the protest party of former comedian beppe grillo appears to have secured at least one/ four -- 1/4 of the vote. avin hewitt reports. >> this man, on his way to vote today, has caused a political earthquake in italy. that they grillo is a comedian who has raged against italy -- beppe grillo is a comedian who has raged against italy's establishment. one in four italians have voted for his protest movement. his strong showing is leading to huge uncertainty as to who will form the next government. initially, as the boats started to be counted, it seemed that the centerleft ass as the vote as the votes started to be - counted, it seemed that the centerleft was the majority. , however, that silvio berlusconi and his allies had had done well in key regions in the north. another later, official said the situation was very serious. the country was heading for political deadlock. it may well be that here at the chamber of deputies, the lower house, that the centerleft is the dominant party. just down the road at the senate, silvio berlusconi and his allies are performing strongly. it is always

we've mentioned the comedian beppe grillo. at the same time, the former caretaker mario monti, he's been struggling to gain ground in his first ever political campaign. and then last, not necessarily least, there's the civil revolution leader and former public prosecutor antonio ingrola. >> only in italian politics. as the election draws closer, sylvia berlusconi has released a five-point tax plan in a last-minute attempt to lure voters. someone who can tell us about that is julia chatterly joining us from milan where she's been keeping an eye on the ground. hi. >> hi, kelly. as you said, it's interesting timing for berlusconi on this particularly given this suggestion that he's getting back in politics to discuss his legal issues. he's announced a five-point plan and quite frankly, something that needs addressed in this country, it needs simplified and refining. i have to find this quite strange. point four suggests authorities should acknowledge good faith and point number five, fiscal rules should be respected without fear.

>> you've made the point about beppe grillo. how does he work with these people now when he's previously said he won't and his bedrock of support relied on the fact that he said he won't work with these people? >> he's obviously ruled himself out of any coalition. but he did kind of suggest that if there were policies that the next government were going to be looking at implementing, if he supported them, then he would support. i think this is going to be interesting. we assume he's not going to be in a coalition, but going forward, if there are policies perhaps an actual reform, perhaps suggesting conflicts of interest, he might support that. and i don't think we can underestimate where perhaps berlusconi doesn't want to go back to the polls. >> let's confirm, you haven't got any plans for the rest of the year, have you? because there is a distinct possibility you could be here in may, june -- >> spring suits me. >> i can't think you how much cases she brought with her. i'll leave that to you, ross. >> the good thing is, if you

beppe grillo leads the new party. forming a new administration requires approval by both houses of parliament. various parties will have talks before parliament convenes, but launching a stable administration won't be easy. voters in rome were pessimistic about the election outcome. >> translator: i'm afraid italy will become greece. >> translator: i want the politicians to fix the problem. >> berlusconi wants to avoid a political vacuum but has not made specific plans. >>> investors have been keeping a close eye on this election. they, too, have expectations for italy's next government. we have more on that. >> reporter: the debt crisis has subsided since last september when the european central bank detection. ecb officials decide they would buy an unlimited number of government bonds from companies in serious financial trouble. however, investors are growing concerned in wake of italian election. they fear the european debt crisis may be reignited. no party has won a majority in the upper house and that political p

one of them, beppe grillo, is a comedian, so he might not be that defended -- offended. >> the others silvio berlusconi. he is a two-time former prime minister. >> the italian president's state visit to germany has been overshadowed by the diplomatic incident created by peer steinbrueck. italy and germany would continue to work together, despite occasional irritations. >tuesday, peer steinbrueck referred to a delete's former prime minister -- to italy's former prime minister as a clown. >> when one talks about things concerning another friendly, allied country, and about the result of a free election, one must be well balanced in his choice of words. >> he would not be drawn into the matter. >> i do not wish to comment. some statements are sufficient in themselves. >> he said italy would soon have a new government, insisting the country is not ungovernable. >> the world health organization says certain cancers are more likely to develop in the area worst hit by japan's nuclear disaster two years ago. the who says girls exposed to radiation around the devastated fukushima nuclear plan

