the 60 vote threshold. if not, they have indicated they are willing to donate the threshold and use a simple majority vote to confirm him. rish premise or theresa may will begin the formal brexit process on march 29. a spokesman says the u.k. wants talks on leaving the european union to begin promptly. meanwhile, she does not intend to call an early election. nuven video from the associated press appears to show the moments when a suspected islamic extremist grabbed a soldier from behind in paris last weekend and a brief stand -- standoff that shut down the airport in the french capital. the attacker was shot and killed within minutes. authorities say he had a long criminal record of drug and robbery offenses. no one at the airport was wounded. the leaders of germany and japan have called for a conservative -- concerted effort to defend free trade. angela merkel and shinzo abe are

advocating a free trade deal between japan and the european union as a way to underscore the benefits of an interconnected global economy. global news 24 hours a day powered by our 2600 journalists and analysts in more than 120 countries. crumpton. this is bloomberg. scarlet: live from bloomberg world headquarters in new york, i'm scarlet fu. joe: i'm joe weisenthal. we are 30 minutes from the close of trading in the u.s. scarlet: holding on to gains. the question is "what'd you miss?" willet: judge neil gorsuch deliver his opening address. he spoke at the judiciary committee.

this is the first am a weeklong confirmation hearing that will be highly watched. a political blow for president trump, the fbi director theirming a probe between trump campaign and russia. and the salesforce ceo opens up about his visit to the white house and why he is focused on workforce development. joe: let's look at where the major averages stand as we head toward the close. abigail: we are looking at not a lot of action heading into the close. mixed action, but the dow and nasdaq are higher. this reflects the trading action we have seen all day, basically flat, unchanged but focusing between small gains -- fluctuating between small gains and losses. the niece the column surface,

here are some of the movers for the s&p 500. we're looking at two chip stocks , both higher on bullish analyst comments. amd is up 400% in the big turnaround and today, jeffries raised its price target to $16 saying it could move even higher. weakness in the energy complex. some say chesapeake is starting to show signs of being oversold. unchanged equity markets take a risk off tone with the 10 year yield trading lower, represented in green. showing down ever so slightly. a gross commodity growth asset, of course the idea is we are

looking for a bit of risk off. a very interesting note today saying a correction for stocks started on march 1. it represented the beginning of a finish. if we hopped into the bloomberg, this is not his chart. shows the s&p 500 is coming out of overbought territory. we can see the rsi had been above 70 and is now starting to trend downward. we may start to see the s&p 500 pullback and there are quite a -- analysts calling for a pullback. we will be able to see if this long-awaited pullback happens. joe: the u.s. senate began its high-stakes confirmation hearing today for judge neil gorsuch.

confirmed, he will restore a narrow 5-4 conservative majority on the court. in the hearing today, he highlighted the important and precarious role of judges. >> is judges were just secret legislators declare not what the law is that what they would like it to be, the very idea of a government by the people and for the people would be at risk. those who came before the court would live in fear, never sure exactly what the law requires of them except the judges will. joe: for more, let's bring in our bloomberg legal affairs reporter. trying todge gorsuch accomplish with his testimony today? >> he's trying to come across as being inoffensive in every way possible. very much like an

empire calling balls and strikes, not rooting for one team or the other. scarlet: the democrats will try to portray him as someone outside the mainstream. what kind of evidence will they use to back up that idea? guest: they will go through some of his rulings where he's ruled for the employer and -- in-swerve employees or has objected to a federal law on religious freedom grounds. will bethink they terribly successful but they will try to make it seem like he's an extremist and he will be trying to explain the judicial underpinnings of these decisions. skip to the head of this. aren't any major surprises, democrats will face a lot of pressure to vote against him. is a filibuster in the cards and if it is, is the nuclear option breaking the filibuster also on the table? aest: i think the threat of

filibuster is certainly possible and possibly even likely. if that becomes possible, you will see mitch mcconnell, the senate leader, doing exactly the nucleard, doing option, allowing for the nominee by a simplemed majority which the republicans already enjoy. take theonce they nuclear option, that is a permanent state. would stay in place until someone wanted to change things back. it has been put in place for lower federal court judges, so it is not unheard of. joe: i noticed today listening to the testimony, he highlighted a lot of instances in which the be somethingwould to which liberals are some

pathetic 2 -- you talked about ruling in favor of native americans. will this be a consistent tactic, pointing out rulings don't seem like the conservative outcome? guest: i think you will do that and i think you will be happy to explain the underpinnings of his more conservative rulings as long as they are rulings in the past. democrats will try to pull him out on topic like abortion, gay rights and so forth and get him to talk about deciding cases in the future and there you will see the struggle where he refuses to do that. scarlet: democrats have pointed out time and again they are offering him the courtesy republicans did not extend to merrick garland. give us a sense of where merrick garland sits on the spectrum of conservative to liberal versus were gorsuch sits. merrick garland is considered to be a moderate. he's a democratic judge who would be somewhere in the middle and gorsuch, as a result of a

