and minister mario draghi are seeking solutions on migration but need support from turkey. >> we touched upon some themes that will be discussed at the eu summit, particularly migration, and on this we will work together and help each other. this is the direction the two governments are working towards. >> five years ago, the european union was flooded by refugees from war-torn areas including some african nations and syria. jay powell is set to speak before a house subcommittee. chairman powell says inflation has picked up but should move back towards the 2% target.

with pandemic restrictions being lifted across the country, companies are taking different restrictions -- different steps. companies like goldman sachs are requiring all vaccinated employees to be back at their desks this fall wears apple and others are preparing a hybrid work from home strategy. data centers temporarily close giving workers a much needed break from covid-19 burnout. global news, 24 hours a day on air, on bloomberg quicktake, powered by more than 2700 journalists and analysts in more than 120 countries. i am mark crumpton. this is a bloomberg. it >> -- >> i am mark miller.

new yorkers head to the polls. we will discuss what the election means for the big apple's real estate market. plus we speak to the ceo of one of the world's largest institutional investors for their outlook on inflation and the markets. and we will discuss the outlook for specs as play studios go public via a reverse merger. they join us later this hour to talk more about this transaction. let's take first a quick look at what is going on in the markets. the s&p 500 is up .3% as the

u.s. 10 year is pushing the yield down. the bloomberg dollar index is very little changed and newark crude is down $.38 a barrel. i did see bitcoin just move higher so we will continue to follow cryptocurrencies throughout the hour. month after lucked out, six of the world's key financial centers are struck to return to work. from new york to hong kong, the picture differs wildly. we are joined with a look at people going back to the office, or are they? >> looking broadly, visits to the workplace are 50% below pre-pandemic levels. that is according to google data tracking the locations of its users.

whether scores are reopening or transports reopening, a lot of factors are there. but if we look at the lowest vaccinated cities on our list, they are frankfurt and hong kong. that means that just 25% of the german population is fully vaccinated. in hong kong, we actually have the opposite problem. the majority of workers are actually at their desks the question is how long they will be able to stay there. we will also be able to make workers take the vaccine. there is a lot of mistrust despite the vaccine being so regularly available. it is so interesting that daily covid cases are hovering around that level and yet it is the most vaccinated city within that list. let's take a look at new york. we expect you would have a lot of those restrictions lifted late may and that would pave the

way for workers. we did have the likes of goldman sachs. jp morgan has some and dishes -- ambitious plans. office vacancies are still about 62% above pre-pandemic levels and also post 9/11 text. these financial hubs want to get people back into the cities, they wanted for the local economies as well but it's not going to be such an easy ride. david: a reminder that we do have new york elections in november. right now, we want to head over to the qatar economic forum powered by day to of the summit focus on sustainable worlds,

discussing powering sustainability. let's listen in. >> hello, everyone. i'm kailey leinz from bloomberg television in new york and i am joined by the chairman and ceo of honeywell. we will be talking about sustainability. i want to begin with you. you are one of the largest utilities in the world. you have operations on four different continents and you are really a mover in investing in clean energy and you want to double that capacity by 2015. when you look at the pipeline, where is the greatest opportunity to do so? is it wind, hydro, solar?

>> for years, we have decided to move. we closed our coal power plant and we invested heavily in renewables. today, we are one of the largest producers of renewables worldwide and the opportunity now is in sectors. we are already focused and are in operation. united states, there is a huge opportunity. we have been in germany, have been in france. we have already been there for 20 years and we continue. if we continue investing heavily in that one, and in solar as well.

we are already investing very much on that one. renewables is historic and what we have been doing for 100 years we plan to continue. >> and darius, honeywell is also making some exhibit begins investments. have your spending is towards those helping customers be better. of course, this customers span a variety of industries from aerospace to health care. which industry is difficult to make cleaner and more efficient? >> they all have opportunities the one that has undergone the greatest level of transformation is the energy industry.

