Bloomberg Businessweek Weekend: July 24th 2026

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2:00Plus, global business, finance, and tech news as it happens. The Bloomberg Business Week Daily Podcast with Carol Masser and Tim Stenevec on Bloomberg Radio. Hi, everyone. Welcome to the Bloomberg Business Week Weekend Podcast. This past week, it was largely about the news flow from Washington to Wall Street that included an escalation in Middle East hostilities as the U.S. and Iran signaled a renewal of peace talks is unlikely in the near term as military attacks continued from both sides. Also, volatility in the equity markets around semiconductors and AI-related names as the start of the mega-cap earnings season got underway thanks to results from Tesla and Alphabet.

2:41Many other companies came out with results this past week. We were pretty busy poring over them, but we are really getting ready for this coming week's biggest drop of quarterly results, including four of the back seven. him. So we're going to be busy. Oh, we're going to be busy because we also have a Fed decision. Oh, yeah, there is that. Yeah. It's the second meeting under Fed chair Kevin Warsh. Inflation concerns being fueled by the ongoing war in the Middle East. That has continued to push up oil prices. As always, you can find the latest updates and coverage on the Bloomberg Terminal and at Bloomberg.com.

3:11When it comes to earnings this past week, though, we did get a read on investors thanks to Charles Schwab, which benefited from last quarter's market volatility and the SpaceX IPO. We talked about it all, plus the push into prediction markets with Charles Schwab's CEO, Rick Worcester. Plus, Bloomberg auto reporter Keith Naughton reflects on four decades on the global auto beat. All the twists and turns and bumps in the road, everything from bailouts and buyouts, Elon and EVs, and to China's coming of age. All of that to come, we begin with the state of crypto. Robinhood is continuing its push into the world of digital assets by expanding its services into the UK and Canada.

3:48This is analysts at Bernstein and Piper Sandler said this past week that Robinhood's revenue from prediction markets is set to overshadow that from cryptocurrency trading. We were curious what the company thought about that. For more, we caught up with Johan Kerberat, senior vice president and general manager for crypto and international at Robinhood. We've got this decline in crypto trading, and I think many people would argue it's related to the price action that we've seen since October. But at the same time, a catalyst in prediction markets with the World Cup. I'm just wondering how you're thinking about this universe of these two different elements of trading and how that affects your users.

4:25Like, are they doing less on crypto and more with prediction markets? We haven't seen that in our data when we look at our customer engagement on the platform. We do have contracts on the prediction market platform that are related to crypto index price and crypto actions. But overall, I think it's just one of this cycle where we see a bit the sentiment in crypto a little down. And overall, we are just focusing on building new tools and new features that people can utilize when the sentiment goes up. So when the sentiment goes up, not if the sentiment goes up, like you're confident it will go up.

4:57You know, we've seen all of these different cycles a lot. And I think this is not our first time, not our first radio. And I think the sentiment will come back. We saw it with the launch of our Robinhood chain July 1st. We've seen very good metrics, already 105 million transactions on the platform. So explain what the impetus behind that was and why you guys launched that now. Yeah, we really wanted to create an infrastructure and a backbone for creating new products that bring the value of DeFi and blockchain technology to our traditional finance systems. And so one of the first products that we launched with this chain is called Robin earn that gives you approximately 7 % on the dollar that you're lending to the protocol.

5:42And I think it's really giving you the best of two worlds, the high yield that you can get from DeFi and also the simple UX and UI that you can get from a platform like Robinhood. What do you guys really want to be? Prediction markets, crypto, you've got a platinum card, like there's a lot of stuff. And I think some, our critics might say, wait, you just kind of are chasing what seems to be popular. So what is it that you really want to be? I think for us, the main goal has been to be this all-in-one platform for all your financial needs. And for that, you need to cater to customers at different stages of their life, from the very young people that are starting to think about retirement, opening their first retirement account on Robinhood, like an IRA, to the more advanced customers that want to use authentic trading or AI tools.

6:26And also, at the same time, banking rails and credit cards are still something that you need on a day-to-day basis. But why not go to the establishment? Like to say, like we talked to the folk, you know, Rick Worcester, Rick Charles Schwab, but why not go to the establishment who are also embracing kind of the new innovation, if you will, in finance? Yeah, we absolutely are as well. If you see our market share and the growth of our business, it shows that we've been able to grab some of these customers from these more established businesses. But I think for us it's been important to have a wide array of features and functionalities.

