Transcripts For CNBC Worldwide Exchange 20140221

They must first of all do their own homework and then country is can claim solidarity with others. Rbs is looking for a turn around next week. It could take stock levels to their lowest in a decade. And we are joined by a man would says the eu must pass a trade deal with the u. S. The eus trade commissioner joins us in an hour. Announcer youre watching worldwide exchange, bringing you Business News from around the globe. Welcome, everybody. Yes, you are all watching worldwide exchange. Glad youre with us today. Our top story, the ukrainian president is saying that a political agreement is in place to solve the countrys upheaval. This after two days of continued violence, which has resulted in the deaths of an estimated 75 people. After all night talks, an agreement is scheduled to be signed with pro european Opposition Leaders in around an hours time. Lets cross out to nbcs jim maceda in moscow for the latest. Jim, what do you make of the potential of a deal like this . What do you think happens to make it actually come to this . Well, it does seem to be moving extremely quickly, louisa, doesnt it . If you think about just 24 hours ago, his and protesters were killing each other on Independence Square. But there does seem to be a deal in place to resolve the crisis and that signing, as you said, is to take place in about an hours time. Certainly a lot of pressure, economic pressures from those sanctions announced by the eu countries and the United States. And also just obvious pressures coming from facts on the ground, meaning ago increasingly difficult situation, an untenable situation for yanukovych and the country coming from Independence Square. But were learning a few of the details. Theyre not coming out officially, so i have to say they are alleged details being leaked by a major ukrainian newspaper signingan coyanukovyc saying hes agreed to a returning to the 2004 constitution, a constitution that was completely gutted by yanukovych. And the paper says yanukovych had agreed to a Coalition Government in ten days time. But as we were learning that, we were also hearing from those three Foreign Ministers who broke into a deal with poland, germany and france calling for caution. Saying what has been agreed to is a draft, its an initially, not a full blown signing thats happening in a little while and he calls the draft a starting point, but said that doesnt mean its the end of the conflict. The problem, louisa, is that there seems to be no mention of a resignation of yanukovych. Thats been a key demand fort right sector thats been doing a time of the fighting on the barricade. The French Foreign minister weighed in with caution, as well. The opposition has to get together on this and theyre going to be meeting again in a little while. Jim, im just curious. Do you think a deal like this would stop the violence, first of all . And second, as you say, it seems that weve now moved from it being an issue about closer ties to europe to becoming an issue about removing yanukovych. Will the protesters be happy with this deal . Well, i think the Opposition Leaders will be happy with the deal as described. However, those Opposition Leaders do not control the thinking or the actions of those more hard core right wing, as we say, or extremist groups like right sector who are nationalists ukrainians. And from this point of view, any mention of russia or the president of rush b ya and ukraine is like talking about the enemy. They are prepared to fight to the death, clearly, on this issue. So no, to answer the first part of your question, it certainly is a starting point. Its a good step in the right direction. But it does not mean the end of the conflict. Thats exactly what the polish minister came out to say. Back to you. Jim, thank you very much for being with us. Jim ma said ya joining us live from moscow via nbc. Germany has thrown his support behind a single currency. We made et clear the european currency will remain stable. As to whether the euro will remain a Stable Currency has been overcome. That is perfectly clear and that is despite the sometimes seemingly strange and complex european decisionmaking processes. Where else in the world has anyone created a Political Union between 28 sovereign states and one currency out of 18 sovereign states and the euro is a success story. Therefore, people who dont understand europe are not really in a position to criticize this. Joining us now, karin. Thank you for joining us. So hes saying sort out your own issue before you can direct a finger on us. Is he right, in a sense . I think he is right. For the longest time, hes merging markets have not really rebalanced in terms of growth. Certainly markets facilitated that. Now you have tapering and things are moving the other way. I think its exposed the vulnerabilities in the end for a while, and weve seen this over the past 1 1 2 years. And they certainly do need to move away from investments and exports towards consumption. And theyre doing that, right . China, its a top priority for them. Although many say the emerging markets have been very slow to act in an environment thats favorable towards them. It would have been prime for a number of the troubled emerging markets to get their house necessary order. Its a bit of a vicious circle. You have lower rates, hot money in flows, credit build up and you see not so opt on mall investment, right . And i think thats pretty much par and parcel for the process. Financial market perspective, a lot is in the price. Kiran, we just got some break news. Want to mention that the italian Prime Minister designate will be proposing a cabinet list today and thats coming via party source on our wires. We are also keeping an eye on whats taking place in italy. Back to whats taking place in the currency markets, its too early to even talk about exiting qe. Thats what the bank of japan governor mr. Occur ro corrode k to say earlier today. He added that a weaker yen and Higher Energy prices are pushing up those prices. So its too early to talk about exiting qe. When do you think that the they will think its the right time . Economists have been saying for some time that they wont do an additional qe. But i think for us, our expectations are clear. I think its pretty much consensess that economists dont expect that early in the year. The yen has been covering substantially. Kuroda is more dovish and yesterdays bank of japan, as well, more dovish. I think you had many members suggesting that they had to make clear that you had to do probably more easing around. They are getting more concerned. I think this is not the time to buy the yen, its the time to sell the yen and weve had a long dollar yen position. And a long dollar position against the yen is still intact with how were seeing the u. S. Economic data at the moment . Thats a great question. For a couple of weeks, youve seen weaker data due to weather related issues. And youve seen that degree of pessimism you say between the first week of november and the third week of september when the Government Shutdown wasnt an issue. So i think were close to those kind of levels. I think investors are pretty much looking through the data. Youve had weaker data this week. U. S. Yields are moving higher. So i think now is not the time to extrapolate dollar weakness. How about yourself and sterling, as well . Because, you know, were in this environment in the uk where weve seen growth outperforming the rest of europe. Quite significantly in some areas. And the bank of england indicating that rates could move higher at some point, not right around the corner, but at some point within the next year, year and a half or so if we look at the forecast. Do we hang on to this long sterling position . We certainly would like to. Shortly sterling is one of our recommendations on the year. Over the past weeks, a lot of sterling strength has been exaggerated by flow. You could see volatility and long sterling is extended. But that presents an opportunity in our view, right . At the end of the day, when you think about what the bank of england told us, hardly any marketing has been priced in. And in about five seconds, your euro dollar forecast for the end of the year. Yeah. We think it goes to 1. 26 by the end of the year. Youre in that camp. Some say 1. 23, 1. 24. Good to know. By end of the year, 1. 