It is Bloomberg Business Week Daily. On
this Federal Reserve Friday, I think
it's fair to say. I'm Tim Stenc along
with Nora Melinda from the Bloomberg
News Equities team. It is Friday, August
22nd, 2025. And our focus squarely on on
just not just the equity market, but
certainly on what we heard from Fed
Chair Jay Powell a little earlier today
because Wall Street getting the rally
signal they were hoping for from the
chair of the Federal Reserve. Taking a
look at markets right now, and we're
going to have more from Charlie Pellet
in just a second. The S&P 500 up 1.6%.
The Nasdaq Composite up 2%. The Dow up
2%. But type in RTY on the Bloomberg
terminal. That's the Russell 2000. And
that is surging earlier in the session
is up as much as 4% really hovering at
around 3.9% to the upside since we heard
from Fed Chair Jay Powell. Nor Melinda.
We're going to have Molly Smith join us
in just a second. She's Bloomberg News
economics editor. give us a breakdown of
everything we heard in that speech
because it wasn't just the equity market
and uh traders being happy about the
idea of a potential September rate cut.
They covered a lot of ground.
Absolutely. There was so much ground
that was covered. I mean, we saw a lot
of activity also in the bond market.
That's something of course to note, but
I think people are really just waiting
to hear from Jerome Pal. There's a lot
to focus on, especially as we look ahead
to next month. But later on, super
interesting, we're going to be hearing
from CFO of Webtune. It surged more than
80% after it announced a deal with
Disney. They'll be joining us later.
Also, the CFO of Axiom Space is back
with us just ahead of an orbital data
center launch. Yeah, we're talking about
data centers in space. Now, guys, you
got to stay tuned for that one. All that
and more coming up over the next hour
right here on Bloomberg Business Week
Daily. First up, a check of the day
trade and top business stories. Here he
is, Charlie.
Hi, thank you very much. Right now, we
do have stocks rocketing higher with the
Dow, the S&P, Nasdaq solidly in the
green. But a couple of developing
stories. You heard it live on Bloomberg.
President Trump says Intel has agreed to
give the US government a 10% equity
stake in the company. Trump cast the
agreement as one that would revitalize
Intel, saying the company has been quote
left behind compared to competitors in
the chipm industry. Intel shares right
now, they're up by 5%. The Dow, the S&P,
Nasdaq, they're all advancing. JPAL
spoke markets moved higher. S&P up 103
right now at 6473. That is a gain of
1.6%.
We've got the Dow up 892, a higher by 2%
and NASDAQ up 427, up by 2%. Stock
surging on rate cut expectations in
September. We'll have more throughout
the day right here on Bloomberg. Our MAG
7 index up 2.6%. Tim mentioned the
Russell 2000 index of small cap shares
that is surging now by 3.8%.
Dow transports taking part in the rally
big time up 3.2%.
The 10-year yield 4.25% the 2-year
3.68%.
Spot gold up $36 the ounce up 1.1% 3374.
West Texas Intermediate crude up 210 of
1% 6374 a barrel. And Bitcoin is surging
4.2% 2% right now at 117,95.
Bitcoin uh again up by 4.2%. Briefly,
Apple in early discussions about using
Google Gemini to power a revamp version
of the Siri voice assistant. I'm Charlie
Pelatin. That is a Bloomberg business
flash.
Hey, thanks for that update, Charlie.
Covering a lot of ground there. Shares
of Apple, as Charlie mentioned, up 1.5%.
Worth repeating the redhead that crossed
the Bloomberg terminal and exclusive by
Bloomberg's Mark German. Apple's
exploring using Google's Gemini AI to
power a revamped Siri. We're gonna have
more on that a little later in the
program. I'm also watching what's going
on with Intel right now. Up close to 5%
as we speak. We just heard the president
saying that Intel has agreed to giving
the US a 10% stake. As soon as he said
that, we saw shares shoot higher. The
president saying that Intel has agreed
to give the US government a 10% equity
stake in the chipmaker. A formal
announcement is expected on Friday.
That's according to people familiar with
the matter. Here's what the president
said. They've agreed to do it and I
think it's a great deal for them. The
president telling reporters this just
moments ago at the White House. We're
going to have more on this story a
little later in the program as well. We
were also squarely focused on everything
happening in the equity trade and in the
bond market today because traders got
the green light. Stocks surging after
Jay Powell today struck a more dovish
tone than many expected during his
highly anticipated final speech at
Jackson Hole. The Fed chair covered a
lot during which treasuries rallied and
the dollar tumbled. He addressed the
dual mandate, the effects of tariffs,
and emphasized the committee's
datadriven approach.
While the labor market appears to be in
balance, it is a curious kind of
balance. This unusual situation suggests
that downside risks to employment are
rising. At the same time, GDP growth has
slowed notably. The effects of tariffs
on consumer prices are now clearly
visible. We expect those effects to
accumulate over coming months with high
uncertainty. A reasonable base case is
that the effects will be relatively
short-lived. It's also possible,
however, that the upward pressure on
prices from tariffs could spur a more
lasting inflation dynamic. The baseline
outlook and the shifting balance of
risks may warrant adjusting our policy
stance. FOMC members will make these
decisions based solely on their
assessment of the data and its
implications for the economic outlook
and the balance of risks. We will never
deviate from that approach.
That was Fed Chair Jay Powell live from
Jackson Hole earlier today for his last
speech there. We've got Molly Smith with
us right now. She's Bloomberg News
economics editor. She joins us here in
the Bloomberg Business Week studio. Wow,
a lot happened including him coming out
a little late, which is very unusual for
J. pow. This guy's like always on time.
So, I was surprised to, you know, still
be listening at like 10:04.
He's always ready to go
and he hasn't started.
Yeah. But, I mean, as Trump would say,
he's too late.
He's always too late. There it is.
Actually, Trump did come in today also
just to say that it was too late for
Powell to signal a September cut. So,
very on brand.
Okay. Everything Everything is on brand.
He covered a lot of ground and we got
some of the the highlights, the tidbits
there there. And it was also a very I
think um as Mike McKe talked about
earlier, one of the reasons according to
reporters that who were in the room
about why he was late is because he he
got a standing ovation
when he really when he came in according
to Mike's reporting.
