movies getting distributed, i mean, where is the shift in transition. what are we going to see at the movie -- are movie theaters going to go away to some degree in the next five years?

>> i don't see that, brian. it is very strong and continues to expand around the world. we had a big year in the last year, china passed gentlemjapan the number two market behind the u.s. worldwide box office is very strong. we have had a significant do downturn in dvd sales, rentals coming back up. video on demand is very strong and our biggest challenge right now is to figure out how to monetize digital delivery. it is not only our future, it's our present and that's the big challenge. we will continue to see a very strong stream of films and people will see them in theaters. in china, for example, they are in theaters at a remarkable rate, literally four to six new theaters open every day in china and now they are opening further to american and other western fil

films. i think you'll continue to see a big expansion box office there. >> and, lindsay, it's ross, is that where the oscar win will have the most impact is on the tail here on dvd, voice on demand, tv sales? is that where a film like "the artist" biggest impact comes is this. >> i think that will be a huge impact but some years the oscar winner is already out of theaters and into dvd and even television by the time of the academy awards. that's not true this year. they have marketed in a very smart way. it's just growing now in the number of theaters in the united states in which it's playing. i think you'll see them expand theaters in the coming weeks so the timing couldn't be better in terms of box office not to mention all the things you spoke of. i think it will be a big win for the distributors and the financiers. >> sorry about that, lindsay. i didn't mean to cut you off. it's amazing a silent black and

white movie won best picture. it says a lot. i will see it at some point. lindsay conner for entertainment and media. coming up on "worldwide exchange" we look ahead at the trading day on wall street. any impact from the ecb's second ltro on u.s. equity markets? right now we're down about 50 points.

welcome to the show. here are your headlines today. we'll start with the u.s. top forecasters optimistic about the economy this year but they're cautious about the prospects for gdp and consumer spending. finance ministers line up a $2 trillion rescue fund. the pressure is on europe to put money into the global war chest first. nokia unveiling six new hand sets at the mobile world congress in barcelona. the ceo says how they are taking on apple and android. >> we have demonstrated we can have a different point of view, smart phones and the experience can be something quite different, something where users

on the screen see exactly all of the information they need as they need it in real time. and hsbc says it is confident they will meet targets after posting a profit just shy of consensus forecasts. it is monday here as we head to the end of february. good to have you on "worldwide exchange." it is 5:32 a.m. on the eastern part of the united states. let's take a look at stock futures. if you are just joining us, we're down about 60 points against fair value in the dow. that is pretty much the lows of the premarket session here. we haven't moved much in the s&p, down about 7 1/2. we're about close to four-year highs on the s&p and joining the dow which has been flirting with 13,000, ross. when we talk about the 2008 levels where we were last at here, we were on the way down. we weren't on the way up. we were on 0 the way up in '07.

>> may '08, back to those levels. we had slim gains for european stocks which have been swallowed up. xetra dax up with the cac 40 and ftse mib down. brent hit $125 a barrel. we have seen profit taking on brent this morning so it's back below $124 a barrel but that has been starting to eke into the minds and consciousness of stock investors, brian. >> a pretty mixed session for u.s. markets on friday. the s&p, though, still managed to pick up a few. our next it guest says he's a buyer if the s&p pulls back to 1330. we bring in kevin cooke, senior stock strategist. still with us, our guest host jonathan enes. you are not a buyer here. you think we're poised for a

pullback? >> well, i'm already long and this market is built in a wall of worry, i think. i'm surprised to actually see it rotate as much here as it did. i said it would take several tries to get through s&p 1350. we have a market where the train has left the station, left a lot behind. they all want to pull back and that's why we're not getting it. we're going to run through a stream of optimism here. possibly we come close to that 1 1370 high that we saw last year but a pullback, i think, will be to 1430 on the s&p. >> the retail investor is like 800 billion people in the corner. i find it funny when we group them. do you get the sense they are coming back in? is there that nervousness

they'll get burned again? i don't even know how to measure it. what's your stance on the retail guy right now? >> yeah, i think they're looking at these levels and saying, well, this isn't the place to get in. what happens we do get a surge towards, say, s&p 1400. well, i can't be left behind again and then they pile in, and then that's when you get a good pullback. i see the s&p spending most of its days above 1300 for the rest of the year. that's why i think all these dips will be bought. it's going to fool the most people. that's why we're up here now and one more surge could pile a lot of people back in and then shock with a pullback. >> i have a quick question for you. have we gone -- are we now completely focused on trading and away from investing? i hear all the time we kind of

look at, well, if if the s&p is drops below 1330, then it's time to jump in as opposed to here are the fundamentals for this company. this is why we are going to go in and invest. are we in a whole new era right now? >> i don't think so. at zacks we focus on company earnings from the bottom up and that's where we rank companies based on earnings momentum. we're still stock pickers. i talk about the broad market all the time. even if we had a correction we would would be looking at the strongest to buy, those with earnings momentum that still head up. as far as the macroeconomic fundamentals, we're in a unique environment. we have quantitative easing as far out as the eye can see and more stealth qe from the ecb this week with the ltro. >> yeah, and we'll see how much we get. kevin, it's ross here.

