Legacy technology has IT and cybersecurity teams feeling overwhelmed. Research shows that 59% of security decision makers feel unprepared for the future with their current tools. What can they do to stand on firmer ground? Learn more later in the podcast. Are you looking for a new podcast about stuff related to money? Well, today's your lucky day. I'm Matt Levine. And I'm Katie Greifel.
and we are the hosts of Money Stuff, the podcast. Every Friday, we dive into the top stories about Wall Street, finance, and other stuff. We have fun, we get weird, and we want you to join us. You can listen to Money Stuff, the podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts. Bloomberg Audio Studios. Podcasts, Radio, News.
Good morning, I'm Nathan Hager. And I'm Karen Moscow. Here are the stories we're following today. Karen, we begin with the latest on President-elect Donald Trump's cabinet picks. Hedge fund chief Scott Besant is his nominee to become the next Treasury Secretary. We get more from Bloomberg's Doug Krasner.
Bessent runs the macro hedge fund Key Square Group and he has deep familiarity with global financial systems and currency markets. Many of Bessent's views are well known, particularly his 3-3-3 policy. Cutting the budget deficit to 3% of GDP by 2028, spurring GDP growth of 3% through deregulation
and producing an additional 3 million barrels of U.S. crude oil per day. He's also talked about a phased-in approach to tariffs and extending Trump's tax cuts. In New York, I'm Doug Kriesner, Bloomberg Radio. Alright, Doug, thanks for the market reaction to Donald Trump's pick of Scott Besson for Treasury. Secretary has been a positive one.
Stocks and treasuries are rising and currencies around the world are gaining against the dollar. As Bloomberg's Kevin White Law reports, investors believe the best in choice will inject more stability into the economy and financial markets. As a hedge fund manager, he's sort of deep in that sort of Wall Street world and has a pretty good reputation among his colleagues for someone who understands how markets work. And so I do think that there is a pretty big sigh of relief from investors to say at least there's going to be someone in the room who can speak for the markets and the pick also suggests that Trump
is eager to find ways to make sure that the markets approve of what he's doing. Bloomberg's Kevin White Law adds that Bessent is called for a gradual approach to implementing trade restrictions and has appeared open to negotiating on the exact size of tariffs. When Karen Bessent himself says he's going to focus on following through on Trump's tax cut in tariff pledges once he takes office. The hedge fund manager tells the Wall Street Journal putting tariffs in place and reducing spending will also be a focus.
Scott Besant at Treasury was part of a flurry of cabinet announcement to end the week, Nathan, the president-elect named Oregon Congressman Lori Chavez-Deremer as Labor Secretary, former NFL player Scott Turner as his choice to lead the Department of Housing and Urban Development. Marty McCarry is getting the nod to lead the Food and Drug Administration. Dave Weldon, his Trump's pick to direct the Centers for Disease Control, and Fox News contributor Jeanette Nazawad is in line to be the next Surgeon General.
Well, Karen, some of Trump's other cabinet picks could be in line for tough scrutiny on Capitol Hill. Republican Senator James Langford says he has questions about his director of national intelligence, Tulsi Gabbard. She met with Bishirah Saad. We want to know what the purpose was and what the direction for that was as a member of Congress. We want to get a chance to talk about past comments that she's made and get them into full context.
Senator Langford appeared on CNN's State of the Union. Democratic Senator Tammy Duckworth says she's concerned about defense secretary designate Pete Hegset's view that women should not serve in combat. He's just flat out wrong. Our military could not go to war without the women who were at this uniform. And frankly, America's daughters are just as capable of defending liberty and freedom as her sons. Senator Duckworth is a double amputee from her service in the war in Iraq. She appeared on CBS's Face The Nation Heard Sundays on Bloomberg Radio.
Nathan, while the incoming Trump administration staffs up, the Biden administration is trying to clinch a ceasefire in the Middle East before it leaves office. Now Israel's ambassador to the U.S. says his country is close to an agreement with Hezbollah in Lebanon. Michael Herzog told Israel's army radio, it could happen within days. It's unclear whether Hezbollah would accept a deal. The Iran-backed militant group fired at least 250 rockets and drones into Israel yesterday alone.
