hans nichols have the very latest from brussels.ng $18 billion in deals with french companies. it is important for france. their trade is behind germany. we have the very latest. france really rolled out the red carpet last night. >> they certainly dead. this is the culmination in a couple of years of policy that the call economic diplomacy. i want to give you an idea of what they have done. there were 33 separate countries missions to in asia and it was all about trade. 13 inompares with only the perceiving two years of the government. there really has been an important goal for the government of francois hollande. frenche hosting companies and they have been talking about the importance of rebalancing the relationship between france and china. china is invested. there is only one percent of all foreign direct investments. they were saying that they were the eighth biggest investor in france and they have to aim to do that. , there are 70ls planes sold by airbus to china. there is a deal with a nuclear power constructor to recycle

hans nichols coming up with the president of the european commission.ng you that conversation live from the hague later on this morning on the pulse there is going to be great. in the meantime, you can follow all of us on twitter. we will see you in a couple of minutes. ♪ >> it is back to the g7. russia excluded from the group of eight as world leaders warn of sanctions. we speak with the european commission president, jose this hour.oso, >> london real estate agents prepare for a surge from wealthy russians. how long will it last? likes google's italian job. they team up with the company behind ray-ban and oakley, luxottica. good morning to our viewers in europe, good evening to those in asia, and a very warm welcome to those just waking up in the u.s. i am guy johnson. >> i am francine lacqua. this is "the pulse," live from bloomberg's european headquarters in london. just getting ifo figures. this is what we were suspecting. the forecast, the expectations are a little bit below what analysts told us. this has to do with ukraine. >> there is a link be

hans nichols is interviewing the president of the bundesbank later on. asrench conglomerate approved an offer. we are joined with the very latest and this is by no means .he end of it >> the finished life is in sight and the board is meeting tomorrow to choose between the two suitors for the mobilephone unit. one has the momentum and they have picked up profile allies -- ,igh-profile allies and iliad one important player in the french telecom space. they say that is the best deal for french consumers. all that said, you would be wrong to say it is completely done. there could be a higher offer and vivendi could stick with the original plan that was to spit it all to that split off to its shareholders -- split off to shareholders. we are keeping open the possibility of surprises. to increase the offer at this point. they can decide on other factors and the g1 is regulatory risk. it looks more fully valued and they have proposed reducing the number of mobile players. that is difficult. a similar deal is getting significant pushback at the moment. they are

hans nichols is on the ground there. the moves.oring >> ryan chilcote is gauging recession risks and manus cranny at how sanctions affect u.s. business interest rates. let's go to ryan chilcote on the ground. what is on the ground? aboutncerned are they sanctions and what is vladimir putin doing today? >> but start there. we have an introduction of the they to crimea after consolidated and take over the last pocket of resistance from the ukrainians. andave the russian troops russia says that they are not want to send the men. dispatched president a foreign minister to the hague. he is holding a meeting in moscow and the topic on the agenda is sports. it is clear that the russian president is turning in here to the pressure and the ukraine and doing his best to present an image that he is going about things here as usual. >> vladimir putin is incredibly popular at the moment in russia. this that mean that the sanctions are having it'll impact? when you have this level of popularity, you can brush off what is happening. >>

hans nichols is covering the event. angela merkel and david cameron spoke.t do you -- what do they have to say? >>z and are the to cohost -- they are the to cohosts. combining british ingenuity with the german engineering. if you harmonize all of the different regulatory regimes, you can add data free mobile roaming across europe. here is how cameron put it. >> if germany and the u.k. agree to work together to improve the telecom single market. of of the long-term ambition the european commission but want to take steps that deliver benefits to business and consumers quickly and including the complete elimination of mobile roaming charges. >> just some of the themes --theng at to be conference is big data. his remarks were more lengthy and tech specific than merkel was kind of the whole. he talked about the need for 5g, that means download a movie in about one second. i do not know if it's a short movie or a long movie, they have catching up to do. south korea is a couple years ahead. >> all of this about date ability, what is that? >> i thought it was a anot

hans nichols joining us from berlin.ive pictures coming from the audi press conference, ripper schadler in the middle. later.g a little he will be speaking to us on "surveillance" later on bloomberg. hip-hop mogul sean combs set id 200 million dollars for the fuse cable channel. she will convert -- he will convert the channel into revolt taxes.ked by the u.s. state of colorado collected 2 million dollars in marijuana taxes in january. stores open for business at the beginning of the year, factoring in medical marijuana, colorado raked in $3.5 million. >> the bank of japan has maintained a record easing. keeping ammunition as in april sales tax threatens to deepen the contractions of march 2011 quake. gets grill.carney facing his toughest testimony an about the u.k.'s role in alleged foreign exchange rigging scheme. live picturesg at of viktor yanukovych who is speaking currently in russia. we will bring you the headlines from what he has to say. ♪ pulse,"me back to "the live on bloomberg tv and radio. streaming on bloomb

