welcome to balance of power, where the world of politics meets the world of business. another day of suspense in the presidential race, a day that could take joe biden to the magic number of 270 electoral votes. contributor in our -- political contributor, ricky davis. where do you think we are headed? tok: the shortest path anyone winning is the one that joe biden has where he picks up nevada today and if arizona closes out tonight, we could wake up on monday morning -- friday morning -- it's been a long week. friday morning, exactly 270 in nevada and arizona, both of which he is leading today. rick: you ran campaign for john

mccain in arizona. you know the state. there was a lead for biden that seems to be narrowing. a lot of pressure on the ap and fox about the early protection they made. what do you think is going on in arizona, will that projection hold? have done our own independent analysis of where we think these ballots are coming from, what they look like. the vast majority of them are coming from the republican rich territory of maricopa county. won though joe biden has maricopa county writ large, actually stole a republican county, which is driving his lead in arizona, the ballots remaining are coming in slightly advantaged to donald trump, so different from almost every other state still counting ballots. in arizona, the remaining balance seem to favor trump.

advantage thatte joe biden had at the start of the day will be whittled down, but i believe by the time all of these percentages, if they hold, based on what we know, net-net, biden will finish out the victory in arizona by maybe 50,000 votes. david: let's go to nevada. if arizona holds, if nevada goes for joe biden, it will be right at 270. what is going on there, particularly with clark county? maricopa, they are the two largest counties in the u.s. by population. they have been two of the largest growth counties for decades in the u.s. county,tics in clark like maricopa have changed over time. nevada is different from arizona, seems to have

advantaged joe biden. the votes coming in now, which are almost all absentee ballots, seem to have an additional margin of addition to joe biden's current lead. arizona, theke real strength of the donald trump campaign has been the rural counties. enoughse that don't have votes to make up any kind of margin. if the trend continues along the lines it has in the bad, the the mores -- nevada, votes that are counted, the bigger lead for joe biden. the opposite in arizona. david: if arizona holds and nevada goes to joe biden, joe biden wouldn't need pennsylvania. we just had ed rendell on. he predicts an 80,000 vote majority for joe biden when the accounting is all done. rick: you have to flip the

script in pennsylvania, where trump currently leads. in these other two states, biden is protecting his lead. in pennsylvania, trump is trying to protect his lead. the governor is right. it looks like the counties coming in are really those around the philadelphia and its pittsburgh,reas -- urban areas, democratic voters. the question is, are there enough votes left? certainly there are over all, half a million to be counted, but the question is how many will go to biden, and can he make up the difference? i think governor rendell is right, that there will be just outgh to have joe biden eek a victory in pennsylvania, but we will not know that until probably friday afternoon, evening, could roll into next week. the donald trump folks want

continued voting to happen in arizona, there were protests there last night from their people saying count the vote, but in pennsylvania, they are doing exactly the opposite. they are trying to do legal maneuvers to get them to stop counting because the more they count, the less likely they will win pennsylvania. david: you know what they say about a foolish consistency. that is rick davis. news organizations may think they have a clear picture of where this presidential election are going, but president trump has a different point of view, and he is putting his trust in the judiciary to give him the victory that he thinks he has already won. to take us through the legal challenges is noah feldman. thank you so much for joining us. give us your assessment of what the legal strategy is. is this a legal strategy or a public relations strategy at this point? noah: it is starting to look

more like a public relations strategy than yesterday, when there was a chance of it looking like a legal strategy. the centerpiece would go to the supreme court, as president trump said he wanted to do wednesday morning, and ask it to say that there will be no more counting of votes received in pennsylvania after 8:00 election day. the thing about that, the president may actually win that claim -- it would be a close call -- but it is not clear that that would solve any of his problems. as the difference between the candidates narrows in pennsylvania, it is at least possible and maybe even probable that in the end, even without those votes, biden will still have won. it is also possible that, depending on what happens in other states, it doesn't matter what happens in pennsylvania.

