Senate Votes to Fund TSA; Trump Delays Iran Deadline

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1:19Hold balances in up to 40 currencies with the mid-market exchange rate on every conversion. Whether you're receiving payments from tenants abroad, earning as a digital nomad, or converting dividends from your international investments, The Wise Multicurrency Account is for you. Be smart. Get Wise. Download the Wise app today or visit wise.com. Terms and conditions apply. Bloomberg Audio Studios. Podcasts. Radio. News. Good morning, I'm Nathan Hager. And I'm Alexis Christoffers. Alexis, we'll have the latest developments in the Iran War in a moment, but we begin with a major developing story on Capitol Hill After six weeks of both sides digging in, the Senate has passed a bill to end the Department of Homeland Security shutdown.

2:06Majority Leader John Thune made the announcement just after two in the morning, Wall Street time. Just a few minutes ago, Republicans funded the Department of Homeland Security piecemeal. It's not the way to fund the department. Majority Leader John Thune spoke on the Senate floor, and we get more from Bloomberg Deputy Washington Bureau Chief Laura Davison. This bill would essentially extend government funding for most of the Department of Homeland Security, with the exception of ICE and Border Patrol. Those sort of being the two most controversial pieces that will will continue to be negotiated in Congress.

2:40I'll note this is just one step in a process. This bill needs to go to the House next and then Donald Trump's desk for signature. So this is still something that is tenuous and could take several more days, if not a couple of weeks. Bloomberg's Laura Davison reports President Trump had said he would sign an executive order to pay TSA workers before the Senate vote. Democrats are now poised to walk away from the shutdown debate with the immigration reforms they wanted left behind, while Republicans face a high-stakes fight to fund their immigration agenda through a partisan budget bill. And now to the latest on the Iran war.

3:13President Trump is once again pushing back his deadline for Tehran to reach a deal with the U.S. In a social media post, the president said he'll hold off on attacking Iran's energy infrastructure for 10 days. At a White House cabinet meeting heard live here on Bloomberg Radio, the president said talks are going very well and the U.S. war effort is extremely ahead of schedule. They are begging to make a deal, not me. They're begging to make a deal. And anybody that saw what was happening over there would understand why they want to make a deal. President Trump there at the White House. Bloomberg Middle East correspondent Jumana Bersetchi reports it's still unclear who the U.S.

3:51is talking with. A lot of this is rhetoric. But what we do know is that there are no physical meetings that have been decided on yet. And Pakistan have been put forward as a key mediator in that regard. But nothing has been confirmed. And yet the language that continues to come out of Iran is one of defiance. They seem to not be in the mood of compromising and continue to strike back. And Bloomberg's Jumani Bersaceci reports the extended deadline also gives the U.S. more time to build up forces. The Wall Street Journal is reporting the Pentagon is considering sending up to 10 ,000 additional troops to the Middle East.

4:27Alexis, UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer says he won't be bullied by President Trump and won't change his mind due to pressure from the president. Starmer spoke with Sky News. I have been clear I'm not going to join the war. There's a clear difference, therefore, of opinion between me and President Trump. My own view is that a lot of what he's said and done has been to put pressure on me to change my mind. But I'm not going to do so because I'm the British prime minister and I have to act in the British national interest. British Prime Minister Keir Starmer has been repeatedly insulted by President Trump.

5:04He says Starmer has made a big mistake. And Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky is seeking to offer his nation's anti-drone expertise in exchange for defense support during a surprise visit to the Gulf region. The offer comes on news. Ukraine risks running out of money to pay for its defense against Russia within two months. According to estimates shared by both domestic and foreign officials, Kiev currently has only enough funds to cover spending until June. Well, this morning, Alexis, Secretary of State Marco Rubio is in France meeting his group of seven foreign minister counterparts. This comes just hours after President Trump complained bitterly about NATO countries not stepping up to help the U.S.

5:42and Israel in the Iran war. Rubio may have a hard time trying to sell the other diplomats on the U.S. strategy. Almost all nations have raised objections to it. $200 oil? Macquarie Group says that's the price it may hit if the Iran war drags on until June. The conflict has seen Tehran oversee a near-complete closure of the Strait of Hormuz. Brent crude is on pace for a record monthly gain in March. Checking right now, it's about$110 the barrel. And futures are mostly unchanged as we close out the trading week. Right now, S &P futures down just fractionally, or about eight points lower. Yesterday, stocks suffered their worst loss since January.

