you're watching "worldwide exchange." i'm ross westgate. the headlines today, the good, the okay and the pretty ugly. british retailers experience a mixed picture over the christmas season. air france shares soar. the market opens isn't always a success for asia. deflationary eurozone pressures will back jack lew's policy as the treasury secretary lands in berlin.

and look at confirmation of the fed's decision to taper its bond buying program. hello. a warm welcome to today's edition of on "worldwide exchange." there's some 50 ipo ons that are going to list in china this month as the end of beijing's freeze on the offerings comes to an end. at 10:45 cet, persimmon announces a 28% jump in full year revenue. are the policies of the british government constructing a profitability 2014 for the nation's house builders. and a very happy birthday to king jong un, or is it? we'll be joined by a guest who says it doesn't matter what the

north korean supreme leader was born. china is looking at new ways to control the situation. finally, will investors be raising a glass to conat the lagz brands? we'll be joined by an analyst who says we should expect another strong set of numbers from the company. if you have any sorts of comments, e-mail us, worldwide@cnbc.com is the address. first, u.s. treasury secretary jack lew is continuing his european tour with a stop in berlin and then in lisbon. it's expected he'll call on germany to do more for domestic demand. he'll expect europe to take more action on a banking union. >> we've made no secret over the years of having back stops in places. we would like to see more action taken. but i think, you know, you have to look at where things were a

year and a half ago and where they are now. it's significant progress. as these mechanisms are tested, they have the capacity to grow. >> joining us now is elka bosh. thank you for joining us. it will be interesting to see whether jack lew continues what have been previous criticisms from the u.s. about germany's huge trade surplus. there's an issue here that rebalancing within the eurozone and creates a deflationary bias. do you share those concerns? >> no, i don't share them in full. i think there are some aspects worth thinking about. but i would first of all point out that the trade data at face value are not very reliable because you need to look at the value embedded in those. and as germany has offshored and outsourced dramatically over the last 15 years, there are a lot of other countries benefiting these because they provide input

into those german exports. >> do they not represent an excess of output overspending? >> yes, they do. but at the same time, germany is also exporting a lot of capital to the rest of the world. i.e., it's funding spending elsewhere. so it's not really lost. what has been produced and sold. i think germany itself needs to think more carefully on whether it's a good use to put domestic savings into financial investments abroad or whether it should invest more its own productive potential, notably through bumping up infrastructure spent. >> the eurozone, though, seems to be stumbling towards deflation. the latest year on year measure, the core number, 0.7, elka, that's a record low. doesn't this also not only does that, you know, suggest we might be nearing a deflationary trap

in japan, but doesn't it thwart shift in competitiveness that we need across the eurozone? >> it's true, the overall low inflation rate makes it more difficult to see the adjustments happening in the periphery and where some below average inflation is needed to regain competitiveness within the euro area. and i would agree that the policy of the european central bank is still too tight and that the ecb could do more. but i would highlight that europe is still facingen overvalued exchange rate vis-a-vis the u.s. dollar. so throughout the crisis, europe has for the most part struggled with an exchange rate that was way overvalued and that makes it also tougher for europe to grow, but also is one factor amongst others to keep inflation subdued. and maybe this is something that should and would need to change

this year as part of let's say an optimal pattern of growth globally. >> would the ecb do anything over the course of this year to try and weaken the exchange? will they talk about it this week? will they introduce small liquidity measures and cheaper money? >> i don't think they will talk about the exchange rate. they did that once in february last year and immediately i think was stopped doing that in the subsequent g-7, g-8 meetings. but do i think that the ecb will take action this year. we expect another rate cut and we also see a decent chance for a rate cut, i.e., putting the deposit rate into negative territory for the first time. >> thanks for that, elka. we've just had some italian unemployment data i will bring you. up to 1277%. youth jobless rate up to 41.7%. we have the eurozone composite

and employment number coming up in an hour. right now, let's bring you up to speed with where we stand on global equities. pretty even stevens, really, on advancers versus decliners at the moment. around about 5 to 5. we're still lightly weighted to the upside and we are just about up on the indices, as well. up about 0.1%. the ftse yesterday was up some 24 points. this morning, it's down 15 points. it's been a pretty flat start to the year for the uk market. lots of retailers in focus this morning. we'll come on to that in just a second. the xetra dax is flat, cac 40 up 5 and up about 0.77% for the ftse mib. the british mother and baby retailer mothercare down 31%, a full year profit warning after christmas took its toll on the

bottom line. mothercare took a hit on currency deflation outside the uk, as well. sainsbury did beat forecasts, but it's expected to soften over the coming month. sales fairly flat over the last period. moody's has placed fiat on a downgrade on the back of its deal to take total control of chrysler. the stock only down marginally. it did have a big rally after that deal was announced. and air france khl, stock up over 5.5%. they've announced a rise in traffic. which areas of the world are doing better than others? stephane has all the details for us. >> let's have a look at the global numbers. and the numbers are good, whatever the metrics you're looking at. if you look at the number of passengers, which is up 3.7% on

the full year. if you look at the passenger per kilometer which is up 0.2% in december, the traffic was driven by strong growth for its american roots, up 6.6% last month. the demand was strong for the destinations to latin america. air france has nearly a 10% increase on that period. european traffic increased significantly, up 4%. although the load factor in that part of the world remains below the average for the airline with -- on at least 74.5%. the global low fater for air france klm was up 82 points, 8% in december. and on the negative side, asia was a bit disappoint, a small contraction of 1.4% last month in terms of total pass engines on the asian routes of air france klm. all in all for the last year, passenger trucks increase by 2.3% for the airline, driven by asia and also to north america.

negative side for the cargo activity, ross. it's down 3.7% in december and 4.6% on the full year. all the regents of the world are at negative percent. >> stephane, thanks for that. let's turn our attention to bond yields. just under 2796% on the ten-year treasury yield. we have been supported by the fact we've had strong trade helping the dollar up. we've got the fed minutes today. on the currency markets, kind of at you were, really. 1.36 level. dollar/yen, back up to 105. the dollar index doing well after that trade data came in stronger than expected, up at a one-month high. the adp jobs number out, as well.

aussie/dollar, 0.8916. marketwise, sixuan is with us. hey, sixuan. >> thank you, ross. strong data from the u.s. boosted risk appetite in asia. the nikkei 225 let the gains jump 2% today. in china, the shanghai depositit ended at a low. the nasdaqs like china exports jumped over 3% today on reports saying beijing paved the way for insurance companies to invest in these tech start-ups. elsewhere, the hang seng index in hong kong had its best day in seven weeks. shoemaker surged after 17% after yesterday's jump on a better industry outlook. know that the stock plunged nearly 70% last year.

south korea's kos thepy and australia's asx 200 both ended flat in directionless trading. japan's nintendo shares soared a whooping 10% as china eased a 14-year ban on video game consoles. meanwhile, earnings news boosted reports familymart neared a 14-month high. seven & i jumped 6% after post ago record year profit. >> thanks for that, sixuan. catch you later. investors are in focus today from the fomc minutes from last month, in which the central bank announced it would begin tapering monthly bond purchases by $10 million. speaking yesterday to policymakers, they said they expect today central bank to continue tapering at a steady pace. boston fed president rosengren

said the fomc should not take any dramatic steps. the san francisco fed president, john williams, said the stock market was aligned with the fundamentals. elga is still with us. elga, do you think the pace will increase or stay fairly steady? is there any chance at all of untapering if data weakens considerably? >> well, i think the policy path in the u.s. will likely be data dependant. the question is always sort of what the thresholds are to take any central bank off its chosen and mapped out course. in our view, though, as far as the federal reserve is concerned, the focus will, in the discussions on the count, will now very much change towards forward guidance to reinforce forward guidance so that you can actually anchor the global bond markets, the u.s. treasury market as you are

gradually dialing down the monetary policy stimulus. >> yeah. the -- how do you think the u.s. economy is going to fair? we had that sort of trade data which boosts a fairly good gdp number in the fourth quarter. but we've had slightly cooler ism sales, nonmanufacturing tipped down a little bit. >> net-net, the u.s. economy looks doing very well in late 2013. and the entry level for 2014 might be slightly affected by weather, so i think it's too early to say. but clearly, the u.s. economy will buy a considerable margin outperform europe. so will the uk. >> yeah. so will that help bring the euro down against the dollar, do you think? and what is morgan stanley's explanation of why the euro has been so strong?

