US & Iran Hail Progress; Ukraine and Russia Resume Talks

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0:41That's vanguard.com slash audio. All investing and subject to risk, Vanguard Marketing Corporation Distributor. Donald Trump is rewriting the Washington rulebook and reshaping the global economy. If you're trying to connect the dots behind the headlines, Bloomberg's Trumponomics podcast is here to help. I'm Stephanie Flanders, Head of Government and Economics at Bloomberg. Every week I'll bring you a smart, focused conversation with reporters and experts from Washington, Wall Street and beyond. Listen to new episodes every Wednesday and follow Trumponomics wherever you listen.

1:20Bloomberg 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 progress reported this morning in nuclear talks between the U.S. and Iran. Iran says it had reached a, quote, general agreement on the terms of a potential nuclear deal that would lift sanctions on Tehran and ease the risk of a broader Middle East war. Here's Iran's Foreign Minister, Abbas Aragji. We are hopeful that negotiation will lead to a sustainable and negotiated solution At the same time, as demonstrated during the aggression of 13 June 2025, Iran remains fully prepared to defend itself against any threat.

2:06Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Arachid made those comments in Geneva. Vice President J.D. Vance spoke about the talks with Fox News. You know, in some ways it went well. They agreed to meet afterwards. But in other ways, it was very clear that the president has set some red lines that the Iranians are not yet willing to actually acknowledge and work through. So we're going to keep on working it. But of course, the president reserves the ability to say when he thinks that diplomacy has reached its natural end. We hope we don't get to that point. But if we do, that'll be the president's call. And that was Vice President J.D.

2:38Vance on Fox News. The U.S. and Iran will each draft and exchange texts for a deal before setting a date for a third round of talks. Well, Nathan, also happening in Geneva, Ukraine and Russia will begin a second day of U.S.-brokered talk. Central among the unresolved issues is Russian President Vladimir Putin's demand that Ukraine hand over territory in its eastern Donetsk region that Moscow has failed to conquer in fighting. Karen, Japan plans to invest$36 billion in U.S. oil, gas and critical mineral projects. It's the first tranche of a$550 billion commitment under Japan's trade agreement with President Trump.

3:14The most significant investment is a natural gas facility in Ohio that is expected to generate the power equivalent of nine nuclear reactors. Bloomberg's Laura Davison has more from Hong Kong. There are some questions just about the size and scope of this project just because it would be the biggest energy project of its kind. There are also two other projects. One is a crude export facility in the Gulf of Mexico off the Texas coast, as well as a project that would produce synthetic diamonds. Those are used in the manufacturing of semiconductors, energy and automobiles as well. Bloomberg's Laura Davison says the announcement comes weeks before Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takeuchi is set to meet with President Trump in Washington.

3:53Nathan, there's more fallout this morning from the Jeffrey Epstein files and Bloomberg's Alexis Christophorus has the latest from New York. Two teachers unions are asking the Securities and Exchange Commission to look at a 2021 one statement from Apollo Global Management about its contact with the late sex offender and whether it could be considered materially false or misleading. The Justice Department's latest files show Epstein corresponded with Apollo's then-CEO Leon Black, its current CEO Mark Rowan, and others in the firm. The American Federation of Teachers says Apollo's statement claims Black never promoted Epstein's services to other senior executives.

4:30And Apollo's spokesman says no one at the firm other than Black had a personal or business relationship with Epstein. Meanwhile, the House Oversight Committee is set to hear a closed-door deposition today from billionaire Les Wexner. The 88-year-old founder of L Brands has spent years answering for his decades-long relationship with Epstein. Wexner has long denied any knowledge of Epstein's crimes, but his prominent victim, Virginia Gouffre, has claimed Wexner is one of the men Epstein trafficked her to. In New York, Alexis Christophorus, Bloomberg Radio. OK, Alexis, thank you. Now to the latest in the search for Nancy Guthrie.

5:05It's been 18 days since the mother of Today Show host Savannah Guthrie was last seen. Investigators are looking for fresh leads after a glove found near the 84 year old's home failed to match any DNA profiles in the FBI's database. They're working with the maker of Guthrie's pacemaker to see if they can track her through the device. Richard Frankel is a retired FBI agent. It connects to the Bluetooth within her pacemaker. And if they get a hit on it, although, you know, they can get down to, you know, within meters of where that pacemaker might be. But that pacemaker has to be emitting a charge at the same time.

