♪ nejra: coming up on "bloomberg best," the stories that shaped the week in business around the world. pres. trump: we have launched an unprecedented economic boom. nejra: the state of the union is complicated. president trump goes before the nation with a siege. margaret: he had a couple of key lines for the base i think people will remember. >> he did not spend a lot of time on trade. nejra: earnings season rolls on as dozens of companies reported has top executives complaining. bob: it has been a good quarter. it has been a good year. numbers look well. dhivya: with strength across the board, north america was very strong. ralph: we will look across repricing as some of the

business that we do. nejra: the bank of england cuts growth outlook as brexit deadlines loom. australia breaks regulations, but they could have been worse. >> it's a scathing assessment of conduct, driven by greed. nejra: bill gross calls it quits. the bond king announces his retirement and space extensively with bloomberg. bill: i have got a few super bowl rings along the way to look at, and it's time to enjoy myself and enjoy my family. nejra: and capitalism. taking a lot of criticism how advocates should respond to populism. gregory: i think as a nation we should focus on economic wealth and balance.

nejra: it's all straight ahead on "bloomberg best." ♪ nejra: hello and welcome. i'm nejra cehic. this is "bloomberg best," your weekly review of the important business analysis and interviews from bloomberg television around the world. let's start with a day-by-day look from the top headlines. monday, investors awaited results from alphabet. ♪ shery: shares of alphabet falling in after-hours trading after reporting thinner profit margins as they spent heavily to expand cloud and hardware businesses. it seems investors really are not liking those higher costs for the company. jitendra: yeah, absolutely. if you look at the numbers, the underlying demand for the core business, very strong 66% growth. but if you look at expenses part, 40% in r&d, most of it from cloud infrastructure, hiring, and spending. if they expected temper in 2019, that is some relief. but basically, expenses across the board are going up. shery: what is management going to do about stamping down on cost? jitendra: right now, they are sending the message the growth in 2018 is going to temper in headcount and infrastructure. they are at least showing the cost, which was a big deal for them in terms of getting the net revenue down, has been managed well. so, they're saying we're able to strike the balance between this expansion and the spending. so, all in all, i feel that they can manage this transition in higher costs. ♪

vonnie: president trump is set to deliver his second state of the union address tonight to address congress, a delayed state of the union.

it is set to cover a range of critical issues, drug prices, and of course, immigration. the state of the union is the starting point for the 2020 reelection. meredith: we have it on the horizon, we are still in the midst of a government shutdown debacle, and the president needs a clear win tonight. he needs to make the case that the state of the union is stronger. pres. trump: we have launched an economic boom. a boom that has rarely been seen before. wages are rising at the fastest pace in decades. and growing for blue collar workers, who i promised to fight for. an economic miracle is taking place in the united states, and the only thing that can stop it

are foolish wars, politics, or ridiculous partisan investigations. david: maybe his biggest job, the president tonight, was to reach across the aisle without alienating his base. did he do that? margaret: he had a couple of key lines for his base that i think everyone will remember. nobody else will build a proper wall. he's able to get it done. and when he tries to redefine some of these issues in terms of the working class versus the political class, rather than democrats versus republicans, he was speaking to those democrats or independents who crossed over for him in 2016 and saying "i'm still your guy." >> it was a real dichotomy. he, many portions of the speech, which i thought were actually quite good, he reached out across the aisle. but then he immediately took it back on his rhetoric about immigration. and he did not spend a lot of time on trade. we do know that he's working towards a deal with china and he would like to have one. so we will have to see in the next few weeks where that goes. ♪ nejra: president trump has nominated senior treasury official david malpass to lead to the world bank.

the nomination makes him the top contender to lead the bank as president for a five-year term. usually, it's an american who leads the world bank and an american who leads the imf. are we expecting challenges given who the nominee is? >> there is undoubtedly going to be some opposition and some criticism of the choice. the trump administration has been lobbying very hard, treasury secretary steven mnuchin making calls, and officials believe that he will eventually be confirmed by the executive board of the bank, which represents something like 189 countries.

