good morning, everybody. it's friday. welcome to "street signs." i'm louisa bojesen here. your headlines, european stocks still on track to post their best week since january 2015 despite opening in the red since turning a little bit positive. outflows at pimco still a problem, but the ceo remains upbeat. >> it is a challenge of the industry, but we're willing to take up the challenge and make 2016 the turning point.

>> and turning heads after sales after gucci overperform. we hear exclusively from the ceo of the group as shares hit ten-week highs. and david cameron must go back to the table after a long night of talks yielding no agreement for an eu deal for britain. hi, even. welcome to "street signs." what you're looking at here might not look like much, but it actually will be later on in the day. this is the scene setting live out of brussels. leaders will be arriving today for day two of the talks over britain's position within the eurozone. it's important stuff. despite all-night talks, there's still no deal for u.k. prime minister david cameron in brussels. the second day of meetings there

due to start very soon as he looks to convince eu leaders that his vision of a new relationship is the right one to woo british voters ahead of a referendum. julia is still in brussels. so talking all night long but no deal yet. >> reporter: no deal as far as we know, louisa. they're still going to talk this morning. david cameron not leaving until the early hours of this morning, 5:30 a.m. he's certainly burning the midnight oil. of course, there was always going to be theatrics around this. you have to say if it is about theatrics, then he's going for an oscar-winning performance here. it's all the same issues we've been talking about for the last 24 hours. obviously at the heart of the debate is restricting welfare payments for eu workers operating in the u.k. we know brussels offering an emergency break, but apparently david cameron going in there saying, look, we want this emergency break to apply to 13 years, an initial seven years, then two sets of an additional

three years. i think that's taken everybody aback. that's a lot to talk about. you have countries like france and belgium wanting a self-destruct clause in here to prevent those that want the u.k. to leave saying, look, you can vote for a brexit here and go back to brussels and try and negotiate better terms. the other eu leaders saying we're not going to allow that to happen. there's a whole host of elements in here. david cameron saying, guys, we don't care how long this takes, we want to come out with the best deal. obviously david cameron being lampooned by the u.k. press, saying he's already failed as far as this negotiation is concerned. i think everything to play for, louisa. we just have to see what comes out of these talks. and of course, after 12 hours, how much longer can they go on for. >> they're probably keen to wrap them up swiftly, one would think. it's also a question of how much you really get out of continuing discussions if you know what the sticking points are, as you lay out. at some point, you just need to make a decision, one would

assume. julia, we're going to be talking in about 25 minutes' time. we'll have you back on again and chat with one of our guests here and get more analysis. want to get you back to the markets for a second. thank you very much, julia. here in europe, we're looking at our european markets opening slightly higher. the successes toxx europe 600, as seen here. we were initially called a couple points down. we opened a little lower, i should say. what we're seeing on our main you're me european markets over the course of the week is a little bit of green out there. we're coming back from the atrocious week that we had last week. the ftse higher by around 5% since monday. the dax up by 5.5%. cac up just over 6%. the ftse mib higher by almost 4% in trade. definitely seeing buying back into some of the unloved territories of last week. meanwhile in asia, a warning from china's central bank as its

vice governor says excess i loosening of monetary policy would create asset bubbles and increase downward pressure on the yuan. the shanghai composite ended the day slightly lower. over the last five sessions, though, it's up by around 3.5%, which basically means that's it's biggest weekly gain in two months. dan joins us once again out of singapore. what do we need to know about what's been taking place in asia in your session? >> hey, louisa. really interesting session in asia actually. stocks ending mostly flat for the final trading day of the week. low oil prices following on from that really weak lead-in from wall street. that was really enough to set the tone for the day. interesting because japan's nikkei 225 led declines. it was up by 1.4%. a stronger yen hitting some key export names. toyota, nissan, and sony. mazda shares also lower in the session on news it's recalling

about 2 million vehicles with potentially faulty takata air bag systems. chinese markets were also lower. news suggesting the pboc could inject up to $1.5 billion in money markets. not enough to support sentiment. the shanghai comp finishing relatively flat. energy and financial stocks also leading the decline. we saw the asx 200 in australia down 0.8%, losing 39 points. also, across the korean strait, we saw the kospi finishing up at just 0.4%. only a few bright spots asia side this session. interesting to also note the majority of the markets are finishing the week higher. back over to you. >> dan, have a fantastic weekend. are you up to no good? >> of course. >> excellent. good. that's what we like to hear. we'll see you back again bright eyed and bushy tailed on monday.

