see you back here tomorrow. ♪ outlines a plan to boost manufacturing in cities like detroit. u.s. home prices rise in december but at a slower pace. to our viewers here in the united states and to those of you joining us from around the world, welcome. we have full coverage of the stocks and stories making headlines. economics editor michael mckee examines ukraine's financial situation. megan hughes explains why the contractor for maryland's health-care website has been

fired. we begin with julianna goldman and a preview of president obama's manufacturing initiative. >> good afternoon. that's right. later this afternoon, president obama is going to be unveiling two new manufacturing hub scum also fulfilling a promise from his 2013 state of the union. these manufacturing hub's will be led by the pentagon and are being built just outside of detroit and also in the presence hometown of chicago, will annoy come of partnering with a number of companies. 41 to be exact. including boeing, lockheed martin, honeywell, general electric and caterpillar. it has also been a busy day at the white house. earlier today, president obama met for the first time since the end of 2012 with house speaker john boehner. a pretty broad and somewhat vague -- they met for an hour in ae oval office and covered range of issues coming clean manufacturing, trade promotion

authority, and here to discuss with us that meeting, we can see if we can get any more details of it yet we have national economic council director james sperling who is -- director gene sperling who is joining us. us.k you for joining we are told that the president and house speaker boehner discussed trade authority. >> obviously, that can be an issue of legislative strategy. mac focuses on making sure we can get it done, get it done right in a way that is good for workers, good for jobs, supports the president's vision of an promotion that meets our larger goals. but i am not going to speculate on the exact timing. the core thing for us is is it going to begin for jobs? is it going to begin for workers? is it going to begin for exports? leadersthat you have

like the new chairman, ron white and the ranking leader of the house sent 11, who for years i've been trying to find a way to have a progressive vision for our exports and our workers and our jobs. trade is tough. it has always been tough. but we have always found ways to make progress. i am not going to try to handicap they exact timing or tried to be the legislative strategist on this one. one issue that was not mentioned on that readout was any sort of discussion on budget. this comes on the heels of last week, learning that in the president's budget that will be offiled last week, backing on some entitlement reform. does that mean any sort of grand bargain that is essentially dead? >> know, the president has made clear that his budget is going to express his ideal vision. the president was always clear that the social security cost-of-living adjustment was not something he wanted to do. it was something he was willing

to do as part of a grand bargain or compromise. and so the president is still willing to engage. but the president but that in the budget as an extra neri gesture, keeping that offer on the table. yes, we were disappointed that through 2013 they did not reciprocate. so we will be focusing on doing everything we can to move the economy forward. if you look at what he is announcing today that the manufacturing institute, that was in his 2013 state of the union. by the end of this year, we will have nearly 500 billion. look at what has happened when it is tangible and people see the benefits for jobs and innovation. you now have bipartisan support and you have republican senators who are now supporting lists. that is the kind of thing we are going to do. if it is something we are going to do on our own to move the economy forward, we will. if we can do more on things like that through legislation, we will. the president has made clear and will talk later on about the

fact that he would like to work in a bipartisan way to get a major reauthorization on transportation done. he said he will be willing to use some one-time resources for corporate tax reform to help pay for that. that will be good for the economy, good for jobs, and build -- it is the kind of strategy that could build a bipartisan consensus here >> chrisman dave camp tomorrow is going to be unveiling his corporate tax reform plan. is this a game changer? do you think that we will now be able to see something in the next 18 to 24 months? toi have been here too long comment on plans we have not seen yet. if somebody puts forward a series plan, we will give it a serious look. whether we agree or disagree with that. we will always look at our values and our visible economic values are your does it make our tax more or less fair, more or less progressive? is it physically -- is a

fiscally responsible? weekxt week is your final as national economic council director. progressive democrats knew that they had a champion in you in the west wing. will they have that same champion in jeff dimes? >> they have the same champion in president barack obama. and we all work for him. we have worked together for the first four years. we are doing a transition right now. we have a very similar worldview. i would say we are both progrowth progressives. we both believe in ensuring that we have investments for the middle-class come investments that will help low-income people move up the ladder. but we also believe you have to support innovation and competition. that is what jeff will be fighting for. and you will be seen rather dramatic [indiscernible]

