Watching ahead of the closing bell. Greecess war of words with germany is increasing this week. Renewing demands and today, formally complaining about the European Finance minister. They needed to look more closely at an agreement signed in february. Greece and germany battling over how to do with a cash crunch that athens will face in the coming week. Charter communications in talks according to people with knowledge of the matter. They have about 2. 5 million cable subscribers including florida, and michigan, and could be valued at over 12 billion dollars. Theyre able to rule on comcasts acquisition of time warner cable. Walt disney says it will make a sequel to its animated hit frozen. No details were offered in less than an hour to go. Scarlet fu is looking at all the action the contest is important here. Nine out of 10 groups in the s p 500 are gaining on the day. Come inside. We went negative for the dow on the s p. Just slightly, basically unchanged up 2 while the nasdaq up three point 2 in 2016. Lets take a look at asset classes. The x y is down for only the third time in the past 11 days. Treasury 10 year yields at a threeweek low. I know you will get to the retail sales in a moment. That is playing out in the markets as well as the kneejerk reaction to think perhaps the Federal Reserve does not need to raise Interest Rates as early as june. Lets look at sectors on the move. The etf tracks financial shares having its best day in over a month after the big banks pass a stress test and got the ok to buy back shares and pay out dividends. Intel however is hitting a fivemonth low after warning its revenue forecast would be less than what it had anticipated as companies to client to refresh their hardware and software that a 2. 5 year gain, Third Straight day higher as the company has come out and responded to the 15 minute reports and said it will offer 3 free thirdparty testing and also offer for those who request so. Alix thank you, scarlet will check back with you later in the show. We had a surprise drop in u. S. Retail sales. The third monthly drop it what does that do with the feds case to raise rates. Can we explain this away by the weather . If i know folks like to roll their eyes. However, to completely ignore whether the weather is not appropriate either p are we learned the lesson last year. Gdp posted a sharp retraction. Auto sales, whole range of indicators were impacted by severe weather. Record snowfalls across big parts of the northeast. Record cold temperatures. It has real implications, especially Motor Vehicle sales data came out ahead, and showed a large, downside missed. Anecdotal evidence from dealerships and it up in the book as well and again highlighted the weather was a significant factor. Retail sales looking at the major components in both positive and negative directions. People stayed home and shopped online. Building materials and garden supplies down sharply. A perilous flat. A lot of these components that tend to make big swings in the weather sensitive months made that kind of move. There is a compelling case for the weather. Obviously, carl is not the only person who have figured of the who has figured this out. Movies really oversold over the last two days. It is fair to say it looks like a long dollar trade was getting a little crowded. Going into data in the past 2. 5 months, it was certainly an element. U. S. Figures have been disappointing over the last couple of months. European figures have been surprising a little bit. A lot of the analysis built into this trade may not be completely valid. In other words, the u. S. Is not the gross story. Obviously, there is the weather issue. Lets make sure we know the economy is as strong as people expected to be especially when money coming out of fixed income goes into equities. I think we have to write off the february retail sales report as the weather related noise. Static and nothing really to be concerned from that trend for we know the house retail growth has been robust and accelerating in the past six months given what is happening in payroll numbers. The income is eventually going to translate into stronger retail sales are at we should get a riproaring march report. They might have discussed their heads that there might be a bigger problem. Europe should be improving given what were seeing in the currency markets. This will be a long, slow process. Take a look at europe. The stock market coming out of bonds. It is not quite as bad as people think and im not talking about strong figures versus week figures. Alix you take a look at the numbers why is this such a big deal now . There is nothing different at this time. Big currency moves have substantial impact on the economy. We have seen that in the positive and negative directions. We essentially devalued the dollar. We jump forth jump to the air force sector. We now see that happening in europe but there is a cost. It is not a winwin type of situation. The improvement of the european export outlook will come at the costs of producers. The seat of things, one, and most importantly, how fast it happened in the last couple of weeks. People get scared when the markets move quickly. This is a big deal if it gets there quickly. The other thing critically important is that this is something we are already seeing tightening in the united states. This is a big move and a currency pad. Currency pair. It is not the big dollar. Alix all right. Thank you carl, for coming. Up next, tensions are rising between germany and greece as the next cash crunch looms. Alix welcome back. Here is a look at the top stories ahead of the closing bell. 1. 4 billion ahead of multiple u. S. Investigations. Sanctions violations and its role in one of japanss biggest scandals. Regulators have ordered to hire independent monitor and terminate four employees. Incoming Credit Suisse ceo will waste little time and the paper says several senior managers will likely follow out the door. The bank has been talked to by the u. K. Banking group for 2. 5 billion. Spanish banks were looking to expand the expand abroad after recovering back home. The fifthlargest lender. Tensions escalating between greece and germany, and the german counterpart wolfgang. All of this amid uncertainty over what exactly is happening in athens. His greece opening its book to creditors . Greece owes about 352 Million Euros to the ims tomorrow. For more, the chairman and ceo of greylock capital is speaking with me. Did i say your name right . I got it. The minister of Commerce EnergyCommerce Industry and tourism of the republic of cyprus. A pleasure to have you here. This is a horrible flashback for that government. What do you think is going on right now behind closed doors in athens . For sure, what we want to make clear is that we have deep religious and the glue stick ties with greece and we do wish there were a solution to this. We could find a way out of this situation. Greece prolongs to the eurozone the crew the cornerstone of democracies today. At the same time, i would like to distinguish what is happening with greece to it is happening in cyprus. This flashback come a couple years ago, tough times in march 2015, especially decisions that took place at a different time. We knew that was the deal and we have been focused on executing and im happy to say were well on our way to recovery and we expect to be back on growth. Does it make you mad the greek government is saying, you know what, i do not want the bailout terms . Quite it has been evident about the mandate given the government by the people. Theyve had enough. There needs to be a resolution to this, sit down and find a way out of continuing the program of reforms, whatever needs to be done to get them back on their feet. We participated in some of the investments in cyprus. We think cyprus and that being a reasonably good model for the restructurings in europe. They did not allow the Financial System debt crisis to become a sovereign debt crisis feared on the other hand it seems to me, you guys put up with a lot. The crisis was in effect on cyprus by the haircut put into the greek bonds. A lot of the terms you guys have are really austere. Im surprised there is not more more resentment toward the eurozone. That is because of harsh terms. The word at the time of being implemented, having a bank in essence refinance itself there is also no doubt some of the Structural Reforms we have to undergo now, despite potentially the differences, there is very little doubt they have to of taken place a while ago. It is actually a realization of the society they came to. We have been working very hard to turn the tables. Largely because of u. S. Investment, the largest shareholder today in cyprus. We have been betting on Traditional Industries to maintain the economy and return it back. While at the same time betting on the oil and gasbased and they discovered we had in 2011. Alix do you want to give greece 7 billion euros . If that is what it takes to get the confident the company back on a fee, they have to gain from the greece passes presence. They have everything to lose if alix you would be ok giving them that money even if you did not get that . Yes. Long as they go ahead. 