♪♪ ♪♪ -- captions by vitac -- and welcome to "street signs," i'm julianna tatelbaum and these are your headlines credit swiss shares sink as the chairman resigns over multiple covid rule breaches with axle taking over as his successor bob parker tells cnbc the move is justified. >> it doesn't matter who it is if you break the law, break the rules, obviously your position

is untenable i think this move probably was inevitable >> gsk rejects a 50 billion pound offer for its consumer unit but unilever refuses to take no for an answer, preparing to act again >> i consider the offer as underwhelming, interesting and probably a base, a floor, from which to build i would tend to agree that this business is to be sold for a better price, so i would be aligned with the gsk positions. china's economy grows over 8% in 2021, well ahead of government targets but expansion slows to an 18-month low in the fourth quarter while the pboc cuts a key loan rate in a bid to support economic activity. and prime minister boris

johnson faces a key week the opposition leader said the country is, quote, paralyzed by the failure of the leader. >> the prime minister has degraded the office of prime minister, and he has lost all authority. not only in his own party, but in the country a very good morning to you and welcome to "street signs." let's get to a top corporate story of the day credit suisse's chairman has resigned after an internal organization found he breached coronavirus rules more than once he left quarantine in london to watch tennis at wimbledon in july 2021 and later broke rules when he flew in and out of the country within three days. now he said he regretted his actions in a statement released by credit suisse, the board has

named member axle layman as the replacement effective immediately. the current quell vest management committee member bob parker told cnbc earlier they'll be in good hands. >> he has a very successful career at zurich insurance and then at ubs. so i think his qualifications as the chairman of the credit suisse are strong in deed. so the first observation, that is a good choice the second observation, it doesn't matter who it is, but if you break the law and break the rules, obviously your position is untenable we can go and have a conversation about johnson at a later stage. so i think this move probably was inevitable >> bay whitman joins me now. thank you for jumping on and -- to share your thoughts with us

on what's happening at credit suisse what do you make of this decision to change the chairman role clearly he broke the rules to what extent could this cause further reputational damage to credit suisse? >> well, the reputational damage, that's in the future and what will be the result of the new management team, of course breaching rules, of course there's no tolerance, so it's certainly the right decision by the board, publically exposed persons in politics, sports or business, and certainly heavily relegated relevant banks, you know, is absolutely key. so absolutely right decision we live in testing times so there's no tolerance. but, you know, the challenges, of course, more structural in

nature than just talking about names here >> i want to get into the business itself and what credit suisse needs to do but first, he was brought in to help restore credibility and repair the reputation of credit suisse, what will it take to restore that credibility >> i think there is an entire industry to build reputation and to do pr i would call it culture washing like there is green washing. culture is something which is the result of leadership by example and by alignment of interest between shareholders and stakeholders and like trust has to be earned over time, reputation is something which is the result of many years of effort into the right direction

in terms of business practices, leadership examples, et cetera so it's not done with a new marketing concept. that's key. >> when it comes to the business itself, credit suisse shares have reacted negatively to this news, down about 2% on the day but that's not a major move all things considered. what do you think this change in leadership means for credit suisse from a strategic perspective? >> well, credit suisse has a great history, corporate history, into 919th century in switzerland, the dna is that it's an investment bank. it has a remarkable franchise and grant, but, of course, that has been damaged the last few years and one can have different opinions about this, but the share price development not of today but of last year speaks

volumes. the price difference performance is 50%, not 5, and, therefore, the shares are cheap, but for many reasons cheap and if the new chair and management team can deliver stability and implement strategic orientation with discipline and focus, then, of course, today's credit suisse are a buy. but without execution, there's no benefit of doubt anymore here it's just about execution and delivery and the key shareholders, they have, of course, for many years, and the general public as well so it's all in the hands of the management and board to get this done it's absolutely possible to get

