i am mark barton. >> and i am manus cranny.one finance ministers will hold talks in brussels over greece's plan last night, greece officials said they had positive talks with angela merkel, just hours after wolfgang schauble dismissed their request. >> we must realize that, at this moment, it appears that there are powers that would like greece on its knees exactly so they can impose their will. i believe we can do what helps our country and what helps these powers. >> let's get the latest from brussels. hans nichols is there. are the germans prepared to negotiate or not? >> yes, they are clearly leaving the door open for these talks to start today. that is according to a government official. they are demanding of greece to submit a new proposal. the proposal they submitted yesterday can be a baseline. that is on the positive side. as well as the conversation between angela merkel and alexis tsipras. he seemed to say that they made some progress in those talks. after those talks, the government officials from greece clarified t

i am mark barton. also coming today is your smart television passing your conversations on to private parties? first, the risk from greece's standoff with the eurozone grow by the day. that is the view of george osborne. he has been speaking to bloomberg at the g20 meeting in istanbul. greece's future in the eurozone is high on the agenda. the danger of greece leading to a bad outcome is increasing. he said the risks to the world economy and british economy are also growing and he is urging other countries attending the g-20 meetings to find common solutions. in an injury -- in an interview with bloomberg in istanbul osborne talked about the risk and how he is planning to deal with any outcome. >> it is clear the risks to the world economy, the risk to the british economy on the standoff of the eurozone and greece is growing each day and i think the risks of the miscalculation or misstep leading to a very bad outcome is growing as well. here at the g-20 we are urging all parties to this dispute to try

welcome to "countdown," i am mark barton. >> i am anna edwards.rnor of sweden's central bank tells us he is ready to expand the bond buying program. >> you never know, given that you are in in in certain world. we have said many times that would not be the first choice. but never say never. >> breaking news from germany. gdp in the fourth quarter rose by .7%. analysts estimating a number of .3%. way above estimates. that as the economy grew by .1% in the third quarter. just breaking it down, fourth-quarter growth impulse from domestic demand. private consumption rose from the third quarter. investment part of the economy has developed positively as well. construction rises significantly from the third quarter. exports up strongly as well. imports rising at a similar pace. after the french coming group in line -- economy grew in line with estimates, we did have a warning that the economy has overcome the week phase it hit earlier. with consumers benefiting from falling oil prices and salaries. real waysges rose more than thatey had since 2008. that

you can maybe find mark barton's interview from 1999.bloomberg terminal go backwards. >> i was an old timer. did the fed just enter the currency war? ♪ >> time for today's bart chart. did the fed did just injure the currency war -- 4enter the currency war? they pointed to the rising dollar as a source of export restraint. leaving the u.s. as the only developed nation forecast to raise interest rates in 2015 giving upward momentum to the dollar. let's have a look at the chart that reflects how well the dollar is doing. this is the bloomberg dollars pot index. i have gone back to 2005. it tracks the performance of 10 leading global currencies against the dollar. on february 11, the right-hand corner, it hits an all time high. 2005. since then, it has fallen just a little bit. down by about .5%. others have also expressed concerned about the dollar strength including warren buffett and goldman sachs president, who questioned whether the fed can raise rates without damaging the economy. the stronger dollar is the fact of tightening. -- de fa

mark barton, did you see it coming? >> only when it was above 1%. no. not when it was above that. look at that up. the highest rise since 2016. it is an oil company and a shipping company. that is why they are developing their stake in denmark and the biggest bank. it will distribute an extraordinary cash dividend to shareholders. what is astonishing is a subsidiary for oil and shipping business and the missed earnings estimates today. the shares are up by 4.5% with the highest share prices since october of 2008. that is something special today for shareholders. a 12% jump in profits and higher earnings. net income missed estimates. they are focusing on faster growing nations like china and nigeria. the oilfield services company had shares are up by 2% today. the profit fell by 10% because of the project a lace the slumping oil prices. the earnings did detail that. we have something special of the oil company ceo. he told us that we will see 70-80 dollars more quickly than expected. that is something. the oil company executive is reluctant to put the head on the line. >> we have a

