>> from bloomberg world headquarters in new york, i am mark crumpton. this is "bottom line." today, congress passes a financial aid package for ukraine. then, what's in store for the banks that fail the latest fed stress test? and we will look at a game changing ruling for college athletes. to our viewers here 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's. megan hughes has the best and worst of promoting obamacare. vegas wheres in las republicans are recording mogul sheldon adelson. thephil has more on ukraine. what is the next step before the aid package reaches key of? >> we had a big breakthrough today. both the senate and house passed versions of this bill that will guarantee loans from the imf. what is next? -- what we hear from house and senate aides right now is that the house is going to move forward with the senate version and it should be done. this is a long way from where we were a few days ago. basically, senate democrats blinked. the white house did not get everything they wanted. >> what is the response so far? they thought this was good

policy. they thought this would be helpful on its own with ukraine. how's republicans made it clear -- house republicans forced the senate to strip that language out. toy thought this was a way get this quote a change through. no longer. dan pfeiffer is on the trip in europe with the president. he said they are very disappointed in this. however, it is very important, from the administration's perspective, for congress to move forward on these loan guarantees. >> the president has voiced concern about how active members of nato have been. is it a valid complaint? >> over the last couple of days the president has brought this up repeatedly, and here's why. the feeling amongst u.s. officials is that the vast majority of participants in nato are not pulling their weight here. the recommendation is that each putting about be two percent of gdp into defense

spending. only three of the united states european allies have done that. what the president is trying to say right now, as nato becomes more important than it has been in about a decade, is that each country should be willing to put not only the resources out there, but the manpower to ensure there is a counterweight to what putin has been doing in ukraine. >> phil mattingly joining us. thank you. meantime, president obama met with pope francis at the vatican for more than an hour. the president expressed his great admiration for the pontiff and invited him to visit the white house. to cameras,merged the pontiff presented mr. obama with a copy of his papal mission statement, decrying a global economic system that excludes the poor. the president said he will keep it in his office. presented the pope with a custom made seed just filled with fruit and vegetable seeds used in the white house garden.

bloomberg's white house correspondent and washington correspondent megan hughes joins me. megan, you have been looking at the pr push from an advertising perspective. how is that going so far? >> from the people we talk to, it is going pretty well, particularly when it comes to reaching out in digital ways to this young demographic. we talked to add week to get the best and worst from a strategy perspective. they said the best, knows a prize, was the between two ferns -- video the president did. >> let's get this out-of-the-way. what did you come here to plug? >> first of all, i think it is fair to say that i would not be with you today if i did not have something to plug. have you heard of the affordable care act? >> that video has 20 million views so far.

that does not mean that bad we could could not find some flops in the strategy. worst, they said, was the white house trying to tie the deadline to march madness. fort 16 reasons to sign up health insurance. a little cheesy, maybe, trying too hard, definitely. not as naturalas of the collaboration as the between two ferns video where both sides were actually really into it and seem to be having a the marche with it. madness bracket was a little more forced, to go online and have a 20 something vote for their number one reason to get health care. winner, according to adweek, michelle obama's your mom cares videos. you have celebrities like adam levine and j. lo conveying the message that this is something your mom wants you to do. adweek also giving a thumbs-up

to the lebron james public service announcement. you have a lot of young men who are maybe watching he ends -- watching espn instead of cnn. this message may get the message to them. strategy adweek is skeptical of is phone banks. that group has been pushing in these final days. for millenial specifically, they don't -- a lot of them did not grow up with landmines. their phones are considered their personal space and they do not want these cold calls in the final days. >> megan hughes, thank you. jerseyirm hired by new governor chris christie says the governor was not involved in a plot to create gridlock near a major bridge as part of a political retribution scheme. the taxpayer-funded report concludes the lane closures near the heavily traveled george washington bridge were intended to target the mayor of fort lee. andformer port authority

