September 15, 2025 • 18 mins
Your morning briefing, the business news you need in just 15 minutes.
On today's podcast:
(1) China’s economic activity slowed more than expected across the board in August, adding to the likelihood that policymakers will roll out more stimulus to hit the official growth goal.
(2) US and Chinese representatives discussed TikTok, trade and the economy during a day of high-level talks in Madrid, a senior Treasury official said, as diplomacy between the world’s two biggest economies intensifies.
(3) The UK government defended its ill-fated decision to appoint Peter Mandelson as ambassador to Washington as pressure grows on Prime Minister Keir Starmer over his handling of the affair following the envoy’s ouster.
(4) The first US interest rate cut since Donald Trump became president again is likely to seize the spotlight in a week that will determine policy settings for half of the world’s 10 most-traded currencies.
(5) The Pope has singled out Elon Musk's wealth as part of a criticism of the widening pay gap between company bosses and the working class.
Podcast Conversation: ‘The Pitt’ Wins Best Drama Emmy; ‘The Studio’ Scores Best Comedy
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:02):
Bloomberg Audio Studios, podcasts, radio news.
Speaker 2 (00:10):
This is the Bloomberg Day ba Q podcast. Good morning,
It's Monday, the fifteenth of September. I'm Caroline Hepkeitt in London.
Speaker 1 (00:16):
And I'm Stephen Caroline Brussels. Coming up today, China's economy
weakens sharply as expectations mount for Beijing to deliver a
stimulus boost.
Speaker 2 (00:25):
Pressure grows on Kis Starmer as the UK Prime Minister
tries to shift focus to Donald Trump's state visits.
Speaker 1 (00:32):
Plus the Pope uses his first interview to criticize excessive
CEO pay and Elon Musk potentially becoming the world's first trillionaire.
Speaker 2 (00:41):
Let's start with a roundup of our top stories.
Speaker 1 (00:44):
China's economic activity slowed across the board in August, as
industrial output and consumption had their worst month yet this year.
Economists now expect a notable slow down in third quarter GDP,
with the government's five percent growth target possibly in jeopardy
without major stimulus from Beijing. Jinglu is HSBC's chief economists
(01:05):
for Greater China.
Speaker 3 (01:06):
It's actually a big missing across the board. I think
all numbers point to the softness in the middle of
the year. Probably for Chinese policy makers who are data dependent,
they look at this data and probably will start to
think about what kind of extra policies they want to
roll out.
Speaker 1 (01:25):
Jing Lou speaking, there is a slew of disappointing data
sets in recent weeks already pointed to growing weakness in
the economy. A broad measure of creditsload last month for
the first time this year, while export growth fell shorter
forecasts and dropped to four point four percent in August.
The labor market market also likely weakened in recent months,
(01:46):
based on purchasing managers index surveys and private polls.
Speaker 2 (01:50):
US and Chinese representatives discuss trade, national security, and the
economy during high level talks in Madrid over the weekend.
A senior Treasury officials said the delegations, led by US
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessend and Chinese Vice Premier Holy Feng,
met for almost six hours yesterday. The fate of the
video app TikTok, which is owned by Chinese company Byte,
(02:13):
dances on the agenda too. It faces a deadline this
week to reach a deal to continue its operations in
the US. Champ says that the talks are quote going fine.
And Beijing's actions will determine TikTok's future.
Speaker 4 (02:27):
Negotiating Kicktok right now.
Speaker 3 (02:29):
We may let it die or we may I don't know.
Speaker 4 (02:32):
It depends up to China. It doesn't matter too much.
I'd like to do it for the kids. They like it.
I mean, selfishly speaking, I did very well in TikTok
that I got the useful.
Speaker 2 (02:42):
US persident Donald Champ speaking of their outside Air Force
one AS officials are expected to lay the groundwork for
a meeting between Trump and Shijingping as soon as October,
when they're scheduled to both attend a summit in South Korea.
Speaker 1 (02:56):
The UK government is defending its decision to sackets ambassador
to the US. On the eve of President Trump's visit
to Britain, Prime Minister Kris Darmer fired Peter Mandelsson after
Bloomberg reported details of private emails showing Mandelsson's ties to
disgrace Peterphile Jeffrey Epstein. Business Secretary Peter Kyle told the
BBC that the government would not have hired him had
(03:17):
they known about the depth of their relationship.
Speaker 5 (03:20):
In balance based on what was known publicly, based on
what we knew and you knew as journalists, the decision
was taken to appoint him, and then I have to
say that in that period we have navigated the most
difficult period in US UK relationships since Second World War,
and we have delivered four people in Britain time after
(03:40):
time after time.
