the head of rosneft gave mr.in all the credit, saying " the deal became possible only --nks to your personable personal contribution." to make sense of this, we are joined by ken hoffman and our government editor for russia, tony. tony, start with the russian angle. how important is this to him that he is back in the business now? tony: it is very much an indication for putin and for russia, because it very much demonstrates that it makes a mockery of the international sanctions that the european union has imposed for the last two years on russia. rosneft, a sanctioned entity, has managed to do this deal with it isre and, by the way, their biggest deal with an arab nation. putin has managed to make everybody look rather foolish if they try to isolate russia economically. they are very pleased. david: briefly, how much of it is the money? he's got problems with his budget, but how much of it is -- them back in business, these sanctions are not going to hobble me. it's a twofold -- tony: as you say, it's a twofold

. >> reporter: tillerson is best known here for making a deal with an oil giant called rosneft. that's its headquarters over there. just over the moscow river from the kremlin. and analysts say the company is like a cash cow for president putin and his inner circle. mikel, an energy analyst says the dividends earned by rosneft end up in one place. >> this is the personal purse, or wallet, of the russian president. >> reporter: and that wallet could grow significantly. and tillerson is at the center of it. exxonmobil and russia's rosneft have an outstanding oil deal in the arctic, russia valued at $500 billion. a deal so important, after it, he was given that russian medal of friendship. but the deal is on hold because of u.s. sanctions. >> obviously the conflict of interest is something that is written on mr. tillerson forehead. >> written on his forehead? >> written on his forehead. >> conflict of interest? >> yes. >> as far as russia's concerned? >> hundred percent. >> reporter: as secretary of state, tillerson will be able to push for the lifting of the sanctions against russ

our secretary of state nominee rex tillerson, he knows the head of rosneft. he knows him very well.igned a ginormous half trillion dollar deal with him to drill the arctic. that got cut short when russia invaded ukraine and annexed part of ukraine and the u.s. sanctioned russia. he was one of the people that we placed sanctions against. really put a crimp in that deal. rex tillerson was invited to st. petersburg russia and with other oil execs from the u.s. by this summer, we had as this country a very serious beef with them invading ukraine seizing parts of other country. because of the sanctions our government put on them, the state department reached out to all the executives that got invited to that expo in russia and the state department asked them to please not go, that it would be against the interests of the united states of america, it would be against america's interests, it would be bad for our country if they went. guess who went? the guy who donald trump has nominated to lead the state department. >> given that a number of the sanctions on russia related to oil and natu

exxon mobil and russia's rosneft have an outstanding oil deal in the arctic, billion. a deal so important, after it, he was given the russian medal of friendship. but the deal is on hold because of u.s. sanctions. >> obviously the conflict of interest is something that is written on mr. tillerson forehead. >> written on his forehead? >> written on his forehead. >> conflict of interest? >> yes. >> as far as russia's concerned? >> hundred percent. >> reporter: as secretary of state, tillerson will be able to push for the lifting of the sanctions against russia, something he lobbied for as a ceo. richard engel, nbc news, moscow. >>> now to the brutal four-year-long battle for aleppo that appears to be near its end this evening, the russian government, allied with the syrian regime, said today that military action has ceased in eastern aleppo, claiming syrian forces have taken control of the city from rebels. as our bill neely reports, civilians are still scrambling to get out of aleppo, amid horrifying reports of executions. >> reporter: they escaped a slaughter today. th

those 20 blocks gave rosneft access to 100,000 acres in the gulf of mexico.r that part of the deal was secured, it was time to say thank you. and so the ceo of exxonmobil tock a trip to st. petersburg and, again, his friend, vladimir putin, personally awarded him the order of friendship medal, that same medal that the officers got, for his big contribution tdeveloping cooperation in the energy sector. you can see the same medal, right, on his suit lapel. the highest honor that russia awards non-russian citizens. and that ceo, that is who donald trump is considering for secrary of state. his name is rex tillerson. he's the ceo of exxonmobil. and today he made his way to trump tower to go meet with president-elect trump. he has been working closely on oil deals in russia since boris yeltsin was president in the 1990s. he's made more than $200 billion in profit at exxon since he became ceo in 2006. he himself personally owns more than $150 million worth of exxon shares. i should tell you mr. tillerson has not been able to drill the arctic with his buddy, with vl

