at the moment, just higher on the stoxx 600. if we turn lower today, that could drag away, drain away any of the gains we saw in terms of equities. we are still very close to six-year highs. it is all going to be looking at iraq. isry about geopolitical risk feeding into the worries on traders. a bit of a mixed picture in terms of trading. not too exciting. what is exciting, what is moving is brent, crude oil currently up 0.7%. let's have a look at how it has been doing on the week. it has been crescendoing up almost 5%. iraq is the second-biggest oil producer to opec. it of course seeing escalating violence. does that mean there will be disruptions to supply? that is driving crude oil higher. we are also seeing the pound drive higher. let's have a look on a two-day basis. it spiked higher yesterday, up 0.8% on the back of what mark carney did born. he said, i could get ahead of you. we could see interest rates rise. at the moment, the market sees interest rates rising in the u.k. in april. it will be the first central bank to r

the stoxx 600 in europe is at multiyear highs. what can stop equities in their tracks? yieldsversal in the bond , bond yields falling considerably but i do not see that happening. and that kind of environment where you are near growth environment and people are anticipating, i think that would hurt the market. but at the moment, we are still in the fairly early stages of an economic recovery in europe. it is more advanced in the usa. but this time around, there will be a longer cycle that we have seen in the past. cycles last three to five years. but this is a low growth cycle coming out of a major crisis, this could be a longer one. rates the low interest are going to persist for the majority of the major economies. >> yes, that is the message that misses yellen was giving yesterday and that the ecb is giving as well. >> the bank of england, where are you with the rates debate? >> it depends on the growth of the u.k. economy and what is happening with the housing market. the statement about intentionally having rate rises earlier than people anticipated coming in the i

we did go up yesterday on the stoxx 600, but that has gone down. i love this quote from london capital group. he launched a few dovish grenades but they didn't pull out the quantitative easing bazooka. telling us what he could do -- he did a lot. he did all of it and all of it had basically been priced in. >> in terms of the stocks we are watching today, the banks are front and center. >> it is interesting what is moving. the best performer today, it could really benefit from its look to aid the small to medium-sized companies. risk isedit, their becoming lower. money,like the fact that liquidity could go there direction. the biggestide, fall or is selling shares. we are looking towards the capital. >> that figure casting a shadow over this as well. the regulatory story is front and center. politics getting involved in that too. caroline, thank you very much indeed. caroline hyde bringing what you need to know about the markets. stay with bloomberg television. we are taking a short break but after that, we will continue the conversation. i am going

. -- euro stoxx 50. they're not going -- they are going to buy into equities. >> i was looking for a slow melt for the summer? >> i think so. there is no other trade at the time at the market. we still have to believe in ecb. it has the back of the european market. i think we are hearing from the fed is very positive. even last night they said that the fair trade height in mid-2015 will not be a surprise. my personal view is that inflation numbers are catching up even though it is not reported great it is more because the qa numbers are bad so people are forgetting the inflection -- inflation report. >> manish, stay with us. here is what is coming up on "on the move." the u.k. independence party is coming a jean-claude juncker residential appointment. more on that debate later. prosecutors say that news corp. faces possible corporate charges related to phone hacking and bribery. more on those next. ♪ >> i am anna edwards. this is "on the move." investors are digesting comments from japan's prime minister

the euro stoxx 50" flat.the dow jones currently in positive territory and the euro is trading for one u.s. dollar, 35. tesla motors is handing over the keys to its technology in an unusual effort to encourage other automakers to expand beyond gasoline burning vehicles. >> they are promised to give their entire patent portfolio to all comers, that is as long as they have promised not to engage in courtroom battles. this company is seeing its brand shine. >> the model s is one of the most sought after electric cars in the world. 22,005 hundred were sold last year. that is a lot for electric vehicle but a drop in the ocean of the global car market. that is a sore point for the tesla ceo. he wants to speed up the development of electric cars. and so he has decided to allow his competitors open access to tesla's patents. he hopes to accelerate the demise of conventional cars which would ultimately benefit his company. the example of germany illustrates the seismic shift needed. the number of geek are is on the roa

euro stoxx 50 slid down by intent of a percent.over in your city, the dow jones industrial average is slightly up at the moment. stance at 16 731. the euro is trading down against the dollar. >> let's check in with the french open tennis scene right now. germany's andrea petrovich through. she steamrolled errani of italy. is the first time she is mated to the semi's. now, play romanian simona holick for a spot in the final. well, there's just over a week to go before the world cup against in brazil. we continue our series take a look at the different teams competing. and the netherlands are one of the genre teams in the drop and they were runners-up but they have never wanted. fans are hoping 2014 will be the year they close the deal. >> the dutch have a reputation for being laid-back. it almost feels like everyone is on holiday. one thing they take seriously is there football. that's fans formed a sea of orange wherever they go, even just for a friendly. >> we always a positive. always. >> we have a lot of these games all over the

