hello. you're watching "worldwide exchange." i'm ross westgate. the headlines today from around the globe, italy is said to have a new prime minister by the end of the day, marking the country's third government change in a year. italian growth figures just hitting the wires now. growth in both france and germany coming in better than expected, giving the euro a boost. producer prices in china fall and wti in india eases more than expected, as well. it's at an eight-month low.

plus, another big m&a deal in japan, snapping up mobile messaging start-up for nearly $1 billion. display you're watching "worldwide exchange," bringing you business news from around the globe. hello. warm welcome to the show. we have italian gdp up 0.1% quarter on quarter. up 0.1% quarter on quarter. the contraction has finished. we contracted in the third quarter. so the contraction has finished for italy. so that's fairley good. down 0.8% year on year. take a look at where we are with ten-year yields. 3.72%. just above the 3.66% that we hit a couple of days ago, which is the lowest since april 2006. we had bond auctions yesterday

where we saw the yields continue to fall at auction, 1.4%. 7.02 in the 30-year yesterday. 4.59%. well before precrisis levels for italian debt. growth number, italy back in growth this morning. and that's after we saw better numbers, as well, out of germany and france this morning. which was also fairley good. 0.3% for the french economy. there had been some fears that france maybe might have entered contraction territory, recession territory, i should say, bearing in mind that in november the pmis in france were very weak, indeed. but better than the expected 0.1% for france and germany also, as well. that's the latest on italy. so it's looking better for the eurozone. let's get out to rome. julia is there. we've got better figures and a political shake-up under way. jules, good to see you. mr. renzi, he has decided he wants the poison chalice.

my word. what a risk. >> i know. what a political gamble he's making. but he made the point yesterday, ross, that unfortunately sometimes you have to take risks and he said he was putting italy before his own personal political future here. and it really does feel that that's what he's done. he's going to take the baton now from enrico letta and see what he can do for the country and its reform process. what he did say, which is very different from a year ago when letta took over was he said he wants this government to be in place until 2018. so far more enthusiasm about what he can achieve here. the other thing he did, of course, was rule out fresh elections. no fresh elections until we have electoral reform. and i think that's having a calming influence from the market. the key question is, can he do

this? and we were saying this yesterday, too. this risk, it's looking like he's going to pull together a coalition very similar tone reeko letta. he struggled to implement reforms. why will renzi be any different? this is one of the crucial questions. we have the berlusconi factor. will he pull support from the electoral process? we're already hearing people talking about the fact that he back stabbed prime minister enrico letta, that he's gone in the back door and that he'll now have an agreement with the central right potentially which are all things that he promised he wouldn't do. ross, as you quite rightly say, when you put yourself on a pedestal, you're asking to be torn down. right now we're waiting for a formal resignation by prime minister enrico letta. that's likely to happen today. >> thanks for that. nice to see the sunny weather in rome. joining us now, chief european

economist from morgan stanley. elga bart. good to see you. france up 0.3%. is that it? are we out of the woods? we're not going to slip back, are we? >> well, i think it's too early to tell, respect. especially the german, the french and the dutch data this morning. that could mean that the euro area will show a rate of expansion of 0.3% in the fourth quarter, which is broadly in line with what the ecb penciled in all along. this is only the start. there are many headwinds coming from the currency, coming from the asset quality review. i think it's way too early to say that europe is out of the woods. >> yeah. you talk about this fine line recovery subdued and fragile. how big are the disinflationary pressures going to continue to be? >> i think they are quite

sizable. especially in the periphery. but the key policy is that the overall inflation rate in the euro area is too low. that essentially means inflation in the core countries, germany and france, it's considerably too low. and given what's happening with emerging markets at the moment and the repercussions of that turmoil and on commodity prices, the ecb might, in fact, have to revise down their inflation outlook at the march meeting. >> do we think they're going the take further action? we heard it suggested that negative overnight rates are one thing. what more might they do? >> yeah. we expect more auction from them. we are expecting a rate cut at the march meeting and we also also assign a decent outside chance to rate cuts which is what has been alluded to recently.

beyond that, i think we need to watch the securitization of bank loans, mentioned by mario draghi several times now, and i think there's also potentially some more work to be done along the -- to boost liquidity in the banking system, for instance, by ending the sterilization of the s&p program. >> yeah, okay. there's a few things they could do they've got up their sleeve. what do you think the deflation is going to continue to do, or the disinflation, i should say, as we call it, for the debt dynamics. what is going to happen to debt dynamics in the peripheral. >> obviously, it can challenge debt sustainability. however, i would like to say it's the growth picture that is much more important for debt

sustainability because of all the knock on effects that a growth disappointment has in terms of unemployment, in terms of tax revenues and so on. the inflation, at least for now or disinflation, seems to be a secondary concern as far as debt sustainability is concerned. >> yeah. and look, spain and ireland exited their bailouts. how much focus do we give portugal and greece now? >> yeah. i think the markets will now turn to those two countries and, obviously, portugal is the one that will aim to exit the current program either with a clean yex exit or a precautiona line. greece, i think we have a little more time. it's too early for the country to exit the program. we probably need a third program

for the country and i think that's a topic that will emerge more seriously on the agenda in the summer. >> thanks for that, elga. nice to see you this morning. just a recap of the data we've just had out, italian gdp up 0.11 is% quarter on quarter, down 0.8% year on year. that's as expected. the crucial thing is, we haven't got any more contraction. annalee is joining us with more on this. it's fragile growth, but it's not contraction. with mr. renzi coming in, is that going to make things better? >> well, let's talk about gdp first. today is one of the first good news for italy. we see gdp started the slow recovery process from long recession, from stagnation. >> 11 quarters or something in a

row? >> well, it was like about three years. and definitely like a small improvement is good news. we don't have the breakdown for today's gdp numbers, but we can definitely see from business confidence indicators, from our data, that the recovery is kind of broad based. mainly led by net exports and probably the breakdown will reveal that. but we also have some stabilization in domestic demand, which is good news. we have indicators coming from retainers that show that somehow the stabilization of disposable income has lead to some slight improvements in spending and also the government payment of its arrears has also been a boost for domestic demand in italy. so this is a first piece of relatively good news. in terms of the government,

renzi will somehow have a better economic outlook. and he will need to push in the direction of a more speedy implementation of the structural reforms that all the past previous governments kind of were focused on. he needs to be focused on the structural reforms because otherwise it's a political credibility. >> yeah. business is very pro renzi. they thought he was going to be more able to push through reforms, stimulate exports, deal with bureaucracies and anybody else. there's a lot riding on his shoulders. >> there is a lot to do. he is very keen on pushing in the direction of the new electoral law. and that's what is going to show

already next week. next week, we have the voting for the electoral law and this is kinds of one of his main creation. he was pushing with berlusconi in the direction of this reform. everybody knows that italy cannot go into early election this year. they have, you know, to pass and italy will be at the presidency of the eu in the second half. so renzi has a bit of time to build up the structure of these reform process. and the electoral law will be the first step. and then he can go in the direction of some stabilization, more reforms to cut unit labor costs for italy, which is one of the main weaknesses that we still have compared to other eurozone countries. thanks so much for joining us. market economist at new edge. now, plenty of other things to come on today's show. you might have forgotten, but it

is valentine's day. so there's only one place to go, and that's paris. we'll be joined by the ceo of one of the company's leading champagne producers. find out if sales are sparkling this year. clean up is also beginning. the u.s. east coast is digging out of its heavy winter storm, which led to the cancellation of nearly 70,000 flights. the disruption still continues today. and from the white house to a house of cards, u.s. president barack obama made an executive order via twitter, house of cards, no spoilers, please. we'll take a look at how the series could impact netflix stock. and "sports illustrated" models rang the closing bell at the new york stock exchange yesterday, but which of them featured on the all important swimsuit issue cover? we'll reveal all, well, quite literally, later.

