South african politics members of the governing anc begin to vote on a new leader who will likely become president in next years election. A very positive morning across europe so far when we look at equity training. The stocks at 600 up nearly 1 right now a lot of green across the board. Lets take a look at the specific markets action across the continent. The foots see up 1. 5 . The cac ka rant in paris up and lets take a look at the specific sectors that are driving that positive movement this morning we can see from across the entire country the sectors, lets take a look at the numbers as they come through coming very shortly. Waiting for that foots see action there very slightlyup more than half a percent. Lets talk about whats going on in the United States so talking of taxes, President Trump has defended the 1. 5 trillion expected in cuts that could stem from the new tax reform bill. He said the economy, meanwhile, is going to, quote, start to rock the bill will create jobs and called it one of the greatest possible Christmas Gifts middle income americans will ever receive. He said it could slightly boost gdp in 2018 but its positive Economic Impact would later diminish the house and senate are set to vote later this week but they may have to do it without senator john mccain. President trumps tax ban will cut the tax rate from 35 to 21 if it passes our colleague dominic chu look at the sectors and companies that benefit mostly from that. If youre wondering what kinds of Companies Might actually benefit the most from any potential tax reform legislation that cuts corporate taxes, check out these industries the folks at Goldman Sachs took a look at the s p 500 and the sectors within it and looked at who pays the most in taxes effectively. So lets take the number ten end of the spectrum, the ones that pay the most in taxes. Possibly beneficiaries if taxes get cut. Bigger beneficiaries highest taxes are paid by the energy, 35 , telecom, 33 , industrial 32 , utilities 31 , consumer discretionary, 30 . Five year Median Income tax rates. Consumer staples, 30 , number four, financials, 28 number three, materials, 27. Health care at 26 and then the sector in the s p that pays the least in terms of taxes overall on average, the Technology Sector at only 24 if youre looking for the outsized beneficiaries, its the ones that pay already at least a lot of taxes right now, energy, telecom, utilities, industrials. That side of things. As for some stocks that could benefit, goldman has a box of 49 names, the high tax basket that pay the most among the names on that list, conoco phillips, goodyear, j. B. Hub 38 a sampling to give you the stocks were talking about as investors look at the tax and how to play it, some of those could be on this list here, guys. Were joined from zurich by the global chief investor for ubs. Weve seen health is a prospect of that driving Global Equities market do you think this bill as currently constituted will continue to do that . We definitely think as we enter the new year that Global Equities can go higher and if you look at the global index, of course, the u. S. Plays an important part in that tax reform as a first order of effect, it may have a small impact but theres lots of secondary effects. If the republicans can continue to deregulate in the United States, that can give a boost, but all of these factors are underpinned by global gdp growth, continued corporate Earnings Growth and the still stimulative Central Bank Policy around the world. Talk about europe, specifically europe versus u. K. Equities were looking at forecasts for the u. K. How will that weigh on the stocks in london well, we think that european equities should be overweight versus u. K. Equities because we believe a lot of the good things that would happen to the u. K. Due to the weakening of the pound have been transmitted through and youre not going to get that extra boost Going Forward. We also see the gains on the european side so on an over weight under weight basis we prefer europe. I want to switch out and talk about what youve written about in your latest monthly newsletter youve changed your tune when it comes to the idea of responsible investment this is not about you turning kinder in your old age, this is about trying to reduce risks when it comes to transparency accountancy, thats one of the reasons why you would try to stick with these more ethical investments, is that not about avoiding the bad actors that might get you into trouble one day . Well, i think that we have to be careful about the terminology here a little bit. I think what were trying to say is, you know, in the past th Corporate Responsibility of corporations was to make a lot of profits that goes back to what Milton Freeman said in 1970 i think the investment world has changed in part because of technology and other factors have led so much increased transparency about the environmental impact, the social impact and the governance factors around corporations and increasingly what were seeing is that our client base across the globe, both institutional and private is more interested in these factors and we think that Going Forward you do need to consider these factors. And on the one hand youre absolutely right, that any edge that we can get as investors to help us avoid bad actors is increasingly important today because the fines and