7 billion we are talking about is only to repay. All it is is circulating back to frankfurt and brussels. There is no question about the fact that that is at such high levels. Something needs to be resolved here. I was going to ask about how you feel, there was a lot of tension for russia and europe and the ukraine hear a lot of talk about russia using airports and ports in cyprus. Alix you are jumping ahead. That is the next block and we will get there. Before we wrap up the brief conversation, it was said you did participate in the restructuring of cyprus. Are you interested right now . We are invested in the banks and the sovereign bonds and are paying close attention to what is going on. I am not taking this last bit of rhetoric seriously. I think tightening the rhetoric lately, they did not get a lot. The popularity is soaring. Why not take a harder line with europe and see what kinds of concessions you can get. A lot of things they are bringing up have valid points. They have been railroaded and have conceded quite a bit. Alix both of you are sticking with me. We will talk about russia. Stick with us. Alix the questions remain about intentions in ukraine. Crime area, and even crimea and even cyprus. An agreement was signed allowing the Russian Military to use its seaports. Joining me is hans and your gale. Cypruss energy and commerce miniature minister. To what extent is russia using your seaports and perhaps airports . Let me find exactly what was signed. Already an existing arrangement allowing russian vessels to use cyprus for spares death for spare parts. It is not like it is a military base, an existing agreement enforced for a few years now. Now you can ask your question. Yes, i think, full disclosure, someone who works for me is ukrainian and has very not so positive feelings about russia at this when he highlighted this as a way russia was using to get influence of europe through one of the members and destabilize things. What youre saying is that is not the case. Let me say one more thing during the bilateral meetings in moscow. The president s of cyprus highlighted the eus position in resolving the crisis in the ukraine, especially based on the agreement we see very clearly that this should be resolved in peaceful means. We are fully behind the German Initiative in order to get there. The president was in essence putting forward a position of the European Union to the russian president. We have the privilege of a great relationship with russia which extends commercially. Creswell about the importance of militarizing crimea . What do you think of that . We support fully the sovereignty of the ukraine fully. Lets not forget we have big challenges of our own in cyprus recently. It has been very clear and the line with partners. How can you support ukraine also have a close relationship with russia . Era not the only state that has such Close Relationships area that is why you see a number wishing to have less severe sanctions on russia or to not progress the sections in russia. To give you an example, we have close ties with regard to tourism. Should we have sufficient mothers of tourists who suffered this year because of the evaluation of the ruble but also because of oil prices . Should we have additional rival from tourisms, growth in cyprus . Were not the only state and you are staying with that. And spain and another a number of other states. A week after the president of cyprus visited the Prime Minister of italy was there. I think it is fair to say it is very easy as an american to go to the europeans say and say where you doing with russia and the rest of europe . They have to juggle trading with russia and being supportive. Alix we will talk about energy after the break. Stick with us. Alix here are the top stories we are watching ahead of the closing bell. A stronger economy helping to improve the Nations Capital position. The jobless rate is at a range the fed policymakers u. S. Full employment. A bank lending to flip the dreamworks headquarters in los angeles tips weeks after they provided property for 185 thousand dollars. Suntrust taking almost 200 50 main dollars for the office cap is according to people familiar with the marketing. They have released the dreamworks has leased the property for two decade as part of costsaving plans. Feeling huge gains. This is mind blowing. The median red jumping almost 9 last month to 3375, studio apartments climbing to median 2350. The highest in more than 70 years of recordkeeping. Under 30 minutes from the close, lets go back to the breaking news desk where scarlet fu is taking a look. Quite now that we seem to have hit the pause button on this retreat, there are 18 stocks in the s p 500 making new 52week highs, including disney, trading at a record high the company is working on frozen 2 and planning three star wars films. These are the headlines. The dollar retailer is trading at their best level everest well. Dollar tree and Dollar General pure Dollar General announcing an initial dividend of . 22 and is now resuming dock either ask of 1 billion worth, which was suspended during the entire battle of family dollar, which dollar tree prevailed in. Banks are surging. Certainly having a big day up by more than 2 . Citigroup and Morgan Stanley up after the banks stress test results. City had the cleanest path of all the wall street banks. Intel is trading at eight week low. The great pc refresh cycle seems to have ended. Not as many small and Mediumsized Companies are upgrading or refreshing their windows. Andy intel smaller rival also getting hit. Thank you. On use and your gale, the minister of Energy Commerce and cyprus. Where is Vladimir Putin . He has been canceling summits and treaty. Where is he . I have talked to him three weeks ago in moscow. I saw some of the rumors and i have to say, he appeared to me Pretty Healthy both physically and mentally. Ive no idea where this is coming from. Alix is this unusual . Less i think soap in it we saw a closet intelligence Types Research groups coming out and starting to look a little soviet in the way the spokesmen were responding to questions. He hasnt been seen, they used a two week old photo to prove he is around. People in our world cup paranoid about what happened in venezuela so is this a soviet style coverup transition . A lot of press suggestion with the sanctions of falling oil prices, the groundwork might be there for a political change. There is a lot of intrigue and i do not want to be a concert a conspiracy theorist, but is taking up a lot of bandwidth today with rumors and trying to take up the fact. So what point do those actually inflict enough pain on this head shall oil company . Click the two factions in moscow are the blood and money people the oligarchs, the rich people, and the blood people controlling the military . There might be tension between the two. Who knows. He has to have it has to have a balance of power. Alix it is a reasonable concern when you take in the fundamentals. Press a total game chamber game changer. If he does