>> i am mark crumpton. the is "bottom line," intersection of business and economics. tonight the u.s. senate takes a big step toward passing the budget deal. then the drone that is designed to look like a bird in flight. and we will take you on board a super luxury private plane where a flight to london could cost $80,000. to our viewers in the united states and to those of you around the world, welcome. we have full coverage of the stocks and stories making

headlines tonight. su keenan watches the market watchers who are watching to see what the fed will do on wednesday. yang yang has the latest details on attempts to get a budget agreement to president obama. good evening. >> good evening. the senate moved to the budget accord through a residual hurdle and congress is now one step away from passing the first budget in four years. democrats needed 60 votes to advance the bill. the final tally, 67-33. so not the overwhelming margins we saw last week, but enough to move the budget through for a final vote sometime tomorrow. the deal negotiated by congress and paul ryan and patty murray sets spending at $1 trillion for two years and reduces the some $20 billion without touching the big-ticket items of taxes and entitlements. it is a deal neither side likes

but most lawmakers agree it is better than the alternative of another shutdown. reid said he was happy and satisfied with the result and thinks congress is turning a corner. >> gridlock has got to end. and it is ending. the american people are satisfied we are moving forward. time, probably since 1980 six, we had a bipartisan budget agreement. that is progress. >> senate minority leader mitch mcconnell sees things differently. he voted against advancing the bill objecting to the increase in federal spending but because he knows the budget is all but a done deal, with only 50 votes needed, to get it to the president, he is already setting up the next fight. house or the the senate is willing to give the

president a clean debt ceiling increase. every time the president asks us to do that is a good time to try to achieve something important for the country. so with one battle almost out of the way, a new one is gearing up. democrats have no plans to negotiate over the debt limit. republican lawmakers are discussing when they hope to get out of it. february 7 is when the debt ceiling suspension negotiated in october shutdown deal expires. expect another showdown then. >> yang yang in washington. the current congress is on its way to establishing a new record, one that it cannot be proud of. congress is going to have its least productive year ever with 57 laws enacted so far. the former record low was 88. phil mattingly has more on what is being called the do-nothing congress. historic.

that is the most accurate way to describe the inaction in congress. this group will clear the fewest number of loss in history. congress third time has cleared fewer than 100 laws and marks a new law for the five years president obama has been in office. it is not just the laws. a shock but hey chamber is also seeing production dropped to record lows. the house passed 196 bills. that is down from 356 in 2012 and 423 in 2009. the senate, 97 bills, down from 225 last year. any number you look at makes it clear, the those basement approval levels have been earned. if you take a look at what has been accomplished, the list is short on major policy changes. the focus is on stopgap

agreements and smaller issues. and like the helium stewardship to name a portion of interstate after a baseball player. background checks for gun sales and overhaul the immigration system or tax reform have languished. of the daynor issues have found a path forward. dozens of job promotion bills have been sent to the senate to no avail. democrats are countering they are facing an intransigent house majority. while there may have been some hope in the budget agreement last week, aides in both parties in both chambers say they do not see any break in the partisan fever coming anytime soon. mark, back to you. >> also in washington, technology ceos met with the president. marissa mayer, eric schmidt were among the executives in

attendance. they were there to talk about nsa surveillance and the problem with healthcare.gov. a report tonight from julianna goldman. >> apple ceo tim cook was one of the participants at the meeting and when he left he said it went great. the meeting lasted longer than what was expected, around two hours. we do expect the president got an earful from the executives who are pressing the white house to rein in the surveillance program. the white house had requested the meeting to talk about changes to the health care website and the status of the sexes. the ceo said they would come at the nsa data collection program was on the agenda. the industry is under fire for participating with the government and companies are facing billions of dollars in lost business and tighter regulations overseas. after the meeting, the tech ceos made no mention of obamacare. they issued a short statement saying they "appreciated the

opportunity to share with the president our principles on government surveillance that we released last weekend we urge him to move aggressively on reform. they are talking about a letter tech companies, including apple and yahoo!, they sent a letter to the white house and congress asking for greater oversight of the nsa surveillance program and ways to limit the government's ability to force these companies to participate. hispresident is conducting own review of the policies. announcement is expected early next year. and just yesterday, a judge ruled the program was unconstitutional, probably and a violation of the fourth amendment. the white house emphasized discussion about fixing the health care website and only got to the nsa surveillance program at the end of the statement saying the president listened to their concerns and recommendations and made clear

he will consider their input as they finalize their review. back to you. the the chinese owned american movie icon pricing its ipo right now. a report saying it is pricing at $18 a share. mean for going public the folks in those plush seats? we will take a look when "bottom line" continues in just a moment. ♪

