surge in their market debut as novartis completes the spinoff of the swiss eye care company and says it plans to boost innovative medicine core margins by 2022. >> british prime minister theresa may gets set for a late dash to paris and berlin in an

attempt to secure a key backing for yet another extens tension to brexit ahead of tomorrow's emergency e.u. summit. benjamin netanyahu seeks his fifth term as prime minister it's the closest israeli election in years. a warm welcome to street signs. there's a lot going on today the main thing is you can see we're standing in front of a bunch of products here let's tell you why the u.s. is considering tariffs on about $11 billion of e.u. products ranging from aircraft parts to wine. the move comes as the trump administration looks to retaliate against e.u. subsidies for airbus which the world trade organization ruled had adverse effects on america

this has been in litigation for 14 years now >> it certainly has, and u.s. trade representative robert lighthizer says he hopes to reach an agreement on this longstanding issue with the e.u., but added, "the time has come for action. no, the european commission has yet to comment on the proposed tariffs. aside from airbus and large commercial aircraft, items on the list include cheese, wine, seafood produce, and tapestries. first often, starting with the aerospace and defense sector, it's broadly red with the exception, of course, the british e.u. systems all of these names are trading in the red airbus is the one that we're focused on it's down 1 .8% this morning rolls royce, key manufacturer of parts, down .9% across the board. the picture is pretty negative perhaps not as negative as you would think because let's just remember this is a proposal at this point in time

it hasn't been fully confirmed yet. that is the picture. quite red for those sensitive sectors in aerospace and defense. >> luxury sectors also in focus on the back of this news trading lower. you can see there, hugo boss down nearly 2% part of the tariffs will potentially hit ski suits and wine, among other products, but the big question is whether this is a first step in more of a substantial turn from the u.s. in terms of their attention on the trade war to europe. concerns flooding in the market around whether further escalation is in the pipeline. >> definitely look to hit it where it hurts let's talk a little bit about some of the general market action we have today you can see behind me the heat map is pretty mixed. 50-50. somewhat of a flattish start for the stock euro 600 overnight the tune was quite cautious we've got a lot of hurdles coming up this week. not least at this announcement on tariffs between the u.s. and

the potential tariffs, but you had the brexit summit coming up. the e.u. council meeting whether or not we're going to get an extension we'll find out in the next 48 hours or so. it is set to be the first quarter in a couple of years that we've all seen contractionary earnings. keep an eye on the microand macrothis week is it is the relative outperformer here at 7,450, the mark we're trading around flattish slightly in the green, i should say. the dax, ushtd see again, underperforming. exports sensitive. yesterday we had weak export data today we got the announcement of potential new tariffs from the u.s. and the picture is pretty murky for the dax this morning down .2% cac trading flat ftse mib, i want to draw your

attention. we have crucial numbers out of tilgts in the next 24 hours or so earlier today we had released revised deficit and debt numbers, i should say, for 2017-2018. just a revision of prior numbers. tomorrow the italian finance ministery will be releasing their updated projections for 2019 and 2020 gdp and deficit work is very crucial we all remember what happened back in q4 of last year. as we begin to see fiscal slippage there, it could be a problem yet again with the european commission. the e.u. has complied with wto rulings. the potential tariffs come on

the back of a wto ruling that says that the subsidies with relation to airbus could have adverse effects they say the u.s. sanctions request is largely exaggerated and an amount will be defined by the wto, not the united states. >> if the u.s. is angry about the subsidies for airbus.

this has been going on for 14 years. why now? >> why now i think robert lighthizer, the u.s. trade representative, is trying to shift the attention away from the u.s.-china discussions and towards u.s.-europe in a long-running battle between boeing and airbus i think airbus's response is fascinating. there are parallel rulings from the wto. one against airbus one against boeing there have been state roles in subsidyizing aircraft manufacturers on both sides of the atlantic for many, many years. many decades therefore, i think this plays. i mean, you need to see the context of what will play well with the base going into 2020 election.

