>> live from bloomberg headquarters in new york, this is "market makers" with erik schatzker and stephanie ruhle. stephanie: greece is playing in the clock. the government has to come up with a list of new economic reforms by the end of the day. we will take you straight to athens with our own erik schatzker. >> dish network chairman charlie ergen takes the reins of the company he founded. stephanie: and drink up. america cannot get enough bourbon. welcome to "market makers." i am stephanie ruhle. alix: i am alix steel, in for

erik. he is on assignment in athens. stephanie: i would love to say that our erik was at the oscars last night, at the vanity fair party, but no committee is working in athens. we have had to take you to the breaking news on the housing market. scarlet fu is in the newsroom with the headlines. scarlet: disappointing read steph. economists had ratcheted down their expectations over the last three days because the expectation is down 1.6% as recently as friday. on an annualized basis the rate is 4.80 2 million, dropped from the prior month. this is not a government report. it is from the industry group the national association of realtors. what it measures is the purchases of previously owned homes.

it makes up 90% of the residential housing market. some might argue a more important indicator than new home sales. in terms of the effect on financial markets, u.s. stocks were lower before the report. no real change there. the dollar takes a little bit of a leg lower even though it is firmer when you look at the ds wife and next. stephanie: thanks so much scholar. let's bring i michael mckee. what do you make of this? michael: i was wondering how the weather might have impacted this . the northeast might've suffered, and it did. but 7.1% in the west -- california had the warmest january since 1895. it is not just a question, apparently, of what the weather is at this point. that raises questions -- if the weather is bad and people don't go shopping browsers, they will go when it gets better --

shopping for houses, they will go when it gets better. stephanie: all right, michael don't go anywhere. we have more to cover this morning. alix: i think we have a lot more to cover, but it is time for the top business stories of the morning. once again the clock is ticking for greece. the government has until the end of the day to come up with new financial policies in exchange for funding. that is part of the agreement to extend bailout funds for four months. greece's finance minister spoke out in athens. >> we have promised institutions it will be submitted in good time for them to have as much time as possible to assess it. we're pretty confident -- very confident that the list is going to be approved by institutions and therefore we are embarking upon a new phase of stabilization and growth. alix: the greek government wants to show voters it will be able to do so under -- although

barred under the current agreement. the dish chairman will become ceo in march. dish lost subscribers last year and one of the big questions he faces, what to do with $50 billion in wireless airwaves he bought but isn't using. reportedly he is invested in buying t-mobile. it is merger monday in big pharma. value pharmaceuticals has agreed to buy salix for $10.1 billion in cash. last year valeant was thwarted in his effort to buy the maker of botox. valeant is known as a serial inquirer. it r&d costs to boost profits. a pay cut for the ceo of british bank hsbc, which has been hit by lower profits and a tax evasion scandal. his competition has been cut 5%

to 12 million. the bank is still dealing with fallout from report on how it handled accounts for texas raiders and criminals. there is no a permanent ceo of darden restaurants. the owner of the olive garden chain. he will be in charge of efforts set up by starwood capital. the oscar went to a birdman. the movie about a washed up superhero won for best picture and best director. patricia arquette, who won best supporting actress, use the opportunity to call for equal pay for women. patricia: to every taxpayer and citizen of this nation, we have fought for everybody else's equal rights. it is our time to have wage equality once and for all, and equal rights for women in the united states of america.

alix: late last year emails stolen by hackers indicated that sony pictures paid phenyl stars less than men. i've a five-month-old and i do not watch any movie settle this year. did you have a favorite pick? stephanie: i watched the movies i watched the oscars, i watched patricia arquette's speech, i watched amy pascal being interviewed about women in hollywood being paid less than and i think women in those jobs should be advocates for women. i'm not saying i don't believe in free markets, as i absolutely do but i believe entrance pentagon and if all these women in hollywood have any idea that those men were getting paid that much more money, they would've said hell no and finally they are. alix: you saw meryl streep. stephanie: meryl streep to next to j. lo. it is a big week for the economy. more on housing and consumer confidence and more importantly jenny yellen's senate -- janet

yellen's semiannual testimony to congress. let's bring in the chief economist at renaissance macro research. neil what you think of the housing numbers we heard? neil: i don't think much of them . the housing market continues to improve in this gradual session. we have seen housing starts above the one million mark. if there is a sector that may have the opportunity to break out on the upside this year, it probably is housing. formation rates are rising. mortgage rates are low. the fundamentals are in place for a recovery in housing. we know that inventories in the existing market are quite low. it is going to be important to say that new home sales are rising. that is what happens in a normalized housing market. it is hard to see existing home sales going up much further from your. alix: let's look at you janet yellen's testimony. this will be the first time she

speaks since the killer jobs number we saw. what are the chances we see more hawkish rhetoric? michael: i don't know if she will be more hawkish. the message she wants to which race we are data-dependent. -- she wants to portray is we are data dependent. whether the fed moves is dependent on whether we see the economy moving. it is my way of setting up neil because i know what he is going to say. stephanie: you disagree with that. neil: i think the economy has that she's cruising altitude. stephanie: what does that mean? neil: how many more jobs and was will take to satisfy people? stephanie: the fed people? neil: those that are bullish on bonds, the doves on the fomc, go down the list. the u.s. economy is growing around 3% and that is more than enough to keep pushing the

unemployment rate down and the fed, by their own admission, as for themselves in a corner -- have put themselves in the quarter. that is why they are having so much consternation about what will happen after they removed the patient language. patient language -- alix: will they offset that in some capacity? neil: they made. the big risk for the fed is how do we keep the markets from pricing in the full tightening cycle after the first volley? stephanie: whoa, whoa, whoa walk us through that. neil: how do they avoid a taper tantrum? more people are going to expect rate hikes and a more aggressive pace of rate hikes. there will be problematic for fixed income investors. alix: what are the chances we will see smaller increases? not 25%. 0.08 or something, very marginal? michael: they haven't done that

since the early 1990's. whether or not they would go beyond that in language is the real question. do they tell is where the terminal rate is going to be? the argument comes down to -- if you start earlier, you don't have to go down as fast to raise rates to start later you have to go much faster. stephanie: but michael, isn't it a disappointment then? sounds like janet yellen and her posse are putting politics for data. -- before data. neil: i sympathize with the fed because they have to err on the side of caution. you are looking at central banks that a had to go back to the zero bound after raising rates. the united states doesn't have much in common -- if you look at places like sweden, australia -- mike: israel. neil: heavily involved in the extraction process. by contrast, the u.s. is a closed economy.

