back from bloomberg world headquarters in new york, i'm mark crumpton. business andion of economics with a mainstream perspective. u.s. lawmakers credit -- questions credit suisse officials. sales reach a five-year high. fast food restaurants cook up on expanding breakfast menu. to our viewers here in the united states and those of us those ofs joining -- you joining us from around the world, we have full coverage.

julianna goldman discusses president obama's choice for his next top economic advisor. let's begin with phil mattingly. he has details on the senate cost offshore tax evasion hearing. what was the primary defense today? >> he was more than willing to acknowledge that a small number of credit suisse bankers went above and beyond to help u.s. citizens of the taxes. senior management was deeply regretful for those actions. they said that they were on a pathway to reforming themselves. they work to try to change that. that was not enough for the senate chairman. take a listen. >> you do not want to be in the purely business that dirty business of helping u.s. clients she on her taxes. it is important if you are really going to the a reform bank that you have got to

acknowledge what is clear in our report, the wrongdoing went beyond these mulgrew of rogue bankers. iswhat you see right there the senator nailing the biggest difference. claims that this was just a small number of bankers who were involved. in a report released by the committee, it is a very large number of bankers, as many as 1800, may have been involved. that was not results yet. hear frommittee will top justice department officials in 30 minutes. where does credit suisse stand? >> the investigation is ongoing. the justice department is looking into 14 banks related to tax evasion issues. we know credit suisse is one of those banks. for luminary negotiations and discussions between credit suisse and the justice department have occurred on some kind of settlement. here are the major issues that exist right now.

this is what everyone is talking about. the big problem is the government. between the swiss and the u.s. government, there is no solid treaty requires the swiss government to hand over its thousands of names. until there is better cooperation, the investigation has been stalled. usphil mattingly joining wrong capitol hill. thank you very much. tax codely anticipated overhaul was unveiled just moments ago. yang yang joins us with more on that story. good afternoon. >> good afternoon. ae tax code has long been goal. the proposal is several years in the making. it is being scrutinized. the key provision is that it cuts the worker tax rate down to 25 fold -- 25%. a condenses the existing tax

brackets. the plan would allow roughly 95% of filers to get a lower tax rate. no need to itemize or track receipts. to plan is not expected reduce the tax burden for some people. it is not been called a new bracket, but there is a 10% surtax on incomes over $450,000 for families and 400,000 for individuals. a feware of course controversial provisions. the plan will not increase the capital gains or the estate taxes. tax on theon active country's banks. they formerly unveiled -- formally unveiled all of these

items a few hours ago. increase u.s. gdp by up to $3.4 trillion. reform has to be about strengthening the economy and making the code simpler. we have the opportunity to take the first step forward so that we can make our economies rocker. -- stronger. we want to create more jobs and increased paychecks. >> it will not be long before the rest of washington chimes in. >> what are the chances of this actually happened? >> slim to none. it is coming under scrutiny. not just from democrats, but from republicans. the senate majority leader said yesterday that the plan has no chance, not because he does not like what is in it, but because he knows democrats will not accept anything that does not increase revenue. this plan is revenue neutral. this is the most detailed tax

effort that we have been in decades. it will become the new standard by which all other tax reforms will be measured. >> thank you. good news on the economy from a surprising ors. -- source. sales reached a five-year high in january. our economics editor is here with more. interesting survey and interesting numbers. >> they surprised a lot of people. we would have thought that the bad weather would have the rest homes else. -- sales. 468,000 annual rate of sales. last month, sales were increased as well. it looks like new homebuyers managed to get out in the weather. you look at the region, and you see that the midwest was affected by bad weather. it is the only area that declined. in the northeast, look at the

change there. we had terrible snow, but we had a 73.7% in new home sales increase. is a little confusing. how do you reconcile this with other numbers that we have been getting? >> it is difficult to do. you could say that people who on contract,are but they are not under construction yet. they do not have to worry about the weather. you can sign the contract for a new home and it gets recorded immediately. recordedhome sales are when the contract closes two months later. existing home sales were recorded as down in december, but new home sales are not effective. that affected. yellen's first appearance on capitol hill, she was saying that is or at the housing market is going right now, the hope for the add is is that moreed

people will have more income. hopefully they will get back into buying homes. at some point, if the fed decides to raise interest rates, if they raise interest rates, what is that going to do to the housing market? >> it will help the housing market. how much will they do it by? what is the psychological impact? the fed was raised a little bit by beginning to taper. that first mortgage rates -- that pushed mortgage rates of. -- up. has most of that impact been absorbed? it doesn't really matter. that is what we're waiting to find out. it will be a year before we have to worry about it. >> mike mckee. on a programming note, janet yellen will be back on capitol hill tomorrow. and look at gears the latest in ukraine.

