♪ viviana: coming up on "bloomberg best," the stories that shape the week in business around the world. earnings reports come fast and furious with big tech and european banks leading the way. >> if we get people to come to twitter once a month, we have failed. we are not delivering for them. >> we are in the americas. >> they are just minting money. viviana: deutsche bank and commerzbank and their merger talks. samsung puts its new fold on hold. >> this is a reputation and pr marketing nightmare. viviana: oil prices surge as the u.s. clamps down on iran. >> the hardline no waiver was a surprise.

viviana: u.k. banks brace for brexit. chief financial regulators speak exclusively about how to manage the transition. >> it would be a big mistake to lose contact, to isolate ourselves. economists share insight on the state of the economy and global growth. >> we do not see signs of problems. >> if the fed did not do what it did, we would see panic in the bond market. viviana: it is all straight ahead on "bloomberg best." ♪ viviana: hello, and welcome. i am viviana hurtado. this is "bloomberg best," the weekly review of the most important analysis and interviews from bloomberg television around the world. we begin with a day by day look at top headlines.

monday, an outpouring of shock and empathy after a wave of deadly bombings on easter sunday across the south asian nation of sri lanka. shery: one of asia's deadliest terrorist attacks in years has shattered the calm in sri lanka. hotels andd luxury christian churches. more than 200 people have been killed. haslinda what a devastation, : coordinated explosions on easter sunday. luxury hotels, churches, the prime minister says he will have to look deeper into this. he says authorities had received warnings but little attention was given to the warnings. the priority is to ensure sri lanka is not destabilized. >> we are prepared to take all measures necessary to ensure terrorism is contained and wiped

out in this country. haslinda those measures include : a nationwide curfew. facebook, what's up social media , access has been blocked. the impact is on the economy. this is not great news for a country that is forced to take a loan from the imf recently. investors have fresh memories of a country plagued by civil war. vonnie the u.s. is increasing : pressure on iran, oil rising to its highest in six months. the u.s. government eliminating sanction waivers that allow buyers to import iranian crude. was the market anticipating this? alix: absolutely not. food prices were climbing, everyone thought there would be no waivers. then last minute, trump comes out with waivers and surprises everyone. nobody knows what will happen. the hardline no waiver was a surprise. vonnie how might iran react? : >> i do not think there is much they can do.

removing the waivers means that 2 million barrels of oil they have had in the last few months will go away. maybe not all of it, but for now the problem is it will be offset by production in the u.s. that is really what happened, and opec. typically saudi arabia will offset iran, and i suspect there was negotiation ahead of that. francine: francine -- crude has plunged. does the president know that the stopping of the waivers means oil prices will go up which he has ranted against? >> indeed, his bet is saudi arabia will help mitigate that upward pressure and replace the barrels that the sanctions will take out from iran. it is clear saudi arabia has no plan to flood the market. yes,alk we are hearing is

they will help but they will be cautious, and they want to see reduction in iranian exports before they increase their own production. it may be the market will be tight. you are seeing prices up the last couple of days. vonnie shares of twitter : rallying, hitting their highest since july. twitter announced earnings topping first quarter projections and reporting strong user growth. an increase in daily active users. what is the monetizability. >> twitter has stopped doing monthly active users, that famous stat we use for most social media companies and they onhey are focused monetizeable users, people who log in every day. they can be advertised towards. >> we have been sharing a number

extra early, which was monthly active users. if people come once a month, we had failed, we are not delivering. we want people to come every day and see value on twitter and keep coming back to find out what is going on in the world. >> real at a brand-new high. the nasdaq, 1.3% up. >> decisive record. credit suisse's main trading business -- from what rival ubs calls one of the worst environments in recent history. >> three years of deep cuts, it -- cuts and restructuring it is , important to be stable. on our restructuring there may be upside for us and an ability to take market share. equities is strategically very important for our business. >> take market share from who? >> we do not mind. francine: mainly european banks?

