and what jill should have said to me from the beginning is, "i'd be more than happy to have you invest in my business, but ultimately, i'm going to make 100% of the decisions and i'm going to listen to you, but i'm not actually going to execute it, even if i agree with it. do you want to still invest?" ♪♪ good morning welcome to "street signs." i'm joumanna bercetche these are the headlines. european markets kickoff the week in the green as investors look to the u.s. with the trade and data sales numbers later in the week. olaf sholz is hitting back at accusations he was culpable in high profile scandals

>> you created this impression on purpose. in france, the far right marie la penlaunch campaigns t oust president macron next year. and slowing sales at primark come in short of expectiations good morning happy monday let's catch you up on how markets are faring green on the board with the stoxx 600. this after a torrid week last week we had wall street down 1%

point. the index down as investors are getting a bit concerned about growth prospects as we head into the end of the year. we are seeing patches of green the focus of europe is on european elections we have the germany elections in two weeks' time. we will talk about the latest out of germany we do have french presidential elections coming up next year with more candidates entering into the race as well. today's theme is very much on the political side of things let's break it down by individual markets and set the stage as far as markets. ftse 100 in the uk .50% managing to stay above the 7,000 mark we haven't are broken through on the down side. it has been a good level of

support and continues to be so the ftse up a percentage point cac 40 up. we focused on atos that stock is down more than 2%. we are also focused on the political climate there. xetra dax in germany is up .72%. you can see it is doing well at the start of the trading week. and in terms of sectors. this is the breakdown. not a lot of red on the board. you see tech is coming under selling pressure retail is down one name we are watching is ab foods. the owner of primark is down disappointing sales at the cheap fashion store. that is one of the reasons why that basket is coming under pressure

utilities up 1.2%. oil and gas up similar amounts oil back at the seven-day high positive action in the energy complex. let's look at the asian market more action coming out of china. chinese authorities overnight. nikkei is positive shanghai is positive another negative session for the hang seng. we are getting more news out of china and china authorities muscling in on the tech companies. the latest on pay and financial. we will talk about that as well. the focus is very much in europe and on the german elections. germany's social democrats continue to extend leads in the polls with two weeks to go olaf scholz talked about the latest in the debates.

the latest has the spd on 26 percentage points ahead of the conservatives. scholz's success comes as investigators open an investigation over the anti-laundering unit accusing the finance minister of downplaying the incident >> translator: it is a miracle in the case when the prosecutor's office comes and investigates, you can display such whitewashing. my finance minister was to work the way you do, we would have a serious problem. >> let's get to anetta it seems the other two candidates were firing shots at olaf scholz. at the end of the day, the

public thought scholz has done the best >> it seems he cannot be damaged withanything scholz was involved in. also him involved in the wire tap scandal and dividendis scandal with scholz being involved he is untouchable, it seems. the attacks get more emotional than previous debates. take a listen to what he had to say as a reply >> translator: you see how things are misinterpreted a bit. you have to take that clearly. there was no investigation it is no case from the prosecutor's office in the investigation in the ministry or the ministry of justice. you create d this false

impression on purpose. >> all candidates want to modernize germany and make it more competitive and push the digitalization of the country and work on the carbon neutral future of germany. only one party, the greens, actually have a lot of credentials when it comes to climate change policies. that is also where baerbock focused. >> translator: you have both made it clear that you have not focused on solutions, but always blamed each other for who is actually blocking what if we talk about the future and i want to and it is now about the next election and next federal government that's the one that can still actively influence the climate crisis that means we must face this earlier and before 2038. >> as we stand now, the race is

still wide open. still a lot can happen in the next two weeks one thing will be quite crucial and that is coalition building after the election the spd and greens currently don't have enough votes begging them to form a coalition they need a third partner. the liberals which would be seen as a good move or the far left this is an potential stretch for the coalition building process the far left might mean more tougher in terms of corporate policies and what it means for foreign relations. we will talk about that in the coming days. back to you. >> thank you for the overview of

the lively debate yesterday. we just getting flashes from the german economic ministry and they are saying the gdp growth is likely to pick up in the third quarter after 1.6% gdp reported growth in the second quarter. that gdp growth is likely to normalize again in the fourth quarter. pretty up beat, i would say, remarks in the german ministry it doesn't appear any of the uncertainty surrounding the german political results with the elections in two weeks time is having an impact on the economy. it is early days here is the economy ministry saying gdp growth is likely to normalize in the fourth quarter. let's bring in the first guest senior policy fellow from ecfr we just talked an a lot about the race as it is right now.

