Headline this morning. Breaking news in the investigation of the german wings crash. The french prosecutor speaking right now saying the descent of that airplane could only have been voluntary. The planes commander was locked out of the cockpit. He can be heard trying to break down the door to get back in. The Prosecutor Says the copilot was breathing right up to the point of impact. Investigators do not know why the copilot did not respond. Neither pilot has been identified by name. The airbus almost this new graded on impact. The flight data recorder was damaged. The airbus almost decent integrated on disintegrated on impact. Bombing shiite military installations the rebels control major cities and forced him as president to flee. Forced yemens president to flee. The attacks are infuriating iran. Military action from outside yemen against territorial integrity and against the many people will have no result but bloodshed and slaughter of the people. As we have seen, a lot of people were murdered and civilians were killed in these bombings. Betty u. S. Warplanes joining the assault on saddam husseins hometown. The first time iraqi forces are tying to retake the city from Islamic State militants. Oil markets reacting to this. Prices in new york of more than 4 . Oil on track for its biggest fiveday rally since 2011. The fighting is near the heart of the worlds major crude sources. Equity futures also down on this news. Negotiators in the Iran Nuclear Talks are hoping to strike a deal by sunday. This according to three diplomats. John kerry is back at the table today in switzerland. The secretary of state is challenging those criticizing this process. Anybody standing up in opposition to this has an obligation to stand up and put a viable, realistic alternative on the table. I have yet to see anybody do that. We will see where we go. Betty the nuclear talks. The u. S. And five otherworld powers offering to lift sanctions on iran if it agrees not to build nuclear weapons. The worlds secondbiggest sportinggoods maker is feeling the need for speed. Adidas revealed plans today to catch up with nike, rushing hot products to stores faster and will try to build on its success in major cities. Predicting annual Profit Growth of 15 . Those are your top headlines this morning. It is still going on right now on the crashed germanwings flight. We are joined by andrew rothman. We are watching the News Conference now. These are incredible details coming out from the french prosecutor that apparently this copilot intentionally crashed this airplane. What more do we know about this . Andrea we know that normally there are two pilots in the cockpit. One of them went out to go to the bathroom and when he tried to get back in he was locked out by the other pilot. At the same time, the pilot controlling the plane put the plane into descent and the plane started going down. When the pilot outside realized what was going on, he tried to get in but there is a mechanism on the door that allows the person inside to lock the door so nobody can get in. You have a scenario where the plane is in a steep dive. The copilot is banging on the door trying to get inside. The doors are too strong. Betty we know there are protocols. Here in the u. S. , when you see a pilot leave the cockpit the Flight Attendant steps in, the fugard goes in front of the door food cart goes in front of the door and the Flight Attendant goes into the cockpit. How unusual this is that this pilot left the cockpit and let the other pilot alone. If the pilot was in there alone, the regulations of that country or that airline would have allowed that. Normally, he should have only been alone for half a minute. Unfortunately we are stuck with a situation where the pilot was alone and unable to and able to bring down the plane. This will raise major questions about the Security Systems of the cockpit. This was designed to prevent Something Like 9 11. Instead, it prevents the copilot from saving the plane. Betty we will continue to get more headlines. Thank you so much. Now to the escalating chaos in the middle east. Yemen on the brink of civil war. The Islamic State fighting to hold on to the city of tikrit. Mattingly joining me now. What are you hearing about a u. S. Response . Phil at the request of saudi arabia, the u. S. Is providing the just tickle and intelligence support to the operation led by saudi arabia logistical and intelligence support. There is no plans for u. S. Forces to enter this. You have to look at the u. S. Interests. Yemen is a central part of the strategy the current government being pushed out has been helpful to u. S. Interests. They are backing saudi arabia right now in what has become a proxy war between the rebels backed by iran and the saudi arabia and back government. The u. S. Siding with saudi arabia for its own interests. Betty american warplanes are conducting these airstrikes to help iraq retake tikrit. How significant is this offensive . Phil the u. S. Is backing a country against iran. In this case, they have become allies with iran in these airstrikes over tikrit right now. You are seeing not so much a major shift due to this offensive, but a strategic shift. The u. S. Has been waiting for weeks as these iraqi this iraqi offensive has worked. They decided to do that at the request of the iraqi president. The u. S. Is now aligned with iran whether they like it or not. This just as another major complexity. Betty thank you so much. And increasingly complex situation in the middle east. The conflict overseas signaling the market selloff from yesterday is going to get worse today. On wednesday, the dow dropped 300 points. The nasdaq lost 2. 5 . This morning, futures know better. The pain will continue right across the board. People are on the edge of their seats. I want to bring in mike reagan. As the pain continues, what are people saying to you . Mike it looks a lot like yesterday. The stocks that rallied a lot over the last year or so Semi Conductor companies, Chip Companies are bearing a lot of this selling this morning. If you look at some of the bestperforming groups the Semiconductor Index was up 20 . The biotech index of 30 over the last year. Airlines had been up 30 before this recent weakness. Betty were they right for selling . Mike there is a lot of moving pieces. It is toward the end of the quarter. That can cause profittaking. A lot of companies are not able to buy back shares because earnings season is coming up. Betty yesterday we know today we are watching overseas. Yesterday, was a durable goods . Mike durable goods set the tone early. There were some cautious notes from analysts about Semi Conductor companies. Wall street journal had a skeptical story about Biotech Companies asking if they are in a bubble. It was a death by 1000 cuts. Betty or maybe just reaching for some excuse. Mike the automated algorithms take over. Its hard to parse it all out and say it was definitely