welcome to "worldwide exchange." i'm julia chatterley. and these are your headlines from around the world. the changing tone from the french president as francois hollande says the offer for alstom has improved after spending the morning with ge ceo jeff immelt. it prepares to defend its bid for drug giant allergan. under investigation, the uk opens a formal criminal probe into gsk. as the drugmaker faces claims of bribery an corruption in countries from china to poland.

and in an exclusive interview with nbc, one of the world's most famous whistle blowers, edward snowden said he was trained as a spy and was not just a low-level analyst. you're watching "worldwide exchange," bringing you business news from around the globe. good morning. welcome again to "worldwide exchange." let's get straight on with some of today's top stories. general electric's latest offer for alstom has been, quote, improved with notable changes on the company's commitment to job. the comments were made after a morning meeting between hollande and jeff immelt this morning. stephan is in paris. given these latest noises, who's most likely to do the deal here do you think? >> for the time being there's no affirmed formal offer from

siemens so ge is alone in terms of a formal offer. we know the original bid has been improved, especially on jobs. there's no details on precisely what general electric is offering for alstom. yesterday, speaking to the parliament, jeff immet says the group would make increased commitment about jobs in france. we're not talking about creating more jobs in france, that's for sure. ge was also expected to announce a tie-up with alstom in rail signaling giving, in practical terms, control of that unit to the french company, alstom. that could seduce the french economy minister who was very cautious on the industry strategy. we're waiting for more details. but it's not confirmed that ge

improved its original bid. on the side of siemens, chairman of siemens france said yesterday through a committee of the french parliament, that the company would make formal offer on the 16th of june at the latest. and he confirmed that it would propose an asset swap in order to create two european champions, one in rail with alstom and one in energy, in power with siemens. but that's all we know for now. we don't know what would be the strategy of siemens in terms of job creation. the latest is that ge improved the offer in order to get the blessing from the french government and from what we knew, that's definitely a good step in order to get the approval from the government. as we know, that's the job protection in france was the top priority for the french government. i propose we can perhaps listen to what jeff immelt, the ceo of

general electric, said to the french lawmakers yesterday evening. >> alstom will not disappear. through our industrial project, france will have more jobs in the global power business than you do today. you will have more decisionmaking with four headquarters. there will be more r & d in france than today with broader technology. you will have more global impact to a larger sales presence. alstom will not be absorbed by ge. >> so that was yesterday, before the meeting with a french president, francois hollandee. >> i can't help thinking given hollande lack of popular support that the idea of selling off some of the country's crown jewels probably will not be the best plan right now. what has public sentiment been regarding the idea of this at least? >> well, at the beginning there

was a third option which was a control of alstom by the french government, some sort of nationalization. first of all it would be extremely difficult to implement. we need to find money and also get the actual one from brussels. this has has been dropped by the french economic minister. two options remain on the table. one is general electric. the other one is siemens with an offer expected in the next couple of weeks. and from what we heard this morning, ge has made a huge step towards the french government, not only its offering to protect jobs in france but it's offering to create jobs in france and given the level of unemployment in this country, that's something that will certainly seduce the french government, julia. >> the frenchmen get seduced in the comments there. thanks, stephan. >> let's say convince.

that was a bad translation from french. >> i like seduce. >> i can't see jeff immelt trying to seduce francois hollande. >> no comment. i think i'm blushing as well. the swiss consumer giant hopes will strengthen its skin health division. valiant has a $47 billion bid on the table for rival allergan. let's talk about nestle first. they're trying to move towards well nice, higher margin products. >> they're trying to get under your skin, julia. >> nice. >> there you go. >> let's talk about the strategic sense of this deal. it does make a lot of sense according to a couple analysts quoted on the wires this morning. as you pointed out, they've been making this month into the

aesthetic dermatology business. brand sales in north america are around $250 million. it is a sizable business. the more interesting point, probably is, why is valiant doing this? allergan amounted quite a good defense last night we spoke to an analyst on the show this morning. he said this is all about clearing the desk for that deal because they want to get some of the competition issues out of the way. today we're expecting an improved offer from valaent from allergan. some analysts say don't expect too much from that offer. it's not going to improve dramatically in terms of the cash component. >> i launch a defense of the deal as well.

allergan were criticizing business strategies, they're not of the kind of scale they need to see. >> yes. >> interesting. we'll be watching out for that. carolyn, thank you so much for your insight. we were taking valeant pharmacies making a staunch defense likely today of the push back they got from allergan yesterday. let's take a quick look right now at some of the european markets. the u.s. stock 600 right now, pretty even between gainers and losers. down right now by 0.2%. let's have a look at the key movers as far as the markets are concerned this morning. you can see originally we have the ftse 100, the xetra dax and the cac current all losing ground, around 10%. we did see gains in the market on monday and tuesday for the european core ined seize. the ftse may be lose a bit of ground yesterday. also gaining slightly in today's

session so far. let's have a look at the top stocks as well. on the downside, sbm offshore, one of the worst performers on the european market. they're losing 7.5%, this after the dutch oil platform revealed it is seeking clarification about whether it's been excluded from brazil's offshore tender process. moving on, actually on the topside, telecom italia gaining just shy of 4%. investors dialing into telecom italia. nice. after goldman sachs raised its price target for the stock to 1.50, that up from 95 cents. there's a buy rating on the telecom provider. broadly flat on the year, the dutch retailer and parent company of stop and shop and giant foods said results were m impacted by lower margins in the

u.s. >> our outlook in the second quarter, it will also be impacted by our investments in our customer proposition for future growth as we know. that's one of the things we also said this morning, that the u.s., mainly in the u.s., the margin will be slightly lower in the first quarter, reflecting investments in customer propositions and growth. also, that's -- the commodity prices in the u.s. were quite high in the first quarter and i'm looking then clearly on this. we had a bit difficulty passing through to our customers. >> shares in hugo boss sliding after shareholder premiere said it will place a 5.6% stake in the german fashion house up for sale. even after the sale, it will still hold around 50%. so a little bit of weakness right now this morning on the

european markets. not necessarily taking their cue from the asian markets. sri is in singapore. i can see a sea of green behind you. >> yes. risk appetite seems to be kicking out here, julia. we are seeing some strength nonetheless thanks to the strong offshore lead. the markets over there liked the data, didn't they? let's talk about the shanghai market. the gains are building here. we got industrial profitability numbers. they were around 10% expansion is what we saw in april. that hints at some stabilization in the economic picture. the market is still banking on some further stimulus measures from the authorities in mainland china, just to keep the economy on an even keel. let's talk about the bangkok market. we're seeing a post coup high here on the set.

the market probably likes the fact that the military council are getting down to the brass tacts of economic management. they are paying the rice farmers as well. despite the fact that we saw dismal numbers in terms of manufacturing and the trade position swinging to the deficit to the tune of 1.5 u.s. billion dollars. taylor swift canceled her concert in bangkok as well. the sensex, we have been seeing profit taking. the next big event will have modi and his team strike a position on the budget. it's going to be one of fiscal discipline and consolidation albeit with a smattering of targeted spending, especially on infrastructure. we'll wait and see. back to you now.

