Transcripts For CNBC Worldwide Exchange 20141229

Holiday weekend, the controversial movie earning 18 million with the bulk of it coming from digital downloads. Youre watching Worldwide Exchange. Bringing you Business News from around the globe. Now the Vice President of indonesia has been giving a briefing in the last few minutes related to the missing airasia jet. He said that earlier reports that came about two hours ago of an australian plane sighting debris. The Vice President of indonesia says they cannot confirm whether it was spotted in the search zone for the missing jet. The search is not easy with the bad weather that is present currently at sea and fishermen have been asked to participate in the search for the jet. Well go out to martin who is live at singapores airport with the latest. Martin . Reporter hello, folks. The Vice President of indonesia was speaking on television as we speak saying the search has been widened and hes trying to get indonesian fishermen to get involved in the search. The first point you raised the something that was detected or discovered or seen by the australian rescue aircraft more than an hour ago, it basically we still do not know. Theres nothing to confirm that it is related to qz8501. We cannot confirm it is wreckage or part of the plane. I have to caution viewers here that the margin for error is huge in a situation like this. If you remember back in march when Malaysian Airlines mh370 went missing, there were dozens of instances of false leads or false positive sightings of things and pieces of material that ended up having no relation at all to mh370. So its still early yet with top search continuing. We were just hearing the Vice President say that now they have roped indonesian fishermen into the search. The search area, i need to update you, if you think about the route of the flight from surabaya, the second largest city to singapore, running halfway along the flight path thats where the geocenter of the search is located and from there it spreads outwards it spreads east as well as north. We are talking two blocks. If you have a map, we can put that up to let viewers have a look. They have broken it down to two blocks. One is a square or square shape, about 150 by 180 nautical miles. The other is 24 by 80 nautical miles. These are designated to vessels from indonesia, australia and malaysia. Thats how they are doing things. It is based on the last known position and coordinates of flight qz8501. Before it lost radio contact, we are now coming to 36 hours into the search. And one of the mysteries, i was telling viewers a little while ago, that coming to 36 hours into the search now, no signals detected yet from the elt, the emergency locator beacon or the black box, the cockpit voice recorder or the data recorder although we have unconfirmed reports they have received some elt signals around the island of bornio but cannot pinpoint that. These are unconfirms reports. As well there was an unconfirmed reports of sighting of the oil slick in the search area as well. So these are the bits of information that we have so far. Again, all unconfirmed reports as the search continues. And now its coming into about 36 hours since last contact with the plane, wilfred. Martin thank you for that update. Airasia itself is down 8. 5 following the disappearance of the flight qz8501. The latest is the australian search with a possible sighting of the debris but since then the Vice President saying that its too early to say whether we can link the two together. Airbus is also down. 63 saying it will be there to help in the search. Often they provide assistance to authorities in the investigation of the missing flight. And airbus will be sending a team of experts to indonesia to help look for the flight. Allianz is also down 1. 29 . Lets have a look at the european markets overall. Quite interesting to look at the map at the moment because most of the red out there is in the periphery stemming from the weakness ahead of the crucial vote at 10 00. The last chance for the president ial candidate to be confirmed. If not well see the parliamentary elections. That has weighed on the pro prolifery areas. If we look at the four chips, we can see the ftse 100 is sfriz surprisingly up. Greece is flat. We had Consumer Confidence out just moments ago. The lowest reading since february weighing on sentiment there. We just saw a bit of profit taking in the u. S. At the back end of last week. We are now at 2. 24 . In the middle of december we did get very close to the 2 . Now we are back up a quarter percent from there, but still very low bond yields getting to the end of the year. Much lower than the start of the year, much lower than people expected for the start of the year. Germany is much lower with their handle and the greek tenyear is focused to 8. 56 . Well bring you coverage live at 10 00 london time. It will take 20 to 30 minutes total. Well have the results as they come in. The u. S. Dollar continues to strengthen just as we come into the year end. Against the euro it bounced back a bit at 1. 219. The yen is basically flat as well having hit 121. It came back to 117 last week. The aussie dollar bounced back a little bit up. 40 today. And well have a quick look at the rouble that weakened quite sharply. It is down 2. 5 but it was down 5 earlier after we got the gdp number in at 0. 50 . The first contraction since 2009 with disappointing pmi data as well. Now, divergence will be the main theme of 2015 according to black hawk investments. We spoke to the companys chief investment strategist Cameron Watts and this is what he had to say. Its a year when its going to be divergence. We are going to have rising rates in america, less quantitative easing than dollars in the past and Monetary Policy will set the tone for markets since 2008. What that adds up to is if youre buying america stocks cyclical businesses will do well when rates are rising. Other guests have said the european stocks and european financials european financial bonds that really are quite interesting, because whatever happens, the ecb is going to stand behind them. So the risk is low and the yields are quite attractive. Japanese equities currency hedge hedged, repeated last year as domestic buyers come back for the first time in 25 years. I think those are really the obvious places. And going back to another trend, everybody talks about the u. S. Dollar strengthening. Well, maybe a side bet against that is to own physical gold at this stage as a hedge. Against, you know this kind of noise not happening. How much do you want in a portfolio . Thats a challenge, isnt it . How much do i want in a portfolio . Enough to make a difference. Its a tough hedge, therefore no more than 3 to 5 . Anything else in the commodity complex at all that you think might respond to a pickup in next year . As of the 11th of december 2014 day to day, no. What is going to happen is, every Energy Company is going to be downgraded. Everybody is going to cut their spending. Weve got to weve got to navigate through that. One thing you know in momentumdriven markets and unfortunately thats what we have, is try not to be too early. Whats the big risk for 2015 . What could catch investors . Well, the falling oil price. You cannot have a 40 decline in the trading commodity. Are we expecting that, though . We have a financial payback from that. So a prolonged you cant move that price by that much without there being a ripple effect. So no mistakes from the fed . I think the fed will be slow to raise rates. I think the risk in america is actually the corporate profits dont materialize as strongly as expectations. And were starting to see a few accidents, curiously in Investment Grade companies, where its clear theres been overreporting, its clear theres been a stretch to meet the targets. More m a cash will help to hold the markets. Joining me to discuss markets farther is george from meeting group. Lets talk about your main area of focus before we talk about positioning. The u. K. Stock market the ftse 100 lagged the u. S. Market this is year but they have got similarly good outlooks when we look at the fundamentals, why is the u. K. Lacking . A couple things. Most recentlythe u. K. Is dominated by oil. So they have weight. And the Economic Outlook is stronger in the u. K. Than most other parts of the world. You have got fiscal risk and the difficulty surrounding that. Until that is lifted the u. K. Will remain with a margin. You said deep debt surrounding the marge ups. Why are investors so worried about the general election . Well, i think the scope and scale of the business rhetoric is causing concern, because its the marginal pound in the stock market that really makes a difference. And some of the comments that have been made are in a lot of sectors. So that uncertainty will create a threat to marginal tax prices going up and therefore gdp falling as a result. It is difficult for them to deal with. Your fund is up 8 compared to 3 so congratulations on