hello, good morning and welcome to worldwide exchange. >> these are your headlines from around the world. >> european markets pull back after hitting fresh highs. this after the central bank is in no rush to raise rates. signals it will happen this year. >> germany's finance minister is questioning the greek government's reassurances over it's reform list. meanwhile the finance minister tells cnbc the next few months will be critical. >> the reason why we have this is to reestablish bonds of trust between us and our european

partners reform greece and make sure that cnbc doesn't care about greece anymore. >> moller-maersk to sell danske bank. >> and they are with drawing heavy weapons from the east of ukraine as fighting continues to ease. however the country's prime minister tells cnbc exclusively that the russian president cannot be trusted. >> putin cheated as always. not only ukraine and the ukrainian president but even german chancellor and french president and the entire eu. >> you're watching worldwide exchange. bringing you business news from around the globe. >> in the last hour german

finance minister admitted improving the greek reform list was not easy. he added the question was whether to believe the greek government's reassurances. julia is live with the latest. julia. >> thank you so much. well actually he's only he echoing what the finance minister told me last night too. they now have four months to rebuild that trust between greece and europe and they're not the only ones questioning them now. we also heard from the imf saying they're questioning to some degree the clarity and they have to follow through and implemented some of the reforls. they have seen a lot of criticism. not just for the amount of compromise but also in term of the difference between what they have come up with here and what the old government a former government would have done. some saying that's very little difference. i put that question to the finance minister and i said is this really a victory for

greece? listen in. >> look very carefully. what we managed to avert is another fanning of the flames. so for instance the government already committed had it been elected to reduce pensions to make a number of changes that would deepen it. >> so you have no pension cuts. >> of course. >> and beyond that? >> beyond that it's uncharted territory because the reason why we have this four month period is to reestablish bonds of trust between us and our european partners as well as the imf. in order to build a new, we call it contract wean us and our partners so as to put an end to this spiral the debt inflationary spiral and make sure that cnbc doesn't care

about greece anymore because we don't want to be in the headlines for all the wrong reasons. >> we'll always care about greece. people are saying you have terminology concessions but very little less. how far will you be pushed at this stage? how far will you go before you say we want to do these measures and we'll take it to a referendum because the people are behind us. >> this is typical human nature. some people who have been assisting the program we are under must surely be the program we will remain under. this has changed. they keep insisting that program is still on going. let me give you a very simple number. the program that we challenged compelled the greek government to extract 4.5% every year in a depressed economy. now surely that is not a

nonevent and business as usual. it's not business as usual. we have a fresh start and now what matters is to use the opportunity of that fresh start in order to build something good on top of it. and we will endeavor to do this. >> when i came to visit the finance ministry two weeks ago i was shocked by how bare the offices were. what decision were you left in to go to these later. >> we need to kbroegrow up. we need a smooth transition from one to another: you walk into the ministry and you don't even find a computer on your desk. you have to struggle to find where the wifi is. this government is a sign of a developed nation and it's a lot better than it used to be but it can get a lot better. it's my ambition that when i leave this ministry the person

who is going to be new minister especially if it's from a different party will not find this kind of situation and will be able to get started. >> what the finance minister was saying is they're not putting any money on the table. they're not likely to get any money until the end of april. the question ultimately now is just how is greece going to finance itself. more on what their mans are coming up in the next hour. right now it's on the greeks to start pushing through some of these reforms. four months and counting. back to you. >> i love how he said greece needs to grow up. many would agree with what the finance minister has to say. now greece is just one of the big topics under discussion at the super return international. the world's largest private equity conference and cnbc is

there. our reporter joining us live from the event in berlin. annetta. >> thank you very much. i'm joined by one of the most prestigious guests around here thank you for joining us. you were saying the industry is due to change. maybe you can exchange. >> on the one hand you have the larger institutional firms which are big, successful and they could use a lot of data but in terms of actually getting the entrepreneurial side of the industry, it's really going to be down to the smaller firms, the more medium sized firms to provide that going forward. >> talking about geographies here in berlin everybody is talking about opportunities in europe. if everybody talks about it it makes me skeptical. what do you think?

>> the good news in people talking about it is 2011 and 2012 nobody was selling anything because everybody was sitting at a loss but now people can sell things and maybe make a small profit so the deal flow the pipeline is huge. the question is sorting through that pipeline to find out those things where you can get earnings coming back to where the earnings were in 2007 and maybe higher and those things that frankly going forward are in decline. >> looking at those opportunities is it that you refer geographies like germany and the northern hemisphere in europe or are you also deararing to look at the south. >> it's much better than between companies. when you look at investment history, investing in a good company in a bad country is far more likely to be successful than a bad company in a good

country. i have month problem at portugal, spain, greece italy. the question is the good companies. >> let's talk about greece. they just got an extension to its current program, the imf and ecb are saying well they don't commit. they're not really happy. how confident are you about greece? >> the reality is at some point greece will and needs to exit the euro. it will be good for europe and good for the euro and i think it will be good for the greeks. at the end of the day them being subsidized by the germans isn't good for them. it's not good for their pride or their self-establish steameem. the euro will go up and strengthen. greece will have a tough few years but at the end of it they'll come out a much more proud and successful nation than

they will today. >> another buzz word here on the ground is the oil price and making potential opportunities for your industry. what's your view here? >> it's very dangerous to think that oil is going to recover a lot and it's worth investing in carbon technology. my view is that once they can solve the storage issue with renewables and i do believe in the next five to ten years, technology moves faster than most people ever estimate. once they sold that carbon industry goes. as a famous oil industry once said, the stone age finished because we moved on to a new technology. the carbon industry won't finish because we run out of oil. it's new technology. i believe it's here and operating today. what you can't do is store it.

i would not bet upon oil long time. >> you're also not betting on renewables currently. so is it more about in the immediate kwum term immediate term? >> peel are willing to invest on much low returns. so we're not betting on it. last year was the biggest year yet and people are willing to accept returns in renewables now sub 8% where we want returns in the mid teens. so our reason is actually a good thing for the industry and not a bad thing. it says the industry has been too successful for us. we like to get into things before they're successful. not once they're successful. >> i wish you good luck with finding those opportunities in the future. >> thank you. >> with that i'm sending it back to you. we'll bring you more in an hour's time. >> annetta looking forward to

it. fed chair janet yellen will be on capitol hill testifying before the house financial services committee at 10:00 a.m. eastern. speaking to a senate panel on tuesday she signalled the fed would drop the word patient from its statement paving the way for a rate hike this year but there's no hurry to pull the trigger. >> if the fed were to raise rates too soon senator we would risk undermining a recovery that is really taking hold and succeeding in improving the labor market. as i said i don't think we're back to obtaining, yet, conditions i'd associate with maximum employment. normal labor market conditions. things have improved notably but we're not there yet. >> so a cautiously optimistic tone being used by janet yellen.

when you look at the reactions of some of the biggest banks on wall street. let's run through what they said. yellen is clearly preparing grounds for changes to forward guidance though it's not clear when citi -- they said the testimony is a cautious move to prepare the market for a move toward normalization. >> it's quite interesting because most of the commentary overthe night has been that the comments were dovish. having said that most people i look at now are still calling for a june rate hike. saying that june rate hike is in play. barclays saying we retain our call for a hike in june and that is fairly hawkish because it was only quite recently as the data was improved that it came back from september to june. i would interpret it as more hawkish than dovish. >> stocks in record high territory. the s&p 500 at all time highs.