handful of his work conservative rulings, is seen as being squarely on the conservative side of the spectrum. based on my reading of his opinions, those are fair assessments. he's not saying i'm not a conservative, only i enter but the law as i find it and do not go only for the results i prefer. joe: conservatives like to talk about a literal interpretation of the constitution, not trying to read into the minds of the framers and adding ideas and theories that are not found in the exact text. is that a fair example of his ideology? endt: i would refine that say he tends to be associated with the originalist cool of interpretation where you are not just doing the dictionary meanings of the words but trying to imagine what those words meant to the people who wrote them and the people who ratified them. about the talking main part of the constitution,

you're going all the way back to the late 18th century. i think he would be someone who would be in that originalist school of thought. scarlet: and are the other four judges on the supreme court, are they originalists as well? scaliadelayed justice described himself as a fair weather originalist. you could find examples in his cherish prudence that adhere strictly to that idea, but i of anyou find more attachment to original as him on the democratic side. assuming gorsuch takes a seat on the supreme court, what are some of the big issues the next court is likely going to be facing? , hot buttonerennial

issue is abortion. you will see gay rights come back to the supreme court in one form or another. others will include money in politics, the follow-on to the notorious citizens united case and voting rights, which have been very much on the table for the last several terms. grayet: neil gorsuch has hair but he's a 49 years old. he's one of the youngest justices if he were confirmed. of course was not a mistake. that was a big attribute in his favor in the eyes of the trump white house. joe: he could be influencing law for decades. scarlet: thank you so much. benioff on his meeting at the white house with president trump and angela merkel. we will hear from him in an exclusive interview with david

gura. this is bloomberg.

scarlet: "what'd you miss?" trumpriday, president welcomed german chancellor angela merkel to the white house. part of the visit included a talk on workplace issues. among those in attendance were u.s. and german executives, including salesforce ceo marc benioff. david gura spoke with him on the phone and asked why it's so important to speak with him directly. >> it was very important for me to go to the white house. i care very deeply about the workforce of the future and what it looks like and i wanted to make sure my views were known and i have this vision of a movie shot -- 5 million

apprenticeships in the united states and i wanted to make that crystal clear why a thought it was so important. a company like siemens has done a lot with apprenticeships. why has it not caught on in the u.s.? >> what a great question that is. i've done a lot of research on that. not just germany but switzerland as well, they have these the nominal apprenticeship programs and there's very little daylight between the government and business. they are very aligned to keep unemployment rates very low and they do that to these sophisticated apprenticeship programs. do very things we don't well in the united states. do, we could drive our unemployment rate lower and that's why we have to take this moonshot. david: what have you done in salesforce and how applicable is

that two other technology companies and other sectors? incrediblene an program called future force which is a diversified effort to build a workforce of the future. we have two different tracks. salesforce is building this laugh form that by 2020 will create 2 million jobs in the world and $400 billion in gdp, so we are focused on how do we build this workforce in the future? at salesforce, i have to be focused on investing in our local schools, including k-12 as well as universities. we do a lot with our veterans program, our veterans are a great source for the workforce in the future. brought a lot of that's and trains them through the trailhead program.

of youwe get footage guys sitting around the table and introducing yourself. what happens once the president leaves? how receptive was he to what you are talking about? >> almost the same as you saw on camera. to youtube and see the first 20 minutes of the meeting. the second 20 minutes were almost identical. in thepresident stayed room, i don't think they would have captured anything different than what you saw on camera. david: where do we go from here? >> what he said and you can hear it on the video as he said let's --for the 5 million because and it was exciting to me because that will point in going when you are working in any administration, they are

working on a lot of things. even when the president says do this, getting it to actually happen and -- it can be a serious challenge but i'm going to work and i hope others will join me creating oppressions and their companies and i hope the government will create and fund and staff their existing apprenticeship program. you may know the department of labor run something really terrific called apprenticeship usa and it's the foundation for this 5 million. i think he could do a terrific job and that's what i encouraged the president to do. david: i have been other executives that met with the president and have taken flak for doing so. it has been seen as them endorsing the president's platform. is that something you ought through? did you have any hesitation to go meet with the president and how does it square with your

medical believes? >> i'm only going to go when it's something i'd deeply care about. busy with salesforce, so it is important for me to stay focused with all my stakeholders. if there is an opportunity like workforce development to state moonshot, i'm going to take that opportunity. i'm going to take it. that was marc benioff speaking with david earlier earlier today. for the bloomberg business flash -- a look at the biggest business stories in the news right now. wells fargo says credit card applications dropped 55% last month, the biggest klein since september when the scandal over fake accounts erected.

