Mobiles messaging firm whatsapp. Its facebooks biggest deal to date as shares stay lower in frankfurt. Announcer youre watching worldwide exchange, bringing you Business News from around the globe. Youre looking at a live shot that were bringing to you from kiev, the capital of ukraine. We have breaking news for you, dow jones reporting that the eu Foreign Ministers have canceled their meeting with the ukraine leader. That is according to one official. They had set up that meeting yesterday after we saw those very violent clashes, the death toll according to the Health Ministry now above 28. All right. Lets take a look at european markets. Were a little more than an hour into the trading day and we are seeing a lot of red across the board. The stoxx europe 600 steady, down by 0. 8 . It is a triple whammy for the markets. We had the fed memberships in support of more tapering. Some members talking about an earlier than expected tightening. Then we have the china flash pmi numbers at a sevenmonth low. Then we got the round of european slash pmi numbers, especially that french number was quite disappointing. The xetra dax responding to those head winds, the cac 40 doing a little better, off by around 0. 8 and the ftse mib losing a little more than 1 , as well. I want to show you whats going on in the for ex markets where we saw the euro falling to a session low, but well talk more about that later on in the show. And weve got dollar weakness continuing. We did see a bit of up trend in the dollar after the fed minutes yesterday. We got china pmi numbers and that put pressure on the u. S. Dollar and we saw safe haven buying into the japanese yen. The dollar yen paired back down below the 100 pair. The aussie dollar taking a bit of a hit after the china pmi numbers. Keep in mind, china is australias biggest trading partner and weve seen that back below the 90 cent level, down 0. 3 . Let me bring you back that euro dollar pair. Right after the french numbers came out, we saw that big decline and euro dollar fell below 1. 37 at one point, but now has stabilized just above that level. Lets check in on how asian markets are fairing today. Lets get otto sixuan in singapore. Sixuan. Thank you for that, carolin. Let me start with japan. The nikkei 225 saw further profit taking from tuesdays while sentiment was disappointing from trade data. Exports took a beating today. Over in hong kong, the hang seng index lost 1. 2 today with financials and banking shares lagging behind after a report that china ames for 100 liquidity ratio by 2018. The mainland markets gave back some of the early gains after the pmi data. But oil majors capped some of the losses. Sinopec was the very bright spot today. While beijing promotes private investment in the largely controlled oil sector, the Largest Oil Refinery asia announced plans to restructure its retail and wholesale business and sell up to 30 of that unit to private investors. Sinopec investors surged up 10 in shanghai and gained over 9 in hong kong. Were watching shares of tencent. You can see an upward trend, but it lost ground today, down by over 3 . This on fears of greater competition for its app after the Facebook Whatsapp deal. China has been on an acquisition spree and now yesterday its buying 20 of chinas largest restaurant review and business listing site. Thank you so much for that. Meantime, we had eurozone february flash pmi numbers out and theyre missing expectations. The february composite number came in at 52. 7 versus the forecast of 53 the, so just a touch below expectations. Well look at the manufacturing pmi for the eurozone. 53. The forecast was 54. So once again, a slight miss there and just want to check in on the services pmi. We are getting a flash estimate of 51. But the forecast was slightly higher, 51. 9. All right. Frances services pmi contracting to a twomonth low in february, over 3 points below expectations and well below the ftse number which shows contraction. Manufacturing in europe underlying the fragile picture and the eurozone. Hsbcs china flash figure fell to a new low. Eunice, to what extent do we have to discount those numbers coming in in february because of the Chinese New Year lunar holiday . Well, thats exactly right and what most people are saying. Just hold judgment before the numbers officially come out in march because of the fact that there are so many seasonal factors at play here. The pmi, if you actually broke it down, didnt look very good. The new order figure came in a lot weaker than people had expected. Also the new export orders werent very good. And the one component that really surprised people was the employment number. We saw a large dip in that employment figure, which was surprising because usually at the end of the Lunar New Year holiday when things start to pick up, people start to see factories hiring workers. So that was one of the surprising factors. Overall, people not encouraged by the numbers, but people saying lets wait before we rush to judgment. Carolin. Eunice, thank you so much for that. Meantime, japan has recorded its largest trade deficit ever in january. The data highlights weak demand for japanese goods as growth surged more than expected. Joining us in the studio in a short while is christian schultz, senior economist. Christian, what do you make of the figures out of europe this morning . It seems as though we lost some of the momentum we had in the Fourth Quarter. For the eurozone as a whole, its pretty much unchanged. Its one country pulling them up. Thats germany which is the services component. So german domestic demand was a factor here. An interesting side show here is the manufacturing pmi because both germany and france actually fell while the eurozone didnt, which could suggest that the crisis countries, italy and spain, performed quite well in that export oriented figure. So overall, i would say the eurozone recovery remains moderate, halting, but it is still on track. A lot of people have been accusing the ecb of being too passive. But then we got the very good Fourth Quarter gdp numbers and that to some extent vindicated that passive stance by the ecb. Do you think that the pressure on the ecb will now be increasing again . I dont think so. I dont think these figures give any reason to panic. Growth was better than expected in the Fourth Quarter. It is shaping up to be a decent quarter in the First Quarter of 2014, as well. The ecb is, of course, concerned about inflation and in march we will see when they plush the 2016 inflation forecast where that is approaching its 2 target. If it isnt, then, of course, many people in the governing council will demand more action. But i dont think it would be anything dramatic even if they do do something. We are seeing a slightly weaker euro pair this morning, but still, it is very high if you look at it from a longer term basis at 1. 