we are he clited to welcome brian moynihan. good to see you. brian: good to see you. good to be here. eric: we have had interesting experiences at the forum. once again we are in the midst of a sellout. it teams like 2009 -- feels like 2009. i hope not. what does it feel like you? brian: a little bit planned. i think it reflects the tug of war about the economy growing, can they sustain that growth versus commodities down draft and expectation. i think that tug of war thing played out in the markets. eric: you think it's sensible? brian: it's sensible. i think at the end of the day companies like our have to keep driving. the consumers of america continue to spend. the question is how does it play out? >> are the markets sending us a message we are not getting about the underlying economy within the united states or globally? do you see that? brian: expectation that may. if they push up the interest rates are saying the economy won't be strong enough to keep raising rates. if you look at the real data we see for january, consumers are spending more than last january.

alix: finally, bank of america chairman brian moynihan.ut job cuts and boosting the bottom line. brian: our turn on tangible common equity last year -- we have to do three things to get it up. take expensive down loads of -- expenses down relative to revenue. and we've got to grow core loans. we have taken expenses down -- as i said before, we took down the headcount by 2000 people in the fourth quarter. it is not pleasant. a we just keep driving it down. the pattern to get there is those three things. what we saw it in the fourth quarter, fourth quarter of 4014, first-order 515, expenses were down 3%. we have got to keep that through. in all four quarters we had rising profits. the easiest way to improve profitability and boost returns is by reducing headcount? where will you be at the end of 2016? sub-200,000? brian: i don't know if we will be that low. in that headcount reduction we also deployed more and more salespeople. you are making a double switch. you are taking out expenses from the legacy issues. you are taking out expenses by

it is not about brian moynihan and bank of america.hallenges that we see, and i would hearken back to henry kaufman, who predicted all of this eight or even nine years ago. you wonder if bank of america will become a utility bank. vonnie: yes, you do. a couple more headlines from the earnings release. bank of america is saying that the value per share increased 6% to 22.54. we are seeing the stock move around slightly, 1.5% higher right now on pretty low volume. --: what we have seen here and paul miller alluded to it as well -- there are a number of ways they could play. you wonder about the energy debt, the increases we are beginning to see in credit and accounting. but what i am really looking at is the expense side and particularly what brian monahan andjames dimon at jpmorgan, the regional banks as well that we do not talk enough about -- what are they going to do about the retail banking in a digital world? seminarr at davos, my at davos for the economic forum was the -- was on the future of digital banking. that is where we are

brian moynihan from bank of america will be here as well.y missing ingredient among the largest u.s. banks is wells fargo. it's mainly a u.s. bank. it's uncertain whether lloyd blankfein is going to make it. he is recovering from cancer. he may or may not come. the present of goldman sachs will be here on friday -- the president of goldman sachs will be here on friday. 12:30 london time, 7:30 eastern. francine: this will give us a sense of what bankers are worried about -- fixed income and trade. here in europe, there is also a u.s. that it will only be banks that will be left in the investment space in europe for five years for now. erik: that is the prevailing view. they know they are being forced to shrink by regulators. yes, the question is whether the only banks and the fixed income business end up being the gigantic u.s. institutions like a p morgan and bank of america. it is an open question whether goldman sachs will be there. look at what morgan stanley is doing. it has shrunk its fixed income business and plans to -- cut another 25

don't mitt our sit down with the banc of america and chairman, brian moynihan, days after the bank reportedighest earnings in a decade. that's 11:40 eastern time right here on bloomberg television. betty: welcome back to bloomberg television. china still contributing to those global growth concerns as it adjusts its currency policy. shift to consumer-led growth. the governor spoke earlier today to bloomberg television in davos. >> the markets had reached a level where people were asking when does the correction come and on what basis? so i think china is a trigger. oil prices are a trigger. but prices will try to find an appropriate level. they have been inflated. you did have some volume tillity. a lot of people have been telling us to expect volume tillity. the question is, what level does it settle? and i think news coming out from china hasn't changed significantly over the last few weeks. of course there were certain change in the fix. chinese authorities have gone out to explain this was not about deliberating depreciating, but adjusting to the new basket. but one should take them at

the bank admitted growing the company's revenue is difficult and ceo brian moynihan is here in davosng with morgan stanley ceo, a lot of bankers here but a lot of turmoil too. and that's where charlie gasparino comes in. >> you like ly like my outfit? liz: is this the cavuto collection? >> the cavuto collection. my wife is gone, she's at the retreat where there is no access to tv or telephones so i'm free. can i say whatever i want. liz: that's a great story. thank you for sharing that. [ laughter ] charlie, get to the banking numbers, you begged jpmorgan as it looks good. >> remember you had a doofy floor trader on talking about how great jpmorgan's earnings were? liz: is that a word, doofy? >> he was touting his book. if you look inside of jpmorgan's earnings, jamie dimon, the ceo who will probably be here tomorrow, maybe flying in tonight. he said it's a tough environment out there. we might have -- i'm not sure if they beat but they disappointed, we might have beat earnings because we cut so much. i'm paraphrasing, that's what he said. liz: morgan stanley. >> what did james gorma

