Transcripts For BLOOMBERG Bloomberg Best 20240714

Defense because we are going to bring unparalleled technology. Chinese tech giant huawei remains under a microscope. Saying investors should worry about tariffs. Not seen tariffs since the 1930s. There is no playbook for this. That tradeope tensions vanish. We may combine various monetary tools. Its all straight ahead on bloomberg best. Hello and welcome. Im nejra cehic. This is your weekly review of the most important is in his news, analysis, and Business News and analysis from around the world. Global markets breathed a sigh of relief on monday after President Trump announced he would not impose a set of threatened tariffs on mexico. Mexico has won a reprieve after donald trump indefinitely suspended his plans for tariffs. Trump also about mexico and would soon make large agricultural purchases from the u. S. How did he follow up on the announcement he is not imposing tariffs on mexico . It raises a few questions. After that announcement, he came out in red mexico was going to make some large agricultural purchases, although mexican officials said that that really had not been discussed at the talks in washington. President trump than a amended that saying at the appropriate time they would be making an announcement about a deal with mexico. Why are the mexicans denying it then . I dont think they will be denying it. And theiming of this u. S. Announced the threat of tariffs the previous thursday on deal wasday the usmca sent to the Senate Raises concerns about analysts about how committed the u. S. Is to with even theugh its closestth partner and ally, as in the case with mexico. President trump threatening to raise tariffs on china if president xi jinping refuses to me. This is an attempted escalation to president ix. President xi. He wants the meeting. He wants the meeting. President trump doubling down yesterday. China for their part said in a statement from their China Foreign ministry folks, we have noticed the u. S. Publicly stated many times that it looks forward to arranging a meeting between the chinese and the u. S. President on the sidelines of have20 summit. If we this information, we will release it in due time. Most that will be done as they will decide it is worth , but i dont think is a very0 aside likely place for the details of the 2500page agreement to be worked out. That needs to be in a Conference Room with detailed technical people. Demonstrators in hong kong blocking one of the main arteries into the federal Business District as they protest against the governments controversial extradition legislation. What is the latest . There are tens of thousands of protesters who have flooded onto the road. This is extremely reminiscent of what happened during the 2014 occupied central protest, except theres one big difference this crowd is very, very angry. An extremely ominous looking crowd, too. Looks like todays color is black as opposed to the white that was worn as a symbol of justice during the protests that took place in hong kong sunday went up to one Million People came out, although that number is said to be only 240,000, which is still significant. It shows the extent of the opposition to the bill to be discussed later today. Protesters came today wanting this bill, this extradition policy that they very much oppose, to be called off. That did not happen, and they say they are staying until that happens. They have tried to charge forward, the police responded, as you can see in those pictures, with tear gas, with water cannons, with pepper spray. What is causing this, though, is this extradition policy that is opposed by large swaths of hong kong, including the this in his community and the legal community, which says that if this is past, which would allow extradition to china, that it would effectively complicate things that would make it almost impossible to maintain the framework of the one country two systems framework which has allowed hong kong to become today a Major International financial help. How do the chinese react next . How do authorities in hong kong react next . The leader of hong kong who earlier today gave a tearful interview to tv pledging to commit herself to this law has called for calm. Of wiggle little bit room. It is possible that they will pause. In my opinion, the best scenario is for carrie lam to pull this legislation sooner and from mylater place in beijing, do so before donald trump starts tweeting about it. The u. S. Navy says two tankers have been damaged in an incident in the strait of hormuz. The operator described the incident as a suspected attack. How bad can this become . From the point of view of the oil markets, we could see that continuing. Obviously, on a human level, this is a big risk. If there are tankers traveling for allthe persian gulf kinds of cargo, but particularly for the worlds oil supply, it is a huge risk both to shipping, to the sailors, and then to Global Oil Markets here. What happened and what did it do to the markets . Oil spiked by a lot. I was surprised he did not spike more. We did see a rally at some point but backed off that. Supposedly there were two supposedly attacked with a were bursting on fire. You can see that from iranian tv. Those pictures pretty stark. The question is who. The United States government things the government of the iranian republic is responsible for the attacks in oman. The u. S. Released a video they say shows the country was involved. Tehran denies the allegation. U. S. Central command sought to calm tensions saying war with iran would not be in our strategic interests. Isthere any doubt that iran behind