Worse preventative measures. Has been the hardest hit of the region iran has been the hardest hit in the region. A postbrexit trade agreement were abruptly disrupted today when one European Union official involved in the talks tested positive for the coronavirus. Michelleief negotiator barnier said he would suspend talks with u. K. For a short period. The two sides are trying to reach an agreement by next week to allow time for a deal to be ratified before the end of the year. Global news 24 hours a day, onair, and on bloomberg quicktake, powered by more than 2700 journalists and analysts in over 120 countries. Im Mark Crumpton. This is bloomberg. Vonnie it is 1 00 p. M. In new york, 6 00 p. M. In london, and 2 00 a. M. In hong kong. Im vonnie quinn. Welcome to bloomberg markets. Here are the top stories we are following on the bloomberg and from around the world. Transition to the white house. Members of the president elects team are set to be contacting staff of the congressional appropriations committees, as President Trump continues to block efforts to build and administration. We will be talking to melody barnes, someone familiar with working in the white house. She was the director of president Obamas White House domestic policy council. We will ask her about the challenges. Withll also be speaking Brown Harris Stevens ceo Bess Freedman about how the real estate sector is faring as covid continues its way around the United States. Lets get a check on the markets. Its been pretty bifurcated between the dow and nasdaq. The dow down about 90 points. The nasdaq up. 4 . Some of the mega techs holding the nasdaq higher. 84 plus basis on the 10year yield, which is a little bit of a move today. After data show more people filed in a look initial jobless claims, a backwards move. Half of the highs for gold but we were heading toward the 1900 mark. Has aentelect joe biden lot to tackle when he heads to the white house in january from a stimulus impasse to certain covid cases, to a lack of acceptance of the results from the trump campaign. Joining us now is someone who played a previous role in a previous administration. Melody barnes was the former director of president Obamas White House domestic policy council. Thank you for joining. How disruptive is it to an Incoming Administration when it cannot carry out a typical transition . Melody good afternoon. Such a pleasure to be here with you. The answer to your question is extremely difficult. The period between an election and in inauguration is already very short. If you could imagine being the ceo of a company that is in the middle of a takeover, a merger, and then all of a sudden your time to do the necessary work, to do the Due Diligence is shrunk dramatically. That is in essence what is happening right now. The work of the Agency Review teams, National Security apparatus that needs to be in place for the president elect, Vice President elect, all of those things are now waiting and hanging on a thread because the gsa has not done what it is supposed to do because the current president will not acknowledge the fact that president elect biden is, in fact, president elect biden. By gsa, you mean the General Services administration, for clarity. We know that the last transition was chaotic, some people turned up, others didnt, but it seems like this time it is even more imperative that there is somebody on the ground ready to run in january because we have a pandemic ranging. Melody first and foremost, the pandemic, which is a healthcare crisis that continues to surge and grow even more dangerous because we dont have a hand on the killer right now. Have greatw that we reports about a vaccine, but there is Vaccine Distribution that has to take place, and the coordination that needs to take place, and the information that the Incoming Administration needs to have. Those kinds of meetings absolutely have to take lace. In addition to the pandemic being a healthcare crisis, it has also led to an economic crisis. We need to talk about aid, focus on the policy that has to take place so that we can start to support the economy, states, localities that need federal aid so that small businesses, larger businesses, the airlines, which recently asked for additional support, as well as frontline workers and others, get the kind of support they need. There are a host of issues related to covid19 and the pandemic that are front and center. In addition to that, there are a host of other issues. The Affordable Care act was just in front of the Supreme Court for argument. Many of us believe it will not be struck down, but in addition to thinking about what needs to happen to strengthen health care, plans need to be made in case the Supreme Court takes a different course. Whyie tell us president elect biden cannot just do everything he would have offices, transition from the transition area, even without approval from the Current Administration . To,t he hire that he wants nominate people, put virus plans together . Melody that is a great question. The transition period has, over time, become more and more structured. Most recently, legislation passed to govern this period. That is very important. What the acceptance of the 2020 election would mean is that office space would be made available to the bidenharris transition team, that resources would begin to flow to the transition team, the Agency Review teams that go into all of the departments and agencies and assess personnel, litigation, regulation, policy issues, that they could begin to do their work in earnest. It would also mean that i. T. Support and other kinds of support would be offered to the biden harris transition team. All of those things right