April 30, 2025 • 20 mins
Your morning briefing, the business news you need in just 15 minutes.
On today's podcast:
(1) President Donald Trump renewed criticism of Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell as he championed his economic policies and tariff regime during a Tuesday event to mark his 100th day in office.
(2) Trump also said China deserved the steep tariffs he imposed on their exports and predicted Beijing could find a way to reduce their impact on American consumers.
(3) The European Union has made tangible offers to Donald Trump’s administration in an effort to return stability to the global economy, according to the bloc’s commissioner for international partnerships.
(4) Companies around the world including carmakers, brewers, airlines and packaged food makers are sounding a warning that US President Donald Trump’s import tariffs are beginning to wreak havoc on their businesses
(5) Switzerland risks missing out on lucrative contracts due to its policy of neutrality as European nations rearm in the face of Moscow’s aggression and tensions with the US.
(6) Drugmaker Astrazeneca has told us it is seeing no particular benefit from the UK government's focus on economic growth. The company abandoned a planned £450 million investment in the UK at the start of this year.
Podcast conversation: Controversial Arctic Parcel of Land May Sell for €300 Million
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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 BlueBag Day Baker and podcast, available every
morning on Apple, Spotify or wherever you listen. It's Wednesday,
the thirtieth of April. Here in London. I'm Caroline Hipke.
Speaker 1 (00:18):
And I'm Stephen Carroll. Coming up today. Donald Trump turns
up the heat on Jerome Powell as the US President
defends his economic agenda after one hundred days in office.
Speaker 2 (00:28):
Astra Zeneca's CFO tells us she's seen no evidence that
UK growth policies are matching the rhetoric.
Speaker 1 (00:36):
Plus, Switzerland risks missing out on lucrative European arms contracts
as the country's neutrality threatens to stifle its defense industry.
Speaker 2 (00:45):
Let's start with a roundup of our top stories.
Speaker 1 (00:47):
US President Donald Trump has renewed his criticism of the
Federal Reserve Chair Jerown Powell while defending his economic policies
and tariff strategy during an event to mark his one
hundredth day in office. Speaking to support in Michigan, Trump
again pressured the Central Bank to cut interest rates despite
the independence of Fed policymaking.
Speaker 3 (01:07):
And inflation is basically down and interest rate came down
despite the fact that I have a FED person who's
not really doing a good job. But I won't say that.
I want to be very nice. I want to be
very nice and respectful to the Fed. You're not supposed
to criticize the FED. You're supposed to let him do
his own thing. But I know much more than he
(01:27):
does about interest rates, believe me.
Speaker 1 (01:30):
Although Trump said earlier this month that he doesn't plan
to fire Powell, his latest remarks are likely to heighten
investor concerns over the Central Bank's independence as the White
House pursues an aggressive restructuring of US trade relationships, adding
to economic anxiety. US consumer confidence dropped in April to
its lowest level in nearly five years.
Speaker 2 (01:50):
China's factory activity has fallen into its shop is contraction
in sixteen months. In an early sign of the fallout
from one hundred and forty five percent US Harris, the
official Manufacturing Purchasing Manager's Index dropped more than expected to
forty nine in April. That was down from fifty point
five in March. Meanwhile, the non manufacturing index, which covers
(02:13):
construction and services, also grew more slowly than anticipated, but
speaking to ABC News, the US President said China deserves
the steep tariffs he has imposed on their exports, adding
that Beijing could fight a way to reduce their impact
on American consumers.
Speaker 4 (02:31):
China probably will eat those tariffs, but at one hundred
and forty five, they basically can't do much business with
the United States. And they were making from us a
trillion dollars a year. They were ripping us off like
nobody's ever ripped us off. And by the way, we
have other countries that were just as bad. If you
look at the European Union, who was terrible what they've
done to us. Every country, almost every country in the
(02:52):
world was ripping us off.
Speaker 5 (02:54):
They're not doing that anymore.
Speaker 2 (02:55):
President Trump's defiant remarks come just days after his administration
signaled that it was seeking to ease tensions and to
re engage with Beijing in trade talks. Earlier on Tuesday,
Treasury Sectory Scott Bessen declined to offer details on any
active negotiations between the two countries, but warned that China
could lose as many as ten million jobs due to
(03:18):
the tariffs.
Speaker 1 (03:19):
As Donald Trump repeated his criticism of the European Union.
The Block says that it has put concessions on the
table during its talks with the US. While the White
House says negotiations are stuck at the starting line, the
EU Commissioner for International Partnership, Joseph Scala, has told Bloomberg
he is confident a deal can be reached.
Speaker 6 (03:37):
Instability is not a good message for business because business
is always looking for save heavens, for predictability, for stability,
and this is something we want to offer to remain reliable,
stable and predictable partner, and I have a good feeling
that we will solve the issues to a mutual interest.
Speaker 1 (04:00):
So callas a Bee tone clashed with comments from US
Treasury Secretary Scott Besson. He told a press briefing that
trade talks wouldn't begin until the EU resolves what he
called internal issues, singling out the digital services tax levied
by some countries, calling it unfair.