White House, Middle East envoy, Amos Hoxstein, was 11 on in Israel last week on another round of shuttle diplomacy. Turning to markets now, Karen, as we mentioned, stock futures are higher fueled by President-elect Trump's of Scott Bessin to the choice there as the next Treasury Secretary. Nadia Lovell, senior U.S. equity strategist for Global Wealth Management at UBS, says the environment remains positive for stocks.
You have a changing of the garden in terms of the government with the red sweep. There is some uncertainty around government policy and the risk that it could post to markets. But fundamentally, the economy is still remains quite strong. We have an economy that's growing above trend, two and a half percent. Pacing in the current quarter, a consumer that's still strong. And a fact that's also now reducing interest rates. And now all of that should be supported to the market
UBS's Nadia level expects the S&P 500 to hit 6600. By the end of 2025, that's a more than 10% gain from current levels. Well, Nathan Wall Street is looking at a holiday short and trading week with several tech companies and retailers scheduled to report. We get a preview with Bloomberg's Charlie Pillard.
The S&P 500 index begins the week close to a record as strategists release their forecasts for 2025 and beyond. Phil Orlando is Chief Equity Market Strategist at Federated Hermes. Ultimately, share prices reflect stronger earnings and we could see the S&P 500
You know, from 6,000 now, let's call it up into the 7,500 neighborhood as we look out over the next couple of years. This week's Tech earnings reports include CrowdStrike, HP, Inc., and Dell Technologies among retailers Best Buy and Macy's will provide further insight into the health of U.S. consumers. In New York, Charlie Palette, Bloomberg Radio.
Thank you, Charlie, and in Europe, Unicredit has made a $10.6 billion all-share bid for domestic rival Banco BPM. The acquisition would make Unicredit Italy's largest lender by total assets. The offer comes during a lull in Unicredits' efforts to buy its German rival Commerce Bank, which faces stiff opposition from the government in Berlin.
But it's time now for a look at some of the other stories making news in New York and around the world. And for that, we're joined by Bloomberg's John Tucker, John Good morning. Good morning, Karen. The International Climate Summit has ended. After a bitter fight, there is a deal on climate finance. Let's get more this morning in this report from Bloomberg's Gina Cervetti.
Nearly 200 countries agreed to triple the amount of money available to help developing countries confront rapidly warming temperatures. But the deal reached at the close of the two-week COP 29 summit in Azerbaijan resulted from fractious and at times openly hostile negotiations, producing an agreement that even its supporters may see as insufficient and disappointing.
Rich countries have pledged to provide at least 300 billion annually by 2035 through a wide variety of sources, including public finance, as well as bilateral and multilateral deals. Gina Cervetti, Bloomberg Radio. A hearing is set today for the Menendez brothers as they try to convince a court to let them go free 35 years after they murdered their parents.
going in front of a judge for the first time in their new attempt to go free. The Menendez brothers are expected to attend today's hearing but remotely from prison. The brothers claim they should go free because they've been model prisoners and in a separate argument they claim there's new evidence that their convictions should be vacated. A little-known pro-Russian candidate was sent to win the first round of Romania's presidential election after an unprecedented backlash against establishment candidates.
Kaylin Georgescu ran as an independent and promoted himself on TikTok, secured 23% of the vote. The result amounts to a sharper putiation of established parties in the Eastern European Union and NATO member state. The United Nations says the deadliest place for women is at home. And 140 women and girls on average were killed by an intimate partner or family member per day last year.
The report released today on the International Day for the elimination of violence against women, so the increase was largely the result of more data being available. The game show Giant has died.
Good morning everybody, thank you Charlie. Welcome to Wheel of Fortune. Chuck Wooray was 83. His decades-long career included hosting Love Connection, Scrabble, even taking his spin at Wheel of Fortune in 1975. Years before Pat and Vanna, later in life, he hosted a right-wing podcast, Global News 24 Hours Day, and whatever you wanted with Bloomberg News now, I'm John Tucker, and this is Bloomberg Karen.
All right, John Tucker, thank you. As criminal ransomware and state-sponsored attacks continue to escalate, a bolted-on approach to cybersecurity isn't cutting it. In fact, the more security tools an organization uses, the more security incidents it has. According to new research from Google, companies that use 10 or more security tools average 14 incidents per year. That's more than double the amount for those that use fewer than 10 tools.
