the plane. one black box is retrieved. >> 3g in talks to buy kraft food in a $40 billion deal. >> the news sends kraft and others sharply higher. they could team up again with warren buffet to help seal the deal. >> america increases by program by $10 billion sending the stock higher after hours. we have just got the german business climate index coming of course from the ifo institute. that's coming at 107.9 in march. previous reading 106.8. the expectation was for 107.3. we also have the current

conditions at 112.0. that is above february's reading but in line with expectations. of course we also have the ifo expectations 103.9. let's get straight out to the european economist at morgan stanley. thank you for joining us. this reading at 107.9 above the expectation of 107.3. it follows strong pmi data yesterday so the slight beat perhaps expected. >> yes, indeed. these numbers, the german ifo today and pmis suggest that momentum in terms of growth of the region as a whole, the euro area is strengthening. in fact we believe there's three that are likely to sustain the euro zone recovery this year. so our ecb induced because of

the recent policy actions including the start of the qe program. we have currency weakness and falling bond yields so that means financial conditions and it's cheaper oil price which is is the best of the two worlds. from the perspective of a euro zone consumer they pay less and it also keeps the central bank engaged because they may be afraid of not meeting their inflation targets. >> i want to touch on the sharp move that we're seeing in the euro. the weaker euro one of the factors that helped boost economic activity but if it continues to strengthen the way we're seeing it right now does that pose a risk in derailing europe's economic recovery? >> there's been quite a depreciation already and the same applies if you look at the fall in oil prices.

now there's been stabilization and also the price of oil has been falling sharply in the second half of last year and the early part of this year but now it has rebounded and fallen back again. there's a sense of stabilization now but the effects of the two key external drivers are yet to feed through and we're likely to see the impact over the year. >> thank you for joining us. >> let's take a look at u. s. futures on this wednesday morning right now pointing to a higher open. the dow up 29 points. the nasdaq the tech heavy index up about 10 points. s&p 500 also indicating a higher open by 3 points. traders seem to be pricing in a slower fed tightening cycle but the focus is on the upcoming earnings cycle next week. the concern is the stronger dollar specifically the multinationals that have high international exposure.

something we'll be discussing in today's show. let's take a look at european markets. we got that following the upbeat manufacturing data yesterday. what does that mean for markets? it's a mixed picture. the ftse 100 up. keep an eye on the index because it's above 12,000. a level it's been flirting with for the last couple of days. in france a different story. still trading above 5,000. in italy a loss of 48 points. take a look at currencies. that continues to be grabbing headlines. we have been looking at the index on this bull run. up about 7% year to date but we should point out that over the past week it is down about 2.5%. encouraging data on this side of the pond in europe is resulting on the euro gaining ground against the u.s. dollar and we're looking at the dollar index down about .3% but the bigger picture here wilfred is the strengthening dollar we've been seeing over the past year.

>> and this past week is it a little bit of a correction after a strong run and are we still on a structurally strong dollar path or is this a more meaningful turn around. both of us agree it's a correction at the moment. as we look at the individual pairs you can see the euro strengthening a little bit today. the u.s. dollar a little bit weak against the yen but i want to focus in on the rouble. 56.7. the u.s. dollar weakening 1.8% today. it follows a 2% decline yesterday. why you ask when oil continues to be so weak? well there are certain taxes at a need to be paid by russian corporates today. they have been selling reserves and buying roubles in order to sell them. that's pushed it to a five week high and you can see it's up 2% today. about 3.5% year to date. that sees it rally some 22% since the end of january. but over the last 12 months

still down 57%, the rouble so just a small correction over the last six weeks relative to the last 12 months. let's look at bonds. we have the u.s. ten year below 1.9%. it's cementing that dovish sentiment that janet yellen sparked last week when speaking after the fed meeting. will it continue? people don't think we'll see a rate rise until later than december at the earliest. of course german yields .21% highlighting the difference in monetary policy between the u.s. and europe. let's look at commodities because the oil price although off the six year lows still very low. still very volatile. highlighted by the fact that wti is down 47.4. brent is up 55.3 today. seema back to you. >> wilfred you are looking at live pictures from the french alps where the rescue operation of the crashed germanwings plane

is being directed. they'll visit the site later today. they said the first black box retrieved yesterday is damaged but usable. meanwhile germanwings confirmed further flights will be cancelled after some crew members refuse to fly over safety concerns. annetta joins us from outside the aviation station at frankfurt airport with more on this story. >> thank you very much. there's some germanwings crew members that are saying they're not willing to fly but what i have been hearing is not that it's out of safety concerns because it's just for personal matters. they are just shocked that an aircraft of their fleet could essentially explode in the middle of the alp mountains. let me bring you up to speed. they're tweeting they're trying to fly the relatives to the site

