Speaker 1: News when you wanted with Bloomberg News. Now, I'm Doug Krisner.
Speaker 1: We begin with the Fed's decision on interest rates. Today.
Speaker 1: Policymakers held the key rate steady as they expect slower
Speaker 1: growth and higher inflation. FED Shair J. Powell suggested the
Speaker 1: FED saw no need for drastic action in the face
Speaker 1: of Donald Trump's trade war and the impact those policies
Speaker 1: are having on inflation. Here is J. Powell.
Speaker 2: It can be the case that it's appropriate sometimes to
Speaker 2: look through inflation if it's going to go away quickly
Speaker 2: without action by us, if it's transitory, and that can
Speaker 2: be the case in the case of tariff inflation. I
Speaker 2: think that would depend on the tariff inflation moving through
Speaker 2: fairly quickly, and would depend critically as well on inflation
Speaker 2: expectations being well anchored longer term inflation expectations being.
Speaker 1: That is FED share J. Powell. There By the way,
Speaker 1: the FED is forecasting two more rate cuts this year,
Speaker 1: and we got reaction to today's FED decison from the
Speaker 1: chief economist at KPMG, Diane Swank.
Speaker 3: I don't think there's any chance that they cut in May.
Speaker 3: I think that's a very low probability. We do not
Speaker 3: have a cut this year until early twenty twenty six
Speaker 3: because of the underlying upward pressure on tariff's now much.
Speaker 3: We'll find out more information on that on April second,
Speaker 3: and then, of course it matters in terms of how
Speaker 3: it actually plays out.
Speaker 1: Diane swank There, the chief economist at KPMG now a
Speaker 1: short while ago on Truth Social President Trump said the
Speaker 1: FED would be met much better off cutting interest rates
Speaker 1: as US tariffs begin to ease their way into the economy.
Speaker 1: I think the term that he used there was transition.
Speaker 1: President Trump is expected to sign an executive order tomorrow
Speaker 1: to dismantle the Department of Education. We are told the
Speaker 1: order will direct the Secretary of Education to take steps
Speaker 1: to close the department and return education authority to the States.
Speaker 1: It will also mandate that programs and activities receiving any
Speaker 1: remaining Department and funds not be used to advance diversity,
Speaker 1: equity and inclusion efforts. We moved to geopolitics next. Today,
Speaker 1: President Trump and Ukrainian President Volodimir Zelensky had a call
Speaker 1: to discuss the conversation Trump had with Russian President Vladimir Putin. Now.
Speaker 1: Zelensky agreed to halt strikes on energy assets as an
Speaker 1: initial step to ending the war. President Trump also promised
Speaker 1: fresh support for Ukraine, including air defense systems. Here is,
Speaker 1: White House Press Secretary Caroline Levit.
Speaker 4: President Trump also discussed Ukraine's electrical supply and nuclear power plants.
Speaker 4: He said that the United States could be very helpful
Speaker 4: in running those plants with its electricity and utility expertise.
Speaker 4: American ownership of those plants would be the best protection
Speaker 4: for that infrastructure and support for Ukrainian energy infrastructure.
Speaker 1: White House Press Secretary Caroline Levitt. There now. President Trump
Speaker 1: went on to say that peace in Ukraine remains very
Speaker 1: much on track and that the phone call with Zelensky
Speaker 1: was very good. Soft Bank is acquiring semiconductor designer and
Speaker 1: Peer Computing. It's an all cash transaction. It's valued at
Speaker 1: six and a half billion dollars now. This acquisition will
Speaker 1: add to SoftBank's push into artificial intelligence infrastructure, and it
Speaker 1: will give the company access to Ampere's advanced chip design
Speaker 1: team and technology. By the way, Ampeer will operate as
Speaker 1: a wholly owned subsidiary of soft Bank. Oil executives meant
Speaker 1: today with President Trump to discuss speeding up permitting and
Speaker 1: ensuring project approvals will have lasting durability. This meeting focused
Speaker 1: on shaping Trump's energy dominance agenda. Here is US Interior
Speaker 1: Secretary Doug Bergham speaking to reporters alongside US Secretary of
Speaker 1: Energy Chris Wright.
Speaker 5: One of the things that this injury industry has faced
Speaker 5: is the onslaught of regulation that was really had one
Speaker 5: goal in mind to try to drive their business out
Speaker 5: of business. And story after story, the Chris and I
Speaker 5: hear of people were the permitting prices takes longer than
Speaker 5: the actual build process on critical infrastructure in our country,
Speaker 5: and this is unacceptable.
Speaker 1: That was US Interior Secretary Doug Burgham. Now, concern about
Speaker 1: falling crude prices was not discussed during today's meeting, and
Speaker 1: that is news when you want it with Bloomberg News.
Speaker 1: Now I'm Doug prisoner, and this is Bloomberg