>> very good morning. >> to you. >> welcome to street signs. >> i'm julianna tatelbaum. >> and these are your headlines. >> schneider electric. >> posts, one of. >> the best share performances. >> among. >> today's slew. >> of earnings. as the electrical equipment. >> maker forecast. >> stronger than expected margin growth in the coming year. >> ceo olivier. >> blum tells cnbc. >> recent ai developments from deep tech are. >> good news. >> it's a confirmation that ai is real. >> we were not all. >> sure 1. >> or. >> 2 years ago. >> what would be the real adoption of ai. we see a huge.

>> increase in the adoption of ai. >> and i can tell you, for me, bottom line is about. speaking to our customers. >> every day. >> and. >> to listening to them. >> and we don't see. any change. >> president trump escalates his criticism of vladimir zelensky, accusing the ukrainian leader of duping the. former us administration. >> and misusing military aid. >> a dictator without elections. zelensky better move fast or he's not going to have a country left. got to move. got to move fast because that war is going in the wrong direction. >> a fork in the. >> road for. >> european auto as mercedes. >> posts a. >> 40% auto. >> earnings slide, while. >> renault ups its. >> dividend after beating. on the. >> top and bottom lines with stronger than expected margins. >> we'll hear. >> exclusively from renault ceo luca de meo at 930. london time. >> and airbus. >> beats on quarterly net profit and sets a higher. >> full. >> year delivery target, despite troubles in. >> its supply chain. we'll speak. >> with the planemaker. ceo guillaume faury. >> at. >> 1015 gmt.

>> a very warm welcome to the program. let's kick things off with a look at european equity. >> markets, where. >> currently about 16 basis points. >> higher on. >> the day. so on. the mend after the pullback that we saw yesterday, the main benchmark lost about 0.9%. why was that important? well it marked the. worst performance of. >> the year. >> for the main benchmark. it was driven by a pullback in the german market. the xetra dax lost about 1.8% yesterday as investors reacted to the tuesday night tariff headlines. president trump proposing those 25% tariffs on the. >> auto. >> sector, as well as semis and pharmaceuticals. so investors yesterday seemed to be digesting the new threat on the tariff front. now this morning, putting some more money back into the market after that pullback from a regional perspective, here's the split this morning. as i said the dax was the

underperformer yesterday. this morning we are bouncing by about 3/10 of a percent. their ftse 100 underperforming this morning. that basket of stocks down about 3/10 of a percent. the cac40 in france doing quite well up half a percent. and the italian market. also got some green on the board from a sector perspective. here are the gainers, the leaders in the market today. we've got basic resources out in front up 1.5% insurance also doing well. we had a number of earnings come through in that space today. industrials and telcos also performing well. now on the downside the key laggards in the market this morning. we are looking at some underperformance in healthcare. oil and gas. autos and media. and now in terms of the wall street open here's a look at us futures. you've got a pullback across all three of the majors here. after yesterday we saw wall street put in a better performance than europe. we had an advance across all three of the majors yesterday. the dow added about 71 points. the s&p about a quarter of a percent. and the nasdaq added 15 points. it was driven by those defensive sectors health care consumer

staples. so today just noteworthy that we are going to see at this stage anyway looks like we're going to see a pullback stateside. now back here in europe, schneider electric reported record full year results with revenues increasing 8% on an organic basis to ■k738 billion. the company said all four of its regions contributed to growth in the final quarter, led by north america and the rest of the world. speaking to cnbc earlier, ceo olivier blum outlined what the recent shock from deep six ai model means for the company. >> for us. >> it's a. >> good news. >> it's a confirmation. >> that ai. >> is real. >> we were not. >> all sure 1 or 2 years ago what would be the real adoption of ai. we see a huge. >> increase in the. >> adoption of ai. >> and i can tell you. >> for me, bottom line is about speaking to our customers. every day and to listening to them. and we don't see any change in the portfolio. in the pipeline for the next three years, on the contrary. so for us, that's why we are. >> quite encouraged. >> and continue to be very positive on. >> the. >> north american. >> market in data center, but also in the. >> rest of the market, which.

>> is. >> also very important for schneider. >> insurer aegon has posted an operating result of ■k7776 milln for the second half of 2024, up 14% on the year. the firm proposed a final dividend of $0.19 per share. that's up nearly a fifth compared to 2023. but shares are sharply lower after the firm issued flat guidance for the year. speaking earlier to cnbc, the ceo gave his take on the impact of the trump administration on the business. >> it's quite. >> early days to see what the trump administration. >> will bring. >> to domestic policy in in the us. >> however, we. >> i think the expectations are quite high that the trump administration is. >> really trying to. >> maintain the strong. economic growth path. >> that the us economy. is on. and that, of course. >> is conducive to our kind of business. but it's too early days to look at the particular. >> policy policies. >> coming out for the us economy. as president. >> trump is assembling his team and have them confirmed.

>> by by the senate. >> let's take a look at bond yields now in europe. there's a look for you at european equities if you miss the top of the show. here's yields though. we've got the german bund trading around two and a half 2.55% right now. the french ten year trading around 3.24% or so. and the italian ten year pulling back slightly. the reason that i want to show you where yields are is because eurozone bond yields are stabilizing today. but it comes after four straight days of yields moving higher. now why is that the case. let's ask why. global co-head of fixed income and liquidity solutions at goldman sachs asset management kai. great to have you with us this morning. first off give us your take on what's driven yields higher in recent trade in europe. >> well thanks for having me. good morning. look there's been a slew of data. around not just european inflation prints the uk. >> europe, but. also in the us. inflation is. >> very much. >> in focus. you've seen it

from, you know. >> the fed. >> minutes that central banks by and large. >> are. >> watching this. >> very very closely. >> there are pressures price. >> pressures around the service sector. there's a lot of trade. >> uncertainty that's driving things. and i think it's also fair to say that, you know, the market's. >> ability to forecast. >> inflation hasn't been that. great since covid. >> so it's. understandable that. >> people are a little. bit cautious and on the. >> sidelines yesterday. >> some comments from isabel schnabel from the ecb seemed to get capture investors attention. she gave an interview with the financial times. and in it she said that she thinks it's now time for a debate within the governing council around pausing or halting rates, that inflation risks are skewed to the upside. do you think the market is pricing that in now? >> well, it debate is good. i mean, i. think that's what governing councils. do all. >> over the. >> world is they take. >> stock of. >> inflationary pressures building. >> i think particularly in europe, there's a question.

