posted a 3% increase in underlying sales growth will that be enough to secure unilever's future as an independent company? we'll hear from the firm's ceo after the break. it's a good thing we brought the tablets huh? yeah, and i can watch the game with directv now. oh, sorry, most broadcast and sports channels aren't included. and you can only stream on two devices at once. this is fun, we're having fun. yeah, we are. no, you're not jimmy. don't let directv now limit your entertainment. xfinity gives you more to stream to more screens. >>> welcome back easyjet shares are trading lower after the airline said it was expecting to see continued pressure on passenger revenues easter gave the quarterly results a bit of a bump, but without that the numbers would have been negative the low-cost british airline raised its profit outlook and filled more seats in the recent quarter and in a per seat basis it improved costs and increased revenues easyjet's ceo left earlier this week and the company faces uncertainty from brexit. easyjet is warning that capacity will continue to pressure yields is

focusing on unilever all morning.nterested in the equity, he is, but he is interested in the city us as well. the center of a storm surrounding but it is going to do in the m&a front and where it goes from here. cbs, movee five pretty quickly. what is the right price? >> this is reflected what i think if people's view of the race. if they get continuing news to in the acquisitive, more balance sheet. however, they do a big acquisition, this is going to go into the 60 kind of number. , plus territory. is, 38 basis point is not going to cause you a lot. the moment with credits having come so far so fast, if m&a is played their markets, these kind of things if it comes down --in, i will be thinking guy: we're going to talk about the treasury market next. this is bloomberg. guy: spain it nothing. and mario draghi stay silent on the stimulus exit plans? do nothing. stimulus plans unchanged, out of step with the rest of the developed world. he sees no risk of the economy overheating. yeah. trump urges republicans to delay a

that's a 20% premium >> would that bring unilever to the table?om our point of view it will at the end of the day, we think that unilever, there's a good offer on the table, and there are other risks out there of further reconciliation into space that unilever would want to talk to kraft-heinz warren buffebuffett's game plan invested in a company and he lets the management run the company. >> they go in, they cut like 95% of the costs, and go on. so pablo, anything in your thesis that makes unilever attractive on its own, or is it just a size and cost cutting story? >> it makes it attractive because it's big there's not that many big assets out there. so it's a global company kraft heinz is 80% america exposed. and three, it allows them -- we think kraft heinz has enough exposure in food and they want to diversify but here the wigg bigger pictur this is a rollup story of cgc. they have done seven deals over the last 15 years. they might have been rebuffed, but they always went back and got the deals done we think the same thing will happen and the

what the company has had to do in the same way as unilever did was focus on key businesses.llars for about to pay 18 billion dollars for a main food operator, they have got to make room for that, cut back as much as they can, hopefully selling things like coremans mustered, unilever is the favourite but cannot be ruled out, wholemealfoods that make spam, i don't think and i didn't think people make that any more. keep an eye on the spam! thank you so much. you're going to stick around and take us through some of the other stories, david, around and take us through some of the otherstories, david, great around and take us through some of the other stories, david, great to have you here. still to come. the transformation from sugary sodas to sparkling water. we'll be talking to the head of soda stream. you're with business live from the bbc news. the final route for hs2 be announced later. carillion is amongst the companies awarded the contract £7 billion, information on around 16,000 jobs. joe lynam has much more. it's britain's biggest investment ever in public transport. hi

unilever sharpening focus on profitability by lifting price and cutting spending.ake aim wrestling with slow growth. maker of dove soap what we're talking about. the ceoi spoke with paul polman. discussed shareholder activ activism and m&a strategy after attempted take over earlier this year. focused on shareholder, long term compounding retailer investment model. this shows what enormous value created as unilever. year, continuous total shareholder return. compounded model like a good model. new mexic nejra: you said you were looking record banks business. it's since been sold to mccormick. >> it's obviously a very quality asset. look at the price, we look at many of these things come on the market. you learn something. we have a very disciplined m&a process. glad this first six toes our stable to add to brand. a partnership was the biggest company. continue to strengthen our portfolio. neutron nejra: what do you think you can achieve for that? bit early.ittle it's tremendously complex process. we're in the process now where we're working with testing parties to s

