>> i am mark crumpton and this is "bottom line." the fed released its minutes from its late january meeting, the last under ben bernanke. then, deadly violence in ukraine raises fears of a civil war. insident obama arrives mexico to attend a north american summit. to our viewers in the united states and those of you joining us from around the world, welcome. full coverage of the stocks and headlines.ing

julianna goldman new details on president obama's trip to mexico. we begin with peter cook, who has breaking news. the release of the latest fed minutes. good afternoon. >> good afternoon. these minutes, the last meeting under fed chairman ben bernanke, when the fed chairman continue to scale back its bond buying program another 10 lane dollars. another jobs report. the first testimony of janet yellen. they saw the economic outlook basically on track despite volatility in emerging markets. they made very few changes in their statement. the minutes say all members agree the cumulative improvement and the likelihood of continued improvement indicated it would be inappropriate -- appropriate at this meeting. at the table, i number of participants noticed they should be ready to adjust if the

economies took a turn for the worse. they indicated changes are coming and that is important. participants agreed with the unemployment rate approaching, it would be appropriate for the committee to changes forward guidance for the committee to make decisions. . range of ideas were discussed including changing thresholds other spoke about, listing more factors that would guide their decisions. running below their target as factors to be considered. that is something to be watched for going forward. a pretty robust can start -- discussion around the table. a few participants raised the possibility might be appropriate to increase the federal funds rate relatively soon. ratequilibrium interest

moves higher. a couple suggested the federal funds rate should be moved before the middle of the year. other participants at the table shot the idea down, saying standard policy rules do not fit the current environment and that ended the discussion, but the discussion happened and it is certain to generate talk on wall street. finally, toasted or roasted ben bernanke at his final fed meeting. if there were cheers for him or a wave goodbye, it is not documenting that. >> peter cook joining me in studio. thank you. more on the fed minutes, brian wes perry, former chief economist at the congressional joint economic committee, will join me in about 10 minutes right here. let's show how the equity markets were doing before the fed minutes.

the international monetary fund said risks are threatening the global economy here it the s&p and threen about two quarters at 1837. the dow jones industrial average also falling. the nasdaq composite index on this wednesday is down more than one third of one percent. let's get the latest on the ukraine, where their president just granted sweeping powers to the army and police. we are joined on the phone with the latest. of thisthe significance action? >> we are still trying to figure new formerknow the head the navy comes from a region, the premier region,

which is very lawyer. -- very loyal. he has not really explain himself on that move. -- eems like >> we are seeing them again today of what has been going on in independence square. that has basically been a ground for opposition forces. intotuesday night wednesday morning, some of the opposition, including the former world boxing champion, they met with the president and came away from that meeting not impressed at all, saying all the president wanted them to do was to get people out of that square. is that what you are taking away from this?

>> uis are now on a meeting. sometimes in the morning, they're flying in tonight and early tomorrow respectively to try to reestablish communications. apparently, he has not been when peoplehe phone from the european union tried to call him in the past couple of days. meeting lasthe night, he did not offer any sort of compromise.

>> is the onus from the european union's point of view towards stopping the violence? >> that is the european position. he is the one who has to stop it. his ally sees it slightly differently. >> standby just a moment. we want to update you on breaking news. the president of the united is in mexico attending a north american summit with the leaders of canada and mexico and

the president making a comment just a moment ago condemning in what he called the strongest possible terms the ongoing violence in the ukraine. ukrainian president also getting a phone call yesterday from joe concern aboutng those in the square protesting that violence. the authorities and the political leadership hearing this from the west and the united states. resonating at all or are they ignoring it? >> at the moment, they are clearly ignoring it. thelatest move have shown country is moving toward martial law. giving the army and police forces wide reaching powers.

