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On today's podcast:
1) Stocks are marking a second straight day of restrained moves as traders await the Fed’s outlook for interest rates in 2026 after an expected cut at Wednesday’s policy announcement.
2) President Donald Trump said people were “starting to learn” the benefits of his tariff regime as he sought to convince voters his administration was moving to address affordability concerns, taking to the road in hopes of countering a mounting political vulnerability.
3) Paramount Skydance Corp. and Netflix Inc. — the entertainment heavyweights locked in a bidding war for Warner Bros. Discovery Inc. — are girding for a battle they predict will stretch well into 2026.
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On today's podcast:
1) The US president’s son-in-law. One of the largest alternative-asset managers. The CEO’s father who fleetingly commanded a fortune exceeding Elon Musk’s. Paramount Skydance Corp.’s hostile takeover bid Monday for Warner Bros. Discovery Inc. brought together an array of banks, billionaires and sovereign-wealth funds, all with the aim of torpedoing Netflix Inc.’s deal last week.
2) President Donald Trump granted Nvidia Corp. permission to ship its H200 artificial intelligence chip to China in exchange for a 25% surcharge, a move that lets the world’s most valuable company potentially regain billions of dollars in lost business from a key global market.
3) Stocks wavered and US bond yields softened from a two-month high as traders held off on making big bets ahead of the Federal Reserve’s final interest-rate decision of 2025. S&P 500 futures were little changed after the US benchmark halted a four-day rally. A dayslong slump in US Treasuries has curbed risk appetite as traders grow cautious about the pace of rate cuts beyond Wednesday’s policy meeting.
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On today's podcast:
1) President Donald Trump raised potential antitrust concerns around Netflix Inc.’s planned $72 billion acquisition of Warner Bros. Discovery Inc., noting that the market share of the combined entity may pose problems.
2) The Trump administration on Monday plans to unveil a long-awaited farm aid package, according to a White House official, offering $12 billion in assistance to a key base of support hit hard by low crop prices and the impact of the president’s tariff policies.
3) Yardeni Research now recommends effectively going underweight the Magnificent Seven megacap technology stocks versus the rest of the S&P 500, expecting a shift in earnings growth ahead.
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Bloomberg Daybreak Weekend with Host Nathan Hager take a look at some of the stories we'll be tracking in the coming week.
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On today's podcast:
1) Warner Bros. Discovery Inc. has entered exclusive negotiations to sell its film and TV studios and HBO Max streaming service to Netflix Inc., according to people familiar with the discussions. Netflix is offering a $5 billion breakup fee if regulators don’t approve the deal, said the people, who asked to not be identified because the discussions are private. The two companies could announce a deal as soon as in the coming days, assuming talks don’t fall apart, the people said. The move suggests Netflix has pulled ahead of Paramount Skydance Corp. and Comcast Corp., who were also competing for the asset. Prior to the closing of the sale, Warner Bros. — valued at more than $60 billion overall — will complete the planned spinoff of cable channels including CNN, TBS and TNT.
2) The US lobbied several countries in the European Union in an effort to block EU plans to use frozen Russian central bank assets to back a massive loan to Ukraine, according to European diplomats familiar with the matter. US officials argued to member states that the assets are needed to help secure a peace deal between Kyiv and Moscow and should not be used to prolong the war, said the diplomats, who spoke on the condition of anonymity.
3) India will pay about $2 billion to lease a nuclear-powered submarine from Russia, according to people familiar with the matter, finalizing delivery of the vessel after roughly a decade of talks just as President Vladimir Putin makes a visit to New Delhi. Talks for leasing the attack submarine from Russia had stalled over the years because of price negotiations, the people said, asking not to be identified because the discussions are private. The two sides have now agreed on the deal, with Indian officials visiting a Russian shipyard in November.
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On today's podcast:
1) Kevin Hassett may not have the ability to deliver the rapid pace of interest rate cuts President Trump would like, even if he is approved as the next Federal Reserve Chair, said Gregory Peters, co-chief investment officer at PGIM Fixed Income. Peters made the remarks amid rising talk that Hassett, the White House National Economic Council Director, may ease monetary policy aggressively to please Trump if he is picked to run the Fed. But the PGIM fund manager suggested that — since Fed rate decisions are ultimately decided by committee — Hassett won’t have the power to deliver on his own. Peters’ remarks were in response to a Financial Times report that bond investors, including those on the borrowing advisory committee, have voiced concerns to the US Treasury about Hassett’s potential appointment as the Fed chief.
2) President Trump’s aides and allies are discussing the possibility of making Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent the top White House economic adviser — in addition to his current job — should the president pick Kevin Hassett as the next chair of the Federal Reserve, according to people familiar with the matter. Tapping Bessent to lead the White House’s National Economic Council would allow him to consolidate oversight of Trump’s economic policies if Hassett — the current NEC director — becomes the next leader of the US central bank, an announcement Trump has hinted at in recent days. If Bessent is also named to the NEC, he would become the chief arbiter of the administration’s economic portfolio spanning the purview of both the Treasury Department and White House. It would also give Bessent a West Wing office, granting him even more physical proximity to the president.
3) The Pentagon watchdog concluded that Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth risked endangering American troops and the US mission against Houthi rebels in Yemen when he shared attack plans on the Signal messaging app, a person familiar with the matter said. The acting Pentagon inspector general’s classified report, delivered to a Senate committee yesterday, said Hegseth violated government policies by using his personal phone and Signal to transmit the information, which was marked “Secret.” The person describing the contents of the report asked not to be identified discussing private information.