not appear for two weeks, we get twitchy. As i told you, a couple of weeks ago, and he was very healthy to us. This is im sure he will show up. The sanctions of falling oil prices. From where you sit in cyprus at what point does that inflict enough pain on russia . Already, as you can see, it has inflicted a lot of pain. It is important to note on russia and a lot of the european member states, the dealings with russia, also cyprus i have to say. A do not get the lifeblood of their funding from oil like russia does. No. Their 50 based on oil and gas exports appear to be biting. There is also choice they are making domestically, places in russia rather than traveling elsewhere. Cyprus has a lot of underdeveloped natural gas resources. What kinds of partnerships are you making with companies in the u. S. As well as abroad to exploit that. We have three majors. We also have noble energy from the u. S. , who also have the largest we have all short offshore cyprus. During my visit in the u. S. , i had sent intensive discussions and we will be visiting cyprus next week where we anticipate we will have good announcements to make. As we progress from the face of cyprus resources to the exploitation. Hans was mentioning mentioning earlier he flies to cairo. We look at them being one of the most important customers for exporting our gas because in recent years, it has fallen behind in producing their own indigenous resources and they are looking now to import. Oil has taken Natural Gas Prices as well. Are the economical . When you look at starting a project today, you will not be looking at what the price is today or the next couple of years but maybe five years down the line. From what interferes, and we just got our partners from the u. S. , they just appeared to be economical. Everything depends on what kinds of contracts will be able to materialize. We do not have a time of time. They are not following the way they were in december. We have actually increased allocations of Oil Related Investments by about 10 . The thesis is it is the rapidity of the fallen price that creates a crisis. You need to adjust what your project is to accommodate a price. It is not a static thing either. If you have got price stability and companies and countries can adjust to that price, you can find good investments. Alix where . We have looked at iraq, got involved with things in columbia , the Venezuela Oil company, they were not as happy. We found interesting stuff. The backdrop is a lot of people who piled into energy when prices were high and getting out of the way, the following crisis thank you for coming and visiting with us. Thank you for the opportunity. Zero leaving me and i am so sad. Thank you for sticking around with me. Great to see you. Coming up next, alibabas new fund came up with a car. When you might be able to buy the car. Plus, discussing the future of cinderella and the star wars franchise. Alix time now for the roundups. Matt miller. All right, snapchat has a new believer. Alibaba tessie 200 million in the mobile app. That makes snapchat a valuable start up. Are you a Snapchat User . Know, but im too old to be. 35 of all people aged 1829 use snapshot snapchat every day. Can you still poke people on facebook . As i do not know. I do not know. It was a copy of snapchat. Then they changed their name. You are talking about a service, exponential growth, new investors. One of the investors former tiger management. Alix alibaba talking about funding for the company is also funding a 20 million fund with chinas largest automaker. It helps to develop a connected car that may go on sale as early as next year. Matt this makes a lot more sense to me than snapchat. They are all into it. By do want to make a self driving car just like google. Apple wants to make a connect some kind of car by 2023rd it is good alibaba will go with because nobody expects much from them. A chinese carmaker, very lowquality products. Pimm they will add joint venture with volkswagen. They do models with gm. They cannot get the Technology Straight and they cannot get production. It is a great place to start off to a known will hate the product when you do a bad job. If you do not do a great car or a great cherry hill car or whatever they have over there, no one will noticed. Alix that is a good point. Funding for lift ramps up. 300 million in a new round of funding in the ridesharing company. It gives a 12 stake in values at more than 2. 5 billion. Interesting. An Online Shopping company deciding to make a bet. Matt i was thinking less than 3 billion, still less than 7 of what lubers worth. It is very little. Uber, the last two fundraising rounds it has gone through value weighted it at more than lift. Pimm both lift and luber have lawsuits in california just a clear civil lawsuits in the sense that they will be classaction zen it has to do with whether the employees, the jarvis of lift and luber are and luber uber alix a good segue. I really appreciate that. Uber is getting royal exposure. Riders who order and uber an uber what is interesting to me is it seems like uber is partnering up with these big companies. As i wonder how long it will take matt to ask whether it comes with elizabeth hurley. The robot version of elizabeth hurley. I know that matt loves cars. As i will drive a rollsroyce myself this weekend striving a version of that. They offered me one day with a chauffeur during the testing period but i do not know what i would do with it. All you do is drive home. Does it cost anything more to get this car than it does a regular uber car . Question understanding, it is no. It is not like it will be easy. Thank you so much, i really appreciate it. Pimm fox and matt miller. Come, Abc Television announcing a relationship with yahoo . Will this ring welcome news former so meyer . Just for Marissa Mayer . So far, so good. Such f for Marissa Mayer . So far, so good. Alix this is street smart and i am alix steel. Moments ago, the disney ceo highlighting a positive outlook for cinderella as well as plans for the star wars franchise. Here is an expert. Cause im also very pleased to announce that the title of the movie is rogue one. Alix i am so excited and we will geek out for the next 2. 5 minutes. Cory johnson. Cory you are a star wars geek. Alix you are listening to what was coming out of there. What else besides rogue one . Cory so many star wars movies is a huge deal. Unless they really fall on their face, this could be a huge thing for them. But frozen 2 is a homegrown title for them. That could be a monster for them. They had an amazing success. To turn that into a franchise. This is something bob iger has had a Great Success with. He let his Creative Team create some creative things. Then followed them up with sequels and really build franchises across the platforms. Alix we learned this morning that Good Morning America will launch a new daily series featuring editors including katie couric. What you make of that . Most stocks were up on the news because of that . Abc and disney has a beast of a show. Katie couric has been popular from early mornings back in the day p or do yahoo is interesting as well. It is trying so hard to establish a handful of digital magazines. They lost 10 different vertical magazines with different focuses from technology to make this. This is a big part of the strategy to the place people go. Alix it puts to bed where katie couric might go. There were concerns about the today show. Cory johnson good geeking out with you. We are moments away from the closing bell. We will be right back. Alix welcome to our viewers around the globe. You are watching Bloomberg Television and this is street smart. We are headed into the close and the stocks are rallying to climb higher throughout the day. Volatility their racing earlier gained deals, slightly lower for the first simon quach or days. The dollar falling from the 12 year high against the euro. A dramatic move we saw yesterday. Joining me now the j. P. Morgan private bank equity folder manager. Lisa abramowicz and of course matt miller. Taking a look just at the stock market now, is there anything