today you get news of the u.s. looking to impose tariffs on the e.u. they've labelled china a systemic rival are we in a situation where the e.u. has no friends either side of the world >> i think you are right to say there are threats emerging on both sides, but it would be interesting whether this is a strategic alliance here we think of some of the event that is have taken place over the last couple of years premier xi appearing in dave yoes over a year and a half ago now. talking about being the bastion of free trade. not a role we normally associate of chinese with. are they going to align themselves with being the voice for trying to dial down the red rick or are they going to respond to the europeans labelling them a systemic rival. also, we start to see a break in the european picture the e.u. 27 have been very united in terms of their stance, but italy have now signed a

memorandum understanding with china. that's key in terms of whether you'll get, you know, countries taking their strategic aim over and above the super international ames of the e.u. >> let's talk about the numbers, though $11 billion is a drop in the ocean. it's more about the signaling. it's not big, even though they're targeting specific sectors, but it's coming at a time where the european economy is purely struggling, and the focus of the world right now has been on the global slowdown, but a lot of that has been led by europe specifically. what type of position does this put them in? especially given there were some green chutes evolving in the last -- in the most recent manufacturing data slightly better than expectations, but if we are looking at another round of escalation on the political rhetoric with the u.s., then any signs of recovery in the e.u. surely will be nipped in the bud. >> it's a great question the being that there's a structurally low growth rate for a variety of reasons a lack of structural reform over

the last six or seven years. crucially, quite in favorable demographics that makes the economic area vulnerable to these kind of unexpected sideswipes that come from international diplomacy over the last 20, 30 years it's been quite accommodative, and it's now moving to quite a confrontational stage. therein lies the real challenge. if you have a slow structural growth rate in that 1% to 1.5% range. it doesn't take much to move to negative territory, and that's the risk we're facing right now. >> well, simon french, we'll leave it there we'll be back to chat more in just a few moments chief economist from panmur, gordon theresa may will travel to berlin and paris with talks with german and french leaders in an attempt to secure backing for a second brexit extension. may will then travel to brussels tomorrow for an emergency e.u. summit meanwhile, the u.k. government has begun preparations for next month's european elections let's take a quick look at sterling there so far today in terms of moves,

pretty much flat on the day at that 130 level it remains a wait and see game as we await further signal on what may come next to help us predict what may come next, let's bring in sylvia who joins us live from westminster once again now, sylvia, there's two elements to the puzzle right now. we've got cross-party talks here in the u.k., and then we've got what's going on over in europe with theresa may heading to berlin and paris today ahead of tomorrow's summit. are there any signs that we are any closer to a breakthrough now than we were last week >> absolutely right, juliana there are two things to monitor at this stage. what's happening in london and then, of course, what's happening across the 27 european capitals because there hasn't been a breakthrough in the cross-party talks in the negotiations between the labour party and the u.k. government, then the attention starts to shift to the rest of the yurp even union. this context, we can see the capital is preparing for the big summit tomorrow in brussels.

at the moment the european affairs ministers, have gathered they're doing the background work for the meeting tomorrow in brussels we've heard the start of their meeting, for instance, from the dutch minister, he said that they want a specific plan from the u.k. government in order to grant another extension. he also said that it's important to avoid a no deal brexit. at this stage we cannot exclude that possibility because there hasn't been any positive outcome when it comes to those cross-party talks, and there hasn't been an approval for the theresa may's deal for the withdrawal agreement we also heard from the french minister at her arrival. she said that it's important to understand why the u.k. needs a second extension as you can see, the 27 european capitals want a very good reason from theresa may in order to give her another delay to the brexit process of course, as you mentioned, theresa may is heading to berlin

later today, and then she's meeting even macron, the french president in paris let's see if she's going to get any more concessions from the european union, and then, of course, how the 27 european capitals will organize themselves tomorrow at the summit >> excellent, sylvia thank you for that clear breakdown of what happens next an environment where many things are very unclear all right. with that, let's bring simon french, the chief economist back in again simon, again, i mean, there are so many things up in the air here what is your baseline assumption on how this is all going to pan out? >> baseline assumption is the withdrawal deal that has had 2.5, potentially three goes, gets a fourth go the exercise that is taking place in terms of cross-party talks is designed to frame an alternative that is less palettable to those parliament aarons who haven't yet backed the deal