for many customers worldwide, we are really positioning our offering portfolio to help those companies transform from who they are today to they will be 10 and 20 years from now. the good news now is some of those technologies already exist . but now we are making further investments to make the energy footprint the less carbon intensive and the renewables of hydrogen and other sources of energy and we could not be more thrilled to participate in this transformation. >> and what to some of those technologies look like? >> they range. carbon capture, which will help in transition, plastic recyclability, something else we

are interested in, moving plastics away from single use. those are just examples of some of the things. but maybe what is being relevant as we have, with a concept called the refinery of the future that really converts our refining footprint making it much more sustainable, much more eco-friendly. >> this brings me to a question we wanted to pose for our audience. who is taking a leading role when it comes to innovation? corporate, government, or

entrepreneurs? we should be able to pull live data. i wonder what is your take on this. too much of the burden on governments? >> i think you know the green deal has already been approved. they are intending to join forces of public, private, and corporate to work together on this one. i think it is not a question, we will all need to make something if we want to achieve what the work is demanding. at this moment, the americans have already decided to rejoin

the climate agreement and they are already accelerating this transition. in the case of britain, the situation is similar with the zero targets as well. everybody achieving their best will have to be achieved. david: ceos speaking with our own kailey leinz at the qatar economic forum. you can continue listening if you like on your terminal. lago is the best place to check a all of our coverage. -- tv is the best place to check out all of our coverage.

we will see what primaries mean for new york real estate. that's next, this is bloomberg.

matt: new yorkers had to the polls today to choose democratic and republican mayoral candidates. what will the next mayor mean for the future of the city's real estate? let's bring in our guest. i'm looking for a place in new york, i am looking to move back to the tri-state area, and every

time i talk to somebody in the area, there is a lot of crime all of a sudden. is it enough that people are noticing and making decisions based on that? >> it's definitely not any crime has picked up for sure in the city and i think that's why the mayor's race is so important. we need a change in the city and we want someone who is going to put safety first and also be able to unify a very divided city. we want our communities to be heard, we want to make sure we are working with legislators in albany to make sure we have responsible tax policy to make sure we don't send companies to florida and to deter people from wanting to raise families here. there is a lot on the ballot and

everyone needs to show up and vote. if you vote, you can complain with integrity, if you can't vote, you should not say a word. matt: we hear about the possibility of moving to florida for executives and higher earners who face the cap on their salt deduction and are also looking at places that are friendlier in terms of tax and regulation. this actually happening? do you see high network individuals leaving? what i see in real estate and westchester are still skyhigh. >> even before the pandemic, people were fleeing the city to go to lower tax brackets in places like florida so that was definitely happening pre-pandemic and then during the pandemic, people left the city

them -- then. and then because of all of those things, plus crime has picked up a bit, and there is still agree just tax policy being proposed, a lot of people are saying why am i going to pay these taxes? i'm going to move to a place where it is lower and i can save money so that is a threat. you need to get moderate taxes in place. that is what is the real threat today. we have got to not deter things like amazon, which was such a shame that we lost that. that was thousands of jobs for our city. moving from manhattan and brooklyn out to long island.

we are seeing a lot of come into the city is back. we are doing well, people are investing, the market is fluid, and i believe the pandemic served as a bit of a catalyst to correct some of the overpricing. people are back but i cannot stress the importance of the mayor's race and controllers race. 30 odd city council seats. these things are so important and so i hope people will go out. the polls are open until 9:00. i care so much about our city and so i just hope people will go out there and vote. matt: are there candidates on both sides who you think are best positioned to drawback in not only big employers like

amazon but put police back on the streets and fight crime? >> there are a lot of great candidates supporting safety first, responsible tech policy, and there are a lot of others. and if we continue on the left, i think the city will continue in a downward spiral. i think the people pay attention to what is destined who is running, who endorsed them, and then vote with your heart. matt: you are not running, are you? >> i got to raise, i'm not running. -- kids to raise, i'm not running. but i'm emotionally attached to the city. i want people to come in and go see hamilton and see the museums

