"bloomberg markets." mark: we go from new york to london in the next hour, covering stories out of zurich, stockholm, and washington. here are our top stories from around the world. the outlook brightens further for the european economy. ecb president mario draghi says the recovery is solid but inflation remains lackluster. the euro went soaring after the announcement. vonnie: president trump is set to meet with the president of argentina as the budget deadline looms. tol ryan will meet the press give the latest on tax reform and efforts to avoid a government shutdown. todayan earnings bonanza with companies like ford, comcast, ups already reporting.

amazon, microsoft, and alphabet are still to come. we will break down the key numbers to look out for and we have an interview with the ups cfo. mark: let's have a look at where european equities are trading right now. 30 minutes until the end of the session. stocks falling for the first day in seven, highest close since august 2015. today is all about the ecb. and actually rose during the ecb meeting. they kept policy unchanged, rates at present or lower levels. qe can be increased in size and duration. the big comment was downside risks have diminished. that pushed the euro higher. however, underlying inflation pressures remain. risk still tilted to the downside.

they did discuss whether to .hange the assessment of growth ecb economists suggest that will happen with forward guidance. the euro lower, sovereign bond yields falling today. commodities and cds. deutsche bank shares lower today. in the u.s.,s rising 11% versus 24% for the big five in the u.s. revenue dealing from stocks, which is something that the company has looked at, broadly flat for its u.s. peers. the cryon executive returning to controlled growth after misconduct charges sapped earnings and forced the company to tap shareholder capital. deutsche bank is down today.

lloyd's is a different story. 94% of its revenue comes from the u.k. 97% of its business is in the u.k. pretax profit excluding, beat its target for lending margins this year amid record rates in the wake of the brexit. rose 1%,om lending topping analyst estimates. shares up by 1.3%. lender, net income beating estimates, benefiting from its focus on countries like mexico, turkey's. . setting aside less money to cover impairments on financial assets, cutting costs. shares lower today. 90 minutes into the trading day. what is it like looking over their? julie: things have turned a bit

south in the u.s. as we have energy prices, wti down 2.5%. that is pulling down energy stocks as libya is restarting some production. stubbornly hanging onto its record alone among the three major averages. we have the russell 2000 up here as well. earlier it was trading at a record on a closing basis, now falling back down. on the a lot of shorts small caps. if you look at the bloomberg, we have a chart of that. russell 2000 in blue, and then we have net positions reported by the cftc on a small-cap etf. as they go lower, they are short . the shortest they have been going back to 2014. undoubtedly some short covering as the rally continues. as i said, it is causing today. we have under armour as one of

the big winners after that company reported a smaller loss than estimated. paypal's numbers beating estimates as the company has been doing a lot more partnerships. into it as well -- inuit reaffirming its third quarter and full-year forecasts amid concerns about what effect tax reforms will have. in addition to that, we are looking at airlines today, sort of earnings related. american airlines coming out with an agreement with its ,ilots union, and 8% pay raise 5% gain for flight attendant. analysts say that will cut into profits at the company. also some concern that we may see similar moves from its competitors. southwest also coming in with their numbers, earnings and sales missing estimates. the company says unit revenue will rebound for the end of the

year, but that is not helping those shares. vonnie: thank you. 13% of the s&p universe reporting. let's get to washington where democrats are reacting to president trump's tax plan among other items. nancy pelosi holding a news conference. she is committed to keeping the government-funded as talks go on . regarding the tax plan, she said there was not much in detail to the one-page tax plan released yesterday. earlier on the senate floor, chuck schumer said the trump cabinet will benefit from the tax plan. mark: let's get back to the market, load to cover today with the surgeons the ecb, boj, plann, president trump's to overhaul the u.s. tax system. joining us now is simon smiles. thanks for joining us. is there anything that mario

draghi said today that makes you change your assessment of a path of monetary policy, the path to your assessment of european stocks, bonds, and the euro itself? : in a word, no. wrote has picked up and that was acknowledged during the press conference. there are political uncertainties, not least the french election coming up in may. inflation has been picking up but obviously not rampant. our expectations are still then we get to the september ecb meetings, at which point we have an announcement of a tapering of quantitative easing occurring over the first six to nine months, followed by a rate hike as 2019.ly, as far no change in our view. with respect to our positioning