penalties to those who break the public trust is greater but on the other hand we see those who are more inclient to think about these factors tend to kind of outperform at this time as investors gravitate towards those kinds of companies and consumers do as well. This is not about just avoiding pitfalls, this is about overall performance as well . Yeah. Weve seen, for example, a basket of equities that have greater diversity as measured by having, say, 20 of women in leadership positions is outperforming the msci world for numerous years running so the main message maybe is that people thought you had to sacrifice performance to be socially responsible and were seeing thats not the case you can actually potentially enhance your returns and diversify them by looking at sustainable factors in your investment decisions. I want to talk about some more of that later on. Thats mark from ubs hell stay with us this half hour i want to point you to cnbc. Com. Some of my colleagues put together a trading page. You can check that all out at cnbc. Com now vestas is getting a boost in base trade after they retained a key tax credit. There was concern it would cut its helping shares remain lost ground this is when the initial bands were announced meanwhile, u. S. Intelligence agencies helped russia have a terrorist ban. The cia tipped off their russian counterparts to an alleged terrorist plot in st. Petersburg russian president Vladimir Putin thanked President Trump for stopping the attack. They said they would share any information targeting americans. President trump said hes not considering firing special Counsel Robert Mueller after a fresh round of finger pointing over a fresh round from russias investigation. Muellers team allegedly obtained illegal emails muellers office has denied the allegation Nbcs Kelly Odonnell has more on that story. Reporter President Trump back from a weekend at camp david as his frustration over the russia probe surfaced in a new way. Mr. President , do you believe your Transition Team emails were improperly taken . Not looking good. Not looking good its quite sad to see that my people are very upset about it. Reporter surfaced in a new way, with a charge made by the president s Transition Team against special Counsel Robert Muellers investigation. Claiming prosecutors improperly obtained thousands of transition staff emails now being used in the russia probe. I cant imagine theres anything on them, frankly, because as we said, theres no collusion. Theres no collusion whatsoever, but a lot of lawyers thought that was pretty sad. Reporter election season to the inaugural, a trump transition worked in this government building using government provided email service but under the law Transition Teams are not government agencies. Most of their funding is private. A trump transition lawyer protested to congress claiming career staff at the federal governments General Services administration unlawfully produced the Transition Teams private materials, including emails bound by attorneyclient privilege to the special counsel. White house officials stayed out of it. Reporter a spokesman for Robert Mueller said when we have obtained emails we have obtained the account owners consent or appropriate criminal process. Credibility is appropriate for trump allies who seized on mueller removing a senior fbi agent who exchanged antitrump Text Messages with another agent during the campaign. While mueller is widely respected i do not at all believe that mr. Mueller has been compromised with his investigation. Reporter some republicans sounded alarm. I think these conflicts of interest jeopardize the integrity of his investigation. That was Kelly Odonnell of nbc news if you have any views on trump, mueller or any other issue, email the show. You can also tweet at us street signs cnbc. Live from johannesburg soon after this break welcome back to street signs. Americas sweet giant, hershey, they can be a canty giant is nearing a bid to buy the brands for 1. 6 billion it amplifies at 12 a share. A 71 premium. Its the latest in a series of deals by the confectionery maker. Cnbc sources say its possible negotiations could fall through. Shares in australia aconex have surged the cloud based project Management Firm said in a Stock Exchange filing that they had unanimously recommended the 7. 8 australian all cash offer which represents a 47 premium the deal is subject to shareholder approval at a meeting expected in march. Bhp and exxon mobil will end the joint venture. Theyre bowing to the watchdog as gas prices soar they said the joint agreement would have resulted in less competition in the market to supply gas to buyers in southern australian consumers French Defenseman thales has agreed to buy gemalto for 4. 