francine: welcome to the european market open. i am francine lacqua in london with tom mackenzie. tom: taking aim at china. u.s. secretary of state antony blinken vows to influence beijing, saying its regime is the most serious challenge to the international order. text turnaround. alibaba and baidu jump after a beet on earnings, giving asian stocks a much-needed boost. plus, staging a comeback. signs of robust consumer spending give markets a risk on mood with u.s. stocks poised for their first week in the green in two months. francine: the futures are kind of on the fence right now when you look at the ftse 100. futures are pretty much flat. dax futures are gaining 0.2%. i am freshly back from davos.

we spoke to chief executives, the ones that have to do with supply chains, they are extremely worried about the next 12 months and see things get better only when we work through these supply shortages. tom: great to have you back. when it comes to the picture, we have the economic data out of china, industrial production slumping to the lowest level since 2020. the premier and president xi jinping seem to be at loggerheads. premier lee desperate to get the economy back on its feet and what that means for officials at the local level as they tried to implement policies. the read across from what happened in the u.s. when it comes to retail. macy's looking strong, dollar tree as well but gap warning and lowering its forecast. the picture around the consumer and the health of retail in the u.s. is a little murky. in terms of what things are shaping up for in the u.k. and the rest of europe, you have

that digest of what happened with chancellor rishi sunak yesterday, announcements of the windfall tax on oil and gas providers. the spanish ibex currently up 0.5%. the german dax up 0.4%, the italian ftse getting 0.4% as well. let's see how things are playing out across asset. we will bring your attention to what's happening in crypto. s&p futures flat, range bound after decent gains that we saw yesterday. it could be the first week where you see a gain for the s&p 500. the u.s. 10 year, not a lot of movement in terms of the benchmark treasury. part of that is down to dollar weakness but also possibly some of the factors when it comes to announcements of fiscal stimulus from the chancellor yesterday to offset that cost of living crisis.

we will get into the details with our reporter. in terms of crypto, you are looking at bitcoin below 29,000 right now. you are looking at eight straight weeks of losses, the longest-running since about august of 2011, down 1.7%. concerns about the defi space, specifically ethereum and the blockchain. francine: let's dig deeper. we see a lot of green. we have specific stocks sing a bit of pressure. i am looking at my screen. out of the 19 groups that make up the stoxx 600, all of them are on the higher side, apart from energy. energy as a whole, after the couple days that it had, taking a bit of relief. technology leading gains. basic resources and technology higher between 1.3% and 1.4%. technology, that has to do with a little bit of a lift that we heard from china after encouraging numbers. tom: alibaba and baidu coming

out with decent earnings, offsetting some of the concern, regulatory challenges around big tech names. deliveroo, jp morgan downgrading their forecast on this stock from overweight to neutral. we are out of the pandemic, are people going to be ordering less? also concern that consumers and their budgets are being squeezed, currently down 1.8% for deliveroo. the read across from what we saw from gap in terms of the retail, and their forecast lowered. they are concerned with supply chains out of china and the cost of fuel and freight. next currently down. when it comes to saint-gobain, this is the glassmaker, gaining 0.3%. francine: let's get over to mark cudmore. you other campaign -- you are looking at pain in the crypto space. mark: absolutely. this is about ethereum today. today, it is really about alt-

coins and the most important one, which is a theory him -- ethereum. this is a hangover from what happened around terra and the fall of the stablecoin but also about a glitch in the process that changed at the area from proof of work to -- that changed ethereum from proof of work to proof of stake. i am slightly worried. it's now going down to this 13 month low. that redline is the level, the 13 month low. we are bouncing off it again today. we have not broken. i think if we follow through it, i think there will be another capitulation in sentiment in the crypto space. this is important for all markets because it will hurt retail sentiment going into week end. if you think crypto is some weird fad, i think today or over the next few days, if you want to know how stocks are going to trade next week, keep a close eye on how close we stayed to

