welcome to "street signs." i'm willem marx. these are your headlines clashes over syria russia accuses the white house the syrian conflict may continue but without chemical weapons >> the erosion of that taboo that has been in place for 100 years has gone too far under bashar al assad and it was time that we said no. i think it was totally the right thing to do. the hang seng falls almost

2% and w.p.p. shares slide after martin sorrell resigns he says pressure over a misconduct allegation was hurting the world's largest ad firm and elliott boosts whitbread. and also coming up on "squawk box" from our brand-new studio in abu dhabi -- >> egyptian billionaire tells cnbc how he's navigating the investment situation given the conflict in the middle east. >> i think it's important to tell people like you can't go and support a dictator and get away with it all in all i am positive mission accomplished, that's

the assessment of u.s. president donald trump after the u.s. launched missile strikes aimed at crippling syria's weapons program over the weekend. they fired 105 missiles after president bashar al assad's forces launched a chemical weapons attack on dh dhouma president trump and syrian government supporters asked them to rethink their support. >> to iran and to russia i ask what kind of a nation wants to be associated with a mass murder of innocent men, women and children the nations of the world can be judged by the friends they keep. no nation can succeed in the long run by promoting rogue

states, and murderous dictators. they guaranteed the elimination of syria's chemical weapons. assad's recent attack and today's response are the direct result of russia's failure to keep that promise. russia must decide if it will continue down this dark path or if it will join with civilized nations as a force for stability and peace. hopefully some day we'll get along with russia and maybe even iran but maybe not >> russian president vladimir putin has warned there will be global chaos should further western missile strikes hit syria. they say moscow will not delay in responding to u.s. sanctions.

he added that they're looking at the u.s.'s response. this as the u.s. is expected to announce different sanctions today. u.t. press ri secretary is supposed to announce different sanctions. nicki haley said it's due to the fact that they still have support of bashar al assad and russia is coming under further pressure on the back of the warning there. you can see the dollar strengthening a quarter of a percent against the russian ruble. rusal closed down 30% on the prospect of further sanctions on

russia they lost half of the market value last week when they black listed the leader. it's weighed on the hang seng which has closed 2% lower. now leaders of the arab that contend the, quote, criminal weapons use in syria the comments were marred bir -- we're joined from our new abu dhabi headquarters how have the emirates been responding. >> reporter: good question at the end of the day this is the narrative coming out of the u.a.e. has been one of caution

how much has dialed forward in terms of what happens next in terms of the removal of bashar al assad everyone understands that's not going to be happening at least any time soon. it serves to highlight what happens next in syria. let's hear what egyptian billionaire had to say >> they came in and slaughtered the people fight isis then the united states wants to fight isis

everybody is fighting isis except them. they're being slammed by everybody with a corrupt leader. foreign occupation by russia, iran, hezbollah. strikes that are trying to help them you never know if the strikes help them. you can't go and support a dictator all in all i am for the strike. >> no stranger to investing in contentious areas but also in a place where there are questions to the geopolitical situation. he has invested in north korea he was essentially saying there when it comes to playing the investment card and price in

what happens next with the tensions, this is something that mid east investors have priced in over the last seven years they don't see anything changing. >> abby, thank you very much the oil price not a pretty picture either for brent or wti. both down 1 1/2% on the day's trading. i'm joined by luke palanni we've seen the oil price drop pretty dramatically since the strikes. you have talked about a huge amount of risks. how much trouble do you think it is for global economic tension >> when you look at the global economic picture, it's still positive we've seen a slowdown.

i think it's more inflation in the u.s. that is going up. we still believe they are causing this to be higher but i personally think the major risk is more inflation more than anything else. >> what about u.s. production of them you see that rising as well. that will allow the prices to sustain this level >> again, if you look at the first quarter in the u.s., there's always been weaker in the last few years we don't really know why i think the overall picture remains strong there is a fiscal stimulus confidence remains high. but overall the picture remains pretty solid the trading war is what caused problems in the markets. >> we've seen commodity prices

increase on the back of these crude oil increases and i wonder that in theory should help the russian economy. the threat of sanctions presumably balance themselves out? >> yes, indeed if your price is going higher because of some trouble in the middle east, i don't think it's going to help russia it's a market seen as very risky. i think overall if you have a situation that's creating tensions, it's not going to be good for russia. all of the market tends to be a little bit more exposed. >> do you think that the u.s. administration now is realizing the political consequences for the constituents that will lead them to make a different decision, take a different path >> i'm pretty sure they're

