validity of those numbers. and profit, the latest oil major to suffer from weakness in its refining business. the shares trade higher on the dividend hike. we'll bring you an exclusive interview with the ceo. sgra you're watching "worldwide exchange," bringing you business new from around the globe. very good morning to you, everybody. it's going to be a lot more about central bankers yesterday after we heard from janet bernanke yesterday. >> janet bernanke, nice. >> no? >> ben yellen? >> let's keep to first names. but you're right, continuity is the name of the game, isn't it? >> or maybe not as far as mark carney is concerned. >> wow, very good question. what is he going to do today? >> he'll obviously say, look, the unemployment rate is no longer what we thought it was. he might focus on inflation. the simple message, interest rates are going to stay. don't worry -- >> exactly. >> no one cares about all the thresholds and complicated stuff. >> does he make it more complicated by introducing new thresholds and new things to focus on or does he do what the market is getting right now, anyway? draghi is also speaking. >> who is he speaking to? >> he's speaking at 3:00 p.m. today. and he's talking about policy post crisis or where we are as far as the crisis is concerned. what crisis? we've moved beyond in europe. now, on today's show, procter & gamble hits investors with a profit warning. we'll be taking a look at how the corporates are being hit in the developing economy. flying high, kettle airways expects to receive the first deliver of new airbus fleet. the carrier's ceo is down at the singapore's air show. and ferrari gears up for the big reveal. its latest california model. we look at what can be expected, coming up later. all right. just over an hour into the trading day in europe. take a look at the wall. stocks higher around about 7/2 on the dow jones stoxx 600 at the moment. and we had gains up yesterday. ftse 100 up 41 points. the dow had the best win streak since 2012. this morning, the ftse up another 11 points. the xetra dax is up 0.6%. the cac 40 up 0.5% and the ftse mib up 0.4%, as well. societe generale up in the quarter after a fall in the write-down on the acquisition of assets. speaking to cnbc, the bank avenue deputy ceo said he welcomed the forthcoming european bank checks. >> we consider that this process is a key process to implement the credibility of the european banking union. so it's a very positive thing, in our view. >> investors raising a glass to heineken today. the company forecasting an improvement in performance in the coming year driven by predicted bump in beer sales in africa and asia. the weak emc currency could impact revenue. >> very difficult to predict how these currencies will behave. most of these emerging markets will continue to grow because the underlying factors of the high rate, strong demographics and economic development will continue in a number of these companies. shares in morrison continue, up 3.3%. and smurfit kappa reported a 911% surge in fourth quarter pretax profit. in another first on cnbc interview, the ceo said he still sees opportunities in emerging markets despite the recent fall. we need to be careful about the emerging markets. they're not homogeno on us, first of all. but a lot of the emerging markets are around devaluing currencies. devaluing currencies makes the domestic business much more competitive. so we continue to see opportunities to both volumize and pricingwise. >> with the quarterly inflation report coming out in an hour and a half, 10:30 london time, we keep our eyes on gilt yields. treshy yields, 2.73%. on the currency markets, the u.s. dollar is just above a two-week low at the moment. dollar/yen, 102.47. euro/dollar, 1.3637. 11.3683 was with the high on tuesday. the aussie still doing very well. up at a one-month high around 90.60 at the moment. we've been helped along by the trade data in china. sterling, of course, we'll keep our eyes on that. 1.6667 was the three-week peak we hit last month. japan's close today, all the focus on that trade data out of china. sixuan has the market reaction to all of that. >> thank you, ross, for that. after three days of gains, china markets continue to gain ground. the country's exports grew at a stronger than expected pace in january. in other markets, also mostly higher, taking positive cues from wall street. the nikkei 225 actually back from yesterday's holiday, ending higher by 0.2%. we saw a plunge in japan's orders, m2 money supply jumped 4.4% on year in january topping forecasts. and over in australia, the asx 200 gained over 11% despite consumer confidence declining on the home front. the china trade data gave miners a shot in the arm and auss mineral jumped despite announcing a net loss for 2013. among the movers in china, t tinjin limit up by 10%. >> thanks, sixuan. great to hear your update this morning. let's take a closer look at the very strong chinese data data figures. the trade data surplus in january rose, exports climbed 10.6%, smashing expectations by more than five folds while imports surged to a six-month high. joining us now, jothomas burn. we were seeing expectations skewed significantly lower thanks to base effect here. but even when you take account of those, these fingers are very strong. there's reasons to be optimistic here, aren't there? >> well, they are strong. i think the best explanation is that global economic momentum remains firm or perhaps it's firming further. but, you know, the improvement in exports is broad based, both for markets and also the main key products. >> the imports, though, were a true commodity story, weren't they? iron ore up 10% year on year. copper prices, 40%. >> yeah. >> it's incredible. is that a great story, too, for broader demand? >> well, it seems to be that way in china. the iron ore exports in particular. the steel mills will be introducing. the investment will still be relatively large. there's still plenty of infrastructure to build in china. >> thomas, we've always been worried about trade data and overpricing. do you still have those? >> i think it's more than what we saw happen earlier last year for a number of on reasons. one, the source of the overinvoicing in early 2013 was hong kong and the spesh economic zones. to hong kong, the exports actually fell. so the strong markets were the u.s., japan, even the european union. >> what's the risk of a payback in february? >> the first two months were always choppy because of the spring festival, the lunar new year. there could be some slippage in february. come early march, that's when you really put the two months owing and then you'll have a better picture, i think. we all will. >> what sort of growth are you expecting this year? what sort of rates might we see the next five years? >> well, moody's, we're using a range of 7% to 8% for this year and next year. probably at the lower end of the range. in march, the national people's congress will announce the growth target. last year, they hit the growth target. it seemed most xhen taters are expecting a 7.5% growth target. but over the next five years, i would say that growth, of course -- well, growth will probably moderate. as the investment rate comes down. there is not much more consumption can do. consumption is growth on that trend. household incomes have been growing for a long time, actually, pretty strongly. so the big dynamic and the uncertainties will be how fast will be -- or how steep will be the deceleration in growth fixed capital formation or investment in china. and then to what extent can net exports take up some of that slack. but we're thinking somewhere near 7%. if it goes under that, i don't think that's any major concern for the long-term health of the chinese economy. >> thomas, thanks for that. good to see you. stateside, the u.s. house voted to extend the debt ceiling until next march without any conditions. the vote relied almost entirely on democrats in republican-held houses. republican leaders had considered adding several attachments such as an approval for the keystone pipeline. but the bill didn't have enough votes spop the move now goes on to the senate to wrap up by later this week. february's chairman yellen saying yesterday that emerging markets not going to be a focus and sticking to the line as far as bernanke was concerned. >> she said the international fallout of the central bank facing plans would be well warned. >> capital markets are global and the monetary policies of any country affect other countries in such a world. but we have been very clear at the outset that we initiated our program of asset purchases and an accommodative monetary policy to pursue the goals that congress has decided the federal reserve, namely supporting economic growth and employment in the consex of price stability. >> plenty more to come on that. also still to come, ireland, we're back in business. we'll get over to steve in dublin right after this. 