>> around what the neutral. rate is going. >> to be. i think there. >> are questions. >> around maybe the fiscal. >> is we're also. looking maybe the outcome of the german election and the implications for the debt brake. so i think that's fine. i think that's right. i think the market. >> is still. >> obviously pricing. >> cuts from the ecb. >> and the market. will reassess this. >> i think as. >> more information comes out, as we see the impact maybe of potential tariffs on europe and for the central banks all over the world. >> actually to kind of. >> pause and look at inflationary pressures is what we would expect. and it's actually part of the backdrop that we're seeing around the world is that we are seeing much more volatility on the macro side. you're seeing, you know, pricing changing. you've got central banks. for instance, bank of japan that is hiking. you've got inflation data in the uk. so yeah it makes a lot of sense. actually to kind of reevaluate continuously reevaluate. >> there's been a lot of headlines swirling, attributing the move higher in yields to the

expectation of higher borrowing to fund more defense spending. what do you make of that argument. and that as a contributing factor to the push up we've seen in yields. >> you mean in europe particularly? yeah. >> so it. >> will be i mean, at the margin, of course. >> if defense. >> expenditure goes up. >> and net borrowing. >> goes up, it will put pressure on the. curve would probably lead to a steeper curve of it will have an impact. >> on on swap spreads as well. >> against that you've got to kind of gauge the impact it might have. so the additional expenditure might. have on economic activity. so yes. >> i. >> think it's a contributing factor. the numbers may not be that large in. >> the short term. so kind of ramping. >> up defense expenditure from where we are today to a bigger number. so it's going to take a little bit of time. so i would i would caution a little. bit around the immediate impact on on yields. but you're right. i mean at the margin it is negative for yields. >> in addition to yield curves steepening in europe we've also seen a tightening of eurozone

sovereign spreads. one figure stood out to me that the italian tenure spread over bunds has narrowed to its tightest since 2021. does this suggest the markets are focused in this instance on joint borrowing to fund more defense? >> no, i think the kind of trend in tightening kind of european spreads has been intact before this discussion started. and. it really started, i think with france and, you know, calming pressures on, on kind of the french market. the jury is still out. >> as to kind of. >> debt sustainability around europe. i think the italian situation that you refer to is, is, is not bad at all. >> particularly with respect. >> to kind of. >> joint borrowing. >> i think we're a long way away from that. and you've heard comments, particularly going into the german election, that that is not the top of the agenda. >> so we. >> will see how that evolves. there's other ways that europe can increase expenditure on on

defense. >> let me ask you about treasuries. president trump has thrown so much at the market. you know, everything from tariffs to trade wars to plans for big tax cuts. i mean, there's so much uncertainty about the way forward. treasuries are traditionally seen as a safe haven, and we've seen them bounce around over the course of the last month since trump took office. are treasuries poised to remain a safe haven asset of choice? given the volatility that we are now, we know is now to come and be become the norm in washington for the next four years. >> well, look, there's two different things. i think you're right. there's going to be more volatility. there's going to be more volatility for a number of good reasons actually, which is in part. there's a little bit of a slowdown. >> in the us. >> economy that we can detect. there are a number of question marks around what the neutral. >> rate of interest is. >> in the united states. >> you saw the cpi. >> figure come out, which. >> was a. >> little bit higher. but the

you know, the pce is going to. >> come in lower because. ppi was lower. so there's. >> a lot of there's a lot of uncertainty as you as you say it. it's market volatility actually. and if you if you look at if you look at the fed. it's been quite clear that it's watching a number of things. it's watching inflation. it is clearly also watching the impact of tariffs. it is it is it is. watching the economy. and it's standing back a little. bit from maybe continuing. with aggressive rate cuts. does that translate into the shine coming off the us as a safe haven? i don't think so. in the short term actually it's still the biggest the deepest market. it's the reserve currency. and we've seen a number of reserve managers and central banks trying to move away slightly from. >> us treasuries. >> it's not always as easy to do. >> so there isn't really a great alternative. i mean i think they've been trying to ramp up on gold, but it's not the same thing. >> it's not the same thing. there's a capacity constraint. >> in gold. it's physical.

>> you may not have the gold where you want the gold to be. so yes, you're right. it's an imperfect substitute. >> so for now, anyway, it will hang on as a safe haven of choice. kai, thanks for joining us. kai hay, global co-head of fixed income and liquidity solutions at goldman sachs asset management. now back to earnings. zurich insurance has reported an annual operating profit of $7.8 billion, 5% higher than a year ago and above analysts expectations. speaking with cnbc earlier, zurich insurance ceo mario greco outlined how changing interest rates globally are impacting the business. >> interest rates. are when. >> they start. >> coming down. they're not very helpful for our business. >> however. >> we don't. >> see. >> the world. >> today in a kind. >> of. >> recessionary environment. actually. >> we see. >> still inflation. >> creeping up. >> we have. >> a big. exposure to us, and. >> in us, interest. >> rates are. >> not really. coming down at the moment. so our base scenario

is that europe will be softer than the us, but inflation is still there and will come back again. and so over the long term, we don't. expect interest rates to. go negative. >> lloyds bank has backed its 2026 outlook and announced a new 1.7 billion pounds share buyback, despite reporting a miss on annual profit, the british lender reported full year pretax profit of 5.97 billion pounds, weighed down by provisions for a motor finance probe. still ahead, tensions rise between us president donald trump and ukrainian president volodymyr zelensky. we'll have volodymyr zelensky. we'll have the latest up next. (vo) if you're only maxing out a 401k, you can add a robinhood ira with a 3% contribution boost. (nasa pilot vo) roger that. (vo) robinhood gold gives you an instant 3% match on your annual ira contributions. ♪