that leaves the president with his other strategy which is filing suits locale by locale, challenging individual ballots, trying briefly to stop the counting. as you mentioned, the president doesn't want to stop accounting anywhere where he needs to catch up. to stop accounting where he is behind. those kinds ofsuuits usually don't have much in the way of legal legs. they are not very powerful. we do have some feeling -- at least i do right now -- that these are more setting the groundwork for the president to say that the election was stolen from him, rather than actually blocking counts that would enable him to use legal tools to win. david: to emphasize your point about pennsylvania, it could still come up to the supreme court, but this is different from bush v. gore. it was clear those votes would

determine the presidency. we have to go through several steps to determine that those votes coming in after election day in pennsylvania would determine who the president is. noah: correct. and what is more, supreme court, a lot of them will not want to touch this case regardless because there is no way to come out looking good, no matter the outcome. they really will not touch this case unless it looks like the outcome in pennsylvania is determinative of the country, and the votes that they would be debating, would be the ones that determine the outcome. that looks less likely with each passing day. so we may actually see the supreme court spared the agony of having to go into that. david: drawing from your writings for bloomberg, i daresay, i not sure a lot of justices would say i would love to do bush v. gore again. they did not come out of that covered in glory. but we have the president coming

out and already declaring the read. if anything, that puts more pressure on supreme court getsces, if the case there. noah: if i had been one of donald trump's lawyers and i heard him say those words, don't do that to us. not a good look for the team. the justices would want to have cover, be able to say that they were reaching a decision not motivated by partisanship. the president has made that a lot harder when he said we have knewdy won, when everybody , including fox news news, that he had not won the election. and then he says, we are going to go to the supreme court to deliver the outcome. david: and one of those justices was just confirmed by the congress. let's talk about fraud allegations coming out of the trunk campaign. --trunk campaign.

i have not heard many specifics. normally, you have to have some specifics, affidavits, so the judge thinks there is something there. of theemarkably, none lawsuits filed thus far by the trump campaign have included concrete allegations of fraud back by any evidence, like an affidavit. you are right. what i see, not in court, but in proto-conspiracy theory accounts of "what must be happening" given that the trends for trump are closing. that is not surprising, we were accustomed to this kind of conspiracy theory and innuendo. apparently, some people were ate" outside of g the arizona headquarters, but that is different from any sort of edible allegation.

if the trump administration had that, they would be putting it forward in their legal proceedings. david: it struck me that the best counter for that kind of conceived conspiracy or people doing going on, whether left or right, is basically for our institutions to do their jobs. after all the anticipations of the problems we would have, by and large, i see election officials doing their job, working hard, and the courts are taking it up and down, not coming into the political contest at all. noah: i appreciate you mentioning that, and i deeply agree. when i see the fate of this election resting in the hands of tens of thousands of people whose names we don't know, we'll never know, who are ordinary election officials, lots of them retirees who show up once a year or a couple times a year to election, iin an

actually have a feeling of great faith in the capacity of those people to be honest, to do their jobs deliberately, slowly if need be, but to get the job done. sign of at least one aspect of democracy, counting the votes, working the way it is supposed to work. thus far, the courts have also been doing their jobs carefully and rationally. you don't want to always guarantee that it will continue that way, but it looks that way now. david: a delight to have you with us, harvard law professor noah feldman. coming up, jason furman talks about the fed, jobs, and what a difference president trump may be able to make despite a republican senate. this is "balance of power" on bloomberg television and radio. ♪

david: this is "balance of power" on bloomberg television and radio. i'm amanda lang in toronto. -- i'm david westin. return to mark crumpton for bloomberg first word news. mark: joe biden could be on the brink of winning the white house after wins in michigan and wisconsin. biden is six electoral college votes shy of the 270 he needs to win. his best chance may be in nevada, where new numbers show he holds a lead over president trump of about 1%. the president's campaign is suing in michigan and georgia and says he plans to do so in nevada, but mr. trump could still be reelected. he would have to wind all about a states not yet called. nearly 60 people were arrested here in new york city overnight as peaceful demonstrators turned

into heated confrontations with police. demonstrators took to the streets to protest president trump's challenge to vote counting in several states. some set fires and clashed with police. the united nations will hold a summit on the covid-19 pandemic next month to respond to the spread of the disease around the world. the general assembly voted 15-0 today with the u.s. -- 150-0 today with the u.s., israel, and armenia -- jobs, global trade, and travel. global news 24 hours a day, on-air, and on quicktake by bloomberg, powered by more than 2700 journalists and analysts in over 120 countries. i'm mark crumpton. this is bloomberg. david: a quick update. election officials in clark county, nevada, the most

populous, are holding a news conference at the moment. we are still awaiting more results, we will bring them to you as they come. aboutnow, joe biden is up 12,000 votes in nevada. in the middle of all of this back-and-forth, we also have the fed decision in less than one hour from now, and the october jobs number report tomorrow morning. for a read on the economy and what will shape it for the next few months, years is jason furman. served as chair of president obama's chair of the council of economic affairs. give us a sense, we don't expect much out of the fed today other than to say we need more stimulus. probably will add jobs but have not replaced them all. where is the economy? jason: we are 11 million jobs short. pretty confident we will not get them tomorrow. so we will still be something in the range of 10 million jobs

