The last halfhour or so. The morning started out on a grim note with initial jobless claims very close to 3 million once again. Of smallerixth week jobless claims, but nevertheless , at those rates, it is still pretty dire. The dollar index is stronger today. Weaker euro and weaker sterling, too. We continue to see gains in the oil patch. 37, and brent crude trading above 30 a barrel. Governor Andrew Bailey also seeing the bank of england is not currently considering lowering Interest Rates below zero. His comments coming a day after fed chair Jerome Powell pushed back against the idea. Lets get to our guest, patrick chiefong, Plurimi Wealth investment officer. Expected. Ire as we maybe u. K. Data wasnt quite as bad as we were looking for, but still a contraction of nearly 1. 6 . Of 5. 6 . Do the Central Banks need to start considering negative rates . Patrick i think it is a bit of a mixed bag. I dont think the benefits of negative rates are that compelling at this point. If we see it as a oneoff to scare people off of cash and get people back in the economy, that works to some extent. The problem is once you do but, it is very hard to get out of it. It destroys the banking industry, which is the lever you really want to promote credit growth with. I think for me, it is not a good idea. Negative Interest Rates should be a last resort. I think powell has a lot of levers to pull before he has to go there. If you look at fed funds futures, they are pricing in negative fed funds rates in 2021. I think powell yesterday made it pretty clear that is not somewhere he wants to go. You get unintended consequent is of really punishing the banks, and the banks have to be part of the solution, not something you want to punish in creating a recovery. Vonnie theres punishment, and there is also the difficulty they will have even with rates that are razor thin. It is not like the banks are going to be able to help very much. What does help, patrick . What other tools can be employed . Patrick it is the fiscal side of things that is going to be much more effective. The central bank can basically make sure spreads dont get out of control. They can start buying Corporate Bonds, even seeing those go down into junk bonds. Going into balance sheets, that makes its way into the economy. That is a bit of a boost for the economy, a great for asset prices basically. And the fiscal side of things is where you get better bang for your buck, so the Central Banks can create a Financial System that functions, address stresses in markets, but it is not going to be the solution to get the economy out of a deep recession. That has got to come from the fiscal side of things. Vonnie what have you been doing over the last several weeks since we last spoke with you . We were all anticipating some dire Economic Data. I am not sure we were expecting markets to hold up so well, but clearly, a cart clearly, apart from today, they are pretty strong. Are you investing . Are you finding dry powder somewhere . Patrick where we have invested recently, barrick gold is something we bought back in march when it was clear the fiscal response was going to be massive, and debt and deficits were going to blow out two levels we have never seen before. Monetization of that debt is the endgame for governments now. You already have probably unsustainable debt levels coming into march, and what has happened now is not sustainable. I think monetization is going to be part of the solution, and real assets such as gold are attractive. Markets have held up. It has been a very bifurcated market. Some have benefited from what is happening to some extent. We have a lot of exposure in videogame companies. Up 15 anese company was today. Strong action from activision, tencent. There are stocks that arent dramatically impacted by this. You see this in health care companies, tech companies, companies benefiting from stella from stay at home while cyclicals are really struggling. Vonnie what happens on the things . Ide of we definitely saw a big moving spreads, a big move in terms of Investment Grade issuance and so on. Anything whet your appetite there . \ patrick that is the biggest thing, that we really added risk. Have sold every treasury position now because of the debt dynamics. We have edited to Investment Grade bonds. Weve got Bank Commercial paper. And another addition yesterday was s p global, which is a bond rating agency, benefiting from the passive investment boom. But with trillions of dollars of , it is a real big tailwind for s p right now. We have a massive underweight in financials, and s p is a financial company, but not a bank we wanted to get into because of the Interest Rates we talked about. Vonnie but it does suggest that you feel like there will be is nest for s p Going Forward. Is that a bullish signal there will be business there for s p Going Forward. Is that a bullish signal or bearish . Patrick on the economy, it is bullish. You do want them to be there for the fed. You need credit and needed havenies to show up and access to liquidity because it is going to be a bumpy recovery. It will be a sharp recovery when we do recover, but it will be a bumpy recovery. It will be a situation where companies are much better having cash on hand rather than having to issue debt when they really need to. I think that is part of what we need for the expansion. Let Companies Get through and let the businesses survive. In the near term, debt is a drag on profit ability. Vonnie the companies you added in the last month, barrick gold, lululemon, biogen, someone, it sums like you are really diversified. What do you see in the likes of lululemon, for