this. Betty thank you so much. Coming up today the First Retail Center of its kind. Opening in downtown manhattan. We will speak to the man behind brookfields place. The ceo of popeyes joins us. She led the fast food chain to an incredible turnaround. Does that mean chicken prices are going higher . Betty here is a look at our top stories this morning. Urging smokers to snuff out there ecigarettes. The cdc launching a 16 million campaign. Tobacco as happen off tv for more than four decades but the rules did not cover ecigarettes. As the messenger is getting a facelift. You will be able to vote at photos and videos. Mark zuckerberg said there will be new messenger features for business. Mark zuckerberg think about how useful it would be if you could just message them and instantly get information about whatever you need, make a reservation, by something in line change shipping information in time. We are introducing a way for you to communicate with businesses through messenger. Betty nobody, but a tshirt. The messenger at has 600 million monthly users already. Jurors are beginning a second day of deliberations an attorney urged the jury to let the buyers know that everybody deserves a fair and equitable workplace. She is headed out the door. Lots of nasty words flying in that trial. Later on we will speak to the ceo of a company that could benefit from Rising Interest Rates. The fed could help paychex. Initial jobless claims out at a 30 a. M. 8 30 a. M. Here in new york, a new mall opens its doors today. A luxury mecca that sits just across from the world trade center. Stores like saks fifth avenue, romhermes just a few years ago, developers were fighting against huge odds with 40 vacancy rates and the exit of major tenants, including Merrill Lynch. A 300 million renovation letter and it seems to be back on track. Joining me is one of the key people behind this project, the National Director of retail leasing for the u. S. Office for Brookfield Properties good to see you this morning. In this whole complex itself you lost major tenants. Merrill lynch was just among other Big Financial Services firms. Absolutely. At that time, we made a decision to invest in retail and create a place where people would want to work. The retail component was critical. Betty a wakeup call for you. It was time to renovate the center but we were more motivated with the expansion of the Merrill Lynch lease. Betty a good chunk of your property. Now, who do you have in place . The office is 8 million square feet. We got bank of america, time inc. Saks, hudson bay. The Office Vacancy is right around 5 now. Betty 95 occupied. Something to brag about, for sure. We are very happy about those numbers. Betty what are you getting per square foot . Right now, a 6080 foot square foot range every deal is different. Betty on the mall side of things you want to make this a luxury destination. It is a luxury destination. Betty you are targeting who exactly . I think of wall street that is the big change since 9 11. There are so many families living downtown. The people who shop downtown are not the people within walking distance. If you live in jersey brooklyn, this is a place to come to shop. When the retailers camp, they looked at the trade area if it was more than a fiveminute walk radius. The People Living downtown are extremely wealthy, welleducated. Their biggest complaint is i have to go to midtown to do my shopping or go to soho. They are here. We are filling a huge need. Betty they want it and you are giving it to them. This is such a tiny island. We have so many shopping destinations. Upper east side, madison avenue fifth avenue, hudson yard on the west side and here at brookfield. Are there enough dollars and people to go around . Absolutely. The wealth downtown the fourthlargest district by itself. Lower manhattan is one of the most densely built square miles in north america. You never see that much money poured into such a finite area in the u. S. Brookfield places the heart of this new neighborhood. Greeting betty Winter Garden is one of my Favorite Places in new york. Much more ahead, including the ceo of paychex joining me in a moment. Just because im away from my desk doesnt mean im not working. Comcast business understands that. Their wifi isnt just fast near the router. Its fast in the break room. Fast in the conference room. Fast in toms office. Fast in other toms office. Fast in the foyer [pronounced foyyer] or is it foyer [pronounced foyyay] . Fast in the hallway. I feel like ive been here before. Switch now and get the fastest wifi everywhere. Comcast business. Built for business. Betty you are watching in the loop. Good morning. We are moments away from the latest jobless claim numbers on this thursday morning. Which will give another indication of how the jobs recovery is doing. A recovery that Goldman Sachs is running too hot when you look at other data. There is one stock that is apparently already based on the economy and Rising Interest Rates a Company Called paychex. Shares of the Payroll Processor have outpaced the s p this year so far. Rising Interest Rates could help its socalled slope the amount of money and holds for his clients and a better economy means more Small Business formations. Joining me is martin mucci the ceo of paychex. How do you feel about this storyline here that paychex will benefit from Rising Interest Rates . Martin every 25 basis points for us is worth 4 million in annual revenue. A very positive thing for us. We grew 9 this quarter. We are feeling really good about the year. Betty yes, you release your earnings yesterday, revenue up 9 . Hr services of 19 percent up 19 . What is going on . Martin a lot of growth in hr outsourcing. A lot of Small Businesses need hr support with all the Compliance Needs and Affordable Care act and immigration reform. Theyre looking to companies who are exports experts. You see it come down to a much smaller client size than we used to. Betty you mention a few things, the Affordable Care act, tax reform, immigration. They need more help navigating more complicated regulatory environment. Is this something you have seen dramatically change in the last 12 months . Martin it really has picked up quite a bit with the Affordable Care act in particular because its that much more difficult for Small Businesses to keep track of their employee hours, their health care premiums. We have products that do that. On the immigration reform, its keeping track of who they are hiring and making sure all of that is reported correctly to the irs and federal government and state governments. Theres a lot of regulation that has caused Small Businesses to go outside and look for experts to help them. Betty is any of that having an effect on their hiring . Martin it has made them more cautious. The Affordable Care act has driven an increase in parttime hiring. Here more cautious about what their costs will be under health care reform. Whether