. welcome to "street signs." >> these are your headlines. european stocks mostly follow asia into the red as questions remain about the u.s./china trade cease-fire and as yields spreads tighten. the turn in sentiment hits auto stocks the hardest as european car executives prepare to discuss tariffs with white house officials. is emanuel macron set for a

u-turn media reports suggest the french government will suspend its plan to hike fuel taxes following weeks of violent protests. and italian banks sell off as eu economic commissioner says brussels is waiting for credible moves from rome as an italian news outlet says rome may lower its deficit target after a strong day yesterday here in europe where the stoxx 600 ended about 1% higher, today we are seeing a more negative picture with the stoxx 600 giving back some of those gains, but not all. the main index is down about 20 basis points so far today. plenty in focus here we firstly have some of that shine from the trade truce between the u.s. and china wearing off, as we saw in the asia session overnight

now here in europe, the euro group meeting is taking focus. the press conference just ended this morning we will get into more detail there. we also got italy and france in focus with the italians set to potentially reveal a budget later this morning so plenty going on here in europe let's look at how the different regions are faring red across the board if we look deeper into the split, the french and german stocks are faring the worst this morning with the cac down about 50 basis points. the dax down about the same. in italy we have the ftse mib down about 23 basis points this morning. let's look at the sectors and see how the split is faring this morning. at the top of the leaderboard we have some defensive names outperforming. the food and beverage, healthcare, utilities all up marginally down at the bottom those trade

sensitive cyclical macro sectors. autos, technology, industrials and basic resources. the auto sector is in focus today. larry kudlow saying he expects china to not go ahead with tariffs on auto imports. top executives from daimler and volkswagen are set to meet the trump administration -- officials from the trump administration today over those threatened tariffs we are seeing the negative picture here in the auto space daimler down about 1.8%. volkswagen down about 2% leading those -- that weakness there the italian banks in focus today after italian prime minister joumanna bercetcgo conte is saying he could reasonably include a lower deficit. looking at the italian stocks, not a huge amount of movement. the biggest mover is ubi bank

down 1.6%. italy has increased efforts to solve its budget problems, that's according to the commissioner for economic affairs, pierre moscovici. he said talks were intense but have become more constructive over the past week he said the commission welcomed italy's reduced deficit target >> we've also taken note of the recent announcement of the last days in order to reduce public deficit in italy that's in the right direction. we are waiting for more details to evaluate the size of the steps. it's clear that we will need commitments which have to be concrete, credible, and that we will act in the framework of the rules. >> silvia has some more details from that press con venferenccoe

mr. moscovici, was there anything new he said this morning? >> he made it clear the european commission is still working on two paths. he is talking to the italian government hoping they will change their deficit targets for 2019, at the same time the programs for a deficit procedure continue those were the words of moscovici. what this means in practice is that if the italian government doesn't change its stance, the chances are that that excessive deficit procedure will be applied in 2019. >> european finances, some of them, didn't get a huge amount of sleep last night. they worked through until 6:00, 7:00 in the morning, had the press conference at 9:00 brussels time, what were they talking about. >> the big focus was eurozone reform they were talking about this for about 18 hours straight. at the moment we're still waiting for details on what they actually agreed to some things we heard at the

press conference was that, for instance, when it comes to the single resolution mechanism, a fund set up in 2016 to help banks in case they were about to fail, the esm is said to be the backstop for that single resolution mechanism the managing director of the esm said this will be fiscally neutral proposal, meaning if the esm needs to give money to the single resolution mechanism, then the single resolution mechanism would pay back that money. and that money would come from european banks and not european taxpayers. overall we're still waiting for more details from that agreement on eurozone reform >> they're probably waiting for some more sleep. let's bring in our next guest. and we've had some language from the european finance ministers this issue dates back to the eurozone crisis, we're now seven years on an they're talking

