Speaker 1: Bloomberg Audio Studios, Podcasts, Radio News.
Speaker 2: Good morning, I'm Nathan Hager and I'm Karen Moscow. Here
Speaker 2: are the stories we're following today.
Speaker 3: Karen, we begin with an escalation in the feud between
Speaker 3: President Donald Trump and FED Chair j Powell. This time
Speaker 3: the Justice Department is involved. Bloomberg's John Tucker joins us
Speaker 3: with the very latest, John and Nathan.
Speaker 4: Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Pal s as the US Central
Speaker 4: Bank has been served grand jury subpoenas from the Justice Department,
Speaker 4: threatening a criminal indictment. Pal made the announcement in an
Speaker 4: extraordinary video statement released last night.
Speaker 5: This unprecedented action should be seen in the broader context
Speaker 5: of the administration's threats and ongoing pressure.
Speaker 4: The Trump administration last summer ramped up scrutiny at the
Speaker 4: feds renovation of two buildings and rising costs associated with
Speaker 4: the projects. But Powell says this is just pretext to
Speaker 4: end FED independence.
Speaker 5: The threat of criminal charges is a consequence of the
Speaker 5: Federal Reserve setting interest rates based on our best assessment
Speaker 5: of what will serve the public, rather than following the
Speaker 5: preferences of the President.
Speaker 4: In an interview with NBC News on Sunday, President Trump
Speaker 4: denied having any knowledge of the DOJ's investigation into the
Speaker 4: Central Bank. The President has repeatedly called for aggressive rate
Speaker 4: cuts and has repeatedly mused about firing Pale. At the
Speaker 4: end of last year, Trump said he was considering what
Speaker 4: he called a gross incompetence lawsuit against Powell. In another
Speaker 4: extraordinary staff he sought to fire FED Governor Lisa Cook,
Speaker 4: where the Supreme Court is sent to take up the
Speaker 4: Cook case later this month in New York, Coome John
Speaker 4: Tucker Bloomberg.
Speaker 2: Radio, All right, John, thank you well. Bloomberg News has
Speaker 2: learned Federal Housing Finance Agency Director Bill Poulte was a
Speaker 2: driving force behind the Trump administration's decision to subpoena the
Speaker 2: Federal Reserve Balty has been a vocal force within the
Speaker 2: administration investigating Trump's foes for mortgage fraud. He also submitted
Speaker 2: a criminal referral to the Jay about FED Governor Lisa
Speaker 2: Cook that is at the root of Trump's push to
Speaker 2: fire her. The latest FED subpoena has drawn criticism from
Speaker 2: Democrats like Massachusetts Senator Elizabeth Warren and Republican Senator Tom
Speaker 2: Tillis of North Carolina. Tillis says he will oppose the
Speaker 2: confirmation of any nominee for the FED until the legal
Speaker 2: matter is fully resolved on Nathan Cel. America's sentiment is
Speaker 2: sweeping through markets today after the Trump administration escalated its
Speaker 2: attacks on the federal reserve. The dollar, treasuries, and US
Speaker 2: equity futures are all sliding in early trading. The selloff
Speaker 2: revives debate over just how far the President Kennon should
Speaker 2: influence the nation's rate stance, which in recent decades has
Speaker 2: been insulated from political interference so as to ensure price stability.
Speaker 2: Gold and silver, in turn, are trading at record highs
Speaker 2: this morning.
Speaker 3: There's some geopolitical tensions to follow this morning as well.
Speaker 3: Karen Iron's foreign minister says security forces have quote full
Speaker 3: control of the country after two weeks of ongoing upheaval.
Speaker 3: Activists say at least five hundred and forty people have
Speaker 3: been killed so far in the latest waves of protests
Speaker 3: in Iran. President Trump says he is closely monitoring the
Speaker 3: protests and considering potential military options.
Speaker 6: We're looking at it very seriously.
Speaker 7: The military is looking at it, and we're looking at
Speaker 7: some very strong options.
Speaker 8: The president added.
Speaker 3: The regime's leaders have contacted the US for negotiations. Iran's
Speaker 3: parliament speaker, Mohammed Bager Khalibov, had this warning for the
Speaker 3: US if it chooses to strike in.
Speaker 9: Given your explicit admissions regarding your intention to carry out
Speaker 9: military aggression against Iran within the framework of legitimate self defense,
Speaker 9: we do not consider ourselves limited to reacting only after
Speaker 9: an attack occurs, and we will act based on concrete
Speaker 9: indications of threats.
