Bloomberg Daybreak: US Edition

1d ago

Bloomberg Daybreak Weekend with Host Nathan Hager take a look at some of the stories we'll be tracking in the coming week. In the US – a look ahead to U.S GDP data and a tech outlook for 2026. In the UK – a look at UK politics and what 2026 may hold in store for Prime Minister Keir Starmer. In Asia – a look ahead to the challenges facing China’s economy in 2026. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

1d ago

On today's podcast: 1) Officials have found the dead body of the suspected shooter in a Brown University rampage and the murder of a Massachusetts Institute of Technology professor in his Boston-area home. The suspected shooter — Claudio Manuel Neves Valente, a 48-year-old Portuguese national who was a former student at Brown — took his own life, Providence Chief of Police Oscar Perez said at a press briefing on Thursday night. Meantime, the Trump administration halted the US green card lottery program, which it said was used by the suspect. Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said in a post on X that she’s asking US Citizenship and Immigration Services to pause the lottery, officially known as the Diversity Immigrant Visa Program. 2) A trove of Justice Department records tied to Jeffrey Epstein is set for release Friday, part of a long-awaited public reckoning over the convicted sex offender’s ties to elites and years of alleged abuse. The documents could shed new light on government investigations dating back nearly two decades. President Trump, who had previously resisted efforts to unseal the files, signed legislation last month mandating their release, while the Justice Department has yet to specify a time for publication. 3) European Union leaders have agreed to loan Ukraine €90 billion ($106 billion) for the next two years in a bid to strengthen Kyiv’s hand at the negotiating table and keep the war-torn country afloat. The EU will fund the loan through joint debt raised on the capital markets and backed by the bloc’s budget, a significant pivot from the preferred plan to use Russian assets frozen on European soil. The decision came early Friday morning after marathon talks at a summit in Brussels. Ukraine won’t need to repay the loan until Moscow compensates Kyiv with reparations — and in the meantime, the Russian assets will remain immobilized in the EU. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

2d ago

On today's podcast: 1) President Trump looked to reassure Americans concerned about the rising cost of living by announcing plans to award a special holiday payment to military service members and roll out new housing reforms in the new year. Trump announced the plans Wednesday during a prime-time address from the White House, which he used to extol his accomplishments from his first year back in the White House and convince voters they should still blame his predecessor for persistent economic anxieties. Trump’s biggest announcement was a move to award service members $1,776 payments, a decision that should provide a holiday boost to 1.45 million Americans. 2) The US has approved a package of arms sales to Taiwan worth up to $11 billion — one of its biggest ever — a move that drew criticism from Beijing. The approvals announced late Wednesday by the State Department cover a broad range of equipment, including missiles, drones and artillery systems aimed at strengthening the democracy’s defenses. The package includes the High Mobility Artillery Rocket System, or HIMARS, valued at up to $4.05 billion and howitzer guns worth about $4 billion. The total value of the weaponry is up to $11.154 billion, according to a statement from Taiwan’s Defense Ministry. The State Department said that the final amount would be lower depending on factors such as budget authority and military needs. Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Guo Jiakun later said his nation “strongly opposes and condemns” the US arms sale. 3) European Union leaders will try to overcome staunch resistance to both a funding plan for Ukraine and a massive trade deal with South America during a summit in Brussels starting Thursday — insisting that the bloc’s reputation is on the line. The gathering has taken on unusually high stakes as the EU is up against deadlines on both fronts. Officials say the EU’s Ukraine funding plans could fall apart if no agreement is found at the summit, forcing everyone back to the drawing board. And the trade pact with the Mercosur bloc — Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay and Uruguay — may enter a prolonged freeze if the EU can’t approve it before a tentative signing ceremony on Saturday See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

3d ago

On today's podcast: 1) President Trump ordered a blockade of sanctioned oil tankers going into and leaving Venezuela, ratcheting up pressure on Caracas as the US builds up its military presence in the region. The move threatens to choke off the economic lifeblood of a country that was already under severe financial pressure. But it will have a less profound impact on global markets due to the diminished status of Venezuela’s oil industry. The OPEC member’s crude output has slumped about 70% through more than 25 years of socialist rule to less than 1 million barrels a day. It could potentially rebound if the governing regime were to change. 2) The US is preparing a fresh round of sanctions on Russia’s energy sector to increase the pressure on Moscow should President Vladimir Putin reject a peace agreement with Ukraine, according to people familiar with the matter. The US is considering options, such as targeting vessels in Russia’s so-called shadow fleet of tankers used to transport Moscow’s oil, as well as traders who facilitate the transactions, said the people who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss private deliberations. The new measures could be unveiled as early as this week. 3) OpenAI is in initial discussions to raise at least $10 billion from Amazon.com Inc. and use its chips, a potential win for the online retailer’s effort to broaden its AI industry presence and compete with Nvidia Corp. The deal under discussion could value OpenAI north of $500 billion and see it adopt Amazon’s Trainium chip, a person with knowledge of the matter said, asking to remain anonymous to describe private negotiations. Talks, however, are at a preliminary stage and terms could change, the person added. A deal would mark a win for Amazon’s fledgling semiconductor division. While Nvidia dominates the market for the powerful chips required to create AI platforms, developers such as Meta Platforms Inc. are starting to explore rival offerings from the likes of Alphabet Inc.’s Google. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

