Hello, this is todays worldwide exchange, im ross westgate. Im kelly evans. These are your headlines from around the world. Shares of stocks fall after the french bank swings to an alltime low. The ceo says hes optimistic. Im confident we will show a further market share gain. Heineken shares pop after the giant raises its outlook. And peugeot rolls out its recovery plan. And the first 30year bond in years. The test of Market Sentiment ahead of the election. And president obama uses his state of the union speech to urge congress to end the battle over the budget and Work Together to boost the u. S. Economy and help the middle class. Together we have cleared away the rubble of crisis. We can say with renewed confidence that the state of our union is strong. There we go. Who doesnt love to kick off a wednesday morning with the iea Monthly Oil Report . They have lowered their Oil Demand Growth expectations on weaker gdp forecasts. Demand growth, 840,000 barrels a day in 2013. Theyve cut the forecast for opec crude to 29. 8 Million Barrels a day. They say oil supply will hit a 12month low in january. Can we show crude and look at the reaction there . Well take a look in one second. What else are they saying in this report . They say the nonopec supply will be rising. Opec supply will be falling. Nonopec supply is rising, one Million Barrels a day this year. Then they talk about Iran Oil Production hovering below the lowest in 30 years. New sanctions could see further declines in iranian output. They say the sanctions are costing around 40 billion in export revenues over the last year. Wow. Not a huge reaction there in the oil price, brent up. 1,. 2 , same for nymex. Interesting because were going to at the top of the next hour hear more about the Global Outlook for demand from fon and icc. Gasoline has spiked a little bit. They are saying that they cut their refinery throughput forecast in the First Quarter because of a falling u. S. Refining capacity. This has been a huge story. When people talk with the u. S. Selfsufficiency story, theres been a bottleneck in over fine capacity. This is something the president glanced at in his state of the Union Address. Its one thing to have new technology to get it out of the ground. If you cant refine it and get it to market there you go. Well keep our eyes on that, as well. You mentioned the president. Thats one of the things well be talking about. Also on todays program, currency war and currency confusion. Thats all led to a wild ride for the japanese yen. In moscow, the worlds finance ministers due to battle it out. Well find out when china becomes investable from the top experts in chinese Financial Markets in 20 minutes time. Well speak to the founder of the cambridge satchel as the British Bag Company opens a new store in Central London at 10 45 cet. The secretary of general of the International Chamber of commerce in paris. A first on cnbc at clesk cet, 10 00 london time. Then a call on comcast shares after the now 100 owner of this company, theyve announced theyre buying the rest of nbcuniversal in a 16 billion deal. And i still want to say, i feel very comfortable about this. I feel very im sure you feel happy. Good for everybody. They like us. G. E. Stock was up i didnt like that g. E. Stock was up, then i saw the reaction of comcast, all right, theyre up, too. You, me, fantastic. Were very happy, brian. Have to say that are you pained to say that i should say . I dont know. Im paid, though. Dont know if im paid to say that, but i am paid. Right. Have i done enough on that now . Yes. Societe generale swung to a loss on the back of eurozone weakness and one of charges. Coming in below expectations, the bank racked up a quarterly net loss of 476 million euros. On top of that, frances numbertwo listed bank had goodwill writedowns of 292 million mostly on new edge. They have pledged to cut costs with a new ceo heading a revamped structure. What does the man at the top make of the numbers . Whilst Retail Banking took a hit in terms of cbi, Societe Generales ceo is confident about the outlook. Cib is if you wish for me in 2012 a great achievement. Weve restructured. Weve refocused, as ive said weve finished deleveraging. Im confident that in 2014 we will show that we will make further market share gain. And this is what is at stake. I dont expect necessarily the market to be that dynamic overall. But i think that Societe Generale can gain market share in its businesses. We have an organization which is ready, fully able to capture, again, new clients and new business. What about the retail activity in france . It was a bit weaker in the Fourth Quarter. Is it because of the increasing cost of risk . Weve seen as expected in the Fourth Quarter an increase of the cost of risk. There is a seasonality effect. As weve said also, the deterioration of the Macro Economic situation. The cost of risk relates to mid sized corporations. Its not individual clients. Yes, weve deseen a deteriorati in france. Societe needs two billion euro to bring its core capital ratio at 9 under basal three. Will the bank need capital injection . Definitely no. This Fourth Quarter shows further enhancement of 40 basis points of our core tier one, and secondly in our account, we clearly definitely show that we will be basal free in terms of capital and liquidity at year end, its a given. Do you think the Market Sentiment is reflecting the economic reality in europe . I think the market situation reflects the fact that the extreme scenarios, the dislocation of the euro, is really now very far. So no one is expecting a miracle, i think, on the economy. Its more, again, extreme scenarios, the fears are behind us. And valuation of equities still appear