business i'm show business i'll see you that. later on. this is boom bust broadcasting around the world and covering the world of business and finance to the impact on all of us i am bart chilton in washington and we are so glad you've chosen to spend some time was a thanks for being with us is going to be a great show coming up today the e.u. seems to have china in their crosshairs over hacking but will they pull the trigger on sanctions tillery for which the c.e.o. of strong market r.t. correspondent caleb often joins us to discuss plus we take a long look at the recent spate of crypto criminals and how regulators have been cracking down during the wall and you can rosamond joins us and later in these

volatile times what's an average investor to do john grace of investors advantage corporation has some helpful advice all that directly ahead but first let's have some headlines let's go. to a deal to avoid a u.s. government shutdown later this week has bipartisan agreement in congress and markets seem to be buoyed trading up for earlier in the day nearly two hundred points but president trump who torpedoed the last deal at the eleventh hour leading to the longest ever u.s. government shutdown has not yet signed off on the agreement so why might you ask our traders apparently optimistic and trading well traders trade that's what they do we like to think they are scary skillful and most of them are conducting super sophisticated trades but that's not always the case but here at boom bust we like to pull back the curtain and we don't we just like to do that we view it as part of our primary purpose. traders trade because that's their job i mean if they aren't

trading why are they being paid right so when there is news even news like this which seems a little bit more like that new show in the u.s. deal or no deal it could go either way traders trade on the news the truth is they make educated guesses sometimes but those guesses on news like today about the potential agreement to keep the government open are nothing more nothing more than bets just like tossing some money into a slot machine at a casino i should wouldn't bet on this agreement that it's a done deal although i hope it is. and checking in on venezuela the international red cross has publicly disavowed purported aid shipments to venezuela by the united states of supply is said to be across the border in neighboring colombia governed by a right wing government allied with the trump administration a spokesperson for colombia's international red cross told reporters with regard to u.s. demands for the entry of suppose that aid caravans from colombia quote we will not

be participating in what is for us not humanitarian aid those comments echo those of the red cross director for north america alexandria boy then who earlier this month warned her u.s. counterparts of quote the risk of the path being taken last week venezuelan authorities announced they found assault weapons in a boeing seven sixty seven cargo plane operated by a limited liability corporation called air twenty one of greensboro north carolina representatives for air twenty one dismissed and misty international's past findings of ties between air twenty one and a second company gemini air cargo which amnesty said was involved in delivering cia prisoners to a so-called black site mcclatchy news service reports the air twenty one owner adolph in reno has registered more than a dozen companies in florida. and updating the fiery situation in haiti we reported on that lad. time protest and

a state of anxiety still prevail on the streets of port au prince as haiti's chamber of commerce calls for a to go shooting between the opposition leaders and the president a spokesperson for the chamber bernard cron took pains to be clear that business owners are not presently calling for embattled president hava no moisture resign but the chamber believes all parties to the talks should be perp aired to get this offer resignations in a deal perhaps more importantly mr cron also signaled a loss of puppets and president telling the miami herald quote we feel that people do not trust moyes to respect his word. and today i tell you prime minister conti spoke before the european union legislature and called upon the e.u. to be less austere and to support increased funding for popular programs that could boost economic growth the prime minister's speech was roundly criticized by many after his remarks and as we've reported only italy appears to be in no position to

suggest economic policies given italy's increasingly desperate fiscal budget predicament in that regard we've spoken about the desire to use gold to assist economies in a number of countries around the world venezuela continues to demand one point seven billion dollars in their gold held at the bank of england and iran is a stab cryptocurrency we spoke about on the program a month based upon gold to circumvent u.s. economic sanctions well now italy may be considering using their gold to help stem the economic losses in that country deputy prime minister of a tale silvani says the government is considering using their gold reserves to help alleviate the nation's budget deficit which has been a bone of contention within the european commission italy is the third largest holder of precious metals just the precious metal rather behind the united states and germany. and we now shift to look at cybersecurity have missed allegations of the european union that member states are considering a united response. the cyber attacks alleging directed by

