Accelerate their race to the bottom on Interest Rates. Central banks are willing to go and willing to go big. Wall street banks expected trim bonus for traders. The u. K. Stumbles towards brexit, deal or no deal. If there is going to be a deal it has to be the first couple of days parliament returns. Nejra sorting through a barrage of earnings reports. The left wants to see profitabilities. The law of large numbers is catching up. We call it the star wars stumble. Nejra experts on how they are reading at jumble. China and the u. S. Aligned economically. I do not think the feds job is to make sure theres not a recession. Nejra all straight ahead on bloomberg best. This is bloomberg best, the hello and welcome. I am nejra to hedge. Cehic. This is bloomberg best, the weekly review of the most important business, news and analysis from bloomberg around the world. After President Trump announced new tariffs on china last week, beijing vowed to retaliate. Their reaction sent shockwaves through global markets. Keeping stocks in the red francine keeping stocks in the red this morning on fears that the u. S. China trade war is escalating. Asian stocks heading for the biggest selloff this year after chinas yuan fell past the key seven per dollar level. Due to the tariffs on chinese goods. China has ordered Stateowned Enterprises to suspend imports of american agricultural products. What else is china trying to signal today . Enda it seems they are sending a message back that they will up the ante when it comes to a trade war. They made it clear that what they can do on the currency side of things. We had news that theyre not willing to buy u. S. Agricultural products either. A blow to one of President Trumps core demands. Jonathan the president this morning his response to issues in the currency market. China dropped the price of their currency to almost a historic low. It is called currency manipulation. Are you listening, Federal Reserve . This is a major violation that will greatly weaken china over time. Well, here we go again. China would not use foreignexchange as a tool the trade dispute and saying in a statement, im fully confident that the yuan will remain a strong currency the product despite a brief fluctuation mid external uncertainties. Guy what you are looking at is a sea a bright red across europe. The markets in europe down and down hard. Is it fair to say the markets did not see the chinese escalating this way . The currency is seen as a weapon of last resort. We heard time and time again from china they were not going to be using it as a weapon in the trade war. Finally we saw china hitting back this way. It is catching a lot of peoples attention. Vonnie does this make the september 1 tariff a 100 certainty now . As recently as friday, we are hearing from Administration Officials that if the chinese will go ahead and deliver big buys of soybeans and other agricultural goods, maybe tariffs can be avoided. Signaling happily today that it is not going to go down that route. It is kind of lost hope for a deal. That seems to be with the markets are latching onto. Scarlet u. S. Stocks heading for the biggest selloff this year. The dow off at one point by more than 900 points. Acrossin terms of peeks movement, the dow moved 735 points. Anne the Trump Administration formally labeled china currency manipulator after that pboc allowed the yuan to fall in retaliation to new u. S. Tariffs. In response, china has taken steps to slow the yuans dissent at two below at seven per dollar. A the u. S. Labeling china currency manipulator, this has profound significance, does it not . The symbolism is significant in terms of what it says about the rapid deterioration of relations between the u. S. And china. In terms of the actual impact on china, it is very limited. What this does is trigger negotiations and conversations between the u. S. And imf about what china is doing from the u. S. Perspective. Then of course there are potential penalties the u. S. Can impose on china. China already faces significant u. S. Tariffs. What we are seeing is really a message from the pboc, ok, cooldown folks. The yuan has suddenly not become a one way bet. We have seen a shot across the bow to people who became overexcited yesterday. The stock market bounce back today on the feeling that maybe this is recoverable after all. But it is really hard to see how that happened. When people get dug again. It becomes a really personal competition between xi and trump. Neither man wants to back down and lose face. Trade should not be personalized that way. I am afraid that is what is happening. Central banks taking center stage today. The r. B. I. Cut rate by 35 basis points. In new zealand, the kiwi has tanked after the rbn zed announced a larger than expected rate cut. 15 basis points. The messages Central Banks are willing to go big. It is a global trend. We have st. Louis fed president James Bullard saying theres no reason to pile on rate cuts. But markets do not seem to be buying that. Traders are pricing in 100 basis points of rate cuts from the fed of the next year. That will be on top of the reduction we got in july. Again, i think the message is that Central Banks are very willing to go and to go big. Michael everybody is looking at the two elephants who are wrestling the middle of the Global Economy. That worried about what might happen, so they are trying to steal a little bit of a first mover advantage. They are not going to say it, but theyre trying to weaken their currency so they have cushion for their exports going into whatever happens. The problem is that if everybody goes in that direction, you have a currency war that leads everybody into recession. Vonnie im looking at the u. S. Threemonth 10year curve, and you can see, that this bond surge has gone much more into negative territory than it was. We are off of the low but we are still down 34. 5 basis points below zero. If that is not an inverted curve, i do not know what is. I think it is the biggest fiveday drop since the debt ceiling debacle back in 2011 for the 10year. I think that move is something that speaks to how entrenched the lower forever stance with regard to policy rates are. If that is the global backdrop, then it is just a matter of time until that continues to weigh on the u. S. And the data we are getting are simply telling us that, hey, not only are we having this trade war, but the Global Economy is in an even worse position going into it than we have thought. U. S. 30year yield closing into their lowest level ever. Negative yields in the u. S. , what would it take for that to happen . Probably not around the corner, but i think what would take is a serious downturn in the economy. A recession in which the fed will take the rates all the way down to zero, will restart qe. I think at that stage we may see negative yields in the u. S. As we are seeing them in other parts of the world. Anna the yuan rose after China Central bank set its daily strong than expected. It is the first time in over a decade that the pboc the peoples bank of china set the reference rate weaker than seven per dollar. Does this mean that we are seeing stabilization in the yuan . Why is the market taking it that way, when this is the first time we have seen a seven handle and the fix . The key takeaway is there still somewhat stronger than the market anticipated. Sure, theyre willing to allow it to go on a certain direction, to allow the market to push lower. But it seems they want to keep something about flow as well. That is important from the pboc. Because they have been preaching they want to keep it somewhat stable, and they do not want to let a perception run away from themselves in terms of a oneway bet on the yuan. Thats probably what the market has taken from the level today. Scarlet we have equities extending their gains. The nasdaq up for the third day , now up by 2 . Every group in the s p 500 are higher. Can you believe that it was just monday when we saw the big selloff . Joe no. Shery chinas Producer Prices contracted for the first time in nearly three years, dimming the outlook for factory profits in the trade war with the u. S. What are the Key Takeaways here . Tom as you say, Producer Prices, those factory prices dropping. 3 for the month of july below the forecast. What this number suggests is that profits for some of these Industrial Companies will be squeezed. Then there is this divergence between the factory prices and Consumer Prices. You saw Consumer Prices ticking up 2. 8 , above forecast. Forecast had been increased to 2. 7 . That is something of a conundrum for policymakers in terms of stimulus, additional stimulus they pump into the system. As of course the trade picture looks more uncertain, and Growth Continues to slow in china. Vonnie the white house is holding off on a decision about licenses for u. S. Companies to restart business with huawei. This comes after beijing said it was halting business with u. S. Farming goods. Does this show an increase on willingness on the part of the u. S. To find a way to negotiate with china . Well, it is another sign, actually that things are falling , apart. We have had two olive branches that came out of the g20 on osaka. On the u. S. Side, it was going to be limited resumption of business with huawei, and on the chinese, it was going to be resumption of agricultural purchases. In the past week, we have seen both of those be taken away. That is not a good sign. We have talks in september that are scheduled. Big questions over whether they will actually go ahead. Nejra still ahead, as we review the week on bloomberg best, legendary investor howard marks shares his thoughts during a wild week for global markets. Plus, former u. S. Treasury secretary Larry Summers weighs in on the risks of currency wars. Up next, more the weeks top business headlines with earnings reports. With the debt they have, with the stock price where it is, it will be difficult to do another deal. Nejra this is bloomberg. Nejra this is bloomberg best. I am nejra cehic. Lets continue our global tour of the weeks top business stories with a deep dive into a flood of earnings reports. Hsbc was among several european banks releasing results. And they also surprised with an executive shakeup. John flint is stepping down as chief executive hsbc. His surprise departure happens after 18 months in the top job. That is as the Bank Announces a Share Buyback of up to 1 billion. We had heard the possibility of differences. How much of the focus will be at someone who can shakeup the u. S. And asian franchises . Yes, that was unexpected. According to reporting they may potentially look outside as well for the First Time Ever for hsbc. We may see a ceo that is not coming from the institution. That will be a big change for the bank. The u. S. Businesses a hot topic for the bank because returns have not been very positive there. They also have liquidity they would like to use. The business is not very competitive compared to the big u. S. Banks. There are few decisions that need to be taken. Francine commerzbank says it is becoming tougher to reach a target for higher profit this year. The Bank Reported a fourth straight quarter of falling revenue. Global trade tensions hit commerzbanks key corporate client unit in particular and operating profit fell. Joe how hard is that to do business in this negative rate environment . It is getting harder to a certain extent, especially if you believe a forecast like this. On the other hand, i think it is a reflection of what we have are seeing over the last year. The question is not how hard is that, the question is what do you have to offer to counter the issues . And i think to a certain extent growing with customers has been a very successful way of dealing with it for the last year and quarter. Abn amro has beaten its estimates on the bottom line and says it is well placed to boost payouts the second year. 693 Million Euros at the bank gain market share in mortgages. The group did warn that lower Interest Rates are having an impact on margins. Please tell me you can see a glint of light on the revenue story at abn . Good morning. Yeah, our results are good this quarter. Our revenue is good. Particularly on the net income interest side. Despite low rates our Net Interest Income was up quarter on quarter and year on year. There are few oneoff in the area. We see our nii Net Interest Income underlying pretty stable. But over time, quarter on quarter, you will see the effect of low rates impacting deposit margins. That is why we have called that out this morning. Operating income for the First Quarter that beat the highest estimate. This comes as the banks vision fund expanded its Financial Technology portfolio with a 200 million funding rounds. What honda did to the Auto Industry in the 1970s, softbank is doing to the entire Venture Capital community now. It is probably the most disruptive Japanese Organization since japanese autos came in and disrupted the u. S. Auto market. You are hot, cloudbased sass company and your raising 50 million at a premoney valuation of 100 million. Softbank comes in and says will give you 150 million premoney valuation, but we are investing 100 million. And by the way if you do not say yes to our term sheet within 48 hours, youre going to the Second Player in the space and giving them 100 million. You are seeing american vc funds , that used the former masters of the universe, elbowed out of the way by softbank. Softbank is the disruptor in the space. Emily uber with second results quarter results, including a 5. 2 billion loss. Sales, bookings, and monthly users all missing estimates. Shares down to the lowest levels since may. What are your biggest takeaways . The bookings and wide growth look good. It was just a revenue miss and part of that was the use of subsidies in ridesharing and for deliveries. And their free delivery. That is where they have been using subsidies and seeing pricing pressure. Food deliver is a fragmented market. On the core ridesharing side , theyre doing fine. It is just the numbers are catching up and bookings are up 37 . To me it looks fine. Caroline shares of lyft fare higher after the Company Reported a secondquarter loss and sales better than what analysts expected. The overall numbers are good. Is that impact the profitability . Lyft wants to see moving towards the path of profitability. Know, adjustedyou loss numbers are better than expected. What is really key here is that lyft is saying, we think our annual numbers are going to be in some cases hundreds of millions of dollars better than we expected. They are sort of improving their forecast. They beat analyst expectations. Thats why we are seeing this reaction. Emily shares plummeting in late trading. The result fell short of analyst estimates. Earnings squeezed by falling themepark attendance, spending on new streaming services, and a costly flop of a movie inherited in the 71 billion acquisition of fox. I dont understand. Disney opened the most anticipated themepark attraction ever in star wars. And attendance dropped . Yeah. We are calling it the star wars stumble. Weve written about this. There were social media posts saying, theres nobody on main street. Theres no wait for these rides. There were a lot of explanations given. Bob eisner had a mea culpa. He said, we tried to hard to limit attendance, because we thought the crowds were going to be so big. They had a reservation system for the attraction. People just stayed away. The same thing at walt disney world. People were staying away because they are waiting for that galaxies edged open later this month. As a group is weighing offers to sell some of its businesses with the ceo saying units with no clear future cant keep earning money. This comes amid an economic slowdown in germany, which is added to concerns for the industrial conglomerate. Thyssenkrupps market cap has been cut in half in the past 12 months. Theres a possibility the group could lose its place in the dax. It will present ahead with plans to lift its elevator business. Are all these moves that youve announced today, guido, going to be enough to turn the company around . Guido i clearly think so. If you take a look behind the current figures, you see some Strong Development as well. Although the overall numbers are clearly distorted by the weak Automotive Industry and the problems in steel. You see that in elevator. We improved margin in one quarter. We are clearly looking ahead. That weekend fulfill our guidance for the full year. We have seen a turnaround in the margin. nda shery kraft heinz is feeling the heat from wall street. The packaged food company plunging at one point nearly 16 to a record low after reporting earnings for the First Time Since february. The results were disappointing. Its a rough welcome for the new ceo who said, the level of decline we experienced in the first half of the year is nothing we should find acceptable moving forward. There are definitely problems here. Going forward, one of the Biggest Challenges is that they are in a tough position as far as making a major acquisition. That was always the goal here. Going back to february of 2017. They tried to buy unilever. They couldve gone back to cutting costs which is what they do best. With the debt and stock price where it is, it will be very difficult to do another deal. That leaves the new ceo to try to get these brands growing. When you look at their brands, theres a lot of stuff there that is out of step with where the consumer is these days. Nejra this is bloomberg best. I am nejra cehic. Global markets took a onetwo punch this week from escalating trade tensions and steepening Central Bank Rate cuts. In a conversation thursday, oaktree capitals howard marks told bloombergs Erik Schatzker how he thinks things will play out. Howard usually, we stimulate the economy when its doing poorly, and we want to wake it up from the doldrums. We generally dont stimulate the economy after 10 good years. We usually accept that there will be an ebb and flow to the cycle, and that there might be a justified recession. We have the lowest Unemployment Rate in 50 years. You usually dont stimulate at that time. The point is that the fed can stimulate. Should it do so . Is it the feds job properly . Erik i get the feeling you dont think it should. Howard no. I dont think the feds job is to make sure theres never a recession. What the fed chair tends to say, and jay powell said it last month, and i have a quote in there from september 2007, where they said we are going to do what it takes to keep the expansion going. Is it the feds job to keep the expansion going forever . I dont think so. You know, if i ran the fed, and im not applying for the job, what i would do is when the economy is roaring, i would try to cool it off, so theres not too much inflation. When its really weak and not creating jobs, i would stimulate encourage it and stimulate it. But in between, i would leave it alone. Erik if the fed keeps cutting rates, and that is what the markets says it is going to do, howard, what does that mean for investors . The 10year is at 175. Bonds are paying 3 . High yield is on the order of 6 . Howard well, it means that savers and lenders and people with money are going to have trouble getting good returns. All the returns emanate from the base rate which is what the fed says. The lower it is, the lower the perspective return on everything is. The process of lowering the rates causes assets to inflate. There will be more wealth piled up by the people who have assets. And it will be harder for people who just have a little bit of savings to get a return. Nejra coming up on bloomberg best, more of the weeks top stories in business