were- x christie aid behind the closures. several prosecutors are investigating. now a story on the intersection of money in politics. contenders for the 2016 republican presidential nomination will spend this weekend in the las vegas airport hangar, but it is not just any airport hangar. it is where billionaire casino mogul sheldon adelson keeps his fleet of planes. they are there to try to win his support, and more importantly, his money. green is in vegas. who is meeting with mr. adelson, and what does this say about what he is trying to do? >> you have jeb bush, chris christie and two guys who are considered dark horses for the nomination but strong

candidates, scott walker and john kasich. all of them having common is they are considered mainstream, electable republicans. each one of them is or used to be the governor of a swing state or, in christie's case, democratic state, so they have proven electoral appeal be on the right wing of the republican adelsonnd that is what seems to be looking for this time around. >> what does it say about who is not there in his thought process? >> there are some very high-profile republicans we expect to run in 2016 who were not invited or who haven't shown up, guys like ted cruz, rand .aul they are not here. neither are social conservatives like rick santorum or mike huckabee. this is a sign to adelson's advisers that said instead of supporting a fringe candidate

like he did with newt gingrich, he is looking to get behind a republican to get elected to the white house. this is essentially in addition. these candidates are going to be meeting with adelson one-on-one at the venetian hotel, which owns, towns him a -- prove they have the strength of the strategy to go all the way. >> let's talk about the elephant in the room, no pun intended. everyone there is from a swing state. is that part of the broader appeal? >> absolutely. in fact, if you look at the four states these guys represent, barack obama won then each of those states in 2012. yet here are republicans who managed to get elected. in the case of scott walker, he actually survived the democratic recall attempt. they have a proven appeal beyond the kind of be on grassroots conservatives who party inominate the

early states like iowa. i think what adelson is trying to do is not have a repeat of 2012, when you put $30 million behind newt gingrich who proceeded to tear down mitt romney and really soften him up for obama who went on to win reelection. >> got green -- josh green joining us from las vegas. thanks. coming up, new signs of weakness in the housing market. we will look at what is holding up the recovery. ♪

>> the federal reserve says we should not assume citigroup or any of the banks that failed their stress test are in danger. so what is the message? michael mckee is here. >> the fed is watching. it was decided after the financial crisis that banks had to improve their financial

position so that they do not fail in times of high stress. now, depending on the bank, there is a little bit of a different message. for citigroup, it is a much stronger message, because citigroup has been through this before and the fed is extremely disappointed in the banks for not being able to, essentially, get it together. here is what they wrote. the 2014 capital plan reflected a number of deficiencies, including in some areas that had previously been identified by supervisors as requiring attention. in other words, we told you how to fix this and you did not do it. the three foreign banks that did not pass are new to the process. the process was a little easier on them than the existing banks. the feeling as they will learn how to do this, learn what the fed is looking for in terms of its requirement in the way you put these estimates together. the final bank that failed, zion

spang corporation, everybody knew they were going to fail the had someuse they derivatives that had to be marked to market. once they sell those off, that will put them above stress test levels. >> last week, it was about tier one ratio. how much capital do you have? this one was about how you assess the risk to the capital. news for you get good the wrong reasons. that appears to be the case for today's economic data. what went wrong? >> gdp was retired -- was revised higher. we were spending more, but we were spending more because medical costs rose, not because additional money was being spent or people were expanding their spending. that was not particularly good news. ,orporate profits were higher

and not only that, they were getting better at a faster rate in the fourth quarter on a year-over-year basis. that's good news. mckee, thank you. in other economic news, fresh signs of continued week this in the housing market today. daren bloomquist is a vice president at realty trac. he joins me on the phone from irvine, california. thanks for your time. eight months is not an aberration, it's a trend, and in this case a disturbing one. what is going on with existing home sales in the united states? bit think we have a little of a stalemate between supply and demand. we have supply coming out of the market in the form of fewer distress sales, down to 17% of theseles, and all -- as distressed properties go away, there are not a lot of

