Hitting targets. Our Balance Sheet is solid. Our cost base is supreme. We are bringing in pay increases and paying down the debt. The ftse 100 hovering around record levels despite concerns over the health of the uks financial market. Well be discussing with bim afolami this hour. And taiwan inauguration is drawing the eye of beijing. The new leader is calling for both sides of the Taiwan Straits to pursue peace. I hope that china will face the reality of the republic of chinas existence and respect the choices of the people of taiwan and in good faith choose dialogue over confrontation and exchange over containment. Irans president and foreign minister have been killed in the Helicopter Crash in bad weather. State media says all passengers died. It battled blizzard conditions and dogs and drones to find the accident site on sunday. State tv paused programming to show prayers. The helicopter hit the Mountain Peak in the ynorthwestern part f the country here azerbaijan. We have more with dan murphy in dubai. Reporter the state tv says no survivors have been found after they located the crash site of the helicopter carrying the iranian president raisi and the foreign minister and e ento entourage. We have been following the reaction. In last few minutes, we have seen pakistan announcing a day of mourning today as a mark of respect according to the prime minister. Lebanon announced three days of National Mourning and he was deeply saddende and shocked by the Helicopter Crash. It opened a joint project and he was working when it happened. The cause of the crash still unclear at this point. The u. S. Senate majority leader Chuck Schumer said u. S. Offiofficial s informed him there was no evidence of foul play. That was the volatile back drop of which this unfolded across the middle east. An investigation is under way, but you heard from the senior official there is no evidence of foul play. Iranian Officials Say fog and bad weather and terrain also had a major impact on the ability to reach the crash site in search for survivors. The obvious uestion, arabile, is what happens next. If you look at the situation in iran, the law there lays out a clear process for what happens next and for raisis succession. The Vice President will assume the presidency until an election can be called within the next 50 days. At the end of the day, it is important to remember it is the Guardian Council in iran, the party that works in the gap between the Supreme Leader and the presidency. It will decide who becomes the president elect. That is because raisi was the successor to the ayohattolah. We will see him take over that position when it is his time. Of course, that is looking further ahead. Right now, the focus is on what happens within the iranian recainn substitution here and what it means for domestic priorities and foreign policy. Those we spoke with say his death has an impact on the core domestic issues with iran like the Nuclear Program or the fractured relationship with the west. Of course, its relationship with its neighboring states at well. A lot to unpack here. Certainly a very dramatic and surprising situation in iran and widely impacting the region as well. A arabile. Dan, thank you for that report as we unpack this story further. Neal atkinson is the former head of oil at the iaea. Neal, thank you for the time. I appreciate it this morning. This is all happening at a volatile time within the middle east. How big of a power vacuum does the passing of the president leave within not just iran, but also the middle east . As far as iran is concerned, there is a process which dan was explanation a moment ago that an election will be held to come up with a new president within 50 days. Of course, we all know it is not a free and Fair Election like here in the west, but there is a process in place. I think the Iranian Regime, whatever the calls from younger people for a more liberal environment, whatever they may be, the regime is Strong Enough to engineer the kind of result that will cement it in power for the foreseeable future. As far as the middle east tensions are concerned, i doubt it will have a Significant Impact and certainly not in any interest to any way to portray this accident as being anything else. You referred earlier to the senator schumer receiving intelligence advice this is an accident and not foul play. It is not in irans interests to ratchet up the tensions of the middle east any higher than they already are now. There is a dynamic to come to the floor, neil, with iran itself as it leads to the new leadership, especially an election that would be happening in 50 days at the very minimum. Does that mean the power dynamic shifts one way or the other . Obviously, we have to see how many candidates are able to stand and whether there is any way a liberal or more popular candidate can stand and, obviously, that is a process which will unwrap in the next few days. Again, i think the underlining point is the regime remains fundamentally strong and, you know, i think it will be able to overcome this accident. It is not as though the islamic regime is going to fold its tend tents and disappear. The next 50 days will be critical. If the regime engineers the desires, it will find the turn y turnout in the iranian election will be low. Younger people and secular iranians will not wish to participate in what is a rigged l election. You follow this regime and other forms and i know im probably going back a bit here, but i want to get your sense of who raisi really was in the context of iran and the oil