whether the set consisting of titan cycle -- you see this -- whether the fed can subsist a tightened cycle -- we're seeing r&d spending pickup and that is good news for productivity and bad news for the long end of the treasury curve. alix: it seems like every other central bank is cutting rates as well as seeing negative interest rate could what are the bigger term implications for that? mike: the biggest implication is for the dollar and that continues to strengthen and that means you import inflation into the united states -- some deflation into the united states. the question is does the fed take that risk at this point with inflation so low? that is the other side of the mandate. we have seen a lot of strong jobs reports but weak inflation reports on the question for the fed, does that continue? they don't think so but a lot of economist think it is possible. stephanie: hopefully we will get the answer tomorrow. neil dutta chief economist at renaissance macro research and

economics editor michael mckee. tomorrow you want to tune in at 10 of 5 p.m. not just for "market makers." we will have coverage of janet yellen's testimony on capitol hill. alix: coming up, greece is playing beat the clock once again. we will go to athens where erik schatzker will tell us about the latest deadline ♪

alix: now for some of the top headlines around the world at this hour. dockworkers resolved a nine month contract stand up on friday. since november the disputed has reduced productivity of the fourth by as much as half. tighter security of the biggest mall in the u.s. after a terrorist threat. in the video, terror group also bob -- al-shababab called for

attacks in the u.s., u.k., and canada, and specifically mentioned the mall of america in minneapolis. secretary johnson: if anybody is planning to go to the mall today they have to be careful. there will be enhanced security that will be apparent -- >> federal security as well? secretary johnson: there will be federal security there. alix: "50 shades of grey" was tops of the box office once again. since it opened this month it has grossed more than $400 million of white. i had no idea the woman in that is melanie griffith's daughter. hello, where have i been? stephanie: where have you been? dakota johnson? yes. alix: i have five kids, can't leave the house. netflix? stephanie: if you wonder where my partner erik schatzker, is,

he is covering the following greece. -- fallout in greece. erik this is not a great deal for the greek government. what is the reaction? erik: well, stephanie come here i am in athens, and by the way, high alix, as well -- i thought i would see some evidence of political rebellion inside series of -- syriza or perhaps outrage on the streets because we already know that greece got very little out of this negotiation. but let's be honest, greece did not have a lot of negotiating power. the popular opinion right now and the opinion within the ranks of government appears to be that greece got just about the best deal it could. there isn't a lot of opposition or heartache in terms of what happened in brussels on friday. that said, we have yet to see

the specific proposals that the finance is going to present tonight to the eurogroup -- the finance minister is going to present tonight to the eurogroup. those proposals have to be approved if the bailout extension is to take place. that is what we are waiting for get a government spokesman has been on national television today talking about the things that the government isn't going to do. it is not going to cut public-sector pensions any further. it is not going to cross the so-called red line. it is going to restore collective-bargaining and it is going to put in motion a plan to raise the minimum wage -- stephanie: hollande eri -- hold on, erik, i want to stop you. tell me what it is like on the ground, actual greeks, their reaction. erik: i'm telling you what they say! they are optimistic. they realize that varifakis had

his hands tied behind his back and this is the thing that takes a little bit of adjustment, a little getting used to the idea that from afar it looks like the greeks got stiff but on the ground they feel that, hey, it is not like we were going to get that far in the first race. of course the government made all kinds of promises before the election but here we are, this is reality. any progress is better than nothing. as far as they are concerned, it is better than what they got from the last government. you wanted to know what it is like from the standpoint of people on the ground. what about people in a position of financial power? i sat down this afternoon -- or stood up, i should say -- with it greek shipping tycoon, a member of one of greece's wealthiest families. we were talking about the relationship between the government and the europeans and whether they had played their hands right. you're is when he had to say. -- here is what he had to say. >> we are wasting our time, the

banks are wasting deposits. the country's wasting a lot of valuable time with gdp no more being able to reach 3% as far as the forecast for next year. we're talking 1% now. i wonder if that is the best way to negotiate. i wish them the best of luck. erik: what will it take in your mind to bring investment and economic growth back into the country? thanasis: political stability and some economic reforms. those are essential to matter what the government of the day is. it is not a partisan issue. the country needs to restructure and the sooner the better. erik: we heard today that this government, as part of its proposal to the eurogroup will begin to restore the minimum wage back to roughly 2012 levels. it is going to give people collective bargaining power. what do you make of those proposals?

thanasis: i am not against a decent minimum wage provided it doesn't harm the economy. i'm cognizant that many of our members, for 19 eurozone members, have minimum wages which is a fraction of our projected minimum wage. that is an issue that needs some time and needs to be handled very carefully. erik: how would you describe the impact austerity as imposed by the troika has had on this country? thanasis: that is certainly a failed policy. as much as i disagree with the current negotiating tactics, i also disagree with extreme austerity. however, it is not an unexpected event, given the fiscal craziness that our political system has adopted over the last three or four decades. erik: you are in the shipping business, the hotel business. how has austerity affected you? thanasis: shipping business is

completely unrelated with what is happening in greece so that is unaffected. the hotel business has been very badly affected, starting in december 2008, when we had very violent demonstrations and we something's going down up until 2012, which was let's say, the lowest point in both revenues and 2013 was much better, 2014 was much better. we are looking forward to a healthy 2015 if political stability does remain. erik: in your opinion does the finance minister understand what the economy needs? thanasis: well, if he does, and he may well do, he is not approaching the subject and why i personally find acceptable. erik: give me your best case and worst-case scenario for where greece will be a year from now. thanasis: best case scenario which i hope is going to be what

will eventually happen, is a deal with our lenders. stability, wider political cooperation, not only with the government of the day, but also with the rest of the article spectrum, which is something our country very badly needs. the worst scenario is grexit. erik: why is grexit worst-case scenario? thanasis: for starters, it is not an economic consideration. it is a political consideration. we are too small to be left alone in this part of the world politically. it would harm our national interests and it would be a disaster in the economic sense as well. stephanie: our own erik schatzker. we will have more from erik in just a few.

stephanie: coming up, billionaire charlie ergen retakes the rains of the company he founded. alix: plus, you can't say the bourbon boom is on the rocks.

he's out there. there's a guy out there whose making a name for himself in a sport where your name and maybe a number are what define you. somewhere in that pack is a driver that can intimidate the intimidator. a guy that can take the king 7 and make it 8. heck. maybe even 9. make no mistake about it. they're out there. i guarantee it. welcome to the nascar xfinity series.

