>> from bloomberg will headquarters in new york, i'm mark crumpton. this is "bottom line." -- bloomberg world headquarters in new york, i'm mark crumpton. this is "bottom line." 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. -- crude oil dropping to a five-year low. shelby holliday tells us why printing -- plunging gas prices are a win-win for costco. peter cook is on capitol hill with new developments in the

$1.1 trillion spending bill. those stories and more coming up. let's get you right to the top stories we are following at this hour. stocks are calling for a 30 day in energyoute producers. opec cut its demand forecast. there was a look at the dow jones industrial average at this hour, down 1.25%. showing we are down 1.25%. the nasdaq composite index is down nearly 1.25%. oil prices keep falling and opec made it clear that demand won't be rising anytime soon. cartel could its forecast for 2015 to the lowest level in 12 years. says the sharpt fall in oil prices is the result of what he calls treachery. an apparent reference to regional rival, saudi arabia, does opposed

proposed production cuts to lift prices. earnings may rise 25% next year. that is according to the international air transport association. the main reason, stronger economy and cheaper fuel. >> we see oil prices coming down next year. saving the industry a certain amount of money. as oil prices come down, so will average fares. relatively good global economic growth. that is the main driver of the improved results. >> a copy when special investigator says senior u.s. officials who authorized and carried out torture must be prosecuted. -- you when special investigator. u.n. special

investigator. rick snyder says detroit bankruptcy is officially ending. the nation's largest missable municipalhe will -- bankruptcy will end by midnight. the judge will hold a hearing today to deal with the loose ends. the u.s. congress has a deal on a $1.1 trillion spending bill that will avert a government shutdown. a long list of controversial provisions could threaten its passage. peter cook is on capitol hill with the latest. we should not put the countdown clock away just yet. >> i would suggest you keep the countdown clock can be because you don't need -- even though this bill is a bipartisan compromise negotiated by senate

and house leaders from both parties, some of those provisions tucked in at the last minute are causing doubt about the boat outcome as soon as tomorrow -- a boat outcome as soon as tomorrow. vote outcome as semester tomorrow. it will fund the government through the end of september of next year. republicans want to be able to take another crack at the presidents immigration executive action next year when they control both chambers. there's $5 billion to fight ebola. you dig deeper into the legislation and you find provisions causing heartburn. this wall street change. the repeal of a provision that would force banks to move there derivative trading business is a part from their deposit taking units. something wall street has been

fighting since 2010. you have another controversial provision that would allow individuals to donate more than $3000 to political party committees. here, trucker driving rules and a provision to .arring sage grouse >> tomorrow, we will pass a responsible bill that keep the government running. without the threat of the government shutdown, this sets up a direct challenge to the president's unilateral actions on immigration. when we have new majorities in both chambers of congress. it is part of preparing for a new american congress bring new opportunities to help middle-class families and get our economy moving again. speaker,oblem for the

we don't know how big it is at this point. 50 house conservatives have said they will not vote for this bill because it does not challenge the president enough. the speaker needs to count on democrats to fill the gap. nancy pelosi has said that she is not yet on board. the derivative changes in campaign finance changes -- she wants to see those out of the legislation before she can purge democrats to vote for it -- encourage democrats to vote for it. >> peter cook joining us live from capitol hill. thank you. it is no secret that costco members love cheap gas. what do falling oil prices mean for costco investors? the company reported earnings this morning, beating analyst estimates thanks in part to robust margins on gas. shelby holliday joins me with more on that story. prices creating a win-win

for the consumers and for cosco as well. >> the company reported a 17% rise in courtly profits. -- quarterly profits. when oil plummets, costco benefits. costco buys in bulk. they buy very large quantities of oil. they purchase from a number of refineries. one of the analysts told me virtually every refinery in the country. they are buying gasoline 1-2 weeks earlier than many of their competitors and that allows them to capture high margins. they don't have to lower prices when the corner store lowers prices. >> a nice bump for costco. do investors have the long-term vision on this? >> there are two answers. they do care. they talked about it a lot.

