hello. you're watching "worldwide exchange." i'm ross westgate. the headlines today from around the globe. it's merger monday. sealing a $50 billion deal to create the world's biggest cement maker. and the winner bidder for sfo. beating competition for a $17 billion euro offer. the deals don't give much of a boost to europe. they are following in asia after the nasdaq posts the biggest drop on friday since february. tech stocks are dragging.

and the opposition party says they will allow for over 850 million people who make their way to the polls in the biggest democracy. >> you're watching "worldwide exchange" bringing you business news from around the globe. good morning. welcome to the show. it is merger monday. and they are seeking approval for a $50 million merger. lafange is the largest company. and next what we are looking at

is the deal has finally been sealed after a bidding war for $17 billion euro deal. we'll see how that ends. it is now down to three bids despite those offers being backed by the french government. the stock is up nearly 8%. that news had to give a boost to markets in europe. earlier the "squawk box" team said a big ticket deal will dominate the deal landscape this year. >> emphasis has now moved to quality. so it's moved from volume to quality, which is going to translate into much larger, more strategic transformation-size deals. you are going to see doubling in

size of intention. so those surveyed said more than double of them are thinking about doing deals above a billion dollars. >> joining us now is judy, senior deal reporter. caroline is also with us following the news this morning. the key point of this agreement? >> well, this definitely makes sense, it's a huge deal, but both companies have been hit by overcapacity, about very high debt burdens and by falling prices. and the rise in energy costs since 2008. so, yes, from a strategic perspective it certainly does make sense for both companies. having said that, ross, it seems as though there's going to be huge scrutiny from the anti-trust regulators. and this is where the deal could potentially still fall through. ubs saying the approval process could take two years. jpmorgan saying in a note, yes, the potential for delay, that is huge. but they still see it positive

for the industry. potential for better pricing environment and further consolidation. but keep in mind that these two players have huge overlapping businesses. and to placate some of the regulators, they said this morning, look, we're going to divest some of our business, especially in europe. two-thirds of the asset disposals are coming from europe, and that's not too bad after all because the business here in europe is low profit anyway. >> yeah, how big is the regulatory with the disposals, how high are they going to drop? >> they said 10% to 15% of their business will be divested. we have seen a lot of commodity-type mergers that took over a year to get regulatory clearance, particularly with china. they will need clearance in europe, the u.s. and possibly china alongside other regulators. and i think they are given a date for the second half of 2015 to get the merger done by.

>> could the regulators ask so much of them that it doesn't make a deal make any more sense? >> well, i think it is something they definitely looked at and considered, so unlikely, but the ec is familiar with the cement sector and they'll be in talks to try to discuss what to get rid of. >> they are trying to glue things together -- sorry, just a joke. what happens now? would they have spoken to regulators before to sound them out or not? is that a bit dangerous because stuff might just leak? >> i think unlikely to begin with but they would have employed extremely good lawyers to look at previous deals in the sector and work with them to try to find out exactly what to do, but bc is well versed in cement. >> is it an offensive move or a defensive move? we were talking to a guest on the previous show earlier saying this is just a defensive move. where do you stand on this?

>> you mentioned the overcapacity in the sector and that is a key reason. we know the companies were left with debt so they did too many acquisitions in the past. i think it is one that makes sense but it will create the biggest cement company in the world, so it will take time to get the deal done. >> do you see more consolidation on the back of this or there's no consolidation left? >> i think everybody is watching to see what they do and how long it takes to get through the regulators, but any further consolidation is a while off. >> it would be due to alleged cartel behavior. not the sort of thing regulators are going to jump up and down over, are they? >> no. >> thank you very much for joining us, julianne. it is not just limited to europe, but india pharma is looking to create the fifth

biggest drugmaker with ingra. ingra is currently banned from sending drugs to the u.s. meanwhile, the biggest vote ever begins today in india staging parliamentary elections over the next six weeks and the ruling party is set for a tough race with slowing growth and high inflation at the forefront of voters' minds. sri has moved to mumbai, and this takes quite a process, sri, to get through this election, how long is it? >> reporter: ross, this is a very elongated process that just reflects the sheer scale of india geographically and also the 815 million eligible voters that have to cast their ballot. so it kicks off today, as you know n the northeastern states

of this area. and it will go on for the next five weeks until about may the 21th when the polling is completed. and then four days later we should have a result. now, make no mistake, this is a huge process. and it's going to be electronic this time, but getting those electronic voting machines to relati relatively inaccessible places and remote places and as far as the sea to the him layan foothills is a gargantuan process. so that's why it is such a long and protracted process, but what we can tell you is that this is going to be a fairly sizable process vote against the congress-led coalition government. they have been in power for about ten years, and during that period of time, economic growth has halved. they are also associated with

corruption as well, unfortunately, and there's also been a tremendous amount of strain being brought on the infrastructure. their infrastructure deficits, there are bottlenecks, and that means that inflation has been kept quite high, quite sticky, despite the fact that in february cpi did ease back to a 25-month low. so the economic challenges are very clear. one thing that is also very clear is that the bjp, the opposition, and their prime minister and candidate narendra modi, this is really about personality politics right now. he's achieved quite a great deal to his credit. he's seen as pro-business. he's seen as pro-reform, but ross, the big question here is beyond coalition building and coalition politics, which may complicate the structure reform process, can modi really deliver what he achieved on a national scale if he is elected?

>> key questions, indeed. that's the start of a long process, sri, thank you for now. plenty more to come from sri from mumbai. joining us in the studio, we have seen a bounce back in ems and a lot ahead of this election that priced in the potential there. how do you think we now trade as we get to the actuality of the trade process? >> we have had over six months of positive trade in inr, in the rupe, and especially in the equity markets in india on the back of a possible outcome here. and i think that now everything is coming to fruition now. and i agree with the journalist from india saying that it's all about the big caveat now lying on the coalition and how strong this coalition will be going forward. the modi government is about

streamlining the administration process, he's all about ripping off bureaucracy out of the process in india, and of course we know that some of the potential coalition partners down the road will be somehow very reluctant to embrace all these objectives. so we could have a possible dilemma over there. >> yeah, one would imagine that we've priced in some good news, so the risk here is on the downside. >> absolutely. absolutely. so, i mean, i wouldn't place a massive downside risk here as yet because we know that there's a lot of winners within the bjp to make things work here. and i think that is going to be very good to just put the ten year coalition on the side and look forward to new days and new policies, especially on the economic side in india. but of course, there's a down side. >> how much is also down also to

stabilize the new governor as well? he put up interest rates to stabilize -- >> that was massive. we remember six, seven months ago when india was within the basket of very vuler in economies, the rupe was a vulnerable currency with south africa and turkey. we actually saw a pretty nice revamping of measures, i mean clamping down on imports, very aggressive rebalancing of the current economic gap. and we are now seeing that india is probably one of the big boosters in current account gap balance over the next couple of years. i mean, on the back of policy measures. so that actually proves the point to the emerging economies out there that policies can change a lot in the dynamics. >> we'll have more chinese data out this week but it's a holiday there today.

