rosalind: coming up on "bloomberg best," the stories that shaped the week in business around the world. the fed's new chairman speaks on capitol hill and investors are listening closely. >> there is no doubt he is reassessing, rethinking the policy path. >> he is basically saying we can absorb what you are throwing at us right now. >> there is a back-and-forth on brexit that clouds the future of negotiations. >> none of us will have exactly what we want. >> samsung rolls out a new galaxy to compete with the apple x. comcast looks to outfoxed disney is a bold bid for sky. >> that raises the question of, does disney have to recut the deal? a lot of movement parts.

>> how should experts feel about monetary policy? experts around the world are coping with the exact same question. >> we should be concerned about inflation? because it is too low, or because it is too high? >> acquisition of the purchases and they -- is a rather skeptical one. >> i didn't expect this. i find it really scary. host: plus, numbers don't lie when it comes to the latest round of earning support. >> from the psychological standpoint, i say we feel better. >> this company was once the biggest commodity trader. it has fallen a hell of a long way. rosalind: it is all straight ahead on "bloomberg best." rosalind: hello and welcome. i'm rosalind chin. this is "bloomberg best," your weekly review of the most important business news, analysis, and interviews from bloomberg television around the world. let's start with a day by day

look at the top headlines. on monday, german lender deutsche bank embarq of the latest phase of its turnaround plan. >> deutsche bank has formally announced its intention to sell shares in its active management unit. the ipo will take place at the earliest available window. the move kicks off a four-week run into an ipo. it will sell existing shares held indirectly by deutsche bank. it doesn't plan to issue new ones. how critical is this new ipo? >> it is not critical for the capital buffer, they have enough capital parent however it is critical to show to investors and the bank itself and the management board that he can pull up the strategy he announced a year ago. he's had setbacks. he wanted to grow revenue and that has not worked out as planned. this ipo management unit ahead of schedule.

it is now happening in 12 months. that will be a big show that he will have the ability to lead the bank. >> powell made his debut on capitol hill, signaling the central bank may review the rate hike path. >> each member of the fomc will be writing down new monetary policy as we go into the march meeting three weeks from today. >> powell was fairly strong in saying he thinks the economy will expand at a faster pace, and that will drive up inflation. he made no promises about rates. but just the implication was the fed could easily change its forecast at the march meeting. >> the dow down more than 200 points after powell's testimony in front of congress.

>> i think he was very careful in his remarks. in terms of him being more hawkish, the bond market had a point early on when they sold off as he painted an upbeat picture of the economy. he did say the economies headwinds are training in detail wins. there is no doubt he is reassessing, rethinking the policy path, three or four. >> the pound dropping after the european union published date draft legal text that will form the basis for the brexit divorce treaty. theresa may pushed back on that eu proposal. p.m. may: no u.k. prime minister could ever agree to it. >> one of the things that is ort of underpinning everything in a forward-looking sort of way is the desirability for a

transition period, and the necessity for it. what was said today puts doubt specifics on the transition agreement. i think the fact that he got very specific today and the pushback not only from theresa may, but her supporters, the dup, the northern ireland party, that pushback was quite intense. i think that's got market participants thinking maybe we are not as close to this transition agreement as we thought we were before. i think that's what the market reaction has been driven by. >> it has put the talking to stalemate once again. the eu is forcing the issue into black and white. they are forcing the u.k. to stare into the abyss of what a deal outside the customs union looks like. >> federal reserve chairman jay powell wrapping up his second round of testimony on capitol hill, speaking before the senate banking committee. a few of the headlines. he said nothing suggested to him that wage inflation would accelerate, and no evidence that the economy is currently overheating. do you think powell walked back

some of what the market body said on today? >> you know the old joke, i think you understand what i think i said? that is the way he approached it today. he started fairly early on, saying the economy is going to grow faster, but there is a lot of slack in the labor market. we don't think we will see a big acceleration in wages, i.e. a big acceleration in inflation. it may come down the road, but right now we are ok. it may be that investors overread the fed raising the rates for the fourth time or raise the terminal rate. he basically said we can absorb what you are throwing at us right now. it seems to have worked because if you look at the yield curve, yields are pretty much down cross the board. rosalind: president trump announced a meeting of steel and aluminum executives in the white house that he will impose a 25% tariff on steel and 20% tariff aluminum. >> it is important to take

