david: from bloomberg's world headquarters in new york, good afternoon. i am david gura. tracy: and i am tracy alloway. are calls for u.s. recession overdone? one of the best-performing bond managers of this decade tells us the bond managers he talked to says there is nothing to suggest it is added david: warning signs of potential weaknesses for hillary clinton. tracy: a few weeks ago he said brazil was a mess, and now investors are piling in good we will hear from goldman's head of latin american economics on whether the country is looking at an outright depression. david: first let's go to the markets desk, or julie hyman has the latest.

+++ onto gains today come middle of the range and where we have seen them trade over the us of the session. the nasdaq has gained some steam, up by .5%. we have an oil rebound that is helping stocks, anticipation of additional stimulus tomorrow from the ecb, and sort of a snapback effect from yesterday's -- what ended up being pretty sizable declines for the major averages. let's look at the bloomberg for the groups on the move. a little more green than they were earlier. now technology is joining energy stocks. materials trading higher today. we look at oil prices, it has been an interesting day ever since we got the weekly inventories at 10:30 this morning, which saw a built in inventories but a drawdown in gasoline. looks like there was an uptick in demand for gasoline. that is one of the things

fueling the gains we are seeing in oil prices today. there,looking at it health care at the bottom of the list. julie: health care one of the drags, particularly biotech stocks hit it is limiting some of the gains that we may otherwise be seeing. there is concern about medicare part b regulations and drug reimbursement. will there be lower reimbursement rates for high-priced drugs? the rules announced last night was somewhat ambiguous. if you look at the big biotech amgen, all biogen, of them creating a drag, not just on nasdaq biotech, but the nasdaq composite and the s&p 500. tracy: biotech has been a volatile sector. julie: not just this year. last year, to get going on for a while. tracy: thanks, julie. now let's look at first word news. mark pocan has more from the news desk. mark: hillary will defeat donald trump by 51%-30 8% in a head-to-head contest from according to the latest nbc news-"wall street journal survey.

post" news-"washington paul has clinton with the advantage over time. carly fiorina is endorsing ted cruz. at a rally in miami, she called the texas southern are "a leader -- texas senator "a leader and reformer willing to take on the status quo in washington." iran has has fired more missiles and the u.s. has issued a warning. for the second day in a row, iran carried out a ballistic missile test. the iranians launched 2 missiles. the missiles reportedly have the phrase "israel must be wiped out" written on them. ace president biden help joint news conference with israeli prime minister benjamin netanyahu good biden says that if it turns out i rented break -- i rented break -- i ran to break the accord last year, "we

will act." u.n. envoy for syria plans to resume talks with both the government and the opposition no later than monday. pictures fromank simi valley, california can outside the reagan presidential library. you are seeing the casket of former first lady nancy reagan is being brought to the library. mrs. reagan will lie in repose. she died over the weekend at the age of 94. her funeral is scheduled for friday. global news 24 hours a day, powered by our 2400 journalists in more than 150 news bureaus around the world. i am mark crumpton. david, back to you. david: turning to latin america's largest economy, one of brazil's biggest indexes is posting its best gains this month. slowed more than forecast in february, one of the factors boosting stocks. another factor, growing speculation tha about the downfl

of president dilma rousseff. joining us is albert ramos of goldman sachs did inflation figures were lower than many expected. alberto: this is the recession of historical proportions and we should be talking about inflation -- deflation, to be honest. expect inflation to converge towards 7% by the end of the year. given the magnitude of the recession, not a great achievement. tracy: alberto, you are saying it is recession. in january you said brazil was a mess. yet we have seen investors pile into the asset class. the brazilian reality is the best performer this year. what is going on here? alberto: it is a reflection of the probability of urging change that regime change and all the allegations related to the investigation. the market may be betting on a political transition that may lead to a more stable political environment, more conducive to the structural reforms the country needs.

that is behind a rally we have and thethe equities external environment has been somewhat more friendly, and brazil is benefiting from that. david: the inquiry into this corruption scandal continues. we saw the head of the construction company convicted. this is the etf. you look at the inflows of funds here, and uptick in the last couple of days, compared to another influx back in 2014. investors are somewhat optimistic that the corruption scandal is where dilma rousseff is holding office. alberto: in this environment, some assets increase in value. you may be able to buy those assets at a cheaper price in six months. you may not. the assets may not be available for you, particularly if we talk about a liquid assets or private equity deals. you need to move on the asset by someone else.

