attacks. hackers attacked the u.s. military's twitter account. ♪ >> welcome to "countdown." i am mark barton. >> i am anna edwards. >> i am manus cranny. >> beats his rival, the award for the best football player in the world. >> greece doesn't have much time, the words of the greek finance minister speaking exclusively to bloomberg just 12 days before the general election. he has given us a wide ranging interview on his nation's prospects and the challenge posed, >> a snap general election on january 25 and early polls show the anti-austerity party is the favorite. alexis had promised to write off some of the 322 billion euro debt. >> greece could be forced to leave the euro and samaras was to start his own deal. -- wants to strike his own deal. >> for more on greece less give it -- let's give it to elliott gotkine let's been speaking to the finance minster. good morning to you. >> it was a confident and apparently relaxed finance minister i met yesterday morning. perhaps, after the elections something less stressful to do other than being finance minister. very much focus on elections on january 25 and the opposition, still living in the opinion poll. the finance minister told me it must not renege on greece's obligations. >> has to oprah by the -- obeyed by the commitments that greece has signed up for. greece has received a huge amount of money just from the european, 195 billion euros and made commitments. when we made those commitments we were greeks. we're not a particular party. this has to be understood. >> after the elections, have greeks stopped paying taxes, contributions or mortgages since they knew a snap election was coming? >> is very natural before elections to observe some kind of a freeze, some people hope that a new government when come and absolve them from their debt payments. or others entrepreneurs postponed contracts. the countries have stalled a bit. once the elections are over, i think there is demand and the country recovers. >> can you quantify the drop in the tax take? is it likely to derail the greek budget and -- >> the greek budget for 2014 had a big cushion. the target was for 1.5% of primary surplus area up until early december, we were forecasting a primary surplus of 1.8%. at least three decibels that provide enough cushion what ever miss we had it is not going to effect the eventual target. >> is it possible other parts in term of the economic outlook changes once they come into office? and one said they wanted to write off the debt and maybe not commanded if he gets into power. >> well, the responsibility for ever runs in the country so i assume it will eventually prevail. the question is, how quickly? greece does not have much time. there's a deadline of february 28 for finishing the review with the imf a european partners and acb. and whoever runs in the government has to have in mind. >> how many greeks believe the talk of a potential exit from the euro is a bluff a way for the government perhaps to persuade them to vote for the incumbent record than the opposition austerity? do you think the threat of an exit israel? >> greek, as you well know, do want to stay within the euro area. more than 3/4 of the greeks was surveyed said yes, i want to stick with the euro area. they know the euro area brings a lot of benefits. they shape of the country. they give a future to the economy, to is politics. now leaving the euro area is not necessarily a bluff, and accident could happen. and the idea is to avoid it. >> it was a wide ranging interview and we sat down with the finance minister from us and our. some of the highlights you will hear, some other things he's said about bank withdrawals which were about 3 billion euros have continued in germany. he said there will be no more austerity for at least the next nine months and it went from the current government would give a huge boost to the economy. i asked him how toughest job was a refused to draw on that. he's a took three days over the summer and christmas and nothing keys him at wake at night so he gets a good night sleep. back to you. >> the good advice. we will continue to questions of whether greek can stumble out of the euro. we'll have more from the exclusive interview with the greek finance minister throughout the morning. >> stay with bloomberg for more on the greek election. "the pulse" will speak to a recent candidate. that is coming up at 9:30. >> the u.s. central command's twitter account has been hacked by a group to said to be with the islamic state. a very good morning to you, hans nichols. was anything classified leaks? >> no, no classified materials were compromised and days that yes, it was an embarrassment. they sent a twitter account was down for more than 30 minutes for you to was down for longer and that is you . >> time for company news. air france will pass savings from lower fuel prices off to customers according to the ceo. he spoke to bloomberg in an exclusive interview. >> it is true that -- do not forget the dollar is stronger compared to that euro which is impacting the low fuel price. and which is worldwide and a part of the benefit we have with the lower fuel prices. >> a british air was on her desk british airways owner -- british airways owner rebuffed previous approaches according to people familiar with the matter. the proposed offer of up to two euro 50 per share could happen as early this week. there is no final decision has been made. stay with bloomberg with more news from the airline industry. airbus on his performance and forecast for this year and orders expected to fall on lower fuel prices higher interest rates. we will speak to the ceo at 11:30 a.m. u.k. time. nuclear management to be stripped of his contract to clean up their nuclear waste site according to the financial times which cites people in government. the authority is expected to take over from the consortium which is made up of u.s. engineering company, urf, a french company, and a british company. >> the ecb is threatening to choke off support to the lenders. the direct of a greek exit continues to haunt greek. let's get more from brandon. thanks as always for coming to see us. would it be catastrophic if we were