david tweed? >> three things i am going to look out for.what kind of moral support the foreign ministers will get to the ukraine. are we going to see more than catherine ashton turned up wednesday? foreign will see other ministers going along with her. that will give a very strong statement to russia about support coming from the european union. in second thing is, what aid the european union put together. christine lagarde saying the imf mission is going to start tomorrow. what will be the contribution that comes from the european union? secondly, how can the european union take action to actually hurt russia where it hurts, and that is economically? what sort of sanctions might they discussed? has alreadyaid he spoken to foreign minister zwilling to isolate russia to the hilt. what is the european union really aiming to do and what is their plan? we will find out later today after the meeting. >> is there a sense that there six -- significant exposure to russian gas. germany did a lot of it. >> at the same time germany gets a lot of russi

david tweed with the latest european pmi figures. according to a preliminary march, the nation will miss its target for growth. we have europe, ukraine, and china. >> and we have socgen this morning saying to expect some form of monetary loosening. there is no way they will get to 7.5% growth in china unless they take some action. they shrugged off the market and chinese data. uptrading began to pick momentum in the hour before the markets opened, we saw europe take a little bit more pressure. the french number, we will check in in terms of what the euro is doing. china is underwhelming. complex, we saw some additional moves, but they seem to have come undone. hedge fund managers have reduced their bullish bets by the most in nine months on wti. copper has turned up. in 2013.own 13% this was the worst-performing base metal. it had been a little bit lower, but look at gold. positions dropped for the fifth week in a war -- in a row. 1000 could be in the cards. in terms of the companies on the move, we are waiting for credit .uisse to c

let's get to david tweed, our european editor looking at this particular airline from berlin. >> they're really under pressure all around, aren't they? they are under pressure from the discount retailers and under pressure from the gulf airlines. emirates, qatar, these. they are trying to do something about it and we have seen they are transferring the short-haul european flights to the low cost airline which is part of them, the german wings. they're upgrading the first class and business class seats. premium even adding economy to some routes but i think something really interesting about what deutsche lufthansa is doing is this is something where they are stretching out ahead of the pack in europe and this is a plan to stream in-flight entertainment onto smart products like this one here. i'm an android sort of guy. this is going to start with routes to middle east, north africa, some of the former soviet states and it will be used on the aircraft thomas the a3 21. this is really where they are stretching ahead because it could be very important for them especially getting

david tweed is in brussels for the european union held an emergency meeting. ryan chilcote is an key of where voters will decide 10 days whether to join russia. we will get to all of you in just a moment, but first, short time ago, president obama spoke from the briefing room in the white house about the situation in ukraine. several ofpoken to our closest friends around the world and i am pleased our international unity is on display at this important moment. togethere have moved to announce substantial assistance for the government in key of and today in brussels, our allies took sin of -- took similar steps. i'm confident we are moving forward together, united in our determination to oppose actions that violate international law. ryan chilcote joins us now from kiev with the late details. good evening. evening, mark. earlier today, the crimean parliament voted to secede from ukraine and join russia. they will now put that decision to the people of crimea in a referendum scheduled to take place on the 16th of this month, and just 10 days. after that decision

let's turn our attention into david tweed. he is in berlin.f course, the european ministers are meeting. is, how faruestion will they be prepared to go? last night that the u.s. treasury secretary have spoken about the possibility of sanctions. john kerry, the u.s. secretary of state, said he has spoken to foreign minister's also about putting sanctions in place. is it that was we are going to get out of the meeting and if so, what will they look like? we will speak to you shortly. jon, i was looking at the equity board in front of me. the paris market down one .6%. we are seeing a bit of a move. what is your focus going to be? >> futures have indicated where we have gone -- a lower. we have a massive week in front of us. central banks. payroll's on friday. is it about the weather? that would be a big focus. and the small matter with china was manufacturing trending downward. >> i like what you say a small matter. >> it is a huge adele. we are talking about a range of seven .5%.ent -- how do you try to get those reforms? are they compatible? y

