Profits sending shares to the top of the french markets. And continental raises its out look. A double digit jump in profits. Well be speaking to the group ceo in the next hour. Youre watching Worldwide Exchange bringing you Business News from around the globe. Now welcome to the show. We just got some breaking data on italian gdp. Its come in as expected for the quarter. For the year of 2014 for the final quarter at 0 for the full year minus. 5 . It was expected at. 3 . So the full year figure just below expectations. A contraction of half a percent. You can see the euro is down three tenths of a percent today but thats come over the last two trading sessions and ahead of the break. Theyre saying they anticipate we should be looking at growth later on this year for italy. There could be slight growth during the first three month of the year instead but italy is one of the interesting ones in terms of potential for surprise. But also so crucial because of the size of the bond market. Well see forecast from a very important individual today. Exactly. Because its what weve all been waiting for. The date Mario Draghis qe program gets underway or we hear the date it will get underway later today. Its likely to come today or soon after. The new projections could also be very important today. Anetta has all the latest ahead of that release in a few hours time. Yes as you were saying the focal point will be what the ecb is going to say about greece and then of course we are talking about the staff rejections its key here what theyre going to say about 2017 because that brings us all the topic of quantitative easing and whether they might actually extend it beyond the originally planned data point of september 2016. So of course the market is hoping for loads of details that mario draghi should deliver on the qe program but the odds are also high that they wont give us as much detail as for example fed gave to the markets when it comes to timing what theyre going to buy, which kind of duration he will most likely not reveal all the details to the public. Also interesting will be the Inflation Expectation for this year which of course gives them the reason to implemented the huge qe program because inflation eck Inflation Expectations have redeteriorated. But we should also talk about an upside revision of Growth Expectation for the euro zone mainly because the lower euro is helping exports from the euro zone to the rest of the world. Its helping countries like italy, spain, cyprus here and also ireland which is really booming. So you see i think theres a lot to talk about here from the ecb when it comes to also positive news from the economy but let us also talk about the effects of qe. The potential effects. We actually have to decide those. They are signaling effects and we already have them just by the announcements but then also the effects of implementation and i yesterday spoke with the finance minister of cyprus who is presiding over an ailing economy after the bailout years ago and i had to ask him if its actually helping them. Take a listen to what he had to say. Im a strong supporter of this new policy of the ecb and i do believe it will help the euro zone as a whole and of course cyprus and the benefits will be multidimensional. It will be a stimulus for Economic Activity and it will at the sail time facilitate the reentry of countries like cyprus into the International Capital markets. So it makes our double objective of economic recovery and growth and also International Capital markets easier. This should be seen in conjunction to the difficult but necessary job were doing on the ground. I know theres a dilema regarding the qe policy. If it will be a disincentive for the continuation of economic reform structural changes. The answer and my answer and our governments answer is it will be a combination. We should continue to execute prudent fiscal polly. We shall continue with our agenda of structural reform but the ecb should essentially lend a land to this and thats the prescription of the qe and thats why i think its timely and important. We also think that qe will lift inflation back to levels we want to see. Well it will help. It will help. It will be a push in that direction. I would say that our efforts on the ground regarding economic reform structural changes and Fiscal Consolidation would be in jeopardy if the ecb did not utilize its full arsenal in this direction. Essentially fighting inflation and encourage Economic Activity so its definitely going to be a helping hand at a time when its most needed. But of course also on the agenda today will be greece. We have a very close geographical proximity to greece here in cyprus. Loads of greek journalists are here and want to know if theyll be more friendly to the country now as the new greek government agreed to undertake reforms but theres also the odds that the ecb is not believing in the credibility right now of what theyre hearing from greece. With that back to you. Thank you very much. Well see much more of you here throughout the show and also for our special rate Coverage Program coming up after this show. Joining us now here in the studio to continue our discussion is janet henry. Chief economist at hsbc. Good morning. Good morning. What are you anticipating to hear from the ecb today and more importantly how much of a reaction would you think it could have on markets, on the euro, on bonds. Overall i think the reactions are going to be pretty muted. This is going to be all about the details. Well be pouring over the detail of the growth and the inflation forecast. All the execution details regarding how theyre going to do the qe. Of course announcements on greece but ill be surprise first degree there are big market