welcome. you're watching "street signs." i'm louisa bojesen. >> good morning. i'm carolin roth. these are your headlines. european markets are skittish after comments from president trump send the dollar sliding, while he calls for lower rates for longer. paper money. sweden's sca has reportedly received a bid north of $22 billion for its hygiene unit, sending the shares to top of the stoxx 600. akzonobel under attack. elliott advisers threatens to

sue the dutch paintmaker as it seeks to oust the company's chairman who opposes the takeover by ppg. russia uses its veto power to prevent the u.n. security council from condemning the chemical attack in syria, as donald trump says relations with moscow may have hit an all-time low. good morning, everybody. welcome to "street signs." the international energy agency says that it is confidently believing the oil market is close to balance. in the latest report, the ia said production cuts had been impressive so far. it did warn though markets will tighten this year, non-opec production will be on the rise again. we are pleased to welcome back neil atkinson, head of the oil and markets division of the ia. tell us why you're so confident

that we're seeing more balance in the oil markets. >> we're seeing the success of the opec output cut backs. we're seeing demand slowly growing, or growing fairly steadily in the oil market. we think the balance is coming together slowly but surely. the numbers are there to support it. we think as the year progresses, that rebalancing will become more and more apparent in the draw down of actual physical stocks. >> the saudis, they've indicated recently that opec production cuts, if extended, that we could continue to see compliance as well. do you think the come mrips we'compliance we've seen so far will continue? >> we have to wait until may,

but if they continue with the current rate of compliance through the current rate of their deal through the end of the first half of the year, stock also have fallen through the second quarter fairly strongly. if they were to continue the current output cut regime into the second half of 2017, it's likely those draws will continue and could possibly grow. so i guess the decision they have to take when they meet in june is whether they decide the job has been done already in the first half of the year, or there's perhaps more work to be done in the second half of the year. that's their decision. >> neil, good morning. what has fundamentally changed in the oil markets over the course of the last couple days is the fact we got a geo plitt cami geopolitical risk premium in the price of oil. how big of a deal is that given that syria is not a major

producer of oil? >> exactly. i don't think the premium you refer to is that high. a lot of explanation that lies behind the fact that oil prices have gone up recently. they've gone back to where they were in the early days of march when we had that 10% decline. some is due to the fact that there have been unplanned supply outages in canada, the north sea. it's not all about middle east geopolitical premium, which i don't think is that great any way, for the reason you said, syria is not a major oil producer, and there would appear to be little risk of contagion spreading out of syria. >> you're seeing global demand growth of 1$1.3 million barrels per day. you say that's slightly below the previous forecast. that's at odds, to me, with what we're seeing in the rest of the fwloebl econom global economy. why do you think oil is slightly lagging behind? >> there are two points.

in 2015, we had one of the biggest rates of growth for a long time because that was a reaction to falling oil prices. to some extent that was also the case in 2016. in 2017, that effect is beginning to wear off what we're seeing as well as the fact that the impact of the low prices is wearing off, is the fact that ongoing improvements in things like vehicle efficiency and the use of oil in more efficient ways in other applications is continuing. i think we shouldn't overstress this. oil demand is still growing. for the next five years at least it will grow by 1 million barrels a day or more. it's a question of the pace of the growth is easing back a bit. that's for some long-term reasons mainly energy efficiency improvements. >> neil, thank you very much for that. have a great easter break. neil atkinson, head of the oil industry and markets division. shares in sca have hit the top of the stoxx 600 in europe after the hygiene arm of the swedish consumer goods company

receive a $22 billion takeover offer from a private equity consortium. sca announced plans last year to split into two companies, one focusing on hygiene products the other focusing on forestry. >> i knew you would impress me with your pronunciation. >> your european equity markets this morning, trading lower. you have poland just hanging on to some slight gains. most markets by in large are closed or partially closed for good friday as well. looking at the asian markets as well where we're closed. when it comes to the sectors out there, you're seeing to the down side this morning, a bit of

selling taking place in construction materials, oil and gas and banks off. citigroup, jpmorgan and wells fargo in the states. after trump said america's currency was getting too strong with the greenback skidding to a five-month low to the yen. the president said he preferred the federal reserve to keep interest rates low, and also left the door open to renominating fed chair janet yellen once her term comes to an end next year. andrew perry is head of equities at hermes equity management. i was thinking of these u-turns we've been seeing from president trump and whether it matters. looking at some recent ones within the last 48 hours, the dollar, too strong, he would prefer to keep rates low. he likes yellen.