david: where do you want to take the world bank? do you want to make it bigger? do you want to make it smaller? what would you like your legacy to be? mr. malpass: i would like it to be more effective. i care deeply about the mission of the world bank and development, in general. if we think about the world, there's still a lot of poverty, extreme poverty in some cases. but in general, more growth for developing countries. that means higher living standards. and that comes back and benefits the united states. it benefits europe. all of japan, of course, all of the major shareholders of the world bank. it's engaged internationally in trying to have more growth, higher living standards, and better practices around the world. ♪ alix: the boe and central bank

delivers its latest assessment on the economy. that decision out right now, obviously completely expected. no change when it comes to rates. however, the bank does cut its growth forecast, saying the brexit damage has increased. mr. carney: brexit is causing short-term volatility in the economic data, and more fundamentally, it is creating a series of tensions in the economy. marcus: it's hard to feel sorry for a central banker, but mark carney has no direction. because of brexit. equally, the rest of the world is slowing down. there's a of high rates because of which pressure it's away from them yet again. they have to omit reality, which is that they aren't going to hike rates like they are expected to. they cut growth forecast. jonathan: it is down following a string of weak data. thierry: we are catching a reality. what people fail to focus on is why european growth is so low. when you want to speak fundamentals, why is europeweak? europe is weak because trade is weak. europe is weak because of all this political uncertainty. ♪ scarlet: there you have the closing bell, and you can put a stamp on it. it's a loss, second day of losses for the s&p 500.

walmart, travelers, and coca-cola the only three gainers, which loses 218 points. matt: asian stocks down, especially in japan, on concerns the u.s. and china won't reach a trade deal before the next round of tariffs is set to kick in. anna: donald trump says he won't meet resident xi jinping before the deadline. how much significance to be attached of his comments from president trump? enda: it's a reminder we have a ways to go before we have a conclusive trade agreement. what we do know is that the talks so far seem to be making some progress by virtue of the fact they are happening at all. next week, we have another u.s. delegation heading to beijing. but nothing is expected to be

signed off until we get president xi and trump together, at which point it may signal a longer-term truce in the trade war between both parties. ♪ francine: theresa may is hoping to break the brexit deadlock. the british prime minister, european commissioner agreed to further negotiations and to set

new deadlines. maria: she didn't get those concessions. it wasn't a complete failure for the prime minister, especially if you take into account everything that was said the day prior, where donald tusk, the head of the european council, said pretty much brexiteers should go to hell. there was an impression the prime minister was walking into a trap. that was not the case. the eu did agree to reengage, which for the u.k. is good news. the eu said as far as they were concerned, the negotiations were done. they are back at the table, which is good. in terms of concessions, in terms of a breakthrough, we do not see much progress on that, because the eu accepted we can't get the backstop, and we can't put a time limit on it, which really does make me wonder what the vote next week is about if the prime minister has nothing new to offer. ♪ nejra: still ahead, as we review the week on "bloomberg best," and exquisite interview with bill gross on the day the bond king announced his retirement. nejra: this is bloomberg. ♪

nejra: this is "bloomberg best." i'm nejra cehic. let's resume our roundup of the week's most interesting earnings report. a slew of banks released results. we begin with a big miss from bnp. paribas. alix: bnp paribas, brutal quarter when it comes to their overall trading revenue, down 40%. their equity trading was abysmal, down 70%. lars: if you look at our balance sheet, is very solid. on top of that, dividend of 3.5 euros per share, paid in cash. it basically confirms we are well on track for our ambitions for 2020.