a good year but what is driving outperformance . Well, we are a deep focus firm, so we only select stocks to fit our criteria. We dont use the index as a benchmark. Therefore that ability to focus on where we see value is a big help this year where avoiding the land mines has been just as helpful as finding winners in many respects. And i still think Going Forward that will be just as important. Stock selection is going to be the name of the game for next year rather than trying to make big sector calls. Is that like bp and shale . No what we have not seen is any capitulation. People stock to question the dividend in most companies. Once we see that that will be the time to have a look. And i expect at some point next year when we get the capitulation that ill be looking at the shares but we are nowhere near that that yet. What about the big sectors as well as oil . Are you starting to change your mind in that area or still negative . Well, it has been weak with a tough year. I look at the Balance Sheet and see how much i can hang my hat on the value there. You have seen a 36 billion writeoff, so we know it is closest to a true value now. So we are getting there. Of course theres the difficulty with the sluggish chinese economy. I dont see signs of that improving but that will weigh on the Commodity Markets generally, but we are getting to a level where i can see the basic resources are viable. We have america below book value now. They have a cap exissue but once that is dealt with i can see those becoming immaterial and part of the fund. What are your favorite sectors for 2015 . One area i like to highlight is the motor retailers as a whole. They tend to like the businesses that are assetbacked. But i think people are missing the changing in consumer behavior. You have over 6 in new cars in the u. K. Bought on personal care pans, very similar to the u. S. And that means the businesses are far better earning streams than they have been previously. This is a new trend thats been going on for three years. And i think that the earnings in those businesses has not been reappraised by the market. We are starting to see interesting private m a going on that will spill over into the Public Market if evaluations dont improve. George thank you for now. Stay with us as we get your view on a more lighthearted topic coming up in a second. Well have a look first of all at the top stories stateside. Sony pictures says the interview made roughly 18 million since the controversial comedy was released on christmas day. The film showed in 30 u. S. Theaters taking in 2. 8 million. But it was also downloaded more than 2 million times generating more than 15 million in revenue. That makes it the studios most successful film in terms of digital films. Now the interview is available on itunes as well. We want to hear from you. If you want to join the conversation, get in touch with us by worldwide cnbc. Com. Or my personal handle handle wilfredfrost. George, what is your view on that . Do you think people will skin going to the cinemas in the future . If i look at my personal preference, it is not a difference to me. I am personally quite happy with Young Children that the cinema is quite an expensive outing if you pay for a sitter back home. So it is smooth online as all industries have done. The difference is the pricing. The studios dont want some priced at 1 pound and others at 20 pounds. So the Business World will have to adapt. But if consumers show it more and more next year will be the year we start to see the switchover of films being released more online at the same time as they are in the cinemas. Thats a great thing about christmas, they repeat the bond movies on tv. I watched three of them. George, thank you for joining us today. Much appreciated. Meanwhile, Sonys Playstation Network is back online following several days of disruptions to begin on christmas. The company says heavy traffic can cause problems for customers looking to play their favorite games. Lizard square takes credit for the outages. In a tweet on friday a separate web link contains 30,000 users passwords and credit cards. Sony corps is up 0. 40 today. We are less than an hour from a crucial vote in athens. Well discuss that after the break. And as 2014 draws to a close, we are asking what the top wishers are for the year ahead. Heres what one ceo had to say. My 2015 wish is for every Single Person to be able to switchover to tmobile if you havent already, and stop the shenanigans you have with the other carriers. Russias gdp posted the first major contraction in more than five years as Lower Oil Prices in western sanctions took a toll. The economy shrank by 0. 40 last year. This is the second largest rescue package in russia. Another 5. 9 billion has been earmarked for stateowned lender vtb. Well check in on the rouble down 2. 6 having been down as much as 5 off the news. And greece could see the country call for snap elections early next year. The greek Prime Minister made a lastminute bid to gain support for his president ial candidate ahead of the final round of voting set for 11 00 cetn 40 minutes time. If he loses the vote a snap election will be called early next year. The ecb is likely to keep a close eye on the outcome of the greek election as investors await the next Central Bank Meeting on january the 22nd to see whether mar wroeio draghi will implement further quantitative easing measures. What is important is that the solutions to the growth problem in europe do not come from quantitative easing. And myself is pretty cautious with the quantitative easing but its a way to temporarily have government because at first its a way to maintain in particular, low Interest Rates. And when you have low Interest Rates, it means particularly beneficial to invest. That is good. I dont think it should last too much. And it cannot replace Structural Reforms or the agenda at the european level. As a result, do you think that the euro will come to you to drop against the dollar for instance . Yes, but we are a bit more cautious rebuilding that. We tend to think that the euro dollar could be 1. 20 but perhaps its joining me now is the chief economist at a bank here. We have a greece vote coming up in 40 minutes time. How big of an impact could that have on the ecb moving forward . I dont think greece will have a big impact on the european vote. The economic recovery is not really getting off the ground strongly. As a result, the central bank should and wants to follow the u. S. And the bank to do more. They may have a significant accident that could add to the mix. You say the data is getting worse therefore the ecb the data has been bad for a long time but the biggest obstacle to the ecb action has been germany and surely a potential leftwing government antiausterity government will only strength the germans resolve. First of all, it was derailed to some extent in spring of 2014 as the jer man economy stumbled into stagnation. There are sign that is the German Economy is getting off the ground again and that bodes well for next year. Having said all of that, the Economic Data over the last year has been well below ecb expectations. Inflation, even outside oil is very low. The central bank should do something about that. The central bank of course is highly upnlikely to buy greek bonds if there is any doubt as to what greece will do in the future. That would, to some extent take care of germanys concerns. Of course if greece gets a government that does not want to follow the troika the ecb will do nothing to support this in any way. If the first ecb meeting of 2015 are you expecting them to go outright in bond purchases . Probably yes. The case for doing more is clear and to find a significant quantity of bonds that the ecb cant actually buy, you probably have to go to the sovereign bond market. All the other things covered bonds, assetbacked securities thats just too small of a fry for the ecb to make the impact on markets and hence that the economy wants to make. That does raise the question that we always pose as well, but german bonds, 0. 