market and the context of leadership within the middle east. Obviously, hes a significant figure because if you are a leader of a country which is as big and powerful as iran is, you are a powerful player. Iran is striking a difficult balance. There are rising forces in the country for more liberalization. With sanctions against iran after the imposition of the agreement, irans economy is in a bad way. Inflation is high. There are shortages within the country. The Iranian Regime has to find a way of keeping the economy as strong as they can in very difficult circumstances. Also pursuing what is now a more aggressive foreign policy. Of course, were seeing with relation to the postoctober 7th situation, with the wider conflict or potential conflict in northern israel and lebanon, iran plays a critical role. Iran plays a long game and it is not in irans interests to get into direct confrontation with the United States or, indeed, direct confrontation with israel on a scale to call it a war. The reason for that is iran lives on the oil revenues and exports need to be maintained to keep the show on the road. It is a difficult balance iran strikes and raisi has been part of the process. I think the election of the new leader, which will not be somebody that the west inn stengtively feels they can do business with remains with the policies in the middle east and expand the thinfluence and suppt the palestinians. Meanwhile, they will continue to develop their Nuclear Program as best as they can. They have more freedom to do that now since the ending of the Nuclear Agreement with the u. S. And other powers. The foreign minister also passing away in this crash. What does that mean for Foreign Relations . Is that where you think the conversation changes in any way with raisi having such a significant role as well although effectively being number two here . Does the Foreign Ministers passing change anything with relations . It does change, of course. Iran would take this opportunity, a grim word of describing it, but iran may decide that perhaps a more emoluent figure as it moves around the world. There is an ongoing process of reestablishing relations with saudi arabia, which, of course, is very important in the middle east. Not least because of the powerful countries which have made overtures to reestablish relations, but further efforts to improve that relationship is important for the iranian government after the replacement of the two deceased officials. Theres a lot on their plate. Maybe they will triy to be more resilient than in the past. Such as the tension arising from the postoctober 7th situation. The ongoing influence of iran in lebanon, i dont think we should hold our breath for too long. Neil, thank you for your time. Neil atkinson at iaea. As we continue with this conversation, in fact, we are just getting word from the iran Supreme Leader declaring a mourning of five days following that crash which has killed the foreign minister as well as the president of iran Ebrahim Raisi. The Supreme Leader says the first Vice President is in charge of the executive branch per the constitution as highlighted by dan that would be the succession until the next elections. Speaking of elections, irans Supreme Leader says there is a maximum of 50 days, 50, to arrange the elections with the head of the yjudiciary. That is the sentiment we are getting now. National mourning for five days out of iran. Coming up on the show, u. S. Corporates are flocking to europe in a bid to raise fresh funds. Well have the details next. What is cirkul . Cirkul is the fuel you need to take flight. Cirkul is the energy that gets you to the next level. Cirkul is what you hope for when life tosses lemons your way. 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Rs and now, were introducing ultimate speed for business our fastest plans yet. Were up to 12 times faster than verizon, at t, and tmobile. And existing customers could even get up to triple the speeds. At no additional cost. Its ultimate speed for ultimate business. Dont miss out on our fastest speed plans yet switch to comcast business and get started for 49. 99 a month. Plus, ask how to get up to an 800 prepaid card. Call today welcome back. Heres a quick look at the market picture and seeing how things are faring out of europe. The ftse mib is the only sector with the slight gain. The gains are. 20 for a lot of the markets. 30 for the cac 40 market in france. The fitzgeraltse 100 is gaining record territory from the last week on friday. Minorss miners are keeping thins af afloat. We will get to that picture for you later on in the show. The stoxx 600 is finding positivity. Carmakers are managing to move higher, too. So, too, technology or carmake s and autos are moving up. Ryanair is moving down because it posted the full year profit of 1. 905 billion euro. The airline announced a Share Buyback program which will launch this week. Looking ahead, ryanair said summer demand is strong trending higher on the year, but adding it is too early to offer 2024 guidance. Lets look at the airlines as i made note of ryanair which is down 1. 3 today with easy jet following that one down. The rest of the airlines are actually managing to find positivity today. Rca going up around. 20 . The big gainer is wizz air and klm which is managing to gain 1 so far. Speaking on squawk this morning, the cfo said the airline is hitting its financial targets adding it to return cash to shareholders. We have a 70 hedge with savings of 450 million locked in already. Thats a very good place to be. Balance sheet is strong. Bbb plus rating. The strongest rating of any airline in the world. Our priorities have been restore to pay for people after covid and bring in pay increases and pay down the debt. We have been paying down bonds. 