And margin calls are triggered over secession plans in the country. And japans Prime Minister hailed this weekends vote as an indication for economics. And paris taxi drivers stage a citywide protest against uber. Youre watching worldwide exchange, bringing you Business News from around the globe. Lets get straight to our top story this morning. The ongoing hostage situation unfolding in sydney. These pictures recorded earlier show armed officers outside a cafe in the Business District. A lone gunman is holding an undisclosed number of people but local media says about a dozen hostages are held captive. Within the last few hours, the number of people seen running out of the building. Earlier the hostages were also seen holding a flag against the shop window. Tony abbott said the governments allegations are known but well see if this is politically driven. This is a very disturbing incident. And i can understand the concerns and anxieties of the australian people at a time like this. Our thoughts and prayers above all go out to the individuals who are caught up in this. I can think of almost nothing more distressing or terrifying than to be caught up in such a situation. And our hearts go out to those people. Lets have a look at the Australian Market so far today. It is not reacting too severely to the news. Also, we have the news out earlier today of a revised forecast for the size of the budget deficit, which is also affecting things in Australian Markets today. Do head to cnbc. Com for a live look at events in sydney. Cnbc. Com. Well have a look at the markets now. Do down 0. 64 . We have also had revised forecast for the budget deficit in australia, the 2006 budget is revised to 31 billion aussie dollars. Nevertheless, the market is not reacting too significantly to todays news. Japans Prime Minister securitys landslide victory declaring a victory for abenomics. They look to strengthen their supermajority by taking 291 of the 475 seats in the lower house of parliament. Coalition party kometto secured the win by 35 seats while the rival Japan Communist Party took fewer seats. Translator my abenomics policies are only halfway done, but we move aid way from the dark days two or three years action. Im aware that people are not feeling the effects. Joining us now is derek, the head of global cops Ovation Research at bank of japan mitsubishi. Derek, well talk about the japanese result. The crucial question from my point of view is does this now allow him to focus, not just on the first two hours of the reform project, but a third hour for structural reform . Yes. The idea of the snap election is its a starting point to give him a fresh fouryear period. So he doesnt have to go back to the people until 2018. So he can focus more significantly on those Structural Reforms. I think theres the element of uncertainty in terms of what the focus will be. Of course, theres the constitutional reform and the right for japan in terms of selfdefense. Also the Nuclear Story and what Prime Minister abe wants to do. The markets will watch closely going forward. Is it going to be about structural reform to boost the supply side of the economy or is he going to focus more on the other aspects . And if that is what happens, the markets could become disapinted in regards to the prospects for reform being speeded up. Of course, part of abenomics is weakening the yen trading at a sevenyear low against the u. S. Dollar. They say this is good for multinationals that do business in japan, but doesnt that hurt japanese consumer who is have to deal with higher import prices . For example, beef prices are up 5 over the past one year. Couldnt that perhaps weigh on domestic consumption . Well, it certainly is a negative. I think obviously we have to take into context whats happening in terms of the commodity space n particular. We are into a disinflation environment, so that helps on the other side. I think you have to incorporate that into judging the negative impact. I think also, not many people focus on this. You have to remember that japan the largest creditor country in the world from the International Investment position. Its Assets Abroad are much, much larger than the liabilities of japan. So in that sense, the overall boost from a weakening currency is very, very positive on the net International Investment position. And thats a positive that is sometimes forgot. Lets just talk about this politically, if he does stay in power for the full four years, hell be japans longest serving Prime Minister in four decades, which is astonishing on the back of two election victories. No, it certainly helps in terms of the prospects for progress going forward. Crucially, hes really going to tackle the fiscal deficit and theres been very little on that so far. Its all been about fiscal stimulus and thats where problems could lie in the future. Foreign investors dont believe hes tackling the fiscal deficit down than what the doj is doing. Japan is not in an annual agreement, but the weaker yen from the last few weeks and the reinforced position of abenomics, what does this mean for neighbors in japan . The liquidity is positive and the capital will continue to leave japan as the Economic Outlook is tough. It will signal that capital is leaving. The economic effect will be quite different. So liquidity may go to asian markets but trade with japan is going to be harder and harder. Enough on japan, thank you, derek. Well stick with jason to talk more about broader asia now to focus on thailand where stocks have plunged today with s p trading down by more than 8 earlier in trade. Its recovered now to 4 . Jason, what are you hearing for the many reasons for the sharp declines . This is very much energy related. As we pass through lunchtime, a few seem to come out in terms of recession. The