this line. tom: currently ethereum down 1.3%. mark cudmore, thank you. francine: you know what's amazing? in davos, there was a so many of these houses. before, it was a lot of the banks that used to take the promenade. crypto was center. it was one of my biggest surprises and a lot of the chief technology officers were there trying to rally the troops and make their case for crypto. tom:tom: it tells you something. you've got scott minerd send you are going to get to 8000 on bitcoin, a former bitcoin bull. francine: let's get back to these european markets, opening up a little bit mixed, a little bit subdued. davos, inflation was the name of the game. >> inflation is no doubt trending higher and it's reached higher than are inflation rates throughout the rest of the year. >> we have kind of a perfect

storm. >> we are going to have more conflict. we are going to have more inflation. inflation causes domestic political conflict. >> raising interest rates is not going to stop the problem of inflation. is not going to create more food. it is going to make it more difficult because you are toured to be able to make the investment. >> the critical thing for us is not to see kind of second-round effects happening, not to see too much broadening of the things that are increasing. very important, as i mentioned, to make sure that the medium-term inflation expectations remain anchored. tom: concerns about inflation being articulated at the world economic forum. let's get into some of the other key market drivers. let's start with the u.k. and chancellor rishi sunak's decision to go ahead with this windfall tax and cash payments for households across the u.k. is there an inflationary risk here from the chancellor? >> yeah. if we look at the markets and how they performed yesterday, they definitely felt more, well,

better about risk compared to how they have been. that's because of the government's fiscal program to try and ease this cost-of-living burden. investors were coming out of safe havens like government bonds and moving into more risky assets like corporate bonds. if we look at the i tracks and the i tracks crossover, which is the cost of insuring against a default for like investment grade and junk rated credit, they were tightening. we have not seen that in a long time. if we look at the overall picture here and we see what's happening, you've got a cost-of-living crisis that everyone is trying to deal with. but at the same time, you've got soaring inflation. you've got economic slowdown, soaring inflation, and that's creating a lot of volatility in the markets. whereas we might have days where investors feel better about risk, there's going to be days where they do not. francine: it was interesting, in

davos, there was a lot of talk about the energy transition and some of the concerns surrounding that. i kept on asking technically what you could do. the politicians kept saying don't forget to support this is since because of the cost-of-living crisis. you know we have a specialty guru of leveraged finance. talk to us about what that means going forward for some of the other asset classes? claire: if we look at the moment m&a funding and how banks feel at the moment, banks are feeling extremely nervous. they are sitting on about $20 billion of risk on their balance sheet that they are unable to sell down at the moment and that's because of all the volatility in the broader markets. the best case in point is morrison supermarkets. it was bought out. banks provided 6.6 billion pounds of financing to provide

that. they find m&a and sell it down as quickly as they can. because of the weight the markets are at the moment, they are unable to do so. out of the 6.6 billion pound debt financing, banks are still sitting on about 2.7 billion pounds of that. the amount of debt that was sorted down was sold at a big loss. they are at the moment about 125 million pounds of loss and that's only going to get bigger. when you have these bidders asking, can you find the buyout of boots? banks are nervous. tom: that's not idiosyncratic to the morrison's story? in terms of the losses you have seen from banks in terms of that deal on morrison's? clear: the losses are symptomatic of the market. they cannot sell down risk at the moment. with all this volatility in the market, no one knows where to price risk. morrison's is a bellwether

that's going to affect a lot m&a going forward, including the boots deal, if that happens. tom: claire ruckin keeping an eye on m&a. thank you for walking us through some of the key themes. the u.k.'s chancellor of the exchequer, rishi sunak, announcing a 50 billion pound support package to combat the country's cost-of-living crisis. we look at the details coming. francine: coming up later this morning, we have an exclusive conversation with the u.k. prime minister, boris johnson. he will be asked about the cost-of-living, also partygate. don't miss that interview coming at nine: 30 a.m. u.k. time. this is bloomberg. ♪