26. Kiran, bnp paribas, that you can so much. Coming up on todays show, a drop for keering. When will it be back in vogue . And a surprise rise in sales for hd, is its turn around plan working . Were off to silicone valley to find out. And regarding facebook and whatsapp, were asking whats to come. And were in singapore for all of the thrilles and spills of the extreme sailing series. Stay with us here on worldwide exchange. Find us on email, on twitter. [ male announcer ] how could a luminous protein in jellyfish, impact Life Expectancy in the u. S. , real estate in hong kong, and the optics industry in germany . At t. Rowe price, we understand the connections of a complex, global economy. Its just one reason over 75 of our mutual funds beat their 10year 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. Im spending too much time hiring and not enough time in my kitchen. [ female announcer ] need to hire fast . Go to ziprecruiter. Com and post your job to over 30 of the webs leading job boards with a single click; then simply select the best candidates from one easy to review list. You put up one post and the next day you have all these candidates. Makes my job a lot easier. [ female announcer ] over 100,000 businesses have already used zip recruiter and now you can use zip recruiter for free at a special site for tv viewers; go to ziprecruiter. Com offer2. Hi, everyone. Welcome back. You are looking at a live shot of the kiev. The president of ukraine is expected to sign a preliminary agreement to resolve the crisis in this next hour. We will update you on the fluid situation throughout the show. Here in europe, in an equity market momentum, were seeing the stoxx europe 600 gaining a little bit of traction here in the mornings session. Over the last couple of sessions, weve seen a flat close every day on our oorpan markets. This morning, we saw european markets moving a littler. The stoxx europe 600 has said flat so higher. The cac 40 flat to a little bit up. The xetra dax down by a couple of points and the ftse 100 higher by around 0. 5 . 6841. So were continuing to push higher to some lofty levels on the ftse. Now, when it comes to some of the top stocks today in trade, rbs shares, theyve been rising, as you can see, up by almost 2 . This is after media reports that the bank is gearing up to slash thousands of jobs. Various reports say that rbs could be announcing plans to get rid of all to 30,000 staff when it reports numbers next week. That kind of move would take rbs stocks to their lowest level in more than a decade. Over here, you have kerring trading 3 lower posting a drop in profits. The firm says it was hit by sales in its gucci fashion brand as well as restructuring charges. We were just talking about some of the currency rates with our guest a couple of moments ago. The pound against the dollar, very flat. Right now, the euro slorl very flat around that upper end mark. Li sixuan joins us via singapore. Talk us through whats been taking focus in asia. On the back of data, the nikkei t 225 ended by a stunning 3 higher. In china, markets came under pressure as investors took profits from sinopec. The shanghai composite ended down by 1. 2 . Elsewhere, south korea ended higher by 1. 4 . And down earned, a Solid Earnings season boosted investment in minor banks and other high performers, so the australia asx 200 ended higher by 0. 5 . Very much in focus in hong kong. Down by just a tad and its 2013 profit missing street expectations. After the signal is tapering tension, esprit reporting results back in profit ending higher by 0. 7 . Also in earnings news, Citic Pacific climbed 11. 9 the after posting a 9 the growth in 2013 profits. Meanwhile, parts in retail tanked over 7 today after posting a worst than expected 58 decline. Earnings, while announcing the resignation of its ceo. Thats a look out of asian markets. Back to you, louisa. Sixuan, thank you very much. The u. S. Is looking to promote its growth policies and tax reforms while emerging markets look for the impact on fed tapering. German finance minister Wolfgang Schober tells us why emerging markets need structural reform before they can blame other banks. We must assume our responsibility for the emerging countries, but everybody must understand they must first of all do their own homework and then countries can demand solidarity for others. Were joined now. Orel, good to see you. What are we anticipating happening out of this g20 meeting . Whats going to come out of it . Well, thats the key question. Our treasurer, joe hockey has been very certain that he wants facts and figures on the final communique. Hes given us two pages to do that. This is going to be a tough job in itself. Hes pointing to the fact that we need tangible change. In terms of those marriage issues that you were talking about, there is significant friction now between what the u. S. Is doing in terms of tapering and how the emerging markets reacting. In that case, u. S. Treasury secretary jack lew spoke about that today. He called on china, the eu to do more for domestic japan. He said they need to do a lot more to get their own fiscal houses in order. Of course, this is a big point of contention for the emerging markets who are basically turning around and saying, you know what . We supported you when you were slowing down, youre not going to do the same to us when were slowing down . The other issue on the table is the growth target. Its a key issue. Thats a key point of contention, in fact. Because when you look at some of the growth rates, at 3 post financial crisis, thats the average for Global Economic growth. 5 prior. Some analysts are falling to the target to sit around 5 . Australia and the usa agree on having this. Other countries dont necessarily think so. Germany for one is calling that particular idea and we spoke with al axle and he said a growth target wont necessarily work. But a stimulus package could be on the table. In which case each individual country would put some money on the table. Were waiting to hear more on that, of course, and the g20 does kick off in sydney tomorrow. Well have more on that when we speak to you on monday. Louisa. And janet yellen will be present, as well. You wonder how much of an earful shell be getting about the pace of tapering by the fed and whether or not they can influence her to try to not taper too quickly. That is a very interesting point that you made. It was only a few weeks ago that we heard from the rba governor. He, of course, essentially was putting quite a bit of blame on the u. S. He was one of those voices that was saying, you know what . The emerging market supported the u. S. When they were slowing down. Where is that return favor . Hes saying in terms of Monetary Policy coordination globally, its not there right now. Its sadly lacking and something needs to be done about it. Well tell you about it on monday. Oriel morrison, thank you for joining us. Back to our top story today, the ukrainian president yanukovych says an agreement is in place to solve the countrys upheaval. After allnight talks, an agreement is scheduled to by sign with pro european leaders in around an hours time. This morning a ukraine issued five year euro bonds worth 2 billion which it hoped to would be bought by russia. Lillittl lillith, if they sign this deal, what would it mean . Well, what ive heard so far, and this is by all means not confirmed, is that there will be snap elections potentially in december and it appears that its some sort of a compromise that well deal with the most urgent issue, which is to stop violence and then calm, situation, calm the economic situation, which is dire, and move the crisis into the political path. And would this make a difference to the shortterm violence that were seeing now . Would it mean that the violence now, would it stop . I think the biggest challenge will be for the Opposition Leader to involve in these talks, to sell et to people on the street and particularly for those more radical protesters who want dramatic action, who do not want to put that way because the president s term any longer. So keeping that unity, having everyone on board will be a challenge for the Opposition Leaders. On the other hand, the governor really needs to realize going back to status quo is out of the question. Yeah. Many of the Opposition Leaders, theyre pro eu. What do you think russias reaction could be after this . What happens to the initial deal that this was all about back in november where ties are supposed to come to russia . If we go slightly lower than november, look at july, august 2013, i think already russia knew that ukraine was oscillating between eu and russia, including president yanukovych. At some point, the president was pretty much on board with the opposition that they will face the european integration. It was the economic immediate pressures that led the ukraine to choose the russian deal. What russia could do, the first thing would be to revisit credit and gas prices deals. As you mentioned, most likely the bond buying scheme, which was initially agreed in december probably will be put aside. And also the gas price discount will be revisited because there wasnt really a commitment by moscow, anyway. Thank you so much for your time, little yith. Still to come here on the show, luxury loses its luster as gucci sales slump. We ask when demand will improve at the high end retailer. Thats coming up just after the break. For our call center. Im spending too much time hiring and not enough time in my kitchen. [ female announcer ] need to hire fast . Go to ziprecruiter. Com and post your job to over 30 of the webs leading job boards with a single click; then simply select the best candidates from one easy to review list. You put up one post and the next day you have all these candidates. Makes my job a lot easier. [ female announcer ] over 100,000 businesses have already used zip recruiter and now you can use zip recruiter for free at a special site for tv viewers; go to ziprecruiter. Com offer2. Display youre watching cnbc, Business News from around the world. Ukraines president says a settlement document is set to be signed in around 30 minutes time. Concentrate on your own problems, germanys finance minister tells us sdlexclusivel that emerging markets need Structural Reforms before they can blame other Central Banks for jitters. We must, of course, assume our responsibility for emerging countries, but everybody must understand they must first of all do their own homework and then countries can demand solidarity from others. And rbs is reportedly set to slash thousands of jobs as part of a turn around plan next week which would take numbers to their lowest level in more than a decade. And were join by the plan who says the eu in the u. S. The eus trade commissioner joins us in half an hour. Hi hi, everybody. Welcome back. You are looking at a live shot of the protestify area and the unrest thats been taking place in kiev. The president of ukraine is expected to sign a preliminary agreement to resolve the crisis in the next 30 minutes time. Well be updating you on the situation throughout the show. Stay with us for the latest on the ukraine. Now, the retale sales data is just hitting our wires, as well. January retails sales, minus 1. 