Transcripts For CNBC Worldwide Exchange 20150304

Surprise rate cut by the rbi. They call it a vote of confidence in the budget. Come on. Urging skilled immigrants to return to ireland and take part in the countrys recovery. Coming up were live in dublin to talk to the countrys leader. Youre watching Worldwide Exchange. Bringing you Business News from around the globe. Hi everyone. Im seema mody live at the mobile World Congress here in barcelona spain and the focus on the mobile ecosystem. It continues to expand. Ill be exploring the future of mobile payments as i speak exclusively to the ceo of bbva. Hacking back in the headlines after a freak attack is discovered at apple and google. Coming up ill be discussing Cyber Security with the head of avg technologies but its not all work. Ive also been having a little bit of fun here. A play on some of the whack i can gadgets that have caught my eye. Well discuss that as well throughout the show from mobile World Congress. Once again a very warm welcome to the show today. Lets bring you dayta out of europe in the last couple of minutes. Services pmi in at 53. 7. Thats just below the expected level of 53. 9 and slightly up from the previous level 52. 7. We also have the composite come in at 53. 3. Its moved quite sharply over the last 15 minutes or so. That was sparked when we had the italian data coming in at 50. 0 which was quite far below the expectation of 51. 3. Were now down. 4 in the session. Near session lows 1113. We moved quite significantly in the euro dollar and well be talking about that more after the show. Now after exiting its Bailout Program in 2013 ireland has been hailed as the poster child for sticking to austerity and returning to growth. It will retain the position as the Fastest Growing economy in the eu this year but the Prime Minister categorizing the recovery as quite fragile this morning. Lets get out to the Prime Minister joining steve in dublin. Lets get straight to it. Thank you very much for joining us. Ive been coming here throughout the crisis 2008, 2009, the bursting of the celtic tiger as well. The economy looks better now than any time in that period. Yet if your own words theres big fragilities left in that system. First recognize dysfunctional banks, mass immigration. No hope and no reputation and our credibility in shreds. It was necessary for a clear plan and a clear strategy. People put up with a lot of sacrifices so the recovery is underway. Not losing ones selfin terms of public spending our expectations because of a rising confidence in the economy. It has to be carefully managed. Slow on steady progress. Were not going back to boom and bust economics. This is going to be carefully managed by the people. They feel the real benefits of that in their daily lives. You want to be a historic figure and reelected as well which would be a historical precedent as well. In terms of how you do that we election one year away and hold back on tax cuts as well can you hold the line . Well historic legacy is of no interest to me except to say that we want to fulfill the mandate people gave us and that was twofold. One fix your public finances and, two, put the country back to work. We realize that the level and burden of taxization has been too high on people. So in the last budget were actually able to start to give people the benefit of tax reductions with some modest increase in their take home pay. But its got to be very carefully managed for the future. Yes, of course we engage within a regular basis. Its about job creation. We have produced 90,000 jobs since 2012. 40,000 this year, 40, 2017 and by 2018 we will have recovered all the jobs lost. We expected to have full employment by 2018. Achievable. If im one of the brilliantly educated dublin kids that have gone aboard and you want them to come back theyre going to have to pay 52 marginal tax. Thats not going to attract them back to ireland. Thats a difficulty. Thats why were addressing that in the budget. Well continue that in 2016 2017 2018 if the people decide to reelect their government. That will be their choice and well have a strong story to tell. But for us its in managing the fruits of a rising economy carefully so it is spread throughout the people and people can feel it in their daily lives. Thats the challenge of government. We have a reformed Commission President that wants tougher tax laws for countries as well. You and i have talked about it previously. Do you believe tax has been one of the main reasons why Big International and especially u. S. Companies have come to ireland and if there is a reform of that tax situation thats going to deter it. Lets be clear about this. Last budget we got rid of the double ireish because of the perception of damage. Were very much on the front lines. Ireland has nothing to fear here. Were very much up front. Our 12. 5 remains and will continue to remain. Its been a cornerstone of irelands past Economic Development but also for our recovery but its not the only issue. Ireland in front in terms of technology and track record and if you ask the firms themselves what is it about ireland theyll say its the talent pool. Young flexible Education System where young peoples creative ingenuity is making the difference for ireland. Being the energetic hope of effectiveness around the world. They get their education here and theyre so flexible they go abroad and take their skills elsewhere. Yeah, theyre coming back and very welcome because they brick with them new experience and energy that is devastating when you lose it through immigration. So were addressing the tax issue because the burden has been too high. Well address it again in the fourth coming budget and budgets if were reelected. It still has a way to go by sticking to imf rules. Other countries need to do the same. How do you feel about greece and its efforts toless lessen its bailouts. We made better propositions than they were making themselves. By that i mean we didnt tax employment. We didnt increase income taxes. We made propositions that balanced out in the sense of being able to have a constructive engagement and there by make progress. Now we have to buyout the imf loans and borrow money in the International Markets at historically low rates. For greece theres a lesson for ireland. We respect and understand the difficulties that apply in greece now from a humanitarian point of view and others. Greece needs time and space. The Prime Minister himself said we dont want to leave the euro. We dont want to default but we do need time and space. Its giving greece that time and space. From irelands lesson of slow and steady progress difficult though it has been for our country, the benefits are beginning to be seen after a four year period. We want to manage that carefully for the future. Ive said that to the greek Prime Minister myself. Heres a lesson as one small country that you can take. You can take some reflection in terms of building your own economy for the future. But do you fear the greek story, the saga of greece. Its going on and on and it will drag everyone down. The Prime Minister and himself dont want to do that. But they also dont want to pay the bills on the country terms. In terms of the interest repayments these were extended. Thats a matter for negotiating with the european institutions. We have proven that you can get results from that. Its been very difficult for our people but were building on that now for the future. So i hoped and the European Council hoped that greece stays in and that greece will be given the time and the space to develop a strategy that it can have a Sustainable Future for its economy and its people. Thats the essential element of the European Union and for those in the euro group we want to see that happen. Thank you for joining us and congratulations on the rugby in dublin. England were completely outplayed. Theyre taking a lesson from the economy. Were on the way back and up and nothing is going to stop us. Good to see you, sir. Thank you. Thank you very much. I hope by the time we get to the world cup, things will turn around a little bit. Over in barcelona, mobile World Congress is in full swing. Earlier in the week we heard about samsung pay, the companys rival to apples mobile Payment System. But where does this leave the banks in the ecosystem of mobile payments. Lets get to seema mody that has a very interesting guest on that topic. Happy thursday wilfred and good morning to you, youre right. A lot of these banks are seeing rising competition from the likes of am and samsung and the key question is do these banks incorporate apple pay and samsung pay into their strategy or try to build their own technology that can rival the tech giants. Lets talk to Francisco Gonzalez. Thank you for joining us. You see mobile payments as a big opportunity and youre rolling out apple pay to customers, why . We are in states. But not in europe yet. It has to be easier for customers but the infrastructure is done by banks