we've seen brent drop back, drop about a dollar today. where is oil fitting in right thousand for investors? >> you know, energy is one of my strongest for investors. i've been bullish on it. i will continue to look for strong energy names because this is a secular bull market that will be, as far as i'm concerned, the trade of the decade. does the price of oil tilt us to recession and there's a valid argument there but i don't think it's going to have an impact on stocks for at least a couple of quarters here. so, again, i'm a buyer of u.s. exploration companies in a lot of the shale areas. with the price of oil up here, it just makes their production that much better for their earnings. >> all right, kevin.

stick around. we'll talk more about this day ahead in a bit. i want to talk more about fuel prices. americans obvious ly feeling th pinch at the pump. the average price for regular unleaded up 18 cents the past week, actually up 30 cents plus. it's $3.69 a gallon. analysts say that it reflects higher crude prices, growing jitters about iran, and despite plentiful supplies in most of the country in his weekly address president obama says there's no quick fix for high gas prices. >> we can't just drill our way to lower gas prices f. we're going to take control of our energy future and avoid these gas price spikes down the line, we need a sustained all of the above strategy that develops every available source of american energy -- oil, gas, wind, solar, nuclear, biofuels, and more. >> democrats in congress with urging the president to tap the

reserve. treasury secretary geithner told cnbc on friday that is a possibility. we're looking down half a percent. i want to get a thought as i thought to you about whether this could derail us. but kevin used the "r" word, recession. he didn't say we were heading for it. did this sneak up on you, this spike, this wrinkle in the whole economic view or did you see this coming a little bit? >> i definitely didn't see it coming. we're going to see lots of things. we're still in this very tenuous economic stage. one of the things i was thinking looking back to oil, we have all this incredibly cheap money. the housing market hasn't recovered. corporations are still not really investing in america. we don't know where the jobs are. on top of that, high unemployment and oil prices are

starting to rise. there's a lot of uncertainty out there. the stock markets, the equity markets seem to be excited. they are helping a lot of companies kick the can down the road and reduce the debt which is a good thing. we still have a lot of uncertainty that's out there. are people going to use the "r" word? i don't though. i'm a bankruptcy lawyer. kind of kidding on that. we go into another recession? sure. >> do you think, and you're not an oil expert either, but do you think that it's not really a fundamental issue and it's more e iran, there's also the positive. this could pull back in a hurry, too. at the same time we were at, oil was this high, gas prices were lower. gas prices seem higher than they should be relative to oil. do you see it going much higher? you said if if it went higher,

it would hurt. do you see it going that way? >> i don't know. if you fill your suv up and it costs you 120 bucks, you are not going to be spending money on something else and that will hurt the economy. >> kevin, you just said, look, equity markets won't stop equity markets for a couple of quarters, why? >> because i think -- it's not going to get priced in right away. because gas goes to $3.50 or $4.50. i don't think the consume are instantly retrenches. it's a slow adjustment for like the oil in the pot of water. and we don't really know how it will shake out. we'll have a lot of volatility in oil. people are used to it and i think you're going to find a lot of balance from domestic production here in the u.s. >> all right, kevin, john, stick

around. plenty more from you. we'll get back out to the mobile world congress in barcelona. karen is there talk iing to all the big names. karen, what's coming up? >> reporter: no sign of apple. plenty other exhibitors here. we'll talk about that. i found an enthusiast here at the industry event. in fact, this is the president who is walking around with the latest software, entertaining himself on the go through these cool glasses.

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welcome back to "worldwide exchange". not sure what we were doing. i thought we were going out to the world mobile congress. i guess i'll put it to you. apple is not at the world mobile congress which is interesting. do you think that any of these companies can catch up to them and can keep pace? >> a great question. apple is a great company. i just switched from my blackberry to an iphone and now at my law firm we can use the iphone. >> you can use it for enterprise now? >> i have everything going there and truthfully, seriously changed my life.

it makes everything very efficient. it's an amazing product. whether anyone can catch up or not, i don't know. i just hope i keep getting this great technology so i can continue to use it and be more efficient and productive. >> kevin, are you with us? >> yes. >> what is your view on apple and research in motion and nokia and ericsson? most won't touch r.i.m. with a ten-foot pole and hitting up apple at these levels. what is your opinion? >> no, i think you have to be a long term investor and buy the dips. i've been a buyer of the dips since 2009 and it always works because you get the run up in apple from investors who have to own the stock and i love what your guest just said. he just has an iphone now. i've always called it must-have gadget magic but it makes you more productive.

