[Music]
This is Bloomberg Business Week Daily,
reporting from the magazine that helps
global leaders stay ahead with insight
on the people, companies, and trends
shaping today's complex economy. Plus,
global business, finance, and tech news
as it happens. Bloomberg Business Week
Daily with Carol Masser and Tim Stenbec
live on Bloomberg radio, television,
YouTube, and Bloomberg Originals.
And good afternoon everyone live on
Bloomberg TV radio streaming on YouTube
and Bloomberg Originals. I'm Katie
Grifeld alongside Bailey Lip Schultz in
for Carol Masser and Tim Stenovvic.
Neither of them are here today. Bailey
and uh they're missing all-time highs in
the stock market on the S&P 500 somehow
happening with Nvidia lower on the day.
>> Nvidia beat and raise not enough but
still powering higher. Risk on feel
>> risk on certainly feels that way across
the market even though there's plenty of
crosscurrens out there. Still ahead,
we'll discuss them all. Starting with
Fed Governor Lisa Cook suing President
Trump over his attempt to fire her for
alleged mortgage fraud. Cook saying that
Trump's move puts the US economy at
risk. Bloomberg's Mike McKe and Eric
Larson join us to discuss.
>> Two perfect people, Katie, especially
after Lisa Cook suggesting a quote
clerical error was behind that dispute.
We're also going to have that market
reaction to Nvidia earnings as you
mentioned. Chip giant delivering a tepid
forecast, but analysts sticking bullish.
Mandep Singh and Ian King are going to
help us break that down.
>> We'll also take a look at what's
happening at the CDC. The Trump
administration firing the agency's
director just weeks into her tenure.
Bloomberg's Madison Mohler will have all
the details.
>> And later, Bloomberg Business Week heads
to the US Open. Not us, Katie. But we
will check in with Tim Stenc and Molly
Smith on everything going out going on
over in Flushing, New York.
>> Yeah, they're having fun playing tennis.
God bless them. First up, let's take a
look at the today's trade and the top
business stories. We'll head over to
Charlie.
>> All right, thank you very much indeed.
More moving parts to this market than
the action at the US Open. We have got
the Dow, the S&P, NASDAQ all advancing.
Do want to provide a little more color,
a little more detail about the Lisa Cook
story. We'll have a whole lot more with
our Michael McKe coming up, but Fed
Governor Lisa Cook's lawyers are
suggesting that an unintentional quote
clerical error may have been behind the
mortgage dispute over which President
Trump wants her fired again. We'll have
more on that coming up in just a moment.
Checking the markets, the Dow, the S&P,
NASDAQ, they're all higher right now. We
got the S&P up 16. Katie, use the word
record. That's where we stand right now.
6498
on the S&P advancing by 3/10en of 1%.
Going to be very interesting to see
whether we close above 6,500. Right now
the Dow up 21 gain there of under
onetenth of 1%. We've got NASDAQ up 510.
NASDAQ 100 index up 610 of 1%. Russell
2000 index of small cap shares advancing
by onetenth of 1%. And our MAG 7 index
up 510 of 1%. Nvidia right now trading
lower by 9/10en of 1%. The 10-year 4.21%
with a 2-year currently yielding 4 3.64.
64%. Spot gold up $20 the ounce up 610
of 1% 3417 and West Texas Intermediate
crude up 410 6444 a barrel. Bitcoin
right now a little changed on the day at
112,385
on Bitcoin. So again recapping S&P 500
indexes advancing now by 210 of 1%. I'm
Charlie Pellet and that is a Bloomberg
business flash.
>> All right, thank you for that update
Charlie Pellet. As Charlie said, record
highs on the S&P 500 with no help from
Nvidia. But let's turn back to one of
our top stories today. This just
crossing the wire that Federal Reserve
Governor Lisa Cook's lawyers suggesting
that an unintentional clerical clerical
error may have been behind the mortgage
dispute over which President Donald
Trump wants her fired. Joining us now in
the studio, we have a great round table.
Bloomberg TV and radio international
economics and policy correspondent Mike
McKe sitting by. So too is Bloomberg
News US legal reporter Eric Larson who
just uh helped to break that story that
I mentioned. So Eric, let's start there.
This is uh the first time I believe that
we've seen the potential defense laid
out by Lisa Cook's lawyers.
>> Yeah, that's right. Now, she did not
explicitly deny the allegations. Uh but
clearly at this stage in the case,
they're signaling a potential defense
here, which is that not only could this
be a clerical error, but that it wasn't
material to any decisions that were made
um on these mortgages, that no one was
harmed by it, um and and and really that
uh it regardless there's it's not caused
to fire her because these mortgages were
done a year before she joined the board.
Um and uh and has nothing to do with her
job. So, she laid out a a wide array of
potential defenses in this filing.
>> And Eric, emergency hearing scheduled
tomorrow at 10 a.m. What's going to
happen? What can we expect? How critical
is that in this uh saga?
>> It's really critical. This is a this
TTRO hearing uh is going to indicate
whether or not the firing can go forward
at this early stage in the case. Uh such
orders usually last around 2 weeks. So,
they will probably seek a longerlasting
order that would block her firing during
the entire case, which could take months
or longer. But this will be the initial
thoughts about what this judge thinks
about this evidence, whether or not it's
very strong, and who could really be
harmed here. This all hinges on whether
or not the judge agrees which side is
going to be harmed the most without an
order like this. Cook is arguing the
entire economy will be harmed without an
order like this. And of course, Trump is
Trump's uh lawyers will be pushing back
hard on that in court. Mhm. Well,
exactly to that point, Mike McKe, uh we
think about the filing that we got this
morning, the filing of that lawsuit, and
as Eric mentioned, uh in the lawsuit,
her lawyer saying that this could cause
irreparable harm. That's the term that
they used to this US economy. What
exactly do they mean by that? Well,
essentially what they're saying is that
the Fed would lose credibility and the
markets would tank and the economy would
go into freefall because uh the markets
would no longer have any faith in the
Federal Reserve. Uh
that the irreparable harm line is
something you see quite often in these
filings and I'm sure that the
administration will say that if the
president can't fire her, there would be
irreparable harm. They did that in other
uh cases where the president has fired
people. But uh the one thing I think
that's different in this case is that u
she he doesn't have a direct interest in
whether or not uh she is gone. Uh this
isn't a question given what the Supreme
Court said. Uh this isn't a question of
his right to fire her at will. He has to
have cause. And so then the question
becomes is there cause? And as uh Eric
was saying, uh the we've seen the
beginning of a defense of that from the
Cook side.
