where we are not looking at a record of some sort. s&p 500 and nasdaq, small declines, down .2%, these represent the worst inclines in the month of february. this speaks to the bullish action we have been seeing since february. the 10 year yield has been done recently, not influenced by the existing home sales report. represented in green, telling us haven bonds are rallying. looking at existing home sales data relative to those low inventories, if we look at the bloomberg, in white, we have the inventory numbers. there is the lowest level since when we are looking at now. here are the existing home sales. climbing but certainly constrained by those super tight inventories and the lack of homes for people to choose from. speaking of homes to choose from, toll brothers popping higher today, on pace for its best pace since august after a massive earnings beat. they beat earnings by $.25 -- 25%. , basedlivered more homes on the fact that there is less competition in the high-end luxury building home segment. this is helping some of the other homebuilders as well. mark: down for the first day in .hree since today rising to the highest level since december 2015. we have been in a pretty narrow trading range. the earnings season continues. hsbc yesterday, lloyds today. jumping to the highest level since the brexit vote, boosted its dividend. it said lending margins would hold up against record low interest rates, excluding one-time charges, pretax profit rose greater than expected. the chief executive looking to protect what is britain's largest consumer bank from that pressure from low interest rates by eliminating jobs, expanding into high margin lending with the acquisition of the bank of america u.k. credit card business. shares of 4.7%. beatinguarter profit analyst estimates helped by demand for prescription medicines such as the blood thinner xarelto. it wants to have its takeover of monsanto. bayer signaling today it may face delays with regulators pressing for more information even as it reader writes plans to complete the acquisition by the end of the year. the earnings report also showing the consumer care divisions failing to boost profits last quarter, leaving prescription drugs as the sole engine of growth. consequently, shares down by 1% today. in gdp today in the u.k., .7% growth in the fourth quarter, higher than the provisional estimate of .6%. the question is will this be the last her raw, trade consumer spending providing the biggest contributions, business investment falling. the big boost has been from consumers. will they continue as we get this lift up in inflation, squeezing real incomes growth forecast too slow this year to about 1.4%. quite a boost in fourth-quarter gdp, up by .7%. vonnie: it feels like we waiting for something to happen but has not happened yet. turning now to washington, the trump administration has outlined a sweeping crackdown on undocumented immigrants in the u.s. homelandm the u.s. security secretary increased border security and the building of all wall. but they do not cover president trump sedan on the entry of war and travelers from seven predominantly muslim nations which is halted by a federal appeals court. for more on this, we have kevin cirilli joining us from the white house. we know we have this budget luncheon with all of the head honchos at the white house later , but the concentration today is really on what may come out of the administration on immigration. course, the two separate actions on immigration, the first dealing with the undocumented immigrants who are here in the u.s. the administration taking action to empower what they argue our the border patrol agents to deal with immigrants who are here right now with criminal records. of course, that has launched a myriad of criticism coming from the progressive left as well as democrats and even some republicans. this, according to administration officials, is one of president trump campaigned on. they view this as him delivering on a campaign promise. we are still awaiting that other executive order action, the executive order to work in juxtaposition regarding the seven predominantly muslim nation countries that were struck down by the night district court the other week. that could go all the way to the supreme court. we are still awaiting a new executive orders on that front. busy day in terms of immigration on a policy standpoint. vonnie: we have all the economic head honchos meeting. what do we anticipate may emanate today, if anything? of budget office director mick mulvaney, a tea party conservative, who was forirmed as the budget had this administration, will be at the meeting with president trump. there was a leaked draft of the budget proposal he is working on that, frankly, aligns with more of the tea party conservative wing of the republican party but will clash with the more moderate wing of the republican party. look for how president trump is going to be able to work with uniting the republican party and if he is able to do that when it gets to congress. next week, the