♪ matt: coming up on "bloomberg best," the stories that shaped the week in business around the world. relief for retailers as sales set records, opec agrees to extend production cuts, nuclear flashpoints flare again in north korea. president trump: it is a situation we will handle. matt: the world watches washington as the senate grapples with the tax bill. the fed chair and the chair apparent speak on capitol hill. >> the case for raising interest rates at the next meeting is coming together. matt: a fed president shares

insight in an exclusive conversation. >> the strategy of moving interest rates up given where the economy is and where it has been make sense to me. matt: as bitcoin surges and flips, suddenly everybody is paying attention. >> it seems to me it ought be outlawed. it does not serve any useful function. >> i actually think it is more likely these digital coins move into the mainstream. >> bitcoin is undoubtedly a bubble. >> it is not for me, but there are a lot of things that were not for me in the past and they worked out very well. matt: that is all straight ahead on "bloomberg best." ♪ hi matt: hello and welcome. i am matt miller. this is "bloomberg best," your weekly review of the most important business news analysis and interviews from bloomberg television around the world. the week began in the midst of the year's most critical days for u.s. retail. the pivotal moment between black friday and cyber monday.

david: we are past black friday into cyber monday, and everybody wants to get a scorecard on how retailers are doing. that is for both brick-and-mortar and e-commerce. >> what we did is we looked at the last 10 days before the holiday. that would be, let's call it be thanksgiving and black friday. we saw an unbelievable surge of activity that did not take away from the holiday. we saw spending growing at about 9% in the nine days to 10 days previous to thanksgiving. over that weekend, thursday, friday and into the weekend very robust sales. the weather had something to do with it. the weather looked good across the u.s. foot traffic was strong. i think the consumer confidence is high right now. we are seeing it across the board, whether it is foot traffic in stores, e-commerce, whether it is mobile. the consumer is ready to have a very positive season. emily: cyber monday will be the biggest online shopping day in u.s. history.

deal hunters will hit up web retailers for $6.6 billion in sales after black friday spending topped $5 billion for the first time. >> 51 million americans shop exclusively in stores. 58 million exclusively online. but a greater number, 65 million, indicated they shop across channels. i think it is that channel agnostic customer or multichannel customer that is the most valuable, and they actually spent more money. >> federal reserve chairman nominee jerome powell in the spotlight today for his confirmation hearing. there are no big surprises, although powell did hint about next month's rate decision. >> i will say, senator, i think the case for raising interest rates at our next meeting is coming together. eric: -- michael: that is what was expected. they call it a confirmation hearing for a reason and he confirmed what the markets were expecting. at least a rate hike in

december. with growth figures and the same next year and his forecasted inflation would come back to the 2% target eventually, you can pretty much read into that that he is on board with the general feeling that the fed will do several rate increases in 2018. jonathan: a brexit breakthrough, the u.k. and european union have agreed to an outline deal for what britain will pay when it leaves the bloc. the irish border is the last major obstacle in the divorce negotiations. what have we learned in terms of the brexit bill? >> there has been an outline agreement on the divorce bill. this has not been presented to eu leaders yet, and it has not been presented in paper to the eu yet, so the people who need to sign off on this have not actually got their hands on it yet. that will probably happen on monday when theresa may has lunch with yonker in brussels. there has been an agreement on the wording of the commitment of the u.k. will offer the eu on what the irish border will look like after brexit. the irish are in a bit of a dilemma. they also want talks to move on

to trade. they don't really want to hold things up. if the irish prime minister goes down in history as the one who allowed ireland to be divided again that will not be good for him. vonnie: federal reserve chairman janet yellen will testify before the joint economic committee of u.s. congress. in what will likely be her final appearance as fed chair on capitol hill. janet yellen: i expect that with gradual adjustments in the stance of monetary policy, the economy will continue to expand and the job market will strengthen somewhat further. supporting faster growth in wages and incomes. >> it does seem that janet yellen is pretty pleased with what has happened over four years of her tenure, but there are questions remaining. michael: it was one of the slowest growing recoveries we have seen. economists say that's what happens after a financial crisis, and she has brought growth up as a she leaves to 3%, the unemployment rate of 4.1%, maybe even lower by the time she