and finance. Conflict continues on the streets of hong kong. And a bloomberg scoop explains why Asset Managers are on the brink of crisis. But up next, more compelling conversations. Malaysias foreign minister says his country wont become Collateral Damage in the u. S. Trade war with china. We just have to tell them you are being very unfair. You are being a big bully. Nejra this is bloomberg. Nejra this is bloomberg best. Im nejra cehic. Trade once again nominated the discussion this week, and while the u. S. And china are the two key antagonists, other nations are feeling economic fallout. The foreign minister of malaysia saying he would push back. Mr. Abdullah we would like to trade with both come of u. S. And china, and the thing we are most worried about is, should there be unilaterally sanctions, and s taken by the u. S. Against us, should we continue to trade with china, our position is we want to continue trading. Haslinda some of the countries are deemed as having deficits, the likes of china, germany, china, and in asia, malaysia, those are among those in the top, could be in the likes of india. Are you concerned that the u. S. Will take action against them . But if this yes, thing were to happen, then we just have to tell them, you are being very unfair. You are being a big bully. Do you think u. S. Will buy that . Nejra the Trump Administration decision to label china a currency manipulation raise the currency raise the temperature. Among those who raise their eyebrows was our guest, he discussed this on daybreak. Now declaring china to be a manipulator raises the specter of some kind of further retaliation, raises the specter of a situation where it will be more difficult to on grounds of pride for china to say yes to u. S. Demands and therefore raises the risks of a cycle of financial conflict, and that is coming at a time when we are already 10 years into expansion, when the fed had already recognized growing widths to the risks to the current expansion, and when, given how low Interest Rates already are, if there were to be a downturn, there is much less room for monitoring policy to act than has been the case traditionally. David larry, you mentioned a designation by secretary mnuchin yesterday that china was a currency manipulator. Was there justification for it . To thes in response president saying there would be increased tariffs. You saw the pboc really weakend the rate for the yuan. Larry no, i dont think there was much justification. Currency manipulation is a legitimate issue. We tend to say that a currency is being manipulated when a few conditions are met. When the country in question is running a substantial surplus. China used to run a substantial trade surplus. It does not any longer. When the country in question is trying to weaken its currency, when it is selling its currency into the market to push its value down. In recent months, recent weeks, china has been entering the market not to sell its currency but to buy its currency. Really, china has been propping it up. So when you are propping up your currency, and you are not running a trade surplus, you are not manipulating the currency on any definition that is understood and accepted in the financial community. Nejra european banks struggle as a Central Banks push rates lower and lower. This week we had commerce banks cfo speaking frankly. Matt miller asked him about what he would say to policy makers about rates and impacts. What really changes if you lower the rates by another 10 or 20 basis points . Is there any house that you want to buy additionally or whatever . From my point of view, its unclear what the benefit of this lower rate is. Nevertheless, if it happens, you need to deal with it. It will put up additional pressure on the sector in general. We will need to see how the answers can look like. Matt the idea is they have no other choice, right, because of the issues, that helps your customers continue in business. And that means more business for you. Does that not make sense to you . Stephan no, in general that makes sense. Thats what the benefit of the last year is. The question is, does the additional create an effect or the Collateral Damages which it also produces, do they really outweigh the positives . How important is the fiscal side of things . I spoke with a olaf schultz in berlin last week. He said there is no financial crisis. Germany doesnt need additional spending. Hes not going to boost his spend on infrastructure. Do you think germany needs to do that . Stephan no, i dont think theres anything we can see right now. The economy is growing this year, at a much slower pace. We will probably see some contraction in q2. We are still going for Something Like a growth rate like a percent for next year. At least that is the latest expectation. In that sense, doing a Fiscal Stimulus Program would be helpful and will come, especially for the industrial basis, that is pretty clear, but in total, i think you need to wait what is being done on the Monetary Policy side. It is unclear whether you can really add with additional stimulus. A birdseyey, for view of the weekend markets, Erik Schatzker set down for an exclusive conversation with kkrs henry mcvey. Henry ultimately, i dont china is going to do a large devaluation. They are trying to build a consumer economy. Erik 5. 