announcing the tariffs in china, i don't think it will be any surprise for them. what the trump administration is trying to do is bring the chinese to the table and find a deal that will present before the mid term election. we don't know if this is going to work and that's the main risk the trump administration is pretty confident they'll be able to succeed, if not, they will have a negative impact on the u.s. economy. >> we're at the start of the earnings season. where in the world are you looking for buying opportunities and why? >> look, in the u.s. you have almost a 20% increase in earnings 7% coming from tax cuts. but you still have an incredibly solid earnings picture in the u.s. this is already priced in. europe, eventually japan in the u.s. the valuation is

pretty high. if you look at the earnings expectations, it's pretty difficult. >> do you think europe is the place to be? >> i think europe seems to be doing now a little bit better. they're haunted by the performance of the last 12 months europe is the region where you want to be invested. central bank is still pretty much printing money but i agree that if you look at the breakdown, especially in terms of sector, the u.s. seems to be the better place to be the valuation is very much in favor of european stocks. >> they were so good last year primarily because of tech stocks they've not been becoming as much as you saw in 2017. >> what factors are holding them back. >> if you look at tech, on the part of this, yes. i think there is a general perception that they're more profitable, safer than european

companies. a lot of this to me is not completely right a lot of this is cyclical. sees the euro in a negative way. so i think it's pretty much the perception doesn't change. >> tech stocks specifically, the final question i want to ask you y do you think they're not performing what are the factors is it regulation >> we are over weight. earnings expectations are high when it's very high, they tend to be very vulnerable to any kind of negative views i think this will not go away in the next six months. that's why we invest in other sectors. >> thank you very much for joining us this morning.

coming up, is it really mission accomplished in syria? we'll be talking to the u.s. ambassador of nato after this break. [fbi agent] you're a brave man, mr. stevens. your testimony will save lives. mr. stevens? this is your new name. this is your new house. and a perfectly inconspicuous suv. you must become invisible. [hero] i'll take my chances.

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take a look at how the european markets are getting on so far this morning. pretty flat across europe. stock 600, you can see there's been a bit of movement over the last week or so but right now not a lot of change so far this monday morning let's take a look at the individual markets to see how that's panning out across the continent. the ftse 100 very slight across the area the ftse mid all in positive area it's up a quarter of 1%. let's take a look at the sectors driving those market moves food and beverages down more than 4/5 of 1% now the big news over the

weekend, the leaders of the u.s., u.k. and france have justified the strikes this weekend. boris johnson defended the decision to attack syria. >> the erosion of that taboo that has been with us for 100 years has gone too far under bashar al assad. >> meanwhile, french president emmanuel macron said he convinced president donald trump to keep troops in syria. he said the they have proof of the attack in dhouma and they had the ability to retalley eight. >> there have been behaviors that broke international law it was retaliation, not an act of war we're joined by kay bailey hutch

chin son thank you so much for joining us five years ago the u.s. government decided not to carry out airstrikes, struck a deal whereby russia would enforce the weap weapon do you think that was a poor decision by the obama 12r5i administration >> i think once any country draws a red line and says do not cross this, there have to be consequences when that line is crossed and i think after 2013 when clearly there were chemical weapons used, russia said they would enforce the agreement so this was the time i -- us and our allies said we must do something that begins to not only show president assad that

we are going to follow through but also to degrade some of the capabilities that he is continuing to use chemical weapons. >> the syrian government seemed to indicate that it's possible to circumvent the conventional chemical weapons on friday night the u.s. and allies said they struck a number of research centers, production facilities in syria. if they knew those facilities existed, they knew they were being used to manufacture and potentially create chemical weapons, why did they have to wait until more civilians were killed >> well, certainly there had to be an amount of evidence that they were being used we wouldn't want to strike someone not knowing if they wanted to use these weapons for

this typeof incredible, horrific attack on their own people president assad is supposed to defend and protect his own people and instead he has attacked innocent civilians, women and children, and innocent men. it's not right and i say the allies stood up and i want to say nato stood with our alliance to make sure that assad does know that he didn't keep his word, he made a promise not to use chemical weapons and he did. >> inside syria and those millions who have been displaced from syria who asked why is it that people need to dye --