leaves --his is that leaves office is historically low, almost as low as records in the late 1990's, early 2000's. and so, she has a lot to be pleased about in terms of her performance. there would have been no better appointment for the next term than her, but donald trump wanted to make a change so she goes out with her head held high. vonnie: president trump has nominated economist marvin goodfriend to be fed governor. this is trump's third nomination to the fed board as he moves to fill several vacancies on the panel. professor goodfriend has been sharply critical of the federal reserve under chair janet yellen, saying the impact of quantitative easing was questionable at best. >> you know, i think one thing that is particularly interesting about marvin goodfriend is he is really hard to put into a hawk or dove bucket. the reason is he is almost dogmatic about a 2% inflation target. he thinks the fed needs to really defend its credibility there. it seems like that holds the

o both the upside and the downside. he said in the past rates are too low. he has been critical of the yellen fed, but he's an advocate of negative rates in the crisis era. which has suggested that he is interested in also defending the 2% inflation target when inflation is undershooting. that is more of a dovish stance. that is something to pay attention to as we see his candidacy for the governorship go through. >> opec and non-opec producers agreed to maintain oil production cuts until the end of 2018. the decision was confirmed after talks in vienna. >> we elected to call it an amendment starting in january 2018 through december 31. so it is going to be basically a one-year agreement. >> this is the performance that really opec should have given in may. they were poised, concise, and knew exactly what the market was looking for. they had done their homework. they were able to give what the key metric was.

something we did not see before. they said it is targeting inventories. they went as far as saying 150 million barrels. >> it is fascinating to see these two heavyweights, russia side-by-sidebia sharing what they thought of as a confident outlook for energy in 2018. some describe it as a bromance. they were trading jokes, that is how jovial mood was in the press conference at the end of a long day. what we got in terms of inclusion with libya and nigeria. remember, they were exempt in the past. what happens now is not a formal cut or cap, it is locking in a pledge not to produce beyond 2017 levels, which shows you how opec and non-opec as a group is willing to refine its deal a little bit and push some of these expectations to the upside. vonnie: a twist in the special counsel robert mueller's russia investigation. president trump's former national security adviser michael flynn expected to plead guilty to lying to federal agents about communicating with russia's ambassador. how does this change the

narrative in washington, d.c.? >> this is a much bigger threat to the president than mueller's earlier actions four weeks ago. because there is one guilty plea already, but that was a low-level guy. this is michael flynn pleading guilty now and cooperating, who was at the center of trump's campaign, the lead contact with russia in december of last year during the transition. so this is a very significant event. >> majority leader mitch mcconnell says he has the votes to pass the republican tax overhaul. with senator jeff flake of arizona getting to a yes, it brings the whip count to 50. in the last hour senator susan collins saying the senate tax bill will include my salt amendment to allow taxpayers to deduct up to $10,000 for state and local property taxes. she is still likely now moving in the direction of yes.

>> at this point has senator mcconnell made clear. the votes appear to be there. they are still trying to win over senator collins. they made some concessions to her, including a state and local tax deduction exemption of up to $10,000 in property taxes like the house bill. they are still working on her. bob corker seems less likely at this point, but they have the votes. ♪ matt: still ahead, as we review the week on "bloomberg best," the ceo of credit suisse likes what he sees with the global economy. and a whole host of distinguished guests tell us what they see in bitcoin. plus, an exclusive conversation with cleveland fed president loretto master. more of the week's top business headlines. a couple of juicy mergers to chew on, including a deal in the dining industry. >> as far as we know the three offers. small bumps each time. it looks like 157 was enough. matt: this is bloomberg. ♪

