>> from bloomberg world headquarters in new york, i am mark crumpton and this is "bottom line" the intersection of business and economics with a main street perspective. 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. alix steel will have today's edition of off the charts. peter cook here with me in new york for a live interview with the u.s. transportation secretary. we begin with bloomberg's international correspondent hans

nichols in brussels as it appears that the eurogroup has reached an accord on a bailout fund for greece. >> good evening. the latest is that in three or four minutes we will hear a press conference from eurogroup officials and that should be a strong indication that they have a deal. the deal was still being discussed him it was on the table. there had been a pulmonary agreement between the greek side and the german side. the greek agreement went all the way up to the prime minister. a week and half ago when we had this discussion, we had a similar discussion, we thought there was an agreement and then the finance minister called back to athens and mr. tsipras scuttled the deal. the headlines are crossing right now on this just informing us what is in the details of the deal. that is going to be the next question. what does this deal encompass?

germans were very firm heading into it. they can have a discussion about some sort of interim financing and then renegotiate potentially the entire debt that greece owns. >> what happens if the deal is it reached? >> well, there is still this weekend to work things through. if a deal isn't reached, you could always have the actual prime minister's and presidents gather here. he is a former polish politician has ruled out a sunday meeting. that makes a monday meeting possible. it is an effective three day weekend. that seems less likely if it does appear. reports are trickling out of this finance ministers meeting

in brussels. it looks like we may have some sort of an agreement. >> what about the length of this extension, why would that matter either way? >> four months appears to be what is for. six months if it is a little bit longer. it could put greece in the drivers positions. four months each the pressure on greece. they have a big payment due to the ecb. they don't want to gloss over that and the ecb still potentially needs to have some leverage. this does not give them as much time as perhaps they may have wanted. >> hans nichols owning us from brussels. thank you. let's check the u.s. equity markets which are rising on the prospects of a deal from greece. let's go to the breaking news desk. >> we are seeing a lot of

euphoria in the market. the dow and the s&p are having their best day in the week. both looking at record highs. you can see the dow and the s&p really mirroring each other pretty much all day and perpetually climbing higher as you continue to get this news out of greece. the s&p and the dow are both on track for a record close. both of them hitting an intraday high. the nasdaq is it near its record highs but it is getting pretty close. we are looking at about 100 points until the nasdaq hits its own record. that hit the record in 2000. the nasdaq is still climbing higher. the dow is up by triple digits. >> alix steel at the breaking

news desk. the u.s. transportation secretary just returned from a four-day bus tour through five states. the purpose of the trip was to highlight the importance of investing in america's infrastructure and to urge congress to act on a long-term transportation bill. secretary fox joins me from washington along with peter cook. gentlemen, thank you. mr. secretary, thank you so much for your time. what concerns you most during the trip? what did you see about the discussion of infrastructure improvements and the increased urgency? >> this trip was a trip through the southeast part of the country. in every state, you can see the signs and the wear and tear on our infrastructure. we were in jacksonville and we saw on underpants where it is -- underpass where it has crumbled. this is not america that we

expect or deserve. >> you are trying to draw attention to this issue. has this moved us any closer to a bipartisan solution? it is back there in washington republicans in congress. where does it stand now? >> as you know, one of the biggest issues is how do you pay for it. congress have in the kurds pay for it is having the back stock of citizens demanding they pay for it. what i can say is that on a bipartisan basis, there is a growing recognition that this is a serious issue that congress needs to address it has to address quickly because eight 10 month extension expires on may 31 of this year. >> there is a need for some bipartisan support. are you speaking to republicans?

the president proposed to link the infrastructure issue to business tax reform and the president was going to ask companies to foot part of the 478 billion dollar tab through a one-time tax on foreign earnings. >> i have been in contact with leaders on both houses of congress. republicans and democrats. i know the chairman of the house ways and means committee is working on a similar concept. we will continue working with republicans and democrats. >> how confident are you that

that can be avoided? >> well, we have to do something. we have had 32 short-term extensions in the last six years. it has been passed at decade since we had a six-year transportation bill. communities and states are slowing down their planning process, they are not getting projects done. states like tennessee 400 million dollars in projects. arkansas has pulled down 18 projects. we are going in the opposite direction. this is a way for the parties to show they can work together. there is a growing consensus that this might be an area where's congress can say something positive to the country. >> isn't one of those answers the easiest solution to this, an increase in the gas tax why won't of the administration and brace that? >> well, look the fact of the matter is that there is an opportunity with progrowth business tax reform to apply a