>> we'll catch up with you later on in the show. i'm joined by kit dukes, head of global foreign exchange strategy at societe generale. we do see the dollar at an eight-week high. i know what you're going to say. >> i don't know what i'm going to say usually. the u.s. data is steady for want of an expression. we can't call it a recovery because it's a full-grown cycle and it's been going on for a long time. it's failed to kick on to the kind of old normal growth people would like to see. the u.s. economy trundles along at 2 point something percent growth. and yet the fed, very clearly is sending us signals that they intend to be as dovish as possible for as long as possible any way. >> where does the mweh fit with the index? >> it's eight-week highs because

the biggest part of the dollar index is the euro which deserves to be at 5,000-week lows, on the back of the news that we're getting. that's what's driving it. the dollar is at nothing like eight-week highs against a range of emerging market currencies, particularly. they've all been recovering steady as u.s. treasury yields have been drifting lower and the equity market drifting up. >> you think the euro has downside, irrespective of what's leading the dollar index string sj now or not the time to get back into the dollar? >> i think it will be bumpy. what we're looking for is to sell by the dollar. i would like to be buying the dollar more broadly within six months of their first rate hike as opposed to selling the euro within two weeks of their next rate cut. >> talking on euro downside, we've moved four big figures lower in recent weeks. citi coming out this morning saying the good news as far as easing is concerned is in the price here. is there a risk that draghi

disappoints and we see a spike higher? >> when i get back to my office i'll look at those money supply numbers pretty closely for how awful they were. there is no feed-through in terms of rates. they need to do something about it. the last two rate cuts the euro did trough, before, at or soon after the event itself. so the driver of euro/dollar is still 70% fed policy, 30% anything that happens in europe. unless draghi can come up with something that's much more like abeonomics. get politicians on the side to do something to the weakened currency. i expect i'll still be finding euro/dollar at 1.35, 1.38 in september. then i am going to be keen to sell it. >> the blip we've seen in terms of more strength, a reason to sell? >> not much of a blip. for the rest of this week what you would observe is yesterday

we had every reason for the euro to rally. >> how do we make money this week? >> it goes down. sell it. i sell it against a bunch of things, not the dollar. norway, turkey, pound. >> you're staying with us. coming up on today's show, up off the rebound. bids are lining up for the l.a. clippers basketball team after the former owner donald sterling is forced to give up the company. phone out who's ready to play ball. bring out the bling meanwhile, luxury retailer michael kors posts fourth quarter earnings. will the company stock still be in style for investors? we get the analyst view later. did you see my voice pick up with fashion versus football? i couldn't help myself. and we head to thailand where the army continues to tighten its grip on the can't after imposing a night time curfew. we'll be live with the latest in bangkok. stay with us.

you're watching "worldwide exchange." let's get you up to date with some of today's tech news. intel has entered a tie-up with rockchip to create chips for use in entry level tablets.

under its rare collaboration, both companies will be jointly developing and selling the product. the partnership does not include any investment between the two companies. intel says the chips produced under the new tie-up will be available in the first half of 2015. nadella says the future depends on the company's ability to build, not buy the next big thing in what he calls the post-pc era. he says microsoft is not interested in spinning off xbox or selling bing to yahoo!. i think he said the post post-pc era. we'll correct that. nadella says the task now is to turn skype into a real product, promising it will launch by the end of the year. let's take a quick look at

microsoft. as you can see, higher by around 0.5% in trading today, this year up just shy of 10%. google co-founder and ceo says the company is building a self-driving car without brakes or a steering wheel. google uploaded this demo video to youtube. speaking at the conference, he says the vehicles will be on the street this year, one of products being developed by google x. those include balloon powered internet service and google glass. you can see more coverage from the re/code code conference all day today and thursday right here on cnbc. our colleagues state side will have full coverage of that. we'll be speaking to the ceos of twitter, blackberry and linked in, just to name a few. thailand swung to a trade deficit of $1.8 billion in april.

that follows almost a $1.5 billion surplus in march. the surprising drop is not due to the country's political unrest, however, it failed to offer an alternative reason for the decline. now, joining us is mary chalviker. she's investment strategy at may bank securities. talk to me about the economy right now. it looks like we're on the verge of recession. we had morgan stanley saying we're not going to see a new election for 12 months. the deterioration in the economy right now looks set to continue as far as i can see. what are your thoughts? >> i think that the worst is over in the first quarter, that gdp contracts 5 s 0.6%. and after they start to take over the situation last week and back to solving the problem and issuing the stimulus package to gain confidence from the thai

people. weakened demand starting on the last mandate. i think this is a key issue that domestic consumption will start to grow again next month. and we are waiting for the year 2015. they will report within this week. so this is the process from the governme government, to the local and working team to try to stimulate the economy. and gain confidence from the local and foreign investor. >> is the message that military

rule in the country will draw a line into the uncertainty and political instability or that will only come when we get the next election? i don't see where the military rule is the answer here. i appreciate the country understands this and we've seen numerous coups but the economy was in a far worse state coming into this. >> yes. this is the key issue that the foreign investor might be confused and concerned about. i think that ncpo will set up the new government to take care of the situation, the thai economy for 12 months from now. i think that the ncpo is working on this issue. so i think that the foreign investor will --

>> thank you so much for your insight. maryree chowvikran, thank you. >> for the international investor, the first question is can they get to a stable democratic background again in 12, 16 months? that will hang over us and hold us back. the second is we're in a very, very emerging market asset friendly world with fed policy and economic recovery. being what they are at the moment. when i look at asia, thailand is not the one that leaps out as, i'm going to put my money there. there are better stories in the philippines and malaysia and in thailand. >> i wonder if that's the reason

we haven't seen the 30-day chart that we were showing of the equity market in thailand? international investors weren't involved in this market. if you look at the philippines, vietnam, these are countries that will see growth above 5% this year. why would you be in thailand? >> again, it's not really been beaten up. it's not cheap enough to entice. i think it will be there at some point because we'll get an economic bounce. we'll have at least one eye on what happens next. >> where else, if we have to look more broadly in emerging markets, i hate the phrase now because we have to differentiate quickly, where would you be buying in terms of currency? >> i still like turkey. even though they'll be cutting interest rates. valuation is still attractive. mexico is the perennial cheapened and undergrowing currency. but as long as the s&p is going higher, i think i'm still going to stick with that. it may be more that that obviously was the first to come

back. philippines i still like. >> you said of the s&p, do you expect to continue to rally? >> i think it's dangerous. way that the fed is unwinding the interest rate adjustment that happened with tapering is putting air back into bubbles. while they drop rates down here, ten-year yields at 2.5% while they're buying bonds every day, we'll go on. >> very quickly, glaxo smithkline to be probed over bro bribery related charges. can the giant shake off the allegations? stay tuned. we'll be discussing.

