>> from bloomberg headquarters in new york, i am alix steel. this is "bottom line." today, the russian foreign minister says ukraine is as close to civil war as you can get. search continues for the missing growth in nigeria as the escalates. president obama's fundraising estimates -- fundraising efforts. to our viewers in the united states and those joining around the world on a welcome. happy

wednesday. full coverage of the stocks and stories making headlines today. phil mattingly crunches fundraising numbers as the midterm approaches. with an begin exclusive. headline from your interview? do not know if it was a headline but an interesting part for me was when the russian foreign minister told me he thought ukraine was area close to being at war lifted health, but not because of the actions of separatist sinise of the country or because of russia. have a listen. -- when ukrainians kill ukrainians, i believe this is as close to a civil war as you can get. withoute some people any identification. some say this is the right sector. certainly there it many are from

the right sector. there are reports about a couple of hundreds or more, including rumors spread in the german about the american private military -- from thee message investor to russians and ask them to respond to the assertions by the german media. >> i ask you of you think -- area,ead before in the rejected them. now they are up against. we would like to see whether or not this is true. editor of thee united states -- the foreign conversation between the --ister of interior basically indicates he might the -- you might have been involved in the life of the governor or

might have been involved in inviting some foreign fighters to the ukraine. we are waiting for answers. yet,u do not have a view, basically. >> i have strong suspicions this might be true. they say, we meet, you should not pretend you are not there. there are reports ukrainians apprehended russian engines. our immediate reaction was, please present them to the world. the interviews with them. no single allegations have been proven. these questions we ask remain unanswered, without any challenge we shall call there

left. you're as close to the civil war as you can get. my point is an interesting point. during various geneva elsewhere, i always propose to go and talk to the media together. they refuse to do this and i do not know why. qwest or haps a headline from this interview, more than anything was, what the russian foreign minister refused to say. i asked him pointedly whether russia was prepared to guarantee to the world whether the eastern and southern parts of ukraine would not be part of russia. he said it was not very useful to talk about hypothetical questions. you will remember on monday, the easternmost part of the country, the separatist asked russia if they could join the federation. he said russia remains concerned

about russian speakers and ethnic russians within the region. hedging the hypothetical, have they said anything about the sanctions we have in common is ashley the ramp-up? >> yes. we talked about sanctions quite a bit. he a college to if there were economic sanctions, that would be damaging to the russian economy. he said he did not think there was the appetite, effectively, for that. he said they had already seen, in his words, fatigue for sanctions. he thought some of the sanctions that had already been introduced, some countries richard ucla -- reluctantly. he clearly thinks this is something that may not actually really ever happen in relation to russia. qwest thank you for bringing us that interview. ryan with us there. top lawmakers and policy at its gathered today at the annual

fiscal summit in d.c.. a recent poll found 91% of americans overwhelmingly say a fiscal -- stable fiscal foundation is needed for the economy to grow rice but with our group are, at the summit today. i asked him how that is hurting the economy. >> i have seen the full effect that has accumulated over the years. in the immediate term -- confidences within business making long-term investments. we will see a few years from now when the economy is at, back to full employment, there, interest rates will be higher than they otherwise would the. that is one reason why it is drivers ofo address

the long-run deficit. >> what might be some solutions, other than cutting spending, which of course would have a trickle-down effect on the downside in terms of the job market. press it is not to come. what we need to do. we need to provide government services more efficiently. the most of orton area is health care. we are teens lower growth in health-care costs. the most encouraging development when it comes to drivers long-tm deficit is that health care costs have grown at the slowest late -- slowest rate in 15 years. the affordable care act is having an effect while at the wouldime it is covered. i make it a point that it works well because the biggest driver of long-term debt is the rapid growth of health care costs. qwest a lot of lawmakers are there with you in d.c.. any sense of the will to make longer-term changes? in theng worked

administration for watcher years, i came away frustrated with the ability and interest in congress to a dress that problem. congress has been shying away from addressing drivers of the long run debt. he is clearly helps the fiscal economy, likethe immigration reform. they are struggling to pass the bill. the senate did pass a bipartisan bill. it seems congress is not likely to have much action in the area, at least in the near-term. >> does that leave the onus to pick up the slack and help the economy? the fedme extent, but can only do too much. it cannot address our long to -- long-run problems.