. >> unilever posting better than.he ceo spoke about the results on cnbc this morning >> a combination of our strong top line growth and the work we're doing behind the organizational chains, connected for growth which we already announced for mixed company, more agile, closer to the markets, better in innovation, and you see these effects coming through. we feel confident to say we will at least improve the operating margins as a result for the whole year by 100 basis points >> i like the back drop of that, don't you? >> the products? >> yes better than just a board saying -- stating the company's name i'm sure it's the wallpaper of his offices. unilever shares up 0.6% in london trade. >>> qualcomm warning q4 profit also come in below analyst estimates. the patent battle with apple is taking a toll on its licensing business >>> shares of american express are trading lower. the company's profit declining 33% in the last quarter. results were hurt by higher expenses as the card company spent heavily on customer awards a

. >> unilever reported second quarter sales growth in line with estimates this morning as underlying this is a business clearly very much in the m&a crosshairs at the moment. it has fended off kraft. the question is, does the current business model and plans going forward justify that or do you think the m&a story will be back online? >> what we have focused on is long-term compounding with our continuous investment model, and i think this again shows what enormous value can be created with the unilever model. over the last ten year continuous total shareholder return. so a long-term, compounded model like unilever is a good model for many of our shareholders. >> microsoft shares are rising in extended trading, as much as 2.17% after reporting sales and profit that topped estimates in the fourth quarter. adjusted sales rose $9 as demand almost doubled for microsoft's azure cloud service. it all points to the company's turnaround plan working, and investors are closely following the ceo's plan to reshape microsoft as a cloud computing powerhouse, with services related to azure and off

it's an excellent company with a great dividend but unilever is taking it to them. >> it's going to be an interesting battle even though it may stay on a very civilized plain. it's going to be interesting to watch. >> why not have them on. it's like what happened with game of thrones last night. >> no spoilers. >> no but took down netflix. more about the mechanics. >> they had challenging times but he's not had as challenging a time and that really comes down to it >> what are you going to do tonight? >> have to talk about this one obviously but i have this company, this thing is up 235% and then believe it or not i have rover.com and that is not related to it up 2 i got to see what's going on. >> see you tonight >> we'll get back at you when we come back the always outspoken former dallas fed president richard fisher dow is in a muted range this morning. we are back. we, the people, are tired of being surprised with extra monthly fees. we want hd. and every box and dvr. all included. because we don't like surprises. yeah. like changing up the celebrity at the end to someone more hands

guest: i think this shows what enormous value can be created with unilever.y of our shareholders. ♪ anchor: microsoft shares are rising in extended trading after reporting sales and profits that top estimates in the fourth quarter. adjusted sales rose 9% as demand almost doubled for microsoft's cloud service. investors are closely following the ceos plan to reshape microsoft is a cloud computing powerhouse, with new services related to office 365 and azure. we have got to talk about the cloud first. big progress. reporter: is amazing growth. this is one of the busiest -- it is amazing growth. this is one of the biggest cloud businesses. a lot of their dedicated office customers who were already storing things using office 365 are using as her -- using azure and having comfort with that are willing to go to microsoft with their cloud needs. ♪ is the third biggest point drag on the dow, the lowest level since october 2015. really an ugly day for ge. reporter: they set expectations at the lower end of the 160, 170. rice oflk about the p oil and gas been a lot wo

market capital, big. 147 billion bounds for unilever. you have concerns over valuations if there wasn't so much money pumped in the market, might think they're right. you have activists helping the valuations deep down, you have companies which are struggling to grow business we can answer a few questions and make point to paul polman when we speak to him about the company's latest set of earnings that's coming up on thursday >>> okay mixed reaction on wall street to the big bank earnings of friday. we mentioned citi, wells fargo, jpmorgan releasing second quarter results. investors put numbers in the spotlight. that's the latest. >> making headlines is jamie dimon's rant on u.s. economic policy, though this was about the last decade broadly, not today's washington and growth has been resilient. >> since the great recession which is now 8 years old, we have been growing at 1.5 to 2% in spite of stupidity and political gridlock american business sector is powerful and strong will grow, i am saying it will be stronger growth having made in

after the kraft heinz approach to unilever earlier in the year after seeing what's been happening with as well, for don'te, even if activist unfold, all the managements are worried about the possibility of activists being involved. and i think we are seeing some pretty meaningful action on that part. one of the things that concerns me, i have to say, is whether that action is all appropriate. these are all big branded consumer companies. companies that have reported that i follow so far, you have nestle where it's fallen by 20 basis points, 60 basis points. they're all cutting marketing. you haveme time, amazon clearly -- i expect posing some of the biggest challenges to brand equity over the last 50 yeas. -- years. the under -- other end of the scale you have small nichey brands coming up. it's quite a risky proposition. vonnie: a manager on the conference call saying the outlook for the currency, i will have a major impact throughout the rest of the year. , and i don't intend to pay that much attention. to a large extent, the stocks are exposed because their international. they tend

