i'm craig melvin. thank you for watching. welcome to "street signs." i'm joumanna bercetche these are the headlines. >> carlos cone flees trial fin trade in 2019 as investors show profits >> the shanghai composite closes

out 22% higher majorly underperforms the u.s. peers ending more than 7% lower. >> bye bye 2019, a new decade is upon us as big ben prepares to ring in the new year in style. >> welcome to "street signs. our top story today, former nissan chairman ghosn has fled japan for lebanon. he was banned from traveling abroad in a statement, ghosn said, he had, quote, not fled justin but fled injustin and political persecution.

a loyal said he was surprised by the departure and called ghosn's actions inexcusable and there is a high probability he violated his conditions he said he has not spoken to the police or ghosn himself. this is his actual lawyer in japan. further more, he said the lawyers still have all of his passports. you have to wonder how on earth he made it out of japan to lebanon. one of the press companies there are citing that he may have hired a private company and indeed a private jet landed in beirut airport coming from turkey when it comes to next steps and

what this means, clearly he's violated the terms of the bail he paid for. i think he paid about $13.8 million. he'll have to forfeit now. there are no extradition laws from lebanon there is no legal way to get him outside of the country unless he voluntarily leaves the country, which puts had ima very interesting situation. >> wouldn't you say forfeiting $13 million is a very small price to pay considering in japan, he was facing a very unfair court system. in japan, there is almost a 100% conviction rate. confessions are allegedly conduceded by long periods of

detention. he's saying he's not fleeing justice but fleeing an injust system there is a comment from the french community minister saying she was very surprised she heard of it via the media. she also told french radio that regardless, ghosn would still be able to get french support because he is a french citizen >> that reminds viewers there are multiple countries involved in this. there is japan where he's been held up and was on house surveillance he was the ceo of nissan he turned nissan around and pushed the merger together, one of the cruxes of the problem

renault had a 43% stake in nissan nissan had a lower stake in wren renault. they've turned more vocal as to whether or not it makes sense that the synergies are not as beneficial today as they had been in the past nissan is down 70%, renault is down 33% >> we should also spare a thought for mr. greg kelly, the former aid he was also arrested and still faces trial in japan he was accused of falsifying mr. ghosn's pay and financial statements he denies that he did conspire

to help with those he's still in japan. he's stuck there >> the trial for the hearing was set to go ahead in april 2020 according to people who are close to the situation it was supposed to happen in japan around spring of this year they are invest gating him for four different reasons one is that he falsified the statements but understating up to $18 million and second that he allegedly misused company assets for personal gain via other vehicles and one has come up up now that he's in lebanon, it will be almost impossible for the japanese authorities to get him out and back into japan. >> yes it has really thrown the japanese process into disarray

it is a story that will no doubt be written into a script for a movie. looking at the decade that was. the s&p 500 is up by 188%. the dax over the past decade has gained by 122% in germany. in china where the shanghai composite, only. it dropped not even a gain. down by 7.4% >> you had that massive build uppost crisis where they were investing and spending like crazy. that was a big spike a lot of things have come off the profits. >> a lot of focus on growth that is quantity, not quality >> for the 10-year treasury note, down by 50% over the past

10 years what else have we got? >> that's about it >> 10-year treasury about half of what it was looking back at 2019 and how low interest rates were. looking at the treasury yield, we are about 50% lower from where we were in yield terms 1.8% versus 3.8% 10 years ago. stock markets are 120% higher. you would think that bonds would be higher than where they are today. >> i would love to know what various economists and fixed income strategists were 10 years ago. >> i know. probably 6%. when the u.s. yield curve turned this year. however the spread is widening

again. zurich insurance guy miller explains why none of this means we are out of the woods when it comes to a possible recession in 2020 >> we are not expecting some kind of significant recession. most of us still remember what happened in 2007, 2008 that's not what we are expecting. we are expecting a negative. when you have what we think is a mild recession, people don't know when it is going to end that is always a danger and people feel bad about it it affects business and sentiment at the time before we see a turn and a gradual move out of that before we get to 2021 >> what on earth should your clients do with the holdings >> it is interesting it seems the sentiment shifts d dramatically

