bearish on stocks even after the s&p has closed at record highs 52 times so far this year. and we will be speaking with former american airlines chief executive bob crandall. he will help us understand how another passenger jet could vanish. plus, a special guest host in the next hour, the former president of cnn and current ceo of his startup will discuss the current state of media in light of the sony hack attack. the movie made $15 million over the holidays. political and financial turmoil in greece today. the country faces early elections as soon as next month after the defeat of the prime minister, who failed in his third and final attempt to persuade parliament to back his choice for president. the favorite in the elections will be the party which opposes the greek bailout agreement austerity with the eu and imf that has the stock exchange down as much as 11% in trade. >> investigators say the missing airasia passenger jet is probably at the bottom of the sea. it disappeared on a flight from indonesia to singapore. shortly before the plane vanished, pilots had asked for permission to climb higher to avoid clouds. here is the airasia ceo, tony fernandes. >> our first priority now is to look after the families and do whatever we can. >> accuweather says there were storms along the flight path. >> libyan islamist militants set storage tanks ablaze on chris's dan while the fire has been extinct on three of those tanks, there is speculation that the escalating conflict in libya may tighten oil supplies. brent crude was up almost 2% in london. the international benchmark is still down about 46% this year. here in new york, a controversial protest of the funeral of a policeman who was gunned down with his partner. and number of new york city officers turned their backs on mayor bill de blasio when he spoke of the service on saturday. the cops were angry over what they see as a lack of support from the mayor. in the middle of this growing divide, police commissioner william bratton. >> it was inappropriate, and at the same time it was reflective of the feelings of some of our officers about not just of the mayor, but some of the many issues that have afflicted the city at this time in this particular police department. >> bratton says there have been more than 50 threats against new york city officers since their colleagues were killed. >> it is the highest profile feature film to give you on the internet. "the interview" took in $50 million in online sales the first four days it was available. it was rented or purchased more than 2 million times. itunes will offer the dark comedy about a plot to kill the north korean leader. major theater chains canceled the plan christmas day release but other theaters did show the movie. back to our main story this morning. greek prime minister antonin samaras failed in his third and final attempt to persuade parliament, as we mentioned to back his candidate for head of state, triggering snap elections early in the new year. the political drama triggering this selloff, as you can see, on the athens stock exchange, which is now down more than 6%, and more than 17% in the last month alone. joining us to discuss all of this is the bloomberg markets managing editor joe weisenthal and elliott got in. when are the elections going to take place? >> the earliest they can take place is january 25, and and thomas samaras is planning to meet with the great resident tomorrow to ask him to dissolve parliament and set the date for general elections. we will be back here in about a month's time. as you said in your introduction, the favorite to win the elections is the antenna astoria -- anti-stuausterity party. >> joe, is this 2012 all over again in greece? >> i think it is different from 2012. obviously, there are similarities. you have borrowing costs spiking for italy and spain and greece and all these countries. the question was debt sustainability. now it is about after all these years of crisis and weak economic growth how sustainable is the political system? we are seeing the first crack in greece and the possible election of a harlot artie -- of a far left party. the fear is not so much that there will be contingent from greece -- aof contagion from graceland that there is a preview of issues. >> i see it as also positive element, that maybe we will be able to go back to ignoring greece the way we did before. is it possible to renegotiate the agreement without causing europe-wide panic? >> the only problem with the renegotiation plan is that there are all these anti-austerity parties everywhere else in europe -- in a lily -- italy, spain, and if greece can negotiate its plans, why can't we? the leaders in europe are loath to renegotiate. >> furthermore, it is not just the fringe that is anti-austerity. the prime minister of italy wants europe to loosen the restrictions set in place. >> and that will be a good thing if the centrist parties could agree to that, like a broader loosening austerity. >> the only party that needs to agree is germany. >> elliott, could this trigger what we're talking about a domino effect with other countries? >> i guess that was more of a concern back in june 2012 when i was here offering those general elections that happen in quick succession. clearly there is a concern that the could be some contagion, but even in greece it is not the same economy we were talking about 1.5 years ago. the economy is growing. .7 percent this year, almost 3% next year is the forecast. it is set to balance its budget for the first time in some four decades as well. clearly there are concerns about contagion but let's not forget that even if service wins elections, it has to form a government and lament policies. it would not be the first time that someone comes into office in greece or europe and does not make good on the promises he was making in the run-up to elections. >> in this parliamentary election, the pitch to lawmakers was let's just be responsible this time, let's not cause a huge problem. he is going to have to conduct a nationwide actual general election. how do we think that which is going to change? >> well, look, he did manage to persuade in of elementary and's -- enough parliamentarians to his way of thinking, despite dangling the prospect of general elections committee expanded the governing coalition to include other pro-european lawmakers. there will be a hard sell to say vote for me because otherwise things are going to get worse. at the same time, he has been wanting that if you vote for the other guys then you are going to undo all the good work that has already been done. yes, it is still have increased. you have -- still tough in greece. youth unemployment is at 50%. people are still struggling. at the same time, things have been improving and samaras' pitch is that things are getting better and stay with me and they will continue to get better. >> elliott gotkine, bloomberg middle east editor on greece's upcoming elections, and also thank you joe weisenthal managing markets editor. he will be taking us to the opening bell. >> i'll be back. >> excellent. you'll be back. >> coming up on this special edition of "in the loop" more on the airasia flight that disappeared. you will hear from an authority on the airline industry, bob crandall, former chairman and ceo of american airlines. also, global stocks are in selloff mode this morning after that failure in greece to elect a new president and forcing the snap elections that could -- emphasize, could -- derail the country's economy. ♪ >> warships and airplanes from 4 countries are searching the jobless c4 -- the java sea for an airasia flight. it was halfway to its destination, singapore, but vanished from radar. it comes among one of the worst years for aviation in asia and malaysia in particular. help us get a sense of scale here. how large of an area has been searched? >> yeah, good morning. we are talking about 11,000 aeronautical miles for now. the search has widened in the last couple of hours, as we enter into just after 40 hours of search and rescue for this aircraft, and still no emergency signals detected, no sign of this missing aircraft. we're talking 12 vessels, dozens of boats, warships, military aircraft from indonesia malaysia, singapore, and australia, all in this effort. whether definitely not helping either, with poor visibility making a tough situation even harder. no distress signal was sent either. the head of the search in indonesia telling us that 8501 is likely to be at the bottom of the sea. they were focused on an oil spill just about 100 nautical miles away from ellis island, the last place -- melatonin island, the last place where air traffic controllers had a signal from the plane. they were not able to confirm if the oil spill was from the plane or a ship, according to officials right now. a couple minutes before they lost contact, the pilot had requested some -- to fly higher to avoid weather conditions there, the heavy thunderstorms in that area in this time of year. we have learned from reports that those requests were denied due to heavy air traffic that day. passengers and crew members are waiting anxiously in airports right now. they have set up a briefing area so they can get the latest updates. the ceo of airasia tony fernandez, says pra yy hard, we will be here together, and they will not be stopping. >> elon, thank you from -- yvonne thank you from hong kong. >> it is a tragedy for all involved and it especially challenging situation for airasia ceo tony fernandes, who has been frustrated with the lack of information. robert crandall is the former ceo of american airlines. so good to have you with us. from what you can tell from a distance, is tony fernandes handling this situation as well as you possibly can? we needed to remember while asking the question that malaysia, for example, the malaysian government in particular came under criticism for the way it handled the dispense of mh 70. >> i think he is doing all he can. he obviously has expressed his sympathy and concern, as he should. he is -- he has announced that they have appropriate people from the airline. as airlines do, they will put a whole cruel of that crew of people out there to deal with each individual family and be as responsive as possible to the obvious concerns of those people. he is on the scene and prepared to make whatever information he gets available to others. that is about all he can do at this point. >> you know, bob, it is betty here -- i hate to be -- i don't want to get into conspiracy theories or try to read too much into certain trends, but this is , as brendan was saying earlier could be, if in fact the plane is lost and is crashed and all our guilt come -- all are killed, would be one of the worst come if not the worst year in aviation in over a decade. what is exactly going on? why are these incidents we hearing about happening among asian airlines? if there's something to read and that -- in that? >> you are a smart woman and u.s. seen enough of these things to know that -- you have seen enough of these things did know that it is not sensible to speculate until we know what has happened. we have had a number of those things, but as far as we know at least, they are not similar. they are all tragedies. they are all shocking the ones we know about today have been for quite different reasons. when this went -- i would be suppressed if it does not -- if they do not find the wreckage and they are not able to get the