Transcripts For BLOOMBERG Bloomberg Markets Americas 20240713

In the sessionus that we had in november that he was going to try to start the trial on the second charge in september 2020. I was very happy. I said finally, we will see the end of the tunnel. We are talking about 2020. December,me on 26 when we had the pretrial, and prosecutorraid the cannot afford to have two trials at the same time. Too much work. So what did they say . They say i cannot promise the second trial in september. I am not going to commit, but certainly not before 2021. Postpone, postpone, postpone. It is always the prosecutor who prevails. This is number one. Number two is i want to see my wife. My wife. Want to see maybe for a lot of people, it would have been a lot of punishment not to see their wife it would have been not a punishment not to see their wife, but for me it was. They knew i love carol, and she is a pillar for me. Had knew this because they all the correspondence. They had the email. They were not supposed to have the email. They were not supposed to have her phone. They knew all of this. They took everything. And they were right, they put me on my knees. So when i knew that i couldnt see carol and i didnt have any horizon to see my wife and have a normal life, i said whats left . I have to leave. I have nothing here. What did you do in lebanon . [indiscernible] sky news. [speaking foreign language] vonnie we are watching carlos ghosn, former ceo and president of nissan and orchestrator of the Nissan Renault tie up speaking. Hes been speaking for more than two hours now after his flight from japan, where he had been arrested and held in custody. He said when the trial was constantly postponed, that is when he began his estate plan. He didnt his escape plan. He didnt talk about the details, but he is exhorted dating some of his former colleagues at nissan, saying that he was escaping injustice. It is not having any impact on stocks, but of course, we have to wait and see what the next steps are. Here ist i find amazing the way hes gone after nissan as well in terms of the strategy. Its been a real takedown on a number of different levels. Hes gone through point by point the accusations made against him. Hes railed against nissan executives. He talked about the Japanese Justice system and the inadequacies there. Hes also trying to do a take noun on just the strategic theking at nissan, and mistakes that are being made in terms of the way the business is being run. I find that fascinating, that hes decided to go down those rabbit holes and talk so extensively about those. He clearly feels that this is something he needs to do in terms of his longterm reputation. Its going to be really interesting to see whether or not he can recover that. Hes taken this in some Different Directions today. The one direction he wouldnt take it in, about the escape. Clearly he is in a situation where he doesnt want to put people on the line. Theres been some sort of agreement on that front. What i find it fascinating hes talked so much about Business Strategy during this press conference. He doesnt look like hes going to stop anytime soon. Vonnie no, and he talks about how nissan is effectively bankrupting themselves by carrying out this investigation and continuing to try to blacklist him. He talked about a former colleague who is still in prison in japan. He also talked about the Fiat Chrysler possibility for the , renault, nissan, and mitsubishi, that was in the process of being looked at, and then he landed in jail, and as we know, the history books will show that psa then swooped in and took Fiat Chrysler out. He seems to be lamenting that as well. I want to point out that he is very charismatic, clearly, and he also mentioned that he would be open to the idea of giving the lebanese government help on its economy should it be so desired. Clearly he has ambitions. Get back to carlos ghosn now. Ended which i wasnt interrogated. Or else you will say i dont believe the perception of innocence. I dont receive i dont believe he is presumed innocent. He isnt with a wink say culpable and we are going to charge him when there is nothing, and there will possibly be an inquiry, but i am not excepting anything from them. Where would it come from . It would come from inside renault. I know what is in those reports. Im not worried, as far as that is concerned. I would like to ask you two questions. Unfairnessabout the of the Japanese Justice as far as the french Justice System. If a french judge were to call you, would you respond . In the french have discovered that since 2012, you are no longer a fiscal resident in france even though you are running a french company, and from then, france is trying to residence to all administrators. Why were you no longer in fact based in france . First of all, theres the possibility that a french magistrate will call you. Im not aware of that. Of course, i will present myself. Is toat i am not asking be accused before being questioned. It is on the basis of trick audits. People didnt even asked me questions sometimes, in fact. That is the first point. The second point, you can well imagine, i changed my residence in 2012. You have to get in contact with the Fiscal