♪ to ♪ good morning everybody and welcome in. you're watching "street signs." your headlines this monday. seeing eye to eye. agreeing a 46 billion euro in one of the biggest cross border details sending shores of both retailers soaring. and boss posts a slight fall in holiday sales but expects profits in the upper end of the 2017 forecast. italy's credit rating to a

triple b from a warning the banking sector remains weak amid a fragile economy. and in currency, sterling gets a pounding as investors predict the prime minister will be announcing plans to break away from the eu's common markets. ♪ good morning everybedsody. what's happening? we got a whole bunch on the agenda, not just with the it economic data, more so with the happenings. full coverage out of cnbc the entire week. stoxx up a little built lowe re we'ver had speculation about teresa may's speech. that could be interesting whether or not we're going to

say goodbye to the single market. we'll have full coverage of that as well. janet yellen speaks on wednesday and thursday, the fed chair and friday, trump's inauguration. so a super, super busy week. so hang on to your hats. most of our european equity markets are trading lower. apart from denmark bucking a trend. cac 40 up shy off a percent. and given we're seeing a weakness in the italian banks after the down grade. you're looking at a lot of red on your screen. autos off, bank's off by 1 1/2%. insurers around 1 1/2% or so. health care a couple of points higher. with regard to some of the

bigger moves, keeping in mind nasdaq on friday at a record high on the close. yet a record high. seems to be an almost daily occurrence at this point. s&p 500 higher and the nasdaq off just a tad. earning season upon us once again and morgan stanley, city bank, bank of new york melon and so the list goes on. now let's get to one of our top stories this morning in corporate shares in italy's luxottica and essilor. thavl rr been rocking after agreeing to this 46 billion euro merger. so this deal, which has been described as a merger of equals will be creating one of the largest eye wear companies with revenues of over 15 billion

euros. the richest man is set to take a 51% stake in the merger expected to be head quartered and listed in paris. robby is a consumer retailer for that merger market group and he joins us on the phone to talk about this really big deal. what do you make of it? >> i think it's a great deal, lots of opportunity for synergies. between the lens maker target and the eye wear maker bidder. it's been rumored for a few years now. about three years ago essilor approached luxottica. >> what do you make of the price? that's something we love to talk about and whether or not we're over paying for some of these deals. 46 billion euros.

it's not a small price tag. >> not at all. but the markets have spoken this morning. both companies are up and growth is a bit much but the per share price seems within reason. >> the press release from essilo states they'll have again combined revenue in excess of 15 billion euros. more than 40,000 employees. and they say they'll be representing a growth platform which is positioned to make head winds on some of these further opportunities. how do you see this market playing out? what are the opportunities for growth in this particular area? >> i think the opportunities are broad outside europe where people who might not have seen eye wear as a vital necessity maybe more inclined to be

consumers now in asian markets and african markets. latin america. >> do you think that this was a political deal in any way in terms of -- did they run into any head winds where the company would be head quartered and listed. >> i don't see this as political at all. i see this as a straight business deal. three years ago when talks fell apart in very preliminary stages, don't have any reason to believe that was political. i think the business case wasn't quite as clear then. but i think now it's pretty clear synergies between a lens maker and an eye wear maker. the case is fairly obvious. >> dean, thank you very much for being with us. reporter from consumer retail at

merger market group. shares in hugo boss have been soaring after the german fashion brand expects 2016 adjusted to come in at the upper end of the forecasted range. a decline of between 17 and 23%. hugo boss said based on preliminary figures it's on track to achieve its annual financial targets. higher by 9% this morning. so a real rally seen there. that bottom of european trade, meanwhile, is the swedish retailer which reported a 6% increase in local currency sales for the month of december. that's h & m. that's the slowest pace since september 2016. 8% sales growth for the christmas holiday shopping period. h & m blamed several sales miss on the unseasonable weather we've been seeing.