to be reasonable, i would say, versus other categories of assets. Do you feel like french political leaders that the europe is too high . I think for, of course, europe is to have a currency which would not be overvalued because yes, what we expect Going Forward is more investments in order to export more. Thanks to all the efforts made on competitive not. If, again, all these efforts are destroyed because there is a currency war and the euro is suffering in particular, that would be the torment to europe. Hopefully the euro should stay at something reasonable versus the dollars and other currencies. And president obama used his state of the Union Address to challenge a divided congress to make government work for the many. The president touched on a wide range of issues including gun control and immigration. His hourlong speech focused mainly on the economy. Hes backing higher taxes on the wealthy, more spending on infrastructure, and manufacturing jobs. The president also proposed hiking the u. S. Minimum wage to 9 an hour, tying it to the cost of living increase. He also urged lawmakers to resolve the budget battle that will result in billions of dollars in automatic spending cuts on march 1. Lets set Party Interest aside and work to pass a budget that replaces reckless cuts with smart savings and Wise Investments in our future. Lets do it without the brinksmanship that stresses consumers and scares off investors. The greatest nation on earth [ applause ] the greatest nation on earth cannot keep conducting its business by drifting from one manufactured crisis to the next. [ applause ] we cant do it. And on Foreign Policy, the president says hell withdraw about half the u. S. Troops in afghanistan within the next year. Also warned north korea about its Nuclear Weapon program. He said there will be talks with the e. U. About reaching a transatlantic trade agreement. And marco rubio gave the republican response and criticized obamas programs and proposals as more unnecessary deficit spending. Joining us for more, head of european g10 fx bank of America Merrill lynch. Welcome. Good morning. Want to Start Talking about europe, about cypress where he got back from. First the u. S. Dollar, whats happening with the potential fiscal talks. How concerned are you, what does it moon for trading the currency . The u. S. Dollar has weakened so far this year because of the overall market risk move that we have seen. Positive of surprises in the u. S. At the global level. And looking forward, we were bullish on the u. S. Dollar because we see a Market Correction as the u. S. Tightens fiscal policy substantially this year. How severe of a correction might that we believe for the rest of the year the euro dollar will be closer to 1. 30 or below, 1. 35. Really . Also last week we believe in the way theres a ceiling on the strength of the euro warning that a fefbent strengthening fervent strengthing will affect inflation in the eurozone and projections are well below the 2 target. Thats a fascinating point. Were going leave it here for now. Plenty of news to get to. I want to pick up on that point especially about the euro in a second. Youre see being a. 2 move it the upside in the currency pair today. Yeah. Italy. One of the key things is italy offering buyers a 30year bund for the First Time Since 2011. A partial test of how Foreign Investors are responding to this Months National election. And whilst yields are forecast to rise and its expected to enjoy healthy demand for the paper coupled with a threeyear auction, italy looking to raise a total of 6. 75 billionures that doesnt make sense. Thats right. I have problem reading. A couple of Different Things going on. Leak at the 30 years, doing this, 5. 13 . Those are levels to keep an eye on ahead of the market reaction. This should complete italys attempt to raise something in the range of 18 of its funding this early, taking advantage of somewhat better Market Conditions. Certainly ahead of the italian elections, too, trying to make sure that any potential market disruptions dont necessarily boost its borrowing costs. This at a time when the italian state getting back toward running a Budget Surplus at some point, ross. Absolutely. Meanwhile a focus for equity markets, slightly weighted to the upside on the Dow Jones Stock 600. Not by much, less than six to four. Gains for european equity. Some losses, as well. Dragging things down in terms of the bank. To the ftse, reclaimed the 6,300 level, down 1,300. The xetera dax up. 5 . Ibex and cac is flat. Theres upside despite the loss, as well. Keep an eye on italian yields as we go toward that auction. A concession, spanish yields lower at 5. 25 . Spreads narrowing. On the currency markets where we saw the euro dollar was trading, 1. 3426. We got down to 1. 35 a couple of days ago. Wild swing in dollar yen depending on comments coming out and around the g20 and g7. Some thoughts that the g7 had been relaxed about the policy and didnt see it as a way to weaken the yen. Others theying thats not the saying thats not the case. The recent high, 94. 46 is where we hit on monday. Aussie dollar firm at 1. 0345. And sterling dollar, Inflation Report at 10 30 london time. Well bring you up to speed. Back after the chinese me to youre from singapore. Nice to see you. Most asian borses ended higher while market remained close for the australian lunar holiday. The fx 200 closed above the 500 level for the first nightmare 2. 5 years. Strong data showed Consumer Confidence at the highest level in more than two years. Commonwealth bank of australia gained 2. 