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[ female announcer ] the x1 entertainment operating system, only from xfinity. tv and internet together like never before. qatar airways is expecting to get its a350 airbus ahead of schedule. speaking at the singapore air show, the ceo said the aircraft are expected to be delivered in december of this year but could come a few months earlier. qatar airways has ordered 80 of the wide bodied plane. sri is at the air show and joins us live from there. >> we were talking to airbus just after that interview with the ceo of qatar. one of their executives on the marketing and sales side was telling us that the delivery could be even made before the december time frame. so all systems go, despite these challenging economic circumstances. the sense i've been getting from executives throughout this air show here in singapore is that yes, the economic conditions are challenging. yes, there is pressure on yields because of competition and things like currency fluctuations as even a creeping sense of overcapacity. but broadly, people are very bullish here. a little bit too bullish, some might say, given the overcapacity that could be building in the rcc section. another issue is the volatility in the international oil price and in fuel prices, as well. that doesn't hasn't gone away. the ceo of qatar airlines was talking about that. and he was talking about the delivery schedule for some of the new aircraft. this is what he told us. >> the very clear time frame is that we will receive our first aircraft in december of this year. airbus is very advanced in their program and they very confident that they will get certifications in time to gives our aircraft deliveries. >> you don't see foresee any delays? >> i don't. they had they have had the opportunity to learn so much from the issues that the 787 faced and they have been proactive in making sure that they don't face those same problems, even though the aircraft is exactly not the same as the dreamliner when you compare it to the systems in the airplane. and we're on the 787 dreamliner right now. how has it been flying? >> it's been flying very well. we've been very fortunate to have minimum problems with this airplane. but we expected problems, especially since a new aircraft program will always have problem. that doesn't mean airbus 350 will not have. it's easy to test an airplane. but when it comes into passenger service and airline service, then you face problems that you never envisioned in the beginning. >> 88 350s are on order. do you have plans to buy more? >> 80 350s. yes, we have orders for two more planes. there is very high probability that we will order additional 350 aircraft. >> how many how many more? >> cannot tell you. >> so the orders continue to look very strong and very firm. but the difficult is that you make these orders ten years in advance, sometimes very difficult to time how the economic picture will look in a decade's time, of course, but the pressure is on a lot of these carrierer to upgrade and build capacity because the growth in this part of the world is still very strong. but you can never really predict what the economy look like in that prd of time. back to you, julia. >> it's a tough one. we'll have to keep working on it. now, focus is turning to another central bank. it's expected to feature an overhaul of carney and guidance. the governor is under pressure to make the new position clear to the market. helia, his position is clear to the market, isn't it? they expect rates to rise in the middle half of next year. what does he actually have to do here? the markets get it, don't they? >> well, i'm not sure the markets ever really got it. possibly the economy got it. they know the bank of england is committed to keeps rates low. and it seems like yesterday, just six months ago, mark carney came in with his flagship policy of forward guidance. but many say he made a mistake when he pegged that to unemployment. like we've seen in the u.s., unemployment has fallen fast and we are like whiskers away from that threshold, that 7% unemployment threshold. so what do you do? he's told us that today he's going to update guidance. does that mean he abandons it? does that mean we're going to have a -- does he said we'll look at wider economic indicators? or will he look at something like a time contingent? it's possible that he does say to the market, look, we are going to keep rates on hold until 2015 unless you get one of three knockouts, whether that's financial stability risk, whether that's going to be medium term inflation, although obviously we are hitting our inflation target for the first time in years or you get wage inflati inflation, which we haven't seen in the uk. because the question on unemployment is there is still a huge completion in terms of productivity. so the unemployment number that we're seeing is very low compared to where we are in precrisis levels. because there's still a lot of slack in the economy. at the end of today, we should be slightly clearer on where the bank of england wants to take us and what kind of guidance it will be. and it will be for the markets to judge whether mark carney's policy has been a failure or a very clever way of keeping the mpc in check and making sure that every month we don't have a debate about whether rates rises. so we'll see about that. back to you, julia. >> actually, i'll take it, helia. it will be interesting, obviously, we get that growth and inflation target, we'll see how much they get changed. do you think in the conference discussion, they're going ask about how many you get from the housing market and potential leavers to try and cause that, if that gets out of hand? >> yeah, i think the housing bubble is something that we have kept on asking the governor about. we know that bank of england is concerned about a potential bubble. they say they have those checks in place. and help to buy, obviously, a key policy for the government. and lots of people have been critical about whether the bank of england is too close with the treasury and making sure that policy goes through. but the governor has been very firm in saying that they are putting in the checks and one of those things is going to be this effective interest rate. making sure that people applying keep -- could they afford that? that's one of the key policies. but we'll see. we'll have an update later today. >> yeah, we will. catch you later. thanks for that. we'll have the bank of england's inflation report at 11:30 cet. >> keep it simple stupid, that's the principal. >> good looking fellow. >> no, i am. i am. publish a rate path. >> now, ahead of that, you can click on cnbc.com to read what some of the country's leading economic experts have been telling us about today's report. follow us on twitter @cnbcworld. the government says its banks will past european stress tests this year. a rebound in property price less go a long way to restoring the bank's balance sheet. at the same time, ireland says it's halfway towards a target of raising 8 billion euros for investors in the country's debt. danny mccoy, the ceo of the business, is a says he believes the economy is on a solid upswing. >> has been since 2009. we saw the turn around in the real economy 2009. so on even before the troika arrived here. the business unit had adjusted our unit labor costs. we were having record years for exports this year. we've seen the turn around. and the domestic economy is coming good, as well. we've seen employment growth. >> steve is there, as well, and joins us now. when he says look, property prices are recovering, steve, it makes me think about the whole debate around mark to market. you can do things for a long time and hope they come back your way. >> yeah. you and i spend far too much time looking at property websites. we get how this works. but we're very aware about the fact that there's an awful lot of zombie loans both to developers indeed on the books. would you believe despite this recovery story data points in ireland, and there are a lot of them, around about 17.5% of mortgage holders in ireland are still 90 days or more in arrears on their mortgages. so you're absolutely right to question the price of the book and the state of the domestic market, as well. that said, there are some very strong parameters about this economy. a big increase in employment. it is going to be 12%, hopefully down to 11% at the end of this year. it was around 15%. incidentally that was the same rate we were being charged for ten-year paper in ireland, as well. so we've gone from irrational despair, exuberance on the bond market. i would suggest the story here is incredibly delicately balanced. that's something we'll speak to ireland about in a few moments time on "worldwide exchange." back to you. >> thanks, steve. we'll be looking out for that later. coming up later on the show, there's a big reveal. ferrari is set to unveil its latest model. >> we'll take a look at what to expect. [ male announcer ] the new new york is open. open to innovation. open to ambition. open to bold ideas. that's why new york has a new plan -- dozens of tax free zones all across the state. move here, expand here, or start a new business here and pay no taxes for ten years... we're new york. if there's something that creates more jobs, and grows more businesses... we're open to it. start a tax-free business at startup-ny.com. the headlines, will forward guidance be laid to rest? investors look for clear signals on mark carney's latest rate path. the new fed chair is sure she will continue the fed's taper path. investors are also cheering a u.s. debt limit deal. strong data out of china. trade nebs passing even the most optimistic forecast where there are questions over the validity