>> Well, how difficult is it to prove on
both sides of the equation, Mike?
>> Well, it depends on what you're trying
to prove. In her case, this isn't going
to be a trial. This is just going to be
a temporary uh restraining order
hearing. And the evidence that the judge
will see is essentially what's being
filed. And uh the argument that it is a
clerical error or a possible clerical
error is probably hard to disprove in a
way. You would need to get somebody from
one of the banks to come in and say,
"No, she knew what she was doing and we
gave her a favor in return for this." uh
for the administration, it's they've
just basically made this broad assertion
that in all of these cases, the
president has the right and it it harms
the president's ability to do his job if
you take away his ability to fire people
at will. So, uh, I imagine we'll get
something along those lines as well,
although they may argue, as the
president did in his tweet that having
somebody who has a cloud over her head,
uh, hurts credibility of the Fed.
>> Well, when we talk about, you know, Fed
credibility, we talk about potential
irreparable harm. What sticks out to me
is that the markets aren't pricing any
of that in right now. Again, the S&P 500
at record highs. You take a look at the
bond market, the 10-year Treasury yield.
Uh, pretty well behaved right now. We're
sitting out at about uh 421 right now on
your benchmark 10-year. And Eric, I want
to talk about timelines a little bit
more here because we mentioned that
tomorrow, maybe tomorrow morning, we do
get that TTRO hearing and the timeline
here matters because we are counting
down to the next Fed decision on the
17th.
>> Uh, yeah, I'm not sure that a judge is
necessarily going to want to take a
deadline like that into account. I mean,
sure, she'll take it into account, but
it's not going to be all she bases it on
because these are cases that need to
move along at sort of a deliberative
pace. Um, Trump has successfully gotten
a lot of these cases to move quickly.
Uh, but this is one, like you were
saying, that it's not just about his
right to fire people. It's about whether
or not he has cause, and that is going
to take a little bit longer perhaps to
demonstrate in court. Are you going to
have to look back at these old mortgage
filings, or are they just going to focus
on whether or not it even amounts to
cause at all? She's saying that Trump
jumped the gun here, that really she
should have at least gotten a hearing
internally, presented with the evidence,
allowed to refute it before any of this
even happened, and instead she was just
fired through a tweet.
>> So, it there's all kinds of different
angles where the judge is going to want
to look at this, and that could could
slow it down a little bit.
>> Eric, the word unprecedented has been
used a lot.
>> How does this fit into some of the other
cases you've been covering, and
especially everything coming out of the
administration?
>> Uh, well, it fits right in nicely. It
has been like one unprecedented case
sort of after another. Uh and as you
were saying, you know, a lot of these
cases are about the president's power.
He's really been pushing it the power of
the executive in ways that I frankly I
don't think anyone anticipated a
president would try to do. There has
been just one little bit of uh you know
push back from the Supreme Court and
regarding for cause firings at the Fed.
So, this really is kind of a new bar
that Trump is having to meet as a result
of that Supreme Court ruling, which
carves out the Fed and gives it a little
bit more of a higher bar for these
firings. And uh so it it really could go
either way. I have to say I hear what
you're saying that you know the judge
probably isn't operating under the
deadline of we have FOMC decision coming
up but Mike it feels like it's going to
be the elephant in the room especially
uh when Jerome Pal takes the stage at
the press conference it feels like the
past few months all of the Fed meetings
have been politicized but now this one
especially
>> oh definitely uh and the markets will be
paying very close attention I don't
imagine anybody will be uh praying
harder for a temporary restraining order
than J. Pal because then he can get up
and answer all our questions by saying
it's an ongoing legal case. I can't
comment on it. Uh but in this case, um
the politics and the timing are tough
because of the the the coming meeting.
Uh, and Eric's right, the judge will
take in to consideration a whole bunch
of things, but it it almost doesn't
matter in that sense because the judge
can grant the temporary restraining
order and about an hour later they're
going to be before the appeals court
asking for that to be overturned and
that takes time. So, it's really hard to
say whether she's going to be able to
participate on the 17th or not. So, uh,
we're just going to have to watch that.
But I don't think it makes a big
difference in terms of monetary policy.
She's been voting with the chairman. She
did express some concern about the fact
that the labor report in July was not
good. And so she's opened the door to
voting with the chair if J. Paul decides
that they're going to cut rates. So it's
probably uh if you take her out of the
mix, it isn't going to change the fact
that the majority would be voting for a
rate cut. And uh the the only the real
question is if they decided not to and
if the Senate puts Steven Myron through
to be to to replace Adriana Kougler in
time to participate, you might get that
third descent.
