>> coming up on "bloomberg the" the stories that shake world of business around the world. >> the nos have it. >> it is clear that the house does not support this deal. >> this is a catastrophic defeat or this government. >> theresa may heads back to the brexit drawing board. >> i do not know where this takes us. this is incompetent chaos. >> wall street has plenty to digest as a parade of u.s. banks march out earnings reports. >> goldman had its first quarter since the financial crisis in terms of bond trading. >> there is nothing to get excited about, one way or the other.

the standoff defense in d.c. and the government shutdown drags on. >> the bickering back-and-forth continuing. >> carmakers come together at the north american auto show. >> i think the auto business will be solid. >> you used to have to worry about the car business. now you have all these macro issues. >> and the chicago fed president shares exclusive insight. >> i do not think there is a hurry, and you would not want to make a mistake. >> it's all straight ahead on "bloomberg best." ♪ >> hello, and welcome. this is "bloomberg best," your weekly review of the most important business news, analysis, and interviews around the world. let's start with a day by day

look at the top headlines. a big week for u.s. bank earnings began with quarterly results from citigroup on monday. >> citigroup kicking off a week of big earnings. shares rebounding. the trading environment has improved a little bit. some of the concerns was the headline on the revenue, off 21% . a bit.ld off quite there's a little bit of room to rise. another good thing about citigroup was that loans came in at a pretty good pace, which signals a pretty healthy environment. the cfo had mentioned there would not be real troubles until the end of this year should trade continue to weigh on economic growth. today. banks are in focus with jpmorgan missing big on the

second quarter, and wells fargo seeing a decline in revenue due to shrinking loan balances. >> the issue with jpmorgan, i thought the quarter was fine. there was just nothing to get excited about one way or the other. the capital markets business was a big miss going into the quarter. jamie alluded to the fact they already sort of made up half of that in january. the key issue for wells fargo is the fact that the asset caps, which is something the federal reserve puts in place around february of last year, the bank had been operating under the assumption it would be removed in the mid-part of this year, and management is now talking about operating underneath that cap through the end of 2019. >> when asset cap went to place a year ago, there were a couple of things we described at the time to make sure there was plenty of headroom under the asset cap. those were institutional deposit-taking businesses. those are inefficient uses of balance sheet. we took down our balance sheet

to a little bit below where it was at the end of 2017. that, plus what has happened in the market for deposits this year, as more deposits have flowed into money market mutual , has and cash equivalents created plenty of headroom to operate under. >> parliament finally gets to vote later today on theresa may's plans to leave the european union, with just about no one expecting her to win. the only suspense at this point is by how much she will lose. >> everyone is talking about how much is she going to lose by. some analysts are talking about 250 votes. that would go down in history as one of the worst defeats in at least a century. other people say if it is less than 50 does that mean her deal is still alive? what is her plan b? that's what the rest of us want to know. it is all going to hinge on the margin of defeat, whether she has to come up with something radical, or if she can say, i just need more time to negotiate for more concessions

with the european union. >> the ayes to the right, 202, then nays to the left, 432. the nos have it. the nos have it. point of order, the prime minister. pm may: it is clear that the house does not support this deal, but tonight's vote tells us nothing about what it does support. >> this is a catastrophic defeat for this government. after 2 years of failed negotiations, the house of commons has given its verdict on the brexit deal, and the verdict is absolutely decisive. the most important issue facing us is that the government has lost the confidence of this house and this country. i therefore, mr. speaker, inform you i have tabled a motion of no-confidence. >> i don't know where this takes us. in many ways, it would have been just as unfathomable if she had only lost by 50. so many options are on the table.

it is hard to see how these two parties talking together are going to resolve the situation. >> i think the reason the markets seem calm about it all is because it takes away the option of just crashing out. they have to defer, delay. i think the prospects of a second referendum are rising, and i think the prospects of no brexit at all are rising, because you have to go back to the drawing board. this is just incompetent chaos. kailey: bank of america really hit the mark after banking on strains in investment banking revenue despite fixed trading coming up short. >> i think citi and jpmorgan kind of set the tone. investors were not surprised today when goldman had its worst quarter since the financial crisis in terms of bond trading. bank of america also significantly down. investors seemed to look at the bright spots. for goldman, that was on that

m&a front. they took advantage of the merger boom we saw last year. for the of a, it was the -- for bofa it was the consumer business. >> the ayes to the right, 306. the nos to the left, 325. the nos have it. the nos have it. prime minister may: the house has put its confidence in this government. i stand ready to work with any members of this house to deliver on brexit and ensure that the house retains the confidence of the british people. >> theresa may has to make sure she is clear on what will deliver the exit with a negotiated settlement. and make sure we then go back to the eu with a very clear ask. i think it is really important now. we have limited time. we need to use that time to secure the type of agreement that will protect our economic interests.