Speaker 2 (04:16):
President Donald Trump has signed an executive order to prevent
steel and car tariffs doing double damage to automakers. But
despite that, earning season is beginning to show how the
chaotic period for global trade is starting to hurt companies.
Bloebig's James Walcock has more you.
Speaker 7 (04:33):
Can break down what we've heard so far into three groups. Firstly,
companies that say they're in for a rough ride, the
likes of General Motors, Smirk, Jet Blue, heavy on automakers,
retailers and air travel. This group is withdrawing earnings guidance,
slashing costs, and often delaying share buybacks. Then you have
a few like Coca Cola who see the trade war
(04:54):
is manageable with its sodas being bottled locally around the world.
And then you have Pandora's box, the firms who say
they still have no idea how to quantify what's coming
and haven't updated their forecast as quarter in London, Jeez
Woolcock Bloomberg Radio had some breaking garnings news for you
this morning. Profits at the Swiss banking giant UBS beat
(05:16):
estimates in the first three months of the year after
its markets division posted record performance during the recent volatility.
Net income for the three months to March came in
at one point seven billion dollars. Similar story at Francis
Sasita General, where record revenue from trading stocks and related
securities helped to lift revenue and profits past expectations. Net
income at SOCK ten more than doubled from a year
(05:37):
earlier to one point six billion euros. It beat two
for Spain's Santander with first quarter profits of three point
four billion dollars, and the lander said it was on
track to meet its fullier targets. Less good news though
from the auto sector this morning, Wherecedes Benz withdrawing its
outlook for this year due to the uncertainty from Donald
Trump's trade news the volatility sparked by Tariff's The company
(05:58):
says it's too high to run liably assess the business
development for the remainder of this year.
Speaker 2 (06:04):
Drug maker Astra Zenica has told us it is seeing
no particular benefit from the UK government's focus on economic growth.
The company abandoned a plan four hundred and fifty million
pound investment in the UK at the start of this year.
Chance of Rachel Reeves, though, called Assenica one of the
great companies in January when she set out her plans
to kickstart economic growth, saying that she was determined to
(06:27):
make Britain the best place in the world to invest.
We asked Azeneca's chief financial officer, Aradana Sarin, whether she
is seeing any benefit from the government's pledge to boost
economic growth.
Speaker 8 (06:41):
Not yet, so we haven't really seen any of that yet.
Industrial policy is obviously one thing, but obviously access to
medicines is also important because you know, if you think
about where we do our studies and where we invest
R and D investment, you know, eventually and the of
all of that, we do want patients in that country
(07:03):
to have access to medicine. So you know, if we
spend all the money in research and then patients don't
benefit in that country, that's very disappointing.
Speaker 2 (07:12):
As Zeneca CFO Aradna Sarin speaking to US about the
NHS not buying enough of its drugs now. It comes
after the company's CEO, Pascal Sorrio, issued a warning against
the use of tariffs yesterday and that the drug makers
in the US a lobbying the Trump administration to exclude
(07:32):
medicines from future levies.
Speaker 1 (07:35):
Vladimir Putin is demanding that Russia take control of four
Ukrainian regions as part of a peace deal to end
the war. Bloomberg understands the Kremlin mons jurisdiction over the land,
which it currently doesn't fully occupy as part of the agreement.
The news is a blow to US President Donald Trump's
efforts to reach a ceasefire, amid mounting frustration about a
lack of progress. State Department spokeswoman Tammy Bruce says negotiations
(07:59):
have a crucial stage.
Speaker 9 (08:01):
We are now at a time where concrete proposals need
to be delivered by the two parties on how to
end this conflict. How we proceed from here is a
decision that belongs now to the President. If there is
not progress, we will step back as mediators in this process.
Speaker 1 (08:21):
It's the State Department's Tommy Bruce there. Meanwhile, President Trump
remains confident a deal on critical minerals will be signed
with Ukraine, according to the White House. Sources say the agreement,
which will govern post war plans to exploit the country's
mineral deposits and rebuild its infrastructure, could be signed as
soon as this week.
Speaker 2 (08:41):
Those are our top stories for you this morning. Let's
have a look at the markets then this our mscihed
Pacific indexes up by half of one percent. Have you
got the cost B significantly weak as CSI three hundred
is also down. Of course, we've seen the S and
P five hundred up for six days in a row,
a total of near eight percent. In terms of gay means.
But the issues around the trade will really weighing on
(09:04):
Asian equities. And you've also got a set of big
earnings out tonight, tech earnings from Meta from Microsoft, so
then as that one hundred will be in focus. It
has recovery nearly all of its losses since this second
of April, just thinking about that disappointment. Then in Asia,
the China manufacturing PMI slumping, that's the kind of big
(09:25):
issue there. Looking at the Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index, it's
weaker this morning, so a softer dollar, softer pound, the
euro down a tenth of one percent. Oil prices in
retreat down one point two percent. Gold also down two
tents this morning. US stock futures are in the red
and tenny usls trade at four seventeen in terms of
those yeals this morning.