>> so we do expect the euro to weaken considerably this year. our year-end target is around 125 for euro/dollar. and there are probably two reasons why the euro has been relatively well support. we think euro area banks ahead of the cutoff data likely repatriate at more assets in europe. and in the second half of last year, we saw equity funds in the credit space to putt put money to work in europe. in countries with the bund market and the government bond investors, they do not tend to hatch their exposure. as they the put on sort of risk on strategies or expand them into europe, the euro was pushed higher. so this would be the two main factors that we see supporting the euro so far. >> and just is a quick word about italy and france.

november unemployment numbers out of italy, the youth jobless rate up 41.6%. it hasn't yet stopped contracting. france pmi is very weak, as well. this is 40% of the u.s. economy. are these economies going to turn around or stay very weak? >> i think they're going to turn around from a cyclical point of view, but structurally, long-term in terms of the growth rates that they can deliver over the medium term, both are rather weak. and that has to do with the lack of reform and notably in the labor market, but also in various other aspects of product markets which tend to be overregulated. >> elga, good to see you. thanks for that. now, following a year-long freeze, china's ipo market is beginning to soar. could the new listings hurry demand for existing shares? we'll be over in hong kong for analysis right after this. [ male announcer ] the new new york is open.

open to innovation. open to ambition. open to bold ideas. that's why new york has a new plan -- dozens of tax free zones all across the state. move here, expand here, or start a new business here and pay no taxes for ten years... we're new york. if there's something that creates more jobs, and grows more businesses... we're open to it. start a tax-free business at startup-ny.com.

we're open to it. so you can see like right here i can just... you know, check my policy here, add a car, ah speak to customer service, check on a claim...you know, all with the ah, tap of my geico app. oh, that's so cool. well, i would disagree with you but, ah, that would make me a liar. no dude, you're on the jumbotron! whoa. ah...yeah, pretty much walked into that one. geico anywhere anytime. just a tap away on the geico app.

u.s. regulators are probing whether big banks tlib rattly missed mortgage bonds following the crisis.

the investigation focuses on whether traders bought and sold residential mortgage-backed securities that inflated or depressed values between 2009 and '11. banks being examined include barclay's, the deutsche, goldman sachs, ubs and rbs. the program is still in the early stages and may not lead to any enforcement action. citigroup is considering selling its stake in a private equity fund. this is to comply with the volcker rule. city sold 8el.5 billion in private equity holdings last year. alan mulally says he's not going to microsoft and will stay at the automaker through at least this year. mulally has told the associated

press that he wants to end all speculation because i have no other plan to do anything other than serve ford. the microsoft board had hoped to have a new ceo by the end of the last year. they've narrowed down their list to a handful of candidates. fords shares are pretty flat in frankfurt. now, apple says its custo r customers spent a record $0 billion on an apps store last year and that roughly equals all the purchases in the previous four years combined. the company says it has now passed on $15 billion in total to developers following the creation of the apps store in 0 2008. so we want to know, what's the app that you can't live without? did you pay or was it free? let us know. join the conversation here on "worldwide exchange." e-mail us, worldwide@cnbc.com.

and i know many answers, of course, will be the cnbc app. and talking about apps, coming up at 11:20, we'll be joined by one of the teenage cofounders of edge. this is a ski companion app. when you're out on the mountain, it tells you exactly the cues at which lift at that particular moment, you can decide whether to ski on down to the next lift or take the chair that you're approaching. quite useful. now, here comes china's ipo scored the first a-share listings in more than a year went public today signalling the freeze on new offerings. two offerings on the shenzhen expected in total this month. regulators have given the green light to 83 the firms, including

coal. the market has been struggling in the new years. investors feel the glut of new shares will dilute existing investors. steve won is a chief economist and joins us for more. steve, nice to see you. what is the impact of all this new listing, new equity going to have on the local markets? >> hi. basically, i think the current market is anticipating the new stock coming online in the current month and the following year. we see a lot of pressure on the existing stocks that are, for example, banking sector and the property sector. in particular, people are really looking forward to the new growth opportunities in the years ahead. >> which investors are going to buy these fresh releases? investors overseas, a mixture of pension funds?

retail? >> sure. in terms of the investor breakdown, the first batch will be dominated by the domestic investors. we see a lot of news coming across on the insurance sector. the insurance companies are now allowed to invest in the start-up, china and shenzhen markets. we see the local high net worth individual participating after the building process. later on, we'll see more and more foreign investor coming into the market. but overall, i think right now everybody is looking at how to get the best ipos out there right now. looking at the -- we got such a number. which ones are you particularly going to be excited about, do you think, or is going to make a splash? >> well, i think let's talk about coal first. that's going to be a major ipo first. i think in terms of the 300 ipos that will come out this year, raising about 40 billion u.s.

dollars, it's already almost $2 billion. it will be the third largest coal player in china. basic energy usage is going to come from coal for china. and we're looking a lot at the automobiles, railway equipment, a lot of the new stock coming from that sector in addition to new emerging segments like pharmaceuticals. very exciting opportunities in the shenzhen market these days. >> yeah. it's interesting. five companies approved for shanghai listings, another 3 the 3 for the shenzhen. how stiff is the competition between the two? >> they are different makes, actually. they're watching blue chips, the large companies who are just very good cash prospects. but on the shenzhen market, we see a lot of growth

opportunities. it includes auto parts and generating a 20%, 30% growth and a lot of familiar totals that are really interesting to get a piece of that. >> do you think, did we get more companies listing and getting more private shareholders? do you think that competition between private -- the private sector and public data and company is going to be rebala e rebalanced? because i know many of the private firms feel like they've been eek squeezed out, the public and state entities has been too tough. >> i think in terms of the new ipo, they're dedicated towards the private entrepreneurs. there's a lot of good ideas and a lot of good companies out there building business in china. in the past, we know the ipos have been dominated by the use. now things are very different. we have a new pipeline dominated by small/medium enterprises raising about $100 million each and they offer interesting

prospects compared to what has been offered in the past. in the past, fund managers have said they're dying to get out of the china and investment hong kong market. but now they're getting a little bit of a pay back from the markets. >> good to talk to you. thanks for that. steve whang, joining us from hong kong. don't forget, if you have any thoughts or comments, e-mail us. worldwide@cnbc.com is the address. still to come, we'll be speaking tort former deputy of the u.s. treasury. let's find out what he thinks about america's trade deficit and the looming debt ceiling deadline, as well. we'll also get into what's going on with the uk house builders. see you in a few moments. welcome back. how is everything? there's nothing like being your own boss! and my customers are really liking your flat rate shipping. fedex one rate. really makes my life easier. maybe a promotion is in order.