To proactively manage cyber attacks, organizations should invest in productivity tools across email, documents, and video conferencing that are secure by design, hopping off the treadmill of software patching and lightning the load on their embattled IT and cybersecurity teams. To learn more, visit g.co slash workspace slash more secure.
Wings, nuggets, eggs, no matter the form, Americans love their chicken. The chicken industry is one of the largest and most complex supply chains that America has. These birds are big business, and we wanted to get to the bottom of it.
Welcome to Beat Capitalism, brought to you by Oddbox. In this special three-part series from Bloomberg Podcasts, we are going to examine some of the thorniest issues facing the US economy through the medium of this humble bird.
So there's going to be chicken puns. There are definitely going to be chicken puns. We're going to be asking why the chicken industry has evolved the way that it has. And what does it say about the American economy that so many consumers are flocking to poultry? There's another one for you. Listen to beat capitalism from odd lots out now on Apple podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts.
Time now for the Bloomberg Sports Update brought to you by Tri-State Audi. Here's John Stashauer. John, good morning. Good morning, Karen, for the Giants. Things have gone from bad to worse. Welcome to the MetLife Tampa Bay, who had lost its last four by half time. The Bucks led 23 to nothing. Had 245 more yards of offense. The final was 30 to 7. The quarterback switched to Tommy DeVito. Hardly mattered, not with the way the Giants defense played. Giants are 2 and 9. They've lost six in a row. They're 0 and 6 at home. The coach is Brian Dable.
You know, get down 23 and nothing, you know, changes a complexion of the game. Some had a good drive coming out of half, turn the football over. So just, just not good enough and that all starts with me. The way things are going on, owner John Maris going to have to at least consider firing day ball two years ago as coach of the year. Maris famously said that if Saquon Barkley leaves the Giants and signs with Philadelphia,
He'll have a hard time sleeping. How'd his sleep go last night after the Giants debacle? Barkley rushed for 255 yards. The Eagles won their seventh in a row 37 to 20 over the Rams in Washington. Wild fourth quarter with Dallas. Commanders had an 86 yard touchdown with 21 seconds left. Just needed the extra point for overtime. Cyberics gotta have butterflies here.
For the tie, low snap, it is no good.
And the worst special teams day in history has a fitting finish. In five sports, they missed three kicks and had two kick-offs returned for a touchdown. Dallas doing it after an on-side kick attempt. The Cowboys won 34 to 26 to end a five-game losing streak. The next one in Sacramento 108 to 103. Geno, the 21-year-old from Thailand rallied late to win the Women's Golf in Naples, Florida. She won the historically large first-place prize of $4 million.
John Stash, our Bloomberg sports counter Nathan. Coast to coast on Bloomberg radio nationwide on Sirius XM and around the world on Bloomberg.com and the Bloomberg Business app. This is Bloomberg Daybreak. Good morning. I'm Nathan Hager. Investors appear to be cheering President-elect Donald Trump's choice of Scott Bessent to lead the Treasury Department. Patrick Armstrong, Chief Investment Officer at Plarimi Wealth says Trump could have gone in a much different direction.
It could have been somebody who was very pro-terris, very much cutting taxes, but no offsetting fiscal discipline. Those were the worries that Wall Street had. Patrick Armstrong of Plurimi Wealth spoke on Bloomberg Television this morning, and joining us now is Bloomberg News senior editor Bill Fairies. So Bill is Scott Bessent, the key square group founder seen as the market safe choice compared to what President-elect Trump could have done. Good morning.
Hey, good morning, Nathan. Yeah, I think so. I mean, when you look at the whole panopoli of people that President-elect Trump has chosen for his cabinet, there are some that have much more unconventional backgrounds. Scott Besant is not one of those. You know, he was a chief investment officer for the George Soros.
one of one of George Soros's funds. He's been running the macro hedge fund key square group. Listen, he's someone who has both feet firmly planted in Wall Street. He's a known quantity on the street. He has international connections and he was also a big supporter
of President-elect Trump throughout the campaign. And so speaks to those issues that Trump has said he cares about. But he's not an unknown quantity. And I think there was some concerns as this process dragged out over the last two weeks that there might be a wildcard thrown into the mix. In the end, Trump came back to, I think, what was his first instinct, the guy who's been helping him with his economic agenda all along during this campaign.