one-time tax on untaxed corporate earnings. that would generate double what the gas tax is bringing in. we would have the ability to do a lot more infrastructure building in this country over the next six years. we have said the other solutions, we will continue to keep an open mind. our proposal is a proposal that can be done without raising tax rates and also without increasing the deficit. >> i want to pick up on one other item that is in your jurisdiction these days and that is a course situation with the airbag investigation. today you announced that he will be imposing a fine on the maker of those airbags in question. $14,000 a day for not adequately cooperating with the investigators. the company is surprised and disappointed by this action, they strongly disagree with the

characterization that they have not been fully cooperating with the government. what is it that they are not giving you? what is your response on their take? >> well, we are still trying to do a root cause analysis on the cause of these airbag problems and we have issued to orders to provide us information and to specifically point us in the direction of what the root cause is. what we have received is basically 2.4 million pages of documents. they do nothing to shed any light on where the problem is actually coming from. it is a big problem for us and the bigger problem to the traveling public. it delays our work and finding the root cause. >> mr. secretary, you are saying that they are hiding information from the federal government at this point? >> well, it was a record jump. i have been around long enough

to know what a record dump is. frankly, it is not as helpful as working towards getting to a solution here. we will continue to impose fines until we have the information we need and the way we needed. >> $14,000 a day, is that enough to move the needle for to caught or any company? i know you have been pushing congress to give you power for stiffer penalties. >> it is the maximum allowable penalty that we can issue. we are going to the max until we get our information. >> the u.s. transportation secretary joining us. thank you so much. coming up, the american express antitrust lawsuit we will take a look at yesterday's ruling and talk about how the firm plans to appeal. stay with us.

>> let's check bloomberg world news. the defense ministry says a plan has been signed with russia for a pullback of heavy weapons from the region. the announcement comes as pro-russian rebels continue to attack ukrainian positions overnight with reports of shelling and artillery fire. at least 25 people have been killed in libya after multiple bomb attacks. three bombs exploded targeting the home of a politician, a police station, and a gas station. the u.s. is planning a sprint offensive in iraq. up to 25,000 iraqi troops would be sent to recapture the city of mozilla. first, u.s. advisors will train the soldiers. it is estimated that there are up to 2000 islamic state fighters in mozilla. that is the latest world news. we will have another update

coming in about 30 minutes. american express violated u.s. antitrust laws by borrowing businesses from customers to use lower-cost cars. emily joins me in the studio. this is about their anti- steering rules. what are they? >> you see it with preferences do see it with promotions, but amex did not want merchants to steer their companies to visa and mastercard and discover. >> this is when you walk in, you see it in front of the cash register in the window, maybe just the mx logo. >> they consider it discrimination. >> they ask consider it does, nation -- they consider it dissemination against whom? >> against themselves.

>> they will have to modify the rules. the judge gave them about 30 days to meet with the justice department and come back with the plan. if they cannot agree on a plan, the judge will set an injunction in a way that he feels is faithful to the antitrust laws. >> were visa discussed -- were visa and discover involved? like they were involved when the case originated but they settled quickly. discover as well as visa and mastercard had witnesses in the trial. >> i was reading some other stories that there seems to be at least from the judge's perspective, some anti-competitiveness going on. how does that come into play when you are a merchant and -- would you get penalized by amex if they find out you are using or encouraging people to use other cards? >> it is my understanding that amex would send random visitors to check and see if merchants

were steering towards different card companies. if that was to be found, they could force their contracts. >> any important headlines on the horizon? let's look for a filing around march 21. both of them coming together and presenting a remedy to the judge or both of them are saying that we cannot agree, judge, you need to enforce this on your own. >> what are the steps involved in an appeal? >> amex has said they will appeal. after 30 days, the judge will rule and provide a final judgment. then they can take that to the circuit. >> this opinion was 150 pages. why was it so long? >> i think that this will be taught in antitrust law school. it is an incredibly complex industry. the judge wanted to be very careful that when this gets

appealed, he is not scrutinized for making an error. he was very careful with economic analysis from both angles. i think he just wanted to be really careful. >> one of the things that we know about amex, one of the complaint is that a lot of merchants say that the fees were too high. any possibility that they might lower the fees? >> that is a possibility. i don't believe it is in the immediate short-term. wait until it is fully litigated, the second wave goes in. there will be a bit more clarity. >> emily hamburger, a litigation analyst. giving one last chance for health care and avoid costly penalties. peter cook will be back with those details. stay with us, you're watching " bottom line" on bloomberg television.