demonstrators are back in independence square. their elohimasked ukrainians tollow gather again. they want a government in place by tomorrow. activist fought with other protesters. they were waving ukrainian and -- five.iday they're calling for local elections. the bbc is reporting that ousted ukrainian president viktor which which -- victory" has been placed on an international wanted list. they want to send into the international criminal court in the hate. we have more on ukraine's efforts to rebuild its government. coming up, retailers post mixed

results on the earnings front. shares are heading higher. we will take a look at what is driving that rally. ♪

>> the u.s. supreme court ruled today that class action lawsuit from investors who lost billions in a massive ponzi scheme can go forward. the decision is a lost for individuals and law firm companies who allegedly aided the fraud. sanford was sentenced to 120 -- in prison.ent byy supposedly were backed investments and securities issued by governments and multinational companies and international banks.

those investments did not exist. mixed results from the half-dozen retailers that reported cap quarter earnings today. most eight or lower expectations. >> hi mark. we have seen a lot of negativity coming from the retailers. a lot of it has to do with the winter weather. yesterday,eporting and their ceo sums it up, before january sales were due, there was an unusual harsh winter. there were 244 macy's that were close because of the weather. the retailer incurred cost of a result of that. this is definitely having an effect on what we are seeing. dollar tree came out with his numbers and said that if you look at the selling days during the quarter, 33 days were

negatively affected by winter storms. that, or underneath that, you have the effect of food stamp cuts. the tumors are still struggling. retailers are trying to figure out what exactly is going on. we just saw this reaction from the retailers today. companies like dollar tree missed analyst estimates, but it looks like the emphasis is turning forward to the spring. one of the outside of the winter --ther is that it is clear they are clearing out winter inventory. it leaves them lean in a positive way for the spring selling month. macy's was talking about a negative impact, but they were also a lot mistakes that more often -- more optimistic for the spring. these sales numbers are the key numbers for the retailers.

they are showing a decline that we saw in the fourth quarter. projections that companies have yet to report also show a decline. turning forward. that was reflected in the stock. retail stocks were punished recently. retailers are down. the s&p is up slightly. you are not seeing very significant underperformance. the next few months and the coming quarter are really going to be key in terms of how these retailers are going to perform. >> julie hyman. thank you very much. speaking of retail metrics, ken perkins joins us. he is the founder and president of retail metrics. welcome back to bottom line. >> good to see you. thank for having me on.

>> was the ceo of macy's right about the winter weather? or are there structural economic impediments to blame? >> it is a combination of both. been so severe and disruptive. there is so many store closures. it really has created havoc. restaurants have been impacted and the housing industry has been impacted. auto sales have been impacted. it has definitely had a negative impact. >> what is the breakdown between retail numbers in impacted areas versus those in other areas? if it is a great question and we have limited data on it. 75% of the stores were impacted. was25% that wasn't, it seven percentage points. other retailers have said that

the discrepancy has not been that great. there is something going on. there is also more structural elements going on. been aas not particularly good gain over the past year. personal income has been flat. wet consumers are not seeing gain is sustain increased spending. where the retail see the biggest gains and declines? >>te the biggest plane -- the biggest gains were coming from-areas. , we are retail sales seeing earnings up 19%. dick's sporting goods was about 8%. is doingd high end well. it is not about 8%. home furnishings is in the thing all the jets. we saw strong growth from homebuilding companies.

