welcome to "worldwide exchange." i'm carolyn roth. >> hi everyone i'm seema mody. here are your headlines around the world. heading for the check-out. ahold and delaze. sterling holds on to its gains on to its gains. >> airbus weighs on the cac 40

leads to the grounding of some carriers. good morning, everyone. it is monday morning, and i'm on -- and m scpxt -- m and a on monday one against. aheld and delhaize soaring over reports of a potential merger. there's much more merit for a deal today than when it was last seriously considered in 2007. other analysts say there was potential for up to 1 billion in euros and cost cuts. let's get another analyst weighing in on the process -- prospect of this deal.

that is bruno monteyne. do you think there's more merit on this deal now than back in 2007? >> i think there's very little merit on the deal today. they rarely do successful mergers together and in this dace of ahold and delhaize it's a worst of combinations. they are not even in the same neighborhoods. the none of this will apply. people are back to the theoretical consulting style even though we save a half a billion here and there, whenever

they get together the one thing they start to do is stop thinking about the consumers. that's a tough area. if you get two retailers focused on cutting costs than keep their eye on the consumer. i think there's very little merit on the deal and i hope it doesn't go through, to be honest. i'm wondering in this deflationary environment that we're in specifically for the super markets, doesn't it make sense to join forces and compete on price? >> it would be if it makes you more efficient. the way you can save costs on the retailer is better buying terms. both are locally very strong. the second part of it is is /*

if there was true cost savings potential. >> bruno taking a step back and looking at the consumer giant space, we've seen a number of high ticket deals in this industry, when you think the data data is causing a brighter outlook on the yourp peen -- -- european market? >> in this case i don't think those kind of arguments apply to this type of deal. thank you so much fewer fine. appreciate it. a very interesting view from

bruno monteyne when he says the potential merger would have little merit. shares in the region closed higher after the pboc cuts interest rates. eunice we should be worried if the pboc is cutting rates yet again for the third time in six months. what is it that they know that we don't already know? >> i wish i knew the answer to that question. there were a lot of people you are who were concerned like you are are concerned about the rapidity of he's these cuts in rapid succession. the economy is obviously slowing down and there's been concern

that slowdown is really accelerating the april numbers in terms of trade, inflation, haven't been very encouraging and are boding poorly for the rest of the week's data as well as the second quarterment so what we saw over the weekend was the government the central bank deciding to cut interest rates. they cut the one-year lending rate by 25 basis points to 5.1%. the deposit rate now stands at 2.25%, and the government had also said that it sees continued downward pressure on the economy and that that downward pressure is large. this move was meant to lower borrowing costs, ease the debt burden on companies as well as governments. now as much as the government wants to support the economy, they also said that they want to deepen the structure reform. we saw the central bank making a decision to make it a little bit easier for banks to set their

own -- set the interest rates on deposits. there's a little bit of wiggle room now for the banks and so that creates a little bit more of competition in the entire industry and makes it a bit more market oriented. guys. thank you so much. u.k. prime minister david cameron is getting straight to work after last week's election victory. there's plenty to do, including getting members for his cabinet. cameron has ruled out giving scott's a second vote. now, with a majority of u.k. lawmakers supporting a referendum, the brexit is set up to head for a lead-up in 2017.

>> good morning to you all as well. i have to say on this brexit issue, i do think current feels are a little overdone. the key reason is i don't think we'll get a vote to leave europe when we do have that vote which, of course, is now on the agenda that referendum to be held by the end of 2017 and the main reason for that is i think the conservative party, the government at the time will continue to be pro europe ahead of that vote. of course, david cameron, all of the main leadership are pro europe. we'll get into this vote. whether or not we get any significant renegotiations which i think can be surprised on, i think the government will be campaigning as part of the we want to stay in europe vote and on top of that u.k. only just got 12.8% of the vote.

some of the conservative party will join them in terms of the campaigning but most of it won't. add to that the fact that the second, third, fourth biggest parties are very much pro europe. i don't think we're going to get a vote to leave when we come to it. julia, what do you think the sound is from brussels? does the eu need britain more than britain needs the eu? >> i think it's interesting how the conservative government are going to approach this vote they are going to be proceed european. what are they going to try get back to europe? right now, they don't have an idea what the u.k. is going to ask for as far as concessions are concerned. there's a lot of confusion in europe what they are going to

ask for. there's talk behind the scenes that they are trying to get something together over the summer. treaty change quite frankly, i don't think they are going to get it. what we could see is a denmark of '92 situation where we got some kind of agreement over what will change and the treaty change will then take place but things get enacted but actual treaty change don't happen right now. come up what you want and europe will talk about it. the most important thing they don't want to see this go into 2017 french general elections and the german elections, as far as europe is concerned, the sooner the better if you think you are going to get treaty change you can probably swing for it. it's a very interesting point. i'm not exactly sure what david

andco will be campaigning for. the u.k. is a much bigger country and this is a clear referendum they know is coming and they know there's also rising anti-e.u. sentiment across europe. they will not want to send david cameron back. the argument being they ignored us. they know they have got common ground to work with it. i don't know exactly what they will ask for and what they will get. i can't imagine they will hard ball david cameron and co. this might be overdone. this isn't going to be a brexit as sudden and uncertain as a grexit would have been. it's also depoliticized as it it

would have been. the idea of what britain gets if we stay in what britain gets if we stay out, the uncertainty we have ataxed to a grexit much lower for markets when we approach the referendum for a brexit. >> the concern is that he's at the mercy of the skeptics and they don't have the offset now with the liberal democrats. there's a concern that he needs to address in europe that he isn't going to come out on the front foot there. we shall see. >> julia, we're going to leave it here. i'm pretty sure we're going to be talking about this for the next two years. >> i'm sure they are going to bring it forward.

