the us treasury though seems to be playing down the idea.apore. victoria. hello, happy friday. take it away and. well, you mentioned about the us treasury playing down the idea and this is certainly not having any impact whatsoever on asian investors's sentiment, victoria. most markets are currently rising today as many believe there is real progress in this ongoing us china trade talks, and everyone knows much first is the end of trade truce deadline, so traders see a resolution much sooner than expected, so you had the likes of hong kong, china, japan, south korea and most of south east asia currently in positive territory. when you speak to analysts, they say that china seems to be running low on options, while the us would also wa nt to on options, while the us would also want to avoid a prolonged conflict given the negative consequences on its market and economy. 0k, thank you very much, have a lovely weekend. see you later. now let's brief you on some other business stories. president donald trump has cancelled his entire delegation‘s

two year us treasury note below 2.4%. a big deal because it reached parity with the federal funds, that is the federal reserve's key policy rate, for the first time since 2008. the market is effectively saying that it believes the fed is not only going to have to stop raising rates, it might even have to cut them. that was michelle flory. —— fleury. in the last couple of hours there has been some positive news for investors. china has confirmed that talks will resume with the us next week, aimed at ending the trade war between the two sides. rico hizon is following the story in singapore. i have a sense of deja vu here. we have been here before. is anything going to come of it? this mightjust be the happy new year's news that we are all waiting for. but of course, keeping ourfingers are all waiting for. but of course, keeping our fingers crossed that there will be genuine progress next week. there is a vice ministerial level meeting hopes to end a dispute which is inflicting increasing pain on the two global economies and

those gains were soon dampened when the us treasury spokesperson denied the us treasury spokesperson asia. the nikkei 225 up 185, and the all ordinaries is up three fifths of i%. the hang seng index will open trading shortly so we will have initial numbers later in the programme. from new york, samira hussain told me what the investor reaction was. what this really shows is investors really wa nt what this really shows is investors really want to see the easing of the paris. they want to see trade relations between china and the united states to become less frosty, a little bit warmer than it has been in the last several months. and the fa ct in the last several months. and the fact that you saw such a sharp spike in trading only for that to fall after reports of conflicting reports about what actually happened and what was said in that meeting really shows investors want to see some positive movement with regards to the trade negotiations. positive movement. investors have to be patient. there is still a lot of time until the end of the trade truce on march one. we don't really know

welcome to do business i want to get jones good to have you with us u.s. treasury secretary stephen roach and has phoned the heads of the country's six largest banks over the weekend to discuss steps to calm ocket after a week of dramatic losses on wall street nugent called the chief executives of goldman sachs bank of america j.p. morgan chase morgan stanley citigroup and wells fargo who according to a statement confirmed that they have ample liquidity available for a lot of lending the calls came as u.s. stock markets experienced their worst week since the two thousand and eight financial crisis uncertainty over the partial government shutdown has added to concerns key indices tough wiped out all their gains for the here. and for more on what's driving the markets in these last few days of the year i'm joined by chip on the chin ballou my colleague of course will phone call do you think come markets well i mean if the reaction is anything to go by so far it's not doing any of that likely or reassurance that isn't quite the reassurance now investors actually think

they really wa nt selling us treasuries.s much, particularly if the fed isn't raising rates and it could possibly weaken. we are seeing with the earnings coming out, in this kind of economic environment, the winners and losers are becoming quite stark. samsung already suffering and facebook coming out with very strong earnings, apple doing better and this news out of china about manufacturing. the risks haven't gone away, have they? they certainly haven't but i think the big force we had in december and at the beginning of the year were maybe a bit overblown. they were on sentiment, more the more on the fundamentals and the global economy is still growing. the imf said it will grow around three and a half percent this year, not bad overall, so percent this year, not bad overall, soi percent this year, not bad overall, so i think if investors can look through the upheavals and what is going on in the world, things are all right. sophie, we will stay on a positive note for as long as we can. she is back later. still to come ca

the us treasury made the announcement late sunday evening.april last year, sanctions were imposed on seven oligarchs and 12 companies, including rusal, en+ and eurosibenergo, all owned by oleg deripaska, because of what it called malign activities around the globe. a few days after the announcement, rusal‘s share price plummeted. it lost more than 40% of its value, and the company is worth half of what it was before those sanctions were introduced. on 16january of this year, a vote to stop those sanctions from being lifted was narrowly defeated in the senate, with 11 republican senators siding with their democrat counterparts. those opposed argued lawmakers should wait for the findings of the mueller investigation into russian interference in the 2016 us presidential election. sanctions against mr deripaska are not being lifted, and his stake in the companies has been reduced. the sanctions, they are both political, of course, but economic as well. and they seemed to be very divisive within the us, and then outside of it. kim gittleson, our b

reason for this is that america is the institution's largest shareholder in one expects that the us treasurys, will do so now. the unknown in all of these is will donald trump use it to try and sort of ratchet up tensions will use it as sort of ratchet up tensions will use itasa sort of ratchet up tensions will use it as a pressure point against china? the it as a pressure point against china 7 the reason it as a pressure point against china? the reason i say this is that it has been critical of the world bank and the past in terms of how much it has lent to china. the other fa ct much it has lent to china. the other fact in all this also is that many other countries object to washington's control over appointing the successor. they think it should be another country. all right. briefly, what is the legacy of yong kim, he is leaving three years before the end of the term. that is right. he has done quite a lot in terms of developing infrastructure in developing countries. he has really lead the world bank both in terms of securing extra funding for it but also in terms of using different ins

whole other story washington is ramping up the economic pressure on majorities governments the us treasury has pushed to ensure that self became leader one guy though gets control over the country's resources. diplomatic and economic relations between the united states and venezuela must be consistent with the united states' recognition of one quite the united states will use its economic and diplomatic tools to ensure that commercial transactions by the venezuelan government including those involving state owned enterprises and international reserves are consistent with this recognition. the statements from the treasury did not specify whether the measures could target venice where there's oil sales venezuela is the fourth largest oil exporter to the u.s. and so far washington has stopped short of imposing an embargo. we can now live to or oil market analyst joining us from texas good to have you on the program so as we just heard the u.s. is now looking at ways of giving control over venezuela's economic resources how are they going to do this. well what they really want to do is see mis

misguided efforts by the trumpet ministration and keep the sanctions in place in late december the us treasury announced it would lift sanctions imposed on deira pascoe controlled firms and clothing alimony and john to sell its parent e n. plus one power firm euro say about an hour ago meanwhile e.u. officials back the decision to ease sanctions against roussel and e n. plus in a letter to the senate minority leader they stressed that economic penalties lead to increased prices and significant challenges in a number of e.u. states and that workers suffer the most and the geopolitical analyst up here again says some u.s. politicians fear an e.u. russia alliance. i sing for mr trump himself he small business than anything else but ynys over not only nice to ation if we are many conservatives people are. like. conti new to very job or to corrupt roach to international relations and to prevent any good relations between europeans and russia because if russia and europeans have a good relations it can be strong to giver and threaten american dominus you but war. hollywood star bryan cranston best k

washington is ramping up the economic pressure on the tourist government the us treasury has pledged to ensure the south became leader gets control over the country's resources diplomatic and economic relations between the united states and venezuela must be consistent with the united states' recognition of one quite the united states will use its economic and diplomatic tools to ensure that commercial transactions by the venezuelan government including those involving state owned enterprises and international reserves are consistent with his recognition. the statements from the treasury didn't specify whether the measures could talk it's venezuela's oil sales venezuela is the fourth largest oil exporter to be u.s. and say far washington has stopped short of imposing and. and then g.m. last told us any action against venezuelan oil could have a knock on effect on the u.s. . but the u.s. government imposes economic sanctions with respect to u.s. company used by venezuelan oil what we're going to see is a reshuffling of where that oil is sold in the world and u.s. go refiners are going

more good news on the trade front help to boost european shares friday us treasury secretary stephen newton proposed lifting terrace on some or all chinese imports. at sent indexes sharply higher the frankfurt dax ending the day up over two and a half percent when in twenty one hundred closing upup just shy of 2% cac arod here in paris. not too far behind. thanks the annual world economic forum kicks off next week it is the economic event o of the yeaear but my key world leaders are sending gagave us their regrets. president donald trump has decided that not only hihimself but the wholele us delegation will stay away amid the u. s. government shut down. while america's far from the only major absence from the business summit which comes at a time of mounting economic uncertainty. cosigner reports. grappling with the longest shutdown of the u. s. federal government in history. president donald trump had already planned to skip next week's world economic forum in davos switzerland. now for the whihite house ss the us will be sending a delegation at all. out of consideration f for e eig

aluminum giant and global market mover roussel was officially removed from a sanctioned list by the us treasury department on sunday culminating in a compromise brokered by treasury secretary steven the new ssion which saw the sanctions lifted a plumbing company but not upon russian all gart there are pasco roussel stock tanks back in april when the us sanctions went into place but has been on the rise since rising yet again today on the news. when we think of our artificial intelligence we naturally go to robo cop and we've done that on the broadcast the for everybody what talks about a guy talks about shorts negrin the go banadir but what will they i mean in the area of finance and business here to tell us is really morale is a partner and outlier ventral i cannot tell you rumi how much i have been looking forward to doing this you are one that as scape to the big banks we love gold and we love all the banks but you escaped and now you're doing this really cool stuff you know we've seen all sorts of problems with a high. the autonomous cars the death and feel that success. you will get there

into alleged collusion between moscow and president campaign in two thousand and sixteen of the us treasury department said the decision to remove sanctions was made because there are no longer controls the company critics including some republican lawmakers don't agree with that assessment. we have stephen variously with us from get your business to talk more about this story even talk to us about these sanctions why were they there in the first place and what does it mean now that they're gone reisa some of these sanctions go back to april two thousand and eighteen and that's when the trump administration targeted a group of russians seven oligarchs a number of businesses i believe twelve. form a line activity russians russia's malign activity which they describe as the election interference two thousand and sixteen its actions in eastern ukraine and in the crimea among others and the goal was to really obviously punish them and make them unsuccessful on an international level obviously when you pull back the reach of the use of american dollars for exam for these businesses then you make

asian shares rising on hopes of an easing of trade tensions, after press reports that the us treasury

for lending in china to monitor and for compensation packages that are too high but also tell us a treasury which controls around sixteen percent of the organizations voting shares will probably endure a great opposition to the tradition of the u.s. speaking who will leave their walled bank while europe chooses the i.m.f. managing director times are changing. at the new york stock exchange thank you very much for the analysis. on a corporate no tesla reached a milestone today as it broke round on its first overseas production line in you guessed it china shanghai the new gigafactory will allow it to sell directly into a coveted market and steer clear of the china u.s. trade dispute we talked about tesla says it's also exempt from the requirement that foreign companies form joint ventures with local firms. seven point three billion dollars that's how much tesla is investing in its new china factory it would be shanghai's biggest foreign manufacturing project ever and it's a coup for tesla many foreign carmakers export into china and pay tarots which is trickier these days with the trade disp

data suggest that real investors, not foreign banks, but it ends up being investors that are using treasuries a safe haven. and also as a place to yield. with 15 basis points in germany if you are ok taking dollar risks, then the u.s. is still at the highest yielding major bond market out there. assuming you are willing to take some dollar risks, it seems like a great trade. the risk is that the dollar collapses, and the trade gets eaten away by currency fluctuation. it may dollar seems like turn around, and that the trade that people will get into with low yields in places like germany and japan. guy: the yield are quite we saw some ira, week pmi data out of europe today. the french number was week. --weak. an italian number. -- and the italian number. you think we're starting to get close to pricing out? nothe data that cannot was very good, the lowest in 18 months. came out washat not very good, the lowest in 18 months. you have rates going down. but i think importantly you have rate expectations in the out years going down which is why you see curve flattening. that's why ten-year yields

welcome to do that we have business i want to get jones good to have you with us u.s. treasury secretary stephen roach and has phoned the heads of the country's six largest banks over the weekend to discuss steps to kamarck it after a week of dramatic losses on wall street nugent called the chief executives of goldman sachs bank of america j.p. morgan chase morgan stanley citi group and wells fargo who according to a statement confirmed that they have ample liquidity available for land lending the calls came as u.s. stock markets experienced their worst week since the two thousand and eight financial crisis uncertainty over the partial government shutdown has added to concerns key in the system.

tweet @adamrsteigert adam steigert works for the us treasury department.mployee for 11 years, and hasn't been paid for nearly three weeks. he posted this photo of every penny he and his wife now have to their name to pay the bills. here's a tweet from a court reporter in new york: "among the many federal employees who likely won't get their paycheck on friday: the us marshals guarding el chapo", the infamous mexican drug lord who's on trial in new york right now. tara, how are the government workers dealing with this? it applies considerable political pressure? vice president prince talk today about the 8000 federal workers who are not receiving their paycheques and how important it is to them in they are quipping a different way. so is one of them. washington is a government town and a lot of the people here have been affected by the fact that the paycheques are not coming into a regular way and a local radio station now has a contest committee are seen station now has a contest committee are seen it before it already and you can call up and had a chance

in a lot of work has gone on to get us here, the treasury and the irs have been working diligently and swiftly to ensure taxpayers have the information that they need. in a little over a year, they have put out 16 proposed regulations, to final regulations, 45 notices, 21 revenue procedures, and updated countless forms, publications, and other guidance. all of this geared towards implementing the law and addressing taxpayers questions. right out of the gate, treasury and irs went to work updating the annual withholding tables so taxpayers could immediately begin seeing the benefits of lower taxes in their paychecks. now, of course whether a taxpayer had less or more withheld from the check is not the final word on whether one received a tax cut. also, due to changes in withholding, smaller or larger refund than usual may not tell the whole story. i encourage taxpayers to compare the 2019 tax return with that of the previous year to see the difference. only then will they be able to be sure whether it benefited did not benefit from the tax cut. at the end of the day, the vast majority o

chinese consumers that said the latest reports on trade negotiations show the secretary of treasury stephen using the term to to lower or cancel charge of some chinese products as a way to calm the markets and give an incentive to china but it's true that the department of treasury has denied these claims so far and we have to point out shut down day twenty seven now the argument that this could be hurting the economy i read a prospect is that. in the grand scheme of things while in our one tenth of a percent a week it raised from the u.s. economy since the shutdown is started does not seem march but if you start adding weeks it starts taking a toll on confidence on a specific operation such as i.p.o. revisions or regulations on financial markets a troubled tourism at a time that freezing temperatures also could a slowdown in economic activity that's why recession reese are higher than normal and even if most of them increase significantly forward to two thousand and twenty just a contraction in the first quarter of this year is becoming a real concern. for us thank you very much indeed. now it w

treasury secretary steven mnuchin has a potential conflict of interest. let's discuss with congresswoman jackie speier and loyloyd dog g. thank you for joining us. easury secretary steve mnuchin led the effort to lift these sanctions but you say he should have recused himself from the deliberations, why is that? >> because he was engaged in selling a part of his hollywood studio to a man by the name of leona leonard, a russian oligarch. so for that reason alone, he should have recused himself. what's more concerning, however, is that the whole effort to first impose sanctions and lift them was a whole sham. to ex pepand the time and how m deripaska has an interest, if you count his wife, father in law, foundation, it's over 50%. >> since you mentioned blavatnik, let me read this. this is the treasury department responding to the letter you wrote mnuchin. here is what they say. we received the letter from representative jackie speier and had no relationship with mr. blavatnik and any suggestion of a conflict of interest is baseless. >> it's interesting. we were talking about blavat blavatnik's company and there was a direct purchase by the company

so or that the treasury department use its full leverage in this negotiation. i am also concerned, mr. speaker, that mr. deripaska would receive massive financial benefit from this deal. this is supposed to be a sanction. massive financial benefit. nearly unprecedented for a sanctioned entity. mr. speaker, i hope our action today will force the treasury department to engage more thoroughly with congress on explaining its actions on this deal and to seek a better one. i think their intent was an honest intent. doubtful that they achieved it. i therefore urged my colleague to join me and hopefully in a bipartisan way supporting this resolution. i call on the senate to reconsider its position and i yield back the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the majority -- the majority leader yields back. the gentleman from new york is recognized. mr. engel: may i inquire of the gentleman from texas if he's prepared to close? mr. mccaul: i have no other speakers and yes i'm prepared to close. mr. engel: then i reserve. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from n

economic forum in davos switzerland the cancellation comes amid the turmoil of the posh and us government shutdown a treasury secretary steve newton was to have been part of the u.s. delegation well. prince philip the husband of britain's queen elizabeth escaped unhurt when this guy was involved in a collision with another car landrover he was driving in overturned and there the royal estate of sandringham in eastern england the ninety seven year old prince was last seen in public at the wedding of prince harry and meghan mockers last may. not spin a ruler coaster for a week for british politics with the historic defeat of the prime minister's briggs a deal and then how government narrowly surviving a no confidence motion and heading into the weekend the situation remains in deadlock may we're presenting a plan b. next week so what's next for britain did a. short a sick fall some unexpected on says. london business as usual but wait isn't there something oh yeah breaks it for tonight of years now we journalists have followed the brits to debate parliament vote again and again and we spoke to an analyst after

us a seventy. philip to separate the treasury board . us veterans who come back from war often tell the same stories. were going after the people who were killing civilians they were not interested in the wellbeing of their own soldiers either there already is several generations of them so i just got this memo from the circulated branches off that says we're going to attack and destroy the government and in seven countries in five years americans pay for the wars with their money others with their lives if we were willing to go into harm's way and willing to risk being killed for a war surely we can risk some discomfort for an easy for. this hour's headlines stories days before withdrawing from a line marker arms control agreement the us tonight says that it's going to start producing a new there are more you can learn. sanctions on assassination your best will and president claims donald trump hits on him as the crisis head country the supreme court's launches a criminal investigation into the u.s. by op.

us. the treasury department needs to sell a boatload of securities to pay america's bills. chief business correspondent christine romans has more. >> eye-popping numbers here. for the second year in a row the u.s. treasury will borrow at least a trillion dollars to pay the bills. the government is spending way more than it takes in in this strong economy. the same year a new tax law cut taxes for business, cutting into tax revenue, the u.s. deficit rose 17% to the highest in six years. oh, yeah, we have to spend big to service the trillions in debt we have already. the u.s. treasury borrough moa more. they borrowed the most since 2010, more than double what they borrowed. the u.s. is tied up in a trade war with its biggest foreign creditor china. they held $1.1 trillion in u.s. treasury bonds. outrage over deficits during the obama years is nonexistent today. and americans care less. just 48% of americans say cutting the deficit should be a top priority for the president and congress. whoever will be running in 2020, all the promises they are making, they have less wiggle r

us now from washington with more. former federal reserve board governor and former deputy u.s. treasuryrrently a reubenstein fellow at duke law sarah, thanks for joining us today. >> happy to be here. >> a lot of expectation that we're not going to get a rate increase today, which really puts two other things squarely in focus balance sheet reduction and the path for future rate hikes to that second point, i think, let's start there, first what would you anticipate in terms of the language and the policy statement that is released today >> so it's actually a tricky kind of maneuver to make today and you're exactly right, morgan, that the language of that statement is going to signal, really, what kind of pace the fmoc is going to be on for structuring and timing those two or one remaining federal funds rate increases so it's tricky, though, because, of course, if the fed does a lot of, you know, happy talk and actually paints picture -- paints the picture in a way that's too rosy, then i think people are going to get possibly confused and surprised regarding when and if those fed funds

a lot of work has gone on to get us here. treasury and the i.r.s. have been working diligently and swiftly to ensure taxpayers have the information that they need. in a little over a year, they have put out 16 proposed regulations, two final regulations, 45 notices, 21 revenue procedures, and updated countless forms, publications, and other guidance. all of this geared towards implementing the law and addressing taxpayers' questions. right out of the gate, treasury and i.r.s. went to work updating the annual with holding tables so taxpayers could immediately begin seeing the benefits of lower taxes in their paychecks. now, of course, whether a taxpayer had less or more withheld from the check is not the final word on whether one received a tax cut. also, due to changes in with holding, a smaller or larger refund than usual may not tell the whole story. i encourage taxpayers to compare their 2019 tax return with that of the previous year to see the difference. only then will they be able to be absolutely sure whether they benefited off didn't benefit

in return they oblige us by uying our treasury i.o.u.'s. brian: that's how china owns $1 trillion and japan owns $1 trillion? james: isn't that lovely? that's a great system. bear in mind, the cost of producing these dollars is nothing. the cost of making things, that's not insubstantial, right? o people are -- if you are a calamityy -- calamity howler, if they say, jim, will you tell us more slowly what's wrong with this? it's a great system, right? it's great system until our creditors decide they want no more part of it. the united states -- it's not as if we have been doing this without cost or without a bump in the road these 200 or whatever years. we defaulted -- we, the american people, defaulted on our debts in 1814. of course, the british just burned washington. that was a fact. we defaulted in 1933. we refused to pay gold $4 as promised at a certain rate. defaulted again promising but not delivering to pay gold $4 in 1971. and i say we defaulted during the 1970's by submitting to an -- a very lent inflation that reduced the purcha

. >> joining us today we have a few of our biggest fans, secretary of the treasury steve mnuchkin. where's steve? never make your team that i can

before the financial crisis was in 1995 when president clinton and secretary of the treasury ruben figured out how to use it to bail out mexico. but it got a wholly novel application in 2008 in september as the money market funds were in distress. the treasury figured out a way to use this pool of money to guarantee money market funds , o guarantee their value would not fall below par. so it very rapidly worked up this program. it sort of said, hey, hey, this is to make sure the exchange rates don't fluctuate too bad because if our economy goes in the tube, that sure will create some exchange rate disruptions, you know. they sort of barely managed to keep a straight face while saying that. but the program they created was extraordinarily successful. it never paid out a dime because just having the guarantee there stabilized the markets. it actually brought in a profit. things that succeed don't tend to get so many political enemies. there is a good chance that none of you in the room ever even heard about this or have thought about it in many years, anyway. congress was somewhat mini-fridg miffed that th

what does it tell us that the treasury department quickly denied the report?reasury department is saying the treasury secretary mnuchin who is said to be favoring rolling back these the markets,se that neither he nor robert lighthizer, the trade representative who the story said was more reluctant, that either had made decisions about tariffs or the ongoing negotiations with china. it was a very quick, strongly and it isial interesting you didn't only refer to the tariffs, but the whole negotiations saying nothing has been decided. also, the treasury department is saying talks will continue. we still have the march 1 deadline that has -- both china and the u.s. agreed to. president trump said he will raise tariffs further beyond what they are now if the two sides don't come to some brought trade deal by then. we have china saying their vice premier, one of the leaders of the talks on the china side, will be going to the u.s. for negotiations. treasury saying negotiations are wide open and tariffs are not at the table at this point that off the table at this po

the president treasury secretary and the commerce secretary, president's top economic advisor and advis advisor. they will be joined by their counterparts from china along with senior ushe expects significant progress to be made but however the key issues appear to still remain. >> the critical issues that we talked about is market access and making sure there are not forced transfer of technology and we have a mechanism that when we reach an agreement we can monitor this agreement and that they will live up to it. reporter: important to note the tariffs between the united states and china are still in effect. the mnuchin was noncommittal on if those could be removed anytime soon. >> the president has not made any decisions on that and no recommendations from the economic team on that yet. the first step is to make sure we get a good agreement and when we get a good agreement will make a recommendation and he will consider that. reporter: top negotiator for china is the vice premier he will be meeting with president trump we are told at some point over the upcoming days. maria. maria: it will be hard to get them to change something. by the way, it might be too late. a

there might be some discussion of lifting some or all of the tariffs which the us has imposed on chinese imports, the treasurythis, yet market is still rising. well, it is kind of counter to what mrtrump has said well, it is kind of counter to what mr trump has said he wants to do, so ican imagine mr trump has said he wants to do, so i can imagine there is lots of discussions of this sort, to do with what would be best for the economy, which is counter to what mr trump says, and that is probably why they are distancing themselves. it would be interesting to know what happens to the people named here once this headline hits, because again, there isa headline hits, because again, there is a slight revolving door for those who do not please the president. is a slight revolving door for those who do not please the presidentlj am who do not please the president.” am not sure it could go any faster, could it? it would be going off its wheels if it goes any faster over washington. but yes, you are right. it is very difficult to know, to separate fact from fiction when it comes to washington these days. and with the

us secretary of state mike pompeo and treasury secretary stephen mnuchin are still expected to attend and political leaders in the swiss ski resort. angry shareholders of the retail store debenhams have forced the chief executive and chairman off the board of the struggling retailer — in a move led by billionaire sports direct owner mike ashley. despite the coup — the company says ceo sergio bucher will remain in his role and that it has full confidence in his plans to turn around the business. it comes as the department store chain revealed another plunge in sales. and now — what's trending in the business news this morning. 0n wired — lawsuit claims google covered up sexual misconduct. a shareholder lawsuit filed thursday claims that alphabet‘s board of directors, including larry page, sergey brin, and eric schmidt, covered up sexual harassment by numerous google executives. from business insider — ford's shuttle—van company chariot is shutting down this march. the car giant paid $65 million for the startup in 2014 — which allows you to book seats on a shuttle bus via an app. it lau

traditionally it's been an american picked by the us with the treasury department taking the lead. said to the bbc that they look forward to working with governors to appoint a successor but many countries are unhappy with this. they would like to see someone who is not an american lead to what is essentially a global lender to reflect perhaps the needs of some of the countries. i remember the interviews he gave when he took on the job, talked about how it was a huge moment in his career and he was a man who sounded like he wanted to serve out his term. i had the chance to talk to him many times both about the initiatives he was leading but also to talk to people at the bank and some of what i am hearing is he feels satisfied with the direction that he now pointed the fund in and feels ready for the next chapter, that this was perhaps an opportunity that this was perhaps an opportunity that was too good to mess. we don't yet know the name of the firm he will bejoining, the yet know the name of the firm he will be joining, the world yet know the name of the firm he will bejoining, t

in return, they oblige us by buying our treasury iou's. brian: that is why japan owns $1 trillion and china owns $1 rillion of our debt. james: the cost of making things is not insubstantial. if you are a calamity howler, as they say, disparagingly, about the debt, they say, can you tell me what is wrong with this? it is a great system until our creditors decide they want no more part of it. is not as if we have been doing this without cost or without a bump in the road. we defaulted on our debts in 1814. the british just burned ashington. we defaulted in 1933. we refused to pay gold for dollars as promised. we defaulted again, promising but not delivering, in 1971. i say we defaulted in the 1970's by submitting to a virulent inflation that reduced the purchasing power of the dollars with which we serviced debts, much to the disadvantage of our lenders. in the french revolution, there was a chap who was a count of some kind, who said, i would sooner have a mortgage on a garden than a loan to a government. he meant that governments are amor

this after a report said the us could consider lowering tariffs on chinese goods as both countries continue trade negotiations, that idea floated by treasuryteve mnuchin according to the article but there was some pushback from robert lightheiser, us trade representative but a spokesperson confirming neither secretary steve mnuchin nor ambassador lightheiser have made any recommendations with respect to tariffs. a chinese negotiator is expected to be back in washington dc at the end of january to continue with these discussions. futures are pointing higher, continuing on yesterday's gains. todd: equally as series, the big mac looking over its shoulder. >> reporter: big mac, watch out. burger king, new big king xl coming for you. this is a new burger that outsiders the competition. it looks similar to the big mac but the big king has 175% more beef than the big mac according to burger king and it doesn't have that third bun you find in the big mac. if you want to put both of these to the test, see which one you like better, do it quickly because the big king xl is only available for a limited time. todd: can i do a little -- a little inside

that dodd-frank act said that in the future, this extraordinary with the only be used explicit approval of the treasury secretary. not have been a significant constraint during crisis.t chairman bernanke and secretary treasury and geithner worked hand in glove together. theit does ensure that political branches would have the chance to give the ultimate whether to use these powers. next one -- there it is. something called the exchange stabilization fund. and it was basically created to give the united states some shadowy currency warriors that would go out into -- could go into the external exchange market and make sure that the rapidly devalued. that was created in a different era, when, you know, we were trying to maintain the gold standard. and then in the woods era, when was pegged against gold, it's not really clear exactly what this fund should be that we are in an era of floating exchange rates. there.s it's many billions of dollars, billions of dollars and it's self-financing, with very little transparency about how it operates. it's been repurposed in many ways over the years to conduct forei