Part of ukraine that they can control. Finance ministers have put off any tough decisions until they meet next week in brussels. Chriss new government blamed for devastating the economy. Hans nichols caught up with responses finance minister. Click this is how europe involved. We always find the solutions sticks together in agreement. This is how europe evolves. History for the past 60 years or so. Did you raise financing at all . I was very emphatic, i said no. Greek greece seats seeks 8 million. A big loan of about 10 million euros. Policymakers see extra stimulus is counterproductive for now according to people familiar with the toss. Concern more stimulus a decline in the end. It is already dropped 21 from the bank of Japan Monetary easing almost two years ago. Shares of Credit Suisse rose the most two years today. A new step to boost capital. We did feel it was right to knowledge the impact on the earnings of that settlement. As a result, the executive board voluntarily took these reductions as compensation as acknowledgment of the impact the government had. Click for centralbank buses decision to examine capital bank said profits by about 3 . A rocket would elon musks spacex finally took off. A Technical Glitch had costs to attempts. Abandon its plan to recover the rocket booster aboard a ship. Thats the ukraine ceasefire it took all night the leader of germany and france a deal to stem the conflict in eastern ukraine. Even Vladimir Putin seems to be relieved after more than 18 hours of nonstop talks. It was not the best night of my life but a good morning because despite all the negotiations difficulties, we agreed on the same thing. Peter cook has been following the talks. This resolution for now, does it give the president some breathing room because the pressure to give ukraine weapons and fight against russia it is a safe bet that for the moment, the notion of sending the u. S. Arms in the ukraine is probably on hold. The only reaction from the white house, the u. S. Investor of the United Nations saying in an interview this morning that the ukraine agreement the u. S. Is hopeful about it but still the u. S. Wants to see this deal implemented, something that happened after last agreement in september. A healthy dose of skepticism in the United States. In the short term, i think it does for the moment bring the issue the post to our need rainy and probably puts it on the sideline for the moment your request particularly for the europe ends, sanctions were. That is right. There is still the prospect out there, betty, and further sanctions if the deal does go down in flames as the last one did. The president has made the case turning of the economic pressure, that has forced Vladimir Putin to go to the negotiating table. Not everyone agrees that is the case, but at the end of the day, it will determine whether the ceasefire holds. He held a News Conference where he spoke about sending a formal request to a military force against Islamic State militants. Exactly what is in the proposal and how will it play out . No huge surprises in the proposal. People on the republican and democratic side, not happy with every reaction of it. There is a threeyear time limit. No enduring offense of ground operations by u. S. Forces although special operations forces, those circumstances, the iraqi authorization, the first in 2002 gets revealed by this but the two best one authorization remains in place and there are no geographic limit on the president and the use of force against the Islamic State. In case its bills over and syria and iraq. The president talked about it ahead. We will continue to work closely with leaders of members of congress on both sides of the aisle. I believe this resolution can grow stronger with a thoughtful and dignified debate that this moment demands aired i am optimistic we can link strong, bipartisan support. The reality is the president will face criticism from republicans and democrats feared at the end of the day, a lot of lawmakers i talked to told me they expect the president will get the authorization though there may be some tweaks between now and then. Company earnings crossing this morning and yesterday after the bell, helping to contribute to equities overall. Scarlet fu with the latest. A lot of macro news to support risk. Lets start with futures. Higher right now. Look at the cash market. The s p 500 1. 1 of the close. Greece and its creditors are grinding away toward some sort of agreement before the deadline. It briefly rallied but you can see there once again on ukraine ceasefire, it did not last. We have some breaking news from expedia. The price tag is 12 per share, a premium of about 25 as of yesterdays close. It is surging right the premarket, up by 22 . In terms of earnings, there are a couple of earning someone to mention here. Trip advisor. Profits missed. The stock has been down and has been up by 15 in the premarket. Whole foods First Quarter sales rose 10 , a sign that lower prices, that strategy is not killing margins are cisco up by 7 . The tone John Chambers and the rest of management was noticeably more bullish than it had been in years. All right. Thank you so much. Going through all of the earnings we have seen so far. I want to bring in my guest host for the hour, the former is the io of moments and served as president of birth brothers and eddie bauer. You have run several companies and you know what it is like to turn around. What you ache of the earnings season so far . It is mixed. No real surprises. I think if you have been following what is going on, you know who is doing well and who probably is not doing well. Are these announcements surprising . Not really. It is pretty much expected at this right. Right. When will he get to the report the point in the Earnings Report where we say, this is really being good in the u. S. I so confident now. I dont know. You hear that it is getting better. You also hear a lot of americans were not feeling it as well. People spending . I think they are. They probably do so everywhere around the world. I feel more confident today than i think most people do a few years ago but the stock market is telling me we should all be rejoicing. A different situation get on the political side we have not really talked about politics, but you are on team hillary. Why is that . He put me on the spot. When she first ran eight years ago, it was a little disappointing for me. I just think she is smart and if you think back even before bill became president , she was brilliant in her own right and had her own way. A little ahead of her time with but i think she has learned a lot over the years and worked with other spirit for right now, i am still prohillary. Other policies you inc. She could implement that could be good for the economy or what you have heard so far . Jobs for the economy and housing . Here i am going on tv and putting this out here. For me, the liberal side of how people for people, always outweighs physically. For me, hillary will be better for all you bless far as what is right for everybody and what everybody deserves. I am not of his shorter i owe is agree with everything as far as the fiscal art of the Democratic Lab form but i do think higher taxes, they should really pay their fair share. Do not think anybody should get anything for free. Shes being very