good news. i got a new title. and a raise? management couldn't make that happen. [ male announcer ] introducing fedex one rate. simple, flat rate shipping with the reliability of fedex.

and the headlines from around the globe, the good, the okay and the down right ugly. british retailsers experienced a very mixed picture over the christmas season. air france stocks soared. as traffic such as grow in all regions except for asia. deflation and eurozone pressures could back jack lew's message as the u.s. treasury

secretary lands in berlin. and today's adp numbers might be the warm-up act for friday's in the u.s. will it taper its decision regarding its bond buying program? european equities are an hour and a half into the trading session. they've tried to pick up a little bit, but actually they're rather flat. the ftse 100 was up 24 points. the ftse mib was up 0.7.5%. relatively flat for the german and french markets. ten-year treasury yields, 2.96%. they did get down to a level of 2.93% on tuesday and gilt yields are similar, 2.96%, as well. on the currency markets, dollar/index up to a one-month high following upbeat u.s. trade data yesterday. dollar/yen is back around there 105 level and euro/dollar is around 1.36.

the u.s. trade deficit decline to go a four-year low. imports declined by 11.5%, largely due to a drop-off in oil imports. analysts have suggested these price figures could lead to a growth revision for the fourth quarter. at the same time, one threat to growth, u.s. debt ceiling is back on the table with a previously postponed deadline now due on february the 7th. if lawmakers fail to raise spending limits by then, the treasury will be forced to take up extraordinary measures to keep paying the federal government bill. treasury secretary jack lew warned such measures could run out in a few weeks if lawmakers don't act as soon as possible. neal wolin is joining us now from singapore. he's deliver ago speech on medium prospects for the u.s. and its global implications. knight nice to see you, neal. thank you very much indeed for

joining us. >> very good to be with you. >> right. let's just talk about debt. why does the u.s. have to have a debt ceiling? we wouldn't have to worry about whether we're going to raise it. >> well, i think you're right. it doesn't make so much sense. it gives authorities to our congress that regulate levels of the u.s. debt that the u.s. government can acome late. so it's forced itself into this repeated process by which it raises the limit and then a year later and sometimes more frequently than that, it has to raise it again. i think it would make an awful lot of sense if it did something that was longer term and avoided a periodic set of concerns that we've been so many times in the recent pass.

>> presumably his successes would debut is cart blanch in terms of accumulating additional debt. so we're forced in the united states this complicated dynamic by which on the one hand congress puts authority out parsimoniously and doesn't do a good job in making sure that we predict the full faith and credit of the united states without all this drama. >> are we going to have a drama in a couple of weeks, in february? >> well, i certainly hope not. the republicans said they want something in return for the extension of the debt limit. of course, the president has been clear as he has in the past that he doesn't think that he should be giving anything for what is really just common sense, which is to say that this very crucial asset in the united

states be protected and preserved and that we don't call into question whether or not the united states having already committed to paying these amounts can then not finance it when the bills come due. >> we saw a surprising trade drop yesterday. a lot of it seems to be because of importing less energy products. how dramatically do you think the picture is changing? >> this has been going on now for some time, as you know. there's been a steady improvement in our trade data and largely it's been because of domestic production and energy. so the energy component of the trade picture has been improving. i think that will continue as we in the united states continue to produce greater amounts of domestic source energy and, therefore, need to import less.

so this is a news stories that has been developing for some time. it has reached kind of an intermediate low for the united states and i suspect although the data will vary from month to month, they will continue to improve in the months and years to come. it's not only the u.s. energy sector. the trade with china narrows further to 6 of.9 billion in november. china hit a record high u.s. exports in november, as well. and the dollar may well start getting stronger as a result because if you become more of an energy player. does that change the dynamic of the relationship with china snap? >> well, the leaders of the g-20 countries have for some time now been talking about rebalancing the global economy and global

growth. part of what that has meant is moving demand and consumption away from the united states to some of these other countries like china so that they're in a position, then, to elsewhere. and this will mean the world continues less and less on american consumer demand, it will improve the u.s. trade picture and i think that will be another piece of what is going on in addition to the energy piece. >> do you believe ner g germany h has maintained a large current account surplus? >> i think as the united states has been saying for quite some time now, it's important europe undergo a number of reforms. part of it is that countries like germany, which can

stimulate additional demand and, therefore, additional growth in europe do so as part of a picture in which europe tries to increase its growth. europe has made stride in that direction as a group to move themselves out of recession. but there are additional steps to countries such as germany to do more, to see that demand across the eurozone. and i think that's another piece of the structural adjustment that's part of this broader set of global rebalance. >> the german finance ministry will come out and they have said, look, we contribute in this global growth to our exports and the imports have components for the finished product and that's what we do. >> well, they do do that and there's no question about it. in a europe where growth has been anemic, those countries that are part of the eurozone that can help increase demand and, therefore, growth generally, i think would be well

advised to do more of it so that the better dynamic can pick up, it's good for europe, it's good for the broader economy and i guess the view that jack lew has aspoused in the past and i suspected espousing while in germany this week is to do more to try to help boost european growth, which although is not positive is still really quite anemic. >> what is the view in the treasury? we'll let the market decide? >> well, i think you've seen treasury secretaries for many years now say they will let the

market decide. and it will matter what the relative strength of the economy and positioning is. certainly from the u.s. treasury perspective, a strong dollar is the right place to be. >> yeah, but they've said that for years while the dollar consistently weakened. it's ridiculous that we believe in the strong dollar which there seems to be policies that have gone out of their way to make the currency weaker. >> obviously there was and there has been a real imperative to make sure the u.s. economy has recovered and has got ton a better place, which i think is, you know, now something that's happened and the u.s. economy continues to be progressing along that road to recovery. but there's no question that certain sectors have said and they have meant that all things in, they would rather have a strong dollar. in the end, of course, markets will determine these levels. there is nothing that can be

said other than that. >> you must have thought occasionally, neal, saying this when we've seen at times the dollar is the second weakest currency after the yen. it's a bit harder to come out and say i believe in a strong dollar which clearly it's been weakening. do you know what i mean? >> no. but i think you're confusing what the preference is to what the markets have done to the actual values. >> right. okay. >> and the preference is strong and the markets will do their will. >> i suppose if you had a fed that was launching a time of qe and you know that's going to weaken the dollar as a result, you're just contradicting yourself slightly. but that would be the sense that i have for -- anyway, neal, look, great to see you. don't answer that. gone. go on. >> i was going to say, the first imperative is to make sure the

recovery is strong and on the road to recovery. that's go going to have implications on for everything, including foreign exchange data. but notwithstanding that, it is in the interest of the united states to have a strong dollar and over time, that's what we hope to have. i think that's a way to reconcile these various pieces. anyway, it's great to be with you and thanks so much. >> thank you for coming. kneel wolin, u.s. secretary department. sainsbury expects the month to soften over the coming month as the economic back drop is fairly uncertain. sainsbury shares down around 8%. mothercare, on the other hand, has seen its shares off sharply today. the baby products retailer has issued a full year profit warning after christmas discounting took a big toll on the bottom line. it operates in around 60 countries. it took a hit on deflation outside the uk. the shares up nearly 30%.