more than buying the dip in the last few days . Jeff you look at the news and it continues to be good. I think it is messy and that is one of the challenges. You have to start looking. We have been told not to spend the gas savings just yet. Matt i have got to think the retail sales number gives you an opportunity if you are bullish. You know theyre saying saving money at the pump and they will now go out and sent spend more when the so when the snow melts. Alix not if you are in the oil market though. A whole different story. Lisa, we saw a lot of volatility happening according to the retail sales and the rally in stocks trade what did you make of that . Lisa retail sales were weaker than expected and researchers were saying, when will we finally see the advantage to him are consumed consumer getting savings . It does not seem to show up. Is it more of a detriment than a benefit . Then people started to look and there was a 30 year auction that did not go well in the afternoon and people were looking at that and thinking, why is this so week . Weak . It turned out there were International Investors that show this will just keep pushing yields down. Alix lets take a look at a couple of stocks moving the market today. We have got to look at bank stocks rallying after yesterdays stress test results including citigroup, Morgan Stanley, as well as Goldman Sachs, all getting a boost there. They continue to buy back stocks. Will that artificially boost indexes Going Forward . Jeff you share buybacks broadly whether the banks or the whole market a nice way to help earnings over the last several years. I do not think they boost the index, but they help control some of the issues, they help control some of the issues with respect to how fast earnings can grope you take lower top lines and turn them into better bottom lines. Alix it is not so great for the debt holders pay to have bank of america and Morgan Stanley appearing to sell shares, raise money in the debt market to boost their capital and basically let her up so they could pay more shares and pay more dividends and do more share buybacks. Jeff a day after the stress tex, a week after the quantitative stress test and a day after the qualitative, we were told the banks had solid Balance Sheets. I believe the banks have solid Balance Sheets. Alix one more stock, to get to quickly, intel and holding back the nasdaq fallen by the most in about five months or chipmakers heading its Sales Forecast it on the one hand you have a stronger consumer and on the other hand, weaker company profits. We are looking at the closing bell. The dell is up to budget 70 points. S p up 25. The nasdaq seeing a huge comeback from the last two days of the utter destruction in stocks based on the stronge dollar. So we have this push and pull between companies, what theyre saying and what consumers are kind of doing. How do you reconcile that . You work very top down. I think big picture, again, better jobs, better wages. You get more constructive. You add banks which wind up being well capitalized or increasingly eager to lend given that they have solidified their Balance Sheets and you have more credit where the borrowers, corporates and consumers, and you wind up getting back to improved confidence which continues to grind higher. Maybe not as high as wed like it to be whether at small business, large business, or the consumer. I think you wind up in a constructive environment. You can take some of the weaker earnings news out. There was a massive p. C. Refresh cycle last year that were copping against this year. Maybe not shocking that parts of technology are struggling. But the very consumer Centric Technology seems to be doing really well. As we keep being told. And, you know, the earnings in the corporate sector really includes energy. Exclude energy. Okay. Not to say you exclude only the bad news and look for the good news but earnings are okay. Honestly given that outlook what do you think . What data point do you think could come out more negative than people are expecting . Is there one that would make you change your opinion . Interplay of two. Start with jobs. Because i think that really that winds up being the driver of the expansion were in. Are jobs going to be as strong as wed like to think they are going to be . I ask that because i have to look at what is going on. I mentioned Energy Earnings down and we continue to see wage and job cuts within the energy sector. So do we start seeing weakness in particular job markets that have been areas of strength, north dakota texas to name two markets in particular that are kind of substantial consequence to the u. S. Economy. If that starts dam peng the job growth picture broadly you start seeing Capital Spending potentially at a bit more risk and start losing some of the potentially selfsustaining sorts of drivers of recovery. Speaking about companies and earnings aeropostale news earnings im trying to figure out what the First Quarter loss is. It does anticipate a loss next quarter or this Current Quarter i should say of 53 to 61 cents a share. Not sure what the consensus is right now but for the quarter that just ended we are looking as well at an earnings per share adjusted of one cent when in fact analysts were looking for i believe a loss of three cents. Im not sure the numbers are comparable here. What is comparable, though, is the revenue line. Revenue of 593. 8 million, slightly less than analysts had been looking for, looking for a 595 million. And on a comparable basis Fourth Quarter sales dropped to 9 . That includes e commerce which was slightly larger than analysts had been looking for. In addition other headlines, it is looking to close 50 to 57 stores and is looking to close one p. S. Store. Its been a long time since i went to aero pose tall. Do you know what a p. S. Is . I dont know. No. I cant go out. I have a baby. Too noisy. The perfume. The sound, you know i sound like p. S. A. From 30 rock. Which we love. Spent a lot of time would spend a lot of time in teen retailers. Thank you so much. Ive been in hoss hollister. Interesting we take a look at aeropostale. Just talking about a stronger job picture, better consumer, weaker gas prices. There are still some companies that cant make the cut on that. As the father of two teenage daughters ive unfortunately spent more time than i might have liked in this retailer. But you step back and you think around them, theres always someone who is doing good and always somebody who is struggling. Whether its getting the fashion cycle right, getting the story right, having the right hem length on your skirt there is always something that can go wrong in Fashion Retail in particular. Truth. When you look at the companies and the dollar and saw this enormous runup the stronger dollar eating away into profits. At some point a stronger dollar is more deflationary than inflationary. A lot of people are really concerned about this that were going to basically offset any gains that europe gets with their Quantitative Easing Program with a stronger dollar basically meaning greater deflationary pressure. Inflationary pressure of the european quantitative easing. This is a big concern. Basically if everybody is engaging in their own monetary stimulus, their own kind of funny money, you know, youll end up getting with a net zero result where you basically cancel each other out. What happens then . My concern would be less global and more local. I mean, the block head comment i thought was great. From jeff the other day. You know, if the strong dollar starts to really hurt corporate profits, then it could turn around all the good that the fed has done in the jobs market. Why are we having the strong dollar . Its a strong dollar a strong dollar because the u. S. Economy is in the best relative shape and the Federal Reserve is the person most likely to raise first in which case the strong dollar is actually good news not bad news. Those are all yeses but its not great news for a company that makes a lot of money overseas. You know . Look at how you make your money and is it generally a predictable business . Do you kind of have the good sense of your volumes . Youll hedge it. If you run a very cyclical business youll try to hedge it. I think this discussion does not include enough of the pressure that comes from importing goods from overseas that people in the u. S. Can get cheaper goods made in, anywhere other than the u. S. Right . So there is going to be a natural migration toward nonu. S. Made products. Nothing out of england is cheaper by the way. Good to know. Thank you. He will make a note of it. Everything out of england is more expensive. Maybe out of tywan. But we do have more earnings coming out. Back to our breaking news desk. If im loorking at the right comparisons here fxpm of course a Foreign Exchange retail brokerage that ran into a little trouble after the Swiss National bank decided to depeg the franc from the euro has come out with earnings and looks like it is a beat at first blush. Earnings per share of 20 cents tops the consensus estimate of 17 cents. And also Fourth Quarter revenue of 134. 