and love the culture and language. i have a romance with the city, the best city in the world and i just want it to flourish. matt: in terms of residential, we have been seeing a lot more people who want condos. i guess it's an easier choice if you want independence and freedom. do you expect that to continue? >> the beauty of a condominium, the housing stock of what you can buy, roughly 70% are cooperatives and condos give you flexibility. you have to submit a package, but it is not as onerous. . you can usually rent a little more freely. people prefer that sometimes if they are not here full-time but co-ops are a great part of our city as well and they protect you from some of the financial

challenges we've had because they were so stringent for applying to be in their corporation. matt: great to spend some time with you. beth friedman talking to us about the real estate market and the may oriole primaries -- and the mayoral primaries. we will have coverage, definitely something you don't want to miss. tune in online and you can even google it. i am matt miller.

matt: time now for our stock of the hour. this online data gatherer is the biggest gainer after silverlake gave it a vote of confidence.

dave wilson is here to look at the gains. >> this is quite the accomplishment first blanche. silverlake has a long history of investing in technology companies and now they are putting $1 billion on the line in the five-year convertible notes. they'll pay interest on three quarters of a percent a year. the stock has not traded above that price since february and is down 31% from that mark since that. silverlake's chairman is joining the board of's blanche -- of splunk as part of the deal and will buy millions of dollars in stock. like many in technology, they are moving towards cloud computing. 39% of their revenue in the first quarter came from the

cloud compared with 25% from all of last year and it is still a process when it comes to the company's outlook, it is clear there is still a ways to go. just about three weeks ago they came out with second quarter projections. the annual revenue rate for the business overall came up short of estimates. clearly having silverlake on board will put you in a better position to help. matt: thanks so much, dave wilson. coming up, we will speak to one of the largest institutional investors in canada. this is bloomberg.

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>> senate democrats are moving ahead with a test vote on a

broad overhaul of u.s. election laws with the aim of getting up a showdown with republicans. republicans plan to block the beta on the legislation with a filibuster that would need 60 votes in the senate to break. today, voters in new york vote on the democratic candidates for mayor. gary barnett tells bloomberg exclusively the city's economic rebound is tied to salesmanship. >> the next mayor has got to get business and people, make them feel welcome, that they will feel hard to make the city great again, but also the right mentality and to welcome the world back to new york city.

>> the winner of the primary almost definitely becomes the next leader of the most populous city in the united states and global financial capital. sales of previous the occupied homes fell, prices continued soaring and industry remained tight. these string of sales declined after sharp gains last fall and through the winter when the pandemic prompted many americans to look for more living space. the talks between iran and the u.s. may extend past august when iran's president assumes office in vienna. the latest round of negotiations ended, the cleric suggesting he would work to revive the landmark 2015 a nuclear accord abandoned by the trump administration.

global news, 24 hours a day on air, on bloomberg quicktake, powered by more than 2700 journalists and analysts in more than 120 countries. this is bloomberg. ♪ >> welcome to bloomberg: markets . matt: welcome. here are our top stories we are following for you around the world. counting you down to powell, jay powell is set to appear before congress in about 30 minutes, expected to discuss the covid crisis. ahead of that testimony, we're going to speak to the ceo of one of the world's largest institutional investors. john graham joins us of canada

pension plan investments. plus, we will bring in the latest on spac's. and, andrew pascal, about the company's reverse merger which starts trading today. amanda: a little mix on the internals but mostly you are seeing not a lot of to on -- not a lot of momentum. everything is moving positive except for rate sensitive utilities. consumer discretionary's are up 1%. you can see the 10 year is still at 1.47. this is a market that is maybe still waiting for a catalyst.

we are also hearing from other fed heads that suggests moves on rate hikes. we are seeing massive volatility as it swings lower and moves lower again at last check. it is uncertainty about the fed and the post-pandemic economic landscape that is top-of-the-line for investors. john graham is with us now. we wait for jay powell and i do wonder where we land on the speak question of is the fed getting it right? the worry the fed and central reserve will get this wrong? >> we believe the fed has a lot

of tools at their disposal and to manage the economy. our view on inflation is consistent with what the market is telling us, with what 30 years telling us. we really don't see a real risk of runaway inflation. it has probably been a bit higher then it has been historically. as an institutional investor, there are tail risks and we have to worry about diversified portfolios. matt: my question is not what is the fed doing? it seems like powell has given them more optionality. why are investors buying the 10 year here and increasing duration as we go into a time where interest rate volatility and be expected to increase?