sources say the eu she must radically rethink her red lines to reach a new agreement. how will the is the eu to extending article 50 to delay brexit, regardless of what downing street has to say about it? >> the official line from the u.k. is deal, no deal, the u.k. will leave march 29 and that's it. in brussels, the music, i should say, sounds very different. they think the u.k. cannot afford to go no deal in two months, but also that period is -- but also extending that period is inevitable at this point. >> it has been a week of big earnings for wall street banks, but reports from morgan stanley this morning are falling short. on shares plunged 30%. banks are saying it is because of volatility. in this case, it was down 30%. i thought volatility was good for traders. >> we have been hearing this refrain throughout analysts'

notes and calls about bad volatility. that means in the fourth quarter, we had a few periods of sharp, sudden moves that did not sustain price volatility, but just kind of happened and were gone. the banks were unable to make loads of money off of that short volatility. they want prices to move around on a more sustained basis, but not too much and not for two brief of a period. .- too brief of a period and in morgan stanley's earnings, we saw equity trading did not do well either. the bond trading results were the worst on the street, so we will look to see how they improve on that as things improve this quarter. >> theresa may has refused to budge on her so-called red lines on brexit, we understand. this puts her at a political stalemate with jeremy corbyn, who wants the government to rule out the no deal exit. >> it also limits the pm's options when she goes to brussels to seek further assurances with the european union. how important is it to the european parliament to avoid a

no deal brexit, a so-called hard brexit? >> it is important for us, but not important enough to restore the integrity of the market. then i think is very clear. there are many other things we can do. a hard brexit is a very negative thing. they have to say no to the deal , and now they have to come up with a new proposal. that is not our concern. we will see what they propose. rishaad: the u.s. treasury is denying reports that steve mnuchin has pushed for lower or no tariffs on china. also, it was claimed that trump administration officials were considering rolling back duties to calm the markets and lubricate the trade negotiations. >> when it comes to trade talks, where do we stand now? >> it seems like temporarily the

markets were buying into the idea that the administration could be softening its stance towards china when it comes to these negotiations. we had this denial from the u.s. treasury department. it is clear, and has been for some time, that steve mnuchin has long taken a stance of caution when it comes to the imposition of tariffs. it could just come down to the whims of the president, and we light not forget that kaiser is the one leading the trade negotiations, and he is taking a more hawkish stance on china. he will be the one talking to china's vice premier when he heads to washington at the end of the month. and it could go to trump and how he views things at that particular time. >> china would be reducing its trade surplus to zero, basically, by 2024. last year, that stood at $323 billion. >> we need to put this in perspective. the u.s. exported in 2017 a

record $150 billion to china, a record at the time. how you get from the u.s. export side to meet this kind of demand from the chinese is a big question. whether that capacity exists in the u.s. economy, which is already running pretty hot. we do have some time to go in these negotiations. this is another sign that both sides are negotiating constructively, and there is a lot of momentum towards a deal. kailey: still ahead as we review the week an exclusive , conversation with the chicago fed president charles evans. plus, cisco ceo chuck robbins gives a view from the tech industry on the u.s. trade war with china. coming up, more of the week's top business headlines. the chinese government begins to take bolder steps to shore up a sagging economy. >> the national development reform commission, they say they will be outlining measures to support the auto industry.

this is bloomberg. ♪

kailey: this is "bloomberg best." let's continue our global tour of the week's top business stories in china, where downbeat trade data provided the latest indication of an economic slowdown. >> chinese trade slumped in december, underlining the impact of the trade war and an economic slowdown. the numbers are the worst since 2016, with both exports and imports falling from the year-earlier. what do the numbers tell us? a slowdown, or a slowdown because of the trade concerns? >> i think the key takeaways are the growing domestic amount coupled with slowing global demand is certainly hurting the export sector. do not expect this to turn around anytime soon.