>> Yeah, Mike Katie mentioned it though. We
are at all-time highs. We're not seeing
a huge movement as it relates to
treasuries, even the US dollar. Is it a
summer Thursday? Are all the juniors on
the desk? Why are we not seeing a real
reaction? Well, I mean, it is a summer
Thursday during the US Open. We could
point out uh maybe Tim should go around
and ask people there why they aren't
selling. Now, I think it's uh my guess,
and I don't know if Eric has the same
sort of feeling, is that the markets are
looking at this as in in two ways. One,
that there's a chance that Trump will
lose this, that they this this isn't go
this isn't a slam dunk case, so why
worry about it until we need to? there
are all these legal steps in between and
Nvidia is going up so you know we buy uh
and they're also looking at it as it
doesn't really matter so much what
happens with Lisa Cook. Now, the follow
on to that is there are people who are
speculating that if Trump were to win
this, for example, if she doesn't get
the TTRO, then it emboldens the
president to try to fire Powell because
if he can come up with a pretext to fire
Lisa Cook, he could come up with a
pretext to fire Jay Powell. And by the
time all of that played out, Powell
would be leaving anyway. So, he might be
able to get rid of him early. And just a
reminder for those maybe listening at
home, we're having a conversation with
McKe. This is Radio on TV. I have to
keep reminding myself. We're also
speaking to Bloomberg News US legal
reporter Eric Larson. And Eric, weigh in
on this on this non-reaction. Are there
just too many questions about how this
will go given that as Billy mentioned,
this is unprecedented? Yeah, you know, I
was thinking about that as you were
discussing it and and I think that we've
seen so many of these disputes over
firings and all these other Trump
policies go so quickly uh relatively
quickly to the Supreme Court that I
think a lot of people who are trading on
stuff like this are like, well, we know
how this goes now. It we're going to
wait until the Supreme Court says
something that could have something to
do with it. And certainly we have seen a
lot of even these TTRO as we've been
discussing these temporary orders. um
usually you can't appeal those uh and
Trump has successfully you know appealed
some of those too. So it is possible
that it could get uh to the Supreme
Court on a very preliminary ruling early
on even if the case continues to drag on
for months or longer. But everyone could
just be waiting for the Supreme Court to
weigh in.
>> Well, I think everybody people are
noticing too that the decisions the
court has made on these appeals have
been whether somebody can stay in office
while all of this is adjudicated. So
even if uh no matter which way the
judges rule on whether she could remain
in office, it's going to be a long time
till we have a decision and probably a
long time uh before the court decides
what cause is. Yeah, Mike, you made an
interesting point. if Trump feels
emboldened to then go after Jay Powell.
To me, the other question is if he is
not successful in Alist Cook, do we see
the administration pivot toward another
member of the Fed or kind of what does
that kind of path forward hypothetically
look like? Well, to if they lose and
they pivot immediately towards someone
else from the board, that's not a good
look before a judge because then it
becomes clear this is animosity towards
the Fed and you're trying, you know, to
to find somebody to get. Uh, a number of
people at the Fed are worried that they
have been investigated without them
knowing and that this could happen to
them as well. But I suspect one of the
reasons that he went ahead with the Lisa
Cook case is it doesn't really matter if
he loses. He hasn't lost a lot. If he
lost the Powell case, that would be much
worse. So in this case, it's sort of a
trial balloon and he can go after her.
If he wins, then he has more power. If
he loses, then he can move on to
something else and Powell will just
serve out his term.
>> Yeah, it'll be fascinating, of course,
to uh see how this plays out. We'll
continue to follow it very closely on
Bloomberg. But speaking of that
September 17th uh rate decision that
we're going to get, there's plenty to
look at other than the politics of it
because we're going to get PCE tomorrow.
And in the conversations I've been
having on Bloomberg TV, uh many of the
guests, the investors that we've been
speaking to, uh when you think about the
odds, 85% price chances of a rate cut
next month. One of the things that could
upset that apple cart, of course, will
be delivered at 8:30 a.m. tomorrow. It
could except that I always warn people
don't trade in Fed funds futures because
they change on a dime and we might get a
dime.
>> Do they listen to you those people?
>> They don't for some reason. Uh but the
PCE numbers they're composed of other of
data that are reported in other uh
forums, other databases. And so once we
get CPI, PPI, then the economists
looking at this and the Fed folks
looking at this have a pretty good idea
of what PC is going to be. And Jay Pal
usually tells us what it's going to be
in his uh news conference. And tomorrow
we're expecting the headline number to
go down by a tenth of a point and the
core not to be changed at all. So
year-over-year there's no change which
would leave you without a definitive
number from PCE for the Fed to rely on.
But we get that CPI report on September
11th and of course the jobs report on
September 5th. Those will probably
matter more. What'll matter more
tomorrow if if anything is probably
personal spending because the Fed wants
to know that people are not pulling back
because they're worried about the
economy right now and the forecast is
for a half a percent gain. It was 3/10
in June. So, uh it could be relatively
good news for the president in that
regard.
>> Well, I am looking forward to 8:30 a.m.
tomorrow. Mike McKe will bring you those
numbers with elegance and grace and
contacts. Great round table to kick off
today's show. That is of course is
Bloomberg uh international economics and
policy correspondent Mike McKe and
Bloomberg News US legal reporter Eric
Larson. Of course, it's all told a
pretty quiet day in markets. We are at
all-time highs, but when you're at these
heights, Bailey, it doesn't take too
much of a move to get us there.
>> No, not at all. And also, Katie, we have
volumes about 20% below what they
normally are. One thing to call out
though, S&P, as you mentioned, higher by
a quarter of a percent, 300 stocks in
the red. So, couple companies doing the
heavy lifting. Nvidia is not one of
them.
>> Yeah. No, Nvidia, one of those names in
the red, currently off by about 7/10en
of a percent. We're going to dig into
the earnings report that it delivered
after the bell yesterday and explain a
little bit of this reaction, talk about
some of the China concerns as well. That
conversation coming up next. This is
Bloomberg.
It's 221 on Wall Street. We do check
markets all day long here at Bloomberg.
We've got the S&P 500 index trading at a
record, right on the cusp of 6,500.
64.98 where we stand right now. Uh the
Dow swinging between gains and losses.