>> live from a headquarters in new york, this is "market makers " with erik schatzker and stephanie ruhle. stephanie: i'm just stephanie ruhle on "market makers" here. i had a talk about alix getting a haircut. erik schatzker is on the ground in athens. lucky me, look who's in the house. alix: i don't need cool socks. stephanie: who needs cool socks? these are the top business stories of the morning. signs of an uneven recovery in

real estate. sales fell 4.9% to a nine-month low in january. houses dropped for a second straight month. it made it difficult for them to buy us to get into the market. the dish network founder and chairman charlie ergen has found someone to jump start growth at the company, himself. he will take over from the ceo joseph clayton at the end of march. clayton is officially retiring. dish lost 79,000 atv customers last year. his top task is figuring out what to do with the $50 billion worth of spectrum he has only brought good a big, big deal in big pharma. valeant pharmaceutical has agreed to buy salix for $10.1 billion in cash. last year valeant was supported in a long time attempt to buy allegan, the maker of talks. valeant is known as a serial acquirer.

uses the advantageous tax structure to buy companies and cut already profits to boost revenue. amazing, it goes from best in -- breast implants and botox to gastro-i can't even say it. just stuff for your intestines. the obama imitation is going to pick a fight with the wall street over retirement savings. the white house will throw its weight behind a new labor department proposal that would include new protections against biased financial advice and require brokers draft and a customer's best interest, which could limit their earnings of financial advisors. >> it is unfortunate that the white house would engage in this type of political discussion when they are picking a fight with 58 million american households that deal with the registered representatives all across the united dates -- united states to get the education they need to save for retirement.

stephanie: the new rules on financial advisors could be modified. you can call it singapore's robin hood budget. the island state took another step towards western welfare systems and away from low tax models like hong kong. singapore is raising its top income tax rate for the first time in several decades to the beneficiaries will include senior citizens who get bigger payouts. the top marginal tax it will be 22%. still one of the lowest on in the nation. . it is a case of going hog wild. a new record in bacon eating. this is discussed -- disgusto. 182 strips in five minutes. roughly six pounds of cooked bacon containing 28,000 milligrams of sodium. of course, he is no amateur vid

he is considered one of the top two stars in the major league eating tour. he may want to connect with valeant now that they have these special drugs -- alix: four pounds! stephanie: but they are always temperature eaters -- it is always these skinny people giving hot dogs in water. alix: what is his heart right? what hers arteries like -- what are his arteries like? stephanie: but bacon is delicious. alix: we love bacon, just not for pounds. why is now the right time for charlie ergen to take the reins? >> in the press release dish came out and said "we think the time is right for charlie to take over as the company transitions into a new company." we don't know what that means. alix: a buying t-mobile company?

alex: it might. we heard rumblings. dish had talks with t-mobile and in the report we said that the likely repression -- likely repression of this would be after the wireless spectrum auctions are complete. they just finished. march would be around the time theoretically, when we have heard that dish could move on t-mobile. even if it does, can't get a deal that --cannot get a deal done. stephanie: that doesn't change the fact that it has lost subscribers because people don't like this. alex: charlie ergen has said -- this is unique -- "our business is in fundamental decline." he has said that he wants out of the satellite tv business, or at least that is not where the growth is. at&t bought directv. but cap verizon buy dish? verizon is the most likely other

player to buy us satellite-tv coveney. directv has a large latin american operation. dish doesn't. it is a declining business and is u.s.-focused. alix: what about leasing the spectrum or, i don't know -- it is use it or lose it, right? alex: this is the theoretical high end of the spectrum. he paid about $11 billion in the most recent auction. $3 billion and change. stephanie: why do we get $50 billion? alex: he theoretically bought it at a discount. this is what is unique about what charlie ergen did -- it increased the value of the spectrum he already had. it was in charlie ergen's best interest to bid up the price on the auction so that everyone would have to pay more meaning

at&t and verizon, more or less. they would have to go over the top on dish. by doing that the increase to the value of the spectrum he already owned. he was able to boost the guy of his current holdings. because he has done that and because the fcc gave him a waiver to turn satellite spectrum into wireless spectrum he theoretically fell into -- stephanie: dish has been a great value greater for investors. alex: up to a point, at least. stephanie: but now we are at an inflection point and fundamentally come this business -- for a customer, somebody may use dish i don't come it has lost its popularity. alex: no one is investing in dish for the core business. the core business for dis is anh afterthought good people are

purely betting on monetizing the wireless spectrum. charlie ergen is saying that at&t and verizon is going to need the spectrum. let's just house it for a little while. there is a buildout requirement on the spectrum. someone needs to use it. when the fcc gave charlie ergen that waiver, part of the deal was a nonincumbent needed to use that spectrum. a new player needs to use it. dish would be a new player. there could be some legal restrictions there that he may not be able to sell his full package of spectrum. alix: 10 the company wa-- can th e company wait him out? alex: if everybody wait him out he has to do something. charlie ergen has been committed for you to get into wireless. he made it attempted to buy sprint. some said that was a halfhearted attempt. but if he buys t-mobile -- that would be the best for dish, and

they want to get into this business because it was real growth to be a new incoming player. alix: need a hardware and the cisco was. stephanie: i would not bet against charlie ergen. alex: i would not, either. one of the wealthiest men in the world, so smart -- stephanie: if you use dish, it is not that good. alex: he is not betting on the business. they are doing other things on top -- you can get the internet. stephanie: i was just want to make a paper airplane. alix: but she is also listening to you. stephanie: we were talking about alix's hair. do you want to haircut? alex: maybe, but will charlie ergen take a haircut on the spectrum? 10 minutes to think about that!