talking about it? >> know, a very different situation from a few years ago. one might wonder if chancellor merkel had more flexible attitude back -- he has now. if not -- advantage she has now. >> what we're talking about is how much of that is going to be repaid under different scenarios. and the element of doing negotiations and that will be the risk of capital flight out of greece. compared to any euro [indiscernible] >> there are two issues at play. this was our bloomberg source said. drive he may be forced to warn the greek banks they will withhold the special funding that they deliver. and the head of one party saint greece cannot repay the debt on the fiscal waterboarding -- of one party is saying greece cannot repay the debt on the fiscal waterboarding. what it needs to get here? how much he needs to come through? >> the state to get the greek government to agree quickly is if you do not agree, we are not going to lend you the money to tide over any capital flight issues. you could be forced out and that the and of your. the danger of this is ecb officials eu officials probably do not want greece to leave area greece itself, under any political scenario probably does not want to pull out either. using this at the bargaining counter, it it is a danger of miscalculation and out-of-control and having a great accident. >> ecb qe is another tawdry station along the way as european monitoring goes to its original starting point of optimism and hope regarding european management in the duration, pessimism and despair. you know who wrote that, brandon it was you. really, that a bad? >> when we look at the ecb qe, it is very late in the day. the big monetary experiment which has been going on for several years. that is had is that impact on various markets and some sort of stimulus effect on some parts of the global economy, the u.s. economy, which is beginning to unwind and other things which are going into reverse. ecb qe at this stage is not going to add a lot and the main effect of ecb qe is on the exchange rate is what we see. it is an attempt to drive the euro down which has been fairly successful in terms of speculation about it. that is it. it is an old-fashioned currency war captain. >> remind us what we should be afraid of in terms of deflation. one of the board member saying yesterday we have to not take too long and take deflation risks very seriously. at the same time, he and knowledge were lower prices that he acknowledged we need to look -- he acknowledged lower prices were we to postpone this. >> you look at charts regular declining prices and strong economic growth and falling prices mainly reflect a big decline in commodity prices asked -- as productivity. there's absolutely nothing in that sort of price decline which is going to hold back economic growth. if you look at that history, monetary history, you have long periods where prices are falling. and you have had very good economic background against it. >> brendan brown, thank you. he stayed with us. 20 minutes past. ♪ >> and little bit of breaking news on the energy markets. this for the first time since the 2009. we are waiting for inventory as well. it is on the bottom of your screen. $40 oil is what goldman that said the market is goldman sachs -- is what goldman sachs is needed. brendan brown is back. thank you for staying with us. goldman wrote a note said the new royal order -- is a new royal order, are we in a new zone? how do you look at the oil market? >> we are in a big cutback of investment spending. oil was the center of massive speculation as result of the fed qb policy that drove oil prices, commodity prices, and a lot of excess exuberance and the oil extraction industry. anything to do with oil. that over, investment now is reflected in southern decline in profits and investment spending will be cut back in those areas. the u.s. economy which was gaining from all of the expenditure and transportation equipment. we are going to see a decline in the whole range of apex particularly in the u.s. and other countries that are energy specialist. in a way that is reflected in the bond market. bond yields are coming down to reflect there is going to be a shortfall in capital spending and a slave in a row role in the 19th century, a big correction of investment. -- and is going to be like the train railroads in the 19th century, a big correction of investment. we will get to a higher level of oil prices in the next five years. but producing exactly with this one happen is foolish errand. >> [indiscernible] what is the significance? >> we should drop the 2% inflation target altogether. >> is carney secure? what i would not think so. >> there you go. thank you so much. >> brendan brown t >>here. >> greeces's finance minister. stay with us. ♪ >> welcome to "countdown." the yen rising for the 30 day is the u.s. dollar. shoulder to shoulder with the germany. 0% and even negative at certain times of the trading day. we are at the zero and negative rates in japan. inflation fears, market risk equity market risk for why is that yan arising for the third straight day? there are multiple reasons. they said they have not been short yen for a while and the oil price pushed japan a trade of to positive they call $1.20 after the end of the first quarter. they are calling the dollar/yen lower by $1.20. the most accurate forecast on our forecast to board and bloomberg last year. austin/dollar at the bottom of your screen. this is giving back some of the australian dollar gains we saw. exports the. a 10% rise. -- exports beat estimates. you may see a big move on the commodity currencies bactrim. that's why put the dollar against the aussie dollar in there. i will come back to that. canadian dollar target there. with actually shown it the wrong way. we will take off that graphic. >> let's take a look at the bloomberg top stories. u.s. oil has been trading below fortified out a barrel for the first time since 2009. stockpiles will increase. the french magazine "charlie abdo" -- have dealt -- charlie hebdo is planning to print 3 million of its copies. the cover will depend the prophet mohammed with "you are forgiven." it will be released in 16 