coming up, the succession plan is underway. is the board of black-rocky preparing for merger details? we'll have more on that, coming up.

here we are 15 minutes after trading in europe. we are following through here today in europe, more than 9 to 1 decliners outpacing right now. the ftse was up 1.2%. the u.s. stocks measure up to 5.5-year highs. the ftse 100 is down this morning down .60%. cac 40 is down preponderate 71%. the kospi is fairly flat, the nikkei down 1.7%. hang seng is down .60%. and the s&p is down as they start that election. bond markets, we saw yields steadily climb last year into the non-payout report. the treasury yields are back down 2.37% where we stand today.

and on the currency markets, the payroll came out in 2000 which is little shy. we just saw them post that number on friday some data is trimming their bullish positions on the dollar. so dollar/yen was up at a two-and-a-half month high to 103.80. aussie dollar flat just below 1.66. euro/dollar, we hit 1.37. it was also a discussion at the workshop on finance in italy, julia speaking with economist and industry leaders about the role of the ecb. one of those was the ceo of union credit. and he thought he had done

enough to secure europe's recovery. >> they have done the work they think is necessary, so there could be low up nation in europe. i think they have not taken yet a relative decision. they believe to announce the possibility of controversy measures, so i think the ecb is a strong european institution. they still believe that the risk may be high but remote. >> and qe, do you think an option there would work? >> the qe can, yeah, can ease a bit the condition of the market. but we cannot forget the liquidity is very low. so if we rely only on qe, we would be disappointed. i think that what is needed in europe is reforms, especially some countries, companies need to start to invest confidence as

to come back for consumers. so qe can help, but we need also these measures. >> the u.s. economy may rebound but not on u.n. currencies as they are buying less brazil real. investors took the federal reserve and it's not going to speed up the timetable. luis is still with us. how would you relate this? >> it was a fascinating moment, i have to say. because the reading was positive. we are talking about 192, almost 200k. with the previews number revised up by over 30k, so definitely positive. but it's amazing how the market position itself had a much, much stronger number. and this is one of the points we

have been hammering to our clients for the past two weeks saying the markets look a lot more em risk looking a lot more resilient. and the room for disappointment in terms of a huge second half rebound in the u.s. is now ample. and this is exactly where we see this now, we have seen the threat from rising u.s. rates doesn't seem to be as huge as the markets expected. >> yeah, and there is the assumption that big strong u.s. recoveries is next, but i don't know why that would be the case because surely a stronger u.s. actually might be helpful for the emerging market. >> you have a good point. in a way, that obviously trickles down to the emerging economy. look at mexico and look at some of south america's economies. they obviously get a boost from the boost in the u.s., but what we see now is that we have seen the export trade commerce links are not picking up growth in em as much as it did in the past. so this is the problem.

so we could actually see a couple of quarters even longer than that of good pick up in the u.s. economy growth. without a major effect in em. so manufacturers behind that, the import institution, et cetera, but i think in the main takeaway here is that em flows are returning slightly to em, especially on the bond side. the market is becoming a little bit less panicky when it comes to rising u.s. rates. >> you talk about the flow, this is kind of interesting. when flows were negative, when flows -- people cautioned about this, where do they profit without putting in em? >> we have been tracking this very closely over the past many, many months since they first started last year. and our perception is that a lot is going to european and u.s.

equities. so there's not only a rotation from developing world to emerging war to develop a war, but is also a natural classic rotation from fixing back to equities. >> that's interesting because i wondered if some went into peripheral debt. >> well, the peripheral credit play, to be honest, that has been one of the fixing places that worked, one of the few that worked over the past quarter or so. as a matter of fact, portugal, spanish compression, that worked. but this is still working as a credit compression trade. it is not an interest rate trade. >> which makes sense. give us your view on china. obviously we have a holiday today, but we have trade data and inflation data coming out this week. they clearly made investors aware that this is a two-way trade, not a one-way bet to

change the dynamics a little bit. what's your view now? >> i think that the main topic in china is still growth. i think that the widening of the band became highly telegraphed. so it shouldn't be explored further, i have to say. it creates two-way risks, yeah, but the main risk of china is this economy is not at a 7 or 7.5% growth rate anymore. we are probably shifting to 6.5% to 7% or lower levels than that. so that has, i don't believe in the china blow-up in the short-term, but the risks are there. the authorities are fully aware of the risks and are gradually working towards that, but i think the main topic here is china implication, if you're talking about three quarters of a percentage point in deceleration in china gdp. >> and how does that impact the rest of the year? >> that means a lot to brazil. that means a lot to south africa, to chile, so that means

a lot to the big exporters in emerging markets. >> good to see you today, luis costa from citi. ben laske is seeking documents from credit suisse to see if the bank lied to authorities about creating tax shelters to u.s. customers. the justice department has been probing credit suisse since 2011. they are looking to drop an indictment in exchange for a big fine. "the new york times" reports its also pushing for a guilty plea from a credit suisse subsidiary. the fines are reportedly expected to top $780 million that ubs paid back in 2009. credit suisse stock down 2.5% today. bny mellon suggests two top

investors are disillusioned by the bank's failure to keep costs in check and meet profit targets since the bank of new york and mellon merged in 2007. bny mellon's stock is up 2.7%. and blackrock is working on a secession plan for the ceo larry fink. this shows the world's biggest money manager is shifting ten executives into expanded roles including rob goldstein to become the chief operating officer in june. fink and the current president will keep their current roles. a spokesman says both made it clear they will be at blackrock for years to come. now the duke and duchess of cambridge have kicked off the

start of their official tour of new zealand. accompanied by 8-month-old son george. the family received a traditional merry welcome including a nose press. the three-week tour will span new zealand before ending in canberra. nice british weather for them. still to come on the show, could we be one step closer to finding the missing flight mh-370? the ship searching for the jet has picked up faint signals which could have come from the plane's black box. we'll have more. "worldwide exchange" continuing after this.

you're watching "worldwide exchange" bringing you business news from around the globe. >> headlines from around the globe, it's merger monday. lafarge is looking to merge to create the biggest cement company. and the nasdaq posted its

worst drop on friday since february. and india's opposition party says they will allow foreign investment into the country as over 815 million people stop to make their way to the ballot box in the world's biggest democracy. it's an hour into the trading day. the ftse 100 is down .50%. the cac 40 is down .63%. yields are fairly flat for the session. ten-year gilts are 2.69%. and the payroll data was within the range, but below the wisp.

we saw them trim the bullish poxes. dollar/yen 103 president 16 after being up to 104.13 on friday. euro very dollar 1.37. our lead story, cement makers holcim and lafarge have confirmed they are in merger talks. they have decided they want to combine together to effectively create a deal. it's going to be worth $50 billion to wereuate the world's biggest cement maker. the merger is expected to be completed during the first half of 2015. other stories we are also

following today, there is finally a deal to buy sfr following a bidding war. the $17 billion euro deal will merge sfo rrks vrks ivenoi will se sell. the biggest vote begins today with india staging parliamentary elections over the next six weeks. the ruling party is ready for a tough race with high inflation at the forefront of voters' minds. sri is now in mumbai for us. and sri, this is, for the first time in a while, this is an election where voters really do have a choice, don't they?