stephanie: walmart's which i just putting rivals on the spot. who else plans to pay employees more? ♪

stephanie: welcome back to "market makers" i am stephanie ruhle. a change at the top of dish network -- we were just discussing it. charlie ergen will become ceo at the end of march, eventually replacing joseph clayton, who is retiring. dish lost 79,000 pay-tv subscribers last year. one of the big questions he now faces is what to do with the $50 billion in wireless airwaves he bought but is not using. there have been reports he is interested in buying t-mobile. the british bank has cut the pay of ceo in the wake of lower profits in a tax evasion scandal. hsbc, of course -- as compensation has been cut 5% to

$12 million. hsbc's earnings fell 17% last year. the bank is dealing with a hollow from report on how to handle -- followed from report on how to handle tax invaders. disney has raised the price of visiting the so-called happiest place on her will stop -- happiest place on earth. a one-day ticket costs more than $100 for the first time ever. disney raise the price 6% to $105. in the last five years, disney has spent more than $8 billion on its u.s. parks, expanding existing attractions, and adding new ones. alix: walmart cap headlines last week w by announcing wage increases. julie hyman follows retail for us. first i want to get perspective. how many workers were making minimum wage at walmart and how big of an increase was in? julie: that is interesting,

because walmart is not give a lot of granular detail on how much its employees make it is set around 6000 of his workers so a very small percentage of his workers -- of his workers were making minimum wage exactly. it also said that for the folks who were the average workers, the average full-time employee would go from $13 from 12 dollars $.85, not a big increase. an overall wages were going to $10 next year. there are increases and it is impactful because it is such a large number of people. it also, of course, makes a big statement, which is one of the things walmart wanted to do. you get good pr when the president of the united states is commenting on what you of just done, and president obama did exactly that on friday. president obama: now walmart raising wages, not just because

it is the right thing to do, but because it is good for business. don't stand in the way. you have got votes in congress. work with us. join the rest of the country. give america a raise. let's go. julie: you can't pay for that kind of pr. alix: megan mcardle had a great article last week about how it is not altruistic. they want to revamp their business model and change the stores and they needed better workers and the only way to get that is better pay. two other retailers need to follow suit if they are not changing their business model? julie:stephanie: if walmart is located next to kohl's and target and bed bath & beyond, you have got to keep up. julie: that is exactly it. it is a matter of competition. a retailer like target also needs to improve its sales. that actually -- target actually is the retailer that has been most cited by analysts as

perhaps being forced to follow suit. target, by the way, like walmart , said that its employees by and large do not -- do not making minimum wage. if you look at industry or probably these are folks who are not making minimum wage. the average hourly workings of regional workers, it was $14.49 at the end of last year already close to $15. little over 2% year-over-year. destination workers -- gas station workers, and then he goes higher for electronics stores workers, people who require perhaps a little more expertise. retail is not where you're seeing the lowest wage workers. fast food, for example, another area where you are seeing low wages. if you look at walmart, starbucks has been vocal about paying fair wage as well -- it

is likely there will be some pure pressure for business reasons, as you say, among many of these retailers. alix: looking at target, checking out its net income, down 34% last year, walmart up 2. they technically have the cash but they don't have profits. julie: for both of these companies it looks like 2015 will be a so-called investment year. for walmart it definitely is an we will get more details -- target will be reporting its numbers as well. alix: julie hyman, thanks so much. stephanie: when we return, what is behind the whiskey boom? we will ask a top executive at the world's largest bourbon maker. ♪

stephanie: welcome back to "market makers." i am stephanie ruhle. the boom in bergen doesn't seem to be slowing down. urban flame is the fastest -- bourbon volume was the fastest-growing in 2014.

why can't people get enough of this stuff? the general manager at beam country, the world's largest -- the third-largest spirits maker and we had to bring in our own matt miller, who loves trucks and drinking. matt: i love hunting too. the whole american sportsmen thing going. stephanie: chris, what's so special? why does everybody one bergen right now? chris: the desire for authenticity, and some of the brands are hundreds of years old. jim beam is from 1795. a lot of families are involved in the business and there is an explosion in craft distilling. stephanie: 10 years ago, what did people care about? vodka? chris: vodka was on a chair for a really long time and bourbon has taken off. it is a favorite of bartenders and mixologists. matt: i think it is an american

cultural staple. bourbon can only be brewed in america. even if you are owned by central you cannot brew a corn-based whiskey in japan and call it bourbon. worldwide it is amazing. you guys are exporting about $1 billion of bourbon -- worldwide. chris: we haven't produced the smudges since 1970. 45 years and kill -- produced this much since 1970. 45 years and it has to be made in america, as you said, and it has no artificial ingredients. no coloring, no flavoring. that is why it is booming as well. alix: there is some controversy about whether it is handcrafted. how long does it take if you have to meet up with pent-up demand? chris: depending on the spirit,

usually two years. some bourbons are as old as 22 years old. it takes a long time. for nknob creek, the 2023 forecast is already done. stephanie: 2023. do you have enough supply for all the demand? chris: we do. we produce over half the bourbon in the world. we were responsible for half the growth of bourbon last year. 5.3 million barrels of bourbon in kentucky right now. again, a record. that is more bourbon barrels than there are people in kentucky. stephanie: are you seeing a lot of one of thes -- wannabes chime in? we are losing a little authenticity. matt: and new york.

bourbons distilled around here. at the liquor store you see so many different kinds of bourbons and a lot of those are yours. are you making too much, too many different kinds of burden -- bourbon? chri bourbons: as a great story behind it. you take a brand like makers mark, it is distilled still at it differently location then jim beam, and jim beam is distilling brands we have had for years. one of the reasons you are seeing brands from other states is that bourbon has to be made in the u.s. but it doesn't have to be made in kentucky. there is an interest in distilling and lots of different states. matt: let me ask, do you have a problem getting the next generation into distilling? you have seven generations of beams and your master distiller -- does he have kids that are

distilling? chris: his son is the eighth generation, working at the plant right now. he graduated from college a year ago and is in an engine should program and will work in every -- internship program and will work in every part of the distillery. he is looking for his son to take over. stephanie: what is your favorite beam brand? chris: that is going to hurt people's feelings. my favorite brand today is makers mark. if i weren't to say makers mark he would have a hard time tomorrow. stephanie: oh, always the salesman. do you like makers mark? matt: my favorite brand as well. i will try others -- stephanie: it makes me feel of my tongue is on fire when i turned it. matt: good. stephanie: we'll be back with

more. stay with us.

