Bloomberg Daybreak: US Edition

Today's top stories, with context, in just 15 minutes.

On today's podcast:
1) The Trump administration is preparing for the president to nominate Kevin Warsh to be the next Federal Reserve chair, according to people familiar with the matter. President Trump said Thursday he plans to announce his pick to lead the US central bank on Friday morning. The people, who requested anonymity to discuss matters not yet public, cautioned that the selection is not final until Trump makes a formal announcement. The White House and Warsh did not immediately respond to requests for comment. Warsh, a former Fed governor and one of the four finalists on Trump’s shortlist to be the next central bank leader, visited the White House on Thursday, one person said.
2) President Trump and Senate Democrats have reached a tentative deal to avert a disruptive US government shutdown as the White House continues to negotiate with the Democrats on placing new limits on immigration raids that have provoked a national outcry. Trump announced that an agreement had been reached and urged both parties to vote for it. However, lawmakers are almost certain to fail to enact the measure before a Friday night deadline. While a short funding lapse and partial government shutdown is now seen as the most likely scenario, the effect on federal operations would be minimal if it’s swiftly resolved within a couple days.
3) The Trump administration is seeking to scale down the number of federal officers in Minneapolis after the killing of two US citizens during immigration raids sparked a nationwide uproar and weeks of protests. Tom Homan, the administration’s “border czar,” said Thursday at a press conference in Minneapolis that officials from Customs and Border Protection and Immigration and Customs Enforcement are working on a “draw down plan” that hinges on cooperation from local, state and federal officials.

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Apple delivered record quarterly sales and a better-than-anticipated forecast for the current period, even as the company warned that rising component costs are threatening to squeeze margins.

Revenue will rise 13% to 16% in the second quarter, which runs through March, the company said Thursday during a conference call with analysts. That exceeded the 10% projected by Wall Street — showing that Apple can maintain momentum after an iPhone-fueled sales surge in the December quarter.

For instant reaction and analysis, Bloomberg Businessweek Daily cohosts Carol and Tim speak with:

• Bloomberg News Managing Editor for Global Consumer Tech Mark Gurman
• Bloomberg Tech Co-Host Ed Ludlow

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Today's top stories, with context, in just 15 minutes.

On today's podcast:
1) The world’s largest tech firms show no signs of easing up on AI spending, a record wave that’s propelling hardware providers like Samsung Electronics Co. and SK Hynix Inc. That’s even as doubts persist about the staying power of artificial intelligence demand to justify all that capital. Meta Platforms Inc. alone revealed ambitions to spend as much as $135 billion this year — one of the biggest planned outlays of the business sphere. Meta, Microsoft and fellow hyperscalers such as Amazon.com Inc. and Alphabet Inc., are driving a wave of global spending on chips, servers and computers that’s firing up hardware suppliers around the world, particularly in Asia. A procession of industry linchpins’s results this week further underscored how voracious the appetite for AI hardware has grown — and how that’s likely to extend well into 2026.
2) Tesla Inc. has planned $20 billion of spending this year to streamline its electric-vehicle lineup and shift resources toward robotics and AI, part of a sweeping set of changes pushing the company further from its roots as an automobile manufacturer. The capital expenditure plans laid out Wednesday – roughly twice as much as Wall Street was expecting – will support production expansion at multiple factories, scaling up the nascent robotaxi business and building out AI infrastructure. Tesla also revealed plans to discontinue the Model S and X vehicles and devote that plant capacity to building Optimus humanoid robots.
3) Jerome Powell has two more opportunities to adjust interest rates before his term as Federal Reserve chair ends — and he may not need them. After the Fed kept borrowing costs on hold Wednesday, Powell talked up a “clear improvement” in the US outlook and said the job market shows signs of steadying. It signals a cautious optimism: Fed officials delivered three cuts last fall, and see nothing in the latest data to suggest more are needed to prop up the economy. Futures markets expect no shift in rates before June. By then, Powell’s term as chair will have ended and a new one should be in place — likely opening another phase of President Trump’s campaign for lower rates, which has upended the Fed over the past year. In a potential sign of what’s coming, the only two officials who voted for another cut this week were Governor Stephen Miran — on leave at the Fed from his post as a top Trump aide — and Governor Christopher Waller, one of four names on Trump’s shortlist of potential Powell successors.