Administration and explain where youre going to, and he fiscal a ministry should will deal with it. Thats what happened. You had aeing told french company, you should have residence in france. Well, the legislation changed, and obviously france will have to react according to legislation. I contacted the authorities. In fact, i had a tax expert who asked all of the authorizations. I would like to remind you that in 2012, it was a situation where we were trying to create synergies of the alliance. It was very important for me to appear more in amsterdam then in to notn order to be able offend the japanese people, but it wasnt invented at all. Thats the reason why i was in amsterdam. I spent a great deal of time in amsterdam. All of the work of the alliance was in amsterdam. Now there is new legislation and that has to be applied. Using that the alliance can succeed without you do you think that the alliance can succeed without you . Mr. Ghosn yes, i think the alliance can succeed without me, but the alliance has to follow some rules. The alliance is not going to work respond to. Going to work responsibly. It is wrong. And you know who is wrong into his right . Look at the results. That is the only way you know who is right and who is wrong in a business. You look at the gross, the bottom line, and the solution. When i look at what has happened for the last 13 months, with everything that has happened, i am not sure about the future of the alliance. Yes . French]king i just wanted to know, of course, your life was completely changed, and in the media, people introduced to you as having reached a level where you were disconnected from reality. Of course, what has happened to you does change a man. You think about that, what are your feelings . What have you got to say about this image . Mr. Ghosn it is not a question of image. Of course there were certain periods in my life where i made choices. Thats all. It is not a question of how i am living or why i am living. I had certain important decisions to make in my life, and i made choices. Today we are talking about General Motors, when steve ratners adjusted i should become ceo of General Motors in 2009, and i refused to take the job because i was faithful to renaultnissan, and mary barra, lastead of General Motors year, nobody said anything about it. She lives very well. Shes a very respected citizen. She had a far easier job because she had one company to run in her own country. It wasnt my country. I was working across continents. Everyone was really happy for me to do my job, and now people say , mr. Ghosn, you were traveling a great deal. You have lots of money. But people are really happy for me to introduce measures so i could live at the bottom of number of companies. I regret that. If i made that choice, i have to accept it. Of course, there were some decisions i made are ok. Other decisions, i was really stupid. [indiscernible] mr. Ghosn [speaking foreign language] mr. Ghosn, new york times. Do you really think you can tear your name in front of an international as you can tear your name in front of an international you can tear your name in front of an International Audience given that there is widespread perception around the world that the lebanese Justice System is not up to handling a trial such as yours . Do you think you can clear your name in front of an International Audience . Mr. Ghosn first, i dont agree with you. I think we are very competent in lebanon. But frankly, when it comes to grip systems, my first idea is not about lebanon. Systems, my first idea is not about lebanon [applause] i understand you dont want to talk about the mentor of your escape the manner of your escape, but it is a moment of great drama. Can you tell us your feelings, when you got on the plane to freedom . Fromhosn i told you when, 30 december, to wife intil i met my lebanon, i was numb. I had no feeling. Ied not to fielding tried not to have feelings because when you have feelings, you are in danger. I was, obviously, nervous. I was anxious. I spent a period of time, i guess people can explain to you, i was a guess numb. It started november, finished december. When i saw the face of the prosecutor, and it ended when i saw the face of my wife. Would you recommend a packing case as a means of travel . Mr. Ghosn ok, maybe five more minutes, and then we will have to stop. Ok, and then you. Ok. [indiscernible] thank you, mr. Ghosn. I have a couple of questions. The first one, you paint a really sorry picture about the state of the alliance and where it is going. You state your reputation as a revival artist. You made that reputation at nissan. Can you see a threestep program to how you would revive the alliance if you are still in charge . What would you do to reboot this alliance . Second question, how do you feel about renault . Did they rush to judgment too quickly and evict you from Office Without due process . You say a lot about nissan, but what about renault . The first thing, what i would do, obviously i am not going to tell you what would be my program, but ive always said there is no problem without a solution, and you can always fix it, no matter what it is. I can tell you what i would do is completely different from