he would like to keep her. at the joint press conference with the head of nato. he said now that nato is no longer obsolete, the u.s. export import bank is a good thing. previously he said he would shut it down. the list goes on. is any of this going to have an impact on the market? and will this have any result on the pushing through of tax reforms? >> i think the market has begun to recognize that what you say on the heartstrings is not what you can do in power. trump is not a professional politician but is a professional businessman, and he has discovered wielding power in office is much, much harder. that's why we've already seen a lot of reversals in the big consensus trades of earlier this year. the reflation trade in effect has grind to a halt. banks have underper forl formed. the dollar has failed to deliver, and look at bond

yields. they have pulled become and are sending a different message to the more ebull yeient story tha the equity market was pricing in. >> we had a guest yesterday who said now is not the time at all to come out of equities, and that we'll continue to move higher. you agree on that? >> i wouldn't say they go higher in a straight line. i think we price an awful lot in. the size of the trum bounce was on order of 15%. that's a lot of expectation of fut hi future growth priced in the one thing i would point out is soft data. the survey data is running ahead of the hard data. while the hard data is improving, i'm encouraged by corporate profit announcements, revisions, export data, we have that gap between hope and reality. reality is picking up, but not at the pace that open is. i think we're having this necessary period of consolidation, sorting out. that's why growth stocks have

been outperforming this year when everybody said it would be the year of value. >> do you still want to be invested in financials, in the auto sector, cyclicals, anything that would benefit from the reflation trade under trump or would pare back on those, and go to utilities, telecoms, sectors that we didn't think would do well under the reflation trade? >> i think people make too easy extrapolations how economic and political policies translate into the corporate sector. you might have some accelerated growth globally, but there are other secular transsinitions go on. we heard the previous speaker talking about energy efficiency keeping the demand for oil lower. so, industrials, for example, we prefer companies involved in sustainability, automation, robotics, areas like that, rather than playing the more cyclical -- the economic cork

bobbing on the economic waves. it is looking at companies still with value added. i think automatically trying to play interest rate moves or trying to play economic moves works in the short-term. but you actually have to see the delivery. that's where some older industries are struggling with secular headwinds that will be against them irrespective of what trump does or doesn't do. >> andrew, there's no way around it we'll have to ask you about france what do your clients say about france now as increasingly it's down to the wire? we know that macron is leading in the polls, but there's a high proportion of french voters that are still undecided. how much uncertainty is there? how much nervousness really? >> i would say the uncertainty seems to be quite low. we have a number of french clients, when we talk to them about the outcomes, they tend to be polar sized. a few do believe there could be a big upset. history and the structure of the french electoral system does suggest that marine le pen

winning is unlikely. it does depend on who gets into the second round. so if the far-left candidate gets in, and it's melenchon versus le pen, that's a different outcome than macron versus le pen. in that case you wouldn't expect a surprise. >> what's the trade for europe then or for france? >> there's no trade. i think the big problem is is trying to anticipate political events. if you got the election of trump right, you probably short the market and lost your shirt. in many ways it's waiting to react to what actually happens, even if marine le pen gets in, people talk about frexit. the chances of her engineering france leaving the euro, leaving the eu, very, very low. most people in france want to remain in the eu, even if they want to vote for le pen. i think that's one thing we know about the eurozone, once you're in the euro, you want to stay in

there whether you believe in austerity or not. greece is a perfect example. >> andrew, thank you very much for that. andrew perry says have there is no trade when it comes to france, just wait it out. do e-mail the show. >> absolutely. easter is upon us, right? >> it is. we have something very special for you at the end of today's show. stay tuned. >> the address, of course, being streetsignseurope@cnbc.com. we're also alive and well on twitter. @louisabojesen. >> or @carolincnbc. coming up, it's been a particularly active week for activist hedge fund elliott advisers, we'll give you details after this short break. so you're having a party?