NASDAQ pushing higher. NASDAQ up 124
right now up by about 6/10 of 1%. S&P up
3/10en of 1%. Dow let's call that flat
on the day. NASDAQ 100 index up 6ten of
1%. The Bloomberg MAG 7 index up 510 of
1%. Nvidia of course a part of that
index. Nvidia after earnings down now by
610 of 1%. We'll have a whole lot more
on Nvidia coming up in just a moment
with our man Deep Singh. We've got the
10-year yielding 4.21%.
The 2-year 3.63%.
Spot gold up $21 the ounce, 3418, gain
there of 610 of 1% and West Texas
Intermediate crude up 610 of 1% 64.54 a
barrel. Bitcoin right now little changed
on the day at 112,451
on Bitcoin. Earnings news, lots of
retailers this morning. Best Buy warning
that tariffs continue to weigh on its
business ahead of the holiday shopping
season. Best Buy trading lower by 3.8%.
Bath and Body Works profit missed
expectations for the first time since
2020. Shares of Bath and Body Works down
9% right now. Also reporting this
morning, Victoria Secret, it raised its
outlook after strong quarterly sales
signal that the new CEO's turnaround
plan is taking hold. Victoria's Secret
up down by 3.6%.
Again, recapping S&P 500 index up 17, up
3/10en of 1%. Invidia, the stock
everybody's talking about, down 610 of
1%. For on demand news 24 hours a day,
subscribe to Bloomberg News Now,
wherever you get your podcast, I'm
Charlie Pel. That is a Bloomberg
Business Flash.
>> Thank you very much, Charlie. I'm Bailey
Lip Schultz alongside Katie Grifeld. We
are filling in for Carol Masser and Tim
Stenc. Katie, as Charlie mentioned,
Nvidia down 610 of a percent on a day
when markets are trading higher.
>> All clear. It's interesting because we
were down somewhat significantly
pre-market overnight, 3% or so. Uh we
had been priced for about a 6% swing in
either direction in the options market.
So, uh not quite matching those
expectations, similar to the forecast
that Nvidia gave.
>> Yeah, and this is a stock that was down
almost 3%, traded as high as up one and
a half% all over the place. But right
now, we're going to break down
everything that matters from that result
uh with Bloomberg News US semiconductors
and networking reporter Ian King. Uh
joining us from San Francisco and
Bloomberg intelligence global head of
technology research Mandep Singh here in
the studio. Mandep want to start with
you. Lot of uncertainty, a lot of
excitement going into the results as
Katie mentioned 6% move priced in in the
options market beat and raise but data
centers chida. What stood out to you
from this print? I mean data centers
clearly and uh to my mind you know the
China revenue is what created the noise
in terms of the growth rates and whether
they beat or miss but there is no doubt
that the demand for uh Nvidia's systems
and chips remains insatiable and that is
what is giving everyone the comfort that
you know everyone is doubling down on AI
chip capacity the use cases are
expanding. The ROI question is being
answered. So from that perspective uh
there is not much uh negative. The only
thing is you know they talked about
hyperscalers making up 600 billion in
capex for this year. I can't do the
math. I just can't get to 600 billion. I
mean even if you add all the
hyperscalers that's like close to 400
billion. So I'm guessing he's talking
about next year with a 50% growth and
even if you assume that 50% growth uh I
still find the numbers to be on the
higher side but maybe uh you know all
the hyperscalers will come out and say
they are raising their capex and then
those numbers may look good.
>> Well Mandep we're talking about a $4.4
trillion company up more than 30% this
year alone. What could have the company
delivered that actually would have led
to a 6% move to the upside or would it
have taken Jensen Wang talking down kind
of tremendously to see a real selloff
from where you sit?
>> I mean just if the China revenues were
part of the guide the 2 to 5 billion in
China revenue they said in H20s that
could be sold the stock would have been
up because the print was strong. So the
question is how sustainable is this
growth rate? The 50%, they said hypers
scale capex is going to keep growing
50%. Now I think 2026 it may very well
be true. I just don't know if they have
visibility beyond 2026. I mean we're
talking about big numbers. 600 billion
is huge. Imagine a 50% growth on top of
that 600 billion. We're talking about a
trillion dollar in capex from four
hyperscalers. I at least I can't fathom
right now. Maybe I'm proven wrong, but
uh it just feels too farfetched.
>> Well, let's talk a little bit about the
China question because th that of course
was the big missing question mark in
this report. Of course, what are the
China revenues going to be? It's really
hard to forecast. And Ian King, I know
that you spoke to the CFO of Nvidia
after this report, it was pretty spicy,
I have to say. Uh one of the quotes that
she gave Colette Crest, if nothing shows
up, I've got licenses. I don't have to
do this 15% until I see something that
is a true regulatory document. Ian, of
course, she's talking about uh that idea
that the US government is going to take
a 15% cut of Chinese chip sales from
Nvidia from AMD, but seems like uh she's
saying it's not official until I see
something in writing here. I
>> mean, she's doing a job, right? She's
the CFO of a publicly traded company. Um
when this uh kickback or tax whatever
you want to call it was first announced
by the president there was a lot of
reaction saying this might be even be
unconstitutional. How the heck is this
going to work? What Colette is doing as
the CFO of publicly traded companies
saying look there has to be rules in
place. Uh there has to be a mechanism by
which this is legal under the US tax
code under SEC regulations. Once that
happens I'll pay. But right now that
doesn't exist. So, I wouldn't portray
this as as spicy or or political or or
you know, rebelling against what the
president has said. I think what she had
to say, and she had to say this, it was
an illegal disclosure, is to her
shareholders is like, "Hey, don't worry.
I'm going to play by the rules here."
And I think that was the point she was
trying to make.