president will be addressing a joint session of congress, laying out his priorities from a policy standpoint. tomorrow after the budget meeting today, he will be joined by top ceos from around the country to again continue discussing his economic agenda. vonnie: we will check in later on. heaven's a really, our chief washington correspondent for bloomberg news. mark: let's get the potential impact by bringing in dan maes. he joins us now from our washington bureau. this crackdown on it undocumented immigrants, let's look at the economic impact starting with the jobs. is it going to strain an already tight labor market in the u.s.? >> in the absence of anything else, that is probably right. in tom's interview with steve roach this morning, stephen made a good point. there is little that is immediately actionable about this, but that doesn't mean that the long-term consequences are insignificant. , in teeth aconomy country, which is built on immigration. i naturalized myself last year although i was always documented. , youthe course of 10 years could be talking about taking potentially $5 trillion out of the economy. that is according to the national bureau of economic research, which as we know, is the unofficial arbiter of the beginning and end of business cycles. i would say this is a slow burner, little that is immediately observable on a macro level, in an economy the size. that doesn't mean long-term consequences are not quite significant. mark: do we have any idea of which industries would be the hardest hit from this clampdown? you are probably talking agriculture, construction, and hospitality getting the immediate hit. vonnie: we have a great story on the bloomberg today about how immigrants, legal, documented immigrants are thinking twice about trying to get a mortgage because it has gotten more difficult in states like arizona. dan: it seems fairly surreal that after everything that has transpired in the last 10 years with housing, all of the so-called restrictions that dodd-frank places on what banks can do, that undocumented immigrants can still get a mortgage. it seems amazing. a larger economy, it doesn't just turn around on the basis of one executive order. to the extent that the housing rebound has likes to go, sure, there will be an impact. when we are talking about here is stuff that will be felt over the medium to long-term. that is in the absence of anything else that assumes we remain on the economic trajectory. vonnie: who in opposition right now is pushing strongly against this in terms of the economic impact for the u.s. economy? dan: that is unclear, vonnie. there is a coalition of types of companies that have mobilized or are mobilizing around changes to the tax regime, this issue of border redefinition. i would perhaps defer to kevin on the issue of who is mobilizing against the specific immigration act. maes, executive editor for global economic seer, thank you. let's get a look at the first word news with taylor riggs married >> senator elizabeth warren wants anthony's gura bochy cheek investigated over possible ties to russia. she asked the treasury secretary to look into mnuchin that he discussed digital business with a fun subject to u.s. sanctions. he has been named a senior white house adviser but the offer was withdrawn after he sold his firm to a chinese conglomerate. in asia, malaysian police have come out with more details about the women suspected of killing the half-brother of north korea's dictator. they say the women were chain to coat their hands with toxic chemicals and then went them on his face. the north korean embassy has medical the claims and says the women are innocent. in a stunning downfall for the man who once led hong kong, the city's former chief executive has been sentenced to 20 months in prison. he was convicted of his conduct in the conflict of interest case involving a luxury apartment. his wife says he plans to appeal. u.k., british prime minister theresa may has won the first part of her battle over the house of lords with the brexit bill. lawmakers agreed without a vote to pass the vote on to the next date, where some members of the conservative party may try to rewrite the measure. dayal news 24 hours a powered by more than 2600 journalists and analysts in more than 120 countries. i'm taylor riggs. this is bloomberg. thank you. coming up, what will the fed minutes reveal today? putting the federal reserve in focus as investors look for clues for a march move. this is bloomberg. ♪ mark: live from london and new york, i'm mark barton. vonnie: i'm vonnie quinn. this is "bloomberg markets." today we are putting the federal funds rate in focus. a little time because the minutes are coming up this afternoon, 2:00 your time. let's turn to the trade. joining us in chicago is alan knocked men. about the differentiation between what fed fund futures are saying and what traders are actually believing in terms of what the fed will do. >> the market usually have it right. that funds are a reflection of what traders are buying and selling so there is a 