♪

matt: this is "bloomberg best." i'm matt miller. let's continue our global tour of the week's top business stories with a remarkable roller coaster ride of bitcoin. >> bitcoin has topped $10,000 for the first time. blink, you miss it. it goes up again. taking this year's price surge more than tenfold. the largest digital cryptocurrency has risen by more than 50% since october alone, and the euphoria continues to drive it to new highs. >> what is driving the price? are we seeing more participants? more accounts opened? more liquidity? give me some sense of the size of this market. >> one word or phrase i've heard all day long is "fear of missing out." it seems like it is really a virtuous cycle in bitcoin right now. the higher prices go, the more retail and institutional money is really rushing in. that is really behind the recent rally.

there is a sense that bitcoin is getting increasingly accepted in the mainstream. >> hours after surging past $11,000, not just $11,000, $10,000 and then $11,000 in one day, we are talking about bitcoin, it tumbled almost 20% from the high. and it wiped away almost $2200 of its price in five hours. do we know why what happened today happened? >> several of the exchanges had outages given coinbase and gemini seeing a massive surge in volume. a massive surge in volume. this could be a sign that has not quite grown up yet. alix: u.s. regulators allowing bitcoin futures to trade on the cboe. three exchange operators will offer bitcoin products. it also says the exchange has pledged to help monitor the bitcoin spot market. >> it is a big step in bitcoins moving into the mainstream of finance. futures can be purchased by lots of institutional investors who

would not buy bitcoin itself. brokers or banks that want to have clients that want to buy it now can hedge. on the other side you can go short for the first time with relative ease. >> let's look at softbank. they may offer to buy uber shares at a lower price than expected. sources say they could be at a 30% discount from uber's most recent $69 billion valuation. what do you make of this offer price? it is a much more discounted offer price. >> there is no doubt that this discounted valuation reflects all the turmoil the ridesharing company has been going through. we have the recent news of a massive data breach. obviously, the countless lawsuits, clashes with regulators. even at a 30% discount, the $48

billion valuation still presents a fairly considerable windfall for the early investors. but the deal is far from done. we do not know what the tender period is, but over the next month or so we are likely to see a cat and mouse game played out because if softbank does not reach a required threshold of shareholders agreeing to sell, the company might walk away and it showed willingness to invest in lyft, or it might up the offer. we will not likely see the deal complete until the very end of the tender offer. david: the media world saw the end of an era when meredith agreed to buy time. the posting brand that includes "sports illustrated," "people," and of course "time magazine" itself. meredith will pay $18.50 per share in cash, bringing the total value of the deal to $2.8 billion. supported by a $650 million cash infusion from charles and david koch. we have meredith, a magazine publisher, buying another magazine publisher. is this a rebirth for magazines

or magazines on their way out? we hear conde nast is even struggling. >> i think the magazine business continues to be under a lot of pressure. when you take a look at print advertising, it continues to decline at a double-digit rate. that's the forecast going forward. meredith has done a good job carving out a stable of properties they cater towards women. advertisers looking to reach young women can come to meredith and they get a really broad solution. that is what meredith has built their magazine business on. meredith also owns a lot of television stations. the cash flow from tv has supported their magazine business. so meredith is a stronger company because of that diversification. i think they hope that diversification will help them buy some time to develop the time properties. david: some big deal news this morning. rourke agreeing to buy buffalo wild wings for $2.4 billion. at the same time emerson withdrew its bid to buy rockwell automation. buffalo wild wings, why? >> they had been wanting to get into this space for a while. they own arby's and a few other

restaurant brands. they earlier made a push to buy popeye's chicken, and they were beaten to the punch by burger king. they have shown a willingness to expand in the fried chicken business. this was a great fit for them. buffalo is a company that had its own problems going back quite some time now. they had an activist in the stocks, now on the board. they had an outgoing ceo and no obvious replacement. so this was a good time for this deal for roarke. they have gotten it over the line. they have made it as far as three offers, small bumps each time, and it looks like 157 was enough. >> carbon fiber manufacturer down in tokyo 4.3%. there we go, 4.4% now. after the company admitting fake data on its products for more than eight years. >> earlier this month, we became aware of posts on social media, and then we had inquiries from customers. we felt we needed to disclose

the facts, rather than have rumors spread further. but we delayed a public announcement until we had all the facts and had explained to our customers. >> made in japan, yet another blow. what is happening? >> they said there are over 130 cases of the falsification, but no safety issues have been raised as of yet. toray has not disclosed any details on why this came about, but the question is a valid one. what is happening in corporate japan? mark: a change at the top of the fed. boris collari resigning at the swedish bank to become a partner at arrival. >> i think the stock has had a very good run. perfection basically priced in.