a chinese state linked packer group following the u.k. presenting proof there to be proof about sensitive systems penetration to help us out we are pleased to be joined once again by the c.e.o. of straw marco or ford which and by r.t. caleb marple who is also trying to export welcome to you both hillary let's start with you if you are u.k. officials they presented this evidence a few days ago and say that there is actual proof that software and hardware attacks by this group called advanced persistent threat ten or a p t ten a what do we know about this group and exactly what did this so-called group do well it is rather troubling actually bought things happening back in pleasure a couple of things first of all what this has been doing it's called a spearfishing and it's very specific in terms of cyber attacks and espionage corporate espionage and governmental espionage and the analogy for our audience is rather like if you want to get all your buddies out of jail you could go with

chainsaws and you could try to break into the jail and you could try to figure out the key to each single jail cell or all you could do is kind of knock off the the head jail or the mos the jail or take a set of keys and open all the cells this is what they're doing they're going to these manage service providers that is the m.s.p. and they're hacking into managed service providers what do m s p's hold all of the intellectual property and the data and the information for numerous industries such as construction engineering telecommunications infrastructure and so what this a.p.t has been doing is hitting the m.s.p. and they've been spearfishing by sending documents with the word attachment basically faking out and tricking their employees to open them and then like a trojan horse they gone in and basically stolen this intellectual property it is corporate and governmental espionage yeah we see that a lot just in the consumer room i get i'm about every day. it's crazy caleb you

look at china every day and we're so pleased that you've had some time to join us let's take for a minute let's sort of accept that at least these allegations or similar allegations about you know hacking or about ip theft by china let's us for the sake of argument let's assume at least some of them are true i mean doesn't china need to sort of up their game if they're going to be sort of a global player in the economy around the world i mean they can't continue it seems to me to have these criticisms of them if you know shanghai is going to be the next london or new york am i off base what do you think. well they're doing that on february first we heard a very important announcement from the ministry of commerce they announced that they're teaming up with the standing committee of the national people's congress and they're having an ip our intellectual property rights crackdown stiffer penalties doing everything they can to make sure that there is a better environment for business and i.p.r.

is at the center of the talks that have taken place and both sides want this issue to be resolved people acknowledge that there is a problem that needs to be resolved but as far as the hacking thing is concerned you know i just can't accept that we should just take these claims at face value i mean we have seen a lot of you know misinformation lately for example the new york times was caught by journalist nathan rich an american living in china an american journalist basically mistranslated he exposed that it looks like they were mistranslating people in a video the new york times released about china's health care system other seems to be quite a bit of just just not clear facts and distortion of facts in american media when it comes to china certain forces certainly have an axe to grind and when it comes to cyber security and cyber hacking a lot of cases you know you look at the evidence we just have to take their word for it well i think that with the atmosphere the way it is we shouldn't just be taking their word for it and hillary let me ask you sort of the same question i mean i get what caleb is saying and good on them the proof will be in the pudding

what's your view about china sort of upping their game to be accepted more in the global economies were two things i actually bought i would defer to farai there are cyber security that has been tracking the a p t ten since two thousand and nine and since then they have delivered to the u.s. department of justice and that was what part of the indictment was about in december the actual tangible reports so i would say that they have the tangible proof i don't think that it's speculation i don't think that it's just imagery noise that politics i think it's tangible but i would say if they're going to join the global marketplace. can't continue to act well unilaterally and they can't continue to act as they've been doing which is as always is a communist power there's a dictatorial society where they have not had to answer to anyone if they're going to join the global in a global integrated market they need to become more collaborative and not more antagonistic and north can they can commit corporate espionage caleb we're running

out of time but there's some good news for awhile way the philippines there's a company there that says actually the threat about wall way technology is being overblown what do you make of that. o'barr i'll tell you what i think the real issue is here you've got the wall street journal of this was their weekend edition in mid january and they're talking about the fact that at this point apple's profits are dropping why that's because people all over the world and people within china itself are realizing that wow a has just made a better product with better battery life and a lot of features that are just better than what apple is doing and if you look at it while away which at this point is the biggest telecommunications manufacturer in the entire world this is a a super corporation that is coming coming into the market right this is this is one of these mega state controlled corporations it's technically a cooperative under chinese law that is kind of a fixture of deng xiaoping's economic model where you have the government and the

private sector and the public all kind of teaming up to unleash innovation and growth and at this point people all over the world are buying wow way phones and not buying phones from western countries and i think that's the issue here you hear western leaders constantly talking about the wonders of the free market and free competition but when they start losing out all the sudden they change their tune i mean we saw they were the c.f.o. of wow way dragged out of the airport in canada you know they've been many companies around the world have been accused of violating u.s. sanctions but you don't see that kind of special treatment being handed out i don't always being targeted you got a good point it's premarket until your ox is gored and then maybe you want to put some side bars on it one way or another we're out of time for this time what a great great conversation guys caleb moppin and hilary forward thank you so much that was really interesting. and time now for a quick break let it hang here because when we return gary de wall of cat newton rosenman joins us to take a long look at the recent spate of crypto criminals and how regulators have been

cracking down plus john grace of investors advantage corporation has some helpful advice for average investors during these volatile time as we go to break here the numbers at the closing bell will be back in a flash. after a rather bumpy rollout the new green deal is upon this co-sponsored by democratic firebrand alexandria ocasio what does the plan foresees a radical restructuring of the american economy and how people will live what the plan does not address is how much it cost how much will we have to go into the red become green.

and good who was before. much of those who heard and supported you. would go. with. the show you the stupid you believe it's a good. move just like most of these girls did you were good girls. don't go to shows so look i do assume you believe to show your story should go. to starbucks to. meet until it was done that is the most they'd say look it is you. can touch them understand just move. they matched on. the president on the internet in.

addition. to snow for the most unusual because there's the girls who. used to go. shouldn't. the door for the one who's doing. welcome back saudi arabia would produce in a less oil than expected and markets are reacting here is hard to produce or cya tavenner with more. announced today that it sharply reduced its crude oil production last month in december of last year opaque at a group of ten producers outside the cartel led by russia agreed to degrees output by two million barrels a day for the first half of twenty nineteen and now opec has removed seven hundred

ninety seven thousand barrels per day from the market in january just short of its goal of cutting eight hundred twelve thousand barrels per day now bar the biggest cuts come from top opec producers saudi arabia no surprise there the king of them pumped about ten point two million barrels per day in january down three hundred fifty thousand barrels per day from december and nearly one hundred thousand barrels per day below its official quota under the output cutting deal the other significant cuts come from united arab emirates and co wait opec also got a boost in production the clients from iran and libya the two member countries that are exact during the current deal or oil price it prices jumped more than a dollar after the oprah could protection update but still barred that figure remains far below the eighty five dollars barrel hit in early october before prices slid back olympic expects the world would need thirty point six million barrels per

day from the group's member this year down one million barrels per day from last year. trading at fifty two dollars and forty six at the west texas intermediate nymex thank you so much. and returning to the wall out of new regulations on social media in india as the nation heads toward elections indian activists are petitioning parliament to call tech c.e.o.'s to hearings on a variety of key regulatory issues the center for accountability and systemic change or c a s c sent a letter to members of parliament urging that leaders of facebook google instagram twitter and whatsapp be questioned publicly on issues including consumer privacy tax avoidance and hate speech twitter c.e.o. jack dorsey reportedly has already met with c.s. s.c. representatives the letter to parliament also was notably endorsed by k n govan dar charge a prominent voice of hindu hindu nationalism and former member of prime minister

narendra modi's political party the b j p can we now take a longer look at how u.s. financial regulators are trying to tame the crypto wild west to do so we are pleased to welcome back gary to wall special counsel at cat neutered rosen and hey gary thank you for being here we always love having you on it's been a little while let's take a look at what the u.s. securities and exchange commission and our old party place the commodity futures trading commission i say that in jest of course how they've been doing lately that they were off as part of that government shutdown but they're back at least for for this time talk about the initial coin offerings or perhaps they're really called initial con offerings for some that the f.c.c. dealt with recently with regard to unregister. sure bart it's good to see you again so the f.c.c. want a big victory at the end of last year in a force of an action brought in the eastern district of new york that's in brooklyn case involving maxime's of the astley it's as laski. he made

a motion to dismiss the f.c.c. prevailed effectively the court upheld the view that the coin was a security they've been doing so well out in california however there's a case called block fest the f.c.c. got a t.r.o. towards the end of the year but restraining order injunction correct they haven't been able to get a preliminary. injunction and that was denied and now the case is being we heard this if he sees the better they they they they prevail than there are two litigations last year one in massachusetts another one also in brooklyn regarding a cryptocurrency their jurisdiction was upheld the cryptocurrency was held to be a commodity in the us to see if he could regulate it and bring it in force with action alleging anti-fraud so when for crypto has to be more accepted gary do you think these enforcement actions are sort of part and parcel to to that greater acceptance i mean when we know that bad actors are being dealt with even if in the

case of california not not so much what they see f.t.c. is trying do you think that will add investor confidence in the crypto space. well i think we're well at investor confidence is actually what's happening over in europe both the f.c.a. the financial conduct the therapy which is the chief conduct regulator of financial services industry and in the u.k. and as mo which is sort of the pan-european regulator of financial services both in january came out with relatively comprehensive views of the nature of crypto assets and how they're regulated unfortunately the united states you're never going to see anything that comprehensive because of the way we regulate here but what we really need is is a clearer statement by the f.c.c. certainly they've they've articulated the view that most of the stuff issued an i.c. owes are securities and likely anybody who touches these things have to comply with some element of securities regulation but there are things out there called utility

tokens and their regulatory status quite frankly is unclear. needs to give better clarity between what is a security and what is not and then there are the issue of them offering securities something like ether probably was a security at its initial stage offering and today it is not so we need guidance the court going to force the guidance because they're going to come out not consistently is my view as we're seeing already with the f.c.c. actions the final view is going to be what the regulators say more specifically you know a lot of attorneys i think sort of sham attorneys not you your allotted lawyer my friend but i think they were given crappy advice in the u.s. they were saying don't worry about it the f.c.c. has a pint but the bottom line is that under this thing called the how we tested we don't have a enough time to get into it but if the if what you're doing is by the actions of another you're a security so is there still a great zone really here particularly at the f.c.c. and does that need to be cleared up. well i don't think the f.c.c.

has a grazer fact it's very interesting you should say that i think the f.c.c. has taken and aggressive view of how it i'm not sure that just because people expect profits to secondary market trading that really does satisfy the four corners of how we and the to and the cases thereafter but that c.s.c. sees view so i think that anybody who who gets into this space and takes an aggressive view that something is not a security is certainly risking the s.c.c.s. wrath and let's be frank as much of a bargain as i am it's still expensive to retain somebody like me to fight your cause you know again there's an inhibiting factor going on right now there are european countries malta for example has come up with a very very intelligent scheme very clearly delineating between the different types of tokens and saying what you have to do to comply comply with the kind of rules or regulations we need that from the f.c.c. we need some greater clarity we need some greater. insight as to what to what

they're thinking and why. you are a bargain at any price my friend gary do all special thank you rosa many thanks gary good to see you good to see you. we spoke about markets earlier and about how they were moving up and down based upon the news regarding the potential shutdown deal in these volatile times what's an investor to do john grace of investors advantage corporation has some helpful advice for us and he joins us now hey john great to see you do we see how markets can move on a whim last week it was comments by larry kudlow the top economic advisor to the president today it was that shutdown news you know you say that while we can't see the futures investors can prepare for it what are they to do during these sort of troubling times john. well you're absolutely right bart it's interesting that often