even when it comes to unemployment, many long-term and floyd are on the market or labor market. even the stronger economy, i think will not be enough for many long-term unemployed. act morengress directly, the strength of the economy now, and addressing our long-term problems, would be a better long-term strategy. >> what of the possibility we get another long-term economy? , versus is actually up a assistance long-term unemployed. how does that play out? >> we will continue to see the heal.y long-term unemployed -- unemployment struggled. we saw that earlier in the 2000 era jobs among the unemployed tend to be low.

from direct measures. they tend to leave the labor force. one of the effects extended unemployment members have is to stay in the game and continue searching for a job. those benefits have expired. i think we will see the unemployment rate continued to drip down and we will see job growth continued to grow. longve a shot at a recovery but there are a lot of why that is the case. slower it is related to population growth. qwest the onus stays with congress, as you pointed out. coming up, violence in the jury a.

we will take a look at the abduction of 200 schoolgirls before the outcome of this crisis. we will be right back. ♪

>> the abduction of more than 200 nigerian schoolgirls has attracted international outrage. our next guest knows this is one in a string of horrific and violent acts. the ambassador is an adjunct professor in the school of international affairs near washington university. director of east african affairs at the u.s. state department. .e joins us now welcome. good to have you here. can you put this in context? you mention the abduction of 200 girls, while horrible, is not new. to 2002, now on

its second leader. actions in of the northern nigeria, there have been about half a million people displaced and about 5000 killed resultde -- as a direct of these incidents. this is one in a string of difficult situations. qwest even if we get these girls back, what happens to nigeria? >> this certainly would not end the problem. the problem has deep roots causes that result from a ,ombination of political basically, an inability to deal with the politics of northern nigeria, economic inequality, corruption in the government and military. poverty in the region, the list

goes on. they have to be tackled by the government in order to reduce the likelihood of having a positive environment for a group to take part in. >> it seems like the hunt for the girls really stepped up as the international community started to weigh in. the u.s. in particular is using drones. what is the relationship like between nigeria and other countries? relationsria has good with all its neighbors. it has good relations with the united states and the united kingdom, supplying a predominant role in trying to help at the moment. it was late to accept the offer for assistance in the united states and the u.k. and even china, because it felt like it could do this on its own because -- but obviously it does not have control of the situation.

what are the limitations of foreign aid to nigeria? >> the aid to nigeria is fairly limited if you are talking about normal economic development here nigeria is an oriole rich nation and even though it has a lot of poverty in the country, it is a very wealthy nation and has the largest economy of any nation in africa today. the kind of assistance that can be provided to the united states and the united kingdom involves drones, and better communications equipment in terms of dealing with a specific effort to find the girls. think we will find them? >> that is difficult to say. my guess is a good number of them will ultimately either be freed or escaped or somehow be

tracked down by security forces. it may be a little optimistic all of them -- to think all of them would turn home safe. >> it seems like reports say the president will stay away -- from that. qwest that is a tough one. there is a lot of pressure right now to accept something like a prisoner for a young girl's swap . once you do that, it will incentivize boko haram to carry out the same tactic again to carry out the next item in their want list. it is a long-term defeating proposition to do that. i do not rule out the possibility it might take place. >> i want to bring your attention to an op ed in the financial times.

he said the government's response to the resurgence has been overwhelmingly military and they have further grievances in the new -- in the northeast. more nuanced responses i needed directing poor governance here does that ever happen? >> i would agree with that, although, it is important to understand i am not sure around would be persuaded by those kinds of reforms. it would create an environment that would make it far more difficult for it to operate because it clearly has the justrt of a lot of ordinary northern nigerians who are unhappy with government policies but are in no part related to boko haram. in that sense, it would be a positive development. but they have an extreme agenda. establish in northern nigeria that operates under israel's and regulations,

contrary to the wishes of most nigerians, it would probably not be satisfied. there is a dilemma in dealing with conditions in the north. >> thank you for your perspective on the hostage situation in nigeria. we will review the big hearing tomorrow on capitol hill. online advertising and the risk consumer security and that is coming up. ♪

