US Seizes Iranian Ship; Japan Tsunami Warning

0:00The thing about AI for business, it may not automatically fit the way your business works. At IBM, we've seen this firsthand. But by embedding AI across HR, IT, and procurement processes, we've reduced costs by millions, slash repetitive tasks, and freed thousands of hours for strategic work. Now we're helping 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. For many men, mental health challenges aren't recognized until they've already taken a toll. Work pressure, financial stress, changing relationships, and traditional expectations around masculinity can quietly wear men down, often without clear warning signs.

0:44In season three of The Visibility Gap, Dr. Guy Winch and his guests explore how these pressures show up, how to spot them earlier, and how men can access meaningful support. Listen to the new season of The Visibility Gap, a podcast presented by Cigna Healthcare. Everyone has been there. Your team's feedback is scattered across emails, chats, and sticky notes. It's a mess. But PDF Spaces and Adobe Acrobat gives you one collaborative workspace to streamline every file and comment. So, if you need six departments to finally agree on a proposal, do that with Acrobat. Need to turn a mountain of feedback into one plan of action?

1:24Do that with Acrobat. Want to stop searching for files and finally get everyone on the same page? Do 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, there are new tensions between the U.S. and Iran less than 48 hours before a fragile ceasefire is set to run out. Vacate your engine room. Vacate your engine room. We're prepared to subject you to disabling fire. U.S. Central Command posted that video of the Navy firing upon then seizing an Iran-flagged cargo ship in the Gulf of Oman.

2:13It's the first time the U.S. has taken over a vessel since the blockade of the Strait of Hormuz began last week. It's casting doubt on talks that President Trump had promised would seal the deal with Iran tomorrow night. Bloomberg's Jumana Bersechi has more from Dubai. This is a situation we're in right now from, you know, optimism on Friday and perhaps some vessels preparing themselves for passing through the strait safely had to U-turn. And now we're back to a standstill again. Essentially, no vessels, no ships, nothing is being passed through. And not only is there concern about what instructions to get from either side, whether it's the Iranian Revolutionary Guard or whether it's the U.S., but also real concerns about safety given the mounting dangers involved.

3:02Bloomberg's Jumana Berset, she reports President Trump is once again threatening to destroy all of Iran's power plants and bridges if talks fail. Iran's foreign ministry says it still hasn't decided if it's taking part. It says Iran's armed forces will respond to any, quote, new adventure. Well, Nathan, the White House still says Vice President J.D. Vance will head to Islamabad tonight to lead a second round of talks along with Envoy Steve Whitcoff and Jared Kushner. John Feiner was chief of staff to former Secretary of State John Kerry when he negotiated the 2015 nuclear deal with Iran. He says talks with Tehran are never going to be easy.

3:40Negotiations with the Iranians take time. They take patience. They take expertise. And airdropping the vice president into Pakistan for one day was never going to get the job done. And former Trump Defense Secretary Mark Esper says it's unclear whether the two sides will even talk this week. The president's been saying that we're very, very close to a deal, that it's that they want it really badly. And then what you hear coming out of Iran is recently his last 24 hours, where the lead negotiator, Speaker Mr. Galiboff has said, yes, progress was made in Islamabad last week, but we are far from a significant differences between our negotiating positions.

4:18Mark Esper and John Finder were guests on Bloomberg this weekend. Catch the show Saturdays and Sundays from 7 a.m. Eastern on Bloomberg Radio and Television and the Bloomberg Business App. Karen, stocks are falling and oil is rising on the latest war developments. S &P futures are trading at 71.29 right now. Now that's a drop of about a half percent. And West Texas Intermediate right now is up 5.7 percent, trading at 88.65 a barrel. Brent is up 5 percent at$95 even. Bloomberg Intelligence Senior Commodities Strategist Mike McGlone says oil prices are in a new range that will eventually decrease, but not for a while.

4:54Given the recent news, it's probably going to be up a little bit. But I think oil is stuck in a new range now between 80 and 100. If we stay above 100, that breaks things. We're seeing what happens when crude oil rallies. at such high velocity, the whole global economy is tilting downward. GDP estimates are lower. If it stays above 100, it'll make it go lower. Below 80, I think eventually it'll get there, but not right now. Bloomberg Intelligence Senior Commodities Strategist Mike McGlone says oil has risen 33 percent since the start of the war. Now to a developing story, Nathan. A tsunami warning has been issued for Japan's northeast coast after a 7.4 earthquake hit the region, and Bloomberg's John Herskovitz has the latest from Tokyo.

