♪ vonnie: from bloomberg world headquarters in new york, here are the top stories on the bloomberg and around the world that we're following. in market, the oil rally is lifting stocks and energy shares leading the gains on s&p 500. jumping more than 3% after saudi arabia and russia said they favor a longer output deal. the news giving a boost to the currency with major oil exporters. in company use. shares of a.i.g. are rising after the new crowe said he's not there to break the insurer meanwhile, carl icahn who was pushed for a split is reacting to the new crowe via twitter this morning. we'll have the latest. and governments and companies around the world are beginning to gain the upper hand against the unrivaled global cyberattack. more than 200,000 computers and at least 150 countries have been

affected so far. microsoft president said the attack is a wake-up call for government. we are halfway into this monday. trading day and julie hyman is following all the movers. julie: it is now meaning that the s&p 500 is on pace for a record close if it hangs on to this level. although we've backed off of the highs of the day. the nasdac is at a record high both today and on a closing basis. i don't know if you saw this op-ed op bloomberg news but he talked about the perils of the low volatility environment that we are seeing right now, talking about the encourages in uptick in risk taking. we've got one of the many measures of volley that we -- volatility that we look at. the yellow bars are that trading range going back to 2014. the white one is the 20-day moving average and the blue dotted line shows us how

infrequently we've gotten to this low level in terms of that trading range as we site drop again once more. this is just another way to measure the lack of volatility that we've been seeing. but getting to what is moving in today's session, there are things that are moving more. oil is one of them as vonnie mentioned. oil rising on this talk on russia and saudi arabia about extending the output cut. so it's up by nearly 3%. and some of the various oil services companies also rising. they're all getting a boost. one stock that is going in the opposite direction today is tesla. adam jonas over at morgan stanley has been a bull on tesla for quite some time. he is downgrading the share to equal rate by about 2% today. jonas is saying there is a bulk case on tesla that has it going up against or becoming the next amazon or apple but he boosted

his 2017 cash burn investment on the stocks and goldman-sachs cut second quarter deliveries estimates by 1,000. so that's something to watch as well. and finally today, it's 13 ap day. the deadline for various firms to file their changes to their investments. so there's just an early sampling of some of the stocks moving on that. e've got value post -- baupost reporting a low. eaton park adding a small stake, about 200,000 shares. 2,000 in to shutterfly. vonnie: thank you for that mark update, julie. it was a rocky decade for a.i.g. but the company is starting to show some signs of stability this year. just in time is the company

named ryan diva roe as crowe. was a part amid inefficient -- insufficient porter from investors. >> one analyst says that brian duperreault is the white n.i.t. -- knight. people are wondering if a.i.g. will bring another reserve charge. they wondered a.i.g. has had this very aggressive capital return plan. people are wondering if that will continue because duperreault says he's coming in to invest. capital to g excess invest in expansion unlike carl icahn said he wanted to break up with the full insurer. duperreault says he's not there to break it up. vonnie: what is morale like at the company? this is a company that has come through so much, so many ups and

downs and bored fights. so will brian duperreault going to be able to lift morale? >> that's one of the things that people are asking. when he came in before, now there's been more than two rounds of leadership changes. a.i.g. paid more than $20 million worth of severance packages to many of its former executives. people leave the ship before, they're all gone. there's almost nobody there from 2004 lead negative leadership ranks. so now, it's going to really depend on who he brings on next after him. vonnie: yeah. it's interesting. he's now, you know, somebody else who comes from a bank insurance background. he was crowe of ace. hamilton, which is a big name in the a.i.g. history even. so maybe it's natural that he wouldn't want to break it up but would it be better for the insurer to break it up being at risk systemically, influential company still? >> it is.