>> live from bloomberg headquarters in new york, this is "market makers," with erik schatzker and stephanie ruhle. >> the white house picks a fight with wall street. this time it's over retirement funds, and whether brokers should be required to act in the customer's best interest. i'd like to think they do anyways. if it's tuesday, it must be belgium. we look at why tim cook is on the ceo to her overseas. and a tough sell for greece's new premise or. he promised an end to posterity, but new bailouts promise more of the same. erik schatzker is on the ground in athens, we take you there.

welcome to the second hour of market makers, i'm stephanie ruhle. erik schatzker is on assignment in greece. and bloomberg intruding editor bill cohan is here with me for the hour. >> and what a pleasure. >> we are talking about banking regulation, the oscars. did you watch? >> i slept to some of it, watch some of it, some of it was boring. >> i didn't have anything else better to do on a sunday night. >> we won't get into that. >> you should have been in a late -- in l.a. let me take you to the bold and the top business stories of the morning. existing home sales fell between nine-month lows last month. the sales dropped almost 5% more than economist expected. what's the problem?

fewer homes on the market is pushing up prices. as a result, first-time buyers are being shut out. greece's new prime minister may have problems selling the new bailout agreement at home. he campaigned on a platform of ending austerity measures that it crushed greases economy. -- crushed greece's economy. he has to come up with more reform ideas by the end of the day. dish network's founder and chairman is back in charge. he will become ceo at the end of march, replacing joseph clayton. he will officially retired. he accumulated $50 billion in wireless airwaves he's not using. subscriber growth is a major problem, dish lost 70,000 customers last year alone. there is tighter security of the largest mall in the u.s. after a terrorist threat. in a video, the terror group al-shabaab called for attacks in

u.s., canada, and the u.k.. the video specifically mentioned the mall of america, which is just outside minneapolis. here's homeland security secretary jeh johnson. >> if anyone is planning on going to the mall of america today, they have to be particular careful. as the statement and red indicates that will be enhanced security there that will be apparent to people who go there. there will be enhanced security there. >> the terror group is based in somalia, you're in a half ago it attacked the shopping mall and 10. ports along the west coast are coming by to life after a labor dispute dockworkers resolved a nine month contract standoff late friday afternoon. now the cargo backlog from ships waiting offshore may take eight weeks to clear. since november, there was reduced activity at the ports as much as half. and what does the future hold for brian williams? he was suspended from nightly

news for telling untrue war stories. earlier, we asked his former boss, former nbc universal ceo bob wright. >> they made it so he can't come back, six months is a long time. he is a person that should get out there, i think you would like his chance to apologize and do some of the things perhaps like o'reilly did. right off the bat. it will be a sad thing. >> nbc's investigation into this matter is still underway. they are still doing damage control. moving on to a topic that bill and i love to discuss, jpmorgan. they kick off the investor day tomorrow, and our next guest says it is time for the banking giant to prove that it size matters. with this is a leading bank analyst. no doubt you're going to be front and center with it question for mr. dimon and he

won't be able to resist you. what you want to hear tomorrow? >> the concern with jpmorgan is what have you done for us lately. >> had a great year? >> over the last decade, they have done well. they won the war, but lost the peace the last years. in 2013 they had higher expenses. in 2014, a little lower are we due to higher capital. the stock hasn't done well. jpmorgan, what have you done for us lately? the last three years, the efficiency has been stalled out. it's not gotten better. they had to absorb all sorts of extra costs because they are complex, they had to take on it for capital because they are large. but we don't want to hear is a lot of whining and excuses tomorrow. it's like the old doctor joke -- we have more expenses because we are complex, more capital because we are big.

if that is the case, don't be complex. >> he does complain about regular readers. but i don't see him as a whiner. >> he doesn't like being picked on by the press and regulators. isn't this the same old story? people of been talking about this for the 10 years of jamie dimon has been there, but for 25 years before. you are talking about the stock. that's been dead money for a long time. the bank had its best year ever last year, $23 billion in profits? >> bill go one -- bill cowan is under the impression this is a golden age of banking. >> it's about to be because there's no competition. we can disagree about this. when you make $23 billion $21 billion in profits, and wells fargo made $23 billion, these banks are making record profits. i think you are complaining about the stock now moving.

>> i think it's at one of the same. the challenge is to show the benefit of scale. jpmorgan has $2.6 trillion of assets. if you are going to be the biggest bank, become one of the most efficient. in the last three years, the efficiency progress has stalled. having said that, i do agree with your premise. this could be a sweet spot of banking. jpmorgan, they've absorbed a lot of the regulatory cost the last three years. >> pass that on to shareholders. >> the bad news is in there. they are on the cusp of additional efficiency savings in both the retail and wholesale businesses. i think this is an important collection point for jpmorgan. they're not doing us any favors. if you are the largest bank in the industry, you should have the benefit of scale. if you catch of the benefits of scale, you don't have the right to be of that size and complexity. >> where you see the problem? >> part of the problem is in the retail business.

you are one of the largest retail banks, but they are not the most efficient retail bank. >> cost of july -- costs are too high? >> they have a conceptual plan to take out $2 billion in costs in the retail business, we would like to see tomorrow exactly how are you going to do that and is the plan credible? >> who is the more efficient bank? >> wells fargo is best in class over a number of years. u.s. bancorp is efficient. jpmorgan's best-of-breed among megabanks, but they are not necessarily best in class in each business in which they operate. >> you seem to be impressed by matt deigned to visit -- i know jamie dimon well, and he seems to be fully recovered from his health problems. and glad to be back. an anxious to be back. but choosing to sing -- but

using -- you seem to think that matt is focused on this. >> we were impressed with his energy and insight. we were also reminded -- where's jamie dimon with this expense? a decade ago you heard the stories of jamie dimon counting the number of black cars in front of the headquarters. >> handing out flowers and newspapers instructions. -- subscriptions. he's a senior statesman now. >> we don't want a senior statesman running a bank. we want the same all jamie dimon. >> are you saying that jamie has been in the job for too long? >> we like a senior statesman so long as they are not giving up their attention to detail, their energy to run the business day today. >> what would you be the impression the jamie dimon does? whether he's been out of the

public eye because of health issues or not, he is as hard-core tough as he has ever been. >> that's what we have annual checkup on jamie dimon and jpmorgan tomorrow. jpmorgan got complacent with the trading loss. that was complacency. it's our job to make sure that they are not getting complacent in other areas. >> that is true, jamie will be the first to admit that he took his eye off the ball. sometimes i find that hard to believe in some ways. he is so on top of everyone, to not be -- i know you believe it. i don't know. it's a big chunk of money in the treasury group. he wasn't on top of that. i find it hard to believe. but that's what he said. there's no proof otherwise. he is as anal as it comes. i don't see any lack of focus on the expense side. for six months, he's had a life altering experience.