what is being done. The second point, i am not talking about renault because today the topic is not about renault. Today the topic is about i left japan, explained why i left japan, and everything which happened to be in japan, which is linked to nissan. Renault is not in the loop. That is why i am not intending to talk about that from the main topic. [speaking french] you are talking about your sister also being taken on. So what about morality in business . Can you do business in the same way as five or 10 years ago . No, you cant. There is long suspicion as far as governments is concerned, and that is fine, but at the same time, there is certain agility that will be lost. But of course, there is a choice that companies accept. Maybe it will go more slowly, but we will accept the rules. Fine. But beforehand, you had to go quickly in order to seize opportunities. In order to go quickly, you had sorts at it. Ber of once rules have been established, you have got to follow them. But in business today, relation to a five or 10 years ago, is very different. Mr. Ghosn yes. Oui. [indiscernible] do you think theres going to be a trial of a trial . Your lawyer explained he was going to have a trial of a trial, and describe the under,ons that you were and in lebanon, some people have said to us that you are like the dreyfus of lebanon. Are you going to counterattack . How do you envision your future . How do you think you are going to counterattack . How do you envision your future is carlos ghosn . I dont really understand the question. I am the dreyfus of lebanon . What does that mean . It means you are a victim. Of a large victim company. Ill, when you understand that some people say it does seem right, he is a profiteer. An arrest on ae nondeclaration of revenue that wasnt declared, or even withdrawn, to arrest a boss of a Major Company without even having called him to say, can you explain, nothing at all. Just sent to prison without an inquiry, dont you think that is a bit bizarre . So i do feel i was a victim. I feel that i shall have the explanation, but you cant arrest me and explain after. But it is not even a crime. I am not the only one saying that. All of the law professors we consulted, including in japan, say we cant understand why you are arrested. There was never a case of this kind before. They have never arrested people on the interposition of a piece of legislation when in fact, the money wasnt even paid out. That is income principle. We will have one last question. Go ahead, sir. [speaking portuguese] guy its been two hours, 20 minutes, carlos ghosn entering questions and detailing the accusations made by the japanese, saying, i escaped because i had zero chance of a fair trial. He spent a lot of time talking about the nissan Business Model Going Forward and the relationship with renault. When i look at what has happened , i ame last 13 months not reassured about that alliance, he said. Minutes, and 20 fairly extensive press conference delivered by carlos ghosn out there in beirut. Vonnie excoriating japanese authorities, saying basically that the system is rigged and not discussing details of his flight from japan, but saying as soon as it became clear the trial is going to be postponed and was going to continue to be postponed, that is when he began planning. Obviously, he couldnt stop talking about the alliance and how it was going to get even bigger, with Fiat Chrysler potential he coming into it at the time of his detention, so that stoppard that, according to ghosn. We will see how things played out. Obviously he is enjoying this attention. He says he doesnt know much about extradition laws. We will see what happens next. Meanwhile, renault is down about 0. 1 in french trading. Lets discuss the Market Impact now of the last 14, 15 hours. We had an absolute nosedive in risk assets late last evening in the United States. Taking a futures nosedive, the 10 year yield down to about 1. 7 and change. Weve recovered substantially. Up aboutthe s p 500 is 0. 3 . Asd, which last night got 1600. 30 an ounce, is back down viviana is back down. A lot of calm in the markets this morning. It was not the case about 14, 15 hours ago. The president will address the nation in just about a halfhour foyer of grand the white house. We have with us right now mona mahajan, Allianz Global Investors u. S. Investment strategist. About last night in terms of lossoflife. We dont still know what the invitations are. What are you doing to protect people fully as you have . Mona last night was extraordinary. We got a rebound into positive territory. We think that was driven by a couple of factors. There is no lossoflife in the iraqi air base. Vonnie loss of uslife. Of u. S. Life. The oild two, infrastructure was not hit. They did it in a way that they are not inciting war. The other positive was President Trumps reaction on twitter. His first sentence in that tweet, all is well, so not really increasing hostility. From our perspective, while the situation is still playing out in many ways, we will see now what President Trump says and what his next move will be. The ball is clearly in his court. More broadly, i think the economic picture comes to the forefront. U. S. China