Let us take you to scarlet fu. Scarlet new home sales was makes up 7 of the Residential Market but it is counted one contracts are signed a being more timelier and they saw a drop of 11. 4 , the first the client in four months that follows three straight months of gains. It is 481,000 on a net basis. Additionally, the february numbers were revised lower as well. Recent home cells have been constructive at the upside potential is limited by a lack of inventory. They were projected to soften but this is a bigger drop than what economists have been looking for. This doesnt seem to have much of an impact on Financial Markets on u. S. Stocks. U. S. Stock indexes are moving higher. The actual change is negligible because the s p 500 has little change. You are seeing the leg higher here for u. S. Stocks. Evidence perhaps that the Housing Market is under pressure. Erik thanks very much. We are waiting for statements from president obama. He will be speaking to reporters in the White House Briefing room. The government today declassified a counterterrorism operation. The white house says it happened in january. Two al qaeda hostages were killed. The Administration Says it had no reason to believe hostages were being held there but the Intelligence Community now has concluded they were. The president also says the american who became an al qaeda leader was killed and another american al qaeda member was killed and another separate operation. Reporters are waiting for the president in the briefing room. While we wait for that speech to happen, let us bring in peter cook. Not entirely unusual that we would find out several months after the fact that something happened. Why is this particular disclosure significant . Peter what is significant here and we expect the president to discuss the shortly is that this would represent perhaps for the first time that we know of an accidental death of hostages as a result of a counterterrorism operation. We expect the president to disclose this was a drone strike in generating. This happen in a remote part of afghanistan on the border with pakistan. The significance again is that the president who has backed the drone strikes since 2009 and have been relatively successful or so we heard from the administration and the Intelligence Community. The issue here is that these debts apparently deaths apparently the u. S. Did not know they were there at the time. They have high confidence these two were killed in this counterterrorism operation. That is the significance here. It will raise questions about the drone strikes going forward. There have been critics in the past and you can be sure that will be some criticism or questions raised as a result of this disclosure from the white house today. Erik you are absolutely right that drones remain controversial. We are all eager to hear more of a next mission. That is peter cook. I am sure you will hear from him again. Stephanie it is time now for the news bulletin. It is the largest penalty yet in the investigation of interest rat rigging Interest Rate rigging. A 2. 5 billion fine. The probe focused on whether eggs manipulated Interest Rates. At least 29 deutsche employee as were included and a dozen other firms have paid more than 6 billion to settle similar claims. It is a major blow to the proposal between comcast and Time Warner Cable. Fcc Staff Members are now opposed to the deal. The reason is that it doesnt help consumers. Justice Department Antitrust officials told lawyers for both companies they are leaning to blocking a merger. The opposition from the fcc is stronger. Officials at the agency are expected to recommend at an administrative meeting. The outlook at this point is bleak according to one. This is a death sentence. I would be shocked that comcast is not walk away and start looking at other things. That will be the real question is what does Brian Roberts now turn his attention to two by to buy. Stephanie the british trader who caused the flash crash is now in prison. He was in court on london and said he would fight extradition to the u. S. Extradition to the u. S. Is a most inevitable according to some unless he has Serious Health problems. He will be freed later today once he posts more than 7 billion in bail. He also must agree to stay at his parents home and not use the internet. A court in spain has refused a u. S. Request to expedite a former jp morgan banker accused of helping the notorious london wellhale hide more than 6 billion in losses. He told judges he is innocent. The strong dollar is hurting Revenue Growths of facebook. Sales are up 42 in the First Quarter, but Facebook Says they could have gone up even more without the impact of the dollar. Chief operating officer says the company is finding new ways to target users on mobile. We believe video will play a significant role to \ bringing more users to mobi. We believe video will become more important to marketers overtime. Stephanie 73 of ad revenue came from mobile in the quarter. The parents of the black teenager killed by a white policeman in ferguson, missouri, plan to sue the city today. Attorneys for the family of Michael Brown announced plans to file the civil lawsuit both federal and local authorities declined to prosecute the police officer. The Justice Department concluded the Ferguson Police and courts this terminates court discriminate against blacks. Erik it has been a mixed picture for the housing numbers. Very strong sales but not such strength this morning in new home sales. Let us turn our attention to dave linacre. Nice to see you again. Re max does its own research into the Housing Market. Tell us what you have found. We found out that march was a very rapidly growing into the spring selling season. There is always an uptick but this it was about 25 greater than last year. Erik from what you