Speaker 1 (03:42):
Kyle became Business Secretary two weeks ago in a major
government reshuffle. The scandal out threatens to cast a shadow
over the three day state visit by President Trump, where
the US and UK are expected to sign agreements on
nuclear energy and technology.
Speaker 2 (03:56):
The Federal Reserve is likely to cut interest rates this
week for the first time in Donald Trump's second term.
Central banks in two fifths of the global economy make
rate decisions in the next few days. With the FED
scene as a key bell weather, markets are expecting policymakers
to line up a series of cuts, but Blueberg opinion
columnist John Author says that he's not sure there will
(04:18):
be a clear signal.
Speaker 4 (04:20):
I think it will be an all options open. I
don't think we're going to get a really clear dubbish steer.
I doubt it will be a particularly hawkish cut either.
I don't think there'll be a clear sign that's your
lot so much. We still need to find out about
whether those tariffs begin to feed through into inflation. They
(04:41):
are feeding through into inflation in a very small way
thus far, but it's plainly there.
Speaker 2 (04:46):
Alongside John Orthur's view, the US President has predicted a
quote big cut after putting pressure on the Federal Reserve
Central banks in Canada, the UK and Japan also announce
rate decisions in the thirty six hours after the Fed's decision.
Speaker 1 (05:02):
Germany's far right party tripled its support in local elections
in the country's most populous state, North Rhine Westphalia. The
anti immigration Alternative for Germany increased its share of the
vote to almost fifteen percent. It remained behind Chancellor Frederick
Martz's Christian Democrats and as coalition partners the Social Democrats.
The AfD narrowly missed winning the mayoral race in the
(05:23):
industrial city of gelsen Kirchen, according to preliminary results. The
first electoral test for Mertz's new government came as the
Metropolitan Police says between one hundred and ten and one
hundred and fifty thousand protesters joined an anti migrant march
in central London on Saturday. The protest was organized by
the far right activist Tommy Robinson and addressed by Elon.
Speaker 2 (05:46):
Musk Romania yesterday protested the entry of a Russian drone
into its airspace during an attack on neighbouring Ukraine, but
Kress summoned Moscow's ambassador to the Foreign Ministry over the incident.
The intrusion came only days after Poland said that it
had shot down Russian drones that crossed its border. Former
US Ambassador to Ukraine, William Taylor says the events show
(06:09):
Europe must improve its air defenses along NATO's eastern border.
Speaker 6 (06:15):
This response by NATO is a good indication of what
NATO can do, but it's also a good indication of
what NATO needs to do. They need to learn from
the Ukraine. Ukrainians know how to knock down drones and
doing it without very expensive missiles. The Ukraine's have a
lot of experience on this. They get four or five, six,
seven hundred a night. While I was in Ukraine, we
(06:36):
got eight hundred a night one time in Ukraine, so
they know how to knock these down. They have a
ninety percent eighty percent success rate. NATO needs to learn
from that, and yes, I think NATO could consider putting
that kind of cover over the western part of Ukraine.
Speaker 2 (06:53):
Former US Ambassador to Ukraine William Taylor, speaking there, the
EUSE Foreign policy chief Kaya Kalas condemned the each of
Romanian airspace as a reckless escalation by Moscow. Meanwhile, US
person Trump said over the weekend that he is prepared
to move ahead with major sanctions on Russian oil if
NATO countries do the same. Trump wrote that replacing fifty
(07:16):
two one hundred percent tariffs on China will also be
of great help in ending quote, this deadly but ridiculous
war in Ukraine.
Speaker 1 (07:26):
Those are our top stories on the program. On the
markets this morning, we're looking at Chinese equities rallying. The
CSI three hundred up by six tens of one percent,
the MSCI China Index three tents higher today. On currency markets,
the Bloomberog Dollars Spot index a little weaker ahead of
this week's Federal Reserve decision. The eurostart in the week
at one seventeen thirty three, the pound a touch stronger
(07:47):
at one thirty five sixty six. Oil prices rising today
as well. Looking at briancrudop by half of one percent
to sixty seven dollars and thirty three cents.
Speaker 2 (07:55):
So those other markets. In a moment, we're going to
bring you more on the latest day on the state
of China's economy. And also Pope Leo. Now he has
been talking about Elon Musk's wealth, but then somebody else
caught our attention, THEMS.