5:34We have the tsunami warning that's been issued for large parts of the northeast coast, especially around the Iwate area. This was the part that was devastated by the 2011 tsunami. The warning is up to three meters for areas of Iwate. And Bloomberg's John Herskovitz says in 2011, A magnitude 9.0 earthquake and tsunami caused more than 22 ,000 deaths and forced nearly half a million people to flee their homes. In Europe, Karen, Bulgaria's former president, Roman Radeff, has claimed an overwhelming victory in his country's general election. His progressive Bulgaria Party, which opposes sanctions on Russia and military aid for Ukraine, is headed for an outright majority in the eighth general election in Bulgaria since 2021.

6:22Well, back here in the U.S., Nathan, tragedy in Louisiana and the deadliest mass shooting in the country in more than two years. A father killed eight children, including seven of his own, and shot two women in two homes in Shreveport, Louisiana. Shreveport Police Corporal Chris Bordelon spoke to CBS News about the situation. He drove into a neighborhood and exited the vehicle, and the initial indication is he produced a handgun and he returned fire and ultimately killed the suspect. Shreveport Police Corporal Chris Bordelon said the gunman was identified as 31-year-old Shamar Elkins. A cousin said one of the women was married to the shooter and they had been arguing about a separation and were due in court today.

7:05Let's turn to other news now this morning, Karen. It is Patriots Day in Boston, and that means in just a few hours, tens of thousands of runners will pound the pavement for the Boston Marathon. Bloomberg's Monica Ricks checked out the lineup. More than 30 ,000 runners from all over the world will be running this year's Boston Marathon, and retired astronaut Sunny Williams will be one of them. This will be her second Boston Marathon, but her first on Earth. Back in 2007, Williams ran it tethered to a treadmill aboard the International Space Station, and her time wasn't bad. She did it in four hours and 24 minutes.

7:42Now, today, Williams will also receive the annual Patriots Award from the Boston Athletic Association for her inspiration and service. Past recipients include former Boston Mayor Marty Walsh, former New England Patriots star Rob Gronkowski and Patriots owner Robert Kraft, and Red Sox legend David Big Papi Ortiz. Monica Ricks, Bloomberg Radio. All right, Monica, thank you. Let's turn back to the economy now. The Senate Banking Committee is slated to hold a confirmation hearing tomorrow for President Trump's pick to be the next chairman of the Federal Reserve. Bloomberg's Tom Busby has more on what to look for.

8:15While the hearing for former Federal Reserve Governor Kevin Warsh will likely focus on his thoughts about where interest rates should be, look for discussions about maintaining the Fed's independence from President Trump. Also, Warsh's desire to free up capital with a sharp rollback in the Fed's massive crisis-era balance sheet and his support for rolling back the Fed's requirements for bank liquidity levels. Also of interest, financial filings that showed he's worth at least$192 million, maybe more, and that his wife, Jane Lauder, a granddaughter of the cosmetics firm founder Estee Lauder, could be worth billions.

8:49Tom Busby, Bloomberg Radio.

8:54Time 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. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer says he is outraged over FIFA's plan to charge World Cup fans$150 for train tickets. MetLife Stadium in New Jersey is hosting eight World Cup matches, including the final. And the only way to get to the stadium will be by taking a New Jersey Transit train from Penn Station, New York. Schumer said NJ Transit is paying$48 million to transport World Cup fans while FIFA pays nothing.

9:31So FIFA's forcing every fan onto public transit and then saying you've got to pay$150 to help New Jersey Transit carry them. What the hell? Who the hell do they think they are? Senator Schumer says FIFA should cover the cost of getting fans to the World Cup at MetLife Stadium. New York Mayor Zoran Mamdani hailed a proposed annual surcharge on some owners of second homes in the city as an important step in his pledge to raise taxes on the wealthy. Mamdani on NBC's Meet the Press Sunday says he believes in the importance of taxing the rich. I tell them unless they make more than a million dollars a year or own some of the most profitable corporations in our city or have a second home that's worth more than five million dollars, then these are not taxes that apply to them.

10:17And what I've sought to make this city the most expensive in the United States of America is one that's affordable for the people who have been priced out of it. NBC's Meet the Press is heard Sundays on Bloomberg. The first American pot of Pope Leo is wrapping up his 11 day landmark papal trip to Africa. Throughout it, he has made a consistent call for peace and unity. More than a fifth of the world's Catholics are in Africa, and a driving force are young people. Pope Leo is expected to meet with the Catholic leaders in Angola before he heads to the Equatorial Guinea on Tuesday for the final stop in his papal trip.