it's go to berlin and hans nichols. hans?ues, overall sales numbers, now it is nike's turn. 45% of their sales are abroad. the overall numbers in terms of their revenue and sales was quite strong. millioname in at $680 on the quarter, overall revenue almost $7 billion. nike has spent a lot of money on advertising. or as they call it, demand creation. 2.7 billion dollars is what they have slotted for the year on demand creation. next quarter they will do another 20% increase. they have the world cup coming up. that is not inexpensive to advertise. and, mark, something near and dear to your heart, they may be sponsoring manchester united for a billion-dollar deal over 10 years. 100 million per year. at 79l motors is already million per year. the question is, is it worth it? worth ations, is manu billion dollars for a 10 year deal? do you wear, fashionable sports footwear on the weekends when you are doing earnings? that is where nike is seeing growth. guys question mark >? >> i do wear sports footwear. i will allow mark to answ

ands get over to berlin bring in our international correspondent hans nichols. good morning, hans. >> what we saw for last week from drug he was a hint about what the euro could mean -- from mario draghi was a hint from what the euro could be doing. the quiz later on how many basis points it actually dropped. what this is is an attempt by mario draghi to lower the strength of the euro. here is what he said. of inflationrisk expectations becoming an anchored will be counted with additional monetary policy measures. it is countered. that is the key verb there. that suggests action from the central bank. >> yesterday, you spent some with the bundesbank president. would he have to say about the strength of the euro? >> he is talking once again about when you look at the euro and what impact it has on inflation. we have clearly seen that inflation has not moved as fast as many economists predicted and hoped. yet again, another influencing factor. the question is, is it the influencing factor? we will see that coming out over the course of the next couple of days. >> t

hans nichols is in brussels with the story. today could be the day, hans. is the day that expect this to be announced. they have been working on it for some time. we are talking about in the range of $15 billion. initially, ukraine wanted $15 billion to $20 billion. they may get some of that from other contributions but we have a traditional imf program. it is going to be like the program for greece, according to the german foreign minister. here are a couple aspects. they want to see lower pension costs. this is the imf. they want to see lower payments, less payments for gas subsidies. they want the currency to float on the open exchange market. this would cause it to weaken. it would help ukrainian exports. on that last point, currency is trading openly. on the year, it is down 26%. it has already weakened enough which potentially could help the currency. they are looking at potential of three percent contraction. the economy facing many struggle. this is one of the challenges. package, youget an imf get $1 billion from the u.s. and 1.6 billion euros from

we are checking in with hans nichols. second front-page story, president will call for an overall a collection of phone records, e-mails, and internet eta. the government will no longer willthe information and require issue orders requiring at&t and verizon and others to search files for information. >> is this a surprise? >> the president did promise alternative. all comes in the wake of revelations by edward snowden. like some of the provisions go underffectively to 2001 george w. bush when there were no questions asked. at that moment in history can understand. >> triple blast from the past. i've former aides to bernie made off were convicted helping to pull off a 17 billion dollars scam. he hired the men with little or no financial experience. by a federal jury in manhattan after a five-month trial. the claims they were ignorant of the fraud. >> they probably were. we can go over here 50 feet. the avenue.down i cannot convey to you to each of us have been touched by running into people who directly or their family los

hans nichols has more. >> if it is all about the race for the top of luxury, we know 2013, itin first was bmw. what we will look in audi numbers or if they will announce new models and what our guidance is going forward. how much of growth or do they see in asia versus europe? some of the things we will be looking at. 2013.t who won bmw in first place. then audi and second. and mercedes. mercedes in the first two months of this year in which we have data is making a real push. they have a cheaper cooper. it is around 30,000 u.s. dollars. it is making inroads. what we will look at in the audi numbers is where the revenue is coming from. 20% from germany. the rest of europe is 32%. asia is 31%. is it a growth market going to continue in asia? north america in a 14%. how it compares to volkswagen. their revenue by geography 60%. north america, 18%. we already have a decent sense of what is going to be in the audi numbers because of volkswagen recorded. this will give us a comprehensive look back at 2013 on what we can expect in the year to come. >> thank you very much. >> 2014 is the mos

international correspondent hans nichols is in the dutch city. what do we expect to hear?what is going on there? >> right now the group of seven the primee meeting in minister's office. his official residence right around the corner. so far here's what happened. leaders have decided to stop letting russia host parties or as they call them here in europe, summits. will beke the g-eight canceled. the prime minister has said it will no longer be held and russia. obama talking about just having g-seven and formally. is one thing you should do aside from economic he needs to breathe and -- bring together the european tears in the room with right now. a little bit of detail in the ond -- meeting, flanked by july merkel, david cameron and looks more like the old nato alliance potentially than the g-seven. is there any talk, and a number of people have told us know but i think they're trying to de-escalate the situation responsibly, is there talk of returning to an almost cold war scenario where you have g-safeco and -- g-seven against russia and nuclear arms? >> clearly they are

