We have the stocks to watch in the close of trading today. Barnes noble, news in just the past half hour or so, a Company CalledG Asset Management trying to take over the bookseller. 22 bucks a share. It would value the total 1. 3 billion dollars. We are also watching groupon. Forecast trailing estimates. It is falling quite a bit, down 21 . We are seeing earnings. One of them, into it intuit. Past quarters of growth has been says growth will be robust and that will boost next quarter. What does it mean a late tax easing . It means they will file later. But they are still do . Due . Delayed. Lets look at developments in ukraine at this hour. President Viktor Yanukovych and opposition leaders have signed an agreement that should put an end to the bloody outbreaks. The package still needs to win the support of the protesters on the street. At least 77 have been killed in the violence that took place this week. We are joined by the director of the russia and eurasia program, the csis. And we are joined on the phone by a senior fellow at the brookings institute. Steve, let me start with you. What do you think about this . We have had a couple reports of truces in the last few days and it has always ended with more violence. I think this agreement is important as it offers a path out of the crisis for ukraine. But it is fragile. There will be those who see this as threatening personal and economic interests. There are people in the main protest square who want to see mr. Yanukovych gone right now. They do not want to wait until the fall. I think they have already voiced that to opposition leaders. There is the ominous sign that the russian representative was witness. He initialed with the three european ministers who initialed the draft agreement, but apparently after a phone conversation with moscow, he did not sign the agreement. Liukin did not sign. The russians abstained from the signing of it. Russia, the bond issue, the way they lend money, aid to ukraine was not launched yesterday. Does this mean the russians are stepping back a bit, which is one of the things the protesters want, isnt it . The russians are in a week and see mode right now. It was clear they were skeptical of any transition to the government backed by the opposition, and the decision to hold off on signing the truce and to withhold the bonds is waiting to see what kind of government they are going to get. I wanted to ask about another element today, the former prime minister, yulia tymoshenko, being released from prison. How does that change the situation . Does it further inflame the protesters . Does she come back and get involved right away . First of all, she never should have been sent to prison. It was trumped up charges, a sham trial. If she returns to the political scene, how does she react with the established opposition leaders . Can they Work Together and move forward, or does it become more complicated . We just do not know at this point. I wonder, mr. Ambassador, how likely it is that we see mr. Jim mr. Yannick over stay in power mr. Yanukovich stay in power . Im sorry. See who stay in power . The president s day empower. Yanukovich, i mean. When we have not seen any of the leaders. In the arab spring, its obviously a different dynamic. There are more lives at stake. Can he hold on . Sure. Even before the crisis last summer, mr. Yanukovichs poll numbers were way down. He has only discredited himself with the handling of the crisis over the past three months. Certain if the9 election is free and fair and the ukrainians know how to do a free and Fair Election mr. Yanukovich will be a one term president. That is a long way off, december 2012. Im sorry, 2014. Is it possible to hold onto power until december . The elections were supposed to be held in early 2015. The protesters demanded the elections be moved out. You have the whole snap election. Elections have been moved up four or five months. That still leaves us with nine months. I do not think the protesters, the opposition who demand that viktor vukovich yanukovich step down going to accept that. Thekovichs handling of crisis has been really inept. And the blood being shed has made it difficult for him to stay in power until december. Jeff, with this agreement being signed, this is talking about the actual split of the country into an eastern and western portion, and easter portion that would have those are ties to russia and the western portion that would have closer ties to the west and the european union. How likely do you think that is . That prospectught was particularly likely, no matter what. There is a blind spot when it comes to ukraine, particularly in russia. I think there is a sense that the eastern ukrainians, most of them who speak russian as a first language, have a closer relationship with russia, and certainly political and economic ties with russia, but they see themselves as ukrainians. They do not want to be part of a russian state or a russian satellite. There are definitely tensions in the dynamic. That is one of the things that will define ukrainian politics in a more democratic era. But the notion of the country splitting apart into an east and west, im a little bit skeptical that is going to be the taste. Even if you look during the protest, there was Mass Mobilization in the west on behalf of the agreement with ee you in favor of a change in government. You did not see anything analogous in the east. Protests ofot mass people saying were with russia. Referred totally president yanukovich as temoshen ko. I always think of him, because he was poisoned. There is the question of who poisoned him, but it was likely kgb, putin, russia. What happens if they lose the buffer zone that they are so interested in keeping . I think the russians still have a lot of tools in the toolbox. Those include financial assistance. The situation with the economy is not going particularly well. One of the russian responses was to extend the promise bond purchase they announced just a financials ago. That crisis is still hanging over ukraine. There is of course