♪ tom: welcome back to the open. we are 13 minutes into the european trading day. you see modest gains across european equities. onto the u.k. the government has unveiled a 50 billion pound aid package to combat the country's cost-of-living crisis. that includes a windfall tax on energy companies as britains face soaring energy bills. the financial times has the headline, sunak's windfall tax you turn sparks anger from energy groups. the metro leads with rishi to

the rescue at last. the daily telegraph reads," tories are now the party of big spending, says sunak." i think bloomberg's headline is something along the lines of rishi sunak the socialist. joining us now is lizzy burden. talk us through the significance of the support we saw from the u.k. chancellor. lizzy: this is big money targeted at the poorest households and targeted at the fourth quarter. it is a boon for consumers and the economy because economists expect people to spend this money, pump it back into the economy and helps the u.k. to dodge a recession in 2022. it keeps the pressure on the bank of england because it adds to the inflation risk. bloomberg economics has seen a pause and tightening in the second half of the year, now it sees 4 rate by the end of 2022.

francine: i spoke to the chief executive of an italian company and he spoke about the one for text. he was not -- the windfall tax. he was not keen on the windfall tax. bp saying we could review our investments if we have to pay windfall tax. lizzy: some of the officials and the government had said that bernard looney's comments saying that the windfall tax would not put them off investment meant they could not not do this windfall tax. its controversial on lots of fronts. the government has stolen labour's clothing, and a sense because this is a key policy they have been proposing. the conservatives have gone even further. the u.k. has the highest tax burden since the 1950's. we have not had a windfall tax since tony blair was in number 10 in the 1990's. rishi sunak does not look like the taxcutting heir to margaret

thatcher that he presented himself as. he doubled the investment allowance for energy companies. it means that it is contravening the cop26 pledges perhaps as well as telling businesses how to invest, which is one conservative mp put it, it's just not the conservative way. francine: extraordinary times means that the conservative way may have to change. lizzy burden without the latest on the windfall tax on the u.k.. coming up later this morning, we speak to the u.k. prime minister, boris johnson. i am sure he will have a thing or two to say about the windfall tax. don't miss that interview. to talk about markets, windfall tax, energy and bonds with us, virginie maisonneuve from allianz. great to speak with you. how do you deal with inflation right now? virginie: i think it's really interesting. there is a chart i look at that's monetary supply growth in the u.s. m2. if you look at m2, it peaked in

february of 2021. barring any extraordinary events, historically, that has led to picking inflation and slower growth about 12 to 18 months later. clearly, there's a lot of inflationary pressure. we might be in a context where inflation is peaking over the next six months. tom: what is your assessment at this point of the recession risks being debated and where those are most acute? virginie: i think what comes with that, what's about to happen is a global synchronized slowdown. i think you are seeing it in different shapes. clearly in europe, probably closer to a recession. the u.s. might be propped up by the inventory cycle that we see and the numbers from gap were interesting if you look at their inventories. the inventory cycle is going to help growth in the second quarter. after that, i think we see a strong slowdown globally. i think china is ahead of the

curve because it has had a slowdown already and it is putting measures to support the economy while the rest of the world is either tightening or about to tighten, like in europe, for example. francine: citi downgraded u.s. stocks because they worry about recession. they are favoring china. are we going to see widespread further correction from what we saw last week? virginie: i think what you are going to see is earnings adjustment. i think it is hard to talk about countries. the u.s. economy has been very resilient. you will see a strong slowdown in the u.s. you might have an earnings recession, if you want. i think the likelihood of a recession in europe is higher than in the u.s. on the u.s. versus china, i think china is in another cycle. i think a lot of people are underweight china, second largest economy in the world, and i think post the party congress meeting, we should see