euro stoxx 50 adding more than one percent to close at 33-14. this is still underway. the dow jones is pretty much flat. the u.s. authorities have arrested a man accused of being a guard had i not see death camp. germany is requesting his extradition. >> he has lived in the u.s. since 1952. prosecutors accuse him of complicity in the murder of more than 200,000 jews. he denies any wrongdoing. it is a small albanian village reported to be europe's largest producer of marijuana. now, the prime minister is vowing to regain control of the lawless area. >> they have launched a crackdown against the village. he is hoping this will impresses european neighbors. he wants albanian to join the european union and this is seen as a blot on his country's reputation. >> smoke rises over the village south of the albanian capital. it comes from some of the 11 tons of cannabis police say they have destroyed in a crackdown that began on monday. 800 albanian special police have been trying to gain the upper hand here. since the end of communist rule, gangs have turned this into a no go a

euro stoxx 50 also up a 10th of a percent. in new york city, the dow jones industrial average up as well, and the euro sliding against the dollar. >> we are going to a short break. when we come back, the deteriorating security situation in nigeria. >> and a >> welcome back. we will go to nigeria now where nearly 100 people were killed over the weekend. islamist radicals launched a series of attacks in the northeast. >> in the town of mubi, dozens appeared dead after a bomb went off during a soccer match. and dozens were killed when militants attacked a number of villages. >> the islamist group boko haram and is thought to be behind those attacks. their mission is to establish an islamic state in nigeria and they will go to any end to establish that. they are responsible for kidnapping 200 nigerian schoolgirls, who are still missing. >> it is atypical -- a typical sunday morning. christians in church while soldiers guard the entrance on the street. an attack can come at any time. locals say it was not always that way. >> with t

euro stoxx 50 losing about 1.4%, to end the day at 3302.across the atlantic, in new york, trading is still under way. the dow is slightly up at this point, 16949 is the number. the euro just under $1.36. >> heavy rains and floods in northeastern bulgaria have claimed the lives of at least 12 people. many others are still missing. >> water surged through the streets, hindering rescue workers and piling up cars. the government has declared next monday a day of national mourning. right, let's get to the world cup now, and a match with an impact. >> a shocking 1-0 defeat of italy, but it was england who suffered even more than the italians. >> the group arithmetic means there is now no way england can make it through. >> more on that after this match report. >> costa rica stunned the football world again. the italian superstar and his teammates havilland themselves to blame. he squandered a number of great chances to score but despite some sublime passes failed to hit the mark. costa rica mounted numerous assaults on the italian defense and wer

the eurozone euro stoxx 50 also up, closing at 3275. the dow jones industrials, currently in slightly positive territory. it is time to turn to the world cup in brazil. belgium taking on algeria. >> belgium is considered to be a dark horse in the tournament. but found themselves trailing early on in the match, and then rallied to eke out a 2-1 victory. >> the coach of belgium was delighted with the outcome and his tax. -- tactics. two of his substitutes he brought on scored the equalizer and winning goal. but the first half was all about algeria. they filed in the box in the 25th minute. the algerian scored from the spot to give his side a 1-0 lead. they'll jump found it difficult to outplay the defensively strong algerians. but finally, midway through, they brought in a midfielder who plays for manchester united. the move paid off to bring the belgians level. with just 10 minutes remaining in the match, drees martin slammed in this shot to make it 2-1 belgium. the coach could not have been happier. >> we are joined from our sports desk

euro stoxx 50 had an even bigger day.he dow jones industrial average at the moment is nearly .5% up, and the euro at the moment trading slightly down against the dollar. >> nigeria considered to be africa's great hope at the tournament. >> nigeria has already conquered the continent. after their win in last years africa cup of nations, the super eagles are hoping to make an impact on the world stage. >> national coach has managed to create unity within the team. his 23-man squad is now in the united states preparing for the tournament. facilities here are better than what many players experience at home. in nigeria's premier league, away wins are rare, even for top teams. the reigning champions only managed two victories away from home last season. it is often down to logistics. clicks because of the journey, maybe the strain is too much. >> we traveled with the team when they went to play the bottom of the table. departure -- 1:00 a.m. after a prayer for a safe journey, we set off on a 17-our trip across nigeria. there a