>> americans facing a federal penalty for not having insurance getting one more chance to sign up for obamacare. peter cook is back and he has more on this story. another deadline. >> a couple of new developments with regard to the health care law. we've heard about the enrollment period ending. they are giving more time for a certain category of people. 6 million americans who did not have any health insurance and some of them will learn that they have to pay a penalty of $95 or 1% of their income because they did not know they had to have the insurance. the administration is giving those particular people a smaller window between march and april.

only those people who qualify can prove, listen, i didn't know i needed to have it or i didn't have the health insurance. they will still have to pay the penalty of $95. >> so, we are a year into this how is it possible that something like this can happen? >> the reality is that there are some americans making the choice not to get help insurance because of cost or whatever reason. again, those people have the option of signing up if they want to. they still believe that there is a category of people out there who just don't mind -- just don't know. they may qualify for exemption. some personal hardship there are certain instances where you can get an exemption. >> is this just another opening for the critics of obama care to take another swing at this? >> absolutely, the idea that

they can change at will when these enrollments and and began. they are facing criticism on that front. they are facing more criticism that there was a tax glitch 800,000 people who enrolled for private health insurance through obamacare were given information to file their taxes this year that was incorrect and they have been told don't file your taxes yet until you get these new forms and these forms help you calculate whether you qualify for tax subsidies. an opportunity for them to fix it but there are about 50,000 people who may have already filed their taxes and as a result, they made a mistake and the obama administration is facing criticism over this. >> what does it mean for the irs? >> it makes more of a headache, more of a complication, and

there is a window of opportunity. there are a lot that are not filing their taxes. they want a chance to fix this before the season comes to a close. >> we are seeing a lot of states where they have republican governors who are vehemently against this and they are changing their tune. why? >> because they need the money and some of them are negotiating with the administration over the terms of expanding medicaid within their states. this has been the issue. the federal government wants to expand medicaid, gives the states money. a lot of them were worried if that runs out in the future. a lot of republican governors have been negotiating to get this money. they are seeing the reality on the wall. they will not get that federal money and their legislation. >> thanks so much, appreciate it. a coming of them age tale versus

the story of a washed up actor. it is a tight race between "boyhood" and "bird man" for best picture oscar.

♪ >> welcome back to the second half-hour of "bottom line" on bloomberg television. let's begin with a check of the price of crude oil at the close of floor trading. crude oil down about 2.4%. trading at 49.91 a barrel. steeple financial is in talks to buy stern ag. a person familiar with the matter says the deal may be announced within days. since 2012, staple has bought

firms including dpw and thomas weisel partners. paul macauley is stepping down from pimco. he left to work with bill gross. -- he joined to work with bill gross, but gross was forced out last year. the parent company of ann taylor is looking to sell. people with knowledge of the matter say that they're working with j.p. morgan and have reached out to potential buyers. they also own the loft. an anonymous bidder has agreed to pay hundred $22,000 for warren buffett's 2006 cadillac. he will turn over the keys in person. proceeds go to charity that advocates for girls. that is a look at the top stories we are following. the tale of a washed up actor who once played a superhero has

thrown open the race for best picture. we are joined now from los angeles with more on this award ceremony. thank you for your time. before we get into the films diversity it has been the elephant in the room at this year's oscars. all 20 acting nominees are white. why do we seem to keep revisiting this? >> well, hollywood has an issue it seems. it is something that has come up in sony hacking where there were e-mails. they were engaging in jokes and racial slurs. that true of lot of criticisms. it is an issue. that is represented when the films that are being chosen, the actors that are being chosen

they're obviously isn't a balance. what people would argue is that last year we saw "12 years a slave" nominated for best film. and so washington has received -- denzel washington has received a lot of attention from the oscars. the "soma" biopic is an oscar nominee. that is deftly going to be a topic of conversation. -- the "selma" biopic is an oscar nominee. >> the first aftermarket name the president of the arts and sciences, will we have any indication of what she will be doing going forward, that diversity is good for the bottom line? >> hollywood is seen as liberal and open-minded. we see great actors like kevin

hart who have huge businesses. i spoke to cheryl on the day of the nominations and asked her about nominations -- allegations that the actors had been snapped. she was very pleased to see that "selma" was nominated for best picture. >> let's talk movies, the best picture seems to have come down to two films, "boyhood" and "bird man," which is the front runner? >> " bird man" has won some recent awards. the director is the favorite to win the directors oscar. "boyhood" had been a favorite early on.