short after tomorrow. the virusn is, one, is researching. two, fiscal stimulus has gone away. three, the pace of job growth is so slow, it will take us much longer than it should to replace those jobs. david: that brings us to the fed. is there anything they can do at this point? have they done what they can do? little thee is very fed can do anymore. they could increase their asset purchases, change what they are buying, but interest rates on almost everything are quite low right now. this is really the main thing that chair powell can do. he has used all of his political skills, as he has, to do the right thing, which is fiscal measures on their side. david: not too much avail so far, but in some reasonable amount of time, we could have an

answer on who the president is, as well as what happens in the house and senate. let's assume we get a president biden replacing trump, but the senate remains in republican hands. what does that mean for the prospects of substantial stimulus, or do we have to take what we had before, and maybe it will not be in the trillions? jason: i expect something big to happen. made, imcconnell thought, one of the best statements i have heard him made on this topic. maybe it will happen in the next month or two, maybe it will take a president biden. the other thing is, i have been in the room with then vice president biden and majority leader mitch mcconnell, and they can work well together. there is a give and take, you have to do something in exchange for something else.

i suspect he will figure out how to thread the needle. president former vice had some pretty bold plans in terms of investment in infrastructure, green energy, a whole range of things, trillions of dollars matched by tax increases as well. how much of that survives the republican senate? jason: if the republican -- senate is republican -- and there will be two runoffs, but not an unreasonable assumption to make -- then you will get a lot less of that done over the next two years. you fight to define the issues, you figure out where there could be a trade. things like infrastructure, both parties have been interested in. you can get these things done in the next two years, but not everything that he proposed in his agenda. david: you are an economist, not public health official. i wonder if the most important

thing that we face right now is the public health crisis. is there much the administration can do about that, or does the virus get to do what it wants to do? jason: one i'm most excited about, that is the most positive change from president trump to president biden would be testing. president trump hates testing. he thinks the more you test, the more cases you have. president biden would understand that testing is the absolute key to getting ourselves back on track before the vaccine and with an imperfect vaccine. i get tested once a week so i can come and work here at harvard. that is something every american should be able to do. every american should be able to do it more often than that. that is the win-win situation. more activity and saving lives. that would be the massive change under biden. david: something that they are doing for us here at bloomberg as well, weekly testing.

thank you so much, always a pleasure. jason furman of the harvard kennedy school. stay tuned for the fed decision special coverage beginning at 2:00 eastern time today. this is "balance of power" on bloomberg television and radio. ♪ ♪

david: this is "balance of power" on bloomberg television and radio. i'm david westin. time to get a check on the markets. here with us is abigail doolittle. where are we now? abigail: we still have this rally going on, huge search for stocks, despite that we don't know who the next president will be. investors are all in on stocks. up like 2%w, nasdaq or more. and nasdaq heading for its best week since april. today, bonds are down slightly,

so it is a true risk on tone. what is surprising is the degree of certainty investors are rushing toward stocks. they think they knew who the winner of the presidential race is, and making it even more interesting, signs that the markets were leaning one way, now side that they are leaning another way. you the way, stocks are going up. interestingly, we have the s&p 500 trading in a range. it will make a big break once the bulls or bears take over, depending on a true economic picture. the morempta ranges the 10-year yield. it is stuck in this range. right now between 75 basis points and 1%, that is the reflation growth side of the range. you could make a strong case that that would be risk off or haven, suggesting there could be some big surprises ahead. very quickly, to revisit what we were talking about yesterday.

pot stocks. on pace for its best day ever. on the thought that if joe biden is elected, he would decriminalize. also, legalized in some states. those stocks on fire. david: some may think the senate is changing, too, where you could get that done. up next, gm was out with strong earnings this morning. we will hear from mary barra, the chairman and ceo, about how the election may or may not change its prospects. this is "balance of power" on bloomberg television and radio. ♪ io. ♪ ♪

♪ you can go your own way ♪ go your own way your wireless. your rules. only xfinity mobile lets you choose shared data, unlimited or a mix of each. and switch anytime so you only pay for the data you need.

