they are considering whether to make a higher offer for moneygram.nuary, it announced the plan to acquire moneygram for $13 a share in cash pending regulatory approval. last week, they swooped in with a $15.20 per share offer. it is likely they will counter or bid with a higher offer wait until due diligence before delivering a rival bid. snap trading got off to a volatile start. analysts could not seem to get behind it. one analyst is breaking with the consensus out with a buy rating. we will hear from him next. all episodes of "bloomberg technology" are live streaming on twitter. this is bloomberg. ♪ mark: i am mark crumpton. you are watching "bloomberg technology." let's begin with first word news. james comey testified today at the house intelligence committee's first hearing on alleged russian interference in the presidential election. >> with respect to the president's tweets about alleged wiretapping directed at him by the prior administration, i have no information that supports those tweets. and we have looked carefully inside the f.b.i. the

they are considering whether to make a higher offer for moneygram.january, it announced the plan to acquire moneygram for $13 a share in cash pending regulatory approval. last week, they swooped in with a $15.20 per share offer. it is likely they will counter the bid with a higher offer or wait until due diligence before delivering a rival bid. snap trading got off to a volatile start. analysts could not seem to get behind it. one analyst is breaking with the consensus out with a buy rating. we will hear from him next. all episodes of "bloomberg technology" are live streaming on twitter. this is bloomberg. ♪ >> 1:30 p.m. here in hong kong. let's get an update of the top stories. south korea's former leader has began what could be hours of questioning over the undue influence scandal that forced her from office. she's accused of pressuring top business leaders to donate tens of millions of dollars to a confidante in return for government favors. bhp militan bhp billiton accepted an invitation to meet for the first time in a month with union leaders. t

jim mentioned moneygram earlier.any but you have an overbid this morning for moneygraham financial. it is an agreement to be acquired by and financial, a month and a half or so old, not quite that, announced at the end of january. it is the financial services giant eamericai emerging out of controlled by jack ma. alibaba and alipay, and it's become a consumer financial services giant in the chi nynes market. also servicing small businesses. they've got a deal under where they agreed to pay $13.25 a share in cash. this morning, yuryu euro net, a bit. valuing moneygraham m at $1 bil. they're talking about cost sinner ynerg synergies. yur euro net tried to get this company years ago. it fails to succeed in that. a lot of this would seem to come down to the potential review in the u.s. of the committee for financial investment in the united states. it looks at the national security parameters of deals that it chooses to review and, oftentimes, when the buyer is chinese, you can imagine, you're going to get a review. euro

moneygram already has a deal in place to be in china affiliate for $880 billion.eaming up to bring more cloud services to companies. they'll go live next year. vodafone to merge with idea cellular. and operates at nearly 300 million customers. >>> some more stocks to waump. grub hub could lose more than 25% of its value in the next year or so. increased competition and higher costs as reasons for the potential dip in the stock price. shares of abbott labs and had a higher rate of serioused averse heart events than those treated with the extents. >>> speaking of medical news, johnson and johnson and buyers xarelto getting pausesative study. the blood thinner cut the risk of rekerring blood clots compared with the low dose aspartnersha aspir aspirin. >>> and here with more on that. good morning. >> that's right. disney's "beauty and the beast" debuting with a roar. it was a beauty at the box office opening at $170 million domestically and $350 million globally. easily making returns on $160 million it took to produce the film. surpassing disney's finding dory and be

moneygram has not yet responded to the new proposal.s not just the price but also the review. euronet is based here in the united states. when it comes to alibaba, there have already been a number of calls for a tough review from two congressmen. this change in the game. we'll see where it heads. >>> coming up, stocks to watch ahead of the opening bell on wall street. then jim grant talks markets and the fed ahead of this big two-day meeting. don't you love that? we say it, but do we really think about it? the third increase in ten years. >> oh, no. time to worry. >> yeah, i know. "squawk box" on a snow ky tuesd. kind of snowy tuesday morning. we'll be right back. ♪ hi, i'm frank. i take movantik for oic, opioid-induced constipation. had a bad back injury, my doctor prescribed opioids which helped with the chronic pain, but backed me up big-time. tried prunes, laxatives, still constipated... had to talk to my doctor. she said, "how long you been holding this in?" (laughs) that was my movantik moment. my doctor told me that movantik is s

weeks after a bid for moneygram, they are tabling a higher bid.lion, 20 a 20re, which tops it -- at .25. a takeover plan has been issued as a done deal. >> it sounds like the u.s. fed hike is a done deal. they are expected to have a rate hike later wednesday. what can they expect for the rest of the year and beyond? up our favorite chart these days, or bloomberg -- wirp. which is work i want to look at four columns. one and five, 19.4%. one in five essentially is the odds that we will see four rate hikes this year. is that sound right to you? >> probably not. we think it is on track for three this year. we do not think necessarily it will be a significant tightening in the next six months after the march announcement. the real question is, what will happen in 2018? of foure 40 whispers rate hikes in 2018. afast pace of the fed over normal tightening cycle. that is where the yield curve comes in. it is not bought into the story of a fast pace of rate hikes. that is where the adjustment process has to come through. yes, there are bets being placed i

they have just offered to buy the money transfer company known as moneygram.ars. that is much bigger than a competing bid payment affiliate at alibaba. bottom line, somebody wants to buy money gram. they're prepared to pay more than a billion dollars. the stock is up 25%. >>> no stock to quote on neiman marcus because they're privately held. there is big news on the upscale adopt store chain. they put themselves up for sale. this is part of the retail ice age and ghost malls that are acoming. the dow industrials down 80 points. just dropped below 20,800. >>> get back to that cbo report on the republican health care plan. the mainstream media focused squarely, entirely i should say on the negatives. couple of headlines for you. first off, an editorial in "the new york times." quote, trading health care for the poor for rich, for tax cuts for the rich. here is the "washington post," again the editorial board. this is what they are saying as a newspaper. the cbo reveals republicans health care cruelty. byron york from the "washington examiner" is with us the medi