done with broad brushed restructuring, it did take a $130 million charge, according to the ceo brian moynihanas related to layoffs in its markets division. we know how tough the times have been for these banks in markets with a lack of volatility and then the new volatility. in a note to clients this morning, guggenheim noted that the deterioration in energy lending may undermine this progress in the short-term. that is very simply put. take a look at this. the bank outlined $21 billion. it had on the hook for the energy sector. the $8 billion in exposure it had for mining. you can see how that is based by different parts of the energy sector. they went to great pains to break that down, to try and give some clarity to the market. the bank also putting a price on its own liability. they said should oil stay at $30 for the next several quarters, the cost would be $700 million in extra reserves. analysts want to know on the conference call how much worse could it get? >> right now it's pretty isolated. the energy companies. even if you look at consumers who work for them and our basis by zip co

plus the competition in wireless and television back in the states and brian moynihan will join us asdustry tries to keep up with rapid advances in banking. and check out the futures this morning. down sharply once again. down by 300 points below fair value. s&p futures off by 32. squawk box will be right back. serena williams. hi watson. you are a fierce competitor. i've heard that. i have analysed your biggest matches. oh really? when down a point, you serve an ace 5.8 times more than other top players. you sound like a coach. i am not. but i can customize training programs based on biomarker data. watson, that's pretty impressive. you might say i am the serena williams of cloud-based cognitive systems. nah, i wouldn't go that far. >>> welcome back to squawk box everyone. we are live at the world economic forum in davos switzerland and the markets around the globe are in a tail spin. u.s. if you tours have been under quite a bit of pressure this morning. this looks like the same story for much of the last two weeks. you can see that the dow futures are 304 points below fair value. s

ceo brian moynihan speaking on the company's conference call to bring you what you had to say after thisith bank of america shares actually lower by half a percent. >>> all right. welcome back to "squawk on the street." scott whopner. david einhorn's green light capital saying he has established a position in macy's. he says the average price was $45.69. principally for the idea that the real estate part of macy's could be separated to unlock value. a thought that we have heard before from another activist investor, jeff smith of starboard, who revealed that position and laid out his thesis at our very own delivering alpha conference in new york city last july. mr. einhorn laying out in his most recent shareholder letter -- here it is -- that macy's could unlock valuation ain excess of $125 per share. management determined a whole company wouldn't provide the required operational flexibility. now he says with a stock closing in at around -- well, there it is at almost $40. at the time of the letter the stock ended the year shy of $35. that the math to do such a thing would make more sens

brian moynihan has already said cut jobs this year. what do you make of that?m but i know of him. he is one of the sharpest executives on the street. it has obviously been hard combining bank of america and merrill but it seems like they gotten a lot of the tough stuff out of the way. david: it isn't just bank of america. it is morgan stanley. lisa: do you think revenues will ever come back? carson: they will come back but who knows when? market is the obviously in a strange place. my perspective, valuations are stretched and when you look at the credit markets, it is returned less risk from my perspective. and i think that is finally working its way into the system. a day when this rebounds but i'm not a macro guy and i wouldn't speculate on when this would happen. stephanie: research is something you know well. does research provide any value -- because south side research -- carson: i think banks would like to exit south side research. understand what the long side is thinking. what are we missing? is an easy way of helping us figure out whether there is som

say the fed isu testing the resolve of jamie dimon and brian moynihan that continue with a plan to besal bank, doing everything across all regions, including maintaining a large invest bank along the consumer and commercial business? like jamie dimon, it is a long game. giving up on investment taking because of rushers today, it is probably too early. they are committed to it. i think they will stick with it for the time being. talked to last time i a major u.s. tank, they said the fed is already imposing requirements higher than basel so we are repaired for fossil to go up. maybe you are right, but i am not sure this will actually change the big u.s. banks gave your. good pointyou make a here and i would love your insights on it. very strict in the last few years and likewise swiss. you want the swiss finish third go up and above where every other regulator is. where do you see the banks and the regulators behind outside the u.s. and outside of >> forland question mark large banks, capital time and is an issue but not the driver at the moment. the driver is the revenue stream you can

dow chemical ceo, and bank of america ceo brian moynihan and speak with harvard professor of history and zhang xin. and "varney & company" is next, stay tuned for ashley in for stuart. take it away. ashley: what a beautiful back drop davos is in sight. and the end is in sight, stuart's vacation. and the big selloffs becoming the norm these days. another triple digit drop coming up, 300 points or more, right now we're down 252 on the futures. the culprit, of course, again is oil. fresh 12-year bee lolobelows. >> and $27.

dow chemical ceo, and bank of america ceo brian moynihan and speak with harvard professor of history neil ferguson and zhang xin. and "varney & company" is next, stay tuned for ashley in for stuart. take it away. ashley: what a beautiful back drop davos is in sight. and the end is in sight, stuart's vacation. and the big selloffs becoming the norm these days. another triple digit drop coming up, 300 points or more, right now we're down 252 on the futures. the culprit, of course, again is oil. fresh 12-year bee lolobelows. >> and $27. and when someone said it would drop to $25, we laughed. but it's not far off. netflix has gone global, and that's a winner, just barely and pointing higher. how about this, sarah palin endorsing donald trump. iowa caucuses two weeks ago-- away i should saw. i'm excited and eric trump, donald's son is here, and he'll talk about sarah palin and the campaign in general. a blanket of snow could be in the northeast. were you one of those people complaining when it was 70 degrees on christmas? i was. guess what? things are changing. and leonardo dicaprio slamm