mark: from bloomberg world headquarters in new york, i am mark crumpton. this is "bottom line" the intersection of business and economics with a main street perspective. to our viewers here in the united states, and to those of you joining us from around the world, welcome. we have full coverage of the stocks and the stories making headlines on this tuesday. bloomberg's chief washington correspondent peter cook is at the white house with more on a congressional challenge to an

iranian nuclear deal. david is looking at challenges to spotify and apple. the greek prime minister alexis tsipras is trying to rally support for his position on the bailout talks. he is asking opposition lawmakers to back his strategy of putting an end to austerity measures. he told the greek parliament any new deal must include restructuring of the debt. president cypriots: we want a new agreement that has necessary restructuring of a debt because no country that has a debt of 180% of its gdp can safely come out to the markets, and this is the sour truth. mark: greece and its creditors remain far apart on a deal. the country has submitted a 15-page list of proposed economic reforms. three european officials tell

bloomberg is not enough to make them give greece additional bailout funds. j.p. morgan executives have been deposed as a part of an investigation into the asset unit. the securities and exchange commission has also subpoenaed thousands of pages of internal documents. investigators want to know whether j.p. morgan executives improperly steered clients into investments for the company's gain. charter communications has agreed to buy a majority stake in bright house-- brighthouse networks among the six largest cable operator in the net fits. charter will acquire assets from comcast when comcast completes its purchase of time warner cable. if that deal does not go through, neither will charter's deal with bright house. in switzerland, iran and world powers may push talks into

wednesday missing their march 31 deadline for an agreement on iran's nuclear program. our foreign policy reporter joins us on the phone from lausanne the site of the talks. good evening. indira: yes, it is all happening now. i spoke with one official from the six powers negotiating with iran, literally seconds ago and i sent does it look like we will get a deal, and was told he was not sure. when i said more likely after midnight, he said probably. we now have officials from many of the countries involved telling us it is likely they will need to go past midnight and into the early hours of the morning, and we will see what they are able to get. mark: at this point, what with the accord look like? indira: i think what people were

hoping for initially was a specific framework agreement and then they would have three more months to work out the technical details. at this point today, they are going for something more like an outline understanding that would have an attachment to it with bullet points outlining major agreements on xyz issues, but they were not try to address every single issue. or that is to say, they tried and they were unable to address them all. some of those will have to be left to the side, and dealt with over the next three months, in their effort to really get that finalized, technical agreement. mark: indira, what is the status of the russian foreign minister sergei lavrov's participation in these talks? indira: he is back. he is seen as a bellwether for a deal. he came yesterday and left, and

said he would only come back if there was a chance of a deal and today he flew back from moscow. he has logged a lot of frequent flyer miles. unfortunate he is not good many points on that, i do nothing. he is back. they are trying their hardest. let's keep in mind, there is a reason these issues have not been resolved yet. they are very contentious on both sides, nuclear and sanctions. mark: indira lakshmanan joining us on the phone from lausanne switzerland. thank you. a joining me from the white house, bloomberg's washington correspondent peter cook. on the word from the administration that talks could be extended, how is the white house responding? peter: they have had a hard line that this deadline did mean something, that midnight on the last day of march they would be a need to produce some sort of framework agreement, and now, however, the fact is the possibility is these talks could run past midnight.

josh earnest was asked about it, and you can sense a softening of that position. secretary ernest: our negotiators have determined over a mostly sleepless night last night, and long negotiations over the course of the day in europe today, and they are going to continue these conversations tomorrow, as long as -- well, if necessary -- and as long as the conversations continue to be productive. peter: so, that is the key test for the white house right now that these talks remain productive. so far, the indication from negotiators is that it is still productive. they will continue negotiations. it is likely going with what indira is hearing as well likely going past the midnight deadline. there is no sense it will be days or weeks, but something in the short-term. mark: peter, is president obama