action now because cheating continues unabated. and it is getting worse. >> the steelmakers went out. we know some of the obvious losers, carmakers not having a good day. who else could get hit in the fallout that would benefit from this? >> anyone buying something as n iphone, or up to big construction projects. this is really what everyone had been worried about during the past year. now it is at our doorstep and they have to find out what is next to rosalind: u.s. stocks falling for the third straight day. you could call it a plunge. >> a country that runs a trade deficit year after year is not in a good position to start a trade war. there is a lot of potential backlash. we have seen announcements from the eu and canada.

people are not happy about this. >> the big losers in asia have been u.s. allies. australia was quite disappointing. south korea saw parity. japan said they are not a threat to u.s. national security. china had a statement, urging the u.s. to play by global trade rules. >> let me show you the president's tweet. this is absolutely extraordinary. when a country is losing on trades in virtually r country it does business with, trade wars are good and easy to win. >> i didn't expect this. i find it real scary. >> i think it is ill thought out. everybody else, the eu and others are saying don't do this. china will sit back and let washington be the centerpiece of this nightmare. >> we have tariffs against some 35 countries right now for various violations of one product or another they have

put forward. we routinely are imposing tariffs on our allies. it is inevitable. it is not just china that dumps product, so do many of our european countries, so do many of our allies elsewhere in the world. these aren't meant to hurt other countries so much as they are meant to bring jobs back to the u.s., and to level the playing field. rosalind: still ahead as we review the week on "bloomberg best," ray dalio sees a challenge coming for central banks. larry summers thinks investors may be too serene for their own good. and the highlight of corporate earnings reports. up next, more of the top business headlines. warren buffett and jamie dimon reach out and communicate with shareholders. >> if they have one message, it is we are jp morgan, hear us roar. rosalind: this is bloomberg. ♪

rosalind: this is "bloomberg best." i'm rosalind chin. let's continue our global tour of the week's top business stories in beijing. the chinese communist party took steps to consolidate xi jinping's political power, which will have significant economic implications. >> the chinese communist party is said to repeal term limits in a move that would allow xi jinping to rule beyond 2023. the timing is quite crucial ahead of the mpc. >> absolutely. president xi's appetite for continuing his leadership beyond his second term has become increasingly clear. we got a signal of that at the party congress in october. really this is monumental. this decision is very likely to to be signed off by the central

committee next week to end these term limits. what it does is move or shift away from collective leadership toward centralized leadership. this is about getting president i extended power. >> samsung has launched the s-9. is this a game changer? >> it is a similar form factor to the s-8. there is not a lot of change there. there is more performance under the hood, a much better camera. they have augmented reality, emojis, stereo speakers. a number of different steps. the question, is it a game changer? perhaps not. but they do need to roll out was something after apple came out with the 10. the one thing maybe samsung has going for it is it is cheaper.

it is a critical launch for samsung because they are now another step beyond that note 7 fiasco, exploding batteries in 2016 and the more recent scandal with lee's recent release from jail. still, a black mark on the company. >> alibaba is ramping up competition with tencent on food delivery. according to a person familiar with the matter, alibaba has agreed to buy shares it doesn't already own. the e-commerce giant already had a 23% stake in the company. it was valued at $6 billion last year. >> it is about buying that last food delivery network. it's are the largest food delivery platform. an acquisition would give alibaba instant access to nearly 50% of the market. apart from that this also benefits their new retail

strategy. the company does have grocery store lines right now. they are promising to deliver groceries within 30 minutes within a three kilometer radius. and then also the have their own kobe business which operates a similar kind of neighborhood services. the acquisition would really streamline the resources. >> comcast threw a wrench in disney's plan to take over 21st century fox's media businesses. they made a surprise $31 billion offer for what ceo bob iger called it the crown jewel of the package he is seeking to buy from fox. >> is a fascinating question for iger right now. he bought fox, thinking at least 39% with the option to require the remainder of sky. two things can happen -- one, they could end up owning the