rosneft is subject to western sanctions, glencore said it to thee -- from exposure russian state companyshares in glencore up 2.7%, up september 2015. 90 minutes into the trading day in the u.s. and let's get over to abigail doolittle. abigail: we are looking at record highs for major averages in the u.s.. not a lot of action, very small gains for the dow, s&p, and the nasdaq. the dow on pace for its fourth record closing high in a row, lots of strength for the u.s. and something similar to yesterday. when we take a look at the sector composition come earlier we had been looking at mainly red and now it is creeping toward more green than red. yesterday we fluctuated between small gains and losses and we finished with a huge rally. we have one stock surging today on the year and that is advanced micro devices, the philadelphia semiconductor index is up at a and amd up 11% today and 267% this year. bank of america merrill lynch doing a double upgrade and a rink amd with a buy, saying this is the only vendor that can take on intel and nvidia. big movers on the day, especially in the retail

he's also very close to those people around vladimir putin, particularly the head of rosneft.nd they are believed to be close personal friends. in fact, it's said they planned a motorcycle trip together around the united states before mr. sechen was sanctioned after the annexation of crimea in 2014. so, yes, he does have a personal relationship in terms of power in russia. but that could actually play to his advantage. because if anyone can do a deal with people like that, then it's rex tillerson, because he knows how to work with them. he knows how to talk with them. and he's got a proven track record in order to deliver results admittedly for exxonmobil. hopefully, for trump, he's able to handle it for the american people as well as a top diplomat. >> indeed, he has experience dealing with different nations through exxonmobil. matthew chance live in moscow. thank you. >>> and that's why they say he should be tapped for the state department. he's somebody who has leadership. who knows all of the players. actually been part of foreign policy for years but very concerned about

and five years ago, he cut a major deal with rosneft, an oil company that's majority-owned by the russian government. president vladimir putin later gave him one of the highest awards that a foreigner can receive from moscow. president-elect donald trump praised tillerson calling him "a world-class player." but tillerson's ties to russia are likely to be scrutinized by lawmakers if he's nominated. jessob. back to you. more than 1-thousand flights were canceled at midway and o'hare yesterday thanks to the winter storm. plows at o'hare tried to clear as many runways as possible sunday morning... as some passengers slept in chairs. flights that have managed to get out are averaging half hour delays. passengers not too happy about the turn of events. and a scary moment after winter weather caused issues for one delta flight at detroit. a delta while it was turning from the runway to the taxiway. heavy snow and freezing rain may have played a role in this incident. thankfully no injuries were reported. forecast from fox6 chief meteorologist rob haswell yesterday's storm low move off to our eas

miguel, an energy analyst, says the dividends earned by rosneft end up in only one place. >> personalet of the russian president. >> reporter: and that wallet could grow significantly, and tillerson is at the center of it. exxonmobil and russia's rosneft have an outstanding oil deal in the arctic, russia valued at $500 billion, a deal so important, after it he was given that russian medal of friendship, but the deal is on hold because of u.s. sanctions. >> obviously, conflict of interest is something that's written on mr. tillerson's forehead. >> reporter: on his forehead? >> yes. >> especially as far as russia is concerned. >> 100%. >> reporter: as secretary of state, tillerson will be able to push for the lifting of the sanctions against russia, something he lobbied for as a ceo. >> our thanks to nbc's richard engel for that report. >>> as we turn to syria, where a cease-fire has reportedly collapsed just hours before it was set to take place. joining us live from london, matt bradley. okay, so what happened so quickly for this to collapse? >> well, thanks, alec. as you mention, the