quiet so i do not know what platform will be at this point. But she was secretary, she could not say anything, so she have the luxury of being quiet. But not for long. A platform likely going to be an issue is going to be income inequality. That is not just a big concern in the u. S. But really all over the world. Another person in washington another woman, Supreme CourtJustice Ruth Bader in an exclusive interview. Heres what she had to a in the courthouses upcoming ruling on samesex marriage. I think it is doubtful it would not be accepted. The change in peoples attitudes on that issue has been enormous. I think it would not take a large adjustment. We shouldnt speak much more about the subject because one way or another, it will be decided before we leave town in june. Suicide about that. I do not want to put you on the spot again. You have taken up the mantle in many ways of being out there as an openly gay corporate ceo. So when you hear her say that there has been an immense attitude change in america toward samesex marriage, would you agree with that . He yes. I would personally think what issue. I think everybody should do whatever they want. I also think she is an amazing woman and cannot wait to hear the full speech. To me, you know, you look at the gayrights issue and it is the fastest moving change in the United States that has ever happened. Faster than a womans right to vote or after american slavery. This is the fastest moving and it has been accepted because the young people say, what issue . A few people out there may not agree, right, but it is amazing. It is amazing how quickly the tide has turned. It is incredible. Cluster years ago, it was not as far along as it is now. All right. Hang on. Thank you very much there is day with me as my guest host. Steve talking about where he sees the future of retailing in 10 years. We will be back. Classes 15 minutes past the hour. In taiwan, Officials Say it will prison escape suicide by six inmates. They held the warden and guards hostage during the overnight standoff. All the hostages were released. A former korean air executive has been sentenced to a year in prison for that. Remember this one . The woman did not like kevin absorbing served at the time. Whether the familyrun conglomerates had too much power and there is punishment. The government of the bank of england says Interest Rates could be cut further. U. K. Likely to see inflation turned negative in spring. The biggest factor contributing to falling inflation u. K. Was the drop in oil price. We will have another update at 45 minutes past the hour. Back on retailing, to focus on its core brand. The ceo founded the brand back in 2003. It is still relatively new to the family and lately it has been a bright spot for the retailer with sales of 36 in nine months of november 1 of last year. They just outlined a major Expansion Plan that includes new partnerships, 15 more stories in the u. S. This year and International Shipping was website. J. Crew sites, its namesake store going to continue to struggle . Steve newman is the former ceo of of womans and eddie bauer and brooks brothers. I have to admit, when i write more about it, it sounds like a really cool and young branch. It was thoughtful and hundred thousand dollars over 10 years ago. Look at what it has been turned into. I think he is one of the best retailers out there. He bought the name, which was a great idea. He leases it back to j. Crew for a penny a year, Something Like that. I think it is not your parents store. It has not been around for a long time like a cap or a j. Crew plasticky reinventing themselves to make them cool and hip to the new 30yearold, whereas they do a great job. Saying it is a new store, a new brand, a new company versus, we are still a great brand, even though we have been around for a long time, we are so cool, i think they have that advantage. I think to give it more points try new things. It seems to be working so far but it brings the whole question and apply. Are the retailers dealing with too many brands and their umbrella . It is not really all about the gap is what i mean. There are so many other brands and now you see theyre trying to pull some of them in. Classes interesting. You take a gap. I think they did a good job of old navy. Do you fix the big engine or biodiesel people around you . What is the answer . Whats i think youre going to buy something that fits into your portfolio that works, great. I still think it is an odd thing unless it takes some results here it they will all tell you. I do not get that one. It was interesting, but they probably had cap. Com do a lot that there was probably not doing. Chris ps. How is it a brand gets so hot like banana republic. I used to go to bandanna republic all the time. I love their close. What happened . Any kind of resale, youre as good as the day before sales. If sales are good in the leadership is doing a good job, theyre there. If not i may have a bad month, day, year, theyll send have to make changes. It will have to get on board and understand the customers. That takes time. Im not saying the change is not good, but continuity plays a big argument. Sometimes, these brands lose their way and they need to stay true to who they are and get better and better and better at it and try to the lever also might be hot at that moment. All right, steve, hang on. Retail sales are coming up in just a few moments. We will get another snapshot of the u. S. Consumer. Cliff a big takeover in the Online Traveling industry. Its easier but 12 a share, a premium of about 25 . A value of about 1. 6 billion. Jetblue is looking to cash in now that the u. S. Has eased restrictions to travels in cuba. Another chartered flight in tampa from tampa 2 havana. General electric will become one of the two companies to get a seat on its board of directors. The catch is the candidate supporters must own at least 3 of shares for at least three years. That is quite a catch. Jet got jet. Com take it on amazon after raising another 140 million in new funding. It is on its way. The ecommerce site is helping to reinvent the shop it is basically a cosco online. Innovation and innovation happening in retail. Look at how thats changed. The top 10 retailers, walmart, apple is up there costco amazon, home depot. Lets scroll back 10 years from now. And it is much different. There is walmart and costco, but target was there as well as disney. Sears and then back in 1994 walmart again, sears, and kmart. Does anyone under 25 remember kmart . Target and jcpenney. For more, were joined by my guest host, the former ceo of lohmans. When you look out 10 years from now, who are the names going to be on the chart . I wish i had a crystal ball. You go back in time 10 years ago , sears who . 