Speaker 1 (08:13):
If there's any advantage to getting up in the middle
of the night, it's that you get to watch the
American Award shows happen as they or rather the results
them come in as they happen. So the big headline
is that fifteen year old Owen Cooper has become the
youngest male to win an Acting Emmy. He won Supporting
Actor in a Drama Series for Adolescence of Course, a
program that caused huge waves when it aired about a
teenage boy arrested for the murder of a female classmate.
(08:36):
So that's a big winner from there as well. A
couple of other, perhaps more familiar or longer standing names,
Noah Wiley winning Best Actor and a Drama for his
work on the Pit of Course, became famous n R.
So perhaps his type casts A TV doctor Now do anything,
I'll ever be allowed to play as well. Some good
cameos during the show as well, including the stars The
Gilmore Girls Alexis Bleadell and Lauren Graham had a bit
(08:57):
the first time they've reunited on stage the reboot of
the series. They're making jokes about how long scripts were
because famously as a show where the dialogue was very dense.
But they're presenting an award for script writing.
Speaker 2 (09:10):
Okay, so that on the Emmy is good stuff.
Speaker 1 (09:12):
That's bringing more. Now on that latest economic data from
China's we're watching for developments from the trade talks with
the US which are happening in Madrid. Our chief aser
correspondent to Ros Mathison joins us. Now for more, Ros,
let's start them with the data covering August. What picture
is emerging of the state of the world's second largest
economy from this latest set of numbers.
Speaker 7 (09:34):
Well, it's a slightly concerning picture because of course we
had a bit of front learning, it seems on the
export side as we were coming into some of these
tariff changes and that potentially supported the Chinese economy. But
when you look at the across the board figures today,
you know everything from consumption to retail sales to fixed
asset investment. It's clear that on the domestic side, consumption
(09:58):
demand is slipp and that's you know, an ongoing concern
for the government there because really the engine of the
of the economy is the domestic side. And you've got
across the board, you know, the sense that things are slowing,
that people aren't spending, that companies are also not spending.
You know, the infrastructure is slowing down. And at the
(10:20):
same time, you've got concerns, you know, about the outlook
for the housing market, and you know, the need to
avoid you know, if you're going to stimulate your economy
at this point, not to create bubbles at the same time,
which has always been a pattern for China, is to
avoid creating patterns both in the in the market and
the housing market.
Speaker 2 (10:39):
Well, does it mean that simulus is more more likely
than now? I mean, there's so much anticipation and has
been for months about ramping up of simulus.
Speaker 7 (10:50):
Well, that's right, and they have announced some some steps
on that front, but it seems every time they announce
the stimulus package it does disappoint the market, which is
looking for more. I mean, they do have some leavers
they can use. There's the interest rates. There's also that,
you know, the way that they set the yuan, which
can be a factor as well. They could lean into
(11:13):
infrastructure spending and try and push up infrastructure again because
that can be a good way to get broad leavers
of the economy moving. But again, you know, in all
of that, you've got to be careful not to speed
things up too much, and certainly not to overheat certain
sectors of the economy, including the housing market where they're very,
(11:34):
very sensitive to the potential for bubbles. And of course
the stock market's been doing fairly well after a rough
start this year, and there is concern about letting some
of the air out of the stock market without again
crushing it too quickly or anything. So there's a lot
of delicate things there to balance in terms of stimulus,
but certainly the expectation is that they need to do
(11:54):
something pretty pretty soon.
Speaker 1 (11:56):
At the same time, or watching for any news out
of the latest brand of US China trade talks happening
in Madrid, what have they've been discussing so far and
what sort of progress could we expect.
Speaker 7 (12:06):
Well, they met for about six hours yesterday and then
some lower level officials kept talking last night, so there's
a lot of conversation at least going on, and obviously
talks resuming today. Scott Bessent, the US Treasury Secretary, does
have to get to the UK at some point because
Donald Trump is visiting this week, but there is room
(12:27):
for further talks at least through today. It's a bit
of a grab bag of stuff they're discussing. Includes TikTok,
because that's a deadline that's coming up yet again. I mean,
Donald Trump has rolled it over multiple times and maybe
he does so again, but also the broader China US
trade trups has a deadline that's coming. And the idea
behind all of this seems to be to get everything
(12:49):
knitted away, to have a summit between Donald Trump and Cigping,
probably late October in Asia, perhaps around the time of
the APEC summit in Korea. And to do that, you've
got to get a proper understanding of where this trade
truce is going and what a formal deal that's not
just a temporary deal is going to look like so
(13:10):
the two of them can then announce it at their summit.