5 on the month. Which means were looking at 4 plus on the year. The forecast was for precisely for a bit of a drop on the month, exactly that, 1. 5 on the month. Depending on which forecast youre looking at, it could be seen as being quite worse than anticipated. January store price inflation, the weakest since september 2009. Were seeing it being the biggest drop in two years, as well. Retail sales in the three months of january before the strongest rise on the year was december of 2004. So, in other words, a pretty weak reading on january retail sales, although according to dow jones news wires with their estimates. Lets talk a little bit more about this. Raoul, minus 1 for january. Is that what you were expecting . I think. Its actually quite a strong reading. Were talking about over 4 had retail sales growth. Within that number, i expect discretionary sales i suspect were quite strong. Where do you think the weakness was . I suspect the weakness is likely to do with food. I think were shopping for food differently. Were losing ground to smaller formats. People have expected these are cheaper places to shop. I think theres a big structural issue going on there. Can we trust this data given that it was wintertime and seasonal factors and all that that we usually say this time of year, we have to wait for the Second Quarter data to come through . I think thats fair. Theyre subject to revisions. Weve got multiple data points. Weve had official brc retail sales. Their members had a phenomenal january. You had the best like for like in over three years in january. We know christmas went quite well in the uk. Most nonfood retailers had a good margin. People are ready to spend out there. I think what youre seeing is the internet is a big part of their shopping plan. People have become much more savvy in terms of comparing prices. I dont think its any questions dense that prices are much more keen over this, as well, because weve learned to shop, as well, on the internet. But overall, i can consumers are willing to spend. We keep hear that the uk economy is outperforming its beer peers by a wide margin. Is that seen in Consumer Behavior and consumer willingness b to part with their cash . I think it is. If you look at big durable sales, car sales in the uk have held up far better than anything on the continent. Its a very big item that a consumer is showing some confidence by perking up in buying. Clearly, the uk consumer is more confidence. And the fact is wage pressure inflation has grown faster than wages have. But that gab is narrowing and more and more people are in employment. So i can thats helping. Lets talk about luxury for a moment. Kerring has posted a drop in profits after being dropped by restructuring charges. Flagship brand gucci saw sales fall further during the Fourth Quarter. Well hear from the ceo of kering on those results later on in the show. The gap between luxury and nonluxury was very wide at one point during the financial crisis, even though the top end brand was holding up relatively well. How is the environment now when you look at the discount brands versus the top luxury . I think the fact that luxury is still outpacing the rest of retail, this is very much a 1 economy where stock markets have done really well, but luxury has slowed a little bit. China was such a big driver for the last two or three years and that consumer is normalizing. You cant keep seeing 20 growth on whats a big number. What that also meant i think is consumers become losers here. The chinese dont like bling, bling, bling all the time. So the super high brands have done well. Someone who offers units has done very well because they offer exclusivity. The likes of gucci caught in the crossfire because its a very big brand thats become common. Cutting back that logo which theyre trying to do to become upscale, its a lot of very nice handbags you have to sell. I think youre seeing clear winners and losers in a market. Weve seen a lot of m a activity in area sectors over the last couple of months. Is there space for m a in retail . Do you think well see a tying up of some of the Retail Sector these year . It depends on the sector use you can tagging about. In luxury, youre seeing the emergence of two or three super groups. Youve got carrying, richemont, zulry, for example, both high end and low end is quite exciting. I think it is a hugely unbranded market. Consumers for the most part buy unbranded jewelry and theres aspiration so these brands can do well. You saw the biggest merger between at the mid range, basically, gobbling up each other. I think jewelry is another. I think it depends sector by sector. But with the pressures facing the sector, the internet is gaining ground. That needs scale. There is a lot of sense of companies coming together. But this is one of the easiest businesses to get wrong, so yes. Well, thank you so much for being russ. Now, back the our european markets, this morning in trade were seeing a pretty flat picture emerging so far. Slightly to the upside for the ftse. The xetra dax and the cac 40 up by a bit. The ftse mib call that flat come out of italy. The bond markets, were continuing to see the yield pushed lower over the last couple of weeks. Between, pretty flattish trade is what were seeing there. Currency cross rates, dollar yen, pretty unmoved. Youve got the euro dollar, around 1. 37, hanging on to that level. And sterling against the greenback, a little higher, 1. 66. However, one of the interesting things that might be worth watchi watching, a team of japanese scientist ves found a new cancer diagnosis possibility to make it possible to detect cancer within 30 minutes. Hi, louisa, this team identified a substance in blood thats present when its positive for cancer. The analysis is done by dropping one milliliter of blood on to a transparent of slide and dropping rna on its surface to find the tech. The new technology is more accurate, quicker and can be used to find a large number of cancer times. It has an 80 accuracy rate for identify onning breast cancer. It can be used for the detection of pancreatic cancer which is very hard to find in the early stage. This technology, optics cameramaker icon and the National Cancer center. The team hopes to develop this and commercialize within ten years. Louisa, back to you. Significant development. Thank you very much for being with us. Thanks for that. On the agenda for whats happening on monday. There are earnings out of hong kong and along with hang seng bank. Blewscope reports from australia. And singapore sgx introduces circuit breaks. Another big deal, weve been looking at facebooks blockbuster buyout of messaging service whatsapp. Julia boorstin takes a closer look. Facebooks 16 billion acquisition of whatsapp shines a spotlight on social networks. Some other start ups could be up for grabs. Snapchat grew offered from facebook and google. The messaging app in december raised another 50 million. Well have to see if its 400 million daily acquisitions picks up more interest. Many of the social apps are based in asia. A chinese microbloging platform last year drew investment from alibaba of 586 million at an estimated value north of 3 billion. And Parent Company cena is traded on the nasdaq with a 4. 