8. Henry if you weaken your currency, that hurts you. They are sending a shot that they have other tools to match what President Trump is doing on the tariff front. Erik speaking of other tools, lets talk about that. If this situation keeps escalating, what happens . Does the u. S. Halt exports of technology to china . Huawei to their knees . Or does china retaliate by cutting off experts of rare earths . Hobbling the u. S. Economy in the and the military . Henry i think you will see a pullback in capex from all sides. Because most executives are watching this situation. One of the facts that we feel strongly about, if you add up all the tariffs, and then you say trump does auto tariffs on top of that, that is still less of an impact than a 10 pullback in capex. Erik so theres less capital coming into venture and less in to real estate, for example. How long until western capital is no longer welcome in china . Henry when people say it is a cold war, its not like it was with the u. S. And russia. I mean, ultimately, china and the u. S. Are aligned at the hip economically. So i think the idea that chinas massive consumption population would not want goods is u. S. Goods is unfounded. Thats not going to happen. What you need to do is aligned where the government and the private sector need that expertise. So i think you are actually going to see a bifurcation where some Companies Double down on capex, and they can really partner with the chinese economy to do well. There will be others that fold their tents. Nejra this is bloomberg best. Im nejra cehic. Lets resume our roundup of the weeks top news in business, finance, and politics in hong kong, where protests show no signs of abating, and authorities show no sign of giving in. Disruptions in hong kong are entering a ninth straight week. Thousands of protesters have moved to shut down the Asian Financial hub, leaving traffic stalled, subways inoperable. Over 100 flights were canceled. This is a movement that is not slowing down, because they feel that the government is not listening to them. Really, bringing a city of 7 million to its knees. It was twofold. They called for a general strike. Thats what this banner they have been handing out. Strike at work, school, the market. All the while, keep the pressure on chief executive carrie lam to withdraw that controversial extradition bill, which kicked off all of these protests. On the other hand, you have a hardcore protesters who have pitched battles between hardcore protesters and the police. As we heard from carrie lam, she says the protesters are ruining hong kong. Well the protesters say they , are not going to not back down. Anna Jeremy Corbyn is hardening plans to block a no deal brexit. He signals he will call a confidence vote in the Prime Minister when Parliament Resumes in september. If that happens then johnson loses, he has until september 18 to show we can command a majority in the house of commons. The following day is the last date to trigger a general election before the october 31 brexit deadline. What do we know about what has to happen when it parliament wants to block no deal . Well, the first thing is to say that the timeframe is extremely tight. That is why, if theres going to be a confidence vote, it has to be the first couple days that parliament returns. After that, we are in slightly uncharted territory. In terms of how the fixed Term Parliament act plays out, the 14day window applies to johnson to try to form a new government. It also allows tory rebels, labour to form a coalition that would prove that they have the majority as well. Therefore, it will be an intense period of horsetrading, and what can people coalesce around a single position. Vonnie britains economy saw a surprise contraction last quarter as manufacturing shrank. Gdp sentise drop in the pound falling, and raises the stakes for Boris Johnsons government as it seeks a fast exit from the european union. Its a bracing reminder to Boris Johnson about what the markets do. In the end, its all fine having this great laugh because no deal brexit and talking about boosterism and you need to get ready, put money aside, and all these things. Actually, no deal brexit, there isnt an economist on the planet who thinks that will not be a painful moment. O salvini is pulling the plug on italys ruling coalition. He has called for early elections, saying the government has no longer got a majority. That sent italian yields surging and the german bund spread widening. Dan the first question needing resolved is when is this