Transcripts For BLOOMBERG Bloomberg Bottom Line 20150312 : v

BLOOMBERG Bloomberg Bottom Line March 12, 2015

In arkansas. And peter cook is on capitol hill monitoring a senate plan to fight cybersecurity breeches. First in ferguson, mizuho two Police Officers are recovering from gunshot wounds. It took place during protests following the resignation of the city police chief. No one is in custody yet. It appears the officers were targeted. This evening the only shots we were aware of were the shots taken from across the street. The Police Officers were standing there and were shot just because they were Police Officers. In a tweet president obama said violence is unacceptable against police. Foot justice is one all of us must travel together. Last summer riots broke out in a town after Police Fatally shot an unarmed teenager. The police chief is the latest to leave after an investigation showed problems in the system. And Customers Bank will pay the bank was ordered to fire four executives as part of the deferred prosecution agreement. We heard from irans Supreme Leader after the letter written by u. S. Senators. The ayatollah said division makes iranians question whether america can follow through with any deal. These gentlemen, the senators have openly announced that when the Current Administration is no longer in office the deal america is agreeing with you and commitments made will be ultimate and devoid. Those talks are set to resume on sunday. He would have final say in any decision on the iranian side. Homeland security investigating two agents accused of crashing a car into a white house barrier. The incidents occurred after a night of drinking and president obama appointed a new head of security after security breeches. Retailer lumber liquidaters reports soaring stock prices. The company is really feeling the fallout from that 60 minutes story that accused it of selling flooring. It did offer through third parties, testing in order to show its products are safe. So it has reassured investors for now. If you look at the stock today it opened at almost 6 and was halted during a conference call. When it resumed trading it got a leg. We want to show you how it traded over the past 2 1 2 weeks this is going all the way back to february 24th, the day before the company warned it was going to be a going to be the subject of a story on 60 minutes and the day after it aired it opened down about 28 as well. So we started at about 70 a share in late february and right now we are at about 37. We hit a low of 28. That is a huge dropoff. Heres another way of showing you how vol tile the swings have been in the company. This is the distribution of moves in lumber liquidaters stock. Since then its fallen twice and rallied on the other end by more than 11 two times as well. The most common moves for lumber lick we dators is lets compare that with a period that goes back to january the 25th. The average move for this stock was about 1. 4 . Down 1 . So its really been a vol tile period for lumber lick we dator liquidaters and its stock holders. Mark we are joined by one invest gating liquid lumber liquidaters. I sent the letter to them asking a series of questions about their testing methodology and results and we hope to hear from them. Mark sir, you have not heard from them as of yet . No. I dont mean to be critical of them for not responding yet. We gave them about 10 days with which to provide us with a response. Mark mr. Jepsen, did you watch the 60 minutes piece . Not the whole thing. Ive watched parts of it. Mark sir, what did you learn about the method of testing . Because the folks at lumber liquidaters said that method was flawed. I commend them for Third Party Testing but the problem is how much of the core is infused with that. Were getting answers to see two things, one, are there Health Issues . And if they represented that the laminate net california standards, which they have done and it does not feet in effect of california standard, thats that can be an unfair trade practice. Mark sir, have you contacted california testing standards . No. Mark what power do you have . If they dont meet the standards of testing we have clear authority. Mark sir, what have consumers been telling your office and have other lumber suppliers been expressing concern . Im not aware of any others contacting our office. We have had many complaints and mark what are you telling them . That they should take up lumber liquidaters up on their free testing. Mark have you spoken to other attorneys general about this issue . I have not. I know my contemporary in new york has initiated a similar inquiry. This ones pretty brandnew. These things have just come up in the last few weeks. And the state attorneys general do a pretty good job of working on a bipartisanship basis to get through these investigations and wouldnt surprise me if my office teams up with other state torns general as they have on other issues. Mark you said you are not accusing lumber liquidaters of any wrong doing. You just want to question them. But in the court of Public Opinion it is making it seem they have done something wrong . My job is to protect the people of the state of connecticut. There are six and they make accurate ninth only 6 of their product is laminate and of that only a small percentage comes from china. We dont do politics here in connecticut. We just want to find out exactly what is happening and hear lumber liquidaters side of the story. Mark if you will bear with me for a second. Lumber liquidaters do say they are confident but if how do they get back their reputation and good name . Good question. I have gone out of my way in previous investigations when someone is cleared of wrong doing to make public. We will not hesitate tight state that that is the case if it is. Mark mr. Attorney general, thank you so much for your time. We appreciate it. Thank you. Mark up next, the u. S. Senate Intelligence Committee is working on a bill to battle cyberattacks. Those when we continue in a moment. Mark welcome back. Lets get you some of the top stories were following on this thursday. Headlines coming out of the disney shareholders meeting. The company says there will be three star wars films between now and 2017. Rogue one and the trailer for episode 7 the force awakens has been viewed over 150 million times, that film is set for release in december. Shoppers are keeping their money in their wallets. Retail sales unexpectedly fell in february for third month in a row. Bad weather and cheaper wages appear to be the problem. Shake shack out with its first earnings, the burger chain failed to live up to expectations. Third quarter did beatest mats but they predict samestore sales will grow only in the single digits. Thats a look at the top stories were following at this hour. The u. S. Congress is finally moving on cybersecurity legislation. Today the senate Intelligence Committee will vote on a plan that would shield companies from lawsuits when they share cyberinformation with each other and the government. Not everyone is in favor of the bill. Peter cook is on capitol hill with more. Peter, is this a first test or closelywatched piece of legislation . Peter it is a major test. The issue of cybersecurity and what the government can do to bolster has been a big topic but theres not been any progress the sony hacker situation thought they would allow for the greater sharing of information between the private sector and the government on a voluntary basis. It would also protect companies in the event they did share information with the government that customers and clients couldnt go after them for sharing that information with the government. This legislation also in a bid to try to address privacy concerns would limit how much personal information could be included in what was shared with the government and how Law Enforcement could use this information. But theres still concerns on the part of privacy advocates as far as how far this privacy goes. Republican from North Carolina and Dianne Feinstein will be voting on it. We will be talking with them about whats in this legislation and how effective he thinks it might be. Mark whats the biggest problem with the bill . Peter that once again it goes too far and when you have the private sector shared with the government there will be Information Privacy advocates are worried about after Edward Snowden that they are worried this bill doesnt protect privacy enough. We hope the bill will be whether or not their criticisms are valid or some of their concerns have been addressed. Mark peter cook joining us from capitol hill. Thank you. Coming up, no room for more oil, he said. We will check out how Oil Production could become a problem. Bottom line continues in a moment. Mark welcome back. The United States is producing too much oil, and were running out of storage room for it. Bloombergs business week Matthew Phipps joins me from washington. Crude is increasing by almost 1 Million Barrels a day. Why is that . As prices have fallen from over 100 to below 50 a barrel, big Trading Companies rather than trading it are sitting on it. They are putting it on big tank farms hoping prices will rise in the next couple months and be able to sell it for 60 or 70 down the road. The problem is production hasnt slowed down so of those 9 Million Barrels a day about 1 million get stuck in tanks. Were running out of space and thats got many worried were headed for a crash in the oil prices again. Mark to be clear are we really going to run out of room in storage zangse this is more of a theoretical issue. We are higher in terms of tightness on Storage Capacity than we have been perhaps ever. So what that is going to do is kind of lead to even more dislocations in the oil market. And we have a lot of analysts thinking we could be in for another crash in the price for oil. Smoip continuing along with this theoretical exercise what happens if we do run out of room . Well, one, we back out more imports. Importing 6. 9 Million Barrels a day of fortune crude. That will probably be decreased more than it has been and we will finally start to slow down the pace of crude production and three, prices will probably collapse. If you cant stick it in the storage tank you then have to sell it to a refinery at a price that you dont want to and those refiners will be happy to take that oil at those prices. Mark matthew whats going on in cushing oklahoma . Thats the biggest storage in the United States. The amount has almost tripled since october. Were above 50 Million Barrels again. We have room working capacity for about 70 Million Barrels. So we were at 18 million in october. We are now at above 50 million. The prices at that the tank owners are chorging for that Storage Space are going up considerably. I had one guy tell me several months ago on the spot market you were paying dimes on the barrel now its over 1. As that tightens up you have less incentive for tradeers to push their crude into cushing. The not building anymore Storage Capacity at the moment so at some point we are going start maxing out on that and some think that could happen by the end of may. Mark despite prices being cut in half why have Oil Companies continued