dan murphy joining us live out of singapore. now, comments from iraq's oil minister overnight leave the door open for iraq to join a russian-saudi backed plan to freeze oil output at january levels. he described moves to help shore up crude prices as, quote, a step in the right direction. neither iraq nor iran have officially agreed on the production freeze. oil's rally in the wake of the talks fade overnight as u.s. crude stocks hit a record high. an oil analyst at barclays, good morning. >> good morning. >> so you have saudi, qatar. you've got venezuela, russia all talking about freezing output. you have azerbaijan that said no way. now you have iran and iraq seemingly leaving the door open to moving towards that direction. >> yeah, iran and iraq are playing it quite well essentially because they know that the other producers that you've just mentioned are

producing at their maximum bandwidth already. as for iran, they still have another 600, 700 per day to go. they've been limited because of sanctions. what's interesting from an investor's point of view, as much as saudi arabia decided to do this to bring stability to the market, it actually brings more volatility because if you are shorting oil, you had certainty on saudi policy before this happened. now with the whole freeze, investors are increasingly thinking, oh, is this a shift in saudi policy? the shorts are getting more nervous now. that's why you're seeing the price action reflecting that. >> is it a shift in policy? when you look at what some of the leaders have been saying, the oil leaders, it's kind of the first time they've voiced -- that they've given a hint that there could be something wrong with regards to the oil mechanisms. >> well, there is a small shift coming through in terms of the

thinking from the saudi camp. in december 2014, that i had said whether it goes to $30, $20, $10, we don't care. we'll stick with our policy. the fact they've come out now having a deal with russia, who they have political differences with in syria, for instance, it just shows there is a willingness to create some sort of stability in terms of telling investors that they will not be pumping more. again, it's a case where they've reached their bandwidth and know iran is coming back. it's a political power play from various angles essentially. >> i've seen some commentary suggesting iran is the stumbling block in talks to limit oil production. i kind of scratch my head over that and think, really, a stumbling block? if anything, their rhetoric has been very forthcoming, given the bind they're in, trying to get back up and operating with the rest of the world having these sanctions lifted after a long

time. >> even their statements have changed from literally four weeks ago when they were saying, oh, we will flood the market with oil once our sanctions are removed, et cetera. now they're also sort of saying that, oh, we welcome the deal so far. we're not included in it, but we welcome efforts by other producers. >> not exactly flooding the market, is it? >> iran? >> yeah. >> well, they were using statements such as those just prior to the sanctions being removed, saying, oh, we'll be adding more barrels no matter what the price is because it's our right to get in and get back to pre-sanction levels. they've also said before their new year, which is on the 20th of march, they'll be adding another 200 kb per day in terms of exports. it's a case where iran needs to come back. >> the u.s. inventory data, this rise in u.s. stockpiles. how much should we be reading into that at the moment? we get the inventory data all the time. is anything significantly

changing? >> well, we have 73 million, 74 million barrels of operational capacity. they're inching towards it. the fear is that now that u.s. refinery margins are falling, there will be cuts. ie, crude will not be processed as much. we might see a speeding up of that inventory building process. that said, traders are getting very creative in terms of moving crude oil away from that into the gulf coast. now with the export ban being removed, we're hearing stories of total trying to do deals where oil flows from kushing to the rest of the world. >> when you say getting creative, as in finding new routes? >> it's one of the first instances where they've started thinking of exporting it. >> because the u.s. is allowed to export now as well. >> exactly. so the time spreads for wti are

incentivizing. >> is the u.s. exporting? >> a few barrels. not to a large extent. with the differential widening, you see it more incentivized. >> which makes sense. so what do you make of the price of oil then? brent, 34.24. the first weekly rise in three weeks. that has a lot of people very excited this week. >> february is an interesting month for crude. if you look at seasonal, 13 of the last 15 februarys, crude has risen in february. again, it's just purely seasonal. it's one of the best months for crude. however, this month's been special given the output freeze, et cetera. we still think there's more weakness in q-1 just because refinery margins are week, there won't be enough crude runs, et cetera. the demand side is looking softer as well. >> excellent.