but the macro picture still -- [indiscernible] tracy: are you expecting impeachment? with that do anything for brazil's economy? alberto: it is a political, legal process. it seems over the last few weeks with a number of events seem to have added momentum behind the impeachment idea in congress and also a number of other pieces of evidence that could be reviewed by the electoral court that may take issue with the way the election in october 2014 was conducted, and that may lead to transition, election at the end of 2018. zika virus, widening concerns. alberto: it is not necessarily something systemic or of the

economic magnitude that instrument is important but people could become very defensive and shy away from public spaces. people leaving private lives -- yes, services will suffer from the event. it hasn't it economic impact but so far -- it has an economic impact but so far i think it is marginal. tracy: other latin american countries should we go to venezuela? david: only country doing worse than brazil. alberto: the macro picture is what it is. deep, deep recession come a double-digit fiscal deficit, currently monetized by the central bank. this is the oil-exploiting economy. .assive decline in oil prices liquidity sprees -- squeeze requires corrective policies. we are not sure those policies will be delivered. but nothing good is waiting for us. the vice president in

venezuela saying it is not a solvency problem, it is a cash flow problem. we will see this bifurcated foreign-exchange. if that effective measure that will bear fruit? alberto: 2010 it is a solvency issue. -- to an extent it is a solvency issue. imfe they would go to the and ask for financial assistance. we don't know. but we know that beyond that, prices have to remain at 100 and we would run into trouble. the aggravated underlying dynamics that have been going through the economy over the last 10 years, i would say. the policies have been in inimical to investments. there has been week commitment ak commitment to lower inflation. inflation has been next element in. the central bank has been monetizing and we need to adopt congressional orthodox policies to fix the economy and not just

go half way to deal with the liquidity problem. tracy: let's go to mexico next on our latin american tour. you used to work in the imf. alberto: that's right, it's right. tracy: is mexico going to have to cap at sign a credit line? -- tap its imf credit line? alberto: probably not. it is a flexible credit line with the two companies with strong fundamentals -- awarded to countries with strong criminals. we understand what the authorities are doing. -- mexico's place within the global economy. tremendous exposure to the cycle in north america, but after all, what are you doing for me now? disappointingn but right now it is not doing that well but they did a number of structural reforms and better things are waiting for us. i'm not sure that will happen

but it is still a very constructive narrative. the policies are disciplined. the authorities are acting in a way that they are addressing the problems. so we will see. it is still a constructive story by not growing that much. david: thank you so much. tracy: thanks to alberto ramos of goldman sachs. that was a whirlwind to her the land market economy. comment -- whirlwind tour of the latin american economy. coming up come on this seventh anniversary of the most recent bull market, we hear from dueling equity strategists. jefferies in citigroup if their perspectives on whether the cycle has left to run. david: plus, new information on the circumstances surrounding the death of the former chesapeake ceo. tracy: donald trump stays on track while rubio finishes last. we will get you caught up on both sides of the primary race. ♪

david: welcome back to "bloomberg markets." i am david gura. time for the biggest business stories in the news right now. moment of truth foursquare today. it releases its first earnings report as a company. shares were up 25% after the ipo back in november. analysts will look for data on payments for small and medium-sized businesses and whether square can boost market share after competition from paypal and other companies in the mobile payment space. valiant pharmaceuticals have increased the size of its board and added three independent directors, one of them is bill ackman's hedge fund pershing square capital. ackman has defended the company while it is being investigated over a mail-order pharmacy it used. looks like the talks of takeover

bids for burberry were false. it was part of a series of trades by clients rather than a single investor bringing up the building of a state in burberry. -- building up a stake in burberry. this is according to people familiar with the matter. tracy: we are going to head to the markets desk, where julie hyman has a look at retail stocks. julie: mixed trade among a lot of these retail stocks. the company coming out with earnings and a forecast at the midpoint of its forecast for fiscal 2017, ahead of analyst estimates. those shares are rising. fourth quarter comparable sales up 4%, ahead of estimates. are lower after a downgrade from goldman sachs to neutral from conviction by. it is basically the recent outperformance of the share committee evaluation call. the stock is up by about 27% from the lows it reached in november. very interesting note out on tobacco stocks this from ronnie herzog at wells fargo talking about the new smokeless tobacco,