8 billion market cap. More than 340 million registered users. Offering text messaging, voice calls, photo sharing and games. Its free but its charges for the likes of stickers, which users can add by chat. Its developed by neighbor, a korean internet company. Chinas messaging app with wechat earns most of its revenue from games. Its owned by Chinese Media giant tencent but is eyeing growing attention in the United States. Blackberry is in the spotlight sending its shares higher because of perceived potential in its messaging service. Wok who could be in the market for an acquisition . Google, apple, microsoft or facebook. What do you think would be the next app to be snapped up . Im pretty into the jawbone one at the moment. Actually, it goes hand in hand with what im wearing. Its like a wearable app. It tracks everything i do, my walking distances, my sleep patterns. Its interesting. Im not sure how long it will last, but its good motivation to see how your lifestyle is during the day and night. Let us know. Worldwide cnbc. Com, if you could buy an app or whats your favorite app, let us know. cnbcwex is where you can tweet us. louisabowyerson if you can to tweet me directly. Still to come on the show we know about sailing in the world of investing. Out here on the water, its no different. We take take you aboard the extreme sailing series right here after the break. Here in philadelphia you can access a philly cheesesteak anytime, day or night. Just like you can access geico anytime, day or night. There is only one way to celebrate this unique similarity. Witness the cheesesteak shuffle. Cheesesteak, cheesesteak its the cheesesteak shuffle huh every day, all day, cheesesteak, cheesesteak every night, all night cheesesteak, cheesesteak 9 a. M. Cheesesteak 2 p. M. Cheesesteak 4 a. M. Cheesesteak any time ruh geico. Fifteen minutes could save you fifteen percent or more on car insurance. Welcome back, everyone. You are looking at a live shot in kiev in ukraine. The countrys president is set to sign a preliminary agreement to resolve the crisis at the top of the hour. The g20 finance minister res meeting in sydney this weekend with the situation in emerging markets set to take center stage. Cnbcs annette spoke to wolfgang schobler and asked him what he thinks will happen. Everything is interlinked and growth is the main issue. Of course, were working globally to sustain growth as far as possible. We are currently seeing some problems in some emerging countries and that would be the most important topic at this meeting. That is most closely connected with the meeting. I think we have to find a balance,. On the one hand, that we continue the policy of carefully reducing the excess liquidity. This is primarily a matter for the Central Banks and its quite clear that for a while now, Monetary Policy being fighting against these difficulties and to accommodate these economic developments. But it has led to a situation on the other hand where Monetary Policy is not the same everywhere and there is the temptation not to carry out the necessary Structural Reforms. Therefore, the emerging countries concerned must be made aware that it is not only a question of cautious calibrated tapering, but also that they must continue consistently along the path of structured economic reforms. Weve had the problem recently in europe and weve used Monetary Policy to gain some time, but this should not be misused to avoid solving problems. So that means youre not on the same page as the head of Indias Central Bank who included includes the industrial world of being selfish . Translator there is always a temptation for everyone to take care of their own country and interests first. Therefore, this remoech is never fully justified, nor is it particularly original. It is primarily targeted to those raising these ornlbjectio and this is why i say in india there are potential currency problems not caused due to the policy of other cuppes and such a large country as india cannot expect those decisions which must be taken and implemented in india going to be taken by other countries. It is clear to me, and i always repeat this, when we look at the globalized world, those countries who have not reached the Economic Performance level of the industrialized country must achieve higher growth rates. Otherwise, the worldwide tensions will become bigger, not smaller. But we are also working to ensure that tensions become less. So you are telling emerging markets that they have to make their house a home, as well . Translator in my opinion, we must always strive towards an approach of solidarity. We must, of course, assume our responsibility for the emerging country, but everybody must understand that they must first of all do their own homework. And then countries can demand solidarity from others. Well, annette in frankfurt, its an interesting interview. I think the point especially about how emerging markets need to sort out their own houses before they can point fingers anywhere else is one thats very well taken, one ive heard made by other nonheads of state, lets put it that way. What do you think otherwise was his main message . I think one of his main messages, as well, at least as well the message that the eurozone has entered a rather stable phase right now, theres no more contagion risk. We have seen that with italy now with the instability, of course, of the political system. There were no facts on the market as so in terms of years spiking. And that is actually he will be very proud to bring that to the g20. Although, of course, we still have that occasional hiccup, talking about potential haircuts for greek debt. But here, also, he said there wont be a second haircut similar to the one we have seen some years ago. Although his ministry is doing all kinds of calculations, i should say. So, in essence, i would say he brings that story in the emerging market with him and also positive feedback from the eurozone. And he will most likely pose the view from the United States that they need to be more boost for growth. With that, back to you. Annette, thank you very much for that. Now, in japan, the bank of japan policymakers, they left few clues about future easing in their january meeting minutes. A new reuters poll shows most Analysts Expect the central bank to step up asset buying by the summer. Today, the bank of japan governor, mr. Can you roda, told a Parliamentary Committee that it is too early to start debating qe exit strategies. Joining us now is a japan economist at hsbc. Zumi, good to see you. The bank of japan minutes indicating its too early to talk about exiting quantitative easing. Also, therein an indication, as well, that japans gdp potentially could be cut, at least if you read between the lines. Yeah. I think the minutes didnt really offer anything new. Really, these minutes came from the january meeting. They largely left their inflation and Growth Outlook intact. Since then, in february, we have had the worse than expected gdp number for the Fourth Quarter of 2013. Yesterdays exports release showed january exports plunging more than expected, 3. 5 on the month. So that data is out. I think the bank of japan is still focused on inflation as the key measure. To determine whether they need to find policy at another round of stimulus. And i think we do expect inflation print to come out, again, quite strong for the month of january. So i think theyre keeping an eye on overseas economies, world about the export outlook. But theyre still not shaken in their view that japan can achieve strong growth. How do you think, though, the bank of japan potentially would react if we were to see an increase in tapering coming from the u. S. And indeed potentially some are saying we should be looking at rate hikes from the u. S. , as well. Well, i think insofar as the yen is continuing to, you know, weaken stably, i dont think that will push the bank of japan into, for example, announcing another round of stimulus. Theyre most concerned about volatility, not only in fx, but also in the jgb markets. There could be fine tuning of Monetary Policy to smooth of that possibility. But i dont think it will prompt them to change their outlook on their Monetary Base target and easing in general. Zumi, thank you very much for being with us. Now, weve all heard the saying that sailing is like tearing up 100 bills while taking a cold shower, havent we . Cnbcs julia wood tests this theory. The extreme sailing series isnt your average day out of the water. Were talking 12 teams of world class sailors across three continents battling it out with eight knile baiting acts. This is a high octane spectator sport. Each race lasts only 10 to 15 memberships. Everything hangs on the start line. Its really tight with this course. There will be lots of action. There would probably be a few bumps along the way. But certainly for spectators, its an action packed series. Its the high speed crashes and closeup action that has spectators calling it the f11 of sailing. So what better place to host the opening acts than right here in singapores formula one track. Representing the local side will be team abredean in singapore. Its a great venue, the iconic bay. I think sailing here brings more attention to the sport and helps the public end sailing better. The hometown support and having your family and friends come down to watch su a great thing. Making headwinds, ironically, is the lack of wind. Situated amid singapores tallest buildings, the marina bay area is sheltered from strong gusts. But these boats still have to perform for their spectators. The extreme 40 is a high tech racing catamaran. It has a big sailing area. Its got roughly around 