In short
This Bloomberg Businessweek Daily episode mixes three news segments. First, it discusses the killing of conservative activist Charlie Kirk and the arrest of the suspect: Tyler Robinson, 22, of Utah, apprehended after a family member tip. Key claims include that Kirk was a highly influential conservative figure who helped build Turning Point USA and early supported Donald Trump; his death is being treated by authorities as a political assassination, with President Trump calling Kirk a “martyr” and suggesting a broader left-wing effort, though investigators have no confirmed evidence of a network. Notable examples of political violence cited: shootings of lawmakers including Steve Scalise and Gabby Giffords, and arson at Josh Shapiro’s home.
Guests
Josh Wingrove, Bloomberg News senior White House correspondent (also on Bloomberg Big Take). Axel Merck, president and CIO of Merck Investments (gold outlook). Ed Ludlow, Bloomberg Technology co-host (interviewing Tesla board chair Robin Denholm). Alan B. Lance, director of research at Lance Global (market-cycle and risk discussion).
Written by AI. May contain mistakes. Listen to the episode to check what was said.
Chapters
Tap a time to open that second in VOCharlie Kirk: The Incident and Its Impact
0:30 to 0:56
Discussion on the tragic incident involving Charlie Kirk and its implications.
“If you've ever waited on a refill or couldn't schedule an appointment, you get it.”
Charlie Kirk: The Incident and Its Impact
2:25 to 3:08
Discussion on the tragic incident involving Charlie Kirk and its implications.
“The Bloomberg Businessweek Daily podcast with Carol Masser and Tim Stenebeck on Bloomberg Radio.”
Legacy of Charlie Kirk in Conservative Politics
3:08 to 3:56
Exploring Kirk's influence and legacy in the conservative movement.
“because no question, an outsized force when it comes to Republican politics, friends and close to so many in this current administration.”
Political Repercussions and Responses
3:56 to 4:50
Examining the political responses and implications following Kirk's death.
“So this is just a very, very influential figure.”
Calls for Unity Amidst Tragedy
4:50 to 6:50
Discussion on the need for unity and responsibility in political discourse.
“So this has the chance to sort of be the basis on which Trump tries to do stuff.”
The Role of Global Forces in Domestic Political Tensions
6:50 to 9:06
Analyzing how global actors might influence U.S. political discourse.
“So it is a fraught time here, no doubt about it.”
U.S. Sanctions Strategy Regarding Russia
9:06 to 11:21
Discussion on U.S. strategies for sanctioning Russia amidst ongoing tensions.
“And that is a concern that predated the fatal shooting of Charlie Kirk.”
Gold Market Insights with Axel Merck
15:40 to 16:44
Axel Merck discusses the recent performance of gold and its future outlook.
“And we're going to talk about that a little bit later on.”
Analyzing Economic Factors Affecting Gold
16:44 to 17:21
Exploration of economic policies impacting gold prices and market dynamics.
“That, if anything, is the most pessimistic thing I've heard about gold in a long time.”
The Role of the U.S. Dollar and Inflation
17:21 to 18:25
Discussion on the U.S. dollar's position and the implications of inflation.
“for example, as far as the eye can see, rates are going to be steady.”
Show all 24 chapters
Investing Strategies in Volatile Markets
18:25 to 19:00
Insights on how to navigate investing in uncertain economic times.
“low rates, and we've obviously seen plenty of that.”
Gold's Performance vs. Other Assets
19:00 to 19:50
Comparison of gold's performance to other asset classes in the current market.
“throwing a wrench into the U.S.'s exorbitant privilege.”
Elon Musk and Tesla's Future
19:50 to 23:00
Discussion on Tesla's leadership and Elon Musk's political involvement.
“And as you may be aware, Europe is ramping up its defense spending.”
In-Depth Interview with Robin Denholm
23:00 to 28:00
Insights from Tesla's chair on Musk's role and compensation package.
“Complete disclosures available at public.com slash disclosures.”
Elon Musk's Political Shift and Tesla's Board
28:00 to 28:58
Learn about Elon Musk's evolving political contributions and the Tesla board's dynamics.
“I mean, he said in the spring of last year that he wasn't going to donate to either political candidate.”
Tesla Board's Role and Compensation Structure
28:58 to 31:38
Explore the critical role of Tesla's board in Musk's compensation and decision-making.
“But remember, at the heart of this is that Elon Musk's condition, it was a negotiation.”
Breaking News: Apple AI Executive Departure
31:38 to 32:10
Get insights into the departure of Apple's AI executive and its implications.
“And a lot of what Denholm was explaining, and she really wanted to get this across, this is a proposal.”
Talent Wars and Musk's Influence
32:10 to 34:51
Understand how talent wars in tech affect Tesla and why Musk is a key draw for employees.
“This about Apple, a company that you follow very closely.”