manus boy join us on the conversation, mark barton is at mark barton tv.body is trying to do deals. mark: everything you need to know about the u.k. election but were afraid to ask. the crude front with a billion-dollar write-down. and we will be speaking with them and a couple minutes, you will not what to miss the interview. ♪ >> these>> are the bloomberg top stories. germany investigating a company for tax evasion. the lender says it is cooperating and will conduct an inquiry. commerzbank says they are -- the investigation is about old cases and they're interested in rapid comprehensive clarification. american interest -- american express is raising interest rates on cards for the first time in five years. more than one million customers have been told their annual rates will climb an average of 12.9 percentage points. a firm is a making the firm is making adjustments after finding its rates were below rival cards. hewlett-packard has forecast quarterly and full-year profits that will miss analyst estimates. profits for 2015 will be $3.35 to $3.73 a sha

i am mark barton. >> and i am anna ed3wards. >> and i and manus cranny. key transport hub, the second day of the cease-fire, and we will bring you the latest. >> just about 6:00 in london, and let's talk about greece. euro finance ministers reconvene in brussels, aimed at breaking the gridlock between greece and its creditors. the greek minister said he was confident of a favorable outcome for greece, signs of a willingness to compromise sending greek stocks and bonds higher on friday. and in athens yesterday, an estimated 20,000 people gathered outside the parliament in a show of support for the government. hans nichols has been monitoring developments over the weekend. good morning to you. what is the greek strategy going into this? they still want a raging loan, and don't they? >> they do. they are likely to plead for more time, not necessarily more money. i hesitate to report i am phil in berlin. i will be heading to brussels in a few hours. the market expectation on that meeting is very much that there will be a compromise. the danger is if you do no

when they make the next "star wars" movie, mark barton will be there. that the momentum, it is a momentum and the dollar moves lower? and today, another boom because of personal consumption expansion. the lowest since 2009. >> on why would you not to buy bonds? >> maybe that is a good idea. a couple of points on what's mark was talking about. clearly, inflation is what is driving this certainly the very low level of headline inflation that is driving this. the sedative point i would make is looking after the overall bond, a difference between short end one year or two year or the long end. long end as much more responsive to inflation. at the front end, more responsive to the fed and what the market thinks. flattening in this environment is probably likely in the sense the fed will hike. but because of low inflation, they would not have to go super aggressive. >> having said all that, we go through june at the first in rate hike. as a result, we think the market is quite complacent. payrolls is going to be important on friday. firstly, we think we'll ge

. >> i'm at mark barton tv. >> manus at manus cranny. >> has gold fever faded?r that. >> has gold fever faded? from november 5 last year, 2013-2015, from november 5 last year through january 22 thnd year there was a steady progression. since that day, gold has fallen back and dropped almost 8%. it has fallen for four consecutive weeks. this comes after the precious metal slipped by 1.7% in 2014 dropping for a second year for the first time since 2000 in 2013 by the way it fell 28%. the biggest slump since 1980. gold has been falling as greece battles with its creditors. we have the strengthening dollar. this month's losses in exchange traded products backed by gold reached almost $4 billion. the position on gold tumbled 18% in february. that is the third straight drop and the longest since november. even the billionaire hedge fund manager john paulson kept his stake in the world's biggest e.t.p. unchanged for a sixth straight quarter as of the end of 2014. what are analysts saying? they don't see big moves in the price of gold this year. the median price forecas

it is mark barton. >> when it shares fall that much, it takes the ftse lower.he hits it and overcomes the previous. the previous highs i was literally here. let's talk abate -- let's talk about hsbc. they profits miss. the charges are lower and it is talking about the swiss unit that helped customers evade taxes and expressed apology for that. the biggest drop since 2013 is significant. something i discovered about the drugmakers of the stoxx 600 is that it is up at the highest point ever for the stoxx 600 index today. it is up 24% and up 14% this year. the big story is outside of the drugmakers. there are $10 billion in cash and it has the industry talking about who will be next. up at the highest levels ever and the highest since 2014 in reporting earnings for stop -- earnings. the fourth-quarter earnings beat estimates and the volume will accelerate outside of units in the first half of the year. the french company should unite after all of the regulatory processes are over. it is all about hsbc and the ftse 100. >> thank you very much. we are waiting for th

