betty: from bloomberg world headquarters in new york, i'm betty liu. we are 30 minutes into the trading session right now and we are lower but we have been fluctuating in the first half hour. the s&p indexes trying to rebound from its lowest close in 21 months. european stocks are rallying after mario draghi says the ucb -- so the ecb may reconsider its monetary stance and could add more stimulus in march. we will hear from our discussion with christine lagarde. we will be talking with ukraine president petro poroshenko who met with vice president joe biden. we will be talking with the bank of america chairman and ceo ryan moynahan days after the bank

reported its highest earnings in a decade. inocencio has more. it feels like more calm has come into the markets. ramy: anyway you look at it, 30 minutes into the trade. see a bitgly, we did of a pop into the green after mario draghi's comments. we have actually flipped into the red. a short-lived blip. we will call this flat for the most part. the s&p 500 and the dow, just about flat. the nasdaq down by about a quarter of a percent. is the sector health of the s&p's 10 sectors. right after mario draghi spoke -- most of these, nine out of 10 of the sectors were in the green. six of the 10 sectors are now in the red. information technology through

utilities. utilities, the most down by about 6/10 of a percent. energynow! flipping open to the green. this had energy -- energy, now flipping up into the green. energy stocks have been lower for most of this year to date because of falling oil. let's go to see what is happening with oil. as we are looking ahead to what is happening with the department of energy numbers for last week, we see that oil is pretty much flat and cutting off the lows of the day we had had those -- we had hit those at the clock a.m. marker. trading on the $28 handle. betty: tell us about this rally in europe. ramy: we are sort of down. with europe after mario draghi's comments, those are up. the dax right now is up by about 1%. the ftse, 8/10 of a percent. these are off the highs of their

sessions. while the ecb president was speaking these all popped by as much as 2%. those did drop-down to the level they had been trading at. let's take a look at the german bund. this is down by about four basis points. this is its lowest since november of 2015. there could be a little more stimulus that mario draghi could pull the trigger on as soon as this march. betty: thank you so much. let's check in on the bloomberg first word news. vonnie quinn has more. vonnie: good morning. russia is rejecting a london judge's report that says vladimir putin approved the murder of a former russian spy. he was murdered by two government agents a decade ago. those agents, he said, were working on orders that were probably approved by putin. he was poisoned with

radioactivity -- with radioactive tea. pakistan as army chief is asking afghanistan to help find those responsible for the attack. a crackdown on extremists. foreign militants killed people at a university near the afghan border. this is a day of mourning in pakistan. germany's finance minister says solving europe's refugee crisis will cost more than expected. wolfgang schaeuble says nations will need to send billions -- need to spend billions. the eu is still trying to come up with the more than $3 billion in promised turkey to house refugees. news 24 hours a day powered by 2400 journalists in more than 150 news bureaus around the world. betty: china's economy and markets are gripping the attention of global leaders and

investors like never before. bloomberg news spoke with china's vice president in davos and he said "an excessively fluctuating market is a market of speculation where only the few will game the most benefit when most people suffer." the chinese government is going interestfter most -- of most people." >> we should do a better job. we are learning. communicate.ay to [laughter] >> you have to be patient. our system is not structured in --ay that can communicate able to communicate seamlessly with the markets.

betty: for more insight i want to bring in patrick chovanec. patrick is a former business in beijing so knows a lot about china. i think it is interesting we are seeing more comments coming out from top senior officials. is there communication getting better? patrick: it is find that they keep talking about volatility being the issue. in fact, they love volatility when prices go up. they hate it when prices go down . the problem is not volatility. the problem is an overpriced market. i think people need to buckle their seatbelts because this market, the shanghai market has another 25% down to go before it reaches what is a fair valuation. betty: why 25%? patrick: that would put it about 2100 which is essentially where it was before it took off for no particular good reason.