still. But Going Forward do you see apple pay and the other tech giants getting into mobile payments as a competitive threat for your banking institution. They are both partners and competitors. It depends on the banks. In the case of europe we have our own to make payments happen. Its not defined yet. There will be a lot of competitors. How do you stay relevant in the emerging market ifs youre trying to expand into the markets when youre looking at many customers that dont have a bank account. Theyre simply managing their accounts on their mobile phone. Absolutely. We have that in mexico. We provide banking based on the mobile which is far easier and more convenient which is the way which is right. You picked apple pay but will you brick samsung on board as well . Theyre other countries but what is important to understand is we will compete overtime in different parts of the banking chain. Were turning ourself into a Digital Company and were providing products financial in the future. How much money is apple pay going to make off of your customers as you leverage their services . Not too much because we have i would say, not in the states but overtime it will be a big part of the Payment System many will work in that regard. Are you concerned about the consumer risk with more customers transacting online and using mobile payments . No security is a must. So what do you do to ensure there isnt any type of data breach risk out there. In order to protect your customers you have the right infrastructure. Its a very big issue to protect privacy and security for our customers we have to invest a lot. Its not just a question of the banks but the governments. Security is very important. Security and of course another big theme we have been touching on here at mobile World Congress. For now, Francisco Gonzalez thank you for joining us here on Worldwide Exchange. You heard it here mobile payments continues to be a big trend. Some of the big Banking Institutions are saying rather than creating their own technologies in house theyll team up with apple and samsung. The question is if the trend will continue. For now back to you in studio. Thank you for that. Dont forget as well we have much more on mobile World Congress on cnbc. Com. So do make sure that you look in on our special Tech Transformers section of the website. Lets have a look at what European Markets are doing. It was a soft day that carried through to u. S. Trades where markets came off the record highs. One or two bright spots well come to but in general it was a weekday. Just above flat on the stock 600. We did open up about. 4 but as pmis for services have come out they have disappointed a little bit. Thats taken the wind out of the sails. Just about flat. Lets see where the weakness is coming. The ftse 100 is below flat. Germany down about. 5 . France managing to equal out small gains. Italy is suffering a little bit in the equity market. Its down ten basis points. Lets look at bonds quickly. Were a long way from where we were last week when janet yellen was speaking and brought the yields down. 2 . Close to. 9. But any dovish comments have been sharply upset by strong data in the u. S. Bringing builds around 2. 1 and were focussing on the payrolls due on friday. Will that show a continuation of the good trends weve seen in the job market. Weve seen yields in europe outside of greece hit record lows as qe kicks off with the ecb meeting tomorrow. Yields below 1. 4 as we look at things today. The euro has moved quite sharply over the course of last week. It started on thursday. It was close to 114. Its now comfortably in the 111 handle. You can see 11122. Its down half a percent today. That sparked after the weak Italian Services pmi and continuation of a trend happening on both sides. Making the u. S. Dollar stronger and euro zone qe about to kick off making the euro weaker. The u. S. Dollar is hovering around a broad 11 year high. Most of that gain for the year came early in january. It came off and over the last week or so its coming to test the highs it pushed through in early january. Can it get higher . Still we will see. You can see the u. S. Dollar strengthening. Were highlighting that because we had a surprise rate cut from the Indian Central Bank today which well come to in just a moment. Quick look at commodities first. The Oil Prices Continue to struggle to find a bottom. Were holding above the two levels we have been testing over recent weeks. Were at 50. 77 and 60 for brent and were at 60. 6. Were above the rates at the moment. I did mention that indian rate cut. Lets have a look at what theyre doing. Its had such a strong run. Its up about 40 over the last 12 months and continued the run in recent days. It had a special session on saturday after the indian budge and good momentum coming out of that as important infrastructure reforms were announced. Were also having Monetary Policy stimulus as they were cut to 7. 5 . A 20 point basis cut. The 2nd surprise decision weve seen this year from the Central Banks. Boosts from the economy from the fiscal side and monetary side which helped earlier today push into 30,000 level which was a record high. Its just off those highs today but its still just positive over the course of todays trading session. Now after the break, shares jump in london despite an earnings miss. That in a few minutes. Standard charter performing very well so far today. Its up about 5. 6 . So despite the ceo saying the numbers clearly disappointing since his replacement has been announced shares have done well. Well analyze the numbers after the break. Heroes charge explosion explosion explosion lead your heroes in the hit mobile game download heroes charge now peter sands calls the results clearly disappointing and wont be taking a bonus in 2014. Clearly disappointing but the share price has been fantastic since peters departure has been announced. How much is a man like bill winters worth. Apparently a lot. Almost a billion quid and today you saw the share price move again. Not because theyre good results because lets be clear theyre not good results. Profits have tumbled 25 . Impairments have continued to go on up by about over 500 million taking the total for the year above 2. 1 billion. Thats not a good outlook. You have costs coming down at the bank but not really fast enough for investors. Why the share price bounce . Part of it is because everyone is expecting a Capital Raise and that hasnt been announced today. Most people are expecting bill winters to announce that when he comes in in june. Today we didnt hear any news of that. He did say it was disappointing. All of the directors have waived their bonuses and the bonus pool itself is down 9 . A couple of things that i guess were interesting investors or concerning investors is things like exposure to the commoditys market. That has come down to a total of 55 billion. Thats just 10 of the total net book. So thats probably good news but really this might be something as simple as short covering. Other story in the u. K. Bank space. Theyre now going down that route . Yeah we know that rbs is look at shrinking against investment. There is a piece today about scaling back that trend and what it wourldld mean in terms of head count. What he did say was about the entrenchment being down 2thirds in the next couple of years. Thats taking it from 38 countries to 25 countries this year and possibly below 15 countries in the next couple of years. Lets move on and talk about itv because vying for the top spot in the ftse 100 is the National Broadcaster trading higher after it announced a special dividend. Special dividend being taken very well by the market but core advertising revenue and a traditional model is up and bucking the trend. Absolutely. This is a great consumer u. K. Story. Theyre doing more than just that because their digital revenue is also up. Alternative areas and business areas where itv is growing is doing well. This is great news for u. K. Plc because it suggests that the consumer is looking on point. Up very nicely. Thats 4 . Lets have a quick look where profits are fatter. Well look if you wanted any news about the u. K. Consumer you dont need to look at tv you need that in your hand to do it. Profits just soaring. This is a company we all watch ever since that budget which wanted to tax greggs and there was out roar against it. But if you look at the numbers, really positive numbers, opening 80 to 100 stores. Coffee sales are up. Theres one just around the corner. I like it very much. Thank you for joining as ever. Still to come here on Worldwide Exchange. Rising inflation. A falling currency. Thats the dilemna with brazils bank as it looks set to raise the key Interest Rate. Stay tuned. Well discuss that next. Clearly disappointing. Peter sands gives up his bonus after a drop in earnings. Itv shares rallying after they return 250 Million Pounds via special dividend. This as growth as the advertising business pushes profits higher. They close out on a high after a surprise rate cut from the rbi. They call it a vote of confidence in the budget. The eu is accommodating the greek government to keep the block together. This according to irelands Prime Minister that spoke exclusively to cnbc in the last half an hour. Now u. K. Services pmi for february has just fallen to 56. 