of insurgent businesses out there chipping away at the edges of these big brands >> i talked to unilever about its restructuring plan they want to get rid of some underperforming business spreads. nestle, i talked to the co in february he has big plans for the business they were probably in place before their point came in the fact of the mat ser theretes there's a lot of assets on the markets. are there enough buyers out there to snap up these business or are we left with assets with nobody to buy. >> one thing the report showed is that m&a was relatively low last year. we would seek to address those growth challenges but also drive growth through consolidation there should be plenty of opportunities for m&a. some of those are not the ones the big multinationals want to focus on . >> it's interesting that you say private equity might come in the other question that i have is about shareholder activism. we saw third point coming in, this is a foreign concept to many of the swiss firms, especially to consumer giant like nestle, which has been untouched for decades. do you think it will le

rise of protectionism which created new challenges for sustainable businesses i sat down with the unilever ceo and asked about the balancing act between achieving sustainability goals and satisfying shareholders. >> we also have to invest in sustainability if we run out of fish stock, you won't selfish. if we keep cutting down the forests, we won't be able to live decent lives. we see well-being being stressed we see more need for sustainable, responsible product, that's an important part of our operating model. any business should be there first and foremost to serve society. businesses that may not traditionally focus on shareholders are businesses that don't have very long lives, increasingly we can show by doing the right thing for all of our stakeholders, it's the right thing for shareholders >> we are joined by lord ma mark malik brown just wondering, unilever is an interesting case study they came under bid this year by a private equity consortium led by 3g. there seems to be a growing amount of money in outfits who don't want to be long-term investors, they get in for five, seven y

eps beating estimates, prices increasing, part of the story at unilever.ssure to deliver after that sales bid kraft.aft -- ceo,: we have another sap the first interview at 11:30 a.m., they are doing a stock buyback. those are the questions for bill mcdermott. guy johnson is next. ♪ ♪ guy: good morning, welcome, it is thursday morning, you're watching bloomberg markets, the european open. cash is about to open in europe, we'll see how the equity session develops. matt miller not here today. i am guy johnson. say nothing. mario draghi, candy and is to stay silent on the central bank stimulus exit plans? keeps itsntral bank exit plans unchanged. governor

bankers that unilever are pushing for a colegate purchase. the headlines, we will bring it to you. heading across the bloomberg momentarily. to the restaurant business, shares backing off yesterday's record highs for the largest salesrant chain, saying topped estimates in the second quarter. erik schatzker spoke about the overall strategy with a guest. >> it is the ultimate measure, the strength of the business. erik: you said yesterday, our most important priority remains growing in serving more customers. research holds all the answers. guests want so many things. i would like you to rank in order of importance these things all guests want some of. cheaper food, which you might describe as value. healthier ingredients, different menu options, tastier food, and better experience. what is most important? >> the experience is key, and part of that is speed. we will never pass on value and speed. that is a fundamental part of our dna, with all customers expect. customers are getting ever more demanding, so they want to see us respond to the thi

. >> unilever paid next to nothing. it's a much better mustard because it's a millennial mustard. >> they don't eat frenchs. they don't watch hgtv. they get their news on snap. >> listen to him because he gets this and it's okay. now red hot. >> red hot is hot. >> yes. >> it's on fire. >> here's the thing. people feel that frenchs is not millennial but franks, you go to the twitter handle, i'll do a little jamie dimon here. like he did on the conference call when you have a food company of old school but it's twitter handle is i put the s hashtag exclamation point t on everything that's them trying to capture the millennials. >> $4.2 billion is the must be to spend on these brands. >> you confuse me. i am saying that a company like unilever would never do this. >> are you criticizing mccormick for having done it. >> no, i'm saying wreck it may have gotten a great deal. >> they did. >> what has frenchs done added honey mustard and they added all sorts of shapes of bottles. if you come with me to the supermarket they have

the ftse100 health by some of the big hitters on the index today like british american tobacco and unileverng licence in britain has topped 100,000 for the first time. figures from the dvla also show more than 4.5 million of the 39 million people holding valid driving licences are aged over 70. victoria derbyshire has been speaking to 84—year—old colin bradbury who's been driving for more than 65 years, and 17—year—old jack davies — who passed his test three weeks ago — to see what they can learn from each other. so, colin, you have all these decades of experience including where things have gone wrong and you have learned from it, what would you say to jack who passed only three weeks ago? i would say firstly you are at the beginning of a long road, and i musn't sound boring when i say this, experience does count for quite a lot. but also if you can do earlier on what i did more recently, and that is take driving more seriously... loud music plays. who has got the radio on? oh, the radio came on automatically in this amazing convertible car. don't worry about it. jack, although you passed