burrberry has issued a date. he'll be taking the top job on the fifth of july. the current ceo will become president and chief officer. this examines that start of a very busy week for burberry and they're shyer by higher than 2% this morning. and moncler has made an excellent start to the year. the italian luxury clothing maker said it ended 2016 strongly after christmas sales surged. he did not divulg group revenues but that they weathered the slump and was quote ready to tackthal fule the future in a m serene way. i don't know about you but i was feeling pretty good this morning and then i was told i was

supposed to feel miserable. so it is blue monday. the most depressing day of the year. a man by the name of dr. cliff arnold, 2005. he came up with this formula to predict how we feel. so the gloomiest day of the year is today depending on weather, christmas debt, the political scenario, motivation, things like that and he's apparently saying this year could be the worst of all of them because we have trump, brexit anxieties, sadness following recent deaths of george michael and carrie fisher reminds us of our own mortality. but he now runs a happiness and confidence session. he moderates for places like the department of work and pensions and the mhs. anyway, i'll tweet this formula a little bit later on. how are you feeling today? how optimistic are you feeling sng i wonder if it's all about

trump and politics and what's to come this year? get involved. street signs you're up@cnbc.com is where you can find us on email. you can also find us on twitter. the show tweet is @street signs cnbc. or you can tweet me directly and i'll be following whatever it is you have to say. coming up on the show stemming the flow. facebook taking steps to combat the spread of fake news on its german platforms. find out how in just a couple of moments. did you know, 90% of the world's largest supercomputers run on intel? that means you can take a universe of data - in your case literally - and turn it into medical discoveries, diagnostic breakthroughs... ...proof that black holes collapse into one singularity. i don't know what that is. but yes.

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signs." the chinese government is ready to quote take off the gloves should president elect donald trump -- the english language said a period of damaging interactions was inevitable. this after trump said the one-china policy was up for negotiation. now china's foreign ministry has said it's nonnegotiable and a crucial element to u.s.-china relations. the chinese president has arrived in zurich where he's meeting with officials. he will be the first chinese president to attend this gathering. south korean prosecutors seeking an arrest warrant for group leader lee.

it's being sought in connection to bribery charges of a scandal that a has engulfed the president. hi, pauline. good morning to you. let's start with samsung. because this latest development involves a web of intrigue in the scandal that involves the head of samsung, the impeached president a-- here's the latest of what the special prosecutor has said. the defacto head of samsung, jay lee paid to get support for the merger of two subsidiaries. what is next? on wednesday a court will decide whether or not to reject or

approve this arrest warrant. so that weighed today. and you talked about it being a gloomy blue monday. it should be a red monday as we see this negative sentiment across the board with the nikkei down 1% as the stronger yen weighed down the index there with shipping and steel makers shipping. those are two sectors that had expected to benefit from any sort of trump stimulus spending policy but it looks as though the trump trade has been fading. and with the china markets, we're seeing the shanghai composite down by more than 1/3 of a percent. they were dragged down by the tech sector and that's over continuing concern over ipo applications for tech companies. so there's a concern about valuation and liquidity. louisa, back to you. thank you very much.

joining us live from singapore. now dbrs has cut italy's credit rating. that means italy's banks will have to pay more to borrow money. where they can use b-bonds as collateral. the banks have been trading lower, dragging the italian ftse down. so, slightly underperforming some of the other european markets out there. and earnings season officially kicking off friday with three of the largest banks reporting before the bell. >> reporter: j.p. morgan topped the list with a broad beat. but bank of america and wells fargo also impressed. the focus turned towards guidance as opposed to the fourth quarter itself. all the banks making it clear

that the benefit is still to come. costs also remain under control, particularly for j.p. morgan and bank of america. which is encouraging for operational leverage. and shares for shell are being boosted before any deregulation. and here's why. >> if you look business confidence, consumer confidence, house hold building, wages going up, unemployment going down. retail sales going up. it looks like it's getting stronger, not weaker. that's my personal belief. >> and he had positive remarks for trump's appointments and was upbeat about the effect of a corporate tax cut. and as for wells fargo, it was fine and the sales scandal updates showed pressure still

exists on year on year turns but on a monthly basis is improving. they're looking to close around 200 branchs and have announced a new compensation plan that does not award employees based on sales targets. good reashurnassurance for the . chairman of the investment committee and he's with us here this morning. how are you? >> feeling down beat, i'm afraid. >> blue monday or what? >> i'm afraid. >> why? >> we've had trump the movie and i think now it's trying to see trump the reality and i think it's going to be much more of a mixed bag than the market has given credit for. goldman sachs back off its high. and if we see what's happening. his pronouncements on china could be troubling.

