>> coming up on bloomberg best, the stories that shaped the weekend business around the world. tensions between the u.s. and iran rise. market struggle to separate signal from noise. >> tweets are one, actions or another. >> we are not talking about this -- that tensions have gone away. >> investors seem to be very optimistic. >> the latest u.s. jobs report. >> this does not in any way change any expectations about economic prospects or fed policy. >> carlos ghosn pulls off a escape from japan.

he speaks out. >> i was a hostage. >> he is very keen to clear his name. >> party on, elon. a milestone of its push into china. >> huawei with another challenging year under u.s. sanctions. >> if restrictions get worse we have a plan b. >> alan greenspan says the only way to curb deficits is to pay her back benefits. >> we are trying to spend more than we have. >> that's all ahead on bloomberg best. ♪ >> hello and welcome. this is bloomberg best, your weekly review of the most important business news analysis and interviews.

let's start with a day by day look at the top headlines. we began with markets reeling from a geopolitical shock, the in iraqack and -- that military officials. killed a top iranian military officials. ♪ >> the fallout of a top iranian military commander is widening. lawmakers in iraq have voted to expel american troops. iran says it will no longer abide by the nuclear deal reached with major powers in 2015. >> president trump threatening iran with major retaliations if they do anything. where are we right now? >> we are hearing reprisal talk on both sides. we are hearing from a rock. -- iraq the parliament voted , that they do not want u.s. troops in iraq. this is the death knell for the nuclear accord. what happens in terms of any retaliation from iran? >> oil hit $70 a barrel.

the state department warned of heightened risk of missile attacks near military bases and energy facilities in saudi arabia. >> this will surely urge the iranians on to do something. markets are simply saying that we don't know yet what the iranians will do. we don't know what in fact the u.s. president will do. tweets are one thing. actions are another. ♪ >> the resilience in the market we are seeing is pretty striking, i think. it looked like we were going to get some continuation of the selloff. here we are going out at the highest of the day. >> markets are still complacent. markets are reacting as you just described, as if this is a nonsequential, longer-term problem. we can speculate about what the geopolitical risks are. how this will play out remains to be revealed. ♪

>> tensions continue to climb between the u.s. and iran after the killing of a general as the pentagon has employed additional troops to the middle east and the u.s. has denied that it is exiting neighboring iraq. >> there is a three ship amphibious group that is moving into the persian gulf. it was in the mediterranean. there were hundreds of thousands of iranians who are out in the streets, protesting and marking the end of the life of the general. the threat on iran is still operative. iran's promises to retaliate are still operative. president trump's threat to sanction iraq is still operative. >> the general's funeral is postponed after dozens of mourners were killed in a stampede as iran gave notice that it was expecting retaliation. the head of the national

security council said, even if the weakest of these scenarios gains consensus, the implementation could be a historic nightmare for americans. >> this is an incredibly fluid situation. it is one that is ultimately up to iran. if they continue to strike, the u.s. would return in that action. mike pompeo speaking at a briefing earlier today at the state department was incredibly clear that the u.s. would continue to strike and act in force should tehran continue its expansionary foreign policy. that is developed as a nonstarter for president trump and his administration. ♪ >> iran launching revenge attacks for the killing of its top general with missile strikes on bases in iraq that house u.s. troops. the news is jolting the markets. >> what do we know so far about iran's actions? what does it show us? >> there was a series of rocket

attacks on these two u.s. iraqi bases. they came from iran. they have claimed responsibility. the islamic revolutionary guard corps claimed responsibly quickly. the question for the u.s. is whether there has been loss of life. >> so far, the u.s. reaction has been muted. president trump said all is well. basically, saying, all is good. we are looking at a response from the iranians where the foreign minister kind of signaled that there might actually be a de-escalation. they already responded to the u.s. in a proportionate way. he wanted to show that this was in many ways consistent with international law. >> equities rebounding after falling 2% overnight after a u.s. official said there were no american casualties. >> iran appears to be standing

down which is a good thing for all parties concerned and a very good thing for the world. >> there is a pause for a diplomatic opening. there's a pause intentions. -- there is a pause in tensions. we are not talking about tensions going away. they are not going out more today than they were yesterday. bonds are not falling from the sky. at this point coming you take that as progress. >> we continue to move higher even as we climb a wall of worry. our people hedging in any way -- are people hedging in any way for possible pickups here? >> market pricing is as if everything that happened since friday morning never happened. stocks hitting highs, oil giving back all their games and then some. we see gold turning down. investors seem to be very optimistic. they are not worried. ♪ >> investors keeping a careful lie on boeing today after a deadly crash of a 737 jet outbound from iran to ukraine.