with respect to eurozone assets, we continue to be neutral on eurozone equities. that has not changed based on the ecb press conference. of announcements today. however, a lot of that good news has been big in. we have not seen the big share price reactions. it has taken blowout results to get any kind of rating. mark: you mentioned the political landscape, how are your clients asking you to navigate the political landscape , which has become a little less trickier given the results of the first round of the french presidential elections? it's interesting, you look at last year, the amount of political uncertainty and unpredictable outcomes from brexit to the election of donald trump in the united states, italian referendum, etc.. as we went through these, the

markets weathered them quite well, the pound aside. it educated client views on political outcomes. while there is some concern over the tail risk of extreme left and right candidates making it through to the second round in the french elections, we did not see a huge amount of hedging or sell downs. there is a general expectation that there is synchronicity that we are seeing around the world for the first time since 2010, we have buoyed markets, and hence, clients this year actually started to put more money into equities. also, less liquid structures, also hedge funds. vonnie: it must be difficult for your clients to deal with weakening sterling this year. down 14% versus the euro. what are they coming to you with, how are you finding solutions for them? you look at our u.k. client base, they have a proportion of their assets

offshore. thinking in pound terms, the depreciation all being equal, it has been a positive for their financial port olio's, particularly when you look at the ftse 100 and 250. clients in the u.k. have actually done surprisingly well from brexit. whether there is more concerned, our clients do have businesses in the united kingdom which are relying on inputs. clearly, volatility in sterling has been more of a concern. something we are hearing time and again from our industry leaders network, a collection of 100 entrepreneurs globally. they are struggling with the fx volatility in the u.k. but also surprised by the strength of the domestic economy, given the concerns that had been around about what brexit may mean for the outlook. reining in they spending for the moment, are they looking at different countries that might be more appealing in coming quarters?

think they are in terms of expenditure or spending. runningtalk to clients private businesses, they are pretty optimistic about the business outlook. seeing,fidence we are putting up in many regions, is mirroring the conversation we are having with clients. frankly, in this reporting season, we have had groups like ge come out and say the same thing, growth is picking up everywhere. it is that backdrop that is keeping our clients relatively optimistic, not only about their businesses, but their financial portfolios. mark: what does that mean, simon? are product, what asset your clients right now most enthusiastic about? simon: with respect to iris

allocation, i would love to give you something sexy but we are overweight equities, u.s. equities and high. pretty standard allocations but have returned significant performances this year. there is a pickup in corporate earnings and the synchronize global pickup. where clients are particularly focusing, as i mentioned, hedge funds, more interest in diversified port olio's. more interest when it comes to private markets. in particular, private equity. interest inng sustainable investing. in particular, impact investing. the medic investing which has a return but also has a social impact. mark: great to see you soon, simon. let's check in on the first word news. courtney donohoe has more.

afghanistan, to american service members have been killed. the pentagon says they were involved in an operation against the islamic state. no other details were released. plenty of questions today about president trump's tax plan. the administration handed out a one-page list of bullet points that authority say will make him the biggest tax cut in history. officials are not say whether the cuts for businesses and individuals would increase a budget deficit. that could determine whether corporate taxes reduction would be temporary. a man arrested near the house of parliament. security has been increased since march 22 after an attacker stabbed a police officer to death inside the gates of parliament. global news 24 hours a day powered by more than 2600 journalists and analysts in over 120 countries. i'm courtney donohoe. this is bloomberg. vonnie: coming up, ups tops

estimates, but u.s. operating profit is down as the company faces challenges from e-commerce. we talked to the company's cfo rich peretz. this is bloomberg. ♪

mark: live from london, i'm mark barton. counting you down to the european close. vonnie: live from new york, i'm vonnie quinn. , u.s.ported this morning estimates topping estimates and sales, but u.s. profit was lower. the company faces challenges posed by e-commerce. joining us now from atlanta is rich peretz, the chief financial officer. a great quarter, you be on the top and bottom lines. however, there are a few things

