US Bombs Persian Gulf Supertanker, Warsh: Trump Hasn't Interfered

0:00So there's a lot of noise about AI, but time's too tight for more promises. So let's talk about results. At IBM, we work with our employees to integrate technology right into the systems they need. Now, a global workforce of 300 ,000 can use AI to fill their HR questions, resolving 94 % of common questions. Not noise. Proof of how we can help companies get smarter by putting AI where it actually pays off. Deep in the work that moves the business. Let's create smarter business. IBM. Healthcare doesn't always work great. If you've ever waited on a refill or couldn't schedule an appointment, you get it.

0:36That's the kind of stuff Optum is changing. They're using data and technology to integrate patient care, pharmacy, and everything else. So healthcare is connected, not complicated. What's that look like? Cheaper prescriptions that are easier to get and care that looks at the whole person. How you need it. Optum is helping make healthcare work as one for everyone. Learn more at business.optum.com. Support for the show comes from public.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.

1:11On 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. An 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.

1:52That's public.com slash market. Paid for by Public Investing. Brokered services by Open to the Public Investing, Inc., member FINRA and SIPC. Advisory services by Public Advisors, LLC, SEC Registered Advisor. Complete disclosures available at public.com slash disclosures. 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 latest developments in the Middle East. The U.S. has struck Iran for a fifth straight day and hit a sanctioned oil tanker near the country's main export terminal.

2:34Iran responded to the U.S. barrage by firing on American bases in Kuwait and Jordan. We get more from Bloomberg Middle East Managing Editor Onor Ant. We saw further strikes by the U.S. on various missile storage and missile launch sites, control and command centers, again, along Iran's southern coast. The Islamic Republic responded as expected. There have been retaliatory attacks, especially on Arab states in the Persian Gulf. So this basically takes up the escalation one step further. We are seeing the continuation of a serious test facing, well, there is no ceasefire really left anymore, but the interim agreement has all but collapsed.

3:11Yeah, the latest strikes are just a continuation of this serious test facing the interim agreement. Bloomberg's owner on says the U.S. and Iran have accused each other of breaching the terms of the Memorandum of Understanding. Nathan, we have a warning from the head of the International Energy Agency. Executive Director Fanti Birol says the global economy faces a renewed challenge if the conflict that's choked the Strait of Hormuz is not resolved in a matter of weeks. Birol spoke with Bloomberg's David Gura at the Aspen Security Forum in Colorado. Big uncertainty and the markets are nervous whether or not there will be a soon and lasting solution to the problem.

3:52And at the same time, many countries are taking some measures to avoid the worst case scenario. And that was International Energy Agency Executive Director Fanti Viral speaking with Bloomberg's David Gura at the Aspen Security Forum. Beryl added that the conflict must be resolved in a matter of weeks to limit impact on the global economy. In Washington, Karen, a couple of key Trump nominees faced questions in confirmation hearings. Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche faced criticism over a deal giving President Trump and his allies immunity from past tax audits. Bloomberg's Amy Morris reports from Washington.

4:31Blanche says the fund created by President Trump's lawsuit against the IRS has been canceled, but Republican Senator John Cornyn raised concerns that it could be revived. The President of the United States has not agreed in writing to delete the weaponization fund, and there's no guarantee that he might raise that issue by way of a lawsuit in the future. There's no fund. I suppose they could bring a lawsuit. Senators also questioned whether Blanche can operate independently from Trump, given his past work as Trump's personal lawyer. Blanche will need the support of all Republicans on the Judiciary Committee to advance his nomination.

5:06In Washington, Amy Morris, Bloomberg Radio. All right, Amy, thank you. Well, President Trump's nominee to lead the U.S. intelligence community also appeared on the Hill for his confirmation hearing. Jay Clayton repeatedly sidestepped questions from Democrats on whether Joe Biden won the 2020 election. He had this exchange with the top Democrat on the Senate Intelligence Committee, Mark Warner. So let me just ask you, it should be a simple question. Do you deny that Joe Biden won the 2020 election? Senator, I'm not an election denier. Joe Biden was certified as the president of the United States.

5:42Jay Clayton was also pressed about his current role as Manhattan's top federal prosecutor, and his offices moved to subpoena New York Times journalists for reporting on security shortcomings on President Trump's new Air Force One from Qatar. Security investigation. I'm happy to talk to you and this committee about our approach to the First Amendment. Jay Clayton's timeline for a full Senate confirmation vote is still unclear, but Democrats have voiced urgency about replacing the current acting director of National Intelligence, Bill Pulte. President Trump appointed him to succeed Tulsi Gabbard as DNI last month, despite a lack of national security experience.