7 million appears to be higher than the consensus estimate of 129 million. Of course we know since then that xfx has gotten a life line of the parent of jeffries to continue operating. There was a lot of volatility surrounding this stock of course. As you look at the swiss franc and what its done since the Swiss National bank decided to depeg the currency you can see its come back quite a bit but is still much stronger than where the Swiss National authorities had wanted to see it. And should point out it did lose more than 200 million when the Swiss National bank sort of depegged its currency. Thanks so much. Want to look ahead now to tomorrows trading in europe and the u. S. We were just talking about the conflict. Russias central bank will announce its Rate Decision tomorrow. Here at home well get the Producer Price index as well as Consumer Sentiment and it will be interesting to see what russia does. This really puts a lot of Central Banks having weakness in their economy as well as their currency in a tough spot. Do you raise rates which could stifle growth or lower it to ignite growth and lower your currency . And what works frankly when they do that right . Russia right now, emerging markets actually saw a rise in the equities today for the first time in a long time, right . In a while anyway, because of the weaker dollar. The first time in about 10, in the prompter, what in a while. 10 days. Thank you. The first time in 10 days. That was our next topic. I think that sort of speaks to, you know, are people watching more what the u. S. Does or is the u. S. Watching more what these other countries do with respect to rising well, we have to. For half of my career 3 4 of my career, the only question to ask, what is the u. S. Consumer doing . They were 25 of g. D. P. Now the u. S. Consumer is displaced by the emerging markets consumer. To that extent you cant just live in a single polar world and make one decision and look the rate is gone. How concerned do you think the fed is about emerging markets right now . I think the fed has to do a mandate. U. S. Jobs, u. S. Price availability. But they do say theyre looking at financial markets. They didnt specifically say europe. They do comment on overseas action. I think they do comment. They have to be aware. Theyve always been involved and when there has been economic disruption they have wound up trying to be helpful to the extent they can. They try to be a calming voice when people are freaking out. Your issues come back to their mandates are saying the u. S. Situation is improving. This actually helps the fed and allows the fed to be somewhat friendlier if we can keep inflation lower for longer. But they come back to weve told you we have two bright lines. 2 in core inflation and a sub 6 employment report. Weve gotten through one and the good news is the Inflation Numbers havent ticked up the way the academic models would have said so theyre buying time. Yeah. The other Central Banks having to do all the work to react, we see all the currency in asia getting hit pretty hard. Thanks so much. I really appreciate it. Jack matt, lisa, and up next four of wall streets biggest banks almost, almost flunk the feds stress test. What it takes to pass and how good the market responds today. Plus, the clock is ticking before greece runs out of cash. My next guest says its the countrys banks we should be worried about. Bill rhodes joins me on the show when street smart returns. This is street smart. Here are the top stories after the closing bell. Every est capital is said to be shutting down most funds and returning money to clients after a disastrous bet against the swiss franc in january according to two people with knowledge of the matter. Some had no exposure to the bet but clients lost confidence and every est suffered a high level of redemption. Planning to offer web enabled air pure fires and Television Products in india as part of the companys strategy to widen its market for Home Products and is also selling Home Security cameras in india. In sports the jets continue to make a splash during free agency. A lead source told espn antonio crow marty will be signed to a fouryear, 32 million deal. Cromartie turned 31 in april. Coming off his fourth pro bowl appearance from the 2014 season. Also quick note Demarco Murray is an eagle. Lets revisit the stress tests from yesterday. Shares of most of the big wall street banks rising today after passing goldman, j. P. Morgan, Morgan Stanley all seeing gains rise after being submitted revised proposals that got the feds okay. All three will now raise their dividends and repurchase stock. Bank of america passed conditionally though and will have to resubmit its plan. Also authorizing a 4 billion stock buyback. Citigroup won approval to raise its dividend and buy back 7. 8 billion in stocks. Deutsche bank did not pass. What does it take to make the grade . Is passing actually a good thing . As i mentioned bill rhodes joining me onset author of banker of the world and former citigroup senior vice chairman. Matt miller joins us as well. Do you want to pass a fed stress test right now . Do you want to pass with flying colors . I think in the case of citi its about time and theyve done it and i give a lot of credit to mike corbett and his team in being able to do it. Had he not done it he probably would have been out right . I never doubted hed do it, matt. I mean, i think alixs question is a good one but do you want to pass . Yes. With flying colors . Not necessarily. Corbett had to make sure that he didnt fail or he would have lost his job and he makes a lot of money so he doesnt want to lose it. On the other hand the banks that i thought were the most sly were like Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley, j. P. Morgan, who submitted proposals that the fed said, no. And they were given a week to come back. They took that option which any of the banks could have exercised to come back with a slightly lower proposal because they want to get back as much money to the shareholders as they possibly can and not hold too much capital. The fed required them to hold so much capital that they dont want to over shoot that too much. For example bank of america, i was saying to bill maybe its great news because they can come back and submit a revised proposal and eventually still pass it to shareholders. Alix there is a big difference. J. P. Morgan had to revise it lower than bank america who is on warning basically right snveragets the big news as i said was citi and they had to pass with flying colors. Couldnt play games. They hadnt made it the last two years. I think this is going to be a big positive for the institution Going Forward. Alix is Brian Moynihans job at risk at all depending on sort of the reevaluation . Werent you talking with paul miller yesterday from f. P. R. . I was listening to him on Bloomberg Radio yesterday at some point and he was saying it could be a tough situation for Brian Moynihan but if he does get his revised proposal through the fed, then its going to be off to the races again for bank of america. While it is a slightly