the dax is up slightly, and the euro stoxx down .17%. let's see what the euro is doing -- trading up. $1.36, and the dow jones down .25%. >> the german government has canceled a contract with u.s. telecommunications firm verizon. >> the german interior ministry says it has done so because it is concerned about links between foreign companies and intelligence agencies. >> the cancellation comes after documents leaked last year by former nsa contractor edward snowden showed verizon was forced to provide customer records to u.s. agencies. the interior ministry has announced deutsche telekom will now become the government's official internet service provider starting next year. when we come back, a dire situation in iraq. >> plus, we will have some group stage >> and welcome back. iraq's prime minister says his country will attend the first session of the new parliament inside ongoing turmoil. >> he told military commanders as is militants would nail to prevent parliament from meeting is planned next tuesday. he did warn that isis would try

similar losses on the euro stoxx 50. the dow jones, of course trading is still underway in new york, slightly lower at this hour. the euro, pretty much $1.36 right now. >> onto world cup news now. the netherlands have completed their march with their latest victims. >> the dutch are the first team to make it three wins out of three. >> robin and his teammates have reason to celebrate. they finished the group stage winning all of them matches. the netherlands concentrated on the counter at -- on counterattacking in the first half, such as here with a impressive 50 meter solo run. the dutch did score in the last minute and the new substitute came into but the netherlands on the board. the orange jerseys wrapped up at injury time. who made no mistake? two to nothing, the netherlands. with that they move on to the round of 16. >> the defending champions, spain, managed to salvage some of the dignity. >> but a little late to the winning matches, spain is now headed home. >> ain't got off to a sluggish start, but in the 36th m

the euro stoxx 50's value, meanwhile, grew a full percent over new york. the dow jones industrial average is up by a bit more than .5%. the euro is trading up against the dollar, $1.3655. one economy in the eurozone still in need of a major boost is italy. the prime minister promises what he calls to unblock italy, with a series of new reforms designed to boost productivity and investment. >> will he be able to deliver? let's look at some of the challenges he is facing. >> ducati motorbikes from bologna are a much loved and successful brand, but the company is having difficulty. german carmaker audi took ducati over two years ago. now it wants to lower costs and hike sales. that means a seven-day week, but ducati workers and their powerful union are having none of that. they are striking, even the similar policies have turned companies around elsewhere. investors are critical about doing business in italy, citing the country's high production costs and it's high energy costs. they also complain about excessive red tape. the new government wants to drive th

the stoxx 600 down. most industry groups falling.is a day for particular stories, particular stock movers. we have the world bank coming out lowering growth prospects for this year not only in the united states but japan, brazil, russia, china. the market doesn't seem too worried. what it is worried about is single stock names. we see france trading lower, ftse, spain as well. let's dig into the dax. lufthansa, we see a profit warning from them. similar concerns in france. i will be back in a moment. >> welcome back. you are watching "the pulse." i am guy johnson. we are just getting data coming out of the u.k. relating to employment. u.k. jobless claims falling 27,000, slightly better than expected. that takes the unemployment rate 6.6%. the estimate was 6.7%. slightly better. we have moved off of forward guidance to a certain extent but the pound is not reacting a great deal. that is the cable rate at the moment. it may refresh in a moment. 1.6764 is where we are trading. i want you take you back to the uber story. we have been get

. >> shyer is the biggest mover on the stoxx 600. has for the drugmaker ended.hyer rejected three acquisition offers. five ohst it was 46 for you bowlers. in just $46.5 billion. another stock on the move this tsb shares are higher. for more on this ipo and what it means for lloyd's, let's bring in christopher wheeler. what we heard from lloyd's, did it matter with your expectations or was it different? >> i think it might have matched four or five months ago. as it turned out there has been talk that only 25% would be i think it is a pretty good result. >> what do you make of the strategy? i know you think it is quite challenging because they want to grow by 50% in five years. 90% of that comes from mortgages. how are they going to generate growth? >> it's challenging. they want to be seen as someone customers go to because they have superior products, no legacy issues. growing your balance sheet by 50% in five years is something most banks would not want to do. this is a really unusual strategy. to be quite difficult for them to execute. i can see what they are

