for just eat. it hits the bottom of the stoxx 600 as orders slow in the fourth quarter. but the company says it is on track to deliver on full-year results. the president-elect names his son-in-law, jared kushner, as his senior adviser. the incoming administration claims the move will not violate nepotism laws as the role is unpaid. good morning, everybody. really glad you're with us. do does it make a difference if a senior adviser role is paid versus unpaid as far as nepotism? interesting one. shares in britain's grocers this morning have been on the rise. morrisons raising its profit guidance after it posted a strong pick up in sales of the festive period. the supermarket chain expects its 12 month underlying profit to come ahead of consensus efforts. tesco in the middle is planning on closing two of its uk distribution centers in the shake up resulting in a net loss of 500 jobs. sainsbury is also trading higher on this supermarket surge. outperforming the rest of broader europe where we're seeing slight losses at the moment. despite this rally in this particular sector, charles newsome painted a pessimistic view of the food retailers. >> not terribly good businesses. their return on capital has been low for a period of time. it was negative the last couple of years. when you start thinking about it, do you want to invest in a business which doesn't cover its cost of capital and is facing competition from the discounters? i think no. now, metro reported a 0.6% drop in sales during the christmas quarter on weakness seen in consumer electronics and its real hyper markets. the german retailer posted sales between october and december of 17 billion euros, below analysts expectations. and shares in just eat are the top decliner on the stoxx 600, down by almost 8%. after it reported a slowdown in fourth quarter sales. this happening despite a 42% jump seen in full-year order growth. the food delivery company saying it will deliver on full-year guidance. quite a bit of activity in this particular area. we tend to see that in terms of being a seasonal trade heading into the christmas period. we also have bright people coming on early december saying go long food retailers. when it comes to european markets, a slight downturn on most european bourses, outperformance from the ftse 100 as well as smaller markets, periphery markets. mainland europe trading in slight negative territory. let's talk more to our top guest about the markets and what's taking place. ian harnett is from absolute strategy. good morning. >> good morning. >> thanks for being with us. did you manage okay with the strikes yesterday? a mess. >> not too bad, i work remotely. >> took me 3 1/2 hours to get home. >> wasn't that great. >> it wasn't. >> let's talk about the markets, you say the bull market in bonds is probably over. why? >> i think when you look at type of change we got coming through, not just from the united states but also countries like japan, we're starting to see this shift away from loose money, to a much more loser fiscal and question mark tight money environment. so what we're clearly seeing is bond yields risen substantially but we put probably at the end of that, because you have to break 3%. we're not sure we'll manage that in this run. bond yelleds peaked in the middle of december. they have come off recently. that's the ambiguousy that's still there. >> is the driver inflation? >> that inflation pressure peaks at the end of the first quarter. that's when the lag effects from last year look so aggressive. if we're going to get that break, it will probably come soon. then you see inflation numbers start to moderate. you have to then start to see real growth pick up. that's the prize. we have not seen the index link numbers pick up particularly the european ones. >> you talk about how this is not an early 1980s replay. also trump posted a picture of himself meeting ronald reagan years ago. people then going on making fun in twitter saying stop trolling reagan. >> this is the question we ask our clients every time we see them and they talk about the reagan replay. we say who was the fed chairman. volcker what did volcker have to do? he drove real interest rates up aggressively. that took the dollar up 30% initially in that reagan first administration. the lesson of the republicans in the last 30 years is they have been the party of devaluation. so in reagan 2, in the first bush administration, the dollar fell 30%. you know, again, g.w. bush, 30% decline in the dollar. i think we're very nervous about that rerun of the reagan years. actually we'd actually expect to see the dollar down rather than up at the end of the trump administration. america first means everybody else second. >> i'm thinking about the weaker dollar, could be positive for exports. is there a balance where -- >> you get a balance coming through, but this head-long rush into the domestic plays, all of the -- just the u.s. equity market going up. remember, there's an ambivalence here. the alternative is if you get a strong dollar it's much harder to get the earnings growth. so the markets are trying to get the best of both worlds. we think they have run a bit ahead of themselves. to get those bond yields higher, you have to see much stronger nominal gdp growth back up to 6%. not many people believe that number. so you have some question marks here. >> is anybody properly taking profits today? if you're out there and taking profits off the u.s. equity markets, write in. let us know. >> that's another key question we're