no, no, no, no, no. 100,000 orders confirmed. ooh! you got cirkul! let's hydrate america! let's go! adam devine ordered 100,000 bottles, so we're delivering all across the country. you got cirkul! you got cirkul. wow! wow! just dial it up for more flavor. i don't like drinking water, but this is really good. hey, guys, we got cirkul! we got cirkul! apparently y'all got cirkul. honey, we have a problem! dave's been very excited about saving big with the comcast business 5-year price lock guarantee. five years? -five years. and he's not alone. -high five. it's five years of reliable gig speed internet. five years of advanced securit. five years of a great rate that won't change. it's back. but only for a limited time. high five. five years? -nope. comcast business 5-year price lock guarantee. powering five years of savings. powering possibilities. - people couldn't see my potential.

so i had to show them. - i've run this place for 20 years, but i still need to prove that i'm more than what you see on paper. - today i'm the ceo of my own company. - it's the way my mind works. i have a very mechanical brain. - why are we not rethinking this? - i am more... - i'm more... ...than who i am on paper. available now on the apple app store, android and. >> get vested. join the club. >> as a woman, i wanted to experience financial independence and become financially independent in my retirement. >> join the club new member savings and soon go to cnbc.com. join now. terms and restrictions apply. >> welcome back to street signs. let's get you up to speed with

the latest in geopolitics. u.s. president donald trump has doubled down on criticism of ukraine's leader, calling him a, quote, dictator without elections. trump hit out on truth social after president zelensky warned he was living in a disinformation bubble, pushing back on earlier claims kyiv started the war. speaking at the saudi backed fii summit in florida, trump reiterated his criticisms of the ukrainian leader. >> the only thing he was really good at was playing joe biden like a fiddle. he played him like a fiddle. that's an expression we use. yes, sir. to say that he's pretty easy. pretty easy. a dictator without elections. zelensky better move fast or he's not going to have a country left. got to move. got to move fast because that war is going in the wrong direction. in the meantime, we're successfully negotiating an end to the war with russia. >> trump's comments came after zelenskyy issued his own criticism of the u.s. president, saying he was being unduly

influenced by russian president vladimir putin. >> since we're talking about. >> 4%. >> we've seen this disinformation. we understand it's coming. from russia. we understand this, and we have. evidence that these numbers are being. discussed between. >> america and russia. >> unfortunately, president trump, with great respect. >> for him as a leader of the people. >> which we respect very much, the. >> americans who constantly. support us. >> unfortunately, he lives in this disinformation space. >> trump's comments on zelenskyy drew condemnation from european leaders, with german chancellor olaf scholz criticizing the remarks as wrong and dangerous, while uk prime minister keir starmer phoned the ukrainian leader to reiterate his support. european leaders held a second round of talks in paris yesterday, with french president emmanuel macron saying they share the us objective to bring an end to the war, but reiterated both kyiv and europe must be involved in any negotiations. steve will be speaking with the former ukrainian foreign affairs

minister, dmytro kuleba, as the country prepares to mark its third anniversary of russia's invasion of ukraine. we'll bring you part of that conversation tomorrow. a breakthrough in the ukraine war could speed up unicredit's exit from russia. that's according to ceo andrea orchard in an interview with the financial times. orchard said the developments could help the bank to secure better terms for its russian unit, after previously refusing to offload the segment unless it achieved a fair price. on the macro front, german producer prices came in lower than expected in january, falling by 0.1% on the month before versus expectations for a rise. so a very big miss versus expectation. the german statistics agency pointed to cheaper energy and intermediate goods for the move. german chancellor olaf scholz faced his main rival, the cdu leader friedrich merz, in his final televised debate ahead of the country's general election on sunday. the two candidates sparred over the economy,

migration and security, with meretz saying he will only sign a coalition agreement that promised a major reform in migration policy. the latest polls have put mertz's center right party in the lead, while schulz and his social democrats are trailing behind. in his closing statements, schulz or excuse me? in his closing arguments. rather, schulz said he was confident voters would back his party. >> i go by what you said at the beginning and what has already been discussed here. many people. >> are very undecided. >> i'm convinced that this time there will be something that has rarely happened to this extent in previous elections, namely that some people will go to the election into the polling booth and only. >> then decide. >> who and which party to. >> vote for. >> and i believe. >> that in. >> the end, many will vote for the spd. >> and give me a new mandate. >> to lead the next government. >> meanwhile, the cdu leader friedrich merz said his focus was on the key issues the country is facing.

>> i am absolutely. >> certain of one. >> thing, regardless of who will. >> form the next federal government and how it will be composed. we have to solve. >> two major problems. >> in this country over the next four years. that is migration and it is the economy. and if we don't solve these two. >> problems. >> then you. and we and all democratic parties in the political center will not be facing a mere change of government in the 2029 federal. >> elections. >> but rather we will slide into. >> right wing populism for good. >> and i am standing here to avoid exactly that. and that is why the answer is very clear. i will only sign a coalition agreement that includes a turnaround on migration and a turnaround on the economy. >> our next guest joins us to discuss the electronic and digital industry in germany, and how the government can play a role in bolstering these sectors. wolfgang weber joins us now, ceo of zvi. wolfgang, thank you for being with us. in the lead up to this interview. i had a look at zvi at your website, looking at the companies that you represent, and one thing stood out to me when i hit the front page of your website, and that is your line around the