-- can be expected to increase? >> we will have an interesting next few months. interest rates rising in canada and a lot of pent-up demand. i have always been personally very serious, always looking for opportunities to invest in the series consumer. that could very much in the near term push up inflation and people are looking through that. people need to look through what longer-term could be a more normalized level. amanda: do you worry about valuations, particularly in equity markets?

>>. . it is -- it is. we have tight spreads to look across and see them at pretty high valuations. when we look back at the investment board, we look at the breath of strategies we have, the ability to invest globally, across asset classes, it's going to be a powerful tool going forward and having that portfolio. matt: goldman sachs came out with a note saying there are $5.5 trillion on the sidelines. we have seen a ton of cash park the reverse repo facility, there's a ton of money market funds as well. our new york producer put together a chart showing money

market funds all -- almost off the charts. you can see here up to $4.5 trillion in assets. s&p 500 buybacks are headed down after peaking around 2018 or 2019. now we're getting to the lowest levels you have seat in almost a decade. a majority of that is coming from corporate holders. do you think buybacks could drive markets higher? >> possibly. that something where i have not met the report -- not read the report and something without a well-founded view on. there has been a lot of cash sitting on the sidelines for years and every time we see a pullback in the market, it is

remarkable how agile capital could be to move into that dislocation and those opportunities. the speed at which that capital came into the market and the speed at which that capital stabilize the credit market is pretty remarkable. >> i know you have said he will bets on the u.s. consumer. what are some of the trends you hope to invest in? >> we will continue to dole out global capabilities and continue to look at emerging markets but continuing to look at tapping into sources of global growth. we are a generational investor and we really are looking at the growing economy around the world

and will continue to build out capabilities and spend quite a bit of time in emerging markets. matt: thanks very much, great having you with us. john graham, talking to amanda and myself on a day when a lot of people have pointed out this change in the fed stance. if it's going to do anything, it will increase -- it will increase volatility. coming up, mgm backed play studios goes public in a billion-dollar merger. this is bloomberg.

this is matt: bloomberg: markets . the spac frenzy has faded. february was the peak but nearly $60 billion in announcements but obviously we have seen it tail off considerably. the question is, how does this now go forward? investors have stepped in and given these companies or roots their money. how does it work out? amanda: it makes perfect sense you might see the circular -- the circularity of that as people put money to work. what is clear it seems to me is this is a form of investment

strategy that is not going away regardless to almost what happens. matt: let's turn to one particular deal to talk about the phenomenon and to focus in on this case. this operator is now trading on the ticker after a 1.1 billion dollars reverse merger. andrew pascal will talk about why we chose this model and what it is going to allow them to do. let me ask you first, why a spac? what drew you to this as opposed to other methods of traditional funding, which you clearly have

access to? >> as you highlighted, going public to us meant to us meant getting the currencies that we need to accelerate our growth. hiring people that we think are a great complement to our own. it is very vibrant market and industry. as we look to how we are going to achieve some of the liquidity and resources to continue to accelerate our growth, we look at the spac vehicles. the fact that we were able to spend more time with our investors talking about the subtleties of our business and how it is going to evolve, i felt like it just afforded us more opportunity. amanda: obviously this is the

kind. the typical ipo would be another strategy would have thought of. >> i would say that not all spac's are built the same. the investment strategies a hope and a prayer and that's not going to work out well. in our case, we are very clear we would find a company that we do well and be could add value to and that could grow rapidly. within months of when we went ipo, we negotiated with andrew. in our sense, we can find company in a huge addressable market with no debt, with great

