♪ vonnie: from bloomberg world headquarters in new york, good afternoon. here is what we're watching. markets bouncing between gains and losses today as we wait tomorrow's jobs report. major averages hovering around six-we ties. mitt romney tries to take down donald trump, calling him "phony and a fraud." trump fires back, calling romney a failed candidate. is it too late for the gop to focus on winning the nomination? take giants may rushing to apple's side against the fbi. at&t filed a friend of the court brief, and any moment now, the tech giants may file, as well. are one hour from the close of trading, and stocks are bouncing around today. let's head to the markets desk.

julie: bouncing around in a tight range. the jobs report is tomorrow. there was some disappointing economic data today on the services portion of the u.s. economy. the s&p and dow are now higher, but really just barely, as the nasdaq still languishes in the red. thes&p, over the course of day, to show you the bouncing around we're talking about, here we have it, but a very tight range. this chart looks like it is showing more movement than it is showing because it has been in such a small range. in terms of what we typically see on the day before jobs report, it has kind of been all over the map on the thursday prior. if you look at february before the january report, with all very small gains. but the prior two month, with a larger gains, declines, in fact. this report can certainly give more direction to the market.

if you look at the averages year to date now, and here is the tally from the three majors, the s&p and dow still down a little less than 3% after this big downs of the bottom. the nasdaq has been the laggard all year. it was the best performer last year but down 6% this year. bonds, a major rush into and to the safety net, has stopped for now. for now. has it's good change tomorrow after we get some economic data. there is the last one for the 10-year, and it shows the yield, which implies there has been buying. it has slowed down to some extent. lookingo show you wirp, at interest-rate probability. we are seeing christ -- priced in a chance of a 53% chance seven increase at the meeting.

thesel be looking at numbers again after the jobs report. finally, the commodity markets today. we are not seeing a lot of action when it comes to oil prices today. very little changed. gold is catching a bid. and copper is worth mentioning. we have been seeing a winning streak for copper as traders that there will be additional stimulus added in china, which is a huge market for that vonnie: metal. vonnie: thank you for that update. let's check the news headlines. mark crumpton has more. mark: thank you. donald trump is firing back at mid romney, who today made his case why trump should not be the republican presidential nominee. speaking at a campaign rally in saidand, maine, trump romney was a disaster as a candidate in 2012. mr. trump: this is a failed candidate.

[laughs] horribly -- -- he felt badly. that was a race that should have been won. that absolutely should have been won, and i do not know what happened to him. he disappeared. ark: mitt romney called trump phony and fraud whose promises "are as worthless as a degree from trump university." elizabeth were in cannot seem to make anyone happy these days. she is coming under fire from supporters of both hillary clinton and vermont senator bernie sanders for failing to make an endorsement. some of senator sanders' supporters are blaming her for his loss in massachusetts on tuesday. the u.s. supreme court has left intact a federal rule that targets mercury pollution to a gives the epa time to fix legal problems and come out with a revision by april. 20 states wanted the court to

block the rule, while the government decided how to account for its costs. chief justice john roberts turned down the request today. president obama is extending sanctions for another year against russia over the military intervention in ukraine. russia's foreign ministry says the sanctions create "danger of a course of confrontation with russia." global news 24 hours a day powered by our 2400 journalists in more than 150 news bureaus around the world. i am mark crumpton. back to you. vonnie: back now to the markets. the vex index dropping 16.4. about 22 a weeks ago. roger altman warns volatility is likely to return. strong.ts have been the big question is, will we see a recurrence of the volatility

of last august and four weeks ago? my view is, yes, we probably will. vonnie: the founder and ceo of an investment management firm joins us now. thank you for joining us. they've makes index is one gauge of volatility, the fear index. obviously, if we are more volatile than the vex would suggest, do you agree with roger altman that there will be a return of volatility? number of macro risks out there which caused the meltdown in january. bottom doubt in early february. that they really have not gone except here in united states. economic numbers have been a little better. oil has rallied, as in you know. junk bond yields spread from the february 11 low in the market, have come in about 120 basis points. the gdp in the first quarter will probably beat consensus,

maybe at 2.5%. prettyent numbers are strong, the adp report. but overseas, the problems are still there. that itsome might say is the u.s. situation that really counts for u.s. investors and we do not need to worry about contagion from overseas. where are the hot spots for you? >> china is number one in terms of tail risk. it remains to be seen whether the after our flows will continue. risk is evaluation of the rmb, which can have significant contagion effects by exporting deflationary pressures around the world. also, in the ecb. we have a meeting with mario draghi coming up.