4 today after the countrys largest lender posted a higher cash profit and raised its dividend. Japanese stocks ended lower by 1 as the yen has weakened against the greenback. This after the 2kg7s excessiv concern over moves. Mitsubishi materials slipped over 7 after cutting its annual operating profit outlook. Forecasting poor demand for materials used in cars and batteries. Meanwhile, olympus eased nearly 3 after cutting its earnings forecast on sluggish sales of digital cameras. Daiichi Life Insurance rose after Goldman Sachs selected the firm as its top pick. Elsewhere, south koreas kospi finished higher by 1. 5 led by strong gains in automakers, Technology Shares, and stocks. The sensex gaining a modest. 2 . This helped by bargain hunting in blue chip names. Back to you. All right. Catch you later in the program. For now, thank you. Still to to come, the g7 trying to get out in front of fears. More from the g20 summit in moscow as soon as we come back. To grow, we have to boost our social media visibility. More likes. More tweets. So, beginning today, my son brock and his whole team will be our new senior social media strategists. Any questions . Since we make radiator valves wouldnt it be better if we just let fedex help us to expand to new markets . Hmm gotta admit thats better than a few likes. I dont have the door code. Whos that . He won a contest online to be ceo for the day. How am i supposed to run a business here without an office . [ male announcer ] fast, reliable deliveries worldwide. Fedex. To deposit checks from anywhere. [ wind howling ] easier than actually going to the bank. Mobile check deposit. Easier banking. Standard at citibank. Okay. [ male announcer ] with citibanks popmoney, dan can easily send money by email right from his citibank account. Nice job ben. [ male announcer ] next up, the gutters. Citibank popmoney. Easier banking. Standard at citibank. Welcome back to worldwide exchange. Its been a volatile 24 hours for the yen amid confusion about a g7 statement in change in the forex market. There were concerns over the yen as they saw a tacit approval of the reflationary policies. Leaders are expected to take up the currency debate during talks in moscow. The dollar yen currently giving up. 1 , down toward the 93 level from over 95 or close to it, i should say, we saw earlier. Steve sedgwick is our man in moscow this week. Hes covering the g20 talks. Steve, i imagine yen is front and center there. In the halls, what are officials saying . And just how much did they mess up the rhetoric when it came to telling the market whats happening with regard to these currencies . Yeah. I think its really an issue. I think the g20 feels blind sided by this. I was speaking to the deputy finance minister of russia earlier on. He was like, well, why now, we thought they were going to make the statement, they were going to make it . N russia as part of the talks. Theres a mass confusion within the g7 about what they were trying to achieve. Maybe the markets got it right. Actually that everybody is concerned about the competitiveness. At the moment the russians especially is been actually losing out in these currency wars so to speak since july. Have been rallying the ruble against the dollar, rallying again the yen heavily, as well. Theyre as concerned as anyone about the competitive advantage from the devaluation of these currencies, as well, gained by the japanese and others. Face it, as jim oneil points out in one commentary, the americans have been doing this for 30 years. Its rich to turn around and say anyone cant do. It mr. Carney, currently of the bank of canada, soon to be bank of england, said we need forceful representation at the g20 to solve issues. Whats interesting is not to lose track of some of the more important agenda issues from the russians, as well. And like the mexicans before them, the french before them, and obviously various g20 chairs before that, theyre looking at fundamental issues growth, stability, jobs, energy, Financial Markets. One of the key issues thats been discussed here, one of the socalled sherpa meetings ahead of the official meeting friday and saturday is about finance, it where are the financial flows and key for finance for infrastructure especially in areas such as asia, as well, which of course is part of the emerging powers. The other g13 so to speak. With that in mind, imf senior economist for asia pacific joins us. I know youre not here to talk go20 specifically or currency wars. Ill put that on the table. You are here to talk about infrastructure flows which is absolutely key to a lot of emerging economies in asia, as well. Whats the message that youre hearing . Whats the message youre giving . I think theres an issue in a lot of countries that there are large infrastructure gaps. We see it in advanced economies and in emerging markets of the theres an issue of where funds are going to come from to address gaps. Theyre questions related to how the funds will be sourced and how they will be intermediated into infrastructure flows and the kind of projects that were investing in with good projects and how theyll support growth in the future. Post 1997 1998, were looking at money out. Youre looking at longterm solutions to infrastructure possibly from the likes of sovereign wealth. Thats true. We found in the past that the kind of investment that goes into infrastructure, Foreign Direct Investment in these longterm projects is associated with Financial Stability and a reduced probability of stress in Banking Systems and financial crises. This is the kind of investment the countries generally want to encourage in terms of stability and in terms of enhancing growth. I think thats the focus. The accusation is bridges to nowhere. You have stimulus, kensan responses, and projects that they dont necessarily have demanddriven inc