or vaping platform from philip morris. the stock is saying that stock is a win-win for philip morris and altra and could eventually result in a reunification of this company. she says the platform could change the "trajectory of smoking," could displace up to 30% of the traditional cigarette industry by 2025. philip morris shares a little higher. austria also getting a little bit of a boost in today's session. fitness.hing planet those shares are tumbling by about 8%. in a conference late yesterday, a manager saying that he has shorted this stock. he sees 50% downside and the risk is a tax liability for the company. those shares are getting hit as a result. finally, this homebuilder came out with earnings and reiterated

the 2060 forecast. it looks like the decline here has more to do with commentary made on the call, and he says that total revenues by 2020 will be similar to levels in 2016. the company said that some investors are concerned about liquidity, and it is focusing on deleveraging its balance sheet. it is going to discontinue operations in a number of different markets, including minneapolis and raleigh, north carolina. david: there you go. home state. tar heel state. tracy: thanks so much, julie. we will stay with stocks today because it is march 9, 2016, which means it is the seven-year anniversary of the bull run that began in 2009 and that has seen a record $14 trillion are stored in stock market value. how likely is it that we are going to go on to year 8? tobias left image of citigroup and sean darby of jefferies hong kong both discussed the prospects earlier on bloomberg tv. >> the markets have overplayed the deflation theme, both in the

u.s. and europe, and the recession theme as well. we thought it was a midcycle slowdown in the united states, rather than credit cycle-led. i would expect the market research themselves and we see them in high-yield bonds. >> we talked about this particular subject to 60 minutes ago and the amount of buybacks and how that is triggered when is underpinned this bull market. cannot continue that cannot continue --can that continue? >> we had about $4 trillion of buybacks in the last nine years. this has been going on for about a decade. are saying that our committees are undervalued, at least in their perspectives. it tends to be highly concentrated. 2014, the last full-your numbers we had, one company accounted for $45 billion of buybacks.

another $45ompany, billion. it accounts for 17% of all buybacks. it is not across the board, and yet, people think it is. the sugars of -- wreckage of shares is less than 1% of shares outstanding. second point, and this goes back to sean, and i agree with him, you look at almost every single data point, durable goods orders, threw two industrial alluction, 41% of industries who report into industrial production are showing down production, 59% showing up reduction. usually you have 60-70% down production to get any kind of recessionary fear. i agree with sean of the data is not supportive of the argument. it is not even a question of do i have a prediction. >> i wonder what you think of the outflows. we had this chart earlier. during this half of the bull

market you see the gray lines trailing 12-month flows to the downside. is this just the typical, as wilbur said, typical cycle in the bull market where no one believes it but it continues to march up the wall of worry? tobias: the rodney dangerfield of markets, it gets no respect. [laughter] the flows is a function of investors went through 2 periods when they lost 50% of the money and wind the fear levels started to spike, recessionary fears, fears about anything, geopolitical dynamics, they just run for the hills. >> 200 billion dollars out of u.s. equities over the last two years and it has all gone into fixed income when you look at the dividend yield, plus by backfield, minus treasury yield, it is in favor of stocks at the moment. the biggest which is the switch out of fixed income into equities over the next 12 months .

the backup for the u.s. is quite good. david: speaking earlier today on bloomberg tv. still ahead on "bloomberg markets," chesapeake has over $10 billion of debt. the company may be weighing what to do to reduce it. ♪

david: welcome back to "bloomberg markets." i am david gura. chesapeake energy is considering a sale of assets in oklahoma, according to people family with the matter. david wethe follows the company and joins us in new york. how significant is this for chesapeake? w.: they have definitely got to do it. they made a plan for a while to sell assets and dispose of them can get some cash in the door. many in the industry are trying to do and chesapeake more than many are going to do something like this. tracy: david, you have a great

