the month of december. that was the highest reading since february of 2011. so a bit of weakness in the month of january. looking at the sub components, the ifo current conditions index is at 116.9, bang in line with the forecast. but the headline index below expectations. the expectations index is at 103. once again below forecasts. louisa, yesterday we saw a mixed performance when it came to the pmis. the services number for germany was below what analysts had been anticipating. manufacturing was stronger. overall the fourth quarter in germany has seen a strong end to the year what we're seeing in january is a more mixed performance but a continuation of that overall strongish trend. >> some say there's the seasonal factor at play, i think it will be interesting to see how this data holds up, especially after some of the projection indexes on optimism given the huge changes we're seeing in the states on policy. whether or not that filters through. glancing at european markets, we're higher. we're higher. up by a percent. just with gains seen pretty much across the board. showing you those main indexes. seeing that reflected there with the positivity. all european stock markets trading higher this morning. the sectors, where we're seeing repositioning from yesterday, autos higher, banks up by 2%, insurers higher, utilities flat to a couple points lower. people looking closer at the banks and you also have prosecutors in milan opening up an investigation into alleged false accounting and embezzlement at bt's italian unit. the development happened after the telecom giant announced yesterday that the accounting scandal at bt italia was more severe than what had been originally thought. that revelation along with a profit warning for the uk business caused shares to drop by more than 20% in yesterday's trade. a huge reaction seen there yesterday. adding a tiny bit on to trade this morning. >> intesa sanpaolo has confirmed it is considering a possible tie-up with generali saying in a statement its management would carefully examine any opportunities this after shares finished 8% higher on increasing speculation that the bank was interested in making a bid or building a stake. generali launched its own preempttive strike to ward off any move since it was reported that intesa was interested in a takeover by allianz. it effectively blocked intesa's ability to take a minority stayed. finally analysts have questioned whether rival axa from france may step in with a bid since generali's new boss was previously an executive at the french insurance giant. however generali is considered a strategics a s s a setasset for government. quite a protracted story there. >> it's very complicated. lots of moving parts. >> if this deal needs to go through, we need to look at some of the anti competitive pressures all these companies may be facing. >> sticking in the arena of financials, deutsche bank has declined to comment on its report -- on a report that it's mulling a part ipo of its asset arm as part of its restructuring plans. cnbc sources learned that a partial flotation is planned. they could sell off a quarter of the deutsche asset management. speaking to cnbc in davos, the deutsche bank ceo, john cryan denied the bank was considering a spinoff. >> asset management remains core. it's a separate fiduciary business. the regulations make it a little bit more separate, but it's a super business. very sizable. people forget how big it is. it's a lovely, steady stream of predictable profits and revenues for us. we like it very much. we'll keep that. >> sysisco bought appdynamics f $3.7 billion. the deal is cisco's largest under chuck robbins as the company seeks to expand in areas outside of its corone networkin business. let's go to our guest who salt through a long read about generali. all of these companies are trying to shape up their business. is it out of desperation because growth is so hard to come by in this environment or because they see plenty of opportunities out there? >> i think there's another factor as well in that work about generali, that countries are beginning to encourage national champions. it's part of this populism protectionist move that a number of companies are talking about, that desire to build big, you know, global leaders, big champions. there is part of that mindset companies are latching on to. i think it's more about a lack of growth than it is about a reflection on strong growth. if you look at when big m&a cycles tend to happen, it's not at the bottom of market cycles, it's very much at the top and about trying to replace slowing growth or stagnating businesses with some m&a activity. >> it's often very much the fear of missing out. the fomo that everyone talks about. do you want to buy into that fom os o trend? >> i think any company that overreaches for growth is always going to do a disservice for shareholders. it's -- you can't manufacture growth. financial engineering can be one of the curses of the financial system. i think ultra low interest rates, a world of low nominal growth does actually force chief executives into that sort of mindset. there's not a lot of evidence that it adds value to the shareholders or the whole economy. >> andrew, i'm glancing through some european market charts. some extraordinary rallies. dax going from 8800 a year ago to almost 