you're watching "worldwide exchange," bringing you business news from around the globe. welcome back to "worldwide exchange." here are your headlines. the change in tone from the french president. as francois hollande says ge's offer for alstom has improved, sending shares to the top of the cac current. valeant pharmaceuticals sells part of its skin care business to nestle-to-1.5 billion. under investigation, the uk opens a formal criminal probe into gsk as the drug giant meets

charges of bribery and corruption. in an exclusive interview with nbc, one of the world's most famous whistle blowers, edward snowden says he was trained as a spy and not just a low-level analyst. let's give you a look at the european markets this morning. relatively unchanged across the board as you can see for the ftse 100 and the german markets in particular. the ftse mib gaining a bit of ground. it lost similar yesterday but was adding to that 3.6% gain we saw on monday at the back of the eu, election result of course. quick check on the foreign exchange. the big figure move in recent weeks, a number of analysts saying is all the good news in the price here and what's going to happen when draghi makes his

announcement, if he makes his announcement, next week will the euro bounce? dollar/yen sitting at 102.14 that we set on tuesday. now, general electric's latest offer for alstom has been, quote, improved with notable changes on the company's commitment to jobs. this according to the french president's office. the comments were made after a morning meeting between hollande and ge's ceo jeff immelt in paris this morning. siemens is also preparing to table an official bid for alstom. ahead of that, germany's cartel office says that any siemens and alstom tie-up would face eu scrutiny. let's take a look at the share price, moves up. alstom higher by around 1.5%. ge slight underperformance relatively up around 10% but outperforming the german market and siemens absolutely unchanged. valiant pharmaceuticals is making an investor presentation in new york at 8:00 a.m.

eastern, where the company is expected to raise its bid for allergan. earlier this month, they rejected the $46 billion cash and stock offer. on tuesday, the company attacked valeant questioning the viability of its organic revenue growth. separately, valeant is selling the rights to five products to nestle for $1.4 billion, a deal it says is not contingent on an allergan transaction. quick check now on nestle. relatively unchanged in trading today, too. we mentioned gsk earlier. the fraud office is open to criminal inquiry into glaxo smithkline. no details right now have been released about the investigation. gsk was recently accused of massive and systemic bribery in china. the drug company also faced allegations of wrongdoing in poland and iraq. katherine boyle is with me now with more.

not unexpected. we said the allegations that were made in china actually opened up the door for an investigation here in the uk, too. >> well, of course. what gsk watchers will be looking out for is whether it also left themselves open to accusations in the united states as well. because, of course, they've got operations there and the u.s. doesn't look too kindly on these actions if they're proven to be true, of course, as well as the uk. of course the sfo has opened this investigation. we don't know who will be enter viewed yet. usually when this kind of comes down to it, a lot will settle on just how much management will know. you might see board members being hauled in. of course gsk management has been really stringent so far in saying they had no idea about this kind of thing, no idea it was going on. it was a rogue executive. mark in china setting up things, practices that weren't endorsed by the broader company. if it can be proven there were

executives that turned a blind eye to what was going on, the company could be in serious trouble. let's not forget, this is not the first time their sales practices have come under scrutiny. there's a pharma industry wide allegations during the 1909s and early 2000s in the u.s. over not dissimilar practices and gsk was one of the companies most heavily penalized for that. >> any idea how long this probe will take? >> it depends how much evidence they come across. sometimes these things can take four or five years, for example, what we saw with the bae investigation, that was nearly a decade worth. >> it is interesting to defend gsk, they came out and said this is not a systemic issue for the km last year they had 48 dismissals and 113 written warnings. just in one year. i just draw a comparison with some of the banks and the bad feedback and press they got as far as allegations of wrong doing are concerned.

yet for the pharmaceuticals -- [ talking at once ] >> i think it's good, it's fair that questions are being asked. any thoughts on this? >> the key point in terms of the ire of the population is they don't own these companies. i think this is something that more and more demanding. if you want to keep big companies in touch with normal people and politically i think there will be pressure to do that. >> particularly in an industry that deals with health. i mean, we criticize in terms of social cost for the banks. i'm using that example again. this is also a company that's responsible for health, which is also something that's crucial. katherine, fantastic to chat with you. thank you for your insight on this.

now, jean claude's bid may be a reality. francois hollande raised his call for reform after the far right emerged victorious in this weekend's vote. >> translator: it's not a matter of changing the treaty. it's the practice that needs a change. it's simplification that's called for. it needs to re-organize its working methods and approach. i want that and everybody wants that. >> former prime minister of luxe luxemburg seemed like a sure bet. last night angela merkel declared more candidates should be considered in what seemed like a concession to other european leaders. >> translator: all 28 of us can be in agreement or the eurozone

members, too, that we need growth. but how we generate growth, there are indeed differences of opinion. >> joining us now is the managing director at teneo intelligence. also with us, kit dukes. it's not an easy job choosing the next president, particularly given david cameron's reserves in the role. >> it's always complicated, more this time because of the outcome of the election. it's not just the uk. we need to look at the wider picture. it's not just the appointment of the commission. it's all the other appointments, the president of the european parliament, the next president of the european council. so, again, we need to look at the wider picture. that is why it requires a grand bargain that would require some time. >> you question at least whether or not this will be a catalyst for change or whether or not

they'll rely on mario draghi. perhaps this is one way they can signal two people in europe that actually they'll not go for someone that's considered old guard. >> change would be good. europe's economic recovery has been, you know, a question of politicians handing everything over to mario draghi, saying that's a one arrow policy, you're in charge. we'll do not a lot. anything that changes that is fantastic. i'd have to say, you know, it's still the same basic groupings in the eu parliament. i'm hopeful, rather than in any way, shape or form optimistic that this will lead to much. we'll wait and see. >> the problem is it will also take a lot longer. you also wrote last night about italy and the real focus of the elections has become the success of renzi in terms of his vote. can i ask you about the weak performance of the new center right within his coalition. >> right. >> and also the force retalia

party. i question whether he will find it harder. these other parties need to fight for their right to be there. >> the other parties will try to slow down the process. they have not done well in the european parliament election. they done the have incentive to go for significant change of the system. it could make their life even more difficult. renzi now has phenomenal update. he's not just won 41% of the vote. clearly the public has got to look for change. and renzi can make a simple threat. we go to an early election. we'll see what comes out of that. renzi he has leverage, again, it is a divided parliament. it will take time here to do these institutional changes. >> he's not going to take it to an early election if he hasn't

have electoral reform first. >> that is why he came out yesterday and suggested he would like to see the electoral done before the summer. >> thoughts on italy here? what's your takeaway. >> he was the big winner. the underperformance of the italian bond market relevantive to to spain for a long time now. it may well be over. it's the standout. there's a hope that electoral reform will bring genuine progress in italy towards turning the corner for the long-term economic outlook. time, there isn't much time. please hurry. >> for the uk and david cameron in particular, what was the quote, too busy, too interfering. is this a way, perhaps for him to go there and say this is the situation back at home? i need to turn that message around in the next year's time. do you think he'll see angela merkel be receptive as far as change is concerned? >> i fear not.

in the sense that the credibility of the uk as a reliable partner in brussels has significantly suffered over the last few years. the idea of using everything else, like the pols, the czech' and so an so on. will he find a friendly audience in brussels? no doubt. >> no change there, then. i'm used to that one when i'm in brussels. >> against the euro, sure. i think that the pound can continue to eke out gains relative to the euro from here on, simply on economic outperformance. i don't disagree with the fact that the best way for cameron to get his way in europe is to keep quiet and let the others move his way without talking to him. >> i have to wait and see whether he actually manages to achieve that. kit, thank you so much. kit dukes, global head of foreign exchange strategy at socgen.