8 billion uros a share theyre creating a top three player in the Global Digital security space the boards of both companies have unanimously backed thales bids its sent them to the top of the stock 600. Mark is still with us. Speaking of Company Boards there like those of thales and gemalto, they talk about the importance of gender diversity it, quote, serves as a proxy for good Corporate Governance practices. What does the evidence show it does for returns, meanwhile . Well, we found over a period of time that these more Diverse Companies can outperform the msci world index and, again, its another sign that investors need to look at these sustainable these esg factors as they start to invest because certainly the large Market Participants are taking note you use the model that when youre assessing investments, two women at the board level or 20 of women in executive management that model is hardly what youd call gender equal. Ubs has four out of 11 Board Members are female whats needed to make that diversity a guarantee of financial success, do you think . Well, there are no guarantees in finance i think its this is just merely one proxy for trying to adi mentions to investment analysis its both a symbol and a kind of specific number because as we get better data, you can do these kinds of searches and very easily look through Companies Across these kinds of dimensions in terms of gender diversity or other kinds of diversity and what were what weve been doing is trying to better use these databases of factors, both to look at our own investments and weigh the risks and opportunities but also to share with our clients and perhaps they have specific things that they are focused on, like say gender diversity is very important to them. We can give them that look through in their investments, which is an increasing value for them. We talk a lot, mark, about improved Data Availability are you referring to Historical Performance or other factors im not sure about here. Yeah, so whats happened now with the rise of xml and other factors is you can get better data on companies and how they score on literally hundreds of esg metrics and then weight those in investment processes and share that data with private clients who may have affinities for certain causes or concerns. One final question. Weve heard a lot recently about the rise of the activist investor what role do you think investors can have to force companies in a more inclusive manner, more environmentally aware manner, more sustainable manner . Well, force is a strong word. Activism has been around for a long time. I think related to this theme, as investors get that transparency and they see how companies are acting and say what their Carbon Footprint is, what weve seen is that there have been many kind of negotiations or mutual dialogue that is have Led Companies without proxy fights or other things to change their response, say, with regard to Getting Energy from carbonrelated sources because not because theyre forced to but because they realize that their employees and the consumers who use their products believe that that is the direction that a company should go and often theyre beginning to vote with their pocketbook when they have that information and so i think force is a strong word its certainly one end of the spectrum the other is a greater awareness that leads companies to act on their own. Mark, thank you for joining us from zurich now theresa may, the british Prime Minister, will give her formal assessment to the u. K. s parliament after the parliament decided to green light talks with the u. K she plans to tell them their plans for interim and longterm trading. She will share the desire to make rapid progress on a brexit program. She will say during this time brittain will not retain membership of the Single Market or Customs Union during that transition but it will allow businesses to continue operating under existing rules and regulations. The u. N. Security council, meanwhile, is set to vote today on a resolution calling for withdrawal of President Trumps recognition offer residential rus is a lems recognition as the capitol. Nikki haley, the American Ambassador of the u. N. Has praised President Trumps decision as the, quote, just and right thing to do. Israels main union has protested against teva protesters demonstrated outside the office of Prime MinisterBenjamin Netanyahu teva announced they would cut 107,000 jobs in israel itself. In south africa the ruling anc is voting for a new leader to replace president zuma its a tight race. My colleague joins us from johannesburg this morning. What is the difference between the two candidates they both have major flaws reporter yes, they do. Both candidates come in it with a bit of past behind them. Ramarhosa has come in getting into business and now he is back in it has not made him very popular with those that do not have, which is most of the south african voting class hes largely seen as a business friendly capitalist but he is still viewed largely within the south african context as a better choice of nkosazan nkosazana dlamnizuma. Me is the exwife of president zuma she is largely said to have an achilles heel as having friends very close to president zuma shes seen as an extension, if you will, of his administration. Most people do not believe that herradical Economic Transformation policy will be radical. Its an extension of what is currently happening in the anc. Hes running as the anticorruption candidate. If he wins will that help the deviivisivenes divisiveness reporter very good question that we have been debating amongst ourselves here and i have asked numerous anc about the matter of corruption they all come from the same movement they all belong to the anc there will be some consideration even if he wanted to move quickly with regards to state capital. Because there will be anc picking up figures that are still loyal to president jacob zuma and do not like seeing him go to prison