Estimates to the value of coming under a unified structure. Were open to all ideas which can simplify our business. This is a project that still has a wide possible range of outcomes and raking in the cash covestro valleys as they say theyre generating cash faster than expected due to Strong Demand but the ceo says he is not eyeing any specific acquisitions theres lots of opportunities. What is missing is value created opportunities. We have a fixation on any deal, if we were to do one, has to be value creating. Shares in ihg check in at the bottom of the stoxx 600 after the hotel Group Launches a Strategic Review and halts special dividends. The ceo tells cnbc how the firm is spending its cash we announced a number of Strategic Initiatives to accelerate those trends and bringing new brands to new markets, launching new brands, investing in technology and funding more efficiencies in business to fund that growth good morning lets look at how european equities kicked off the morning. The stoxx 600 well into positive territory, up around a fifth of one percent at this early stage of the day as we look at individual markets, only the ftse 100 in the red. The dax in germany, up 0. 2 . In paris, the cac currant up 0. 30 . The ftse mib up 0. 50 . Banks are down significantly almost 0. 61 shares of bhp have fallen to the bottom of the stoxx 600 after net profits fell 3 1 . Despite that, the Mining Company is raising its dividend sharply. Underlying profit rose 25 but missed expectations. Bhp said the costs and risks of collapsing its dual structure outweigh benefits. The mine has been under pressure from Elliott Advisers to rethink that dual listing. The ceo said he was keeping an open mind ahead of a meeting with the activist investor theres a wide range of estimates to the value of coming under a unified structure. Were open to all ideas which can simplify our business. We have driven cost savings with most to come with the way we simplified the portfolio and the ways in which we operate and created a culture of simplicity. So its on strategy for us to have this debate ive been looking at the dual listed structure since i became ceo and trying to find a way i could do it for value, but not take undue risk in unifying the two structures into one. The issue with the calculations is theyre silent on a couple of significant Downside Risks one are the real costs of unification which result from us losing the tax cover on some of the plc revenue streams. Thats about 1 billion the much bigger source of uncertainty is when you unify the company, what will be the makeup or the resident of the Shareholder Base that would own the unified company . If you make an assumption that there is a big move towards more stringent owners, that pushes up the value of the credits on other assumptions you could make the point that the unified company would have less stringent owners, this pushes down the value of the transaction. We also asked about the type of environment he would be willing to sepend there is more confidence in the markets. We saw most recently the much more aggressive bids for the acreage that was happening on the mexican side of the gulf of mexico we always said it could be a twoyear program we have to maximize value for shareholders and take time to do so we are well into that. Weve only been at this in a formal sense for about six months the teaser is already out. The data rooms are open for the fayetteville operation within weeks all the data rooms will be open we had a wide range of interest from buyers who would like to buy the whole lot, buying small parts of the shale business. We feel were selling our business at a good time into a firming oil market we would expect to start to receive bids and look at them by the middle of this year. That was the bhp chief executive talking to cnbc earlier today. We are joined by alon ulsher a mining specialist. Lets talk about what he was talking about the u. S. Oil business he was talking about maximizing value for shareholders didnt they spend too much money for this business in the first place . Is a problem. The miners now are a picture of health generating more cash than they need and in the past thats been a harbinger of value destruction as they do m a thats not happening for now not for the time being the miners at this point are deciding what to do with that cash and are streamlining portfolios, which is what they are try doing with onshore they already have a fair amount of value on that asset we think they can realize 8 billion to 10 billion if value by selling it. Its unclear if they will sell it piece meal or as an entire packa package. Its encouraging that the process is moving along. Ive seen headlines saying they have with these results today shrugged off concerns expressed by elliott isnt selling these u. S. Assets what elliott wanted them to do its debatable where they bowed to pressure or whether that was always the plan it did coincide with the activist strategy that was deployed by elliott on this. Its something the broader Shareholder Base was quite pleased to see fortunately the sale is coinciding with a rebound in the oil and gas market so that they can maximize the value left in the assets lets talk about top line numbers. Given the increase in Commodity Prices and the expansion of the global economy, it would have been a shock if these revenue numbers had not come in where they had, wouldnt it . Would have. The earnings numbers were a bit soft they also did flag cost and inflation increases, productivity gains went backwards over the period. So weve been talking about productivity gains for the last several years. For this period productivity gains were a negative 4. 