hans nichols has been following white house for over a decade.was the take away from the summit in the hague and what is coming up today? >> the take away from the summit at the hague is no new sanctions . there was harsh rhetoric. obama really throwing some bombs calling russia a regional power but at the end, he said the choice was russia's. >> it is now up to russia to act responsibly and show itself to be once again willing to abide by international rules. >> francine, it wasn't lost on any of the european leaders gathered in the hage. that whatever sanctions, if they do impose fresh sanctions, that it will hurt the economy in their home countries. obama talked about doing a technical nall sis and when i sboke the dutch prime minister, he said it was the obligation of european politicians to prepare their public for potential economic pain. that is not any assessment the european recovery would be broken. it would have an impact. it is my belief that we as politicians, we then have to go to our voters and tell them because of some of our basi

hans nichols joins us from brussels. the takeaway from g-7 submitted and what can we expect from obama today? >> well, the takeaway is no new sanctions unless there is an incursion into eastern ukraine. the takeaway and behind the scenes here is what's happening. they are making, they are doing a technical nall sis here in brussels, also in washington seeing which industries and economies could be affected if additional sanctions are imposed on russia. when president obama talked about his meeting here in brussels, he said it was brussels officials, the european officials that made the suggestion they need to take a close look at what they will do next. >> it has not just been my suggestion, but it has also been the european council's suggestion that should russia go further, such sanctions would be appropriate. and that would include areas potentially like energy. or finance. or arms sales. or trade. that exists between europe and the united states and russia. >> there is a realization on the ground in the hague from eu

hans nichols joins us from the shores of the atlantic ocean in south holland.et the president at the hague? tell us about the g-7. he has already landed. he was greeted by the prime minister and they went on a tour. we hear that the helicopter it here and he will be landing for the summit. he has called on the sidelines of that, the g-7. he has one of the most important meetings of the day in a couple of hours. he will sit down with the president from china. the question on all of this is how much intelligence gathering is going on. he will listen to his counterparts to see how far he can press them to go along with him and increase sanctions on russia over crimea. binary.hink of this as this is not greater sanctions or sanctions against industry. the u.s. wants to continue to turn up the dial until they think that they have put enough pressure on putin to make changes. this is incremental. not big changes. >> you are a great juden of german political economics. what did you learn about the german response over the weekend? president obama and chancellor merkel

hans nichols is there with the very latest. upthe president just wrapped his main speech in brussels. he true a very clear red line, way, insistingr there would not be military action in ukraine even if russia went into eastern ukraine. he laid that down for crimea and ukraine and did it at several moments. it is really wrapping up a day in fervent diplomacy, talking about new sanctions and shoring up nato. in particular, what you do on the energy sector. the energy sector, obama made this point earlier at a press conference -- what you need to do is use this and sees it as an opportunity to win europe of its energy dependence on russia. listen to how he couched it in terms of the current trade negotiations. >> once we have a trade agreement in place, expert licenses for liquefied natural gas would be much easier. obviously relevant in today's geopolitical climate. >> that is the long term. what obama is talking about is moving new military assets into native countries. this was in defense of what nato should be as a defense or

hans nichols will speak to bundesbank president jens weidmann.that. >> stay with us to see guy johnson get a first-hand racing lesson from a real formula one driver. ♪ >> time for today's company news. japanese unions have seen a rise. they agreed to increase rages by an average of $19 a month. the deal comes as the prime minister called on businesses to boost pay to help reverse more than 15 years of deflation. u.k. insurance faces more than one billion pounds in claims. that is according to the association of british insurers. last week, 60 million pounds of claims were reported due to extreme weather. australia's largest retailer says it is on track to create about 7000 new jobs in the year through june. it is the only australian company boosting payroll. welcome back to "countdown." increased hisest exposure to european equities and fixed income markets over the past year. with details of his investment strategy. thanks for coming in. i would like to start with your outlook for emerging markets. we have had this disappointing data once again

hans nichols will have plenty more on this nike story.g up, barclays that's on the wrong millionaire. what it will cost them, next. ♪ >> welcome back. i am francine lacqua and london. this is "on the move" on bloomberg television. up sanction war is heating between russia and the west. the u.s. has been taking aim at putin's inner circle and some of russia's wealthiest. here for a rundown, bloomberg billionaires editor joins us. one of the names we are hearing is an arty timchenko. who is he and how is he getting mixed up in this? >> these are guys who have long soviet history. his father was a soviet officer. he was born in ukraine. he is an armenian national. he is a longtime associate of vladimir putin. he is very antagonistic about his connections to putin. he doesn't ever talk to the media. we do know that they met in the early 1990's as the soviet union was crumbling. they share this judo connection together. >> how badly has he been affected by sanctions? >> pretty badly. he had a worth of about $11 billion at the start of january.