if the government can show a large extension. it's a less desirable end state for the u.k. then you get the lawmakers that have stood firm thus far shifting sides and the withdrawal deal goes through unfortunately for you, for your viewers, if it takes place, this will just be the end of the beginning because then you move to a 20-month transition phase where the new free trade arrangements and new relationship needs to be discussed. >> let's talk about the sequencing assuming your base case is correct and assuming that some form of trade deal does go through, they modify the political declaration and keep the withdrawal deal unchanged. she said that she will step down >> yeah. >> what happens if you are in a position where you get a euro-skeptic tory leader in her place with the same arithmetic in parliament? wouldn't it be in that person's imperative to ultimately call a general election and try to consolidate and change the

arithmetic more in their favor >> i think you are right it's a game of three-diamond chess. you need to see how it's going to evolve going forward. i think key is the discussions that are going on at the moment, the labour opposition are very cognizant at this point that what comes after theresa may may have very, very different priorities for the next stage, which sets the steady state for the relationship going forward compared to what the current administration under theresa may has in terms of their priorities therefore, they are seeking some sort of lock, some sort of lock designed to commit to workers' rights some customs relation going forward rather than a hard brexit the caution i would have for the hard brexiteer taking the government conservative party is it if they call a general election, it's far from clear that the conservative party could put together a single manifesto that unionitis their position on europe for the next stage, and therein lies the problem. they risk splitting the party, and, therefore, they may want a parliamentary majority to push through, but they may not get it

from the country or from their mps. >> so far the e.u. 27 have been quite united in terms of their approach to brexit, but now in the last days we have heard sort of differentiation between the french and german approach for sure now as we approach the last days ahead of this april 12th deadline, do you think we're going to see even more fracturing >> i think we will on the interviews that take place as people walk into the conference center we can expect emmanuel macron to say is fairly strong things about the u.k. obligations to give a clear road map. i think when it comes down to those negotiations, often later night, early in the morning, i think nobody -- this is about the blame game nobody wants to be on the hook for a very, very unfavorable economic outcome, which no deal could be that's, i think, what will push them to remain united offering that 12-month extension. >> we'll be heeding the advice

that will be their responsibility we'll continue the conversation with simon french, chief economist from panmure gordon. a delegation will be heading to brussels today for annual trade talks with the e.u. this week key differences are set to hang over discussions the e.u. has raised concerns over chinese barriers to trade, and the pace of its reforms. beijing says it aims to work with the block and has denies allegations that it has tried to deny investments in european states now, the u.s. believes there are still issues to resolve in trade talks with china a white house trade official told reuters there's some areas where there are not satisfied yet. discussions are set to continue remotely this week coming up on the show, carlos ghosn pleads his innocence and claims he is a

victim of a conspiracy in a video recorded just before his re-arrest in tokyo stay with us so with xfinity mobile

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ghosn claims he is innocent and the victim of a conspiracy he made this video before his arrest no one was named by ghosn in the video, and his lawyer said the references had been edited out he added he was receiving french consular, but political interventions might not be the best way to assist him.

last february the chart said it had set apart $9 million to pay fort fines for iranian controlled entities in dubai sticking with the banking sector, french bank has a plan to cut 1,600 jobs worldwide, mostly within its corporate and investment banking units the move comes after france's third largest bank said it would slash 500 million euros in costs and revise down its profitability targets after fourth quarter earnings. around 750 other job cuts right back carried out in france, but the remaining ones have been likely happening between new york and london. obviously, we are heading into earnings season for the banks. it will be interesting to see what we get from them in the next few weeks finally, alconis spinning off from novartis today. they've begun trading on the swiss exchange and will make their debut on the new york stock exchange later this morning. the country's 2017 and 2018

debt to gdp ratio. earlier it's italy's national statistic institute raising its forecast from rome's 2017 economic growth. not necessarily the forecast, but revised upwards, the numbers that have already been printed in 2017. let's bring in simon french, chief economist from panmure gordon the numbers that we're getting out of italy tomorrow. they're going to update the project ions for both growth and remember, they had 1% still for 2019 back in december. most analysts around 2.3%, if not in contractionary territory. do you think we're in a situation where italy becomes front and foremost a hairy topic again for europe similar to what happened in the fourth quarter last year? >> i do think there is a showdown looming, a secondary showdown looming as a result of these growth forecasts going back to levels where the deficit

