Investment in that is a good thing. Gemalto shares soar wild ride for siteinhoff shareholders, as the ecb held on to the companys debt despite the accounting scandal. President trumps tax plan faces criticism at home and abroad as a poll Shows Nearly Half of americans oppose the bill, and finance ministers tell the white house that reforms threaten International Agreements good morning its tuesday, december 12th. Lets see how things are opening up one hour into the trading session. Overnight asian indices drifted slightly lower nikkei down 0. 3 the picture is murky for europe. The stoxx 600 is opening up opened up stronger, but swiftly eradicated those gains and is looking down on the day, down 1. 5 lets switch to the indices and look at how individual country indices are doing. The outperformer is the ftse 100. We do have the uk inflation data coming up in about a half hour and the bank of england meeting coming up on thursday. Clues on whether or not the Brexit Development also s will something to watch there the xetra dax is down 0. 2 cac down 0. 4 ftse mib struggling a bit. Lets take a deeper dive into individual sectors technology, one of the leaders of the past couple of days following on from gains from the u. S. Session oil and gas posting a very strong session today, while the uk north seas main pipeline will be shut for the next couple of weeks which has helped boost oil and gas prices in trading. And the underperformers, travel and leisure down 0. 75 retail struggling. Lots of interesting news coming out of the Retail Sector this morning. One of the main things we want to talk about is those shares which are trading sharply lower in unibailrodamco they will be buying westfield for 24 24. 7 billion. We have been offered compelling price for securities of Westfield Corporation so its appropriate to accept that we feel confident that the underlying price that is through cash, a combination of cash and securities, properly values a business but more importantly the securities offered to existing westfield shareholders, we believe in the company theyll be investing in. The combined company of unibailroda maco will be a powerful company so its a good thing its up to the Share Holders to keep shares, sell shares, whatever as for consideration of our company, were confident that the recommendation is compelling explain what the company will be looking like. Weve been crunching through the numbers, Something Like 100 Million Euros in synergies per annum as a result of the combined entity. You said a Shopping Mall giant what will it look like when its all done it will look like a powerful Investment Vehicle it has the combination of the two assets, really giving it a position in the most powerful financial markets, london and new york the four fashion capitals of the world. Paris, new york, london and soon to be milan. Westfield has a powerful position in l. A. , the enterta entertainment capital of the world. Silicon valley, the Technology Capital of the world if you think about where the world is going, best markets, powerful population bases, these will be the best Shopping Centers in those markets so we feel that would be a very compelling investment proposition and we are pleased to be an investor in there a lot has been made about the changing face of retail, not only in australia but this deal excludes the australian westfield assets, the changing face of retail around the world with the likes of amazon coming into the market. Was this a case of safety in numbers . Its not so much being the biggest is important, its having the best portfolio is the important thing in this case, its the biggest and best portfolio. You are probably aware that westfield has been reducing a number of assets, but recycling that capital to create the best Shopping Centers, such as new york, century city in l. A. Or london this is a weve been in the business 57 years. The world has changed dramatically in 57 years it is changing quickly now clearly because of the drive of technology the assets we own and unibail own have been at the forefront of change and are relevant for the consumer were confident that notwithstanding technology, amazon and others, these assets are incredibly important part of the social and economic fabrics of the markets theyre operating in were confident theyre very powerful, have Huge Customer flows and are compelling propositions for retailers and other services, restaurants, cinemas, leisure, gyms, et cetera that occupy the biuildins today. Joining us is karen tso. It appears the acceleration of retail consolidation is picking up, and were seeing that from French Company taking over an Australian Company with a presence universally is this coming at a good time for westfield . I think its somewhat alarming about the trends in the industry given why westfield has been an enormous player across the globe, not just in australia but in all different markets from the United Kingdom to the United States, this is a wealthy family that has been behind the scenes steering this business the fact they are saying they cant go it alone anymore, they need to consolidate assets still, that tells you something about how tough it is in retail, not just for the stores to some Big Department chains but for the owner of those mall assets westfield teaming up with a european business, it is about scale still. The stock price of westfield has been softer over the course of the past year. The pe tells you the asset has been beaten up, it trades below 10 versus the 17 that unibail trades on. Its opportunistic from the europeans. What it does create, 1. 