>> syria made a promise. russia promised there would be no chemical weapons used we have international agreements in which russia and syria has signed they say, you will not make or use chemical weapons it's a chemical weapons that's been signed. >> ambassador, if the u.s. knew that those facilities existed, as they must have done in order to strike them on friday night, surely they knew that syria and as you allege russia, its ally, were contravening that agreement from a few years ago. >> well, asking for a preemptive strike would be another issue. the evidence was there that they had been used and the line was

cross crossed. i hope that russia will take the responsibility for this. russia was the guarantor russia is the supporter of syria. russia has the bases there they need to take responsibility for the commitments they have made internationally to stop the use of chemical weapons. they've paid a price for doing the same thing in the u.k. they must know that the international community is standing against their efforts in this regard they need to stop using chemical weapo weapons. that is a line that is too far. >> president putin and the kremlin warned of chaos and international relations if there are further strikes against syria. does the u.s. government see that as a threat >> well, of course it's a threat they know they're on the wrong side of this they know the international community is standing against

their use of criminal weapons and yet we have seen another mass destruction of innocent people and i think that russia should be getting the message that we are not going to back down, that we are going to stay within the rules of international engagement we have tried to degrade some of the capability on its own. it's time for russia to step up and keep their international commitments and stop breaking the treaties time and again like the inf treaty, most certainly the agreement they made after 2013 that they would assure that syria would not have chemical weapons again. then going into the u.k. and putting chemical weapons and nerve agents into their country

to try to murder omeone. those are beyond the norms of international civil behavior and russia needs to step up to the plate and start trying to do things in the right way, which would be accepted in the international community. >> ambassador, one final question on russia's behavior and the u.s. response to it. the u.s. currently seems to have three separate russian policies. you have the president's, executive branches and be now that we're seeing -- do you think they're aligning more closely at last? >> i certainly think that america is speaking with one voice. i think the president has been very bold and the sanctions against russia to say stop this kind of behavior congress is in a bipartisan way

very forceful on the issue of russia stepping back and looking at what they're doing, looking at who they are so you porting whatever it means, they should know better and they should do better that is what congress is saying to russia, that's what the president is saying to russia. stop the bad behavior. the maligned influence that you are sewing all over the world. it is time to come into the community of ambassador. the biotech firm has a ups noed the sale to servier for $2.4 billion and elliott advisers are now

whitbread's largest shareholder. elliott bought an initial steak in whitbread last year w.p.p. wakes up to a new era. what next for the ad giant and its founder coming up after this break.

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well come to "street signs." i'm willem marks clashes over syria russia accuses the u.s. of open economic aggression as the white house plans to launch more assaults on moscow boris johnson says the syrian conflict may continue but the use of chemical weapons may not. >> the notion of that taboo has gone too far

i think it was totally, therefore, the right thing to do. rusal drags the hang seng down by almost 2%. and w.p.p. shares slide following sir martin sorrell's resignation. after three decades in charge saying pressure over a misconduct allegation was hurting the world's largest ad company. elliott energizes whitbread shares looks like some european markets have slid down into the red very slightly over the last few minutes. we take a look at the board. ftse 100 is down the xetra dax slipping down a little bit as is the cac carant and the ftse is still in the

green 10% up on the day. look at the currency market. the euro is strengthening and the dollar is dropping against the japanese yen the dollar is weaker against the swiss frank. we can see all three major indid i sees are ranked higher dow jones up almost 100 points and the nasdaq up 25 points. now the big story for u.k. and global corporate news, w.p.p. shares are slumping following sir martin sorrell's tee par tur unexpectedly as ceo. he said that the distraction was putting too much strain on the company. chairman roberta quarter will take over as executive chairman

until a new ceo can be appointed. there are now joint c.o.o.s. he leaves the w.t.p.p. at a huge time he talks about the pleasures facing his company. >> we could discuss what those problems are or cyclical problems are, whatever they are, steve, we have to respond to them so we have to simplify how we operate. we have to be faster and better and cheap er in a world which is obviously being disrupted by technological developments whether you're talking about manufacturing, media or distribution so we have to change the way we do things. >> speaking to cnbc earlier they talk about how this will affect

the company. >> you could argue he should have stepped down at the peak rather than this way the real question now is do they have a robust enough section the government's framework to keep the company where it is because it was so -- >> there are questions there about succession plan. mike mokinski. doesn't this show how they failed to have a vital successor. >> martin was a fan tast particular business builder. it wasn't clear who the successor would be