languages. president obama has proposed legislation to protect consumers and students under cyberattacks. it was announced just hackers were attacking the twitter account of the u.s. military's central command. they posted personal information and what appears to be military plans. the department said it amounted to a crime. indonesian search teams have found the cockpit voice recorder from air asia flight 8501 according to officials. the flight data recorder has already been recovered. the airbus plane was lost in bad weather over the jobless the -- java sea. >> greece and the exclusive less than two days before the general election on january 25, the country's finance ministers spoke about a greek exit. >> i think definitely that 2015 is different from 2012. europe has build defenses against a country leaving the euro area. so greek politicians understand this and they understand they cannot threaten the rest with their own exit. this is not a bargaining chip on our side. >> greek debt is about 170%. one of the policies is to get some of debt forgiveness to get some of that original. would you concede that they have a point that the deck is uncontainable debt is unsustainable? >> instead of asking for a haircut which is not acceptable to the european partners they gave us the loan, we ought to ask for an extension of that loan that implies the duration will go further out. give us a lot more breathing space for the economy to grow. we ought to at for transforming the rate into a fixed rate debt. in other words, tech advantage of the current liquidity, plenty liquidity in the international scene. the availability of liquidity and transforms some of that into fixed rate. >> if you are still finance minister after the election, will you push for longer maturities of greece current debt and fixing the inflation rate? >> and these are the government. and the loan current the current program was extended. is that sufficient for greece to strike a deal over a replacement? >> well, the elections took away some time. but we feel if this government continues it will manage to strike a deal and principal before the february euro meeting. i think the bureaucracy can afterwards can close the deal. >> a conversation taking place that perhaps further -- >> if the opposition wins and they do not have the knowledge and the experience in negotiations and they have certain ideas of their own, i think it is prudent for them to ask for an extension. if we get them sometime to manage and close the review. >> the current government remains in place, no extension needed but the opposition, it would be prudent? >> yes. the current government could manage. >> how tough it is your job? >> it is difficult to make an assessment. all i can say is i only took three days of vacation in the summer and three days of vacation at christmas. >> what keeps you awake at night? >> nothing cues me awake. >> do you think, oh gosh, what happens in greece linzie euro or if we miss the deadline? >> no, we have things under control. we work hard to build to sleep at night. quick that was greece's finance minister speaking exclusively to bloomberg. christmas 2014 was the worst year in u.k. retail according to the latest data from the british retail consortium. we get details from the big players. morrison and asos. let's look at what 2015 has in store for retail. joining us is charles. pascoe is pulling back. that's tesco is pulling back and reviewing strategy. what gives? big box big store, little store. what is the strategy? >> little stores are into especially food. if you are consumer you go to a small store and you spend less and everybody wants to do that. secondly, the demographics work that way. populations are aging around the world and within japan which is the oldest society in the world, we have seen in a big way. all other people do not need to buy so much so they go to smaller stores. >> what about a look at the stores? will we see the retail industry revamping? >> particularly in the most fashionable areas really cross the border as we have seen in food, apparel and clothing, we see people with bigger, smarter flagships to get feedback a reason to get away from their tablet. are you going to get away from your tablet to go to a rather dreary store that does not have much doubt? -- much stock? when you go to something that is fully redone and has a larger stock? >> what about suppliers? >> i think would've seen this in quite big ways. sebastian james is a really neat and the [indiscernible] not only do you buy something for less money that you tend to buy the cheapest in the range. if you're going to buy the curved tv, they want you to buy the best curve tv. and when you go to the store, you see why you should pay the extra 400 pounds for that. you can see the features. supplies are very keen to get people to buy the best. >> manus, did he go to the store when he bought his tv? >> i wanted to the store and i like to touch things and feel things and get a good look. you have to put your proverbial on it. that's a shocker. last year was a shocker in terms of the phone industry. >> is tesco's shocker, this year's misery? >> is difficult to say. in the u.s., we start to see very low scale store closures and three or 400 stores. and we could see another wave of this smaller, less productive outlets. tesco may be started that and we can see a spread in a much wider way. >> what about management change? there are a few i can think of area -- think of how they might let the top of their game and perhaps, commitments missed in terms of delivering the returns to the business. >> is clearly both strategic and operational issues that have hit some the businesses. we are getting to the moment where if you're not performing operationally there needs to be a change for we saw it at tesco. the operator had to be change. there've been so many issues of marks & spencer operationally that we may need to see some hands on operations there. >> can tesco turn itself around in 2015? >> i think in the sales term would've seen any proof met. in the short term that is what they are going to concentrate on. they have let the moody's downgraded them to a certain extent and