12,000 now. the ftse a year ago, close to 5,500, now near 7,000. how much more to the upside do you think there are in european equity markets compared to elsewhere. you mentioned the returns over a year. when i was here 12 months ago, we were all terribly pessimistic. we were talking about china growing at zero, america entering recession. a lot of that move is about a recalibration of extremely pessimistic fears last year to realizing the world is not so bad. you mentioned the pmis and the surveys, all of which are buoyant. we're in that stage where it's show us the money. you mentioned companies beating on profits, having profit warnings. it's a mixed bag out there. at the moment we enteral earnings season, it's all about the individual companies showing what they're made of. from here it's a much more different story. there's a lot of expectation built in of an immediate trump bang. a lot of the things he talks about could have a negative impact or will take time to play out. the rate of ascent is almost certainly going to slow. >> why do you say a negative impact? a lot of people would disagree and say he's loosening regulations, for example, the oil and gas sector could be flying. you could see the banking sector also under loser regulation, have a much easier time in operating. why does it have to be a negative? >> probably the same people forecasting recession in the u.s. last year. the reason i say there could be a negative is, one, a lot of that is discounted in share prices. the s&p 500 is on a price to sales ratio above that in 2000. it's not cheap on the underlying driver of profits, which is sales. that's making a big assumption that either growth will be strong and/or margins will be strong. my concern would be that for the u.s. in particular, that its success could be the seeds of the disruption of the market cycle in that markets have been re-rated over the last five years on ultra low interest rates. earnings growth has been mediocre to flat. the market rating has been buoyant and rising. so as we begin to see growth reassert itself, then you have to see the yield curve steepen further, rates rise, that challenges the notion of what the right valuation on the market is. i'm not saying you can't be optimistic that there is a growth opportunity out there. but it could very well be in the price. nobody is thinking about the negative that if inflation comes back, growth is above normal t could lead to a de-rating of the market. >> before we let you go, give us some actionable advice. it seems like you're somewhat hesitant when it comes to investing further into the markets. is europe the market that will surprise everyone in 2017? where else do you look for value? >> last year, you know, it was a great example of the best advise you can give to people, keep engaged with markets. last year everybody got terribly te pessimistic, this year all those left tail fears out there. for us, it's about keeping a balance d portfolio, looking where there is growth, not just chasing the latest fad. asia and europe look attractive. valuations are down. they've done nothing for five years. if global growth picks up, they're a warrant on improved sentiment. >> you have anthony writing in saying strong upis yesterday, underlying u.s. data, strong trump pipeline environment, two different views here. the macro is more troubling. >> the macro, we have to wait and see whether these hopes are followed up with action. you know, i don't think the u.s. is without its challenges and problems. the auto industry, the housing market may be beginning to send didn't signals. we are also in a massive transition in the corporate sector from old economies to new economies. if you look at a lot of government policies they're trying to support the old and dying, which is not a recipe for long-term economic success. >> we have to leave it there. thank you very much forever being with us. andrew perry. by all means get involved. the address, streetsignseurope@cn streetsignseurope@cnbc. i don't know about you guys, i was up way too late last night reading about the changes happens stateside via trump. you can follow us on twitter. >> @carolincnbc or @louisabojesen. coming up, robotics, iu, molecular manipulation what are the top areas investors should be eyeing in 2017. we'll big into the stocks to watch after this. with the xfinity tv app, 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. welcome back to "street signs." lg electronics swung to an on rating loss of 31 billion yuan in the fourth quarter, it was weighed down by weakness in the mobile business. and line posted a 17% rise in sales for the full year. shares of the firm are down more than 3.5% over the past year. japan's exports have inched up for the first time in 15 months on stroke sales of car parts and electronics. for more on the asian markets, we have pauline with us out of singapore. positivity coming through from the nikkei as well. >> yes. the nikkei leading the way as the asian markets are sitting at a three month high right now let's start with the nikkei, which closed up 1.4%. and exports rose for the first time in 15 months as those numbers came in much better than expected rising 5.4% year on year versus the 1.2% expected. the kospi ended flat, once again samsung shares hitting record highs. this is a day after samsung reported