miswin, thank you very much for being with us this morning. always a pleasure having you on. oil analyst at barclays. now, a cease-fire is due to come into effect in syria today, but there are doubts over whether opposing forces in the region will respect the truce. let's talk a bit more about this. h hadley has joined us here around the desk. so the cease-fire, is anybody taking it seriously anymore at this stage? >> that's the big question, isn't it? and who does it really benefit? essentially what you have at the moment are all of these different forces. unfortunately, the west doesn't have that much leverage by comparison to the russians. >> and russia being a big player now in the middle east. the u.s. rhetoric towards russia, is it massively different than what it was a couple months ago? >> it's interesting because we've heard a little more from the americans in the sense that they've just asked the russians -- they basically told them, this is where our special forces are operating, could you

please not hit them with your air strikes. there's a cease-fire, but it doesn't entail the russians stopping those air strikes. at the sam point, you have to wonder how effective is this going to be even if it goes ahead. >> what would the next step be after this if we assume a cease-fire won't hold? even if some of the bigger players agree to a cease-fire, that would be fantastic for all the civilians being hit, but what happens with all the other factions on the ground? >> if you look at the history of insurgency since world war ii, there have been something like 70 to 75 that have grown in massive proportions, according to a study i was just looking at a couple hours ago. it was rather discouraging. but you have to remember all these conversations that are going to be had have to be based around something. this is a starting point, but whether they can get this going is the bigger question. >> you've got to wonder also whether or not the international strategy towards syria is going to change, all depending on who gets the top post at the white

house. >> absolutely. the rhetoric we've heard from the campaign trail, particularly on the republican side, has been one of doom and gloom and lots of basically threats to go in and just release hell. that's the question going forward, isn't it, if there's actually going to be a strategy. what we've seen from the white house and certainly the obama administration is while there is a will to do something about the islamic state, to do something about the suffering of the syrian people, there hasn't been a strategy. >> hadley, thank you very much. the latest on the syria peace talks or cease-fire talks. tonight is the deadline? >> supposedly. >> yeah. get involved, you can find us on e-mail. streetsignseurope@cnbc.com. you can also find us on twitter. @louisa bojesen or @cnbc. and we're all on facebook at well now. coming up here on "street signs," we've got a question of

faith now before donald trump. it's personal. the latest on his spats with the pope. on top of that, we'll get more analysis, talk more markets. we'll be chatting more brexit implications in around 15 minutes. do join us here this morning.

hi, everybody. welcome back. you're still watching "street signs" here on cnbc. allianz shares under pressure after missing its bottom line. but outflows at pimco halved compared to 2014. speaking on "squawk box," the cfo was asked about the rivalry between pimco and allianz global investors. >> they are covering completely two different pillars of the asset management space, so it is a rivalry which is good because

as cfo, i like competing entities to boost profit. on the other hand, one is much more an active asset equity management, the other more in fixed income. so it's really covering different customers, strategic allocations. >> do you feel though that given the way the underlying markets are at the moment it's a good strategy to have two competing operations? the same kind of money but looking at different products as well. do you think given the market volatility they can both have sustainable inflows once you get to the end of this outflow period over at pimco? >> well, yes, i think pimco has certainly the opportunity to strengthen also in the private fund area where allianz global investors is very much equity and multiassets. the two things are certainly

touching different segments. i believe with this different strategy also allowing both organizations to gain global scale and global efficiency, we are on the right way. >> well, cutting a fashionable figure, luxury retailer posting a rise in fourth quarter revenue, sending shares higher in paris. gucci did particularly well, bagging a 13% rise in sales. we'll be hearing from the ceo in an exclusive interview. we'll be airing that later on the show. aegon posting lower than expected fourth quarter profits citing weak markets in the the u.s. valeo shares have been accelerating after the french carmaker said it was forecasting strong sales growth for the next 12 months. this after posting a 30% rise

seen in 2015 net profit. but daimler shares shifting into reverse. the german carmaker has dismissed the u.s. class action suit over mercedes emissions as unfounded. it issued a statement saying that the complaint is without merit and that it's currently reviewing documents. it says it'll examine its vehicles and defend itself against the charges. this after mercedes blue tech car owner accused daimler of knowingly programming diesel engines to emit excessive levels of nitrogen oxide. according to reuters sources, the italian company is not looking to sell its division to the french rival. sharing jumping by almost 5% on those reports. and in the u.s., walmart shares posted their biggest daily drop since october after disappointing quarterly sales.