remarkably similar to martin sarchi from 20 years ago this coalition, what happened to the company is gone. it's really up for grabs. >> 400 different agencies, 200,000 employees worldwide. you have this one individual who managed to tie them altogether and he's gone. what do you think based on your understanding of the industry, based on the complexity of their business that one should should be holding on to that many types of different businesses. >> i think the real question is is that sort of business relative to today's media and communications market? and i think there's been a lot of technology change because of this complexity and fragmentation of media that you best need to have lots of little agencies or lots of different things to service the needs of the clients and the clients need

lots of different messages the reality is still in a global world. the question is how can agencies meet that need going forward. >> how can they in the case of w.p.p. what would be the reorganization or what would it look like >> one actually wonders if it gives the u.s. team a chance to layoff martin built a great company and i personally feel sorry for the way he's had to leave. he put british advertising back on the map we should leave ourselves some time for -- some optimism. i think the way one company with a lot of stocks on the map isn't necessarily the way of the future my own company we employ 18

people here in europe. we run work in many more countries. new technology can change the means of production. >> they don't necessarily fall on the profit and loss lines i want to ask you, what does this mean in terms of british advertising. do you think that his depeer r tur. >> i think still the story is yet to fully emerge. but i think the british creative industry is a great strength to brittain particularly post brexit we need to demonstrate the skills that we have to offer the world the reputation for british advertising is still great that's why we headquartered our company in london.

>> he appeared on our channel very, very frequently. what is the major trend that your industry needs to be keeping as much attention on >> there's a lot of discussion about blockchain, it's going to aid the transparency and financial information which has really hit let's not make any mistake about this the reason why martin left is because the decline in share price has been about the uncertainty because of big advertisers and small advertisers about the trust and transparency so i think the opportunity arises to embrace blockchain and ensure that clients are fully transparent. >> michael, thank you very much

for joining us this morning. the chief executive officer of london advertising. now former first lady barbara bush is in failing health and will not seek further medical treatment. that's according to the statement of the office of her husband. a spokesman for the family said she is being cared for at home sticking in u.s. news, former fbi coordinator james comey has called the president morally unfit for the job. comey added that trump was doing, quote, tremendous damage to u.s. institutions he fired him as the fbi possible trump gets into meddling he said the president demanded his loyalty. trump responded to comey's claims with harsh words in a

number of tweets over the weekend. the president called comey, quote, slippery and the worst fbi director in history. trump denied that he pressed comey to be loyal to him joining us from washington is nbc news's tracie potts. tracie, what's been the fallout between george stephanopoulos and james comey? >> reporter: comey is a leaker, as the president has said, and that he should have been fired the reaction from president trump, you just said in his tweets, reaction from the white house or pre-action because they knew this was coming out was that the focus should really be on the credibility of james comey. that is what the president, white house and republican party are focusing on. he has a lot of explosive detaid

detai details. you talked about some of the things that came out in the interview. comey said it was unlikely but possible that russia has information to black mail president trump. keep in mind it was comey who went up to the president three months before. the so-called russian -- the president denied the allegations and said they were ridiculous, but it was comey's job to go give him information that he pretty much assured that would probably anger the president-elect. he talked about the closed door meetings in the oval office and also the dinner where he was called to the white house were he -- everyone says he was pressured to drop the

investigation into former nsa director michael flynn. >> he talked about a non-zero possibility which was a legalistic way to talk about the subject. he's been interviewed by robert mueller. what does this mean? the book, some of the comments that comey's made for that investigation? does that mean that continu-- >> it may speed up if they don't do an interview with president trump. they won't have that interview to do. >>. >> reporter: mueller has already likely learned, verified and knows this stuff what's coming out is very, very different. these things have to be verified, they can't be said. >> thanks so much for joining us

this morning from washington, d.c. meanwhile here in europe, demonstrators took to the streets of barcelona this weekend. several central figures have either been mutt had -- protestors called them political prisoners and they wer demanding their release. spanish officials said they denied the responsibility by holding the referendum another set of protests in budapest where they demanded a recount. they called orban, quote, a dictator and they criticized an election title, they have an anti-immigrant message.