current fox share. they could effectively and owning fox with that 39%, which would probably not be ideal for them, particularly if the remaining percent was on by comcast. disney could launch a bid for the remaining piece of sky, and see if that is potentially something they could went over shareholders. fox can offer comcast a higher number. that raises the question of, does disney have to recut the deal? do they have to offer a slightly higher price? there are a lot of moving parts. >> warren buffett stressing patience to investors wondering when he will strike the next ig deal. the berkshire hathaway ceo commenting on the all-time high cost of buying businesses at

his annual letter to shareholders. adding that berkshire currently holds $116 billion in cash in treasury bills, and his extraordinary liquidity earns only a pittance. it is far beyond the level he wishes to have. what is he going to do with the cash, and when will he make a move? >> it is a hard situation because everything is expensive right now, and that is why he has been holding off. there are not a lot of growth opportunities. a lot of food companies, consumer products, manufacturing spaces that he would normally be the preferable buyer, they are paying higher prices. i think for buffett, if prices are going to come down this year, he has to strike. he has all this cash he is sitting on and i think he wants to do one last deal and solidify his legacy. >> jp morgan held its annual investor day yesterday. some highlights discussed their venture with berkshire and amazon, and jamie dimon spoke on blockchain's importance in his business in the battle on mobile. >> if they had any message, it was, we are jp morgan, hear us roar. they are expanding the bankers and branches and bots and new

markets. jamie dimon has ceo said we will defend our turf. if there is an upstart or competitor that wants to compete, we will spend $5 billion, we will spend whatever it takes. the reason i think is because they can afford to do so. jp morgan is benefiting from scale more than ever before. that is similar to many large banks in the u.s. banking industry. president trump: i think it is time that a president stepped up. we have not had them -- i'm talking democrat and republican presidents. they have not stepped up. >> president trump wrapping up a bipartisan congressional meeting. a wide-ranging discussion about what to do in the united states over greater gun control. >> congressman and senators here said they need something that can get 60 votes in the senate. it has to be focused. you see the president saying, i want it to be comprehensive. i want something strong. he said it would be nice to

create something that is beautiful. i like the word comprehensive. it's going to be really hard to put that together in a way that can pass the senate and the house. >> walmart is raising the age restriction for buying firearms to 21 years, and will remove items from its website that resemble assault style rifles. it comes after dick's sporting-goods ending the sale of assault rifles. >> impact from sales? should we see any meaningful change in top line for these companies? >> with dick's, this wasn't a huge part of their market to begin with. when it comes to walmart, they sell so many items already. they are such a mega-retailer, something like this is not necessarily going to hurt them on its own. of course it might spur backlash in some boycotts among the pro-gun community, but on a larger scale walmart is not immune but it's harder to make an impact on such a large company. >> spotify planning to go public on the new york stock

exchange, but opting for an unusual strategy. planning to sell shares directly on the exchange rather than relying on underwriters. the streaming service will allow investors to buy existing shares of the company that have been privately held, rather than issuing new shares. what is your view on the actual approach to this new ipo for spotify? >> it is unique and specific to the company. the listing needs to take place given the structure of the capital. it is not too surprising. it is a little different. over time i think you will see some secondary shares come to the market, sometimes in blocks in other places. it is very unique to the company. i don't think it tells you anything about the overall health of the tech ipo market. >> theresa may warning no one involved in brexit will come away completely satisfied. p.m. may: this is a negotiation. neither was can have exactly what we want. >> did she appease all sides of the tory party? >> in many ways that is what

the speech was about, trying to unite her very fractured party on this issue. in that sense she treaded that very fine line, let's get the job done, but reminding everyone you will not get what you want. trying to tell everybody to get eal. it will be a bit of give and take in this negotiation. within that she did not actually change any of the big red lines she set out. she again repeated that we will be leaving the customs union. that has been such a hot topic after jeremy corbyn's speech on monday saying that labour would keep us in a customs union. she says we are leaving that. also talked about getting control of our laws, borders and our money. she specifically said, i will not be pushed into talking tough or walking out. >> a delicate balancing act. >> she is trying to put something in there for everyone. ♪

rosalind: welcome back to "bloomberg best." i'm rosalind chin. bridgewater associates founder ray dalio made headlines recently with his hedge fund bet against european stocks. he sat down for an exclusive interview with bloomberg tom mackenzie in beijing. he did not sound especially negative about europe or the world's economy. he's worried about inflation. >> i think it is so funny when i hear your question, should we be concerned about inflation? i ask you, what? because it is too low or too high? ok. isn't that a funny question? there is a lot of concern that it was too low. should we be concerned it is too high? i don't think we should be concerned it is too high. we are still struggling to get to 2.5%. if you get 2.5% inflation, is