say it is sales that matter, not profits. that is probably the right strategy but perhaps it easier to do if you're not so worried about the bottom line. >> thank you very much. charles allen joining us. you can join in our conversation on twitter and what do do do priorities would be for the retail sector? this is where you can find us. investments in oil over the last year or so, the only times for the roadways industry. some of the headlights from the greek finance minister interview with elliott gotkine as well. >>, got, catalyst -- coming up, catalyst. gm plans to spend big on updating the caddy. ♪ >> the detroit auto show is in also going. -- is in full swing. the unveiling of a reboot of the classic supercar. the new gt has powerful v6 ego boost engine. the ceo told us that investors with the gt's construction will go to the rest of for's line. >> we are showing howwe use innovation in performance. it is allowing us to have these great performance vehicles in our focus on a ricky global's engine and lightweight materials and great aerodynamic and we implemented so many of those elements across our entire lineup it's a great extension of it. >> toyota has brought out an update to its tacoma truck series as the oil price plunge special prices fall. the ceo highlighted offering a wide range of cars rather than focusing on fuel prices. >> the bottom line is you have to offer a broad portfolio. i heard you talk about the drop in fuel prices in just the past few months. when we were planning what to show with the display, none of us knew what that would be. it happened to be that a lot of people were bringing a performance cars and trucks. as you say it is difficult to say that the price of fuel is only going one direction and that is up. >> for more of the newest trends in auto, let's get to the director of the auto and barclays. november showed european sales and gaining at the slowest pace in a year but cost of waning economic growth. that was then and how is it now? >> the outlook is for -- globally. in europe, we have recovery and some of the countries where some the countries are at such depressed levels. germany is really the key market in the european auto industry. the consumer has not been buying. >> looking to the feature, what are the trends and how will they -- where would the benefits fall? we saw car company showing at ces, the consumer electronics show and trying to position and them's elves -- and position themselves. what is it that makes it a time to sell? >> that is interesting. at ces, it was an anomaly. the last ces show last week cars shown everywhere, automated driving is the coming much higher topic. it is still a long way off in terms of technology and the current industry. we are waiting for the infrastructure legislation to catch up. it is the buzz of what we'll be hearing more about in the detroit. the connectivity between the entertainment side of the cars the safety, mov into the autonomous driving. >> a key for today. >> fuel efficiency, a big boom when it comes to the u.s. driver. not the same scale here in europe. >> exactly. the drop in the oil price goes to the u.s. and in europe, much less so. in europe, it is regulatory driven. regulations are much tougher. the car industry has to achieve as much higher degree of fuel efficiency even higher than the consumer is demanding. it is driven by the regulators. >> the big three luxury automakers are always interesting, isn't it? about a between bmw audi, and mercedes. audi narrow the gap. percentage sales grew from mercedes 30%. something for every body. whole will come out on top in 2015? >> i think mercedes still has in terms other products renewal the s classa dn c class. bmw starts at the end of the year with a new series and that will be exciting. for the first half of the year certainly mercedes has the clear advantage. >> automakers are always trying to fight into the german hotseat , get some that luxury market. many of the japanese players and u.s. latest and honda were showing a new brand or updated brand over in detroit. they all will some that luxury is it safe for german manufacturers? >> the german manufacturers have that edge in terms of engineering. also, the german manufacturers are equally pushing against the mass market because of the issues of fuel efficiency and they need to sell smaller cars and compete and we are seeing both ends of the market it is a very competitive market. and we have the volume in europe for demand. it will be tough. >> kristina, 3 blocks. [indiscernible] you then havem auto-parts makers w and -- and wheels. when you look at detroit, do they have the know-how to take the technology to sustain those kind of sales and stock performs the? >> the stock performance was not necessarily driven by sales performance. the recovery story. we believe it has been overplayed and there's a lot more for them to do and cutting spending which means their volumes for the future could be harmed. a very different story, a huge catalyst -- air area -- a huge catalyst in that area. a lot of excitement around that stock. bmw and mercedes daimler, two different stops much more high-quality and longer-term. >> kristina church. coming up staying with the detroit auto show. and the digital output and more on that after the break. ♪ >> time to look at our favorite stories from bloomberg digital output. manus taken away. >> i've gone for the charlie hebdo. a great article on front of bloomberg.com. the magazine is going to print 3 million copies of the magazine. i want to put this in context. it will be in 16 languages. it is a magazine that has circulation drop by almost 100,000 copies. cell sometimes did not exceed 30,000. it is going to be provocative. the image is on charlie. and some of the gatherings, you see charlie -- i am charlie. let's not forget the victims all boko haram. they gathered on january 11 in tribute. 