i mean the one china policy, maybe it's a negotiating tact, i don't know. but there's fears that currency manipulator tag could be resurrected and that would be a very big issue for the chinese. are we moving towards a semitrade war with china? if you look on this side of the atlantic, we know teresa may has a big headline speech and the reaction in europe is pretty hostile. is there a trade war brewing between it eu and the british? we'll see. when markets seemed to have assumed all these political changes are actually beneficial. >> maybe we'll all be surprised and end up seeing no trade wars. maybe we'll see trump being lenient on a trade deal with the u.k. as he's indicated. on the front page of the daily telegraph. i'll make brexit great is the

title. he's saying brits were right to leave the eu and seemingly offering a quick trade deal to help the uk along with its success. >> i think trump is encouraging. trump is reaching out to other diseffected parties and almost saying i'll help brexit work which he may be able to do in the sense that uk will be fast tracked to trade deal. and that is just slowing decension in what is already a fever atmosphere in europe. my concern is markets have assumed only one thing. everything is good. everything will work out. a lot of issues can fall between the cracks in my opinion. >> sure . do you feel optimistic when you look at company health? >> it's very early to say. friday was the first day. on the u.s. bank side, the trading earnings were good.

but if you dig more deeply and see what's happening out there in greater america on the more mainstream banking side they were no better than exepected ad yes the macro outlook is being -- and other sectors like airlines that have been suffering from higher oil prices. it's going to be a mixed bag and when the market is expecting plus 3% for the fourth quarter, i think that's a pretty high bar. >> so i do speak to a lot of people who sound quite bearish on prospects for 2017. but then, everybody cgorically. they're saying there's lots of

uncertainties but we're not closing out our big positions... build what people did in 2016 is extraordinary. so the big movers were van guard took i 300 billion. most of that's gone into passive strategies and even some of the successful activists have had redemption. they're saying we don't care about activism. we heard this story. we're board with it. we're going to put our faith in ever more expensive ets. and i think it's a big mistake. i think it's a bubble. >> and what would the catalyst be to burst the bubble? >> markets never have a single catalyst and it looks obvious afterwards but a lot of people want to sell off inauguration. that was the story. you look that regan presidency, the market ran up similar to trump and after it sold.

i think we're going to see a similar pattern. sorry, guys. we've had a week start to the year, no fresh high except in a few of these puffed up internet stocks. it will start before the inauguration and accelerate after. >> and people won't wait to see what policies are implemented, how big tax cuts would be, how much fiscal spending will see. they won't see what type of trade deals are done? >> trump has got a lot to do here. he's got a lot of inomies. and even elements of the republican party like john mccain have a very different view on russia. he's a political novice. he's got some good advisors, but we'll see if he can get all to work. and i'm afraid it won't all

happen quite that way. we've had an incredible run here. what i would tell investors to do is get out of passive strategies. if you want to stay in the market, go to value and shorter data bonds represent some sort of yield. >> i hope blue monday isn't too blue for you. i'm going to try to be optimistic even though everybody's telling me to be pessimistic. speaking of trump, mr. trump has warned bmw he'll be imposing a 35% border tax on cars built in mexico and exports to the u.s. in an interview president elect said bmw should build in the u.s. because it would quote be much better for the company. bmw employ almost 70,000 people in america and said it was quote

at home in the u.s. france's environment minister says a judicial investigation into emissions testing -- other unnamed car makers had excelled levels. after the paris prosecution office announced it was launching a probe into it possible exhaust emissions cheating. and ekholm assumes his role as ceo of eriksson and meanwhile, the person holding to role of ceo is the advisor. good morning everybody. michael, good to have all of you with us. do stay with us. keep your tweets coming through. we will see you.