5 billion. So those factors seem to weigh on the result and offset the good news on capital returns, with the dividend being 15 higher than what we were forecasting. Its a Power Generation of 72 , well above the 50 minimum they established. So they are demonstrating a commitment to the new Capital Management framework but probably still 12 months behind rio tinto, which is much lower net debt and has greater flexibility. 12 months behind. In the next 12 months do you anticipate them getting more cash back in the form of dividends . We do by the end of this year they should be well on their way to reducing debt into the low teens. You have the u. S. Onshore shale sale hopefully coming before the end of this year maybe the cash coming next year. But that provides upside on capital returns. 8 billion to 10 billion. A big chunk of that coming back to shareholders. You heard the dual listing structure, he will go in with an open mind. The firm says they see the costs of that outweighing the benefits is there hard evidence thats the case bhp needs to come in and present their case i think they will. They will respond to elliotts proposals. There are press reports that other shareholders are quite keen to see a response on this its complex theres no question. Its not a new issue its something thats been debated for well over a decade not just with bhp. So, we do need to see some hard numbers, but at the end of the day, because the process is so complex, you can never be sure how it will turn out you have the authorities in australia, the tax authorities, regulatory authorities that will give a determination before i let you go, one more question about the oil price what impact does the Rising Oil Price have on the wider Metals Market it does have quite a Significant Impact first on the cost side of things, we estimate that, you know, the Oil Price Increase to the back end of last year raised the whole complex by 5 to 20 it does push up costs, particularly for bulk commodities. Thats where its most pronounced, where you are using a lot of fuel. But it also signals a change in the price dynamic. Usually when the Oil Price Goes up, people tend to become more bullish around the commodity complex in general so it does provide offset. As you move into the more mature phase of the cycle, you have to watch for costs starting to rise and margins compressing. Well leave it there. Thank you very much. Hsbcs pretax profit for 2017 fell well short of forecasts despite rising more than 140 from a year earlier. The 17 17. 2 billion figure was hurt by a 1 1. 3 billion charge that related to u. S. Tax reforms. The bank said it would carry out share buybacks as and when appropriate and plans to raise 5 billion to 7 billion in capita over the next few months more on those results in a half hours time, at 10 30 Central European time we will talk to colin mclean. Covestro says it is generating cash at a faster rate than anticipated the material manufacturer says it will reach its Free Cash Flow target within three years instead of five. The Fourth Quarter ebita beat expectations and doubled yearonyear hitting 879 million euros. The chief executive spoke to cnbc about his views on growth theres lots of opportunities, whats missing is value creating opportunities we have a fixation on any deal, if we were to do one, has to be value creating and with the current multiples on the assets we would look at, thats very, very difficult to see how some of these deals can be value creating. So Value Creation comes ahead of doing a deal the only hint i can give you is our coatings adhesives specialties business, which is a beautiful business, it has across the cycle more than 20 ebita return, its a stable busine business we would love to add on extra pieces in that business. Shares in ihg are trading at the bottom of the stoxx 600. They have frozen special payouts to investors this year they reported better than expected fullyear profits the hotel groups ceo explained where the company is going to invest as part of that new strategy so china continues to grow from strength to strength with that economy being focused, moving to services and consumption. Real strength across europe as well as certain markets like france, belgium and turkey recovered from the terrorist events, a strong Fourth Quarter in the u. S so generally positive trend. Today we announced a number of Strategic Initiatives to leverage those trends and accelerate growth by bringing new brands to new markets, launching new brands, investing in technology and finding more efficiencies in business to fund that growth. If you have views on the hotel change, bhp or hsbc get in touch on twitter you can follow the show at streetsignscnbc. Coming up, latvias central governor has been released from jail