trade, the pmi data that has come out, jobs data that will come out this friday, and of course, the ongoing election cycle in the u. S. But more broadly, the backdrop remains benign for equities. Low rates, low inflation, and low growth. Really a mild goldilocks in many ways. Vonnie if that is the case, do we even need to Pay Attention to what the president says today . Do we need to be curious as to what iran will do if it continues to retaliate . Mona i do think we need to Pay Attention to what the president says. I think we have to see what his countermeasure will be. Clearly, his last message had been 52 sites of potential attack in iran, some of them cultural sites, some sensually violating geneva conventions. The tone has since become a lot softer, milder. Hopefully that is the direction he will go today, but we will have to wait and see. We are watching closely as flight to safety asset that have moved quite dramatically over thelast 48 hours, gold, dollar, u. S. Treasuries, even the aerospace and defense sectors that have rallied since the last iran strike. If we get escalation, we feel what those Asset Classes will have legs. Investors will flock towards those flight to safety Asset Classes. But in the absence of any escalation, i think this rotation towards cyclicals, towards value will get a slow grind higher again. Guy doesnt it just feel like every geopolitical risk events that comes out of the middle east at the moment, you get a few days of a market reaction, then it fades . And the longer this goes on for come of that muscle memory just gets more and more ingrained in the market mentality. At what point do we take these kinds of events seriously beyond a 48 hour, 72 hour period . Mona if you look at the last three iranian issues, the same thing has happened. We had a minor selloff in equity markets, but then a quick rebound. Even if you look back to september when the Saudi Oil Infrastructure was hit, oil spiked dramatically. Wti of 14 . Quickly, that spike faded. I do think markets have been in some ways trained to buy the di p, and in many ways, from an economic perspective, oil coming from the middle east isnt as meaningful to the economy as it once was historically. Clearly, u. S. Shale production has supported that. But we are seeing in general the u. S. Consumer has remained resilient. Gas prices at the pump are well below the three dollar level, which is really when consumers may start pulling back. It would impact Discretionary Spending to some extent. From that perspective, markets are savvy. They are going to look at the Economic Impact from a potential iranian conflict, and really, the Economic Impact thus far has been minimal. There is not a scenario where we see it becoming too impactful either, so again come of real geopolitical tension that could be more impactful is the u. S. China trade. That is where we are hopeful for more progress come january 15. Guy what you just said is really interesting because the u. S. Doesnt have reliance on goal screwed in the way it once did on gulf crude it once did. De in the way it once did. China does. They need the crude comes out of the gulf. Mona thats a great point. The chinese have a more vested interest then perhaps a lot of Market Participants are realizing. In fact, one of the Market Impacts from when we found out the iranian strikes were benign was the chinese equity markets started to rally. I think what we will be seeing more and more if this conflict does escalate is that the chinese political machine may start up again, and we may be hearing from their side that they would like to see a more peaceful resolution to this. From their own oil interests, it is not only the chinese in countries like india. Oil importers will also have an interest in this conflict. We may see oil moving to his and oil moving to 3 , and not meaningful from an economic perspective. Vonnie mona, thank you. Looking forward to the next time. That is mona mahajan, Allianz Global Investors u. S. Investment strategist. Todayeep an eye on boeing after a 737 jet from iran to ukraine went down shortly after takeoff, carrying one hunter dixie seven passengers and nine crewmembers 160 seven passengers and nine crew members , and according to authorities, everyone on board died. This was apparently caused by an engine fire, but you look at the circumstances and what we have been talking about, questions are being raised about the timing. Our correspondent joins us here in london. You look at what has happened here, do you see the point of mechanical failure, or given the timing, do questions have to be asked about whether or not this was actually brought down by possibly a bomb or missile or some thing else . Reporter the timing has certainly led to speculation about the cause. About six hours after those missile strikes, speculation that it may have been tehrans own air Defense System that caused this. Also perhaps that a bomb might have been involved. But then a few hours later, we had the iranian authorities come out and say, no, this appears to have been a technical issue, beyond that actually pointing to inengine fire, which aviation terms would be a serious event. Guy a rare event. Christopher certainly. Incendiary as as Something Like a missile or a bomb. Practically speaking, we really dont know what the situation is. Ukrainiansy had the endorsing the likelihood of a fire and ruling out terrorism. They then stepped back from that in subsequent statements. Vonnie why is the stock so impervious to the constant barrage of tragedies happening with boeing aircraft right now . Nearly 200 souls have died in this particular incident. The stock is only down 2. 