Talent Wars and Musk's Influence
35:37 to 36:06
Understand how talent wars in tech affect Tesla and why Musk is a key draw for employees.
“in plain English, like if the VIX hits 25, buy a put option on the S &P 500.”
Talent Wars and Musk's Influence
37:23 to 37:56
Understand how talent wars in tech affect Tesla and why Musk is a key draw for employees.
“This product is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease.”
Market Update and Investment Strategies
37:56 to 42:00
Hear market insights and strategies from Alan Lance regarding current investments.
“The punk to music will drive us till the dawn.”
Investment Strategies in Current Markets
42:00 to 45:30
Explore effective investment strategies and market conditions.
“The interesting thing, there's still some good buys out there.”
MP Materials and Government Involvement
45:30 to 46:39
Discuss the status of MP Materials and the impact of government support.
“a year ago, Alan, sorry to jump in, but we've got like, we've got a million questions left and only like a minute left.”
MP Materials and Government Involvement
47:18 to 48:15
Discuss the status of MP Materials and the impact of government support.
“If you've ever waited on a refill or couldn't schedule an appointment, you get it.”
Transcript
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2:02Bloomberg Audio Studios. Podcasts. Radio. News. This is Bloomberg Business Week Daily. Reporting from the magazine that helps global leaders stay ahead. With insight on the people, companies, and trends shaping today's complex economy. Plus global business, finance and tech news as it happens. The Bloomberg Businessweek Daily podcast with Carol Masser and Tim Stenebeck on Bloomberg Radio. The latest on the Charlie Kirk assassination, the suspect in the killing identified as Tyler Robinson, 22 of Utah, after a tip from a family member led to his apprehension. Joining us is Josh Wingrove. He's Bloomberg News senior White House correspondent.
2:46He joins us from the White House. He's featured on a new episode of the Bloomberg Big Take podcast. discussing Charlie Kirk's impact on conservatism. It's called The Big Take, How Charlie Kirk Changed Conservatism. Josh joins us from the White House. Josh, we spoke earlier with Miles Miller at the latest on the case and what we heard at the press conference earlier. I want to take a big step back and understand the life and legacy of Charlie Kirk because no question, an outsized force when it comes to Republican politics, friends and close to so many in this current administration. What is the political legacy that he leaves behind?
3:19Yeah, I mean, he was arguably the most influential conservative of his generation, starting with Turning Point USA, which looked to mobilize conservatives on campus. Of course, American conservatives have long complained that they don't get a fair shake on college campuses and, you know, the professors there are too liberal. And so they saw that as sort of one front of the struggle to sort of expand the conservative tent, as you will. and Kirk really led the push on that. He was also a very early supporter and advocate for Donald Trump specifically and spoke at its convention regularly. All this, of course, at a young age.
3:54He was 31 when he was shot and killed on Wednesday. So this is just a very, very influential figure. It's hard to really put into words. You know, Trump, his son, Vice President Vance, you know, everyone is putting out statements and mourning him. And, of course, Trump himself this morning was the one who announced the arrest of or let it slip that there had been an arrest in the case in Utah. And so Kirk's influence is just so big. There are questions now as to where this goes, of course, including more logistical ones. But who will run Turning Point? Can it still be as effective without Charlie Kirk?
4:28And more broad questions about, you know, where we go from here. President Trump indicating that he worries or is treating this as part of a larger left-wing effort. And we should note there's no evidence yet from investigators that that is fully the case. In other words, that this shooter was participating in some sort of network. But President Trump thinks it is growing from left-wing protests and advocacy, in particular this morning renewed his threat to potentially pursue some sort of racketeering investigation against George Soros, not for this, but more broadly for funding left wing protesters.
5:06So this has the chance to sort of be the basis on which Trump tries to do stuff. And that's what's got a lot of Democrats concerned. Got it. We just feel so broken, Josh, in a moment of tragedy. And all I can think about is his friends, his family, you know, a loss of life. And I understand there's a lot of political discourse out there. And it just makes me like, why can't we all get along? Why can't we discuss the differences we have. You know, what is, though, also the responsibility, perhaps, of those who know Charlie Kirk, of the president, perhaps, of the Republican Party, of conservatives, and maybe saying, hey, like, enough.
5:40You know, there's been too many political targets and shootings and incidents and political violence. What's the responsibility of all politicians to step forward and say, like, we need to stop this? And what's the likelihood that any of that happens? I mean, the Utah governor has been calling to take down the temperature in his press conference this morning. Of course, he's a Republican. There are calls from both parties to do that, lest this sort of spiral into other violent acts or, without that even, just sort of further embitter the partisan kind of environment that we're living in here in the U.S.