olaf scholz is ahead i know your focus is on the foreign policy implications of the german federal election could mean let me ask what you think the main foreign policy challenge is going to be for merkel's successor? >> thank you very much the main issue on the agenda is currently europe's role within the geopolitical contest going on between the u.s. and china. that is particularly relevant with the german economy invested in both markets and leading economy in europe. for any kind of successor of merkel, how to position europe and germany within europe within the difficult question withes of the decoupling of deglobalization economy for the country like germany, these are the biggest questions on the agenda after all that is russia and is afghanistan and all these questions. the bigger question needs to be resolved first

that is a real task. >> germany's relationship with china is an interesting one. it is fraught with tension at the same time, you could say one of dependency. a lot of german industrial giants with exposure economically to china and still to this day at the time the rest of the west is turning sour and the relationships have become a lot more faraught as well especially with the u.s. and china relations with the context and even with the previous administration and now with the current administration what does a future german/china relationship look like given the challenges posed by a rising china with its might and its, you know, flagrant attack on its capitalist businesses? >> it is interesting to see how this has developed over the last few years, particularly in the german debate.

we had a vibrant discussion the last two years there was a lot of reluctance to take up the vibe that has been emanating from the conversation in germany and europe more broadly and in the united states whereas politics has moved in b brussels and in the german bundistat, you can still have the constructive relationship with china with issues of global concern and economic relations this is something that is likely going to change with the chancellor coming in none will have the same standing as merkel has in beijing, but also liberated of that weight of her importance in that relationship we see the ground moving beneath the candidates' feet

german industry is cautious of what is next in china out of european countries germany is the most heavily intertwined with the chinese economy and vulnerable we see the german public not since the pandemic, really changing latest polls show 47% of germans regard china as a competitor one has to compete with as an outright rival these are new conditions under which the candidates have to shape policy and what we likely see is a more realistic and pragmatic approach to china and stronger focus on diversification on the economic relationship of getting away from the accumulated risk by being so heavily invested in the chinese market >> people fall into the trap that he would be a continuity candidate. that is not taking into consideration the public perception and time has changed.

what is interesting about scholz is he talks about sovereignty. in the context of nato and european power, et cetera. what is a potentially very likely scenario to happen in the next couple of weeks is the presence of the greens party and some form of another they will be active in shaping german policy making in the next couple years of course, they are out spoken on labor practices and climate practices. how much of the influence do you think the green party will play in influencing the german foreign policy decisions >> if we want to be pragmatic it, we have to represent the numbers. the bigger the influence will be and depends on foreign minute c -- ministry

having the green participation and whatever form the government, would have the focus on the human rights or labor rights which is something the greens are attributed with, but a focus on the questions that have been tar ggeted by the greens future competitiveness of europe and how prosperous the greens can be with china and how difficult in the economic environment. this is something that will be a major push forparticipation. that is something to help germany potentially modernize the policy and current way of thinking about the future of the industries >> and we will leave it there. thank you for joining me today on "street signs." also coming up on "street signs. more candidates join a packed

field ahead of the france presidential election next year. we will bring you the latest after this break

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welcome back to the show u.s. private equity group hellman & friedman sweetens the bid for zooplus. it is at the center of the bidding war. ab foods raised profit outlook despite the poor sales the retailer reported robust performance at the food and sugar business and strong growth in the fashion arm where it benefitted from the significant reduction in labor and store operating costs. s4 capital recently acquired

the 25th purchase. it also raised revenue guidance for the fourth time this year. speaking to cnbc earlier, the chairman said a large portion of the company's growth is organic. >> we get into the tail end of '22 and '23, it will start to accelerate our billings or revenues which the company doubled up in the first half of this year, about half of the growth from organic growth. moving back to french politics anne hildago announced her canadidacy candidacy. and emmanuel macron and marine

le pen continue to lead in the polls. let's get to charlotte who is keeping a keen eye on everything in france. charlotte, talk us through the announcement from anne hildalgo. >> no doubt it will be an uphill battle for the 62-year-old socialist mayor of paris now running for the presidential elections. still needs to be named officially as the key candidate. no surprise expected on that front. as you said, the left boat is split. several candidates the far left has his name out. and last week, the former economy and minister running on the left he was fired in 2014 and replaced by a relatively unknown political adviser.