very strong q4 earnings numbers. and additional share buybacks. we saw investors piling into the stock there. the hang seng also up in positive territory, trading is very thin in shanghai as traders have already left, many of them left early for the lunar new year holiday. the nifty is rallying led by the banking sector off the back of strong earnings. some banks showing the demonetization drive didn't have as much of a negative impact as might have been expected. and there's optimism within the financial sector right now, a week ahead of the financial budget which will be unveiled a week from today. back to you. >> thank you very much. logitech shares hit the top of europe after posting the highest retail revenue in the company's history. the firm raised its outlook on the back of a 13% rise in quarterly sales. shares up by 13.5%. >> bhp reported strong second quarter numbers posting a 9% rise in iron ore output. however they cut copper production blaming stores in australia. and antofagasta has posted its latest production report against a back drop of spiking metals prices. the copper firm production rose 14%. this comes as the copper rally continues with the price of the metal nearly 30% higher since president trump's election. it was a miss on the top and bottom line for novartis. fourth quarter core operating and sales came in below expectations. the swiss drugmaker is returning cash to shareholders, raising their dividend price and launching a share buyback of $5 billion. specking earlier to cnbc, the novartis ceo explained how this will likely impact margins going forward. >> the whole pricing issue is not new this has been around for many years. novartis recognized this a couple years ago. we started down a path of contracting based on the outcomes our drug delivers instead of just the transaction of getting a particular price. this kind of outcomes-based contracting is in its infancy, but novartis is a leader here. that's one way we defuse the arguments around pricing if our drugs don't deliver, we don't get the same kind of price we would if they deliver on reducing hospitalization. we'll stay on that path. spanish banks are getting a boost after santander topped expectations to announce a 4% rise in 2016 net profit. a pick up in brazil helped to offset weakness in the uk. the spanish lender said it is on track to get to its target of above 11% by 2018. artificial intelligence, autonomous cars and molecular diagnostics, those are the top three areas that investors should be watching in 2017. that's according to our next guest, alex gunz, a regular, and a fund manager who is back in to visit with us with another edition of future trends. you're saying now artificial intelligence, molecular diagnostics and future cars. >> the future of the car. >> talk us through why you're looking at these? >> the trends in general, our starting point is simple. we're in a low growth world and essentially looking for opportunities that will allow you to get above average growth. these are trends which we think are growing in importance regardless of what's happening to gdp and regardless of what government is, and regulators are doing. they are things that are disruptive but also making our lives inherently more efficient. >> okay. break it down a bit. so, with artificial intelligence you single out google. >> that's correct. artificial intelligence, there's a huge amount of misunderstanding out there about what it means. i was in las vegas the beginning of this year at the consumer electronics show. almost every single device there was labeled as smart, having enhanced intelligence. that's not what we mean. artificial intelligence is software, it's algorithms, the reality is we're drowning in information, but we're starved for knowledge. really the way of the software working efficiently is mining through lots and lots of data, using predictive abilities to come out with the best outcomes. we think though it's not evident in google's numbers today, we believe, we understand from the research we've done through the acquisitions they made, particularly buying up smaller businesses such as dark blue labs or deep mine that they're building a strong presence in this area. >> all right. let's talk about a market leader in molecular diagnostics. what does illumina do? >> it was a volatile year and there were some good reasons behind that if we go back a step, they produce sequencing machines that allow human dna and also potentially animals and plant dna to be sequenced. the rational for doing this is moving medicine from being reactive to preemptive. rather than saying going to the doctor and saying i have an ache or a pain here, the idea is that with your dna sequenced, you can predict the diseases you may suffer from in the future and which drugs your body may respond to best. illumina is the best in this field, selling to laboratories, hospitals, doctors. they had a volatile year as you correctly identified in 2016. they missed numbers a couple of times but things have changed since then. they brought in a new chief executive in the middle of last year. i think he's very much got the ship back on track again. expectations are set realistically. i think the other core development that has helped the stock so far this year has been the announcement at the beginning of january of a new set