Speaker 1: Good morning. It's Tuesday, the twenty fourth of October in London.
Speaker 1: This is the Bloomberg Daybreak Here at podcast. I'm Stephen Carroll.
Speaker 1: Coming up today. Hamas frees two more hostages from Gaza
Speaker 1: as the US sends more forces to the Middle East.
Speaker 1: Bond bears beware the billionaire investors Bill Ackman and Bill
Speaker 1: Gross abandon their short position on US treasuries. Plus Bloomberg's
Speaker 1: list of twenty five UK startups to watch, ranging from
Speaker 1: the content platform only Fans to a wearable brain scanner company.
Speaker 1: Let's start with a roundup of our top stories. AMAS
Speaker 1: has freed two more hostages from the Gaza strip. The
Speaker 1: two elderly women were released to the International Committee of
Speaker 1: the Red Cross, while more than two hundred others are
Speaker 1: still being held by militants. The move is giving some
Speaker 1: Israeli officials cause to rethink the scope of a planned
Speaker 1: ground invasion of Gaza. Bloomberg's Michael Heath says the releases
Speaker 1: are helping diplomatic calls for astray.
Speaker 2: This movement of people coming out encourages leaders to encourage
Speaker 2: Israel to engage and to hold off in terms of
Speaker 2: the ground invasion until they can get more people out.
Speaker 2: Katar and Egypt negotiated this release. So at this stage
Speaker 2: we're still waiting on the ground operation, and obviously there's
Speaker 2: still talks going on with the hostages. President Joe Biden
Speaker 2: has said once the hostages are released, we can start
Speaker 2: talking about a ceasefire.
Speaker 1: Our reporter Michael Heath pointing out that US President Joe
Speaker 1: Biden appeared to suggest a cease far could be discussed
Speaker 1: if all hostages were released now. One of the two
Speaker 1: women FREEDO and Gaza was a British citizen. Prime Minister
Speaker 1: Rishi Sunak told MPs that Hamas must be held accountable.
Speaker 3: Hamas is not only a threat to Israel, but to
Speaker 3: many others across the region. All the leaders I met
Speaker 3: agree that this is a watershed moment. It's time to
Speaker 3: set the region on a better path.
Speaker 1: The Prime Minister also announced more aid would be sent
Speaker 1: to Gaza. Only a fraction of normal supplies are being
Speaker 1: allowed into the territory. That US Chief Diplomat Joseph Burrell
Speaker 1: says aid is his top priority.
Speaker 4: We have to start thinking of how to revive a
Speaker 4: political crushest, but the priority of that moment, which will
Speaker 4: make you many Penu in the support going Intobeja.
Speaker 1: Joseph Barell, THEEU High Representative for Foreign Affairs, joining the
Speaker 1: international calls for restraint. China's farm Minister Wangi meanwhile reiterating
Speaker 1: that Israel must protect civilians and abide by humanitarian law,
Speaker 1: even as it has the right to defend itself. Some
Speaker 1: of the bond market's most prominent bears are saying the
Speaker 1: route in US treasuries has gone too far. Pershing Square
Speaker 1: founder Bill Ackman says he's unwound his bet against US
Speaker 1: government bonds. Bloomberg stern Ali Bassek explains why the reason.
Speaker 5: He is taking off this short position now is He
Speaker 5: says there's too much risk in the world to remain
Speaker 5: short bonds at current long term rates. The economy is
Speaker 5: flowing faster than recent data suggests, so that implies worry
Speaker 5: about a further bid in the bond market, perhaps a
Speaker 5: haven bid as the economy starts to slow down.
Speaker 1: As Chernali bask notes their Ackman's skepticism on the health
Speaker 1: of the US economy stands in contrast to surprisingly strong
Speaker 1: recent economic data. Pimco co founder Bill Gross agrees he's
Speaker 1: predicting a recession by the end of the year, and
Speaker 1: says he's buying short dated interest rate futures. The Bank
Speaker 1: of Japan has announced an unscheduled bond buying operation, the
Speaker 1: fifth since tweaking its yield curve control back in July.
Speaker 1: The traders are testing the central banks reserves ahead of
Speaker 1: next week's policy meeting. The boj's loose monetary policies also
Speaker 1: contributing to the depreciation of the yen, which is the
Speaker 1: worst performing G ten currency this year. Chevron is buying
Speaker 1: a piece of the world's largest oil discovery of the
Speaker 1: past decade, the oil major agreeing to buy the energy
Speaker 1: company Hess for fifty three billion dollars. Chevron CEO Mike
Speaker 1: Worth says that deal doesn't change the company's green commitment.
Speaker 6: I don't think you should read this as a lack
Speaker 6: of commitment to the energy transition, but we need to
Speaker 6: invest in what the world runs on today. This makes
Speaker 6: us a stronger producer. It takes two great American companies
Speaker 6: and brings them together, which is good for national security
Speaker 6: and economic security. And we're committed. Both of our companies
Speaker 6: are committed to a lower carbon energy system.