we can't do this for two years. please. no more exit wound risks. sterling soaring. the currency is holding on to some of the gains. how much of a continued bounce can we see on the back of election be on the market? >> we're likely to see sterling continue to do well in the wake of the result that we saw in the u.k. election. the markets, the effects markets in particular interpreted the majority a positive result. i think you are very right in bringing up the uncertainties and the event risk associated

with a referendum in the u.k. investors will start to focus on it at some stage and that will if you like temper some of the gains that we're going to see in sterling in the short term. >> when this comes to policy there are no hawks out there. the doves are flying despite the u.k. economy. how doesr perspective on the sterling going forward? >> it's a very interesting time right now. the politics have dominated for quite some time in the u.k. in the run-up to the election. now we're going to see a focus back on the macro economics. they speak for themselves. we're seeing a very solid backdrop in the growth picture and in the inflation picture. so we're likely to see a repricing in the u.k. rates market in favor of rate hikes in the beginning of next year. so the pricing in the rates market and a change in that will

impact sterling significantly in the short term. >> there's an argument against that phyllis, some are saying we may have to wait label longer as far as rate hikes are concerned. what do you make of that view? >> it's not clear that's the case particularly when you see unemployment in the u.k. declining as it has been and particularly when you see the slack in the u.k. economy narrowing in the way in which we've seen it materialize. so like i said you know the growth picture has improved significantly and that is what we think the bank of england will focus on and ultimately that will be a boost to sterling. short positioning in sterling is still quite large because short positions were built up into the election so we're likely to see those short positions -- short positioning unwind in the next few weeks and perhaps months. >> fils thank you so much.

you are going to stick around for a little bit longer. meantime let's shoat you how markets are faring. we are one hour in. we are even-stephen on the stox europe 600. we're focusing back on greece for example. this week we get retail sales out of the u.s. the markets one by one. we're seeing the ftse is hanging on to the gains we saw on friday. they are high 0.4%. the ftse 250 hitting another high. the dax a little bit 40. the cac 40 she hadding 1.4%. we talked about that scplags -- speculation on the retailers face. that's sending the retailers high. in the bond markets, the

spike in yields that's petered out toward the end of last week prices moving lower once again today. the speed and the pace they have changed a little bit. the yield on the ten-year german yield is 57 basis points. remember, we hit 80 basis points last week but well off the record lows that we saw earlier this year. the ten-year u.s. yield actually moved lower swl off the 3.7 levels we saw last week. and the u.k. that yield is 1.9%. the currency markets, the dollar didn't get much direction from the jobs report. if anything it moved lower because we didn't see a rise in yields. the dollar today higher against the japanese yen and also gaining a little bit of strength against the euro because i think the greece concerns they are coming back to the forefront here and after that huge jump on friday holding on to some gains. we're seeing the dollar coming

through 1.5423. putting the pedal to the metal. alibaba, expands its global reach. we get stuck into the adventure sports industry and see if it can stay on course for growth. that's coming up.

why do we do it? why do we spend every waking moment, thinking about people? why are we so committed to keeping you connected? why combine performance with a conscience? why innovate for a future without accidents? why do any of it? why do all of it? because if it matters to you it's everything to us. the xc60 crossover. from volvo.

lease the well equiped volvo xc60 today. visit your local volvo showroom for details.

welcome back. banks in greece are trading sharply lower today with the athens composite under performing the rest of the europe. greek yields also pushing higher this as a critical week kicks off with a euro group meeting kicks off in brussels. there will be no deal to unlock aid today. tomorrow 750 million due to the eu. julia, what squares me -- scares me the most is the health of the greece banking sector? do we expect them to tighten their lending to the greece

commercial banks? >> i think if you look at the comments coming out of greece at the week end, the suggestion is they hope to see some progress. the hope is that the ecb is going to unlock the t bill interest. yes, progress is being made but as you said not expecting a deal today. i think a lot of discussions that are going to take place is the statement that was made by the finance ministry this 89 page document suggesting growth is going to be one thing, we had finance minister saying something else that growth could be significantly weak. from the greek side there's a degree of confusion just who is running this negotiation and you can't start talking about things that totally disagree with the brussels talks that are going on right. now. a few things have to be

discussed right now. >> do you have a feeling about the language about the end game has changed a little bit? these comments are not new but maybe they are coming with increasing frequency. >> i think what we've seen that's different in the last few days is that the imf has said look these numbers don't add up. we do need them write down. i think we all know that the numbers don't hold on. the question is can they come to some agreement. i think we're going to limp on as far as these discussions are concerned. we're by no means at the eleventh hour. time. phyllis, i want to bring you in here. how vulnerable is the euro-dollar exchange rate to everything going on in greece?

shouldn't it be resilient right now because these problems are not new? >> what's interesting in the your row, it's not been trading in rettle to relative risk. that's largely because the risks pertaining to greece have been contained to greece. we haven't seen spillover in terms of financial market uncertainty, in any of the other peripheral countries really. the euro has been trading in isolation. the situation is quite fluid and the keyword if you like in the next few days or weeks is progress. there needs to be some progress made in the negotiations for markets to feel more confident that we're moving ahead. but the uncertainties in the medium term are clearly a little bit more pronounced given the magnitude of the payments that

need to be made. >> at this point, when you take a look it doesn't seem investors are worried. do you think they are miscalculating the potential of a greek exit? >> we're talking about various scenarios here that may or may not materialize. so the euro we think will trade in line with its declining real yield advantage which is really being pushed by ecb policy. that's our view at the moment. if the situation in greece and -- well, in greece in particular, deteriorates if there's some spillover, then we could be inclined to revisit that relationship with the euro. but at the moment it's all about the macro economics, the euro. thank you so much for your time phyllis papadavid. i think there's a lot of noise around these discussions.

they will telegraph it quite well when we're at the stage of reaching some kind of deal on this. as far as the investors are concerned it's the payments. we've got that 750 million euro tomorrow. those are the things that investors want to watch. if they miss one of those payments, that changes the game. could this be a good time to get into greek debt? the country's ten-year yields are at the lowest levels since tsiras have come into power? and we're joined live from the russian capital coming up next.

heading to the check-out. reports suggests dutch super market could finally merge with delhaize. airbus one of its military planes crashes leading to the grounding of some carriers. and chinese markets rally after a rate cut. china agrees to $25 billion

in new deals with russia as the kremlin holds the biggest military parade since the second world war. we are live in moscow. looking at european equity markets it's a bit of a split picture really. the ftse 100 continuing its out performance considering the conservative party's win on friday. the dax is trading lower. we're off by a .27%. and greek shares specifically the banking shares are very much under performing today. the cac 40 also off by 1.3%. let's get to some of the big corporate-specific news we're following this morning. shares in dutch ahold and

belgian food retailer delhaize there's much more merit for a deal today than when it was last seriously considered in 2007. we just spoke to an analyst from bernstein just 20 minutes ago and he said there's no merit at all. he doesn't see any synergies. delhaize higher and ahold higher. in other news airbus are trailing at the bottom of the 600. this after a military crash that killed four of the six crew members. it will continue on testing the airbus. let's take a look at the oil and commodity markets. we're in the green, brent crude at 65.50. wti crude strayeding below $60 a

level. it is up right now ever so slightly. we should point out there are still some bears out there who say the oil prices can move lower as the data continues to surprise. take a look at the currencies. the euro extending its losses. it's been down three consecutive days before the meeting in brussels to discuss greece. euro out 1.116 aagainst the u.s. dollar. in other news china and russia have deals worth $25 billion. this is as chinese leader xi jinping joined them.