story out today, and atmospheric story about the final days of the chesapeake ceo, former ceo, aubrey mcclendon. tell us what you found out. what was his mood like leading up to his death? david w.: as far as we can tell from everybody we talked to, aubrey like normal aubrey. sticking strong, one to be aggressive with the work he does , and continuing on with his work, e-mailing like crazy, sticking to even the one day of trying to orchestrate when the next board meeting would be for one of his nonprofits. aubrey was aubrey, as far as we could tell. there was no sign of him pulling backward being overly concerned with what was happening with him. david g.: aubrey was aubrey, woke up that morning as yet many times before. tell us where he was -- indictment the day before, a lot of pressure on the new company he founded. david w.: the last week of his

life, unfortunately, it looks like he was coming down -- it was coming down pretty hard on him, not only with the indictment, but even before that , you had one of the largest investors at this new company after chesapeake pullback and almost completely pull back, and that raised a lot of questions as far as the viability of his new company, aeo. -- aep. all of that was crushing around him, leaving the question of what would happen in the future. tracy: you were in oklahoma city for this story. tell us when he found out about his business interests in the area will stop i gather he was a larger-than-life figure. david w.: that is a great way to describe him. he was come in at just with oil and gas, but the shopping center across the street from chesapeake he helped develop. he brought an infusion of new and exciting things to the town in hopes partly just keeping the young and talented people in oakland city rather than going to the big oil town of houston area -- in oklahoma city rather than going to the big oil town of houston. this river was previously just

our grassy ditch. he created his olympic-like venue of a river with growing and kayaking. he was prominent in bringing a lot of that stuff to town and keeping the young people in town. tracy: all right, thank you so much. bloomberg reporter david wethe. please do check out that story because it is a great read. still ahead on "bloomberg markets," the hunt for growth and high yields. where in the world can investors find it? we will have a conversation with robert wolf, next. ♪

david: from bloomberg's world headquarters in new york, i am david gura. tracy: i am tracy alloway. you are watching "bloomberg

markets." let's start with the headlines. we have mark crumpton at the news desk. mark: hillary clinton and bernie sanders will debate tonight in miami, florida, a day after sanders' surprise win in michigan primary. polls had mrs. clinton with a commanding double digit lead heading into the contest. , primaries on tuesday, including florida, illinois, and ohio. the republican national committee has filed two lawsuits seeking e-mails and records from mrs. clinton's tenure as secretary of state. the first lawsuit seeks a laconic records. the second is for communications between senior state department officials and mrs. clinton's presidential campaign. the lawsuits were filed in federal court. least 34 civil lawsuits involving mrs. clinton's time at the state department. a majority of americans disapprove of senate republicans' plans to block president obama's supreme court nominee.

55% oppose the gop strategy, going to a new nbc-"wall street journal" poll. the white house is already in vetting candidates to replace the late justice antonin scalia, but republicans say that should be left to the next president. attorney general loretta lynch says she is not interested in the job and has asked the white house to remove her name from consideration. cuba says it isn't scrapping its "revolutionary and anti-imperialist ideas," even as relations with the u.s. begin to aw and president obama is scheduled to visit the island in two weeks. in an editorial published in the communist party's official newspaper, the government strongly reaffirmed its commitment to socialism. president obama's visit will make him first sitting u.s. president to go to cuba since 1928. local news 24 hours a day powered by our 2400 journalists in more than 150 news bureaus around the world. i am mark crumpton. david? commodity markets are

closing in new york. gold futures fell for a third straight day. investors are pulling back ahead of the ecb meeting tomorrow. gold etfs dropped for the first time in 19 days, ending the longest run since 2010. oil rallied today as data from the i-8 show to demand for gasoline is strong. wti prices are finding resistance at the $39 level, slightly over $30 a barrel. tracy: one of the best-performing bond fund managers says not if you're a u.s. downturn. he remains bullish on high yields, saying of the hundreds of companies he talks to, nothing, they are saying -- nothing they are saying singles recession. a billionaire investor says if you look closely, there is not a single country dropping syndic they can growth. -- driving significant growth. >> there are a lot of things for people to be worried about. you go around the world, there is no big engine driving the economy at 800 miles an hour. .

i was just in china two weeks ago and things are slowing their. no question about that. david: one to bring in robert wolf, outside advisor to president obama. great to have you here. let me bring up this chart that my colleague matt miller was showing earlier today. you are showing this bull run and you look at the cash going out there. what does this tell you about the state of the equities market right now? robert: it will probably staying currently volatile. with rates this low there is the chance of risk assets. chased for risk assets. not the rising that when he's being put into the equity market. not surprising that people are talking positively about the high-yield market. even though defaults are low, it is not like there's organic growth going on. i am nervous about the second half of the year. i am or where wilbur was it not necessarily using a recession were completely but i see growth chugging along.