6:21On the care and election, security is expected to be a key topic when President Trump delivers a primetime address to the nation tonight. The president said as much to reporters in the Oval Office. Our country has to shape up. But what we're going to be talking about Thursday is it doesn't get bigger because without free and fair elections, you don't have a country. We'll be discussing other things, too. The White House hasn't said what those other things might be, but the president's last address to the nation was in April on the Iran war. Tonight's speech is scheduled for 9 p.m. Wall Street time.

6:54You can listen on Bloomberg Radio or watch on Bloomberg Television or the Bloomberg Business app. Nathan, let's turn to geopolitics and trade. U.S. Trade Representative Jameson Greer signaled modest expectations for the summit between President Trump and his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping in September. He says the meeting will focus on assessing current commitments by the two sides. The number one deliverable we always have between President Trump and President Xi is to continue the stability of the relationship. Both of these leaders are very committed to having a strong and solid personal relationship.

7:27Now, that doesn't mean we don't have issues in the broader relationship. Obviously, we do. China is a big challenge for the U.S. in a lot of ways. But we want to make sure we're delivering stability. U.S. Trade Representative Jamison Greer adds that the U.S. will look to bridge gaps in China's compliance with trade agreements, including on China's commitment to delay rare earths restrictions. Greer made the comments to Bloomberg's David Gura. Catch the entire interview and all of our coverage of the Aspen Security Forum on the Bloomberg Video Hub at Bloomberg.com and on the Bloomberg Business App.

7:59Now back on Capitol Hill, Karen, Fed Chair Kevin Warsh wrapped up two days of congressional testimony answering questions from the Senate Banking Committee. Warsh was asked about possible potential interference from President Trump. President has not before I took this office, before I raised my right hand, he has not tried to influence the conduct of monetary policy. And if he tried to, I would continue to keep my head down and do the job. I don't have a long record, but I've got a seven week record. And before that, I had a 25 year record. And I think that should count for something. And hours after those comments from Chair Warsh, President Trump reiterated his view on interest rates, telling Fox, quote, I'd like to see them go down.

8:40Let's turn to the markets, Nathan, where chip stocks will be in focus again, this after Taiwan's semiconductor manufacturing raised its spending and revenue projections for the year. The main chipmaker for NVIDIA now expects capital expenditure of as much as$64 billion in 2026. It's also projecting revenue growth of slightly above 40 percent, significantly higher from the more than 30 percent it had predicted. And speaking of NVIDIA, Karen, Japan is planning to buy more than 27 ,000 of the chipmaker's next generation Rubin chips from the world's most valuable company to build a homegrown foundational AI model for robots.

9:16The initiative is part of a series of efforts by the Japanese government to lower its reliance on foreign technology and bolster national security. Nathan, South Korea will temporarily halt new listings of single stock leveraged exchange traded products to curb market volatility. The move follows a surge in popularity of funds tied to Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix. More than a dozen leveraged ETFs launched two months ago, which aim to deliver twice the daily return of Samsung and SK Hynix. And it has been blamed by market participants for exacerbating price swings. Sticking with AI, Karen, JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon's warning against broad access to Anthropics Mythos model.

9:56Speaking at the Pennsylvania Defense and Innovation Summit, Diamond said the powerful technology raises serious risks. Mythos, that's a real issue, which I know our government is on top of at this point. It's not to stop small banks from gaining. It's really just to make sure we roll out the stuff that we know is being controlled. Because you're giving ballistic missiles to individuals with mythos, basically. And J.P. Morgan CEO Jamie Diamond noted his bank is among a group of companies that have been testing mythos since April. Nathan, SpaceX shares have come back to Earth. They've fallen to their lowest level since the company went public.

10:31Shares briefly fell below their initial public offering price. SpaceX surged nearly 50 % over its first three days of trading, only to lose nearly a quarter of their value over the next three sessions. And in deal news, Karen, Uber has agreed to buy German food delivery company Delivery Hero for$14.8 billion. The food delivery market, which had boomed during the COVID pandemic, has been rapidly consolidating in recent years. The ride-hailing company has been making acquisitions overseas to strengthen its position internationally.

11:04Time 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 heat will continue in the Northeast today, but even more troublesome is the air quality. With more, here's Bloomberg meteorologist Craig Allen. The sky had that orange color again yesterday, right? And it could be worse today. So far, the smoke from wildfires in Ontario province have been mostly aloft, but it is likely to be more at ground level today with an AQI of 100 to 150 in Washington and Boston, but as unhealthy as 150 to 200 from Philadelphia up to New York City.

11:43Air quality alerts for ozone and fine particulates will be in effect most of the day today. Bloomberg Meteorologist Craig Allen. The Department of Homeland Security abandoned a decision to halt most immigration traffic stops after President Donald Trump demanded that the tactic continue. The decision to resume traffic stops was made after a fatal shooting of a Colombian man during an enforcement operation in Maine, which led to a brief suspension of most vehicle stops except in serious criminal cases. Meanwhile, Maine Republican Senator Susan Collins backs a temporary halt to routine ICE traffic stops.