jeff is clearly one of the best managers in washington, d.c. --are just incredibly happy incredibly lucky to have him and i am incredibly happy to have him as my successor. >> thank you both so much. now to the latest from ukraine. the european union's top foreign policy official is urging ukraine's new government to work at a reform program so that the west can consider financial aid for that country's battered economy. that new government will have to take shape first. the parliament today delayed its formation saying it should now be in place by thursday. in the meantime, there are fears of retaliation against officials who served under embattled viktor yanukovych. hasovich's chief of staff been shot and wooded on monday. he was most despised among three-ofs in the political turmoil. with a revolution over at least

for now, ukraine needs cash and it needs it fast. michael mckee has been looking at how much and how soon and from whom. >> first, how much? one of the questions is where does the written you stop falling? the ukrainian currency has dropped quite a bit as investors pull out. that makes your debts oversees more expensive. you can see the kinds of debts they already owe. about $10 billion in the coming year by some estimates. ukraine says it could use about $35 billion he for all is said and done. they have a $10 billion payment or at least a billion dollar payment due coming up in june. then they go on from there. it looks like they will not have the money unless they get outside help. >> where it is a kind of money come from? >> that is a good question. the imf is probably the lead agency here. although they have lent money to ukraine in the past, they still do quite a bit. and they did not get the results

they wanted. it could take time to get an imf program negotiated. you need a can make some concessions. germany,some talk that poland, perhaps even the united states my -- in an states might contribute rich loans. bridgethe -- contribute loans. russia had offered $15 billion before. they took that off the table. the problem that russia has is that their banks are of $28 billion by ukrainian authorities. if they don't get that kind of money, they are going to collapse. so it is not in russia's interest to turn off the spigot either. -- what types of reforms to the world want as well? off naturaled turn gas subsidies. they will also want significant budget cuts and spending cuts and changes in corrupt practices to try to make it more friendly

to business. and then they are going to want that currency to continue to depreciate to make ukrainian products more expensive. that makes the cost of living more expensive for ukrainians. that will be a tough sell. >> michael, thanks. coming up, home prices in the u.s. appear to be losing some momentum. we will take a look at the latest housing reports and look at what is ahead for the industry when "bottom line on bloomberg television" continues in just a moment.

this a reminder -- there are multiple ways to watch bloomberg television. we are on the web at bloomberg.com, on your mobile device and also on apple tv. welcome back to "bottom line here come we -- "bottom line. annika, welcome to "bottom line"

again. is the strongest part of the recovery in home values in the u.s. over? question know, we have had a good run, especially before the weather-related conditions started to read havoc in the residential market. but of course, a big part of the increases we have seen in home prices were due to lower inventories. and also a big number of investors in the market. a lot of those increase will of course continue -- will start to subside. so we will start to get a moderate in home prices. >> what is that having on affordability? >> that is a great question. when you think about mortgage rates, of course, a lot of borrowers and would-be buyers sit on the sidelines trying to figure out where market should

-- where market rates are going to settle. it is likely good to be the buyers will hold back on buying a home. they probably just shift their appetite to a smaller home or make a decision that is going to impact the size of the home, not necessarily whether to buy. >> does that mean that the days of jumbo mortgages are over? >> no. i would not say that the days of jumbo mortgages are over. definitely if you look at the impact of what is happening in the real economy, a lot of the wealth of course continues to be at the very high end. so we deftly have a lot more activity. in fact, if you look at homebuilders, many homebuilders that traditionally catered to smaller homes, homes less than $100,000, have shifted up to the move-up buyer and more to moorelly looking show get into the luxury homes and the larger homes. >> you speak of homebuilders.