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Bloomberg Businessweek Daily hosts Carol Massar and Tim Stenovec break down earnings from Tesla, Microsoft and Meta as heard live on Bloomberg Radio and on YouTube.

Microsoft's spending surged to a record high and cloud sales growth slowed, sending the shares down amid investor concerns that it could take longer than expected for the company’s AI investments to pay off. Microsoft shares fell about 5% in extended trading after closing at $481.63 in New York.

Meta Platforms topped projections for quarterly revenue and gave a strong forecast for the current period, boosted by a robust online advertising business that is making it possible for the company to invest in artificial intelligence at record levels this year. The social-media company’s shares jumped more than 11% in extended trading. Meta on Wednesday said first-quarter sales will be $53.5 billion to $56.5 billion, beating the $51.3 billion average analyst estimate.

And Tesla plans to invest about $2 billion into xAI, giving Elon Musk’s artificial-intelligence startup a cash infusion despite a shareholder vote last year that failed to win approval. Its shares rose in extended trading.
Carol and Tim speak with:

• Bloomberg Intelligence Senior Technology Analyst Anurag Rana
• James Cakmak, Co-Founder and Chief Investment Officer at Clockwise Capital
• Bloomberg News Senior Technology Reporter Kurt Wagner
• Bloomberg Tech Co-Host Ed Ludlow
• Bloomberg Intelligence Global Autos and Industrials Research Manager Steve Man

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Bloomberg's Tom Keene and Jonathan Ferro discuss remarks from Fed Chair Jay Powell following the Federal Reserve's latest policy decision on a special edition of Bloomberg Surveillance.

Federal Reserve officials left interest rates unchanged and pointed to improvements in the US economy as they signaled a more cautious approach to potential future adjustments.

The Federal Open Market Committee voted 10-2 Wednesday to hold the benchmark federal funds rate in a range of 3.5%-3.75%. Governors Christopher Waller and Stephen Miran dissented in favor of a quarter-point reduction.

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Bloomberg's Tom Keene and Jonathan Ferro break down the Federal Reserve's latest policy decision on a special edition of Bloomberg Surveillance

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On today's podcast:
1) President Trump said he was looking to “de-escalate” in Minnesota with a reshuffle of the leadership running his deportation effort in the state following widespread outcry over the killing of two US citizens by federal agents. Still, the president denied he was pulling back his immigration crackdown and said that Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem would remain in her post, as he looked to signal a recalibration rather than a retreat in the aftermath of the Jan. 24 fatal shooting of 37-year-old intensive care nurse Alex Pretti by a Border Patrol agent during an enforcement operation. Meantime, US Representative Ilhan Omar was charged at by a man who appeared to squirt an unknown liquid on her during a town hall gathering in Minneapolis, as she called for consequences for the federal officials overseeing President Trump’s aggressive immigration policies.
2) President Trump’s relaxed tone about the dollar selloff is fueling speculation the US currency is at the start of a longer-term decline. The dollar suffered its deepest one-day drop since last year’s tariff rollout after Trump said on Tuesday he didn’t think the currency had weakened excessively. Bloomberg’s dollar gauge slid as much as 1.2% as the comments sapped the appeal of the greenback and US Treasuries — boosting what has become known as the debasement trade. The dollar’s recent decline is great for US businesses, Trump told reporters in Iowa. While that’s in line with previous commentary from US officials, his remarks moved currency markets late Tuesday, partly because they appeared to validate the steep decline in the greenback in recent sessions.
3) Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell may try to direct attention back to the economy this week, with the US central bank widely expected to hold interest rates steady after three straight reductions. But Powell’s first press conference since the Fed was served grand jury subpoenas — and coming days after the Supreme Court heard arguments regarding the attempted removal of another Fed governor — is bound to include questions about political pressure, central bank independence and what the Fed chief plans to do after his term as chair ends in May. A decision to hold rates steady this month is likely to garner broad support from policymakers following a series of contentious cuts. While the majority of officials agreed in those instances to backstop a weakening labor market, another group of policymakers pushed for the focus to remain on elevated inflation.