>> in a circle back to the weather. it is essentially snowing here in new york. what trafficited in stores -- foot traffic in stores. how limited was the selection? ? down for rather significant. retailers had to clear merchandise out. there was the polar vortex and these cool temperatures. that will continue through the rest of the month. the markdowns were significant. they typically are. if you go to the stores now, you will have a hard time finding foods or winter coats. i find speaking with ken perkins, the founder of retail metrics. let's talk about warmer weather. the official start of spring is in less than a month.

what will the stores look like? is for emergent is being discounted? >> store inventories look a little heavy. the racks i bashed the racks are primarily full and set for spring. are shorts and bathing suits, the things that consumers in the northeast and midwest have no interest in buying. it puts the pressure on. we have not seen a significant markdown on these items. but we have seen buy one get one free offers. 30% off merchandise in some spaces. my expectation is given how slow sales of february, we are likely to see significant markdown as we progress into march and april. retailers rally on wall street. how do you explain that? the retailers are getting a pass. a lot of it is because of the weather.

as the holiday sales came out, the news was rather dismal. it has been beaten to be cake here. they are getting a pass. expectant at and once the weather breaks, we should have some demand. i can, we have 30 seconds left. i have to ask you about other factors. what are they and what could keep the lead on else growth for 2014? >> the biggest factor for 2014 will be job growth. numbersseen payroll that are very sought for the last few months. we need to see them grow there. those are the keys. without them, it is difficult for consumers to spend more money. >> ken perkins, the founder and president of read tell metrics -- retail metrics. thank you for your time today. i thank you. >> when we continue in just a moment, we will get you the latest on the market.

how about this for a resume? now this man will the top post at the white house. we will give him a profile when we return. kiev, theve shot at capital of ukraine, as protesters continue to flock to independent where. we will have more when "bottom line close vote continues in a moment. ♪

quarks it is ready six minutes past the hour. that means bloomberg television is on the market. olivia sterns is in the newsroom

with the details. >> let's take a look at where the markets are trading right now. stocks are mixed. the s&p was trading higher. you can see that the tao is basically flat. earlier the s&p was trading above its all-time record high of 1848. we have better than expected data out for you. existing home sales rose to their highest level in five years. we are also watching a couple of individuals. the tv recording company is trading lower today. analysts are forecasting that tivo will announce a 30% jump in revenue when it reports after the closing bell. the shares are down by 30%. we are watching chesapeake energy, they posted their first profit in several years. their bottom line was hit by rising costs, but the ceo has

been scaling back operations. market"be back "on the in 30. ♪

>> welcome back to the second half hour of bottom line. thank you for staying with us. we will get to the close of oil on this snowy wednesday. new york crude is up by three quarters of a percent. it is that 10259. natural gas is falling down about 5.5%. it is at 4.808. of the national economic council is leaving next week.

his replacement is a man of many accomplishments, but he is not economist.meant -- julianna goldman joins group more on this story. he brings quite a different resume. >> that's right. foras a different resume the nec director. academics, industry titans, lawyers, but we have not had the like camp -- we have not had somebody like camp. -- him. they went to duke university and then he did a stint at pain. he brought major league baseball to washington. he did two consultants is and he also invested in the the the the bc restaurant scene. nelson mandela was a guest at his wedding.

before the white house was focused on big idea, that was one of history's. strengths. he is known for his execution and is problem solving. his goal is to focus on implementing the presidential agenda. i spoke to tim geithner for this piece and what he said is that jeff is the sort of person who does not just talk about stuff, he gets it done. put restaurantys for his resume as well. a number of investments and some nice restaurants here. the emmanuel, a former colleague, used to say that he invested in nice places. fiola, oneantf, a restaurant of the year award. -- as a diverse sportfolio

diverse portfolio. he has put a lot of money into a foundation that does a lot of charity work. >> one of the things that you will have to be able to do is hit the ground running. he will have to repair relations with business. what is the word? is he up to the task? >> i spoke to a large executives for this piece. i spoke to david rubenstein who you heart jeff zients-- people say he is great, but. has never heard anyone say a bad thing about jeff. mark zuckerberg said he was thrilled to hear of the appointment. -- what theys they think that he will be able to do is use the convening power of the nec office to bring business leaders into the room and make them stakeholders in the president cost agenda private --

president's agenda. >> let's check some top stories that we are following. president obama will ask congress for 300 million dollars to update the nation's roads and railways. he will make the request later this afternoon in a reach. the federal transportation budget is forecasted to go broke. sony will let go 1000 jobs. they will also close 20 u.s. stores as they face slowing demand for tvs and personal computers. paula deen is planning to build . restaurant next to dollywood it is the first project: dean adventures. as part of her comeback effort. she was embroiled in controversy last year over her use of racial

slurs. that is a look at the top stories. food and beverage companies have been stacked up against each policy intheir social developing countries. -- are cultural correspondent joins us. what changed this time and why? >> the main difference was that the company had a chance to react to an oxfam study. it is a big study of consumer brands. these are the companies that interact with consumers. to get theseng companies to change their behavior by using public pressure. they have had a chance to take a look at what oxfam is looking at and what they wanted to do. what we consumers think that they should be doing. many families are changing their behaviors.