emmanuel macron, i don't know if that name rings a bell then you have the green vote they have done well in recent elections and they are polling better than anne hidalgo the greens are running 10% can the left get together ahead of the race which is expected in april of next year the greens have the primary vote in the next two weeks. we will have the name of the candidate running on that front and we will see if the talks are engaging with the socialist. on the center right, they discussing how to pick the candidate. you have several names out there. including the commissioner he wants to run for the election and there is disagreement to picking the center right candidate. you see th

officially in the run is marine le pen on the far right. held some rallies over the weekend talking about national recovery and immigration emmanuel macron is not officially running just yet. he hasn't said he is running usually his predecessors announced a couple of months before the election. that is in april of 2022 we know that this is in the work and started to rally the troops to do the ground work ahead of the race and the backing over the weekend is from former prime minister phillipe now he said last night that he will support emmanuel macron in 2022 it is an important backing for the president. joumanna, the race is definitely heating up. >> stay with us, charlotte let's bring in a person who knows a lot about what is going on with the french socialist

party. the spokesperson for the french socialist party. thank you for joining us let's start with the announcement over the weekend that anne hidalgo is running for presidency let's ask why? she hasn't been formally nominated yet, but it is in the works. why is she the right person to be the socialist party selection? what do you think of the potential for her to unite the various leftist factions as we head into the elections? >> thank you for having me first of all, the first woman to be mayor of paris, the biggest city in france strongest experience confronted with a lot of crisis, of course, in 2015, with the islamic attacks. then the covid crisis. she managed a lot of crises that

french people were suffering from she has strong experience. and also i don't know if you are aware of, she is quite a well known on the international scene for environmental action she was the leader of the gathering of the 40 cities that are the most involved against climate change that's something that gives her a voice on the international scene. of course, she has for the country as she has for paris, a strong social and environmental agenda which she announced yesterday. it has been obvious for a while for me that she is the best candidateon this social and

environmental corridor or section with a very consistent project and also actions that prove she will be able to be a good president once in office. as to your second point, well, of course, what i just said a good argument for other candidates to join her when the time has come. everybody is now putting ideas on the table and everything is about dynamics right now so i'm sure once french people get to know what anne hidalgo wants to do for the country and what she said yesterday is to increase wages of workers, especially those exposed during

the covid crisis nurses, teachers and one important point of the program is to align the wages with the social value of the work to the question of recognition. very often the approach to emmanuel macron. that is seen as forceful those are the arguments i think will make it obvious for french people with left wing heart that hidalgo is the best candidate to win the election >> it seems that one key challenges for hidalgo is can she appeal outside of paris? she is still relatively unknown figure outside of paris where she is mayor how can she appeal to a rural

population and people not in paris and in the regions >> actually, she is quite well known. it makes sense she is associated with paris she is the mayor right now she started a few months ago to tour throughout france and to visit a lot of the different territories. the most important thing is she is very much supported by all those mayors throughout france those are the big cities where she is also very -- she has a lot of mayors from smaller cities and many socialist mayors that are leading a green and

social majority and have experience from rural territories as well as bigger cities and they are really at the forefront of the project she has and insisted that's how she tends to continue the candidate as i you have to know also that she is the mayor of paris, but she comes from and grew up near lyon she hasn't always been from paris. of course, she's been out serving well in france in the past few years as a major political figure >> all right thank you so much for joining us

today on the show. the spokesperson for the french socialist party. this after anne hidalgo is throwing her hat into the race for the presidential elections next year. as ever, our correspondent charlotte from france. also coming up on the show u.s. future look to bounce back after the week lower amid growth concerns we'll be right back.

welcome back to "street signs. i'm joumanna bercetche these are the headlines. europe markets kick off the week in the green with the u.s. data on inflation on tuesday and trade numbers later into the week. and olaf scholz extends his lead less than two weeks before germans head to the polls. fighting off the issue he was culpable in an investigation.

>> you created this on purpose ab food shares hit the bottom of the stoxx 600 as primark comes in short of expectation. and fresh regulatory pressure and beijing seeks to break up online payment platform alipay welcome back a quick look at european markets at this early hour of trading at the beginning of the trading week you see all of the averages are trading nicely the stoxx 600 ending 1% lower for the week we have ftse 100 in the uk up about .60%

the dax in germany, up .70%. some chemicals doing well. deutsche bank doing well cac and france doing well. and italy up .60%. a solid start to the week. we have a lot coming up in terms of data. particularly in the u.s. let's look at the u.s. wall street, all three averages up in the green. dow up 70 points higher. nasdaq is 60 points higher the focus is on u.s. inflation numbers tomorrow and we get retail sales and trade numbers later in the week in the u.s it could be another market moving week as far as the u.s. is concerned worth reminding viewers, because the fed is happening next week, we are in a quiet period with fed speak. we will not hear much from fed commentary this week.