>> where it is available. we are strong in the americas. we do not want to be too bullish. he is a very cautious man, which i like. results does not mean we have solved every problem. shery: facebook jumping in late trade after reporting better first-quarter revenue, but it is facing swelling legal costs, regulatory threats, and privacy concerns. the overall picture for facebook still looks strong. could we say they had been able to move past negative headlines? >> if you look at the fundamental growth, it was a strong quarter on almost every metric. one big concern, facebook's future growth is dependent on stories, and advertising and pricing is lower than it used to be. this quarter showed they can manage it this transition well.

that instills confidence and their ability to drive revenues with this transition. francine today is a big story, : in switzerland, ubs is switching expectations after a dire quarter from its wealth inagement division came higher than estimated. >> the second half of march, market conditions and investor sentiments changed for the good, both in the absolute and relative to last year. francine: here in the u.k. barclays earnings were missed. we spoke exclusively to jes staley. jes: we face the choppiness around equity capital markets, and m&a activity around the world. >> very much exposed to europe with brexit, it has put a lid on capital market activity, on dealmaking more broadly, and it is hard to see a change in that soon. david deutsche bank and theyould bank announced

are ending talks of a merger, saying the risks were too great. >> we envisage over time industry consolidation will take place in europe, and deutsche bank wants to be part of that. the timing and the specific form of that obviously remains to be seen. david: was this a deal that ever made sense, looking back at it now? matt it depends on whom you ask. : berlin was not behind this deal. problem was for people outside of the banking, 30,000 to 40,000 job cuts does not work well especially for people at this income level. in terms of internal people, we were told it really was too costly at the end of the day, too complicated, and did not create the kind of economic synergies they would have hoped for. >> amazon reported quarterly profit that exceeded analyst estimates.

demonstrating their focus on cloud computing, advertising, and other higher-margin businesses continues to pay off. amazon narrowed its loss on international operations which boost profits. outlook for the second quarter is less stellar. revenue and income guidance are a bit light. what you make of the quarter? >> the upside is because they generated 43% margin and cannot spend all that money. they have $25 billion of gross profit and managed to only spend $20 billion of it. that is the story. this company has run out of things to spend money on. obviously, they will keep building fulfillment centers but that will not grow materially year-over-year. they are just minting money. >> chinese president xi jinping did more than deliver a

revision of its belt and road initiative. he took the global spotlight on his speech in beijing to deliver a powerful message that china is ready to take as it moves toward a trade deal with the u.s.. xi vowing not to try to get an advantage on trade. >> china will not pursue yuan depreciation that harms others. something, the u.n. is complaining about. it is interesting he made a point to say these things at a speech when he knew everybody would be listening. vonnie what will be this year's : largest ipo uber is helping to , raise $9 billion. they are aiming for an $84 billion valuation. characterize it conservative? >> i think so, given what has

happened with lyft, it makes sense for them to go with a conservative valuation because there is no path to profitability for this company. when i compare them to a company like slack which is going public , that has negative ebita margins, you know when you hit a billion dollar revenue they will be profitable. they are right to leave some room for the stock to go up once it prices. 6.5 to seven people percent sales fees -- percent sales fees are reasonable. viviana: still ahead as we review the week on "bloomberg best," the ceo's of united airlines and honeywell explain how they see the economic picture. the head of written's financial -- britain's financial conduct authority explains what brexit means for global banking. top executives share thoughts on their company's performance. >> if you look at this year, we

will have three potential major launches. viviana: this is bloomberg. ♪

♪ viviana: this is "bloomberg best." i am viviana hurtado. we continue with our roundup of the week's intriguing earnings reports. from start with results beleaguered aircraft giant boeing. >> boeing uncertainty clouds the future. we know the concerns that mire the company. they are not going anywhere anytime soon. it is not often before he -- when you see a big company miss in estimates. >> know, it is not. -- no, it is not. boeing has been on the upper end up at the top of its game. it was the largest u.s. industrial company.

then you had the max seven crisis. it has changed the ground for boeing. it was interesting to see the stock reaction, shares were edging up higher. the shares have held up well which is a reflection that they have a strong backlog. it is not easy for customers to jump ship and go to airbus. people think there will be some near-term volatility while they figure this out, but long-term it will be fine. , >> first quarter profits beat estimates, but warned of a shaky market in china. once again, it seems as though management is too clear about future guidance. >> we saw this last year with the high water market all the , jitters across the industrial sector. there are just worry points in the global macro economy. that is not what you want to see with a capital goods company, particularly this early in the year. they are ramping up inventory to get ready for the selling season.