>> a senate investigation out today looks at online advertising in cyberattacks. what companies like google and yahoo! should be doing about it. what is the link between online

ads? online ads are being used as a vehicle. a report points to the growth we are seeing in reputable and mainstream sites that have all that can expose consumers to malware, even without requiring additional clicks from the consumer -- the consumer is largely paying the price. for recommend a shift screaming who the advertisers are, what sorts of links their hosting on their websites, shifting that responsibility to the industry. released bys subcommittee of the homeland security committee. they are interested in cyber security. senator mccain's office led the investigation on industry responsibility. >> they need to know who is on their website.

they need to know who the hoops they're going through and who can take advantage of an opening to provide malware. >> here were some of the big headlines in the findings from the report. online ad networks are incredibly complex. he goes to five or six intermediaries before being delivered to the users house or. ever two, and as he -- industry sell fragile -- regulation has to then enough according report here the report is calling for more self-regulation in the industry. it would be in the industry's s interest. if that does not work, it calls congress to step in. this is him in heels of the presidential review big data which calls for congressional involvement. we are hearing the drumbeats not just from the white house, but also congress. >> the report is blaming the industry for letting the attacks happened.

is that true? >> not specifically blaming, but a lot of what we are hearing is that consumers are not equipped to deal with this. industry should be. by the way, tomorrow, we will hear from representatives from yahoo! and google. we will get the response. >> thank you. megan hughes. bloomberg tv is on the markets. he'll is -- here is julie hyman. >> we have been having to clients all day. not big declines. less than half a percent across the board. small caps are helping to lead the way downward. shares of the sensory maker tumbling after a second-quarter forecast trailed estimates. strong support in the sloshed business but p -- leather

products are suffering. lower-than-expected sales. it also cut its full-year revenue outlook. equipment revenue for the full year will decrease by about four percent. we will be on the markets again in 30 minutes. ♪

>> welcome back. let's check, top stories we are following for you. wholesale prices rising in april by the most in more than a year. that reflects broad-based gains. deflation is ebbing as the economy -- improved. the biggestwas since september of 2012. costs have climbed 2.1% over the last 12 months. nuclear talks between iran and six world powers entered an ambitious new stage.

they're sitting down to draft text for the final sale. for an agreement. they hope to reduce potential nuclear weapons negotiating substantial cuts to the program. resident obama is in new york to -- cash.s, bridges, mr. obama will call on lawmakers to back his plan to keep the nation destination's's infrastructure from falling apart. that is a look at top stories in the news at this hour. also on president obama's agenda today, fundraising. the president is the fundraiser in chief for the democratic party. phil mattingly is with us now for more. how important is president obama? >> he is crucial. dnc.ust

the democratic committee for the house members. the president is keenly aware members around the country are not exactly clamoring to have him come down for campaign events. one thing he can produce a lot of is cash. , he will hold two fundraisers that push them over 45 total since the start of his campaign cycle. that has brought in over $240 million in total for the campaign committee. he plays a crucial role in bringing the money in. when it comes to the white house and the oval office, nothing brings in the money givers like the star power of the president. >> republican need to cease to take the majority there. do senators want him to campaign ? >> you do not see a lot of red state senators asking the white house for help here if you speak to officials, they are calm

about it. they understand the politics of the game. the president understands. he joked about it at the white house correspondents dinner, that no one wanted him. everyone wanted bill clinton. what you see now from democrats is a recognition that because of republican polling, and because the map has politically expanded, republicans are playing to get those seats. where the president can help out and impact race the most is in the money game. you have seen it in the democratic campaign committee. they outraised republican counterparts by $25 million in this cycle. outside money is huge and republicans have an advantage there. crucial tont is giving democrats what they need. >> the fundraising numbers are blowing my mind. thank you very much. it has been a good 18 months for

blackstone. of significant exits has helped blackstone return $11.5 billion to the last quarter. cristina alesci has been looking a little deeper into blackstone's deals. some a little about what these wind up meaning for blackstone's bottom line? >> investors are getting a tremendous amount of cash back. million -- was $38 38 billion dollars last year. who is buying these exits? those are public investors out there and they are getting pretty rewarded for buying into blackstone's is ipo. when you look at the real estate portfolio. on a private equity side of the house, if you look at the

corporate performance and what that has been, it has been pretty good. pinnacle, that stock has rallied about 50% is blackstone to the public. when a deal was announced for stock popped the two more. now it is a return of 70%. are alsorket investors being rewarded a bit on blackstone's investment. >> i'm curious what blackstone does with his investment, how it winds down. >> a very good point. a lot of times, when companies go public, blackstone still owns a big stake in the company. hilton, it still owns 70% of hilton. when you look over the long term, blackstone has to be mindful about the way they continue to sell down stocks. they do not want to put downward pressure on any of these.