59 on the tenyear, what does the market gain of further purchasing the bonds to push the yields low her . Virtually nothing. The effect of qe will not be to get bond yields lower. Its already very much priced in. The quantitative easing is on expectations. If you see the central bank is there to prevent tenyear risks, then you as a Business Investor might take heart to actually put your money to good use. In terms of bond yields we may be seeing the low on the day of the ecb starts to buy. We may then see the confidence, a positive one, on the economy and with that the rise of bond yields. Not the bond purchase in the sense of bringing the bond yields down but its the big ecb message to everybody. We are taking care of things which will likely have the positive confidence effect across the board. Hulga, thank you. Hell stay with us to talk more about the 2015 after the break. The new year is just a few days away. We talked to the ceo to ask him what he hoped for in 2015. My 2015 wish for housing is for better Consumer Confidence. When buyers feel better about their station in life, they buy homes. Thats my wish for 2015. Youre watching Worldwide Exchange bringing you Business News from around the globe. Indonesias Vice President cannot confirm whether debris spotted in the search zone is from the airbus a320 has the search has been hampered by bad weather in the sea. And athens could hold snap elections early next year. And the rouble is back in the red as sanctions are lower and Oil Prices Take their toll on the russian economy to post their first major contraction in five years. And lots of eyes were watching the interview this holiday weekend. The controversial movie earning 18 million with the bulk of that coming from digital downloads. Lets have a look at european markets in the red this morning opening slightly up but have weakened throughout the session. The ftse had been up as much as. 09 . But greece is down ahead of the crucial vote happening in 30 minutes time. The market is suggesting that the vote will be a negative one for the Prime Minister. All this coming ahead of a bit more positivity that we have had from asia overnight and also from america off the back end of last week. Negativity is the order of the day in europe. The stoxx 50 is down 1. 24 . Having gotten close to 2 in the middle of december, we are now at 2. 5 in the tenyear in the u. S. The german bond yields are at 0. 58 . A bit of buying so far in the german bond market today ahead of the crucial vote in greece. Gilts at 1. 8 and italy at 2 . The dollar is flat against the yen hovering near 120 handle. It hit 121 and settled down into the teens last week. The euro gained some ground despite the move into the green at 1. 22. Elsewhere, the Australian Dollar is up 0. 28 . And now the indonesian Prime Minister cannot confirm whether the debris spotted is from the missing airasia aircraft as of yet. Heres martin with the latest from the airport. Reporter hi, wilfred. Ill take you on the search in a bit, but another big focus is the hundreds of people, the relatives, the next of kin, the families the friends of the 162 people aboard aircraft qz8501 they are gathering where the flight took off at 5 30 local time yesterday morning. And also in singapore here at the airport where we are, you cannot see them but just behind our camera is an area cordened off for the families to wait for updates on the situation as well as on the search. The ceo Tony Fernandez had this to say about them. We dont want to speculate, but right now they have been missing for 12 hour ss. But we stay strong. Our First Priority is to look after the family and do whatever we can. Reporter Tony Fernandez was talking about the importance of the families and the friends of the 162 people. The passengers and crew on board a 8501. And also the asia shares got crushed today finishing down 8. 5 . One stayed down almost 13 , but they are a whirl of 20 year to date. This situation is not good for his business. Its the first and probably the first major crisis since airasia started more than a dozen years ago, but something that hes handling extremely carefully as this situation unfolds. And to update you on the search again, we have the indonesian Vice President saying he cannot confirm that what an australian ap3 orion aircraft spotted hours ago has anything to do with 8501. In other words, he cannot confirm whether its debris or wreckage or anything of the sort. We also haven confirmed reports of an oil slick in the area of the search area as well as unconfirmed reports of signals from a locator transmitter, a beacon as it were but they have not been able to pinpoint where the signal is emanating from just south of the island of bornio. We have unconfirmed bits and pieces of information now as the search enters its 36th hour. Back to you. Martin thank you very much for that. Well bring you some flashes now coming out of the imf relating to the ukraine. The imf says its mission to street kiev in early january 2015 continues. They are going to keep going with discussions on Economic Reforms in the ukraine and hope to conclude their work in the ukraine by the end of january. This comes after a weekend where the ukraine did announce reforms, particularly focused on making it easier for businesses to operate. Now, oil prices are rebounding after fresh fighting in libya destroyed 800,000 oils of crude which is two days of the countrys supply. Youre looking at pictures of a fire that started from a missile attack on the storage attack between fractions battling for control of the country. The malitia fighters have been trying to take the eastern oil ports from the recognized government. Meanwhile, nigeria is looking to protect members of the cartel. Speaking over the weekend, the countrys leader said the market should regulate prices. Meanwhile, the German Government is reportedly expecting lower prices to help the countrys economy in 2015 citing that the germans expect the boost in growth to 0. 30 . Lets get back to the chief economist here julga, the average price of 70 per barrel of brent, is that right . Its a little up from current levels but still well below where oil prices were until the middle of this year. So that is a significant boost to the economy. And my guess is it will probably be at least quite a strong boost than what the german economs ministry expects. We talk a lot about the consumer, they get less in their pocket, but what does this mean for the corporate sector . The longterm benefit may be vegan. Directly part of energy indirectly as quite a few chemicals are based on oil. But more importantly, oil, now that it is cheaper, redistributes Global Income away from countries such as venezuela or russia, which are dodging toward consumers, which are very close. Thats domestic consumers, for instance. As a result of this shift in purchasing power, companies will likely invest more at home and less abroad. And that will over the years strengthen the supply base of the major Oil Importing economies. It is not a full coincidence that across much of the western world over the last 50 to 60 years, trend growth was usually fairly strong when oil prices were comparatively cheap. And when oil prices surged as they did a few times, thereafter trend growth for five years to a decade was weaker than before. If oil prices now settle at a lower level, we could have a longerterm benefit for corporates and overall growth. And that boost to the economy as a whole, is that being underestimated . Because the shift you talk about from consumer nations is a much big multiplier if the benefit is seen by consumers, isnt it . Yes it is. It will happen over many years, so it is not immediate. If it is just for the Economic Outlook for next year of course, its the boost to consumers we have to talk about most. But if its the guestimates for the next five years, this is for goods and services on the corporate sector and corporate profitability and Corporate Investment is probably the bigger let me talk about the risks to the oil prices staying lower for the year. Geo politics has not had a bigger impact with issues across the world. Libya had an effect on the oil prices today. Do you think this could come to the forefront for the year and Push Oil Prices higher than you expect . Geopolitics could come to the forefront and that is what happens to russia. Does he lash out again politically or not . Would have that have repercussions or not . The extra supply over recent years has come from one of the most reliable countries of the world, the united states. It has not come from the notoriously volatile countries of say the middle east or russia. And that means you probably have to worry less about what geopolitics could mean for oil prices and hence the global economy. Than we would have had in 10 20, 30 years in the past. Thank you for that. We will be discussing other areas of the markets coming up. Now, heres a look at some other stories stateside. Sony pictures says the interview has made 18 million since the comedy was released on christmas day. The film was shown in about 330 u. S. Theaters taking in 2. 8 million. Sony says the movie was downloaded more than 2 million times to generate more than 15 million in revenue. That makes it the studios most successful film in terms of digital sales. Apple is jumping on the bandwagon with it available on itunes. Are you a fan of online film releases . Join the conversation here on Worldwide Exchange and get in touch with us on facebook or twitter. Or my personal handle handle wilfredfrost. Meanwhile, north korea blames the u. S. For orchestrating internet outages that have struck the country in recent days. In a Statement Released through state media, they blasted president obama for asking for the release of the interview. The hacking was continued for sony. Its Playstation Network is back online following several days of disruptions that began on christmas. The company says heavy traffic could still cause problems for customers looking to play their favorite games. And obscure Hacking Group took responsibility for the hacking. Sony trading today in japan was up 0. 