August 26, 2025 • 21 mins
Your morning briefing, the business news you need in just 15 minutes.
On today's podcast:
(1) President Donald Trump moved to oust Federal Reserve Governor Lisa Cook from her post at the US central bank in the wake of allegations from a White House ally that she falsified documents on mortgage applications.
(2) US President Donald Trump threatened to impose fresh tariffs and export restrictions on advanced technology and semiconductors in retaliation against other nations’ digital services taxes that hit American technology companies.
(3) Prime Minister Francois Bayrou called a confidence vote that may topple France’s government as soon as next month, prompting a selloff in French assets as investors hedged for more political uncertainty.
(4) Britons looking for their first jobs face the worst hiring drought since the depths of the Covid pandemic, as the rise in artificial intelligence and higher employment costs distort career opportunities.
(5) UK grocery prices edged up in August, as bad weather and poor harvests exacerbated the strain of higher operating costs hitting supermarkets.
(6) Elon Musk accused Apple Inc. and OpenAI in a lawsuit of unfairly favoring the artificial intelligence company across iPhones and thwarting competition for other chatbot makers.
Podcast Conversation: Labubus Go for Up to $150,000 Fueled by Blackpink, Brad Pitt
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:02):
Bloomberg Audio Studios, podcasts, radio news.
Speaker 2 (00:09):
This is the Blueberg Day Bakut podcast. Good morning, It's Tuesday,
the twenty sixth of August. I'm Caroline Hepkeat in London and.
Speaker 3 (00:15):
I'm Stephen Carroll. Coming up today.
Speaker 1 (00:17):
Donald Trump says he's firing Federal Reserve Governor Lisa Cook,
but she insists he has no power to do so
and refuses to quit.
Speaker 2 (00:25):
French assets sell off as the country's prime minister calls
a confidence vote that may topple the government.
Speaker 1 (00:31):
Plus the grass Isn't Always Greener? Why an artificial turf
producer encapsulates the US tariff pressures squeezing European firms.
Speaker 2 (00:40):
Let's start with the roundup of our top stories.
Speaker 1 (00:43):
US President Donald Trump says he's firing Federal Reserve Governor
Lisa Cook. In a letter posted on truth Social he
said he had sufficient cause to remove her, citing allegations
she made false statements on mortgage loans. Cook has pushed back,
saying Trump has no authority to fire her and that
she will not step down. Her lawyers say the president's
move is illegal and vowed to take whatever actions are
(01:06):
needed to prevent it. Danielle di Martino Booth is a
former advisors the Dallas Fed.
Speaker 3 (01:11):
Twelve months ago.
Speaker 4 (01:11):
I would have never thought that I would have seen
this happen, much less see the head of the Bureau
of Labor Statistics be called down from her post as well.
Everything right now makes us very nervous, including whether or
not there's a next person who mar or may not
be in the crosshairs.
Speaker 1 (01:27):
Danielle de Bertino Booth there who's now CEO of QI Research.
If he were to succeed, the move could give Trump
a chance to name someone to the FED board and
secure a four person majority on the Fed's seven member
Board of Governors. While a president has never removed a
FED governor from office, one can do so for cause. However,
(01:47):
according to Bloomberg Intelligence, the mere allegations of fraud are
likely insufficient to meet the four cause removal standard.
Speaker 2 (01:56):
US President Donald Trump has threatened substantial new tari and
export controls on countries that impose a digital services tax
on American tech companies. In a social media post, Trump
said that he would introduce export restrictions on highly protected
technology and chips unless the quote discriminatory measures are removed.
(02:19):
Polka Mishra, partner at Javelin Wealth Management, says the eventual
impact of the threat still isn't clear, so the thing.
Speaker 5 (02:26):
It's still again about dealmaking. Canada did give in on
the digital tax, but Europe is holding firm. So we
feel that you can't make long term predictions based on
a terror being announced or threatened now and then being
taken off again or some deal being struck. So I
(02:47):
still think that it's probably going to be again a negotiation,
some deals.
Speaker 3 (02:52):
Being struck, but it's not going to.
Speaker 5 (02:54):
Impact the EI rally or the EI story significantly.
Speaker 2 (03:00):
Commissioner partner a Javelin Wealth Management, speaking there, JOHMP has
long argued that digital services taxes discriminate against US tech
jants but to European countries including France, Italy and the
UK have maintained their levees as international talks over how
to more effectively tax multinational giants and a digital age continue.