another key takeaway to remember is this is just the latest soft reading on china's economy after a string of soft numbers on slumps in retail sales, factory prices. the manufacturing sector is somewhat softer as 2019 gets underway. >> china will cut taxes on a larger scale to help the slowing economy. say itc policy officials is flexible as challenges facing the company -- the statement follows a series of weak data we got. >> the pboc saying monetary policy will remain prudent, but flexible. they will try to make sure there is a reasonable amount of liquidity in the system. of course, we have seen measures already to ensure there is additional liquidity being pumped into the bank. the national development and reform commission say there will be measures to support the auto industry. we have seen auto sales last year falling for the first time in almost three decades.

exactly what those measures will be, we have yet to find out. there will also be measures to step up to support household appliance purchases. we have seen tax cuts for personal incomes that have already kicked in, at the corporate level. they are going to be targeting small and medium-size enterprises as part of the larger tax cuts, as well as the manufacturing sector, under pressure because of the tariffs. >> some of china's richest scrambling to protect their fortunes from the newest policies. 4 tycoons transferred billions of dollars into family trusts last year. >> we know that china's taxman has been given additional tools to try to target the rich to pay for some of these tax cuts for those on lower incomes and small businesses. we have seen that four wealthy tycoons, billionaires, have already put aside and transferred about $17 billion worth of wealth into offshore family trusts.

amongst them are the chairman of sumac holdings, that major chinese property developer. he transferred, according to the filings, $4.5 billion u.s. dollars to a family trust. it was also one of china's richest women who made a transfer around a similar amount. the problem for china's billionaires is that there is a guarantee that if you put your money into these overseas trusts that the chinese taxman can't get a hold of some of that anyway. >> the billionaire founder of huawei has broken his year-long silence to dismiss accusations that his company helps beijing spy on western governments. what did he actually say? >> it is interesting, because he is quite reclusive. he is a former pla guy, the chairman and ceo of this company, and he rarely talks to the foreign media. it shows the significance of

this spat with his eldest daughter in legal trouble in canada. on the one hand, he called donald trump a great president, and that they have to take a wait-and-see approach to see if trump will intervene on behalf of his eldest daughter. he also went on to say huawei is only a sesame seed in the trade conflict between china and the united states. >> u.s. prosecutors are said to be pursuing a criminal case against huawei for allegedly stealing trade secrets from u.s. business partners. how serious of an escalation is this from the u.s. against huawei? >> this is a pretty significant escalation, and it comes after a series of steps that have been taken both in the u.s. and europe. the company is effectively blocked from using its equipment in u.s. telephone networks, and the trump administration has been pressuring european allies to do the same. the u.s. is trying to clamp down

on huawei, which it regards as a potential security threat. the u.s. companies deny this, but the u.s. contends its equipment could be used to spy on americans, and it has direct ties to the chinese government. >> president trump's nominee for u.s. attorney general asserted independence from the white house today, during the first day of his senate confirmation hearing. william barr told members of the senate judiciary committee that he believed russia tried to interfere in the 2016 election, that the special counsel's investigation is not a witch hunt and that his predecessor jeff sessions was right to recuse himself from that probe. >> william barr trying to downplay criticism from democrats about his skepticism of the memo that was drafted prior to his nomination regarding bob mueller's investigation. he left the door open to still have oversight over mueller's

investigation, and also floated a noted piece of information that he would not make public bob mueller's investigation, and that he himself might submit a separate draft to congress to review. finally, from a financial perspective, he said he would recuse himself from the at&t-time warner deal, as he previously served on time warner's board. >> the longest government shutdown in u.s. history has entered day 28. president donald trump and house speaker nancy pelosi are engaged in a bitter tit-for-tat. president trump canceled the delegation's trips to the summit in davos. that is after denying house speaker nancy pelosi and airplane to visit troops in afghanistan. >> the bickering back and forth continuing. meanwhile, the president's acting budget director has put out a letter instructing all government agencies that no u.s. travel from the u.s. government

should be used during the partial government shutdown for any congressional delegation trips. the back-and-forth and whatnot, all of this would illustrate that there does not appear to be any significant progress being made on this partial government shutdown. ♪

kailey: you are watching "bloomberg best." on the heels of dovish comments by federal reserve chairman jerome powell, this week senate officials continued to stress the need for patience when it comes to the path of rate hikes in 2019. on thursday, kathleen hays got perspective from the chicago federal reserve bank president.

charles evans. >> the economy is doing well. we saw a lot of strength in the december employment report, 312,000 jobs created. you are exactly right. i went in thinking that 2018 -- we are about 75 basis points from being at a setting that is just a little bit restrictive. it is almost neutral, but just a little bit restrictive. that is sort of the setting that , with my outlook for a good economy, i would say we could sit at that rate for quite a while until we see the economy decelerate to trend, inflation hang around 2%, the unemployment rate still continuing to the good. timing is not a big deal, because even if we were to increase rates in june, you have increases in september. i do not have any increases slated for 2020.

if it happens in 2019, if it with all the20, uncertainty with some other things going on, europe softening a bit, i think we are actually well positioned to sort of assess how the data are coming in, whether or not our business contacts see things proceeding and little differently than the national data, and we can respond appropriately. i think we can easily be patient. >> the thing that seemed to shift at the end of the year was the big falloff in stocks. i am wondering, was that what really precipitated this sense that we now need to communicate to the world that we are on pause, that we are going to wait and see now? the evidence, until then, was not new, and there does seem to be a shift as we get into 2019. >> you have to ask yourself, what is it the markets are seeing that we may not be putting as much weight on?

you want to ask that question. maybe they are taking on board they have seen before we really assessed it as being on the softer side. another factor is the markets may have been slower to truly assess the deceleration to growth towards trend. it may not be that different outlook for what we had, but they are assessing it differently. that is a more benign interpretation. that puts us in a situation where, if i am comfortable with the funds rate now, i do not think there is any hurry, and we would not want to make a mistake. we can look at the data coming in and be cautious. kailey: still to come on "bloomberg best." more of the week's top business news, including earnings from netflix. and, more compelling conversations. cisco ceo chuck robbins talks briefly about trade wars, and says they are too clumsy to solve very difficult problems. -- very delicate problems. >> it is too difficult to understand how to do it

surgically, so i will have to do it with brute force. kailey: this is bloomberg. ♪

>> welcome back to "bloomberg best." detroit was the place to be thisweek for global automakers, as the city hosted the north american international auto show. new models were introduced new partnerships announced, and there was plenty of opportunity to discuss headwinds in 2019. david westin sat down with seven top executives to discuss the state of the industry in their companies, starting with the ford president and ceo, jim hackett. >> i want to tell you, i'm not happy about ford's performance. that should just be said. i knew it was going to be a difficult year because of the age of the product.

we are moving from the oldest product line in the industry to the most refreshed, 75% of the products, all-new in the next two years. that is going to be really important. you put that against what kind of market do we expect? i think the auto business is going to be solid. the economy itself has signals that create uneasiness, but i don't think there is anyone who would say we are in any kind of recession right now. >> so when it comes to the economy, what affects your business? is it sentiment overall? concern about trade conflicts? what drives your business? >> sentiment is a big deal, because people want to believe their jobs are safe. interest rates can matter because of the changing profit changes in the cost of the vehicle. things right now are firing on all

cylinders in our economy but for political strife over policy and some of the trade issues. we have had great employment, 4 million jobs have been created with this current administration. i think it is worth stepping back and saying it's in pretty good shape and it can run for a while like that. i am talking about north america. >> how does trade affect vw america? >> it used to be a simple business. you used to have to just worry about the car issue. now you have all these macro issues, particularly trade issues. i think on the trade front, the big issues -- the first is the usnca. we have put what this means for us, and i think we are in relatively good shape. we have a plan for mexico and big plans in chattanooga, and the big thing we are looking at is the labor value content. we have five years to comply and i think we will put together a smart strategy. with regard to tariffs, not very big for volkswagen, since 96% of

our volume comes from the north american market, produced locally. i think we have smart solutions, but like anything, you have to be prepared in these times. kailey: from car talk in detroit, we turn to a conversation about bicycles in shanghai. hello bike a chinese bike , sharing startup backed by jack ma is considering an ipo. the company says it is well-positioned to dominate the sector as financial woes mount at competitors. the cofounder spoke exclusively to bloomberg's tom mackenzie. >> hello bike has been the number one in this industry since april 2018. our daily rides are equal to the combined rides of other competitors. put simply, we take half the market share. >> what is your strategy for monetizing what is essentially a capital-intensive business?

>> relying on the revenue from daily rides is enough, and we have proven this. in over 100 cities we break even from the daily rides. >> what are your future funding targets, and what do you see your current valuations sitting at? >> in the short-term, we don't have fundraising plans, as we are very well-capitalized. if needed, perhaps in six months, we might consider a new round of fundraising. we are valued at around $5 billion right now. >> there has been some speculation that softbank might be looking to invest in your business. is that a conversation you've been having? have you at least entered into discussion with softbank? >> we had contact with softbank, but there's no substantial development or anything that gets us closer to a deal yet. >> is an ipo an eventual objective for the company? if so, what kind of timeframe that we looking at? >> we will definitely go public at the of the day.

we don't have the timetable yet. our business is still rapidly growing. when the time for an ipo comes, i believe our company will be valued at tens of billions of dollars, much more that it is now. >> the u.s. and china are preparing for further trade talks in the coming weeks. one of the major points of contention, china's policies on technology and intellectual property. this week's cisco system discussed trade technology and national security, and how he sees the ongoing disputes between the world's two largest economies. >> what we do creates this flat world that we live in. fundamentally the technology we have built over the last 30 years has created a flat world, and now we find ourselves with lots of conflicts around the world. the geopolitical dynamics are complicated for all of us. countries are trying to figure out, how do i deal with this

technology change that is occurring so rapidly? frankly, it is very difficult , because governments around the world don't have the expertise inside the government to be able to regulate or determine what they should do. but that leads us to our very binary decisions. it's difficult to understand how to do it surgically, so have to do it with brute force. >> you are in a position to understand something that we don't. how much of the u.s.-china trade dispute when it comes to technology is trade, and how much is national security? lee here, for example, -- we hear, for example, that the huawei situation is important. >> i get the same information you guys get on this issue. in general, there's aspects of intellectual property, there are aspects of trade deficits, there are aspects that the view that this 5g buildout is critical to every country's future, and there's

this competitive race going on around the world. i think it's a bit of all of that. what my hope is is that we can get to a place where we can all move forward in a way that lifts the global economy and allows us to take advantage of the technology. what it can do not only for business, but candidly we are at a point in time where technology can help solve the biggest problems of the world, and that's what we need to be focused on. >> it was hank paulson who referred to the possibility of a technology iron curtain being imposed between china and the united states. if that happens with that hurt or help cisco's business? is china a frienemy? >> we have great relationships, and our business, while small, has been growing moderately over the last few years. i think if that happens, it is just bad. we need to figure out a compromise position to help both countries get to what they are trying to get to without

breaking down the fundamental value of the conductivity in the first place. ♪

>> this is "bloomberg best." let's resume our roundup of the week's top business stories with a surprising turn of events in european banking. banco santander canceled plans for appointing a talk ubs executive as its new ceo. >> banko santander has reversed course on the next chief executive after standoff over tens of millions of dollars. the move comes just four months after his appointment was announced. how unusual is it that there is a fight like this?

>> i have to say it is a bit of a shocker for orcel and , it's also a huge surprise. at the heart of it seems to be a dispute over $50 million of deferred bonuses. ubs is sticking to a hard-line, look, we will not pay you for joining a competitor and santander making him whole. it's not something i've seen recently. >> netflix announced it is raising its prices for the first time since 2013. shares of the streaming giant hit the highest in nearly three months, this bodes well and many people like the fact that they can pay even more for the costly content. >> netflix is flexing its pricing muscles. it goes to show that netflix is really confident in its subscriber trends and content slate for 2019. at the end of the day, it's a compelling price value

proposition. i think that is what netflix beliefs, and what most consumers are seeing. this really does remain one of the cheapest alternatives for entertainment out there today. >> netflix tumbling in the after-hours session after delivering a mixed report suggesting that the company's , unprecedented spending spray on new content may not be paying off. or not as quickly as expected. , >> give us the pluses and, probably the minuses. >> the plus is that subscriber additions were higher than people were expecting, and netflix, which is more than 20 years old, added 29 million customers in 2018, which is a pretty astounding rate of growth. the downside is the revenue came up short. partially because of foreign exchange. they now generate more than half their customer base from asset. the profit wasn't what people wanted because of how much they are spending, especially now that they are spending more on original movies. one of the things they said is