construction costs are on the rise. how much of a concern is that, particularly since the level of skilled workers has diminished? >> that is another excellent question. as we look at some of the potential headwinds that could potentially have an impact on the overall market, construction costs are definitely rising. skill workers -- skilled workers are hard to find. making it rices are difficult. so many of the smaller homebuilders, that is where you are going to see a lot of the impacts happen. unnecessarily a lot of the larger builders, but on the smaller. and a lot of that showed up on the sentiment impact. in addition to weather-related issues, they also noted rising construction costs as a headwinds. are talking about housing. the federal reserve's unemployment threshold is at 6.5%. that is the point at which

policymakers might consider raising short-term interest rates. threshold.st at that how might the housing market react if rates are raised? >> thinking about what the federal reserve is going to do, we know that the fed is probably going to stay on hold well into 2015 and some forecasts have it into 2016. that will function as an anchor. so we don't necessarily see the mortgage rates for all of a sudden rise to a point where it blocks many of the would-be buyers out of the market here in that said, we still have a number of first-time home buyers that are outside of the market, which makes it very difficult to have a sustainable recovery. as long as you only have 27% of first-time homebuyers in the market versus the long-run average of 40%, it is going to slow down the overall recovery. >> what did today's numbers indicate for the spring home buying season? our price levels going to increase or will they stay

current? >> we of course are forecasting that rice levels will decline somewhere to the mid-single digits, especially when you look at the snp case schiller index. those numbers were upwards of 13%. so we don't necessarily expect them to stay at that level. they will probably come down to somewhere around 8%. both numbers were better than consensus estimates. but for 2014, we expect that number to be around for do it -- around 4% or 5%. >> why do you see investors holding back from buying properties? >> a big part of the housing story was investors in the hard-hit market. for many of those investors, we are seeing fewer distressed transactions. foreclosures and short sales are no longer at the peak levels. if we look at the nar's distressed transaction numbers, they are down 14% versus upwards

of the peak 50%. so fewer properties are distressed that are in good condition that are left for many of those investors to buy. so we have seen huge increases in prices in many of those target areas. >> senior economist wells fargo securities joining us to discuss housing from our washington bureau. thank you for coming on. always good to see you. >> thank you. >> when "bottom-line" continues in just a moment, after months of technical which is an unpaid invoices, one state fires the company that dealt its obamacare health exchange. more on that next.

fixes may have helped

turn around the enrollment numbers for healthcare.gov. topmaryland has fired its contractor. megan hughes has more on the state's problems. what went wrong? >> a lot of officials are pointing to the company. a huge -- huge tech problems that started when the health-care site open on october 1. they had only four people signed up on their first day. as of february, they are still around 30,000. they hope to get to around 50,000 by the end of march. they have a long, long way to go. the company -- they are pointing at the director. there has been a lot of infighting between contractors, if that sounds familiar at all. that they also made a lot of money. they were paid nearly $65 million as of february 10. plus they had unpaid invoices

totaling another $13 million. they were hired as part of a five-year deal. that theycials say were reserving the right to try to get some of that money back to see the damages. so we may see some lawsuits forthcoming. for the company's part, they say they will still be helping in a supporting role. they also point out that they'd did do hundreds of fixes on the site as well. mobnd in some of these movies come of the person who comes in to clean up the mess is always the fixer. who is going to clean this up/ -- clean this up? company thatsame the government brought in to be , taking over for cms on the federal level. so they were brought in in maryland as a general contractor back in december. now they will be the prime contractor. the company is headquartered in

columbia, maryland. so the fixer is right in their backyard. >> what does this mean for enrollment in the state? >> i mentioned it had around 30,000 as of february and they are trying to get to 150,000 by march 31. so they have a long way to go. and you compare them to a state like kentucky, which has done very, very well with its site. that state had around 40,000. that is an even smaller state than maryland. so they are very far behind. politically, very interesting for governor o'malley who was one of the biggest advocates of the affordable care act. maryland is the second state after california to come forward and say we are going to do our own exchange and we are going to do this right here in -- do this right. and now it is probably one of the worst examples in the country. >> one of those nightmare scenarios, as you mentioned, going back to october 1.

it is 26 minutes past the hour. that means bloomberg television is on the markets. julie hyman is in the newsroom with details. >> let's take a look at where stocks stands today. not a lot of dramatic action in the broader market today for sure. whereas before we were slightly up, we are now slightly down. the snp, the dow, the nasdaq, all little changed. the nasdaq falling the most by nearly a 10th of one percent. is the fourth largest wireless carrier and reported a net loss for a third consecutive quarter. the stocks are down by six percent. t-mobile has been hit by the cost of luring more customers. offering customers up to $4050 for switching services from rival providers. new customers over the quarter. at&t is responding to competitive pressures by lowering rates for international calls and allowing u.s.

customers to text almost all other countries at no extra cost. these price cuts come a month after at&t already cut its family plan by $40. we will be back on markets in 30 minutes.