reactions in response to anything. What do you think theyll tell us . What are they going to be buying . How are they going to do the stimulus . We already know that the ecbs way of conducting the qe is going to be quite different from the other Central Banks that embarked on those programs. Were motte going to get the reverse auction process. A certain amount of discretion will be left to the national Central Banks in terms of how they conduct the purchases. It will have to be because theres no way that the ecb or national Central Banks can all buy the same maturities of every bond market given the limited amounts of supplies. Also what they will get across is they do intend to be flexible on this. We had comments that came out when he suggested they could revisit the benchmarks. They could consider a change in options of bonds they could buy because theres was a certain amount of concern that the ecb might not be able to deliver for any extended kind of period. Thats on the qe side and we might expect the ecb to be more guided than the fellow Central Banks at that front. What about staff projections . We get to hear about 2017 forecasts. Perhaps revisions to 2015 and 2016 as well. Youre right. Its quite interesting the way the ecb makes their forecast some of them are quite mechanical and also they tend to be a little bit out of date. So in december they were making a 2015 forecast based on an oil price of 85. These forecasts will be made on the oil prices it was two or three weeks ago. So it will have an assumption of 59 or 60. So the inflation number versus to come down quite a lot just on oil. Of course we also have a euro. Their assumptions are going to be about 114. Previously it was 125. So just the impact of lower oil and a much weaker euro should have a fairly big impact on their growth forecast for 2015. Will they be baking into those forecasts the effects that qe is going to have and will they have any implications how big of a impact theyre having to the changes on the forecast. Theyll say theyre incorporated but i dont think theyll spell out the exact mechanics mechanics. Most of us have a sense of skepticism. Most of us tend to agree the Exchange Rate depending on what other Central Banks are going to do will probably have the biggest impact on growth and inflation and theyll say the Exchange Rate impact thats already come through has had a Significant Impact on the growth forecast but as you say its the 2017 forecast that are most important. Do you think the ecb held off on quantitative easing knowing that greece negotiations were coming up . Do you think the time is too much and is it going to keep the market steady given the negotiations on going with greece. It may have come into their thinking. We know there was divergence on the council. They still felt embarking on government purchases is something you only do in the case of a last result. They felt a lot of the slow down was triggered by oil prices. And theyre going to feel vindicated. I think greece was a factor that may have played on some minds but for the most part its about price stability. The move in the euro in the last day or so and indeed the last week might suggest otherwise. Would you agree thats fair . Its moved very sharply as we come into this announcement. It seems to have stabilize to some degree. Whats happening in the u. S. Is just as important as whats happening in the euro zone. Maybe this is where the forecast could be very important. Its really about what they say about 2017 inflation. I imagine there will be a number sitting on the fence. It will be about 1. 6 or 1. 7. If its 2 or so that means there could be a chance the ecb stops early. If its less than 1. 5 that will reinforce that they wont be able to stop in 2016. They have to keep going. I think theyre going to be very measured in terms of what they project and probably the next move on euro dollar from here will be driven by the fed more than what the ecb is doing. Whether or not they keep patient in there. Yeah. So janet, thank you very much for being with us. Janet henry, chief european economist from hsbc. Now lets have a look at what european markets lets have a look at what european markets are doing. It was a strong finish in the last hour of yesterdays trade where we ended up gaining. 6 being been down. Thats because were getting closer to this ecb meeting and the euro did sell off in the opposite direction imlying its the Balance Sheet expansion of the ecb that drove markets up yesterday and the euro down. That sentiment is continued today. We have the stoxx 600 up. 3 . Lets see where that price action is coming. Its been spread across most of Continental Europe with the ftse 100 lagging a little bit. We have. 4 of gains for germany and france and italy is up. 35 . Lets look at bond rates. The u. S. Ten year has risen comfortably. It was only a brief flirtation when Janet Yellens testimony last week was interpreted as dovish but as we just heard the data coming out of the u. S. Continues to be positive. That pushed yields up 2. 12 . We have nonfarm payrolls to look at tomorrow. Most of the other action has been in the likes of italy, portugal and spain. 1. 4 on italy. Of course greece remains elevated at 9. 8 today. Lets look at four x. The euro has slid over the last week. Its below 111. 11045 and expectations of strong easing announcements coming today from the central bank. The broader u. S. Dollar had a nice rally in the last week. The broad index up 6 year to date. We paused for breath the last six weeks and in the last week the u. S. Dollar tested the 11 year highs it flirted with earlier in the year. Now lets look at commodity rates and we had a weak day for oil yesterday. Its bouncing back a bit today. Wti at 51. 8. Brent at 60. 