customers open 43% fewer accounts in february, marking the sixth straight month of declines. wells fargo is accused of opening as many as 2 million accounts without permission. caused -- has the dutch paint maker could be running out of time. people familiar with the matter say one of their biggest is offeringvestors a new bid from ppg. she was warned against an ipo in a chemical division because it would benefit new shareholders over old ones. and financial is considering making a higher offer for money gram after the transfer firm admitted and unsolicited takeover bid by a smaller and less known rival could be a better deal. and financial announced lands to require -- to acquire money gram

pending regulatory approval. withet worldwide sweep in an offer last week and financial has four days to respond. capital is working on a restructuring proposal for brazil telecom according to persons familiar with this knowledge. it includes a capital injunction of as much as $3 billion. they had planned for the struggling carrier. they filed for bankruptcy in debt.ith $19 billion in with the market pricing in fed rate hikes, how has treasury volatility responded? we will look at the data. this is bloomberg. ♪

scarlet: i'm scarlet fu. "what'd you miss?" it's hard to find any volatility in equities. volatility in the bond market is hard to find. the yellow arrow, it has been steadily declining. the blue line, the yellow shaded area shows the yield on the 10 year. last week, it did get high. still stuck basis, but came down from 2.6%. don't estimate how much of a role the fed has in all of this.

now that it is normalizing policy, maybe three rate increases next year, it starting to think about shrinking its balance sheet. if this happens, look for more hedging activity and look for in the tenure as well. joe: i'm also talking about the lack of volatility and people who've made a lot of money on the lack of volatility. v etf thatg at the xi bets on lower volatility from thisbloomberg analyst, exchange traded note is up 1400%. there are two stories here.

there's not much volatility, so volatility is going down, but that can't explain this massive underperformance. butonly is volatility low because of perpetual anxiety and nervousness, people are always paying for out month futures in the vic's. people are inclined to overpay for future downside protection. it is essentially takes advantage of the systematic over bidding for downside protection. between the steepness of the vix curve and the fact volatility is genuinely declining, this is an incredible performance. remarkabled it is how it's been a straight line. drawdowns fromge 50 to 25, but then it just erases them. scarlet: the market closes next.

little changed all around. the s&p 500 losing about five points. the nasdaq unchanged. from new york, this is bloomberg. ♪

♪ scarlet: we are moments where

from the closing bell. what'd you miss? s&p 500 lower for a third today. .il near $40 a barrel i am scarlet fu. joe: i'm joe weisenthal. weyou are tuning in live, want to welcome you to our closing bell coverage every weekday from 4:00 to 5:00 eastern. scarlet: we begin with our market minute. pretty quiet day in terms of equities across all the financial markets. day, anotherquiet day without any move is pretty remarkable. scarlet: dow is off by barely .1%. off seven points. it is lower for a third straight day. we are talking about a drift lower after last week's advance following the dovish height. in terms of industry groups, i try to see if there was more excitement there. financials with the big losers there that materials, real

andte companies, reits, staples, defensive sectors doing better. but we are still talking minimal gains. let's look at individual names that have been making big moves. which a bank will be raising a billion euros by selling stock at a 35% discount. -- deutsche bank will be raising a billion euros by selling stock at a 35% discount. snapchat got its first buy rating, $25 price target. apple trading at a record high as well. we should mention as well that even as u.s. stocks getting no traction with their moves, emerging-market stocks continue to power higher. this is the longest rally since august. you looking at a three-month chart, 14% advance. highest level since june 2015. joe: remarkable run for em.

let's look at the u.s. bond market. news-wise butity it drips lower in yields. around yields were up 2.6. once again we are drifting back into the middle of the range from the 10-year yield has been in seemingly forever. if you want a partial explanation for why em is doing so well, yields lower in the u.s. scarlet: absolutely. in currencies, let's start with the dollar. why not? the dollar extending its recent weakness, falling to a four-month low. the gm meeting was relatively uneventful. some say put pressure on the u.s. dollar. trading flows were suppressed because there was public holiday in japan. british pound gave up some of its early gains, weaker versus the g10 currencies there. the u.k. said it will trigger brexit next wednesday, watch 29, which will trigger 2 years of negotiations.

earlier cable had rallied to a 2.5-week high on its decoration that when the bank of england moves next on any kind of policy it will tighten policy and i could happen next year. joe: on the quantities front, quick look at oil and gold. oil tumbling again today. below 48int it fell dollars a barrel. the gravity in the bull market that two weeks ago continues to persist. to its highest level in two weeks. when you look at a one-month chart of gold, you can see it rising to its highest level in two weeks. these aren't massive swings, but bit the dovish fed, coming back into gold. scarlet: those are today's "market minutes." let's take a deep dive into the bloomberg. i wanted to look at fx. currencies have become the

conduit for investors to express any kind of political risk. we are not seeing a huge appetite for risk at the moment. this is a jpmorgan g7 volatility index. late last week you could see it was at the lowest in more than two years come since november 2014. the red dotted line is the average. we are far below the average. what i thought was interesting was the fed's willingness to raise rates this month is rooted and findings that internationalist is less threatening than it was before. you are seeing this expressed by the lack of volatility. brexit is progressing as planned. european election risk still there. but the dutch results seem to have taken away -- joe: that is the theme, right? that against the vix can now we see currency volatility the lowest in a long time. scarlet: clearest sign is that the yen has not strengthened. joe: here's the fun chart -- not