speaking after the ceremony angela merckel outlined her hopes for progress in the eu. let's get out to jeff who is standing outside in moscow. that was a very tough balancing act for the chancellor. >> yeah absolutely. the talk once again of a special russian tank and intercontinental ballistic missiles is just a reminder that all of this weaponry just how high the stakes are in this game. she's one of the fewer western leaders who came.

she came on a sunday for a much more low-key event, the presentation of a wreath at the wall of the kremlin at the grave at the unknown soldier and the point of that really was just to acknowledge the shared history, the pain that europe experienced 70 years ago, and the millions upon millions of deaths on both sides. of course the chancellor couldn't come here without expressing an opinion on ukraine and reminding us why there is no relationship here from the u.k. from france from the united states and all of those leaders chose to stay away to express their frustration and concern about the slow pace of discussions over a peace deal over ukraine. one other thing that's worth pointing out here and you mentioned that as you came to me $25 billion worth of deals signed here more than 30 bilateral agreements with the chinese, and as there continues to be this chill in the

relationship between moscow and the west clearly russia is not standing on its lawrls. it is -- laurels. it is filling some of that vacuum by cementing some deals with china. it's clear that president xi jinping standing side by side with vladimir putin. they are sending a message to the rest of the world. there was a statement over the weekend suggesting that the foreign minister will meet face-to-face to secretary of state of the united states to talk about what further progress can be made but at this point just the reminder in this commemoration of just how large the russian military machine is still. let me send it back to you. meantime polish president has conceded defeat in the first

round of elections to his main challenger. he claimed 34.8% of the vote. the incumbent was expected to win but claimed just 32.5% of the vote. german chancellor angela merkel also conceding a vote in bremen. the results deal another blow to the chancellor's ruling party which now holds power in five of germany's 16 regions. the cnbc global council results are in. they are beattying on a rebound for the u.s. economy in the next six months. cfos are most bulish on

north america. however, they also expect a rocky equity market stateside. 60% said a significant stock market correction was likely in the next six months. it gets even more interesting, market participants remain divided over when the first move by the fed might come. the survey saw 44% of respondents say they thought a fed hike would come in this year's fourth quarter. just over 16% estimated it would come early in q 3. the same amount expected it to be pushed back to the first quarter of 2016. the cfo of stat oil told us what to watch out for when the fed does rate dis raise rates? >> we think we expected for

quick shifts when it happens. when it comes is more uncolonel, but it will be come at some point in time and we must be prepared for a rapid change. how much pain would there be even if it's just a 25% basis point rate hike? >> it's very uncertain to say, but, you know history shows that the changes in interest rate market happens rapidly. even if forward curves are steady and slowly growing, you know, when it happens, it happens quickly. let's talk more about the fixed income space. bond yields are rebounding slightly today after the global sell-off in fixed income took a pause on friday buoyed by a u.s. jobs report. let's talk more about the bond trade with the head of development market rate strategy. thank you so much for joining us

here on "worldwide exchange." there's been a dramatic shift in sentiments given the volatility we've seen over the past few weeks. is this a new normal? >> for the moment it seems more more close to a flash-crash if you allow me that term. we had similar conditions in october of 2014. nothing has really changed from a fundamental point of view. the economy is picking up. it has pick up already since the second half of last year so it's not news. we think this is more a technical correction for the moment. >> we haven't seen this type of volatility in the european bond market since the euro zone crisis. when you look at the other part of the story, given that the data has been mixed over the past couple of days the job report, it was good but not that strong the analysts are expecting the feds the not to raise rates from september or even december what does that mean for the treasury market?

>> it's a paradox. you have an dmi that's -- economy that's not necessarily improving. you have an economy that's improving quite rapidly but the central bank has just started its 18-month qe program. it's a strange situation. >> i want to come back to the shake-out that we've seen on this side of the pond over the last two or three weeks. i know that's petered out somewhat thursday and friday. do you have any more information on who that was? who was the main seller here? was it the retail investors, the mart monies domestic versus foreign investors? >> we do not have evidence that the real money community has been selling, that is floating bonds. when you look at the japanese data there has been a flip from net buying to net selling of international debt. but the size of that would not

guarantee, it would not be enough to generate such a sell-off. >> where do you think fair value is for ten-year bund yield for example? it is 80 basis points or is it 1.5%? is it closer to zero? >> for this year it's closer to 2.75,.8, .65, maybe that range. it's not zero. that's clear. because of technical reasons, because of the ecb, but this year the fair value, it's somewhere else. is there enough liquidity in the bond markets to sell even higher from here? >> liquidity has been a bit of an argument to motivate bunds at 0% interest rate. we do not see any pressure on the markets. so liquidity is aban dant. >> 30% of sovern bonds right now

are still in negative territory? it do you think that story will change as we see the economic data improve in the euro zone? >> we have an option to expand the pool of assets we can buy or zbrard it -- disregard it all. minus 20 points floor on its purchase operations just like the bank of japan did in 2012. i don't think there's too much to be red -- read into that. the higher yields are, the more it can buy, the lower yields the less you can buy. it's not really an issue right now. >> do you think they are worried about that because of the kiwi inspired gains and the equities that we've seen and the losses that we've seen in the euro those have been unwound effectively over the last two or three weeks? so in a way their message, that has been unwound too? do you think they are concerned about this? >> let's make it clear. they are not doing qe to make

equity investors are getting richer. when you want to assess the success or the failure, you have to look at the markets. in that respect, they are not doing too bad. the second aspect is we're seeing banks are starting to lend slowly but surely. >> lastly what happens when rates raise? do you think we'll see that big unwind take place? >> the fed is going to be very cautious. we do not expect the fed to be hiking at the pace of let's say alan greenspan. the pace will be very smooth and very cautious not to train too much liquidity from the global markets. thaws because the feds is expected to raise rates in a slow and gradual manner is that right? >> yeah.