example . Patrick actually, lululemon is not a new addition. We didnt buy it because of anything happening right now. It is a company that has got a great franchise growing, expanding into china. The stay at home and away from the gym isnt a boost for the company by any means, but it definitely has a very defendable margins, androfit expanding globally now as well. That is the attraction of lululemon. On the health care side of things, biogen is part of that basket. Weve got a big overweight in health care. It is not that biogen is doing anything related to the pandemic, but it has got a Business Model that isnt really changed by the pandemic either. Vonnie with Something Like lululemon, it is interesting because obviously retailers are having a hard time of this. Theres also to talk about a whole new Business Model for retail Going Forward, if we ever come out of this and get back to any kind of normal. How would it affect a company like lululemon, and if you have a bullish attitude, would you be piling and even more at this point . Of our larger one positions in our portfolio. I am surprised how well it recovered postmarch because we reviewed everything in march like everyone else in the world and saw some significant headwinds for Companies Like lululemon. We decided to stay with it, and it is the lower end of the consumer base, basically. The low income part of the economy that is really decimated right now, unfortunately. Powell said yesterday that 40 of people who have Household Income of less than 40,000 have lost their jobs. Lululemon isnt a highend luxury item, but it is a more expensive item, katie hearing towards the demographic ash item, catering towards the demographic that have expensive item, catering towards the demographic that have more disposable income. Vonnie thank you. That is patrick armstrong, cio of Plurimi Wealth. Lets get a market check with taylor riggs. Veryr this is unconfirmed, but there could be speculation about potential talks for stimulus four bill, but very unconfirmed. You are seeing a bit of improvement here on the tape, so perhaps a different tone then we had earlier, when you have a lot of big impactors paul singer, carl icahn, warren buffett, all of these people really saying that the market look overvalued, so certainly coming off the lows from those comments. Flipping of the board, i want to dictate chart i am showing inside my terminal, all about the equal weight s p versus the market cap. Behind ases to fall the market cap, higher weight, Bigger Companies are doing better than smaller companies. So you are seeing that divergence really widen more and more in the last few weeks. Some individual stocks we are looking at, american depository receipts were lower after trump said he was looking at some Chinese Companies listed on American Stock Exchange is, but then said if he does impose rules, Chinese Companies could then just go could then just go list in london or hong kong, for example, so loosening that rhetoric for Chinese Companies listed in the u. S. Wanted to focus on the bond markets here because you have 10 year yield continued to grind lower and lower in the last few days, even despite a lot of treasury supply coming online. You are getting a sense here of clearly just some risk off, and also by what the fed is buying. The fed announced earlier this week they wanted to be buying Corporate Bonds and etfs. Well, you are than buying Investment Grade over highyield, and of course, full facing credit. Vonnie thank you. Coming up, the wto top official stepping down early as trade tensions simmer between the u. S. And china. What it could mean for the Global Economy in the middle of the coronavirus pandemic. This is bloomberg. Vonnie live from new york, im vonnie quinn. This is the european close on bloomberg markets. Lets check in on the first word news with ritika gupta. Ritika the number of americans seeking on a play maybe stayed in the millions for the eighth straight week. Just under 3 Million People filed initial jobless claims, more than expected. March, 36. 5 Million People have applied for benefits. President trump again expressing his unhappiness with china. This time it has to do with Chinese Companies. He tells foxbusiness he is looking at those chinese firms listed on the new york Stock Exchange or nasdaq, but dont follow u. S. Accounting rules. No word what is meant by looking at. He also says he wont renegotiate the phase one trade deal with china, despite china falling short on agreement to buy more u. S. Exports. Earlier this week, beijing said it was considering altering the deal or canceling it altogether. Global news 24 hours a day, on air and on quicktake by bloomberg, powered by more than 2700 journalists and analysts in more than 120 countries. I ritika gupta. This is im ritika gupta. This is bloomberg. Top official is stepping down before his term ends in 2021, getting a potentially contentious search for a successor. I am just leaving because i think it is the best thing for me, my family, and the organization. We are doing now negotiations. Everything is stuck. There is nothing happening in terms of regular work. Our correspondent joins us on the phone from geneva. No one is getting as much done as they would like to. Why is it ok for the wto chief to step down because of that . Is that really his reason . Reporter hi vonnie. Thanks for your question. It is clear his heart is not really in it right now. He said the Organization Needs fresh blood and new energy to address the very substantive systemic issues created between the u. S. And china trade conflict. He has been leading the organization for seven years, and