we have seen some improvements from last year cost that he. year's year cost -- last study. it all works together. in one year, we have made progress. >> why does oxfam conducted study? why do they choose these companies? >> these are multinational companies. coca-cola, nestlé, pepsico. these are the makers of kit kat and twinings tea. these are companies that consumers interact with. they are the ones that consumers will respond to the most. these are big companies that have global reach. they affect us all over the world whether you are a small local farmer in africa or a consumer in the u.s.. >> nestlé has failed or equal to the gdp of slovakia. how can one organization rate them?

>> that is a challenge with this sort of study. oxfam ultimately has a goal for sustainability and for treatment of workers. these companies may define things in a different way. they may think that they are doing things that oxfam is not giving them credit for. and general mills, they come in last. they may conduct ice cream. an ice cream brand. they have had social responsibility campaigns. his company is being spur to go towards a direction that oxfam wants them to be. nestlé has done very well. they have top rankings. they are big supporters of working with oxfam. i any sign that these ratings matter? >> one concrete change with coca-cola. it rated very low on land grab. this is how companies respectfully and rights of people in africa or latin america.

as larger buyers, they come in and they do interference with land right. coca-cola created a policy where they stand against this practice. they were rewarded by oxfam. a lot of it depends on the story. most companies will say that they appreciate the feedback and the attention. consumers do care. oxfam says that 400,000 thoughts ofve had these companies. they are working toward a common goal. some are working more quickly than others. >> beyond the study, what are some of the other area that the activist are looking at? >> we have been talking about this on other occasions. we have been talking about food waste. 30% of u.s. food is being wasted. 40% in developing countries. there is no infrastructure. there is a question of that. oxfam will focus on climate change. it will focus on treatment of women, as well as the rights of farm workers.

joinslture correspondent us from washington. thank you. up next, big changes at a capital group. stephen cohen is shifting toward a family office. we will go inside the new fcc capital when bottom line continues in just a moment. ♪

♪ >> early in her hedge fund owner stephen cohen is making big changes ahead of a march hearing that could determine whether a

$2 billion plea agreement is accepted. his firm pled guilty to securities fraud in november. su keenan has been following the story and she joins me with the latest. >> the firm announced this week that they are in the final phase of giving back billions of dollars in client as a convert to a family office to manage basically stephen cohen cost $9 billion in wealth. they are hiring their own internal regulators. they will monitor the trade and ensure compliance. sacof this is confirmed as heads back to court. it could be the final dissolution of the manor. they played guilty to federal securities fraud in november. the entity itself was united -- indicted. now some former managers have been criminally convicted by juries. both are now awaiting

sentencing. stephen cohen has never been charged criminally in the matter, but he faces civil charges with the sec. many say that it makes it very difficult to determine criminal activity given that you have these convictions. but let's talk about the hearing that takes life next month. does help that they are hiring? >> some say that it helps they have made all the changes. they're coming in and saying that they are a new sac. there are sentencing hearing for individuals. i talked with former federal prosecutor who says that if someone came in and said they hired their own monitor -- they tend to put a monitor on the situation to make sure that there is compliance down the road. there is some kind of manipulation involved. if there is a failure to comply,

criminal charges can be brought. >> what about the sec? what about its failure to supervise the case? >> that has been put on hold. that comes into play now. if the criminal case is put aside, it is vividly and negotiation. doug burns told me that it is important to remember that criminal cases are important, and civil is a smaller case. sec tried to bar calling for managing other people's money, but now they have nothing to do since sac is giving back all the money. he think that is a done deal. sac and cohen are free of further robbins. >> su keenan joining us. stay with us. hotshot is coming up.