welcome to countdown i am mark barton.m manus cranny -- >> i am manus cranny. >> we will be looking at the non-farm payrolls coming out. >> angela merkel and francois hollande heading to moscow. it comes after they met with the ukrainian president. u.s. and russian officials skeptical a resolution is possible as more troops and firepower from both sides poor interview -- pour into the conflict. ryan chilcote is on the ground in moscow. good morning. what is on merkel and francois hollande's agenda? >> germany and france's leaders arrive in moscow. they will meet with the russian president in the kremlin which you see behind me for talks. the aides gather at 1:00 p.m.. they were in key of -- kiev./ the french president saying they have an initiative that will restore the tour toil integrity of ukraine. a lot of skepticism on all sides particularly in the west. we have seen talks not just in moscow but minsk, milan. normandy. and geneva, going back to last summer. none have resulted in a lasting end to the violence. there is

let's get some of the stories within that market with mark barton. >> good morning.ay for danone today. it is going to see no pickup in sales this year, joining its european consumer goods peers in forecasting such eventuality. inflationary fears, weakening currencies in emerging markets, also playing its part. the chairman sums it up. last year, a year of political and economic turbulence, not to mention severe volatility. a taste of what awaits us in the years ahead. sanofi up by 0.25 presented a. its got a new chief executive. he comes from bayer health care. he's got a big job on his hands reversing -- replacing the former ceo. he has to rebuild investor confidence. shares rising today up by 0.2%. telecom italia also rising today. is the country's largest telecoms company. it reported debt reduction that showed some early results of the chief executive's turnaround efforts. fourth-quarter sales dropping 4.1% comparing with a 9.1% drop for the first nine months of the year. one down, two up. jonathan: thank you very much. equities just opening up over in athens, t

mark is at mark barton. >> digital but -- additional business. we will speak to the one now after two minutes. stay tuned. >> welcome back to countdown. in a world where google and apple ridge in billions in profit, how can entrepreneurs even begin to think about competing? she is julie meyer, the ceo. great to have you with us. i read that you will bring 600 people interested in technology together and the headline is that it is war. is it a battle cry or a serene moment? having an idea, challenging the world, or moving your idea forward. which wins. >> we chose the quote because it's so much of the entrepreneurship is a real battle and it is never giving up. the reason why we are positioning it against results last week is that people have the wrong view of who the enemy is today. the davids are not trying to kill goliath. they are trying to partner. the goliaths are creating network effects apple, network, google. if i am a retailer, i have to look at my real competitors and the tech firms. and, i have to have a playbook for dealing with that.

mark: welcome to countdown, i am mark barton. anna: i am anna edwards. manus: i am manus cranny.so coming up another bloomberg exclusive despite recent difficulties, the market for luxury goods is still growing. >> all the markets are not going in the same direction at the same time. but we're in a normal situation. at the end of the day, the luxury market as a whole is structurally growing. anna: greece could try to buy time on its loan agreement. the investigation may request a six-month extension. manus: the anti-austerity government suggests that they will ask for an extension on monday. there could be new strings attached. mark: osborne is said to have riled his european counterpart in brussels. people say he questioned the finance ministers on whether the impact of greece running out of money had been fully considered. anna: let's get straight to brussels. hans nichols has been following this story all week. what is the likelihood of a request for an extension. if it comes through, what is the likelihood of asking? hans: it depends if the request is just about the loan agre

i'm mark barton. >> i'm anna edwards. >> i'm manus cranny.oming up, the new head of luxury of a watch business. >> 6:00 in london. let's get straight to breaking news. they are saying the net loss is forecast at 170 billion yen. the focus goes to the forecast the company is making for the full year. it has been reduced to 170 bil lion yen. things moving in the right focus there. a lot of focus also on how the image sensors business has been performing. those are the headlines coming out of sony. give us some details. good to see you. >> hi, anna. the net loss forecast narrowing. 170 billion yen. actually beating analyst asked miss -- estimates. analysts have been pretty optimistic about sony this time around. analysts recommendations are putting the stock at -- this is just a preliminary outlook for sony. they're counting system was disrupted at the company some studio. there is key data like smartphone tvs that people have been waiting for come especially the smartphone business. it has been pretty badly hit. they have been trained overhaul