nondistressed properties to fill the void. i do think it is a supply issue as opposed to lack of demand. we don't see homebuilders filling the void and we do not enougheowners with equity. >> are you concerned that something structuralist going on here? is it impacting existing home sales, or is this cyclical? low mortgage rates led a jump in sales over the last two years. >> the eight-month trend is concerning. he coincides with the jump in interest rates we saw last year. we saw another concerning trend in our numbers, cash sales that were a percentage of all cash purchases since july of 2013. above 35% of all sales nationwide, which is indicative that may be financed buyers are being pushed out of some markets and you are seeing

a higher percentage of cash sales, which could be more of a structural issue. >> let's look at regional numbers if we could. two of the four regions, the self in the northeast, saw a decrease from the previous month. weather related and how did the west and midwest fair? >> some of it is definitely weather-related in the northeast. we saw several states posted kleins and sales activity in february with our number that came out today. declines in places like arizona, nevada, california. is all think this weather related. i think that is playing into this, but again, i think he gets back to lack of inventory that is driving this decrease in the number. about increased borrowing costs. how much have they and higher property values affected the fundamentals of the overall housing market? >> in most parts of the country,

when we look at our numbers, housing is still very affordable. there is no doubt that lending standards are tighter. with the uptick in interest rates that we saw, even though interest rates are still very low, the uptick in interest rates we saw last year was more significant and had more of a significant impact on this market then i think people are giving it credit for. that has tied into the slowing down of sales as well as a higher percentage of cash sales. >> institutional investors are buying up thousands of homes as rentals. where is this taking place and how is it impacting the ability of people to purchase a home? >> we are showing the nationwide it does not look so bad. it is about six percent of all sales going to institutional investors. if you dig down into some of the markets with the biggest percentage, it's in atlanta 25%

of all sales were going to institutional investors in the month of february. columbus, ohio, which was a bit of a surprise this month at 21%. for first-time homebuyers or other owner occupant buyers, they are really competing against these companies that have deep pockets and a lot of cash. they usually are buying with cash. it can be a very tough environment, a competitive environment for buyers who are competing in these type of markets. >> we have about a minute left. what is on the horizon for the rest of the year? what are you on the lookout for? withwill start institutional investors. we believe institutional investors have helped drive the recovery. accelerate the recovery, but we are seeing evidence, even though the numbers are still pretty high, their share of purchases are pretty high in some markets, that is starting to come down and some of the markets as well,

and it appears they are pulling back and some of the markets as well. i think the big wild card are going for is, as big investors pull out of places like memphis, -- isento, tucson, are the void left by that source of demand going to be met by regular homebuyers, first-time homebuyers coming in greater numbers back to the market? >> darren bloomquist is a vice president at realty trac, joining us on the phone from irvine, california. always great to get your perspective. coming up, we will get in on a markets update. plus, microsoft/in the jelly is first appearance since becoming -- microsoft's new seo first appearance since becoming ceo. ♪

>> you are looking an new video of the chicago subway train that derailed earlier this week. jumped the platform is a came to a stop at o'hare national import -- international airport. more than 30 people were hurt in the early morning accident. reports say that driver fatigue may have been responsible. we are approaching 26 minutes past the hour. that means bloomberg television is on the markets. cristina alesci has details. >> thanks. let's get you caught up on where the markets are trading. they have been fluctuating all day.

the dow is doing the best today, trading around yesterday's closing price. it is trailing the s&p, which has a raised its gain for the year. the nasdaq is down the most. bloomberghn fox told that some of these speculative markets are selling off as people take risk out of their portfolio. there are a couple of individual stocks we are keeping our eyes on. first is microsoft. made his public debut today to unveil microsoft office built for ipad. the app when on sale earlier this hour and will have a premium model for viewing and editing documents. users can upgrade their accounts with a $99 subscription. -- della also noted that mandela also noted that

customers can use a keyboard. the u.k. considers new restrictions on lme warehousing of metals. the changes could be positive for the company's business. we are on the market again in 30 minutes.