of sequence called the novaset which will bring down the coast. going back to 2001 when the human genome was first sequenced t cost about $100 million then, and took ten days. today it's about $1,000 and takes six hours. with this next generation of machines, it probably goes live commercially in about a year's time that cost could get below the $100 mark. >> that's a huge shift. when i talked to healthcare officials in davos last week, they talked about the future of gene sequencing. like you said, it's about bringing down the cost. let's talk about vallejo, which is an auto parts supplierment you think there's a story behind it because of the automated driving. why are they the leader here? >> we have been investors since 2013. since that time valeo more than doubled. we think it's consistent in terms of delivering. they have an order book of 20 billion euros. if you think about the car today, it's an incredibly inefficient vehicle. it gets used less than 5% of the time, yet car accidents are the eighth big the cause of death. you have to worry about congestion and pollution. we are gradually shifting towards this future-like car, electronic, autonomous. and there's a secondary debate, if you don't need to drive a car, why do you need to own it? if you think about what goes into this car, you need a handful of crucial features. some of them are mapping, some will be electric power, we're invested in battery businesses, but one crucial thing is in safety systems. automated driving assistance and safety systems. they have clear technological advantage there. that's why they've been winning share. >> alex, about 40 seconds left. you have some crazy stats in this publication. any that you care to share with us that stand out for you? >> i think the stat we shared with you a second ago about dna is an amazing one. the flip side, of course, when you think about healthcare, obesity. we've been on the program and talked about it before. if you look globally today, 1 in 3 people are either overweight or obese. wind the clock forward 20 years, that will be 1 in 2 people. huge problem for the world. huge opportunity for insulin-related businesses, businesses that deal with kidney failure. >> 1 in 2 in another 15 years. >> that's right. >> alex, thank you. >> okay. we'll go for a quick break. check out our blog which runs throughout the european trading day. we'll see you in two. > . >> welcome back. you're sill watching "street signs." i'm carolin roth. >> i'm louisa bojesen. your headlines. the deal talk round generali heats up. intesa sanpaolo formally reveals it's considering a tie-up as representatives of both companies are called to provide information to italy's stock market regulator. logitech shares top the european market and hit an eight-year high as it raises its outlook after a record retail performance in the third quarter. santander tops forecasts as the eurozone's largest bank defies margin pressure to post fourth quarter net profit of 1.6 billion euros. novartis misses fourth quarter sales targets as generic competition heats up. but the ceo tells cnbc why the swiss drugmaker is still launching a $5 billion share buyback. >> we expect to enter the next growth phase towards the end of 2017. once we're out from the patent expiration, that's why we announced the buyback today. we're bullish on the future of the company and the growth trajectory we'll see in 2018. >> good morning. if you're just tuning in, let's have a quick look at u.s. futures. yesterday another record high for the s&p 500 and the nasdaq. we're set to continue in that vain. the s&p 500 seen up by 6.5 points. the dow jones set to add 68. the nasdaq on track for a 20-point gain. yesterday the material sector spiked more than 2.5% on the back of more executive orders coming from president trump. let's see whether that filters through to the european session. yes, it has. we saw a nice pick up in the asian trading session. the cac 40 up by 4%. the dax up by 1.2%. the ftse 100 also higher to the tune of a half per st. it's not just the trump rally that we're benefiting from but better than expected earnings from this side of the pond. we had numbers from santander and logitech providing some very positive sentiment. coming back to the currency markets, the dollar has been trying to make a rebound over the last two trading days. doesn't quite catch it at this point. the dollar/yen at 113.64, down by 0.1% on the day. worth noting we just seen a spike in cable. pound versus the u.s. dollar you to at 25.70. the highest level since december 14th. why? it could be just broad dollar selling. maybe fat finger trade. if you have more information, send your knowledge through to us. that's the picture from the currency markets. lou? >> thank you. let's continue and talk more about what's taking place in the uk. the government here will be fast tracking legislation this week aimed at giving prime minister theresa may authority to invoke brexit before her march deadline. this after the supreme court ruled that parliament must vote before triggering article 50. announcing the straightforward brexit bill in the house of commons, the secretary of state for leaving the eu, david davis warned the vote should not be an excuse to overturn the referendum result. >> i trust no one will make this an attempt of a vehicle to thwart the