if you believe you are going to see an uplift in emerging markets, buy dax relative to msci and stoxxflation is negligible, equities. this, handed to the fx. they wanted to see 170 and they got $1.70. absolutely. they got it. they wanted to take it up there through that level. trade higher or is it in the price? you had a conversation with adam and he said he was surprised by carney's speech. he says the market has got it wrong, overambitious. citigroup say november is the first hike in rates. >> thank you. >> london's thriving tech scene taking on silicon valley. a study commissioned by bloomberg shows the u.k.'s southeast now has more tech jobs than california. this was the topic of a conversation with bloomberg founder mike bloomberg and the mayor of london, boris johnson. they sat down right here with a bloomberg businessweek editor. why cities are so focused on technology. you createextent, jobs that people can start businesses in and get to work when they are young. we'll have the problem of creating jobs. it does not require the space that big cities do not have. if you want a

we saw the stoxx 600 drop from the six-month high -- the six-year high, i might a. -- i might add. i want to check out how tesco is doing after those numbers came in. had been expected. up 1.6%. apparently, the picture is. . if you are a customer. prices are being slashed. higher noting anytime soon, not for several months. companys never been so added. volkswagen is selling shares. all to get their hands on skandia, the swedish truck maker, selling shares to be able to pay for that acquisition. by -- is off by half a percent. once again seeing sales drop. car sales down 11% across this brand in italy. thank you. let's talk about what else is happening today. g7 leaders meeting in brussels today without president and 10 -- president cute and -- president putin. despite its absence, russia likely to feature prominently on the agenda. >> unless you want to talk about stalled eu trade talks with the u.s., the entire conversation will be dominated on what is next in crimea, in russia, in ukraine. it is crucial to take a look at what is happening in eastern ukraine. although language fr

stoxx 600 up 0.2%. but stillts are shut optimism is there in the currency markets.e have seen money going into the riskier assets. the reference rate in china was raised by more than in a year-and-a-half. currently it is 6.238. you can also see the desire to get into risky assets with the aussie dollar trading up 0.3% as well. risk appetite also being shown in the bond market. i will lead you with just how close we are in terms of borrowing costs between the u.s. and spain. u.s. currently 2.6%. we are seeing yields go higher as many are expecting bond buying will continue to ease. we are getting a tapering of stimulus but we are getting far more stimulus in europe. spanish borrowing costs at a record low. italian at a record low as well. it just shows you the divergence in policies across the atlantic. >> caroline, thank you very much indeed. >> coming up, another bloomberg exclusive. vueling airlines ceo alex cruz joins us live right here on "the pulse." low-cost travel, consolidation and doing business in europe. ♪ >> good morning. welcome back. 25 minutes past th

overall, the stoxx 600 is up on the quarter, the longest winning streak since 2010.er on, you will get indications from the u.s. in terms of new home sales. that is going to drive the market. retail sales in germany were a little bit lower. we are waiting for the mortgage numbers. guy will bring you those very shortly. in terms of inflection on the currency site, dollar-yen, yen coming off its highs in the session. we will wrap up the quarter tomorrow. looks like a fairly strong one. act in a couple of minutes. ♪ . . >> welcome back. you are watching "the pulse." we are live from bloomberg's european headquarters in london. let me get you up to speed. bnp paribas said to be planning a guilty plea today to end a criminal investigation into u.s. sanctions violations. the bank is said to have won a reprieve which gives it six months to prepare for a ban on dollar transactions. the year-long ban could affect oil and gas transactions. set to miss a bond payment today, putting the country on the brink of its second default in 13 years. a u.s. court has blocked the payment

this is where we're standing with the stoxx 600. 343 and change for the stoxx europe 600. down 0.6%. if you take a look at the heat map, it tells the story. there are some gainers, but they're in a distinct minority as you can see at the top there. the european markets have been struggling of late and dealing this week with this weaker than expected pmi data. so all the more reason for the ecb, arguably, to step up to the plate. the euro has been on the defensive, as well, as has the pound since charney didn't really give the sterling bulls what they wanted at the testimony yesterday. all right. now, a few corporate stories we are keeping an eye on this morning. portugal's second lifted bank after a lender announced a capital high. the stock initially dropped by as much as 8% after announcing a capital increase of up to 2.25 billion shares have bounced back.. another volatile trading session for another european lender, this time, bmps, has been down by more than 20% in today's trade, less than two weeks after the bank's problematic issue. and we are talking about this one