>> Well, Ian, the one thing that I feel
like is top of mind for investors is
trying to stay in favor of the White
House. Obviously, you cover the likes of
Intel. when you look at kind of whether
it's spicy or not, potential push back
or wanting clarity, is there a risk for
Nvidia trying to get on potentially
getting on the wrong side of the Trump
>> I mean, it's not just the Trump
administration. They said it pretty
explicitly. They're like, we don't know
what's going to happen, right? We we've
we've seen them have some traction with
the Trump administration, but then as we
reported, there's opposition then that
sparks opposition in Beijing. So what
they said was like there's so much going
on in geopolitics, so much going on in
China, so much going on in Washington.
This is really difficult to get right.
And to be fair to them, it, you know,
we're one social media post away from
everything changing completely. So they
said, you know, I had the conversation
with Colette. I was like, well, come on,
tell us how much of this money do you
think you're going to get? She said, oh,
we think we're going to get some. We
just don't know how much and we just
don't know how when that might come. So,
you know, the the safe and fair thing to
do is like to say nothing and and then
hope for the best kind of thing. So,
when you think about it, that's a pretty
complicated and difficult situation to
be in as as a publicly traded company.
>> Yeah, absolutely. Uh you think about the
difficulties there and I I it's a hard
job to have. But, Mandep one of the
other things that's hanging over this
stock, not that you'd necessarily see it
in the performance, but one of the big
question marks, if you want to call it
that, is the return on investment. You
think about the concentrated customer
base of Nvidia, as you mentioned, it's
really just a handful of mega cap tech
companies pouring billions of dollars
towards Nvidia. Uh I guess part of the
existential fear out there is that
they're going to maybe slow down that
maybe they're overbuilding right now.
>> Well, so what they said on the call was
they are sold out for all of their SKs
whether it's Hopper, Blackwell,
Blackwell Ultra. So that what just goes
to show that you know the demand side is
still uh in a situation where you just
can't meet the demand and look uh in the
case of Microsoft I mean you could
attribute almost 20 percentage point of
growth in Azure to AI. So when you have
a $80 billion business where 20
percentage points of growth is AI,
that's ROI. And we saw Snowflake and
MongoDB all call out AI agents as a
driver of, you know, uh upside to their
quarter. So I wouldn't question the ROI.
To me, the numbers just keep getting
bigger and bigger to a point where I I I
just feel you've got power constraints.
So even if let's say hyperscalers raise
their capex to 150 billion Microsoft
does $150 billion in capex where do you
find the power to deploy all the chips
you're getting from Nvidia so you will
hit a wall ultimately because there's
only so much data center infrastructure
you can create even if Nvidia is willing
to supply more chips you have other
constraints like power and you can't
deploy those chips so there is a c
certain cap at least in my mind to how
high these capex estimates can go and
how much these will uh companies can buy
because you you just can't deploy them.
>> We are joined by Bloomberg Intelligence
global head of technology research
Mandep Singh as well as Bloomberg News
US semiconductors and networking
reporter Ian King from San Francisco uh
talking Nvidia stock down half a percent
again on a day when the major US uh
indexes are trading higher. Ian, all
this talk around AI, it seems kind of an
insatiable demand from investors, from
consumers, from these hyperscalers.
What's the read in San Francisco on
demand for AI and where we're going and
how these results and kind of this
conversation around Nvidia is driving
the technology in the entire space
forward? Again, I mean, I can only
report on what is being said and the
numbers. And it's, you know, Jensen Wang
made uh a big part of his pitch to to
reassure people yesterday. Look how many
companies are being started up. Look how
much funding is pouring into it. And
then he segueed that into and the
technology is changing as well. that
we're much better at doing these things
that AI has has kind of grown up and is
now a viable tool in the economy. Um and
for the you know for the concerns that
Mandeep has and is expressing um and
that is shared by many others to be put
to bed what Jensen is saying has to come
true that AI has to become a pervasive
part of the economy and that's a much
broader question. Nvidia is certainly
trying its best, throwing money at
everything, every industry that might
use AI to try to make it happen more
quickly. But I think, you know, if we're
honest, it hasn't happened yet. It's
still the preserve of a lot of big
companies. It's still helping coding.
It's still helping customer services.
But has it really changed
transportation? Has it really changed
the energy industry? And the answer is
probably not yet.
>> Not yet. Uh Ian King of course covers
all of this for Bloomberg News joining
us from San Francisco. Mandep before we
let you go joining us in studio in 30
seconds. I mean it wasn't all about
Nvidia yesterday. We did get some other
reports including Crowd Strike. What is
the highle takeaway there?
>> I mean this is a company that is trying
to bundle as much security they can.
PaloAlto made this big big acquisition
of Cyber Arc that hasn't closed. So
consolidation is going on in security
and everyone is trying to pivot to AI
agents. So I'm not questioning the ROI
on AI spend. It's there. AI agents are
getting deployed. Everyone is adjusting
their product portfolio. It's just the
pace of growth and that's where I still
have my question mark.
>> All right, a mic drop from Mandep Singh
of course of Bloomberg Intelligence. He
heads up our global technology research
there. Billy Lip Schultz. An interesting
day again. I'm just struck at the the
breath of this market. Seems strong.
>> Katie, the thing that's interesting too
with Crowd Strike, we call it a mixed
report. The stocks up more than 4%. I
know it's pulled back, but we're still
seeing buyers emerging for anything
that's perceived to be on sale.
>> Absolutely. All right, we are just
getting started here on Bloomberg
Business Week. We'll be back in just a
couple of minutes. This is Bloomberg.
>> It's 240 on Wall Street. We do check
A day after Nvidia and ahead of key
inflation data, we've got the S&P
trading at a record right now. 6502 up
21 points higher by 3/10en of 1%. Keep
it locked in to Bloomberg television and
radio to see if we close above or below
that 6500 round number. Right now, we
have got the Dow up 49 gain there of
1/10enth of 1%. NASDAQ up 6/10 of 1%.
The Nasdaq 100 index also up 6/10 of 1%.