it is a potential of disappointment. people are expecting him to ease. it remains to be seen. vonnie: the political situation in the u.s. causing a little uncertainty, too. are you making any changes to your recommendations? >> the focus has been of our new purchases of staple-like stocks that are resistant to these global macro pressures, have very visible earnings growth, a trading in multiples of less than 10 times in our 2017 earnings, get will show double-digit earnings gains. vonnie: how have you found those stocks? >> through a lot of hard work. would you like some names? vonnie: yes, please. reit group, you can buy a real estate company that pro forma 9.5%

dividend yield after they make and i position that has been an ounce. gaming and leisure properties, glpi, which is a triple net lease reit, the first of its with aat has real estate regional casino operator. very highly is double earnings and dividends in the very same dividends. cap,her name would be ear the world's largest aircraft leasing company. they have long-term leases, an average of about 12 years. it is very visible but generating tremendous pre-cash flow. they are selling aircraft at a profit over book value in trading at a big discount to book and 5.5 times earnings. are dependent, do some extent, on the u.s. consumer with these companies.

net leasee triple company, you are really depend on the credit of the operators who have corporate guarantees on long-term leases they go as long , lease renewals. as long as those credits are good, which we think they are, we think their growth and dividend have been pretty well restored. have another one that you are looking at it what is giving you the conviction for that company? >> it is the largest global plastic packaging manufacturer. 80% of their customers are consumer staple type companies. lars food companies with a do the packaging. and they just acquired and company, the largest nonwoven plastics manufacturer for health care and hygiene, which are recession resistant areas. are not looking

for a recession, are you? >> i am not. i think the probability is that we are going to have slow growth in the u.s., along the lines of 2%, like in recent years. probability, although recession risks have increased with global thereainty, i still think is the probability of continued economic growth. how many rate hikes? >> i would say two, maybe june and december. vonnie: thank you. coming up, mitt romney and donald trump duke it out in a war of words paired will run the's accusations against trump convince supporters to switch to rubio, cruz, or k-6. and then the sports authority locations as they file for bankruptcy. here is a look at the dow, the

intraday chart. nike, mcdonald's, marc gasol, visa, all laggards today. ♪

this is bloomberg markets. let's check on where the markets are. .1%.&p 500 is up about it has been trading at a narrow range today. 1988.at the dow jones industrial average off its highs of the day, about unchanged. composite index is down now about .1%, the laggards today. the nasdaq 100 down just a little bit more. the 10-year yield is

interesting, 1.82%. a little bit of curve flattening again today. the bloomberg's nest flash, some of the biggest news stories. kroger predicting slower growth this year. of food hasction brought lower prices to the u.s. food market. good news for consumers but challenging for retailers. u.s. mortgage rates rose this week for the first time in two months. freddie mac says an average rate in a 30-year fixed-rate mortgage increased to 3.64%. it was 3.62% last week. boeing has a new product for flying german files. it is developing self-cleaning toilets which use ultraviolent the night to kill 99.99% of germs. airbus is working on a similar concept.