the u.s. ten year yield hitting a one week low. a conflicting view when the market interpreted what yellen had to say. when do you think the fed will lift off with a rate hike. get your tweets in and e-mail us at cnbc.com. our twitter handle cnbcwx. our personal handle is on the bottom of the screen. >> let's have a look at what european markets are doing i. was a strong day yesterday. we hit record highs. today we have just come off a little bit below flat but putting that in perspective it's been a strong week so far. it's been a strong year with momentum behind european equities thus far in 2015.

that greek story is now settled into market. it's just over 15 basis points. we were celebrating like it was 1999 on the ftse 100 yesterday hitting a record high since it kicked off just above flat today. 6951. the dax hit fresh highs as well over the last day or two. today we're just below flat and france similarly pausing for breath. that's the sentiment across the board. athens has been strong itself since we got the four month extension to the bailout terms. bonds, the most interesting yesterday was the u.s. ten year coming below 2%. the reaction to janet yellen's comments were an interpretation that she was being dovish. of course 1.9% still significantly higher than other markets like germany. that relative yield difference is something we have to factor in as well when we're

considering what it's at. it's not just what we expect the fed to do. 1.71% for the u.k. and in greece we're 8.65. for most of last week the range was 9.5 to 10.5. it's a marked improvement since that bailout improvement was at 8.65. very quickly the u.s. dollar reacting similarly to the bond market. as we look at things today it weakened a little further against the euro. it's about a quarter of a percent move and sterling strengthened against the u.s. dollar. we had quite a rally in sterling year to date. about a half a percent move. oil trying to find a bottom over the last week or two. just below 50 on wti today. and brent 58.97. let's get a look in on what markets are doing in asia as

well. sri is standing by in singapore. over to you. >> we're in reasonable shade. there's two key factors really supporting sentiment out here. the first one you have been talking about in great depth and that's janet yellen emphasizing policy capability at the fed and the markets like that. we had data out of china. hsbc markets flash pmi, manufacturing pmi for the month of february. very modest improvement just above 50.1 was the headline reading. don't sound the all clear by any set of the imagination on the chinese economy even though this was a four month high for the headline figure. let me explain to you why. around this time of the year the data set is volatile because it's distorted by the lunar new

year holiday. it's offering this clarity and analysis. the improvement to the pmi is marginal it says and still rests on contraction and indicates the chinese economy continues to tread on unstable ground. what this means is more stimulus is needed for the market down about .5%. we did see a preholiday rally as far as investors are concerned. >> interesting, india outpacing china when it comes to growth. we'll see if that trend continues into the rest of 2015. let's also get you up to speed on earnings from lego the toy maker. reporting a net profit of 7.03 billion danish krona and operating profit of 9.7 billion.

we'll be speaking to the ceo after the company reported earnings. >> still to come tensions running high in eastern ukraine. we hear exclusively from the ukrainian finance minister in the next hour. steve joins us live from kiev. >> with a few months to go before the u.k. general election the race is too close to call. we speak to alastair campbell on his strategy for success.

now with the xfinity tv go app, you can watch live tv anytime. it's never been easier with so many networks all in one place. get live tv whenever you want. the xfinity tv go app. now with live tv on the go. enjoy over wifi or on verizon wireless 4g lte. plus enjoy special savings when you purchase any new verizon wireless smartphone or tablet from comcast. visit comcast.com/wireless to learn

more. banks continue to garner a lot of attention. the top bosses will today be grilled by a group of mps sometime wake of the swiss tax avoidance scandal. catherine is live with more. >> yes, hsbc chairman facing some tough questions from uk mps today as they appear to talk about the scandal which engulfed them in the last weeks. i have one of the members of the committee here to talk with me. how tough is this questioning

going to be today? what are you trying to find from these executives? >> we want to know how deep this went first of all. 2008 the then chief executive of hsbc testified to questions i asked that they had a zero tolerance of tax evasion and avoidance and we now know that half of the account very nearly they were looking at for british people are subject to investigation. like 1,100 accounts were of interest. 500 the holders were invited to settle and 150 went for criminal prosecution. i don't regard that as a small number. so did the top know about this? was this somebody doing it or is this a culture within the bank. that's question number one. question number two is having discovered in 2010 exactly what was going on what have they done to clean it up and is this

still going on? there's a pattern here. we had money laundering in mexico with an apology. now we have money laundering with tax evasion and tax avoidance, we don't quite know what. how much more of it is there and what are they doing to clean it up. >> of course hsbc isn't the only large private banking business in switzerland. are they being made a scapegoat because they have an employee that leaked a lot of data. >> the whole landscape chaz changed dramatically in that the government signed tax treaties and a great deal of work is being done on antiavoidance. it's harder to do what they did then. but it is a problem. why do people go offshore? there's legitimate reasons but you have to ask the question why lots of people need to have

large amount of money in switzerland the way they do and furthermore this whole thing of bricks of cash and being, you know saying how you get around don't take more than 10,000 at a time and all of this raises huge questions as to the actual ethics and that goes to the heart of what the banking commission is all about which is the culture. is it a culture of honesty, trust and ethical behavior or a culture of anything goes and let's see if we can make it happen. >> the files for this have been since 2010. there haven't been huge prosecutions as a result. are you also going to be asking them whether there should have been more and whether there will be more? >> absolutely. we have to know what they have done. they declared 500 of these accounts to be of interest and we also know that over 1,000 were of interest. 500 were invited to settle. we want to make sure that an invitation to settle was within

the normal scope and i'd like to know for example, why 150 cases were referred to for criminal prosecution but only one has actually resulted many a prosecution prosecution. back here in the u.k. the vast majority are good citizens. they pay their tax. they don't like it but they pay it. they don't seek to avoid or evade it and they are seething with anger at the perception that a small number of very well i can individuals are avoiding and evading and what they want to see is a fair system where everybody pays their tax properly and that's what we need to try to get to the bottom of. they don't need more powers to raid small peoples bank accounts. they need to exercise the powers they've got to actually make sure that the wealthy people who are avoiding and evading are brought to justice. >> thank you so much for joining us. that's one of the mps that will be grilling them later today.

back to you, will. >> thank you very much for that catherine. now let's take a look at the stocks on the move here in europe. kicking off with moller maersk up 6.2%. overall four year earnings were broadly in line with forecasts. it would sell it's 20% stake in danske bank. that's what hurt the market. danske bank is off .4% on the news. our colleagues on squawk box europe spoke to the ceo earlier and asked him about that move. >> it's an important step in our long-term activity to focus the activities of the group going forward. all are in oil and oil services and shipping and shipping infrastructure. in that sense it was a good and

important move and we're distributing all the dividends directly. we have a very strong balance sheet. we don't need the cash so it will go directly to shareholders. >> shares moving up around 3.4% in paris after the insurance giant said the weaker euro would boost profits this year. this after the company posted a smaller than forecasted rise in four year earnings but up 3.4%. >> weir group is down 8.9%. they warned lower margins citing commodity price pressures. they're already active to cut costs due to the southern drop in oil prices. seema back to you. >> still to come on the show wilfred, with just a few months before the u.k. general election the race is too close to call. we'll speak to tony blair's former press secretary and what he thinks the outlook is for the u.k. general election. the united states population is

going to grow by over 90 million people and almost all the growth is going to be in cities. what's the healthiest and best way for them to grow so that they really become cauldrons of prosperity and cities of opportunity? what we have found is that if that family is moved info safe clean, affordable housing, places that have access to great school systems access to jobs and multiple transportation modes then neighborhood begins to thrive and really really take off. the oxygen of community redevelopment is financing and all this rebuilding that happened could not have happened without organizations like citi. citi has formed a partnership with our company so that we can take all the lessons from the revitalization of urban america to other cities so we are now working in chicago, and in washington d.c., and newark. it's amazing how important safe affordable housing is to the future of our society.