let's bring in our international correspondent, hans nichols.o spoke to jens weidmann put what mario draghi said into context. we always need a translator with central bankers on the euro. a week ago, mario draghi and did at this. -- and did -- hinted at this. the market did not really get it. last night, he was more explicit and the market clearly got it read the euro dropped quickly last night. it has not much moved today. the concern is that the euro gets stronger and that puts downward pressure on inflation, meaning the bank may have to act. here is what he actually said. it will be countered with additional monetary measures. it had a .4% impact on inflation. rightnflation is that now, if the euro had to strengthen, it would be at 1.2%. that is a congregated way of saying -- that is a complicated way of saying they are concerned about the strength of the euro and what effect it may have on the recovery. >> it may suggest that they will act on the back of it. yesterday, you spoke to jens weidmann. what did he have to say? >> his take was mor

our international correspondent hans nichols joins us from there now.hority spoken to some big names. already spoken to some big names. >> we have gotten some big names here, but there are two overhanging questions that permeate this tech conference along with the rap. one of this is, why has there not been a big exit? why hasn't berlin taken off? the other one is -- to what extent will the nsa revelations and the talk of edward snowden, what will that do to vulcanized the internet? will c loud computing become national cloud computing? with one for berlin, one for germany, one for france. theked what he thought ramifications of the nsa would be. >> i think that people are disturbed about the intrusiveness across the board. i think, you know, i think the that,thing about it is my sense is that we are not dealing with the big brother type state. it was not like the nsa really knew everything. it probably was massively incompetent. it was this bureaucracy on autopilot that simply collected all the data in the world because it could. and in terms of the ns

let's bring in hans nichols.eems as a druggie's rhetoric ragi'st -- seems as if dh rhetoric -- >> there will be a quiz at the end of this onto how many basis points he sent the euro down yesterday. it went from 1.39121.386. -- 1.391 to 1.386. the eurozone needs a little inflation to help with the recovery and exports. here is a quote from druggie less night. -- mario draghi last night. it is countered that is the key word. -- the euro shaved off 0.4% of inflation. if you did not have the strength of euro, and collation would be 1.2%, closer to what they want. is zero .8%. but we have is a change in emphasis. last week, the markets did not edit. -- did not get it. . >> you spend time with the ecb president. what does he have to say about the strength of the euro? looks he was on the same page. -- this is always the challenge with central bankers. here is how he put it. let's have a listen. >> it is not a policy target for us. the euro injures, like other variables, our assessment of the economy. it affects our pro

thank you, hans nichols, from brussels.bout we look at the financial crisis and decide if it is shaken not stirred? larry kantor is the head of global research at barclays. he and his team see a resiliency shaded and colored by what is going on in ukraine. you wanted to jump in there about these events in ukraine. how do they impact barclays research? >> there's one big issue. does this stop that crimea or not? crimea is a done deal. that is inwhat -- russian hands and that's it. if that's it, that's fine. the right you ask question. what is for vladimir putin's next move? >> well, well, well. >> if it is just threatening a mobilizing troops on the border and it doesn't go into ukraine, then this issue is diffused. i think when you look at how is the market reaction, it is all about, does he go further or does it stop there? >> larry, i don't care what you think. what people don't know is a firm like barclays has 42 people in eastern europe. what are your ground troops telling you about the mood in eastern europe? don't kno

let's go to hans nichols. hans, they are not listing in hong kong because of hurdles.es, it is hard to have the government structure they wanted and still be in hong kong. they try to work it out and could not come to an agreement. a clear loss for hong kong and new york is the big winner. will it be ons, the nasdaq or the new york stock exchange? facebook what with the nasdaq and they had pickups. they will do numbers and it is expected to raise 12.9. compare that to facebook and 16 billion. when you look at the may beization, ali baba as high as 200 billion. at 172. is one final comparison is the fourth quarter revenue. ali baba is that 1.78. ebay is that 4.5 and facebook is --t to see be interesting what numbers they present. income will be strong. >> what about the banks? they are all like equal dogs and they are going to give them the same amount. no single bank will be the lead underwriter and that means lower fees. good for ali baba and less good for the banks. >> hans, think you so much. we will go to haunts for any update in ali baba today. and thep, share sal

. >> hans nichols caught up with the paypal cofounder.hisget his thoughts digital transformation of europe's economy. story,s get to our top the first federal reserve decision under janet yellen suggested a policy shift. jonathan ferro has more. >> forward guidance is dead. 6.5% threshold is gone. another $10 billion taper. the big focus was on one thing and it was on rate expectations. the summary of economic rejections, the back page -- these dots about where they think rates will be at the end of every given year. they have shifted their view. 2.25% in 2016. in december, they saw 0.75% next year. that is a significant move higher. janet yellen herself tried to downplay all of this. it did not work. the market is trying to price this in. this is a big deal. everyone is asking, when will the first hike,? if it is going to be 1%, when will it come? would you believe it -- janet yellen told us. , but is hard to define probably something on the order of around six months or that type of thing. it depends what the statement is saying. it dep