>> they do, and it is about personality politics. and the former chief minister and the frontrunner in this election and the prime minister are candidate for the bjp party. they are calling it modi economics. what he achieved is to become quite successful. he becamecy monous now with streamlining the business process but doing business in the state. a lot of big companies both domestic and international decided to do business and achieved growth rates above the national average. if he is successful, if he does manage to win this election and come together a working government for the coalition government, which he will probably have to do so, then the next challenge is really to repeat that formula on a national basis. and that is when it becomes that much more tricky.

a lot of question marks over there he can accomplish that. we'll get a bit more clarity now with the chief india economist at barclays joining me now here on the shoreline in mumbai. the indian financial capital. you have seen the 52-page manifesto from the bjp, does that give you confidence? >> it is rather encouraging because the manifesto is focusing a lot on some of the big critics. we have not been having a great run of late. they are talking about this across the country and the national agricultural marketing unit. >> very ambitious. >> i think a part of that is that it can be implemented well and reasonably fast. i think that will be quite positive. >> do you think they aught to be able to achieve those pro-market reforms given the fact that they

have to put together a coalition and that coalition government may not necessarily speak with one voice? >> well, the coalition government is a case of india. so the fact that it is a coalition government, we should not be too pessimistic. we have seen the coalition government for the last 25 years in this country, yet in 1991 or in 1996 we have seen good reforms in this part of the country. so if the coalition is generally seen strong with one party leading with decent numbers, i can see there's good hope. >> and that's what the market really wants, they want stability and they want reform. do you think modi and the bjp are going to deliver that? >> at the moment, there's a reasonable hope on that. i hope that gets delivered over a period of time because this is a juncture of -- it really needs

the political support. some of the more unpleasant jobs which is done by up nation control and really being spirited at the moment. the reforms need to be openly shared, and i hope that becomes a reality a couple months down the line. >> we have the indian economy at 5.6%. are you open to revising the higher if we see a convincing modi victory and if he manages to put together a working coalition? or do you need to see more clarity in terms of the policy outlook from them? >> well, i think that is a decent possibility toward that side, that if there's a strong enough government, one clear leader in this political government, there's a possibility of growth numbers that can be advised up in the case of india. we foresee some signs that there's a bit of recovery of

late. we do track our leading indicators. now unfortunately over the last two years, there has be up no sign of any uptick. but after falling for quite some time, there are signs of uptick at the moment. we have seen production doing a little better, mining production doing slightly better, something like intermediate good production in manufacturing is looking up. so some of the indicators like construction indicators are looking slightly better. so there's a bit of hope in this moment. if there's better political stability at the moment and a bit of support on the part of the government, we will be looking a little more positive. >> this is on the next government to continue that momentum. >> yeah. >> we have to leave it there. thank you very much, indeed. the chief india economist at barclays. back to you now, ross. >> sri, thank you.

plenty more from sri in mumbai and you can follow him on cnbc.com. changes are trying to be made for a full recovery. the workshop provided an opportunity to take early stock of how mateo renze and his team have fared so far. he gave his assessment of the new leadership. >> this is a young government from all perspective, and i think they are on the right direction for sure for many, many reasons. i think it is a welcomed sign of the generational change that in italy is really what we were lacking, a lot of energy and focusing on the right thing. the first thing that needs to be changed is the decision process in italy. our institutional setting in the past has proved up capable to

provide the right speed and the right force for implementation. and this focusing on the institutional reforms starting from the intellectual law and our parliament and different works is the right way of proceeding. because before having the right plan, you have to make sure you have a decision process that allows that to happen. >> implementation on the reforms of the last month and a half is currently important, isn't it? >> well, that is really the difference between being a hopeful government and being a great government. and i think all the chances and abilities are there. so i think that you have to prove on the field, but i think that how you work with the public administration and make it react faster, that is what

they are also focusing on. and all the previous government have tried to do with the challenges all there, and we all know that, but i think that the approach of facing them and push hard is the right way of doing it. >> whenever i talk to anyone about how he's going to achieve this, they all say he's got energy, he's new, he's young, is that going to be enough? >> well, i think that is, to me, a necessary condition. and i think that all good and great requisite in this historical moment for italy, i think that differently from the government i was a part, we had a huge problem, which was to stabilize the financial situation in italy. we are close to a financial meltdown. and we didn't -- so that was the urgency. to stabilize our economy, our public finances, and we did it. now, now that we have a kind of financial stability it's time to use that as a platform and move

forward with intense reform agenda. and i think to drive a reform agenda, you need, frankly, a new generation to really be part of it. because the reform that you put in place right now will have the results down in several years. so they will be really the new generation that would pay the price if it doesn't work, or they will have the benefit if it works. so i think having a young government that, i think, using the benefit of a stabilized financial market and economy can now move forward. >> there's some benefit in that kind of market pressure in that it actually forces people to have to pass reforms and allow them to go through and extinguish what they are. the lack of that pressure now could be seen as a negative thing. >> yeah, but i think there's a limit to that. the kind of reform you need to do now, really the pressure is not really mote violated by

financial certainty but more by the real economy because that's the pressure right now. the economy is not yet working. we still have unemployment growing. so that is what real people are feeling. real people don't feel spreads. they feel they have a job or they don't have a job. and that sense is the real economy that now you have to change. you need to have consensus from people but really feel that things are not working out in their lives. so i think that in this stage, that kind of pressure is more important than the spreads. let's take a look at the other stories making news in asia. china's weido is expected to be priced at $17 to $19 each. it will value the system close to $4 billion. as the latest chinese internet giant to tap u.s. capital

markets. alibaba owns a stake in that. move over, kim jung un. audiences will get more interesting programs on their screen soon after months of negotiations between the north korean and british governments. they are now going to be looking at "dr. who" and the "teletubbies." they will offer 6.5 hours of tv every night, and a third of that is spent praising the government and another third is urging workers to work harder for their dear leader. meanwhile, japan and australia have reached a basic agreement on a trade pact to allow lower tariffs to be imposed on australian food

