♪ nejra: coming up on "bloomberg best," the stories that shaped the week in business around the world. an email trail raises questions for the white house. janet yellen takes questions on capitol hill. some big banks answer investor questions with earnings reports. >> it is almost an embarrassment being an american citizen traveling around the world and listening to the stupid -- we have to deal with in this country. nejra: central bank official share exclusive insight into monetary policy. >> at that low level you would have historically seen more inflation pressures. we are not. >> as long as necessary, we will implement monetary policy.

nejra: big names in finance tell us where they see markets moving. >> we want to see interest rates continue to rise. >> we remain comfortable. >> the valuation disconnect between the u.s. and europe is actually growing. >> we are in more of a political crisis when americans feel at the moment. nejra: the brightest minds in business drive the conversation in sun valley. >> we should get over the notion of the politics of repeal, and onto the notion of fixing the aca. >> for the industry, there is a lot of energy around making net neutrality work. nejra: it is all straight ahead on "bloomberg best." ♪ nejra: hello and welcome. i am nejra cehic. this is "bloomberg best." your weekly review of the most important business news, analysis, and interviews.

let's start with a day by day look at the top headlines. on monday, the spotlight fell on economic data from china. >> supplies gains holding up in june. signaling demand in the economy there could remain robust in the face of regulatory curbs. steady as she goes. >> it is a positive headline. when you look at the ppi, it suggests factory profits are heading in the right direction. as long as ppi stays positive, that is not a bad thing. servicing debt is such an issue for china. but at the same time, we are a long way from the peak in february when we were 7.8%. we are not seeing any correlation between the ppi story and consumer prices, which remain tepid. maybe a one-off restocking of inventories by companies, which is what skewed that number. the overall theme remains ppi is probably headed downwards for the rest of the year.

>> russia wanted to aid the trump campaign. it is official. the latest reporting is that donald trump jr. was told in an email that he would receive damaging information about hillary clinton at a meeting with the kremlin connected lawyer from russia. the emails says the russian government was trying to help his father's election bid. is it obvious that any kind of crime has been committed here? >> not yet. i am sure everybody, including us in the news bureau, are trying to figure out what the legal definition of collusion is. there are election law issues. you're not allowed to take anything of value from a foreign government. regardless, it is not good for mr. trump's son. >> i spoke with the source close to donald trump jr. who said they wanted to get this information out as quickly as possible, all in one swipe so to speak.

they feel they did not do anything legally wrong. the attorney statement suggests as much. there is no question that this is bad. politics really could cloud any progress on a host of policy issues republicans want to move forward ahead on like health is bad. care. >> senate majority leader mitch mcconnell has announced moments ago that the senate will delay the start of the august recess by two weeks. in his statement, he said after the senate finishes its work on health care they can turn to the national defense authorization act, and a series of nominations from president trump that mcconnell said democrats have been obstructing. it is a significant response to the pressure he was feeling from members of his own party, saying we have not gotten nearly enough done to go home to our constituents. >> janet yellen's semiannual testimony before congress, saying the u.s. economy should continue to expand over the next two years.

she also stressed the fed continues to monitor inflation closely. >> we are very focused on trying to achieve our 2% inflation targets. it is not a subject of discussion. >> you have a lot of members of the house financial services committee eager to see the multitrillion dollar balance sheet be wound down, to be cleaned up, to be investing in treasury bonds. from that standpoint, a lot of good news. you have a lot of members happy with it. >> a quote today, he said it is an evolution, not a revolution. the market didn't care. he seemed to be optimistic. >> i think so. overall there is a tendency, we are more comfortable with higher rates than we have been. it is more of an evolution.