of the figures. and qatar pocsted a drop in profits. but shares trade higher on the dividend hike. we'll bring you an exclusive interview with the ceo. four days of gains for the u.s. markets. european equities are firmer today. the ftse 100 yesterday was up some 811 points. the xetra dax is up 0.75%. cac 40 up 0.5% and the italian market is up 0.4%, as well. >> ten-year treasuries trading at 2.73%. ten-year gilt, 2.76% as we head into the uk inflation report. that's the focus this morning for us. >> on the currency markets, dollar is above the two-week lows. steady against the yen at 102.47. we will certainly be keeping our eyes on cable and sterling as we go through that quarterly inflation report. the three-year high which we hit, what, last month, 1.6667. >> new federal chair janet yellen may have provided some support to u.s. markets, but she seems to turn a cold shoulder of the emerging world. speaking for the first time in her new post, she said the international fallout has been well warned. >> capital markets are global and the monetary policies of any country affect other countries in such a world. but we have been very clear at the outset that we initiated our program of asset purchases and an accommodative monetary policy more generally to pursue the goals that congress has decided to the federal reserve namely supporting economic growth and employment in the context of price stability. >> you have to assume there's going to be no further support for emerging markets with the tapering effectively going forward or do you agree there will be some respite. >> what yell sn saying is she's not going to consider the -- on her fed balance sheet extension. what she's saying, as well, is she's going to have some continuity in her policy of the fed expansion of the balance sheets. what we expect is that to be greatly -- for the global markets as a whole. when you look at the emerging markets today, the tapering has led to a huge sell-off in markets. it's led to very little sell-off in the markets in the u.s., europe, which are close to the highs still, 2% away. and we believe that move on emerging markets is overdone. >> we believe emerging markets are extremely undervalued today. they're at the cheaper levels in the last ten years. when you look at it from -- >> justified reasons for that. >> yes. there are sh some strong issues on the macroeconomic perspective. you have issues -- >> growth rate? >> yeah, but growth rate is not great, either. and we believe that if you're selective, you have greater potential to find in emerging market today. >> this is where you have to be incredibly selective, right? no current accounts -- >> exactly, or message. try to stay away from the most risky parts of the emerging markets world. so the countries with high effect risk should be aisolateded. >> but they get dragged, if you're investing in an index here, you get dragged by the emerging markets in a sell-off, irrespective to the quality. >> you have great valuations, greater potential in emerging markets. some of these stocks, after the sell-off we've seen at very attractive levels and you need to be active in the way you manage to get your -- >> so you mentioned taiwan. tell us a bit more about your -- >> today in the great opportunity in taiwan in the i.t. sector. you have companies that produce, you know, ipads, iphones, play station 4, and, you know, they have great trend in earnings. >> emanuel, great to talk to you. >> thank you very much. >> thank you. can't get enough of steve in dublin. let's get back to him. >> thank you very much, indeed, julia and ross. with no further ado, let's talk to where we are compared to where we've come from. you're out of the bailout now. what's next? >> it's important that the planned strategy is on the horizon. so two days after the bailout program, we published our economic medium turm strategy out to 2020. that's to have our deficit below by 2020, by 2018, and to have full employment by 2020. we expect growth rate of 2% this year, 2.5% next year, 3.5% the year after. and we want to create 50,000 new jobs this year and 50,000 net new jobs next year. so we're ahead. >> there is no doubt that our extra travel and ireland should be commended on having the most recent budgets. but the problem is, the irish people are under very high tax loads when a lot of international corporations are coming to ireland. >> we recognize that income tax levels are too high here. and it's very important that we have a consistent and sustainable way of dealing with this. you can't deal with this without having your economy grow. so all of this will be taken into account as we prepare for the budget for 2014. in that sense, we recognize the pressure that people in this country reach a top level of tax. there is a great deal of pressure on people. and we take that into account as we prepare for 2014. >> international companies are coming in and creating jobs. we've been speak to go tim cob and others, as well. are they paying their fair share of tax? i know your government thinks the effective rate of tax is somewhere in the region of 1 1.9%. there are some, including james stewart at trinity college who believe they're only paying 2.2%. >> he's wrong. the methodology for determining the ekive rate of tax differs from academic to academic. this includes all of the american companies and their profits. so 2.2% is not correct. the effective rate can range between 10% and 11.9%. these are determined using different methodologies by revenue commissioners, by the eu trends and by other international assessors. irish copper tax rates is based in law. it's fair across the board. and from their reputation point of vow. for the stateless entity, it participants with all our colleagues in terms of what's going out at the moment. >> so ireland welcome tess international g-20 tax accords to iron out the issues which creates issues such as double irish which is giving negative press to ireland. >> this arises from the complex and methods of using different jurisdictions. so this requires an int international response and ireland is openly and fully participating in the 15 different committees working out at the oecd. it requires an incident er national response. >> in terms of the banking sector, mr. noonan says he's confident more capital doesn't need to be raised. what does that mean for irish companies and irish individuals seeing a decline in mortgage lending. it seems to me not everyone is benefit from this. >> well, we've made some radical changes with respect to the banking sector in the last couple of years. clearly, the situation is not as we want yet. banks are still not being able to contribute to the real economy in managing when working with people. clearly we have a number of people who are still in distress with mortgages. the levels of the access to chris is an issue here upon which we're focussing this year in terms of the indigenous economy. >> mr. livingston is here today. ireland's uk is working a lot of trade missions, as well. he shared some concerns that the uk has about regulation and the way things are done across europe. do you share the need perhaps from the uk government reform across europe and across brussels? >> i do. it is an unseen method of suddenly becoming overly pure accuratic. the opportunity to influence the trade talks between eu and u.s. are very big issues. so digital markets, single markets, and the capacity of the union which is 500 million people to have a market that will deal with the growing economies with 26 million people unemployed. >> i just thought of a great way in which you could influence travel in brussels. you could become the next ecc president. it's been talked about in some circles. >> the command given to me here is to sort out of finances and get our public walking. we're not going to slacken off the credit now. >> so you don't have to replace mr. boroso when his term expires? >> my job is here and with the irish people. >> thank you very much for your time, mr. kenny, talking about various issues affecting ireland and broader europe. back to you guys. >> didn't manage to convince him on the old boroso job switch. nice try. really interesting. that tax policy, a crucial element effect on the latest plan. >> moving from switzerland bank to ireland, which helps. >> categorically denying that official rate there is 1.2%. let's move on yukako ono is live from tokyo. take us through the details. >> hi. yes, machinery orders considering a leading indicator of capital spending in the nation's gdp. tanked more than 15% on the year underscoring the market's expectation of a 4% decline. it was the first job in three months. orders plunged from the paper industry, which grew largely in the month before and computer orders at a broad range of scepters from financial businesses to retailers. the slowdown could be a sign that the nation's economy is sitting a low based on company outlooks, the government forecast machinery orders to shrink on the year in the january to march period, too. the first negative growth in forty quarters. firms may be wary in expanding looking ahead of an expected consumption slowdown following the sales tax hike since april. that's all from nikkei business report. back to you. >> thanks very much for your report. >> we're getting reports of an earthquake in china magnitude around 7.3 striking