Speaker 1: Worth Smegadale is the second in the last few weeks
Speaker 1: for the oil industry Exon through fifty eight billion dollars
Speaker 1: into acquiring pioneer assign Both US giants see fossil fuels
Speaker 1: in the energy mix for decades to come, and the
Speaker 1: head of Virgin Atlantic Airways says the war between Israel
Speaker 1: and Hamas is deterring travel across portions of the Middle East.
Speaker 1: Speaking to Bloomberg, the carriers had said the impact on
Speaker 1: travel may extend beyond the specific flight restrictions recently put
Speaker 1: in place.
Speaker 7: The situation in Israel, of course after the atrocites of
Speaker 7: October the seventh, is still unpredictable, so I think there
Speaker 7: are right now. The major impact has been of course
Speaker 7: people are flying into Israel and because of that, they're
Speaker 7: not flying also to the area, into Jordan, into Egypt,
Speaker 7: into other locations.
Speaker 1: The warning from Shai Wai so Virgin Atlantic underscores uncertainty
Speaker 1: in the air travel market after the conflict led carriers
Speaker 1: to suspense services to Tel Aviv earlier this month. And
Speaker 1: if you want to hear that full interview, you can
Speaker 1: find it on the Bloomberg Talks podcast. All of our
Speaker 1: most important conversations in one place. Let's turn back though
Speaker 1: to the latest that we've heard from the Middle East,
Speaker 1: those two more hostages released from Gaza, more than two
Speaker 1: hundred others, of course still being held by Hamas after
Speaker 1: they were captured during the October seventh attackings on southern Israel. Meanwhile,
Speaker 1: the US President Joe Biden and Benjamin Nettania who speaking
Speaker 1: again by phone, discussing US deployments to the region, among
Speaker 1: other issues. Let's get the latest now from Tel Aviv
Speaker 1: and go to Bloomberg's Oliver Crook, Who's there for us
Speaker 1: this morning? Oliver, good morning. What is the latest on
Speaker 1: events there overnight?
Speaker 8: Yes, as you mentioned, another two hostages free, which is
Speaker 8: a meaningful development to elderly women taken from a kaboots
Speaker 8: about two kilometers from these sort of border fence with Gaza.
Speaker 8: We understand their husbands and their eighties are still being held,
Speaker 8: and this was brokered by Katar. Yes, but also we
Speaker 8: understand that Egypt was part of this conversation, and as
Speaker 8: you say, Benjamin Nyahu and Biden spoke about this on
Speaker 8: the phone. There is also the question of aid, which
Speaker 8: the US has been very active in, and we understand
Speaker 8: that thirty five trucks crossed into Gaza yesterday, which would
Speaker 8: be the greatest number to have crossed since the beginning
Speaker 8: of this crisis. However, still somewhat short of what the
Speaker 8: UN says will be really minimum of one hundred a
Speaker 8: day in order to make meaningful progress there.
Speaker 1: Okay, let's look then, so as some of the efforts
Speaker 1: being made diplomatically and what hope that might give to
Speaker 1: the more than two hundred hostages that still remain captured
Speaker 1: in Gaza. As you say, two more hostages being added
Speaker 1: to the two others that were freed over the weekend.
Speaker 8: I think it's very difficult to get a read on that,
Speaker 8: only because everyone who is involved in this is all
Speaker 8: through back channels and they're not really wanting to reveal
Speaker 8: a lot of the information that they're getting. We know
Speaker 8: that it is a top priority for basically every leader
Speaker 8: who has any citizens being held, certainly for the Israelis,
Speaker 8: certainly for the United States, and we know that Qatar
Speaker 8: is playing a very key role in those discussions. Again,
Speaker 8: the question also is how does this bear on the
Speaker 8: potential ground offensive which we had been expecting for a
Speaker 8: long period of time, and now who's I think nature
Speaker 8: and scope is certainly being recalibrated or reconsidered on a
Speaker 8: very active basis from much of the reporting that we're
Speaker 8: doing partially and is a function of the hostages, but
Speaker 8: also probably as a function of the international view of
Speaker 8: the conflict and as well, you know how the Israelis
Speaker 8: how much they can achieve basically from the skies, and
Speaker 8: again the bombardment has very much continued into Gaza and
Speaker 8: southern Lebanon.
Speaker 1: We've also on the diplomatic front, Oliver had the latest
Speaker 1: for first comments rather from China's pharm Wangi. What should
Speaker 1: we read into what we heard from him?
Speaker 8: Yeah, so it's been interesting this first comments there, well,
Speaker 8: really the first contact at that level between the Israelis
Speaker 8: and the Chinese since the conflict began. There has been
Speaker 8: some discussion with from Wangi with other foreign ministers in
Speaker 8: the region, but this is the highest level contact we've
Speaker 8: had since the beginning of the conflict. And really there
Speaker 8: there was the notion that every nation has a right
Speaker 8: to self defense, but there was also sympathy espouse for
Speaker 8: both the Israelis and Palestinians and really saying that the
Speaker 8: number one interest needs to be to protect civilians. However,
Speaker 8: we had also heard from a readout from a call
Speaker 8: with the Saudi Foreign Minister between Wangi and the Saudi
Speaker 8: saying that basically the Israeli's actions had gone beyond self
Speaker 8: defense and it needs to stop its collective punishment to
Speaker 8: the people of Gaza. Is what he had said there,
Speaker 8: and Hjiping himself is called for an immediate ceasefire.