Speaker 1 (03:22):
French Prime Minister of France Barberoux has called a confidence
vote for the eighth of September that could topple the
country's government. The news prompted to sell off in French assets,
with stocks falling and bond deal's rising speaking to reporters
in Paris, Bayrou says the action was necessary.
Speaker 6 (03:39):
This is why I asked the President to reconvene Parliament
in an extraordinary session on Monday, September eighth. I will
engage the government's responsibility on that day with the General
Policy Statement, in accordance with our constitution. This General Policy
Speech will pose the central question whether the danger to
the nation is serious, whether there is an emergent here not,
(04:00):
in order to choose a path to regain control of
our public finances.
Speaker 1 (04:06):
Fantobarru they are speaking through a translator. France's far right
National Rally party, the leftist France Unbowed and the Greens
also they would vote against the motion, while the Socialists
said they.
Speaker 3 (04:16):
Wouldn't back the government.
Speaker 1 (04:18):
If a majority of lawmakers fail to support Bayeru, he'll
be forced to submit as government's resignation.
Speaker 2 (04:24):
Here in the UK, grocery prices are accelerating as retailers
contend with poor harvests and higher operating costs. The rate
of food inflation hit four point two percent this month,
the highest level since February twenty twenty four, according to
the British Retail Consortium. Retailers have worn the price rises
could hit six percent by the end of the year
(04:45):
as they contend with increase paywell taxes and a higher
minimum wage. They are arguing and urging rather the government
not to raise taxes on retailers in the autumn budget.
Speaker 1 (04:57):
Young people in the UK are facing the worst jobs
markets the pandemic. Youth unemployment reached fourteen point one percent
in the three months to June, a two point rise
from pre COVID levels. Bloombergs James Walcock has more.
Speaker 7 (05:10):
First time job seekers are often the most vulnerable to
hiring freezes. After labour upped payroll taxes, employers are pausing
hiring to cope. That's according to job search website Adzuna,
who say entry level roles now account for just a
fifth of all vacancies. That's the lowest share since October
twenty twenty and well below the post COVID average of
(05:32):
twenty seven percent. The drop comes as experts say AI
is starting to distort the jobs market, with entry level
roles being less sought after.
Speaker 3 (05:41):
In London. James Wilcock Bloomberg Radio.
Speaker 2 (05:44):
Elon Musk is suing Apple and Open AI, arguing that
the companies are harming consumers. The billionaire founder says that
Apple's decision to integrate to open Ai across iPhones is
thwarting competition from others like Musks, X and XAI. Bloomberg's
Mark German says, the question is if Apple actually breached
(06:05):
antitrust rules.
Speaker 8 (06:07):
Elon is right, they do give pretty hot promotion to
some of the other AI companies in the app store.
They haven't done a lot of that promotion for Grock,
and so maybe we'll see more of that from Apple.
But all in all, I find this lawsuit to be frivolous.
I don't personally consider it an anti trust situation, but
it's obviously not up to me to decide, and it
is a little surprising that Elon Musk actually went through
(06:28):
with this.
Speaker 2 (06:30):
For Mark German, the case sets up a high stakes
legal battle between the richest person on the planet and
one of the world's most valuable companies. A spokesperson for
Open Ai told Bloomberg this latest filing is consistent with
mister Musk's ongoing pattern of harassment.
Speaker 1 (06:47):
Those are your top stories on the markets. The Bloomberg
Dollar Spot Index a tenth of one percent weaker. The
tenure Treasury yield up three basis points in trading this morning.
Looking at the European session, we're going to be watching
the euro currently a tenth of one percent stronger against
the dollar one sixteen thirty two, one sixteen thirty two.
Speaker 3 (07:05):
This morning.
Speaker 1 (07:05):
The catcrant in power has finished down one point six
percent yesterday, and European stock futures are pointing half a
percent lower for the Eurostox fifty today.
Speaker 2 (07:14):
In a moment, we'll bring you details on President Trump's
escalating attack on the Federal Reserve and a special report
on the fallout of US tariffs on EU exporters. But
another story is caught my eye this morning. This is
the new craze, what it's been going on for a
few months, but it's really crazier than ever. This is
Le Boo Boo's pop marks, plush toys that are sold
(07:39):
in these mystery boxes. They're kind of blind boxes. They
are being bought, sold, resold for astronomic sums.
