>> from bloomberg world headquarters in new york, i'm mark rumford -- i'm mark crumpton. this is "bottom line." today, janet yellen discusses the state of the u.s. economy. in the ukraine's fugitive president will reportedly hold a news conference in russia. the fda proposes changes to nutrition labels on food packaging. to our viewers in the united states and those of you joining us from around the world, welcome. we have full coverage of the stocks and stories making

headlines today. cory johnson looks at google's efforts to speed up connecting to the internet in several u.s. cities will stop peter cook has highlight of janet yellen's testimony before the senate banking committee. those stories in just a moment. first, let's get you the latest on ukraine. ryan chilcote filed this report from key of. >> the ukrainian parliament has just ordered in a new government in the ukraine. its job will be to prepare the public for snap elections in may and make sure they are able to get enough money from international creditors to pay their bills in the meantime. u.s. has ponied up a billion dollars in the form of a loan guarantee and the imf says they will send a delegation next week and they are ready to talk all stop but those loan issues are big ones will stop working billion dollars is what this country owes over the next 12 months. a lot of that money is due in june. i spoke to the country's new prime minister and he says he can keep things together. >> we will do everything not to default.

if we get the financial support from the united states, from the european union, from the imf, we will do it. >> he also told me he will be this country's least popular prime minister ever. those loans will come with conditions that will not go down well here in the ukraine. think of this as greece 2.0. meanwhile, plenty going on outside kiev in crimea, in the south of the country. gunmen have seized a legislature, lowering the key of flag and raising the russian flag. outside of the country, the former president is in russia and he has said he will hold a press conference there this friday. >> ryan joins us live on the phone from kiev. he was not getting -- chances are the reforms he will have to push through parliament for ukraine to get international aid will be painful.

what will that mean for the ukrainian people? >> it is going to be tough. the imf would like to see natural gas tariffs for example. people use natural gas here for almost everything. the big issue would be eating. ago -20ust two weeks degrees celsius here and heating would go up by even more. another painful thing would be the currency. it normally trades at about eight to the dollar and has already fallen to 11 and a half. it hit, up to about 10.7. the imf would ike to see even less support. subsidies, social spending and budgets will get cut back. ukraine can kiss gross goodbye for the next couple of years. >> you mentioned the president who fled key of last week is the subject of an arrest warrant. he is scheduled to hold a press conference.

what is the latest on that? >> it ought to be interesting. he has already said the new government here are not season he's a legitimate resident. what is he going to say now that he is under russian protection? the prime minister in the ukraine accused the government of stealing $70 billion. we have all seen the footage of where he hadome the spanish italian and really extravagant lace there. that is something people are talking about. the the equivalent of entire external debt. they have instructed the banks to freeze all his assets. he's not a popular guy, even among his old supporters. >> we have about 30 seconds left. what is washington's role? state announced

the obama administration is landing a billion dollars in loan guarantees. >> this is a really tricky one. places in the former soviet union have not been on the u.s.'s radar. up a lien dollars gets ukraine through the election. the u.s. would have to do a lot more to really influence things. russia is very interested in ukraine. up ine the g8 coming sochi and it's going to be an issue. i don't know how much leverage it really has. chilcote, joining us live from kiev. stay with bloomberg for comprehensive coverage of comprehensive coverage of ukraine. he will bring us a firsthand look at the struggling economy and efforts to help the people of ukraine on friday.

fed chair janet yellen acknowledged today that recent economic ada has been weaker than expected but says the central bank will likely continue to trim back its bond purchases for now. our chief washington correspondent, peter cook, has more on the testimony. fed isate with in the over the weather right now. >> it's fitting. delayedimony has been for two weeks because of a snowstorm back on february 13. the fact that janet yellen and is in factues fitting. it was supposed to be a match to it she told the house committee back on february 11, but in the two week interim, we've gotten a host of economic numbers that have come in weaker than expected. today, she straightened her oral testimony and acknowledged the softness and talked about it

directly with the committee. asset purchases are not on a preset course. if there's a significant change in the outlook, we would be open to reconsidering. i don't want to jump to conclusions here. was janet yellen, talking about what might happen to the bond purchases going forward. the fact that she has acknowledged some weakness in , that iscan economy significant. chucks pressed by senator schumer about whether these weaker numbers could get the fed to pause on the taper. the mesa -- the message she sent was not yet. we don't know enough what's causing that at this point. assuming the forecast holds up, the fed could and the bond