7:01If you think about our credit card, we launched a gold credit card. We have more than a million customers now with this credit card. It really shows that there are a lot of things that we are used to on the financial side that we can disrupt. And Robinhood, by launching the gold card with 3 % cash back on almost everything, really changed the way that people were utilizing credit cards in the business. On the crypto side of things, we spoke to Nathan Dean of Bloomberg Intelligence. He said he actually agreed with Treasury Secretary Scott Besson, who said that we're at the one-yard line with the Clarity Act in the Senate.

7:35If that passes this year, what does it mean for your business? I think it really changed the way that we can launch product in the U.S. Right now, we have a very fragmented situation where some states will have access to some features and not. And it's something that really frustrates our customers. So we want to be able to launch products across the entire U.S. the same way that we are doing that in other regions in the world, like EU, for example. The second thing is a lot of institutions want to get into crypto. They understand that there is a value using stablecoin or tokenized asset, but they don't want to do it for the short term.

8:09If they don't have clear regulation, they are not going to be able to launch a project that will take five or six years to build. So it's really important to get this clarity, which, you know, the name of the act is very apropos. because we can, after this bill, really have a lot of institutions, companies like ours, invest in a long time for blockchain technologies. How do you think about politics and midterm elections and changes in the administration? This is certainly an administration that has been much more embracing, if you will, of digital assets. But I'm just curious how you guys factored in and think about it in terms of strategy or what you might need to get done or think about before the midterms or how you're thinking about it afterwards?

8:53Well, if you think about Robinhood, it exists since 2013, right? And so we have seen very different administration across the existence of the company and we are used to work with different administration. Hopefully, I think this time, when you see the entire world actually embracing crypto regulation, you think about Mika in the EU, you think about the FCA in the UK creating a new framework. we really saw a situation with the previous administration where the US were falling behind and crypto companies wanted to actually build outside of the US. So I think it's important that no matter the direction of the next administration will be that we have comprehensive regulation to embrace the technology and make people build in America again.

9:38You oversee the international business as well. And I'm just curious about the timeline or the pipeline that you have for products that we may not have in the U.S., but you can have overseas or have overseas, but not have here in the U.S. Like what is the breakdown right now? Yeah, one of the main product we have overseas and not in the U.S. is crypto perpetuals or future perpetuals. It's a primitive that was invented by crypto technology. and we are seeing a lot of demand from our customers and you see platforms that are decentralized, seeing a lot of volume coming from - Like a hyperliquid, for example?

10:16Like a hyperliquid, for example. In the EU, we have it available for crypto contracts, but also for commodities and ETF contracts. And it's something that we see a lot of engagement with. Meaning you think that it would be something that could happen here in the US at some point? I think so. I think there are still some discussion happening at the CFTC level, but it sounds like it's something that we are looking to open in the U.S. at the regulatory level. And we have the technology ready to use. So the day that we have clear regulation, we'll be able to launch it. You know, one thing that we always try to get an understanding of is what people are doing on a specific platform, what they're doing in different parts of the world.

10:54We talked to a lot of folks who are managing money and about asset allocation. What about outside of the U.S., demand for U.S. stocks right now? What does that look like? It's still something that we are investing a lot. So we launched our tokenized assets. We call it stock tokens that give exposure to U.S. stocks and ETF. And in a lot of places, including in Europe, you still have platforms that still charge commission, for example. One of the biggest ones still charge at least one euro per transaction when you want to buy a stock. So giving access to this stock token has actually been a way for them to access it without paying commission fees.

11:31We launched actually a study with European customers and more than 50 % of them were interested by this type of product. And a lot of them were interested by the fact that you can trade them 24-7 as well. Because on the weekend, the war doesn't stop. And so the economy also has an impact. And also the fact that the time zone is very difficult, right? When the US market is open, it's often night for the EU. So I think that's a kind of evolution that we'll see from the blockchain technology that will bring Tradify into a new world, basically. What about things like the SpaceX IPO? And I'm just curious how that impacted or what kind of activity you guys saw around that.

