missing from a family that learned once again about love and loss. [theme music] >> good morning and welcome to street signs. i'm julianna tatelbaum, and these are your headlines. european auto stocks catch a bid as the continent reacts to president trump's gear change on tariffs. stellantis uk's group managing director eurig druce will join. >> us at 915. >> dhl shares are on track for their best day in three years, after the german logistics giant unveils a slew of cost cutting measures, including slashing 8000 jobs. ceo tobias mayer

tells cnbc he is not worried about u.s. tariffs. >> if we have. >> such volatility, it's not necessarily bad for a company like dhl. we strive on helping our customers in these. >> type of situations. >> and it. >> also adds value add. >> in our industry, particularly if you. >> think about. >> the additional customs filings that are needed. >> german equities hit another record high ahead of today's ecb decision, while the bond sell off continues after chancellor mertz's shock policy shift sends yields surging the most since the days of reunification, and french president emmanuel macron says he could extend the country's nuclear protections to cover europe, as he warns, the continent may have to prepare for life without the us by its side. >> could appear. >> on ukraine. eastern ukraine may or may not be achieved quickly. >> but the european states. >> given the. >> russian threat i've just described to you, must be able to defend themselves better.

>> a very good morning to you. i want. >> to. >> kick off the show with some fresh lines out of china, because. trade in europe has been choppy. this morning we opened up on the front foot as investors reacted positively to that reprieve on the auto sector tariffs. the temporary relief one month exemption from tariffs for the auto sector. but in the last 15 minutes or so, markets. >> have turned negative. sentiment has. soured a. >> little bit and i think it may have something to do. >> with. >> these lines out of china. >> so china's commerce. ministry saying that on. >> trade tensions with the us, if the us goes down the wrong path, we will follow it to the end. >> china's commerce minister. >> saying that us. >> should come up with. >> a right way if it. >> wants to resolve. >> problems with. >> china. >> we should meet our us. counterpart at an appropriate time, solve problems through equal consultation. so these. >> lines just.

>> coming out. >> now, no winners. >> in a trade war. we've heard. >> china obviously say that before, but i think the. strong line here. >> is that if the. >> us goes down the wrong path, we will follow it to the end. >> and the stoxx 600. >> you can see. >> there. >> on your screens, it's now down about 17. >> basis points. >> we were trading higher. >> at the. >> start of the day and we. >> were trading higher yesterday as well, up about. >> 9/10 of a percent. >> so sentiment has. >> turned negative in the. >> last. >> few minutes. >> it may have. >> something to do with these china comments. >> we'll of course keep tracking all of it for you. >> taking a closer look at what's. >> been happening in. >> terms of trade this morning. let's break it. down by region germany. >> firmly in focus still outperforming the wider european market again today. we were up more than. >> 1% just about. >> half an hour ago. now we're up about 9/10 of a percent. >> so we've come off. >> the highs of the day. >> footsie 100 trading down by about 8/10 of a percent. the cac40. >> now hovering around the flat line. and the footsie in italy trading up by about 0.6%. the dax hitting another record high. continued strong demand for

those sectors that the. >> market believes will. >> participate in this spending boom will be key beneficiaries. >> of the. spending boom. >> to come in germany. if all goes. >> to plan now from a sector perspective. >> for europe overall, take a look. you've got autos out in front, up 1.8%. >> basic resources. >> construction and technology. >> so it's really. >> those cyclical sectors that are leading. >> the gains this morning. on the downside, we're seeing less demand for those defensive parts of the market. >> we've got. >> real estate, healthcare. >> food and beverage utilities underperforming. looking at the autos in a little bit more. >> detail because this. >> is. >> really the story of the. >> day yesterday. this exception that trump decided to grant to the. automakers when. >> it comes to. >> tariff, a one month exception on these tariffs to try to give them a chance to. >> adjust their supply. >> chains where they can. and we are seeing. quite a strong reaction in the autos names. >> volkswagen up more than 3% this morning. stellantis also performing really well. >> mercedes up more than 5%. >> daimler truck up. >> about 3.9% as well. now i

will be. >> speaking to stellantis. >> uk general managing director eurig druce. >> later this hour. >> so we're going to get some more. >> insight into. >> what's going on. >> at stellantis and. >> in. the wider auto space. >> here's a look at. >> european yields. >> this morning. we're tracking germany quite closely. this says germany's chancellor in waiting friedrich moritz. stunned debt markets on wednesday by opening that door. >> for hundreds. >> of. >> billions in. >> state. >> spending on infrastructure and. >> defense, and that has sent the ten year bond. >> yield to its highest in its biggest. >> tear since the days of reunification. >> right now, the ten year is trading around 2.8%. it is higher in. >> the latest trade. >> deutsche bank called. >> the move one of the most historic paradigm shifts in german postwar history. dhl group has announced it will cut around 8000 jobs this year as part of a plan to reduce costs by more than ■k71 billion by 20. the announcement came as the logistics giant reported a 7.2% fall in annual operating profit, with adjusted earnings of.