Speaker 1 (09:44):
Well in a moment will bring you more on Translator's
broadside against the Federal Reserve chair and discuss why Swiss
neutrality threatens to stifle its defense industry. But another story
that cad Arei this morning about a particularly unusual property
deal in the arc archipelago of Svalbard. It's in Norwegian territory,
(10:05):
although governed by a one hundred year old treaty signed
by some forty five countries, among them Russia, China and
the US. And there's a plot of land for sales
about the size of Manhattan, and a group of buyers
is willing to pay three hundred million euros for it.
They include Norwegian and international investors and their aim as
to protect the area from environmental changes.
Speaker 2 (10:26):
Yes, except, of course, this bit of land, along with
a lot of the Arctic, is now at the center
of all of this geopolitics and the tensions with the
US President Donald Trump. He's talked about one is to
take over Greenland from Denmark. So the Norwegian government has
said this sales got to be cleared by US first.
So it's a pretty fascinating story.
Speaker 7 (10:48):
Of course.
Speaker 2 (10:48):
The area is just full of mountains, fjords, Arctic wildlife
and mass Frankly, it does, although it's in the complete
darkness for about four months of the year and then
you kind of get to the most for the other
four months.
Speaker 1 (11:01):
So you know, business is bad, business is good. You
can read more on Bloomberg dot com and you'll find
a link to the article in our show notes. If
you're listening to Bloomberg Daybreak Europe Podcast.
Speaker 2 (11:10):
Now to President Trump's rally celebrating his one hundredth day
in office, which saw him tout his harsh immigration enforcement,
blast China for quote ripping us off, and criticizing the
Federal Reserve chair. But the President's approval ratings have slumped
amidst his administration's aggressive pursuit of an America First agenda.
Joining us now is our News desk editor Jill Deesis
(11:33):
to discuss what did you make of President Trump's rally
in Michigan and also, of course, his first one hundred
days back in office.
Speaker 10 (11:40):
That's good morning. Well, I think what you just rattled
off there is really kind of emblematic of what we
saw of this rally. It's really kind of the greatest
hits of all things Trump. You saw a bit of
him contradicting himself slightly, kind of you know, running into
you know, defending the tariffs, but then also talking about
some of these easing measure that he's put forth recently,
(12:02):
including really just hours before this rally he signed some
directives easing tariffs on auto part levies for example. So
I mean he's kind of you know equivocating there. A
little bit. You also had some criticism of Jerome Powell,
one of his favorite targets, the FED chair there thrown
in as well. But really I think the big takeaway
from this rally is we're one hundred days into the
(12:24):
Trump presidency. As you mentioned, approval rating with the public
is down significantly. There is a recent poll showing really
only around thirty nine percent approval rating or something. I mean,
we're looking at some of the worst approval ratings of
either you know, this presidency or his first term in
office here that Trump is contending with. And then you're
also setting that against the background of this tariff plan,
(12:45):
which has you know, created a lot of market turmoil.
You've got a lot of uncertainty that Trump is trying
to balance here, and so Trump is really kind of
using this as a way to you know, kind of
come out and really just be classic Trump here, which
is to say, you know, the plan is right, every
thing's fine, We're doing great, and I think really just
trying to reassure people there. Obviously, you know, whether that's
(13:05):
actually effective, I think is a separate question.
Speaker 1 (13:08):
But on the question of the criticism of Jerome Powell, though,
of course, as you say, this is something that Donald
Trump has returned to and repeated occasions, but he did
pull back from previous threats to get rid of the
Federal Reserve chairman that had spooked markets as well. Does
it look like we're singing back in that direction?
Speaker 4 (13:24):
High? Serious?
Speaker 1 (13:25):
Is this criticism?
Speaker 10 (13:26):
Yeah? I mean, look, you know, Trump really can't help himself,
can he. I mean, we were really only about a
week or so ago, you know, we heard you know,
him calling you know, J Powell a loser. Obviously he's
you know, really he's really hit interest rates really really
hard here. I mean, you know, it kind of compares,
I guess to kind of get the full picture here.
You back up about a week or so ago, we
(13:47):
know that a lot of Donald Trump's advisors were, you know,
kind of advising him on the prospect of what would
it actually look like if you tried to fire J.
Speaker 1 (13:55):
Powell.
Speaker 10 (13:56):
He then came out a few days later and said,
that's not something that I'm considering. He didn't really you know,
returned to that level of language at this rally, but
he is kind of ticking back up and you know,
criticizing Joan Powell's you know, saying that he's not doing
a really good job. You know, Trump saying that he
knows interest rates better than Powell does. So we are
seeing that return to criticism. But I wouldn't characterize this
(14:16):
as something that felt like he was really ratcheting up
the kind of campaign that we saw just a couple
of weeks ago.
Speaker 2 (14:22):
Meanwhile, those US tarifs at President says China deserves do
seem to be having a swift and quite deep impact
on China's factory activity. This data is being really closely washed.
What do you think of it?