that is your bloomberg business flash. now to the feud between donald trump and mitt romney. mitt romney put the current front runner for the nomination to task today. retaliate.uick to i want to bring in the bloomberg washington, d.c., bureau chief. mitt romney came out and lambasted donald trump with a pretty long speech in salt lake city. trump then gave what was supposed to be a response, perhaps, but did not talk all that much about mitt romney. >> the first half he did not talk a lot about it, and we were sort of surprised fear he did get to it in the second half, and it was a bit rambling. donald trump aids and people criticize his business record. one of mitt romney's most powerful lines was where he's sort of laid out some of the enterprises of donald trump that

have not done that well. is not athis man business genius. i think that is where be -- where the big fight between them will continue on. vonnie: mitt romney -- i have a soundbite that illustrates what you are talking about. romney: here is what i know. donald trump is a phony, a fraud. his promises are as worthless as a degree from trump university. he gets a free ride to the white house and only we get is a lousy had. what is the strategy behind this? was this a good idea? or is he just inserting himself as some of you donald trump can, you know, insult? >> i do not think anybody put mitt romney up to this or had too. so many people in the republican party at his level, senior figures, people who have been in

the party for a long time, phil personally outraged, threatened, and a sense of true panic at donald trump taking over their party, people who believe in lower taxes and free enterprise, who believe in a strong for policy, a coherent foreign policy. donald trump's rise has alarmed them in a fundamental and basic way. , asave john mccain out well, this morning. i think we are going to see a lot more these senior figures, at least over the next two weeks when they feel they have a real shot to stop him, before florida in particular, really telling the american people, think about what you are doing. vonnie: speaker paul ryan out at the same time. how much sway december the like mitt romney have these days? >> i think mitt romney has a lot less sway than paul ryan. people do remember him for

running a campaign where he was tagged as a private equity millionaire who was out of touch with the american people, who will be remembered for his line about the 47%, which donald lack offerenced today, concern about those people. donald trump has made inroads feel left behind and disenfranchised, who feel no matter what they do, they cannot get the same kind of jobs, and they blame immigrants. they blame other people for that. they blame government and blame washington. the problem with mitt romney is he represents a lot of those things. vonnie: it has come out that arnold schwarzenegger is going to campaign with john kasich in ohio, which is a huge race. will arnold schwarzenegger, who is taking over on "celebrity apprentice," will that make a difference? at this point, something needs to turn. welcome to 2016, arnold

schwarzenegger campaigning with john kasich. is ad schwarzenegger former governor of california and the kind of strong celebrity that sort of resonates with a lot of people you would think would be trump supporters. i think this is a big deal. i am not sure we would have said that in many other cycles, but in this one, where we these such the celebrity culture and people treat donald trump like a famous athlete, this is an important move for john kasich. he wants to have people look at him as the establishment figure that people can rally around. he wants to get across the message that, you know, i am in real deal. if i get a win in ohio, my home state, i can support the support -- i can carry the support of the party and win the nomination. vonnie: thank you so much. that is march 6, the campaign

and columbus, ohio. murphy, our in washington bureau d.c. chief. these are to watch a big lead with all due :00 p.m. ♪ still ahead on bloomberg markets, options insight, the most active stocks today -- bank of america, chesapeake, freeport-mcmoran, and ford. ♪

vonnie: this is bloomberg markets. julie: we are watching headlines on goldman sachs. it will be cutting about 5% of its fixed income staff. not clear if this is just part of its regular layoffs it does every year. joining me is the momentum stock dax.com.t at

we have seen and positive for this recent rally. you have been looking at a parallel in the action we have seen recently. not me through what you are seeing now and how it is similar to what we saw last fall. eerily similar to that pattern we saw two end last year, going from august through october. we had a nice little w where the market came down, bounced, rallied a little bit, and then we had a rip your face off rally starting in october that would all the way to 2100, but we still 30 handles shy of the all-time high. same sort of thing here. we came down to 320, hitting 1812 them at a little bit of a rally, then we came crashing back. 1810. suddenly, we are men rally again. feel rip your not face off this time. it does not appear to have the

same enthusiasm. do you think it will peter out before we get to the highs again? >> it is like the bears are the designated driver at the bar at closing time for the bowls. come on, bulls, get out of here, done, and the bulls want to keep partying. i think it is 2050 on the is a .s that party spot there is a lot of event risk coming up. julie: i want to quickly mention dick's sporting goods, which is out with earnings next week. you are pretty positive on those earnings. is partially because we had one of its big competitors now going to be going into bankruptcy, sports authority? ick's willnk d