10:54Global 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. One surprise in the NBA playoffs. Eight-seeded Orlando won at top-seeded Detroit, 112-101 in game one of that series. The Buffalo Sabres' first Stanley Cup playoff game in 15 years. They trailed the Bruins 2-0 with eight minutes to go. They scored four goals in seven minutes. The Sabres won 4-3. The Cubs beat the Mets 2-1 in 10 innings. The Mets have lost 11 games in a row.

11:29The Heritage Golf at Hilton Head went to a playoff and Matt Fitzpatrick birdied on the first extra hole to beat Scotty Scheffler. That's your Bloomberg Sports Update. Stay with us. More from Bloomberg Daybreak coming up after this. The thing about AI for business, it may not automatically fit the way your business works. At IBM, we've seen this firsthand. But by embedding AI across HR, IT, and procurement processes, we've reduced costs by millions, slash repetitive tasks and freed thousands of hours for strategic work. Now we're helping companies get smarter by putting AI where it actually pays off, deep in the work that moves the business.

12:10Let's create smarter business, IBM. For many men, mental health challenges aren't recognized until they've already taken a toll. Work pressure, financial stress, changing relationships, and traditional expectations around masculinity can quietly wear men down, often without clear warning signs. In Season 3 of The Visibility Gap, Dr. Guy Winch and his guests explore how these pressures show up, how to spot them earlier, and how men can access meaningful support. Listen to the new season of The Visibility Gap, a podcast presented by Cigna Healthcare. Support for the show comes from Public. Public is an investing platform that offers access to stocks, options, bonds, and crypto.

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13:54at public.com slash disclosures. Coast 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, monitoring developing news off the coast of northeast Japan, where a powerful earthquake has sparked tsunami warnings in a part of the country devastated by shaking and waves more than a decade ago. So joining us from Tokyo is Bloomberg's John Herskovitz. John, good morning. What do we know about this quake? What's the latest? Sure. The quake came in at a magnitude of 7.5. It hit offshore.

14:33And right now, the tsunami wave is coming in in various parts of Japan. The warning was for up to three meters. This is about 10 feet, one story of a building. But the actual tsunami that's come ashore, the highest point so far we've seen is at 80 centimeters. So that's good news. It's not as big so far as the warning has been. Up and down the coast, there are seawalls which should contain the tsunami as it comes in. But the warning is still in effect. So we've seen this. We've seen the prime minister, the meteorological agency, warn people to get to higher ground. We've seen the trains being, service being delayed, cut off.

15:19The meteorological agency of Japan has warned that we could see similar strong quakes for about a week in this area. So the warning is still up there for the tsunami. The warning is still up for three meters, but so far what's come ashore, the highest point has been 80 centimeters in Kuji, in Iwate. This is the place that was devastated in 2011 by the earthquake tsunami. Lower down the coast is Fukushima, where the nuclear plant had the meltdown disaster. So, so far, no abnormalities, any power plants. So everything, it's of concern, but so far, nothing devastating as we saw in 2011. I think you were there in 2011, weren't you, in that awful Fukushima disaster.

16:10It sounds as though things might not be as bad as they were then, but put it into that context for us. Sure. I went a few days after the tsunami hit in 2011, up and down the coast, and it was just absolute devastation. And you could see you're driving on a road and there is a tanker in the middle of the road. Everything was just stirred up. Your GPS didn't work because the roads no longer existed or were blocked. There were devastating fires that came out of the tsunami. And it was just absolute devastation for all up and down the coast. after that japan rebuilt i went back there a few years ago there are seawalls in place at a much higher level the power plants have had various furnishings to make them safer than before the people are concerned when the warning comes in people get to high ground as quickly as possible is it's it's a serious matter when the waves may be coming in not as high as predicted but But the devastation that was there before, I think it was up to 20 ,000 people killed or missing from that tsunami.

17:27So it is a huge concern. So far, things are serious, but we're not at anywhere near the level that we saw in 2011. Okay, so this earthquake was in the northeast or off the northeast coast of Japan. You're in Tokyo to the southeast. Just quickly, John, did you feel it from where you are? Yeah, I'm in the Bloomberg office. It's on the 22nd Server building. So the building was swaying a bit. The elevators were cut off for maybe about 20, 30 minutes. So we felt it here. The Japan uses an intensity scale, which measures the shaking on the ground. Seven is the highest. This is like absolute devastation.

18:08In Iwate Prefecture, it came in at about a five. In Tokyo, it was a three, which meant that we could feel it, but no real damage to structures. Iwate, they may see some damage structures, but not at the highest level, which would be a 7. So magnitude and intensity, Japan uses two scales. Earthquake at 7.5. Magnitude, the intensity was about a 5 at the worst. Okay. Well, appreciate you coming on with us, John, and bringing us the very latest on what is happening in Japan this morning. Evening in Japan, that's Bloomberg's John Herskovitz joining us this morning of the earthquake. from Tokyo this morning.