they were worried they would not find buyers for rosneft, and rosneft would have to buy the shares. one saw coming. david: how was displaying in russia? he went on nationwide tv with the ceo of rosneft. greg: this is a grand victory for him. it comes on the end of the deal with opec, the first time the kremlin had signed on to reduce production. this is a shift in the geopolitics. you cannot go on tv and say he is not a wonderful president. come on. all, reporting on middle eastern elements and government, and greg white, on russian economics and government. , reporting one middle eastern elements and government, and greg white on russian economics and government. thank you. us.ng up, jim murren joins the ecb set to reject monte dei paschi's bid for more time on capital. the stock and debt lower in italy. but futures higher on the dow. positive one in the s&p 500. this is bloomberg. ♪ emma: this is "bloomberg daybreak." chandra. coming up, cofounder of activate, michael wolf. ♪ this is bloomberg. i am david weston. there is a big resort being built just south of the nation's capital

president vladimir putin since 1999,negoal deals thatenef both exxon andtate-owned russian energy giant rosneft. tillerson id earer ts year that their relationship was strictly business.ot here to ret the united state government's iere to criticize it. that's not what i do. i'm a busessman. >> reporter: he strongly opposed u.s.inancial sanctions on rusa, put in place after they iadedarts of ukraine and carried out war crimes in syri if the sanctions were lifted, exxon coumed resume certain energy productin russi >> he's much more than a business executive. he's a world- placlassr. >> reporter: tlerson also has deep relatnships in many ofhe nearl 60 foreign countries where exxon-mobil ates. those include strained allies humanights records like chadand and angola. unlike present-elect trp, tillerson sject to federal conflict of interest laws and will have to shield himself from his significant business inrests. tierson currently owns well er $0on milli company stock, and exxon's board is meetg soon to decid how to unwind his financial stake. rmer aassador and white >>ou have such huge portfoli yo

will industry, to benefit rosneft, to benefit putin. basically, it would be turning the u.s. department and the u.s. executive branch into what russia is, a cryptography run by y putin and his gang to and enrichey themselves. amy: whahat about his own wealt? he is the currenent ceo of exxo. if he retires and becomes secretary of state, still, his money is tied up in exxon and for withens to exxon the state department and other government agencies from how they relate to exxon. >> yes. he would visibly divest. he presumably would have to sell off his 100 plus million dollars worth of shares of exxon mobil because of the way the law is could do that tax free. it is important to say someone who has worked his life, all of his life at exxonmobil albeit to the top of the company, is hardly going to be able to seseparate his interest in the interest of all of his close personal friends and family simply by divesting himself from the stocks. he is exxonmobil. you should see that on his fouor head whenever you look at them. amy: carroll muffett, you are seeing one agency head after a

another state-run oil firm, rosneft, is e pexpected to work with mitsubishi corporation. a private russian gas firm, novatech, expected to sign a memorandum to build a strategic relationship with three japanese trading firms. nhk world is in front of the how tem whe hotel where the summit will take place. what's the atmosphere like there? >> reporter: as you can expect, security sight here in nagato city, around the hotel where the two leaders will meet later today. police officers have been assigned to security for the summit. there are checkpoints all over the place. they're also inspecting cars coming to the airport. in order to deal with the influx of foreign media, the city has hired a russian woman who speaks japanese, english and, of course, russian. japanese officials have prepared promotional gift bags for the russian counterparts. the bags have bath salts that can make water just like a local hot spring. there's also tea from the neighboring city of ube, and a sightseeing pamphlet. putin is expected to reach nagat oran o on nuthursday amp. prime minister abe wil

negotiating billion dollar oil deals that benefited both exxon and state-owned russian energy giant rosneft. tillerson said earlier this year that their relationship was strictly business. >> but i'm not here to represent the united states' government's interests. i'm not here to defend it, nor am i here to that's not what i do. i'm a businessman. >> reporter: he strongly opposed u.s. financial sanctions on russia, put in place after they invaded parts of ukraine and carried out war crimes in syria. if the sanctions were lifted, exxon consumed resume certain energy products in russia. >> he's much more than a business executive. he's a world-class player. >> reporter: tillerson also has deep relationships in many of the nearly 60 foreign countries where exxon-mobil operates. those include strained allies like saudi arabia and qatar and countries with questionable human rights records like chad and angola. unlike president-elect trump, tillerson is subject to federal conflict of interest laws and will have to shield himself from his significant business interests. tillerson currently owns we

that came as a multibillion dollar deal he signed with rosneft. exxon helped the company drill oil in difficult spots like the arctic. then in 2014, exxon lost $1 billion because of sanctions on russia for the intervention in ukraine. exxon would likely stand to gain if sanctions are lifted. >>> complications in donald trump's relationship with china. the chinese were upset with trump for becoming the first u.s. leader in decades to speak to the taiwan leader in decades. now the long standing one china policy is at issue. >> i fully understand the one china policy. i don't know why we have to be bound by one china policy unless we make a deal with china having to do with other things. including trade. >> china's state newspaper calls the president-elect an ignorant child and insists the one china policy cannot be bought and sold. >>> did you catch bryan cranston on "saturday night live?" the actor appeared as the drug dealing chemistry teacher in the opening sketch. walter white has been tapped to head up the dea. >> we have some breaking news ton

in 2000 11, he negotiated a giant deal with rosneft to explore the arctic.won the order of friendship from russia. he has had a lot of success dealing with russian diplomats and russian executives, and if donald trump once somebody to increase their ties with russia, there are worst people in america than rex tillerson for that. tracy: bloomberg news energy reporter from singapore, thank you so much. despite those rising oil prices, our next guest expects 2017 to be a year of paying for africa and the middle east. he says tough austerity measures will be greeted by a new round of deals. gus, let's pick up on that intro. we have seen oil prices rise significantly off the back of opec deals. i feel like distressed debt investors are always waiting in the wings for opportunities. we have a big rally in oil prices, will that make identifying that opportunity more difficult? intracy, we will see a rally asset prices over the next couple of weeks or months, and that is certainly welcome. a lot of our positions would benefit from that. at the same time, we have see

they have a joint partnership with rosneft.enators,republican marco rubio, lindsey graham, john mccain coming out strongly and saying i'm not sure we want somebody as secretary of state who has and braced vladimir putin. donald trump has been incredibly consistent about appointing people to his cabinet who he thinks have executive level experience. that is something that makes people in washington very uncomfortable. rex tillerson is going to be under heavy scrutiny. carol: another member of donald trump's team, steven mnuchin. donald trump has lauded him as a great businessman. look at that.a we look at his relationship with a branch of a bank that he was involved with that was very heavy into something called reverse mortgages, which people will be familiar with. they allow you to get cash out of your home, mostly targeted towards elderly people who are ending the term of their mortgage and want to release the equity in it. ofis a product long thought to disproportionately target elderly people. it is something that has come

. >> russia sells an $11 billion stake in its largest oil producer, rosneft to glencore.r putin went on national tv to tout the deal as one of the largest acquisitions in the oil and gas sector in the world in 2016. >> what is in it for russia? what is in it for glencore? >> in terms of glencore, what is important to remember is this is a company that was founded on this kind of trading. trading russian oil was a big forte for it. in recent years, it has lost out in pole position, so this is a big signal for glencore that it owns russian oil or at least the , international trading of russian oil. for russia itself, it is obviously a huge win for them in terms of getting big international names into the sector. it gives them an injection of foreign exchange to the point where they do not have to sell off the ruble. it is starting to chip away at this notion that russia is isolated. these are big names to have on on -- to have on your side. ♪ ♪ scarlet: this is "bloomberg best." i'm scarlet fu. oil prices began the week at a 16 month high after opec members made a deal to c

>> glencore and qatar sovereign wealth fund have taken a 20% stake in the russian i'm giant rosneft. the sale is part of the russian government's efforts to privatize some of the state assets to help to bolster the company's finances. the agreement marks a return to dealmaking for glencore which has focused on selling assets to pay down debts in recent years. and if means glencore is trying to get a one-up in the market. >> ericsson raised its 2016 cost estimates to between 5.5 and 6.5 korona. in the midst of a tough market, the company announced in october that it would be cutting 3,000 positions in sweden. >>> william hill is trading low their morning, down by 8.5%. that's ahead of a report from mps demanding stricter controls on betting machines. the fixed odds betting terminals group will publish the findings of their six-month inquiry and will say there's a case to cut the maximum stake of 100 pounds per spin, and set it at 2 pounds. quite a drop. >>> here's a company close to your heart, you're sporty. stuff like that. >> you are. >> sports direct reported a 57% hit to its firs