beppe grillo, the comedian that you talked about did phenomenally well. he boasted about the fact that they did this without money and without reimbursements for their costs. remember, if you have a political party in italy, the taxpayer reimburses you your campaign costs. there are only two parties in this election that refuse to accept the money. the comedian grillo and then this very small pro market party that unfortunately did not do very well. why do we care? remember, italy is the third most indebted country in the world. they owe the world 2 trillion euros. they stopped growing in the mid '90s. their revenues are going down and costs are going up. they must change that or at some point they can't pay anybody back. we've seen that movie before. back to you guys. >> 128, 126% debt to gdp. 10% unemployment. >> yep. >> unemployment among the young, 36%. four straight quarters of recession. i wanted to point that out to you about the young. a lot of those young men, you know, they're living at home, michelle, which makes it tough over there. i don't kn

the newly launched five star movement led by comedian beppe grillo is the third largest force. he stresses his bloc will decide its positions on a policy by policy basis. negotiations between the three groups are expected to be difficult because they have all staked out different stances on key issues. analysts say the outcome could have an impact on italy's debt-reducing reforms and the stability of the eurozone. >>> americans too are concerned about stability of their own economy. some central bankers have hinted that it's stable enough to end monetary easing sooner than planned. but the head of the bank is not yet convinced. ai uchida joins us now from the business desk. so ai, tell us, what's ben bernanke looking for? >> well, bernanke is looking specifically at the jobs market. he wants more americans to hold more jobs before he exits all monetary policy. and he still feels the unemployment rate is too high at the moment. so the head of the u.s. federal reserve has defended the central bank's monetary stimulus package. this has eased concerns fed officials would cut short

berlusconi suggested he was open to talks, but the potential kingmaker, the party of comedian beppe grillo, has ruled out coalition with either party. >> italy plays a central role in successfully dealing with the european debt crisis. we trust that any new government will continue to carry out the policies of consolidation and reform. >> first, it italy's politicians have to maneuver themselves out of the apparent dead-end the vote has created. >> for more on this now, we are joined by the "guardian correspondent in rome. what options are still open to find a way out of this political deadlock? >> there are to be will possibilities. when was being proposed by silvio berlusconi earlier today, which was a grand coalition between center-right and center- left, perhaps excluding radicals on both sides. the leader of the center-left, pier luigi bersana, seemed to be ruling that out and seemed to be extending a hand towards grillo's 5-our movement, saying they could perhaps agree on a five-point plan for sweeping reform of politics, the institutions, and coupled with that, a commitment to a new

and beppe grillo, a comedian turned politician, appears to be riding a wave of protest votes.hat happens next? the only solution appears to be some sort of coalition. the outgoing prime minister, his coalition trailed for the and the vote, said the common ground must be found. >> it is too early to consider any solution, nor does arrest upon me to find one. but right now i consider it essential this maximum transparency between the political forces -- we are all faced with a serious responsibility. the government must ensure transparency for the country. >> barbara, what happens next? berlusconi has offered to form some sort of coalition. how realistic prospect is that, though? >> not very, but there are not many offers on the table. according to the constitution, the president of the republic, georgio napolitano, now has to tell the man with the bigger numbers -- because numbers in parliament, bersani to try to form some sort of coalition and he does not have many options. monti dust is not have enough numbers. it religiously some with berlusconi. i guess that would give you

next chancellor has been snubbed by the italian president after you called sylvia berlusconi and beppe grillolowns. he made the comments tuesday at a campaign event. >> translator: i am appalled that two clowns, one, one professional clown who is not upset if he is called so, grillo. and another one, who definitely is a clown with a certain testosterone boost. >> it hasn't gone down very well in italy, as you might expect. those remarks led the italian president to cancel a dinner with the leader last night. he is facing a task of appointing a coalition government. he said he had spoken to steinbrueck on the phone but that the meeting was no longer possible. and napolitano will meet merkel this afternoon. they have lunch scheduled. >> no clowning around in that lunch. it will be a very serious meeting. >>> the u.s. senate has confirmed jack lew as the next treasury secretary. he's expected to take the lead in talk wes congress ahead of the next two major fiscal deadlines, march the 27th. we get a continuing resolution to fund the government and may the 19th, that's when the u.s. hit the debt