david tweed joining us from brussels. > while e.u.t in brussels, situations on the ground remain tense. ryan has more from kiev. >> good morning. the situation has heated up in crimea. the united nations nation envoy fled the peninsula, effectively run out of town. his name is robert sary. he was sent from the united nations on a fact-finding mission. he just visited a ukrainian naval interests legislation, and as he left he was greeted by a group of armed men who told him to leave, and he did. all military installations in ukraine remain surrounded by armed men, so if people want to leave those bases, those ukrainian servicemen, they can, but what they can't do is enter them. a bit of a stalemate there on the crimean peninsula. >> what's the mood like elsewhere in ukraine, ryan? >> it is a mixed bag, mark. in places like kiev, things are rather as normal. except for of course independence square where you ay lot of protesters celebrating, but depending on who you listen to. in the east, however, chaos continues. we had crashes in an

david tweed talked with several of those in attendance.will hear from several on the morning here on -- in the morning here on bloomberg. this is "countdown." >> we are back with currency strategist neil mellor. we were talking before the break about the fact that the euro has seen low volatility despite the crisis taking place in ukraine. let's turn our attention to the pound. we have seen a lack of volatility in the pound. is that specifically cable? talk us through what is driving a. is part andhink it parcel of the leveraged plays. picking up pennies in front of the steamrollers is the accepted phrase. currency and they are happy to swap the dollar for it. not think it has that much to do with what the bank of england is doing. great expectations has not changed -- have not changed -- rate expectations have not changed that much. >> and there is a vote coming up on independence. do investors not think scotland will vote for independence or even if they do, it is not significant? >> that is a good point. the same reasons the market is l

now, our europe editor, david tweed, has the very latest.this beginning of a new phase in oil and gas investments? >> it could be. i will remind you that last aar, they sold their stake in company for $5 billion. now, there is an oil and gas subsidiary of rwe that is based in hamburg and they said they want to use it as a principal conduits for investments in the business. said, the unit has interest egypt.any and also, off of the coast of norway. rwe,the point of view of they want to sell their oil and gas unit and focus on the core business, power and energy production. it tends to work from both sides. still, it is a sign, from the russian point of view, that this is business as usual. their investments company is based in luxembourg. it isstingly enough, advised by a former ceo of bp, lord brown. david just said that they will be buying stake in. pirelli. >> they could be on the sanction list. on buying 50%ead of the italian tiremaker. they sell the products throughout all of their gas stations in russia. a tightening of an arrangement b

our european editor david tweed is following the situation from david, germany are seen as the de facto leader of europe . what is for berlin thus far? >> there's not much in terms of leading, because angela merkel did speak to president putin last night. she put out a statement, but we're not seeing her make anything like the same sort of statements we are getting from the united states, in particular from john kerry. i was on a conference call yesterday with the atlantic council, and nicholas burns who is a harvard professor, he's a nato. ambassador to there are three things that the international community could do. one is a concerted voice condemning russia. secondly, international aid. third, hit russia in the pocketbook. we saw the statement that came out of the g8 last night. they condemned what russia is doing, and they said that they would support any aid efforts. that is the second thing, is the imf's team going off to the ukraine this week. i should inc. that we probably will get some sort of announcement about what we will get there -- i should think that we would get some s

ferro, manus cranny, david tweed, they're all standing by. we have a lower direction today. bit and strong gains yesterday. the escalation risk has diminished and china comes out with a growth target. bear in mind that we have a can they haved that target? >> we hear about the corporate to her and let's go land. they talk about currency effects today. >> want to give you an idea on how the currency is affecting them. they get 10% of the sales in latin america and the growth is by 19%. when it was translated, it was only six percent. go into the numbers. >> thank you. you are watching the figures in 15 minutes from now. >> indeed. we are expecting a drop in profitability for the first time in a decade and there is emerging markets and a bit to china. want to know about the divisions be undertandards could the microscope. >> that will give us something to look at. china and we're watching the ukraine, the futures, the ecb. the index in europe and the payrolls and the united states of america. it is called adt. it is a curtain-razor. what is happening in europe. it is from morg

david tweed is following the visit. relationship between china and berlin is described as a special one. we see the economic closeness between the two. it is also something more. >> it is. only two years ago, the european council on foreign relations used that description, special relationship, which usually refers to the united states and the united kingdom, and it was controversial. it is now accepted. it is special for a couple of reasons. political. the premier of china was here last year and they had a full cabinet meeting with germany. that will be relieved and again -- repeated again later this year. visitllor merkel will china later this year. at isher area to look just the overwhelming economic area. 140 billion euros worth of trade between germany and china last year. yes, it is a very special relationship. she was in france and there were a slew of contracts find -- signed their. re. what has germany got? >> it will not be so much in terms of the value of the contracts, but there are a couple of things that g