3 million copies. an interesting article. you can pick it up on bloomberg.com. >> entirely different subject. bloomberg news weekly at the detroit motor show and a nice piece on our website about the supercar. legendary american supercar. it was created in 1960's of five ford. they tried to buy ferrari and could and decided to have their own sports car. ford is getting its swagger back. >> rinaldo got his swagger back. won the best player in the world for a second year. he won 37.6% of the vote ahead of his big rival messi. many people said because germany won the world cup, one of their players should have one. -- won. two years running and i'm sure this amount. >> more from greece. ♪ >> a bloomberg exclusive. just 12 days before the general elections in greece the on its minister has asked most greeks not to stick with the euro. >> leaving the area is not necessarily a bluff. an accident could happen. the whole idea is to avoid it. >> in the u.s. oil has dropped below $45 a barrel. the price of crude is falling. >> president barack obama is preparing his legislation to protect against cyber attacks. hackers attack military twitter accounts. welcome to "countdown." i am mark orton. >> caroline hyde is here with some breaking news. >> the ceo of morrison's is pleased. he has had a torrid time it's he took over four or five years ago. a. it -- a period of significant change. trying to play catch-up when it comes to online. when he took over they were almost in the dark ages. they still used and and paper methods to check store stock and cash was being counted manually. he was trying to bring more sins into the 21st century. -- more since -- morrison's into the 21st century. he said that he will stay on until the year-end result. they are looking for a new ceo. they knew their chairman was looking to retire. he plans to retire as chairman. andrew higginson was appointed deputy chairman and chairman elect and will be taking over in 2015. >> they need to return to the growth that the orton needs. this is best done under new leadership. he had to manage against a background of considerable industry turmoil and change. >> sales including fuel were down 5.2%. total sales were down 3.6%. it is worst than had been expected. many were worried that it would fall 4%. they are the christmas turkey two years running. >> you can look under management and how long he has done under their. you can look at his performance it's he took over. the stock is down 5.7%. even though they have been tortured. an 11-year low price. they tried everything. new store format, in-store bakeries. they were late online. >> they were pointing out the positives. industry-leading customer service metrics. on-time christmas delivery at 97.5 are sent. they were late. >> they had to turn to ricardo. this is a company that had to watch how the industry evolved through its competitors rather than leading the way. morrisons is a company that tends to be based within the north of england. they have been moving back down to the u.k. overall this is a company that has not been able to weather this downturn. they are showing that they have had the worst year. that is since 2008. >> it has been reflected in the last five years. in the last 12 months, shares are down by 5%. tesco is down by 36%. only gregg's which you would not really call it a supermarket, is up. all of the retails declining. >> there are a lot of elements in their. >> retail sales are up 15%. >> there is a lot going on in the retail or. -- retail sector. >> greece is never far from our top stories. that is the words of the greek finance minister. he has given us a wide-ranging interview on his nation's prospects. >> eestnet general election takes place on january 25. the leader has promised to write off some of greek's debt. >> greece could be forced to leave the euro. he wants to strike his own deal with the european commission, the international monetary fund, and the european central bank. >> let's go to athens where he has in speaking exclusively to the country's finance minister. >> it was a wide ranging interview. we spent an hour or so with the eye nantz minister. he said there is an and norman's -- enormous amount writing on these elections. if he wins office and forms a government, it is imperative that he sticks to the commitments to greece's creditors. >> has to boobey by the commitments that greece has signed up. greece has received a huge amount of money. just from the europeans, 10090i billion. when we made those commitments we work greeks. we were not a particular party. >> have greeks stopped paying taxes, social contributions, or even mortgages when they saw that a snap election was coming? >> it is natural before elections to observe some kind of a freeze. some people hope that a new government would come and absolving from their debt payments. entrepreneurs postponed contracts. the economy does stall a bit. once the elections are over, there is pent-up demand and the company -- country recovers. >> is this likely to derail the greek legend -- budget? >> no. the greek budget for 2013 had a a cushion. the target was for 1.5% surplus. in early december we were forecasting a primary surplus of 1.8%. at least three decimals that provide enough cushion whatever miss we have, it's not going to affect the eventual target. >> other parties in terms of their economic outlook, it changes once they come into office. they may no longer demand writing down the debt if he gets into power. >> responsibility transforms whoever runs the country. i would assume that rationality would eventually prevail. the question is, how quickly? greece does not have that much time. there is a deadline of february 28 of the dishing with the european partners and the imf. that is what the government has to have in mind. >> many greeks believe talk of potential exit from the euro is a bluff for the government to persuade them to vote for the incumbents rather than the opposition party. do you think the threat of the greek exit from the euro is real? >> greeks do want to stay within the euro area. more than three quarters of the greeks say that i want to stick with the euro area. they understand that the euro area brings a lot of an offense. -- benefits. they give a future to the economy and its politics. leaving the euro area is not necessarily a bluff. an accident could happen. the whole idea is to avoid it. >> while the finance minister and the greek government has been putting its message