House correspondent Phil Mattingly joining me here in new york, following development as the u. S. Government prepares to say north koreas behind the cyber attack on Sony Pictures. Click last night, president obama said americans should go to the movie theaters, but behind the scenes at the white house there are serious reverberations about what has been going on with sony. There have been a series of meetings between the president S National Security team, Law Enforcement officials, and intelligence officials as well. That u. S. Sion investigators have determined that the north cream government has had a significant role as an actor in the attack on sony. What does that mean . U. S. Officials are still debating how to respond, but there are a number of responses in play right now. And the big question white house officials are trying to answer is, what should they do . Class the other big question, why . Why was this done . Why was this done to sony . Yes. On the investigation site has the fbi, north korea played a significant role. They have not determined, and there is disagreement on whether or not they have played the sole role here. They are trying to determine if there are sympathetic parties that helped. The interesting thing from the justice for his perspective, so far, they want to bring charts against who ever is responsible for this. They are nowhere near that place. That shows you how much more than you to find out for the are there any good options for the u. S. At this point . What we saw in may, actually, was the Justice Department bring charges against five Chinese Military officials for espionage. Theres the Law Enforcement component. And theres always the diplomatic component as well. There are many questions within the Intelligence Community about how to respond to Something Like this. There are not International Norms here, and there are not even really rules about response. This goes right to the heart of one of the tenants of the United States of america, which is free speech. How is this being observed, calculated, discussed on capitol hill . What are lawmakers saying . Lawmakers are set by what is going on right now, and obviously public republicans are getting a little political because they are being blaming the obama administration. But there is general concern over buckling to demands what is being considered a terrorist organization. John mccain is going to take over the Armed Services committee in the new Republican Congress and hes going to put together a subcommittee to look into these things. He made very clear in a said, thetoday, he need for Sony Pictures to make that decision ultimately arose from the eight obama administrations inability to kind of put things together to address this issue. Lawmakers will be looking for the administration to take a more offensive approach. Phil mattingly joining us here in new york. Thanks so much. Russian president Vladimir Putin is taking a defiant stance at his annual news conference. He blamed the u. S. And europe for the economic crisis gripping his country. He also warned his citizens to prepare for a slump, but reassured them that russia would emerge stronger from the crisis. How long will this take . In the worst possible scenario, it will take around two years. I repeat, though, after this, growth is inevitable. And this is also because the external economic factors will change. Growth in the International Economy will require further energetic resources. Bloombergs Ryan Chilcote covers russia. He joins me now from london on the phone. Good evening, ryan. He is playing to his base, electric an electorate that continues to show him overwhelming support. What about his statement that their economic problems can be fixed within two years, as president putin says . No, that depends almost entirely on the price of oil that russia really missed out on its opportunity diversify away from a petrol economy. Interested in russia, at 60. As oil is is priced likeil that, they are not really interested in russia. When the ruble was hitting 80 rubles to the dollar, it was interesting. Click on the sidelines of the eu summit today in brussels, the the french president Francois Hollande told supporters reporters that if russia was to give back ukraine, they could see some concessions. How were those comments received by other eu leaders . Not very well. While countries like germany maintain good relations with russia, she thinks chancellor she needsd she thinks to see if behavior change in ukraine. After a group of sailors left france without their worship, they had intended to buy two warships from the french, but in the last couple of months and under huge pressure, president friends while aunt agreed not to sell to the russians. A lot of people Francois Hollande agreed not to sell to the russian. I think it is the first sign of ft. Ig ri sanctions are in place until at least july. If there is not a big push for sanctions beyond july, they could be removed. President putin also discussed the rubles collapse. He said they would work in the government to stabilize the currency, but not through formal orders. Will that be enough to the russians when seen their savings take a huge hit complex we will see. I thought it was interesting a huge hit . We will see. But it was interesting. He talked about how russia uses its reserves to meet its budget commitments also paying pensioners, the