persimmon, on the other hand, is claiming a pro bust end to 2014. this is the british house builder. full year revenue jumped 41% to 2.1 billion pounds. the volume of new homes delivered was 16% ahead of the previous year and it grouped added some strong private sales. joining us for more on the sector, ryan brahamfield. how much of what persimmon is saying reflects the rest of the sector? >> i think this ties in very much with the story across the sector. in contrast to the retailers where it's been a very mixed bag and you often find this in sectors across the board for the home builders. >> now, these latest set of numbers, they didn't mention the government's help to buy scheme. >> since the measures were

announced aft last year's budget, a number of house builders have announced plans to accelerate or sharply increased payments to shareholders. >> these are coming off a low base following cuts and suspensions during the recession. our current forecast is for an increase of 145% which is quite significant. coming from a low starting point. >> and increasing earnings. where will it peak out, do you think 12347. >> at some point, it will with growth. pez payout ratios coming from around 15% years ago up to around 34%. this is an indicator of the outlook. they have quite a ways to go to get back up to the precrisis

levels. >> however, there is the potential for upside surprises, given the results. >> it's something that has to be watched globally. there is the mortgage scheme coming in for april. the funding for lending to switch to small business led by the government. so they are trying to strike this delicate balance. and it is worth remembering that outside of london the house prices are up only about 3%. >> and that which is the main point, as well.

>> what do you think the demand for income is like at the moment? >> very strong. dividends have been a very important key over the last number of years. certainly shareholders would rather have the cash returns and a low interest rate environment. it's been a very strong focus on returns to shareholders been capital discipline and dividend payments. >> thanks so much for joining us. now, it's game on for japanese game consolemakers stocks as the government lifted its game console ban. makiko has more for us. >> hi, ross. nintendo shares rallied today finishing up more than 10%. it was the sixth most traded stock on the board. the firm has not officially

commented on lifting china's ban. nintendo is struggling as smartphones and other devices eat into the gameling market. but the weaker yen has helped improve its earnings. sony could get a boost from an open chinese market. its shares closed up 1.4% today. sales of the new console reached 4.2 million units worldwide as of late disease beating out rival xbox 11. that's all from noise business report. back to you, ross. >> thanks, makiko. still to come, family executiones and basketball of d d d dis-plomacy. we'll cross to seoul on a day on that may or may not be kim jong

uneeps birthday.

so on the agenda in asia tomorrow, emerging markets in focus as they set for career indonesia and the philippines. china releases december inflation figures and australia puts out retail sales for

november. speaking of retail, got a couple of big japanese funds retail reporting quarterly numbers. fast retailing and convenience store chain lawson. united states has come out swinging against pyongyang today. the secretary of state john kerry says washington can't accept north korea as a nuclear state calling on its leaders to abandon its nuclear ambition. the united states has sent another 800 troops to its camps near the demilitarized zone. the words come as north korea celebrates the birthday of kim jong un. china happened rally support after an alleged coup attempt. joining us now, james, happy new year. nice to see you. it's going to be an extraordinary couple of months, really, in north korea. the elimination of his uncle.

what do you think is the state of play at the moment? >> well, you know, this is the time of year and happy new year to you. this seems to be the time of the year when north korea suddenly gets a lot of attention. and kim jong un's birthday seems to be one of the ways that he's orchestrating that with these basketball players traveling to pyongyang. but, you know, it's interesting. to have divided leadership, to have multiple leadership figures in north korea could be argued to have the leadership concentrated into the figure of one person. and you could say kim jong un may be feeling more secure today than in the past having eliminated this potentially, you

know, divisive influence from his uncle and perhaps even from his aunt who is either unwell or perhaps even has passed away. so it's unclear whether he's feeling anxious or he's feeling confident. my money would be on the latter. it's also interesting that both south korea and the u.s. are making strong statements about denuclearization at the president while south korea is reaching out and saying let's have more family reunions, which would be something more of a friendly approach. >> yes. sort of a mixed message there. what do we make of dennis rodman and the basketball stars? it's rather extraordinary. >> well, i think everybody is going to make individually of it what they wish. from my point of view, i view a

lot of what happens around the north korean situation as sort of a theater or a drama. and this is one new sort of element. you might call it the clown or the jester arriving to distract everybody from the matters that really should be getting attention. if you look at the news on north korea today, you can barely find anything of meaningful substance. you get a lot of distracting talk about this whole basketball trip. which, you know, you think people would have something better to pay attention to. >> yeah. meanwhile, talk about this before. what do you think the chinese new leadership wants to do with korea? how are they going to manage them? >> i think this is one of the most important things happening, presumably. we have new leadership in

beijing, taking china through. the last thing they want to do is having military disturbances. north korea seems to be a necessary part of its strategic in the region. but a north korea that's unconsiderble is not presumably what the new leadership would like to have. so they, i'm pretty certain, are sort of looking at different ways that they can try and balance out this relationship that they have with north korea. probably through some sort of mixture of, you know, modest carrots and invisible fix to try and restabilize a relationship that may have been disturbed by the removal of key figures, that they might have had longer relationships with. i'm sure beijing is paying a great deal of attention, but i doubt that we'll see anything visible from that attention because it behoovs beijing to

resolve its situation quietly. if that should ever become a noisy relationship, then i think we have something to fear. >> what happens in south korea, in seoul? is there any change in the impacts? >> well, all i can do, really, is share with you 18 years of living within seoul within 18 kilometers of the demilitarized zone. life in seoul seems to have never been disturbed by all that goes on in north korea even when there have been military reactions. people still go about their daily life. we have air raid sigh rends tested occasionally, which are a practical matter. but i must admit that i've never personally felt fear that something terrible is going to happen from the north korea

side. i have felt other kinds of concern here, but not that one because it seems to me if that were to happen, practically speaking, first of all, it would be too late to do much about it. but it's sort of an end game. and i don't think anybody is looking for an end game here. i think this is a -- how shall we call it -- a stable standoff that has worked for 60 years. and if i were to put my money on it, i would argue that it's going to work this way for the next 60 years. however unpalatable that may be. >> james, always good to talk to you. james rooney joinings us from seoul. still to come, record high these year. we'll get more on that in the second hour of the program, coming right up.

you're watching "worldwide exchange." i'm ross westgate. the adp numbers in the states book the warm-up act for friday's u.s. jobs report. that as we get more dealing and details on the fed's position to taper its bond buying program. microsoft shares down nearly 2% after hours. alan mulally rules himself out of the running for the top job as the tech giant. deflationary eurozone pressures will likely back jack lew's call for germany to

promote domestic growth as the u.s. treasury secretary lands in berlin. and freezing temperatures recorded in all 50 u.s. states, including the usually warm california and florida as the polar vortex continues to reek havoc. >> announcer: you're watching "worldwide exchange," bringing you business news from around the globe. a very good morning to you. if you've just joined us stateside, welcome to the start of your global trade day here on cnbc's "worldwide exchange." we had stocks going up yesterday for the first time this year. the s&p had its best day in around three weeks. the dow up 105 points. this morning, pretty much on fair value for the dow. the nasdaq, as well, about a point under it and the s&p is currently trading on fair value. let me show you where we stand for the ftse cnbc global 300. it's fairly flat at the moment.