trading partners that are key for digital and electrical industry in germany. for the industries, the us are one of the most important trading partners. you say free mutual market between the eu and the us is of great importance for our industry. the trump administration has got to be giving a lot of headaches to the companies that you represent. >> well. >> indeed, the. >> situation is has not become easier. at the same time, we see that. >> the us is an interesting. >> market and there's some. >> good opportunities. >> so we are. >> looking actually still positively into. >> all trading with. >> with the us. it would be good though. that europe and the us find. >> a new. >> impetus on. trade negotiations facilitating. >> trade rather. >> than. >> make it more difficult. >> we are now days away from the election in germany, and i think there's been a bit of a standstill in the lead up to this election in terms of what

steps the german government can take to improve those relations. so we'll put that to one side for now. in terms of reforms, domestic reforms that you want to see from a new government, what is most important to the digital and electric industries in germany? >> well, indeed. >> this industry, germany. has a traditionally a very strong industry. but over the last few years, the competitiveness. >> has really. >> been has really suffered. it has suffered from bad. political regulations. and one is traditionally. also has been there for a long time. high labor costs. so far, industry could compensate. >> high labor. costs with. >> good other framework conditions. and that has been has has gotten worse. so bureaucracy. >> is one major one. >> major hurdle. our companies. pay roughly 3% of their turnover just for bureaucracy

requirements. this is roughly for our industry. i mean, 7000 on average ■k77,000 for every employee. what companies have to pay. and that does not make sense. so we need to reduce that a lot. then we have the issue with regulation that does not incentivize innovation. if i think about the european ai act, you know, europe has, has has been proud last year to be the first continent to regulate ai. while other continents are proud to make business with ai. we need to change that that that way of thinking. and finally, also energy prices are an issue. our industry is basically supporting the society and other industries. >> to. >> electrify, to combat climate change at a very positive economic path. but that would require that electricity prices

get down, that taxes on electricity are lowered. so there are quite a few things for the next government to be addressed. >> those are some pretty striking numbers around the bureaucracy requirements. and what companies in germany are paying that companies who operate in other european countries don't have to pay? can you give us a little bit more color for those, you know, companies that are operating outside of germany, perhaps around what is involved, what does what are these bureaucracy requirements entail? >> to take an example of the climate tariffs, europe has introduced new climate tariffs, so-called c bans, carbon border adjustment measures. that means, you know, to allow european co2 intensive manufacturers to protect to some extent from imports that do not, that do not

have to pay for co2 costs. these these tariffs have been introduced. while this may be a good idea, it ends in a total disaster for all those importers. so all our companies that just import a few screws made of steel have to report now month by month, how much embedded carbon they import. and of course we see that this is even avoided. you know china will basically now start to allocate those steel products for export to europe as co2 neutral. and so it does not bring anything for even the european steel makers, but it just leaves everyone with bureaucracy behind. and that applies to everything within the eu. and we see that all already other countries around the eu

stand ready to have also imports to make the first additional step in that value chain. and then expert export. then further value further products further down in the value chain to the eu. so just as an example, we are left with bureaucracy and do not do anything for competitiveness of european manufacturers. >> when you talk about the three key barriers that you just highlighted bureaucracy, requirements, regulation and energy prices as to, you know, some of the issues that have been holding german industry back, it feels like so much of that is culturally embedded in germany. and to change these things will take a real paradigm shift in the way the government thinks about stimulating industry. but it's not as if germany hasn't had successful industry in the past. i mean, germany has been an absolute leader, a global leader in the auto sector, for example. but we've seen that industry change so rapidly before our eyes. i

was reading an interesting piece earlier this morning about how one of germany's defense contractors, hensoldt, who has done extremely well from a stock perspective over the last couple of weeks on this notion that germany is going to be spending more money on defense. and hensoldt is proposing that they take some employees from the struggling automakers who are looking to shed employees. and i wonder to what extent you think that there is a possibility to, you know, to shift to take advantage of the fact that there is a lot of industry in germany already set up, but it's just not concentrated in the right places. and to what extent that could actually revive the german economy. >> so it. >> makes sense to allow companies and employees to change jobs. and labor regulations may also need to be revamped to allow for that change a bit easier. at the same time, there really is a strong

german industry base and i would not see any reason why not. this german industry base should should continue to have a positive future, not only for the defense industry, but also for more for more traditional industries. so there is no good reason why not. the automotive industry should become should be a stronger player again. if i look at my own industry, we actually again, we basically, you know, support all the major megatrends electrification, digitalization, ai in industry, automation. so i would not see any reason why not. this strong german industry should still play a major role, even though of course you are right, defense industry may play a an additional bigger role in the future. so again, the german government has all good reasons to make it easier for industry to work on where there have been

strong at traditionally. and then i'm quite sure that also the business mood will become better again in germany. >> wolfgang, thanks for sharing your perspective. wolfgang weber, ceo of zvi. don't miss our german election coverage live from berlin next monday. that's kicking off at 6 a.m. gmt. now back to the earnings. british energy and services provider centrica has confirmed its full year outlook and raised its dividend, despite posting a significant drop in adjusted annual operating profit, which came in at 1.5 billion pounds. the stock is up about 8%. anglo american has posted an annual loss of $3.1 billion as it pushes ahead with its restructuring plan following a takeover battle with bhp last year. the company took on a $3.8 billion impairment charge, mostly related to its struggling diamond unit, debeers. speaking earlier to cnbc, ceo duncan weinblatt said the diamond industry is being impacted by slowing chinese demand.