i think the communication from the company suggests that the resignation was abrupt and unexpected. they have had is a succession plan that is not pacifying investors. >> the deputy chief executive will step into his shoes for the moment. are they big shoes to fill? >> he knows a lot. he has led the strategy. there is just a sense they are on the back foot. david: barclays is warning its investment banking staff half of them they get their bonuses cut this year, even if some top performers may get raises. that is coming from people briefed on remarks from the new head of banking investment. they are looking at a cut in the overall size of the pool. >> that is right. it is not hugely surprising. we have seen consistently bad performance from european investment banks in trading this year. their revenue at barclays is down 7%. so that is not really a surprise. the new investment banking head is trying to introduce is a bit more differentiation, to use his word, in what they are paying

their employees. they will take the top 25% and give them a lot more. they have cautioned that the bottom half or bottom quarter should expect their compensation to shrink over time as they try to inject more competitiveness in their investment banking division. mark: months ago, he was asking credit suisse shareholders to pitch in billions of francs for the bank's capital buffers. now he is talking about returning cash. he spoke to bloomberg on tuesday about what shareholders have endured. >> they have been through a lot. i'm painfully aware, but i have to dilute my shareholders significantly. there was no way to solve this without a massive dilution of shareholders. >> he has come out today and hailed the end of a restructuring program which he started just a couple of years ago. he has pointed to better shareholder return in one or two years. he says all divisions are coming in on target. stock is up more than 4% to date.

i'm sure investors are going to be happy with that, and it certainly looks different to a couple of years ago or six month s ago when he was asking the same shareholders for cash. vonnie: cvs is nearing an agreement to acquire aetna. the price tag, more than $65 billion. this is according to a person familiar with the negotiations. it is a deal that could reshape the pharmacy and health insurance industry. >> what this would do is take one of the biggest health insurers in the u.s., aetna, and combine it with this huge pharmacy drug distribution operation, retail pharmacy. really mash these two companies together in an interesting way. it is a combination we have not seen before. there is going to be obviously some degree of antitrust scrutiny here over if it will give aetna and cvs too much market power. it is an open question for sure. it has not been announced yet and it certainly could still fall apart. ♪

♪ matt: welcome back to "bloomberg best." i am matt miller. heading into the final months of 2017, economists and business leaders see many encouraging signs of global growth. and the credit suisse ceo shares this confidence. he visited bloomberg's new european headquarters in the city of london this week for an exclusive interview with francine lacqua. >> we are very positive about the world economy, very positive about the u.s., and very positive about emerging markets, and within that china. noticeably positive about europe, which is new. because with the election of macron in france, we are keeping with synchronicity. for once we have the three major

economy zones doing well at the same time. if you look at our focus, we think the capital expenditures are back very strongly. that is the major shift in the world economy. you can create a scenario where you can have both high growth and low inflation because of productivity gain fills the gap. so if you invest in capital and productivity grows, you can get into a healthy growth scenario. i was concerned about qe. qexit, if you want to use the term, i think that has been well-managed. francine: because it is slow. >> it is slow and gradual, and communication around it is very good to drive market expectations. when asset prices are as high as they are, it is important to take the investor by the hand and not surprise him or her. and i think so far the central

banks have done a really good job of that. we think emerging markets will be all right. capex, qe, m&a, the strength of corporate earnings, and the cash sitting on the balance sheet, and still the availability of credit. in the background of that you have on our industry, the lack of availability of credit, it puts a damper on growth since the financial crisis. that is starting to shift. we can support our clients in their m&a ambitions. matt: while global growth continues to look strong, areas of volatility remain. a missile launch from north korea, credit concerns in south africa, in a cabinet shakeup in mexico. all ahead as we review the week. up next, more compelling conversations, including opinions on the future of bitcoin that truly run the gamut. >> as long as the music plays, we dance. so as long as the prices go up, people think it is fantastic.