that stand out to analysts. one of them is the u.s. package division. revenue was up 5% but operating profit is not meeting their goals him at least. how do you intend to get that operating profit more liquid? >> good morning. the first thing to remember is on a topline we had good growth, our yield per package on air and ground was strong. some of the strong as we have seen in quite a while. almost 2.5% growth. we calledthing that out during the call, we saw a pause in consumer spending during the month of february, good growth in january and march, good growth in april. we are blaming that right now -- contributions are things like the deferred tax refunds, with the change in law, as well as some weather. the other thing we did call out, about $50 million in one-time

costs that will not continue. that being said, we are investing in a network for the future because the business is moving more from business to consumer to business to business. vonnie: so the operating profit that was down 2.4%, you can get that to turn positive by when, the next quarter? rich: we expect positive leverage for the rest of the year. we expected our startup cost for the saturday operations, as well as the operating cost penalty for building 5 million square feet of new buildings that we have already started construction on, we are in our plan. we convey that to the investors at our investor conference in february. we knew some of the startup costs would be heavier in the first quarter because you don't have the revenue coming in quite as fast but we will continue down the path. we have 47 cities and towns throughout the u.s. that will offer saturday operations,

delivery and pickup, which means we can improve time and transit. you said 47, i think you mean 4700. rich: thank you. vonnie: how is that going, any kinks in the process so far? rich: very successful so far. we have opened up three major cities and towns around it, new york, l.a., chicago. customer reception has been very good. we are going to be opening up buildings just about every other and, here through october, it will really help to provide a service that our customers are expecting, and ultimately that consumers want. we think adding the pickup side of it is unique in the industry and allows our customers to offer something to their end users that no one else does. vonnie: your international operations, profit of 7%, a high point. why do you think shares are down 6% since january?

things, therehree has been a lot of talk, first of all, around international trade. we have invested in the international markets. we have seen double-digit growth this quarter, almost 50% growth -- 15% growthrs out of customers shipping out of asia, europe, latin america. i think that was one of the things that people were not expecting. as well as we continue to build on the capabilities for the long-term and add technology in our u.s. network. vonnie: is that holding back investors? they are definitely selling. 6% is not nothing. 27 analysts, 20 of them say hold, six say buy. is there not enough confidence to execute? don't think it is about

confidence. we actually have the highest margin in the industry, because we are one integrated network. that also means we have the highest return on invested capital. what we did during the investor conference is talk about how we are transforming the network in the u.s. as more consumers buy, you have higher peaks and valleys. can few companies like ups flex up to 100% increase in volume at different times through the year. the next three to five years we are investing, increasing capital, because we are transforming our network, using data, technology, in a way that no integrated network in our industry works today. vonnie: congratulations again, overall revenue up 6.2%. now, if you have not looked, recovered. they are up half a percent now.

that is the chief financial officer of ups rich peretz. bank still ahead, sweden's making a surprise decision to extend its bond buying program. we will hear from a governor. this is bloomberg. ♪

vonnie: this is the south portico of the white house. the argentinian president is arriving. of course, he has a meeting with president trump today. due to arrive right now and then they will have the meeting and you will office. we should be able to bring your pictures of that following the meeting. then there will be a working lunch in with the argentinian president. you see the red carpet, president trump awaiting the argentinian president. there he is standing aside president trump alongside the first lady of argentina.

taking some photos before having a meeting. what will be the centerpiece between the conversations between the argentine president and president trump? vonnie: trade, obviously. argentina has come back to the international markets. the president has been putting in a huge number of modernizations to the argentinian economy to bring confidence back into the system .nd have investors invest investing opportunities and absolutely bilateral trade, particularly, agricultural trade. mark: we will continue to monitor that meeting between macri and trump. this is what is happening with european stocks. quite a session it has been.