Russell 2000 index of small cap shares
is advancing now by onetenth of 1% and
the max 7 index up by 510 of 1%. A
notable exception though in that index
Nvidia it is down now by 510 of 1%. The
10ear at 4.21% with a 2-year currently
yielding 3.63%.
Gold up 610 of 1% 3418 the ounce and
West Texas Intermediate crude up 610 of
1% 6854
uh uh 6455 I should say on WTI Brent
6854 Bitcoin right now up 3/10en of 1%
112,700
on Bitcoin lots of retailers reported
this morning including Dollar General it
reported stronger than expected sales
also raised its forecast shares up now
by 4/10en of 1%. % Dicks Sporting Goods
raised its fullear outlook, a welcome
sign of strong consumer demand as the
retailer prepares to acquire sneaker
chain Foot Locker. Shares of Dick
Sporting Goods, they're down 5%. Foot
Locker down by 5.4%.
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.
>> All right, thank you for that update,
Charlie Pellet. Let's turn back now to
the world of Washington. We're not
talking about the Fed this time. We're
talking about the CDC. This breaking
news yesterday that the Trump
administration has ousted the director
of the CDC just weeks into her tenure.
As our reporting shows, this follows a
dispute with Health and Human Services
Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. Let's
turn now to Bloomberg Health reporter
Madison Mohler joining us on Zoom from
Chicago. She was part of the team that
broke this news yesterday. Madison, talk
to us about how exactly this transpired,
what that clash was about.
>> Yeah, so we're still learning the
details of this, Katie. I mean, it is a
pretty stunning situation. Manarez has
only been at the CDC uh for a number of
weeks. She was confirmed at the end of
July. Um and in that time and over the
last few months, there's obviously been
a lot of turmoil and a lot of
controversy and different opinions um
about the vaccination schedule and
vaccines and some of um RFK Junior's
stances on vaccines. And so what we're
learning and what we know so far is that
there was some type of confrontation um
earlier this week and that the tensions
sort of have boiled over at this point
um over the clash between different
opinions on vaccines and the vaccination
schedule. Uh and we've also seen several
other senior leaders at the CDC, people
who are career veterans at the CDC have
decades of public health experience
leaving this week as well. So there's
sort of this max mass exodus happening
at the agency right now.
>> Yeah. Madison, it feels a bit like a
revolving door to an extent across kind
of the entire empire or agency that RFK
Jr. overseas. What's the feeling when
you talk to people in the industry,
whether it's CEOs of drug developers or
investors on what this does mean for the
entire kind of health care space in the
US?
Yeah, I mean it definitely leaves the
door open for RFK to um sort of reshape
public health in the United States in
the image that he wants and and more
aligned and to make it more aligned with
his views and the Make America Healthy
Again movement. And so there are some
definite concerns especially from the
drug industry uh in the wake of this
news um especially around some of the
other senior leaders that have left the
CDC. Um, you know, as we reported in our
story, some some people within the
industry said that uh Dimmitri
Dascalakis and some of these other
leaders uh were kind of like the last
voice of reason and were people that
they were hoping would sort of hold the
values of the old CDC um in place with
RFK sort of changing so much. And so
there's definitely some concerns right
now that the public health
infrastructure in this country is going
to change pretty tremendously, but we'll
have to wait to see what happens
because, you know, as we've seen the
last few months with many different
changes within the Trump administration,
some of them hold, some of them don't.
Um, and so the situation right now is
quite fluid, but we are watching and
waiting to see what happens next.
>> Yeah, certainly a fluid situation. And
we did see uh reaction come in after you
broke this news. Senator Bernie Sanders
of Vermont, for example, he is the
ranking member of the Senate Health
Committee. He called for a hearing with
Kennedy about the firing. So, talk to us
about what the next steps here might
look like.
>> Yeah, we know that um RFK is going to be
testifying at a hearing next week and so
we'll see if this comes up, but again,
next steps are going to have to be
fluid. We also saw Bill Cassidy um
asking for some type of oversight
hearing um and asking for the postponing
of this ASIP meeting which is supposed
to happen in September. ASIP is a a
group of vaccine adviserss who help
write and make the recommendations for
the immunization schedule in the United
States. And that group, which was sort
of once not something that a lot of
people in the United States knew what
they actually did, has become really a
flash point for um a lot of the
controversy controversies and arguments
happening within um HHS right now. And
so that group is supposed to meet uh
September 18th to the 19th to discuss
the immunization schedule. And we see
Bill Cass, Senator Bill Cassidy now
asking for maybe that to be postponed.
So there's some pieces that could
happen, lots of moving pieces right now
and um we'll just have to again wait and
see what happens next. And Madison
Bloomberg opinion columnist Lisa Jarvis
posited the question, what does the
world without a fully functional CDC
look like? And as we've seen RFK Jr.
shaking up the CDC and other agencies,
what does that look like? Is it just to
for the viewers and listeners to
understand what the CDC sees oversees
entirely, not just kind of vaccine
uncertainty, but also food and other
things?
>> Yeah. So, the CDC is really the front
line against um any public health
threat. And public health threats are
everything from obesity to pandemics to
um you know, they're the ones that are
responsible for collecting all of the
health data really in our country. Um,
and so without all of these these people
there and and sort of the breakdown of
this public health agency could have
ripple effects on lots of different
things. I mean the leaders that have
left so far were um Dimmitri Descalakis
who's was overseeing the CDC's
respiratory influenza branch. Um we have
the chief medical officer leaving. There
are people that are sort of have a wide
range of responsibilities and this also
comes on the heels of mass layoffs at
the CDC. So the the agency was already
being gutted. Morale is extremely low
right now there from both the layoffs
and from a shooting that took place um
you know on campus a couple weeks ago.
And so there's a lot happening at the
agency right now that makes it quite
hard for people there to do their jobs.