10 years from now unless amazon really screws up, amazon will be around. You think we will see amazon. Lets find out. I think they spend a lot of money keeping their friends relevant. We also see companies we do not even know of an 2015. Could be up on the top 102. How fast is a move in the states. A name that was consistent there is walmart. They are the worlds biggest retail. Pretty confident we will see a walmart. Theyre so big, we have to have a major catastrophe. So many categories walmart is not even good at it that is hard to believe it or they really do not have a very Good Clothing business. If they ever figure that out that that a lot of business as well. Unless they really majorly screw up, i think they will be in the top five. Which part of the Retail Business is harder . Is it the side of making brands and making clothes . Is that more difficult now versus the distribution platform, being the amazon with a cosco of the world . Maybe you want to go on that side rather than making the products. That is a good question. It is much easier to be the distribution person. If you can figure out how to get the goods from whoever is designed or selling it from the customer think about how amazon wants to do drone delivery. That is amazing. Who wants to shop there . It is instantaneous, delivered to your doorstep. Any and you have jet. Com. It is the use of shopping today. Everybody wants it when they wanted and they want it delivered to the door. It is harder to be the retailers who has to, then guess what the consumer wants 69 months out. I always think that will be more difficult than the person who has to go from point a to point b. In the bigbox retailing world, will that trend, has that peaked or do you think americans are still, even with urbanization, millennials living in it is thomas is that going to live still . Yes, but not all. Costco does an amazing job. That may change over time as well. When i go in there, i buy stuff i do not even need and cannot fit in my apartment in the city because you say, look how cute that is, i have got to have it. I think people of america are used to shopping in an environment today. Theyre probably buying things that are 10 times your than they could fit in the house. I bought a big tub of ke ha. Retail Sales Numbers are out down 0. 8 percent, twice as much a decline as what what economists estimated. Yes, the headline cover is a job, coming on the heels of a surprisingly weak december retail sales number as well there it this number includes gasoline receipts theyre the lead a government tallies is i dollars and cents and not by volume there it is few backout auto and gas sales, retail sales increased i to tenths of one sent. That is still slower than what economists had been anticipating. In terms of jobless claims, this is a higher than it that did read here. The number of people applying for Unemployment Benefits went up from the previously desperate is wes revising number. All of it is a little disappointing but congress had been anticipating weekly retail number. Not much in markets right now. Teachers holding in their best levels. A tenyear coming down a little bit, and it is now negative. The yen continues to strengthen. Thank you. It is a little disappointing, even if that was signaled before hand. Im still waiting for lower gas prices to follow through on the numbers shared why havent we in that . It goes back to what we said earlier. The majority of americans may not be feeling flushed with cash and theyre looking at the savings at the gas pump and saying, what else might i use it for . How else should i use it or should i pay my bills down versus going out and spending it . It is relatively new and gas prices have only dropped in the last few months. I do not think people say, i just save 30, let me go out and spend it. I think if it continues, it will start to show. Right away, people are saying, i could pay more off the bill, i think very i think. I agree. Much more ahead including a big interview coming up. Unveiling plans for a 2 billion stock i back it we will talk to the Mining Company ceo to moment. A mining giant starting to pick itself out of a huge commodities slumped. Fullyear profit Beat Estimates. Higher output and lower costs helped capture a 47 collapse in iron ore. It also said it plans to spend 2 billion in a Share Buyback. The announcement comes six months after the ceo describes the company as a cash machine. Joining us now is the rio tinto ceo. Thank you for joining us. The number one question on peoples minds when it comes to iron ore and commodities demand is china. Correct me if im wrong. You know china is entering a new space of development and lower prices. What is the outlook here . What were seeing here is china is becoming more like a developed country just gradually slowing. 7. 4 last year. Importantly, there is still Strong Demand for high grade on the product. These lower prices the volume is very significant for us. We have repositioned the business and we reduced our debt by 9. 5 and dollars in the last year and a half very that is given us a strong Balance Sheet, dividend by 12 , and announced a 2 billion buyback. That is a great position to be in what is volatile and and fragile times for the commodity industry. It is indeed. You have several wall street analysts who say iron ore prices and commodities shockingly lower. If you look at the supplies, the risk, and supplies it will be pretty stable supply and demand there it i think when you look at a more balanced market that will provide greater stability. Important for us, we are continuing to reduce our cost. If you take into account the Current Exchange rates and Energy Prices it costs 17 a time. We are selling to 62 a ton. That is ok, i a. Do you see prices going down before the, or stabilizing at these levels . The prices will be what it will be. But i am expecting to see some sort of stabilization. There are very wild forecast is out there that quite frankly just cannot come to pass. Otherwise, it will be very lonely for us. Hate to keep hammering the point because i want to get a sense the ceo of one of the Largest Mining Companies in the world you have got to have a price in your mind. Analysts are saying we could see iron ore down to 30 a ton. Is that reflecting any kind of reality . No i think that is fantasyland. Maybe in entires wishlist, but it cannot happen if you look at the impact on the broad range. We are right down at the bottom as i mentioned thomas making very healthy margins there it importantly, we are continuing to improve the business and are sitting here today was probably the strongest downs sheet of any of the major companies. It puts us in a unique position Going Forward very what is a volatile market . Said before there is no opec here when youre talking about the iron ore market. At some point if the prices do not stabilize as you hoped they well, and they continue to fall does someone have to stand up and say, look, we have to cut back on production . In a normal market, highcost producers would leave the market. It is the same in iron ore. As a lowcost producer, it would not make sense for us to give those tons to highcost producers. It simply does not make sense. I enjoy my freedom so we will continue to make independent calls on this. Lotus the prices and even lower prices do not root out highcost producers and you yourself continue to suffer from the lower prices . I just saying, is that a possibility the set of continuing to innovate the market with supply. Why dont you pull back a little . Huxley invest for the longterm. People are forgetting the commodity business, people are looking at, well, things are bad, and we should all be panicking there that is not actually the case. We invest in the longterm. I am investing in priorities that will still be running 50 years from now. I am ensuring they are lowcost highquality exits. That will ensure