difficult situation, definitely more difficult than the Goldman Sachs of the world, its still something that could be a winning situation. Part of the critique from the fed last week when we got the first round of stress tests that came out, the fed was very hard on banks that were geared toward investment banks like a Goldman Sachs. So in this environment, bill, do you want to be a wells fargo and be really geared to the consumer or do you want to be a Goldman Sachs that had not wound down some of the businesses under Regulatory Oversight . I think the record of Goldman Sachs over the years has been good and i think wells fargo has shown over the last two years the good man jment that they have. You havent mentioned the foreign banks that had problems but in one of them, im absolutely convinced she is a tough leader and im sure shell get this corrected over the coming months. Its interesting. These are just the u. S. Units of santander and Deutsche Bank and obviously the u. S. Units arent paying any money directly to shareholders so it isnt as important though they kick back some money in dividends. A lot of it is image, matt. It is important that all of the banks pass this test so they can move on and do their business. Alix are the leaders of Deutsche Bank and santander sort of calling the fed today and saying guys, come on. You have to give me a pass at some point. This is the second year for a fail. They just made an announcement of a change over the last couple weeks in management. And i think thatll translate into them passing this i think, next year or even before. She herself just came in after her father passed away. Exactly. She is one tough executive and very smart so i think a lot of credibility. Very well connected. To alixs point when she wants to call people in charge at regulators she knows the number to call. Alix thanks so much. All right. Up next, patience is wearing thin over greece as the country faces a looming crunch. More on the greece saga that never ends when street smart returns. Alix the clock is ticking for greece. The country needs to repay about 352 Million Euros to imf tomorrow and if greece fails to unlock bailout funds it could run out of cash within weeks. My next guest says the real risk to greece is its Banking System. Here to explain of course, bill rhodes, former senior vice chairman at citigroup and also the author of banker to the world joining us also bloombergs reporter who covers the bond market. You say the banking is the achilles heel why that and not the government . I think the Banking System represents the economy of the country in the sense that everything flows through the Banking System and in greece it is like 85 to 95 of finance to the economy comes through the Banking System. And the e. C. P. Has been squeezing through the central bank of greece the amount of backup lines that the banks have in greece. So i think this is very key. And all of these discussions that are ong have to take into account the Banking System. Alix to what extent are other banks not in greece lending to businesses and people in greece . Not clear but i would say pretty limited at this stage of the game. What people want to see is the greek government the greek government put forth a plan with major Structural Reforms. This isnt just the socalled Brussels Group or the eurozone. I think the creditors in general want to see it. That would be pension reform, it would include privatizations labor reform and a tax system basically that functions and you can collect the taxes. And the other thing is deregulation because theyre one of the more highly regulated economies in the eurozone. In the meantime are capital controls needed to help the banks to stop the outflows . Right now, yes. There was data that came out that said depreek banks pulled down more than 60 billion euros of money from the emergency Lending Program at the end of february. Now about 5 billion the month before. This is a dramatic increase. Clearly there is a lot of stress there. I call it no play on words the achilles heel of depreast. Because it basically is. And i think instead of all of this infighting and these words going on between the finance minister of germany and the strongest finance minister in europe and the other government leaders, we really need to get down to work. That is necessary because otherwise i think whats going to happen is youll have an increase in the outflows of the depositors in the country. And so they really have to get down to it. I think one of the people that can help them is the head of the oecd who by the way, is an expert in this area of restructuring debt. How do i know . Because he sat in front of me for 10 years when i restructured the mexican debt and other country debt. Right. To that point greece they signed a cooperation deal to implement reform. Does that mean that theyre going to take reform seriously . The rhetoric suggests something very different. Its not what you say but what you do. They have to get on with it. If they dont, the imf is going to take its stand this time around because a lot of people within the fund itself were not being tough enough on some of this stuff. On the other hand i think greece does need a restructuring of the debt. Is there really a hard deadline at this point . Weve been pushing it back and pushing it back. When do they have to act . As alix said, their payment is coming up and they dont want to go into default. I think this is a situation where you got to get around the table, work it out and stop accusing one another of all sorts of excesses. What do they do tomorrow . I mean they owe 352 Million Euros tomorrow to the imf. Probably scrounge around and get that amount. Im more concerned about a couple months from now if they dont move on these reforms that are necessary to get them to where they can be. I think they signed the memorandum today and it can be very helpful in this regard. Thank you so much, bill. Lisa, thanks for joining us. Well be right back. Alix welcome back to street smart. Well go back for a market check after the closing bell. Lets recap the trade today. For the dow it was the biggest gain in five weeks with a pickup in volume. Trading was onethird more than the 10day average. I thought that was tr. Only 4 of the 30 members in the dow fell. Microsoft, krisco, intel, and chevron. You could see the volatility easing after yesterday rising above 17 and the russell 2000 putting on 1. 72 . Lets review some of the big movers. Lumber liquid ators has seen big moves today though it never declined. At its low it gained only 1. 2 and at its high as much as 15 . Two weeks after the 15minute story Lumber Liquidators projected lower First Quarter sales than analysts estimated, said it is not able to give fullyear guidance and says itll offer free thirdparty testing to customers to reassure them and may replace some flooring as well. You remember yesterday, alix, when we were talking about the first Earnings Report of shake shack failed to hold up to expectations held true for three hours this morning before the stock turned positive and closed at a record high. You want to talk valuations . It now trades at 885 times forward earnings. Meantime box had the worst week ever falling to a fiveweek low even as sales topped analysts estimates. It is hard to gauge how it stacked up against the consensus. There is a mass mistake because apparently half the south side analysts who covered the stock used the wrong outstanding numbers in covering the e. P. S. Which made the loss per share smaller than expected. Hopefully well get the full story from aaron levy in a little bit. How did that even happen . Who is to blame there . You have to ask. All right. Thank you so much, scarlet. Well of course hear from aaron levy coming up and the c. E. O. And cofounder coming up on bloomberg west. Here are the top stories after the closing bell. The u. S. Senate Intelligence Committee approving a Cyber Security bill. The plan shields companies from lawsuits when they share cyber attack information with each other and with federal agencies. It is unclear if the bill has enough support to