exports. here's more from tokyo. hi, makiko. >> hi, ross. the prime minister is expected to confirm the agreement with prime minister abe this weekend. negotiates have been ongoing on since 2007 and whether japan will cut tariffs on australian beef. japan conceded to lower the tariff for frozen beef to half, 38.5%, but chilled beef will compete domestically with a product. japan is australia's fourth largest trade iing group. it will immediately go into

effect sometime next year. meanwhile, negotiations between japan and the u.s. are being held in tokyo today. and tokyo is hoping that japan and the australian government will lower america's insis the answerson dropping all tariffs. meanwhile, an australia ship searching for the missing malaysian jet is picking up pings consistent with the black box. this is the most promising lead so far. if the signals can be narrowed further, an autonomous underwater vehicle will begin looking along the seawall. on the agenda tomorrow, japan's two-day meeting comes to an end. they will ease more action after sales taxes were raised last week. we also get current account data from japan. indonesia will deliver their interest rate decision on tuesday. and they talk about bonds on wednesday. and samsung issues guidance

before the opening bell in asia. and australia week begins in china. this is australia's biggest trade delegation to china. the prime minister tony abbott and business leaders like carrie stokes and james packer will be in attendance. still to come, don't bank on a recovery just yet. according to the offer of a new report, there's more pain ahead for britain's financial services industry. find out why, after this. huh, fifteen minutes could save you fifteen percent or more on car insurance. everybody knows that. well, did you know bad news doesn't always travel fast? (clears throat) hi mister tompkins. todd? you're fired.

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ecb policymaker says there's no need to act on falling up nation. they say the recovery should reduce the dangers of deflation. speaking to reporters in vienna, he says the ecb is watching developments closely as they decide if further steps are warranted. and the president of the australian central bank is added if more is needed for the eurozone. >> the policy of the european central bank is completely right. we have low interest rates, we can't do much more, and what we need is also from the

government's fiscal policy in case of come pettiveness, structural reforms, but i think the ecb has done -- will look back from practices from 2007 to 2008. >> right now policy is correct and we shouldn't see qe from the ecb or further short-term measures like a very long ltro that we saw for the banks. are these measures not needed at this stage? liquidity in the system is sufficient. >> yes, i think what they are doing is completely right. >> can i ask you also about the different governments and the actions that they need to take. i wonder whether perhaps further stimulus if we're talking about qe coming from the european central bank, there's a moral hazard problem there given that the pressure still needs to be applied to these governments to do the reforms that they need. >> it's my common understanding that within the governments that

they have to focus on structure reforms and labor market reforms. and to get more competitive, we have some successes in all the countries. we do see the progress, but the countries have to stick to the past. and you are quite right. when it's going to be easy to get money, they have to -- they don't have to deviate from this, they have to stick to it. >> when we look at the spreads for the euro zone countries, in particular, do you think there's too much optimism because there's still a lot of work to be done as you just pointed out. >> well, you have seen the spreads come down. >> it seems likethere's a disconnect. >> there's optimism and pessimism, but the development i think is right. when you look at the spreads,

then you look at the reforms being done in the countries. of course they have to keep to the past, but i think the direction is correct. >> all right. that's the latest there. despite signs of encouragement, more pain is now predicted for the british banking sector. this is the verdict of the new report that says the industry is struggling to reconcile the demands of investors. regulators of the government as well as customers. the professional services firm says the assets of the five biggest lenders in the coupty plunged a quarter over the last five years. while some 80% of their profits in 2013 went towards mediation costs. joining us is david sagg at kpmg. thank you for joining us. the figures are quite staggering. 28.5 billion pounds from fines, litigation, paying money back to customers, which they shouldn't have taken from in the first place. >> it's two-thirds of the

profits of the major five banks over the last three years. banks are much safer, ross, you do the 1.7 trillion of assets disappearing. we have lost more than one of the big five banks effectively over the last five years. the wholesale funding is reduced dramatically. most are funded by deposits now. the cds spreads are well down. but the real problem is the level of returns. the level of profits has fallen by 61% since 2007. they have now gotten 93 billion more capital against fewer assets. and their returns on that capital are in single digits, so they are not approaching the cost of capital which is 12%. there's a lot more still to be done to get the returns on capital in line with the cost of capital. >> yeah, i get that, but one of the problems we had with banks was that they thought they were the profit story. as opposed to being what the banking industry should be, which is the openablers of profs

if you understand what i'm saying. >> yes, they have to introduce fewer, simpler products. they have far too many products which creates a complexity in the back office. staff numbers have fallen by 15%. we have lost 120,000 people out to the five banks over the last five years. i'm afraid it's going to be a lot more over the next five years with significant reduction in back office staff, probably a lot more bank closures and a lot more distribution of product -- >> you say we need to have backups, but i imagine customers want a lot more front office customer facing staff. >> well, i'm not sure that they do. if you look at ipad and internet offerings now, people find it very convenient to use banking services. it's far too hard to interact with a bank at the moment. it's going to get a lot easier. that's one of the ways to reduce the cost for customers, but another is the use of data. they have absolutely got to use

data better to insure never again do they sell product to customers who can't afford it. >> yeah, obviously, the number of sort of misselling, obviously, we had the ppi and we've had the small business lender, which has got less sort of attention. i don't know where we stand on the hedging. >> that's working out over the course of this year. and we've also got the foreign exchange still to come. >> which could be as big as anything. >> well, and maybe. nobody knows how big until the final report comes in. >> have we circled having to up more capital leapding at the same time? >> to a degree we have. what i see is month by month most banks are lending more to business. >> good to see you, david. thank you very much. the global head of banking at kpmg. the movie audience marvelled

at the latest super hero movie. "captain america: the winter soldier" topped the box office with an estimated $92.6 million. that's the best ever opening for a film in april and one of the highest outside of the traditionally lucrative summer or holiday seasons. the sequel which stars chris evans as captain america and samuel jackson has received good reviews. the disney movie took in $107 million in overseas market including $39 million in china. that's one hour down. the second hour of "worldwide exchange" to come as we go to the break. a reminder where futures are indicating us. currently pointing to a lower start for u.s. equities.