it will be very cautious as to how the markets respond once they start reducing liquidity. pleasure to have you on the show. now, let's talk tech. yub -- uberis planning to raise up to $2 billion. that 0 could make the ride-sharing app the most valuable start-up ever. facebook reached a billion dollar valuation before its ipo. we want to hear from you on this dear viewer. at $50 billion, does uber even need to go to public? if you want to join the conversation email us or tweet us. let us know what you think. this does beg the question the private market why even go public when you don't need that capital? >> maybe it is a bubble on the other side. a bubble on the buyers side.

there's a fear of missing out. >> fomo. >> a fomo. i'm wondering at what point when this bubble will burst. this "new york times" article on uber, i think it raised a couple of points. we're now seeing the funding rounds. >> it's a great time to be an entrepreneur from the folks i speak to in silicon valley. yes, interesting story. focus on start-ups and what they are doing and how they are changing the private versus public debate. still coming up on this show, getting muddy, making money. we got stuck into the adventure sports industry and see if it can stay on course for growth. we'll be back in two.

welcome back. the struggling elect giant sharp saw its stock plunge today over rumors of change in its capital base. let's hear more from tokyo. sharp stock nose dived today by 26% as uncertainty over its financial health combined with

the potential share dilution scared off investors. this is all amid reports that the capital base might be reduced by roughly $8 billion. it would take its capital down to 100 million yen which is the upper limit. a drastic cut like this is rare from a large corporation. this balance sheet restructuring itself would not affect shareholder value but in the ongoing saga of its efforts, its main lenders are expected to accept issuance of preferred shares. if either of these increase the shares in circulation, it could dilute the stakes. they are considering various possibilities but no specific decisions have been made yet. all eyes are on their official noux schedule this thursday on

its medium term strategy which includes plans for restoring fiscal strength. that's all from the nikkei. back to you. moving on yemen's houthi have agreed for a five-day cease-fire to allow humanitarian aid reach the country. the truce was first announced on friday. saudi arabia king salman has made a last minute of decision to sit out a series of meetings with president obama this week. instead, he will send the new interior minister. the obama administration has rejected speculation that the move is a diplomatic snub tied to its recent deal with iran. i know you are not entirely surprised by this if it's not a snub in response to iran what is it? >> i think what you have is the u.s. and americans generally fundamentally not understanding

the position that all of their red lines and their dilly dallying over iran over the year what it has meant from their relationship. from the saudi perspective ths going to be a regional security summit. they have all those all the time at home why in the world the head of this very important arab country go to one of these. he can send others to be there in his stead and the deputy crown prince and the crown prince both have experience with the issues they are going to be talking about and one of them is regional security. it's not that big of a surprise bahrain has followed suit as well. they need to have a conversation within themselves what they expect from the saudi is going forward. >> this is a sign that saudi arabia is giving up on the united states. if that's the case what is their viable alternative?

>> i don't think they are giving up on the united states but i think the relationship has shifted despite what so many americans are speaking to over the weekend were saying to me i think at this point for the saudis, they wanted a bigger agreement. if the king was expected to go to washington and to go to camp david and there was not going to be some historic graeme whereby basically the united states is guaranteeing the security of the region, for them it's not worth it. the united states needs to understand if they want the support from the gulf countries and they want the support going into this nuclear agreement with tehran thr going to have to bring more to the table. moving on. let's talk mud and money. 8,000 people took on the lark -- largest assault course on the so-called dirty weekend. it's on beganized by rat race

adventure sports. let's talk to david powell join using here. tell us about your company and how did you come up with this idea around mass participation sports? >> my co-founder and i have always liked working hard and getting outdoors and doing lots -- some call it crazy -- we saw it across australia. we have done marathons and we found that taking sport a bit different direction from just marathon direction, getting muddy going up mountains, seem to find an audience. >> do you think they have become more popular because of the digital revolution which allow consumers to do you mean these experiences and share it with their friends? >> absolutely. no doubt. what we've seen in the u.k. market is the marathon running has been well-known and people start to branch out. they look to find those water cooler moments. they try to do different things.

the american companies come over from the u.s. with their concepts use social media so well. >> it's quite a competitive space. you've got tough mudder spartan race how do you make money in that area and remain competitive? what kind of scale do you have to get to to come out profitably? >> i want to say you want to look at 2,000 people in the event. that's probably the magic number. there's costs behind it. get that customer and return customer and word of mouth. without that you've got to get that. priceless. >> in terms of mass sporting events, does it get evens crazier from here. that's the trend we've seen the last couple of years, with people dressing like zombyes or do we go back to racing from a

to b? >> i think marathon growth we had in the north of england, we're seeing black pool york manchester, all selling out. they want to tell their mate this week i did this or i'm trepding to this. >> you know it's going to get crazier, fighting snakes boxing while running. people want to stay active. sharing those experiences in the world. >> video is becoming huge for us. we did a warm-up run in our underwear on friday night before this event. we had hundreds of people. the video was viewed instantly tens of thousands of people. >> david powell co-founder at rat race adventure sports. carolyn you and i need to do this. twb it would be fun. moving on superheros

maintain their grip on the box office this week. "the avengers" second best weekend ever trailing only the original "avengers" it has not opened in china yet. the spring art auction season is well under way and records could be broken. chriss chrissties is holding a sale this new york. the top item for bid, this picasso up for bid it could fetch at least $140 million. the record for any artwork at auction is $142.4 million for a francis bacon portrait sold in 2014. let's have a look at these european markets. i don't think we're in bbl territory anylonger.

the ftse 100 maybe but still not not. this is following on from friday's impressive rally. we're higher by 0.4%. maybe those greek concerns greepg back in the picture. elsewhere we're seeing plenty of speculation. in the retail space, ahold and delhaize. let's take a look at u.s. futures. >> s&p and nasdaq indicating down by 26 points. putting the pedal to the metal. more on coming up. xxx

. welcome, everyone, to the show. you are watching "worldwide exchange" and i'm seema mody. >> and i'm carolyn roth. >> u.s. futures lower after a mixed jobs report helped ease rates. heading to the check-out. reports suggest dutch super market ahold could final merge with delhaize. uber shifts into high gear.