stoxx doing nothing, back on the market in 30 minutes. ♪ >> welcome back to the second half-hour of " line." the mayor of san francisco says that -- calls the lack of affordable housing in his city a genuine crisis, but lower income residents a short drive south are also feeling squeeze, so their city is sticking up for them. it we spent some time in east palo alto for this report. >> famously a home to technology giants and billionaires, but it is also home to this child care worker at stamford. together with her husband and kids, she had been living there happily for six years until an unexpected eviction order arrived. >> for homelessness to be a reality? for your family? i have no choice. >> her fight was against equity residential, america's largest publicly traded landlord. paid $11311 they million for her apartment complex. tried and failed to victor for late rent payments, then settled after she could show that required home repairs had not been completed. echoing -- equity one residential would not make anyone available. >> why do you think that the landlord wants to evict pe

gains for the stoxx 600 creeping up towards those six-year highs once again.e advanced in germany. the dax up about .1% as well. caroline hyde is here at the touch screen with three stocks to watch. am indeed. i will even give you six if the character decides to open. a slight delay to stocks trading n amsterdam and paris. a technical glitch slowing those trades down. b&m retail. e u.k. retailer comes on the -- new kid on the block to the stock exchange. trading higher, up by 5% at the mole. home retail is falling today in the united kingdom. they sell picnic tables. the likes of pipes and garden furniture. doing very well as the center starts to be on a roll. profitable not doing so well. margins are falling for both of those key stores, that home retail operates. down almost 1%. unilever trading up 1.3%. a bit of a hint of m&a in the u.k. press today. the maker of home products is potentially being looked at by private equities to some four pounds per share. it could be being eyed up for 40 pounds a share. could it go any higher? mark, back to you. france st

i want to look at the stoxx 600. this is your outperform her, minors.k to you. >> thank you very much indeed. you have had regional data from germany not looking good. coming up, marchionne's magic. the italian exec has spent years steering fiat toward success. what is in store next? that is next on "the pulse." ♪ >> good morning. welcome back. you're watching "the pulse." i am guy johnson. >> i am olivia sterns. here are the bloomberg top headlines. china says it will press ahead with territorial claims that it caused friction with japan and other neighbors on the south china sea. a chinese military leader rebuffed criticism at an international security meeting over the weekend. last week vietnam said china sank one of its fishing boats off of vietnam's coast. >> thailand's junta deployed circles -- soldiers. saidilitary leader has that a nationwide curfew will remain in place until order is restored. he also said it may take at least a year to return thailand to civilian rule. carlllionaire investor icon says he has no knowledge of investigations into

at the moment, just higher on the stoxx 600. could drag away, drain away any of the gains we saw in terms of equities. we are still very close to six-year highs. it is all going to be looking at iraq. isry about geopolitical risk feeding into the worries on traders. a bit of m

they say you should buy the dax relative to the stoxx 50. why?tudes are the cheapest since 2003. the dax is a huge place for them on emerging market recovery along with china improvement. some companies -- in case you forgot what we do everyday, it is about companies. siemens, mitsubishi -- my pronunciation was never perfect. what have they pulled out of the bag? the men's going higher. smith and nephew off two and a half percent. they have been a longtime bigulated for some of the players in the industry group. i will leave it for you and go work on my pronunciation of some of the japanese players. >> we all have work to do on that front. let's get back to the geopolitical backdrop of today's trade. conflict in iraq. government forces pummeled positions of sunni insurgents who have captured large tubs of territory north of baghdad. brian has more. >> the racket government is fighting back. they say they have killed up to 300 militants. the insurgents control large swaths in the north of the country, including the northern cities of mosul and tik

europe after we have hit record highs in the united states with the s&p 500, six-year highs on the stoxx in europe. we have a few in the red. the lowest trading in the u k, off by .5%. let's have a look at the bond markets. theme, aeing a similar little bit of caution and risk aversion today. money coming out of italy and spain and going into germany. darling cost down 1.38%. costs remainwing below the united states on the 10-year. it will costmuch spain tomorrow on the 10-year. we are going to have a look at the euro, currently trading flat today as well. a pause for breath on the currency market after we lost .3% yesterday. ecb storm, of course. let's have a look at the industry groups. we are basically up across the board. financials the big winner today. back to you in a couple of minutes. that is your check for the assets. ♪ p welcome back to "the ulse." >> looks like industrial production coming out of the u.k. increasing. numbers in line with expectations. the pound dipped just before the numbers came out. let's show you what is happening right now. we should have this on the scre

of course, that is pushing the stoxx 600 lower for the week, currently off by .25% today.ancial down by .8%. nearly every single industry group is trading lower on the day. of course, we have been coming off six-year highs, so clearly we are still relatively high in terms of our valuations. let's have a look at how the pound has been affected. there are three key things at play. most of all, it is coming from mark carney and george osborne, driving the pound higher. look at that jump up. mark carney said we could have an interest rate increase sooner than you think. .il also we are going to go back to the oil because we have brent trading at an eight-month high. up .9% today. the instability in iraq, will it disrupt supply? that is the concern. we will be back in just a moment. >> just a reminder. you can follow me on twitter. be sure to stay tuned to "the pulse." we will be back in two minutes with more. ♪ >> welcome back to "the pulse." live from bloomberg's european headquarters in london. underent obama is pressure to launch airstrikes to support iraq off on a -- iraq'