caroline: last time it was unilever, is it institutional money western mark -- money?wo years ago was very high. even to our surprise, the investor base was very traditional. people understand the venture business. because they back thought we were offering something different. up, there hasng been a slew of tech ipos as the market returns to form. we look at how they are faring and look at the next crop of tech startups waiting to take the plunge. alibaba has a new smart speaker. who else is in the race to own your home? we will discuss that next. us is bloomberg. ♪ caroline: initial public offerings are ramping up in the u.s.. comparedny is up 243% to 2016. globally, it is 96%. this comes on the heels of blue aprons lackluster debut last week. what does this mixed bag create for the remainder of the year? we asked analyst. >> it does give me encouragement. as we have seen with other types of things, we are more insulated in increased valuations and decreases as well. when companies have gone public and listed, they have been through extra rigor because there has not

morgan stanley, unilever reporting today. >>> chipotle stock fell after a restaurant closed after people sick norovirus. its only been two year since multiple restaurants were hit with e. coli sickening hundreds. >>> snapchat's rivalry with instagram is heating up, they are adding a hugh feature to let you record consecutive videos. instragram now offers many of the same features of snapchat. so far instragram appears to be winning, they have 80 million more daily users than snapchat. >> have you ever done a story -- >> i haven't. >> are you even on instragram? >> i am not. >> i was searching for you last night. >> sounds interesting. >> we were at a party for our colleague who has a new book out. and we're looking to give it promotion. you need to get on instragram. >> i'm on facebook and twitter. and i prefer facebook actually. >> that's a start. >>> "early start" continues right now. a second meeting between president trump and vladimir putin just revealed. so why didn't the white house disclose it initially? >>> plus -- >> we'll just let obamacare fail. we're not going to own it. i'm

certain companies i'm sure are on a daily basis >>> other stocks to watch, unilever buying the food division two companies are front runners in a deal likely to top $2.9 billion barrens thinks whirlpool could gain 35% in the next year. the paper says the stock is a bargain, at $192, despite gaining 90% since end of 2012. >>> and posting 10.4 jump in renault sales. >>> more stocks to watch wells fargo planning to eliminate smaller businesses, the financial times reports the lender will spin off a number of products in effort to focus on relevant ones, restore investor confidence slightly disappointing on loan growth >>> a german paper reports ecb is considering carrying out special assessment of deutsche bank two largest shareholders. they may launch ownership procedures to scrutinize the qatari family. easy jet carolin mccaul will be the new chief executive of itv she will start her role in january, easy jet stock up a little today itv getting a percent and a half jump last time i checked. >> interesting corporate move there. >>> turning to wall street agenda, we get results from nine delco

mccormick and company, we were talking about hormel and unilever earlier in the week, but mccormick and company will buy reckitt benckiser in a deal worth 4$4.2 billion the brands include french's mustard and frank's hot sauce. american seasoningmak ining mak the move will help the margins and adjusted earnings per share. mccormick added the 2017 pro forma net sales were expected to amount to $5 billion reckitt benckiser will use the funds to pay down debt >>> we spend a lot of time on cnbc talking about numbers, about bidding wars, about m&a, aggressive corporate activity. let us never forget, let's remind ourselves that sometimes there's a human cost to this it's human beings who are running these companies. we've seen tragic instances where people pushed themselves too far in the past. not this time, the ceo of akzo nobel, ton buchner stepped down with immediate effect. buchner led the dutch patieint maker since december of 2012 he is being replaced by thierry vanlancker who ran the specialty chemicals division the backdrop to this, i think there is some connection from what the conf

it was unilever. who, is it institutional money, is a global money?rederic: we are a start up in venture capital. two years back us ago was very high. to our surprise, the investor base of the trust fund was very institutional. people understand the venture business. there were opportunities to invest across the u.s. and asia and china and chose to back felix because they thought we were offering something different, something they did not have in their portfolio. the reason why we started felix was to do something that did not exist in the markets, where reached give the opportunity to our investors to access a different opportunity. but even more importantly, we want to offer something to founders they do not get in the market. so, the investor base is very traditional, pension funds, foundations, family offices. and for the first time now with a new fund we have investors from asia and we were able to -- and get people that can back is for the long-term. caroline: fascinating. we will be digging in so much more with the felix capital founder. we wi