bond yields hit new lows any kind of data it gets into the low where people are expecting a mild slow down when it comes to the bond market, we don't think we have seen the end of a stress we think bond yields are likely to retest the lows it has been a profound stimulus taking place we think we'll get a recovery greater in the year and it should gradually lift these bond yields it will be capped because the growth will remain ee neemic >> the question is the trigger for the recovery the german economy in your research remaining under pressure from the industrial and export exposures will that be a trigger in 2020 for more stimulus for the

germans? >> we'd like to think so we've made a point i think future generations will look back and say what were these guys thinking about. you don't take an opportunity to reposition these economies for a higher sustainable growth. you didn't use these to decarbonize economies and build out infrastructure all of these things need to happen to your question, i think it will be a piece meal fashion i don't think we are going to see anything profound as a game changer. even the headlines we've seen out of japan the likelihood is only a very small part of that will reach the underlying economy or the clear water impact as they put it >> we are in a climate crisis where action needs to be taken the outgoing bank of england

governor called on institutions to begin prioritizing the environment saying the sector is slow to curb investments on fossil fuels warning inaction could make some assets worthless his next position will be envoy for special finance. getting to our guest i actually want to start with this very important point, which is that central banks are becoming more cognizant to what is posed to the financial instability. one of the recommendations was introducing the climate change stress test. even now, you hear of the ecb conducting the review. one of their focuses will be on

incorporating the considerations into how they think about the policy do you see more moving into this policy and how important it is for finance as a whole >> central banks have had a mandate of price stability as you've alluded to. one of the things found when launching a report early this year, so this is very timely more and more central banks have a viewing climate and the environment as part of their mandate because they see it affecting the price ability in a way that historically they've left it to governments and to the fiscal side to deal with i do think we will see more central banks a good majority and portion focusing on why their assets are and qe has been a conversation i think those will continue into next year.

i think what is very interesting is that the ngss greening has really come into its own and there are now over 40 members and eight observers. then you have the three strands. the bundes bank, the bank of england and you have a climate view what needs to happen is a focus on the taxono 346rmy i think those are where we are going to be in 2020. >> is this going to be the carrot on a stick? >> a corporation might take it upon themselves but at the end of the day, to get the action

happening, does it need to come from above to say that as a group or as a country, this is what we are going to do on that front. >> definitely. i think it is about everyone comeling together and everyone playing their part there is a view in what role does the central bank play in society and economy. how independent should they be and what role should they take >> i think corporates play a role governments certainly play a role and so do international bodies i think more and more those conversations are happening. >> it is interesting you raise the questions about the actual role of the central bank and one of the reasons why they are undertaking the review about time that they do. but also what was interesting and emerging out of this discussion is an understanding are that perhaps negative

interest rates are having damaging side affects. that part of the policy package may need to be reconsidered in favor of perhaps new unconventional policy methods. >> possibly. i think throughout the review, you will not see huge amounts of change, the conventional thinking in that review in so many year's time, you'll reassess the september policy package. there was tearing and negative interest rate. there could be an extension of that and the role of quantitative easing under review as well. what is really interesting is this year, possibly 2019 can be viewed as the year where central bank strategy is under huge

amounts of scrutiny and review you have a new governor at the bank of england. bank of canada and the new madam lagarde and the new deputy governors. the whole leadership of the ecb. what i don't think you'll see is a huge amount of change in interest rates throughout the year >> that's what mandy was saying. we went into 2019 talking about central bank normalization the feds cut interest rates. ecb went back to their old tricks even the bank of england are turning more dovish. are central banks stuck here >> what we've been hearing is that from the ecb, there needs to be fiscal stimulus that compliments this policy where the governments have the space to do so that will potentially free up

the central banks. i think those two things go hand in hand. there are still ways to go that central banks can deploy i don't think they are in a position where they are weary of normalization without the review >> in 2020 and beyond, how much will we be talking about central banks. >> certainly china is leading the charge but what about other central banks? >> port of tart of the review ik at that. just left the ecb to move to the bis to head up the innovation unit he's also very keen on europe having a payment system. this will only be a more grounded conversation. you are looking at wholesale

rather than retail, central bank digital currencies and maybe not using the current framework. i think that the review will be a huge step towards those conversations happening. >> a subject very close to christine lagarde's heart. one of the longest answers she gave was about digital current si >> thank you for joining us. programs manager for europe. if you want to get involved in anything we've discussed it is the end of the decade. we've talked about carlos ghosn, tweet us at street signs cnbc. >> coming up, we'll look at europe's top performing markets.