7 versus 57. 2 in january. We were expecting 57. 4. So that has followed the path of its continental partners being just below expectations. Of Course Services pmi important for the u. K. Where were at such a large portion of gdp. Manufacturing and construction pmi were better but this is the key reading for the u. K. It comes in at 56. 7 down from 57. 2 in january. As we look at sterling you can see it hasnt reacted much off the back of the news. Its flat off the back of the day, 153. 5. Lets have a look at what European Markets are doing. Were just below flat. It was quite a weekday in europe yesterday. That carried through to the u. S. And for most of asia although theres some bright spots in asia and earlier today we were up about. 3 or. 4 nkt but it has softened. Italy was particularly poor. Germany down. 5 and France Holding flat and ftse 100 down about 10 basis points. Lets dive in and look at the biggest individual movers. Henkel is underperforming the dax after they offered a cautious 2015 guidance citing eastern europe. Its down about 4 as you can see. The ceo told cnbc earlier that emerging Market Growth will boost the companys sales Going Forward. Now areva announced a Cost Cutting Program taken well by the market. Up about. 3 . The French Nuclear company also plans to revive its partnership with edf to strengthen development in china. Lets get more with stefen in paris. Yes wilfred. On the back of record lows for the last year 4. 8 billion euros areva presented the new lines of its road map. They want to enforce the competitiveness with a Cost Reduction plan of 1 billion euros a year. For the time being theres no indication about how many jobs would be at stake. They slash up to 15 of the work force. The Companies Say it will start negotiations with unions at the end of this month on salary on jobs on working conditions. In terms of strategy it will refocus on its core Nuclear Business and therefore will plan some asset disposals. It also wants to increase its presence in china and its going to increase its corporation. Its no secret that the government which is the main shareholder of the two companies was lobbying for such corporation. It will make a more specific announcement before the first half earnings. It will present a financing plan with more specific information about capital expend sure and more details about the asset plans. Yesterday the french minister declined to say whether the government was planning to inject fresh capital into areva and they believed the govern lt was planning to use the proceeds from the sale of 4 earlier this week to reinforce the capital structure. Its slightly positive although they reported a record loss for the last year. Ten days ago they warned about this record loss for the last year because of additional provisions provisions. Thank you. Now israeli Prime Minister netanyahu said a diplomatic agreement with iran would guarantee a nuclear weapon. He openly opposed the strategy favored by president obama. This deal has two major concessions. One leaving iran with a vast Nuclear Program and lifting the restrictions on that program in about a decade. Thats why this deal is so bad. It doesnt block irans path to the bomb, it paefves the path to the bomb. They were breaking up rival demonstrations during the address. There were similar scenes in new york city with protests for and against the leader. President obama didnt watch the speech but read the transcript and said there was nothing new in his comments. The alternative the Prime Minister offers is no deal in which case iran will immediately begin once again pursuing its Nuclear Program, accelerate its Nuclear Program without us having any insight into what theyre doing and without constraint. European leaders warned russia could face more sanction ifs the country further violates a two week old ceasefire in ukraine. The head of the European Council holds a Video Conference against a backdrop of escalating violence. Three servicemen died and nine were wounded on tuesday in the highest casualty toll in several days. Now lets change and have a look at asian markets in particular a focus on the sensex as you can see ending the day down. We had a rate cut from the central bank of india. Cutting the rate from 7. 75 to 7. 5 . It is the second rate cut. Surprise rate cut we have seen this calendar year from india and of course the Monetary Policy action were seeing this morning following the significant fiscal policy action we saw this weekend with the new budget announced. So lots of hope for the future of indias growth which has been reflected in share price moves. Up about 40 over the last 12 months although today were just giving up the gains we did see earlier. Now sticking with india, players at the mobile World Congress will eager to seattle their position in the fast growing emerging markets. Lets get out to seema mody at the mobile World Congress where she has been speaking to a few guests of importance on that topic. Absolutely wilfred. As you were pointing out india continues to be a bright spot. When looking at emerging markets you were pointing out central bank policy. One of the reasons investors are bullish on the market. And you have a pick up in growth. Yes over the weekend we got that annual budget. It more or less was in line with expectations but the key was that inflation target of 4 . That gives the rbi governor more room to cut rates and that policy meeting today or of course overthe night to cut rates did come as a surprise. Thats why youre seeing investors staying focused on india and whether the rbi governor can cut rates further in the months to come. Especially if oil price continue to decline. India being a net importer benefits from Lower Oil Prices and inflation has been a big challenge for many years. Its definitely been welcomed by the country and economists as well. But looking at india here from mobile World Congress a lot of tech titans are trying to enter this market. India is the Fastest Growing Smartphone Market in asia. Theyre the number one player in the indian Smartphone Market and they see this as a big opportunity Going Forward. Especially as you see more consumers transition from feature phones to smartphone. So theyre riding that smartphone wave in the coming months but you also another focus has been the other emerging markets. They dont have as many players but still have the same growth rates. Thats what he was focused on. Nigeria is where he sees a lot of opportunity. Listen in. India and china made the headlines in terms of emerging markets but beyond the two big markets theres a whole universe of emerging markets including latin america countries like brazil of course. Part of the middle east and asia. They have equally high growth in terms of penetration and mobile commerce and have been more neglected than compared to india and china. You saw opportunity in these market because theres not as many players but overtime thats where youll see more growth . Indeed. These are relatively more neglected than india or china. Two to three years ago it was simple to analyze the landscape but its dramatically changed. Who do you see winning the next mobile frontier . Well the evolution in emerging markets is very fast in terms of smartphones. They account for 36 of the market. If you look at projections four years down the line that number is probably going to be just over 50 . So a lot of people are still going to have feature phones or hybrid phones or data phones. Not something one should forget. Its not merely a smartphone world in the emerging markets. Google play or any of the music services. The amount you can spend is considerably less. So an average emerging market consumer has less than 3. The average western consumer is more than 20. So youre seeing a lot of Companies Going for the subscriptiontype model. Consume as much as you like for a set price per month. 1 or 2. A second part is a large part of the population is unbanked. So actually payment is a major issue unless you can connect to the operators billing systems. Its very difficult to pay for these things. Seema, another great interview there. Of course emerging markets, a crucial topic for them and it has been in the focus of course this morning again with that rate cut in india. Lets get more on that before we discuss first. Were joined from mumbai with more on that rate cut this morning. Thanks for that. Well it was definitely a surprise rate cut that came through from the rbi. 25 basis points now and 25 in january. It is a half a percent cut in the rates we have seen in just the span of two odd months from the rbi. But was it expected . What this means is that basically the rbi is now comfort comfortable with the inflation. They expect the cpi that came in at 5. 