market did react to those. There was a lot of futurerelated selling. But then we had no facts come out and the market has bounced a little bit. Isnt this a delayed move in Energy Stocks . We have been seeing oil prices depreciate since june of 2014. Why are we seeing such a big move in Energy Stocks today in the thailand index . The funny thing about thailand is as a country its a huge beneficiary of oil prices. In asia its one of the biggest net oil importers. Economically, this should be a big positive. But for the thai index, quite a portion of it is made up of energy companies. So theres this twoway pull. 10 of the waiting is energy. Lets touch on the importance of the royal family, particularly in the point where we are still in the extended military government following the military coup. Has thai made progress . Whats the outlook . Since may we have seen some stability. Local investors until now responded positively to that stability. We saw the likelihood of Infrastructure Projects getting off the ground. Things settled down in bangkok in terms of the protests. The thai market until today was an outperformer in the region. Things were looking better. The trouble is, as things go on, the market will be subject to moving because of room. Thank you, jason. For now well return to the top story this morning, the hostage situation in sydney. Matt taylor is joining us with the latest from sydney. Matt . Reporter thank you very much, will. The latest is five people have managed to escape the lint cafe in sydney. The movements out of that cafe dramatically captured by television cameras. Three earlier in the day, three men which included two patrons and one staffer. And then about an hour after that, we saw another two Staff Members emerge from that cafe. We do know now that the hostage taker is known to police, they have managed to identify who this person is, but they are not revealing any more information to us. And they are also not revealing how many other hostages remain inside the cafe at this point in time. They have also refused to clarify those five that have escaped, whether or not they were released by the hostage taker or whether or not they managed to escape and flee the cafe by themselves. Take a listen to some of what the Deputy New South Wales Police commissioner said a short time ago about the ongoing situation. We have access to all the new south well as police force, and we also have access and Partner Agencies working with us for anything that we might need so that we can get the best resolution. The deputy Police Commissioner there. We also know negotiations between authorities and the hostage taker are underway. Just what hes been requesting of the authorities, they are not commenting, but we do know a number of hostages from inside the cafe have been contacting local Media Outlets and making comments on social media as well saying that the hostage taker is demanding that an isil flag be brought to the premesis and that he has a phone call with the australian Prime Minister, tony abbott. Hes also allegedly said that he has two explosive devices inside that cafe. And that there are two other explosive devices elsewhere around sydney. As you can imagine, the center of sydney is cleared out with people urged to avoid the city. A number of traffic routes into the city have been disrupted as well to prevent people from making their way into the city. And we will be getting a briefing in about five minutes or so. The New South WalesPolice Commissioner and the New South Wales premier will be updating us exactly on whats going on. Well bring you those comments when the Media Conference is due to kick off in the next five minutes or so. Matt taylor, thank you for developing us on that story out of australia. Appreciate it. And well focus on europe as we get the headlines. Ecb members against the low Interest Rates have had an effect and the negative deposit rate is the lowest possible rate. He also sees no prospect for more Interest Rate moves and the ecbs goal is not to have unified Interest Rates across the eurozones. He also said its not the goal of the ecb to have uniform Interest Rates in europe. So focus on how the ecb will revive the european economy, nowotny says theres been some effect on the low Interest Rates but wont have much in the future. Wilfred . Thank you for that, seema. We have a bit of strength in european markets today coming during the session. We started flat and are now at half a percent. What is the reason . Well, possibly some of the comments out of mr. Nowotny that seema just brought you, but also the fact that last year was negative. Its the worst 2014 look at the markets. I have never seen it so similar, 0. 60 across the board for the four major indices in europe thus far today. Last week huge negativity based really around the oil price. And that affected risk assets across the board, particularly Energy Stocks. Today, a bounceback. That could be part of the reason for the strength weve had. Wti still below 60. 58. 6. Up 1. 4 today. Brent is just above 60 and 63, up 1. 84 . Thats a look at bonds. We have significant yield compression in the u. S. The back end of last week and early today. 2. 12 . Of course, thats just the risk of sentiment we have had leading people to buy into bonds. Last week as i said affected really by Energy Prices. This week focused again on the fed meeting tuesday and wednesday. Will janet yellin be dubbish, thats what the bond market is suggesting. We have had yield compression in europe for an additional reason, thats the expectation of more easing at the next meeting of the ecb. 0. 96 to tell the story there. And coming off the fiveyear highs on monday against the broader index. Today bouncing back a bit against the euro, 20 basis points, 1. 