buying altogether, but she also went on to reiterate that there's no sense of an increase in interest rates anytime soon. she stressed that but did say the economy is not moving to the point where she feels it is back to normal. she says that will take several years. >> stay with bloomberg. peter will have a live interview with the chairman of the tax writing ways and means committee. they will discuss the chairman's new tax proposal in the 4:00 hour of "street smart" only on bloomberg. coming up, more on janet yellen's testimony. u.s.l be joined by chief economist at jpmorgan when we return. ♪

lex federal reserve chair janet yellen repeated the central banks likely to keep trimming

asset personages -- asset purchases. for a look at that, i'm joined here by the chief u.s. economist at j.p. morgan chase. welcome back to "bottom line." >> good to be back. >> chairman yellen said she and her colleagues will continue to monitor data to determine if recent weakness in the u.s. economy is temporary. bondlso added the purchases in her words are not on a preset course. >> i took away there is still a high hurdle to stop or pause in the tapering process. it is not on a preset course. take a different look in the labor market to stop --. if that data were to really come in below expectation, we cannot rule out a deposit the next meeting.

however thomas the labor market looks a little better in the labor report that it did the last two, i think the tapering will continue. >> she did deviate somewhat from her prepared remarks. she said recent reports may be weather related. she did say it was difficult to discern exactly how much. didn't the weakening and the data begin in december before the latest cold snap? what type of weather do you see? >> with the revision to retail sales, it does look like december is when things started to weaken and for that reason, we are a little hesitant to ascribe all of this to weather. we see some regional patterns that are inconsistent with it being solely weather effects, so i think what she said is hard to discern, that's the only thing that can be said with certainty.

certainly less than 100% of the weakening has been whether in our view. unemployment is at 6.5, inflation is at 2, but when you look at these numbers and the jobless rate continuing to drop, is the fed going to have to take another look at the threshold? >> they are, and i think they have been honest about saying that. what happens after the thresholds? the minutes did not give a firm answer and neither did janet yellen today. the fed will revert back to qualitative guidance of the kind we saw back in 2011 when the fed was just describing the outlook of interest rates using words rather than giving hard and fast thresholds. >> i'm speaking with the chief u.s. economist at jpmorgan chase. yourre revising down

projection for first-quarter gdp softness inou note activity indicators has been widespread. where is that impact being felt most and how long do you think it will last? >> it is being felt pretty widespread. some of that is to be expected. in the second half of last year, inventories were built up at a pretty rapid pace and some slowing was inevitable. are not worried about developments for the rest of the year. we are not seeing a more fundamental weakening. we ever getect if some normal weather here and get a clean picture of the economy, things will feel like they are back on track. >> you mention the return to .ormalcy was inevitable are we seeing a return to

normalcy? a lot of economists did not inc. that level of growth was sustainable anyway. few temporary supports in the second half of last year and i think it made sense to save some of that strength, just like it makes sense to save the weakness we are seeing as also a bit temporary. the underlying threat is somewhere in between. >> where is the american consumer in this mix? >> real consumer spending in the first quarter is looking -- you're getting a little bit of an offset because consumers are spending more on utilities. consumers are looking a little weaker than they did at the tail end of last year. what is going to matter here is whether we see some weakness and the labor markets persist.

last year, the consumer got a huge support from rising equity and house races. you'll probably see that continue so we need to fill in the gap. its far earlier in the year, hasn't happened but we hope it picks up as the year progresses. >> the chief u.s. economist at jpmorgan chase joining us from his office in new york. always good to see you. thanks for your time. when "bottom line" continues -- are the days of spotty wi-fi numbered? we will show you what to expect when google expands its broadband internet service to your town. that's next. ♪

>> millions more americans may soon have access to google's high-speed rock band internet service. the company is in talks with nine american cities for its next round of fiber installations. cory johnson is in provo, utah, the only city other than kansas city where the service is already online. has been google's experience? it's the most exciting thing to happen in kansas city since the 69 super bowl. provo is wondering if they are going to get the same results. those results being increased business opportunities, consumers having a very different experience where they communicate a lot more and be more socially involved because they've got a superfast internet. to atually went and talked local business person here and listen to what he had to say.

or maybe don't listen to what he had to say. but what he said was is rolling out slowly. said someople -- he people don't even know how they are able to access it. we have talked to people who -- is thethe service same thing from going from dial-up to dsl. google has a unique set of skills to deploy here that is going to help them create a service like no other. company is in talks with nine u.s. cities. what will this mean long-term for the cities? deal -- they are in kansas city now and starting to roll out in austin.