20% chance there will be a hike in march, 50% chance by may, and 75% it is done by june. there will be a rate hike, just a matter of it if it is immediate or not. the market usually get this right when it comes to interest rates. i will say the fed has done a fantastic job over the last years with their policy here to get the markets and assets related. vonnie: the cme tools as 20% chance in march. the bloomberg says 38%. a bit of a difference. anyway to take advantage of that? >> i don't think so. looking at the fed funds rate, it prices at a discount from 100, so that reflects what they think the interest rate will be at that particular time. i don't think there is an arbitrage there. i think a lot of the discussion about rates is more symbolic than anything else. the market is fully aware rates will go up. we saw the cpi jumped .6%, so we are starting to get the inflation we're looking for. we have seen significant rally and a complete comeback in the stock market and we are also seeing that happen in other asset classes as well. you are seeing gold, oil, commodities that have been beaten and battered down stack of it. vonnie: where is the trade? if we know that in may there is a 75% chance the fed will go, what is an attractive position to have right now? seeing treasury bonds, which are determined by supply and demand, trading in a wide range between 1.47 and 1.53. the yield is about 3%. we have not seen a flight to quality even with some uncertain action by the new administration. if you think rates will go higher in the long-term, i would look at the long-term bonds. we have relaxed a bit after that real big rally that we have seen recently, we have seen a bit of a relaxation. i think that is a better trading vehicle than anything else. i think we are on a path to prosperity. this is a good sign when we raise rates. that means the economy can handle it. the stock markets continue to move higher and higher. vonnie: what are you predicting will be the impact when we finally get a another rate increase? some believe it will be a two basis point move in march, three basis points in march instead of june. that does not seem like much. don't see any impact. we have been talking about rate hikes for years now and it's had minimal impact. until the choice between treasuries and stocks is more in balance, the yield on the s&p right now, the dividend yield is 3% not counting any appreciation and the market moving higher. compare that to interest rates at 1%. it will take years and years for rates to get more normalized so people can choose if they would rather be in the safety of treasuries are in the stock market. right now, the stock market is the only choice. our futures in focus segment, the first of many i'm sure. time for our bloomberg business flash. a look at some of the biggest stories in the news right now. unilever is doing a comprehensive review of its options after a proposed takeover by kraft heinz fell apart. they expect a review to be completed by early april. kraft heinz withdrew its $143 billion offer on sunday saying an early leak complicated matters. dow chemical and dupont are on track to win a european approval or their $74 billion combination next month, according to people familiar with the situation. they say the two companies tweaked concessions to satisfy eu antitrust regulators. dealu looked at how the may affect research and develop in spending for the agrochemical industry. there could be a multibillion-dollar stumbling block in general motors's attempt to sell its business to use owner psa. it is their pension plans. bloomberg crunched the numbers. there is about a $9 billion shortfall. that is your bloomberg business flash. , bayer'sad, takeover of monsanto may face some delays. we will speak to the chief executive of fire. this is bloomberg. ♪ mark: they are reporting earnings today. here is to executive werner baumann. >> we are on schedule with our regulatory discussions. we are responding to the second request and we are preparing for the filing in europe as we speak. that should come in quarter two. the on that, whether you look at two thirds outa, of the jurisdiction that we have to file an, we have already filed. picking good progress. would be rude of me to ask if mr. buffett has called in the past 24 hours. he has had a bad week in m&a. you are one of the few european companies with double-digit dividend growth. what are you going to do with all of your cash so that warren buffett does not call you after going down in flames with unilever? you know, it is not up to me to comment on warren buffett's approach to unilever. we are, of course, a very attractive company, we have strong cash flow generation, as you have seen in 2016, but to be very specific in answering your not called bys warren buffett in the last 24 hours. tom: we were trying to make some news this morning. mr. bauman, what will happen to will run companies like they are in europe given tepid nominal gdp and a weaker euro? does that change the transactions and the calculus for europe? >> as a