quit hans nichols putting it in -- >> hans nichols putting it in perspective.eferendum taking place sunday. -- the focus on washington, the american house of cards. not frank underwood's washington but the fragile state of jamie dimon's banking system. seven years and -- in the financial crisis, smart people to why weng hard as are fragile by design. charles calomiris, truly one of the nation's authorities of how we got into this mess. you focus on the politics of the moment. the politics of 2014 any different from the politics of the spring of 2007? >> absolutely. it is different in a lot of ways. one of the key points we make in the book is that the merger wave of banks in the 1990's and the 2000's and the political alliances that were forged really were important for promoting the government's was for subsidizing mortgage risk. and that this really did make a difference in the 1990's and the 2000's. the differences, that merger wave has already happened. politics going forward will be different. it is not clear that, for example, the large banks are going to

hans nichols is in the belgian capital. what will be the tone in brussels? >> it started somber when the president visited fields of flanders. on wars inective past centuries and the responsibilities of the current .eneration all unit given the situation with ukraine. technically, here's what is happening today. they're making technicall assessments on which industries in europe would be affected by another round of sanctions against sectors and companies. obama mentioned energy, finance, arms industry. they seem to be far away from pulling the trigger on another round of sanctions, there would have to be another incursion .rom russia into ukraine >> thank you, hans nichols. in washington, the senate moves closer to adding a two ukraine. the bill advantage the provision -- the bill abandons the provision that would have boosted the imf and guarantees $1 billion in loans and $100 million in direct aid. sandy levin of michigan, ranking member of the house ways and means committee is joining us. thank you very much. do you expect -- do using the u.s. is doing e

hans nichols at the hague. you see the outflows of capital from russia.to the president's comments, is the mood that they are composting a lot and they are having an effect? >> yes. there is a bit of triumph from the u.s. officials and how they have had a knock on effect. they are almost boasting about what they have done to the ruble. this is underlying the european concern. if you cripple the russian economy, you cripple the european and global economy. i was speaking to the president of the european commission. says there is a political will in europe to impose costs on russia, even if it hurts the europeans. that is a proposition that has yet to be tested. here in the view from moscow, there is a lot of smoke and mirrors when it comes to the effect of sanctions on the financial market. it is true that the ruble is the second biggest kleiner amongst emerging markets -- biggest decliner amongst emerging markets. there is a little bit of spin people deal with here. >> we have to jump in. the president has begun speaking. in washington state and while i w

our international correspondent hans nichols joins us from berlin with this story.lian, are you, hans? >> i'm not well-dressed enough to be italian, nor do i have good shoes. we could go on and do an entire bit just on that. i want to talk about a story of what happens when companies try to control and curate their online presence. so many companies are facing this. the story begins with a 15-year-old, his love for friars, and a facebook page. it ends in litigation. wasem started a fan page. then for ari comes in and asks for legal reasons to take it over. the kit agrees, and then for four years he did work on it, but without getting paid. then they lose administrator rights. they said look, we want to control this, and we were not getting compensated. forever 5500 sued hours of what they say is unpaid work. they're saying that they deserve 10 million swiss francs. now they have taken it to twitter. as a for ourte -- great fan, i cannot let them disrespect any of us. i will fight its never a good idea when you sue your fans. >> yes, if you are a business and you fol

hans nichols joins us from brussels.s from the summit at the hague and what is next on the next age of the tour for president obama? >> good morning. from the hague, no new sanctions announced. fresh and harsh rhetoric from president obama. he called russia on acting from a position of weakness and not strength and called them a regional power. obama said there are officials in brussels that he will be meeting with today. they are considering additional measures if russia escalates the situation. >> it has not just been my suggestion, but also the european council's suggestion ,hat should russia go further such sectoral sanctions would be appropriate. that would include areas like energy or finance or arm sales. or trade. that exists between europe and the united states and russia. >> on the sidelines of the conversations in the hague, much of the talk was about what sanctions would do and what effect it would have on struggling european economies. it was not lost on any leaders that sanctions on russia would hurt them a

hans nichols joining us. thank you so much. we will with you in coming days. >> we will have more on the crisis in ukraine. we will speak to a russian expert who says vladimir putin is like darth vader and president obama is playing the role of when he the crew. >> what happens when punk culture makes online journalism? we are streaming on your smart, tablet and bloomberg.com ♪ >> less than 20 minutes ago the malaysian prime minister out a press conference providing us with new information on flight mh370. he says new data provided by a satellite company, and these calculations suggest the last in then of 370 was southern indian ocean, remote location. this is the rough whereabouts of where the plane might have gone down. no discussion during this press conference of the possibility of survivors, even wreckage. just this new information culled that the plane took a southern route and ended somewhere in the end of the indian ocean. don't know whether there was foul play art was accidental. we know the malaysian government will h

hans nichols.resident obama will be addressing the hague later and we will bring you the latest from that. are warninganks western sanctions could push russia toward a recession. ryan chilcote is on the ground look at the impact. before we talk about the business angle, let's start with you banks in ukraine. what is the latest? >> in the second biggest event in crimea was the event that russia took over what was the ukrainian a peninsula that is now part of russia at least as far as russians are concerned. that was the last pocket of resistance. power cutsreports of and crimea. officials blaming ukraine for cutting power to blackmail them. crimea depends on russia for power and water. people are saying what is happening is a sideshow now. the real issue is what will happen next in the east of the ukraine? we have tens of thousands of russian troops. have said they believe russia may go there next. i caught up with a man who reigned supreme in the ring for years and is now running for the presidency