the first day of declines in seven. we were in the best winning streak since february, yesterday at the highs of the close its august 2015. stocks running out of steam today. the ecb did absolutely nothing but it did say the downside risks have diminished. te,t was probably the big quo take away from today's meeting. the euro did rise. we finish with the bond board. this is bloomberg. ♪

mark: july from london and new york, this is the european close. stocks finishing the thursday session lower. 1/5 of 1%.own by

it has been dominated by the ecb. first, i want to talk about one of the big corporate stories of the day. up 4%, 7% gain the best since october 2015. first-quarter sales topping estimates. network demand beginning to stabilize, the company reaping more revenue. wireless carriers showing interest amid rising data usage. let's get to the ecb, this is euro-dollar lower today. .eversing declines it has been a volatile day during the ecb meetings. the ecb sitting on its hands, kept policy unchanged.

it did say the downside risks have diminished. president draghi said it is a small recovery. it's good to paul ryan, the house speaker. .> good morning, everyone first, i want to welcome all of our special guests today. it is great to see you here and great to see you can see the work your parents do. don't tell them this but they are actually kind of good at their jobs. we had one last year. >> [inaudible] >> very cool. ok, i digress. today, the president will sign an executive order to improve accountability at the v.a. administration, not nearly enough was done to hold bureaucrats accountable for failing veterans. despite promises to clean things up him only a smattering of people were moved out of their jobs. only a smattering of people were

held accountable. the month, the house passed v.a. accountability back to make it easier to bring the kind of steady leadership that we a medical centers so desperately need. last week, the president signed legislation to reduce out-of-pocket costs for veterans and to promote better access to care. these are all very positive steps to deliver the kind of fundamental reform that is needed at the v.a. this as to what has already been any credibly active 100 days. under the president's leadership , we have cut red tape at record levels, cutting red tape saves families dollars, it saves businesses jobs. in fact, we have saved family's and businesses more than $67 billion already. yesterday, the administration put out its principles for progrowth tax reform, the next up to overhauling our tax reform. we continue to make real progress in our work repealing and replacing obamacare. we posted an amendment to the american health care act

yesterday which was the result of conversations among our members of how we can do more to lower cost. what this amendment does is give states more possibility and tools to reduce premiums and increase choices. it does this while maintaining and preserving protections or people with pre-existing conditions. this is the important point. those protections remain on the books, even as we add new ones. the goal is to give states later flexibility if they want it to lower premiums. we have not made any decisions on a boat. but this is more progress and we will continue our progress and our work to repeal and replace obamacare. i'm sure some of you have questions. are there any young people that have questions? [laughter] anybody else have any questions? how close are you on health

care, what are your reassurances to moderates who may be willing to see a reasonable plan and are worried about the new one? >> we are making good progress. we will go when we have the votes. you will be the first to know when that happens. i would argue that this is a bill that a moderate would likely want to support. some people were concerned about ehb's. benefits wereth taken out of the earlier bill. they are now back in. a state would have to find a waiver for essential health benefits. if anything, this puts more federal protections in on pre-existing conditions. every state is different. in wisconsin, we had a high risk pool that worked well. i think we ought to be given the flexibility to tailor our markets that work for us. wisconsin is different from the new york health care system or vermont health care system. that makes sense. but even if a state gets a

waiver, there are multiple layers of pre-existing protections. if you have a health care problem and you have health insurance you cannot be rated for a higher cost. if you switch your plan, the same protections apply, even if your state gets a waiver. the more important point, why this amendment is a step in the right direction, we believe the smarter way to go ongoing premiums down and protecting people with pre-existing conditions is have federal and state support for people who are sick, support the catastrophic illness with greater subsidies, so that everyone doesn't have to bear the cost in their insurance pool. 1% of the people in the individual market drive 23% of the cost. if we support that coverage, reinsurance on top of insurance, then you are lowering everyone else's prices, you are making it easier for everyone to afford health insurance, and you are guaranteeing that person that has catastrophic health care

person with a pre-existing condition, or gets really sick, gets the coverage they need. we are having very productive conversations with our members. we feel we are on the right track. >> is there pressure to vote by day?resident's 100th >> this has been an organic bottom-up process. we are doing big things. you know me, i talk about 200 days. the agenda we are try to put together here, overhauling health care, the tax system, rebuilding our military, securing the border, those take more than a few months. it takes at least a year. that is why we are working on a path to get it right and not constrain it to some artificial deadline. >> high risk pools don't have the greatest track record. in wisconsin, your high-risk pool was great for the people on it, but it was still unaffordable for a lot of others. was pretty darn good.

