Interest. The skies should be high, ryanair calls for aviation to top the brexit negotiation agenda, warning cnbc that no trade deal could mean all flight to the eu are halted. A step closer to a trial. The wife of french president ial candidate, Francois Fillon may go to trial for work she did not do. Good morning. It is brexit day, the triggering of article 50 is finally here. We have it all covered for you. We are live from westminster and brussels. Before that, lets look at how European Equity markets are doing. If there are brexit concerns, investors are not showing them. Ftse 100 is up by 0. 25 . Elsewhere seeing the xetra dax in germany higher, and the cac 40 in paris higher by 0. 4 . The dow snapping an eight day losing stretch, the longest stretch in about eight years or so. Asia was positive as well. Lets look at the uk pound sterling. What were seeing there is quite a bit of weakness. Heavy selling in the asian trading seg. That session. Thats quieter, off session lows, but still off 0. 32 on the day. Uk Prime Minister theresa may has officially signed and sealed the order that invokes article 50 of the lisbon treaty which kick starts the countrys divorce from the European Union. The letter is expected to be handed to donald tusk before may begins her address to the house of commons at 13 30 cet. Steve joins us from westminster. Its a historic day and youve been talking to a number of key voices. Absolutely. Weve heard from hillary bend, alex salmond. Delighted to introduce nick clegg, euro spokesman for the democrats. This is not a good day for you. You are a staunch remainder. What is the best britain can get out of this now . The best we can get out of this is if were theresa may were to reverse her decision not only to pull us out of the European Union and margaret thatchers invention, the Single Market. It was very much a british invention, massively benefited the british economy. I think theresa may made a massive error by choosing to placate her own party by saying she would leave the Single Market even as we leave the eu. If she were to reverse that decision and say, no, on reflection its better if we try to keep the best sort of the best virtues of economic integration as we leave the rest of the European Union, i think that would be the best possible outcome from what i consider to be an undesirable course of action. You and tim farron are labeled remoaners. Anyone who was a remainor who is now standing up and saying we dont like a lot about this, people are calling you remoaners. Are you concerned i think you are from what ive seen that theres a move to shut down opposition . Absolutely. For those who dont live in the country its difficult to describe this bizarre atmospheres we had this finely won referendum, over 16. 1 million people, almost half of the voting public voted for a different future. 70 of youngsters who are the most important of all because theyll live with the consequences of this, voted for a different future. If you dare say any of that now, you get yelled at for being a remoaner. How dare you. Its ridiculous. In a normal democracy, the losing side is not expected to enter into a vow of silence and cut their tongues out and never speak again about the things they believe. I passionately believe whilst we need to leave the European Union because thats what the british people voted for, i think they were told by the brexit leaders a whole bunch of stuff which is not true. They were told they would get millions of pounds, hundreds of millions of pounds every week from the nhs, an economic paradise would be waiting for us outside the eu. When it becomes obvious those raise the d expectations may no filled, i think opinions will change. When i listen to what is said, theres very little between the two sides, but i see a middle ground as well. Do you think despite the posturing from the more staunch brexiteers and the more hard lined voices, there is going to be a compromise and this oneyear to 18 months deadline, we can get some real deals done . Totally agree with you, in any negotiation you can only succeed if youre prepared to compromise. No one can sort of petulantly stamp their feet and stand on ceremony, so you have to compromise. The big question here is can theresa may compromise in a way thats acceptable to her increasingly zany, hard line party, which have become ever more radical on this. But also more popular. For a party to have this going on, to have over 40 of the vote, they carry a lot of the british people with them. Sure, theres a bunch of reasons for that. Partly because they have sort of uncritical support from large parts of the party. The labor party has gone to lala land and is not functioning as an opposition. The fact remains, in terms of getting a successful negotiation, theresa may needs to compromise. The big question is can she sell those kcompromises . She may need to spend some money, can she sell those compromises to a bunch of people who are touring Television Studios like this today saying we shouldnt have a dole at aea . Thats the question. So far out of the last nine months all that theresa may has done every time theres any pressure from her own party shes buckled. Shes put party before country from today onwards she needs to put country