out, the opposition has been speaking out as well. he was just saying in an interview with a german newspaper that germans have nothing to fear from the victory. they say it is not right for greece to repay its creditors while undergoing this goal waterboarding. at the same time, the finance minister saying that although they do not favor a that -- debt write down, changes to greece's repayments, giving greece longer to repay. plenty more from that exclusive interview with the finance minister in about half an hours time. >> right there in athens. we will have more rep the morning. >> "the polls" will be's reeking with a on its minister. >> 7:11 this tuesday morning. another decline in oil prices. u.s. oil has been trading your $45 a barrel. crude prices have intention 5.5-year lows. >> president obama is considering legislation to protect students against cyber attacks. hackers posted personal information and what appeared to be military plans. the defense department said that the attack amounted to just a prank and not a threat. >> he says that he was fired by pimco, the world's largest bond fund. this was the first time that bill gross publicly confirmed that he was this missed from the fund. he told bloomberg that he offered to step down from the compensation and executive committees before he was fired in december. >> the stories that you are following today. the stories that you want to hear more about. >> some state foot all competition. >> it matters greatly to some people. matt miller, our buddy in the u.s. is a big ohio man. no doubt he is still celebrating. >> matthew mcconaughey from "dazed and confused." he looks like a lot younger in this photo. >> find out what he has to say about falling oil prices coming up after the break. >> time for today's company news. air france will pass savings from lower fuel rices onto the customer. he spoke to bloomberg in an exclusive interview. >> it is true that oil prices are low now. which is diminishing the impact of the low fuel price. the industry is worldwide competition. it ensures part of the benefit we have. >> british airways owner is planning to increase its offer for aer lingus. that is according to people familiar with the matter. it could happen as early as this week. no final decision has been made. stay with bloomberg for more news from the finance industry. aircraft orders are expected to fall on lower fuel rices. bloomberg will be speaking to the airbus chief executive at 11:30 u.k. time. a supermarket chain is started a look for a new chief executive. dalton phillips will be stepping down after the year end results. nuclear management harbors is to be stripped of its management contract to clean up a nuclear waste site. that is according to "the financial times." the decommissioning authority is fixed acted to take over a u.s. company, a french energy group and a u.k. company. >> the central bank held its third policy meeting in nine days. we can yet a definitive answer on whether it will administer all scale -- full scale qe. great to have you with us this morning. part of your notes essentially say that the ecb is doing their job. you lean towards a little bit of help coming from governments. >> what we are saying is that qe would be beneficial for the european economy, but it is not going to do all of the heavy lifting. recognition of fiscal policy should be recognized. >> when you look at your investments as to what is happening in the oil price, how are you adjusting your investments around that story? we look at the negative of a low oil price at the moment. markets are reacting negatively. there is hope by some analysts that there is a long-term positive story. how does that play out for you? >> we have been underway in the energy sector. one of the things we're looking for is to be opportunistic. from that perspective, we are looking in the consumer area of the market. we feel that it is a 10% correction in the energy prices. it is not going to happen immediately. the consumption of the market looks to be quite interesting. >> the earnings season is about to kick off. profit margins are still lagging. is that going to be shorter this year? >> it is a long-term process. i cannot see any dramatic increase in the margins this year. -- in profit margins this year. >> just on that subject, mike that gap be closed right u.s. profitability coming down? the u.s. analysts pulling back their estimates for profit in the first quarter of this year. >> the s&p estimates have already come back from double digits to 1% forecast growth. we will see downward revisions. it will be quite dramatic. we will not get the benefit with positive earnings expectations. >> stay with us. the head of european equities at schroders. europe is still technically under loved from 2001-2007. >> welcome back to "countdown." just before we went to break i s aid, europe still under loved, seeing warty percent of the levels it's -- 40% of the levels it saw in 2001. you would say on an evaluation basis that they offer good value. >> some players tick up quite considerably. we have seen a dramatic reductions in he middle of last year. they have gone off the board with regard to european equities. this is regarding to close it going over. you look at the european market and perspective earnings for the u.s. over 17 times. from a comparable perspective, europe looks good. this has gone around 14 times. 