37 or around about that level. Is the stronger euro not really an issue for all these exporters . It doesnt seem so. Theres no real weakness coming through in exports, despite the emerging market turbulences to which some European Countries are notably exposed. Germany with its exports might. Exports dont seem to be weakening despite the strong euro. In any case, the ecb is, of course, not targeting the exchange rate. It does have a modest negative impact on inflation, so it will have an eye on this. But, again, no reason to panic at this stage. The question is interesting. The markets moved away from the emerging market turmoil over the last two or three weeks or so. But could we still be seeing a bad hangover for the eurozone because of those strong trade ties . I think we have to look at it in detail here. If we go back to 1997 when we had the last major emerging crisis, they were hardly impacted. If countries which are very important for the eurozone, like russia, like potentially china would get into trouble, then the impact could be large. But as long as its confined to countries which are not as important as maybe some others, i think the eurozone will sail through this relatively smoothly. Christian, thank you so much for your time this morning. Appreciate it. A meeting between Foreign Ministers and the ukrainian president have been postponed. Reuters eyewitnesss suggest at least 15 bodies are covered up in the square. Speaking ahead of the visit, german chancellor Angela Merkel said the eu would not accept continuing violence in the ukraine. Translator when the Foreign Affairs ministers meet, it will be necessary to discuss, if needed, specific sanctions that need to be enacted to show that the political process started again and we can accept what is happening. Joining us now to discuss this fluid situation is the Vice President at atilia announcement. Indeed. It is always questionable whether or not that is going to hold. Also because the opposition does not necessarily have that much control over the crowd at the moment. There are radicals in the main square. Which are essentially posed not to give up until the president is resigned. Thats the problem because the opposition is becoming a lot more radical. They burn all the bridges with the government to find a resolution. Well, the bridge is still there. The problem is that we have desperate groups in the protesters and elsewhere in ukraine which are not necessarily linked to the opposition leaders. Should the opposition leaders be able to establish the link between the protesters and themselves, there would be obvious a good background for negotiations. What do you make of the new start, the Foreign Ministers meeting being postponed, do you think the sanctions will be imposed by the eu and potentially by the u. S. . Well, if there is a time that sanctions could be imposed, it is right now. It is not surprising that the meeting was postponed if we dont see it canceled later on today. What form would the sanctions taking . Many in the u. S. As well as in the eu understand that a blanket sanction wouldnt do much good. It is not likely to limit the sanctions. Im trying to understand just how popular this uprising is, if we can call it that. How much backing does the opposition really have . It seems to me as though large parts of the country and the capital are still support iing yanakovic. Right. There is a section of society that supports yanukovych. On the other hand, we have a Large Population that does not support that. Its tough to find the right terminology for on this. Is it a civil war . Is it clashes . I would probably describe it as civil unrest rather than a civil war. How long before it mernls into a civil war . Of course, the crackdown of the Security Forces could work and compromises could still be found. All right. Thank you so much for your time. Up next, facebook slashes out, spending 6 billion on a mobile messaging firm whatsapp. Is it worth the money . Details, coming up next. Welcome back to the show. Facebook is buying whatsapp for 16 billion. The deal includes 3 billion in restricted stock for what founders and employees got back over four years. This is facebooks largest acquisition. It lets people chat with their smartphone contacts and send text messages, phone and video over the webb. Whatsapp is free for the first year and only 1 a year after that. Facebook may have targeted whatsapp for its key audience, teenagers and young adults. Facebook shares in frankfurt are coming under selling pressure down by 2. 6 . Marine time, blackberry rose 6 after hours on speculation it could spin off its mess aenger service in germany off by almost 6 . What do the analysts think . Analyst say when you look at how many active users whatsapp has, the deal is not so expensive. It equates to 42 per monthly user which compares favorably to other firms like facebook and twitter. There are significant opportunities to grow revenues in areas like games, stickers, mobile payments and the whatsapp could achieve up to 2 billion in revenue. Ubs, meanwhile, says third Party Messaging Applications like whatsapp pose a threat to facebooks approach. Ubs says whatsapp is a growth and could approach revenues over 11 billion plus. Many, though, have thought that the 16 billion price tag, what else could you buy for that amount . If youre looking for something in retail, how about victorias secret . On our l brands, its worth about that if you throw in the 3 billion in restricted stock, you could afford gap or macys. You could also buy beam for over 13. 