the xinjiang apparently. we'll have a look and more reaction to the that, as well. earnings continues tomorrow. on the economic front, we'll get january employment figures from australia and the central bank in indonesia and south korea will step up their respective policy decision. america's top dog taking best in show honors is sky, a wire fox terrier. a he beat a blood hound, a welsh coggie and a minister pincher. the terrier has won now 14 times at the show. sky won't get any prize money, but she does take home a silver dog bowl and lots of prestige. should your pet have won best in show? send us your pet picks and we'll be the judge. get in touch with us by e-mail,@worldwide@cnbc.c e-mail,@worldwide@cnbc.com. ross, you just hung there. what was that thought? >> dog shows just don't do it for me. >> when i suggested to ross yesterday that i quite liked really little dogs, he said he might have to reae sess our friendship. especially if you have a little dog, i want to hear from you. >> quick, move on. still to come on the show, don't hold your breath. investors waiting to replace the boe forward guysance. the decision is one the whole committee, not just mark carney, is a fair point. so clear conclusion may not be forthcoming. fifteen minutes could save you fifteen percent or more on car insurance. everybody knows that parker. well, did you know auctioneers make bad grocery store clerks? that'll be $23.50. now .75, 23.75, hold 'em. hey now do i hear 23.75? 24! hey 24 dollar, 24 and a quarter, quarter, now half, 24 and a half and .75! 25! now a quarter, hey 26 and a quarter, do you wanna pay now, you wanna do it, 25 and a quarter - sold to the man in the khaki jacket! geico. fifteen minutes could save you... well, you kn forward guidance is dead. long live what, exactly? the bank of england's inflation report is expected to feature an overhaul of mark carney's flagship policies. but with mark carney's above the bank 7% threshold, the governor is expected to make it clear, or not. phillip, this is a matter, what happens to -- does it have to be unanimous agreement? if they can't all unanimously agree, then it doesn't really matter, does it? >> this is a matter for the mpc. there has to be a vote. if it's not unanimous, then it's majority decision. indeed, that's what happens in august. >> do we know the breakdown of that vote? >> we do. martin wheel objected to the time frame which would trigger a knockout of inflation exceeding 2.5%. so 0.5% above the target. he thought the time frame of 80 to 24 months, which the mpc included as its knockout was too long and he was more expensive to short-term movements and inflation. if they change guidance, there will be a vote. the point is, yes, it is a matter for the committee. there seem to be varying views among the monetary policy circles on should there be guidance, never mind. >> should there be thresholds? is it not enough to say the message is just for the markets. rates are staying low, don't worry about it. >> well, that's what carney said in da vote a couple weeks ago. and that message seems to have gotten across. you think if you make it a simple message, you're more likely to be heard, rather than tying it to a specific variable such as unemployment. >> so is the best way to do that is to clearly spell out what you have right now or say rates are going to be on hold for the foreseeable future? >> each approach has merites and a drawback. i think if you take a set approach where each individual member makes a forecast, it's good for markets, eats great for people like me to do what individual fomc members are thinking. we don't think rates are going to rise until a specific time, but you -- >> but does bringing in lofts qualitative measures of slack communicate to this general public what's happening here right now? that's not very clear, either, is it? that is no clearer than in some ways spelling it out with a chart. >> no, no on, i agree. the simpler the message, the better and the more direct. the problem is that if you've got a simple message, you have to have a reasonable consensus behind that message on the committee and that's a drawback behind that approach because if you have a big die vergence on the committee, the message becomes a bit of a compromise. so forward guysance is not easy. >> he knows that already, doesn't he? we know that globally, with the u.s., too. >> it's not easy. >> it's not easy. we feel for him. >> the one thing i would say is that it's perhaps understandable why the chancellor wanted to introduce forward guidance you could argue now the momentum has more guidance behind it. so it may well be that you have more loose and quantitative guidance at this time and eventually that guidance speeds up. >> it's actual stimulus and does the economy needs this right now? but we have to finish. we have to wrap up. >> thanks. >> thank you. >> all will be revealed in just over an hour. a half an hour is what i meant to say, 35 minutes from now. a fresh political crisis is crewing in italy as the prime minister clings on to power. tensions have mounted for weeks over the slow pace of reform in the country. he says he will soon announce a new pact with his coalition partners in the center right. >> germany's alliance has taken an 8% stake in bayern munich. it was concerned it had obtained the stake by taking part in a capital increase. that is where we were going with the road that goes past the alliance stadium. >> nice. aston martin has told cnbc it will bring production back to the uk where it can be, quote, controlled. this is after a recall due to a chinese subsupplier allegedly using a subplastic material in the pedal design. it is confident the problems can be resolved. and italian sports carmaker ferrari is gearing up to reveal its latest california model. the un unveunveiling will inclu photos. the models go public debut at the auto show in march. and there are all sorts of details. how exciting. we'll be talking more about ferrari. >> i do like the original gdo california. we'll take a short break. still to come, phil lebeau will bring you those images. open to . open to bold ideas. that's why new york has a new plan -- dozens of tax free zones all across the state. move here, expand here, or start a new business here and pay no taxes for ten years... we're new york. if there's something that creates more jobs, and grows more businesses... we're open to it. start a tax-free business at startup-ny.com. impact wool exports from new zealand, textile production in spain, and the use of medical technology in the u.s.? at t. rowe price, we understand the connections of a complex, global economy. it's just one reason over 75% of our mutual funds beat their 10-year lipper average. t. rowe price. invest with confidence. request a prospectus or summary prospectus with investment information, risks, fees and expenses to read and consider carefully before investing. welcome to "worldwide exchange." i'm julia chatterley. >> and i'm ross westgate. here are the headlines. >> the yellen effect carries through to asia and europe. the new fed chair assures she will continue the fed path. china boosting confidence, trade numbers storm past even the most optimistic forecast. although questions remain over their validity. and ireland claims its banks will pass stress tests this year. >> irish copper tax rate is based on law, it's transferred across the board, and from a reputational point of view, the minister has -- with these stateless entity. and suffering from weakness in its refining business, shares are higher. >> globally, solid balance sheet, better and better results in our competitors. >> you're watching "worldwide exchange," bringing you business new from around the globe. >> just tuning in, thanks for joining us here on "worldwide exchange." let me give you a look at how the markets are faring ahead of the u.s. open later on. and a fourth straight session rally for the u.s. markets yesterday. supported, of course, by could you not knewty from janet yellen and agreement on the debt. we seem to be adding to those gains as far as the future is indicating right now. we're around some 30 points higher here for the dow. we're seeing the nasdaq higher by around 5 points. but now in positive territory for the nasdaq this year and for the s&p 500 indicating higher right now by around 3.2. as you can see, higher now, above that 1800 level, 1817, the figure right now. the session in asia taking their cue from what we saw in the u.s. yesterday and we continued that momentum here in europe. digesting far stronger than expected trade data, too. let me show you the individual performances right now of the european markets. key numbers on that inflation report. the uk market higher around 0.4%. german market outperforming higher by 0.9%. the german markets 0.6% higher and the italian markets shrugging off concerned by about 0.6%, too. green, green everywhere. >> green, green grass. janet yellen and china in's trade data. will it be the green, green grass of mark carney and the bank of england a little later? we'll get the quarterly inflation report. ten-year treasury yields, back over 2.73% on the ten-year. before that jobs data last friday, 10.72%. yielder higher for bund. just over half an hour with the latest quarterly inflation report. how will they amend forward guidance? bearing in mind that we're just a