when gas prices fall, that is the best in terms of profitability. what investors fully care about is the gas business overall. costco is such a smart buyer of gas. they have the lowest gas prices in the country. when drivers come up to the store when the store is open, 50% of them go inside to bible items. -- to buy bulk items. there seem more and more shoppers in the frequency of visits increase. >> what about other gas retailers? what happens to them? >> it's a similar story. they are not as smart of buyers as cosco. they can't offer those low prices. rise, the gases retailers are quick to pass that along to the consumer. when they fall, they tend to hang on to the margins.

that is not falling as fast as gas futures. shelby holliday with a look at costco. they buy everything in bulk. thank you so much. up next, dead bond markets. as we had to break, this from earlier today. officially receiving the nobel peace prize today. both risk their lives to help protect children from slavery, extremism and forced labor. ♪

>> it is getting quite in the u.s. treasury market. trading has fallen 8% since the end of october compared to the

same period last year. what is driving the lower trading at this point? >> there are a couple of factors at play. you have -- the market has grown to $12 trillion from $4.5 trillion back in 2007. trading volumes have declined by 11%. that beinglot of helped by the federal reserve itself which has been producing a lot of bonds, taking the spot out of circulation. thebanks have transformed way they traded debt due to new regulations. they really are not making markets the same way they once allow people to trade bigger blocks of that more quickly. >> what has them concerned? >> the less trading you have, gappy.re it can be ca

october 15thn where yields dropped the most since 2009. the treasury market is the deepest, most liquid market in the world. this sets the rates for mortgages to auto loans. if you start seeing more volatility in this market, people will charge a premium. why should we be excepting such a low yield -- accepting such a low yield? >> do average investors care about volume ? >> probably not. if you have put your money into a bond fund and you are expecting to be able to pull it out when you want to come of the less trading there is, the more difficult it will be to redeem that money at a predictable price. if you are looking to sell your shares at a time when the market is moving quickly and other

people are looking to sell their shares as well, there's a lot of get a lower might price than you think or you might get a higher rate. speaking of turmoil, let's look at greece. ayingrime minister s there will be elections on december 17. the term well we are seeing in the greek markets, does that signal trouble in other regions? >> the borrowing cost has been rising in countries like italy and spain. there is a bit of a contagion effect. it is partly connected with a lack of trading. the less trading there is, the more people will get skittish. one investor can move the market would bike is it back to the future? -- >> is it back to the future? we saw this in 2009.

people are trying comparisons to 2009 thing this that saying flag this is a big red flag. >> will there be a big surprise in bonds or spike in volatility? fink said he does not know if it will be six weeks or six months. he expects a significant disruption in the infrastructure is not fixed. seems like it was overall about the growth pattern for the u.s. economy. could the bond market throw a wrench into all of that? >> he was implying that it could. at the heart of our economy is the creation of credit, the ability to borrow money to invest later into projects that might evolve. problemd have a serious and it could trickle into the economy. >> to be continued.

thank you so much. coming up, the 64th anniversary of human rights day. what corporations and nations can do to support and promote the holiday around the world. stay with us. ♪

>> welcome back. in 1950, the united nations general assembly proclaimed december 10 human rights day. welcome back to "bottom line." what is the business case for human rights and how our how haveis -- businesses performed in 2014? >> working conditions --

business has a choice to be part of the solution or to be seen as being part of the problem. the business case for getting positively involved has gotten much more stronger. >> your group focuses on what is referred to as a number of dilemmas that businesses face on human rights. it would seem to the casual observer there should not be a dilemma. there is no gray area. it is either right or wrong. when faced with that dilemma, what exactly are you referring to? >> child labor in the supply chain, how are you go to make tree do not engage tight labor -- to make sure you do not engage child labor. when you work in a country where a woman's rights are not upheld. there are many dilemmas. the world is not a clean, safe place.