>> welcome back to the second half-hour of bottom line on bloomberg television. breaking news, the obama administration is releasing the latest enrollment figures or health care sign-ups as the end of the month deadline approaches. megan hughes is back with details. 6 million americans, that's the headline. that is hominy people have signed up for federal and state exchanges. targets the goal, the they were trying to meet by

march 31. that was set by the congressional budget office. the white house is announcing it has been met a few days early. this is, they considered a win for them. president obama convened a call with health care navigators and volunteers today to share this news, to thank them for all of their hard work. the white house reports there has been a surge in the final days. the healthcare.gov website has gotten over a million hits in the last week. one thing to point out about this 6 million number. it is previously -- it is revised down from a previously announced 7 million. that is because of all the glitches on the website. >> there is no other way to talk about the rollout except it was a mess. our party poppers being set off at the white house today or are they being a little more cautious given where they had to come from? >> this is a motivator.

open enrollment is still open until march 31. the number alone, the fact that they met the 6 million goal is not the end of the story. one of the big things we're going to be watching after open enrollment closes, how many of those are young and healthy and what does this mean for premiums next year? it is a more complicated number than the number alone. and they know that. >> you still hear it from some on the republican side. they want this repeal because they don't consider the affordable care act to be a legitimate law because it did not pass with bipartisan support. you know with any number that republicans are going to find a different way to slice it. one thing we have been hearing over the past couple of days, yes, these people have signed up , but they want to know who these people are who have picked a plan, whether or not they have paid, whether or not they were

part of the pool of uninsured that were supposed to be moving on to the exchanges. there are a lot of ways to slice the numbers. >> thank you so much. let's check some of the other top stories we are following. deals with ukraine imf on a bailout. the aid is aimed at helping ukraine avoid default and limit damage from recent political turmoil. the bailout package comes as ukraine faces dwindling reserves and the threat of its third recession since 2008. default could come as early as next month. hints about the lost malaysian jetliner are piling up but there was little chance to track it down. bad weather has stopped the hunt for debris from the aircraft. thateds of more objects might be wreckage have been

revealed by satellite. the plane went down on march 8. the u.s. is set to cut its stake in allied financial. they will sell 95 million shares in an ipo. it will cut treasury stake in the bailed out company to 17% from 37% and could bring as much as $2.7 billion for the u.s.. that is a look at the top stories in the news this hour. still ahead, our student athletes employees? -- by the by the nash labour relations board might have huge implications for the ncaa.

>> bloomberg sports, the national football league will experiment with extra point kits -- kicks from the mid-20 yard line during the preseason this year. the commissioner says it is

possible the playoffs could expand next season. the owners have discussed the notion of adding two more teams, one from each conference. should college sports players be able to form unions? football players at northwestern university now have the right, after a ruling yesterday by the national labor relations board. megan hughes is doing triple duty today. she is back with us from d.c. with more on this decision. >> sick of me yet? i do find this story interesting, not only because i am a northwestern alumni, but because of its huge implications. from the nlrbcame regional director in chicago. this is a case that has the potential to make it all the way to the supreme court. footballwestern scholarship players are technically employees because technically they do get compensated and they are under the university's control. he ordered an immediate election

to create a union board. layers are pushing to get guaranteed medical expenses, both for current and former athletes. also to be allowed to be paid for sponsorships. that would be a big change. said players do spend between 40-50 hours a week on football. they deserve a seat at the bargaining table. you can imagine, this is going to have a big impact. a lot of people in the sports community are concerned about it. take a listen. >> in terms of paying a salary, treating a student like an employee, with everything that goes with that, the tax to those students, what that means in terms of their relationship to the school, i think those are very complicated issues. >> right now, this is limited just to private schools because the nlrb's jurisdiction is in the private sector. could impact, this