really prepared to walk away from these talks if necessary? peter: that was a question put to josh earnest, given the time and risky he has taken, would he be willing to walk away, and the message from the white house is the president will not sign a bad deal, but obviously he still believes the key to the issue is solving it diplomatically. he would like to get an agreement, but is come at this point, according to the white house, still prepared to walk away if necessary. mark: peter cook during us from the white house. . u.s. home prices appreciated at a faster pace than expected in january. the case schiller index of property values rose at 4.6% compared to a 4.4% rate last year. david stevens joins me from washington. welcome back to "bottom line." good to see you again. david: good to be back with you. mark: bel20 index is reported -- all 20 indexes reported higher

-- how would you categorize the state of the u.s. housing market? david: it is growing. the story should be better. we have 5% unemployment. we have home prices increasing. the biggest growth we are seeing today, quite frankly, is in new home sales, which are forecasted to be up 13% year over year. existing homes are growing at a slower pace. what is affecting prices primarily today is inventory. there is just not a lot of affordable inventory in the market. that is not meeting the demand. it is causing home price increases particularly in urban markets, where most of the employment growth is happening. mark: mr. stevens, david blitzer noted that home prices are rising twice as fast as wages. if the federal reserve raises interest rates mid-year, as many economists expect, what will that mean for price gains in the housing market?

david: we forecast mortgage rates to rise anyway, with interest rates leveling off at 4.6% by the end of the year compared to what we see today, and 3.99%, the 30-year fixed rate average. from my perspective am a that does not change the demand for housing. household formation is a core component, and it is growing at a significant post-recession rate, at a level that is higher -- far more normalized than a rate that we were at a few years ago. that will create more units, both rental, and owner-occupied. we believe the housing market can with stand some modest increases in interest rate. mark: with tight supply driving up prices, how concerned are you would be buyers are being driven out of the market? david: it is a concern, and as i said earlier, employment gains are being made in large metropolitan markets like washington, new york, san

francisco, etc.. that is were the housing shortages are most severe. the new question is will new builder inventory help to meet that demand. if not, we will see hauser formation focused on rental housing than owner-occupied housing, and we will see owner-occupied housing in subprime cities, second here -- second-tier cities where affordability factors offer more positive for potential homebuyers. mark: the rental vacancy rate at the end of last year was at 7%. how much pressure is is putting on rents and woody be enough to make renters consider buying a home? david: the challenges, at the end of the day, if you cannot get access to credit, or you have concerns about your future stability or job situation, you will delay making the buying decision. see that today. to your point, the vacancy rate is at 7%. it was 11% year ago. that is creating stress unaffordable renting housing.

and that has the impact of pushing long-term renters, who like are not going to be home buyers, into a much less affordable lifestyle as landlords raise rent because of the demand cycle that we are facing. all of this is problematic. it is a taping of the pendulum a little too far toward the rental side, and when that and balance gets out of whack, we get an imbalance in homeownership. mark: mr. stevens, a little less than a minute left, the joint center for housing expects two thirds of housing formation going forward for the next decade to be minority. what is the significance of that, not just for the housing market, but for the overall u.s. economy? david: typically for the latino community, which is so important to the housing market, they are making a significant portion of the new household formation happening in this country. homeownership rate in the hispanic community and the african-american community is approximately 45% to 46%, so

that will have a depressing value on overall homeownership rates. it will create more pressure on rental housing. so getting that balance right, making sure that credit policy the cost of housing, and job gains are equally felt across all communities in this country has a big economic impact ultimately, on housing. mark: david stevens, president and ceo of the mortgage banking association, joining us from washington. to a for your time. david: thank you. mark: coming up, details on record ticket prices for the final four semi finals, edit 2:30 p.m., the close of oil trading. "bottom line" continues in a moment. ♪

mark: welcome back. let's get to the top stories we are following on this tuesday march 31. americans are showing more confidence in the economy. some of confidence rose in