here withg it up seaworld, not only do you have the film lacks fish come out, but we're getting earnings numbers after the bell. how are they faring? >> it is interesting. when blackstone took the company public last year, devaluation in the ipo was about twice as much as blackstone paid for the company in 2009 your they made money on the deal. and they soul -- they sold down in two betrayed and both times, they sold above the offer price. we do not know exactly what the return on investment is. they still own 25% of the stock. it is safe to say it was a profitable investment for blackstone. >> yes. we are keeping the focus on the 2013and the impact

cnn documentary has had on the company. has it hurt the company and ticket sales? adam joins me now with respective. you are the brand guy. when you see something like this come out, seaworld says it had no effect on park attendance. what do you think? >> it has an effect over time. puts aer of social media magnifying glass on anything. arevideos with the whales circulating. millenial's want to be associated with companies that do the right thing. >> it is not just "blackfish." we have seen a slew of these movies. what are the effects in general? is much moreer empowered to have a conversation with a company they can never have before. the company is to have high mpr and communication. the consumer now has the same

tools. now i can control the conversation. >> it used to be the wizard of oz, where you pay no attention to what is happening behind the curtain. now, companies need to act in transparent ways. settingw lawmakers are a proposed bands that would basically forced the company to close the imparts. seaworld was able to push that verdict back. what is the backlash to the company? >> they have to stay focused on the long-term objective and do the right thing. they have to do the right thing in the long term. tell them what the plan is, communicate with prospects and customers. qwest could you not argue they should be doing that before something bad happens? a crisis and is every company comes into the crisis, acting quickly, heading a plan, delivering on the plan, and communicating. >> does the advent of media and social media throw off any kind

of company strategy they may have? >> yes. they see everything. the power of video being shared on social media is an equalizer and magnifies the problems and the benefits. >> i never saw it but i feel like i know what the movie is about. can show a clip. >> the argument is the people i do not go. care, >> a growing percentage of them are caring. a growing percentage of younger suit -- consumers want to associate themselves with brands that do the right thing. thing. is a young kid >> under 30. the market is growing. >> you are seeing in the process food industry, the world sugar, as i saw it, i tend to not eat a lot of sugar. is that something other people are looking into as well? >> that would be surprising news to most americans. the saying, if it is just low-fat, it is good. when the news gets out of what

really constitutes good nutrition, it will change the game and force the food industry to react. >> what is the point of any publicity is good publicity? be the case. usually what captures attention in social media are outrageous and shocking things. of changemedia kind that conversation. >> social paradigms. it used to be anything was good and you could issue a press release. now, the issue lingers and it is very hard to get away from it. >> in your view, with company has been most stressful in fending off the result? gonest companies that have through it. facebook has done a good job of protecting privacy and moving on. most successful companies, if they do the right thing and a product is good, they can weather a storm. >> and not just be defensive to your point. >> it is not just, we will put

it under investigation and look into it. actions speak louder than words. what happens at the closing bell. coming up next, we will have an investigation into a $400 million loan fraud. details in the latin america reported coming up next. ♪

>> the editor of the new york times is unexpectedly leaving her position. she will be replaced by a former investigative correspondent who is reported to leave the newsroom back in 2011. polarizer -- pulitzer prize-winning reporter and a former editor of the los angeles times. it is time now for today's latin america report.

inigroup is cracking down the wake of that $400 million loan fraud of the rescue unit. a dozen employees were fired. on the list, citigroup's chief of risk for the institutional clients group of mexico and the head of treasure chest treasury and trade services for mexico. the bank also fired the managing .irector, and sergio an internal memo says more city employees will face penalties. the high costs -- of health care. we will look at the medical treatment pets are getting. and there is a dog in an underwater treadmill. olivia sterns joins me after the reak. ♪