they have a joint partnership with rosneft. the state-owned russian oil company. think what was going to be the key in these confirmation hearings -- and we've had republican senators, marco rubio, lindsey graham, john mccain coming out strongly and saying i'm not sure we want somebody as secretary of state who has embraced vladimir putin not only as a friend, but someone you can do friendly business dealings with. donald trump has been incredibly consistent about appointing people to his cabinet who he thinks have executive level experience. that is something that makes people in washington very uncomfortable. rex tillerson is going to be under heavy scrutiny. and russia will be the focus. carol: another member of donald trump's team, steven mnuchin. donald trump has lauded him as a great businessman. we actually take a look at that in we actually take a look at that in this section. >> we do take a look at that. we look at his relationship with a branch of a bank that he was involved with that was very heavy into something called reverse mortgages, which people

. >> glencore will be buying a 19.5% stake in rosneft for $2.2 billion euros. they called this the largest deal in russia's history announced by the company in a meeting with president vladimir putin back on wednesday. >>> meanwhile, eni will be receiving over a billion dollars for 30% stake in the egyptian gas field. this is following the 10% stake by bp last month to generate profits from the recently found deposits. it's the largest ever natural gas field found over the mediterranean and production is expected to start at the end of next year. >>> still to come on the show, a 21st century deal. we'll have the latest on the bid after this short break. >>> hi, everyone. iran has signed a deal with boeing since the 1979 resolution. the near $17 billion deal between boeing and iran air includes 50 737 aircrafts and 30 747s. this will require approval in the u.s. treasury, the state department and congress. and is likely to face political opposition. they are trying to sign as many deals as possible. the iranians are also trying to sign a deal before trump comes

when exxonmobil reached out and put aside the criticism that was facing this company rosneft that it was effectively cobble together with stolen assets and made an enormous deal to explore and drill for oil in the arctic, that it was such a moment for russia of coming out of the cold, of re-establishing a relationship with a major international oil company that russia, particularly vladimir putin, were deeply appreciative. that deal that was signed between resneft and exxonmobil potentially worked hundreds of billions of dollars is on hold because of current sanctions. sanctions that the future secretary of state would certainly be in a position to lobby for their lifting. >> richard engel, nick, ken, and, of course, peter alexander here, thank you all so very much for getting us off to a big start today. >>> coming up, putin's revenge. tracing the russian president's vendetta against hillary clinton. you're watching "andrea mitchell reports" on msnbc, the place for politics. they are the natural born enemy of the way things are. yes, ideas are scary, and messy and fragile. but under

to russia, which include exxon's $500 billion oil deal with the russian government's oil company rosneft. considered the largest oil deal in history, the partnership can only go through if the u.s. lifts sanctions against russia, which the obama administration imposed over russia's intervention in ukraine. scientists are frantically copying government data on climate change, concerned that trump's administration may destroy or bury decades of research. trump has appointed a series of people to top cabinet or cabinet-level positions who are either climate change deniers, or close allies of the oil and gas industry. on saturday, dozens of people gathered at the university of toronto for a "guerrilla archiving event" aimed at copying and storing the climate data outside the united states. the internet archive site the wayback machine has also announced it is moving its operations to canada, in the wake of trump's election. in north carolina, as many as 39 protesters were arrested protesting at the state legislative building as the friday legislature approved two controversial bills that aim

as when he negotiated a multibillion dollar deal with rosneft to drill in three key russian regions. the signing ceremony was attended by vladimir putin himself. u.s.-led sanctions against russia for invading and annexing crimea hurt exxonmobil's bottom line so tillerson opposed the sanctions. governor rick perry knows something about oil himself. he also made the trump administration cut. he will -- senate confirmation hearing coming up. will run the department of energy. an agency that perry once vowed to eliminate. in the infamous oops clip, energy was the one governor that perry forgot. cnn correspondent phil mattingly is live outside trump tower. phil, one assumes that the president-elect saw the comments from republican senators expressing concern about tillerson's ties to putin. he must know this could be a tough confirmation battle. >> reporter: in talking to trump advisers, they know they'll have a fight on their hand. they believe if they make the case and they will they can smooth the way to eventual confirmation. this underscores something the president-elect has said thr

will be exxon's $500 billion oil exploration partnership with the russian government's oil company, rosneft. considered the largest oil deal in history, the partnership can only go through if the u.s. lifts sanctions against russia, which the obama administration imposed over russia's intervention in ukraine. to hear our full interview about rex tillerson with 350.org co-founder bill mckibben, friends of the earth president erich pica, and president of the center for international environmental law carroll muffett, go to democracynow.org. in more news on cabinet picks, donald trump has officially asked goldman sachs president gary cohn to be director of the national economic council. cohn will become the third goldman sachs-linked memember of trump's cabinet. steven mnuchin, trump's pick for treasury secretary, was a second-generation goldman sachs executive. stephen bannon, trump's chief strategist, is also a former goldman sachs executive. the trump transition team also officially announced monday that retired four-star marine general john kelly is trump's pick for secretary of homeland s

rosneft said it held talks. glencore and the qatar state are to share 19.5%.eing gains in glencore up 0.9%. i wanted to highlight the health-care stocks. at the open, it looked like they were going to gain a bit. they are now the worst on the stoxx 600. donald trump declared himself an opponent of high drug prices in an interview with time magazine. we saw shares plummet in the u.s. after post election enthusiasm and those losses continued in asia and are continuing in europe. guy: thank you very much indeed. the big story today despite what is happening in stock markets is what is happening with the ecb. later, we built here that you -- ear the ecb's interest-rate rate decision. matt miller is standing below the euro tower, the building in which the decision is taking place. it may or may not be there today, matt. matt: yeah, while the tower is going to continue to be your matter what mario draghi says that we are not so sure about what is going to happen to qe. let me ask you, first of all, what you expect as far as the broader announcement? will qe be exten

woodruff: to that end, exxon mobil began working closely with the russian state-owned oil giant, "rosneft." that, in turn, brought tillerson into close contact with russian president vladimir putin. since then, he's received the russian "order of friendship," and he's said he opposes u.s. and european sanctions against russia over its intervention in ukraine. senate majority leader mitch mcconnell today highlighted tillerson's experience, and said he looks forward to supporting his nomination, but the top democrat on the senate foreign relations committee, ben cardin, said he is "deeply troubled" by tillerson's vocal opposition to sanctions on russia, and republican senator marco rubio voiced "serious concerns" about the planned nomination. there's also word that another texan-- former governor rick perry-- could be tapped to be energy secretary. but the transition at energy could be rocky: the department said today it will not provide the names of employees who've worked on climate change, as the trump transition team requested. there are also reports that montana congressman ryan zinke

look at the individual stock gains, i wanted to go to glencore because of this massive deal with rosneft1%. the vix, 11.94. i had the chief investment officer of generali on an hour theand he was saying if only thing he would buy next year would be more volatility. tom: let's go to a bloomberg, and i want you to jump in on this chart. as is the balance sheet as compared to gdp of three nations, japan, europe, and the united states. here is back to normal wear with -- where they are putting much cluster together, and here is the courage of the u.s. to act, the courage of japan to act. and all along it has been a struggle for euro. the elephant in the room for mr. , ecbi is actually european assets to gdp are higher than the united states. i think a lot of people in the market do not know that. that is some of the tension we see for today. francine: this is exactly the story. a lot of people in europe, i would say especially in germany are trying to figure out whether all of this balance sheet expansion from the ecb actually lead anywhere. qe3, and people said maybe the first worked but no

over deals done there with rosneft. central issue is if he would put business ahead of other geopolitical issues. this is a concern some worry has a broader impact even though it could be positive for energy companies in general. how would tillerson advise the president-elect on iran? a country with plentiful oil resources but a regime with policies that present so many conflicts. expect many of these questions to be raised by the senate in confirmation proceedings, guys. >> would he be soft on russia is the idea? not just because -- because it would help exxonmobil in theory, but does he have some kind of relationship -- i keep reading he's close with putin, but just because you have negotiated deals with the leader of a country doesn't mean you're pals or friends or that you like each other. >> this is a different role than being ceo of a company. it's being a diplomat. >> the trump strategy is different when it relates to russia, which is to say he may believe if we can become friends with russia, then he can put pre