News het trump told nbc would have fired james comey even without recommendations from the justice department. Is the u. S. On the right rate path . The market seems confident, but will consumers support the case . Theill ask Charles Evans of chicago fed in an exclusive interview. To the program, everybody. We are less than half an hour to the european open. Let us have a look at what is happening on european futures market. We will be a little bit starter at the start of trade. The ftse 100 could be a bit of a laggard this morning. M a this morning and france. A little bit of oxide coming upside coming in from the cac and the dax. Gmm function, in better perspective. We are standard deviations away from standard moves. We have the Chinese Market up by. 6 . It dropped off the far left hand of your screen. That was a standout performer because as you can see from the index picture, which features a some of the asian equity session, the australian market, for example, the general move was down. Negative riskoff session and a slight move higher in gold. As i said, china in that trend of moving higher this morning. Let us get the bloomberg first word news. Here is Juliette Saly. Juliette thank you. In the u. S. , President Trump has described former fbi director james comey as a grand stander. His remarks departed from explanations given by several white house officials earlier in the week. He told nbc that the fbi has been in turmoil for months and comey was not the right person to help it recover. Pres. Trump what i did was i was going to fire comey. My decision. You had made the decision before t they cam room . Juliette the u. S. Has reached an agreement to provide greater access to American Natural Gas exporters to china as part of a broader effort to begin reshaping the trade relationship between the worlds two largest economy through the agreement covers 10 areas where trade negotiators from the u. S. And china have reached consensus, including agricultural trade and Market Access for Financial Services to we will speaking with u. S. Commerce secretary wilbur ross about that gilad 30 p. M. U. K. Time. Is preparing to cement ties with President Donald Trump by committing to unprecedented investment in the u. S. According to people familiar with the matter, a plan to spend as much as 40 billion on u. S. Infrastructure may be announced next week when trump visits saudi arabia. An official confirmed the plans are in the works. A representative for the Public Investment fund declined to comment. Electionk. General Campaign Takes shape, the opposing parties are taking increasingly barbed swipes at one another. The conservatives are warning working voters at the labour party has deserted them and Jeremy Corbyn is to launch an attack on mays foreign policy. Another politician have called for a different approach to the election. The tone of this election must change. It is time to regain the people of wales, of the whole united kingdom, some hope. Who is to say that britain must now struggle under the yoke of a oneparty state that by theresa may . News, 24 hoursl a day, powered by more than 2600 journalists and analysts in more than 120 countries. This is bloomberg. Anna . Manus thank you very much anna thank you very much, juliette. Matt miller is on location in italy for the g7 meeting, and he found his way back to the camera. He has been off in search of news. What have we found out so far . Talkinghave just been with the italian finance minister and he tells me hes very happy that they are going to include the statement on inclusive growth that they included in g20. It is code for trade. It is not on the track of the finance ministers, although normally they would discuss it because it is related to economics. They do not discuss it officially now and at the badenbaden. They want to include the u. S. As much as they can. Steve mnuchin is just about to arrive, so they do not want to start any kind of wars of words as far as trade is concerned. Arrivals ongoing. You are with us for the program of course. Let us have a conversation about what has been happening in the united date. Sales at macys have fallen the 2008 at contagion spreads across the retail sector. They will look at u. S. Sales to get the overall strength. Figures will be closely watched. Joining us now is mark cudmore, bloomberg mliv macro strategist. Good morning to you. Good afternoon. Atherhe u. S. Economy we higher Interest Rates when we see concerned about the consumer coming back to the fore. Mark i definitely think it cannot the moment. A shortterm rise will not have too much of a detrimental impact. Monetary conditions in the u. S. Accommodative still. A small hike is definitely what we can cope with. Whether we can cope with a sustained hiking cycle is another matter. It should be assumed the june height will go ahead and we will need a serious downturn in data to really derail that. Inflation data will be watched today. No one should be pricing out june anytime soon. Yellen isatt janet here. We saw her come out of the hotel last night. It will be interesting to see if she sits with steve mnuchin, and how those two get along. Do you expect the imagination to have any influence on said policy . I know they got guard their independence usually. Mark obviously, they are not meant to have any influence. I think that will be the official line. When of the big things that is adjusting thing about this last year was that trump was quite critical of janet yellen on the campaign trail, but that was more a political ploy. Always said he wants low Interest Rates, even before he came to power. He has always been a fan of ebt, and hefan of d has come out since then saying he wants a weaker dollar. Even if janet yellen does not continue on, they will probably go for someone who tends to be dovish