benefit? >> totally. about 23% of dick's sporting goods locations have a sports authority by them. so i think you'll see a big benefit through that. it will be sort of a windfall. their earnings are coming up on march 8, next tuesday, before the market opens. i want to put on a bullish call spread here. i am going to buy the $43 call for $1.90. i'm going to sell the $46 call for 75 cents. 44.15.k even is julie: thank you so much. much more bloomberg markets. ♪

bonnie: you are watching "bloomberg markets."

2012 republican presidential nominee mitt romney today unleashed a blistering attack on donald trump. he said the current front runner is a fraud and a phony and that the billionaire developer is not a business genius. >> at donald trump's were implemented, the country would sink into prolonged recession. a few examples. his 35% tariff light penalties would instigate a trade war and that would raise prices for consumers, kill our export jobs, and lead entrepreneurs and businesses to flee america. his tax plan in combination with his refusal to reform entitlements and to honestly address spending would balloon the deficit and the national debt.

even those donald trump has offered few specifics economic plans, what little he has said is enough to know he would be very bad for american workers and american families. returned the criticism, saying romney ran a terrible campaign four years ago and was a disaster candidate. the miami herald is endorsing senator rubio for president. florida has 99 delegates at stake. the newspaper had this to say about florida's junior senator. "the only way the nominee can win is by unifying the gop and appealing to democrats and independents. the best candidate is senator marco rubio." we also got a word from florida governor rick scott saying he will not endorse anyone before the primary. susana martinez is also endorsing senator rubio. tonight's is out for

presidential debate in michigan. he issued a statement saying "he doesn't see a political path forward." trump will attend the event. florida is overhauling the death penalty in a bid to resume executions. this comes after the supreme court ruled the current sentencing law was unconstitutional. before the legislature sent a bill to the governor that would require 10 at of 12 jurors recommend execution in order for it to be carried out. florida previously only required a majority of jurors recommend a sentence.ned -- global news 24 hours a day powered by our 2400 journalists around the world. i'm mark crumpton. some breaking news. twitter and 16 tech companies have a filed and him a cut three

in support of apple's fight against the fbi in those companies include ebay, reddit, linkedin. , abigail doolittle is alive with the latest. abigail: it's turning into a down to the wire day for the nasdaq. it has been in the red for most of the day, trading at a tight range dragged down by health care and technology. it does be fighting to trade higher than the dow and s&p 500. this could become 80 that are between apple and microsoft. microsoft is the biggest point , trading down. it's not clear why but apple is trading higher. it appears to be getting a note that a bump at of stone ag. the iphone seven due out later this year can bring a return to 10% or trader growth this year

for the iphone. be enjoyinge could a nice near-term rally in apple. another point boost today, shares are up on an upgrade to outperform. hereuld be worth noting that intel recently put in a cross. it suggest the sellers are in control. the last two death crosses appeared to be very bearish. something to watch. any bright spots on the nasdaq today? abigail: solar city is having its best today on the year. chairman elon musk could take the company private. the stock is down one and 50% year to date, having started the

year above 50. bonnie: thank you so much. abigail doolittle at the nasdaq. still ahead, we are following the breaking news on apple. 17 tech companies have filed an amicus in support of apple agains. more next. ♪

bonnie: breaking news. , twitter and ago 16 other technology companies filed amicus in support of apple in their fight against the fbi. they include red it, airbnb, square, linkedin. bloomberg's matt larson is in to