>> diamonds really. >> had a very difficult year. >> last year as a result. >> of. >> diamond markets. >> two big. >> things. >> sort of. >> you know, playing out quite heavily there. >> demand from china. >> really, really muted for luxury goods. >> and diamonds. >> in particular. >> and a. >> significant early higher overhang of stock in the midstream. that impacted. >> both price and. >> sales of diamonds. during the course of last year. >> but i reckon. >> that that you know, given where we are now. >> some of the small. >> green shoots that we're seeing, particularly in the us and, and in india for diamonds that that. hopefully we'll start to see some of that stock in the midstream move during. >> the course of this. year and some real pickup. >> in in demand and hopefully some more from china to. >> mining giant rio tinto says it opposes bids to scrap its london listing and consolidate its shares in sydney. the comments come after the firm posted a full year underlying earnings of $10.87 billion, below expectations and the lowest level in five years.

coming up on the show, reno results far outperformed sector peer, but shares still shift down a gear. we'll discuss more with the ceo luca di maio coming up next. do you have a life insurance policy you no longer need? now you can sell your policy - even a term policy - for an immediate cash payment. call coventry direct to learn more. we thought we had planned carefully for our retirement. but we quickly realized we needed a way to supplement our income. our friend sold their policy to help pay their medical bills, and that got me thinking. maybe selling our policy could help with our retirement. i'm skeptical, so i did some research and called coventry direct. they explained life insurance is a valuable asset that can be sold. we learned we could sell all of our policy, or keep part of it with no future payments. who knew? we sold our policy. now we can relax and enjoy our retirement as we had planned. if you have $100,000 or more of life insurance, you may qualify to sell your policy.

don't cancel or let your policy lapse without finding out what it's worth. visit coventrydirect.com to find out if your policy qualifies. or call the number on your screen. coventry direct, redefining insurance. from our. >> kitchen to. >> our bathroom. >> all our laundry. you just pick a date, pick a cleaner and enjoy a spotless house for $19. >> guys, how frustrating is it to find a great pair of jeans? too tight here, too loose there, too long there? standard jeans use just two measurements and tailor custom jeans use seven different measurements to give you the perfect fit. your phone can measure you right now. download the m taylor app on ios or android. choose from hundreds of styles. m taylor measures you digitally and is 20% more accurate than a professional tailor. with free shipping and a money back guarantee. get your new favorite pair of jeans today. m taylor available on the

apple app store or android. >> for me, squawk box is breakfast with most interesting people in the world. >> it's a privilege to get to talk to them every day. >> it's more entertaining than any other morning show. >> but you might get some useful information. >> squawk box weekday mornings, 6 a.m. eastern. cnbc. >> welcome back to street signs. i'm giuliana tannenbaum, and these are your headlines. schneider electric post one of the best share performances among today's slew of earnings. as the electrical equipment maker forecast stronger than expected margin growth in the coming year. ceo olivier blum told cnbc recent developments from deep sea are good news. >> it's a confirmation that ai is real. >> we were not. >> all. >> sure 1 or 2 years ago what would be the real adoption of ai. we see a huge increase in the adoption of ai. >> and i can tell you. >> for me, bottomline. >> is about. >> speaking to. >> our customers. >> every day and to listening to them, and we don't see any

change. >> president trump escalates his criticism of vladimir zelensky, accusing the ukrainian leader of duping the former u.s. administration and misusing military aid. >> a dictator without elections. zelensky better move fast or he's not going to have a country left. got to move. got to move fast because that war is going in the wrong direction. >> a fork in the road for european autos. mercedes posted a 40% earnings slide, while renault ups its dividend after beating on the top and bottom lines with stronger than expected margins. we'll hear exclusively from renault ceo luca de meo in just a few moments. and airbus beats on quarterly net profit and sets a higher full year delivery target despite troubles in its supply chain. we'll speak with the planemaker ceo guillaume faury at 1015 gmt.

renault has posted a 3.5% increase in full year operating profit, beating market expectations. the french carmaker also beat on the top line, driven by the release of new compact electric and hybrid cars. let's get straight out to charlotte, who joins us now in paris with the ceo. >> thank you. julien, i need a special guest now. >> luca, joining us. thank you so much for your time this morning. >> so you're one of the. >> few success. >> stories when it. >> comes to the autos. >> story in europe. you did better than expected. in 24. you had this ten new launches that. >> helped you. >> do that. can you just flesh out how the performance went in 24 and where it came from? >> i think we did a record. >> result with. >> the 7.6%. operating margin. >> and we. >> generated almost. >> a 3. >> billion cash. >> i think it's a. >> consequence of. >> you know. four years of work. so we aligned. >> three records here, one after the other. >> but this. >> year we. could start to feel the impact. >> of the new product coming in.

and of. >> course. >> i. >> think this thing will continue. >> in 2025, despite. >> the fact that we. >> are aware. >> that the context. >> is. >> pretty complicated also because of regulation. but, you know, we gave a guidance at above 7%, above 2 billion. >> for this year. >> which is kind of comparable with what we did this. >> year. >> which was a record. >> and we'll try to fight. >> in the bits that you control, of course, as the. environment where you control, you feel like it's mission. accomplished in your turnaround of the revolution that you started back in 2020 when you joined? >> yeah, i think so. >> i think i mean, revolution was meant to be a plan between for. >> 21 to 25. >> so this year we. >> will complete everything. >> there will be a few things left, like, you know, the development of the alpine. >> range. >> etc. and but in many. cases we. >> actually achieved the targets. >> luckily. >> you know. >> 2 or 3 years in advance. and this. >> year will be a year where we will. >> prepare, you know, the new plan and that. >> we call futurama. and yeah, where we try to change. >> the game once again and. we

will fight to. >> you know, repeat the experience. >> of renault's, which was successful. i think. >> a responsibility of people like. us is to secure at least two cycles. of success, because. >> then it's going. to stabilize. >> the company for a long time. >> and looking at the road ahead, there's some elements, of course, that. >> bring a. >> bit of. uncertainty when you talk about the hesitancy levels of buyers buying into evs. and there's several reasons. >> one is infrastructure. >> and. >> the other one is the. >> cost of evs. you're working very hard in putting some cheaper evs. >> on the. >> market, whether it's your tank, the new tank or the dacia that you just announced this morning that will come in soon. so do you see? how do you see the pickup on evs coming into this year? do you see the buyers coming back or is it still very difficult? >> i think. >> it's still very difficult. what we can do from our. >> side is, as you. >> said, is. >> first of. >> all going down in range. so we are. >> the first manufacturer. that offers a new generation b-segment. >> ev with the renault five, renault for the alpine. so that mechanically brings. >> the.