for what is alleged corruption i expect we will probably not have anything radical in terms of addressing state capital at least within the first year. The problems themselves will not go away and, therefore, president would be president ramaphosa will have to address it the exwife of the current president , we know she doesnt quite seem to have much fervor to addressing the issues i think she used these things likely as organizational problems that can be solved internally and on the hush, not necessarily on a public scale. So the two candidates, if anything, one appears more open to the public to the world of business and the other is laying her cards very close to her chest. The race is really down to the wire now we are two provinces away. We have two more provinces to vote and the province which is the economic harbor of south africa will vote last. That is the prove stlans has really garnered support a thank you so much it seems like that vote count will finish at some point later on this evening down there in south africa thats a lot of things to watch there. If you want more details on the flers this race for the anc leadership and whats at stake, you should head to cnbc. Com. Buwog agrees to buy vonovia for 6. 1 billion it brings it to almost 400,000 flat it represents an 18 premium to fridays closing price. Coming up, can you tell your ripple from your ether to your bitco bitcoin. Well explain the pros and cons of the major Digital Banking welcome back to street signs. Im willem marks these are your headlines French Defense group thales sidelines altos. A bill before christmas. Top republican lawmakers say they have enough support to pass the tax cut plan and get the bill on President Trumps desk before this weekend. The u. S. Tax ban puts the wind behind the sales as key tax credits are preserved. Members of the governing anc begin to vote on a new leader who will likely become president in next years election. Good morning lets take a look at u. S. Futures ahead of the open over the other side of the pond we can see the s p 500 with an implied open of 12 points. Dow jones open up 130. Nasdaq looking to open pretty strongly after of course a pretty strong end to the week on friday afternoon here in europe we take a look at the markets here in europe we can see the ftse back. Xetra dax down and we can see ftse mid up. 4 of 1 the dollar is trading stronger against the yen and the pound remaining pretty bullish up nearly 1 4 of a percent this morning. If we take a look at other news this morning, we can see with bitcoin the latest play has gone live it launched its crypto currency overnight to join the cboe equivalent which started trading last night cme bitcoin traded sharply higher on the 20,000 mark but its since dropped the price of the currency is trading around the 19,000 mark the crypto cousins have started the day lower. Argen, is this trouble for bitcoin as the most prominent early mover in this world . When you look at bitcoin, it started off as a system for payment. Initial white paper that came out at the time said this is a new peertopeer system. The problem right now for bitcoin is transaction time is incredibly high. Theres a lot of people questioning whether this has longterm sustainability is it actually a currency . These are some questions theyre trying to get to i think weve seen a lot of things i think long term they could offer more longterm value as they get used in real world use case. Ive been bothering you a lot about this as we try to understand these things better you talk about the uses. Yeah. How do you go about valuing the crypto currencies . If we look at bitcoin we can say x amount of transactions are done in bitcoin. That could give you a value. With bitcoin its hard to tell you how many transactions are done when you look at Something Like ether, ripple is used by banks to transfer money from different currencies to another across the world in a matter of seconds this is a process that usually takes five days. Then we start to say trade finance, banks are transferring x amount of money between each other. Now ripple is starting to account for 5 of that you could begin to value the ripple token, the same with ethereum which is designed as a block chain system for use across financials, insurance, quite a few Different Industries if we say these companies are starting to use ethereum for this amount of trade and processing money, you can start to value it. That is of course a few years off yet. At the moment its very difficult. The other danger is a brandnew coin could pop up time off. And be Something Like that. That is much better than the existing product thats another danger. This is the early stages experimenting without any kind of idea of actually is this something you can implement or something that will stick around for the next few years. One of the things thats quite striking that you and i talked about before over the last few weeks with the huge surge in interest in bitcoin in particular, weve seen a real slowdown of the transactions because seemingly exchanges are being overwhelmed. Youve talked about some of the ether products like ripple across the globe that distinguishing in terms of ease of transaction, speed of transaction, is that going to be something thats going to be easy to watch . When you look at ripple, thats designed for enterprise its not