have concluded and what your research shows, does it help to explain the disappointing data points that we got today on the existing home sales . I know that is not an area that re max plays but given that you know what is happening in the Housing Market. David i think that as a temporary setback on the homebuilders. They are starting to switch some of the Home Building from the highend where they have been able to hide some of their increase in costs to help the entrylevel buyer. You cannot look at a monthtomonth comparison. You have to look at trends ago for more than six month at a time. Stephanie in what regions . David if you look at resales they were much stronger in the northeast and the midwest and very slow in the south and about normal in the western part of the country. The resell picture follows almost directly with what new Home Building is. Erik do you find that the Housing Market is strongest on the coast and perhaps weaker in the center of the company . David for the first time i dont think that is necessarily true if you look at the figures we just looked at. The place whither is a lot of activity is where the house prices are still relatively low and havent recovered the losses they had which includes florida california, and the southwest. If you look at the coastal areas and if it is really close to the coast, the prices have gone up significantly. That slowing down the resales. Erik which markets are most price insensitive. In other words prices are rising but sales continue to increase . David you look at Silicon Valley and san francisco. Even if you look at the front range of colorado our prices have been going up significantly more than most of the rest of the country. Stephanie why colorado . David colorado has a very diverse industry. We have a fabulous climate. A lot of people want to move there just like the other sun belt areas. We have a very strong economy. Erik what about a couple of factors and again i know you do research in this that helps influence price and the pace of sales. How long homes are being listed for before they get sold and the levels of inventory. David the hotter the market, the shorter the day. In our hottest markets, the time. Thats the time they are listed is 52 days in the average is 6768 days across the country. There is such a low amount of inventory that we are getting multiple offers very quickly. As long as we have low inventory, that will continue to happen. Erik we are just at the beginning of the spring selling season, how do you think it will shape up . David one month doesnt make a trend but i was at our convention a month ago. The agents and brokers were very enthusiastic and confident it will be a strong season for them. Erik good seeing you and thank you for your time. Stephanie one we return Pentagon Spending cuts . No problem. Contractors are finding plenty of business overseas. Erik i will remind you we are waiting for president obama. He is scheduled to speak any second now about a counterterrorism operation in january that accidentally as a matter of fact there is the president. President obama good morning. I want to the stress our grief for the two hostages. Dr. Weinstein and Giovanni Laporto were tragically killed in a u. S. Counterterrorism operation. Warren and giovanni were aid workers in pakistan devoted to improving the lives of the pakistani people. After warren was inducted by al qaeda in 2011, i directed my National Security team to do Everything Possible to find him and bring him home safely to his family. I dedicated professionals dedicated professionals across our country worked tirelessly to do it and wait worked closely with our italian allies. Our counterterrorism efforts have saved innocent lives and prevented terrorism attacks here in america and around the world. That determination to protect innocent life only makes the loss of these two men especially painful for all of us. Based on information and intelligence we have obtained, we believe that a u. S. Counterterrorism operation targeting and al qaeda compound in the afghanistanpakistan border region accidentally killed warren and giovanni this past january. Yesterday, i spoke with warrens wife and the Prime Minister of italy. As a husband and as a father, i cannot begin to imagine the english their families are enduring today. I realize there are no words that can ever equal their loss. I know there is nothing i can ever say or do to ease their heart ache. I want to simply say this. As president and as commanderinchief, i take full responsibility for all of our counterterrorism operations, including the one that inadvertently took the lives of warren and giovanni. I regret what happened. On behalf of the u. S. Government , i offer our deepest apologies to the families. As soon as we determined the cause of their deaths i determined this operation bd classified and disclosed topically. I did so because the families deserve to know the truth. I did so because even though certain aspects of our National Security have to remain secret to succeed, the u. S. Is a democracy committed to openness in good times and bad. Our initial assessment and tickets this operation was fully consistent with the guidelines under which we conduct counterterrorism efforts in the region which has been our focus for years because it is the home of al qaedas leadership. Based on the intelligence we had obtained at the time including hundreds of hours of surveillance, we believed this was an al qaeda compound but no civilians were present and capturing these terrorists was not possible. We do believe the operation did take out dangerous members of al qaeda. What we did not know tragically, is that al qaeda was hiding the presence of warren and giovanni in this same compound. It is a cruel and better truth that in the fog of war generally and our