some more packages to support the economy. we really like innovation in china. that is a sector that is, you know, under discovered in a way, and of course, investment in infrastructure. tom: this is important because we have been reporting on the fact that there is at least divergence interviews, or at least of the emphasis from the premier and the president in china. that's leading to mixed implementation on the ground. when it comes to your optimism, your caveated optimism on china, are you looking to increase exposure? sounds like you are over the next 12 months. is that something you would be looking to do in china given the valuations? virginie: i look at china as an asset class. i think the second largest economy in the world, very underrepresented if you look at the msci versus the size of the market, versus the size of the economy. i think people need to have a long-term position in china. what's really interesting in terms of the leaked lee/xi

jinping conversation is the perspective. i think what xi jinping wants to do is there has been over 6 million deaths in covid around the world since the beginning. his death record, if you want to put it this way, less than 5300 while the u.s. is that 1 million and europe at 1.6 million. i think this is a really important record to have. he wants to prop the economy. we have seen the packages. that is a slow support of the economy, but i think we will have more after the party congress meeting. francine: thank you so much. virginie maisonneuve there from allianz global investors. let's get to the bloomberg business flash. >> broadcom has agreed to buy cloud computing company vmware for about $61 billion. the move makes the chipmaker a bigger force in software and one of the largest technology deals

of all-time. the transaction represents about a 44% premium to vmware's valuation before may 20. that was the last day of trading before bloomberg reported a potential takeover. workers at apple parts supplier -- in shanghai have clashed with guards. that's according to people familiar with the matter. media reports over the last we cap highlighted frustration among the workers, who have been trapped in a bubble due to mounting covid infections. --- and apple representatives declined to comment. that's your bloomberg business flash. tom? tom: thank you. alice atkins. the s&p 500 set to see first weekly gain after the eight weeks of losses. we will discuss retail numbers and investor sentiment, next. this is bloomberg. ♪

♪ >> we cannot really think about energy without also thinking about energy security. >> you have a world that's 100 million dollars or more with basically no -- >> to go out from dependency of fossil fuels. >> i think individual countries are going to cut back. >> it is appropriate, i think, to have a gas transition for a short period, for someperiod of

time while you bring technology to scale. >> a transition in energy takes probably three decades so please do not slowdown. >> it is not building more wind and more solar. >> hydrocarbon will always be part of the energy over the longer-term. >> we have gone from a one dimensional equation to bring carbon down to a three dimensional equation. francine: those were some of the guests we were talking about at davos. if davos is too optimistic in january, we will see a recession in the next 12 months. that used to be the joke. but there's very little commonality within the chief executives. you kind feel that because everybody has a different perspective, it will be difficult for them to get aligned and get something done. tom: that lack of consensus

important. that's interesting and valuable, isn't it? francine: no matter, because "top gun" is out this weekend. tom: you are talking about burning gas. tom cruise. it is out today in the u.k. launch. tom cruise was in these jets, f-18's on loan from the u.s. military. $11,000 for one hour. francine: that's crazy. tom: was not allowed to touch the buttons, went up about 12 times. he does his own stunts so this is all part of the tom cruise mix. "top gun maverick" is out, it's well reviewed. francine: i have to say, i add in if i with james bond, i do not identify with any of the "top guns." tom: we are going to get francine into top gun. reducing emissions and retail. we will speak to namrata sandhu, chief executive of vaayu.

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open, 30 minutes into the european trading day. ticking aim at china, antony blinken vows to influence beijing, saying the regime is a serious challenge to the international order. tech turnaround, alibaba jumps after a beat on earnings even asian stocks a much-needed boost . staging a comeback, signs of robust consumer spending gives investors a risk on mood. stocks are in the green but just about. there are interesting factors at play. tom: there is no consensus where china goes from here or if they can implement the policies they outlined or turned the bleeding growth as a result of the covid zero policies. on the retail, the consumer out

of the u.s., a mixed picture. walmart and target earlier in the week, there were concerns in their forecasts. there was upside when it came to macy's. how much is down to the wealthier consumer before those more constrained, that picture out of china as well, profits falling for the first time in a long time since 2020. here in the u.k., focusing on what is happening in terms of the implications of the chancellor's announcement around a windfall tax in terms of the energy sector, and handouts to the households. very unconvincing gains on this friday for european stocks, just up 0.1%. the dax up 19 points. the ftse lower by 0.3%. let's see how things are playing out sector by sector. consumer products at the top of the list, getting 1.4%.