of the accident of the crash so the relatives have the possibility to mourn on location there and that they are doing that most to help the relatives with various services. talking about what happens today, here at the aviation center in frankfurt, in 15 minutes time there will be a minute of silence all across the world at germanwings and lufthansa remembering the fatal crash yesterday and the relatives thinking about their losses and afterwards the ceo of lufthansa will be stepping out to the media and inform us about the recent developments. talking about the black box, one of the black boxes has been found. it's the voice decoder of the pilot and that will be crucial because one aviation expert here

in jeremygermany was saying it's mysterious why the pilots have not reacted at all. descent was very long. it was 8 minutes flying right into the mountains and the big question is why those two pilots have not done anything to steer the aircraft away a from the moub mountain region or tried to lift the nose up again. it seemed like a completely controlled flight from outside. that will be the big, big question. what those pilots actually have spoken about, have done during that 8 minutes and perhaps that also help hes the technicians on the ground to actually find the reason for the fatal crash. currently angela merkel and the prime minister is traveling to the site to also meet the relatives on location. with that back to you. >> thank you for that update. we'll be back out for a further update later in the show.

let's have a very quick look at the stock price. it was down as much as 4.6% today but ended up closing down 1.7%. it's off another half a percent today. now still to come here on worldwide exchange 3g capital is cooking up a deal to buy kraft foods for $40 billion. we'll tell you more after this shortstop break. h cash back from bank of america to help pay for her kids' ice time. before earning 1% cash back everywhere, every time. and 2% back at the grocery store. even before she got 3% back on gas all with no hoops to jump through. katie used her bankamericard cash rewards credit card to stay warm and toasty during the heat of competition. that's the comfort of rewarding connections. apply online or at a bank of america near you.

. 3g capital is in talks to buy craft foods for $40 billion and amazon slams the faa for a lack of commercial drone regulations. >> kraft foods is in talk to be bought by 3g capital. they own burger team and teamed up with warren buffet three years ago. if a deal is clenched 3g may well craft with it. it is struggling for weaker

demand in the u. s. they jumped 16% in after hours trade yesterday. shares of other food companies have also been increasing off the back of this news. well, mondelez up .8% today. kellogg and campbell soup up a bit. this is a very interesting story. kraft. the history of it was it split out in 2007. in 2010 it made the hostile take overs for cadbury and 2012 split out and now it's going to be the target of another take over. >> that's what makes this deal so fascinating is if you understand the history of these different players in this reported deal even if you look at 3g was a major shareholder it and assisted in the acquisition of busch and teamed

up to make heinz for $23 billion and the firm had an active year. earlier this year there were rumors that 3g was looking at campbell soup companies. this is a private equity firm. one that plays an active role in the consumer food space as we're seeing with this deal with kraft. >> there's a couple of interesting points to make here. this is a brazilian growing he emerging market making a play for a u.s. consumer company but kraft has been struggling recently. the snack foods don't fit into that theme. does that suggest that we need consolidation if that space? it's either strong u.s. consumer or weak sector. >> what's interesting is looking at kraft not just a cheese company, they're also the owner of maxwellhouse coffee and bought cadbury and then spun

off. so this company knows strategic allocation very well. >> they could almost make a movie about it. >> they could. >> i think they should and if they're looking for someone to fill the ceo role well don't look here. that's for sure. let's have a quick look at the share price of sab miller because that moved off the back of this story. it's quite a complicated one but part of the reason for it selling off, it was lower than it is. off more than 1% earlier. that's because abi, of course fellow brewer is sab miller had been rumored to make a bid for sab but given they're now making the massive bid for kraft it's unlikely it could help finance. so they suffered in today's trade. was off over a percent now just under a percent. >> i think we're going to call today mega merger wednesday. that's not the only takeover news we have today.