hi everybody you're watching "street signs." seeing eye to eye. a 46 billion euro merger. thereby sending shares of both retailers soaring. like a boss. shares in hugo boss get a boost after the luxury retailer posted a slight fall in holiday sales.

of the forecast. and cuts from a triple b to an a. and in currencies, sterling gets a pounding ahead of teresa may's key brexit speech as they predict the prime minister will announce plans to fully break away from the eu's common markets. ♪ good morning, everyone and welcome back. just wanted to bring you news just hitting our wires coming out of the kremlin. in russia. kremlin spokesman is saying that sanctions are not on the russian agenda and they say let's wait until trump actually takes

office. their are preparations for a meeting on syria crisis that have been ongoing. doesn't confirm if the u.s. has been invited and they agree with trump that nato is obsolete. so that just hitting our wires at the moment as we have a very big political week. big political week ahead of us with trump's inauguration on friday. let's glance at our european equity markets. we're a little bit lower. almost 1% for the ftse 100. and the ratings being lowered in banks in italy. the frk s markets. here a big move having taken place in sterling. we've seen a lot of weakness there with sterling going through this 120 level as mentioned. we're just above 120 now but having traded sharply lower on

the back of these concerns about the u.k. government and it's preparing to somehow pursue a hard brexit. so we hit a three-month low on the pound in asia. we went below that 120 level for it first time since the october flash crash. so that's what we're seeing in today's session. the latest bout of sterling weakness comes after claims that teresa may will be seeking a hard line tuesday, tomorrow. the prime minister will say that britain is ready to leave the eu single market to regain control of its borders. a spokesman for may said talk of a hard brexit was quote speculation. i wasn't aware we had lost control of our borders. let's put that to one side. the big huge move ahead of sterling.

>> hard brexit is not good for the pound. there is a hope that hard brexit will be avoided. what i will describe the move like is it's somewhat premature. i mean, all bets are not necessarily off. yes, teresa may certainly has shown or signalled a slight preference for harder shade of brexit. we had that tv interview a week ago. we have her now famous speech in october. so it's not much new there. the thing is also that they have the supreme court ruling presumably later this week or until the end of january which i believe will ultimately mean that u.k. parliament will be more involved in the whole brexit process and given at the moment at least share prime minister's view or vision of brexit. i would expect this to be a factor that will saufen the

ultimate outcome. we end up having a softer version of brexit. >> we're playing a game with ourselves. >> it is the case at the moment that investors are looking for strong conviction trades and hard brexit and weaker pound cannot go hand in hand. so it is reflecting that. but i think yeah. i mean, investors may be getting a bit ahead of themselves right now. >> you just got in. you're being put on the spot by sebastian who writes in. what's your sterling out look for this week? >> i think to be honest, it wilt be more of a function of the dollar positioning there. via data or may's speech tomorrow. we're still in a situation where investors are waiting, not necessarily for may but trump to deliver more clarity on his own

policies down the road and we believe dollar longs are greater than -- the dollar will mute any sustain down side from here. and really taking into account positioning as well. if you want to sthel pound from here, you're better off selling the yen verse this is euro where markets are still running some short. there's a correction possible. i think the big driver remains trump and so long as the uncertainty about his policies lingers, i think investors may be indeed reluctantly to act aggressively. >> and again i look at the dollar index. the weakest it's been in more than two months. does this indicate then people are reconsidering the whole reflation trade?

>> i guess the tricky bet when you're trying to come up with trade accommodations is the markets being inherently forward looking, they tend to trend ahead of events. we saw the -- all of that has to do with hopes. wishful thinking, if you wish. people expecting trump to deliver and now it's really that time where we have to see where it comes and presumably i think investors will be patient. whether the inflation trades but still our expectation is the pick up in economic activity from the oil rebound and on the whole the type of tax reform we're going to get in the u.s. should ultimately mean inflation is going to accelerate from here which means yields globally may have to go higher from here. no

it's more of a medium term prospect. it feels like the market has built up position. and they're looking for incentives for us. >> is the yen going to be benefitting from risk aversion? >> we think a short euro yen -- in terms of positioning, i think sterling yen has the biggest correction to go through. the market is very short. the pound still but it is also short. the yen -- so it's actually both dollar/yen and sterling/yen. >> so in four seconds, what's your favorite trade? >> right now, safe haven kurnsakurn currencies like the euro and the yen. >> how are you feeling today? >> not bad. >> it's blue monday. you're supposed to feel really crap. >> it is raining. >> i like to stay optimistic.