the country has too many electric vehicle companies and consolidation might be needed in china. there needs to be something to address chip shortages in the industry three companies for driving up auto chip prices chinese electric automakers are trading a lot lower today. chinese regulators are reportedly planning to break up successful online market arm alipay as beijing continues the crackdown on tech. sam filed this report. >> reporter: chinese authorities want to breakup alipay it has 1 billion users and set up a separate app for the loan business weibu is a small loan business both are micro bendlending unitf

ant's alipay this has been described as the most visible restructuring of the fintech giant lyet. they are separating the businesses and bringing in outside shareholders now, officials want them to be split into the independent app as well. the report says the plan will see ant turnover user dast ta t new credit scoring which will be partly state owned ant won't be able to check the credit worthiness of the new plan and it may slow down the profitable lending business. it also points out that ant won't be the only online lender impacted by the rules. the regulatory crackdown on tech continues and now it is moving to the auto sector

authorities coming out today saying there are too many ev companies in china and consolidation is needed. it comes as investors have been waiting to see which sector is next on the regulatory hit list. in singapore, i'm sam baddas back to you. the latest inflationary reading due tomorrow afternoon the bureau of labor status will release numbers on wednesday and production figures due the same day. thursday is the release of retail sales for august with investors keen to see how the spread of the delta variant is impacting consumers. a lot to look forward to let's bring in the head of senior strategy from citi and good friend of the show. i'll start off asking how you describe the macro environment right now. it seems there are so many competing environmenti right now as companies emerge from the

pandemic and headwinds at play what is the outlook for the global economy in the next few months >> joumanna, hi. you are characterizing this perfectly. it is a little bit stuck in the mud. that's how we investors feel we are still in the middle of the recalibrecalibration of gro. it is a different moment china is not any more recalibrating in a positive way. we have seen a negative contribution now coming from china given the cycle or step they are in the creditin atmosphere you mentioned inflation. out of ten conversations i had with clients, nine are inflation

and how necessarily transitory that is. we know the transitory word has been the buzz word among central b bankers. the question is when is that finally fading to be honest, from our perspective on the strategy side, we see a very strong signal that we could still be in two or three months' time dealing with the same disruption and we are seeing some of that with wage inflation. it varies for jurisdiction it is complicated. it is difficult. the conclusion we come here is compared to all of the moments of surge, it looks a lot more like 2015 and 2016 that's when we saw commodities plateauing and inflation measures surprising on the upside and some degree under

performance in the emerging markets. we are preparing the portfolios for that now. >> we will talk more about how you think about the portfolio allocation i want to take it back to the fed. it feels like we have been preparing all year for the potential taper. whether they announce it in september other december we know it will happen what is the likely ramification on the countries that you cover in emerging markets? are you expecting to be financial tightening given how well telegraphed this announcement is likely to be >> i think it will be marginal, to be honest with you. obviously, it has an affect with dollar liquidity and tightening of financial conditions. it has been highly telegraphed in the grand scheme of things, from the fed balance sheet point of view, the reduction of purchase which is on schedule

going into 2022 and this is going to be very marginal in the grand scheme of things the fed is also trying basically to create this wedge between the paper and the liftoff of interest rates i'm not sure how successful the fed can be doing that, right once the fed starts and gets going on the taper, the markets will obviously be dependent on the economic data. the markets will try to make the connection and eventually push the thoughts earlier than expected i think that is the interesting thing that can be in terms of impact of magnitude and be forceful than the taper itself >> it will be difficult to de-link once they start the taper. luis, you mentioned the impact from china is beginning to fade. that is an interesting point if your view, you think inflation is stickier and higher

in the next few months and the market anticipating. putting that all together, how are you positioning or advising clients? especially there are emerging markets who have started tightening they are way ahead of the developed markets and central banks. >> that's right. some have started. some more, but at a slow pace. that's the buzz word with our clients. the discussion of central bank reaction some central banks, russia and brazil, started hiking early on. obviously because inflation expectation. they dealt with that in a different way. brazil, we have to go back to late 2020. russia in beginning of 2021. we believe some of the curve and you might have premium and i think these are potential opportunities to actually buy

bonds there. the case of russia where we are positioned along the bonds and receive the swaps. central europe, for example, they came into the different zip code with labor and inflation. we believe the economies will have a lot more trouble. they will have to show more effort to stabilize the cpi. we believe the cycles can be larger than expected >> luis, one final question i want to ask about china. you talked about the potential macro slowdown how does one, if at all, invest in china, given their adversary approach with businesses >> i believe the one point we make here is that it doesn't look like a falling off the cliff situation for china. it looks like a recalibration.