the army force, they can now legally search this goals, stop cars, and they have permission to shoot at people. moment, clearly not listening. youe mentioned yesterday are located about a mile or so from independence square, where the violence was taking place. have you had a chance to get near the square? what is the sense you are getting? >> i went there earlier today and one of our reporters had just been there about an hour ago to report back. us at the moment, the situation seems stable but very tense. the demonstrators continue to stick up on prison -- bringing

supplies,lies, food and cocktails. fortifying the barricades. people have been moving back onto the square throughout the day and into the evening. there are at least as many people as before the violence started and at the moment, there are no signs the tourity forces are moving clear the square. qwest joining us on the phone in the ukraine. as always, thank you so much. coming up, the minutes from the formereeting on their fed chairman ben bernanke were released. we will take a closer look and get an outlook on monetary policy when we continue in a moment. ♪

>> president obama is in mexico for the three amigos summit. the president condemning the violence in ukraine. let's go i -- right to julianna goldman in washington with more on this story. let's get to ukraine. how concerned is the white house with what is going on there? >> the commentary now from the president, it does seem like the white house is very concerned about what is going on. condemning the violence in the ukraine at the top of his meaning -- meeting. he went on to say the u.s. holds the ukrainian government primarily responsible making sure it is dealing with peaceful protesters in an appropriate way. the president said, as we work to the next several days in the

ukraine, we will be watching it carefully and warning there will be concerts -- consequences if they step over the line. the president also said he thinks it is possible for there to be a peaceful transition in the ukraine but it will require the government to seek it. upknow the issue will come in the meeting that will happen after the president is finished speaking right now. the deputy national security advisor told reporters traveling to mesko that the u.s. is consulting with the eu on potential responses, but that any timeline is going to be fluid. in mexico, the three amigos summit. not everything is cozy echo why not? be thee amigos will not chumminess of amigos. there are issues outstanding increasingrade tensions right now.

also the keystone pipeline has been pretty frustrated with president obama's delay in making a final decision. they will need to show a united front when it comes to trade issues. for having leverage they into negotiations need to have fast track authorities. it is something they're are unlikely to get through congress. democrats say they are opposed to it. they will look to president obama to show them and explain how they expect to get the fast-track authority so they this actually get it done year. >> julianna goldman joining us in washington. thank you.

we will talk more about the president's trip to mexico and the focus on trade with the vice chairman of us don't bridge group under president george w. bush. that is coming up right here. we will be right back. ♪

>> the federal reserve released its minutes from the meeting. to thewelcome back broadcast and good to see you again. >> good to -- good to be with you. >> we learned policymakers, they are soon going to change their guidance for the interest rates. this has on an -- unemployment

.ates declined that seems to be the headline today. what is your reaction? >> i kind of expected it. of theseone all extraordinary measures, basically -- basically quantitative easing in the last five years. they have only begun to taper the third round of that. down $10 billion a month. it will take eight or nine months to get back to zero. then all they will be doing is just not buying anymore. point, maybe the fed will discuss raising interest rates. i think they will have to sell off some of the bonds they will hold because there are two different policies. there is quantitative easing and zero interest rates. i think until they bring quantitative easing way down -- >> if the fed funds rate is

while tapering is underway, how will the markets react? >> in a theoretical sense, i think interest rates are too low. , i could easily argue for a federal funds rate instead of zero, at least 1.5 or two. maybe higher. theoretically, interest rates should be higher. the whole reason we put quantitative easing in in the first place is because interest rates could not go below zero. iseveryone thinks qe stimulative, we should get rid of that first before we start raising interest rates. review,is -- in a staff it was pointed out labor market consistentappeared with labor market conditions.

it was also observed long-duration unemployment and the share of part-time workers, that is still elevated. how do we make sense of the mixed employment picture? clearly, this has been a slow recovery. we have called it a plow horse economy. not a resource. when the economy grows slowly out of a deep recession, there will be people at the fringes of the labor market without many retirement,lose to or in problematic regions of the country, where manufacturing has been lost. they would have a tough time finding jobs. that is why you need a booming economy to get the unemployment rate down. the federalnk reserve can do anything about that, lowering interest rates and printing money cannot create jobs. we have to have the fiscal policy to create jobs.