in favor of lower rates, because it fits with the trump policy. Chart onulled up this the bloomberg. U. S. Households not expected to ramp up purchases. Consumers are tightening their belts in the united states. To what extent is this seen as something that detracts from a Strong Equity picture . I spoke to an investor earlier on and he was bullish about stopped earlier on, saying the u. S. Private sector is doing well. There are reasons to invest. Should this concern about the consumer detracts from decent profits in the u. S. . Mark i think there is to bring things here. The concern about the consumers should be genuine. The consumer is what drives the u. S. Economy, and it is very important. When you get indicator showing a clear downturn, you have to worry. Many other measures in the u. S. Are pointing towards a relatively healthy picture. The point is, there is abundant liquidity, access chasing limited returns. Stillrporate sectors are very healthy. There are some other measures of the consumer that look relatively ok. The Employment Situation in the u. S. Is looking ok. Housing situation is looking ok. You do wonder whether some of the old measures of Consumer Behavior are slightly outdated. Are they fully capturing all the transactions happening over the internet . In the new economy, etc. . As we move towards a services economy, the transactions online, are we really capturing those measures correctly . Overall, the u. S. Economy seems to be relatively healthy, and therefore watch these consumer indicators pointing to a downturn, but do not panic. Anna keep calm, do not panic. Mark cudmore, bloomberg and live macrostrategist mliv strategist. You can follow the conversations with the mliv team. Type mliv. Ground atr is on the the g7. Thee are live pictures of great and good at the finance industry. Mario draghi arriving at this financeing, gathering ministers and central bankers. Christine the bar is there. Rch moscovici is there Christine Lagarde is there, ise masa vinci is there. There is more Common Ground on greece. We will speak to the Federal Reserve bank of chicago president at 3 30 p. M. U. K. Time. We have you commissioner pierres take on the election. The opening 20 minutes away. 20 minutes until the start of cash trading on european equities. This is bloomberg. Matt welcome back to the show. I am in italy right now. The g7 finance ministers meeting. We have seen the kuroda delegation arrived. Wolfgang schaeuble has just gone into the castle where the finance ministers as well as their Central Bank Heads will meet. We spoke with italian finance earlier. Potte we have seen Serge Moscovici earlier as well as Christine Lagarde. A lot going on in italy. Let us find out what is happening in the rest of the world. We go to Juliette Saly. Juliette thank you. Forecast boosted its after it improved its operating performance and agreed to sell a brazilian steel plant. The company said interest excluding onetime items will be 1. 8 billion euros in the fiscal year through september. Germanys biggest dealmaker has made a broad array of changes in an effort to transform it into a diversified industrial group. Online Services ProviderUnited Internet has agreed to take control of to 72l boost its stake point 7 in a multi step deal. The deal comes as it seeks to better compete with larger rivals Deutsche Telekom and vodafone. The Company Plans to take over and french Advertising Company in 3. 9 billion euro deal , orchestrated by a billionaire, who control both businesses. The company has offered to 20. Illion euros, the combination will unite the media empires with marketing and advertising assets. Jumped in netmarble trade as investors pursuing a highgrowth alternative to traditional industry. It is the biggest debut in seven years. The company has a market value of about 12. 4 billion, surpassing another electronic company. Netmarble is a rare entrepreneur oil success entrepreneurial success. Barclays Ceo Jes Staley has responded to emails of an imposter. According to the Financial Times, they criticized the berkeley shareholder who thought to out daily at the general meeting on wednesday. With praise,nded citing his great and comparing his fearlessness to that of aircraft in of eric clapton. Anna. Anna the skills of bankers. Thank you very much for that. The u. S. Has reached an agreement with china that will give china greater access to u. S. Natural gas exports. Commerce secretary wilbur ross said the deal is part of a broader effort to begin the trade relationship between the two countries. 28 heads of state, including russian president putin, are gathering in beijing or a summit on reviving old trade links. The one belt, one road third ofe covers one global gdp. Credit suisse says china could pump 500 billion into the scheme, but in the reality match chinas lofty ambitions . Tom mackenzie is in beijing. Tom, what does china need to do then to make this incredibly ambitious plan a success . Anna, it is an incredibly ambitious plan. I should point out i am in front of the bird that stadium built for the olympics in 2008. An example of chinas building prowess. All these leaders will be meeting over the next few days. China really needs, in terms of momentum and pushing the forward, to convince leaders around the stadium that this is not just about carving out political influence. A sphere of influence and beyond. It is not just about the economics. It is about opening up new markets, not just for china, but for other players. There are jubilant of all concerns mounting up around countries like india, that is concerned about chinas work with pakistan and ha contested regions like cashmere. They are worried about pulling oil into china. There are examples to date, because it was launched in 2013, where some of these projects have gone awry, for example in myanmar, protests against the dam, and sri lanka, protests along environmental lines. In asia alone, 1. 