>> welcome back to the second half-hour. thanks for staying with us. a highly anticipated republican proposal to overhaul the u.s. tax code includes a surprise for the nation's the guest banks. a new tax. oner cook has the latest congressman dave camp's plan. the pushback of that plan is likely to face. >> already getting pushed back even before we see the plan unveiled. as you said, he has been working on this effort, this plan for months.

years effectively. he is set to unveil the tomorrow. no one has seen it here and washington but parts of it are starting to leak out. it is the most sought after document in d.c. right now. the specific provision regarding u.s. banks, it is a surprise because it is coming from a republican who is effectively raising taxes on the nation's biggest tanks him of the biggest financial institutions as he tries to make his proposal revenue neutral pm he needs revenue from somewhere to offset reductions in tax rates elsewhere. tax on totaloint consolidated assets over $500 billion. it would be applied quarterly. it would rate 86 put -- it would raise $86.4 billion or 10 years 10 it would be to systemically important financial institutions already identified here in washington. the tax would be deductible against its corporate income tax, but that is probably not much of a silver lining for these institutions. the five biggest banks in the

united states, you know the names -- jpmorgan, bank of america, citigroup, wells, old and sass, and morgan stanley. ge finance unit and three other major insurers, all of who have assets over $500 billion. here is an example of the hit they would face. jpmorgan chase, for example, their assets of december 31, $2.4 trillion. the estimated asset tax based on 3.5 basis point hit would be $2.7 billion. that is 15% of their net income. you can imagine jpmorgan and these institutions not thrilled with the prospect of that. >> and not thrilled are some republicans in congress. we are receiving word that it's mcconnell spoke to reporters moments ago and the u.s. will not achieve tax overhaul in 2014. so does that mean that chairman cams proposal is dead on arrival in congress? >> it is basically dead on arrival.

and it is not because people do not treat dave camp seriously lee, do not treat this proposal seriously leigh, but no one sees it in this election year to be successful. is theing said, this first major proposal, detailed proposal to get from any republican in years and then it becomes the starting point for the ongoing debate over overhauling the tax code. and his goals are very simple. that the top individual rate down to 25% here drop the corporate tax rate to 25%. and make this plan revenue neutral. how it goes about it is important and why the plan is going so much attention even if it is not going to become law. >> peter cook joining us, thank you so much. of the top some stories. in ukraine, a vote on forming a national unity government has been delayed until thursday. at the same time, ukraine's new authorities are trying to seek immediate financial help from the west as russia warns of a

possible default. meanwhile, an arrest warrant has been issued for victory" which over the killings of 82 people, mainly -- for viktor over the killing of 82 people here in new documents claim that $365 million worth of bitcoins were stolen from the exchange by unidentified thieves. withdrawals were halted earlier this month saying that was a flaw in the system. president obama, singh governors of eight western states they will get the aid the need to deal with wildfires. he says he will ask congress for battling the fires the same way the government pays for other natural disasters, with funding coming outside of budget caps. that is a look at the top stories we are following up to the -- following in the news at this hour. it is time for the commodities report. weather is still a huge

driver, something we have not seen in most of a decade. 2003, theo go back to last time we saw this kind of dramatic selloff. as much as 12% today, closing down at 6% at the end of the day. according to one top strategist, the market sold off on expectations that the worst of the winter cold is behind us. to institutional profit-taking. before the freefall began yesterday, net gas hit the highest in 2000 -- highest since 2008. that is more than natural gas posted last year. it was the strong is performing commodity then. oil is still above 100. heating oil this posting gains.

contracts further out on the posting weather ahead. terminal in the ukraine is providing additional support. the latest data shows that bullish commodity hedges by hedge funds are the lightest since 2012. the day, end of monetary policy in the u.s. is going to be the sort over gold's head. i can see it easily trading at $1360 and above. at the end of the day, on a terry policy and normalization of policy will drive gold's price. 20% last year and traders point out that come even the technicals are strong right now, a correction is indeed likely. gold moved up almost 15% today. >> -- almost .5% today.