Speaker 3: It was Iran's parliament speaker, speaking through an interpreter. Communications
Speaker 3: in Iran remain largely cut off and that has made
Speaker 3: it difficult to track the full scope of the protest movement.
Speaker 2: Well, Nathan, we want to turn out to new developments
Speaker 2: involving Greenland. Danish broadcaster tvqu who says top diplomats from
Speaker 2: Denmark and Greenland will meet Secretary of State Marco Rubio
Speaker 2: in Washington on Wednesday. Denmark is banking on the meeting
Speaker 2: to defuse President Trump's renewed push on Greenland. The President
Speaker 2: insists ownership of the island is a key issue.
Speaker 7: Book If we don't take Gleenland Russia, what China will
Speaker 7: And I'm not letting that happen. If we don't take
Speaker 7: Gleenland Russia, what China will take Greenland?
Speaker 1: And I am not going to let that happen.
Speaker 10: Yeah.
Speaker 7: Sure, I'd looked at it and make a deal with
Speaker 7: them that's easier. But one way or the other, we're
Speaker 7: going to have Greenland.
Speaker 2: May while Bloomberg News has learned a group of European countries,
Speaker 2: led by the UK and Germany, as discussing plans for
Speaker 2: a military presence in Greenland.
Speaker 3: Meanwhile, Karen, President Trump is signaling he is leaning toward
Speaker 3: excluding Exon mobil from his push for US oil majors
Speaker 3: to rebuild Venezuela's petroleum industry. The President says he's displeased
Speaker 3: with the company's response to his initiative viving oil and
Speaker 3: then dooing years of under investment and mismanagement in Venezuela
Speaker 3: would buy some estimates, require one hundred billion dollars and
Speaker 3: take a decade.
Speaker 2: Well back here, nathantentions are made high in Minneapolis days after,
Speaker 2: and immigration and Customs enforcement officers shot and killed a
Speaker 2: woman drive during a tense confrontation in her car. Now,
Speaker 2: Homeland Security Secretary Christie Nomes says even more federal agents
Speaker 2: are headed to the city.
Speaker 11: We're sending more officers today and tomorrow they'll arrive. There'll
Speaker 11: be hundreds more, and in order to allow our Ice
Speaker 11: and our Border patrol individuals that are working in Minneapolis
Speaker 11: to do so safely.
Speaker 2: Homeland Security Secretary Christie Nome appeared on the Fox News
Speaker 2: programs Sunday Morning Futures. But the debate continues over whether
Speaker 2: ICE agent Jonathan Ross was justified in shooting Renee Good,
Speaker 2: with multiple videos of the incident adding to the fearer.
Speaker 2: Democratic Senator Tina Smith Minnesota is saying that federal investigators
Speaker 2: need to work with state and local law enforcement.
Speaker 12: We need to have a free, fair and unbiased investigation
Speaker 12: so we can gather all of the evidence and all
Speaker 12: of the information and we can know exactly what's happening.
Speaker 12: And what I think is going on here is the
Speaker 12: administration does not want that to happen, and that looks
Speaker 12: to me like a cover up.
Speaker 2: Minnesota Democrat Unis Smith appeared on ABC's This Week Heard
Speaker 2: Every Sunday on Bloomberg Radio.
Speaker 3: Turning back to Markets Now, Karen, besides fed pressure, investors
Speaker 3: have another thing to focus on this week, bank earnings
Speaker 3: let's get a preview of that from Bloomberg's Charlie Pellett.
Speaker 8: The results from the nation's biggest banks will give us
Speaker 8: the first glimpse into how Wall Street navigated the last
Speaker 8: months of twenty twenty five amid President Trump's trade wars
Speaker 8: and ongoing geopolitical tensions. Betsy Graysia is Global head of
Speaker 8: Banks at Morgan Stanley.
Speaker 13: Our setup is positive for Tuesday kickoff, and what I
Speaker 13: think matters is both the outlook here for earnings as
Speaker 13: well as the pent up backlog building in the capital markets.
Speaker 8: JP Morgan Chase reports Tuesday. City Group, Bank of American,
Speaker 8: Wells Fargo all report on Wednesday in New York. Charlie
Speaker 8: Pellett Bloomberg Radio.
Speaker 2: All right, Charlie, thank you. Credit Card Company is falling
Speaker 2: in early trading. The drop comes after President Trump said
Speaker 2: that credit card lenders would be in violation of the
Speaker 2: law if they do not heed his call to cap
Speaker 2: interest rates at ten percent for one year. Right now,
Speaker 2: Capital One and Synchrone Financial are both down about nine percent,
Speaker 2: and American Express is down more than four percent.
