♪ ramy: coming up on "bloomberg best," the stories that shaped the week in business around the world. earnings season roars into high gear with big banks in the spotlight. >> and wealth management, people have been scratching their heads, wondering what has gone wrong. >> this company has been in a position no company has been in before and it might get bad. ramy: big deals over corporate mergers to political packs. >> the thing that struck me was how at ease these two gentlemen seemed to be with each other. ramy: u.s. treasury yields hit milestone marks. the ecb stays in a holding pattern.

>> it was the patience, the prudence, the usual caution but still quite upbeat. shareplus, a list guests their insight into the week's top themes in global finance. >> to look at the economic dynamics are still very constructive. >> asset management is one sector that has never been redeveloped. >> it got to be diversified, balanced with stocks, bonds, cash. ramy: all of that straight ahead on "bloomberg best." ♪ ramy: hello, and welcome. i'm ramy inocencio and this is "bloomberg best," your weekly review of the most important business news, analysis, and interviews from bloomberg television from around the world. it was a busy week for corporate earnings reports, starting with

results from alphabet, the parent company of google. >> the first quarter numbers are in, reporting sales of $24.9 billion. they topped estimates by $600 million. earnings per share came in at $13.33. leading the highest analysts estimates. and capital expenditures for the tech giant more than tripled. >> the big takeaway for the investors was the spending. if you look at capex, it's more than doubled. they talked about how they spent $2.4 billion on real estate in chelsea markets this quarter, but they also mentioned they are investing deeply in their cloud and data centers and this machine learning technology, and they say that is not going to stop. they're going to keep spending quite heavily on google. >> the 10 year treasury yields jumped to 3% for the first time since 2014. it is what it means that matters. now that we have reached this, does selling pick up the pace? >> we have seen the level of

-- level hold, it breached 3% and come down a little more in yields, but the fact that it got through there, headlines are out, everyone can say ok, this is not some kind of magical number that cannot be crossed. we crossed it briefly. we will probably cross it again in the coming days and now we can sort of focus on the yield curve and all the other things that are going to impact the market going forward. ♪ >> from boom to bust in the space of a few hours, shares of caterpillar began the day on a high note, but in a dramatic turn, it is now one of the biggest drags on the market. what happened? what did analysts question and respond? >> initially, the cfo said 1q was the high water mark in terms of profits suggested per share. by the third or fourth question into the call, one of of the analysts drilled in, saying this is one of the higher watermarks. he said wait. historically, 2q is your highest

profit quarter for the year. the cfo said, that is right, and we are going to say 1q will be the best quarter for this year. >> u.s. stocks continue to sell off with shares of industrial and technology companies leading the action. caterpillar was not alone in selling off. we saw weakness across technology with the biggest drags on the s&p 500, amazon, microsoft, google, and facebook. >> frankly, i think underlying all of this is the lack of upward momentum in underlying core earnings. a lot of this is tax related. it is not topline revenue related. we are not seeing the underlying economic data improve to the extent investors had hoped coming into this year, and we are getting impatient. >> emmanuel macron came to washington with the not so secret goal of selling president trump on the iran deal. in their joint press conference, macron proposed renegotiating "something new" and cautioned the president against tearing up the deal, which president trump called insane.

both leaders agreed no one knows what president trump will decide on may 12. >> there was an interesting moment in their back-and-forth when president trump said perhaps president macron is the only person that may have some sort of idea exactly what president trump will decide on may 12, when he announces whether or not the united states will remain in or out of the deal. >> president macron concluded his address to the joint session of congress. >> president macron being greeted warmly by a joint session of congress with democrats and republicans alike. he had some interesting things to say about trade and the global economy. at one point he said, he hopes that at one point the united states will rejoin that deal, regarding the paris climate accord. >> the critics have actually said that macron just agreed with donald trump on everything and did not manage to convince him on anything, to change his mind on iran, to change his mind on trade, and in this case, he actually tried to get back to

really the core of the french vision, defending multilateralism. in fact, at some point, he was applauded 43 times, i counted. i don't think he was applauded that many times even during his presidential campaign last year. >> facebook shares advancing in late trading after reporting first-quarter earnings. a big quarter for the social network, ad sales near records and users keep flocking there. facebook first-quarter revenue soared to $11.97 billion, beating analyst estimates. this as facebook as embroiled in one controversy after another. >> this quarter's earnings look strong, the revenues look strong, user growth looks strong. there are a lot of positive things that happen in the quarter. we are finding it hard to find the negatives at this point. >> i do think we are going to see advertisers having no choice