5:41It's retired FBI agent Richard Frankel. Investigators are also processing evidence from two search warrants from last week. And they're canvassing gun shops with surveillance footage to see if the suspect looks familiar. The reward is now up to$100 ,000 for information that leads to Nancy Guthrie's return. Let's turn to the markets now, Nathan. Futures are higher ahead of today's session. Stocks rebounded yesterday from an early sell-off to eke out gains. And we're getting word this morning about some big moves from Wall Street investors, including Warren Buffett. Bloomberg's John Tucker joins us with the very latest.

6:15John, good morning. Good morning, Karen. and Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway slashed its stake in Amazon by more than 75 % in the fourth quarter. It now owns roughly 2.3 million shares of the company. And so what did Buffett dump Amazon for? The New York Times. This marks his last new bet as CEO of Berkshire. A regulatory filing shows Berkshire acquired 5.1 million shares of the Times. It's a stake that was worth almost$352 million. Berkshire first bought a stake in Amazon back in 2019. He said at the time that despite his aversion to tech stocks, he'd been, quote, an idiot for not buying the online retailer giant's shares sooner.

6:55Well, shares of the New York Times surged more than 10 % in post-market trading. In New York, I'm John Tucker, Bloomberg Radio. All right, John, thank you. Shares of NVIDIA are up 2 % in early trading. Meta Platforms has agreed to deploy millions of NVIDIA processors over the next few years. Meta accounts for about 9 % of NVIDIA's revenue. It's committing to use more AI processors and networking equipment from the supplier. Meta shares are up almost 1%. Nathan, the Fed is trying to assess the impact of artificial intelligence on the economy and productivity growth. San Francisco Fed Bank President Mary Daly says policymakers must be open to signs that AI will have a major impact.

7:35So what we're looking for is a technology to give us consistently good changes in productivity so that all industries at scale get better. Industries figure out new ways to generate revenue, new ways to do product design, new ideas to come and shape the economy. That's the thing that has a sustained productivity growth part. So it's undeniable productivity growth has gone up. What's not as clear is how long will that last? In San Francisco, Fed Bank President Mary Daly made the comments to Bloomberg's Ed Ludlow at San Jose State University. In Europe, Karen, there are reports this morning that European Central Bank President Christine Lagarde is planning to step down from her role before it's scheduled to end.

8:20Let's go to London, get the details from Bloomberg's Ewan Pods. Ewan, what are we hearing? Nathan and Karen, Christine Lagarde's eight-year term as boss of the European Central Bank is due to run until October 2027. But the FT reports today that Lagarde plans to step down before the French presidential election in April of next year, allowing current President Emmanuel Macron the chance to take part in selecting the ECB's next leader. The bank itself has issued a statement saying Lagarde is totally focused on her mission and has not taken any decision regarding the end of her term. In London, I'm Ewan Potts, Bloomberg Radio.

8:58Time 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. Crews have pushed through mountainous wilderness in California near Lake Tahoe during a snowstorm to rescue six backcountry skiers who survived an avalanche but were trapped by its snow and ice. The Nevada County Sheriff's Captain, Russell Green, says at least nine others from their tour group remain missing. I wouldn't say it's normal, not in these conditions. The area is very tough to access, and the more people that we have up there, the higher chance of another incident happening.

9:38So we're asking people to avoid the area. Captain Russell Green. We're learning more about the person who opened fire Monday during a youth hockey game at an ice rink in Rhode Island. The victims killed were the shooter's ex-wife, Rhonda Dorgan, and adult son, Aiden Dorgan. Three others were injured. Pawtucket Chief of Police Tina Goncliffe says among them was the shooter's ex-wife's parents and a family friend. They were all at the event for a son, a juvenile son who was playing hockey. It was their senior night, and there was no expectations or any indication that there was going to be any type of violence.

10:17Police have identified the shooter as 56-year-old Robert Dorgan, who also went by the name Roberta Esposito. Police say Dorgan died from an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound. New York City Mayor Zora Mamdani is proposing raising the city's property taxes for the first time in more than two decades and is looking to raise the city's reserve funds to fill a roughly$5 billion budget gap. Mamdani is unveiling part of the$127 billion preliminary budget proposal. If we do not fix this structural imbalance and do not heed the calls of New Yorkers to raise taxes on the wealthy, this crisis will not disappear.

10:57It will simply return year after year, forcing harder and harsher choices each time. According to Mamdani's proposal, the 9.5 % property tax hike would take effect beginning July 1st. global news 24 hours a day and whenever you want it with Bloomberg News Now. I'm Michael Barr and this is Bloomberg. Karen. Thanks, Michael. Time now for our Bloomberg Sports Update. And for that, we bring in John Stashauer. Thanks, Karen. At the Olympics today, the American skier Michaela Schiffer is at a very disappointing winter games, goes for a medal in her best event, the slalom. The U.S. men's hockey team plays Sweden in the quarterfinals.