black box. >> one thing that these asian airlines have in common is that they have expanded at an unbelievably rapid clip. in the case of airasia alone, this is a company that back in 2008 had 78 planes, today has 69 in service. more than double the number of aircraft in the air. we are talking only six years. should we be asking the question of whether they should be expanding to quickly? >> i think it is perfectly appropriate to ask the question. the answer in this particular case at least as far as the experience of the flight crew is concerned, is that these are very experienced people. the pilot in this case had some 23,000 hours. no reason to believe that the training is deficient in any way. until we know something more, i think although the question is certainly valid and needs to be asked, i don't in any sense believe that the answer is going to turn out to be firm. >> one of the things that the flights have in common, this one and 370 is that neither were carrying the type of satellite equipment that would regularly update to the satellite to give a sense of where the airplane was. some carriers like air france have retrofitted their entire fleets to make that available but it is very expensive. what is the cost benefit analysis you do as a two decide whether or not you want to -- as an airline to decide with the run you want to update your entire fleet? >> i think the answer here -- this is one of those things about an area where, in my view, we need regulation. this is not something where we need to be dealing with cost-benefit trade-offs. this is one of these things that ought to be done. nobody wants to take -- cnn plane take off and sibley lose track of it and not be able to have information. i do hope that the worldwide aviation authorities welcome to a conclusion that this is something that is going to be required for commercial airlines. >> but i believe the iata has already made recommendations to upgrade the technology in certain aircraft and airlines have pushed back. >> well, the airlines need to stop pushing back and governments need to make the point, look, from an airline's point of view, as you know, you folks know perfectly well airlines don't pay for anything. passengers do. if an airline spent some money to provide this type of technology, it would raise the price of every individual ticket by a dollar, $1.50, two dollars could not by any material amount. we will have what society as a whole will believe is a positive benefit. >> we thank you for spending time with us this morning. bob crandall former chairman and ceo of american airlines. >> a new round of financing for china's biggest smartphone seller. it is now valued at four times as much as it was last year. >> at sign we spoke to marc faber -- last time we spoke to marc faber he said the drop in oil was a bearish sign for the economy. >> maybe the ukraine oil crisis tells you that the global economy is not recovering as all the bullish analysts think. >> you are watching a special edition of "in the loop" live on bloomberg television streaming on mobile and bloomberg.com. i am here with brendan greeley and erik schatzker. >> morning. >> morning! >> morning to you. >> china's biggest smartphone seller has raised more than $1 billion in a round of dancing. it is -- round of financing. it is valued at 45 billion dollars. china is escalating its ban on google, blocking access to gmail through third-party applications. the internet regulator is not saying why. china has already blocked google's search and map functions. the last of the " hobbit" trilogy was a big winner at the box office over the weekend. it took in $45 million and killed a lot of orcs. >> did you have to go and see it with your kids? >> ido go to movies! -- i don't go to movies! that's why "interview" was amazing, because it came to me. i liked it. i think my expectations were too high, but i really like the way -- i will hit myself saying this -- that seth rogen is reinventing the buddy comedy. don't think of it as a free-speech exercise could think of it as a movie you enjoy on a plane. >> i think if you see it as a free-speech exercise you ruin the whole thing. equity futures, as we mentioned turning a little bit lower on the back of european stocks being taken down after what happened in greece and the snap elections that are being called for in the early part of next year. we have been closing at record highs. the s&p closed at a record high 52 times so far this year. >> next guest is one of the world's most nimble and at times prescient investors. he predicted that u.s. stocks would correct by 10-20% in the fall. they did, of course. he printed more volatility. does anybody remember october 15? he is marc faber publisher of "the gloom, boom & doom report." betty mentioned what happened in greece. forced to call early elections next year. take a look at the world around us. is this a buying opportunity with greek stocks and european stocks selling off, or is this a sell signal? >> well, first of all, i think that given the monetary interventions we have around the world to make any prediction is very difficult. just go back six months. who would have predicted that the oil price would drop by 40% in the fall? poor who would have predicted a month ago that natural gas would drop 35%? and that since october 7, the price of wheat has doubled? we have a lot of volatility. we have big moves in currencies and we don't know how the world will look like in a years time. but i am basing my views someone on the great bloomberg report, and i just read one that said that all the costs that were surveyed by bloomberg -- higher interest rates was in a year of the 10-year treasury note and the 30-years treasury note. today, and most bearish about bonds for years now -- they have always said that bonds will go down, yields will go up. in 2014 long-term, 30 years u.s. treasury's returned more than 25%. the big surprise to anyone is how on earth could french government bonds -- >> wait marc marc this is betty here. am i hearing that marc faber's prediction for 2015 is you can't make a prediction? >> yes, that is actually the production of very rich holds who work -- barry ritholtz, who works for you. it is not even my view. that is why i keep on recommending diversification. i just want to mention that hedge funds in 2014 on the money managers had a bad year -- almost 90% of active managers underperformed the s&p 500, and hedge funds, by and large, the averages 1% -- the average is up 1%. where is the old weather or folio bridgewater associates? they diversified they were in bonds, they were long stocks. >> this is brandon. one of the words you rely on a lot in your reports is discipline, you use the old warren buffett quotation that you don't have to be smart, you have to be disciplined. you talked about the swing in the price of oil that nobody predicted. did you lose your religion and make trades when it started to have been? >> no, actually, i'm a believer in trading as little as possible. my portfolio turnover annually is very, very low. i am a very bad client for banks and brokers because there are no commissions coming from me. so i am diversified. i still think that the sentiment about stocks in the u.s. is much too bullish, much too optimistic. the sentiment about u.s. bonds -- the 10-year u.s. treasury note is yielding slightly more than 2.2%. let me ask you this -- what would you rather own, given that all the forecasters are so optimistic about the u.s. dollar? what would you rather own, u.s. government bonds yielding 2.2% or say european-french bonds yielding 0.88% german bonds, 0.6 -- 0.56% black? or to rather oh -- what would you rather owe? the treasury market is not about alternative given that the global economy is slowing down and given the low yields you have in japan and in europe. >> marc it's erik here. i'm fascinated by a couple points you just made. the first is that you turn over your portfolio rarely -- [laughter] well, no, because many of the things you have such was over the last couple years have been remarkably consistent and the performance of the markets have not been consistent, or not with your outlook. if i were to rewind the clock to 2008, 2009, and we were talking about qe1 and qe2, you look -- you like and the u.s. dollar under ben bernanke to a piece of toilet paper and you have been no fan of wanted to give easing since then. if we were stuck with that view, where would we be today with the s&p 500 trading north of 2000 and 10-year yields, as you point out, at 220? >> yes, the toilet paper state is still ahead of us. toilet paper currency, not just the u.s. dollar. what i have consistently said is that i prefer to invest in the nation in emerging economies of asia than, say, in the u.s. some markets in asia have performed substantially better than the u.s., particularly in 2014. a few months ago i actually said and wrote that i was not optimistic of the chinese economy, but because of that the stock market would go up and the stock exchange index the series up 45%. india, which we also recommended a year ago, is up in dollar terms. and even thailand, in spite of all of its problems is up 14%. jakarta is up 18%. pakistan is up 40%. you can see that the markets that have got better, as i just explained, the treasury market has outperformed u.s. equities and there is another thing i must mention about u.s. equities. as of early december there were about as many stops on the new york stock exchange that were down 10% as up 10% and many stops there were down 40%, up 40%. we have a huge diverting performance also if you were in biotech you would do well. interestingly enough if you were in utilities you do fantastically well. if you were in anything commodity-related, you did poorly. >> we did see that divergence, marc faber. you say to have a diversified portfolio and that he would rather hold treasuries than other assets could but what about in u.s. equities? what stocks would you own? what specific companies would you own in the u.s.? >> i tell you, i prefer physical precious metals stored outside the u.s. but if you cannot own physical precious metals, i believe that the sentiment about the stock market is bullish and about investments in general and i believe that most assets are in kind of a bubble. we have a credit bubble. sentiment about precious metals is incredibly negative. and all of these experts are predicting the call price to us gold price to drop to $700. -- the gold price to drop to $700. understood, these are experts who never owned a single ounce of gold in their lives. but they all know that the price of gold will go to $800. they write about it with a lot of authority. and they also say that these are people who probably never gave gold jewelry to their girlfriends and solve the smile from the beautiful girls after they received the jewelry. [laughter] >> marc, clearly, giving gold as a gift is the only way to know its intrinsic value. marc faber editor of "the gloom, boom & doom report" with us. >> emerging markets was one area he liked. it was one of the elections in brazil that had huge applications for the economy. plus, hockey the way it used to be played. we will talk about the nhl's upcoming winter classic with of the deputy commissioner. ♪ >> welcome back to this special three-hour edition of "in the loop" i am betty liu, joined by erik schatzker and brendan greeley. did you do a lot of shopping this season at all? >> some. all online. the greeley