in the meantime, the economy deteriorated so it might go below that. i think it is important for people watching outside in markets outside of china to realize that is simply the popping of a bubble from last year. that is not a reflection of anything new coming out of the chinese economy that should cause them to turn around and selloff. betty: however, you are seeing some measures. we have not seen any big stimulus come out from china but we have the cash i injection in the money market system. the stock market still went down. is that the beginning of some more measures to come? patrick: stimulus has played out. another thing i get a kick out of is every time a bad economic number comes out of china, headlines say, room for stimulus. sometimes markets rally. betty: like they did the other day. patrick: china never stopped stimulating since 2008. it has waxed and waned but it

has always poured more credit into the system. because of the lack of structural reform, debt credit goes into speculation and it goes into overcapacity and makes the problem worse, not better. actually -- betty: if i'm to read what you are saying, you are they have to let the markets go down. this whole anticipation of more stimulus is not realistic. patrick: they need to let the markets go down to reflect reality of the chinese economy. they need to let the real adjust.economy i every time they encounter that choice, they switch. betty: because the markets -- the whole global market is wrenching from that. let's step away from china and talk about the impact on the u.s. and european markets. , it soundsi today like he is saying he is going to keep his foot on the pedal even more.

i want our listeners to hear what he said at this press conference. this -- dynamics continue to be weaker than expected. it would therefore be necessary to review, and possibly reconsider, our monetary policy stance at our next meeting in early march. betty: were you surprised by that? patrick: i have never been a believer that ecb easing is a silver bullet that will help the european economy. i think it is important in the united states and europe to distinguish between core inflation and overall inflation. overall inflation is low because oil prices are down. which actually is a boost to economies like europe which are energy importers. core inflation, certainly in the united states, is above 2%. it is important to draw that

distinction. i think it is good that european markets are not instinctively selling off after asia sells off. what we have seen is people engaging in selling because other people are selling. betty: panic mode. patrick: i think the market is not really making distinctions. what we're telling people is, some of the trends we are seeing whether it is cheap oil or and and to china's overinvestment boom, it hurt some segments of the economy in some countries but it benefits others. you actually -- the market is not making those distinctions. it has been a broad and indiscriminate selloff. betty: the storyline is, bad news overall. patrick, great point. chief strategist at silver crest. world leaders gathering at davos. the president of the ukraine met with vice president joe biden at the world economic forum. we will be talking to him about

that meeting, right after this break. ♪

betty: good morning and welcome back to bloomberg markets. that's get back to davos where francine lacqua is joined by ukraine president petro poroshenko. francine: thank you so much. i am delighted to introduce our next guest. esther poroshenko, thank you for joining us -- mr. poroshenko, thank you for joining us. the world has changed. your situation has changed. what are the most significant steps? are we any closer to a disbursement? pres. poroshenko: very happy to

see you again after one year. the world changed significantly. situation in europe changed significantly. ukraine changed significantly. we implement that a huge package for the reform for the stabilization of banking systems , financial systems. the improvement and decisive steps for anticorruption. we launched a lot of other things. most important that we implement -- very pleased that today the european parliament makes a special resolution about the significant progress of the forum in ukraine and other countries. during my meeting with christine lagarde from imf, we really recognize a big part of the memorandum in ukraine was

implemented. from tax reform, social benefits reform, cutting the budget .eficit francine: you have just met with the imf managing director. if you from that meeting to speak to us. did she say she is ready to disperse the money or other outstanding issues? pres. poroshenko: we reached a compromise for the matter which is included in the memorandum and we make enduring statement that in the near future we will finalize. we do not need any new mission. we will finalize memorandum. we expect in the next trench and february. francine: early february? pres. poroshenko: i do not go into more details. i think if i say the near future, that would be right words. francine: you met with joe biden earlier this week.