morgan brennan reports. >> a mixed quarter for walmart as it invests in a turnaround and struggles against a strengthening dollar. shares tumbled after key sales metrics fell short of estimates. u.s. comparable store sales marked a straight quarterly increase but nonetheless weaker than expected. >> comp sale stores came out at 0.6. street was looking for 1%. that was a disappointment. also, traffic growth slowed down a little bit. it was about 0.7. this is a deceleration. the real fixation here is on comp store sales and that top line number. they also guided this a little bit light. that's what investor fears are all around in terms of the stock weakness. >> walmart also forecast that sales for this year would be relatively flat due to store closings and the stronger dollar's continued impact. in october, it had said net sales would increase annually at 3% to 4% over the next three years. another worrisome trend, e-commerce sales growth slowed

during the holiday season, rising just 8% versus previous years of double-digit gains. food price deflation most notably for meat and dairy also weighed on results, more than offsetting any positives associated with low gas prices. but it's no secret this will be a year of growing pains. the company is in the midst of an attempted turnaround that involves heavy investment, including $1.5 billion for labor as it raises starting wages and updates its paid time off policy. >> they're doing a lot of the right moves now to do the investment spending, cleaning up the stores, more labor hours in the stores, paying people better, improving the website, doing all the things you need to do to have that better infrastructure. >> the company raised its annual dividend by 2%, marking the 43rd year of consecutive increases. before today's slide, shares of walmart had rallied 8% for the year versus a 6% drop for the s&p 500. investors had flocked to the stock as a defensive play as recession fears began to emerge.

but as the company invests heavily to stoke profits amid a number of headwinds, analysts caution the safest way to approach this big box bo he meth may be with an eye to 2016. >> dividend payouts were expected to increase for the sixth straight year. the total is to reach 10.8 trillion yen or around $90 billion, which will be a record high, and what's interesting is that 90% of the firms hit by the economic slowdown in china and markets elsewhere are still willing to stick to their initial dividend plans or increase payout in some cases.

for example, alps electric supplies parts for apple iphones and cut its revenue forecast 20% for the year ending march but increased dividends by 25%. car parts maker also downgraded its earnings forecast, but its payouts will increase by 9%. automaker suzuki will keep its target payout ratio at 15% of its net profit, even though its profit is expected to fall. now, what spurred this trend is the japanese government calling on companies to use their earnings in an effective way to help boost the economy. with the bank of japan adopting negative interest rates, firms are even more inclined to use their profit for dividend payouts. according to a tokyo stock exchange, around 20% ofs stocks are held by individuals who will likely receive a good chunk of the $90 billion payout, which could in turn draw more money into the stock market. and that's all from the nikkei. back to you. >> thank you very much. have a lovely weekend. we'll chat soon again. ahead here on "street signs,"

what was that all about? apple co-founder steve wozniak weighs in on the encryption debate in a cnbc interview. more on what he said coming up here on "street signs." we'll also imminently be talking about what's going on in brussels and market analysis for you.

you're still watching "street signs." i'm louisa bojesen. it's friday. let's get you those headlines. european stocks still on track to post their best week since january 2015 despite having opened in the red. allianz shares in the red. outflows at pimco still being a problem for europe's biggest insurer, but the ceo remains up beat. >> it is a challenge of the industry, but we're willing to take up the challenge and make 2016 the turning point.

>> turning heads after sales at gucci outperform. we hear exclusively from the ceo later as shares hit ten-week highs. and u.k. prime minister david cameron must go back to the table after a long night of talks yielding no agreement on an eu deal for britain. hi, everybody. welcome back to "street signs." i just want to get you a little bit of news just hitting our wires with regards to china. the chinese central bank, the pboc, they're stating they're conducting a review on targeted rrr cuts implemented in 2015. so the reserve requirement ratios is what they're looking closer at. they talk about how a small number of banks, they fail to meet the standards on targeted rrr cuts and can no longer enjoy preferential ratios in that regard. they say that some banks will be enjoying preferential rrr ratios

after meeting official requirements and that the latest changes on this are to begin on the 25th of february. so that just coming from the pboc, that the latest changes on the reserve requirement ratios will be starting on the 25th of this month. what date is it today? it's the 19th. so in just a couple days. i'm also just glancing at our wires, just looking at some u.k. data just hitting as well. let me just grab it. retail sales data rising by 2.3% month on month in january, which essentially is quite a bit stronger than what had been anticipated. so 5.2% year on year. reuters had an expectation of 0.8% month on month. again, we got 2.3%. and they were looking for a figure of 3.6% year on year. again, that figure being 5.2%. so a lot stronger than expected, the retail sales data just