part of the forecasting, which we'll see a deficit this year on about 2.5%, that is above where the european commission thinks italy should be. they've wanted something closer to 2%. it always thought these growth projections and the italians were optimistic. now you have the downgrade the wiggle room for any sort of discretionary fiscal stimulus from the italians is now very, very thin, and the political posturing that's been going on, comments from salvenia, and we talked about the relationship with china it's not designed to come to a concessionary agreement, but, rather, a confrontation. >> in temz of the banking sector in italy, this is obviously the hot topic in the wake of a debt crisis since then the banking sector has improved in terms of capitalization, but they still -- that sovereign debt doom loop we talked about so much still exists, so how would

you characterize the health of the italian banking system now and what the impact would be if we do see an escalation in budgetary concerns this year >> well, this is why we talk about these growth numbers being so material because you're right. progress that we made in terms of capitalizing ilgsian banks and also in terms of the reduction in non-performing loans was partly because the european area saw a bit of a growth upswing in 2016, 2017, and early 2018 that led to profitability being boosted, household balance sheets being boosted, and, therefore, the nonperforming coming down. people took a more upbeat view on the outlook for the italian banking system unfortunately, once you start to see a downgrade cycle come through growth, that passes through into the italian banking system there's nonperforming loans and probably in 1920 start to head north again, and then you start to price in additional capital rates and requirements across the italian banking system and impairing the credit channel which actually has been a big part simultaneously to the export recovery of the european

growth story just briefly that is quite positive. >> does it make sense that the ten-year italian bond yields are 1% lower than where they were last october now given all of the rest of that >> it makes more sense that mario draghi it may not make as much sense to investors past october at the end of october mario draghi will be replaced. we don't yet know the identity it may well be that we have an occupant in the president's chair who actually has a much more hawkish stance in terms of the fiscal stance, and, therefore, is less prone to take an active role in the btp market and then that will pass through to yields. investors need to start pricing it up. >> also, incidentally, italy have to formally release their budget for 2020. remember, that's where it all kicked off last year as well, and they've got a big issue with trying to find and plug a hole worth of financing because one of the leaders, the five-star movement, has said that they

don't want to enact those hikes. they still have to find and plug the hole in financing somehow, and that all comes ahead in october. it's another thing to watch out for. >> i mean, to your open question to start this interview, is this something that they need to price up certainly for q4? q4 looks like in that moment when it spike as a real issue, and people need to price italian assets where. >> let's go back to what you mentioned in the first chat about italy's newfound relationship with chip jumana spent a amount of time in rome looking into their new brunswicktive there. do you think this in particular is going to emerge as a key issue between italy and the -- and brussels if tensions rise more broadly in italy? >> well, let's, first of all, take the positive approach, which is that this is exactly the type of relationship that italy needs in a structurally low growth economy it needs more relationships with faster growing economies, like

china, and if they can use both their economic strengths of the tourist industry and their network of ports to in source demand from china, that is a good change, and it should be welcomed across the e.u. 27. at the same time as the european commission see the challenges of a systemic challenge to their trading system from china, will this unilateral action from a sorch government, which is undoubtedly designed to bring leverage to bear in the fourth quarter or indeed before, will that be tolerated? there's a very, very delicate balancing act of politics and economics. there's the plus side on the economics, and it comes with some political repercussions which might be quite ugly. >> all right all that to look forward to or dread. great to have you with us, as ever simon french joining us on the show earlier all right. also coming up ahead, israel heads to the polls in the closest election in years. we'll have the latest from tel aviv when we come back i wanna keep doing what i love,

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welcome back to "street signs. >> these are your headlines. the european commission calls proposed u.s. tariffs on $11 billion worth of e.u. goods greatly exaggerated as washington mulls retaliation over airbus subsidies sending shares for the plane maker lower. >> alconmarks switzerland's market w in a decade as they complete a spin-off of the eye care and plans to boost margins by 2022. >> theresa may gets set for a late dash to paris and berlin in an that emt to secure a key backing for yet another extension to brexit ahead of tomorrow's emergency e.u. summit.