thank you so much was that david tweed.ow, let's get to some the other stories. -- more on thel results coming up next. ♪ >> welcome to "on the move." i am francine lacqua. germany's biggest power company reported its first annual loss in more than 60 years. that follows billions of euros in write-downs. our markets editor manus cranny. the first loss. 60 years. , it was likeell us the bus is coming. the question of how hard will it smack you. we know the structurally the energy market is changing. the loss isn't there. what is more important is the on tohat rwe is holding the guidance and they gave. , the current net income. they said we will make one point $3 billion. that is incredibly important if you are a dividend or stockholder in this company. kitchen seek is a colloquial term for dumping everything that is bad. if the with gusto. it is making savings. and howfunction exciting my life he gets on tuesday. renewables is a part of the business. it is barely 1%. record.ibility is at a that is according to bloomberg indu

editor david tweed is following the west response.t kick it off with you, is the latest and what are we expecting from vladimir putin today? >> anybody's waiting for the speech. the main news broke way before that with an executive order. that will be the main topic in his address to the parliament. the question is, what sanctions will follow from the west on this? obviously, judging by this move yesterday's sanctions were obviously not enough, the ones made by the eu and the u.s.. the freeze of the officials passes and visa ban. it is not considered serious enough to force russia to turn its course around. >> just give us a sense. it all depends on how tough the sanctions will be. what is the feeling on the markets. can they be very tough? >> the understanding in the market, and especially after yesterday's rhetoric from the u.n., sanctions will be milder than expect it. a worst-case scenario is if there will be an export band or some kind of financial transactions ban for major exporters like gazprom. that would be the worst scenari

european editor david tweed joins us now from berlin. what are the targets in the five -year plan?ts they are being hit by currencies and they're being hit hardest in the markets where they are trying to grow the fastest, russia but also latin america. it's going to be a huge focus with the world cup coming up. it's worth pulling up the pie chart where you can see where the main markets are. this represents about 10% of adidas sales. growth was 19% latin america altogether. they had particularly strong growth in colombia, mexico, argentina. these markets have all declined by currency. in terms of euro sales, it was only 6% and this is why they have warned that the moment that looking ahead, they expect reallyy weakness to impact the process going into 2014. what we are looking out is a net millionf about 830-930 euro versus analyst estimates around one billion euros. 2015, thek for the five-year target program, 17 inlion euros to achieve that 2015. they have cap that for the time being. >> yesterday, we learned that the chief executive officer has had his contract extended by two y

we are joined by weight -- david tweed.ency meeting starting right now and brussels. -- in brussels >>. the key is whether we will see sanctions put in place or not. we probably will not see sanctions. the preferred avenue is to goad on the diplomatic route, but what happens if russia escalates its activity in the ukraine or will not be escalate the a cavity in the crimea? that is what european leaders will have to be clear about what they propose to do should the whole crisis escalate. one other point to what is going to happen here today -- european leaders providing financial support for ukraine and really endorsing the government there. there will be a news conference coming up with the president in about an hour. this whole meeting is supposed to wrap up around about 3:00 here in brussels. >> what are you watching on the ground today? >> i am watching two places. crimea, the crimean peninsula. the parliament voted to secede from the ukraine and join russia. there will be a referendum on march 16. the people will vote w

david tweed joins us from berlin. this is not a particularly new story that they are facing this issue. >> it looks as if they are looking through it. we saw the share price dropped by about 3.5% on the open. now it has even been a bit positive read it is virtually unchanged at the moment. let's have a look at where adidas makes its money and which markets are going to be affected by the currency. inope gets most of its cash europe, 40%. one of the fastest-growing markets is latin america. they reported 19% sales growth in latin america. when you translate that sales growth back into euros, it came to six percent. that is what the market was initially concerned about. now we are looking at what adidas is saying. fun a mentally, it is managing to increase sales and it is 2015 targetts route to have sales of 17 billion euros in 2015. >> the ceos contract has been extended two years. >> that is right. his contract is going to last until 2017. interesting to see that because he has been there since 2001. he is 59 years ol