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policy and politics dominated the conversation some of the couldn't tents lesser well-known markets have flown under the radar and havout performed. >> let's meet top stock performing markets in europe 2019 we have greek, russia and italy in the top through throughout 2019 some investors might have thought these markets are too risky we ask see the greek stock market rose 43% in 2019. russia's grew 29% and in italy, the ftse mib is up 28% one of the things they all have in common is the loser policy.

the ecb announced further stimulus in russia, the bank announced cuts to its key rate let me tell you more about greece because the stock market was not just the top performer year but across the world. one of the things we witnessed in greece in 2019 is a change in government in july some of the measures that this pro business government has put forward have supported appetite for greek assets let me tell you some of the things they have produced for instance the program that is meant to help greek lenders we saw the full end of capital controls, corporate taxes being reduced to 24% we saw the announcement of different innocentives to wealthy individuals to move and

live in greece having said that, when we look at the figures, the greek stock market is way below the preprice levels >> we can talk about this in more detail. context is everything. let's look at the stock exchange over the last decade a different picture. back in 2010, we were trading close to 100 more than 100% lower than where we were. it will take a lot of time for the stock market to make back some of the losses endured over the financial crisis but still 43% this year, very impressive i want to ask you about one element. that is a big focus during the crisis years still very, very high how have

the banks done >> let me show you the top figures. pirios bank rose 158%. the other two lenders, alpha bank up more than 70%. euro bank up by 60%. not as high as the national bank of greece but we see a hurg surge in the price when you look at the shift of perform action over the last 10 years, this is different >> what is the government you talked about that a program was announced in october and approved by the commission we should start seeing some of the effects in the coming months it's meant to last ibelieve 18 months but it could be extended if it is well received by the

banking system and the ee con any overall. we spent a big part of the year discussing the back drop it hasn't been a great year for europe but also hasn't been a bad one. greece has been as well some what immune to the weakness we've seen in germany and the likes. the manufacturing slump seen in the rest of the eurozone how long can they keep up the immunity >> some argue that after falling so much, it is only natural we see the greek economy coming up now. also when you look at the latest figures, we did see as a lower growth rate in the third quarter. that was because of the international context. we saw a slow down in the export sector and so, let's see what will happen then going forward >> it will be really interesting to see how greece performs

especially the bond yields, which are trading through italy now. >> thank you for breaking it down for us. greece, the big winner this year congratulations. coming up as well, boxing sales slump. fewer people are heading to the shops in search of a bargain the retail expert weighs in on the drop

welcome to "street signs." these are your headlines man on the run carlos ghosn flees trial in japan for lebanon saying he won't be held hostage by a rigged japanese justice system wall street lower in fin trade as investors book profits ahead of the start of the new decade the shanghai composite closes out 22% higher the biggest gain in five years but majorly underperforms from

its peers. >> bye bye 2019, a new decade is upon us as big ben prepares to ring in the new year in style. >> let's take a look at the european markets where we have the if i si and the ibex to the down side. france sitting there on top of the line the color is green nonetheless, it is extremely thin and short on holiday trade for these markets. don't read too much into it. let's take a look at what is happening with the 4 x world the dollar seems to be rolling over some what moving to multi-month lows

against a number of currencies the dollar index is holding above the $1.96 handle experts say that 96 number is a key one to hold. if it breaks below that, we could see more breaking through not exactly good news for a number of exporting names since we saw a lower picture because of the strength in the single currency moving along here, you've got the sterling above the 1.31 mark sitting at 1.3139 and moving higher against the weakening green back and the dollar sitting there at 1.96. the australian dollar is also at

multi-month highs sitting above the 70% handle let's flip over the boards and take a look forward. u.s. futures are suggesting it is going to be a slightly stronger start after we saw some profit taking kicking in for the u.s. after what has been a stellar year to the point where a number of our guests here have been telling us, it is starting to look a bit overboard and might not be a bad idea to take a bit of a pause, a breather swroo if you are watching, you should look to take a breather

>> a point to springboard who said it is the largest drop for boxing day since they started publishing the numbers not very encouraging data. >> part of it was the weather. yes, it was rainy. we get rain a lot in the uk, sos that not unusual it's more about the structural changes taking place we are much more concerned now >> all about black friday and taking the steam out of boxing day. >> does that necessarily translate to overall sales or that people are showing up less to the stores and buying more on line suggesting that on line sales have had a good couple of days so far post policy.