take a look at the dow jones stoxx 600 heat map. a little bit more than 6/4, advancers currently outpacing decliners. the ftse yesterday was down some 115 points. the u.s. was up, the best six-day high for the stocks. a number of individual sectors we're looking at today. we saw better than expected inflation out of china. fairley good. no need to raise rates. basic resources doing fairley well on the back of that up nearly 1% this morning in terms of a sector. on the bond market, treasury yields, sort of where we were this time yesterday.

2.73%. undoubtedly, the poor weather hitting retail sales yesterday. but i think there's a sense investors will look through the weather-damaged data. they might say when the weather is better, maybe we'll claw some of that lost gdp back. on the currency markets this morning, we've seen the euro bounce nearly up to 1.37% today. that's not far away from where we've been with this couple of weeks high. dollar/yen, back below 102. the aussie/dollar, back below 0.90 yesterday. sterling, up at 1.67 this morning. that's a fresh three-year high for cable today. that is where he with stand right now in europe. to recap what is happening in the asia markets, here is sixuan. >> thank you for that, ross. china's january inflation came

in slightly higher than expected, 3.5%, but still left enough room for easing policies. money flowed back into the banking system after the lunar new year. china markets sound off from yesterday's pullback as the country celebrates the lantern festival. japan's nikkei down 1.5%. following lackluster performance yesterday, kiren holdings tumbled over 9% after disappointing four-year results and weak guidance. seoul shares rebounded to a three-week high, up 0.7%. australia ended near its six week highs first by solid

earnings from rio tinto. chinese media and entertainment stocks led the gains today. as of yesterday, 35 chinese media companies have forecasted their 2013 earnings and most of them expected profit growth. they've been getting a boost from strong performance in movie, online gaming and online education sectors. that's a look out of asian markets. back to you. >> that is sixuan with the wrap there. still to come on the show, angelo americans beat expectations, but should investors be concerned about the prospects of demand? we'll round up the rest of today's key earnings figures.

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coming up a little later on the show, we have a real gem in store for you. we have millions of dollars worth of the precious stones in the studio. these are the ones we're going to be looking at. it's all in honor of valentine's day. we'll be joined later by the founder of the online diamond retailer who brought these in for us today. so if you like very expensive glittery things, we'll speak to them coming up. that's coming up a little bit later.

now, before we get into that, some of the other stories we're following this morning, first they took on amazon's kindle by buying the cobra. now the japanese e-commerce firm is challenging skype with a $900 million deal to buy viber media. it's a free photo messaging app that's popular. it will more than double its user base to had a a billion people worthwide. shares up 1.2% today in japan. finishing the week on a strong note. now, aston martin back in the firing line, this time from chinese state media accusing them of scapegoating. the car company last week announced a recall of cars produced as late as 2007 after find ago chinese subsupplier was using counterfeit suppliers in its gas pedal. the news agency says they were using the stereotype of the low quality made in china manufacturing to mask its own

supply chain short comings. tesco has been hit by a data breach. it's affected around 2,000 people. the customer login information was posted on to a text sharing site. the retailer says it has deactivated the accounts of those affected and it is urgently investigationing the appearance of the data. tesco shares today down 0.25%. and snow continues to fall in the second wave of storms. it hit the northeast u.s. on thursday. heavy snow, sleet and freezing rain slammed the region. washington and philadelphia got 9 inches of snow. new york, 10 inches. and some areas got more than a foot. 6,500 flights were canceled on thursday and more today. it could be well into next week before airlines can catch up.

all right. let's move over and take a look at some of the earnings we've got today. investors cheering thyssenkrupp, which has beaten expectations for the first quarter, more than doubling operating profits. annette has more in frankfurt. >> yes. and it is actually a very positive surprise here for thyssenkrupp. if you're looking at the problematic area of steel america, they have narrowed their loss to an ibit of 21%, 21 million, i should say. so this problem area seems to actually improve. and also, they are now saying they got a regulatory approval to sell their alabama mill. the brazil mill, they are sticking to it.

here, it seems that prices are recovering and capacity is recovering. so that is going pretty well for thyssenkrupp. on the other side, they are very confident that they're managing their cost cutting program for this year quite efficiently. and the ceo of the company is saying that they're planning on meeting their cost cutting goal of 845 million this year. at the same time, it seems that they are managing also to diversify the company's earnings structure more towards nonsteam steal segme seal segments, like the elevator busine business, which all three areas are doing better. steel, of course, is still a little bit weighing on the results because of lacking demand worldwide. the prices are very low.

he was saying in an analyst call that he sees a steel demand improvement and that is something we have been hearing already from arcelormittal, which is a big player in the market, as well. we might see a bit of a turn around story when it comes to their steel business. ross, back to you. the shares are soaring. >> doing well, up 3.4%. annette, thank you so much for that. angelo american not doing too badly. 1.2% in london. a 6% rise in figures. cnbc has been speaking to the ceo. >> i think demand for the protect still remains pretty strong. china continuing to go reasonably well. and other parts of the globe are actually looking pretty good. on the supply side, we're seeing expansions of productions, not

only us, obviously on, but significant expansions. that's where the price pressure will come. so we're pretty well positioned. but there will be price pressure and certainly from my point of view i would expect iron ore prices to suffer during the course of the year. kraft foods, meanwhile, fourth quarter profit soaring, as well, on pension gains. revenues just missed forecasts. kraft says it expects a slow start to the year, partly due to the weak u.s. job markets and the recent reduction in the government and food stamp benefits. the firm is still confident about the future. and it's planning to revive daily brands such as jello and kool-aid. kraft foods up 2% literally. love is in the air literally

on this valentine's day. three lucky couples who were chosen in a contest will get to exchange vows on the on observation deck on the 102nd floor. valentine's day is the only day of the year that you can legally get married in the new york city landmark to mark the occasion the empire state building will be lit up with red and pink lights. this evening. today, what we're asking you is what should i buy, julia, for valentine's day? what should i buy, julia, for valentine's day? it's only a suggestion. i got her tickets to rome. i thought that was pretty good. if you want to join the conversation here on valentine's day, get in touch with us. e-mail, worldwide@cnbc.com, tweet @cnbcwex or direct to me @rosswestgate. what should i get julia for valentine's day? this is not my idea, just in

case somebody is wondering. i thought the rome tickets were fine. still to come on the show, this time japan is flushing out $900 million. the mobile messaging firm viber. we'll have the latest from tokyo. [bell rings] [prof. burke] at farmers,we make you smarter about your insurance,because what you don't know can hurt you. what if you didn't know that home insurance can keep your stuff covered,even when it's not at home? or that collisions with wildlife on the road may not be covered. and what if you didn't know that you could be liable for any accidents on your property? the more you know,the better you can plan for what's ahead. talk to farmers and get smarter about your insurance. ♪ we are farmers bum - pa - dum, bum - bum - bum - bum♪

media hlsz from around the globe, italy is said to have a new prime minister by the end of the day marking the country's third government change in a year. italian growth figures for the fourth quarter come in as forecast, but growth in both france and germany hit expectations, giving the euro a boost. encouraging inflation signals out of asia. producer prices in china eases more than expected to an eight-month low. and another big m&a deal in japan, this time e-commerce company rakuten snatches up vibes for nearly $1 billion.