the aircraft went down after takeoff carrying 167 passengers. according to the authorities, everybody on board died. easy to point at mechanical failure. questions have to be asked about whether or not this was actually brought down by possibly a bomb or missile or something else. >> the timing has led to huge speculation about the cause. six hours after those missile strikes, speculation that it may have been tehran's own air defense system that caused this. also perhaps that a bomb might have been involved. a few hours later, we have the iranian authorities come out to say, no, this appears to have been a technical issue. >> u.s. officials see a missile strike as the likely cause of that plane crash in iran.

>> on the night that this plane went down for whatever reason, that was some of the most heavily watched airspace anywhere in the world given the attack and the u.s. technology to detect it. it would be an enormous coincidence if on the night of a strike like that, a plane happened to go down for mechanical failure. all we know is that a lot of u.s. officials think that a missile is a more likely explanation for what happened. >> we don't know what happened here. if it does turn out to be some sort of mistaken attack or retaliation by iran, that would certainly be -- put pressure on tehran. all the governments representing the people on board and others will certainly have some very serious questions for the iranian government. >> given all that has happened this week, we still have the dow, the snp, and the nasdaq hitting record highs.

nothing really seems to be able to take the market down. >> it is genuinely impressive. these are big moves. 0.5% everyday. you are starting to have a big year on our hands. >> the prime minister of the u.k., canada, and australia have said the ukrainian passenger plane that crashed near tehran this week was probably brought down by an iranian missile. iran's government denies this. >> our civil aviation personnel sit side-by-side. it is impossible for such a thing to happen. >> iran does not have a reason for this crash on wednesday. we have every government trying to step back from a conflict but at the same time, you have this argument brewing about just what happened to that airplane. ♪ >> we are a few seconds away from the jobs report for december. it is expected to add 150,000 jobs while unemployment stays steady. which growth holds that 3.1%.

>> the jobs report for december, 140 5000 jobs created. earnings, a bit of a worry. up a 10th during the month of december. for all of 2019 that leaves the gain at 2.9%. that is down from the 2018 3.3%. >> my bottom line is that this does not in any way change any expectations about economic prospects or fed policy. we are now where we were before the employment report in terms of those expectations. >> the unemployment rate is 3.5%. it remains at a 51 year low. that is a remarkable number with no inflation. i really think this is a strong report. the huge increase in the stock market, i have to believe, is a signal of improving confidence

among consumers and businesses. i think it is pointing towards even faster growth in the next year. ♪ >> still ahead as we review the week on bloomberg best, and exclusive conversation with alan greenspan. bill dudley has a prescription for what has been ailing the repo market. more of the week's top headlines. china sends a signal to protesters with a choice of its new liaison to hong kong. guy istime of the last over, that is the message they are sending out stability, a . stability, a stern new approach. ♪ >> this is bloomberg. ♪

♪ >> this is bloomberg best. let's continue our global tour of the week's top stories with more developments in the extraordinary journey of the world's most famous fugitive.

former head of nissan and renault carlos ghosn. on verging on carlos ghosn. his movie like escape to lebanon. what new information do we have? >> it was an interesting mix of simple execution and complex planning. he left his house by foot. he boarded public transport, a bullet train. it took him to osaka. that's really where the more complex, elaborate part of the plan kicked in. there was a private jet waiting for him. he was put into a box that had holes drilled in the bottom and transported onto the plane. he had a pair of experts waiting for him. one was an ex-military from the u.s.. another from lebanon. they knew a thing or two about getting people out of tricky situations.

