Trump Pressures Iran on Blockade; Intel Shares Surge on Earnings

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1:25Do that. Do that. Do that with Acrobat. Learn more at adobe.com slash do that with Acrobat. 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 ongoing tensions between the U.S. and Iran, with both sides maintaining blockades over the Strait of Hormuz. President Trump has said he will keep restrictions in place until Iran comes forward with a new peace proposal. At the White House, Bloomberg's Jeff Mason asked the president about his timetable. How long are you willing to wait until you get a unified response?

2:09Don't rush me, Jeff. You know, guys like you, you want to say, oh, so we were in Vietnam like for 18 years. We were in Iraq for many, many years. We were in for all the, I don't like to say World War II because that was a biggie. but we were four and a half, almost five years in World War II. We were in the Korean War for seven years. I've been doing this for six weeks. President Trump spoke to Bloomberg White House correspondent Jeff Mason in the Oval Office. We get more from Bloomberg's Jumana Bersetche in Dubai. He's suggesting that we're in the early innings of what could be a prolonged conflict.

2:45At the same time, the Iranian side asserting once again that they're not going to go back to the negotiations table until the U.S. naval brigade is actually lifted. No signs that the U.S. have plans to do so. And overnight, I also want to draw your attention to an article that our Bloomberg colleagues put up, also suggesting that the way that President Trump has been conducting this, a lot of the threats and assertions, the language that he's been using on social media has also not been resonating well with Iranian officials. And they say that that is actually one of the limiting factors that is stopping the two sides from getting together.

3:19at the negotiating table once again. Bloomberg's Jumana Bersechi reporting from Dubai. Meantime, President Trump says Israel and Lebanon have agreed to extend their ceasefire for another three weeks after talks in Washington. There's no immediate response from Israel or Iran-backed Hezbollah. The militant group is not involved in the ceasefire, but has largely abided by it. Well, Nathan, the price of oil is set for its biggest weekly gain since the first week of the Right now, NYMEX crude oil is up 1.5 % at$97.27 a barrel. Brent is at$106.88. With little sign of de-escalation, the effective closure of the Strait of Hormuz is taking an increasing toll on global energy markets.

4:02And we get more with Bloomberg's Will Kennedy in London. Going back to last Friday, when the Iranians said the Strait was open, And there was a really positive reaction from oil traders who thought that finally there was a likely resolution and the ships might start leaving the Gulf and get back. And the energy market could begin the long process of getting back to normal. And I think this week that optimism has really faded and we've seen a steady ratcheting up in the oil price. As a result, it's really worth bearing in mind that although the intense military action, the bombing has stopped, the strait is probably more closed than it ever has been.

4:40and we're not getting the oil and the fuel that we need out of the Persian Gulf. Bloomberg's Will Kennedy in London. According to Goldman Sachs, the Persian Gulf oil supply is about 57 percent below pre-war levels. And a new report, Karen, says the Iran war will keep the global natural gas market tight for at least two more years. This is according to the International Energy Agency. It says the conflict has delayed a long-anticipated glut in liquefied natural gas, even as new capacity comes online. Qatar has said Iranian strikes last month damaged about 17 percent of its liquefaction capacity.

5:16It says repairs there could take as long as five years. Meanwhile, Nathan, Bloomberg News has learned European Union leaders are tasking the bloc's finance ministers to come up with new measures to deal with the continent's energy crunch. Bloomberg Chief European Correspondent Oliver Crook is covering the EU leaders' meeting in Cyprus. There's, of course, that longer-term push the EU will use to say that this is all about electrification. In the long term, no matter where your gas is coming from, whether it's Russia, whether it's the Gulf, and increasingly also concerns about the United States, you're not safe until you're energy autonomous, and that is going to be one of their big pushes to try to get that energy independence through electricity and electrification.