25 times for the u.s. >> how much of a benefit is the weakening euro? depending on what the fed does, does that change? >> we assume that a weakening euro is a function of the u.s. economy doing well. the weaker euro should be a beneficiary. >> have you corrected it in your models or not? >> we are taking the view that the politics will be involved running up to the elections. they have said they will pay the march interest payments. >> we talk a lot about greek bond market and how it is faring area what about greek stocks? >> we have been looking at some. we do own some greek stocks within some of our portfolios. we do have a high risk is this. >> great to have you this morning. >> coming up in the program, the finance minister speaks to bloomberg about the risks of a greek exit from the eurozone. ♪ >> welcome back to a very exciting "countdown" here. dollar-yen coming off of a four-week high. japanese government ons, they went negative for the worst time, joining german government bonds. global bonds are the lowest on record since 1996 according to of america. they have not been short yet for a wild. they were the most accurate forecaster. the commodity currencies i have no doubt this morning. abu dhabi investment, i have to say that is a bit of a shock. people at the heart of this thought it was a shock. the aussie dollar had a bump on the high side. the aussie dollar is at 78. i am trying to judge where the u.s. dollar will go to on the edge of this energy story. you are not too far away on the canadian dollar. >> u.s. oil has been trading below $45 a barrel for the first time since april, 2009. there is activation that stockpiles will increase. "charlie hebdo" is planning to print 3 million copies of its next issue after an attack on its headquarters killed part of its editorial staff. it will print the image of muhammad saying all is forgiven. president obama is considering legislation to protect students against cyber attacks. this was announced as hackers were attacking the twitter account of the u.s. central command. the u.s. defense department says that the attack amounts to a prank, not a threat. search teams have found a voice recorder from the airasia flight. the flight recorder has already then recovered. 162 people were on board. >> this is less than two weeks before greece's general election. the country's finance minister spoke about the risks of a greek exit from the eurozone. >> i think that 2015 is different than 2012. europe has better defenses against the country leaving the euro area. greek politicians understand this. they understand they cannot threaten the rest with their own exit. this is not a bargaining chip on our side. >> one of the policies is to get some of that written off. would you concede that they have a point that greece's that's our unsustainable? >> instead of asking for a haircut, which is not acceptable to the european partners that gave us the loan, we ought to ask for an extension of that loan. that implies that the duration will go even further. it will give us a lot more breathing space for the economy to grow. we ought to ask to transform the floating rate that into a fixed rate debt. plenty of liquidity in the international scene. and transform some of the floating rate into extra rate. >> will you push for maturities of greece's current debt? >> these are the two main targets of the government. >> the current program was extended by two months. is that sufficient for greece to strike a deal over the replacement? >> the elections took some time. we feel if this government continues, it will manage to strike an agreement on principle before the web you wary eurogroup meeting. the bureaucracy can move fast and close eight deal. >> perhaps 10 sling that in. -- penciling that in. >> they do not have the knowledge in experience and negotiations. i think it is prudent for them to ask for an extension. it will give them some time to manage the negotiations. >> if the current government remains in place, no extension. >> i think the current government could manage it if it acts fast. >> how tough is your job? >> it is difficult to make an assessment. all that i can say is that i only took three days of vacation in the summer and three days of vacation at christmas. >> what keeps you awake at night? >> nothing keeps me awake. >> what happens if greece leaves the euro? what happens if i missed the deadline on the 28th? >> no because we have things under control. that is why we work hard, to sleep at night. >> from athens to france, airbus is due to give their annual news conference in two hours. caroline is on the ground there. what can we expect? >> it is a key day for the battle between airbus and boeing. we will get the numbers for orders and deliveries for 2014 and a forecast for this year. in terms of orders, some analysts are telling us that airbus will match or even surpass the orders that boeing got last year which was 1432 net orders. that was a good push from the new version of their a330. it was a 20-year old plane that was doing well in the market. there has been a good question. then you have the commercial success of the a320. it has been the best commercial success ever. there have already been 3000 new orders. they expect 15,000 in the next 20 years. then you have the brand-new plane behind me. that was first delivered to qatar airways just before christmas. the story might be different. it might be difficult for airbus to beat boieing in terms of delivery. 723 planes last year. the idea is to ramp up production of the a350. they plan to increase production rates from three a month to 10 a month. >> the lead time of making decisions on what is needed to produce this beasts of the sky, it is incredibly important to the future of airbus, isn't it? >> it is an extremely important plane. the air 380 is the flagship plane. the biggest plane on the market. it costs $20 billion. there were some concerns unless much about whether the programs would be discontinued in 2015. they had no new orders from a passenger airline last year. the last time we spoke with the ceo he said that the idea of ceasing production was crazy. he said that he will find new customers, especially in asia. that is the priority right now. >> we'll have a little bit more on the story throughout the day. we will be speaking with the airbus ceo at 11:30 london time. >> you can join in the conversation and tell us what you want to see more of or less of on the show. plenty happening in the retail sector. caroline hyde brought us the news from morrisons at the top of the hour. it is all about steak and cheese rolls. >> 400 calories. >> a lot of mince pies. >> we are not here to talk about that. >> how low can copper go? ♪ >> time for today's bar chart. how low can copper go? it fell to its lowest level since 2009. it is yes -- yet to post a closing gain. it has fallen every day since 2014. it is down 5%. last year it fell for a second year. falling 14%. it is the worst