Um and the breakdown of that could have
consequences that I'm not sure if we're
ready for prepared for um or even quite
know the extent of yet. Yeah,
absolutely. Uh I mean you as you
mentioned, you think about morale, you
also think about what that means for
recruitment in terms of replacing some
of these lost employees. And to that
point, Madison, I mean, do we have any
idea who could replace Susan Monz or is
it too preliminary at this moment?
>> We are we are trying to figure that out
right now. I mean, there definitely are
some names out there and I'm sure that
there is there is definitely an idea of
who is going to be replacing her, but we
are not um completely sure yet who that
will be. So, that's another story that's
sort of developing right now. Um and and
we'll have to wait to see what happens.
But again, this is a a CDC director is a
Senate confirmed position. So, Susan
Manares had to go through a Senate
confirmation process to even get in
there. Um, and they could name an acting
director, but to have another CDC
director named, they will have to go
through a Senate confirmation process
again.
>> All right, Madison, really appreciate
your reporting. That is Bloomberg News
health reporter Madison Muller reporting
on the story that the Trump
Meanwhile, let's switch gears here. You
might have noticed that uh I'm Katie
Grifeld. That's Bailey Lipshultz. We're
not Carol Masser. We're not Tim
Stenovic. or not Molly Smith. And that's
actually who we're going to go to right
now. Carol Masser is enjoying a
well-deserved vacation. But Tim and
Molly, they are back at the US Open in
Queens, New York for America's most
prestigious tennis tournament. They're
on the ground now in the shadow of
Arthur Ash Stadium. They join us now for
a preview of what's ahead for the
Bloomberg radio audience this afternoon.
Tim, Molly, why exactly are you out
there? I always ask this question every
single year.
Why not? Wouldn't you be out here if you
could be out here, too, Katie? This is
one of the best days that we can
broadcast for Bloomberg Business Week
Daily. It's always a couple of days that
I look forward to as part of the year of
programming. And you're right, we are
here in the shadow of Arthur Ash Stadium
in Flushing, New York for the US Open.
And it's a windy yet otherwise really
glorious day here. Certainly, we're
battling the wind, but not as much as
the players out there, Molly, are
battling it. This is the type of
condition that you got to be ready for
when you're playing in front of the
world.
>> Yeah, this is what I think most tennis
players would tell you they struggle
with the most far more than the sun.
They're used to the sun, but wind is a
whole other game. It is swirling out
here. We had parts of the set get
knocked over to us that have now since
been taken down. We
>> hear the wind as well.
>> You can hear it. Maybe you could see
this umbrella fluttering above us and
around us. Uh it's going to be a windy
day, but we're here for it. There's been
a lot of great tennis so far. We're
going to keep you updated on the next
two hours and um hopefully you can stick
around for more. this evening.
>> Yeah, we got a great program coming up
over the next two hours on Bloomberg
Business Week Daily. We're going to
speaking with uh Luke Jensen in just a
few minutes. You might remember him as a
former professional tennis player. He's
a grand slam doubles champion. He's
going to be stopping by the set here,
too. Then we got John Worth. I'm
stopping by. You know him from the
tennis channel. You know 60 Minutes. You
know him from what 10 books that he's
written. So, we got some great
programming coming up over the next
couple of hours right here on Bloomberg
Business Week Daily.
>> Yeah.
>> Wish you guys were here though. We do
wish you were here.
>> Wish I was too. Uh, that is Tim Cinec
and Molly Smith hanging out in Flushing,
New York at the US Open. Katie, I'm
jealous, though. I will say one's
wearing a denim jacket, the other one's
wearing a shortsleeve button-down. Kind
of a mixed message.
>> I don't really get it. I also love them
complaining about the wind, battling the
wind. Truly, our toughest soldiers out
there at Arthur Ash Stadium. Uh, but
they do have a great lineup coming up
this afternoon on Bloomberg Radio. So,
looking forward to listening.
>> Yeah, likewise. as well. Katie, let's
take a look at some stocks on the move
today. I'm Bailey Lip Schultz with Katie
Grifeld and we're joined by Bloomberg
News deputy team leader for US equities,
Jess Metton. Jess, a lot going on.
What's top of uh the lineup for you?
>> Well, looking at the function for the
S&P 500. So, top the leaderboard today,
it's actually Data Dog. So, the ticker
is DD OG. So, of course, one of Tom
Keem's favorites, I'm sure. This is a
software provider and it's actually
rising on the back of a number of other
companies that had reported results
today. If you're looking at Snowflake as
well as MongoDB, but specifically with
Data Dog, if you look at this stock up
over 7% right now on pace for its best
day since July 3rd and also looking at
basically just on where it's been so far
this year, basically gone nowhere, still
down about 2%. So, currently sits about
25% below its 25 or 52- week high
actually and still holding near that 200
day moving average. So, just to point
out in perspective, Data Jog joined the
S&P 500 actually in early July. Uh, so
hasn't been in the major index that
long. So, the stock's up uh actually
down roughly 4% since it did replace uh
Juniper Networks. But if you look over
at some of its peers too, Snowflake up
over 20% right now on Pace for its best
day since November 2024 and Snow is the
ticker symbol on that. And if you look
at MongoDB, MDB is the ticker up 8%
right now on Pace for its best day since
actually yesterday.
>> Oh, there you go. And you particularly
like the logo of this company.
>> I love the logo. If you haven't seen it,
it's a puppy holding an image.
>> It really is. Yeah.
>> When they went public, I remember I was
like, "Am I allowed to get a t-shirt of
this company logo?" cuz it's my
favorite. But just less fun, less
softwary formal foods.
>> That's super fun.
>> Okay, bigger spam, right?