about stabilization, eurozone budget changes, why does this matter for europe as an economic block? are there winners and losers for individual european economies if these proposals go through >> of course it's easy to find this package underwhelming on the 27th anniversary of the eurozone, tenth anniversary of the financial crisis, we have countries in the eurozone rather diverging than converging. so there is certainly some reason or motivation for actually having another fiscal capacity to move these countries closer together as we see germany and italy diverging. but obviously important steps can only be taken in crisis times. we are in a rather healthy upswing. this is probably as far as it

gets it's not the grand vision that macron envisioned last year, but more the eu unsexy plumbing, but it's all you need to do. >> you talked about divergence between italy and germany. you can look at unemployment data, all sorts of different numbers coming out of italy. not many of them hugely positive i wonder, do you think the economic reality is beginning to show its face to italian leaders and that might be one reason they're softening their stance a little bit >> certainly we have this view that the italian government is paying its price and for the conflict with the eu and the markets and the fiscal plans, they've put out so far, yes, we've got new ones which seem to

be showing some corrections more in the direction as the eu wants to see it. but there seems to be some reckoning going on >> as you began to mention, a lot of these reforms have beenct macron how is the unrest and the dissatisfaction that macron is facing among the french people, how does that affect his ability to push this agenda. might this impede his ability or could he super charge it even more to try to regain some of that momentum ahead of the european parliamentary elections? >> it's difficult to say probably his bet was as long as i clean up my own house in france, implement reforms, i can win over germany into more

reforms on the european level. now with these protests which pose the biggest challenge for macron's presidency so far, he probably can't force the reforms he wanted to do in the first place. the countries like the nether lands and germany weren't so open to his reforms in the first place. so probably this is more domestic point >> i wanted to ask about the eurozone budget proposal that was one of the most important points for the french government we are still waiting for details on that. how far do you think that can go how big of a loss is it for the french government amid so much volatility back home >> they put in a lot of political capital into the eurozone budget. as it looks, as of today, it's

not going to be the few percentage points of european gdp, but probably more sort of the two-digit billion number we don't know numbers, but it's overwhelming for the frechl side what they're trying do is not just get this convergent competitiveness eurozone scheme in the budget, because this is what we have already in place with the european investment bank, but more the stabilization capacity but they basically kicked this down further down the road to the leaders in a week's teime or next year. >> based on the back of the g20 summit over the weekend, do you see the detante between the u.s.

and china or the u.s. and eu having a slightly positive prospect >> yesterday we had a rally, kind of conconstrained, not whaw expected thinking we had a cease-fire or truce but we probably neat to waed to wait a of days until the he said she said -- >> do you think that translates to the broader economy or just market reaction? >> yes for markets to actually recover we would need this truce to be more sustained not just -- we have a prolongation of 90 days. we could be sitting here again saying now it's the u.s. that is increasing the tariffs on china. only if we get an actual cease-fire that holds and

actually a deal, i think then we would see some significant rebound in growth. the trade conflict is probably rather a proxy conflict for these two global superpowers fighting out who is going to be the first in the next second >> thank you very much very interesting comment at the end there. the french government is prepared to suspend its fuel tax increase after weeks of violent protests several french news outlets have report reported that the prime minister will announce the u-turn later today. the offices of the prime minister and president macron have declined to comment to cnbc this weekend paris was at the center of the worst unrest in decades. i just returned from paris yesterday where i was covering this story you could feel the frustration

on the ground from the protesters who were still lingering. this does mark a change in tact from president macron, if it does come to fruition that they do abandon or at least even suspend these fuel tax hikes >> what form did this frustration take what did people say to you >> one person highlighted the symbolism behind the yellow vest, the fact that these vests are made to make theinvisib invisible visible. and that the rural and semi-rural constituents feel like they've been putting a lot into the welfare system and not getting enough out of it in a way, it's about the fuel tax hikes, but in a much more meaningful way it's something much bigger than that. >> that's something we will continue to watch in the coming weeks. ryanair has reached a deal with a german pilot's union. the four-year framework includes agreements on pay, pensions and