>> fast food chains like burger king and taco bell are focusing on breakfast menus in hopes of taking on the mcking of the morning meal. we break down my breakfast has become big business. >> rise and shine. it is time for your fast food breakfasts economics. fast food chains want your business before lunch. is a huge opportunity for them to ring up extra sales. their employees are already preparing lunch. case in point? mcdonald's. burger king has been trying to boost its breakfast sales and taco bell is rolling out a new breakfast menu with creative items like a waffle tocco. -- taco. it is not as easy as it looks. when you try and it did not go

too well -- wendy's tried and it did not go too well. fast food restaurants are trying to get more customers through their doors. coffee. not just any copy, but good coffee. look at the recent success of starbucks and dunkin' donuts. coffee is a daily ritual. low prices. many people don't even eat breakfast. those who do you do not want to spend a lot of money. if your prices are too high, your customers will just have a cereal bar at home. creative menu items. did i mention the waffle taco? you can get it anywhere else. unique product strengthen your menu will -- strengthen your menu. if all else fails, copy mcdonald's.

when it comes to breakfast economics, the egg mcmuffin is king. .> waffle taco it is a time for hotshot. a look at the compelling images of the day. ♪ talk about stumbling on a fortune. a california couple win for a walk with their dog and found $10 million. they found these rare mint condition gold coins buried in the shadow of an old tree on their property. over 200 points date back from 1847 to 1894. why they were buried there was unclear. the lucky couple will take some of the point and sell the rest on amazon. they will donate the proceeds to charity. the clean for the rio de janeiro differentnival is

this year. they chose someone who was born and raised in the slums. they want to go back to their roots and honor the tradition of picking a woman from the community. god a vatican, the code -- the code -- the pop got a mini-me with a tiny cross. he caught the close attention during the general audience. he does not seem thrilled with the spotlight, but his papal allowed him to wander through the closed sections of the square. [laughter] stay with us. the marketck on movers is when bottom line returns in just a moment. ♪

>> get the latest headlines on the top of the hour on your tablet and on bloomberg.com. this does it for this edition of bottom line on bloomberg television. i'm mark crumpton in new york. i will see you tomorrow. >> it is 56 passed the hour of bloomberg tv is on the markets. let's get caught up on where stocks are trading. are fluctuating between gains and losses. the s&p 500 is near a record high. we are also seeing a big rally in retail. i also want to show you what is happening in the treasury market.

treasuries are rising after the u.s. option of $5 billion worth of 5-year note. you can see the yield on the 10 year has gone down. for more on the market, i am joined by adrian miller. gmp a director at securities. we were talking about this pattern for the past three or four days. the s&p has broken above its record close high of eight and 48. within a pullback a little bit. why are equities overbought? when we have a new high a couple days ago, that was remotely know that the market was trying to get through. without enough convincing evidence that this weather-related issues did not affect home sales, and that it is oldest about whether, the market does not know how wants to do it. we hit resistance and it comes back and you will see them lose

it. they will lose confidence. >> you think it is just a technical? >> it is a combination. you are spending real money as well. it is the same thing with the bond market. i am not convinced that the emerging market issues will fade away and be purely idiosyncratic, or the weather-related issues that have slowed down data during the december, january, february period isn't global. >> you mentioned the bond market. let's talk about that. off $35 auctioned billion worth of five-year notes. oft is the highest demands busy total it's in september 2012. why do you think there's is so much appetite for treasury? >> the bond market is playing both sides. they're straddling that line of being optimistic and being cautious. that is where you get a 10 year

where it is now. there is still a strong two-year. it is looking pretty good. you have a lot going on because of that uncertainty. it is all about optimism. the 10 year would be around 2.5. sitting on this to 70 level levelyou a sense -- 2.7 gives you a sense that they are straddling the line. client existing home sales rose from 9.6%. they exceeded estimates. why do you think analysts think this? and they were building some and into the weather that they missed the summer. in november to december with a decent drop. we are seeing some of the rebound. the rebound was stronger than most people could've anticipated. they think that the weather will depress everything. we saw in existing sales. there is a little bit of a weighing in on estimates because of this weather issue.

practiced by the polar vortex, we may not be going to the mall. but people are going out to look for new homes. thank you adrian miller from gmp. we will be back in 30 minutes. -- on the markets in 30 minutes. "street smart" starts next. >> stocks still flip-flopping gains and losses as we flirt with record highs. welcome to the most important hour of the session. 59 minutes to go to the closing bell. matt and i are scouting your first trade for tomorrow. 1848. >> 1848. but we are not doing too badly considering how are ugly this year started out. back to even. and even keel here. we want to get some individual stories in t