the energy lever the russians have used on a number of occasions in the past. And i should say when it comes to the separatist issue, i think the eastwest eine amick gets overplayed sometimes. But there is another issue, the crimea. I think the eastwest dynamic gets overplayed sometimes. But there is another issue, the crimea. I think the idea of russia trying to play the separatist extremists is not something we should be worried about. And poisoned fish. Do not forget bush and fish. Jeffrey mankoff, thank you for your time. We will bring you the very latest on venezuela, later in the broadcast. You are watching street smart. Im julie hyman. If you got it, spend it. Our own adam johnson has little insight and action. Its easy. If youve got it, spend it. We should all be so lucky. Look at corporate america. Cash as a percentage of assets on the balance sheet. This was sent over to us by the guys at strategic is research strategas research. Very good research. Companiese from 1960, have a lot of cash. Thats very important. The question is, how do they deploy it . Yes, there are capital expenditures, research and development. Most companies do that practically every year. Herein, year out, always the line item. The question is, what do you do with the excess cash . In the s p 500, there are 199 companies doing buybacks. The totals of dividends. 912 acquisitions. Thats a lot of acquisitions. Why do they do that . They get rewarded in the stock market. Take a look at this. Buyers outperform. Again, we thank the team over at strategas for this data. The compared the market to s p 500. Look at what happened. Days after the acquisition. Typically the companies doing the acquiring are up five percent. Is counterintuitive, right . You are growing. That is a benefit. Look at this. 6. 5 . S, up facebook up 1. 3 . Comcast this one is interesting. This one is down 2. 5 . Maybe they are a buying opportunity. We are joined by a man who was also putting money to work. He is the head of portfolio strategy at barclays. He says we will close 2014 at 1900. Welcome back to street smart. We are not so far from 1900 right now, are we . We are not. 1839. 61 points away. That, ie we move on to think the point that adam was making is interesting, the details what will happen this year as opposed to what will work. Corporate risk aversion was extremely high. The average marginal dollar of Free Cash Flow went to buy stock. What you saw last year was that leveled off at the median Company Level and companies started to invest in inventory, then capital, labor. Now you are seeing a pickup in mergers and acquisitions. This, we think, is largely a function of public uncertainty and policy and some shocks like the japanese economy. Companies are starting to put money to work in capital investing particularly the market is starting to reward for that. Our strategy is to buy companies in the sweet spot for that, which is overweight in industrials and technology. A so you are buying him and m a anything . From a corporate perspective the highest risk of thing, the potential career and there goes bad. A are you giving preference to capital investment. Capital investment. The reason that we think that is such an important driver for this Business Cycle, with the exception of energy certainly technology was going through an investment bust. That has changed because of things like equalization of labor costs across the world. They have been rising in china, flat in the u. S. Recoveryd the cyclical in Capital Spending delayed because of all this policy uncertainty. That is really dovetailing secularith the stronger trend. The bottom line is, if a company is buying back his shares, that means managers cant think of anything better to do. If the company is making a acquisitions we have already study after study after study. Acquisitions do not make money. Its just what managers like to do. They are building their base. Ultimately that will lead to not manufactured earnings, but true core organic earnings and revenues. We will take a quick break. You are going to stay with us for the hour. A quick check. 18 people have died since erupted in venezuela. The opposition leader, Leopoldo Lopez, in prison. A lot of people writing in and saying why are you talking about what is happening in venezuela . Its a big deal and we are going to cover it. Stay with us. All rights, another torn country that maybe we have not been following closely enough is venezuela. Student protests have been erupting across the country for two weeks. Is bracing for two large demonstrations this weekend. Protesters are asking for nook to resign four Nicolas Maduro to resign. Revoked credentials for u. S. Journalists. We are joined by our correspondent. What is going on . It seems like because of what is going on in ukraine, the media has in large part ignored what is going on in and is lela. In venezuela. And venezuela is a twohour ride from miami. It is an Economic Situation spiraling out of control. The inflation is insane. Inflation is insane. They cant keep products on the shelves. They have the scarcity index of 28 which means at any given time one in four products will not be available to buy. You have a lack of toilet paper, milk, and medicine. We had reporters and caracas who interviewed a man whose 10 month old son has a failing liver and he has to travel on an eight hour odyssey to get him the medicine he needs. When he does did it, he has to pay five times the time. Groceriest get any that are good. From any you can access atm is worthless by the time you got it out. It is a security issue. The crime there is rampant. One of the things that sparked the latest round of protests, there was an attempted rape of a College Student and they were not satisfied by the response of the authorities. There is a lot of situations that are going on here. These elements all play into just civil unrest that is taking to the streets, because that is the best way to show you are angry with the government. Theseng of violence, protests have been met with extremely violent oppression. From