on corruption charges more after the break welcome back to street signs. The Energy Minister from the United Arab Emirates has been talking to reuters and saying opec and its allies need to continue Oil Cooperation beyond 2018 theres apparently 10 trillion worth of Oil Investment required by 2040 to meet global demand. He says that the future cooperation between opec and current allies including russia may help avoid an oil glut and any shortage he says the oil Market Monitoring beyond 2018 is the least they can do. Shares in Banking Software supplier temenos are trading lower after they said they are in advanced talks for fidessa at over 35 pounds a share temenos has one month to make an offer. Last week cnbc spoke to the chief executive about the company being a potential m a target itself after rumors of an approach from softbank take a listen. This is an industry in change temenos has all the all mahat ho a Good Software company. All Good Companies do one thing very, very well, they do things to scale we package our software, make it upgradeable, everybody gets the same software an were leading the industry. Latvias Central Bank Governor has been released on bail after determinations are being made whether he accepted a bribe. Investigators raided his home and office but he denies wrong doing. Hes led the bank of latvia since 2001 in related news, latvias largest bank, ablv is seeking emergency funding after accusations of breaching sanctions against north korea. All payments have been frozen by the lender claiming its Liquidity Position has deteriorated after the investigation. Im joined by Otillia Dhand via phone. For those of us who dont follow the latvian Banking Sector what is the back story to ablvs problems good morning. First of all, it appears to have little to do with each other, the two are in the same timeline but unrelated. Ablv is one of latvias nonresident banks, which is a type of bank that does business mostly out of moving money that comes from growth into the latvian bank and shifted to at location around the world. Recently these banks have been trying to move into Wealth Management and other less controversial areas, but the fact remains that the core of the business is shifting money from point a to point b around the world it tends to be usually money originating in russia. But the latest reports suggest it may have been north korean money as well. The challenge from my previous reporting in latvia is a total fall yilure of kyc these big banks rely so heavily on foreign deposits, they dont bother to find out where the money is coming from is this seemingly the problem with ablv . Indeed. The accusation is that the supervisory mechanisms within the bank itself were lenient and insufficient to identify our sources of money flowing into the bank but the fact is that latvia for a long time has had two parallels of Banking Systems effectively. The resident banks deal with normal Legal Operations and the nonresident banks which are a majority in latvia, that live off of shifting foreign money. So this problem is not new the challenge is that the u. S. Has gotten so strongly involved in this case, this is not something that can be brushed under the carpet no. Latvia has seen issues with nonresident banks before, especially since 2011. But in this case, they got the foreign regulators attention on the problem, that we will have to see some sort of moment from the latvian government to deal with the situation perhaps the timing is right, too because latvia will have general elections in october and that pushes the politicians along. Lets talk about the politics of the situation with tand the a bank governor. He has been asked to resign, but because of Central Bank Independence thats not so straightforward. Will have to be his own decision unless hes accused and convicted in the case that hes probably facing. Theres so much pleasumresh pree on him that he will probably decide to step back. Whats your final takeaway . Alloyd tvoid the latvian bankino at all costs right now its probably a sector to watch i suspect the latvian government will wait for the negative news to wear off, but with so much pressure we may see some positive changes in the latvian Financial Sector coming forward. Otilia dhand, we will leave it there for more head to cnbc. Com where you can find a full report on how we ended up in this situation. The euro group picked spains luis de guindos as the favorite for the next head of the European Central bank. He was picked after phillip lane withdrew from consideration. For more on that and europe itself, head to our website to find out why one commentator thinks shorting the euro means taking on both the ecb and the pentagon thats on cnbc. Com the gun debate continues to rage in the u. S. Several medical groups are calling on the Trump Administration and congress to confront gun violence as a Major Public Health issue. Hallie jackson reports on how the president s views may be evolving on the issue. Reporter the president is back in washington, a small sign of movement maybe in the gun debate the white house saying he supports a bipartisan plan to strengthen federal background checks, so do other republicans. I have no issue with more extensive