2 billion visits annually. Thats the amount of shoppers going through the assets when theyll be a combined entity its interesting what he said, the krcoceo said theyre looking to make it an Investment Vehicle because of the synergies created. Which is an asset thats been so well regarded you buy the stock, you keep reinvesting dividends in the stock. Theres been changes in sales of certain parts of the businesses. This is just an International Business mostly at this point. Investors have not had to worry about the investment the question now is what those investors are getting with a unibailrodamco buyout this Company Seems to be highly regarded by stock analysts the bulk of analysts have a strong buy, buy or hold rating on the company so, i think theres still quality. This would have been key in the negotiations for the family to have a quality buyer, which gets to the next point. What could spoil this deal if anyone comes in, you would think it would have to be a european player. Dont think regulators will step in at this point seems like green light for this deal at this point for i investors. Of course we could continue to see further consolidation in that sector. Other Shopping Malls that could potentially be taken over, is there anything else that could potentially come up . Is unibail looking at this space for a while now . What will be interesting is maybe more the u. S. Side theres a lot of quality assets in the portfolio based in the United States. If you ever shopped over there, youve probably been inside one of these westfield malls century city in los angeles, thats big one theres a ton of other assets across the likes of miami, different parts of the state so whether or not its a u. S. Player that comes into mix might be interesting theres already been consolidation in the u. S. Rates. All this as the fed is lifting rates. We talk about disruption, the cost of capital is important here as well you have, for instance, the fed moving on rates. More is expected next year this is an Interest Rate sensitive part of the market that benefited from low Interest Rates. As rates jump, yield investors want to know what the dividend payout will be thats not reason you have consolidation to try to derive returns from the business. Theres no guarantee well see more of that in the future karen, thank you very much for that shares in Cybersecurity Firm gemalto are trading at the top of the stoxx 600 after receiving a 4 4. 3 billion takeover offer from atos. It represents a 42 premium to the Closing Price last week. Bpi, which owns a near 8 stake in gemalto has given its approval for the potential takeover. Zurich bought the Life Insurance unit of Australia New ZealandBanking Group for 2. 1 billion. This cements the spot as us a recall australias top Life Insurance supplier and bitcoin dipped slightly after hitting a fresh record high continuing the recent surge, the cryptocurrency hit a high on monday it has drawn in millions of new investors sparking concern among regulators that it may be a bubble. Futures for bitcoin now trading on the Cboe Futures Exchange have been steady with low volume 237 contracts were traded on monday compared to 3,956 on the first day of trading futures contracts for march 2018 were quoted at 18,110 with volume again low the ceo and cio of Tatton Investment Management joins us its fascinating this conversation about bitcoin i came in this morning and was disappointed bitcoin was only down 3 . Were used to the double digit swings how are you thinking about cryptocurrencies here and whether you see the full potential and is it something that will stay with us or just a craze and a tulip bubble as many critics in the market have been calling it i think the pricing that we see in the cryptocurrencies is certainly looking very much like a bubble not very real and here to stay weve seen it before in 2013 lets not forget back then the currency went up 100 fold. So far its gone up 16 fold this year so, could go higher. Who knows. You cant value it that looks like it what were more interested in is the underlying technology, so blockchain our concern is people buying into bitcoin think theyre investing into blockchain which is Something Different were seeing many noninstitutional clients and businesses are looking at Blockchain Technology as a means of evolving businesses and cutting costs. You heard that from the likes of ubs, who are introducing Blockchain Technology in the back offices nhsannouncing they are looking to use Blockchain Technology i was reading in your notes that youre saying not all Blockchain Technologies are the same. And theres certain things investors need to be conscious of when investing in Blockchain Technology can you tell me about that it is a bit of a hype and a craze at the moment it seems just putting the stamp, blockchain, on some sort of technology, some marketing departments may feel and think that all of a sudden it makes their latest Development Far more attractive. People need to look into is this really using blockchain or just using the craze more interesting. What does make it a valid Blockchain Investment . What criteria are you looking for . It has to be a distributed ledger it has to be that core element of blockchain where it is held everywhere, just as the Blockchain Technology subscribed were excite exciquite excited funding, one of the providers, calistone are now speaking of launching the registration of the fund units through Blockchain Technology. Just going back to the bitcoin discussion the