Bloomberg Businessweek

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A small fleet of ships booked by Chevron Corp. is sailing to Venezuela as the company emerges as the only exporter of the country’s oil following the ouster of President Nicolas Maduro by US forces.
Chevron is poised to export more Venezuelan oil this month than last, with at least 11 ships scheduled to arrive in the Venezuelan government-controlled ports of Jose and Bajo Grande, according to preliminary data compiled by Bloomberg.

All eyes are on the Houston-based company to see if it will begin shipping out more Venezuelan crude after US President Donald Trump said he wanted “total access” to the country’s vast reserves. Chevron is the only Western firm allowed to produce and export crude oil in Venezuela amid American sanctions and it operates under a license granted by the Treasury Department. It is responsible for nearly 25% of the nation’s production and oversees the crude through delivery to fuel-makers in the US Gulf and East Coast markets.

Today's show features:

• Peter Tchir, Head of Macro Strategy at Academy Securities, on the market impact of the US military action in Venezuela and removal of Nicolas Maduro
• Bloomberg News Cross-Asset Reporter Denitsa Tsekova and Bloomberg News Financial Regulation Reporter Lydia Beyoud on the Bloomberg Big Take on the prediction market boom
• David Royal, Chief Financial & Investment Officer at Thrivent, on the 2026 investing outlook, the oil market, and the situation in Venezuela
• Christina Lee, Co-portfolio Manager for US Private Debt strategy at Oaktree Capital Management, on the M&A outlook and key credit market trends to watch

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Realizing President Donald Trump’s plan for a US-led revival of Venezuela’s beleaguered oil industry could be a years-long and challenging process costing upwards of $100 billion.

Years of corruption, underinvestment, fires and thefts have left the nation’s crude infrastructure in tatters. Rebuilding it enough to lift Venezuela’s output back to its peak levels of the 1970s would require companies to invest about $10 billion per year over the next decade, according to Francisco Monaldi, director of Latin American energy policy at Rice University’s Baker Institute for Public Policy. That’s equivalent to more than a third of what Exxon Mobil Corp. — the largest US oil company — has budgeted this year for capital expenditures around the entire globe. Francisco discusses the many challenges ahead for both Venezuela and the US in the post-Maduro era with Carol Massar and Tim Stenovec on Bloomberg Businessweek Daily.

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Venezuela Regroups With New President, Old Repression Tactics

Venezuela’s government is reasserting itself after the capture of Nicolás Maduro, swearing in Delcy Rodríguez as acting president and flashing warning signs that a new wave of repression has begun.

As the government continued to churn inside the presidential palace Miraflores, Venezuela’s military counterintelligence officials have been patrolling the streets of Caracas, according to at least two witnesses. At least seven journalists and members of the press were detained on Monday morning and early afternoon, most of them at the National Assembly and its surroundings, according to the national press workers syndicate.

Heavily armed security forces and pro-government motorcycle gangs known as colectivos were seen roaming the capital, at times stopping drivers and checking their phones. While they aren’t as influential as they were at the height of Maduro’s power, the State Department has said they have been responsible for killings during protests.

Venezuela’s information ministry didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.

Today's show features:

• Rockford Weitz, Professor of Practice & Director of the Maritime Studies Program at Tufts University's Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy, on US military action in Venezuela
• Mike Collins, Managing Director and Executive Portfolio Advisor for Fixed Income at PGIM, on key developments in the bond market
• Bloomberg Economics Geo-Economic Analyst for Latin America Jimena Zuniga on the global economic implications of the US ousting Nicolas Maduro from power
• Sam Stovall, Chief Investment Strategist for CFRA Research, on the investing outlook to begin 2026

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Oil steadied on the first trading day of 2026 as expectations for a supply surplus offset geopolitical risks to production in several OPEC+ nations. Middle Eastern markets, including derivatives like the regional Dubai benchmark, faltered amid heavy selling pressure on a key trading window in Asian hours, traders familiar with the matter said. Faced with a seasonal lull in consumption, the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries is leaning toward caution.

Tim Moore is a Senior Research Analyst at Clear Street who leads the firm's coverage of the clean energy transition, as well as the oil and gas industry. He discusses the oil market outlook as well as some of the clean energy players that stand to make gains in the year ahead. Tim speaks with Carol Massar, Tim Stenovec and Bloomberg News Big Oil reporter Kevin Crowley on Bloomberg Businessweek Daily.

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President Donald Trump said the US would run Venezuela until a transition could be organized, hours after a US operation captured leader Nicolás Maduro, ousting the strongman from power after months of mounting military and economic pressure on his regime.
“We’re going to run the country until such time as we can do a safe, proper and judicious transition,” Trump said Saturday at a press conference at his Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida. “So we don’t want to be involved with having somebody else get in, and we have the same situation that we had for the last long period of years.”
Trump said the US administration of Venezuela would include deploying US oil companies to the country, though indicated that his embargo “on all Venezuelan oil remains in full effect” and that US forces would stay on alert.

Bloomberg's Joe Mathieu and Christina Ruffini speak with: 

• Rep. Brad Schneider (D-Illinois)
• Justin Logan, director of defense and foreign policy studies at the Cato Institute.
• Jeanne Sheehan Zaino, Democracy Visiting Fellow at Harvard Kennedy School's Ash Center and Bloomberg Politics Contributor & Lester Munson, Principal of the International Practice at BGR Group and Republican Strategist

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Watch Carol and Tim LIVE every day on YouTube: http://bit.ly/3vTiACF.

New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani rescinded all executive orders issued by his predecessor over the last 15 months as part of a flurry of actions as the city’s new leader took office Jan. 1.