ebt coming in stronger than expected. and italy, they're out of contraction. they've had about 11 months of consecutive contraction in gdp. and today, quarter on quarter, we were out. rises the smallest amount of points. not far away from where we were this time yesterday. dollar a little bit more under pressure today. not by much. dollar/yen, just below 102. euro/dollar, nearly up to 1.37. the big move of the morning has been sterling up to 111.67. that's a fresh three-year high for cable and up nearly 1.75% this week the pound against the dollar.

just a quick check on diamonds, we have $1 million worth of diamonds in the studio in honor of this romantic day. valentine's day, we'll be joined later online by the founder of the online diamond retailer. the market in rome at the vatican, pope is holding a special audience with 20,000 couples who are preparing to get married. nbc reporter claudia levanga is at the vatican in rome. claudia, is this a bit of a stunt? it's generating the pope an awful lot of publicity. what is it about? >> well, pope francis is known for many firsts, of course, the and this is the first time that he's invited engaged couples from all over the world to spend valentine's day together. and the response was so overwhelming that he had to move the event from an audience inside the vatican, where it was

originally scheduled, to the massive st. peters square because there are 25,000 couples around 50,000 people in total, which is pretty much a capacity of -- >> right. unfortunately, we seem to have lost claudia there from outside the vatican. the picture wasn't particularly brilliant, either. so we apologize for that. but he said some 25,000 couples. that's extraordinary. extraordinary number going there. now, a little bit later, we'll have more on valentine's day because we're going to be in paris, traditionally described as the city of love. that will be in around about ten minutes time we'll be joined by the ceo on of champagne house piper heisick. a nice champagne.

personally i like -- but we're not going to quibble. in india, rising food prices slow their climb. prices tumble 1% on the month. but that doesn't mean that the country's central bank is out of the woods yet, because core inflation picked up and that sent ten-year bonds higher in yield in anticipation of a bond from the rbi. joining us is nick portenelis. nick, nice to see you. thanks for joining us. are you concerned about that pick up in call? >> i think you had cpi earlier in the week, as well, where core inflation was a slight tick up. but i think today's numbers on wholesale price inflation, there's less focus oitd because the central bank has switched from wpi to ppi. so i think year going to see a positive trend in terms of inflation where it's going to gradually ease.

that's been confidently higher. as that eases through the year, that will give the central bank. it may have some scope of the earlier back into the year to ease rates. >> okay. so you think they've done enough in terms of hiking? >> i think they have done enough and it's set out clearly. i think the doctor has been a clear communicator on this. but i think the room to cut rate is dependent upon the cpi falling below the current rate. >> and it depends on what happens with the currency, the rupee. >> the rupee has been relatively stable this year. >> we're still not that far away, really. >> no, we're not. i think all it's done is stabilize and that's been for investors at least our client we

talked to for investors, they were so unnerved by volatility, they can cope with a reasonably stable currency. but yeah, it's still a long way. >> where does that leave us now as an investor in india after what has happened? the fed is still going to be tapering? i mean, we still got -- i know we've got a weather related weakness, but the assumption is stock tapering at the moment. where does that leave us with investors? and it's cheaper? is it cheaper now? >> it's cheaper. i think selectively it's cheap enough as long as the time horizon is enough that you have to look through beyond the election. there's been a moderate improvement in the fundamentals in india this year. and that stabilization of growth rates, peaking of interest rates and some stabilization in the currency gives you scope to look at india rather than other emerging markets. but all eyes are on what happens in april.

if there's a strong mandate in the elections, i think there will be a focus on india and can result in the structural problems around growth. >> it's a risk taking a position haez of those elections. >> and weird not to take any position ahead of the elections. >> neck, thanks so much. now, it's not just india that we were looking at inflation. chinese consumer inflation is down at seven-month lows in january. cpi up 1.5% on the year. slightly above forecasts. more concerning was this 23rd straight month of price declines at the factory gate. ppi down 1.6% as industrial overcapacity is still an ongoing concern. joining us from hong kong, lewis hype. lewis, good to see you. are you concerned about these factory prices? does that mean we're still not

going to get much on investment led growth? >> well, you know, the fact that these factory prices are still down on a year ago, it's not helpful. it doesn't help in terms of margins. one offsetting factor over here, though, is that the raw material prices that these factories are facing is coming down. still quite a bit off where they were a year ago. the margins are actually have stabilized over the last few years since 2011. >> gentlemen. underlying price element is still fairley modest. food prices is a fairley big thing and that is lower. that's a good thing. >> food price inflation is low and that's a good thing. it's a good thing for everybody else. but at least in terms of the macro picture, it helps because that is now at least not an issue for the central bank. the central bank and the regulators have lots of issues

to deal with the credit growth and how to reign that in. but at least they don't have to worry about inflation in our view. >> they've sort of highlighted what that challenge is for policymakers. what are they going to do? >> well, i think, you know, what we are all looking very closely at how they're going to walk this balance, how they're going to walk this wine line between reigning in credit growth on shadow banking on the one hand, but then as they have indicated, making sure that growth doesn't fall below, say, 7% or so. it's still pretty obvious that the government wants to see growth of 7% or more. and so the question is will they be able to both make some progress on these financial risks and keep growth going at that rate? that is the challenge that they face. >> and what do you think? do you think they'll achieve it or not? >> well, if we look at the

global scenario where we do expect europe to pick up, the u.s. to pick up, that kind of a scenario is helpful for this kind of a balance. like we expect quite a bit of organic growth in china coming from exports and from consumption, from the service-led economy. and that would actually help a bit while at the same time, you know, reigning in the more credit-fueled type of growth. and so as long as the global economy is going to do well this year, i think they will be able to to -- you know, they will be able to make some progress. if global growth is going to disapoint, the key question is what will policymakers do. and then i would expect them to actually not be very forceful on that monetary tightening. that will that will be less scenario on the more forceful markets. >> lewis, thank you for that.