lexmark is buying kofax for $1 billion a deal that will double the size of the enterprise software business. they're paying $11 a share. that's nearly a 47% premium to the the closing price on monday. the deal will add about 10 cents a share to its earnings this year. we're seeing kofax up about 46% on this deal news. lexmark up about 4.5%. you're seeing both stocks moving to the upside. typically you only see the company that's acquired. >> market likes that one. now boring old merck, no take over from them. but they approved a buy back program. fourth quarter sales fell 7% with them accounting for the majority of the drop. earlier on tuesday there was a study of a nu skin cancer result

polling results. shares have risen 1. 5% yesterday although they have given up a little bit of ground yesterday. there it is. yesterday's trade in the u.s. was just off and then rose 1.5% in after hour's trade. >> let's get you a run down of what to watch this trading day because february durable good orders are due at 8:30 a.m. eastern. this report attracts demands for big ticket items such as planes or heavy equipment. orders are forecasted to rise for a second straight month. evans is speaking here in london in the next hour and there's earnings from paychex, pvh, red hat and five below. still to come on the show sexism is on trial in silicon valley. we'll break down the numbers supporting the glass ceiling when we return. we're back many two.

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welcome back. i want to bring you a flash coming from a russian aviation source saying a boeing plane has requested an emergency landing at the main airport in russia's second city of st. petersburg. we'll bring you more when we hear from that but at the moment that's all we have on that story. >> that's right. the role of women in tech is in

the spotlight. yesterday morgan stanley announced she is moving to google as cfo. meanwhile a high profile court case involving venture capital firm has also highlighted the gender issue in silicon valley. julia has been taking a closer look. >> there's no question that silicon valley has a major problem with gender disparity. last year all the internet and tech giants reported imbalances. they were all 70% male. facebook 69% male and yahoo! 62% male and women are just 11% of executives at silicon valley's top 150 companies. that's 5% less than the s&p 500 average. now these companies are key training ground for start ups and funds so improving the numbers would have major effects. >> there's a vicious cycle that needs to be broken and it's something that will acquire

conscious active thought by current decision makers and leaders. >> targeting the leaders at facebook and twitter two new lawsuits. facebook which has more senior women than the average was sued by a former employee alleging she faced discrimination harassment and retaliation because she's a woman. facebook saying we have disagreements on the facts. we believe the record shows the employee was treated fairly. >> and a former twitter engineer alleged in a proposed class action lawsuit that the company uses a bias promotion and hiring process. twitter saying it's deeply committed to a diverse and supportive work place we believe the facts will show she was treated fairly. there's no question that this lawsuit is drawing attention to gender disparity here in silicon valley and san francisco. many lawyers predicting we'll see many more lawsuits. back over to you. >> now several voices in silicon

valley have been voicing their concern around the lack of female representation in silicon valley. i spoke to henry price and asked him if enough is being done in silicon valley to bridge the gender gap. >> i think gender equality is not an issue we're hearing about today in the news. companies that embrace gender equality can advance their business at an equal or more rapid pace. diversity of opinion is why companies will succeed in the future so we like everyone in the sally is looking to be as diverse as possible. so we're looking to wide range of networks to find new candidates and to continue to invest in equality across the board. >> do you think more needs to be done to make silicon valley more inclusive? >> go think so. we're all trying to reach out to the right candidates to add value to our companies and we're looking across all walks of life. whether it be geography or racial or other gender divides. >> well the lack of female

representation on the executive level not just an issue in silicon valley but even here in the u.s. only 8.6% of ftse 100 executive directors are female. that's up from the last year but that's nothing to get excited about. there's a lot of room to have more females and representation at the executive level. >> there is progress being made but it's slow and from a low base. there was also a report out from the former trade minister recently about the u.k. the latest figures saying 8.6% of executive directors of the ftse 100 are women. up from 6.9% last year. they're better with overall board positions. 23.5% that's up from 20.7% a year ago. so improvements but from a very low base. >> there also are some companies that research shows that have the highest proportion of female board members. do you know what made the top of

that list? >> i don't. >> number two is intercontinental. of course something that we will continue to talk about here on worldwide exchange. we just got you that sound from the vp of linkedin about gender inequality in silicon valley and we talked to him about the potential tech bubble. valuations another big topic especially as the nasdaq is getting close to its all time closing high of 5,048. we're very excited about watching the nasdaq. >> we are both excited. one of us is slightly more excited than the other. >> it might be you. i did ask him what he thought about some of the figures being raised in funding rounds. here's what he had to say. >> we underestimated the ability for some of these companies to grow historically. we have not been able to realize how transformative the digital world has become. so whether it be uber or snap