>> ■k75.89 billion. >> for the full. >> year, narrowly ahead of. >> expectations that stock trading right at the top of the stoxx 600 this morning. >> up more. >> than 11%. ceo tobias mayer gave cnbc his take on germany's planned rule changes, and what he hopes to see from the next country's. the country's next government. >> it will mean a lot of spending, a lot of spending on defense, and i think there's broad agreement that that is needed. it will provide further impulse to the economy. the spending that is discussed on infrastructure. i think it's something that in general, we're looking forward to. what you will hear, steve, from many of my colleagues is please don't use that now as an excuse not to work on bureaucracy and efficiency. we need to continue that work in germany and in europe to become more competitive and a higher level of indebtedness and funding through these means cannot take away from the need to really become more competitive again.

>> now, this comes ahead of today's ecb. >> meeting, where the central bank is all but certain to deliver. >> its fifth consecutive rate cut. >> with markets fully pricing in a 25 basis point move. lower. bank of america analysts described today's meeting as the central bank's. >> last easy rate cut. >> as divisions grow between policymakers, officials including the bank of france governor francois villeroy de gallo and bank of italy governor. >> fabio panetta. >> have sounded. >> a dovish. >> tone in recent weeks. but others have called for caution, with board member isabel schnabel saying it is no longer clear that the ecb's policy stance is restrictive. economists at goldman sachs lowered their expectations for cuts in the wake of meretz's move toward defense spending, now seeing just 50 basis points of easing this year instead of 75 and boosting their german growth forecast. markets are split on whether we will see 2 or 3 moves lower by the end of the year, pricing around 60 basis points of cuts overall. well, sabrina, nisha joins me now senior economist at. >> pictet asset management.

>> sabrina. >> great to have. >> you with us. let's kick off with the ecb meeting today. and i want to ask about the implications of the events of the last couple of weeks for the ecb. >> how are these. >> developments around. >> you know, this bazooka. >> from germany, more defense spending from europe. overall and tariffs likely to factor into the ecb's calculus today. >> well, as you say. >> i think it was pretty easy. this is going to this is going to be the last easy rate cut. but obviously. what has changed between now and december is the announcement of the defense spending potentially. and the big bazooka. by by germany, but not only germany, also at the european level. so clearly we were concerned at the in december about the downside risk to the economy, which was mostly related to the trade war. now we have the trade war, which is a negative for the european economy. but at the same time, we have this defense spending, fiscal stimulus that at some point might make the risk to the economy be more balanced. so therefore we have a certainty

for today, but there is more uncertainty for the future of the rate pass. >> by the ecb. >> how is the ecb likely. >> to guide then in terms of the balance of risks today, given there is still. >> a great deal. >> of uncertainty around not only the. >> spending, the execution. >> risk around it, but also, of course, what happens. >> from from. >> a trade perspective. >> yes, indeed. so from the trade war, first of all, we still have some uncertainty. but what we can see is that this trade uncertainty is reflected in price pressure. we saw some renewed price pressure in the supply side, but that regarding the defense spending it's massive. we know that europe has to do with as you said, it is a political decision. it has to be approved by the german parliament. so again, i think this is something that is uncertain, but the balance of risk might be more neutral if we go indeed, with further fiscal stimulus led by germany and at the european. >> level, what. >> are your expectations or your. forecast for the impact on. european growth of this new fiscal spending that's. >> in store? >> it can be quite significant and mostly driven by germany.

just looking at what has been announced by, by, by, by the german, the proposition that has been made. so either. so looking at the infrastructure spending fund, so hundreds or ■k7500 billion of a split over ten years, but also the fact that defense spending in excess of 1% would be exempted from the debt rule. but we also have they also mention the fact that states can have a fiscal deficit of 0.3 5% of gdp. so in total, assuming that we have a fast implementation from a fast implementation, it could add to 1.5 percentage point to german gdp from 1.5 to 2.5. so which is quite massive by 2027. and therefore with the ripple effect on the eurozone economy. so this is defense spending. but also looking also at infrastructure. if we focus at the european level. the european commission is going to announce some plan to rearm europe focusing on defense spending. and here again, so they mention 800

billion. so 4.5% of gdp for defense spending from 1.9%. so that could be also quite significant. >> there's also when you look at the market reaction, there's also seemingly a lot of optimism around what this the ripple effects of this spending. it's not just the defense and infrastructure names which have been rallying. we've seen chemicals. >> names rallying. >> quite strongly in germany. >> and it. >> feels like this is goes. >> beyond just these two. >> sectors that. we're witnessing a paradigm shift in how europe is planning to or willing to stimulate growth at the european level. what kind of growth are we looking at now on a medium term view? >> indeed. because now if you look at currently the defense spending, it's mostly about imports and notably imports from the us. now the idea is to refocus the production. so and there will be a higher fiscal multiplier with ripple effect on the rest of the economy. so if now defense equipment is provided or is done produced