2434. Its been giving up ground against the yen to cross the 121 handle at the beginning of last week. Now back to 118. 6. Not so much based around the election but coming off the highs as i said last week that it hit. The aussie dollar is flat despite a worsening trade deficit numbers and indeed the situation in sydney. What is coming up, seema . Coming up on the show, well focus on uber taxi drivers who are protesting against uber. Well speak to the rival of uber in 30 minutes time. And u. S. Shale boom project in jeopardy . Well tell you all the e the tails. And sony scrambles to play damage control demanding news outlets stop publishing leaked emails. Thats coming up next. And some news to bring you, a private equity group is set to buy petsmart for 8. 7 billion following pressure from and activist investor pushing for a sale since july. The 83 per share deal marks the largest buyout this year, but thats not it. Family dollar is set to delay a vote approving a merger with dollar tree according to a report in the new york post. The vote was originally scheduled for december 23rd to give rival Dollar General more time to improve its counter offer. Dollar tree is currently offering 74. 50 per share while Dollar General is offering 80 a share. Lets focus in on some of todays individual movers. Bt is up 1 and is expected to announce a takeover deal with one of the uks biggest mobile phone companies as early as today according to a report by the sunday times. They have said to have been working out a deal for a 10 billion acquisition of ee or 02. H m is beating expectations up half a percent. The swedish fashion giant said sales came in at just over 5. 6 billion. Meanwhile, technip dropped its bid for ccg after talks broke down on sunday recovering off 7. 63 off the back of the news. Cgg said none of the values were creating positive news for the company. Now stephan is here with more. Reporter cgg is a small unit that employees 40 engineers. Technik didnt say how much they would play exactly but the acquisition would only cost a few thousands or millions, nothing about the plan to buy the rival cgg. Technip is based in frankfurt specializing in polyester processing. They claim the acquisition to enhappens their position as a Technology Provider to the petrol industry and will incrude revenue from that segment of business. Technip also decided over the weekend to drop the plan to buy cgg, another french Oil Services Group after the first approach was rejected. That was only three weeks ago. Cgg at the time considered the offer too low despite the 25 premium that technip was offering on the last previous days price. They could have a potential alliance after the takeover fail. After this announcement this morning, they have raised their recommendation for technip to neutral to increase its price target for the stock to 48 euros up from 43 previously. Over to you. Stephan, thank you very much for that now. Well bring you a live Police Press Conference from sydney relating to the hostage situation there. Lets listen in. If you work in this exclusion zone, ill ask you to work from home tomorrow. A map of the zone will be provided to the area. When you go about tomorrow morning as you would, theres a couple of changes in the city. They will continue to be an exclusion zone around martin place. So if you work in this exclusion zone, i ask you to work from home tomorrow. A map of the zone will be provided to the media and can be found on the government website, newsouthwales. Gov. Look for updates on that. The transport network will operate largely as you would expect. But again, just to make sure, check the transport New South Wales website to get full details the on your journey. Ultimately, we are doing all we can in these difficult circumstances. And we will get through it. But ill hand it across to the commissioner to make a few other comments. Thank you, premier. Good evening, ladies and gentlemen. Can i start by saying our plan and our only goal for tonight and for as long as it takes is to get those people who are currently caught in that building out of there safely. That remains to be our number one priority and nothing will change. Im sure there are many questions that you might have for us, and im not going to necessarily be in a position to give you that information because i will not be going into the tactics or the strategies that were employing, suffice to say that we have large numbers of police. They are in contact and were working to resolve this just as quickly as we possibly can. Having said that, i, too, want to thank the community, particularly those people who are in the city today. You acted in a way that made it a lot easier than it could have been. For that i want to thank you. Theres much work to be done and much more to be done over the coming hours im sure. But for those that have loved one that is may be caught up in this, for those that may be in that particular building, rest assured, we are doing all we can to set you free. We will be looking after your safety as our number one priority. And im happy to go to questions. Thank you. Reporter the lights have gone off in the cafe, have you switched them off . Im not certain about the tactics at this stage, janet, but certainly when the time is right we can talk about those things. Whats happening inside those premises are thing that is will need to be resolved amongst negotiators. We have the best negotiators in the world on the job right now. And so at this stage, rather than secondguess or give them anything that might cause some grief for those people that are caught in there, were not in a position to talk any further about that either. Reporter what do you know about the condition of the hostages inside . I understand nobody is injured. And for that, we are grateful. Reporter the hostages th