Speaker 3: Walmart Karen is up more than three and a half percent.
Speaker 3: The retail giant's getting ready to join the NASDAQ one
Speaker 3: hundred index, replacing Astra Zeneca. The change takes effect before
Speaker 3: the market opens January twentieth. Walmart's edition follows its move
Speaker 3: last year to shift its stock listing from the New
Speaker 3: York Stock Exchange to the Nasdaq.
Speaker 2: And in Europe, Nathan Heinegan looking for a new boss.
Speaker 2: CEO Dolph benden Brink is stepping down after six years
Speaker 2: at the Helm of the Brewer. The move comes months
Speaker 2: after the company warn't on profit overfalling beer sale. Time
Speaker 2: now for look at some of the other stories making
Speaker 2: news in New York and around the world, and for
Speaker 2: never joined by Bloomberg's Michael Barr Michael, good morning.
Speaker 10: Good morning Karen. About sixteen thousand nurses at New York
Speaker 10: City hospitals are set to strike any moment now. If
Speaker 10: the union does not reach a contract agreement with private
Speaker 10: hospitals soon, it would be considered the largest nurses strike
Speaker 10: in city history. Their contract expired December thirty first, The union,
Speaker 10: the New York State Nurses Association, is still in talks
Speaker 10: with those private hospitals. They want higher pay and safer
Speaker 10: working conditions. It comes as flu cases are spiking In
Speaker 10: New York, Governor Kathy Hochele has declared a state of
Speaker 10: emergency ahead of the potential strike, pleading with both sides
Speaker 10: to stay at the table.
Speaker 13: This could jeopardize the lives of thousands of New Yorkers
Speaker 13: and patients.
Speaker 10: Forty two states, including New York, are seeing high or
Speaker 10: very high levels of flu activity. A plan protest in Westwood, California,
Speaker 10: by Los Angeles' Iranian community was disrupted Sunday afternoon when
Speaker 10: a U haul truck drove into the crowd. After running
Speaker 10: to get out of the way, people went after the driver,
Speaker 10: dragging him out of the cab of the box truck.
Speaker 10: LAPD Captain Richard Galbadon was asked about charges against the driver.
Speaker 10: It's an open traffic investigation.
Speaker 4: We're looking a possible assault with the daily weapon, the
Speaker 4: daily weapon being the vehicle of being used.
Speaker 10: But that's all going right now, Captain Galbadon says. The
Speaker 10: driver's identity has not been released and is being treated
Speaker 10: at a local hospital for injuries. Paul Thomas Anderson's Ragtag
Speaker 10: revolutionary saga One Battle after Another and the Shakespeare drama
Speaker 10: Hamnet took top honors at Sunday's eighty third Golden Globes,
Speaker 10: Anderson became just the second filmmaker in Golden Globes history
Speaker 10: to ever sweet Best Film, Best Director, and Best Screenplay.
Speaker 10: Only Oliver Stone were born on the fourth of July nine,
Speaker 10: is the same feet Timothy Chalamay won his first Golden
Speaker 10: Globe for Marty Supreme.
Speaker 14: My dad instilled in me a spirit of gratitude growing up.
Speaker 14: Always be grateful for what you have. It's allowed me
Speaker 14: to leave the ceremony in the past empty handed, my
Speaker 14: head held high, grateful just to be here. But I'd
Speaker 14: be lying if I didn't say those moments didn't make
Speaker 14: this moment that much sweeter.
Speaker 10: Centners won for Best Score in Cinematic and Box Office Achievement.
Speaker 10: The ceremony was broadcast on CBS Global News twenty four
Speaker 10: hours a day and whenever you want it with Bloomberg News. Now.
Speaker 10: I'm Michael Barr, and this is Bloomberg Karen.
Speaker 2: Thanks Michael all the time. Now for our Bloomberg Sports Update,
Speaker 2: and for that we bring in John Stashauer.
Speaker 10: Thanks Daring.
Speaker 6: The NFL playoff tripleheader begin in Jacksonville. The Bills and
Speaker 6: Jaguars six lead changes four in the fourth quarter, Josh
Speaker 6: Allen's touchdown Ronald just over a minute to play gave
Speaker 6: Buffalo a twenty seven to twenty four victory. It's the
Speaker 6: Bill's first playoff road win since nineteen ninety two. Next,
Speaker 6: top Philadelphia, the forty nine ers a trick play touchdown
Speaker 6: first play of the fourth quarter, and then with five
Speaker 6: minutes to go, Christian McCaffrey scored on a past with
Speaker 6: Rock Purty. Niners dethroned the Eagles twenty three to nineteen.