it done. and there is still a very positive banking business. the last year was one of the best years on record in terms of rising risk assets, lack of m&a activity, basically all factors align and in favor of such a bank. >> whenever you see a company are shares are trading at a discount, you know, to book value and it looks like there is a lot of potential and shares just aren't reflecting it, it begs the question, will we see a strategic buyer come into the fray do you think we could see credit suisse taken out or merge with another one of the big banks >> sure. i would not be surprised the european landscape is over due for consolidation. that has even been publicly supported and communicated by various regulators so that's overview

and all the universal banks in europe have to challenge to change the business models, their strategies, you know, as the second anglo saxon language, and you can expect consolidation, that's clear here and with the new chair, who is swiss, very expected experience, you can expect to calm the waters here, execute a plan, but, of course, at these valuations it's absolutely possible that there will be such talk for sure and that might be followed by action that's over possible. >> thank you for joining us and sharing your thoughts this morning. now let's move on to some potential big deal news. glaxosmithkline said it rejecte a 50 billion pound offer from

uni lever. reports suggest unilever is weighing an increased offer and held talks with lenders about additional financing op the group's minority stakeholders are holding out for an offer of more than 60 billion pounds earlier they came out defending the move to go after the business blue bell, one of the activist investors in gsk who's pushing for a deal their partner, marco, told cnbc he believes the offer was inadequate and he expects gsk to move for quickly securing another deal. >> the management cannot drag their feet for too long. so as always we would encourage management to the board to take result actions and with regard, you know, to -- particularly with regard to this and i also think that now that

unilever has fired the starting gun, i think i would expect the gsk board to be more proactive as opposed to reactive in seeking potential alternatives to the deal, so i expect there will be people doing their homework and looking at potential options. >> in a statement gsk said unilever's offer fundamentally undervalued its consumer health business and future prospects. they sent through three unsolicited bids for the business they plan to go ahead with the spinoff slated for the middle of the year this is important for gsk that they had this planned spin offset to take place in the middle of 2022, so any offer that has come through with regard to a potential sale of the business clearly being seen as something sweet for

glaxosmithkline shareholders you heard from blue bell, one of the activists involved in gsk, they have elliott management, a tighten in the activist space putting pressure on the ceo of glaxo to change up the business. they've been under a huge amount of presh sure but it's not just glaxo, unilever is under pressure as well the ceo has been criticized for not doing enough to drive growth at the company i'm happy to say that bruno montane joins me now bruno, the analyst community, the investment community seem to have spoken and they don't like this deal for unilever you are in that camp you downgraded to under perform. why is the deal so unappealing

>> there's the aspect of the deal itself and what does it tell us what's going on at unilever the first question is are consumers great effort, consumer health has been growing at 2% organic growth pre-covid, 4% after covid. so the industry isn't necessarily -- it's debatable how good it is but gsk consumer health their target is to accelerate growth. that's what people want, what unilever is good at. so if unilever is going to accelerate at its own business, how good is it going to be at accelerating growth at another business and this business is to be more like 5% organic growth company so from a shareholder point of view, this is like big destruction given the price they're paying you may think what does it mean for the rest of the business if you have standard.

and management still focused on immigration, what it does mean for the current unilever business it looks like why would they want to do it at a discounted price but then you think why would they do it now there's clear criticism on unilever, is it to deflect at issues at unilever happening and rather anticipating having a difficult 2022 in terms of margin pressure, acceleration of growth, maybe it's a way to change the narrative again no company has made big returns with a deal. they've been great for bankers and lawyers making the fees, but you don't create value by being a big premium. in this business you make value for your shareholders by buying a small asset and growing it globally it's through innovation that you

make money for shareholders. >> bruno, unilever koim out this morning with an investor update defending the deal trying to flesh out the rational a little bit. and they highlighted that 45% of the consumer health unit at glaxo is very complimentary to unilever's business. they also said if they do make any major acquisitions they would accelerate the divestment of lower growth brands and businesses what could unilever sell, and if they were to sell some of their lower growth businesses, would that be enough to justify this transaction in your view >> in between the lines it's very clear that they don't mention food, they talk about health, beauty and hygiene, food is a huge part of unilever by leaking the strategy early, they've become a full seller in the market everyone knows they're trying to

get rid of the food. that's probably the transaction people expect unilever to do but thinking about food, what's one of probably the most successful food companies we see in europe today, it's nestle together with loreal, food isn't a bad place to be necessarily. so yes -- does it change my view again if people want to buy and sell food, buy consumer health they can do that without the transaction fees, the premiums involved that's not what it's about that's not where you make money as a shareholder. >> there had been rumors circulating that unilever could be a ripe target for an activist investor one of the takes that i've read from the analyst community is that this move, implicitly shows that allen joe, the ceo of unilever has the firm backing of

the board, which, in turn, may deter an activist from getting involved if it looks like it's going to be hard to spur management change. what's your take there, do you think an activist could look to get involved in unilever and would that make a difference from the strategic direction of the company? >> there's two parts on this, one is the board and then the activist i think the board until recently is feeling comfortable if you look at the board, changing the long term intensive plan to be focused on the objectives and competitiveness, not growth if you look at the measure they have, they're not going to worry about growth so the board probably congratulating themselves. now it only goes so long, remember what happens, given what investors express in the shares, in my view, add a butt more down and suddenly the board has to say, wow. so it clearly supports it, we

can see it in the action and the way of the management team the active investor, yes, many people have discussed it, including us, but unilever is a huge company, diverse and many parts and has a strong and important culture that's probably very helpful to them. so they're probably shying away given the complexity add more down side to the unilever shares and people say what's the down side on this maybe we should take a stake so given what's happened with the valuation, given what the share is going to trade, an activist will be thinking risk/reward, add another 10% down side, start sniffing around and that will wake up the board. >> thank you for jumping on. i want to highlight again for viewers that you downgraded the stock this morning thank you for joining us coming up on the show, covid lockdowns and a cooling property

market prompt china's central bank to cut the key lending rate even as the economy expands 4% in the fourth quarter. could more stimulus be on the way? we'll have more next

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welcome back to "street signs," everybody. let's get a check on european markets. we mentioned the key corporate stories in focus today, unilever, gsk, credit suisse, all in focus from an individual stock perspective. for the markets overall, the stoxx 600 is starting on the front foot up about 0.4% this comes after last week falling by about 1.4%, driven by a fall on friday, the worst weekly performance since the end of november. one of the key data points that investors this morning in europe are digesting is china gdp, the economy grew faster than expected in the final quarter of last year, expanding 4%, that was a beat on expectations but still its weakest pace in 18

months industrial output was up and retail sales came in weaker than expected weak consumption and a slowing property market prompted the central bank to cut a key loan rate craig rothham joins me now great to have you with me on this important day for chinese data what was your take on the figures that came through overnight? >> as you said, you know, it was a bit better than expected, but it was one of the slowest rates of growth on record for china. if you excluded the low point of the pandemic, it looks really, really bad on a historical basis. while you can take some comfort from the ip being stronger the support for that is probably exports and that next year looks softer and the things likely to get worse are pretty bad, retail sales with omicron, that's going

to get worse and the property market, the end is not in sight for that downturn. still a lot of headwinds to be overcome. >> let's talk about the consumer as you mentioned, clearly more widespread lockdowns impacted retail sales in the month of december for now china is sticking with the zero covid policy. how long do you expect that to continue >> my base case is that that lasts throughout 2022. so you don't see a reopening of china in terms of easing away from zero covid and certainly opening up national borders until 2023 the reason for that, omicron is so much more transmissible they're already struggling to get it under control with the strict restrictions they have in place. and they're very worried about the case numbers that could occur if they let things go in the way that west economies have the reports from the chinese cdc that submitted hundreds of thousands of cases even before

the omicron to relax the stance would lead to an overwhelming of hospitals in china what's worse is that the chinese vaccine is less effective than western vaccines against the new variant. so you're looking at having to revaccinate entire populations ideally with a new and better vaccine, and then just hoping the virus itself becomes mild over time. as far as i can see, 2022 is another era of repeated lockdowns and restrictions in china. >> that is to me the big question what happens post winter olympics, they still don't have a vaccine that is hugely efficacious over the omicron variant and because they've been so strict in regards to controlling covid, they're not going to have high immunity. so the path looks complex, they could be looking at needing to revaccinate the whole

population. >> exactly that. i should stress that i'm not saying the vaccine is so much worse, we know that pfizer, moderna, don't protect from next from omicron but give you protection from severe outcomes. but the chinese policy is to minimize case numbers. the fact that there is any hospitalization rates for them means that high case numbers have to be avoided absolutely. so yes, they're looking at potentially developing a new chinese-made mrna vaccine, they're still reluctant to get a western vaccine. so it could be a long time to get the situation under control. >> on the policy front we heard from the pboc this morning moving ahead to cut a key lending rate they seem to be trying to drive this message that they're not going to flood the market from stimulus from either a fiscal

nor monetary perspective but if we are going to see continued restrictions throughout all of 2022, what does that mean from a policy perspective? >> so there are very few levers to pull for growth right, if they want to keep the crackdown going, like i think they do, you can't use property to get the investment spending back up. manufacturing had a pretty good year in 2021 but a lot of that was to do with the excel of demand picture and hard to see how china continues to gain market share globally in the year ahead, particularly when zero covid is shutting down the ports so often. so that leaves infrastructure. all the government money comes from sales and that's falling off a cliff right now. so that leaves the central government, beijing. i think what we're going to see is a lot by the central government, transfers to local governments, the use of those funds to prop up local property

developers and to drive spending higher it's going to be a real struggle to get growth, anything like what we've seen historically i think 4 to 5% this year would be a good outcome as a result. >> craig, thank you for joining us and sharing your analyst with us craig botham coming up on the show, party-gate, pressure mounts on boris johnson. and inflation spikes and omicron cases ount, we'll get the view on the path forward from the group's president next

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cnbc is told the bank needs to work on its image. >> there's an entire industry to build reputation and to do pr. i would call it culture washing like there is green washing. >> gsk rejects a 50 billion pound offer for its consumer unit but unilever refuses to take no for an answer. reports that it's preparing to bid again with blue bell also backing a higher offer. >> i consider this offer under when he will wheming, a base or floor with which to build so i would be aligned with the gsk positions. china's economy grows over 8% in 2021 well ahead of government targets but expansion slows to an 18-month low in the fourth quarter while the pboc cuts a key loan rate in a bid to

support economic activity. >> and uk prime minister boris johnson faces a key week amid the fall out from a series of lockdown gatherings. the opposition leader said, quote, the country is paralyzed by a weakened leader. >> the prime minister has degraded the office of prime minister and he has lost all authority, not only in his own party but in the country credit suisse's chairman has resigned just nine months into the role after an internal investigation found he breached coronavirus rules more than once in a statement, issued by credit suisse this morning, horta-osorio said he personally regretted his actions. axle leeman is named as his replacement effective immediately. bruno from lakefield partners

told cnbc earlier this morning that credit suisse had to show nobody is exempt from its conduct rules. >> quarantine breach and then expecting the employees to do home office and follow strict policies is a tough one. especially as you have been attracted as the fixer to stabilize the ship after a lot of scandals took place, it is even more difficult to justify that i think that's exactly what credit suisse did is to increase the credibility by making this move and to find someone who has that stability potentially in it after already quite some changes were followed. >> in other corporate news, glaxosmithkline said it rejected an offer from unilever received at the end of last year. reports suggest that unilever is now weighing an increased offer and has held talks with lenders

about additional funding the group's minority stakeholder are holding out for an offer in excess of $60 billion, gsk up on the news, unilever down. european leaders are meeting today to discuss rising inflation and surging omicron cases across the continent silvia joins us from brussels with a special guest. >> i'm joined by the president of the euro group. thank you for joining us today i would like to start the conversation by looking at inflation because there's a lot of concern right now about the high inflation we're seeing across the block and many economists look at this and see there's a risk here for the economic recovery this year. and next as well are you concerned about this >> well, the levels of inflation that we have now are to be, in many ways, expected given the scale of intervention that was needed to help our economies

deal with the economic consequences of the pandemic of course, we have to monitor where we are with inflation. but it should also be seen in the context of a ery, very strong recovery, particularly in terms of employment. and if you look at where we are in employment now versus where we thought we could be 18 months ago, it's a very, very strong performance. so yes, we will monitor where we are with inflation and while we do expect it to improve as the year goes on, acknowledge it's a high level at the moment and it is causing a challenge for many in the business, many business leaders, employers, but also for families and citizens, too. >> do you think it is actually realistic and that is the most plausible scenario that this higher inflation will somehow decrease over the coming months given that we are now seeing this transition towards a greener economy and isabelle made that comment that this

transition could lead to higher inflation. >> i do think it's very plausible that as we move through the year we will see a moderation in inflationary pressures that we're facing at the moment i think it is a fair point to look at across how in the medium term our move to a lower carbon and then a net zero economy could, indeed, have an impact on where we are with medium term inflation levels if i look at where we are now, i still believe a very robust case can be made for change against the high levels of today for three reasons. the first one will be the reasonable expectation that supply chains and their operation supply chains can improve as we go through the year secondly, the effect of savings and the effect of release of savings on consumption, again in many economies i think you can expect to see that impact moderate as the year goes on,

and thirdly, it is possible that some of the energy issues that we've seen at the moment, again, could change as the year goes on overall, this is a risk that we do need to monitor, we need to be aware of the impact it could have on our recovery, but i think the expectations will have improvement as we go through the year is very reasonable. >> is the euro group, as a whole, looking at the tensions that we're seeing now between the eu and russia as a potential risk to the economic outlook, in particular when it comes to inflation as well? >> so indeed we begin every euro group meeting with an assessment where we are with our economic performance and our recovery and i think it is fair to say that these really significant geopolitical and security issues could have a significant economic impact. so this again is something that will be firmly on our horizon for monitoring and for analysis. but great efforts are under way

at the moment to deal with these security issues, and our focus for now will be on the economic challenges as they present themselves to us today and the decisions that are necessary with our recovery fund and our national budgetary policy to continue with an important and robust recovery against the significant challenges that covid still poses. >> today you will be welcoming new members to the group, in particular from germany, and you actually visited the minister a couple of days ago what was the message that he gave you, and what sort of stance are you expecting from the new german government? >> >> i had the opportunity to visit the minister on monday and my colleagues in lithuania and latvia but the german perspective i would expect to hear today as well the minister was clear that our focus has to be on how we

recover from the pandemic. we're all aware of the effect the omicron variant is having in different parts of europe at the moment while the minister emphasized to me the important issues of sustainability, responsibility with our national finances, shared his views on the future of banking union i think it's fair to say that he's aware while we have a recovery under way there are still challenges and threats to that recovery due to covid-19 and the latest development of that disease and i would expect, across today, that kind of balance is something that minister litner will be emphasizing. >> over the medium term there's the debate as well how to reform the fiscal rules here we're seeing a new school of thought suggesting that countries should be allowed to spend more money on climate policies and that that investment should not really count towards deficit or public