that they thrive erring times like this. That is exactly what is happening. Before we go, you rejected any suggestions with rio tinto. Several names have been put out there. As you as you have just noted, your cleaning up your bounce sheet. This was the right time to look for the benefit of your shareholders at hills urged to you. Of course we look every time we are working through a new project there quite frankly, when you look at the companies that are out there they are Distressed Properties for a reason to their high cost and not attractive to their q4 costs there that is not what we want or what where our shareholders want us to be there the process will be pure one will be lowcost air the best option for the business. Thank you for being with us. The rio tinto ceo, one of the Largest Mining Companies in the world. Staying in metals, india announced a policy decision that could transform the global gold market. Expected to cut the 10 gold import tax. The february 20 Budget Proposal has big applications in the market. Tracking this development, what with the repercussions be on the market . It would be significant. Bloomberg industries did a great survey. Saying taxes lower could imply 28 million ounces added just this year. That revise a key support to prices and would help offset any weakness we might see in china. India loves both. We all know that. Its one of the familys budget is spent on the metal and has huge implications for world demand. It is a story of wealth. A user for a lot of weddings, 5 million weddings each year. In the about so much the account deficit widened so much, it would at about 20 of everything imported. Demand hit a question 2013 and fell . 35. It was crazy. Lie does this make sense . Oil, everything goes back to energy. It is exciting for a nerd like me. Oil prices helping the account deficit moderate all the oil that they need. Every 10 following crude, you will get a cut in the import bill by about 9 billion. I was talking to cooper over at barclays who said the cut could be more moderated, down to 8 first. See how the demand is and how the account deficit goes. There was a lot of stockpiling that happened last year. We saw jewelry demand and 2014. She said that could be stockpiling to read to read through first. It could be a lag effect. She thinks maybe aprils when we could see in a great there. Speaking about gold and wealth, American Express, we have a problem. Long been in the industry for wealthy clientele that could be losing items that are spirited could. We have got details on that straight ahead here it ahead. Lets take a look at world News Headlines this morning. It deals and the conflict in ukraine has been agreed. It takes effect on sunday. Germany and france helps brokers deal with the ukraine and russia and negotiations went through the night. The deal includes weapons withdrawals. After reporting a 5. 7 billion dollars in the first Fourth Quarter of last year, cutting spending opposing to do with the fall of oil prices. The ceo said they had to react. If we do it it is a reaction. Not a novel reaction, to be clear. German longterm strategy. We do not want to overreact, but we have to react. It represents 10 billion in cash. The captain of the cruise ship has been sentenced to 16 years in prison. Guilty of the manslaughter of 32 people who died when the ship hit rock and say there it found guilty of causing a shipwreck and abandoning the vessel. Hundreds were still on board. That is the latest new news. Status and the for the wealthy, cardholders have the prestige and benefits. But as the first window and competition crowds in, you could be losing its grip. Our Bloomberg News reporter has the story. Elizabeth, what does it have . A rich people problem here . Sort of. Yes there are American Express really since the Company First started issuing credit cards and the 50s and 60s high net individuals who spent a lot of money on travel and entertainment and high ticket items. What is really happening is that other banks have been aggressively courting the group over the past couple of years. In the competition for partnerships, whether that is credit card or otherwise that contributes to the words. The number one position so to speak is under pressure. It is getting harder to maintain. Jpmorgan you could call it the secondbiggest issuer aggressively going after the states. All the biggest card issuers citigroup, bank of america, even wells fargo offered a number of new products catering to the group. Years ago, people had to care for it. Some people were afraid to not get approved. Over the years, visa has done a better job and they now have their own version. Is it easier to still get those cards . People do not really frown upon it. Some of the times when i travel, i pull up my American Express card and people say, we do not take American Express. It upsets me as a user and i have to say, maybe i should use the other card more. Maybe i will pull out my costco visa card where it is all about the points in the benefits. What are they thinking . You bring out a couple of important points. On the credit side, no. Nothing has changed American Express, these at this are not changing their credit profiles theyre looking to attract. Theyre expanding a number of products catering to more everyday ending more retail spending. That has not changed. Acceptance, that is something the company, American Express cards arts thats it at fewer places than visa and mastercard. To address that, the Company Started a program, going after smaller merchants and increasing. It comes back to this thing about affluent cardholders. All these things theyre doing to expand beyond the base area the company maintained these are important initiatives. But there are contributing. Acknowledgment part of the reason why revenue is falling behind some of the targets and other measures of profitability. Thank you so much, elizabeth of Bloomberg News. And my guest host to this hour steve newman. We will be back in two minutes. We will take a look at why cisco may have something to worry about. Plus, keeping bank on it. We are joined by new yorks top financial regulator. Welcome back. 30 minutes away from the opening bell. A look at the top story this morning. Futures indicate stocks will be higher. Sales dropped more than forecast. Jobless claims up. Assistant with a deft progress in the labor market. European finance ministers could not come up with a solution and maybe the eu leaders can. Biggest opponent of renegotiating the bailout, Angela Merkel will be available for the summit. Television news this morning, one of the bestknown stars today. Longtime course fondant bob simon killed in a car crash here in new york city. 73 years old. He spent five decades reporting for cbs news. He spent 40 days of the cbs crew in iraq you present. Congressional republicans won a hollow victory on the Keystone Pipeline very the bill is on its way to president obama, who has already promised to the silhouette. To veto it. A big takeover in the Online Travel world, expedia agreed to by orbit for 12 a share. As a premium of 25 today. 