aer lingus will retain its brand.g guarantees that the government doesn't have a it this point. >> thank you very much. >> 7:48. equities are set to open like this. we have a close above 6930 to i7b. stay with us. ♪ >> welcome back to "countdown." it is 7:52 in london. let's talk about the trading day ahead. caroline hyde is here. let's talk about a story gathering momentum. it is around rigging. what is it? >> add one to add to the collection. it is metals. hsbc made clear the justice department in the united states and commodities regulators are looking into documents. they want to see about precious metals trading. these are things they feel could have been manipulated and rigged as well. the u.s. justice department is in the early stages of investigating the biggest banks. you have jpmorgan chase. u.b.s. goldman sachs. not bank of america but standard bank instead. all the big names. they are going to be digging into what has been going on here. perhaps it shouldn't come as a surprise this investigation. swiss reg

we still think that ryanair would be the best parent for aer lingus. sort that out themselves. we don't think about it that much. this year, as we do what hundred million customers ryanair will be 11 times the size of aer lingus. we are focused on growing across europe. >> kenny jacobs, think you so much. the chief marketing officer at ryanair. we are back in a couple of minutes. ♪ >> welcome back. i am francine lacqua. >> let's talk about the markets. >> let's keep it focused and put it on two asset classes. xp markets and bonds. the all country index trading at an all-time high. the dax at a record high. for the up -- for the optimist credit conditions and focus. the ecb reporting on credit conditions. people are looking at it as if it is the turn, the turn for the eurozone. what i want to talk about are the xp markets and the bond markets. in the market, it is the japanification of everything. this is not just the periphery. at a rally in portugal spain, italy, and germany as well. a record low for the german 10 year. the remarkable thing about the

ryanair has a stake in aer lingus and iag is trying to buy aer lingus. >> they were cautious on that. they said they had not received a formal offer. last week, we saw on the back of qatar buying a stake in iag, we saw more coming out of ireland more coming from the irish government about that deal. it seems like the sentiment might be turning against it. i think ryanair will wait until they see what the offer is. >> show me the money. >> that is where they stand at this point. >> kari lundgren on the latest from ryanair. >> what else is on our radar? the ukrainian president has called for a truce with pro-russian rebels in the eastern part of the country after peace talks broke down and violence escalated. a statement from the website called for "an unconditional and immediate cease-fire" as the conflict is escalating. the number of civilian casualties is growing. the statement came after poroshenko spoke with angela merkel and the french president yesterday. >> back in the spotlight today the former imf managing director and former french presidential hopeful goes on trial. he is on

will iag say anything about aer lingus?art to wonder if he is going to keep the focus on iag. you have to wonder that there is so much going on in the background -- they are still reviewing the books. we understand it will take the the end of next week. they still have to decide whether to make a formal offer. right now it is still back-and-forth, preemptory stuff. on the political side, the irish labour party is meeting this weekend. will they want to say anything before that? we will have to see. >> they have made a number of improved -- three in the sequence so far -- is that what he is holding back on doing? that there be another offer? is it about money or is it about promises? promising to protect for five years, promising local chambers of commerce. >> the irish government raise the bar on tuesday, saying five years is not enough. they put their foot down on that and they also put their foot down on jobs. they were more of a guarantee. at the same time we have a finance office who said the deal is still a possibility

they are interested in aer lingus, they think a deal would be good.did not say anything negative about wanting something to go forward. it was interesting to see him make a point of the success they had today in terms of the results, what they are seeing in iberia and the possibility that could be a similar story for aer lingus. we are using today's numbers to analyze the potential for aer lingus. francine: we have had a couple of figures. how does iag fit? competition is stiff. kari: the discount carrier did not grow quite as much in profits as it might have done. that suggests strong competition from the likes of easyjet and ryanair. other legacy carriers, they are struggling with structural issues. they have been doing an excellent job of developing an airline model where they do not drag one another down. something lufthansa and air france is struggling to come to grips with. francine: time for other top stories. apple has sent out invitations to an event in san francisco where it is expected to unveil released details for the new smart watch. tim