european equities have been negative to a little bit flat. the ftse 100 yesterday was up 24 points. it's currently down 28 points which means for the year it is still absolutely flat, as well. xetra dax, cac 40 down 0.2%. we'll we cap that in just a second. the jobless rate unchanged, a 12.1% in line with forecast. although we did see a jump up in the italian jobless rate and also youth jobless rate, now well over 40%. the ftse mib is up 0.6%. on the bond market, ten-year treasury yield picked up from where we were yesterday. nearly up to 2.96% on the ten-year yield. we hit 2.93% yesterday. bund yield, you can see the spread there. over 100 basis points. on the currency markets, dollar index, up to a one-month high, post that better than expected trade data. euro/dollar, around 1.36. dollar/yen has been back up to

105 just below it at the moment. but not far away from that five-year low for the yen against the dollar, 105.41 which we had a couple of weeks ago. sterling around 11.64 against the greenback. that's where we stand right now in europe. sixuan will recap for us the session in asia today. >> thank you, ross. the strong u.s. data left its risk appetite in asia today. the nikkei 225 led the gains ending higher by 2%. the shanghai composite ended at a five-month closing low. we know the first batch of ipos will gradually come online after being frozen for over two years. aiming to raise up to 2.1 billion yuan and two other smaller companies start to take subscriptions today while pricing their shares at rel ofly high valuations. meantime, the nasdaq style china export jumped over 3% on reports that beijing paved the way for insurance companies to invest in

these tech start-ups. elsewhere, the hang seng index in hong kong had its best day in seven weeks ending higher by 1.3%. shoemaker daphne surged another 16% after yesterday's 14% jump on a better industry outlook. but to put knit context, the stock dropped 70% last year. anyone continuedo's shares surged a whooping 10% today. china eased a video game ban on gaming consoles. familymart rose 2.8%, nearing a 14-year high as the company's nine-month operating profit accounted for over 80% of its full year forecast. meanwhile, seven & i jumped 6%, so that's almost hitting an eight-year high after posting a record operating profit. and that's a recap of the asian markets.

back to you, ross. sixuan, thanks for that. have a good evening in singapore. let's remind you of what's on the agenda in the united states. the december adp employment report is out at 8:15 europe. it's forecast for an increase of 200,000 in private sector payrolls. and then at 2:00 p.m., we get the minutes from last month's fed meeting when the central bank decides to start tapering its bond buying program. three, it's november consumer credit. look for numbers today from constellation brands, family dollar, monsanto, bed, bath & beyond and ruby tuesday. joining us with his thoughts today, james bussler. good to see you. >> hi. >> so far, not a lot has happened in the uk. stocks have been pretty flat. three days of lows for the u.s. and a rally yesterday and it looks fairly flat today. what's your summation? >> markets are waiting for adp confirmation. the u.s. is on a stronger growth

trajectory. and may be tapering. tapering is quite important for the direction of equities. it isn't a rate hike, but it is a former monetary tightening, i suppose. and that tends to be -- >> no. i -- >> yeah. you are reducing the overall money supply and that tends to be negative. although we are into quite unchartered territory here. but we believe for the united states equity necessary particular in the first half there will still be a considerable amount of qe despite the offerings. and that's likely to be supported for equities as it kicks in the in the second half as the tapering really kicks in. it's likely to be a little more constructive to equities and, therefore, our outlook for returns on the u.s. is around some 7% to 9%. so not the stellar gains we saw in 2013. >> and you see in your note at the beginning, you're stocking

up on income. >> yeah. >> this means a bit of contradictory, given the -- >> the growth that we've had. >> yes. and a form of monetary tightening tends to sell debt now for income. you could say. but you can't forget this is quite unusual recovery in that governments are still very indebted. it is financial repression. and subsequently, government is in a financial repression do that by keeping interest rates below the rate of inflation. subsequently, there will always be that hunt for income. but now, we appreciate that theme has been around for perhaps a couple of years. and it is consensus. so our approach is to be a little bit more selective in this. >> and how. >> so it's looking for companies where you see dividend growth that in conjunction the adequate dividend cover. so a lot of safe haven sectors such as utilities and staples.

there's quite low payout ratios. it suggests a quite strong dividend yields. on the flip side of that, energy and health care have adequate dividend growth and quite well above average payout ratios. >> all right. stick around. more to come from you on that. a couple other stories we're looking at today, u.s. regulators are probing whether or not several big banks deliberately missed bonds. the investigation focuses on whether the traders bought and sold mortgage backed securities at deflated or depressed values from 2009 to 2011. banks being examined included deutsche bank, rbs, and the probe is still in the early stages sxint may not lead to any

enforcement action. at the same time, citigroup is reportedly considering selling its $1 billion stake in emerging market private equity funds. the wall street judicial says this is all part of city's strategy to shed hedge fund and private equity assets. it prohibits banks from investing in funds they can't management and those that they can at around 3%. citi sold $8 billion in private equity holdings last year. still to come, nearly half of the u.s. is still in a deep freeze. low temperatures have been set from boston to florida. more when we come back. ♪ [ cellphones beeping ] ♪ [ cellphone rings ] hello? [ male announcer ] over 12,000 financial advisors. good, good. good. over $700 billion dollars in assets under care. let me just put this away. [ male announcer ] how did edward jones get so big? could you teach our kids that trick? [ male announcer ] by not acting that way. ok, last quarter...

[ male announcer ] it's how edward jones makes sense of investing. ♪

and a recap of the headlines today, numbers in the u.s. over marketses and appetizers today ahead of nonfarm payroll numbers on friday. microsoft shares slump in after hours after alan mulally says he won't take over. and the u.s. deep freeze continues to crawl across the united states. nearly half of the united states is still shivering, stuck in a deep freeze for a third straight day. record low temperatures have been set from boston to florida.

the cold is being blamed for at least 21 deaths. all 50 states saw freezing temperatures at some point on tuesday, even in hawaii where it was 18 degrees fahrenheit. more than 11,000 flights have been canceled since the weekend. mean white, forest labs is set to buy aptalis for $3 billion. it sells its product primarily in north america and europe. forest previously held talks to buy aptalis, but those talks were put on hold when the ceo announced his retirement. forest labs down 11% in frankfurt. tuc entertainment, the parent of chuck e. cheese is reportedly exploring sales of a private equity firm.

the company which has a market cap of around $750,000 has been talk with interested buyers over the past few months. it jumped 111% on the buyout report. still to come, we'll be joined by one of the teenage cofounders of edge. this is a ski companion app. we'll get into it right after this. [ male announcer ] the new new york is open. open to innovation. open to ambition. open to bold ideas. that's why new york has a new plan -- dozens of tax free zones all across the state. move here, expand here, or start a new business here and pay no taxes for ten years... we're new york. if there's something that creates more jobs, and grows more businesses...

we're open to it. start a tax-free business at startup-ny.com. and shift through all eight speeds of a transmission connected to more standard horsepower than its german competitors. and that is the moment that driving the lexus gs will shift your perception. this is the pursuit of perfection. in my world, wall isn't a street.