of the company, like unilever, want to dabble with. it is a must-have.y way to access their user base. vonnie: it is interesting. he pointed out in the month preceding the lock off release, facebook shares, linkedin shares were down 24%, around the same as snap. but it does not feel at the same kind of story. let's move to tesla because we saw the first 30 cars blocked a lot -- first 30 cars roll off the lot and those owners are very happy. caroline: this is a great story. it was the fanfare on friday of its first 30 out vehicles in fremont, california. the spectacle was held at night so he could be let-up. really come out and showcase what is now no key needed, it with with your -- it syncs your smart phone. zero to 60 miles per hour. you will get there and five seconds as far as the scale of pace. this is model s on a diet. they are impressed, those who got behind the wheel, but the range and the use of the car. they set tesla is getting better and better at making cars. thisis interesting is who threatens -- mercedes and bmw. yes, $35,000 is relativel

look at what happened with un aun any unilever each seat in the airplane is now 25% less it cut its ad costs. those are the additional cost savings that actity vir tivistso see realized and that is really the goal, to do what is best for the share hold everies ers as a hold. >> but it's the time frame that i sometimes have an issue with let's move on.hers as a hold >> but it's the time frame that i sometimes have an issue with let's move on.oers as a hold >> but it's the time frame that i sometimes have an issue with let's move on.lers as a hold >> but it's the time frame that i sometimes have an issue with let's move on.ders as a hold >> but it's the time frame that i sometimes have an issue with let's move on. tell me about cfos you think we have the wrong kind of cfos with the wrong kind of experience >> i think cfos increasingly have to be able to do more than the numbers. they have to be able to go o out -- communication with your shareholder base is ever more important. the ability to go out and communicate and carry the narrative and not just have the ceo do it will be increasin

caroline: last time it was unilever, is it institutional money? is a global money?the bar to back us two years ago was very high. even to our surprise, the investor base was very institutional. people understand the venture business. they came from the u.s., from china, and they chose to back because they thought we were offering something different. caroline: coming up, there has been a slew of tech ipos as the u.s. market returns to form. we look at how they are faring and measure the outlook for the next crop of tech startups waiting to take the plunge. and alibaba has a new smart speaker. compete with the likes of amazon and google. who else is in the race to own your home? we will discuss that next. this is bloomberg. ♪ caroline: initial public offerings are ramping up in the u.s. ipo activity is up 243% compared to 2016. globally, it is up 96%. this comes on the heels of blue apron's lackluster debut last week. and the more successful listing for the berlin-based delivery hero on the stock exchange. what does this mixed bag create for the remainder of the year

that are now threatened by upstarts like sir kensington's, just bought by the power house that is unilever. or the loved siracha can these deals work the companies have no choice but to try mccormack has been on a buying spree to get more spices under the hood french's, to me, old bay seasoning, that's one of their traditionals they've added -- well, let's put it this way. this one has to work it's the ultimate -- when i look at french's, it's the ultimate opportunity, isn't it? think about it it's a throw bakamus tard, right? it's crayon-like yellow. it seems almost cartoonishly unnatural. i always thought had it enough preservatives to rival velveeta as a condiment that can survive nuclear war and still taste good on pretzels. millennials like adding things to food that has spice but doesn't make you fat so you can look your selfie best. mustard has a lot fewer calories than mayo or butter. but i think tear paying too much for these products ion how combination will actually work. not bad. but the market know, the stock got hammered for 5 bucks, more than 5% but they fit with the company

shave sold to unilever. why did you invest in them early on?sten: there is a root business in selling discretionary items. a lot of the path to purchase has to do with engagement, experience, bringing something to life. it has some element of entertainment or connecting personally to the customers. in each of those instances i , think we felt like the founding team had a unique take on the consumer and how things were shifting the ecosystem and how they can use tech knowledge technology to give a better experience and that her business business model. the backbone behind the companies were the they were building off and how they were creating a better experience in business model. emily: we've seen spectacular successes in e-commerce and but also spectacular failures. what will we see more of? kirsten: e-commerce is a hard category. like many areas of business are. i think there are success stories and failures. i guess if i had to try to understand some of the core differences between the companies that fall into those buckets, i would lean on