march. the median survey in a bloomberg survey of economists called for the number two remain unchanged. in turkey, authorities are investigating the biggest power failure in 15 years. the blackout lasted almost three hours and stretched from the border with iraq to the border with greece. the government says they cannot rule out the possibility of cyber attack. the kentucky wildcats 38-game winning streak is driving ticket prices to record levels. according to secondary market ticket aggregator tickiq, the average price is about $1900. it is 25% higher than the previous record one year ago. kentucky will be joined by duke michigan state and wisconsin in this saturday's semi finals. that is a look at the top stories we are following. after the break, we will look at acura's strategy with the

automakers general manager, and at 2:30's p.m. columbia finance minister discusses the impact of the strong dollar on his countries economy. "bottom line" continues in just a moment. ♪ ♪

mark: high-performance super cars are back. pricey, high-performance sports cars like the acura nsx dominated at the consumer auto show. matt miller is standing by with the cfl -- cfo. matt: just taking over, a great time because the brand is on fire as far as sales. mike: timing is every thing in this business. i was fortunate to take over the reins. we have had great success. matt: i know you sold 1900 units in the second half, but the bigger, crossover suv models did really well, and is that the reason -- lower gas prices combined with the popularity of these crossovers? mike: there is no doubt that

market shifted toward a light truck focus. we have the strongest 1-2 punch in the suv game. these are fantastic products. it is not just the fuel economy they offer. it is the safety, the utility, and the luxury that they offer. matt: i am sure the products are most of it, but marketing has a lot to do with selling cars. your buddy jerry seinfeld has been doing commercials for you. you have been sponsoring his series online. how well do you think that plays out for acura because i think it kind of brought the name back into the public discussion? mike: there is no question our partnership with jerry seinfeld has been fantastic. that is ritual partnership is about. he -- that is what a true partnership is about. we have taken some risks, which is only available on line. matt: comedians getting coffee

in cars. mike: comedians in cars getting coffee. you had three of the right ones. matt: one of the commercials jerry is trying to get a guy who is going to get the first nsx to give him his spot. i will not spoil it. it is a couple minutes long. thensx has to be the showstopper. would you think about the sales of that? mike: the nsx is a car guy's dream. it has drawn a lot of attention to the brand. we will not sell a lot of them. it is a limited volume market in the supercar area, but we will sell enough of them to get the name of acura out on the street and in a lot of people's minds, including little kids who will be playing electronic games.

matt: on sunday i was out riding, and i saw a car and i thought that was an nsx and i raced up to it, and indeed it was a 92. it is legendary. won't they sell out right away? are you worried dealers will put huge markups on the price? mike: we have great dealers. we feel they will act responsible. we anticipate there will behind demand for the car out of the chute, and we will manage the demand as best we can. matt: lincoln has a new continental, cadillac has a new vigor car. all of these you are -- bigger car. all of these u.s. luxury models are bringing out these big cruisers. will acura follow in those footsteps? mike: acura is not known for a car like that. we are known for compact, luxury vehicles. that is where we will focus our

business going forward. i will never say never. if the market goes that way, we will participate in it, but we want to focus on the great suvs. we feel we have a solid lineup. we think we have a good brand going. matt: would you think your customers are crush up in the most? mike: we see a lot of cross shopping with japanese counterparts -- lexus coming city, and already quite a bit, some bmw. those are the primary areas. matt: what kind of growth do you see going forward? the second half of last year was a banner year. this year, we looking for 10% growth, 15%? mike: we are expecting good

growth because we have a full lineup of refreshed for new vehicles. this will be a strong year for us. beyond this year, we will see steady, continuous growth. that is the way we like to run our business. matt: how helpful is it to honda? the first half, you are a drag on their sales. second half, a boost. what you hear from the bosses at honda? mike: of course, we always want to sell more cars, deliver great customer service, and that is what we -- they are counting on us to do. nobody wants to be a drain on any corporate organization. matt: thank you very much. congratulations on the racing. i know you are doing a lot of that. i hope that is coupled to yourselves. mike accavitti running up acura in the u.s.. coming up -- am i reading your tease? mark: we could read it together. matt: i was going to anchor the rest of the show. mark: please go ahead. matt: coming up, as the federal reserve considers raising