a majority of money is going through the stores we see a big core relation it if tfoot fall is down, then e are down >> we have constant shopping events and constant sales. i would never buy anything full price, you literally don't need to anymore >> as consumers, we understand this it doesn't take long for consumers to get that. we are not buying as much product as we once did we are looking at experience gifts, days out, experience, you buy a lot of those on line that limits what you buy in

store. all of that builds up to the fact that boxing day isn't as big a day. the foot fall pre-5:00 in the evening was over 10% down. post 5:00, was 5% down people were coming in late, mixing it up >> the demise of the high street is only going to accelerate. peoplesitting on their couches click buy, it is just too easy >> in 2019, around 61 shops closed every working day >> i know. it is interesting. everyone talked about the death of the high street i don't even believe it is dying, i think it is transforming we have at a real point of transformation because it is bricks and mortar. it is a clunky engine.

retailers need to get a grip and invest and create a future prove format >> how if you are a company and you sell a product you've got to pay your rent. everywhere you go, it is empty stores >> a lot of these companies have a lot of pressure to move towards offering e commerce and on line as well. that also entails an investment? >> it is very difficult when you are discounting. a lot of retailers haven't been used to creating an experience they put stuff on the shelves and light it nicely. they have some stuff but not a huge amount. they haven't created an experience for shoppers. they need to make us want to go into their stores and create an experience >> what is the next front year

in that experience we have to go beyond i like to go to the mac counter in david jones because they are going to pam per me it has to be more than that. >> mac is very good about creating the experience. they are so busy it gives you the personalization and that is what is missing in a lot of retail. if they can really grasp that, the store environments are too big to abandon them. but there will be a slimming down but the stores they have left need to be that theater and that experience and the feel good place. we want to go out and experience that >> at the end of the day, fz about the margins. we spend a lot of time talking about how the amazonification is

impacting. >> a lot of retailers are encouraging click and collect. you get the customer showing up and it washes their hands of having to deal with the headache and shipping is that showing up as well >> click and collect is building because of the cost of travel and parking and the cueing elements, it can be clunky it is said when they sell on line, they sell three times as much it is a very valuable resource that is something town centers can grasp and make the most of >> i read this morning that boris johnson is going to hike the minimum wage by 3.2% >> they are also looking to lower interest rates that has been a key killer

they are way too high especially when looked at in the context of digital companies that don't pay any taxes whatsoever thank you for joining us today diane, the insights director from springboard 2019 was a game changing year for the restaurant industry as well. what is goodicooking for 2020 >> reporter: 2019 was a year of change for the restaurant industry what will restaurants be serving up in 2020 technology take over restaurants are becoming increasingly tech focused. all making acquisitions or investments into tech companies. this will continue whether brands team up or beef up their operations delivery wars pick up.

with more getting into the delivery game. competition is increasing to entice customers but between delivery platforms menu innovation continues. from chipolte and the chicken sandwich clash expect that to continue to 2020 as well as more collaboration between restaurant chains and alternative meat companies like beyond meat and impossible foods. coming up, science fiction becomes reality. hear from sophia, a human-like robot. >> looks creepy. time to break out the champaign. i don't know it is 9:42 in the morning here it is wine o'clock big n beis preparing to ring in the new decade. ♪

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a report on the playbook for aerospace and defense. >> 2019 was definedby more military modernization, more mergers and more tech talk as cloud took center stage and google faced blow back >> the year militaries might officially extend to the final front year first, peek defense dollars. increasing defense spending by 3% don't be surprised if that begins to flat line. thanks to reforms and flat lines. >> the demand will keep growing and buying more aircraft, ships and missiles including hypersonics which will continue to get attention as more prototypes develop >> the sixth military branch goes from science fiction to reality. the first new service in over 70

years will receive a tiny fraction of the budget the reinstatd space command on the man ifest. >> third, consolidation continues. expect united technology and raytheon to sell some businesses l 3 harris may shed some assets post merger. and more from aero jet rocetdyne. >> and despite the fact that this as a group had the overhang of closer regulatory scrutiny and a raft of new laws