family does not leave the house. boxes come to us. boxes of movies. >> you come up by the way, were in good company. amazon says 60% of the shopping was done on mobile. black friday got off to a lackluster start. i want to bring in our senior markets correspondent julie hyman, and was the retail numbers issue has the retail numbers for us. >> the early numbers. black friday was not as strong as some retailers had anticipated. things happen in fits and starts. apparently there was a big late-season push. people have been waiting for last-minute bargains. we have a couple of estimates. craig johnson was with us on friday and she -- he says that sales tracked a little bit higher than he initially estimated. mastercard advisors said that if you looked, thanksgiving to christmas, sales were 5.5%. they are looking at the stuff that was actually bringing -- ringing. the big caveat when you're talking about holiday sales is that it is difficult to get the real number even when the commerce department comes up with the retail sales numbers, and includes all kinds of things. we will get the individual company's reporting their earnings that doesn't happen until february. >> the initial read on black friday was negative. and in the retail sales came out much better than expected only a few days later. >> looking at retail sales during holiday season as an indicator of confidence and how the economy is doing, he doesn't feel like it is about changes in the industry and not the wider economy? >> i would say it is a little bit of both. the wider economy has gotten better. gasoline prices down is helping confidence from is not actual spending habits in terms of pocketbooks. in terms of secular changes absolutely. we have talked about the over storing come over retailing of the u.s. consumer. there is a little bit -- >> over retailed. >> there is a little bit of fatigue, particularly when you're talking about apparel. there were a lot of complaints that there wasn't a big trend pulling people into stores when it came to apparel, except for athletic apparel. >> i tried to get my kids that 3-d doodle pen. completely out of stock. >> what is this thing of which you speak? [laughter] >> supposed to be very popular. outside of that, as you say stores promote heavily to get the traffic in. what about their margins? >> a couple of different things. compared to last year, retailers were saying that the promotions for not much more aggressive and they were managing them better that you felt like a great promotion but they priced at higher in the first place. inventories were leaner and that injury should be helpful to margins. >> therefore i did get my doodle pen. thank you, julie hyman, markets was funny. >> greek stocks plunge after lawmakers cost of prime minister a confidence vote. what does that mean for the greek bailout and the virtue -- future of the eurozone? could the streaming release of "interview" be a game changer? we will ask jon klein. ♪ >> it is now time for today's top photos. number three is personnel from the indonesian army looking over a map, trying to find an airplane in 11,000 square miles of the java sea. there are 4 countries with the vessels in the area and airplanes. one top official says that the airliner is probably at the bottom of the sea. >> it is just heartbreaking, of course that this has happened, and you read reports that this flight was going really short distance so there is no way of this that it could be in the air. it is somewhere either has landed or, as they say, likely at the bottom of the sea. >> it is so hard to watch this ritual again. earlier today we were talking to bob crandall and he believes it just takes international regulation and a little more discipline to make sure that these airlines, all airlines that travel outside of radar range has this equipment -- >> but it is one of those things that sounds simple to do but to implement -- >> very expensive. number two, these are people walking through a vineyard. this is the german wine region right along the rhine. i actually got a lot of picture -- whatsapp pictures from friends in germany. it is filled with pictures of winter walks in the snow. >> because? >> because that is how they communicate. the way i keep in touch with my german friends now is no longer facebook, it is whatsapp conveniently owned by facebook. >> pictures of the first snowfall here -- >> they are very aware of the cost of data internationally -- >> why not instagram? >> for them it is keeping things private. what's at this successful -- whatsapp is successful in germany because they are suspicious of sharing data. anyway, beautiful pictures -- >> i was going to say, we were skiing this weekend and i wish we had that snow here. >> number three is antonis samaras is having an no good, very back, horrible day, failed in his third and final attempt -- look how sad he is -- to get parliament to back his candidate for head of state. gst appeal to the entire nation. there will be -- he has to appeal to the entire nation. there will be elections held and what likely will happen is that syriza, and anti-austerity party, will win. >> markets pricing in the result of this greek vote for president . it amounts to a loss of confidence in the prime minister, antonis samaras. we should talk about what happened in 2014. a year for elections in asia and south america. >> it was a year where you saw consequences in market elections . in fact i took a look at three different elections indonesia india, and brazil. i tracked to these countries over the course of the election. let's look at indonesia first. this man was elected in july, the kind of candidate that indonesia is not seen in a long time. a businessman self-made -- >> no-nonsense. >> big heavy metal fan. he has promised to enact reforms and that is what he is slowly doing. they often pretty steady since then. it was not even expected that the opposition would even accept the results. one promisee has carried out is that he has reduced fuel subsidies. that is an option that has been possible since the drop in the price of oil but he took advantage of it. >> in the same vein, you mentioned india. anticorruption in much the same way in india and how he was elected as well. >> and corruption in india -- let's look at the equity index there. corruption via is a big stone -- e>> huge. >> the world's biggest democracy -- that is the confirmation of his win, and you see what equity markets did. erik you were in brazil this year. >> as were you. >> at 10 campos died and you saw huge spikes when you realize that it is impossible that dilma rousseff is not going to win the election. what did they say when you are down there? >> well, it depends who you talk to. poor people are delighted by dilma because this is effectively a welfare package for brazilian emmys in particular, not for individuals. if you talk to people more capitalist in nature, the motion very badly -- they wished very badly that they are turned brazil in a different direction. >> we will have to leave it here. back in two minutes. >> it is 56 minutes past the hour, which means bloomberg is "on the markets." short trading week, back after the selloff you are seeing in european we are "on the markets" again in 30 minutes. we will be back with much more. ♪ >> good morning. we are live from bloomberg world headquarters. you are "in the loop" with a special three-hour edition. i am betty liu, here with rain and really and erik schatzker -- with brendan greeley and erik schatzker. >> let's begin with a look at our top stories. in greece stocks plunged after prime minister antonis samaras lost a battle in parliament setting the stage for early elections. the stock exchange fell 11%. for the third and final time, lawmakers rejected his choice for head of state. elections will be held as early as january 25. the party that leads objects to the terms of greece's bailout with the eu and imf. >> indonesia says it is likely that a jet crashed to the bottom of the ocean. the airbus disappeared on a flight from indonesia to singapore. just before the plane vanish pilots asked for permission to fly higher to avoid clouds. here is the indonesian vice president. >> we are working hard with cooperation from our neighbors, singapore and malaysia. airasia is a malaysian-owned company. we are working with the navy and air force. we hope all the information -- we expect that we will find the ship and the passengers. >> accuweather says there were storms along the scheduled flight path. >> act in greece, more than 300 pastors have been rescued from a burning italian ferry. police one person was killed. greece says that the fire has been contained. >> in new york, the controversial protest at the funeral of a policeman who was gunned down with his partner. a number of new york city please officers turned their back on new york city mayor bill de blasio when the he spoke at the service on saturday. the cops are angry on what they see as a lack of support from the mayor. police commissioner william brennan. >> it was inappropriate. at the same time, it is reflective, unfortunately, of the feelings of some of our officers at this juncture about not just the mayor but some of the many issues afflicting the city at this time and the particular police department. >> bratton says there have been more than 50 threats against new york city please officers since there 2 colleagues were killed. the main story of the morning -- hours ago greek prime minister antonis samaras failed in his third and final attempt to persuade parliament to back his candidate for head of state, triggering snap elections early in the new year. joining us to discuss more of this is the middle east editor elliott gotkine from athens. it sounds like we will get these elections sometime in january or february. athens stocks were down about 11% but have recovered get how are people doing this now? >> there was actually a selloff before the vote took place and afterwards there was a selloff extended and now there has been a bit of a recovery. people are trying to work out exactly what this means. tomorrow we know that the prime minister who drove by here a short while ago, he is due to meet with the president tomorrow to ask him to dissolve parliament and set the date for january 25 for general elections. the next date should be february 28, when greece's current bailout agreement with the troika expires. any new government that comes in will have to negotiate the next credit agreement with creditors and if it is, as polls suggest, the anti-austerity party that wins, there are concerns that there could be some kind of showdown that could lead to more financial turmoil in greece and potentially an exit from the euro. >> elliott, what sense are you getting from the ground? does the greek party feel semi-as the lawmakers -- >> i'm sorry, could you repeat that? >> it sounds loud with the traffic. how do greek people feel? if the sentiment among greeks similar to what we saw play out in parliament? >> yeah, look, lawmakers weren't persuaded because by not voting for the president, it means there will be general elections, and i think by and large greek people are not necessarily just fed up and still hurting from the years austerity they have been enduring, but they are kind of set up with the -- fed up with the faces of the top of the political -- in their politics fed up with the same faces leading their country, which they feel hasn't done them any favors. the head of