but somebody will get hurt. matt: this is bloomberg. ♪

♪ >> i've led a transformation that might be one of the biggest transformations in global business history, from a single company, an enormous company that was really facing a lot of challenges, to four nimble, agile companies with hewlett-packard enterprise, the one i still run really well positioned for the future. this has been in the works for some time. and just decided it is right for the next generation of leaders to take hewlett-packard forward. as you know, i'm a big believer in the right person in the right job at the right time. i think antonio neri will be a fantastic ceo. matt: that was meg whitman

explaining her decision to step down from the company early next year. in an exclusive interview with bloomberg television. now back to the buzz surrounding bitcoin. throughout the week, guests on bloomberg shared their opinions on how high or low this red-hot digital currency might go. let's start with nobel prize-winning economist joseph stiglitz. >> if bitcoin were to be regulated, could it be viable? >> look, one of the main functions of government is to create currency. and bitcoin is successful only because of the potential for circumvention, lack of oversight. so it seems to me it ought to be outlawed. it does not serve a useful function. we ought to just go back to what we always have had, and this is

just a bubble as several of your commentators have pointed out. it is a bubble of that is going to give a lot of people a lot of exciting times as it rides up and then goes down. >> should bitcoin be outlawed as the laureate from columbia suggests? >> if you think what is behind that, probably an attempt by some people to try to make payments or use currency with a view to evade taxes, to evade legislation on money laundering, maybe antiterrorist financing. so i have the impression that policy authorities at the global level have not focused on the dangers of the development of these scams. and when they will, i think some people will get hurt. i mean, all those who thought that this was a new invention

will lose money. it makes me think of what chuck greene said, as long as the music plays, we dance. as long as the prices go up, people think it is fantastic. but somebody will get hurt. >> i know you don't think of bitcoin as a currency, but it is an asset a lot of people hold. and a burst of this bubble could be painful. is that a risk? >> i don't think so. as you said, it is an asset. it is is in the portfolio of many people. but in view of the values and the crash of the price that has happened in the past and can happen again, will not create instability that will be meaningful. i don't think so. it is a speculative asset. people are buying when they see the asset going up. but things do not go up forever.

>> irrational exuberance, the greenspan phrase coming to mind. is this a canary in the data mine? are we approaching one of those moments with irrational exuberance, and that took a while to get into reality, are we starting to see that happening? >> bitcoin is a bubble. cryptocurrencies are here to stay, by the way. the concept has potentially got some considerable value, but bitcoin is undoubtedly a bubble. the problem with any bubble is you don't know how far before it halves, but it will go a long way back down. between now and then, who knows, it could hit $20,000 pretty quickly. and you can't short it. that is the other thing. but it is a bubble. actually, overall you have a sense in the marketplace that market valuations are high, but that does not mean that the bull

market cannot roll on a bit. the tops of bull markets when everybody is bullish and assumes things can only go one way. we are not there quite yet. >> what is it? a security, a commodity, currency? what? >> it is a commodity. if you look at security by definition it has a liability attached to it. take a dollar bill, it has liability to the u.s. government. commodities do not have liabilities. they are bearer assets. when you think about it in the context, you look at that point, it is not much different than gold. i do not see why there is all this hostility toward it, because if it's the same mold as many other commodities. remember, it is even mined. the pushback i would have against bitcoin really has to do with liquidity. i checked the numbers this morning. even at $10,000 or $11,000, is a $168 billion market cap. you look at gold, it has $8.3

trillion of gold above ground. that is real liquidity. that lack of liquidity is creating volatility that has everybody concerned about bitcoin. >> could bitcoin be a landmine? we have seen it up 945% this year. vanguard saying avoid bitcoin like the plague. did i make myself clear? there is a lot of risk attached to this interesting asset. >> i actually think it is more likely that these digital coins move into the mainstream. i think there are issues around the edges of this. i personally have been more focused on blockchain. a couple of investments we have made our focused on the infrastructure -- >> you like the technology behind it? >> i like the technology. >> we hear that a lot. the technology is really good. >> i just think distributed ledger technology and what it