11 to be sub 6 for the entire 2015. Secondly they do expect or basically the fact that theyve got rates at this point in time indicates that they are comfortable with the Fiscal Consolidation figure that came out from the budget that stood at 3. 9 for fy 16. In fact experts are of the view that maybe they are comfort wbl the quality of Fiscal Consolidation as opposed to just the figure at this point in time. Does it increase further rate cuts . Possibly. We could expect more rate cuts from the rbi based on the fact that theyre now more comfortable with inflation. Thank you very must have for that update. Cnbc in mumbai. Now still to come here on Worldwide Exchange brazil is going against the grain of monetary stimulus in emerging markets. The country is expected to carry out another rate rise as it hooks to curb inflation. Well discuss that next here on Worldwide Exchange. U. S. Auto makers report an increase in sales for february but failed to meet analyst expectations. While luxury vehicle sales took a hit the drop in oil prices fuelled a rebound in suv sales. Meanwhile, ferrari unveiled the latest model. The 488 gtb at the geneva motor show. It will have a large price tag to match. Retailing at 300,000 euros. Nancy caught up with the ceo and asked him about the new model. Let me answer in an easy way because its a ferrari as usual. But i think especially for those models its the v8. We develop it the most in terms of Top Solutions and performances and then its special for ferrari which is the way we give the performances to our customer. The way theyre able to manage that its becoming our trademark. It was a good success for them. For sure its completely different because and let me say its more important and its very very close to the engine. Normally the discussion is about it. Its the highest level in six years. This as the giant grapples with rising inflation and depreciating currency. The chief pledged to do whatever is necessary to hit the official inflation target by late 2016. Thank you for joining. Good morning to you. The brazilian banks are in a stickier position than many others around the world where the decision is easier to make. Theres other pressures that come with it. Absolutely. The main problem for the cbc is that the economy is flat lining but at the same time inflation is picking up. If we look at gdp broeth overgrowth over 2014 the expectation is theres a contraction of it and we expect that to be in the range of. 15 according to preliminary estimates. Thats against 2. 5 the Previous Year but at the same time inflation picked up considerably. In january 7. 1 year on year compared to 6. 4 the previous month. Thats clearly negative for the consumers and its increasing the cost of living but there is a Silver Lining and in the medium to long determine its a positive and its simply because part of the inflation increase was stimulated by the governments elimination of subsidies. And of course this rate hike is expected as youre saying to protect against rising inflation but theres another issue there you think is important and thats generally the central bank regaining credibility in Foreign Investors eyes. Absolutely. With that in mind it could be expected that the cbc uses the rate hikes now to restore its credibility but we shouldnt rule out if it tightens its Monetary Policy too much it could throw the country back into a recession. Theyre traeding a very fine line and we could expect them to ease later on in the year. So shortterm go to credibility. Now credibility is something of course that the main government is looking at the moment with accusations of corruption. Is there an end in sight or is it going to drag on for a long time . Its likely to drag on for a long time. It may be one of the keys of the administration and of course the allegations of corruption and the oppositions allegation hah the president may have been aware of the corruption when she was in charge of the board of p efrks etrobras. Its also increasing Political Risks overall and her Approval Rating has dropped significantly according to a very recent poll in early february her Approval Rating almost halved in december. Its at the lowest point since she took office at 2011 at 23 . So clearly its a sticky political point that will remain a headache for her. Thank you for joining me today. Much appreciated. Now chinas Defense Budget is set to rise by 10 this year crossing 140 billion. Thats according to a spokeswoman. The top official says quote, lagging behind leaves china vulnerable to attacks. Top of the agenda will be Economic Growth and some are saying the gdp target could be downgraded. Eunice has more on what to expect. Every march chinas most powerful halls fill with the countrys lawmakers that talk about the agenda for the year and in 2015 the economy is dominating the discussions. The chinese economy will be very stable in 2015. The new normal for china is an economy at its weakest points in years with signs pointing to slower growth. The leadership is expected to address the slow down starting with the premieres opening day work report. Chinas version of the state of the union. It will unveil economic targets. Goals analysts believe will reflect the new reality. Around 7 growth for the year. Attain 3 for consumer inflation. Pressure to make changes to the economic model will also take center stage. Especially with debt on the rise. In every single case that weve seen in history, debt starts to grow very very rapidly at some point and you reach the point where it becomes the key vulnerability for the growth model and in china its clearly understood that we reached that point. Politicians will likely rubber stamp state owned reforms and theyll scrutinize an expansion of the deficit. Many expect them to loosen policies more today with a leadership hoping to steer the economy to better times. China is at a critical moment. Its intensifying definitely before the president completes his second term around 2022 or 2023, china will be the largest economy in the world. That means from today on throughout 2015 every year will mark china one step higher. One level higher in its Economic Growth. But the country has to get through this year first. Now lets get back to seema at the World Congress in barcelona. Theres very important interviews with ceos but you managed to find time to try out some of the gadgets and have a bit of fun. Yeah just a little bit of fun, right . Thats allowed here. 90,000 people. Several Different Companies from around the world presenting their Cutting Edge Technology and its interesting to see. Theres luxury players trying to battle apple. Theres a lot of eye catching innovation being presented here at mobile World Congress. Theres sometimes when i feel like im in a star wars movie. Especially when you walk by htc or samsung and see these people trying out their Virtual Reality head sets. I have to say its an enriching experience. Enhances the User Experience but im still waiting to see if this will be the future. If Virtual Reality will offer a big opportunity for the Tech Companies trying to reach the millennial generation. I have been going around during breaks here trying to talk to some of the younger audience and younger professional who is are trying out the different technologies. Theres a lot of interest in Virtual Reality. The big question is how is this going to be incorporated into their growth strategy. Wearables as i was just pointing out, theres been a lot of players, specifically from around europe that say theyll be able to increase their market share over the coming years despite the entrance of apple. That was interesting. I had the opportunity to try out the big devices. I have been eating a lot here and because of that i have been trying to workout and run around as much as i can. I even caught up with the executives at garmin. Theyre about ten feet away from here and got a little bit of a workout if you will because the food here is so good but interestingly enough these wearables allow you to track your Health Metrics while you are working out and i had to try out the treadmill while it was at garmin. It tracks your calorie outtake. What you were doing. I was in high heels but i was able to get on the treadmill. You got to do what you got to do. Absolutely got to do it. If you have time to steal a couple of the best gadgets and bring them back for us to try out here in london that would be much appreciated. Okay ill see what i can do wilfred. Thanks for that. Do stick with us here on Worldwide Exchange. Online Security Firm avg releases a new system for businesses and the ceo is at mobile World Congress with seema after this short break. Xkc hello and a very warm welcome. Here are your headlines from around the world. The rally loses steam. U. S. Features point to a lower open after wall street has one of its worst days