coming through. they say that all store types contributed to the retail sales growth that was seen in january. they give us a little bit of sales deflator data. what you can take away from what i've just said is u.k. retail sales a lot stronger than expected during the month of january. our european markets this morning, we're relatively flat. flat to a little mixed with the xetra dax underperforming just a little bit. still on track for a very strong showing this week in equities. a lot of these markets rallying somewhere in the region of 3% to 5% since monday. now, leaders, they're arriving in brussels for the second day of talks over britain's reformed proposals of the european union.

despite all-night talks, there's still no deal for david cameron in brussels. day two of the meetings are soon to start as the u.k. prime minister looks to convince eu leaders about a new relationship ahead of an in-out referendum. we have julia live out of brussels. we've also got andrew here in the studio, director to an principal at europe economics. welcome, andrew. we'll get to you in a second for some analysis. first, julia, let's cross back out to you and just get the rundown over what's happened over the last 24 hours. >> reporter: well, we've seen some leaders entering this morning. they were talking until the small hours of this morning. david cameron, in fact, didn't leave until 5:30 a.m. so really burning the midnight oil. obviously he wants to show he's putting in a real fight here. this talk on all sides, some saying is look, the deal is virtually done, others saying there still is a lot to be discussed. obviously at the heart of this is restricting those welfare

payments to eu workers in the u.k.. david cameron allegedly coming in last night surprising everyone by saying that he wanted this emergency break that's been offered to apply to welfare payments for a seven-year period and then extend for a further six years. so a number of eastern european countries are aghast at that. there's a number of other elements, safeguards, whether or not what is negotiated here will ultimately be enshrined in treaties, whether or not the european parliament after a referendum could decide to change the game again and manipulate what's been agreed in this deal. so there's a number of elements. david cameron ultimately needs to prove to the people back home he's fought a good fight here and he's improved the situation for the u.k. it's a tough one. >> it's interesting on that point, julia, on whether or not they can go back and change it, if they were to say yes to something now. is it just down to having something to show at this stage from cameron? >> reporter: well, it is, isn't it.

we know the u.k. population really have only heard from the leave camp at this stage. i think what voters need to hear is why they should ultimately vote to remain in the eu. this is what cameron is fighting for now. he's trying to go for something that hits to the heart of u.k. sensibilities. this is those that come into the country and allegedly steal the job. he's gone for a hot-button issue, but there are other elements he's fighting for as well. i think at this stage, everybody, including the other eu leaders, just want to get a deal out of the way and let david cameron push to get this in a referendum. >> we've just got our cameras following the leaders arriving. andrew, what do you make of what's taking place? what happens if we walk away with a slightly watered down set of wishes from cameron? >> i don't think cameron can do anything other than get a deal. his cabinet truce on cabinet ministers declaring for leave won't last after today.

this is basically the end. if he will not get a deal today, he'll find that they'll leave to campaign straightaway. >> how about from an economics perspective? what if we see a brexit? >> i'm one of those that buys the story that basically if you look over the medium term, it's probably likely to be close to a wash. you'll have something, maybe a couple percent, maybe minus couple a percent. it all depends on what we do once we left. i don't doubt there there will be only negative impacts in the short term. i think the losers will lose before the gain is gained. the losers will be existing firms who have committed to investment, predicated on the basis that eu membership continues. the gainers will come along later, new firms that arise in response to whatever we do next and people who adjust their

current investment programs. we should expect to lose by probably having a couple years of 1% slower growth, probably in the late 2010s. the bank of england may offset that by not raising interest rates as fast as currently expected. that might be priced into some of their late interest rate rise calls people are making now. that should probably mean the sterling is a little weaker, at least against the dollar. whether it's weaker against the euro is less clear because i think a brexit would mean the eu would suffer as well as the u.k. >> i'm sitting here thinking what happens if we continue to see market turmoil and see more upheaval in the banks. at the same time, if voters have voted no, it would be a double whammy to doing business in the u.k. >> i don't think it's so much a double whammy to doing business in the u.k. i think it's more that people will change what their plans are going to be. i don't think you should worry too much about the idea that the eu would be in a position to take any punitive action against the city, for example.