Speaker 6: Last night, the Patriots beat the Chargers sixteen to three.
Speaker 6: That's your Bloomberg Sports Update.
Speaker 2: Stay with us more from Bloomberg day Break coming up
Speaker 2: after this.
Speaker 1: Coast to coast on Bloomberg Radio, nationwide on Sirius XM,
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Speaker 3: Good morning, I'm Nathan Hager. The Federal Reserve is facing
Speaker 3: even more political and legal pressure now, with chair J.
Speaker 3: Powell saying the Justice Department has served subpoenas against the
Speaker 3: Central Bank over his testimony about the FEDS building renovations.
Speaker 3: But Powell is vowing to stand firm.
Speaker 5: Public service sometimes requires standing firm In the face of threats.
Speaker 5: I will continue to do the job the SAT confirmed
Speaker 5: me to do with integrity and a commitment to serving
Speaker 5: the American people.
Speaker 3: I was chair Powell in a video statement last night
Speaker 3: and this morning we're joined by Bloomberg's DC Breaking News
Speaker 3: editor Alexander Pearce and alex to say there's new pressure
Speaker 3: on the FED maybe a real understatement. Now, what do
Speaker 3: we know more about these subpoenas that the chairman announced
Speaker 3: last night?
Speaker 15: Good morning, Good morning, Nathan. Yes, this was really quite
Speaker 15: an escalatory move by the Trumpan administration yesterday, and so
Speaker 15: far we've actually heard very little from the administration. We
Speaker 15: got this announcement from Chairman Powell about the subpoenas, but
Speaker 15: we've not yet heard from the Department of Justice or
Speaker 15: Attorney General Pampondi. Yet, we did get some comments from
Speaker 15: President Trump yesterday as he was traveling, saying that he
Speaker 15: was not aware of the subpoenas, but he thought that
Speaker 15: they had nothing to do with interest rates. As Chairman
Speaker 15: Powell contended that the move was about, well.
Speaker 3: We are getting some information though, aren't we, about who
Speaker 3: may be behind these subpoenas. I mean, has been an
Speaker 3: ongoing pressure campaign as you say, against the Federal Reserve
Speaker 3: coming out of the Trump administration.
Speaker 8: Absolutely.
Speaker 15: Yeah, so we do have this has not been confromed
Speaker 15: yet officially, but we have we have our own reporting
Speaker 15: indicating that the fine the Housing Finance Director Bill Poulti
Speaker 15: was really a driving force behind the subpoenas he's long
Speaker 15: been a very vehement critic of j. Powell and also
Speaker 15: the Federal Reserve's pace of cutting rates last year. And
Speaker 15: we yeah, we have it that he has been sort
Speaker 15: of pushing this, but he's obviously.
Speaker 14: Has a.
Speaker 15: In Trump, someone who is also very much believing that
Speaker 15: the Federal Reserve has not been cutting rates aggressively enough
Speaker 15: and has now you know, it's now escalated to this
Speaker 15: point where actually there's a there's a threat of a
Speaker 15: criminal indictment.
Speaker 3: And we know that the Chairman Poulty has also been
Speaker 3: a driving force behind the pressure campaign on FED Governor
Speaker 3: Lisa Cook, the accusations of mortgage fraud that continue to
Speaker 3: play themselves out in the courts. Put this in that
Speaker 3: context as well. I mean, it really does seem like
Speaker 3: there is just unrelenting pressure on the FED at this moment.
Speaker 15: Yeah. Absolutely, it really just keeps escalating and as you say,
Speaker 15: another Federal Board member, Lisa Cook, is also under investigation
Speaker 15: for alleged mortgage fraud that's now going to go to
Speaker 15: the Supreme Court. And you know, this is all basically,
Speaker 15: at its most simple level, it's really just the Trump
Speaker 15: administration's frustration with the Federal Reserve as it is constituted
Speaker 15: right now, in its caution with cutting interest rates. J
Speaker 15: Powell and other Federal Reserve Board members are still a
Speaker 15: bit cautious about elevated inflation, about inflationary pressures from tariffs,
Speaker 15: and so they have been cutting, but cutting at a
Speaker 15: relatively cautious rate sort of pace. And Trump and his
Speaker 15: allies have, you know, repeatedly ever since taking office last year,
Speaker 15: for far more aggressive stance on interest rates.