the state side . You have National Guards throwing tear gas into peoples faces. There are motorcycle gangs going around with machine guns shooting at people, into crowds, into buildings. The National Guard is just standing by. It is really the wild west. At least in ukraine, you have international overseers. Where will any piece, for venezuela when will any peace come for venezuela . Analyst say that it could be brought under control if for instance they released Leopoldo Lopez from prison he opposition leader. Radcom a the opposition rights, the opposition leader. Nobody knows where it can go. Most analysts say, is this the end of the government for now . We have been watching the bonds as a response to that situation. Debt investorsed are paying attention to this situation. Yes, greylock is definitely a investor. Debt they are contrarian. It is capacity to pay. With venezuela, there is the willingness to pay. It is the ability to pay. You have a government running out of cash. Reserves of fellow reserves have fallen 30 in the last year. Thank you. We have to take a quick break. We are back in two minutes. Lyft. R, sidecar, Taxi Services disrupting the traditional taxi industry. But taxis are not going down without a fight. Our correspondent from Bloomberg Businessweek is joining us with more on this story. The big issue with traditional taxis versus these services . Is it really going to take their business away you go or is it a matter is it really going to take their business away . Of there beinger enough business . We have actually seen it is going to take the business away. The Yellow Cab Companies in San Francisco have had trouble fully staffing they are shipped with drivers and that fully shifts witheir drivers and that is because the drivers are migrating to the services. There is the ocular rectus of search pricing popular practice of search pricing, which allows them to charge more. This is not regulated, this is not regulated. Who wass a young girl killed in San Francisco by an uber driver. It seems like they may have some fair points here. Sure. The issues around the services are around to Driver Distraction in the car, background checks, the insurance of the drivers. That type of situation like you see in denver and cisco speaks to all three. The driver had a previous citation for speeding. That type of situation might you see in San Francisco speaks to all three. He did not have a passenger, so uber said they would not insure him. In the state of california, they are regulated. In cities like new york, the taxi drivers who work for uber do have to have those credentials. This is playing out city by city and we will continue to see this action in the year ahead. I will take the other side of that. I was hit i have car and the taxir was not any type of driver. Accidents happen all of the time. I do not understand why that makes a difference. I would rather taxis be less regulated because then they could sell serve the demand on the new york city streets. When they get a certain number of fairness, they are not allowed to pick up any more customers. And i think the surge pricing is what the market has been asking for, an easy problem to solve. Maybe thebar yellow cab drivers should take a book. Itubers is addressing a supply demand imbalance in some cities. You are right. Every type of Service Driver has all sorts of technology distractions. The question that is going to be litigated here, if there is a Smartphone App that these companies are using, is that a distraction . That will be an issue that will be litigated. It could be impact. Or uber and these companies. Ful forcould be impact uber and these companies. The complaint of the taxi drivers now is they are at a competitive disadvantage. Maybe they could regulate them differently, allow them to use different pricing inefficient. O they are randomly driving around the streets waiting to pick someone up. Uber makes so much more sense. And there are a whole bunch of Companies Offering technology to the Yellow Cab Companies. They do have a competing solution. With the fees and the insurance they are required to pay visavis the other companies, there is an imbalance. But they need to compete. For the first time in decades, they have serious competition threatening their business. That is capitalism. For the first time we see some of them wake up and try to improve their service. The thing that strikes me about allegations of uber overcharging, you do indeed approve of the price before you get in the car, so im a little confused about where the controversy comes from. Not to mention that those fromations typically come incredibly wealthy people. Concerned do we have for jessica seinfeld, the wife of the comedian, about her uber charge . The other thing we did, me and my fellow reporters on the story, we went and we took a whole bunch of these rides in these cars and we talked of the drivers, and they really seem to love it. It does get them out of the cab when they see that pricing. And you can pretty much guarantee that the driver will complain about earning his livelihood, at least in new york city. For example on new york on new years eve when we knew that would come into effect, i took precautions to make sure i had some other transportation. I think a lot of people did. That will really drive the ofulist to more green ways driving. That is true. Its funny on the green question. A lot of these Companies Say people will be less reliant on their cars, we are taking cars off the road. That when im not so sure about. I spoke to a lot of drivers, many of whom work tied up in the city, turning their cars into cabs under the umbrella of these services because of the new opportunity. Under the transition of this new private car service economy, i wonder if we will have more cars on the road instead of less. All right. Im always in favor of more. I have never taken one. You . Yes. I have never taken one. Very pleasant. It is an expensive luxury way to travel i find. It is always a big escalade. Not the kind of thing i would do on a