fun per se but useful one to keep an eye on. approval trump's versus disapproval rating on the bloomberg using the realclearp olitics index, which allocates gallup and rasmussen and smooths them out. you can see the blue, teal line is disapproval, white pine's approval. you don't really need to be a political scientist to interpret this chart -- scarlet: very divided. joe: well, not divided --trump is deeply underwater. his disapproval rating is over 50%. scarlet: that's true, but i look at how the lines are moving in opposite directions. those who support trump feel he is doing a good job and it is increasing, and those who feel he is doing a bad job is increasing as well. joe: pretty stark. but michael mcdonough, bloomberg intelligence economist, point that out today that to whatever extent trump is using political capital to get his agenda passed, particularly tax cuts,

trends like that don't help. what you missed? a big week for fed speak. charles evans addressed the timing for further tightening, saying he could support to our three rate increases this year. tomorrow, new york fed president william dudley will speak on banking ethics. thursday, janet yellen will talk minneapolisn and fed chair neel kashkari is scheduled to make more comments. contrary was the lone dissenter -- category was the lone dissenter at the fomc meeting. i: i'm not opposed to raising rates when the data forces we are moving towards our domain a target. i'm asking, what is the rush to raise rates? joe: for all things onlated, go to fed the bloomberg. talk.turn to david co. -- david kotok.

: david: always a pleasure. nice and cold up here. joe: we can change that. the market love to this rate hike. you agree with the market interpretation of the fed here? david: i don't think the market focused on the rate hike. i think the market focused on we are going to be very gradual, very slow, and we are in no hurry to shrink the balance sheet. the market got released because they are not going to shrink the balance sheet. when they do shrink the balance sheet, if they do shrink it at , it will be a very mild process. that is what the market celebrated, in our opinion. scarlet: why do you say "if they shrink the balance sheet"? you don't think it will happen? david: i'm not sure. people look at the asset side -- mortgages guaranteed by the government could look at the

liability side. currencyion is now come in circulation. the $100 bill usage worldwide is growing faster than the rate of our nominal gdp. aboutrrency itself and $100 billion a year growing. they can't take the balance sheet below currency. they have to allow the balance sheet to achieve a size to also provide bank reserves, and they have to provide the dollars that the u.s. treasury needs to operate. here, $2 trillion right there. you haven't gotten into the substitution of interest on reserves were excess reserves against treasuries. the good news was an affirmation of basel three. the bad news was the protectionism trade threat. i don't see a lot of room to shrink the balance sheet very

much. every day that goes by, the pressure to do with lessons. joe: you mentioned the g-20 statement. the removal of the language about protectionism has got the most headlines. however, markets haven't seemed to care about that story this year. the new administration's uncomfortableness, will say, towards free trade, is there going to be a point where people get concerned about that? david: if it starts to impact economic activity, joe, yes. until then, we have a strange relationship. you just put up a chart about approval ratings of trump, and if you think about it, when the stock market is up, approval ratings can increase. joe: there is that chart again. david: there is no forecasting mechanism in the other direction. when you have a narrative type of discussion about trade or policies, markets can't wrap

their arms around the number. i call it narrative versus numeracy. give us a number, 2% inflation, pe ratio, give us a number of any type we can deal with. how do you deal with this discourse and narrative? scarlet: let's talk about the market a little bit more because we talk about how the s&p and out has been drifting lower. they had a monster rally last week following the fed's dovish hike. everyone talks about how we are in this rally. there is a lot of complacency. you dug deeper and there is a lot of disaggregation there. david: i think there is a huge amount of disaggregation and a lot of it is masked i this low volatility. you had an earlier chart where you showed it with treasuries. if you have vix hanging around this number, not doing anything, you don't have volatility in treasuries, is your earlier segment had paid and you see this sort of calm. in my opinion,

before the storm. you don't see the storm before it gets your so the calm is masking the undercurrents. you get the undercurrents and you look at the sectors today. what did you see? materials. mining stocks. etf from miners up. gdx, gold miners, up. utilities going south. white? -- why? there is a nervousness in the market, and there's nervousness that shows itself when you disaggregate into details. the other thing about the market that i find interesting is how much of an effect apple has, because apple is such a huge weight. therefore it is doing well, and therefore the averages, large-cap averages, reflective piece of the large-cap bias. take a look at the small caps. ijr since theith

election. what do you see? you get quite a different picture. now, that is an interesting question, because you would think that if you were having protectionism in a stronger currency, small caps would do better. but they are not. when you look at the 2, you say the market is running to more safety in large caps, which have better understandings. i don't know if you can get -- scarlet: i just pulled it up because you requested it. david: i didn't see it. scarlet: spy is the white light and the ijr is the orange line. since november 8, 2016, this is the performance. there is that difference. david: timing, small caps were on a tear before the election. joe: what is the storm that people are so concerned about? as you point out from underneath the surface not everything looks