6 billion. We are under 30 minutes away from the start of trade. I want to count you down to the open with a top 10 headlines hitting our way before the bell. Olivia sterns join me this point. Lets start on our favorite subject, food. Apparently, there is a burger bubble that is forming. The restaurant set record highs of 17 from its 2014 low the bestperforming shares this year. I went to a wendys in the wendys burgers were good. Sonic and papa johns. Is the ipo in there . Papa johns is delivered to you. Somebody else picked up the gas price. You go there, same with sonic area maybe it is more wealth than it is lower gas tax or the other thing were learning is as people climb out of the recession on their focused more on its ear incident and things. This is part of it. What better experience can you have been going to wendys . Sonic. Mcdonalds has to be watching this. Their the Worlds Largest seller of burgers. But i think you are right. It seems like when the last savings and lower gas prices maybe they pay their bills first and then they go for expenses like food and then they go for themes. Number nine, a big look from netflix after accidentally posting a third season of house of cards after streaming Services Ahead of schedule in the february 27 debut. A thriller featuring kevin spacey available before the company took them down. A Technical Glitch. I wouldve anybody got fired. That is a good question. Im devastated i missed the window. I love that show. But here is a question for you. Do you think it was a glitch or part of the rollout of the series . They handled it so elegantly with the way they responded on twitter. They said sorry, this is very house of cards move for us. We probably just. Perhaps i am more say michael. If you are right, certainly a smart and crafty move. Here we are talking about it and the debut. Netflix online streaming only Services Still giving out these mail. They do not just flood the market. They still release it in increments hit one week, next week. Even though we all just want to sit there and binge watch. Number eight, twitter requires a service that costs a. C. L. It got down and sat down with bloomberg to say this is a unique opportunity. It is absolutely the very beginning, providing opportunities to those who have done such great work at building this unique community of content creators, connecting them to brands. Whatever. It is all a bunch of corporate speak. Basically, the problem for twitter is their user growth. How do they get beyond the growth they have only been able to report . I guess they rely on 17yearolds to become insanely huge celebrities. I clicked on somebody who lives in l. A. And has several million followers and has quit high school and his lacrosse team. You cannot do that. I also think twitter is still more broadcasting from celebrities down to the rest of us. I do not think that helps that. Number seven, cisco may face a new headache from facebook after the social media giant says it all to zone switch nicknamed the six pack. It uses its own hardware to more efficiently operate its that work. What do you think . Is interesting. We have seen this for a long time. The shift from hardware routers to software. You have got optic fiber in the middle and very cheap software defining the network. It is really good for companies that run like google and facebook and are working together to lower the cost of networking really bad for Companies Like cisco that cell network equipment. The trend has driven cisco successfully into the business of building the machine crating the software and the network and then selling that. Im really glad brandon is onset with this. It is a benchmark stock or company. Given the trend you are outlining, and it may become less and less so. Generally, what is good for internet traffic is good for cisco. If we never see that trend, cisco has a real problem. That make sense. Spacex finally succeeded in launching its latest mission. A glitch caused several attempts to be postponed. They abandon the plan to recover. Back to founder elon musk who wants to cut the cost by creating usable rockets. I think it is fabulous he is ambitious and try to work with the rockets. What is actually try to do is get the booster to land up right on a ship that is hundreds of miles out to sea. It did not work yesterday because there were 30 foot waves. Olivia is right. The booster has got to land generally and operate. But the ship has got four stabilizers. One of the stabilizers was not working. You have the ship stabilizing itself out there and the drone stabilizing. I will give a pass on this. It sounds complicated. It does. It does not help the cost that we have seen five or six delays so far. How will you build any kind of business around it if you are subject to everything . All sorts of forces. He says he wants to bring down the cost of space travel. It does not seem to be working so far but if you are going to do it, this is how you have got to do it. We will discuss elon musks new plan to revamp strategy to improve tesla sales in china. Stay in the loop. Number five, the tesla stock is down almost 9 after reporting an unexpected fourthquarter loss of . 13 per share. Analysts estimated profit. Elon musk remains focused on the future and longterm profits as he bumped up teslas forecast for deliveries this year by 10 to 55,000 model s is. The revamped approach to selling cars in china after its goals. I want to bring in the analysts joining us from colorado. Dean, investors have long been giving elon musk reasoning reading room to prove his longterm model. Given this yesterday, and what we are seeing china, could we start to see investors get impatient . Click yes. Thank you so much for having me on. I do think there is a risk that investors do have this aggregation between the longterm vision and the shortterm Growth Potential of tesla. There is a risk tesla runs Going Forward, really, how long investors are willing to wait it out. If you look at the q3 transcript one one thing they say to investors is that we are not a company optimized for short shortterm profit. If youre looking for shortterm opportunities, you should go elsewhere. It is a bold statement that goes in line with their bold vision. With a story and a vision that tesla sells, there really is a finite amount of patience investors will have your i do not think there is a key time when we look at and say ok, if tesla does not hit this goal by this time, you probably should not look to it as investment opportunity, but what i will say is you know, what i will say is that it really does speak to the confidence tesla has within themselves. There are key mrs. They have had Going Forward and may have been relatively minor mrs. And they need to keep getting better. They need to get better at bringing that market down quicker. I do not know about small mrs. I am not sure about that. They have delayed their model several times already. You heard the non you heard elon musk saying, yes, we will get the model suv out in the next six months. He benefited a few months ago stock lies by saying china will be the biggest market for tesla, and yet, at least in the very beginning, there is a misear on that front yet i dont know if those mrs. Are really all that small. Right. I think the broader issue here needs to be taken. You can take a step back from what happened. 