>> the senate republicans have released an updated draft of the health care bill. for the most part we knew what was going to be in here. what are the compromises that were not on the original plan? >> $70 billion to stabilize the insurance markets. or the obamacare exchanges. that is in addition to the $112 billion that was already in the original version. also, it would keep in place the taxes from the affordable care act. there is also a significant increase to opioid addiction spending. in terms of more broadly speaking, we were talking whether the majority leader would try to peel off support from democrats. you take a look at this bill. no democrats are going to support this. >> rand paul has come out against this bill. senator susan collins has also indicated she will not vote for it. do you expect debate to be open on the bill and do you expect a

vote next week? >> if we have lost 2, we can't lose any others. we will have to have 50. we will wait and see. >> jpmorgan, citigroup, and wells fargo kicking off second quarter earnings season for banks. investors are getting a sense of how wall street fared. each bank did better in some units than the bank had forecast, which was an interesting turn. >> the big thing people focus on is trading. that tends to be where we get the biggest surprises. we had the bank significantly lower expectations. that was approximately a month ago. and jpmorgan coming in in line with those lowered expectations. fixed income trading better, but equities trading worse, but fixed income much more important. >> jamie dimon is venting after a busy trip overseas. he has some things on his mind,

doesn't he? >> we have become one of the most bureaucratic, litigious societies on the planet. it is almost an embarrassment being an american citizen traveling around the world and listening to the stupid -- we have to deal with in this country. at one point, we will all have to get our act together. >> jamie dimon is consistent in four -- calling for tax reform and how he thinks that can benefit the economy. we have been hearing from this consistently. he has perhaps exceeded expectations with his enthusiasm on the subject and his impassioned plea for actions to be done. nejra: still to come, as we review the week, the leader of france's central bank offers insight into the ecb's policy past. robert kaplan shares his views on what is ahead for the fed. plus, conversations from sun valley on u.s. health care reform and other hot topics. and up next, more the week's top business headlines.

another opec nation may be ready saudi arabia and sell shares in that state owned oil business. >> many gulf economies and energy companies are trying to reconsider their strategies in the face of lower oil prices. nejra: this is bloomberg. ♪

♪ nejra: this is "bloomberg best." i am nejra cehic. let's continue our global tour of the week's top business stories with news from washington, d.c. president trump made plans to fill a key regulatory post at the federal reserve. david: late yesterday we learned that president donald trump is going to be nominating randall quarrels, who served in the george w. bush administration. he will be nominated to be the federal reserve's chief banking regulator. quarrels would play a pivotal role carrying out president

trump's pledge to ease regulatory constraints put on banks after the 2008 crisis. this is a big move. this is really important to the street. this supervisory position, what will this do to banks? >> it should mean less regulation for banks and perhaps a little more profit. the question is how much can quarrels get done on his own? a lot of dodd-frank is written into the legislation. the fed only supervises the biggest banks. what changes he makes has to get through the fed board of governors as well as working with the office of the comptroller of the currency to try to standardize regulations across the industry. it would do things like have the volcker rule lightened up. he doesn't want to see banks broken up, doesn't like the resolution authority they have put in place to wind down banks if they are failing. he thinks capital standards are too high. he says that causes banks to raise interest rates to increase

their profits. he says there are some good things about dodd-frank. he is not going to take a meat axe to everything. he does want to make some changes. another possible change would be to lighten stress test regulations. >> they are considering selling shares and seeking international partners as the producer of the most crude in the united arab emirates tries to expand operations. >> this is hot on the heels of the saudi aramco planned flotation. the big difference here is that adnoc does not intend to sell a slice of the entire company at the holding level. it is going to sell minority stakes in its services business. this is still a big deal for a company that for many, many years was basically synonymous with the abu dhabi government and the ruling elite. it comes as many gulf economies are trying to reconsider their strategies in the face of lower oil prices.

saudi arabia isn't the only one. we have seen oman. they are intending to sell shares in their downstream energy assets. there is speculation of kuwaiti energy companies as well. >> abercrombie & fitch terminating talks with potential acquirers, dashing hopes. investors saw a take over as the best way to rescue this retailer . it doesn't have many stores left. what does it have? >> it is a brand that is tarnished at this point. part of the reason, if you take a look at the revenue and the net income of this company, it is a pretty stark downturn. estimates are even worse on both ends. you come into this and say all right, abercrombie needs a new strategy. that was part of the idea. let's try to talk to american eagle. we will try to talk to cerberus potentially and take this company private.