>> i have three cats and they all hate each other. my husband and i spend a lot of

money at the that office. shall have $14 billion last year on veterinary care. the number is expected to rise. olivia sterns went to one specialty center where you might not believe. qwest today, he is training on an underwater treadmill to strengthen his legs and core, just wanted van -- example of the advantages of special care for pets. >> i can understand acupuncture in humor -- in humans but in dogs? >> there is no placebo affect. if they get better, their brains tell them -- are not telling they are or are not

getting better. >> thank you some on treatments we once associated with humans, like sonograms and physical therapy. >> he is lucky at -- he is doing what we like to call pilates for pooches. >> we use the same things, titanium implants in people. >> americans spend $60 billion per year on their pets and a quarter of that is on their health. they are in our laps and couch and in grained inside our household. people want the same kind of medical care as they get for their kids. for their cats and dogs. >> there is a lot of parallels between pediatric human medicine and veterinary medicine. >> they developed medicine for arthritis, motion sickness, and itchy skin, a condition their ceo affects -- says affects 20% of dogs. >> we change the way that nares

-- vets are treating dogs. it may be a significant revolution. >> a revolution they hope to cash in on as more and more pet owners seek out human care. >> good boy. way to work. >> my cats do not get along. if there could be a drug that would make them like each other, i would pay so much money for that. >> i highly recommend acupuncture. i am not even kidding. the cap we met had terrible arthritis. after coming to the acupuncturist for about a year, the cap's dry mouth apparently went away. i could not believe it. it seems to be effective. people are spending so much money to their pets. >> it is so expensive.

>> you do pay out-of-pocket. that is a little bit of a problem. it is kind of good news and you do not have third party reimbursements with medicare. since you are selling directly to customers, there is more customer loyalty. >> compared to human health and what we spent on that? >> you can from a county -- an accounting dan point. trials are so much cheaper than animals. you do not have to spend hundreds of thousands or even millions of dollars to keep people together for the fta article trials. you can have a smaller and ample set for pets. there is no placebo -- placebo effect. it is easier to tell on a cat whether it is working. >> iq so much and we appreciate

it. stay with us.

>> you can get the latest headlines at the top of the hour on bloomberg radio and streaming on your tablet. that does it for this edition. "on the markets" is coming up next. the hour.6 past bloomberg television is indeed "on the markets." stocks are moving right now. shares of the videogame maker falling for the most since february. the company behind "grand theft auto" reported earnings that beat analyst estimates but the outlook fell short. the japanese consumer electronics giant on especially forecast an annual loss, its sixth and seventh years.

sony also said it would step up a broad restructuring this year. if you take a look here, we are seeing declines deepening slightly. despite today's his fullback, we are seeing the dow and the s&p trading close to the high, so if you have not been in the market for the last five years, you missed out on big returns. one key group is sitting on the sidelines and missed those returns. mike reagan joins me with a look at why millenial's are so afraid. only about one quarter of inlenial's are invested stocks, weather in the market or through funds. what gives? >> i am resisting the urge to say "kids today." it is an interesting, non-. -- fun -- interesting phenomenon. when eels are people who came of age -- millenial's are people

who came of age in 1990. you are all the sudden greeted with the.com bubble burst. it is really just scaring them out of the market. a bunch of different surveys are quoted in the story and the indicate the same thing, a severe aversion to stocks compared to other groups and people that age in the past. a very strange phenomenon. >> there is the psychological piece. , thinke recession babies was the name the story gave them. is it often just not having the money? what is the unemployment rate like among those folks and how does that affect it? >> that is part of it. unemployment is higher in 30-year-olds since the recession. student loans are way more than it used to be. the number of people who have them, a lot of millenial's rode out the recession by going to grad school or getting their college degree. ubs did an interesting survey. -- moneylessjust

with a significant amount of money to invest. even then, the only have about a quarter of their savings invested in stocks and about half in cash. that is a mirror image of the rest of the population, who has about half in dos and about a quarter in cash. really risk aversion there. >> among the folks who have jobs and are more affluent, what about investment not directly in the market but their 401(k)? >> they do, but not as much as they used to. there was a survey of 401(k) participants and about 31% of 401(k) savings is in the stock market. that is up 62% since 2007. study after study and survey after survey shows this group that came of age in the bear market and saw another one on it's heels are very adverse to the risk. >> you have to wonder what would happen if they changed their mind. thank you.

talk to us about moneyless emirate version to the -- the millenial's and their aversion to the markets. >> we've got stocks retreating today with back-to-back record highs. regan.ish "street smart" starts now. welcome to the most important hour of the session. coming up, the new reason corporations are merging and why american ceos are looking overseas for acquisitions. it has to do with the u.s. tax code. i will look at