the european economy is just going to be far too weak for them to want to cut themselves off from access to the city. so that could be damaging to the eu corporate sector, to the eu financial sector. they won't be able to cope with that. i think the reality is you'd get quite a good deal for the city by leaving at this moment in time. >> julia, come on in. >> reporter: and rrew, what is your probability of a brexit? if i look at analysts, they're around 20% and 30%. obviously the polls are tight, but we saw what happened with the polls in the general election and they got it completely wrong. >> i think they're understating the risk. i'd say it's more like 55% likelihood. what i mean by that is i think it's very, very evenly balanced. probably as reflected in the polls. i think if anything, it's slightly more likely than not that we leave. partly because i don't think people are properly pricing in the fact that many people who have no history whatever of favoring leaving the eu will now declare for leaving the eu immediately that the renegotiation is complete. >> and julia, one of the points

you -- >> reporter: what's david cameron got to do here? oh, go on. >> nothing. there's nothing cameron can do. he needed to have been doing it a year ago. he needed to be asking for a completely different program. the kind of thing which he's asking for is not capable of shifting any material amount of votes to his side. >> sorry, julia. it was on one of the earlier points you made about how other countries might look towards what cameron is asking for and say we'd quite like some of the same things to happen at home in our countries. then you're talking about an entirely different type of negotiation taking place in the eu suddenly. >> reporter: well, this is exactly what's going on. you've got the likes of germany, austria, and sweden looking at the caps and curbs that david cameron is trying to put on welfare payments and going, we've got a problem with migrants as well. so i think it's an ongoing negotiation. greece also allegedly stepping in last night and saying, hang on a second, we'd like to address some of these issues.

it is about a far broader issue than just the u.k. here. as you quite rightly point out, i think we'll have a better sense of what cameron's achieved here when we see what other countries get out of it. >> i think one of the pointed issues that hasn't gotten as much discussion is the issue of ireland. i don't think there's any real appetite amongst the british public to say that irish imgrants into the u.k. shouldn't have any access to benefits for four years. i think people in the u.k., once they wake up to the idea that's what's being proposed, will be completely opposed to it. now, the irish only yesterday were suggesting they would seek a bilateral agreement so they would be exempt from this. well, if i'm a pole, it's bad enough accepting they don't get the same benefits. well, if you're airish and come

into the u.k., you can get benefits. if you're pole, you can't. how is that not discrimination? this is a problematic area. >> why is business opinion a poor indicator of what's going on? >> if you look at business opinion, it's going to be predicated at the continuation of the status quo. they set themselves up to deal with the status quo. they'll always tend to prefer the status quo to change. what you don't get to see is the opinions of all of those businesses that don't yet exist that would take advantage of the change. >> andrew, thank you very much for coming in to share your views. thank you to you as well, julia. i know there's more work to be done on the ground in brussels with all these leaders arriving. we'll be hearing from you throughout the day. julia chatterley leave out of brussels. let's move over to u.s. politics. donald trump is battling it out with the media kingpin rupert

murdoch over the latest nbc news, "wall street journal" poll that put him in second place for the first time this primary season. trump called the poll phony and blamed rupert murdoch for a fix. but the news corp. ceo hit back on twitter, advising trump to, quote, calm down. but it isn't only murdoch. the republican candidate also went after the pope yesterday for calling his christianity into question. tracie potts is in washington, d.c. what happened? >> reporter: well, it's all about that wall that donald trump has said over and over that he wants to build between united states and mexico and make mexico pay for it. the pope was in mexico and said that it's un-christian to want to separate people like that. donald trump initially responded saying that the pope shouldn't be weighing in on his faith, but late last night in a forum in south carolina, he dialed back

his criticism a bit, saying he believes after listening to all the comments that the pope was either misinformed or misinterpreted by the media. he is in a very tight race, a very strong race going on in south carolina right now with all six republican candidates, hoping to gain some momentum when the voters speak tomorrow. the democrats are focused on nevada right now. those caucuses are happening tomorrow. big latino electorate in nevada. so at a candidate forum hosted by msnbc last night, both hillary clinton and bernie sanders were really focusing in on dreamers and immigrant families and how if elected, they would try to help those families and not break them up. we heard a lot about that last night. both of those contests are coming untomorrow with trump embroiled in this new controversy with the pope. he is leading in south carolina. we're hoping to get more numbers on that later this morning.