they are rolling out faster here in provo because they are taking over existing fiber-optic systems that were struggling. this may end up going faster than austen even though austen had a head start. they're going to roll out to 34 cities and they are in negotiations with a lot of cities. they are trying to get expedited rules so they can get faster permitting. in kansas city, they got a real sweetheart deal where some city workers were devoted to working with google. but this is going to be a big thing for google. >> thank you. calories?our chances are nutrition labels are not telling you the entire story. the fda and michelle obama have proposed a food label rules make at helping people healthier choices. >> as consumers and parents, we

have the right to understand what is in the food we are feeding our families. that is the only way we can make informed choices, by having clear, accurate information. ultimately come that's what today's announcement is all about. washington isfrom our white house correspondent, julianna goldman. what are the changes being proposed? lex we get a glimpse of the new labels from the first lady. nutritional information is going to be bigger and bolder, particularly when it comes to the calorie count we all hate to look at all stop there is going to be an extra line for added sugars which is something that is ready controversial who -- three controversial. this is something experts say the added sugar that contribute to the obesity epidemic right now, one out of every three

people suffers from obesity and since this is a show and tell, i brought something to take a closer look at what we might be seeing when you look at some ben & jerry's chocolate cookie dough ice cream. point is to make us more in line with what we are actually eating. at the pint of ice cream, serving sizes half cup. when i dig into a pint of ice cream, i certainly go for the full cup. that is going to be the new serving size. everything else is going to be doubled. , saturated fat, it now goes into a 90 day comment time, andou're the food industry grocery administration, there response has been muted. after the 90 day review, that is

when they will work on finalizing the changes would probably won't go into effect. all told, it is supposed to cost about $2 billion to make those changes but $30 billion in savings over the long run. lex too bad we cannot keep the camera on you after we go because i know you are going to dig into that. 26 past the hour, olivia sterns is on the markets. but stocks are rising. you can see the s&p on track to close at a new record high. yellenget janet testifying earlier today, saying the fed is likely to stay on track with its tapering program. she says she will consider a slowdown if things become materially weaker. wendy's coming out reporting first-quarter earnings that beat analyst estimates. wendy's has forecast it will complete 415 franchise sales

this quarter thomas a shares down now i about 3%. we will be back on the markets again in 30 minutes. ♪

>> welcome back to the second "bottomr of bloomberg line." i'm mark crumpton. thank you for staying with us. let's check on some of the stories we are looking at this hour. russia scrambled fighter jets and reportedly gave shelter to ukraine's former president. russia says he will hold a news conference tomorrow. pro-russian government stormed ukraine's offices in strategic region of crimea, putting pressure on the new ukrainian government even as it named a new prime mr. today. federal reserve chair janet

yellen says the fed is likely to maintain its policy of gradually trimming asset purchases but also says the fed is watching to see if recent weakness in the economy is temporary. she also told the banking committee she expects the fed to favor low interest rates for quite some time. attorney general eric holder has been discharged from a washington hospital and is resting at home. he 63-year-old holder felt faint and short of breath ring work this morning. it is not clear why he fell ill. the justice department may release more details in the coming hours. that's a look at the top stories in news this hour. time now for the commodities report. su keenan joins us with the details. >> we are seeing a shift away from weather to political climate as the key driver. we saw the price of oil fell and the difference between brent crude and west texas intermediate also narrowed.

unrest in the ukraine is having an impact on the futures. one strategist says giving the it is havingation, an impact on wti. energy futures are on track to post gains for the month due in part to the weather and huge spike in heating oil and natural gas. toc crude production dropped the lowest level in more than two years in february. look at today's prices as we head to the close -- lower across the board with gasoline futures falling on speculation that above average supplies will keep prices in check. natural gas futures rebounded from a five-week low. one-week dropis a of almost 26%. that's the biggest one-week truck we've seen in roughly a decade. those comments are impacting

gold today. >> part of what we are looking at is the fact that the ukraine situation and yellen's comment pricesortiva of higher that create a demand for a safe haven. we are seeing a big debate on where the price will be. will be ainks we little higher. you have to consider the fact that gold has posted two straight months of gains will stop you are looking at unchanged as we had to the close right now. >> thank you. turning our focus to investments in emerging markets with the focus on the fed chairman's comments. how might quantitative easing curb growth? to "bottom line." is situation in ukraine becoming more chaotic by the hour. ukraine needs money now. what concerns do you have about