they need to add Health Insurance or pay a penalty. That has made them more cautious in their hiring. Betty what about wages . Were scratching our heads wondering why isnt this economy creating 250,000 plus jobs and wages are going are not going . Martin wage increases around 2 on an annual basis. It has not moved a lot. When you see productivity it maxed out because after the recession, businesses did not hire as many people. Now, they will have to hire to get the productivity up. Betty where are you seeing most of the hiring . Martin most of the hiring from our Small Business index is still in the central part of the u. S. , driven primarily by energy. You see a lot of jobs in texas to north dakota. That may be impacted by lower gas prices. We have not seen that yet. The slowest is in the northeast. That may be impacted by the top winter as well. Betty what about by industry . Where are you seeing layoff by industry . Martin the strongest industry has been hell Services Health services and education. Just recently, you are starting to see more leisure and discretionary services. A good sign that people have Discretionary Income to spend. Betty thank you for joining us. Martin mucci the ceo of paychex. The stock up on the prospect of higher Interest Rates. We are getting jobless claims numbers, 280,000. Scarlet fu at the breaking news desk. Scarlet evidence the job market is holding up because jobless claims falling to 282,000. The consensus was for jobless claims to hold steady at 290,000. Consistent with strong hiring. In terms of its affect on the markets, stock in next futures Index Futures remain down with s p and dow off by. 7 . The dollar remains weaker up. 6 . The two year yield has come off its lows at 60 basis points even. Betty we are closely watching the reaction in the market. The latest on the breaking news we are following this morning, revelations about the final moment aboard the doomed germanwings jet. The descent of the plane from cruising altitude could only have been voluntary. The planes commander was locked out of the cockpit. He could be heard trying to break down the door to get back in. The copilots breathing could be heard right before impact. Voluntary he refused to open the door. He turned the button to get down the plane. Betty investigators do not know why the copilot refused to open the cockpit door. The airbus almost disintegrated on impact. The flight data recorder has not yet been found. It will give more clues as to what happened. All 150 people on board were killed. Victors show heavy damage at rebel post new pictures show heavy damage at rebel posts in yemen. It forced yemens president deeply. The u. S. Is helping by saudis this out is by providing intelligence. The saudis by providing intelligence. Military action from outside yemen against territorial integrity and against the many people will have no result of bloodshed and slaughter of the people. A lot of people were martyred and civilians were killed in these bombings. Betty u. S. Warplanes are joining the assault on saddam husseins hometown. Iraq you forces are trying to retake the city from Islamic State militants. Apple is planning a phone tradein program in china. The offer helps iphone sales in the u. S. Customers in china will get credit when they bring in an older iphone and buy a new one. The offer will start in china by the end of the month. They will buy and resell the older phones. Lulu lemon getting a boost. The yoga wear maker posted fourthquarter results that topped forecasts. Holiday season shopping helped the results. Oversized sweaters and puffy coats were hot sellers during the cold winter. Everything from ornate furniture to purses and even english silver glass bottles among the hundreds of items from Oprah Winfreys former chicago apartment. Get your piece of opera. Speaking about the worlds richest like opera, one new for my wall street looking to capitalize on the trillions in global wealth, making investments as impactful as they are profitable. That remarkable story is next. Betty are getting more headlines up the germanwings plane crash. The press conference is just wrapping up with the french prosecutor. Scarlet lets start with the latest headlines from the News Conference. The french prosecutor saying the copilot who was commanding the aircraft when it crashed was 28 years old and he had a few hundred hours of experience. He had worked for a few months as well. Both pilots including the one locked out of the cockpit were german citizens. The copilots name was address he has no idea about the pilots religions or ethnicity. Nothing indicates this was a terrorist incident. The germanwings crash was intentional, according to the french prosecutor we will continue to keep our on any headlines our eye on any headlines. We have a weaker dollar weakness in asia overnight and europe this morning and making its way back here once again with futures down right now. Tech and biotech names again set to pace there are biotech firm down 8. 5 . Big energy names higher as oil prices rise. Chevron up by 1 . The Oil Services Company getting 2 at the moment. Betty you need a big cup of coffee this morning. Back on wall street, with music and news 2 wall stwo wall streeters began encourage capital which plans to take their wealth to invest in things that make the planet better. Sustainable fisheries, clean energy, Building Infrastructure for the poor. They have 250 million so far. Adam is joining me now. Great to see you. You were already doing this at the Fund Management firm. Already investing in these types of businesses. Adam thats right. We were investing mainly in financial inclusion. Financial services that help the poor. Very commercial, really private equity in emerging markets where is my partner jason and ricardo were working with foundations to help figure out how they can use Investment Capital fully aligned with their mission to solve critical social and environmental problems because any systemic problems they were doing it for profit. More of an advisory basis. We felt in order to betty how did you two come together here . Martin adam we saw this enormous demand from investors poor Quality Investments that dont just waved their hands but truly self albums solve problems in strategic ways. Like access to finance through the world for the worlds four. All of these problems require advocacy, philanthropy. Betty why not let philanthropy take care of it . Adam philanthropy is realizing that philanthropy alone will not get the job done. These are enormous problems that interact with capital markets. Just for v government alone wont solve any of these issues. Just philanthropy and government alone wont solve any of these problems. Betty i want to wrap my head around this. Give me an example, something where you went in and invested for profit and it changed that area. Adam right now, we are working in india where the government has just decided