>> stay with bloomberg for extensive coverage of the meeting in washington. tom keene and michael mckee bring you the fed statement when it is released at 2:00 p.m. washington time tomorrow. and ben bernanke pots of final news conference will follow. we will have that then comprehensive analysis on "bottom line" when the bank of tokyo economist and the former that is of the fdic,

when say, only on bloomberg television. let show you how the equity markets finished today for tuesday, december 17. stocks fell following monday's rally for the s&p 500 and on wednesday, fed policymakers may announce plans for their monthly bond buying program so investors were once again in wait and see mode. let's look at the numbers. the broader market index was down. the dow jones industrial average was down nine points. was offnasdaq composite by five points, finishing at 40 23. newsroom is in the with those details. >> a reverse of the rally with the focus on the fed and what they will do. there could be a lot for the market to digest.

dowhen they taper, they will other things. they will do something with forward guidance and something with the threshold variables and they will do something with reserves. the idea is that the fed is going to offer the market a package in the market is going to be reacting to a package. among the big movers today, hewlett-packard, upon an upgrade jpmorgan. jpmorgan and announcing an acquisition and big buyback plan. at&t selling its connecticut operations for $2 million. jpmorgan chase and deutsche bank are cracking down on multi- trader chat rooms as probes into currency and integration are ramping up. jpmorgan is ending its traders from such rooms. the shares also reacted as jpmorgan announced it is suing fdic over its acquisition of

washington mutual, which caused legal headaches. usckstone's chairman told his firm has aggressive plans for further diversifying its operations and he also talked about the benefits of not been subject to regulation compared to banks. >> ironically, the companies that got in trouble in the financial crisis were the most highly regulated and the ones that did not, like ourselves, as an industry, had almost no significant problems. carefulnk we have to be about how we look and think about these things. about this, shares are better than 90% year to date. >> one of the gainers today, a robotics company. ofbut this in the category stocks you might wish you own. irobot closed up 70% after it was upgraded to a strong buy.

its new vacuum robot should boost sales going into next year. also likely to boost sales is the expansion of the mopping as a into new markets such share. shares are up 96% year to date. the breaking news from amc entertainment holdings. the company says it raised 331 million in its ipo, offering the shares at $18 each. a media analyst, joins me in studio to talk about the ipo. welcome back to "bottom line." why so late? >> three hours after the market closed. it might've had a problem allocating the stock in the book. probably a lot of retail investors given the broad interest. >> this ipo would bring amc back to the public market.

why is amc selling shares at a discount? >> they are coming at a discount, you have to give investors a discount relative to the peers. their margins are a little bit lower than some of the peers out there and that reflects the fact their theaters are in large markets like new york and chicago. very high rent. therefore the margins are little bit lower and they had to compensate investors. >> those rents have been taking a chunk out of profits. is that one of the top challenges? >> i think it is. it is one of the things that differentiates them from their peers. they are in very good markets. they have invested a lot in their theaters. they have made them a lot more comfortable. that allows them to push their prices on the tickets and it allows them to offer more concessions, make more money from concessions which is really where the theater operators and their profit. it is not from ticket receipts because they have to share that

with the hollywood studios. to sell them some more popcorn and soda. >> and you mentioned those upgrades, amc spending over $180 million to make the upgrades. they were a little late to the game in that regard. talk to me about its rivals. they had already begun these renovations. has that money made a difference for moviegoers? >> i think it has. it is almost a defensive move. they need to really invest in their theaters in terms of improving the amenities and proving the food and improving the seats, the sound quality, the production, and not just counteract what consumers have in the home. piece last week, the bigger seats means less seats. does that mean less money? if you cannot, charge a premium price. and if you can get more people into your theaters, maybe offer

them better amenities. that is where they make their margin. growth in revenue at amc is going to be slower than the rivals. they are regal, cinemark. be enougho going to to turn it around? >> the use of proceeds are to finance continued expansion and renovation of their theaters. this is a business where you constantly have to reinvest. we think this is what the company expects, they will continue to invest and maybe even allow some acquisition growth. >> that $18 was at the low end of the scale. >> that is right. i think the theater business is not a high-growth business. this is not a twitter story. this is a little bit on the lower side.