smidgenon above the threshold on the unemployment rate. on the currency markets, sterling is steady against the dollar at 1.6447. the three-year high what we hit last no, 11 .6667. the aussie/dollar continues to climb higher. helped along by the chinese trade data. dollar/yen, 102.36. pretty steady. and euro/dollar, 1.3668. tuesday's high, 1.3683. i mepged the aussie/dollar doing better on trade. in january, up to 32 billion which beat forecasts. exports climbing 10.6% smashing market expectations by around more than five fold. imports up to a six-month high. that's provided some of the main focused today for markets in asia. the nikkei is closed. sixuan joins us from singapore with the update. sixuan. >> thank you, ross. let me start with china because these markets managed to extend the rally since last friday, of course, after the china trade data. the country's exports grew at a stronger than expected pace in january. h-shares hit a three-week high lending support in hong kong which ended higher by 1.5%. in other asian markets, mostly higher, taking positive queues from wall street. and the nikkei 225 came back from yesterday's one-day holiday, eending higher by 0.6%. we saw it plunge in japan's december machinery orders. yet money supply jumped 4.4% in january. so topping forecasts. in australia, the asx 11 00 physical by 2%. the china trade data gave miners a shot in the arm. minerals jumped today despite announces a net loss for 2013. tinjiang firms government a boost on hopes of being allowed to set up a free trade zone. meanwhile, japan's power plants charged higher. according to sources, the japanese government may restart about 10 of the nation's nuclear reactors by this summer when net starts to pick up. so all these power plants, they gained by about 1% to 5% today. back to you, ross. >> sixuan, thank you. have a good evening there in singapore. the u.s. hoe houuse votes t extend the nation's debt ceiling until march next year without any conditions. the vote, 221 to 201 relied almost entirely on democrats in the republican-controlled house. it's the first debt limit extension or increase since 2009 that wasn't part of our legislation. the republican leaders had considered adding several attachments such as approval of the keystone pipeline and limiting cuts to military pensions. but they determined they didn't have enough votes. the bill goes to the senate now. brian joins us now. we can debate whether this was a tactical move by the republicans or whether they simply cooperate get enough votes to add conditions to this. but the bottom line is, there was a big sigh from investors yesterday. >> they didn't have the votes and it was a huge sigh of relief. a lot of investors thought it was going to be disaster in january. and when the republicans found out they didn't have the votes, what looked like it was going to be a correction has turned into a reverse and now markets are going higher because it's not going to be a disaster. >> it's a great point in your notes that credit traders don't worry about the same technical things that equity traders have to focus on like resistance, like levels. so what's the read across in markets right now the u.s. equity markets and where do you see us heading? what lefls should we be looking out for? >> well, the credit market has done a complete reversal. it turned down in january when the worries about the debt -- about the credit -- about the debt limit came to the forefront. and now it's reversed and it's back to where it was before the correction began. stocks went down, they've come back. they vice president put in a new high where the credit market has. stocks rebound slower than credit does. but the credit market is saying we're going to go past the old highs and on to new highs. >> another comment i want to get from you is on the new federal reserve chair, janet yellen. she may have provided some spark to u.s. markets, but she turned a cold shoulder of the emerging world. she said the international fallout of the tapering had been well warned. >> capital markets are global and the monetary policies of any country affect other countries in such a world. but we have been very clear at the outset that we initiated our program of asset purchases and an accommodative monetary policy more generally to pursue the goals that congress has decide to the federal reserve, namely supporting economic growth and employment in the context of price stability. >> brian, do you think this was mission accomplished as far as yellen was concerned and another reason to buy risk assets here? >> i think it was mission accomplished. she said nothing controversial. it's steady as she goes. and the big point here is that our neigh's public pengs make 7.5% in a 1% world. they have plenty of cash. they're going to put that money to work. that's good for the credit market and it's good for the stock market. it may not be good for emerging markets, but the fed chair isn't really concerned about that. the fed chair is more concerned about our own nation, our growth and our inflation levels. and she's not satisfied with either of those. >> bruj, we were talking about the put call ratios on the vix, as well. what is that telling you right now? >> going into this pullback that we had in january, there was a tremendous drop in that vix put call ratio, which was very bearish. in other words, major macro investors were betting against financial markets, going into this debt ceiling debate. when the chairman of -- when the house of representatives made it very clear last week that there was not going to away fight the way there was last october, everything reversed and the put call ratio improved dramatically. and all the bearish betts that were in place on things like the vix options, things like for the actual credit derivative, of those reversed and that's a signal that the markets are going higher. >> brian, good to see you. thanks for that, brian reynolds, joining us from rosen blat securities. still to come on the show, can ayman toe the line between international business and towing the line? >> we're be back out in dublin to hear what you had to say. democrats now look to pass it through the senate. the new fed chair, janet yellen, sooths market and assured that she will continue the fed's taper path. and strong data out of china boosting confidence in asia and europe. the prime minister in dublin, questioning him about tax masses. steve is there posting the questions. what do the corporates think, steve? >> well, what do other countries think about what's going on in ireland, as well? i've got a new panel for you. i've got lord livingston, minister of state trade and investment. i've got brian costas joining us. thank you very much for joining us here in dublin. let me start with you, ian. is there a push with the uk and eyreland to get reform done in brussels? we know that's one of your key briefs. >> yeah. we are very much linked. i think we got some refuse about being welcoming for business and really prioritizing growth .prosperity. serm we'll work together to try and get an open europe good for trade and good for exports. >> you have to be a key ally to back some of the cameron demands over in brussels, isn't it? this is a relationship we need to work on. >> i think a number of countries share our basic concerns. europe should be focused on growth and prosperity. that is good for every citizen. >> brian, what have the irish got that the rest of the europeans haven't? we know the americans have been critical in many ways. the practices in europe, a lot of the measures thrown at getting the continent back on track. >> ireland has a great reputation. america has a good place to do business. a good flexible workforce and key trusters of the economy and biotech and financial services and ict that are very experienced. to add that to a good business proposition to come here it makes for a very attractive environment. last year, u.s. investment in europe went down by 15%, but it went you up 1% in ireland. it's a good place to do business. it's a good mays to access the european marketplace. >> there's a huge rangel going on about whether international corporations, u.s. corporations, huge ones such as google and apple are paying single digit tax or if they are paying somewhere in the region of 12%. >> it's not efficient to have a competitive tax rate. you have to have the right access and infrastructure. you have to be part of a large currency unit like we are. you have to have the skills. if you don't have all of those components together with an attractive cost base, you're not going to get the investment. ireland used to have a lower tax rate many decades ago. but it has always been central to our policy. in relation to different reports, they are just that, different reports counting different things. companies in ireland established here pay 12.5% on profits generated by companies here in ironla ireland. >> and yet, ian, the uk is competing against a very favorable tax regime in ireland. do you think we need something more coordinated at a global level, at a g-20 level to stop this kind of tax competition we're seeing? >> i don't think the uk is competing against ireland. we recognize as ireland does having a competitive tax regime and a welcome environment is a good thing. i think we also recognize that companies should pay tax based on