That's the whole goal is to get everything squared away
so they can present something together at this summit. So
there's being conversations not just around TikTok, but obviously all
the parameters of the trade deal and a lot of
other stuff too still like fentanyl and so on.
Speaker 2 (13:28):
Okay, so something will continue to think about.
Speaker 6 (13:30):
Rolls.
Speaker 2 (13:30):
Thank you so much for being with us. That is
Roll's Matheson, Bloomberg's chief Asia correspondent. Thank you so much,
stay with us. More from Bloomberg dbakeup coming up after this.
The Pope has singled out Elon Musk's wealth as part
of criticism of the widening pay gap between company bosses
and working class people. Pope Leo was speaking to the
(13:52):
Catholic news website Croux in his first interview since becoming
pontif I reported to you at a bio Jones is
now for more on this story, Teva. What did the
Pope have to say about Elon Musk?
Speaker 8 (14:05):
Well, yeah, Caroline, this was an interview that he gave
to the Catholic website Crux over the summer, shortly after
he began became pope, but it was published over the
weekend for his seventieth birthday, and the interview's actually part
of an upcoming biography being written about him published by
Penguin Peru, and he discussed a range of things, but
(14:26):
amongst those was the widening pay gap that he sees
between corporate bosses and their staff, and to illustrate this,
he used Elon Musk as an example, pointing out that
he was set to become the first trillionaire in the world.
Those comments were made just weeks before Tesla unveiled a
plan which could see Musk awarded a trillion dollars over
(14:47):
the next decade if he hits a series of corporate
targets at Tesla. But it's important to point out that
Pope Leo made clear in this interview that Elon Musk
isn't the only example of this waridening pay gap that
he sought to emphasize. It was really more of a
commentary on the direction that the world is going and
this increasing focus on wealth that he describes, and he
(15:10):
talks about that focus contributing to what he says is
a loss of a higher sense of what human life
is about. So really a wide ranging interview which covered,
amongst many things, the wealth inequality that Pope Leo sees
in the world.
Speaker 1 (15:25):
How unusual is it to hear these kinds of comments
from a pope.
Speaker 8 (15:27):
To it's not entirely unusual to hear these comments from
a pope. It's in line with the theology that his predecessor,
Pope Francis, who was notoriously frugal, promoted. Back in twenty
twenty two, in the wake of the pandemic, Pope Francis
appealed to entrepreneurs to share wealth, citing the biblical example
(15:51):
of the Good Samaritan who offered charity to a stranger.
He also challenged financial leaders to help push forward international development,
and he also condemned tax breaks for the wealthy. So
it's definitely something we've seen before from a pope, but indeed,
more broadly than economic affairs, we also heard Pope frances
(16:11):
speak very often, almost up until his death about geopolitical
affairs such as the war in Ukraine and in the
Middle East. So this sort of commentary is not outside
the realm of what we might expect from a pope.
But for Pope Leo at least, I think it does
set the tone for the rest of his papacy, and
actually it's consistent with his theology to date. I mean,
(16:32):
he chose the name Pope Leo in recognition of the
previous pop Leo who served during the eighteen hundreds, and
he was known for promoting labor rights during the Industrial Revolution,
so perhaps we should have had an inclination that this
pop Leo would also speak out about similar issues.
Speaker 2 (16:50):
That is interesting in terms of what else he said
in the interview what stood out well.
Speaker 8 (16:55):
I mean, it was very wide ranging. He even criticized
the UN for a lack of EA efficacy when it
comes to international affairs, and he gave us some insight
about how he's adapting to the role of pope. He
said it's a huge learning curve. But he also added
some interesting anecdotes about feeling both American and Peruvian. Of course,
(17:16):
he was born in Chicago but spent twenty years as
a missionary in Peru. He even spoke about his childhood
as a fan of the baseball team, the White Sox,
and how he learned about tolerance from an early age
because his mum supported the rival Cubs team. But I
think what was really interesting from my perspective is that
he talked about being thrust into the role of a
(17:36):
world leader as pope, and that perhaps suggests a commitment
to engage politically as part of his papacy. It certainly
tells us a bit about how he sees his role
as Pontifex, and perhaps will give us some insight into
the future in terms of how he intends to carry
out this job as head of the Catholic Church.
Speaker 1 (17:58):
This is Bloomberg Daybreak Europe. You're more brief on the
stories making news from London to Wall Street and beyond.
Speaker 2 (18:04):
Look for us on your podcast feed every morning on Apple,
Spotify and anywhere else you get your podcasts.