5:54Bloomberg Chief Europe Correspondent Oliver Crook says gas has gained 34 percent since the conflict started, while Brent crude has jumped 37 percent. Back in the U.S., Karen, the Trump administration may be looking at ways to punish NATO allies for what it sees as a lack of support for the war. This is according to a report from Reuters that says the Pentagon is considering options like suspending Spain from the alliance or reviewing the U.S. position on the U.K.'s claim to the Falkland Islands. The report cites an internal email and a U.S. official. Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez was one of the earliest critics of the war.

6:28He called it a violation of international law. Sanchez says he will maintain normal cooperation with NATO allies and rely on official positions from Washington, not reports of private emails. Nathan, a U.S. soldier involved in the capture of then-Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro has been charged with using classified information to win more than$400 ,000 in an online betting market. Federal officials say Gannon Ken Van Dyke placed about 13 bets in the week leading up to the military operation to make money on the prediction market site Polymarket. Van Dyke is a Special Forces soldier based in Fort Bragg, North Carolina.

7:07The Justice Department says he was involved in the planning and execution of the Venezuela raid. Let's turn back to markets now, Karen. Futures are mixed as we close out the trading week, though. NASDAQ futures are getting a lift from Intel. Those shares, wow, up 24 % in early trading. The chipmaker delivered a sales forecast well above analyst estimates. Bloomberg Technology host Ed Ludlow has more on what's driving the rally. The Intel story is a CPU story. So in the world of AI, when we move from a place where a lot of the activity is focused on training to inference running the AI models, Intel's feeling that benefit.

7:44And frankly, they are struggling to keep up with the CPU demand. That's kind of the core story. The margins were better in the quarter gone largely because of higher revenues. But the outlook for the current period on sales, that's the driver. It is the AI and data center segment. Bloomberg Tech's Ed Ludlow says the upbeat outlook suggests Intel CEO Lip Bhutan is making progress on his plan to improve Intel's operations. Nathan, the Intel results may fuel another record-setting day for chip stocks. The Philadelphia Semiconductor Index is coming off a record 17 straight winning sessions. is at more than 30 % already in April.

8:20And Karen, two mammoth tech companies are cutting jobs to help offset AI investments. We get the story from Bloomberg's Charlie Pellett. At Microsoft, the early retirement offer went out to thousands of employees in the U.S. with about 7 % of the U.S. workforce eligible for the buyouts. The company had 125 ,000 employees in the U.S. as of June 2025, meaning about 8 ,750 workers could be eligible. Meanwhile, MetaPlatforms plans to cut 10 % of its workers in an effort to boost efficiency and offset its heavy spending on artificial intelligence. In New York, Charlie Pellett, Bloomberg Radio.

9:03Time 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 Michael Barr. Michael, good morning. Good morning, Karen. The NTSB says a firefighter whose truck collided with an Air Canada jet last month on a runway at New York's LaGuardia Airport heard an air traffic controller warned stop, stop, stop, but did not know who it was for. That's according to an investigative report released on Thursday. The NTSB said in a preliminary report on the March 22nd accident that a crash prevention system for air traffic controllers did not generate an audio or visual alert.

9:41The report said the truck started moving while warning lights that act as a stop sign for crossing traffic were still lit. Both Air Canada pilots were killed. One person has died and five others were hurt when gunfire erupted at the Mall of Louisiana. Baton Rouge police say yesterday's shooting was not a random act of violence, but a disagreement between two groups of people that ended with gunfire. Police Chief T.J. Moore says an officer who is always stationed at the mall was able to respond immediately. This is early in the investigation. We have five people in custody. We're still trying to unravel their exact involvement in this.

10:20Chief Morris says so far no charges have been filed. A search and rescue operation is underway in Enid, Oklahoma, where a large violent tornado touched down last night. Mayor David Mason says that the tornado struck on the south side of the rural town. He says police did get some people out of homes that sustained heavy damage. They were doing search and rescue. We have now backed them out so that OHP can come in and do a secondary search and do it in quadrants. Mayor Mason says there are reports of minor injuries. Global News 24 hours a day and whenever you want it with Bloomberg News Now. I'm Michael Barr and this is Bloomberg, Karen.

11:01Thanks, Michael. Time now for our Bloomberg Sports Update. And for that, we bring in John Stashauer. Thanks, Karen. in Indiana won the national championship in college football. Fernando Mendoza was their Heisman Trophy winning star quarterback. And as everyone expected, he was the first player taken in the draft. Underway last night in Pittsburgh, he goes to the Las Vegas Raiders. Meanwhile, Ohio State had four players taken in the first 11 picks. Home teams won in the NBA playoffs. Atlanta, a second straight one point win over the Knicks. Toronto beat Cleveland. Minnesota beat Denver. The road teams all won in the Stanley Cup playoffs.

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14:09But President Trump says he's in no hurry to reach a deal with Tehran. I don't want to rush it. I want to take my time. We have plenty of time, and I want to get a great deal. That was President Trump speaking to reporters yesterday in the Oval Office. Joining us this morning from Dubai is Bloomberg Middle East correspondent and Bloomberg Horizons anchor Jumana Bersetchi. Jumana, is there any sense that Iran is in a hurry to reach a deal? Good morning. Good morning. Well, no sense whatsoever that there's going to be an imminent other round of discussions. But again, it's one of those situations where we won't know until we're informed.

14:47And we know that the Pakistani mediators are really trying hard to bring the two sides back together again. Just an hour ago, Pakistani media outlets were reporting that once again, the prime minister had been reaching out to senior Iranian officials to see what can be done to bridge the gap between the two sides. But essentially here, and here I'm talking about proceeding to the next phase of discussions, the main sticking point is the straits. And we've heard from the Iranians multiple times over the course of this week, and they say that they will not be progressing to the second round of discussions so long as the U.S.

15:21naval blockade is in place. President Trump, you played a bit of his comments there. He was saying that they're not going to open the blockade or lift the blockade until Iran sign on to a deal. So it's a bit of a chicken and egg situation here, a stalemate, so to speak. And the question from here is, you know, what shakes the stalemate? That is the question, isn't it? Because we've heard from President Trump escalating his rhetoric on social media, talking about the Navy being ordered to shoot boats that lay mines in the strait. What impact is the president's war of words having? Yes, so we are out with some reporting overnight, our colleagues in Bloomberg on the BN side.

16:04And they're suggesting that they've had conversations with the Iranian sources, with Arab officials. And the feedback is that a lot of the language and the rhetoric that President Trump has been using on his social media has not gone down well at all. The threats, the threat to wipe out civilization, him proclaiming that Iran had made all of these concessions and yielded to U.S. demands. That is riling them up and is also another reason potentially for these talks being held up. Not only is it about the blockade, but also about President Trump's personal style, too, which could also be a complicating factor in terms of where we go next.

16:46Yes. In the meantime, we've had talks between Israel and Lebanon in Washington. The president says that ceasefire is being extended in our last minute. Jumana, could that break the dam between the U.S. and Iran? It doesn't likely to be the case because the U.S. have been trying to separate the two tracks, so to speak. So there are two parallel tracks going on here. Welcome news, of course, for Lebanon and for the region that the ceasefire between Lebanon and Israel, or I should say between Lebanon's Hezbollah and Israel, has been extended by another three weeks. But I should just emphasize, these are still preliminary discussions, and there are still blows being exchanged in the southern part of Lebanon, where Israel has established what they would call a buffer zone or security zone up to a yellow line.

17:39And because of that, many people in Lebanon are very uncomfortable about whether the ceasefire is actually going to hold. But the point is, the two sides actually are speaking. And what the U.S. is trying to do here is to separate the issue and let Lebanon states handle it, as opposed to Iran act as an agent on behalf of Hezbollah. 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.

18:16Wall 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 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.

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