7 trillion needed every year according to the Asian Development bank, between now and 2030, so the need is there. It is how china implements it. The other question is the financing. They have their state lenders involved. There is a big need for them to get private investors involved because of the gap between the Public Investment and the private investment. Mckenzie saying that is crucial. Expecting to get more details on that over the next few days in beijing. About thistalk to us u. S. China trade deal. I am in party, in bari, italy. How significant is the chinau. S. Trade deal that you are talking about, hearing about, looking at there . So the commerce secretary in the u. S. , wilbur ross, heralded this as a herculean efforts after this hundred days since the presidency, President Trump meeting in maralago, florida. I would say there are caveats to this. We have movement on things like beef, cooked poultry from china to the u. S. , beef from the u. S. Into china, the liquefied and natural gas from the u. S. Into china, and the finance side of things. Visa,nt, the set, amex, amex, mastercard. China does not give away things for free. It does not give away concessions easily. Many of these things may well have been in the works for a while. Wto had ruled against china in terms of financial payments, so they would have have to have made those moves in terms of allowing greater access. The beef imports were banned in 2003 as a result of a mad cow disease scare, so there was time about whether that was going to come on board anyway. That is a huge market for the beef industry. Energy makes is interesting because if china can get their hands on this gas, that means they can diversify their energy mix. It looks like americas consumers are maybe getting a bite of some cooked poultry from china, maybe a bite of chicken nuggets, which may not be tear taste depending on where you stand on things. A debate here on the European Market bloombergs Tom Mackenzie joining us appropriately from in front of what was the birds nest stadium in beijing. Matt, very good time to be talking trade with the u. S. Administration given all of that news flow. Matt that is right. A lot of people wonder why the trade discussions are not on the focus here at the finance track of the g7 or the g20 meetings. The reason is of course that most countries have separate trade ministers. Our secretary of commerce, wilbur ross, is that man. Bloomberg television will be speaking with him in a few hours at 1 30 p. M. U. K. Time on the america. Aybreak that is something you will want to tune in for. I am here in bari, in italy, and sticking with that subject, i spoke with the e. U. Commissioner, p or moscovici pierre. What does that mean for europe . Good news for the e. U. , we have a president who would have been not only far right, not only beautiful but, but also somebody enter european, in favor of frexit, france exiting europe as a whole, and especially the eurozone. The eurozone would have been damaged if not destroyed by that result, and the french massively said no to your of skepticism, young frenchave a president who is a dedicated proeuropean, and who would be a driving force for proposals in the e. U. And to strengthen, to and monetaryropean union. I welcome that. The Commission Welcomes that as well. Function, butin he would be fully president next sunday, and he will meet lets merkel. He will be in close contact with the commission, and work with staff. I would think we have one more a veryor europe and strong asset, because france is a core country, but there is still a lot of work to be done ,n order to reach what i expect a deepened economic and monetary union. I am just like macron, in favor of a finance minister for europe. I am in favor of these capacity for europe in order to advance our investment capacity and capacity to also fight unemployment. I am in favor of parliament for the eurozone. I think that the time has come one of thele with weaknesses of the eurozone, which is divergent views between divergencies. As well as risk sharing and the issues together that the french president is obviously a strong asset for the e. U. And all of us should welcome him as such. When he is in office matt in the next election, Martin Schulz is obviously very proeurope, in favor of deepening those financial ties, strengthening the European Union. Do you think you would be a good step for germany and europe . I am a frenchman, commissioner. I am not involved in other countrys politics. I am also a social democrat. The energyappreciate of Martin Schulz, but also i am somebody who has worked a lot with medical. Pierre i admire with angela merkel. I admire pragmatism. Whoever is the next german chancellor will be a strong leader, a dedicated poster p. M. , and proeuropean. The elections in germany are not a major worry. I see that the extreme right is in disarray, and well, let the best win. Matt i spoke with commissioner moscovici about greece. He was optimistic we would get a deal at the may 22 Euro Group Meeting. That will be what ministers discuss a lot on the sidelines of this g7 meeting in bari. Anna that is going to be something that gets discussed. Let us talk about the stocks that are going to be on the move today. We are minutes away from the start of European Equity trading. Keep an eye on vivendi. Either companies we are watching closely today. The event a . 2 billion from the french Advertising Firm. Assets put together by we will see what kind of reception that gets from investors. We have seen some very aggressive calls around havas this morning, between 7 and 10 . Also keep an eye on the steel sector. Cfo earlier on, asking if they are concerned about debt