people live under the worst forms of violence worldwide. many dark sides out there. >> you spoke of child labor. what our business is doing right now? what strides are being made to make sure that businesses are not using child labor? under the most extreme and harsh conditions imaginable. hardly any ago, an company would take a stand. today, amazingly, the great majority have human rights policies in place. 80% of our companies have active human rights policies and many are driving them through the supply chain. company realized that because of transparency on the rise and businesses wanting to be there -- the long run, they

general electric is doing phenomenal work. there are many great, great examples now. more and more companies are proactively looking for solutions. with the guiding principles now being universally recognized, the states have the duty to protect business and a response respectto protect that the movement going on. do businesses see this as something that is good for their bottom line? or a moral imperative? >> both. it started as a moral imperative. you want to be on the right side. increasingly, there is a business case because the loss of motivation, the possible

impact of customers is huge in today's transparent world. the material case of getting it right is increasingly complementry to the moral case. >> one of the big issues, pay inequality. leadstates have taken the because they do not see the federal government doing enough. can a case be made for business is not to raise the minimum wage because it could put them out of business? it is a complicated issue and it depends on the industry sector we are talking about. skill level, supply of workforce and labor. i'm convinced that the more employees that are part of the family that i rewarded for good practices, they should increasingly benefit. it depends heavily on the industry sector. >> i would be remiss if i did

not ask you about what has been in the news past week four hours. respecting and supporting human rights remains one of the most challenging areas of corporate sustainability. this is because human rights are traditionally the concern of the states. backdrop, what is your reaction to the release of that senate intelligence committee report on torture techniques? we have nothing to say on state to state relations. , the notice that worldwide government side of human rights protection is not necessarily improving. it seems like there is almost a breakdown in many parts of the world. that is a big concern to businesses because business needs a stable, productive and stable,fish stable -- predictable environments.

>> we are up on 26 minutes past the hour. julie hyman is standing by with the details. >> we have a selloff today that has been accelerating as the day has gone on. we see oil slump once again after opec cut its global demand forecast. it is also a broad-based selloff, not just energy stocks. materials, financials, technology. all groups in the s&p 500 are lower right now. other movers we are looking at, one of the down movers is toll brothers. the biggest one-day drop in three months. it does see positive momentum going into the fiscal year after a period of the flat chairs. profitands cut its

outlook for a second time. issue.ing we will be back on the markets again in 30 minutes. ♪ . .

>> welcome back to the second i'm hour of "bottom line." mark crumpton. it's time now for the commodities report. su keenan joins us with the details will stop >> a big drop in oil. we saw oil prices hit hard with brent crude futures falling the -- below the $65 mark and traders watching to see if west texas intermediate below 60 -- at can see it about to hold $61. we also saw brent crude down as much as 5%.

at one point, gasoline pretty much long for the wild ride. and the president of iran saying a conspiracy is behind the price drop. >> we have no doubt that this drop is not a normal and ordinary or merely economic decrease. a portion of this fall maybe related to global economic issues. it is a politically orchestrated move and a conspiracy against the interest of the region, muslim people and muslim world. >> the catalyst for the big drop in new york, a one-to punch, opec slashing its outlook and kuwait offering new discounts to asian customers. one analyst said investors were throwing in the towel, specially after the latest supply data in the u.s. and a gain in the nation's supply. greatvestor says it's a lesson in volatility.

>> it gives us an opportunity to advise our clients about the volatility in the market. being able to go back out and talk about volatility and asset allocation and how alternatives and commodities don't really correlate to a happens in the u.s. market or the bond market. >> the gold market is holding steady right now despite the dips in oil. a lot of concerns about disinflation and copper taking a big hit. let's talk about the end of the trading day on a day like this. they talk about traders going or aeither in an ambulance limousine. >> a recent report was released on the wealth of american households between 1989 and 2013. the bottom line was there was a deterioration of wealth status with particular concern for near

retirees, most of them cannot count on a traditional defined benefit pension. the codirector and cofounder of the center for economic and policy research in washington joins me this afternoon. welcome back. always a pleasure to have you on . how bad is it? what is the average median net worth of near retirees in the united states? >> we are looking at people having $170,000 on average. this includes everything, not just your 401(k), this includes the equity in your home and the value of your car. median house price is around $210,000. these families took everything they had, use it to pay down their mortgage, they would still go $40,000 on a typical mortgage. roughly half the people are worse than that.