theater owners are really subject to the whims of hollywood. if hollywood does not have a good slate of movies, it is tough. >> what about the relationship with the chinese theater owners? it brought -- bought amc in 2012. debt.ncluded is this ipo going to affect that relationship? >> the chinese owner will own 80% of the company. the expectation is that perhaps the chinese owner would like to have a better relationship with some of the studios to bring more product into china. so it might help. it is going to allow the owner to have a better relationship with some of the studios in the u.s. thatve seek and transfer into china. >> we have 30 seconds, talk to me about the growth potential in the theater chain industry. >> it is generally a slow growth story. total attendance in north

america to movies has been flat. any growth we have seen has really come from additional screens being added in certain markets and by price increases. a big help because it allows them to increase ticket prices. the more movies in 3d, the better it is for the theater operators. >> paul sweeney, talking about the ipo involving amc. as we mentioned pricing at $18 a share. good to see you again. mania.up, drone 24 states are competing to see of drones could be used for business purposes envisioned by amazon. can the system deliver the goods? we will look at that when "bottom line" continues in just a moment. ♪

>> jeff bezos is not the only one with a the idea for commercial drone used. two dozen states are competing to run the centers for testing the technology. megan hughes looks at how the competition is sizing up. part of thell preparation for a decision on opening the skies to commercial drones in 2015. here is a look at who is vying to run a test center. texas is included, north carolina, california, oklahoma, and the states that are chosen will be responsible to build and run the centers. the idea is private researchers will pay to use them and tested their drones. for the states, it could mean our jobs and it may position them to lure manufacturers.

it could includes sending packages but also spotting forest fires, shooting movies, rulesing seeds, if the are relaxed it could lead to 70,000 jobs in three years with expenditures for civilian and military drones totaling $89 billion over the decade. the u.s. transportation department found almost 250,000 unmanned aircraft will be in use. meanwhile, a robotics company has its new drone, the maverick, to the u.s. army this month. innovativetakes an approach to stealth, to the earthbound observer it looks like a circling bird of prey. here is a look at the newest intelligence gathering tool, the joan you will never see coming. -- drone you will never see coming.

>> wow. i can't repeat what i just said. next we look at the top stories in asia, including a show of support for kim jong on after he

had his uncle executed for treason. "bottom line" is back after the break. ♪

>> welcome back to the second half-hour of "bottom line." i am mark crumpton. let's check where the markets the stockssion, market edged slightly lower as the fed began the two-day policy meeting that may signal the beginning of the end of a monthly bond buying program. the bond market right now, we were looking at bonds earlier today. the s&p 500 was down a third of a percent, finishing at 1781. the dow jones also falling.

it was down about nine points. indexe nasdaq composite was down as well, the nasdaq finishing the day at 4023. i was speaking of bonds earlier, the bond market, we saw that it was up today about a quarter of a percent. let's take a look at some of the top stories we are following at this hour. space day she and astronaut ric -- space station astronaut rick will get his spacewalk after all. he will fix a broken cooling line of the space they should. managers decided to -- the space station. anagers decided to replace pump that has a bad valve. it will require two or three space walks. the first one is on saturday. vladimir putin opened his wallet in the battle with the re-up in over ukraine. buy $15 billion

worth of ukrainian bonds and cut them price of natural gas for its neighbor. the announcement came after he held talks in moscow with the ukrainian president. he is facing protests at home for his decision to shelve a pact with the eu. russia's bailout package angered protesters who accused the president of selling the country out to the kremlin and they pressed the demands for his removal. the mega millions jackpot soared 600 $36 million ahead of the drying tonight. 636is the second-largest -- $ million ahead of the drying tonight. it is the second largest in history. rawing is tonight at 11:00 p.m. new york time. good luck. that is a look at the top stories in the news this hour.

in asia, north korean leader kim jong um is getting a show of support days after he had his uncle executed for treason. from hongs me now kong with those details. good day. >> good evening. yes, that is right, we talked about this yesterday, you have this young leader who in recent weeks led to the purging of a series of senior leaders and culminated in the execution of his uncle. now this move was widely understood as his way of trying to consolidate power at the top. what we had most recently, you had top north korean officials pledging their support, praise, allegiance to kim jong un, almost like something out of a movie. rallyook place during a commemorating the second death anniversary of his father and really for north korean watchers

what is interesting, is really, it is the chance to get a clue as to how the palmer -- how the power line up is shaping up. who will be replacing his uncle? that will give a look at the toection north korea applies take. >> india is about to get a taste of the are just a supermarket chain from the u.k.. what is behind idea of? >> you could look at it the other way, the u.k. possum largest supermarket chains -- u.k.'s largest supermarket chain is looking to get a taste of india. they are entering to enter the partner -- the business there. they will became the first supermarket change to make the foray into india when it was countries.o other it took a while, given the fact this legislation was actually put in place more than a year

