Interest. The skies should be high, ryanair calls for aviation to top the brexit negotiation agenda, warning cnbc that no trade deal could mean all flight to the eu are halted. A step closer to a trial. The wife of french president ial candidate, Francois Fillon may go to trial for work she did not do. Good morning. It is brexit day, the triggering of article 50 is finally here. We have it all covered for you. We are live from westminster and brussels. Before that, lets look at how European Equity markets are doing. If there are brexit concerns, investors are not showing them. Ftse 100 is up by 0. 25 . Elsewhere seeing the xetra dax in germany higher, and the cac 40 in paris higher by 0. 4 . The dow snapping an eight day losing stretch, the longest stretch in about eight years or so. Asia was positive as well. Lets look at the uk pound sterling. What were seeing there is quite a bit of weakness. Heavy selling in the asian trading seg. That session. Thats quieter, off session lows, but still off 0. 32 on the day. Uk Prime Minister theresa may has officially signed and sealed the order that invokes article 50 of the lisbon treaty which kick starts the countrys divorce from the European Union. The letter is expected to be handed to donald tusk before may begins her address to the house of commons at 13 30 cet. Steve joins us from westminster. Its a historic day and youve been talking to a number of key voices. Absolutely. Weve heard from hillary bend, alex salmond. Delighted to introduce nick clegg, euro spokesman for the democrats. This is not a good day for you. You are a staunch remainder. What is the best britain can get out of this now . The best we can get out of this is if were theresa may were to reverse her decision not only to pull us out of the European Union and margaret thatchers invention, the Single Market. It was very much a british invention, massively benefited the british economy. I think theresa may made a massive error by choosing to placate her own party by saying she would leave the Single Market even as we leave the eu. If she were to reverse that decision and say, no, on reflection its better if we try to keep the best sort of the best virtues of economic integration as we leave the rest of the European Union, i think that would be the best possible outcome from what i consider to be an undesirable course of action. You and tim farron are labeled remoaners. Anyone who was a remainor who is now standing up and saying we dont like a lot about this, people are calling you remoaners. Are you concerned i think you are from what ive seen that theres a move to shut down opposition . Absolutely. For those who dont live in the country its difficult to describe this bizarre atmospheres we had this finely won referendum, over 16. 1 million people, almost half of the voting public voted for a different future. 70 of youngsters who are the most important of all because theyll live with the consequences of this, voted for a different future. If you dare say any of that now, you get yelled at for being a remoaner. How dare you. Its ridiculous. In a normal democracy, the losing side is not expected to enter into a vow of silence and cut their tongues out and never speak again about the things they believe. I passionately believe whilst we need to leave the European Union because thats what the british people voted for, i think they were told by the brexit leaders a whole bunch of stuff which is not true. They were told they would get millions of pounds, hundreds of millions of pounds every week from the nhs, an economic paradise would be waiting for us outside the eu. When it becomes obvious those raise the d expectations may no filled, i think opinions will change. When i listen to what is said, theres very little between the two sides, but i see a middle ground as well. Do you think despite the posturing from the more staunch brexiteers and the more hard lined voices, there is going to be a compromise and this oneyear to 18 months deadline, we can get some real deals done . Totally agree with you, in any negotiation you can only succeed if youre prepared to compromise. No one can sort of petulantly stamp their feet and stand on ceremony, so you have to compromise. The big question here is can theresa may compromise in a way thats acceptable to her increasingly zany, hard line party, which have become ever more radical on this. But also more popular. For a party to have this going on, to have over 40 of the vote, they carry a lot of the british people with them. Sure, theres a bunch of reasons for that. Partly because they have sort of uncritical support from large parts of the party. The labor party has gone to lala land and is not functioning as an opposition. The fact remains, in terms of getting a successful negotiation, theresa may needs to compromise. The big question is can she sell those kcompromises . She may need to spend some money, can she sell those compromises to a bunch of people who are touring Television Studios like this today saying we shouldnt have a dole at aea . Thats the question. So far out of the last nine months all that theresa may has done every time theres any pressure from her own party shes buckled. Shes put party before country from today onwards she needs to put country before party. Should she go to the country in any stage in the next couple of years . I introduced the fixed Term Parliament bill. She said there is no need for a general election because in law there wont ab general elbe a g election until 2020. I think it would be extremely foolish, at the same time trying to negotiate with 27 different government is, and parliaments, also to trigger a general election. Every minute will count. The clock is ticking from today onwards. The idea that the government will waste its time on the general election in the middle of that strikes me as wrong. So we need a divorce deal, a great repeal act. A trade deal. Trade deals with china u. S. , australia. We need to deal