>> tracie, thank you very much for that. tracie potts from nbc joining us live from washington, d.c. loads of you writing in this morning. the pound continues to be on sale, but no one is shopping. this as we're talking about a potential brexit, this in-out referendum. jeff says on the u.k. january retail sales data, which was very strong, he says, whether this matters depends on whether you're a chicken or an egg person. that might be right. still strong. the fashion elite goes gaga. the marc jacobs runway was graced with a surprise guest model as part of the new york fashion week autumn-winter show. lady gaga strutted her stuff with her best poker face alongside the famed kendall

jenner. the singer was dressed in an oversized fur coat with platform boots and blond vintage waves through her hair. how lovely. isn't that beautiful? very elegant and lady like. still to come here on "street signs," we'll be hearing from the ceo of kering in an exclusive interview. we'll also be getting some market thoughts from the lovely marcus ashworth. stay tuned here to "street signs." and your symptoms have left you with the same view, it may be time for a different perspective. if other treatments haven't worked well enough, ask your doctor about entyvio, the only biologic developed and approved just for uc and crohn's. entyvio works by focusing right in the gi-tract to help control damaging inflammation and is clinically proven to begin helping many patients achieve both symptom relief as well as remission. infusion and serious allergic reactions

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welcome back, everybody. you're still watching "street signs" here on cnbc. now, this story has a lot of you very interested. a court in the united states has given apple a three-day extension to respond to the order to unlock the iphone of one of the san bernardino shooters. silicon valley continues to support apple, and speaking on cnbc, the apple co-founder steve

wozniak said steve jobs would have sided with the current ceo tim cook. nbc has this report. >> reporter: the battle is waging during a still active investigation with the fbi today searching the homes of two relatives of san bernardino gunman syed farook. the ceo of google is now backing apple, requiring companies to enable hacking of customer devices and data, he says, could be a troubling precedent. other tech giants, including microsoft, facebook, and twitter, added their support. so did apple's co-founder steve wozniak on cnbc. >> you should buy a product and feel, this is my product and what i feel i have is what i have. >> reporter: prosecutors in new york say they have 175 apple devices they cannot open for evidence in crimes ranging from identity theft to murder. >> this has become, ladies and gentlemen, the wild west in technology. apple and google are their own

sheriffs. there are no rules. >> reporter: and mandy, whose fiance was killed in san bernardino. >> i would love to get as much information as possible, but i'm also an american. i like my privacy. >> reporter: business experts say the battle is about marketing because protecting privacy is key to apple's image. >> the people need to feel what they're buying is theirs and is truly empowering. that's what the apple brand is built upon. >> reporter: apple says tonight the government doesn't have the legal authority to make it create new software and help the fbi open a locked phone. no federal court has ever ruled on that. pete williams, nbc news, washington. >> now, staying in the retail space, nordstrom's quarterly earnings missed the mark as unseasonable warm weather and heavy discounts weighed on sales. the retailer also gave a soft outlook for the year ahead. shares falling by more than 8%

in after-hours trade. but moving higher after hours was applied materials. i and uber is losing more than a billion dollars per year in china. the admission came from the ceo speaking at an event in canada. the company launched in china in 2014, but it faces fierce competition from local players who he accused of, quote, buying up market share. uber is available in 40 cities now in china, and it said it's planning to expand to a further 60 this year. now, the u.s. markets are opening in, what, 4 1/2 hours or so. we have slightly higher call for our u.s. main indices. a couple pointing being added

there across the board. u.s. equities on track for their best week since mid-november. goldman sachs and walmart dragging on the dow. this was slightly offset by ibm, which had its best day since 2011. on the week, you can see there are some pretty solid gains since the beginning of trade on monday. we still have to get today going. but that's what we're looking at. interesting story, apple, isn't it? >> yes, indeed. there has to be a legal ruling. it's quite clear it's good business for apple to defend their product. but something this important needs to have a clear ruling for all tech companies. >> i completely agree. it's interesting as a private person where you kind of see both perspectives. let's talk about the markets as well. we were just showing the dow, nasdaq, s&p higher around the region of 3%. do you think it's going to continue? >> i think we'll stabilize a bit now. i was getting rather worried in the week when the nikkei in