president gerald ford signed the retirement act into law. the law "protects the assets of millions of americans so that funds placed in retirement plans during their working lives will be there when they retire." but the law deals with pension plans and private industry. what about public pensions? >> for the most part, public pensions are in good shape. plan is perfectly funded. one point to keep in mind is a shortfall of $1 trillion will stop that can be made up over a 30 year planning. . relative to what our plan would be over the next 30 years, that is not a lot of money. you do have mostly city governments that do a badly underfunded plan. chicago has serious underfunding

issues. the state of illinois, the state of new jersey, there are areas where there are serious issues of underfunding, but those plans are for the most part pretty well funded and the fear has been overplayed. 's survey, youter and your co-author note the bulk of her time and benefits are going to those -- the bulk of retirement benefits are going to those at the top. is this a change question mark >> people at the top always got the most money. wheree seeing a situation if you compare whatever time you want, these are federal reserve surveys that go further back. most of the gains have been going to those in the top quintile, particularly those in the top 1%. bottom twothe quintiles, the bottom 40% of the population, they have actually been losing ground.

we would like to see the economy's getting richer and that means they have more wealth. we are not seeing that story. >> how much are low interest rates hurting retirement savings ? >> i think that has been overplayed for the simple reason that most people don't have that much by the way of retirement savings to worry about. we do talk about a situation where people might have money in a money market fund or savings account getting low interest. most people if they have some theth also have some in stock market, which has been doing great the last five years. a relatively small number of people that have some substantial amount of wealth. and have it all in short-term asset paying short-term interest rates. >> is the taxpayer supported solution the answer? as you well know, the argument against it is -- is that it is up to the individual to say for

his or her retirement. >> we have social security, and that's what most of us are dependent on for most of our income, which is perhaps unfortunate, but it is the reality. senator sherrod brown and elizabeth moran have been pushing for that but we have to reconstruct some sort of private pension system which can be state administered will stop the state of illinois took the lead on this and i would like to see other states doing this. to have a state run pension where people could voluntarily contribute to that and that would be on top of your social security. dean baker joining us from washington. always a pleasure to have you on. u.s. braces for blowback following the release of the cia torture report. that story and more when "bottom line" continues. ♪

>> it is time now for today's latin america report. brazil's real swung between gains and losses as of ministers waited for decision to extend swap offerings supporting the currency. the central bank president said policy makers have two weeks to watch the market and evaluate the intervention program. slowing growth and deteriorating fiscal accounts led standard & brazil's sovereign

debt rating to one level above junk. the bovis but a slid to an eight vespa slid tothe bo an eight-month low. fears that things are falling in china. that is your latin america report for this wednesday. coming up, would you let your son play football? the growing number of americans say no. those details, next. ♪

>> welcome back. will football in america goes away of boxing? a new bloomberg politics poll found that half of americans do not want their sons to play football and those with higher incomes, those earning $100,000 a year or more say football will lose followers over the next two decades.

let's go to washington with more on this story. particular are saying their sons should not play football? that are making the statement strongest are women and older people. particular, these are practicerive kids to to pick them up and buy that equipment. i think it is particularly interesting that it is the women who are saying i feel uncomfortable with this. groups who in large numbers want their kids to play football? >> it is a bit of the inverse -- it is younger people, under the age of 35. many of those children don't -- many of them don't have children yet. there's a slight majority of men who say they would like to see their kids out there laying. >> nfl ratings are up and

merchandise sales are doing well. is there any other evidence that suggests pro football is in trouble? >> there is. there is a national organization of high school sports and may across boardpation in all sorts of sports from swimming to soccer to football. if you look at those numbers, football is the most popular sport for boys, but it has been decreasing every single year for the last 10 years. i think that trend certainly things thatimilar the poll shows. >> the nfl's troubles have caught the attention of the u.s. congress. some lawmakers calling for an end to the league's tax-exempt status. that piece ofke legislation, along with another one that the nfl is worried and that is a review of

their antitrust exemptions. that would be looked at in january when they come back. that is what members have said to me, that they would start pushing those pieces of legislation. and it iss congress very difficult to get anything through. it's more about threat than i think. is there any sense on either way that these might go? i know some members of congress have very strong opinions about the tax-exempt status for pro football. >> it is interesting because it's got segments on both sides of the political spectrum that are interested. republicans have introduced it as a deficit saving measure, but for the nfl, it's something like a million dollars a year that is saved, so it's not going to hurt football very much.