that a problem? i don't think we are going to hit 2.5% inflation for a core inflation rate. but is that a problem? in europe, is that a problem there is too much inflation or too little inflation? i don't know. you never get it perfect. but it is pretty good. i am particularly concerned. what i am concerned is as we go into later parts of cycles, the challenge of central banks will be to get it perfectly, right? >> where are we in the cycle now? ray: in the united states, we are in the later part of the cycle. we are in the goldilocks part of the cycle, when it is too hot and it is not too cold. when we have growth and we don't have an inflation problem, that is the beautiful part of the cycle. as we are moving from that

beautiful part of the cycle to a little bit later in the cycle, then there is that part in which the brakes are put in in different phases. in united states, we are further ahead. we will have faster rates of interest rate increases. letting the balance sheets go off. in europe, we are a little bit behind that. as a result, you will have a winding down of quantitative easing and not as much movement on the interest rates. that is where we are in europe. that is where we are in the united states. the issues i don't think are particularly pressing now. i think if we were to roll the camera forward to two years from now and we were having more stimulation, particularly in the united states because of the tax bill, and also because -- will be in a part where the central banks have a problem getting it right. i think a year or two from now. >> the fed signaled three rate hikes this year. goldman said four. where do you think of the

number is? >> i couldn't tell you where the right number is. it depends on how things transpires. the important thing is nothing is precise, and as we pick up we will figure out if it is two or three or four. get that right. i know it has to be careful that it is not much faster than is discounted in the curve. right now, as you say, it is between three and four. if they stick to that kind of pace, i don't think it will be particularly problematic. rosalind: coming up, more of the week's compelling conversations. the head of germany's bank inks the ecb could do a better job of signaling its course. former u.s. treasury secretary larry summers shares his thoughts on the fed's new leader. and, david rubenstein says the american economy in pretty good shape, but investors should not get too comfortable. david: my biggest concern is when things seem great, that is when something bad happens.

♪ >> you said bluntly in your

speech bitcoin has failed were largely failed as a currency. what did you mean? >> there are three ways to measure a currency. is it reliable and hold a stable value? clearly anyone who looks at on your bloomberg screen the, volatility of bitcoin is 10 times more volatile than sterling. it is not a stable holder of value. the most important thing is that working as a medium of exchange, how well can you use it to buy goods? it is not that efficient. for example, they cost about 1.5 pence to use cash. because about two pounds to use that point on a transaction basis. you layer the environmental cost and other factors, it is not

that good at doing it what it is supposed to do. but it does point the way in many respects to the future of money, and that is what is interesting. there is a glass half-empty. we are not worried about it displacing sterling or the u.s. dollar or other conventional currencies, but it does throw a challenge to central banks and those overseas payments and that payment systems and markets to how to reorganize those to better serve customers. rosalind: you are watching "bloomberg best." i'm rosalind chin. new fed reserve chairman jay powell gave an upbeat view of the u.s. economy in his address to congress this week, making some investors fear that he might increase the pace of rate hikes. bloomberg television spoke with several prominent guests about the financial markets. let's start with the conversation in abu dhabi with former u.s. treasury secretary larry summers.

erik: we learned a lesson in january about underpriced risk when it came to volatility. is risk underpriced? mr. summers: i see more people who seem too serene then i encounter who seem to be excessively alarmed. to that extent, this does not seem to be a profitous time for investors. erik: how difficult a situation is this for the fed chairman? mr. summers: it is a difficult balance between the legitimate desire to stimulate the economy and to get as much employment and growth as possible, and

certainly to the that inflation gets back to 2% and maybe even the average inflation rate gets back to 2%. at the same time i think you have to worry about the financial foundation for recovery if you are the fed chair. i think there is a balance to be struck. erik: is he in a dammed if he does, dammed if he doesn't situation? mr. summers: i think that is for trying things were negatively than i would. but i certainly think it is a very difficult balancing act. i think jay powell has a lot of experience in these judgments. he's an experienced public service in a real professional. >> in the u.s., we just had the best consumer confidence reading i think in 17 years. a lot of people are putting that to the tax reform bill.