european markets pull back after hitting fresh highs. this after fed chair janet yellen said the central bank is in no rush to raise rates. >> germany finance minister is questioning the greek

governments reassurance over it's reform list. meanwhile they tell cnbc exclusively the next three months will be critical. >> the reason why we have this is to reestablish bonds of trust between us and our european partners as well as the imf. reform greece and make sure that cnbc doesn't care about greece anymore. >> investors share plans to sell it's stake in danske bank. >> prorussian separatists show journalists they are with drawing heavy weapons as fighting in the region continues to ease. however the country's prime minister tells cnbc that the russian president cannot be trusted. >> putin cheated and out played as always not only ukraine and the ukrainian president but even german chancellor and french president and the entire eu.

>> welcome back. let's take a look at european markets after the ftse 100 hilt a record high on yesterday's trade. trading in negative territory but just by .13%. dax is trading lower. france and italy in negative territory. oil is a big part of the story. interestingly enough the oil minister in the past couple of minutes saying a couple of things about the price outlook for oil. markets are calm. oil demand is growing. the oil minister of saudi arabia says things are settling now. let's see if we can find a bottom when it comes to the price of oil like crude. >> we saw a dovish interpretation by the bond market. we saw it pull back to 1.96%. many suggesting a june rate hike is the most likely outcome.

they have come off the highs since that four month extension is agreed. quick look at currencies and the euro has gained a little bit of ground today. it's up a quarter of a percent. sterling losing some grounds as yields fell yesterday on the bonds. >> journalists are with drawing heavy weapon ri from the front line in the east of ukraine tuesday. this as fighting continues to raise hopes of a continued ceasefire. they show reporters a column of trucks carrying guns heading to the russian border. >> david cameron announced he is to send military advisors to ukraine to help fight rebels. meanwhile, john kerry has been giving evidence on the conflict. when asked if he thought russia lied about military involvement in ukraine, he had this to say. >> yes. >> why? why do they lie?

>> you're asking me? >> yeah. >> mr. chairman russia is engaged in a rather remarkable period of the most overt and extensive propaganda exercise i've seen since the very height of the cold war. >> let's get out to steve on the ground in kiev with the latest steve. >> thank you very much indeed very interesting listening to that testimony. very interesting. the president in this country flu back in late last night from the uae where he signed a defense deal with the uae. he's looking for more of the same i think. they're going to be providing trainers for the army as well. they want a lot more n. fact my

conversation with the prime minister yesterday was ukrainians don't understand why they have support on many levels from the west. they're concerned about exacerbation of the crisis in the south of the country. i spoke at length with the prime minister who is seemingly more hawkish and has been over the last year than his president mr. poroshenko. we talked about a whole host of issues about what the options were and how we felt the russians were dealing with it from their side as well. let's listen in to his aspirations and comments? >> i have an inspiration and this is of the entire ukrainian nation. russians get out of our land but they're still in ukraine on

ukrainian ground. the russian president hasn't any deal and russian aggression see severely effected ukraine. this is my primary target to get peace in my country. to pull back russian forces. to restore integrity and independence of ukraine. is it doable? yes. this is our joint task. >> are there elements of the treaty which you differ in terms of your appreciation compared with the president of ukraine. i've seen you quoted as saying the treaty creates a border within ukraine as well. it's something you're against. >> well you know we have just two options on the table, bad and worse. so the worse option is not to have any talks.

the bad option is together with merkel and president poroshenko to try to find the solution. but for today it's crystal clear, not only for us but for the entire free world that putin cheated and outplayed, as always not only ukraine and the ukrainian president but even german chancellor and french president and the entire eu as a key condition of -- this is the crucial issue of this deal is a ceasefire is not in place. we act in concert and speak in a single voice with president poroshenko and i do support all of his efforts in his quest for peace. because that's what is important for the you krab juan people and

that's what is needed not only for ukraine but for the eu and for the free world. as president putin possesses the threat to entire western civilization. to those that respect civil rights and liberties to those that know what democracy really means. so we'll do our best to urge president putin to implemented the deal. >> we kept the conversation mostly to foreign affairs and what was going on in the relations with russia and the separatists and, indeed mr. poroshenko, sometimes people said there were differences between them. i had an absolutely fascinating conversation with the new finance minister of ukraine. this is natalie who is a chicago born resident. went to harvard but was drafted in last year. she's been in the country for 20

odd years but fascinating to hear about her battle which is equally flawed. we'll hear a great chunk of that interview later on. don't miss that intersags that says we need a much bigger plan than is already on the table in order to reconstruct and get growth in ukraine. back to you. >> thank you. great work. we look forward to the second interview later in the show. now sticking on this topic, time for a unique perspective on how to win such an on going crisis. we're joined by the political strategist alastair campbell. you have written this book winners and how they succeed. got to get it back up again. winners and how they succeed. the strongest theme that comes out of that for me is a quote that takes you back to early days with new labor, one that got a lot of attention then. your quote strategy is god. has the west completely lacked a

strategy when it comes to the ukraine crisis? >> it's funny. one of the discussions about which of the names to put on the cover is vladimir putin because whether we like it or not he's a winner. he may be overreaching himself and end up as a big loser but i recount a story in there when he went in to all the other leaders, when he famously didn't say for dinner. he said i'm the only one with a strategy and you're all tactical. and he's responding to his sense of weakness of the major western powers and the two i pick out are those seen as a lot of people in business having a strategy. one is him whether we like it or not and the other is angela merkel. i look at people like modhi that formed a brilliant strategic campaign. obama had a good campaign as well but there's a sense of them not having a strategy. it's easier when you control the media and do the terrible things he does. it's not enough to say he's a bad man. the west has to have a strategy

to respond. >> what's his long-term objective? >> i think it's to regain russian power and russian strength and he's pushing it as far as he can. and i think that -- so there's david cameron today. let's send a few military advisors and maybe that will make a difference but it feels like in a tactical response to a leader that does have a very clear sense of his own strategy. it may fail because he may overreach himself but we have been saying that for a few years. >> now the leader that played a pivotal role in the crisis is angela merkel. you say she's the world's most impressive current national leader. why do you say that? some wouldn't agree with that. >> i say that partly because that's what other people say as well. i've gone to business people sports people political people successful people and try to get their assessment of how they have come winners and how that

might apply to other people. if you look at angela merkel in a modern political area where poll situations are expected to be very charismatic she's not a traditional great modern politician but i think she is somebody that does have a clear sense of what her job is for, why she is there and what she's trying to do. after the way she handled the euro zone crisis is textbook in terms of having a sense of strategy and just seeing it through. she's politically on the different side of the fence to me but as a leader she is preimminent in the world today. >> let's move on. you mentioned sport there. one of the conclusions is that politics has a lot to learn from the world of sports. >> business does as well. people in politics and business look at it and think it's exciting and entertaining and all the rest of it but actually i ended up writing probably more about sport than politics because where i find real winning mind sets i see you