Oh, cuz we probably won't be seeing much
of him anymore.
Well, at this event.
At this event.
Yes.
And he kind of alluded to that. He said,
you know, apart from a couple years
during COVID when I did this virtually,
and he talked, you know, he thanked
Kansas City Fed Chief for everything
they've done. And um what was your
biggest takeaway? We saw what the what
the market's excited about, but what
were your big takeaways?
I mean this I think it's just amazing
when you look at this amazing market
rally that we've had in response that it
really is just because of these four
words adjusting our policy stance or
really the couple before it may warrant
adjusting our policy stance.
And everybody says that policy stance is
looser monetary policy. Well, that that
it's going to be then that rates will be
cut then be cut. That that will be the
signal effectively. So those uh what is
that 1 2 3 4 six words there. That is
why your 401ks are doing really well
today. That is basically the essence of
the speech. Well, we're definitely
seeing a really strong showing here in
the equity markets. We're looking at the
Dow Jones Industrial Average up almost
2%. We're just seeing green all across
the screen today. But I mean, of course,
what has really been overcast during
this time period is all the spotlight
that's been here on Lisa Cook. And
that's something that we've all really
been focused on here. But I'm curious,
what is the importance here of the Fed's
independence? Yeah, I mean that's
obviously something that central bankers
at the Fed at this conference as well as
the from all around the world who are
also at this conference are very much in
support of and that was a huge part of
uh you know coming into Jackson Hole was
probably going to be a big theme of this
and that this is a a concept that's
really meant to be respected globally
and that central bankers take this
really core to their mission of being
able to operate um free from the
governments um uh where they live. So
this is uh yeah I mean something that
Powell has made very clear in all of his
speeches and I'm pretty again on brand
for him to stick with that today. You
know, we heard from the Fed chair at the
July policy meeting and then we got the
minutes earlier this week and a few days
uh after the meeting, we got the
payrolls report for the month of July
and that kind of changed the narrative
around the dual mandate, the uh maximum
employment part of the dual mandate
versus the stable prices part of the
dual mandate. Did we get any insight
from the chair as to how the Fed is
thinking about the balance of that dual
mandate right now and how that may have
shifted since the latest employment
report? Yeah, this is what everyone was
waiting to see because a lot of people
at the time had speculated that if
Powell and the rest of the Fed had seen
that July employment report before that
FOMC meeting, which was 2 days before
the report dropped, maybe it would have
been different the outcome of that
meeting and maybe they would have cut
rates or if or if not cut rates at that
meeting, maybe would have at least
signaled it more strongly at that point.
But they didn't know that at the time.
you know, this came out 48 hours later
and certainly as you said to him, like
our whole understanding of the labor
market really changed that day. So
Powell did allude to that and that the
there are, you know, certainly risks to
the unemployment side of the mandate and
that's really where the opening the door
to the September cut comes in because at
the same time he's still saying that we
have to be wary of inflation risks and
that they're tilted to the upside and
being mindful of tariffs um even if he
thinks that those effects are ultimately
going to be
short-lived. And one thing that Pal
really tries to do, he tries to avoid
anything that would represent him
weighing on, you know, fiscal policy as
opposed to monetary policy. We know that
he really is squarely focused on
monetary policy here, but we can't leave
out the fact that tariffs remain a clear
concern here for the economy more
broadly. What are your sources telling
you about how the Fed is really
factoring in the effects of tariffs as
we look ahead? I mean, Powell's made it
seem pretty clear that his base case is
for tariffs to be a short-lived
inflationary effect, which is
interesting. Um, I think because, you
know, there was a time where I think he
was maybe viewing it a little bit more
balanced or perhaps even more wary of it
being of a more persistent impact. And
um which has then been interesting then
of if you are in the camp that you think
that this is going to be a one-time hit
to inflation why you wouldn't be more
open to lowering rates sooner. Um that
if you are in the persistent camp that
would certainly lend credence a lot more
to the holding rates elevated side of
the argument. So they're all definitely
mindful of this. There are definitely
some Fed policy makers who are more
mindful of it than others. We had Beth
Hammock of the Cleveland Fled Cleveland
Fed come on CNBC after Powell spoke and
uh she had a very different tone to when
she was talking and she said that she is
squarely focused on inflation right now
and remember she had just said yesterday
or the day before that if the meeting
was tomorrow she's not going to cut.
Mhm.
I want to sit tight, Molly Smith. I want
to bring in Eric Weiner. He's senior
editor, Equities America's for Bloomberg
News. And also just take a quick look at
the equity and the bond markets. The S&P
500 up 1.6%. The Nasdaq Composite up 2%.
The small caps was interest sensitive
smaller market cap companies up 3.8% as
we speak. It's essentially the best
crosset rally that we've seen. Eric, on
the yield curve, uh we're seeing yields
lower by about 11 basis points on the
front end and the 2-year uh and the
5year down 10 basis points. Uh and we're
also seeing the 30-year yields lower by
3.6 basis points right now. Uh 4.88
on yield on the 30-year. The 10-year
yield is 425 right now. Kind of moving
around a little bit. Um what was your
big takeaway? Obviously, the market
reaction is huge, but you're kind of
smiling a little bit right now.
Well, like to Molly's point,
you're a little skeptical.
Well, I think that he said that they are
going to cut rates and it's not for a
good reason. Uh they're going to cut
rates because the employment is that
inflation is not showing up yet. and
their real concern right now is growth
and the labor market. And if you listen
to what he said about rates, yes, he
talked about it being temporary, but he
also talked about how they haven't
really shown up yet. So when when you're
talking about inflation, I'm sorry, that
so if inflation is temporary, but if you
think that the effect of tariffs is
going to be usually a year to 18 months
after they're implemented, we haven't
seen what they're going to do. And in
fact, if you think about it, most likely
it will be the next
just cuz it's uncharted territory,
right? It's new. It's and it the new Fed
chairman he he probably Powell himself
probably will not be the one who handles
this that it by next May we will
probably be seeing a bunch of this but
at that point he'll be out
and it may maybe a Kevin will be there.
Right. Right. So we don't know but it's
not necessarily his problem. However,
the market was is what the market is
doing is taking back
five days of peeling off of of interest
rate bets. So you you had five down days
uh in the S&P 500. Fairly shallow days,
but still five down days.