thank you so much, guys. some of the other top stories we are watching. politicians in london are being accused of misleading the public over the cost of setting up an independent government in scotland. professor patrick dunleavy says the treasury misused his figures to make the cost of setting up an independent scottish government ten times higher than it's likely to be. he told cnbc $2.7 billion of the cost was radically overstated. bank of england mark carnie spoke out against bankers yesterday, saying they should think less about personal gain and more about the health of the economy. he says misdeeds risk undermining the support for free markets. he added that solving the problem of banks that are too big to fail is still the most pressing issue tore him toing tole, saying this is a year -- this is the year to complete that job. rbs is set to scale back its operations in the united states,

according to reports. in an internal memo revealed that the uk bank will cut its mortgage trading business based in connecticut by two-thirds. jobs are expected to go over the next two years. the move preempts new regulation from the federal reserve. now, former goldman sachs trader fabrice torres says he won't appeal an s.e.c. order to pay more than $825,000. after a jury found him liable for defrauding investors in a failed mortgage deal. the s.e.c. accused him of hiding the fact that hedge fund company was involved in putting the deal together and was shorting it. in a statement, he said while his lawyers told him he could appeal, he prefers to move on with his life and finishing his ph.d. in economics. interesting. moving on, japan's major semiconductormaker decided to sell its subsidiary.

we go live to the nikkei for the story. >> the subsidiary holds a 30% global market share in a core component for smartphones that controls the picture quality of the smartphone, displays as well as response speed. a component that's used in all iphones, initially was in discussion with apple to sell its entire 55% stake. the deal apparently didn't go through as the iphonemaker was outbid by $500 million. it's likely to move forward with the deal and an disagreement could be reached by spine this summer. one twist is in the story is the semiconductor company decided not to sell its unit to apple citing difficulty with supplying its rivals.

if the relationship with the tech join the sauers, the deal itself may hit a snag. that's all from nikkei business report. back to you. >> thanks very much. now still to come on the show, feeling the heat, we're joined by an author of a new report that claims both small and midcap firms and advisers think current ipo values are overheated. ♪ here's a good one seattle... what did geico say the mariner? we could save you a boatload! ♪ foghorn sounds loudly ♪ what's seattle's favorite noise? the puget sound! ♪ foghorn sounds loudly ♪ all right, never mind doesn't matter. this is a classic. what does an alien seamstress sew with? a space needle! ♪ foghorn sounds loudly continuously ♪ oh come off it captain! geico. fifteen minutes could save you fifteen percent or more on car insuranc

you're watching "worldwide exchange." welcome back to the show. nbc's brian williams spoke exclusively to edward snowden in his first interview with an american tv station. the whistle-blower told brian how he worked as a spy at all levels. >> well be it's no secret that the u.s. tends to get more and better intelligence out of computers nowadays than they do out of people. i was trained as a spy in sort of the traditional sense of the word in that i lived and worked under cover overseas, pretending to work in a job that i'm not and even being assigned a name that was not mine. but i am a technical specialist. i am a technical expert. i don't work with people. i don't recruit agents.

what i do is i put systems to work for the united states. and i've done that at all levels from the bottom on the ground all the way to the top. now, the government might deny these things, might frame it in certain ways and say he's a low-level analyst. but what they're trying to do is they're trying to use one position that i've had in a career here or there to distract from the totality of my experience, which is that i've worked for the central intelligence agency, under cover, overseas. i've worked for the national security agency under cover, overseas. and i worked for the defense intelligence agency as a lecturer at the joint counterintelligence training academy where i developed sources and methods for keeping our people and information secure in the most hostile and dangerous environments around the world. when they say i'm a low-level systems administrator, that i don't know what i'm talking about, i'd say it's somewhat misleading. >> russia is not in the business

of extraditing those who stand up for human rights. that was putin's view on edward snowden when he told cutmore last week. >> he turned out on our territory because of unprofessional actions of americans themselves who tried to catch him. i used to work for special services. why should -- why did they scare the entire world? they downed planes with presidents on board and the plane with snowden on board they could down anywhere. he arrives in our transit zone and then it turned out that nobody's going to accept him. that's the problem. >> the extended interview with edward snowden will air at 10:00 p.m. eastern on wednesday at nbc news. moving on, small and midcap firms in the uk are concerned that the country's ipo market could be entering bubble territory with a majority of them believing current

valuations are overpriced. that's the verdict of a new survey of market sentiment which has found 54% of smaller firms are concerned about overheated valuations, a fear in fact matched by companies advisers. however, the two then split in their tepgs of what those high evaluations mean for access for these companies after they list. 81% of advisers think the ipo market uptick will help them secure secondary finance but 44% of companies right now agree. scott knight partner at bdo joins me now on set. scott, good morning. >> good morning. >> the key concern right now in the marketplace is in a number of ipos, struggle the likes of sage earlier. he's being more selective about the ip 0. deals that they look at. that kind of fits with their view right now of their report that companies are concerned about valuations. >> i think companies look at the relative values.

as one chairman said to me, only yesterday, i would love my company to be valued using the same valuation models sas a recent ipo. and i think increasingly, since the survey was out in the market, we have seen sentiments. >> there's also the point that we made there, this gap that's opening up between the sentiment of the companies right now and the sentiment of those advising them on the ipos which i guess we shouldn't be surprised about. it's quite a huge gap. >> as you say, we shouldn't be surprised. the advisor community, including my own firm, we need an ipo market for the fees they generate. the companies, however, are more concerned about the crowding out effect, the attractiveness of new ipos, taking money away from the secondary market that they rely upon as the engine for growth. >> if you have advisers, they're going to be fine, this ipo will work. you'll be able to get finance afterwards. is there a meet in the middle

situation here? do you think companies are actually being too cautious right now and actually advisers are being overestimating the success of companies? and actually will meet in the middle? right now the companies seem to be getting it right as far as investors concerns about ipos right now. >> absolutely. i think the companies have a longer term agenda. they look for the next few years. the adviser community moves from one deal to the next. and so the adviser community will always be more bullish about the ipo market. i think it's the relative values of those companies already on the market, compared to the new entrants that are shiny and new and full of interest. >> you're also looking at their hiring intentions from the companies saying they're not getting overbullish about potential prospects, be it ipos, be it financing after they've done that. that's the key here, too, isn't it? >> yes. it's quite a high growth sector. the ftse 250 kicks in at around 500,000 pounds now.

these are quite large companies and have quite high growth prospects. but they are relatively cautious about the future. >> so let's jump back three months. what would this report have told me three months ago when everybody was getting incredibly excited about the ipo market, the return of ipos, the m&a that we're seeing right now? what's the story there? >> i think since the survey has been out in the market, the sentiment is definitely softened. i think the advisers, if we were running this today, the gap between the advisers and the companies would be shorter. >> so you're leading? >> i think so. >> okay. and so what other trends should we be looking for, do you think, as far as the ipo mark set concerned? concerned about valuation, we're seeing that in the markets right now. if you are leading what's next? >> i think the concerns that a lot of companies look at is if there is a bubble and there is a re-adjustment of valuations, then it will impact on

everybody, not just the new ipo companies. >> how did this report come out? >> quart ily. >> another three months. >> all of the public companies pretty much outside the ftse 250. >> brilliant. we shall wait and see what they're saying in three months time. great to talk to you. scott knight, partner at bdo. now, sizzle up some bacon and before long, people will flock to the kitchen to befriend you. what is that that makes the smell of sizzling pork so mouth watering? scientists at the american chemical society decided to find out and claim we were able to pinpoint answer. apparently it's all to do with the blend of sugar and amino acids in the bacon mix. did we have to show pictures of live pigs there? i think back to the "babe" movie. focus. is bacon the best aroma out there? that's what we're asking today. perhaps there's something -- stop showing those pictures.