losing a million dollars year is not going to do anything for them. that one i think would be more of a message type l. if congress got somehow behind antitrust exemption, that's what the nfl uses to collectively bargain and get these lucrative television deals. covering the nfl story, joining us from washington, thank you very much. thank you. >> carmakers say is the future of driving and it has even brought google into the fold when it comes to realizing our dreams stop german car manufacturer audi gave hans nichols a spin in its autonomous concept car. >> this is a standard audi rs seven -- a pretty nice sedan. and this is also an rs 7 -- but it is special. it has a name -- bobby.

it is autonomously driven. here at a racetrack in central germany and we are going to do man versus machine and i'm going to see whether i can beat bobby on some hot laps. and we do sit. se it. we goo do you feel that burn? i think i'm pulling some gees right there. is am i going to be making more time on the straightaways or on the turns? what did i come in at? let's see what bobby's got. i'm ready. let's go. pretty fast start. i did not make that mistake -- why did i take that turn like that? does this know the track? >>

yes. >> this has been programmed to learn the track? >> [inaudible] then the car starts to think about it. if you lose control, you want to have an automatic system that helps you regain control and keep the car on the track. do you spend a lot of time on the racetrack? >> know, i'm a financial journalist. i have no business being on the racetrack. unsafeope is that i was and that this car stayed within the safety envelope and i pushed the envelope because i've got the right stuff. now the moment of truth. see how well i did? >> pretty fast -- two minutes and eight seconds. bobby was five seconds faster.

>> there's only one way to beat the machine. i've got five seconds to shave off. nicholss not the hans we knew when he worked in the u.s. has the right stuff. hans nichols reporting. there are multiple ways to watch bloomberg tv. we are on the web, on bloomberg.com am your mobile device, on apple tv and on amazon fire tv. stay with us. another check of the market movers is on the other side of the break. another down day on wall street for this wednesday, december 10. the dow jones industrials down 260 point. "bottom line" continues in just a moment. ♪

>> get the latest headlines at the top of the hour on bloomberg radio, streaming on your tablet, and on bloomberg.com. that does it for this edition of "bottom line." i'm mark crumpton. "on the markets" with julie hyman is next. past the hour, that means bloomberg television is on the markets. in our forat stocks the closing bell -- we had a selloff today that have gotten worse as we've gotten closer to the close. 1.5% is the decline we see for the major averages. oil prices lower after opec cut its demand forecast. that is pushing down energy

stocks, all stocks it looks like today. in terms of individual movers, shares of american airlines are today, closing in on their 52 week high. the airline industry has been benefiting from lower oil prices, but crude is taking a toll on companies like halliburton. they could see a significant drop in profits as they are forced to lower profits by as much as 20%. when you look at those companies moving in very different directions and plunging oil prices, the have one important thing in common -- they are two of the most loved stocks will stop joining me with a look at some of the other most loved and hated stocks is an analyst with bloomberg rankings. you look at what people love and what they don't. and this is always sell side analysts. access the consensus ranking.

125, five being a strong by and one being a strong sell. we've looked at how this has moved and gave that an equal rate, so you could have a strong by -- an equal weight, so you could have a strong buy. hated --re the most let's start there. stocks comingted have a big mix on a bunch of different fundamentals. the southern company, electric utility is the most hated stock n the u.s. coming up second is blackberry and that's not surprising because that's just a fundamental negative. we have transocean, wisconsin energy, and kellogg. if you flip it and look at the most loved, you see oil stocks and oil service providers.

most loved is on our stocks and ug resources, a colombian oil and gas production company is also on their. it's going to be interesting to see if analysts downgrade, which they tend to do after the fact. this act in about august and you did the ranking at that point in time. how did those stocks do? >> there's a lot of chatter on the street about analysts not making the best calls. we ran the numbers and we planned to do this in a much more significant way over the past couple of months, but the most loved stocks actually underperformed their sector by over 2%. the median return was a positive 6%, less than the s&p 500. if you look at the most hated stocks, they also underperformed, but by less than

the most loved stocks. it makes you scratch your head and ask if these recommendations are appropriate at the time they are made? >> we have to leave it there for right now. thank you so much. "street smart" is next. ♪ most importanthe hour of the session. i'm trish regan and this is "street smart ." oil selling off after opec and investorsns are looking for perceived straight haven's. plus, the cia going on the defense. i will be joined by former cia director, james woolsey. uber seeing headaches grow. expected affect and ipo? "street smart" starts now.