promises for the future of, not only financial markets but any asset transfer between two people or forming a corporation or cap table management, it is too obvious to me that all these things can so easily be digitized that it will not happen. i agree with paul. the bitcoin market is pretty speculative right now, but given the limited supply, i do not -- >> where do you think it is going? we have been asking everybody what their target is. what is your target? >> i would have to say it is going higher. if i was looking out six to 12 months, i'd say they were talking about bitcoin at a higher price, not lower. >> above $10,000, $15,000? >> for sure. >> you have not rejected or endorsed bitcoin. when does goldman sachs have to have a bitcoin strategy? >> have to have it, not today. >> when? >> i would say life must to be really rosy for us to be talking about this. >> i was talking to jeff curry over a goldman the other day.

he said the only thing people are asking him are bitcoin and -- you were a huge investment bank. >> life must be really rosy. imf thinking about it because i get asked about it. where i am is it is not for me. but there are a lot of things that were not for me in the past that worked out very well. if you told me that if was 20 years forward and it worked out, i could tell you why, but based on everything i know, i'm not guessing it will work out. but i can say, i will not stand there and say it is a fraud. it might. >> people confuse bitcoin with blockchain. there is a technology where you can have different accesses to data. different people can control it. there are places where that is a useful thing. in fact, the bloomberg system is a blockchain. instead of having the users control it, we control it. but it has all the attributes of

that. bitcoin is something very different. bitcoin -- there was a bunch of cryptocurrencies that have been started. every day you have a new one. that is something very different. whether or not the governments of the world will lose control of monetary policy, i am skeptical. they are just not going to let that happen and they shouldn't. matt: it was an important week for the federal reserve. with senate confirmation hearings for fed chair powell many jerome powell and outgoing chair janet yellen giving what may well be her last testimony to congress on the economy. on thursday, michael mckee discussed the future of the fed in an exclusive conversation with federal reserve bank of cleveland president, loretta mester. >> obviously, the news for the fed, jay powell. i think the case are raising rates at the next meeting is coming together. do you agree? >> i do agree with that. i have been on that case for a while that we really need to be

moving interest rates up gradually given where the economy is. growth is at a sustainable pace. labor markets continue to improve. inflation is below target, no doubt, but it is on a path to moving up gradually at 2%. we have been at interest rates that are very low for quite a while. it just makes sense to start bringing it up gradually. of course, we respond to data as it comes in and as the outlook changes we would change off of that. but the strategy of moving interest rates up, relative to where economy is or where it has been or relative to our goals makes sense to me. monetary policy has to be preemptive. i don't have concerns about moving interest rates up given how low it is, even though we have not hit 2% inflation yet. >> in the last two days governor powell and chair yellen both said there is a possibility our inflation models are wrong and we will not see it rise to 2%. how much credence to you give

that? >> we always have to be open to the fact that our models could be wrong, for sure. one of the reasons that it has been as gradual as it has been is we have been recalibrating things as we go along given the evidence. if you look at the summary of economic projections, which is what the fomc members put in, you will see that some of those structural aspects of the economy have moved in relation to the data. my own interest rate path i have adjusted as it looks like inflation was going to remain lower than longer than i thought. i think we all are open to our models being wrong. that is why we take a prudent approach. we want to weigh the upside and downside risks. to my mind, weighing the risks, i think interest rates should remain on this gradual upward path. ♪

♪ matt: you are watching "bloomberg best."

i'm matt miller. let's return to the review of the week's top stories. in north korea, where yet another nuclear test caused concern around the world. >> tensions once again on the rise in asia. and governments are holding emergency meetings after north korea fired its first ballistic missile since president trump labeled it a state sponsor of terrorism earlier in the month. south korea responding with a precision missile exercise. japan for its part protesting in the strongest terms. president trump said the u.s. will handle it. president trump: a missile was launched a little while ago from north korea. i will only tell you we will take care of it. >> i think the real significance of this particular missile is the fact japan said it went more than 2000 -- 4000 kilometers into the sky, which means it can easily reach the east coast of the united states. we are talking about new york and washington.

