6 00 in just gone london on this friday morning. Bloomberg reporters are standing by across the world did Ryan Chilcote is on the ground in russian president Vladimir Putin is put on notice to end the standoff or face sanctions. David tweed is standing by in brussels with more on the diplomatic attempts to ease the crisis. About jobsrro is all friday and South African president jacob zuma is on a mission to empower black people. Caroline hyde has the details. The United States and the European Union will move forward with sanctions unless Vladimir Putin joins discussions for a diplomatic solution in ukraine. Ryan chilcote lines us from kiev. Putinent couldnt and president obama seemed to be moving in Different Directions for the time being. The Crimean Parliament has voted to secede from ukraine and to join russia and to hold a popular vote on the 16th of march, in nine days. They were already going to hold that referendum, they simply moved it up. Remember that crimea is a region of ukraine and parliament is regional, albeit semiautonomous one. They said we are disbanding you vote, callingthe it a farce. There is a blueprint for these things in the former soviet union. Where regional governments go rogue, like we have here, then have a referendum and then they get recognized by moscow. Does theion here is, federal decision matter at all . They have several thousand boots on the ground in crimea. Make thisoing to referendum happen. There will not be any international observers, it would appear. In any case, it looks like the russians will recognize the vote. Does it mean that crimea is going to join russia . It does not necessarily mean that. It means that they will ask her join russia. Russia does not have to accept. It is a useful exercise in what russia is doing in crimea. Ryan chilcote in kiev. Lets get to david tweed in brussels for more on the European Union response to the crisis. We saw the eu yesterday coming out with measures to get russia to the table. That is the intention. Talk us through the latest as far as what brussels is asking of the russians. There was a bit of disagreement within the European Union yesterday because there were certainly the hardliners who wanted to see sanctions imposed a lot quicker. In the end, they came up with a compromise and that included the automaticity of sanctions which are going to kick in according to various timetables. I spoke to the president of lithuania, one of the big hardliners. She seemed to be satisfied. I am a little bit satisfied that the European Union is weing to catch up because already, in europe, decided to start to do some sanctions, not everything, but some. Repeated thatso this brutal act of aggression is good. Includes ifaticity russia does not come to the table, they will Start Talking about withdrawing troops from crimea. Then we will see asset freezes and after that, if russia does escalate its activities in the ukraine and further destabilize the ukraine, and we are going to have further economic measures put into place. What are we talking about when we talk about economic consequences . This would be the big guns. David cameron was speaking afterwards and made it clear what they are thinking about. If russia takes further steps, the Statement Issued today makes clear that there will be farreaching consequences. Let me read you what it says. Further steps by the Russian Federation to destabilize the situation in ukraine will lead to additional and farreaching consequences. Went on to elaborate on what those consequences could be. He said that there would be consequences for britain if you look at financial services. Consequences for france if you look at defense. He said these consequences are worth it if you are going to stand up to aggression. Even though we are not anywhere near those sorts of sanctions yet, these are the sorts of inks that european leaders are beginning to think about. More from david tweed as we go through the program. The jobs report is out later. Jonathan ferro is here with a look ahead. 7. 5 hours. Exciting times, looking for 149,000. If that number comes out, the threemonth average will be 112,000. If these were the numbers at the end of last year, would they have ever tapered . Ofund that magic number 200,000, what the guys on the board and janet yellen wanted to see. That is what they want. Blaming the weather, the number of times they mention the weather was north of 100. Weak data, they will blame the weather. Economists have been missing this number by a good margin over the last two months. Howt just raises questions, high is the bar for the Federal Reserve to deviate from its current tapering policy . Janet yellen has already talking that has artie talked about needing a significant change in the direction of the economy. The Federal Reserve president of philadelphia, manus will catch up with him next week, talking about not just tapering, but not being aggressive enough in the taper. You a sense of some of the people on the board. The other side of this is unemployment. Now 6. 