>> we should mention the market is now digesting this as well. indexeshe major trending lower. julie will have more on that coming up. the minutes noted investors were somewhat surprised by the decision to reduce space of asset purchases. what they are talking about is the relatively volatile movements in the markets we saw in the couple of days surrounding that action. what is interesting is after that, the markets when to new highs. surprise thats was short-lived, but not longer lived after that. the fed is got a lot of things on its plate. it is watching emerging markets and the unemployment rate. when i put all this together, it

they are continuing on the same course as last winter. noteconomy is growing and as rapidly as we would like. it is time to unwind it. they will keep doing that. >> about 30 seconds left. he talked about forward guidance. how important is this for janet yellen's fed to make forward guidance one of their inferences? >> one of the key reasons the three-year and five-year and 10 year treasury interest rates are low is that the fed is promising is holding -- promising to hold the federal funds rate down. if they let loose and lose control of that and let the markets expect rates to rise, i think we will see interest rates pop at least a percentage point on the ten-year area. that is not what they want.

important ands is it is for the markets to give forward market -- forward guidance that interest rates will stay at zero for a long time to come. us from his firm, brian, it is always a pleasure to talk to you. thank you for your time. >> great to be with you. thanks. >> y six minutes past the hour. bloomberg is on the markets. julie hyman is joining us from the newsroom and good afternoon. that market reaction right now is still lower. have up-and-down fluctuations as investors try to figure out what was going on, but it seems like there are no big surprises in the fed minutes. stimulus andreduce more information once we get economic data, once the unemployment rate comes down further. nothing shocking within the markets. if you look at where treasuries

are trading, let's take a look at where they stand. we're actually seeing a little bit of a reversal here. a little change here. still yielding 3/10 of one percent. we had eels falling before the -- out.were out area ♪

>> at the close of floor trading, it is up one full percent, 10347. surging above six dollars for the first time in four years on weatherion frigid forecasts extend into march. stock tires -- stockpiles at a ten-year seasonal low. ukraineies in the

planning additional action against antigovernment protesters. dead.st 25 people were the company's top security agency threatening to carry out a nationwide antiterrorist operation to restore order. president obama said the united .tates condemns the violence members of the punk group pussy riot were arrested as they tried to perform at the sochi love this. at least one of the attackers appeared to use peppers ray -- pepper spray while other use horsewhipped. protesting the policies of russian president valid -- vladimir putin.

city, a hazardk more dangerous than all the recent snow, giant sheets of ice flying off skyscrapers, turning into potentially deadly gentiles. that is a look at the top stories at this hour. let's get more on the one-day trip to mesko and comments in the ukraine. traveling with the president into mexico, she joins us on the phone. said he the president and the united states condemning .n the strongest possible terms >> the president took a moment out of his meeting to talk about the ukraine. the two leaders welcomed each and then president obama actions indemned the

the ukraine and said the united they're watching closely and will not hesitate to take action. he did not specify what action. earlier, the deputy national security advisor talked about sanctions against the ukraine. >> this summit, they're calling it the three amigos summit. as julianna goldman pointed out, not everything is rosy between president obama he. -- president obama. ownhey each have their objectives. get -- prime minister harper yesterday told reporters .ere

something the three companies generally agree on but there are a lot of details to hammer out and after three years of negotiations, 12 companies involved, it is a trade agreement not close to being wrapped up, but it is something president obama moves closer on. >> we know, you could call them the old guy, president obama and the prime minister harper. president paying, he is the new kid on the brought -- on the block. only 47 years old. what does he have to prove during the summit? >> he has only been president for 14 months. they did not have the three amigos last year. it is president obama'second this -- second visit to mexico. it is all business. president obama is only here for

one day. leaves tonight. list.l have a bilateral -- securityure immigration, as well as more trade. >> angela, traveling with .resident obama thank you. more on the president posses trip. the commerce secretary and current cochair of the group joins me from washington. mr. secretary, thank you for your time and congratulations. we understand he were named cochair of the group today. >> thank you. a real honor. thank you very much.

