♪ coming up on "bloomberg best," the stories that shaped the week in business around the world. the u.s. faces a trade deficit. >> it has risen more than $100 billion. >> projections. >> that is the weakest target china has set itself for growth. >> investors await a deal that will free both economies from the pressures of a trade war. >> it is not making us richer. >> huawei tries to mend fences. >> huawei will say we are not a company -- >> carlos ghosn and a battle in

court. the ecb gets back into the lending game. >> stimulus will continue to be provided. >> it will get inflation towards target. >> larry fink in an exclusive conversation. >> i would call this a goldilocks moment, not so bad, not so good. >> bill gross reflects on bond trading as he bids farewell to the business. his successor explains how he is reshaping the fund. >> -- 14 or 15% now. >> the process will be the same. the risk profile will be different. >> it is austria to head on "bloomberg best." -- all straight ahead on "bloomberg best." ♪ >> hello and welcome. this is "bloomberg best."

your weekly review of the most important business news, analysis from bloomberg around the world. let's start off with a look at the top headlines. on monday, reports of progress towards a trade agreement between the u.s. and china had investors feeling optimistic. >> the u.s.-china trade deal could result in lifting all tariffs in china rise more american products and commits to protecting ip. what is china willing to buy? >> they are willing to come to the table. they are willing to buy agricultural products. we're expecting more in the energy area. >> what are we offering china? >> we are offering a return to normality, it looks like, and that is a lifting of the largest piece of the tariffs imposed on $250 billion in chinese imports

last year. are in this limbo stage of the negotiations because of the npc, because of the chinese political calendar, but are setting up for the end of this first round of negotiations. >> china has lowered growth target this year and announced a cut, saying the country must brace for a tough economic battle. the priority is stabilizing economic growth. >> that is right. the delegates filing out the economy, the premier went this document that outlines the policy priorities for the government for 2019. that speech has wrapped up. we had this gdp target cut from 6.5% to 6% to 6.5% in 2019. bloomberg pointing out that is

the weakest target china has ever set itself for growth. we have tax cuts as well, vat stanley3%, that morgan says could be valued around $90 billion. there was a policy initiative to raise special government bond issuance. it was a somber speech by the premier, talking about the challenges, rising insecurities, instabilities, saying there were hande hidden dangers and risks. >> the u.s. to reduce it is whitening, hitting a 10-year high. president trump says it is a sign of poor trade policies, as he looks to reach new deals. is it china or europe that ceos and companies are most worried about? >> the thing that people are most worried about are the trade

wars extending. the next battlefront you can really see is something blowing up with the eu over cars. that seems like a much more real and immediate threat than things escalating with china. if you look at the broad picture, the trade deficit, the u.s. trade deficit in goods and services has risen more than $100 billion, or 20%, and donald trump's first two years in office. it is the big scorecard he holds out for countries winning or losing, and by his own metric, he is not doing so well. the ecb announced rates on pause for 2019. the central bank giving a it willpackage, saying offer more cheap loans and keep interest rates low for longer. >> significant monetary policy stimulus will continue to be provided on the key ecb interest

rate, reinforced by the investments of acquired assets and a new series of debt. ecb? this panic from the >> it is more extreme than the market>> was expecting, but the mario draghi doesn't like to disappoint. he has delivered by pushing out the time horizon for the ecb keeping rates at current levels. also, announcing now rather than waiting. >> this is the latest in the line of central bankers trying to react to the slowdown in global growth. we have had a number of these over the economic cycle. he is trying to push the message the ecb is there to support, but the doubt in markets is will this get inflation towards target. is the ecb really credible here? >> a fourth day of declines for the s&p and dow, the seventh

drop in eight days. >> we came into today with anxiety about global growth, weaker chinese and european data over the last few months. anxiety, thext of ecb came out, panic is too strong a word him up at the markets reading this as respiration. weak, and dollar strength is negative for u.s. corporate earnings. >> chinese trade slumped, exports and imports falling. stocks fell the most in 2019 today. >> the trade data was worse than expected, even allowing for the distortions over the china new year. , alsoa poor set of data reflected in the german factory orders. link is a clear towards week production figures in germany. there are people that want to take money off the table.