interest rates, how will emerging economies be affected? we will hear from mauricio cardenas the minister of finance from columbia when "bottom line" with mark crumpton continues in just a moment. ♪

mark: welcome back to the second half-hour of "bottom line" on bloomberg television. i really am mark crumpton. thank you for staying with us. let's get to the stop -- top stories we are following. let's check the price of crude oil at the close of trading. crude is down 1.8%, trading at $47.76. indiana governor michael pence says he wants changes to the law that opponents say would allow discrimination against gays. governor pence says it was not

his intent or that of the state of assembly to in his words create a license to discriminate, says he has been meeting with legislators around the clock to address concerns about the religious freedom law. governor pence: after much reflection, and in consultation with the general assembly, i have come to the conclusion that it would be helpful to move legislation this week that makes it clear that this law does not give businesses the right to deny service to anyone. mark: indiana has been threatened with business boycotts, and today, "the indianapolis star," published a rare front-page editorial demanding that the law be changed. lufthansa's insurers will have to pay up in the wake of the german wings air crash in france. the parent company says insurance -- insurers are setting aside $300 million to cover claims, twice the usual amount.

columbia's central bank, in march, held its key interest rate at 4.5% for a seventh straight month. the government's current account deficit is widening as oil prices slump, and the government has failed to boost growth. earlier, bloomberg news reporter iran scott spoke with mauricio cardenas and began by asking under what circumstances should the colombian national bank start selling u.s. dollars. mr. cardenas: we do not have a fixed number. we will always analyze the context. if the circumstances are adequate, we could do that, we are not considering it now. we have not set a target of the exchange rate that will trigger the intervention so it is something that we would continue to monitor, but without an automatic pilot.

it is something that we will decide only based on our own analogies -- analysis of our circumstances. aran: the u.s. federal reserve has signaled they are moving closer to raising interest rates. what sort of impact do you see that having -- a potential just rate increase in the u.s. having your economy? mr. cardenas: we are following those decisions by the board of the fed very closely. of course, an increase in interest rates in the united states is something that could have global consequences, but at the same time, we truly believe that countries like colombia, with strong fundamentals, are going to remain significant recipients of foreign capital, regardless of interest rates in the united states. so, columbia, a country with low inflation, a low fiscal deficit, low public debt, a very open economy, a flexible exchange rate, will remain very appealing for investors.

so, that is why we are not particularly worried with increasing interest rates in the night states. on the contrary, we see the increase -- in the united states. on the contrary, we see the increase in interest rates as a positive sign is it will show the u.s. economy is on a healthy path that will expand u.s. economic growth, and that will mean a larger market for colombian experts. let's -- exports. let's keep in mind that the u.s. is columbia's number one trading partner. arran: the demand for the 20 i have -- for the 25-year bond sold with dramatic demand. given the demand, relatively low interest rates, yields before the fed raises interest rates once you have completed or met your financing needs for the current year would you consider

-- are you considering selling more debt to pre-finance 2016 needs? mr. cardenas: we just completed all of our needs for this year 2015, $2.5 billion. as you said, the 30-year bond -- two transfers, part of it in january, part of it this past week -- $2.5 billion that we placed at a mixture nearly low rate, with low spreads for columbia, showing confidence. despite the declining oil markets, the markets remain confident on columbia's economic outlook. mark: that was mauricio cardenas the finance minister of columbia, speaking exclusively to bloomberg. we'll go to the bloomberg news room in mexico city for today's's -- today's latin america report, and we will look at how jay-z is taking on

spotify and apple. ♪