that small best farmers should be a priority sector for the government to invest in. Lets invest in midsized banks and then take a Technology Company that will help to extend their reach to smallholder farmers and other people might come in with the concessionary loan. You have these multiple layers of capital. Betty how are you going to attract more money . You have taken your prior firm and jasons prior firm and together that is 250 million of money. How do you get more . Adam by showing the market we have a unique set of people passionate about quality investing and solving problems. Once we show people that, the money will come to us. The firm that is really solving problems and really dedicating this we have people in our firm who are passionate enough. It will be anchored by Family Offices and foundations and then we will be able to attract the type of capital appropriate for this specific project. Betty are you going to sacrifice when you evaluate an investment and say the returns might not be as great adam there are times where that is the case but more times than not when they are fully aligned. Look at renewable energy. If that investment does not work, there is no carbon benefit. If the wind farm is massive, you have those economic returns and Environmental Returns together. Betty good to see you. The former World Bank President is your father. Doing great work for the world. Thank you so much. Highstakes on the high seas. Tonight is the the premier of our times at the table. We take a look at the multibilliondollar cruise industry. Betty here is a look at our top story this morning. In switzerland, negotiators are hoping to agree on basic terms for an Iran Nuclear Deal by sunday. This according to diplomats with direct knowledge of the talks. John kerry is back in geneva for talks with irans foreign minister. The u. S. Sees a way to get an agreement but that does not mean that there will be a deal. Housing prices rising much faster than wages. One reason, more investors are buying property as rental. It is believed to be the largest criminal fine ever in a sanctions case. The French Oil Company will pay more than 232 million. They will plead guilty to violating u. S. Sanctions against trading with iran and sudan. Coming up the heinz and kraft foods merger. The popeyes and ceo on the craze over chicken and america. Mcdonalds and burger king also ramping up your chicken meal. Have you booked your cruise yet . Americans booked their tickets on a number of cruise liners this season. They go year after year while others will never be caught on one. Its an issue we tackle in our latest edition of titans at the table. We profile two of the biggest players in the industry, carnival and royal caribbean. I had to see for myself what i was missing on the water. And youve been on every single one of your 101 ships . I not been on every ship yet but quite a few. Betty the first thing you notice is the attractions. Its like a county fair on water. After you dry off, its time to take in some extravagant vegas style entertainment. Then its off to a meal fit for a queen or king. You can burn the calories off in the same place. We have personal trainers, dietitians. Betty we walk the deck from the luxurious spa my favorite place on the ship. Betty to some of their nighttime hot spots he shows me some of his Signature Dance moves. [laughter] we have this new dynamic dining betty showing me firsthand what kind of vessel a billion dollars buys you. And over 1000 belong and the ability to sell with nearly 5000 passengers, its one of the largest ships on the water. Betty how many stories . First stop, the observation pod. A perspective you never get to see. Betty this is amazing. At the highest, we were above the statue of liberty. 300 feet out over the water. Thats incredible. Really cool. Betty the north star is the first attraction on a boat that has everything you could think of. And then some. Here we go. I want my lucky number eight. Bumper cars might be the last thing you would expect to see on a cruise ship. Here on the quantum of the sea, it somehow feels right at home. If being out at sea is not enough for you this boat has a way of getting you airborne. Ready to cruise or what . [applause] the best job in the world betty good times. That was the ceo of carnival. That after the ceo of royal caribbean. You can catch the full episode of titans at the table tonight at 9 00 p. M. Eastern time right here on bloomberg television. March madness is back. How are your predictions working out . The latest on the Bloomberg Charity bracket. Betty get ready, march madness starts up again today with the sweet 16 games. Our bloomberg bracket john donahoe stays in the number one place. The ceo of ebay with 87 points. Tied for second is jimmy dunn and bruce richards. You can follow along on the bloomberg terminal or online at bloomberg. Com charitybracket. Coming up, americas love affair with chicken helped turn around popeyes. Can it last in the state of rising poultry prices . Betty welcome back to it we are 30 minutes away from the opening bell. Stocks will open lower. Another ugly day in the market. The dow closed down nearly 300 points yesterday. Today, wall street digesting news. The lowest level in more than a month. The final moments aboard the doomed german wings jet. The Prosecutor Says the extent of the plane altitude could only have been voluntary. The planes commander was locked out of the cockpit. On the voice recorder, you can guess he can be heard trying to break down the door to get back in. The copilots breathing can be heard leading to the crash. Refused to open the door, and [indiscernible] betty investigators do not know why the copilot refused to open up the door. Neither pilot has been identified by name. A320 almost discrete disintegrate. All 150 people on board were killed. New pictures show heavy damage in yemen. Claims from death planes from saudi arabia are bombing shiite military. The rebels control major cities. The u. S. Is helping this out is by providing intelligence pair they are backed by nine other countries, all ruled life sunni muslims. The attacks are infuriating iran. Military action from outside yemen against territorial integrity and against the yemeni people will have no result but bloodshed and slaughter of the people. As we have seen over the past few hours, a lot of people were martyred and civilians were killed in these bombings. Betty u. S. Warplanes are joining the assault on saddam husseinss hometown. For the first time, iraqis forces trying to retake the city from Islamic State militants. Negotiators are hoping to agree on basic terms for a deal by sunday. This is according to diplomats familiar. John kerry is back in switzerland. They offered to lift sanctions in iran if it agrees to not build a nuclear weapons. Jurors in San Francisco are in their second day of deliberations in a major sex discrimination case. Suing a Venture