asking our clients, have you changed your long run forecast for equity returns and bond returns? not many long-run investors have changed those views yet. if that's the case, over the last 12 months mining stocks are up 129%. banks are up at 20% in the last three months. surely you should be starting to take profits at these levels. that's the caution we're pushing out to our clients. >> ian, stay with us. by all means get involved. someone sending me a picture of their dog this morning. very nice. get involved with the conversation as well. the e-mail address is [email protected]. it's always nice to hear from you. you can find us live and direct on twitter at @louisabojesen. let's continue along the lines of this dollar conversation. the boston federal reserve president has warned of rising inflation risks if the federal reserve does not pick up the pace of rate hikes. the dollar has dipped from previous 14-year highs seen last week as investors look ahead to a speech coming from president-elect trump on wednesday, tomorrow. it is his first speech since winning the election back in november. atlanta federal reserve bank president, dennis lockhart, he has said the election of donald trump shifted economic risks to the upside as the economy moved to a transitional phase and the recovery is largely done. lockhart said it was too early to make judgment on how the incoming trump administration will manage the american economy. he urged the federal reserve to "shift to more of a supporting role." so, how will president-elect trump's policies impact corporate america in 2017? our colleague stateside, bob pisani took a closer look. >> the big problem is nobody really knows how to model this trump rally we've been in. the good news is so far fewer companies are guiding lower than usual for the fourth quarter. that's good news. but what we care about is guidance for 2017. and there's a good chance that most companies will not be doing dramatic fist pumps about earnings in the coming weeks. at least not earnings for the full year 2017. the question is how much will this magical potion of tax cuts, fiscal stimulus impact earnings for the companies overall? we don't have data. we just don't know. that's why analysts have been reluctant to raise 2017 earnings estimates. the current estimates show s&p earnings up 11% this year. that's a good jump. analysts had already predicated that on an improving economy. and that would help earnings. the estimates have not really changed since before the election. they have not incorporated any of the trump proposals in the earnings yet. the bottom line is no one is raising 2017 estimates for trump's proposals yet. a lot of companies have been burned by making forecasts that were too optimistic in the last several years. caution is the operative word right now. nobody wants to go out on a limb. what does all this mean for the markets going into the trump inauguration? the trump rally stalled out. no one is selling, but it's been tough pushing stocks up for the past three weeks. the leadership is lacking. the markets are waiting for some new catalyst, and strong earnings guidance, that would definitely do the trick that would pit us on to another higher level for stocks. but if not, it could be a long winter for bulls who want to keep the rally going. >> so, bob pisani picking up on some points we were discussing here. >> absolutely critical. the real question here is do you actually get inflation first, taking back to those fed comments, or do you get the growth? can you get that earnings growth coming through? inflation picking up faster than growth tends to depress multiples, make it difficult for the equity market to advance. as bob was highlighting in your piece, we're seen the leadership come down. transportation stocks, transportation index down 5% almost relative to the s&p. it's not giving you a strong message. any time you have uncertainty, the equity risk premium stays high. we think people are confusing the china rally which is the thing we think is driving this and the trump rally. >> you talk about how you're underweight in the uk. >> yes. the biggest risk on the earnings outlook is not on the united states, it's on the uk. for the uk, equity market valuations are significantly higher than they should be when looking at the level of inflation we'll generate in the uk. these will be low quality earnings that come through. and, you know, i think the value for the ftse should be much closer to 6,000 than the 7,200 at current time. for us, down-side risk for the uk market remains the largest in the global equity markets at the current time. >> okay. ian, you're staying with us. we'll continue chatting after the break. we'll talk about cannabis later on in the show. >> i know nothing about this, sorry. >> stocks are doing really well in this market. we have somebody investing directly in a cannabis market. this is the world's first producer of state-commissioned cannabis for recreational use. a company based in uruguay, legally traded in toronto. we'll talk much more about this in a half hour's time. hi everyone. good morning. welcome back. i'm louisa bojesen. boris johnson fired back at president obama's claim that britain will be back at the back of the queue in doing business in the u.s. >> the trump administration to be has very exciting agenda of change. one thing that won't change, though, is the closeness of the relationship between the u.s. and the uk, where the number two contributor to defense in nato, where america's principle