120 square meters sailing upwind against the wind. And its the same as a mini cooper. The only other place youll find a super fast lightweight boat like this one is at the americas cup. So what kind of price tag comes with these high tech speed machines . The cost of running an extreme sailing Series Campaign is around 1 million. While a brand new boat will set you back about 500 grand. Compared with a 100 million americas cup campaign, investing in extreme sailing is totally pushing the boat out. With an affordable price tag and guaranteed high octane action, its no wonder the extreme sailing series is picking up pace. This is julia wood, for cnbc. Crazy. We call this sailing. Its like a blimp on the rudder. You know, its like an air balloon almost on the water. Amazing technology. Amazing. Weve been asking which apps you favor at the moment. And if you could buy an app, which one would you snap up . Youve been writing in, giving us some nice answers. John tweets in and saying im waiting for an expresso app that turns my smartphone into a mobile brew station. As i said, let you know when you find that option and please make sure theres an option to choose a nice piece of dark chocolate with that. Rick tweet necessary and says im hooked on similar to my jaw bone so he can see the progress. Well be back just after the break. Negotiations on an eu u. S. Trade deal. Well hear more about that. Stay with us. Hi, everybody. Welcome back. The ukraine president claims negotiations over on the crisis have continued. But reports suggest gunshots continue to ring out in central kiev. Concentrate on your own problems. U. S. European and financing chiefs say european markets need to look at their own reforms before they could mraik blame other Central Banks for jitters. Emerging markets need to take steps of their own, to have their fiscal house in order on, to have their Structural Reforms in place. And rbs is reportedly set to slash noise of jobs as part of a turn around plan next week. That could take staff numbers to the lowest levels in more than a decade. And imminently, were joined by the man would says that the eu will not lower standards in order to pass a trade deal with the u. S. The eus trade commissioner joins us in a bit. , everybody. We are looking here at live shots from kiev from Independence Square where protests have been taking place and where we have seen more violence in the last couple of days. Now, after all night talks, an agreement is scheduled to be signed with pro superan Opposition Leaders at any moment. Were waiting for that. In the last couple of hours, weve seen more and more people congregate to the square this morning as daybreaks. Weve had two days of continued violence. A source says the deal will cut president ial powers by september of 2014. So, again, were sitting tight waiting for a potential deal to be signed, a potential deal between president yanukovych and eu leaders well, it should be happening right around now, so well continue to keep you up to date on that. Lets check in on the u. S. Futures. Were still fairley early in the session. 4 1 2 hours to go before the potential open. The ftse global 300 looks like this. Were a little bit higher in trade this morning. Up by around 0. 25 percentage points. The ftse euro 600 has seen potential gains over the past 2 1 2 weeks or so. Were just flat lined a little bit. Our main european markets, the ftse 100 up 0. 5 . Were testing whether or not we can stay above 6,800. The cac 40 higher while the ftse mib is off by a bit and the xetra dax flat, too, just a little lower. Uk sales figures came in about 3. 4 on the year, so that was a bit stronger than anticipated on the yearly level. The currency markets, here were looking at a completely flat euro dollar at the moment. The dollar gaining a bit against the yen. We were talking to analysts about the bank of japan minutes that were indicating its too early to talk about exiting quantitative easing. That coming from the bank of japan governor kuroda. The issue is when would they change their outlook and would japans gdp forecast be cut for 2014. An earlier guest who was on the show would be saying he would be staying long the dollar yen at the moment. Kiran was indicating that. We continue to see whether that trade is intact for the time being. Sterling dollar, a little weaker across the board. Lets recap asian markets. Li sixuan joins us again. Sixuan. Thank you, louisa. On the back of the strong u. S. Data and the weaker yen, look at the nikkei 225. It made a stunning rebound today, up almost 3 . Gaining nearly 4 for the week. But china markets came under pressure as investors took profits from yesterdays big outperformer, sinopec and other oil majors. El where, south koreas kospi gained 1. 4 . In australia, a Solid Earnings season continues to boost miners, banks and other high performers. The asx 200 gained 0. 5 today. Aia shares ended a bit weaker after reporting a 7 fall in its 2013 profits missing street expectations. The street reported results, swinging back into profit thanks to its turn around plan as shares ended higher by 0. 7 . Meantime, parks and retail tanked over 7 after posting a worse than expected 58 decline in earnings. And that is a recap of asian markets. Back to you. Sixuan, thank you very much for that. We appreciate it. I just want to bring you up to speed with the latest that were getting through on the ukraine. As said, were just sitting tight, waiting for a final agreement, a deal to be signed president president yanukovych and eu leaders. The tentative ukraine deal reached would have constitutional reform ones within 48 hours. Theyre quoting unnamed source ones. They say a deal would see the ukraine adopt the 2004 amendment and the deal promises a Transitional Government within ten days. According to dow jones, the ukraine deal promises president ial election necessary 2014 and they would be pledging proper investigations into the violence and abuses that have been seen here within the last couple of weeks, according to a source quoted by dow jones news wires. The deal is still to be signed by the government and by top sigz. So were just waiting for that to happen. Theres been a lot of violence over the last couple of days. By the looks of things now, people are waiting to see whether or not this deal is signed and what the details are, what it will mean. Game maceda joins us from moscow. Jim, people are just joining us this morning, talk us through what exactly it is were expecting and whats taken place within the last 24 hour. Hi, louisa. Whats supposed to be happening is that a signing is to be taking place, actually, as we speak, between the parties, that is Victor Yanukovych and the Opposition Leaders brokered by and in the presence of the Foreign Ministers from the eu, the eu representative. That you mentioned several of the points there. Ive actually had the opportunity to look at a hard copy of at least the first page of this deal. And it did contain those four key points that you mentioned. Early elections, december of 2014. So earlier by a few months than had normally been planned. Returning to the 2004 constitution, which is important, because that one had been gutted by Victor Yanukovych. The investigation of crimes, as you said, committed over the past three months of the crisis and a formation of that Coalition Government in ten days. But the three eu Foreign Ministers who brokered the deal are calling for caution. The polish minister saying that what has been agreed to is just a draft. Its not a full blown signing, just an initialling, and its also a starting point. He said it doesnt mean the end of the conflict. And if you think that just 24 hours ago protesters and riot police were killing each other on that square just yards away from where the signing is to take place, it really is extraordinary how fast things are moving. But louisa, here is the key hangup. There is the Opposition Leaders have made a big concession here. Theres no apparent mention at all of yanukovychs resignation. Thats been a major demand among the protesters, especially the hard core extremist groups called right sector, doing much of the fighting and taking a lot of the blood on the barricades. That was, again, their main demand. Back to you. Jim, thank you very much for that. Jim maceda, live from moscow. Well keep you up to date with the breaking news coming out of the ukraine here within the hour. Were anticipating as jim was saying a deal to be signed imminently. Now, another story were watching, nigeria currency falls again an the president sacks the governor. Nigh keeria has suspended the governor there. It is saying it will not compare corruption now with previous administrations, but haas has been alarmed by what hes seen. Cnbc africa caught up with the man himself, the former central bank governor. Take a listen to what he had to say. Basically, i hope the economy will not be hurt by this. I also hope the central bank will be protected. I look outside and the forecast for my country, ive been fortunate to have the opportunity to do some good work on the bank possibility. I would not want to see all of that