before party. Should she go to the country in any stage in the next couple of years . I introduced the fixed Term Parliament bill. She said there is no need for a general election because in law there wont ab general elbe a g election until 2020. I think it would be extremely foolish, at the same time trying to negotiate with 27 different government is, and parliaments, also to trigger a general election. Every minute will count. The clock is ticking from today onwards. The idea that the government will waste its time on the general election in the middle of that strikes me as wrong. So we need a divorce deal, a great repeal act. A trade deal. Trade deals with china u. S. , australia. We need to deal with referendum issues, scotland, and northern islan ireland. This sounds like the most moment to us task any British Government has had to do certainly postwar. Something will have to give. The one thing that is not going to happen is that all of this will go will happen effortlessly according to time and plan. It wont. Theres no way that in two years, as you say, you do a divorce deal, you then negotiate the most complex free trade devel agreement that the new world has seen, you have to negotiate with 50 other countries with whomrel have to have it ratified not only by this place behind me but by 27 parliaments and regional parliaments across the European Union. Its for the birds. That wont happen in two years. Again, is theresa may, does she have the ability, does she have the will to sell to her own party and the people who have her seemed to up about this brexit thing. Can she sell the fact shell have to give some money . Either plead for more time or enter into a lengthy transitional arrangement. At the moment, all shes done up to now is just do what her party is telling her. Now she needs to make decisions which are good for the country not her party. Nick, great speaking to you. Nick clegg joining us there. Former deputy Prime Minister here in the uk. Back to you. Steve, thank you very much for that. So what are the next steps . This friday the 27 eu countries will be sending their negotiation guidelines through the European Council for a draft d document. On the 29th of april, the eu will prepare the final document for the rules. And the french and german elections will be taking place this year testing the stability of the block. And a final brexit deal is expected by late 2018. Britain should officially divorce from the European Union bay may 2019. Thats if everything goes according to plan. Willem marx is in brussels. You heard the doubts being cast on the timeline by clegg. What does everyone in brussels think . How likely is this to be done in two years . Since ive been here, not a Single Person has said that the twoyear timeline is realistic. They seem to concur with what nick clegg was saying there. Today we will see a quick response, it seems, from donald tusk, the president of the European Council. He will talk at about 1 45, about 15 minutes after theresa may gives her official statement on article 50. And then later over the course of the afternoon well hear from several other european leaders, including geJeanclaude Juncker. Those are likely to be quick, simple responses to acknowledge the receipt of that letter. People will be looking to see the contents of that letter from theresa may, were expecting a few pages to that letter. A lengthy note. People will look and try to understand what tone the british will adopt and the framework through which they wanted negotiations to pass. Thats the first major stumbling block, the distinction between how the brits want to deal with this and how the europeans want to deal with this. The europeans looking to negotiate britains exit as a priority. After that, start the trade negotiations for a future relationship. The british said saying they want both of those things to operate concurrently. Thats going to be the real challenge initially. Lots of challenges. Willem, thank you very much for that. Well catch up with you in a few minutes time. Ryanair has called for ryanair to top the brexit negotiation saying that uk travelers could be left in limbo if an agreement is not reached. Kenny jacobs, the cmo of ryanair told cnbc there is hope that brexit will not impacted the irish borders. The connection between the uk and ireland is so strong, i dont see it being damaged with brexit. In Northern Ireland, politicians are saying the right things, that there has to be a special arrangement found, people in dub land are saying that, people in belfast are saying that. People are hoping we are not returning to difficulties in Northern Ireland as a result of brexit. Join us today at 13 00 cet for theresa mays all important article 50 speech to parliament. Email the show. The address is street strostre and you can tweet me at carolincnbc. Coming up, well be going live to paris. Dont go away. Plenty more in two minutes. Welcome back. There was a stream of fed speak yesterday. Kansas city fed president Esther George called for deliberate gradual rate rises, that echoed comment from david kaplan who warned aggressive rate hikes could push the economy into recession. Jerome cowl sapowell said t current pace of rate hikes was deliberate. And Steve Liesman asked if he agreed that the forecast of two hikes this year is right. Thats my forecast as well, but, yes, you have to be certain you know for sure that you dont get everything right, particularly about the future. And you need to think about what happens if the economy is growing more slowly or if the economy is growing faster. Those comments led strength to the u. S. Dollar. Lets look at the indices in the u. S. The dow jones snapping an eightday losing streak, the longest stretch in about six years. Closing up to the tune for 0. 