Speaker 10 (14:35):
Yes, well, I think you know, as you were just
saying a few minutes ago, I mean, just the fact
that you're seeing that factory activity slip into contraction is
pretty concerning. I think that you know, what we've been
hearing from analysts is that this is sort of worse
than expected when you're weighing just some of that initial
impact of those one hundred and forty five percent tariffs
(14:56):
on Chinese products. I mean, you know, when you're digging
into that data a little bit more, some of the
worst numbers that I saw in there, I mean, new
export orders falling to the lowest since December twenty twenty two.
I mean we're looking at what pandemic era, you know,
sort of shifts in some of this manufacturing activity. I
mean that and you looked at those orders in particular,
(15:17):
recording the biggest drop since April of that year, twenty
twenty two. And remember that's when Shanghai, the entire city
of Shanghai was in lockdown. So I mean that's a
pretty serious and pretty dramatic shift here.
Speaker 6 (15:27):
You know.
Speaker 10 (15:27):
I think at this point, what we've heard from Beijing
so far is that there are have laid out some
measures to kind of help exporters. They announced that they
were going to help them get access to loans make
things a little bit easier there, but they haven't really
pulled any kind of big bazooka stimul has I mean,
you know, talk about this forever, but you know, that
(15:48):
doesn't really seem like something that China is interested in pursuing,
at least over the past couple of years. So Chinas
certainly exercised some caution there, but I do think it
does kind of suggest a bit of a warning sign there.
I would be really on the lookout for other economic data,
not just out of China, but sort of you know,
around the world over the next few weeks just to
see if we can get a better indication of how
(16:08):
exactly these tariffs are actually starting to take effect. And
just remember, you know, the reprieved, the recipraal tariffs are
still on pause at the moment. I mean, it could
be more economic pain to come for some of these
countries going forward.
Speaker 2 (16:20):
Jill, thank you so much for being with us this morning.
Bloomberg's and News Desk editor Jill Desis, thank you.
Speaker 1 (16:27):
Now to a special report looking at European defense. Switzerland's
neutrality is threatening to stifle it small but symbolically important
defense industry is a major shift towards European rearmament and
national security is underway. Joining us now for more is
our reporter levens Dam, who has been writing about this. Leven,
great to have you with us. First of all, how
big is the defense industry in Switzerland and what is
(16:49):
it making now?
Speaker 5 (16:50):
Good morning, and thank you for having me. Well, at
least in economic terms, the Swiss defense industries robert tiny
within the European context. It contributes just over zero point
two tend to Swiss economic output and employees around fourteen
thousand people. There are two major groups of firms that
I should mention big manufacturers that produce entire weapons systems,
(17:10):
and these include subsidiaries of German grynd Metal and American
General Dynamics. But then there is also a plethora of
really small companies that each employee may be a few
dozen employees, and those mostly focus on the production of
arms components, mostly for larger European defense producers. And I
think it's also important to mention that the economic significance
(17:31):
has recently further decreased. Swiss war material exports have dropped
by thirty percent since an all time i in twenty
twenty two, exactly because of laws rooted in neutrality that
restrict Swiss defense exports.
Speaker 2 (17:45):
Just explain a bit about the laws and how they
restrict things. There has been criticism around blocking some exports
to Ukraine.
Speaker 5 (17:53):
So I mean basically countries that by weapons have at
least fifty percent of the value made in switch and
are not allowed to re export them to other countries.
And Swiss firms also aren't allowed to export to war zones.
And for a long time, other countries didn't care too
much about these restrictions, and the Swiss government also had
the powers to grand exceptions if it deemed fitting. But
(18:16):
then the Swiss parliaments grabbed those powers in a lower
division in late twenty twenty one, so really just months
before Russia's full scale invasion of Ukraine, and ever since
the government had to deny multiple requests by European governments
to sin swis mide weapons Ukraine, including Germany and Denmark,
and that has led to europe Pean countries now systematically
(18:39):
avoiding to rely on Swiss arms or components because they
really don't see Switzerland as a trustworthy supplier anymore.
Speaker 1 (18:46):
Swiss neutrality has a long history. What are the views
of it now? How are the parliament of the Swiss
government thinking about the defense industry in the current context.
Speaker 5 (18:56):
Well, so the Swiss are increasingly split about Switzerland's the
neutrality stands and how far also support for Ukraine should
go with exports. It is actually even more complicated because
it was exactly the left cleaning parties which generally are
in favor of extending support for Ukraine, and they were
exactly the ones that pushed through a law that law
reform that now blocks the arms exports. And at the
(19:18):
same time there is the business friendli Swiss People's Party,
but that one has exactly pushed for a vote that
seeks to enshrine everlasting Swiss neutrality in the country's constitution.
At the same time, on the government side, there as
spoke with multiple agencies and they were all really worried
about the vanging Swiss defense industry rather from a security
(19:39):
concern standpoint, and they fear that if Swiss firms are
cut out of supply chains, that also reduces Switzerland's leverage
to get supplies for its own army from European partners
in times of crisis.
Speaker 1 (19:53):
This is Bloomberg Daybreak Europe, your morning brief on the
stories making news from London to Wall Street and beyond.