now, news out from the bank of russia, it kept rates unchanged. that's pretty much as expected. the key rate of 5.5%. they say inflation is expected to be close to target by the end of 2014. but they will be ready to tighten monetary policy if inflation expectations rise. the consumer price of growth slowing in the early part of this year on cheaper food. but they have noticed the danger of higher inflation because of the weakening ruble which you can see in that chart. and a huge snowstorm which blanketed the u.s. northeast last night has caused huge issues in the south, as well, with up to 15 inches of snow in

some parts of the country. it's been impacting the u.s. economic recovery with the costs of the extreme weather estimated to be up to $50 billion. one of the side effects of the polar vortex could be the employment number. 237,000 jobs were added in october. 247,000 in november. but only 75,000 in december and 113,000 in january. thing is aren't an awful lot better in the uk. engineers were continuing to work overnight to reconnection more than 25,000 properties still without electricity. david cameron has said there will be no limit to the money made available to help those affected with a pledge of 130 million pounds already made to improve flood defenses. insurance industry says the cost of the recent floods could top 157 billion pounds. the clean up bills have already hit 500 million pounds and a rising towards the $1 billion

pound mark with further storms expected. and i think the more emergency services engaged in the uk today are the biggest number since the end of the war. the 1945 war. back to one of our leading stories, japanese emerge giant rakuten said it will buy viber media for $900 million. tu chico has more for us. >> hi, ross. this acquisition marks rakuten's first marriage steps in communications. they will use fooip fiber as a distribution channel for its products. according to the ceo, the company hopes to create a gaming platform on messaging apps.

financial services and baseball team. most of its services are revenue based. the firm has been buying up companies in recent years to compete with companies such as amazon. the e-commerce giant reported its full physical year earnings results today. its net profit doubled to more than $26 million. ross, back to you. >> sachiko, thanks for that. have a great weekend in tokyo. some of the other things we're looking at on monday in asia, plenty of economic data on monday with both japan and ire legion giving us first quarter gdp figures. india's finance minister presents the national budget department ahead of spring elections. that's coming up on monday.

still to come today, as my hunt for the perfect valentine's day gift for julia continues, we'll get over to paris to get into the business of 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.

. now, love is literally in the air on this valentine's day. it is valentine's day, folks. gentlemen in particular, don't forget. the empire state building is celebrating the 20th annual valentine's day wedding event today. three lucky couples, whoven chosen in a contest, will get to schan vows on the 102nd floor. valentine's day is the only day of the year that you can legally get married in the new york city landmark. to mark the occasion, the empire building will be lit up with red and pink lights this evening. lovely. anyway, as a result, because it is valentine's day, i'm asking you, yes, i'm ask you what should i buy julia besides the tickets i got her to send her to rome? linda has tweeted buy julia a

ticket to beirut to relax on our beautiful ski slopes on our seaside spas. you can come to. get in touch with us. you can e-mail us. worldwide@cnbc.com, tweet to us @cnbcwex or direct to me @rosswestgate. what else should i get julia for valentine's day? not my idea, this segment. millions of valentine will be rating their glass to champagne. i didn't buy this, either. despite the economic downturn, the fizz remains in the economic sales market. sales increased by around 50% in the month of february. wine has proved to be near recession proof over the last five years. joining us with more, the coo of champagne house, cecile is in the studio. happy valentine's day to you.

what is it about roses, champagne and valentine's day that's so powerful? >> well, can you think of a better way to see i love you than flowers? roses or everything with the color of roses and the bubbles of champagne? i don't think so. that's all i want for valentine. >> did you get to charge a premium, then? >> well, valentine prices don't get premiums versus any other day of champagne, but they were a bit more expensive than the -- but i think it's probably worth, you know, a valentine. >> yeah. how do you make your rose? do you just add red wine? i know sometimes you make it by letting it rest on the skin. >> that's right. it is the only way rose wine is allowed to be made in the whole world except in champagne where we may blend red wine and white wine before the second

fermentation. >> and is that what you do? >> absolutely. it's the best way to really control the color and the taste and to make sure when the champagne ages, it's exactly the way the consumer wants it. >> how much champagne are you selling this year to last? what is the market like? >> well, the champagne market is very good. we had a very slight decrease last year. we are among the top viewers ever of champagne taste. so we are really fortunately in this business. >> what's going on with the champagne index? >> well, the champagne index is that relationship that one tends to observe between the economic hedge and the economic growth and the champagne. which means when you are happy, you are happy to drink champagne. i personally believe when you have some need for joy,

champagne goes very well with your day. but it's true that there is a link between economic quest and economic health and the champagne market, which is pretty interesting. >> yeah, it is. i can't remember, was it the madam who had that long list about when she drinks champagne and properly never touches it? >> a lot of very famous people have been saying nice things about champagne about the fact that you need to drink it every day, which i still believe today. >> quite right. especially if it's your own. i mean, i would if i made some. >> yes. >> very briefly, how much competition are the big houses on from the smaller produces now who are getting, you know, the niche players are getting quite a bit of export coverage? >> well, yes. it's in the wine industry, it's a lot of small producers. i think it's hard to be a great

producer and a great brand ambassador. it's not always a success. but some of those small growers are doing very well and are keeping up on our toes to be always at the level of maximum excellence. so it's -- you know, we are altogether to promote worldwide the champagne. >> champagne as opposed to those who make other sparkling whines in other areas. >> cecile, thanks so much for joining us. >> and happy valentine. >> and to you. i hope you have a nice gift or something later. maybe a don runard. now, boeing's v-22 ospraie was front and center, but the tilt rotor aircraft flexibility is a pretty good asset when natural disaster strikes.

>> squad ran 262, aka kb the flying tigers. the u.s. marine corps crew call themselves the real tiger airway webs but you won't get a bit of strfrs surface on this osprey. the boeing v-22 has endured a troubled development history, marched by the deaths of 23 deaths of marines in 2000. there has been resistance to its deployment in okinawa. deployed in disaster hit haiti and most recently in the philippines after last year's devastating super typhoon. back then, lieutenant colonel joseph lee flew round the clock relief drops on the b-22. >> areas of operation that typically normal helicopters

couldn't reach. for instance, we could reach outlying islands that typically a helicopter didn't have the range for and the fuel. >> and with this region still prone to natural disasters and maritime security disputes, governments are looking for a tough adaptable workhorse. >> this osprey was used in the philippines last year. and now we are hearing that many asian militaries may be considering buying this aircraft. japan's self-defense force reportedly ordered 17 b-22s last disease to strengthen their surveillance capabilities and more orders may be coming from other buyers in the region. >> frankly, there's no other air krat in the world that can do what a b-22 can do. with the marines self-deployed 1300 naughtical miles as an airplane, but landed in the zone

as a helicopter to dispense relief aid, there's no other aircraft in the world that can do that. when you talk about the space here in the asia pacific region, it's a great platform for military needs and humanitarian needs. >> such international demand would help limit the impact of u.s. defense cuts and governments here would be better prepared when disaster strikes. >> that was sri reporting on a remarkable plane. we'll take a short break just in time to check in on the diamonds. we've got millions of dollars of diamonds in the studio here. a very romantic second hour of "worldwide exchange," coming up.