abercrombie probably went through the process and found from the buyer perspective there wasn't anyone there. they need to offer a certain price. >> chinese authorities want to stop the use of vpns. that is a plan to get through the loopholes in the so-called great firewall of china. what does this all mean? what are they trying to do? >> virtual private networks are a form of technology that people, private technology people, businesses, they tunnel through the great firewall and access sites blocked outside of china. from "the new york times," to google, facebook, instagram. a wide range of sites unblocked. the government has taken an ad hoc approach to targeting individual vpns for shutdown. the new move would take a more comprehensive and aggressive approach by asking china's major state owned telecoms to block

traffic that appears to be vpns. virtually everyone in china gets on to the internet through one of these telecoms. >> saudi arabia says the anti-terror pact signed between qatar and the u.s. is not enough to end the diplomatic isolation. the saudi block says it fil violated the agreement. the agreement was kept secret until it was leaked to the media on tuesday. the hand written document barred qatar and other gulf nations from supporting oppositions and terror groups. doha are says accusations that it is violating the agreement are false. >> they are going to go to kuwait, get some ideas, they signed a deal, and this memorandum of understanding around terrorism financing would possibly unlock some doors when they go and sit down with the saudi led block later in the day.

is he going to thurston now, the we go into- as thursday now, the responses we got speak to a picture that is insufficient from the qatari side. underscoring more needs to be done. throwing the prospect of an immediate resolution into cold water for the moment. >> getting to breaking wage jobs data out of the u.k.. consumers seeing their spending power eroded. feeble wage increases despite unemployment falling to a 40 year low. regular earnings rising 2% in the three months from a year well-defined the rate of inflation. wages growing well behind the rate of inflation last month. you have to say these figures underscore the dilemma that split the bank of england over whether to raise interest rates. the bank of england deputy governor says he is not ready to vote for higher rates, though he sees the pressures to do so. he says there is reason to see

the committee moving in the direction, but there were still a lot of imponderables, saying they make the decision tricky at the moment. >> the bank of england should be forward-looking. the rise in inflation is squeezing real wages. it is slowing the economy down. as long as wage inflation doesn't pick up, the bank of england will be hitting their target going forward. >> they realize domestic inflation remains high and the global inflation story is not within its control. since the thinking about raising -- should be thinking about raising rates. it is your turn, it is fiscal policy, it is the direction of travel in terms of encouraging investment that now needs to be the real focus. >> amazon's stock climbed after another successful prime day. amazon isn't revealing exact numbers, but it generated about $1 billion in revenue.

>> the biggest day in sales they have ever had. they did a billion dollars in revenue and about $2.5 billion gross merchandise volume. let's when you account for third-party sellers, which was pretty fast growth of them, for the small businesses selling on prime day. importantly, they added the most prime members in a single day in the history of the company. for us, prime is the biggest driver of the retail businesses growth over the long-term. ♪ >> the brazilian president had the support to defeat congressional motions that would put him on trial for alleged corruption. that is according to reporting from bloomberg. the case comes as the former president sentenced to nine and a half years for money laundering. let's deal with lula. the market reacted positively to this news. is that because they don't

expect him to run in 2018? >> that is exactly it. that is a very good point. we are talking about someone with a very, very strong political influence in brazil. any indication lula may not be able to run for president next year is a good indication for the market. lula is known as someone that is against all of the reforms are being implemented now in brazil including the pension system reform just voted this week. the markets have given a clear message here. any bad news for lula is good news for investors. >> theresa may's government unveiled a landmark law that will remove britain from the european union, the repeal bill is aimed at transferring eu laws onto the british statute book when brexit takes place. the draft would hand the government two years to alter u.k. law through a fast-track process. >> is this effectively something

that could turn into a vote of confidence on brexit? >> absolutely. it could turn into a vote of confidence on the government. you have to remember both conservatives and the labour party, they actively want brexit. within their manifestoes they think the people voted for it. they want different forms of brexit. certainly if you are jeremy corbyn, you think this is a way you can get into government, by drawing tory rebels over for the amendments you are planning to add to this bill. it is a litmus test for theresa may's ability to push legislation through. ♪