syriza -- it is kind of anyone but the current ones they would prefer to vote for and if he can make good on some of these promises, the better. most greeks have had enough with the political establishment and perhaps want change. >> thank you, elliott gotkine from our middle east editor. >> sony had a decent opening weekend come with $15 million of online sales through saturday for "the interview." cory johnson joins us in the predawn of san francisco. maybe this was an innovative masterstroke. wherever he sony get this amazing idea? >> they were stuck with this and for all the success this has had online, and raises interesting issues about their plans and the ability to open up movies in different ways -- fundamentally hollywood has not been very innovative, not least of which because of the arrangements they have had with theater owners and online providers like netflix and the cable operators as well. the windows have been closing between a release on from 200 days 10 years ago, the release of home video, down to six days in the third quarter of last year. it has been closing quite a bit. perhaps hollywood might look at a different way to open up movies. surely they would prefer the 3000 theaters they initially planned for as opposed to the 312 or 311 for the movie over the weekend. >> there was talk, you may recall, a few days ago that sony was just going to bury "the interview" so they could recover the $80 million in production and marketing costs from insurers. now that i have seen this whole thing play out, do we believe that is what the company's strategy was? and if it was, what was the one thing that forced their hand and ultimately changed the game? >> for all the terrifying finding power of kim jong-un, it was the power of george clooney perhaps that raised the stakes for sony. sony recognize that the creative community that they are constantly in negotiations with and begging those people to make the best movies were reacting to sony's timidity with opening the movie and to be sure, the theater owners as well as the big chains refused to carry the money played a big part. the creative community was speaking out about sony's old to play -- refusal to play the movie was a great risk for sony because they were unable to convince those people that sony was going to be there for them when they might have a challenging message as ridiculous and come in my opinion, fun as the movie was. >> they did everything wrong that they co could have possibly done wrong on the way to the digital release could have we learned anything about the way to do this if this is the future of the industry> >> even taking this thing online they were stumbling. they did not have apple in the first opening weekend, they did not have netflix, the biggest platform they could hope for. there were big issues there as well. i think what this shows is that there is a massive audience of people willing to watch certain movies online. what is interesting to me is the amount of marketing spent on eight film -- sony got all kinds of free marketing for this because of the news it created. the kinds of movies that arrived on the online demand the online services, h.p. open cable, for example -- hbo and cable, for example -- one wonders if sony look at this and striking new deals to create more value for the marketing dollars went to -- were dollars of whether it is online sooner or later. >> cory johnson, it is really where you are. thank you. >> early there. it is an important story. i want to bring in our guest host for the hour, a man armed with insights on media and technology, former president of cnn jon klein. he is the founder and ceo of a subscription-based online video platform could sarah palin -- herman cain. >> he is a big personality. >> he has a loyal following could i know that for sure. you watched "the interview." your big take away from this is? >> it is a phenomenal opportunity for independent film makers. not so much for studios. i don't think this is a seismic shift for big studios because big studios spend huge money on their movies and they have to recoup huge money. you look at "the hobbit," which cost $250 million to make, and they have taken in $550 million so far worldwide, compared to "the interview," which has taken in $15 million. if you are a big studio that thinks big -- >> obviously, big studios are thinking international. >> right. you look at the ticket price online. it is basically cut at least in half. it costs you seven dollars to rent "the interview," but everyone in your family can watch it. you can watch it with your spouse. you would be paying eight dollars apiece for a ticket. instead, both of you can watch it for seven dollars, or your whole family. all of a sudden the ticket price has gone way down. however, if you are an independent film maker whose budgets are already small, suddenly you have eliminated the middlemen and you are looking at the ability to distribute -- >> like self-publishing. >> washington that happened to movies? -- why shouldn't that happened to movies? >> because a bird in the hand is worth two in the bush. maybe you sacrifice the upside. >> but the vast majority of film makers cannot possibly imagine being able to do something like that. all of a sudden there hope which has always been dormant out there that i will just put my movie online and everybody will come to it, suddenly it is a more realistic possibility. >> if you threaten to fiction only assassinate -- fictionally assassinate a head of state. >> there are many you could. >> coming up on "in the loop," it was a year for mega merger mania. we will tell you who one and more importantly, who lost. stocks down on the news that greece will have to hold early elections. we will be "on the markets" with an update. ♪ >> you are watching "in the loop " on bloomberg television, streaming on mobile devices, and on bloomberg.com. a series of big-ticket mergers have been announced this year that could dramatically change the landscape in 2015. amidst all the wheeling and dealing we have seen it content is king. so -- still with us is our guest host for the hour, jon klein former president of cnn. before we get into some of the individual winners and losers of this year many are wondering going into next year, what the heck, when will we get these deals done? >> you know, it is down to happen, or not happen, maybe. the wheels turn slowly. everybody is assuming that media just marches forward faster than ever, really. look at all the stuff that happened in 2014 and the pace just gets faster and faster. >> ucd change and the level of background that the fcc has developed since the t-mobile-at&t deal didn't go through. >> they tend to favor things happening as opposed to not happening. things that seem inevitable tend to get approved. >> using the leverage of that deal to get a couple of regulatory >> let's get to your winners and losers. let's get into the winners category. we like talking about positive things. shane smith from "vice" is a big winner. >> these guys had phenomenal years. when you think about it vice has so cleverly positioned itself as the source of millenial news. that is their brand, and shane smith embodies it come himself personally. they raise half $1 billion in new investment that is a lot of cash to have to hone your position. >> by the way, his objective is to put cnn out of business. that is what he said. >> that is marketing. it is very appealing to younger viewers, readers, users, whatever you want to call them. everything about their brand lines up behind that. $2.5 billion violation on the company. he has said that he wants to go public -- i don't know if this year are one. he has got a lot of momentum. >> and they do things in terms of format that other media organizations aren't wheeling -- aren't willing to do. that is appealing to that generation. >> break the rules loosey-goosey. they went to north korea -- >> with what's his name, dennis rodman. >> they have done a smart job of positioning. >> some of the losers. marissa mayer. >> not personal losers. they have had a tough year. the sale of ali baba has revealed the underlying metrics of the yahoo! business and it is a tough story could the display advertising has been challenged. mobile has picked up for them, which is good. she has a huge challenge ahead of her to catch up to the giants in internet advertising -- google and facebook. >> is it worth comparing go pro and yahoo!? gopro was a technology company that made the leap into a content company. >> the challenge for gopro -- they ipo'd this year and have done a fantastic job of positioning themselves as the home of the best user-generated content. but can you make money from it? >> not until you are making money off the content. they are eight device company. what's wrong with being a device company? >> you can't make as much as you can by owning the hearts and minds of millenials. >> apple is making tons of money doing that. >> but they also get into content. music. >> they don't own the music. they are a platform. >> the question for gopro is what kind of content company they want to be. do they want to be the youtube fraction? -- for action? do they want to be like getty images? >> do they just want to be whatever commands the highest evaluation to allow them to cash out -- >> that i doubt because he has made a ton of money and people who make a fortune on content businesses are doing it for the passion, believe it or not not money. >> the other loses, roger goodell and nancy snyderman, in the midst of that ebola controversy, pretty obvious as to why they are losers. but getting back to mercenary -- -- marissa mayer -- >> winners, winners. >> she has paid for big personalities, almost like what you are doing, tilting channels around them. >> katie couric. >> would you have wanted katie couric on your platform? >> i love the katie and she does remarkable work but there are thousands of people out there, literally, who have rabid, avid fan followings and don't have the avenue that katie couric has to an audience on a regular basis. we are about allowing all of those people. we have a guy who runs for ministries and he has 2 million radio listeners who are dying for more of him, and we created a tv channel -- phenomenally successful, became profitable in two months. his 2 million followers said oh my god, we can pay a little and get him. >> stay with us, jon klein founder and ceo. >> a company on track to lose almost $2 billion and still manages to be one of the best-performing stocks in japan. >> you are watching a special edition of "in the loop" live on bloomberg television streaming on mobile and bloomberg.com. i am betty liu, here with brendan greeley and erik schatzker. >> there is a look at our top company news this hour. investors and analysts are looking beyond the hack attack on sony. this stock is up more than 43% this year. 2 of the analysts covering sony rate it a buy. among the reasons, strong sales of the playstation console and a weaker yen. american apparel was sent a letter asking the company to review its options. lyon is a longtime supporter of american apparel foundere dov charney. charney would like to buy the company after the board fired him this month. carl icahn owns a most 8% of this company and wanted to divide its grantmaking and food appliances units. activists and investors are also looking for a split. >> bloomberg television's "on the markets." mia saini has more on gold this morning. >> time