really, an interesting mix of very simple and very complex executed together. >> two weeks after becoming the world's most famous fugitive, carlos ghosn spoke at a news conference about the reason behind his escape from japan. >> i was a hostage of a country that i have served for 17 years. >> he described the decision to leave as one of the hardest of his life. he underscored that he's keen to clear his name. he's open to doing a trial in lebanon, brazil, or france. he is a citizen of all three countries. that is where he stands now. it will be interesting to see what follows. he had the meeting with lebanese prosecutors about that interval interpol red- notice out on him. >> japan's justice and minister held two briefings, extra

narrowly unusual for the country. >> no matter what nationality you are from, you should respect the law of the country where you work. >> japan is in a box. there is no way they can settle or back down. ghosn is an internationally respected executive. for him to unload the way he did on the japanese regulatory system as well as the management he left in place at nissan, this is a very painful moment for them. the fact that there were these press conferences from the japanese head prosecutor is evidence of how painful this is and how necessary it is for them to counter everything he says. ♪ >> beijing has named a party stalwart with no experience in hong kong as its new representative. signaling its intention to restore law and order after seven months of social unrest. what sort of signal is beijing's sending with this new appointment? >> i think they are saying it is the time, the time of the last guy is over. he allowed the chaos to continue for seven months. they are sending a message that

there is a new set of marching orders in town. the new liaison chief came out and met with reporters briefly to give a statement and left. he was convinced that he would be able to help restore civility to the city. that's the message they are sending out. stability, a stern new approach. ♪ >> gold surging. bullion hitting a six year as tensions in the middle east drive investors to seek haven assets. the yellow metal approaching $1600 an ounce. goldman sachs says the commodity has more room to run. what is the logic? >> it is what we have seen played out in the markets on an entry day level today. gold prices coming back a little bit. oil prices come back more significantly. the reason is what goldman spelled out. this is a fear-based trade.

in the meantime, we don't see much fundamental impact happening. there is no risk to supply in the markets. oil is less of a lucrative trade than gold. >> china announcing the vice premier will travel to washington to sign a first fees -- the first phase of a deal with the united states. the events of the past couple of days have not deterred china from that january 15 date that we heard before for a signing ceremony. >> absolutely. this is the first time we've heard the chinese confirm that the vice premier will be coming to washington. the real theme since the deal was announced in october has been skepticism about exactly what's in the deal. part of that has been fed by a lot of silence from the chinese side. now we know. the vice premier and a

delegation of senior officials including the pboc governor are coming over. they will be signing that next wednesday in the white house. in the white house we are told to expect a big crowd of business leaders and others. there's a bit of a party that the white house wants to throw for this. ♪ >> boris johnson has set out her -- setting out their rival redlines for a post-brexit -- speaking in london, the commission president says it's not a level playing field. there cannot be full access to europe us -- europe's single market. the paper minister insists that the future partnership must not -- >> they are very far apart. perhaps that is not a surprise. i have to say, this meeting was described as being constructive. the tone of it was very polite. she had nice words to say to the united kingdom. she was crystal clear on the thing that matters the most. the trade deal.

she says the trade deal that boris johnson wants is simply not going to happen. it's impossible. there is no time to do this. the tension of the story has more to do with the timing than the actual content. they don't agree whether they can get this done in one year. boris johnson is crystal clear. he doesn't want to ask for more time when it comes to a transition. ♪ >> much of australia is bracing to get more record hot weather this weekend. bushfires continue to burn out of control. after a couple of days of reprieve, we are seeing the fighters worsen again. >> it is dry, windy, hot. temperatures are expected to reach above 100 degrees fair in -- fahrenheit in some places as well. this has fire authorities quite nervous along the fire front that stretches thousands of

kilometers as fires will likely push more into dry land. 26 people have died. more than 2000 homes have been lost. millions of animals have perished. 28 million acres have been burnt. the scale of this is unprecedented. ♪ >> the u.s. is now putting sanctions on 17 entities, mainly in the steel industry. senior iranian officials are to be sanctioned including the secretary of the supreme national council. cutting off billions of dollars in the words of the treasury secretary -- >> crippling sanctions just issued by the trump administration. additional sanctions on anyone trading or owning sectors in the iranian economy. construction, metals. eight senior iranian officials. secretary pompeo saying this is part of denying the regime the resources to continue to sponsor terrorism.