performing industrial metal over the last year. you see its peak. i cannot reach it with my pen. that was the peak in february, 2011. that could continue. deutsche bank predicts that china's copper consumption will grow at its slowest pace since 2010. traders and analysts the lowest on copper since august. interestingly analysts are forecasting a higher price. the median price forecast is 69.72. that is in the fourth quarter of this year. they are the most bearish with a $6,000 forecast. the most bullish is $7,476. a partner at t commodity in malan predicts a drop to 1500. he says the $6,000 price is a psychologically and technically important level. >> we are counting down to the market opened this tuesday morning. let's bring in our next guest. he is a chief market analyst. a pleasure to see you as always in studio. what is on your mind? are you kept up at night i u.k. inflation years -- by u.k. inflation figures? >> there is a good chance that we could go negative by the end of this year. >> walling inflation wages than rise. >> absolutely. we have experienced and earning squeeze the last five years. this is starting to undo that. the headline can go negative. core prices are holding out well. the last time the oil prices were at these sorts of levels. the interesting thing to note is it took inflation 10 months to start bottoming out again. we are not near the bottom on oil prices. we can go lower. what that does for rate expectations, we are not going to get a rate rise this year. >> those are big calls. we had jpmorgan in here. they said the first quarter of 2016. energy prices are not going to translate into that kind of consumer money in your pocket. it is not going to be equal and opposite. >> there is lack in terms of energy prices. you only have to look at the price at the pumps. that is quite a big fall. sustained over the course of a period of time. average income start to go higher 2%. that has got to have an effect. >> an effect on where people spend that money. they are not spending it with us yet. maybe spending it on cars. maybe spending it on holidays. >> you look at auto sales. they are at record highs. a large part of that is because consumers are now leasing their cars. they are not buying them. they will hand them back after three years. it is a cycle of car purchases. the biggest problem from my piontoint of view is that prices become entrenched. companies will start cutting prices to get people through the door. it is not a risk at the moment. >> no us.s. rate hike. more people are suggesting as much. >> i do not see how the u.s. can be immune to the deflationary pressures in china come a europe, and the u.k. if that is the case then the ecb should do nothing next week. core prices are 1% above headline prices in europe. >> it was some time ago that we were talking about whether the bank of anglin might hi -- bank of england might hike interest rates. >> if you have a premature rate hike, you could end up looking silly. evidence suggested that it would be catastrophic to raise rates. williams saying last night that we could expect a rate hike in june. i agree with him. i think that is the way things are going. >> stay with us. as we had to break, it is 7:50. >> he is brave, he stayed for a second inning. talking about disastrous trades. i have had one or two. so long on the dollar. is the market so short on commodities that there will be an undoing of these two big positions? >> the dollar trade is what i will be looking at. i am looking to sell dollar-yen at $1.20. people through away on the dollar. they are in for a disappointment with the ecb. that could impact euro-dollar. people are expecting way too much from the ecb. >> the ruling could suggest whether there is going to be any legal hurdles in front of qe. it is not binding. it is not about qe. >> giving cover. that is probably the best way to describe it. we talked about your story on friday. about 500 alien euros. -- 500 billion euros. we are not being funny. even then, there is no guarantee it would have any affect. if you are a bank, you are looking to rebuild your balance sheets. what is your incentive to offload your sovereign bond holdings? especially if there is no demand for loans out there? >> that goes against a couple of opinions that we have. european banks will get an uplift in lending and that neither time for banks to heal themselves. >> i still think it is too early. santander last week. 7.5 billion euros to boost their balance sheet. by with they go on a spending spree when there is still a lot of concern about bad loans. the italian banks more than anything. the italian economy needs a shot in the arm and needs to clean up its ranking sector. i am not sure that quantitive easing as we know it will do that. the u.k. started to turn around with the help to buy scheme. it is still going. we are not increasing our qe. >> great to have you with us. let's see what happens with inflation numbers in the united kingdom. >> "on the move" is up next. jon ferro will be on that show. he will speak with chris turner. he sees the euro on parity to the dollar by the end of the year. >> good morning and welcome to "on the move," i am jonathan ferro here in the european headquarters. moments from the start of european trading. in a bloomberg exclusive, the greek finance minister says the company could stumble after the euro if they start an agreement with new creditors soon after this election. commodities crushed. wti crude drops to its lowest level in six years. another one bites the dust, the morrison ceo dalton phillips will exit the company after five years at the top. as the retailer reports their worst sales of the holiday season of all the supermarkets. looking at futures, appointing a little bit lower. u.s. futures down by .1% and dax futures up. >> it looks like we will give back a little bit of value this morning. no rate hikes in the united kingdom for the united states of america, equity markets are lower and prices of crude and rent are tumbling. ecb is threatening -- we have this ogre, we fund the brink -- banks in greece, remember that greek citizens. your

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