posted unilever first-half earnings that beat estimates.o draghi watched at the policy meeting. he will attempt to mount optimism over an economic revival against the desire to move as slowly as possible when removing stimulus. the bank has been examining its options around asset purchases. richard, how much of a concern is a way they take away some of the stimulus? richard: mario draghi is walking a tough line. economic growth is picking up. we see signs of that broadening and becoming more sustainable. , wellion remains low below the ecb target. inflation expectations are below the ecb target. they want to move away from putr easy monetary policy, in place at a time when effect.n was in they want to be cautious about spooking the markets and the economy at a time when inflation is low and below target. it is a fine line. be cautious. they are trying to manage the market and x tatian's. -- and expectations. the ecb cannot continue buying assets at its current rate. it will run out of assets to buy . that change needs to take place. what th

if you see some of its pierce as nicole correctly pointed out, unilever organic growth is over 6%.ittle over 2%. so there is a huge disparity there. great opportunity for improvement. when nelson peltz has proposed basically come in there and just try to energize and make it a lot more efficient. >> spin off some of the businesses as well, trish. he want to possibly get rid of some of the other businesses. maybe the beauty business or the over-the-counter business. some analysts speculating maybe they do a deal with johnson & johnson and switch up. there won't even be money involved with types of businesses. there are ideas being thrown around but i will tell you proctor & gamble right now after five months of anything shuns still does not want nelson peltz on the board. trish: you know, who wants an activist, right? nobody wants them. but i got to tell you, little shoutout for bounty products. my mother was visiting this weekend. she looked at my paper towels, i'm so glad you, don't you love bounty. a lot of products they know very well. that is of value obviously the brand knowle

morgan stanley, unilever and american express report. >>> snapchat has a big rivalry with instragrame company is adding a new feature to let you record consecutive videos. just the latest in a slew of updates to compete. so far instragram appears to be winning. instragram has 80 million more da daily users than snapchat. >> i'm trying to figure out instagram stories as we think. >> get a 12-year-old. thanks for joining us. >> president trump had a second discussion with vladimir putin at the g 0, but w-20 but why di white house or the kremlin mention to anyone? hugh d new day answers these questions. >>> the president trump had a second undisclosed conversation with vladimir putin. >> what is donald trump's obsession with vladimir putin? >> a little extreme for us to somehow make this into a conspiracy. >> we're also learning the identity of the eighth person in don jr.'s trump tower meet. there it's ver >> it's disturbing that it's taken this long for this kind of information to come out. >> we'll just let obamacare fail. in th >> that is hais heartless. >> i regret that the effort

businesses we hoped would go public in the u.s., such as dollar shave club which was acquired by unileverrequired by strategics, so we have that dearth of measurable sector leadership that we can judge and learn from on a public basis. what does it mean for investing? if many of these companies are being acquired do we have to go with the big ones? do you want to invest into amazon if you want to i venvest into health conscious companies? >> who compliments amazon might be businesses like asos who has natural personal care as offering, but the answer is that it forces you to look outside the traditional u.s. public sector into the international markets, be it the uk primarily, germany or asia, and it's forcing the continued theme of globalization on the consumer retail sector. >> how difficult is retail at this point in the uk from a consumer point of view give than we're squeezed by higher inflation, real wages are negative >> you're seeing that compounded by the change in wall let share not only do we have these issues impacting what we can spend we have reached theoretically the concep

unilever posting better than expected margins for the next year they rejected that $143 billion takeover from kraft-hines. >> let's get a news update >> hi, carl. here's what's happening at this hour the senate judiciary committee unanimously approving the nomination of christopher ray to be fbi director. the nomination now goes to full senate for a vote. president trump nominated ray after firing former agency chief james comey. >>> venezuela's open decision blocking streets as it calls for the first national strike since 2002 the day long strike is meant as an expression of national disapproval of president ma dor yoe's plan to convene a national asemiconductor my to reshape the country's system. >> more problems for chipotle. mice were seen running in a store in dallas. the company called the invasion an extremely isolated incident saying they got inside through small cracks in the building meantime, tests confirming neurorye us have in a customer who ate at a chiptole virginia location >>> the album which john lennon signed for his killer hours before he was shot outside his new york