now are frozen because the General Services administration, and the administrator there, will not sign the certification necessary to allow that to work. So while president elect biden is able to announce his White House Team while he is able to determine who wants to serve in his cabinet, while he is appointed a covid19 task force, and i know they are doing policy work internally, they dont have access to all the information they need. Towe heard recently prior this show, they are doing workarounds to try and gather that information. That is ridiculous. Given the size of our economy, the importance of this country, the fact that we are doing this with bailing twine and glue, when there is a proper way for this to happen, just doesnt make sense. It is not good for the american people, nor is it good for democracy. Vonnie as you wrote in an editorial, we dont get these days back. A very clear sentence saying we have to get things moving. Meantime, the Trump Administration is continuing to push forward with a fiscal 2022 bite budget package. Maybe delusion or the idea that potentially he will be there for a second term. This is chaotic. Business administration, groups have been calling for this to get rectified. The chamber of commerce, the National Association of manufacturers have said, get your act together. Is it helpful to business that we are in a time of business, because business is suffering so much anyway, the negative impact of this chaos is not fully reaching business . Imagine there is no way businesses of all sizes are not feeling the impact, both of the covid19 pandemic, as well as the lack of certainty that surrounds this transition of power. What Business Needs is greater certainty. Of thet that the rest world is watching the United States of america struggle to make an obvious transition from one administration to the next, something that we have done time and time again, is problematic. I know from the corporations, businesses that i deal with, this is an additional problem on top of the challenges they are already facing. Vonnie melody, thank you so much. We will hear from you soon. Barnes, the former director of president Obamas White House domestic policy council. This is bloomberg. Mberg. Vonnie this is bloomberg markets. Im vonnie quinn. New york city announcing its Public School system will close again today as it reached for 3 Positivity Rate that trigger the halt of in person classes for at least two weeks. City schools has been open for just under eight weeks. Joining us now is our opinion columnist. Little bit of differing opinions surrounding this. Citywide thought a 3 triggering point should close all schools. The governor perhaps not so clear, maybe deciding it would schoolsr if hotspot were evaluated differently. Does it matter if it is a school . Hat is two miles away should all schools be closed . It is a tricky question. Policyone hand, reactive to respond to the rising case numbers is exactly what you want to see in a broad sense. If we had that consistently applied across the u. S. , i think we would be in a lot less trouble. But when it comes to where you direct the policy, what you close, that is where i think there is more of a question. Schoolsinion, i think should probably be one of the last things that you close. Other potential sources of spread, james, Indoor Dining, large gatherings, those should be your focus before moving to schools. It is not just about Public Health but the longterm impact on kids, one that is unequally distributed because kids have less access to remote capability. That is where i would have the most trouble with the policy. Vonnie the mayor says it is a matter of time before Indoor Dining shuts. He said it may be the next week or two. Meantime, we got numbers from the governor showing that cases rose in line with the average. We also got guidance from the cdc saying that we should not be traveling for thanksgiving. Much worse does this get . Max there is already a very concerning case trajectory on a National Basis with some larger states like new york, california, texas all beginning to see upticks that will to scaryly get us hospitalizations. The thanksgiving holiday is a real area of concern. Buthave that cdc guidance, to what extent will people follow it . The current case surge is a pretty clear demonstration that Public Health guidance is not being consistently followed. Whether that is pandemic fatigue, the extent to which caution about the virus has unfortunately been politicized, policies ins lax individual states, it is the wrong place that you want to be heading into a holiday where people may still gather, and colder weather, where it is generally harder to do anything safely. In new york city, if there were to be a surge, could hospitals take the influx . Max what we are seeing is modest so far. 3 is the test positive that most of the country would envy, but it is still moving in the wrong direction. You want to take the steps you can to avert that while also limiting the harm to education and the economy. Vonnie max, thank you. Bether piece of advice would to follow his columns closely. The Real Estate Market is still struggling in cities like new york. We speak to Bess Freedman, next. This is bloomberg. Vonnie im vonnie quinn. Im amanda lang in toronto. It has been choppy among reits and investors with news coming thick and fast. Where exactly are we in the discussion on the return to city living . Joining me now is the ceo of Brown Harris StevensBess Freedman. Of citys an out flux inhabitants early on in the pandemic. Where are we now . Bess we are in a much better place. The big picture of real estate has been remarkable considering all the challenges we face in the economy. The weeks leading up to the election were a little bit slow, but now that we have results and there is less uncertainty, we have seen a lot more people volume. The market is doing considerably well. On monday, there were 22 contracts reported signed over 4 million last week, which is prepandemic levels. So we are very happy about that. Vonnie prepandemic levels in terms of the numbers. What was the covid discount generally . A very complicated question to answer. It was a mixed bag. We saw a lot of things signed close to the asking price, but there is a variety. It is a buyers market, we know that, but sellers are negotiating, there is good supply, rates are low. People are taking advantage of the opportunity to buy things right now. People are doubling down on new york city. It is not a ghost town, its a place people want to be. Vonnie what is your proof for that exactly . I dont need to be funny, im genuinely asking. People say i love new york city, but if its institutions cannot come back, if the opera, music, everything that makes it new york doesnt come back, what is your proof . Issue facinggest new york city was the pandemic. It is still an issue. As we know, new York City Schools closed yesterday. All of that is temporary. At some point, broadway, everything will come back. There is news of two potential vaccines that they should be able to distribute in the first or Second Quarter of 2021. Morale is up, people are feeling more confident. Hopefully, we will get some aid in new york city to help us with the mta and other things. The city is bustling, people are eating out. We see it in the numbers. We do face some headwinds, i cannot deny that, but people love this city and want to be here. Other said that, our regions have done extraordinarily well, like palm beach, miami, the hamptons, connecticut. Some people have moved, but there are people who are staying here and investing in new york city. Vonnie where are the places that you are most thrilled about when it comes to more properties being sold, at higher prices, higher commissions . Say, not alls square feet are created equally, but we are seeing Good Business downtown. Uptown, there was a large penthouse that was signed last week for 35 million. We are seeing movement all over the market and in brooklyn. There is a variety. I wish i had more specific answers for you but it is very complicated because every area is different. Vonnie i meant cities you mentioned a few cities. Bess palm beach is up roughly 200 from last year. Connecticut, the numbers are incredible. The hamptons. New jersey. Those markets are performing incredibly well. We have been happy about that. Vonnie roughly how long is it taking for your clients to decide that they will cut the price further in order to sell . How long are they willing to carry the cost . Bess again, that is a tough answer to question to answer. It depends. You have to look at the motivation of the seller. Maybe they are moving or going through a divorce. They will be motivated to price accordingly. It is not a time for aspirational pricing, in any sense. It depends on the motive of the seller. We are seeing sellers be much more reasonable. So that has been a good thing for us. Vonnie unlike other times in it is notrkets, where typical for rents to go done as much as sales prices, but rents have also plummeted. What is convincing people to buy when you can rent for a lot cheaper generally . Bess you are right, we have a lot of supply for rentals, but landlords are offering two or three months for free, which is helpful. During the pandemic, a lot of people thought about their space , decided they wanted something different. You are seeing people move here from other places, who want to be a part of the city. People do believe in new york city. It has been a challenge but we are seeing the transactions. Vonnie how much are people andng to avoid the broker go to straight cash deals . Can you give us any data on that . Littleew york city is a different because the majority of the Housing Stock are cooperatives. You need someone to guide you. Typically there is representation. You need someone to guide you and help you getting through these boards. You have to paint a financial portrait of who you are, social references, and our agents can help buyers and sellers through the process. It is not just something that you can show up and do on your own. You have to have guidance, trust someone who can lead you through that. I dont see the broker going away anytime soon. Vonnie thank you very much. That is Brown Harris Stevens ceo Bess Freedman. The u. K. And canada there a trade deal. We will hear Prime MinisterJustin Trudeaus thoughts on it. This is bloomberg. [ sigh ] not gonna happen. Thats it. Im calling kohler about their walkin bath. My name is ken. How may i help you . Hi, im calling about kohlers walkin bath. Excellent happy to help. Huh . Hold one moment please. [ finger snaps ] hmm. The kohler walkinbath features an extrawide opening and a low stepin at three inches, which is 25 to 60 lower than some leading competitors. The bath fills and drains quickly, while the heated seat soothes your back, neck and shoulders. Kohler is an expert in bathing, so you can count on a deep soaking experience. Are you seeing this . The kohler walkinbath comes with fully adjustable hydrotherapy jets and our exclusive bubblemassage. Everything is installed in as little as a day by a kohlercertified installer. And its made by kohler americas leading plumbing brand. We need this bath. Yes. Yes you do. A kohler walkinbath provides independence with peace of mind. Mark im Mark Crumpton with bloomberg first word news. President elect joe