louis fed president james bullard said this morning the continuing drop in oil had caused a worrisome drop in inflation that may make further rate hikes hard to justify. hey, that is a very big statement. bullard is a centrist and voter on the fomc this year. is this the bottom? i don't think so you. first we're still dealing with the biggest issue of all -- just how much is the global economy decelerating. second, oil has not clearly bottomed. also it's not clear the fed is going to back off the aggressive rate hike policy. remember, we haven't dropped that much. right now we're in the middle a garden-variety correction. but remember, the s&p went from 700 in 2009 to 2100 in 2015. now it's only about 1900, so we're going to rally for seven years and then a garden-variety 10% correction? it just doesn't seem like that's enough. that's why the rally seemed tentative. no one is going all in, because there's still too much downside risk. for "nightly business report" i'm bob pisani at the new york stock exchange. >>> as bob just reported, the global slowdown is perhaps the biggest issue

louis fed president james bullard speaks on the economy and monetary policy in memphis. and that is what to watch thursday. >>> the rams are moving west to their new home in los angeles, and the san diego chargers have the option to join them. the announcement late last night came after a day of marathon meetings. jane wells tells us why the decision is as much about business as it is about the sport. >> reporter: it was a long night for tom benson of the new orleans saints and other nfl owners, and finally, just as the state of the union was about to begin, the state of american football changed. >> the nfl owners tonight approved the return of the los angeles rams to the market starting with the 2016 season. >> reporter: stan chronice's st. louis rams beat out a tag team of the san diego chargers and oakland raiders because he's promising a glitzier stadium in the l.a. city of inglewood, unlike anything the nfl has ever seen, and outshining a proposed stadium in carson by the other two teams. now the chargers have one year to decide whether to join the rams in inglewoo

louis federal reserve president james bullard said those low inflation expectations are becoming worrisomealso cited concerns about even lower oil prices for even longer. scott mather from pimco joins us now. scott, you oversee a big income portfolio. where do you think that benchmark ten year u.s. interest rate is heading from here? >> our expectation is that it has gently higher in yield throughout the course of this year, we're probably down pretty close to the absolute low end of the range here. that's based on our expectation that we are going to begin to see inflation expectations begin to rise. we think not only we probably hit a low point in terms of energy prices but certainly the impact that it has on u.s. inflation is going to diminish over time, just based on calendar effects. we expect to see wage pressure beginning to rise. putting all those things together we think we will see yields rising gently, we think we will still see the fed on the move this year but expect to see many episodes of volatility the marketplace. our key message is be very careful in terms of mapping this

meanwhile, james bullard could be humming a new tune on inflation.ch today in memphis, he said falling oil prices may delay a return to the feds 2% inflation target. he has been one of the most hawkish policy makers on interest rates. an increase in unemployment applications last week. under 300,000 is generally seen as a sign that the labor market is strong and remains strong. that is your bloomberg business flash update. alix: julie hyman has a check on some of the company movers. you are looking at web m.d.. whether d -- web m.d. is off sharply. take a look. in company said it was not discussions to be acquired. earlier, the financial times reported it was in discussions with potential buyers. when web m.d. said that's not we saw thehat's when stock decline. brown-forman, according to people familiar, is selling southern comfort. something called to walk a to a fireball maker. it is focusing more on core brown's -- core brands like jack daniels. haveeys like fireball become more popular and southern comfort has been losing market share. take a loo

. >> james bullard, one of those fed officials that might be rethinking his stance. says, recent oil price movements are very substantial. bullard, who is a voter this year, says the oil price decline has implications for monetary policy. he now says that stabilization of oil could take longer than expected. the idea that oil and the dollar would stabilize are central parts of the fed's forecast, leading them to rate hikes. this is an important point for a fed official. bullard says that u.s. inflation expectation appear to befalling and not some brief market move. lower u.s. inflation expectations are worrisome and low oil prices are net positive for the u.s. economy. bullard, back in november, had expressed confidence that inflation would move back towards 2%. the upshot of this is pretty much the way i think policy is going to work out. january rate hike was probably not on the table. march, now becomes, less likely, depending upon what happens. i want to show you guys a chart that i made of what's happened to interest rates since the fed hiked december 17th. you

and or bill dudley came on and said i gave a speech last friday and i should have agreed with james bullard- let me go there. >> you two have a history. >> bullard's speech on thursday was brilliant. he said if oil goes to 20, the inflation expectations have to be reduced. also the consumer is not spending like the consumer was in mid 2015. bullard's comments were so considered and important and totally overlooked by the pollyanna that was dudley. the dudley i knew from goldman is no pollyanna. that speech read like it was fresh the day it was canned, which is the first day of december. he has to come back and change his campbell soup view, or velveeta view, which is you can do anything, it won't change and still taste good. that speech was devastating. >> down to 50% chance of a june meeting. and the market pricing in one hike for the whole year, not four. >> i think the important thing is to try to get liquidity in the system. that is so contrary to what they were saying. but i think bullard's speech was about oil going to 20, the impact, which is a negative impact until we start seeing s

listen to james bullard, st.ed president, speaking at 9:15, among the hawkish fed presidents on rate hikes, and yesterday, a dove, the first to start incorporating trouble overseas into the outlook. listen to what he said. >> despite weakness seen over the last week or two, monetary policy shouldn't over react, and the downside risks to the forecast, and we have to take quite seriously what's happening elsewhere in the world. >> my read is it changes outlook and forecast if you end up seeing this show up into the real economy. you could imagine, for example, a 10%, a 15% market plunge which the fed thinks is an economic indicator, but if you're still printing 2% gdp growth, on the way back towards 2% inflation, in other words, oil bottoms out, you still could get three rate hikes this year. >> you said something that if oil bottoms out and the market's down, oil drives down equities. >> absolutely. >> every time it falls. it's almost as if there's no way that that scenario would play out. >> well, you know, i mea