for more on the political showdown, i am joined by hans nichols. was the decision to suspend russia from the g-8 unexpected or business as usual at this point. not blow it too much out of proportion. summit inwas a g-8 sochi that president clinton wanted to host. they have moved the summit to brussels. it will be a g7 summit. impose realt really sanctions on industries. they have posed sanctions on i spokeals there at with the president of the european commission then asked him what the effect was of taking the g-8 and turning it into g7. class we are very much in favor of a dialogue with everybody in the world and we keep our no sense ton, makes be discussing these issues in the g-8 for him. brussels, the same dates planned. >> the consensus we have out the summit is a threat. a threat to have additional sanctions, including banking, and -- other aspects. if russia changes the status quo and if russia moves troops from russia into you -- eastern ukraine, that also means russian been accepted as the status quo and there is very little diplomaticall

hans nickel on the very latest -- hans nichols on the very latest in european car sales.s our european business correspondent caroline hyde. carolyn, and of an era. they have been rising in rising the sails. is the first time in nine years that they are falling. years excellent, 37, not so good. a terrible, terribly unseasonable wet weather. the market is also growing slower. since 2005.growth admitting that the outlook is challenging. what many investors did is the sound of a price war. ceo was in line with that. to competeds aggressively with pricing. match the price with a coupon. it looks like the competition is really on. not mention all the the little discounter. >> basically, people want something for the money. isjustin king, the king exiting the building. he will leave in july after a decade since he has been at sainsbury. up underlying profits or tripling them. the new designate might is going to have a lot to taper from. enew designate mike coup is going to have a lot to taper from. what about the convenience expansion. that is an area they are starting to win

hans nichols has been covering the story.proveuggling the government structure. >> they could not get it in hong kong. they're going to new york. do they do it on the nasdaq or nyse? we know what facebook did and twitter did. nasdaq did not come across well. take a look at market cap. billion.und $153 it could be as high as $200 billion. you look at revenue. revenue is a little bit down on alibaba. these are all fourth-quarter numbers. they will look at the books, they will have an offering. we will see, do they choose the nasdaq or the new york? >> i know you will keep on top of the story as well we. the latest on alibaba. staying with ipos, jimmy choo is said to be in early talks to go public. lot of iposring a coming through at the moment. this is part of the same story, i guess. >> definitely. same periodat the as they were last year. you will definitely be thinking, why should i not try going public? how much did they pay for three years ago? >> they paid about $500 million. we're hearing now that they are considering on

hans nichols is monitoring that event. angela merkel and david cameron has spoken of the event.hat do they say? want the u.k. to be part of the --. importance of the bringing the five g to europe soon. a download could be cut to one second. this is a prize that researchers all over the world are going for. i am delighted to announce a new -- three world university -- world leading universities working hand-in-hand. that is something to be excited about. he also announced 45 million pounds to develop an internet of things. technology can talk to each other around people. focused on data privacy, protection, talk about that ability -- datability. and consumers, will what is the responsibility to protect data? i love this story. we have talked to the ceo several times on bloomberg. they want to have mass produced merkel phones. they have arty sold a lot to the german government. they want to expand it. they're partnering with vodafone. you securely, i would have to be in germany, you would have to be in germany, and we would both have to shell out 2000 euros. four 2000 pounds, what

the spring in our international hans nichols. >> are these numbers cashicially inflated by for clunkers, in spain. that is still running. volkswagen is up 7.25. nissan was in the same range. the gm brand was up. all of them have good numbers. we should not take anything away from them. really the question is, how healthy and long-standing is this? look at the discounts they offer in germany. it widened to over 11%. seems likemany, it the dealers are giving a bigger discount to keep demand up and keep sales going. then we have this whole question of uncertainty of what will happen with the russian market. russian figures are not included in these magic figures. but you will get the exposure to chair, some 31% up in the in russia. volkswagen had its percentage. industry looks like it is coming back in western europe. is it sustainable? or is this stimulus driven? and how would the uncertainty in europe into one over there and the general economy here. these are open questions. these are just february figures. largest.k.'s third supermarket chain reporting sales numbers. not great. >> it i

hans nichols, i know you will continue watching it for us there at the hag -- at the hague. vladimir putin is expelled -- is celebrating that expansion of his country. over the weekend he treated muscovites and crimea ends -- crimeans to fireworks. ryan, what is the mood like there? are people excited? do they want this to happen? did they go for the fireworks display? >> many people did watch the fireworks. generally speaking that the west has stepped aside and that this is something that russia has done and will follow through on. certainly president hooton -- , if you watchn his body language, is not concerned about the sanctions so far. if he is, he is doing a good job attending that he is not. he is presiding right now an awards ceremony for sochi and has been turning a deaf ear to the threats of sanctions and western pressure for stop -- and western pressure. we have heard that russian business needs to get in there, ns -- therimea russian defense minister is there. business as usual in moscow. there is really nothing they think they need to be concerned about. >> a lo