Speaker 2 (20:00):
Look for us on your podcast feed every morning, on Apple, Spotify,
and anywhere else you get your podcasts.
Speaker 1 (20:06):
You can also listen live each morning on London DAB Radio,
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Speaker 2 (20:11):
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Speaker 1 (20:19):
I'm Caroline Hepka and I'm Stephen Carroll. Join us again
tomorrow morning for all the news you need to start
your day right here on Bloomberg day Break.
Speaker 2 (20:27):
Europe
Bloomberg Audio Studios, podcasts, radio news.
Speaker 2 (00:10):
This is the BlueBag Day Baker and podcast, available every
morning on Apple, Spotify or wherever you listen. It's Wednesday,
the thirtieth of April. Here in London. I'm Caroline Hipke.
Speaker 1 (00:18):
And I'm Stephen Carroll. Coming up today. Donald Trump turns
up the heat on Jerome Powell as the US President
defends his economic agenda after one hundred days in office.
Speaker 2 (00:28):
Astra Zeneca's CFO tells us she's seen no evidence that
UK growth policies are matching the rhetoric.
Speaker 1 (00:36):
Plus, Switzerland risks missing out on lucrative European arms contracts
as the country's neutrality threatens to stifle its defense industry.
Speaker 2 (00:45):
Let's start with a roundup of our top stories.
Speaker 1 (00:47):
US President Donald Trump has renewed his criticism of the
Federal Reserve Chair Jerown Powell while defending his economic policies
and tariff strategy during an event to mark his one
hundredth day in office. Speaking to support in Michigan, Trump
again pressured the Central Bank to cut interest rates despite
the independence of Fed policymaking.
Speaker 3 (01:07):
And inflation is basically down and interest rate came down
despite the fact that I have a FED person who's
not really doing a good job. But I won't say that.
I want to be very nice. I want to be
very nice and respectful to the Fed. You're not supposed
to criticize the FED. You're supposed to let him do
his own thing. But I know much more than he
(01:27):
does about interest rates, believe me.
Speaker 1 (01:30):
Although Trump said earlier this month that he doesn't plan
to fire Powell, his latest remarks are likely to heighten
investor concerns over the Central Bank's independence as the White
House pursues an aggressive restructuring of US trade relationships, adding
to economic anxiety. US consumer confidence dropped in April to
its lowest level in nearly five years.
Speaker 2 (01:50):
China's factory activity has fallen into its shop is contraction
in sixteen months. In an early sign of the fallout
from one hundred and forty five percent US Harris, the
official Manufacturing Purchasing Manager's Index dropped more than expected to
forty nine in April. That was down from fifty point
five in March. Meanwhile, the non manufacturing index, which covers
(02:13):
construction and services, also grew more slowly than anticipated, but
speaking to ABC News, the US President said China deserves
the steep tariffs he has imposed on their exports, adding
that Beijing could fight a way to reduce their impact
on American consumers.
Speaker 4 (02:31):
China probably will eat those tariffs, but at one hundred
and forty five, they basically can't do much business with
the United States. And they were making from us a
trillion dollars a year. They were ripping us off like
nobody's ever ripped us off. And by the way, we
have other countries that were just as bad. If you
look at the European Union, who was terrible what they've
done to us. Every country, almost every country in the
(02:52):
world was ripping us off.
Speaker 5 (02:54):
They're not doing that anymore.
Speaker 2 (02:55):
President Trump's defiant remarks come just days after his administration
signaled that it was seeking to ease tensions and to
re engage with Beijing in trade talks. Earlier on Tuesday,
Treasury Sectory Scott Bessen declined to offer details on any
active negotiations between the two countries, but warned that China
could lose as many as ten million jobs due to
(03:18):
the tariffs.
Speaker 1 (03:19):
As Donald Trump repeated his criticism of the European Union.
The Block says that it has put concessions on the
table during its talks with the US. While the White
House says negotiations are stuck at the starting line, the
EU Commissioner for International Partnership, Joseph Scala, has told Bloomberg
he is confident a deal can be reached.
Speaker 6 (03:37):
Instability is not a good message for business because business
is always looking for save heavens, for predictability, for stability,
and this is something we want to offer to remain reliable,
stable and predictable partner, and I have a good feeling
that we will solve the issues to a mutual interest.
Speaker 1 (04:00):
So callas a Bee tone clashed with comments from US
Treasury Secretary Scott Besson. He told a press briefing that
trade talks wouldn't begin until the EU resolves what he
called internal issues, singling out the digital services tax levied
by some countries, calling it unfair.
Speaker 2 (04:16):
President Donald Trump has signed an executive order to prevent
steel and car tariffs doing double damage to automakers. But
despite that, earning season is beginning to show how the
chaotic period for global trade is starting to hurt companies.
Bloebig's James Walcock has more you.
Speaker 7 (04:33):
Can break down what we've heard so far into three groups. Firstly,
companies that say they're in for a rough ride, the
likes of General Motors, Smirk, Jet Blue, heavy on automakers,
retailers and air travel. This group is withdrawing earnings guidance,
slashing costs, and often delaying share buybacks. Then you have
a few like Coca Cola who see the trade war
(04:54):
is manageable with its sodas being bottled locally around the world.
