Details on senator ted cruz and his decision to run for president in 2016. And hans nichols is in berlin as the greek Prime Minister meets with the german chancellor. First lets hit you to the top stories we are following at this hour. Shares of previously owned homes came up short for the second month in a row. They were again below and annual sales rate of 5 million homes will stop the Real Estate Industry is struggling because of higher prices and a lack of inventory. We heard from the Federal Reserve ice chairman, stanley fischer, speaking in new york. He said raising Interest Rates from near zero will likely be warranted before the end of the year and subsequent increases probably wont be uniform or predictable. The Interest Rate is expected to lift off before the end of this year as the normalization of Monetary Policy gets underway. The extra gary Monetary Policy accommodation the fed has undertaken in response to the crisis has contributed importantly to the economic recovery. While the economic recovery has taken longer than we expected. Mark the president of the cleveland fed says an Interest Rate hike in june remains a possibility. She told bloomberg the feds removal of the word patient from its statement means june is a viable option but said nothing has been decided. We are not on any preset path. This is the new way of doing policy. We are data dependent and we will set the appropriate level of Interest Rates which is what the economy can support and what we should be setting it at. Mark last week, fed chair janet yellen says next month is unlikely for a rate hike budget and should not be ruled out. Texas senator ted cruz is the first of the major republican contenders to announce he is running for president. He spoke at virginia upon Liberty University, the college founded by the late jerry falwell. He said his mission is about reigniting the promise of america. Ted cruz was elected in 2012 with the help of the tea party. A person familiar with the matter says his wife has taken an unpaid leave of absence from goldman sachs. She is a managing director there. Secretary of state john kerry says negotiators have not reached the finish line in the talks on iran but that a deal on a countrys Nuclear Program is achievable. Talks resume this week in the switzerland. In an interview with the huffington post, president obama said there was still a major sticking point. Whats going to have an impact is it ran are they prepared to prove to the world they are not developing a Nuclear Weapon and can we verify that in an intrusive and consistent way . Mark as part of any deal, iran wants europe and the west to end sanctions immediately. The u. S. Is said to be opposed to that. In yemen, shiite rebels have seized the countrys thirdlargest city. The rebel leader has accused the president of collaborating with al qaeda and the united states. The United Nations has called for a halt to the fighting. Its considered a blow to the counterterrorism campaign. Thats a look at the top stories we are following on this monday. Lets begin with the crisis in greece. The Prime Minister is meeting with german chancellor Angela Merkel. It is their second meeting in five days as greece slips closer to bankruptcy. Hans nichols joins us from berlin. What is the latest . Hans the latest as we have two leaders trying to sweep any differences under the table. If you think about three issues they are talking about, one is the overall bailout package will stop the greek from esters making all the right signs telegraphing he is willing to make reforms and even to agreements that he said the previous government supported. That is something on the immediate liquidity crisis neither side says theyre going to get much out of the meeting to advance the issue. He says hes not looking to pay for salaries or pensions at the end of this month and Angela Merkel says im just one of 18 or 19 eurogroup companies. I dont have any say to open the liquidity gates on my own. Perhaps the third issue as to whether there should be any german reparations both sides are dancing around it. Mrs. Merkels sticking with the government line. This is a historical matter that has been litigated in the case is closed. Take those three issues and its really the question about nazi era reparations that is the disagreement. They are tripping over each other to show they are united and have had productive talks. Its moving in the right direction at least for the germans and the greeks. They are going to head into dinner now and we will see how much more comes out of that. Mark standby for just a moment. Im going to bring in the chief euro economist for bloomberg intelligence. This is the greek Prime Ministers first visit to germanys into became the Prime Minister. Is this really about strengthening relations between the two countries . I think its more about solving the immediate liquidity crisis. The unexpected event has been the downturn in tax receipts. They have a problem they did not anticipate at the beginning of the year. The big moment is probably the next payment to the imf. Mark how much pressure does Angela Merkel face as to whether not greece can unlock a payment . Is she willing to give greece any room to maneuver . I think she is under a lot of rusher but shes also under pressure to keep the show of the euro area on the road. Its not something she wants to see happen. Maybe not from her voters but the euro area, heads of state to give in a little bit there to avoid any potential catastrophe. Mark a greek government spokesman said they wont take any recessionary measures that could further hurt the struggling economy. If it holds firm to that Campaign Pledge of holding back austerity measures, wont germany object and would negotiations unravel . Hans yes and thats why you hear the greek Prime Minister saying Something Different to an International Audience and Something Different to a domestic audience. The question is what is recessionary. Economists could debate on this the eu can debate on this, but the bottom line is if there is not significant and sufficient changes with greece following through with their commitments the previous government made on what this Bailout Program is and what the current government almost ratified and came close to saying they are going to make similar reforms and that february 20 meeting, if they dont do that, they are not owing to get disbursement from the ecb on any collateral issues or new money from the European Union. Remember, theres 7. 