6 . We are. 1 away from that threshold. Does it really matter anymore . No one expects them to consider putting up rates at the next meeting. They could change guidance or scrap it altogether. Good question. We will be listening very carefully. Elections are fast approaching and the support for the incumbent African National congress has been dwindling. Bloomberg said down with president jacob zuma to talk through his economic and political policies. Here with more is caroline hyde. Concern for many investors has been the ongoing strike in south africa. Did he comment on that . He did. The association of mine workers and Construction Union has been on strike for six weeks now. That is about 70,000 members. We know the effect it is having on platinum mines. Prices are up eight percent this year. Reducers are saying they have lost more than 650 million in revenue. The workers themselves are forfeiting half of that, almost 300 million since it started in january. Onmin is one of the traded miners. They say they will not meet their target. Wages tors want their be more than doubles. Three years is fine. That is the minimum amount of time to give us that rate. 12,500. Want thewhat they minimum entry level paid to be. The company says that is unaffordable. They will give a 44 increase. Clearly at loggerheads here. State mediators say the gap is too big. We need totelling us find a solution, but it does not seem to me like he is coming up with answers yet. Talking to both to say let us find a solution to the problem. We play that role. The workers say no. That you must consider. What is going to happen to the economy itself . On the other side, the employers must concede. Do, that is going to is our concern. Be recognizing the disagreements, not coming up with solutions. These strikes were deadly in 2012. This is a real concern. The strikes are not just about mining, perhaps a dimmest ration of water frustrations among black workers. How do they tackle that . Clear illustration, disillusionment among many of the block the black population in south africa. They feel like the distribution of wealth is not happening quickly enough to look at the anc report. Elections in may have fallen 10 in the last year. They have a 53 support, we understand. Jacob zuma is acutely aware. They have had power for two decades. This is the system the stiffest competition they will have yet. Government will try to push ownership in the economy. You have to establish the black economical power so you can deal with this to empower people. Properly. So that there is no destabilization. Those who have been running the economy, how do we bring in others into that system . I think we will hear him repeat these phrases a lot in the runup to the elections. The case still stands. Earn, on average, six times more than black employees in south africa. Nelson mandela was booed a couple of days ago a he was booed at the Nelson Mandela memorial a couple of days ago. Saying it is not personal. It any other government leader or president was booed, i think they would take it personally. It must be hard. Thicker skin than many. Coming up, are the Foreign Exchange markets underestimating recent events in the ukraine . Our next test says the muted response suggests a are. Time for todays company news. U. S. Supermarket safeway has equitywith the private with albertsons. They are merging the chains. Cerberus is betting that a larger chain can better fend off rivals. Icelands largest bank may Cap International bond markets to refinance as much as 2. 1 billion of debt. Alternativeys the is to get an extension on the debt. If they cannot reach an agreement, they will have to read have to pay their debt by 2016. And they cannot make their full Interest Payment that is due today. They say their attitude has been to let the market decide. This could be the First Company in china to default on the companys onshore market. A landmark event perhaps. Welcome back to countdown. Lets take a look at the currency markets for its reactions. Yesterdays Rate Decision from the bank of england and the ecb and a look ahead to todays u. S. Jobs report. From the bank of new york. Good morning. Will the fed and outside economists ignore the weather jobs report, the third in succession if it does materialize today . I think there is temptation that they might want to see a few more data releases. Janet yellen has spoken openly about the weather impact. She was quite dovish. Even if we get a good report today, perhaps 150,000, just above consensus, you might still learn that they are willing to pause for a little bit. Onbecause the bar is high the number of fed president s that have spoken in recent days. Charles plosser said the fed might have to quicken its pace as the economy picks up its pace. There is a lot to lose. Then bernanke made that clear under his regime. He expended a lot of clinical capital to make sure his legacy was one of success. The he was going to save u. S. From deflation and everything the fed has done over the last few years has been to that end. Janet yellen was standing by his side when i was taking place. There is almost a case where they are willing to accept a little inflation risk. There tried to generate recovery that is irrefutably solid and they can then start tapering. They will start to quicken the pace when they believe that is insight. You are looking through the weather. You are suggesting it is all weatherrelated. I take janet yellen at her word. See she seems to think there is a fairly hefty element. Figures,look at the how the Participation Rate varied at the end of last year, i think you suspect that if we get a mediocre figure, that is not going to be enough to prompt the fed to accelerate the pace of tapering. I think she will want to see at least another months worth of payroll figures. We often see investors flocking to the u. S. Dollar. You say that has not been the case this time around. Absolutely. It has been an extraordinary period in Foreign Exchange markets. When we saw a russia invade jordan georgia, afghanistan a long time ago, there was a big change in the Foreign Exchange markets. This time around, there has been an absolute indifference. Are we just so used to crises . You get i get idea when you look at you get a good idea when you look at the volatility. You are seeing some of the lowest volatility statistically in quite some time. Seen three lower levels of volatility in history, which is remarkable. Past, it has tended to be associated with yieldseeking behavior, investors trying to sell volatility to extract a premium. You are seeing that elsewhere in the eurozone debt markets. We are seeing a rally in eurozone debt, which you might attribute to the recovery. Then again, the omt