how nice. i'll be right there. and the butchery begins. what am i gonna wear? this party is super fancy. let's go. i'm ready. are you my uber? [ horn honks ] hold on. don't wait for watchathon week to return. [ doorbell rings ] who's that? show me netflix. sign up for netflix on x1 today and keep watching all year long. welcome back to "street signs." >> asia, a lot going on there

overnight. especially given mr. trump's latest comments on china pauline is in singapore with more. pauline? >> good morning. we've got mixed asian markets, largely because of those comments from trump. we also got some data out. china trade data beat expectations on all fronts. imports, exports, and the trait surplus. we saw exports up 16.4% year on year. imports up 20.3% year on year. that was largely because of demand for coal, iron ore and copper. the impact on the markets was not that dramatic. the shanghai composite closed flat. the data did cause the aussie dollar to strengthen after it also popped today from strong jobs numbers where we saw 60,900 jobs added in australia for the month of march when 20,000 was expected. the asx 200 was weighed down by declining iron ore prices during

the session. trump's comments on the dollar being too strong caused the dollar to soften overnight. again, pushed the yen stronger during the asia session. it had been strengthening and then weakening and now it's strengthening again as we see dollar/yen at 10.910 8.90. the koz pi clospi closed higher almost 1%. the central bank also held steady on interest rates. that's your market wrap up. earnings season kicks into gear today with wells fargo, citi group and jpmorgan set to report quarterly numbers. wilfred frost filed this report. >> reporter: banks come into the first quarter earnings with easy comparisons to beat year-on-year, but tougher

month-on-month. the main focus will be loan growth which slowed since the election, particularly the last two months. goldman sachs gives three reasons. first, economic uncertainty on policy led to less activity in the commercial space. higher rates have driven less mortgage refinancing and a seasonal slowdown in credit cards. it's very much on the corporate v side that led loan growth to slow, which led to high issue yields being up. that leads to forecasts for investment banks where debt capital issuance is the standout. equity capital issuance will be expected to be strong, but m&a could disappoint. on the trading side, fixed income and commodities still appears to be strong. the huge focus on interest rate and yield curve moves during the quarter ensured that. equity trading will be soft, volatility has been lower than both the fourth quarter and the first quarter last year. finally, net interest margins

should improve following the march rate hike, which is a timely reminder of the improving reminder banks face on medium or longer term horizon. even if stocks did fall in march due to that correlation with falling yields. on that note, how are valuations looking? nomura says average price for the universal banks sits at 1.3 times, now consistent with the ten-year average having traded below that for most of last year. the first numbers hit tomorrow at 6:45 a.m. from jpmorgan, followed at 8:00 by wells fargo and citigroup. the rest of the banks following next week. in other news, the battle between elliott advisers and axe akzonobel. elliott is threatening to take legal action. the chemical group reported to elliott to regulators for having

share price information with ppg. antony burgmans is known to have opposed ppg's attempts to oppose the tie-up which elliott publicly supports. elliott advisers made headlines this week for its involvement in ppg's takeover of akzonobel and called for change at bhp billiton. >> it's hard to talk about elliott without talking about the man behind it. that is paul singer, the founder who launched elliott back in 1977 with only around $1 million worth of capital from family and friends. that amount has swelled to just shy of $33 billion. making elliott one of the top ten global hedge funds. let's take a look which elliott is more famous for. elliott is known for being extremely patient. that's evidenced by some sovereign debt deals. the deal with argentina, over a

decade long battle they had with the government before walking away with around 2$2.4 billion profit. looking at takeover target, elliott has a history of successfully pushing the offer prices for targets higher. one example is last year when ab inbev took over sabmiller. right now as mentioned, they're heavily involved in ppg's attempted takeover for akzonobel. we'll talk about that very shortly. looking at restructurings, elliott is not afraid to get out there and agitate for change where it sees opportunities and inefficiencies to be resolved. last year, alliance trust, it forced the ousting of two board members and several senior executives. one live and interesting case at the moment is the agitation for change at bhp billiton. it's asking for a wholesale restructuring. >> thank you very much for that.