11:34Yesterday, a silver medal won by American Mac Forehand in the freestyle big air Anna Silver in speed skating in the team pursuit. College basketball in Michigan now ranked number one with a victory at seventh ranked Purdue. Tony Clark resigned as the head of the Major League Baseball Players Association had the job for 12 years. That's your Bloomberg Sports Update. Stay with us. More from Bloomberg Daybreak coming up after this. Today's show is brought to you by Vanguard. To all the financial advisors listening, let's talk bonds for a minute. Capturing value and fixed income is not easy. Bond markets are massive, murky, and let's be real, lots of firms throw a couple flashy funds your way and call it a day.

12:13But not Vanguard. At Vanguard, institutional quality isn't a tagline. It's a commitment to your clients. We're talking top-grade products across the board of over 80 bond funds, actively managed by a 200-person global squad of sector specialists, analysts, and traders. These folks live and breathe fixed income. So if you're looking to give your clients consistent results year in and year out, Go see the record for yourself at vanguard.com slash audio. That's vanguard.com slash audio. All investing is subject to risk, Vanguard Marketing Corporation Distributor.

13:06as the day gets going. From Brussels, I'm following the politics, policy and the people shaping the European Union right now. And from London, I'm looking at what all that means for markets, money and the wider economy. We've got reporters across Europe and around the globe feeding in as stories break. So whether it's geopolitics, energy, tech or markets, you're hearing it while it happens. It's smart, calm and to the point. And it fits into your morning. You can find new episodes of the Bloomberg Daybreak Europe podcast by 7am in Dublin or 8am in Brussels, Berlin and Paris. On Apple, Spotify, YouTube or wherever you get your podcasts.

14:06But with two U.S. aircraft carrier groups still in the region, Vice President J.D. Vance is voicing cautious optimism. We would very much like, as the president has said, to resolve this through a conversation and a diplomatic negotiation. But the president has all options on the table. That was Vice President J.D. Vance in an interview with Fox News. And we're joined now by Golnar Motavali, who heads Iran coverage for Bloomberg News. Golnar, good morning. So where do things stand between the U.S. and Iran after this latest round of talks? Well, both of them have sounded cautiously optimistic, which is kind of similar to how they were after the first round of talks.

14:46And this sort of positive, general positive mood music suggests that they are planning to meet again. And in fact, the Iranian foreign minister did say that there will be a third round of talks on the table. We just don't know when that's going to be and what the date for that is. I think the biggest question mark, or there are several question marks over exactly what it is that they are discussing. There are some unconfirmed reports, and we've been hearing from various sources here and there, that possibly what they're going back to is something that's actually quite similar, ironically, to the original nuclear deal or joint comprehensive plan of action that was agreed during the Obama administration, which Donald Trump famously withdrew from in his first term.

15:37But I think the sense is, given what we heard from the Iranian foreign minister last year when he first started his talks with Steve Witkoff, that was before the Israeli military attack on Iran in June, that there is a push from Iran to provide more commercial and financial incentives to the U.S. administration because they think that would be more attractive to Trump. But we don't know right now what the exact contours are. What we do know is that the Iranians have said that they have a set of guiding principles on which they are going to work. And on that basis, they are going to exchange texts that could provide, again, a framework for a possible deal.

16:22The language is deliberately, I think, vague. It's deliberately indirect about how far they are from actually finalizing something. But I think that's the way that they have to frame it going forward because there are obviously a lot of things that they still need to discuss and finalize. That construction framework of a possible deal is a syntax we've heard before from President Trump in past negotiations as well. We also heard from Vice President Vance saying that the president has laid out red lines that Iran shouldn't cross. Do we have clarity from the administration as far as you can see, Golnar, about what those red lines are?

17:04So I think that's an interesting question as well, because we know that Donald Trump has kind of changed or kind of oscillated between the nuclear, Iran's nuclear program and Iran's sort of brutal suppression of the protests. That massive uprising we had a couple of months ago between those two things as the motivating driving factor behind his kind of military threats on Iran and using that to leverage a deal out of the Iranians. So that's interesting in terms of what actually the Iranians are being told in the indirect talks with Steve Wyckoff. But it looks increasingly like the Americans have settled on focusing on Iran's nuclear program.

17:52In terms of military red lines, I would say anything from the Iranians that kind of is a stronger threat than what they've already done. What they've already done, which are these military drills in the Persian Gulf that we know closed up the Strait of Hormuz partially. Anything beyond that, I think, would constitute some kind of red line.

18:44Plus, 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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