it's too big to fail but there are capital considerations to be accounted for. they are in more than 80 countries right now. they have diversification. so every time that the commercial operation kind of falters, they have a licensed retirement business that's doing pretty well. so they do have arguments to keep it together. a lot of it has to do with ating agencies and tax benefits. if he can't turn it around, it will be a question again. vonnie: i was going to ask you about what carl icahn has to say about duperreault's hire. but let's look at his tweets. says he is glad a.i.g. is making some changes. and it is graph gathright giving that the activist strategy continues to create value for all the shareholders. is this the a good thing for the other shareholders? >> brian duperreault has a lot

of friends in the capital market. he quoted sandy wildest for our the story wilde for in hamilton. it depends on whether he can insure. stocks have been down this year. he's really going to show that he can make changes there. vonnie: so holding it all together, this insurer is not the original strategy that was sort of advocated at the very beginning after the bailout? >> there's certainly are a lot of similarities between what the old strategy was and the new one. the board said they wanted to con along with the strategy that the prior crowe had. so investing in technology, that hasn't proven be so easy. so they asked the hedge fund to come in and help with that data underwriting. but nobody really knows what that really means yet. vonnie: has carl icahn or any

other activists proposed what should be next? >> yeah. john foster also used to be on in the board of a.i.g. he agreed to step down. they all wanted a stepdown. this scale back there andiested you don't need to break in the whole thing up. just start to sell some assets. so we can focus on this corps commercial operation which works from everyone from we chat to united airlines to the world's most wealthy. vonnie: expensive is it bringing brian duperreault on board? >> 23% more expensive than peter hancock! [laughter] a.i.g. c.e.o.'s have been paid at a discount relative to peers for very many years and one of the claims he made is it's going to be expensive to bring on a new crowe stocks bring on brian duperreault. they took a stake in hamilton u.s. which is about $110 million. and then they paid brian another $12 million to get him out of

his fee and about $40 million over the next few years to hamilton to waive that non-compete agreement and another $16 million in annual payback. vonnie: what does peter hancock do now >> we will see. he said he will step down once a new replacement is found. he's had a wide range of experience and insurance. vonnie: will history judge him well for his part in a.i.g.? >> we will see. we will see. vonnie: all right, glad to have you back to tell us more about that as time goes on. that's our insurance and financial reporter here at bloomberg. let's check in on first word with mark. mark: vonnie, thank you. more cyber chaos is expected today, following that global attack on computer systems. according to the european union's law enforcement agency, more than 200,000 computers in 150 countries have been affected with so-called ransomwares so far. that's a tool that hackers use

to infect computer files making them inassessble and then demand a randy. -- ransom. nissan and renault and fedex were all affected. e.u. governments are tightening their brexit negotiation as they prepare for talks with the u.k. over its departure from the block. that's according to a latest draft negotiating directors obtained by bloomberg news. the e.u. toughened its language on transitional arrangement that would help companies adapt to britain's new status and clarify the role of european courts. the u.s. supreme court says debt collection companies cannot be sued for trying to recover years old credit card debt from people who seek bankruptcy protection. the justice has ruled 5-3 today in favor of midland funding which was trying to collect a debt that an alabama woman had incurred more than 10 years earlier.

andy north warns that its new rocket could wear a large nuclear warhead over long dances. ictator kim jong-nam wants the launch yesterday. it could be on the island of guam. nikki haley says the latest test says that kim is in a state of paranoia. global news 24 hours a day powered by more than 2,600 journalists and analysts in over 26 countries. vonnie: it's been a slow start this year but our guest says deal making will outpay last year on the deals report. and happening right now, president trump -- annual national peace officer memorial service at the u.s. capitol. ♪

president trump: truly support and love our police. ♪

vonnie: this is "bloomberg markets." i'm vonnie quinn. time for our deals report. inside analysis from the biggest players from outside of the deal. let's go to alex. >> pleasure to be joined by rob townsend, from morrison forrester. they build on the two largest deals on the year. so rob, thanks for joining us.