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you're watching "worldwide exchange." i'm ross westgate. italy is set to have a new prime minister by the end of the day, marking the country's third government change in a year. this as italian growth figures for the fourth quarter come in as forecast. that's giving the euro a bit of a lift. rakuten is snatching up vibes for nearly $1 million. and it may be valentine's day, but it doesn't mean

investors will have a love for u.s. equities. equities are down 40% of the time on february 14th. display you're watching "worldwide exchange," bringing you business news from around the globe. hello. welcome to "worldwide exchange." we've got the eurozone fourth quarter gdp number that's just hit. growing more than expected in the last quarter, thanks to stronger expansion in france and germany. the first estimate shows that the 17 countries that share the single currency together grew that economy 3% quarter on quarter, up 0.5% year on year. that's after a 0.1% rise in the third quarter. analysts talk about reuters were expecting a 0.2% quarterly rise. eurozone growth up 0.5%. that's hitting expectations of a

0.4% rise, as well. now, this first estimate doesn't provide the detailed breakdown in the gdp components, which will only be available on march 5th. so euro/dollar, 1.3686. phyllis joins us now from bnp paribas. thanks for joining us. >> good morning. >> the euro is stronger. does it change any thoughts, though, about what the ecb may do? of course, that would be presumably a euro weakening effect. >> the numbers are better than expected, as you mentioned. we did see an acceleration in eurozone gdp growth. i don't think it's going to change the picture very much in the eurozone. i think the ecb is predominantly concerned with these low inflation readings we'll see in the eurozone.

i think they'll take comfort from the figures, but it doesn't change the overall outlook. >> why is the euro still relatively strong against the dollar? >> that's the big question, isn't it? the euro has been trading very well, indeed, despite indications that the ecb is likely to ease monetary policy further in the next few months, despite the weaker inflation figures. the euro is continuing to trade very strongly. it tends to trade well when equity markets are trading well. we find there is a strong link between equity markets and the euro given that it is somewhat of a -- currency. but we certainly don't expect it to continue. we think these levels are unjustifiably high for euro/dollar. >> stay there, phyllis. we want to talk about italy. the prime minister enrico letta in italy is expected to resign later today.

matter leader matteo renzi is expected to take over the reigns. he will be the third unelected prime minister. renzi gave a speech to the democratic party yesterday outlining his plan for a new government. >> translator: if we don't take risks and if we don't take responsibility now, the slow pace of reform without a strong push on our behalf could result in losing our economic competitiveness and could result in our institutions losing credibility. >> but how does corporate italy feel about the political shake-up? louisa caught up with the italian energy firm and asked him if the situation is impacting his business. >> what's happening in italy is not really very relevant to us. we've been living through political crisis before and these have not affected neither our results nor our performance. >> now, because it was valentine's day, i bought tickets for jules to go to rome and it was for tu tuesday that

we happened to be having a political story to talk about, as well. so we were very lucky about that. jules, you're in rome. just explain to us mr. renzi, for those who don't know, why is he favored by -- because the business in italy like him. why? >> because this is a guy that is 39 years old, he's seen as a reformist, he's seen as somebody who will re-ignite the reform process here that the prime minister enrico letta has failed to do in the last ten months. there is a real wave of optimism here. he is the head of the party that they believe this is somebody that can ignite change as far as italy is concerned. and to see growth this morning in the fourth quarter of last year, it's 0.1% i think underscores the critical issues here that things really do need to change. and that's the hope here now that actually they can do this. but there are a lot of risks

here, of course. but he's looking at having a similar coalition government than the prime minister enrico letta had. that was a weak attempt. he has the berlusconi factor, of course. just how likely is he to transpose those over electoral reform. there's going be people willing to try and pull renzi down for having taken this step here now. so plenty of risk for now and the markets seem optimistic that -- >> oh, that's a bit of a shame. we'll try to repatch up with jules. phyllis is still with us from bnp paribas. phyllis, you look at spreads for italy and spain, they continue to narrow. we're not far away from the lowest yields we've seen since april 2006. do we have any concerns at all about italy? >> i think, you know, the news

overnight with the upcoming confirmation of the new prime minister of italy is very much positive news. our economists certainly think that he's a reformer and ellen act reforms in italy that are going to be beneficial to the economy. so to that extent, it will be positive for the economy. and it could be the euro is taking some news from the benefit overnight, as well. >> gdp down 2% on the year. we know ireland is out of bailout. do we keep our eyes on portugal and greece for all those concerned firmly packaged away? >> again, our economists think that the worst is likely over in terms of the economic news in the periphery and peripheral europe. some of the readings are going to necessarily be weak.

greece is still struggling in terms of its economic growth. but again, i think the overall eurozone gdp number really underscores the fact that, you know, we are seeing some better growth numbers in the eurozone. even though the overall picture remains quite subdued, indeed. >> phyllis, good to see you. thanks for that. >> thank you. now, a huge snowstorm blanketed the u.s. northeast last night, having caused huge issues in the south. up to 15 inches of snow fell in some parts. steve liesman has more from cnbc hq. >> severe winter weather this season may have cost the economy as much as $50 billion and 8el 0,000 jobs. a cnbc fed survey of 19 wall street economists, strategists and fund managers puts the total weather impact at about 0.3% on the u.s. economy. that works out to about $50 billion. the big hits to the economy come this quarter where surveys are

responded to estimated bone chilling cold and snow shaved about 0.4% off total growth. that includes lost work hours and retail sales that never happened. that's on top of a loss in the december quarter estimated about 0.16%. but there's an expected snapback coming next quarter because of pent up demand, houses that still need to be built and cars that need to be buy and weren't. this is affected at least in part by weather. a big increase in building and garden supplies may have resulted from americans buying shovels, salt and snow blowers. the weather looks to be hurting the jobs market. about 80,000 jobs lighter because of the weather, including a 32,000 hit in december, 25,000 in january and 19,000 in february. february, though, could even be worse. here is the increase in snow cover across the u.s. over the

past two weeks. it affected major population areas and parts of the country like the south that never see snow. the peak came this week, the same week used to survey americans for employment. respondents only blaming the weather for about 45% of recent economic weakness, suggesting other factors could be at work in the recent slowdown. back to you guys. >> that's steve with the impact of the weather on the states. as far as u.s. equities were concerned, we hit three-week highs for the dow and the s&p. the s&p up 10 points. is 13-year highs for the nasdaq. we've had if best winning streak since july 2011. right now, futures are indicating a little poorer start. we are below fair value for the dow at the moment. by around about 11 or 12 points at the moment. and at the moment, as far as the s&p is concerned, we are below fair value by around about 1.5 points.

european equities have been stronger in italy up 1% after the prospect of mr. renzi coming into power. we are fairley flat for the ftse 100 at the moment. take a look at currency rates. dollar, as we were saying, wall lowing close to weaker retail sales falling in january. and the euro, a little firmer with gdp backing up to 1.37 at the moment. dollar/yen, back below 102. the aussie is fairley stacked. the real standout performer has been sterling. the stand up performer this week, sterling. now up to 1.67 against the dollar. that is a fresh three-year high on the cable. we're up to about 1.75% this week for the pound against the greenback. that is where we stand right now in europe. sixuan has a recap of what's happened today in asia. >> thank you for that, ross. china's january inflation came in at a slightly higher than expected 2.5%. but still left enough room for easing policies.