pilots annual leave. separately the carrier posted an 11% rise in traffic for november scandinavian airlines posted better than expected fourth quarter pretax profit but the carrier expect hs higher lossesn the fourth quarter u.s. markets will be closed tomorrow to mark the funeral of george h.w. bush the former president is currently lying in state in the capital rotunda. jay gray filed this report >> reporter:among the thousand pausing to say good-bye tonight -- president trump and first lady memelania as george h.w. bush returns to washington for one last time. >> in times george herbert

walker bush demonstrated the finest qualities of our nation and human kind >> dignitaries, family and friends honoring his lifetime of service as a fighter pilot shot down during world war ii, congressman, ambassador, director of the cia, vice president and then president >> thank you for sharing this special ma with our nation and the world. >> in the final few years illness confined president bush to a wheelchair. >> i used to worry about death, i don't anymore. i have a feeling there's an afterlife, i have a feeling it's a good one >> reporter: well-deserved for a patriot, president and a corner d cornerstone of an era and civility that many feel is gone now with his psiasng jay gray, nbc news, washington (client's voice) remember that degree you got in taxation?

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treasury select committee, a series of hearings they're holding about the economic impact of brexit that's nicki morgan asking questions of mark carney, asking about disorderly and disruptive brexits that his bank of england put out last week. the political question that he will struggle to answer. theresa may will kick off a week of make or break parliamentary debates today. it's just a week until the vushl vo crucial vote until his brexit deal individual cabinet ministers would take to the box to talk about specific elements of her proposals. the prime minister calls on mp to quote get on with the deal that honors the referendum she's also expected to say her accord delivers for the british

people but before then mps will vote on a motion that accuses the british government of holding parliament in contempt for its failure to publish detailed legal interpretations of may's brexit proposal six opposition parties requested the motion tone general jeffrey cox defended the position not to publish the details saying the omission was in the national interest >> what's interesting about that, if he is held -- i will continue with our next story, i hear some sighs in the gallery fransz a france and germany will put forward several proposals for a new digital tax. the european commission earlier this year proposed a wide ranging tax on big tech companies online revenues. europe's tech startup scene is giving silicon valley a run for its money according to a new

report from venture capital firm atomico. it has been home to twice the number of tech ipos compared to the u.s. and the companies are outperforming their american counterparts elizabeth shultz join us wis us more on this >> the u.s. is still a bigger market when it comes to the overall size of the tech sector. we thought we would speak with julia hart of event brite. you went public earlier in september on the new york stock exchange wildly successful day of trading on the first day, it has come down since then. what is the outlook for the company now? >> on september 20th we went

public on the new york stock exchange that was a day of record for us to celebrate our milestone really for us it's about that long-term vision our vision is to induce the creation of more live experiences for event creators around the world and to strengthen and fuel the experience economy >> event brite is a global company. what challenges do you see in the sector right now do you have any regrets going public >> no regrets. we knew what we were getting into while you can't accurately predict the stock market, but when we thought about why now and why it's important for our company, it's about how much more we can do on the global stage by being a public company. not only is it a fundraise, a

milestone for the company, but it's a memt for us to step out and tell our story and for us it's about who we serve and our event creators you know, we're going to see volatile times bei stimes. being a private company we saw many challenging times as a public company we expect far more challenges what keeps us rooted is our global culture. we have over 1,000 employees worldwide. we're regularly named as the best place to work >> what types of challenges are you seeing in the global environment? are you finding it's hard to get the workers that you need? are you looking to expand outside of the u.s.? >> we're always looking to expand certainly outside of the u.s. has been a focus for us. we have 14 offices in 11 countries worldwide. our employee base is becoming increasingly more international. any barrier to creating the best