. >> we have four straight quarters of gains on the stoxx 600. this quarter alone, we are up 2.3%.has given back a little bit of value. it is the longest stretch of gains since march, 2010. the question is, can that continue? the dax plays with the 10,000 levels but it has rebuffed it twice. in terms of the momentum in these markets, it is the banks that have been the laggards so far in the second quarter. thanks around europe down 3% on the quarter. the names that make the frame, commerzbank, deutsche bank, socgen down double digits. today we wait for mortgage approvals in the u.k. we move the agenda along into the u.s. and we get pending home sales. a couple of companies to bear in mind. the last trading day of the quarter. that is going to be interesting. tui travel, that is the story. creating the biggest beast of travel in terms of revenue. phillips hanging up part of their lighting business. caroline hyde has that story in terms of the whole lighting components. anglo american, we have press reports that they are seeking to worth of billion assets in south africa. the platinu

. >> this was the gold versus stoxx debate we were having a lot last year.d stock is for lovers and gold is for haters. a couple of magazines pick that up and got angry with me. which is a not later attitude which is don't get in the way of central banks and don't hate channel yellen. don't hate in general. the bar when at you're watching a world cup game. it's a sign of the times that we have had a lot of people predicting doom and gloom. a lot of angry people post crisis that did not think central banks could work to solve many of the problems we had in the crisis period. centralere today with banks not declaring a great moderation but at least declared a partial victory on their ability to solve these problems. . thank you very much an michael mckee and we will be back in a few moments. the imf is out with its latest take on the u.s. economy which is not encouraging. you will hear from managing director christine lagarde, stick around. ♪ senoma is home to great wine and scenic views and a raceway where abby teaches customers and audi teaches customers and

stoxx 600 trading flat ahead of u.s. data. initial jobless claims should improve as well.europe we are looking for industrial production. technology trading higher. miners trading lower this morning. still concerns about growth and for investors as well, geopolitical risk back on the agenda. iraq, the key concern. eda capturing the country second-biggest city. worries there. let's have a look at what we're watching in terms of stocks because a lot of it has been focused on france. there was a delayed opening the check out m&a in this industry. back in a moment. ♪ >> welcome back. live from bloomberg european headquarters. .hese are the top headlines militants from a breakaway al qaeda group are extending their control over parts of iraq. capturing the birthplace of saddam hussein. a warnings issued about the global housing market. holocene makers must take more steps to prevent another policymakersh -- must take more steps to prevent another property crash. the bank also faces a possible fine of up to $10 billion. ♪ brazil has spent seven years and more than $11 billion ge

. >> we spent the first 20 minutes of the show talking about iraq, oil, but we are looking at the stoxxurope 600 up around 0. 4%. right now, we've still got a number of risk events coming up. we have the fed tomorrow and the decisions and the commentary that we get. that is the focus right now in particular for uk investors, of course. pretty much gains across the board around 5%. let's take a look at the asian session, too, a mixed bag as far as performance. we saw the s&p down 0.2%. we had a more dovish than expected rba minutes out. tedz they're not sure right now that the current stimulus isn't off setting the mining investment and, of course, the government belt tightening, too. we oversaw it going under a bit of pressure, watching the indian rupee, at a two-month low today. india, two-thirds of their oil imports need right now. all the geopolitical risk, the risk east keeping some of those risk currency bid right now. but no real big moves right now. a quick check on sterling, of course, ahead of the cpita but we're expecting to get 1 of 6978 level right now. the british gornment

pretty flat story on the stoxx europe 600 as indicated behind me. we closed out yesterday on a isolately mixed note. what we're seeing this morning is a delicate start to trade. let's recap some of our main european markets, as well. the ftse 100 very, very flat. 6733 even. the xetra dax is flat and the cac is flat, as well. so that really says it all here in european trade today. let's talk about some of the specific stories that are drawing our attention this morning. you've got barclay's shares trading lower, as the new york attorney general is suing the lender for security fraud. standard charter is off by almost 3%, trading lower after the disappointing trading update. the firm says that the first half has been disappointing. it says income is expected to be lower than what we saw last year. the london stock exchange bucking the trend higher by 5.5%. it's buying frank russell for 1.6 billion pounds. the lse unveiled a near $11 billion pounds rights issue in order to raise capital. then you've got the booing party over here up by approximately 4