12:20The entire Maine delegation has asked for a thorough, full and impartial investigation to be conducted by the independent office of the inspector general. The shooting in Maine was less than one week after an ICE agent in Houston, Texas, shot and killed a man in a traffic stop during a deportation crackdown. More on the story we heard just earlier. The New York Times refused to let its reporters testify in front of a federal grand jury after they were subpoenaed by the Trump administration over a story about security issues with an Air Force One plane donated by Qatar. The Times filed a motion under sealed, quashed the subpoenas, calling them abusive and improper and saying they violated the constitutional rights of the Times and its journalists.

13:10Global 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. Defending champion Argentina has now pulled out four straight World Cup games and has reached the finals. They'll play Spain Sunday in New Jersey in the semis yesterday in Atlanta. Argentina trailed England 1-0 and then scored twice in a six-minute span for a 2-1 victory. Baseball's back tonight with one game. It's between the Mets and the Phillies. A trade.

13:44Houston sent pitcher Lance McCullers to Milwaukee. McCullers was with the Astros for 12 years. That's your Bloomberg Sports Update. Stay with us. More from Bloomberg Daybreak coming up after this. Support for the show comes from Public.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.

14:21or if my cash balance goes above$20 ,000, move the excess into my direct index. You approve the workflow and your agent handles the rest. Monitoring the market, watching for your conditions and executing your strategies exactly as defined. An 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, Inc., Member FINRA, and SIPC.

14:59Advisory 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. You become what you spend on, and that's not what you're building toward. Brex is the intelligent finance platform that eliminates that work before it starts. AI agents that handle the manual stuff automatically, so your team can spend their time on what actually compounds. It's time to get Brex AF. Learn more at brex.com slash AF.

15:37The official language of football is trash talk, late night group chats, memes, and unbelievable highlight clips. That's why Boost Mobile brings you our new global connection plan. The first plan ever made for WhatsApp. Get unlimited data, talk and text, international roaming, and calls to over 100 countries for just$40 a month. $40 price includes$5 a month auto pay discount. After 40 gigabytes of premium high-speed data, speeds will be lowered. Coverage not available everywhere. Visit store or boostmobile.com for details.

16:11Coast 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 Hagrid. It has been five straight days of U.S. attacks on Iran around the Strait of Hormuz and now into the Persian Gulf. But Tehran is showing little sign it's willing to back down from President Trump's threats to escalate even further. I don't like giving deadlines, but they pretty much know. They know this story. They better behave. That was President Trump speaking to reporters outside the White House. And joining us from Dubai this morning is Bloomberg News Middle East managing editor, Oner Ant.

16:49Oner, we've heard the president say that the U.S. will strike even harder. He's even threatened to go after energy infrastructure as soon as next week. Does it seem as though the U.S. attacks are intensifying to the level that the president has suggested? Good morning. Good morning. Well, the U.S. attacks are not at that level yet. But having said that, after five weeks of U.S. strikes on Iran and Iran's retaliatory attacks on U.S. bases in the Persian Gulf and elsewhere in the Middle East, is a sign that we can say the interim peace period, if we can call it, that has all but collapsed. Yes, Donald Trump did say that next week they might go after, they might start going after some energy assets, starting with power plants and bridges, which is something that he threatened to do earlier in the war, in March especially.

17:41And some of those attacks did take place, which resulted in massive retaliation. So the hope right now, at least in the region, is that it doesn't go to that level. But that's definitely the direction as we stand. Now, we've heard from the head of the International Maritime Association in an interview with Bloomberg Radio, saying the Strait of Hormuz is now too dangerous for commercial travel. How significant is it for an official of that capacity to deliver that kind of warning? It was extremely significant, and they're not alone. India has just advised its shipping companies to basically stay away from trips across the Hormuz Strait, and they asked Indian seamen not to be sent to the area.

18:28Look, I think what we need to look at is the level of traffic, and it's dwindled. It's come down to basically nothing. We've seen supertankers getting hit by Iran and also as well as the US in the most recent example that took place yesterday. And we're seeing a slump in oil loadings in the Persian Gulf by Saudi Arabia, which is a bit of an exception because it is not as reliant on loadings from within the Persian Gulf as other countries are because of its ability to divert its oil supplies, oil exports to ports on the Red Sea coast. But we have also seen a decline in shuttle traffic, which was used by the likes of United Arab Emirates to get their oil out of the Persian Gulf and basically transfer it to other ships for exports elsewhere.