for futures in focus. gold futures are rising this morning, adding for the second quarterly loss as the investment is less desirable for investors out there. turning to me with more on how gold is doing is the founder of average joe options. i want to start with you another tough year for gold. what's going on? >> how is the u.s. economy doing? we see gdp for the third quarter -- >> 5%! everyone was shocked, right? >> obviously, that is not good for gold. people buy gold as a hedge against inflation or as a safe haven. none of the above is looking good for the yellow metal. >> over the weekend we got news that perhaps the chinese government would step in and bolster the economy. the chinese, as we know, in terms of physical demand for gold, are really present. >> they said that they were going to loosen the requirements for deposits and lending. anytime china does something that seems a little bit more like a stimulus program, it is good for gold from the things that might bring in some sort of demand but also an increase of the money supply, which is inflationary. >> taught, i want to bring you into this conversation. how would you be trading gold right now? >> first, i want to say that gold is just a commodity nothing to do with whether it is a safe haven play or not. gold itself looks to be very weak but the strength of the u.s. dollar is able to push down commodity prices. hence the pullback in gold. gold looks like a pretty good sail around $11. - 1195 to 1200. if you are an active trader you look at selling gold at 1195 to 1200. it has a chance to go down to the 1170 support level. there is a chance to make $25 or $35 on gold, just like we saw on friday right to the resistance level. you make about $30 here. if you trade pdf -- the etf trading gold is a much better trade because you don't need to say margin requirement, nor do you worry about regulation. >> i want to put this in layman's terms -- essentially the seller of gold at the current price of 1195, you buy it when it falls to 1170, roughly a profit of $25. since as we note gold trades on the contracts, you essentially make a profit of 2500. want to bring you back in because we have this word of the week. why is this important for investors? >> sometimes it is the most actively traded and others not. the one nearest to expiring. >> the slight >>.com i want to ask you a question. is light move that we down in gold, is that due to friday's fighting? -- sliding? five i think we are getting a little more drift. -- >> i think we are getting a little more direct. >> gold essentially declining with silver as we are seeing the dollar strengthened. a lot of this coming from the news that china is looking to bolster the economy. of course, we know that china is a big buyer of the physical gold. todd, thanks to you and my thanks to you as well. >> thank you very much. a week from tomorrow the new congress opens with republicans in control of both the house and the senate. they've got lots of stuff they want to do and most of their plans don't match with president obama's agenda. peter cook has more on what we can expect from this new congress. peter the expectation among many is gridlock. any reason to be more optimistic than that? >> not really and you can expect a lot of gridlock early and often with mitch mcconnell and john boehner in control of congress. they will flex their muscles early to satisfy their base. numeral see another -- a number of areas -- you will see a number of areas of conflict, but particularly over business that can give us a sense of whether real deal milking -- dealmaking will be possible in the next two years. 54-46 is the margin in the senate. and the margin in the house is 247-1 48, the biggest for republicans since harry truman was president. mitch mcconnell promise to the xl pipeline would be first up. but the president has all but promised to be to anything that short-circuits the environmental review and an override would require 67 votes in the u.s. senate, and right now that seems like a stretch. but our first flashpoint committed you will, in the new congress. >> speaking of flashpoint, what will early confrontations between the president and congress be? mexican expect challenges on health care immigrant -- on health care, and immigration. expect a vote to repeal obamacare. it will not go anywhere. but then they will go on to try to roll back certain provisions of the health care law that may be successful, most notably the medical device tax. most immigrants don't like it and there has been an industry lobby there. and you have funding for the department of homeland security that expires and there will be another effort to roll back the president's executive action on immigration. again, there's the visit -- the president's veto pen. but conservative senators will demand that vote and they will probably get it. expect a vote on a border enforcement bill early in the year as well. and don't forget, looming not too far away, a fight over the debt ceiling as well. >> a little bit of the happy talk that we've heard since the election has been around the possibility of corporate tax reform. is that reality or is that something that politicians like to say? >> its reality in the sense that both republican and -- reality leaders and the president said they want many of the same things. they want to lower the rate and reduce but when you get in the nitty-gritty of corporate tax reform, it's hard to imagine that in the next year they will be able to solve those issues. the person to watch is arguably paul ryan. he has the ability if he wants to compromise with the president to bring republicans with him to provide a little political cover. he is the most interesting guy when it comes to corporate tax reform. >> that is our chief correspondent peter cook. coming up, in the race to get to you first, so many e-commerce sites are banking on same-day deliverables. and it was -- we will discuss the annual outdoor blame -- outdoor games with the league's deputy commissioner. ♪ >> this holiday season, amazon launched is one hour delivery service crying now in parts of the city. it has -- prime now in parts of the city. it has plans to expand into other cities. this is a raise to your door with the one that is increasingly going mobile. jed sees this competition as a call to action. he moves restaurant food, groceries, booze, and laundry door to door in 43 cities across the u.s. also with us is john kline. jet, amazon is now getting into your business. why even a bother anymore? >> i was a amazon is getting into the business of what local businesses do. i think we will see in 2015 those local network that are connecting with local merchants will win. and in the case of drivers, uber, hospitality, alcohol food as well as us. >> and glad you mentioned uber. aren't they trying to get in on your business? >> with actually don't do the fulfillment that local merchant does. in the case of a local merchant does not then we do. >> explain what you do. >> think of us as an e-commerce platform that takes the content of a local merchant and puts it up on a website and allows consumers to buy from those merchants so they do not have to go into the store and they don't have to member their credit card. it is all saved in one form. it's what amazon did for what used to be overnight and now they are trying to do locally. >> i can see how that can be done with a restaurant. we all have our favorite chinese food. but woodford reserve is wood for reserve no matter where comes from. -- is woodford reserve no matter where comes from. >> in the case of alcohol, you have to have a license to operate, for example, in the state of new york. if you want a bottle of woodford and you live on the inside, it doesn't matter. >> amazon cannot get into legal right now. >> if they want to own a liquor license. >> john, what do you think about this? you live in new york. what do you think about one hour delivery by amazon? >> the easier, the better. and i work for a delivery company, is on used to free delivery. [laughter] but making that leave to things you want now, i would think the speed of delivery is key. >> yes, definitely. and consistently -- consistency also. it is important that we have not only merchants that are close to you, but merchants that understand a consistent service and operation are important. >> how to logistics become the killer app? >> trying to operate something at scale locally is very difficult. 10 years ago, it was hard to islam and technology in a local store, or in the hands of the consumer, which now today is everywhere. we all have cell phones and we have the ability to send an order to a merchant. >> what kind of cultural change does this take at the level of the local business? even five years ago if you are at a restaurant you printed up flyers and you pass them out. now you have a manager of about five different services. >> what is great about technology is you can have them provision themselves directly onto our site. they can maintain the content available to the consumer and now they have a way through social media, for example, to attract users through -- two platforms like ours. >> who is actually using your platforms? is it the younger consumer? and what were they ordering this season yet a >> we are seeing an uptick in the areas of alcohol and dry-cleaning. the typical user would be an urban rational busy in the 18-45 range. that is, either too busy, or too lazy perhaps at certain times of day to do those things. >> with all of these soup -- all of these services, uber, with what you do, amazon, this is slowly rolling out in urban areas. does this not work in -- beyond a certain population density? >> local merchants will understand that they need to be able to lenders -- offer things locally. amazon may be coming to new york, but who says they won't go to other cities around the u.s.? >> i just think it's got to cost amazon a ton of money to say -- forget about manhattan alone. to do this in dozens of other cities, it's got to cost them a lot of money. >> ebay tried to do it, as you know, and shut it down. getting into it and doing it profitably at scale local businesses at scale, it's very difficult. >> the internet has gone from turning adams into bits and now we are going back into takingentering them into adams --atoms. >> what does this mean from the perspective of the storefront retail? >> people want to be able to access the thinking meanness of what we do in us door. stores will obviously start changing the way they enable consumers to come in and pay even in venue. also the stores themselves, people are talking about showrooms. i would argue that it's turning more into a web room. you walk in and you may use your phone, and you may transact in the phone if -- transact on your phone in the store if the retailer enables you. collect it is a huge cultural change to figure it out -- >> it is a huge cultural change to figure it out. thank you. john kline is our guest host. he will stay with us. like and it's done. -- >> and it's done. he's been fired. you saw the season. they did end on a high note, beating the miami dolphins. much more on this news ahead. and we will take you out on the market. ♪ >> you are watching a special editioof "in theoop." i'm erik schatzker. some football news to share with you. rex ryan is out. yes, brendan, it's true. perhaps somewhat inevitable. the jets announced it, tweeting the following quotation. with us right here from lhp sports and media entertainment and works with several ncaa teams. think about all the college bowl games we are about to get. also with us, john kline, ceo of cap tv. inevitable, yes, no? >> that the great thing. you can reinvent yourself. be going to the combines and the draft and there are suddenly all of these expectations then you have this great marketing and television engine to drive business and drive your ratings. the jets will be fine. >> lee, you were saying this goes into the broader context for a lot of these owners and the nfl in general, which is how to make these -- the game more exciting to get people into the stadium when you have a losing team like the jets. that can be great for life. life that is the struggle everybody is facing. -- that can't he great for life. >> that is the struggle everybody is facing. the expectations of meeting up to these ratings. the difficulty is getting people in the stadium in the midst of these great productions that are offered up on multiple platforms. >> how much do you need people screaming in the stands? >> you need people there. that is why increasingly you are seeing discounted tickets, free tickets. for college basketball, you are seeing games thing played on top of aircraft carriers where the troops are being offered up as the audiences. all of it to make the experience great at home, but at the same tonic knowledge in fact that tickets are a tougher sell than they used to be. >> live sports may be one of the big reasons why it is hard to get mass viewership on otc. is that right? >> it will be a huge thing when sports are available all the cart -- a la cart. like that is never going to happen. greg's as it is, disney will be offering -- >>, as it is, disney will be offering a sort of baby schedule. collect these contracts, some are out 10, 15 years from now. -- >> these contracts some are out 10, 15 years from now. class for the history of a century your thing sports driving new technologies. it will drive these technologies as well. >> in some instances is a good old-fashioned labor dispute. how does that change the business of football? >> you have one that is against the ncaa and another that is down the pike it could be a problem. bottom line, schools will have to pay more to their players either in the form of scholarships or actual fees but they will have to come up with more money. but what we are talking about here which is more media, as more coverage of the college football playoff and generate more dollars more opportunities across a range of platforms to pay for these players. >> it's hard to believe there could be more bowl games. it's almost like you could take a load of groceries and read off of them, the smuckers, etc. everybody's got a bowl now. >> the ball in the bahamas, that was a terrific game. it's the perfect time for the bowl games. people are home with their families. it's the college football season , and these are on, three or four games per day. you are planted in your sofa, your chair, people are eager to keep you there. >> are you telling you did not watch the chameleon bowl in montgomery, alabama this weekend? >> in this world of on-demand where you know everything is on delay, the excitement of an unknown outcome if tough to beat. -- is tough to beat, even if it is the chameleon bowl. no one knows how it's going to end. >> unscripted. >> the teams and fans and schools have joined as following command that drives the fees and sponsorships. >> lee berg is the ceo of llc -- lsc sports and media entertainment. and thanks to john kline. >> thanks for having me. >> we will be back in two minutes. ♪ >> it is 56 minutes past the hour, which means bloomberg television is on the markets. futures are headed slightly lower, but we are pretty much stuck at around these levels based on the cello suite seen in europe. we are on the market again in 30 minutes. -- the selloff we have seen in europe. we are on the market again in 30 minutes. we are following a global market reaction as we head toward the open. much more ahead. ♪ >> welcome back to a special edition of "in the loop." we are 30 minutes away from the opening bell. i'm here with brendan greeley and erik schatzker. stocks are lower at the open but the s&p and the dow start the day at the record high the nasdaq at its highest level in more than 14 years. toilet all -- turmoil in greece has rocked the market. stocks increased fell as much as 11% but have since recovered slightly. spanish and italian bonds also dropped. >> in the meantime, dramatic moments of the coast of the greek island of corfu. rescue teams say they saved more than 400 people from an italian fairy that was on fire. but investigators say the missing air asia jet is probably on the bottom of the ocean. there were 152 people on board. aviation consultant john mcgraw said the mystery was that the crew did not make a distress call. before the plane vanished, the pilots had asked to fly higher to avoid storm clouds. >> the top 10 headlines hitting the radar before the bell. our bloomberg managing editor is helping us out today. number 10, guys, we are watching the european markets. losses following the greek prime minister failing again to try to get his presidential candidate back and elected. earlier you said there are some similarities between the greek financial crisis -- similarities to the greek financial crisis we saw in 2012, but the real differences as well, right? >> yes, we thought that issues in peripheral countries particularly portugal, greece, italy. and the ecb applied a backstop. now the issue is all of the years of terrible roads, high-end plummet, can the existing political structure hold? and we are seeing in greece now a risk of an early election that might pull out the leading party that is very anti-existing regime and in conflict with other euro zone leaders. this creates all kinds of problems. >> but there are some risks that you don't have anymore. europe has gone through regulatory changes and there have been stress or. i think they have gone through some humans work, some hard and boring work -- yeoman's work, some hard and boring work. >> snapchat is still down as of today. like this should be >> this should surprise no one. it does seem convenient that china alone has this amazing group of homegrown internet companies that really don't compete abroad and they don't really care to compete at home. >> we should see how baidu's stock is doing. >> do we have a premarket quote on that? >> baidu has had problems going abroad, moving out of the chinese market. facebook has done an amazing job, twitter, of moving into international markets all over. baidu, not so much. >> it looks like baidu will open flat or maybe a couple of bucks up. but it's in the two 30's. -- the 2.30's. >> that might speak to how big google is in china, which is so limited, given the laws there. number eight, staying in china, or in asia xiaomi according to a russian investor could double in evaluation -- in valuation for a new financing round. he thinks the company has the potential of facebook and alibaba, of course, because he has invested in it. these companies have made a huge run-up in the markets. >> xiaomi is high-quality phones at low-cost, pretty straightforward. a friend of mine who is living in singapore is back here and he's like, look, that's when i have now. it made more sense to buy xiaomi than a samsung phone which cost more. it is a no-brainer. but it is hard to argue with yuri milner, given the -- >> it is hard to argue with yuri milner given his track record. but if you believe xiaomi is going to be the next ali baba or facebook or apple, it has to do something more than make a phone that runs android. look at all of the other companies doing that. they are getting crushed. there is no market. >> the only company that can ignore the laws of physics is apple right now. >> number seven pressure from regulators, some of the largest firms are giving up their claims of hundreds of millions of dollars over the years. you can see some investors saying well, it's about time we get some of our money back. >> the pressure is due to regulators -- how much of the pressure is due to regulators and how much is due to people looking at the actual returns and saying you are not work it anymore? -- worth it anymore? >> it is kind of across all of the classes. it is not surprising that equity would find itself in the same position. with better to lower your fees than to see your investors walkout. >> and a lack of transparency and whether the private equity firms are being upfront with their limited partners about all of the fees that are being charged and for how long the fees remain charged for, for example in some cases private equity firms exit the investment by taking the portfolio public and continue to charge a monitoring fee. x -- >> i agree. lester, a man won the nobel prize for -- last year, a man won the nobel prize for pointing out that active trading is a myth. the -- >> number six, process go --proseco. 510 the -- five times the growth rate of sparkling wines overall. anybody drink that for the holidays? flex -- >> it may seem a bit unsophisticated, but i understand the appeal. order a prosecco instead of champagne. >> in spain, a famous sparkling wine is popular one year, then it is prosecco. >> and correctly trying to identify what is kava and what is champagne is difficult. but there is this law in the beverage industry that nobody drink what their parents. trends rollover about every 20 years. with and eventually, you do drink what your parents drank. >> know, what your grandparent strength. >> much more ahead. -- >> no you drink what your grandparents drank. >> much more ahead. stay "in the loop." ♪ >> we continue to count down to the opening bell. we are now halfway through, which means it is time for a deep dive. number five, ideas ipos have been -- james gellert is with us now, jane -- ceo of rapid ratings. thank you for coming. >> good to be here. >> what is necessary for another round of ratings? what are people waiting for? >> i think they are waiting for the end of the year. alibaba sucked a lot of the wind out of the market going into the fourth quarter. i think market conditions going into 2015 continue to be really strong. we will see a pretty strong ipo market and a lot of demand for the better names as we get into the year. >> we had mark farber on about an hour ago where he said the markets look very topics --topish to him. >> window they look that way you -- when don't they look that way? >> i know, to him. but with the fed raising interest rates. >> yes, we have a lot going into this year. you have macroeconomic issues, the price of oil, which will be a big story for the year. and obviously, the fed actions. the fed has just, -- called the market of it from what was a bit more skittish sense at the beginning of december. i think people will be paying attention to what is happening outside of the ipo market. >> in the past couple of years, what of them -- what are the strongest, most important lessons that come through? >> ultimately, people need to recognize that there are momentum stocks and you play a momentum stop because you expect of the people to as well. but at the end of the day -- >> until the party is over. >> until the party is over. and as we look at the slew of names that are coming in 2015 we will need to pay close attention to that. but most importantly it is understanding how financially healthy a company is an whether it can sustain on long-term growth. >> one you are not crazy about his twitter. you say, look, if it wasn't for the buzz and household name of twitter you think this ipo would have done much worse? >> i think it has been buoyed through this last year and it has now been public for 13 months. it has been buoyed by the fact that we in the financial services market -- >> and in the journalism world. class we talk about it because its use is prevalent. that being said, it is not a particularly -- >> we talk about it because it -- its use is prevalent. that being said, it is not a particularly well structured company. it is struggling very hard. it cannot make money. we are talking about is active users, but at the end the day, if a company cannot demonstrate their in the past to making money, then they should not be treated as a company that everyone should be holding. i think the market was originally expecting twitters -- twitter is a big name and it's coming out and we all have to have a part of it. but at the end of the day, it has not performed well and has a significant amount in turnover in management, which is a problem. >> you say it cannot make money, but it just has not made many yet. it could make money off of its users. >> yes, but it's got a longer trajectory to doing that than i think they were expecting at this stage. >> speaking of turnover, i just noticed this -- in fact, as we were waiting to talk about twitter during the commercial break, last year, twitter was number two on glass doors ratings of best places to work in corporate america. it didn't crack the top 50 this year. >> they were probably asking some of the top management who are not there anymore. >> maybe to no surprise to you, james, when it was rumored that dick costolo was about to leave the stock when up. >> yes, that probably is not a good sign for dix. -- dick. but it is all rents regulation. -- it is all rumor and speculation. when you have the marketing paying attention to your longevity and seeing that their positions might be better off without and there, that is obviously a problem. >> is that a reasonable assumption you go is it his fault that twitter is not doing well? i have a hard to -- i have a hard time pinning the fault on him. >>was it rex ryan fault that the jets were not performing well enough? >> someone say they had a terrible team to start with. that is a whole other can of worms. james, thank you. much more ahead. petroleum storage tanks set on fire in libya. we will see where this is doing to oil prices. plus, turmoil in greece. why investors are rattled by the prospect of early elections next year. ♪ >> welcome back. let's get back to bring you the most important stories you need to know before the bell. erik schatzker and brendan greeley are with me. also, our bloomberg marketing managing editor. let's continue with number four. a good week and -- week 470. during the interview -- a good week for sony. they aired "the interview" and it has been downloaded more than 2 million times. >> i think it is better if you look at it as a satire rather than a free-speech exercise. i enjoyed it as a satire, but i was a bit disappointed in the free-speech exercise part of it. $15 million is ok, but the film cost $80 million. and we don't have a sense yet of what happens if you release a film online how long it takes to recover the full cost. >> at that $15 million was a bit mediocre. there was so much hype about this and if that is the best they could do, there's probably not much to it. i really wanted to see it and then entered as they announced it was going to be released i was like meh. >> he really wanted to see it before the hack attack. >> before the hack attack, yes. greg and waiting for the next shoe to drop. if the north koreans were -- >> i'm waiting for the next two to drop. if the north koreans were behind it, then they are still sitting presumably on all kinds of documentation, sony e-mails. other films that they've stolen and not released yet. when will we see this stuff? >> oil is rising for the first time in three days amid speculation that the bma produce a global supply. it almost seems like this will be a temporary comeback for oil. >> libya hardly produces any oil at all. it is responsible for less than 2% of opec output because of the constant problems they have undergone. production varies, right? i'm looking at statistics in november it was 580,000 euros. the previous month it was 850. , who knows? >> libya has the potential -- next month, who knows? >> libya has the potential to get to one million barrels per day. >> it is hard to see something like that changing introductory of oil in a big way. >> we have a hard time seeing what is right in front of our phase. we are so used to oil moving in a certain way with demand and we are not used to the way the world works now, which is there is too much supply. >> number two, guys, of course the sad story about the missing air asia jet the plane with 162 people on board. it most likely crashed. it has been a grin year for malaysian air travel. stock in asian trade is down over 13% based on this news. >> i think we will have a very serious conversation after malaysian flight 370, which disappeared into the ocean, and now this one, about paying the money it is going to take to track these planes in real-time when they are out of radar range. the technology is there. and the failure to do it has been about airlines not ring willing to upgrade. i think we will actually have to have an international conversation about forcing them to do that. >> who is going to force them? it has to be individual regulators in individual countries. the country by country. >> easy to say but not to do. >> or an airline will come along that spend the money and market itself as the safest. >> it should not take a tragedy to get that done. >> bloomberg television is on the markets. ahead of the open, we are lower. futures are lower, you can see in the red. our top story and the opening bell is next. ♪ >> welcome back. let's get back to bring you the most important stories you need to know before the bell. erik schatzker, brendan greeley my co-acres walking us through the open. we are all here after the holidays. number one, guys, not a holiday at all in greece am a facing snap election after the premise or failed in his third attempt to get lawmakers to accurate candidate as head of state. as we were headlining earlier, this can go either way in a way for greece. it could be a moment where there is further downturn and it could cause contagion in the rest of europe, or it could be a moment where, in fact, we see some sort of recovery for greece. >> it is possible. it is possible in new prime minister could come in and change the situation somewhat. right now, obviously the market is once again bifurcating in europe. you have markets selling off in italy and spain, but on the other hand, safe haven assets in germany, australia, the netherlands, all of the 10 year bonds hitting new record low yields today as the safe haven trade comes back. >> but there is not the general freak out as there was in 2011 and 2012. investors are still investing in -- investment in portugal are still down. this can be contained. >> as we head toward the open, let's get back to what is going on here in the u.s.. we had mark farber on just a few hours ago and he said, look yes, we seen this record rally in stocks. this is what he said about the markets for next year. [opening bell] he says, we've seen bubbles all over the place. i want to play for you what he said. >> i believe where the sentiment about the stock market is bullish and and about investments in general, and whereas i believe that most assets are in a kind of bubble we have a credit bubble. i think -- i have to say that sentiment about precious metals is incredibly negative. >> classic contrarian play from any -- from a contrarian investor. >> is exactly what you would expect from mark farber. maybe temporary calls that the market could go higher, but he clearly thinks a very dim view on humanity as a whole. [laughter] that the markets are all eventually going to collapse to rubble and we will all cling to our gold. >> and someday it will. >> and someday, the sun will blow up and we will all be finished. >> right now, the s&p is trading about roughly 18.5 times turnings. -- earnings. this explosive time, that is were stocks were right about the time they peaked in late 2007. >> there is no question that valuations seem to be a bit high right. on the high end of the range. on the other end, fairly easy monetary policy. there are still slack in the economy, so there still room to grow without overheating. >> plus, economic growth is heating up. >> to your point, though about mark farber and is view on humanity -- his view on him and he, he said japan the bank of japan is one big on the scheme. -- one big ponzi scheme. >> still ahead, everybody, amazon had a record year this holiday shopping season. we will be sitting down with two retail executives who will be discussing the shift in shopping patterns as consumers turn more and more to mobile. and a favorite topic of the show, the nhl looking to change the way -- >> favorite erik schatzker topic. >> nhl commissioner bill daly will spend some time with us. ♪ >> here is a look at the top tech stories on our radar this morning. now sony is offering the controversial movie "the interview" online. it grossed $15 million in the first four days it was available. meanwhile, sony on track to lose almost $2 million in its current fiscal year, but its stock is up more than 40% this year and two thirds of the analyst covering sony rated it a buy. among the reasons, strong sales of the playstation 4, and a weaker yen. and china says it will wrap up an antitrust investigation against qualcomm as soon as possible. qualcomm may have to change the way it licenses is technology to smartphone makers in china. and gas prices helped make christmas merrier. u.s. retail sales from thanks giving to christmas rose 5.5%. and in particular at e-commerce sites like amazon, which sold more products than ever this holiday season. mobile sales of 25% -- up 25%. robert burke is joining us, the chairman and ceo of his own retail consultancy, whose client have included ralph laurent and target. and also joining me, the former ceo of moments and brooks brothers. robert, let's start with you on this. what was the biggest impact mobile, cheaper gas prices? >> it was a combination of all of those things. and retailers are understanding better how to mesh mobile how to mesh the brick-and-mortar and online. we still a lot of conversations about on the channel. this is the season it kind of kicked in. the on the channel -- omni channel makes sense. >> who gets the omni channel? who is doing it right? >> macy's and bloomingdale's. they are offering free returns in the store. you can also have online pick up in the store, which is incredibly important. because statistics show that if the customers in the store, they are more than likely to buy more product. they are using pos devices and same-day delivery. they are taking all of the advantages of shopping in person and combining it online. >> would you agree? >> i totally agree. once they get over the threshold , there is a greater chance they will buy more goods. >> what you mean get over the threshold? >> once you get through the door, you are at to make another purchase. -- you are likely to make another