Speaker 3 (07:47):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (07:47):
I mean, look, if you've managed to escape this trend
so far, I congratulate you for hiding on a corner
of the Internet that I certainly haven't found.
Speaker 3 (07:54):
But look what I'm really interested.
Speaker 1 (07:56):
In the piece of that our collegues are written about this
this morning is how it can pas too because there's
a lot of people join the comparison to beanie babies,
remember them?
Speaker 3 (08:04):
Yes, is this the same as beanie babies?
Speaker 1 (08:06):
Apparently a much faster and much more dramatic increases in
sales because that's the way the internet cycle works now.
But a lot of people who are buying and selling
them now. Because the story is a lot about the retail.
The resale is going on as well, and the secondary
market for lebubus. I don't think there's a ticker for
that yet, but we may have one a couple of weeks.
(08:28):
But the idea that people realize is something that's not
going to last. This is not the buy keep for
twenty years and then buy a house sort of fantasies
that people had about beanie babies.
Speaker 3 (08:37):
No, but it's also.
Speaker 2 (08:38):
About intellectual property, and it's interesting that this is a
Chinese cultural phenomenon that has actually broken through into Europe
and into the US. You know, is it a rival
to Disney. Look on the way back to London. I've
got on the plane with my kids and of course
the person in front of us in the queue had
(08:58):
a beautiful Louis Vuton bag with dangled Yeah.
Speaker 1 (09:02):
Was it at a boobo or was it at aufu
which is a faker boo boo?
Speaker 3 (09:05):
She even more of it anyway.
Speaker 1 (09:06):
There's also some very interesting thoughts about how this isn't
necessarily a very deep trend. There isn't a huge market
behind it if you compar it to the likes of
Nintendo's Pokemon as well. So that's a whole other question
of kind of how you actually developed this into a market.
A great deep dive into the business behind pop Martin
the Boo Boos. You find it on Bloomberg dot com
and we'll put a link to the article in our
podcast show notes as well.
Speaker 2 (09:27):
Now, President Trump says that he has sufficient cause to
fire Federal Reserve Governor Lisa Cook. In a statement, Cook
says Trump has no authority to do so and she
won't quit. Joining us now to discuss is Blomboogs Chief
Asia correspondent Roslyn matheson to talk about the story dominating
this morning. Ros I think we should start just by
talking a bit about who Lisa Cook is and what
(09:49):
President Trump's allegations against her are.
Speaker 9 (09:53):
As You're saying she serves on the seven member Board
of Governors, and they, alongside some of the Reserve Bank presidents,
make up the FOMC, which is the committee that sets
interest rates, and obviously interest rates are very much in
the crosshairs for the US administration led by Donald Trump.
She had a short term that ended in twenty twenty four,
(10:13):
and she's been nominated for a new term, which is
not due to expire until twenty thirty eight. She came
in at a time when rates we're being height We
know that she's held concerns around inflation, although we don't
know what her intentions might be for the next rate
setting meeting in September. But obviously she is someone who's
(10:34):
drawn Donald Trump's eire. I mean, she did serve on
Barack Obama, the former President's Council of Economic Advisors. She
has also worked at the Treasury Department, and she has
a doctorate degree in economics, so she does have the
credentials there obviously for her position. Donald Trump's accusation is
that she essentially took out mortgages on more than one
(10:55):
property at the same time, declaring those to be her
primary residents, so she had double mortgages on alleged primary residences,
and that's the accusation that is being leveled against her.
She obviously has denied that. She said she'll bring out
her evidence against her. She's obviously also refuting Donald Trump's
efforts to fire her.
Speaker 1 (11:17):
In terms of the legal machinations here ras what exactly
can Lisa Cook do to protect her job or what
standard does Donald Trump have to prove to be able
to have the sufficient cause to fire Lisa Cook?
Speaker 9 (11:34):
Well, right now there is the possible doj investigation against her,
but she's not been charged with anything. So what she
could do is immediately look for an injunction to reinstate
her while court action goes on, and court action could
take quite some time. As you said that, the question
(11:54):
is can Donald Trump fire her for cause? And there
are various things that make up that description for cause,
including inefficiency, neglect of duty, and wrongdoing in office. And
the question is in any of that you know, does
she meet does she meet the bar with these accusations.