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this is "worldwide exchange." i'm ross westgate. the headlines, holcim and lafarge are looking to merge to create the largest cement maker. and the parent company of merck is looking to be the

largest offer. also, blackrock is shaking up its ceo management ranks as it starts to work on the annual secession plan for co-founder and ceo larry fink. >> you're watching "worldwide exchange" bringing you business news from around the globe. >> a very good morning to you. if you are just joining us in north america, welcome to the start of your global trading day. we saw stocks for the last week up. the dow and the s&p are up from last week. we are lower right now with the dow tracking 22 points below fair value. the s&p is 6 point best low fair value. nasdaq down 2.6% on friday.

the worst percentage loss since february. they are seeing quite a bit of selling today. the nasdaq is currently lower by some 19 points. the ftse global 300 at the moment is also down by a quarter of a percent. and european equities are low as well. the ftse was up 1.2% over the course of last week. today down .50%. cac is down .70% amid losses to the ftse mib as well. but there's fresh news this morning. cement makers holcim and lafarge confirmed they are seeking approval from regulators for a $50 billion merger that if it succeeds would create the biggest construction materials company. the stock is up 3%. 2% higher for holcim. and bruno lafonte will be the ceo of the newly merged company. they will face intense scrutiny

from regulators and there will be large disposals before they can get clearance, if they can get clearance. another deal that's also being announced today. numeric unit is looking to seal a $17 billion deal with vivendi selling sfr to numericable. and we have kicked off the election process in india. 100 million people going to the polls over the next month or so. the s&p is down half a percent and the hang seng down half a percent. the kospi is fairly flat in korea and japan.

down.60%. the treasury yields, where we stand with that, currently at the yield just below 2.73%. i mentioned the yep also weaker. obviously, we were bullish ahead of the payrolls in terms of dollar positioning. we were up at 1.04. the bullish positions on dollar just being trimmed. we are hearing that 192,000 is stronger on the whisper numbers. aussie dollars are flat. sterling is flat just below 1.66. euro/similar is stronger at 137.11. we hit the five-week top at 136.72 after the ecb came out to say we have been modeling for the possible effects of the quantitive easing program. james bullard and charles evans speak later today.

as for economic data, just one report. february consumer credit is out at 3:00 p.m. eastern. and later this week we'll get reports on import prices, ppi and minutes from last month's fed meeting. joining us with his thoughts is the president of macadia asset management. ken, always good to see you. a very good morning to you. >> good morning. the weather's getting nicer here, it's beautiful. >> finally, you are thawing out, like the data. >> absolutely. it's beautiful out. >> so look, like the data you're starting to thaw out, ken, the jobs number is no big surprise. where does this leave us in terms of the macro backdrop for investors in a market that seems to be struggling with its value? >> i don't know if the word is struggling or maybe consolidating its profits. i mean, we've had a great run for the last five-plus years. i think that as we look at the jobs number, i mean, a lot of the market was waiting to see whether the previous couple

months would depress because of weather in the northeast as we just mentioned. and when the jobs number kind of came in around the same thing even though they revised up the last couple of months, it was like, okay, it's not a big number, we're looking at tax bills due in the next couple of weeks. a lot of the momentum, it made since there was a blowoff. i'm not so sure i would make too much of it here, the idea that this is the beginning of the next big leg down. it may come to pass but doesn't feel like that to me now. >> yeah, so if we're fairly valued, i mean, how long could we train effectively flat in the first quarter, we could trade like that for a couple more quarters, i presume. >> yeah, absolutely. as i say -- yeah, that's what investors need to look for. i said to you in my last appearance that this is 2014, the year of consolidation, where we're going to consolidate the very significant gains we've had. i still think we are looking at high single digit returns for

the s&p for the year, so i don't think it's a bust of a year, but i think people need to temper their expectations. we have all gotten spoiled by the huge bull markets, especially in the nasdaq. >> ken, we've got the fbi, they've got an ongoing investigation into possible abuses involving high frequency trading. one of the questions is do computers making millions of rapid trades actually put the every day investor at some kind of disadvantage? >> well, it's a very big issue. does it put them directly as a disadvantage? no, is it unfair that people with large sums of money could employ systems that could skim off the top? that's ridiculously unfair and that should be looked into. but an investor looking at making an investment in a company that they are going to hold on to for a year or twoer even a week or two or three months, having a tenth of a penny skimmed off them should not be a reason to stay out of the market. this idea that the market is rigged against them, it's not a very good narrative.

i think the narrative really needs to be more of high frequency trading has created this illusion of liquidity, the volumes on the exchanges have exploded as a result of it, but when these programs are designed to basically be flat, buy and sell within milliseconds, that's not really adding liquidity, that's just kind of stepping into the middle. so it's the same thing as the right outside of here, you have the george washington bridge. you need to cross the bridge and pay the toll along the way is an unfortunate thing. and i think people should be more outraged that the regulatory environment allowed high frequency trading to take hold the way it's taken hold. because this idea of competition on exchanges, regulation and ems that came into years ago, all those things had tremendous unintended consequences, which conspired to have people gain the system. and that's exactly what happens in any kind of regulatory change. and as the regulators are grappling with the new technology and trying to create

rules to catch up, they are creating rules around technology that was in the rear-view mirror. so people gaming the system is totally up fair. not correct. but people have to not let it get them off the idea that they need to save their retirement and equities are a great place to do it. >> the exchanges make money out of providing faster access and quicker prices. i mean, they are -- you can either have the regular lining or you can pay for the super fast line. >> i'm outraged by that and everyone should be outraged by that, that a profit sauce for the exchanges, which are there to give fair exchange back and forth for investors, would allow someone to locate themselves in such a way as to get an advantage. i mean, for an individual investor today, sending in a regular order is like sending it by morse code from mars compared to how -- having a node, if you will, at the exchange means for high frequency traders. so i think that it's changed,

technology, we're only going to have more of it and less of it. and i have no doubt there's going to be rules that come in over the next year or two to try to correct or address these issues. but then those will be rules that get gained later on in the system. one of the things interesting is that what people don't realize is besides the high frequency trading, there's high frequency news inputs into the all the programs. news is now being digitized. everything we say here on tv, that you report, goes into these massive computers which creates new digitized information that these traders get long before you and i can even hear us finishing our syllables. so it's not just high frequency trading, it's high frequency news, it's super computers, and we just as individual investors, which is who i work with, people saving for retirement, need to step back and say, i'm not playing that game. these guys are trying to make millions and millions of pennies every hour. i'm just trying to make millions over a lifetime. >> we are all just becoming a fair code, ken.

that's the digital code. stay there, we'll come back to you, get a cup of tea or coffee or something. meanwhile, gm dealers will begin repairs on the faulty ignition switches in chevy cobalts. millions of vehicles will roll in for a repair that takes roughly 35 to 40 minutes. many of the vehicles are ten years old and in the hands of second openers. on friday a judge heard the motion to order gm to part with the cars until the repairs are made. we can't see that happening, though. the openers are not going to be parking the cars. gm is down .25%. blackrock is starting to work on an eventual secession plan for larry fink. reports say an internal memo shows the biggest money manager is shifting ten executives into new or expanded roles. they include rob goldstein who will become chief operating

officer in june. replacing charlie hallock who will be co-president of blackrock. fink and the current president will keep both of their roles. a spokes man says they have made it clear they will be at blackrock for years to come. and sec capital begins its second life today as the embattled hedge fund is changing their name to point 72. a reference to the firm's street address in stanford, connecticut. the company will be smaller with 9 billion in assets managing solely the money founder steve cohen, family members and certain employees. in the firm's legal issues are far from over. later this week it will be sentenced for its guilty plea on securities fraud charges. new york bank regulator ben laske is seeking documents from credit suisse looking into whether the bank lied about futures to u.s. customers. they have been probing the company since 2011.