18:49But now we want to turn to the other major story. And of course, that is the ceasefire between the U.S. and Iran with less than 48 hours until it's due to expire. There is new uncertainty about where the war goes from here after the U.S. seized an Iran-backed cargo ship over the weekend. Joining us from Dubai now is Bloomberg Middle East correspondent Jumana Bersechi, the anchor of Bloomberg Horizons. And of course, before these latest developments over the weekend, Jumana, there were a lot of hopes that there were going to be talks as soon as tomorrow between the U.S. and Iran. Where do things stand now?

19:24Good morning. Absolutely. Good morning. There's a lot to wade through from this weekend. You know, a lot of optimism on Friday afternoon after a series of posts that President Trump put up, almost suggesting that the war was over. But then, of course, things turned around over the course of the weekend. And this morning, as you were just talking about, we know that CENTCOM actually seized an Iranian-linked vessel in implementation of their own blockade that is still ongoing throughout the Strait of Hormuz. So the street is still effectively shut. But at the same time, the US side has indicated that they plan to go ahead with these talks in Islamabad.

20:00The plan is for J.D. Vance once again to lead the discussions alongside Steve Wyckoff and Jared Kushner, and that they are expected to leave the US tonight. So tonight, US time, landing in Islamabad tomorrow morning for discussions. However, the Iranian side are being coy. We just don't know at this point whether they plan on attending. We heard from the Iranian foreign ministry spokesperson about an hour ago, and he said no final decision had been made. Over the course of the weekend, the Speaker of the Parliament, Mohammed Galimov, did suggest that the progress had been made, but there was still a lot of daylight between the two sides.

20:37And then more recently this morning, the Iranian president, Pazesh Kian, said there is no appetite for a return to fighting and that all rational and diplomatic avenues should be used to reduce tension. So you can piece all the messaging together, which suggests that there is perhaps still hope that the Iranian delegation show up to these meetings. They just haven't confirmed it yet. Well, and there's still a question, isn't there, about whether the ceasefire is still in effect. We've heard some commentary from the Iranian side that they consider the seizure of this cargo ship a potential violation?

21:09Yes, and I think that was the big question as we walked in this morning, just exactly how the Iranians would respond. And the IRGC, which is, of course, the military wing, and earlier I was referencing a lot of comments from the official side of Iran, the Iranian delegation, but the IRGC are livid that the U.S. actually went ahead and seized the vessel. They vowed to retaliate. So far, we have not seen that retaliation remains to be seen what it's going to look like and if that would really amount to another military escalation or a repeat of some of the hostilities that we saw a couple of weeks ago.

21:45One other thing that I would just say as well is President Trump also suggested that once again, if there is no breakthrough this time around, he's threatening to once again attack power plants and key civilian infrastructure in Iran. So sort of a repeat of the threat that we had a couple of weeks ago, and unlikely that that has gone down well either in Iran. So they have to make a decision between the two factions here, the military wing who want to respond to the US provocations, and then the diplomatic wing who have been representing Iran at these talks that seem to indicate that they want to continue and go down the path of diplomacy as opposed to further military escalation.

22:26That raises another overriding question that's been hovering over this for so many weeks, if not months, as to which of those wings speaks for the Iranian government as a whole. But even if these talks were to get underway tomorrow in Islamabad, Jumana, the two sides are still very far apart on the fundamental issues, aren't they? Yeah. And the fundamental issue here, of course, is not just the straits. And by the way, the strait reopening was one of the key features of the ceasefire that was supposed to be implemented a couple of weeks ago, and the street never fully reopened. I should just remind everybody.

23:04But the fundamental issue here is nuclear ambition. And of course, the US are pushing for maximum concessions out of the Iranian side. And over the course of the weekend, once again, Iranian state TV repeated that what the US are asking for is too maximalist for them. And of note here is, number one, their nuclear ambition in terms of the amount of enrichment that the U.S. will allow for them to continue with. And the Iranian position has always been that they should be allowed for a low level of uranium enrichment for civilian purposes. And then the second big question is what happens to that fate of the enriched stockpile that they're already sitting on, which is more than 400 kilos worth or 1 ,000 pounds.

23:50And again, they've repeated the message over the weekend that there are no plans to transfer it outside the country. There are multiple media reports suggesting that a deal had been struck. And then the final point is what the U.S. plan to do with those sanctions and whether some deal would entail a lifting of sanctions or unfreezing Iranian assets around the world. At this point, we don't know, but we do have a better understanding of what the framework of the discussion is. 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.

24:29Eastern 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.

25:06And 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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