i want to see hans nichols, long legs, short skirt, it would look great.or margaritas. those are fighting words. alix steel will have that story when we come back. if you miss any of our interviews, you can watch them on apple tv. tv -- it is everywhere. lucky you. stay with us. ♪ >> welcome back to "market makers." i like my margaritas on the rock with salt. don't forget the lime. the cost could be on the rise. alex bang -- alix is here to break it down for us. i have some data. we called some local stores and they range anywhere from four dollars to $11.50. a 4: a reader that is pretty cheap. margarita, that is pretty cheap. i don't know if you will pay more for your limes necessarily, but the issue is that the u.s. imports a lot of limes. most of that is all used for alcohol. corona, margaritas. the majority of the lines come come from mexico and the prices are through the roof. lime growers have creating a monopoly. they say they're going to control the price to get the price they want and they're restricting their supply. this is a commodities issue.

hans nichols joins us from berlin with more on this meeting.f the biggest names in that meeting, including the cofounder of paypal and a venture capitalist. what secrets did he tell you? no real secrets, but a lot of insights from peter. there are two questions hanging over this conference. to what extent is the berlin tech scene ready to take off? why has there not been an ipo. the other question -- what would the edward snowden revelations due to internet commerce? he's have a listen to what had to say about the incompetence of the nsa. >> we are not dealing with a big brother type stake. it was not like the nsa really knew everything. -- it was massively intrusive, it was probably massively incompetent. this, weher point on are here in front of an old pump station. it seems like a party. on this question of whether or not there has not been a big berlin tech exit, one of his points was that perhaps startups should stay startups of little bit longer. the why questions are much harder to answer than what. we have not seen a big exit or big ipo

our international correspondent hans nichols. that does it for today on "in the loop."e into banking, my cohost for the hour. john kenneth looking at the state of retail banking tomorrow all morning long starting at 8:00 a.m. eastern time. we will be back in a few minutes "on the markets." ♪ is 56 minutes past the hour. we are "on the markets." as its pushing higher. retail sales and jobless claims surpassed economists estimates. the reports were enough to turn treasuries around. prices are falling for the first time this week. traders said the fed will stay on course with its plan to reduce bond purchases. risk on, less need to hide out in gold, which backed off a six-month high. copper under a little pressure after more evidence of a slowdown in china. for more on the markets and where to find returns, i'm joined by the chief investment officer of the elements financial group. he says it is critical for investors to reembrace and manage risk in the portfolio's. where should they get the risk right now? >> great question. consider the environment we're in today. we thi

he spoke with hans nichols at the tech summit in berlin this week. >> they probably undermine trust inin government institutions. i do not think -- it would be hard to admit undermining trust in the internet in general. i have not seen any data that is just that people are buying less from when the snowden revelations came out. >> what about the balkanization of data? there is a lot about cloud in germany. >> my sense is that these things have not yet happened. i think people are disturbed about the intrusiveness across the board. the crazy thing about it is, my sense is we are not dealing with a big brother type state. it was not like the nsa really knew everything that was massively intrusive. it was probably massively incompetent. just a bureaucracy on autopilot that simply collected all the data in the world because it could. i do not think it did much with it. that is probably the other shocking story. there is a civil libertarian critique of the nsa that it was too intrusive. there is a technocratic critique, which i have, that it was just incompetent. if you had a competent secu

we're joined by jon ferro in the studio to mcallen high to, and hans nichols. >> satya nadella takesstage. are you excited about that? >> i think it is a big deal. >> i'm excited. how the mighty have fallen. that you need to take a platform from apple. >> a lot of people dis microsoft but it is still a hugely profitable business. if they can tweak it a little bit and tune it up a little bit, it will be an uber profitable business. >> rising from the ashes, that's what i love. if he manages to do it, it will be a great story. >> a properly, let's go to caroline for what to watch. toappropriately, let's go caroline for what to watch. >> the biggest watch trade fair in the entire world. caution were chinese sales are going, where technology is going. the smart watch, will it take a hit? this is in a time for caution. this is a time to flaunt your wares. just look behind me at the most amazing stance that they produce. absolutely beautiful. back in a moment with an interview on smart watches. >> you're watching ukraine's imf bailout loan. >> do have an agreement where we are watching a b

hans nichols is at the hague. caroline hyde is in london.te is in moscow. >> what we have is a symbolic in sochi.ncel the g-8 instead, there will be a g-7 in brussels. in terms of new sanctions, they are targeting energy, arms, and financials but only if there is additional action from russia. most of the officials we have been talking to say that means an incursion into the used in .kraine, but a new incursion that would trigger new sanctions. >> we will cross live to hans throughout the morning. let's go straight to moscow. ryan, you are covering the story from that end. >> we are going inside russian business to understand how the sanctions or the threat of sanctions is affecting things. we have the ceo of megaphone, the third-largest mobile operator in london -- in russia. we will talk to him in a few minutes. >> i am looking forward to the interview.