i did feel a bit worse after i was told to feel worse which irritates me. okay. good. joining us. the president elect, donald trump will be seeking a nuclear arms reduction deal with russia's vladimir putin in exchange for the removal of sanctions for the annexation of crimia. a kremlin spokesman responded by saying sanctions were not on russia's agenda but they would wait and see when trump takes office. they denied a report saying that the president elect would hold a meeting with putin in iceland in the coming weeks. here with the latest from moscow. >> reporter: in frozen moscow relations with the u.s. are as icy as they've ever been. but they're hoping for a trump thaw. his team denying today iceland would host a trump-putin summit.

the kremlin claim there have been no talks about that first presidential meeting with putin but they are welcoming donald trump's hints that sanctions could end if it russia is helpful to the u.s. they're preparing for a deal. >> trump is a businessman. he wants concessions. he wants to get the best deal out of everyone. so putin will have to be on his guard with trump. >> reporter: the obama era is ending with thousands of u.s. troops arriving this week in poland to deter russia and with moscow claiming that's a threat. >> what does america gain after sending 250 tanks to poland and the baltic states? we fail to understand this. this is the logic of a confrontation with russia. >> reporter: like many he wants cooperation with trump against isis. >> we need to fight this radical islamic groups. we need to fight them together.

>> reporter: from the kremlin, a preinauguration message to america. >> we're not that guys. and lots of stuff being blamed on us and our president, they're false and fake. think twice before saying that russians are bad guy. >> reporter: two nations at odds. now just days away from an unpredictable future. nbc news, moscow. the vice president elect, mike pence, has hopes that representative john lewis will reconsiderer his decision to skip trump's inauguration and he was deeply disappointed to see someone of his stater question the president elect's legitimacy. if you're not familiar with lewis, he said he did not believe that trump's election to be legitimate given russia's interference and trump tweeted that lewis was all talk and no

action and he should spend more time on improving his crime infested district. adding quote i can use all the help i can get. if you're not familiar, the 76-year-old lewis is a famous civil rights activist. he was almost beaten to death by police on a now very famous march he led in selma, alabama in 1965. trump's comments come as americans celebrate martin luther king jr. today. a holiday to commemorate the famous silver rights leaders birthday. now the cia director, john brennan has warned president elect donald trump to be careful what he says. the out going cia chief poke. >> it's about the united states and national security. now that he has the opportunity to do something as opposed to talking and tweeting. he's going to have tremendous

responsibility to make sure u.s. national security interests are protected and advanced. >> trump fired back saying the cia director quote could not have done worse given the conflicts in syria, crimia and ukrain and russia and that he may have been responsible for leaking the dos yare last week. and speaking at a press conference one year from the landmark agreement, the senior nucle nuclear negotiator saying that the u.s. must remain committed to the pact. >> translator: if mr. trump decides to rip up the joint comprehensive plan of action, our reaction will be clear as we have said before. if he rips it up, we will burn it. it means there will not be any further talk or renegotiations.

the joint comprehensive plan of action is not open to renegotiation and must be committed to it as it is. >> we've heard further comments from the iranian oil minister. he's certain oil prices will rise and that opec and nonopec members will commit to the out put cut. and brent and wti trading a bit low this morning. now a two-state solution is the only way to resolve the israel/palestinian conflict. that was the key take away at a peace daconference attended by countries. the final communication made no explicit criticism to move it u.s. embassy to jerusalem. they said the wording sent a

subliminal message. jerusalem is neither the capital of it the jewessish or -- coming up on "street signs. "and following yesterday's socialist primary debate. find out how the former french prime minister faired.