.ell us thank you for joining us. companiesgroup of that are decent sized. thiskind of impact will have on magistrates anywhere? if nothing else, i think the bread of companies starting to weigh in could influence the magistrate judge in considering the ramifications of a ruling in this case. it demonstrates its not just a case at impacts apple and apple's concerns but it is a broader industry perspective. there are software developers, weighingnufacturers in. cisco, intel, microsoft have expressed they are likely to

weigh in as well. you are really seeing a broad part of the tech industry expressing concern over the precedent that could be set by this case. thee has made public company's organizations that have filed amicus briefs and they include the aclu and the mobile app association. today is the deadline. the more people that sign, the more there is competition for companies to compete with apple to file. or they at least run the risk of having their legal interests determined without them having a word in the proceedings. know --n amicus brief by no means secure his release rights but it lets you direct a conversation. i think for some companies, there are potentially concerns

with representation they make to a u.s. court in -- and ramifications that could have worldwide but on the whole, if you have a large business or u.s.-based company overseas, you want your voice heard. mozilla weighed in as well. one so&t the biggest far. these briefs are pretty short. just an expression of support for apple's case. do we learn anything else about how this decision, were it to go against apple, would impact these companies? >> everybody who weighs in gives their perspective on potential downstream impacts. it was interesting to see the aclu, a civil rights organization, to weigh in on potential security and liberty arguments. then you see companies identify downstream industries that could

lead to u.s. concerns on access over data. seenteresting when you people outside the mobile space looking at data transfer, communication companies giving some insight into how undue access or requiring companies to develop new products in order to assist with the execution of search warrant's could have a negative impact. investors heavily been considering this news as part of the stock story but i do want to ask you how does the magistrate way these briefs when it comes to actually considering? >> any judge that considers an issue that has amicus filings usually looks to them for added inside, maybe more of an impartial view on the downstream

impacts of the case. it's no supplies parties are directly involved in the litigation may overstate downstream effects but if you have third parties coming to the aid of one side or the other, the judge starts to look at that and i think they have an little more clout in figuring out what the downstream impact could be. thank you somewhat forgiving us your insight. matt larson in washington, d.c.. was one of the first to file this morning along with snapchat. filing a brief. twitter and 16 other companies have also filed amicus briefs together. a quick check on marcus -- markets. 32 points of a gain on the dow. the s&p 500 up 1992.

the nasdaq has crawled its way back to unchanged. stocks fluctuated. time for the bloomberg business now. employees earning more than 200 $20,000 will have to wait a bit longer to get them. -- 220 thousand dollars will have to wait a bit longer to get them. less than 140ing thousand dollars will be paid immediately. echo. dublin down on the company unveiled two new versions today. the $130 product is a battery-powered version of the device.

google is joining the fight zika virus, donating $1 million to keep the disease from spreading. that is you elitist bloomberg -- your latest bloomberg business flash. cosco shares recovering from early losses. the retailer announced it is boosting its minimum wage for the first time in nine years. will this move come with a cost? us consumer reporter joins now. we were following this story when it came to walmart. some mixed results. what will be the impact with cosco? >> not as big as walmart. they are a much smaller company. ballmer said they would be giving a raise to more than one million employees. costco has around 100,000 employees.

it does come with a cost. it is kind of in this new reality of anyone paying hourly workers, they have to start raising wages. 5%.ave employment below a lot of states are increasing minimum wages on their own and we have the retailers like walmart, target raising wages on their own. it is forcing the hourly rates and retailers are just having to follow along. bonnie: how does the increased compare with the increase that walmart gave its employees? will this attract more people to costco, perhaps better service? >> wal-mart raise their minimum wage to nine dollars an hour last year and $10 this year. costco is already paying a minimum of $11.50 to $12. that gap was narrowing.

now costco is increasing wages to $13.50 an hour for the minimum wage. walmart is at $10. this makes them much more competitive and makes them able to get a higher quality retail moreyee who maybe has some experience. it will improve their competition. and if not just the bottom coming up. it's people paying just above the bottom. differentd not just a kind of employee but a longer tenure, people may be less likely to move on and switched jobs. any comments from management about how the increase in cost for them will impact margins or may it actually benefit cosco because the employees will spend the extra money there? an interesting point. of course all the companies have a cost from paying higher wages