unraveled. Now, negotiations over in eu u. S. Trade deal are continuing, but have hit some hurdles. Do the benefits outweigh the risks . Well get at the u trade commissioners view, thats coming up next. [ male announcer ] whether it takes 200,000 parts, 800,000 hours of supercomputing time, 3 million lines of code, 40,000 sets of eyes, or a million sleepless nights. Whether its building the worlds most advanced satellite, the space station, or the next leap in unmanned systems. At boeing, one thing never changes. Our passion to make it real. Then a little time to kick back. Earn double Hilton Honors points with the 2x points package and be one step closer to a weekend break. Doubletree by hilton. Where the Little Things mean everything. Hi, everybody. Welcome back. Ukraines president says a deal with opposition supporters is to be signed today. Rbs is reportedly set to cut up to 30,000 jobs as part of a turn around plan. Welcome back, everybody. Were still showing you live pictures here of Independence Square in kiev where protesters have been gathering since november, really, but in the past couple of weeks, weve seen a rapid rise of the violence, and especially in the last couple of days the violence has turned deadly. And were now waiting for a deal to be signed between president yanukovych and Opposition Leaders. Weve been told that this deal should have been signed about 15 minutes ago and should have been announced here 15 minutes ago. The question is whether or not that will happen. We still dont know. We still are waiting for this according to the wires. Dow jones news wires, they quote sources saying that were still waiting and that a deal would pledge proper investigation into the violence and into the abuses and that a deal is to promise the president ial election in 2014. Again, this is unconfirmed that the is what were getting on our wires now according to sources. The dow jones news wires have spoken to. Joining us now, were very pleased to have the eu trade commissioner with us in the studio for the next half an hour or so. Carl, thank you very much for being with us. First of all, what do you make of the situation in ukraine . And how testing is it of eu policies, as well b, and what should or what could the eu be doing . I watched the images during the night and im really astonished that this is happening again, i would say, at our boarders. This has to stop immediately. This is unacceptable. So i hope that we can that it can be stopped immediately. Now, about an agreement, of course an agreement should be reached. But i think we should be cautious. And wait until it is made public and until it is signed, that its clear that it has been accepted by all parties concerned and the parties are the opposition and the government. What the european representatives in france, germany and poland in very Close Corporation have been doing is mediating. We are not a party to the conflict. We are mediating and i hope they have been putting a lot of time, effort and knowledge into this. Lets not make prematurity judgment at a political level about something that is not public yet. Should yanukovych step down . Is there any way that the ukraine can continue even if the bloodshed were to stop and even if the government were to hold back on sending troops out to increase the violence, is there any way the government can continue . We have to create conditions the bloodshed can stop and then i think we have to take it from there. Carl, youre with us here, also, for other reasons. And let me just update you a little bit. German chancellor Angela Merkel has pushed for more progress on the trade agreements between the u. S. And the eu. Negotiators are set to meet again next month in washington for a fourth round of negotiations, but the talks have faced obstacles on the fourth side of the atlantic. Basically, were looking at three rounds of talks now. The transatlantic trade and Investment Partnership talks. Just in your own words for viewers who might not be familiar with it, what are these talks about . . What is it youre yieg to achieve . Very important. Im just coming back from the United States where we did a political stop at the ministerial level. We looked at what came out of this so to identity difficulties, what should be the priorities, well have a new political stock taking in december. What is it about . Does a politician always has to take care to say in his own words, i would say its about a further and partial incident gragz with our markets. There are not that many tariffs any more. We should make away with them apart from some agricultural projects. We have to integrate the Services Sector much more. And the chunk of the agreement and also what is the most promising for the future is the regulatory so how do you make the noms and standards setting regulatio regulations, conform with the assessments and you name it become more and more compatible, harmonized and i hope in a certain number of sectors even identical. And thats what i mean by this integration of our markets. Its not an internal market that we are making. We shouldnt claim that. But our markets should come more together than any other market in the world. Some say that if youre negotiating, then it means in the end were compromising. And then it means that ultimately you have to give in in certain areas and that you end up being weaker than you were before. Like the eu, the outcome would be weaker for the eu, for example. Well, of course, when you are negotiating, you are compromising, no . If not, you would not be negotiating. But there is a big difference between compromising and giving in. You can also make compromises that are winwin situations. And i can reassure, again, ive done this a dozen times, we are not going to change the basic legislation and regulation in europe. We are not going to do that. We are not going toni put from the u. S. . From the u. S. It will be more brief imports and they will be hormone free beef just as we did by canada, by the way. So we have to prove that this is what we want to do. We are not going to change our legislation. We are not going to do that. We are not going to lower our standards on health, safety and the environment. We are not going to make compromises on data protection. We try. On the basis of the two legislation, legislation in the u. S. And legislation in eu, of course, to facilitate the free flow of commercial data because you need it in such a market. So this is its about making a deal. Its not about compromises that are lowering our standards. Is there one or two sectors that stand out in particular . It would be a very comprehensive agreement. It will be i mean, it would take as many years as we do in the eu. But it will be a comprehensive one. Which means a lot of sectors across the board will benefit. But, for example, automotive, which is a sector that is in a difficult situation in europe would certainly benefit. Carl, we have to leave it there. Thank you so much for coming in to talk with us, call de gucht, eu trade commissioner. We need to show you our e you markets at the moment. Well be back just after the break with more. It was another busy day in sochi. Tom mackenzy has the highlights. American Maddie Bowman secured the womens first gold in freeski halfpipe after david wise won the mens competition. In the curling event, the women of canada reign supreme over sweden to claim their fist ever second curling gold. The move improved cap das gains to 70 matching the olympic gain without a cross. Norway remain at the top of the medal board going into day 14 with the usa in second and germany in third. Now, u. S. Futures indicating a slight bounce on the u. S. Markets on the open. Not a big one, though. And they call it a flat to a very slight bounce as weve seen on our european markets here on todays session. Still to come on the show, the luxury grounds are lost as caring to a certain extent as gucci sales slump. We hear exclusively from the firms executive. Thats coming up next. [ male announcer ] first the cookie at checkin. Then a little time to kick back. Earn double Hilton Honors points with the 2x points package and be one step closer to a weekend break. Doubletree by hilton. Where the Little Things mean everything. Doubletree by hilton. Are you still sleeping . Just wanted to check and make sure that we were on schedule. The First Technology of its kind. Mom and dad, i have great news. Is now providing answers families need. Siemens. Answers. Hi, everybody. Welcome. The ukraine president claims negotiations over an agreement to end the crisis have concluded. Reports suggest gunshots continue to ring out in central kiev. Concentrate on your own problems as the g20 kicks off and say emerging markets need to look at their own reforms before they could blame Central Banks for jitters. Emerging markets need to take steps of their own to have their fiscal house in order, to have their Structural Reforms in place. And rbs is reportedly set to slash thousands of jobs as part of a turn around plan next week which could take stocks to their lowest level in more than a decade. And the eu trade commissioner tells cnbc he wont lower standards in order to pass a trade deal with the u. S. We are not going to change the basic legislation and regulation in europe. We are not going to do that. Hi, everybody, welcome back. If youre just waking up stateside, good morning. The implied open is that were looking to a flat to slight bounce for our u. S. Intexts. The s p 500, nasdaq and the dow all being called a tad bit to the upside. Looking at our ftse cnbc global 300 index, youll see a similar story here emerging in todays session, up by right around 0 0. 