will of the people. fourth, our timetable for invoking article 50 by the end of march still stands. that timetable is given valuable certainty to citizens and businesses in the uk and across europe. it's understood by european partners and provides a framework for planning the negotiation ahead. >> jane foley is back with us. very good to see you again. >> thank you. >> we are seeing a bit of buying in the pound, up a half percent against the greenback. what happens from here on out? how much further weakness do you think the pond will see given this brexit uncertainty? >> i think we could see a lot of volatility. what we've seen in the last week is relief. this is relief since theresa may spoke last week. the government appears to have a plan. before that, a lot of talk about muddled thinking. now the government has a plan. not only that, theresa may has been advertising what a busy schedule she's got. she's going to washington this week, talking about potentially going to china. the fact there before so many irp irons in the fire has given investors relief. so sterling has come back. but the negotiations for brexit have yet to commence with european partners. once brexit is triggered, sterling could stutter again. yes, sterling is pushing higher for now, but i think we have a volatile year ahead. >> how are you thinking about all of the currency pairs and how they are going to be interacting given the policy moves we're seeing swiftly being put in place stateside and from the european side? >> from the european side since last year the markets priced in quite a volatile prior for the euro. the market was getting scared about french elections and the dutch elections and german elections. once we look at opinion polls, we are given an impression that while the far right is likely to get more support, they're not likely to form a government. there's a bit of relief coming back into the euro. sense the start of the year we had some better than expected german and other european union economic data. these arguments helped to support the euro. the euro could find some ground if the elections got right way, so to speak this year. and the dollar is coming off its post-trump honeymoon period. >> we're trying to see it break out to the upside again. it can't escape the gloom and doom about protectionism. the first couple days of donald trump in the white house were coined by protectionism and very hostile language. where does the go next from here? we're not sure what the donald trump sees in the dollar, whether they want it to go higher or lower. we had the negative comments from the treasury secretary mnuchin. how do you trade the dollar in this uncertain political environment driven very much by headline news. >> if trump wants american exports to be promoted, he will want a weaker dollar. which goes against the general rhetoric of the u.s. treasury for years, a strong dollar is good. we did have some weighing up by the treasury secretary nominee. he said in some periods a strong dollar is not as appropriate. certainly trump is likely to favor a weaker dollar. the markets have been interesting. last year they were about reflation. donald trump will cut regulation, cut taxes. there wasn't that much focus on the protectionism. this year the market is getting more focused on protectionism. more talk about protectionism laws in the 1930s, the market is getting frightened about that. what i thought would happen is that the dollar would remain on its reflationary honeymoon for the ed middle of the year but t we backtrack. >> it happened before. >> it happened already. the bubble is bursting already on this trump reflationary scenario. if he were to bring out more detail, what he would do be fiscal stimulus, if he had the support from congress that would help. for now the market needs more meat on the bones if the dollar bulls will get another go. >> as long as we don't have that, we have more uncertainty about brexit, where do you direct your attention? what currency pairs do you buy? for now we had the market coming back on the yen, which is a bit of a safe haven play. also if trump's protectionism really does go fourth, then there's going to be more concern about china. this is supportive for the yen on the safe haven flow and quite worrying for the aussies. the aussies have done well this year. i would be nervous if i was an aussie bill. >> jane writes in omg, love jane foley. >> how nice. >> compliment to get your day going. >> thank you. >> on that note, jane, thank you very much for that. jane foley, head of fx strategy. ecb executive board members say they are hope ful the european bank will scale back the bond buying back program. she is the first ecb policymaker to be explicit about the end of qe. president gadhafi hm . the former president of the european parliament has been nominated to run as the social democrats candidate in german elections. s s simone gabriel said he was stepping aside to afford his party a new beginning. the social democrats will put forth schulz nomination on sunday. >> we all know they needed to come in with a new candidate. the problem is for the spd, they're only polling at 21%, 22% of germany. if if martin schulz does well, he can't form a government alone. essentially they're in the same pickle they've been in for the last eight years. >> exactly the same