Franken formally submitted his senate Resignation Letter to the government of minnesota. Tina smith will take over. Iranians were using instagram to website telegram facilitate protests. The United Nations security installed six new members today on the 15 member council. Andtries including the u. S. Russia and the u. K. Are permanent members, whereas others rotate on twoyear terms. Global news, 24 hours a day, powered by more than 2700 journalists and analysts in over 120 countries. I am Mark Crumpton. This is bloomberg. Julia live from bloombergs World Headquarters in new york, i am julia chatterley. Scarlet i am scarlet fu. Joe i am joe weisenthal. Julia we are 30 minutes from the close of trading. Joe the question is, whatd you miss . Scarlet senator orrin hatch, the longest serving republican senator in u. S. History to retire at the end of his term. How much will the economy grow now that the tax cut is a done deal . Thiel reportedly bitcoin,bank on criminals are loading up on a privacy coin called manero. Julia we are back. I am so excited. The Republican Party is about to light up in utah. Sender hatch has held office hase 1976 senator hatch held office since 1976 and will not seek reelection. This could open for a move for mitt romney to submit his bed. His bid. Reactll President Trump with having to share washington with his old foe . Give us the details on this. We were talking earlier about tensions between mitt romney and the president between the election campaign. Would it really be a problem, Going Forward . Mitt romney and President Trump have been at loggerheads for several years now. Republicans were urged to go to great lakes when it looked like it was all but certain to lock the nomination. Lengths when it looked like it was all but certain to lock the republican nomination. Republicans other to block trumps nomination, then. But then mitt romney changed his tune after President Trump was elected. There was that famous photo of trump looking in the camera while mitt romney was at the table. I do think this is going to be an important angle. The president can be impulsive at times. If he feels that way, that romney is coming after him, there will be fireworks. Said the president has inney choked like a dog 2012. Joe if mitch wants to see it, will he went he win . Sahil he is looking like the frontrunner right now. I am not hearing prominent names, apart from romney. Ae last time a democrat won senate race in utah was 1970. It, i am notts sure who can beat him. Joe tell us about this antagonism toward trump. Republican senators have been critical of trump. Mine,e him to follow others tweet about him want line, othersn tweet about him. Mitt romney be a reliable republican vote on most things . People in what capitol hill are expecting. He may not like President Trumps tweaking or temperament temperament, but President Trump is doing what fiscal conservatives want an following a pretty standard republican agenda in terms of legislation and nominees. Imagine whatlt to hypothetical senator romney would break with President Trump on. It will be interesting to watch. Presume should we just mitt romney would be the candidate here . Or could someone steal that from him . What is the likelihood there could be a democratic upset . Sahil the democratic upset in utah, it would be something they havent seen in generations. Up faceans could end planting with an awful candidate like roy moore. Maybe democrats could have a chance. Would have to face plant pretty spectacularly for democrats to have a shot. There are some significant legacy items in the senate, that will live on far past this time. Program wasnsurance authored by senator hatch in 1997. That was just passed in and signed into law weeks ago, another significant move by senator hatch. The policy about agenda for january and beyond. We have had coverage of immigration, children of undocumented immigrants, never mind the government shutdown. They have a full plate. From they have to government by january 19. They have to fund the government by january 19, extend the Childrens Health insurance kids, a the daca potential while, other immigration related measures. Wall, other immigration related measures. Julia no problem. Scarlet thank you. North koreas bold moves to the spotlight at the end of 2017. China high on the list of prospects for this year. All roads point to beijing in this coming year. This is bloomberg. Scarlet . Whatd you miss . Rudd joins bloomberg exclusively to weigh in on tensions between australia and china. Kevin this is one part of a regarding risk analysis for 2018. This concerns the response of government to the rise of china in the region. The United States as well will be looking at how china response to the challenge of north korea. On theds go to beijing question of geopolitics in the future of the global economy. Where do you see the relationship between australia and china going, and will that hurt trade in australia . Kevin there are political tensions between the two governments at present. Chinese activities in australia have caused a reaction from beijing. We will see whether this comes to a had and whether economic consequences flow from the current political instability of asian relationships. The relationship between china and australia is one element of a much broader equation. The rise of china is a powerful phenomenon. Do you see President Trump and his ministration being more engaged in asia in 2018, or pushing back china a little . Kevin the president visited the region in the latter part of 2017. This was judged as successful on many fronts. We have an unresolved security and strategic dynamic, the north Korean Missile program. Will dominate the conversation in most of 2018. I think the handling of that crisis should have calculated political risks in the upcoming year. What projection for america does australia need . Kevin . Predictability. The china relationship