meanwhile, the country's money rates tumbled despite the pboc's liquidity drain. china markets sound off from yesterday's pullback as the country celebrates the lantern festival. taiwan's taiex added 0.5%. but japan's nikkei 225 under reform today with early gains ending down 1.5%. the dollar/yen pair slipped to trade around 1 or 1.70 weighing on exporters. elsewhere, soeul shares rebounded to a three-week high up 0.7%. australia ended by its near week highs for rio tinto. in terms of sectors, chinese media and entertainment stocks

led the gains today. as of yesterday, 35 chinese media companies have forecasted their 2013 earnings and most of them expected profit growth. and they've been getting a boost from strong performance in movies, online gaming and online education sectors. so that's a look out of asian markets. back to you. >> that was sixuan with a wrap in asia. still to come on "worldwide exchange," we have literally millions of dollars worth of dmopdz here in the studio. it is verdi . we will hear about these in a few moments. opportunities aren't always obvious. sometimes they just drop in. cme group can help you navigate risks and capture opportunities. we enable you to reach global markets and drive forward with broader possibilities. cme group: how the world advances.

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and a shakedown in italy. is the country ready for is next prime minister inspect. will there be love for the u.s.? historically, equities up 40% of the time when valentine's day rolls around. other stories we're following today, british retailer tesco has been hit by a data breach which has affected around 2,000 people. the customer login information was posted on a website.

the firm is now urgently investigating the appearance of the data. aston martin is back in the firing line today, this time from chinese state media accusing it of scapegoating. a chinese subsupplier was found using plastic materials in its gas pedals. aston martin is being accused of using the stereo cast as a scapegoat. aig last year was weighed down by claims from hurricane sandy. insurers launching a $1 billion stock buyback and is boosting dividend by 25%. aig resumed paying dividends from last year after halting payments from 2008 when it nearly collapsed. it's cutting 1900 jobs or 3% of its workforce.

now, as far as the agenda stateside today, january import prices are out at 8:30 eastern. they're forecast to slip 0.2%. we get january industrial production at 9:15. then at 10:00 on, it's the first read on february consumer sentiment. for earnings, campbell soup, hyatt hotels are among those reporting today. love is literally in the air on this valentine's day. the empire state building is celebrating the 20th annual valentine's day wetting event. three lucky couples, chosen in a contest, now get to exchange vows on the 102nd floor. valentine's day is the only day of the year you can get legally married in the new york city landmark. today we are asking our viewers what should i get julia for valentine's day? leonard tweets us, a yacht or an

island. i wasn't thinking of spending that kind of money. anyway, join the conversation here on "worldwide exchange." get in touch with us. e-mail us, worldwide@cnbc.com. tweet us @cnbcwex or direct to me @rosswestgate. if i was going to get julia a valentine's day present, what should i be inspect. still to come, they say dmopd diamonds are forever. but are they? a sparkling investment. we'll be joined by the man selling these, some major gems, coming up. [ male announcer ] these days, a small business can save by sharing. like carpools... polly wants to know if we can pick her up. yeah, we can make room. yeah. [ male announcer ] ...office space. yes, we're loving this communal seating. oh, it's great. yeah.

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as you know, they say diamonds are forever. but is the market for the pressure gems sparkling? we're joined by online rotaetai ashley.com. he's brought these million dollars worth of diamonds. good to see you. >> good morning, ross. >> just talk about what we've got. we've been showing on that table this morning 37 there's. there's a necklace. >> you have a necklace with 250 karat diamonds, one of the biggest necklaces in the world worth $2.5 million.

>> 2.5 karats? >> 2.5 karats of beautiful diamonds. we have single diamonds, a 15 karat round and 7 karat marquise. altogether, $10 million. >> what we're looking at now is a collection of $10 million. >> just under, yes. >> that big ring in the middle, that's the one that is a 25 karat stone? >> that's a 25 karat stone, that's right. >> it doesn't get much bigger than that, does it? >> it doesn't get much bigger than that. >> you're selling. do you just sell online? >> we just sell online. originally used to be a wholesaler. and now transferred the business online. >> how difficult is it to sell diamonds online? i presume there's a trust factor you have to get through. >> absolutely. like fashion, they're the most difficult product to sell online. also we're selling maply engama

engagement rings. people want to come to the store and have that experience. >> they can't come to your store. you don't have one, right? >> we don't have one. but i think with technology now, you have 3d images, online video. so you can almost replicate the experience. by being online, you have a lot or other benefits. you have 24/7 availability. we design absolutely anything, as well. the biggest advantage is the cost savings that you have compared to the rates because we're connecting the mines directly with you. >> i was going to say where are you sourcing the diamonds from. are you dealing deals directly with diamond cutters? >> yes, who are partners with the mines. >> so how much do you think your prices are lower than, say, if you were going to walk into a -- >> to the shop? >> yes. >> normally around 70% and that is a very big difference. >> 7-0? >> 7-0, that's correct, yes.

>> how fast is online diamond sales growing? 7-0 is a huge chunk on what is a sizable purchase for most people when they make it. >> it is. we've been growing at 100% year over year. internationally, we grew last year 900%. >> and very briefly, what is the -- what are you forecast for prices, generally? >> diamond prices are just going to go up. >> you would say that. you're a retailer. >> i'm quite bias. but it is stronger with emerging markets from china and india. supplies are getting shorter. when you look at all these conditions together, price res goi are going to go up. >> thank you. amazing. day six in the olympics saw more action. >> britain suffered medal heartache in the women's short

track 500 meter skating. china took the gold while fontana and park sun li took silver and bronze. a dramatic u.s. clean sweep of the podium. huge crowds saw christianson win gold. there's no change at the top of the medals table going into the halfway point. germany stays top after adding gold in the team relay luge. >> amazing sport going on in sochi. under armour says its design is affecting the results of the speed skating team. no american has finished better than seventh place so far. the suits are said to have a design flaw that's creating drag. in a statement, under armour

says its suits are the most rigorously tested apparel ever in an olympics competition. still to come, u.s. president barack obama tweets his executive order ahead of netflix's season two release. we'll have more on that. as we do so, futures suggesting a slightly lower start. we'll have some more right after this. ♪

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you're watching "worldwide exchange." i'm ross westgate. italy is said to have a new prime minister by tend of the day, marking the country's third government change in a year. italian growth figures come in ahead of forecasts. france and germany came in better than expected, giving the euro a boost. rakuten is smashing up vibes for nearly $1 billion. and it may be valentine's day, but that doesn't mean investers will have any luck with u.s. equities.