6:15But others don't see that. And there are conservative voices right now calling for, you know, the way to sort of honor Charlie Kirk's legacy is to push back against the progressive and left-wing groups that Kirk enjoyed sparring with. And so that's really the crossroads that we're at. I should note that President Trump himself is not really among those calling to take down the temperature. He has said he supports non-violent action, but he also called Charlie Kirk a martyr. And as I said earlier, he's indicated that he plans to pursue sort of other measures in the wake of this fatal shooting on Wednesday that, of course, is being treated by authorities as a political assassination.
6:54So it is a fraught time here, no doubt about it. And, you know, Kirk is so influential in the conservative community that many are simply grieving, including people in this building behind me who knew him personally. You know, this is just a tragedy where they've lost someone they know, important to their movement, but also just on a personal level. It's also true that, of course, some Democrats were not the biggest fans of Charlie Kirk and those who are speaking to that right now are being seized upon by conservatives who think this is not the time to be litigating what he said or what he didn't.
7:26And so this all just has the potential to really continue to be pretty fraught. Of course, we should know that Kirk leaves behind a wife and two kids. Focus on them as well right now, including from Press Secretary Caroline Levitt, who sent well wishes to his widow today. So this is just a tragedy on Wednesday. The hope, of course, is that it doesn't continue because we've seen too many of these, of course, you know, shooting Minnesota lawmakers. Earlier in Minnesota, we had, of course, the arson outside Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro's home. We've had shootings in the past of lawmakers, including Steve Scalise, a Republican, including Gabby Giffords, a Democrat.
8:02There have been too many of these in America, I think, is a pretty widely held view right now. And the question is what can be done to sort of bring down the temperature and not have these sort of spiral into, God forbid, more violent acts. That's not something we should, you know, anyone wants to see happen. I should note that President Trump is emphasizing, though, the acts that have targeted Republicans, not so much the ones that have targeted Democrats. So he's feeding sort of his audience a different view, a partial view of the overall landscape of political violence that we're seeing in America over recent years.
8:33Yeah. As we know, violence doesn't distinguish between parties. And we certainly have seen that play out. Josh, I just want to layer something else on top of it and has come out in some of the reporting. and pointing to global forces kind of jumping on and seizing on, you know, this moment of tragedy and turbulence in American politics. Is there anything to that? I think it's a little early to say yet, but there certainly are concerns and reports and indications that, you know, essentially bot armies are pouring gas on the fire, for lack of a better phrase. And that is a concern that predated the fatal shooting of Charlie Kirk.
9:12To what extent are through social media platforms Americans being exposed or manipulated by foreign actors? This is a longstanding issue. We just don't know yet how much it's playing here. But of course, yeah, it's a concern that this is just another partisan issue that can be sort of seized upon by America's enemies to inflame domestic political tensions. Josh, a lot happening out of the nation's capital. We're speaking with Josh Wingrove. He's senior White House correspondent. I want to talk a little bit about shifting gears, the U.S. urging G7 sanctions on Russian oil as President Trump loses patience.
9:49I feel like the idea of losing patience is something that we've heard with regard to Russia quite a bit over the last few months, Josh. What's the latest? Yeah, the U.S. is proposing that the G7 sort of increase the pressure on Russia, including by sanctioning China and India for their purchases of Russian oil. Of course, the U.S. is taking steps towards India, but not China itself. And talking about some other measures in terms of trying to further monetize or even seize Russian assets that are frozen. Of course, most of them are frozen in Europe. In other words, the U.S. can't get its hands on it quite yet.
10:22So they're sort of trying to tighten the screws on this at a time when Europe is already considering its biggest sanctions package, or more recent, excuse me, sanctions package. I believe this would be the 19th one. And so they're all kind of deciding where to go from here. But of course, the Europeans are also juggling what they can count on from the U.S. in terms of support for Ukraine, support for NATO, troop levels and all that right now. So I think there are just so many moving parts on this. But the U.S. is at least trying to get the G7 to sort of try to turn the temperature up. President Trump indicating this morning in his interview with Fox News that he is losing sort of patience with President Putin a little bit.
11:01But he had high hopes for that summit, remember? You know, there were a lot of people clutching, you know, worried, I guess, that it would backfire. And we just haven't seen any movement since that summit. And even behind me in this building, there are still photos of President Putin and President Trump from that summit on the walls of the White House. So he hasn't fully exhausted patience yet. We haven't seen President Trump fully commit to sort of, you know, saying, oh, well, it doesn't seem like Russia's interested in getting some sort of end to the fighting. So right now it remains in a murky area.
11:31And if you have the Europeans, in the case of the G7, also the Canadians and the Japanese, that has to be part of your calculus right now. So that's why there's so many moving pieces here as they consider what they can do or can't do or don't want to do to try to raise the pressure on Russia. One final note is that President Trump continues to advocate for these secondary sanctions. In other words, sanctioning or tariffing countries that do business with the countries that they're trying to apply primary tariffs or restrictions to. That remains pretty uncharted ground, pretty untested authority.
12:02That could be a tricky one for the other countries to try to execute it, even if they chose to try to go down that path. Josh, appreciate you joining us on so much. Josh Wingrove is Bloomberg News Senior White House correspondent. Also, make sure to check out on the Bloomberg Terminal, a lot more stories from our team in Washington, D.C., including the president sending the National Guard to Memphis in its next deployment. Also, for more on Charlie Kirk, check out the latest episode of the Big Take podcast featuring Josh Wingrove. It covers the legacy of Charlie Kirk and how his death is rippling through the political world.
12:32You're listening to and watching Bloomberg Businessweek Daily. Stay with us. More from Bloomberg Businessweek Daily coming up after this.
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15:21ShopGrandAppliance.com You're listening to the Bloomberg Business Week Daily Podcast. Catch us live weekday afternoons from 2 to 5 Eastern. Listen on Apple CarPlay and Android Auto with the Bloomberg Business App. Or watch us live on YouTube. Now we want to get to some market news. There's a lot going on, and it's not just Gemini, which is still up about 31 % in its first day of trading. And we're going to talk about that a little bit later on. We are also watching some of what's going on in some of the different asset classes. And I don't know if you've checked out gold recently, Tim, but it has rallied by nearly 40 % this year.
15:57It is making it one of the best performing commodities, outpacing other market gauges, and that includes the S &P 500. Central bank buying, geopolitical uncertainties, inflows into ETFs, all supporting the commodity. Our next guest is someone we've turned to for years to talk gold and much more. Back with us is Axel Merck, president and CIO of Merck Investments, joining us from Menlo Park on the West Coast. He manages the ASA Gold and Precious Metals Fund, up more than 100 % so far this year. The VanEck Merck Gold ETF with about$2 billion in AUM, meantime, is up 38 % year-to-date and invests in the precious metal.
16:32Axel, Carol mentioned how well the fund has done and how well the commodity has done in recent years. But let's look forward. What is the outlook for the remainder of this year, in your view, for gold? Great to be with you. And the fact that you're covering gold, I suppose, means it's got the attention of the mainstream media. So is that the top? Is this the top then? Is that what this means? That, if anything, is the most pessimistic thing I've heard about gold in a long time. Well said. What took you so long to get me on the air, right? But, I mean, obviously, we've had a stunning run, right?
17:07and obviously we have to keep in mind if something is this volatile on the way up, there's always a risk on the downside correction. That said, there are two key drivers, I think. One is in the US we have an easing path at the Fed and if you take the European Central Bank, for example, as far as the eye can see, rates are going to be steady. So we have a more dovish monetary policy. The other one is the broader debasement trade. And of course, is that correlation or causation, is anybody's guess? If that is the case, that may have legs that might last years, so to speak, right? The dollar was always the cleanest shirt.
17:48One thing I'd like to mention that maybe not the other guests are not mentioning is when we talk about tariffs, it doesn't just impact the trade and the flow of goods, it impacts financial flows because that's the other side of the goods trade. And so I happen to believe that a wrench has been thrown into the engine that we call the exorbitant privilege, that it's more difficult to use the U.S. to finance things for higher returns abroad. Obviously, this is not a light switch or anything like that, but a side effect is higher borrowing costs in the U.S. and in the absence of fiscal discipline, it means more pressure on the Fed to low rates, and we've obviously seen plenty of that.
18:31And so that's a dynamic that has a lot of way to play out. And of course, the other context is that valuations are somewhat high in the equity markets more broadly, and what do you do to diversify? Now, I'm not suggesting that gold is very cheap here, but gold historically is one of the things that does well in an easing environment, especially also does well if we were to have a more severe correction in the stock market. And so an increasing number of people have been looking for this sort of diversification. Well, what's interesting, too, as we've seen gold take off and you talk about throwing a wrench into the U.S.'s exorbitant privilege.
19:07I mean, I'm looking at the dollar, which is the dollar index, Axel, which is down about 10 percent year to date. Tim and I constantly are asking guests, is the U.S. an investable? You know, are the days of the U.S. dollar running supreme over, although so much is still done in dollars. Like, I guess we're just trying to get an idea if this is a tipping point for the U.S. dollar, especially, too, with the rise of digital and stable coins, perhaps. I don't think digital is stable. I mean, stable coins are U.S. dollar based. I think that's supportive of the dollar, if anything. If you look at the breakdown in the G10, the best performing currency is the Swedish krona versus the dollar.
19:48And guess what? The Swedish economy is most, as part of its GDP, exposed to defense spending. And as you may be aware, Europe is ramping up its defense spending. So there are specific things, right? And of course, as a gold person, the debasement trade kind of fits into our narrative. Whether that's really the case remains to be seen. There is, of course, more competition. And some people say that there is no alternative. And while that may be true, my argument is there does not need to be an alternative. What I foresee is a greater fragmentation. Because if you think and go back to the exorbitant privilege, part of that is it's kind of a machinery that provides liquidity for the world.