partner in working for global security and, of course, where great campaigners for free trade, we hear we're first in line to do great free trade deal with the united states. >> the german chancellor, angela merkel, fired a fresh warning shot at britain over its eu exit. in a speech in cologne, merkel reiterated that the uk should not be allowed to cherry pick a deal. >> translator: to access the single market is only possible on keeping the full fundamental freedoms i mentioned. beyond that you have to negotiate. you can't lead the negotiations as a way of cherry picking that would have disastrous consequences for the other 20 member states. we can't allow such consequences. the political uncertainty continues here in europe. ian is still with us. ian, i want to pick up on viewer comments that have come in within the first 15 minutes of the show. david writes in and says good morning, happy new year. he says he agrees with you regarding the u.s. dollar and expect a 25% fall in its value by the end of trump's first term. given the controversy of the president-elect and geopolitical problems in the world, does the combination of this and the eventually weakening dollar mean a surge in the price of gold? is gold the way to go? >> if you get that decline, one correlation most constant over the past 20 years is the negative correlation between the dollar and gold. other commodities, you've seen that flip around between positive and negative. gold is the best way of hedging yourself against that decline. again, this comes back partly to do you get more inflation than you get growth? the big driver of the dollar across rates has been relative real interest rates, around the five-year mark. so, if you get that stronger inflation in the states than elsewhere, if that drives the real yields down in america, that's where you get the dollar weakness coming from in our view. >> gold at 1182 and a bit. >> the other thing to remember, of course, a lot of people hold u.s. assets outside. if trump does go down the trade war route, that's one thing he can change in the first 100 days, that's where you get potentially another source of weakness for the dollar, perhaps it ends its role as the world's reserve currency if we really do see an isolationist trump administration. >> we were around 1350 or so back in the summer, july. so we've come down, but recovering here in the last four weeks or so. another comment coming in as well. david -- excuse me, gary writes in. good morning. he says with regards to the u.s. banks, they're prime for a credit boom. highly capitalized with over a trillion dollars in excess reserves. >> yes, those domestic banks are the way you want to play this. if we have an isolationist america, do you need global banks? the pressure, it will be much more on the international banks rather than the u.s. domestic banks. you have to get the growth coming through. the thing that drives the banks, it's not just the yield curve but about the nonperforming loans. growth, real economic growth has to continue. this is late in the economic cycle for trump to be trying to push through a growth agenda. >> jacob tweets in, certainly right that the greenback will be ripe in the long run. >> what you saw at the start of the g.w. bush administration, it went up 5%, 10%, and came off 30% afterwards. you can't rule that out in the short run, but that's not the strategic trade here. the strategic trade is what we want to look at rather than short-term. the confusion for people is what we're seeing is a global growth pick up, not just a trump effect coming through. the real question for investors is how long can that survive. >> ian, we have to leave it there. thank you very much for coming in. >> thank you very much. >> ian harnett from absolute strategy. now, northern ireland could see a snap election in the near future after the deputy first minister, martin mcginness resigned in protest over the handling of a mismanaged energy scheme that could cost taxpayers almost 500 million pounds. under the power-sharing agreement, his resignation means the first minister, arlene foster, also loses her position. in a statement on facebook foster said mr. mcginness's move was not principled. the liberal alliance in the european parliament of italy refused a request by the five star movement to join voices. in a video message, the leader said there is not enough common ground for the two parties to work together. this happening after 80% of the five star members had voted to server ties with uk and join the liberal bloc. and l'oreal announced plans to acquire three skin care brands for $1.3 billion. one of the brands, cerave, will be purchased from baleant. the three brands have combined annualized revenue of $168 million. you know what's good for your skin? if you eat a high-fat diet. total boosted its stake in the uganda lake oil albert project for $95 million. they brought an additional 21% from total oil. hsbc raised its price target on the stock to 57 euros from 52. when looking at the banks, deutsche bank saying it sees green shoots in spanish banks. the equity research team says the top line was still challenging, but it is seeing improvements in margins and in the client businesses of spanish lenders. bankia is the top pick with santander also rated a buy. the u.s. tech sector hit the highest level since september of 2000, both the nasdaq and the nasdaq 100 rising to a fresh all-time intraday high yesterday during the u.s. session. apple, facebook, applied materials were among the stocks that