return on investment isn't the only return i'm looking forward to. and my parachute definitely isn't golden. [ male announcer ] for some, every dollar is earned with sweat, sacrifice, courage, which is why usaa is honored to help our members with everything from investing for retirement to saving for college. our commitment to current and former military members

and their families is without equal. start investing with as little as $50. allen man mulally says thant no thanks. he is not going the microsoft and will stay at the automaker for at least this year. he wants to end all speculation because i have no other plans to do anything other than serve ford. the microsoft ford hoped to have a new ceo by the end of the last year. they've narrowed down the list to a handful of candidates including the former ceo and insider satia nudella. ford is fairly flat. in fact, just down 0.2%. off 0.75% for microsoft. and the titans of the tech

worlds are showing off their newest gadgets. jon fortt brings us the latest. >> a lot of news in the past few hours coming out of the consumer electronics show in las vegas. yahoo!'s ceo marissa mayer took the stage to talk about the company's strategy. they talked about coming to tumbler which is a new deal because that's new potential revenue for the company. and they've been stagnant revenues for quite a while. she brought out some of the leaders who will be bringing out new opportunities for yahoo! to generate revenue. yahoo! is starting a food channel, for example. not just yahoo! but season nigh taking the stage. the ceo talking about that company's new products. i sat down with him first on cnbc, as well. sony is start ago new internet based tv service. he says the goal is not to compete with cable, but to figure out how to get tv content that people want to see across

multiple devices. sony pushing hard on its strategy, not just in tvs. the prices are coming down there, but also on the content creation side. sony will have a camcorder, consumer camcorder that does -- at about $2,000. which will be a break through price point. a number of other announcements coming, not on just from samsung, but i was able to speak with one of the co-ceos about their ambitions to get into the high end appliance market. i had mentioned quite a bit of biotechnology industry this year. there's a company called pulse wallet that stamps your hand in order for you to pay for things. another company scans your iris to unlock your pc password. for cnbc, i'm jon fortt. >> that's john's report. james, what's your view of tech at the moment? where would you be looking to invest? >> the large cap, tech runs in a

cycle called a short business cycle where a company starts off as an innovator, a small company. and then starts to have a big boost in sales. eventually, it becomes an emulator, it starts to get a bit large and a bit creaky. then they sort of tend to start to go ex growth at that point. >> and more quickly than it used to, right? >> absolutely. so we're trying to target those smaller companies. where they're in that sort of innovation stage where you can really benefit from a price appreciation. so we've tart geted really thre key areas that benefit from that. so the first one is data. with cloud proliferating this huge data storage centers that are growing and there's great opportunity there. so it could be hard drive manufacturers, drive manufacturers. you've got mobile. i think mobile internet usage is expected to exceed data internet usage this year. that's a great theme.

so that is two key areas that we really like. and also some specialist chip manufacturers. for instance, when you create a chip, you design it and you could argue that it's ending so the price is not doubling in speed every 18 moss any more. so perhaps it's about packing different features on to chips and some of the manufacturer res benefiting from that. >> we're going to continue to tech theme. the world of mobile offerings has expanded to nearly every lifestyle and hobby. now it's appealing to schemes with technology that helps to navigate slopes around the world. ed hardy is co-founder of edge and joins us now. how old are you, ed? >> i'm 17. >> when did you design this app? last year? >> yes. we've been working on edge for about six months now. we had something before, about a year ago, which we worked on with a few people in london and

it sort of evolved into edge. >> and you've received funding from david rowen, has been something sort of a mentor. you don't need a lot of money to build an app, do you? >> yeah. the great thing is it's so accessible. we're at school so we have certain constraints on time. we have a team in romania helping us with the development. they've been great. it's been helpful getting to work with them and seeing how they work, the processes they go through. they have been a massive help to our development process. theory not just sitting there, they're an active part of our company. >> what is this app? you described it as the only companion you need on a ski slope, right? this brings you information about the resort, about you and puts it all in one place.

>> yeah. so edge has two key components. it's you and the resort. the resort side of things has weather information, venue information, mapping, and then on a personal side, you can actually track your debt. so speed, distance, time and challenge your friends based on those stats. >> would it order me a beer at the restaurant i'm going to for lunch? that would be quite handy. i used to get up in the morning and think about which slopes i wanted to hit. now i get up in the morning and think about where i want to eat lunch. the thing is, it's cold, i might be wearing goggles, i have gloves on. how does it work for that? >> so we put a large amount of time into making sure the user interface was suitable for

skiing, so the color so it's visible in a smartphone, on the mountain, in the bright lights. we also have it so you can put it in your pocket at the start of the day, press start, and you can leave it there all day. it won't drain that much and it's on auto start and stop. >> what do you want to do with this business? what's the plan? >> ultimately, we want to become the ways to skiing. so we want to be able to give you realtime data about the mountain, how the mountain is operating, where the lift skis are and help you find every mountain that you can ski on for wider skiing. we're building up a profile about how you ski and we can suggest different areas to get later on in the day. >> i think this is a really interesting space in technology at the moment. although this year is the first year i went skiing in early december, the first year i could have used an app for that, they haven't been all that good. but this year, i found it really

useful. it was really helpful for that. so to know where the lift started, to have massive cues would be helpful, too. the only thing i found was i was looking at my top speed and that can be a little destructive. >> yeah. and the interesting thing, i suppose, you get this right, you explain to our sports, if you put information in, you'll get more on lift cues. where do you want to extend it? >> there are so many different sports we can bring this into. but also what is exciting is as we're seeing this year, a huge amount of wearables coming into the market and low energy blue tooth, particularly apple. you can have that in your clothing and we can be gauging a huge amount. we see edge in the long-term as a platform for these sensors and making skiing a connected experience. >> the interesting thing is, you met, you know, frank meehan.

by twitter, did you? >> twitter is a great platform. everyone is actual. you can argue your line is come across. they want toni vest in them, that's, you know, you can do that. it's great. ford is looking at my sync system. customers will be able to order and pay for pizza from behind a wheel. the app should be available this summer. dominos says nearly 40% of orders come from online orders. if you're interested in domino's pizza. stock dound around 0.1%. meantime, apple says its customers spent a record $10

billion in its app store in 2013. now, to put it in context, that is roughly across all the purchases in the previous four years added up and totaled. the company said on tuesday that it had now passed on $15 billion to developers following the creation of the app store in 2008. i bet you like that. we want to know what is the app that you couldn't do without? let us know. e-mail us, worldwide@cnbc.com. tweet @cnbcwex, direct to me @rosswestgate. >> the best app that you've had? >> city map. you open it up and you can get anywhere in london. it is amazing. >> james? >> this is a hard one. i don't think i have an answer to this. but we have clients that have built successful apps. but they might have developed 50 apps before that that haven't worked. in some instances, it's quite luck. there's only one company that seems to have had a repeat

success, and that's super cell. they produced clash of the clans and one other that i can't remember. clash of the clans is bringing in $5 million a day. so if you get it right, it's incredibly lucrative. >> thank you very much. james, ed hardy, thank you. >> do you have exams this year? >> yeah, i do, in the summer. >> all right. it's 24 hours a day. that's all i can say. launch a business. you don't need to go to university. just business wsh right? >> it's a good time to get launching. >> yeah, it is. it's an excuse, as well. thanks so much. good to see you. still to come, investors gear up for the fed's latest meeting minute which will give clues on the fomc's tapering decision and the central bank outlook in new york. talk about it right after this.

there is "worldwide exchange." i'm ross westgate. the recap of the headlines from around the globe, today's adp numbers could be the warm-up act for friday's jobs report as we get more information about the fed's decision to taper its bond buying program today. microsoft shares down nearly 2% after hours. ceo alan mulally rules himself out of the running for the top job at the tech giant. and deflationary eurozone

pressures will back jack lew's call for germany to promote domestic growth as the u.s. treasury secretary lands in berlin. plus, freezing temperatures recorded in all 50 u.s. states, including the usually warm california and florida. as the polar vortex continues to reek havoc. >> announcer: you're watching "worldwide exchange," bringing you business news from around the globe. very good morning to you. the u.s. yesterday snapped its three-day losing streak yesterday. this morning, futures a little below fair value. some 10 points below fair value. the nasdaq is pretty much on fair value as is the s&p at the moment. the cnbc ftse 300 has been flat during today's session.