philip: clearly better and more realistic than they were. but everything we've seen so far have been to investment banking. we see those problems elsewhere, ubs or deutsche. they haven't cut the targets within the retail business, and that could be the risk going forward. economic downgrades across europe. hikes they were hoping for has not come through. there will be more downgrades to come on that front. ♪ nejra: ing reported fourth-quarter underlying the tax profits of 1.69 billion euros, beating average estimates. they saw net interest income in

the quarter. you also said you see the need for further cost discipline, specifically, how are you going to achieve that cost discipline? ralph: if you look at where we are in the cycle, we have basically already, a quarter ago, indicated we would be more cautious and more selective in how we grow our banking business. we will also look at repricing some of the business that we do in view of requirements. if you look at our financial markets performance, also in the fourth quarter, it's not unlike the market. it's not a good picture. so you see some of the headwinds there. you go through how the systems work. you go through into being more and more efficient. ♪ anna: bp joining big oil peers by giving investors a positive surprise this morning, numbers exceeding fourth-quarter profit estimates as rising output and refining -- in crude prices. tell me how sustainable you think this is. bob: it has been a good quarter. it's been a good year. operations are running across the company, best year on safety.

all operations, good financial resorts. anna: what are your plans? bob: capital spending, prices and costs, coming in under time and under budget. we just pierced the range, but it has really because of one transaction. so, on the backside of that, we've committed to divest $10 billion. we're gearing back down. i'm not concerned about thinking outside the range a little bit, because it's such a good transaction. ♪ emily: disney reported first-quarter results that beat expectations, as they pushed further into streaming with plans to launch its own online video service, disney plus, later this year. geetha: the biggest word there is direct-to-consumer streaming.

this is a transition year, when they will be making investments for the big products, which they will launch later in 2019. i think as far as fiscal one q results go, it was a pretty solid print. it looks like all of their investments are paying off. they had a recent price hike. there was 10% off income growth. and then again, the median also holding up pretty well. but the company management bracing us for losses in the direct-to-consumer segment. ♪ tracy: let's check in on softbank after the company announced a stock buyback worth more than $5 billion. shares are up around 17%, the most in more than a decade. can you explain what is going through masayoshi son's head when he decided to announce this by back? and why, in particular, does he seem so obsessed with this gap between the market value of the company and the sum of its parts

calculations? pavel: the move is actually very dramatic. you look at the numbers, softbank added l1.9 trillion with of market cap just today. he has lamented the corporate discount. arguing the sum of its parts is worth much more than what softbank had been given credit for. but the argument gain some weight in the recent years. for one, he spun off telecom operations in japan, unlike the value in december, using the money to buy back shares. merging with t-mobile in the united states. he now has the $100 billion vision fund to funnel his investments. you can see that gap closing a little bit, but we have a way to go. even according to the old

calculations, there's still a 50% discount what they think softbank is actually worth. ♪ nejra: ryanair reported a third quarter after-tax loss of 90.6 million euros, down from a profit of 100 million euros a year ago. they cannot rule out further cuts to guidance. you talk about price competition in the statement, as well. how are you actually going to respond to this? could you cut some roots and basis? neil: we are already growing very strong. we increased our passenger target a couple of weeks ago to 142 million. we're going to do what we always do, have the lowest fares and the lowest costs, and we are going to grab market share. that's what we're doing at the moment. there's a huge capacity and some of that capacity comes out. some of that can be helped by lower fuel, $80 a barrel to $60 a barrel. we are going to continue to grow market share.

♪ caroline: general motors has come out with a reassuring sign in a shaky global car market. it blew away estimates, plus reiterated the upbeat forecast it may last month. the automaker continues to get a better product from customer shift from trucks to suv's. dhivya: with strength across the board, north america was very strong, as well, with 10.2% margins. $2 billion of equity in china for the year, despite the challenges we're facing, as well as the g.m. financial performance, a record for the quarter, as well. all of this really points to, in an environment where you see commodity challenges, the only resiliency of the company and our execution in this environment.