what the central banks can accommodate the most right now. tracy: growth trucking along. you are neither a lover nor a hater of the seven-year bull market. robert: well, i'm glad it has gone up for seven years under obama, being a huge supporter of the direction he has gone. but certainly there has not been great created wealth with respect to a lot of the middle class. i don't think the pension funds are feeling we have performed. a lot of people are nervous to get him back in 2007, 2008, 2009. has moved, but the question you have asked result is how many people really created wealth with the 100-plus percent returns over the last five-plus years? there is a nervousness. market hasn'ts done that well. investment advisors have struggled. yes, there has been a seven-year, the definition of the seven-year bull market is

the definition is not being in a bear market. of time,over a period then you are in a bull market there is a bit of wordsmithing. david: let me start with the fed . they have a big meeting coming up next week. people are talking about the fact that the rate increase could be on the table and a couple of months. i know you are on the president's job council. are you of the mind that the administration -- the fed is satisfied with where employment is right now? robert: i completely independent view, and austan goolsbee works at 32 advisers, so we have someone there who would share my view -- not supportive of the december raise. if they were going to raise, it should have been a year ago, not to yesr, where there is you about job growth and a stagnant recovery. i think was the wrong -- i think it was the wrong time. even though the employment market feels a little stronger,

friday's numbers were good, we still have low participation rates, wages haven't done anything over the past year or two or three, depending on who you speak to. i would not yet raise rates. 25 basishey raise points, it is not like it really means anything, but i think what they are giving is the view that they are more bullish on in my opinion, the direction of the economy than where i think the general economy is. positiverobably not be on them raising rates. youy: on that note, what do think could help investors climb the wall of worry which seems to be getting higher with every month? what would change sentiment? robert: listen, the u.s. is the best of the group. if you look at foreign direct investment coming into the u.s., it used to be u.s., mexico, most ofcanada, and it is pouring into the u.s.

there has been dollar strengthening overtime because there is money coming to the u.s. markets, i at equity would say that although we are not having what i would say is great organic growth, there is certainly a high acquisition environment. during the high acquisition environment, that bodes well for the equity markets. i'm not surprised that the equity markets are doing better, but i don't think that earnings in the companies are doing that well. that makes me nervous. also, i would say, tracy, you halve the hole financial services sector not doing that well. and that is such a large chunk of driving the economy. and so i would be nervous. tracy: well, used to be head of ubs fixed-income and when we talk about volatility, a lot of people place the blame on balance sheet shortages at the big banks. what do you think about that? robert: well, i want is a that when i was president of bbs our balance sheet was to point virtually dollars we were 55 cap -- $2.5 trillion.

we were 55 times leopard. we delivered by 70%. when i was running fixed income, we never thought about the balance sheet and we looked at it more about turnover and aging and volume. when i was running six income and ubs, we were aaa, we could borrow and you have the ability to carry a lot of positions . today the cost of funds is higher, the cost of carry is higher, the regulatory environment is different. probably why i'm not sitting there anymore. tracy: robert come we're going to have to interrupt you and leave it there but you are coming back with us and you are talking politics next. coming up in the next 20 minutes , from hillary clinton's upset in michigan to trump's suite in the latest primaries, we will get you caught up on the campaign trail. david: amazon is betting big on digital content. we will show you how the company is extending its offerings. later, a conversation with the

ceo of the national association of homebuilders. why aren't we seeing more buying? ♪

tracy: welcome back to "bloomberg markets." i am tracy alloway. bernie to politics, sanders pulled off an unexpected win in the michigan primary on tuesday, beating the front-runner hillary clinton by two percentage points. it may not stop clintons much to the nomination, however, but it is a warning sign of potential weaknesses ahead of the primaries next week. david: robert wolf still with us here. you are a supporter felix into clinton and at been a big supporter of president obama. what is your take away of what happened last night?