this year. Nothing new. Benjamin netanyahus speech gets scathing criticism from president obama that says the Nuclear Nightmare warning over iran offers no viable alternatives. Clearly disappointing. Outgoing Standard Chartered ceo peter sands gives up his 2014 bonus after a 25 drop in earnings but shares drop as investors eye a new direction in management at the bank. The eu is accommodating the new greek government to keep the block together. This koordaccording to irelands Prime Minister that spoke to cnbc in the last half an hour. The Prime Minister himself said we dont want to leave the euro. We dont want to default. We dont intend to break our contracts. And europe is giving greece that time and space. Youre watching Worldwide Exchange. Bringing you Business News from around the globe. Now were going to bring you some flashes out of russia. The Russian Security service says the investigation into the murder has identified several suspects. So that is the latest on the developing situation. Important that we find justice in that situation coming forward. Lets focus back on markets. As we said yesterday the recent rally did run out of steam and we saw the nasdaq stay above 5,000 for a very short period before selling off. Since then weve had a little bit of weakness in asia and indeed medium set of markets today in europe. Were looking at a slightly negative open. The dow down 40 points and the nasdaq down about 10. 5 points. Lets have a quick look at what has been happening in markets in europe today. We did open slightly positive but weve had some services pmi which is disappointing. Particularly italys but all across the euro zone it was slightly weaker than expected. That meant that markets have given up their early gains but basically flat as we look at things but as you can see both the ftse and the dax just below flat. Meanwhile france and italy managing to eek out small amounts of gains. Lets look at the bond market because the u. S. Ten year is back above 2. 1 . Where it was before janet yellen gave her testimony last week. Some were interpreted as dovish and brought it back down to 1. 9 but the data is strong out of the u. S. And allowed bond yields to tick up 2. 1 again and the focus this week on the nonfarm payrolls we get on friday. German yields. 3 . Last year they did dip. Well see qe kick off this week with the ecb meeting tomorrow. Yields remain elevated. Europe has been a sharp mover over the last week. It started moving last thursday. Its down. 4 today. 1113. Quite a significant move over the last week or so in the euro. Thats partly because data out of the u. S. Continued to be strong and of course also because qe kicks off in earnest imminently and that weakened the euro. The u. S. Dollar more broadly back near an 11 year high. Most of the gains its made this calendar year came early in january. It then came off those highs and only very recently has started to test them again focused on the data coming out of the jobs market. The aussie dollar gaining a little bit today. Gdp in line with expectations and the u. S. Dollar gaining about half a percent in india because of a small rate cut. 50. 7 today and brent maintaining its position above 60 at the moment. Lets have a quick look at the sensex up around 40 over the last 12 months. It did hit a fresh all time high earlier today but has given up some of the gains and is now down about. 75 . Its cutting rates from 7. 75 to 7. 5 . Its the Second Surprise rate cut coming from the central bank. Now the value of ipos hit an 8 year high in 2014. According today at a the number of Public Offerings drop 43 compared to 2013 while the total value rose to 20 billion pounds. Large ipos dominated the market with private Equity Investors involved in 20 of the largest transactions. Joining me now is alyster warren. Good morning to you. Thank you for joining us. Lets kick off with that Interesting Data i just mentioned. Lots of Smaller Companies finding it surprisingly easy to raise money in the Public Markets here in the u. K. Whats that a result of do you think . I think its really driven by investor demand. But, you know we have obviously had ebbs and flows but valuations in the market have been pretty attractive. It was an attractive place to go raise capital and the number of institutions looking to continue to reweight into equities is maintained. The u. S. Blows into europe varied a little bit but equities are an attractive asset class. Particularly in europe with low rates, low inflation, the fears of deflation are removed and it feels like theyll continue to trade higher. Its easier to exit deals than find new ones. Look the single biggest challenge for private equity is deploying capital. Selling assets is relatively straightforward. The ipo market is strong. The m and a market remains strong. You have a whole new classes of buyers coming in. Whether it be folks buying from asia. Whether it be folks coming in from sovereign wealth funds or Pension Funds or corporates north american european. So theres plenty of buyers of assets. The issue is finding new opportunities to deploy capital. Surely that strikes massive overvaluation in the marketplace. Markets in the u. S. Are trading at levels i think the average for the u. S. Markets are about 18 times one year forward earnings. These are levels we havent seen since 2000. In europe the number is lower at 16 times for obvious reasons but we havent seen that since 2004. No doubt valuations are high but i think also the Macro Economic circumstances are in a place we have never been before. Low inflation, low rates, the risk of deflation with everything thats going on around qe seemingly removed so i think that these the equities are likely to trade higher but valuation is a challenge. Does qe in europe make a difference for the private equity market . Its already cheap and you dont expect to see a flood of money into private equity deals like the equity market and a simple search for yield. Yeah so i think that per se clearly private Equity Investors arent looking to deploy capital for three months or six months or a year. This is longterm money and the duration of the money is becoming longer rather than shorter but over a five year period the effects of qe i think clearly take away a lot of t if i might call it the shorter term risks as it relates to the european economy. But they also present the challenges as they await valuation. Its less influential than the public equity markets but it has an impact as well. Lets touch on mna. It was focused in one of two sectors in particular. For 2015 do you see a continuation of a the pick up or b the sectors its focused in. I think just in terms of volumes, already year to date in europe were tracking up 15 or 20 and last year as you just noticed was up 40 or 50 and we expect that to continue. I think that in terms of sectors we are seeing a broadening. Clearly already this year weve seen the continuation of tmt and health care but also a slight broadening into industrials. Obviously the antitrust proposal. We expect that to continue as well. Thank you for the first chat. Second chat well speak about the risks of seeing them pick up. Now lets give you a run down of what to watch in the u. S. The federal employment report is out ahead of the nonfarm payrolls data. At 10 00 a. M. We get the Services Index and the latest beige book report which tracks Regional Economic conditions. Thats out at 2 00 p. M. Several officials are speaking today as well including the fed president and bill dudley. Now lets take a look at some of todays other prime stories. Benjamin netanyahu said a diplomatic agreement with iran will guarantee teheran a nuclear weapon. In a controversial speech he openly opposed the diplomatic strategy favored by president obama. This deal has two major concessions. One leaving iran with a vast Nuclear Program and two lifting the restrictions on that program in about a decade. Thats why this deal is so bad. It doesnt block irans path to the bomb it paefs their path to the bomb. His speech was met with protests outside the u. S. Capital with police breaking up rival demonstrations during the address. There were similar scenes in new york city with protests for and against the leader. President obama said he didnt watch the speech but only read the transcript and said there was nothing new in netanyahus comments. The alternative he offers is no deal in which case iran will immediately begin once again pursuing its Nuclear Program, accelerate its income Clear Program without us having any insight into what theyre doing and without constraint. The u. S. Supreme court will hear the second major challenge to president obamas Health Care Law today. Theyll consider a case critical to the laws implementation. If they rule against obamacare, up to 7. 