We're basically down 1.8% off alltime
highs.
So we just re we we reversed that 25
basis points is cooked back in for
coming up this, you know, this next
meeting. But from there, we'll see
because I don't necessarily know what
the inflation reports are going to show,
but a lot of company earnings were
talking about seeing inflation in their
results,
but they're eating it right now, Molly.
And we're seeing that in the PE producer
price index data.
Uh, yes.
And we're hearing that from companies,
too,
right? Yeah. I mean, Walmart said as
much on their earnings the other day.
Um, Target, very similar messaging. And
of course, you'd expect that from, you
know, retailers of, you know, who cater
to uh that kind of audience. But you
guys were just saying a minute ago, I
wanted to come back to this, of uh, you
know, maybe the next Fed chair, maybe a
Kevin. Um, we heard from Jim Bullard.
He's also in the mix. Um, he was on
Bloomberg TV um after Powell spoke and
he's out here saying, who knows, maybe
we'll see 100 basis points of cuts going
into next year. So that just to map that
out if we've got three meetings between
now and the end of the year would be
September, November, December. So one of
those then would have to be 50 basis
points and the other would be 225s
presumably which if you remember was
exactly the pattern a year ago. And this
is so funny because Trump when it in his
remarks in the Oval Office just a few
minutes ago um in saying that Powell was
too late to signal this September cut
also said Powell should have cut rates a
year ago. And he did. He did.
He did cut rates by 100 basis points a
year ago.
Exactly. The last time he cut rates was
December of 2024.
That's correct.
Or not him. The
the board. Yes, that's correct.
Not Powell. Right. It's a collaborative
process. But yes, the Fed did cut rates
by a full percentage point coming into
this year. So, one thing I've really
been watching throughout this entire
session has been volatility in the
market, right? If you look back at the
VIX index back in April when we were
talking all about tariffs and
everything, you're seeing it's spiking
up to what 52, the 52 handle. But if you
look at today's trading session, right,
we were sitting around maybe 16, but
then as soon as PAL starts speaking, it
just plummets and drops. We're now
hanging around 13. Eric, how are you
really analyzing this? What are you
thinking when you really address the
volatility here in the market for
traders?
Oh, we saw it. I mean, we we saw the
chart. It was like a needle down. Uh
that that's again the the interest rate
cuts. So, I if people were concerned
about what the Fed was seeing now, you
kind of know what they're seeing. You
know that they're going to take out 25
basis points. They're going to take
things down. Um what you don't know is
where things go from here. And that's
why like the next few reports um whether
it's consumer price index, PCE, they are
really key because that will determine
whether what Bullard was talking about
will actually be feasible. If the
employment if if unemployment continues
to be a problem, but prices start really
rising and showing up that way, the
Fed's kind of caught and it's hard for
for you to for anybody to justify taking
like a 100 basis points out of the out
of the Fed funds rate when inflation is
up. So the there we're right now in this
limbo of not knowing and that's what
we're we're going to be waiting on is
what the data show. Hey, we only have
about a minute left. Molly Norah said we
uh we're going to talk about the attacks
on Fed Governor Lisa Cook who did end up
going to Jackson Hole. We have reporting
on that from earlier this morning. Mike
McKe as well. Uh the president basically
at the same time that we were hearing
from Fed Chair Powell said that he would
fire Lisa Cook if she does not resign.
Can can he do that? And what has been
the response thus far?
Um trying to remind myself on all of the
where the Fed governors I think this is
one on the for
Exactly.
So yes, this does I think that Right.
Thank you. Sorry I spaced out a second.
Um I from what I've heard from people
this does seem like it would be for
cause. Um that if if these allegations
turn out to be true that if this is
really a case of mortgage fraud then
that would be a legitimate reason.
But I think you have a good caveat in
there which is if these allegations turn
out to be true because as of now they
are only allegations.
Right. And we're right and like um
obviously Lisa Cook is you know
defending herself endlessly that she has
said that she will not be bullied into
stepping down. She's looking into it.
I'm sure Fed is. I'm sure she has a
legal team that's doing so as well. So,
we'll see how this all shakes out.
All right, Molly Smith, economics editor
for Bloomberg News. Also, Eric Weiner,
senior editor for Equities Americas for
Bloomberg News. Both here in the
Bloomberg Business Week studio. Coming
up next on Bloomberg Business Week
Daily, the CFO of Webtune joins us.
That's next on Business Week.
[Music]
It's 221 on Wall Street. We do check
markets all day long here at Bloomberg.
stake in the company. We've got Intel
shares rallying on that news. Intel up
by just about 5%. We have got the Dow,
the S&P, and NASDAQ all advancing today
after remarks from Fed chair Jay Powell.
You heard them live on Bloomberg. Wall
Street got the rally signals from
Powell. It was hoping for Powell opening
the door to an interest rate cut citing
labor market. So here's where we stand.
S&P off session highs up 98 now at 6468.
That is a gain of 1 and a.5%. Dow
industrials up 8.49 now also off session
highs up by 1.9%. The Nasdaq composite
index up 2%. The Russell 2000 index of
small cap shares is surging 3.8%. Our
MAG 7 index up 2 and a.5%. Dow
transports up by 3.2%.
The 10-year 4.25% with the 2-year 3.68%.
Gold up $32 the ounce up by 1%. West
Texas intermediate crude oil up 4/10en
of 1% 6376 a barrel. And Bitcoin now up
by 4.1% just above $117,000.
We're keeping an eye on trucking stocks
like JP uh JB Hunt and SAIA after
Secretary of State Marco Rubio said the
US will halt issuance of worker visas
for commercial truck drivers. A shares
of JB Hunt, they're up by 4.9%. SIA up
by 9.1%.
Again, recapping a PAL rally on this
Friday. The S&P 500 index up now by
about 98 points, a gain of 1 and a.5%.
For on demand news 24 hours a day,
subscribe to Bloomberg News now wherever
you get your podcast. I'm Charlie
Pellet. That is a Bloomberg business
flash. Hey, thanks so much for that
update. I Charlie appreciate it. Shares
of Webtune Entertainment, you remember
this? We talked about this on the close
just last week, surged 81% last
Wednesday. It was its best day since
going public last year. You remember
this? They announced a partnership with
Walt Disney. It's going to bring
characters such as Marvel Spider-Man and
Luke Skywalker of Star Wars to its
platform. The announcement also came as
web tune reported quarterly results that
beat analyst expectations that helped
fuel the rally last week as well. We've
got with us David Lee. He's CFO and COO
of the $ 1.9 billion market cap company.