do you think this congress and this administration is setting up the economy to continue to do better? david: i think the tax reform bill will help the economy. no doubt about it. we have guarded incremental. we already have $20 trillion in debt. at some point, we have to pay debt off, but right now people are feeling good about the economy and growth rate. matt: speaking of borrowing and speaking of rates, treasury rates, what do you think about the talk of going over 3%? i'm starting to hear doomsday scenarios from people. about what companies will do the do if it goes -- do if it goes 4.5%.% -- david: i don't think they will go up dramatically. i lived at the white house when we had rates at 14%, 15%. i don't think anything like that. we are so used to low interest

rates. right now, interest rates are going up modestly. by traditional standards, even if they go up 2% or 3%, i think we will have low interest rates. if the fed increases by 25 basis points two or three times this year, interest rates will still be relatively low by historic standards, just hide from where -- high from where it was a year or two ago. still manageable for firms like us. matt: you sound optimistic, and you did in your speech. what are your biggest concerns? what are the biggest risks? david: the biggest risks are one, we have a lot of debt in the united states. at some point we have to realize this is more debt than we really should have. number two, i worry about geopolitical risk. we never know what is going to happen in north korea, iran, the middle east. there is always geopolitical risk. i think right now the situation is pretty good. my biggest concern is when things often seem great, that is when something bad happens. i don't know when that will happen, but i feel pretty good about the economy. i think the u.s. is in reasonably good shape. i do worry at some point we will end this cycle.

i don't think it will go on forever. rosalind: in europe, our top conversations centered on brexit uncertainty in the future of quantitative easing. ecb president mario draghi told the european parliament this week that while economic positions are improving, he does not think the bank should pair back its stimulus yet. nejra cehic caught up with the bank's president. he said the ecb can improve its you medication and guidance on interest rates. >> this could probably be one part of our discussion, whether to complement any decision on the program and communication regarding the asset purchase program with more specificity with respect to the interest rate guidance. nejra: what kind of specificity? jens: you alluded to that. i think well past is rather vague time.

it could be about specifying what the paths mean. again this is a debate we will have to have. nejra: what time frame are we talking about? three months, six months? could a rate rise come before march 2019? jens: i think this is not getting any response that i'm not speculating about our future interest rates. i can just tell you that the market indications, given our previous communications, we expect interest rate moves in mid-2019, and given this environment, it is not completely unrealistic. nejra: there are some who have talked about a short taper, could that tapering be extended?

two sort of avoid the guidance on the rise in interest rates? jens: this is a discussion we will have to have in the governing council. what do the end of the net asset purchases mean? do we have a quick end or a prolonged aided tapering? as you might know my position is a rather skeptical one. you can guess my preferences from that, but i am not second-guessing future decisions of the governing council. matt: what are your biggest concerns as far as the regulatory environment, as it affects private equity investors? >> right now it is got to be brexit. it is the top issue for people. we have done a lot of work with members and helping them understand what the possible implications might be if the u.k. decision to leave the eu the challenge they have got is we don't have much more clarity here in 2018 then we had in

2017. a little bit of progress was made at the end of last year on the three big aspects of the u.k.'s divorce settlement, but we still don't know for sure what kind of transition arrangements will be put in place, how long they will last, how comprehensive they will be. we have an even less idea what the longer-term relationship might be. the private equity industry is good at adopting. right now, members are spending a lot of time that they could have been spending on other things on trying to navigate a whole range of different brexit scenarios. we are hopeful over the next couple months we might get real progress that will enable people to make concrete decisions about how they will develop brexit contingency planning. ♪ ♪

rosalind: you are watching "bloomberg best." i'm rosalind chin. much of the news has centered on quarterly earnings reports. our roundup begins from the british bank standard chartered. >> standard chartered shares are trading higher this morning. the company restored its dividends after two year suspension. they can close to the forecasted revenue for profit. when you look at your targets, you need to double revenue. how will you do that? >> we said today we need to get the revenue growth between 5% and 7% going forward. last year, we were at 3%. but it was a year where we were down by 4% because of the financial markets performance.