5 Million People would lose their tax subsidies. The vote was 267 to 167. It doesnt contain any restriction on the orders of immigration which was sought by the republicans. The bill which already passed the senate now goes to the president to sign. The Congressional Budget Office says the u. S. Will hit the debt limit in either october or november. That means the treasury will exhaust its ability to borrow if the ceiling isnt raised by congress. The debt limit is currently suspended until the end of march. Now coming up here on Worldwide Exchange more from alabamaister warren on where he sees risk ahead. Well be back in a couple of minutes. Shares in Standard Charter jump in london despite the bank missing earnings estimates and the u. S. Supreme court will hear the second major challenge to president obamas Health Care Law later today. Now the u. S. President and european leaders warned russia it could face more sanctions if they violate a ceasefire in ukraine. It comes as the head of the European Council hold a video con grens against the congress hold a backdrop against violence. Still with me is the global cohead of Financial Sponsors Group at global sacks. We have been talking about the pick up that continues and the Strong Demand for ipos. What could be a risk to that view . Is russia and ukraine a potential global risk for that trend . I think theyre going to remain. What we talked about before. Improving macro Economic Growth in europe and elsewhere and low rates and the like. I think the risks are geo Political Risks. Its the uncertainty. So far market versus taken whats happened in iran russia and ukraine. There were broader consequences along that region. It would change Risk Appetite and tolerance and potentially ceo confidence. Particularly if there were impacts in terms of the european or global or u. S. Economy and then i think the other risk really were in a strategy of kicking the can down the road and the markets are taking it well and in the event theres an unexpected outcome there could be a risk to markets and this continuing strong trend of market activity. And the Global Company is in a very strong position when it comes to mna because even if rate rises do go up and increases the cost of debt there, a Global Company could shift the funds around and borrow anywhere and continue to increase returns from mna and shared buy back borrowing as they have done. Thats right. If youre sitting there as a north American Country even in the face of the expected rate rises were coming from a time of all time highs so even if theres a modest increase credit is cheap and available in huge quantities and you have strong balance sheets. You have a strong underlying business position plus if youre north american you have the Exchange Rate benefit of strong dollar weak euro and thats going to continue as a significant driver of interest and activity. Is this not a bubble . Rates are still incredibly low. Is some of the ipo activity were seeing just people trying to make a use of this incredibly loose monetary conditions. Youve hit the nail on the head which is how long will relatively loose monetary conditions continue . Clearly theres a tightening in the u. S. But still by comparison to history, relatively loose and as i said earlier on where you have low inflation, low rates and low risk of inflation, i think this can continue to rally so we think for this year and into next this is going to continue. Thank you. Great to see you. That was the global cohead of the financial Sponsorship Group at goldman sachs. He says greece can learn lessons from his countrys negotiation with the rest of europe. We have the full story after this short break. explosion explosion explosion lead your heroes in the hit mobile game download heroes charge now xkc after exiting its 67 billion euro Bailout Program in 2014 ireland is hailed as the poster child for sticking to austerity and returning to growth. The Prime Minister describing the recovery as fragile. Lets get out to steve who is live having interviewed the Prime Minister. They have an Unemployment Rate which in 2014 was still 11 . There are big issues and still imbalances in the economy as well. Theres high public debt but also high private sector debt but ireland has come an enormous way. It exited the program from the imf a year ago. Its basically on track for a very very Strong Performance in terms of Economic Growth this year having been the Fastest Growing euro zone economy in 2014. Its replacing those loans with very cheap longterm debt. The irish ten year paper which at its peak was a yield of 14 to 15 , you couldnt touch it was now under 1 for ten years. They have come a long way and stuck to the program they turn this economy around and not have a boom like we have last time around. With that said its very happy with the situation one year before the election and its obviously a very mirror image. Very different from what were seeing in greece. So i spoke to him about compare and contrast almost. We actually made better propositions than they were making themselves. By that i mean that we didnt tax employmentment we didnt increase income taxes. We made propositions that balanced out in the sense of being able to have a constructive engagement with them and there by make progress. Now were in a position where were able to buyout the imf loans and borrow money in the International Markets at historically low rates. For greece theres a lesson for ireland. We respect and understand the difficulties that apply in greece from a humanitarian point of view and others. Greece needs time and space. The Prime Minister himself said we dont want to leave the euro. We do not want to default. We dont intend to break our contracts but we do need time and space. Europe is giving greece that time and space. From irelands lesson of constructive engagement of slow and steady progress difficult though it has been for our country, the benefits are beginning to be seen after a four year period and we want to manage that carefully for the future and ive said that to the greek Prime Minister myself. Heres a lesson as one small country that you can take. You can take some reflection on in terms of building your own economy for the future. But do you fear the greek story, the saga of greece that started the same time as the irish crisis did. Its going on and on. And a grexit is a real and distinct possibility. The Prime Minister and his government dont want to do that. They also dont want to pay bills on the current terms. The interest repayments and principle, these matters were extended. Thats a matter for negotiating inside the euro group with the european institutions. We is have proven that you can get results from that. Its been very difficult for our people but were building on that for the future. So i hoped and the European Council hoped that greece stays in. That greece would be given the time and the space to develop a strategy that it can have a Sustainable Future for its economy and its people. Thats the he essential element of the European Union and for those in the euro group we want to see that happen. Of course its very difficult to compare the two situations the greek situation and say these are like enormous differences in both economies but if you look at whats sticking with the program has done for this country, for dublin and ireland as well its quite extraordinary that the most recent auction was 30 year paper. What did investors get for their 30 year paper . They got 2. 1 . This is a country fully funded for 2015. Its going to sort its funding out very early on. Its replacing more expensive imf loans with another 5 Million Euros in 2015 as well. So maybe there is a lesson for greece of sticking to the program. Yes it can be painful in the shortterm and medium term but investors in terms of the irish case came back. The biggest figure ive seen in the last seven years is 15 s on ten year back to sub 1 bachblth to you. Thank you. After the break well focus on the u. S. Lets have a look at the dollar index. Its gained 5. 7 this calendar year. Most of that came in the first few weeks of the year and a continuation of the 2014 trend. Then gave up a lot of that ground but is now just revisiting them for the first time in about six weeks. U. S. Futures before we go to break, you can see expecting a negative open. The nasdaq briefly yesterday above 5 k but didnt stay there very long. We are expecting a 13 point decline in the nasdaq ahead of the each today. Well be back in a couple of minutes. A very warm welcome to Worldwide Exchange. Here are your headlines from around the world. The rally loses steam. U. S. Few turs point to a lower open after wall street has one of the worst days this year. This while the dollar index hits an 11 year high. Nothing new. Benjamin netanyahus speech gets criticism from president obama that says the Prime Ministers Nuclear Nightmare warning over iran offers no viable alternatives. The u. S. Supreme court prepares to hear the second major challenge against obamacare. Up to 7. 