>> ranking the top cars for 2014. we will have the details when we come back.

>> security software is expected to be one of the fastest-growing areas of corporate spending. israel'sny is [indiscernible] it provides perimeter security for airport, harbors, and plants around the world. by asking him about cyber hacking of mobile devices. the mobile nowadays, the most severe tool for cyber hackers and everybody to [indiscernible] and the ability to identify abnormal, illegal activity in

the mobile cellular phones is something that we developed. identifyability to such activity. first of all, you want to know that it is there. second, if there is a need, you can block it. exercise, showing them that we can take control. theou recently appointed vice president of acquisitions. what kind of deals are you looking for and how much money have you got to spend and when will you spend it? >> there is a decision in our board that the company will go for acquisition. traditional security is one part of our target. and we see the cyber world as

another part. we are looking for opportunity. and we are going to do the level of research in the market together with investment bankers to see what are the opportunities. and we look to the u.s. and canada and europe for companies to acquire him in different segments. not necessarily in cyber. >> how much have you got to spend? >> you can see that we have over $30 million free cash. we have a supportive shareholders and we believe that if we need additional money we will be able to find resources for it from banks or from different institutions as well as our shareholders. >> consumer reports has released

its annual ranking of autos, selecting the top picks for 2014. maryann keller is an auto industry consultant and she joins me from stamford, connecticut. welcome back to "bottom line." the tesla model s, it is the winner for best overall vehicle. how did this car distinction so from its peers? >> you have to remember last year when consumer reports gave it the highest rating. it is not a surprise that, a year later, with the experience of the car being on the road, it has continued to prove itself a superb car. it is a well-engineered car and performs well in the people who own it love it. -- it was called a truly groundbreaking car. is that overstating the case or would you agree with that assessment? question many ways, it is. tesla has proven that people will buy and love an electric vehicle. and in electric vehicle can have

her formants as good as an internal combustion engine car. and it is a beautiful car to boot. manyannot fault it on too things. clearly, that is reflected in how its owners perceive it. >> how does this reshape or restart the dialogue over electric cars in this country? price of the the battery can come down to a point where it is affordable. remember that the average price of a car sold in the u.s. is somewhere around $31,000. and this car going out the door is probably closer to 90 thousand dollars. so three times as expensive. to really reshape the discussion on electric cars, you have to be able to think about a price point around $40,000. >> and you mentioned that price point, but tesla says it does expect money list deliveries to increase about 56% to 35,000 cars this year. how much will the top model

ranking raise the profile of tesla whose current market value is more than half that of gm? that thet sure valuation is just based on tesla success on cars. that 35,000 mise shipments to china and europe and other overseas countries. so not just in the u.s.. theink the recent run-up in stock price come especially what you're saying today, is a reflection of a report that suggesting were -- suggesting tesla is about to revolutionize the industry. probably in terms of its size equal to our much greater than that of the auto industry. >> ok, we have given tesla is a do. talk to me about the dodge ram 1500. it was selected as the best pickup truck. it is the first time that a chrysler vehicle has led one of the top 10 categories since 1998. and we are talking about the jeep grand cherokee. are we witnessing a resurgence by chrysler?

>> i think to some extent we are. not every chrysler has made the cut. but they put a lot of effort into the ram pickup truck. it has clearly gotten accolades for performance, for hauling, for design. obviously, it appeals to a wide enough segment of the pickup truck buyer market. considering it is in an incredibly competitive segment where the ford f-150 has been the top vehicle in the united states for 20 years. it is really quite an accomplishment for the ram to have gone this. we will see what happens. we have a new ford f-150 that is aluminum bodied a year and half from now. we will see how consumers rate that. >> what do all of these rankings mean in terms of pricing? householdimes of budgets, people are looking for affordability, but they are also looking for durability.