♪ nejra: welcome back to "bloomberg best." i am nejra cehic. a pickup in the u.k. economy has

investors wondering when and how the ecb will change its stimulus settings. this week, a member of the banks governing council discussed monetary policy and exclusive interview with bloomberg television. here is think of france governor speaking with carolyn cardinal . >> our target is midterm inflation, self sustained, around 2%. as long as necessary, we will implement the recommended policy. what we have to do, what we started to do is to adapt the intensity of this accommodative monetary policy to the progress towards our inflation target, towards economic recovery in europe. if you remember, what we did last march, when we reduced monthly purchases of qe from 80 to 60, we announced one month

ago that clearly we wouldn't reduce interest rates. in the future, this will be our decision next fall, we will go on adapting the intensity of this accommodative monetary policy. >> do you think the discussion should move quicker though? do you think the markets are expecting discussions to move more quickly? >> i think we have been extremely clear about the visibility and predictability of our monetary strategy. if you remember, as far as last december, we announced our monetary policy until december 2017, we will see what happens after that. no impatience please. i don't say it especially for the financial markets. i say it because we are independent.

independent meaning being independent from political pressures, clearly, and from short-termism and from such market impatience. >> are you also waiting for the political risk? you mentioned that protectionist policies are a threat to global growth. is this also what the governing council is waiting for to see how the political risks involved for the rest of this year? >> this is an important characteristic of the european situation. political risk has diminished within the eurozone. if you remember what was said one year ago after brexit, 2017 would be a dangerous year for the eurozone. much turmoil expected, which week recovery, etc.. we have seen exactly the contrary. our recovery is solid. it is domestic driven. there are political risks. they are more the global level outside of the eurozone.

the brexit negotiation is a real challenge. the uncertainties about the new american policies. what we have to do, this is a very important stake of the g20 summit in hamburg just happening now as we speak, to go on with multilateral policy with international groups. these are the best solutions for global growth, and the best solution against inequalities. nejra: coming up, we will get a read on the fed in an exclusive conversation with robert kaplan. u.s. energy policy makes green energy advocate tom steyer see red. sparks flew this week when he sat down with bloomberg. investors around the globe give perspective on the market, a heavy hitter in m&a sees no signs credit is contracting.

>> take a look at the levels of activity. really it does not show its subsiding anytime soon. nejra: this is bloomberg. ♪ ♪

♪ >> talks in switzerland on reuniting the country did not produce an outcome, but will hopefully offer the beginning of the process. when you think about moving the economy forward, have you built in any expectation we would see reunification? >> none, actually. it is regrettable. it was a major effort. it failed to deliver results. obviously, it takes two to tango. we still have to see tangible

steps, which will match the words. >> that was the finance minister of cyprus speaking with steps, which will match the bloomberg's guy johnson. starting with the week's top interviews, billionaire investor and clean energy advocate tom steyer has criticized the trump administration's energy policies and the decision to pull out of the paris climate accord, leading to speculation he might be prepared to run for political office. >> the polling says americans of every stripe across the country, including republicans, no we have to deal with climate change and are up for it. but the second thing that you should know is that the study we have done with hank paulson, a republican, and mike bloomberg, an independent, have shown that if we moved to clean energy, our economy will grow faster, costs will be lower, and americans will be better paid. so the whole republican lie that somehow moving to clean energy is bad for our economy is just that. they have no justification for

it, they assert it repeatedly, it doesn't happen to be true. >> you are clearly frustrated with this administration. everything i have read -- [laughter] >> you think? >> a little bit. everything i have read says you have a choice, continue to be an environmental activist, but clearly you feel passionately not just about the environment, something far bigger about washington and what is going on there, is a time to run for governor of california? >> let me say this, i think we are in much more of a political crisis than americans feel, and we don't feel it because the economy is pretty good, but in the political sphere, we are seeing true crisis. we need to be at the grassroots. we are trying hard to change the way americans see issues. we feel as if between going door to door, enabling americans to

learn the facts and talk to each other, that is how we can really reframe issues. >> what does client behavior tell you about where we are in the credit cycle? >> everybody would say we are in the later innings, and yet, when you take a look at our backlogs and the levels of activity, it really does not show it subsiding anytime soon. >> really? you do not see a turn in the credit cycle? >> it doesn't feel like it. >> how is this possible? trees do not grow from the top? >> i say that every day. you have to remember that we had a rather severe correction with 2009, and if you look back through history, it takes a