what did you tell each other? pres. poroshenko: today, we had a meeting starting yesterday finishing today. it lasted more than four hours. we concentrated on security matters. confirmed that ukraine implements a significant part of the minsk agreement. unfortunately, we do not have any positive delivery from the russian side. neither on the security matter. shillings,we have 43 today we have 27. yesterday, my country lost three soldiers. today, two were killed. completely unacceptable. francine: do you plan to meet with president putin? pres. poroshenko: we discussed it on the 30th of december by phone conversation. he promised that on the security matter, to demonstrate the escalation. this is under his control to

stop the fire. informationclosed during the last week, 21 times denied for access. this is on accessible. francine: you're telling me that after four hours of meeting with vice president biden you cannot report any progress on reaching lasting peace? pres. poroshenko: we confirm that ukraine demonstrated progress. we think there is a key role of our partners in the european particular participants of the normandy forum. the role of the united states is for the dxader collation -- for the de

escalation. francine: can you be closer to peace? if russia -- pres. poroshenko: the section is introducing the fact that russia is not implementing the minsk agreement which it promised. withdrawal of the foreign troops from ukrainian territory, giving border, and athe cease-fire, release the hostages and cooperating with iec. this is the main issue why the sanction was introduced and unfortunately we do not have positive development in the situation. that is why sanction is effective and those who have doubts that sanction is not working, let's see the rate of russian rubles. russian ruble to 85. this is the price aggressors pay

for their irresponsible actions. francine: what do you make of the u.s. trying to get closer to russia? to have common agreement on how to do with syria? pres. poroshenko: the coordination of american countries,th many including russia and syria, does not mean ukrainian matter is out of the agenda or not a priority. that was the message i received from the vice president biden. i was happy with that. biden mentioned ukrainian members as one of -- ukrainian matters as one of top priorities in devils. francine: do you feel you are avos.ng the -- in d pres. poroshenko: when we are talking about the de escalation in the ukraine we are talking about the defense of the interest of evil living in all

european member states. -- the interest of everyone living in all european member states. francine: do you think there is a direct link between the price of oil falling and russia's capacity to engage further? pres. poroshenko: i doubt there is a direct link. the less money russia could spend on military expenditure, the better. better for russia, better for their neighbors, and better for the whole global security. francine: you think this will happen? oil touches 20 -- i know it is difficult, but at what point does president putin say, i better rain in defense spending? pres. poroshenko: from my point of view, i think russia should be a predictable country. until now, nobody can predict what the situation will be in syria.

situation in ukraine. that is why we spent 5% of our aggression,russian build of armed forces. with that situation, i think the progress of minsk, other a unity ofemand european union and transatlantic solidarity with you ukraine. francine: which you say you have. pres. poroshenko: we have now. we do our best to keep it for further time. second, an effective program of reform in ukraine, which has demonstrated success country. demonstrate the effective implementation of the reform and i'm happy today that we have positive estimation from the european union, european

parliament, international monetary fund and partners from the united states. francine: you are expecting a reshuffle of your government. why is that necessary? pres. poroshenko: to make programs more effective. francine: are they too slow now? do you want to crank up the volume? pres. poroshenko: we do our best. this is the only way how we can survive in this difficult situation. francine: president, thank you so much. mr. petro poroshenko of ukraine. trench, whichthis the president of ukraine has gone indicate pitch -- has gone indication that it could come soon. davos francine lacqua in speaking with the president of ukraine. coming up later this afternoon, george soros speaks with francine lacqua as well. right here on bloomberg at 2:30 p.m., eastern time. do not miss that interview.

♪

betty: welcome back to bloomberg markets. it is time for the bloomberg business splash. as a prize in the labor market last week area and claims for unemployment benefits up to a six-month high. they climbed by 10,000 to 293,000. plunging oil prices may lead to more job cuts in the energy sector. cadillac named for a michigan city, will soon roll out of a factory far from the u.s. general motors opened a factory that will build luxury cars in china. the facility will turn out 165 sedans a year. more as theio has markets are slightly rallying right now. things could change but you will get to transport. ramy: looking at airlines first.