Speaker 1 (18:10):
You can also listen live each morning on London Dab Radio,
the Bloomberg Business app, and Bloomberg dot Com.
Speaker 2 (18:16):
Our flagship New York station is also available on your
Amazon Alexa devices. Just say Alexa play Bloomberg eleven thirty.
I'm Caroline Hipka.
Speaker 1 (18:25):
And I'm Stephen Carol. Join us again tomorrow morning for
all the news you need to start your day right
here on Bloomberg Daybreak Europe.
Bloomberg Audio Studios, podcasts, radio news.
Speaker 2 (00:10):
This is the Bloomberg Day ba Q podcast. Good morning,
It's Monday, the fifteenth of September. I'm Caroline Hepkeitt in London.
Speaker 1 (00:16):
And I'm Stephen Caroline Brussels. Coming up today, China's economy
weakens sharply as expectations mount for Beijing to deliver a
stimulus boost.
Speaker 2 (00:25):
Pressure grows on Kis Starmer as the UK Prime Minister
tries to shift focus to Donald Trump's state visits.
Speaker 1 (00:32):
Plus the Pope uses his first interview to criticize excessive
CEO pay and Elon Musk potentially becoming the world's first trillionaire.
Speaker 2 (00:41):
Let's start with a roundup of our top stories.
Speaker 1 (00:44):
China's economic activity slowed across the board in August, as
industrial output and consumption had their worst month yet this year.
Economists now expect a notable slow down in third quarter GDP,
with the government's five percent growth target possibly in jeopardy
without major stimulus from Beijing. Jinglu is HSBC's chief economists
(01:05):
for Greater China.
Speaker 3 (01:06):
It's actually a big missing across the board. I think
all numbers point to the softness in the middle of
the year. Probably for Chinese policy makers who are data dependent,
they look at this data and probably will start to
think about what kind of extra policies they want to
roll out.
Speaker 1 (01:25):
Jing Lou speaking, there is a slew of disappointing data
sets in recent weeks already pointed to growing weakness in
the economy. A broad measure of creditsload last month for
the first time this year, while export growth fell shorter
forecasts and dropped to four point four percent in August.
The labor market market also likely weakened in recent months,
(01:46):
based on purchasing managers index surveys and private polls.
Speaker 2 (01:50):
US and Chinese representatives discuss trade, national security, and the
economy during high level talks in Madrid over the weekend.
A senior Treasury officials said the delegations, led by US
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessend and Chinese Vice Premier Holy Feng,
met for almost six hours yesterday. The fate of the
video app TikTok, which is owned by Chinese company Byte,
(02:13):
dances on the agenda too. It faces a deadline this
week to reach a deal to continue its operations in
the US. Champ says that the talks are quote going fine.
And Beijing's actions will determine TikTok's future.
Speaker 4 (02:27):
Negotiating Kicktok right now.
Speaker 3 (02:29):
We may let it die or we may I don't know.
Speaker 4 (02:32):
It depends up to China. It doesn't matter too much.
I'd like to do it for the kids. They like it.
I mean, selfishly speaking, I did very well in TikTok
that I got the useful.
Speaker 2 (02:42):
US persident Donald Champ speaking of their outside Air Force
one AS officials are expected to lay the groundwork for
a meeting between Trump and Shijingping as soon as October,
when they're scheduled to both attend a summit in South Korea.
Speaker 1 (02:56):
The UK government is defending its decision to sackets ambassador
to the US. On the eve of President Trump's visit
to Britain, Prime Minister Kris Darmer fired Peter Mandelsson after
Bloomberg reported details of private emails showing Mandelsson's ties to
disgrace Peterphile Jeffrey Epstein. Business Secretary Peter Kyle told the
BBC that the government would not have hired him had
(03:17):
they known about the depth of their relationship.
Speaker 5 (03:20):
In balance based on what was known publicly, based on
what we knew and you knew as journalists, the decision
was taken to appoint him, and then I have to
say that in that period we have navigated the most
difficult period in US UK relationships since Second World War,
and we have delivered four people in Britain time after
(03:40):
time after time.
Speaker 1 (03:42):
Kyle became Business Secretary two weeks ago in a major
government reshuffle. The scandal out threatens to cast a shadow
over the three day state visit by President Trump, where
the US and UK are expected to sign agreements on
nuclear energy and technology.
Speaker 2 (03:56):
The Federal Reserve is likely to cut interest rates this
week for the first time in Donald Trump's second term.