♪ hi everyone. welcome back. you're still watching "street signs." want to bring you news hitting our wires. we're seeing that the german bundesbank is below the deposit rate for the first time and the

deposit rate is at 0.4%. we're seeing that taking place at the moment and we have an ecb meeting later on this week on top of everything that takes place on thursday. we'll have full coverage for you. so no change expected from the bcb. it is an exaggeration to say that there's a comeback in inflation, according to the governor of the bank of france. now speaking to cnbc earlier, the german deputy finance minister that they're likely to discuss steps to get out of what we've seen the last couple of years. >> it's up to us to encourage the bcb to anything. it's an independent institution. but if inflation is increasing as it is and higher inflation is one of the goals of the ecb

policy, then i think they will be dus cussing steps to slowly get out of what we've seen in the past years. facebook is taking steps to stop the spread of fake news. they've come under pressure to respect their strict defamation laws over fears that spread of fake news and hate speech could influence the upcoming german elections. i think you can alert facebook if you think something is fake but that could be misused. and merkel has announced her resignation on criticism of the mikeerati migration policy. she accused her of breaking the law. they're concerned the decision could dampen support before the election, helping the anti-immigration party to gain momentum.

now meanwhile donald trump says merkel's open-door policy was a catastrophic mistake. in a joint interview, the president elect said that the german chancellor was wrong by quote letting all these illegals into the country. he also described the european union as simply a vehicle for germany, predicting more countries will follow the uk out of the block. it's a funny thing quote on quote when you have war, people being persecuted. because it opens the door to a lot of ethical discussions on what you do and on immigration and people in less fortunate circumstances than one's self. former french prime minister is trailing his main left-wing rival. according to a pole the former economy minister was more convincing while valls took 26%.

he was forced to defend his stance on defending the it bobo. and good morning. >> good morning. >> how did the second debate go compared to the first? >> the second debate was more lively. the first was frankly quite a dull affair. long been seen as it favorite within this race, valls and in the second debate he came under attack by the more left leaning candidates who are trying to criticize his role as former prime minister in the highly unpopular socialist government. >> what do you think his chances are then? he's also accused of doing this pro-business u-turn on top of being under fire for his policy on migrants too. >> there was a sudden shift from

the previous socialist government away from what they're campaigned on in the presidential elections and on to more pro business reforms. he's repeatedly come under attack from the left faction within the party. although recently in this campaign now that he's running to be president he very much wants to rally a broader left-wing support base. so he's raining back some of the measures to appeal to a greater support base. >> so do you think yesterday was a showing of people kind of voting against valls as opposed to for mountebourg. >> he's a lot more left leaning. valls has always been seen as the safer candidate. he's always been ahead in the poles. so the fact he wasn't quite as

convincing as he has been until now is a relative drop in popularity rather than a huge serve for montebourg. there are opinion polls suggested they'll come fifth if the elections were held tomorrow. there's also the former economy minister who is running as an independent candidate and he's running a lot of support behind him. he's started off his own political movement and very much appealing to the center ground, especially the center left. if he were to win, it would be between him and macron. >> many say it's going to be a contest between the far right and the center right. >> that currently looks like it is the case. macron is emerging as a

potential third man in the race. until now it very much seemed everyone was taking it for granlted that it would be between valls and le pen. >> how are you feeling this morn s ing? >> i'm rather jolly. >> apparently it's blue monday. >> well, it's raining. >> so you can go out and feel grim. >> can't wait. >> i'll tweet the formula. there's a depressing formula and blue monday is the worst this year. anyway. just a little bit of a smile on the side or frown, right? now world leaders and senior kp execs have been descending on davos for the world economic meeting. this is just days ahead of the

inauguration. he decided not to send representatives to the event. we have full coverage. it's going to be continuing throughout today, throughout it week. don't misour live show from the mountain town this afternoon at 1600 cet. again i welcome all of your tweets. keep them coming through. and how it's funny retailers always blame the weather. it is funny. anyway, we'll see you this afternoon for our full coverage, davo circumstance. that ride share? you actually rode here on the cloud. did not feel like a cloud...c. i have seen it all. intel's driving...the future!

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