>> you know, entry. >> point lower. >> so we have decided like a few. >> months ago, to develop the twingo. >> we'll do the car in less than two years. so it will be very soon in the market. >> this car will. >> be. below ■k720,000. and this morning we announced. >> on. >> the same. >> platform to do a dutch. >> and you. >> know, the dutch. boys are. and girls are. >> you know, very strong. >> and reducing. >> the cost. >> so twingo. >> is already 40% in cost lower than the renault five. >> so we had to completely change. >> the approach. you know, the set up of suppliers, the development process to get to. >> that level. >> but it proves that. >> even european companies can go as fast. >> and can. >> be. >> as good. >> as the. >> as the chinese. >> and i think the. >> queen is a proof. >> of concept. >> that's what. >> we can do. >> i mean. >> then you. >> have a lot. >> of things infrastructure, cost of energy. >> clarity. >> also of the regulation. >> so all of this. >> will contribute. >> i was going to come to that 25 days uncertainty around of course, the new targets around emissions. and you're one of the execs out there that is asking for a bit of flexibility. and you went to brussels recently and met ursula von der leyen, who's about to present a new plan for the auto industry. so

what do you need? do you need to change the target? do you need flexibility and the end goal remains the same? like what does the auto industry need? >> i think. >> i mean, you will ask to, you know, ten of my colleagues. >> they will probably. say to you. >> a. slightly different. >> thing, but because they. >> come from but more or. >> less. >> we say the same. >> we say that we need. >> flexibility because that kind of logic, with the deadline, a fixed deadline and a fine, that's not a strategy. it's like. >> it's regulation. and we see that. >> you. >> know, the evs. >> are not picking. >> up. >> at the level that. >> it was expected. >> so that will. probably 50% of the speed. >> and this is creating a lot of unnecessary pressure. >> on on. >> the business itself. so we have an elephant in the room. it's probably worth like ■k715 billion. that would be money that will be distracted from the business. we have to. >> reinvest. >> you know, in in in plants, in gigafactories, in development. i think we need that money to go there, not to be wasted or sent. or bought as a credit to non european oem. >> or or send to. >> you know, to brussels. so, so. >> this is what. >> we ask for.

>> i think flexibility is important. >> i don't think we question the. direction we need to go. you know and decarbonize transport. i think we cannot every society that refuse progress. >> you know it. >> went wrong at the end. so i think ev will be a big part of the future. and we cannot refuse progress. >> this summer centered around the demand in china. >> and. >> tariffs coming from the us. of course, you're not directly impacted by that, but the whole auto industry in europe is kind of being fragile because of all this uncertainty coming in. how concerned are you about the future of the autos industry in europe given these challenges? >> i mean, i probably. less concerned than some of my other colleagues. >> that. >> you know, have a lot of interest. in in china and the us, we don't have the. >> we won't. >> probably feel this. >> impact, you. >> know, when i look ahead. but of course it's going. >> to again. >> even put more. >> pressure. >> you know, on the european automotive industry, i think it's going to put pressure on everybody because the tariffs, they go not only against potentially only against europe. right. so i think in europe

specifically what my call is that we lost like some something like 20 million cars in the last 4 or 5 years because the market is 20, 20% lower. and i think that what we need is a shock of demand. we need to get back to, you know, historical levels because this is bad for even for the transition. i mean, if average age of car park went in 15 years from 7.5 to 12 years, so that means that you have a lot of polluting cars into the thing. so we need. >> to get. >> the automotive industry at the level that is required, because this will generate money. we will reinvest into the thing. it will, you know, have a better impact on environment. people will be more happy because they have new cars and safer cars and cleaner cars. so that's a priority. i think we need to discuss about getting back at the right level of the market. >> we see tesla sales in europe completely collapsing in january, probably due to the politics of ceo elon. musk and its role in the trump administration is that they are the top seller in evs in europe. is that potentially an opportunity for a group like

cono? >> yeah, i think so. >> it gives an opportunity. yeah, yeah, i think renault is already showing. i mean, we don't play in the same segment and categories, but of course of course. yeah. but i think we have to do our own race and we'll see. we'll see. but we observe that kind of phenomenon. i don't know if it will be, you know, always the same or it will change. but yeah, but there will be other competitors coming. so that's competition. it's part of our daily life. >> you mentioned your results. a 2 billion hit related to capital loss on sales of nissan shares. so i want to ask you about where we at in this alliance with nissan. of course the talks with honda collapsed shareholder in in nissan. you said the offer from honda was just not acceptable. there was no premium there. so what kind of offer would you be happy with? and what is the future of nissan in your view? that would be the best for the alliance. >> now, i think. i mean, it's will be difficult for me to answer to this question because that's a pretty, you know, confidential thing. i think two things are important to say for

me is the operational performance of renault is independent from nissan, that the proof is the result that we give. and that was the first target for me to make sure that we could work on our legs. okay. and we are able to do it okay. the second thing is nissan probably as let's say a big shareholder of nissan. my interest that nissan works. so probably the priority for them is to come up with a plan that is similar to renaulution and execute the plan, because that will bring back nissan where they deserve also in terms of performance. and we will continue anyway to kind of deleverage our exposure to nissan, but we have to do it at the right conditions. so i'm not going to speculate on potential offers. we don't do this kind of thing. we actually want, you know, the nissan team to execute their plan, to develop a plan and for our own conditions, to protect the value of what we have created, you know, a long the 25 years and all the operational projects that we have together and that we decided a couple of years ago

with the new alliance agreement, they are kind of running. so we produce the micra, we produce for mitsubishi. so this is still, you know, ongoing. >> very final question from me. you growing your markets outside of europe. you announced this deal with chile in brazil. so where do you see the best opportunities coming in in the future for renault outside of europe? >> i think for us, potentially latin america is, you know, for sure something that where we have chance because the brand is there since decades and, you know, we have presence also industrial presence. i see india as an opportunity. okay. so we are together with nissan investing on, you know, localizing new platform products that really go into the core of the market. and i think that, you know, we have been forced at the beginning of the revolution to focus on development of a range for europe. but you will see now new cars coming for, you know, global markets, etc. and you will see the, you know, the mix between europe and, and, and, and global market for renault kind of rebalancing to the historical level because of