domestically, therefore it's going to be positive for the defense defense sector, but not only with ripple effect and also for growth for employment and inflation at some point, but for that we need to have more visibility. and i guess the ecb will will adapt because we'll have the growth projection today. but they might be outdated because it is very unlikely that the full effect of the trade war and the fiscal policy will be, i mean. >> fast moving targets. >> for the ecb, for companies, for investors, for economists, fast moving targets for everybody. is there a risk here. >> that we. >> are getting a little bit too excited about the growth prospects for europe, given there are still so many structural issues in europe and we don't have a capital markets union, we don't have market integration in a robust way. there's population decline. there are still a lot of major issues in europe. >> that's a very fair point. and indeed there is so much to do in

europe. i think the fact that there is this catalyst coming out from germany, and we know that there were very protective to this debt back rule. but the disengagement from the us on the military front is clearly a positive signal. so we might be too positive. again, it depends on what is going to be approved by the german parliament at the european level. but we see potential of ripple effect for the rest of the economy. but as you say, there are many structural challenges that have to be addressed. >> coming back to today in the ecb. >> in terms of the press conference, what are you going to be watching out for most closely? >> well, watching notably the reference to restrictive, because as you mentioned, isabel schnabel notably was saying that maybe the monetary policy is not that restrictive. she mentioned at the end of last year a range for the terminal rate between 2 to 3%. so which is higher than the estimate of the ecb, 1.75%,

2.25%. so which might mean that the monetary policy is not restrictive anymore. if we look also at the reaction function of the ecb and the transmission of the monetary policy, looking at credit figures recently, if you look at the credit impulse, it has been positive for four consecutive quarters. so i think i will look at the statement whether or not they decide to remove the reference to restrictive, which can be a signal for either a pause or that we are approaching the end of the cutting cycle. >> okay. >> well, great, and thanks for prepping us for this afternoon's conference. sabrina kanisha, a senior economist at pictet asset management. don't miss decision time. later today as we break down the ecb's decision and hear from president christine lagarde. coverage begins at 1 p.m. london time on cnbc and the cnbc international. live youtube page. coming up on the program, president trump grants. >> a key. >> sector a carve out from his trade tariffs. we'll dig into the detail next.

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investors. now stay ahead of the market. squawk box tomorrow, 6 a.m. eastern. cnbc. >> welcome back to the program. >> president trump has given automakers a one month exception from tariffs on imports from mexico and canada. white house press secretary caroline leavitt said the president had accepted a request from the country's big three manufacturers after a meeting to ensure u.s. firms were not at an economic disadvantage. the announcement came after trump dashed hopes for a broader compromise on tariff policy, saying in a post on truth social that canada had not made enough progress on fentanyl. while the reprieve has provided some support for the automakers, it sent u.s. stocks higher yesterday. this morning, you can see volkswagen up more than 3%, stellantis up 2.8. mercedes up more than 5%. so quite a strong reaction from the auto makers. i think the

investment community hoping that this may bode well further for the auto sector, that perhaps the trump administration will be a little bit more conciliatory toward them. we'll hear from us commerce secretary howard lutnick later today. you do not want to miss that interview at 3:10 p.m. london time. of course, his comments earlier this week is what really moved the market just after close two days ago, so be sure to tune in now. in the auto space, tesla has seen pretty bumpy numbers over the last few months, in particular in several key markets. in february, consumers digesting elon musk's increased role within the president's administration. german sales sank 76% in february, while ev sales in the country rose 31% overall. so really a tesla issue, it would seem. in china, tesla sales dropped by around half to their lowest level since august 2022. the uk, though, was an outlier for tesla. sales of its evs rose around 21% on the month. the european commission

has reiterated its target for all new cars and vans sold in the eu to not emit carbon dioxide by 2035, even as it eased rules for automakers to comply with those emission targets. commission president ursula von der leyen said the relaxation of rules would allow breathing space for automakers to comply with the rules, as she announced they would have three years instead of one to comply with emission targets. in the last few hours, stellantis has said it shares president trump's objective to build more american cars and create jobs in the country, thanking the president for the one month tariff reprieve. europe joins me now. group managing director of stellantis uk. thanks so much, sir, for being with us this morning. quite a timely interview to be having. so appreciate the time. let me kick off with the latest tariff news. we're seeing quite a strong reaction in stellantis shares, as well as some of the other european auto names. can you shed any light into the conversations that took place between stellantis and the other big automakers in the trump

administration? >> no, no, i can't. >> of course, my responsibility. >> is. >> for stellantis here in the uk. >> all i could. say is that. >> of course, what we do need as businesses is consistency. and from a stellantis point of view, we are operating globally. and therefore our situation of free trade. >> is. >> much preferable. >> how difficult is it to shift supply chains? i mean, it feels like the month, the month exception was given so that companies like stellantis would be able to sort of get their ducks in a row. but what does that actually mean on the ground when it comes to shifting supply chains, finding alternatives? >> again, if i talk about a uk situation, then you know, when we are looking to manufacture a vehicle, then these projects are many, many years in the planning, including the sourcing of components. >> so it's. >> not something that is doable in that kind of time frame. >> well let me talk about the uk market. we got some interesting data just now. i don't know if you've heard me recap it, but

looking at tesla market share, it would seem in the uk it really stood out as an outlier. we've seen tesla ev or tesla sales plunge in europe in the last couple of months, but not in the uk. what is it? what insight can you give us as to demand overall for evs in the uk, and how market share is evolving? >> yeah. >> tesla had a particularly bad month in january in the uk and recovered a little bit in february. but of course, what we're dealing with here in the uk is something that's called the sav mandate, which compels the manufacturers to move from 22% mix of electric vehicles in 2024 towards 80% in 2030, and a full transition to electric vehicles ultimately. and so what you see in the marketplace in february. >> was. >> around 25% mix of electric vehicle sales. but crucially, that was within fleet and. >> business sales. >> when you look at the private consumer, actually only 15% of consumers chose to go electric

in february. >> only 15%. that's interesting and perhaps a little bit underwhelming. when you think about the direction of travel, what's holding consumers in the uk back from embracing evs more? >> yeah, 15% indeed. disappointing. we need to be at 28% to be compliant this year. and i think what's. holding us back is the lack of a 360 degree plan in terms of course, the manufacturers come in with products and i think we've all done our bit. if i look at vauxhall in the uk, then we have the vauxhall frontera now at the same price, whether it's electric or petrol or diesel. but we also need charging infrastructure support to be in place and probably ahead of where the requirement is in order to encourage consumers. and of course, the final bit is the compelling of customers to choose electric as well, which creates demand in the marketplace. and on the charging front, then of course, we want to go further than just produce cars. we have created a campaign, electric streets of

britain, to try and encourage our customers to tell us where they would need to see on street chargers, and we will work then with. local authorities, with government, to try and make sure that they understand where that demand is and that we can support the installation of those charges. >> you know, it's interesting. it's hard to piece out how much of the onus of responsibility should fall on the government versus private companies here when it comes to, you know, creating appropriate charging infrastructure, getting it where customers or where where drivers need it to be. how do you think about that distribution of responsibility? >> and i think what we're looking at here is a once in a multi generational change from petrol, diesel operated cars into electric vehicles. and so i think the expectations are that all on the private sector is not realistic. the government has to support and through the electric van adoption report, vauxhall have identified that the level of charging infrastructure is not at the right level for what

customers and companies would want for that transition. in fact, you know, when we look at company users and people who purchase vans from us, vauxhall, being a major fleet operator in the uk, and those businesses are telling us today that in in vast, vast quantities, 91% of those companies would say if they wanted to transition their whole fleet over to electric vans and cars, then they would need to have a vast improvement in terms of the level of charging infrastructure on the streets, because ultimately the drivers of those vehicles are living in properties, perhaps where they cannot charge at home. >> i'm not sure if you can comment on what's been happening at the eu level, but i'll i'll ask you. the big news out of europe this week around relaxing the timeline that carmakers have to meet these new stringent emission targets three years instead of one. how significant is that? >> i think stellantis welcomes

that level of flexibility in the marketplace. but of course, in the uk that is very similar to what we have today. we have a transitional trajectory with some flexibility in there. but of course, you've got to make sure that you meet that transition year. by year. stellantis uk met that requirement in the uk last year, and we will meet that requirement in 2025 as well. and that all comes from having ranges of vehicles. the vauxhall range now fully available with electric versions across all of our models, be that cars or vans. >> are there any implications for pooling arrangements? stellantis, i know, has the pooling arrangements in place whereby they can buy credits in from the likes of tesla to meet these targets if they now got three years instead of one, or is there any rethinking there around these pooling arrangements? >> yeah, the pooling arrangements are something that is different from the uk because of course, they have to operate within a different set of legislative controls here in the uk outside of europe. and so we

don't have at the moment any agreement for the uk to pool. >> i appreciate the time. eurig druce, group managing director at stellantis uk. losses at air france klm narrowed in the fourth quarter, coming in at ■k3 million, down from 256 million a year ago. the franco-dutch carrier flew more than 5% more passengers in the fourth quarter, but flagged that costs rose 4% operating profit. meanwhile, at lufthansa came in more than ■k71 billion lower lat year, but still managed to beat analyst expectations. the company said its turnaround program won't reach its full potential this year, although it does expect adjusted ebit to come in significantly higher. anita will be speaking to lufthansa ceo carsten spohr later on. we'll bring you that interview here on cnbc. merck has reported a 2% rise in full year net sales. the group says it expects currency adjusted earnings growth of up to 8% this year. coming up on the show,

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investors, sophisticated investors, beginning investors. i'm always learning. >> closing bell overtime for eastern cnbc. >> welcome back to street signs i'm julianna tatelbaum and these are your headlines. european auto stocks catch a bid as the continent reacts to president trump's gear change on tariffs. stellantis uk group managing director tells cnbc the company is pushing for an open trading environment. >> of course, what we do need as businesses is consistency, and from a stellantis point of view, we are operating globally and therefore a situation of free trade is much preferable. >> dhl shares are on track for their best day in three years, after the german logistics giant unveiled a slew of cost cutting

measures, including slashing 8000 jobs. ceo tobias mayer tells cnbc he is not worried about u.s. tariffs. >> if we have such volatility, it's not necessarily bad for a company like dhl. we strive on helping our customers in these types of. situations and it also adds value add in our industry, particularly if you think about the additional customs filings that are. >> german equities hit another record high ahead of today's ecb decision, while the bond sell off continues after chancellor meretz's shock policy shift sends yields surging the most since the days of reunification, and french president emmanuel macron says he could extend the country's nuclear protections to cover europe, as he warns, the continent may have to prepare for life without the us by its side. >> at peace in ukraine. >> may or. >> may not be achieved quickly. >> but the european. >> states, given the. >> russian threat i've just described to you, must be able

to defend themselves better. >> let's get you a check on european equity markets this morning. we are overall higher. it has been a little bit of a choppy trade actually just in the last few minutes we've turned lower. we've got the cac40 now 12 basis points down ftse 100 down about 8/10 of a percent, the xetra dax holding on to gains but well off the highs of the day. so the early strong momentum has faded somewhat. footsie up about 4/10 of a percent. we are looking out right now for some fresh commentary out of the bank of england. we've got the bank of england survey saying that firms year ahead own price inflation was expected to be 4% in the three months to february. this is a survey that the bank of england conducts with cfos to understand their inflation expectations for the months and years ahead. firms expect employment to grow by 0.1% over

the year ahead. in terms of wage growth, this is obviously key for the bank of england. firms expected year ahead wage growth remains unchanged at 3.9% on a three month moving average basis in february. so interesting. no change to their wage growth expectations. i think that is key for the bank of england. that is all we've got at the moment. we'll keep an eye on the comments around the bank of england and the survey results. but there you have a look at sterling. we're trading on the back foot versus the dollar up currently at 13 basis points down to one 2876. now this after bank of england governor andrew bailey warned the latest round of trump tariff trauma will have an impact on the british economy. >> the risks. i think. >> all of us have said. >> you know, and the. >> risks to the uk situation, to uk growth. >> megan's right. >> i think, to make. >> the point that the. >> impact on inflation could be ambiguous. but the risks to the uk economy and indeed the world economy are substantial at that point. >> in terms of trade this

morning, across the bourses there is the current picture. you've got the xetra dax up half a percent ftse 100 down 8/10 of a percent. french market also now trading in the red. from a sector perspective it's been those cyclicals out in front this morning. autos basic resources oil and gas. and that is still the case. autos the clear leader up 1.7%. but we are down relative to where we were at the start of trade. so sentiment has soured somewhat in the last half an hour or so. overnight we had some major moves in asia. alibaba shares popping after the e-commerce giant released a new open source ai model to rival deep tech. the company says it is able to compete with deep seek's own product while using a fraction of its data requirements. and you can see there alibaba shares up more than 8% overnight, and it really pulled up the broader tech complex in asia. tencent up more than 7%. jd.com baidu also up very strongly. the hang seng tech index overall, rising to a fresh high not seen since 2021.

so a lot of positive momentum there. let's get a check on us futures. what's in store for trade there. well looks like we're going to see another tough day stateside after the rebound yesterday. the dow jones now looking to open more than 300 points lower i wonder to what extent that's what's dragging sentiment lower. in europe nasdaq down about 245 points at this stage in the s&p. also looking to open lower. now back here in the uk, reckitt posted sales growth of 4.6% in the fourth quarter, missing forecasts on the back of weaker than expected performance in its health unit. the british consumer giant said it expects like for like sales to grow 2.4% this year. this, as saint james's place releases a report which says more than half of households in the uk do not feel financially comfortable, with a quarter anxious about the year ahead. alexandra lloyd and director of advice, policy and operations at saint james's place, joins me now. alexandra, great to have you with us. one of the big topics in the market at the moment is, or one of the big debates, is the health of

the us consumer. we've had a lot of soft data suggesting that the us consumer is starting to really worry about the impact of tariffs on inflation, and just worried about the future. what's the case with the british consumer? how would you describe how the british consumer is feeling right now? >> i think. >> the british. >> consumer is. >> there's mixed emotions at the moment, and. >> i think. >> that's. >> driven by a mixed picture. >> in terms of outlook. >> for 2025. >> 2024 was a year. >> of two halves. >> when you. >> sort of looked. >> at. >> the economic. >> situation and the. >> saint james's place financial health report, which. >> has been released today. >> highlights that. >> although household wealth, not excluding property. >> grew by. >> 12% last year. actually confidence and people's financial situation actually worsened. >> and that was. >> largely driven by sort of the cost of living increasing. >> over that period. >> what are you know, when you