company, management team, there are a lot of responsibilities for a lot of people that work here and also for our shareholders. we had to where the money is. that means we have to have attractive products. ideally, some that have protection because they are innovation driven. we have to bring those products to the markets. that europehe point is not necessarily the place right now that drives a lot of growth. we are well-positioned in asia. we have a very, very good piece in the u.s. ,e see more growth these days of course, then we do in europe. we are ready to take advantage of it. if you look at the guidance in 2017, i believe that is well reflected in our guidance. we are very optimistic for 2017. acquisition of monsanto main menu have less room to do an acquisition in the pharma space. are you worried that you may miss out on a good deal? well, first of all, our first get the is to actually acquisition of monsanto to a successful close by the end of the year. that is when we are focusing on. in pharma, we have a very well-run operation that has been growing above market for the last three or four years. we continue to see market growth in 2017. we have also profiled the next wave of new products that will hit the markets in the years to come. the short answer to your question is we are not in need of an acquisition but we will always look at opportunities to further strengthen our base. with licensing and small acquisitions certainly for the next years to come. but it is nothing that we need because we have good operating strength on the business right now. mark: that was the bayer chief executive werner baumann. coming up next, we are talking about the french election. this is bloomberg. ♪ with x1 you get the best of the oscars. you're a funny guy. funny how? how am i funny? scorsese finally wins. could you double check the envelope? show me best picture. what's the difference? show me best actor. i do not take tonight for granted. thank you so very much. get all the greatest scripted and unscripted oscar moments on xfinity x1. the oscars, live sunday, february 26th 7eâ4p on abc. vonnie: live from bloomberg world headquarters in new york and london, i'm vonnie quinn. mark: i'm mark barton. this is "bloomberg markets." let's get a check on the first word news with taylor riggs. taylor: automakers have passed the head of the epa to with draw a decision made in the final days of the obama administration . the agency of hungry and ask as a mission rules for light vehicles through 2025. it has to do with fuel efficiency standards. carmakers say they are overly demanding at a time where there is little demand for the most fuel-efficient cars. in europe, the far right presidential candidates have been taken into custody. they will be question about whether le pen used money improperly to pay their salaries. le pen is calling it a political plot. more on that in a few moments. china's move to deflate a potential housing bubble appears to be taking effect. home prices rose last month in the few cities in the year. they have tightened restrictions on property lending. a navigation error forced spacex to delay its shipment to the international space station today. their supply ship was less than one mile from the orbiting outpost when the problem cropped up in the gps system. the approach was aborted and a dragon backed away. now near the station or the crew was in any danger. global news 24 hours a day powered by more than 2600 journalists and analysts in more than 120 countries. i'm taylor riggs. this is bloomberg. mark: sam zell is one of the best-known and most well-known investors in the u.s. withholdings across the globe. he is also the author of an upcoming book "am i being too subtle?" bloombergoined daybreak to discuss the french elections and european equities. >> i think we should begin by talking about the fact that the history of the last 20 years of french leadership has left a lot to be desired. think, more than likely, the markets are overreacting on the short-term basis. obviously, there were people who thought the day after trump got elected, they were going to turn the lights out. hours.e for three then it was ok. pen i don't know whether le could win, but i think le pen, who might get elected today come is a very different le pen, than 10 years ago. about a lot of doubt france getting out of the euro. i think she is likely to be less ,ree to pursue extreme results extreme objectives than the market would suggest. >> so the market is overreacting. does that mean you buy into europe? sam: i am not a big fan. >> even though the markets are reacting to a le pen victory? sam: we have no investments in europe to speak up. we basically avoided europe. my favorite line is it is great great fors and wine, cheese, not great for business. >> not offended at all, sam. to plug the book, are we over the top of the ticket? whether it is marine le pen, builders in the netherlands, and for that matter, trump. there are parliaments, congresses, courts that can really limit the extremes. sam: i think that is