expectation was that the launch of the future would attract a lot of new hands to the market those who traditionally wouldnt have had access to the bitcoin as an underlying asset to trade what weve seen is that there were good volumes on the first day of trading, that dropped substantially. Only about 127 futures traded in total. Do you think this future is really just going to be a flop not many people will buy into it no, i think its a good thing to have the future on the bitcoin. It increases accessibility and liquidity. Lets face it, trading in bitcoin is not quite as straightforward as trading in the future therefore that should make the whole market more liquid and lively stay with us. If you want to choin join in one conversation, join the show by tweeting us at streetsignseurope cnbc ahead, President Trumps decision to recognize jerusalem does not fit with his strategy in the middle east, thats according to former u. S. Secretary of defense robert gates. Are from his firston interview in few moments signs. Steinhoff german listed shares are trading higher after fighting an accounting investigation. Steinhoff dropped 82 last week after revealing possible accounting problemi ins that cod affect 7 billion in assets and unicredit is increasing its dividend payout ratio. The italian bank also confirmed its on track to meet 2019 targets and is pushing ahead with the drive to sell down the portfolio of nonperforming loans. Shares in italys ubi banca traded lower on reports that the central bank called for more ambitious targets on npl reduction. The ecb asked the lender to explain how it plans to offload nonperforming loans portfolio by next march the Spanish Government is set to reduce its stake in bankia in a rapid sale 7 will be sold from spains Bank Bailout Fund for 820 Million Euros. The Spanish Government owns 66 of the bank which it held since 2012 its set to be a busy week for european banks due to announce Interest Rate decisions on thursday ahead of that the fed is expected to announce a hike in rates at the conclusion of its meeting tomorrow investors will look for hints about the pace of rate increases next year and beyond the ceo and cio of Tatton Investment Management is still with us. It appears the fed hike is a done deal at this point, more than 95 priced in the market will be looking for clues on the dot plot going into next year. Expectation that the pace of hikes may be increased do you have a view on how fast the fed will go in 2019 . Or 2018, i should say. I think the main message this week will be yes, rate hike, change in language, no they will try to keep it as calm as possible so as not to upset the apple cart before christmas. I think theres too much focus on the dot plot, because actually inflation pressures may be less pronounced than the markets currently expect we would suggest perhaps theres not much change in the dot plot, not much pressure for more rate rises than the currently three envisioned for 2018. I guess the top talk in the u. S. Is tax reform theres been many estimates on whether that tax reform will have an impact on growth going forward. Originally the White House Council said it would add 3 , 4 a year now analysts are impacting growth as little as 0. 25 for the next couple of years how you are thinking of the impact on tax reform as an investor thats the one really interesting wildcard and point for the fed to comment on. If the tax reform goes through in its current format and in a timely manner, yes, it could have an impact on the economy and markets, and there could be more inflation pressures so i would expect some language in the fed statement to say that now, undoubtedly, if we get that Corporate Tax cut, it will have a positive eps impact on u. S. Stocks so all of a sudden they may not look quite as highly priced and highly valued anymore as they do at the moment. There are many who are suggesting that currently the full extent of that tax cut is not really priced into the stock market i have my slide doubts there i would be happy to see u. S. Stock evaluations a bit more solidly underpinned if it comes through. What does it mean for rotation within sectors . What we saw last week is beginning of rotation out of growth to value stocks, that that sort of has begun to change towards the end of the week. Is that a major theme as well in terms of how people look for opportunities rather than at an index level, that you want to drill down into individual sectors. Thats the very long, overdue trend that we would like to observe. Normally once the Economic Growth broadens out and tax reform would help that, that you see a rotation from growth into value. It was encouraging last week to see the beginnings of that unfortunately it immediately stalled to the middle of the week and retreated towards the end of the week. Yes, that trend could actually kick off and be quite interesting for investors who are otherwise increasingly looking at the u. S. Market in a bit of despair because its so highly valued. In the value area, theres still quite a lot of stocks which are not as highly valued and may make good sense for investment if that trend comes through, and theres still a few ifs and buts in that. I will switch gears a bit japan has been a major focus of yours. Nobody is talking about the bank of japan. The data is looking better the nikkei staged an amazing performance the last couple of months im curious to hear your thoughts on japan. I know youre optimistic about it in your notes where is your optimism coming from first and foremost, it is because jap