8 , but we are seeing a raft of downgrade from wall street, reducing the price target. Just asher and it is likely that the stock is down from the overall situation in iran, not the crash. 737, this isration not a max. Which 7000 orn in so have been sold and has an incredible safety record. It is one of the safest planes that has ever flown. Huge contrast with the max, that had two fatal crashes within five months and led to the global grounding. In a wider sense, youre quite right. Boeing has proved incredibly resilient. You might think that is partly down to that huge backlog of planes that both boeing and airbus have, that stretches many years into the future and which represents huge pentup profitability. Only really a few believe that flying wont return to and will remain grounded and somehow have to be scrapped as a project. Guy who is going to investigate this . How is it going to work . Usually boeing would be involved. Relations between the u. S. And iran arent exactly great right now. This is really interesting. Normally you have a whole host of investigators involved. You will have the country where the crash happened, the country where the plane was built, where the engines were built, perhaps where the plane was flying, even where most of the passengers came from. That may well be the case, but we have heard noises out of iran saying we are certainly not going to immediately hand over the entire crash investigation to the u. S. That doesnt mean they are not going to go forward with no more protocols, but for example, the decoding of the black box flight recorders is probably unlikely to go to the u. S. They may engage the french my who have worked on ukrainian crashes in the past. It is those boxes that hold the key to this. Compare this with some other crashes, and this should be relatively simple. It was within two minutes of takeoff. All of the debris is there. The black boxes have been to covered has been recovered and will probably be decipherable. You would expect the investigation to proceed pretty rapidly, and some conclusions to be drawn, but this isnt normal situation. Guy absolutely not. Thank you very much indeed. Chris jasper joining us on the latest on the iranian crash. Vonnie we are keeping an eye on airlines, too. Breaking crude Oil Inventories in the last few minutes. Crude Oil Inventories showed a build from the last week of 1. 6 million barrels. The market was looking for a drawdown of 3. 8 million barrels. But dont forget the massive drawdown of last week of nearly 11. 5 million barrels. It has been a little bit volatile. We werent expecting a build this week. It will likely take a little bit of the pressure off oil prices, which obviously soared last night, and indeed, wti down at 61. 33. Now refinery utilization was down 1. 5 percent, and gasoline inventories showed a build about four times what was anticipated, 9. 13 million barrels. Lets check in on the bloomberg first word news. Heres ritika gupta. Ritika a u. S. Official says iran appeared to avoid u. S. Casualties in that missile attack. Iran fired more than a dozen missiles at u. S. Bases in iraq, but gave iraq a heads up before the attack, and no americans were hurt. That could avert dramatic escalation. President trump will give a statement on iran at 11 00 a. M. New york time. Carlos ghosn says he wants to clear his name. The former nissan chairman who has become the worlds most famous fugitive spoke to reporters today in beirut. He fled there last week after a daring escape from tokyo. Ghosn blasted the japanese legal system. Mr. Ghosn i did not escape justice. And persecution , political persecution. Ritika he is accused of financial crimes. He says that japanese prosecutors, government officials, and nissan executives conspired to bring him down. Smoke from deadly bushfires have devastated australia has now spread halfway across the world, darkening skies in argentina and beyond. A u. S. Weather satellite captured the smoke crossing south america and sweating over buenos aires. The fires have code at least 25 people and destroyed more than 25 million acres. Global news 24 hours a day, on air and on quicktake by bloomberg, powered by more than 2700 journalists and analysts in more than 120 countries. Im ritika gupta. This is bloomberg. Vonnie thank you. Time now for our stock of the hour. With so many macro scenes out there, particularly with middle east tensions increasing, we are looking at the overall Financial Market reaction to the situation so far with abigail doolittle. What stands out the most . Abigail probably the fact that there is not so much of a reaction, especially after iran retaliated for that airstrike by the u. S. Killing the iranian general last week. The major averages in the u. S. Are actually higher. Europe is mainly