we will sit down with hans nichols and we will bring you that interview. just a reminder that you can follow me on twitter and guy johnson is on their. . >> welcome back to "the pulse." here are bloomberg's top headlines. the russian government officials are said to be per for iranian style sanctions and retaliation over the ukrainian crisis. german chancellor is a merkel says russia risks damage if it doesn't de-escalate conflict. china's premier says around the nation's growth target of 7.5%, did not specify how much of a slowdown leaders will tolerate. china's timber to february industrial output rose from a year earlier, missing estimates. the italian prime minister has announced economic reforms that he says lay the groundwork for bigger structural changes to come. >> there are more than 1500 official government cars according to our spending review. some are rentals. the turning point is, starting from arch 26, roll in, roll in. some cars will be auctioned. we will start with the first 100. if possible, we will advertise the name of the ministers who

. >> hans nichols there. >> we discussed washing machines in thet length earlier program. it is seven minutes past seven in london. we will take a short break on "countdown." plenty more to come. the search for the missing malaysian lane widens. ♪ finish energy company -- is drawing interest from bidders including a canadian pension investor. it may be value nomo $7 billion. the processes due to start in the second quarter. is exploring its microbiology unit. the unit could fetch between 300 million and $600 million. chief executive joe kaiser took over in august. he is reviewing the portfolio ahead of the strategy update in may. siemens is you're a's biggest engineering company. toyota has a raise to raise base wages for the first time since 2008. this comes as toyota heads for record profits. workers will earn $26 more per month in base pay. that is the highest increase in six years. welcome to "countdown." protests have erupted across turkey great -- turkey. >> police have used tear gas and water cannons against thousands of protesters istanbul. why are people protestin

hans nichols bring this the very latest very what is twitter's response -- what has twitter's response been? >> twitter is going to be aggressive very at a are saying tweed by sms. twitter has direct relationships with some of the mobile carriers in turkey. turkey is twitter's eighth a gift market, so they are pretty saturated there. -- erdogan asks twitter to take down some audio links. now.is how it stands right you can actually tweed by sms, you have some difficulty on some mobile networks to read your twitter feed, but if you are at your desktop, you can use a virtual private network for a workaround. what this essentially does is make it more difficult for people to share information on the street, but there are workarounds as long as you can get to a desktop. it is the same thing twitter did in venezuela. he urged people to send direct tech's messages -- direct text messages and to treat that way. a we will be back with hans little bit later for more on this story. as thements in moscow political structure moves further towards the annexation of crimea. ryan. >> just within the l

let's go to hans nichols. have been taking the temperature of the sector. >> this is a tale of two energy companies, to utilities -- one with an international footprint, one that is living abroad and starting to play. when you look at the home market for both of these companies, they are seeing a decline in energy prices. has gonehat enel abroad. 40% of the market is outside of europe. if you look at the share prices over the last five years, you really see the divergence. enel is down three percent. almost 30%. when you look at what has happened inside the german market, wholesale energy prices are down 32%. it is down all the way down to 36 euros per kilowatt. e.on has tried to move abroad. they have a joint venture in turkey. they are talking about brazil. in thesere looking for numbers is to what extent they plan to double down on that. what extent do they plan to increase their footprint abroad so that they could make up for declining revenues in their home market. it is not that different from automobile

among them, paypal cofounder peter thiel who sat down with hans nichols to talk about what makes berlin's tech environment unique. >> i think berlin is probably the place where it is most acceptable to try to do something new. and if you say you are an entrepreneur are starting a company, it will not merely say, does not immediately say, why did you fail at your last job? or something like that. which is the question in the background and many other parts of europe. it also helps berlin is very inexpensive. when you start a business, you don't expect to make that much money. there's something about the affordability. i think it has gone to the point where he have this critical mass, which at some point start to jumpstart. it is not quite there yet, but it is close. >> why haven't we seen a big exit or ipo? >> the "why" questions are harder to answer than "what." it is probably one of the critical things that has to happen. my best answer is that people have sold the company's to early and been too eager to quickly transact and sell their businesses, and have not had the commitment or visi

international correspondent hans nichols tells the story. heinz, never knew that about you?ther that or we are clearly making things up on air, francine. a story about what happens when a company tries to control and curate their online presence. it starts with a 15-year-old slough or for ari, or facebook exec its massive amounts of followers, half a million. it ends in litigation when this swiss kid starts a facebook page and gets to have a million users. for ari comes in and says hey, for legal reasons, we have to come in and take over. , theyd and his dad agree say go ahead. didn't get paid for their work. later, administrative rights have been taken away, so they don't even control this page. now they're suing. they said they were up 55 hours. they're asking for 10 million swiss francs, about $11 million. there's a quote from him on twitter. francine, this is a question we should be talking about for the next couple of years. who controls a company's online social media presence and what are companies going to do to ensure that they have some control without aggravating,