Not used to. Usually the Car Companies have been beating estimates, but it is still a gain, at first the 45th , which omit consecutive month of yearover year sales increases for chrysler. They started at a low bar during the bankruptcy, it has come roaring back under the leadership of Sergio Marchionne. Yesterday we talked about the deal he clinched, purchasing the rest of chrysler from a union group with a lot of chryslers own cash. A real coup for Sergio Marchionne yesterday. Of 6 . E have a gain the 45th consecutive month of sales gains. The best december sales chrysler have seen in six years, better than they have done since 2008. 9 . Year sales are up about the strongest annual sales growth since 2007. Marchionne isgio a self subscribed corporate fixer. We will have figures out from ford, gm, what do you expect . Ford is expected to post sales growth of about 4. 3 in december. Gm is expected to be 1. 5 . More interestingly, we are expecting all three u. S. Usemakers, and i will u. S. Because chrysler is technically italian. All three will show gains in u. S. Sales. That is the first time they have done it in a decade. Whenthe exception of 2011 japan was slammed with this and not me thats outnumbered action withnda and was slammed , they have not done it. Millions of people are waking up to a snowy landscape brought up by a blizzard. Bloomberg meteorologist Bonnie Schneider is with me. Where is the storm . It is still right over us here in new york. The wind is blustery. Temperatures are brutally cold. Wind chills in white plains are 15. Let me show you this radar animation. We have quite a bit of snow working its way across long island. It is moving through eastern massachusetts. Cape cod is getting hammered. Blowing snow make visibility near zero. Most flights are canceled. Lets move to the next graphic. We are still tracking other conditions. Snow ao to ice and lot of people are trying to get out there and shovel, and that is one of the biggest injuries. Most of the time it happens in Car Accidents were just being caught in the elements. , evenrack in the forecast if you are a veteran of snowstorms. Most casualties occur with men over 40. We are monitoring the storm. We are looking at the wind chills. We are looking at brutally cold temperatures calling causing shutdowns with new jersey transit. And teterboroark airports are open. Visibility will get better. Tomorrow,e we get to you should be able to catch up on your flight. The advisories continue until about 1 00 p. M. It will take a wild for the storm to leave. Once the storm exits, we will get a reinforcing blast of arctic air. That will make a huge difference. Temperatures will get colder tomorrow morning. Those of you expanding planning to spend time outdoors, be careful. Any areas with exposed skin could get frostbite within 15 minutes. It is a serious situation. Thank you, Bonnie Schneider. A major snowstorm is causing headaches for most, but creating profits for others. Julie hyman has a list of the companies benefiting. I will go out on a limb home depot and lowes. Supplies you have to get, and natural gas springs to mind because when it is super cold, the demand for natural gas tends to go up. Natural gas providers like chesapeake partners. Ferrellgas partners, suburban propane partners, and of course they do not just benefit with the spikes of cold weather, but the entirety of how cold the winter is is important for them. Backup generators tend to be a big business as there is concern the power will go out. Toerator sales can add up 50 million in sales. 97 of homes do not have a backup generator. We saw a pickup after superstorm sandy. Pimm fox actually spoke to the genera yesterday. Everything interacts with the grid. When you get into safety type things wear daily care is necessary, you have to get power. The more dependent we become on electricity, the more you need a backup strategy. That is the residential and commercial use. Speaking of commercial use, what about plows . You have them all over new york city. In the winter season, people sign up for contract. When you know the big storm is coming, the demand might pick up. We spoke to a company that sells that he goes on the front of the truck, and they say it adds to sales. When everybody is home and cooped up, do retailers benefit . Is there nothing left to do but shop online . There is surprisingly little research, but in seattle there was a study to examine the more the weather correlation. There, it was more of a question of rain. It is a correlation between rainfall and traffic. If you look at Home Furniture 10 12 s, they saw a bump when there was inclement weather. Apparel retailer saw a smaller bump because people refer to try things on, so the commoditized items tend to do better. Fedex, ups, if you order things, will you get them . They say we have been doing this for a long time and they have meteorologists on staff to prepare for things like this. Makes sense. Yes, there might be delays, but they have been doing this for a wild and they keep it under control doing this for a wild, and they keep it under control. You, withyman, thank the business implications of the snowstorm. Moving and shaking this hour, bond guru bill gross is coming off of a year to forget. His total return fund had its biggest decline in two decades. The fund is no less no longer the Worlds Largest mutual fund. He misjudged the feds plan. He did worse than two thirds of his peers last year. We will shift gears and take you down to washington, d. C. , because members of congress will be getting back into town next week with a long to do list. White house correspondent phil mattingly, finishing on a high note with this bipartisan deal in december, what is the lookout for the way forward . It is not clear what kind of has. Life that goodwill House Republicans announced they will do and obamacarerelated vote as soon as next week. For the key thing i will watch for is the senate. Benefits, 1. 