♪

♪ >> you are watching bloomberg best. bloomberg's tom keene's sat down in washington for an exclusive conversation with former federal reserve chairman alan greenspan. they discussed a range of economic issues including the u.s. welfare and social security system. greenspan insists that benefits reform is essential. ♪ >> we are already turning a corner. we now start to make major -- unless we now start to make major changes our productivity growth rate will slow down.

below where it is now which is 1% a year. we are trying to spend more than we have. we made the decision that we will spend only what they have. it took 500% interest rate. >> i want to talk about the underlying series at the moment. you don't talk about monetary policy per se. you have been good about that. i must ask a fiscal question. we have a heritage of a generation that have told us that someday there will be trillion dollar deficits. they are upon us right now. what is the greenspan prescription to help our grandchildren and your great-grandchildren with this conundrum? >> first is to address the

source of the problem. the source of the problem is that we have a defined-benefit program for social security. for pretty much everything else. what we need to do is go to a a defined contribution program. the 401k is all we have. that will put a damper on our major problem. if we can resolve that, we have a good shot at resolving other issues. ♪ >> coming up, more discussion of financial reform. former new york fed president bill dudley presents a plan for overhaul. an exclusive conversation with hong kong's financial secretary. he believes he can reverse the city's economic downturn. >> in 2020, we will continue to spend boldly.

>> this is bloomberg. ♪

sebastian: welcome back to "bloomberg best." i'm sebastian salek. this week, the global invocations of the u.s. conflict with iran was apparent in financial markets and beyond. on monday, tom keene and francine lacqua spoke with the -- about what might play out after a u.s. drone strike killed one of iran's top military commanders. tom: where's the strategy? you go right in this. there needs to be a recapitulation, a reinvigoration, of an american strategy on the broader middle east. is it out there somewhere? >> oh, no. but i do think there is more of a pivot from the middle east.

i do believe that -- tom: >> can we afford to leave the middle east? >> we can afford to leave more than our allies, including in europe and in the middle east. i mean, when the saudis were hit by iran, they were so stunned that the united states didn't do anything to back them up, they started negotiating with the iranians directly. that was the interesting takeaway, that iran ended up in slightly stronger geopolitical position, even if there economy takes a major hit from the u.s. the middle east is clearly going to be a more unstable place going forward. how much of that is going to affect the global marketplace is likely to be reduced. why? because the u.s. is producing much more energy. tom: francine? francine: but ian, if the u.n. could afford to leave the middle east, would russia or china not take its place? -- thet's be clear russians and the chinese have

allies in the middle east. in the case of the chinese, these are not military interests. they're largely economic and commercial interests in alignment. so the chinese perspective, in reaction to the americans on iran, has been let's calm down. iran. -- we'll work with you, iran. but we'll work with you, saudi arabia, uae. the russians actually want chaos. the chinese want stability. the russians are a more dangerous player. ♪ sebastian: concern over the u.s. relationship with china took a backseat, with the focus shifting to the middle east. but bloomberg television did speak with the huawei vice president of risk management at the consumer electronics show in las vegas. despite being placed on the blacklist by president trump, the chinese company managed an 18% increase in sales. still, banks know these numbers won't be easy to sustain in the coming year. >> i think 2020 is definitely going to be a challenge for us. we will continue to work on

diversifying our supply chain. we have had risk management for many, many years now. the way we survived in 2019 was partially due to that and the efforts of our suppliers and other vendors across the globe, working with us to fulfill some of the gaps we had. >> where do you see opportunities, then, given the political faculties are not likely to be resolved? timothy: obviously, we're going to continue to drive this in 2020. we have various different plans in place to address and mitigate the supply chain challenges that we've had this year in 2019. obviously, we're going to continue those in 2020 as we move forward. we're hoping that restrictions don't get worse, but if they do, we do have plan b for a variety of different applications across our portfolio. and we're expecting the

president and chinese president xi jinping to sign the phase one trade deal january 15. it's sort of symbolic to this detente we've seen between the superpowers. does that make your business easier? do you expect those risks and tensions arising from trade to potentially ebb in 2020? timothy: well, huawei has been caught somewhat in the middle of this discussion over a period of time. it's not a place we want to be, but, unfortunately, it's a place we've been pushed to be in. we hope that continuing negotiations and discussions will resolve some of the tensions between the u.s. and huawei will be able to benefit and be able to move forward with the resolution of some of those issues. sebastian: meanwhile, civil unrest continues to cloud hong kong's forecast. this week, bloomberg's yvonne man spoke with hong kong's financial secretary paul chan. he thinks a recovery is possible in 2020 and says the government is prepared for public spending. ♪ paul: lately, the violence level

seems to have quieted down quite a bit. but we still need to observe a little bit longer to ascertain the likely development in 2020. so we maintain a very, very cautious view about this year's economic growth. yvonne: would you say 2020 is the year for recovery for hong kong? or do you think we could stay in a recession for this year? paul: i think very much dependent on domestic, civil unrest. if we can stop the violence, restore law and order, people will be more willing and feeling more safe to come out, to spend money. foreign investors has confidence in us. there are some tourists coming back. foreign investors increasing their investments, coming here for conference, for business. then, things can bounce back very quickly. yvonne: what can we expect out

of the budget this year? will you be spending more? paul: well, the guiding principle during economic recession, in hong kong's case, is for the government to continue various sort of services, and also, to a certain extent, increase public spending in order to sustain the economy. and given the large amount of fiscal surplus that we have accumulated over the years, i do think we have the capability, financial resources, to help us tide through with this recession. yvonne: the government has rolled out some relief measures, up to about $3 billion. some of the economists we talked to said it's not enough. it won't make a dent to reverse this slowdown. what else will you be targeting this time around? and why isn't the government doing more? paul: so far, we have launched four rounds of measures. altogether, the amount comes to about $25 billion.

together, with the measures we announced in the last budget, which was in the order of about $45 billion, these two together can help our economy by about 2%. going forward, in 2020, we will continue to help those. sebastian: this week, in a column for bloomberg opinion, former new york fed president bill dudley proposed an overhaul of the monetary policy toolkit. he explained his arguments on bloomberg "daybreak americas" in conversation with alix steel. >> in the old regime, we had very little reserves in the system, and the fed had to intervene in a high basis to basically keep the federal funds rate at its target. we're in a new regime now where the fed pays interest and that means there's lots of reserves. it's a better regime, but the fed can make it better.

one thing they can do is establish a standing facility to make sure there's no upward pressure on repo rates, if there's some sort of shock to the system. the second thing they can do is communicate clearly about why the new regime is better. it's easier to operate. it makes the payment system work better. and, most importantly, it's better from a financial stability perspective, because there's no conflict from the fed offering an open-ended backstop versus its control of monetary policy. under the old regime, if the fed added a lot of reserves to the system, it risks losing control of the federal funds rate. under the new regime, paying interest on reserves, you don't have that problem. markett feels like participants are most worried about the repo market. risk sentiment picks up. that leaves the fed having to buy a lot more treasuries or bank regulations to be rolled back in terms of what they're required to hold in balance sheets. what do you say to trader's fear on this? bill: i think the fear is

overwrought. i think the problem is a small one, not a big one, and the fed reserve has addressed most of it just by adding reserves in the system, by buying treasury bills, engaging in open market operation. the fed can make the system even stronger by setting up an overnight standing repo facility, which would be available to a wide array of counterparties. if there were upper pressure on the repo rates, people can go to the fed for cash against their securities, and that would basically make the system even stronger. ♪

sebastian: this is "bloomberg best," and i'm sebastian salek. let's resume our round up of the financeop business and

stories. tesla had an event at its new factory, handing over its first made in china model 3 sedan to public buyers. at least for a moment, elon musk turned the proceedings into a dance party. ♪ matt: i like the way he dances. elon musk's moment of truth has arrived. he came out celebrating. first chinese its made cars to the general public today. the model 3 sedans were made in shanghai, the carmaker's first factory outside the u.s. aside from the dancing, what else have we learned from elon musk? >> what's notable is that the high-level government officials were front and center at the ceremony. we saw the mayor of shanghai took the stage to thank tesla for helping the economic growth. they encouraged people to bring more models to china. elon musk took the stage, starting off of a script, thanking the chinese government, saying that factory could not have been built without support

from all levels of government. and he broke some news today, announcing the model y program in china. he eventually thinks the model y sales will outstrip sales of all other models as consumers shift for demand of suv's over sedans. and i want to highlight again this part about government officials. because this factory really couldn't have been completed without that government support. this place went from a muddy part of land to a factory assembling more than 1000 cars in just about a year, which is really quite unprecedented. matt: remember elon musk's moonshot pay package? well, it doesn't seem as crazy as it used to be. tesla's recent stock surge is putting its ceo closer to its first payout in what is an unprecedented compensation plan. what was it, and what is he close to getting here? >> shareholders overwhelmingly approved this sort of otherworldly pay package in march, 2018, and at the time,

tesla was trading at $3.15 a share. the idea of the company would hit a valuation of $100 billion seemed completely crazy. but shareholders approved it, and fast-forward, here we are, stocks closed today at $88 billion. it's no longer crazy. musk could hit that first payout this year. sebastian: citi is planning to hire 2500 coders this year. this is part of the push to reshape with new technology. the headline story here is 2500 coders being hired at a bank. what are they doing? >> they're looking to hire 2500 coders specifically for this group that houses their investment bank, trading divisions. -- notthinking so much so much at the consumer facing app, but the investment picking side, where automation has been a little bit slower and tech investments have been a little bigger. this is really citi putting its weight behind that. >> goldman sachs wants to

highlight growth in its consumer businesses and get more credit from investors for doing so. so the firm is revamping the way it breaks down results by division. is this just an outward facing restructure of how it presents numbers? what is the goal here? >> it's a very interesting reordering of how they present their earnings. a lot of that stems from frustration inside goldman sachs. stock management -- they think they're not getting the credit they deserve. part of that is on them. they've had this reputation of being a black box when it comes to understanding how the firm makes money. there is a change here. it's not a dramatic reordering. it's really only of interest to people who dive into their earnings quarter after quarter. but for close observers, it does provide new tools to better analyze the bank's performance. >> this billionaire is buying 10% of its global workforce of 900 after its funds

underperformed and lost assets last year. how unusual is this? we do get layoffs most places most years. but about a year ago, they also cut jobs in the low single digit percentage about a year ago. at the end of 2018, we had 1,000 person headcount. last year, about a 900 person headcount. so, another 5% to 10% on top of that, you see the firm drop-down well below 1000 people. so it is a unique story for sure. joe: shares of microchip technology rising in today's session after the company reported third-quarter sales that were stronger than expected, which analysts say reinforces the view a downturn in the chip industry may have bottomed. is this about the long drawdown in that inventory glut? or is there a catalyst in regards to the economics and the business spending aspect of it? >> we have a couple aspects to

it. the inventory play is part of it. one thing about microchips is inventory has bottomed at their distributors in china for quite some time now. now what the ceo said at ces today was that it was more of a demand pull that's been driving to higher sales guidance every quarter, as well as higher sales guidance for the march quarter. >> samsung shares are up 1.8% after posting better than expected operating profit in the fourth quarter. what are your thoughts on the latest results? >> samsung reported stronger profits increase. it's a bit surprising to me, because -- considering that there was conservative views on the recovery. the memory chip asset prices are turned over in the first quarter, thanks to increasing memory demands for mobile clients. and, apart from the chip side, the samsung smartphone business

seems to have a good quarter 10nks to its flagship note and galaxy fold. it's likely to continue this year. samsung is planning to launch more 5g and foldable smartphones. >> i'm looking at shares of macy's. they climbed as much as 5% after ceo jeff jeanette said the retailer's performance is improving following a tough third quarter. macy's will close 29 stores, even after holiday sales fell less than feared. >> the surprise here was that things were expected to be a lot worse. the same-store sales for december and november were down 4.6%. compare that to the third quarter around 3%. it is a surprise to people by not being as bad as expected. it's nothing to laud over, but in the brutal landscape for retail, you have to take what you can get.

department stores have been really hurt by the trend of the consumer defecting online. because if you think about the premise of a department store, you go there to get your pajamas, your mattress, something for the kitchen, all in the same go. where can you do that now more conveniently? vonnie: after 15 years in charge, the ceo of iag is retiring. he cut costs and led the purchase of iberia. what is next for willie walsh? he's well known, well respected in the industry. >> ostensibly, he's retiring. he is only 58, so who knows? if he does, i don't think it will be for want of offers. he's been such a dominant personality in european aviation for so long, seeing off pretty much all comers, perhaps other -- apart from michael o'leary at ryanair. certainly he is one of those big hitters that transformed aviation, outside the u.s., certainly. he is not someone you would really think of as being particularly laid-back and yearning for his pipe and slippers.

so we'll see. but if he did pop up somewhere else, it wouldn't be a huge surprise to me. vonnie: some breaking news now on johnson & johnson. a u.s. government sponsored casting doubts on claims that baby powder boosts the risk of ovarian cancer. >> one of the big issues with these cases, which essentially claimed that talc powder produced by j&j, their claims that this was tainted with asbestos gave women types of cancer, has been attempting to assess what is the scientific evidence for whether or not this happens? and that's really, really hard to do. you try to confirm that sort of thing, you need a massive study that can overlook years and years. it is always a problem with these type of product claims that come in. this study that has come out, published in a very reputable medical journal, "jama," sponsored by the u.s. government, federal and private researchers. it basically says we looked at

250,000 women, found very small differences between the two groups, those that use these baby powder products and those that did not. it's essentially saying there is not a strong link here. this is probably excellent news for j&j in terms of weighing the evidence considered, as we deal with thousands and thousands of cases, heading potentially toward trial. >> designed by clowns and supervised by monkeys -- that's how one boeing employee described the max 737 in newly released memos. it signals growing unease for the jet, grounded since march. how damaging is this for boeing? >> it's difficult to think of anything more damning than these comments. it's a long list of emails released by boeing to the public. and it paints a picture of employees, important senior employees inside the company, people involved in the flight testing and the engineering of these now-grounded max aircraft, who are deeply uneasy about this

aircraft and the way it's designed. boeing obviously saying these are very unfortunate, this is a small group of employees. but it's something that sticks and has sort of stuck with the max story over the past month since this plane has been grounded, which is that boeing rushed the plane to market and didn't use the usual precautions in terms of testing to get this plane out. ♪

vonnie: i am also looking at our wcrx function, because we have some middle east turmoil currencies, which i think are phenomenal and interesting to look at. if you see the year-to-date, which is really only the last few days, gold the highest

perfmer, flowed by silver. and even the yen, traditional safe havens, they haven't been performing as well in this environment. sebastian: there are about 30,000 functions on the bloomberg, and, as you know, we always enjoy showing you our favorites on bloomberg television. maybe they will even become your favorite. here is another one for you. quic .-- it will lead to quick takes, we can get important context. here's a quick take from this week. "chitty chitty bang bang," "blade runner," and "harry potter" all feature something people have been dreaming of for decades -- flying cars. and now autonomous vehicles are being tested, it's natural to ask, are flying cars next? although "jetson"-style family flight is probably decades away, air taxis could be in wide use by 2030. those would be less like a flying car from the movies and

more like a hobbyist's drone that's been enlarged to hold half a dozen people. they're designed to be lighter, quieter, more environmental friendly, and, crucially, less expensive to operate than helicopters. a major difference is that they will run on electricity. and they won't be used like a typical on-demand taxi in the beginning. more like a ferry running a schedule between two points -- from an airport to downtown, for example. as technology, regulation, and popular acceptance advance, air taxis could be operated remotely and, eventually, autonomously, driving down costs. there are more than 70 companies that have projects in development. some are working prototypes. so far, the biggest technological hurdle with air taxis is batteries, which are large, heavy, and don't last long. but thanks to the development of electric cars, battery technology is improving rapidly,

taking us closer and closer to our flying vehicle dreams. of course, there's still a lot of regulatory hurdles. airspace would quickly get crowded and dangerous if just about anyone could become a pilot. in the u.s., the federal aviation administration can take years to certify a new helicopter. the first air taxis could take even longer. regulators will be especially cautious about this. but test flights could start happening soon, and uber elevate hopes to connect major american cities to their suburbs by 2023. in the meantime, though, driverless cars are expected to reduce traffic and take passengers door-to-door, potentially diminishing demand for flying vehicles before they've even taken off. that was just one of the many quick takes you can find on the bloomberg. you can also find them at bloomberg.com, along with all the latest business news and analysis, 24 hours a day. that is all for "bloomberg best"

this week. thank you for watching. i'm sebastian salek. this is bloomberg. ♪

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taylor: i'm taylor riggs, in for emily chang, and this is the "best of bloomberg technology." where we bring you all of our top interviews from this week in tech. coming up, the threats you can see. the u.s. and iran trade military attacks. even if strikes weighing, -- wane, cyber risks remain. plus, hardware, mobility, content, and digital assistants.