longer amount of time to recover through that. it is something we think about a lot all the time, absolutely. it feels like it is getting very late. having said that, if you look at data and client behavior, it does not. >> if something is going to precipitate a credit contraction, what will it be? >> most likely a geopolitical shock of some kind. that is what feels like the most likely. >> when that comes, would you expect to see it first in the terms to private commitments or would we see it show up in public bond spreads? >> public bond spreads. the public markets react very quickly. the private markets react in a more measured fashion historically. >> treasury yields just backed up by 25 basis points in 10 days. would you look at that and say it is a healthy repricing, or

does it represent something else? >> i'm not sure which of those two answers, options i would pick at this point. it is interesting to see what has happened. again, our view speaking from an insurance company investing perspective is we want to see interest rates continue to rise. our in-house forecast has been 2.75% on the 10 year by the end of the year. i will admit, until a few weeks ago, i was starting to doubt if we can get there, but the last few weeks, maybe it can get there. i look at a couple of things that perhaps have been driving it. there are a number of factors cited by experts, but two things stand out. number one is frankly, i will not call it coordinated, but there was a lot of central-bank narrative around that time about rising rates, the prospect of rising rates, and removing accommodation from the markets. that really kind of got the market going.

at the same time, we are continuing to see reasonably strong growth statistics, particularly in europe. i mentioned europe because you were talking about u.s. rates, but that is important because for the last 5-6 years, we have an talking about global capital flows, and if we see growth and rates increasing in europe, we might see capital flows starting to move a little. >> we are cautiously optimistic in terms of the economic growth outlook globally. and so we are looking for decent growth in the u.s., europe, and china, but what makes us more cautious there is valuations, the likelihood that global liquidity may tighten, and the inevitable political risks. >> one of your areas of investing has been nonbanking financial services. how will you go on with that? does that mean you will reduce exposure to chinese banks? >> we remain comfortable with our holdings of china banks, and when we look at china more generally, we noticed two things. first, china has the room, time,

and the policy space to bring about the rebalancing of its economy over time. so that we think will allow a move to a slightly slower but safer growth in the medium-term. and then in terms of our allocation within china, like i said we remain comfortable with our bank holdings, but changed the focus towards some of the more innovative areas in china. when you look at the shift in consumption, you can see a shift towards some of the services area, and that offers opportunities for us. >> how is starting a new position in europe today different than 2016? >> i think the difference is there is more stability in terms of the growth profile of those companies. so if you look back a few years

ago, growth was anemic in those countries. fact is today, we are seeing inflation and growth pick up, and the valuation disconnect between europe and the u.s. is growing, so we see that as opportunity and continue to find europe a strong alternative. >> is it easy to find unloved, under followed companies -- which you specialize in -- in the early stages of flirtation like europe? or when we are nearing the peak like in the u.s.? the key with europe and to some degree the u.s. is small-cap companies which we follow our -- are under followed and underresearched, so that creates a great opportunity. in today's market, everything is being traded on momentum. -- momentum, algorithms, and money flows. you are getting the undervalued stocks pushed ever lower, momentum stocks pushed ever

higher, so we see opportunity in in the value -- opportunities. but when we look at these companies we see there is a strategic initiative that needs to take place to get value out of those companies, so it is much more difficult to do. it takes real governance and management changes, longer time frames. it is not a trade per se. i look at it as you have to bring a specific skill set to the situation, but there is also a lot of equity value you can acquire. >> and on the heels of janet yellen's testimony to the house financial services committee, dallas federal reserve president robert kaplan spoke with tom keene in another exclusive conversation. >> at 4.4% unemployment and a relatively low amount of labor slack, and i look at u6, and that is the unemployed, discouraged workers, and people working time for economic reasons, that is still not for away from prerecession levels, 8.6%. at that low level of

unemployment, you would historically see inflation pressures. we are not. march was weak, april and may were a little stronger, and i believe strongly that some of this is transitory. there are some one-time factors in the march numbers, that some of that is not transitory. technology enabled disruption, the fact that workers replaced by technology, shoppers can use technology and have pricing power, businesses have far less pricing power than at any time in my lifetime. >> interesting. >> i think because of that phenomenon as well as to some extent globalization and that goods and services are being to some extent competed for