have shane up on the wall there. he is somebody i spoke to that just -- he says you know we have this never give up attitude. that sense of resilience taking defeat and learning from it i think if you look at people like this floyd mayweather doesn't even think about losing. that's an exceptional attitude but one of my favorite quotes in the book is -- we both played a match in it. >> terrifying. >> he said this thing about people confusing wanting to win with the will to win. and everybody in politics says they want to win but the will to win is doing what you need to do to give yourself the best possible chance of winning and if you look at data if you look at innovation. you look at teamship and mind set, i found most of the best examples of real winning mind sets from people -- from lee

matthews, i sat down with these guys and i feel i'm in the presence of somebody absolutely focused on winning and in business and politics too many people talk about wanting to win but do they really do what is needed to win. >> great stuff. thank you very much for now. we'll be back for another chat shortly. >> in the meantime let's take a look at japan. japanese bullet trains may have a powerful sales man for a high speed railway project in california. for more we go to the nikkei. >> yes, prime minister abe is planning to visit the u.s. at the end of april and is considering to extend his trip to cities beyond washington d.c. during his one week stay. potential locations include los angeles and san francisco where a high speed railway project stretching over 800 kilometers is underway. costs are expected to reach around $70 billion and along with east japan railway and other japanese firms announced their intention to jointly bid

for the project and having the prime minister visit the site is hoped to become their tail winds for the efforts. they're focused on exports as a way to revitalize the economy. it's a set of exports in the field of 30 trillion yen by 2020. so the globe trotting prime minister actively played the role of top sales person calling on business leaders to accompany him on diplomatic tours abroad and is likely to ramp up marketing efforts during his stay in the u.s. >> thank you so much. still to come we'll continue our conversation with alastair campbell and speak to the ceo of lego after double digit sales growth in 2014. what's the secret to building success? we discuss after this break. >> he has written a book on winners. we'll get his perspective on the

upcoming u. k. general election after the break. shopping online is as easy as it gets. ♪ wouldn't it be great if hiring plumbers carpenters and even piano tuners were just as simple? thanks to angie's list, now it is. we've made hiring anyone from a handyman to a dog walker as simple as a few clicks. buy their services directly at angiealist.com. no more calling around. no more hassles. and you don't even have to be a member to start shopping today! angie's list is revolutionizing local service again. visit angieslist.com today.

latest opinion polls consider to suggest the outcome of the election is too close to call.

conservatives are ahead 35% with labour behind on 33. meanwhile, a poll suggests they would win 34% of the vote giving us a lead over the conservatives. he is the author of a new book winners and how they succeed. you're critical of david cameron's failure to win an out right majority in 2010. you said that was his election to win. >> you're right to say this election is really really close. every election i was involved in as a journalist and campaigner and strategist we knew what the outcome was going to be. i thought david cameron had a nice easy playing field in 2010. i describe it in the group as a strategic butterfly. i don't think he has ever stuck to a political and core strategy he really sticks to and sees

through. the big society was to me the time when i thought he has a proper strategy but he just retreated from it. i think it's very very difficult in our system to go one term out and come straight back in and the fact that the labour party is still there is testimony to the fact that we can still do it. you have a sense here where david cameron doesn't have a strategy but is actually communicates technically quite well. i think he does have a strategy but the difficulty he's having is getting that through to the public but he has time to do that. >> is there something he can learn from david cameron when it comes to pr and public speaking. >> pr is always second to the strategy. he's on news every single night. he's a good technical communique to. but he's being passionate about something. always something different than the day before. he bounces around. where as miliband has values and

principles he wants to emphasize but he doesn't break through the screen in the same way. if the public is through this very hostile media, he has economic and political ideas he can get over the line because let's be honest he had a lot thrown at him over the last couple of years in particular but he's still standing and the mirror pole shows him ahead again. >> you're well-known as the man that made tony blair popular. >> tony blair had quite a big role in that. >> well if you were hired in that role today how would you help him regain his reputation?

i feel very sad about the way that tony is-ville vilified in british media. he does incredible work around the world. have you got any idea how much he has given away to charities? $10 million. does anybody ever write about that? no. does anybody write about the fact that he's employing over 200 people. many of them in the poorest parts of africa to run projects. >> nonetheless his reputation today is pretty much toxic particularly linked to iraq and the fall out from it. >> that's clearly very difficult but if you look at him in the historical context, northern island, bank of england independence minimum wage biggest schools and hospital building program since the welfare state, tony blair i think was a terrific prime minister and even in relation to iraq what is happening now in the middle east clearly very

very difficult. what his critics like to say is none of this would be happening, if they hadn't gone and that's not so. >> we really appreciate it. alastair campbell on worldwide exchange. >> now logo reported a 15% jump in full year earnings out pacing the market for traditional toys. joining us is the ceo of lego. you're in the traditional toy market. how are you staying relevant during a time when young kids are drawn to shiny screens and technology? >> well i think it's proven it's strength now from year to year that it's still a lot of fun for children to create things and make things but of course we're working to be where children are. they're spending less time on tv they're online or surfing the internet. we are on youtube.

we have the fantastically successful lego movie last year so there's many ways we stay relevant but stay highly focused on our core physical building experience. >> i want to ask you about russia. has that been hit over the last year since the ukraine crisis started? >> we've seen a very nice growth in russia over the past year. around 35 to 40%. it reflects the enormous strength with the average russian middle income consumer. it's such an educational learning brand which resinates with the core russian consumer. of course we're seeing a major impact from the decline of the russian rouble. so we are seeing an impact but not in terms of actual sales in the russian market. >> interesting. i want to ask you about your lego with friends product line.

this is geared toward girls. i think this is a great move. why now? why wasn't there this female oriented legos when i was a kid? >> there was. we have been producing dollhouses for girls since the early 70s. but we were trying to find something really super relevant for girls in the last 20 years and with lego friends we spent time developing a theme relevant for girls and spent time with 4,000 girls worldwide and it allowed us two years ago, march 2012 to launch a product relative for girls whether they lived in beijing, boston berlin or in our hometown. it's a blockbuster for us and does well because we hit what motivates girls to also be creative. >> john just very quickly, time for a quick one, you have such a

young following. how important is social media for you? >> it is important but there are important restrictions on how you talk to children under the age of 13 so it is an area where we're treading very carefully. >> thank you for joining us. much appreciated. the ceo of lego. now after the break we'll be talking more about janet yellen's testimony and whether it was dovish or hawkish. >> join the conversation on worldwide exchange. get in touch with us on social media. more coming up after this break. ire my mother. despite what people said she bought me a sewing machine and she let me play with dolls and that was something that was kind of growing up culturally, it was quite unacceptable and she really dared to let me be different. [thunder and rain]