7 billion. If you want to keep it at tech, what about sandisk . Some interesting choices there. Weve just received view that the presidency defended the Central Bank Governor here. Cnbc africa Group President on, we spoke to the president s special adviser of media and publicity. He told us that the presidency has received some report from the Financial Report and console and other investigating bodies which revealed that the tenure has been characterized by various acts of recklessness and misconduct. He also said he has been investigating the governor since 2013 and now has evidence to suspend him from office. In the meantime, hes suspected to happened over the most Senior Deputy governor to evan. I tried to get that out of him. What he did say was they have sufficient evidence to show the governor has not been a transparent one and he has broken a couple of rules. So they are saying this is not political and that he has the tenure has not been a transparent one. What will his legacy be . On a whole, hes going to be looking at this. He has many supporters, many people, analysts served outside the country believe that he has done a good job. He did comment to them, he came up bank and industry. We did have some banks about to fail in 2009, 2010. He did comment, pump in a lot of money and the financial distance. It depend on what point of view if you want to take it from. I do think perhaps that is the view that many will hold for now. Esther, thank you so much for your assessment of this very important story this morning and, of course, cnbc africa breaking this for you. Esther from cnbc africa. Meantime, shares of Tokyo Electric Power are under water again. The fukushima plant says 100 tonnes of contaminated water has leaked out of the plant. This is the latest in a string of mishaps at the Fukushima Daiichi plant which has seen a huge build up of radioactive water. Shares of thai Property Developer sci Asset Management continue to slide after a 5 drop yesterday. Its 60 owned by the Prime Ministers family. Protesters are rallying to disrupt operations. Relative calm has returned to the streets as Thai Police Say there are no active plans to clear up protest sites. And expresso is taking a bigger shot at the u. S. Market. Nestle is famous for its sxreto machines. But the firm is launching a new machine that makes a larger cup of coffee for the u. S. Market. We will be speaking to the ceo of nespresso later on. We want to know from you, how do you take your coffee in the morning . I dont know about you, but i quite like a good cappuccino with frothy milk. If you want to join the conversation here, get in touch with us by email, worldwide cnbc. Com, cnbcwex. Still to come on the show, on the back of a tax impairment charge, are there blue skies ahead . Well get the outlook from air france after the break. Investors get the weekly data out of china and europe push the market into the red across the board after more hawkish hints against the fed. The euro is lower against the dollar after a pour round of numbers out of france. Emerging market currency upper pressure again as the situation in ukraine intensifies. Eu finance ministers or Foreign Ministers, rather, reportedly canceled their meeting with you auto cranes president over security concerns. And facebook slashes the cash, spending 16 billion on mobile messaging firm whatsapp. Shares trade lower in frankfurt. Youre looking at live pictures unfolding on the situation in ukraine. Well keep you up to date with the latest developments on the show. Well cross over live to moscow later on this morning. We know a truce was negotiated overnight. But the latest were hearing, we heard gunshots on the ground in kiev. That means the truce didnt last very long. We are seeing a lot of red across the board. The ftse 100 off by 0. 5 . The xetra dax seeing even bigger gains, down by 1. 2 . Really hit by triple whammy. We got chinese pmi numbers, the flash pmi at a sevenmonth low. Weve got hawkish fed minutes and on top of that, weve got european pmi numbers, they were weak, especially for france. Lets take a look at the france market. The cac 40 is off by 0. 6 . Moving on to the bond markets, we are seeing a yield for the treasuries, picking up slightly yesterday at 2. 711 is . They were as high at 2. 73 on the back of the fed minutes. Tenyear gilt yield at 2. 72 . A tenyear italian yield still hovering at those lows at 8711 . Weve got dollar weakness coming into the market, back below that 102 level. 101. 80. Euro dollar, got hit by those french pmi numbers, falling to a session low and it is just hovering around that 1. 37 level and sterling dollar is at 1. 6650, down by 0. 2 . Lets get a look at the european earnings picture now. Stephane joins us now from paris with the latest. Hey, carolin. Nearly 600 Million Euros in 2012, the growth operating profits for acore rose by 2 . The new ceo is confident about the year to come, although it declined to give proper guidance. No, i wont give you my i will share with you my guidance. We should be able to get stronger results, margins and revenues for the year ahead. Were just cautious. We are doing very well with the notable exception of china, which is still suffering. Were rebounding nicely in australia. Were having Great Results in south america. And very comfortable results in the middle east. So, no, in terms of the emerging markets, yeah, we have a currency, in fact. But in terms of operations on the ground, were very comfortable. And the lack of precise guidance