this . There is considerable doubt. I think its not clear exactly what has happened. I think the consensus in washington and it seems london the most likely player to have committed this act, but it is still unclear what happened. The finger of suspicion is falling on iran and there are good reasons for that, i think we are a long way from knowing what happened here. What ramifications will this zhou put june Political Tension with iran have on the u. S. Market this geopolitical have onhave with iran the u. S. Market . Iran has commonly been forled black swan potential risk. People have been worried about iran for a long time. Generally speaking, those worries have not materialized. I tend to think these things that overblown because it is iran and you sort of hear the words and generally speaking, it does not pan out as badly us some of the fears and nightmares may suggest. We heard from the president himself. What does that mean for further u. S. Response . Potential additional sanctions. Both secretary of state pompeo and President Trump reiterating the u. S. Believes the iranians. Re responsible bring them tog to the negotiating table to try to with draw their nuclear ambitions. Still ahead as we review the leads theboj governor list of exclusive conversations from the g20 finance meeting in japan. Meeting. Egendary and more of the weeks top business headlines are President Trump presses the fed to bring down rates and the latest inflation data may give them another nudge. I think that is what what is happening is a strong dollar is weighing on the pace of core goods inflation. Nejra this is bloomberg. Nejra this is bloomberg best. In china, a feast of Economic Data gave investors plenty to digest. Chinese imports perform worse than expected as the trade standoff with the u. S. Intensifies. Surprise numbers on the trade front out of china. Up one point 1 in the month of may. We got a drop of almost. 4. In terms of imports, those slumped 8. 5 percent. Again, well off the forecast. At that point, the import number showed weaker domestic demand. The Trump Administration very focused on trying to reduce the deficit it has with china and the set a time when the trade representative is weighing options around the potential of additional tariffs. The pressure continuing to rise in may. Overall, the Consumer Price line ticked up 2. 7 , in with forecasts, but again, this is the highest tick up in terms of Consumer Prices we have seen for 15 months. In terms of producer prices, those softened, zero. 6 , so there is concern, of course, about the erosion of corporate profit, but there will be concerns we could be looking at the specter of deflation for chinas factory sector at a time you already have pressure from the trade war. The impact from the u. S. Trade war beginning to show up in data here. Sales was the bright spot, growing 8. 6 . What do you make of it . Daca i think the data came in line with a weakening economy, so i dont think it was a surprise. Policy china still has room. Certainly they can still cut reserve requirements. They are very high, but i dont think they are going to do an allout stimulus. Lets talk a little bit about what is happening with the u. K. Conomy manufacturing outputs falling in april. Economic growth fell. 3 in the last three months. How much of this is a hangover from stockpiling and all those other factors that seem to give the economy a boost . Are you seeing that fading now . Exactly right. These are not great figures. Ofs is largely an unwind what we saw in the first quarter. There was a lot of stockpiling then. We had 25 growth in the first quarter, which was more than expected, but now we are seeing that unwind. President trump has gone after the fed again, complaining about what he sees as high Interest Rates, tweeting out this morning saying the fed is really making a mistake, the rates are just not low enough. Could he be right, in fact . Theres a piece on the bloomberg theres a piece on the bloomberg that if you look at purchasing power parity, the euro is actually two week compared to the dollar. What is going on internationally and what is currencies tends not to have as big an impact on the u. S. Economy as it does a lot of others, primarily because most of our economy is not exportbased or even import based, as much as the president might lead might like to think so. I think the president is saying these things for political reasons. He needs a scapegoat in case the economy does fall down and he wants to blame the fed as opposed to beijing are cycles or the on geoPolitical Tensions he creates. It still looks to me like sign for the fed. What is wrong with 2 . The fed talking about transient sectors weighing on the days of core inflation. This transitory effect actually normalized in the may report, but inflation is still quite tepid, so it will become a thele bit harder to defend transitory nature of week at a press conference next week. I think what is happening is weighingrong dollar is on the pace of core goods , and that is what really shows in the overall picture for inflation right now. Says he ist trump considering using u. S. Sanctions to stop construction of the gas pipeline between russia and germany, echoing previous threats. He said he is protecting germany from russia because russia is getting billions of dollars from germany. Is he really upping the ante . There are two things owing on. One, there is bipartisan support. A republican senator and democratic senator drafted the bill. Of course, that will have a domino effect for anyone working on the project, which is supposed to be done by the end of the year, which you mentioned, but looks like it will be delayed. This is the u. S. Wanting to get into that market. Freedom gas, molecules of u. S. Freedom. Boris johnson took a huge lead in the race to become britains next Prime Minister members of parliament held their first round of voting. Seven candidates will go on to the second round in the quest to succeed theresa may. Was there anything in todays numbers that caused anybody to hold . The lead just how big was for Boris Johnson and how that has left the rest, if you like, of trading so far behind. Number two at the moment is jeremy hunt, the foreign. Ecretary i think it is worth pointing out that it could still go wrong for Boris Johnson. Will be another round. More candidates will be eliminated, and the final two will go to the conservative grassroots. They low for us, they love brexit and they are not keen on a no deal brexit. As we go to that phase of the campaign, expect the rhetoric to shifted it. The Swiss National bank battles with ultraloose monetary policy, but the township to the Global Economy and the ship by other banks means president Thomas Morton is likely to see lower rates for some time. If you were to cut rates, would you expect to see pushback from the Financial Sector . They are not happy now. It is now it is not our task to make the banks happy. Euro area finance ministers itsurging italy to respect debt pledges, adding that verbal assurances will not cut it this time. It seems your wants to see more action and less talk. That is exactly it. Finance ministers yesterday agreed with the european commissioner. They think italy needs to do pile. O bring down that and they need to do that quickly to avert the financial penalty that could happen if they do not do that. They believe there will be a compromise made by the end of the year that can avoid that penalty, but we understand sources close to the prime Ministry Said he does not bring anything new to the table. Of this weeks mass protest in hong kong are calling for more demonstrations on sunday. Various groups are urging the government to withdraw the controversial extradition bill and pull public discussions. I think the key is we are in towardf a low lull the weekend. Sos is a city of commerce, you are hearing from the hong kong General Chamber of commerce with a statement urging the chief executive to engage in meaningful dialogue with the public. Does that mean the government will change its tony . So far, not yet. Nejra this is bloomberg best. Finance ministers and central bankers from the Worlds Largest this weekt in japan in advance of the g20 summit later this month. Among the most distant with the bank of japan governor who sat down for an exclusive discussion with Kathleen Hays. He says japans economy is in good shape despite the pressure onnegative Interest Rates the banking sector. He insists he still has tools to deploy in the event of a downturn. I would say we have to carefully monitor the situation if we continue or even if we further. Strengthen kathleen in a sense you are saying you are really willing to take on the risk of extraordinary stimulus debt if you need to stimulate the economy. , ines, but at the same time order to avoid as much is possible that affect, we may combine various monetary tools to reduce that sort of dangerous side effect. Big picture do you still all the capacity to show those people who say the boj cannot do anything that you can do something big, even something new . I think so. Options include negatively reducing the interest rate, to anr committing increase of the Monetary Base and so on and so forth. Options i think we can still utilize if necessary. How to use and how these could on theined depends , price, and financial conditions, but, yes, like mario think we can do these things if necessary. We will have more exclusive interviews from g20 finance leaders coming up. Plus, more of the weeks top business headlines including apples backup plan to produce iphones outside china. All those traits are already in process. The question is how much burden how much further they are willing to go. I think they are all going to keep going a long way. This is bloomberg best. Time to revisit more exclusive interviews from the g20 finance meeting in fukuoka, japan. Lets begin with the bank of italy governor, who assured Kathleen Hays that the ecb would take whatever policy steps are necessary to sustain growth in the euro zone. The objective is, in this demand,ndinhand with which is what the Federal Reserve is pursuing in their mandate. We dont have a dual mandate, but it is clear that the revival of inflation towards our priced ability measure and an increasing domestic demand go handinhand. So as long as the u. S. China trade war is unresolved, as long as this uncertainty hangs over businesses, consumers, and financial markets, that at the very least the ecb will maintain the current level of stimulus, even if it doesnt take these additional steps to add more . I think this stands is very clear. There is no question. We call for other policies to complement the ecb fiscal policy in this case. That therewe know are differences across countries, but the countries which have fiscal space are called for helping on the side. It is mostly an issue of composition of public expenditures. Things somehow do not go how it is predicted, we will certainly act. There is no question. We all hope that the trade tensions will vanish, especially because there is an agreement that could be reached between the United States and china. This would be very helpful. If we look at the growth of the world economy, we see that these pending questions are