19:15So as things stand now, there is a huge difference between what's going through now in the Strait of Hormuz and what was the case just a week ago before the latest round of attacks and counterstrikes started taking place between the U.S. and Iran. And not just around the Strait of Hormuz, owner, we've also seen the U.S. strike a sanctioned oil tanker inside the Persian Gulf. Could we be seeing an expansion of the blockade? Yeah, that is a first or at least one of the rare examples where a ship, an Iranian ship, was struck so deep inside the Persian Gulf. As you said, Nathan, the actual blockade, the physical blockade is further to the south of where that incident took place.

20:06And it shows the American willingness and obviously as well as capability to strike Iranian ships even after they go past what we believe is the general contours of the American blockade that is now outside the Gulf, outside the Strait of Hormuz. And we only have about 30 seconds left here, owner, but does all this seem as though it's getting the U.S. and Iran any closer to getting back to a negotiating table? No, it's not. But the last time this kind of pickup took place, it was down to the negotiators to basically pull off a breakthrough in diplomatic talks, which may always happen in an unexpected way.

20:48But we have no indication from either side that they are close to a breakthrough, the kind of breakthrough that we saw before Nathan. Okay. Onur Ant, thank you for this. We'll be checking back with you throughout the morning. That's Bloomberg News Middle East Managing Editor. Onur Ant with us this morning from Dubai. Karen. Nathan, we now want to turn to Bloomberg's exclusive discussion from the Aspen Security Forum with U.S. Trade Representative Jamison Greer. He spoke with Bloomberg's David Gura in a wide-ranging conversation explaining why stability for China trade ties remains a top priority ahead of the expected visit of President Xi to the U.S.

21:24in September. He began the conversation discussing China in Section 301 notices. Let's listen in. So China's compliance with the rare earth elements of our agreements, it's not perfect. I think everyone knows that. You can read that in the paper. That being said, we are getting a flow of rare earths. We don't have factories shutting down because they don't have it. But again, we really want to be in a position where we were in 2024 and 2023 in President Trump's first term, where we had a regular flow of rare earths. We also know that the Chinese, they use rare earths for economic coercion. They did it in 2010 and 2011.

22:01They're doing it now. So it's not necessarily surprising. But we're continuing to have some flow. And where we have gaps, where we have problems, the Secretary of the Treasury and I, we work with our counterpart in China to try to loosen that flow up. Sometimes we're more successful than others. One important thing is we're moving forward in the U.S. on rare earth production. One of the things I'm doing on my trip out west here, I'm going to Utah to visit a facility where they've discovered rare earths in the Utah desert. and they're refining them and further manufacturing them at a facility in Utah, which is a great development for U.S.

22:36national and economic security. You've got rare earths. There's huge pharmaceutical dependence as well. And I wonder how you're thinking about that, the way that you can kind of curb our reliance on Chinese pharmaceuticals and ingredients. Yeah, we think about this a lot. This is really critical because at the end of the day, if somehow you lose access to Chinese inputs, it can be a huge challenge for our own manufacturing base. And some people will say, well, what about India? Fine. But a lot of the inputs that India uses also come from China. One great thing that we're seeing as we try to encourage companies to reshore is we actually have commitments from 17 pharmaceutical companies, the largest and the most major pharmaceutical companies, not only to lower prices of medication here in the U.S., pharmaceutical prices have gone down by 2.5 percent.

23:25But they've also agreed to reshore here and to manufacture here. And so we have companies like Eli Lilly and Novartis and others actually pouring concrete and superstructures going up in new facilities in North Carolina and Indiana and Southern California. There's a long way to go until this meeting in September when the Chinese president comes to the United States. But let me ask you lastly sort of how you're thinking about that. You were so integral to conversations that took place in Beijing. What are you expecting deliverables wise to come out of that meeting in Washington in a couple months?

23:52Well, the The number one deliverable we always have between President Trump and President Xi is to continue the stability of the relationship. Both of these leaders are very committed to having a strong and solid personal relationship. Now, that doesn't mean we don't have issues in the broader relationship. Obviously, we do. China is a big challenge for the U.S. in a lot of ways. But we want to make sure we're delivering stability. There's never been a situation where the U.S. side or even the Chinese side has gone out and said, everyone should expect a comprehensive agreement that resolves all issues.

24:23Like, no one's ever promised that, so that's not what we expect. We will have an opportunity to take stock of Chinese commitments with respect to purchases of soybeans and other agricultural products. We'll take stock on the rare earth issues we decided. So I think it'll be a moment for stock taking, you know, confirming the relationship, making sure that China's complying with what it's agreed to do. That's really what we're looking forward to in this meeting. 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.

24:57Eastern each morning on Apple, Spotify or anywhere else you listen. You 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 Karen Moscow.