higher. We did see a negative reaction initially in the asian session, but overall, not much of a reaction. That is true over the last four sessions since all of this started. The s p 500 just about flat. Gold, ahe big winners, haven assets. The futures up for the 11 stay in a row. The biggest winner, bitcoin, up about 9 over the last four days. Basically apel market basically a bull market. Guy what is this doing in terms of market repositioning . You just told me a story of a kind of roundtrip in terms of most of the major Asset Classes. Is this changing anybodys perception about what 2020 is going to bring . Is there a heightened sense of tension in builtin anymore mediumterm perspective as you look out the options curve . Seem to there doesnt be much of a repositioning at all. Perhaps in these situations where it is shocking at first, when it is unlikely to affect the corporate profit outlook, you will see the initial drop and then he moved back. We also have the upcoming earnings season that investors are looking forward to. At this point, without further action in the middle east, that is probably the next big catalyst for stocks. Investor sort of looking past this, at least for now. Vonnie we will see if that is still the case post 11 00 a. M. , when we are looking for the president to speak. Thank you, abigail doolittle, for that market update. Guy a lot of traders firmly sitting on their hands, waiting for the president to speak. Lets get the latest on irans decision to strike military bases in iraq as we await a White House Press conference from President Trump, and what it is going to mean for the markets. Joining us from washington is a lisbeth rosenberg, senior fellow of the Energy Economics program at the center for a new american security. Lets look at this and try to figure out what is going on. We talked about global war and partial war. What are we looking at here . What kind of conflict are we fighting . I am trying to understand what the parameters are and what it means for the global economy. Elizabeth this is an escalation between the United States and iran and their exchange of hostilities, but we are likely to see continuation of these oneoff attacks, perhaps a series of low intensity conflict maneuvers. Anxiety and risk in the markets, but it isnt all out war. Extent can tehran go any further than simply fighting a kind of low scale, asymmetric war . Is that the kind of story we are looking at here . If so, what is the ultimate end game to that . Elizabeth we shouldnt underestimate low scale and low intensity conflict because it can be devastating and truly threatening from a National Security perspective, and also for markets. Iran has kid abilities that have been used against financial targets, including in the United States. It has the legal means to go after u. S. Targets, and potentially in iraq, as seen elsewhere in the region and in the homeland. There is an array of things iran can do, as well as u. S. Can do, that may be for some and truly threatening that may be fearsome and truly threatening, even if it isnt the all out shooting war with think of when we think of war. Vonnie what should be done in order to deescalate things at 11 00 a. M. . The rhetoric has been that there is a chance to deescalate here, but in the background, the president has knocked iran, has obviously given the goahead for the carrying out of the strike against the general. We have witnessed hundreds of thousands, if not millions of people, in the streets. It would seem the president should try to deescalate unless he wants more. Many ofh certainly, his advisers are telling them to do so. Many hope he will indeed signal a pause and potentially deescalation. He would do that by indicating that there are no imminent attacks, that the United States is planning against iran, reassuring the country, offering a view that the United States is strong and need not flex its military muscle in order to defend its interests in the region, and also by not tweeting as much, which causes its own version of hysteria and anxiety. Those are all things president can do to potentially look towards a deescalation scenario. He getting where is advice vonnie where is he now . Ng advice right it was reported that all of the advisers left the white house pretty quickly after events unfolded last night. He is going to speak at 11 00. Who has been speaking to him since last night . Elizabeth certainly, his close senior advisers are doing so, and he takes his own counsel, which is one of the reasons why as actions seem as volatile they are, because he is unpredictable in his actions. He is also paying attention to the news media and international reaction. I think it is a bit sobering, and that has had an effect on the white house, as it has taken a pause since last night, looking forward to the announcement coming shortly. Guy what do we make of the way that iran responded . It responded in a way that was clearly designed to play domestically, but not calls too much aggravation internationally. What does that tell us about the that iran is now likely to take . Elizabeth i think it indicates that iran has a popular domestic mandate to respond and show strengths, which it did after the killing of soleimani. It may just be the beginning. Iran has been historically involved in reprisal efforts and strikes at its enemies and adversaries over time, even over years, and i think that will be the case. This is not the beall and endall of irans response. This is likely just the beginning of its response to that killing, and there may in fact be further titfortat between the u. S. And iran, depending on how iran proceeds in the days ahead and how provoked the u. S. Is in the region. Actually detailed 13 thinking about what the nine or scenarios might be. Do you think this is the first of the nightmare scenarios . If that is the case, does iran have enough to finance the wherewithal to continue this effort . We know that the troops are gc, is the army and ir very willing. Elizabeth we arent apparently looking at a major loss of life or profound destruction of and infrastructure, but it is certainly fearsome, and concerning particularly because it may be a sign of what is to come. As far as whether iran can afford it, low intensity conflict is unfortunately in extensive unfortunately inexpensive. While they have fast military kid ability, it also has impressive reserves military capability, it also has impressive reserves of capacity to engage in hostilities with the United States and elsewhere. The international and u. S. Sanctions that have encapsulated irans economy, essentially, do strangle its assets to hard currency its access to hard currency and its ability to fund a Strong Military force, which is why it has instead directed some of its taxes to hard currency, the money that is able internationally, so these are strong lethal drones, capabilities,r and other covert actions it may undertake. It has planned assassination attempts in europe and elsewhere before. Those are all unfortunately inexpensive opportunities iran has available to pursue towards the United States and its interests. Vonnie it is the best, on that note, thank you very much for joining us. That is Elizabeth Rosenberg from the center for new american security. We will be bringing you President Trumps address to the nation come alive at 11 00 a. M. Eastern, 4 00 p. M. London time. After thetwo weeks daring escape, carlos ghosn spoke about why he made his flight from japan. We will be looking at that story next. This is bloomberg. Weeks fewer than two after becoming the worlds most famous fugitive, carlos ghosn, the former Nissan Renault executive, spoke at a News Conference in beirut about the reasons behind his escape from japan. Mr. Ghosn it is not very difficult to come to the conclusion youre going to die in japan or you have to get out. This was not about justice. This was as i felt i was a i have of a country that served for 17 years. Vonnie joining us now is yousef gamal eldin come up bloomberg east anchordle who was present for the News Conference. We are having reaction now out of japan saying that authorities are saying all of this doesnt exonerate carlos ghosn in any way, but he maintains his innocence still. Explain to us what he is telling the news media. And a halfwas two hours, so it was a lot of information, and it is hardly possible to summon up and about 90 seconds, but i am going to try my best. One important take away is the kind of hopelessness you already alluded to in the soundbite you played, the frustration, the brutality he had to endure of not being able to see his wife, which was a frequent reference throughout the two in a half hours, and ultimately, the prospect that he would have to wait two years before a trial that punted his decision to leave the way he did. He underscored that he is very keen to clear his name, and he is open to doing a trial in lebanon, brazil, or france, and he is a citizen of all three countries. That is where he stands now. It will be interesting to see what follows because he has a meeting with ebonys prosecutors about that interpol red notice with lebanese prosecutors about that interpol red notice out on him. Guy it was interesting to me that he spent so much time talking about the business and the mistakes that are being made, and the strategic errors that current management are making at nissan. What you think is objective in doing that was . Yousef to pretty much underscore that he has a legacy to defend and to be proud of, and that had they just stayed the course and again, according to his account not come up with this elaborate plot to oust him, the fate of the two companies what have been better than it is today. The concern was that with ghosn on the run and speaking as he is, it is yet another distraction at a time when they are trying to patch things up between renault and nissan. The stock price is currently at a decade low for nissan, and renault about a seven year low. Both companies are struggling in a time when you have these shifts for the whole industry in terms of electric vehicles and self driving cars. Guy fascinating day. Very long press conference, nearly two and a half hours. Yousef gamal eldin, thank you very much. Up next, more on what is happening with the oil markets as we await President Trumps address to the United States. That is coming up. This is bloomberg. From the cmeng us for futures in focus is Phil Streible of rjo futures. Talk to us about money made and lost in the last 15, 16 hours. There was a 6 ferns between the high last night in the low today post inventories. Phil that 6 move overnight tells you this is a highly emotional market right now. A lot of my colleagues were discussing how high could oil prices go if these geopolitical tensions continue to rise. His 100 oil a possibility . Opec has done a fantastic job balancing the supply and demand structure. However, i think we continue to see green shoots on different headlines, especially out of the middle east. We have been favoring the upside since we saw the break out over 59. 