having a real impact on the development of the world. This problem could be solved, it would be a solution. The euro area and euro zone leaders are looking at launching some kind of order because they are falling out of components on their budget. Was that discussed here at the g20 . It to go where you expect it to go . Other and we each have some experience i think it was very wise how they acted at the beginning of last year following the regulations and rules that we have, giving italy the chance to adopt to this. I think this will be the way, how we could proceed. Difficult moment with our relations with china. Course ourowing of extradition agreement with the United States in our approach, which is the right way for us to move forward. We think it is entirely unjust for china to be in christening canadian citizen to be imprisoning canadian citizens and not helpful in any way with our longterm explanation. Do you have any indication that President Trumps decision to increase the tariffs on china have you noticed that china has toughened its stance against canada, less receptive to talk about these important issues surrounding huawei since that happened . I dont know if i want to say i can see because in terms of that part of the relationship. Certainly we have seen some pretty difficult issues the slowdown of our canola exports thats a very big export from canada to china thats a problem. We are obviously concerned that ,hina would expand this action which we think is not beneficial for either of our economies. We are hopeful we can make progress but we dont really have a path and this entire issue between the United States and china is something we will help to move forward. Morneau was not the only bloomberg tv guest thinking about huawei this week. Another says european consumers shouldnt be concerned that a global focus on security will slow down the rollout of 5g technology. He spoke exclusively with Caroline Hyde in london. Europeant think on the level there will be any delays based on the situation with regard to security. If any there might be delays on the accounts of the sector not being available or the economic state not making sense. We have Technical Solutions should you want to swap out, and they are all doable. When it comes to security, when it comes to providers it is a relevant, realistic risk, do you think . The concern people are expressing is that it will be Critical National infrastructure. The focus on security will be there no matter what. It has to be there. The second is, where is the Intelligence Network . Is it in the core network, at the edge . There is no one particular place where intelligence fits. And this will be used for industrial networks. We get all this talk about worries around security, and i think that makes sense. It is Critical National infrastructure, you will have industrial 5g networks used for a lot of industries as well as for carriers that will also use networks to deploy industrial applications. That concern is valid and i think security can be protected. Meanwhile, back on wall street, Paul Tudor Jones believes the fed is going to cut rates, and he has a playbook in place for investors, but he is also worried that tariffs could tip the u. S. Economy into recession. He explained his outlook and his strategy to vonnie quinn. Theres rate cut 101. Initially, at least long fixed income, property short the dollar long gold. Thats what you doing to the first rate cut. They are already trading, all of those trees are already in process. The question is how much further they will go to the first rate cut. I think they will all keep going a long way. So you think in 2019 we could be 25 basis points to go . On theuch of it depends tariffs, how far we go with tariffs. Remember, this right cycle was cut short. We never really got the rates that we got historically to end an economic cycle. They were cut short because of the tariffs. We really have to see the impact that they are going to have and whether this next round of tariffs gets implemented, thats a huge deal. If they get implemented, if we go to the 500 billion that i think certainly is possible, that could tip us into recession. Weve never seen anything like this in 75 years. We havent seen tariffs since 1929. You have this interconnected, Global Economy, that for the first time in 75 years, we are seeing free trade, not being expanded, but being diminished. We just dont know, because we havent stress tested the system yet, we just dont know what the impact will be. I more conservative so i think it will have a bigger impact economically then what the market thinks. It could possibly push us into a recession. Best. Is bloomberg still plenty of important Business News to review from the week just past, including some major m a activity. Lets start with the deal that combined to u. S. Aerospace defense giants. United technologies and raytheon have agreed to merge in the second largest merger in the world, second only to boeing. Explain why this deal makes so much sense. As we see with the planned and theof otis, acquisition here of raytheon, United Technologies Ceo Greg Hayes is building an Aerospace Defense behemoth. We estimate combined revenue of about 80 billion next year, which makes it second only to boeing. It will be the second largest defense prime contractor to the u. S. Government behind lockheed martin. What are you going to have to do in terms of committing to government that its the deal for america . There will be three points i would make to the administration. One is this is good for america, good for defense. We will bring unparalleled technology. We will also save the government money. We have 1 billion of synergies, half of it goes to the dod with costreduction on contracts. Half 1 billion per year every year. Third, we will create a ton of jobs. Buy sforce agreeing to for 15. 3 billion in stock. Its the biggest deal in salesforce history, and the companys first major push into analytic software. What does it add to salesforces suite of offerings . Its a pretty big premium to the friday closing price. This is a company with 86,000 customers around the world. It makes Business Intelligence software. But it also has distinction because it is able to visualize that data in a way thats easy to understand. There were lots of charts and dashboards, and it is something that lots of businesses use. This is an opportunity to try to show salesforces customers all of the data about their consumers in an easy way so they can make better decisions and then possibly sell more to those consumers. Shares were the focus in australia after they made an offer for network provider. It would be a 27 premium and comes a week after a swedish firm walked away from earlier proposals. What rationale for agl getting into telecom . Its a fascinating move. Its the first one i can think of, an Australian Energy Company Moving into this tech space. I think its an acknowledgment that Going Forward energy will be tech driven. What we have most really it is well documented, that its a sunny country, which has given them it has given them access to controlling their own energy needs, and we have the apps in the smart home systems, the treasure trove of data that agl can get access to, which is valuable to them. What they would get is a broadband based provider that carries that data. The synergies are there. Closed a sale in hong kong, learning that it has two banks to leave the plant. What more do we know . What we have been told is that alibaba could file for a secondary listing in hong kong. They have chosen cicc and Credit Suisse as their leader bank. That doesnt mean they are not talking to more banks and bringing on more at a later stage. For cicc, its obviously a nobrainer, because they own a firm, andhis chinese for Credit Suisse they were very veryved in the 2014 ipo, familiar with alibabas business. Bloomberg has learned that alibaba has filed confidentially for a secondary listing in hong kong, moving closer to what is potentially the citys biggest share sale since 2010. Run us through what we know now. According to sources, they could raise as much as 20 billion. The target has not been finalized yet. But alibaba isnt short of any cash. They had 30 billion in cash as of march, but it does boost liquidity and diversify funding since thing went public in that monster ipo in 2014. They have diversified in logistics, entertainment, delivery. That has put pressure on margins, and it could raise funds for this costly subsidy war. Is making contingency plans to deal with an escalating trade war between the u. S. And china. Foxconn, the iphone makers primary manufacturing partner, says it has the capacity to make u. S. Market bound iphones outside of china if necessary. India, as i understand it, is one of the places, among others. This does not seem to be what donald trump has in mind, to move from one low cost country to another. Another. Thats right. Taiwan is another major location foxconn could move to. This is the reality of the Global Supply chain for smartphone components. Situation where these Multinational Companies can adjust with whats happening on the ground. In particular for foxconn and u. S. Bound iphones, it would be quite a heavy lift to get this done, but it would be possible. British lawmakers have quizzed always Global Cybersecurity offers are, as they allow the Chinese Government to have a role in the next generation broadband networks. What were the highlights of this hearing . This is about the ongoing debate about the role they should be playing in the uks Nextgeneration Network infrastructure. There were some very tense moments during this hearing. Both parties really grilled this executive, and even accused him of being a moral vacuum when he explained it is not their role to decide what laws are right and wrong, but that they will follow any country as long as they operate within the country. The former Prime Minister had decided that they should be allowed to provide at least some part of the uks 5g network, but there are other candidates that are taking a much stronger negative stance toward it. It will be up to the next leader to decide what role they are going to play. Of states are suing to block tmobiles proposed takeover on antitrust grounds, putting pressure on the Justice Department as it nears a final decision of a merger of the wireless carriers. What can we expect next . Weve seen the chairman of the fcc support the deal. Right. This is almost unheard of, for the states to move ahead of figure loretto regulars a federal regulators. Afterc endorsed the deal the companies agreed to some concessions. It looks like this may be on the way to approvals, so now with the state suing, it is all up in the air. It is now going to be up to a federal judge to decide to block it. The 20 year marriage with nissan may be in trouble. The implosion of the french carmakers deal with Fiat Chrysler has brought in the open. The japanese carmakers reluctant says it is one reason for the deal, and francis finance ministers spoke in tokyo this morning, saying he still sees the verdure is a great opportunity. The role of the state as shareholder is to make sure we respect our priorities, and our priority is to strengthen the alliance. On one side, clearly fiat is blaming the french government for the withdrawal of the proposal, because the french governor kept on asking for more time to decide, and they thought fiat was clearly a sign the french government is in the driving seat and fiat doesnt want to meddle with the french government. The other side we saw over the caused in future of the alliance, clearly the situation at the moment is unclear, and fiat was not back at the table. Elon musk has addressed tesla critics, saying there no problem with demand, and that it is financially insane to buy anything other than an electric car. The annual Shareholder Meeting has wrapped up, in his optimism pushed the stock higher. What were the Key Takeaways from the tesla meeting . It was an interesting meeting. Elon musk addressed the issue of demand head on, assuring shareholders there was no demand problem, that they are selling every car they can make, and that this whole idea that demand has slowed or softened is not true. He says if you are looking toward the future, it would be financially insane to buy anything but an electric vehicle. Technology, the vp sounded very optimistic about progress on the china gige factory. Broadcom tumbling in afterhours trading after the chipmaker cut its for your revenue outlook. It also reported technical revenue that missed projections as it continues to be caught in the crosshairs of the escalating u. S. China trade war. Almost half of their revenue was linked to china last year, with wildly in particular accounting for 5. 3 of sales. How much does this have to do with huawei and china at large . This company is in the crosshairs, arguably the best example of a Company Based in the u. S. That is part of this Global Supply chain, even stuff that isnt going into the china market and staying there and is going to europe, is them saying the worst Case Scenario is absolutely true, and by the way we have this giant customer that isnt ordering anymore. Open for trading at 36 per share. 17 ,another leg higher, up raising more than 1 billion in what was already an upside offering. A very successful ipo. It grew by more than 1 billion last year. How do you intend to grow that . Investors will be looking for that. Are active customers spend more and more, our private brands are getting healthier. We have a lot more to do, a lot more customers to add, and really continue the Value Proposition weve been on. We have a great function to show you u. S. Financial condition, fcon, which shows you a number of things like the libor spread, swaps in volatility index, the vix, so forth. In fact, it hasnt really tightened at all this year. Bloomberg math is like google maps, except with all sorts of hydrocarbon information, and its real simple. I ran up here, dubai down here in the corner, and out near oman is a ship bound for singapore. It stops dead in the water, a really serious incident. This is more serious than what we saw in recent weeks. There are about 30,000 functions on the bloomberg, and we always enjoy showing you are favorites on bloomberg television. Maybe they will become your favorites. Heres another function you will find useful, q uic go. It will lead you to our quick takes, where you can get important context in fast insight into timely topics. Heres a quick tape explaining the extradition bill that led to massive opposition protests in hong kong. Government is attempting to pass a law that would for the first time allow extraditions to Mainland China. The proposal has caused massive opposition and a series of protests. Ryan police have used tear gas and rubber bullets on demonstrators. Still, the administration is pressing ahead. The bill was proposed by the government in february. It covers Mainland China and other jurisdictions that could include taiwan. It was sparked by the case of a hong kong man accused of murdering his governor in taiwan. He was arrested in hong kong and convicted of money laundering, but couldnt be sent back to taiwan for trial because theres is no Legal Framework to do so. The government says the new law will make sure hong kong doesnt become a haven for future dissidents. Opponents are concerned that it could open the door for anyone, including political dissidents or civil rights activists, who might risk being arrested on fabricated charges in hong kong and sent to the mainland to face trial. Citizens, hong kongs the law would also apply to foreign residents, and even people passing through on business or as tourists. It is one of the latest laws under xi jinping, the chipping away at hong kongs autonomy, which guarantees free speech and capitalist market. This time, protesters are hoping to repeat the success of the demonstration in 2003, which led the city to scrap a National Security law and contributed to the resignation of the then chief executive. Up themight also end Umbrella Movement in 2014, which failed to achieve universal suffrage after student led protests occupied city streets for 79 days. Just one of the many quick takes you can find on the bloomberg. You can also find them at bloomberg. Com, along with all the latest Business News and analysis 24 hours a day. That will be all for bloomberg best this week. Thanks so much for watching. This is bloomberg. Emily im emily chang in san francisco, and this is bloomberg technology. Under report, the u. S. Justice department is close to approving the sprinttmobile merger despite early hurdles in the way of a deal. What are the chances the 26 billion transaction goes through . U. S. Government agencies prepare for antitrust investigations, who will come out on top . Ipoc for the buying spree during