chat, i don't know specifically if they're overvalued. i would say some of the areas that will feel more pressure will be some of the tech companies that have been the middlemen for facilitating some of the advertising money being deployed online. that's where you may see some sort of pressures but i think from a traditional standpoint evaluation of these transformative companies we usually underestimated. >> sticking with tech india prime minister mody has teamed up with twitter to launch a new service. it will allow government officials to deliver tweets to mobile users via text message in an attempt to boost e governance in india. he highlighted the importance of india's innovation push. >> it's increasingly clear to me that india is going to be a center of innovation for us as a company technologically. >> we enter the market as a reseller and we're building up

our own local sales team here and that's off to a good start. >> we spoke to zipdial and asked about the opportunities for mobile growth in india. here's what she had to say. >> there's more smartphones in india than in america today but the challenge is only 1 in 3 of those smartphones has a mobile internet connection active and as i mentioned the consumption of mobile data is very limited. free wifi or broadband access in general is very sparse and doesn't exist so it's about how do we create a twitter experience across screens. >> now valerie wagner touching on the explosive growth in mobile we're seeing in india and how sms is an important way to communicate with a big part of india's population which are still transitioning from feature to smartphone. >> the data usage is still low so this sounds like a very clever plan by the very social

media engaged modi to get his message out. he has 11 million twitter followers. >> are you following him as well? >> of course i am. >> social media was a big part of his campaign in 2014. tweeting facebooking, much more than his competition and many experts say that's one of the reasons he got exposure to the millennial audience which is very active on social media in india. so a very interesting development. twitter one of the bright spots in yesterday's trade. sticking with tech and ipos, the us ipo activity hit the breaks but find out where company listings are picking up after this break. take a look at u.s. futures as we head out slightly on this wednesday morning. we're back in two guys.

europe in mourning. the leaders of europe germany

france and spain to head to the crash site. one black box is retrieved. >> 3g capital is in talk to buy kraft foods in a $40 billion deal. >> the news send shares in kraft and other food makers higher. they could team up again with warren buffet to help seal the deal. >> merck teams up sending the drug maker's stock higher after hours. welcome everyone on the show. a luck luster session on wall street as investors keep an eye on the earnings season. the volatility in oil prices. also the developing situation in greece. the dow up 28 points. s&p up 2 and nasdaq seeing a gain of 10 points.

here in europe positive manufacturing data yesterday boosted sentiment plus today's business data suggesting better times ahead but some insesvestors taking this opportunity to take money off the table. the key level we've been watching on the german index. the cac 40 down 23 points. when we started the show it was down about 9. the bright spot has been the ftse 100 seeing a gain of around 5 points but currencies continue to be the big story of course the dollar index now down about 2.5% over the past one week. still up about 7.5% on the year. the big story, i guess you should say is the upcoming earnings season and the negative impact the strengthening dollar will have on profitability shrinking profits. that's the big concern. the dollar index now trading at 9698 down about .2% in today's trade. >> let's also have a quick look at oil prices. we're off the six year lows we

were at in the middle of last week and both brent and wti over the last half an hour or so. wti up .2%. we're at 2 5 5.6 and 47.8 respectively. of course still pretty low but not quite as low as it had been over about a week ago. we did have boone pickens saying he believed oil prices could reach $100 by the end of 2016. i'm not sure about that but it's nice to have a bullish call. >> definitely a contraryian. it's down over the past week but a major move in the dollar over the past one year to the upside. >> yeah and i overall don't think the dollar is outright strong it's just not outright weak anymore so in that sense i do think it can go up further

again. we're still in a strong dollar world and we'll continue to see it go up in the year ahead but we've just had a bit of a correction which was much needed. it's been strong over the past year and it's been particularly strong over the 3 or 4 weeks. >> the bigger concern of course is around the stronger dollar and how much that's going to weigh on profits. earnings are expected to be negative for the first time since 2009 in the first quarter. that data akompting to reuters. they're estimating with an estimated 3.1% decline in s&p 500 net income a lot of that having to do with the strengthening dollar because one third of sales of companies on the s&p 500 are are international. profits could really be hurt by that currency swing. >> okay. great stuff seema and i'm just going to update a flash that we brought you earlier that that boeing 737 had requested an emergency landing at st. petersburg airport. we have heard that plane has now landed safely. so that's obviously very

positive news. a great relief on that story. now let's get back to our top story this morning. kraft foods is in talks to be bought by brazilian private equity firm 3g capital in a deal worth $40 billion. they teamed up with warren buffet to buy heinz for $22 billion years ago. they may merge kraft with heinz. they jumped 16% in after hours trade. 15.4% is a move to the upside in frankfurt today. shares in other food companies mondelez up 3% and kellogg and campbell coup campbell soup are slightly down. >> it's a sluggish start to the year in global activity. a slow down in the u.s. listings is to blame but asia pacific deals have jumped sharply with china ranking number one in deal