[thunder and rain] [thunder and rain]

thanks for starting your day with us. you're watching worldwide exchange. >> here are your headlines from around the world. >> u.s. futures pointing lower after another record day on wall street. this after the fed chair janet yellen says the central bank is in no rush to raise rates but signals it will happen this year. >> tensions still running high between ukraine and russia raising fears for financial stability in ukraine. speaking exclusively to cnbc the finance minister says the country will not run out of money. >> shares of dreamworks animation are falling today. they continue to find a box

office hit. >> hp shares also in the red as the strong dollar cuts into earnings in full year outlook. later today cnbc has an exclusive interview with meg whitman. >> so far a positive reaction to what janet yellen had to say in her testimony on the hill but it will be interesting to see the mood switches to a more negative tone given that there were hawkish statements stuck in there in terms of her speech there. >> it's interesting how you use negative and positive there saying negative is a hawkish sentiment but i think now that the economy is developing we would have wanted her to say rates could go up. either way most of the commentary saying it was dovish. the bond market reaction was in

line with that yet people saying a rate hike around june that makes us think the economy is strong. >> economy is strong but inflation, there's the big threat of deflation in the u. sflt especially with oil prices continuing to move lower so i don't think you can have a blanket statement like that and saying the u.s. economy is in place to see an up tick in growth. inflation is the big concern. that's one of the reasons we won't see her raising rates sooner rather than later. >> it wasn't a blanket statement to economic strength but it is looking up and while she did say she'd remove the word of patience perhaps in march it still implies people's interpretation is we might get a rate hike. >> let's look at u.s. futures after the record close in yesterday's trade. the dow indicating a lower open by around 2 points. the nasdaq around 7 points. but getting ever so close to breaking 5,000. more analysis on nasdaq coming up throughout the show but into

the european markets yesterday it was a big day for the bulls. we did see the dax hit a record high. the ftse 100 it's highest level since 1999 and some investors taking money off the table. greece is a focal point for investors. on that note take a look at the athens ase. it reversed losses from earlier up just fractionally on the day in what seems to be more positive developments when it comes to the bailout situation but in some ways they say they're kicking the can down the road. >> it's a long way to go in term of the long-term out look but that gives a lot more breathing space than we had just over the last few weeks of course. the bond market at least interpreting janet yellen's comments as fairly dovish but the debate continues as to when we're likely to see the first rate hike.

yields in germany, .34%. the u.k. .47. they have come down 8.7% below the bottom of the range for the last few weeks anyway. we have seen a marketed improvement for greece. but significant yields remain. up a quarter of a percent. the dollar gave up a bit of ground yesterday because the yields did come down and similarly it has given up a bit of ground against some other countries including the rouble and the pound. >> earnings continue to be a focal point on wall street wilfred. let's get a run through of the big names that reported last night. first quarter earnings fell 4% as sales of desktop pcs fell sharply. the full year outlook is well below analyst estimates. the company cites the stronger dollar. shares fell about 5% in after

hours trade. as you can see it's trading down by around 7% in frankfurt. david does have an exclusive interview with meg whitman today on squawk on the street at 9:00 a.m. eastern and as we reference the outperformance we have been seeing in technology, today that could be weighed on based on the disappointing results we got from hp. that could derail the rally if you will. >> given the nasdaq rally and where valuations are out. sticking with that dreamworks animation swung to a fourth quarter loss related to a weak performance at the box office for penguin of madagascar. it was wider than expected. they fell 3% in after hours trade. it was down the best part of 4% in frankfurt. >> lending club posted a loss since going public. the online lenders revenue surged but that failed to offset higher marketing and product development costs. they do not lend money itself.

it connects borrowers and lenders for a fee. shares fell more than 11% in after hours trade. let's look at how it's trading in frankfurt down 7.3%. he will be on squawk alley today at 11:00 a.m. eastern. >> fed chair janet yellen will be back on capitol hill today testifying before the house financial services committee at 10:00 a.m. eastern time. speaking to a senate panel on tuesday yellen signalled the fed would soon drop the word patient from its statement paving the way for a rate hike this year but there's no hurry to pull the trigger. >> if the fed were to raise rates too soon we would risk undermining a recovery that is really just taking hold and is really succeeding, i think, in improving the labor market. as i said i don't think we're back to attaining conditions i'd associate with maximum

employment we're normal labor market conditions. things have improved but we're not there yet. >> janet yellen did make a strong case for the u.s. economy but despite the strength in the labor market there's still more room for improvement which gives us the signal that there's still room for improvement in the labor market. we're also seeing an acceleration in jobs growth as well. >> a lot of people give it this dovish label but i would say overnight looking at the experts, bmps, barclays all still expecting a rate rise in and around june which would not suggest it's as dovish as people expected. >> if inflation drops into negative territory it will make it harder for the fed to raise rates. when do you think the fed will lift off with a rate hike? join the conversation here on the show.

e-mail us. >> mine is @wilfredfrost. >> mine is @seemacnbc. we want to hear if you think the rally can continue and if rates will rise in 2015. now the super return international conference taking place in berlin and annetta is there with the biggest names in private equity discussing the fed and the outlook. what have they been saying? >> that's a very interesting conference these days. we're talking about europe. we're talking about the united states. one of the big topics of course is oil prices. so loads of topics floating around here. but i'm also joined now by jonathan to discuss debt markets and their opportunities. thank you for joining us. let us talk about opportunities, whether you see them as europe

the united states or elsewhere. >> i think the opportunity right now is really global. there's different opportunities by geography. in the united states there's opportunities to earn income as well as some industries in location. still in certain forms of retail. over here in europe the biggest opportunity comes in the form of private lending as well as continuing to purchase portfolios from european banks and we have an operation in australia and we're seeing really interesting investments in private lending and private debt across the australian market. >> let us stay for a little bit in the states and the oil price route. so loads of people here talk about opportunities arising from that route. what do you see? >> there's definitely an opportunity and industry. we tend to resist raising punds that do a single narrow thing but clearly our capital from the opportunistic funds in the

energy space. the real question is how long does oil stay down. what will opec's next move be and when you're looking at debt securities in companies in the oil space you have to both understand the geology which is really important but also understand the capital structures because some of those capital structures you will see new capital coming in and layering existing debt where as other capital structures will see equity come in and general recovery. >> another point you mentioned is european banks and the portfolio. are there opportunities here and isn't it a little bit too late now? >> it's interesting. there's an old addage that says that opportunities often take longer than you would expect and then happen faster than you would possibly imagine. that's happened a little bit in europe. for the first couple of years after the global financial crisis you didn't see a lot of selling. they rebuild their balance sheets and it's only over the last couple of years that we've

seen a lot of portfolios. we purchased about nine of them in the last 2.5 years. we've seen a trillion euros more coming out of the banks. both in the form of performing loans and distressed investments and noncore assets across the globe. >> is that also an opportunity to increase lending here in europe because the banks are not functioning that well? >> absolutely. i think one of the effects that happened from this bank dedef deleveraging is capital is less available to small and mid sized companies and the ability to step in and provide that capital has provided some really attractive opportunities. in particular we have been doing it across northern europe and it's been one of the original businesses and we recently opened an office in dublin. >> thank you for your insight and your time. >> thank you. >> for the time being i'm sending it back to you. more to come from here tomorrow. >> thank you for that.

still to come here on worldwide exchange, hsbc in the hot seat. the lender faces up to questions and u.k. parliament over the swiss bank. we're live after the short break.

welcome back. let's give you some headlines. the federally is short lived. u.s. futures point lower a day after the s&p and dow hit record highs. you crane will not run out of money. the country's finance minister tells cnbc. plus hp and dreamworks weigh on shares after hours. >> let's talk about the financial sector. bank of new york melon in focus. it's in talks to settle claims that it defrauded clients in transactions. last week the company said it would take nearly $600 million charge as it sought litigation. it faced several charges over misleading customers for certain dealsment take a look at shares down about 1% in frankfurt. >> the top boxes in the u.k. tax collection department will be grilled in the wake of the swiss

scandal. let's get out live to catherine out side of westminster. >> good morning, it's going to be a pretty tough day for a hsbc chairman douglas flint and chief executive. they're up in front of the inknew when -- influential committee today. they're telling us it's likely to be a tough questioning. they're going to ask hsbc just how far up the executive chain knowledge of these events went. why this wasn't stopped sooner and why this evasion went on for so long and why there haven't been more prosecutions in relation to this. there's also going to be very tough questions in terms of why they haven't -- why a lot of these cases seem to be settled rather than resulting in prosecutions and of course the overarching theme here is going to be why, just ahead of the election in the u.k. why ordinary taxpayers are being

potentially more penalized in recent years and people right at the top of the food chain seem to be getting away with this kind of tax evasion. back to you, will. >> catherine, thank you very much. big day for hsbc down 8% over the last 30 days. >> coming up on worldwide exchange. we speak to the ukrainian finance minister about the latest out of ukraine. coming up after the short break. introducing preferred rewards from bank of america the new banking rewards program that rewards our customers, every day. you'll get things like rewards bonuses on credit cards... extra interest on a savings account... preferred pricing on merrill edge online trades and more... across your banking and investing get used to getting more. that's the power of more rewarding connections. that's preferred rewards from bank of america. you can't predict the market. but at t. rowe price we've helped guide our clients

through good times and bad. our experienced investment professionals are one reason over 85% of our mutual funds beat their 10-year lipper averages. so in a variety of markets we can help you feel confident. request a prospectus or summary prospectus with investment information risks, fees and expenses to read and consider carefully before investing. call us or your advisor. t. rowe price. invest with confidence.

russia's foreign minister claimed many in ukraine want a peace deal to fail. he urged the osc to do more to urge the withdrawal of heavy weapons in ukraine. steve is live in kiev with the latest. steve. >> yeah, thanks. look we have spoken to a lot of the senior people here including the prime minister about the diplomatic efforts and problems with the ceasefire and his relationship with mr. poroshenko as well. the other crisis is the financial crisis with the currency in free fall. only $5 billion left in the national bank in terms of currency reserve. and the progress with the imf talks and getting the budget through, et cetera et cetera. i spoke to the lady in charge of

this. this is natalie that basically came in. she was a born american citizen. she became part of the government in december last year as well and she is brought in basically to reform the country but i started off by asking her, look, is this country running out of money? let's listen in. >> quickly over the past two months to try to come to agreement on a new program. i believe that we will be doing everything that we need to do to ensure that that money does come and comes as soon as possible. >> is it going to be a really near run thing at the start of march whether the country runs out of money before that imf money comes. >> i don't see that's going to be an option. we'll do everything. our government is committed, the parliament is committed, the ukrainian people are committed. timing wise i wish it was sooner but my understanding is this will be around the second week of march now. >> in terms of suring up the finances, this is an incredibly

difficult task at a time when the country is fighting a war as well. can you in your role as finance minister sure those up at a time when you're fighting a war? >> it's possible. we have already made severe changes. real reforms to broaden the tax space because we can't tax the average citizen more during the recession than he's already been taxed but i can bring in moneys from the shadow economy. that's a big part of what we're trying to do. i can also have them participate on a greater level and close the loopholes of big business so they participate and pay their fair share. so spreading and deepening the tax space not by taxing more but in fact the opposite broadening the tax base is one part of it. secondly there's critical reforms with regard to enterprises which haven't been participating in the economy in the budget the way you'd like them to. reducing the state deficit of the oil and gas company which is something that's been a huge drag on our economy for a long time. we have already in dollar terms

reduced it almost by a tenth compared to last year. last year was about 110 billion which is about $10 billion. and in this budget it's about 29.7 30 billion which is a little over a billion dollars. >> you know the american psyche pretty well. is american funds being delayed -- are they being delayed because there's concerns about that economy? about corruption and the willing willingness of this country to get along with reform. >> not delayed at all. they're tied to the ifm program. so any taxpayers. german taxpayers, everyone wants to know the ukrainian government is doing everything possible. one we have committed and done everything we have committed to in the previous stand by program in 2014. that's a very important signal but two we're doing everything in this program.

we're doing everything expected of us in order to prove to those taxpayers that are committing funds to the support of ukraine. that said i would say as having been born in chicago and raised in the united states it's important for americans to understand this is a very small cost for those european and american taxpayers for what ukraine is living through and paying to defend the world and the principles of freedom and defend europe and we're doing this at our human cost and civilian and military cost. over 5,000 dead. our internally displaced people. so the 21st century. we're living through a real war on the territory of ukraine based solely on our desire to maintain our sovereignty, our territorial integrity and our european future. >> do you think the u. s. understands the comments that they need a marshall plan in this country to get it going rather than a few billion dollars. >> i don't think people have taken seriously enough the depth of the problem. this package is $40 billion.

it's enough to stabilize the situation but if we're going to return to growth and rebuild and regain our access to our territory, we are going to need something much greater and much more support and the united states has played a very important role. has been extraordinarily supportive along with the eu and germany, japan, canada switzerland. we are very grateful for that support but there's no question that we're looking for more as we move forward. we'll prove ourselves step by step. all of the ukraine fatigue. all of the disbelief in our ability to reform will be chipped away and broken away day by day as we take and make these real changes but as we move down that path we will be looking for greater support from our international partners. >> everyone talks about this as a war between russia and ukraine. is it a financial war going on? is russia trying to drain ukraine financially? >> russian lead terrorists

there are no separatists but my belief is this is a war on all fronts. this is a war for the sovereignty of the country. it's financial, it's economic it's military. it's an informational war and propaganda war. so from my perspective we're fighting on all fronts to save our country. >> so this is a country which is pushing through the budget process trying to get it in place so the imf can disperse more money. i asked that question at the start, is the country going to run out of money? is it going to come in time? she seemed very reassured that the country was moving in the right direction but i thought it was interesting. there was a plea in there ott world to not forget the fact that ukraine, in her words, is fighting a war for democracy and it needs financial support. not just the $40 billion revolving package offered over the next four years. we're talking about much more money this country needs to get itself back on track. back to you guys in the studio. >> really great to hear from the

finance minister of ukraine there. thank you so much. great stuff there. still to come on the show u.s. retailers feel the fall out of the west coast port strike. we discuss as we break down the key earnings this week and before we head to break, take a look at u.s. futures. right now indicating a mixed open. the second day testimony from janet yellen. the dow indicating a higher move by 4 points. nasdaq on a ten day straight run down 5 in premarket trade. more coming up after this break. [ male announcer ] whether it takes 200,000 parts ♪ ♪ 800,000 hours of supercomputing time 3 million lines of code, 40,000 sets of eyes, or a million sleepless nights. whether it's building the world's most advanced satellite, the space station, or the next leap in unmanned systems. at boeing, one thing never changes. our passion