a lot has been done at aer lingus and fairly lean. willie wants to grow the airport.where to grow in heathrow with a limit on the runway. he'll to abide dublin been the third. -- she was talking about dublin being the third. and whether the labor, government, with election if it will pan out. that is yet to be seen. >> kari with the latest on aer lingus. >> at they are waiting to see what their rival air ryan is saying. still has a 30% stake and we will get a wider view of ryan air's view of the world including the aer lingus story. ken jacobs will change the face of this company. very significantly over the last 18 months. >> that is a bit on thursday. wanted to update you with head of the eurogroup trying to keep our finger on the pulse. dusselbloem seems to be suggesting that change is possible if greece respects targets. that is being broken at the moment. he said to reporters on the ground and we were plenty more from that in a couple of minutes. ♪ >> you have no knowledge as to how mr. putin will perform. i believe he miscalculated quite a net -- quite a bit in

last week, the shares of aer lingus fell on the reaction to this and the politics so far. it seems very mired in politics. i was watching an irish hearing last week, and you can send that sort of the sympathies are not necessarily in favor. there is a lot of concern about regional connections to heathrow . >> and for pilots, as well, opposition. >> yes. >> thank you for the very latest on ryanair. he will go back to this story many times during the show, no doubt, but coming up later on the program, the chief financial officer from ryanair who will be joining us for a first on bloomberg interview, 7:00 u.k. time. >> breaking news with the number three player in the private banking industry in switzerland. of course, they kick off the earnings season for the swiss banks. their operating profit rises. when it comes to assets under management, they are seeing and uplift, two hundred 91 billion swiss francs by the end of the year. total assets of by the same amount. if you are a shareholder in julius baer you may get a dividend. this is up but cost-cutting this is what we unde

daylight he ever your caught you're not going to have nothing done so that's the reason why we're lingus families and prop m 2u for the critique for the memo we got it's not a calendar item he wanted to ask some answers succeeds to be respond to by staff the first i wanted to find there if there's any idea to get an opinion from the district attorney's office from the part of the office annual limit that are under discussions mr. taylor the intufbt of the amazed u amazes i amounts that have been dmertd to 23407b office use they're not no office anymore and this has to do the demolition the building and the new building you have to take out the new part and not the demolished 0 office space i needed an opinion on those two things thirdly a little trouble parking today, i wants lucky to get a space garage has best practices terminal he ever since puc the spaces are not allocated for puc this is the depay any attention if you don't build parkinson's people from puc have plenty of cars she should have put parking in the building and many of us in the court house which are not being able to p

. >> i look at the aer lingus deal and ryanair has a stake. what is the incentive? should know. the appeal to give the u.k. regulator to sell down to 5%. ryanair was facing a fire sale and there was interest. there is serious interest. it would be galling it to do so. they have made three attempts to buy it. will there be a final reluctant? let's put the firepower in more. i would be inclined to think that is what happens. >> we have two different animals. they have competed today and there is there is a way for them to coexist. >> it is safe to say the business story is done now and ryanair had the big push. what is next? >> they are offering products out there. ryanair is in the early stages. we have airport costs. they have said "why not?" let have more to do with technology and social media. they are doing it. we see the early rewards this morning. >> let's wrap this up. >> only as a carrier. they have the customer and they see the legacy losing money and what they said is they could lose less money and that is interesting. in the past, the question has always b

ling lingus is in good financial health.d look more secure in the future to be part of the group. i think it is a natural fit. the two big issues back to ryanair. will they sell out their shares? they might be forced to soon anyway. it is a good chance to do so and get reasonable recovery. the irish government is more intangible. dublin is a great market. >> they call them cast iron guidelines. not little ones but big ones. cast iron. >> thank you so much for that. john strikeland. >>> let's switch from airlines to fashion. legendary fashion designer tom ford has admitted the crisis in russia impacted his business but said he remains bullish on emerging markets. we spoke to him in a upcoming conversation. >>> there are so many. tom is a fantastic interviewee. open honest candidate. he's been through so many ups and downs. he famously left the gucci group in 2004. he had a midlife crisis. he come back with his own brand. i went to meet the great man himself. >> i think like everyone emerging markets with china and china is st