♪ yousef: toyota cut net income assets for the full year, citing losses from equity sales. as much as the initial batch of stingers would suggest very dramatic change in the outlook, there were some positive patches in the outlook, wasn't there? dave: there were for sure. they left of their income and revenue targets in place for the full-year. that is a sign that it is full steam ahead in terms of sales and operation of company. this change in net income outlook was based on huge loss in their securities investment. l310 billion, that's coming on $300 billion. that's a big chunk in money. there's also the big tax factor that affected the year-on-year comparison. as you recall a year ago, the tax cut they had in the u.s. ended up in a big paper gain for them, as well. it made the comparison for this quarter particularly tough. ♪

nejra: this is "bloomberg best." i am nejra cehic. call it the end of an era. this week, legendary bond fund manager bill gross announced his retirement. he will turn 75 in april and now intends to concentrate on managing his own assets and his charitable foundation. gross spoke exclusively with tom keene about his decision, his career, and the state of bond investing. bill: it has been almost a half a century of watching screens and waking up in the middle of the night to check asia and europe. and that's a long time. i have got a few super bowl rings along the way to look at, and it's time to enjoy myself and enjoy my family. tom: within this is the catalyst of hard flows of funds. was it harder to manage the janus constrain fund, given the outflows you seen the last

number of quarters, and even years? bill: well, not really. half of the fund is mine, and i haven't taken money out, as others have, as you mentioned. i look back on it and the performance on funds in the past years with janus has been unsatisfactory, no doubt, but positive in nominal terms. where would like to mention, i've managed some total return accounts, what i'm famous for for janus. and they outperformed, like pimco, 100 basis points over and outperformed pimco.

maybe i should have stuck to total return and the been more constrained. tom: i was talking with tom in los angeles, and with the unconstrained model, the model of the phrase "unconstrained," what did you learn about the pros and cons, the difficulties of this phrase unconstrained? bill: unconstrained has basically comes to mean going anywhere. it was really to develop risk-taking. in the days of blackjack, you didn't put a lot on the table. for the past three or four years, the negative trade for unconstrained has always been germany versus the united states in terms of a spread. 10-year german bunds started out in my portfolio at 190 basis

points over, and are now over 250 plus over. it's been the big decider, and probably one in which i shouldn't put too many chips on the table. ♪ nejra: coming up on "bloomberg best," more of the week's top business news. "star wars" takes a slice of a pizza chain. a remarkable inside story involving chinese tech giant huawei, a u.s. startup, and an fbi fix. erik: do you believe that your company was the victim of corporate espionage? adam: absolutely. nejra: this is bloomberg. ♪ the latest innovation from xfinity

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♪ nejra: this is "bloomberg best." among the european banks reporting earnings this week, italy's beat on fourth-quarter profit and delivered on dividends, while france's socgen saw trading revenue plummet, is that it would cut costs by 500 million euros. bloomberg spoke exclusively with the chief executive of both lenders this week about europe's larger economic picture. let's start with carla mussina, who told me that while italy is technically in recession, he's optimistic about the year ahead. ♪ >> we have in italy a slow down in the real economy for sure, but i think in the second part of the year, we can have a clear recovery due to internal demand acceleration, because the measures from the government will bring momentum into

internal demand, giving money to people in accounts and will increase consumption. we can have a recovery in the second part of the year. nejra: you seem to think that the government will be part of a pickup in the italian economy, but how long can the government last? could we have early elections? >> it is difficult for italy to have fighting between the parties, but also, like in all the other countries in the world. we have to consider that this government started, in my view, with the negative attitude toward the european commission, and they made the mistake. it is clear that they are starting to see that the deficit, and moving has been a mistake in terms of reputation toward international investors. but they understood, they changed their position, and now, in my view, they can deliver good results in terms of

attitudes toward investors. ♪ >> i want to ask you, what worries you most? you mentioned geopolitical tensions? trade war's with beijing and washington? brexit? this low rate environment? >> i think that there's now a gathering of the transition period is the big risk of a hard brexit. it's a soft brexit. i hope, of course, that there will be a soft brexit.

generally speaking, 12 months ago, 15 months ago, there was a euphoria on the economy. the u.s. was so happy with the tax cut in the potential benefits, and there is a change in what it is adding to this natural slow down because of the political uncertainty. ♪ nejra: in the u.s. this week, economic indicators remain strong, but debate continued over proposals to combat inequality, such as raising marginal tax rates, imposing wealth taxes, and limiting corporate stock buybacks. investors have warned that anticapitalist sentiment is increasing.

erik schatzker asked some leading figures in finance how the economic system can best address populist pressures. ♪ >> you know, in the final months, i remain an optimist on this country and where we are in where we are going. we were there, doing discussions like this during the credit crisis. coming out of that, we lost 700,000 jobs, and look at the recovery over the 10 years and how well the economy is doing. i think in the final analysis, americans will focus on the

growth in the benefit of the strong economy for everybody. i do think we need to, as a nation, focus on economic and wealth imbalance. we have to make sure everybody is coming along for the ride, and they feel like they have a fair chance. >> you built a career as an investment banker first before you became an executive and ceo. if you are trying to think of the rate deal, what's the deal that balances the needs of the have nots with the realities of the haves? >> the deal is that we as a country invest in some of the things for people who are less well-off to developed the skill sets to compete and to succeed in to feel like, if they work hard, they can get their. that's investment in education and in community colleges and job training and making sure

that people don't get to the age, the young age, 18 or 20, and wonder how it is working for me. we have to make sure -- but that's different than saying we are going to create a way for you to feel ok but to not strive and succeed. it's important that it gets down to the individual. the individual has the opportunity to succeed in our society. that instinct, that belief, that i, too, can get there, is what has driven the country to this point, and i'm optimistic going forward. ♪ >> you know, there's this term, creative destruction. it's the central fact about capitalism.

we still live in this pseudo-capitalism today, and we still have this notion of creative destruction, but it is very different. it is very concentrated in time. creative destruction is about one business plan destroying another. the auto industry destroying the horse and buggy industry. but what happens now -- think of the business plans that are alive today, that grew in the last 10 years simply because of interventionism in the monetary system. we have $3 trillion in the balance sheet, almost $5 trillion in corporate debt.

this has gone specifically into business plans that survive, that make sense because of the interest rate environment. so when that changes, it's an enormous problem. that isn't really what recessions are, this is what crashes are. it will happen on its own, very much on its own. the debt, on its own, will very much do it. when you said the automobile destroy the horse and buggy business, that is true. it's a question of the moment. i'm not channeling anything personally here, but will progressive liberalism destroy capitalism? >> well, that's a euphemism. [laughter] could it destroy capitalism in the short run? it could. i'm optimistic in the long run, but it certainly could. there are things about

capitalism that inherently cause it to destroy itself, and it is not because it's not the most efficient and effective system, but because there are things -- optics about it that people don't like. >> do you subscribe to the notion that capitalism may not be the best system, just better than any other? >> sure, but i do think it is the best system. it's a natural system. there are things we don't like about evolution, there are things we don't like about natural systems with creative destruction, but it is the best, most optimal system. ♪ nejra: finally, a report in the current issue of "bloomberg businessweek" sheds new light on huawei, specifically allegations that they have been trying to steal u.s. trade secrets. erik schatzker followed an fbi investigation into huawei's

dealings with a chicago area startup. he spoke exclusively to the ceo. ♪ >> based on what you've seen so far, do you believe that your company was the victim of corporate espionage? >> absolutely, absolutely. to what end, we don't yet know. worst-case scenario, i'm almost afraid to say. >> give it your best shot. >> worst-case scenario, we've been publicly discussing some of the work we've been doing all the defense and arrows -- and aerospace side. that's the worst case. the best case, simply wanting something to differentiate against the samsungs, apples, googles of the world, giving them that leading advantage in the performance increase. nejra: you can find more of this interview on bloomberg.com, and read the entire story in the current issue of "bloomberg