but some of them are catering to the very employees who are going to be getting those wages. cosco to some extent, yes. it does give their employees or spending power to buy more gas, products at the company. all mark is a big one. big one.almart is a when they raise wages, that's a lot of money that could come back into the company. they are catering to these lower income workers who now have a little extra money and can put that to use. bonnie: thank you so much. sandra, are bloomberg consumer reporter. up, the close of trading is minutes away. ♪

bonnie: this is bloomberg markets. goldman sachs or woman it more than 5% of jobs in its fixed income business. this is cheaper than the annual cut. is dakins now campbell. is this a part of the regular call? >> it is. in january, we reported they were looking at 5%-10% cuts in fixed income specifically so this fits in that context and is deeperbad as 10% but is than 5%, which is what they typically do. bonnie: 5% is a round figure and goes across units but doesn't necessarily mean that the fixed income unit every year will have a 5% cost. this is a bit of a statement to

the fixed income department. >> that's right. the 5% annual call is across the company and in each division on each desk, that arranges up and down around 5%. the fact fixed income is down more than 5% is just a statement about how difficult of an environment it is and there are probably other divisions, investment management or equities, where things are going better and maybe it's less than 5%. seen, the we have various earnings reports have been suffering. goldman has filed a list with 43 workers. these are really only beginning. that is not the full 5%. >> that was the beginning of the

annual call and more discussions, more filings will be happening. certainly discussions through this month and into april. bonnie: it traders and sales people in the fixed income. there were some comments the fixed income department -- that this was coming. we will see more. this is only the beginning. >> and i think we may see more from other banks on wall street. -- both equity and fixed income have been very bad compared to the year-earlier. athink other banks are taking hard look at their headcount in operation and deciding whether they need to cut deeper on the trading side. bonnie: this is partially due to structural change in the way fixed income has traded these days and it's partially to do with central banking, isn't it? interest trading below

zero, fixed income is generally a spread business. there's very little spread with interest rate close to zero. goldman has been one of the few that remained committed to the fixed income business. others, morgan stanley, european banks, have withdrawn. one of the things they have said is fixed income will come back when interest rates rise. so, it's not all structural changes. some of it is cyclical. they are basically waiting for that to come about. and when central banks don't own a lot of the supply -- >> exactly. bonnie: thank you. the market really just fluctuate around zero. to the markets. they close in less than seven minutes. we have dave wilson with us. our chartonsible for

of the day. all eyes are turning to the jobs report. that is why we are seeing a narrowing. >> it's been that way for the last couple days. people trying to figure out what the numbers will say about the state of the economy and more about what the federal reserve may be deciding when policymakers get together march 15 and 16. will we see the first second -- the second rate increase in four months? be looking atally this report to try to get a sense of where things stand. bonnie: it seems like even with the better data, the chances 6%. it's going down -- no doubt that is part of the mix. you see day-to-day fluctuations

in that particular indicator, wy rp. focuses on the overnight fed funds rate when it comes to setting policy. that is one piece of the puzzle. the other is what is in my latest chart. looking at what the backdrop is in terms of markets in the economy. michael, the chief executive at the market field asset management, what he did was look at the performance of the bloomberg financial index and the citigroup u.s. economic surprise index. the financial conditions are based on money market rates, bond yields, stock performance, and for the economy, it's the actual data, the key numbers. as you just saw, both of those indicators have turned up in the

past few weeks. he is saying the barrier that might otherwise have occurred in terms of fed policy is being removed. bonnie: exactly. thank you so very much. one fewer barrier. you can see dave wilson's charts on bloomberg.com. the market closes next. here are the averages. at a seven-point game. ♪

scarlett: we are minutes away from the closing bell. i'm scarlet fu. and i'm alix steel.

u.s. stocks closing at an eight week high. energy stocks fueling the gain in the s&p 500. our guest predicts a huge rally if the u.k. chooses to stay in the eurozone. is tappinghe nation 80 billion crown from its fund this year. and we have the three charts you can't miss. scarlet: so much for that disappointing isn report because markets are rallied into the s&p 500, the dow closing at eight week highs. energy stocks led the gains. the outliers were tech and health