other rulings as well. northwestern university, by the way, is appealing to the full and i'll are be in washington. washington. it is interesting that the united steelworkers were the ones backing the players. >> you mentioned you are a northwestern alum. were there any rumblings of this when you were in school? washere were not, but that a long time ago. >> megan hughes in washington. good to see you again. for more on what this landmark ruling means, mark from the hospitality and tourism joins me. change college athletes in the united states? >> without question. we are talking about college athletes finally getting

compensation besides having scholarships. first and foremost, what we are going to be looking at is a whole compensation scale, which we have never had a discussion about before. now we are looking at sponsorship money, television revenue being split up possibly going forward. >> layers bring in billions to universities but they don't see a penny. the ncaa is not going out without a fight. is the ncaa making a 20th century argument here? how can an entity continue to gain wealth from the unpaid labor of others. whether they are student-athletes or not, we are talking about a question of labor. >> without western. -- without question. i think the ncaa has not really evolved to the 21st century with this argument. after yesterday's ruling, the ncaa released a statement. it read in part --

what type of improvements might the ncaa have in mind? >> i think they are coming back to the argument of paying for aid, scholarships, and the opportunities for student immediately post-graduation. realize that this is a multimillion dollar industry where students are working 40-50 hours a week and some even have to change their majors because of that. >> should we attach any significance to the fact that this ruling is taking place right in the middle of march madness? lucrative enterprise for the ncaa. the ncaa polson $10.5 billion -- polls in 10 point $5 billion in revenue over march madness. >> no question. >> i heard something on the radio today.

one of the arguments being made that university officials are, to put it politely, they have to be apoplectic about this. it has to be one of these how dare you, how can you be so arrogant and? we are giving you a piece of paper, a degree that will take you places and last a lifetime and now you want to get paid, how dare you? >> we could play devil's manyate and say how millions of dollars is the quarterback bringing into the institution that funds other departments on the campus? apply touling would private universities. if students at public schools want to follow suit, they have to go through state labor relations board. would that fight be harder to win? >> i think what is happening now with northwestern's men's

football team is that they are paving the way and having people learn how to go about the process. state and private institutions are different, but it gives motivation to the other schools to look into this. >> how long is this going to stay in the courts? >> it could be a while. i do see this going to the supreme court. it is a seismic change not only to college athletics but to the business of sports and general. withere is also the case the former player for ucla, when they won the championship in the mid-90's. his thing was about his likeness in the likeness of others being used in video games. >> we are a social media world where everything is being closely scrutinized. his case was the first of many to come in terms of looking at value for college athletes and compensation. collegest had a

official -- megan played a sound bite of her. the other implication for playing -- paying student-athletes is obviously the tax implication. what other issues might this involve? >> i would think the sport. -- pay a college football player differently than lacrosse player or a college swimmer. that is one level of the problem, but there are certainly others that are not being addressed. this fight about compensation or is it about equal justice and equal treatment under the law? is it about getting an education or is it what the quarterback said, i am working 50-60 hours a week. i don't have a life and then i have to go back to my dorm room and hit the books. >> i think it is part that. i think it is also the medical. that is a big issue. if i falling get a concussion or the injuries that happen there,

i think it is more about the medical. >> it seems perhaps we are too far down the road on this to turn back. where is the compromise? >> that is a very good question. i don't really see a compromise. the universities are going to say we will give you $2500 a year stipend. the players will say that's not good enough. look at the time. the ncaa has some significant flaws here when it comes to their interactions with student-athletes, and i think we are going to see a seismic shift cap and that is going to wind up in the supreme court and it will be another landmark case. >> last 30 seconds, we talked before we won on the air. in your opinion, student-athletes are students first. >> as an educator, i will always say they are students first. >> wayne mcdonald with nyu's tisch center for hospitality, tourism and sports management. hopefully we can have you back because as we say in the

business, this is not going anywhere. up, robots rule. now even the tooth fairy is losing her job to drown. -- to a drone. ♪

