Good morning. Were happy that youre with us. We look christmassy today. We are. Even though its the end of march. 14 speeches by the fed, thats a lot. The tefrptatiinterpretations over the place. Would argue trump, any infrastructure plan or tax plan is still more important for the dollar. Definitely. At this stage i would totally agree. European equity markets hanging on to some slight bit of green out there. Higher by less than a half percent for most of the european markets. Xetra dax bucking the trend to the upside. 1263 out of germany. Seeing meager games across the board elsewhere. Trumps setback on the healthcare reform leading to nervousness in yesterdays session, by in large seeing a bit of buying back into where we saw some selling yesterday. That goes for the sectors as well with most sectors out there in positive territory. Media, basic resources and autos among the main gainers. Lets get caught up on some corporate stories, starting off with builder supplier wolseley shooting to the top of the stoxx 600 after being largely by growth in the United States which made you the for toughing trading conditions in the uk and nordic countries. The Company Announced a 10 increase in its dividend to 36. 6 cents per share. And there will be a ceo succession at the u. S. Subsidiary with kevin murphy succeeding french roach. The u. S. Operation will be known as ferguson. The company will continue to use the wolseley name in the uk and canada. Shares in ericsson have fallen to the bottom of the stoxx 600 after the Company Updated the market on its restructuring process saying the costs related to the plan will be double the original forecast. The Swedish Group which issued a profit warning just six months ago, has unveiled a new organizational structure to implement the turnaround plan. Ericsson has been hurt by increased competition and a lack of demand for wireless products in the shift to 5 g. Two of tescos share holds have gone public in opposition to the booker deal. Schroders management and artisan say they believe 3. 7 billion pounds is too expensive and badly timed. They urged the ceo to aban dont tie up. This morning he said he is pleased with the overall response from investors. And british House Builder redrow says it will not sweeten its offer for bovis homes. Bovis homes has been the subject of takeover speculation since the co quit earlier this year in the wake of another profit warning. Shares in dufrey are trading higher after the chinese conglomerate hna group are seeking to buy a stake in the retailer. Hna already approached some dufry shareholders. The company is valued at 7 7. 6 billion. Michael pearson, former ceo of Valeant Pharmaceuticals is suing the drugmaker over unpaid stock rewards. He says he is owed 33 million. Valeant stock price fell to a sevenyear low earlier this month after bill ackman sold the last of his stake in the struggling company. Bill gross who was fired from pimco four decades after he found the Investment Firm settled his lawsuit with the company. Pimco agreed to pay over 80 million to the legendary investor who pledged to give the money to charity. Gross launched hits case in 2015 on the grounds that his dismissal constituted a breach of contract. 80 million s that enough . Is that warranted . I know that all goes to charity, but its a big chunk of money. It is. Im thinking about everyone who has been writing in over the course of the past week with regards to market direction. We have a lot coming up on the show. We have a strategist coming up to talk about the ramifications of the deal not being pushed through in the states. Get involved. Get involved. We would love to hear from you. If you write longer, like some of us, streetsignseurope cnbc. Com is the email address. The show on twitter streetsignseurope cnbc, and you can find us at louisabojesen or carolincnbc. Coming up after the break, well speak to jim mullen, thats a first on cnbc coming up. Good morning. Welcome back. Shares in lab brobrokes coral a trading lower. Operating profits rose by 22 and they upgraded the cost synergy guidance for decide brokes coral. European equity markets are pulling lower as well or had been earlier. That was yesterday. That was yesterday. They are higher this morning. So the underperformance, why do you think that is . I can only deliver underlying growth. Successful merger and cost synergies which probably stole my thunder, but we have been operating at a share price 4 above market the last few days. So i think we should be encouraged by the results that are out. The oneoff loss is pretty large, the pretax loss, 204. 3 million due to the oneoff costs with this tie up. How would you describe the phasing of the tieup . Its just a housekeeping of the merger. Two platforms going into one. We are thats why were delivering the increased synergy view. That was to be expected. Most analysts and shareholders are seeing that. A key thing is underlying growth rates which are incredibly strong as well last year for underlying trading. Some petting compa betting c had a tough december because football and horse racing outcomes. Has the start of the year been more Company Friendly . You have been exposed to cheltenham, is that better for you . Yeah, weve had peaks and troughs with football results. Thats our business. You look at the normalized margin over the year, we should be delivering that. The key thing is the underlying metrics, the net revenue, stakes across all of the group are up year on year, and are trading strong. Theres a big change in your Business Model away from the shops, brickandmortar to Online Gaming and multi channnn sign up. Talk to me about revenues and multi channel approach. How is that . Ladbrokes coral has over 40 of the uk, and retail provides a significant Distribution