it's terrible. i'm getting distracted. join the conversation here on "worldwide exchange," tell us your all-time favorite smell. by e-mail worldwide@cnbc.com, by twitter @cnbcwex o or @jchatterley.

welcome to "worldwide exchange." i'm julia chatterley. in an exclusive interview with nbc, one of the world's most famous whistle blowers, edward snowden, said he was trained as a spy and was not just a low-level analyst. under investigation, the uk opens a formal criminal probe into gsk as the drugmaker faces claims of bribery and corruption in countries from china to poland.

and the change in tone from the french president as francois hollande says ge's offer for alstom has improved, sending shares to the top of the french markets. you're watching "worldwide exchange," bringing you business news from around the globe. the full-year results report, 2014 and of course the six-month results, too, we're seeing q2 coming out at 26 cents per share, the eps. i think 27 actually was the expectation. that's the numbers for second quarter net earnings, $65.2 million versus net 24.7. they are re-affirming their previous guidance that they were

delivering between 5,100 and 5,850 homes, that's in the full year for 2014. actually i'm just seeing now the eps, apologies, i read out what the forecast was which was 26 cents to 27 cents per share. we're getting the second quarter eps out at 35 cents a share, much better than we were expecting. that of course for the second quarter. also saying on a quarterly basis the net signed contracts of $1.2 billion. and 1,749 units. that was a 7% rise. that of course, toll brothers earnings. general electric's latest offer for alstom has been, quote, improved with notable changes on the company's commitment to jobs. this according to the french president's office, the comments were made after a morning meeting between hollande and ge's ceo jeff immelt in paris this morning. the newspaper "lemond" says ge

promised to hire a thousand in france. ge saying they were open to a possible alliance with the french government on this. what would that alliance look like, do you think? >> we don't have any information about that alliance yet. what we are able to confirm at cnbc at this stage is the number of job creation, as they promised the french president francois hollande, to create 1,000 jobs in the country in case it managed to buy the power you need for alstom. that's the confirmation. that's according to a source close to the negotiations. general electric is also widely expected to improve the conditions of the bid, not the value. and we are expecting ge to offer a tie-up with alstom in the rail signaling business, which in practical terms would give alstom the control of that business. that also would probably convince the french authorities to give their blessing, its

blessing to the deal. in the meantime, zeemesiemens a getting ready to make an offer on alstom, but not until the 16th of june at the latest. that's what the chairman of siemens told the french lawmakers, confirming that the company would propose an asset swap to create two divisions. jeff immelt for the u.s. company made a significant step forward in order to get the support, blessing of the french government for that operation. remember, that at the beginning francois hollande and the economic minister were not very keen to give general electric their support, clearly. he expressed his opposition to the deal and said that ge had to review its original offer. it's now a done deal. we don't have so much information about the job

creation but if you look at what jeff immelt's -- if you listen to what jeff immelt told the french lawmakers yesterday, you might have an indication about what's coming next. >> alstom will not disappear. through our industrial project, france will have more jobs in the global power business than you do today. you will have more decisionmaking with four headquarters. there will be more r & d in france than today with broader technology. you will have more global impact through a larger sales presence. alstom will not be absorbed by ge. >> so julia, we are able to confirm at cnbc that general electric wants to create 1,000 jobs in france in case it managed to buy the power unit of alstom. it's not official but we are also expecting ge to offer, tie

up with alstom in the rail signaling business. >> thanks so much, stephan. valeant pharmaceuticals is making an investor presentation in new york at 8:00 a.m. eastern where the company is expected to raise its bid for allergan. earlier this month, they rejected the stock offer. on tuesday, the company attacked valeant questioning the stability of the management and viability of its organic revenue growth. separately, there's a deal not contingent on the allergan transaction. quick check on the performance of those markets today as you can see there. as you can see, by the u.s. futures, 15 points higher for the dow. the s&p relatively unchanged right now and a couple points higher for the nasdaq. the s&p gaining 11 points yesterday to a fresh record

high, supported of course by the data that we got, solid data as far as consumer confidence and the durable goods orders also. the european markets, too, a quick look, right across the board, relatively unchanged to a tenth lower for the uk, the german and french market seeing the italian markets gaining just shy of 0.5%. lost a bit of ground yesterday but adding to the 3.5% gains or more that we saw in monday's trading session. the markets in particular, euro/dollar under slight pressure. stuck in the range right now, a number analysts asking whether or not all the good news as far as the stimulus is in the pricing of the euro/dollar and whether we could see a bounce at the end of mario's draghi's announcement or will he not add further stimulus. let's complete the circle now. u.s., europe and asia, sri standing by in singapore to give us the latest. sri?

>> hello, julia. the markets over here liked that fresh record close in the s&p 500 and the market state side of course liked the robust economic numbers. so there's some risk appetite out here. but runaway gains by no stretch of the imagination if you take a look at the quantum of the acceleration on the asian markets here. i will say this, though. shanghai composite was adding gains today. it's really down to expectations of further stimulus. the industrial profitability numbers weren't bad, 9.6% expansion compared to the 10% plus rates we saw in march. some stabilization. nevertheless, the market still wants to see some stimulus to keep the economic situation on a fairly even keel. here's a standout. post-coup high for the bangkok benchmark, the set has cleared 1400, up by more than 1% during the session. a little bit of give back now. still in the black there.

the military council is getting back to the broad task of economic management. the market likes that. they are, for all intents and pumps, quite repressing, cracking down on the media. they have appointed economic advisers, including a former central banker. yes, we got dire economic numbers out of thailand early on today. swung to a trade deficit in the month of april to the tune of just under $1.5 billion. manufacturing numbers weren't too hot, either. they contracted by almost 4% in the month of april. the markets, though, are looking past that. they're trying to look forward towards a degree of stability whether they're going to get that, highly questionable. remember, a thai economy is teetering on the blink of recession and the political unrest and political tensions we're seeing unfold now could really be the fact that they'll push it over the edge.

if that wasn't enough, julia, taylor swift canceled her concert in thailand as well. say it ain't so, taylor. say it ain't so. >> i can tell you absolutely devastated by that as well. >> swiftees were very sad. that's what taylor's fans were called. >> i can't say um a swiftee. but you look like you are, sri. and who is in line to buy the l.a. clippers? stay tuned to find out.