4d ago

On today's podcast: 1) US negotiators offered more significant security guarantees to Kyiv as part of President Trump’s renewed push to end the Russia-Ukraine war, but the effort still appeared part of a bid to pressure President Volodymyr Zelenskiy on territory. The Trump administration offered to provide Ukraine with strong “Article 5-like” security guarantees — a reference to NATO’s mutual defense clause — as part of the current deal to find a diplomatic solution to the conflict, a US official told reporters, without providing any details. Later on Monday, Trump said a negotiated end to the war was “closer than” ever and that the US was working with Europe on security guarantees. But then he appeared to suggest Ukraine ought to give up land as part of the deal. 2) Nick Reiner, 32, was arrested and booked for the murder of his parents, the Hollywood director and actor Rob Reiner and photographer Michele Singer Reiner. The son was being held in jail in Los Angeles on no bail, the Los Angeles Police Department said in a statement on X. The case will be presented to the Los Angeles County District Attorney for filing consideration on Tuesday. Reiner, who directed 1980s classics like The Princess Bride and This Is Spinal Tap, was found dead Sunday at his home with his wife, both of whom appeared to have died from stab wounds, NBC News and other outlets reported, citing a source close to the family. 3) Shock over a shooting rampage at Brown University over the weekend is giving way to frustration over the lack of video footage and suspects. Authorities in Providence, Rhode Island, said Monday they hadn’t identified any new persons of interest in the shooting that killed two people and injured nine on the Ivy League campus Saturday afternoon. A person detained earlier was released late Sunday, and officials have said a lack of clear security-camera footage from inside the Barus & Holley engineering building where the shooting took place has slowed the search. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

5d ago

On today's podcast: 1) Brown University, mourning two students killed during a shooting rampage Saturday, sent students home and called off final exams, classes and assignments for the fall semester. A blanket of snow covered the campus and downtown Providence, Rhode Island, on Sunday morning as the Ivy League school reeled from its first encounter with mass violence. Students recounted barricading themselves in their homes, waiting out the shelter-in-place orders by huddling together in the dark for hours as a manhunt ensued for the suspect who opened fire as the undergrads were preparing for exams. The shooting interrupted the second day of finals on Brown’s campus, shattering the calm in a study session in the Barus & Holley engineering building. 2) Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and state leaders pledged to strengthen gun laws a day after a father and son killed 15 people in the nation’s deadliest terror attack. The National Cabinet has tasked police ministers and attorneys-general to explore options including caps on the number of firearms an individual can hold, limits on open-ended licenses, stricter rules on the allowed types of guns and modifications, and a requirement that license holders be Australian citizens. Albanese also said in a statement following an emergency National Cabinet meeting that ministers pledged to eradicate antisemitism, hate, violence and terrorism. 3) Hollywood director and actor Rob Reiner, who helmed 1980s classics like The Princess Bride and This Is Spinal Tap, died Sunday in murky circumstances that triggered a police investigation. He was 78. Reiner was discovered in his Los Angeles home alongside wife Michele Singer Reiner, both of whom appeared to have died from stab wounds, NBC News and other US outlets reported, citing sources close to the family. Representatives for Reiner didn’t immediately respond to requests for comment. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Dec 12

Bloomberg Daybreak Weekend with Host Nathan Hager take a look at some of the stories we'll be tracking in the coming week. In the US – a look ahead to the November jobs report and quarterly earnings from Nike. In the UK – a look ahead to the Conference of Paris. In Asia – a look ahead to the next monetary policy decision from the Bank of Japan. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Dec 12

On today's podcast: 1) Global stock gauges have record highs in their sights after a week in which affirmation that the Federal Reserve’s interest-rate easing cycle remains intact helped clear the way for a year-end rally. Europe’s Stoxx 600 rose as much as 0.5% to a fresh peak. A measure for Asia advanced to less than 2% from its all-time high. S&P 500 futures were slightly lower after the benchmark posted a new closing milestone in the previous session, when gauges for blue-chip and small-cap US stocks also pushed into record territory. 2) Broadcom Inc., a chip company vying with Nvidia Corp. for AI computing revenue, slumped after its sales outlook for the red-hot market failed to meet investors’ lofty expectations. The shares fell about 5% in premarket trading on Friday, following unsettling commentary from Chief Executive Officer Hock Tan on a conference call with analysts. He said the company has a backlog of $73 billion in AI product orders that will be shipped over the next six quarters — a number that disappointed some investors. But Tan sought to clarify that the figure was a “minimum.” 3) President Trump said the US would be willing to contribute assistance to Ukraine as part of a security agreement to end the war with Russia, but continued to express frustration with the pace of talks. Still, he expressed disappointment that Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskiy had not more readily signed off on an American peace plan, adding to pressure on officials in Kyiv who pushed back on an earlier US proposal seen as too accommodating to Moscow. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.