david tweed was joining us. >> a week to go before the elections in turkey.he prime minister has extended a ban on twitter. our middle east editor has been watching the developments. to block thoseg ways around the bands. >> that is right. they are looking to ban twitter. there are our tweets that taunted the prime minister and his government. there are links and recordings that show how he is involved in this corruption scandal. this has not worked. that was a google dns allows you to forward the internet into thinking that you are somewhere else. many turks were using that. the government blocks that. the prime minister said that twitter has not been shutting down those accounts. that is despite warnings. have shakenfacebook families at their roots. twitter, itself, has told users that they can send a text message to get their tweets up online. there are things like virtual private networks and things like ass, like they donkey, that can put you somewhere else. you can also find similar obstacles. >> is there any sense that the the primeffect minister's par

thank you so much, david tweed.nversation with the chief global political analyst at citigroup. are you surprised how quickly this has happened? >> everyone has been soup rise by the pace of events. by the pace of events. to gowas a reluctance for tough economic sanctions. there has been no appetite for military force. but the move to move forward with the political chapters of the association agreement was not expected. , his decision to move forward with putting troops on the ground, aside from the fact that he denies it, the fact that that has happened, nobody really saw that coming. if you look at the way you analyzed the situation, how did we miss the fact that he was going to do this? >> you have a point. putin has been willing to use force in other cases. beenalculation would have that he would not have been met by military response. >> the fact that so many people did not understand the power of putin. he wants to provoke the international community. how does it put us, as market participants, and a place wh

another red carpet for chinese president xi jinping, this time he is in berlin where are your editor david tweedvisit area david, what from where i am sitting, the special relationship usually refers to something that stretches across atlantic heard from where you're sitting, and first to something different or tell us about it and why. >> it does, it is something that is being used in the last couple of years to describe the relationship between germany and china. it is special on two levels. one is a political level, because angela merkel, let's face it, she's been around longer than any other european leader. she has got good personal links with some of the top brass in going she is actually there later this year in the summer. then they will have the second of two joint cabinet meetings where therlin, chinese cabinet members come over and sit down and have a joint meeting him after which one would expect a slew of things. the other level, of course, is economic. germany's trade relationship with china is vast. 140 billion per year. that is the same as the u.k., italy and france together. dav

david tweed in berlin. >> let's go to the moscow bureau. putin said to speak later to lawmakers. --already said he >> many people were respecting that putin would break the news about the annexation during the speech. the news came earlier. a came with the executive order with the parliament approving crimea's entry into russia. that is another sign that russia is not concerned about the sanctions from the u.s. and e.u. the sanctions were seen as extremely mild both by the market and the officials. the markets rallied yesterday. were saying, yes, there's really no concern with these sort of sanctions, such as freezing assets and hurting the russian economy. -- sanctionsions people would be concerned about would be the ones affecting major russian companies. x for the oil exports. but none of the sanctions have been put yet. there is really no fear in russian government, so far. they are acting just like they want to act. with thegoing ahead entry of crimea into russia. >> do we have any information on a timescale here? do we know how quickly any of this can take place? spoke with

and if you need to go ahead, we are going to follow. >> thank you so much, david tweed from berlin.friends of passengers on the missing flight 370 have been protesting outside malaysia's embassy in beijing. >> and was turning to anger after malaysia concludes the plane went down in a remote corner of the indian ocean. joining us on the phone from malaysia is a reporter for bloomberg to the malaysia. for talking to us. clearly, there is a series of unanswered questions surrounding what happened to this flight. we still do not understand many of the details surrounding his disappearance. protest, inthe terms of the issues surrounding the company, this is understandable. is there anything more we are in terms of development related to the aircraft? >> thank you. basically, all the media in all still play a wait and see again with the government. last night, the prime minister "ended" inhat mh370 the south indian ocean somewhere off the waters of perth, australia. it is assumed that all 239 people on board perished. he wants to avoid speculation that it was hijacked or crashed. it was a