parliamentary debate going to take place . Its the midst of summer vacation. Parliament is on recess right now, technically. They have to be called back. Salvini is pushing for them to get back in their seats next week. And have a vote as soon as possible on this. It looks like he has the sufficient votes to bring down this government. Its a matter of time. Rishaad the indian Prime Minister is promising a new era in kashmir after revoking its special status following seven decades of autonomy. He says it will rid the region of separatism and terrorism. What was the thrust of his argument . He is basically saying that hes bringing kashmir into the mainstream governance of india. So, no longer will it be a state with its own separate autonomy. Instead, it will be subject to the same laws and regulations as the rest of india. He says it will eliminate corruption and domestic politics. But for kashmiris, it has been a dayslong curfew, phone and internet blackouts, and have seen thousands of extra troops streaming into the valley. They are worried about what is to come. Francine Asset Managers are facing an existential crisis. For years, investors have been shifting their money into passive funds. This push has moved lower, led to the loss of thousands of jobs , and forced largescale consolidation. The industry is on the brink of a shakeout. Only the strongest will survive. What surprises did you find in your research . The industry is struggling. They have been pushed to a tipping point. Active managers have been charging too much for subpar returns for too long. Investors are voting with their feet and pouring out money for passive funds for some time. Its a fraction of the cost of active managers. In some cases, they have outperformed. Industrywide, that has led to fee compression. Thousands of job cuts of the Asset Managers, and wide industrywide consolidation. Smaller players will continue to be absorbed by the larger competitors. Some may disappear. Vonnie wall streets trading desks endured the worst first half in a decade. Bonds are poised to take a hit. This is leading to a collective 5 billion drop in firsthalf trading revenue at wall streets major banks. It was the worst first half in over a decade when the banks reported a couple weeks ago. We saw that. We also saw cuts across the industry. Here, these traders are getting less, and also they are reducing headcount. That can reduce the cost to keep these things profitable in a lower revenue environment. Hedge funds and private equity might go up a bit. As much as 5 on positive inflows. Then, we also have retail and commercial bankers who could also see as much as a 5 increase, and that is because that side of the bank has really been driving profits at these big banks. While the Capital Market site is having more muted revenues. Crude oil is extending losses for a third day. Brent crude has lost almost 5 over the last two sessions. It entered a bear market on tuesday. Though the trade war between u. S. And china continues to escalate, oil is a major casualty. The u. S. Trade war is dominating any moves in energy markets. West texas intermediate, the u. S. Benchmark, is down 0. 5 today. It fell 1. 9 yesterday. Brent, the global benchmark, has fallen 20 since an april peak. It moved into a bear market yesterday. If donald trump implements the additional trade tariffs he has threatened that would be scheduled to start on september 1, a lot of analysts have speculated that china would slap tariffs on u. S. Crude imports. So that is really the next factor that people are looking at. It certainly could have a larger economic impact. Thats what people are looking to next in energy markets. Oil prices are rebounding after bloomberg reported that saudi arabia said it is considering all options to stem the decline. The gains halt a threeday slide in crude prices. The biggest tool that saudi arabia has is managing supply. But, if you look at whats happening under opec plus agreement already, they are cutting more than what they agreed to. Whether they have extra wiggle room to cut supply there is a big question. The details are vague. They are talking about using all options. They are talking about speaking to other producers. We dont know who they are or what those options are at the moment. Gold staging a comeback, rallys to its highest level since 2013, topping 1500 as demand for the traditional haven rises. Gold up, what, 17 year to date. Gold is an interesting one. You are looking at other commodities. Gold has performed really well. That is because it is traditionally a safe haven investment. At a time where we face things like the trade war, the chance of a no deal brexit later this year, tensions in the middle east, just to name a few of what we are facing right now, it is no wonder that investors are flocking to precious metals. Matt the philippines is the latest to join the wave of Central Banks cutting rates to encounter growing