nothing new, that indicates the times. i am less concerned about the extreme as you refer to. but that does not necessarily make news. we see the news taking the extreme positions. remember, even in the data you -- up a minute ago, the price of a stock is always the last moment. it does not mean any kind of a significant trend. zell, on bloomberg daybreak: europe. for wine, cheese, castles, not for investments. vonnie: i don't know about the last bit, but he is right about the first three. more on the french elections as the political drama heats up. will another centrist candidate throw his hat into the ring and therefore took the race toward marine le pen? this is bloomberg. ♪ vonnie: you are watching bloomberg. i'm vonnie quinn. mark: i'm mark barton. this is your global business report. chief executive of the french oil come the total weighs in on the deal between opec and russia to cut output. find out what he told bloomberg about the likely success of the deal. tonie: mcdonald's struggling come out of an injured she wide slump. their latest strategy to beef up sales. mark: in today's quick take, rescuing japan's economy. underime minister is pressure to maintain the country's status as a world power. the chief executive officer of french oil company total likes the deal between opec and russia to cut output. he thinks it needs to last longer. he spoke to bloomberg tv in new york. >> if they want to have an impact on the market, which means seeing inventories go down, because they are quite need to expand beyond made. seems to be good news for the industry. mark: the london stock exchange and dr. borisov are making concessions to win approval for the 12 the dollar merger. the two firms will address regulators objections about clearing cash bonds and repurchase agreements. takeover would create the largest market operator in europe. is uncovering what may be a $100 million fraud. says the treasurer in its south korean subsidiary has gone missing and expects an embezzlement scheme. the loss will be taken off of last year's results. priceld's is cutting the of its strength to overcome the slump in fast food sales. the world's largest food service company will offer one dollar sodas and two dollar specialty drinks in the u.s.. the chief executive has introduced a number of promotions the last couple of years, including the all-day breakfast. time for our bloomberg quick take, where we provide context and background on issues of interest. japan's prime minister shinzo abe as shock therapy for an economy that has been stuck for 25 years. he tells voters the strong economic medicine he is prescribing is japan's last chance to remain a world power. progress onpromise, abenomics have stalled. it's eerie was unprecedented monetary easing and government spending would tackle deflation and buy time to implement much-needed structural reforms, i get the goal of spurring inflation remains elusive. the bank of japan introduced negative rates in 2016 in a bid to sberbank lending. stocks slumped and the yen surged to its strongest since 2013, clear signs, according to critics, that his plan was failing. another key push, transpacific partnership trade agreement seems doomed after newly elected president donald withdrew the u.s. from the deal. here is the background. japan's real estate and stock market bubbles burst in the early 1990's, wages stagnated, and consumers reined in spending. that led to two lost decades with nominal growth. that devastating earthquake and tsunami in 2011 did not help. the challenge of growing the economy with an aging population has the next a series of prime minister's. here is the argument. thenents of abenomics to bank of japan's massive purchases of government debt as the only way to shakeup deflation. for now, japan's yields are made in among the lowest of any developed nation. investors are looking at sign to take is willing steps including incentives to return women to the workforce and changes to labor regulations, areas where he must take on top best interest. you can read more about japan on the bloomberg. that is your global business report. breaking news in france. centrist and three-time ruthdate francois babe says he will not enter the race for the presidency and will back emmanuel macron. for a look at how politics is affecting things, let's get a look at this. it is an incredible race, this french election. suggesting that he would run for election, taking away some of the votes from the centrist candidates, emmanuel macron. it is an election that every day seems to throw up a new surprise. that makes it tricky for market participants, doesn't it? >> it's amazing, in the u.s. we would not normally get consumed by french politics. we have our own sources of volatility. in the last couple of weeks, movement from le pen, her strength in some of the polls and that we are seeing people in the u.s. talking more about french elections. our general feeling historically is that you have to be very careful talking politics and roughs, often times politics makes for good buying