producing oil that the recordsetting pace . And at what point do they start to slow down . Many companies hedged in the fall and took out futures contracts that guaranteed them higher prices when we were crashing and depending on how savvy you were you locked in a price of 70 or 80, probably where we are right now or above. So a lot of companies are still being able to sell their oil at a price above where we are today. That keeps them profitable. As long as they are buying and sticking it in Storage Space, they will continue to produce it until the edges roll over which will probably happen later this summer. Once that happens they will start selling for lower prices and finally back up that glut to the well and convince these guys to cool off a little bit. Mark Matthew Phipps joining me from washington. Always a pleasure. Coming up the secretary of the department of interior sally jewel will discuss her plan to increase the number of volunteers at Americas National parks and public lands. Stay with us. Bloomberg bottom line continues in a moment. Mark welcome back to the second halfhour of bottom line on Bloomberg Television. Im Mark Crumpton in new york. Thank you for staying with us. Lets start with the price of crude oil and the close of floor trading here in new york. On your screen you see its down about 2 . Trading at 47. 16. Lumber liquidaters is struggling in the wake of that devastating 60 minutes report. It couldnt provide a sales or earnings forecast for the entire year. 60 minutes report the laminate flooring made in china contains high levels of cancercausing form and hide. Intel says the demand for business Desk Top Computers is weaker than expected and theres lower than expected inventory across the pc supply chain and microsoft and hewlettpackard are also down. Those are the stories were following. The u. S. Department of interior announced a new plan to increase volunteering at national parks. It plans to use a 5 million grant from American Express to build volunteer coalitions that will help preserve and sustain those. Sally joins us. Madam secretary thank you for joining us on bottom line. Thank you. How did the partnership with American Express come about . They got American Express has stepped up to help our effort. Mark you talked about American Eagle outfitters are enlightened. Are others not so enlightened . Well, to give back to the community to have a Strong Community and in this case American Eagle stepped up and inspired American Express to do the same. Both are businesses that recognize giving back to the community is good for business. Mark how would you describe the state of our lands right now . We are americas story teller and charged with taking care of the most special places for our future and struggling without having sufficient resources to do job we are entering our centennial year and we will be welcoming new visitors and want to make sure everything will be working for them. So this will help engage volunteers in taking care of our parks and improving the park experience and giving our future the connection. Mark you said deferred maintenance. Are the lands in a state of disrepair . Well, the lands and buildings we have have insufficient resources to take care of them. We had here in new york Hurricane Sandy, that was devastating to the statue of liberty and ellis island. We got money to do the repairs from the Hurricane Sandy funding. But a lot of our facilities are lacking. They are tired and old. We have not been investing because the budget hasnt included for that. We have the statue of liberty at Ellis Island Foundation but we have needs all over the country. So yes, this is an opportunity for us to partner with the private sector to do a better job. Mark madam secretary, how do you explain to those who say volunteering is something to be done in spare time and what we need is paying jobs. To get kids playing paying and serving on public land. We have young people, especially young people from urban areas that need a job opportunity, lets find jobs for them and part of the money from American Eagle and American Express will go to supporting jobs for young people that will be leveraged through the work of volunteers. So youre right we need jobs but we also need volunteers. Mark madam secretary. To switch topics. There are Environmental Concerns and concerns expressed by landowners and by the tribal county criticals of native americans and the concern of loss of jobs that could be create thed by the keystone pipeline. You were trained as part of the oil pipelines. Is there no middle ground on this issue . Is this an all of nothing proposition, keystone . Well, i will say the Decision Making on keystone rests with the state department and my job in the department of the interior is making sure we stride input the state Department Needs to make a sound decision. The president believes theres a thoughtful process in place and that process needs to continue and thats what he has said. We played a role and we have said to the state department its important that they consult with tribes and we have also said that any information they need from us as they mike make their decision we will be happy to provide but the decision does not rest with us. Mark you were president and c. E. O. Of and Fortune Magazine ranked it one of the best 100 companies to work for. That being said, why has there been so much tension between Corporate Community and the Obama Administration on things like taxes and jobs and sneak and is that something that can be bridged and as someone wi

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