>> the u.s. senate has voted to advance legislation restoring benefits for the long-term unemployed. this is something the white push to revive since last year. the bill is the product of the product of a bipartisan agreement struck earlier this month by rhode island democrat jack reed and a nevada republican and eight other senators. which will probably become a lead next week, will

reauthorize unemployment benefits for the next five months. be covered by extending so-called pensions moving, which was set to phase out this year. sat ruling gives companies more pensionmake payments to funds. governor mccoy will raise the minimum wage in his state to $10.10 per hour by 2017. that is the highest of any state in the country. the governor plans to sign the a restaurant where he and the president gathered for lunch. now time for hotshots, a look at some of the most compelling images of the day. in hamburg, germany, it's time for a centuries-old spring , guiding swans back to

the city's outer link. wildlife workers helped about 100 swans back to the lake. the swans are an important part of the city. there is an old belief among locals that homburg will remain free as long as swans live on the river. -- while here in new york we are still getting in tokyo,emperatures, these flowers say it is officially spring. cherry blossoms have begun to bloom, heralding's rings arrival. cherry blossom season is a toular time for tourists visit the country. in the old days, all it took to pull out a baby tooth was a string and a doorknob. now it takes a drone. a dad in ireland is setting a whole new level of cool by helping his eight-year-old son pull a tooth. the tooth came out.

something is horribly wrong with that. stay with us. another check of market movers is on the other side of this. ♪

>> get the latest headlines at the top of the hour, on bloomberg radio, streaming on your tablet and on bloomberg.com. thanks so much for joining us. on the markets is next. i will see you tomorrow. quakes its 56 past the hour,

which means bloomberg television is on the markets. let's get you caught up on where stocks are trading. the s&p is falling for the second day. yesterday, it posted its biggest loss in a month and it has now erased its gains for the year. the dow is the best performing index. it has been on a roller coaster ride today in and out of positive territory. the nasdaq is the biggest percentage loser, down 1.5%. we want to highlight a couple of stocks. shares of baxter international are surging to an all-time high. the maker of hemophilia treatments announced it will split into two companies by the end of the year. one will focus on biotechnology and pharmaceutical him medicines. the other will sell medical products. citigroup, watching which failed the latest stress test. city was one of only five of the

biggest banks to fail. worried about the quality of the process. with more isw michael moore. what are the consequences for city after failing this test? greg city wanted to do a $6 billion buyback and you finally raise its dividend. it has been at one sense since the crisis. they wanted to -- one cents since the crisis. they wanted to raise it two five cents. that is not going to happen. that is a big hit for them not being able to pay out that extra capital. for the a big hit stock. do they have to rejigger units or is this getting into the weeds of how they estimate certain businesses? >> it is how they estimate

certain laws says in a stress scenario. if there was a crisis, how confident are they and what they can control. it is more on that side than the business side, but for a shareholder, it is big because the banks are not seeing a lot of revenue growth. and you one return of capital. you want a dividend if you are not going to be in a growth stock. >> let's talk about bank of america and goldman sachs. they both had to resubmit their plans. were they overly confident? isyes, and i think it because in their own internal stress test they did a lot better than what the fed said they did. that was given the assumption that they were going to shrink if there was another crisis. the fed said no, historically, banks get bigger during a crisis i buying something or through gross. of drove their ratio

down. the first time around, they had to lower their target and ask for a little bit less. >> quickly, what was the number one takeaway you had from the results of these tests? the banks have tremendously increased their capital, they have doubled their capital since 2009, they can still run into issues. we have seen the fed step up its focus on the qualitative side. citigroup would pass easily on the #, but the fed still has some questions. >> thank you so much. we are looking forward to more of your reporting. more on the markets in 30 minutes. -- street smart is up next. ♪

gains that we have seen for the year. "street smart" starts now. soft ceo takes the stage at