bailing out a country of 46 million people? >> clearly, the political situation is very complicated. it has geopolitical implications for the region. there is ethnic divisions, as we all know and the participation of russia has generated a lot of concern. we think russia is very unlikely to be as aggressive as some people fear and we believe the amount of money ukraine needs given the weakening of the currency is less than the numbers floating around. three-yearing at a program of between 15 billion and $20 billion. helpuld a bailout even that those reforms

will likely be painful? will be painful. this is one of the things the imf wanted. we saw the currency trading against the dollar around 11 today. definitely it is a risky situation and not one of the best. collapses, banks and companies that owe money on foreign currencies will likely follow. is this the worst case scenario of an emerging market being the lead domino that could cause contagion in other emerging market economies? there are two aspects to consider. one is the geopolitical implications of ukraine. manysis there will impact countries around the world from russia to poland to many others.

ukraine isr hand, not particularly big and investor portfolios. if you had a crisis of that were folio in one of the core sources for emerging market investors, it would be a lot worse. the only positive side of this share of ukraine assets is relatively small. >> other than ukraine, which emerging market economy will pose most risk in the coming months? argentina ande venezuela being risky. both have taken steps to stabilize the situation. the situation looked a lot worse to her three weeks ago. in the case of argentina, measures taken by the central bank of contribute it to some stability and we have seen the inflows coming and some stability. in the case of the escuela, they

are moving to devalue the currency and being an oil exporter and oil is very important. countries need to be monitored closely. >> what kind of risk that is fed a bring pose to emerging markets relative to what has been driving the past two years? >> the data shows if you take a long-term perspective, if you look at what has been happening in emerging markets since 2000, qe and thee is expansion of liquidity by the major central banks were not really the main driver of what happened in the emerging markets. inwth am a gdp growth heat 2007. capital inflows in emerging markets have been declining since 2007.

qed may have had some effect but it was not the driving force. tapering do? tapering would clearly pushed interest rates up and this would require adjustments in some of the countries that experience significant imbalances in the last apple of years. that is what we are seeing already in south africa, turkey, indonesia and brazil. >> global growth is strengthening. they are facing pressure, however. how should investors position of global portfolio? >> we are seeing a very different behavior between recent investors and institutional investors that tend to be more strategic. recent investors are still leaving the emerging markets. sidee them on the equity and fixed income side. at the same time, we see very strong debt issuance in the debt

markets. that indicates there is still institutional strategic investors coming in. investors are discriminating where they invest in differentiating between countries. but we still see the long-term strategic investors coming in. it has been a pleasure. thank you for your perspective. up next, there are fewer and fewer high school grads from the midwest and colleges are feeling it. we will have that story, next. ♪

>> and be sure to check out the latest edition of "bloomberg businessweek." stands and on your tablet today. colleges and universities across the united states are seeing declining applications. this is due in part to rising cost of higher education, but

there's another trend causing concern among schools -- the twin linked number of high school graduates from midwestern u.s.. janet lauren look at this trend and joins us in the studio. by our colleges nervous? we are is the first year seeing a decline in the number of 17 and 18-year-olds graduating. it started with harvard when they announced their application numbers. fewer led by six percent applicants. that led me to check what's going on with colleges located in the midwest. many of them have seen declines. >> but the general trend in demographics in the united states? what is it telling us? rex there will be fewer of them. the preferences of many students closer to. is to go home, maybe within a 100 or 200

miles will stop that is changing the way admission directors are recruiting. >> how so? >> a couple of things. marquette in wisconsin decided to add a second person based in chicago to answer questions and get more service. other schools are shoring up their home-based and making sure their families that -- for example, a group in ohio, families within half a day's drive -- they are broadening their horizons where the populations are increasing like the southwest, in the south and california. >> what about the cost of going to college in the u.s.? >> if you look at the price tag of some of the smaller liberal arts schools, it is commensurate with other schools in the northeast. you are looking at 60,000 plus per year.

a you are looking at prospective student's application and also looking at their graves -- at their grades. how does that all factor into the mix? >> schools like to have a diverse population in terms of alsoand ethnicity, but from a geographic perspective. if they want to see a good mix of kids from around the country, perhaps if you are applying for the populous northeast, he may want to look at schools in the midwest because they are looking for kids. >> is that the theme right now? if you have a son or daughter in high school, you might seriously consider moving to the midwest for higher education purposes? >> at is more of a joke, but if you are looking for colleges, midwestern schools are really looking for applicants.