pushed the tech index to record levels. apple shares hitting a 52-week high, while applied material stock gained more than 2%. and yahoo announced it will be renamed altaba if the sale of its core internet business to verizon reaches completion. the company's ceo, marissa mayer will be leaving its board as part of the deal. altaba, we were joking this morning, alibaba, altaba, will consist of a 15 % stake in alibaba along with a holding in yahoo! japan. verizon's purchase of yahoo could be at risk due to two data breaches at the firm. equities coupled with the fed rate hike helping edge funds finish on a high note. gemma is with us to talk about th this more what were average returns like? >> for the average industry, 5%. it hides such a dispratt arrange of funds, sizes, regional orientations. there's a universe of around 9,925 funds in existence. an average is not that helpful. probably more helpful to look at how overall trends performed throughout the year. a weak start to the year. q1 was a difficult period. not many positioned themselves correctly for china the oil price decline. and then going further on the year, brexit was something that not many hedge funds got involved in. a lot of risk taken off the table. some did well. those brave enough. going into brexit only 1 1% of hedge funds thought there would be a brexit. >> 1 out of 10. nothing. >> into the year-end, the trump trade was popular. hedge funds as a whole don't do a tremendous amount of rotation and have dense holdings, their portfolios consist of high amounts of the same type of stock. but there's a quick scramble to reposition and make use of that. >> the strategies that did the best and strategies we think will do the best for 2017? >> the strategies that did the best in 2016 were the event driven ones. distressed debt had a good year, off the back of a weak 2015. and looking forward, it's hard to tell. it's a year peppered with potential events this year as well. we could see continued momentum. >> gemma, thank you very much. we've got to take a break. thank you. gemma acton joining us in the studio to talk about the hedge fund performance check out world markets live, our blog which runs throughout the european trading day. we'll be back in two. we'll be talking cannabis with someone who holds a big holding in a legal cannabis company in toronto. oror welcome back. you're still watching "street signs." i'm louisa bojesen. festive cheer for morrisons. britain's fourth largest supermarket chain beats forecasts thanks to strong christmas sales, sending the shares to the top of the stoxx 600. investors losing appetite for just eat. it hits the bottom of the stoxx 600 as orders slow in the fourth quarter. but the company says it is on track to deliver on full-year results. authorized concealment. vw's senior management accused of purposefully hiding cheating software in the latest criminal charges brought forward by u.s. prosecutors. as his senior adviser. the incoming administration claims the move will not violate nepotism laws as the role is unpaid. hi everyone. welcome back. you are tweeting through with your views on whether or not it's nepotism or not. donald trump appointing his son-in-law as a senior adviser. keep them coming through, @louisabojesen is where you can reach me directly. find us on e-mail, streetsignseurope@cn [email protected]. a bit of news on the italian banks hitting our wires. italian loans, gross bad loans at italian banks down by 1.7% year on year. that coming through now. we continue to watch the italian banking story. and what happens this year with regards to italian banks seemingly still needing more funding. u.s. futures, setting ourselves up for trade this afternoon, following on from a very strong session once again. we keep going higher as we heard from our top guest a half hour ago. he was saying not a lot of people take profits from the markets, even though he was saying perhaps you should be thinking about that at the moment. implied open is for stomping ever higher. the s&p 500, dow jones, nasdaq set to continue the rises. nasdaq composite and the nasdaq 100 rising to fresh intraday highs yesterday pushed higher by the tech sector in jenlgeneral. apple at a 52 week high. when european markets opened this morning, we were flat. pretty flat at the moment. mixed markets out there. most of europe trading slightly lower at the moment. we've seen a bit more green popping up in the last half hour or so. italian market changing its color. so, we will be following this throughout the session to see whether or not we go into positive territory. the fx markets, brief glance at the euro/dollar, 1.0596. the pound near the lowest close after three months. theresa may on sunday said britain would not be keeping parts of the eu, and that border patrols would be important over market access. okay. let's put markets to one side. let's talk a bit more about the auto industry. toyota motor announced a $10 billion investment in the u.s. over the next five years after sharp criticism from president-elect donald trump of building a new plantmexico. makiko, good to see you. >> thank you, yes. the announcement was made on monday by toyota's president at the north american international auto show in detroit. the firm came under fire from president-elect trump last week for building a new plant in mexico, who threatened to impos. for toyota, the amount wasn't a surprise and the investment was largely expected. it was expected because the bulk of it will be spent on setting up production