Early numbers from shoppers indicate they did not spend as much as they did last year. Welcome to the show. Just getting some eurozone pmi data out. This the second reading out for november. The wide numbers come in at 50. 1, previous month was 50. 6. The forecast was 50. 4. Its come in below forecast. This follows the individual readings out from france and germany. Germany the headline number coming out at 49. 5, retraction territory. The lowest reading for germany in the last 15 months. The eurozone wide number coming in at 50. 1. The euro dollar at 124. 55. Italys final Third Quarter came in at negative 0. 1 . Contraction in growth for the Third Quarter. Italy has shrunk or stagnated for the last 13 consecutive quarters. Fragile recovery thus far for italy. Joining us know is the chief Investment Officer at tatan investment. The eurozone number below expectations. The german number coming in with retraction. Is that a surprise . That is a bit of a surprise. I would have thought after what we heard eventually about Business Sentiment that number would be better. The only positive i can see its further pressure to the drage do whats necessary. Do you think its sufficient . We have not heard much from the german government, and i think that will allow drage to do more, maybe there are various ways they can act. Is this how the market will perceive negative data coming out of the eurozone . Is bad news actually good news, because the ecb has no choice but to unveil full blown quantitative easing . It depends. If its just not terrible, but bad enough to keep the pressure up, the market should see that as good news. If its too bad, then its just bad news. Similar to what happened in the u. S. Im not sure it was all that bad data, youre referring to the sales figures from last friday . Just in number. Weak data out of the u. S. The qe would stay in place for a while. Of course. Thats strategy in place for the market. Another story is in the commodity space. Brent trading below 70 a barrel, a fresh 4 1 2 year low, wti is at the lowest level in five years. The stock weighing on the oil and gas sector. In the u. S. , the S P Energy Sector is in bear market territory, down more than 20 from its record high in june. Have to get your reaction to the move that were seeing not only in oil but in Energy Stocks. Can the market move higher if Energy Stocks continue to underperform . Yes, theres way too Much Negative news on the oil price fall. Just because a certain price falls doesnt mean bad news. For us, its good news, unless it gets into an uncontrolled fall. They can look through it, see its something between the saudi arabia and the u. S. , u. S. And russia, it will end eventually, and oil prices at this level are a great stimulus. We were talking the last month or two whether the Oil Price Decline was good or bad for markets. Surely this big reaction off the back of opecs meeting confirms the oil price is weak because of supply, not weak demand. Thats what we see and thats why theres no shift. Because the Saudi Arabians are pointing the finger at the u. S. Saying you change something if you do not like the oil price. We are content with it. At what point does the price war become unmanageable for Oil Refineries and explorers . At some point theres a concern for these companies that rely on oil Service Revenue . Lets face it. Theres flexibility on the demand side. Once the Oil Price Drops, demand picks up. I dont think this price is flawless. Even though we are seeing weakening growth in asia . Specifically china . I dont think were seeing weakening growth enough to warrant a drop in oil demand. We will continue our conversation in a moment. Now, taking a look at the markets, willfred, you have a look at whats happening in oil and the equity space, and we will focus on the bond yields. Thank you very much for that. As you can see, quite a lot of red behind me so far today. We had a strong week in europe. Profit taking off that end of the month and going into europe. And weak sentiment coming into equity markets and weighing on Energy Stocks. The stoxx 600 down the better of 1 . The stoxx 50 down 1. 1 . Lets look at the individual markets. Profit taking across the board, ftse 100 down 1 . An energyheavy index. The dax was strong last week. Up 6 . Had 11 Straight Days of gains. Down 0. . France down 1. 2. Italy down 1. 5 . Lets look at bonds. Well dwell on bonds for a second. We had significant yield compression over the course of the last month and last week. The italian tenyear hovering around 2 . If you held that during november you would have made 13 of gains as bond prices rose and yields fell. The uk just below 2 . Germany, 0. 69 . We were all talking about it pushing the 0. 8 handle for a long time. Its gone through that and through 0. 7 . Despite very different sets of circumstances in the u. S. S, we have seen yield compression there as well. To a lesser extent, but yield compression nonetheless. Lets look now at some individual at the euro, basically flat, 124. 50, but in general a stronger u. S. Dollar environment despite the move in the yen which was weaker in earlier trade. The dollar has softened against the yen after moodys downgraded japan from a1 to aa3. The aussie dollar very weak over the last trading session. Weak chinese data this morning, that never bodes well for the aussie dollar. The u. S. Dollar strengthening 4 against the ruble. The ruble is down some almost 60 over the last 12 months. Very, very weak today, influenced by the weaker oil price. Lufthansa is flat, but up to 150,000 passengers are likely to be affected by the ninth strike at lufthansa. Almost half of the Airlines Flights for monday and tuesday have been canceled. Flat so far today. E. On up 4. 