valeant pharma sells its assets to nestle. and glaxo smithkline is under investigation again. and francois hollande says ge's offer for alstom has improved, most notably on jobs. let me give you a look at the u.s. futures as we head to the u.s. market, indicating higher for the s&p by just over one point. the nasdaq higher by around 3

points right now. the s&p closing at a fresh record high. and an eight-week high, too, for the nasdaq. let's give you a look at what's on today's agenda in the united states. no major economic data today. attention will turn to a few earnings reports. we have michael kors. we just had toll brothers and palo alto networks, chico's and dsw all coming up later. some people are looking for a bigger correction. one person, on the other hand, believes we're in the best position we've been all year to see a long, strong equity run. we are joined by brian from rosenblatt securities. tell us why. >> we've had basically a correction for the last five months. it's been more of a correction in time rather than price. and typically, in the credit

boom, once we have a correction, we good on that long, strong run. that's fueled by three things. it's fueled by short covering. it's fueled by increased buybacks caused by borrowing in the corporate bond market and now we have a third leg of the stool. we have increased mergers and acquisitions activity, helping to boost stock prices. >> every time we've seen the s&p make a new high, it's been met by selling pressure this year. why is this different? why now is it different? >> two weeks ago we rose up to what was clearly defined resistance around the 1897 level on the s&p. that was met by heavy selling. and it was also met by a surge of options activity in the vix. vix call surge to their third highest level ever. when people are buying vix calls, they're bearish. a lot of those calls expired worthless last week as the stock market rose back up to that level. that means there's pain in the

community right now. we may have chewed through that resistance we've been fighting all year long. >> what if they try and establish those vix calls? you say some of them have rolled off. is that a crucial catalyst we have to watch for? >> the odds are it probably won't happen. now in addition to the buybacks, we have more merger and acquisition activity. that's been picking up since february. once we got past the debt ceiling battle, that opened the flood gates to more mergers and acquisitions. if you look at the action in the credit market, deal after deal that's been coming in the last three months, credit investors have made a lot of money on those deals. that's very unusual. the only time in the last 30 years that's happened is 1995. when credit investors are making money on mergers and acquisitions, that tells you there's going to be more mergers and acquisitions coming. >> interesting. brian, i'll ask you what we should be buying right now.

you'll stay with us. i want to give our viewers an update on some other news. the head of knight capital says the stock market is not rigged by high frequency traders. joyce calls lewis dead wrong. >> retail investor should have no concerns at all about high frequency traders. assuming they're not getting fair valued treatment, high frequency traders have a different time horizon on anybody else. >> he was at the helm of knight capital in august 2012 when a trading glitch at the firm jolted the markets. and the company nearly went under. he's got some experience then. moving on, former goldman sachs trader fabrice torre says

he won't appeal an order to pay more than $825,000 after a jury found him liable for defrauding investors in a failed mortgage deal. the s.e.c. accused him of hiding the fact that hedge fund paulson and company was also involved in putting the deal together and was shorting it. in a statement, torre said while his lawyers told him he could appeal, he prefers to move on with his life and finish his ph.d. in economics. investment bank guggenheim partners and david geffen is reportedly teaming up to make a bid for the los angeles clippers nba franchise. geffen's group includes oprah winfrey and oracle ceo larry ellison. in 2012 he led a group that included magic johnson that brought the l.a. dodgers baseball team for $2.1 billion. bids are reportedly due thursday. the clippers sale is being run by shelly sterling, the wife of owner donald sterling. the nba may not be on board and has a june 3rd hearing to vote on whether to terminate his

ownership. now, still to come on the show, there's no toing google as it develops a car without brake pedals or steering wheel. sit back and relax as we show you what's on the road, down the road for the tech giant. and crowd cheering nds of d sfx: sounds of marching band and crowd cheering so, i'm walking down the street, sfx: sounds of marching band and crowd cheering just you know walking, x: sounds of marching band and crowd cheering and i found myself honoring america's troops.de ich is actually ite fitting because ico has been servingng band and crowd cheering and i found myself e military for over 75 years. aawh no, look, i know this is about the troops and not about me. right, but i don't look like that. who can i write a letter to about this? geico. fifteen minutes could save you fifteen percent or more on car insurance.

let's take a look at today's top tech news. microsoft's ceo says the company's future depends on its ability to build, not buy the next big thing in what he calls the post-pc era. nadella who spoke tuesday night, who spoke in california, didn't say what that would be. he says microsoft is not interest ed interested in selling off xbox or selling bing to yahoo! >> if along the way we have to buy things, that's fine but we have to build something big. we build, i'd say, three big things and you can see 3 1/2 if you add xbox into it. it's time for us to build the next big thing. >> nadella also showed off a

test of realtime translation service for skype. it lets users hear each other's words spokeen in their own language. the task now is to turn it into a real product, promising it will launch by the end of the year. quick check on microsoft stock, trading in the german markets higher by 0.4%. google co-founder and ceo sergei brynn says the company is building a self-driving car without brakes or a steering wheel. google uploaded this demo video to youtube. brynn says the vehicles willing on the street this year. he says they're one of several projects being developed by google x, the secretive lab focusing on emerging technologies. you can see more coverage from the re/code code conference all day today and thursday right here on cnbc. our state side colleagues will be speaking to the of twitter, blackberry, netflix and linked

in, to name just a few. stay tuned to are that. we've had a few comments crossing about facebook. the company seeking an eu antitrust review of the $19 billion whatsapp purchase deal. it believes it could help it avoid individual national probes. brian reynolds, you were saying before the break that you believe the markets are set up, the best position we've been in all year for a rally. what should investors be buying? >> well, during the pullback, the average stock did worse than the indices. on the way up, i think the average stock will do better than the indices. if people are holding an etf, they might want to swap out of that and go from equal weight. the sectors best positioned to lead the next leg up are the consumer staples and the telcos.

your network's parent, comcast going for time warner cable and pinnacle foods agreed to be taken out by hillshire. that was two weeks ago. yesterday, hillshire itself became a target as pilgrim's pride went after it. there will probably be more deals in both of those sectors. if we get that strong run going, probably the old favorite, the old tech names that have been washed out the last couple or three months, they will probably assume the leadership later in the summer. >> you also say the only great rotation we've seen has been within the equity markets and not from bonds to equities. what do you believe is going on right now in the bond market and the disconnect we see between equities and bonds? >> there is no disconnect. because people look at the treasury market and see those yields going down. people got scared that it's a 2008 disaster type of environment. but in 2008, treasury yields did go down but corporate yields

went up because there was a flight to safety. this time around, corporate yields have come down as fast as treasury yields have. that tells us that demand is outpacing supply. and this is the opposite of the 2008 disaster scenario. this is more like the 1995 scenario where prices got to an all-time high and that credit boom intensified and prices went on to further new highs. this is the same type of deal making environment now that we saw in that 1995 environment. >> you keep talking about the fact that pension funds with be too, continue to pour money into credit right now. have we taken out all the ability -- available wealth in that sector, too? or do you still see value? >> no. there's more money coming in to credit. two weeks ago our nation's largest public pension fun, calpers, said they would fire their bearish hedge funds, the hedge funds that have been shorting stocks. they were going to put the money into fixed income.

since they're a trend setter, there's probably more pengs in the next two to three years. and a more intense credit boom which leads to more buybacks and more m&a which are designed to lift share prices higher. >> brian knight, great to chat with you this morning. brian reynolds, chief market strategist at rosenblatt securities. still to come on the show if i can get my teeth back in, another stellar quarter for michael kors in the bag. is it? we'll have an earnings preview after the break. stay with us. we'll leave you with a quick look at how the futures are trading ahead of the open on wall street. 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