12:07And then how you are thinking about the upcoming IPOs, whether it's OpenAI or Anthropic. Yeah, we have a platform called IPO Access where customers can actually place demand. And based on what allocation we get from the issuer, we're able to distribute it to our customers. SpaceX, obviously, was a large one. but it's a platform that we are seeing more and more demand on. Did you see a lot of demand with SpaceX on the internet? Yeah, it was definitely one of big demand because of the size of the IPO. One of your biggest days? I couldn't tell you the size exactly, but I think what's interesting is seeing more and more of the demand from our retail customer for early access to this company.

12:48A lot of these companies are waiting longer and longer before going public and therefore the retail customer is not able to also get the same upside that they were when they were participating into the Google IPO, for example. What is the way to access that in an environment where it's traditionally been restricted to the so-called accredited investors which have specific barriers to net worth? That's probably one of the things that we need to change here in the US. If you think about other places like in the EU, you have an assessment test that you have to complete. So it will ask you a question, and only if you pass this question, you're able to access this type of product.

13:24Is it about net worth, or is it about… No, it's about your knowledge and understanding the risk of the product. And I think that's a very big difference, because no matter of your net worth, if you understand it, it should give you access, not necessarily just because you have a big bank account. John, we just have about 40, 50 seconds here. I mean, you talked about people wanting different things on the platform as they kind of get older, right, and different things that you guys are offering. What is the biggest demo, the demographic on the platform, or how is it changing? Yeah, our demographic still skew on the younger side in the 35 to 40.

13:58But we also have new products. For example, we launched the Trump account, which allows you to create an account for your babies and your child. And I think that's something that is very important because it's by starting to utilize this type of platform that you are able to start thinking about the future of your children. Are you seeing an uptick in that? Are you seeing activity around that? Yeah, absolutely. I don't have the exact number, but you will see that a lot of our customers were opening accounts for their children. And I think it's important. The children need to learn about this to start thinking about their future.

14:31Can you open an account for my children, Carol? I will do anything for your kids. Thank you. Absolutely. I appreciate that. By the way, Robinhood reporting second quarter results on July 29th. Johan Kerbrot, Senior Vice President and General Manager of Crypto and International at Robinhood. This is Bloomberg.

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16:31Let's talk about healthcare for a second. It doesn't always work the way people expect it to. If you've ever waited on a prescription refill or had a hard time getting the care you needed, you know the feeling. The system should just work better for everyone. That's exactly what the people at Optum are trying to do every day. They're a healthcare company linking patient care and pharmacy services and using data and technology to drive the whole system so care is connected, not complicated. for patients and providers. Things like making it easier to get care that looks at the whole person, from primary care doctors to mental health support and even in-home care, and then using technology to make sure they all work together.

17:09Technology designed to help doctors spend less time on busy work and more time with their patients. In those prescriptions, Optum is working to bring costs down, save patients money, and make it easier to get refills. Little by little, Optum is helping make healthcare work as one for everyone. Head to business.optum.com to see how. You're listening to the Bloomberg Business Week Daily Podcast. Catch us live weekday afternoons from 2 to 5 p.m. Eastern. Listen on Apple CarPlay and Android Auto with the Bloomberg Business app. Or watch us live on YouTube. Charles Schwab reported earnings that topped estimates as retail investors continued to jump in and out of the market amid volatility sparked by geopolitical uncertainty.

17:53The company reported a record$11.9 million daily average revenue trades in the second quarter, a 57 % increase from a year earlier. Tim, trading revenue also rose, climbing 28 % to$1.2 billion. Net revenue would beat, too, up 21%. Revenue per trade missed the Bloomberg estimate. Second quarter total net new assets hitting$118.7 billion. That was a significant beat. We caught up with Rick Worcester. He's the president and CEO of Charles Schwab. He joined us here in studio to talk about the latest financial update. It was a really strong quarter. And what gives us a great amount of pride and satisfaction is that our clients continue to trust us with more and more of their wealth.

18:32And they continue to trust us to do more and more for them. So they're not just coming to us for investing and trading. Certainly, they're doing lots of that. But they're also coming to us and asking for help with their wealth. And they're helping for tax planning. And they're asking for lending, for us to help them with lending. And so we're doing more to help our clients' financial lives. Their wealth is at an all-time high. And it's a great time to be in this business, to support our clients and help them thrive. Rick, when you say that clients are trusting Charles Schwab with more of their wealth, where is that wealth coming from?