last i checked they were all up and they still are. united states airlines is up by 1.5%. southwest, by 3%. alaska by nearly 6%. they came out with earnings. with united airlines, they missed earnings because of international routes getting hurt by the stronger dollar. currency headwinds we have been talking about. shares spiking because of cheaper jet fuel. another transport, union pacific. down by 6.3%. it missed its estimate. revenues fell 15%. betty: thank you so much. we will be interviewing the union pacific ceo in the next hour. ♪

betty: live from bloomberg world headquarters in midtown manhattan, you're watching bloomberg television. we are expecting that data that's been moving the market. weekly oil inventory.

we are expecting yet another buildup here of 2.6 million barrels of oil. oil prices right now are near their top of the session. ramy inocencio has more at the market desk. ramy: right now in anticipation of that we are looking at nymx crude up by nearly 1% right now. and also to point out our own bloomberg survey. we are seeing an estimated 2.2 million barrels coming in for nationwide crude inventories. the report is also projected to show an uptick as well in gasoline and dislat fuels including heating oil and diesel. off that also the a.p.i. issued its own report saying that inventories came in at 4.6 million barrels for the past week. it will be interesting to see how much of a disparity that is between the numbers. we are still waiting for that right now. decides that, we are also looking at what might be happening with the curbing

estimate, that is the biggest hub for oil in the united states. the a.p.i. said that barrels rose by 60,000 barrels last week. but bloomberg is expecting that there is a rise, betty, of about 00,000 barrels. a bit of disparity as usual between a.p.i. as well as the surveys. betty: we are waiting still for crude oil inventories off gas inventories as well. we'll get back to you in a moment. let's first get to bloomberg "first word" news this morning, ronnie quinn. ronnie: thank you so much. today the obama administration may announce new visa rules. the requirements are aimed at those who are dual citizens of iran, iraq, sudan, or syria. or those who have visited these countries in the last five years. designed to make it harder for europeans who have fought for islamic states to enter the united states. the white house want as countdown on emission from oil and natural gas wells. the plan is gaining momentum thanks to a massive natural gas

leak in southern california. the proposal takes aim at lesion from wells on federal and tribal lands. industrial officials call it an unnecessary burden. oregon's governor says enough is enough. the governor is urging authorities to end the occupation of a federal refuge by an armed group. the self--styled ma lishkwla men took over a building there 19 days ago. officials have taken a wait and see approach ever since. a blizzard tomorrow is expected to dump up to two feet of snow on washington. the national weather service says the heavy snow and high winds could create life threatening conditions. forecasters say smaller amounts of snow will fall on new york sit yes and other parts of the east coast. -- city and other parts of the east coast. betty: global news powered by our 2,00 journalists. thank you so much. turning to politics. less than two weeks the first ballots of the 2016 election will be cast in iowa. the latest bloomberg politics

iowa poll shows billionaire donald trump in a tight race for first place with the freshman senator from texas, ted cruz. cruz's rise to the tomorrow tier of the republican race could be thanks to one of the most powerful forces in politics. a person you never heard of. pulitzer prize winning reporter who covers campaign finance for us now published a must-reprofile on this big money man behind ted cruz. the name of this man is robert mercer. who is he? >> robert mercer is a computer programmer by training. and he runs renaissance technologies which is one of the most successful and secretive hedge funds in the country. betty: when you say secretive, what do you mean by that? >> renaissance makes its money by using power full computers to spot patterns in markets that normal traders, human beings couldn't see. and the strategies it uses are a closely guarded secret of the firm. betty: how is he active politically in what are his

donations? what's his profile here? zachary: robert berser, since 2010, has given more than $32 million to conservative causes. things like club for growth and other organizations that are trying to push republicans toward ideological purity. betty: what are his exact issues that he's most focused on? zachary: he's a conservative. a couple of issues particularly interesting to him that we report about in the story, is he's a supporter of the gold standard. he funded a conference last summer to kind of push for the gold standard around the same time that the federal reserve was meeting in jackson hole, wyoming. betty: do we know if ted cruz is aligned with hizz policy stances? zachary: we don't know how much cruz is influenced by his biggest donor. we do know that cruz has kind of given some impetus to one of mercer's pet issues. in two different republican debates last fall, cruz spoke positively about the gold

