DEBORAH MARCHINI, CNN ANCHOR: Well, the European equity markets are shrugging off what happened on Wall Street yesterday and moving a little bit higher.</s>DAVID HAFFENREFFER, CNN ANCHOR: We do have "Financial Times" market columnist George Graham joining us this morning with an update from the "FT"'s London newsroom. Good Wednesday to you. What's happening in the marketplace today?</s>GEORGE GRAHAM, MARKETS COLUMNIST, "FINANCIAL TIMES": Well, we've got a little bit of excitement in a number of areas. Unilever seems to be getting a lot of attention; it's reporting first-quarter results this morning, but it's also got the Bestfoods bid on the table at the moment.</s>MARCHINI: I gather the shares are higher?</s>GRAHAM: They're up about six percent, yes.</s>MARCHINI: OK. There's also a report...</s>GRAHAM: First-quarter earnings down.</s>MARCHINI: OK. There also was a report of course to the "FT" this morning on the prospect of United States joining in the intervention to prop up the beleaguered euro, and it's got the euro sticking at almost 91 cents this morning. What does the paper say?</s>GRAHAM: Well, the euro has obviously been very weak for quite awhile now. One of the factors behind the rise this morning is that Lionel Jospin, prime minister of France, which takes over the presidency of the European Union in the second half of this year, is promising much greater action from the E.U. 11 to help the currency, just attention to the currency's strength.</s>HAFFENREFFER: All right, George Graham of the "Financial Times" joining us this morning from London. Thanks very much for the insights.</s>MARCHINI: Thanks, indeed.
'Financial Times': France, Set to Take E.U. Presidency, Promises Greater Attention to Euro Strength