volume year to date. europe leads by global funds raised however with the u.k. and prance among the bright spots as you can see here. 11 in france and 12 in the u.k. now across sectors industrials took the crown with 45 deals followed by health care and technology. so that's kind of the sector break down if you will when you take a look at the ipo activity we have been seeing this year. let's talk more about what to expect in the coming months with maria. global vice chair of strategic growth markets. tell us why are we seeing so many industrial deals? if memory serves me right it was technology that lead the show in 2014. >> yes, you're quite right. it was technology and actually health care that lead the sector in 2014. we're coming off a very strong 2014. industrials is strong picking up from the asia infrastructure that we're seeing across all of asia pacific.

we're going to see that in japan next quarter as well and you point out number you're correct. china really did lead the way in number. previous to our reports here earlier, europe is having a very strong year due to quantitative easing. you pointed out earlier the ftse yes, the ftse hit a record high. they hit a record high this quarter. highest it's been since 1999 and the euro stoxx 50. so europe was a bright light this quarter. asia and china is a bright light. the u.s. is down. that doesn't mean the u.s. is closed. the pipeline is rebuilding. we'll see momentum there as well. i do want to mention that of course the funding ecosystem has been the strongest we have ever seen it so we shouldn't take the u.s. being out of the ipo market as a reflection of no transaction ordeal flow in preipo companies.

private capital is he immensely strong there. they have 10-1 on every other nation in terms of private capital being able to invest before preipo and that's a lot of activity in this quarter. >> let's talk about that weakness we have seen in the u.s. in the first quarter this year. what are the reasons for that do you think? >> the funding ecosystem is very strong. it's delaying the ipo. it will happen. but private funds, venture capital, private equity globally represented 50% of all pre-ipo companies. there's an abundance of it in the u.s. and there are are other factors, surely. health care, many of the bio tech deals are out. some are causing a pause in activity understanding if

there's appetite for other deals and a lot of changes in terms of currency and volatility. it does impact profitability. it will be a year in 2015 which i'm going to call the stop-start year. we'll see withdrawals, postponements but when the window is open it will be open. >> i want to talk about china. 98 deals in china so far this year. does a lot of that have to do with the success of alibaba last year? how much does that help boost sentiment? >> yeah absolutely. china's alibaba did help and the markets were closed for 18 months previous to that. when it opened up we had a pipeline of ipo companies ready to come up. we should note that regulatory change is ahead of us in china. really opening up the capital markets for more investors, more free flow activity. less regulated and of course

there is growth in china. 7% is still very strong globally and we'll see more activity there in consumer markets in that domestic market. >> maria, thank you so much for joining us now. global vice chair strategic growth markets. >> let's take a look at the other top stories at this hour. lexmark is buying kofax for $1 billion. a deal that will double the company's software business. they're paying 11$11 a share. lexmark says the deal will add about 10 cents a share to its earnings this year. taking a look at shares up about 46%. a big mover here in the u.k. lexmark also moving to the upside up about 6%. >> american express is holding it's annual investor day in new york this afternoon. the company suffered set backs losing it's 16 year partnership with costco.

they also lost a high profile lawsuit in which the u.s. government said the company violated antitrust laws. they have been falling short of the internal growth goals as well. it's trading down about .6% in frankfurt trade today. >> let's talk health care. merck's board approved an additional $10 billion stock buyback program. they reported 4th quarter sales fell 7% with foreign exchange accounting for the majority of the drop. earlier on tuesday they halted a study of a nu skin cancer drug following positive clinical trial results. shares rose 1.5% and in yesterday's trade they closed down by .2%. >> still to come here on worldwide exchange why a cheese and ketchup combo could be a match made in merger heaven. later reports kraft may be

bought by the private equity owner of heinz, coming up in a couple of minutes.

kraft could soon add another of the world's top well-known brands to its line-up. heinz ketchup. landon joins us from cnbc hq to

piece together the story. >> they're in talks to be bought by 3g capital. it's unclear whether they would do the transaction alone or because of the size will team up with a partner. they worked with warren buffet to buy heinz for $23 billion in 2012. buffet said he would welcome the opportunity to work with 3g again. if it buys kraft it can merge it with heinz. in addition they also own burger king which bought tim hortons for $11 billion last year. they're also a shareholder of the world's largest brewer through it's cofounder lemann. he cofounded 3g in 2004. he's a former board member at gillette swiss re and credit suisse.