thank you for wearing a suit for my honor. i appreciate that. so you guys come up with a semi-annual tech m & a survey. and there are a couple of questions i want to ask based on he results of that survey. 41% of people that surveyed and we're talking about investment bankers and m & a deal makers. 41% of people say that they believe donald trump's economic policies -- here's the graff, will estimate deal making. 37% say no change. 22% say it will inhibit or already has inhibited deal making and yet there hasn't been a real big year in tech m & a and the most common reason people tell me is there's uncertainty about what the trump conversation is going to be doing. how can both of these things be true at the same time? >> i characterize it by optimism.

this is going to be a great year for m&a. 2015 and 2016 were trong year. people were expecting more in 2017. but as you alluded to, at last great deal of uncertainty right now. we did that survey earlier in the year. people were reacting to trump's pronounced policies or policy initiatives during the campaign without yet having the information related to the difficulties having it actually executing and implementing those policies. so we're talking about things like regulatory reform and more importantly, perhaps for the general audience, tax reform which is there's been a great deal of tax reform and yet so far, we've seen a one-page policy initiative that's different from we've heard from congress and it's uncertainty

what's going to get done. a lot of companies that are active in m&a would love to be able to bring that cash back to the united states and put it to work and doing deals. alex: in this same survey, we have a graph that shows this as well. optimism among tech m&a deal makers is at a two-year high. so there must be something within the larger umbrella tech m&a beyond tax reform that's estimating this only mitchell. hat are -- stimulating this. >> i was astounded. people were thinking 2017 would be as good or better because all these cycles run out of steam over time.

they are motivate bade set of different drivers namely innovative disruptions which happen in new technology cycles. so what we're seeing now is a rotation to a focus on the internet of things, on mouse vehicle and cyber security which just got an i additional emphasis with the global hacking that happened last week. alex: i want to ask you about this new soft bank vision fund, $100 billion fund. you're a longtime advicer to soft bank. for?is soft bank looking >> they will move forward and execute. the head of softbank has been remarkably adept at that in the past and in-on-the basis, people

have been prepared to put a lot more money in his disposal. alex: since mentioned the one web deal. we reported that softbank was close to walking away from that deal if bond holders didn't change their mind on the intel that side. anything more you can tell is about that? >> i'm involved in the transaction so i can't really comment to say other than i think your reporting's pretty good on that. alex: one of the bigger ideas here along with why that transaction happened, whether or not it goes through is this larger idea of connecting people globally over the internet. so that deal had to do with satellite technology. obviously we're going through a wave right now where we may see some major telco deals whether it's for t-mobile or something else. do you agree with the motivation behind that being that these companies are looking at themselves and saying the next wave of telco needs to be

connecting as many people as possible at a global level through a 5-g level or are they looking at other things saying m&a needs to be driven by something else other than that? >> yeah. i think it's a broader seam. you're seeing convergence across multiple industries. -- ck -- misconduct semiconductor, arm is the architect, the company that designs the semiconductor chips that are going to be at the core of the internet of things. all these things are converging. you bring that by the announcement of comcast and charter where they will collaborate in figuring out how to expand their services to a quad play to offer wireless communications as well. and as you're sitting there as a telecommunications company or a wireless company, large or small, you see verizon reacting. you see sprint reacting. they're reacting to this

convergence. they're reacting to this new market player. they know they need to deploy additional capital to support 5-g. so yes, there's going to be ubiquitous data change and 5-g's going to be driven by to carry those communications. alex: does sprint-t-mobile make sense as a merger? >> i can't comment what does and does not make sense as a merger or anything that we would be looking at in that area but there is a need for a great deal of additional investment in the wireless industry and the united states of america driven by 5-g and we have four carriers to be able to compete successfully and drive that level of capital that's going to be invested here. alex: rob, thank you very much. have a nice trip back to san francisco tomorrow. enjoy our fine city for your

more day. vonnie, back to you. vonnie: thank you. still ahead, shares of teslaing from one of its longtime bulls, morgan stanley's adam jonas. more details next. this is boomerang many. ♪ -- bloomberg.