economic risks. The governor there told bloomberg he sees further easing coming as soon as next month. Right now, what we are contemplating is another rate cut of 25 basis points. It could come in as early as september or it could be in the fourth quarter. We intend to cut further our reserve requirement. As you know, we started easing from 2018 and 2016 now. Another possible 100 basis points cuts before the end of the year. We see volatility. It is certainly in certain asset classes. I have got this, this is the volatility and correlation analysis tool. This is about fx markets and the level of implied volatility. In particular, im focused on the part that says range, the where you have got the blue dots and red dots. The blue dots are ahead of the average red dots. The now implied volatility is higher than the average. Tom i want to go to a bloomberg insight terminal function. Everyone worldwide uses it. All you need to know is that this is what the pros look at, the curves. The two ten, the threemonth 10, and the headline this morning is the 210 spread breaking to basis points. It is flattening out with a vengeance. Nejra there are about 30,000 functions on the bloomberg. We always enjoy showing you our favorites on bloomberg television. Maybe they will become your favorites. Heres another function you will useful, quic. It will lead you to quick takes , where you can get fast insight into timely topics. Here is a quick take from this week. They can litter sidewalks, menace pedestrians, and endanger their writers lives. Over the past year, electric scooters have popped up in cities around the world, inviting a wary public to hop a ride as indignant local governments scramble to regulate them. This may come as a surprise that the escooters could be exactly what trafficked cities need. This is your bloomberg quick take on escooters. Download an app, find a scooter, unlock it, and go for a ride. When you are done, leave it behind. Rides can cost less than two dollars. There is bird, lime, and both uber and lyft have scooters now. They are new. By their essence, they are all over the place. So if you are not using them, they get in your way. And because people are just learning how to use them, they tend to ride them in obnoxious ways. In a lot of places, they have become a symbol of the Technology Industry which annoys people. At launch, cities like cleveland banned them. San francisco halted operation for several months to create a permit system that caps the number of scooters allowed. Bird and lime offer scooters in more than 40 cities. Despite the controversy, escooters have their defenders. In dense urban areas, cars arent the fastest way to get around. Many cities have turned to bike share systems and dedicated bike lanes because they take up less space than cars. Some urban planners see escooters as part of the future of city transportation. Joshua the hope would be that you would eliminate shorter car trips. That would get a lot of cars off the road, create protective lanes, and so on. That would in turn drive the demand for scooters. That would create a virtuous cycle. But despite bird and lime each being valued at more than 1 billion, it is too early to tell if they will become viable businesses. Joshua the things you look at is how long it takes to pay off a vehicle and how long a vehicle stays on the road. We dont know exactly how much this is. It does seem like you can pay these things off fairly quickly. They are relatively inexpensive. But they also get completely trashed very quickly. You will take your of your own bike, you will take care of your own car. But like they say no one ever , washes a rental car. Nejra that was just one of the many quick takes you can find on the bloomberg. You can find them at bloomberg. Com, along with all of the latest Business News and analysis 24 hours a day. That will be all for bloomberg best this week. Thanks so much for watching. I am nejra cehic. This is bloomberg. Hey im bill slowsky jr. , i live on my own now ive got xfinity, because i like to live life in the fast lane. Unlike my parents. You rambling about xfinity again . Youre so cute when you get excited. Anyways. Ive got their app right here, i can troubleshoot. I can schedule a time for them to call me back, its great you have our number programmed in . Ya i dont even know your phone anymore. Excuse me . what . I dont know your phone number. Aw well. He doesnt know our phone number you have our fax number, obviously. Todays xfinity service. Simple. Easy. Awesome. Ill pass. Carol welcome to bloomberg businessweek. I am carol massar inside bloomberg headquarters in new york. This week, the escalating trade and currency war between the u. S. And china. President s trump and xi are making big bets that could backfire. Plus, the massacres in el paso and dayton that left at least 31 people dead and dozens injured. Can a weakened nra lead to gun laws . Our global cover stordi