but to use facebook for the most exact targeting they can get anywhere on a global basis. that is a huge asset for the company. on the other hand, this company is in an absolutely unique new position, where its legitimacy is being questioned by society and governments around the world. i think we are entering a very new phase for this company, which impressively continues to hit on all cylinders financially, but by no means is out of the woods. this company is in a position that no company has been in before and it might get bad. ♪ >> the ecb held rates steady today, giving some indications of softening in the eurozone economy. mario draghi gave his outlook in the press conference following the announcement. >> incoming information since our meeting in early march points towards some moderation while remaining consistent with

a solid and broad-based expansion of the economy. >> a balanced draghi today, a word we described it as, balanced. >> i think he presented both sides of the argument. it was the patience, the prudence, the normal ecb caution, but still quite upbeat at the same time. he talked about the wages being positive and there is momentum building there, that the ecb is confident about inflation reaching its target over time. he described the slowdown in the first quarter as transitory, temporary. after the growth we saw in 2017, there had to be a little bit of moderation. but that does not mean that is going to fall off a cliff. >> amazon reporting blockbuster results, shares jumping over 6%. the company's forecasting second-quarter profits that top analyst estimates, this believed by swelling ranks of prime subscribers at a profitable cloud computing that is winning more corporate customers. what are the highlights? >> well, i had sort of the same feeling on tuesday with

facebook, which was what was all the noise about? the environment around amazon captured by president trump's tweets, the post office, none of that matters today. amazon is growing quickly. they added a 60% increase in hiring year-over-year and $1.6 billion net profit, unheard of at amazon. a couple of reasons. the profitable parts of the business, like aws and advertising are increasing and that north american retail business is going up also, because of those 100 million prime members, which jeff bezos emphasized the other week. >> the bank of japan gave its latest policy decision today, keeping stimulus unchanged. absent from the statement was any mention of reaching their 2% inflation goal around 2019. >> the boj has been maintaining a forecast on when the economy

would hit the 2% target. most recently, fiscal year 2019 is what the boj said they were expecting. there was speculation that they might push that out further to 2020. instead, it has simply disappeared. the conjecture will start immediately. does that mean that the boj is being more dovish? if they don't have that target anymore, they can have an endless quantitative easing, endless yield curve control. and we now have two ardent reflationists on the board, one of them a new deputy governor. so that is one conclusion. >> kim jong-un has become the first north korean leader to enter south korea. he was greeted at the border by south korean president moon jae-in ahead of a historic summit between the two leaders. talks got underway in the demilitarized zone as kim called for "a new history of peace and prosperity." >> this was a very historic and very interesting meeting, because i've been to many of

these government-government type of occasions, but they are usually stiff. the thing that struck me was how at ease the two gentlemen seem to be at each other's company. >> they have said, the two leaders, that they want to finally end the korean war, 65 years after it took place. finally end it formally with a peace treaty. until now, it has been an armistice. >> more importantly, as we approach a potential summit between donald trump and kim jong-un in a matter of weeks, is what moon and kim say will be a complete denuclearization of the peninsula. >> the president of the united states tweeting the following this morning, the korean war to end. the united states and its great people should be proud of what is taking place in korea. >> every source in national security world that i have spoken too on the issue of north korea, and -- said that communication in north korea is a positive step forward.

that said, it ought to be treated with caution. ramy: still ahead, as we review the week on bloomberg best, exclusive interviews including a frank discussion with the ceo of charles schwab on how clients are coping with jitters. and on the eve of an election, malaysia's prime minister will put the 1mdb scandal to rest. he tells bloomberg he is not a thief. up next, a further focus on earnings reports with results from european banks. >> there is this rescaling of our ambitions, particularly internationally. ramy: this is bloomberg. ♪