historically, stocks down 40% of the time on february the 14th. display you're watching "worldwide exchange," bringing you business news from around the globe. a very good morning to you. it's the last trading day of the week here on cnbc. if you've just joined us stateside, u.s. stocks not doing too badly yesterday. the nasdaq up at a 13-year high and having its best six-day winning streak since july 2011. this morning, futures are indicating a bit of a cautious start after all of that. the s&p at the moment is currently trading about a point and a bit below fair value. the nasdaq at the moment is three points below fair value and the dow at the moment is currently trading some 17 points below fair value. as far as the ftse cnbc global 300 is concerned, we're a little firmer, just up 0.2%. european equities flat for the

ftse 100, down 15 points yesterday. it's fairley flat this morning for the ftse, just up 8 points. the xetra dax and the cac 40 up 0.5 and 0.4% respectively. better than expected numbers for these two nations. both those numbers better than expected. and in italy, they are out of recession for the first time in about 12 quarters. they had 11 consecutive quarters of negative quarter on quarter growth today. that stock, italy had 0.1 is% quarter on quarter growth. it's a flash estimate, no detailed breakdown. at least it was going to right away. from the white house, as well, to the house of cards. u.s. president barack obama has been making an executive order by twitter last night, declaring no spoilers, please. the message sent as netflix users today will get the second season of the emmy award winning seriesous on of cards.

other content includes seasons two of oranges is the new black and an animated series about a whiskey drinking house. joini is it still paying off? >> it absolutely is. it's been exactly a year since they first launched season one this time last year. and the world was watching and waiting to see how it would go. and they've had a fantastic year. they outdid expectations in terms of subscriber growth. they surpassed about 40 million, which means it surpassed hbo right now. there is concern around whether or not subscribers who join on would george on this content and sign off. but that does not happen. so they're retaining people with

the highest lifetime value and i think the future is bright for them. >> what's happened with international markets? >> so on they definitely are scratching the tip of the iceberg with that. they have launched into five or six international markets that started with canada in 2010 and then they're in latin america. they launched some of the nordic countries, the uk, ireland, etcetera. so i think at this point it makes up -- international markets make up about 15% of their sales. it's definitely, as they can secure more rights to grow in r internation internationally, that's a concept that's going to scale quite well for them .they're just scratching the surface. >> i was just thinking, with all the snowstorms and the weather, does it help them a little bit today with this release? >> so there was a lot of buzz in the social media world around that. where i am around that in new york, we're completely snowed in. most people were at home. even this whole trend out there on facebook with twitter, people pleading for them to release it

a day early. but they stuck with their schedule. it's still smack in the middle of the storm. i think that's something that should be interesting for them, and it's a great bonus, i guess boost, if you will. but the interesting thing is with netflix, they don't release ratings information unlike the traditional tv channeles and that whole metric that that world was modelled against. so it's implicit that people are snowed in at home watching it. but that's not information that they release. >> so they've had a good sign. how tougher is it going to get? we've got neutrality bills. are they going to be able to get their hands on enough good content to satisfy people? >> yeah. so that is fair. their biggest challenge. they definitely have a lot of upside skill in terms of where they can grow as we've been discussing domestically and internationally. but their cost structure remains their biggest challenge, acquiring content, increasing expenses, there's more and more competition from the likes of

amazon and even microsoft and google and others getting into this field which drives up the prices of the content. and then the net neutrality bill is still circling. if that becomes the law of the land, they are going to come out on the negative side of that because they're a huge portion of all the broadband bandwidth is being consumed right now. so that will away huge cost driver for them. but i think the upside in terms of subscriber growth that they have should enable them to have -- to come out in the black with that, but they certainly have their challenges. >> good to see you today. thanks so much indeed for joining us. have a good weekend. some of the other stories we're following today, aig swung to a fourth quarter profit, beating forecasts pass company made fewer payouts due to catastrophes. last year, it was down by hurricane sandy. it's boosting its dividend by 25%. aig resumed paying dividends

last year after halting in 2008 when it nearly collapsed. it's cutting 3% of its workfo e workforce, as well. kraft foods soared on pension gains. revenues just missed forecasts. kraft says it expects a slow start to the year, partly due to the weak u.s. jobs market and the recent reduction in the government food stamp benefits. but the firm is still confident about the future and plans to revive brands such as jell-o and kool-aid. kraft stock up 2%. and first, they took on amazon's kindle but now japanese e-commerce firm rakuten is trying to buy viber media. rakuten's ceo says the deal with more than double its user base to half a million people worldwide. italian growth figure for

the fourth quarter may have come in less than forecast. enrico letta is still expected to resign today. party leader matteo renzi will likely take over the reinses as the fourth prime minister in a little over two years. renzi gave a speech to the democratic party yesterday outlining his plan for a new government. sgl >> translator: if we don't take risks and if we don't take responsibility now, the slow pace of reform without a strong push on our behalf could result in losing our economic competitiveness and could result in our institutions losing credibility. still to come, find out about the current health of banks after the break. ♪

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and the headlines, a political shakedown in italy. growth figures across countries in europe held markets over to the upside. but will there be love for u.s. equities? historically, they're ul only 40% of the time when valentine's day rolls around.

meanwhile, a huge snowstorm has blanketed the u.s. southeast last night, having already caused enormous issues in the south, up to 15 inches of snow in parts of the country. the cost of the extreme weather could be up to $50 billion. kate parker, meteorologist at the weather channel, joins us now from pennsylvania. kate, how is it now? >> well, it's quieted down. we're on the back end of this particular system. but we got some more snow overnight last night. additional to what we got yesterday morning. it was a record breaking day in pennsylvania. philadelphia received 10.4 inches of snow. that was a record. but it beat out an all-time record. four times this season, we've seen a snow event greater than six inches. that has never happened in a

recorded history for this state. so truly a tremendous amount of snow. and the folks of this area definitely snow fatigued. anywhere in this state, we've seen anywhere from about 10 inches up over 20 inches of snow. some areas in virginia, over 27 inches of snow. that's how much we've seen. and they are snow fatigued here. i went to go to a sporting goods store to try to find some hand warmers and some goods to stay warm and they are sold out. the shelves were cleared. no space heaters to be found in this city. they were without power for a week last week. and then to have this snow on top of it is adding insult to injury. so folks here will be digging out today. improvement in the forecast for this afternoon, just long enough before a second dose of snow tomorrow morning. >> right. okay. i hope everyone is okay. kait, good to see you. kait parker joining us from the weather channel in pennsylvania. the storm is threaten to go

chill the economy just when signs of stronger growth had started to emerge. bertha is with us at cnbc hq in the states to talk about the frozen-nomics. >> frozen-nomics. happy valentine's day to you, by the way. i have seen no roses, i have seen no chocolates, just saying. u.s. retail sales fell 0.4% in january, that was more than expected, following a small decline in december. the report is typically the first look at consumer spending trends each month. in january, shoppers spent less on clothing and furniture and department store sales extended declines following a weak holiday shopping season. even the stallwort, online sales dropped. americans did spend much of the increase was at gas stations and super markets likely in preparation for all those

snowstorms we've seen. some economists took down their forecast for the first quarter gdp. in the "wall street journal's" monthly survey, the majority of economists think the harsh weather will trip 0.3% from the first quarter gdp, well below the 2% annual rate in the fourth quarter that we saw. but once temperatures start to rise, do so their forecasts. they expect growth up 2.8% in q2. 3% in the third quarter, and 4% in the fourth quarter. hourly workers such as retail and restaurant workers are robbed of income. school closings are forcing many parents to stay home from work, missing a day's pay in some cases and home heating bills have soared this year, eating into family budgets. several retailers and restaurant chains are blaming winter storms for chilling their sales.