but this will add federal funding. high were states that had risk pools, reinsurance mechanisms, risksharing, like the main plan. none of them had federal funding. none of them had federal resources. this takes that idea and as federal resources to it to make sure it works better. we have seen states -- wyoming had a good one, utah, washington state, maine -- they work. now that we are adding federal funding to it, it will work better, and you will lower prices more. >> can you reassure people with pre-existing conditions that they will be worse off in your plan? better off, that is the whole goal. the problem with obamacare, people get one choice am at best, in a third of all counties in america. five states, one play to choose from. that is not good having a

monopoly. our job is to make sure people get more choices, and by getting more choices, you can get better quality health insurance and lower prices, and we preserve those protections for people with pre-existing conditions. we think it is going to be a big improvement on the status quote, which is collapsing before us. --steny hoyer and democrats >> uh oh. i was just repeating what she was saying. >> they will withhold votes for a funding bill. with a vote this week on obamacare repeal. what is your reaction to that, can you pass a funding that was just republican support? >> i would be shocked if the democrats would want to do that. let's take a step back. the reason is government funding bill is not ready is because democrats have been dragging their feet. periodically, they have not even

shown up for negotiations. the reason we need an extension in the first place is because democrats dragged their feet. even if we get an agreement in 10 minutes, we simply cannot process the paperwork. and we have a three-day rule. people need to be able to read the bill. inevitably, under any circumstance, it requires a short-term extension. i confident we will pass a short-term extension. i would be shocked if the democrats wanted to create a government shutdown because they have been dragging their feet. >> back to health care, with all the statements you have made with your caucus getting on board, should this be an easy yes vote for the moderate members -- >> tom macarthur is a leading moderate in congress. it is his amendment. >> it seemed to frustrate some of his fellow moderate colleagues. >> i don't know if that is case. tom has an entire career working

in insurance, understanding the mechanics, actuarial science. he has come up with a very good amendment that we think works well. it gets to where we all want to go. we want to bring down costs, preserve protections for people with pre-existing conditions, and we want to respect the fact that states have different health-care marketplaces. we want to give states greater flexibility so they can get the maximum reduction in policies and premiums so that we can get the best possible health care system. what we have learned is a cookie-cutter one-size-fits-all health care system does not work for america. different states have different systems. we need to respect that. that is what this amendment does. he is the cochair of the tuesday group. right?ot archer, he is one of the leading members of the tuesday group. basically this is a coalescing thing. >> [inaudible] >> seats are at risk if we do

not do what we said we would do. we all campaigned on repealing and replacing this law. the american health care system and the individual market is in peril right now. we have a moral obligation to prevent people from getting hurt , to stop damage from being continued. and we promised we would do this. , ifou violate your promise you commit the sin of hypocrisy in politics, that is the greater risk, i think, to a person's seat. >> [inaudible] >> we are in litigation, so i will go into the details, only that it is a difference in the separation of powers. we are in existing litigation.

the administration has been making those payments while that is pending. i think the white house has already made comments on this. i will just leave it at that. >> [inaudible] >> i will not speculate because i don't know where the outcome will be. >> i will go back to you next. committeeoversight released documents showing -- raising concerns about michael flynn. i'm wondering, in his failure to disclose form payments, or you believe you believe he may have broken the law, number two, are you concerned about the white house vetting procedures, hiring in this position to begin with? >> i don't know whether he did or did not. that is why we have an investigation. this is part of our ongoing investigation. we will find and to do that question through an investigation. i will not prejudge a conclusion. >> should benefits be extended to health benefits terminally?