20:38And if that begins to sputter somehow or is less effective than it has been, less efficient, it doesn't mean the world's coming to an end, but it means that less trade might be happening, more things might be happening locally. Ultimately, that's, of course, healthy for emerging markets in particular if they finance more things domestically. But we have some structural transformations and the dollar might be weakening in that process. Hey, just got about 25 seconds, Axel. So buy gold, buy the commodity, buy the bullion, buy miners, or don't buy any of it at this point. Well, I do both. I haven't sold any of them.
21:14Technically, the gold and gold miner buys are very different. The gold miners tend to be more speculative, especially go to the more juniors. And the physical gold through ETF or otherwise tends to be more of a diversification play. There's a lot that hasn't happened in the junior mining space. Very speculative, but some very interesting opportunities there. All right. We promise we will catch up more often. Hey, hey, he was on in May. If you were watching us in May, you saw Axel. OK, so it was a little while ago, but, you know, we always appreciate Axel. Have a great weekend. Axel Merck, president, chief investment officer of Merck Investments.
21:47Stay with us. More from Bloomberg Business Week Daily coming up after this.
21:54Support for the show comes from public dot com. If you're actively involved in your portfolio, you probably catch yourself repeating the same actions, buying the dip, manually sweeping idle cash, putting on a hedge on public. you can now create AI agents that handle all these tasks on your behalf. Just describe what you want to do in plain English. Like, if the VIX hits 25, buy a put option on the S &P 500. Or, if my cash balance goes above$20 ,000, move the excess into my direct index. You approve of the workflow and your agent handles the rest. Monitoring the market, watching for your conditions, and executing your strategies exactly as defined.
22:33An investing platform driven by your intent, not just your clicks. You can also get full read and write access to your account via the public API. Go to public.com slash market and fund your account in five minutes or less. That's public.com slash market. Paid for by Public Investing. Brokered services by Open to the Public Investing, Member FINRA and SIPC. Advisory services by Public Advisors, LLC, SEC Registered Advisor. Complete disclosures available at public.com slash disclosures. Ask yourself, What are your best people spending their time on right now? Expense reports, receipt chasing, month-end close that takes weeks.
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24:57lead the company's next phase and his political engagement, it's up to him. That's just two of the many, many headlines out of the Bloomberg Technologies team interview with Tesla board chair Robin Denholm. Bottom line, Tesla's chair saying Elon Musk is the man to continue to take Tesla to its next phase. The board's responsibility is to look at who the CEO is for the next period of time. And we believe that Elon is the right CEO for Tesla over this transformative period of time. And our view is he's a generational leader. There aren't any other people out there like Elon who can actually lead the company over this next decade or so.
25:37And so once you decide who the leader should be, you need to put in place a compensation package to incent and motivate him to actually deliver. Yeah, a trillion dollars would motivate me as well. That, of course, was Tesla board chair Robin Denholm talking to B-Tech, the B-Tech Dynamo dynamic duo of Ed Ludlow and Caroline Hyde. Ed is co-host of Bloomberg Technology every Monday through Friday, 11 a.m. Wall Street time on Bloomberg TV. He joins us now from the Bloomberg News Bureau in San Francisco. Tesla shares, by the way, folks rallying up about six and a half percent, the number two gainer in both the S &P 500 and NASDAQ 100 today.
26:16Ed, well done, well done, well done. You guys covered so much. And there was and always is so much to cover when it's involving Elon and Tesla. What was a priority for you and Caroline and really your team as you thought about your interview with Robin Denholm? Yeah, when the news broke a week ago that there was a proposed pay package for Elon Musk, the headline was the trillion dollar value of the total award right. But because of how the board had to communicate it in the proxy, it's like a very dense 300 plus page document that is incumbent on shareholders to read, the specifics get lost a little bit.
26:56And for me, you guys mentioned the politics angle. One of the few things that was like very explicitly codified in the proxy was that the board had got reassurances from Elon Musk that he would wind down political activity. Now, actually, the big takeaway from the interview was that they are actually pretty relaxed about the idea that Musk might continue to have involvement in the political domain. You know, we pushed so hard. When you guys say political activity, and when I, sorry, that was too casual, when the board says political activity, what do you even mean? We asked that. Do you mean Musk has told you he won't participate in a political party, or he'll stop making donations behind specific candidates or initiatives?