mcdonald's said bad weather hurt same-store sales in january. whole foods says weather was a big reason why it missed its forecast. and anothuto sales fell more th% in january. what we're seeing more of is people cleaning off the lots rather than coming in and cleaning them out. the first year over year drop since august of 2010. things may not be getting any better this month, as some dealers in the midwest and on the east coast lost power or had no customers for several days. it really has been disruptive. we're used to getting snow, but the fact that we're getting this back to back, it's been, i think, five or six weeks that we've had a snowstorm every single week. >> it is amazing. >> and there's no place to put the snow. >> no, there is no place to put it. it just has to melt. then you have issues. >> right.

it is valentine's day, bertha. and i'm just wondering, if you had to choose between flowers or chocolates, which one? >> both. >> okay. but if you had to choose? >> it depends on the quality of the chocolates. i'm a dark chocolate girl, bittersweet. >> really, really, really good chocolate. >> good swiss or belgium chocolate, nothing beats that. >> i was just checking. >> it's in the mail? >> i wouldn't put that sort of chocolate in the mail. hand delivery is best. bertha, good to see you. thanks very much. your valentine's day pink, as well, very pretty. now, it was the head of jpmorgan's investment bank and famously came to blows with jamie dimon over the risks being taken at the firm. but how does bill winters now feel about his time at the bank? helia caught up with bill winters for an exclusive

interview and asked him. >> i love my time at jpmorgan. it was an outstanding firm. it was always an outstanding firm. we had our ups and downs, for sure. i think it's a super strong organization. i would be lying if i said i enjoyed it every day, but i enjoyed every period of my career. and i wouldn't trade it for anything. and i feel that at the time i moved on, it was probably about the right time for me. >> meanwhile, the issue of leverage ratios and risk taking of banks remains a key issue. u.s. regulators signaled 24they are ready to move forward with rules. the banking regulation watered down proposals for a new leverage ratio for banks this year. lenders will still be required to hold equity of at least 3% of assets. this is what bill had to say about what the right level would be to ensure safe and viable banks. >> the conclusion we reached was that for the most complicated banks, having losses of urban capital in the range of 17% to

20% was the right place to be. this is for risk related assets. if you just do the math, what that suggests is an appropriate leverage ratio, it comes up to something 4% or a bit above 4% to be comfortable with the 17%, maybe closer to 5% to be comfortable to the 20% on risk-related assets. >> and european viewers can catch more on helia's interview with bill winters tonight at 2300 cet, throughout the weekend and into next week. now, the new york stock exchange enjoyed a model close yesterday as the spots illustrated models rang the closing bell. can today's session continue to excite traders? we'll find out right after this. [bell rings] [prof. burke] at farmers,we make you smarter about your insurance,because what you don't know can hurt you. what if you didn't know that home insurance

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"sports illustrated" has revealed who is on the cover of its anniversary swimsuit issue with its unveiling on tuesday night with abc's jimmy kimmel talk show. a trio of models takes the top spot. aldridge is the first si model to grace the cover in her first appearance since heidi klum since 1998. this year's golden anniversary features 22 returning models.

european equities, meanwhile, are a little bit firmer. the ftse flat. we're up 0.5 fert for the german xetra dax. u.s. futures, and we are at the moment below fair value is where we stand by some -- 9 points for the dow, the nasdaq 3 points below fair value and the s&p is about 2 points below fair value after hitting a three-week high during italy's session. shot shellady from treen joins us now. scott, always a pleasure. good to see you. valentine's day is not normally a good day for equities. we're only up 40% of the time. >> no, it's not going to be a good day today. if anything, we'll probably see very light volumes. we have a three-dee weekend and the east coast got slammed by

some weather. we'll take a step back, digest what yellen had to say. and i don't think we're going to see any inflation. i think that's been the case generally. i think you saw yellen abandon that 6.5% unemployment rate. so it's all about inflation and i don't think the u.s. is going to see any. so we're going to get rid of this quantitative easing through taper, but not because the u.s. economy is strong. we're going to do it because the u.s. economy is -- it's a bad economic policy and the u.s. economy is weak. >> what does that mean for asset prices? >> well, i think we go back to that situation where we're going to taper and we're going the taper not because we can handle i it, but because we don't like the idea of qe any more. the u.s. economy is not responding. so we're going to have to find another way to stimulate. we're going to rely a lot on you, europe, on china. those two things are going to have to help the u.s. and china out this year rather than last year. i think we'll finish the year up

10% to 15% up, but i don't think it's going to be a long and bloody ride. last year was -- you know, you can invest like a neanderthal. this year you have to invest like a neurosurgeon. you have to be a lot more picky. we had record outflows. incident was per verse last friday when we had that bad jobs number. we had so many people get out of the market. that's why we rallied since. i think going forward, we're going to be going number to number. each one is a binary event. if it's good, we're going lower and if it's bad, we're going higher. i think that's why we'll see this volatility all year long until we can get a smooth pattern that we've had going forward. we've had the weather to blame, but last i checked, when we do those surveys, i think people take that into consideration. we have to see something good soon or we're going to see these equity prices guy rate all year long. >> scott, always good to see you. have a good day there in

chicago. thanks for joining us, scott shellady. >> thank you. love is literally in the air for the empire's state building celebrating the 20th annual valentine's day event. three couples will get to exchange vows on the 102nd deck. valentine's day is the only day you can legally go ahead get married in the landmark. what should i get julia for valentine's day? brian tweeted a teddy bear to fill the empty anchor chair. i got her a ticket to go to rome. who knew there was going to be political news out there for her to cover? it just happened that way. keep sending us the e-mails. others, that's it for today's edition of "worldwide exchange." coming up next, the countdown to the final trading session of the week stateside with "squawk box." whatever happens, have a profitable day.

good morning and welcome to "squawk box." a sweetheart market. stocks finish higher despite weak data and a massive snowstorm. more snow coming tonight. the nasdaq makes it six in a row. frozen-nomics, old man winter taking a bite out of the first quarter. will this deep freeze derail the nation's growth for the rest of the year? the gdp numbers for the fist quarter are plummeting. aig posts a first quarter profit, raises its dividend. uncle sam online. i love this friday. it is friday, february 14th,

2014 and "squawk box" begins right now. >> good morning. welcome to "squawk box" here on cnbc. i'm becky quick along with joe kernen and andrew ross sorkin. and the major u.s. averages are on pace for their best week of the year. volume was lighter than normal yesterday base of the major winter storm hitting the east coast. boy, this one has been a doozy. stocks closed at three-week highs and dow futures down by about 20 points below fair value. s&p futures are down by about 2.5 as are the nasdaq futures. by the way, have you seen gold prices lately? the pressure metal topping 1300 for the first time since november. it's up another $10, $1,310.80. and today, it is valentine's day. historically it hasn't been a sweet day for the markets. the market has been up only 40% of the time on february 14th. we'll see what happens