3 . The nasdaq up by 0. 6 . Were joined by maya bendari. Maya, is it wrong to say u. S. Investors or u. S. Markets are a bit shortsighted . There was all this fanfare about the failed care bill and how this cast doubt into whether trump could have fiscal reform, tax reform, and now you see investors coming back in, buying up these indices once again. The trump trade, is it not dead after all . Its certainly our view that u. S. Equities dont look like a great bet here. Our Asset Allocation we downgraded u. S. Equities to disclik abodi dislike about three weeks ago. We see essentially the full positive trump, all the tax cuts and so on being priced in fully, without any of the downside being affected in prices. So if you sort of work out how much the Corporate Tax cuts might actually boost earnings, the rule of thumb is a 5 cut boosts earning at 4. 5 . So you would see maximum 17 upside on the s p 500 from all the good stuff that hes suggesting. We pretty much had that and have come off a bit since then. Maybe you were even ahead of the curve, ahead of other investors who are taking a slightly more nuanced view on the u. S. Equities, not simply buying u. S. Equities left, right and center. With you underweighting u. S. Stocks a couple weeks ago even before the failed healthcare bill, i wonder was it based on worries and downs as to whether trump could enact those policies or valuation . I think it was a combination of things. It was certainly valuation, at 22 times the s p 500 is trading rich relative to other marks. It was full trump being priced in without the down side but also concerns about corporate profitability. Wages in the u. S. Are starting to pick up. We are at peak profits. I would argue its a combination of all three of those factors. What i find curious is you still like the u. S. Dollar. Doesnt that have a high correlation to what trump is doing and what u. S. Equities are doing . You tend to find when the dollar is strong, u. S. Equities are weak. So actlly that is consistent. I think the Dollar Strength story is as much a reflection of what we expect to happen in other countries such as europe and the uk as it is what we expect to happen in the u. S. In europe, we expect policymakers to stay easy for quite a long time. In japan, we expect a continuation of qe. I suppose that weakens the euro and the yen respectively against the stronger dollar. Basically the reason why you like japan and europe, thats mainly currencies . No, i think thats again one of the reasons why we like them. But if we take japan as an example, japan we have got pretty punchy earnings expected. 10 , 10. 5 this year. Earnings revisions in japan on the city data, which i was looking at this morning, running at the highest since 2006. You have strong earnings, strong earnings revisions, reasonable valuations, serious corporate reform happening. A range of factors that underpin our views. Maya, it is brexit day. Theres no way around it i have to ask about brexit and the ftse 100. Its doing pretty well this morning. You could argue everything is baked into the cake. We knew brexit could be triggered at some point. So no news in that signing of article 50. Do you think some brexit fatigue is setting in when it comes to buying up the ftse because the pound has been so weak . How long can that trade continue . Theres certainly a strong link between the ftse and the pound. Somewhere between 73 and 75 of the ftse 1 00 companies revenues come from overseas. As sterling weakens they get a bit of a kicker. From our perspective, were neutral uk equities here. Cognizant that a weaker pound about boost revenues, but equally some meaningful concerns around brexit and what impact that might have on the uk economy. Balancing those out. All right. Well have to leave it here. Thank you very much for that. Appreciate it. Maya badari. Interesting news from the active management world, blackrock is overhauling its active stock picking business. They said they will rebrand or adjust Investment Strategies on 1 1 of its business. The move will see jobs cut, fees dropped and investment increase in data mining technology. Reuters reports over 40 staff will be laid off including some portfolio managers. The revamp marks blackro the. Sanofis new drug to treat eczema will particular ket the product with regeneron. It will have a list price of 37,000 which is less of other products of the same kind. 37,000. Thats pricey. The drug initially cost 50,000. Maybe thats a bit of a discount. Lets get back to politics. Its another major setback for Francois Fillons president ial campaign. Two weeks ago was put under formal investigation for paying his wife from public funds for work she did not do. Yesterday his wife, Penelope Fillon was also