now there is a bit of discussion about whether this missile might have the capability to take a really heavy nuclear warhead on its tip. the united states is having to come to a stage where it is going to have to accept north korea as a nuclear power. i mean, north korea we know has done multiple nuclear tests. and now it is showing an increased technological capability with its missiles. >> a war of words after president trump retweeted far right group britain first. the u.k. prime minister theresa may responding, saying trump is wrong to promote the videos. trump fired back on twitter saying, "don't focus on me. focus on the destructive radical islamic terrorism that is taking place within the u.k. we are doing just fine." may responded today. >> the fact that we work together does not mean that we are afraid to say when we think

the united states has got it wrong, and to be clear with them. i am very clear that retweeting from britain first was the wrong thing to do. >> does this damage the special relationship? >> theresa may has made it clear that the special relationship endures beyond the term of one president. it is damaging for her because she was quick to become quite chummy with trump. she went to the u.s. very quickly, she invited him to the u.k., to meet the queen which is an honor not bestowed on everyone. that is not looking terribly judicious. at the same time, this time, unlike previous occasions, she has been very clear that this is wrong. she actually got applause in jordan where she said clearly this is the wrong thing to do. >> let's turn to mexico, where jose antonio meade threw his hat in the ring for president candidate of mexico's ruling party just hours after resigning from his post as finance

minister. there have been a lot of changes in mexico. this is just the most recent one. the central bank governor will be leaving and you have got a new change there. >> this decision by the finance minister to run for president unfreezes a lot of things in mexico that kind of been stuck. the current central bank governor was announced that he was going to the b.i.s. in switzerland. he delayed so the government could announce a successor. the thinking was, it would be meade, but for the fact he would run for president. so these two things kind of froze mexican monetary policy. it looks like they are now being resolved. >> it is a relief for south africa's currency traders today. moody's retaining its investment-grade rating on the nation's local currency debt.

it did issue a warning. >> living update and reputation for the currency, on friday night after the s&p downgrade we had that kind of knee-jerk reaction. and moody's gave it a reprieve. and at the end of the day it is its best day in almost two years. the reason for that is that in order to remain a constituent of the world government bond index, south africa needs an investment rating on his local currency from either moody's or s&p. the concern was a good lose both ratings. the moody's reprieve means we will not see a forced reselling of government bonds and we were not see the outflows from the country's bond market. >> the bank of england said the uk's biggest banks have the strength to keep lending, even during a disorderly brexit. >> the bank of england said the uk's biggest banks have the strength to keep lending, even during a disorderly brexit. five of the seven banks passed the boe's latest stress test.

two of them, barclays and royal bank of scotland below their systemic reference point. those two banks will not be forced to bolster their capital. >> this is the first time in the four years of the stress test that all the u.k. banks actually passed. this kind of day of jubilation was ruined by the fact the bank of england is asking banks to boost their capital buffers in anticipation of potentially disruptive, disorderly brexit as we move through negotiation periods. what really should of been a positive day for banks and their share prices looked quite negative in retrospect. >> shares of the big aussie banks are sliding today after prime minister malcolm turnbull called a wide-ranging inquiry into the banking industry. the big four asterisk emission

on rebuilding public trust and ending political uncertainty they say has been depressing the sector. >> there has been a drumbeat of course for this inquiry into the banking sector. we are talking about well over a year now. these have just intensified, almost as soon as the banks thought they had put certain scandals behind them. we had a few other things pop up. the opposition lawmakers were prepared to give up on this one. the banks and the prime minister decided whether pressure for the inquiry growing, it is better for him to be in control of it. if the government calls it, he gets to set the terms of reference. the judge set a time on it. if it was the pushed or forced on him by an opposition he would have far less control. china's pmi numbers the numbers have surpassed expectations. performance coming in at 51.8. topping the forecast of 51.4 and improving on the reading in october. no doubt people will say this is just the country maintaining its economic momentum, but does it move the narrative in any way in your view? >> it does suggest these global tailwinds remain very much in china's favor. if you break down the components, there was real