all right. welcome back to the show i want to i tea you to some live pictures we have of the prime minister's -- really prime minister netanyahu officially casting his ballot in the general election this is a heated contest it looks as though the most recent polls, though, from friday have the likhud party slightly ahead of the other side led by katz. that is the center left coalition, of course, and that is pictures of prime minister netanyahu, who is obviously just casted his ballot. we'll be watching to see whether or not he has a few words to say. looks like he will say a few things we'll keep an eye out if anything stands out. for the time being let's get out to juliana to break down european markets >> it's been a mixed picture in terms of trade as you can see, across the region some divergence emerging.

italian stocks trading higher by 23 basis points. we did have those numbers revised higher, as jumana just flagged. the krr ac trading higher. about five basis points. the dax and ftse 100 trading in negative territory the big macronarrative today revolves around the news that the u.s. is considering hitting the yurm even union with tariffs it $11 billion worth. this is in the -- on the back of the wto's ruling on european subsidies for airbus at this point nothing has been confirmed. they're just considering it, but investors asking the question this morning whether this marks a turn from the u.s. perhaps away from china, more towards the european union a question we've been asking for quite some time now. let's take a look at fx markets. this is a big week for monetary policy tomorrow we've got the march meeting minutes coming out for the federal reserve. we've also got the ecb meeting happening tomorrow

the euro trading about 11 basis points higher this morning just under that 113 level. sterling trading a touch higher as well. about that 130 level brexit, of course, in focus as cross-party talks have yet to yield any breakthrough, and theresa may heads to berlin and paris to try to speak to her counterparts there this comes on the back of the week of gains. >> it will be a softer open. let's talk about another deal that is attracting a lot of attention last couple of days. that is saudi aramco is attracting more than $85 billion in orders for its first ever international bond offering. ist the largest demand for emerging market bonds since an order for value of more than $52 billion for qatari debt last year now, aramco will price the bonds

later today. people that i speak to tell me that the books will be closing later today, which means we could potentially see even more orders come as well as the day progresses the sovereign curve tightens about 20 basis points going into this event, which is very remarkable you would think that an issue of this size coming to the market from, you know, an inaugural issuance from the largest corporation in the world would price some form of a concession or a little bit of deepening of the curve similar to what

happens with rights issues and equities this wasn't the case the exact opposite occurred in the case of aramco that means as far as the saudi sovereign is concerned, aramco is concerned, they're issuing a tighter spread than would have been available to them a month ago, which is an interesting development there. >> it's interesting to know how much demand there's nor saudi aramco given what we saw last year in the wake of the murder of it khashoggi. international investors are willing to pour into an entity that is so tied to the sovereign. >> i think what's interesting about this is when the moody's rating came out, obviously, ahead of this bond issuance, what the take-away from that is at the he want at the end of the day this is the most profitable company in the world. more so than apple remember, initially when we were talking about the equity ipo, the valuation that they were looking for, was something close to $2 trillion many people were skeptical of that at the time analysts came in and said, well,

perhaps the valuation will be closer to something like $1 trillion after that prospectus came out and after the moody's credit rating, it became apparent that indeed this is a corporate that could well truly be valued north of $1.5 trillion very good timing, says obviously, ahead of its inaugural bond issuance. from an economic perspective, it clearly the deplanned is there and is trumping so to speak any of the political concerns at this point in time we'll keep an eye on how this bond issuance evolves over the next couple of hours certainly attracting a lot of demand >> very good to have our resident bond expert to shed some light on the inner workings of what's going on there >> you can follow us on twitter @streetsigns.cnbc. you can also tweet us directly head to jumana for my bond questions, and you can tweet me directly @cnbc juliana. >> president trump continues to