pass the senate. Just ahead well hear from Senate Intelligence chairman richard burr. And Chris ChristiesPolitical Action committee attracted a core of powerful donors his allies saying they have formed a super pac that could raise unlimited amounts of support for a possible president ial run. Google opening its first ever google branded shop in london. The telegraph reporting the company is selling android phones chromebook, laptops chromecast tv service at the p. C. World store. More speculation in moscow. Russian president Vladimir Putin has not made a public appearance since talks with the italian Prime Minister on march 5 and has canceled several Public Meetings and postponed a planned summit in kazakhstan. The kremlin spokesmen are denying speculation that putin is in good health saying putin is in good health. Lets talk about it. Where is he . Where in the world is Vladimir Putin . Joining me now of course bill rhodes still with me. Where is he . Well, you got to remember one thing about Vladimir Putin. He was a Lieutenant Colonel in the k. B. G. And his specialty was disinformation. So you never know whats going on with him because he says one thing and does another. So to say he is in Perfect Health would be right on going if hes not. Kiddingly i reminded a friend just today that yeltsin used to disappear regularly and of course he pointed out to me yeah but he was a drinker. With putin you never really know given his background. But he certainly has everyone worked up in the markets. Alix yeah. You live, breathe, and sleep russia. How unusual is this for putin . Very unusual. In the past 15 years hes rarely gone without public, a public appearance for more than a day or two. His public image in russia is very carefully cultivate today always present him as strong vigorous guy so if he is sick for a couple days he may wish to stay out of the public eye. The fact there is so much speculation about it is a symptom of the fact it is a relatively authoritarian system based on one guy. That one guy is gone peam get worried. He of course theres been a lot of buzz about potential opposition. I even use that word very carefully. Is there even more of a need to control the message after the shooting of his sort of political nemesis snveragets the opposition in russia is extremely weak even before the shooting so im not sure that is particularly a concern. But look. The russian economy is not doing so well. The russian government, through state media, has framed the economic challenges and downturn in terms of this conflict over ukraine which is framed in this highly nationalistic way. Right . Even though the economy is going nah recession putin still has an 87 Approval Rating and more importantly 3 4 of russians say that even with the sanctions which theyre feeling that russia should not change its policy on ukraine in response to sanctions. I mean, it is very important to understand from the outside the nationalistic way in which this is being framed to understand the Domestic Support for putin is still quite strong. What i think is interesting is weve heard nothing from the Prime Minister and remember that was a position that was occupied previously by putin. And so its very funny that were not obviously hearing from putin because no one can find him but were not hearing from the number two which to me is very, very strange. That is kind of my question. Lets make something up. Hes in the bahamas on a vacation. Okay . Who is in charge . Well, technically speaking the line of secession goes to the Prime Minister. Thats why i mentioned him. So how unusual is it that even he isnt talking about this . In fairness we havent heard much from him in a long time. Dd he might be at the other end on another beach in the bahamas, yeah. Well be talking about a bipartisan solution to hackers. An inclusive you dont want to miss. Stick around. A closely watched bipartisan Cyber Security bill has cleared its first hurdle in congress. The bill would have allowed for greater cyber threat sharing between business and government. Chief washington correspondent peter cook is on the hill with one of the bills coauthors richard burr for an exclusive interview. Peter, take it away. Thanks very much. Joined by chairman burr to talk about this big vote in the Intelligence Committee. Just leaving the committee now 141 in favor of this very closely watched bill. What does that tell you about the chances for the bill to ultimately become law . I think what it tells you is the Intelligence Committee understands the threat this presents to American Business the american economy, and despite some differences nobody totally won. Everybody gave a little bit. And at the end of the day weve got a bill that legitimately can go to the senate floor and i think find a super majority to overcome the obstacles that weve seen of late. And hopefully pass the senate with fairly significant margin. You know as well as i do the battle over this issue, everybody agrees Cyber Security needs to be strengthened but the idea of having the Business Community share threat information with the government and vice versa has been very controversial. This bill would allow it to happen and give Companies Legal protection. Tell me how this would work if im a company and i see a threat coming through my door. Sure. We focus on three things. Private to private, one business calling a competitor, having antitrust protections to allow them to do it to see, was their competitor penetrated the same way and if so did their competitor have some type of software that enabled it not to affect them. That is instant security right there. Private to government. To contact the federal government and to notify them that youve been hacked. And you received Liability Protection when you do that. And government to private. It means that the government for the first time is empowered to go back to the private sector and say, heres what weve found. And heres how you can defeat it if it happens to you. And this all happens in real time. Sony j. P. Morgan, would those events have happened if this law had been in place . The truth is they would have happened but we might have minimized the loss because of the Response Time that we could have provided those companies but more importantly the fears that existed with other Health Care Data companies or with other financial companies, they would have also been clued in by the federal government immediately. We would have made sure that no intrusions hit their system. What about the questions from outside groups privacy advocates worried about personal information being shared with the government here. What have you done to try and address some of those concerns and concerns as well about is the nass going to get their hands on this information right away . What is the filter there . Two things. One we had 15 amendments on privacy of which all or part of 12 of them were adopted, accepted by the vice chairman and i, not voted by the committee. Because we thought they were important enough. Weve incorporated on the side of the companies. We dont want them to send personal data to the federal government unless its absolutely crucial to show the cyber attack. So we bar them from providing that data to the federal government. If it finds its way to the federal government though, once we distribute it in real time and realize theres personal information any company that discovers it has to remove it or minimize it in a way that it cant be shared anywhere else. What about the white house . The president put out his own proposal earlier. Hes got a couple other ideas floating around not only in the senate but over in the house. How consistent is this going to be with what the president has put forward . Is he going to back it at the end of the day . Im not sure. That is a question the white house is the only one that can answer. I can only say we thought they were deficient on how voluntarily people would participate so we expanded some of the opportunities as to how people will receive that Liability Protection. We think weve got a superior bill. We hope theyll ts that way. We