so calm. underperformance by the small caps. people going into gold miners. what is it? this: if i can come on wonderful show with old -- not old, i molded -- with longtime friends and tell you what the storm would be tomorrow, i would retire tie because i wouldn't have to work anymore. i can list things come we can list events. we can never predict ahead of time a storm and when it will happen. joe: we should definitely either way have that show. [laughter] thank you veryk, much as always. coming up, jeff jones quits amid a string of controversies including allegations of sexual harassment and combative behavior of ceo travis, naked we g kalanick. this is bloomberg. ♪

mark: i am mark crumpton. it is time for "first word" news. fbi director james comey says there are two main checks and balances in the federal government system for the obama administration to have ordered a wiretap on trump tower in new york city. director comey testified at a house intelligence committee hearing today. is a rigorous process that involves all three branches of government and one we have lived with installing 1970's. no individual in the united states can direct electronic surveillance of anyone. it has to go through an application process. ask a judge, the judge can make the order. >> so president obama cannot unilaterally order a wiretap of anyone? mr. comey: no president could. mark: director comey also

confirmed an ongoing investigation into potential links between trump campaign associates and the russian government. comey says it is unclear how long the investigation will last. scotland's leaders says it is not reasonable to make scott's wait until 2021 for another vote on independence. nicola sturgeon and qs prime minister theresa may of being too rigid on the issue. a scottish vote while she is still negotiating for the u.k. to leave the eu. sturgeon said a vote in two years would be a fair compromise. north korea says it won't be frightened by tough talk from the u.s. about potential preventive military action. that is after secretary of state rex tillerson visited the human i's border on the korean peninsula last week -- demilitarized border on the korean peninsula streak and declared a policy of strategic patience over pyongyang's nuclear program had ended. a north korean spokesman called the program its most reliable

war determines. saystary tillerson washington will consider all diplomatic and military missions on the table. who are the happiest people in the world? the norwegians, according to a new report. norway dropped to the top spot in the world happiness report. denmark is number two. i sent, switzerland, and finland round out the top five. the united states was 14 and the latest ranking, down from number 13 last year. global news 24 hours a day powered by more than 2600 journalists and analysts in over 120 countries. i am mark crumpton. this is bloomberg. joe: what'd you miss? uber president jeff jones quitting after less than one year on the job. joining us with more from san francisco is tech startup reporter eric newcomer. what we know about his decision to leave? 's problems and its

leadership exit is continue. jones had been a huge fire, picked as the number two, and then he hadn't really been integrated into an essential role in the company. was was to bring his expertise in marketing to help bring some efficiency to how uber attracts drivers and riders around the world. in about six months he is out of there, sort of saying he is frustrated by the reputation and the actions of the company, and meanwhile, there is this search at uber for a chief operating officer that would put someone above him. both his role threatened and then all of this turbulence at the company. scarlet: eric, it sounds like jeff jones was brought in to provide adult supervision to travis kalanick. was there a chemistry issue between him and travis? eric: it seems like it could you are exactly right that he was going to be one of these --

going to be the adult in the room, and then we talk about this co search on the phrase comes up again. they clearly decided that jones didn't have a big enough -- was in the right person to play that role. -- wasn't the right person to play that role. they're looking for another person. joe: eric, there seem to be 2 different threads of negative uber stories right now. when is related to the bad behavior, the apologies come all that stuff. the other is growing questions about how great this uber business model really is. on the business model front, what are people saying about that? do they still believe that after all the scandals are put aside and another analyst and come into the room, the core business is still thriving? eric: i invite you are asking that question because a lot of people are getting distracted -- i am glad you are asking a question because a lot of people are getting distracted by the scandals. there are huge questions about uber's business model.

uber lost $3 billion globally and we still don't know the financial performance for the fourth order because as far as i've been able to tell, uber hasn't told investors yet how they did. they haven't been given a financial update amid all these controversies. i think questions around their business and whether they have been able to cut down on their losses are super important but getting swamped by these other issues. scarlet: and they have to look ahead to the future as well, including self driving cars. how is uber doing with that? was to go ahead and do something and ask for forgiveness later on, to be confrontational into different cities it operated in. how is it changed its approach? that approach recently got a kick out of san francisco and california more broadly for not getting licensing from the dmv. now uber says it is working with the department of motor vehicles here to get licenses for some driving cars.