ago. they are buying into a local player, they are partnering with them, likely spending one hundred 10 million dollars for a 50% stake in a super make it -- in a supermarket chain. whether this will pave the way for other change to get in is dependent on whether it is successful. if they are, obviously you have a lot of other supermarket chains like walmart, which just ended its partnership, to use it as a blueprint to get back into india. >> david, thank you. time now for the commodities report. su has the latest details. and just as wef, got three week of snow, we are seeing extended hours on forecast for more cold weather ahead. the rest of the conflict is moving in the other direction. we fed may curb stimulus and

have anemic fuel demand and more ample supplies. that does not make for a bull market. we also have the gold story. it seems some inflation before we can rally. it has lost its appeal, one trader says. he says that has taken a lot of powers out of the market. you're looking at a one-month chart down on the month. we saw corn reversals, rising for the first time in four sessions. soybeans also on the rise on speculation dry weather in south america is going to hurt crop yields. and that is the story on today's movement. >> what is ahead on wednesday? >> oil inventory data. a lot of traders are looking to see what happens there. the expectation is for another slide, the third weekly slide in supplies. out with this report showing a side as well. interesting to see how the oil will trade. >> su, thank you.

for $80,000 you can fly like the highfliers. we are talking going to london. what do you get for that price? we will explore that when "bottom line" continues in just a moment. ♪

stay with bloomberg for live in extensive coverage of the fomc meeting in washington. we bring you the fed statement and 2:00 p.m. washington time on wednesday and ben bernanke's final news conference will follow. we will have all of that and more and comprehensive analysis on "bottom line" tomorrow night. i will be joined by economist chris purkey and bill isaac. he is currently chairman of the fifth third bancorp.

the labor department reports the cost of living in the u.s. was unchanged in november following a 1/10 of one percent decrease in october. chief kauffman is the financial economist and senior vice president at pnc financial services. he is ranked one of the most accurate forecasters of cpi, making him a bloomberg best economist and he joins us on the phone from pittsburgh. welcome back and good to have you. core inflation, nonfood and noninjury cost, that rose 2/10 of a percent. has core inflation peaked? peaked.not think it has it has been steady. one or 2/10 a month over the past year. below the two percent target you mentioned. so the fact we had a drop in gas prices in november held the total down, which was an added bonus. but inflation is still basically a no-show from the fed's point

of view. little faster core inflation next year but the fed would like it to be faster, getting closer to 1.5% rather than below 1.5%. >> you mentioned gas prices. month costs fell from one earlier. has cheaper gas given americans the confidence to spend more on other goods? >> i think it has. we saw a very good november retail sales report. some of the earlier reports came in on the dour side. i did not believe them. more people are working. house prices are up. stock prices are up. for everybody gas prices are 10 to $.15 a gallon less. that puts over $2 billion in people's pockets. they do not have to put it in their gas tank. lower gas prices is part of the mix of things that is going to

help make the holiday season turned out to be fairly merry and bright. prices fell last month. that was the third straight monthly decline. how much longer can retailers continue to offer discounts? >> it looks like that certainly went on in the month of december a leading up to the holiday. i do not know how much longer they can continue to do that. right now is the prime time to sell a lot of apparel. year as a whole, if you look back, apparel prices are flat. even with the decline, when you look over the last year, they have been flat in my guess is they will go up a little after christmas, when the spring merchandise comes in. they will not be a push for higher clothing prices next year. >> i'm speaking with stuart senior vice president

at pnc financial services. we are still below the fed's inflation target. does that give policy makers room to maintain the monthly purchases? >> we will know in less than 24 hours. if the fed maintains the 85 billion dollars a month, we will find out tomorrow at 2:00 and then the press conference at 2:30. i think it is a close call. the fed said they will be guided by the data. and the data lately have all been stronger than expected. so it is a close call. if they do not start tomorrow, they will phone the runway and they will be starting that tapering no later than the january meeting. that may be his last or janet yellen's first. i think that will continue over the course of 2014. they're going to scale those