scenario. slightly different, but the same. >> yeah. let's turn our attention to italy. theirs is more straightforward. italy's constitutional court began a hearing to assess the legitimacy of the electoral law. the ruling, which is expected later today, could influence the timing of new elections. former prime minister matteo renzi introduced the legislation known as italicum saying it would bring stability to italy. the court is likely to reject parts of the reform. the republicans in france, the presidential candidates for the republican party, francois fillon is said to be outraged by reports that his wife had been paid by him for fictitious employment. reports in french media said the presidential front-runner's wife was paid 500,000 euros over eight years to work as an assistant for her husband when he was a lawmaker but did little to earn her salary. president donald trump has signed two executive orders to advance the construction of the keystone xl and dakota access pipelines, two controversial projects blocked under president obama. president trump said the executive orders would help to meet his campaign promise to create american jobs. he also signed an additional three executive orders to speed up environmental reviews for other infrastructure projects in order to expedite the permitting process for domestic manufacturing and construction. hours after he signed the executive order, protesters gathered in washington and new york to voice opposition to the construction of the pipeline citing environmental concerns. president trump is also expected to take action on immigration today. he is seen signing executive orders to limit the united states intake of refugees and possibly suspend visas of immigrants from syria and other mideastern countries. trump tweeted that he had a big day for national security planned adding "among many other things, we will build the wall." as he rapidly reshapes american policy with a flurry of executive actions, president trump is drawing scrutiny for repeating a false claim. namely that millions of fraudulent votes were cast in the election. we get the details from haley jackson. >> reporter: this time it's not candidate trump promoting false claims of voter fraud, but president trump with the white house now officially endorsing a debunked conspiracy theory that millions voted illegally. >> it was a comment he made on a long standing belief. >> reporter: citing studies that don't back up his claim. the press secretary backing up his boss who told congressional leaders that illegals, people voting illegally, cost him the popular vote. if proven, it would be fraud on an unprecedented scale. something that could undermine an entire election yet the white house confident in his victory. >> why not say he will investigate if he believes and the administration's position is there was massive voter fraud? >> he said three to five million people could have voted illegally. based on the studies he's seen. we're here on day two, i think let's not pre-judge what we may or may not do in the future. >> reporter: the national association of secretaries of state standing by its confidence in our election process. not aware of any evidence supporting the president's voter fraud claims, but open to learning more about the administration's concerns. >> free and fair elections are the bedrock of our democracy and seems like president trump is trying to take a jackhammer to hit. >> reporter: republican senator lindsey graham all but pleading with the president to call for a fair election. >> this will erode his ability to govern the country. you don't get to think out loud, have casual thoughts, you have to talk about empirical data. >> reporter: hallie jackson, the white house. . it's astounding. astounding that nobody in the white house administration dare stands up to him and says, sorry, you're wrong on this particular point. let's not keep presenting it. just, again, going through the list of what's happened in the last 24 hours or so, 72 hours, abandoning the tpp, mod fifying policies on healthcare, abortion, cleared the way for the two big pipelines we talked about, taking grants from the epa, banning them to speak to reporters, banning them to post on social media. suggesting that the u.s. should take iraq's oil if given another chance. iraq being an ally to the u.s. you had sean spicer there not being able to verify trump's claims that 3 million to 4 million people voted illegally instead of coming out and saying it was wrong. the house republicans today will be looking to allow state agencies to sue peaceful proteste protesters. to sue peaceful protesters. i don't know what to call it any longer. >> yeah. why are you surprised? essentially what we're getting here is the campaign trump. president trump is equal to the trump that we saw on the campaign trail. that is a realization that is slowly sinking in. it might be painful for many, but i guess this is what we'll have to work with over the next four years. the question then is when it comes to immigration, for example, how will he be able to rein in home grown terrorism? he's trying to limit some of the immigration because he's afraid of terrorism. what do you do about the lone wolves in the u.s.? >> you probably can't do much. if people want to be bad, you know, there's -- you can't always stop