Speaker 1: Oliver word Io and what we heard from Israel Central
Speaker 1: Bank as well, which has been looking at the effect
Speaker 1: of the war on the economic outlook.
Speaker 8: And so we had a raid decision yesterday where rates
Speaker 8: were left unchanged, but we also had a grow cut
Speaker 8: to the GDP forecast. Originally Israel had expected to be
Speaker 8: grow three percent this year three percent next year. They
Speaker 8: reduced that to two point three percent this year and
Speaker 8: two point eight percent next year. And again they've said
Speaker 8: that that is if things remain relatively contained, which is
Speaker 8: a big if. And I can tell you from just
Speaker 8: being here for the last two weeks just in terms
Speaker 8: of activity on the ground, many many, many businesses have
Speaker 8: been closed, very few people in circulation, so certainly there
Speaker 8: will be economic consequences, which is really a discussion that
Speaker 8: has taken the back burner with the primacy on the
Speaker 8: military and a word on the Gaza economic situation. I
Speaker 8: think it's very almost impossible to calculate the damage that's
Speaker 8: being done there.
Speaker 1: Okay, Oliver Crook and tell Avis, thank you very much
Speaker 1: for updating us on the story there this morning. Well,
Speaker 1: I turning to other news. Bloomberg has published its list
Speaker 1: of twenty five British startups to watch, ranging for the
Speaker 1: digital bank Manzo to the to a wearable brains gunner maker.
Speaker 1: They've been picked time at Bloomberg's Technology summit taking place
Speaker 1: in London today. Amy Thompson, who leads our team of
Speaker 1: technology reporters in London, joins us now for more. Amy,
Speaker 1: talk us through how you managed to devise this list.
Speaker 1: What were the key factors that made a startup stand
Speaker 1: out for you?
Speaker 9: Hey morning, Yeah, So we are looking at companies who
Speaker 9: are doing something genuinely innovative, companies from all over the UK.
Speaker 9: The diversity of where they were coming from and the
Speaker 9: founder's background and the sorts of things that they were
Speaker 9: working on was really important, and we were looking for
Speaker 9: companies that could really show us that they had gained
Speaker 9: some traction with customers or investors. And you know, when
Speaker 9: we put the call out back in the summer. I
Speaker 9: wasn't confident necessarily that we were going to get this
Speaker 9: because it was such a grim period for the tech
Speaker 9: industry globally.
Speaker 10: That was back when we were seeing sort.
Speaker 9: Of all the job cuts from the big tech companies,
Speaker 9: companies that were able to raise money we're doing down rounds.
Speaker 9: But we were really really pleasantly surprised. We got more
Speaker 9: than fifteen hundred applications in the end, and a lot
Speaker 9: of them were really really impressive.
Speaker 1: And look, there are some names in there people will
Speaker 1: know and some they don't.
Speaker 10: Yeah, exactly.
Speaker 9: So we've got some big brands like Manzo, We've got
Speaker 9: some high street brands like l V. And then we've
Speaker 9: got a lot of really interesting, very sort of scientific companies,
Speaker 9: university spin outs. You mentioned the wearable brain scanner, Circa Magnetics.
Speaker 10: We've got Genomics.
Speaker 9: We've got a company that's making chips out of graphene,
Speaker 9: which is a really interesting sort of material science story.
Speaker 9: We've got Chemifi, which is digitizing chemistry to do molecule discovery.
Speaker 9: So we've got a lot of really really interesting, interesting companies.
Speaker 1: Now you mentioned sort of the backdrop to this being
Speaker 1: perhaps the most optimistic. British politicians very keen to talk
Speaker 1: up the UK's potential to be a tech hub. But
Speaker 1: what sort of trends did you uncover in these startups
Speaker 1: to watch?
Speaker 9: Yeah, I think, like I said, we see a lot
Speaker 9: of strength out of the universities in the UK. We
Speaker 9: saw a lot of great ideas that came from labs
Speaker 9: in Cambridge and Oxford and Leicester and Nottingham. So it
Speaker 9: seems like one of the big stories out of this
Speaker 9: is that the universities in the UK are really great
Speaker 9: incubators for some interesting companies.
Speaker 1: What about the challenges amy that they face and fundraising
Speaker 1: though it's something we often hear about companies leaving the
Speaker 1: UK to go to usually the US, to raise more money.
Speaker 9: Yeah, I mean it's not been a great year for fundraising.
Speaker 9: I remember talking to VC's last Christmas and a lot
Speaker 9: of them were saying, we're going to be really cautious
Speaker 9: this year, and that has definitely played out. The last
Speaker 9: pitch book report I saw said that funding was down
Speaker 9: something like fifty eight percent in the first half of
Speaker 9: the year, and you know, some only exit strapped.
Speaker 10: We didn't see the same kind of you.
Speaker 9: Know, IPOs and sales, though it does seem like there
Speaker 9: is some cautious optimism for next year.
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