facilities in the u.s. to handle vehicles produced on a new platform. part of the funds will go towards a new company headquarters being built in texas. as well as research in developing artificial intelligence. the announcement is seen as a move to highlight the firm's contribution to the u.s. economy, but there are no specifics as to how it will lead to creating more job and whether it will appease the incoming president has yet to be seen. a toyota official said there will be no changes built to the plant in mexico. honda motor and nissan said they have no intention of changing protection plants in mexico. back to you. >> thank you very much for that. senior management at volkswagen allegedly authorizeded the concealment of emission cheating devices, that's according to u.s. prosecutors on monday which showed that vw executives were briefed about the cheating in 2015 but conspired to hide it from regulators. oliver schmidt, the former head of compliance in the u.s., was among the employees allegedly involved in the briefing. he's no being detained pending a hearing scheduled for thursday. the global carmakers, they're talking up the u.s. production at the north american international auto show in detroit. this happening after donald trump attacked carmakers for manufacturing in mexico. among the new models introduced, ford launched a diesel engine for its f-150, gm revealed a new diesel option for its suvs. phil lebeau has the latest from detroit. >> reporter: beyond the bright lights and big productions introducing new models, the biggest presence at the detroit auto show is president-elect donald trump. he's not visiting the show but he's on the mind of everybody here who realized trump wants more auto jobs created in the u.s. not overseas. so fiat chrysler announced plans to hire 2,000 more workers as it expands jeep production in michigan and ohio. president-elect trump tweeted about the decision saying it's finally happening. fiat chris leer just announced plans to invest $1 billion in michigan and ohio plants, adding 2,000 jobs. >> the timing may have coincided with this incredible emphases that trump is making on sort of american made products and american production. but i think the substance of the announcement was inside the house for months. >> reporter: jeep's move comes a week afford scrapped plans to add a plant in mexico. in favor expanding a current one in michigan. where it now says it will build a new version of the bronco suv. >> there's a lot of love out there from bronco advocates. >> reporter: mary barra says her company has no plans to change where it builds vehicles, mexico. the question is how quickly those numbers could change if the president-elect succeeds in getting a border tax on mexican made autos. >> i think the next few months will be very interesting and certainly going to be difficult for the industry depending on what the flavor of the day is. >> reporter: for all the talk here about executives trying to figure out how they'll deal with president-elect trump and his policies, one thing has not changed in the auto industry, record high sales. as one executive put it, sales are great. what's not great is trying to figure out where we'll build those cars and trucks in the future. phil lebeau, detroit. all right. joining me now is anna marie budston, auto analyst, and we have nancy who has come into the studio. senior management at vw, they have authorized, we know that they authorized the hiding of this emission cheating device. at the same time vw plugging new vehicles as well. how does this balance up? how do you see what's happening with vw? >> it's interesting. if you look at their share price, it hasn't had much of a negative impact so far at all. i think actually seeing someone arrested and being held accountable, the fact they're still negotiations a settlement in the u.s., it almost feels like we're starting to see the beginning of a resolution. people are being held accountable and trying to make amends me amends and also lunching new models that could help their product mix. so far it's going quite positively. >> it is incredible that vw's former head of compliance in the u.s. apparently was in on this, knew about it. >> yeah. this is a big point, because initially when the news broke it was bad enough that they had been hiding this device. now it turns out that someone had been making excuses for why there was a discrepancy in the results. so it does show it wasn't just cheating in the first place, they were also covering it up. now they have someone responsible. >> when we look at that year to date price being from january, since the new year, the stock up some 9% there on the charts. in the only hat stock not been reacting negativity, it's moving higher, does this suggest investors are anxious to get that dodj deal? >> i think so. some products coming out this week is positive. >> when you talk about the products coming out this week, talking about the detroit auto show, most of the headlines have been surrounding donald trump, yet we were listening to the fiat ceo there, sergio marconi saying most of these plans were already in place, similar to what a lot of ceos have been saying, and toyota, bmw and gm saying we're still committing to mexi mexico. >> i think the direct effect of what trump has been saying can be a bit overblown in relation to the investment announcements. we're talking a lot of money. a lot already planned, if not months, years beforehand. a lot of these companies have big plants that are already very