Francine lacqua is off today. She will be back in the new year. Lithuaniahave we got, preparing to join the euro. We are going to speak to the lithuanian finance minister. Is his country ready for the move . We are going to find out. Over theing to talk next few minutes about the a350. What is the a350 . Compositee new have aluminum aircraft from airbus. With designed to compete the 787. It is super efficient compared with its predecessors. Qatar airways is the launch customer. I was talking to Fabrice Bregier about this airplane. He has high hopes for it. This aircraft is sold out. Despite the fact that oil prices are lower, airlines still very much want this airplane. It makes a big difference. Oil prices are down but if you can still fly the most efficient airplane, you can offer the cheapest tickets. In a few minutes, we are going to speak to the boss of Qatar Airways. Looking forward to that conversation. Let me update you on the markets. It is monday morning in the week before christmas. You are going to be seeing very light volumes. We are reasonably well did this morning. Equity markets coming out of last week very strong. Asia overnight, very strong as well. The shanghai market hitting a fouryear high. We will see whether or not we continue with the rally we have seen. Oil, looks like it has found a floor. We will keep an eye on that very carefully as well. As i say, very light volumes. A lot of people have taken this week off. Markets could get pushed around more than you would normally anticipate. Greece is still very much a story. The greek equity market is up this morning as is eurodollar. Significant news out over the weekend. Ras, the Prime Minister, in an address to the nation, talking about the possibility of early elections for the country and what that will mean is that judging by the current polling, you could see a significant change in government. If he cant get his vote through, we get another one tomorrow and a third one. We do get general elections at the front end of next year. Lets talk about oil. Showing you what is happening, we have seen a little bit of a pickup in the price of crude. Mediumterm, the story tells you something that is very different. Weve seen fiveyear lows. Yet we are finding a floor in the shortterm. Nevertheless, we are starting to rally. Lets get to our next guest with insight on what happens next. Oil analyst at barclays joins us now. In the shortterm, have markets found a floor austin mark floor . Going into the next week or bounce. Ill see a short fundamentals, we are still fairly bearish at the moment. It is supposed to be getting a lot worse in the first half of next year. Where do prices go next year . Theyuch further south do go from where we are now and when do we get the rebound . Tothe surplus is doubling 1. 5 Million Barrels per day. From the comments we are seeing from the uae oil minister, the saudi oil minister, they are increasingly of the view that even if nonopec were to adjust, they would not be cutting back production. That is important. It almost looks like they are trying to pull the rug away from them quickly. Rather than allow for prices to grind slowly. If prices were to grind slowly or stay where they are, you wont see a supplysider adjustment. You just see lower prices for bear budgets. It is in their interest to see a sharp swift fall in prices which would essentially make those nonopec supply cuts come quickly. That is possibly the reason we are seeing the opec producers more active now. Stay with me. Im going to get your take on our next guest. Were going to talk about one of the companies that uses that product. We are going to tell loose now toulouse now to talk to the person who has just acquired a very smart new airplane from airbus. Lets talk to mr. Akbar al baker. He is the ceo of Qatar Airways. Good morning to you. Always a pleasure. Thank you very much indeed for taking the time to speak with us. Are you happy with the airplane behind you . Im very delighted. Shiny toy forery Qatar Airways. Im extremely pleased because this is a really next generation aircraft. Emissions,ent, nice and profit making for Qatar Airways. Why the delay in assuming control of the airplane . Everybody was speculating. I would be interested to get your take on why we didnt have this handed over a few days back. I knew this question would be asked. It was issues with the suppliers and the quality of the buyerfurnished equipment that we have on board the airplanes. Nothing to do with airbus. Qatar airways always takes cabin interiors to the highest standards. We had a small issue which was resolved. Now we are here to take the airplane. You mentioned the fact that this is a super efficient airplane. Aren age where oil prices coming under pressure a little bit, do you need to have such super efficient airplanes . Some airlines may take the view that they dont. Believe that is right. As you know, the airlines have very small margins. Very small up evils in economic climate around the world affect the travel business. We have been under a lot of pressure recently with the high oil prices. It was eating into our margins. Always, as an airline, to maximize profitability, we need to invest in fuelefficient modern airplanes. This is what Qatar Airways does. You have 80 of these airplanes on order. 