>> the big story today is the payroll report, 20,000 the top line in terms of workers added. that was well below estimates. wages continue to push higher. january, february lousy come the underlying trend is 190,000 jobs per month. i expect unemployment in the mid 3% territory by the end of this year, and consumer inflation above the fed's objective, so we should not be overly bearish on a temporary payroll stall. >> are you confident the u.s. is insulated from the slowdown abroad? >> i am. i am not saying we live on a complete island. we are the hottest economy in the world because we have made progrowth reforms, lower tax rates, deregulation, opening up energy and so forth, good attitudes.

there is no war against business here. there is aese story, feeling on wall street that the president wants a quick deal, and he once it because he's worried about the markets. >> that is just not true. that is just not true. he has to do what is best for american technology, for american workers, american manufacturers, american farmers. if these things are not in america's interest, whether a ,ecurity deal or a trade deal if they are not in america's interest, he will not accept it. >> still ahead, as we review the week on "bloomberg best," larry fink, bill gross, and michael worth, plus an exclusive conversation with the eu trade commissioner. next, more of the week's top headlines. president trump compan complains about that policy and the strength of the dollar. >> how likely is it?

>> not very likely. >> this is bloomberg. ♪

rosalind: this is "bloomberg best." i am rosalind chin. let's continue with the report on global growth prospects from the oecd. >> it has cut its global growth tradek again, saying tensions and uncertainty are weighing on the global economy. >> and economist saying global growth has started to bottom out. the oecd says they are cutting that to 3.3%, the euro area only growing 1%, and the u.k. less than 1% as they face a host of uncertainties from brexit. downgraded to 2% in 2019.

this means the u.s. versus the rest of the world, the trade of last year. it has been the trade of the last two years. the index of 18% versus the msci up 6%, so three times the outperformance. we will see if that trend continues as the u.s. is the only one that will have growth revised higher in 2020, u.s. versus the rest of the world. >> the huawei cfo is under house arrest in vancouver, now suing canadian authorities, alleging she was wrongfully detained in search. the canadian government began the process at the request of the u.s. for extradition. what is she alleging here in the suit? >> that the way she was taken ano custody was constituted

unlawful detention and interrogation in search of her property. she was taken into custody by border security, not formally arrested, which would have triggered protections in canada, including getting a lawyer and being able to not answer questions. it is not clear where this case will go from here. >> huawei on the charm offensive in brussels, scrambling ahead of allegations that it has enabled industrial espionage for the authorities, so opening a security lab. will the eu be really sure by this? >> huawei will tell you we are a company that does not do those allegations put forth by the u.s. are not naïve. they know about some of the practices in china. they are aware of the hacking and intellectual property, but say we have to keep an eye on

this, but the business reality is that huawei can do a good job for less money. a lot of ceos here in brussels if we are banned from using the technology, the cost will,. that is the reality of it. >> forex hitting back -- huawei hitting back, suing the american government from barring its equipment from certain networks, saying it is unconstitutional to punish it without a fair trial. >> the u.s. towns for 20% to 30% the global communications market. we look forward to dissipating fairly in the u.s. this lawsuit is a last resort. >> the crucial thing was confirmation from huawei that they will be suing the u.s. government over this section 889 of the national defense appropriations act 2019, that section effectively bounds huawei from being purchased,

it's equipment by telecom companies in the u.s., effectively bans them from operating in the u.s. that is what they are challenging. it was pushed through by congress last year. huawei saying it is unconstitutional. attempt tot trump's blame jerome powell for a hiccup in the us economy have made a comeback. he says the u.s. dollar is too strong and criticize jerome powell "likes raising interest rates." how likely is the president to get his wish for a weaker dollar? >> not likely. the data is stronger here than globally. it hints towards a stronger dollar. the thing that could weaken the maker would be -- would president trump and jerome y, these places