with referendum issues, scotland, and northern islan ireland. This sounds like the most moment to us task any British Government has had to do certainly postwar. Something will have to give. The one thing that is not going to happen is that all of this will go will happen effortlessly according to time and plan. It wont. Theres no way that in two years, as you say, you do a divorce deal, you then negotiate the most complex free trade devel agreement that the new world has seen, you have to negotiate with 50 other countries with whomrel have to have it ratified not only by this place behind me but by 27 parliaments and regional parliaments across the European Union. Its for the birds. That wont happen in two years. Again, is theresa may, does she have the ability, does she have the will to sell to her own party and the people who have her seemed to up about this brexit thing. Can she sell the fact shell have to give some money . Either plead for more time or enter into a lengthy transitional arrangement. At the moment, all shes done up to now is just do what her party is telling her. Now she needs to make decisions which are good for the country not her party. Nick, great speaking to you. Nick clegg joining us there. Former deputy Prime Minister here in the uk. Back to you. Steve, thank you very much for that. So what are the next steps . This friday the 27 eu countries will be sending their negotiation guidelines through the European Council for a draft d document. On the 29th of april, the eu will prepare the final document for the rules. And the french and german elections will be taking place this year testing the stability of the block. And a final brexit deal is expected by late 2018. Britain should officially divorce from the European Union bay may 2019. Thats if everything goes according to plan. Willem marx is in brussels. You heard the doubts being cast on the timeline by clegg. What does everyone in brussels think . How likely is this to be done in two years . Since ive been here, not a Single Person has said that the twoyear timeline is realistic. They seem to concur with what nick clegg was saying there. Today we will see a quick response, it seems, from donald tusk, the president of the European Council. He will talk at about 1 45, about 15 minutes after theresa may gives her official statement on article 50. And then later over the course of the afternoon well hear from several other european leaders, including geJeanclaude Juncker. Those are likely to be quick, simple responses to acknowledge the receipt of that letter. People will be looking to see the contents of that letter from theresa may, were expecting a few pages to that letter. A lengthy note. People will look and try to understand what tone the british will adopt and the framework through which they wanted negotiations to pass. Thats the first major stumbling block, the distinction between how the brits want to deal with this and how the europeans want to deal with this. The europeans looking to negotiate britains exit as a priority. After that, start the trade negotiations for a future relationship. The british said saying they want both of those things to operate concurrently. Thats going to be the real challenge initially. Lots of challenges. Willem, thank you very much for that. Well catch up with you in a few minutes time. Ryanair has called for ryanair to top the brexit negotiation saying that uk travelers could be left in limbo if an agreement is not reached. Kenny jacobs, the cmo of ryanair told cnbc there is hope that brexit will not impacted the irish borders. The connection between the uk and ireland is so strong, i dont see it being damaged with brexit. In Northern Ireland, politicians are saying the right things, that there has to be a special arrangement found, people in dub land are saying that, people in belfast are saying that. People are hoping we are not returning to difficulties in Northern Ireland as a result of brexit. Join us today at 13 00 cet for theresa mays all important article 50 speech to parliament. Email the show. The address is street strostre and you can tweet me at carolincnbc. Coming up, well be going live to paris. Dont go away. Plenty more in two minutes. Welcome back. There was a stream of fed speak yesterday. Kansas city fed president Esther George called for deliberate gradual rate rises, that echoed comment from david kaplan who warned aggressive rate hikes could push the economy into recession. Jerome cowl sapowell said t current pace of rate hikes was deliberate. And Steve Liesman asked if he agreed that the forecast of two hikes this year is right. Thats my forecast as well, but, yes, you have to be certain you know for sure that you dont get everything right, particularly about the future. And you need to think about what happens if the economy is growing more slowly or if the economy is growing faster. Those comments led strength to the u. S. Dollar. Lets look at the indices in the u. S. The dow jones snapping an eightday losing streak, the longest stretch in about six years. Closing up to the tune for 0. 3 . The nasdaq up by 0. 6 . Were joined by maya bendari. Maya, is it wrong to say u. S. Investors or u. S. Markets are a bit shortsighted . There was all this fanfare about the failed care bill and how this cast doubt into whether trump could have fiscal reform, tax reform, and now you see investors coming back in, buying up these indices once again. The trump trade, is it not dead after all . Its certainly our view that u. S. Equities dont look like a great bet here. Our Asset Allocation we downgraded u. S. Equities to disclik abodi dislike about three weeks ago. We see essentially the full positive trump, all the tax cuts and so on being priced in fully, without any of the downside being affected in prices. So if you sort of work out how much the Corporate Tax cuts might actually boost earnings, the rule of thumb is a 5 cut boosts earning at 4. 