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welcome to "worldwide exchange," i'm julia chatterley. these are your headlines from around the world. valeant pharmaceuticals sells part of its skin care business to nestle for $1.4 billion. this as it prepares to defend its bid for drug giant allergan. a change in tone from the french president as francois hollande says ge's offer for alstom has improved, sending the shares to the top of the french index. in an exclusive interview with nbc, one of the world's most famous whistle blowers, edward snowden, said he was trained as a spy and was not just a low-level analyst. under investigation, the uk

opens a formal criminal probe into gsk. as the drugmaker faces claims of bribery and corruption in countries from china to poland. you're watching "worldwide exchange," bringing you business news from around the globe. if you're just tuning in, thanks for joining us here on the show. let me give you a look at how the markets are faring ahead of the u.s. open. the dow indicating higher right now by around 18 points. 40 points off a record close for that index, the s&p 500 closing at a record high, gaining 11 points. right now, relatively unchanged to a touch higher as far as these futures are concern and similar story for the nasdaq, too. an eight-week high when it closed in yesterday's trading session, too. let me give you a look at how the european markets are faring. we bounced off the lows but relatively unchanged for the ftse 100. for the xetra dax over in

germany and the cac current. the ftse mib making gains over in italy, around 0.7%. over 4% gains right now for this week in particular. just how do we make money in these markets? listen in to what some experts have been telling us this morning. certainly the euro/dollar perspective, the only game in town at the moment is the ecb. this huge focus on june 5, mr. draghi is giving us very clear hints. we think he'll cut rates there. that continues to weigh on the euro side. as you said, don't forget the dollar side. it is all about yield here. it's about growth. but it's also about the fed. probably have a look at the five-year -- but just riding on the back of the currency which looks actually quite good value and you probably want to do that out of the australian five-year, simply for the reason that yes,

australia yields for four but at the moment it looks like the australian currency could end up sharply on the back burner. aging population, health care costs are rising quickly. i actually prefer private opportunities. if you look in senior living, brookdale senior living derives 85% of its revenues from private pays, out of pocket rather than being reliant on government reimbursement. >> michael kors is set to report fourth quarter earnings before the opening bell. europe could especially be a bright spot as branned awearness and spending in the region has picked up. michael kors has been steadily outperforming the s&p and their rival, coach.

david, take us through your numbers. what are you expecting today? >> i'm looking for eps of 9 cents. i am a penny above the street. 4 cents above the high end of the guidance range of 63 to 65 cents. and i do, wouldn't it be a surprise if we do see another quarter of solid earnings be driven by better-than-expected top line and margin performances. one of big focuses willing on the new fy '15 guidance which i do expect to be con severinative as it typically is which gives the company the ability to beat and raise through the fiscal year. in terms of the top line looking for 21.4% comp, and i wouldn't be surprised if we do see upside to that really driven across all the regions, north america, europe, as well as japan. and if you think about the u.s., i think we could see upside coming from stronger market share gains this quarter. especially given the fact that coach did indicate that the

overall north american women's handbag and accessories market did maintain a high single digit pace in the quarter even though coach's comp did decelerate to 21% which implies that michael kors strengthened its rate of market share gain in the quarter. >> you know, some analysts would pick up on that point are cautioning about assuming this continued market share gain, particularly if you look at the market cap to sales trend right now. it looks pretty high. what's your thoughts on that? >> yes, i do think we could see it continue stock upside, especially in light of an earnings beat. i do think investors would shrug off, you know, the initial fy '15 guidance as it typically is conservative. they set the barlow. if you think about the valuation, shares are trading around 21 times my fy '16 eps of 453. that is below my five-year

earnings forecast of 28%. >> what's your price target right now, let's say the next three to six months? where do you see this stock going and is there upside still? >> yes. i do think the price, the stock could trend up, upwards of $105 to $110. i think there's further upside from there. especially as the company is capturing also very strong market share in europe. i do think the europe region still remans highly underpenetrated. >> brilliant, david. david wu from telsey group. the parent company of stop and shop and giant foods said its results were impacted by low margins in the u.s. >> our outlook for the second quarter reflects in a way to conditions. this is the first quarter and it will also be impacted by our investments in our customer

proposition for future growth as we know. and that's one of the things we also said this morning, that the u.s. the margin will be slightly lower than the first quarter, reflecting both investments in our customer propositions in growth and also that the commodity prices in the u.s. were quite high in the first quarter and i'm looking clearly on meat and produce. look, mom, no hands. google takes the wraps off its latest secret project. a driverless car. we'll get the word from the futuristic vehicle straight from the ceo, coming right up. ♪ ♪fame, makes a man take things over♪ ♪fame, lets him loose, hard to swallow♪

♪fame, puts you there where things are hollow♪ the evolution of luxury continues. the next generation 2015 escalade. ♪fame

you're watching "worldwide exchange." these are your headlines, valeant pharma sells its skin care assets for $1.4 billion to nestle. microsoft promises to build, not buy at the re/code conference. and microsoft says a driverless car is just around the corner. and french president hollande says ge's offer has improved, most notably on jobs. let's give you a look at what's on today's agenda in the

united states. no major economic data, so attention will turn to a few earnings reports. we have michael kors, dsw and palo alto networks. they've been showing off pretty ambitious projects at a conference in california. morgan brennan is at cnbc hq with all the details. satya nadella and google chief sergei brynn were the keynote spokers at the technology conference in california tuesday night. the project is put on by re/code. let's start with nadella. he says microsoft's future depends on its ability to build the next big thing. what he calls the post post-pc e era. he wouldn't disclose exactly what that product is but he does say microsoft is not interested in spinning off xbox or selling

bing to yahoo! despite trailing google in the search market. >> i think we have to build something big. if along the way we have to buy things, that's fine but we have to build something big. we build, i'd say, three big things and you can say 3 1/2 if you add xbox into it. and it's time for us to build the next big thing. >> nadella also showed off a realtime translation service for skype which microsoft first demoed in china last year. it lets users hear each others words spoken in their own language. nadella says it should launch by the end of the year. and google is building a self-driving car. it doesn't have a steering wheel or brakes. it has a top speed of 25 miles

per hour. google uploaded this demo video to youtube and speaking at the code conference, ceo sergei brynn says the cars will be on the street this year an they're just one of several projects being developed by google x, the secretive lab that brought us google glass. brynn also touched on other topics, including a call for patent reform. he says some u.s. rules are unreasonable, such as the ability to patent business processes. you can see more coverage from the code conference all day today and thursday right here on cnbc. julia, back to you. >> thanks so much, morgan. if ross were here he'd ask you what's wrong with a chauffeur driven car. since he's not here, i'll make the comment. have a good day. and lg has taken the wraps off of the g3. here's josh lipton. >> lg unveiling its newest

flagship smartphone. meet the g3. i'll run through some of the specs for you. it has a 5.5 inch display with quad hd, meaning it has four times the resolution of standard hd, updated camera with laser auto focus, android operating system, qualcomm's latest processor, 3 gigs of ram, 32 gigs of memory. it also comes with this snap-on case that has this circular window. the basic point is, you can run through the basic functions of the phone without having to actually open the phone up. lg isn't telling us what the price will be just yet but the phone they say is going to hit the u.s. sometime later this summer. it will be available on all the major carriers as well as best buy. if you look at lg's share of the global smartphone market, it's at 4% according to idc. different regions, different areas of strength. north america, 10%, latin america, 13%.