businessweek." this is bloomberg. ♪

♪ nejra: this is "bloomberg best." i'm nejra cehic. let's continue our global tour of the world's top business stories in australia, where the royal commission wraps up a year-long inquiry into the nation's financial industry. on monday, the government responded to the findings. ♪ >> australia's big banks are in trouble, cracking down on wrongdoing and curbing the bonus cultures of decades of misconduct. the government says it will act on all recommendations in the royal commission report. >> it's a scathing assessment of conduct driven by greed. >> scathing, but in terms of going through the measures recommended, was it tough for

the big banks? >> it was tough in some respects. the commissioner was very critical of regulators. in fact, he saved his sharpest criticism for them. the regulators often worth going far enough to go after lawbreakers. but the report was also pretty like in some respects. for example, when the interim report was released in september, they seemed to be very critical of the structure of banks, that you have this one-stop shop set up, where you can get financial advice and wealth management. >> there is some speculation that he was going to recommend that banks start selling of these units, but he didn't do

that yesterday, saying that such a move would because the in disruptive. >> the fallout from australia's banking inquiry has claimed the biggest body count yet. two have quit after being the target of criticism by the commissioner as not having learned their lesson. >> they ostensibly didn't give the respect or the deference to the commissioner that he was probably expecting. it looks like they came into the process weighing, no, i don't think this commission is necessary, and it seems as though the commissioner did not really take kindly to the lack of deference shown to him during this will process. ♪ >> dovishness is increasingly taking wing, as the reserve bank of australia says they are looking at cutting interest rates as likely as a hike. it is citing uncertainty over

the domestic housing market and how that will hit consumer spending. we saw the aussie dollar fall of the class. >> i think it's interesting, because going into the meeting, it has been quite a 48 hours for people watching the rba. there was a sense that they could back away from a signal toward the next hike, 2019 or even 2020, to something at least more like neutral. but in fact, in the policy statement, even though the gdp forecast was downgraded a bit, they didn't take that step. he is the one who really opens the door, a movement is possible. >> rba slashing its for your -- four year forecast, leading to uncertainty over housing and also consumption. >> this forecast, this is quite a slashing. what's behind the cut? >> of has happened basically is that the statistics bureau has revised its consumption estimates downward. it looks a lot more like -- i think the rba senses it's perhaps not as bad as with the numbers are showing, but nonetheless, they have to incorporate them. ♪ >> india's central bank has unexpectedly cut its benchmark rate, becoming the first in asia. it was predicted by just 11 of 48 economists surveyed. what prompted them to cut rates? >> they had an inflation number that had been consistently falling. gdp came in at 2.2% in december. this gave the monetary policy committee room to cut interest rates. the other thing that is taking place is the monetary policy committee will also shift to neutral. the bond markets are doing positively on the back of the outflow, so the last couple weeks bond traders have been spooked by this huge, record

borrowing after the budget of last week announced that large farm report program. ♪ >> bb&t has announced plans to buy suntrust for $28 billion. this is a great deal for both of them. >> we are seeing deals all across the financial services industry, and there's a lot of headwinds, a lot of company seeing pressure. but this is not necessarily coming out of weakness, it's to create a bank that will compete with some of the largest.

jamie dimon said a couple years ago that there are too many banks, and to create another one of scale is a big deal in the u.s. ♪ >> a $200 million investment in papa john's, star board is also taking an interest in squid. tell us about this. it is sending the stock up more than 200%. >> a really interesting investment, and odd one. they came in not as an activist but as an investor. there will be a new chairman of papa john's, so they have come in with a fairly -- it's a big tradition, we should note, $200 million initially, they could go up to $250 million. >> it's a brand we have followed for quite some time. we believe, i believe, it's the best product. we love the pizza, that is where