a drag on basic resources on the back of weaker iron or prices. technology also higher. at the bottom are utilities, food and beverage, and banks. the euro in the pound are higher but the dollar is softer. let's get to the bloomberg first word news. >> the u.s. has rejected a plan by vladimir putin to facilitate exports only if sanctions are lifted. the biden administration pins the blame on the kremlin for blocking shipments. putin did not specify if he was referring to russian exports or those from ukraine stopped by the blockade of ports. sources say the u.s. and taiwan are ready to announce talks that would deepen economic ties, a move likely to be seen as a fresh challenge to beijing. negotiations would focus on economic cooperation and secure supply chains.

the agreements are similar to the indo pacific framework, and would fall short of a free-trade agreement. beijing's worst outbreak is worsening with more cases on thursday. there is growing anxiety within the chinese government on the impact of the zero covid policy on the economy. restrictions include work from home waters for most beijing districts. profits at chinese industrial firms strength for the first time in two years. covid outbreaks in lockdowns disrupted factory production, logistics and sales. data from the national bureau of industrial profits fell 8.5% in april from a year earlier. senate democrats said they were more optimistic about a compromise on gun control legislation in the wake of the texas massacre. democrats are willing to accept incremental steps. many senators are going home for a ten-day recess and will meet

with voters who may press them to take action. global news, 24 hours a day, on air and at bloomberg quicktake, powered by more than 2700 journalists and analysts in more than 120 countries. this is bloomberg. tom: thank you. we will switch focus to technology and a start up conversation that is important when it comes to climate. a startup that makes carbon tracking software designed to help retailers monitor and reduce their carbon footprint, which is significant. it is a valuable space as governments and companies look to speed up their net zero transmission volume, closing seed funding back in january. joining us now is namrata sandhu , it is an indication of where investors see the opportunities within the tech startup space, particularly around reducing emissions. explain for us what your

business does and the proposition for retailers. namrata: our business focus doesn't how can you calculate in real-time, so data in businesses think about understanding real-time, and how it is on track so we can connect them to the point of sale system and have them understand their carbon impact on a daily baseness, and optimize that. one helps them understand their own footprint and help customers make better choices. francine: what is your biggest concern now? what you say sounds amazing, it is about execution. is there a danger of greenwashing the space? namrata: there is always a danger of greenwashing the space and it is enabling live data to go to customers and use that to enable some decision-making. it is about the data being accurate rather than estimating or understanding your carbon footprint which is more traditionally done. tom: how significant is this

within the retail space, how much carbon is emitted as a top line from the retail sector globally? namrata: globally they estimate 20% from the retail industry, one of the most significant after the fossil fuel industry. francine: i am a company, i get the software and see the house but, but -- i see the hotspots, so is it about the power to say, this is a emission i need to cut down? namrata: yes, it identifies the hotspots and where the most carbon saving potential is. where can you save the carbon and what can you do? can you reduce packaging by 10%? can you change your shipping providers? tom: what does it mean for the consumer? the ability to inform the consumer about the products they are buying in the carbon footprint of each of the visual product, or doesn't not knock at that granular? namrata: it up till he granular. you will start to see more of a