And then you have Pandora's box, the firms who say
they still have no idea how to quantify what's coming
and haven't updated their forecast as quarter in London, Jeez
Woolcock Bloomberg Radio had some breaking garnings news for you
this morning. Profits at the Swiss banking giant UBS beat
(05:16):
estimates in the first three months of the year after
its markets division posted record performance during the recent volatility.
Net income for the three months to March came in
at one point seven billion dollars. Similar story at Francis
Sasita General, where record revenue from trading stocks and related
securities helped to lift revenue and profits past expectations. Net
income at SOCK ten more than doubled from a year
(05:37):
earlier to one point six billion euros. It beat two
for Spain's Santander with first quarter profits of three point
four billion dollars, and the lander said it was on
track to meet its fullier targets. Less good news though
from the auto sector this morning, Wherecedes Benz withdrawing its
outlook for this year due to the uncertainty from Donald
Trump's trade news the volatility sparked by Tariff's The company
(05:58):
says it's too high to run liably assess the business
development for the remainder of this year.
Speaker 2 (06:04):
Drug maker Astra Zenica has told us it is seeing
no particular benefit from the UK government's focus on economic growth.
The company abandoned a plan four hundred and fifty million
pound investment in the UK at the start of this year.
Chance of Rachel Reeves, though, called Assenica one of the
great companies in January when she set out her plans
to kickstart economic growth, saying that she was determined to
(06:27):
make Britain the best place in the world to invest.
We asked Azeneca's chief financial officer, Aradana Sarin, whether she
is seeing any benefit from the government's pledge to boost
economic growth.
Speaker 8 (06:41):
Not yet, so we haven't really seen any of that yet.
Industrial policy is obviously one thing, but obviously access to
medicines is also important because you know, if you think
about where we do our studies and where we invest
R and D investment, you know, eventually and the of
all of that, we do want patients in that country
(07:03):
to have access to medicine. So you know, if we
spend all the money in research and then patients don't
benefit in that country, that's very disappointing.
Speaker 2 (07:12):
As Zeneca CFO Aradna Sarin speaking to US about the
NHS not buying enough of its drugs now. It comes
after the company's CEO, Pascal Sorrio, issued a warning against
the use of tariffs yesterday and that the drug makers
in the US a lobbying the Trump administration to exclude
(07:32):
medicines from future levies.
Speaker 1 (07:35):
Vladimir Putin is demanding that Russia take control of four
Ukrainian regions as part of a peace deal to end
the war. Bloomberg understands the Kremlin mons jurisdiction over the land,
which it currently doesn't fully occupy as part of the agreement.
The news is a blow to US President Donald Trump's
efforts to reach a ceasefire, amid mounting frustration about a
lack of progress. State Department spokeswoman Tammy Bruce says negotiations
(07:59):
have a crucial stage.
Speaker 9 (08:01):
We are now at a time where concrete proposals need
to be delivered by the two parties on how to
end this conflict. How we proceed from here is a
decision that belongs now to the President. If there is
not progress, we will step back as mediators in this process.
Speaker 1 (08:21):
It's the State Department's Tommy Bruce there. Meanwhile, President Trump
remains confident a deal on critical minerals will be signed
with Ukraine, according to the White House. Sources say the agreement,
which will govern post war plans to exploit the country's
mineral deposits and rebuild its infrastructure, could be signed as
soon as this week.
Speaker 2 (08:41):
Those are our top stories for you this morning. Let's
have a look at the markets then this our mscihed
Pacific indexes up by half of one percent. Have you
got the cost B significantly weak as CSI three hundred
is also down. Of course, we've seen the S and
P five hundred up for six days in a row,
a total of near eight percent. In terms of gay means.
But the issues around the trade will really weighing on
(09:04):
Asian equities. And you've also got a set of big
earnings out tonight, tech earnings from Meta from Microsoft, so
then as that one hundred will be in focus. It
has recovery nearly all of its losses since this second
of April, just thinking about that disappointment. Then in Asia,
the China manufacturing PMI slumping, that's the kind of big
(09:25):
issue there. Looking at the Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index, it's
weaker this morning, so a softer dollar, softer pound, the
euro down a tenth of one percent. Oil prices in
retreat down one point two percent. Gold also down two
tents this morning. US stock futures are in the red
and tenny usls trade at four seventeen in terms of
those yeals this morning.
Speaker 1 (09:44):
Well in a moment will bring you more on Translator's
broadside against the Federal Reserve chair and discuss why Swiss
neutrality threatens to stifle its defense industry. But another story
that cad Arei this morning about a particularly unusual property
deal in the arc archipelago of Svalbard. It's in Norwegian territory,
(10:05):
although governed by a one hundred year old treaty signed
by some forty five countries, among them Russia, China and
the US. And there's a plot of land for sales
about the size of Manhattan, and a group of buyers
is willing to pay three hundred million euros for it.
They include Norwegian and international investors and their aim as
to protect the area from environmental changes.