maybe it's time to give matt the mantle to cut these stocks so that people like mike mayo will be happy. >> someone like matt has the energy like jamie dimon when it comes to expense control. just want to make sure the jamie dimon is not taking expenses for granted. the last three years, the expense ratio, was 60%, 60%, and 60%. >> so, no attention to that. >> with think it will improve. >>'s compensation the big area? >> is the cause of regulation. they've absorb that. but it's their job to manage the higher regulatory costs. >> they had record profits. and that includes a charge for another one billion or $2 billion in additional legal fees that they stuck in there the end. >> they make so much money they can absorb the cost. >> they are making all this

money despite the regulatory costs. >> employees are getting paid like they were in 2005. >> know what is. >> i would say that 2004 as the golden age. >> it's about to be a golden age for shareholders if you ask me. >> revenue growth is the worst it's been an 80 years, and the reason is due to the deregulation of the industry. so long as the company like jpmorgan has extra earnings leverage depaul, like we think they do in efficiency, so long they can return capital through dividends and buybacks, it could be a very nice age for banking. less growth, but less risk. and shareholders can benefit from that. >> and less competition and no cost of goods sold. they get the raw material for free. >> the cost of goods sold has gone up due to regulation. but i agree with you. one of the unintended consequences of all this regulation is the regulators have increased the barrier to entry for banks like jpmorgan. how perverse is that?

>> to regulators realize that? that the actions that they have taken just empower the big guy? >> it's tougher for the small guys to crack in like it was before. not sure that's fully appreciated by washington, d.c. >> i think they know exactly what they have done. they created national champions like they did in germany france, spain. i think that's the whole purpose. >> do your member when jamie dimon watches the department of justice like this, ready to get smacked in the face for the $13 billion fine. no one was letting him. >> i disagree. jamie dimon new he had to pay the piper, he knew they had the goods on him with a civil or criminal complaint that they were thinking of filing. related to jpmorgan's activity. mike mayo asked specifically about that last november, 2013 when they had the announcement of this. why was jpmorgan first in this progression anyways?

>> is jamie dimon finally said enough, i can't wait anymore. just give it to me. >> they had the goods on him. they first offered $1 billion, the justice department said $23 billion, they settled on $13 billion. we came out of shareholder pockets. >> that's the important point for tomorrow's investor day. now the jpmorgan dealt with the regulatory fine, now they know more of the rules, where to jpmorgan go from here, and how they manage that environment? >> since i don't agree with either one of them, we are going to end the segment. mike mayo, thank you. you know he will be asking a question or two, or as many as they let him tomorrow jpmorgan's investor day. bill cohanand bill cohan weighing in. why is tim cook racking up they are miles tomorrow? you think he's flying commercial?

guess again. we will tell you why, stay with us. ♪

>> welcome back to "market makers," i'm stephanie ruhle. this hour, a big deal and big pharma. valiant pharmaceutical has agreed to buy felix pharmaceutical for about $10.1 billion in cash. they make drugs for stomach illnesses, last year, valiant's was rewarded in a long time attempt to buy the maker of botox. they are known as a serial acquirer great uses advantageous tax structure to get mine companies and cut r&d costs to boost projects. falling profits at a british bank in a tax evasion scandal, a full year earnings fell 17%. that's a big number. costs rose an investment bank and profit fell. meanwhile, the bank is still dealing with the fallout from a

report on how it handled swiss accounts for tax invaders and criminals. they announced they had cut ceo's stuart gulliver's bonus by 38% a year ago. spring it cannot come soon enough for anyone living in boston, massachusetts. a weekend storm brought three to five inches more of snow. capped off by a half-inch of rain in some places. a growing problem with this point, collapsing roofs. more than 120 have collapsed in the last two weeks. there is been no serious injuries, it's boston's snowiest winter in two decades. apple ceo tim cook begins and around the world tour today. he's headed to brussels in tel aviv later this week. meanwhile, other executives are headed to mexico for meetings with regular readers there. the discussion may revolve around the soon to come apple watch. so why so much world travel this week? let's bring in bloomberg west's

cory johnson. tim cook is so important, i kind of thing top journalists like you should be traveling with him like obama, air force one style. >> i do. but there's no reason to get away from this weather. so he was in mexico last week. we know that because the government officials he was meeting with were required to release their notes from that meeting. they said he was there to talk about health care devices. we think the apple watch my be part of that. they reported he's going to be in israel this week, apple is not confirmed. they know when he's in mexico he meets with top government officials to talk about the issues around health care and health care devices. we know that the apple watch and tim cook's personal interest he's a workout fanatic. his interest in this watch and his ability to monitor people's health is principal and that device. we imagine they are trying to differentiate what apple is doing with some devices that are

regulated by governments, things like glucose testing devices for people with diabetes. this is a device that may give information to people. but their discussion about what they do, how they manage privacy and data, and what this watch could do i think is important to the world market if they want to sell a lot of these things. >> do think there is any aspect of a victory to her for tim cook -- victory tour? there profit is twice their competitors. >> i think that when tim cook walks into a room, he might be the most important person in the room for a lot of perspectives, government officials usually think they are the most important person in the room regardless of the government and the position. is going to have some tough questions to answer. one of the things i noticed, i thought tim cook speak twice in the last week or so. at the goldman sachs technology conference, and for cyber security in silicon valley.