The directive revoked all executive orders former mayor Eric Adams had issued since Sept. 26, 2024, the day he was indicted on federal corruption charges. Those charges were later dropped by the Justice Department under President Donald Trump. Mamdani’s action is designed to ensure “a fresh start for the incoming administration,” the mayor’s office said in a statement. 

Among the orders revoked were two controversial items, including one that barred certain city officials from engaging in procurement practices “that discriminate against the State of Israel, Israeli citizens, or those associated with Israel.” It also outlined similar guidance for city pension officials to prohibit divesting from Israel-related holdings.

An earlier action, adopted in June, codified a broad definition of antisemitism, which some opponents said conflated criticism of Israel’s government with prejudice against Jews. Adams maintained both orders were intended to support the city’s Jewish community, though others argued the more recent action was intended to undermine Mamdani’s term. Mamdani has been a vocal critic of Israel’s government and has supported the “Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions” movement.

Today's show features:

• Bloomberg News New York City and State Reporter Laura Nahmias on New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani's series of executive orders to begin his term
• Maribel Lopez, Founder & Enterprise AI Analyst at Lopez Research, and Carolina Milanesi, President and Principal Analyst at Creative Strategies, on what to expect at CES 2026
• David Schassler, Head of Multi-Asset Solutions at VanEck Funds, on the market outlook and the importance of gold to individual portfolios
• Ray Wang, CEO of Constellation Research and Co-Founder of AI Forum, and Bloomberg Tech Co-Host Ed Ludlow on Tesla ceding the title of world’s top seller of electric cars to China’s BYD

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Featuring some of our favorite conversations of the week from our daily radio show "Bloomberg Businessweek Daily."

Hosted by Carol Massar and Tim Stenovec

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AST SpaceMobile Inc. this month launched its largest-ever satellite from India, the first in a series of deployments to help the company compete against Elon Musk’s SpaceX in delivering space-based connectivity to mobile phones. The BlueBird 6 satellite took flight from the Satish Dhawan Space Center in southern India aboard the Indian Space Research Organization, or ISRO’s LVM3 rocket. It reached the low-Earth orbit in about 16 minutes, the live cast on YouTube showed. The successful launch is a big boost for the Texas-based company as well as India’s space program which wants to build its orbital space station among other ambitious projects.

Investors are taking notice of the growing number of publicly-traded firms within the fast-growing market for services related to space exploration, satellite technology and enhanced telecommunications. Greg Pendy serves as an equity research analyst at Clear Street, focusing on the disruptive technology sector. He discusses the key trends and firms to watch in 2026 with Carol Massar, Tim Stenovec and Bloomberg Tech Co-Host Ed Ludlow on Bloomberg Businessweek Daily

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Stocks and bonds slipped along with gold and silver on the last day of 2025, bringing a subdued close to an otherwise buoyant year across asset classes that saw US equities post their third straight double-digit gain.

The S&P 500 extended a stretch of post-Christmas losses, paring the benchmark’s advance for 2025 to roughly 17%. Even so, the index is on track for its longest yearly winning streak of gains since 2021. The Nasdaq 100 was down 0.2%. Laggards include big-tech names like Microsoft Corp., Meta Platforms Inc. and Micron Technology Inc.
Silver plunged as a run of heightened volatility featuring price moves of 5% or more entered a fourth day. CME Group raised margin requirements on precious-metal futures for the second time in the space of a week following the volatility.

Investors have enjoyed blockbuster returns this year in a market that has been powered by optimism about the vast economic potential of artificial intelligence and primed by Federal Reserve interest-rate cuts. It hasn’t been a smooth ride, though, with traders weathering swings triggered by a range of forces including US trade policies, geopolitical tensions, concern over lofty valuations and some uncertainty around the path of central-bank monetary policy.

Looking ahead into 2026, market research firm Bespoke Investment Group cautions against expecting solid market performance during the first trading day of the new year. Since 1953, the S&P 500’s median change to kick off a new year was a 0.3% drop, according to a note by Bespoke. The stock market has also traded lower on the first trading day of the each of the past three years, the note said.

Today's show features:

• Mike Green, Chief Strategist and Portfolio Manager for Simplify Asset Management
• Laura Champine, Director of Research and Consumer Sector Head at Tabor Asset Management,
• Manos Koukoumidis, CEO of Oumi, on why the AI investing landscape may become more challenged in 2026 and where the US stands its AI arms race with China
• Ross Gerber, Co-Founder, President and CEO of Gerber Kawasaki Wealth and Investment Management, on how the battle for Warner Bros. Discovery will be won

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Bitcoin briefly topped the $90,000 mark on Monday before erasing gains, leaving traders waiting on a potential breakout after the token missed a Santa rally that sent stocks to record highs. Other cryptocurrencies had also swung, with Ether up as much as 4% to surpass $3,000 before dropping into the red. In the build up to Christmas, Bitcoin was largely unmoved despite the S&P 500 surging to a record close. The wider crypto space has yet to recover from a weeks-long selloff that began in October with the liquidation of some $19 billion worth of leveraged positions, leaving Bitcoin below where it started 2025.
Abra is a global platform for digital asset prime services and wealth management that seeks to connect on-chain and off-chain ecosystems for private clients, family offices, hedge funds, venture capital and crypto infrastructure firms. The company's founder and CEO, Bill Barhydt, discusses both the investing and regulatory outlook for Bitcoin and crypto-related assets in 2026. Bill speaks with Carol Massar and Vonnie Quinn on Bloomberg Businessweek Daily.

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