3 Million People lost the benefits on december 28. Theres a bipartisan bill in the senate. It will take a test bill. If they five republicans, that will put a lot of pressure on something they do not want to touch. Janet yellens final vote was moved to january 6. By january 6, she should be officially confirmed as fed chairman. Couple of weeks into the future, the budget deal that was sealed at the end of last year, lawmakers will vote. House aides and senate aides say they feel good where they are. We should have a finalized spending bill. Is an election year. We are coming off of the least Productive Congress in history. What can get done . When you start with that, it is a pretty low bar. When you look at the last three and a half years, everybody looks at the fiscal fight. There is only one on the horizon, a debt ceiling increase, with a limit supposed to be hit around february. March or april would be the roadblock. Looking further all along the line, you will see politically based votes. Democrats have seized on the minimum wage issue, economic inequality. It does not have a chance in the house, but from a campaigning perspective, it is a big deal. There is a lot of buzz trying to figure out where House Speaker weiner isr is john on immigration. To figureership wants out something to do with immigration, what pathway they take. We might see an answer to that in the first couple of weeks when Congress Gets back. Phil mattingly, thank you. Back, deal or no deal mergers and acquisitions activity down 20 compared to 2012. What happens in macau stays in macau we will tell you why casino revenues are soaring there. Snow we will tell you the best card to navigate in. Stay in the loop. We are just Getting Started on this friday morning. All right. That is a look at snow we new york. It is very icy. Dangerous outside. Work, beve to go to careful. When he 13 saw a 20 drop in mergers 2013 saw a 20 drop in mergers and acquisitions. Aboutpert guest will talk deals this year. He has worked on deals such as drugstar. Com. Marshall, thank you for coming in. Statistic,d this 20 the dropoff. There were some big tech and telecom deals. There was an airline deal. What can we expect this year . There was a drop in the numbers from about behind the numbers there is a story. Equities are a good leading indicator of some form of recovery. We do not have a perfect recovery. We have been technically out of a recession since 2009, but we. Ave not recovered equities and mergers and acquisitions are correlated. Currently, that has not been the case. Equities have been strong and m a has been stuck here at what is the missing ingredient. Stuck. What is the missing ingredient . , you on the flagship deals have not seen the big volume of private equityleft deals we saw in bull markets. That is important because it tells you the mediumterm is the hardest to predict. We do not really know where we are in 2, 3, four years. There are reasons to do deals, and if you look at bigger companies, it seems like they cannot innovate from the inside, so they have to buy if they are going to grow. Exactly. That is the point. If you are unable to look long term from a strategic perspective, there is plenty of in manylid, grade a m a sectors. Odafone that was the second biggest ever. In europe. Ca that markets has to consolidate. Vodafone was out buying. You were talking about sprint and tmobile. That deal has been rumored. Both stocks are up. Down. Ly acquire stocks go in this market, many are listed. If you look at this morning,. Irei if you stay ahead of your peers, you have to do something. That is right. If you are willing to look long term and put down capital, any sector you look at you will see evidence. In media, we started with nbc and comcast and finished with liberty and version. We had an airline merger. That was a special situation. But every category, there is plenty of good business. , one bigll sonenshine team has been activist investors taking on big companies. Who would have thought that apple, for example, could be targeted . What do you think of the role of activist investors . In a lot of cases there are activist investors for smaller, less wellknown companies. I actually appreciate activists for what they do when they do it well. They shine a light on companies that are not performing optimally and need to. For truthas a market in it. This year, 2013, you have had good and bad activism. I would argue that some of what bill ackerman did with pershing was not right. Dell was done by one of the most narrow boats. Votes. It is not a ringing endorsement. Marshall sonenshine, great to see you. Thank you for making it in on a snowy friday. We are back in two two minutes with more in the loop. You are watching in the loop live on Bloomberg Television and streaming on your phone and bloomberg. Com. Futures are indicating a slightly higher open. Yesterday, the first trading day of the year, all three were closing lower. 2013 was a record year for stocks. He s p 500 was up 29 we are on the markets again in 30 minutes. The east coast is blanketed by snow. Ofis the first winter storm the year and some parts of the country will be covered in one foot and a half. Bonnie schneider, a lot of people are coming home from the holidays. What can they expect . A lot of trouble from the snow we still see across the area. I want to look at the things you may encounter. We have blowing and drifting snow. Blizzard warning toward eastern massachusetts. The temperature is 4 degrees with a wind chill of 10. We are also looking at a ingerous windchill, 25 up the state of maine. At white plains, here in new york, we had 16. Very dangerous. That are this cold can give you a frostbite on exposed skin in 15 minutes. Travel is something we are keeping in mind. We are watching for Flight Cancellations and delays. Some airports are open, but not operating, one of them being jfk. What about the local commute . If you go to our radar and satellite perspective, i can show you new yorkers will be dealing with the situation east of central new jersey. Plenty of snow into coastal connecticut. We are watching out for dangerous conditions in terms of wind chills. We are looking at conditions that are really cold with cold temperatures and the wind making it feel even colder. Thank you, Bonnie Schneider. We will be checking in with you throughout the morning. Chicago cut its homicide rate 18 last year, with the killings the fewest reported since 1965. Hicago reported 415 last year los angeles, 250. Chrysler missed analyst estimates. 