where they kaet their economic value. and it is certainly crazy that searching global multi nationals pay less tax than i do in the uk and that is something that we need to look at. but i think it's a great thing that ireland has a good opening -- for the economy. so does the uk. it's why we have seen our guide yaps for uk go up opinion number one in europe for direct investment. we've had more investment from china in the last 18 months than we've had in the previous 30 years combined. so i think both ireland and the uk are on the right path in that sense. >> the double irish and the dutch sandwich, you want to see other countries get rid of that tax regime, don't you? >> well, i think the country has to look at making sure that people are being taxed in one jurisdiction and the right jurisdiction. i think that's the issue. i'm not going to talk about individual tax regime. i think it's good that ireland creates a welcoming economy. but we need to make sure that it's billions of pounds of value are being created in the country, it is right the company should pay some tax to recognize that. >> is this something that is a key issue back home? >> the united states is one of the largest, most competitive economies in the world and is very attractive for tax on certain businesses. if the tax debate is about issues of transparency and substance, if it's in connection, i think ireland will remain a competitor. as a new legislator, i think it will be important legislators make the law and competitors comply. >> always good to see you. thanks very much indeed. nice getting an international aspect on what is going on. after many years of crisis, ireland is back and it's just a question of whether they can maintain that. back to you guys in the studio. >> steve, thank you. french oil company qatar has seen its companies dented by high costs and falling margins in its refining business. stephane pedrazzi has been speaking to the firm's ceo. investors very much focused on that dividend right, but what about the outlook? >> i'm not sure the dividend is the reason why the stock is performing well this morning in paris. 90% contraction of its net profit for the fourth quarter. that was below expectations. you gave the reasons. there are the lower refining margins, lower oil prices and some delays on projects where total is not the operator. nevertheless, the ceo consisted of the fact that total had the better resilience. >> an environment which is not as good as we would have liked added to production was supposed to be there and were cut because of political events like in libya and in nigeria. but globally, we have production in 2013, better result than our competitors. we have increased our profit. that still is a good year. and a good year preparing which is important to us the future. for a company like total and others, one year is important. but it is very short-term on 20 years time. >> do you think you manage to improve your refining margins in 2014? >> well, i mean, i like to work to use to improve our refining margin. we will improve mott the refining margin, because they are market driven. but what we are improving is our cost. reducing our cost, increasing synergies, yes, our program, which was to increase the synergies by 2000 million euro in the period of three years time. we're now at 350. so it's a good success. so if you look at the benchmark of our competitors, yes, we have been losing a little. 10% in dollars. our competitors much more. definitely on the downstream part, we were better than our competitors because we have real solid results of the new structure put in place in 2012. >> you also suffered from a weaker dollar. how does this currency issue for total? >> well, to avoid the problem, as you know in the future, which you've been studying in 2014, we will publish our accounts in dollars. because we are a dollar company. so the model company accounts will still remain in euro. our shareholders are not really interested by dollar. but our accounts will be in dollar, so i mean, the impact of dollar on our accounts is very limited. except in europe. because in europe we have revenues in dollars and cost in euro. but except for this, all of our activities, revenue and cost are in dollars. so with now the publication of our accounts in dollars to not have any more of this question. >> and the full year revenue for together was 4% lower, but that was much higher than the average forecast. so this is one of the reasons why the stock is performing well on the french market. the other reason, you say julia it's because the company is continuing to increase its dividend. total is not trading 0.7% higher. back to you. >> thanks, stephane. good work. day four of the sochi olympics brought a shock results in the men's halfpipe. and a landmark first for women's ski jumping at the games. tom mackenzy has more. >> there was no gold for u.s. snowboarder shaun white as he failed to make the podium in the half pipe. white finished fourth. podladtchikov won gold. hirano and taku winning silver and bronze respectively. germany's karina voigt's second jump gave her an aggregate score of 247, nvs to take the gold. is stolz hung on for silver and mattel took of france took bronze, as well. in the medal count, norway surged to first, canada second. >> i'm really enjoying some of the snowboarding tricks. fantastic. still to come, the bank of england and mark carney is about to deliver his quarterly inflation report. we're going to bring you that press conference. as we do so, a reminder of where futures are trading after hour days of gains. futures are called higher again, the s&p by 2 points, the dow by 27 and the fass dak, as well, by around 5.4 points. "worldwide exchange" continues. welcome back to "worldwide exchange." i'm julia chatterley. >> and i'm ross westgate. >> the new fed chair assures she will continue the fed path while investors cheer the u.s. debt limit deal. trade numbers storm into the most optimistic forecast as though questions remain about the validity. the irish prime minister tells cnbc that the tax laws for the country are appropriate. >> irish tax rate is based in law, is transparent across the board. and from a reputational point of view, they just ended for the entity. and mixed forchs of corporates in the emerging market, beermaker heineken forecasts a return to growth while p&g surprise wes a profit warning on the emerging currency effects. >> announcer: you're watching "worldwide exchange," bringing you business news from around the globe. >> if you're just tuning in, thanks for joining us here on "worldwide exchange." four sessions of straight rallies for the u.s. market closing at 2 1/2 weeks yesterday. adding to those gains, it seems, as far as the futures are concerned today, the bow futures indicating higher by around 29 points. the nasdaq trading higher as far as the futures are concerned by 5 points and the s&p 500 higher right now by around 3 points. trading above that 1800 level, 1818, the figure. games across the board as far as the european markets are concerned, focusing on the uk ahead of the inflation report. 0.4% for the uk, german market high honor by 0.9%. french markets higher by 0.6% and the italian markets 0.7% higher. >> we are getting the latest from the bank of on england. they have raised the 2014 economic growth forecast to 3.4 from 2.8. economic capacity stands scoped to absorb the first rate hike, as well. baseline forecast is on productivity growth. i'm trying to see what the inflation growth is. also inflation forecast is lower than november, reflecting stronger pounds. they have raised growth forecasts, lower the inflation forecasts. here is the update from mark carney. >> the recovery to date has been underpinned by a revival in confidence, a reduction in uncertainty and an easing in credit conditions. and this has led households to save less and spend more. and it's prompted a strengthening in the housing market. >> well, business investment has so far been subdued. recent data and surveys suggest that it's likely to gather pace this year. the first phase of the mpc's forward guidance was put in place last summer when following fears of a triple dip recession the uk economy was just emerging from a long period of stagnation. persistent above target inflation and subdue d business and household confidence. its principal aim was to help secure the recovery by reassuring households and businesses across the uk, but the bank wouldn't raise interest rates until jobs, income and spending were really growing. specifically, the mpc set a 7% unemployment rate as a threshold for even beginning to consider whether bank rates should be raised. and that was a relatively easy call because of the considerable slack in the economy at the time ensured that the mpc was not taking undue risks with inflation as monetary policy encouraged faster output and employment growth. forward guysance is working. expected interest rates have remained low, even as the economy has recovered strongly. uncertainty about interest rates have fallen. most importantly, uk businesses have understood the message opinion surveys confirm what mpc members have heard as we travel the country. virtually all businesses understand guidance and almost three-quarters of them say it has boosted their confidence in uk economic prospects. in many cases, guidance is