Abigail today, we are looking at modest gains. It we have the dow s p 500, higher by. 4 . It comes after the attack to form bill passes. Investors thinking rightly or wrongly that the 1. 5 trillion in proposed tax cuts will trickle through into the economy and help the stock market more with shares rising on the day. Take a look at bitcoin. Volatility there. Is hurting many of the bitcoin and blockchain related. Ompanies up 290 . Nd iced tea, this company is going to be changing their name to long blockchain, getting into the blockchain space. Haveample of the media we been seeing on all things cryptocurrency and bitcoin. , this is aockchain 69 million market cap companies. Hascro cap, somebody that a company that has six landowners in revenue and trying to get in on what something is a good thing. Others think it is a battle. It lets take a look at the threeday chart of bitcoin and the bloomberg because the volatility we have seen recently is interesting. Above 18,000 per bitcoin, nearly in a bear market. Done about 18 and thats pretty remarkable. But before the bitcoin voles get nervous, take a look at another chart. Chart. T even a oneyear over the last eight months or so, we see that there are a number of bear market here in bitcoin and each time the buyers step in and support bitcoin. Lets take a look at some breaking news we have here. We have a combination potential here, the Brazilian Airline related company, that they have confirmed that they are in potential talks for a possible combination. At the highs, but up about 19 , scarlet and julia. Lets check in with first word news with Mark Crumpton. Mark Mitch Mcconnell doesnt expect the chamber to take up changes in the welfare system to 2018. He addressed the issue in washington. I would not expect to see entitlement reform on the agenda. And with the democrats are willing to do is important, because in the senate, with rare exceptions, we have to have democratic involvement. He added that infrastructure is a key objective for next year and at minimum, he expects technical corrections to the tax bill. Is tox reform bill provide a modest onetime boost. The cochairman predict the u. S. Will get no longterm mileage from the legislation. He called it tragic that no significant needed changes are being made. The driver of an suv that rams into a crowd injuring 15 people is an Australian Citizen of afghan a history of drug use and mental illness. Authorities also said that at nos time, there is connection to terrorism. This is horrific. We are not defined by the sorts of incidents. Aboutnfident we will go our business and celebrate christmas. We will be at the boxing day candlelight vigil and spend time with people that we love. Francis prayed for a merciful final judgment for Cardinal Bernard law. Bishop,or the disgraced head of the archdiocese in 2002 when Court Documents revealed he would fail to stop priests who molested children. The casket was incense and holy water and recited the ritual prayer, commending his soul to god. Global news powered by 2700 journalists and analysts in over 120 countries. Now to a developing story , polls and catalonia closing as Voters Decide whether to back Political Parties that support independence or those that want to remain part of spain. Joining us with the very latest talk to us about what going on. Im looking at the exit polls coming through and it looks like a business is winning the most seats. If we look at the parties, they majorities. In it is a difficult result, how this poll is confirmed. We will have to wait two hours anget that the party is unprecedented situation. Winning a ballot like this, they get results. A lot of what is seen over the past month, and this is what matters. Are you able to form a government . Cleanup tojust about the majority. It is difficult parliamentary work. Its going to be a very difficult night. , andet very good results the independent parties have managed to keep the majority. And it is a razor thin majority here. These are just exit polls at this stage. Tenuous, negotiating with spain anyway. Results, its not a good response for the proindependence parties if confirmed. Seats and are down from the results. The actual approach, and that administration. It is going to be very difficult. The hardest to get them out, and it. And barcelona, keeping us uptodate on the exit polls. Lets move on the Corporate News here because boeing and embraer is a brazilian company, any deal would require the approval of brazils government. Why would boeing want to buy embraer . Cracks it is unclear at this point. The reasons why it would make a better sign, but the best option is that they really are with the recent acquisition of the series by air breasts airbus. And thethe a320s adoption of selling them. Leader and it would increase these portfolios. Where the odds of this deal going through . It is brazils airspace champion. Prideis a lot of national and the government has a golden share in it. , sopresident said no analysts are chimed to figure out how would this deal look like . It is a pretty big premium that boeing is willing to pay here. Another Companies AlreadyWork Together on a number of elements. How is every going to feel like this potential bid . Beneficial. It is beneficial. On the other hand, embraer is not that great for health at this point. Joining forces was the biggest airplane maker would be fantastic for them. Reporting from sao paulo. Coming up, we will head to bitcoin because companies rushing to go public, could this be a sign of peak blockchain . Gmp capitalons with that provides Investment Banking services for currency firms coming up. This is bloomberg. Is bloomberg markets, im julia chatterley. Im scarlet fu, time for Bloomberg Business flash. A look at the biggest stories in the news right now. Facebook signing a multiyear licensing deal that allows the Kerry Network to kari universal artists across platforms. Users will be able to upload universal songs and share music through phase but, instagram, and oculus Virtual Reality technology. Daimler is moving in on ubers french turf. The automaker requiring a major state in the countrys vehicle services. More than 1. 