a fair amount of green across these boards. 0.2% higher on the stoxx europe 6 hup. it was a shaky start. the dax, for instance, one of them. but now you can see across the charts, we are mostly positive. gaining on the ftse 0.1%. giving back into territory, still positive about 0.2% on the stock market. firmer now for the french market, about 0.3%. the ftse mib is still holding on to about 0.4%. across to asian markets, let's take a look at the picture. you can see red across the board. there have been a lot of concerns about the growth stateside. data points, consumer spending, the latest for instance which grew less than forecast yesterday. also the market stateside had extended some of the declines after one of the fed officials spoke about interest rates going up possibly by the first quarter next year. so you saw some of these asian markets responding to those forces. the biggest drop on the japanese stock markets. we've seen the jab need yen pick up on some of the safe hach trade. more modestly, you can see across the board for south korea, china and australia

right now, the stoxx 600 up 0.2% in trading. the focus today, the lack of data is, of course, the bank of england minutes out in around ten minutes time. what is the situation as far as the split on the committee? let's take a look at the top stocks driving this session in particular. we've got h&m saying it enjoyed a strong second quarter. both sales and profits jumped in the period as it snatched up full market share gaining around 0.8%. h&m wants to expand its online footprint adding up to ten online markets. meanwhile, cellectis is with pfizer. under the agreement, cellectis will receive a payment of $8 million. on the bond markets, the focus is going to be a gain on what we see in the u.s. markets in particular after that stronger than expected cpi reading yesterday. the three-year, in fact, the one to watch, 0.99% yesterday, a three-year high. lgs seeing the ten-year spike as we head into the meeting, sri. >> we have the press conference by janet yellen just ahead of that. asian stocks are fairley subdued with the exceptio

the stoxx is coming off highs after the fifth hour of trade. after looking at the other major indices, the dax is up a third of a percent now. still positive. the ftse and cac in france are slightly up. and on friday, it's about the coal market today where the stronger growth is. we'll move on to a couple of the big stocks, these are the corporate ones we are watching this morning. investors energized with the wind turbine for investors. the company announced two key u.s. orders. the tock is one of the biggest in europe after the company said on friday it received two firm and unconditional orders for turbines in north dakota, north america and kansas. meantime, philips shares are on the rise as the company confirmed to merge the led components in the lighting division into a stand-alone subsidiary. philips is looking for third-party developers to contribute which could be spunoff. >>> and meantime, the british airline easyjet is trading after a bank of merrill lynch is neutral up 4.5% on the trade. meantime on the bond markets, we'll see how w

markets are evenly split between the losers and the gainers with the stoxx 600 relatively unchanged if in market session so far today. the german ifo coming in below expect ages 109.7 versus 110.2. very little move as far as the euro or the market is concerned right now. a bit of a strength of core in the weakness of the periphery. slight movements. low volumes of gain comparing yesterday's session, too. let's have a look at the foreign exchange market. all the focus today on both what's going on in sterling. we've got mark carney's testimony this morning at 10:30 cet. how is he going to justify that shift to a more hawkish start we got on june 12th? and, of course, dollar/yen, we were talking about this earlier on the show. we're waiting to find out what abe can do. >> that exactly is the big story. that's informing the trading session for the nikkei 225, tokyo equities so broadly. ending fairley flat. the markets are looking for some spans and some clarity later on today. about half an hour or so from now, we should hear from the japanese prime minister on the third face of this long

the headlines, a gain for russia and europe stoxx. pretty low volumes in the markets this morning, but it is monday morning. as you can see, some of the biggest losses are in the cac 40 as we continue to watch bnp with the situation and the department of justice. and the likes of italy and spain under the most pressure this morning, but i'm still talking about .60 to .70. the pharmaceutical company actelion has a drug that could help to boost its product pipe line. the stock is up a whopping 14 0 14.50%. and bmps is jumping on the open only for the trading session. right now it is just shy of 7.5% higher. we'll take a quick look at the bond rates this morning, bnp palibas, sorry, the bank is suggesting that rather tensions in iraq will continue to add to gapes in peripheral bonds pushing the spreads tighter this morning. we have trading near 278, so significantly below the 3% level. we'll keep an eye on u.s. tenures in particular after last week's session was at 258. a quick check on the foreign exchange rates, the dollar is feeling p