it will be a close run race. >> the close actor seems to be down to michael keaton. will we see hollywood reward keaton for a career that they have always held in high regard? >> -- has received a lot of accolades. he won the golden globe, for example. that is assuming a very strong position. the academy knows keaton, it is also a story that appeals to hollywood. the academy will empathize with that movie. >> is is finally julianne moore's year. she received rave reviews as an actress who -- as a professor who is in the early stages of autism.

but she has received many accolades, many critics choice awards. she has one actors guild awards. she is deftly a front runner. >> the best director is shaping up to be a two-man race. you mentioned alejandra gonzales , richard linklater. >> i think that he was recognized at the directors guild awards. a lot of people in hollywood like to talk about statistics and history and how that played out. the winner of that award has gone on to win the oscar pretty much every single year. he is definitely a favorite. the long seems that the film is characterized by. also, richard linklater, has

been admired for being able to carry this out for 12 years and get financing for a film that was such a long time. >> a preview of this sunday's oscars. thank you so much. a pleasure to talk to you. >> thank you. >> coming up, the latin america report for this chilly friday. bonds in argentina have been in a rallying mood. we will tell you why.

>> we want to let you know that bloomberg tv plus is now available on roku players. you can also use us on bloomberg.com, your phone, or your tablet. argentine bonds rallied to the highest in almost fit years. this after all doubters as the country to resume talks to settle a legal dispute that trigger default. the conflict between argentina and creditors holding defaulted bonds from 2001 came to a head last year with the president refusing to comply with the u.s. court order. argentina was ordered to pay investors about $1.7 billion for servicing restructure debt. investors are trying to gauge whether the president intends to settle the content -- conflict before she leaves office or plans to leave the issues to the

next governor. up next your guide to the biggest newsmakers of the week on "bottom line line" we will be right back.

>> let's check world news. euro area finance ministers might have reached an agreement related to keeping finance funds going to greece. mr. schelling telling reporters that greece must meet conditions and give a list on monday. he also said that the eurogroup has agreed on a four-month extension for greece. we will continue to give you the latest on this developing story. this is a big story for global financial markets. there had been concerns that if some agreement had not been reached, possibly because germany was assisting that austerity measures remain in place that greece may have to

exit the euro, again, we are hearing from the strain finance minister telling reporters that the eurogroup has agreed on a four-month extension for greece, stay with us we will give you the latest on this story, as soon as we get them. that is a look at world news. you will have another update coming. we bring you encore, a look back at the most notable newsmakers in the past week. >> this is another chapter of attend and extend. there has to be some resolution of a depth that is too large for population. and how to do it and how to reach it with an austerity package that doesn't permit of the country to have economic growth is an impossible task. so, they pushed the can, they try to reach an agreement, they come to the 11th hour and the 59th minute before they reach it

and we will see it all over again. >> i don't think that we are being challenged. we are enjoying the time we are having. what is really the key to our success is constantly retooled. how do we move into the space instead of trying to ignore the digital space? how do we go into storytelling. that has really been part of this before. >> more than theory, it you need a job. >> for some of to go out and build a home for you. yes, we need more jobs. fortunately, we are getting them. the quality of jobs is improving, and skimmed to the point where we will see some wage growth and that will be a key catalyst. >> a deal has to get done, it may take a long time. the markets are assuming one will. i think the other thing people forget it is not a once off deal.

if you don't do a deal that really fixes it for the long term, and you do something very quick, we will be back talking about this again in three weeks. i don't think the germans can literally just say, we disagree if you look at what happened in the ecb, it is clear that they disagreed, they were in a minority. the ecb still went ahead. i don't think the germans just get to say, no. >> a look back at the most notable newsmakers from this past week. more now on the greek bailout funds flowing to greece. trish regan joins me now. just mentioned the austrian finance minister saying that they have reached an agreement for a four-month extension for greece, the thing that they badly needed. >> they wanted an extension, it looks like they will probably get this. we have been going back-and-forth, we are hearing

different things all day. frankly, for the last couple of weeks, as to whether or not something would come through. this gives them an extension keep the status quo for the next four months while they trying figure out some major kind of renegotiation, i think that may be greece would like to see some major renegotiation of the terms of its deal while europe wants to keeps status quo. >> meaning austerity measures in place, but as we say here, with all this wrangling between members of congress aren't they just kicking this down the road? >> haven't we seen this kind of thing before? i think that that was probably critical because no one was really willing to pull the plug. we talk about who needs who more and i think that most people would agree that greece needs the eurozone more. however, a lot of people don't want to tempt fate.