is threatened by its referral to the top european court. Drahi draghi signaling extended gains in the euro could become a performer a concern. Is there a level where druggie where draghi starts to get worried about the euro . Quite possibly, but i do not think the market will take notes. He has said that they are ready and willing to act if necessary. Everyone wonders what if necessary means. I suspect the market will probably run roughshod over this. From youl have more when we come back. We will take a short right now. We will talk more about the European Central bank and the bank of new england and the bank of england as well. Itrussia is aggressive and is not in accordance with international law. We call on russia to withdraw their military troops. It has always been a discussion. We ended this very clearly and we now have to react if we do not see a deescalation of the conflict on the russian side. That was swedens Prime Minister at last night eu leaders meeting on ukraine. David tweed talked with several of those in attendance. We will hear from several on the morning here on in the morning here on bloomberg. This is countdown. We are back with currency strategist neil mellor. We were talking before the break about the fact that the euro has seen low volatility despite the crisis taking place in ukraine. Lets turn our attention to the pound. We have seen a lack of volatility in the pound. Is that specifically cable . Talk us through what is driving a. Is part andhink it parcel of the leveraged plays. Picking up pennies in front of the steamrollers is the accepted phrase. Currency and they are happy to swap the dollar for it. Not think it has that much to do with what the bank of england is doing. Great expectations has not changed have not changed rate expectations have not changed that much. And there is a vote coming up on independence. Do investors not think scotland will vote for independence or even if they do, it is not significant . That is a good point. The same reasons the market is largely ignoring ukraine. Probably a lot lower than the impact we would expect from ukraine. Independence will probably be voted down. There is a small risk. We do not know what it entails. The parties arguing amongst themselves as to what it would entail. It is a small risk that is not seen through sterling. Yenhat does the japanese claimed all of this . Set for its biggest weekly gain against the yen in four months. I suspect that shinzo abes heart was in his mouth when he starts to see the yen depreciate as it has. At the start of last year, they aboute want dollaryen at 100. It has settled around that label that level. I think it will probably say around those levels. The big risk is that if the market does see some geopolitical event, that is when dollar yen will start to fall dramatically. Probably very little the boj could do. Would pumping more liquidity into the country help if and when it needs to, possibly after the implication implementation of the higher sales tax . I think they have to do something already. It is getting a lot of pressure from the government. Come the day when the markets are caught the wrong way around in that trade, then i think it would fall dramatically. Quick comment back to the ukraine. The ruble has reacted in a way many would have rejected, down over 10 for the year. Does it bear the brunt of ruble . An sentiment, the does it continue to do so . Absolutely. I am talking generally about emergingmarket major currencies and if the crisis escalates, we can expect more of that area thank you for joining us. Out of telecom italia, suspending their common shares. This is the First Time Since the company was by the ties. They are going to stop paying a dividend. This had been expected by a number of analysts. A net loss in 2013 bigger than estimated by analysts. 674 Million Euros is the loss. Italia later in the program. Coming up, a look behind the scenes at the italian fashion label. Crimean lawmakers have called a referendum for march the 16th. There has been into national backlash. The u. S. Has issued visa bans on russian officials. In back the Financial Aid package for ukraine. Put russiasso president on notice. And a man identified by newsweek as bitcoins creator has denied any role in the Digital Currency. Said hedo yakamoto first heard of the currency three weeks ago. Here isain reason i am to clear my name. I have nothing to do with it point. Bitcoin. I was an engineer doing to been also. Else. Ng something welcome to countdown, i am mark barton. It will be the first default ever in china. Racing for more zombie phones to come out of the woodwork. This could be significant. Thing is,rning, the if you look at how much debt a lot of these Companies Even the companies in hong kong, this might be the start. The number of highly leveraged debt to equity ratios of over 200 it is up more than half. If you compare the numbers from 2007, we were at 150. That is across nonfinancials listed in china here in hong kong. That is about triple to under 2 trillion. Feel for this company, shanghai shower. They are the first in line. Today is when they have to make the Interest Payment. President actually confirming, they cannot make that Interest Payment today. Where are we looking for the Immediate Impact of this default . A lot of people that we talked to say, look at similar rated company. A goodople say it is thing were seeing the default because it helps price credit and risk properly. To see if interesting the bond markets can have the proper mechanisms to iced them properly. The yield is now at 22 . Borrowing costs in general for junk rated companies in china have actually gone from just over four percent. They are over eight percent now. That is only sustainable of the business is growing faster. They are slowing down. Theres a drying up of cash flow from operations. This year and next, you have a lot