i am mark barton. >> i and anna edwards. >> and i and manus cranny. >> "birdman" suite the authors withest actor best director, and best cinematography. you can find more on this story at bloomberg.com. >> ok, we are getting some breaking news. the swiss half and they gave numbers and they deliver their news today. obviously, the report in swiss and that comes in lower than the market had estimated at 1.3 swiss franc, below the forecast of 1.4. in terms of how the business is going to perform, the volume will rise in all regions. last week, they put a clear target on that. there is a rise between 2% and 5%. now, when it comes to the fourth order, specifically the fourth quarter, sales missed estimates four point 97, but on an actual operating profit, we had a. -- eight beat. this was forecast by bloomberg. a rise in all regions. this was company, let's just see if they day on the swiss franc, and we will keep an eye on that. the ceo of the new merged company, 6.5 billion euros worth of assets couple of weeks ago. no news yet. share buybacks and capital rewards to shareholders. what let'

i am mark barton. just getting earnings for 2014. 1.76 oh yen euros.nalysts were estimating 1.7 4 billion. narrowly ahead of -- 1.7 6 billion euros. narrowly ahead of estimates. analysts estimating an increase of 3%. organic consolidated revenue growth is what it is called. that excludes the effects of acquisitions, disposals come and currency swings as well. operating profit excluding items 3.1 3 billion. analysts estimating three point 00 6 billion. those metrics seem to be ahead of estimates. -- 3.00 6 billion. analysts estimating 3% as well. when it comes to heineken we will be asking the chief executive officer later about how it is doing. we had high levels of rain in europe. it is exposed to russia. has the performance been better in russia? it will be fascinating to see whether they have improved. sab miller showed some interest in heineken in september. heineken did call the approach nonactionable. it is still viewing the approach from sab and other suitors in such a silhouette. the country sees further volatility in emerging markets in 2015.

mark barton and anna edwards. 20 fastest-growing economies this year do you want to know who they are? >> i just tweeted out a quote. i don't think lowe's companies used data to the best interest of their consumers. up next, find out what happens when one small company took on apple and one. stay with us. ♪ >> these are the bloomberg top stories at this hour. hewlett-packard is in talks according to people with knowledge of the matter. the purchase of aruba would be the biggest in over three years. the deal could be announced as early as next week. apple has been told to pay almost $533 million after u.s. jury said it had infringed on texas-based smart class. they said it used inventions related to data storage and payment systems in its itunes software. apple says it will fight the decision. >> the landscape for the travel industry is changing yet again. demand for an increasing number of hotel reservations that are being made on mobile devices. a new app claims it makes last-minute bookings easier than ever. joi

there i am at mark barton tv. up next, it is bart chart time.rld key trade gauge slumping? stay with "countdown" for more on that next. ♪ >> welcome back to time for today's bart chart. why is the world's key trade gauge slumping? this is the baltic dry index. never done this before on the bart chart. it is a first. measures shipping costs for commodities, coal, iron other and grains. it goes all the way back to 1985, before anna was born. on wednesday, it fell to a record low. the bottom right of your screen of 553 points which is one point lower than previous record go to the far left hand side of your screen that that small yellow circle was set in july and august 1986. levels reached in the after math in the 2008 financial crisis. it troughed at 774 points following -- that's a 9 % slide in six months from the middle of 2008 until the end of 2008. that high was when the index was at 9589 points. the reason for the new record a, a fleet glut and signs of slowing demand of cargos to china. on the first point the capacity over the global fleet

mark harton's stat. if it is wrong -- it won't be it is a barton stat.is up on the tenure and the stock is up relative to the peers over 1% in the same span. the biggest drop since last year. >> i would never question that the stats. the greek equity markets began trading a few minutes ago. they are down and the yields are up. a little bit of risk for the asset markets today. looking at the greek equities lower and it is always crunch talk. are we going to get the deal? it will be a long couple of weeks. the ftse 100 is down and the dax is coming off of an all-time high. we are back into. >> welcome back. this is on the move. economy grew an annualized rate and brought the negative weaker than forecast. let's get out to tokyo. the chief economist. great to have you with us. let's start with the headlines. a a disappointment. who do we blame? what do we blame? >> 2% growth is the number and they have been doing market expectation and the result. we see consumption picking up and there is no slide. there is no need to take the number that tentatively. >> f