standard and called for a return to the gold standard. betty: what was the other issue? you said there were two pet issues? zachary: another one is mr. mercer's critical of something called fractional reserve banking. the idea that banks can lend out their -- lend out money from depositors to make loans. betty: ok. how much, exactly, how much has he given to ted cruz's campaign? what does that look like? zachary: mercer has given $11 million to a pro-cruz super p.a.c., not the campaign itself. that would be illegal. you can give unlimited amounts to super p.a.c.s. that's the most any individual has donated to any candidate running for president. betty: do we know why he likes ted cruz? zachary: they line up on a lot of issues. cruz is trying to run as the most conservative guy in the race. mercer is very conservative. on things like not just the gold standard but climate skepticism and other issues that may not be lined up with everyone in the republican party, cruz is pretty -- tracks well.

betty: mercer, what's his success rate? who else has he backed? zachary: mercer has a taste for the long shot. in my story i write about a guy running for congress in oregon who has run three times in a row. never won. but mercer is a big believer in this guy's kind of medical research that he's doing. and has made six figure contributions to superp.a.c.s to support this guy every time. betty: do we know why since he's so secretive business wise, i'm not saying he's not secretive politically, clearly you have uncovered him. why is he so active politically? zachary: i can't read his mind. but from talking to -- we talked to about two dozen people who have worked with him or his projects. i think he feels very strongly with the few -- about the future of the country, concerned about it. he thinks that conservative leadership would improve it. betty: like the koch brothers. do people compare him to the

koch brothers? zachary: they have been doing this for longer than mers. you could draw a parallel in that they are both trying to push the party in a more conservative direction. betty: zach, thank you so much on that story. bloomberg's zach midre, can you read his profile on robert mercer in the latestish you shoe of business week. more bloomberg markets as we are rallying here. the dow up 136 points. right after this break. snends

betty: welcome back. this is bloomberg markets. we head to europe where bloomberg is seeing a pretty strong rebound in european shares after draghi. signaling he may press the pedal

more? >> as if we didn't have enough excitement on our hands in 2016, excitement of the turbulent variety, draghi weighs in signaling that the march meeting is a live meeting. he said further stimulus could be necessary, betty. this is the stock 600. that's where it was before the meeting. it shot up by 2.5%. it's come down. it's up again. we are up by 1.7%. the volume tillity persists, betty. check out the euro against the dollar. that was just before he spoke at 1:30 london time. look at that whoosh all the way down, biggest decline in two months. the euro strength, of course, has been a headache for mr. draghi because it pushes down on inflation. and a lack of inflation, betty, as we know is draghi's big problem with the continued decline in the price of oil. draghi's back in the game. march 10, stick it in your

diary, betty. betty: as you say, a live meeting now, mark. ok. i will. i'm going to stick it in my calendar. for a look at u.s. markets, as i mentioned we are rallying here. the nasdaq, though, looking at the index, is the lagarred. abigail doolittle has more. abigail: they are higher, but considering volatility is turning into the big stories, you have to wonder how long it lasts. one of the drivers is the biotech sector. when we look at a one-year chart even after yesterday's rebound, we see the nasdaq biotechnology index may be barely positioned. still below last year' lows. lower highs and lower lows. suggesting the sellers are in control. more weakness could be to come. e big biotech loser today is

alcaremace after two trials in major depress i have disorders missed the goal. goingen hime analysts called it glirgee setback for a sock on pace to have its worse plunge since july of 2002. turning to the positive, shares are up today, positive influence on the index after the company beat fiscal sales estimate on strong product growth. leaving the outlook for the fourth quarter unchanged. what standards oust is xilinx has outperformed the nasdaq here. perhaps one that will hold as guidance remains the same. betty: thank you. time now for the bloomberg business flash. look at some of the company stories in the news right now. general motors is taking another step toward backing a big player -- becoming a big player. offering rentals of a chef have $ - chevy volt for spark for

an hour. g.m. has taken a half a billion dollar stake in a ride hailing company, lift. there is a battle over the struggling japanese electronics maker, sharp. a chinese company is offering $5.1 billion for it. that's according to a person familiar with the talks. but sharp is leaning towards taking a cheaper rescue by japanese government-backed innovation network corporation. ford and lincoln will be among the new auto brands on the sidelines during super bowl 50 on cbs. however, car commercials like volkswagen, color full ad last year, will dominate the game. audi, hyundai, kia, are all buying time. 30-second spots are going for bout $5 million. that's your latest bloomberg business flash. much more ahead in the next hour on bloomberg television. more from da vose.