5 Million People would lose their tax subsidies. A Second Surprise rate cut from the rbi. Analysts call the move a vote of confidence in the budget. Lets have a look at u. S. Futures. You can see were expecting a slightly negative open. The nasdaq yesterday did cross the 5,000 mark but didnt stay there very long and we saw quite significant declines after that. In fact it was a pretty weak day across the board with the dow and s p im sorry, the nasdaq and s p having their worst day since january 30th. So 8 points of declines for the s p. The dow down about 60 points and the nasdaq down 14 points. Lets have a look at European Market which is are flat. Its a negative day yesterday for europe. We did bounce back at the open of course were following weakness yesterday and in general weakness in asian markets today. You can see the ftse 100 and the dax down about. 2 . France is offsetting that with a move of. 2 from the upside and italy is basically flat. We have also mentioned a greek bond auction this morning. They came in yielding at 2. 97 . Thats slightly higher than the 2. 75 that a similar auction was yielding back on february 4th. The ratio was 1. 3. So broadly in line with what we have seen out of greece recently. Yields remain elevated but were not seeing the volatility we saw a week or two ago. Lets have a quick look at the sensex in india. It did cross into an all time record high level earlier into trade wut it has given up those gains. Finishing down. 7 . This followed a rate cut from the central bank of india earlier today from 7. 75 to 7. 5 . It was the Second Surprise rate cut this calendar year and crucially follows the budget we had over the weekend. It puts india on the path of fiscal support with various infrastructure plans and easing Monetary Policy this morning over the last 12 months its up some 40 . So moves of this kind not surprised. Benjamin netanyahu told a joint session of congress a diplomatic agreement with iran will guarantee a nuclear weapon. In the speech which has drawn anger from white house officials he opposed the strategy favored by president obama. The deal has two major concessions. One leaving iran with a vast Nuclear Program and two lifting the restrictions on that program in about a decade. Thats why this deal is so bad. It doesnt block irans path to the bomb. It paefs irans path to the bomb. Netanyahus speech was met with protests outside the u. S. Capitol with police breaking up demonstrations during the address. There were similar scenes in new york city with protests for and against the israeli leader. President obama didnt watch the speech but only read the transcript and said there was nothing new in netanyahus comments. The alternative he offers is no deal in which case iran will immediately begin pursuing its Nuclear Program, accelerate its Nuclear Program without us having any insight into what theyre doing. And without constraint. Ben good morning to you. Thank you for joining us. Much debate on netanyahus comments yesterday and he is of course accusing obamas tactics as making iran more likely to reach a income clear bomb. I wonder whether his own comments yesterday also increased the pressure on that happen happening. This was obviously a speech for domestic political consumption in israel ahead of his reelection on march 17th but he also he wants to get support in congress to potentially block a deal if he wants to reach a deal with negotiating partners over the Nuclear Program. Perhaps pass a deal that would negate the deal. It could come down to a veto that deal. Hed like to see moderate democrats override his veto. He could be setting up a big political fight in washington if a deal is reached with iran. How much of an insult was this speech to president obama . It was a bit of an insult obviously. He didnt clear it with the white house. He came and spoke to congress in a way thats very unusual for an International Leader to do without the blessing of the white house. It was a brush back to the administration in a way that upset them greatly diplomatically hes upset with what he did. Personally feels angered by it and i think needed to have a response and part of that response was i didnt want a speef and read a transcript and dismissed it as nothing new. He has a point to make there in that he rejected the terms as we know them for the iran deal now but didnt offer a clear path forward to a better deal. But they were upset about it. Does this boost his chances back home in a couple of weeks time . It would on the margins. Hes seen as making a very strong point to the u. S. That he is against this deal. Makes him sound tough and raises his profile and makes it clear to the domestic political audience in israel that he is fighting strongly against iran to block any deal that would allow them to continue their Nuclear Program. It probably helps him a little bit. It probably helps in his reelection. Stick with us. Well talk obamacare next. The u. S. Supreme court will hear a second major challenge today. The court will consider conservative lead case critical to the laws implementation. The question is whether people that brought insurance qualified for tax credits. They should make the decision by the end of june. Up to 7. 5 Million People would lose tax subsidies. This is the second major challenge weve seen going ahead of the Supreme Court on obamacare. Would that totally derail his Health Care Policy . Yeah people talk about a death spiral for obamacare if this ruling comes out against the Administration Given that so many people would lose their subsidies. Youd wind up with fewer people and sicker people in the insurance pool. It would make it very difficult for the law to continue to be successful. The economics of it would be damaged. Its hard to say the likelihood of a ruling against its. Its more likely to be 54 in favor of being subsidies. Its ignoring the one phrase that says you have to sign up to a state exchange. John roberts is a major swing potential here. It would be a historic vote if they rule against obama and potentially cripple his signature achievement in obamacare. Does john roberts want to be remembered as the Supreme Court chief justice that destroyed obamacare i have doubts about that. Probably 54 but probably a close call. Thats all we have time for. Now moving on, ali baba is setting up shop today. They intend the new data center to cater initially to Chinese Companies with u. S. Operations and later target u. S. Firms seeking a presence in both countries. As you can see theyre up around. 7 today. Apple and google promising a fix for a newly discovered security flaw that could expose mobile phone users to hackers when they visit websites. Theres no evidence hackers have exploited the weakness which theyre calling freak attack. They blame an old u. S. Government policy abandoned years ago requiring Software Makers to require weaker security programs sold overseas. Security is big business at the mobile World Congress in barcelona. Lets get to seema with more on it from barcelonas World Congress. Hi wilfred. Well of course mobile World Congress, this is a conference where you focus on all things mobile. A variety of different smartphones and wearables have been introduced over the past couple of days and as we use more gadgets the more our digital profile is being attracted and maintaining privacy in this inner connected world continues to be a challenge but our next guest says theres a way to maintain your privacy as this world becomes more digital. Thank you for joining me. Thank you for having me. Maintaining privacy in this world is proving to be more for consumers as well as enterprises. But you say there is a solution. Were sharing the the data we consciously share. We post pictures and blogs but second with the internet of things and wearables were sharing data our pulse and heart rate and other things. They can manage their online lives and privacy policies but only 1 in 4 has done something about it. Its an easy first step. Why are more people taking a proactive role in protecting their identity and security as well . Its an awareness issue driven by an industry so we have a billion people spread throughout six continents. Its much more powerful. For some people i speak to i feel theres also this thinking that that cyberattack wont happen to me. Thats exactly right. We have this invincibilty cloak around us. It could be a year or two or three from now. 200 active users on avg technologies technologies. Whats your target in 2016. We focused on the 100 million we crossed which is mobile. We hope to double that number. Security has been a central theme here. The entrance of new security players from the likes of israel and china. How are you going to maintain your presence in the Security Market and fend off competition from the new players. We start with a great base. Were the number one downloaded product in the Google Play Store so we have a great loyal base thats growing but the second is were making it much simpler. Were tying it all together. Thats the language of the new security profile. We have to work across the devices