that is our europe editor, david tweed. here's what else we are watching.issing malaysian airlines flight search has expanded and malaysia has asked for all to gather information along narrow corridors. vladimir putin is likely to submit the crimea annexation approval to parliament today. they are going to discuss further sanctions against russia. historic change the u.k. currency is proposed in a budget today. -- s modeled on the old it will be a major overhaul. next, we will go and speak to boris johnson's top economic advisor. we go deep underwater to test out the latest technology. >> good morning and welcome back. we are live from westminster today. this will be delivered by the chancellor at 12 clock london time. this is what we are going to learn today. mark carney last night. we are speaking to the chief economic advisor stop >> good morning. >> we have a governor of the bank of england speaking live. macrotalking about financial policy today. the numbers are fairly favorable and on track. we are seeing inflation coming down. wages will rise faster

david tweed joins us. they set themselves a target and they're way ahead of schedule. how are they going to be up to do this? there was a volkswagen annual conference and it is all about introducing new models. 100 new models will be introduced to the volkswagen group between this year and next year. it is quite an achievement. saying the chances are good we will even exceed the mark of 10 million deliveries this year. year, 2013, they overtook general motors and became the second-biggest carmaker in the world. they're chasing after toyota at the moment. millionr they made 9.7 in vehicle sales. the extra 300,000 would represent about three weeks of sales. with these new models, you would expect them to build a do that. but the real achievement goes back to the five-year plan. they come in a comp is come out with their five-year plans and just sort of miss their targets. volkswagen is absolutely hitting them. made 6.2francine, they million car sales. if they achieve their target of more than 10 million cars this year, that means that in the equivalent of adding a carmak

let's get to david tweed.uble in ukraine and russia, are they going to feed through into the survey? the surveys we do, business confidence will be the first want to show up and concern of what is going on certainly with a russia given that russia's importance to the german economy. of all the european economies, germany is probably more exposed to russia than any other european economy. things to look out for would be three numbers. the business climate among current assessment which is expected be more or less unchanged and the expectation to look out for. signal thative us a german businesses are expected comingy to fall off in months. there's consensus already that the first quarter of this year will be fairly strong in the bank said it expects to see a slowdown in the second half of the year. the concern also is will the slowdown be exacerbated? whatea of the thoughts of is going on. metro, one of the biggest retailers and germany has postponed the ipo of the cash and carry business of russia. it could be

david tweed has been covering lufthansa's turnaround. what will drive the prophet gain? >> it is all about the short-haul tom subdivision brands of the german wings carrier. this is a low-cost carrier that looks as if they are transitioning short-haul flights that are working well. the other thing they're looking at is upgrading the premium and first-class business. ande adding premium economy this is being reflected in the share price. there are big gains today. it is up as much as seven percent. to thell the way back up highest since the end of 2007. lufthansa is going to allow us to turn these on during flight. this is an android, a samsung android. we will be able to stream in-flight entertainment onto mobile devices. that is going to be available on flights to north africa and the middle east and some of the former soviet republics soon. >> quickly, it is dangerous, >> yeah. you could say it is dangerous. the ceo said that it is for that reason that they are not going to take this product that is coming out to israeli airlines. lufthansa says it is absolutely safe,

he went to bring in europe editor david tweed inergy standing by in berlin where the chinese presidentill meet the chancellor angela merkel to talk about relations between china and berlin. it is talked about -- it is referred to as a special one because they have so many intertwining's. tdp in germany is very linked to how china is doing. know, it is special economically. not as politically. one reason for that is, angela merkel has been around longer than any other european leader. she has managed to make -- he has good relations with the top brass. she's going into beijing in the summer. then at the end of the year there's going to be a full cabinet meeting of chinese members and german cabinet members that will take place here in berlin at the end of the year. that is some thing that happened last year. after which, in whole slew of trade contracts was announced. that leads me to the second thing which is the ethnic -- economic relationships. germany's absolute powerhouse with a comes to trade with china. 140 billion euros last year. that is more than france, u.k. and italy combine

let's go to our european editor, david tweed in brussels now, on the ukraine. did the e.u. actually manage for once to speak as a united voice yesterday? >> yes, for once, that is a good way of putting it, francine. i think the european union managed to get the hardliners like the lithuanian president onboard. >> the european union is trying to catch up, because anyway, we already in europe decided to -- starting to do some sanctions. not everything, but some. and that council repeated that it is a brutal act of aggression. it is good. >> some of the baltic states wanted to go in there straight on with travel banned immediately with sanctions. they had this staged approach come to russia doesn't the table, economic measures ill be taken if russia ups the ante in ukraine. one of the key things also is the fact that they are going to go ahead and sign a partnership association with ukraine that the previous president viktor yanukovych threw out in november in favor for going towards russia and the political chapters include a gradual convergence in foreign and security policy