Network for multi channel. I would go as far as saying with regard to multi channel we are the most innovative. That means close to 1 million signups for the digital business. So that our significant benefits of having an estate of that size. How is that translating through into revenues at your european Retail Business, how do you foresee the International Business expansion . International is roughly 16 of the group, and in italy we have a multi channel model as well. We are seeing stakes up in italy for the first 12 weeks by 20 . And stakes up to close to 60 . That growth momentum is continuing. We are delighted by the International Business performance, and Retail Business in belgium is again growing above the market year on year. There are some who say that gambling can be too addictive for some people. And you have the government review looking at the fixed odds betting terminals as well if that comes back and is more negative than anticipated. How much of a hit would you take . I cant comment on speculation. There is six weeks until we hear. Three things i want to say, the government called for evidence, if its based on evidence it will demonstrate states do not encourage problem behavior. I can give you the numbers that justify that position. If we are talking about problem gambling in the uk, we should be looking at responsible behaviors. What Ladbrokes Coral has with 19,000 people screening callers we are very much focused on the real issue, responsible gambling. What kind of stake limit would you be comfortable with . Theres no evidence to state the stakes are going to change. If there is sincerely a call for evidence, there is no evidence to suggest a stake cut will solve problem gambling. Before we let you go, what is the bigger risk to your business, brexit or regulation . Its regulation. Ive been on record saying give our sector clear air so we can plan, budget and grow our businesses. Thats still the case. If we can get clear air, thats what wed like to see. Jim, thank you very much for your time. Jim mullen, ceo of Ladbrokes Coral. We need to check in on markets out of asia. Pauline joins us with that. Good morning. Good morning to you. Asian markets seeing to shrug off that anxiety overnight from wall street it was more risk on today. Look at the nikkei 225 which ended up more than 1 . A slightly weaker yen helped japanese exporters today. Its also exdividend day as we are closing in on the end of the Financial Year in japan which is march 31st. A lot of investors were snapping up shares of companies which wentdividend. Also the kospi up 0. 3 . Boosted by q4 growth numbers. They were revised upwards, thanks to construction spending. Samsung did very well today, up almost 0. 7 . It had a surprise announcement where samsung said that it was planning to refurbish and resell 2. 5 million of those note 7 tablets that was the center of the scandal at the end of last year. That announcement seems to overshadow the big unveiling for tomorrow of their galaxy s8 smartphone. But still samsung didnt miss a beat ending up 0. 7 . The shanghai composite ended down 0. 4 . It struggled as liquidity concerns continued to come to the forefront. The pboc today did not inject shortterm funding liquidity into the markets for the Third Session in a row. Again, that plays into beijings efforts to tighten Monetary Policy. Increased worries among investors about liquidity there. The hang seng up 0. 6 . And the asx 200 ended up 1. 3 , a rise in oil prices during the asia session helped the resource sector there. Louisa and caroline . There are no less than 14 speeches from members of the Central Reserve this week. So the nar sierative is coming k and fast. Dallas president Robert Kaplan s said he will support rate hikes but that increases should be gradual. And Charles Evans sees as many as four rate hikes in 2017 if inflation picks up, he said three increases was the most plausible. Steve liesman will talk to Federal Reserve vice chairman in an exclusive interview at 7 30 p. M. Cet. Lets see how hawkish he will be. We should be prepared to move, that is the view of two german Board Members of the ecb who say the central bank needs to start planning an end to easing. They both said that a less expensive stance should be taken as soon as the data is stable. They said a sustained pickup in inflation is needed before a change in ecb policy. Right now it is still premature because only to have an outlyer and then a temporary one and going back, for example, in the inflation ratio would be not a good idea then to move. We should prepare for a change in the policy, and as soon as the data is stable and we have a sustainable path towards our objective of price stability, then we are well prepared to do. We are joined by steve maclow smith. Lets linger on the ecb for a moment. Comments from the ecbs chief economist saying its way too early to talk about tightening and there seems to be a lot of hawkishness coming from the germans, which should be no surprise. Do you think increasingly the language coming from the ecb is more muddled . Yes. I think its more nuanced. If we think about the last five years, its been necessary to put in place extraordinary Monetary Policy in order to slow down. At the same time what the ecb has been trying to do is making sure the Banking System is adequately capitalized. Thats now in place. But if we look at headline growth rates, still theyre pedestrian. Unemployment has come down, but its nowhere near getting close to full employment. The point for Central Banks is they dont want to do anything that will jeopardize the continued european recovery. I guess they also dont want to do anything that would push the euro even higher as it is now. Now weve seen it back above the 109 level. That is certainly bad for european exports. Also from your point of view, for european equities. How bad is the strength in the euro for the picture that were seeing in europe . Stepping back one pace, the level of euro is not directly part of european Central Banks manda mandate. They have a narrow focus on inflation. Now on financial integrity as well given theyre the top regulator in the Banking System. I think they would think about the euro from the point of view that that has on overall inflation. At the moment tailwinds for inflation because of the pick up in commodity prices. Core prices have not moved, 0. 