It calls itself a quote global
storytelling platform that enables
creators and users to discover, create,
and share stories. David joins us from
our Los Angeles bureau. Also with us is
Nina Trentman. She's Bloomberg News
senior editor. She writes the Bloomberg
CFO briefing newsletter. She joins us
here in the studio. Check out her
newsletter at bloomberg.com/cfo
briefing. David will be featured in an
upcoming edition of that. David,
welcome. Good to talk to you again. I
think last time we spoke you were CFO
and COO at Impossible Foods. It was a
previous lifetime. You're at Webtune
now. I think though at web tune a lot of
people maybe don't who don't have kids
of a certain age maybe they're too young
maybe they're too old might not be
familiar with the platform what is it so
web tune is as you say it's a global
storytelling platform and while many of
us may not have heard it ourselves I bet
our Gen Z kids and friends have in fact
the majority of our 150 plus million
monthly active users are exactly in that
demographic They spend 30 minutes a day
plus enjoying new stories from this
network of 24 million creators globally
that get to write great web comic and
web novel stories on our platform. I bet
you've seen a movie or two though that
you didn't realize started as a web
tune.
David, thanks for joining us. Uh just
wondering actually in terms of the
spending on the platform, one of the
things that we've been wondering about
at CFO briefing uh recently is this what
is the consumer doing and how are
consumers responding to all the the
different news that we're hearing on
tariffs on on what's going on in in DC.
I'm wondering are you seeing any changes
in terms of of spending amongst your
consumers?
Well, web tune's very fortunate. You
know, our consumers love a good story.
They love a good story in good times and
bad times. And increasingly they love a
good story independent of the language
or the country that the story came out
of. We have examples of 900 adaptations,
a hundred rich film, movie, and TV
series that came from all over the world
because in good times and bad, people
want to tuck into a story from an
unexpected source. And our privilege is
to allow these 24 million creators, by
the way, most of whom who have full-time
jobs. their kindergarten teachers, their
their plumbers, they're people who are
hard at work who get a chance to break
through and maybe even have a a great
movie like we saw with Sidelined, The
Quarterback and Me on Tuby. Uh so, so
far we've been immune from some of the
news that you carry every day because
our product is great storytelling and
consumers seem to still love it.
That is good to hear. I'm just wondering
um Tim just mentioned the Disney
partnership. I'm curious for you as a
CFO, how does it change the financial
trajectory of the company?
Well, the Disney uh collaboration I
think is pivotal. It what it indicates
to me is that we are not niche. We are
mainstream for our Gen Z consumers today
here in the US, the largest market that
we see ahead of us. It also means that a
wonderful company is comfortable
allowing us to take their iconic
stories. You know, The Amazing
Spider-Man's coming out soon and it's
coming out as a web comic in our
platform. Disney recently said in an
article they said, you know, we looked
at a lot and they're the leader and we
feel greatful to be able to bring their
stories to life. And frankly, we're
going to bring alternative endings,
background characters to the forefront.
We're going to write original stories
with Disney because our our powerhouse
of creators can allow a story that may
have been written years ago to be really
fresh for the Gen Z consumers on our
platform.
How important is it to really be working
with such an established company like
Walt Disney and just getting that
visibility through this partnership?
I think it's critical because frankly
the biggest challenge we have is that
while our Gen Z consumers here in the US
know us, love us and spend 30 to 60
minutes every day on us, a lot of
investors, a lot of corporations, a lot
of your audience has never heard of web
tune. Even though we went public a
little over a year ago, I think part of
the movement that you may have seen in
the company stock is simply awareness
that Disney is recognizing that web tune
is going mainstream here in the US, that
we're a great source of fresh content,
but we're the powerful leader of the
category where we just released short
form video uh on Monday of this week.
You know, these short five minute videos
crafted out of proven stories on our
platform is exactly what Gen Z wants.
And so for us, it's really important to
bring awareness to investors and
companies about what Gen Z consumers
here already know, which is that we're a
great source of storytelling.
Should investors ac expect more
partnerships similar to the one that was
announced last week with Disney?
Well, I think if you look at what we've
talked about in the last couple of
quarters, I mean, just the quarter
release prior, we talked about our
partnership with IDW. We talked about
bringing Sonic the Hedgehog and Godzilla
and other great platforms uh to our
content uh and our storytelling. We also
are constantly seeing things hit the
main screens. You know, just last week
we saw a major movie release called uh
My Daughter is a zombie. It just got
released in the last couple of weeks
here in the US, but it's one of the
number one bestselling releases in Korea
already. That came from us. So,
increasingly, you're going to see us
partner, but also create original
content on our platform and on screens
coming to you, whether it's Amazon,
Tuby, Netflix, or even a movie theater
more and more.
Um, David, I'm wondering how you're
thinking about profitability on the back
of the um partnership with with Disney.
We talked about this before. I'm
wondering does that change how you're
thinking about that?
Well, one of the great things about our
our collaboration with Disney is it's
notable what I did not release. I did
not release ownorous upfront financial
terms. I didn't even talk about it as
being different than the great way in
which we partner with franchises
previously and we posted in the quarter
uh a positive 9.7 million just evaded. I
think it shows that our cash balance
that that was given to us from the IPO
on NASDAQ a little over a year ago is
growing. So even as we grow our web
comic app MU here in the US and in
English-sp speakaking local 19% quarter
yearon-year for the last two quarters
we're still building cash. Um that
doesn't mean we hoard it. You know we we
love the ability to create shareholder
value but we're very careful to return
shareholder value very prudently. We
believe in self-reliance. That's why we
went public and right now there is no
need for me to disclose any different
set of financial conditions other than
excitement strategically for the Disney
collaboration.
We're speaking with David Lee, CFO and
COO of the $ 1.9 billion market cap web
tune. Uh also with us is Nina Trebn,
Bloomberg News senior editor. She writes
the Bloomberg CFO briefing newsletter.
Yeah, we're unfortunately running out of
time, David, but maybe one question in
terms of the customer group that you
mostly attract at at Webtune. Um, you
mentioned Gen Z's to us. I'm wondering
how do you keep track of that specific
customer group?
Well, it's funny this generation of
consumers, the younger generation, Gen Z
and Gen Alpha, they want to discover on
their own content. So, we're very data
rich and we want to make sure we have
the best source of stories. And we have
120,000 stories that arrive every single
day to our platform. But because we're
so data driven, we can tell, we call her
Maddie, our target consumer. We know
what Maddie is reading 30 minutes every
day. We know what chapter of what story
she's reading.
And so it's easier for us to use our
technology to ensure she finds her next
story, which is part of the reason why
we've revamped our product here in the
US. Importantly, as Maddie grows older,
we know from a longer experience
elsewhere that she'll like different
genres. And the great thing about
Webtune is we can offer every genre
because it comes from 24 million
creators that we've cultivated over the
last over 10 years. So she, Maddie, will
grow old with us even as she changes her
tastes. We love her to finish and
complete stories because we have so many
more coming as an evergreen platform
every day.
And she's not a zombie. I just want to
make sure.
I would never characterize Maddie as a
zombie.
You said my daughter's talked about
Maddie. I just want to make sure we're
Yeah. No. Okay.
No zombie there.
All right. Sorry. Go ahead. Nor.
Well, David, I did want to ask you about
how you all are thinking about AI. Of
course, we know this has been a really
big topic this year as people think
about how we're using AI spend for some
of these large companies. So, how are
you all integrating AI into your
platform?
You know, it's interesting. Webtune
started from a parent called neighbor,
which is a tech powerhouse. And we use
our technology, including our AI, which
we have a lot of actually, to protect
the human creator. We protect them by
fighting piracy, arguably better than a
lot of other bigger consumer tech
platforms I know. We allow consumers to
find these 120,000 stories I mentioned
that come every day. We help them find
the stories they want using AI and
technology. We may be the best untold
story about AI, promoting human
creativity, generating returns for our
human creators, protecting them in a way
that I don't think is oftenimes on your
network or in the press. And we're
really excited to have a business model.
You know, we've shared $2.8 8 billion
with our creators from 2017 to 2023
because from the very beginning our
founders said we will build a global
network of people who can fair share in
the success neither of us know how big
is yet and that allows an amateur
creator somewhere in the world with the
dream of being a storyteller to change
their lives and contribute to the
platform that we've built. So I feel
really good about our use of AI. I I'm
held accountable by my teenage daughters
who are also consumers. Uh and this is
one a case where I think tech is at work
for human good.
David, good to see you. Thanks for
joining us on Bloomberg Business Week
Daily for the CFO brief. And that's
David Lee, CFO and COO of Webtune. Also
a big thank you to Nina Treman. She's
You can sign up for it at
bloomberg.com/cfo-briefing.
Let's take a look at markets as they
continue to surge equity markets higher.
S&P 500 up 1.6%, the Nasdaq Composite up
2%, the Dow up 1.9%.
But it's the Russell 2000, those
interest rate sensitive small caps that
are the standouts of the day, 3.8% to
the upside where they've been pretty
much all day since just after 11:00 when
we heard from Fed Chair Jay Powell at
Jackson Hole. We're going to have much
more on that in just a few minutes. In
the meantime, I want to pivot back to
technology a little bit and legislation
regulation because US tech companies are
under pressure from foreign governments
to censor speech. This is according to
the Federal Trade Commission chairman
Andrew Ferguson. In a letter to firms
including Meta, Amazon and X, he urged
companies to safeguard US consumers.
Chair Ferguson spoke with Bloomberg
Technologies Caroline Hyde. In the
United Kingdom, in Europe and elsewhere,
American tech companies that do
business, you know, in the United States
and elsewhere are coming under pressure
sometimes through direct legislation to
um to potentially censor speech in
Europe, maybe even in the United States.
Of course, the the Brazilian Supreme
Court justice is of the view that
American tech companies need to censor
speech everywhere because it's the
nature of the internet. And it was
really important to me as an American
law enforceer to make it clear to
American companies, you don't get to
take a free shot at American consumers
just because of something that
governments in other parts of the world
are asking you to do. We've got laws
here in the United States that, you
know, protect the relationship between
American consumers and American tech
firms. And so, no one should think that
you just sort of get to do to Americans
whatever you want in order to comply
with the demands of foreign governments.
Um and that you know American laws
particularly the Federal Trade
Commission act that I enforce don't
allow American tech companies to hurt
American consumers just because a
foreign government is demanding it. And
I just wanted to make sure that everyone
consumers and the tech firms understood
this is how I see the law and I want you
to come to explain to me how you are
planning to protect American consumers
not withstanding the demands of these
foreign governments and if they aren't
then um I'm going to enforce the law
against them. Thus far, we have seen
action taken in particular by Apple
pushing back at requirements by the
United Kingdom for a so-called backdoor
into data that they hold, encrypted
data. I'm interested as to how you felt
that unfolded in the UK and whether
Apple played by the play, but you wanted
to see.
Yeah, I mean, look, and I think a lot of
credit here needs to go to the to the
vice president who um you know, sort of
personally managed trying to protect
Americans from these demands of a
foreign government. But yeah, I mean,
look, I want American tech firms to
understand you have legal obligations in
your home country, in the country that
made it possible for you to become what
you have become to protect American
consumers and not basically to give
Americans the short shrift because it
would be easier to comply with the
demands of a foreign government. Um, and
so I'm glad that because of pressure
from the United States and particularly
from the vice president that we were
able to achieve this outcome and protect
consumers from Apple. But this isn't
going away. Europe has passed these laws
that promote censorship. Britain has
these laws. We're seeing this sort of
thing happening in Brazil. And it's very
important that American tech companies
understand you you cannot just sort of
take it out on Americans in order to
comply with these other foreign
governments. You have to protect
Americans first.
That was FTC Chairman Andrew Ferguson
speaking just earlier today to Bloomberg
Technologies Caroline Hyde. For more,
check out the terminal and we'll play
more from that a little later on
Bloomberg television. In the meantime,
stocks still in the green. The bond
market too rallying with uh yields
giving off a little bit, especially at
the front end of the curve. For an
update on everything on today's trade,
let's head on over to Charlie Pal.