homework economic -- bloomberg european editor david tweed. to bring you can gross -- to bring ukraine closer. how so, david? >> this is a really important point, betty. they have agreed to sign what they call a partnership agreement. this is a agreement of that thisry in a code which -- is an agreement that victory in a code which -- that viktor yanukovych ditched. it means the european union is absolutely recognizing the administration, which was then kiev at the moment. the third reason is that in the end, this pac is going to foster security, alliances within the european union and the ukraine but also a free-trade zone, and that is exactly what mr. putin did not want to see happening. >> so what happens next, david? there are two things they have to watch out for. one is that the european union and united states are both insisting that moscow start to the europeanh union, with united states, but also with ukraine, which means of a have to recognize the immigration and kiev, and they have not done that up until now. that is something that w

here.ne hyde is david tweed is with us as well. >> i want to talk about a story which is absolutely ripped-- gripped germany. this is the president of the most successful football club in germany. title, that means an end to complacency. sentence5 years jail for tax evasion. the most extraordinary thing about this case was as the trial unwound last week, the tax evasion number started at three .5 million euros and it grows on the first day to 18.5 billion euros. and 27 million euros. 28.5 million euros. you can imagine why it has been gripping germany. weekendon to win on the and that makes 50 games in a row that it has one unbroken. it has not put a club of its pieces yet. >> thank you very much. one, allof a serious eyes are on crimea and russia. the media is somewhat to blame for this. our eyes can be averted. --s is the longest civil war longest running civil war in colombia. the peace talks have been happening in havana and it has been -- the peace talks are very close and it could mean the end of the civil war and of the vast cut in the global supply of cocaine. >> a civil war with g

let's bring in david tweed with more. france really rolling out to red carpet then for their chinese vitor? it with a purpose. something that the french foreign office is calling economic diplomacy. it is really a story about going for growth. you're not going to hear mr. hollande talking too much about human rights or china's transgression in the south china see. this is all about business. let me just give you an example of how committed hollande is. the first 18 months when he was in office, 33 trips by government missions to asia. not just china, but all over asia. that compares with only 13 trips in the two proceeding years, the last years of nicolas sarkozy's regime. it is paying off in spades. 8.5 billion euros worth of deals. they got the deal to recycle nuclear fuel. we have the peugeot deal which has been signed off on. so a lot of business has been taking place but there has been a lot of homework to get this business done. >> david, it is not all about china. france is looking to do business all over asia of c

david tweed is standing by. what have you got? >> of the animal theme.ng about the of 150 with a crow decibels which is similar to a jackhammer. at a lot of sax stories but not this one. this one has the headline, i am anti-hound.first a little link. an english beagle that goals and to the families -- that goes into the homes of families with aggression. it calms them down. >> interesting. thank you. second hour of "countdown," continues after the short break. ♪ >> from g-8 to g7, the group said it will hold its own summit and brussels. russian the top diplomats said they are not clinging to the g-8. >> london real estate expense a surge of spending from russian oligogs. a homeowner that is most likely to do it yourself, we will get earnings from kingfisher and will speak to the ceo first. this hour on bloomberg.

in berlin, david tweed is live at the international hotel. breakingstart with news.ing information from the biggest the trading supplier. that is coming through just now. >> just getting the headline number. no we are not. the we are getting the earnings. and the big news last year was the glastonbury completed nickel mines to their empire. amortization up by 17%. 13 point $1 billion. that is the headline figure. they announced in december that that the transaction is expected to generate cost savings as much as $2 billion this year. it will be interesting to see if that figure changes. the headline profitability figure out. $13.1 billion. russia continues the military buildup in the crimea peninsula. the u.s. secretary of state visits. bloomberg news learned that the ukraine will get $3 billion in financing as part of a new program. they will be meeting with the economy minister tomorrow. we said down with the minister. started by asking how the chaotic situation in ukraine had changed the country' needs. >> the state of the economy and the state of the budget is di