2 billion waiting in funds there. They have to show tangible project tangible progress before the money can be dispersed. We have a nice rest conference with two leaders making nice in a public way, but until there are concrete proposals from the greek side on what they are doing to implement the agreement, there will be no disbursement of aid. Thats fine for this week, but in april, youre going to have a cash crunch and some big payments due and there will be a liquidity crisis both for the government and potentially for the banks. Mark mario draghi weight and again today, saying he cant endorse further support for greece until hes convinced the Prime Ministers likely to meet the conditions of the bailout. Is there enough time to restore what he called the policy dialogue between athens and the representatives from the European Commission and the International Monetary fund . Hans the time question depends on how long you think greece and last of four they need a bailout from what we used to call the trike a. I know we are focused on this press conference, but in some ways, Mario Draghis comments were more impactful and more meaningful. He was quite harsh talking about challenging this notion that the ecb is blackmailing greece, noting theres some 104 billion euros in outstanding loans to greece and in some ways mario draghi is assuming the bad cop role and Angela Merkel may assume the good cop role. Theres so much more that has to play out and we have some anymore other meetings. Symbolically, its a nice press conference, but said but we havent really got a lot out of it. Mark substantively, what does the troika need to hear from greece this week so that those further bailout lands can be extended . They are still waiting for a concrete list of reforms. You may remember when they agreed to this extension, they would propose a vague list and more details by the end of april. The problem is the greeks dont have this luxury of waiting. Theyve already provided a list a couple of weeks ago in the good news is they have until april 13, which is more than two weeks away. The europeans are famous for lastminute and latenight negotiations. Mark david powell joining us from london and hans nichols in berlin. Thank you so much. Up next, ted cruz tosses his hat into the 2016 u. S. President ial race will stop we will bring in our chief washington correspondent, peter cook, with analysis. Mark welcome back. Lets get you to some of the stories we are following. The fate of radioshack made may be decided at a bankruptcy auction today. Standard general has teamed up with sprint and has proposed saving 1700 radioshack shows radio stack radioshack stores. The back rooms the judge will make that decision. Vivendi has rejected an activist investors call to spin off its music business. It was suggested vivendi spin off universal music. Vivendi says it will examine another proposal to raise the dividend. Thats a look at the top stories we are following on this monday. Coming up, alan bjerga has the latest study on honeybee deaths. A roundtable discussion as march madness hits the sweet 16. And the retail winners and losers from the west coast port dispute. Ted cruz is in. The freshman senator from texas launched his bid for president with a speech at Liberty University. Hes the first candidate to jump into the 2016 president ial race but wont be the last. Peter cook has more on the announcement and how he shakes up the race. Peter just two years into his first term as a senator, he hopes to follow another freshman senators footsteps by winning the white house. Like barack obama, he would be the first hispanic president , but he promises a very different direction for the country if he were to win the white house. He made the announcement official overnight on twitter and and in online video this morning and then took the stage at Liberty University where he delivered a sermon like speech and talked about the struggles his emily overcame, his faith and his struggle and desire to reignite the faith in america. I believe in the power of millions of courageous conservatives lining up to reignite the promise of america. That is why today, i am announcing i am running for president of the united states. [applause] peter he wants to prove himself as the most conservative in the field and made an appeal to the tea party. In a short time here in washington he has rubbed some Republican Leaders the wrong way and convinced them donors he is to conservative to win a general election. Democrats welcome his entry into the election, they think he pushes the entire field to the right. It is not going to be easy in a crowded field, but he has been underestimated before. Mark what does senator cruz gain by jumping in first . Peter he gets the National Spotlight for a few days. He also is on his