obviously, the polling was devastatingly wrong here. the expectation was not that bernie sanders was going to win michigan. but it highlights that clinton may have trouble with the white working class vote, might have trouble in the midwest. robert: you gave a good answer. [laughter] i will put it a little differently. i spoke to the campaign yesterday and had exchanges with the secretary. i don't think their polls were anything like the polls that were being marketed. their view was that it was a few percent either way, not near the double digits that everyone promoted. listen, i think that senator sanders ran a great campaign in michigan. it was incredibly important case yesterday credibly well with the white working-class that he has done a globally with a white working-class. the secretary has done incredibly well with a national, diverse population. in theay -- we live democratic party by delegates and it is not winner take all. it won't be with ohio, will be with florida. the headline news has -- won't

be with florida. the headline news was good for senator center spot the secretary won more delegates. i think next tuesday she will do very well in florida and north carolina, and then we will see what happens in the midwest. david: i want to bring in john heilemann -- robert: well, no one knows -- i don't want to debate john. david: we won't make you today john but let me ask you about something robert was saying. what is bernie sanders' strategy going forward here? by all accounts, has the superdelegates locked up -- what is his strategy going on the heels of michigan? -- goodll, look afternoon, both of you. david, good to hear from you. robert, it is always a semi-pleasure to hear from you, given how cantankerous you should be.

the sanders people are not dumb and they have some the best delegate counters in the party on that team. they understand how daunting the math is and how difficult it is in a proportional system to make up ground, especially as much ground as secretary clinton has right now ahead of them. on the other hand, they recognize that momentum matters as much as matt, for these math, ands much as if senator sanders can start beating clinton routinely in big, important swing states, that may not only make up the delegate and it may make people wonder if clinton is as strong as she says. michigan is a state that matters. we have a lot of states week from "now that matter a lot. there are states further down the line, including one where you guys are sitting, new york, where the sender's campaign -- sanders campaign thinks they might be able beat clinton on her home turf. all i can do is look at each set

of contests coming up and figure out how to get delegates and how to influence the media narrative and get sanders taken seriously again as someone who could maybe be the nominee in the party. tracy: john, i want to give it over to the republicans for a minute because we have seen some signs that rubio is potentially stalling. is this it for him? john: i'm sorry, what was the question? tracy: we have seen some signs that rubio's stalling. is it it for him or could you pull a last-minute trick out of his hat? well, i won't be cantankerous now, i won't adopt the robert wolf koster, but but marco, rubio is not stalling, marco rubio has collapsed. senator rubio netted zero delegates and his level of support was plummeting in the

days heading into the contest last night. there is a public poll from quinnipiac that hasn't ba -- has him aback by 20 points in his home state of florida. the situation is dire for marco rubio. does he decide to get out of the race before next tuesday? that is a complicated decision to make. no one wants to bail out at this stage in the campaign heading into their home state. on the other hand, no one wants to get beaten in their home state. that has lasting implications for your political future. a reallyt difficult choice to make. right now, on the basis of everyone i talked to in the campaign, he has no intention of quitting. but generally i have found with candidates that they have no intention of quitting until the moment they quit. david: let me ask you how this campaign has been playing out on wall street, how wall street is reacting. what are folks saying to you about this campaign? robert: i think after the last

eight years we know there is a lot of rhetoric. we know that populism is very pronounced, especially during a primary. i don't think everyone takes the rhetoric seriously. we are little more thick-skinned that everyone believes us to be in the financial service based. -- financial service space. but it is clear that the far left and far right get very loud. when he goes to the general, it goes back to center-left, center-right. you have to win the independents to win. it will be interesting when happens if it is secretary clinton versus donald trump. donald trump is incredibly unique. we have never seen a character like him in a presidential election. it won't be normal. david: thank you very much, robert wolf. john: hey, guys? david: don't miss mark halperin and john heilemann on "with all respect" live from miami. now let's go to the markets

where julie hyman has the rebound in oil prices. julie: i want to reiterate the strength we are seeing in oil prices today hit closing at the trading up although nearly 5% for the oil prices. the rebound for oil stocks as well. not wiping out yesterday's declines, however. yesterday for the s&p 500, energy indexes, the worst we have seen in about six weeks. if you look at the to-date chart of the s&p 500 energy index, it is down about 2.5%, even with the rebound we are looking at today. a couple of individual members. chesapeake energy had been rebounding, and then bloomberg news reported that according to people familiar with the plan to explore options to perhaps sell saw itlahoma assets, we builds on the earlier games. now up by nearly 7%. other outstanding movers that there mentioning. devon energy, which has been climbing all day. refiners also participating in the gains today.