>> progress on basel iii has effectively been put on pause by trump's presidency. the administration has yet to appoint a representative to the negotiating table while president trump has promised to roll back u.s. financial regulations. the bundesbank is remaining patient as it seeks to get the u.s. on board. annette spoke to the bundesbank board member and asked him where we stand now on basel iii. >> let's bear in mind that with regards to basel iii, we have not only agreed ton ma ed on ma issues but also implemented on most of them when we worked on basel iii in 2010. now we are at a position where we only need to finalize one important issue. and this one important issue is really thinking about the viability of risk-weighted assets, which is an important issue.

that's open. and in santiago and in other meetings, the members of the basel committee have agreed on almost all issues, one major issue is outstanding, the calibration of the output form. that is an important central issue to the bazell accord. and for that we need to have all members in place, including the united states. now, the new administration in the united states has not yet nominated the person who will replace dan turillo and will be the vice president of the fed. we're patiently waiting for that person to arrive. that's not at all unusual that the new administration needs time to put the right people in place. and to think about their positions. so the positions are probably still under consideration. but i truly hope that we will finalize basel iii during the

german g20 presidency, which, as you know, will end by the end of november of this year. but there is no time pressure because most of the issues of basel iii have already been implemented and have long been decided. so we need to think about the calibration of the output as well as the interim periods. and potential review periods and the length of those. >> let us talk about the potential of regulatetory arbitrage between europe and the united states. european banks are warning that they're losing sort of their position if europe will strengthen regulation further. is there anything you want to say to them? >> first of all, you know, basel, as you asked about, has always been a very, very good example of how international cooperation can work. i believe that having a

multilateral, international agreement, regulation, is very beneficial to the world. and to all members. we are striving to agree on basel iii, because we believe we need international laws and accords. make sure you stay tuned for "street signs," or should that be sweet signs? we'll explain why. there's plenty of treats in store for you. stick around.

. hello. welcome, you're still watching "street signs." i'm carolin roth. >> i'm louisa bojesen. your headlines this morning. european markets are skittish after comments from president trump send the dollar sliding, while he calls for lower rates for longer. paper money. sweden's sca has reportedly received a bid north of $22 billion for its hygiene unit, sending the shares to top of the stoxx 600. russia uses its veto power to prevent the u.n. security council from condemning the chemical attack in syria, as donald trump says relations with moscow may have hit an all-time low. turkey gets ready to vote in the referendum on sunday that could hand increased powers to

president erdogan as the latest polls show "yes" is slightly ahead. good morning, everyone. it is the day before good friday. naturally volumes do drop off at this time of the week. we're looking at a holiday-shortened week for europe and the u.s. let's look at the u.s. futures. s&p 500 seen off by four points. the dow sliding by 32. the nasdaq off by 10 points. this after we closed fractionally lower yesterday with the s&p 500 posting its worst day in three weeks. let's show you what's happening on this side of the pond. in europe, we're lower across the board. some skittishness after those comments from donald trump about the dollar being too strong for his taste. the dax off by 0.3%. the ftse 100 off by 0.45. banks underperforming. for the week we're on track for

a small loss of 0.2% for the stoxx 600. here's a quick check on what's happening in the currency markets. again, the dollar, it slid quite a bit on the back of donald trump's comments. we're still seeing the dollar against the japanese yen at a five-week low. given the safety concerns this week, 109.01. turkish citizens will head to the polls on sunday to decide whether the country should shift from a parliamentary system to a presidential public. the move would grant erdogan presidential powers and tighten his grip. hadley gamble joins us from dubai. heading into this important vote what are the indications so far? >> what we've seen from most polls is a slim majority for president erdogan in terms of taking these presidential powers and increasing his authority in the country. a lot of worries internally about freedoms, the fact that

the judiciary may be unduly influenced and the round up of intellectuals in response to the coup attempt in turkey. a lot of things happening in turkey today do have an impact on foreign relations in particular what's happening in syria, the relation with the united states, questions about whether or not u.s. president donald trump's administration will actually listen to the turkish authorities at this point in terms of the extradition in terms of the men they say was behind this coup attempt last year and the questions about what the fallout from syria will look like following these u.s. air strikes. big questions in terms of the foreign policy narrative coming out of turkey and an understanding more and more from the international community that when it comes to playing the foreign policy game, president erdogan has had to remain nimble, whether it's cozying up to the russians, the united states. so a lot of questions going forward about what that will look like, whether or not he will finally be allowed this