♪ ramy: this is "bloomberg best." i'm ramy inocencio. let's continue our global tour of the week's top business stories with a look to europe,

where some of the world's biggest banks reported global earnings. -- quarterly earnings. that started monday with ubs. >> a strong report from ubs investment bank, offset by weaker gains. walk me through what went wrong and what went right? >> it is a tale of two halves, that is for sure. the investment bank has done fantastically, equities trading is up, the m&a advisory business has had a fantastic quarter. the unit head vindicated in his strategy in keeping it light and not using too much of the balance sheet. investment banking is a smaller part of ubs wealth managementt these days is a bigger bit. wealth management people have been scratching their head today, and wondering what has gone wrong. the earnings were a little under estimates, that has produced a big negative market reaction. >> and credit suisse is reaping

its rewards from the pivot to wealth management. the swiss bank attracting in the first quarter the fastest rate in seven years. why do credit suisse investors have a smile on their face today? >> i think it is not just the investors, it is also the president himself. essentially, he has gotten two things right. he cut costs, took cost side of the business massively. he scaled down the volatile trading units, and he has been saying to focus on wealth management and he has been delivering on that. that is notable because it is an industry filled with topline pressure. they seem to do something differently than the rest of the markets. ♪ >> barclays reported a first-quarter loss amid settlements and provision costs while the bank beat trading expectations for the second straight quarter and showed momentum for jes staley. he has beefed up investment

banks in revenue. staley has had a rough time, but is his momentum turning? are we starting to see the fruits of his strategy? >> definitely. i think the fact he was able to stay after the whistleblowing incident means you've got a ceo that is firmly behind growing the investment bank. the capital risk this quarter is partially because risk is growing. equities were up less than $40, in dollar terms. great quarter for trading. did a good job on costs. >> deutsche bank abandoning its ambitions to be a top global security firm, announcing plans to scale back u.s. rate sales and trading, reduce the corporate finance business in the united states and asia, and review its global equities business with a view towards cutting that back as well. >> there is not that significant a shift in terms of strategy. we aim to be a corporate led, global investment bank with global reach. there is this rescaling, if you like, of our ambitions,

particularly internationally. if you like a discipline in terms of focus, making sure our activities in the u.s. and in some degree in asia align with that european core. >> deutsche bank's plan to cut headcount in the u.s. by 10%, according to a person familiar with the matter. what have you uncovered? >> these layoffs would focus on equities, corporate finance, and they are looking at u.s. rates. sources say they will let go of more than 10% of the workforce. that is more than 1000 people. we might find out at a later point it is even bigger, but we do not know yet. >> another bank said that it generated less income than expected in the first quarter, making it a challenge for them to live up to their goals. >> we have not delivered on the 4 c's. very important components. cost, credits, capital, and compliance, i think, which are

really the basis for driving a bank forward. i am quite pleased. i am noting that the topline is softer, but i'm very confident that we can actually, on the net profit line, we will increase our net profit so we can be very customer focused and increase that momentum. i think we are well positioned to deliver. >> the big three american automakers reporting earnings of -- over the last few days. ford and gm beat analyst estimates, while chrysler fell short. what is the most important take away overall? we will dig into the details. >> the big news was ford and their decision to discontinue their sedan business and most of their car business in their home market in north america. in the big picture though, we are seeing these are still really profitable companies. they are doing very well, and yet the pressure coming from the tech industry and the changes going on is forcing them to make really dramatic changes, like getting out of cars or how gm has gotten out of markets like russia and india.

>> twitter hit all the right notes but investors are simply not singing, shares are down after the company beat estimates. but they warned that revenue growth could slow in the second half of the year. >> we had a great quarter, and it gives us opportunity to go back in the areas where we have been investing, like the health of the platform, audience and engagement growth, revenue products that the advertisers use, and sales. we will be investing in all of those over the course of a year. we said that we will grow headcount 10% to 15% this year, and that is focused on those priorities. >> break down samsung earnings, profits beat estimates on booming exports of its memory chips. but it sounded a warning on mobile profitability as well, saying it is seeing stagnant sales of flagship models. >> i think they have to be conservative. definitely the first quarter was a very strong beat. speaking, the first

quarter is usually weak. and despite sluggish demand, and a pretty weak quarter for its electronics position, it still managed to beat estimates. the fact that profit may slow is very reasonable, but the focus again is on the memory chip division. the second quarter should have stronger demand, and this segment is good enough to overcome weaknesses in all the other segments. >> big day for big oil. exxon misses, chevron beats across the board. what did we learn from today's results? >> it is very much a mixed bag, as you said. exxon really fell short of estimates and in part, that is because of a production mess. they had their lowest first-quarter production figure in 19 years, which is quite substantial for a company that size. and you had chevron, who was beat by every estimate that was out there, and you had pemex

reporting today, their best profit in a decade. it is because if you're able to keep production up, you're able to make more money these days. >> who do we look forward to next? >> bp reports next week, so there will be lots of interest in that. we also have a series of shale companies are reporting next week, so that will give us some sense of whether or not they can give us oil above $70. ♪