more capital intensive upfront, where tv can spread out the cost. >> bloomberg sources say apple was planning to cut back on hiring for some divisions after a miss for the revenue forecast. >> apple tried to put a positive spin, saying that the iphone sale decline would help them innovate. what exactly did they say? >> so this is from sources inside apple. apple didn't come out and say this, they didn't respond to our request for comment. we are told that at a meeting with employees tim cook was , asked if there would be a hiring freeze in place to offset the slowed iphone sales and reduce revenues. he said a hiring freeze wouldn't be the solution to the current problems. instead, they would reduce hiring in some divisions, excluding the hotter markets like artificial intelligence. >> tsmc underscores the deepening

slowdown in both iphone sales in -- iphone sales and the global economy. taiwan semiconductor manufacturing -- what does this dismal outlook mean for china and for apple? >> it's not good news for apple. tsmc, apple is their biggest customer. apple designs chips and tsmc makes them on apple's behalf. when they are forecasting in this march quarter that their numbers will not be as good as expected, there is a certain read across to apple. while way is the second biggest customer. is thee way -- huawei second biggest customer. given the tribulations that they have had in recent months, there might be a dual effect, exacerbating the problems. >> consolidation is the global gold mining industry. newmont mining will announce a merger valued at $10 million.

they are paying a percent -- paying a 17% premium based on the weighted average share price of the last 20 days. this comes only three months after we saw them moving to buy randgold resources. does this mean we will see more m&a in the industry? >> that's the expectation, especially since they will be shedding the assets. they are looking at the $1.5 billion of assets, and people are thinking that the next two deals that we will be seeing, people will be buying up these assets. >> may have some good, complementary assets that fit well within our portfolio. we have four operating regions, and we will go through and assess and decide which operations we will continue to work with on the value versus risk basis, and look at our own, as well as there is in the process. reshape that portfolio and target a gold producer that will be set for the next couple decades. kailey: snapchat's parents says

the chief financial officers leaving eight months after taking the job. this is the latest in a number of executive defections, where shares sank in late trade. >> what prompted stone to quit? >> the company isn't saying exactly what prompted him to quit, but they are saying what it is not about, and i have this memo from evan spiegel to his employees. im's transition is not related to any disagreement relating to our accounting strategy, management, operations policies, regulatory matters. or practices, financial or otherwise. basically he's making all the regulatory commentary he needs to make to not spook shareholders, however they are spooked. the shares are down more than 8% in aftermarket trading. >> drano is set to be ready to replace the chairman and ceo, carlos ghosn. board members are saying the decision needs to be made.

carlos ghosn failed in his latest efforts for bail and remains in a tokyo jail for months. what do we know about his intentions at this point? >> he pointed to the right word, urgently. this is a company that has been operating with an interim ceo almost for two months now. they have to get someone in place who can take control and have the full authority to operate this company. it's a global business, very complex, part of the three-way alliance with other automakers. there are a lot of big decisions that need to be made so they need some sense of permanence. they have stood up for him in the past. they did not initially agreed to -- did not initially agreed to oust him as nissan had done. they are only now making the decision to hold a board meeting at which they will name a replacement for him. >> after a catastrophic three months for pg&e, the company says it will be filing for

bankruptcy in california. >> is it certain they will file for bankruptcy? some politicians in california thought this was a threat on the utility's part. >> pg&e has been accused a couple times in the past of crying wolf on bankruptcy and using the threat of bankruptcy to get concessions out of state politicians. but the filing they issued today with the securities and exchange commission really looks like this is the real deal, and argues that they concluded they have no choice but to file for bankruptcy. it spells out that they may be facing more than $30 billion in wildfire liabilities. there's always the possibility there would be more this year -- more wildfires this year that could be tied to their equipment. they see chapter 11 is the only viable path forward towards resolving the problems they face. >> tesla says it will be cutting 7% of its workforce. does this come as a surprise?

i thought they were stepping up -- staffing up to make sure they could make enough model3's. >> we heard elon musk the last couple quarters build this case that tesla is at a turning point, where they are going to be able to make money going forward. they will make money and generate cash. he has been very confident on both those points. i think the street was not long for the ride until the last quarterly results came out and surprised everybody. this is a dramatic shift away from that where he is talking about the road ahead being difficult. we started with the company cutting prices to partially offset the tax credit in the u.s., dropping by half. this is a company that still is not in the clear after what was an insane 2018. >> jack bogle, the man who

founded vanguard and virtually created the world of passive investing, passed away yesterday. a host of financial luminaries poured out their praise, among them, david solomon of goldman sachs, howard marks, sallie krawcheck, and charles schwab, saying things like everyone stands on the shoulders today of jack vogel. >> the financial industry has lost a legend. investors have lost probably their best that they could. what he did, i think, is hard to understand today, because we are so far removed from the 1970's and what investing was like. imagine cobbling a portfolio of individual stocks almost at random, and here's a guy who comes along and says, own as many stocks as you can that represent a broad swath of the market and leave it alone. pay as little as possible, never look at it again, and when you wake up in 50 years you will be rich. that sounded revolutionary in those days. i'm sure of it. ♪