in asia, just about 1%. but maybe with the g3 and these new bells an whistles lg can make head winds there. josh lipton, cnbc, san francisco, california. >> nbc's brian williams spoke exclusively to edward snowden in his first iner to view. the whistle-blower told brian how he worked as a spy at all levels. >> well, it's no secret that the u.s. tends to get more and better intelligence out of computers nowadays than they do out of people. i was trained as a spy and sort of the traditional sense of the word in that i lived and worked under cover, overseas, pretending to work in a job that i'm not and even being assigned a name that was not mine. but i am a technical specialist, technical expert. i don't work with people. i don't recruit agents. what i do is i put systems to work for the united states.

and i've done that at all levels from the bottom on the ground all the way to the top. now, the government might deny these things, might frame it in certain ways and say you know, he's a low-level analyst. what they're trying to do is they're trying to use one position that i've had in a career here or there to distract from the totality of my experience. which is that i've worked for the central intelligence agency under cover, overseas. i've worked for the national security agency under cover, overseas and i've worked for the defense intelligence agency as a lecturer at the joint counterintelligence training academy where i developed sources and methods for keeping our information and people secure in the most hostile and dangerous environments around the world. so when they say i'm a low-level systems administrator that i don't know what i'm talking about, i'd say it's somewhat misleading. >> russia is not in the business of extraditing those who stand up for human rights that was

putin's view on edward snowden when he told jeff cutmore last week. >> you know, i used to work for special services. why should -- why did they scare the entire world? they downed the planes with presidents on board and the plane with snowden on board, they could down anywhere. so he arrives in our transit zone and then it turned out that nobody's going to accept him. that's the problem. >> the extended interview with edward snowden will air at 10:00 p.m. eastern on wednesday on nbc news. coming up, the pharma m&a march continues as valeant sells assets to nestle. what does it mean for valeant's bid for allergan? stay tuned.

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we've just had comments made by the ecb. it could yield not one but a combination of different measures, underscoring what we heard from mario draghi this week. they want to expand their policy toolbox but it's up to the governing council to decide. we do not see deflation on the horizon but we're preparing for such contingencies. if the ecb does cut rates, the extent should be equal to maintain the interest rate corridor. underscoring what we heard from mario draghi ahead of that meeting next week. a quick check on the european markets this morning. relatively unchanged for the uk, the german and french markets this morning to a touch higher. the ftse mib over in italy gaining 0.8%, up now more than

4.25% this week. for the u.s. futures right now, again indicating higher, adding over the last half an hour or so, the dow futures indicating higher. appreciate record high gaining 11 points up by 2 points and the nasdaq gaining right now, as far as the futures are concern by around five points. general electric's latest offer for alstom has been, quote, improved with notable changes on the company's commitment to jobs. this according to the french president's office, the comments were made after a morning meeting between the french president hollande and ge ceo jeff immelt in paris earlier. siemens is also preparing to table an official bid for alstom, this ahead of the germany's cartel office saying that any siemens and alstom tie-up would face eu scrutiny. we'll have a quick look at how the individual performances of those stocks are going. alstom higher by 1.4%,

outperforming the french markets right now. ge higher by around 0.5% and siemens relatively unchanged right now. valeant pharmaceuticals is making an investor presentation in new york at 8:00 a.m. eastern where the company is expected to raise its bid for allergan. earlier this month it rejected valeant's $46 billion cash and stock offer. on tuesday, the company allergan, attacked valeant, questioning the stability of management and the viability of its organic revenue growth. separately, val and is the selling the rights to five products to nestle for $1.4 billion, a deal it says is not contingent on an allergan transaction. you can see the individual performances of the stocks there, too. val and the higher by 1.6% in german trading. now joining us on the phone from london is bridget dilima. bridget, firstly, what do you make of the comments from

allergan yesterday in defense of that bid from valeant. do they have a point as far as their concerns about the business are concerned? >> i think it's normal when you're a company you believe in your business model and wish to remain independent. you get your arguments together to reject a bid. and i think in their case, i can see where they're coming from. valeant has a strong history of being -- a colleague of mine called them a financial animal. their business is based on acquisitions. they have been known to buy companies and strip them, streamline them completely to make them profitable. that's where the concern has really come in, valeant has this reputation of stripping down the businesses and keep what their interested in. there's also concerns around r & d, which is fair enough. valeant hasn't done enough r & d as pharma companies that sent a lot more in r & d. allergan is probably more of an

r & d driven company. >> it looks like they're stripping out assets that compete with what allergan holds. they denied this has anything to do with the transaction, of course. >> yes. i saw that. it's a bit of a strange transaction. it seems awkward that they're selling these businesses off. if you look at the individual brands, a direct competitor to botox, though it doesn't sell nearly as much as botox. it makes sense they're trying to get rid of some of the assets that compete with the assets they're trying to acquire. i think there's a small lunk there. one is not contingent on the other. if you look at the size of the transaction, $1.4 billion compared to an acquisition of allergan of nearly $50 billion. the magnitude is different. it's really a small deal compared to what they're trying to achieve with allergan. >> what are we going to hear

from val and the today? are they going to be able to sell investors on this bid to allergan? >> they should. they should be doing a good job on this. as a company has been making several acquisitions, they have managed to push through. however, that said, they have had a few acquisitions fail. a deal in 2011 fell through. i would expect them to do a fairly good job and selling the case for shareholders today. >> do you think they're being preemptive in selling these assets to nestle. >> potentially. it's not like these things happen overnight. they would have been in negotiations with nestle for quite some time. i do think there's a link, a strategy that's well thought through. >> despite the fact they deny it. >> exact. >> i >> bridget, de lima.

senior analyst at results health care. our colleagues state side will be speaking to the ceos of twitter, blackberry, netflix and linked in to name a few. stay tuned for that, of course. let's take a quick look right now at the u.s. futures as we head towards the u.s. market open. we were saying there, actually adding a bit of ground over the last 30 minutes or so, around 28 points higher for the dow. the s&p 500 adding 11 points yesterday. a fresh record high, of course, for that market, too. and the nasdaq adding about 1.2% yesterday, an eight-week high for the nasdaq. also quick check on european markets right now. relatively unchanged. the ftse mib, the key outperformer in italy. more good news for that market in particular. that's it for today's show. i'm julia chatterley. thanks for watching "worldwide exchange." "squawk box" coming right up.

the code conference is the most powerful names in technology, gathering in california this week. among the highlights so far, microsoft's ceo shows off a version of skype that translates a conversation in two languages in realtime. and could this be the future? google unveils a prototype car without a steering wheel or pedals. andrew as a car like that. he's in the back seat. it's wednesday, may 28th, 2014 and "squawk box" begins right now. ♪ i'm on the highway to hell

good morning, everybody. welcome to "squawk box" here on cnbc. i'm becky quick along with joe kernen and andrew ross sorkin. we have a number of interesting conversations and product demos coming out of the code conference last night. jon fortt will join us with the details. first the morning's other top stories. there are three trading days left in may. stocks are now on a four-day winning streak. the s&p 500 and the dow transports closed at record highs yesterday. the nasdaq had its best day in two weeks to close at an eight-week high. we've been watching the futures this morning after all of that. you can see they are indicated higher once again. dow futures indicated up by 31 points. s&p up by 3 points and the nasdaq up by 6.5. when ire talking about the bond market, rates remain incredibly low. the yield on the ten-year right now sitting at 2.5%. there are two bond sales that are set for today. treasury will be auctioning $13 billion and floating rate two-year n