chevron is coming after the company promised to defend its quarterly dividend and got an upgrade. the dividend yield on chevron, 4.6%. if you take a quick look, i have e that shows the dividend yield on the s&p 500 energy index and then the telecoms. the dividend yields, despite the dividend cuts we have seen, the dividend yield and energy stock is 6.6%, the second-highest among the groups in the s&p 500. very important to a lot of these big energy committees to defend those dividends. tracy: thank you so much, julie. coming up on "bloomberg markets ," amazon is making a big wager on digital content. we will take a look at how primary video stacks up against hulu and netflix. ♪

david: welcome back to "bloomberg markets"

amazon is making a big wager on digital content, setting billions of dollars to expand its prime video offerings, hoping sales of other goods will follow suit. how did the video holdings stack up against competitors? cory johnson has a look at the prime numbers. cory: can streaming digital video for sales of physical oods? that is the multi-billion-dollar that is amazon prime video. it is the service where 60 million-some amazon customers pay $99 a year for expedited shipping. it allows customers to watch online movies, tv shows -- >> why wasn't i able to put my finger on what we're talking about? cory: an original content like "the man in the high castle." >> liberty and justice for none. spendingzon is vast fortunes on content.

estimated $2.6 billion this year. the big spending has led to a big user base. amazon prime video has 31.4 million users and an increase of war than one third from last year. >netflix is the obvious comparison. shows. has 2600 tv amazon, just 1900. movies aren't even close. netflix has 6200 movies. 18,000 for amazon. much of amazon's offering is the digital rental of movies. those revenues are in addition to amazon's subscription pricing, the only method offered by its direct competitors. amazon's offering is quite different from competitors get yeah, you have netflix, hulu, situations,re doing but then you a live tv events like the state of the union. president obama: that is what makes me so hopeful about our future. cory: and you have the

downloads. it is a unique offering to keep up with very strong competitors. all three are getting recognition from hollywood. hulu at its first golden globe nomination this year. won 4 emmys last year, amazon.com five. quality matters because an addictive show leads to a sticky customer and a sticky amazon prime customer -- some studies show they spent 140% more than a regular amazon customer. in other was, successful prime video business can lead to a bigger business for all of amazon. cory johnson joins us now from san francisco to dive deeper into those prime numbers. tell us, is this a bet that is going to pay off friends on? -- for amazon? cory: it is such a universe of how amazon customers use it. our they there for the video? are they there to get the diapers delivered to the gura home?

david: oh. cory: just saying, been there, buddy. they say they are feeding an ecosystem, that if they can get people online a lot, at or near the amazon site and they are going to order more stuff. if they can lower the barriers to entry from whether it is having a watch a video or think about a book -- on thursday night we will have the release bosch,"second season of " the first ever attempt at a drama for amazon. yes, they think that is when to sell books, but they think it is what is so a lot of things just by having people online a lot and being so near amazon because they so dominate online retail. here, just quickly another report that amazon is getting into the shipping business, looking at leasing some airplanes. cory: again, all about costs and lowering barriers to get stuff to customers. amazon spends vast fortunes on shipping costs every year and they are looking -- always

looking at new ways to cut out costs and ways they can get those margins superslim and keeping competitors at bay, a company that is barely profitable. tracy: all right, thanks so much to cory johnson. he is, of course, editor at large and cohost of "bloomberg advantage those quote on bloomberg radio. weing up in the next hour, will talk to jerry howard of the national association of home builders. builders were bearish last month so can things turn around in time for spring? that is coming up. ♪

>> welcome to "bloomberg markets."

from bloomberg world headquarters in new york, i am vonnie quinn in for betty liu. stocks moving higher. gains in energy shares. a decline in telecom as investors await tomorrow's ecb decision. construction starts for new homes have tumbled. what will it take to get construction moving again? the ceo of the national association of homebuilders is our guest. reports fors square the first time since going public. shares are up 27%, but new growth is slowing. are competitors like visa and paypal taking a toll? we are one hour away from closing. julie hyman has been keeping an eye. julie: