. >> shares in alcatel lucent fall for a second day as the government ramps up the pressure. the prime minister urging management to revise its plan. >> you're watching "worldwide exchange," bringing you business news from around the globe. >>> okay. very good morning to you. very good afternoon. if you're in asia, this is wednesday's edition of "worldwide exchange." it's hump day, lots to get through today. of course. and we're going to hear from president obama who is going to nominate janet yellen today to be the next fed chairman b, replacing ben bernanke whose term ends in january. the president is expected to make the announcement at the white house at 3:00 p.m. eastern, an hour after the latest fed minutes were released. yellen was appointed as vice chair in 2011. she'll be the first woman to lead the federal reserve in its 100-year-round. joining us for the show today, ricar ricardo. everyone seems to be quite pleased. is she the most qualified appointee in the federal reserve's history, do you think? >> i am not sure. i'm not a historian. i cannot tell few she's the

we've had a record share within 9 months of the quarter. >> alcatel lucent up nearly 17%. it appears itsry structuring firm is continuing to work. it increased revenues for the third quarter. the ceo has told michael couples he's pretty happy with the progress. >> things are getting better. we are still at the beginning of our plan, which is three years journey which means that we will need still a few additional quarters to really turn around. >> and another french stock up today, bnp paribas. nearly 3%. an increase in net income. revenue down on weak trading and it's fixed income unit. stephane has been speaking to the ceo and joins us now from paris. how does he seem when he spoke to him, stephane? >> well, the numbers are quite strong. we were expecting a full decline of the net profit on the quarter. bnp announced a 2.4% increase in the net profit for this quarter. ways the first french bank to report for this quarter. the division posted almost an 11% decline of its revenue. it is in line with the rest of the banking sector in europe. >> our belief is that the result

as losses mount, alcatel lucent announce jobs will go including about 900 in france. they will try to limit the impact of their restructuring planned. barack obama and house speaker john boehner discussed the budget impasse as the u.s. government shutdown enters its second week. we go live to washington in a moment. first to the u.s. where barack obama is due to address reporters in about an hour. a budget deadlock forced the closure of nonessential services. both sides say they just restated the existing bargaining positions. for now, let's go to our correspondent in washington, philip. they are both digging their heels in then? >> the phone, and happened at 1045 a.m. local is the kind of phone call you describe as cordial. those two really do not get along out all. no information as to whether this was a shouting match or not but these are clear and trenched positions we have right now. maybe a tiny glimmer of hope from the speaker of the house of representatives earlier today when he spoke to reporters and says he is not drawing any lines in the sand in terms of ne

meanwhile, alcatel lucent, the stock up marginally at the moment. planning to cut 10,000 jobs. it's all part of the plan to 15,000 post worldwide. the layoffs are said to be part of a cost cutting drive to save a billion euros by 2015. stephane has more for us out of paris. stephane, what do you think of it? >> hey, ross. it's part of the shift plan to reshape the group into a smaller company. you'll remember in june, the new ceo say that alcatel had to reduce its cost base by 1 billion euros annually and would sell some assets worth $1 billion euros. the target is to return to a positive cash flow from a 2015. this morning, the company announced to the labor unions the details of the cost savings plan. 10 on,000 job will be cut by tend of 2015. 4,100 jobs will go in europe and the east of africa including 900 in france where some factories will be closed. according to people with a plan, the job cuts will impact mostly the all technologies such as 2 and 3g, why the company will hire more people, 5,000 in its new technology department, like the 4g and reuters. with this plan, m

. >> alcatel lucent, they are working in a particularly sensitive area, because they are responsible some of the underwater cables that carry the digital information. are we talking about economic warfare in terms of getting information that would secure things for one country as opposed to another? >> i think the nsa is trying to get as much data as it can. what it does with it is unclear, but apparently, whether it is technological data, whether it is defense, whatever it is, it is the same techniques that they can use in order to take advantage, whatever the field. what is interesting is that the nsa is stating it is collecting data only for the purpose of counterterrorism and security, and they are actually accusing the chinese, and this is the major difference between what they are doing and what other people are doing, and what they are actually saying is really, we are the good guys, and you should trust us to do the right thing. the problem we have now is that we know they are not doing the we kight thing, so what do we dn place to make sure they are doing the right thing? >>

we'll watch for action on alcate alcatel-lucent. >> julian robertson says there are opportunities butou need to know where to look. i spoke with the tiger investment manager. he gave harsh criticism, apple, the late steve jobs. but first he talks about how he's investing in the market with that clock ticking down on the debt ceiling. >> i think it's not going to happen. maybe that's too much faith in the government, but i just don't think it will eventually happen. >> you mean that the u.s. will default? >> i don't think we will go further than we are now. and i think the next step will be a coming together. >> it's amazing -- >> maybe that's just wild hopes, but -- >> right, right. what are the ramifications? do you think we'll see long-term negative ramifications of, you know, day seven of the government shutdown? >> well, as i say, i don't think that they will push it to the limit. and i'm just -- i expect it to be cleared up pretty soon. >> the last time we spoke, we talked a bit about apple. you said it was the greatest company in the world. one of the greatest companies in the w

alcatel would like to be bought by nokia, a telecom equipment maker and lucent would like it to be signedtinues for drug wholesalers to buy competitors around the world. you may not have heard of this german player before. celesio, but its stock has ramped higher upon reports that mckesson would pay up to 22 euros a share, nearly 20% upside there, as they try to get greater leverage around the world, buying other wholesalers with the drug companies. that story will continue. >> thanks, simon. >>> let's bring in bob pisani with a look at what's moving around on the big board. and it's red. >> high beta names. a lot of rumors that maybe we'll get a house/senate conference to form a special committee to work out a deal. nobody is -- >> a committee -- >> -- nobody quite knows what's going on. in the absence of any rule news, real movement, we just drift lower. that's happened again here in the middle of the day. the s&p 500. you know, you add up the days where you're down six, seven, eight points and it starts to amount to something. there we go. snot a lot of news. the absence of any progres

alcatel.n value over the last six months as they restructure. now you can see they're in negative territory. the prime minister of france is saying, no, 10,000 job cuts may be too many. back to you. >> all right, simon, thank you very much. >>> a check on energy and commodities with crude oil down almost $2. sharon's at the imex. >> it's the lowest since we've seen since the shutdown began, and a lot of it is to do with the inventory report. we saw the largest supply in crude supplies than we've seen in a year. nearly 7 million barrel increase and 5 million barrels came from the gulf coast. now, we're seeing the potential supply glut in the houston area, according to the bank of america. that's the reason why fair saying we could see oil prices below the $100 barrel mark in the fourth quarter. we're also watching what's happening with gold prices, because with the imf cutting the global growth outlook, that's had pressure on gold, as well as the shutdown, as it lingers on, it's also removing s