5 million customers and 18,000 drivers. They plan on fully acquiring by 2019. The Athletic Shoe industry may be on the rebound. Shares of finish line rising after the chain reported a surprising increase in comparable sales. Drop of 4 . Ecast to finish line boosted to the annual forecast. More than 70 of the product lineup comes from nike which will be reporting results later today. That is your business flash update. Julia the impact for the biggest tax overhaul in three decades will be farreaching with big banks seen as benefiting. The u. S. Economy is now and how to tax cuts could change that Going Forward. Its not as much of what were hearing because thats on the institutional side but on the consumer side, people are doing. Of what they out spend money on. Whether it is cash out of atms are over the teller. It is up 6 over the last year. 3 . As only up people are spending more money. Check writing has gone up. Debit and credit card is the fastest big number growing. Consumers are spending well and that drives with the economy. Companies selling stuff. Where do they get that money from . Am not worried about credit on the consumer side. Even if you look overall, there is concern about that being pulled back. Still working through the memories of what happened before. The industry does look at what goes on and lending. A little bit in some of the unsecured lending, it is not something we are involved in it all. Were not really worried about consumer credits, but that consumer groups ending drives the economy. The u. S. , we believe we will finish about 2. 1 or 2. 2 gdp growth. It is kind of interesting. It next year, we have almost 2. 5. It is tremendously different than it was 3, 4, 5 years ago. Plus or minus zero. China had from come from last year. This things in brazil moved in and out. This things are very interesting. Thats good for the world. Scarlet that was Brian Moynihan speaking exclusively with david westin. We discuss what will come in the year ahead. Still ahead, this is bloomberg. Julia this is bloomberg markets, im julia chatterley. Scarlet im scarlet fu. The last few weeks have brought a flurry of massive deals. The takeover of aetna and assets from fox. The year ahead will bring even more transformative deals to be felt across industries. The year of sector seismology. Leader. Ncial services in your report, you look across sectors and players. Whether it is consumers, the tech industry, pe. Technology plays a role no matter what sector or whos involved. Is the Common Thread weaving together trends. Financial services, we think about it in a couple of ways. Andraditional processes Financial Services, how do we access new markets and embed in the way people are living more actively . You see this as a bumper of 2016 in technology. It was quieter in the first half of the year, and then picked up. What is the fundamental driver . Broad ing to 2018 terms of the deals we are looking at here. Is it about the ad revenue driver . Stock market at an alltime high. We have tax reform that is going to create earning potential. If you think about that, its financial Distribution Channels you may not of had. The online going direct to consumers. There is an element of digitizing to the marketplace. This sector is probably one of the more mature segments of the market. Driven in theent transaction marketplace right now. The retail sort of segment. It is embedding payments in the way that we live. Embedding a about dinner reservation. Along that, you pay. This is how we think about payments and how we live. Toward is the shift making companies bigger or smaller and more specialized . Think there are two strategies. For the larger Global Financial institutions, it is doubling down on the core businesses and making sure they are reaching new markets. It we see overseas expansion, we see new markets and Growth Markets that way. For smaller institutions, it is or three in 1, 2, the market you choose to play in. Make sure you are expanding on your footprint to be the top player in the marketplace. D. C. The blending of tech. To often do you get people come to you and ask where they should be looking . Thehey are certainly breakout, moving left along a little bit. Whether or not Tech Companies enter Financial Services materially, there is a lot of barriers to entry be it regulatory or complexity. Ournt think that participants and Financial Services should necessarily say that theres not going to be outside disruption into this industry. We may enter these marketplaces. Scarlet and amazon as people scrambling. Lets talk about the people involved. They have been increasingly drawn to the tech sector. They are ready to make deals, but the stock market has been rising and rising. It may not be the best time. Private equity may not be able to compete with corporate pay for continued to synergy. Theyre very good at identifying opportunities to sort of by and grow. Active see a fairly private equity marketplace, including specializing in technology and nextgeneration evolution and Portfolio Company development. And you can see that given that level of interaction . Are run byd firms founders and those gentlemen are perhaps getting to an age were they are starting to retire and think about their legacy. You are seeing a lot more new players on the scene as well. We have had this standard monetization strategy that lasted a while. They are thinking about exiting those and the next generation section, interesting how tax reform changes those decisions. Theyre going to be personal. It is very much an individual by individual tax profile situation. They will add to that and sort of laws. Sort of pause. Julia great chatting with you. Thank you so much. The transactions leader, at you why americas. What products do you want . From bloomberg World Headquarters in manhattan, this is bloomberg markets. Commodity markets are closing in new york, so lets check out some of the big movers, starting with oil. Wti crude bouncing back after repairs to one of the worlds most important pipelines signaling an end to supply construction in shrinking u. S. Stockpiles. Lets move to gold which has fluctuated today. It is up again, moving between gains and losses. Data showing the usb economies growth slightly stalled. Lets end with wheat futures, higher by. 8 . Usda data showed that wheat expert sales jump to an 11 month high. Lets get a check on the headlines with bloomberg first word news with Mark Crumpton. The United NationsGeneral Assembly today overwhelmingly backed the measure critical of president trumps decision to recognize jerusalem as the capital of israel. 120 89 vote came despite u. S. Ambassador nikki haleys warning that the move could put funding for their nations and the global body at risk. When a nation is singled out for attack in this organization, that nation is disrespected. Whats more, that nation is asked to pay for the privilege of being disrespected. In the case of the United States, we are asked to pay more than anyone else for that dubious privilege. Two u. S. Allies backing the measure include the u. K. , france, italy, japan, and germany. Including guatemala and micronesia. Canada and included argentina. House republicans to pass a spending bill to prevent a government shutdown. The president accused democrats of wanting a shutdown in order to distract from the very popular justpast tax cuts. Cr, continuing resolution, to keep our government open. Made ababwean president pitch to investors in south africa on his first foreign trip as head of state. He said his country will provide great financial opportunity under his leadership. From now on, zimbabwe is open for business. Yes, there will be political isues, but primarily, it economics, economics, economics and trade for zimbabwe. Mark in a meeting with the south african president , he said he was reportedly happy to be back in the country. He fled to south africa after zimbabwes former president fired him as deputy president. The department of Homeland Security internal watchdog says his office will investigate how a tiny Florida Company won more contractsillion in for desperately needed relief supplies after hurricane maria. Acting Inspector General john kelly said he would initiate the review. Reportedly never delivered the emergency tarps and plastic sheeting that was needed to cover tens of thousands of puerto rican homes damaged by strong winds. Global news 24 hours a day global news, 24 hours a day. Powered by more than 2700 journalists and analysts in more than 120 countries. Crumpton. Coming to an end. The Tech Companies are still fighting to win your heart, and more notably, your while its. Amazon, apple, and google the year in consumer tech. Its been a jampacked year for tech products. All the big players are vying for every part of your life. Google is no longer just a search company, amazon is more than a resale channel, and apple more than ever is going with the highend. They are releasing more and more products. X. The smartphone, the iphone without a doubt, this was the most anticipated gadget of the year and perhaps the biggest iphone up in company history. It has been a hit with consumers and is leading apple to expect a recordbreaking 80 billion holiday quarter. They are hoping with the four k version of the apple tv, a 400wants to sell you highend speaker that works well with its new pixel 2 phone. I wouldnt recommend the headphones, but the speaker, the stereo sound could be a better fit for your home. Amazon is trying to be everywhere in your room and has released several new echo speakers this year. My favorite is the alarm clock and nighttime device of the future, integrating with your music and video streaming services. The Top Companies are looking for next years Holiday Season as well. Early will come out in 2018. The iphone maker is already working on its next iphone, as well as an ipad with face id recognition. Google is working on a new home speaker with a screen, and amazon is always working on new echoes. Happy holidays. Was bloomberg technology. Scarlet this year brought us no shortage of harbingers of the socalled retail apocalypse. Mega chains filing for bankruptcy, the likes of sears and gap shutting down hundreds of locations. Striking of people in an industry that is not going to stabilize anytime soon. Seema shah covers the heart time retailers. How theseout hardline retailers have adapted to the challenging environment. You see home depot the Housing Market continues to be strong, home depot, lowes. The other portion of hard lines is anything that is not apparel or food, including jewelry, home furnishings, office supplies. Relativelybeen strong compared to other sectors, but has decelerated. Home furnishing is strong in the sense that but other players like Bed Bath Beyond and pier 1 are really struggling to drive sales in their stores. The classic divide between those pushing more Business Online versus those with the bricks and mortar. If you push business too much online and you dont have the infrastructure you basically have to offer Free Shipping as a promotion, otherwise urban necessity. One of the biggest reasons people abandon their cars is they dont want to pay for shippin