of course, the much bigger issue is the alphabet lawsuit against uber for allegedly stealing some of alphabet's trade secrets when it comes to self-driving. that is a huge computer question mark over the self driving car program. scarlet: eric newcomer joining us from san francisco, thank you withmuch for coming up, the fate of another greek bailout unfair, how is the bond market responding? joe has a chart you can't miss. from new york, this is bloomberg. ♪

scarlet: i am scarlet fu. what'd you miss? let's take a deep dive into the bloomberg. there has been a breakdown in the relationship between oil prices and emerging-market

assets. emerging-market stocks last week had their best week since july 1 and oil prices kept tumbling last week. and whitehere is wti is emerging-market currencies, currently at the highest level since 2015. that is the white line, again. imaging market sucks are the highest since 2015, o -- emerging-market stocks are at the highest since 2015. you can see the emergence -- in this case oil, the yellow circle there. the correlation is down to the lowest in two years. according to stephen kirkland, the last time this relationship can emerging-market currencies and oil, broke down similar to oil's10 months before collapse to a decade low and that coincided with the emerging markets hitting multiyear lows. joe: that is a great chart and something you want to keep watching because we associate em with liking higher commodity prices come in particular oil.

as this divergent continues -- scarlet: who is right and who is wrong. joe: great question. kind of repetitive story -- greece again. we talk about it all the time and then we go for long stretches we don't talk about it. scarlet: and then it's back. joe: here is the greek two-year spread. it was quiet, then it picked up. if we zoom in here it jumped earlier in the year, quieted. now it is back up again. it is pretty simple -- they don't have the deal. greecehere is -- until has grown sustainably, they are never that making a lot of thriving economically -- it seems like this is going to keep happening because there are issues over pension reforms, the alexis tsipras government really underwater in the polls. heldere were an election today, they're pretty far behind it to the rival conservative party. they cannot come to an agreement to disperse in the next bailout

trench -- next bailout tranche. scarlet: breathing room for now. joe: but still a lot of anxiety. in two make over 9% years that you just have to be totally confident. scarlet: this can move a very sharply. joe: exactly right. next,t: coming up california congresswoman jackie speier was asking questions at the hearing on russia and james comey. we will get her take on the dramatic testimony. from new york, this is bloomberg. ♪

♪ italy's finance minister is optimistic the united kingdom and european union will find consensus on trade as the countdown to brexit continues. he spoke to reporters today in brussels. >> i have already had the chance to speak with chancellor hammond about this. i think that, of course, the are looking at the issue from different perspectives, but it is a good spirit of collaboration. >> he also says talks between the eu and monte paschi for

potential state bailout of the troubled bank are progressing. germany has rejected president trump's allegation that it owes large amounts of money to nato and the united states. the german defense minister says there is no debit account in the military alliance. u.s. leaders have complained in the past that most nato nations, including germany, don't meet the goal of spending 2% of their budget on defense. ncaa march madness roars back to life this week with the state officially set for the tournament's sweet 16. soon.gionals tip-off the first round was relatively quiet compared to last year's numerous upsets and buzzer beaters. the biggest surprise, 17 south carolina knocked off two seed duke, ruining brackets across the u.s. analystsws powered by

in 120 countries, i'm mark crumpton. this is bloomberg. the first weekend is done at the sweet 16 is set. we want to get you up to speed with bloomberg's bracket for a cause. we have brought together the biggest names in business and finance to compete for top march madness brackets, all of the proceeds are going to charity. 16 of our 38 celebrity participants picked duke, so oh well. half of our field has lost its chosen champion. the most popular pick remaining is unc, picked by 10 contestants. currently, if you look at bloomberg, bob steele and jeanie buss are ahead. ballmer, dan gilbert, and mark leslie have 87. you can follow our coverage at bloomberg.com/brackets. joe: i was 90 seconds for the

deadline. scarlet: let's pull yours up. at: i am in 17 hundred place -- and i picked duke. got duke, arizona, kansas and kentucky in your final four. at least you didn't pick villanova. what was your place? joe: 1667 out of 1803. scarlet: at least you are not last. joe: james comey and nsa director mike rogers testified at a public house intelligence committee hearing, and russia's -- amid russia's allegedly link in the 2016 election and president trump's claim he was .iretapped by president obama >> i have been authorized by the department of justice to confirm that the fbi, as part of our counterintelligence mission, is investigating the russian government's efforts to

interfere in the 2016 presidential election. that includes investigating the nature of any links between individuals associated with the trump campaign and the russian therement, and whether was any coordination between the campaign and russia's efforts. >> did you ever request that your counterparts in gc hq should wiretapped mr. trump on behalf of president obama? >> no, sir. that would be against the construct of the agreement in place for decades. no one ever asked us to engage in such activity. werethink all three, we confident in at least as early as december. i want to bring in bill, our national security team leader in washington. what is the number one thing we know that we didn't know yesterday? >> a couple things.