5. 7 , but up estimates were looking for 8. 4 . They had their best december in six years and reported a sales increase of nine percent, a fourth Consecutive Year of annual sales growth. Hyundai is teaming up with google. Drivers will be able to use prelass for paris driving situations. Nissan will also integrate the wearable data devices into their vehicles. Alicia keys is saying goodbye to blackberry. She will leave her post as the director oneve year after she signed on for the position. I will bring in our expert on all things musical and blackberry. Hugo miller joins us from toronto. Even the fabulous ms. Alicia keys could not save blackberry. Is that the takeaway . Exactly. The wording was clear. It was not clear anyone was firing anyone. It was merely described as the end of a oneyear collaboration. Ceo,akeaway is the new john chen, this is not in his game plan. Froms decided that phones a consumer perspective are not part of his future. He has outsourced the entire production and design of the consumeroriented phones to foxconn in a deal that was announced last week. This will be about going back to lawyers, bankers, civil servants, and few of them have probably even heard of alicia keys. What . Nobody has heard of alicia keys in canada . What is going on . She was brought on before the launch of the blackberry 10. This was allin for blackberry, with a new product they hoped would rescue the brand and she was part of that. Back 12f you rewind months, things were looking good. People were saying this would put blackberry back in the game. Alicia keys stepped on the stage in manhattan just under a year ago and people thought this could work. Then, when the sales did not flop wasd the word associated, it quickly spiraled downward. John chen is saying no more sponsorship, no more Razzle Dazzle marketing. I would not be surprised if you see the relationship with grand prix racing also sidelined as they go back to basics, lawyers, banks. The basicsgo back to if you have something there. What are their choices at this point . You are right. How can they sell the phones if nobody is buying them . It might be a case of being a loss leader. They are working toward becoming more of a software player. s oute paranoid cio there, they are saying whatever phone you use, you still need to softwareur security because we offer a solution in tech that is far superior and safer than our rivals. What about the fact that blackberry is walking away from a possible takeover what are the choices . Shelved, clearly, for the six or nine months. Investors are willing to give john chen until at least next activistsore investor or analysts talk about acquisitions and breakups of the company. Even though the founder of the company and inventor of the blackberry dumped his stock and that prompted the shares to fall, the stock is still up 22 since the last earnings, and even though the earnings were ,bysmal, the stock is up 22 and that is a sign that investors are willing to give john chen breathing room. Means they like what they are saying what he is saying and appreciate his candid approach. By next august, the wolves will be howling at the door if there is no sign of turnaround. Hugo miller, thank you. You are welcome. When we come back, it is bowl season that we will give you the statistics on the big season for College Football and why it is so important to the es pn bottom line. Bottom line, and we will show you statistics on gambling in macau. Were backing two minutes. Back in two minutes. Casino is this is in macau are hitting the jackpo reporting 45 billion of 2013, sevenenue in times as much as what is going on on the las vegas trip. They are hotel rooms, shopping malls and entertainment chose to draw in chinese tourists. Is brianith more miller. We have spoken with Sheldon Adelson, the chairman of las vegas sands, and i have asked them why not change the name of your company because you are getting more than 90 of your revenue from macau. Of course, he is not going to do it, but macau is where everybody is making money. Wynn and lasy for vegas sands and it is true to a lesser extent for mgm resorts. Andhat is driving this pair know there are currency controls in china this . We know there are currency controls in china where money can not leave china. In las vegas, you have a casual gambler. In macau, they are hardcore. China has currency controls, so especially at the high end you have a junket system in place, which finances highend gamblers. Thee are currency controls Chinese Government has and that is fueling the growth in the market. Gambler that is there, the vip business that is sponsored by a junket that keeps them very rich Chinese People there as long as they like. That is true. That is the highend business, and it is facilitated by the junket. These operators realize there is a risk. They like to diversify into a nonvip market. Lowerlevel gamblers are bringing in their own money, and the operators want to entice those people to do more than gamble they want them to go to events, dine, and spend money in other ways. And las really wynn vegas sands that are there, but there are chinese competitors and a big malaysian leader. How much can the u. S. Businesses compete . So far, so good for las vegas sands, but how can they continue to compete with more locallyrun business . Right now they are on equal footing. , heing at Sheldon Adelson continues to pour money into projects. 2014 will be a pause, but after that there is a lot of new supply coming into the market. You mentioned 20 growth in 2013. Las vegas sands was a big part of that. After 2014, it is still supply driven and we will see what happens when the new supply comes online. Brian miller from Bloomberg Industries with the latest on macau, thank you. When we come back, taking your fourwheel drive for the snow. Traveling in style airports that boast the best luxury lounges. We will tell you a