he is worth $25 billion. kraft spun off in 2007 and bought cadbury in 2010 and then split into two companies in 2012. it is struggling with weaker demand for package foods in the u.s. it replaced with john cahill in december and they thought he would be open to deal making. shares up 16% after hours and today in europe they're up about 15%. shares of other u.s. food companies rose in after hours today. mondeles is up while kellogg and campbell soup are lower. >> we'll take a quick break but let's remind you of the headlines before we do. recovery efforts resume at the germanwings crash site with investigation underway. 3g capital is in talks to buy

kraft food for $40 billion and amazon slams the faa for a lack of impatiens on commercial drone regulation. we'll be back in a couple of minutes. s aren't always obvious. sometimes they just drop in. cme group can help you navigate risks and capture opportunities. we enable you to reach global markets and drive forward with broader possibilities. cme group: how the world advances.

this report tracks demand for big ticket items such as planes or heavy equipment. orders are forecasted to rise for a second straight month. charles evans is speaking in london in the next hour and there's earnings today from the likes of paychex, pvh, red hat and five below all reporting earnings in today's trade. mow the leaders of france germany and spain will visit the scene of the german wings plane crash later today.

the french interior minister told french radio the first black box retrieved yesterday was damaged but usable. meanwhile they have confirmed further flights will be cancelled after some crew members refused to fly over because of safety concerns. >> now german wings staff are due to hold a moment of silence. that will begin in just under a minute's time. looks like the staff already getting ready to observe that silence. it will be held across airports in barcelona and frankfurt and that silence will be observed by all germanwings employees after that tragedy yesterday where 150 lives were lost. 144 passengers, four cabin crew and two pilots included in those hives lost. as you can see the emotion across the faces of the

employees of germanwings is clear to see as they prepare for the moment of silence which is shortly due to begin and it will be something that we will observe also. a very sad day. pan europe across so many countries solved with it. that moment of silence is starting now and we shall observe it also.

that was the one minute silence held by employees across europe just now. the ceo is due to give a press conference any minute as that silence comes to an end. we will bring you the headlines from that. i should also update you that we are expecting a press conference in paris at 3:00 p.m. london time to update us on the black box. it's just been called a black box press conference so perhaps there will be some muse at 3:00 p.m. london time based on what they have learned from that but in the immediate future we are expecting a press conference

from the ceo if we do get any flashes from that we will of course bring you them as soon as we get it. but now let's switch and look at what markets are doing before the end of the show and first look at european market in the red today. hold out slight gains as well as continental europe is just below flat of course. strong after strong pmis today just correcting a little bit. that's including germany just a little bit below flat despite descent readings in the sentiment index today. >> that's what makes this trade interesting europe. makes it interesting is fact that we will get better than expected data today. >> hah upbeat manufacturing number but despite that positive read on europe's economic rebound we are looking at losses here. dax down 24% and cac 40 down 23% and italian markets down 27

points. what does this all mean for u. s. futures. pointing to a higher open the dow up about 42 points and the nasdaq will be in focus in striking distance of its all time closing high it's up about 15 points and the s&p 500 seeing a jump of around 5 points in premarket trade. the conversation on wall street has shifted away from high evaluations and now on to corporate profits with the upcoming earnings season kicking off next week. >> let's have a quick look at the euro dollar. it tells the story of the last week rather well. dollar strength year to date. the predominant trade but it has corrected a little bit over the last year or so. you can see the euro 1095. that's all we have time for today on worldwide exchange. thanks for watching i'm wilfred frost. >> i'm seema mody. next up is squawk box.

good morning, the brazilian company that co-owns heinz in talks to buy kraft in a price tag that could top $40 billion. and too close for comfort, new questions about google's access to high ranking white house officials during an anti-trust probe of the search giant. and forbes set to unveil it's annual list of the world's best technology investors. we'll tell you who tops the list and who missed the cut this year. it's wednesday march 25th 2015 and squawk box begins right now. >> live from new york where business never sleeps, this is squawk box.

>> good morning and welcome. andrew has details on the deal for craft. >> we are waiting for the deal to cross the tape. we do believe a deal was reached. sources are telling us a transaction has been reached between kraft and heinz. warren buffet and 3g putting the companies together -- it's crossing the tape right now. let me explain what's happening here. we're going to have a transaction where heinz becomes a publicly traded company all over again combining with kraft together. heinz will own 51% of this company. kraft shareholders will own 49% of the company. warren buffet and 3g will be putting in 10 billion