companies like console energy - - >> i will not insert myself into ongoing negotiations -- vonnie: you have been watching paul ryan's weekly news conference, of particular interest today, because of the amended to the health care legislation, and of course, the issuance of that one-pager on tax policy. let's bring in our chief washington correspondent kevin cirilli. he is at our washington bureau. let's speak for a moment about the changes to the health care bill. it is unlikely there will be a vote now in the first 100 days, he said that. he said we will go when we have the votes. he sounded confident they would have the votes. i put that is a question two mark meadows moments ago, who told us exclusively, they feel they have the votes right now within the ultraconservative house read them caucus to get to

some type of legislative fix regarding health care, repealing parts of the affordable care act. what we just heard from speaker ryan is there is not likely going to be a vote on friday or saturday. that said, this is such a fluid moving policy discussion that anything could happen. however, they are perhaps closer than folks had previously thought. vonnie: he also said, and i am quoting, this is a bill that a moderate would likely support. he spoke a lot about mr. macarthur and whose amendment it was, who had worked all of his life in the insurance business, actuarial business. it sounds like he is counting on macarthur to bring on some of the moderates. kevin: anecdotally, i tried to describe this new more bringing together unity, i try to describe it as

the macarthur-meadows amendment, and he pushed back even on that. he said, no, this is the macarthur amendment. clearly, they are making the effort to win over water it's in the tuesday group. is this tension on full display right now between the more conservative members as well as the more moderates. they have to get to some type of consensus in order to get it out of the house and the senate. vonnie: kevin cirilli in washington, thank you. mark: lots of news coming up from central banks today. boj falling further behind its global peers after cutting its inflation forecast. draghi and ecb stating risks are not over yet, just a question of how the u.k. economy welfare after brexit. that is something that we want to speak with with neil mackinnon. you are going to get a look at this chart.

five-year forward inflation rate. is off the record lows but it is off the highs of a month or so ago. should the ecb, given that chart, be tightening policy, or loosening policy less, as everyone is talking about now? neil: if i were mr. draghi, i would say, what is the problem? the actual core cpi number is below 1%. therefore, does not really compel me. the matter what the germans may say, where inflation is higher, would prefer the ecb qe program a little earlier. i'm chart suggests, and surprised the ecb did not do anything today. the fallback position of mr. , if we tighten now,

inflation is still too low. the risk of a cyclical economic recovery, that is all good, relatively broad-based as well. but i think it is clear, mostly because of this chart, the inflation numbers, given they have an exclusive mandate in terms of price stability, around 2%, he does not feel compelled to move. i think the pressures will grow. it may well be that as part of the process later in the year the ecb feels it must move away from his negative interest rate policy. officials were already indicating that negative interest rates have had an effect on eurozone bank profitability. i can see that element being removed. vonnie: that may be -- mark: that may be a more relevant chart. if you had been asleep at the wheel today, you would have ended that the boe has

its corporate buying program 11 months early. and they are done with it. tomorrow, gdp, .4 is our estimate versus .7. is that the first evidence of brexititus? a positiverexit is opportunity. brexit is a positive opportunity. .4 versus .7? we are growing. we have not had economic calamity, there has not been a plague. mark: someone joked, we did not believe the imf when they/the forecast. neil: people are not starving, the economy is not collapsing. i know there are some that would like that to happen.

the economy is ok. we should just get on with it. it is as simple as that. the election adds another dimension, june 8. what is the reality? many are selling it like may gets 100-plus, gives her a mandate, gives her the power to shunt aside the remote is or the brexitiers in her party -- >> we are just going to be bright friends, better than ever before. we are off to a wonderful start because i have known marie seo for so many years. i know the kind of person he is, he is a great person, he is a great leader. he will do a fantastic job for argentina. i feel very comfortable backing him because they need certain things from the united states. i feel very comfortable backing him because i know what i'm

backing, i am backing a man who loves his people and loves his country. >> [inaudible] we are thinking about it. i know all about the lemons. believe it or not, the lemon business is big. we are going to give that serious consideration. one of the reasons he is here, about lemons. i will tell him about north korea and he will tell me about lemons. i think we are going to be very favorably disposed. we will be talking. >> [indiscernible] >> venezuela is a mess. renegotiating nafta [inaudible] >> i was going to terminate nafta as of two or three days from now. the president of mexico, i have a very good relationship, called , also the prime minister of

canada, who i have a very good relationship, and i like the settlement very much, they called me. they said rather than terminating nafta, would you please renegotiate? i like them very much, i respect their countries very much. the relationship is very special. i said i will hold on the termination, let's see if we can make it a fair deal. nafta has been a horrible deal for the united states. it's been very good for canada, very good for mexico, but horrible for the united states. if you check any of my campaign speeches, i said i will either renegotiate or terminate. they asked me to renegotiate, i will. i think he will be successful in the renegotiation, which frankly, would be good, because it it would be simpler. but we need a deal that would be fair for the united states. i decided rather than terminating nafta, which would be a pretty big shock to the

system, we will renegotiate. now, if i'm unable to make a fair deal, if i'm unable to make a fair deal for the united states, meaning a fair deal for our workers and companies, i will terminate nafta, but we will give renegotiation a good strong shot. thank you very much, everybody. thank you very much. president trump in the oval office meeting with the president of argentina mauricio macri. they will have a working lunch to speak about north korea, according to president trump, and also lemons, which had been banned as imports into the united states. let's get over to kevin cirilli and washington, d.c. also talking about nafta and it is traditional for the u.s. president to meet the mexico leader first of the latin american countries, that is not the case this time, it is a

reseal macri of argentina. kevin: this is a situation where the intrigue stories matter. it shows how the personalities are influencing the politics coming out of 1600 pennsylvania avenue. i think you have a situation where the likes of the peter navarro's of the world work privately behind the scenes notng an argument that was in line with gary cohn and a treasury secretary steven mnuchin or even commerce secretary wilbur ross. i think what you saw moments ago with president trump essentially saying, we are still taking a look at nafta, still negotiating. it was days ago where you saw what many had thought to be as far as the administration was going to go in negotiating on trade with canada when it discussed issues like dairy farming as well as lumber. those two industries, of course, huge political constituencies in upstate new york, president trump's lateral backyard, as well as wisconsin, michigan,

state that help to lead him to the white house. vonnie: kevin cirilli, thank you. mark: let's get back to meal -- neil mackinnon. may get a mandate but the result of the eu seems to be strengthening. her mandate, what does it get her actually? neil: we have completely different views. if the opinion polls are correct and that she does strengthen her mandates, whatever the result is, it puts her in a strong position. it puts her in a strong position because she will be the only leader in europe that actually has a strong mandate to govern in the next few years. we have still got elections in germany to come, italy. that is all very uncertain. i actually think the election results strengthens her hand. i don't think it weakens it in any way. brexit, is, beyond that if at the end of the

two-year countdown there is no deal, so be it, we have a clean brexit. will do you think that happen, that a mandate may lessen the probability of that? --l: i just think it is so no?: you are saying evident, theo self decision to call snap elections from the prime minister's point of view is a good thing, it strengthens her hand within her own party, it strengthens her position in the brexit negotiations. the idea somehow that the eu is punishing britain for voting to leave is ludicrous. they need us more than we need them. i think if they take that approach, the promise or may decide, i don't need any of this . it is too complex, it is too torturous here there has been a democratic vote. i am going to exercise. actually, she has already said that.

if the eu has decided to do that, it will be in their worst interest, rather than being sensible, having negotiations with the u.k. that provide an optimal outcome. mark: great to see you, thank you for sticking around. neil mackinnon. don't miss the big interviews coming up later today on bloomberg television. ann kelly sits down with exclusive interview with our very own david gura. 2:30 new york time. tomorrow on bloomberg daybreak: europe, a big conversation with the barclays chief executive jen staley. 2:00 a.m. in new york. bloomberg markets continues. this is bloomberg. ♪

>> it's noon in new york. 5:00 p.m. in london and midnight in hong kong. vonnie: welcome to bloomberg "markets."

from new york, we're going to take from you washington, d.c., to san francisco, and buenos aires. this hour, here are the top stories on bloomberg and from around the world that we're following. in markets, u.s. stocks are giving up earlier gains as political wrangeling in washington raises the specter of a government shutdown. the mexican peso and canadian dollar are advancing amidst mixed signals from the white house on nafta. several tech giants are poised to report earnings after the bell today, including amazon, microsoft and intel. tech shares have outperformed the s&p 500 this year and the nasdaq is poised forjet another record close. later this hour, we'll hear from the cremplet o. of box. the startup is taking up amazon in the bat bahtle for household goods. but having a smaller number of products and spending millions on a new