2 . Not quite taking the gains with us that we saw in asia overnight. Yesterday, a recap that we closed on a relatively flat basis once again. Weve seen that this entire week. Our european markets have been hanging on to the flat line, delicately pushing higher in this mornings trade. Our european markets, if i move over here, you can see the ftse mib underperforming a tad compared to some of its counterparts. The cac 40 is a little higher in trade. The xetra dax up by a couple of points and the ftse 100 in the uk up by 0. 3 . 6832. So we pushed through that 68 level. The issue is whether or not we can stay there. In an exclusive interview with cnbc, the german finance minister wolfgang schaubler told us why emerging markets need to carry on with Structural Reforms before they can blame other Central Banks for recent jitters. Translator we must, of course, assume our responsibility for the emerging countries. But everybody must understand that they must first of all do their own homework and then countries can demand solidarity from others. Oriel morrison rejoins us from sydney where the g20 meeting is settle to take place. Talk us through some of the main issues that are going to be on the agenda. Well, they are pretty much just what youve been talking about, louisa. The friction that is being caused or that has been seen right now, especially here in sydney between the developed markets and the emerging markets is certainly coming to the fort here. The emerging markets are calling for the fed to calibrate the winding back of fair stimulus to mitigate the impact were seeing on the emerging market economies. Now, earlier today, here in sydney, we were listening to the u. S. Treasurer jack lew. He was talking about what the emerging markets essentially needed to be doing to help themselves. Here is what he had to say. The Growth Engine needs to kick into higher gear. It would allow them to make the structural reform ones in an emerging markets. George osborne had something to say about that. He was saying some of the emerging markets are trying to blame the fed for problems there own, problems they should be solving themselves. This is particularly important because this is Janet Yellens debut on the world stage. Shes arriving tomorrow, will be part of the closed door meetings that we do expect to go on pretty much for all of on tomorrow and into tomorrow evening, as well. Weve also heard from the rbi governor. Well bring you more on that in terms of what he had to say. About this friction that is not really escalating as were about to go into the g20 here in sydney. Oriel, thank you very much for that, oriel morrison joining us live from sydney. Now, the ukrainian president Victor Yanukovych says an agreement is in place to solve the countrys upheaval. The deal, which still needs to be signed by either side, has scheduled for elections this year. Youre looking at live pictures in kiev in the ukraine where weve seen a flare up of violence over the last week, also. But keeping in mind that the protests started peacefully back in november and the square has been occupied by Peaceful Protesters since then. Its just been in the recent week, really, that weve seen a large increase in violence and hence why weve had these measures, these sanctions being put on on the ukraine to stop the violence. Now as said, were waiting for a deal the to be signed by the Ukrainian Government. Were still waiting for that. Dow jones quoting sources saying, its imminent that a deal would pledge a proper investigation into the violence and into abusive. Theyre promising president ial elections in 2014. Supposedly, again, this is unconfirmed, but via sources being quoted on the news wires. And that a deal promises the divisional government within a few days. U. S. Sales data for january is due out later on today. Has the bad weather had an impact on the numbers . We always seem to be talking about if bad weather impact. Sherry olofson is a real Estate Attorney in florida. How weak do you anticipate the sales data will be . And what about the weather impact . Sure. U. S. Home sales will be down, louisa, and in part due to the cold weather. But more importantly, due to cold, hard facts. The pending Sales Numbers have been down by maybe 8 or 9 the in the last month or so. You cant have actual sales without pending sales which, of course, are the measures two or three months out before those sales occur. Thats the measure of contract signed. U. S. Mortgage home loan applications are down over 6 . Its difficult to have actual sales without applicationes and loans. This is part of the bigger trend. We saw existing sales in the u. S. Market not tanking last month, but certainly growing at a much smaller rate, maybe at about 1 . The and now were talking more about hitting the top of the market. A few years ago it was about where is the bottom . Now its about wheres the top . Theres some temporary reasons for these slowdowns, but some more troubles and persistent ones. How would you compare the markets when looking at it in terms of buyers versus sellers terms . From the sellers standpoint, weve definitely had a sellers market. We know theres been huge numbers of investors buying these homes. Thats driven by rentals. Theyre buying them to slip and turn into residential properties. But as a renter increasing, incomes are not keeping up with that. Were expecting less appreciation in prices this year. Weve seen two years of double digit appreciation. Now it will probably be more in the line of 4 or 5 . There may be a chance that those investors are going to seek yield elsewhere and not compete quite as much with those buyers, which eventually will add to increased inventory. Were only at about 4 1 2 months right now which is low. Were used to having about six months of inventory. So its been difficult from a buyers perspective. Were moving at an important junction here, louisa, from a sellers market into a buyers market 37. The sharp Mortgage Rate rises that weve seen over the last couple of months, how much of an impact has that had on the market . And has it properly fed through yet . It hasnt been significant. Still those rates are at historic lows. The bigger impact has been at the beginning of the qualified mortgage roles which started january 10th. Almost 20 of home buyers who would have qualified for a mortgage before will not call phi for those rules primarily because that debt to income ratio cant exceed 43 and wages in the u. S. Have not kept up with home prices, which is probably the biggest, more persistent problem weve had. If they dont look at the the mortgage reduction, that can have a significant impact, as well. Sherry, thank you very much for being with us. Have a good day, sherry olefson joining us from ft. Lauderdale in florida. Just want to update on some more breaking news that were getting through to our wires. Were hearing nat president ial palace in is a somalia has been hit by a car bomb and a gun attack has taken place, as well. Were just getting that through right now. The sa mallan president is unharmed in the suicide attack, according to the u. N. Envoy. But just to keep you up to date, this is taking place in somalia, as well, an attack having taken place on the president ial ballast in somalia. Coming up, big ekman may be losing money on his short bets honor ba life, but details on the latest shots that hes firing against the company, straight ahead. [ male announcer ] these days, a Small Business can save by sharing. Like carpools. Polly wants to know if we can pick her up. Yeah, we can make room. Yeah. [ male announcer ]. Office space. Yes, were loving this communal seating. Oh, its great. Yeah. [ male announcer ] the best thing to share . A data plan. New at t mobile share value plans for business. Our best value plans ever. For example, you can get 10 gigs of data to share. And 5 lines would be 175 a month. Plus you can add a line anytime for 15 a month. Sharings never been better for business. Sharings never been better for business. Sometimes they just drop in. Always obvious. 