think about the when you look at the list of worries for uk consumers, uk households, what is top of mind? is it still cost of living? is it, you know, something something other than that? >> i think it's i think. >> it's certainly cost of living driven by uncertainty around inflation, interest rates. >> you know we've we've. >> seen a. huge shift. >> in. >> the. mortgage market impacting consumers over the last couple of years with the uncertainty with with rates. so i think. >> that that that is that that that's the driver. >> i think. >> the. >> other big, big. >> challenge for, for the uk consumer is. >> that only. >> 10% of uk adults take financial advice in the uk. we've got a huge problem with with with with with with advice. our advice. >> gap stands. >> at 12.4 million uk adults, which represents about 700 billion. and that's the number of adults who actually need advice but don't think they can afford to take it. >> if you raise an interesting

point, because earlier on the program, we, my colleague steve was talking about the uk versus the german, the german saver. and in germany, there's a really high savings rate relative to what we have in the uk. why is that the case? why is it simply because brits are not as good at seeking out advice? or is there something else playing into the british psyche that prevents brits from saving in a similar way to what we've seen in germany? >> i think. >> there's. >> a couple of factors that play into that. i think firstly, we don't we don't teach financial education in school and so. adults come out at 18 entering the workforce or going into university without that fundamental. sort of groundwork having been done at school. >> in. >> teaching young people. >> how to manage their. >> own finances and the importance of doing that as well. >> we've had a huge. >> shift in in how. we how we how we're supporting. uk

consumers plan for retirement. so if you. >> look at today's. >> working population, a lot of grown up in an environment where their parents will have had db pensions. we've very much moved away from that and are driving people more towards sort of building their own retirement pots without actually having educated them on the reasons and importance of why they need to take ownership of their own finances and how. >> we've got the uk budget coming up. how what what would you like to see from the government in terms of support that could, you know, help some of the strain that consumers are feeling? >> i think. >> the government needs. >> to recognize that there is there is a huge gap that needs that needs addressing and to some extent with the regulator, with the government, with. >> the with the. >> financial services profession. they are collectively collaborating to address this. but ultimately,

fundamentally, i do think that financial education in schools is absolutely key to embedding a long term strategy to face into this problem. >> all right, alexandra, thank you so much for joining us and sharing the insights from your latest report, alexandra lloyd and director of advice, policy and operations at saint james's place. switching to the us consumer. the s&p retail sector has underperformed the broader index, falling more than 10% this year. the ceo of retail giant target pointed to concerns over tariffs. take a listen. >> it is a consumer. >> right now. >> that i think is under pressure. >> that's not new news you reported. consumer confidence has taken a downturn in recent weeks. and i think. >> there is some concern. >> about tariffs. >> and i think there's a number of americans right now that understand what a tariff is and what it might mean for them. so i think that cautious shopping behavior. >> that we've seen for quite. >> some time now continued. >> in february. >> klarna is reportedly planning to raise at least $1 billion in a us ipo. that's according to

bloomberg, which says the payments provider is aiming to price the offering early next month, targeting a valuation of more than $15 billion. now, this has been a company you've been tracking. we have seen valuations swing wildly around this company. at one point we were looking at a $45 billion valuation. then it fell as low as about 6.5 billion. now we're looking at a valuation of more than 15 billion. so this is going to be one to watch in the coming weeks. if this story does progress and they do decide to come to market. now in terms of the macro data, private sector job creation slowed in february. according to the latest data out of adp, private payrolls rose by 77,000 for the month, less than half the 148,000 expected and the smallest increase since july. adp chief economist nela richardson told cnbc that wider uncertainty around u.s. government policy, as well as a slowdown in consumer spending, could be behind the weaker payrolls picture. >> this is a look at the private

sector. >> it does not include government jobs. >> but what we do see. is the same kind. >> of hesitancy. >> in hiring that we saw in july. now, couple. >> months later, we saw this. >> unleashing of hiring over. >> the. >> fall and winter months. >> and so for the last. >> three months. >> the bls. >> and the adp numbers have. >> been tracking strength. >> 188,000 posted the last three. months in the atp 209,000in bls. this month. >> represents a step down from that. >> changing us tariff policies also set to cloud the fed's rate path. steve liesman has more on what trade tensions could mean for the central bank. >> to hear. >> president trump tell it in a state of the union address, higher tariffs will be part of us economic policy for a long time. but what about their impact on prices? conventional wisdom suggests their price impact passes through the system, raising prices one time without sparking wider inflation. another side of the debate, however, worries that tariff inflation could be longer

lasting because inflation now in the us is above the fed's 2% target and short term expectations are also elevated. tariffs can reduce productivity and companies now appear to have pricing power. ben emmons of fed watch advisors writes, quote, businesses are far more attuned to passing costs today because they have pricing power compared to 2018, when inflation was weak and consistently below 2%. in fact, adam posen from the peterson institute tells me that protecting domestic companies with tariffs can give them more pricing power. big national companies, he says, who have protected markets, tend to get fat and lazy. new york fed president john williams said that much of the tariff cost, as far as he understands, passes through to the consumer and inflation can hit. months of intermediate tariff goods are included in finished goods. the inflation effect will depend, he says, on how long, how big and what products are affected by tariffs. futures markets are generally embracing the