♪ ramy: welcome back to "bloomberg best." i'm ramy inocencio. u.s. 10 year treasury yields broke through the 3% mark for the first time in four years. some think this could be a turning point for the bond market. erik schatzker spoke exclusively with charles schwab's ceo, and

spoke about how investments might change if bonds turn bearish. >> it is a big issue. in an we try to do a lot of education with investors around what it could mean in a rising rate environment. here is what won't work. what won't work is the thought, well, i will get out before it happens. that won't work. unfortunately, that is something we hear from some investors and that is not a strategy for success. >> so even in principle if it doesn't work, do you think we will see a stampede out of fixed income, whether it is schwab accounts or elsewhere? >> it depends on the pace at which rates go up and how far it goes up. if they eke up as they are now, you will not see it. if you see rates jump 200 or 300 basis points in the course of 90 days, you are going to have panic among some investors. >> what about the inevitable

correction or perhaps bear market in equities? it is going to happen, it is coming. we do not know when. maybe you do. >> i do not. i thought maybe you might, but i don't. >> what happens then? how do you expect investors to behave then? >> as we all recognize, you have to be diversified. if you are not diversified, you are basically playing the game. at this point where the stock market is, you are picking up nickels in front of a steamroller, because the market is, by virtually all measures, at a fairly high level. you have got to be diversified, balanced with your stocks and bonds, your cash, your portfolio has to withstand it. >> firms like blackstone have big ambitions for the businesses they can build in retail. what is your view on the cost for alternative investors? >> the track record of most alternatives without picking on any individual firm is not

great. now, there are firms, like in the active asset management space, that are very focused, generally have a lot of experience, who have delivered alpha and outperformance, but they are few and far between. in general, i would have to categorize alternative investments as probably not a great deal for most investors. if you get lined up with one of the exceptional firms, you have a fighting chance to get outperformance. ♪ ramy: still to come on "bloomberg best," more of the week's top news stories. some bidding wars seem to be heating up in m&a. plus, executives at ge and wells fargo take heat at contentious investor meetings. >> wells fargo is not improving its practices. they defend the culture being appropriate if the dog does not hunt. ramy: and up next, the head of china's largest investments firm explains how trade tensions are shaping his plan. >> at the end of the day, capital can go wherever it is

welcome. ramy: this is bloomberg. ♪

♪ ramy: you are watching "bloomberg best." i am ramy inocencio. ubs, credit suisse, and barclays were among the many major financial institutions in europe that reported results this week. in a quarter that saw volatility come back to global markets, the perspective from these top executives was particularly interesting. >> the threat with geopolitical tensions rising, the concerns over trade globally, how much of a threat is that? >> the world is really mixed. if you look at the economic him dynamics, they are very

constructive across the board. there is still sign of synchronized growth and momentum. but on the other end, when you look at the geopolitical picture, the picture gets a little bit more foggy. clients are feeling that. you look at the behaviors in the first quarter of client activity, we had an exuberant january, what you would describe as beyond the normal seasonal factors. followed by much more muted client activity levels in february and march which, was similar to what we saw in 2017 during the year. so, it is very difficult to say him and him and anything other than we are prepared from a business standpoint. we've a good momentum in our businesses and we know our business allows us to navigate almost every market condition that we observe.

>> our model is absolutely perfect for china. it is great for entrepreneurs. the chinese economy is being driven by amazingly successful entrepreneurs. i'm sure you have been talking to many of them. and the ability we have to manage their wealth, to help them raise capital, to help them grow their business, to help them invest abroad is unique. i believe an organization has to be structured based on a client's needs. the reason we have an integrated model is because we have one client. we do not have private banking clients. in asia, it is the same person. the notion that we should really interact with the person in a coordinated way is immediate. we have cases where we now manage the wealth of people. we came in through the ibcm.