excluding that, the business is at that sort of level. we have markets that will operate generally growing in mid-single digits anyway. the chinas, indias, hong kongs where there is natural growth. >> the bank of ireland will pay a dividend for the first time since 2008. this is the underlying profit reached 1.08 billion. can we draw a line under the financial woes of bank of ireland? is this the end of crisis management? >> it's the first time in 10 years that we are confirming our intentions to pay shareholders. we do consider that a pivotal moment for the bank. the second point is we are concerned the bank of ireland is the largest under for the irish -- lender for the irish economy. that is the fourth year in a row. that reflects strong support of the irish business sector. lending growth is over 40%. we have also significantly increased our new mortgage

lending portion segment in ireland. more than 9000 mortgages sold and half of those are an important first time buyer segment. we are also announcing our intention to reenter the broker market. manus: let's talk about the federal bank now. this is eastern europe's second-largest lender. fourth order net income that be estimates. how much will you grow in 2018? >> i believe that after a number of years now, finally, 2018 could be a year where our commission income will grow. at the same time, we could see costs coming down. we are looking quite positively into 2018. in some countries we will have continued, very strong loan growth, and we believe that the

region of central and eastern europe will again outperform the economic performance of the e.u. in 2018. francine: bader says it is closing its deal to acquire monsanto will be delayed to the second quarter of the year. initially it was expected to be completed in the first quarter. the company says it needs more time, though it is confident they can allay concerns by out licensing businesses. >> we are confident we are going to close this transaction and -- in quarter two. it is slightly delayed because there is more analysis going on. we are in constructive discussions with the most important regulators. the department of justice in the u.s. and the european commission. in terms of the scope of divestitures, we have announced in october last year that we are going to invest a large part of

our seeds business and our herbicide platform. we have also announced we will be divesting of our vegetable seeds business and their other things that might be discussed in scope of the divestitures. ♪ >> a german chemical company has signaled a boom period and signaled and basic chemicals earnings have now passed. the company says they will have to get more profit from oil and gas. the sense seems to be that specialty chemicals was an area of weakness. can you give us your sense of the quality of these earnings you just delivered? >> overall i think in 2017 we had excellent earnings, tremendous growth, and earnings growth. as you said, mostly in the chemicals field where we had better margins and good operating rates.

these higher costs translate into higher raw material costs. they suffered quite a bit under margin pressure. we saw this also in q4. it's important going into 2018, we are determined to improve these earnings considerably. >> scandinavian airline sas has reported a pretax loss for the first quarter. sas said it needs 50 extra aircraft and is in talks with airbus. >> we have an existing quarter of 33. -- order of 33. roughly half of them have been delivered so far. the remaining 15 will be delivered between now and 2019. as we look ahead and into 2020 and beyond, we know if we do nothing, our fleet will start to

shrink. we have a number of aircraft at the aging limit that will actually leave our fleet and we need to replace those. and also build in some further capacity to cope with the growing demand in european aviation industry. therefore we are in talks with airbus about a complementing order of an additional 50 aircraft. that will improve business from 2020 to 2025 to ensure we can maintain our size that we have today and also have some flexibility to grow in a growing market. >> one stock we are watching is macy's. shares are surging as the company posted a surprise sales gain last quarter. it says it sees momentum lasting into 2018. >> the number was about 1.4%, and concerning it is the first quarter in 12 quarters, that is good. i think they were easy comps in the fourth quarter. mary warmed the last two years to i think they have been down 8%.

it is a 1.4 percent over the trent. a very weak first quarter comp, too. i think a -5 or -6. from a psychological point of view, if i was working for macy's, i would feel better. is this the answer to the problem of department store retail? no, not at all. >> best buy out with their latest earnings today. both stocks are trading higher. best buy may be one of the few bright spots in retail am actually seeing its best sales since 2003. do you feel be holiday season with a blip or can it continue? >> the holiday season was extremely strong. i think overall he probably saw 4% growth in consumer spending. i think it will give you a video for pre-and breathing room to take the changes that need to take place in these retailers in the new environment. it doesn't mean you're out of the woods. the fundamental issues of retail, the changing consumer, the amazon effect, the switch to

digital, those are still occurring. these results indicate that the major players are responding, the consumer is responding positively, yet they have to make lots of changes in their business model. >> already seeing the financial impact of the ongoing gun debate that has gripped the united states since the deadly school shooting in parkland, florida. american outdoor brands, a firearm manufactured formally known as smith & wesson cut their forecast for the years. the lower level for demand for guns may continue for some time. >> in the old days, there was this pattern where we saw, after a mass shooting, there would be a big surge in gun sales. people feared reprisals. those didn't happen. it seems like there has been a flip and that people don't worry about that maybe because trump's president. it is weighing on the business? >> i think it is definitely true. for the last five quarters, we haven't seen that be the case.