decliners currently outpacing advancers by 6-3 on the dow jones stoxx 600. the ftse was up 20 points, the dax up 11. this morning, ftse 100 down. off 0.2% for the xetra dax. the cac current is fairly flat. keep our eyes on treasury yields, 2.42% was the 11-month low yield on the ten-year last thursday. we're up to 2.53%. that did support the dollar. we'll come on to that. his italian yields back below 3% as you can see, interesting what brian was saying about that short italian debt, go long of the equity market. we'll come back to him in a few moments. on the currency markets, the fact that treasury yields have risen has given a boost. euro/dollar on the 1.36 level. we got down to that during the session yesterday. not far away from 3 1/2 month lows of 1.3586. inflation coming out later. gemmen annual inflation looks to be weakest in years in may. and dollar/yen, 102.32 is where we stand. we'll keep our eyes on sterling, 1.6765. another big jump in house prices which we'll come back to fairly shortly with nationwide. that's where we stand right now as far a

stoxx europe 600 down by 0.3% at the moment. selling, we saw flattish close taking place in last night's trade if you joined me for "closing bell" as well. the ftse mib over here just underperforming a little bit further, down by 0.8%, having been a slight outperformer in yesterday's close as well. and a couple of the corporate stories include the following because we've been looking at the shares and the troubled italian lender monte dei paschi di siena, suspended this morning after continued successive losses on the third day of the bank's 5 billion euro share sale. bmps opened in the red. the shares briefly re-opened within the last hour only to extend the fall to almost -- 21% as you can see. shares in valiourec, the company warned that core profit will be 10% lower in 2014 as customers, including petrova off as well. airbus, off by 3.5% as investors react negatively by dubai airlines to cancel an order for some jets. it's not a financial bad news story either. speaking first to cnbc earlier, jeff asked the ceo about the can

let's have a look at the europe stoxx 600 is doing. investors are sitting on their hands ahead of that ecb meeting or announcement later on today. we are close to the 6 1/2 year highs. really, we just want to see what mr. draghi has to say. the xetra dax is down by six points, just below the record high. the ftse 100 coming under pressure a little bit because retailers are down today. we'll come to as to why that is the case in just a little bit. the cac 40, seeing modest increases of 0.1%. here are a few corporate stories this morning. asos shares have plunged after the online fashion retailer issued a profit warning this morning. the ceo says the company will be less profitable due to high promotional activity and the impact of the strong pound. asos shares were down by 40% this morning, have you trimmed some of those declines but still off by a whopping 30%. and smith & nephew, investors welcoming reports that smith & nephew attracted another takeover company, medtronic. there were reports stryker was looking to make a bid last week

right now, stoxx 600 around .2%. not so excessive right now. i guess it is also friday, low volume trading, too. we've got the german and uk markets losing around .5%. in the uk, it's the home builders losing ground. we're going to be talking about that very shortly in particular. let me give you a look at how bond rates are going right now. all the focus, as always on the u.s. markets in particular. we saw the u.s. ten-year breaking down, just shy of 2.60 yesterday in trading. that's the level right now. portugal, too, another interesting one. the bailout yesterday afternoon saying, look, we're not going to add further austerity as per the constitution. we don't need the cash. it was 2.6 billion euros. the dollar on the back foot after the retail sales data yesterday, no change there. we've got euro/dollar slightly higher, 1.3574 the level there. i'll mention sterling. we're talking about this 1.6840 yesterday, following the speech yesterday, and we're seeing the markets pulling forward the likelihood of rate hikes for the uk in particular, to

we're 82 right now reds to greens taking the euro stoxx 600 down 0.6%. a lot of things on investors' minds, talking about that in terms of the pmi data this morning. cautious tone to be taken as far as the french data is concerned. weaker on the services side, weaker on the manufacturing side, too, an indication suggesting actually we could see a contraction in that q-2 gdp data for france. perhaps the french government should be less focused on m&a deals and more focused on economic growth performance and what to do to boost the markets. let's have a look at what happened on friday as far as the u.s. markets are concerned, because the momentum seemed to continue. minor gains as far as the markets are concerned in friday's session, but the one we're really watching is the dow, of course. 50 points now away from that 17,000 level. and we did see fresh highs for the s&p 500 and the dow in friday's session. so, the question is, given the sentiment we've seen in the european markets this morning, can the rally in the u.s. continue? asia? >> let's look at it,