abroad that are impairing the global economic outlook. if you see this though down take hold in germany and china turnaround, you could see a weaker dollar and everyone would be happy about that. >> president trump is trying to counter what he believes are unfair trade practices. president says he intends to terminate key trade preferences for india and turkey. what does it mean for india and turkey? , because therprise various protagonists in this debate have been talking for some time. i think the talks with india go back to april last year. have happened is mr. trump lost patience with the negotiations and has decided to raise the stakes by announcing india anduld withdraw turkey from this system of beneficiaries under the trade

agreements and the imposition of tariffs. there is now a 60-day countdown. to the point where the existing arrangements are done away with. indonesia has signed a free-trade agreement with australia, one of several deals it is pursuing as trade tensions hit exports and threaten its current account deficit. what is the latest? >> indonesia is pursuing a bunch of trade deals. they finally inked a deal with all straight eight years in the making. it is not chicken feed, but they are good numbers. goods going from australia to are terrified and free and offered preferential treatment, covering 94% of indonesian goods going to australia, so good news for both countries. bank haslian central

held its nerve in the face of a credit squeeze. it is keeping its interest rates unchanged as it waits to see how consumers respond. slow, slow, slow is we go? >> that has been slow as we go for years. theeconomist at not expect rate to move, so no surprise still parked at 1.5%. noted a stronger job markets, a drop in house prices continues, sydney prices off 13% below 2017 peak. on the one hand, this does give the rba the ability to raise rates without igniting another house price bubble, but there is pricesrn these easing are crimping spending and consumption, and therefore growth. >> with the march 12 deadline looming to put a brexit deal to a vote in parliament, theresa

may come the british prime minister, is promising a $2.1 billion boost. her pledge was quickly labeled as a handout. trying to get labor lawmakers to vote for her brexit deal. >> theresa may will come back and try to cobble together a majority. that is what her offered to particularly the north of the country, to offer them more subsidies, more government handouts is come up the government is cut dramatically in terms of local government budgets. something like 36%. so this is not making up, or barely making up, for the cuts that have been made to local government budgets. some of the labor mp's representing these towns are saying this isn't enough. stocks dipped to session lows at the end of the u.s. trading day on the report

the volcker rule could face a do over. that rule prohibits banks from trying to make a profit by using customer deposits. about theticism volcker rule was banks with their massive compliance departments could not figure out what was a band trade or not a band trade, so that was regulators were trying to address, let's make it clear what is allowed under volcker and what is not allowed, but when they came out the proposal and banks had time to pour over well, youaction was, have made it easier to understand what his banned, justice will capture trade and a lot more stuff will be banned. now they are going back to the drawing board, and who knows when much criticize, very controversial volcker rule will be revised. more european banks are being drawn into the russian money-laundering allegations. danskely centered on

bank and sweden swedbank, suspicious transfers involving dirty russian money have quite in this week, and remind us how this story has developed over the last few days. >> it just keeps going. monday morning, investors learned of fresh allegations around money-laundering due to be published by finland's main broadcasters. the shares tanked 6.5% as investors and it. therehat report came out was relief among investors that it did not seem as bad as feared. at the same time, there was a ccrp thatport by o made clear this is not just a nordic and baltic issue, but a european issue. suddenly other banks were all drawn into the same story. ♪

♪ rosalind: welcome back to "bloomberg best." i am rosalind chin. what is going on with global markets in the world economy? erik schatzker post that chairmanto blackstone and ceo larry flink. -- larry fink. >> china is slowing to 6%. >> that's what they say. >> ok, 5%. actually, the cities are growing nicely. it is the outer regions. china has expressed the same two -phase economies where one part is growing well and one is slowing down. populism experience and unrest in the future.

that is another story. japan is growing at 1%. southeast asia is growing nicely. you are seeing supply chain's move from china into the southeast asia region. europe, compared to where we we were much 2018, more pessimistic. i am very worried about europe. that doesn't mean you're will be in recession in 2019, but maybe just maybe 1% growth may be closer to zero. the u.s., we have the sugar high from the tax reforms. we all anticipated the economy will slow down after the sugar high, and that is what is happening, but where is the u.s. economy this year? 2.5%, 2.6%, 2.7%. consumer confidence is still good. i would call this a goldilocks moment, where it is not so bad, not so good. he central-bank behaviors are

probably more on the dovish side now from where they were in the quarter, so i would say it is time for investors to be more relaxed. i don't think we will go much higher than we are today. >> you mean stock prices? >> we will be fine. what i worry about is rising populism. what we are witnessing from populism, we are seeing shorter-term behaviors by governments. i talked quite a bit about long-term behaviors. >> you do. >> it gets harder and harder when governments are becoming more and more short-term. rosalind: coming up on "bloomberg best," more conversations about markets. returns areays getting harder and harder to find. we hear from the man who took over management of his bond fund. plus, chevron to pump more oil. the ceo is not worried about driving prices down.

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♪ i think the u.s. is doing fine. growth is good there. i always say on fund management, you ignore the u.s. at your peril. it continues to do -- the stocks that do continue to do well. >> speaking of stocks doing well, you said yesterday equities of the best investment for 2019. we have seen such a healthy correction. do you still stand by that call? >> i think so. we are hopefully going to go back to more what i would call normalized markets now, that quantitative easing has officially almost finished. i think that brings back stock pickers.

a businesslike hours, which is bottom-up stockpicking style more tending toward value rather than growth and quality, had a tough time the last few years and through the last quarter of last year. the markets are i hope turning back toward active rather than the more passive style of management. ♪ >> that was standard life aberdeen co-ceo martin gilbert, speaking exclusively about the political and investment landscape with juliette saly in singapore. global trade was the hot topic this week at the geneva motor show. matt miller spoke with executives from several european auto companies about this u.s. tariff increase, starting with the volkswagen ceo. ♪ we have been talking to the trump administration and the european administration, because it's really -- it will really

cost us, it's a very important market for our premium brands, for porsche and audi. we are really trying to write this conflict. i think it is possible to avoid it. in have to understand that between tariff negotiations, not only covering the automotive -- we cant every area contribute. >> there are many different tariffs, but donald trump seems focused on the 10% tariff with the eu. would you be happy to get rid of that? >> i don't think we have to companiesr european from the 10% import tax on american cars. i think it's just not necessary. we are competitive. you have to understand that in the whole scheme between different products -- this is not in our hands

. ♪ >> it's obvious that in our interest, and we have talked to all the stakeholders involved, and explained the benefits from our point of view, i think they are listening quite a lot and it is up to them to come up with a deal that we can live with. >> one of donald trump's biggest concerns, or at least one that he voices, is the 10% tariff he slaps on u.s. imports. do you even need that? does it help you to hold vacuous competition? >> we could come here to an agreement to see what is taking away completely and look at times. ♪ >> how concerned are you about the u.s.-eu trade war? >> that market is very important for us so it is a very's this topic, and we are watching what will happen and playing with

different scenarios, and we are counting in the u.s. and i think in the end you will find a solution. >> is there any way the porsche 911 could be built anywhere else? >> i think it has a lot to do with the image of the car, and our customers worldwide love that we do engineering in germany. we will keep using the car in germany. ♪ >> eu trade commissioners visited washington this week for talks if u.s. officials. they wanted to hammer out a transatlantic trade agreement. they spoke exclusively with bloomberg on thursday. ♪ >> are you still worry the u.s. will impose a 20%, 25% tariff on imported cars, and if so, what would be the impact on the global economy if that happened? >> well, we haven't seen the report headed to the president.

we still hope, of course, that he will not recommend tariffs on cars for the european union. it would be very harmful for our economy, it would be harmful for the global economy, and harmful for the u.s. economy. many cars are produced here in the u.s. with car parts from europe. they sustain many jobs as a whole. european trade and investment account for 7 million jobs in the u.s. we have a strong relationship and we don't want to jeopardize it. as i understand, nobody is really asking for these high tariffs in the u.s. so if i were to happen, and i hope that will not be the case, we would impose rebalancing measures and then our relationship in other areas would be very difficult. draghieard today mario say protectionism is a contribute in factor in the investment slowdown. we also know a lot of european

companies sell a lot to china. to what degree would you say that trump's trade threats and actions, even these of the china, car contributed to the slowdown in the economy? >> most international organizations, the oecd, the world bank, the imf, have warned that these escalating possible trade war and protectionism is bad for the global economy. tariffs are not making us richer in any way, and we are so interlinked with each other, so it has an effect of all of us. and if it deteriorates the situation, it would affect jobs in the u.s. ♪ >> from trade to oil, and this week chevron announced plans to sharply increase oil production in the world's largest shale basin over the next five years, flooding markets with new supply.

the ceo joined bloomberg daybreak to discuss the strategy and its potential impact on the global oil market. ♪ >> we still see demand very strong this year, this by some of the global economy. we have seen opec have to move into a different posture and they previously had. opec and russia have had to come together, some of the non-opec that may, the ones hold production back to stabilize oil markets. the u.s. is a market-driven economy, and you have hundreds of companies making independent economic decisions. shale has a breakeven price that is much lower than other types of investments around the world. it is really the marginal producer making a marginal investment, that's the challenge to make a decision as to whether to continue. >> to david's point, you and excellent together laid out a significant growth target for the permian. are you going to hurt yourself,

because you will have all that supply coming online? if the demand will really be holding up to what we see today, and they have lower oil prices? >> shale delivers strong returns at very low prices, much lower than they are today. we can get it down to the 30's or 40's and still see returns on shale investment. it's not a matter of the shale being noneconomic. our cost of production has come down, returns in shale are the best. >> and that is sustainable? you can sustain that for how long? >> years. ♪ >> last week, legendary bond investor bill gross retired from his position as portfolio manager at jennifer henderson. the firm has renamed its fund and appointed a new leader. the bond king and his successor both talked about risks and returns on bloomberg television this week. let's start with erik schatzker is exclusive interview with bill gross at of california office. the investor who made his name

by beating benchmarks says the year of our performance is largely over. ♪ >> i think there are things that still exist in the market that -- theenerate probabilities of generating in the same way are much less than they were. >> so the era of outperformance isn't over, its what? >> well, it is certainly diminished. because the bonds are harder to even the stock market, in the bear market. it is easier to say 0% interest and i can do no better, but a 10 year treasury , it the past four years

could be simple, 30 or 40 points. and they are heading to the nine year to produce structural outflow. 10 years don't roll like that anymore, the growth of 14% to 50%. % to 15%. past few yearse that was generated simply by the market itself. the opportunities are diminished. ♪ this is really an extension of what the product i've been involved in for the past 11 to

12 years. i started my career at tim: in the late 1990's, started the incomeere we did an strategy. this product is really now in its tension -- is an extension of the current product, which will look to take advantage of global diversification, income generation, high levels of liquidity, and low volatility. >> what are the benefits from shifting to absolute return in your mind? >> for the most part, it's just more synonymous with how we manage money. we are much more of a team approach. where we do have an open mandate, it is going to strictly focus on fixed income assets. it will be a risk reducer. many times when you are seeing is more managers taking tourist. these are looking like equity strategies. bonds are supposed to be defensive. they are not there to be a huge return enhancer for your portfolio.

that's for the alternative space.that's for equities , which still plays a significant portion of people's portfolios. >> it sounds like the marketing has changed dramatically since you assumed management. >> it is the same in the sense that we are going to go anywhere to get our terms. that is one of the key mandates that bill subscribes to, that we subscribed to. the process will be largely the same. the risk profile will be slightly different, in the sense that we will be focusing strictly on bonds. ♪

♪ you are watching "bloomberg best." let's resume a roundup of the week's top business stories, as earnings season winds down, investors were cheered by a big beat in the sunny forecast from a major u.s. retailer. ♪

target announced its fourth-quarter earnings this morning, beating expectations on same-store sales, and encouraging guidance going forward. billion,ing $7 reimagining stores, reimagining the brand, to investing in capabilities, and investing in the team. at that point, there were a lot of questions. people are concerned about the direction. closing stores, not opening stores. cutting costs on investing. but today i think we proved out that the strategy is working. we are delivering great sales, costs are up 5.3% in the fourth quarter, we grew our digital business by over 30%, and we said, 2018 was a good year, 2019 will be even better. ♪ detention,8 days in carlos ghosn has walked out of prison in tokyo. the former titan was escorted from the detention center.

is release means he can now start mounting his defense. what does the release suggest about the prosecutor's case against him? >> first of all, it suggests that they have not a tainted confession. in fact, he issued a statement declaring his complete innocence and vowing to fight these charges, and that seems to be what is going to take place here. it also suggests that they had perhaps run out of new allegations. for week after week there was drip after drip of new allegations. we can expect now that they will focus on the indictment itself and what he has been alleged to do, and that the case will narrow down to that, in his defense will focus. ♪ >> the tussle between newmont and very gold has taken a dramatic old. derek says it still plans to

proceed with a formal takeover bid, despite the new motherboard rejecting the idea out of hand. you just spoke to the ceo. what was his response to the newmont rejection? inhe says it is progress, specifically the fact that newmont is willing to give barrick 55% of the majority stake in a joint venture in nevada is the real progress, because the two sides, he said, have tried in the past to come to an agreement, and it has always been a long 50-50 lines. what he doesn't like is newmont's proposal for a joint government strategy. 45-65's light,to 50-50 on operations. 45-55 was based on consensus in the nevada related assets. if there are things that don't make sense, we need to work through, we are more than happy to work through the negotiations. in terms of how would get managed, we both appoint the key

operating people, but the day today and how things operate, that's the person who ends up owning the majority economic interest. ♪ >> deutsche bank employees learned and bloomberg understands many are facing deep cuts. is anyone still getting paid bonuses? >> some people are still getting a little bit of money. deutsche bank cut the bonus by 10% to 15%, paying out about $2 billion, which is not much for deutsche bank, while we learned already in january that the bank is making more collectives to keep the clients that they care about. there are certainly some people that will still get a nice paycheck. >> the two biggest lenders are reportedly stepping up merger talks. bloomberg understands that deutsche bank and commerzbank have intensified informal does russians after the german government put pressure on them to start the deal. >> the government is pushing

this because they are looking for that national champion. they are concerned about the performance of both of these banks. pushing them together, they hope, will help them create that national champion they are looking for. that said, there are a lot of critics who don't believe that this is the move they should be taking, that putting together to struggling banks doesn't necessarily make one national champion. intensifying,e and we do here it is in part because the government is pushing for it, but whether it will actually come to fruition, that remains to be seen. ♪ private equity is still hot with next on expecting to raise $20 billion for its flagship fund. you have some context on this fund and how blackstone managed to really carry out this very big fundraising. >> they have managed to do it because investors have an enormous appetite for these long-term, private equity investment.

these firms don't just invest in companies and corporate buyouts, they invest in real estate, they invest in credit, and what investors are finding is that firms are delivering nicotine returns -- needed teen returns at a time when other aren't making the money they like to see. investors are going where the returns are. ♪ >> teslas downward turn. once again shares have been sliding, all after elon musk made a surprise announcement to close stores in shift exclusively to online sales. the ongoing conversation about tesla, this time he seemed to spook his own workforce. >> right. a lot of these employees found out in the blog post, what everyone else did, that they were probably out of a job. we are talking about hundreds and hundreds of stores around the world, and just last quarter, tesla touted their retail store strategy in their 10k. they opened several new stores last quarter, more new stores than they had in the year and a half.