personification, we saw unilever come under attack want nestle, under attack, and nestle stumped up withger share buyback. whether that has to do with activism or a review by the new ceo. we will keep an eye on clarion at the start of the trading day. this is in the chemical business which has been heavy activity in terms of m&a. g10s reset and get back to fx strategy and global ethics strategy with thanos vamvakidis, the head of g10 fx. we talked about the oil market and their is a breaking trend. opec is getting -- fighting harder to hold the reins. outside of that, you have taken of you in terms of oil so tie the two together for me. foros: we had downside risk oil. this was primarily driven by a positive supply shot. producers are becoming more efficient. there have been some challenges for knitting production between non-opec members but looking forward, we believe that more ballast which also suggests most of the downside we see and commodities is behind us. looking into the long-term we believe the trend will be lower. china is on a downward growth path. emerging markets are becom

you have m&a activities surrounding unilever.u expect this to become part of your landscape as well? do you embrace it? you are delivering extra growth. do you think that is enough to maintain where you are in terms of the level of interest from the activists? the current that environment is telling you more than ever is never be complacent about your performance. always look at what you can do debtor -- better. long-term sustainability is about continuing to be centered on all customers. this is a bit of the reason why we gave the guidance back in 2014, which is to say this is what we call continuous improvements. to be going to continue skewed toward the top line because we do consider that you have to grow your product. you have to bring what the consumer likes and bring beer they will continue to enjoy. at the same time you are to continuously work on your cost. you also have in terms of communication, to be very transparent about what they get when they come into heineken. they get the company skewed that youstainability are

pound has lifted the heavyweight defensive stocks on the ftse100, with british american tobacco, unileveras long been used to help people do difficultjobs. now a trial has begun to see whether dogs could help doctors diagnose parkinson‘s disease earlier, by detecting subtle changes in a person‘s smell, triggered by the symptoms. parkinson‘s, a degenerative disease, affects more than ten million people worldwide, but is often only identified years after symptoms become apparent. tim muffett has been to see the dogs in action. kiwi is demonstrating a remarkable skill. the ability of dogs to sniff out cancer has been acknowledged for years. but now kiwi and other medical detection dogs are beginning a new challenge. what we‘re hoping to do is to train them to find the odour associated with parkinson‘s disease. if they can do this, they could revolutionise the way in which parkinson‘s is detected. parkinson‘s can cause body tremors and leave sufferers unable to speak or walk. but as there‘s no diagnostic test, in its early stages sufferers often miss out on medication that can help. we didn‘t

unilever posting better than expected earnings and revenue.he consumer goods company lifting its full-year margin target after seeing a big improvement in the first half. unilever's ceo spoke about the results this morning on cnbc >> a combination of our strong top line growth and the work we're doing behind the organizational chains, connected for growth which we already announced forever next fall, makes the company more agile, closer to th markets, better in innovation, and you see these effects coming through. we feel confident to say we will at least improve the operating margins as a result for the whole year by 100 basis points >> and qualcomm is warning that fourth quarter profits will come in below analyst estimates. the patent battle with apple is taking a toll on its licensing revenue. >>> shares of american express are trading lower. the company's profit declining 33% in the latest quarter. that was hurt by higher expenses as the card company spent heavily on what they are calling customer rewards >>> coming up, we've been talking

. >>> unilever advice with who are mel to buy reckitt barrens thinks whirlpool could gain 35% they say the stock is a bargain priced at 192. and posting record 10.4% jump in vehicle sales. the rise in part to well timed china suv launch and renewed push in iran big story for me, i'm early on a lot of things. some things i don't want to be early on i'm early on the bacon craze pushes up pork belly prices 80%. you know why there's nothing bacon doesn't go with talking ice cream. >> remember you were upset about bacon and the chinese. >> early america first, anti-globalist shouldn't be cornering the bacon market. >> who is getting the margin >> i don't know what happens happened it is mostly demand based. a lot of people aren't as worried about fat as they used to be. >> protein diet you're allowed to eat some of that. >> i haven't eaten anything in two weeks. >> looking good. >> it is done wednesday. >> scarsdale. >> you remember, like i say, someone killed that guy. >> talking about the doctor. >> someone said you know what, it's horrible. all of that grapefruit juice crappy toast that

we have big-name guests coming up on bloomberg television from unilever's -- week: and after that weeko a ceo, bill mcdermott at 6:40 p.m. in hong kong. ♪ yvonne: don't miss our interview with --this is bloomberg. ♪ yvonne: this is "daybreak asia," i am yvonne man in hong kong. betty: i am betty liu here in new york. the central bank wraps up its two-day meeting. a keeps its foot on the monetary accelerator to feel a faster rise in inflation. bojleen hays is that the for us. any change expected at all? policy -- the policies that matter? i think what people are waiting to see is even a hint that governor kuroda is opening the door of the bank of japan to any kind of shift on the policy he has had in place since 2013, aggressive monetary stimulus to boost inflation. i am sure he would say we are winning important battles along the way. he turned 20 years of deflation year over year. the target is 2%, a long way is -- ways away. maintain yield curve control, target the 10 year yield at zero, and by bonds up to $80 trillion a year to keep that objective met, day in and day out. will they