>> you believe one of the major issues that needs to be discussed is energy. where is there still work to be done? >> progress has been made on an individual country basis. is to putallenge together and have a supply change of energy. they will allow foreign investment. .e need refining capacity nobody wants that in their backyard. canada is taking full advantage of shale resources. on this one, we are the ones that are wobbly. we have not decided yet whether we will go into this with aggressiveness and a sense of will. us ave in front of once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to reduce our independence. the shale revolution is for real. is onlyw, the u.s. exploring in private lands era

the government has not opened up public lands. i am sure the canadians and the mexicans will want to know what the u.s. is doing to take full advantage. one is probably the number economic issue. >> you obviously believe we are in the miss of a shale revolution. is it reducing the 40 year trend? >> absolutely. as we speak today, oil imports are at about 50%, a decline from where we were seven years ago. this is only in private land. .il consumption ifnk about what it would be we decided to go after it. if china had the shale resolution within his

boundaries, they would be all over. i cannot think of another country that would be all over it and we're hesitating too much. this is a huge opportunity for our economy and the region. >> speaking of all over it, all over the debate. is failure to get this crippling? class i do not think it would cripple the whole thing, but it would be a bad start. symptomatic of the way the u.s. would approach the , the bigger vision of a north america supply chain. not buildis if we do the pipeline, we will get oil through rail and other means. , it canadians have shown would be a real shame to have .he oil

i would hope it would go the right way. >> we will hold you over. in the last minute of the segment, there is always the economics of keystone. proponents say it will create jobs. opponents say there were environmental concerns. we are not talking about permanent jobs. >> we are talking about jobs to build the pipeline. there are jobs in the overall oil industry. if we can get our hands on natural gas, imagine what we could be if we put natural gas into short distance trucks, short distance transportation. that would require a total of gas stations and distribution systems and those are a lot of jobs. if you want to look at shale

look at north dakota. 3.2% going through the roof. the pipeline is not the whole thing. but the pipeline is indicative of whether we can get started toward that vision. >> we will have more with the former commerce secretary. carlos after the break. we will discuss immigration reform. ♪

>> we are back. we're joined from washington. thank you for staying through the break, mr. secretary. forident obama calling comprehensive immigration reform. that topic will be discussed in mexico. in the u.s., we are in an election year. is it safe to say congress does not have the courage or the

political will to take up the issue this year? >> i am not optimistic. that is when members of the house are most vulnerable. to --e of redid redistricting, people are concerned about a primary challenge to the right or left. in the case of democrats, i do not see a lot happening this year. the house said if they take up, it will be in a piecemeal fashion. perhaps we will get two or three pieces done in the administration. i am less optimistic we can get a comprehensive will during the administration. >> let's talk dollars and cents. how is the u.s. economy being hurt because of its flawed immigration system? what would it mean in terms of u.s. competitiveness not just at home but on a global scale? class a great question. we gravitate to the high skill phd's and what they can do to open up businesses in silicon valley and that is all true.

, weou look at agriculture do not have the right number of agricultural uses. it is extremely difficult to get them. a very bureaucratic process. a competencessed of immigration reform bill. the quota for agriculture is 110,000. we need anywhere from 700,000 to one million workers every year. cane will we get them if we only bring them 110,000 legally? either we hire a legally or farms go out of business and we need to start talking about how we feel about importing our food. issue, a big economic issue. we have unemployment and that is why we need immigration reform. i will give you an example. i was talking to a restaurant owner who said he had five restaurants. restaurants, you

could take that example and multiply it by hundreds of thousands. that is the scenario in our country. immigration reform is first and foremost an economic strategy and it is a real shame we are not getting on it. >> let's get the news. the minute from the feds january meeting were released. officials say further gradual reductions in their stimulus would be appropriate as long as the economy keeps improving. what are your thoughts on that strategy and the guidance going forward? >> it is an important caveat. it is happening. .t will continue the tapering off of the qe3. slight sentence depending on the economy going, i think it suggests the fed is giving itself some room to change strategy if it needs to.