to make it real. ♪ ♪

>> hi everyone. welcome to worldwide exchange. >> i'm wilfred frost. here are your headlines from around the world. >> let's start with markets. futures pointing to a mixed open after another record day on wall street. this after janet yellen says the central bank is in no rush to raise rates but it will happen this year. >> tensions running high between ukraine and russia raising fears for financial stability in ukraine. we're speaking exclusively with the finance minister who says the country won't run out of money. >> our government is committed, the parliament is committed, the ukrainian people are committed to those reforms that are necessary. >> shares of dreamworks animation are dropping today. they post a 4th quarter loss as they continue to struggle to find a box office hit. >> hp shares in the red as the

strong dollar cuts into it's earnings and four year outlook. cnbc has an exclusive interview with meg whitman. >> you're watching worldwide exchange. bringing you business news from around the globe. >> and let's get you up to speed on how markets are trading because the s&p and the dow did close in record territory after fed chair janet yellen said yesterday the fed does not want to raise rates too soon. right now futures indicating a mixed open. the dow up about 4 points. nasdaq down about 5. markets did move higher. the u.s. ten year yield dipping below 2% hitting a one week low. you can see now the yield on the ten year note at 1.96%. so keep an eye on the bond market today but we're also still on nasdaq 5 k watch. the index witnessing 10 straight

days of gains. guys we haven't seen this type of run in nasdaq since july of 2009. today though some analysts say the tech sector may be weighed down by the disappointing results. the company did miss revenue estimates cautioning currency head winds in 2015. now a quick check on european markets. investors continue to keep an eye out on greece. the never ending story, keep in mind yesterday the ftse 100 did hit a record high. the highest since 1999. a little profit booking down 29 points. the dax up about 4 points. >> thank you. now a disappointing outlook sent macy's shares lower yesterday. he said sales and margins would be hit by the west coast port strike. joining us is the retail analyst. let's kick off with macy's. quite a sharp move yesterday.

earnings beat expectations. it was revenue that suffered. >> yes. not only that but it was the forward looking guidance which was a little late on the bottom line here. but more importantly some of these retailers are a victim of their own success. they reached their operating margin goals so the street is asking what can we do next? the company is talking about coming up with international growth as well as launching an off price concept so you certainly worry about not only spending next year but execution risk there. >> yeah the guidance was particularly interesting, stacy. we now had cautious guidance if you will from walmart as well as macy's. do you think it will be the same story for target which reports earnings today. >> you know, target already told us that they exceeded their comp expectations so their comps are about up 3%. yes those are on really easy comparers from the data breach

last year but target is doing really smart things here. they talked the other day about reducing the free shipping thresholds online to $25 beating the competition here and those are the things that matter. they're also refocussing on the product that they can be differentiated in rather than trying to be all things to all people. so target is actually making really smart moves here. >> is this obvious moves or do you give a lot of credit to the new ceo? >> yeah some of it is obvious stuff. for example we all talked about the fact that they have lost over a billion dollars on their canada expansion and the new ceo has said okay enough this is going to take too long to turn around and cost too much money so we're cutting bait here. you know that's an obvious but smart move. it does take a level of conviction to come out as a new ceo and do that. they have gone off track on their product focus so bringing that back is really crucial here

and this new ceo is focused on getting it done. >> shares of target up about 8% over the past three months. taking a step back there's arguably two challenges that the retail industry is facing. cold weather which i know you're experiencing in new york city as well as is itthe west coast shutdown. how much of an impact could these factors weigh on earnings going forward. >> well it is absolutely freezing in new york and you're not in the mood to shop but the good news is that last year it was just as cold if not colder in the states here. so there's always weather disruption. macy's talked about 12% of their product for the first quarter will be effected. we can assume that for most of these retailers that ship in a lot of their product from overseas their expenses are going to go up in q-1. that's really been talked about here and the focus will truly be on the top line. >> let's talk about one other

theme of course walmart increased their minimum wage just last week which grabbed quite a few headlines. any of the other retailers that we're reporting today and tomorrow? do you think they'll have to follow suit? >> well that's the interesting question here. walmart stepped forward and said we're going to pay our people really well because we want them to execute well and be interested in working in our stores. we'll see what the other retailers do. there's a lot of questions on a home depot call about raising wages and i'm sure target will have the same kind of questions today. but, you know we'll have to see if there is that sort of poll for workers to move elsewhere and some retailers will be forced to join in the game and that again will pressure the bottom line of earnings for some of the retailers. >> thank you very much. cnbc retail analyst. >> let's get you up to speed on some of the other top stories at this hour. german finance minister admitted

that improving the greek reform list was, quote, not easy. speaking to radio he added that the question now is whether to believe the greek governments reassurances. julia caught up with greece's finance minister in an exclusive interview and asked whether the ecb's qe program was making his job more difficult. >> i think that the markets took for granted. they just didn't believe it. we didn't believe it. of course you never know. accidents happen but my interpretation of the market is they believe the accident would be overted at the last month. i hope they're continued to be proven right. >> president obama vetoed a bill to imapprove the keystone pipeline. it's only the third time has used the veto plan.

he wants the state department to finish the environmental review of the product before a decision. >> anthem which reported earlier this month it was hit by a major data breach says hackers access personal information for nearly 79 million people. that includes 60 to 70 million of its own current and former customers and employees going back to 2004. the attack exposed names, birthdays and social security numbers but not medical records or credit cards and bank account numbers. >> investors are seeing red today after disappointing results last night. we'll break down the numbers for you after the short break.

first solar was a stock on a move yesterday reporting better than reported moves this morning. raising the price target to $54 a share from $50. shares any higher in yesterday's trade after the market learned of a joint venture forming between first solar and sunpower. you can see the three month performance here up about 8%. >> sunshining on the solar sector yesterday seema although time to switch back to a few stocks where it's not shining on them. dreamworks, hp all reporting after the bell yesterday and disappointing investors.

for more on those stories let's get out to landon standing by at cnbc's washington bureau this morning. landon. >> wilfred fwoornggood morning to you. let's start with hp. they fell 4% of sells as desktop pcs fell sharply. revenue was lower across the board. the full year outlook is well below analyst estimates. citing the stronger dollar. hp earned about 2-thirds of its revenue from outside the u.s. last year. the dollar is up 14% in the past six months. shares fell 5% in after hours and today in europe hp is down more than 6%. a program note we have an exclusive interview with megawhitman today on squawk on the street at 9:00 a.m. eastern. >> lending club posted a loss since december. it surged but that fell to offset higher marketing and product development cost. it connects borrowers and

learners for a fee. it plans to expand into auto loans and mortgages despite the jump in revenue shares fell 11% in after hours and today they're down 7% in europe. the lending club and founder will be on squawk alley today at 11:00 a.m. eastern. dreamworks animation swung to a fourth quarter loss related to the weak u.s. box office for penguins of madagascar and restructuring cost. it was wider than expected and revenues also missed forecasts. they cut the production schedule to two films a year starting in 2016. it has one movie slated this year out in march. it fell 3% in after hours and it's down 3% today. back over to you. >> thank you very much. now going to bring you flashes coming out of china. china's cabinet is ready to step up fiscal policy support for the economy. the state council said that will include construction of large water projects expand tax relief to small firms and step