globally, i think we need to accept that some of this muted inflation is the fact we are in a different kind of economy than we were in five years ago, 10 years ago, and 15 years ago. >> that's brilliant. michael dell, one of your constituents in austin, texas. you say he will see wage growth. when will he see it? >> i think we are already -- i have to tell you in my conversation with business leaders throughout the 11th district and the country and in our surveys, we are seeing wage pressure for skilled workers, but we are now starting to see more wage pressure for unskilled workers. companies i talked to talk about the term churn. unskilled workers are leaving for higher wages and realize they will have to pay more to keep those workers, so with a lag, you will start to see more wage pressure i believe in the months ahead. >> ok. ♪

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>> you are watching "bloomberg best." this week, titans of media and tech gathered for the conference of allen and company to lay the groundwork for megadeals. this year, politics and policy were among the main topics of discussion. bloomberg television's david gura caught up with a few of the big-name attendees. >> well, here we are with a bill called the aca that could fall apart. we have to fix it. there are a host of changes, some recommended already i the other side of the aisle, in a bipartisan way, or there are bills introduced. we should consider that and get over the notion of politics of repeal and fix aca and get to other agenda items more important for the country down this bill. >> how engaged with this process do you want to be? i get the press releases from the white house, and they have pulled out some exchanges in

some states, and the white house is eager to flag that. what is the quality of the conversation between you, the administration, congress about aetna and the government and what needs to change? >> we are very engaged and have a lot of proposals on the table for how to make it better. we do need a re-insurance mechanism as we build a bigger market. we do need to continue medicaid expansion. we should expect in medicaid expansion that by 2024 that we ought to see costs go down. this happened with medicare advantage. we were at 114% in 2008, and we are at 100% because we agreed if we are investing in this population, the costs should come down. so i think the way we are talking about it is politically oriented. instead of saying listen, by 2024, if we have not invested properly and costs don't go down, we have made a mistake, so we have to hold everybody accountable, including insurance companies and private industry to say what are we going to do to make medicaid costs go down?

>> you have pulled out of some exchanges. what would it take to get you back in? is that a positive step, including that line in this legislation? >> i think it is. i think this re-insurance model, costs reductions, flattening the curve, very important so they don't drop off precipitously, which they do. and if we could get that under way we can stabilize what we have, we are ready to enter when we have a stable market that is predictable. >> do you see this same problems with the health care system that the president does? he talks about it being them prices -- in crisis or obamacare

failing. is that accurate? is that rhetoric measured? does it reflect the way health care looks to you from where you sit as the head of an insurer? >> the exchange program in the marketplace, we have been very successful. we just added four new states and expanded those already. we went from 500,000 to one million and will increase that in 2018, so we find it to be a very successful program. >> the way you approach health care is a success for your company. how do you do it differently insurers?ther major >> the right network. the network is structured to deal with them. the pricing is right. 90% is subsidized, so they can afford it. they are learning how to use insurance, and it is turning out well. those who move off medicaid are able to move into the exchange and continue with the same network.

it has been very successful. >> let's talk about the policy deficits. a lot of people talk about health care reform in the abstract. if you were to list the top 2-3 things you think should change, what would they be? >> one, we can never forget we are dealing with the most vulnerable population in the country. i agree with working in that, some are disabled and very dependent on this. what we have been recommending is to take the expansion to 100% of the total poverty level, but put in place the exchange with subsidies to 300%, 350%, and there is some chance they will move in that direction. >> here we have the senate debating now the republican plan to repeal and replace the aca. what is the role you see yourself playing out here, speaking out against that repeal, and how optimistic are you that it will make it through the senate? >> i am optimistic, but not blind. i recognize the political pressure a lot of republicans to switch and support something that is inherently a terrible idea, to roll back coverage on

22 or 23 million people primarily to provide a tax cut to the richest 1.2% of americans, most of whom, when i talk to them, don't want or need a tax cut. they are not asking for it. so it is a political promise and political transaction that will leave -- the mortality -- a harvard study said several hundred thousand people would die as a result of this. you look at the suffering that comes with loss in health care, a lot of downside. i have been working with john kasich and getting some republicans like governor sandoval and governor ducey to work with democratic governors, and say hey, maybe if we are bipartisan, we can do something, because you know it has to be improved. >> let me ask you about cybersecurity watch last month. would bring that up.