27:42And Denholm's response was really simple, is it's up to Elon Musk what his political activity is. But they are reassured enough that this package, they will get in return somebody that will be focused on Tesla. You know, I appreciated how you pushed her, Ed, because if you think about Elon Musk's own political evolution, I mean, he said in the spring of last year that he wasn't going to donate to either political candidate. This was when Joe Biden and Donald Trump were running against each other. That all changed after Butler, Pennsylvania, in the assassination attempt. And then, you know, Elon went full fledged and even served as part, you know, in the administration in the capacity of Bardoge.
28:21So we saw how quickly he changed his mind in a very short period of time. So I guess it can only be up to him because he's the one who makes these decisions. I don't know. Well, the way that Robin Denholm put it, and this was an on-the-record, on-camera interview, and Ms. Denholm, I'm sure, chose her words very carefully. But she said that Musk's political activity or time in government has concluded, and he is now back-focused on Tesla. um you know the main thing that we got to it was it was a long interview right but again the the detail is like so important in what the board is requiring of Elon Musk you know these are not goals the word goal is not correct to say that Musk gets a trillion dollars in the end if he hits goals they're mandatory requirements and if he doesn't hit the operational and financial goals Denholm was very clear, like he doesn't get not the dollar value comp.
29:21But remember, at the heart of this is that Elon Musk's condition, it was a negotiation. And what he wanted was voting power, because Musk's idea is that with greater voting power, he will be able to keep Tesla focused on a future that is about artificial intelligence, not necessarily the legacy of Tesla, which is selling electric vehicles to consumers. Well, speaking of power and voting power and just power generally, I mean, there's been a lot of criticism, I think it's fair to say, Ed, of the Tesla board and who's in charge. And, you know, Robin Denholm, I mean, I'm looking at the Bloomberg description, Australian business executive, former accountant, who's chair of Tesla, chosen by Elon in November of 2018 to be chair.
30:10And prior to that, she was relatively unknown. I'm just curious about the board. And correct me because you know this company. No, no, no. Nothing's correct. What do we need to know about the Tesla board and what they say and what it really means to what Elon can and can't do? I regret not saying this out loud explicitly. If I did not, then ask, you know, I should have asked about it. But basically, the criticism from all kinds of investors, the biggest institutionals on Wall Street to the smallest retail investors is that it's a rubber stamp board that just does what Elon Musk wants. There's something really important to understand that it was a special committee that negotiated meeting with Elon Musk 10 times this compensation package.
30:55So, Musk had input into it. But the special committee is made up of just two people, Robin Denholm and then Kathleen Wilson Thompson, who also kind of chairs the financial and comp committee on the Tesla board, a board of two or a committee of two, because Elon Musk is on the board. So he recuses himself technically, even though he negotiates. And then his brother, Kimball Musk, is on the board of Tesla, but he's his brother. So he recuses himself from negotiating the comp. It actually was really important to say that out loud. Now, at the end of the day, it's a shareholder right to vote on this package on November 6th.
31:38And a lot of what Denholm was explaining, and she really wanted to get this across, this is a proposal. You have the right to vote on it. So you need to understand what's in it, even though there is some sort of, you know, there is skepticism about how solid that board is. Robin Denholm lives in Australia, for what it's worth. But I can tell you from conversations in the company, investors that I know, she's highly engaged, reads everything, knows everything that's going on. Ed, while you've been on air with us, there's been some breaking news that we'd love for you to react to. This about Apple, a company that you follow very closely.
32:13Mark Gurman reporting that Apple's AI and search executive, Robbie Walker, will leave the company. One of the iPhone maker's most senior AI executives. This is according to people with knowledge of the matter. this follows a slew of folks who've left in recent months, not just to go to meta platforms for those huge pay packages. What's your immediate reaction to this? Well, I'm just checking at the stock. You guys have the ticker up. Okay. So the shares haven't sort of plummeted. What I know is limited about Robbie Walker. He had been reporting to John G. Andrea, which I'm sure on this show, you've discussed Mark's other reporting, which was about who was in charge so to a point john g andrea had led the ai team and a lot of the departures that we've reported on um in aggregate had that have left had been reporting on to him but you have to remember that craig federighi who's like the software chief the software guru at um at apple he had sort of taken command of the team so uh i guess and i'm i pull up the draft i'm scrambling to find it.
33:21But forgive me for that. But I think that it's just a signal that these exits have continued since that restructure is what I was going to say. No, you're laying it out really well. And we should remind everybody the news came out when Ed was speaking about Tesla. So, yeah. It said after leaving, I guess, his Siri role, Walker became one of the top Apple execs working on the new AI powered web search system to compete with perplexity and chat GPT. It's scheduled to debut next year. So yeah, kind of fluid, huh? Yeah. I mean, I'm doing this deliberately because it's relevant. You know, part of the Denholm conversation about why it has to be Elon Musk that leads Tesla is that you have right now this huge talent war.