entrenched in global supply chain. it would be a big upheaval to move them. when you look at ford pulling the plug on the new plant. that was very much a demand story as well. mark fields himself said the demand wasn't there that they thought there was in the first place. i think the direct effect is overstated. >> the data is supposedly stronger stateside. the fed hiking rates, supposedly we're seeing a bigger recovery than the past year. things are looking up from a business perspective. markets at multi month highs, if not multi-year highs for many of us. yet you think the auto market will be slower in 2017. why? >> yeah. i think certainly consumer confidence is there. absolutely. people are feeling better off. but if you start looking at some of the more industry specific factors, we've got a big inventory of cheap secondhand cars coming. leasing has been huge over the last couple of years. a lot of models coming to the secondhand market. that gives people a slightly more affordable but still very new car option. so that's going to play a big part as well. >> was interesting when you listened to toyota's north american president, he said one reason automakers are so encouraged towards donald trump's policies, that the stimulus and new jobs translate for better sales. is this a big piece of the puzzle we're seeing? >> it's true there will be a feel-good factor, particularly if you get jobs coming back into the country. then that's always good for private consumption. i think a lot of that will be behind it. you are talking about big ticket items as well. not just going out and spending more on high street. it's things that you really need a boost in private consumption for. >> thank you very much. >> thank you. >> auto analyst from bmi. thank you to you as well, nancy. now, speaking of trump, alibaba's executive chairman, jack ma, met with trump discussing creating a million new jobs in the u.s. in five years. trump called ma one of the best entrepreneurs in the world saying the two discussed job creation focusing on america's small businesses. ma also commented on china/u.s. relations. >> we may talk about small business, american agriculture products to china we also think that china/u.s. relationship should be strengthened, more friendly, do better. >> also the president-elect will be appointing his son-in-law, jared kushner. you have been all over this this morning writing in on whether or not you think that's a correct move to make, whether it should be legal or not. he's appointed him as senior adviser. in a statement trump said that kushner was a tremendous asset and trusted adviser throughout the campaign. officials say that kushner won't take a salary, he'll be diversing his holdings in his family's real estate business. some ethics experts expressed concern that the appointment could run afoul of federal nepotism laws. keep your comments on this coming through. it's always interesting to hear what you have to say, whether or not we're leaving out any points out there. [email protected]. that's the e-mail address. find us also on twitter, @louisabojesen. as that plays out, battle lines are being drawn over the president-elect cabinet picks. a slew of confirmation hearings are set to start today. both sides are bracing for a fight. haley jackson has the details. >> reporter: for the trump transition, it's biggest week yet. key cabinet confirmations stacking up in congress. two tomorrow, four wednesday, three more thursday. >> i think they'll all pass. every nomination will -- they're all at the high evident level. >> reporter: among the most controversial, alabama jeff sessions. his civil rights record under fire. >> there is concern about jeff sessions in particular. >> no, i think he's going to do great. high quality man. >> reporter: trump's team touting how seriously they're taking this. inside the nondescript transition office in d.c., some 70 hours of mock hearings. each nominee peppered with some 120 questions each session. >> the process is meant to prepare the nominee and also to scare them just a little bit. >> reporter: but nbc news has learned four cabinet picks with hearings this week have failed to finish required ethics reviews. according to a senate aide involved in the process. while the transition team insists all forms have been filed, the ethics office called the fast pace unprecedented. >> here's the great irony. leader mcconnell asked for the exact same things we're asking for in 2009 to president-elect obama. and here's the one difference. all of president-elect obama's nominees complied. >> reporter: top democrat chuck schumer sending top republican mitch mcconnell the same letter mcconnell first sent in '09 asking for best practices. with senator mcconnell at trump tower brushing off democrats' complaints. >> everybody will be properly vetted as they have been in the past. >> reporter: trump today punting when pressed about his own conflicts of interest. >> we'll talk about it on wednesday. it's very simple. >> reporter: similarly dodging questions about russia's interference in the election, looking ahead instead to his news conference wednesday. >> who do you trust more, julian assange or the nsa? >> we'll be talking to you very soon. >> now, for both sides of the trump trade, head to cnbc.com. also hear why one strategist is saying the president-elect will have very little influence on the markets in 2017. deutsche bank is saying that trump's plans could double gdp growth by next year. again, head to our website, web web for a lot more