purchase. >> how much of digital mobile and on the channel, plus the logistics that come -- omni channel, plus the logistics it that these is it -- what are the logistics of how >> you have to look at the total numbers and what retailers are doing. online is taking some business from brick-and-mortar, but ultimately if the person is happy with where they are shopping they are more apt to get a greater share of the wallet that particular person has to spend. it is not $1 trillion out and everyone is grasping for it, but it makes it who is easier to shop -- who makes it easier to shop these days. >> the online approach is very different than the established customer. they are going online and doing what people are calling web rooming. that is going and looking at purchases and then going into make the purchase at the store. >> what i've heard about web rooming is that you get people back to browsing at the stores by creating a sense of wonder. that feels like whistling past the graveyard to me. is it possible to have it shipped and there is nothing you can do about it. go >> i think -- you can do about it? >> in today's world i think the people are used to getting hit in different ways. hopefully, all of the backup things you have going on will be the things that get people shopping with you. >> what can you do to get people browsing in the store? >> having great customer service. the biggest thing is having something that somebody wants. who has stuff that you want beside apple and maybe a few others? you have to make it relevant. you have to make it current for them. and know your customer. just know who you want to touch and hopefully they will come into the store. but it is their responsibility to make it fun. >> what does that mean though, make it fun? how many apples are really out there in retail? >> i think retailers are looking for different ways to appeal to the customer. service is certainly paramount. there are certainly things that you cannot do online and eating is one of them. a lot of retailers will incorporate food into the shopping experience, or into the mall environment. i went back to seattle on the 23rd and i was in a number of malls and i was surprised how busy those malls were because you really side as a family experience. you hear a lot about "brick and mortar is dead," or "the mall is dead" but it is really all about what is being offered to the consumer. >> if you look at the trends going on first, i have to say that apple will continue to be great. i think the trend that you have in athletic, not just what you wear to the gym but people are wearing it all day long. under armour, you know, those are things people wear all day now. it's not just to the gym. >> you cannot see, but i'm wearing yoga pants right now. >> oh, i can see. but how about you, robert? -- >> how about you, robert? >> to retailers that really stand out because they have been strong in their core business for years is nordstrom and bloomingdale's. they have been the best at creating an experience for the customer that what they can have online they can experience in the store. and the customer is starting to look at it as all one experience, which is the ultimate goal. >> thank you for joining us. up next we had outdoors. -- we had out doors. the nhl and we talked to the league's deputy commissioner. ♪ >> welcome back to a special edition of "in the loop." on new year's day, the nhl holds its annual winter classic to celebrate the way the sport was born come out doors. and this year's classic is being held in washington, d.c. at the nationals park baseball stadium. the chicago blackhawks against the hometown cap. there is a lot to consider. here to discuss all of it is the league's deputy commissioner. welcome. >> thank you. >> the winter classic has become a tradition. lester, the nhl staged multiple outdoor games. not so many this year. how come? >> we do have another in santa clara. >> but not six. >> not six. last year was unique. we were coming off of a player work stoppage. and we were coming off of the olympics and it set up nicely to create a stadium series. which we intend to continue. class but is the decision to shrink the number of games outdoors a reflection -- >> but is the decision to shrink the number of games outdoors a reflection of something you learn from that experiment, like six is too many, maybe it doesn't work in some markets? >> not at all. we were concerned about some of those factors going into last year, but i don't think we could have executed any better than we were able to on the six games last year. it is really just a function of that calendar that year being special. i think you will see the number grow again next year. probably not to six. >> but what about the weather, though? it has been unseasonably warm here. we haven't had any snow. are you worried about the ice conditions in the weather? >> that is one of the things we have learned, that you don't need freezing temperatures to have good ice conditions. the living that can really kill an outdoor game is rain. that will be a concern in washington, d.c. that will be a concern and the orderly forecasts are that the weather will be good and hold up. -- the early forecasts are that the weather will be good and hold up. last year, in california they were going through a heat wave at the time we had it. it was in the 70's every day, sunny everyday. we covered the ice during the day and the temperature goes down at night and it probably was our best ice. >> they were that las vegas might get a team, that seattle might get a team. i'm wondering in this 20 year experiment of moving the nhl south in the climates where people do not traditionally play the game, they have begun viewers and fans. but have they converted kids in those areas to start picking up the games? >> yes, we have. our clubs make a special effort to try to grow the game to the grassroots level, particularly in nontraditional markets. that is key and we are starting to see the fruits of that now. kids from texas, california arizona being drafted. >> is there a business case to be made for expanding the league? >> that is a good question and something ultimately our board governors have to decide. our focus has always been to stabilize the franchises we have where they are. and the league is very healthy right now. i have been working for the league for 18 years and we've never been more stable and healthy. it is certainly a discussion are governors can have, sure. >> the canadian dolla was unpredictable. when it was a problem for the league in the 1990's. -- >> it was a problem for the league in the 1990's. how does the league manage that? >> it was a huge issue in the 90's. it had a real impact on our canadian franchises and their ability to be competitive. our collective bargaining agreement, and in particular the salary cap has helped that a lot. obviously, popularity and how they drive revenue in canada helps a lot. it's really a minor inconvenience in the way we calculate the cap. it's really not more than that. most of our clubs have been wise enough to hedge for the canadian dollar. they still bring their revenues in canadian dollars and the bulk of their expenses are in u.s. dollars. but they've been able to manage that. >> before you go, we have to talk about jersey sponsorship. when are we going to see nhl jerseys? soccer teams around the world do it. man u does it, barcelona does it. it does not seem to affect the game. >> there are a lot of studies out there and nothing fair point. none of the major sports leagues in north america gone there yet first of there is some indication that some are willing. >> there is a lot of white space. >> i know. there is a lot of money on the table. >> we will see. i'm not creating any news today on that front. >> bill, thank you. the nhl deputy commissioner bill daly here with us on "in the loop." >> that does it for us today. we will follow all of the big market moving headlines with alan greenspan, alan krueger, and michael hollins tomorrow -- michael holland tomorrow starting at 7:00 a.m. i hope you have a great day today. ♪ >> it is 56 as the hour, which means bloomberg television is on the markets. i'm mia saini. 30 minutes into this training session, let's get you caught up. the s&p 500 hit some all-time high, the record high post of you can see it is premature flat session for the s&p and the dow, of about 13% or so. muted gains across the board. oil is gaining after investors believe that an escalating conflict in libya may actually impair a global surplus. a rebound today, but down more than 40% so far this year. joining me with a look at what you should be watching as we head into next year's isaac earned stores. -- is isaac. we have to talk about the conflict in libya because what we are seeing in libya could affect the surplus. what is the return of supply in libya is one of the things -- >> yes, the return of supply in libya is one of the things that brought us to where we are today. that the progress could be reversed as something analysts are watching very closely. >> will opec come in and intervene and help support these prices by cutting production? >> that is certainly what a lot of people were expecting opec to do last month, which they didn't, and that has sent prices down. but there is some speculation that they would not spend prices -- send prices down even if they wanted to. first, would the weaker members of opec actually stick to that production target? and would higher prices just encourage shale producers to pump more and more and continue to push prices back down. >> will global demand recover? i guess that is the question. >> the question is, where will the demand come from? it is pretty elastic. you and i don't go out and drive more when gas prices fall. we spend money on other stuff like business gifts. -- christmas gifts. but in other parts of the world where oil is used for more industrial uses and generally economic growth is associated with more oil demand. if this boost the economy and starts to read things up again then i think producers are hoping it will increase demand. >> when talking to investors, do they use -- do they view this lunch in oil prices as transient or a long-term trend? >> most people are calling this a new era. they are not expecting a quick rebound. it is something that will stick around for several months maybe a year, two years. but for the last four years, we had oil of around $100 and saying there that is unusual historically. and a lot of people are seeing this as a return to like the 80's and 90's before chinese growth took off and push prices higher and gave opec control of the market. >> what are the risks that you are looking at going into next year? >> this big geopolitical risk now, like in libya that we were talking about at the beginning we were looking at a slight disruption in 2014, but it never materialized. but these lower prices putting strain on countries that were not that stable to begin with, could this affect prices in 2015? >> we will have to leave it there. thank you so much, isaac. this is the bloomberg news update and i markets correspondent mia saini. ♪ next we are 30 minutes into the start of u.s. trading and usa he's now are rising. not very much. the s&p 500 gaining just over three point and the nasdaq by just over two. a slight drop from the higher -- the prior month rate of 10.5. investors in the continent are getting ready to close out their day. the athens afc index