6:21The S &P 500 fell 1.75%. The tech-heavy NASDAQ 100 slid 2.4%. You may be seeing tensions escalate between the U.S. and China this morning, Alexis. China's Ministry of Commerce says it's begun two trade investigations against the U.S. They involve supply chains and renewable products. It's retaliation to U.S. trade probes ahead of an expected presidential summit in Beijing in May. And three Fed officials are expressing growing concern over the economic outlook due to the Middle East war. Fed Governor Lisa Cook says the spike in oil prices means inflation is now a bigger concern than the labor market.

6:58I see the balance of risks as being largely on net in balance. But I would argue that the inflation risk is greater right now as a result of the Iran war. Fed Governor Lisa Cook made those comments yesterday in a speech in Connecticut. Two of her colleagues, Fed Governor Michael Barr and Fed Vice Chair Philip Jefferson, say they preferred to keep rates on hold while they assessed the length of the conflict and its impact on energy prices. Big news in the tech space this morning, Alexis. Anthropics won a court order blocking a Trump administration ban on government use of its artificial intelligence technology.

7:38A federal judge put that order on hold for seven days so the government has a chance to appeal. The judge, though, questioned the rationale for the ban, saying it did not appear to be directed at national security interests and instead seemed designed to punish Anthropik. The Claude chatbot maker argues the ban could cost it billions of dollars in lost revenue. And in another development, Nathan, Bloomberg News has learned Anthropic is considering going public as soon as October. The move comes as the artificial intelligence company races with rival OpenAI to hold an IPO. According to the information, a listing could raise more than$60 billion.

8:14And get this, Alexis, we may be closing in on a deal in the booze industry. Pernod Ricard and Brown Foreman, the owner of Jack Daniels Whiskey, are discussing a merger as the alcoholic drink companies look at ways to consolidate amid an industry downturn. A combination would bring together Pernod's top sellers like Martel Cognac, Jameson Irish Whiskey, and Absolute Vodka with Brown Foreman's whiskeys and other brands, including Herradura Tequila.

8:45Time now for a look at some of the other stories making news in New York and around the world. For that, we're joined by Bloomberg's John Tucker. John, good morning. Good morning, Elisabeth. It's the Department of Justice investigating medical school admissions policies at Stanford, Ohio State, and the University of California at San Diego over possible racial discrimination. This is part of a campaign by the Trump administration to reshape higher education. The college is facing requests from the agency's Civil Rights Division for data including medical school applicant test scores, ties to donors, and internal university communications.

9:20Donald Trump's signature will appear on future U.S. paper currency to mark the 250th anniversary of the country. More, this is a report from Bloomberg's Matt Piper. It's a first for a sitting president. Treasury Secretary Scott Besson says there is no more powerful way to recognize the historic achievements of our great country and President Donald J. Trump than U.S. dollar bills bearing his name. Until now, the U.S. currency has borne the signatures of the Secretary and the Treasury. The move comes as Trump has put his stamp on America's semi-quincentennial this year, like planning a UFC fight at the White House.

9:54Matt Piper, Bloomberg Radio. Another close call on the latest in a string of incidents involving helicopters and commercial passenger jets. A Blackhawk helicopter crossed in front of a United Airlines plane landing at John Wayne Airport in Southern California. The FAA telling Bloomberg it's investigating the event, which happened Tuesday night. And the runway where a plane collided with a fire truck at LaGuardia Airport, killing the two pilots and injuring several others, has now reopened. The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey says the tarmac resumed operations under the runway and a related infrastructure were repaired.

10:28Global News 24 hours a day. whenever you want it with Bloomberg News Now. I'm John Tucker, and this is Bloomberg Alexis. Thanks, John. Time now for our Bloomberg Sports Update, and for that, we bring in John Stashauer. The NCAA tournament is back, and Iowa is still alive. The ninth seed in the South had the upset of top seeded Florida and then beat Nebraska 77-71, and then Illinois with an upset win over Houston. In the West region in San Jose, Purdue scored with less than a second to go for a two-point win over Texas. Arizona won easily over Arkansas. LSU hiring Will Wade as its new coach. He was their former coach, and they fired him after improper benefits that are now legal.