is fundamental. Also regarding the relationship with north korea. We cannot to live tweet by tweet and the upcoming year as the stakes are raised ever higher in the upcoming year as the stakes are raised ever higher. Will globalization get hurt this year . Kevin it has already been hurt. Global financial trade markets have been opening in the last two or three decades. Were seeing something of a sea change in the reverse direction. Success witho trade organizations, and america withdraw from the tpp. And we have seen an open question with nafta. Whether we points to have reached the high tide in which trade, investment, has led to so much global prosperity in recent decades . Maybe President Trump is signaling the reversal of the trend. Former that was the Prime Minister of australia speaking on bloomberg surveillance, earlier. Weight watchers is a gaining after gaining a new spokesperson. It was oprah . Still oprah. Dj khaled much not mean that much to any of us, but for a certain millennial or younger, it means more. Joe he is big on snapchat. Julia twitter. 8. 9 million instagram followers. He is known as a powerhouse on social media. He is going to do Weight Watchers and document everything. Stock was getting a boost today, because there is this perception that Weight Watchers benefits from having celebrity spokespeople. Tweeting, down 20 pounds and ready for more. Joe Weight Watchers has done phenomenal. Scarlet look at the threeyear chart. Bought a 10 stake for around 43 million. We have a look at the top stakeholders on bloomberg. She is the thirdlargest shareholder. Luxembourgbased is the largest shareholder. Keeblerhe company from a long time ago bought the company from keebler a long time ago but has been reducing its stake over time. Julia astronomical. 287 . The percentage of flows that sold short 26. 5 , you have high short interest. Gainss like this, like this, it is based on a bit of a short squeeze. Been growingas not profits in the past years. Revenue had fallen for three straight years. The last Quarterly Report came in ahead of estimates. Company was at hsn. She has talked up the celebrity endorsers, but the back end, what the company has made on the technology and operations fronts. They have been adding members, which has been helping. Give very timely, given that it is new years. Julia exactly. Thank you. European finance has been a buzz abuzz about the change from changes will happen when assets are traded from stocks to commodities. This is a European Unions second big push act regulating said to rewrite how information is shared, and how prices are set. It starts soon. This harmonized rules for stock trading. The financial crisis hit in 2008 and regulators decided that more was needed. To commodities, bonds, derivatives, and beyond. Broker to broker deals will be forced to open and regulated platforms. Algorithms must be registered with regulators. It isill be tested and not just the machines under scrutiny. Research provided by banks and paid for by trading commissions will now have to be paid for separately. Regulators will extend to any institution trading european securities, no matter where they are. This will cost Financial Firms over 800 million to be compliant. The clock is ticking toward the january 3 deadline. Baby, it is cold outside. How will the arctic blast impact yield . We have the charts you cant miss. From new york, this is bloomberg. Scarlet whatd you miss . Chinese leaders warning their economy faces challenges in the coming years, whether it is pollution or the rise of domestic debt. But the China Economy is holding up relatively well. The white line is the official bmi, at 51. 6. Manufacturingis bmi, which it shows strong momentum. Up 51. 5 in december, beating economist estimates. These numbers are not as positive as they seem. Macroeconomics say these figures are probably overstating momentum. They also see the profits in ,hina appear to be worsening because prices are continuing to slow down. Julia you always want to watch for china. The weather, a favorite pastime. I have a chart to show you what is going on amid record low temperatures in the United States. 10 in degrees fahrenheit, right up to the 70s as you can see down there in florida. Joe, talk about this. Joe extremely cold. Another expert in whether in weather. What this is doing is driving Natural Gas Prices higher. Of up 4. 9 d amid warnings that the u. S. Is burning most the most natural ever, breaking records that occur during the polar vortex of 2014. 143icans are consuming rights cubic feet of gas now. Scarlet we can just be satisfied with saying, it is cold. Linefrom europe, the white is the number of factories that have the backlog. Factories cannot keep up with demand. Factories are being run at full capacity and still falling behind orders they have coming in. Blue line is eurozone cpi. Be think there will connection between manufacturing and capacity constraints. You think there will be price increases. But the connection has been muted. One of the questions for 2018 is whether cpi and inflation will catch up to indicators. See some are trying to of these unemployment numbers improving across europe. Scarlet the market closes next. Take a look at the major indexes on this trading day of 2018. The dow is up. The s p 500 gaining 8 10 of 1 . This is bloomberg. Is this a phone . Or a little internet machine . It makes you wonder shouldnt we get our phones and internet from the same company . Thats why Xfinity Mobile comes with your internet. You get up to 5 lines of talk and text at no extra cost. So all you pay for is data. See how much you can save. Choose by the gig or unlimited. Xfinity mobile. A new kind of network designed to save you money. Call, visit, or go to xfinitymobile. Com. [applause] julia whatd you miss . Stocks in the green for the first start of the new year, with text leading the gains techs leading the gains. Joe we want to welcome