power base, the military, the army. Banke said the central should not use its reserves to support the ruble. And in fact, he criticized the central bank for not stopping ruble interventions earlier. He thinks that the oil price is going to recover. And at the same time, while the isl price the oil price where it is and the ruble is we, that actually helps his budget commitments. I dont think this is a president that is exceptionally interested in saving the ruble at the expense of his economy. Bloombergs Ryan Chilcote joining us on the phone from london. Thank you so much. Tosident obama is looking end the more than five decade old embargo on cuba. Normalizing the relationship between the two countries would not only mean big business, but could also change the landscape for credit Card Companies. Mia saini has been doing some digging on what this means for the likes of mastercard and visa. First tell us, what presence do these Card Companies currently have in cuba . Mastercard and these are widely accepted at hotels, car rental agencies, and official restaurants and shops, with the caveat that they cannot be issued by a United States bank or financial institution. Right now, they are issued by places like barclays or hsbc. Diners card is also accepted, but to a lesser extent. American express, those cards are not accepted anywhere on the island. I spoke to bloombergs credit card expert and she told me that stands American Express to benefit the most, they are going from zero to some possible exposure. How big an opportunity is this for the Credit Card Company . Quest it is a good question we are all trying to figure out. I have been working the phones with other analysts, and one of them, equity director at he said itapital, would be revenue, but not meaningful from an earnings perspective. I also spoke to analyst josh olson from edward jones, and he said that cuba will not likely have a Material Impact on growth. Let me put this in perspective. We were just talking about russia, which is much larger than cuba. It represents only 1 or 2 of payment volume four these critical players. Networks will likely participate in any opportunity in cuba, assuming the operating costs are in line with ever geographies, the aggregate impact, the total impact will likely be less than 1 . Shallost is assisting and point part of visas revenue. Id. Through and found it is one third of their operating revenue. Then what are the challenges . This morning, i spoke to carlos gutierrez, the former secretary under george w. Bush. Could be as nightmare for credit Card Companies. What is unclear is how this could work. Chargean government may an extruder a fee, which may be unacceptable for these credit Card Companies. There are a couple of challenges, and we are talking predominately a cash society and the lack of merchant exception acceptance. This will not happen overnight. Mia saini, thank you very much. Coming up, the eu summit is underway in brussels. We will take a look at why the president of france is going against other European Union leaders in proposing sanctions relief for russia. Stay with us, bottom line on bloomer television continues in just a moment. Welcome back. Stocks are rising after the biggest jump of the year for the s p 500 of Global Equities rallied on the Federal ReserveFederal Reserve saying to be patient on increases. The Dow Jones Industrial is rising at this hour, up 1. 6 at 17,461. , it is on the rise as well. The s p is up at 1. 6 as well, at 2045. It is not so much the volatility is spiking or going back to normal. That is the key word here, is the big going back to that 20 range echoed that is where it used to be. We have had an unusual time of a function ofrtly accommodation. As the fed normalizes, volatility should as well. The nasdaq composite index this hour, it is at 4728. Lets take a look at crude oil on this thursday. Crude continuing its live. Intraday, down nearly 3. 5 at 54. 53. Boston marathon bombing suspect sarkar tsarnaev Dzhokhar Tsarnaev appeared in court for in some time. He faces the possibility of the Death Penalty if he is convicted in the april, 2013 bombings, which killed three people and injured more than 260 others at the boston marathon. Bloomberg news has learned former Florida Governor jeb bush will give up his Senior Adviser role at our cleat at barclays at the end of the year. This comes after he announced he may run for the republican nomination in 2016. According to persons with knowledge of the matter, the decision will was reached mutually and will allow mr. Bush to focus on politics. John cahill, who has been the nonexecutive chairman is replacing tony vernon, who is retiring from craft. Kraft foods. Brands include maxwell house, miracle with, and bill veto. An airbagending recall, adding 4000 vehicles to the list of those recalled by takata. They can explode with too much force, spewing shrapnel into drivers and passengers. Be sure to check out the latest edition of Bloomberg Businessweek and the cover story on toyota. It is on your newsstands and tablet today and you can read it on the go with the Bloomberg Businessweek. Businessweek app. We are joined by a senior fellow at brookings and a senior professor in tray at cornell stop he joins me now. Welcome back to bottom line. Today, president putin said that his economy would overcome the situation. When asked how long, he said in the most favorable circumstances it would take about two years. What about the most unfavorable circumstances . What should the russian people expect . It will be a long road for the russian people. The numbers in russia just dont add up. About half of the budget revenues, a quarter of the economy, and more than half of the export revenues are dependent on oil, natural gas, and other sources of energy. That, the sanctions are having a bit of a bite in terms of access to the financial markets. In addition to all of the economic mismanagement in russia, these external factors will put enormous pressure and it will take a very great deal of effort to pull out of this. This week, Russias Central Bank raged it raised its benchmark Interest Rate to 17 from 10. 