particular was going into massive tilt mode, extreme levels. things seemed to have calmed down a little bit. we're getting strong data out of the states. jobless claims. in some sense, the bond markets are predicting recession, but the economic data keeps coming through much stronger. something is going to have to give. >> the jobs has been strong. that's not their problem. >> no, indeed. and we look at walmart's numbers, which were quite worrying for some people on overall sales growth. we clearly don't have that problem in the u.k. walmart as a whole, it's showing flat. >> if we have the jobs numbers that are very strong but at the

same time you have the fomc members in the last minutes indicating that, well, they might be thinking twice about whether or not they should continue on this heightening cycle. >> yeah, they definitely are thinking twice. the only person that's been consistent has been williams, but he's not a voter this time around. i'm pretty sure they'll pass in march. they need to see things nice and stable. that doesn't mean they won't be able to do something in june, but more likely september. the economy is doing pretty well. the stock market and bond market are telling you it's not. we'll see. >> what do you make of china at the moment? >> again, that obviously has come back off its lunar holiday. there were some very strong loan data, which the people's bank of china have already moved to curtail. they penalized some of the smaller regional banks that got a little enthusiastic. a little bit of spike up in the yuan rate, which shows a little

bit of speculation. nonetheless, the auto sales numbers were reasonably strong. and they're managing the money markets in a more efficient way. ipos are coming back. there's nine of them coming through. i think things are sort of fair in china at the moment. >> is it your opinion the safe haven trade is solidly in place? you look at markets like the nikkei, for example, and it's hard to catch a breath when you've got the yen at some 15-month highs and continuing upward. equities are under pressure from that as well. it's hard to see a turnaround happening. >> norway are going to have to release 10 billion. that's across all oil producing countries. they've had to liquidate an

awful lot of very liquid stocks and bonds and indeed currency as far as the yen is concerned. the trade has been on for a lot of people. that's been unwound. i think we're still, because we have such little liquidity these da days. if the economic data hold up, the markets will start to recover. we're already seeing that. >> bob writes in on e-mail. he says, poor churchill is turning over in his grave. he also says, if europe, including the u.k., took basic economics into consideration in the first place, then there would be no eu. >> i wonder when we'd get on to this. i think the fundamental difference -- and it's only a difference which can be glossed over if needs be, is that u.k. believes in the '70s that we were coming to a free trade

agreement. we never believed all were signed up for the full political fiscal monetary union. a lot of people have written over the years that you can't really have one without the other. that may well be the case. at the moment, what the u.k. really wants is the benefits of the free trade without the forever ongoing close little ties and certainly not the economic and monetary union and indeed the fiscal union, which should spring from that. the question for europe and the 27 leaders playing bad cop, it seems, is that he has got to be seen to have a proper deal. otherwise, we'll be ig, this we'll back cameron if he comes with a deal with a level understanding and we can all support a logical deal and most people want to stay in. if, however, he's humiliated or a deal can't be struck, then

fortunately what will happen is the biggest losers here will not be the u.k. it will be the rest of europe and the european union as a concept. >> marcus, thank you very much for rounding off the show for us as we head into the weekend. any nice plans? >> nothing much. >> good. best time to have a weekend. best kind of weekend. marcus ashworth, chief market strategist. let me give you a bit of a corporate recap here this hour. allianz shares under pressure after the german insurer misses its bottom line. net outflows at pimco almost halved compared to 2014. we heard earlier from the cfo on "squawk box." >> we are really at market level at the moment, so it is a challenge of the industry, but we are willing to take up the challenge and make 2016 the turning point. >> now, cutting a fashionable figure, the lungxury retailer

kering posted positive fourth quarter revenues, sending shares higher. gucci did particularly well with a 14% rise in sales. we will be hearing from the ceo of kering in an exclusive interview later on in the day. we'll be sure to get you that. for now, that's it for today's "street signs." i'm louisa bojesen. "worldwide exchange" is up next. have a fantastic weekend. thank you very much for all of your communication, all your correspondence. you can still find us. we're still on e-mail. we're on twitter as well. have a lovely weekend.

good morning. global market alert. stocks selling off in asia overnight, but we're seeing green arrows in europe and futures here in the u.s. pointing to a higher open. u.s. equities on track for their best week since mid-november. >> breaking overnight, apple getting more time to respond to the federal government's iphone hack order. >> and the race for the white house, new this morning, poll numbers show bernie sanders cutting into hillary clinton's national lead in the democratic fight. it's friday, february 19th, 2016. "worldwide exchange" begins right now.