applicants declined, it's only going to get worse. seend 20 or 25, you will the result of the decreasing population that started after the recession. >> so we are not going to be crying any tears for colleges in the northeast? >> they are still going to get lots of applications. more in the case of some other really selective schools to get over 30,000 applicants. schools thater draw from a local population, they will be working harder to recruit kids. >> your story is on bloomberg.com and on the bloomberg terminal. whatyou did this story, was the most surprising thing that jumped out at you? >> i'm from the midwest, so i wasn't terribly surprised students are not venturing far. that ifthe question

harvard is seeing a decrease, what about everyone else question mark >> and you go to school in the midwest? >> no, i went to school in the northeast. [laughter] >> thank you so much. bringing, do you like your cell phone with you to the bathroom and -- and app is making that legit. what does that mean? before?t legit i guess if you drop it in the toilet. we will explain, next to. ♪

>> to breaking news stories out of california -- a magnitude

four point one quake has hit near california's central coast. no reports of damage or injuries. tell horny governor jerry brown says he will run for reelection. california's gubernatorial election will be held in november. governor brown making that announcement on his website. stay with bloomberg television. we will have more details on both of these breaking news stories. time now for hotshots -- a look at some of the most compelling images of the day. don't know how to brush your teeth? there's an app for that. it's one of the innovations on display at the mobile world conference in barcelona. they say they want dennis and patience to be a team. it will have customized settings your dentist can set so you can optimize your brushing routine. that means you get to bring your phone with you in the bathroom, like you don't already. for aoman is preparing

wedding. the clothes are part of the brides dowry. locals from mountain village in bulgaria are trying to preserve ancient wedding traditions despite poverty forcing many of their men to work outside the country. weddings are a two-day affair there. on the evening of the second day, the brides face is covered with flowers and painted white. to eyes are painted shut protect her from so-called evil eyes. after sochi, the world top ski athletes are headed to sweden for the world cup skiing competition. one to goldtarted medals in sochi came in a disappointing 13th will stop next stop for the ski jumping elite the season is finland. with us. another check of the market movers is on the other side of the break. "autumn line" returns in just a moment. "bottom line" returns in just

a moment. ♪

>> get the latest headlines at the top of the hour on bloomberg radio and streaming on your tablet and bloomberg.com. that does it for this edition of "bottom line." i will see you tomorrow. "on the markets" is next. >> i'm olivia sterns -- let's get you caught up on where the

markets are trading right now. u.s. stocks are writing in -- are rising and the s&p 500 is trading above its all-time record high. can it hold there and hit an all-time new high? we are watching a couple of individual stocks including noodles and company -- shares are falling fast. reportingrant chain that it missed analyst estimates by a penny. we are also watching tivo, posting a fourth-quarter net income of $710,000, reversing a loss of a million dollars one year ago. the company adding more than 300,000 subscribers in the quarter and shares are up almost 7%. today, we are focusing on technology. this led to spider etf is hitting a new 52-week high. joining me with a look at some of the hottest areas and individual stocks in the sector, joined by the managing director at harris williams.

we were saying before this segment that you like software infrastructure in particular. why? >> i think we are in a time of transition where the old big iron companies like ibm. smaller and more nimble players are developing solutions more easy to deploy. companies like netsuite which is model ore service solar winds. those are the companies really changing the paradigm. >> which one is your favorite? >> net suite would be a great example. 's value has increased 100% because they are able to deliver a similar solution done online and costs less for the company to deploy it and allows them to get more information out of it. healthsay you also like care stocks. they had such a big run last

year. do you think the obamacare bump is already baked in? >> the obamacare regulatory environment is one element of the change in health care where the cost of health care will continue to go up and software is a fundamental way to address that. we have been very active selling companies to the larger participants as they look to build up rotter solutions. >> what other subsectors of tax are hot right now? >> infrastructure software broadly. like sapy solutions and oracle. i think you can see companies like ca trying to change itself or companies that have gone private that are trying to transform companies to deliver solutions into the small and medium-size companies in the marketplace. >> one of the stocks we like to talk about is tesla. morgan stanley doubled their price target. would you buy tesla?

>> i'm a technology banker and a big car guy, so i love the stock, does it have the chops to develop the solutions that? that is an unknown. it's interesting at risk dollars that may lay out in a big way or may not. it?ould you buy >> no. >> a lot of analysts still have a bye on it. we are on the market again and 30 minutes. "street smart" is coming up next. ♪

>> i am trish regan, everyone. stocks rising. the s&p about the record close. fed chairman jim mcgovern takes the stand. -- janet yellen takes the stand. welcome, everyone. " there. still putting the jacket on. never far away. what a great day. in another record. not huge gains but interestingly