people find the products irresistible and then become addicted to them because they are part of your productivity tools. a apple continues to execute. individual investors must own the stock because of their earnings momentum. it's something you always want to look at buying the dips. i don't think we'll seeat $400 for a while. german lawmakers are voting today on the country's contribution to the second bailout package with greece. the bundestag expected to. this comes as the "ft" says that 160 german tax officials have volunteered to help greece sort out its tax system. according to the latest estimates from the eu commission and the imf unpaid taxes in greece total around 60 billion euros with tax evasion accounting for around 5 to 6

billion euros a year. maybe i would volunteer to go down to athens for a few months. while we work out what happens with greece and whether it fulfills that bailout, spain is now asking for a renegotiating of its deficit targets. prime minister monti is writing a letter and putting growth on the forefront here. and we have a french election coming up. do you think we'll get to where the southern nations will try to gang up on germany and say you have to do more on the growth side, throw us more than just austerity. >> i don't know about ganging up on them but austerity clearly is not working. we see them fall into a recession. we see each of these countries that are hurting economically, people in these countries, the voters, are hurting very badly

and what do you do when you're in that type of situation? you are not going to sit back and say i will continue to take it. i continue to think with the euro it's a difficult experiment in some ways, right, a lot of it makes sense but what you don't have is you do not have a united states of europe and when you don't have that kind of national unity behind it it's hard for each individual nation to say, fine, wall put in austerity measures so you can keep giving us money to allow us to pay off our debt. at some point what you do need is you need growth, you need to get out of the recession. and then you need to be able to reduce your debt. and until those debt levels are reduced, this is coming from my lens as a restructuring lawyer, until you reduce that to levels that work, you are not going to get out of this economic decline.

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the moeblg mobile world congress is under way in barcelona. karen has been speaking to the hand set makers. karen? >> reporter: thanks, ross. you'd think with all the technology we could come to you directly on time. let me tell you what is happening here. it's in full swing. we have a bunch of exhibitors. about 60,000 participants. so all the major players are here, the likes of samsung, nokia, ericsson. over to my left is ford, staging a big event, unveiling a new car that is integrated to the internet. i want to swing over this way.

there is a flying horse made up of smart phones. i guess you can draw all sorts of connotations, it flies ahead of the competition in developed markets, also, a huge event facility over to my right as well. a whole bunch of delegates there as they try to take on the likes of apple and the higher end brands across this spectrum and gain market share right across the mobile space. but what i found interesting was the amount of apps. i took a look at where the future is going. i found a new one useful for ross. if you find yourself in a foreign city with no reservation, no booking, you can log on to the app and find any restaurant directly down the road from you. the other device i thought was interesting, we've seen what's capable with the wii sport, the wii fit type of devices where if you make a motion it actually connects to a device. the next way is gesturing with

your mobile phone will answer the phone and pointing to a screen instead of using a remote and clicking on a button, you can point and select what you want. that's the future of where things are going. back over to you guys. thank you very much. we want to talk about what's ahead this week in terms of the economy. we get reports on durable goods, home prices, consumer confidence, personal income and spending, manufacturing in fourth quarter gdp. today january spending, home sales 10:00 a.m. eastern time. and earnings we get from lows. we get, also, autoparts maker visteon. what are you looking at the most this weeks in terms of data points and what do you expect? >> i'm looking forward to we have the dallas fed manufacturing index and also the richmond manufacturing survey.

both, manufacturing has been recovering nicely here and i want to see what the data points have to say. wednesday i think bernanke speaks twice this week. we hear from fisher and noster. a lot of fed people speaking. the inflation/deflation debate, we have hawks and doves and that's the great eest debate to have among our greatest economic minds in this era of quantitative easing. >> jonathan, are you optimistic at these levels or does it feel top heavy for you. >> i'm not a market picker. it feels to me top heavy. i made a poor joke before about being a bankruptcy lawyer. i think what we need to look at as a nation is still and we lost focus a bit, huge debt levels we have, funded debt we have to deal with those, we have to deal with the political issues going on right now.

hopefully after the elections we'll focus on it and actually start getting our economy to a place where the markets aren't going to be jumpy. the markets will be something we can start to understand better. >> jonathan, we appreciate it. and, of course, kevin cook, we appreciate the insight as well from zacks.com. coming up on "squawk box," a big show from nebraska -- is it nebraska? yeah, it is. we have warren buffett and becky quick, all of your questions. make sure you chime in at #askwarren. there's buffettwatch@cnbc.com. i'm brian shactman. >> i'm ross westgate. enjoy "squawk box." we'll be back again tomorrow.

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this is a special presentation of "squawk box." for the next three hours the oracle of omaha, warren buffett, answering your questions on the pressing issues affecting the country and your wallet. get the market moving plays that could change your financial future. it all starts now. good monday morning, everyone. welcome to "squawk box" here on cnbc. i'm becky quick reporting live from the printing press floor of the omaha "world herald." a special guest with us today, warren buffett. he's going to be talking to us for the next three hours. also, joe kernen and andrew