Central banks in two fifths of the global economy make
rate decisions in the next few days. With the FED
scene as a key bell weather, markets are expecting policymakers
to line up a series of cuts, but Blueberg opinion
columnist John Author says that he's not sure there will
(04:18):
be a clear signal.
Speaker 4 (04:20):
I think it will be an all options open. I
don't think we're going to get a really clear dubbish steer.
I doubt it will be a particularly hawkish cut either.
I don't think there'll be a clear sign that's your
lot so much. We still need to find out about
whether those tariffs begin to feed through into inflation. They
(04:41):
are feeding through into inflation in a very small way
thus far, but it's plainly there.
Speaker 2 (04:46):
Alongside John Orthur's view, the US President has predicted a
quote big cut after putting pressure on the Federal Reserve
Central banks in Canada, the UK and Japan also announce
rate decisions in the thirty six hours after the Fed's decision.
Speaker 1 (05:02):
Germany's far right party tripled its support in local elections
in the country's most populous state, North Rhine Westphalia. The
anti immigration Alternative for Germany increased its share of the
vote to almost fifteen percent. It remained behind Chancellor Frederick
Martz's Christian Democrats and as coalition partners the Social Democrats.
The AfD narrowly missed winning the mayoral race in the
(05:23):
industrial city of gelsen Kirchen, according to preliminary results. The
first electoral test for Mertz's new government came as the
Metropolitan Police says between one hundred and ten and one
hundred and fifty thousand protesters joined an anti migrant march
in central London on Saturday. The protest was organized by
the far right activist Tommy Robinson and addressed by Elon.
Speaker 2 (05:46):
Musk Romania yesterday protested the entry of a Russian drone
into its airspace during an attack on neighbouring Ukraine, but
Kress summoned Moscow's ambassador to the Foreign Ministry over the incident.
The intrusion came only days after Poland said that it
had shot down Russian drones that crossed its border. Former
US Ambassador to Ukraine, William Taylor says the events show
(06:09):
Europe must improve its air defenses along NATO's eastern border.
Speaker 6 (06:15):
This response by NATO is a good indication of what
NATO can do, but it's also a good indication of
what NATO needs to do. They need to learn from
the Ukraine. Ukrainians know how to knock down drones and
doing it without very expensive missiles. The Ukraine's have a
lot of experience on this. They get four or five, six,
seven hundred a night. While I was in Ukraine, we
(06:36):
got eight hundred a night one time in Ukraine, so
they know how to knock these down. They have a
ninety percent eighty percent success rate. NATO needs to learn
from that, and yes, I think NATO could consider putting
that kind of cover over the western part of Ukraine.
Speaker 2 (06:53):
Former US Ambassador to Ukraine William Taylor, speaking there, the
EUSE Foreign policy chief Kaya Kalas condemned the each of
Romanian airspace as a reckless escalation by Moscow. Meanwhile, US
person Trump said over the weekend that he is prepared
to move ahead with major sanctions on Russian oil if
NATO countries do the same. Trump wrote that replacing fifty
(07:16):
two one hundred percent tariffs on China will also be
of great help in ending quote, this deadly but ridiculous
war in Ukraine.
Speaker 1 (07:26):
Those are our top stories on the program. On the
markets this morning, we're looking at Chinese equities rallying. The
CSI three hundred up by six tens of one percent,
the MSCI China Index three tents higher today. On currency markets,
the Bloomberog Dollars Spot index a little weaker ahead of
this week's Federal Reserve decision. The eurostart in the week
at one seventeen thirty three, the pound a touch stronger
(07:47):
at one thirty five sixty six. Oil prices rising today
as well. Looking at briancrudop by half of one percent
to sixty seven dollars and thirty three cents.
Speaker 2 (07:55):
So those other markets. In a moment, we're going to
bring you more on the latest day on the state
of China's economy. And also Pope Leo. Now he has
been talking about Elon Musk's wealth, but then somebody else
caught our attention, THEMS.
Speaker 1 (08:13):
If there's any advantage to getting up in the middle
of the night, it's that you get to watch the
American Award shows happen as they or rather the results
them come in as they happen. So the big headline
is that fifteen year old Owen Cooper has become the
youngest male to win an Acting Emmy. He won Supporting
Actor in a Drama Series for Adolescence of Course, a
program that caused huge waves when it aired about a
teenage boy arrested for the murder of a female classmate.
(08:36):
So that's a big winner from there as well. A
couple of other, perhaps more familiar or longer standing names,
Noah Wiley winning Best Actor and a Drama for his
work on the Pit of Course, became famous n R.