40 . Still co come on the show yahoo is drawing a new wardrobe for the year. Well tell you where after the break. We needed 30 new hires for our call center. Im spending too much time hiring and not enough time in my kitchen. [ female announcer ] need to hire fast . Go to ziprecruiter. Com and post your job to over 30 of the webs leading job boards with a single click; then simply select the best candidates from one easy to review list. You put up one post and the next day you have all these candidates. Makes my job a lot easier. [ female announcer ] over 100,000 businesses have already used zip recruiter and now you can use zip recruiter for free at a special site for tv viewers; go to ziprecruiter. Com offer2. One of the top stories today, greeces index is slumping 8 after a third election in parliament that could call for snap elections early next year. Meanwhile, the greek tenyear bond yield is moving higher to 9 . The greek Prime Minister made a lastminute bid ahead of the final round of voting set for 11 00 cet, just in 15 minutes time. If he loses the vote, a snap election will be called early next year. On the phone joining us now is the managing director at teneo intelligence and we will recap where we are right now. Today is the last chance how many more votes does he need to gain to get the vote past . Well, he needs 12 more votes. They got 168 in the second round. They have been lowered to 180, so 12 votes. That doesnt sound like much but it is almost impossible at this point for him to grab the vote. In our view in the best Case Scenario the government can get 174, 173 by getting the support of a couple more independents and possibly three or more from the Democratic Left party. So failure to reach the core number meaning this will go to a snap election in early next year. The stock market is suggesting that people are saying he wont get the next 12 votes he needs. So the parliamentary election next year in january or february, how big of a risk is that for greece at such a fragile moment in its Economic Situation . Would a change of government be very negative for greece at this stage . I think it will be negative for a couple of reasons. First of all, because of the likely win. The likely win of him being known for the austerity approach. This is a party that will struggling to deal with the troika. We still have a deal that needs to be reached with not much time left after the election is over secondly getting into government they will struggle and it will take them some time to get into how the machine works. And thirdly, also we will see them win the election but not with majority. Hulgolger, i want to bring you in now. The market moves we are seeing down in the stock market if thats what voters see is the case of them replacing the current government might they vote to support him in a parliamentary vote . It is not impossible. Theres a chance that hell win the ultra left but it could be close and theres a 45 probability that samaris could still win the elections. First of all, the uncertainty that well have until the elections will likely show up in some Economic Data. People will read that tourist bookings for the Summer Season are falling as to the uncertainty as they did in the year 2012. That may help voters make up their minds for samaris. On top of that many greeks according to the new opinion polls dont want the elections. So if the leftwing opposition now forces new elections, which looks likely that it may not help them so theres a fighting chance for him to win in late january or early february. And wolfhanger would you agree that we are facing six weeks or so of poor Market Performance for greece . I think well see more than six weeks of poor performance. Because lets assume for a moment we have election in february it will take a week to ten days to put together a cabinet. The cabinet will need to get up the troika. We know the current extension goes until the end of february. Then the market would be looking at how long it will take to get this up and running and to conclude that. So i think we are at a longer period of volatility here. I agree with your guest that he still has a chance to win the election. In the polls the gap between the polls and the new democracy is there. Im not sure that the same kind of strategy will work until the beginning of february. Thank you very much wolfango, the managing director at teneo intelligence. One final question on greece to you, holger the question of years past has been contagen. Is that an issue today as well . Thats one of the issues. Of that im fairly confident we will not have major contagent. We will not return to the days of the euro crisis. The reason is we have a lot of defenses against contagent risks that we did not have in early 2011 and 2012. The European Central bank is ready to do what it takes and will probably start buying italian, spanish, german french bonds anyway in a couple months time. On top of that we have the support funds. Investors know that europe is ready to deal with contagen and that probably means the fallout from the greece and the wider european markets and the wider european economies will not be zero but limited. Thats on the financial front. But what about the political side of things . Would this give a boost to the antiausterity parties in many countries across europe . It would probably mean that attitudes are hard on all sides and those that fund the bailouts, the Northern Europeans especially would take the somewhat tough line. If a party comes to power that rejects the approach of the last few years, we of course cannot grant them further money. And my guess is that if greece were to go the wrong way which is still a big if it would be so messy for greece that no other country would like to go down that route. Holger thank you for joining us today. The vote will start in greece in ten minutes time and should conclude in a half hour. Well bring it to you live when that happens. And yahoo is looking for a source of growth. The Financial Times is told that wearables such as the apple watch are big opportunities in the home of existing apps and new user experiences. Yahoo is developing a version for the apple watch. The company also isnt ruling out creating its own wearable device in what would be a rare move to hardware for yahoo . Yahoo thus far is trading in frankfurt today in a Strong Performance over the last six months up 66 . Now, chinese smartphone maker has raised 1. 1 billion dollars placing the market at 45 billion, and uber is valued at 41 billion. 2014 was a recordbreaking year when it comes to m a. According to a new report this year, the highest total value of crossborder deals has occurred in seven years. So will 2015 keep up the record pace . Joining us onset is the global head of m a at baker kensington. Thank you for joining us. Thank you. Well talk about the trend in m a. Its the biggest year since 2007, is that right . Thats right. So weve had overall deal levels of 3. 5 trillion. And the big mover in that has been crossborder m a. So define from one country to another country here. Thats right. This is not Domestic Company within a country buying another business within the same country. Its just a reflection on globalization. And what is a particular driver for crossborder just a search for growth outside ones borders . It is but it is also that the relentless pressure to date is number one in your chosen product or service area. That sort of the volcanic force of globalization is impelling ceos to look at their portfolio of assets and say where can i be a leader and i will invest to grow in those areas. And where can i not be a mover . And i will look to see if someone is a better owner of that business. I dont want to be skeptical, but if this is the biggest year since 2007 we know what followed that. One could argue that m a picking up into 2007 was just as the growth cycle came to an end. So is this a warning sign that were in a similar situation now . Well, i think probably not. Because the picture looks slightly different from 2007. If you look at total deal numbers and those have remained fairly flat postfinancial crisis, what we have seen is an increase in the socalled mega deals as above 5 billion where we have seen significant increase. And thats because investors are willing to trust ceos today to look to strategically develop their businesses. To what extent has tax invery invergence played a part. There were many deals announced but three of them didnt happen. I think this is not a driver for activity. Tim is the global head of m a at baker and makenzie. The third and final Greek Parliament vote kicks off in a few minutes time. Well bring you the results live here on Worldwide Exchange. We needed 30 new hires for our call center. Im spending too much time hiring and not enough time in my kitchen. [ female announcer ] need to hire fast . Go to ziprecruiter. Com and post your job to over 30 of the webs leading job boards with a single click; then simply select the best candidates from one easy to review list. You put up one post and the next day you have all these candidates. Makes my job a lot easier. [ female announcer ] over 100,000 businesses have already used zip recruiter and now you can use zip recruiter for free at a special site for tv viewers; go to ziprecruiter. Com offer2. Welcome to Worldwide Exchange. Im wilfred frost and these are your headlines from around the world. Indonesias Vice President cannot confirm whether debris spotted in the search zone is from the missing airbus 320. This as the search is hampered by bad weather in the java sea. Just minutes to go before a crucial vote in parliament that could see athens host parliamentary elections early next year. And the u. S. Futures point mixed after hitting new records in thin christmas trade. And a lot of eyes were watching the interview this weekend earning 18 million with the bulk of that coming from digital downloads. Youre watching Worldwide Exchange bringing you Business News from around the globe. The Greek Parliament is due to start the third and crucial find round of president ial voting any minute now. The greek Prime Minister made a lastminute bid over the weekend to gain support. If he loses the vote a snap election will be called early next year. Well bring you the results as they come in expected to take around a half hour. Indonesias Vice President cannot confirm whether debris spotted by an Australia Team is from the missing airliner. Speaking in the last half hour the multinational search is being hampered by bad weather in the java sea. Well go to martin su who is at the chinese airport with the latest. Martin . Reporter wilfred, hello. Yes, ill update you on the search in a bit but a lot of the focus is on the family relatives and friends of the 162 people on board airasia 8501. The flight originated from surabaya at 5 30 yesterday morning as well as we are in singapore where the flight was supposed to have landed but of course never did. The relatives and friends, you cant see it but just behind our camera are being screened off in a special area where they are keeping vigil and waiting for more information on exactly what happened to 8501. We are coming to about 36 hours now since last contact with the plane. And we still do not know very much. We have the indonesian Vice President who told us just and hour ago as the search areawidened but the search and rescue components have expanded. It is not just as sets air and naval assets from singapore, malaysia and indonesia, which is leading the rescue operation, the search and rescue operations but it is also now involving commercial indonesian ships and boats as well as indonesian fishermen. They are being roped into this Search Rescue as well. We have a total of 30 ships as well as 15 planes. These are military in the search on top of that indonesian commercial shipping vessels and ships as well as indonesian fishermen as part of the search as well. What have they found . In a phrase so far, nothing has been confirmed yet. We had an australia search and rescue aircraft apparently that located something more than an hour ago. Joseph collin came out to say, nothing definitive. We cannot say with certainty what the plane saw was in any way related to debris or wreckage from 8501. So that has been ruled out. Unconfirmed reports of an oil slick in the search area in the seas and waters off central kalimantan, they are still tracking that. Plus detection from an elt, emergency locator beacon south of brunei. They cannot pinpoint where that is originating from so that is being tracked down as well, but nothing definitive there. The search area has been expanded to cover now two areas of a square shape of 150 by 180 nautical miles and a more rectangular 240 by 120 nautical miles both centered around the last known coordinates or position of the plane before they lost radio contact. Just short of halfway between surabaya and singapore is when they just last heard of the plane and lost radio contact. Thats about as much as we know. Many unconfirmed reports, nothing definitive or substantive yet as the search continues. Back to you. Martin thank you very much for that update. Now well have a look at what to expect in the markets trade today. The u. S. Futures pointing to a mixed open as you can see the s p expected to be down just fractionally one point and the dow and nasdaq expected to open up fractionally. Of course, this follows hitting alltime highs at the back end of last week with the dow and s p with two weeks in a row of gapes and nine out of the past ten weeks up. So unsurprisingly, we expect them to be slightly more mixed without clear reasons for positivity this week itself. Nonetheless, we are expected to end the year on highs for the u. S. Markets. The volume is expected to be light of course this week. Well also look at european markets, which in the red the stoxx 600 is down overall. The ftse 100 is down fractionally. But elsewhere a lot of red, most of it stemming from greece. The vote is taking place as we speak. The greek market is down 0. 80 suggesting the market is expecting the vote to go against the Prime Minister and that has affected the rest of the Continental Europe with germany down 0. 66 . And italy is down 1. 7 . We did have Italian Consumer confident out earlier today which was negative below expectations of 100. 5. The lowest reading since february there. Well look at the oil prices that bounced back a bit today. The wti is up 55 and brent is at 59. 83, just below 60. This comes as news from libya suggests they have lost two days worth of Oil Production as fighting continues between different fractions competing for the government there. Lets look at bonds. We saw a little bit of bond profit taking in the u. S. On the back end of last week. The u. S. Tenyear is at 2. 23 . Of course n the middle of december it got close to 2 as we saw significant yield compression with the risk of trade we had when the oil price was being incredibly volatile. Since then just ticking up 2. 23 . The u. S. Tenyear yield is seeing bond buying particularly for germany today. Again, the uncertainty surrounding the greek election with a flight to safety pushing the yield on the tenyear in germany below 0. 60 . Theres the greek yield moving in the opposite direction to the rest of the core of europe at 8 6 on the tenyear yield today. Well look at the u. S. Dollar, not much happening today. The euro managing to gape a little bit despite the vote. The yen is pretty much flat at 120. The yen did come back with better strength in the following two weeks but now it is back at 120 flat today. Sterling is flat 1. 5556. And the rouble is showing a bit of weakness down 4 . It was down much more than that in earlier trade off news it is falling into a recession down 0. 50 for the year. Thats the first negative reading since 2009. The rouble is at 55. 9 against the u. S. Dollar. Now, the Greek Parliament has begun the crucial third and final round of president ial voting in athens. The greek Prime Minister made a lastminute bid over the weekend to gain support for his nominee. If he loses the vote a snap election will be called early next year. Those are live pictures of the vote taking place as you can see. And joining us now is daniel who is joining us from down the line from new york. Hes managing director at Rbc Capital Markets. Daniel, lets just kick it off quickly with the greece vote. The market moves so far today. Of course suggesting that investors expect the Prime Minister to lose this vote which would mean well go ahead to parliamentary elections early next year. Could this have a big effect on europe . Good morning. The key thing to watch is as the ecb approaches the quantitative easing and the next stage of the qe with plans to buy sovereign bonds clearly involved in greeces negative news there is still uncertainty on what would happen as we move to qe and then sovereign bond buying. What will be the implication if there was to be a snap election over in greece between january and february next year. So lets move on and now talk more generally about your key calls for 2015. Kickoff with fx. I suppose a big debate in some of the notes your company sent across about what is going to move the main currency paths next year will be the funding currency of choice next year. Correct. Were looking into a number of our funding currencies. And the reason is because its not only about monetary easing over in europe but also in japan where we are also seeing emerging markets that will be adopting easing policies or easing stance going into next year. So were thinking about, again, the euro the japanese yen, also over in asia where we are looking into funding exposure through the singapore dollar. And to some extent over in lot up america with the peso as well. Is the u. S. Dollar the currency choice now as it tightens rates . We would actually be in that camp, yes. We think that with the u. S. And the fed hiking Interest Rates again, were seeing twoyear yields in the u. S. Closing the year somewhere around 75 basis points. Thats a very high level for the twoyear. As a result, it becomes a lot more attractive to go and fund in country where is the twoyear yield is somewhat close to zero or ten basis points yes. So in the euro will become a funding currency itself. Does that mean that weakness because of its fundamental outlook might be offset perhaps a little bit . Well, yes. I mean at the end of the day, this is the other side of a weak currency. That is positive for the economy. So investors should not necessarily see a weak euro as a negative story in itself. Its actually part of the hitting process that the eurozone will continue to face for the next two to three years. Daniel thank you very much for now. Well be talking more over the next half an hour with you about your key calls for 2015. Daniel emerging director of Rbc Capital Markets. Now well look at todays top stories. Sony pictures says the interview made roughly 18 million since it was released on christmas day. The film starring seth roggin and james franco was shown in 30 u. S. Theaters taking in 2. 8 million. The movie was downloaded more than 2 million times generating more than 15 million in revenue to make it the most successful film in terms of digital sales. Apple is jumping on the bandwagon with the interview available on itunes. We want to hear from you with the online film releases. Join the conversation on Worldwide Exchange and get in touch with us by email or via twitter. Meanwhile, north korea goes on a tirade blaming the u. S. For orchestrating internet outage that is have struck the country in recent days. In a statement leased through state media they blast president obama for pressuring to release the interview. Sony pictures is claiming north korea is to blame for the hacking of their company but pyongyang denies that. Sony closed down today, sorry, up today 0. 90 . And yahoo is getting a new on a new wardrobe. Well tell you where after this short break. Thanks. [ male announcer ] fedex® has solutions to enable Global Commerce that can help your company grow steadily and quickly. Great job. mandarin cut it out. See you tomorrow. Welcome back. Well give you some headlines. The indonesian government says it cannot confirm debris spotted in the java sea is tied to the missing jet as the search continues. Investors dump assets as they take part in the crucial last round of parliamentary voting. And no such thing as bad publicity publicity . The interview is the most downloaded movie ever. Yahoo is talking wearables and other mobile devices as a source of growth. The companys senior Vice President of mobile tells the Financial Times wearables such as the apple watch are big opportunities in both the home and existing center for apps. Yahoo is developing something for the apple watch. And they are looking to a new wearable device for a new move for the company in hardware. Chinese smartphone maker has raised 1. 1 billion to make it the most valuable startup ahead in the world of uber. And walgreens is planning to buy the remaining 55 of the retailer it doesnt own for 15 billion. The combined company will have more than 11,000 stores in 11 countries and the largest buyer of prescription drugs. The deal is widely expected to be approved. Walgreens is up 1 so far in frankfurt trade. Now, still to come on the show, to qe or not to qe is the question facing mario draghi in 2015. Find out what his predecessor has to say about the dilemma straight after this break. Stamps. Com is the best. I dont have to leave my desk and get up and go to the post office anymore. [ male announcer ] with stamps. Com you can print real u. S. Postage for all your letters and packages. I have exactly the amount of postage i need, the instant i need it. Can you print only stamps . No. First class. Priority mail. Certified. International. And the mail man picks it up. I dont leave the shop anymore. [ male announcer ] get a 4 week trial plus 100 in extras including postage and a digital scale. Go to stamps. Com tv and never go to the post office again. At whole foods market, values matter. So were transparent about the fresh wild seafood we sell. And the species we dont. Independently rated for sustainability. Traceable from dock to store. Sent fresh from over 50 u. S fisheries with responsible fishing practices. Like bornstein seafoods because to us, value is inseparable from values. Whole Foods Market Americas Healthiest Grocery store. Welcome back. Well look at the u. S. Futures pointing to a slightly higher negative open following two weeks of gains. The nasdaq is up for eight of the past ten weeks. So we expect a slightly negative open with relatively low volume this is week. Lets move on as investors return from the next ecb meeting. Stephan spoke to the former president to find out if they should be doing more to combat Slower Growth in the ecb market. It is obviously that as long as we have a very very low level of inflation, and of course the low level of inflation will certainly be also amplified by the price of oil, which is going down. And the price of energy in general. So there we have the possibility as i said of Inflation Expectations medium term being progressively unincurred. And that could be a delivery of the whole grade. So the governing council is reflecting on the permanent basis on what could be dawned to be more accommodating and to avoid this situation seems to be perfectly legitimate. Which weaponenry would be utilized as a story, and as the moment we are speaking they have decided to purchase as actively as possible covered bonds, abs, they could embark on purchase of corporate bonds. They could embark on purchase of treasuries or on the equivalent of treasuries and the possibilities of purchasing bonds that are issued by european institutions bonds issued by national government. All this is on the table, obviously, and again, all this is legitimate provided the threat of the Inflation Expectations is grave and immediate. And i have to say provided it does not substitute to what the governments have to do and what the parliaments have to do and what the permanent sector has to do. Any chance that well see in europe the quantitative easing at some point . I have full confidence in the governing council of the ecb. Do you think the european economy would respond to qe as well as the u. S. Economy, for instance . In my own understanding, we should not over assess the impact of the european qe for a very simple reason. The ecb has already done a lot, which is presently underassessed, in my opinion, by the global observers. Because the ecb has invented the concept of liquidity insurance. All commercial banks in europe have access to all the liquidity they desire. And that could be 1 trillion euros, 2 trillion euros, 3 trillion euros more than they are asking today because they have the collateral to do that. This is ignored by the average Global Market participants or observers. At the same time, the omt is a liquidity insurance policy, which is telling all of government that if you happen to be in a very difficult situation where the liquidity of your own treasuries is at stake and where you have a very normal situation provided that you embark on the appropriate, i would say adjustment and conditionality you can have this insurance that the ecb will be there. Now before we talk more about the prospect for ecb action in 2015, i want to bring you a flash coming from the greek vote. We are understanding reports suggest that three mps touted as potential voters in favor of samaris to vote yes have voted against him once again suggesting that it is possibly game over in terms of this particular vote. And we have the greek market at session lows today off 10 . The best part of it down 9. 93 with the greek banks taking the bulk of the declines. The euro bank is down 17. 8 . Opec is down 6 and the National Bank of greece is down the best part of 15 . The greek market at session lows down 10 itself. Most of the flat taken by the banks on reports that the vote is not going as planned for the Prime Minister. If he fails to get his president ial candidate approved in this set of voting well go to parliamentary elections early next year. Lets go back to the managing director at Rbc Capital Markets still down with us from new york. Daniel as we look at the expectation for more ecb action early next year comes at a time when the fed is expected to tighten. So that as it seems fundamentally is a clear reason to sell the euro dollar, but is it already priced in . Yeah we think to some extent it is priced in. And again, one of the big concerns in that particular cross euro dollar is positioning is clearly one of the most popular trades that we have seen widely held by investors during 2014 that has been to short the euro against the vast majority of the other currencies and in particular against the u. S. Dollar with the bias being longer against everything else. So clearly the positioning in that particular cross is somewhat concerning going into the beginning of next year. So we are being very focused on how and when the ecb and the fed will move in terms of Monetary Policy stance. This Global Policy divergence were seeing as a theme, whats the best way to play that next year . Well, we would like to look into inflation did veryvergencies. We are going to see this inch higher after we see some sort of a floor on oil prices at the current levels. And then other countries where deflation will continue to up unravel. One of the ways to go about this is to buy currencies where inflation is high and sell currencies where inflation is drifting lower. Daniel thank you for now. Well talk to you more after the break from ecb capital markets. And still to come crude is sent higher after a twoday slump. But will the rebound be short lived . Well discuss that after the break. A warm welcome to Worldwide Exchange. These are your headlines from around the world. The Prime Minister cannot confirm if the debris spot edted in the sea is that from airasia 8501. Oil rebounds after a twoday supply of crude was destroyed. The market is mixed after thin christmas trade. A lot of eyes are watching the. View this holiday weekend. The earnings were around 18 million with 15 million from digital downloads. If you are just tuning in u. S. Futures are pointing to a slightly negative open following returns on thin volumes during the christmas period. We have now had nine weeks out of ten weeks of gapes from the nasdaq. Not surprising we are seeing a small correction on the markets going higher after the later rally. The dow is expected to open down ten points. The s p is down a point or so. And the nasdaq is expected to open down a couple of points itself. Well look at the european markets with a little bit of strength relatively speaking in the u. K. Flat for the day. But the stoxx 600 as a whole is down. The periphery is suffering around 2 . Why are they suffering . Because of greece which is the lagger today down the best part of 10 . As you can see, the foot of the map is down 10. 6 as the vote goes on in Greek Parliament for the final chance for the Prime Minister to get approval for his nominee for president here. That vote is taking place as we speak and is looking like samaris vote wont get past therefore there will be parliamentary elections early next year. The uncertainty this creates leading the athens stock market down 10. 1 focusing on the greek banks down significantly down as much as 20 for some of the main banks coming for you. There you are, euro bank is down 22 . The bank of perez down 10 . Major banks are down with significant declines in the greek market today. This is a look at the greek tenyear bond at 8. 62 moving in the opposite direction to bonds. Elsewhere in germany, they move to 8. 5 today with bond buying given the market uncertainty in greece. Divergence is the main theme of 2015 according to black rock investment. This is what the u. S. Market strategist had to say. Its a year when it will be did very jeps. Vergence divergence. The Monetary Policy has set the tone for markets since 2008. What that adds up to is if youre buying america stocks cyclical businesses are something that do well when rates are rising. The other guests have said the european stocks and european financials and european financial bonds are quite interesting because whatever happens, the ecb is going to stand behind them. So the yield is quite attractive. The japanese markets hedged with repeat of last year as domestic buyers come back to the market for the first time in 25 years. I think those are the really obviously places. And going back to another trend, everybody talks about the u. S. Dollar strengthening. Well maybe a side bet against that is to own physical gold at this stage as a hedge against this kind of noise not happening. How much do you want in a portfolio . Thats a challenge, really . Enough to make a difference. Yes but its a tough hedge. Therefore no more than 3 to 5 . Yeah. And anything else in the commodity complex at all that you think might respond to a pickup in next year . As of the 11th of december 2014 today today, no. Every energy in the world is going the be downgraded and everyone is going to cut their spending. One thing you know in momentumdriven markets is to try not to be too early. Im going to interrupt the tape to bring you the result of the greek election. The greek vote we had, which is this. That the government has failed to get his president ial candidate elected meaning greece faces parliamentary elections early next year after that vote failed for the third time. The german tenyear bond yield has moved to a new record low off the back of the news. Its at 0. 95 . The euro dollar is at 1. 21. The athens stock index is down 11 so far today. The bulk of that being from the greek banks down as much as 20 themselves. Still with us is daniel, the managing director at ecb. Well look at the contagent here. Is that going to spread across the other markets . Well, it will be to the extent of positioning, right . We dont see from the pure economic standpoint that has a relatively small economy compared to the rest of the european economy. As a result, we wouldnt see that much of a real economy contagent. It might be to the extent of the financial positions and the fact that volumes are low going into year end, so we are not that concerned about contagent at this point. So daniel lets revisit your call on the euro for 2015. Where do you think it will be this Time Next Year . Well, we are looking actually for a break of 120 lower. So we would see the euro dollar going through 117 and perhaps touching 115 at some point during the year. Clearly, the typing of that is crucial. It will actually be a function of that same Monetary Policy divergence you have been talking about so far in the program. We are looking for more of that going into the year and clearly greece is a very important factor to that as long as we have the uncertainty of the ecb and qe where investors wait before actually loading the bolt on that short yield position. If in the parliamentary elections that are due out next year or early february if the opposition Leftwing Party wins that, does that make the ecb action less likely given that the germans presumably would be more united in the face of an eighty antiausterity government taking power . At the very margin thats correct. It becomes more difficult when you try to make a decision on what bonds youre trying to buy if you are going to warrant the sovereign buying program in the quantitative easing at the ecb. That places the government bonds in greece in a difficult position, which probably will tilt the balance at the ecb to start from sort of the safer Northern European countries. Well leave the vote to confirm that the government failed to get approval. Over 168 votes in favor of the president ial candidate, needing 180. Well move on from the euro in europe to talk a bit about the fed. You described one of your top themes for next years fed roulette in the longawaited tightening. Whats the best way to play that in the currency markets . Well, again, its looking for crosses where it becomes attractive to buy dollars again. So clearly were looking for the dollar to go up against the can canadien dollar. We are looking for the aussie dollar to go lower on the divergence and possibly cutting Interest Rates against the fed to hike in june. So there are clearly a number of currencies where we look to buy the dollars against the canadian and australia dollar that could be a good example of that. Daniel i note that chinese growth concerns is something youre looking at for next year. How are you playing that . Correct. So china is one of our strongest calls and views on the emerging markets. The view being that we do believe that the chinese currency is somewhere between 5 to 10 overvalued. Thats out of the consensus with the market still believing that the direction of dollar in china is going to be lower so the dollar is weakening against the chinese currency. Well believe it will go the other way around on the back of growth slowdown in china. But also capital outflows as chinese look to invest overseas. Daniel thank you for that for now. Stick with us, well have another quick chat with you in a couple minutes time. Lets get back to the top story of indonesias president saying he cannot confirm if the debris spotted by the australia search team is from the missing jet. The airbus a320 took off and it was hampered by bad weather in the java sea. Lets go out to martin with a live update. Martin . Reporter yes, hello, wilfred. Thats right. The interviews from the Vice President seem to be taking point on this issue. Well talk about this later as i find this interesting. He came out to say an object or objects discovered or found by an australia surveillance plane more than an hour ago. Well, he cannot confirm whether that had anything to do with airasia 8501 or whether its related to debris or the wreckage or anything like that. This is one of several leads that the search and rescue teams have been chasing down all day long today. There was also unconfirmed reports of the oil slick that went nowhere as well as emissions or signals from an emergency beacon just off of or in the search area. That also went nowhere. They couldnt pinpoint the source of where that was originating from or emitting from. So the search continues, but earlier on this morning we had a press conference. And at the press conference the head of the search and rescue operations came out and said based on the last known position or coordinates of the plane, in all likelihood, the plane is at the bottom of the ocean now. We have that sound byte, i believe. If we do well take a listen as to what he had to say. Okay. Well, i was just paraphrasing him, but that was very direct even perhaps a brutal and more to the point statement that was possibly premature because nothing is definitive. The plane has not been found, no evidence of any wreckage or debris as the search continues. And i think this speaks to possibly i guess the sense of Crisis Management for airasia. They have work to do even though they have been through their fair share of air disasters in the past. Wilfred, back to you. Thank you for the update. Our thoughts and prayers remain with the families of those involved. Oil prices rebound after fresh fighting in libya destroyed 800,000 barrels of crude, which is two days of the countrys supply. Youre looking at a fire that started from a missile attack on the Storage Facility after fighting in libya. Meanwhile, algeria is calling on opec to cut production in a bid to pushup oil prices to protect members of the cartel. Speaking over the weekend, the countrys oil minister did not share the views of the big opec producers who say the market should regulate prices. Still with us is the managing director of rbc markets. Will this have a major effect on the currency markets youre looking at and what is the best way to play the currency market . Definitely. First of all, many emerging markets have been keeping the monetary policies very tight on the back of high inflation prices. And indonesia is clearly an example of positive potentially positive impact of oil prices for the london time zone in turkey. This is a top pick that could benefit from the oil prices. And uncertainties in the markets, brazil is one and mexico is the other. Russia is the most obvious side effect of that. Daniel thank you for joining us over the last 45 minutes. Much appreciated, the managing director at Rbc Capital Markets. Now the start of the new year is just a few days away. We spoke to the ceo of Quality Homes and asked him about his hopes for 2015. My 2015 wish for housing is for better Consumer Confidence. When buyers feel better about their station in life they buy homes. Thats my wish for 2015. Sony pictures released the interview on christmas and it has earned 18 million since its opened in a limited amount of theaters since it was able to buy or rent or christmas day. Journalists were hired by the cia to kill the north american leader kim jongun. The film played in 331 independent theaters. A fraction of what it would have done in wide release taking in 2. 8 million. Sony says the interview was streamed or downloaded more than 2 million times since wednesday. Grossing more than 15 million. So that makes it the studios most successful movie in terms of digital sales. The film has been available on Microsofts Xbox youtube and google play as well as its own website. Now apple is jumping on the bandwagon to start offer the interview on sunday. North korea is blasting president obama for pressuring sony to release the movie. The u. S. Has determined the country is behind the cyber attack on the Hollywood Studio with north korea denying this in a statement to the media. Meanwhile, Sonys Playstation Network is back online following disruptions to begin on christmas. Heavy traffic could still cause issues for customers looking to play their video games. An obscure hacker group called wizards square has claimed responsibility. This contained 13,000 Playstation User names and credit card numbers at risk. Thank you for the update. Well hear from you with the online film releases. Is this the start of a new online Film Industry . You can get in touch with us on twitter or at my personal handle. And the greek election is paving the way for snap elections in the new year. Indonesia cannot confirm whether debris spotted in the sea is tied to the missing airasia jet. And no such thing as bad publicity as the interview was the most downloaded film in sonys history. Welcome back. Lets have a look at the european markets. Only the ftse 100 in the glean so far today, but the rest of Continental Europe is in the red. Germany is down 9. 73 . Greece is down after failing to get the vote through for the Prime Ministers president ial candidate to be elected. 168 votes from the needed 180. Greece down 10 that has affected a lot of Continental Europe. The yields are ticking up in greece to 8. 62 . The opposite has been the move in germany where we had a flight to safety bond buying at a record low. The greek and german bond yields are moving in the opposite direction. Well check on the u. S. As 2. 2 . That is the greek tenyear yield that we have seen in the trade so far today. Well sort of look at u. S. Futures expecting a slightly negative open today following the strong christmas trade on thin volumes last weekend. A slight correction expected at the start today with the dow expected over ten points now. The s p expected to open a point down. And the nasdaq expected to open four points down. Joining us is the chief Market Strategist at tesco partners as we go into next year given that quantitative easing has ended, surely one of the two markets is due a big correction. Well, youre absolutely right. One of the things im looking for going into the new year is which side of 250 is the u. S. Tenyear going to decide to be at for the majority of the year. And i think that move is going to come in the first year if it will be the down side of 250. In other words, the higher side of 250 is what i meant to say. I think that has to move in the First Quarter, and thats a large move from 2. 23 now. Youll start to see the move in the beginning of the First Quarter and see it continue as we see things develop with the greek elections and how that affects quantitative easing potential in europe. And bob, what is driving u. S. Equities at the moment . The strong fundamentals we see relative to the rest of the world or that they are the pick of the relatively dodgey bunch . I think its the latter and i think a lot of it has to do with share purchases. There are good Sales Numbers that come across. As you saw, we have a 5 gdp revision but dont think its sustainable with the rest of the globe given the run we have had. People talk about the bull market and often the 2009 bottoms. But coming from such a low bottom and absolute devastation of the equity markets and the 401 k s globally you are only seeing equities up somewhere near 15 from the lows im sorry, from the highs we saw prior to the decline. So i think that when youre looking at it from a Bigger Picture perspective, there has to be more movement in the labor markets and better job creation and wage growth for it to continue. Even though, were probably at the midpoint of the bull market cycle with longer term analysts saying we are still in the bear market. A bear market of correction. Im not in that camp but i do think it has to slow and the best possible scenario for 2015 is lowdouble digits and highsingle digits getting into the end of 2015. Bob, thank you for joining us today. That was bob iochino. Im wilfred frost. Squawk box is next. Good morning. Again, theres a missing airliner. An airasia flight carrying 162 people that disappeared between indonesia and singapore losing contact with air traffic control. Officials belief its likely at the bottom of the ocean. Greece in focus. Stocks tumbling as a major president ial vote there could threat up the future of the countrys international bailout. And three final trading days and counting. The bulls want to end the year in style with the s p now up 13 on the year. Its monday december 29th 2014. Squawk box begins right now. Good morning. Welcome to squawk box here on cnbc. Im Andrew Rosssorkin and becky quick is off for the holidays. Families are waiting on the whereabouts of the missing plane. If it crashed, 2014 will go down as one of the deadliest years in aviation history in recent memory. We are also watching another scary transportation story up fold overseas with a greek ferry catching fire. Rescue workers are working to air lift passengers to safety as the fire continues to burn. The Normand Atlantic was