5 . So you would see maximum 17 upside on the s p 500 from all the good stuff that hes suggesting. We pretty much had that and have come off a bit since then. Maybe you were even ahead of the curve, ahead of other investors who are taking a slightly more nuanced view on the u. S. Equities, not simply buying u. S. Equities left, right and center. With you underweighting u. S. Stocks a couple weeks ago even before the failed healthcare bill, i wonder was it based on worries and downs as to whether trump could enact those policies or valuation . I think it was a combination of things. It was certainly valuation, at 22 times the s p 500 is trading rich relative to other marks. It was full trump being priced in without the down side but also concerns about corporate profitability. Wages in the u. S. Are starting to pick up. We are at peak profits. I would argue its a combination of all three of those factors. What i find curious is you still like the u. S. Dollar. Doesnt that have a high correlation to what trump is doing and what u. S. Equities are doing . You tend to find when the dollar is strong, u. S. Equities are weak. So actlly that is consistent. I think the Dollar Strength story is as much a reflection of what we expect to happen in other countries such as europe and the uk as it is what we expect to happen in the u. S. In europe, we expect policymakers to stay easy for quite a long time. In japan, we expect a continuation of qe. I suppose that weakens the euro and the yen respectively against the stronger dollar. Basically the reason why you like japan and europe, thats mainly currencies . No, i think thats again one of the reasons why we like them. But if we take japan as an example, japan we have got pretty punchy earnings expected. 10 , 10. 5 this year. Earnings revisions in japan on the city data, which i was looking at this morning, running at the highest since 2006. You have strong earnings, strong earnings revisions, reasonable valuations, serious corporate reform happening. A range of factors that underpin our views. Maya, it is brexit day. Theres no way around it i have to ask about brexit and the ftse 100. Its doing pretty well this morning. You could argue everything is baked into the cake. We knew brexit could be triggered at some point. So no news in that signing of article 50. Do you think some brexit fatigue is setting in when it comes to buying up the ftse because the pound has been so weak . How long can that trade continue . Theres certainly a strong link between the ftse and the pound. Somewhere between 73 and 75 of the ftse 1 00 companies revenues come from overseas. As sterling weakens they get a bit of a kicker. From our perspective, were neutral uk equities here. Cognizant that a weaker pound about boost revenues, but equally some meaningful concerns around brexit and what impact that might have on the uk economy. Balancing those out. All right. Well have to leave it here. Thank you very much for that. Appreciate it. Maya badari. Interesting news from the active management world, blackrock is overhauling its active stock picking business. They said they will rebrand or adjust Investment Strategies on 1 1 of its business. The move will see jobs cut, fees dropped and investment increase in data mining technology. Reuters reports over 40 staff will be laid off including some portfolio managers. The revamp marks blackro the. Sanofis new drug to treat eczema will particular ket the product with regeneron. It will have a list price of 37,000 which is less of other products of the same kind. 37,000. Thats pricey. The drug initially cost 50,000. Maybe thats a bit of a discount. Lets get back to politics. Its another major setback for Francois Fillons president ial campaign. Two weeks ago was put under formal investigation for paying his wife from public funds for work she did not do. Yesterday his wife, Penelope Fillon was also put under formal investigation after being questioned by magistrates. Man well valls says he will vote for manuel macron in the president ial election. Lets get out to claire. Do you think valls will help macron more than he will help him since he comes from deeply unpopular socialist branch. Thats the question, carolin. Its double sided this support from valls to macron. He has been fighting as to not continue the continuity of the fillon era. The former Prime Minister is more of a handicap for him than asset. On the radio this morning he said i thank manuel valls, but i will make sure there are new faces in my government, ie i wont govern with him if im elected. So thats basically what he said. Thats clear, but, yes, emanuel macron has had a lot of support from socialist heavyweights, a bit from the center, a bit from the right also, but trying to appear as a new face and doesnt want to bare the heritage of the Francois Hollande era. They also question the future of the socialist party with many divisions in france. Also manuel valls has been breaching the major rules of the socialist primary, that, you know, he was supposed to support the socialist candidate. He has chosen not to do so in the morning. Thats a breach of the rules. Hes being heavily criticized this morning for that. Back to you. Thank you very much for that. Well go for a quick break. Check out World Markets live, our blog which runs throughout the european trading day. Plenty more brexit discussion after this break. Stick around. Hello. Welcome. Youre still watching street signs. Im carolin roth. These are your headlines. Time to pull the trigger. Sterling retreats as uk Prime Minister theresa may prepares her letter to brussels confirming britains exit from europe and starting the twoyear countdown to the divide. Europe readies its response after theresa may calls angela merkel, Jeanclaude Juncker and donald tusk agree to a strong eu is in everyones interest. Blue sky thinking. Ryanair calls for aviation to top the brexit negotiation agenda, warning cnbc that no trade deal could mean all flights to the eu are halted. A step closer to