don't mitt our sit down with the banc of america and chairman, brian moynihan, days after the bank reported its highest earnings in a decade. that's 11:40 eastern time right here on bloomberg television.

betty: welcome back to bloomberg television. china still contributing to those global growth concerns as it adjusts its currency policy. shift to consumer-led growth. the governor spoke earlier today to bloomberg television in davos. >> the markets had reached a level where people were asking when does the correction come and on what basis? so i think china is a trigger. oil prices are a trigger. but prices will try to find an appropriate level. they have been inflated. you did have some volume tillity. a lot of people have been telling us to expect volume tillity. the question is, what level does

it settle? and i think news coming out from china hasn't changed significantly over the last few weeks. of course there were certain change in the fix. chinese authorities have gone out to explain this was not about deliberating depreciating, but adjusting to the new basket. but one should take them at value. i think oil prices is another issue that with the low prices, who are the level players who are exposed. what happens to the countries exposed because of low prices? we know that countries like venezuela already have problems. what about countries elsewhere? there are uncertainties, but they are a trigger to already high levels of prices which we are trying to find a new level. >> let me ask you about china. what kind of numbers do you expect china to grow? i know you obviously forecast these things forward. what sort of number are you

looking at? >> the question is do you focus on the official numbers or focus on the indices that people are putting together? again, my sense is there is growth in china. it's not falling off a cliff. >> six to seven percent? >> i would go with that. but the real question is, what does this imply for the various commodity markets, etc. in terms of the quantity of growth, there's still a lot of growth coming from china in terms of dollars. , markets are falling over time that is expected of a an economy growing richer. it's going to slow. i'm not worried about chinese growth. the big question is there how to place the leverage. where is the growth and how it fits with leverage. >> how can we be sure that the chinese won't devalue on? this is what the markets are putting their bets on.

we cover this every day. this has a direct impact on your day job. >> let me first say that the chinese move to a basket is understandable because the yen r's trending but the and euro are weakening. clearly some of the actions do have effects elsewhere. one should see the chinese move to move towards the basket as being unrelated to what's happening -- >> you and i did a magical panel a while ago. at the time in the heart of the financial crisis we saw the fault lines. at the time you were roundly criticized by many economists, including larry summers. he's out now with a secular stagnation. he's out now with a real mandate to say we need to maintain confidence. how do the developed countries maintain confidence and avoid secular stagnation to assist emerging markets?

>> of course growth would be good. we'd love the industrial countries to grow faster and the real question is how we can make that happen. my sense is certainly monetary stimulus has run its course. once you are in this situation, how do you get out of it without creating an abrupt change in asset prices? that's what we are grappling with today. but the answer has to lie in looking at the underpinnings of growth. the sort of structural reforms that we all know and love. but can't actually do. i think we need to figure out how to make that happen. betty: can't cure everything with central bank policy. in the meantime, though, want to point to the screens here below me. we are going to put them up on the screen in front of you right now. the dow, s&p, nasdaq are all trading higher right near their high of the session.