Capital company where she works. One of her lawyers urged the jury to send the firm a strong message that all workplaces should be equitable and fair. Lawyers for the Companies Say he is a failed investor looking for a big payout. Those are your top headlines this morning. We are under 30 minutes away from the start of trade. Well count you down to the open with the top tech headlines hitting the radar before the bell this morning or at Surveillance Team with me. Olivia sterns. Ok. Lets start with number 10. Online education. This is such a controversial issue. The forprofit university of phoenix tumbled the most in 20 years in trade yesterday. Cutting its annual forecast. Unless we know when unemployment rises, people go back to school. As the economy faces itself in that way we have people leaving that school. The nonprofit colleges have a different model and keep the enrollment static the matter what dirty few try to replicate as many as you can you have a huge problem because you are then watching a movement. Betty is it cyclical or structural . Brendan cyclical. Betty the president has been tried to go after forprofit universities with these regulations. Olivia arent there numbers out there . Brendan olivia is referring to a technique we use on surveillance. I do it when im completely lost and i have no idea what to do it i look up and say, that trend you are talking about, is that cyclical . Betty statistics out their show forprofit education does not help many people who graduate and get jobs. So number nine, the center for Disease Control launching its latest strike on the tobacco industry. The cdc will roll out a 16 Million Ad Campaign designed to help smokers quit. The new ads will also include former users of ecigarettes. Staff in here apparently high schoolers, i cannot believe that, 17 of american heist seniors use ecigarettes. They vape more than they actually smoke regular cigarettes. I was shocked. All the big ecigarette Companies Think there will be regulations, a ban on television advertising. They are racing to get their promos out. Brendan this will be a heavy lift as well for the cdc. In the past, Big Decisions made about smoking, the allies they had were states looking at huge health or cost where it ecigarettes have not been around for as long. It will take a longer amount of time for the Health Care Problems to develop their they are missing an ally. Betty do not forget a lot of people who support ecigarettes. Olivia right. They say there is no proof out there makes them addicted to nicotine or that it is so much less harmful that maybe they should be. Betty adidas out with a strategy update today. Internet in an effort to compete with nike it will rush top products to stores faster and try to build on the success of major cities. Predicting annual Profit Growth of 15 . Brendan adidas has really concentrated on a couple of developing markets, russia and brazil. It has hinged everything on those two markets here it neither is doing well at all. They really have a problem hedging the line of the euro as well be as that is what they report in. The move to cities is focusing on the luxury market because the developing market did not hold up as well as they were supposed to. Olivia those were the two sites 2018 world cup. Adidas is big and soccer. Brendan the other thing they are learning as they cannot quite get the jump they had hoped out of the world cup and that the world cup strategy every four years to hang it all on dr. May not be the best for the future. Betty this seems too late. Havent they been struggling for years . Brendan this is also a huge strategy problem for them. Golf clubs are the same brand as nike shoes here that is not true for adidas. Theyre catching up to nike because nike could branch every death brand everything all over the world and adidas has not done that. Betty number seven, facebook. News out of the developer conference says it will open up its messenger chat at so other Software Developers can add to features. Mark zuckerberg spoke more about the opportunities. Mark zuckerberg think about how useful it would be if you could just message and instantly get information about whatever you need. Betty he is looking more buff these days. Brendan that do puts on more muscle every time you see him. Olivia he does not want to be an app. He wants to be a platform. Im interested in what faith is doing, trying to get everybody from buzz feed, New York Times a Business Model to try to put their content inside the facebook platform. How do you overlay a subscription model like the new york has, with Profit Sharing and facebook . Brendan you dont you and i would be hesitant to walk into that carl parlor. He is talking about opening up facebook to app developers. It seems that they really smart move. It has been a content company up until now. Facebook has been a smart company. It will be useful for businesses in also as of before. Now you can send your money. Staying intact number six is apple cared in an effort to boost sales in china, the company is introducing a Trading Program in the country. Many analysts boosting the target suggesting it could one day be a 1 trillion company. Could this be like casino operators where they basically see, the ceo of apple can be the agent causes most important ceo . Brendan what we are learning about Consumer Habits in china is american upgrade here you can did bump in consumer numbers and every time there is a new iphone model, it changes the u. S. Economy. That may not be true. People have to change up the policies. They have got to change policies to encourage behavior. Analyst that put out the stunning 1 trillion valuation says the whole reason is about china. They had 70 sales growth in china. Betty it can go higher p or we have got much more ahead as we count on the opening bell for we will be back in two minutes. Betty it is time for our deep dive. Day two of heinz purchase of kraft foods. The macaroni and cheese maker behind brands such as jello, oscar mayer, theyll be a, faces serious job cuts following the merger. It the biggest food deal on record, bigger than the 23 billion dollars takeover of heinz in 2013. More than 7000 positions were eliminated in within 20 months. Our Bloomberg News reporter joins me now from l. A. Noah, first off, we know there were job cuts before in the prior transaction. What is the talk now about job cuts here after the two merge . That is a great question. What we know is job cuts are one part of the 3g playbook. They are incredibly ruthless about getting costs out of a business, improving operating margins. You said in the intro, you talk about 7000 job cuts at heinz. We frankly do not know what the exact cuts will look like that craft. I think it is safe according to the analyst and investors i spoke with to assume that those are coming. Betty how much does buffett has as influence over that strategy between himself and 3g . How much do they consult