it is their 83rd prosecution agreement to drop an indictment in exchange for a big fine. "the new york times" is also pushing for a guilty plea from credit suisse subsidiary. this is expected to top the 780 million ubs paid back in 2009. and still to come, the world's biggest election kicks off today. can the party's platform drive india back into gear? we'll be in mumbai right after this. mine was earned in korea in 1953. afghanistan, in 2009. orbiting the moon in 1971. [ male announcer ] once it's earned, usaa auto insurance is often handed down from generation to generation. because it offers a superior level of protection. and because usaa's commitment to serve current and former military members and their families is without equal.

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holcim and lafarge merge to create the largest cement maker. and in u.s. blackrock lays the grant for the successor larry fink. the world's biggest ever election vote starts today. india's staging parliamentary elections over the next six weeks. the ruling party is looking at a

tough race with high inflation at the forefront of voters' minds. sri is on the banks of the river in mumbai and is joining us now. sri, you describe this a as battle between two key personalities, but those personalities for a long time in india are also offering two very distinct sets of policies, aren't they? >> reporter: they are. i think in one way this is going to be perceived as a protest woe, for lack of a better expression. the governing coalition, there is a very strong sense of voter fatigue, ross, in india here after ten years of congress-led rule. and the economy in all intense purposes has performed growth hard. now contrast that with the modi way in how it's being described.

and you look at what happened where the chief minister there and also the prime minister of the bjp, what he has achieved there. and to be frank with you, it is very, very impressive. he has achieved stronger growth rates above the national average. and he has achieved a sense of clean business sections. and he's also achieved and created an environment where it becomes easier to do business. he's cut the red tape. we have seen a number of major domestic and international companies choose to relocate and base themselves in kudra. the main question is whether he can replicate that whipping formula on a national level. and the other question mark is whether he can cobble together a working coalition government. bear in mind, he needs about 272 votes to achieve an outright majority, and what we understand is that he will probably garner

a lineshare of the votes, but clearly not enough for a majority. that's when the tricky task of coalition building comes in to the fray. that creates the degree of uncertainty in the markets, but right now the stock markets are riding the modi wave. and important to bear in mind, ross, last week just a few days before the election kicked off, today, incidentally, we saw the stock reach a high. will it continue to go up? big question mark there. >> thank you for that, sri. that's the latest from mumbai with the election going on for the next six weeks. some of the other stories that have caught our eye. the duke and duchess of cambridge have kicked off the start of their official tour of new zealand. and they have been accompanied by their 8-month-old son george. the family received a traditional merry welcome which included a nose press. the three-week tour will spn

australia before ending in canberra. typical british weather there to greet them. it was a rough work for this fedex driver. a security camera in tennessee shows a delivery van driving by and driving these dogs crazy. but a short time later, you'll see the van rolling backwards with no one at the wheel. and the delivery man is chasing after it. the van narrowly missed that tree before stopping against a fence. thankfully, nobody was hurt. while this video shows an unfortunate situation for the driver, safety is their top priority. who knew they could go backwards so fast? still to come on the show, square has secured a new line of funding. we'll find out how much. and stocks are trading at the moment on the heat. we are on the downside about 8

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points, the dow jones down lower by 13. it was up .60% last week. the nasdaq is down by just over 14 points. despite a relatively strong jobs reading for march on friday, but momentum stocks are the biggest drag extending a sell-off that began a few weeks ago. joining us is ken cayman, what do you make of the tech stocks falling? >> i think it is kind of a blowoff of froth. i think when you look at the tremendous run they have been on, outside of what other stocks have done, it makes sense. so i wouldn't get too crazy about it. we're also seeing money starting to rotate back into some other sectors and some of it broadening out, but the carnage as it has been called is in a tight sector now. and i think you will see dividend stocks and the other large cap growths benefit from

the profit taking there. >> we have had in certain areas of the stock market, social tech stocks. the evaluations have entered a bubble territory. >> yeah, i think that, you know, we are not only enamered with the changes they bring, but they have been great growth stories at the macro level. but at the bottom line level, after some of the euphoria blows off, we start looking at, okay, can they sustain the rates of growth? so i don't think it's over, but they will start to see them level off a bit. i think that's a healthy thing. i don't think we should be afraid of it. and if you are not day trading them, then just be careful that you're not just in something because of mo men tim. because momentum, especially as we talked earlier about computers and algorithms, then computers start triggering off the trades to say let's go the other way. so investors have to understand what they own and don't just buy because it moved up yesterday. >> okay, good to see you. thank you for that, ken.

and some other tech news we are following today, cnbc learned that square, the maker of card readers for smartphones and tablets, secured a new resolving credit line in the low hundreds of millions of dollars. goldman sachs led the deal. the financial times reports that the cloud storage from dropbox has lined up 500 million in financing following a 350 million fund-raising earlier this year. sources say dropbox is unlikely to move ahead with an ipo until next year. and yahoo! may be following the path of netflix and hulu. the wall street journal reports the company is making a push to original content and is close to ordering four web series. they are looking for half-hour comedies with larger budgets led by writers or directors with experience in television. the ceo hopes to show off the new cop tent he advertises when yahoo! holds the new front event

on the 28th, similar to so-called upfront at sales perceptions made by tv networks. yahoo! currently up .80% in frankfurt. plus twitter is rolling out so-called pinned tweets through a select group of high-profile users. match.com says the free features lets politicians and celebrities pin a tweet to the top of their news feed. it will be labeled as a promoted feed at the top of the user's profile but won't have a time limit. paying customers also have access to pipped tweets, which has been available for a year through twitter's partnership program. still to come, bitcoin's revolution. who could be the next victim? we'll find out after this. ♪

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this is "worldwide exchange." headlines from around the globe. holcim and lafarge sealing a $50 billion deal to create the world's biggest cement company. and the parent company of numeric is beating off competition with its $17 billion euro offer. but the deals haven't given money of a lift to equities.