50, and the market obviously posting that high tick last night. The next level of resistance, 66. 60. I think if we get beyond that, 70 is just around the corner as your next upside target. Vonnie what gives you confidence that would be the right play given that the president clearly wants to keep markets happy generally . We dont know what hes going to do in this case, but is there a trade you would put on the hedge . Phil if you are going to go a few years out, you could pick up the 100 callth options. The reason i am confident prices are going to remain firm is just look at outside developments. The u. S. Economy continues to expand. Try going to cosco on a saturday. They are jammed packed. These people have money. I think we continue to see emerging markets starting to develop with their growth. Vonnie we had inventories today, another surprise. What is going on with inventories, and why are we getting it so wrong week over week . Phil they are putting my they are pretty much in line with the fiveyear average. We should continue to see small amounts of drawdowns. Remember, u. S. Production has leveled out near record highs, so we will continue to produce. Opec will probably start to try and produce a bit more just in case of a parabolic cushion, and k some type in case some type of attack on an oil facility what that attack on aramco, where 5 of the global oil was taken offline. I think we continue to see prices remain firm. Vonnie thank you. That is Phil Streible of rjo futures joining us for futures in focus. We are awaiting President Donald Trump speaking at the white house, delivering remarks on the Iranian Missile attack overnight. We know there were no u. S. Casualties. We are not sure if any other casualties there were, and we also dont know if iran plans other attacks. Certainly there were mixed messages today coming from the Iranian Foreign minister, who seem to suggest that would be it for now. The leadership in iran seems to suggest otherwise. Guy we will wait and see come about what we know is that the president s tweets earlier today seem to indicate a desire to deescalate. He talked about all being well. There was warning about this attack. This felt like a communication as much as anything else. The two sides have been trying to communicate. Theyve been doing it via the military channel, but there are other channels available to them. It is going to be fascinating to see how the president approaches this. He has indicated that there could be a significant and overwhelming and disproportionate response if the iranians came back and attacked, but the way these iranians seem to have done this seems to have put that on the back burner, and the president s response earlier on seems to indicate a desire to deescalate. Vonnie president Hassan Rouhani tweeting out a few minutes ago that the tragedy of the stampede at general soleimanis funeral and the crash of the passenger deeply saddens all iranians. May they rest in peace. Its been a wild few days for the country. Chiefbring in bloombergs washington correspondent Kevin Cirilli at the white house. The president will have been receiving phone calls not just from his own advisors, but presumably from leaders of many nations, including france, germany, and some of others desperately trying to deescalate. Kevin the european allies you mentioned are using coalition forces, and that reiterates that the u. S. Allies in that particular region. Secondly, as to what we are anticipating from President Trump today, i am hearing that it is going to be a reiteration of his Public Comment on twitter. It comes at a time in which the president is facing intense domestic political pressure from democrats on capitol hill. This press conference is coinciding potentially with speaker nancy pelosi, not speaking at the same time, but likely within the same hour. The top democrat in the house is anticipated to bring a resolution to the floor that would limit the president s ability to go without congressional approval with military strikes. That is largely being seen as a political symbolic measure, given that it faces little chances of advancing out of the senate. In terms of where this goes geopolitically, we should note not just europe, but also china, relies significantly on the strait of hormuz for their oil supply. That is just another indication that china has an interest in this for this to deescalate as well. However, in contrast with that, the president views his unpick ability as a key ability his unpredictability as a key ability of his, and that is what you have seen inis