2 . The company says it wants to spin off fossil fuel and Nuclear Generation company into another company and focus on renewables. And Balfour Beatty is up. The Construction Company is likely to be split. John lang says the deal will be funded with a share issuance. Altice up around 5 . It agreed to buy portuguese assets of Telecoms Group oy in a 7. 4 euro billion dollar deal. Here is more on the deal. This is not listed in paris but its controlled by an israeli billionaire. The company was not known in france, even though it was owned by a cable company, but its now well known since it bought the former telecommunity. Over the weekend altice confirmed its ambitions to become one of the Largest Telecom players in europe with this acquisition in portugal. They will pay 7. 4 euros to buy pt portugal from a Brazilian Company it will finance this acquisition mostly via an increase in debt. Thats the problem. Even if the Company Becomes a major player in europe t has a huge debt level. It paid 13. 4 billion euros, 7. 4 billion euros in europe, and over the past year, the company spent 35 billion to make acquisitions in france, europe and the caribbean. Thats the problem from the market point of view. The company has a huge debt level in april it was able to raise 12 billion euros, but until which point it will get the support from the market, thats the question. Even if the Market Reaction today is widely positive after the announcement. Thank you very much. Now our focus turns to asia. Moodys has downgraded japan to an a1 rating from aa3 and put the outlook at stable. The Ratings Agency says the cut is down to uncertainty about japans ability to cut fiscal defic deficit. In terms of market impact, the end hit a sevenyear low against the dollar on the downgrade and has recovered in trading. Lets go and look at the broader Market Reaction to that downgrade. Thanks. This happened after the japanese markets closed. You are right to highlight the transmission mechanism is in the currency markets. They are the first to be impacted by this sovereign downgrade. We expected this to happen. Remember, Fiscal Consolidation is on the back burner by deferring the sales tax hike, that was supposed to happen in october, the 15th of october next year, 2015, i should say. Also the distinct possibility we could see increased stimulus spend big ting by the governmen. Thats why moodys pulled the trigger on this downgrade. Initial reaction for the yen was for it to weaken further, to fresh sevenyear lows before rebounding against the u. S. Dollar. Well have to wait and see for tomorrow to see how the markets and equities will take that downgrade. Elsewhere, very rough day for our markets given the double whammy of the fairly soft Manufacturing Activity data that we got on the official level and from private forecasters out of china and the capitulation in the price of oil hitting index heavyweight oil stocks in this region. Thank you very much. Lets get an Expert Opinion on that downgrade on japan. The fears over the future of japans economy continue to grow. Why would anyone get bullish on japan right now . I think with the reforms that the government is introducing, there is a Brighter Future for japan going forward. This downgrade was a bit overdue when you think about it. Japan debt was never big issue because it was domestically owned. With the latest announcement they said they want all their domestic funds to start buying equities and perhaps foreign assets. Therefore the rating agencies should be downgrading them. Moodys saying the main reason was heightened uncertainty over achievability of the fiscal deficit reduction goals. A little bit overdue. I suppose the bigger risk, yes, shortterm spending is good. Push equities higher. Is there a point where investors, domestic investors will get terrified that the government cant continue to meet its debts . I think where we are at the moment, thats a good, fair bid away. There is, when you have that sort of government debt, that concern always somewhere in the future. But at the moment that population is still so driven into debt or into holding fixed interests for pension reasons i dont see that happening any time soon. Lothar, thank you very much. Lothar mentel. Coming up, u. S. Retailers may not be quite in the black after thanksgiving, but will cybermonday provide some Holiday Cheer . Were in ohio seeing how one u. S. Company is preparing for sales. And was n behind the major hack on Sony Pictures . We tell you why one film in particular could have rile the the secretive nation into action. And were speaking to one internet startup hoping to be the expedia of central europe. Thats coming up. Hungarys Economic Future is on stable ground according to fits. Upside and down side rights are balanced and a drop in Unemployment Rate will spur consumption in 2015. Reporter good morning. Yes. Beautiful budapest, a bit colder, i might add, doesnt matter. Listen, look what youre looking at back here. This is a castle. Used to belong to the hungarian king. Used to live in it before the Ottoman Empire took over. And youre looking at what used to be buddha and we are standing on what used to be pest, before they put it together to become budapest. Lets look at some of the Startup Companies that have been operating. We have been talking about taxation and stringent government measures put in place over the last couple of years. Lots of taxes put in place on the banking sector, and also the neighbor, ukraine. So there are a lot of issues with regards they should be siding with russia or building closer ties to the likes of germany and europe. So, what does it feel like to operate in this