with them may look at restructuring and rebranding these companies . Noah one thing, i do not think they will be looking to rebrand the companies fear they really do like the brands if you listen to what one buffett set or the guys at 3g headset. They like these brands. Buffett is really going to let 3g run the operation. He said that all along that he is more of a financing partner. I think the way to look at this is more as buffett trust these guys as managers, he knows what the playbook is, and he will let them execute. Betty how much my does this leave for buffett . Noah a staggering amount. Had more than 60 billion at the end of last year. The way the deal is structured, he will be paying maybe a little bit more than 5 billion more to pay the special dividend that craft shareholders are going to get, but that leaves a lot of money for him to do another deal. The real question is, when will that come along, and when will something come along the thames him . Betty with Warren Buffett it could along the soonest tomorrow. Noah it is always a possibility. Betty we have seen georgette the Berkshire Hathaway annual meeting over the last several years area the two of them get along very well. What he think it is . Noah look, the Partnership Makes sense right now for berkshire and its evolution. Buffett has as we talked about all of this cash, and he needs help finding places to what it to work to more than that, there are a lot of companies out there where he might like the brands and he might like a lot that is going for the company, but maybe he would feel more confident if there were a different Management Team in place. What 3g delivers is a Management Team and ideas. On the other hand, 3g obviously gets the capital from berkshire and it is also talked about that buffett has this halo. So when he goes and does a deal there is a reputation he brings to the table. Betty you cannot help but notice that buffett seems to have a real inkling for food companies, a real passion for them. Is there anything to be john from the fact that a lot of his acquisitions have to do with food and consumer goods . Noah nothing other than, i think he understands them. This is what he has done for 50 plus years. He invests in companies he could wrap his mind around. I would say that fits in that category. Betty great to see you no of Bloomberg News on buffett. Speaking about buffett, his partner, charlie, mocking greece. Taking a jab at greek citizen swork ethic. We will hear from him. Betty we get back to bringing you the most important stories you need to know before the opening bell. Brendan and olivia join me. Buffett has an important chairman, vicechairman charlie. He would never hold back. The billionaire investor said the quick solution is idiocy. If are going to prosper, we have got to work. Brendan they actually are more productive to germans on a citizen by citizen basis according to productivity numbers paired according to the basic measures of productivity the average greece citizen works longer, one who has a job, works longer and is more productive. You cannot look at recent terms of pure fiscal responsibility. There were money transfers coming in from other parts of the european union. This is what the germans do as well. A look at greece and say, those guys are not working hard enough. They are running a current account surplus. And how about the basic argument that the reason there was a bailout or what he did was transfer private debts to taxpayers. Olivia what do you think a derivatives desk is betty planes falling the lowest level since mid february. Are we as productive yet . We are. But wages still lag. According to a report, growing at a 13 times a slower rate than home prices. Where is that the worst . Apparently detroit. Olivia that does not surprise me. The article argument is that driving up home price, another argument for this an argument that, the pace of capital money makes money, capital is rising at a faster weight rate been wages are. Brendan you basically have a conflict as old as time. People who make wages and people who own property. Property is the oldest form of capital. It is playing out now and it is fascinating to me. Betty it is, but if you are a homeowner. Olivia exactly. Betty number two saudi arabia and allies bombed rebel targets in yemen, right near the center of Global Energy trade. We knew some was going to make the oil markets rebound. If you were to guess, it would likely be turmoil out of the middle east and here we go. Yemen is on the chokehold pretty significant. The big fear is it could service it disrupt shipments or becomes a base for the al qaeda peninsula. Brendan we always look at this in the u. S. What is really going on in yemen is an old cultural struggle. Betty futures settle lower yet again. Our top stories next. Betty welcome back. Brendan and Olivia Sterns back with us. One story of the day, the fed. There has been so much talk about when policymakers will raise rates, how are they going to do it the central bank has been asked or meant in what ways to control near term borrowing costs. Strategies say the main talk decimate tool is stall new methods needed. They may raise Interest Rates but yields can continue to go down. There has been so much hyperventilating about the time of liftoff, there should probably be more focus on the Church Rectory of liftoff. It does appear him the pace will be flattened. Brendan it is said they will do a popcorn race, they will just raise it a little bit, eat popcorn, and watch to see what happens. That underlines the fact that we do not know what will happen. Were still experimenting. Betty it is so uncertain. Were headed into uncharted territory. Stocks as they get ready to start trade. We will bring michael, the chief global strategist. You have got the s p at 2350. Lets continue this strain here on talking about the fed. Do you think they will be able to pull off interestrate increases and do a they need to do in the market . Brendan i think they will i think they will and i think a rate is coming. The fed tends to follow up on what they talk about for a long time. They did that if you remember two years ago. They talked about it and it in fact happened. The real question of what you guys just touched on is, if the fed put close to the money, if you will on an ongoing basis, that is the real question. A rate hike i am not concerned at what im concerned about is if the fed backs away from market comfort, and economic comfort, that we have come to know, and know so well, i think that is really the question. If you go through the feds communications of last week it is very clear that they will stay very close to the money. They will manage the rate hikes in a very careful way. It is not a trajectory, it is not a departure from a new hawkishness. That is part of why i am able. The other a bull. The other part is we are in a time of slow and steady gdp. Particularly when you look