>> let's take a look at the >> let's take a look at the description page here on the uti crude and talk about the leverage, the contract, and the trading mechanics. >> the first thing to look at the leverage is the initial margins. about $5,000. overlay that with the contract, thoughts about $50,000, about 10% leverage, that is what is standard in futures. >> there are about 30,000 functions on the bloomberg, and we always enjoy showing you our favorites. maybe they will become your favorite. here's another function you will

find useful. quic . it will lead you to our quick takes, where you can get important and fast insight into timely topics. here's a quick take from this week. >> china's spies have a lot of unwanted attention recently, thanks in part to political in trade tensions between china and the u.s. many of those spies work for the country's main intelligence agency, the ministry of state security, or mss. in december, 2018, one of china's top tech executives was arrested in canada on the u.s. extradition request. soon after, mss agents abruptly detained two canadians in china, then days later, the u.s. publicly named two alleged assets as part of a sweeping u.s. indictment involving hacking on a global scale. the series of events had people asking, what exactly is the mss? this is your bloomberg quick take on china's elusive spies.

>> compared with the u.s., the mss is something of a mash-up. it conducts intelligence operations abroad, like the cia, counterespionage at home like the fbi, and cyber snooping like the nsa. >> when you hear the details of how the mss operates, you think it wouldn't be out of place in a spy movie. the number of employees is classified, the exact location of headquarters is unknown. it is thought to be in a nondescript building in beijing. it does not have a public office or website. it doesn't have a press office. >> what's clear is that the mss is key in xi jingping's efforts to tighten control over security. the head is a former police chief who helped direct the nationwide anti-graft campaign. in 2015, the national security law extended the mss's power to outer space, the deep-sea, as well as the internet. >> the mss benefits from close

ties between the state and chinese tech giants, all of which have the ability to mine for small data. other government departments are required to cooperate with the mss and provide support for its activities. >> the mss operates secret detention facilities in china, and is known for its harsh treatment of dissidents. for example, the blind civil rights lawyer was under house arrest for 19 months before he fled to the u.s. embassy in beijing in 2012 and eventually moved to new york. >> the organization has developed a fearsome reputation, based on how much power it has and the vague limitations. detainees including foreigners have alleged violations of basic rights while in the custody of security agents. some have talked about daily, six hour interrogations, not having access to lawyers, or confinement under lights that never seem to go out. >> media reports have noted some key mss victories, including the possibility that they monitored president donald trump's calls,

made on unsecured cellular devices. there was also a report that the mss had dismantled cia operations in china over several years, killing a dozen or more of the agency's sources, reportedly in one of the worst u.s. intelligence breaches in decades. >> this is an organization that is completely immune to the global microscope. a senior officer was arrested in belgium index related to the u.s. in 2018 on charges of conspiring to steal trade secrets from top aviation companies, but you have to remember this is still an organization that's very powerful. that was reportedly the very first time a spy for china's government had ever been brought to america to face charges. >> 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 all of the latest business news and analysis 24 hours a day. that will be all for "bloomberg best" this week. thanks for watching.

this is bloomberg. ♪

place, the xfinity xfi gateway. and it's strengthened by xfi pods, which plug in to extend the wifi even farther, past anything that stands in its way. ...well almost anything. leave no room behind with xfi pods. simple. easy. awesome. click or visit a retail store today.

♪ david: you were nominated to be a chairman of the fed by president trump. is being chair all that it's cracked up to be? [laughter] david: people thought that perhaps two rate increases were part of your plan for 2019. jay: there is no plan. we can be patient and flexible. david: maybe the president will have a meeting with you. have you received that invitation yet? jay: nope, no invitation. david: you would be happy to accept it, right? jay: i'm not aware of anybody not accepting it. david: ok. [laughter] >> would you fix your tie, please? david: well, people wouldn't recognize me if my tie was fixed, but ok. just leave it this way. alright. ♪