Always is a dumb idea. Youre watching Market Makers on Bloomberg Television. Thursday in new york city, i am Erik Schatzker. I am stephanie ruhle. How do you feel . I feel great. Im not sure how i feel. These are the top business stories from around the world. Barclays will cut 7000 jobs in its investment bank, about one fourth of the total market. Trying tonkins is reduce his dependence on fixed income, which has been its biggest source of revenue. A big jump in homes being sold for cash according to the tracks 43 according realty tracks, were all cash in the first quarter. Mortgage lending has plummeted because rates have been rising and lending requirements have become stiffer. Macdonalds best month, samestore sales were up 1. 2 . Mcdonalds has been struggling to attract consumers because of growing competition like talk about like taco bell. There is a Consumer Confidence problem. Show deal ora game no deal, top executives from comcast and Time Warner Cable are back on capitol hill
Continues. Bayer will buy america consumer over the counter business for 14. 2 billion. Also the two companies are establishing a have a teemgic collaboration in cardiovascular diseases. And this will vowill involve me paying 2 billion to bayer. But again, the big headline here is the 14. 2 billion deal for mercks over the counter consumer business. Why is there so much deal making going on in pharmaceuticals . This has been incredible. Weve seen a swap from glaxo and novartis. This is a way for companies to hone in on what theyre good at. Were hearing a lot of pharmaceutical companies saying they need scale, they need to cut costs and they want to be number one or two in positions where theyre playing. So areas where theyre a little bit smaller, were seeing these asset swaps. And now of course this is all set against the backdrop of pfizer making its 106 billion bid for astrazeneca which is eclipsing Everything Else going on in the industry. But this is a big deal for merck and one it
Larry fink talking about the fed and the markets yesterday. The Federal Reserve is actually causing more disorientation in the marketplace, because theyre purchasing more than is being created by the treasury. And so i think they should get it over with, move on. I dont think it will be disruptive to the marketplace. Since they started talking about tapering, rates are down 75 basis points. That tells me they have not been aggressive enough. Thats very interesting. Beyond the minutes well be speaking to the fed, well be hear something other things this afternoon as joe mention. We do have new york fed president bill dudley. Thats coming up at 10 00 eastern time. Later this morning, janet yellen will deliver the ny kruu commencement address at yankee stadium. Stanley fischers nomination to be vice chairman of the fed has cleared a key procedural hurdle. Fischer is widely expected to win confirmation. Andrew. News this morning about deals. A new study facing hostile m a activity has reac
[ bleep ]. This has really flared up. Wildfires roar through southern california. In carlsbad north of san diego, more than two dozen homes were destroyed. The fire is coming up the hillside. The garden hose is not going to do anything for that. Tens of thousands have been forced to leave. Its a selfie for crying out loud. In turkey 282 confirmed dead. The grief is turning into anger. And the moments as a tornado tore through central ohio. Fortunately no injuries were reported. Casey kasim has now been found in washington state. Arrangements are being made to bring him back to southern california. President obama will attend a formal dedication of the 9 11 Memorial Museum this morning at ground zero in new york. People are sad here but that isnt the end of the story. This is a museum about hope. Several are hospitalized after an oil spill. Are you city thinking about running for president . And when will you make the decision on that . Yes and later. Donald sterling may not only lose h
We start the hour with breaking news. The futures are surging on the news that the fiscal cliff has been averted. Welcome to squawk on the street. Im melissa lee. First trading day of the new year, poised to begin in rally mode. Keep in mind, this is off of the big rally we saw on friday precliff. The biggest gain we saw in the month of november across the board. This, of course, as Congress Takes measures to avoid the fiscal cliff. Take a look at this. This is something you dont see too often on wall street. The dow looking at about 202 points at the open. Look at the picture over in the european markets. The optimism has carried over there as well. The dax is higher by 2 . Italy up 3. 5 . But of course, jim, what a twoday streak of gains we will see here on the market. I think that were set up to go higher. I also want to caution i dont like to buy up 2 , 3 . Thats never been a terrific way to get the year started. Theres a lot of money coming in. I do want to be optimistic about 201