entries. french election has some existential implications for european equity markets. we would be more likely to look for fallout, buying broad market exposure in the wake of this type of risk is hard. if something were to occur, there will certainly be some good values out there. mark: at the same time, you have the economic data which is suggesting this is an economy that is moving away from it's lull of many years. economic, gdp data, today's cpi data in germany, the business confidence survey as well. the economic backdrop is improving, isn't it? >> it is. we are a bit non-consensus if you look across the global non-equity portfolios and the money managers we work with. toward a slightly europe, which i think is a bit non-consensus. the people are favoring u.s., worried about a strengthening dollar, so they want to stay close to home. they see better growth rates, the u.s. is not growing gangbusters, but think it will improve. but if you look around, valuations are a bit more compelling in europe. among our managers, we tend to have value bias. we like europe given where pricing is. the s&p is trading at 18 times forward earnings, europe is about 14 times. the valuations to us look a little bit compelling in europe. vonnie: they are not exactly comparable, though, 18 in the u.s. versus 14 in europe. to some extent, so what? totally different risks in both places. typically, european businesses are not as profitable as u.s. businesses are for a bunch of reasons. europe really should trade at a discount to the u.s., but that discount is wider than it typically is right now. that is partially reflecting profitability, partially reflecting earnings growth. it is certainly reflecting geopolitical risk. we would normally expect europe price toon a p/e, book, or any of your value metrics, as a little bit cheaper wen the u.s., but right now feel the gap is a little bit wider than it historically has been. definitely pockets of value in europe but i think are accentuated relative to the u.s. market. vonnie: david, if we could come back to france, the news breaking that bayrou will not throw his hat into the ring. perhaps he did not want to take votes away from other centrist candidates, to the benefit of marine le pen potentially. 10-year onfrench drop substantially, but still only at 1.04. a few basis points, but is that value in europe sovereign debt? think that is much tougher for us. in the bond market, we have tended to focus much more on the corporate side, whether investment grade, high yield. in the u.s. it could be securitized loans, senior loans. we just think there has been much more value throughout 2016 in the corporate market than there was in the sovereign market. into 2017, we move that gap as close a little bit. sovereign bond rates have moved up, credit spreads are tightened. we still prefer corporate to sovereign globally, as well as in europe, but we still like corporate better. but sovereigns are not as unattractive as they had been for most of 2015 and 2016, where we saw that plunge into negative yields. mark: looking at the spread between the french 10-year and the german 10-year, the spread is widening. tonight, we must not forget the big macro events of the day. what will be the big takeaway, do you think? is clearly in play, and that was not the expectation just two or three weeks ago. the implied probability of a march tightening was 10, 20%. i think it is close to 35 or 40% now. it's been a long time since we had a fed meeting that was really kind of up in the air. areink the fed minutes probably more important than they usually are when they come out later today, just because march is so unusual in the sense ast the fed wants to be beautiful as possible. they are probably a little bit less protectable today. march is on the table. may is probably likely, 65% probability. but march is interesting. that has not happened in a while , in the last three or four fed meetings. vonnie: you said you like value in europe. do you look at emerging markets at all, do you find value in places like russia now that oil prices are rebounding, central banks stepping and in other parts of the world? very hard. we live in a world where there are not any real, screaming absolute values right now. through seven or eight years of quantitative easing, 17 trillion in u.s. dollar terms from the major global central banks. it is hard to point to any asset class that is the monster blue cheap. when you can find in some places is relative value. emerging markets is one place. russia is a bit tougher. they tend to be a bit too energy centric. you don't have good rule of law there, less judicial protection. you have to be more cautious although the value has been there. we think places like mexico are probably oversold. they were punished pretty dramatically given the news of trump, the idea that the fed will be other -- tighter than other central banks. we think that is probably overdone. hopefully, some of the smarter people in donald trump's inner circle are talking him down from any type of strong