buffer zone on the border with syria that he's been asking for for years now, and that relationship, how it will play out against the back drop of what we've seen with the u.s. and russia really trading barbs in terms of foreign policy. >> hadley, thank you very much. let's stay with the topic. russia vetoed a united nations security council vote condemning the attack last week in syria. the vote also called on president bashar al assad to grant access to investigators and provide information on flight plans. america and russia's i'm bass did ors clashed over how to tackle the crisis in syria. >> today's vote could have been a turning point. once more this vote could have been the moment when russia saw its interests do not lie with a murderous dictator but rather with the many countries in the international community including those across the middle east that want to end

this conflict. by its failure, russia will continue to be isolated. >> translator: once again, let me repeat, you're afraid of any partial investigation which can show there is a worked out system of manipulating chemical weapons. we have every reason to believe that other improvisations by extremists can follow using toxic substances. >> the vote comes in the middle of increased tensions between washington and moscow. during a visit with his russian counterpart, u.s. secretary of state rex tillerson said that there was a low level of trust between the two countries. russia's vladimir putin echoed the sentiment while donald trump said that relations may be "at an all-time low." >> i think he had a very successful meeting in russia. we'll see. we'll see the end result which will be in a long period of time, perhaps. the end result is what's important, not just talk.

and i think that based on everything i'm hearing, things went pretty well, maybe better than anticipated. it would be wonderful, as we were discussing just a little while ago, if nato and our country could get along with russia. right now we're not getting along with russia at all. we may be at an all-time low in terms of relationship with russia. this has built for a long period of time. we'll see what happens. >> trump's comments came as he was hosting the nato secretary-general in washington. in an apparent u-teurn on previous views, the president praised nato. he added he no longer thought the organization was obsolete. kristen welker has more. >> reporter: tonight president trump making a number of stunning reversals as he faces multiple foreign policy crises after repeatedly calling nato

obsolete on the campaign trail -- >> nato in my opinion is obsolete. maybe nato will dissolve. and that's okay. >> reporter: now, mr. trump changing his tone while standing next to nato secretary general in the east room. >> i said it was obsolete. it's no longer obsolete. >> reporter: the move aimed at getting nato allies to ramp up their support in foreign fights and also pressing those countries to pay their fair share to support nato's mission. but another striking reversal tonight, after vowing to label china a currency manipulator as a candidate -- >> they are grand masters of currency manipulation. >> reporter: tonight telling "the wall street journal" they're not currency manipulators, explaining taking that step could jeopardize his talks with beijing on confronting the threat of north korea. the president wants china's help to press north korea to back off its recent nuclear provocations. analysts saying the shifting policies reflect a one-time candidate who is adjusting to serving in the nation's highest office. >> while i think it's part of a learning process that the president is going through. there are things one says on the

campaign trail and face the realities of the office. >> reporter: still, mr. trump is ramping up his war of words with north korea, making it clear the united states is prepared to go it alone if china doesn't get on board. a sentiment he conveyed during an unexpected call with china's president last night. >> i said the way you're going to make a good trade deal is to help us with north korea, otherwise we'll go at it alone. that will be all right, too. going at it alone means going it with lots of other nations. >> reporter: this as the president faces foreign policy tests on multiple fronts. >> right now the world is a mess. by the time i'm finished, it's going to be a lot better place to live in because right now it's nasty. >> i look forward to that. >> the escalation? >> forward to being better. it's interesting, though. as our producer was saying this morning, trump saying previously, nato's obsolete. in his speech he said nato was obsolete, it's no longer obsolete. what's changed?

>> the reality of being in office. the reality of being a president and no longer on the campaign trail. that's changed. talking on the campaign trail, ten days out from the french election, the latest poll puts the far-right candidate, marine le pen ahead of mac onin the firmacron in the first roun but the rise of melenchon is also surprising some. you spoke to a member of the far-right party? >> y i spoes, i spoke to marine pen's campaign manager. i asked if he was worried about the rise of the extreme-left

candidate, jean-luc melenchon, and he said they keep manipulating the polls, and right now marine le pen is neck and neck with macron in the polls. it's hard to keep the yellow jersey in this presidential race. she's been stalling in the polls. there's been the surge of the extreme left candidate, jean-luc melenchon, and he may appeal to some voters even though they're the opposite extremes on the political spectrum, he may also appeal to some of her voters because he wants to throw everything under the table. then there was the arson at her headquarters in paris. nobody was hurt and no real damage, but still it shows this campaign is pretty violent. as you mentioned, we talked about another issue with marine le pen, the issue of the euro. it's one of many proposals, but