>> And other deli meats. HRL is the ticker
symbol down more than 12%. So, I had to
double check this, but this looks like
the potentially if this holds through
the close, it would be its biggest
one-day percentage drop on record if you
look at data going back through
Bloomberg since 1980 there. So tough
year for Hormel shed about 20% of its
value so far in 2025. The reason for
today though cost pressures are stinging
some of those profits. So it posted a
third quarter profit that missed
estimates and it cut its yearly guidance
here. And then during the earnings call
uh the company talked about taking on
targeted pricing actions there and
they're also expecting that for the
profit recovery to still lag here uh
next year as well. Also, if you look
over at Jen Bartis at Bloomberg
Intelligence, so one of our top
strategists that covers this corner of
the market, she was talking about how
margin and profits uh will likely still
remain pressured in the fourth quarter
on elevated pork and beef prices here.
Uh so if you look at the ANR function,
three buys, eight holds, one sell. All
right, man. Hate to see those elevated
pork and beef prices there. Let's talk
about something totally different and
that is Bath and Body Works. I know
you're keeping an eye on that company. I
have to say I always get them confused
with Bed Bath and Beyond.
>> I know. I was going to say cuz usually
that's one of of course Bailey's
favorites when it comes to uh Bed Bath
and Beyond, but this is Bath and Body
Works. So BBWI is the ticker symbol on
this. So down almost 8%. So on pace for
its worst day since April 10th earlier
this year. So of course specialty
retailer Body Care Products, it actually
cut its outlook. So it's lowered the top
end of its sales growth range forecast
for the full year. It also said it
expects tariffs to hurt gross profits by
roughly $85 million. And then this is a
company. It's not in the S&P 500. It's
in the Russell 1000 index. It's also
actually in the S&P 400 midcap index.
Its market cap is around $6 billion. So
if you're looking at basically where it
is so far this year, it's lost about a
quarter of its value so far, guys.
>> Yeah. Jess, all I'm going to say is come
Christmas time or holiday season, the
hand soap on sale at Bath & Body.
>> That's right. You can't miss that. or
the sanitizer.
>> Our thanks to Jess Metton again,
Bloomberg News deputy team leader for US
equities. For more conversations like
this, listen to our Stock Movers
podcast. Subscribe for fiveminute
episodes on the biggest winners and
losers in the stock market. Listen to
Stock Movers on Apple, Spotify, or
wherever you get your podcasts. Katie,
again, Nvidia down, markets up.
>> What are you watching? What's going on?
What stands out to you? I mean, again, I
think on a normal day, meaning a day
that isn't late August, you could point
at that and say, "Wow, there's um some
health to this market, the fact that we
are able to reach these all-time highs
despite having the biggest company in
the world down on the day." But then you
take a look at what volume looks like,
and it's pretty amazing. Uh on the S&P
500, trading volume is about 16% below
its 30-day average. So, in a market as
thin as this one, Bailey, it's hard to
take these moves all that seriously.
>> And I use the function FTW, factors to
watch all the time. It helps break down
what's outperforming, what's
underperforming. Top performers,
momentum, growth, stocks who have had
EPS revisions to the upside, all
outperforming. You know what's down,
Katie? Low volatility, dividend payers,
value stocks. I don't know if it's short
covering, but it certainly seems like a
slow August Thursday where people were
either putting on a bit of risk ahead of
economic data tomorrow or covering some
of those short positions.
>> Yeah, it's funny. It's felt like a real
wait and see week in general. I mean,
for beginners at the start of the week,
we were waiting for Nvidia earnings and
they were consequential. Maybe not to
the degree that traders had been
expecting. Now, we're waiting and seeing
for PCE tomorrow, a check on inflation
with uh the Fed's dual mandate in
conflict here. But really, I think we're
just waiting for the calendar to flip
and people to come back from the
Hamptons and maybe then we'll get some
more serious trades. I do want to point
out though that tech broadly, despite
Nvidia, is higher right now. You take a
look at the biggest gainers in the S&P
500. Right up at the top you have
Broadcom, Apple, Amazon, Alphabet,
Microsoft, which is interesting to me,
Bailey, because with this setup, you
could have said coming into today, not
knowing anything else, that okay, if
Nvidia disappoints, it's probably going
to be bad news for the rest of the Mag 7
complex since they all just spend money
on each other. But that doesn't seem to
be the trade today.
>> No, not the case. And as you mentioned,
we have the S&P up, call it 20 points.
As you mentioned, that outperformance.
NASDAQ 100 up 140 points again on a day
where Nvidia is lower. Uh things that
are also top of mind. We talked about at
the top of the show. Uh everything kind
of going on with Fed Reserve Governor
Lisa Cook. Kind of the back and forth.
The lawsuit keeping an eye on the
headlines that will be coming tomorrow
morning from that hearing and really
kind of Katie as you mentioned again a
lot of investors a lot of bankers at the
Hamptons maybe at the US Open hanging
out with Tim and Molly or even escaping
call it to the south of France. I think
that everyone has their uh eyes trained
on what's going on on Bloomberg TV right
now. I will say I am looking forward to
tomorrow's PCE figures. You take a look
at some of the expectations here on core
PCE which I think that most people will
be watching. The monthly figure expected
in July to rise by.3%. Core PCE on an
annualized basis expected to come in at
about 2.9%.
That would be a bump up from the prior
read. And I mean, you think about where
the Fed is right now, whether they're
more concerned about inflation, whether
they're more concerned about the labor
market. We have 7 days in between PCE
and of course that jobs report next
Friday.
>> And then also, as you mentioned,
economic data, GDP coming in strong. So,
we're not really seeing a slowing of the
economy. I'll also be keeping an eye on
that sentiment uh later in the morning,
tomorrow morning, as we kind of wade
through the economic data on what
probably is a very slow Friday. Well,
we're going to follow it all across the
Bloomberg platforms. If you're watching
us on YouTube or listening to us on
radio, Bloomberg Business Week Daily
continues live from the US Open with Tim
and Molly. If you're watching us on
Bloomberg television, the close is up
next.