encouraging businesses to hire and spend. it's helping to anchor expectations. finally, the forward guidance framework has highlighted a clear division of responsibilities between monetary and macro prudential policy. freed monetary policy to focus on the inflation target in a manner that grows jobs and output without being burdened by multiple other objectives that are best addressed by more targeted measures. now, as a result of exceptionally strong jobs growth, almost half a million more people have found work since august. the unemployment rate has fallen much faster than the bank had anticipated to 7. is%. and it's likely to reach the 7% threshold by the spring. the mpc said last august that once unemployment had reached that threshold, we would assess the state of the economy more broadly, drawing on a wide array of indicators and that assessment is provided in today's report. so the question is, what have we learned? well, first, productivity growth has been disappointing. there were main good reasons to expect an eventual revival in productivity. but given recent outturns, the mpc has taken a more cautious approach. productivity is expected to return to its precrisis rate only at the end of our three-year forecast. the second thing we learned is that there's greater slack in the labor market than we would have expected given the strong jobs growth. in part, this is because of substantial shares of fall in unemployment has been driven by a fall in the number of long-term unemployment. that means a lower level of unemployment is consistent with stable inflation. in addition, the share of people working part-time because they can't find a full-time job remains clo s close to record h and almost half the recent increase in employment has been driven by self-employment, which is now at a record level. the committee's overall assessment is that spare capacity of 1% to 1.5% of gdp remains concentrated in the labor market. the effect of this slack is evident in low wage inflation, around 11%. so even with weak productivity growth, unit labor costs are rising at an annualized rate of half a percentage point. the thing they've we've learned is that the labor market is more benign. inflalg has fallen back to target for the first time since 2009. >> we'll leave mark carney right there. the key results of what he's saying there, the inflation forecast lower than we got in november. that reflects a stronger sterling. you also raised growth forecasts higher. this year, at 3.4%. his other message was guidance works. he's saying three quarters of businesses right now have seen their confidence boosted as a result of forward guysance and it's giving them the confidence in the recovery right now. joining us is jeffrey clinetop from lpl financial. gentlemen, mark carney over here in the uk and janet yellen are partners in crimes as far as the forward guidance is concerned. how best is it handled right now? >> well, it's easy when you're talking about a -- carney is talking about a 7% employment threshold. that's clear. it's simple. it's one thing. but when you broaden that, it becomes much more complicated here in the u.s. janet yenl talked about the vacancy rate, the quit rate, the hire rate, the number of long-term unemployment. broadening that forward guidance means you give yourself more flexibili flexibility, but at the same time, it tats away some of the pretended forward guysance. as the u.s. fed takes in a direct role in the markets, they're relying more on guidance. in 2013, two of the last three meetings, the fed fooled the markets, thought they were going to taper in september. they didn't. didn't they they were going to taper in december and they did. it's an issue for the u.s. fed. >> jeffrey, if you want to keep it simple, don't have any thresholds or targets. just say hey, guys, rates are staying low. that's simple, isn't it? >> it is simple, but it's always conditioned on specific things. stanley fisher would argue that guidance is a bad thing that, in fact, we need to just imply we're going to look t data as it comes in and make the right decisions when it does. i think the market has been fed with bread crumbs along the way. it's used to that. there could be a difficult transition, particularly over the course of this next year as its weaned off of that regular drip of what the central bankers are likely to do at their next meeting. i want to give you a quick recap of what's going on in cable with the selling versus the dollar. certainly in the fx market, reading what carney is saying. 3.84% to 2.8%. we've been talking about janet yellen and the moves that we saw yesterd yesterday. yellen, of course, testifies before congress in her new role on tuesday. ben bernanke mrjing to keep interest rates low for a long time. she also says the fed will continue to taper its mossive bond buying program unless there is some significant change in the economy. yellen will be back on capitol hill tomorrow before the senate banking committee. jeffrey, the key take away here right now for markets, surely, is all systems go and yellen managed mission accomplished yesterday. >> well, that's true. certainly given the market's current investment horizon, which is very short. but listen, the market is expecting interest rate hikes here in the u.s. to take place about a year from now, maybe a year and a quarter from now. and we're getting closer to that every month that goes past. increasingly, it's going to be an issue. nothing that's happened on the weaker inflation front here is goes to dissuade the path from their near term of further tapering. out six months from now, there's quite a bit more questioning about the pace of that tapering and how soon they may continue to raise interest rates. >> jeffrey, stick with us. we're going to come back to this. procter & gamble is cutting its full year outlook saying inflation in emerging markets are hurting profits. it's expecting gains of 3% this ye year, down from previous estimates of 5%. societe generale returns to profits in the fourth quarter helped by a 20% decline in loan loss provisions and a fall in the write-downs on the acquisition of assets. investors are very much focused on that. you can see taking that stock higher by around 6% in trade today. heineken trading up over 2% today after the company forecast an improvement in business performance in the coming year driven by a predicted dump in beer sales in africa, asia and latin america. speaking first to cnbc, they warn weak em currencies could impact revenues. >> very difficult to predict how these currencies will behave. most of the emerging markets will continue to grow because the underlying factors of the high urbanization rate, strong, young demographics and economic development will continue in a number of these countries. still to come, the big reveal, ferrari set to unveil its latest california model. we'll take a look at what we might expect. ♪ [ cellphones beeping ] ♪ [ cellphone rings ] hello? [ male announcer ] over 12,000 financial advisors. good, good. good. over $700 billion dollars in assets under care. let me just put this away. [ male announcer ] how did edward jones get so big? could you teach our kids that trick? [ male announcer ] by not acting that way. ok, last quarter... [ male announcer ] it's how edward jones makes sense of investing. ♪ ♪ we asked people a question, how much money do you think you'll need when you retire? $500,000. maybe half-million. say a million dollars. [ dan ] then we gave each person a ribbon to show how many years that amount might last. ♪ i was trying to like pull it a little further. you know, i was trying to stretch it a little bit more. [ woman ] got me to 70 years old. i'm going to have to rethink this thing. [ man ] i looked around at everybody else and i was like, "are you kidding me?" [ dan ] it's just human nature to focus on the here and now. so it's hard to imagine how much we'll need for a retirement that could last 30 years or more. so maybe we need to approach things differently, if we want to be ready for a longer retirement. ♪ ♪ welcome back. the u.s. house passes a bill to extend the nation's debt ceiling. democrats now look to pass it through the senate. fed chair janet yellen assures she will continue the fed's taper path. and strong data out of china boosting market confidence in asia and europe. residents along the u.s. east coast are bracing for another winter storm. snow and ice could potentially knock out power for thousands of people in georgia where the governor has declared a state of emergency. the storm is expected to sweep up through washington, philadelphia and new york city by early thursday and not end until late thursday night. dave malcoff is correspondent at the weather channel, joins us for more. dave, how much snow do we think is going to be dumped during this storm? >> well, ross, it's possible that we could have a food of snow in washington, d.c. by the time that this is over. right now, the problem in atlanta and all the way to the coast here is ice. we have this ice forming, you can see it on top of our vehicle right now. and this has just formed in the last few minutes. this happened two weeks ago, right here in atlanta, where we had all the streets freeze over and you probably saw the video of people who were just aband abandoning their cars by the side of the road. they couldn't