background checks. Reporter a narrow proposal forcing federal agencies to improve reporting of things like criminal convictions making sure they come up on background checks it would not have stopped the florida shooter, but another proposal might have. Why is an 18yearold, a 19yearold, not allowed to purchase a beer in a restaurant, not allowed to purchase a handgun, but can purchase an Assault Rifle . Okay. So makes no sense. Reporter thats exactly why Senato Dianne Feinstein plans to propose an age requirement 21 and older buying guns like an ar15. Often the weapons of choice for mass shooters in places like florida, massachusetts and orlan orlando. The ar15 is als one of the most popular guns in america. In some places, raffle off in fundraisers, also for firefighters in sacramento this weekend nancy luggo walked out. The timing of seeing that weapon after reeling in the grief with the rest of the country. Of the death of the children in florida. Reporter but in kansas, where Tyler Tannehill is running for congress, he has no plans to stop his own ar15 giveaway. I believe in the second amendment. Theres a solution to protecting our students and teachers while still letting people have firearms and guns. Reporter at the state level, 22 states are looking at allowing guns on school and college campuses, while eigh states expanded background checks for gun buyers. Action locally on both sides of the debate, despite almost none federally. Speaking of mr. Trumps evolving views, the president offered his endorsement for mitt romney, the former Massachusetts Governor in the race for a vacant utah senate see the m seat. Coming up on the show, fullyear pretax profits jump over 140 for hsbc, but it was not enough to beat forecasts find out why when we break down the numbers. 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. Welcome back to street signs. Im willem marx. These are your headlines halfyear earnings from bhps high dividend are ignored after earnings miss expectations the chief executive tells cnbc hes open to discussing the companys dual listing with Elliott Advisers theres a wide range of estimates to the value of coming under a unified structure. Were open to all ideas which can simplify our business. This is a project that still has a wide possible range of outcomes europes largest bank takes a hit from u. S. Tax changes sending shares lower raking in the cash covestro rallies as they say theyre generating cash faster than expected due to Strong Demand but the ceo says he is not eyeing any specific acquisitions theres lots of opportunities. What is missing is value created opportunities. We have a fixation on any deal, if we were to do one, has to be value creating. Shares in ihg check in at the bottom of the stoxx 600 after the hotel Group Launches a Strategic Review and halts special dividends. The chief executive tells cnbc how the firm is spending its cash we announced a number of Strategic Initiatives to accelerate those trends and bringing new brands to new markets, launching new brands, investing in technology and finding more efficiencies in business to fund that growth still a few hours to go until trading opens up in the u. S. Looks like a soft open the dow jones looking at an implied open of opening up 130 points down. Nasdaq and the s p 500 both looking to open softly as well here in europe, the ftse 100 is the only laggard. Its gown 0. 1 in germany, the dax is up 0. 5 the cac is up 0. 5 and if we look at currency markets the euro is weaker by more than a half percent against the dollar the pound is also weaker against the dollar the dollar strengthening against the yen and the swiss franc, so that rebound after a threeyear low for the u. S. Dollar is continuing talking of hsbc, pretax profits for 2017 fell well short of forecasts despite rising more than 140 from the year before the 17 17. 2 billion figure was hurt by a 1 1. 3 billion charge relating to u. S. Tax reform. The bank said it would carry out share buybacks when appropriate and plans to raise an additional 5 billion to 7 billion in tier 1 capital in the first half of this year. Were joined by colin mclean i want to ask you about the numbers. The bank can double its profit but still miss expectations. How much blame can you put at the door of steinhoff and carillion . I think they were a large part of the surprise i think the bad loan charges and impairments were worse than expected that led to a flub of other misses and disappoint thes for t disappoint the poinppointments t its good for barclays and many other european banks, but a negative for hsbc. We have lloyds tomorrow, barclays on thursday, rbs friday Analysts Expect a few write downs. How much of a risk do they face from unresolved litigation and conduct issues theres still a risk for banks like barclays and rbs. But the background in terms of the steepening yield curve is favorable and most investors will hang on to the sector on the basis of if inflation surprises to the upside and the yield curve steepens more, its probably a sector you want to be fully weighted in. Hsbc, are you surprised the bank maintained its dividend at the current rate im not surprised they maintained it. I think they may do no better than maintain it