european stocks have been more on the negative side. the ftse 100 was up some 25 points. yesterday it was currently down 26 points. which means it fell absolutely flat for the year. the xetra dax is down 0.2% along with the cac 40 and the ftse mib is up 0.2%. we saw the eurozone unemployment coming in unchanged with a rate of 12.1%. so as we gear up towards u.s. employment data, the minutes, central bank meetings, as well tomorrow. what are investors to do? here is a recap of some of the thoughts we've had out from some guests today. >> the ecb has to keep rates at near zero and indulging in more unconventional policymakers. that's in stark contrast to the u.s. where they're beginning to taper and where monetary policy is being less relaxed. so there's a very, very striking dichotomy between europe and the u.s. and that's going to drive markets. >> the balance sheet at the end

of the year coming in at 250, exactly what that is coming from. what does that mean? more cash coming back from the shareholders. it's a very, very high yield stock. >> right now, you have to advise nominal rates, particularly in the united states and a leg of inflationary pressures. so as a result, you rearrange your opportunity, and i think that just makes it very difficult to see that steady purchases that you would need to see prices hold at certain levels. >> thoughts have already had investors will be. >> they expected central banks to continue tapering at a steady pace. the boston fed president eric

rosengren said the fomc should not take any dramatic steps. at the same time, san francisco fed president john williams said the stock market was aligned with the fundamentals. and joining us for the last part of the program today, greg mcbride, senior financial analyst at bankrate.com. greg, good morning to you. nice to see you you. what do you think these minutes are going to tell us today? are we looking for any signs of dissensi dissension? do you think we'll get it? >> well, ross, this is not a transcript of their minutes. i think we get a sanitized version of the internal debate that they're having. i think particularly with the incoming fed chair, i think they want these minutes to read like a consensus decision to taper rather than a heated debate and discussion. and the fact that i think the fed is going to emphasize that

the tapering is not on a preset course. they're going to emphasize that data dependency. >> and one of the key things here will be to see what they thought of the decline in the unemployment rate. bearing in mind, of course, the fall in the size of the labor force, as well. >> yeah, absolutely. i mean, you know, we saw a big drop in the unemployment rate throughout 2013. but by and large, it wasn't for the right reason. it was because of the labor force, people dropping out of the labor force more so than people getting back to work. and i think even ben bernanke and his last press conference, you know, he can emphasize the fact that the fed is looking beyond just the unemployment rate. there are other metrics regarding the labor market that they're going to keep an eye on. so i think they're certainly aware of that. i would expect them to, you know, also point that out, as well. that, you know, they've backed off that initial target of 6.5% on the unemployment rate saying that, well, we're going to keep rates low well past the time we get to 6.5%, in acknowledgement

of the fact that the unemployment rate is not the single best barometer of the health of the u.s. labor market. >> do you think the minutes will give us any clue as to whether they might formally lower that 6.5% threshold? >> you know, that's a good question. i think that seems a little premature. i think at best you see in the minutes is maybe some discussion of whether they should or should not lower that target maybe at a future meeting. i would be very surprised if there was any specific discussion of lowering that number. >> clearly, what they want do, they have to express a feeling, of course, that they feel a little better about the economy, others they wouldn't have tapered. i guess the sense is how much better should we feel about the u.s. economy? >> well, you know, the economy is definitely carrying a little bit of momentum in the latter part of 2013 now into 2014. third quarter gdp growth was

surprisingly good. the trade deficit narrows, boding well for q4. job growth has picked up momentum, as well. i think the fed will point out all of those things. however, there's still a slow growth, high unemployment economy with stag nabt household income. we tend to hit a soft patch at some point, usually in the first half of the year. i don't expect 2014 to be any different. because of that, i think the fed will emphasize they're going to be very deliberate about this tapering, that it's not on a preset court. >> if we have a preset course, it is continuing the pace svrp it started. what is the charge? do you think markets have their heads around the fact that if data comes in weaker, there may be a taper pause. how likely -- do we need to think about that? >> i think that's a very real possibility as the year unfolds,

ross. particularly given the track report of the u.s. economy, year in, year out undershooting what the fed's estimate for economic growth is. so, you know, i don't see 2014 unfolding a lot differently than in years past. but i think we'll get a soft patch at some point where we may well get a taper pause. however, if economic growth does pick up, they could pick up the pace of that tapering in the second half of the year with the idea they want to be completely done by 2014. >> stick around. get yourself a cup of coffee. i think it's very early, but we'll come back to you. meanwhile, nearly half of the u.s. is still shivering, the stuck in a deep freeze for three days now. the cold has been blamed for at least 211 deaths. all 50 states saw freezing temperatures at some point on tuesday, even in hawaii. where it was 18 degrees fahrenheit on the summit of a

dormant volcano. more than 11,000 flights have been canceled in total since the weekend. we'll have more on that. still to come, will investors be raising a glass to constellation brands when the wine andbackermaker reports its numbers later? we'll get those numbers right after this. s ] [ shirley ] edward jones. this is shirley speaking. how may i help you? oh hey, neill, how are you? how was the trip? [ male announcer ] with nearly 7 million investors... [ shirley ] he's right here. hold on one sec. [ male announcer ] ...you'd expect us to have a highly skilled call center. kevin, neill holley's on line one. ok, great. [ male announcer ] and we do. it's how edward jones makes sense of investing. ♪ over the pizza place on chestnut street the modest first floor bedroom in tallinn, estonia and the southbound bus barreling down i-95. ♪ this magic moment it is the story of where every great idea begins.

and of those who believed they had the power to do more. dell is honored to be part of some of the world's great stories. that began much the same way ours did. in a little dorm room -- 2713. ♪ this magic moment ♪

adp numbers in the u.s. offers markets an appetizer today ahead of nonfarm payroll on friday. microsoft shares slump in after hour after allan mulally says h won't take over as boss of the tech giant. and coast to coast, record temperatures continue to crawl across the united states. yes, microsoft's ceo search has suffered a setback, the leading candidate to replace the former saying thanks, but no thanks. let's get more. bertha coombs joins us from cnbc hq in the states. hi, bertha. so he -- alan mulally, he's joined you. you didn't want the job on, either. >> no, didn't want the job, either. apparently the folks that he's with on the board say what is

this flirtation going on? make your intentions clear. mulally says he wanted to end the microsoft speculation because, quote, i have no other plans to do anything other than serve ford, unquote. several microsoft investors campaigned for mulally who is retiring sometime this year. but mulally's candidacy attracted a lot of media attention, over-shadowing ford's product announcements, including the launch of the new mustang. reports say that frustrated ford's board and pressed mulally to make his intentions known. ford shares rose 1% after the news. in frankfurt at this hour, they're just flat. mulally's comments are re-ign e re-igniting the guessing game. ford's board had hoped to name someone by tend of the laugh

year. ford has narrowed down its potential candidates to one or more people which includes one or more outsiders of the tech industry. possible insiders include sachia nadella and tony bates, who heads business develop and used to run skype. microsoft fell 1% in after hours trading. at this hour, it is down about 0.5% in frankfurt. you know, the other thing is if you take that job and you have an iphone, i think you have to give it up. so take the job, hold on to your iphone. >> that's a tough call. gee. hadn't thought about it like that. that is -- actually, talking about iphones, stay there, bertha, because i want to ask you a question here. apple, you may know this, has said that its customers spent a record $10 billion on its apps store in 2013. so sum that up, that is roughly