talent base will be a challenge for us we will always be rallying to be able to attract the best talent to a company like event brite that has a global mission and we'll continue to see micro challenges along the way but we stay focused on what our vision is, which is building a totally global and inclusive company. >> how much is that idea of being global dependent on looking at the start-ups, whether here or around possible acquisitions, or as partners in your company >> certainly being here reminds you of how global the entrepreneurial world is when we look at our event creators as entrepreneurs, they're hosting events in over 170 countries today. when we think about acquiring a company, we look first and foremost at the talent that's our absolute first lens usually it's the tightest filter secondly we look at the capable

th capability that we can bring on and third strategic acceleration oftentimes that's possible in an area outside of the domestic market >> a lot of the talk has been about success of europe's payments companies is that a space you look at? >> for us to be successful in a market we need to be able to serve the vast majority of consumers preferred payments methods. so we look at payment companies as deeply entrenched partners. our co-founder, his previous company, zoom, was international remittance and they're a part of paypal now our payment roots run deep >> julia, thank you very much for sitting with us today. great to have you on set here in europe >> thank you >> with that, back to you guys in the studio. >> thank you very much, elizabeth. for more on european tech's

record year, head to cnbc.com for elizabeth's latest article on the subject coming up, as u.s. trade representative robert lighthizer prepares to lead difficult trade conversations with china, we'll talk to one of his predecessors in that role

welcome back to "street signs. i'm willem marx. >> i'm julianna tatelbaum, these are your headlines european stocks mostly follow asia into the red as questions remain about the u.s./china trade cease-fire and as yields spreads tighten. the turn in sentiment hits auto stocks the hardest as european car executives prepare to discuss tariffs with white house officials. sterling spikes after the european court of justices advocate general says the british government could cancel brexit unilaterally if it revokes article 50 is emanuel macron set for a u-turn media reports suggest the french government will suspend its plan

to hike fuel taxes following weeks of violent protests. markets have been open for about an hour and a half as you can see we are giving back some of those gains seen yesterday. the stoxx 600 ended about 1% higher yesterday on the back of that trade truce optimism. but today it is a different picture. we're seeing red across the regions. the worst performers are the french index and the german index down about 60 basis points a piece. let's look at fx markets sterling is seeing a nice bounce this morning, up about 0.64% to 1.28 on the back of that news from the european court about brexit seeing a nice rally there for

sterling outside of that, the euro is bouncing slightly against the dollar up about 0.4%. the euro group meteting in focus this morning finally let's look at u.s. futures and see how the u.s. is shaping up on the back of this open we are also looking at a negative start over in europe with all three major indices indicating a slightly lower open also on the back of weakness in the overnight session in asia. >> officials in the u.s. praised a 90-day trade cease-fire agreed with china at g20 summit, but there is still some confusion about the identity of the lead negotiator white house economic adviser, larry kudlow, described the talks as a group effort led by u.s. president donald trump but later clarified his statement saying robert lighthizer would take the lead on negotiations and enforcement and treasury secretary steve mnuchin would

focus on currency manipulation and other topics kudlow says he also expects china to raise tariffs on u.s. auto imports earlier this week donald trump said china agreed to reduce and remove the levees. kudlow yesterday said any trade deal with china must see auto tariffs reduced to zero. >> they'll roll back their auto tariffs, i assume they will roll them all the way back. that's an assumption i can't say with specificity that's got to be part of the deal here's a case where actions speak louder than words. we will monitor everything in terms of the score cards, ambassador lighthizer will play a major role nobody is better >> mnuchin told cnbc that there are several issues that

washington and beijing must resolve before the temporary cease-fire becomes a more permanent resolution >> this is the first time we have a commitment from them that this will be a real agreement, there will be structural issues, nonstructural issues issues on intellectual property, ip, technology, cybercurrency. we're very clear in that we got a lot of work to do over the next 90 days to document this. >> germany's automakers are sending their top executives to washington to convince the trump administration not to impose tariffs on european cars the ceos of volkswagen and daimler as well as the cfo of bmw will hold talks with senior white house trade advisers including larry kudlow and wilberiouur ross. washington says it wants to deal with the auto bosses directly in its bid to rebalance american