they are reeling beating the drum beat on their different approach towards the issue of privacy and data. different than competitors like google and facebook. i think that there's probably a message, now they have that messaging in place, that they want to bring to government around the world saying with our payment system, with our health data that we are going to gather, with the data we gathered on the users of phones using location of the things like that, apple's messages we don't keep it, we don't want to know what you are doing, we just want to make the product easy to use. everyone else is different. regulators, they're going to look as someone, look at google and facebook, look at our competitors, we are not doing what they do. >> what is the vibe? today have apple fever -- do they have apple fever? they sort of had crushes on microsoft. how do they feel about tim cook and apple? people love apple. >> they are trying to shape the narrative. we see the spending and lobbying

has dramatically changed since the days of steve jobs. the silicon valley approach might have been customers have a right to know what their blood level or sugar levels are very with her dna is, whether health information is. we are not going to involve the government. i think this apple is more mature, recognizing the need to deal with the government to keep the government off the back. >> those are important questions, and if i were governor official, i would wonder about that. but how about the goodies he has to hand out? the new plans and ireland or denmark? >> apple has a lot of money socked away and global centers they compete to keep it there the same as the u.s. government busting his chopds to read history those assets. >> you know the only chops they get busted here are yours. cory johnson, "bloomberg west," editor at large. we will be back, talking greece. ♪

>> coming up greece's prime minister has two different groups to keep happy, the voters who put him in office, and the letters keeping them afloat. ♪

>> live from bloomberg headquarters in new york. this is "market makers," with erik schatzker and stephanie ruhle. stephanie: welcome back. i'm stephanie ruhle. my partner erik schatzker is on assignment in greece. today, a great backup. bill cohan, here with me for the hour. we have a lot to cover. baking -- banking, oscars greece. bill: to hear from eric -- lucky guy. stephanie: i will take you to the breaking news desk where scarlet fu has a breakdown of all the action overseas.

scarlet: the u.k. has joined the record high club as well. it closed down. another day, another high and the stock 600 not at a -- building on its 7.5 your game. the ftse would have rallied. that stock down about 5%. it is burning season and the dutch mail delivery company posted -- post and l rallied on its result and the spanish discount grocer gaining 4% after buying back its shares. greece is closed for a holiday so no local reaction to the ale out extension at the etf that tracks greek stocks is down about 2%, giving back some of friday's search on the announcement. spanish and italian bonds also

rallied. those yields are lower. taking a look at currencies, the euro at a three-week low and dollar surging against the ruble. a ruble weakness after moody's joint s&p and downgrading russian debt to below investment grade blaming oil prices and an fighting in the ukraine. stephanie: thank you for giving us the european close. my partner erik schatzker -- my hair. i'm watching everyone around me. my partner erik schatzker is following all the action in europe. we sent him to athens to watch the reaction from friday's bailout deal. do voters think the prime minister went back on some of his campaign promises? erik: i have somebody better to answer that question than me. i would like to introduce you and bill to antigone liberal rocky. she is not part of the governing coalition. she sits in opposition.

an economist who describes herself as a liberal and supportive of reform. antigone, thank you very much. >> thank you for having me. erik: you set them with the honest varoufakis to talk about the list of reforms he has to present to the eurogroup tonight. what did you talk about? >> we did not actually sit with him. we got this invitation that he addressed to all parties in support of eu -- greece's membership in the eu. to come up with concrete suggestions. we called him up and said we are going to send you our most pressing reform proposals. he said, make it short because

this is going to be a short list. erik: what do you think is going to be on it? antigone: i don't know what is going to be on it. i think it will be something on the public set -- the public sector as everyone agrees something has to be done. something on tax evasion and corruption. there is going to be something on general reform of social security. i don't know. i have no idea. they have not been very liberal very forthcoming with what they are doing. erik: do you expect mr. verified us will put something on the table that meets the approval of the eurogroup? antigone: i hope so. he has a long way to let it collapsed now. erik: what if it doesn't? what happens? antigone: i think we will have

some long, horrible months to contemplate what is happening if this list does not come through. there is no need to think about it right now. [laughter] erik: you are hoping we do not have to think about it. do you and your fellow party members approve of the way that mr. barro fokker's best mr. verify -- mr. darrell fokker's -- antigone: let's change everything without wrecking the country. the negotiation was going to be very dangerous for greece. we felt -- to keep the country within the eurozone and try to change as much as possible

without putting a? in our participation. erik: you know how the agreement is being characterized outside greece. germany gets everything it wanted, greece gets nothing. that is not the way people seem to feel about it. antigone: i don't think this is a useful way of describing a painful and successful -- erik: why successful? antigone: the failure would have been for greece to say goodbye. erik: anything but failure is by definition a success? antigone: the main issue is for greece to remain within europe because any other alternative has a lot more pain and much less game. -- much less gain. erik: we've not seen the list of

reforms. let's assume it is tuesday morning. the eurogroup ministers have had a conference call and they approve. then what? antigone: then there will be a period where the government would have to explain to the greek people why this agreement was successful. i think they have a lot of arguments if they want to use them. if they simply refused to discuss the issue in depth by just saying this is a successful agreement. , it is not going to work. erik: is there a risk of rebellion over this list of reforms and the negotiations that take place? antigone: i do not think so. i think people voted for greece to remain in europe and for greece to introduce courageous

structural reforms. this is what people wanted and i do not think they are going to be -- they would want to revolt against an agreement that safeguards the premise on which policy is going to evolve. erik: thank you for spending time with me in athens. she is a member of the opposition party. she is supportive of what varoufakis is trying to do. greece needs to stay within the eurozone and it sounds as though varoufakis and severus have the support of the greek people -- and siptsipras have the support of the greek people. bill: to me, and looks like a big negotiation is going on and to have eric talking to a member of parliament makes it a lot

easier for us to understand what is going on. stephanie: when we return battle lines are being drawn. financial advisors who give financial advice. on the other side, the white house. when we come back, we will cover that and a lot more. you are watching "market makers." ♪

stephanie: welcome back to "market makers." i'm stephanie ruhle. the obama administration is picking a fight with wall street over how to handle retirement savings. the president wants to change the rules for brokers who give retirement account advice such using them of putting their interests above a client -- above the clients. peter cook has the details. we are about to see a major battle over this. what i don't understand is advisors have always had to act as if i do sheer he -- as a

fiduciary. when you take the series 63 even the series 24 it is all about understanding your client their risk appetite and their plover ash and their profile. i can remember a question of what type of instrument would you sell to a senior citizen on a fixed budget? what has changed? >> you highlight something the industry has pointed out. there are protections in place. what the labor department is moving on today is the advice that brokers give to their clients with regard to 401(k)s and iras. the legal test for them, for some of those financial advisors is a suitability test. is this investment suitable to that person given their income level? what the white house is moving to do is change that legal test to a fiduciary standard. they must put their client's interests first.