Speaker 2 (10:26):
Yes, except, of course, this bit of land, along with
a lot of the Arctic, is now at the center
of all of this geopolitics and the tensions with the
US President Donald Trump. He's talked about one is to
take over Greenland from Denmark. So the Norwegian government has
said this sales got to be cleared by US first.
So it's a pretty fascinating story.
Speaker 7 (10:48):
Of course.
Speaker 2 (10:48):
The area is just full of mountains, fjords, Arctic wildlife
and mass Frankly, it does, although it's in the complete
darkness for about four months of the year and then
you kind of get to the most for the other
four months.
Speaker 1 (11:01):
So you know, business is bad, business is good. You
can read more on Bloomberg dot com and you'll find
a link to the article in our show notes. If
you're listening to Bloomberg Daybreak Europe Podcast.
Speaker 2 (11:10):
Now to President Trump's rally celebrating his one hundredth day
in office, which saw him tout his harsh immigration enforcement,
blast China for quote ripping us off, and criticizing the
Federal Reserve chair. But the President's approval ratings have slumped
amidst his administration's aggressive pursuit of an America First agenda.
Joining us now is our News desk editor Jill Deesis
(11:33):
to discuss what did you make of President Trump's rally
in Michigan and also, of course, his first one hundred
days back in office.
Speaker 10 (11:40):
That's good morning. Well, I think what you just rattled
off there is really kind of emblematic of what we
saw of this rally. It's really kind of the greatest
hits of all things Trump. You saw a bit of
him contradicting himself slightly, kind of you know, running into
you know, defending the tariffs, but then also talking about
some of these easing measure that he's put forth recently,
(12:02):
including really just hours before this rally he signed some
directives easing tariffs on auto part levies for example. So
I mean he's kind of you know equivocating there. A
little bit. You also had some criticism of Jerome Powell,
one of his favorite targets, the FED chair there thrown
in as well. But really I think the big takeaway
from this rally is we're one hundred days into the
(12:24):
Trump presidency. As you mentioned, approval rating with the public
is down significantly. There is a recent poll showing really
only around thirty nine percent approval rating or something. I mean,
we're looking at some of the worst approval ratings of
either you know, this presidency or his first term in
office here that Trump is contending with. And then you're
also setting that against the background of this tariff plan,
(12:45):
which has you know, created a lot of market turmoil.
You've got a lot of uncertainty that Trump is trying
to balance here, and so Trump is really kind of
using this as a way to you know, kind of
come out and really just be classic Trump here, which
is to say, you know, the plan is right, every
thing's fine, We're doing great, and I think really just
trying to reassure people there. Obviously, you know, whether that's
(13:05):
actually effective, I think is a separate question.
Speaker 1 (13:08):
But on the question of the criticism of Jerome Powell, though,
of course, as you say, this is something that Donald
Trump has returned to and repeated occasions, but he did
pull back from previous threats to get rid of the
Federal Reserve chairman that had spooked markets as well. Does
it look like we're singing back in that direction?
Speaker 4 (13:24):
High? Serious?
Speaker 1 (13:25):
Is this criticism?
Speaker 10 (13:26):
Yeah? I mean, look, you know, Trump really can't help himself,
can he. I mean, we were really only about a
week or so ago, you know, we heard you know,
him calling you know, J Powell a loser. Obviously he's
you know, really he's really hit interest rates really really
hard here. I mean, you know, it kind of compares,
I guess to kind of get the full picture here.
You back up about a week or so ago, we
(13:47):
know that a lot of Donald Trump's advisors were, you know,
kind of advising him on the prospect of what would
it actually look like if you tried to fire J.
Speaker 1 (13:55):
Powell.
Speaker 10 (13:56):
He then came out a few days later and said,
that's not something that I'm considering. He didn't really you know,
returned to that level of language at this rally, but
he is kind of ticking back up and you know,
criticizing Joan Powell's you know, saying that he's not doing
a really good job. You know, Trump saying that he
knows interest rates better than Powell does. So we are
seeing that return to criticism. But I wouldn't characterize this
(14:16):
as something that felt like he was really ratcheting up
the kind of campaign that we saw just a couple
of weeks ago.
Speaker 2 (14:22):
Meanwhile, those US tarifs at President says China deserves do
seem to be having a swift and quite deep impact
on China's factory activity. This data is being really closely washed.
What do you think of it?
Speaker 10 (14:35):
Yes, well, I think you know, as you were just
saying a few minutes ago, I mean, just the fact
that you're seeing that factory activity slip into contraction is
pretty concerning. I think that you know, what we've been
hearing from analysts is that this is sort of worse
than expected when you're weighing just some of that initial
impact of those one hundred and forty five percent tariffs
(14:56):
on Chinese products. I mean, you know, when you're digging
into that data a little bit more, some of the
worst numbers that I saw in there, I mean, new
export orders falling to the lowest since December twenty twenty two.
I mean we're looking at what pandemic era, you know,
sort of shifts in some of this manufacturing activity. I
mean that and you looked at those orders in particular,
(15:17):
recording the biggest drop since April of that year, twenty
twenty two. And remember that's when Shanghai, the entire city
of Shanghai was in lockdown. So I mean that's a
pretty serious and pretty dramatic shift here.