you have to start. we've been watching it, i think the world has been watching what's been going on with papa john's. we wanted to help. ♪ >> european union antitrust regulators rejected the proposed rail merger involving siemens and alstom. they say the companies are not willing to address concerns about their control over rail signaling systems and high-speed trains. french and german officials argue the merger is needed to make competition from china. >> we've been looking very carefully at the chinese. what they do within the chinese

market. they have no footprint in europe whatsoever, and a very light footprint in other kinds of rail, because in very high speed right now, the chinese are running rings around others. we have to be very well aware to make sure you have fair competition, you shouldn't forecast customers in europe to enjoy prices, because of the chinese threat. ♪ >> france is recalling its ambassador to italy. that's after the italian deputy prime minister met with senior figures with a new yellow vest movement. is this playing into the populist's hands? >> probably a little bit. they have been in campaign mode, basically, since they won the italian election last month and subsequently for the government in june. it's nonstop.

this spat with france has been pretty heated since the immigration issues where it up before christmas. certainly the base of this populist coalition, they like, i think, what should we call it, the forceful activism on the part of these two leaders. whether it is going to boost them as we head into the european elections remains to be seen. ♪ >> goldman sachs is set to weigh shrinking its fixed-income trading group. it sounds like fixed-income trading is not a sacred cow under david solomon.

>> they are facing fundamental challenges, the market is not what it used to be, the adoption of technology is what they call the shrinking wallet. so everyone wants to figure out whether that business needs to be restructured. remember, goldman sachs as it stands today has new management in place, but particular attention is being paid to the fixed-income trading business, because perhaps it needs some work, $22 million for the quarter. that was the worst three months in more than 10 years. no surprises the new management wants to take a long, hard look at that segment of the business. ♪

♪ >> i want to show you just quickly my earnings screen here, ea go is the function to get here, and you can put any equity index in the drop-down box. with this shows -- revenue is beat by 1.2% so far, 100 10 companies reported out of the 52 we track in the stoxx 600, but earnings has been by 11%, almost 12%. nejra: there are about 40,000 functions on the bloomberg, and we always enjoy showing you are favorites on bloomberg television. maybe they will become your favorites. markets and many asian countries were closed this week for the lunar new year holiday, ushering in the 12th and last animal in the chinese zodiac cycle. in the midst of a trade war and an economic downturn, bloomberg takes a look at what analysts are expecting for the year of

the pig. ♪ ♪ >> lunar new year let down. that's the stark warning from bloomberg intelligence when it comes to china's annual travel rush. holiday air passes for traffic growth is likely to fall short of 2018, with beijing's push to stimulate consumption unlikely to benefit airlines. as for that, china's social credit system. any wrongdoers will be barred from boarding planes and trains, the first new year since the application to transport. still, more than 400 million rail trips will take place with 10 new tracks put to the test, and a lucky $7 million deal traveling abroad. domestic in short destinations will be topic, but flight risks and south africa are some of the areas to relax visa requirements. when it comes to digital red packets, the competition among tech giants remains clear. baidu expects to distribute $280 million among users with its online wallet, while wechat is allowing customers to customize electronic envelopes. clsa's peng shuai index says investors should focus on limited losses in the year of the pig. that could weigh on high-end brands. bloomberg intelligence says luxury retailers in asia are unlikely to replicate last year's sales gains. this hog-themed item has an i

watering price tag. for a less expensive option, try flowers. a whopping 10 million pots are going on sale in beijing's market, meaning this new year may just come up roses, literally. ♪ ♪ nejra: -- to all bloomberg users. you can find more videos like this at bloomberg.com, along with all the latest business news and analysis 24 hours a day. that will be all for "bloomberg best" this week. thanks for watching. i'm nejra cehic. this is bloomberg. ♪

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♪ carol: welcome to "bloomberg businessweek." i'm carol massar.. i'm jason kelly.. >> this week's issue, how to fix american capitalism and build prosperity. >> that is according to analysts. >> the magazine investigates what happened to president trump's $ 4.5 billion deal. jason: we begin with the