vonnie: this is "bloomberg markets." i'm vonnie quinn. time for our latest bloomberg business flash. a look at the latest business stories in the news right now. american home builders are optimistic that demand will keep growing. builders sentiment rose to the second highest since 2005. a pickup in current sales is making builders upbeat for the next six months. tesla is lower after losing a buy rating from a longtime

supporter. it n stanley sees continuing next year. tesla will burn through $2.3 billion in 2017. adam jonas believes china could prove inaccessible. in the united kingdom, the offers has a pending investigation into the bolivian authority over prescribery allegations. the office has given the french ank a june deadline to provide information. and that's your business flash update. with the vix at just about 10 1/2, the bloomberg dollar index is up .3%. some of that has to do with the yen, but more of it has to do 0974. he euro 1.

it is continuing to rise. and that german election which gave angela merkel a fantastic lead over martin schultz. her party is in a lot better position. emmanuel macron has chosen a prime minister and reached ross the aisle to the center part it and looks like there might be some move to update other regulations in france. and of course, underliking it all is that big move in crude. 49.20. stay tuned. this is bloomberg. ♪

vonnie: there is a lovely scene of midtown manhattan looking out over the river there. absolutely stunning. the east river. i'm vonnie quinn and this is

"bloomberg markets." let's have a quick check on where we stand with the major indices off their highs of the day. the dow is up 80 points. .he s&p 500 is up .4% and the nasdac is up .3%. and the s&p 500 is being moved higher by some chip stocks among other things. so let's get all the details now from bloomberg's andale doolittle. -- abigail doolittle. >> the first point to be made is mostly green. in fact, just moments ago, it had been all green but telecom has turned lower on verizon. but up top energy, more than 1%. we do have oil up four days in a row. nice gains for oil along with some of the big oil producers. oil up about 3%. this after russia and saudi

arabia did report that they are in favor of extending the global oil cuts to march of next year. so that really seems to be giving oil a boost. oil is on the cusp of turning higher for the month. it it does, it will be the first time oil was up since january. oil had a barker -- bearish run. the question is what's next for oil? the technicals are really somewhat bearish. the head of technical analyst thinks the risk-reward is unfavorable. this is 6637. he is making the point that oil is likely to trade in a range between $42 and $51. oil is about to put in potentially a death cross. that's when the average in pink goes above the moving average in yellow. tells you that the sellers have a lot of momentum. these death crosss and golden crosses don't always mean so much but you want to look back

to see what they've pent in the past. the last death cross was back in 2014 before the big crash. so is this death cross happen, this entire range that we've seen for over a year could break to the downside. time will tell. and right now, it reports around $42. and then finally, let's take a look at the movers within the tech road. cisco moving higher. the analysts there is really saying that the company's security networking efforts are likely to pay off over the long term. and we do have a lot of the security-related names trading higher after that ransomware attack. bernstein is saying that they believe these are the three companies, cisco, palo alto and checkpoint software are most likely to gain if the security i.t. spend does increase as it may in light of that routine attacks, vonnie. >> we're going to be speaking more on that in about 10

minute's time. chinese president hopes that several world leaders this weekend at a summit promoting his trade and infrastructure plan. chinese policymakers are also clamping down on financial risks and a trio of key economic indicators missed stimulates. - estimates. >> starting off the year, we started off china running at a pace of well up into the high sixes and now you're backing off those levels running at the mid sixes and inflation, p.p.i. is backing off those levels. so it's something markets will react to if it changes dramatically from where we are. we're coming off a base that was surprising in terms of how we started. >> so the tchaste we've had from chinese growth growth for the risk rally, you still think it's