the womanizer or media tycoon berlusconi, morrow monte or beppe grillo? see what experts have to see at cnbc.com. >>> and we have recall news here in the uk. birds eye is recalling some of its meals as a precaution. it has to do with the ongoing investigation into horse meat getting into supply chains of beef here. we'll keep an eye on earth news as we get it. >>> alcatel lucent has approved the director of michelle kucombes as its new ceo. the company is battling low sales in europe and a write-down of its wireless optics businesses. >>> now, air france klm trimmed its full year net loss. the carrier reported a 300 million euro operating loss that was slightly better than the reuters forecast. the company is cutting over 5,000 jobs to cope with soaring fuel prices and competition tr low-cost airlines. the response is relatively flat. shares down about 0.1%. not a ton of move after those latest results. take a look at merck shares. they have reported better than expected profits, citing higher rates. but the data shipping giant warned this year may not be

wrench into all of this a big vote for a protest party led by famous italian comedian, a guy named beppe grilloroversial former prime minister sill lsilvio berluscon is not out of the picture. >> an amazing country politically. italy's the third biggest economy in europe. it got the second biggest debt burdenen in europe. investors do not like the outcome of the election. >> we watched it. the dow dropping 200 points after results came out. the european markets taking a big drop when it opened this morning. richard quest out of london, tell us what is happening. what is the reaction? >> reporter: most dramatic reaction on the italian markets, of course, that fell the best part of 5% in trading on tuesday. yields on italian debt, they rose. and all in all, there is a general feeling that what has happened in italy, because this was an anti-austerity vote, and those parties against austerity did so well, what the feeling is that we could be off to the races again. the people have spoken and they don't like the policies that european bureaucrats are imposing from above in their view and now of cou

beppe grillo. he's a comedian. he travels the country in a camper. he has a man slaughter conviction from 1908. he does obscenity laced rallies jumping on the politicians. he gets 90,000 people to show up at a rally. it's become an incredible field of candidates and it's quite possible that come monday we don't really have a government that is formed because somebody has to get 42% of the vote. it doesn't look like anybody is going to do that. it could be messy. we'll be back on monday to show you what else koum comes up. >> how long will you be there? >> i'm going to be here till wednesday. >> where are you staying? >> at a very nice hotel. >> yeah. you can't really -- i mean, it will be -- >> it's not expensive, it's very, very manageable. >> do you need me to -- do you need a recommendation? >> are you going to go down morro? >> do you want me to? >> i do. >> on the trevi, okay. >> one of your five gates that i know you probably set up already because it's romantic, it's good down there. >> alberto, there's valentino. >> you are right next to the

in fact, it was policymaker steinbrueck who suggested that clowns were silvio berlusconi and beppe grillo. as a result, the italian president canceled his meeting last flight and is now meeting today with angela merkel. this is one election reverb rating and causing problems for policymakers. >>> more broadly, take a look at the italian markets. it is the red spot. down 0.4%. this has been key to trade both with the euro and generally with u.s. features futures this morning. so down about 0.4%. it was down about 0.6%. at those levels, you started to see u.s. futures turn negative. it looks like we're going to be able to hold up here. german unemployment data only that and can cpi data, the main releases this morning. german unemployment adjusted at 6.9% held steady in january. the cpi fell on the month but was up 2% year on year. it's spurring talks about a rate cut. quick look at the bond space next, this is where where he watch for policy cues. we're seeing a rally. we're seeing yields slightly lower. no real signs of concern emanating from here this morning. turn quickly to forex and t

in third place, beppe grillo.e current premier, he is in fourth place even though he's done a lot for the italian finances. he's not getting a lot of credit from the italian people were having brought the finances below 7% down to 5%. let's tell you about beppe. he is a comedian. he traverses the country in a camper. he's the founder of what they call the five star movement. he's unbelievable. the things he says on stage are crazy. he's got tens of thousands people showing up at his rallies. he runs across the stage. he uses many obscenities to talk about the current politicians that are out there. and the italians who show up at his rallies love it. the video -- have we got the video of the rally? okay. you can see there were tens of thousands who showed up earlier in milan this week. we expect another rally like this tonight in rome. >> unbelievable, michelle. we were just chatting about -- only in italy, as pisani just said. we'll come back to you later on, michelle caruso-cabrera. want to point out the move in