switch and save hundreds on your wireless bill. plus, get $300 off when you buy the samsung galaxy note20 ultra 5g. learn more at your local xfinity store today. david: this is "balance of power" on bloomberg television and radio. i'm david westin. bloomberg first word news, we go to mark crumpton. mark: the fight for the white

house is heating up. president trump's campaign has found election-related lawsuits in michigan, pennsylvania, and georgia and says it intends to do so in about up. the biden called pain -- campaign calls that political theater. hast stands now, joe biden 264 electoral votes. president trump has 214. the statewide manager of george's voting system implementation system is defending his workers against allegations of worker fraud or manipulation. he says elections directors and their employees are about protecting democracy. the comments at this morning came as a presidential vote count in the state continues. >> people have asked why the numbers have not moved more quickly. as you know, the law calls for all absentee ballot to be accepted by 7:00 on election day. obviously on election day

itself, officials are very busy actually running the election day voting. normally, we have to come back in that evening or the next day and accept the ballots. that means they have to go through signature match and all the other processes to confirm the validity of those. when they come in on or below efore election day itself, we have to notify those people that they have three days to come in and cure their ballots. mark: president trump currently leads in georgia but the lead is narrowing as the ballot continues. france is stepping up their response to terror attacks. president macron will double the amounts of troops and border patrols. they will focus on finding illegal immigration and smuggling activities. he referred to last week's attack at a church in these that killed three people. global news 24 hours a day, on-air, and on quicktake by bloomberg, powered by more than 2700 journalists and analysts in over 120 countries.

i'm mark crumpton. this is bloomberg. david: thank you. gm was expected to rebound from a loss in the second order but did much better than expected, especially when it comes to earnings-per-share, powered by consumer spending and its powerful line of trucks. we speak to the ceo mary barra and asked her how much of that performance was from the stimulus. mary: one of the key reasons was the gm team members. they have done a phenomenal job across all areas of the business demonstrating their commitment to the business, prioritizing safety and allowing our safety protocols, and that has been a key ingredient to driving this quarter. it is also on the strong demand for trucks. as we started to roll out our new full-size trucks, we said we would cover the whole market, both from a valley perspective

but also from a future perspective. that strategy is working out well and we see high demand for our full-size pickups at all levels, but specially in the high-end with gmc. we also have strong cost performance, not only the austerity measures that we took as a result of the pandemic, but the work that we had already been doing as part of the transmission. gmf also performed very well. altogether, our products, the discipline of the team, our focus on cost of is what allowed us to have the strong quarter. david: i looked at your chart carefully and some of it was price, some of it was cost savings. let's talk about trucks. they clearly powered you. you have talked about them for some time. can you produce enough, what are you seeing in demand? mary: we are seeing strong and growing demand. right now, we are building every truck that we can make.

shortly, you will hear us taking action on how we will further our capability to build more trucks. what we see is the demand continues to grow. we think the shift to trucks, especially the luxury, premium trucks we are offering through gmc and chevrolet, that that will be a continuing trend. david: you talked about the safety of your colleagues at general motors. is the coronavirus inhibiting your ability to produce enough product, enough trucks? mary: we work hand-in-hand not only with all of the gmt team members, but also the way that everyone is staying safe, and in many ways, taking them home. in many ways, our employees say they feel safer working than at the grocery store. that speaks to our commitment of following the protocols, that we developed with the uaw. we have shared all of that with the supply base. that is allowing us to continue

to make sure we have the parts necessary. it is a very dynamic situation. we work to address each situation as it occurs, but like really pleased with how the team is being created to keep our ability to build as many trucks as we can. david: looking out in the future, you have been consistent saying an important part of the strategy is electric and autonomous vehicles. that,s some insight into especially as we are waiting for results on the election. does it make a material difference to your strategy where that we have a republican or democrat in the white house? mary: we are 100% committed to ev's. we are working to accelerate our transformation. some of the examples of that are ev asc hummer ev, lyric well. we recently announced a multibillion-dollar commitment

at one of our plants, in lordstown, ohio, and recently at one of our plants in tennessee. we have the manufacturing capability, we have great vehicles, and we have the technology. speed is important as well, which is why we are working quickly. regardless who wins the election, we will be on a rapid pace to transform to ev's. david: a lot of people are excited about that hummer ev. how many preorders have you got so far? mary: demand has well exceeded our expectation. this is a very premium entry, so we are pleased at the strong demand. we will continue to monitor that as we go forward. david: it is not just electric vehicles but also fuel-cell. you announced a deal with nikola. where are you on that? will there be material changes in the terms of the deal?