some people have called this the trump slump. some are saying maybe people are maxed out. if you have three or four ar-15's, do you need to go out and get more? that definitely impacts this. the other thing we should be looking at is just over saturation of inventory. some retailers may have had a lot of inventory before the election, and are just now moving through it. it takes time to move that inventory. that hurts manufacturers. this company announced a loss of just under $5 billion. survival hangs by a thread. are we near a crunch point for this company? >> i think we are. yesterday, the earnings, almost $5 billion of losses for 2017. the chairman said the restructuring deal was agreed in

principle with creditors back in january and is now the only hope of survival for the company. he says there is no magic pill for those investors who face hefty losses on the restructuring deal, which will cut the debt by half. there is no deal with a strategic investor. the alternative is a insolvency process, which would be damaging. he is trying to get all of the stakeholders over the line, as he puts it. he admits there will be pain and discomfort for some of them. this company was once asia's biggest commodity trader. in 2010 had a market cap appointment $10 billion. yesterday, it was less than $200 million market cap. it has fallen a hell of a long way. ♪ ♪

>> boeing is really on a tear, and it has to do with a return to revenue growth.

we took a look at the financial analysis function. we will see back in 2014 and 2013 revenues are growing. at the end of 2016 and much of 2017, we stagnated, and we are now looking at growth again for boeing. investors are liking that. rosalind: there are about 30,000 functions on the bloomberg, and we always enjoy showing you are -- our favorites on bloomberg television. maybe they will become your favorites. here is another function you will find useful. quic will take you to our quick takes. you can get important insight into timely topics. here is a quick take from this week. >> these are the five most valuable companies in america. notice anything? they are tech companies. their dominance is attracting attention from watchdog groups that say their power is harming competition and the economy. is it time to break up big tech? to answer that gift understand how tech has exploded. for our purposes let's imagine the top five tech giants as

pac-man, except in this game, there are no ghosts to avoid. those ghosts are u.s. regulators. for the past decade, the u.s. has been mostly hands-off with tech companies, allowing them to even bigger, by swallowing smaller rivals. bloomberg data shows in the last 10 years, the big five have a close to 500 acquisitions. that's worth about $140 billion. because consumers like the company's products, amazon, apple, facebook, and google have developed huge market shares. for example, amazon receives 93% of all e-book sales. google pulls 78% of internet search ad spending. apple is dominant in high end smart phones, and social media traffic. being a monopoly isn't illegal in the u.s. for most other companies. regulators stopped equating big with bad a long time ago. the last high-profile case was filed in 1998 when the justice

department successfully challenged microsoft's dominance of computer operating systems. it has led watchdogs to say enforcement in the u.s. has become too timid. they say big tech is hurting innovation, jobs, and wages. some even blame the behemoths for a decline in successful startups. in europe, america's big tech meets have faced resistance. governments are more aggressively pursuing them. the e.u. fined google for using -- abusing using market dominance, and germany is investigate in facebook for privacy practices. the big tech players don't think they need to be broken up. the argue their dominance isn't guaranteed because new competitors can easily jump in. google points out competition is one click away. ♪ rosalind: 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 is all for "bloomberg best" this week. i'm rosalind chin. this is bloomberg.

♪ david: what would you say are

the greatest pleasures you have received? or what you are most proud of? >> ok. this is good. thank you. this is good. [laughter] david: well, i watch your interview shows. i know how to do some interviewing. >> i was really busy. i was into building this company. >> if all the diseases have been taken, why shouldn't i? i will take a tax. >> hello, general powell. this is ronald reagan. yes, sir. [laughter] >> and actually i think it was my husband who set the interview up, to be honest with you. david: did he get a finder's fee