fight against terrorists specifically mistakes sometimes the limit stakes can occur. One of the things that sets america apart from many nations one of the things that makes us exceptional, is our willingness to confront squarely our imperfections and learn from our mistakes. Already i have directed a full review of what happened. We will identify the lessons that can be learned from this tragedy and any changes that should be made. We will do our utmost to ensure it is not repeated. We will continue to do everything we can to prevent the loss of innocent lives. Not just innocent americans, but all innocent lives in our counterterrorism operations. Today we join their families and friends in honoring warren and giovanni two humanitarians who were united by the spirit of service. For decades warren surveyed with the peace corps and later with the United States agency for international development. He devoted his life to people across africa and south asia. He was a loving husband, father and grandfather who willingly left the comforts of home to help the people of pakistan. At the time of his abduction, he was a contractor focusing on helping pakistani families escape poverty and give a better life to their children. Giovannis humanitarianism also took him around the world to the Central African republic, haiti, and pakistan. He fell in love with pakistan and its people and believed passionately that he could make a difference in their lives. Giovannis service reflected the commitment of the italian people, our great allies and friends. Today is the reminder of the bunch of between our countries in the shared values that bind americans and italians together. There could be no starker contrast between these two selfless men and the al qaeda captors. Warrens work benefited people across faiths while al qaeda boasted to the world that it held warren citing his jewish faith. Al qaeda held both men for years. They deprived these men of precious irreplaceable years with families who missed them terribly. Amid grief that is unimaginable i pray that these two families will find some small measure of solace in knowing that warren and giovannis legacy will end her. Their service will be remembered by pakistani men, women, and children whose lives they touched. Their spirit will live on and the love of their families are in the thoughts and prayers today. The shining example of these two men will stand as a light to people the world over who see suffering an answer with compassion. Who see hatred and offer their love. Who see war and work for peace. May god bless these two brave men and may he watch over and comfort their families for the years to come. Stephanie that was president obama talking about the deaths of two hostages being held by al qaeda in a u. S. Counterterrorism strike. One hostage was american. One was italian. Both had been held captive for years. It happened in january but was declassified this week. He says the Intelligence Community did not know the hostages were being held in the compound that was struck. An americanborn al qaeda leader was also killed. The president says the operation followed guidelines and that he takes full responsibility for the deaths of the hostages. I want to bring back in our chief washington correspondent peter cook. This is heavy news. What do we expect the follow from this to be . Peter i would expect and were already seeing almost immediately on capitol hill more questions being raised about americas counterterrorism efforts, particularly when it relates to american hostages held abroad. We have a statement already from congressman john delaney of maryland, a democrat. Warren weinstein lived in mongo county maryland so he was local to the area and previously worked in the peace corps. John delaney saying in his own statement that he wants a review conducted as to exactly how these kinds of operations move forward in the future. There will be tough questions asked about whether or not this Drone Program is effective and necessary right now as has been suggested in the past by the administration and the Intelligence Community. This is a tough moment for the president and the Intelligence Community. They did not know these hostages were present at the site. They thought this would be a successful counterterrorism attack. They have learned the consequences. It will raise some tough questions for the administration going forward. You heard the president say they thought this was legal and they will conduct their own review. There will be tough questions asked about by democrats and republicans. Erik the president says he takes full responsibility and i am sure he would be the first to say there is no excuse for this kind of error or mistake especially when the lives of people are involved. Do you know anything about the statistics . Presumably there will be some analysis or data made available that show how many drone strikes are carried out and how rare an incident like this is. Peter i think you are absolutely right. We will not hear it most likely in public. In private briefings that members of congress have and members of the intelligence committees and i think youll hear a lot of them step forward later today to say if you knew what we know about the success of these kinds of drone strikes, there would not be as many questions about the effectiveness and the need for these going forward. We will have to wait and see what we hear. I dont have those numbers in front of me. It will be surprising if the Intelligence Community provides them but i will not be surprised if we do not get some better assessment of the success rate for these. Erik it will be Something Like the case people make for the airline industry. The crash of a jetliner is a horrifying ring, but Airline Travel is pretty safe and we continue to take precautions. T