decides to step down a year early so that there would be sufficient time for wto numbers to pick his predecessor without conflicting with a major meeting schedule for next year. Say that thisht is something designed to not distract from the real work of the wto, but shortly this is more of a distraction, if anything. Suddenly, the wto is leaderless now. Thee you hit the nail on head. It creates more uncertainty at an organization that is already running off the rails, essentially. The Trump Administration has slowly and methodically broken down some of the most important ask basques important aspects of the organization, most critically, its ability to Settle International trade disputes. That has increased the likelihood for global trade wars and Economic Uncertainty that has only been compounded by the pandemic. Vonnie who might take over from him . Who would want this kind of job, given that the largest contributor to the wto doesnt even believe in it . Bryce it is early days. The director general Just Announced his decision only an hour ago. There are three candidates who have thrown their name in the ring. Aeres an ambassador, director general currently from nigeria, and a third trade official from egypt. I expected that in the coming days, their campaigns will ramp replaceey endeavor to edo nextto replace azev year. Vonnie is it clear that they will survive the next few years . It is clear that the u. S. Opposes any kind of wtf. Bryce there have been of wto. Bryce there have been quite a few obituaries written for the wto. Beyond hispersist tenure, it will be in a more limited fashion and less capable locationsing become of the International Trade world. Vonnie what is your best prognostication for what happens next . There are cases the wto was trying to consider. Oftentimes, the chief is the least important in these type of scenarios. A lot of the work gets done by the second and third tiers. But how much does this demean morale internally . Do a popularazeve chief . Will people be affected by his leaving . Bryce it is an important factor, but certainly the coronavirus is a more salient factor in the paralysis we are seeing at the wto. They literally cannot have facetoface meetings. If you told me six weeks ago that the organization would have and that its director general would step down , i would have been shocked. And most people are. It is hard to put it what will happen next. Vonnie you could read it, if you were so inclined as the director general saying, the time is done for this organization. It almost plays into President Trumps hands very well. Will these sort of cases go ahead and continue to get decide coronavirus, or is all the work now grinding to a halt . Bryce that really depends on the members of the wto themselves. The u. S. , china, europe, all with her tics deform ember states are the decisionmakers at the wto. The director general is not so much a president or a prime minister. He cant hold meetings that he can hold meetings and coordinate conversations, but the real negotiations at what happens at the wto Going Forward happens among Member States and governments. So if there is a will, you may be able to see change. If not, you are looking at paralysis. Vonnie please keep us abreast of what happens, and thank you for great reporting on roberto do stepping down early from the wto. We spoke with him very recently. That is Bryce Baschuk in geneva. Checking on the markets, we have seen improvement in the u. S. , but we are still down. The s p 500 down 0. 25 . The dow is actually unchanged on the session. Lets have a look to see what improved in the last few minutes. Cisco has been the best performer, still up 5. 7 . You are seeing the likes of disney and caterpillar turn positive as well. The vix at 35. This is bloomberg. Vonnie live from new york, im vonnie quinn. This is the european close on bloomberg markets. Germanys sees the pandemic peeking in the Second Quarter before things start to normalize in the third quarter, but the companys cfo says he isnt optimistic about a quick vaccine. We are not as optimistic regarding that we are quickly able to find a vaccine that we would be able to give to millions of people within the next couple of weeks or in the very close future. We will look for antivirals and antibodies, but Vaccine Development can take longer time and should also be dosed in a way that highrisk patients should come first, but we currently do not think that it makes a lot of sense to apply this to millions and millions of people. Vonnie they cfo there of germanys merck speaking earlier on bloomberg. It is time now for the latest Bloomberg Business flash. Is unacceptable that sanofi would give the u. S. Priority if it develops a coronavirus vaccine. The ceo told bloomberg the u. S. Would likely be first in line because the country was the first to fund sanofis research. Sanofi is partnering with gsk on a vaccine. We will have more on that story later today as well. Airbus is preparing for permanent job cuts. The company has warned labor unions in germany, france, and spain then it needs to rein in production. The number of cuts has not yet been decided. The coronavirus outbreak has killed demand for new planes. Hasllite Company Intelsat filed for bankruptcy protection. It needs the funds in order to prepare for an airwave auction. It may be able to collect almost 5 billion for giving up control of airways that can be used for the new 5g global services. That is your latest Bloomberg Business flash. Lets have a look at u. S. Markets now after that really horrific initial jobless claims data. We saw the 10 year treasury moved to send little b