9 for the eurozone. Therefore you can infer from that that the recovery is not yet so embedded that it can accelerate from here. Thats what the ecb are heading for. Thats why theyll be precautionary in their approach. We not only have a ga zilen fed spe gazillion fed speakers, but theresa may triggering article 50. If we think about the uk and the European Union, its fair to say the uk has been a fairly reluctant member of the European Union. Particularly the uk stood against further european integration. I think that if you say now about the uk being outside those councils of state, it is possible that the move towards further integration would not be blocked by the uk. Paradoxically at the same time, a move towards integration looks like it has stalled because of a rise in populist votes in places like france, the netherlands and italy. But in the medium term further european integration is more possible. The uk has been a large recipient of European Investment because it has a much less regulated environment for companies doing business than some european counterparts. The danger is if the uk loses access to the europe and single market, some of that Foreign Direct Investment would get diverted into mainland europe. So far the real reaction is in the pound. Thats the majority of the reaction. Thats the pressure valve. Precisely. Do you think well see a scenario where we see a division between investing in the uk and investing in europe in terms of equity markets . Depends on outcomes of any kind of trade negotiations that take place. We need to see the shape of the trade agreement that the uk will be striking with the rest of the European Union before we can make predictions about what Foreign Direct Investment will do. From the point of view of sterling, we were look last year at the 10, 15year outlook for markets and currencies. At the moment, sterling looks very oversold. At the moment, despite a negative scenario for negotiations, i think youll see a lot of currency volatility which other financial markets, particularly equity markets will need to take in stride. The risk is if you get a more positive approach when negotiations start, sterling rallies from here. What about the other source of Political Risk in the form of german elections down the track this year. Everyone is pretty positive about european equities now. You are looking at comments from Morgan Stanley yesterday, theyre upping the earnings forecast for european equities, seeing the ftse 100 at 7,000 by the end of the year. Could the Political Risk throw us into turmoil this year . People are focused on Political Risk. If you look at the flows into European Equity funds, what youre seeing at the moment is pmi well above 50 signaling prolonged expansion. Yet flows into equities have failed to match the pmis, and the obvious catalyst is people are concerned about the elections taking place, which they find difficult to call. We take some comfort, i think, from the fact that opinion polls last year which people felt were wrong, are more right than they were given credit for. In the case of the uk referendum, the final polls before the referendum were for a narrow lead win, thats what we got. In the u. S. Election, the final polls were for trump to lose the popular vote narrowly. Thats what happened. If we roll that forward and look at the dutch election, people were afraid there would be a hidden constituency, that didnt materialize. Now we have the french election. People are afraid of hidden National Front voters who come to the forein t in the second r, opinion polls dont suggest that at the moment. What is the playbook . Do you stay with cyclicaling . Cyclicals . Theres every vine that inflation is just starting to broaden out. Once we see core inflation starting to move, that would reinforce our sense that the european recovery has hit, and we should be more exposed to cyclical earnings. Steven, thank you very much for that. The dow extended its losing streak to eight sessions, the longest for the index since 2011. Market optimists are hoping strong First Quarter earnings could send stocks trending in the other direction. Reporter the end of the First Quarter is just around the corner. As washington moves on from healthcare to tax reform, the bulls are hoping a strong earnings season may provide a market stabilizer for what is likely to be a rocky debate over tax reform and infrastructure spending. First quarter earnings are expected to rise more than 10 from the same period last year. Thats a lot. Its the best quarter i will showing in nearly six years, if we can pull it off. Early signs indicate the earnings numbers may be better than expected. We had a few companies, 12, that have reported so far. Theyve reported average earnings gains of 12 . So whats the key to these rising numbers . First, the two biggest sectors in the s p are technology and financials. They are both set to deliver earnings gains of 15 a piece. Thats big numbers. Second is energy earnings. Energy earnings have been declining for two years, theyre now turning positive. Whats the risk . Its still energy. Big oils ability to pull off big gains in 2017 it seems problematic wi