5 . The country has already spent 87 billion, about 17 of its Foreign Exchange reserves, trying to prevent and collapse a collapse in the ruble. With that much pressure on the currency, how will russians be able to protect their savings . That is going to be very difficult, and it is part of the reason we are seeing global plummeting, because there is concern about the weather. There will be about whether there will be significant inflation in russia. If you look at the debt, a lot of the death of the russian corporations, especially those owned by friends of president putin, essentially all of them have been monetized. Be higheruence will inflation in the long run. Everyone who can take money out is doing so. That is what the Russian Central Bank is trying to stem, and they have had no luck so far. The dramatic increase in Interest Rates in the middle of the night was meant to signal strength, but i think signals desperation more than anything else. Can russias Banking System withstand a seismic shock of that magnitude . Russias Banking System does not have that much exposure abroad in terms of foreign debt. And even though russia has spent a good chunk of its Foreign Exchange reserves, there is about hundred 20 billion left still in the kitty. Although there is dubious business about how much of the stated official reserves is available in liquid form, because some of it is already held high Certain National enterprises. I think they can get by without lessor banking crisis, and panic intensifies further and russians start pulling all of the deposits out of the Banking System. I dont expect a banking collapse, unless again, Oil Prices Continue to fall and we dont see any significant reaction from the government in terms of better economic policies. And there is a possibility of that. We mentioned earlier that the european leaders have opened their twoday meeting in brussels, and one of the topics on their agenda was the sluggish Economic Growth in the euro zone. One possible solution that has been discussed is the immediate creation of the strategic investment fund. Would a move like this be enough to attract private investment longterm . Very logicallike a move. The big difficulty in europe right now is the lack of deck lack of domestic demand. The European Central bank is trying to push more money into the system, but without demand it will not have much traction. And certainly, europe will need more infrastructure spending, but investment spending, but they will use about 21 billion euros of European Union money, about 5 billion coming from the European Investment bank, and hope is that it will bring in private money over three years. The idea of a Publicprivate Partnership is appealing, but whether the European Union will for the right projects private sector to get into is far from obvious. It is a good gamble, but i have serious doubts about whether it will pay off. Always aasad, pleasure. Thanks for your time today. Up next, matt miller joins us with an on the markets report and an equity market in rally mode. And later, willem marx with a bloomberg special report global scam chasing the scammers in latvia. Bottom line continues in just a moment. Dont miss the latest edition of studio 1. 0 with emily chang thielypal cofounder peter tonight at 8 30 p. M. Bloomberg television is on the markets. My colleague, matt miller, is standing by. On this thursday, we are seeing a market in rally mode. We are still looking at a strong rally today. Take a look at the major indexes 1. 5 acrossgains of the board. Some of the stocks were falling today we are following today, kicking off with yum brands, falling the most in 2. 5 years. Red arrow after the company cut it 2015 Sales Forecast and issued disappointing earnings guidance. The Parent Company of Dunkin Donuts and baskinrobbins Delicious Ice Cream cited consumer pressures and lower package copy sales. Also, better than estimated Quarterly Earnings in production drug sales, and the retail drug chain rite aid boosted its forecast. Shares of almost 12 . 20 inrket again in 30 minutes. More bottom line on the other side of this break. Welcome back to the second half hour of bottom line on bloomberg television. Im mark from to in new york. Thanks for staying with us. Investors from around the world were suckered in by a website called secureinvestment. Com, which masqueraded as a managed forex fund before vanishing may with millions of dollars. Willem marx worked to track down those responsible for this scam. But at the very edge of europe a financialsense is wild west. The syndicate based in former soviet states traded a site called secureinvestment. Com who persuad