over the next year the markets are still going in terms of consensus for a slight rise in the dividend next year, but it doesnt look particularly scoped for that. They were disappointed that a statement about buybacks was vague. What about some new faces at the top of the bank. Is that a good news story as far as youre concerned . I think its hard to see just what to make of that it probably means a focus on core business. A mixture of some new blood plus an internal promotion. So it brings in some experience in the market, perhaps hopefully some change as well, but probably more of a focus on growing the top line and making sure the cost income ratios are good so you talk about potential writedowns for rbs and barclays, they seem to have the most exposure to your mind. Do you think the steepening yield curve will indicate bumper profits down the road that could offset some of those writedowns . Yes barclays is particularly well placed the difference is in the ratings with the bank like barclays, youre at much lower ratings than hsbc. Rbs not quite so much. But much more to gain from those banks from that steepening, particularly in barclays looking ahead to tomorrow when lloyds reports, how much exposure do they have to the uk . Is that potential danger for them i think for lloyds it is. It is profitable books, but as that unwinds its more exposed to the challenger banks, and others taking part in the business its also much more exposed to mortgages and consumer credit. And i think there may be more pressure on the uk, and i think lloyds has more to lose than other banks. Well leave it there. Colin mclean from svm Asset Management for more on hsbcs rut results,a online to cnbc. Com Deutsche Bank reportedly plans to cut up to 500 Investment Banking and trading jobs ahead of its bonus payouts. The bank has been under pressure to cut costs as it works through a fiveyear turnaround plan. Some high profile bankers in new york and london are on the list of cuts. Feel free to email the show, the address is streetsignseurope cnbc. Com you can follow us on twitte twitter, streetsignscnbc and tweet me directly if you so wish. Coming up, kfc said it had to shut down hundreds of its restaurants in the uk after it ran out of chicken thats Kentucky Fried Chicken running out of chicken why they blamed the closures on problems other than the chicken after the break. Successful people have one thing in common. They read more. How do they find the time . With audible. Audible has the Worlds Largest selection of audiobooks. Books like peak performance. And endurance. Books that energize and inspire for just 14. 95 a month. Less than youd pay for the hardcover. With audible, you get a creditamonth good for any audiobook. If you dont like it, exchange it any time. No questions asked. You can also roll your credits to the next month if you dont use them. Audible members use the free mobile app to listen anytime, anywhere. On the go. Or in the car. The audible app automatically keeps your place, no bookmarks required. So youll pick up right where you left off, even if you switch your phone. To your echo at home. Get more books in your life. Start a 30day trial and your first audiobook is free. Cancel anytime, and your books are yours to keep forever. Listening, is the new reading. Text listen 4 to five hundred five hundred to start listening today. Welcome back the mens olympic two man bobsleigh ended in a dead heat with the germans and canadians both getting a gold medal. In the mens 500 speed skating event, north korea was beaten by the canadian skater. Norway leads with the most medals, 28 medals. Germany is in second with 20 medals canada is in third the olympics has brought attention to the unusual gear olympic athletes use head online to cnbc. Com to meet the entrepreneurs behind some of that equipment the secret to making it as an entrepreneur, do not follow your passions, thats the advice of the billiona rshire owner ofe mavericks, mark cuban who says he hates basketball. Go to cnbc. Com to read the full story. Kfc had to close the majority of its 900 stores on monday after running out of chicken. The issues came after it changed its delivery partner to dhl. Kfc said teething problems chickens are no teeth were a main part of the problem for more on this story, head to our website to find out how kfc apologized to customers. Thats on nbc. Com. Walmart will report Fourth Quarter results later today. The retailer topped earnings per share forecast for the last eight quarters but our next guest does not see strong earnings momentum at the company. Bruno montane joins us u. S. Viewers getting up now, real early birds, they may be tuning in and wondering about the whal maalmart earnings. What will the growing ecommerce efforts do for growth in terms of sales and margin . We think walmart is getting the transformation to ecommerce theyre doing all the right changes. That will allow them to grow faster than people expect. However if you want to grow in ecommerce to do it profitably should not be the first concern, that should be what customers wanted and how to get it to people so we expect better than expected sales, but lower than expected profitability is this the amazon model of prioritizing