what happens is that we buy the rumor but we sell the news so i think that's part of what happened with larry kudlow since just after christmas it was all the screen shoots the good news the optimism suggesting that there might be a good trade deal in the in the equation and then look like well that's not going to happen and right now it looks like it might but it's all it's all noise right there's no real news certainly there's no there's nothing that's been signed or agreed to that's the same thing with the with the government shutdown hopefully that deal will get done hopefully there won't be another government shutdown but i think it is important for people to just not be complacent and believe that the markets always come back the question because how can you limit your losses and what we're suggesting is one of the first steps is to increase the way you diversify people don't know what they owe and they say they own stocks and they own e.t.f. exchange traded funds but what we're suggesting is to find out what is that ratio often it is the case that people have sixty percent of their portfolio in stocks

and forty percent of their portfolio and bots that's the ratio no matter how many mutual funds you might have so we can see the evidence back in oto to it again in zero eight by adding just one more asset class as an example so it's sixty percent stocks it's twenty percent bonds and twenty percent in the case shiller real estate that combination cap accounts more levels so in other words we didn't see fifty percent declines we saw declines in both cases zero two two zero zero zero zero zero zero zero zero zero two zero eight zero nine twenty percent or less that keeps us in the game because all we need is a twenty five percent return to get back to even right and john talk about volatility for a minute and as a programming note for the boom busters we're going to talk about understanding the fairfax factor the vix on the next broadcast but explain volatility is volatility for average investors is it a good thing or a bad thing john. it's a great question but it's a personal question bart in other words my industry is notorious for saying you

know hold on just keep your hands and your arms inside the vehicle but don't sell anything we think you need to determine as the investor because you're the driver of your portfolio how much volatility and we're talking about negative volatility can you can you withstand when we're sitting with folks and they answer a number of questions so that they can discover often for the first time that they could live with an eight percent volatility but then go back and look at the portfolio and it reveals that the portfolio could be upside down over a forty to forty three percent that's an aha moment for them to go all this is a lot more aggressive than i think i need to be maybe i need to re constitute my portfolio so that the portfolio might perform within my expected parameters as opposed to me being told to just hold on and shut up very interesting and finally we've only got a little bit of time john but i mean if you had sort of one piece of advice to give to investors what would that be go back and look you know if you run over something

in the car you look at the review mirror to see what the heck that was didn't see was coming most of us don't go back to look at what the portfolio did just in the last quarter twenty one through christmas eve you know off twenty percent but the markets were up what was your portfolio go back and look at oh wait and see how vicious that market treated your portfolio and then look to see what you can do so that you might be prepared for the next debacle because let's let's just be ridiculous to say there's not one or two fifty percent declines or could be three or even be more ridiculous and say it's a replay of depression one and stocks are off eighty nine percent when you're getting withdrawals that's probably not a loss you can you can whether john bryson founder and president of bester is a band of corporations great to see you thank you john. and that's it for this time thank you for being with us you can catch boom bust on directv channel three twenty one dish network channel or streaming twenty four seven on pluto t.v. of course the free t.v.'s channel one thirty two as always get us up at youtube dot

com slash boom bust r.t. so long for now. and i'm on the phone if i was going to come way or both was absolute. panic itself moving to. the plaza this way got to the nothing in the distance had to move at the ok i was and i'm still up and i think. this is the only thing that we do is music because everybody fights his way. through or you can. look out of his will persuade you that you have given

a thought. on the. what i think is this is the thought that is what comes. no competition the stock price discovery. prices in fixed prices beget big news that's what comes out of fake prices fake news you want to get respect is restore competition in the marketplace to get real prices and then get real. philip have been miles from the. independent those. that stayed with.

me today. and it was the sort of my life who speculate that me or the now with jamie has a hunk on the moon. now at the height of the. hillary i'm only for that matter i see let him make the point i mean it would be an email. here got they got me. it's nice prime minister is trying to the puppets has a heated debate in the parliament when he lambasted the bloke for being out of touch with his people. faced with an economic crisis without precedent.