there? >> one thing that's interesting, the thing about being in this business for 30 years, the amount of attacks that it end and the amount of focus i have on each one of those chinese pieces, china's 42% of growth in the world today and it's virtually all the growth and demand for commodities. it is literally something that has to be on the top of your mind. and quite frankly, today, part of what the global growth has been exports, particularly asian exports have been amazingly strong this year. my sense is it is going to slow from the heady pace it's been at but at a good level. so we feel comfortable about it today. we like emerging markets and but if you like them, you got to keep one eye focused on china for sure. >> it slows gradually for the moment. at the same time as you point out, it is so disproportionate is in contribution to global growth. it's sort of like if china sneeze, the world catches a cole. can we afford a moderate reduction in china? what's going to pick up the

slack? >> so the consensus view which i had here to is the u.s. the u.s. growth is pretty good. clearly, u.s. is some disappointing data but u.s. is oked to if you said to me -- there's such a big part of global trade. the impact is dramatic. but the u.s., the second half of this year, people will be comfortable with u.s. growth. >> and how much of a slowdown in rowth rate in china? will it work? >> there is a debate about whether the tightening policy or not. what they've is they've slowed down the appreciation of that credit growth. so they've slowed down the rate of growth. it'll be something that's really important to them. how do you start to bring it down. as long as you keep growth up, then that credit problem becomes less significant but this is a

huge company that's grown in extraordinary ways over the last 10 years largely through credit and it's too big today. >> and it's not just a question of whether the credit is growing, what is it being used for? it could give them real problems down the road. how are they getting the directing credit to the right places? >> there's overcapacity in the number of industries. one of the things they're trying to wring out capacity. if production keeps up, then you could still do ok. it's the debt that's at these government quasi government entities that is too big. and by the way, a lot of the credit has been put in through wealth imagine products. and the bank system is too big. anyway, as long as the government manages it, and they're going to give and push pole around point of view.

that's a fine art. and will they do -- so far so good this year. but it's something you got keep an eye on. >> do you buy the sell-off in debt? >> so we don't buy a tremendous amount in terms of onshore. and in terms of the debt markets over there. but it's something we look at. we look at the credit markets there. we'll do some of the nfments credit. we don't do a tremendous amount. fit does cheapen, we do a bit but not a tremendous amount. >> this has really tarted to evolve last month. >> we're comfortable with emerging markets and we think -- as long as you're in a range, things are ok. if it starts to slow dramatically, you've got to pair it back. the export data that keeps coming up is good. as long as the u.s. is growing at a reasonable pace which it is, there are places. there's something that is hugely important. inflation is coming down for a debt holder. when inflation is coming down

precipitously -- policy can be easier in terms of how they run and depending on where you rearview mirror we're quite comfortable with that. so there's a bunch of reasons. and one thing about this that people don't recognize. merge markets generally, their leverage is down dramatically for what it was in the 1980's, 1990's and the beginning of the last decade. the debt in the world is in japan. it's in italy. it's in the u.s. it's not the emerging markets today. >> as you make your investments in e.m., do you discriminate between commodity exporting exeans countries and commodity imporget countries? >> you have. to it's part of saying how did verse that economy is. places like mexico it has some sensitivity to oil but it's a pretty darn diverse economy and we feel more comfortable. when you scale the amount that you have. so for today, we have a bit of exposure to russia. it's something we don't

generally have a large exposure. to we feel pretty comfortable where our oil is. it's provided some value recently. but that is one that we will be in and out of. the more diverse economic pair dine like in a place like mexico, even argentina today that we feel much more comfortable in the durability of that holding. onnie: and that was rick rieder. >> the trump administration accuse the syrian government of carrying out mass killings of thousands of prisoners and burning the bodies in a large crematorium outside the capital. the state said that about 50 detainees a day are being hanged at military prison about 45 minutes from damascus. many of the bodies, it said are then being burned in the crematorium. a senior u.s. official says the fight to retake mosul from islamic state is approaching what he calls its final stages.