equal to all the purchases put together in the previous four years. the company said on tuesday that as a result it's now passed on $15 billion to developers following the creation of the apps store back in 2008. so we're asking our viewers today what is the app that you couldn't do without? was it for free or did you pay for it, let us know. worldwide@cnbc.com, @cnbcwex or direct to me @rosswestgate. bertha, is there an app, is there one that you think every day, i'm so pleased i've got that? >> it's hard to say one. i would say among my top three, scrabble, love playing that. also probably couldn't live without my -- there's an order and processing fortout food, seamless web. use that all the time. and the greatest things is you can order it on your way home and by the time you're home it

arrives. love that. and then also i think i probably use my starbucks apps. notice that most of them are food related. i do use that quite a bit. >> okay. domino's pizza will be happy because they're now launching an in car appe. >> you know, when i was in spain a couple years ago, i ordered online for dominos. it was advertisest thing ever, i have to say. i'm totally a digital convert. >> there you go. i keep thinking about what i -- you know, mine -- there's an app in london called halo, which is synced into the taxi. and you order taxis and direct the nearest taxi to where you are just turns up. >> we have one here called uber. i haven't tried it yet. >> uber is over here, as well. it's good. i like that stuff. >> but out of that $10 billion, 8 billion was probably angry

birds. >> we've all downloaded that. bertha, thanks. thanks for that. i hope you get a coffee this morning. now, shares in constellation brands run 90% over the last 12 months after the world's biggest branded winemaker reported second highest earnings thanks to the acquisition of. joining us with thoughts, dick moley. on the phone from princeton, new jersey. nik, good morning to you. thanks for joining us. what are the keys going to be here? and what are you doing with margins and beer for starts? >> yeah. i think that's where we're ahead of consensus. we're at 95 cents. consensus is at 91. part of the reason we're ahead consensus is we think recent improvements in beer pricing is going to lead to some margin improvements. that's one of our core pillars for why we're so positive on

constellation. we think that the beer business still has a lot of pricing opportunity ahead of itself in addition to strong earnings growth. >> you're seeing the domestic brewers, anheuser-busch, miller, that's probably a nice umbrella here. >> there's a number one premium wine producer in the world. how can they squeeze more profits out of that sector? >> yeah. i think the key -- the wine industry has been decent volume growth. the key has been pricing. just based on our discussion us

we tell company, we think constellation is very focused on getting better price relation in the industry. the good thing for constellation is it's starting to tighten a little bit. so you might see some of the lower priced wine producers take up pricing or reduce pro motional intensity a bit. that could help overall pricing, as well. on top of that, i think they're putting in some new systems so help them figure out the best return on the motion which will help them reduce some of the promotional activities we've seen. >> briefly, you've got an outperform on the stock. if they deliver as you expect, nik, what's your target. >> right now, we see about 20% upside. we'll see what happens after the report, kind of reassess our situation and then we'll have an update shortly after the company reports its numbers. >> nik, thanks for that. have a good day. we'll take a short break as the countdown is under way for friday's jobs report.

adp offers an advance of the private sector. we'll get into that in just a moment.

a reminder of the agenda today stateside. the december adp employment report is out at 8:15 eastern. it's forecast for an increase of 200,000 in private sector payrolls. and at 2:00 p.m., we get the minutes from last month's fed meeting. that is where the central bank decides to start tapering its bond buying program. senior financial analyst at bankrate.com. we've talked about the fed minutes and tapering. let's talk about the jobs numbers now. what do you think adp is going to tell us? and what do you think is going to happen on friday with that jobs number? >> well, ross, i think the line of demarcation, not just this month, but i think more importantly throughout the year is going to be that 200,000 number.

people and investors in particular are going to look for that number. any month we get above that, they're going to view it at an improving healthy labor market. any number below 200,000 i think investors are going to wonder, hoe, no, are we hitting another job batch? so i think, you know, more for psychological reasons, i think the 200,000 number is really going to be important as we go through 2014. >> yeah. and that -- how do you think growth is going to pan out? evidence of car sales, the service sector, ism, more than we might have saw on activity numbers? >> well, look, i think, you know, each year the economy gets a little bit better than it was the year before. but, you know, it's not off the charts. i mean, it's still a slow growth u.s. economy. i think 2014 is going to unfold in much the same fashion. i think you'll see gdp growth come in for the year right around 2.6%. yeah, a little better than what we've seen, but still maybe not

in line with some of the forecasts they have it high they are year. once again, you're probably going to hit a soft patch at some point, apart either where you get the stock market correction or people have to worry about the health of a consumer. something we typically have encountered during this recovery that drives home the point that, you know, slow growth economy, high unemployment, stagnant income. >> greg, treasury yields hit that 3% level. they've just come back below it on the ten-year. what is your expectation with what happens to that? also, how will that fete feed through into mortgage costs and housing? >> well, i do expect throughout the year we will see that ten-year treasury yield. as a result, mortgage rates moving up, provided that the u.s. economy continues on a track towards recovery and that it's able to keep dialing back the bond purchases. i expect a slow, steady grind

higher. i think the ten-year treasury will spend the year above the 3% mark. getting to the upper threes in the latter part of the year. for mortgage rates, a 30-year fixed mortgage rate right now is 4.6%. could touch as high as 5.5% in the back half of 2014. >> greg, good do you see as always. nice to see you. and earlier we were asking you what your favorite app is. george tweeted us to say he loves the skype guide app. it's nothing to do with skype television. apparently you hold your iphone or ipad up to the sky and this app identifies the stars, planetes and space oriented objects. maybe even tracks ufos. thanks for all your contributions, as well. that's it on today's edition of "worldwide exchange." coming up next, the countdown to the opening of markets stateside is coming up. whatever happens, as ever, we wish you a very profitable day.

good-bye for now. well another great thing about all this walking i've been doing is that it's given me time to reflect on some of life's biggest questions. like, if you could save hundreds on car insurance by making one simple call, why wouldn't you make that call? see, the only thing i can think of is that you can't get any... bars. ah, that's better. it's a beautiful view. i wonder if i can see mt. rushmore from here. geico. fifteen minutes could save you fifteen percent or more on car insurance.

good morning. welcome to "squawk box." wall street is heating up again. we had a triple digit gain for the dow and the s&p 500. that's the first positive of the new year. we made up about half of what we needed to get to where we closed last year. the fifth day today, we'll see. jobs are going to take center stage. today and the rest of the week. we'll get the adp employment report at 8:15 eastern time. and you know what comes on friday. and staying put, ford's ceo alan mulally ends all of the microsoft speculation just days

before the detroit auto show. it's wednesday, january 8th, 2014 and "squawk box" begins right now. good morning, everyone. welcome to "squawk box" here on cnbc. i'm becky quick along with joe kernen and andrew ross sorkin. it is an important day ahead on the economic front. we've got 8:15 eastern time, the december adp employment report out. but payrolls are seen rising by 200,000. today's release comes ahead of friday's government nonfarm payroll report. so the markets will be watching it closely trying to figure out if this gives us a good indication of what to expect on friday. notable today, the fed will be releasing minutes from last month's fomc meeting. as joe mentioned, stocks reboungd from a three-session losing streak yesterday. the s&p turned in its first positive close of the new year and it was a biggie. we are about halfway back from those losses we've seen from the first three tra