trade flows. having a look at how european auto stocks are reacting to this news, it's a fairly red picture with daimler down about 2.1% volkswagen down 2.3. porsche and bmw seeing similar losses not a lot of hope there judging by the auto reaction in europe joumanna joins us from the milkin summit, where lawmakers and business leaders have been discussing the landscape for global trade going into 2019 good morning >> good morning. certainly trade is going to be one of the big topics that will be discussed today i have an expert with me, ron kirk, former u.s. trade representative for the u.s thank you very much for taking the time to chat with us it's ban been a big couple of ds as far as trade. >> it has. >> what is your takeaway of the trade truce that came out of the g20 summit >> i think, and i think we see

it reflected in the markets, that it gave everyone a chance to exhale at a minimum we are going to do no more harm. i applaud the leaders of both countries for taking this opportunity to at least de-escalate the current tension. now the longstanding question is what comes next? what we have essentially is a verbal agreement that the two countries will then continue to work over the next 90 days to see if we can't put more structure to this. but it is good news at least we backed away from the brink, even if just temporarily. >> what do you make of the fact of there's a disparity between the u.s. released on the u.s. side versus the statement released on the chinese side, that the two statements side by side don't team up with what was offered and agreed at that meeting? then you have the treasury

secretary, mnuchin, saying going forward they're on a clear path for lower tariffs, lower non-tariff barriers for american companies into china is that really the case? >> regrettably what we've seen from this president in particular is an affinity for very broad pronouncements without the substance behind them so as welcomed as this relief is, as this 90-day truce is, our challenge is we don't have a joint communique as is normally the custom so it is going to be left to difference of interpretation but that's just going to put more pressure on both countries over the next 90 days to see where we can find common ground. ultimately this truce will be nothing but a 90-day reprieve if we can't come together and have a common understanding >> speaking of a common communique, g20 did release a

statement. one of the focuses of that communique was to actually set about reforming the wto. so the ball is in motion do you not give the u.s. administration some credit for actually saying, all right, it's time now for us to seriously start thinking about global trade and make it fair for everyone and also to reform the wto? >> we talked about making the wto stronger for some period of time it remains to be seen. regrettably what we have from the trump administration is a pattern that the world questions our commitment to global institution. it's not just the wto. we saw it in nato, at the g8, we've seen it in others where essentially this current administration's strategy feels like we'll throw a bomb in the room and then open the doors, let the smoke out, ask for a parade for clearing the air. i'm not ready to quite give them

a pat on the pack until we see sustained focus, collaborative attempt to try to resolve some of these >> let me put this differently do you see china backing down on intellectual property protection at its simeetings if it suits te and if it suits their made in 2025 china policy? >> no as your question was asked, if it suits them absolutely one of the points i've made, china will make its most progress in terms of respect for intellectual property, protecting it, combating privacy when it realizes it's in its own self-interest. china will never become the dynamic society it wants to be if it's built on pirating and cop p copying the work of others they have to build their own

class. those chinese innovators will eventually pressure the chinese government to step forward the question is can we get them to do that quickly and justifiably as this administration and others have pointed out stop trying to force other foreign companies to hand over trade secrets in order to do business in china >> so ultimately it needs to be policed better it's a big day for the uk today, a big week the house of commons vote is next week. president trump made some waves again a couple weeks ago when he opined on the withdrawal agreement that was propositioned to the government. he said it would make it a lot more difficult for the u.s. to sign a trade deal with the uk if this agreement does come into being. do you agree with that assessment not that i'm expecting to you have read 700 pages of the

report >> it's difficult for someone who worked in the obama administration to try to interpret the meaning of what this president tweets and what he says. i know the prime minister has a very, very difficult task ahead of her i don't know that as structured that that would make an agreement any more difficult ourinitiated the attempts to have a trade agreement between the united states and all of the uk, which is still, i think, the most logical way to go and where you get the biggest bang for the buck let's see what happens with brexit then we'll have to watch and see what administration does >> so it would not necessarily be at the back of the cue. >> it will be tougher, but there is no stronger alliance that has existed over the years than between the united states and the united kingdom our economies are so intertwined already.