8. Lets round things off in russia. At the moment its up. 2 but the russian market has halted trading of freshs metals this morning because its still being investigated and well update you as soon as trading resumes for those particular area of the market but the micex is up fractionally so far in todays show. Coming up here on the program wilfred, with all eyes on Mario Draghis press conference we discipher the language of central bankers. We see if theyre listening too much or too little to the policy makers. And which sector was a winner this season as we wrap up another quarter of numbers and banking on africas growth story. The continents largest lender. Well speak to them in a couple of minutes. You can find us all on there. Hi everybody. Welcome back. You are indeed. We got news through earlier. Talking about how trading is halted on parts of the Moscow Exchange. They halted their fx trade and were hearing via dow jones news writers that the Moscow Exchange is saying that fx trading is to restart at 1240 local time in moscow. Theyre starting currency trade at 1240. Precious Metals Market and talking about how cancellation of previous orders is available at 9 20 as well. Theres been some discussions this morning at moscow. Lets look at the biggest individual movers here in europe today. Continental is up 3. 23 . The german tie maker raised its Sales Guidance and hiked its dividend as it benefits from currency exchanges and the acquisition of the u. S. Rubber company. Now do stay tuned because the companys ceo will be joining us for a first on cnbc interview in around an hours time. Now thats just ahead of continental on the dax today. Its the top 3. 4 to the good after it proposed a dividend ahead of expectations. The german sportswear brand thaiks to Consumer Confidence. The other reason its doing well is louisa was spotted jogging in it yesterday. The lse is up. 3 . It reported a 19 rise in adjusted pretax profit after it returns to levels in 2014. Earlier cnbc spoke with the companys ceo that highlighted the benefits of expanding the tech sector in the u. K. Theres a Tech Revolution going on in the u. K. Its not just engineering or software. Its also medical and bio tech. We had the largest bio tech ipo in the world. Its starting to feed through as we have seen in terms of the u. K. Economic growth number which is is why the pipeline is extremely exciting. And carrefours turn around after a rise in profit in 2014. Lets get more news on that story from stefan live in paris. Good morning. The operating profit was in line with expectations and was boosted by the recovery of its french and european operations for france. It managed it in terms of the reduction plan. 1. 2 organic growth for france where its strategy attracted more clients to its stores. In the rest of europe theres the he cforecovery in spain and it improved in italy. All in all they boosted nearly 10 growth for operating profit in europe. Thats a sharp improvement. They also boosted a Strong Performance in latin america. 23 increase for the operating profit. However because of the negative impact from Exchange Rates, the actual growth was below 10 last year. In terms of outlook it will increase his Capital Expenditure this year to renovate and extend its exiting store. Especially in europe. Back to you. Thank you very much. Now shares in South AfricanLender Standard Bank are moving higher after the Group Reported a modest 1 rise of full year earnings and 12 rise in its dividend. London unit headline earnings rose by 20 as you can see the shares up very strongly. 5. 11 following strong gains up 27 . Im delighted to say that joining us is the ceo. Good morning to you. Thank you for joining us. The market taking the results very well and we can come to the details of that. I wanted to kick off with roe. Thats fallen. Maintaining your target of 15 to 18 . Why the fall . And why are you confident you can get it higher again . I think the fall is the continued operations. They in effect had a Material Impact on the profitability of the group but Going Forward the continuing operations as you correctly point out are up 20 . So the numerator in the roe calculation was negatively impacted by the performance of those operations. The denominator is negatively impacted because theres large amounts unleveraged held in the International Operations as well as the fact that were ruling out a major it Program Throughout the organization. Update us with where you are for the exit from the nonafrican business. When will you be clear of them . We are all but clear of them. We sold 60 of our Global Markets business outside africa to icbc. We now hold 40 of the entity called Standard Bank plc and that transaction has now closed. We are simply waiting for the payment of the Purchase Price there. So all the activity related to banking outside the continent is complete and we will be focussing our resources both human and capital on the african continent. Good morning. Its louisa. I was speaking to the ceo of eco bank also an african based lender just last week and im just wondering if you would mind characterizing the state of the African Banking sector at the moment. I was talking to him about how different it is from europe and whether were looking toward kind of an African Union in banking as we are in europe as well. I think the background to the structure of banking, the tapestry is determined by the sovereign issues. We have 52 african countries. Theyre all very very sovereign but theres a deep conversation happening on a free trade area that would include a billion people and would be quite large between the east africa union. Off the back of that you can invision more interplay between economies and banks. But as we speak, banking is