alibaba goes shopping. and it was the health of the economy, of the u.s. economy that was front and center last week sending stocks higher on friday. that jobs report was good but not too good to reprice fed expectations of when we will see that rate hike. a better than 1% gain on the dow. s&p gaining 3.5%. a lot of focus on the consumer and how they will fare when we do in fact see those higher prices trickle into gas prices going up as well. taking a look at the nasdaq crawling back to 5,000, much of that having to do with apple which saw a better than 2% gain

on friday. let's get a look at the jobs report. as we told you, better than expected but still not too good that of course sends some investors into thinking the rate hike will not come in june perhaps september or even december. the jobless rate at 5.4%. let's take a look at futures. what can we expect on this monday morning. right now, red arrows across the screen. investors taking a breather after that stellar rally on friday. the dow now 30 points and nasdaq down 8 and here in europe we're looking at markets modestly lower now. one thing keeping traders on edge is the meeting in brussels finance ministers around the euro zone meeting to discuss greece's financial fate. i want to focus on the uk. the ftse 100 seeing a rally on friday.

that sent investors into the u.k. market. they are trading the 7,070, seeing a gain of 24 points. the longer term risk is that potential brexit. let's have a look at the bond markets. we have seen quite a big sell-off in the last two or three weeks. that tapered off thursday and friday. we are moving lower once again in terms of prices to the up side. and the u.k. paper is at 1.9% for the ten year and the currency markets, the dollar was on the back but now we're seeing it move a little bit higher against the japanese yen. the rur row -- euro down .37%. that's also due to greece and the jitters the market is

feeling there. not benefitting too much from that rate cut, the extended rate cut that we saw overnight from china. on that note let's get out to singapore. didn't we see a rally in china, though? >> we did. and the rate cuts that we saw over the weekend, the third one in six months was a good excuse for a lot of people to get back into the market. remember that mainland china equities did suffer last week. so as i said it did encourage some risk-taking as did the gold goldi goldilocks that you and seema were referring to. remember, last week werm see the market on the chs defensive largely because of fears of more action more measures to really clamp down on margin debt which has been one of the factors that's been propelling this

market higher. we backed off last week but as i said the rate cut over the week was an excuse to get back into the market. to all intents and purposes it's probably not going to stop there. it's got more work to do to keep the economy on an even keel. we will get another test for these markets in mainland china later on this week. we get a big data deluge. retail sales and also industrial output. it will be interesting to see whether those numbers come out on the softer side and whether it vin did i -- vindicates it. two big issues dominant

cameron's agenda. scotland and europe. he's ruled out giving scotland another referendum. the brexit threat is set to dominate politics in the lead up to 2017 xt. outside the houses of parliament as i was last week much much more relaxed atmosphere this time, although the caliber of my guests has gone the other direction. i've joined by sir martin. >> delighted to be here. like father like son. >> you are too kind. martin, let's talk about this election. extraordinary late swing to the conservative party. >> that assumes that the

pollsters were right before the election. >> nonetheless, a resounding victory for the conservative party. who deserves the credit for that? david cameron, george os born something else? >> i think it was the economy, you have to give the prime minister tremendous credit for being focused on the campaign and the guru behind clearly performed brilliantly but i think at the end of the day, speaking personally as a voter, it graitd gratd a little bit with me about the them trying to lock david cameron out of 10 downing street. i think that was a bit outrageous. i think that was the icing on the cake or the thing that really moved it. obviously, there was a move away and there was a move away from the liberal diagrams but i

think the real guts of it when there was a series of comments that she was determined to keep the conservatives out of it. i think she pushed it too far and the irony of course and we'll talk about the eu you'll have the prime minister who is in favor of staying in the eu arguing the case with who else but that person. a great loss for the labor party. is that a ringing endorsement of everything that tony blair stood for? >> it certainly gave the blairitis ammunition over the week. people win elections when they have a strong leader who is welcomed by the electorate. when there's a strong economy. after all, the conservatives, david cameron came under heavy criticism for moving the

conservatives more to the center. it's still grounds for debate. i think it just tells you the basic lessons. you got to have a strong leader. the economy stupid and last but not least, you must move the parties to the center. the extremes don't worry. it might work in america but not with the electorate. who is the next leader? >> probably the best leader is sitting in america, david miliban. i think it's a great pitty. that issue, when the labor party chose ed as opposed to david, as the chief rabbi said to me in the old testament, there are six examples of the younger brother going against the older brother, the younger brother always wins. i literally heard that boris is

getting a cabinet position. >> i think he's done an extremely good job as the mayor of london. very articulate. it will be interesting to see how it develops over time. around 2020. let's talk about this brexit. it's top of everyone's agenda since the election result. we've got a referendum coming, but is the issue of a brexit for british business is it overdone or under done? >> it's not overdone. just talking to clients after the conservatives won, and people were amazed by that except you, were projecting that there would be a hung parliament or a labor-snp coalition. it's not done at all. the uncertainty over brexit the uncertainty over the eu referendum is a real issue. the sooner it takes place, from

that point of view the better it will be, because we'll get that uncertainty one way or the other out of the way. i personally and i have to emphasize this as a personal view i personally believe that we're better in than out. if we want to change things we should change things from within, not without. >> very quickly, if we do vote to leave the eu do you consider if you move wpp's headquarters out of the u.k.? >> it will cause tremendous disruption. i don't think we fully understand if we did make that decision, how far it would go. interestingly, although the pollsters are now totally discredited what we've seen in the latest polls we've been doing is staying in favor. i think the referendum comes quickly to remove that uncertainty. on the other hand, the western european economies are improving. we're seeing it in spain and italy, starting to see psychological changes in france and germany is very strong. the general environment probably

will be more positive the longer we wait for referendum but to remove the uncertainty, get it over quickly. >> sir martin thank you very much. >> thank you, wilfred. >> tremendous disruption, that's the message. zblm you think fears of a brexit are overdone but maybe you can send him that blog. let's take a look at today's other top stories. dutch retail era hold and belgian rival delhaize soaring on speculation of a merger. analysts say there's much more merit for a deal today than when it was last seriously considered in 2007. the analysts also said a merger could give a boost to u.s. brand which includes the super market chains stop and shop. other analysts through their