put under formal investigation after being questioned by magistrates. Man well valls says he will vote for manuel macron in the president ial election. Lets get out to claire. Do you think valls will help macron more than he will help him since he comes from deeply unpopular socialist branch. Thats the question, carolin. Its double sided this support from valls to macron. He has been fighting as to not continue the continuity of the fillon era. The former Prime Minister is more of a handicap for him than asset. On the radio this morning he said i thank manuel valls, but i will make sure there are new faces in my government, ie i wont govern with him if im elected. So thats basically what he said. Thats clear, but, yes, emanuel macron has had a lot of support from socialist heavyweights, a bit from the center, a bit from the right also, but trying to appear as a new face and doesnt want to bare the heritage of the Francois Hollande era. They also question the future of the socialist party with many divisions in france. Also manuel valls has been breaching the major rules of the socialist primary, that, you know, he was supposed to support the socialist candidate. He has chosen not to do so in the morning. Thats a breach of the rules. Hes being heavily criticized this morning for that. Back to you. Thank you very much for that. Well go for a quick break. Check out World Markets live, our blog which runs throughout the european trading day. Plenty more brexit discussion after this break. Stick around. Hello. Welcome. Youre still watching street signs. Im carolin roth. These are your headlines. Time to pull the trigger. Sterling retreats as uk Prime Minister theresa may prepares her letter to brussels confirming britains exit from europe and starting the twoyear countdown to the divide. Europe readies its response after theresa may calls angela merkel, Jeanclaude Juncker and donald tusk agree to a strong eu is in everyones interest. Blue sky thinking. Ryanair calls for aviation to top the brexit negotiation agenda, warning cnbc that no trade deal could mean all flights to the eu are halted. A step closer to a trial. The wife of french president ial candidate, Francois Fillon may be placed under formal investigation accused of being paid by state funds for work she did not do. It is brexit day. We also have some uk data. And quite interesting. Uk mortgage approval did fall to 68,350 in the month of february. Thats weaker than expected. What we are seeing on the upside, the uk Consumer Credit numbers slowed less than expect t ed. Lets look at sterling dollar. Cable is changing hands at 124. 14. Down by much more during the asian trading session. Selling really accelerated and implied volatility is reaching new highs. There you go. Still some weakness on the day. Lets show you what European Equity markets are doing. There are no brexit concerns, if you will. We are seeing a sea of green. The dax up by 0. 6 . Cac 40 up by 0. 3 . The ftse 100 benefiting from the weakness of the pound sterling. It is lagging a bit compared to others. Its only up by 0. 2 . Keep in mind also we had a positive handover from wall street and asia. Lets come back to pound sterling and give you a look once again. Here we go. We have cable at 124. 15 off by 0. 27 . Also want to talk a bit more about some of the uk data, more importantly about the outlook for the uk economy give than we are facing now two years, even more than that, two years of negotiations with the eu. Want to talk to colin pickering. How long do you believe these negotiations will last . Wellistical i realistically seven years. When would uk businesses have clarity about what the future looks like for them . After two years . After five years . What does it mean for the uk economy. In the shortterm, yes, we dodged a recession. Could that look differently in the longer run . How it matters for businesses is how quickly the eu and uk get going with the meat of the negotiations. Which is the postbrexit trade deal. In my best case, the uk remains fairly well integrated on the good side of the market but loses the Financial Services passport. If firms can know that with certainty in two years, things may not be too bad. But brexit is a supply side shock. I see growth falling from 2. 2 to 1. 8 . Less growth in trade, in investment from the eu, and then a major hit from lower migration, because that affects population growth. What does it do to your gdp forecast . Are we heading for recession down the track . Not from brexit per se. In the nearterm the uk actually looks good. Its benefiting from the global upturn in demand, consumers seem to be taking on more risk than i would like to see as an economist. We saw today Consumer Credit numbers. What i see more problematic is the economy overheating in two, three years time and having a recession because of that and the bank of england falling behind the curve rather than brexit factoring into household decisionmaking. Are you essentially saying the next move by the boe should be a hike in rates given the inflation pick chooture rather cut . Yes, we have firms hirings a at a slower pace, underlying inflation is picking up. Thats a recipe for an overshoot beyond the 2 target. As a policymaker for longer than you would want to have. I think they q1 2018, and the recent minutes from march tend to that view. What do they have to do from the fiscal side . Mr. Hammond ruled out a big stimulus plan akin to the u. S. Is that wrong . Should he be readying something much bigger . The key point is in the long run brexit damages longterm supply. Fiscal measures, but raise investment, by making it cheaper by private sector to invest or by government stepping up capital investment. Those types of Capital Investments raise productivity growth and give people more stuff to make stuff with. That can offset the costs of brexit. But so far i just see the standard rhetoric of lets cut current spending, lets not raise Capital Spending too much, and britain faces a steady decline to a lower permanent level of trend growth. Lets talk more about the negotiating process. Do you think theres a sense that the eu will, if you will, deliberately punish the uk for triggering article 50 . For putting everyone in the place theyre in . No, that suggests that the eu 27 can agree so effectively that they can decide to punish the uk or give it a generous deal to look at the other hand. That wont happen. What the eu 27 will do is preserve the cohesion of the club. The commercial interests at stake for the eu 27 are far lower than for the uk. Some 3 of eu gdp is earned by exporting to the uk. The major priorities preserving the cohesion of the club, which means not imposing costs on the club by britains exit from the eu. Theresa may has repeatedly said were aiming for a hard brexit. We dont want half in, half out. What we want is a hard brexit and very, very tough set of rules. Do you believe that just based on reports shes actually softening her view given also based on what youre saying that the uk has more at stake than the eu . The eu earns 12 of its gdp exporting from the eu. Half of its migrants come from the eu. The uk has lots to lose. I dont recognize this idea of a hard brexit from theresa may. I dont think the government are aiming for wto arrangements. That in my opinion would be a hard brexit. The government may be heading towards a semihard brexit, where the uk strikes trade deals where it buys more than it sells to the, ueu. Theresa may also said no deal is better than a bad deal. Theres been a lot of push back coming from uk businesses. Why would she say that if essentially what youre implying is shes going for a baddish deal . In my view, a hard brexit would reduce trend growth to around 1. 5 per year. Not the end of the world. Its very damaging. The 0. 7 trend growth ends badly over time, but the Growth Outlook is akin to germanys but remains higher than france or italy. Brexit is not the end of the world, just a stupid economic move. Is it also going to be stupid for the eu . Of course its in the eus interest to try to strike a good deal on trade. Its much more in their interest to remain in a situation where the objectives of the club are to remain intact. There will be no concessions for german carmakers for britain. Its more important to keep the club together, not impose costs. More specifically, while the eu wont punish the uk, it cannot offer the uk a deal thats available for a peripheral or associate member to the eu or a country that could ab be a potential member of the eu, so its a swiss deal or a turkey deal minus a couple of things. Do stay with us. We want to hear from a conservative mp that steve spoke to, also member to the committee for exiting the European Union. His name is dominic robin. Take a listen. In the early stages of negotiation, theres real opportunity for us to build up good faith by securing the position of the eu nationals here. Right do so. But also the british expats abroad. From the point of negotiations that would get us off to a good start. You expect mrs. May to give in on that one quite quickly and say these people are not a negotiating pawn. The good people will not be held ransom to this . I understood from what you said, bear in mind its the eu that said you cant address this question, including british expats until we start the negotiations. I thought you suggested that they had. This is something we want to get resolved early. Lets hope we can do that, and its good for people who want reassurance in this country and on the continent but also getting negotiations off to the right start. If you give in something which seems morally correct straight away but could be used as a political point against something else, european negotiators are less keen on giving away, were giving away too much too early. I dont think we want to see the eu nationals here or expats used as a pawn. Thats an issue that the government wants to look at in the round, but im confident well respect their rights, give them the assurance they need, get rid of some of that anxiety people have. I have had constituents come to me, i know the reassurance they need to hear. Then move on to the other issues. We ought to be able to deal with that swiftly. Lets get back out to steve who joins us from westminster. Take it away. Im joined by nigel farage, one of the few people who is pleased you will be out of the job, yeah . I am the turkey who voted for christmas, with two years left its like being on death row. In terms of what brexit we will get t is looking harder and harder given the stance from members of the cabinet are saying, do you think the british people are prepared for hard brexit . Theres no such thing. Hard brexit is an invention by those who cant recognize the referendum result. Lets be clear, we voted to leave the European Union. Full stop. Thats it. Everyone made it clear that means leaving the Single Market. The strength of the position is no deal is better for us than the current deal weve got. The current deal weve got cost us a net 10 billion pounds a year, overregulates industries and bans us from reaching out and having trade associations around the rest of the world. When you start from a position when the worst Case Scenario is better than it is now, its not all bad. How about the commission saying no deal, no talks about a deal until we get money up front from the device of spoils, the 60 billion euro bill. Lets get our 9 billion back from the European Investment bank. They can pay that next wednesday. These are negotiations. Everyone will put their pitches and bids on the table what is interesting is this, not one minute is mr. Juncker saying we have to be punished, next minute saying we will be reasonability. Whats interesting is hearing what is being said by trade associations all over europe, german car industries, french wine producers, this market is so rich to them they call us treasure island. So you will see maximum pressure being exerted on governments to do a sensible trade deal with the United Kingdom. Talking about economic rational from trade bodies, not political imperatives. You know this better difference, political construct compared with economic construct. Political necessity to keep the rest of the eu together, do you think they may overwhelm the trade and economic rational . If they decide the preservation of their failing project matters more to them than jobs and income of their constituents living in member state countries, you will see a massive growth of Political Parties on the far right, far left, all over europe. If they decide economically to cut off their noses to spite their faces to keep this failing project alive, then i think the end of it will come sooner. Even with the best one in the world, this government has to have a great repeal act, trade deal, divorce from europe. How will it have time for other trade deals with other nations in that period . Nothing like this has been done postwar. I dont get this negativity. You can do whatever you want in life, you have to be positive, recruit the right team to make it happen. When singapore broke away from malaysia, all these arguments, how on earth will a Little Country disentangle itself. Singapore did it because of a positive mental attitude. We can do better. Mr. Trump or members of his administration thought you might be an ideal candidate to be a link between the uk and u. S. , build up the special relationship. Given the fact you have the ear of mr. Trump as well, how quickly can we get a trade deal with the United States . Its interesting. Quite honestly, if the British Government went to trump today and said, all right, lets crack on. I think that certainly by the end of this year, if not consideribiliable time before t trade deal would be done. But the fact is were not allowed to because mr. Juncker said we cant until we leave the European Union. What we can do is begin initial discussions. The sooner we take the attitude in this country that were leaving Political Union with europe and rejoining the world, the better. You think that mr. Trump would sign a trade deal with the United Kingdom by the end of this year if we started negotiations immediately . Yes, i do. I have every reason to believe that. Wlous are p white house are very positive about the relationship in terms of trade, defense. They look at us incredulously about us not being able to sign a deal. About the National Health services, a lot of that would not be coming back to the United Kingdom. Would you say some of the promises made ahead of the brexit vote were not realistic . We had 50 years of lies. 50 years of lies. My parents voting 44 years ago in a referendum being told its just a common market. Dont worry your little heads, its not political. There were mistakes made on both sides in that referendum campaign. The one thing that shone through and was certain and today at 12 30 will pass the point of no return is the concept were about to become, twoyear wait perhaps, but about to become a self governing, independent, democratic normal nation. What role for you, what role for you as well . You are divorcing with the main leadership of the uk, but still associated with the party. What role since their primary aim has been achieved today . My role is to continue leading a group in the european parliament. West minu westminster doesnt matter anymore, i am doing what i can in the parliament and around europe to persuade people lets have a sensible deal. Without ukip none of this would have happened. I think back to my First Campaign and how tiny we were. Ukip helped us win a great war. We now have to win the peace. Good to speak with you. Nigel farage, former leader of ukip and perhaps the happiest man in westminster today. Thank you very much for that riveting conversation, though i believe ukip doesnt have an mp left in the parliament. Lets get back to our discussion. You were talking about the risk for the next couple of months, everyone will be talking about the brexit bill worth 60 billion euros, and that could spend the money into a tail spin, why . Because the eu has the timetable. They will make sure the division is first. Mr. Juncker said as a starting gambit the eu will ask for 60 billion euros. If the uk were to pay that, that would be seen as a Major Political loss for conservatives. I imagine theres fight for that. If that lasts two long, if negotiations over the division of assets and the cash settlement last 12 months, i can imagine a situation where the markets look wearily at the prospects of the uk leaving in two years without no agreement at all. And a hefty bill to pay. Appreciate your time. This was the scene moments ago in brussels. The uks representative to the eu arriving at the Commission Building with the briefcase that contains the famous letter signed by Prime Minister theresa may that will officially invoke article 50 of the lisbon treaty. There you go. The letter is in that bag. I do wonder whether that bagcol. Join us at 13 00 for theresa mays address to parliament. And coming up, ill speak to Oystein Olsen right after this. Welcome back. Lets take a quick look at sterling. It gel quite heavily in asian trading, given that liquidity was low. Now recovering much of those gains. Pretty much flat on the day, 1,2441 t 1,2441. Theresa may signed and delivered article 50. Attention turns to the upcoming negotiations with the eu and the type of deal britain could get. We are joined by Oystein Olsen, governor of the norges bank. Pleasure to have you here in london. Usually we focus on your rate decisions, now i want to talk about what brexit means for you and essentially before theresa may said we want hard brexit, no half in, no half out, there was a lot of talk about whether the uk could follow the norway model. Do you think, now that she has ruled this out, that the uk on a dangerous path . What do you think . I think you understand i will not comment on the decision as such of britain leaving the eu. This is a special day for britain. But in general terms, i stated before and underline that first eu, including britain now, is an important market for norway, taking between 60 and 70 of our overall exports. Within that group of countries britain with sweden is our main market. Britain takes about 10 of our traditional exports. Then you can add our energy position. Uk is an energy producer, same with norway. We have pipelines for both crude oil and natural gas to the british market. And finally we have, as a significant financial investor, uk is again main market for our Financial Investment through the significant Sovereign Wealth Fund that we have. So we are as a small economy, we are dependent on trade. We are very dependent on free capital movements, and we are i hope really that that is going to continue. Clearly it seems youre worried given the close trade links between the uk and norway. Now it seems as an outsider to the uk along with iceland you are trying to strike a closer cooperation with outsiders like iceland. I assume that could never replace the close relation slp that you have with the uk. I believe those relationships will continue irrespective of the choice that the uk has made in regards to the uk the eu membership. I will not comment on that decision, but i would like to take also the opportunity to underline that for the future looking forward, its important generally, especially for small, open economy, that the trend that the Global Economy has experienced for quite some time, many decades, towards free trade, free capital movements, that continues. I believe also that the uk has the same view. Also as a noneu member. I also want to talk about the oil price. That makes up a huge part of your economy. Oil services in general. We saw that 2016 gdp was 0. 8 . That was a low number compared to what were seeing in the rest of europe. Inflation has been slower than what youre comfortable with. Now that the oil price has fallen back, how much concern is around the inflation path . In our case, our inflation is low. As a Sovereign Bank we have a close look at inflation prospects, but given all the other circumstances in the overall economy, we need, actually, lower wage growth as a result of a Lower Oil Price it causes the other part of our economy to be more competitive. We also see growth on the real side is picking up. Yes, inflation looking forward is say, between, 1 and 2 . Thats our forecast. But given that prospect were not too woor worried. Thank you very much for that, Oystein Olsen. Thats it for todays show. Im carolin roth. Worldwide exchange is up next. Byebye. Good morning. The bulls bounce back. The dow breaks its eight day losing streak. Financials lead the way higher. British Prime Minister theresa may signs the article 50 letter. It will be delivered to the eu in a couple hours officially triggers brexit. And the rise of the machines, blackrock overhauls its actively managed equity business cutting employees and slashing fees as stock picking goes hightech. Its wednesday, march 29, 2017, Worldwide Exchange begins right now