19:04I mean, it is essentially a zero-sum game. So are they moving it from other platforms to you? And sort of how do you measure that? Well, first, I think a lot of our client wealth is being delivered by the returns you're seeing in the market. Over the last year, the market's up 21-ish percent, I believe, through June 30, and our client assets are up about 22 percent. So they've really participated. Their wealth has grown. I think where their additional dollars come from is their employment activities. Maybe they sell a house, other investment activities outside of Schwab. But with employment so strong, it's not surprising, and the market doing well, not surprising that they continue to bring us a fair amount of assets.

19:41The other place we see it is that we do a lot to serve independent advisors. And independent advisors as a group are really taking share of the advice market. And so as they win and they bring more assets to us, we benefit from growth. What are they trading? And what are they continuing to trade? I'm always curious about what exactly you're seeing across the platform. Yeah, it's been pretty interesting, actually. I'll highlight a couple of things. Number one, which is fascinating to me, is that we saw three and a half times more volume on down days in the market, which means that they're buying the dip.

20:13Okay. The other thing we've seen is a rotation. So they went from really interest in the MAG-7 to more on the AI trade. And that's been a driver of interest for our clients. And then the final thing I'd say is that because of some of the geopolitical risk in the markets, they are more actively trading. So we see more frequent trading, but the trade sizes are often smaller. And so they're making more incremental trades because they're not exactly sure what's going to happen with the geopolitical situation. So those are three of the themes that we've seen with our retail traders. How sustainable are these themes?

20:45I mean, the Wall Street Journal, I think the headline was, the stock trading boom is here to stay, citing you and your comments. Why do you believe it's here to stay? Why do you think it's sustainable? Well, a couple of things. I think they're great for our country because the more people invest at a young age, I think the better off they are over the long run. And we have seen a real increase in young investors. Gen Z is 45 % more likely to invest by the age of 21 than the prior generation. So we have that. I think the second structural change is when we went to zero on commissions and then all the other major brokers followed.

21:19It just took away the last barrier for investors. For people that were wealthy and trading in hundreds of thousands, the$5 commission didn't mean much. But for the person who had$5 ,000 or$1 ,000, that was a barrier. And now that's no longer a barrier. I also think AI is helping people get more comfortable researching stocks and taking positions and being an investor and learning about the power of compounding. So I think it's all adding up to just more engagement. We've seen the highest level of stock ownership of stocks that we've seen in the last 20 years. So it's great to see that kind of interest in markets.

21:51You all get to participate in this. The power of compounding is a great thing for investors. And the more and more people that do that, the better off our country is. So you talked about what clients are asking for, Rick. So do they want more sophisticated investments or are they like they're doing just fine with stocks? Are they pretty happy with it? Yeah, what's great is we've got clients of all stripes and all different wealth sizes. One of the real themes that we've seen from our more wealthy clients recently is a high degree of interest in tax related strategies. We've got a lot of clients that have built up large positions, often concentrated positions, and they're wanting to manage the capital gain associated with this.

22:28The other thing we're seeing is a real increase in pledged asset loans. So people have built up wealth in a small number of stocks. They want to buy a house. They want to put their kid through college. And they don't want to have to sell that position. What they're doing is they're taking out a pledged asset line, so they're not having to sell that position. So between tax-aware strategies and pledged asset lines, we're really seeing people be thoughtful about not paying big capital gains. Let's talk a little bit about SpaceX, because in your commentary, you said you had a record trading day on the day of the SpaceX IPO.

23:00I'm just wondering what you learned from that to sort of prepare you and the team for what many think is the day that Anthropic will go public in the near future and OpenAI will go public. See, and I thought you were going to ask him about the unlock, but we'll get to that next. SpaceX, it's so interesting to have been a part of this. We've been around for 50 years and we've seen lots of bear markets, lots of bull markets, the Internet boom, all this stuff. The heaviest day of call volume we've ever seen in the history of the firm was SpaceX. Were you surprised? Was your team surprised? We weren't surprised.

23:33We knew it would be a busy day. But to be a record day in the top few days we've ever had in terms of client interest, it's pretty remarkable over one company. So that's great. It just shows how engaged the retail investor is. And our clients bought it. They tried to buy as much as they can. And what they received relative to what they put in probably wasn't what all of them wanted. And that's probably our learnings is really to be really clear about. Like demand was higher from your clients for the IPO and they weren't able to get it all. Demand was far higher. The level of retail interest. I've never seen a level of retail interest like this in an IPO or anything.