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we spoke a few moments ago to the u.s. ambassador of nato we have some comments coming in to the ocpw. this is ambassador kenneth ward. he's saying there is concern russia may have tampered with the attack site. he says that members of the opcw must condemn syria for, quote, a rein of chemical terror. let's take a look at the oil prices this morning partly in response to that but obviously over the course of the weekend a lot of activity, a lot of selloff. brent is down by 1.75%

we launch our new middle east coverage in abu dhabi. she spoke to the air carrier on the challenges that his business is facing. >> the core ally has always been operating m a very, very solid way. even in most challenging times, 2016 or the price collapse, local regional markets contracted which excel ler raced the over capacitywhich broad i down even then we operation of what we have done has accelerated what we've done for the next

five or ten years. yes, it was an accelerated reality check but what you would expect a business to do after ten years. j.p. morgan chase kicks off earnings season with a bang. bank soared 26% rise in equity trading. wilfred frost breaks down the earnings. >> reporter: u.s. stocks appeared to beat eps expectations friday morning but then traded lower all day. higher rates including the raise in libor were higher however, tepid loan growth meant that overall interest didn't impress. loans up year over year and flat therefore not delivering a big tax reform

trading was up but less than expected citi only up by 1% year over year behind the 7% growth by j.p. morgue gans marianne lake said the volatility will remain elevated. investment banking for both jpmorgan and citi fell year over year the efficiency ratio which is expenses over revenues showed city at 58% and jpmorgan at 56% and worsened for wells fargo to 65%. they saw expenses rise tee 3% year over year there could be more to come. the bank hinted that it is as reported close to settling on a fine relating to auto insurance

and mortgage interest rate officials. the cfpb that would make it a record fine for the cfpd the latter two investment banks outperforming. robert schiller says a good earnings season may not be enough to keep the stocks out of the red. head to cnbc.com to find out why he thinks they could be due another correction. facebook forked out 7.3 billion for security his salary rose to $8.9 billion. the social heed yeah giant and

am in use. data protection has become a key topic following revelations that 86 million people had their information shared zuckerberg was grilled by congress over how to regulate this while europe's general data regulations are there. thanks so much for being here this morning. >> my pleasure thank you. >> data storage is growing rapidly, so is your firm what your clients do with it, how they store it is not your direct concern, is it? what i want to know is what's your guidance about the storage of personal data what does your company think

should be done >> we pride ourselves on our vision to say that our customers should build a better world with data we help them to protect their data we encrypt every bit of data the person doing the hammering would not be allowed to do that. >> one of the interesting developments over the last couple of years, let's say, has been about the movement of data. >> yes. >> been a real focus on where data is stored. >> yes. >> and on facebook, they've got facilities in oregon, north of sweden, all over that place. often back to -- apple had to

keep its chtransfer of data fro europe to the u.s. if these silos emerge in the sphere of data, that's presumably good for business like yours that sells data storage? >> well, interestingly enough, we encourage customers to keep fewer copies of data not just first have you secured the data but do you know where all of the data is they can maintain fewer cop nis of data it's allowing them to get access to the same data, same real time highly fresh d a data. >> you are correct in that as customers are keeping this

often they are keeping multiple copies this is one of the reasons why storage is growing so rapidly. >> one other question i've got for you. do you think ordinary people -- you spent 30 years or so in silicon valley. >> you're being kind thank you, yes. >> you're watching silver lake, the ceo of this, do you think they understand how much money is to be made? >> i feel that these companies and our governments, in fact, are keeping too much data on us. over time it will probably take some type of major disappointment how that data is used for consumers. >> thank you very much for joining us this morning. he's the chief executive of pure storage, a rapidly growing data

storage firm globally accelerating its growth as well. let's take a quick look at what the european counsel has announced. take a look at the u.s. futures, s&p 500, dow jones and nasdaq looking to open up more than s&p 500, more than 10% at the trade. that is it for today's show. i am willem marx here in london. "worldwide exchange" is coming up next. you know what's awesome? gig-speed internet.

you know what's not awesome? when only certain people can get it. let's fix that. let's give this guy gig- really? and these kids, and these guys, him, ah. oh hello. that lady, these houses! yes, yes and yes. and don't forget about them. uh huh, sure. still yes! xfinity delivers gig speed to more homes than anyone. now you can get it, too. welcome to the party.

it is 5:00 a.m. here on the east coast five things happening on the east coast global reaction pouring in following the airstrikes on syria. sir martin sorrell steps down following allegations of misconduct. three, calls to boycott starbucks after a viral video goes of two men -- black men being arrested inside a philadelphia location. four, qualcomm expected to be repetitioned the chinese government to clear up $44 billion takeover of nxt