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welcome back to the program. wall street is no fan of president trump's nominations for the federal reserve. steven liesman has more from the cnbc fed survey. >> some on wall street are blasting president trump's intentions to nominate be steven moore and herman cain to the federal reserve board of governors. with a majority in the survey taken over the past three days saying the senate should not confirm either man, and many saying both are unqualified. only 34% of the 48 respondents said the senate should confirm moore, and only 40% saying it should approve cain. they say they will approve moore and cain will get the nod. "both moore and cain are highly unconventional and politically-biassed choices, and if confirmed, would be disruptive." donald, chief investment officer

at trend macrolytics said trump is holding the fed accountable as the man who appoints fed governors, that is entirely appropriate. of those that say neither should be approved, more than 70% say both are too political, and more than 70% say both are not qualified. the respondents include fund mrgds, economists, and strategists. the president's criticism of the fed along with his no, ma'minat of moore and cain are reducing the central bank's independence. still, 65% say the president's comments will have little effect on monetary policy, but that's down from 83% in november. 22% say his comments will make rate hikes less likely up from 14% last time. while most respondents think the president should not be commenting on monetary policy, the percentage is declining from 83% who thought it was inappropriate back in july to 61% now. steve liesman, cnbc business news

well, one of our top sports stories today revolves around a sport very close to my heart as a bostonian, baseball. the trump administration is rolling back a landmark deal allowing cuban baseball players to play on major league baseball teams. the original agreement allowed cuban players to sign with u.s. teams without needing to defect. it was enforced in the wake of warming relations between the two countries, which began during the obama administration. elsewhere, the world surf league season has officially kicked off in australia with 17-year-old caroline marks taking home first place in the opening event. her prize money of $1 00,000 makes her the first female surfer to earn the same as the men's award. it's part of the league's efforts to promote gender equality getting back to one of the key corporate stories we're following this morning, alcon, the company spinning off from

nova novartis today they have begun trading on the 6 swiss exchange and will make their debut on the new york stock exchange later this morning. italian firm nexi has listed its price between 9 euros and 9.50 euros it would be valued with the company expected to list on april 16th speaking of listing, pinterest has kicked off its ipo road show the social media platform set a price range between $15 and $17 a share for an initial offering of 75 million shares that values the company below the $12 billion mark set at its last round of fundraising in 2017 pinterest net loss shrunk in 2018, but the company remains unprofitable cnbc's leslie picker has more. >> reporter: pinterest kicking off its ipo road show on monday seeking an enterprise value as high as $10 billion. that's about $2 billion shy from its latest private valuation

where it obtained $12 billion back in 2017 now, we are here at jp morgan where executives from pinterest met with the sales force on monday and taught them how to pitchthese shares to investors i'm told by sources that they're really trying to distinguish pinterest from other social media companies as well as other search companies in saying that its business model is quite different because it's more about self-improvement as well as the ability to discover new things now, the company is seeking to sell about $1.2 billion worth of shares at the midpoint of the range. pinterest, of course, is a company that displays various how-to's like cooking and exercise, while also inspirational ideas like wedding planning as well as home decorations, but the company only recently started monotizing its first quarter projections shows that they are expecting to have about $202 million on the

top line, which represents upwards of 50% topline growth for the first quarter compared with 2018. much of that is based in ad-based revenue for cnbc business news, i'm leslie picker, new york. >> big anticipation of that pinterest ipo. the major one people are looking for is uber. let's bring in martin steinbach from ernst and young for more analysis on this particular part of the industry. sir, you know, contrary to the news that we were just talking about, whether it's pinterest, uber, lyft ipo just happened a few weeks ago, i'm reading in your notes actually that global ipo activity has fallen in the first couple of months of the year >> you are right we see the global ipo slowdown continue from q1 2019. we saw an increase with 199 ipos

and a decrease in proceeds with $30 billion u.s. this is caused by the uncertainty, but we see in q2 in 2019 set to rebound with all these momentum in the pipeline >> even though these deals are happening with less frequency, the size of the deals that are being brought to market are larger than they would have been in the past because the companies tend to be more mature than in the past >> you are right they pass a lot of funding rounds, and typically they're at the age where you seek between eight and ten years when they try to go public we see also a trend in the past three years, and last year to give you a number, 43 from around the world went public and raised $33 billion u.s., and that's a trend that we see to continue in the second quarter

this year. >> now, martin, i want to talk about the pricing for pinterest. it's come in below where they last priced in the last round of private funding, which gives them the title of a so-called down round ipo, which is when a company ipo is at a lower valuation to their last private placing. how worrying is this as a signal in terms of demand from investors for a tech ipo like this >> i comment this in general because i can't comment on the transaction. when you are, you know, a high growth company and you welcomed a lot of investors in your portfolio, and you go from round to round, and the question is what are your strategic options on the funding side, and you have plenty. one of these options is to go public and to offer these investors a free choice and the liquid market excess to exit further. you know, the first is one