strength in output, new orders and new export orders. there is still plenty of demand for chinese made goods. the flash pmi showing the biggest trading partners showed us that as we led into this report. the other side is the domestic picture, which clearly is not feeling the screws yet. the liberty campaign, turning the property market and at some of the efforts to rein in the pace of infrastructure investment, that sort of thing. because we saw both gauges, the manufacturing and nonmanufacturing gage, both decelerate. the domestic economy is probably a little better than people thought, and the external environment is pretty favorable. ♪

♪ >> take a look at the bloomberg. basically these are the financials. over the past 20 days, we have seen a dip and then they come up. over here we have what has happened with technology, which came up and is coming down. they have had these opposite arcs. matt: there are about 30,000 functions on the bloomberg. we always enjoy showing our favorites on bloomberg television.

maybe they will become your favorites. here is another function, quic . here is a quick take from this week. >> for over two decades, iran insisted to a skeptical world that it was not building nuclear weapons. but its history of hiding nuclear facilities, stockpiling enriched uranium raised alarms. after two years of negotiation, iran agreed in 2015 to limit its nuclear program in exchange for relief from crippling economic sanctions. now president trump claims iran is not living up to the spirit of the deal. but the international atomic energy agency is the party that conducts oversight. they say iran has been on honoring its agreements. here is the situation. in 2013, world leaders sawn opportunity to negotiate a deal

with the rise of a moderate leader to iran's president. under the agreement, iran maintains the ability to enrich uranium for peaceful purposes. it retains about 5000 centrifuges capable of separating the uranium 235 isotope from uranium ore. they can refine the middle only to the level needed for nuclear power plants. it pledged to limit its nuclear stockpile. u.s. officials estimated if they were to resume producing more highly enriched uranium, it would need a year to make enough for a nuclear bomb. before the agreement it would've taken a few months. in october of 2016, iran slightly surpassed its limits of heavy water, which is used in medical imaging, but can also fuel reactors. it addressed that within weeks by shipping the surplus to oman. for his part, trump accused the iranian regime of spreading death, destruction and chaos all over the globe, and threatened to cancel u.s. participation in the agreement if congress did not create new restrictions on iran. here is the argument. middle east powers, including israel and saudi arabia, have

criticized the agreement, saying it empowers iran's regime. to the detriment of regional security. skeptics are not satisfied with the iaea verification and they believe that allowing iran to make any fissile material is unacceptable. but to iranians, it is a matter of national pride. they make the case that no country should be restricted in its pursuit of efficient energy and modern medicine. supporters of the deal point out that decade's worth of sanctions did not stop iran from pursuing nuclear ambitions in the first place. they believe the agreement offers the best hope of continuing those aims because it provides oversight by the world community. >> the deal is terrible. >> trump's goal is to use u.s. law to change the terms of the deal. one example would be for the u.s. to reimpose sanctions that are listed under the deal, unless iran curbs its missile program. the rest of the world committee involved in making this deal

disagrees with that approach. trump's critics argue that subverting the deal isolate america, not iran. iran has threatened to withdraw for the u.s. reimpose the sanctions are lifted in the first place. the collapse of this agreement could be a watershed moment for both american and iranian diplomacy. ♪ matt: that was just one of the many quick takes you will find on the bloomberg. you can also find that on bloomberg.com, along with all the latest business news and analysis 24 hours a day. that will be all for "bloomberg best." thanks for watching. i am matt miller. this is bloomberg. ♪

♪ david: did you ever think you would be chairman of the joint chiefs? colin: it was beyond any possible level of aspiration. david: people said this man should be president of the united states. colin: it never occurred to me. david: any regrets about never having run? some say it is a great job. colin: prove it. [laughter] david: a new national security advisor wanted you as his deputy. colin: hello, general powell. this is ronald reagan. yes, sir. >> would you fix your tie, please?