bond richness is down so that by september and october of next year, they will not be buying any more treasuries and they will not need to because the economy will be doing better without it. >> a lot of people say this has been the medicine the economy needs. what happens when you take away the medicine? slowly,u take it away this is kind of, i would not know if i would call it but this isdicine, extraordinary, the kind of thing you do when nothing else is working. to me, the fed withdrawing the amount of quantitative easing is a sign the economy is getting healthier and when your doctor tells you you do not need to take your meds anymore, you should be happy. that means you're getting better. you should not be worried about that meaning they are not working or you're going to have a relapse. 2014 look like it is

shaping up? if the fed begins to taper tomorrow, how will that impact growth and if the fed waits, what then? >> i do not think there is a it will not have an impact on 2014. what is more important is the government looks like the congress will agree or the senate will agree on a deal. there will be less restraint. the state and local governments, which have been a drag on the economy, turning around. we still think consumer spending and a little more out of business investment, growth in europe means exports, 20% of all of our exports. is notfed tapering because the economy needs the medicine. it is something they are doing to withdraw that while the economy is getting healthier. getting healthier and not in fromof that extra stimulus

the fed. click stuart hoffman, senior up pncesident come financial services, joining us from pittsburgh. always a pleasure to have you on the broadcast. thank you for your time. but the way, if you missed any of our interviews, you can watch them on apple tv. it is a brand-new experience featuring streaming and on- demand videos. coming up, we will go on board a super luxury private plane where a flight to london could cost $80,000. we will see what you get for your money after the break. ♪

>> between flight delays and endless lines, it is not hard to find reasons not to fly commercial. we have four ways you can fly the friendly and expensive skies of private air travel.

who is using private aircraft these days? customers break down into four groups. first you have your charter company. you want to go to miami for the weekend, you have $10,000 lying around, you have a plane. next are your print played flights. -- pre-paidetting flights. instead of getting talk time, you are getting playing time for $100,000. and then you have a fractional ownership. it is like a timeshare. what you have equity so if things go south, you can sell your share. the best option is to own your own plane but buying a plane is only part of the deal. private aircraft are less like cars and more like courses. they need a stable. that is where companies like this one come in.

what is going to happen here, i'm going to meet my pilot. he is waiting here for me. the terminal is nice but nothing special. i will not spend a lot of time in its. your aircraft is likely waiting outside. and there is no tsa line. if you wanted to charter a plane to take you from this place to london, it would run between $75,000 and $90,000. you would get a pilot and a flight attendant. this feels amazing. in fact, i have to fly commercially next week. isng from this to seek 34f going to be a huge letdown. the luckiest man here. still ahead, make room for one of santa's helpers at the dinner table.

hot shots is next. ♪

that is a look of the futures markets. we will bring you a market check and 56. 26 we have yang yang and su keenan with a preview. sometime tomorrow afternoon, the senate will vote on the final passage of the bipartisan budget bill it would take the threat of another shutdown off the table for two years. but the big driver of the action will come from the federal reserve. first at 2:00 p.m., the fomc will release its policy statement, wrapping up his two-

day meetings. economists expect the central bank to announce a tapering of its monthly bond purchase program. following the meeting, ben bernanke will hold what could be his last news conference as fed chairman. that is it for a look in washington. what else is going on? >> the big ipo starts trading tomorrow. we will be tracking all of the action. third'swned by china's richest man. it is selling at a discount as it grapples with more debt than its rivals. we will see how it goes. year,the busiest time of it's conveyor belts are spilling over with holiday packages. theonal delivery aside, is global economic weakness hurting business? we will have the latest. --american farmers, and american farmers saw a boom in

recent years but is that about to go bust? the record corn prop of 2013 has pushed prices lower and raised the possibility of a serious slowdown for the farming industry. we will take you on a tour. that is our look to wednesday. >> thank you both. it is time now for hotshots, a lookt some of e most compelling images of the day. anew king has been crowned. not of a country but on instagram. a shopping mall in bangkok has claimed the crown as the most photographed location on the photo sharing app. landmark,y a famous it bumped the eiffel tower off the list here it in second place, times square and in third place, disneyland in california. and outside of peru, everybody is celebrating christmas, including dogs.

part in a christmas parade, decked out in crimson. this is the fifth year the event has been held and also includes the dogs that are up for adoption in the hopes of finding a new home. speaking of four-legged creatures, while rudolph is preparing for a busy night, this reindeer is kicking back with his family. take sure to create room at the heing table for him because likes to eat with the rest of the family. that is a real reindeer. ok. get the latest headlines at the top of the hour on bloomberg radio and streaming on your tablet and on bloomberg.com. it for this edition of "bottom line." i am mark crumpton. that was a real reindeer. i will see you tomorrow night. ♪