at the same time three out of four french people want to retain the euro. they don't want to hear about a frexit. i asked about that because marine le pen has toned down her speech on frexit saying now that it would be a referendum, and there could be a common currency in the eurozone in parallel to returning to the franc. i asked about that. i also asked if he had calculated the cost of a frexit. let's hear. >> translator: remember, in 2005 the referendum under the european constitution was massively rejected by the people but they managed to fush thropu through in another way. this is unacceptable. we wanted to get our sovereignty back in terms of currency, budget, territory to control our boarders and economy to have an economic patriotism. after we get the reforms, we can

stay the european union, a new europe of nations free and sovereign, otherwise we will suggest to the french to exit the eu, like the united kingdom did recently, it's nothing extraordinary. >> have you evaluated the cost of frexit? a think tank says it will cost 180 billion euros. >> translator: we assessed what we could gain from frexit, it's millions of jobs for people that are lacking, because we have 6.5 million unemployed in our country. we have a trade deficit of 50 billion euros. we want to free ourselves from the european union to implement specific measures like specific protectionism. the european union forbids it. the dramatic situation mentioned by the institute and that is described by experts in a situation that already exists. massive unemployment, that's

today that jobs are lacking and jobs are being destroyed in industries in every sector, in services, in agriculture as well. we need to change our country deeply to put back up employmen employment. >> there was another assessment of how much it would cost to exit the euro, it's the one from ba the bank of france's governor, he said it would cost 30 billion of french debt every year. so french people see now more the negotiate tef siative sides positive. >> claire, thank you very much for that. after this short break, i know you're waiting for it. we're talking chocolate eggs, and also chocolate money. the business of easter with the managing director of one of london's most sought after

chocolatiers. stick around.

hi everybody. welcome back to "street signs." warren buffett is paring back his stakes in wells fargo. berkshire hathaway announced they're selling 9 million shares in the bank and will withdraw the application to boost its stake above 10%. the move wasn't a change in investment outlook but following extensive talks it realized increasing ownership would restrict our commercial activity with wells fargo. tesla ceo elon musk has fired back at investors who are unhappy with his company's governance structure. five share holders have written a joint letter recommending two new board members and calling for a re-election of all directors. musk took to twitter saying

perhaps shares in ford would be a better fit for their portfolios. this following a surge in tesla's share price. i think tesla won that fight earlier this week, they're the most valuable in the u.s. >> crazy how quickly that happened. preorder fors preorder for for system sun n system sung's new smart tone has previously beat that of the s7. samsung is expected to post record profits during the second quarter of 2017 because of the boost of the s8. the heir to the samsung group was in court in seoul for the continuation of his briarry trial. he's accused of using $38 million of the company's money to bribe president park.

trouble hits toshiba as western digital demands exclusive rights to acquire a gently run memory unit, toshiba's most valuable asset. >> toshiba faces massive losses from westinghouse electric and is scrambling to sell off its profitable memory unit to raise needed funds. toshiba semiconductor is run jointly with western digital and the firm refused to allow the transfer of the plant to a third party. it argued the contract between the two firms requires western digit digital's consent for any sell of toshiba's memory business to a third bidder. some prices reaching over $18

billion. toshiba sees no problem with the process and is set to proceed with the sale as planned. but their partnership dates back 17 years, sharing sensitive technology and depending on how negotiations go, toshiba may not be able to shrug off its partners objections. shares fell 5% today weighing on the nikkei index which hit a new low today. that's all from the nikkei, back to you. >> thank you very much for that. it's finally here. the moment we've been waiting for all day. yep. easter weekend is here. we thought it's only appropriate to talk about the business of chocolate with consumers becoming more health conscious and record cocoa crops threatening prices, is it a good time to be in the chocolate business? paul is a chocolatier based in london. in 2014 he was named outstanding chocolatier by the international chocolate awards. here to talk about the business