>> the competition must be heating up, right? >> i keep people inside focused. always look forward. the past does not matter. >> what happens if there is a 20% correction on on equities because of trade tensions? >> it would be quite disruptive. but in wealth management, we are in a long-term relationship with clients. it is a continuous dialogue. we would think about how to reallocate assets and potentially -- >> what we said last quarter was they wanted dividends, which we will do in 2018. we have to the main conduct and litigation issues behind us and everybody knew that the main litigation issue we had was the

department of justice around the mortgage-backed securities sold in 2005 and 2007. that was settled. we settled for 1.4 billion pounds which is roughly in line with how this u.s. bank settles. that is what we were seeking to do. now the department of justice issue is behind us, and ppi is pretty much behind us. we can be focused on generating double-digit returns. and overtime, for the first time in 20 years, begin to consider returning capital to shareholders. >> do you think you can be a stock buyback for the end of the year? >> we are not going to give a date for that. we have a stress test with the bank of england to go through. there are things that we want to do with our balance sheets -- such as deal with some of the legacy preferred issues that were issued during the height of the financial crisis that carry a very high interest rate that we were able to call.

there are balance sheet issues that we want to do, but at the right time we will look at returning excess capital through buybacks. we are not going to put any sort of timeframe on that yet. ramy: to asia now, where investors are trying to keep their footing as the ground of global trade policy seems to shift almost every single day. the head of china's top investment in the firm sat down with tom and mackenzie. an in that exclusive conversation,they talked about how uncertainty is affecting business. >> the current situation concerns us. i think on the one hand, there are solutions to trade issues. a long-term trade war is not the solution. if anything, i think it will make things worse. >> do you expect to see a slowdown in chinese investment in the u.s.? >> this year, for sure.

it will be slower. 2017 was already 30% lower than 2016. although, 2016 was a huge year. i suspect 2018 may be even lower and certainly we will be more proactively looking for those deals in europe and we are doing a lot in japan in the last 10 or 12 years. at the end of the day, capital can go wherever it is welcome. >> are you investing in areas that are linked to or part of the made in china 2025 strategy? whether that is ai or robotics or electric vehicles? >> of course. if government supports industries, there is a tailwind behind it and we need to look into it. for example, information technology, medical equipment -- these, in our view, are clearly sectors that are seeing a lot of demand.

there are a lot of the reasons to look into them for investment opportunities. we don't just blindly follow government guidelines. >> in terms of changes around foreign ownership, financial institutions operating in china, for many it sounds positive, but the reality is that operating in the insurance, brokerage, or banking space will prove difficult for foreign players who need to compete domestically in china. >> the most interesting factor in my view is asset management. asset management is the one sector in china that has never been truly developed in many ways. but, given how much is saving in china, you can bet it is just a matter of time. ramy: malaysian voters go to the

polls on may 9 in the shadow of 1mdb. one of the biggest financial scandals hangs over that election. in his first international media interview in three years, prime minister najib razak sat down exclusively with bloomberg news asia editor to give his perspective on 1mdb. >> essentially a business issue became a political issue because my opponents wanted to use 1mdb to change a democratically elected government between election cycles. that is why they created this as a big issue. meanwhile, our rationalization program is working well. our debt level has gone down to about $30 billion from $42 billion. we have the assets to cover our debts. >> why do you feel that some

believe that you have acted dishonestly, what is your response to that? >> there is no evidence to that. you cannot just accuse somebody of being a thief unless there is evidence. and again, if i can quote, "we have to act on evidence." they could not find any evidence of wrongdoing. that is a politically motivated statement. >> but you have admitted that funds have ended up in your account even though it was a donation from the saudi government. >> it is clear. there is no wrongdoing. i stand by there is no wrongdoing. the saudi government said it was an official donation. the facts speak for themselves. it has been turned into a political issue. ♪

♪ ramy: this is bloomberg best. i'm ramy inocencio. let's keep moving with our roundup of the week's best this is headlines. next, the latest development in a strategic face-off among media heavyweights. fox, disney, and comcast. >> reach for the sky. comcast starts a bidding war with disney. a $30 billion all cash offer. 16% premium to fox's bid. are we in a bidding war now? >> the expectation is yes, we are. and fox is likely to come back with a higher offer. they have been trying for all this time to buy sky from the new challenger. it is likely they will up their offer. both parties really want it. it is a valuable tech platform, 20 million subscribers across europe.