this thing. and in that case, geely for example, is a good opportunity for us because we can do go and do things together. >> very interesting conversation. look at the mercy of renault. thank you for your time. and with this giuliana, send it. >> back over. >> to you in london. >> charlotte, thank you so much for bringing us that interview. now, sticking with the auto sector, the eu is ready to discuss lower tariffs on autos and other goods as it looks to avoid a trade war with the us. that's according to eu commissioner for trade maros sefcovic. however, speaking in washington on wednesday, sefcovic warned that the bloc would have to respond firmly if the us followed through on trump's tariff threats. mercedes benz has said it is taking steps to boost its competitiveness after full year group sales fell 4.5% and earnings in its car division came in 40% lower on the year. airbus has delivered on its 2024 guidance and what is it called a testing year for the company, posting a 6% annual increase in full year consolidated revenues to just

over ■k769 billion, while incurring a ■k71.3 billion hit from its space program. the planemaker is targeting around 820 commercial aircraft deliveries this year, up from 766 last year. we'll speak with the ceo of airbus, guillaume faury. tune in for that interview coming up later this morning at 1015 gmt. and still ahead on this show, we'll look back at the first month of donald trump's second term and the impact it's had on markets. the impact it's had on markets. we'll be right back. (♪♪) now for something you can both agree on a sleep number® smart bed is perfect for couples the climate360® smart bed is the only bed that cools and warms on each side and all our smart beds adjust the firmness for each of you. let's agree to agree on better sleep. and now, save 50% on the new sleep number® limited edition smart bed. plus, 0% interest for 48 months.

shop now. spreadsheet instead of using quicken. quicken pulls all your financial info together in you think those phone guys will ever figure out how to keep 5g home internet from slowing down during peak hours? their customers have to share a wireless signal with everyone in their area. oooh. you know, it's kinda like when you bring a really big cake for your birthday, and then there's only a little, tiny sliver left for the birthday girl. aw. well, wish her a happy birthday. happy birthday... -it's... ...to her. -no, it's me. have your cake and eat it, too. don't settle for t-mobile or verizon 5g home internet. get super fast xfinity internet you don't have to share. forty's going to be my year.

design. >> or thoughtful. >> living thuma. >> get invested. join the club. >> the value you're going to get from making better investments more than outweighs whatever the cost of the membership is. >> join the club, new member savings and soon go to cnbc.com. join now. terms and restrictions apply. >> welcome back to street signs. uk. consumer confidence has fallen to its lowest level since labor took power last july, according to the british retail consortium sentiment monitor. half of britons expect the economy to worsen over the next three months, while only 1 in 8

expecting a pickup stateside minutes from the fed's january meeting. show officials waiting for more detail on the inflation outlook before lowering interest rates. further, policymakers expressed concern that tariff and immigration policy from the trump administration could pose an upside risk for inflation, and said their current policy level allows the central bank time to assess the evolving outlook. as for markets, yesterday we saw wall street put in a better performance than europe. today, europe is off to a decent start. the stoxx 600 up about 3/10 of a percent as earnings seem to be dominating the day. a number of big share price moves on the back of earnings from centrica to schneider electric to aegon. some pretty hefty high single digit moves in place here. this does come after that sell off we saw yesterday. the stoxx 600 lost about 0.9%, its worst performance of the year. we saw a 1.8% pullback in the dax. it seemed like yesterday the story the narrative was all about european investors reacting to

tuesday night's tariff headlines from the president that he would be imposing or considering imposing 25% tariffs on autos, semiconductors and pharmaceuticals with the potential for even more levies throughout the course of the year. so that seemed to put a dampener on sentiment in europe yesterday. but it looks to be short lived, with the main benchmark now trading higher to start things off today. now, from a regional perspective, the split this morning we've got our eyes on the dax, which is rebounding up about 6/10 of a percent. we haven't reclaimed all of the lost ground from yesterday as i mentioned a 1.8% pullback there. but we are moving higher. ftse 100 down about 2/10 of a percent this morning. centrica is up about 10% today top of the stoxx 600 after confirming its 2025 outlook. you've got the cac40 in france up about 8/10 of a percent today. so that that borsa doing well. the footsie in italy up about 4/10 of a percent. now from a sector perspective we are looking at some strong performance from the basic resources sector. that

basket of stocks up about 1.6%, insurance up about 1%. we had a number of insurers delivering results today. industrials up about 8/10 of a percent and chemicals also up about 8/10 of a percent. so it seems like it is very much about single stocks today as opposed to sectors. when you look at the distribution of the gainers there on the downside the sector laggards. we are looking at some underperformance in healthcare stocks today, down about 8/10 of a percent yesterday. stateside, interestingly, healthcare was one of the key leaders of the market gains. we saw the rally that we saw on wall street yesterday was driven by the more defensive parts of the market, with health care and consumer staples doing best stateside. so a little bit of a contrast in europe today. oil and gas also underperforming down by about 3/10 of a percent. media also trading below the flat line technology up about 2/10 of a percent in that rounds out the laggards. so you can see the majority of sectors are trading higher in europe today. now on to us futures where we stateside

did see that better performance on wall street than we saw in europe yesterday. this morning it looks like a reversal. so we've got all three of the majors looking to pull back ever so slightly today. after the stronger performance that we saw yesterday, we saw the dow at about 71 points. the s&p gained about a quarter of a percent and the tech heavy nasdaq gained about 15 points or so. now we are now marking one month of president trump. and i think that it's worth taking stock of how markets have fared over the course of the last month. since trump was sworn in for his second term as president of the united states. so let's take a look at markets since the inauguration. there you have the dow. the s&p and the nasdaq were up more than 2% apiece for the main the main benchmarks stateside. so despite all of the volatility, all of the uncertainty with tariff headlines coming out like rapid fire. investors have remained relatively calm. now, you can take this as the view that this is all a negotiating tactic from