So perhaps his type casts A TV doctor Now do anything,
I'll ever be allowed to play as well. Some good
cameos during the show as well, including the stars The
Gilmore Girls Alexis Bleadell and Lauren Graham had a bit
(08:57):
the first time they've reunited on stage the reboot of
the series. They're making jokes about how long scripts were
because famously as a show where the dialogue was very dense.
But they're presenting an award for script writing.
Speaker 2 (09:10):
Okay, so that on the Emmy is good stuff.
Speaker 1 (09:12):
That's bringing more. Now on that latest economic data from
China's we're watching for developments from the trade talks with
the US which are happening in Madrid. Our chief aser
correspondent to Ros Mathison joins us. Now for more, Ros,
let's start them with the data covering August. What picture
is emerging of the state of the world's second largest
economy from this latest set of numbers.
Speaker 7 (09:34):
Well, it's a slightly concerning picture because of course we
had a bit of front learning, it seems on the
export side as we were coming into some of these
tariff changes and that potentially supported the Chinese economy. But
when you look at the across the board figures today,
you know everything from consumption to retail sales to fixed
asset investment. It's clear that on the domestic side, consumption
(09:58):
demand is slipp and that's you know, an ongoing concern
for the government there because really the engine of the
of the economy is the domestic side. And you've got
across the board, you know, the sense that things are slowing,
that people aren't spending, that companies are also not spending.
You know, the infrastructure is slowing down. And at the
(10:20):
same time, you've got concerns, you know, about the outlook
for the housing market, and you know, the need to
avoid you know, if you're going to stimulate your economy
at this point, not to create bubbles at the same time,
which has always been a pattern for China, is to
avoid creating patterns both in the in the market and
the housing market.
Speaker 2 (10:39):
Well, does it mean that simulus is more more likely
than now? I mean, there's so much anticipation and has
been for months about ramping up of simulus.
Speaker 7 (10:50):
Well, that's right, and they have announced some some steps
on that front, but it seems every time they announce
the stimulus package it does disappoint the market, which is
looking for more. I mean, they do have some leavers
they can use. There's the interest rates. There's also that,
you know, the way that they set the yuan, which
can be a factor as well. They could lean into
(11:13):
infrastructure spending and try and push up infrastructure again because
that can be a good way to get broad leavers
of the economy moving. But again, you know, in all
of that, you've got to be careful not to speed
things up too much, and certainly not to overheat certain
sectors of the economy, including the housing market where they're very,
(11:34):
very sensitive to the potential for bubbles. And of course
the stock market's been doing fairly well after a rough
start this year, and there is concern about letting some
of the air out of the stock market without again
crushing it too quickly or anything. So there's a lot
of delicate things there to balance in terms of stimulus,
but certainly the expectation is that they need to do
(11:54):
something pretty pretty soon.
Speaker 1 (11:56):
At the same time, or watching for any news out
of the latest brand of US China trade talks happening
in Madrid, what have they've been discussing so far and
what sort of progress could we expect.
Speaker 7 (12:06):
Well, they met for about six hours yesterday and then
some lower level officials kept talking last night, so there's
a lot of conversation at least going on, and obviously
talks resuming today. Scott Bessent, the US Treasury Secretary, does
have to get to the UK at some point because
Donald Trump is visiting this week, but there is room
(12:27):
for further talks at least through today. It's a bit
of a grab bag of stuff they're discussing. Includes TikTok,
because that's a deadline that's coming up yet again. I mean,
Donald Trump has rolled it over multiple times and maybe
he does so again, but also the broader China US
trade trups has a deadline that's coming. And the idea
behind all of this seems to be to get everything
(12:49):
knitted away, to have a summit between Donald Trump and Cigping,
probably late October in Asia, perhaps around the time of
the APEC summit in Korea. And to do that, you've
got to get a proper understanding of where this trade
truce is going and what a formal deal that's not
just a temporary deal is going to look like so
(13:10):
the two of them can then announce it at their summit.
That's the whole goal is to get everything squared away
so they can present something together at this summit. So
there's being conversations not just around TikTok, but obviously all
the parameters of the trade deal and a lot of
other stuff too still like fentanyl and so on.
Speaker 2 (13:28):
Okay, so something will continue to think about.
Speaker 6 (13:30):
Rolls.
Speaker 2 (13:30):
Thank you so much for being with us. That is
Roll's Matheson, Bloomberg's chief Asia correspondent. Thank you so much,
stay with us. More from Bloomberg dbakeup coming up after this.