Speaker 6 (15:27):
You know.
Speaker 10 (15:27):
I think at this point, what we've heard from Beijing
so far is that there are have laid out some
measures to kind of help exporters. They announced that they
were going to help them get access to loans make
things a little bit easier there, but they haven't really
pulled any kind of big bazooka stimul has I mean,
you know, talk about this forever, but you know, that
(15:48):
doesn't really seem like something that China is interested in pursuing,
at least over the past couple of years. So Chinas
certainly exercised some caution there, but I do think it
does kind of suggest a bit of a warning sign there.
I would be really on the lookout for other economic data,
not just out of China, but sort of you know,
around the world over the next few weeks just to
see if we can get a better indication of how
(16:08):
exactly these tariffs are actually starting to take effect. And
just remember, you know, the reprieved, the recipraal tariffs are
still on pause at the moment. I mean, it could
be more economic pain to come for some of these
countries going forward.
Speaker 2 (16:20):
Jill, thank you so much for being with us this morning.
Bloomberg's and News Desk editor Jill Desis, thank you.
Speaker 1 (16:27):
Now to a special report looking at European defense. Switzerland's
neutrality is threatening to stifle it small but symbolically important
defense industry is a major shift towards European rearmament and
national security is underway. Joining us now for more is
our reporter levens Dam, who has been writing about this. Leven,
great to have you with us. First of all, how
big is the defense industry in Switzerland and what is
(16:49):
it making now?
Speaker 5 (16:50):
Good morning, and thank you for having me. Well, at
least in economic terms, the Swiss defense industries robert tiny
within the European context. It contributes just over zero point
two tend to Swiss economic output and employees around fourteen
thousand people. There are two major groups of firms that
I should mention big manufacturers that produce entire weapons systems,
(17:10):
and these include subsidiaries of German grynd Metal and American
General Dynamics. But then there is also a plethora of
really small companies that each employee may be a few
dozen employees, and those mostly focus on the production of
arms components, mostly for larger European defense producers. And I
think it's also important to mention that the economic significance
(17:31):
has recently further decreased. Swiss war material exports have dropped
by thirty percent since an all time i in twenty
twenty two, exactly because of laws rooted in neutrality that
restrict Swiss defense exports.
Speaker 2 (17:45):
Just explain a bit about the laws and how they
restrict things. There has been criticism around blocking some exports
to Ukraine.
Speaker 5 (17:53):
So I mean basically countries that by weapons have at
least fifty percent of the value made in switch and
are not allowed to re export them to other countries.
And Swiss firms also aren't allowed to export to war zones.
And for a long time, other countries didn't care too
much about these restrictions, and the Swiss government also had
the powers to grand exceptions if it deemed fitting. But
(18:16):
then the Swiss parliaments grabbed those powers in a lower
division in late twenty twenty one, so really just months
before Russia's full scale invasion of Ukraine, and ever since
the government had to deny multiple requests by European governments
to sin swis mide weapons Ukraine, including Germany and Denmark,
and that has led to europe Pean countries now systematically
(18:39):
avoiding to rely on Swiss arms or components because they
really don't see Switzerland as a trustworthy supplier anymore.
Speaker 1 (18:46):
Swiss neutrality has a long history. What are the views
of it now? How are the parliament of the Swiss
government thinking about the defense industry in the current context.
Speaker 5 (18:56):
Well, so the Swiss are increasingly split about Switzerland's the
neutrality stands and how far also support for Ukraine should
go with exports. It is actually even more complicated because
it was exactly the left cleaning parties which generally are
in favor of extending support for Ukraine, and they were
exactly the ones that pushed through a law that law
reform that now blocks the arms exports. And at the
(19:18):
same time there is the business friendli Swiss People's Party,
but that one has exactly pushed for a vote that
seeks to enshrine everlasting Swiss neutrality in the country's constitution.
At the same time, on the government side, there as
spoke with multiple agencies and they were all really worried
about the vanging Swiss defense industry rather from a security
(19:39):
concern standpoint, and they fear that if Swiss firms are
cut out of supply chains, that also reduces Switzerland's leverage
to get supplies for its own army from European partners
in times of crisis.
Speaker 1 (19:53):
This is Bloomberg Daybreak Europe, your morning brief on the
stories making news from London to Wall Street and beyond.
Speaker 2 (20:00):
Look for us on your podcast feed every morning, on Apple, Spotify,
and anywhere else you get your podcasts.
Speaker 1 (20:06):
You can also listen live each morning on London DAB Radio,
the Bloomberg Business app, and Bloomberg dot Com.
Speaker 2 (20:11):
Our flagship New York station is also available on your
Amazon Alexa devices. Just say Alexa play Bloomberg eleven thirty.
Speaker 1 (20:19):
I'm Caroline Hepka and I'm Stephen Carroll. Join us again
tomorrow morning for all the news you need to start
your day right here on Bloomberg day Break.
Speaker 2 (20:27):
Europe
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