the special presidential envoy for the global coalition against the extremists says iraqi forces are "completely defeating islamic states." but he says local iraqi officials say they will need more funding from the u.s. and others in the international community to rebuild in territory recently retaken from the extremists. u.s. and european union officials will meet wednesday over u.s. plans to extend an in-flight ban on laptops. the homeland security departments wants to include transatlantic flights. the travel industry are concerned by the idea which would cover more than 400 daily flights and 65 million passengers a year. a day after he was inaugurated, french president emmanuel macron named his prime minister.

he is édouard philippe. he is a member of the republican party. macron was a minister in the last social government. by picking édouard philippe, macron is looking to wind his appeal before next month's parliamentary elections. ♪ vonnie: mark, thank you. companies are grappling with an unprecedented cyber attack that has infected more than 200,000 computers in over 150 countries. we will have the latest on the global response next. this is bloomberg. ♪

vonnie: this is "bloomberg markets." i'm vonnie quinn. now for the latest on that cyber attack that swept across the globe over the weekend, more than 200,000 computers and at least 150 countries have been infected by so-called ransomware that spreads through e-mails and encrypts computer files and demand bitcoin to unlock them. the hackers responsible are releasing new versions of the ransom. -- ransomware. other security stocks are gaining. tom giles joins us from san francisco with more. m, is this the first ransomware cyber ware attack that we've seen? >> yeah, i mean, this is -- it's unprecedented in its scale, the globality, the type of company that was affected. it was very comprehensive. it was very global. we're hearing from agencies in

russia. tchibe was affected. ompanies in the u.s. ransomware, this idea that we're going to -- you have 72 hours to pay us the ransom or we, you know, we basically disappear your data. we render your computer useless, if you will. ransomware is gaining more more use but not at this scale. vonnie: yeah, it's terrifying, really, because your whole intellectual property, your client list, if you're a your firm, do you pay the ransom? >> right. and in some cases, that may be the best-case scenario. but what this is showing us is that when microsoft, when your operating system issues a critical update and microsoft, a couple of months ago did issue this up date, it said this was a

critical security patch. most companies took that advice. most companies updated, ran that update, took whatever price you have to pay, take your systems off-line, whatever you have to do to run that system update. a lot of companies did do that. in some cases, there are situation where is certain, maybe you're running a dated version of microsoft. you didn't get the memo. there are these systems that you don't want to take off-line for one reason or another. a.t.m.'s, gas stations, some hospital systems, we know the n.h.s. was deeply affected. in some cases the company will not do that for rather reason. they don't issue that update. and what happens is if you want your data, if you haven't backed it up, sometimes you have to pay the price, in this case, it's in the form of bitcoin. vonnie: are we looking at a

group of people in the bunker preparing this for month and month? >> right, right. they have people who are constantly going in and checking and running these systems and making sure that they're updated. and when they find a vulnerability, they will very quickly get the word out. what we think happened here was and what researchers have said is they're pointing the finger toward russia in terms of getting this stockpile of vulnerabilities that was amassed by the nasdaq 100 -- n.s.a., made them available to hackers. somebody got it and built this ransomware attack around that. so that's -- again, researchers are pointing the finger at highly sophisticated within the russian intelligence. vonnie: and all they were asking for was $300 worth of bitcoin. if it was a sophisticated operation to be a little bit

more than that. no? >> yeah in terms of the price. what's interesting too is so far, researchers are telling us that about $50,000 has been paid. so there could be a few reasons for that. as i mentioned, possibly just so many of the victims or the people who were targeting had already updated their systems maybe they've got them backed up on the cloud, you know. they can just junk their c.p.u. and just move on. and in some cases, bitcoin is just hard for people to use. some people just don't get how to use it. vonnie: tom giles, thank you for that update. much appreciated. he's executive editor of globaltec nothing from san francisco. time for the latest business stories in the news right now. anheuser-busch wants to be more than just budweiser. the maker of the american beer will invest $2 billion in the u.s. to fight growing competition from craft beers and cocktails. some of the money will be spent spruce sprucing up the bud