20,000 reservations, that is really impressive, more than the model s had by a significant margin. Suv crossice probably the most effective vehicle. Still on a really strong pathway to go down market into the premium massmarket. China is a big misstep and there is no question about it. But it is still a very small opportunity for tesla at the moment. Theyre still building their Sales Network bid if you look at what the plan is, it does not mirror what other developers have done and youre absolutely right, china will be the Largest ElectricVehicle Market place by 2020. Furthermore, what we have found from our automotive tracker is that it is actually leaped leapfrogging other countries. U. S. And japan for hybrids and china is going straight to electric vehicles. By focusing on a few cities and getting the Customer Value experience really perfect, tesla has the opportunity to have their customers seller cars more. In the United States, there is a really strong brand and not a strong brand in china. Right. There is education that comes with it of the populace on these electric cars. But you have said, if tesla hits that 55,000 sales target for the year, which is what they are projecting, it will be a big deal. I will not say game changer, but it will change the story on tesla, which is a little bit more negative you can see right now, then positive. Missing this years target could help them. When the quarter talk trek does not change that we need to increase the ramp rate and improve our productivity Production Limited rather than demand limited, at some point the pitcher has to change. They really have to start hitting the targets. Shortterm and longerterm, that is one direct result we would like to see. If it hits a little late, it is not the end of the world for them. And i think it is really interesting, what came out in the q and a yesterday, which is that elon musk actually acknowledged that by 2015 and maybe even 2016 they may have to start considering doing the normal things car makers do, like advertised. That is ultimately supported, these goals that theyre more bullish. That might be a good sign their they are being excepted as a regular car company by the populace. Thank you so much. We will be back in two minutes. Lets take a look at the global markets. European stocks are looking good today. A ceasefire to ukraine. We are looking at the stocks of greek stocks. That deal has broken overnight and help the russian ruble strengthening against both the dollar and the euro today. I want to get back to bringing you the most important stories you need to know before the opening bell. Olivia sterns joining me this morning. Ok. Lets continue to number four. Ge opening the door for investors to get a seat on the Company Passes board of directors. It said it will begin to allow shareholders to bring nominees to the companys board provided the candidates stackers own 3 of ge shares for at least three years. This is one of the things about capitalism where you find this is normally how works, it is hard for shareholders to actually get a vote on the board, you find this out and you think im a that does not make any sense at all. It feels like such an obvious step here at that is why managers are careful when they take the company public. Verizon and hp have artie done it, but carl icahn, it issued a season . He wants to make sure these are longterm investors. They had to have it in the stocks for the last three years. The two important names in the story one is the new york city comptroller. This is exactly the proposal he put forward longterm 3 . The other important name is mary schapiro, who has a seat on the board right now already and she was at the fcc when they wrote the rules saying this is how you should run the company. Ge is not the only one Opening Doors to investors. General motors is actively considering buyback or dividend route dividend boost for part of its cash investors. The automakers consider its moves even before the Harry Walston asking for an 8 billion Share Buyback and reported yesterday. This is sort of a testament to how much ceos is an abort are so sensitive to any type of activist investors. Maybe they would consider it, but perhaps that nothing is put into them and here they are 24 hours later, doing exactly what he is saying. Perhaps. This is also one of the stories that get people serious about the socalled revolving door. This guy was the architect of the bailout of General Motors and a couple of years later he has come back representing four activist hedge funds to get the companies in and out and knows their books to return that money that he helped generate. It feels like he is cashing out. Yes. You are exactly right about that. Gm is rightly scared right now and it is holding on to cash out of fear because it does not know what will happen. The company is a little gunshot right now. It is interesting to see a more efficient use of capital, which is usually were more conflict comes in. All right number two. Reporting fullyear profit that Beat Estimates despite a 47 collapse in iron ore. Metal could fall more than 30 a ton this year. I asked the ceo about those forecast. That is fantasyland. It may be a buyer wish list, but it simply cannot happen. If you look at the impact on the broad range, the cost could involve supply. We are right down at the bottom as i mentioned. Making very healthy margins. Crises that i like the freedom of being able to do whatever i want, and i will keep putting supply in that market without any worry that prices will drop even further. He also likes to have the freedom to put supply out there. You cannot turn that cap off. The price of iron or collapsed. Incredible. As we near the opening bell, futures fell go slightly higher. Welcome back to in the loop. Olivia sterns and Brendan Greeley are with me. Afternoon 18 hours of nonstop talks the leaders of russia ukraine, germany, and france agreed to stem the conflict. The euro area has put up any tough decisions on greece until at least asked week. You know what this feels like . That game or you have water coming in from different holes, you plug one but the other one pops. That is what it feels like. My favorite detail about the negotiations is that the official from belarus said that they had drink buckets of coffee. Nobody seems to have much faith in his peace accord. You have to think what is different from the february agreement and the september agreement. It looks like Vladimir Putin has gotten more of what he wants. The markets have not been rattled by the greek talks. Angela merkel needs to get a catnap in here. Maybe she sleeps on the plane. Are her shoulders hurting . The fate of the world is on her shoulders. George w. Bush famously gave her a background, which she shrugged off. I have stayed up overnight in brussels waiting for these people to come out of a meeting before. I told the people around me, i think they snuck out that, there is no way they are still talking. I have repeatedly spent the night in brussels waiting for these people. They really do talk all night. Stocks are ready to trade. I want to bring in michael purvis. You have the most bullish s p target at 2350. Many people over the past week have had such divergent forecast. Why are you at the top . I was the top last year as well at 2100. At the end of the day, when you step back, we are in a situation where gdp in the u. S. Is increasingly visible. I dont expect it to be all that great. And i want to point out im not able on earnings. I was going to ask you. That doesnt make sense. Which is how i was set up last year. In other words, the pain trade last year was p e expansion. They saw that horrible gdp print first in the corridor in the First Quarter. I think given the backdrop of what is happening with Interest Rates, central banks, and globally, that sets the table for more p e expansion provided volatility does not go haywire and we do not get into an earnings recession. We do not need tremendous Earnings Growth to have another good year in equities. 