that. what i'm surprised about is that so many people, regardless of which side of the fence you're on, that so many people want a government in place that controls the press and freedom of speech. i thought these were things that america stood for, you want freedom of press. >> we have to leave it here. we'll continue the discussion later on on "street signs." we end today's show on a high note. will "la la land" get it's own hollywood ending at the oscars? . good morning. welcome back. casey affleck and denzel washington are among those nominated for oscars for "manchester by the sea" and "fences." it's an all singing and all dancing love story that could steal the show. i saw "manchester by the sea." >> how was it? >> so, so good. >> what about "la la land"? i'm skeptical. i don't think i can get my husband to watch a musical. >> i keep thinking there must be a reason it's winning. >> nbc's man in hollywood, joe fryer has more. ♪ >> reporter: hollywood is going gaga for la la land. the musical danced its way to 14 oscar nominations, tying the record for "titanic and "all about eve" in a year where diversity is taking center stage. >> as long as you in my house, you put a sir on the end of it when you talk to me. >> reporter: best picture include "fences," "moonlight" and hidden figures, the true tale of african-american mathematician in the 60s. >> we're happy that people are receiving it and children and families are responding to these women. >> reporter: octavia spencer is one of seven actors of color nominated, a stark contrast to the past two years when the oscar nominations were all white. this year viola davis is making history becoming the first black actress to earn throw oscar nods. >> the issue is not so much year to year but the overall picture. this year looks to be pretty good. there's no guarantee it will be the same next year or it could be better. >> reporter: one surprise, years after mel gibson's scandals, including antisemetic remarks, he scored a director nomination for hacksaw ridge. far less shocking, meryl streep is now a 20-time nominee using her tone deaf role in florence foster jenkins to shatter her own record and perhaps a few glasses. joe fryer, nbc news, los angeles. >> such a good movie. >> need to see that. from flying high at the oscars to getting a lift from helium, the global helium market is believed to be worth $6 billion, while the price of bulk helium has seen a rise over 100% in the last ten years. we are joined by the ceo of helium one. could you say there's a shortage in the helium market given the price rise? >> the supply side does have its issues, not so much a shortage but reduced number of suppliers. it's a highly leveraged production in natural gas, it doesn't have the capacity to increase supply. if demand rises, current producers do not have capacity to increase. >> apart from balloons at kids birthday parties, what is helium used for in the industrial setting? >> for super conducting, high-end technical applications. it's negative 269 degrees celsius, it's still liquid. mri scanners are the single biggest user of helium. >> which particular end of the market do you see the most growth in? >> the new applications are compelling. lockheed martin or hybrid airships are exciting. each one will use over a million cubic feet of helium. looking at using those in remote applications, such as arctic environments or areas with low infrastructure. so we see that as major growth and with computer hard drives. plenty of them. how does the market work? how volatile is it? how liquid is it? how do i trade it? >> the market is almost a commodity at this stage because of the supply side issues. so, end users would like to have clarity that the helium is, in fact, available. at the moment we saw a couple years ago there's a definite shortage there with lng plants, they went in for scheduled maintenance, then there's a world supply shortage. end users would appreciate clarity, and then increased demand for supply. >> thomas, how is your business and how sis the industry affectd by the trump administration? protecti protectionism on one hand and inflation on the other hand. or are you politics agnostic? >> we are politics agnostic, however the usa federal reserve of helium will stop selling helium, so we see the usa as the largest single market for us to get our product to. >> what's the future for your company? you're here to announce an 80% increase in helium production. how significant is that? >> it is very significant. concentration is 8% to 10% helium concentration in our gas. that reduces operational costs. we're not associated with hydrocarbons. we are a stan-alone helium resource, which is comparable to why the usa is closing down 20, 21 helium resources. >> we did promise the producers we could do the show in our helium voices. we did not in the end. >> that's it for today's show. i'm louisa bojesen. >> i'm carolin roth. "worldwide exchange" is up next. good morning. forget the first 100 days, with less than a week on the job, president trump is getting to work on that u.s./mexico border wall. details straight ahead. and ipo interrupted. cisco snapsdynamics. and corporate earnings reports on focus on the street. it's wednesday, january 25, 201. "worldwide exchange" begins right now.

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