sport behind -- support behind a deal. so far the companies haven't set much. if we do actually see a combination, these two companies, they would be dominant in the northeast of the united states and they would have combined revenues of $45 billion. i just wonder if there's any regulatory concern, any execution risk about that. >> which of course we've seen in the past given the flurry of deals that we've seen. i think what makes this deal so interesting is that of course corporates are sitting on a lot of cash right now so that gives them more room to put money toward m and a but debt is also very cheap. there's thinking that rates will rise we must get these deals locked in. taking a look at consumer deals, though carolyn, consumer deals so far this year up 148%. a lot of focus on diversification and consolidation. a lot of that has to do by focus

on smaller more niche firms. >> i think you make a couple of really good points here seema and i want just add in this deflationary environment, you need to team up you need to join forces with others to have the ability to raise prices, especially as super measuring are concerned. >> such a challenging space. still to come on the show russia and china get down to business as moscow marks the 70th anniversary of v-e day. it's more than a network and the cloud. it's reliable uptime. and multi-layered security. it's how you stay connected to each other and to your customers. with centurylink you get advanced technology solutions, including an industry leading broadband network, and cloud and hosting services - all with dedicated responsive support. with centurylink as your trusted technology partner

you're free to focus on growing your business. centurylink. your link to what's next. there's some facts about seaworld we'd like you to know. we don't collect killer whales from the wild. and haven't for 35 years. with the hightest standard of animal care in the world, our whales are healthy. they're thriving. i wouldn't work here if they weren't. and government research shows they live just as long as whales in the wild. caring for these whales, we have a great responsibility to get that right. and we take it very seriously. because we love them. and we know you love them too.

zblrttle these are the headlines. alibaba take a stake in on line retailer zulily worth $150 million. goldman sachs will reportly pay $140 million to settle a foreign exchange rigging lawsuit. a show of military might by russia as the country staged its biggest ever military parade.

prominent guests were china president xi jinping. vladimir putin took a swipe at the u.s. for an attempt to create a uni-polar world. >> it's interesting. there were over 30 world leaders invited to attend a march in red square and the military procession and we know of those who didn't accept that invitation, the united states france and the u.k. chief amongst them so the prime position right next to president putin was taken by chinese leader xi jinping, for the first time ever there was a column of chinese soldiers in the parade. just a reminder as the relationship with chinese seems

to be strengthening even as the west still remains to be a fallout over the ukraine crisis. we did see angela america -- merckle came on saturday. there was a low-key wreath laying ceremony at the tomb of the unnamed soldier. i think it important that germany expresses contrition and commemoration of this 70th year anniversary. just to step away from that for a moment when it comes to the other reason why the chinese leadership was here $25 billion worth of deals signed on friday over 30 agreements to do with energy supply and military and security-related agreements. just worth noting i think in passing as we continue to focus on sanctions and the impact of sanctions, actually economy here seems to be doing a little bit

better. negative 2% growth rate for the first quarter, but this very rapid rise in the oil price and some strengthening in the ruble means that we might actually see growth in 2015 in the russian economy after all in spite of the ongoing sanctions. back to you. >> jeff thank you so much for that. moving on alibaba has bought more a 9% stake in zulily. an sec filing on friday shows that alibaba bought the shares in zulily. reports say alibaba is not interested in buying zulily outright. uber is planning to raise up $2 billion in new funding which could reportedly value the

company at $50 billion or more. facebook reached a $50 billion valuation before its ipo. we want to hear from you on this at 50 billion, does uber even need to go to public? join the conversation. email us or tweet us. i would say no they don't need to go public if they are getting this type of valuation in the private market. they also have a variety of different investors that void the advice and counsel they need in order to stay and grow is. >> this begs the question what are they doing with all the cash that they are raising right now. raj, he also shares those concerns. he says i need no reason for the new funding when it is already growing rapidly. how much faster can it get? basically they are going spoiled

with all cash and funding from the private investors right now who are certainly hoping they will get really good returns. i wonder if that's a bubble that's forming. >> i disagree. clearly, there is room or capital that is needed in order to fund their expansion, especially if they are trying to make some big deals. >> is it the best allocation of capital though? that's what you got to wonder. >> yeah exactly. on a programming note coming up later today, steve leaseman has a first on cnbc with john williams who is a voter on the fmoc this year. that's today on "squawk on the street." saudi arabia king salman snubs the white house in a last-minute decision to skip talks with president obama. we'll tell you more coming up after this break. ♪ building aircraft,

the likes of which the world has never seen. this is what we do. ♪ that's the value of performance. northrop grumman.

welcome back. yemen yemen's houthi rebels have agreed to a five-day cease-fire to allow humanitarian aid. saudi arabia's king salman has made a last-minute decision to sit out on a meeting with

president obama later this week. he will send a crown prince. hadley what's really going on here? >> several different things, but the question really is at this point does the united states fundamentally understand that there has been a shift in this relationship because if you were watching what happened over the weekend, we had these talks with secretary of state kerry in rihad and there's still a disconnect with what's really going on. for the americans they felt there was constructive dialogue the saudis don't want to hedge themselves in terms of ceasing hostilities. at this point, we look at the

meeting in united states the question is why would king salman go to camp david without any agreement that the united states has the back of saudi arabia. if that's not happening, he can have a security summit at home. he has them all the time. he doesn't need to go to washington to have one. if there's not going to be an overarching agreement there, they basically just said to me when it comes to the security global shipping lanes, the americans will always be there to make sure that that is a secure zone at the same point, the question then becomes what are the americans really hoping to gain by this going forward? >> a lot of questions. >> no answers at this point. hadley -- >> all these questions in the middle east and the answers are you going to like. >> take a look at futures.

here's what we're expecting on monday morning, after that megarally on wall street friday, can it continue? not at the moment. the dow indicating a lower open by 30 points.

heading to the check-out, report suggest that dutch super market ahold could merge with delhaize. uber shifts into high gear with plans for a new funding round that could drive it up to