The Pope has singled out Elon Musk's wealth as part
of criticism of the widening pay gap between company bosses
and working class people. Pope Leo was speaking to the
(13:52):
Catholic news website Croux in his first interview since becoming
pontif I reported to you at a bio Jones is
now for more on this story, Teva. What did the
Pope have to say about Elon Musk?
Speaker 8 (14:05):
Well, yeah, Caroline, this was an interview that he gave
to the Catholic website Crux over the summer, shortly after
he began became pope, but it was published over the
weekend for his seventieth birthday, and the interview's actually part
of an upcoming biography being written about him published by
Penguin Peru, and he discussed a range of things, but
(14:26):
amongst those was the widening pay gap that he sees
between corporate bosses and their staff, and to illustrate this,
he used Elon Musk as an example, pointing out that
he was set to become the first trillionaire in the world.
Those comments were made just weeks before Tesla unveiled a
plan which could see Musk awarded a trillion dollars over
(14:47):
the next decade if he hits a series of corporate
targets at Tesla. But it's important to point out that
Pope Leo made clear in this interview that Elon Musk
isn't the only example of this waridening pay gap that
he sought to emphasize. It was really more of a
commentary on the direction that the world is going and
this increasing focus on wealth that he describes, and he
(15:10):
talks about that focus contributing to what he says is
a loss of a higher sense of what human life
is about. So really a wide ranging interview which covered,
amongst many things, the wealth inequality that Pope Leo sees
in the world.
Speaker 1 (15:25):
How unusual is it to hear these kinds of comments
from a pope.
Speaker 8 (15:27):
To it's not entirely unusual to hear these comments from
a pope. It's in line with the theology that his predecessor,
Pope Francis, who was notoriously frugal, promoted. Back in twenty
twenty two, in the wake of the pandemic, Pope Francis
appealed to entrepreneurs to share wealth, citing the biblical example
(15:51):
of the Good Samaritan who offered charity to a stranger.
He also challenged financial leaders to help push forward international development,
and he also condemned tax breaks for the wealthy. So
it's definitely something we've seen before from a pope, but indeed,
more broadly than economic affairs, we also heard Pope frances
(16:11):
speak very often, almost up until his death about geopolitical
affairs such as the war in Ukraine and in the
Middle East. So this sort of commentary is not outside
the realm of what we might expect from a pope.
But for Pope Leo at least, I think it does
set the tone for the rest of his papacy, and
actually it's consistent with his theology to date. I mean,
(16:32):
he chose the name Pope Leo in recognition of the
previous pop Leo who served during the eighteen hundreds, and
he was known for promoting labor rights during the Industrial Revolution,
so perhaps we should have had an inclination that this
pop Leo would also speak out about similar issues.
Speaker 2 (16:50):
That is interesting in terms of what else he said
in the interview what stood out well.
Speaker 8 (16:55):
I mean, it was very wide ranging. He even criticized
the UN for a lack of EA efficacy when it
comes to international affairs, and he gave us some insight
about how he's adapting to the role of pope. He
said it's a huge learning curve. But he also added
some interesting anecdotes about feeling both American and Peruvian. Of course,
(17:16):
he was born in Chicago but spent twenty years as
a missionary in Peru. He even spoke about his childhood
as a fan of the baseball team, the White Sox,
and how he learned about tolerance from an early age
because his mum supported the rival Cubs team. But I
think what was really interesting from my perspective is that
he talked about being thrust into the role of a
(17:36):
world leader as pope, and that perhaps suggests a commitment
to engage politically as part of his papacy. It certainly
tells us a bit about how he sees his role
as Pontifex, and perhaps will give us some insight into
the future in terms of how he intends to carry
out this job as head of the Catholic Church.
Speaker 1 (17:58):
This is Bloomberg Daybreak Europe. You're more brief on the
stories making news from London to Wall Street and beyond.
Speaker 2 (18:04):
Look for us on your podcast feed every morning on Apple,
Spotify and anywhere else you get your podcasts.
Speaker 1 (18:10):
You can also listen live each morning on London Dab Radio,
the Bloomberg Business app, and Bloomberg dot Com.
Speaker 2 (18:16):
Our flagship New York station is also available on your
Amazon Alexa devices. Just say Alexa play Bloomberg eleven thirty.
I'm Caroline Hipka.
Speaker 1 (18:25):
And I'm Stephen Carol. Join us again tomorrow morning for
all the news you need to start your day right
here on Bloomberg Daybreak Europe.
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