at other assets such as fixed income. Betty what we have seen for the fourth quarter, companies revising down earnings estimates in particular because of the stronger dollar. The biggest questions haunting the market is not yemen or oil. The certainly certainly the dollar. But we will start getting a glance in the next couple of weeks. Earnings just need to hold together decently. They do not need to accelerate up 15 or 12 . They just cannot really fall apart. But obviously oil has been a huge wildcard. There will be positive offshoots that will filter into the earnings from low oil. But right now, we have seen the bad and not the good. Brendan of blackrock, he thinks we have not yet finished seeing the consequences on earnings. He looked at earnings and said that will play out still at the year. Small caps have recently started outperforming here. They do have a lot of dollars sensitivity there which is hurting largecap. Small caps should benefit from it. Rates are lower here. I think there is a little bit of trade going on. It helps the Broader Market for the small caps to do that catch up and reconvert here. Betty so you are a bull and we will see 3 gdp, and the economic expansion is still well on its way there it we had doug ramsey on yesterday, who thinks we are overvalued here. So just listen to what he said. Leslie think the next big move to stuff is the downside here keep in mind, we have had fairly broad new highs earlier this month. There are probably higher highs to come yet in the next several weeks. But i think an important topic will be in later this year leading to a decline of 25 . Betty is it possible you could both be right . Yes, we friends and a colleague in some sense. But i have a healthy debate with doug on this topic. I think we may see it go to places we have never gone before if the gdp can generate decent but not very high. Our Central Banks and other Central Banks continue to play ball the way they have been. Imo is looking for market topic signals and signals for which to really change my tune here which i want to do if i see the signals but i do it i just do not see the signals lining up yet. Betty great to see you. Thank you to Olivia Sterns and brandon this morning. The republicans just got a step closer to repealing the estate tax here we speak to the author of the bill, texas congressman kevin brady. We will be back. Betty a press conference happening with german wing, the airline of the flake that crash this week, killing 160 people on board. We now know the name of the copilot. And we will bring you those headlines as soon as we have more information on what exactly happened. We know more details today and it seems the driver flew the plane intentionally. A step closer to ending the federal estate tax yesterday when the house ways and Means Committee voted to extend a bill to repeal a tax on the floor. It is levied on property like tax, real estate, and stocks that could be transferred. The top rate paid is 40 but only applies to individual estates worth more than 5. 4 million or 10. 8 million for married couples. Joining us now from washington is the coauthor of the bill to appeal be state cap the estate tax. You have said the estate tax is immoral. You got the bill through the house, ways, and Means Committee can how would you get it passed by the overall house . Collects we are bringing it to the floor, we hope in april. It has robbed more than one train dollars in Capital Investment in our economy and really hurts familyowned farms and hit and familyowned businesses. Many of them minority and womenowned. You made the point, but i think this is washingtonss most direct attack on the american dream. I think it is time to end it. How betty how will you get any bipartisan support for it . Only one democrat signed on for it. Leader, we will bring it to the floor. It has been 10 years since they weighed in. The president is reneging on his agreement on the state tax under current law. Wants to raise it and capture more americans with it. We think the time is exactly right. Betty according to the joint committee on taxation, a bipartisan committee, they say it will rob the government of 260 9 billion of revenue in the next 10 years if we put this through. Kevin brady it is one day of federal spending every year for wrecking so many Small Business, familyowned farms, and others. The joint Economic Committee has reported many studies that show we actually raise more federal revenue by repealing the tax. It right now discourages savings, discourages investment, actually encourages consumption now rather than allowing the investments to be made. I would make the case we would do much better economically and i think much more fairness to the familyowned businesses and farms by repealing it. Betty Coniston Kevin Brady thank you so much for joining us. The press conference is going on right now with german wings speaking about the crash this week. This is the ceo holding that News Conference. Lets listen in on what is being said. You actually ask a question question mark [indiscernible] question . [inaudible] say that was no way to prevent an accident like this there was there no procedure by which the pilot could enter the door with a code to override the locking system . Yes, thank you for the question. In our industry, since there was a very dreadful from the 11th of september, the cockpit was changed and may be supplemented my experience. And my experience as a pilot. The doors have been reinforced so that access is not possible so that the door cannot be opened, when one of our pilot leaves the cockpit for biological reasons, there are screens in order to detect who this person is if this is a colleague or somebody that is a pattern. The authorities retrofit the doors. We have to take into consideration that somebody might lose consciousness when they are leaving the cockpit. There is another code you could actually operate which will also lead to it. Automatically. This can be impeded by those in the cockpit by actually pressing a lever which locked the door and closes for five minutes. We do not want to indulge in any speculations beyond the findings of the french authorities. Obviously, the code was not entered, which we cannot explain because Everybody Knows by heart this code. Everybody involved. This was done and the cockpit, captain impeded prevented the door to open. By actually pressing the button lock. So you neednt actually say anything. This is totally correct. The copilot interrupted the training six years ago. I would be interested to know how long he interrupted it and why. This is quite feasible and i cannot tell you anything about the reasons of these interruptions. But i told you before that anybody who interrupts the training has to actually prove all the confidence and do a lot of test so the confidence and fitness will be checked again the fact that it was interrupted makes us think there might be some relation. Of