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On today's podcast:
1) President Trump indicated he’ll make changes to his administration’s deportation crackdown in Minnesota after the killing of two US citizens during immigration raids sparked nationwide uproar. The president said he was sending US border czar Tom Homan — who is seen as relatively measured compared to rivals, including Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem — to Minneapolis in a bid to deescalate tensions. Trump also spoke with top Democratic officials in the state. He told Governor Tim Walz, who he has derided as “grossly incompetent,” that he would consider independent investigations into the shootings and reducing the number of federal agents in his state. The president described a subsequent conversation with Jacob Frey as “very good” and said Homan planned to meet with the Minneapolis mayor on Tuesday “in order to continue the discussion.”
2) Prime Minister Keir Starmer said the UK wouldn’t have to choose between the US and China, as he heralded “significant opportunities” for British businesses ahead of his trip to Beijing this week. In an interview with Bloomberg on Monday, Starmer dismissed questions about whether he was seeking stronger ties with China at the expense of the UK’s relationship with its closest allies. Starmer’s trip to China — the first by a British prime minister in eight years — comes on the heels of a similar delegation by Canadian counterpart Mark Carney that drew fresh tariff threats from President Trump. 
3) President Trump threatened to hike tariffs on goods imported from South Korea to 25%, citing what he said was the failure of the country’s legislature to codify the trade deal the two nations reached last year. Trump in a social media post on Monday said the new rate would apply to autos, lumber, pharmaceutical products and “all other Reciprocal TARIFFS.” Under the existing agreement, the president set a 15% levy on South Korean exports. If implemented, the move could have wide-ranging effects on major South Korean companies that export to the US, such as Hyundai Motor Co., which sent 1.1 million vehicles to America in 2024. 

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On today's podcast:
1) US power grids are expected to grapple with unprecedented seasonal demand and the threat of blackouts after a damaging winter storm coated parts of the South and Mid-Atlantic in ice — leaving brutal cold in its wake. More than 800,000 homes and businesses nationwide are currently without electricity as snow and ice wreak havoc on local distribution lines. Grids so far have avoided larger system-level cuts, but frigid wind chills will likely persist all week, testing seasonal power-demand records from New England to Texas. In the New York metropolitan area, commuter lines run by the Metropolitan Transportation Authority will be operating with modified schedules on Monday, while at least one private bus operator, Boxcar, used by New Jersey workers, suspended its service because of the inclement weather.
2) Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer vowed to block a massive spending package next week unless Republicans strip funding for the Department of Homeland Security, dramatically increasing the risk for a partial US government shutdown. Schumer’s announcement came on the same day that a Border Patrol agent shot and killed an American intensive care unit nurse in Minnesota during protests over the immigration crackdown in that state. The man was identified by state and local officials as Alex Pretti. Democratic opposition to the funding package potentially affects not just Homeland Security but also the departments of Defense, Labor, Education, State, Treasury and Health and Human Services. The effects would be widespread, including possibly delaying the next Bureau of Labor Statistics report.
3) President Trump threatened Canada with 100% tariffs against all its exports to the US if it makes a trade deal with China, escalating tensions between the US and its northern neighbor. Trump, referring to Prime Minister Mark Carney as “Governor Carney,” said the Canadian leader was “sorely mistaken” for opening up his country to more business from China, including a recent deal allowing an increase in Chinese electric vehicle exports. Trump and key administration officials have denounced that bilateral agreement and warned of potential consequences, including an additional levy for Canadian goods, portending a difficult renegotiation for the US-Mexico-Canada free trade agreement scheduled in the summer.

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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 earnings from Tesla and some of the biggest names in tech.
• In the UK – a look ahead to the UK Prime Minister’s visit to China.
• In Asia – a look ahead to Apple’s earnings and why business in Asia is a key focal point.

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