something that is pushed out as a consumer product. Bitcoin, however, was pushed out to consumer product. A way to transfer money across the globe in a matter of seconds and thats something that but its not taking seconds, its taking minutes and hours. Thats a huge problem thats why we saw some of the big debates. Its a Bitcoin Split thats because the Community Around that thought that bitcoin was getting too slow, too efficient. They needed something that had higher transaction volumes and thats what bitcoin cash, for example, does. Theres a unique code that is increasing the time of a transaction using this huge spinoff of bitcoin there will be continued debate over this. No doubt lets see what people continue to see bitcoin as. They see it rather than the currency when you look at some of the investments, thats what were going to be debating over the next few months. As i learn a little bit more, keep it going. The cnbc team is taking an in depth look at the bitcoin on the cme. Head to cnbc. Com or your cnbc app including what ive been writing and what it means for the crypto currency. The bitcoin has captured wall street names like anderson morovich have been leading the crypto charge investing in bitcoin and crypto currency. Which companies are making the biggest returns . Venture capital firms have been in the crypto space for years. Unlike wall street thats chasing returns on the digital currency, vcs have been betting on the block chain this year alone theyve put in a record billion dollars into crypto currency and block chain startups the biggest players in the space include some of the most prominent firms in the country remember as well that tim draper back in 2014 was the winning bidder in a government auction of about 19 billion worth of bitcoin. It all begs the question which companies are attracting the big bucks . According to pitch book, these are the top d. C. Backed companies. The largest u. S. Bitcoin exchange was minted raising 100 million in a series d round. Circle internet financial is backed by Goldman Sachs. Ripple you may have heard of, thats a block change exchange vcs are gaining direct exposure through socalled crypto hedge funds and checked in on a tear and drew initial point offerings or ipos. It changes the nature of venture investing. Back over to you. Power, meanwhile, has returned to atlantas International Airport where hundreds of flights are expected to be canceled well into today as they deal with the travel chaos. Passengers were left stranded in the dark at the worlds busiest terminal some report being stuck on planes for hours the outage was caused by a fire in an underground facility. Sticking with the airline industry, a ryanairstrike is being canceled they agreed to recognize the trade unions as representatives of pilots. The unions in brittain and italy are expected to meet with ryanair. Thats a change for the airline who have not accepted unions exist. They said theres such a great demand in the investment process there was a good chance of a lastminute investment in niki oil is trading higher amid an ongoing north sea pipe line outage its approaching that of saudi arabia and russia. Thats kind of a big story, isnt it macro the fact that u. S. Is competing with saudi arabia and russia absolutely. It reflected they are not as worried about u. S. Shale yes, its rising still continues to go up the tum output entry to exit estimates to be something around 800, 1100 a day the risk is that continues to rise you say the risk in terms of price. What are you looking at in terms of range for next year our forecast is 55 for next year slightly more cautious the main basis of that is two things first, demand for growth may be as high so were estimating 1. 4 billion a day. We saw special coefficients. We have second more demand due to more driving sector thats nearing an end. The second is less supplies. As the price rises well see increased proproduction. We can start to increase production into the exits which will likely be for 2019. You covered a lot who are going to be the big winners and losers next year when it comes to european majors thats against the backdrop where we dont need as many barrels. If its met by opec, the argument is you should be thinking cash return not growth ethics last year was the year for the defense narrative mainly because they have to cut cut backs and consolidate and more work under that as we move into next year, i think the narrative shifts which is can you give me cash return as well as deliver longterm portfolio. The companies against that framework that can deliver both is shell, b. P. Theyll stand up. They realize how they can make money and theyre going to try to go after that money at this point. The question is where are the opportunities here in terms of production the opportunities are youll see companies continuing to press collect on their entry things being built out in the last few years, for example, in brazil you have a lot of new discoveries coming through, resource potential being developed. Gulf of mexico also. Then we have the gas side of it where youre seeing them developing not just Gas Production but the Energy Market which is getting tight on balance i think opportunities from a macro perspective will be low cost best barrels. Gas perspective very strong demand, where you can meet that with either energy or domestic