up fiscal support to economic growth. monetary policy has been the main tool to simulate the economy fiscal policy. it will be following suit soon. before we head to break let's remind you of the main headlines. the federally is short lived. u. sflt futures point lower a day after the s&p and dow hit record highs. ukraine will not run out of money the country's finance minister tells cnbc in an exclusive interviews. but hp and dreamworks weigh on shares after hours. noise ♪ credit belongs to the man who strives valiantly who errs who spends himself in a worthy cause and who, if he fails at least fails, while daring greatly sfx: background city noise ♪

we got a flash coming from the ukraine central bank. the first currency trade of the day has come in at 24 to the dollar. that's compared to 3163 at

tuesday's close. quite a significant move at the down side for the dollar. they have been making up around about 27% today at the open of the ukrainian currency market. a significant move there but it's been incredibly volatile. a 52% move for the down side to ukraine's currency. many in ukraine want a peace deal to fail. he urged it to do more to observe the withdrawal of heavy ones many ukraine. he expects to see it from kiev. it raised fears over ukraine's financial stability. steve caught up with the finance minister in an interview yesterday and asked whether the country would run out of money. >> it worked quickly to come to an agreement on a program of ukrainian reforms. we will be doing everything we need to do to make sure that

that money does come as soon as possible. >> is it going to be a near run thing at the end of fed and start of march when the country runs out of money before that imf money comes. >> i don't see that will be an option. our government is committed, the ukraine wran people are committed to those reforms that are necessary. timing wise i wish it was sooner but my understanding is that this will be around the second week of march now. >> let's see what european markets are doing. they're in the red despite positive developments both out of athens and from the fed being relatively dovish but this of course coming into perspective after a strong week already this week for european equities and indeed a strong month and year to date ftse 100 down a quarter of a per cent. let's have a look at what is going to be happening this day in the u.s. >> yeah run down of what to watch this trading day. new home sales are out at

10:00 a.m. eastern. sales slipped last month after surging more than 11% in december. lowe's campbells soup target tjx and sodastream report after the bell. u. s. futures right now indicating a mixed open after the dow and the s&p 500 hit record highs. the focus will be on the nasdaq as it continues to march toward 5,000 and of course the focus today will be on janet yellen. the fed chair will be back on capitol hill testifying before the financial house services committee. speaking to a senate panel yellen laid the ground work for a rate hike sometime this year but the fed is not in any hurry. yellen is optimistic saying the labor market is improving but inflation remains muted. >> inflation is being held down by transitory factors, particularly the decline we have seen in oil prices.

we have also had considerable slack in the labor market and it's diminishing over time. wages are a lagging indicator of improvement in the labor market. we have seen improvement and if we continue to see improvement it would add to my con piano dense. >> we have been asking you when will the fed start to hike rates? e-mail us at worldwide at cnbc.com and get in touch with us on twitter @cnbcwx. our personal handles are on the screen now. >> didthe debate continues. we have dan greenhouse. chief global strategist at tgit. what did you make of the testimony? dovish hawkish or just right? >> more or less she is hitting the right notes with respect to how the pedestrian views things.

she walked back her comments that a removal of the word patience means a hike is coming in two meetings time. that got walked back and she called market nerves that there was some sort of mediaimmediatecy to rate hikes. they don't hike until september but this issue is secondary to the path or what the cycle looks like. the focus is misguided. it's much more important to get how the fed see what is the cycle is going to look like and they provided no information because i don't believe they have that information at the time. >> but if inflation heads into negative territory that puts yellen and the fed in a difficult situation if they're trying to raise rates in 2015. >> i disagree. i think a relatively simple way of looking at things, yes it's negative but it's negative to borrow a phrase from the

bachelorette for the right reasons. that's the kind of disinflation or deflation that ends up being positive for growth metrics that's what you want. you don't want inflation. you want growth sufficient that inflation is generated. obviously you want to curve that down the road but a decline in prices mostly due to the decline in oil prices is not a bad thing and the fed should and will look through that. i want to be clear when you look into, for instance the u.s. consumer price index basket it's not as if it's only oil prices declining. there are other issues at work here but let's not present like there's this wholesale demand lead inflation that would cause them to ease policy rather than tighten it. >> what does this mean for u. s. equities? they did move up and continue to push through to new highs but i wonder whether there's some corrections and that might be the term we have to bring up

quite a lot this year. >> well we had corrections. we just had a very bad correction from a trading perspective in october. we had another one january was a down month and you can go back to the beginning of this crisis to the beginning of the recovery in 2009 and there's been meaningful declines in stock prices the entire time the issue we're dealing with now as investors is not that the fed remains acome day tif. from a valuation perspective, relevant to itself u.s. equities are not cheap. the median stock is more expensive than 50 years. a touch higher than at the end of 99 or 200 there's no real attractive part of the market. the bias remains to the upside

but from our perspective, we wonder how far this rally goes at this point without another correction ala what you saw in october that brings equities back down from a valuation perspective to something a bit more attractive. you need something bigger than october to get markets screamingly attractive but it's becoming difficult to market from meaningful upside outside of what's generated by earnings. >> one sector displaying clear leadership is technology. apple, i mean relentless run and continues to hit new highs. ten consecutive days of gains from the nasdaq. the question is are tech stocks getting overvalued as we're looking at the index perhaps breaking 5,000 very soon here dan. >> a couple of things. the fact that it's going to break 5,000 doesn't mean anything to me. it's been 15 years or so since march 2000.

we shouldn't be higher after 15 years. the fact that we're not obviously speaks to exactly what was going wrong in march of 2000. tech like a lot of other -- we're overweight tech tech like a lot of other part of the market is not an inexpensive sector but it has an enormous amount of cash. it's dividend payout is increasing. a lot of companies are raising their dividends. so dividend growth makes it attractive but again what you boil down to is with respect to the comparison to 2000 is whether or not there is a valid reason to be comparing the two periods. i think the answer is no. you can look at it from one of two ways right quickly. the first of which is in 2000 the market is top heavy from a valuation perspective. dell sis coe,cisco microsoft. that's not the case today. there's certain part of tech that are quite expensive but it's nothing that's on par with what you were seeing in 2000 and then the other way of looking at

it is pine the top part of the market is not as expensive by any means as what you saw in 2000 but the market as a whole is trading at some what elevated valuations that again, from an expected return standpoint has people like myself sitting here thinking are forward return gogs to look like what we have seen the last few years? i'm getting doubtful that's the case. >> is there a bubble in the private market in the tech space? >> i mean listen you're paying for growth where growth can be found. in a low growth low interest rate environment any company public or private that's generating growth is going to warrant elevated valuations. >> thank you for joining us. that's all we have time for on today's show here on worldwide exchange. thanks for tuning in. i'm wilfred frost. >> i'm seema mody. next up is squawk box. take care everyone.

good morning. the fed did make comments yesterday with janet yellen promising the central bank will remain patient with the promise to raise the rates. everybody sees something different ready to improve new internet regulations and the implications could be big for companies and consumers. plus it's commercials made it a household name. now godaddy is ready to go

public with an ipo. it's wednesday, february 25th 2015 and squawk box begins right now. ♪ live from new york where business never sleeps this is squawk box. >> good morning, everybody, welcome to squawk box here on cnbc. i'm becky quick. the dow, the s&p and the russell 2000 all closing at record highs. the nasdaq is now on a ten day winning streak. that's the longest positive run since july of 2009. turning in the third highest ever to finish at yesterday's session high janet yellen continuing the same message of