director comey's admission that there has been an investigation ongoing since july will cause a ash theirmocrats to gn teeth. the blanket denial that there is any evidence to support the assertion that president obama had trump tower wiretapped, those are things people have been talking about, but when you have the director of the fbi and head of national security agency putting that on the record in front of congress, it makes a big difference. recused jeff sessions himself from all investigations related to the presidential campaign. i wonder, who is overseeing this on the doj side? who is james comey reporting to on the current investigation? bill: he reports to the deputy for jeff sessions, who fills in any time the attorney general has recused himself. as we have seen with director comey last year during the campaign, and in the months

following, he is a very independent person. he takes investigations where they lead. he often makes decisions that are not politically popular. joe: one of the things comey said is there is an ongoing investigation, and he really speak about the nature of it. are there details that members andn as an ship -- nunez schiff can't divulge? bill: this was a public hearing, so there were a lot of questions, half the answers we got from comey and admiral rogers, work, i can't discuss that, i don't know. it will be more forthcoming in private briefings that we are expected to place. there is more information out there, but what they can say publicly, they are limited. scarlet: a lot of people on twitter were saying that you should watch for what comey

doesn't say rather than what he does say, because he is limited in what he can divulge. what did you find most striking about what he didn't say? bill: he did not want to engage in the big debate about michael flynn. republicans were pushing very hard to get information about an investigation into who leaked some of the classified information that ultimately led to former national security adviser michael flynn getting fired five or six weeks into his job. that is the focus a lot of republicans had today. james comey, in general, the policy is he would not discuss potential or ongoing investigations, and he stuck to that line today when it came to finding out who was behind these leaks. joe: bill in washington, thank you. scarlet: for more on the hearing, i want to bring in california congresswoman jackie

speier. she asked questions of james comey and admiral michael rodgers. thank you for speaking with us by phone. we know the trump administration wanted to learn who was behind the leaks. what did you want to get out of the hearing? a great deal out of the hearing. first of all, we got clarification that there is an investigation, that it is ongoing, that it dates back to july, and it includes persons engaged in the trump campaign. secondly, director comey put to bed, finally, the fact that there is no truth to the president's tweet of three weeks ago. it is so disconcerting to me that that's tweet has taken on a life of its own. everyone on tv and radio is spending countless hours talking about a false statement made by

the president that is reckless, and it suggests there was criminal activity by the former president of the united states. he made it very clear that none of that could have happened, but for a department of justice action. the president can't order that kind of activity. it shows us that the president has got to get schooled on his authorities, what he doesn't can't do, and what he cannot do. joe: what is next from your perspective? sit back and wait until the results from the russia investigation concluded some point in the future? >> actually, it is our intent to do an independent investigation havethe fbi, because we other issues to be looking at. they are looking at what potential criminal conduct people have engaged in. we are also looking at the intelligence damage done by russia, how do we prevent in the future, and we will really rely

a great deal on the data that has been developed by the fbi and the cia. but we will be acting independently, to the extent that we get the resources we need to the job. when you think back at the benghazi hearings, there were 32 investigationhe went on for two years at a cost of $7 million. we have not been given those kinds of resources to do the kind of in-depth analysis that needs to be done, and in many respects, why i still think we should have an independent commission. scarlet: who would you want to hear from if you hold further hearings? >> we will have a hearing next week in which we will hear from dni mr.irector of the clapper, and former cia director , and also the acting attorney general, sally yates. john brennan, clapper, and sally

yates will be part of our review next week on monday. there may even be a subsequent hearing on thursday. a number of these hearings are done in the open. the public has a better understanding of what is at stake here. this is not just a one-off activity. this is a concerted effort by the russians to undermine our democracy to create dysfunction, europe, and ton play havoc with nato, as well. all things come i might add, that in some respects, president trump has taken a page from their playbook. speierngresswoman jackie of california, thank you very much. coming up, how a rising middle class in india is helping the indian prime minister's vgp party. this is bloomberg.

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♪ joe: indian prime minister narendra modi's bjp party triumphed in state elections. this, after his government's decision last november to withdraw 86 percent of india's outstanding currency from circulation. at theearch director jerome levy forecasting center says the bjp's success is due to a rising middle class. thanks for having us back on the show. a big surprise when -- win for the party. i learned this weekend, this state election is the third

biggest selection in the world. there is the indian election, and the state is so big, it is the third biggest in the world on its own. would be, like, the fifth biggest country. joe: what is the big political takeaway? >> one thing, it clearly gives the prime minister and the party mandate to continue with policies. importantly, the prime doesn't have ay majority in the upper house. in 2018, this will enable them to get a majority in the upper house so they can follow more of their policies without opposition. scarlet: investors had a read through following the state election result, they were looking into 2018, saying modi will move ahead. what kind of policy initiatives and prescriptions is he going to offer once he does have control? a difficult question. so far, if you look at what he has followed in terms of policy andinternational investors

generally speaking, the financial markets, he has delivered some, but he has not delivered some. it is not clear what he wants to do. he is his own man and it is unclear what he will do. generally speaking, the economy is doing fairly well compared to other years, and people, investors have faith that he will follow through with friendly policy. indian stock market has done very well, particularly in the local currency. last year, people loved brazil. he recently put out a call, saying forget brazil, go along with india. what is the essence of that? >> two things. brazil, if you look, it is still mired in recession. the fourth quarter was pretty weak. the market has gone up a lot from its lowest, more than 100%. betting that there is going to be a recovery, there is still a lot of debt, and the household