debts. what do you make of that and do you think that germany would be willing to say yes, to that? >> it's a little early in the year to begin to indicate what a consensus could look like in relation to the future, the debate on the future of economic governance within the euro area. this is a process led by the commissioner, and he's now considering the input that he's received from a public consultation that was under way. i think, however, at this point it is fair to acknowledge that this is an important theme, it's been raised by a number of member states. we're all aware of the public investment needs that we have that will be necessary to make a big investment in more sustainable technologies so i think this is going to be a theme in debate across 2022. but i think it's also important to emphasize that as big as investment needs are they cannot all be met by public capital

there's a huge role for private capital. a huge role for how we can better work in these areas and it's why the work led by the commissioner will be an important piece of work for this year >> on this theme, though, it's quite clear that the german government isn't that keen about the fact that the taxonomy includes nuclear, at least for now. what do you make of that, and how do you see that in the grand discussions within the euro group? >> the discussions in relation to taxonomy and how we deal with the recognition of carbon impact on the different forms of carbon emissions from different forms of technology and fuel, the first thing i say is, it's a sign of the kind of change that has now happened that this is a core area of discussion for finance

ministers. i've had the privilege of being a member of euro group now since 2017, and to see this kind of issue now being a core item discussion and agreement is a sign of the change that we're making and a sign of the change that needs to accelerate. while this is a difficult and complex matter for many governments, i still believe we'll reach agreement in relation to the coming weeks and while it is true, the german government have a strong view in the matter, other governments also have strong views in relation to the inclusion in different fields and technologies, but i think this matter will be resolved in the coming weeks. >> that's quite positive looking at the banking unit in specific, i know this is a theme that's quite close to your heart. can we expect any sort of big break throughs this year >> i believe we'll get agreement in relation to a new plan on banking union as we move through the year this is an intensely challenging

and complex project for the european union and for the economic architecture of the euro area. but we have to reengage. we must made progress on it. i believe an essential pillar of the economic development of the european union for generations to come is how we can be a global leader in developing the technologies to allow us to move to a lower carbon future this could be important to the development of the euro, if we're going to realize that amb ambition, make that change, we have to harvest the capital and the investment capacity of the european union in a far more effective way than we're doing at the moment and the huge piece missing in doing that is the agreement on the next phase of banking union efforts. efforts today have served us well, played an important role in the pandemic. but we need to do more, be more

effective and i'm working with my colleagues in the european union to fashion that agreement. >> let's go back to the conversation amid the greener transition do you think that euro zone governments have realized how costly this transition is going to be and are they sending the right message to european citizens >> i believe in the latest phase of the debate in relation to how we move to net zero, there is more of an acknowledgement in relation to not just the up front cost but what the medium term cost will be. and i think a few years ago we could have been a fair critique to make, regarding do we fully understand and are we clearly articulating and communicating what will be the cost involved in this kind of change but in the discussions that i'm in and the policy deliberations

that are taking place now within the european union, i think this is fairly acknowledged and i do think it's an issue that governments are engaging with the parliaments and citizens on. this is an issue that's going to involve cost and -- but at the same time, the challenge is so great we have to rise to us and as governments work their way through 2022 and 2023, i think how we manage that cost and critically how we can allocate that cost fairly amongst our societies i think will be an important theme of our political discussion >> definitely a challenging time -- >> yes, in deed. >> thank you for your time this morning. on that note, i'll hand it back to you but as you can tell, there's plenty in the agenda for finance ministers not just today but over the next couple of months. >> thank you for bringing us that wide ranging interview.

on a programming note we may not be in davos this year but the world economic forum is bringing a slate of private and public leaders join us on friday for a discussion on the global economic outlook jeff will be joined by the ecb president, imf managing director and indonesia's finance mi minister the pressure on boris johnson builds over a quote party culture. more on this story after the break.