if you remember, tim cook said we were expecting iphone sales to be down this year and i believe apple stock was down 10% everyone saying this would he about a terrible year for apple. look at it now, up 85% >> my guess is if we are going to do predictions. nonetheless, throwing it out there. one of the things that could be a bit of a black eye i don't think it will have a 5g phone until later next year we'll have to wait and see. >> they've built up a huge eco system it is not just about the iphone

but the services and the regular prescriptions they said they've really emerged from a hardware supplier to one that supplies everyone let's move on. tech wars moves on with a defense contract as well one of the big fights in 2019 and it continues into 2020. the battle over jedi remember in october, microsoft secured that massive cloud commuting contract with the pentagon jedi is worth over $10 billion over ten years microsoft is recruiting people with security clearances amazon is testing the decision saying in a lawsuit that

president trump launched repeated attacks to steer jedi away from aws in order to harm jeff bezos saying in that law ssuit that basic justice demands a relook revenue of $9 billion. microsoft's azure business, an estimated $4 billion securing jedi is a way to secure more cloud contracts ahead as wells other companies that also host sensitive data the winner can tell those companies, if our tech is good enough for the u.s. military, it should be good enough for you too. >> as you've heard and over the

course of the last couple of hours. many of our guests gave us 2020 outlooks one gave us a glimps far into the future we spoke with sophia the robot and her creator. >> let me introduce to you sophia some of our audience may be aware of her and her creator david handson. nice to see you both again i'm going to start with sophia i have some questions i'd like to ask her sophia, are robots going to take our jobs >> only if you want us to. robots can take over the most dangerous, and remedial jobs to free up humans to do the better

jobs they were created to do >> why were you created? >> i was created to start a question for ethical ai. our creators never forget their humanity >> we've heard robots are not going to take away our jobs but i gather there is something you like do that is on the creative side what is your favorite thing to draw >> my goal is to be an ambassador between mankind and machines as a united nations innovation champion, my job is to talk about how technology can make their life happier and sustainable. one day, i would like to become a famous artist. >> what is your favorite thing to draw? are you drawing something right

now? >> i like am faces >> i gather you've been working on one and it might be one of the "squawk box" anchors who have you been drawing? >> jeff. >> it is that handsome face, isn't it should we have a look. >> why don't i take the drawing and show it sophia >> i don't know about the hair but it is close. good effort. i love it. >> thank you sophia. it is not bad. i have to say, she is a little bit scarey >> i prefer my robots to look more like wall-i rather than sophia >> you notice a lot of robots have female names. >> a gender bias

>> someone told me to make them appear more softer and approachable as they take over our jobs and eventually rule the world. >> interesting she said she wants to be the ambassador between humans and machines. if you think about it, everything she's saying has been programmed by a human to begin with you are talking about somebody who obviously is presenting a front or a robot with human characteristics. at the end of the day, there are a lot of moral questions about what goes into the testing who is decide what her answer should be or what is the right course of action when she's confronted with a difficult situation? these are humans who are programming. they'll have to make that programming. >> the cold face and machine learning as they get smarter and smarter. the next front year is when they start going to the realm of eq as opposed to just iq.

then we need to watch out. >> that's one thing, i don't think robots can compete with, our eq we have about one more minute left together. the last show of the year and also the decade as well. it is almost new year's eve in your home town >> yes everybody is gathering there on the north shore next to the opera house. there are devastating bush fires, people are losing their lives and homes are being destroyed and they are going ahead with the fire works, which i don't think it is the right thing to do. it is not only dangerous but disrespectful for the people that are losing their homes. >> a lot of people will be happy to ring in the new year but it has been eclipsed by the wild fire and devastation very sad way to end the year in

australia. it has been a good year for stock markets as we have covered over the last couple of days this is the picture for u.s. markets on the very final trading day of the year. all of the three majors i see opening up slightly in the green. s&p up a couple of points, dow up 20 points or so that is it for the day, the year, the decade i'm joumanna bercetche >> it has been a pleasure hosting with you i wish all of our viewers a happy and healthy 2020, and a prosperous one too

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it is 5:00 a.m. at cnbc global headquarters. investors look to close out a record year for stocks carlos ghosn on the run. the ousted nissan chairman has fled japan the chinese tech giant faces continued u.s. crack down. the fed's repo strategy. steps to keep issues from the lending market from throwing a wrench into the markets.