seen as a key asset to build scale in a world of netflix and amazon. if you add sky to the portfolio, it makes you a more powerful player. >> shares of a japanese drugmaker are now tumbling in tokyo and close to a preliminary deal to acquire a biotech company. both companies have confirmed that they made a revised proposal at 49 pounds per share, roughly $45 billion. the revised offer highly ups the cash portion which analysts had mentioned that some people were concerned about. the deadline was set for today but they have decided to extend it now to may 8. should be some more news coming on that front. >> aluminum prices seeing a record plunge as the united states softened its position on rusal, one of the world's biggest producers. it has been quite a roller coaster for rusal.

why is this latest statement from secretary mnuchin so important? >> go back two weeks. the u.s. placed punitive sanctions on rusal. this caused people in all parts of the supply chain to worry where the metal is going to come from? last night, we got a softening of the position of the u.s. government, they have extended the amount of time companies can still deal with rusal and taken other steps to ease the affect of sanctions. finally, they said that if the billionaire who has been synonymous with the russian aluminum industry for 20 years plus, if he exits the company that would be a way out for rusal. >> the russian billionaire planning to keep control of rusal. but is according to people familiar with the matter. the aluminum giant fighting for

survival. the indication was that if there are passed it goes, though u.s. goes light on rusal. he wants to stay. explain. >> exactly right. the aluminum market has been relieved since monday after the u.s. treasury said they will lift sanctions. there have been a lot of assumptions going on in the west among traders, therefore that would probably happen and the sanctions would be lifted. we are reporting today deripaska who is known as one of russia's great corporate fighters, has no intention of going. >> norway's oil companies said first-quarter profits increased 32% amid rising petroleum prices and higher output. i wanted to start with your expectation for the oil prices. do you think the oil price comes down from here? >> i definitely think the oil price will continue to be volatile. there is a lot of cyclicality and volatility. what we see these days is global

storage levels have come down to more normal levels and then we will see oil prices more sensitive to geopolitical events. >> the shakeup continues at deutsche bank. the company naming today frank kuhnke as coo. reports that the bank may be considering extensive cuts to the uniteduity in states. that's part of the wider restructuring of its investment bank. let's talk about the change in the coo. it looks like he is an admin guy, he knows systems, he knows computers. >> what is particularly striking is that he has been with the company for 32 years and joined in 1986. he has been with them even longer than the new ceo who joined in 1989. they are both basically lifers and both german. so he came in and replaced john,

and now kuhnke, he's replacing kim hammonds who was ousted not long ago and she is an american. definitely a turn towards germany. >> wells fargo investors have had a pretty big day. so i've the company's critics. one notable critic calling for changes is california's treasurer. he tells bloomberg he wants the wells fargo ceo to step down. >> wells fargo was not improving their practices. they defend the culture as being appropriate. that proverbial dog does not hunt. >> compared to last year we did not have any stops in the meeting but we definitely have people wanting to hear from him on various issues. both from the consumer bank and for things like foreclosures, medical costs, all kinds of issues presented to tim sloan and betsy duke as our first meeting heading wells fargo

as chairwoman. >> general electric annual shareholder meeting under pressure to fire the auditor, kpmg. just when it seemed ge shares are on the mend after first quarter results, it gets hit by another piece of that is with -- piece of bad news with moody's downgrading their reading outlook on ge to negative. there are protests outside of a shareholder meeting as well. just how agitated are ge investors? >> a lot of what we saw today were ge retirees upset about the fact their health care benefits were walked back. they are upset about the fact that the share price is down so significantly, eating into retirement savings. that is what we heard today in terms of shareholders raising their concerns. you brought up the credit rating outlook, that as a big deal because ge relies so significantly on commercial paper for day-to-day operations. any sort of rating cut will have ramifications even kpmg was ratified to stay as ge's auditor but the percentage was 65% of

participating shareholders for kpmg. last year, that was about 95%. >> china has eased its grip on capital outflows. raising the quota for funds to invest in securities overseas. what are the practical implications of this move? >> this is a move that has been broadly welcomed by economists and analysts. what it means is the institutional investors in china will be able to buy more securities abroad. the government sets a quota and it has relaxed that quota and has increased the amount of securities that it allows be bought from $89 billion u.s. dollars, to about $98 billion as of april 24. it does give those institutional investors more options and it seems to be another step toward this gradual move to open up the financial markets. and see the markets. and investors here be more integrated with the global systems.