34:04Apple is one of the losers of it, let's be honest, based on the reporting. Meta is paying over the nose to get people. And Denholm's argument about Elon Musk is that he's a draw. So the compensation doesn't really matter. People want to go and work for him because he's seen as this great engineering mind and he's so hands-on in the trenches. I believe he's been, the building I was in is 3000 Hanover Street, which is like the global engineering HQ. And Elon Musk was there this week and getting involved in stuff. That's the landscape right now. So these stories are so interesting because for AI, you know, the human capital, the human intelligence that's building out AI, that is a battleground, right?
34:48And that's all I'm reflecting on. Yeah. All right. Great stuff as always. Thank you. Thank you, Ed Ledlow. Breaking news or talking about breaking news in real time, as well as folding it into an incredible interview that he and Caroline Hyde of the Bloomberg Tech team had with the chair of Tesla's board. Ed Ledlow, as we said, co-host of Bloomberg Tech, joining us from our San Francisco Bureau. Stay with us. More from Bloomberg Business Week Daily coming up after this.
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38:22Honey, please, out of the drive. Drive on. Excuse me, I want to drive. You drive, say you crazy. It's the question that drives us. You drive me crazy. This is the drive to the close. The punk to music will drive us till the dawn. On Bloomberg Radio. All right, everybody, we've got just about 18, 19 minutes to go until we wrap up the trade on this Friday. Wrapping up the Friday session and also the week overall. Gotta say, very clear, what I love about the Bloomberg is I always have these charts up of the S &P, Dow, and the NASDAQ 100. How's it looking? What's going on? You've got the S &P at its lows of the session, so a straight leg down.
39:02We're down only eight points, but the point is we are definitely off our best levels of the session. We've seen this movement in like the last 20, 30 minutes, so it makes me wonder a little bit of what's going on. Maybe people ahead of the Fed meeting next week, closing out positions. I'm not quite sure. Dow Jones Industrial Average, it is down 283 points, down six-tenths of a percent. And NASDAQ 100 still in positive territory, up about one-third of one percent. But it, too, has rolled over off its best level of the session. So I'm taking a look at our MarketsLive blog to see what is going on.
39:37Yeah, maybe it's just investors. It's been a bullish week for investors. We've seen several records, and I'm just taking a look at where the S &P 500 is for the week overall. We're still up about 1.5%. So do you just kind of, for lack of a better phrase, take some money off the table heading into the weekend? And up 12 % for the year. Let's see what Alan Lance has to say about this. He's president of the RIA, Alan B. Lance and Associates, and director of research at the research firm Lance Global. He joins us once again from Toledo, Ohio. Been a while since we last had you on the program. Alan, how are you?
40:11We're doing well. How are you, Tim? We're doing well. It's good to talk to you again. I wanted to just get your idea about where we are in this market cycle, given I think a lot has happened, especially since April, so-called Liberation Day, and the way that investors have essentially shrugged off the threat or implementation of tariffs. Yeah, it's been an incredible rebound. And I agree with what investors are doing as far as at the close here. And that's taking a little bit of profits. That's when you look at a company like Oracle, that's one of our core positions. But I'd be much more inclined to take partial profits there and redeploy them into areas that haven't moved, mitigate risk rather than chasing.
40:51I think we're about in the sixth inning. I know you have a lot of people on and they're talking first, second inning. But really, when you look at the valuations here and now the IPO market starting to heat up, we still have a ways to go. We're not at the end of this, but we're more than halfway through. So those people loading up and chasing the AI plays, I think, you know, you've got to be nimble enough to get out in time, that's for sure. Well, investors look like they're getting out ahead of the weekend. I think it's kind of notable, and I'm sure you've got your screens up and you're looking at the trade.
41:26Is it just good week, bullish week, and maybe you just take a little bit of a breather ahead of next week's Fed meeting or what? Yeah, I think you've got some positives and they're getting discounted, Carol. So you get a situation where, you know, it looks like interest rates will go down. You know, the IPO market's heating up. You know, good news with, you know, some of the tech stocks. And as far as even, you know, TAM, you know, situations as far as with NVIDIA and what have you. So I think it's a situation where why not take some money off the table? The interesting thing, there's still some good buys out there.
42:03You know, some leaders that haven't moved. early part of the summer we're buying johnson johnson and pepsi they have moved now but there are other companies that have good dividends that i still think are attractive so this is not like okay 2007 we talked and said you know get out and everything's overvalued but it is something where i think you got to be a little precarious as far as in chasing you said last year you started taking profits in nvidia that was that when it was at 140 dollars you said you then redeployed some of those profits into companies like Snowflake or MongoDB. Do you regret selling NVIDIA last year at 140?