the second half of 2021 is not going to give more with the commodities or the positive impulse. we are through the space it doesn't look like the railing. there are strong arguments fixed income in chinese bonds. it is still reasonably stable. i don't think authorities, chinese authorities, are willing to experiment the way they did in 2014 and 2016 there are strong differences now. it is going to be stable, but not necessarily adding the positive to the world. >> luis, we will leave it there. thank you for joining me on "street signs. now also coming up on the show, the voting is under way in norway with the center left bloc

expected to form the government. kjersti stenseng joins us after the break.

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welcome back to "street signs. norway is electing a new parliament today the official election day is today. wealth, inequality and climate change are the themes of the election as the oil rich nation tackles the transition to cleaner energy polls indicate that labour is likely to lead i'm happy to say that kjersti stenseng joining me on the show. good morning to you. it looks like labour chances are positive heading into the election outcome later today. what would you say is going to be your main priority should you

clinch victory >> good morning. it is, as you say, a close race in norway. a very exciting day for us our goal is to lead the new government with the prime minister and the main themes for new government is the same that has been our main topic in the campaign it is to create more jobs and employment and labor issues. it is to strengthen welfare and welfare states it is the climate and climate issues to create jobs and double up with the new green jobs industry that is the three main topics for the labour government in norway >> many people are calling this the climate election and, of course, many of the different parties running are competing on

your various green manifestos. of course, you can't ignore the clout the green party has. they have said that they will only support a coalition if it supports the ending of all exploration for fossil fuel. is that a deal breaker for you or are you open to the talks with the green party >> for the labour party it is very important -- the biggest industry in norway is oil industry it employs about 200,000 people. they are highly educated and important to be able to do the transition into the new green industry we want to double up the oil industry in that way it creates new industries and also climate. our labour government will not

accept a set date to quit the oil and gas industry we are quite the labour party and left party and center party. that is the ambition we have the ambition to create the three parties. both double up to oil industry and at the same time be able to do that transition to the new green industry >> the buzz word, obviously, is the transition the new green industry at the end of the day, norway is heavily reliant on oil and gas 40% of the exports do come from the oil and gas industry how can that transition take place without being economically devastating for the overall outlook in the next 10 to 15 years time especially when so many people are employed in the industry

you mentioned 200,000 people are employed in the oil and gas sector >> we can do that. i also think that we are on the way to do that because the answer is not to close down an industry like the red and green wants. we see that people working in the oil industry are today also working with the new green industry we think we can do that transition and we can do it in the next 10 or 15 years is important to do that we have to use the competence and people and we have to set resources into new technology. it is not -- the answer is not to close down in five years or ten years. to use money and resources and competence to be able to do the

transition i think we have good policies to do that in a new government. >> so the previous government has been in place for eight years and it is all because we have been leading the party for eight years. this would be a break if you were to clinch victory later today. what are the main failings of the previous party >> i think you will see the last eight years with the conservatives here in norway and what people experience is that the difference between people are increasing we see the differences are increasing between the people -- rich people and the people that don't have that much -- and it is increasing between yurban an rural norway the most important thing is to

breakdown the divides. i also think that is the main reason why the conservative party and the right party mostly are doing not a good election tonight because people want to protect public welfare and public schools and also equality is a very important value for people in norway that is threatened because the divides between people are marginal than eight years ago. people with a big fortune and rich people in norway are paying less tax than eight years ago. >> it is a topic that is not just unique to norway, but many advanced nations in the world exacerbated by the pandemic. kjersti, thank you member of parliament and

secretary of the norwegian labour party let's look at the u.s. futures before we close out the show you see all of the major averages are opening in positive dow up 19 points higher. this is following last week with the three averages with a weak week as we head into another data heavy week in the u.s. that is it for today's show. i'm joumanna bercetche "worldwide exchange" is coming up next. expensive dental procedures can really put a hurting on your wallet, but paying for the dentist doesn't have to be painful. that's where health markets can help. answer just a few questions and their fitscore can instantly match you with the plan that fits your insurance

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it's 5:00 a.m. at cnbc here is the top five at 5:00 stocks trying to rebound after the longest losing streak since february futures are higher. beijing break upagenda in full force it goes after one of the world's biggest companies. in d.c., the debate over the democrats $3.5 trillion spending bill more on the new taxes they plan to pay for it. new reports on the timeline of the covid vaccine for kids as young as 5 elon musk going all in