carbon flag or what is low carbon or understanding the exact carbon footprint of a product. francine: when you say ways to reduce or lower emissions, this is cutting them? i had conversations in davos, including big players from china who say they plant trees. if you plant trees or by carbon credits, people say that is cheating. namrata: yes, absolutely. we focus on the not the offsetting but lowering and reduction. how can you ring that 20% down and our that? we could have a magic bullet that saves us, but in absence of that, we need to focus on optimization and lowering and cutting emissions. tom: we are talking about supply chain constraints on retailers and inflation, they are concerned about what is happening with the consumer. i wonder if they starting to turn cold on this year it how much of a priority is this for retailers have basically are trying to get a supply chain running and get goods into

customers hands, are you getting any sense from your clients that they are turning their back on this? namrata: we are seeing the opposite coming through, because the customers are asking for it. we are seeing it as a point of differentiation, and a way for them to engage the customers, and customers choose with their wallet more now than ever. we are seeing that they are pushing more than they have in the past because it is a way to stand out in a clouded but -- in a crowded market. francine: when i saw your business model, i thought this was great, but is it mean retailers do not have a handle of their supply chain? why do they need someone from the outside to show them where they can cut emissions? are they behind the curve in which they can do as actionable things to reduce emissions? namrata: retailers creating product and calculating carbon is a specialized space. we come into take with a doing a supply chain around audit creation to understand what is the carbon impact and focus on carbon calculation.

that is a space they are not specialized in. we give them the specialized help around carbon calculation. tom: more broadly, you raised additional funding in january. how is the funding pipeline looking for you, and in terms of what we heard from sequoia yesterday putting out a note saying it is the end of this particular moment, this is a crucible moment, said sequoia, they leaned on companies to cut costs. are you looking at the same processes in an environment regrowth is slowing? namrata: yes, across the board any startup you speak to will look at how long you can have a way forward and reevaluate market, and we are no different from everybody else, but climate is a space we expect people to invest in. we expect the trajectory to be positive and hope people invest in climate. tom: namrata sandhu, ceo, vaayu, thank you for coming onto the product and the implications for the retail sector, and

curbing emissions. coming up, the u.s. secretary of state does not hold back in his criticism of china's president. he is accusing xi jinping of oppression at home, and aggression abroad. more on that story, next. this is bloomberg. ♪

tom: welcome back to the open, 43 minutes into the european trading day. some moves in european equities, up 0.2%. the ftse is lower down 0.2%. nasdaq futures lower by 0.2%. a bit a reversal in basic resources which was leading yesterday, currently up 1.5%. iron ore his turned around slightly. to libby's lower by 1%, a clear loser on a sector basis. let's turn to what is happening in china. data paints a grim picture of an economy paralyzed by covid outbreaks and strict lockdowns. transport logistics and sales --

our chief asia correspondent joins us. how bad was this data, and how does it inform our views about the trajectory for the economy? >> it does say how much pressure companies in china are under. a drop in industrial profits, down 8.5%. foreign company profits down 16%. china has been a goldmine for foreign nationals. a lot of it speaks to what is going on, the lockdown in shanghai has had a dramatic impact on logistics and transportation and production. more broadly around the rest of the country, they are experiencing rolling restrictions that is impacting factories that try to operate where workers stay inside for weeks and months on end. the question from here, can profits recover so long as china

continues its aggressive covid strategy? francine: we also heard from the u.s. secretary of state, he has taken aim at china. >> rather than using its power to reinforce and revitalize the laws and agreements, the institutions that enable success so other countries can benefit from them, beijing is undermining them. under president xi, the ruling chinese communist party has become more repressive at home and more aggressiv abroad. francine: between president biden talking about taiwan, and strong language from secretary blinken, how will china take all of this? >> very blunt language, very direct remarks from the secretary of state. nothing especially new, it did not break any new ground. there already has been a

response from china, they reject that. a spokesman in washington made that point for them. one take away from analysts was the line about asymmetric decoupling, the idea that china is trying to make itself less reliant on the rest of the world but the rest of the world -- secretary blinken also made points that that china and the u.s. can work together. when you take it together, it is a blunt speech speaks to the times we are in. china and the u.s. or outright competitors if not something worse. tom: the competing messages and rhetoric from the chinese president about the policy priorities, it takes me back to 2019 -- 2009-2010 --how china may have changed if that happened.