11:08That's your Bloomberg Sports Update. Stay with us. More from Bloomberg Daybreak coming up after this. Support for the show comes from Public. Lately, it feels like there are two types of investing platforms. Some are traditional brokerages that haven't changed much in decades, and others feel less like investing and more like a game. public is positioned differently it's an investing platform for people who are serious about building their wealth on public you can build a portfolio of stocks options bonds crypto without all the bugs or the confetti retirement accounts yep high yield cash yes again they even have direct indexing public has modern design powerful tools and customer support that actually helps go to public.com slash market and earn an uncapped one percent bonus when you transfer your portfolio.

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13:25Coast 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. On day 28 of the war with Iran, President Donald Trump says he's giving Tehran 10 more days to reach a deal. President announced the extension on social media after telling a cabinet meeting talks with Tehran are going very well. They now have a chance to make a deal, but that's up to them. And they'll tell you, we're not negotiating. We will not negotiate. Of course they're negotiating. They've been obliterated.

14:01President Trump at a White House cabinet meeting heard live on Bloomberg Radio. This morning, we're joined from Dubai by Bloomberg Middle East correspondent Jumana Bersechi, anchor of Bloomberg Horizons. And President Trump may be begging the question there, Jumana, is Iran negotiating? Good morning. Good morning. Well, the rhetoric, and I say I emphasize the word rhetoric, the rhetoric coming through from Iran now suggests that they are not negotiating. And in fact, the Iranian foreign minister, Mr. Abbas al-Rakshi, gave an interview to Iranian state TV, nonetheless, saying that they are not negotiating with the U.S., either directly or indirectly.

14:39But that messages had been passed to them from Pakistan. And this is something that lines up with their own reporting. And so at this point, it is unclear what is going on behind the scenes. The rhetoric, as I say, continues to remain one of defiance. They are showcasing that they're not in the mood to compromise still. And it is day 27 of this war. The attacks and counterattacks are ongoing overnight. More military strikes conducted, joint military operations between U.S. and Israel over key sites in Tehran, Isfahan, Industrial City, of course. And in retaliation, more projectiles being launched towards key Gulf states.

15:19So really no signs that things are letting up as we get into the weekend. OK, so obviously, though, now the president's deadline for going after Iran's energy infrastructure that was due to expire tonight is extended another 10 days. What could that mean over the next week and a half? So the short-term reaction is one of relief, I would guess, for the region, because it just pushes back the prospect of a potential strike on Iranian key infrastructure and the potential reprisal on GCC civilian infrastructure in return by another 10 days. But at the same time, I think because there's a lot of skepticism about the real chance for a diplomatic breakthrough over the coming days, there is a feeling that perhaps this is just a time buying exercise coming through from the U.S.

16:08administration. At the same time, we hear of these reports of more military troops and Marines being sent to the region should be mobilized in the coming days. And that sort of implies that perhaps a ground combat operation may be in the works as well. And that raises a question as well about what a ground operation could lead to and whether the four to six week timeline that President Trump has said he is extremely ahead on can continue. Yeah, absolutely. So if you look at if you just look at the logistics of it, from what we understand, the first marine expeditionary unit should be arriving in the coming days.

16:52So that is literally a matter of hours from now should arrive to the region. There's another unit that is also set sail a week ago, and that is expected to arrive mid-April. So it's still going to take some time for the extra reinforcements to arrive. We were also earlier in the week reporting that the Pentagon perhaps had instructed their 82nd Airborne Division as well. And this is typically a division you would only use if you need an expeditious arrival of troops. They can be mobilized very, very quickly. But we were speaking to a former veteran, one of them earlier on today, and he said that the goal for deploying this 82nd Airborne Division wouldn't necessarily be to take over a full territory or even, you know, go in on the ground in Iran.

17:41it would be actually targeted at smaller land, perhaps even some of those smaller islands that are close to the Strait of Hormuz. This is all speculation at this point, I should say. But the point is that if these troops are going to be mobilized, there's a high chance that the objective would be to somehow work towards reopening the straits and removing the threat that face tankers should they want to pass through the strait. 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.

18:20You can also listen live each morning starting at 5 a.m. Wall Street time on Bloomberg 1130 in New York, Bloomberg 99.1 in Washington, Bloomberg 92.9 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 on your favorite podcast platform to stay informed all day long. I'm Alexis Christophorus. 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.

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