46 of s p 500 companies comes from abroad. You look at the strength of the dollar. The dollar index is up 26 . How badly does that buy into earnings . If you look at the s p 500 the revenue beats has been pretty good over the last two years, as well as earnings. They have been able to navigate the high dollar. This quarter, this quarters earnings thus far, have shown pretty impressive beats on earnings. You make your predictions based on not a lot of volatility. We talked about the potential for two volatility causing incidents. Do you think those are priced in . Great question. Going back a year, when putin started doing scary things, vix futures moved every time he said something. Now it is moving around for different reasons. I have been arguing the biggest risk i dont know so much about u. S. Economic data or earnings. I worry about european situations impacting how the s p behaves. Right now look, we went through an arguably tougher situation in 201011, and it is never an elegant crisp resolution, but the probable path, in my estimation, is that all of the noise of going to the radical left in europe, it will end up being fudged together in a semifunctional whole. The question for me is whether the cheap euro and crude is enough to lift expectations in the eurozone. If that does not happen then i will change my tune. Then you will not be at the top. A swift uturn. We had adam parker from Morgan Stanley a few days ago. His earnings target is about six dollars higher than yours. What i thought was interesting that he pointed out was the stock buybacks, which have engineered good earnings beats in the past few quarters have not actually translated to a performance of these megacap stocks. Look at what he said. Megacap stocks, the Big Companies doing stock buybacks recently, have actually underperformed those that are not doing the big buybacks. Maybe the market is telling them to buy growth. Do you think we could cnn to that see and end to that . Consensus expectations this year are about the same as last year, just with a lower nominal. Ceos and their boards are going to look at what the path of least resistance is to a market friendly response. If they can do that, it is probably buybacks. Over time, more and more leverage comes into these companies with more buybacks and the valuations are creeping higher, so things start to break down. Are we at that point . I think we are steadily getting to that point. One adam brought up is a key issue because they have been a huge purchaser of stocks. If that goes away, he may well be right that many of those companies that have done the buybacks have underperformed but from a whole, it has been an Important Pillar of bullish sentiment. At the end of the day, a megacap text up with a huge Balance Sheet can engineer Earnings Growth against nominal gdp. Engineer it. Not topline growth. It does set the bullish undertone. Thank you, michael. Of course, thank you to brendan and olivia. Much more ahead including the stocks moving in the early session. Tune in at 12 noon for an exclusive interview with Philadelphia Fed president charles plosser. He will be retiring at the end of the month. Mike mckee brings us that interview in a few hours. Cnn reporting philadelphia will host the Democratic National convention in july, 2016. Go quakers by the way, on an unrelated note we will be sitting down with new york superintendent of Financial Services then lost key ben lawsky. We are 10 minutes into the trading session. Lets go to scarlet fu for a look at some early action. You are looking at the expediaorbitz tie up. Expedia is at the highest level of the year after saying it is buying Orbitz Worldwide for 12 a share in cash, a 25 premium. Orbitz trading close to the 12 low. This comes after expedia bought travelocity last month to better take on priceline, who is also a by 2 . American express taking a state biggest tumble in three and a half years, off by 6 . It is parting ways with costco the kart Membership Partnership agreement will be ended next year. Analysts believe that this mix of it percent of the business and 12 of worldwide loans so this is something that is to be made up on the end of American Express. A couple of earnings losers. Tesla having its worst day in four months after posting an unexpected loss last quarter. Deliveries and missed estimates in part due to bad weather. And tzu lily tumbling 10 zoolily tumbling 10 . Fourth quarter outlook missed and the ceo resigned. Thank you, scarlett. New yorks top financial regulator is widening his investigation into currency manipulation at things. Banks. Several banks are under review. The investigator leading the investigation is superintendent of Financial Services ben lawsky. Good to see you. What are you finding . I know there is a limit to what you can say. Big caveat. Little i can say because its an ongoing matter. You want to be careful when youre talking about these kinds of things because we are just investigating and it may turn out that a lot of these players we are looking at have no problem at all. We have seen some indicators that the electronic trading platforms where a lot of the Forex Trading happens, there is a system called the last look system and we are concerned at least there is a bit of smoke maybe some issues in terms of manipulation. The focus was initially on the spot Trading Market looking at the electronic trading, where more of the trading actually happens. The question is, is it flash boys in forex, or something more innocuous . That is what youre determining. At the same time, a justice of department of justice investigation that is running parallel to this which may result in some guilty pleas from these foreign banks. Is there a timing issue here at all . Would you be announcing your issues earlier than the doj, doesnt that are if they announced earlier than you . Its important that we stay as correlated as possible, not only with doj but with the fed. We are talking with them and the u. K. Regulators as well. Getting all of that synced up is better generally if we can do it, but if you cannot, you cant. You do not have prosecutorial powers but you have licensing powers. Is there a chance that you will use those powers to revoke licenses . Revoking a license is like the Nuclear Weapon and you have to be very careful as a regulator flashing at around. We are just doing the investigation and we will see where it goes. There is one interesting aspect to all of this, which is even when there were the reports out about the doj and how close they were to those guilty pleas, Big Bank Stocks continue to rise. At least for investors and shareholders, it seems like these regulatory probes are not having an impact on their investments. Not impacting their profitability. There was a quote that i found interesting from mike mayo. He says regulatory fatigue