internal growth and an m&a strategy that will accelerate growth even further and a very attractive valuation with a great management team. you have got to move. matt: and locked out, i confess to doing a lot of gaining. i do it anyway but it was turbocharged. my wife is hoping that tales -- that tapers off as we go outside. what are you looking for for your business? >> healthy at a growth as the result of the onset of covid. we have been able to sustain that growth and carry that into this year. we have a unique proposition as part of our model. we let people download and play our games for free and as they do, they accumulate loyalty

currency they can redeem for real-world stuff. now that everyone is getting reengaged with the world and travel and enjoying leisure activities, we are finding they are engaging more deeply as a result. so we are more optimistic about our capacity to grow our or business and put the resources of the proceeds to work and go find some other products and games and companies that we can integrate into this platform. amanda: this business would have done well during the pandemic. businesses suffered. a lot of people want to know what is on your mind in terms of any potential business ideas and developments in the resort and casino. is there anything on the go for you? >> las vegas is booming right

now, especially on the weekends. live entertainment is coming back. i am a chair of cirque du soleil and their first show starts on thursday and live entertainment is going to be carried the day in 2022. i am focused on companies that will reengage with consumers. i am a big fan of mgm, still, and the resort quarter of year. i think you will see continued intersection between digital entertainment like angers company and live entertainment in the brick-and-mortar space and i'm really interested in the sports betting industries as a result of that and that's where i will be focusing some of my time working with andrew at play studios. amanda: it is great to have both of you here for this. obviously lots of investor interest.

we do await fed chair jay powell at 2 p.m.. his testimony will of course get a lot of attention. a preview of what we are watching, after this.

amanda:amanda: this is bloomberg: markets. we await jay powell. for our preview, the managing editor of bloomberg's u.s. economic coverage. what are you closely listening for when jay powell speaks? >> we are closely listening for his comments on inflation, whether or not it is transitory or going to be more lasting and

permanent is really the hottest debate out there and the fed certainly showed last week that it is turning its attention in a more heightened way to it and that will be one of the key things we are focused on today. matt: in terms of all of the liquidity that the fed has helped put out there in the fiscal stimulus that we have see , is this going to be a line of questioning from congress? amanda: the other thing that will cross into that space will also be the labor market. i think we are inspecting a number of representatives to ask about the views on the labor market because that ties closely to where representatives feel the economy is.

amanda: we know these can be occasions for a presented is to speak as much as listen, this is political theater here. where do you think the most hey gets made? >> there has been a lot of tension over whether or not we have too much stimulus. whether that relates to added unemployment benefits that the federal government has been applying. it is certainly a heated political debate and we are seeing a mismatch of employers not being able to highlight -- to hire people back fast enough. matt: and from where amanda is sittingmatt:, housing is a huge issue. in the u.s., it is a red-hot market. is that the kind of thing

congress will start to take notice of? >> the question could come up to powell in the sense of whether or not that is a sign of financial instability growing. it certainly something congress pays close attention to given the fed's financial crisis. also the purchase of backed securities is certainly something the markets are watching closely, as we talk about asset purchases and whether or not they will begin tapering and went. -- and when. matt: peggy collins is a managing editor of our economic coverage. this is bloomberg. ♪

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mark: jay powell is testifying before a house elect subcommittee this afternoon.

he says inflation has picked up but should move back toward the 2% target once supply imbalances resolve. the bipartisan group of senators working on any infrastructure deal say they're are getting closer to an agreement but they say they are trying to figure out how to pay for the plan considering white house opposition to indexing the gas tax to inflation. lawmakers were set to meet with white house officials today and draw up a framework for a proposal this week. google is facing an european union investigation into its advertising technology. it's case will assess whether the giant breached composition rules by favoring its own online display advertising technologies over rivals. that is according to a statement. it will also look into if google blocked rivals'access to user data. hong kong officials