supply. Thats coming from existing projects rather than looking for new forms. New exploration again, if the companies are thinking about returning cash but delivering a going concern, most of the companies we cover have a resource from the perspective. They need to develop those resources, not necessarily find new resources. You mentioned that the importance of brazil and thats obviously a company like shell, where are Companies Including shell most likely to face exposure in the coming year, do you think . Exposure. I think the main exposure or the risks is that you find companies arent able to take it because theyve effectively got high costs as well as unconventional, whether its deport, whether there are challenges west africa, for example, and there is the middle east where although the access to barrels is more difficult, they are low cost but there are also low returns. Its all about whos got the highest cash per barrel. Who has the highest cash inte e intensi intensity. That surprisingly doesnt come out of the more traditional base, it comes out of the deep water u. S. Share companies with that kind of exposure it has best cash per barrel will be able to theyll be on the front not only to be able to develop growth in barrels but return cash back if you have high cash per barrel we arent spending as much. How do the italians and french ministers go about shaving some costs off of it. In terms of whether its efficiency gains, thinking about the box in terms of thinking things through differently thats all happened. The next level of Cost Reduction is going to be big data and that is something thats going to be here but most of the capital reduction is done. This is something that was a big thing for jpmorgan now they have to start thinking about consolidating that around the cash and thinking where you do have the best cash. Thank you very much european oil and gas analyst at jpmorgan. Railroad industry, csx Ceo Hunter Harrison has died after taking medical leave last week harrison was in the midst of a major turn around at the company. Shares plunged last week when his medical leave was announced. Hunter harrison was 73 well be back shortly after this for your heart. Your joints. Or your digestion. So why wouldnt you take something for the most important part of you. Your brain. With an ingredient originally found in jellyfish, prevagen is now the number one selling brain Health Supplement in drug stores nationwide. Prevagen. The name to remember. Right in the heart of the was in his financial crisis, and saw his portfolio drop by double digits. It really scared him out of the markets. His advisor ran the numbers and showed that he wouldnt be able to retire until he was 68. The client realized, i need to get back into the markets i need to get back on track with my plan. The Financial Advisor was able to work with this client. Hes now on track to retire when hes 65. Having someone coach you through it is really the value of a Financial Advisor. It is just seven days to christmas, but far more excitingly, its only 18 days away until mifid 2 is on january 3rd. This is one of the greatest changes in financial legislation. It will affect banks, fund managers, exchanges and retail investors. Mifid 2 covers everything. Its intended to increase price transparency, could increase volume caps for dark pools and allow customer management. It will split payments for Analyst Research and Trading Commission significantly altering the broker rule this, i fear, has been your life for the last few months if not years. Yes. And, i mean, what do you see as the practical challenges ahead of the january 3rd deadline what were seeing, the big work, no lei, no trade the legal identifier is something spawned out to the g20 mandate for risk management. Its a way of firms identifying who theyre trading with from an open public records. Mifid 2 says if you dont have the lei in place dont enter into the transaction for the banks there is a scramble to get these identifiers. What weve seen is over the last two to three months the uptick in acquisition has surged massively. Therein lies a problem because the entities that issue the leis theyre being overwhelmed. From two to three days were hearing it takes up to a week to get your lei, maybe longer of course the problem is come the 3rd of january and youre in a position you need to exit, very good chance you wont be able to. Heres the question is. Obviously here in the u. K. Weve heard from the authority no lei, no legal entity identifier, no trade. Do you think thats really going to hold true across europe ive seen notes from meps saying healthy pragmatism. Esma has to tow the line and so do National Regulators its 18 days to go theres been no break in that line, if theres going to be one, its going to be last minute for many firms it may be a little too late. Puts some firms at a disadvantage who have gone through the efforts and done this versus some who are slightly lagging. Take mifid itself what were hearing from our regulators, there are 17 up to 28 Member States that wont have it transposed. At which Points Companies say within the law were acting yeah. Right. You can see the utility of these leis or regulators because they can follow how things are operating. Whats the potential benefit for investors do you think for investors, its more certainty. As the lei ensures, were