conventional wisdom of a benign tariff effect on inflation, allowing the fed to cut rates. three cuts are now priced in for this year one in june, september and december. that's a sign traders think growth and not inflation will be the fed's driving concern. but all the fed can do is wait and watch to see how price hikes work their way through the production system to the consumer. the fed got burned last time by signing up for team transitory on the last round of inflation. it might be more reluctant this time to take that view on tariffs. steve liesman, cnbc business news. french president emmanuel macron opens talks to extend france's nuclear shield across europe. more details next. >> i just cleaned my entire

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>> welcome back to street signs. we've got some fresh news on the german debt brake reform. this is a date we've got. now, according to sources from reuters, germany's germany's lower house is set to start discussing the debt brake reform on march 13th. and then mark your calendars. germany's lower house to vote on debt brake reform on march 18th. now, this won't come as a huge surprise, given we know, of course, that the new parliament in germany is set to convene on march 25th. so that is the outer date that we were looking at. but some progress there in terms of when we can expect the lower house to look at this massive reform that was put forward by merits earlier this week. and there's a look for you at german bunds. we've got yields higher across the board yet again. the ten year trading around 2.8%. the 30 year now well above 3.1%. the us has paused intelligence sharing with ukraine. the cia director confirmed yesterday. increasing pressure on vladimir zelenskyy following last week's oval office clash with president

trump. the move also follows washington's decision to halt military aid to ukraine, as the landscape changes on support for kyiv. shares of eutelsat have surged amid the prospect its satellites could replace those of elon musk's starlink starlink, with the french group saying it is in talks with the european union to supply additional internet access to ukraine. you can see their year to date eutelsat shares up more than 200%. quite a chart and a unique situation for eutelsat. french president emmanuel macron said he will begin talks with allies about extending france's nuclear umbrella to european partners, saying the continent must face the threat from russia with or without the united states. the comments by the french president came in response to calls from germany's chancellor in waiting, friedrich merz, to discuss nuclear sharing. speaking yesterday evening, macron said that discussions were open but the decision on using nuclear remains with one person.

>> our nuclear. >> deterrent protects us. >> it's complete, sovereign. >> and french. >> through and through. >> since 1964, it has explicitly. >> played a role. >> in preserving peace and security in europe. but in response to the. >> historic appeal. >> of the future german chancellor. i've decided. >> to open the strategic. >> debate on the protection afforded. by our deterrent to our allies on the european continent. whatever happens. the decision has always been and will remain. >> in the. hands of the. >> president of the republic. >> eu leaders will gather in brussels today for an emergency defense focused summit. as the continent looks to step up its own military spending and bolster support for ukraine. earlier in the week, european commission president ursula von der leyen laid out a plan to free up almost ■k7800 billion. minna lander, associate fellow, europe program at chatham house, joins me now. minna, thank you so much for being with us. let me kick off with this emergency summit that's taking place in

brussels. where could we run into some snags here? what are likely to be the most contentious elements of the summit? >> thank you very much. >> for having me. so this summit is, of course, a very. monumental taking place in a very important moment right now. the sense of urgency. >> is that you can you can feel. >> it very strongly. and a. >> big question. >> is, especially whether these usual spoilers hungary, hungary's. >> viktor orban. >> or potentially. >> also slovakia. >> whether whether these two countries, for example, will be on board. so now we have moved along with, with with germany with this new announcement of going along with the with the. looser fiscal rules. but the question is whether, for example, orban will drop his resistance. >> to this 20. >> billion package that is allegedly in the works in military aid for ukraine, for example. and of course, commission president ursula von der leyen. made this big proposal just two days ago. and the question is whether, whether the european. countries can get approval for this this fast. so

already. >> tomorrow. >> how critical is it that we get buy in from all 27 member states? can the onus shift to individual nations? >> i think. >> that all options are being explored. >> right now. >> because obviously these constant hold ups that hungary, for example, has been causing are really stalling the process. the eu was recently able to agree on the latest. sanctions package on russia, just in time for the for the anniversary of russia's war of aggression against ukraine. but but this is sort of like. untenable right now when we need action very fast and we can't wait for, for every time to like, figure out how to sort of like get hungary on board. so i'm sure that some coalitions of the willing and other ways to get around this are being discussed. but currently, the eu's decision making rules are such that that in all likelihood, for now, we do need all 27. >> on board. >> do you think that this is this is part of president