>> i have to wade into these waters. >> collateral damage. >> what happened? >> it was a piece of software, tax filing software in the ukraine, we have a number of subsidiaries in the ukraine, and it infiltrated into our system. could we have stopped it? we were advised "no." there were lots of major companies involved with us. our partners with us are ibm, microsoft, and many others -- could we have stopped it? no. a number of other companies, mondolez, d.a. piper, a law firm, maersk it has caused a lot of issues for us, but we are sorting through it. it probably affected 50% to 60% of the company. i would say we are two thirds of the way there to having caught our arms around all the problems, but it was unpleasant. could we have stopped it? i think it is difficult to be 100% certain.

it is rather like the consumer brand safety issue. you can't be 100% certain. this area is becoming more and more sophisticated, the hackers becoming more sophisticated, but there are simple things you can do that i think we have done, but other things will have to do in the future. we will have to invest more. >> there is focus on net neutrality today, in particular we have seen a lot of regulatory change in washington. what does that landscape look like to you from your vantage point now? >> at a macro level from the industry, there is energy around making net neutrality work. when you zoom into verizon, verizon has put out a really clear statement out of the company that basically said look, verizon supports net neutrality. it has been penciled in. congress should pass laws around it and cement it. so i think it is great that there is a day of action

organized, and all of those things are really positive. you know, the u.s. government, companies involved and consumers involved have a chance to cement the net neutrality situation that people like, and it will go from something that was crafted quickly years ago into something that will hopefully give the country and our industry a big advantage if it is done correctly. you know, i feel good about our stance on it, and all of our brands have their own stances, which i think everyone is leaning towards net neutrality, so that is the good news. now it is up to the government and congress to make sure it gets cemented. ♪

♪ >> the bloomberg has a model. if you look at the bottom of the screen, these are the inputs into the taylor rule model you have to fill in. how do you know which is the right one? look at this. these are all different taylor rule models. you look a different one here, and you can see the blue line, how the interest rate would go up if you use that model. if you use the aggressive model, it goes up even more. >> there are 30,000 functions on the bloomberg, and we always enjoy showing you our favorites on bloomberg television. they may become your favorites too. here's another one, quic would take you to quick takes for news and insight into timely topics. here is a quick take from this week. >> china's president has a dream, or a pet project. he wants to revive china's ancient silk road along a 2000-year-old route. that is via a network of rail

ways or pipelines and highways. the silk road project is supposed to deepen economic ties across asia, but critics see it as a way for china to spread influence west. here's the situation. the original silk road began as a trade route from central china as far as europe. in its heyday, silk, spices, and porcelain were transported to the west. today, the president wants to use steel from over producing factories, development of ports or highways, to help bankroll the dream, also known as the one belt, one road initiative, china created the $40 billion silk road fund. xi said 30 countries have signed formal agreements with china and 20 more were cooperating on rail and nuclear power. the partner nations are weighing economic benefits against an

increasingly dominant superpower's demands. a project in thailand fell through because according to thailand, there were strings attached, mainly china demanding commercial property rights. here's the argument. china says the silk road initiative is a way to boost industrialization in the developing sandwich between the east and west. economists agree it has the potential to stimulate asian and global economic growth, but there are risks, like funds not going where they are supposed to in a region beset by corruption, and developments turning into white elephants. there is concern about china's increasingly assertive military, particularly in asia's waters. ♪ >> that was just one of the many quick takes you can find on the bloomberg. you can also find them at bloomberg.com along with the latest business news and analysis 24 hours a day. that will be all for "bloomberg best" this week. thank you for watching. i am nejra cehic.

this is bloomberg. ♪

♪ announcer: from our studios in new york city, this is "charlie rose." >> good evening. charlie is away. i am wilfred frost. we begin with foreign policy. president trump arrived in france for a visit with emmanuel macron. the two presidents held their first official bilateral meeting. today also marks the one-year anniversary of theresa may becoming britain's prime minister and the day the united states reached its refugee camp. joining me is matthew barzun. he recently stepped down from his post as u.s. ambassador to the united kingdom and david