So what can we expect from Scott Bessent when it comes to implementing the economic agenda that President-elect Trump had talked about so much on Capitol Hill, particularly when it comes to tariffs?
Well, so he's been a supporter of tariffs, but I think it's the way he's talked about them that has eased some of the concern in markets. He's talked about the 60% tariffs on China as being a maximalist position.
When you describe it that way, people start to see a little bit more room for negotiation. I think there's this feeling that tariffs will be a tool for leverage over other countries, whether they're allies or rivals like China, but that there, you know, there is
potentially room to make a deal here. And that's, so I think the market reaction we've seen currencies, a lot of currencies around the world gaining against the dollar today. I think all of that is a reflection that this is someone you can do business with. Is this a reflection as well, Bill, about potential limits to Elon Musk's influence over President-elect Trump? I mean, he very publicly went for a Howard Lutnik for this role. And of course, Lutnik ended up going to the Commerce Department.
Yeah, I mean, I think, listen, Donald Trump, in the end, takes Donald Trump's advice more than anyone else's. I think, yeah, there was a push, not just by Elon Musk, but some by some other Trump supporters, to go with Letnik. He was kind of a late arrival to the Treasury debate, and that kind of sparked this more almost two-week delay, really, in Trump arriving at a candidate.
But yeah, and I think, listen, I think it also speaks to the importance of the treasury pick to a person like Donald Trump. I mean, he's a New Yorker. He's been around Wall Street his whole life. He did not want to make a choice that resulted in a bad day for the markets. So I think he was hearing from a lot of people who said this guy has a lot of credibility with us and will
I think that's the reaction the president-elect is seeing today. But yes, I do think that in the end it shows that Donald Trump really does make his own decisions, particularly on these appointments that are so important to him. So in our last minute, Bill, how can we expect Scott Bessent to lead Treasury differently than Trump's first Treasury Secretary, Steve Mnuchin did?
Well, I think, you know, you're going to see perhaps a little less pushback by Scott Bessent than you saw by Steve Mnuchin. I think, you know, Bessent is a little more in tune with some of Trump's views. I mean, we talked about, we talked about terrorists. Bessent has proposed that
there potentially be some kind of a shadow fed chief. And that would be, you know, basically someone lurking behind Jay Powell for the rest of his, I think, year and a half term in office. And remember, Steve Mnuchin was a big backer of Powell during Trump's first term, and that's something that I think President-elect Trump came to regret eventually. So I think we'll see, I think we'll see Bessent trying to find someone for that post who was perhaps more in line with President-elect Trump's use.
This is Bloomberg Daybreak, your morning podcast on the stories making news from Wall Street to Washington and beyond. Look for us on your podcast feed by 6 a.m. Eastern each morning on Apple Spotify or anywhere else you listen. You can also listen live each morning starting at 5 a.m. Wall Street time on Bloomberg 11 3 0 in New York Bloomberg 99 1 in Washington Bloomberg 929 in Boston and nationwide on Sirius XM channel 121.
Plus, listen coast to coast on the Bloomberg Business app now with Apple CarPlay and Android Auto interfaces. And don't forget to subscribe to Bloomberg News Now. It's the latest news whenever you want it in five minutes or less. Search Bloomberg News Now and your favorite podcast platform to stay informed all day long. I'm Karen Moscow. And I'm Nathan Hager. Join us again tomorrow morning for all the news you need to start your day right here on Bloomberg Daybreak.
Wings, nuggets, eggs, no matter the form, Americans love their chicken. The chicken industry is one of the largest and most complex supply chains that America has. These birds are big business, and we wanted to get to the bottom of it.
Welcome to Beat Capitalism, brought to you by AWPOS. In this special three-part series from Bloomberg Podcasts, we are going to examine some of the thorniest issues facing the US economy through the medium of this humble bird. Examine. Get it?
So there's going to be chicken puns. There are definitely going to be chicken puns. We're going to be asking why the chicken industry has evolved the way that it has. And what does it say about the American economy that so many consumers are flocking to poultry? There's another one for you. Listen to beat capitalism from odd lots out now on Apple podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts.