growth over profit . That is a fair challenge. Yes, theres a similarity. You first get the customer the product. When you have sufficient scale you know what the customers want then you make sure you have an affordable model in the u. S. People dont eshop as a proportion of business as elsewhere. This is market starting to heat up, do you think it has to we know from china, the uk it has to be done china is probably 10 ecommerce theres a second reason why its so important that that market works, is that euro Grocery Shopping is the most frequent thing. Anybody who cracks grocery has such a deep access to you, your wallet and interactions, its almost a starting point to attack all the categories. Its a strategic must to own that place in the landscape. So we think it will heat up in the u. S. Its remarkable it has not happened yet we think some of the check giants, like alibaba or a google will start thinking how can we partner up with incumbent retailers. We had the guy who ran ricardo solutions on a few weeks ago, it seems to me, as a neutral observer, that theres a division between potential disruptors, new firms tries to do this, who have a real steep struggle to get up there, and then firms partnering with existing retailers who have that footprint across the u. S. In particular who will win out of that battle do you think doesnt have to be a winner or loser situation if you look at china all the major grocers are growing in partnerships what a gross hear is lcer what. They have scale. Trying to replicate that as a tech company doesnt work. Tech companies have artificial intelligence, ways to automate stuff, bringing that together in china, thats why china is ahead. Theyre not fighting each other, theyre working with each other to transform we think thats the key to unlocking the u. S. Lets talk about automation and what that means for employees. Weve seen walmart increase wages. Is that a win longterm for that business do you think . To pay employees more . Is it likely to cover the expense of total employment . So, paying an employee more makes complete sense for food retail those employees that will still be there will have to do interesting jobs, serving you, helping you, consumers facing roles, you want these people well paid, happy and doing good jobs some jobs will be more automated in the future. So those that you keep you do want to pay well if you think of the checkout free stores, amazon has one store in the u. S. , china has hundreds of those. That doesnt bode wellfor the checkout jobs, but it does well for jobs serving customers could tax reform and the lower Corporate Tax rate translate into lower prices at the till what if walmart instigates that for the rest of the sector some of that will feed through to lower prices or better share holder returns, a combination of the two food has always been price competitive. Not sure tax will make a material difference. If it does, it will be lower tacks f taxes for everybody. I want to ask about the run of earnings coming up. What are you looking at with bigger outfits in terms of trends beyond ecommerce what could make the difference in terms of market share in the u. S. , they need a big move towards value retailing, the adjustments that it takes. Really interesting point about keeping employees happy by paying them more if theyre going to be customer facing. Do you think that some of walmarts announced customer improv improvements, things like grocery pickup will build growth at the expense of profit in the shortterm yes in the shortterm it will be its a necessary move. If you want to do ultimately grocery and ecommerce will be a cheaper operation. In the shortterm you have bigger stores, and you have to use them once you start billing your trade and business, you say which stores can i close and replace. Initially its about reutilizing assets, until you have enough scale to get a dedicated supply chain to do the ecommerce business bruno, thank you for coming in this morning. Hsbcs pretax profit for 2017 fell well short of pore casts despite rising more than 140 from a year earlier the 17 17. 2 billion figure was hurt by a 1 1. 3 billion charge relating to u. S. Tax reforms the bank said it would carry out share buybacks as and when appropriate and plans to raise an additional 5 billion to 7 billion in tier 1 capital in the next few months. Shares in bhp have fallen towards the bottom of the stoxx 600 after first half net profits fell 37 despite that fall in profit the Worlds LargestMining Company is raising its dividend sharply. Underlying profit rose 25 , but that missed expectations bhp said the costs and risks of collapsing its dual listing structure in the uk and australia outweighed the potential benefits the miner has been under pressure from Elliott Advisers to rethink that dual listing thats down 3. 6 at this stage of the day covestro says it is generating cash at a faster rate than anticipated the material manufacturer says it will reach its Free Cash Flow target within three years instead of five. Investors seem to be reacting positively the stock is up 2. 