luckily most of our trade challenges are behind the border it's going to be how we can try to rationalize our different rules and regulations. i still think the most logical way to do it is in concert with a broader agreement with the european union >> easier said than done thank you so much for joining me that was ron kirk, former u.s. trade representative and former mayor of dallas as well. back to you. >> thank you very much, jouma a joumanna. wti saw its best day since june in yesterday's session on the back of the u.s./china trade truce. opec and opec plus meetings will take place this week analysts expect either an output freeze or a cut. reuters reporting as of a couple minutes ago, according to four different sources that opec and allies are working towards a deal that will reduce oil output by 1.3 million barrels a day it looks like a cut based on

that report. nicolas maduro hit out at u.s. sanctions on venezuela's gold exports the president said the measures that came into effect last month were petty and illegal gains overnight have pulled gold out of correction territory. if you have any views on gold in venezuela, on the oil price, on brexit, on u.s./china trade relations, don't hesitate to get in touch on @streetsignscnbc you can also tweet us directly stay with us coming up what to expect from 2019 we'll get a view from the economist next

welcome back to "street signs. the u.s. congress postponed jay powell's testimony before the economic committee on wednesday. it's been declared a national day of mourning for deceased

president george h.w. bush the beige book will still be printed. powell faced a barrage of criticism from president trump in recent months, but the u.s. treasury secretary, steve mnuchin, defended the fed chair in an interview with cnbc. he said powell had a tough task to normalize rates and reduce the fed's balance sheet. >> jerome powell has got a difficult job. he was left with a gigantic portfolio that was increased over $4 trillion in the previou administration that he's trying to right size. we had interest rates at zero for far too long to help the obama economy. it didn't do much. he was left with the hard work to try to normalfulize rates and stabilize a portfolio so that he has the fire power if the economy slows down to deduce the economy. the world outlook looks wobbly, that's according to "the

economist. the new feature highlights the rise of populism, market volatility and trade tensions as key uncertainties for the new year we are joined by daniel franklin, executive editor of "the economist." thank you for joining us 2019 is set to be a big year for elections. from the election in india, the world's largest democracy to the european parliamentary elections in europe what elections are you watching most closely? >> obviously the indian election is a big one but also indonesia, australia, canada, nigeria if you add it up, it's more than a third of the world's population will be living in countries with elections next year there's a battle line between globalists and nationalists, that will i think be something that will cause a lot of surprises, a lot of upsets in

country after country, including in the european union. >> one of the points in your notes, i had a chance to read before you came on said you note how china's growth rate is slowing down but india is one of the countries that may take some of that pain away from the global economy in terms of that slowdown could you reconcile what you're expecting in terms of timeline for the rise that you see in india and the slowdown in china and also the magnitude can india compensate >> not fully compensate, because china is a much bigger economy over the coming years you would expect india's economy to outgrow china's because it has a more dynamic population growth it is also much poorer next year will be a year when india's gdp overtakes britain's. that's a concentrating moment. india, a bigger economy than its former colonial ruler. i think india is an exciting

story. there's the political uncertainty of its election. >> you talked about globalists versus nationalists. italy strikes me as a place where we're seeing that at large. also in a rather boring budget dispute in the sense that these are very, very technical numbers that we're hearing from both sides being battered back and forth what a forth. what are your predictions for that dispute >> italy is a risk that looms large on the radar screen. it has a huge date, 130% or so of gdp though the numbers are rather tedious, it's the direction that matters. what you have in italy is a government that is determined to get growth going again, because italy -- that's been italy's big problem it had terribly low growth during its membership of the euro but it has a huge debt to worry about. if the markets lose faith in italy, you could have a euro