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On today's podcast:
1) The Kremlin said Vladimir Putin held “very useful” talks with US envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner though the sides failed to reach agreement on a plan to end Russia’s war in Ukraine. The negotiations lasting almost five hours were “constructive and very informative,” though “a compromise hasn’t been reached yet” on the critical issue of territorial control, Kremlin foreign policy aide Yuri Ushakov told reporters in Moscow. A possible meeting between Putin and President Trump “will depend on what progress is being made,” Ushakov added.
2) Republicans averted an upset in a Tennessee-based US House race Tuesday, a relief to President Trump and his congressional allies. Matt Van Epps, the Trump-backed Republican candidate, was projected to win by the AP, NBC News and Decision Desk HQ, an election analysis website. Trump praised the GOP victory in a social media post and Van Epps declared victory. Yet even in victory, voters in a district Trump won overwhelmingly just over a year ago swung away from Republicans, the latest data point in a trend that is raising alarm about the GOP’s prospects in next year’s midterm elections, as Van Epps’ victory came about only after Republicans surged resources and expended political capital in a strident GOP district that would typically be considered safe.
3) President Trump said he plans to announce his selection to lead the Federal Reserve in early 2026 and teased National Economic Council Director Kevin Hassett as his possible choice on Tuesday, fueling further speculation about the next leader of the US central bank. Hassett is seen as the likely choice to succeed Powell, people familiar with the matter told Bloomberg News last week, and Trump nodded to that position at a separate event shortly after the Cabinet meeting on Tuesday. Trump’s comments offer a clearer timeline for the announcement. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, who has been overseeing the selection process, previously said the pick could be revealed around Christmas.
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On today's podcast:
1) US envoy Steve Witkoff is traveling to Moscow to meet with President Vladimir Putin, who claimed a key Ukrainian city had fallen to Russia on the eve of talks about a potential peace plan to end his war. Putin said Russian troops had taken the city of Pokrovsk in Ukraine’s eastern Donetsk region in a video announcement posted late Monday by the Kremlin, an advance that would be Russia’s most significant on the battlefield in nearly two years. Ukraine’s Military Staff spokesman Bohdan Senyk denied its forces had lost the city in a message early Tuesday. Bloomberg isn’t able to independently verify the claims of either side. Witkoff is due to hold talks with Putin on Tuesday on the latest proposals for ending Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine following negotiations between US and Ukrainian officials in Florida. Amid fears in Europe that the plan risks rewarding Russian aggression by forcing Kyiv into a deal, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said the latest version “looks better” during a visit to Paris on Monday to meet with French counterpart Emmanuel Macron.
2) The White House defended the Pentagon’s handling of a September attack on an alleged drug-running boat and denied that Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth had given an order to kill everyone on the vessel, rebutting a report that had led to allegations of possible war crimes. White House spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt confirmed there were two strikes on the vessel in the Sept. 2 attack but stressed the actions were lawful amid a deadly domestic opioid crisis in the US. The comments signaled Trump continues to support Hegseth, who came under fresh scrutiny after the Washington Post reported Friday that he ordered the attack and demanded that those strikes kill everyone on board. That report led to accusations that the US military was committing war crimes in the waters off the coast of South America.
3) Almost $1 billion of leveraged crypto positions were liquidated during another sharp drop in prices on Monday that brought fresh momentum to a wide-ranging selloff. Bitcoin slid as much as 8% to $83,824 in New York, bringing its decline since early October to almost 30%. Ether dropped as much as 10% to as low as $2,719, and is down 36% over the past seven weeks. The market downturn has been even tougher on smaller, less liquid tokens that traders often gravitate toward because of their higher volatility and typical outperformance during rallies. A MarketVector index tracking the bottom half of the largest 100 digital assets is down almost 70% this year. The crypto market is on shaky ground after a weeks-long selloff that began when some $19 billion in levered bets were wiped out in early October as President Trump whipsawed markets with threats of higher tariffs, data compiled by tracker Coinglass show. That was just days after Bitcoin set an all-time high of $126,251.
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On today's podcast:
1) US and Ukrainian negotiators said they had productive discussions about a framework for a peace deal, but there was no final breakthrough as President Trump continues to push for a truce with Russia. “There’s more work to be done,” Secretary of State Marco Rubio told reporters in Florida after meeting for at least four hours with Ukrainian officials led by National Security and Defense Council Secretary Rustem Umerov. “This is delicate. It’s complicated.” The meeting, which took place in Hallandale Beach, Florida, with US special envoy Steve Witkoff and Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner also in attendance, was likely the last chance for Ukraine’s negotiators to sway Witkoff before he leads a US delegation for talks in Russia this week. The two sides discussed potential parameters for a ceasefire as they pored over a 19-point proposal that emerged in Geneva last week — as well as the status of the Russian-occupied Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant, the biggest in Europe, according to people familiar with the discussions.
2) US authorities believe the man suspected of fatally shooting a National Guard member and seriously wounding another in Washington, DC, was radicalized while in the US, Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said. Asked on NBC’s Meet the Press about the suspect’s motive, Noem said investigators are still collecting information and talking to his contacts. Federal authorities have identified the suspect as Rahmanullah Lakanwal, 29, an Afghan national who worked with US forces and the CIA in Afghanistan before arriving in the US in 2021. He was subdued and taken into custody shortly after the shooting on a street a few blocks from the White House on Wednesday.
3) President Trump said Sunday he has decided on his pick for the next Federal Reserve chair after making clear he expects his nominee to deliver interest-rate cuts. Trump has frequently excoriated current Fed chief Jerome Powell for failing to lower rates swiftly and signaled he wants a chair who will more forcefully pursue cuts. People familiar with the matter told Bloomberg News last week that White House National Economic Council Director Kevin Hassett, Trump’s chief economic adviser, is seen as the likely choice to succeed Powell.
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Bloomberg Daybreak Weekend with Host Nathan Hager take a look at some of the stories we'll be tracking in the coming week.
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
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