it should be seen in that context. it has been welcomed and seen as a significant move. >> docusign has become the leaders in the electronic signature business, has become the latest company to go public. shares are soaring out of the gate. >> when we think about our opportunity, even though the tam in front of us is still 50 times current revenue of $500 million, the total opportunity is much larger. when you look at the opportunity to land new customers, we serve from the smallest business to the largest enterprise and now we have an international footprint as well with 70% of our revenues coming outside the u.s. still another big growth opportunity for continued international expansion. finally, i don't want to miss, one of the most important opportunities for our growth is expanding with our existing customers. many of our customers only have a few use cases with docusign, and we see the opportunity to have hundreds of them. we see a lot of different vectors for that exciting growth

going forward. >> german chancellor angela merkel is meeting with president trump at the white house at this hour. that is two days after french counterpart emmanuel macron held meetings with president trump where he tried to make progress on difficult issues like trade and the iran nuclear deal. unlike macron, she will only have two hours to do it. realistically what can they get done in a two hour lunch? >> not much, but top of the agenda item for chancellor merkel is number one, making permanent the aluminum and steel trade exemption tariffs. of course, president macron here earlier this week hoping to do the same. number two, getting president trump to reconsider his position on the nuclear iran deal. pres. trump: they will not be doing nuclear weapons. that i can tell you. ok. they are not going to be doing nuclear weapons. you can bank on it. ♪

♪ >> we did see a gauge of em currencies actually drop, but the turkish lira and the ruble outperformed last week. that said, if you look at this, this is a great function for this. it does not just show you performance on a daily basis, this is showing emerging markets and basically puts to calls. it is showing over the next month, traders are the most bearish on the russian ruble and turkish lyra. we do get decisions from both those countries this week. ramy: there are about 30,000 functions on the bloomberg and we always enjoy showing you our favorites on bloomberg television. maybe they will become your favorites. one function in particular you will find useful is quic .

it will lead you to quick takes where you can get important context and insight into timely topics. here is one quick take you will want to see from this week. >> we have all seen terminator 2. the year is 1997 and artificial intelligence is trying to destroy humanity. that prediction has not come true, at least, not yet. but ai is very much here. in the past decade, artificial intelligence has found real world applications and everything from hedge funds and beer brewing. and far from destroy humanity or -- destroying humanity or solving its problems experts question how far ai can go from here. artificial intelligence is software that solves problems. it examines a problem, ventures a guess about what is going on and learns from what happens. >> you can think of it as a giant excel spreadsheets where you are running statistics to try to find the best guess. >> that is bloomberg tex ashlee vance. >> is this an apple? let's run all of these calculations that show that qualities that

remind it of an apple. >> the companies making the most use of ai today are companies like facebook, google, microsoft, and amazon. >> it is pretty basic stuff like recognizing your face with a photo. it is translating a menu on your google phone. it is using computer vision on a self driving car to see where other cars are. where obstacles are. >> some of the first attempts to create artificial intelligence was in the 1950's with the arrival of neural networks which is software that can process data with some of the pattern recognition techniques that take place in our brains. it was not until the last decade that ai really started to take off. >> the internet finally provided the kind of data these neural nets need for sustenance. huge volumes of images and text. that is what allowed these ai algorithms to take off. >> today, ai systems can beat humans. at things like trading stocks or playing the board game ago. they are in driverless car's and can identify tumors.

the technology remains limited. today's still needs humans to occasionally tell it, you are doing the right thing, or no, that does not look right. >> the end goal is agi which is artificial general intelligence, which would be an ai which would not need a human to hold its hand or tell it what to do. >> there is a lot of debate about if or when we will ever see agi. the possibility has made skeptics of people like elon musk and bill gates who warned that ai might end up automating so many tasks to leave millions of humans without jobs. or lead to other unforeseen calamities. >> with artificial intelligence, we are summoning the demon. ramy: that was one of the many quick takes you can find on the bloomberg. you can also find them at bloomberg.com, along with all the latest business news and analysis 24 hours a day. that is all for "bloomberg best." thanks for watching.

i am ramy inocencio. this is bloomberg. ♪ this wi-fi is fast.

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taylor: welcome to "bloomberg businessweek," i'm taylor riggs. we are inside the magazine headquarters in new york. still ahead in this week's issue, we look at china's new gateway into europe, a billionaire working overtime to impeach donald trump, and youtube having its worst year ever. all of this straight ahead on "bloomberg businessweek." ♪ taylor: we are here with the editor-in-chief bloomberg businessweek, joel webber, and we start with a fascinating story.