on that. coming up on "street signs," buy low sell high? could investing in cannabis spark a profit or will your investment go up in smoke? yes, a play on words, but an interesting market. it is legal in many areas. we'll speak to someone invested in the world's state producer for recreational cannabis. it's an interesting company listed in front to we'll be back with that. good morning. welcome back. i'm louisa bojesen, this is "street signs." the spanish economy has grown by 3.3% in 2016, that just hitting our wires. so, that was slightly more than expected. official forecast for 3.2%. the uruguayan company international cannabis corporation, or icc, is the world's first producer of state commissioned cannabis for recreational use. the toronto listed firm, which is the largest of its kind in latin america, has plans to shake up the industry with costs per gram being a quarter of those incurred by north american rivals. icc's three major businesses include recreation the, industrial hemp and medicinal. the latter which is said to have the greatest potential for growth. i'm assuming many of you like me don't know a whole lot about the cannabis market. so let's talk more about this. juan santore is the president and founder of union group and a significant investor in icc. welcome. >> good morning. >> we usually talk about latin america, investing in the region. we have to the talked about cannabis and cannabis investing. you've been invested in icc for how long? >> almost two years now. >> what made you get into the area? >> we have a background in agriculture. we are always looking for agricultural products, this is the most interesting one. because it's obviously a huge market that was completely el lil illegal around the world two years ago there was relaxation of the laws. uruguay was the first country to say i'll completely legalize the medical and recreational use of cannabis. since then the hahalf the state realized its use, canada legalized it, and many places around the world have legalized the extract which has health benefits. overnight the product which was illegal but a big market has big a big product like alcohol or cigarettes. it's a big industry just starting. with an interesting future. >> you're saying they'll start delivery soon in uruguay? >> yes. in uruguay, the whole process started years ago of awarding licenses. icc was awarded one of two licenses to produce and distribute locally and externally cannabis products. so the process has been going on, and in the next month we'll have the first recreational sales in uruguay for the market and by the end of the year the first export sales. most of latin america has legalized the use of the extracting of cannabis but not the production. >> so the international cannabis corporation, produces for medicinal and recreational use. with regards to the relaxation of laws, do you think that's going to continue? will it pick up? are we going to see changes after donald trump comes into office with regards to the legalization of cannabis? >> from the legal patient of view and policy, first of all public opinion has changed on the subject. it was something that everybody was against and every single poll around the world shows people are in favor of relaxation or legalization of the cannabis industry. that gives a good footing for politicians to evolve in the laws. it becomes not only popular or interesting for them. we have seen probably in the legal point of view, u.s. and canada leading the way. it will happen in most places of the world. the first stage is always medical legalization, then production. >> if i would have been an investor directly in cannabis, how have my stocks performed over the last couple years? >> last year the cannabis stocks were one of the best performing stocks around the world. most of them are traded in canada, because the market is legal there. you have today more than $6 billion in combined market cap. so you have some market leaders there in canada. icc is the first international company to be listed in toronto and operating outside of canada. they all have amazing performance. when you look for the growth of the industries, it's not unlike anything else. it's like an end of prohibition or alcohol in the u.s. some time ago. it's a big change in regulation that generates overnight a huge market. >> i have no idea. i do find it interesting that we accept a glass of wine, do we accept smoking a joint in a different way? i don't know. i can't claim to know a whole lot about it from a personal perspective, but really interesting from a business perspective. >> that's how we got involved in it we're looking at its professional industry that's becoming a real big market and we're simply looking tat in terms of the market opportunity. >> juan, thank you very much. check it out. icc. do your own homework. juan satore joining us from union group. we'll see you tomorrow for another "street signs." yca llyk anything with a screen is a tv. ÷ stream 130 live channels. plus 40,000 on demand tv shows and movies, all on the go. you can even download from your x1 dvr and watch it offline. only xfinity gives you more to stream to any screen. download the xfinity tv app today. good morning. markets now, u.s. futures in the red as the dow slips away from the 20,000 mark. the trump administration kicks off a whirlwind week of cabinet hearings. and what's in a name. the big changes coming to yahoo!. it's tuesday, january 10, 2017, "worldwide exchange" begins right now. ♪ good morning. very warm welcome to