trump's playbook here, that when he laid on the pressure to europe at the start of his presidency, that he expected this kind of historic response from europe? we're now seeing this bazooka from germany, something that i think many never expected to see in their lifetime. but it really seems like president trump has catalyzed this, you know, awakening of europe. do you think that's what he actually intended, or is this an unintended consequence of trump's actions? >> my impression is that. >> this has been quite surprising. >> quite surprising. >> to the trump administration. >> that europe has. >> actually demonstrated. >> this agility and this resolve as well to act. so i can't imagine that trump's. >> intention was. >> to turn friedrich. >> merz that the soon to be german chancellor. >> in all likelihood, from a really die hard atlanticist into like, almost gaullist proponent of european strategic not only autonomy but even independence of the us. so i can't imagine that all of this was was really,

really the plan. and my sense is that the trump. >> administration has. >> been quite surprised by the european resolve not to let ukraine down and actually to do what is demanded of europe. so i think that there was this. idea that that europe will just cave in and agree to whatever the trump administration is trying to push through in terms of a deal on ukraine. and this is not the case. and it seems to be quite surprising to the. >> trump administration. if we do. >> see a peace deal struck in ukraine, is there a risk that this dampens the momentum that we're seeing in europe now, the urgency that's behind a lot of these defense proposals? >> i doubt it. >> because it is very clear that that that no sort of like durable peace is realistic anytime very soon. like trump has himself sort of weakened his own position to be a broker by by his moves with president zelenskyy and by emboldening

europe to work in support of ukraine more decisively. so i don't think that there is, unfortunately, any risk of any actual like lasting peace in ukraine anytime soon. so i would say that that the sense of urgency is very much there. there's a there's a clear understanding now that not only the north eastern countries bordering russia are threatened, but all of europe. now that the transatlantic link has been significantly called into question by by the trump administration. so now the sense of urgency has really reached also western and southern european capitals. and everybody agrees that we need to figure this out together, and preferably yesterday. but if not yesterday, then next week the latest. >> what do you make of president macron floating the idea of sharing the french nuclear umbrella with broader europe? how significant is that motion? >> well, this is of course, a very old discussion. so we have had these debates every once in a while, and until now there has

been reluctance on the part of other european countries to really engage seriously with this, with this suggestion, because europeans didn't want to sort of put any question marks on on nato and the extended deterrence that that the us has traditionally provided to europe. so, so there was no appetite for sort of opening that pandora's box or like weakening the deterrent or like suggesting that we don't trust the united states commitment. but now the situation has changed very fundamentally, and we need to have these discussions both with france and the uk. what actually are realistic options in europe in a future and potentially a very near future, where potentially the us is not only withdrawing and decreasing its commitment, but potentially completely out? so this is a very necessary discussion to have right now. >> let me ask you one last question around this debate around using frozen russian assets to fund some of this support for ukraine. france seems to be warming up to the idea. what is the, you know, the

sound argument against using these assets, given that europe wants to continue to keep the pressure on russia? >> there have been some legal concerns about potential like setting a potential precedent and what that might mean down the line, and whether this undermines sort of some kind of like rule of law predictability and like expectation management, sort of. but i think that now sort of all options are on the table. and france is also seeming to warm up to this as, as you just said. so i think that we're really moving to that into that direction. and there are no good arguments left not to use every means available to, to solve this, this intensely problematic situation that we find ourselves in. >> i really appreciate your your insights, associate fellow at europe program, chatham house. let's get you a check on european markets, which have bounced around this morning. we are now looking at just 4/10 of a percent higher for the dax. we were up strongly at the start of trade. more than 1%. the stoxx

600 has turned negative over the course of our show. ftse 100 down about 9/10 of a percent. some of this negative sentiment may have to do with the fact that us futures are pointing lower after the rebound that we saw yesterday. now we're looking at the dow tumbling more than 350 points at the open. the tech heavy nasdaq also looking at a pullback. clearly a lot of jitters remain around the direction of travel with these tariffs. we saw some relief after the exemption from the trump administration for autos, but not enough to carry into today's session. don't miss decision time later today as we break down the ecb's decision and hear from president christine lagarde. that coverage begins at 1 p.m. london time on cnbc and the cnbc international live youtube page. we'll see you later. >> what do you do when your tires are low and you've got some place to go? what if the solution was right in your pocket? introducing pocket air pro by bullseye. the compact

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accusations of espionage. i decided right there and then that i wanted to be on the other side reporting on the news. i love bringing transparency to complicated topics. i think it's so important for us to deliver the right numbers to our audience so they can make better investment decisions. san francisco was built on ambition, a belief that anyone can disrupt any industry and change the world. >> it is why i am here at cnbc global headquarters. welcome to worldwide exchange. here is your five at five. >> futures under. pressure this morning as we. >> ride a. >> roller coaster. >> week on wall street. >> stocks coming. >> off their first. >> positive day. >> in the last three. >> the trump trade. >> war is upending the playbook for investors. >> while our jim. >> cramer says it's just. >> time to. >> face reality. >> the sell off continues as another. >> eye darling. >> it fails to meet some very. lofty estimates, plus housing market warning signs that investors should not ignore. >> and later, more uproar. >> over doge, this time from inside the republican party. >> forcing elon. >> musk to face his critics.t