>> i think that is where they have the impact. they have put -- they probably have the impact in terms of persuading people and helping companies maintain market share more than they have the ability to give them the opportunity to raise the price a few thousand dollars. people still buy with their pocketbooks. a car that is not as successful where they are higher inventories can be price down to reflect that as well. pricing i don't think is a real issue. i think it is the fact that you can get more eyes looking at your car. a ms. keller, this has been harsh winter, particularly here in the northwestern united states. how prolonged will the impact be on car sales? >> we will see that in a few days when they announce february numbers. but i think a lot of people are chastened by the fact that winter weather has been worse than january with places like atlanta, georgia, the carolinas, the pacific northwest being heavyed by snow, sleet,

rain, etc. i think the impact will put us in the low 15's. by this time, the expectation had been that we had been above 50.5 million at a sales rate. i do not think that is good to have them. >> ms. keller, it is always a pleasure to help you -- to have you on the broadcast here in when "bottom line continues," panda's takeover a square in taiwan. hot shots is next.

>> a look at some of the most compelling images of the day. an angel descendent to venice's st. mark's square. the tradition is part of the cities annual con of all series. she is lowered to the waiting crowd.

who gets to be the lucky woman to play the angel? yearsnner of the devious carnival beauty pageant. if all the giant pandas in the world work together in one place, this is how it would look. 1600 paper pandas are on display in front of the taipei city hall representing all the candidates -- all the pandas currently in existence. in london, a spa for those looking for a grueling experience. get wet and covered with birch and eucalyptus and oak branches imported from russia. this is all done in a room heated by an iron oven at temperatures of 158 degrees fahrenheit. after the steam treatment, clients can relax in a lounge where seafood is served. nothing says relaxation like birch, oak, eucalyptus.

stay with us.

>> get the latest headlines at the top of the hour on bloomberg radio and streaming on your tablet and on bloomberg.com. that does it for this edition of "bottom line on bloomberg television." i will see you tomorrow on the markets.

500 yesterday got very close to closing at a record high. it is still trading close to record. it is just going in the opposite direction as major averages fall about .1%. jpmorgan, the second-largest u.s. bank is planning to slash more jobs. that brings the total up to 8000. the bank project that the job cuts will help toward its goal of increasing profits over the next five years. financials are in focus in today's sector report. michael moore keeps his eyes on wall street. michael, we have seen a lot of job cuts at the bank here in you with -- bank. you would think we would be coming to the end of it, especially with the housing market improving. jpmorgan, like many banks, has a

big mortgage business. why are we seeing so much cutting? >> one is the foreclosures are lower. to process people foreclosures. >> on that site, which has not been a great is this, a losing business for them, they needed a lot of people to handle that volume. that is waning off. also, even though the housing market is picking up, interest rates have climbed. so refi's are way down. the banks are waiting for new purchases to pick up to kind of counteract that. down,r now, with refi's total mortgage value is down. they need fewer people in those roles. people were brought in in short-term roles. and they have also been the go. >> are we sort of coming to the end of that cycle, of these types of cuts? >> i think we are in the late innings of that and we had a lot of structural, big cuts because the banks said we are not as profitable. we need to hold higher capital.

therefore, we need to cut down a lot of those structural cuts have been done. as to this point, there has not been too much of that. barclays had some last month. but in terms of the market cycle, it would seem, if the economy picks up, that might flow a little bit. >> the normalization of rates, as we start to climb again and of the economy and of the housing market, we are seeing sort of a stabilization of another bank and that is citigroup. >> right. >> this is a group, a bank that you have not heard as much about, controversywise, which they are quite happy about over the last couple of years. current ceo has been a very quiet wind. he is trying to steer the bank on a very safe course. but i think investors are getting a little anxious for the bank to maybe enter a new growth mode. >> right.

yeah, he was kind of brought in as operations guide. corvette came in and -- corbat came in and cut act and scaled back. what is next? was there a bigger strategy thing or is it the same strategy and you will just tweak around the edges? i think some of this unrest is coming from what is the next piece of the puzzle? and also the cost cutting at all the banks has been -- we are cutting costs except for legal and regular tory costs. >> of course. >> there's will fall off, but we are now in four years now. when did they fall off? aboutll some questions future growth prospects for the banks and when the costs go away. thank you for talking to us about what is going on with the bats. on the markets again in 30

minutes. ♪ >> u.s. stocks are fluctuating right now near record high after