900 and 37 of the 1000. Have you had any discussions about the possibility of some expedited delivery slots . We did see emirates cancels some of its aircraft. Are you going to get some of these airplanes earlier than anticipated . Actually, it is the other way around. We have a higher number of the 1000 and a lower number of the 900. We would like to expedite aircraft delivery. We want our aircraft as soon as possible. We have a fleet investment program. s need to get out of service and we need aircraft to fly to new destinations. How much earlier do you think you will be getting them . If i can get it yesterday, i would be delighted. D im sure they would be elighted to hear you say that. What are the other routes we can expect to see you flying the 350 on . We will be operating the 350 on the eastern seaboard of the United States. We will be operating them to asia, to japan. This will form the backbone of Qatar Airways longterm fleet together with the 777. Out of curiosity, do you think airbus should build a 3501000, a stretched version of that . Is their opportunity to build a bigger 350 . Im not the one to decide this for airbus. It is for them to decide. The a380 is a fine airplane. Qatar airways has already received three. The fourth one, we are receiving today. Fantasticbsolute machine. So with the communications, i think i probably mispronounced what i was saying. Do you think we could see a bigger version of the 350 . Even bigger than the 1000 . No, i dont think so. I think the 1000 is absolute perfect size for our fleet. I dont know about other airlines. I dont think that we need bigger than this airplane in this family of aircraft. Ok, back to the 380. Youve already taken delivery of the first ones. Would it be a disappointment if airbus decided to do a neo version of the 380 . Allt would not be at detriment to us. As a matter of fact, if they do a neo, Qatar Airways be interested in buying them. Would you like to see them doing that sooner rather than later . Do you think they should be deferring that decision . You said you would like to get more 300 50s tomorrow. Would you like to have a 380 neo tomorrow . Not be, we would interested in a380 neo tomorrow. We have already received our aircraft. They have a lifespan in the fleet that will stay with us. I think we will wait until they decide if they want to launch. That is when we will decide what we want to do. Ask can i ask you some more general comments about your business . There is quite a lot of interest in whether or not qatar is going to pick up the fifa slot that emirates has vacated. You have indicated that probably is not going to happen. Im curious as to why given the fact that qatar is going to be a big feature of football going forward. At the moment, im not interested to take anybodys slots. Im more interested in how to make money from my airline, not spending money. There is obviously going to be a big push by qatar as we build up to the world cup. You dont see yourself being part of that . You have to do further down the road . I appreciate your focus on making money now. Qatar airways is part of qatar inc. And whatever decision is made collectively, Qatar Airways will be part of it. Ok, congratulations on the new plane. It looks very shiny and it looks fantastic in your livery. We are looking forward to seeing it flying very soon. Baker, the chief executive officer of Qatar Airways. Now, coming up, taking one for the team. Opec wont budge on cutting oil output. How long can the wealthy members survive with the rockbottom prices . The winners and the losers and how long the waiting game less. All that when we come back. Welcome back. You are watching the pulse. We are back with the oil analyst at barclays to discuss the price of late. The oil price clearly is going to have an impact across a range of industries. Im interested to hear what Qatar Airways wants talking about. They still see a longterm story which requires more efficiency. At the moment, weve seen a significant collapse in oil prices. Do we get back, and when do we get back, to the prices that existed before then . I agree with a longterm view that Qatar Airways mentioned. Area, we cannot have 60 barrel for oil. The supply side cannot sustain demand growth at that point. That is where we could possibly see an undershooting of below 60 a barrel in the first half of next year. It is interesting that all the gcc guys are talking. Normally, they are shaking. Before the opec meeting, it was fairly difficult to get a lengthy comment. Now, it has become very vocal. This is what is so interesting. If they really wanted to support prices at these levels, they have to communicate to the market that they are not going to intervene. The market assumed they would intervene. By repeatedly saying that come what may, we are not going to go back on that decision, and even if we are, we would call a meeting, they are probably reemphasizing the fact that the burden sharing is almost entirely up to nonopec. That is worrying. We are not seeing big adjustments taking place in the supply side yet. At these prices, you dont see any significant changes to current production lets game this out for a minute and figure out what the motivation is here. If you had a slow grind lower, you would see adjustment in the supply that would be slow. If you crash the price in the near term, it is still going to take quite a while for some sort of adjustment to occur. How does if you look at the two different ways of pursuing this, theyve brought the price down quite sharply and they want to see a more swift response. How long is the lag between lower prices in the near term and supplyside reform around the world . It could take three to six months. In the u. S. , you are seeing some of the rate data showing a decline. That could be for a number of reasons. It could be the cause of shifting rates from less profitable areas, more profitable areas, etc. Psol has consolidation taking place. If consolidation was to come with the, that would take us to orritories where bond yields highyield producers come into context. What would be the repercussion on the macro side of things . That is where it gets interesting. Six days ago, when we had the ruble go close to 80 against the dollar, you saw the repercussions across macro markets. I wouldnt rule that out again if we saw a swift lower lag in prices. A bunch of guys over the the moreho work in speculative end of production were all telling me that they that what we are going to see in 2015 is the lower roll ups. Smaller companies being aggregated. It is the roll up of the really small guys where this is going to start. What impact will that have and how much will that muddy the waters . A lot. The datastart to see not correlated with production in a way. We will see a lot of consolidation within the smaller up by theing bought ones that have a lot of cash. The