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Its just one reason over 75 of our mutual funds beat their 10year 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. Hi, everybody. Welcome back. You are watching worldwide exchange. Im louisa bojesen. These are your headlines. Ukraines government says an agreement with opposition supporters is to be signed today. U. S. Trekry secretary tells economist toes story worrying about tapering and sort out their own problems. And rbs could layoff around 30,000 employees as part of a turn around plan. Herbalife executives are on their way to washington. Lets talk to seema mody at cnbc headquarters. Herbalife executives and others will be on capitol hill to meet with congressional staffers to explain how the companys direct sellers works. The last month, senator ed marky asked herbalife questions about its strategy, and if its targeting minorities as some civil Rights Groups claim. Herbalife said it answered all of senator markys questions. Herbalife Ceo Michael Johnson has said the majority of the companies distributors sign up to get discounts on products they use themselves and only about 4 warrant to make using the product a fulltime job. They push many to spend thousands of dollars to sell. He established a 1 billion short position against herbalife. While the stock initially plunged, its risen about 23 . Ackman reportedly said the herbalife bet has been the firms worst ever. Documents obtained by cnbc show the firms loss on the stock has totaled 49 , although the exact dollar amount is unclear. But ackman is still convinced herbalife shares will fall to zero because the company will ultimately be shut down by regulators. Pershing released a report thursday accusing the herbalife board members. Thank you very much, seema. Youre up very early, as well. Yes. Have a good day, seema. Well talk maybe a bit later on one of the other shows, as well. Lets take a look at some of the other top stories that were following today. Jpmorgan striking a deal with activist shareholders that will let the bank avoid another showdown at its annual meeting over whether to fit the position of chairman and ceo. Those roles have been held by jamie dimon. Jpmorgan will create a public event to discuss the criteria boards should use in setting up the Top Executive positions. Jpmorgan in german trade a little bit lower at the moment. Citigroups ceo michael corbetz got a nice bump in bay last year. He got a 23 increase in 2013 as a first full year spent replacing vickram pandit. That is roughly in line with what bank of americas Ceo Brian Moynihan got paid last year. Citi grooep group in german trade lower by 0. 5 or so. Businesswire, the service owned by Berkshire Hathway will potentially stop selling press releases to High Frequency trade firms. It follows wall street journal article this month highlighting the advantages that high speed traders gained by getting information directly from Business Wire versus Financial News wires like reuters, dow jones and bloomberg. Although direct distribution of its electronic feeds to trading firms isnt illegal, Business Wire says its concerned about its reputation. And the italian central left leader matteo renzi will be naming his new cabinet today. The list of names will be released before a confidence vote set to take place on monday. In corporate news, kering, formerly known as ppr posted a sharp drop in full year profits after it was hit by restructuraling charges. Gucci, which accounts for around half of kerings market value, found sources fall in the Fourth Quarter. Very difficult shoes to walk in, may i add. Stephane sat down with the ceo earlier this month and asked him about the numbers. The transformation is a choice that we did in 2005, 2006, to transform the Business Model of the group over time. Of course, we did that for a certain size which implies big operation of retail asset thats we did all the time, which you put altogether, its generated by disposal of all the assets all the time. Its not the price to pay. Its creating value in doing this. So no. On a very shortterm period, 2013, its has an impact in our accounts because of that. But overall, this transformation has been creating value for the shareholders. Kering lower today by 3 . Coming up, u. S. Investors have been shaking off the winter blues, largely ignoring weaker economic data. Will the trade head higher into the weekend . We head to the bond pits in chicago in just a moment. [ male announcer ] whether it takes 200,000 parts, 800,000 hours of supercomputing time, 3 million lines of code, 40,000 sets of eyes, or a million sleepless nights. Whether its building the worlds most advanced satellite, the space station, or the next leap in unmanned systems. At boeing, one thing never changes. Our passion to make it real. Hi, everybody. Welcome back. Youre watching worldwide exchange. Were watching live demonstrations in kiev, ukraine, where protesters are waiting for a deal, the political agreement that is said to be signed between yanukovych, the current government, and the opposition. Were waiting for that announcement. We have no confirmation yet. Just seeing on our wires that according to the german government, theyre calling on the Ukrainian Government and the opposition to strike a deal. Theres speculation that we could be looking at early elections, theres speculation that we could be looking at a change of government. We still dont have any concrete news through on the signing of this deal, but we were told it would happen around an hour ago. It hasnt yet happened, so were sitting tight and waiting. This, of course, comes off the back of sanctions coming in place. The eu minister approving the yesterday. It includes asset free freezes and visa bans they say for those responsible for the violence, although a number of analysts are saying does this really make a difference . And also you really cant call this a big effort to hit the ukrainian leadership. Just looking, were getting the latest through, president yanukovych announcing the ukraine is to hold early president ial elections, this according to news wires indicating that the president yanukovych of the ukraine is announcing the ukraine is to hold early president ial elections. Were just starting to see the latest on our wires now. So by the looks of things, a deal potentially has been signed and indeed an early election is going to be taking place in the ukraine. That is the latest we have here on the wires. Yanukovych announce onning the return to an early 2004 constitution with reduced powers for the president. Hes announcing the ukraine will be Holding Early president ial elections, as well. Lets put the ukraine to one side for the time being and cross out to todd horwitz, author and founder of average joe options. Com and joins me now from the states. Todd, what is going to be driving trade today . We were very close to record highs on the cloud close yesterday. Good morning, louisa. First of all, i think were going to reach the highs here. However, i do think that the highs are going to act as resistance. And this big range weve been trading in for the last couple of months, up and down, i think were much near the top noi now. So i think the data thats been coming out, that weve been looking at bad news has been good news, i think bad news will start to be bad news here and we should start to see profit taking and see the markets look lower. It is an options expiration friday, so that does create a little bit of weird action on a friday. But i would look to see the top come into play and i would like to be a seller up there at the 1850 level on the s p. Why do you think that theres this willingness to ignore the soft data thats been coming out recently, todd . When you have the opportunity for free and low money, the people that need it love it because they get to buy at very low rates. Thats why the Housing Market is starting to have trouble because even though we hear that mortgages are 3. 5 or 4 , the average guy cant get the mortgage at that rate. So with free money to push up, there is no other place to take your money right now. You know it seems we just lost todds audio there. Todd, if you can hear us, thank you very much for being us, todd horwitz from averagejoeoptions. Com. A recap, president anco vimp in the u. S. Crane has Just Announced they will start a process to start a National Unity government in the ewe crepe. Hes announced theyll be Holding Early president ial elections in the ukraine, as well. Were looking at live shots of Independence Square in kiev. Well leave but those shots. Thanks for watching worldwide exchange. See you same time, same place on monday. Stay with the channel. Good morning and welcome to squawk box. A flurry of quarterly results. Priceline and groupon all reported after the bell. And under armour doubling down on speed skating despite the controversy surrounding the olympic racing suits. It is friday, february 21st, 2014 and squawk box begins right now. Good morning, everybody. Welcome to squawk box here on cnbc. Im becky quick along with joe kernen. We start with some breaking news, ukraine leaders have reached a deal in order to stop the violence. After hours of negotiations, ukraines president Victor Yanukovych reaching a deal to resolve the current crisis. Lets get to jim maceda in moscow. He has the latest. Jim. Hi there. Well, i had the chance to look at the hard copy of the draft deal containing the four key points. They include early elections, that is elections by december of this coming of this year, returning to the 2004 constitution. That is a constitution that had been completely gutted by Victor Yanukovych and skewed in the president s favor