so, maybe it gives them to time to come to some kind of agreement or get greece to sign up for what it originally signed up for, meaning more austerity. >> what about the german position on all of this? angela merkel was firm that they are greece's main creditor and that the german taxpayers are getting fed up saying, why do we have to keep propping them up? >> politically, it is a disaster for her because i can tell you there's not one german on the street that feels like they should turn over their money to the greeks who are retiring earlier are getting better pensions getting a cushy government job. it is not in the german sensibility, so they want to see the greeks have the exact same work ethic that you have in germany and they said, this is unfair. this gets back to the heart of the problem, you cannot have an

economic union without some kind of political union. you need someone in charge saying ok, this is a tax on everyone or it is not. making some kind of central political decision is critical. she will have a tough time selling this to voters because germans are very unhappy. >> i spoke to a professor of economics at dartmouth and i asked in very pointedly, is there a possibility that greece may never be able to pay back this money and he said absolutely sure they might not be will to get out of debt. >> you have to make some hard choices, right? you have to make some hard choices and they have an opportunity to cut entitlements to cut government pay and they have an opportunity to get their economy back on the right footing and they can either take that opportunity or they can exit from the eurozone which i have argued may not be the worst thing in the world.

they can appreciate a their currency pretty quickly. this would help their economy. the eurozone would just have to be. >> hans is with me, we will talk more about these negotiations going on. he interviewed a member of the committee that interview the government. they will come to some kind of resolution. he has looked at greece as an opportunity because he thinks basically europe might be the one to blame. >> thank you so much, appreciate it. the dow jones industrials at a record now 18,000, 116. this news about greece, possibly some reconciliation about what is been going on giving the markets a lift, checking the boards right there. the nasdaq up nearly half of a percent. the s&p 500 is up about nine and a half points. standing by for a meeting in

brussels from the finance ministers on bloomberg tv.

go live to brussels. a meeting of the finance ministers. the austrian finance minister saying that the euros area finance ministers have agreed on a four-month extension of the a deal if greets meets conditions. let's go to brussels live. >> that changes in the agreement that will have to be worked out. there is a hope to reach in the and a positive outcome to have a

successful review and conclusion of the program in time and that requires trust and i think tonight was a first up in this process of rebuilding trust. trust comes or quicker than it comes. tonight was a very important step in that process. i'm glad to report to that the work we have done over the last weeks has paid off. we have established common ground again to reach an agreement on the statement which will be distributed to you as i'm speaking. the statement outlines the details of our agreement. i will not read it all out, you can read it for yourself. i will outline the main elements. yesterday, as you know we received a request from the greek authorities for an extension of the agreement, the

mmf a for four months. actually, the requested for six months, but our decision is to extend it for four months. in parallel, the greek authorities requested to extend the availability of the bonds in the hs fs buffer. in view of the assessment of the institutions, the eurogroup agrees that these funds should be held by the eff. to three of third-party rights for the duration of the extension. the funds, these funds which are meant for recapitalization of banks, therefore will remain available, to be available for the duration of the extended agreement and can be used for the purpose of bank recapitalization and greece. the purpose of the request is to allow for the successful completion of the review the

conditions of the current agreement. as mentioned in my last press conference, there is flexibility in the program. we will make the best use of it. this flexibility will be considered jointly with the greek authorities in the institutions. it will also allow us to bridge the time for the discussions between the eurogroup, the institutions, and greece on a possible photo off arrangement in which the i'm a continue to play its role. let me recall that the formal successful conclusion of the review will allow for disbursements of the outstanding charge of the program and a transfer of the 2014 profits. both will be subject to approval by the eurogroup, but as i said, that is space on the successful conclusion of the review. this is a precondition. as we concluded already in our meeting on monday, the request for extending the program needed

to be underpinned by commitments from the greek government. they are outlined part of them in the letter. part of them can the statements to which we agreed. i would like to stress a few of the key commitments. the authorities expressed strong commitments to a broader and deeper structure process and gave their firm commitments to immediate effect that we refrain from any rollback of measures and unilateral actions which would negatively impact fiscal targets, economic recovery, and financial stability which are the cornerstones of the program as assessed by the institutions. the greek authorities have reiterated their commitment to all creditors free and finally. on the fiscal side, the greek authorities have committed to ensure the primary fiscal

processes required to guarantee sustainability in line with our eurogroup agreements. at the same time, the institutions will take the economic circumstances into account. on the basis of these commitments given in the letter and in today's statement, we will start the process which will hopefully lead to a successful decision on the extension of the program. the first step in this process is that we have agreed and the greek authorities have agreed to present a first list of their reform ambitions reform measures based on the current arrangements, but also using the flexibility in the programs.