this is quite a rebound that is shaping up here as we are about an hour and a half into the trading session right now. in fact, all 10 sectors of the s&p are in the green, led by telecommunications, consumer discretionary, and also energy. energy stocks are helping lead the way. we are going to get the inventory numbers in just a few minutes. we'll bring those to you as soon as they cross. head back to davos now. my colleague, stephanie and eric are talking to mitch julis, the co-chairman and co-founder of companion capital advisor which manages over $20 billion in assets. self, -- steph, eric? stephanie: how are you investing today? >> i think there's two things you got to look for. staying power and earnings power. you are preparing as well as predicting. if you look at guys like us who

invest in situations restructurings, you build cash, you have securities that give you a ling to sources, liquidity outside the capital markets and selective. stephanie: get granular with us. this is a time when many investors got their doors blown off last year. last spring, franklin templeton saying energy, the name of the game, a few months later they were suffering. right now where do you want to invest? >> right now -- eric: or not. >> first of all, again, selectionivity because while things are interesting now they could get even more interesting. stephanie: cash? >> we are running about 20% cash in one of our funds. we do restructurings such as seizures, clear channel. those are ongoing, longer duration situations. more generally the issue is the following. when the markets are like this, you can't predict with

certainty. if you have liquidity and you're not leveraged, which we never do, then situations like when things get even, perhaps even more interesting, you can -- stephanie: i have to ask, 20% in cash. is that where you normally are or is that more? >> that's basically -- i would say that's a conservative stance for us at this point. it reflects market conditions. you have to understand -- i'm sure you understand what's going on in the market. that's why we are here. think in terms of balance sheets. we focus on complex microbalance sheets. davos is about complex macrobalance sheets. a lot of them are out of whack. eric: that raises an important question. credit everybody knows is a single name business. you're the macroguy. when you say things are going to get more interesting, is that because you expect other people to get carried out?

or is it because the macrofundamentals that underpin credit are going to deteriorate? >> first of all, one of the first things an investor has to do is not get carried out. that's the staying power issue. stephanie: don't get carried out. you heard it from mitch. >> and so, ok, what does that mean when you have staying power in your fund, it's a function as i said before having some cash, but also there are ways to build staying power through structures that are more locked up. stephanie: higher up in the capital structure. when you look acrime scene sectors, retail has gotten so beat up, everyone we have spoken to with oil price, consumers will be spending. you want to look at names like j. crew. macy's is now a target potentially. >> the thing about consumer is that it hasn't really -- one of our theses has been we haven't seen the trickle down into the consumer behavior. you still do lemplinging and

being cautious. you are seeing car purchases being good. but retail is very disruptive more generally. however, there are opportunities that we are looking at. j. crew, for one. neiman-marcus is particularly interesting. stephanie: why? >> high-end retail franchise and in the -- it has leverage capital structure, but the flexibility to cut back on capital investment and build cash. eric: what about oil and gas? > we avoided energy last year. we still think -- we made plenty of mistakes and our investors understand that. that was one that we did not make. eric: what about now? >> now, it's still, we think, early. eric: why? >> most of the companies that have leverage capital structures are probably the also rans. the ones that are the big guys like exxon, they are still not priced base the on the oil curve. there are going to be

opportunities and we are still waiting. eric: exxon. ok. stephanie: what else do you like? what's interesting? >> well, there are specialty finance companies out there that are being carried out with everything else. and they are very interesting. for example, ally, you see their commercials on tv. excellent market. you indicated retail you haven't seen the picked up from lower gas prices, but you do see it in car purchases. that means ally, lots of underwriting business to do in car loans. eric: great having you here at the world economic forum. stephanie and i are sending it back to new york. at the break, we'll be back.

>> it is 11:00 a.m. here in new york. :00 p.m. in london and midnight in hong kong. i'm betty, welcome to the european close. bloomberg's mark joining me live in the next hour from london.

we wrap up trade. mark, a pretty big rebound thanks to draghi. mark: you said it, betty. still bouncing back from that biggest drop in august yesterday with a little help from the president, mario draghi. the european close starts right now. betty: before we get back on the market, we need to break the oil inventory numbers. a build up in invan hollen tore, ramy with more. ramy: the number right now is 3.9 million barrels. that's against a bloomberg survey estimate of 2.2 million barrels. little bit closer with the american petroleum institute number that came out yesterday of 4.6 million barrels. right now we are seeing this come off nymx crude, had seen session highs past hour. now you can see closer to the