news, kate moody is back with us. we are looking at what investors call the fear index. : that's right. it has been reacting to a manual macron's victory. it is also known as the volatility or vix index. this index has tumbled to its lowest level in more than two decades, the lowest since december of 1993. you can see that measure here, and you can see fear peeking around the time of the brexit oferenda and around the time the u.s. elections later on that year. it does serve as a reminder that even though stocks it didn't soar as some might have expected after the french election result, investors were not worried about a possible marine le pen presidency and the risks she would have posed to the stability of the eurozone. stock markets have been rising this tuesday at volatility drop after a soft start to the week. -- as volatility dropped after a soft start to the week. markets have pared back slightly this hour. is beingthe nasdaq powered by apple, which broke through the $800 billion mark for the first time. the cac is up one third of 1% in europe. commerzbanking as r

let's get some business news, kate moody is with us. starting with a report about unemployment in the eurozone which suggest he could be higher than everybody previously thought. says there is steady improvement in the headline unemployment figures, but the concrete number of people looking for work may be nearly double that. wages have not been keeping pace with inflation. paper, the eurozone job market is doing well, but statistics can be misleading. the euro area official unemployment rate is at 9.5%, the lowest since 2009, but the figure does not take into account part-time workers seeking more hours, or those no longer actively seeking work. when adjusted for these and other discrepancies, it's around 15%, almost double the official employment rate. companies are hiring more temporary workers, instead of giving current employees more hours. this could explain why wages have not risen, despite the best economic run in decades. argues of the ecb policy that an uptick in growth supports the case for lowering stimulus, but ecb presiden

william: time for business with kate moody. this could be a precedent for the brexit talks. kate: it's not good news for the european government. a pending free trade deal with singapore must be approved by the national parliaments of all eu member states before can come into force. that means the european union alone cannot authorize the agreement which is been under negotiation since 2010. that could set the tone for the uk's efforts to negotiate a free trade deal with the eu once it leaves the block. promisestheresa may's much less realistic. it will have to pass through 27 individual country's first. meanwhile in inflation in the united kingdom has risen to its highest level in four years. thanks mainly to higher airfares, the increased cost of clothing and electricity also contributing to the increase. inflation considered one of the biggest risk in the u.k. after brexit. inflation is expected to peak at just under 3% next her. the greek economy has fallen back into recession after thinking for a second quarter in a row. gdp contracted by .1% in the first three months of

kate moody is back in the studio with an update on the business news. germany, the new prime minister -- the countries looking to reboot is their business ties. kate: saying they're made to work together as they signed eight bilateral deals covering things like job training and environmental issues. they vowed to speed up work on a broader trade deal between india and the european union. the talks are an effort to counter a growing trend of protectionism that is then interpreted by some as a pivot away from the united states. just days after saying europe should take its destiny is on hands, angela merkel walked alongside india's prime minister, addressing of business for him in berlin, she stressed the need for free trade deal between the eu and new delhi, signaling a possible alternative to washington. >> all over the world we are witnessing protectionist trends. networks are deeply interconnected. we believe it's necessary to be open and create fair trade positions. this is why do so important for free make progress with a trade agreement between the

kate moody is with us in the studio. starting with a look at the markets, which have been affected by the vote i was just talking about on health care. kate: that's because it is seen as a crucial legislative test for president donald trump. when he failed to push his first failed -- first attempt through congress, stocks fell, because it was seen as a sign that he might struggle to get other business-friendly policies passed into law, things like reforming taxes and loosening regulations. the second attempt appears to have been a success for his party. it has pushed stocks upwards. investors hope he will have the cloud to get some of those other -- clout to get some of those other policies moved ahead. stocks are paring back from earlier steeper losses we saw in the session. the dow jones down about 0.1%. european investors meanwhile were tuning into wednesday's debate between macron and le pen in france. they rose on what was seen as a strong performance by their preferred candidate. cac 40 jumping 1.3% in thursday trad