$50 billion making it the most valued start-up ever. and alibaba goes shopping with a stake in zulily. if you are just tuning in thanks so much for joining us here and here's a look at how markets are faring ahead of the u.s. open. friday those stocks and bonds moving higher on friday in response to the report. nasdaq reporting a 2.7 again. investors many times look to the small caps as a leading indicator, premarket suggesting a lower open. european markets lower with the exception of the london markets which continues to rally on the back of david cameron's victory in the general election. conservatives remember many times seen good for business as well as markets but the long term risk is the potential

brexit. that referendum expected to take place in 2017. the bright spot is the ftse 100. we're well above 7,000. across europe, we are lower, the dax down 49 points. focus will once again on greece because we have finance ministers across the euro zone meeting in brussels discussing greece's fate. we have that 750 million euro payment due. cac 40 down 1.34% and the at thissal -- italian market is down. central asia shares in the region closed higher after the pboc cut interest rates for the third time in six months. this after a recent bout of weaker than expected data including trade figures and manufacturing of pmi. let's move -- let's get more on

that story. three rate cuts. will it be four eunice? >> i think allot of people think it's going to be four maybe five. this is definitely a widely expected decision and people believe it won't be the last given all the weakness in the economy. what we've seen so far is the economy is slowing down and what's worrying people that slowdown appears to be accelerating. the april data disappointed the trade figures, as well as inflation, a lot of people believe this bodes poorly for the data we're going to see later this week as well as for the second quarter. the government over the weekend decided to do something about it they came in with an interest rate cut of 25 basis points. we're seeing the one-year lending rate stands at 5.1% and the deposit rates fell to 2.25%. overall, the commentary that the central bank had was that they

still see heavy downward pressure on the economy. they said that they want to support the economy with this move by really decreasing the debt burden on companies as well as dwofts -- governments. as much as the central bank wants to support the economy, they also say they want to really support some of the structural reforms, and so they have decided to lift the ceiling on deposit rates as well. all of those moves very much expected, and seema, we're expecting to see more. we'll leave it there. thank you so much. the strong u.s. dollar and sharp decline in oil prices have led mp analysts to warn of an earnings recession this season. that may no longer be the case. they are now predicting that company earnings are set to grow this after 71% of the 477 firms have reported so far beat expectations. meanwhile, it notes that energy companies have been the biggest

surprisers with halliburton, exxon mobil, and chevron all beating forecasts. howard, a pleasure to have you on the show. there was all this fear of earnings recession and how that would derail or weigh on u.s. equities in the outperformance we've been seeing but clearly we're about 80% through the earnings season and so far not too bad. >> the numbers are easily beating. the bottom line is two fold the earnings have done significantly better than we thought. part of that is because they were managed down. the joke at the bar is basically that managing your earnings should be an mba requirement now in school. it's what you are expecting. we're expecting a lot worse. the numbers have gone down. not just energy but of course all the sectors, so the numbers came in better and the energy as you said especially exon came in -- >> that's what was surprising. >> they have also been able to manage with the dollar. it's not all u.s.

there's a lot abroad. so q 1 sneaked by. we actually had a small increase. q 2 is expected to be about a 4 or 5% increase over that. it was 7 to 8%. but q 1 had came in better. q 1 has been forgiven. after friday's numbers, everything is good it's been forgiven but the emphasis now is on q 2. what it is what the numbers will be and it has to show -- >> what's going to drive earnings growth? is it going to be financial engineering or actual organic sales growth? >> let me say one other note is that cash flow was not bad during the first quarter. it was actually pretty good. for the second quarter, continuation, energy to stabilize and show some kind of increase. technology and financial are the earnings that are driving the market right now on the baseline and they are doing well. health care continues on. they are doing much better. they have got higher sales, more people covered under the new health care plan.

margins have been squeezed but they are making up for it in additional sales. q 2 is where we're going for now. >> if you drill a little bit deeper and you look at some of the investment numbers from these companies, they are not investing that much. they are buying other companies because we're in this huberistic phase maybe, but on the other hand they are giving so much back to shareholders in terms of buybacks and dividends, that tells you there isn't a whole lot of optimism around. >> it's hard to get a good return. a couple of items, first of all, shareholder return via buybacks and dividends are at a record. last year it was 409 billion in the s&p alone. companies are doing significant more on buybacks. this year for the first quarter, fifth quarter in a row, where one in five companies

reduced their share count. what that did is gave the earnings per share, which we were somewhat disappointing even an additional boost. they are doing that. companies are returning record amounts. however, they are not being generous. their payout what they give to shareholders compared to what they actually made is about 37 38%. historically it's 51%. so yes, you are getting more of the shareholders but not a higher percentage. >> they are ramping up their share prices. that's an old trick that managers have employed for decades but they are not really investing into their companies and economy. >> investing in capital expenditures, which also for the fourth qawrer and for 2014 made a record in capital expenditures, but it's not in what we want it to be. it's not creating jobs. it's higher productivity. do 110%, now i want you to do 120%. >> and the bigger part of the

story, what that means for appetite going forward. let's take a look at other stop toirs. goldman sachs is expected to pay nearly $130 million to settle its part of the u.s. government's lawsuit accusing banks of rigging the foreign exchange market. the wall street journal reports a deal might be reached in the next few weeks. the suit alleges that they improperly shared information about their clients in chat rooms. bernie madoff's key man died late last week. he was 58. he pled guilty to charngs of conspiracy as part of a cooperation agreement. he was the star witness in the

trial of five former madoff employees testifying that they faked records. a deal was reportedly struck to buy curb man & wakefield for $2 billion. it also would provide a strong number to the world's top dominant firms. still coming up on the show, uber may still be riding around with a lot of cash in the trunk. how and why it's seen its valuation soar to record heights? next.

once again, greece and the creditors, the euro zone finance ministers in europe are meeting in brussels today but we're not expecting a deal. ahead of that a government spokesman for greece greece is not looking into plan b, though they do want acknowledgment of progress in the talks at euro group. i'm not sure they are not going to get that. meantime an imf official says the imf is prepared to support efforts to that greece remains in the euro. >> we've seen it weigh in a

little bit today. alibaba has bought more than a 9% stake in zulily. it snapped up the shares as zulily shares plunged recently following disappointing earnings. they hold flash sales for clothes primarily for women and children. shares are down more than 40% this year due to reports of sharply slowing sales growth. they are not interested in buying zulily outright. uber's valuation may be rising just as fast as it's global expansion plans and popularity among consumers. we have the details from land dan. yuber is reportedly planning on raising $2 billion. that would make the ride sharing app the most valuable start-up

ever only facebook has done that in 2011. it's been a meteoric rise. uber has secured more than $5 billion in debt and equity from investors in the five years since its launch. it expanded aggressively into more than 250 markets. offering a $5 flat fee car pooling pooling. march, it made its first publicly disclosed. many start-ups are staking less time between funding rounds.