certainly have a Bipartisan Initiative that could become law and i believe the president would sign it. All right. Chairman burr, north carolina, chairman of the Intelligence Committee, big vote today, 141 bipartisan vote on the Intelligence Committee. Well see what happens to this legislation now that it heads to the senate. Hopefully sometime soon. Soon. Soon. Thank you. Thank you so much, peter on the hill there. Here to react to senator burrs comments about cyber bill is robert hoops the president of Washington Communications firm global. Is this going to pass . He sounded like a guy whos really gotten smart on this issue over the past couple years. House passed a similar bill in 2013. President threatened to veto it over the privacy concerns. You just heard the senator say 15 amendments addressing privacy 12 of them passed. They really want to get this bill done. Democrats and republicans with Dianne Feinstein at the front of the parade for the democrats. We havent had that kind of feeling in washington for a long time. So the proof is going to be in the pudding. Well want to see the details particularly civil rights advocates will want to hear from ron wyden who is the one senator who voted against the legislation coming out of committee to see whether or not it goes far enough on the privacy questions. Alix i do want to ask you about Hillary Clinton and her press conference the other day. What is your take on her putting to bed the email issues . I dont think she put it to bed. I think theyll be with her for the rest of the campaign. As much as she would like them to go away republicans arent going to let her. This is a Time Magazine cover and theres been a ton of buzz all over the internet about how they inadvertently gave her horns. What do you think . You think that was an accident . Youre from a p. R. Firm. What do you think . Look, i think there is an american obsession with the clintons. I think she is going to be a great voice in the president ial campaign. I dont think theres horns there. I think thats ridiculous. I do think there is a legitimate conversation to have in the democratic field. For a primary and whats best for the country and i think shell be a great part of it. Horns. Crazy. All right. Robert hoopes, thapings so much. Great to talk to you about that. Coming up are the currency wars looming in asia . Well talk about the latest Interest Rate in south korea and what it means for investors. Were looking ahead to asias friday open. China moving to relax its state hold on its massive financial sector. The country announcing a new Deposit Insurance Program and the liberation of deposit rates. What does this actually mean . Right. Sure. The immediate implication basically is that the banks, chinas banks are going to get the shortened of the stick from whats happening here. The reason for this is because china is fixing its Interest Rates. So right now for example a oneyear deposit rate is a 2. 5 , the oneyear lending rate is 5. 3 . The margin between them is the profit that basically the banks can take away. But once the pboc does that overhaul its going to bust through those caps and basically the banks are going to raise Interest Rates for the depositors and that margin is going to basically be squeezed. So the banks wont be making as much money. Is that good for consumers or will consumers wind up leaving their money in banks because theyre making more on it . It will be an upside to consumers because once the caps are cut through basically, households will be making more because the regular joe is not going to be making 2. 5 . They might be making 3 or 3. 5 . Guess what . Once the Consumer Spending increases that is going to help china drive themselves to a more consumeroriented society. And to the rest of asia here were hearing a lot about south korea, thailand cutting Interest Rates. A lot of conversation about currency wars ended a currency war. A lot of people are asking that same question but no one so far is able to answer. From the European Central bank, over to the united states, over to south korea for example people are asking that. But looking at all of the rate cuts, from all of these countries, no less than 24 countries around the world that are doing rate cuts, a lot of people wonder if it is happening but so far no one is going out on a limb. No one is committing. Thanks so much. Joining us there. Were talking about space. Stay with us. This is street smart. Here are the top stories after the closing bell. Talks between iran and the u. S. Are said to be taking place right now ahead of negotiations next week on Irans Nuclear ability. Meanwhile germanys foreign minister criticizing republican lawmakers for questioning the Nuclear Talks with iran saying they are undermining efforts to forge an agreement. Charter communications in talks to acquire billionaire site Brighthouse Network according to people with knowledge of the matter. Brighthouse has about 2. 5 million cable subscribers in florida, california, and michigan and could be valued at over 12 billion. The companies though arent likely to announce any deal before regulators rule on comcasts acquisition of time warner cable. And some bad news for couples planning to tie the knot. The average cost of a wedding hitting a fiveyear high. Spending on the big day reaching an average 31,213 in 2014, up 3 from a year ago. Thank god im already married. That is according to data from xo group which owns the Wedding Website the knot. Com. Space. Well russians and americans are at odds over numerous political issues. The two nations actually Work Together in space in space during the past half year. Today a spacecraft returned russian and u. S. Astronauts to earth after having spent six months to goth on the International Space station. The images are amazing. It is really humbling when we have all the geo political rhetoric with russia and the u. S. And then we have this. There you go. This is happening. This is in kazakhstan earlier. Now, there are three astronauts in this kazakhstan thank you, and there are three astronauts in this. They are going to be three more in the space station. And of course this coincides with a couple other very important space things that have happened. We have the test in promontory, utah this week. I didnt know about that until today. Explain to me. Missile fire booster test . Say you want to go to mars and want to get there and come back. I totally do. Good. 2018 theyll actually test this in the atmosphere and go around the moon. This is a picture. This is, dig this. This is 17 stories high. Wow. This is 22 million horsepower. They are testing new propellants, repellent lining. I mean, this is a solid rocket booster and this is the kind of thing theyll use for the orien missions, planning to go to mars. They conducted 500 tests with this. Theyll be lifting 77 tons of stuff with this rocket. Alix amazing. And scheduled to launch what, 2018 . 2018. Not to mars. 2018 theyll be launching it from cape canaveral, doing it from 39 b the launch pad there. Theyll be doing that and its going to go around the moon and continue to test all the systems and then hopefully 2030 maybe were on mars. You and me . I dont know if well go but there will be pictures. I got to tell you, july is a big month for space because there is a new horizons project that is going to be near about 84,000 miles close to pluto. Right . Theyll be taking pictures of pluto which is a dwarf planet the first time well get a real look at pluto and some of the satellites. Alix now it is labeled a dwarf planet not an actual planet and you have a great guest. Yes. Of the musical solar system, josh groven coming up musician and actor. Well talk about his new foundation. Alix ill be tuning in. Thank you so much. That wraps it up for street smart. With all due respect is next. John im john heilemann. Marcolina nine mark halperin. And with all due respect, it is time. Republican stock of on granite. Omalley keeps his nose to the grindstone. It may not be forever. But first, hillary is getting rocked. She has turned the page down on controversy and is staffing up. She is expe