1. 4 billion in gross cash in the past year. That is the confidence for the board to return the 700 million to shareholders at this point in time. Keywords studios is in advanced stalks with eqt with the cash offer of 25 Pounds Per Share and representing a premium of 70 of the fri cdays closin price. It has until june 15th to make a firm offer or walk away. And the bond market is all raising money for socalled reverse yankee deals which is on course for near record volumes this year. That is according to data from bank of america which says the surge may be partly down to Monetary Policy divergence with the ecb as well as the fed. Barnaby martin at Boa Global Research is joining us here in studio. Help us understand the allure of the bond market and what is happening right now. Good morning. Good morning. Thanks for having me on. U. S. Companies are rushing to issue debt in our world and eueuro rather than the home country. It is unique because it will go before the fed and never seen the leading cycle which is driving funding costs down for u. S. Firms looking at our market. The temptation is to issue more of the needed debt in euro rather than dollars. They are adding to our supply and flooding our market with issue answer. If you get at a later stage and need to refinance, that is a general good sense . It rejuvenates our market. It is good to have more firms and good for others which have traditional big firms which dominate the euro market. If you establish a funding pat ern patent in euro, it will mean every time you refinance, you keep the euro debt. What does it mean for the Broader Market . It adds supply. It means more issuance and weaker technicals. It could be weaker in the sh shortterm for spreads. It could invigorate the investors. They want diversity and they want different names. Buying different names in euro may be quite positive for the market. The gap exchchange. If you look at yields on euro dominated corporate debt within seventoten years, is that a gap that can go on for some time because you still have the policy divergence from the ecb and fed until the end of the year . It is here to stay for a while. We know the u. S. Story. Stickiness in the u. S. The fed cannot deliver the first cut until december. The divergence for now stays. I think it is a structure feature of the market until 2024. It will drive not just u. S. , but any issuance globally. Look at the coupons you can get. M a activity. How much does it help that . Is it because of that that you get this happening as well . It drives the supply. There is cross border happening. Assets are perceived as cheap by global acquirers. A u. S. Firm will acquire a european tyentity. Does this create a longer term flow to the European Market . We have spoken about it and ill ask this because you had previous deal making and deals come through and a lot of investors look for european cond companies and try to buy them up. Yup. Does that mean the u. S. Take what is they want to take and just goes back having said we have gotten everything we need out of the market and leave it is high and dry . It depends on innovation and what is available going forward. Once you establish a funding universe in europe, you are committed to keeping it for the long term. There is a lot of u. S. Firms that want to issue in dollars. That could create a crowded market. That is a good defensive thing in the European Market. Keeping us in the place is something here for some time raises a lot of other issues. Do you think the way that europe then looks at deals like this, this situation, means that the likes of the ecb and the bank of england continue to say why dont you just keep moving ahead of the fed . It helps this way. There is certainly one benefit. There is certainly a need now for the ecb to think about how quickly the euro market is growing and that determines part of the Monetary Policy. First things first, lets break the back of inflation and until that is done, the ecb will not cut quicker than the fed. The path is not determined. Barnaby martin at bank of america global research. Thank you for joining me. To give you the breaking news story from south africa. The top courts saying that former president jacob zuma has been barred from running for parliament in the national election. Just a reminder, president jacob zuma would have been running with a party he only created in december. That party is called in controversy or mk was set to run in the elections which, of course, had been put forward. His face is on the ballot papers having seen it this week. He is the man who is scheduled to be running as the leader of that parliament party. Jacob zuma left prison on the back of health reasons. The breaking news this hour, south africa ags former Presid Jacob Zuma barred from running for the parliament election. Coming up, we cross over to the London Investments which heats up. Stay with us. Well be right back. When we started our business we were paying an arm and a leg for postage. I remember setting up shipstation. One or two clicks and everything was up and running. I was printing out labels and saving money. Shipstation saves us so much time. It makes it really easy and seamless. Pick an order, print everything you need, slap the label onto the box, and its ready to go. Our costs for shipping were cut in h