2 the Fourth Quarter ebita beat expectations and doubled yearonyear hitting 879 million euros. Shares in ihg are trading at the bottom of the stoxx 600. They have frozen special payouts to investors this year they reported better than expected fullyear profits speaking to cnbc earlier today, the hotel groups ceo explained where the company is going to invest as part of that new strategy President Trump tweeted criticism of former president obama asking why he didnt go after Russian Election meddling during his term. Tracie potts joins us now from washington, d. C. This morning. Thank you very much. A lot of tweets from the president over the weekend in response to the mueller indict the on friday. How has capitol hill i know theyve been off for the last day or so, how have they been responding publicly to these tirades on twitter well likely hear more today about that as you noted, it was a holiday here yesterday but the president speaking out about democrats, blaming president obama and his party for not doing something earlier about russian meddling before and during the 2016 election even earlier when they were in charge inasmuch as the intelligence agencies say this has been going on for some time. The question the president faces now, is that all of his intelligence chiefs have come here to capitol hill to say not only did it happen during the election but they expect it will continue into the next election, into the congressional elections. What is President Trump going to do about that . He has not said. He has said he thinks republicans will do well in the upcoming election. He has said a lot about the fbi and its russia investigation continuing to insist that there is no collusion and that russia got what it was looking for, confusing the u. S. Public because of all of these investigations the president continues to suggest that they are unnecessary. Even that the fbi was so distracted that they missed following up on a tip on the florida shooter. And, in fact, the fbi has admitted they got a tip but they did not pass it on to the Florida Office about the shooter in the florida case. The president was very busy over the weekend talking about some of these issues, coming back now facing quite a bit of criticism not only about gun control but also about his reaction to the russia investigation u myou mentioned the critici about gun control. Theres been protests and other things directed at the president. Theres the idea that there will be a listening process involving President Trump and Young Students from that region. Can you tell us more about that . So we knew earlier last week after the shooting happened that the white house said the president wanted to hear from some of the families of past mass shootings, because hes open to ideas for strengthening background checks. Its to the what these demonstrators are looking for in terms of hard core gun control, but the white house says the president is interested in that. The thing is that the budget he just sent to capitol hill rolls back funds for states to strengthen those background checks tracie potts thank you very much for joining us. Lets look at u. S. Futures a few hours ahead of the open in new york the dow jones looking to open significantly down at this stage. Down 178 points on the implied open s p 500 and nasdaq also looking to open relatively softly. Im happy to say wilfred frost has joined us in london from over the other side of the pond. What can we expect to be the focus of markets im surprised to see futures down so much partly because we have seen the rally last week. But yields have picked up significantly, both on friday after the cpi data and even yesterday even though markets were closed. That pick up in the tenyear will probably weigh on markets last year we saw that rebound and stronger than expected data on friday in terms of the cpi but yields did not pick up that much clearly rising rates, whether its the fed funds rate or longer end of the curve has been a concern for equity markets interesting seeing that brief correlation between u. S. Dollar and the u. S. Equity markets. You see it coming back today that seemingly will have an impact on the s p 500. And weve come from that threeyear low, a bit of a rebound as the dollar rally continues. The other thing to focus on this morning before the bell, well hear from home depot and walmart, one stock that everybody is always watching in terms of that core retail environment. Thank you very much thats it for todays show from me in london im willem marx. Stay tuned for wilfred frost on Worldwide Exchange coming up next so youre looking for male customers, ages 2554, who live within five miles of your business . Like these two. And that guy. Or maybe you want to reach women, ages 18 to 34, who are interested in fitness. Namaste. Whichever audience youre looking for, well find them were the finders. We work here at comcast spotlight, and we have the best tools for getting your advertising message out there. Anywhere, any way your audience watches. Consider them found. Markets now, futures pointing to a lower open on wall street as investors return to work from the long weekend well tell you whats weighing on the markets a cryptocurrency comeback. Bitcoin futures are up big this morning. And a big win for disney over the weekend its tuesday, february 20, 2018, Worldwide Exchange begins right now