they do not see alarm bells now. if you are an investor there were worrying signs, and there were quite a few of them. tesla --usk claimed the company began with a loss of a half billion dollars. are these results shocking or just a surprise? >> i am going with shock. if you look at the top line number or profit figure, it is a surprise because the company had said sales fell in the quarter. they signaled there would be theher quarter of loss following quarter, and possibly the third quarter return to black. at this stage it is hard to give , credibility to the projections. they have been wrong so many times. it is a moonshot for investors, and you have to think the

goodwill for musk is starting to run thin. matt profits at ford blew past : expectations, the stock jumped $10 in the after-hours for the first time in eight months. the cfo told bloomberg results were driven by its core business at home. >> north america and credit are two pillars for the company and have driven results for a long time, and continue to do so in the quarter. what we saw was strong mix, strong positive net pricing. costs were up a little bit. we had good leverage. the f-series was strong. we got positive contributions from the ranger. and america's best-selling van. it was broad-based within north america. emily microsoft reported profit : and sales that beat estimates, wrapping up massive cloud computing deals. >> stellar earnings across the board.

i cannot find fault in it at this point. looking across, whether it is pc numbers, it is a true testament of a very strong corporate i.t. environment. vonnie coca-cola shares are up 1.9%, after they posted a profit beat. north american volumes were down for a second straight quarter. you do get a boost from higher pricing, but i am curious how long you can sustain higher pricing to maintain margins and profitability. >> the north american business was a little softer in the first quarter, but i think it should be seen in the context of the later timing of easter which tends to affect the business, and a bit of negative weather in the first quarter. a little less emphasis on some of the low-margin water business. the u.s. had a solid quarter.

of anear was more extraordinary year based on commodities and the u.s. specific situation of freight. we continue to focus on value for the consumers. they will only be willing to pay the price if the brand and product they are getting is the one that works for them. matt novartis is plotting a : faster course after spinning off its eyecare business. the drugmaker raised its profit margin and beat estimates. >> we have 26 potential blockbusters in late stage development. in our industry, as you focus is a medicine company you have to , make the best of your innovation power. that is the bet we make as a company. we believe we have that innovation power. if you look at this year, we have three potential major launches already approved in quarter one. and we have five or six major

readouts coming out over the course of this year. that taken together puts us in a good place. >> big oil, a big focus. chevron beating estimates after slashing expenses, while exxon stumbled. let's start with exxon, big miss. >> earnings came in at $.65 versus estimates of $.72. net income fell 49% year-over-year. daily production fell below 4 million barrels a day. the refining business is the weakest part today. chevron missed daily production estimates but there earnings per beat. they also solid downstream results coming in better than expected. that is why we are not seeing the shares under quite as much pressure as exxon today. the outlook for the refining business is better into the second quarter.

>> deutsche bank has released a full set of results this first quarter morning after pre-releasing numbers yesterday. germany's biggest lender has cut its 2019 sales outlook saying , revenue will be flat. credit loss provisions will remain in the mid-teens if deutsche bank does not embark on another merger. could we see a new strategy? >> that is broadly speculated. they have had five turnaround plans in the last three years, this might be number six, a bit of a sobering morning. if you cannot do a deal that is probably more interesting than looking at your bleak revenue outlook you need to get back to , the hard work of trying a new strategy. ♪

♪ viviana: you are watching

"bloomberg best." i am viviana hurtado. what might global banking look like after brexit? this week, guy johnson and vonnie quinn spoke exclusively with andrew bailey, the ceo of the u.k. financial conduct authority and also seen as the front runner to defeat mark carney at the bank of england. he discussed the consolation of challenges banks and financial regulators now face. andrew there is no question in : the period since the financial crisis a decade ago, what has happened is a global initiative to build stronger regulatory foundations. there is no question brexit will not impact on that increasingly grovel -- global approach which , is right because financial markets are global. guy is it a prerequisite for : whoever wants to be the next

bank of england, they should have regulatory experience? andrew i have spent years : delicately steering around those questions. , what has this changed in the post crisis is that the bank of england has been given an important regulatory response. the bank i joined in the 1990's have responsibilities. it is appropriate the central bank should have those responsibilities and i am a strong supporter of that. i am involved in that work as a member of the committees. vonnie how can you regulate : banks in britain if you are not in agreement with european regulators on various issues? andrew first of all, we work : closely with european regulators. one of my guiding principles on this since the aftermath of the referendum, i became chief executive the week after the referendum when i moved from the bank of england and had the , experience leading up to the referendum.

be a big mistake for us to lose contact, to isolate ourselves from our regulatory counterparts around the world but particularly our european , ones. it is one of my guiding principles. one of the ironies of brexit for me personally, i spent more time on the continent of europe post referendum than i did before. we are not going to lose contact. that is important because we have much business to do together. we want open markets, and as regulators, the way to support that is to have strong relationships. all our actions are designed to achieve that. viviana: coming up on "bloomberg best," more of the week's top business stories. a bidding war between oil companies breaks out in the permian and a new ceo takes over , at kraft heinz. but more compelling first, conversations, a top candidate to lead the european commission offers bold thoughts

on trade and competition. >> we have to change the competition law in the european regulations. viviana: this is bloomberg. ♪

viviana: welcome. back to "bloomberg best" this week, corporate earnings were in focus. robust results are easing recession returns. several ceos joined bloomberg television to discuss the overall economic outlook. let's start with the honeywell chairman and chief executive. vonnie quinn asked if he is worried about an impending slowdown in many factories. ♪ >> no, not really. as you saw in the long and short cycle businesses, we had a very strong quarter. we are about 40% long cycle

oriented, our backlog has grown. so i'm very confident that short cycle has done extraordinarily well in q1. we don't see any signs of problems, we are planning cautiously for the second half. short cycle can turn very quickly. so far, so good. vonnie: are pmi data missing something? darius: there could be segments that continue to grow. all industrial companies aren't the same. we have a different mix between short and long cycles. we can't always compare that broad-based industrial indices. vonnie: all four segments of honeywell seem to be doing well. what most concerns you for the rest of this year? darius: obviously the short cycle, particularly industrial solutions. we did see some level of d stocking, but we expect that to dissipate. we are still planning for q2. but we are planning on recovery in the second half of the year.

we have a couple minor trouble spots, but overall, the business came in very strong. ♪ >> i'm curious what your view is on the economy right now. obviously, lots of anxiety about whether there is a slowdown. what are you seeing right now in terms of recreational travelers, domestic business travelers, and the global situation? it feels like a lot of the weakness is more on that front. >> there is a lot of different viewpoints. our view of the future is fairly limited. we are not long-range forecasting. our demand is close in. we don't have as much insight, but the insight that we do have is relatively strong compared to where we have been. we had a very strong year last year, and we will see fluctuations. but again we provide the fact , that we will grow the top line and deliver financial. we stuck to that guidance. ♪ >> monetary policy was also a topic of much conversation this

week. economists are assessing the fed's decision to pause tightening trajectories. goldman sachs goes a step further. in a note he claims the central bank is delivering the most accurate takes on the economy, but now outside forecasters are closing the gap. he explains on "bloomberg daybreak: america's." ♪ >> the finding on data from the 1980's and early 1990's has been that the fed really outperformed systematically, and recently there's less of a difference. >> does technology play a role? the forecasters have more access to data more readily? >> that makes the difference is one potential contributor, as well as learning the structure of the economy. if you have more forecasters, you average out some errors. if you look at the consensus,

one person being wildly off on a particular theory has less weight. >> does it also make it appear like the fed is reacting more to market conditions than it is? >> one implication that it has is that when the fed lowers its view of the economy, it may be -- it maybe sends a dovish monetary policy signal. markets can take this more as just a change in the policy outlook. a dovish move, something that should boost financial markets, maybe not as much as a sign that they have private information about the economy, and we should all get a lot more bearish about what's going to happen. for me, that is the main implication. if you think the fed looks at the same kinds of things we all look at, and we are all in a similar position in terms of probability of getting it right, if they get more dovish we should respond to that policy

signal as opposed to get really nervous about something we didn't know. ♪ >> the fed have done a beautiful job bringing interest rates to where they are now, which is why they can take this resting period, as it were. u.s. inflation rate is around 2%, 1.8%. so if the fed didn't do what it , did, and the rate stayed close to zero, inflation close to 2%, i think we would have seen a panic in the bond market and a lot of problems, because people realize that the fed could go for abrupt tightening, which yellen warned so many times. and even jay powell. the fed took this very difficult step, tightening when inflation was not obvious. now they are at 2.25% and inflation is around 2%, no one is panicking, which i think was a beautiful job.

that allows the fed to wait and see what happens next. ♪ >> this week, the leading conservative candidate in next month's european parliament elections officially launched his campaign. he hopes to replace jean-claude juncker as president of the european commission. in an exclusive conversation in athens, he said he would like the eu to treat china more as a partner than a competitor. he also emphasized the need to reshape the bloc's trade relationship. ♪ >> for my part, it is a party of trade. we voted always for the trade agreements with japan, with etc. to always be a party of trade. we believe in trade, both sides of public development. and on the chinese side we should be in favor of trade, but the option remains for what is going on in china.

they define key industries, they want to be global champions, especially in the traffic field, and you must allow companies to grow and to establish a size that gives you the chance to compete on a global level with big companies from china. that is why i think we have to change the competition law to allow for the future. generally i'm a friend of because it brings low prices, but in special markets you need to understand that competition legislation must also adapt at the global level. >> so you would agree with relaxing, perhaps, some of those rules when it comes to antitrust and competition in cases where you say there is a national interest or european interest? >> it must be in the european interest, that is clear. i love and enjoy competition, it is good for us as consumers. but on the global stage, europe

must define our key industries, what we see as future markets, and we have to defend them and create global champions. -- global champions in such key industries. ♪

♪ viviana: this is "bloomberg best." let's continue our global tour of the week's top business stories. in japan, the central bank reaffirmed its long-standing commitment to stimulus. ♪ >> the bank of japan says it will keep interest rates extremely low through at least the spring of 2020, saying it won't hit 2% inflation target for another three years. >> they actually tweaked some of their forecast. i don't know whether the market took any notice, we didn't see

that much movement in the yen. the idea that inflation -- it will take a long time to get back on track. >> it didn't surprise anyone. i think that's the thing, they said they would keep accommodative policy until the spring of 2020, but did anyone think they would tighten beforehand? they didn't. yes, they have changed in the language to make it more specific, which is nice, but they didn't really change anyone's expectations. remember also japan has this , consumption tax which could be quite significant, another reason why the market didn't expect anything from monetary policy for quite a long time. ♪ >> occidental petroleum has made anadarko.d for which has just now confirmed the , receipt of the proposal, saying that the board will

carefully review the proposal. >> going back two weeks, they made the announcement that they had reached an agreement by anadarko. we confirmed reports that occidental did also express an interest at a higher per share offer that has been rebuffed. if occidental had come out in been public, and it is in honors -- is in anadarko's court. >> we feel very strongly as a we have looked at -- very strongly as we have looked at anadarko that they have incredible assets, and combining their assets with our assets further enhances our dividends and production growth. ♪ >> president donald trump has said he will not nominate herman cain for a seat on the federal reserve board. in a tweet the president said this. "my friend herman cain will not truly wonderful man, has asked me not to nominate him for the receipt of the federal reserve board. i will respect his wishes. herman is a great who truly loves our country."

cain has said he didn't want to go through the arduous vetting process. when he has made it? >> it doesn't look like you would have, and that is why he was able to get through it. for republican senators had said they would vote against him, 53-47 margin puts him below 50%, he wouldn't have been confirmed by the senate. that was a message the republican senators, who had not vetted him when he said he's the man i want to nominate, the vetting process is proving to difficult, particularly with the sexual harassment claims against him prior to his presidential campaign. ♪ >> samsung will delay the release of its foldable smartphone until at least next month. reviewers have found defects in the $2000 galaxy fold. the flaws include some displays ripping off the phone. all of which is scuttling the launch. >> it seems like we are finally moving on with the exploding phone in 2016. how much damage will this do to their reputation once again? >> this is a reputation and a pr

and marketing nightmare. quite frankly, this thing should have never been announced until it was ready. it is utterly shocking to me that it has come this far without employees raising the issue about this thing for the launch to be postponed before hands. into reviewers' companies are supposed to have quality assurance tester is an all sorts of things in place to avoid specific situations like this. ♪ >> the people's bank of china has adjusted more than $250 billion of liquidity into markets via a targeted medium from london facilities. it reflects an effort to support an expansion in credit while trying to avoid building up for -- building up further financial bubbles. talk us through this particular operation. i think it is only the second time ever we've had one of these. what is the rationale from the pboc? >> this comes on the heels, of course, of the statement from the politburo, in which the market interpreted signals from

authorities in china that they were going to dial back the stimulus. and seeing that big stockmarket rally. what authorities look like they are doing is try to dial back the expectations of stimulus, going away from the universal liquidity injection to more of a targeted injection. we are going to get those one-year funds offered to banks at 3.15%, and we spoke earlier this morning to mark cranfield, who said this is not the big bazooka of an official rate cut. it should be received by the market well, but the amount is not necessarily a game changer. ♪ >> we are waiting for south korea's finance chief to hold an emergency meeting after the economy shrank the most in a decade. we know the government has been spending a lot in order to support the economy. their budget for 2019 is up 10% from their original members. why is none of this helping?

>> it is certainly something of a wake-up call for the debate of is the global economy picking up and here we have one of the key , bellwethers for the world economy going through a rough patch. it is mostly due to the slump in the technology sector, the export of semiconductors. it is also about the slowdown in china and weaker global demand. there is also slowing domestic business investment. all that combined is weighing on south korea's economic growth. there's a view that perhaps things will pick up in the coming months as china's stimulus helps boost business investment in south korea. this morning, it doesn't indicate they have a bit to go -- this morning, it does indicate they have a bit to go yet. ♪ >> a new ceo. the incoming chief of ab invev will replace bernard heath. they are looking to break out of a product slump since buying -- out of a prolonged slump since buying unilever. >> it came from anheuser-busch, another 3g company.

not a totally unexpected pick. he has been there six years as global chief marketing officer . so, he has been selling beer and now he will try to sell auster -- oscar meyer deli meat, and things that are having a hard time. the question is, will he bring a new strategy? the outgoing ceo has had a hard time with craft, mainly because they haven't had to buy something since unilever fell apart. the real question we will have to look for is whether he impacts on a new strategy at craft times. heinz.raft ♪ >> the new indictment accusing nissan's former boss of redirecting millions from the company to his personal accounts may not only extend his time in detention but threaten to -- but threatens to undermine his argument that he is a victim of corporate intrigue. these charges are quite different from the previous ones. we are talking about real embezzlement here. >> the nature of the allegation is quite different, in that

initially we were talking about situations that could be described as poor judgment or exceeding his authority in some way or taking advantage of his position, whereas this would look much more plainly, like as you say, embezzlement and fraud. >> a japanese court has confirmed carlos ghosn will be granted bail of ¥500 million and could be released today. >> this would be the second time that he has been released on bail. this could be a sign that the prosecution is quite confident now that they have the documents they need to proceed with this case. another interpretation that is equally valid could be that they have given up on trying to compel a confession. ♪ >> it has been a peaceful leadership transition for ukraine after the most popular comedian won the presidency in a landslide victory. the currency has extended to 4%

in three months, the fourth best performance of the world against the dollar. investors are on the lookout for what the nation's policies will following campaigns heavy on style and light on substance. what do we know about this comedian? what do we know about how he plans to govern? >> good morning. you are right, the campaign was very light on substance. what we do know is that he has made it known that he is pro-europe and wants to continue ukraine's cooperation with the imf, but his main message was he wants to stamp out corruption. that was the biggest issue for ukrainians in this election. in terms of policy details, policy specifics, we don't know much, and we will be waiting with interest to find out about his exact plans as he builds out his team and as he makes it known how he wants to govern. ♪ >> u.s. economic growth accelerated more than expected

in the first quarter. it was a big boost from inventories and trade that offset the slowdown in consumer spending. are we taking from the second half? >> we are and we are not. the real question is do we see the consumer come back? consumer spending really fell in the first quarter. in january, there was a feed over from december when everyone snapped their wallets shut. but what wasn't week was the inventories and trade numbers. we saw the biggest change since 2013 from those, because what happened was companies bought stuff ahead of the trade wars and stockpiled it. we should see those subtraction -- subtract from growth in the second quarter, but we will see if the consumer comes back and offsets that. ♪

♪ >> if you come inside the bloomberg, this is the function crv that shows the oil curve. the green line is where we were a month ago. where we are now is the orange line. this is the reading we've seen over the last four weeks. how much higher we expect markets to be in the short term. >> about 30,000 functions are on the bloomberg. we love sharing our favorites on bloomberg television. maybe they will become your favorites. here's another function you will find useful. it leads you to our quick takes, where you can get important context and fast insight into timely topics. here's a quick take from this week. ♪ >> at its worst, beijing's air quality looks like this. in 2013, the air quality was deemed unhealthy or hazardous for over half the year, peaking

in beijing at 35 times the world health organization's recommended limits. it was so bad that the premier declared a war on pollution at china's annual high-profile national people's congress. five years later, in march 2019, as the premier again opened the mpc meetings, the smog outside was still 10 times worse than what the who defines as healthy. even as china cracks down on pollution like never before, the country remains one of the world's worst polluters. this is your bloomberg quick take on china's smog. china overtook the u.s. as the world's biggest source of greenhouse gases in 2006, helping put the globe on a path to miss united nations targets aimed at stemming the rise in the earth's temperature. >> the cheap power from coal, and cheap factory production powered by coal, has helped

china turn into this economic giant that has helped produce cheap goods for the rest of the world and help drive the world 's economy. so when the sense, chinese people are paying a tax and breathing this bad air for the benefit of consumers all over the world. >> the who estimates more than one million chinese die from -- died from study puts the >> the who estimates more than one million chinese died from dirty air in 2016. another study puts the tally even higher, at 4000 deaths per day. pollution is said to have been the main cause of social unrest in recent years, with social media helping to amplify complaints. on china's twitter like online platform, people blame factories for polluting the air, in the -- and the government for not doing enough. in february, 2015, a chinese investor and journalist publish ed a self-funded documentary about the country's air pollution problem. more than 100 million people

watched under the dome before it was banned from chinese video websites six days after its release. shortly after, president xi jinping promised to punish environmental polluters. the government spent billions tightening environmental regulations, scrapping coal-fired power plants, and switching millions of homes and businesses from coal to natural gas. >> the regulations and policies have worked. the u.s. state department monitors the air around the beijing embassy, and recordings show 2018 was the lowest level in a decade, in the winter of 2017 was one of the best as far as air quality goes. it is not perfect, but it is much better than the 2013 pollution problem. >> china is now the world's biggest investor in green energy. it spent over $100 billion in 2018, which was 56% more than the u.s. initiatives have included

supporting the electric vehicle industry by providing subsidies for ev buyers, and helping build out infrastructure that allows electric cars to drive in charge -- and charge around cities. >> ev sales are huge in china, it's the biggest market in the world for electric vehicles. it is not just cars. electric buses are huge deal in china. >> china is betting big on solar energy as well. in 2019, over a third of the world's solar panels are estimated to be installed in china. but the war on pollution promises to be a long one. for decades -- 4 decades of breakneck economic growth has turned china into the world's biggest carbon emitter, and it is still going to depend on coal for years to come. ♪ >> 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 this week's "bloomberg best." thanks for watching. this is bloomberg. ♪

♪ carol: welcome to "bloomberg businessweek." i'm carol massar. we are inside the magazine's headquarters in new york. coming up, the crisis fiat faces now that it has lost its indispensable leader in the late sergio marchionne. can mario batali's restaurant empire survive without him? on the cover, how generations z is changing online retail. this