crisis >> how ugly or how rosy are your predictions for brexit >> messy in almost any scenario you can imagine you get a situation where very few people are actually happy with what happens. even under a brexit that happens relatively smoothly. the recriminations will set in this is not brexit the brexiteers wanted. remainders would be unhappy by definition if and when we leave the european union it's not a cheerful outlook. i think it's not a settled outlook. almost whatever happens the arguments and the negotiations will carry on. >> now, we have been putting a lot of focus on the euro group meeting, talking about the different forces at play in the european union president macron an france being one of those who has been super charging further integration of the european union bearing in mind brexit and some pressures that other countries like france and italy are

facing, do you see 2019 being a year where we see further integration and tightening of the european union >> at the moment it's difficult to see big, common steps because there's so much going on you mentioned italy and france, macron has travels, but also germany has come to the end of the merkel era all the institutions are changing leadership. so not only a new parliament but a new commission you have a new head of european central bank it's a time of change. >> and one topic we've been focusing on today is the european tech space. you have an interesting comment that silicon valley may have peaked >> yes >> where is the innovation coming from? >> all over. silicon valley is still going to be powerful, but it has become very expensive and it has created i created itself the tools that enable others to come on, and

there are potential rivals, and europe can benefit from that >> not just china can benefit. >> china is a rival, but china is doing its thing largely within its own sphere. >> one question about remaining in the u.s washington, d.c. as of next month essentially will see a house of representatives controlled by the democrats. we've seen that kind of lead to gridlock in the past what does that gridlock mean next year? what does that look like >> we'll have a very lively political year we are in trump series 2, essentially. we will have the robert mueller plot line as well. it will be fraught, never a dull moment i think president trump will try to do more without congress. he will test the limits of presidential power, executive power. if i could pick up on your

comment about the mueller investigation and broaden it out to russia. it has come roaring back into the fore last week with the ukraine/russia maritime crash. do you see this russia against the west coming more into the picture in 2019? >> yes, it's not going away. this has come back in recent times, there's all sorts of fringe tensions around that. next year is the 70th anniversary of nato in the spring that will force attention to the health of the alliance and whether it has a sort of unifying force which historically russia or the soviet union provided as a threat >> daniel, thank you very much that was daniel franklin executive editor from "the economist. >> amazon, apple, microsoft are some big tech titans, and they're in a three-way race for the title of world's most powerful public company.

apple once held that spot but amazon has gone past them. amazon is worth 8$866 billion, followed by microsoft with a market cap of 8$860 billion >> it has not been such a strong start for the month for cryptocurrencies bitcoin fell as much as 8% to a low of $3,790.96 it's a stark contrast from this time last year when bitcoin was beginning its climb to almost $20,000. it ended the month of december 40% higher hedge funds bailed on big tech just in time according to goldman sachs. the bank says that fund managers cut their positions in information technology and communication services as the fourth quarter started, and they moved to more traditionally defensive positions in utilities and healthcare information technology is down 8 pf8% so far this quarter goldman says it agrees with the overweight position that hedge funds have on utilities but it's

betting on info tech where it is also overweight. before we go to our u.s. colleagues, let's look at how u.s. futures are holding up just ahead of that u.s. open. all three major indices are trading -- are indicating lower at the open. the s&p 500 indicating down about 16 points. dow down about 160 points. the nasdaq indicating down about 64 points. that's it for today's show i'm julianna tatelbaum >> i'm willem marx "worldwide exchange" in the u.s. is coming up in just a few minutes time (danny) let me get this straight. after a long day of hard work... ...you have to do more work? every day you're nearly fried to a crisp, professionally! can someone turn on the ac?! no? oh right... ...'cause there isn't any. here-

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it's 5:00 a.m., here's your top five at 5:00 trade optimism turns around. we'll tell you why this is something that's happened in one part of the market that has not happened no more than a decade we'll tell you what it is and why it matters oil back on the rise opec getting ready to cut production but can the group hold fast. a top eu court adviser saying the uk could cancel brexit without asking for permission one of the uk's biggest company's ceos is here live. and pot stocks are on fire as global tobacco giant altria