is setting in. It does happen that a decade ago, you would be concerned about clients leaving changes to business practices, and structure in the company. I think it raises a broader issue if you pull the lens back. What do we all want, wall street and regulators . A market that operate efficiently with clear rules, where market actors act fairly and not violating the rules, and those that are doing their business more efficiently, better, and abiding by the rules should be the ones that succeed. That rate is a larger question of how you determine that conduct in the future. At the end of the day, if there is that conduct at an individual firm, some individuals inside the firm have to have engaged in that conduct. The question we have to ask ourselves is whenever we are doing as regulators or law enforcement, are we determining bad conduct and are we holding the individuals that took those actions accountable . Versus the firm itself. Yes, that is a big question Going Forward. On Cyber Security, you have been a big advocate for banks and Insurance Companies to be more vigilant on protecting their information. You just released this report. Anthem we saw a week ago, the hacking of those millions of passwords and Social Security information. What is going on here . We have said it before. For 2015, this will be the most important issue. I would guess that are the regulators say the same thing. It is this enormous existential threat to banks and insurers as well. We need to do a lot more. We are what is a lot more . There are some simple things we can do to begin tightening up our Cyber Security capabilities. One is, a huge threat from thirdparty vendors. We have a lot of firms spending money making their systems safer , but then they are using thirdparty vendors to do various things inside of the system. Something that inhouse . Or get reps with warranties or bacon into the contract so that if they are not paid that their Cyber Security is not up to a certain standard. You may have the best in the world but if your vendor is not you are as that is theirs. Second, we need to do a lot better with multifactor authentication. You have it here at bloomberg and you do some of the best jobs. We have fingerprints. Most are working on usernames and passwords. We should a very that system a long time ago. It is way too vulnerable. I know we have to go, but i have this graphic of the most popular passwords. 12345. Qwerty. What planet are People Living on these days . We need to leave the password system. Thank you very much, ben lawsky. A big interview coming up on bloomberg. Pershing squares bill ackman will be joining Stephanie Ruhle at 5 00 eastern time today from harvard annual wall street Investor Conference. The 2015 harvard Investor Conference is taking place in manhattan is afternoon where top managers share their best ideas. Bill ackman is cohosting the conference and 70 rule will be sitting down with the Pershing Square capital ceo minutes after the event. Everyone will be on tenterhooks wondering what he will say. The big topic of the conference will be what . We will soon find out. All of the proceeds go to boys and girls harvard, a Nonprofit Educational Organization here in new york, but it is not just about that. Those that go will be getting investment ideas. The conference has been going on six 2006. Six out of the seven years, all the ideas beat the s p. The best idea we saw last year was northstar financial. It is up over 50 he would i will be sitting down with them as soon as they leave the stage today. If you are not at the conference, you can tune into bloomberg to get that big idea. I will be sitting down with dell. He is not presenting an idea he claims he is not. He will be interviewing ray dali o who crushed it with the euro. Bill was a huge burger king guy. We will find out if he is stepping into mcdonalds. There is a Pharmaceutical Company that one of his team members got a board seat on. And you know what else we have to talk about, herbalife. That will be with him for a long time. Thank you, stephanie. Dont miss her interview today at 5 00 eastern time with Pershing Squares bill ackman. Twitter tries to hold onto social media influencers. More on that next. Twitter has just acquired niche, a company that connects celebrities with social media opportunities. With me is someone who invests in early startups. You are familiar with nices products. How does this make sense . I think it makes great sense and is consistent with twitters overall product direction which is getting users to consume content that active users are putting out. A lot of the discussion on twitter is that it has not done much for the nonpower user. This allows consumers to interact with brands and with influencers. If you look at what is happening on tv, big brand dollars still being spent on tv but the audience and time are shifting and the dollars have not correlated. We have talked about this disconnect for a while but it is finally happening. One guy on buying has more members than the people number of people who watched breaking bad. These vine and instagram and youtube stars are basically the new cable channels. Twitter has a new opportunity which is consistent with their syndication strategy with yahoo japan footboard why have they had such a hard time attracting new users . Their user growth is in the low single digits. The user growth has not scaled like people had expected but it is still early days. I compare it to youtube, for example. I dont have an account, i dont know if you do. I consume youtube videos every day. Youtube is monetizing me. I think twitter has an opportunity to monetize and interact with people who do not have accounts. That will eventually lead to more. There is an expression in the industry called 1, 9, 90 1 of the people out there are really creating the content. Creators are active and engaged. 9 are actively sharing. And 90 are still consuming. People are using twitter just to find live news. This is really consistent with their growth and i think it is exciting around discovery and mobile. You are investing. What is most exciting to you . We invest in big market and we are focused on mobile and the iteration of mobile and how it changes real industries. Every company is a tech company now. Google buying nest is a great example of that. That was honeywells business. We like to look at companies that connects supply and demand and changes industry. Some examples of that, we are invested in a Company Called talk space, an online marketplace for psychotherapy. Another company is uber for offline storage. They Just Announced a deal with a secondary market for used furniture. This is all powered by mobile. It is funny because even yesterday we had wework on, and the ceo says that they are a tech company, not a real estate company. That does it for today. Tomorrow, the nbas hottest stars make their way to brooklyn. We will speak to leo hindery and david levy. Bob doll tells us how he is managing 8 billion in funds. That is all tomorrow at 8 00 eastern time. Live from bloomberg headquarters in new york, this is Market Makers with Erik Schatzker and Stephanie Ruhle. Earnings are better than expected as customers snap up the news Networking Tool but what about this new challenge from facebook . We will speak to the Cisco Facebook ceo John Chambers