Thank you very much indeed. Lots going
on today. You keep it locked into
Bloomberg for the very latest. Let's
begin with that 2-year 3.68%
tenure right now 4.25%.
Pal speaks. Equity market surge right
now. We're off session highs, but we got
the S&P up 100 right now. 6470 where we
stand. That is a gain of 1.6%. Dow
industrials up 843, up 1.9%. NASDAQ up
422. That is a gain of 2% on the NASDAQ
composite index. The Nasdaq 100 index up
1.7%. Russell 2000 index of small cap
shares up 3.7% and our MAG7 index
surging by 2.6%.
Again, the 10-year 4.25% the 2-year
Gold up $34 the ounce for the precious
metal again now of 1%. Gold at 3373.
West Texas Intermediate crude up 4/10en
of 1%, 6378 a barrel. and Bitcoin
rallying 4% at 116,887.
Briefly, President Trump says Intel has
agreed to give the US government a 10%
equity stake in the company. Intel
shares up by more than 5%. and Apple in
early discussions about using Google
Gemini to power a revamped version of
the Siri voice assistant and based on
reporting by our Mark German, marking a
key potential step toward outsourcing
more of its AI technology. For on demand
news 24 hours a day, subscribe to
Bloomberg News now wherever you get your
podcast. I'm Charlie Pallet and that is
a Bloomberg Business Flash.
Hey, thanks so much for that update,
Charlie. Do appreciate it. If you type
in top go on the Bloomberg terminal, you
get the top news. And the top of TopGo
on the Bloomberg terminal is a story
right now by none other than Denita
Sokova along with some other folks on
the Bloomberg News cross asset team.
Denita Sokova is Bloomberg News crosset
reporter. She joins us here in the
Bloomberg Business Week studio. The
headline, Wall Street gets the rally
signals from Powell that it was hoping
for. Talk about a sigh of relief or
maybe a little bit even of exuberance,
but quite a different tone in today's
trade because well, traders liked what
they heard.
Yeah. Just one year after the memorable
Jackson Hall when we we we saw the
signal of rates going down, here we are
again and uh what we're seeing is some
of the frothiest parts of the markets
are leading the rally. We've obvious
leading the gains, but a lot of the meme
stocks uh a lot of the lagrits of this
year are seeing a lot a very strong
rally today. So obviously that's hinting
to some exuberance. Of course, this is a
big cross asset rally. We're seeing
stocks, we're seeing treasuries all jump
in unison. We haven't seen such daily
moves since April. Of course, that's
coming after a short sell off uh we saw
in the S&P 500. Everyone was expecting a
very different Jackson Hall. No one was
preparing for a clear uh opening of the
door to a rate cut in September. Of
course, now the questions remained of
what is going to happen going forward.
It seems like for September's traders
pretty much pricing 100% rates cut. But
what happens after that is uh where uh
the questions began. We saw a lot of
other uh pockets of the market rallying
like emerging markets. Uh we saw all the
econom economically sensitive shares uh
on a tear. regional banks. Uh so of
course it makes sense all of those are
rate sensitive sectors and we're seeing
them react as they should uh to
potential of rate cuts. Um so we're
we're here to watch what happens next.
So you mentioned the short sell off that
we saw earlier this week. We were in the
red a little bit, but of course we're
talking about a pretty strong year where
we've been notching so many all-time
highs, but I mean this is coming off of
two years previously where we saw gains
of more than 20%. But of course, we're
seeing this relief rally today. Pretty
strong showing here. What are your
sources telling you about what
performance could look like moving
forward through the end of the year if
this rate come cut were to come?
For sure. There are a lot of technical
forces in the market that were
supporting it through the last few
months that some of them are a little
bit exhausted. Of course, we have
volatility targeting funds. We have
CTAs. We've been looking at all those
numbers and they've been buyers for some
time and they have been supporting the
market upwards. Some of them is
obviously exhausted. But that said, we
had a very strong earning seasons. Uh
and we've seen that gap open between
fundamental traders and tech and uh
systematic traders. And fundamental
traders are actually that have more
scope to increase allocation. So
potentially uh what happens here is that
the macro and the of course the micro is
more important and we can see those
fundamental traders potentially increase
allocation even as forces like CTAs uh
uh like volatility targeted funds have
maybe exhausted some of their uh cash
power. the highly anticipated, the
closely watched, the Fed chair speech
that has already happened is not
something we're looking forward to
anymore because it's happened. Next, is
it Nvidia earnings Wednesday after the
bell? Is that the next catalyst for this
market?
I think so. I think the moment we got
the statements, uh, we got so many
people saying just like, okay, we're
done with that. We move to the next one.
And I think that's clearly Nvidia.
Obviously, it's been a very strong
earning seasons that has supported the
rally. This is a rally that's built uh
on a strong fundamentals and sentiment
and uh you can imagine the same way as
the bar was really high uh for beats
versus misses. Uh everyone would be
super sensitive to what we see from
Nvidia and that's clearly the next big
event.
Denita Sakova from the Bloomberg news
cross asset team. Check out her story
along with her colleagues. It's among
the most read story on the Bloomberg
terminal. Also just type in top go to
find it right at the top there. I want
to go to space now because there's some
news this week in the world of space.
Boeing's X37 space plane which the
company describes as a quote orbital
test vehicle last night blasted off on a
SpaceX Falcon 9 from Kennedy Space
Center in Florida. It's the eighth
mission for the reusable spacecraft.
Chesh Palbatia is back with us. He
watches all of those launches closely.
He's CEO over at Axiom Space. It
provides mission services and it's also
working to build the next space station.
and Tesh Paul welcome back. I want to
start with the upcoming orbital data
center launch. This is something do we
know when that the Do we have a date for
that yet?
Yeah. Well, first thank you for having
me back and second I like that you said
you want to go to space.
You start I was like I'll go with you in
a second if you want.
I know a guy who sends people Yeah, I
would go in a heartbeat.
Why haven't you been?
You know uh for the last uh four years
at Axiom in the last four months as CEO
you know it's been my dream since I was
like 3 years old. When I say dream, it's
all I've been thinking about. And as we
as a company have now sent multiple
countries, multiple missions, 16
astronauts to the ISS and I figure out
how to go, I realize that my purpose is
much more about getting as many people
up as we possibly can cuz I am certain
that we will have many opportunities to
go.