Speaker 3: And what could this mean for some of the other
Speaker 3: aspects of this that we're watching going forward? I mean,
Speaker 3: we're expecting that President Trump at any moment really is
Speaker 3: going to be announcing his replacement for chair Powell. What
Speaker 3: kind of pressure does that potentially put on who that
Speaker 3: next pick could be.
Speaker 15: That's right, So currently President Trump is considering a number
Speaker 15: of names to replace Chairman Powell when his term as
Speaker 15: chairman ends in May. And really these moves against Chairman
Speaker 15: Powell and other members of the Federal Reserve is also
Speaker 15: seen as a signal to whoever succeeds J. Powell in
Speaker 15: that position, obviously with the intention of making sure that
Speaker 15: they toe somewhat toe the line of the administration when
Speaker 15: it comes to setting monetary policy.
Speaker 3: And we've also heard from at least one Republican Senator,
Speaker 3: Tom Tillis, saying that with this kind of pressure sure
Speaker 3: on Chairman Powell, he may be reticent to cast any
Speaker 3: vote in favor of confirmation for the next FED chair.
Speaker 3: I mean, it puts a signal out there as well,
Speaker 3: doesn't it that whoever comes out there is going to
Speaker 3: face a pretty tough road for confirmation while this continues
Speaker 3: to play out.
Speaker 15: Absolutely, and it's notable given that Tom Tillis is also
Speaker 15: Republican senator, and you know that is also just emblematic
Speaker 15: of really quite a lot of anxiety not just within government,
Speaker 15: within Congress, but also in the wider markets. As to
Speaker 15: Trump's campaign here, there is a sort of sense that
Speaker 15: he won't really go too far in threatening FED independence,
Speaker 15: but you know, each move that he makes has been
Speaker 15: quite escalatory, and that's probably led people like Senator Tillis
Speaker 15: to come out and really quite vehemently oppose what's being
Speaker 15: done and to threaten the nomination of any future nominee
Speaker 15: to the Federal Reserve Board.
Speaker 3: And while we continue to watch this pressure on the Fed,
Speaker 3: we're monitoring the developments as well in Iran, where the
Speaker 3: regime there appears to be under the kind of pressure
Speaker 3: that it hasn't seen in many years of these street
Speaker 3: protests that have been underway since late last year.
Speaker 15: What's the latest there, Alex, Yeah, So it's now entering
Speaker 15: his third week of quite violent protests in Iran, with
Speaker 15: hundreds of people who have been killed, thousands have been arrested,
Speaker 15: and President Trump has ever since they erupted, voiced very
Speaker 15: strong support for the protesters, without really elaborating what kind
Speaker 15: of support he might offer them. Last night, he did
Speaker 15: say that he was considering military options, and there was
Speaker 15: a report from the Wall Street Journal yesterday or earlier, sorry,
Speaker 15: that said that he would meet with some of his
Speaker 15: senior advisers to discuss those options. It's not really clear
Speaker 15: what exactly he might choose. There are a number of
Speaker 15: things he could do. There could be a direct military strike,
Speaker 15: that could be some sort of cyber attack that could
Speaker 15: be maybe a tightening of sanctions on Iran. So right
Speaker 15: now we don't really know where the administration is leaning,
Speaker 15: but they're certainly considering an action that could be quite
Speaker 15: severe for Iran should these protests continue.
Speaker 3: It's kind of difficult at this point to gauge just
Speaker 3: how serious a threat these protests are to the regime,
Speaker 3: given that the Internet is blocked in much of the country.
Speaker 3: But what is the sense that we're hearing from some
Speaker 3: activist groups and other observers as to where this could
Speaker 3: go from here with these protests continuing. Alex got about
Speaker 3: a minute left.
Speaker 15: Yeah, I mean, really, it's the most sort of These
Speaker 15: protests are the biggest challenge for the Islamic Republic since
Speaker 15: really nineteen seventy nine, according to many observers, given that
Speaker 15: they that the economy is not doing well. There is
Speaker 15: a currency crisis right now and that actually sparked these
Speaker 15: protests a couple of weeks ago, and going forward, they're
Speaker 15: not really showing any signs of abating, and so if
Speaker 15: they continue, it could be a threat for the regime there.
Speaker 15: And as you say, we don't really know with crystal
Speaker 15: clarity what's going on on the ground, but Trump himself,
Speaker 15: as she did, say yes that he would potentially contact
Speaker 15: Elon Muster try and get a Starling connection to try
Speaker 15: and get more information about what's happening there, just given
Speaker 15: that we can't, given that the internet's been cut off
Speaker 15: in the country, know all of the facts.
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