brand. u.s. and european union officials meet wednesday over the trump administration's plan to the in-flight ban on laptops. it will impact more than 400 daily flights in 65 million passengers a year. tui group c.e.o. discussed the global today on "bloomberg markets." to r main customers are make are -- so for us, it's not so important. but for business travelers, i'm pretty sure it will have quite an impact. vonnie: and that is your latest bloomberg business flash. coming up, it's today's purr cute and we're going to hear from the chairman and crowe of the auction house ahead of the spring sale this week. his thoughts on the global estate art market. this is "bloomberg markets." ♪

vonnie: this is "bloomberg markets." i'm vonnie quinn. phillips auction house crowe sat down with bloomberg's emma chandra at his company in new york. the showroom, ahead of the major spring art sales. he expressed confidence and discussed talking aggressive strategies from its competitors, christy's and sotheby's. >> i think the market has been cyclical. it's all about confidence, really. it's about consigners zig it's a good time to sell an art. that drives the market more than anything. and certainly over the last 18 months, two years, we've seen a bit of caution in terms of con signing. but we've definitely seen the market pick up at the end of last year, the november one was

extremely well. we saw that carried on in london and march. and we're confident may in new york is going to be a success. >> and those auctions are upon us. you have a who's who of contemporary artist lined up for your seasms which piece of art are you most excited about? >> the most exciting work is the highest price lot we have in our sale. it's by a living artist. he's one of only five living artist that have me a over $25 million at auction. so he's in very is steamed company. >> there is a possibility that you might see an oversaturation of that particular artist? >> i don't think so because i think the others have risen significantly. but i think that has been accompanied by a worldwide recognition of the importance of

his work. yes, there are quite a few one the may that have come at all different price points. so i'm not worried about pasquale's markets. >> huge competition for the big name consignments. there are a lot of conversations about minimum price guarantees and how phillips have been using them. the concern about how they eat into problem. is this the way forward for you for the big-name pieces? >> guarantees are part of our world for decades now, actually. and it's something that the auction houses have to offer in response to clients' demands. and the reality is that most clients selling very high value orks of art -- a -- consider a guarantee. most people prefer there would be a defined minimum when they sell it at auction. so we have to respond to that. and compete and we compete

aggressively with sotheby's and christie's to offer competitive financial views to our clients. >> and it's probably fair to say that the turnaround strategy for the auction house. you've been termed aggressive poaching and you've seen a pivot to asia. how is that strategy pang out and what's next, phillip? >> we're extremely pleased with the progress that we're making. the sale around us now, probably represents the best sale phillips has had in new york. you know, we have a plan. we're executing on that plan. we think the market, especially if it's contemporary art, which we focus on almost exclusively, it warrants at least three players in the field. more than that, really. and i think the market and our clients are very well served by having a third voice in this

conversation about contemporary art. >> using this sale, the upcoming sales is the one that is perhaps the best put together. are you saying an equivalent response from buyers? are they recognizing that? >> yeah, absolutely. and i think more and more people are talking to us about selling works of art. it's exactly where we wanted to be at this time. and we're going to continue to fight our corner over the next few years and see how we get on. vonnie: and that was bloomberg's emma chandra speaking to phillips auction house crowe. and , secretary ray lahood d.n.c. president will be here. this is bloomberg. ♪

>> from bloomberg's world headquarters in new york, welcome to "bloomberg markets," the trump economy, with a focus on politics and policy under the new administration.

we are watching the fallout from the decision to fire at the eye director james comey. with theoordinating president suggesting that he may have made to preserve and handed it over. later the hour, our chief washington correspondent will speed with tom perez and an exclusive interview right here. the president of china presides over a gathering of world leaders in beijing. that is where the former head of the imf china division tells us about the ambitious infrastructure plans and what they mean for u.s. businesses. ♪ david: well, lawmakers continue to weigh in on president trump us decision to fire james comey as they plot a path forward. let's go