something you could set your clock too but the coal gate quarter inspires me to recall how great the unileverl was. you know how we refresh at 5:00 in the morning and 5:30 he has to do two calls because he's that good. >> was it cintas you mentioned it's an s&p leader today. >> good. >> they're now the number one uniform by a mile. i did a couple of features on it for mad money. it's really okay that's what i'm talking about. people firing first and then thinking about that was a mistake. so stay focused. i'm not going to say that for ge because ge i have to do a lot of work on because it's the type of thing where you're say as good the dividend okay and i know the dividend is okay i know the dividend is okay. i know it's -- i know. >> yes yes. >> see that video will be replayed that's a youtube, i'm going to play it on youtube right now and say what a clown cramer is. >> we're going to get a lot more information after the august 1st, flannery takes over whatever reset there is. >> and i believe, now look my charitable trust owns it i own it personally because we work for the company and what

unilever had good numbers in here and they raised their full year profit margin so some of the big names on the good side there why are we up so much? we're in the heart of earnings season and the numbers are holding up well right now. almost 9% for the second quarter. those numbers keep going up. close to 10% if this continues and revenues finally come back after 5 or 6 quarters with very anemic revenue growth so it's not just buying back stock this is why the market keeps going up global economy recovery sals the big help we had. this has been a broad rally. july has been a terrific month across the board we have the obvious tech leaders that we keep talking about like nvidia and broadcom and apple. but there's other groups that are out there. the consumer discretionary group has done well whirlpool was doing fine until the open we saw but it was also generally having a good month here. big help to any industry material versus done well as we have seen the dollar weaken here so a nice move up in some of the new, some of the steel stocks and some of the fertilizers as well like the mosa

there was a spat between tesco and unilever about how much was justified or not, you may remember.on. much of the costs were taken the first half of the year. there will be some more to come because of hedging and things like that. so far it has remained at the level that the consumers can just about live with, and that toallowed the supermarkets hold volume. that is why you're seeing a little bit of that nominal growth. francine: we have a global audience. when you are ceo tesco, what was your main concern? were you worried about the isles, how things were price, how things were put in the mores, or was it international strategy? >> every retailer is into the details. francine: does it really matter so much whether it is on aisle 5 or 10? >> it does. you want to know whether you are relevant to not. the job of the ceo is to keep your brand and business development relevant to the consumer. you have got to try to read where they are going and do useful things for them, make their life a little easier. that is all in the details. at the same time, there were big challenges, it's all

they are led by unilever. carillion add down by 17 points.s audiences listen, they can watch karl hyde from the group paint what was said. 0ur entertainment correspondent, colin paterson went to see the work in action. nobody wants to see people on the street, and if they do, they're not going to ask them their story. in paint and in music, the words of people who have been homeless, given a whole new audience by underworld. i was just curious about why people were sleeping in doorways. and, you know, my kids were asking me what's going on? i didn't have a satisfactory answer. i've come close to being lost enough to have lost everything, and i don't see any difference between the people who are living on the streets and me just because i've got a job. # music: "born slippy" by underworld. and it was when underworld were at their most popular that karl thought he might end up on the streets. how close did you come to being homeless? close, because i was losing everything. it came to pieces quite a lot of times. i had real problems. it was in t

mccormick & co saw off competition from consumer giant unilever and hormel foods, the us owner of spam johnson for $17.9bn. the chief executive of reckitt benckiser, rakesh kapoor, said, "following the acquisition of mead johnson nutrition, this transaction marks another step towards transforming rb into a global leader in consumer health and hygiene." audi has been criticised for an advert in china, which thousands of internet users have branded sexist. the ad compares buying a car to finding a wife, saying "an important decision must be made carefully". saying "an important decision must be made carefully". it shows a woman having her nose, ears and teeth inspected by her mother—in—law on her wedding day. an audi spokesman told the south china morning post marketing in china was the responsibility of its local joint venture partner. that take a look at the market. british shares edged up on wednesday morning helped by a buoyant consumer's good centre that after that beckett wrinklies deal that we are talking about there. it sold its shares to mccormack, the us company. easyj et, shar