42:43Not at all. If you look at Snowflake, it's done better in the past year than NVIDIA. And MongoDB at the end of the year was down. So again, I think investors look at it like, oh, NVIDIA's higher. It's 170s now instead of 140. But really, it's been an underperformer. compared to, you know, the industry, which is hard to believe. Even Oracle, it's up, you know, 40 some percent over the last five years. The industry is up 18. 18 is great. But if you're in the right areas, you can do much more. So I think that diversification is important, Tim. And investors shouldn't just be in one or two or seven stocks.
43:26You know, I think it's going to broaden out. And that's what you have in the latter innings. And that's what we're seeing. So, you know, we're actually doing more of that. Well, if I'm doing play by play with the markets, right now. We've now bounced kind of off our worst levels of the session on the S &P and Dow. And now we've seen investors come back. Blackie trade weird. I don't know. Am I just too laser focused on the tick by tick today? I don't know. Yeah, it's short term. I wouldn't worry about that. I think the long term trends is going to be the critical area as far as that goes. And there's good investments that still can be, you know, purchased, which, which, you know, I'm appreciative of if everything's overvalued, then it gets really hard.
44:08So, so to take some money off the table, even video, I think will go higher, um, you know, but take some money off the table and buy things that haven't moved yet, that have lesser risk, better risk reward, I think is, is prudent strategy right now. I want to talk a little bit about risks that you see out there. And when you think it's time to, if at all, move to cash or, you know, it's a question I don't ask lightly because that's a drastic move for investors. And, you know, people are always saying, do not time the market. I'm not giving financial advice here, but I'm just wondering how you're thinking about risk right now, because there are a lot of folks out there who say valuations are very high.
44:47Yeah, they are high in certain areas. And that's why, you know, we are starting to take profits and, you know, again, partial profits and Oracle and, and companies have done well, like Nvidia. But I also think that there are areas you can still buy so you don't have to be in cash. Like in 2007 and late 1999, we're saying get in cash and be defensive. Now, I think you could be defensive, but still have companies that have dividends and are trading at historic lows, really, valuation-wise. And that's what makes this divergence interesting, where you can get out and take some good profits or partial profits and redeploy the money and things that have lesser risk and better reward, like, uh, you know, uh, as far as Snowflake had a year ago, Alan, sorry to jump in, but we've got like, we've got a million questions left and only like a minute left.
45:36I just want to talk MP materials because we had Jim Latinski on the show. We've spent a lot of time talking about that company. It was on your radar before it was on a lot of people's radar. You spoke with us about buying it. What's the status there? Uh, we would hold it again, not, not chase it. Uh, you know, we're buying it, you know, In the mid-20s, it went down to$10. We're just buying more, just long-term play. Two good pieces of news. Earlier this summer, we increased our target to$80 to$90, so we did take some profits. But again, I think it's a good long-term play. Again, another one of those high flowers that we wouldn't chase, but hopefully we can find some like MP materials from six months ago that will do well, even though I don't think you'll see those kind of gains.
46:2020 seconds. Really quick. you're comfortable with the government taking a stake? Yeah, I think on this, it's very important. I disagree with the Intel and with the aerospace and what have you. But on this, I think it is critical and it really helped put the company on the map. As we mentioned, the stock has been on a tear. It is up more than 300 percent year-to-date. Alan Lance, have a great weekend. President of Alan B. Lance and Associates joining us from Toledo, Ohio. This is the Bloomberg Business This Week Daily podcast, available on Apple, Spotify, and anywhere else you get your podcasts.
46:55Listen live weekday afternoons from 2 to 5 p.m. Eastern on Bloomberg.com, the iHeartRadio app, TuneIn, and the Bloomberg Business app. You can also watch us live every weekday on YouTube and always on the Bloomberg Terminal.
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The man accused of killing of conservative activist Charlie Kirk— identified as Tyler Robinson — was arrested on suspicion of murder and weapons offenses.
Robinson is being held in county jail in Utah without bail, according to court documents. He was arrested by law enforcement, after a family member alerted authorities that he had confessed, or at least implied involvement, in the killing, Utah Governor Spencer Cox said Friday.
No formal charges have been filed against Robinson, but authorities in Utah said they intend to file them early next week.
Kirk, 31, executive director of Turning Point USA and a close ally of President Donald Trump, was shot in the neck Sept. 10 as he spoke at an outdoor student event before a crowd of more than 3,000 at Utah Valley University in Orem, about 40 miles (64 kilometers) south of Salt Lake City. He was pronounced dead at a local hospital.
Today's show features:
- Bloomberg News Senior White House Correspondent Josh Wingrove on Charlie Kirk’s role in the US conservative movement and the US urging G-7 sanctions on Russian oil
- Axel Merk, President and Chief Investment Officer of Merk Investments on the gold market boom
- Bloomberg Tech Co-Host Ed Ludlow on takeaways from his interview with Tesla Board Chair Robyn Denholm
- Alan Lancz, Director of Research at LanczGlobal on stock picks and Friday's late-day market fade
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