dollar policy or any major types of protectionism. some of the places we like our , emerginge mexico markets offer some value, but nothing out there that is demonstrably cheap. tok: how much is priced in u.s. markets as we come up the records, price to perfection coming given what we know and what we don't know about the trump administration? >> it's a great question. i don't know if we are price to perfection but we are priced to a lot of happiness. there is a lot of optimism out there for an agenda and policy platform that still has an enormous amount of unknowns. as value investors, we would tend to run to the uncertainty, but typically when there is this much uncertainty, stocks and bonds are cheaper. there is more value in the market. tois a little tougher to run run toward that uncertainty today because nothing is cheap. we would love the trump agenda, and we would love u.s. equities if they were at 12 times earnings, 18 times earnings. it strikes me that there is a bit of a mismatch between optimism and the valuation. vonnie: great to see you. come to see us again. mark: the chief u.s. strategist at tixis global asset management. you can watch more on the bloomberg terminal. fantastic. still ahead, the battle between south africa's president and finance minister coming to a head as they announced their 2017 budget. this is bloomberg. ♪ mark: live from london and new york, i'm mark barton. vonnie: i'm vonnie quinn. this is "bloomberg markets." finance minister is holding his ground in if you'd with the country's president jacob zuma. in his 2017 budget speech pravin gordhan stuck to his targets, no new money for nuclear power plants favored by zuma and stressed the need for the state to focus on fiscal prudence. joining us from johannesburg is our correspondent. some key areas of the budget's piece today, i know one of them was a 45% tax on the wealthy. >> yes, quite correct. one of them, a 45% tax on the wealthy. of course, this is getting all kinds of reaction, from criticism to support. gordhan asserted that the world theins highly allocated in country with 90% of the wealth still in 10% of the population. he also said 23 years after the anc was democratically elected, they need to be more inclusive, so does the will to distribution. corporate tax and value added tax were unchanged. gordhan also said that a vat increase is not out of the cards. he did say that the state does need to focus on fiscal prudence , reducing wasteful expenditure, and reviving an economy that is not to spend more than 1.3% this year. vonnie: how about jobs, is this going to come to fruition? seems to go in and out of bounds of speculation over whether the finance minister will be fired, when he will be fired. he did try to alleviate some of those rumors, dismissing any sort of rift between him and president jacob zuma, also saying that he does serve the president's pleasure. we know there has been quite a muted reaction in the markets, particularly the rant which often does show sharp increases or decreases whenever there is speculation about whether he will keep his job. has been strong over the past couple of weeks, and remains strong throughout today. highlightd gordhan any priority areas of the government should focus on to keep its investment grade rating? >> that certainly seems to be in the fold. he did say the collaboration between business, government, and labor are still crucial to ensure the country retains its investment grade rating. he also did say labor needs to work with government and business, particularly as we know the manufacturing sector will be going into which negotiations later this year. that is a sector that has had strikes in previous negotiations. certainly also asserting the collaboration between business, government, and labor is one that will be very crucial to ward off any kind of downgrade on the investment credit rating that the country currently has. thank you for that. we will bring you an interview with pravin gordhan later on kluber television. mark: coming up on the european close, we are just 35 minutes away from the end of the wednesday session. have a look at european equities, mixed performers. stoxx 600 little changed after three days of gains. gains in london, frankfurt, paris. in the currency markets, loads of data. german business confidence, eurozone cpi, u.k. gdp. something that we will discuss in detail. this is bloomberg. ♪ mark: it's 11 a.m. in new york, 4:00 p.m. in england and i'm mark barton. i'm in new york and this is the european close on bloomberg markets. mark: we will take you from new york to london in the next hour with stories out of washington. he the top stories -- has president trump change the game for global trade? how will the new facilitation agreement impact the global movement? we have -- we will have an general ofdirector the world trade organization. vonnie: our safe havens about to return to their day in the sun question mark the euro is trying to rebound and bonds are rising. and we will hear from the ceo of french oil john -- giant total.