environment . Joseph is the ceo of zelest. You are an Online Booking type company. Tell me about your company. Yeah. My company is a travel agency, but we focus on the small apartment flats and small accommodation possibilities because we focus on the domestic in poland, ukraine and slovakia and croatia. Youre a relatively new company. Whats it been like in this environment thats been quite tough to operate in . Whats it like to start the company . What are you finding now . In my opinion, every country is starting a new company. Not the country type, but starting a new company. In my opinion, we started in 2000 this company. This is a very young company. And we are building up this company the last five years. This was a typical Startup Company because we starting with two other people, and at this moment we have 80 people. What are you finding with funding environment . Funding environment, in my opinion, is very good. The value is another dotcom which is popular in hungary. And locally, we focus on local inventories which is growing double more. 10 this year, this is a good starting point for accommodation providers. What would you like to see from the government to support some Smaller Companies like your own . A little bit less regulation. This is the most important thing for the Startup Company. The regulation side is very, very heavy for the Small Company and thinkimaking it free is goo opportunity for growing faster and faster. And i noticed vitamin c was discovered by a hungarian way back when. Yes. Thank you very much. Thank you very much. The ceo of szallas. I will be legging it off to talk to the finance minister here this afternoon, the taxation minister. Well be back on closing bell with that interview. Thank you for that interview and the fun facts about budapest and hungary. Now, retail is the big story. Numbers are in for the biggest shopping event of the year. Many consumers say they are in the better Financial Condition this Holiday Season. But the sales figures may make you think otherwise. Americans are spending less and taking a different approach to shopping. Kristin dahlgren reports from new york. Reporter this years black friday had all the frenzy and fighting weve come to expect. But fewer americans were out shopping this weekend in stores and online. According to the National Retail fediation, overall shopper traffic was down from thanksgiving through today. 134 million shoppers. Less than the 141 million last year. Experts say that might be a good sign for consumers. I think the consumer feels they have more choice when they want to shop and when deals are available to them. Reporter despite some stores being open at 6 00 a. M. On thanksgiving, turkey day turnout was flat. Black friday shopping brought in 87 million in stores and online. Shoppers are shelling out less. 381 over the Holiday Weekend, compared to 407 last year. Total spending for the weekend is expected to be almost 7 billion less. Millennial are spending this year. We ended up buying a coat. Another pair of jeans. A sweater. Reporter and social media is already abuzz with cybermonday deals. 52 of consumers expected to shop on cybermonday. Amazon is offering new discounts every ten minutes. The game plan is to buy everything we saw here today online and have it shipped free. Reporter for those who feel like theyre starting too late its not over until its over. Retailers will be there and available for deals. Reporter in a shopping marathon that it seems is just getting started. Kristin dahlgren, nbc news, new york. We want to hear from you on this. Are you over sales shopping or were you out spending this weekend . Let us know. Joins conversation on worldwide exchange. Email us, or tweet us. Gentlemen, have you been shopping over the weekend . I didnt realize that black friday is not just a u. S. Based phenomenon. I have to say this on my part, all the talk of shopping put me off this idea, and i will probably want to do it next weekend when theres no shops on. Ifrnl it felt like this black friday phenomenon was spilling over to the uk. When i checked with my friends in germany and denmark t had not arrived there. They said black what . We have cybermonday. But the initial figures, perhaps more for the main high Street Stores on friday itself werent that positive. The weekend as a whole, and they dragged out when the discounts apply. We dont have all those numbers in yet. Exactly. We saw that last year. Theres talk about figures being less good. Then all of a sudden the online retailers come in. They seem to be in a different reporting cycle. It all goes up. I wouldnt be surprised if the weekend, together with cybermonday today, turns out to be way better than last year. I would be very surprised. As we head into the christmas heard. Are you positive on the u. S. Consumer . Very positive. Prices at pumps have dropped 30 . Thats real money in the u. S. Consumers pocket. They like to spend that. Lothar, thank you for joining us today. Coming up on the show, as clashes with pro democracy protesters in hong kong flair up again, we speak to one british mp banned from the territory by the Chinese Government. Stay tuned. Thats coming up next. Crude continues its selloff with wti hitting a fiveyear low. The move weighing on commodity stocks and sending the russian ruble to below 50. Moodys downgrades japans credit sending the yen on a roller coaster ride. And altice continues its shopping spree snatching up brazils oi. And u. S. Shoppers went to and from the mall over the Holiday Weekend, but early numbers indicate they did not spend as much as last year. Well discuss that. Well have a look at sterling whilst we await pmi data. The october reading had been 53. 2. W