indicator of performance, but, you know, you go public to offer new investors of growth potential and return on investment that's the case when you get new money in an ipo or when you enjoin the benefits of this. there's further path to growth, further creation in value. >> around the time of the lyft ipo there were some comparisons made to the dot-com bubble with people citing priceline.com as one of the ipos. lyft like many of the unicorns are losing money what's different about the environment right now that should give investors confidence we're not in the wake of another tech bubble? >> personally, i can't share that because we are much more educated, you know, on a retail investor point of view used to work with these digital

solutions disrupting application, so we are much more in the -- we have much more ability and much more sophisticated investor than around the 2000s internet hype we saw when you look at the environment with a low interest rate, there's still advertised for technology and health care, so these are the top sectors for investors. your portfolio between the growth stories, job unicorns and the more i think -- unicorns are i great pick for the target. >> all right, sir. we're going to leave it there. thank you very much for taking the time to chat to us that was martin steinbach, the

lead from ernst and young. it would need extra assurances that that is i headline that's coming out, and it looks as though -- chancellor angela merkel is indeed willing to put a five-year time limit on the northern irish backstop here is. that would be a significant step the key in the past was that there was no time stamp at all whatsoever to the backstop, but there has been according to reuters some movement from chancellor merkel that she would be willing to put a time stamp on it.

>> thanks very much. give us the latest >> good morning, guys. it seems as if prime minister benjamin netanyahu is in the fight of his political life. the polls in the last few days have had him neck and neck with his direct opponent for the blue and white party, and the real question, of course, going on today with the minds of these voters is whether or not security will, in fact, trump economic concerns. now, when you take a step back and look at the macroeconomy here, israel has been booming over the last couple of years. particularly within the technical sector, but folks that we've been speaking to on the ground do continue to raise concerns those concerns surround the high cost of living, the high taxes,

and as well, the fact that it's very, very difficult to find a place to live in israel these days with the high property costs. the high rental costs as well. there are concerns about health care, about education. there are a lot of other concerns besides security, but if you take a step back and look at the history of these elections, they are always tied up within that security narrative, and we continue to hear a lot of noise from the white house and from secretary of state mike pompeo in terms of the narrative here when it comes to the threat from iran. certainly mr. netanyahu pulling out all the stops today. we just saw him about half an hour ago casting his ballot earlier in the morning benny was casting his ballot as well it will be up to the israeli voters to see who will eek out a win here all of these governments, they're not one party alone. this all rests on the ability of these leaders to put together an actually viable coalition. that's where we get very much in the weeds of the politics here in israel, but i have to tell you, it's an exciting day to see mr. netanyahu neck and neck with a real opponent. guys >> indeed.

we just saw him casting his ballot, and we know who mr. netanyahu voted for. thank you for bringing us the latest i want to go back and reiterate the flashes we got from reuters because these are some interesting developments with respect to brexit just to reiterate, angela merkel seemingly is willing to put a five-year limit on the northern ireland backstop, and we've just heard from a brexit supporting lawmaker, according to the bbc, that if merkel did indeed put that five-year limit on the backstop, then it would be difficult to reject may's brexit deal, but it would need some extra assurances you can see that the currency has bounced on that. we're up about .3% up through 131. i think that juliana, you know, with everything that we've been discussing, sylvia was talking about the developments domestically and also the developments with the e.u. council. for once we're getting some sort of a tangible concession perhaps or tangible government from the e.u. side and from angela merkel herself. >> this is exactly away we were

discussing earlier with simon french about the german versus the french view, and germany has a huge amount at stake here with their exposure in the auto industry to what happens with regards to brexit. unsurprising from that perspective that they are taking this tangible measure to avoid a crash out on friday. >> certainly the reaction in the currency suggests that at least investors in that market are accounting for the possibility now that her form of a deal or some form of the deal will actually end up going through. we'll keep an eye on that. quick look at u.s. futures before we head out looks as though it's going to be a down day very early signs of trading. that is it for today's show. i worldwide exchange is coming up next [ loud traffic sounds ]

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