asia is low after the nasdaq posted the worst drop on friday since february. and blackrock is shaking up their senior management ranks as it starts to work on a succession plan for the ceo larry fink. >> you're watch watching "worldwide exchange." bringing you business news from around the globe. >> if you are just tuning into cnbc this morning in north america, a very good morning to you. we did have some gapes for u.s. equities last week for the dow, nasdaq and s&p. the dow is down after a big drop on saturday of 2.6%. today futures indicate we are starting the week with a lower total. the nasdaq currently trading 14 points below fair value. the s&p is at two points below fair value. and the dow is 11 points below fair value. european equities bounced off their lows. the ftse up a third of a percent

following gapes last week of 1.2%. the central dax is down a percent. and the fste mib is off .10%. the focus is on another addition of merger monday here in europe. cement makers lafarge and holcim confirm they are seeking approval from regulators for a $50 billion merger that if successful would create the world's largest construction company. holcim is up 2% this morning. if they work this out, lafarge chief bruno will be the ceo of the company. the merger is expected to be done by 2015, but it will face significant scrutiny from regulators and there will be a number of disposals to appease them if indeed they can. now ultis has finally sealed a

deal to buy numericable up 13.87%. vivendi turns down a few offers from the french government. >> it is something they would have definitely looked at and considered, so i think unlikely. the ec is quite familiar with the cement sector, so i'm sure they are in talks straightaway to figure out what they need to get rid of. >> now, as you can see, malaysian authorities are holding the latest press conference on missing malaysian jet mh-370. we'll keep you updated on any developments from that as they

happen. it follows the weekend news that an australian ship searching for the plane picked up pings consistent with the plane's black box. search officials say it's the most positive development so far. they are continuing to look for the wreckage. the bitcoin revolution lives on, so much so that even the vice president of the fed has warned the crypto currency could hurt their banks. meanwhile, over in new york, the inside bitcoin conference will get underway later. they will work out exactly what the future is. fortunately we have our own guest to do that, jeremy bonnie at coin disc.

good to see you. what has changed? >> i think there's been a lot more investment flow into bitcoin. one of the big companies raised $17 million recently. and just jinlly it seems like the space is heating up. you've got banks like goldman sachs and ubs issues reports they will use bitcoin and more entrepreneurs are trying to launch more robust companies. >> a year ago we talked about whether the government is going to ban bitcoin, has that now changed? >> i think for a long time governments were researching bitcoin and it seemed like a lot of them were issuing guidance now. for example, the irs in the u.s. recently issued tax guidance on bitcoin, which is a huge step forward. >> clearly, we are going to need some consumer protection. i know bitcoin itself is peer to peer, but where are the points when you actually interact with it, you can't have people losing their -- maybe you can, but they

won't engage with it. >> i think you're absolutely right. i think this is part of the sort of immaturity of the bitcoin ecosystem at the moment. i think as companies get more investment and sort of grow with more entrepreneur credibility behind them, we'll see more protections for that. and then, of yours, as you say, the governments have a part to play in them. >> how do you end up regulating something like this? because it is very hard to do on a national level. >> so i think how it works is that the bitcoin tech noenology a whole is going to be difficult to regulate. but it will be easier to develop with a physical company there. >> when you transact in the real world, that's the point. >> that's right. >> you can get involved. now, we also had the coin's founders on here a few weeks

ago, do you go along with that? >> i don't know. a lot of people were interested in it as a story. me personally, i think, when the incident grew, nobody talked about it as much, i think it was easier to understand the companies we are doing. that's my perspective. it's interesting to read about, but ultimately it's the potential of the bitcoin that interests me the most. >> and the focus on bitcoin, what's the chance of another virtual currency coming up to challenge it. actually, it is not bitcoin but it's something else. there's nothing to stop you from launching all sorts of virtual currencies. >> that's true, but the coin is going to be hard to dislodge at the moment. pretty big companies are starting to accept it and use it as a payment method. so there's going to be a hard time to compete. >> thank you very much at coin desk. some of the other stories we are following, gm dealers will begin repairs on the faulty ignition switches in chevy cobalts and

more models. more than 2.3 million cars are expected to roll in for service over the next six months. this is for repair that takes roughly 35 to 40 minutes. many of the vehicles are more than ten years old and in the hands of second owners. on friday a judge in texas heard arguments on a motion to order gm to tell owners to part with cars until the repairs have been made. now, you're the owner and you need it, then you're going to do it. jm motors stock down 1.2% in frankfurt. blackrock is shaking up the senior management for larry fink. an internal memo shows the money manager is shifting ten executives into new or expanded roles. they include rob goldstein who will become chief operating officer in june replacing charlie hallock who will be co-president of blackrock.

fink and the current president will keep their current roles. and the spokes man made it clear they will be at blackrock for years to come. sec capital begins its second life today as the store changes its name to .72 kt. this is a reference to the street address in connecticut. the company will be smaller, just 9 billion in assets managing solely the money of steve cohen, family members and other employees. the firm's legal issues are far from over. later this week you'll be sentenced for your guilty plea on securities ford charges. and still to come, a square deal for jack dawson. details on the new financing package. that's next. mine was earned in korea in 1953.

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you're watching "worldwide exchange." >> and the headlines, holcim and lafarge are merging to create the world's biggest cement maker. and the winning bidder of sfr is revolved. and blackrock's ceo is looking

for a successor. other stories, new york bank regulator ben lawskey is seeking documents from credit suisse investigating if the bank lied to authorities. the justice department has been probing credit suisse since 2011. the government is considering a deferred prosecution agreement which would drop the indictment in exchange for a big fine, but "the new york times" also says it's pushing for a guilty plea from a credit suisse subsidiary. the fines reportedly expected to top the $780 million that ubs paid back in 2009. shareholders in bank of new york mellon are talking about the executive pay ahead of the fed's meeting on tuesday. the financial times reports the two leading investors say they

are disillusioned by keeping profits in check and meeting profit targets since the bank of new york merged with mellon in 2007. jared hassle has received his bonus despite lackluster results. and the bank of new york mellon stock is down 2.7% in frankfurt. and with google ventures partner kevin rose this weekend, tensions mounted in the rapid growth area sparking demonstrations including the video of a protest against a google bus in february. this reports that while he agrees with their concerns, noticed the participants recorded this on a phone and post it to youtube. twitter is rolling out

pinned tweets to a select group of high-profile users. the free features limit a group of celebrities and news anchors to pip them at the top of their news feed. it will be labeled but won't have a time limit. paying customers also have access to pinned tweets which have been available for about a year through twitter's ship program. and jack dorsey is also in the news today for his tech adventure. hampton pearson is joining us with the details. good morning, hampton. >> how are you doing, ross? i almost feel like this is the perfect follow onto your discussion in the last section about bitcoin. we're going to be talking about square. the mobile payment company that makes credit card readers that plug into a smartphone or tablet. cnbc has learned that square has secured a new resolving credit line reporting in the hundreds of millions of dollars. the deal when was the eighth this weekend was led by goldman