what does it tell us about the difficult he for local officials to implement these contradictory policies? >> in terms of open source reading of it, there is no doubt it speaks to the push-pull these policies are. you have covid zero and the aggressive measures that requires, and official saying we have to save the economy, spend more. those do not go well together. you have some analysts saying this might be tension between the top leadership. there is also the view that they are enforcing covid zero. they want to make sure the economy stands on its own feet or at least stabilizes. without getting into it, you have to say at open source level, the policies are in competition with each other and

it will be a big balancing act for china. tom: back to the geopolitics, the trade discussions between washington and taipei, the significance? >> the significance is it shows that it will always be a source of tension for the china-u.s. relationship. i do not know if it gives much difference. secretary of state blinken reiterated u.s. policy on taiwan despite the economic trade talks. francine: thank you so much. coming up, place your bets, the derivatives market is letting investors bet big on almost anything. that is coming up next. this is bloomberg. ♪

francine: welcome back to the open, 51 minutes into the european trading day. gain 0.2% higher.

it is the best weekly advance since mid-march for european stocks. consumer retail shares leading the gains, energy stocks underperform. encouraging news on tech names in china. a new and very controversial financial exchange for trading on the outcome of events -- it has been approved by the u.s. commodities trading commission. it lets traders bet big on a most anything. this is an amazing story. what is this? >> is a marketplace that has been licensed in the u.s. were instead of trading on whether a stock will go up or commodities will go up, you trade on the outcome of real-world event. that can be anything cultural based like the oscars or who will win best singer at the

grammys. who will be nominated to the next fed chairman or supreme court, economics, covid peers. the spectrum is wide. tom: help me understand how regulators approve this? how do they get to the point where they sign off on this? >> is initially one. it is a long history of people arguing these are good because they allow people to hedge risks more effectively. if you're a big hedge fund and managing a lot of money and have a lot of exposure, the argument is rather than buying a basket of stocks and trying to predict how they will move, you just bet , so this is a hedging argument. what the story gets into -- we spoke to a number of individuals in the division responsible for

looking at it, and they thought it was potentially risky and vulnerable to insider trading and manipulation. they were against it. you have these politically appointed commissioners who ultimate they call the shots, and this came into being. francine: is this just the beginning? it feels a lot like gambling. i do not know if it will morph into something else. >> at the moment, it straddles an edge thing and trading. at the moment they are pitching it to the lower end of the market. you can only bet $25,000 at the moment, but the business model is to go after wall street firms and make it a genuine asset class for traders. the approval is seen as a signifier of the arrival of event markets.

you've seen the announcement that they will have limited markets. this could become a big thing for good or bad. tom: thank you. take a look at that on the terminal. it has everything you could want from a great read around this new product. talking about excitement and big names, davos, you have been talking energy transition, geopolitics -- what was front and center and what was the mood on the ground? francine: very subdued. a lot of people felt uncomfortable being there because they did not know what the press would make of it. there is a huge shift to an anti-global conference. a lot of them would speak to you off the record and say i do not have to deal with my supply

chain. every supply chain is missing components. it is tough for retailers and manufacturers. all the other end of the spectrum, geopolitics. i had a panel and nobody was speaking the same language. if you do not have commonalities to do something, tom: on supply chains, there is not much of a chinese presence. i spoke to a delegate who had to get a flight out of china. then he had to do three weeks of quarantine. francine: we are missing a lot of the chinese chief executives. the head of the delegation was the head of climate change from the government. we missed a lot of the americans, and of course no russians. tom: plenty more coming up. "surveillance: early edition." francine is sticking around. this is bloomberg. ♪