northit will make american oil sector more efficient. The net result of this i thought would be a more efficient sector which could bear a lower price. This could be even longer. Absolutely. The other thing which opec producers are possibly if they curtail u. S. Shale production, it is not switching them off forever. They willdo rally, come back. And it is a nimble sector. Exactly. It is not as easy as saying, we are going to drive down prices, make them hurt, and they are not going to be gone, they will be coming back to about 80 a barrel. Thank you very much indeed. Have a great new year. Coming up, the year of the hackers. North koreas alleged ability to attack Sony Pictures extends its reach. We are going to break down the biggest hack of 2014 and what 2015 is going to look like. Good morning. Welcome back. You are watching the pulse their co some company news for you now. Cashing in on chinas stock market boom. The plan for a 3. 9 billion selloff. That is in a statement from the company. The proceeds will be used to develop financial business as it anticipates a golden period for chinese brokerages in the next 10 years. We have seen what the Chinese Market continues to do. Staying with china, the countrys largest smartphone maker, xiaomi, has been valued at 45 billion. That is according to people familiar with the matter. Revenue of the worlds thirdlargest smartphone vendor is set to double this year. That is according to counterpoint research. Catlin iniring rival the largest insurance takeover in the london market. That is according to the sunday times. To triggers expected a wave of consolidation. Lets give you a bit of a market check now. Over the weekend, the greek Prime Minister made some interesting moves. In a speech to the nation, he talked about the fact that Everybody Needs to get on board with his new president ial candidate. He hinted at the possibility that maybe there would be general elections in 2015 if mps backed his president ial candidates. Generalld of art elections at the beginning of next year. Initially, we saw a rally in the greek stock market. We are up by around 1 . That rally now beginning to fade. Tomorrow is the second of three votes to see if we could get samaras candidate for president through. We will watch very carefully. Welcome back. You are watching the pulse p are co the pulse. In the u. S. , president obama has called the hacking of Sony Pictures and act of cyber vandalism. With cnn, obama stopped short of calling the cyber attack an act of war, but saidt requires the United States to respond proportionately. Sonys ceo has said his studio is looking for new ways to release the interview which was pulled from theaters. Saudi arabias oil minister is confident that crude prices will rebound. Of araba conference oilproducing countries in a blue dobby that a glut has been created by a lack of cooperation from producers outside of opec. The uae oil minister also blames nonopec members for irresponsible levels of output. Toh the Greek Parliament set take it second round of voting for a new president tomorrow, the Prime Minister has offered to broaden his Coalition Government if Parliament Backs his president ial candidate. For more on this offer and what we got this weekend, lets go to athens, and our reporter, marks bennison. What did we take away from the samaras address . What are people reading into it . There was some expectation among analysts that he would address at some point in the president ial process. That they a position would hold elections by the end of 2015. Some government position. What was kind of a surprise yesterday, it was quite sudden. It could be argued that it came a lot earlier than may have been expected. Some political analysts were , he cant get 170 votes beyond. That sorry, carry on. His offer has been roundly rejected by the Opposition Party. Some interpret this as a slight sign of panic. So hes gone a little earlier than everybody anticipated on making such a representation. If he doesnt get what he wants tomorrow and we head into the final round, is there anything less on the table that he can offer . What is less in the tank for summeamaras . It is hard to say what there is. He will certainly get a lot closer tomorrow than he did in the first round. He got 160 votes in the first round. Some independent lawmakers say they didnt back him in the first round but they will in the second round. Moreately, he needs parties to get on board. They have been quite categorical in rejecting this. At the moment, 180 is looking very difficult. Hes got a long way to go to get to that. It is difficult to see how he is going to get there by the third round in december. We are probably looking at early elections next month. Athenianorning, the stock market is higher. Havent seen a big reaction. Perfectlybly is understandable given that we have seen the market down as much as it is. Have the people that you are talking to effectively already priced in the fact that we are going to see early general elections . Exactly. There was a big route in the week when he made the announcement. Markets took a hammering. From the very beginning of this beenss, there has overtures like this. Maybe he will get there. Been a verylways difficult call to see how he is going to get to 180. I think markets already priced in that we will probably go to early elections. In terms of the latest polling, how far ahead is syriza . Syriza form a new government . If we were to hold those elections tomorrow, what would the lay of the land be . Has been consistently fiveng ahead by about Percentage Points ahead. On how see depending the many parties get in. At the moment, the polls do not suggest they will get a majority. They would have to form a coalition with someone. It is not beyond the realm of possibility that they might improve enough to get in that right majority. Time, for an Opposition Party up against austerity, they are also not out of reach. It is their election to lose. They are not beyond reach. You consider that they have the advantage of opposition. Some of us will play the fear of the e