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take the savings challenge at xfinitymobile.com/mysavings or visit an xfinity store to learn how our switch squad makes it easy to switch and save hundreds. welcome back to "street signs. uk prime minister boris johnson faces more accusations he breached covid-19 social distancing measures by attending multiple gatherings at downey street while lockdowns were in effect the labor leader calling for

hushi resignation says he broke the law. but another said the prime minister needs to take steps leading to the culture of the breaches let's get to roseanne. clearly there are some within boris johnson's party who want him to step down but how much support is there >> reporter: it's a good question, julianna because publicly we had a number of key conservative figures over the weekends, six or so, saying that boris johnson should resign. but what is key is the 1922 committee, which is a process by which conservative party members can submit their lack of faith in a letter and as of this morning we heard reports there were maybe about 35 of these. >> it looks as though we have lost connection with roseanne, who is at west minister. so let me pick up and bring you sound from the opposition labor

leader speaking to lbc earlier this morning take a listen to what he had to say. >> he's lost all authority and that matters, whichever party you're in. we're still in the pandemic, it's very important that people behave in the way that we need them to behave but he's lost the authority to ask people to do so. but even if you put that on one side, we have an energy bill crisis we've got waiting lists in our hospitals. we've got russian troops on the border with ukraine, we have big issues going on and we have a prime minister who's too weak to lead he's lost his authority. and i feel that britain is paralyzed by the weakness of the prime minister, and that's not in the national interest whichever party you're in. >> the labor leader speaking about what he thinks the prime minister needs to do now boris johnson is reportedly preparing to scrap covid self-isolation laws. they'll work on the policies in

the coming weeks with the announcement to revoke emergency coronavirus measures coming as soon as this spring. omicron cases are falling fast in the uk with the country confirming half the number of lab confirmed cases over the weekend. according to the covid tracking app cases have fallen nearly every day in january the government is expected to drop covid plan b measures by the end of the month. thousands of people protested in amsterdam over the weekend against the government's coronavirus lockdown measures. it took place as the government eased restrictions of nonessential shops, but bars, restaurants and venues remain shut in austria, plans for a stricter vaccine mandate with those refusing to get jabbed facing fines of up to 360 euros

the french parliament has approved another measure, the vaccine passport certificates will be required for anyone wanting to get into public places. unvaccinated people had previously been able to enter these areas with prove of a negative covid test. a big change there an epic ten day standoff between novack djokovic and australia reached a conclusion this weekend. the world number one left melbourne earlier this morning after being deported following a court decision to uphold his visa cancellation. let's get a check on european markets just about two hours into the trading session, the first of the week, we have a few key corporate stories in focus that are driving gsk, unilever and credit suisse. but more pbroadly we have european equities pushing higher

in trades. about .6, .7% for the ftse 100 the cac 40 the dax up from a sector perspective, this is what the picture looks like the majority of sectors are trading higher, media up 1.6%, technology up 1% you have health care outperforming on the news that gsk rejected the third and latest offer from unilever, 50 billion pounds for the consumer health unit which it owns with pfizer a lot of investors asking the question now will we see a sweetened offer from unilever could we see any other bidders enter the fray or will gsk go ahead with the spinoff planned for the middle of this year. whatever the option may be, investors like the optionality, shares in gsk trading higher autos underperforming, down about .2%.

the only sector in europe trading in the red currencies, we have the dollar index holding steady, sterling also holding steady despite the uncertainty and pressure that continues to mount on boris johnson. as roseanne flagged outside of west minister. we have six mps now having called on the prime minister to resign over the gatherings held during lockdowns here in the uk. the opposition leader str strengthening his calls for the prime minister to resign all eyes on sue grave's special inquiry for further and firm conclusions. that is it for today's show, thank you for watching "street signs. i'm julianna tatelbaum we'll be back tomorrow for now, stay tuned cnbc continues other programming next

[narrator] new york city: by the end of the 1970s, it was a city on its knees, new york, by the end of the 1970s, it was a city on its knees. in a country that was losing its mind. >> it's a war on the street. >> the american dream had become a nightmare. and no place felt as rotten and as hopeless as new york. >> they're going to make a ghost town out of the city of new york. >> it was a war zone planes and people dropping bombs. >> but suddenly, at the dawn of a new decade, there was something else in the