mary: right now we are in ongoing discussions with nikola regarding the transaction. it has not closed, so we will provide updates at the appropriate time. what's important to note is our fuel-cell hydrogen fuel cells that we developed with honda, they are industry-leading, and that is from external sources. we will continue to look for ways to not only commercialize our fuel cells but also the battery platform. that continues to advance our zero emission future. david: do you expect a continued rebound in 2021? what are you looking at? on if weot depends across the globe get the coronavirus under control. we know what we need to do from a safety protocol for spec. we are hopeful that we can make progress there. we are monitoring what may happen in the u.s. with additional stimulus.

if we get the virus under control and other elements stay on track, we can continue the recovery into 2021 and we will continue to see strong full-size drop -- truck demand. david: that was my interview with mary barra. coming up, our bloomberg green series focuses on the difference a biden administration would make, even if it has a republican senate. this is "balance of power" on bloomberg television and radio.

david: this is "balance of power" on bloomberg television and radio. i'm david westin. the big differences between president trump and former vice president biden is the policy on energy and climate.

although the election is not over yet, not too early to start eating about ways that a biden administration, if it happens, would take the u.s. in a different direction. for this week's bloomberg green, we welcome akshat rathi coming to us from london. give us a sense from your point of view, how big of a difference could a biden administration make? akshat: we know the biden administration would follow the science, which the trump administration has ignored in the past four years. what we are going to get is laid out in a comprehensive plan on joe biden's website, and the main headline goal is to try and get the u.s. to reach that zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050, which will align it with what the european union has targeted, what japan and south korea have recently set their

goals on, and would bring it closer to what china is promising, which is also that zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2060. david: goals and targets are nice to have, but can you get there? remainedct, the senate republican majority, even if president biden becomes a reality, how much of that target can he reach? akshat: you are absolutely right, short-term goals are just as important as long-term. one of those short-term goals for a blighted administration is to reach zero carbon electricity by 2035. that would be a huge lever that the administration could pull in electrifying all kinds of carbon-emitting devices, cars, power plants. but getting there will require having a democrat held senate.

-- not is possible possible, there is still a lot biden could do through executive actions. this is reducing emissions wieldingethane leaks, $500 billion of procurement toward clean energy and electric vehicles. and supportingn farmers, advanced biofuels. there is plenty that you could do through executive action, but you are right, if the goal is to --ch that zero gas greenhouse emissions by 2030, he will need a senate in his support. things thatf the president trump first dude was pulling out of the paris accord. vice president biden has made it clear he would go back in. does that make much difference at all? akshat: it definitely does.

justould remember the u.s. left the climate agreement on november 4, the day after the election. biden, in his first policy statement, has said that he would join the paris climate agreement on the first day. it is a symbolic but very important move. what the u.s. does matters a lot. greenhouse gas emissions globally, second largest emitter. whaat biden signals is something that other countries will pick up on. i gave the example of japan. they have set a goal but they have to legislate that goal of reaching that zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050. if biden comes into power, joins paris, japan has a clear signal of that is what has to do. david: apart from the symbolism, which is important, at the same

time, one of the things that vice president biden said he would pursue as president is cutting back on what he calls subsidies to fossil fuel industries. a lot of tax breaks, various things in code. is there any hope of that without a majority of the house and senate? not really. as you said, it is in the tax code, and that has to be legislated upon and will require instruments of congress to get through. but as i said, he could direct what money he has access to toward clean energy, and those are not small sums. when you are looking at a oferal procurement program $500 billion a year, that's a lot of money. because there is support in congress, bipartisan, he could pass legislation for more money toward innovation and research. this is something republicans

and democrats agree upon, and the u.s. leads on. there, biden is saying that he wants to put forth $400 billion, three times the federal government currently spends on innovation in clean energy. david: that would require congressional support as well. akshat: indeed, that would require congressional support. in this case, he would have it, because in the past, republicans have been growth innovation. it would also support industries that republicans care about. one of the technologies that would cut emissions is carbon capture. capturing emissions from a power plant and burying them underground. it helps the fossil fuel industry, which we know republicans want to continue supporting. and at a time when you can cut emissions as well. that requires a lot of support in terms of innovation. that kind of money coming from

the federal government will make a real difference. you found somee, bipartisan opportunities with climate change. thank you so much to akshat rathi. coming up, christine todd tells us what to look for in the upcoming fed decision. this is "balance of power" on bloomberg television and radio. ♪ and radio. ♪

david: this is "balance of power" on bloomberg television and radio. i'm david westin. we are minutes away now from the latest fed decision, due at the top of the hour, 2:00 eastern time. for a preview, we welcome christine todd, head of fixed income at a monday pioneer -- amundi pioneer.