move anywhere. and you think two inches of snow, how can that cause all that? well, the problem is the roadway is icing. you can see how hilly this area is. when those roads on those hills and those highways start to freeze over, it's very, very difficult to drive. now, just two weeks ago, i was standing there with julia in davos, switzerland. let me tell you, you guys, it is way colder here in georgia, what they call hot-lanta, than it was there in davos. so we've got some real problems on our hands here. >> yeah. and they're not equipped for it. david, good to see you. thanks for that. >> dave, you need to be wearing more clothes. i'm sure you were wearing more clothes in davos. >> there's lots and lots of layers here. davos was a little nicer, right? >> yes. keep warm. of course, on that subject here, the top 11 00 flights were canceled on tuesday and more than 2,600 have been scrapped today due to the storm. so do check before you travel and stay safe. now, the futures of big labor in the u.s. could hang in the bag this week, hinging on the outcome of a vote in the auto plant in chattanooga, tennessee. bertha coombs has all the details. she's at cnbc hq. bertha, tell us the details. >> thanks, julia. good morning. more than 1,500 workers at volkswagen's 3-year-old plant in tennessee will vote over the next three days on whether to join the united autoworkers union. if that happens, it would not only be a huge symbolic victory, but could be a springboard for the uaw to try to organize other foreign-owned auto plants in the southern u.s. that's where the bulk of auto jobs have been added since the late 1990s. vw has been largely neutral on the on vote, but announced an agreement to coordinate messages to workers. if the uaw wins, vw could create a german-style work council. the uaw would bargain over wages and benefits, but would yield control to the council over traditional bargaining issues such as work rules and training. the bid to represent the uaw workers is facing fierce open on sigz and the vote is said to be too close to call at this point. the stakes are huge. a defeat could sink the uaw's latest attempt to stem a decade's decline. just under 400,000 in 2012. the uaw hasn't represented workers at a foreign-owned plant since vw shut down its factory in pennsylvania back in 1987. the vote at a southern auto plant atony san's vote went badly. union leaders expressed confidence leading up to the vote, but the uaw lost that one by a 2/1 major yip. it's been a real sea change when it comes to union influence. it could be, twice, because you've seen management try to make difference moves and communicate more directly with their workers than, perhaps, in the past. back to you. >> thanks, bertha. that vote will run friday evening. so we'll continue to watch. now, let's look at autos. porsche expects to hit sales targets ahead of schedule by nearly three years. >> and italian sports carmaker ferrari gearing up to reveal it's new model, including technical expects and content. enthusiasts say the new car could feature a turbo charged engine. the super car manufacturer hasn't given much away aside from releasing that sketch we just showed you there. there you go. now, having been unable to give you my favorite car, look at this. >> ferrari. >> i can tell you what my favorite one is. is 1956 gt california. great specs. >> the 250 gd california in ferris buehler's day off. it was only a couple years older than the model you're talking about. >> they're just beautiful. and a silver one. i'd go against the red trend and go yellow. i also like the 2013 ferrari s-12. i wrote very pretty. >> so color. pretty. boxy was the late '70s and the '80s. i'm not keen on those. >> box i why, there's -- >> i always do my homework just in days anyone was watching. >> drive one. very interesting trying to drive one. i'd always give it a goal. meanwhile, futures suggest we've got another thick ire at the open today despite the best gains of the year for the dax, nasdaq and the s&p 500. ♪ [ male announcer ] how could switchgrass in argentina, change engineering in dubai, aluminum production in south africa, and the aerospace industry in the u.s.? at t. rowe price, we understand the connections of a complex, global economy. it's just one reason over 75% of our mutual funds beat their 10-year lipper average. t. rowe price. invest with confidence. request a prospectus or summary prospectus with investment information, risks, fees and expenses to read and consider carefully before investing. open to innovation. open to ambition. open to bold ideas. that's why new york has a new plan -- dozens of tax free zones all across the state. move here, expand here, or start a new business here and pay no taxes for ten years... we're new york. if there's something that creates more jobs, and grows more businesses... we're open to it. start a tax-free business at startup-ny.com. we're open to it. fifteen minutes could save you fifteen percent or more on car insurance. yeah. everybody knows that. did you know there is an oldest trick in the book? what? trick number one. look-est over there. ha ha. made-est thou look. so end-eth the trick. hey.... yes.... geico. fifteen minutes could save you... well, you know. welcome back to the show. the u.s. house votes to extend the nation's debt ceiling until next march without any conditions. the vote, 221-201. relied almost entirely on democrats in the republican controlled house. it's the first debt limit extension or increase since 2009. it wasn't part of other legislation. republican leaders had considered adding several attach. s such as approval of the keystone pipeline and eliminating cuts to military pensions, but they determined that they didn't have enough vote. is bill now goes to the senate which could wrap up on the measures by the end of the week. jeffrey, of course, is still with us. chief market strategist at lpl financial. jeffrey, this was a sigh of relief yesterday for the bond markets in particular, wasn't it? >> it was. i think this was more important than anything janet yellen said. this was something that the market had been focused on not so much that they actually believed that they would come close to a default or something around the end of the month. we didn't see much distress in the treasury market. but the idea that the gop was not going to slit its own throat, but maybe come out better. may even make some gains in the senate. the market tends to like what they perceive as a more business friendly make up of the legislative body. and so the idea that things could move in favor of the republicans and then not shoot themselves in the food foot as they did back in october. we saw their pole numbers mruj plunge. i think this is something that the market and investors, particularly the bond market breaths a sigh of relief over. >> we saw a good pick up in the t-bill auction yesterday. where is the bias for the longer end of this curve? is it for yields higher, do you think? >> it is. we think yields could get to 3.5% by the end of this year. which is a pretty big deal. it means your bond market investments are probably going to be flat. and in the u.s. here over the course of this year, making alternatives to the fixed income market and stocks a lot more attractive. >> brilliant. jeffrey, it's great to talk to you. >> thanks for having me on. now, scotty, the wire fox terrier is america's top dog taking the honor e at the westminster dog show on tuesday night. ross, stop groaning. >> is that sky? >> don't be rude. linda ramadan tweets, my profile picture tells it all. >> ross, love small dogs. >> that is sky. well done, sky. terrific performance. >> that's it for today's show. i'm julia chatterley. >> and i'm ross westgate. a countdown to the markets stateside on "squawk box" and viewers in europe will get more from mark carney and the bank of england. >> have a great day. good morning. welcome to "squawk box." stocks rally as fed chairman janet yellen assures markets the central bank is staying the course. and congress decides not to mess archbd with t around with the debt ceiling. did you get in when the market was down 5% to 8% or are you still sitting around like most people? maybe you missed it. president obama expected to sign in an executive order increasing the minimum wage for federal contractors to $10.10 an hour. and it's not quite the end of snow just yet. the south getting slammed by a storm right now. and the new york city area -- i've already got five foot drifts, nothing has melted. we're looking for a lot of snow. it's wednesday, february 12th, 2014. "squawk box" begins right now. >> good morning, everybody. welcome to "squawk box" here on cnbc. yes, it is cold out. it's about 2 degrees here. cold places throughout the country. yes, we are sick of snow. i'm becky quick along with joe kernen and andrew ross sorkin. stocks are now on a four-session winning streak. the major averages closing yesterday at their highest levels in more than two weeks. the dow has now recovered more than half of its recent losses. the nasdaq actually turning positive for the year. among the catalysts yesterday, you had janet yellen, the new fed chair reassuring investors that the central bank could continue improving monetary stimulus to bolster the economy. >> if incoming information broadly supports the committee's expectation of ongoing impr