course, you have to be silent , as a medical person behind beyond your desk. This will certainly be a measure of the investigations of the prosecutor. So we have no other possibility to act as a company. If they are after the end of training, psychological checks etc. , to see everything is in order, of course we have regular checks, and we also have a medical check per year. No more psychological checks but when trainings are carried out the leadership is checked and the training is such that if there is an incapacity of the captain the copilot can actually lead and manage the flight and is confident to do so and especially prepared for this special psychological test is not provided for at the european level. My question is [indiscernible] 15 lost their lives in two teachers, and people are afraid of entering a plane again. What possibilities are there to lose your fear . Flying is the safe this safest means. And we do have such a splendid safety record, with hundreds of thousands. So we are focused on safety. The focus on this very issue continues to be the same. To the side, police. He is said that most probably, the copilot actually, this crash, cautiously. There might be different reasons. They need not be personal reasons. Can you actually [indiscernible] there are no signs whatsoever. Permit me a second question here the pilot left the cockpit. During the time of absence, another person enters the cockpit. Why is this not the case . This procedure is not provided for in europe. The very few that actually apply this procedure. I cannot think of any of our competitors who would do so. Can you go into more detail about your Mental Health screening processes . Do you do psychological test interview family and friends any claims is . In this case, what did you find out about the copilot . As i said, at the beginning, we have a sophisticated selection and procedure. Different aspects later during the training and later also during [indiscernible] would not have any procedure where the family is being observed. Jack ewing from the New York Times. Am wondering if you can tell me what the status of the pilot was hurray theres something called a transport pilot license and you have to have a certain number of hours before this is unfrozen. Can you tell us what the status was and the second question was the pilot allowed to leave the cockpit . Was there anything he did he should not have at this point in the fight . Thank you. Classes also applies this also applies to other airlines. You can leave the cockpit for a short time. As he learned during the training that the cockpit should be left and there is very little burden. This was exemplary. The plane had gone up to 38,000 feet. The copilot come if i understand you had all necessary licenses as the first officer to actually fly with the airbus 320. Did i understand your question correctly . Questions before the pilots left just before the pilots left . To watch the traffic here today, there was a technical rethink briefing. Then the pilot left the controls to the other person in person. There is no other conversation. I take i take from your explanations, the poll a lot the copilot kind of committed a suicide the copilot committed suicide. He could not remember the seven digit code and got confused, or do you think it is really a matter of suicide . I can only tell you what the prosecutor announced today. We have to actually start from the assumption that, intentionally, the plane crashed. What kind actually take care of your pilots during their professional life . All of our persons get a care at each station if they want the support. Were there other interruptions . Of activities of the copilot . And if you had the event many years ago, how can it be, that it got the license . I do not know of any other interruptions. It is concerning whenever interruptions have taken place. I cannot tell you more on this. If competence is restored, the person will continue the training, like all the others. I think in this case, it happened six years ago. What kinds of consequences will this event have for the training of pilots . Let me repeat what i said in my initial words. And i hope i is i speak on behalf of despite my individual event, the screening and selection procedure, we think the best training of pilots is a very important safety criterion. Although this individual case is terrible and shocking, no doubt in the procedure. The federal agency of aviation. Also the responsible ministry. So we will talk about how to do better when it comes to training. But you should not confuse this with my basic trust in our training criteria and procedures. There are hints here [indiscernible] characterizing the copilot on the flight to barcelona. We can of course look into this after this event. What about the liability . I think it is well known. Of course, we secured direct Financial Support to the family members wherever they have bottlenecks, and we will support them in any conceivable way and of course, and childrens companies. I must tell you this is certainly not my biggest concern. We as a group are strong enough. There are support and they are sufficient in order to cover the needs. I think it was certainly not appropriate if we were to petty in that respect. Too petty in that respect. Do they have the obligation to report on things that are striking . Of course, if there are special events and things that are striking. And if Something Like this happens, they have an obligation to report to us, generally speaking, there is the obligation to report. For instance, special events there are a lot of obligations to report, which are actually stipulated by law. Nbc news. Apologies if you already answered this, but are there regulations with a Flight Attendant has to be in the cockpit if the pilot has a bathroom break or goes to get a coffee . There are regulations in some parts of the world, including the one i assume youre coming from, the u. S. As far as i know, no. Are you going to do that in the future . Experts in the group airlines, in the authorities, with our german government. I think we should not now jump into short notice activities. We rather should go away from that. You are confident in your pilots . I wish you understood my german. I said it twice and in english i said without any doubt. The training of all pilots, and the qualification of all pilots and the work of our pilots, has not been touched by this single tragedy. Could you just explain for us in english one more time here if the minister of the interior has ruled out the likelihood of terrorism as a motive his german wings, the chancellor saying this is probably suicide . I am not a legal person to it i am not a lawyer. I do not want to in one way as the ceo of a big company. If one person takes 149 persons with him it is another word and not suicide. You are reorganizing your group. Now you have a traumatizing situation and you have to regain the