the labor department is making the case that there is an incentive for blue -- for brokers to pick investment decisions that might provide greater compensation for them and not necessarily the best advice for the client. that is the change they are pushing for. the industry is pushing back hard saying the white house is trying to solve a problem that does not exist. bill: this seems to be as old as the hill. i of been hearing about this for years. one problem has been when they push -- when brokers push their firm's own mutual funds or investment products. i assume this push by the labor department is designed to continue to try to prevent that because that is in the interest of the brokers and not necessarily in the interest of their clients. >> it is that kind of self-dealing the white house and labor department are trying to address. they make an economic argument.

they are saying there is a dollar amount they can tabulate. $17 billion lost annually to retirees because of this. that investors are losing out. retirees are losing out. there is a big fight from the industry saying that number is oversold and it is not as bad a problem. thin rush has rules for these advisors. they do not think it is as big an issue as the white house is making out. $11 trillion at stake. stephanie: why is the president getting involved right now? he has a lot of other things to work on and you have all these regulators where it is their job to do it. bill: they should have been doing it all along. >> the argue from the industry is that the sec was tasked to do this with the passage of dodd-frank. they are wondering what is the labor department -- what does

labor department have to do with this? the labor department has been looking at this issue for several years. they tried to propose something in 2010. they were tabled in 2010 and are moving again now and the fight will be intense over the next couple of months. stephanie: an intense fight in washington with no resolution. what else is new? bill: why don't we get them all in a room? stephanie: there are too many governors and regulators to get them all in a room. peter cook, thank you for giving us the latest. it is time for the top headlines from around the world at this hour. the recovery in residential real estate is hitting speed bumps. sales of previously owned homes fell more than expected last month. they were down almost 5% tween nine-month low. -- a nine-month low.

that forced up prices make it harder for first-time buyers to enter the real estate market. the chairman of dish network is retaking the reins of the company he founded. charlie irving will become ceo at the end of march. joseph clayton will retire. irving accumulative $50 billion worth of wireless airwaves he is not using. dish lost 79,000 paid tv customers last year alone. at wesleyan university in connecticut 11 students have been hospitalized after an apparent mass drug overdose. the university says the students took a drug known as molly. at least one of the students is in critical condition. molly is a sure form of ecstasy that produces euphoria and sensory distortion. you have kids in college. doesn't this blow your mind? bill: a lot of things in college

these days blow my mind. wesley and has been at the forefront of bad behavior for a long time. stephanie: horrible. bill: you have to be vigilant with your kids and tell them to stay away from this kind of stuff. stephanie: you think that is going to make that happen? bill: it is better than doing nothing. stephanie: "market makers" will be back with more. ♪

stephanie: we touched on it earlier. i watched the oscars last night. what was your take away? bill: boring. protectable. -- predictable. some inappropriate commentary from the host. wardrobe malfunctions. stephanie: it was a choice to

come out in his underwear. a body part did not fall out, he came out in his underpants. if you are near patrick harris you're in the best -- neil patrick harris, you are in the best shape of your life. bill: the best movie i think was whiplash and it did not get enough love. stephanie: i can't believe american sniper got no love. why do you think it didn't? bill: it was not that good a movie frankly. it touched a nerve in the heartland but i do not think it was that good a movie. it was overly dramatic. stephanie: for me, the most dramatic moment was during the memorial montage, they left out john rivers. it is not like they only put actors in. -- they left out joan rivers. joan rivers defined what the red carpet is.

at this point, the red carpet and what are you wearing is one of the most valuable elements of the entire event. the fact that joan was left out, shame on you. bill: she was a guest here on this program. stephanie: we honor you joan rivers. we will see you tomorrow. ♪

>> it is 56 past the hour. a quick look at the action on

wall street at midday. u.s. stock index trying to stage a comeback early declines but struggling to do so. the s&p 500 has cut its drop to two point down 1/10 of a percent. the decline in oil prices was putting pressure on the energy sector. energy stocks down half of 1%. joining me for today's options insight is jim's kruger -- jim sugar. friday afternoon, the announcement that greece has gotten extension on its bailout. >> the theme this entire year until -- since december has been elevated volatility. we really want to see volatility come in across these asset classes for we have significant coverage in u.s. equities. having more confidence that that unwind is happening. if you look at europe behind

the news on greece, you have an index that is up over 11%. the euro stocks index. it is underlining the two x, down 15% today. currency is unwinding. maybe there was some buying ahead of this but in volatility terms, there is some unwind happening. >> european central bank has indicated it will be supporting asset prices. when you look at volatility in the u.s., the decks at almost 15. have we settled down where we will not peek above 16? >> the open question is, where does the future curve go over the next few weeks? does vicks return or does it find stability around 14 or 15? if it does find stability, that

lends more risk to u.s. equities that we have seen over the last couple of years. >> this tech company is down more than 20% over the past year. it still has earnings ahead of them come march but they are hot far from the highs seen in late 2007. >> michael genovese covers the stock for us. we want people buying ciena. we think their fiscal first quarter will be better than expected. they are in the 100 g optical business. they are come in that space. they are reporting earnings. the beat -- stock traded of 18%. much of ciena's business -- we are positive on the name. we want to put on 18 22 risk

reversal. we are comfortable with downside risk. a 20 two strike call. you do that for $.14. unlimited upside above that 22 strike at expiration. >> there is a chart that shows you how you might profit. this is a goal long strategy. thank you for joining us today. that is today's on the markets. we are to see how indexes react. right now, they are down about 2/10 of 1%. "money

stephanie: welcome to "money clip." we bring together the best stories come interview and video in business news. why is this man smiling? the prime minister of greece has some decisions to make. in company news, charlie ergen takes back the reigns at dish network. trying to reverse years of stagnant growth. "birdman" wins at the oscars. the container store pays generously. investors may want to put a lid on i