is james cronin. pleasure to have you in here with all the stuff you brought. is it a good time to be in the chocolate business? >> it's a great time. we produce something that makes people happy. that's a wonderful business to be in. in terms of the fundamentals of this, the commodity prices are low because we buy the very, very best cocoa in the world. the prices our suppliers pay is somewhat disconnected from those commodity prices. they do threaten the bio dive e diversity and sustainability of chocolate in the long term if more farmers pull out of growing that. >> it's true that many consumers are shifting towards health conscious stances. how do you address those consumers that you don't want to lose? you are adjusting your portfolio? >> our chocolate has always tended towards the dark side which is lower in sugar and fats. the only fat we use is cocoa butter. so it's wrong to say that chocolate is a health food, i dispute that, but certainly the

darker chocolates are less fattening. >> i'm a big fan of the dark chocolate. big, big fan. but your brand and all kinds of brands, but what kind of chocolate is it that people want? do they want the strange stuff with the chili taste or the box standards? >> chocolate is a complex food as wine is or people exploring vineyards, single grape varieties, now people are exploring single variety cocoa beans, they understand the chocolate from peru tastes different from the chocolate to ecuador or madagascar and the -- when pairing that with different foods that they're eating or different whiskey they're drinking or wine they're drinking, that those different characteristics really let them understand that whole range of tastes. >> you get yours from where primarily?

you make it here? >> we don't make the chocolate itself. we make chocolates from chocolate. we work with small producers around the world. the chocolate grows all around the world. it grows under a secondary canopy. so it grows in the shade n rain for re forest which is why it's an ecological crop. you can't cut down fields and plant a huge cocoa plantation. >> i have cao beans -- >> the cocoa limbs. >> it's bitter. i have to ask the boring question what about inflation. with the pound falling, are these chocolate eggs, are they going to get more expensive? >> it's a challenge for us. obviously we don't grow any cacao in the uk. we have managed to hold our

prices for the last 18 months, but we're under pressure. at the moment we have not had to introduce any price increases, but, you know, property prices in london for shops keep going up. business rates have gone up. it's a challenge for the business, but we want to make sure that as many people as possible can enjoy the product. >> do you feel because consumers like your chocolate you can trade up even if you have to increase prices? >> we're not cheap to start with. we're at the top end of the market. we always want to price our products fairly. yes, absolutely, our customers pay more than they would for an egg that they bought in the supermarket. we want to make sure what they get is something they value and enjoy. >> isn't it still a difficult time to be in chocolate? you said it was a great time, but isn't it difficult given all of the newcomers out there? there's some good newcomers as well, and also with an eye towards the more health conscious carob or alternative to chocolate? >> i think the market is

expanding. that's only a good thing. the more people try different chocolates, the more that their interests get piqued. so, if you have just had kind of supermarket dark chocolate before or something like that, you tasted it and thought that's not the flavor for me, that could turn you off category for a long period of time. if you're actually trying lots of different things, you'll find something that works for you. that increases the size of the market. >> would you say that the only impact from brexit on your business is the falling val you'll of the pound? apart from that, you're fine? >> it's a challenge to export food stuffs anywhere in the world. so, the more fragmented the food regulations and standards, the greater risk that we have. i've exported to the u.s. before. it's been extremely complicated to meet requirements. i fear what it will be like if we're having negotiate all of these deals bilaterally. but the biggest impact that we've seen so far has been

currency. but i'm a big fan of, you know, united widely negotiated food standards. let's call this chocolate diplomacy. james, thank you very much for that. we will try some of these. i'm told we have to do u.s. futures. >> go for it before we salivate all over the place. we're looking here at the implied open on the right-hand side of your screen. slightly lower. we still have a couple hours to go for the u.s. open. that's what we're looking at this morning. european markets still slightly in red. >> they're down. ftse 100 off by a half percent. the xetra dax off by a third of a percent. we're set to close this week with a small loss. that's it for the show. >> that's it. i'm louisa bojesen. >> bye-bye. finding time to get things done isn't easy.

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good morning. a call on currencies. president trump says the dollar is getting too strong. the global reaction which is severe straight ahead. new this morning, china posted a better than expected trade deficit on export strength. meantime president trump changes his mind saying he won't label the country a currency manipulator. earnings central. financials in focus today as we prepare to hear from jpmorgan, wells fargo and citigroup. it's thursday, april 13, 2017, "worldwide exchange" begins right now. ♪