president trump and not the end game. or you can take the view that there's so much uncertainty, and we still don't know where a lot of these tariffs are going to land. so what is the you know how do you position for that. why would you position for that worst case scenario when you could continue to make money in the lead up to those things materializing. so that's a picture of us equities in terms of treasuries under trump. we're looking at the ten year yield currently around 4.5%. it's been a bit of a roller coaster ride for treasuries. we're down overall though from where we stood toward the end of january. finally, gold. since the president came back to office, we have just been hitting record after record under the second trump administration, under trump. gold is up about 8%, and it's been quite a steady run. now, on the political front, trump has signed a flurry of executive orders, proposed tariffs on trading partners and declared national emergencies on topics including immigration and energy. alice barr joins us now to look back at the month. alice good morning. good morning.

yeah, we're exactly. >> one month now. and a head spinning number of executive. >> actions since. >> inauguration day, president. >> trump's rapid remake. >> of the federal government is earning praise. >> of course, from republicans. >> who are happy to see. >> the downsizing and the cost cutting that. >> the president promised on the campaign trail. >> it's also. >> of course, having real world impacts. >> and we're hearing from. >> a lot of those. >> folks kind of putting a. >> face to these. >> cuts from canceled contracts for housing inspections and. people saying that is taking. >> away the. >> ability to ensure safe and livable. housing. >> to fired veterans affairs workers and. farmers who. >> are waiting. >> on paused grant money because. >> of that federal. funding freeze. >> funding pause. >> president trump has been. >> defending the cost cutting move. >> saying we're trying to. >> make our government. >> smaller but much stronger, and we're learning that the defense department is now the. latest target of the department of government efficiency. elon musk's dodge defense. >> secretary, pete hegseth.

>> is ordering. $50 billion. >> in cuts to then. >> be. >> redirected to president trump's. >> priorities. while five sources. >> tell nbc news secretary hegseth is considering. >> firing some. >> generals and other senior officers who have had close ties to former biden defense. >> secretary lloyd. >> austin, or who've worked on programs that are seen as out of step with the trump agenda. and at. >> a saudi investment conference. >> in miami, president. trump suggested. >> that some of the savings. from doge. >> related cuts. >> could be used 20% to go back to american citizens and 20% to pay down. >> debt. >> though it's not exactly clear how much. >> really is. >> being saved. >> that is certainly a story to watch. alice, thank you so much for that recap. that is it for street signs. i'm julianna tatelbaum worldwide exchange is coming your way next. >> when you break down the cost, it's basically free. nine tablets for $7 for 100mg generic viagra from friday plans means each one costs less than a buck. and that includes the.

>> prescription and shipping. >> i figured there had to be some gotcha, but no friday plans just made it that simple. all you need to do is go to join friday plans.com and answer a few medical questions. a doctor reviews your answers and prescribes you online if appropriate. they ship your order in a discreet package in just three days. each tablet is individually packed and the packaging is pretty cool. my confidence skyrocketed, my partner's thrilled and my wallet is thanking me. she actually joked, who are you and what did you do with my old husband? if you've ever felt ripped off by overpriced pharmacies, you need to pounce on this. go to join friday plans to get your nine tablets for $7 before they change their minds. it's join friday plans. you will get nine tablets of 100mg generic viagra for $7. the prescription is free and the shipping is free as well. it's joined friday.com. do you have a life insurance policy you no longer need? now you can sell your policy - even a term policy - for an immediate cash payment. call coventry direct to learn more. we thought we had planned carefully for our

retirement. but we quickly realized we needed a way to supplement our income. our friend sold their policy to help pay their medical bills, and that got me thinking. maybe selling our policy could help with our retirement. i'm skeptical, so i did some research and called coventry direct. they explained life insurance is a valuable asset that can be sold. we learned we could sell all of our policy, or keep part of it with no future payments. who knew? we sold our policy. now we can relax and enjoy our retirement as we had planned. if you have $100,000 or more of life insurance, you may qualify to sell your policy. don't cancel or let your policy lapse without finding out what it's worth. visit coventrydirect.com to find out if your policy qualifies. or call the number on your screen. coventry direct, redefining insurance.

dave's been very excited about saving big with the comcast business 5-year price lock guarantee. five years? -five years. and he's not alone. -high five. it's five years of reliable gig speed internet. five years of advanced securit. five years of a great rate that won't change. it's back. but only for a limited time. high five. five years? -nope. comcast business 5-year price lock guarantee. powering five years of savings. powering possibilities. comcast business. available now on the apple app store, android and m taylor comm. >> being the first. woman engineer at google, i got asked all the time, what's it like to be a woman in tech? and i realized that i didn't. feel like a woman at google. i felt

like a geek at google. >> it was. >> the passion around what we were doing. >> that really, for. >> me, neutralized the notion of gender, which is why i like to say passion is a gender neutralizing force. >> to me, ambition. >> is being undaunted by the impossible. >> i've been really lucky to work at two companies. >> google and yahoo. that really fundamentally changed the world. >> it is 5. >> a.m. here at cnbc. global headquarters. welcome to worldwide exchange. >> here is your five. >> at five. records at risk. >> fed inaction. >> and tariff uncertainty. >> putting some fresh pressure. >> on wall. >> street d.o.j. dividend. president trump. weighs a. >> new. >> form of direct payments to. >> taxpayers. >> courtesy of. >> his. >> federal cost cutting efforts. >> tariff and. >> spending threats hitting the. >> pharma sector hard. >> we take. >> a look at top picks. >> and. >> the outlook. but plus much more on the defense. >> sector shocker. >> that sent. >> shares of palantir. >> sinking and the walmart wildcard. >> that could lift the. >> stock even higher when it reports its. >> earnings later today. >> it is thursday, february the 20th, 2025. >> and you're. watching worldwide. >> exchange