So, do you think you will in your
lifetime?
Yeah. Yeah, for sure.
And how many years?
You know, um,
possibly this decade, definitely next
decade.
Okay.
Yeah.
Okay. Okay, before before that though,
the orbital data center,
can you explain what exactly this is?
Because we we talk a lot about data
centers here, but we never talk about
them in the orbital context.
Yes, exactly. So, it's interesting like
uh I'm smiling now cuz I'm just thinking
about going to space. Uh you know, while
my first passion has always been space,
actually the one thing I'm probably
another expert on in the world is cloud.
uh you know my before getting into space
uh I had my own startups I worked at
ESPN in the early days of HD streaming
and I was at Google um on the startup
side uh while we were ramping up Google
cloud and as we know on the terrestrial
side cloud is a phenomenal business
right it's a phenomenal business model
uh the market's growing faster than the
largest cloud providers combined we
believe space is going to be exactly the
same thing from a business model
standpoint but then the question is why
send a data center up there when we have
so many down here. And the first thing I
would say is think of it this way when
we're talking about orbital data centers
and we've been running cloud computing
on the International Space Station Axiom
Space along with Amazon since our AX1
snowone edge computer.
Exactly. And on every single mission
we've done significant compute on it and
between missions we've done workloads
from the ground. On the AX4 mission we
sent up an aura ring that was checking
the biometrics of the astronauts. I'm
going to go Oh, you give me the finger.
You know it wearing one red.
Yeah, I love it. I
I got it I got it the first day I took
the CEO role
and I got it to track my stress.
So it wasn't it was like bestowed upon
you.
Um sort of I think I think the metric
that I care the most about is sleep.
That's the one I track in terms of my
performance. But we were measuring all
these things on the X4 mission and
feeding it to the snow cone on ISS. So
actually using edge compute cloud
compute in space versus on the ground.
But the point here is when you think
about orbital data centers in the ISS,
don't think of them as so far away. It's
literally 250 miles away.
So how much power does it take?
A lot. A lot. So it's the same it's the
same problem that we're going to have
here on Earth, which is also interesting
to me now with AI that the limiting
factor is power. And you're seeing this
growth uh for nuclear startups and
you're seeing this growth for AI um data
centers needing nuclear power. when
we're talking about space, that's going
to be the limiting factor as well.
So, is that the answer? Nuclear, small
modular reactors. How do you power?
I would think so. It's it's a little
Is there any other way to do it? Could
you do it with solar?
You could, but um at some point those
are going to get so big to give the
power we need. And a lot of people will
say, and I'm not speaking as a scientist
here cuz I I said the wrong thing first
also, which is, well, you don't have to
worry about cooling there.
Uh you do. You have to. Convection is
something that is you know you have to
for all the power you create you have to
dissipate it as well. So that just
surface area is going to get so large.
So I think ultimately that will be the
same solution. But the point about the
orbital data centers is for many people
on the earth not like us here in New
York or in Virginia or DC or other
cities that will be the closest data
center to someone at any given time.
Wow.
So how concentrated is this space? How
many players are here alongside you all?
So we as Axiom, we're building the
replacement to the International Space
Station and our modules that will
connect to the ISS due to our exclusive
contract to connect to commercial
module. Those are cloud first. To keep
human life going, you need cloud
computing services. Now we could
fractionalize those and offer those to
other companies. We're actually sending
up separate infrastructure later this
year. You had asked when Q4 in the next
couple of months. But the point of um
this network, ours we call um a
heterogeneous network. A module could be
a data center. A satellite could be a
data center. But when you look at other
constellations, those are homogeneous
networks all the same. But the point is
they're connected by data. Some are all
one network, some are federated, but it
this is where we're going. Um you know,
in terms of where the space is, I think
people are finally starting to wake up.
just even the fact that you're talking
about orbital data center um ODC's as we
call them just 6 months ago people
wouldn't know what you were talking
about the words are very obvious a data
center that's orbiting the earth but
still it's just kind of like why but I
think we've gone well past that and now
it's how and when
you you said that
the potential use case here is that some
people who live around the world this
might be the closest data center to them
at any given moment one that does orbit
but there are latency issues with that
and and and and speed of connectivity
issues
that I would imagine are better better
handled on the ground by wline
connections.
So I I I love that question. I would
have had the same thing when my team
came to me and they gave me all the
reasons why we should do this. And
again, I'm a cloud n and a space n. I
was looking for solutions for that.
Like this is the literal cloud.
Yeah. Literal this is literally literal
cloud above the clouds, right? Like not
not data centers around here. Um, one of
the most powerful use cases of orbital
data centers is low latency AI.
So, it actually solves the AI the
latency problem for many um distance
issues like cars driving around in
remote areas uh navigation for uh
maritime needs. Now, there's many cases
of that for Earth. But now when you just
go a little bit above uh the atmosphere
and look at space, edge computing on
labs in space, edge computing for other
satellites, where it gets really crazy
and awesome for me is what happens when
latency actually becomes a problem
because of distance. So we have laser
and optical communication. I'm not
worried about speed and bandwidth. I am
worried about power. But what happens
when your distance is so long that
actually synchronizing the internet is a
problem? Or when two planets are on
opposite sides of the sun, you don't
even have line of sight. How are we
going to synchronize Twitter? How are we
going to synchronize YouTube? How are we
going to FaceTime? I think those are
just such cool problems for students
around the world to solve.
So, super quickly, the ISS is set to
retire by the end of 2030. How confident
are you in that timeline? And what risks
does Axiom face if NASA extends its life
longer than expected?
Yeah, I'm I'm pretty confident it will
come down. It's already been extended,
right? Originally, I think the uh
expiration date was a 20 2024 and
Congress has stretched it out. Um it's
it's a piece of equipment, right? It was
designed with a certain lifespan. Some
parts are newer than others, uh but the
whole thing was designed to come down as
one. So, I think it's a given. it will
come down like when we'll see but I
think by 2030 I feel very confident
about it um I don't think there's any
risk if uh the government extends it I
think it's great if they extend it um
but independent of that if there isn't a
commercial solution if Axiom space is
not up and running by the time it comes
down the only other space station in
operation is a Chinese station right so
that that is a very real I'll say
competitive threat strategic competitive
threat and from a diplomatic standpoint,
the leadership that the US has provided
and now the leadership that companies
like Axiom Space, the diplomatic um
interest we can push for the US around
the world with all the different
countries, we'll basically just be
seeding that to the Chinese and I don't
think that's what we want.
Taj Batia, good to see you. Thanks for
having me back.
100 days as CEO of Axiom Space.
I want to take a look at markets right
now because we're still seeing equity
markets surge and bond yields lower. The
Dow up more than 1.9%. The S&P 500 up
1.6%. The Nasdaq Composite up a cool 2%
right now. The Russell 2000 RTY on the
Bloomberg terminal. Those more interest
rate sensitive small caps up 3.8% been
hovering there much of the day. In terms
of bond yields, we're seeing yields fall
across the curve. The front end more so
with the yields on the 2-year down more
than 10 basis points. The yield on the
10-year down, go ahead and call that
seven basis points to 4.26%.
I'm Tim Stenc along with Nora Melinda.
Let's take a look at some stocks on the
move today. We're joined by Bloomberg
News cross asset reporter Denita Sakova.
Denita, you have a lot to choose from.
Did you even find any that are moving
lower?
It was very hard to find moving lower.
So, let's start with those moving
higher. It's Intel. It's been the big
news of the day apart from obviously
everything Fed. President Trump said
that Intel had agreed to give the US
government the 10% equity stake. We're
yet to see the former announcements that
is expected later today. Uh the ticker
of course is NTC. We've seen quite a few
jumps uh as those news have been
developing today. We're seeing more than
7% really one of the big gainers in the
S&P. The deal would be part of a bit to
provide a boost to Intel. Intel of
course has been uh through a turbulent
stretch. investors have been uh worried
that it's falling behind and it's using
uh losing its technology technology edge
and of course President Trump has uh
been trying to uh get a stake there.
This is something that's rarely of
course has happened in history. It's an
intervention in American company that
really kind of a precedent. But what
we're seeing is uh that of course in
August he announced uh that Nvidia and
AMD agreed to pay 15% of revenue of
certain cheap sales uh to the US. So
clearly there is this campaign to
generate revenue of of those u American
companies. But so far the m market is
reacting very positively. Uh and of
course there are many worries behind but
so far we're focusing on the optimism
for Intel.
Shares of Intel are up 25% year to date.
But I mean when you look at Wall Street
recommendations about 78% of analysts
are saying to hold the stock, four
saying buy and seven saying sell. But
you're looking at a name that you know
none of us know. Apple what's going on
there another big one. Apple is in early
discussion. This is a Bloomberg
exclusive about using Google Gemini to
power a revamped version of Siri.
Obviously there have been many changes
with Siri many discussions and it seems
like this is what has been underway for
quite some time. This is market a key
potential step toward outsourcing more
of its art artificial intelligence.
We're actually seeing positive reaction
from both Google and APO. Of course, the
ticker is APL and is the stock is up
about 1.5%. Uh Google has started
training a model that could run on Apple
services. Uh that's what people said,
but this of course will take some time.
uh Apple approached uh Google to explore
building a custom AR model that will
serve as the foundation of the new Siri
most likely next year. Uh of course
that's been interesting development.
Apple hasn't been necessarily keeping up
with the rest of Magnificent SE this
year, but we're seeing a boost on this
news. Uh so we're yet to see how
investors will read that going forward
or that outsourcing of AI.
Bloomberg news exclusive from Mark
German. Another one. Uh did you have a
question, Nora? You're going to
No, I want to see what's going on with
this exclusive
with Okay, cool.
Let's keep going on. Right. It's intu It
into it is the uh next one. And you did
find an actual decliner.
I actually found one. I I was so excited
about all the small caps ringing that I
forgot that into it fell 5%. Uh the tax
software company had a tepid forecast.
It actually had a pretty strong earnings
report, but all we care about is the
forecast and clearly the reaction is
pretty bad. The ticker is INTU.
The tax preparation software said it
expects sales growth between 14 and 15%.
And that's where the street is
disappointed. They expected stronger
growth rates. Revenue actually climbed
20%. We're talking about nearly 4
billion in revenue and this is ahead of
analyst estimate. But this wasn't enough
to bring relief. The stock is up 5% year
to date. But if you look at the chart,
the last few weeks have been quite
painful. Last month the company launched
a set of AI agent and it's working to
automate a lot of things um including
customer relation financial analysis uh
but so far it seems like investors are
not necess necessarily rewarding the AI
success.
A big thank you to Bloomberg News
crosset reporter Denita Sakova and for
more conversations like this check out
our new stock movers podcast. You can
subscribe for five minutee episodes on
the biggest winners and losers in the
stock market. Check out Stock Movers on
Apple, Spotify, or anywhere you get your
podcasts. We do have a little more than
an hour until the equity markets close.
We're still seeing stock surge up 1.5%
on the S&P 500, 1.9% on the Dow, as is
the NASDAQ composite. The Russ 2000 also
continues to be higher. Those interest
rate sensitive small caps are the
outward uh winners of today's trade. I
want to bring back Denita Sakova who's
been covering the uh trade throughout
the day today. You and the team have one
of the most read stories on the
Bloomberg terminal about uh the shift in
tone from the Fed chair just in the last
30 seconds that we have with you. Um
what specifically were they most excited
about apart from the fact that there
could be this rate cut? Because it's not
all great news. It's not all great news
but the fact that it's opening the door
is definitely something market has been
uh looking for for a very long time and
as you said it's expectations going into
the meeting was the total opposite. A
lot of people I spoke to said we're
really surprised. We didn't expect such
a clear message that September will be a
rate cut. So that definitely weighed on
especially what we're seeing in those
lagger those names that are fraught
really reacting to that and those names
were hit the hardest during the latest
short-term sell off uh we we said and
obviously those names are the clearest
possible bet for investors to bet on red
cuts and we're seeing that
Denita Sakova from the Bloomberg News
cross asset team that is going to do it
for us on Bloomberg TV. Stick with us on
radio, YouTube and Bloomberg Originals.
The clothes starts now.