starting to create the hierarchy relationships which shows you have a structure and we can do with any significant identifier. You work in compliance youre hearing lots of noise about new requirements on transparency is this something clearly that gives you a lot more work yourself but presumably banks like yours have to do a lot to get ready for this do they see any advantage . Youve talked to senior manages. Theyve said this is a good thing. Yes theres going to be increased transparency, Securities Finance and transactions in about 18 months time what i have seen is article 59 which is supplying data back to the clients about the transactions theyve entered into for us thats been a massive transfer to overhaul how we communicate and relay back to the client what theyve done with this and to improve the platform there are benefits i always say mifid 2 is a wonderful experience for most concerned. One of the other important things for mifid 2, they have to take ownership of these nittygritty compliance issues have you found you have a lot more open talks with senior managers than you might have done in the past absolutely. I hear that the fca has conversations with ceos about leis and thats never happened before reference states has never been that high up the agenda. When they come for an opinion, i get to talk to the people that i wouldnt have talked to before. Thank you very much, chad head of transaction at standard charts speaking of jedis, the latest star wars movie has raked in a galactic 450 million in ticket sales. Nbcs joe fridyer has more. Reporter by now after 40 years weve become accustomed to the lines, the costumes, the unwavering passion. Just because weve just finished it, im so psyched. Its rapturous. You walk out tingling. Its an incredible experience. Reporter but this time there is Something Different its carrie fischers final performance as leigh seth closed his business, track light gear so his staff can watch star wars the last jedi already the film has raked in 45 million at the box office. The second highest thursday night preview ever its the eighth episode in the franchise. Its about family and thats whats so powerful about it. Reporter and for fischer who was 20 when the role premiered she died months after she filmed. Its hard to think of her in the past tense, shes so alive in the film shes just wonderful. Reporter after 40 years, her force is still strong. Joe fryer, nbc news, los angeles. That makes it the fifth most Successful Box Office open of all time the most successful most recently was the Previous Star wars film so a huge, huge imflompt for disneys fortunes. Lets take a look at the stock 600 right now. Very positive open this morning so far a lot of green on that screen. The indices itself is up four fifths of one lets take a look at euro penal markets. We can see the ftse is still up 1 3 of a xetra dax up strong. Cac carant still up. Foots s ftse mib Still Holding up. The euro is still trading stronger against the dollar. The dollar trading slightly stronger against the yen and the Pound Holding pretty strong against the u. S. Dollars the u. S. Futures before we hand it over to my colleagues across the atlantic the s p 500 with an implied open up 13 points dow jones looking to open up 140 points nasdaq pretty positive after what was a strong end to the week last friday that is it for todays show. Im willem marks my colleagues at Worldwide Exchange are up next. news anchor downtown traffic is still bad. Expect massive delays. news anchor 2 all lanes on highway 50 remain closed at this hour. news anchor 3 the stats are in and this city leads with some of the worst traffic, with the average driver sitting in gridlock the equivalent of three days a year. For every hour that youre idling in your car, youre sending about half a gallon of gasoline up in the air. That amounts, over the course of the week, to about 10 pounds of carbon dioxide. Growth is good, but when it starts impacting our quality of air and quality of life, thats a problem. So forwardthinking cities like sacramento are investing in streets that are smarter and greener. The solution was right under our feet. Asphalt. Or to be more precise, intelligent asphalt. By embedding sensors into the pavement, as well as installing cameras on traffic lights, we will be able to study and analyze the flow of traffic. Then, we will take all of that data and we use it to optimize the timing of lights, so that traffic flows easier and travel times are shorter. And sacramento is just the beginning. With advances in cameras, sensors, and network speeds, we have the ability to make cities smarter, and happier. What excites me about this technology is that were using some of the most cuttingedge machinelearning, and ai, to help solve the most fundamental challenges that cities face around the world. Who knew asphalt could help save the environment . lani and the possibilities are endless. Break out your rally caps. The dow is pointing towards a triple digit gain. Well talk about whats fueling that jump. In the dark. A major power outage that brings the worlds Busiest Airport to a stand still. Bitcoin makes another big debut. Futures trading on the cme well check on the crypto currencys latest moves. Its monday, december 18th, 2017 Worldwide Exchange begins right now. Good morning very warm welcome to Worldwide Exchange on cnbc. I