sector is still retrenching. the key thing that has been holding them up are two things. one is the government deficit, which has widened. number two, the trade balance has improved dramatically, because of the commodity price rebound. if you look ahead, the global inventory cycle, coming out of a people startsion, to lose momentum in the next quarter. commodity prices are coming under somewhat, some pressure, at least. one source of the growth will go away. next is the government. the government has promised to rein in the deficit, partial -- partly to assuage international investors. on the other side for india, if commodity prices go down, it is

good for them. [no audio] india's talk about demonetization policy. has it accomplished its stated goal of reducing? >> we don't know until the tax returns come out. there are two issues. one thing is very clear. they were initially thinking a lot of the currency is not going to come back, but that is not what has happened. most of it came back. many of the people might have just glared -- declared, they have to pay the penalty when the tax time comes. he will know how much of the black money will come out during this time. scarlet: india saw a rise in cache usage, leading to the demonetization effort. did what extent of the -- did the drive to growth in credit, demand for gold, really -- real

estate prices, and the growth in the ruby? >> is is a manifestation that credit is growing fast. i don't believe cash dries credit, i believe cap -- credit price cash. what this shows is that the rise of black money, the economy pass activity is growing and credit is growing fast. the people who are taking, who , theyking black money out tend to pull it out in cash. they can keep it in a bank account. the increase of cash shows the growth of black money. joe: this is a bad question two and on, but what's the big long-term political theme? besides this year's strain. >> the long-term political theme, if you look over the last 25 years, has been one of transformation and growth. it has been it or medically

positive story. i think most of the ingredients are in place, and it is it has a story. scarlet: thank you so much. , closing in china. slowing demand makes with -- mixed with uncertainty. how is the industrial landscape coping? this is bloomberg. ♪

♪ forlet: it's crunch time china's industrial landscape as rising costs and the threat of american tariffs hurt is nice. tom mackenzie looks at the factory bosses looking further afield for salvation. tom: glass on this scale is a

delicately coordinated dance of molten glass, deftly wielded blowtorches and dodging danger. for the factory owners, it is worth it, at least it used to be . wage hikes, more expensive raw materials, and cooling demand means profits are going up in smoke. now, they have to contend with new trade tensions. 90% of the glassware made in this factory ends up on shelves in places like home depot and lowe's in the u.s.. the owner of this factory says tariffs on china's exports would kill his business. past thewn, parse -- hoax of shattered factories, this owner has made his decision. he plans to move his factory this year. the new u.s. president, the nail in the coffin.

president, the nail in the coffin. [no audio] >> more businesses will be forced to leave china. >> his factory, which makes plastic casings, used to employ 800 people. now, there are just 50. many factories closed in 2015. many taiwanese bosses are looking to move. >> it has become challenging to operate in fact are he and manufacturing business in the pearl river delta region, particularly because of the ever-rising cost, especially labor cost. >> china is gearing its economy away from low-end manufacturing like this. other countries will pick up the slack. that means better jobs for the next generation here. these workers are on board. >> i certainly don't want my kid doing what i am doing now.

i paid for him to go to university because i want him to find a proper, decent job in the future. >> the remolding of china's factory sector was underway long before trump came to power. the uncertainties over his policies are another potent catalyst fueling the change. tom mackenzie, bloomberg. scarlet: it's time for the bloomberg business flash. federal reserve bank of minneapolis president says he does not see an inflation threat looming around the corner. the lone dissenter against the fed rate increase spoke to bloomberg. >> i am not opposed to raising rates when the data tells us we are moving towards our dual mandate target. the data is moving sideways, so i am asking, what is the rush to raise rates? scarlet: he is a voting member of the central bank's policymaking committee, and was favor -- in favor of keeping rates on hold.

wells fargo says credit card applications dropped 55% last month. open 43 percent fewer checking accounts in february, marking the sixth straight month of declines. that is your business flash update. coming up, what do you need for tomorrow's trading day. this is bloomberg. ♪

the president of the federal reserve bank of boston, cleveland, kansas city and new york, speaking at public events tomorrow. nike and fedex announced third-quarter results after the bell. thanks for watching it have a great evening. from new york, this

mark: i am mark crumpton. you are watching "bloomberg technology." let's start with a check of your first word news. james comey has said there is no evidence to support president trump's claim the obama administration had trump tower

wiretapped. he testified today at the house intelligence committee's first hearing on russia's potential interference in the election. he says he was authorized by the justice department to confirm the existence of a counterintelligence investigation. jake neil gorsuch gave opening statements today, the first day of his confirmation hearing before the senate judiciary committee. chairman chuck grassley says the plan is to have the supreme court nominee confirmed before the senate takes a two-week break april 10. confirmed,rsuch is you would restore a narrow 5-4 conservative majority on the court. president trump met with iraq's prime minister at the white house today, the foreign leader's first visit since the inauguration. it comes before the president's plan to host d68-nation meeting to discuss advancing the fight against islamic state. , banker,kefeller presidential