and applications that we use rather than one particular poinltd. Point. Thats what we do differently. How do you ensure your technology doesnt get compromised as well. Well, 80 of enterprises are compromised in 2015. The threat is real. We have to take proactive measures. We have to use the tools that are available but two be much more thoughtful about what we do online. Those are the key measures were talking about today. Who is your target audience . Security software is expensive so its harder to role out these security applications when theyre working with a smaller budget. Yeah, so our target audience were entirely consumer and small business. What we do is harmonize one point of an application that touches every single product and we run that across the consumer profile and we start with a point product and up sell from there. If you had any advice from the consumer out there that has an instagram and facebook and twitter account and at the same time theyre using mobile banking what advice would you give them to make sure their data isnt compromised. The easiest one is manage your passwords. Not only create Strong Passwords but put them on a device. Most people leave it in a note field and wruzuse easy passwords like sunshine or happy. Everybody knows those. And you specialize in password Protection Technology as well. We have a whole suite of software. Its much bigger than virus protection. Its across the devices, data and families now too. It has to all work together. I want to talk about another big theme or story which has been the out performance of tech shares. You have been looking at the nasdaq which did break 5,000 earlier this week. Are we in a tech bubble . Well i think parts of what were doing are representative of a new platform shift. We have gone from internet to smartphone and now internet of things and people dont know how to model that. Theres still a Super Premium pay for growth and id say theyre getting lofty in some cases, yes. The promise of growth. Investors willing to pay a premium. Premium for the promise of growth. A pleasure to have you on. Thank you so much. Wilfred back over to you in studio. Seema thank you very much. I must remember to change my passwords from sunshine. Well bring you a couple of geo political flashes before break. President obama responding to netanyahus speech. He is saying he did give Practical Alternatives to the u. S. s iran deal. We also had a flash out of russias president Vladimir Putin coming off the back of the murder. He is saying that it has political sub text and that russia should aim to be free of such political sub text killings moving forward. Well bring you more when we see better and clearer developments on that story. Target unveils new targets including a major Restructuring Plan that could result in thousands of job cuts. Details after the break. Photos are great for capturing your world. And now they can transform it. With the new angies list app, you can get projects done in a snap. Take a photo of your project or just tell us what you need done and angies list will find a top rated provider to do the job. The angies list app is the simple, new way to get work done on your schedule. The app makes it easy, the power of angies list makes it work. Call, click or download the app for free today. Xkc targets top executives travel to new york to meet with analysts and investors. Using the event to unveil a new Restructuring Plan. Lets get details from landon standing by. Over to you. Good morning. Target is planning to cut several thousand jobs over the next two years as part of a Restructuring Plan that aims to cut 2 billion in cost. Most of the job cuts will come from its headquaters where it has 13,000 employees. The company is looking to use the cost savings to pay for new investments in technology. And to develop Smaller Stores in urban areas. Analysts have long said it was bloated with too many layers of management. The job cuts could help expedite the Decision Making process. I certainly deeply believe in this target team. We are committed to our guests and making sure we have a competitive spirit and we have the ability in place to execute this plan. Since becoming ceo six months ago they have sought to return target after hughesing the focus on fashion and being too overly concerned about prices. The company has started to show signs of life. Sales rose 3. 8 during the Holiday Shopping season. Thats the highest level in nearly three years. They also promised to overhaul the grocery section. This includes changes to localized offerings and emphasize freshness. Most of the changes wont fully go into effect until next year. Target also unveiling financial targets at its analyst meeting. It expects sales to grow 2 to 3 this year. Theyre expected to raise just 1 in physical stores while online sales are seen jumping 40 . Target also plans to resume stock buy backs this year although the dividend pay back will be smaller. Since he took over the top job, target shares are up 29 . Wilfred, back over to you. Landon thank you very much. Now lets remind you of our headlines. U. S. Futures point lower after wall street has one of the worst days this year. Indias central bank takes the market by surprise with the second rate cut this calendar year and the u. S. Supreme court will hear the second major challenge to president obamas Health Care Law later today. Opportunities arent always obvious. Sometimes they just drop in. Cme group can help you navigate risks and capture opportunities. We enable you to reach Global Markets and drive forward with broader possibilities. Cme group how the world advances. Help northern china reduce its reliance on coal fire heating plants and prevent 60 million tons of co2 emissions . When emerson takes up the challenge its never been done before simply becomes consider it solved. Emerson. Welcome back to Worldwide Exchange. Im seema mody here in barcelona. As we discuss and debate what the next tech gadget will be we have been also watching the nasdaq. The tech heavy index which did break 5,000 earlier this week. The first time in 15 years. A lot of focus on the out performance of Technology Shares. The focus on apple as well. It played a major role in the rally we have seen and Technology Shares hitting an all time high earlier this week. What are International Leaders saying about the nasdaq a5k. Hear what they told us here at mobile World Congress. I do think there might be some companies that could be best in one particular thing that could be overvalued but then you say to yourself theres not a lot of those growth options in the market and maybe they have overinvested in those. They also rationalize themselves out over time. I think its totally realistic to think that some day were going to have a nasdaq 10,000. So i dont think the bubble is nasdaq 5,000. Were at the beginning of something bigger than anything we have ever seen with the worldwide web or personal computers or smartphones in its early early days. Were seeing long lasting secular trends and for this trend im referring to social network, mobile big data computing, security and all of these trends are accelerating. So now if we move to you know the private side you know we are seeing companies being able to see billions of values in a short period of time. So maybe were not a bubble in the Public Market but the private market telling us a very different story. What are you hearing from investors in Silicon Valley . Are valuations getting overstretched . Yes they are but theyre still chasing that opportunity because of mobile and cloud. Thats the latest. Well see you on squawk alley. Wilfred back to you in studio. Thank you very much. Thank you to john as well. Thats all we have time for on Worldwide Exchange. Squawk box is up next. Other Central Banks are taking center stage today and the Global Markets are taking notice. Breaking overnight, a surprise rate cut in india and an announcement from brazil is expected in about an hour. Plus a problem with apple pay. Banks are seeing more cases of fraud on that noble Payment Service so could your money be at risk . And the down side to Lower Oil Prices. Why a new study this morning argues the drop in crude poses the biggest Political Risk now. Its wednesday, march 24th 2014. Squawk box begins right now. Live from new york where business never sleeps, this is squawk box. I like this song. Good morning, welcome to squawk box on cnbc. Im becky quick with joe and andrew. A city with charming streets. Lots of open space. Bath paths everywhere and a coffee shop on every corner. Does that sound good to you . Thats how one Consultant Firm describes vienna. Well bringing you more along with a story about why Multinational Companies care. Lets walk you through some of the big stories were watching this morning. India central bank cutting repo rates by 25 basis points. Its citing the weak state of the economy there. Also China Central bank reportedly cutting Interest Rate on its shortterm