way to new york and a big fundraiser in houston. Maybe by jumping in early he might scare off some of the folks who may draw from the same conservative pace like my cup of the or rick santorum. They might reassess now that ted cruz is in. Mark up next, we will tell you what a new study says about an insecticide it has been blamed for killing honeybees and why its a crucial issue for the nations farmers. Stay with us. Mark the u. S. Department of agriculture says bee pollination increases crop values by 15 billion year, affecting foods from africa foods from apricots to zucchini. So there are concerns over a widely used insecticide some Scientists Say may be killing honeybees. A new study may weaken those arguments. Our bloomberg policy reporter joins us from washington. Tell us about this study. For close to a decade, theres been a big mystery going on in pollination. Honeybees have been dying at higher rates over the winter than they used to and people have been wondering why. As studies advanced and people look at particular closet that particular causes, theres been a focus on particular pesticides derived from nicotine. They became popular around the time the bees started to die. The university of maryland did a study over three years where they were feeding one of the common varieties of this chemical to honeybees to see whether or not it was killing them. Their conclusion was this particular chemical was not killing the these when giving a regular dosages. You had to put a lot into the bees to get rid of them. The company that makes these is feeling pretty good about it. It takes a little better pressure off their product come about the folks in the Environmental Community say not so fast. Mark how are the bees doing and what happened to the concern from a few years ago . Remember colony collapse disorder, which there were congressional hearings about stop it has still been around. We have seen death rates for these double over the past decade. But we what we have not seen is the complete collapse will stop the Agricultural Community has adjusted. Its more expensive because you need more pollinators, but they have made the economics work. Nobody likes to see more bees dying, but agriculture has adjusted. Mark what about the Scientific Research . What are we learning now . This is where things like the maryland study come into play. You see more federal dollars going to Pollinator Research because theres a belief pollinators are quite important in a way that they had not before, when they were taken for granted. Studies have led in the European Union to ban these chemicals to see whether they help with the health. This particular study showed one chemical in one situation but there is a lot more research to do. Mark what is the significance of this study . While it points to one particular chemical not being the exact cause, you have concerns over to militant stress on the semi these on these honeybees. They are trucked across the country to pollinate alman crops. It remains a great scientific mystery and theres a consensus that a lot of causes, including pesticides are part of it. On the regular story front, Companies Like bear are not off the hook yet but it does point to a certain direction they will find favorable. Mark we are getting into planting season. What are the concerns growers are facing . Pollination has always been a concern almonds in california are the biggest crop. We are seeing corey corn and soybeans up and down. At the same time come easy an increase in wheat and that is whether driven. You see more dryness in places like kansas and places like russia and ukraine which are big competitors will stop they are being concerned with wheat supply. The more we go into planting season, farmers are just starting to prepare their field and fruit and Vegetable Growers are just starting to see things out. Mark thank you. Coming up, march madness hype. We will look at how the tournament is measuring up as teams vie for College Basketballs just price. Stay with us. Bottom line continues in just a moment. Merck welcome back to the second halfhour of open bottom line of bottom line on Bloomberg Television. Im mark crumpton. Lets check the price of crude oil and the close of floor trading here in new york city. You see on your screen crude finishing the day of 1. 8 at 47. 39. Starbucks has backed away from the first stage of its controversial effort to spur discussion on race relations. Employees will no longer right words great together race together on cups. The company will still hold employee forums and commit to adding stores in urban communities. One of the iconic brands in baseball has been sold. The Finnish Company and their sports i thought we slugger, the bat maker. The price tag, 70 million, all cash. They own a number of Sporting Goods brands, including wilson. Turning to march madness, now down to the sweet 16 in a number in a pair of number two teams that lost on sunday. Wichita beat kansas the first meeting between the two schools in 25 years. Wichita state next depomed, notre dame. Next opponent, notre dame. The spartans will play oklahoma in the regional semi finals. We brought together a group of titan from the world of business and finance to take their best shot in our bloomberg bracket. Each of the participant has generously donated 10,000, with the pot going to the victors charity of choice. In first place with 87 point, john donahoe, ceo of ebay. Tie for second place jimmy dunn cofounder of center oneill, and Bruce Richards cofounder of standard oneill, and Bruce Richards. 16 teams are still standing. They help to pull off their seasonlong goal of getting to Coll