the fed would have to be crazy to do anything dramatic in the middle of this election, the what are you expecting -- but what are you expecting? christine: i will say three boring things and three interesting things. first, the whole market is looking for, and there's a lot of pressure to understand the quantitative triggers around the change in inflation target with the new regime of the average inflation targeting. number,is the inflation two point 2%, what is the employment number, 4.5%. we're at the edge of our chairs and they may not give us much. also probably an emphasis on forward guidance. yield curve control seems to be in the rearview mirror. forward guidance seems to be working effectively as we have seen very little variability in the u.s. treasury market, despite the high level of variability in the equity markets. another plea to congress to step y fiscalmploy

stimulus with a lot of cautionary discussion around the coronavirus and its headwinds emerging from this economic setback. more interestingly, we just saw the bank of england surprise the market with more quantitative easing, more asset purchasing than was expected. does that put pressure on the fed? along the thinking same lines already to increase the levels of qe? and with those asset purchases be longer out on the yield curve? secondly, in terms of the more interesting things, intangible things, we have heard from biden, who may become the president, that he thinks the be mandate should not only price stability and maximum employment, but also economic

equality. we have heard particularly in jayfed press conferences powell acknowledging economic inequality as an economic problem, and he becomes somewhat emotive of it as well, he has referred to it as tragic, has said that he will push hard on employment to get back from that recovery we are seeing, and he says it is very much on the fed's mind. whether that creeps into the consciousness is something to watch. finally, with the lower likelihood, given the composition of congress and the executive seat of a high level fed starts, will the to contemplate negative rates? is there more pressure on monetary policy, and will they

succumb to it? david: that would be a u-turn. the fed was pretty explicit they don't have much patience for negative rates, and have not seen much excess in europe. christine: well, i am being provocative here. [laughter] all, not the base case at but it would be very interesting to see if it has been raised or contemplated. have $18 trillion or so in negative yielding debt globally, it is not an anomaly. the fed has been adamant that they do not intend to go there. that said, the pressure on them to do so, with the lack of the fiscal side helping out, may create a window to contemplate it. david: let me go back to your penultimate interesting thing -- a new gave us what you said you would do, three that were

provocative, three that were not so interesting. addressing income inequality, a lot of people think that we need to do that, including economists who think that that would foster all kinds of growth. at the same time, i've been perplexed ticking about what the fed can do about that problem. do they have the tools that would allow them to address that issue in the united states? christine: glad that you asked that, because they do in the back door. they have the municipal liquidity facility that they have offered to state and local governments. by supporting state and local governments, which they have been extremely vocal and proactive about, nudging congress to be more attentive to, but by offering this liquidity facility, the fed is supporting municipal governments , which is 15% of employment. those jobs tend to be the bottom part of the k.

by supporting state and local government through the municipal liquidity facility, it supports employment for those that are being hardest hit, and as jay powell said, less able to shoulder the burden of this. that goes a long way. what they may have to do in order to make the municipal liquidity facility more effective is due with they did with main street lending, which is make adjustments to draw in customers, if you will, to take advantage of it. david: so glad that you raised main street lending. i'm sorry to interrupt. that has not been a raving success, as it? -- has it? christine: no. something like a fraction, $500 billion has been deployed. the fed believes, for smaller loans, the ppp is the most efficient facility to distribute liquidity and provide a

backstop. of hundreds ofg thousands of small loans is a big bird into the banking system. so i think the fed has hope that the ppp would pick up the slack. there is still about $130 billion or so that they can lend. they recently lowered the amount, so they are going in that direction. david: great to have you with us. wanting to wrap it up so that we can get to that fed decision. stay tuned for the fed decision special coming up at 2:00 p.m. eastern time. toy with us to continue follow the election all over bloomberg. this is bloomberg. ♪

caroline: this is "the fed

decides" on bloomberg television. we bring you the federal reserve's rate decision. jay powell will host a press conference and he questions in 30 minutes. take it away. mike: this is a very different kind of fed statement. a lot of bearishness. the fed, and starting with economic assessment begins with a pledge. "the fed is committed to using its full range of tools to supporting the u.s. economy in this challenging time, thereby promoting its maximum employment and price stability goals." it goes on to say the pandemic is causing tremendous human and economic hardships across the united states and around the world. economic activity and employment have continued to recover but remain well below their levels at the beginning of the year. prices are