sachs, morgan stanley, jpmorgan and barclays. wall street has really taken a big interest in square since it was found by jack dorsey back in 2009. the former gull van cfo, david recently work for government. while square isn't profitable, it has raised more than 340 million from investors including sequoia capital and visa. the financial times that drop box is lined up. half a million dollars in financing following a 350 million bid earlier this year. provides dropbox to free stories using the ftc. the money goes partly to building the instruct as it expands its global operation. now these large fund-raisers have allowed high-tech companies

like ware and and dropbox to put off ipos before i say square isn't ready. unlike the drop box is ready to move forward until next year. pretty amazing across the board, ross. >> unbelievable. hampton, thank you for that. >> you got it. time when htc posted a wider than expected loss of the first quarter. the firm hit by a slow down in sales. htc posted more than 60 million loss in the january to march period. meanwhile, movie aud yechbss marvelled at "captain america" this weekend with an estimated 96.2 million dollars. the best opening for a film in april and one of the highest outside of the traditionally lucrative summit or holiday seasons. the sequel known as captain america and samuel l. jackson has received pretty good review.

they also took in $157 million in overseas market including $39 million in china. and one of the legendary actors mickey rooney has died at the age of 93. his career spanned more than 18 years from silent films to tell vision and broadway theater. he started as a toddler and his parents broke into movies before he was taken. rooney, he was married eight times including once to adam garna. it will be a few moments before futures point to another lower open. we'll look at what you need to watch for the u.s. trading day ahead, coming up in just a moment.

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the new french finance minister says he's sticking to the commitments and higher economic growth will lead the way out of the crisis. and he says we do intend to introduce a financial transaction tax. he doesn't say whether there's just a french measure or he'll introduce that on a eurozone or eu-wide level. european equities, meanwhile, are down this morning at the beginning of trade for the week. the dax is down a percent. the ftse is down .42%. on the agenda in the united states, the president james

bullard and chicago fed president charles evans will speak later today. and the consumer credit report will be happening at 3:00. and hid of where we stand, the u.s. futures are indicating a lower start. the dow currently trading some 17 points below fair value at the moment. this was after being up .60% last week. the s&p at the moment is running 3 points below value after being up .40%. and the nasdaq, currently lower by 17 points. the nasdaq down 2.6% on friday. the worst percentage loss since february. joining us with his thoughts, ben, president at traders audio.com. ben, very good morning to you. hope you had a good weekend. how are we set for the start of

trade this week? >> well, a bit lower ahead of the open here right now, which is a little concerning mostly again as you mentioned considering the magnitude of the sell-off, if you will, closing out the week last week. but again, continuation of the downside activity. the s&p is a major concern that they have been able to trade below the lows from friday. so not only are we rejected the lower levels yet, but we are continuing to slide. and again, as i mentioned, just the size of a sell-off, you saw 135 handles worth of range in the s&ps on friday, or in the nasdaq. the s&ps had 37 handles worth of rain, so these are heightened levels, if you will, but still no major decline below any major areas of support. and if you look at this market, clearly the trend is to the upside. you know, i mean, really, what it comes down to and what i saw is that headed into the market open on friday, and late in the

week the market s&ps were posed for all-time highs. the market doesn't trade at utter extremes for very long, so while it was not necessarily certain if it would go higher or lower, with the nonfarm payroll scheduled for release and the area structurally where the market was sitting going into the number, again, i think it was a given we were going to see a big day on friday. and that's basically what developed. so, for the most part, the dollar is still sideways. gold you still have to show any major sign of anything. you know, fear factorwise to be concerned, as with the case of involuntary involuntarily. still holding above key levels of support. >> because the s&p touched another lifetime high in the middle of the session on friday. that was three days last week where they did that. the dow hit another intraday record high as well. so we have to kind of remind

ourselves where we are at at the moment. >> well, yes, that was encouraging, but the major concern right now is just that the russell seems to be lagging a bit. somewhat convergent. without them participating in the all-time highs, and as far as i know, it's the russell and the dow lagging a bit. without the two majors participating, the run-up will be limited in energy and participation. so the divergence resolved itself down to the downside. >> you mentioned the dollar. we seem to have overtrimming of bullish positions, although it was kind of within the range do. you think there was a sense that people were hoping for something more, needed something more to continue dollar games? well, i think the dollar last week was kind of getting it from both ends, if you will. we have the ecb information coming out. you have seen the euro carts a

couple weeks ago, back to the 137 level as of recent, but very little in terms of any initiative-type activity in terms of dollar activity as of recent. >> yeah, meanwhile, we just keep our eyes on bond yields. then are we still very much in the range? i wonder if that's going to change any time soon. >> well, if you look at the dollar activity, you would have to say no for the most part. dollar sideways action, but one thing we are noticing in the bonds is the key up verse coalition associated with the ek we 'tis and stock, for example, when the s&p sell thisoff. then you see a big coming into the market in the bonds, and that's been a bit of a tale the last couple of days. again, for example, bonds hanging out on high prince while the nasdaq is trying to resolve

divergent activity on the intraday basis or just trying to get some conventional conviction. and the tell being the bonds in reverse correlation. so the bonds and i have a lot of strong conventional position. it's certainly something to keep an eye on. >> good to see you. thank you for that, ben, have a great week. >> my pleasure. thank you very much. we just have news out from numer numeric. they are looking to find sfr from vivendi. bouygues was also bidding for vivendi down 6%, but that was the bid backed by the french government. and that's it for today's edition of "worldwide exchange." coming up next, "squawk box."

we hope you have a profitable day. good-bye.

good morning. and welcome to "squawk box." a fresh week for the markets after friday's sell-off. investors gear up for the kickoff of earnings season. and some merger monday news. a megaday deal in the cement business. plus, a big acquisition in phrma. and a countdown to who is going to take home the ncaa championship. the long road to the tournament ends tonight with uconn versus kentucky. it is monday, april 7, 2014. and "squawk box" begins right now. >> good morning, and welcome to"

squawk box." i'm andrew ross sorkin and michelle caruso cabrera is in for us with becky quick out, we hope she's back with us soon. and billionaire real estate investor same zell, barry sternlight is joining us, and then bill miller. plus big news to move the markets. and michelle has more on that. good morning, michelle. following friday's employment report, the focus will shift from jobs to profits. the financial sector is going to kickoff the earnings season later this week. both jpmorgan and wells fargo scheduled to report on friday. profits for the s&p 500 companies are expected to rise by 1.2% in the first quarter. ahead of that, the fed will put out the minutes to the march meeting on wednesday. the markets will look for more clues on what the central bank could be thinking about the future of interest rates and the bond-buying program known as quantitative easing. let's check out the futures, are