thoseword counts in minutes. at half sentence is probably the thisimportant one in meeting. >> carlos is the former u.s. commerce secretary, current cochair of the albright group joining us. it is always a privilege to talk to you. thank you for your time today. when we continue in just a moment, we will tell you why pope francis was going on camera. "hot shots" is next. ♪

>> there are multiple ways to watch bloomberg television. it is time for a look at some of the most compelling images of the day. ♪

in iraq, young women push to the limit. the country is stepping up to get more females to test strength. weightlifting. only 12 years old. was able to lift nearly doubled her weight. 105 pounds. he may be 2013's person of the year. he needs a passport like everyone else and an id card. pope francis renewed his documents recently and when through the same process like any other argentinian. consular officials were the ones -- take his photo and signature. he put on a serious expression for his passport. dogs refused to be

left out while the entire city gets ready for its annual ball. the keio line population holds its own festival. about 100 costumed dogs gathered at the beach over the weekend. a cat even crash the party. the hounds did not seem to mind. paypalup later, ebay and , are they stronger together or apart? that is coming about the top of the hour. stay with us. another check of the market movers is on the other side of the break. ♪

>> get the latest headlines at the top of the hour. that doesn't for this edition. i am mark crumpton in new york. thank you for joining us. i will see you tomorrow. >> i am julie hyman. about an hour left of trading in this session. stocks heading lower now. the s&p 500 came within a point of its record and then dipped lower after we got said manning -- fed minutes. take a look at what is going on

in the treasury as well. 2.7%hing up now going to on the 10 year. aboutget more digestion what the fed is saying. a warning about global growth. i'm joined with kevin joining me from his offices in new jersey. kevin, i want to talk about the forecast. it did not change his forecast. it just says the threats to forecast, including emerging markets. seem to take it in stride. there was a hick up. thatuch of a concerned is continue to be? >> it has got to be an overhang. of what nothing new came out of the imf today. looking for the governments around the world to promote

growth. that is hardly a surprise to say they hope the fed remains relatively accommodative in terms of their monetary policy and not doing anything particularly surprising, that is not surprising. lastly, having the imf recognize emerging-market currency needs to be addressed to us to little bit. listed it to three percent just a month ago. >> why do you think there was a big concern about emerging markets? just a few weeks ago. it seems to have kind of melted away. . >> it was knee-jerk. it was a headline. . they sold first and asked questions later. when you look at the actual memorandum, there is nothing in it really new or interesting.

close to trading near a record high in the s&p. be long you continue to stocks here? >> we are. >> the returns from here will probably not be as great as they were in the last few years for sure. the fundamentals seemed relatively good. the economy is growing. better than eight percent earnings growth, a surprise many are not talking about. look at valuations trading roughly 15 times earnings in the s&p, that is not really a big stretch. we do not see any real reason to run. aswould be looking to add well as being -- >> what would be the single biggest risk out there? >> ultimately, what happens with china and by extension the emerging markets, that is a big risk.

one of the things we do not know, we're looking at fundamental data as an improvement. we do not know how much has built up in leverage and genuine improvement. if you roll backwards and have another round of deleveraging, that would be a big risk factor. >> thank you for talking with us. street smart is next. ♪ ♪ >> rainy day in new york city, but at least it's not snow. welcome to the most important hour of the session -- we have 59 minutes to go until the closing bell with the s&p nearing a record. will scour the trades today and your first trade for tomorrow. i'm thrilled to have matt miller in with me and said adam. >> i want to get to the big three stocks to watch -- but had out to julie hyman