you to our closing day coverage. Markets entered the new year with the same theme when it comes to equities, gains. Tech shares leading the way, driving the nasdaq past that percent. Joe 2018 feels familiar. This will be a theme. Names individual target. The venture cofounder, a former tech analyst, writing that amazon is going to be buying target, one of his predictions for the tech industry. On the backdrop of amazon making waves five buying whole foods last year. Netflix higher, after price upgraded after a broad realignment of views on media. This has to do with ad driven content and a skill distribution Scale Distribution internationally. Weatherford down, after its fracking business shut down a year ago. J. C. Penny up after gainsw boss sees market after store closures. Starting withets rates higher across the board. The tenure is up a little bit tenyear ise two up a little bit more than the twoyear. 1. 9. Ear, 2. 46. R, dollar, it iseuro the strongest rally we have seen in the last two years. Ecdid have comments from the b banker member who says the less inflation disappoints this all systems go in europe. This coincides with a threemonth low in the u. S. Dollar. Analysts were looking for decent riskreward. Firmse wall street look likewells fargo good riskreward. Argentina, 28 and three quarters, the highest in the world. Also, bitcoin, making a judgment call to lump it with currency. Founder fund has amassed hundreds of millions of dollars of bitcoin. Thats enough for investors to take it up just shy of 10 . Joe lets look at commodities. This one is down a little bit. Oil is hanging in there above 60 a barrel. A question whether oil can sustain this upgraded level in 2018. Gold had a very solid 2017. Two metals, platinum and palladium, both had solid years. 18 is getting off to a similar feel as 2017. The winners of last year where the winners are the winners of this year. Those are todays market minutes. On the firstmore trading day of the year and what is to come in 2018, lets bring in the chairman and chief Investment Officer at cumberland advisors. 2018 with a comment on equity markets. Bitcoin can be tangible. Joe is that chocolate . It is. Julia with the bitcoin logo. With the bitcoin logo. You will never see bitcoin more tangible. Joe were going to eat it we re going to eat it. You were optimistic on markets and nearly fully invested. What does that mean . Etf strategy in the u. S. Stock market, and another one outside it. Gas,ust reported natural for good reason. Drilling, we like that patch. Drilling, we like that patch. Joe most people would say they are bullish, but we wont see a repeat of 2017. We cant get another year of mammoth gains. But could we . Means could that anything. You would need to have a look liquer inside that bitcoin to believe you would get a repeat. Funds, when people dont have a way to estimate, translate from stagnant holdings of treasury bills sitting in an ,ccount to active Deployment Company moves money from a dollarheld vehicle abroad more than buying shares and paying out dividends they transfer that to someone else. It is the transference of stagnant cash to something active that is not priced in markets. We have no way to guess what that will be. Measurable in the trillions. It has been sitting. And it has motivation to move. It has all the reasons to stop sitting in a stagnant pool. That is a multiplier. I dont know how to estimated, but it comes on top of lower tax rates. That can make this a very good deal. We have been talking about the wealth effect by the amount of money invested is multiplied over and over. People who have invested in bitcoin are feeling pretty wealthy. Bitcoin, i collect millennial fantasy investment. Call a conversation i it millennial fantasy investment. I had a conversation with a politician from the Second District in maine. The average Household Income is 15,000 below in the district of new york, which he told me. Bill tolated the tax personal income per household in northern maine. That is a lot of money. 100 gets spend. It multiplies in the economy. Give me another 2200 and i will buy some chocolate. That is another multiplier we have not seen. Scarlet it is going to go back to paying for higher gas prices. Shorttermhat a juicing of the economy, versus longterm . Avid if you look at the tax that 2200 in that household is a permanent shift year after year. There is another component to it. You have to prepare the tax return to get child credits. Orida, we are starting a Scholarship Program to take low income households and teach them how to get tax credits, because of that household gets 2000 if that hold is that household gets 2000 and i can help others with philanthropy, that is huge. Julia if you chop the tax rates they are paring, it is an instant bang for the buck. To what extent is that gain you were talking about automatic . You are a poor household and not filing a tax return, you dont know you have a couple thousand dollars in credit. You have not received it. If you learn how to do it one time, you do it again the second year and can plan on a permanent income shift. We have an economic term for that permanent income. We have the makings of a very powerful forces. Powerful forces. Julia we have the first candidate for someone who thinks this could be a longterm impact. Thank you so much. Up, bill mcbride, he was ahead of the curve when he predicted the economic collapse of 2008. He will share his insights for the year ahead. From the gore, this is bloomberg. Mark i am Mark Crumpton with first word news. President trump supports the people of oregon who are protesting a week economy iran, for supporting a week economy. Protests have been expanding across the country. Ranian people are angry at the rising tide of corruption. People are tired of paying the price. We are now seeing an organic, popular uprising, organized by brave citizens on a large scale. Iran Supreme Leader says th