since the start of 2013 more than 20 tech start-ups have held three rounds of funding within 18 months. among them now uber. it may be limited to now so call uni corns. the biggest quarter in almost 15 years. back other to you. 15 years. moving on dutch retailer ahold and belgian rival delhaize soorg on reports over a merger. analysts say there is much more merit for a deal today than when it was last seriously considered in 2007. the analysts said a merger could give a boost to ahold's u.s. brands which includes stop and

shop. an lifts through their support behind a deal forecasting a potential for up to $1 billion euros in cost cuts. what is for sure if this deal actually goes through, ahold would really strengthen its position in the northeast of the u.s. 45 billion $is in combined revenues. a lot more pricing power potentially. this type of european m scpxt a speaks to growing confidence in the region. there's definitely been a change in sentiment over the past couple of months. a lot of that's been filled by economic easing. superheros maintain their grip on the global box office this week. the avengers age of ultron took

in a 66% of the market this weekend. the film has now made $875 million world wide. and it has opened in china just -- it hasn't opened in china just yet. this spring art auction season is well under way and records could be broken. christies is holding a sale of 20th century artists in new york. the top item this picasso masterpiece which could fetch up to $140 million. the record is $142 million. here are your headlines, u.s. futures point lowers as equities shrug off another pboc

rate cut. ali baba takes a stake in zulily for $150 million. and goldman sachs will reportedly pay $130 million to settle a foreign exchange rigging lawsuit. we're back in two.

reports coming in that russian foreign minister and u.s. secretary of state are to meet on may 12th to discuss ukraine, syria, yemen and iran. that is according to reports that the russian foreign minister and the u.s. secretary of state are schedule to meet on may 12th to discuss a variety of items. let's look at european markets. we've got the dax, cac 40 and ftse trading in the red.

that's quite a big slide. the rate cut coming out of china not really helping either. maybe what we're seeing is a little bit of profit-taking some concerns about greece creeping back into the picture. the ftse 100 is still bucking the trend. higher by .22%. ths a continuation of the celebration of the conservatives big win on friday. let's take a look at u.s. futures. right now, markets suggesting a lower open. this is coming after that megarebound we saw on friday, thanks to that jobs report. it showed a sharp increase from the previous month but the figure came in just shy of forecast jobs and wage growth for the month of march were also revised lower. pushing out investors expectations on the timing of the fed rate hike. we were told what we should be

watching out for when the fmoc eventually tightens in. listen in. >> i think when it comes to interest rates, i think we must be expected for quick shifts when they first happen so that is what we need to take into account. when it comes is more uncertain, but it will come at some point in time and then we must be prepared for a rapid -- let's get you a run down on what to watch out for the day. as for earning, we get reports from drug maker activist dish network, dean foods and rack space. pleasure to have you on the show. thanks for waking up early with us. let's talk aboutle volatility that we've been seeing in the equity market. one day we're up big, the next day we're down a lot. does this type of volatility tell you there's some confusion in the markets or is this what we should expect ahead of a

potential rate rise? >> i think what we're seeing is what we've been seeing over the last couple of years. one of struggles we have here as traders and investors trying to understand what the economic data means in relation to what the fed thinks it's means as as opposed to to the actual earnings and what we should be doing. the confusion, the fed and coming rate hike adds another level of confusion for traders. the fed is going to move. i think that it's going to be one of the most forecast fed rate hikes we've seen. i think it's going to come this year. most likely looking like december depending on the retail sales number. i think that's the issue. when it comes, it's probably going to be the only one over the course of 12 months. there might be another 25 basis point cut after that. the buying will come back in. i think the u.s. economy is strengthening and the equity markets, there's no sign of pe

recession at all. >> it's interesting, bond markets really grabbing the attention of investors, bob. there's been a depleting pool of safe haven assets. where else will u.s. markets find it? >> i think one of the things you are seeing is the return of capital is one of the reasons why people are going into german bunds and i think the fear is starting to go away. once europe got a little bit more aggressive and you are seeing china get more aggressive again, the average investor, the they are going to hike rates a little bit. a lot of analysts pushing it back to 2016. i don't think you are necessarily looking for safe haven unless there's some sort of a crisis. you are starting to look where you can grab return. >> we're 11 days into the month of may.

what do you say sell in may, go away, come back in october -- august and september, what are we doing? >> every old adage needs to be put away. we don't know how it's going to be when the fed starts to come out of this record money printing. we don't know how any market is going to react. all of those things have to be put away. what you are seeing is the employment costs index is showing a slight dip in terms of the growth of earnings by individuals, so i think the retail sales number becomes very important and that pushes a lot of those old adages aside, if you sell in may and go away you may miss the next move. i think that volatility, you have to be a strong stomach to be involved. >> absolutely. that is the name of the game. bob, thanks so much for joining us. coming up later on the show steve leaseman speaks to san francisco fed president john williams. that does it here on "worldwide

exchange." thank you so much for watching. "squawk box" is next. bye-bye. xxx

with xfinity from comcast you can manage your account anytime, anywhere on any device. just sign into my account to pay bills manage service appointments and find answers to your questions. you can even check your connection status on your phone. now it's easier than ever to manage your account. get started at xfinity.com/myaccount

. good morning. we have a global market alert. china cutting interest rates for the third time in six months in an attempt to jump start its sluggish economy. a sluggish china economy. of course sluggish for them is different than what's sluggish for us. the future of the euro zone in question as greece quickly runs out of money and eu members decide whether to hand the country another life line. and uber valuation, the ride sharing start-up plans to raise another chunk of change and that could value the company at $50 billion or more.

"squawk box" starts right now on monday, may 11th. this is "squawk box," live from new york where business never sleeps. ♪ ♪ good morning, everybody, and welcoming back to "squawk box" here on cnbc. congratulations to ring -- ricky fowler for winning the players championship. many are calling it the greatest win. he played the final six holes in six under par. there was a three hole play-off at the end and a sudden death play-off win over kevin kisner. first of all, let's get down to business. check out the u.s. equity futures right now. it looks like at this point some moderate declines. dow futures are down about 31 points below fair market value. the nasdaq