investors are spooked. ♪ >> norway's government has given the go-ahead to his trillion dollar sovereign wealth fund to divested petroleum stocks. climate activists have been pushing the idea. the norwegian fund argues that is not taking a stand on the industry, instead it says it makes little sense for western europe's biggest oil producer to be doubly exposed oil risk in its investment. >> it is just like the risk that the norwegian government is already taking. removing these companies from the government will be a better attempt to reduce our aggregated. >> these are stocks that have not worked for a while, right? this is a secular problem in the energies race. this is not a component of the portfolio. climate change is a huge issue. it is generally a huge issue around u.s. investors. it's becoming a bigger issue

globally, and really impacts the invest ability of certain segments of the market. oil and gas is one of those segments. ♪

♪ powell has said that that can be patient but has really changed the outlook and markets. if you go into world interest-rate projections, there is no chance now, according to traders, of any kind of rate hike. the highest you get all year is 11%, and this white line in october, people thought about two rate hikes. look what has happened. zero chance of a rate hike this year. >> we hop into the bloomberg and use the financial analysis function. back in 2016, 2017, 2018, they did put out negative free cash flow. but we are looking at a hopeful turnaround.

they are estimating positive free cash flow for at least the next three years. >> there are about 30,000 functions on the bloomberg, and we always enjoy showing you are favorites on bloomberg television. maybe they will become your favorite. here's another function you will find, it will take you to our quick takes, where you can get important information and fast insight into timely topics. here's a quick take from this week. ♪ ♪ it can litter sidewalks, minister pedestrian's, and endanger writers lives. over the past year, electric scooters have popped up in cities all over the world, in fighting a wary public to hop a ride, as indignant local governments scramble to regulate them. it may come as a surprise, them, at ease figures can be exactly what traffic choked cities need. this is your bloomberg quick take on east scooters. download an app, find a scooter, unlock it, and go for a ride.

when you were done leave it behind,. rides can cost less than $2. appsere are a bunch of that are new. by their essence they are all over the place. if you are not using them, they are getting in your way. and because people are just learning how to use them, they tend to ride them in obnoxious ways. in a lot of places it is a symbol of the technology industry. >> at launch, cities like cleveland banned them, while san francisco halted operations for several months to create a permit system the number allowed. still, raises continue. to apps offer them in more than 40 cities. but despite the controversy, scooters have their defenders. in dense urban areas, cars often arts the fastest way to get around. many have turned to bike sure systems because they take up less space and save on carbon emissions.

some urban planners also see scooters as part of the future of city transportation. >> the hope would be that you would eliminate a lot of short car trips that would get a lot of cars off the road, create more protected lanes, in that would in turn brought in the demand for scooters. it would be a virtuous cycle. >> but despite that, each company being valued at more than $150 million, it is too early to tell if they will become viable. >> it depends on how long it takes to pay off the vehicle and how long they stay on the road, and we don't know how much it is, but it does seem like you could pay these things off quickly. they are relatively inexpensive, but they also get completely trashed very quickly. you will take care of your own bike and your own car, but no one ever washes a rental car. ♪ >> that's just 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's all for "bloomberg best" this week. thanks for watching. i'm rosalind chin. this is bloomberg. ♪

♪ caroline: i'm caroline hyde in new york and this is "bloomberg technology." coming up in the next hour, breaking up big tech. elizabeth warren revealed a plan as she campaigns for president, taking aim at the power held by google, facebook, and amazon. china's exports are plunging on the trade war concerns, but president trump's top economic adviser says trump and xi jinping could meet as soon as this month. now, for high-profile breakthroughs and setbacks, what