But really what she can do is draw this out
(12:15):
quite extensively to a litigation and all the way up
to the Supreme Court. And the question is what does
the Supreme Court see as the issue of full cause.
So this could become a protracted legal issue either way.
And as I said, no charges have actually been laid
against her.
Speaker 3 (12:31):
No, indeed.
Speaker 2 (12:33):
But this is also a present Trump pursuing a goal
that we know he has in terms of wanting lower
interest rates. What does this mean for FED independence and
for the rate path?
Speaker 9 (12:48):
Well, that's right, so obviously you know this is a
key part of Donald Trump's efforts to reshape the FED
and especially the Board of Governors and have a majority
of people on that board actually who share his points
of view about interest rates. I mean Aaron Klein who's
from the Brookings Institution describes this as a kill shot
(13:08):
quote at FED independence, and basically he's trying to reshape
the FED into his liking and the markets obviously do
not like that. You can see the reaction so far
in financial markets in the aftermath of Trump's announcement in
terms of the dollar and treasuries, and really this could
raise further fundamental questions about the independence of the FED.
(13:32):
You even had SMP Global Ratings recently warning that you know,
this could be a factor for the US sovereign credit
rating if you have the idea of the perception of
the erosion of an independence of American institutions. The question
is would it have any impact on the next interest
rate decision? Unlikely, especially if she's still in place, And
(13:54):
as I said, we don't know how she intended to
vote or would intend to vote in that meeting, but
certainly in the longer term there are fresh questions about
the independence of the FED as a result.
Speaker 1 (14:05):
Okay Rasler Maths and our chief Asia correspondent, thank you
very much.
Speaker 3 (14:10):
Stay with us.
Speaker 1 (14:11):
More from Bloomberg Daybreak Europe coming up after this now.
Speaker 2 (14:16):
The European Union agreed a tariff deal with the US
in late July. It has meant some predictability for businesses,
but also hard choices and lingering doubts about whether the
US will stick to this tariff rate of fifteen percent.
Joining US now is Bloomberg's report in Amsterdam, Charlotte Hughes Morgan,
who's been doing some deep dive reporting on this. Charlotte,
(14:36):
welcome to the program again. What have businesses been telling
you about this fifteen percent tariff being imposed on most
European products?
Speaker 10 (14:47):
Thank you for having me. Well, yes, I mean it's
safe to say that there is a lot of gloom
amongst European business leaders at the moment. There's this kind
of gloomy resignation and the sense of frustration that obviously,
you know, these trade tarift are outside of their control,
but they have a huge impact.
Speaker 8 (15:03):
On their businesses.
Speaker 10 (15:04):
I mean for a lot of these European companies. And
we talked to companies kind of outside of the major
sectors that you tend to think about when we read
about trade tariffs, you know, we tend to think about
s we conductor's farmer. We spoke to really wide range
of companies that are still really important for the European economy,
and so many of them have really complex supply chains
(15:25):
and the US is a really significant market for a
lot of them. So this is a real headache and
I think what we wanted to do with this reporting
is really dies a deep dive into the day to
day decisions that these business leaders are having to make,
and it's really tough. I mean, for some this is
kind of yet another headache after the supply chain disruptions
(15:45):
of the COVID years and then you had inflation, and
now these tariffs are kind of muddying the waters again.
And making it really hard to make those long term
decisions that are crucial for for kind of any well
run business. I think another thing to add is obvious
the macro uncertainty this kind of caught and that's crept
in to the market. I mean, some people we spoke
(16:07):
to said that's almost more painful than the tariff rate itself.
You know, so many customers are holding back on investment,
and that is really kind of having an impact on
these European companies.
Speaker 1 (16:18):
Charlotts among the companies that you spoke to for this
story as well are makers of artificial turf underlay and
grass used in the United States and other places as well.
I mean, talk to us about how these businesses are
adapting to these changing tariff rules.
Speaker 10 (16:34):
Yeah, I mean that was a really interesting business. Again,
as I said, not something that always springs to mind
immediately when you think about the tariff conversation. But yeah,
this turf business that manufactures your artificial turf the stadiums
around the world, but particularly in the US. Seventy five
percent of its revenues come out of the US, and
so they're having to do some really kind of hard thinking.
(16:54):
When we spoke to them, I mean they said they
have a laser focus on pricing, constantly thinking about, you know,
how much of the of the kind of tariff cost
can they reasonably pass on to their customers in the US.
How much can they absorb you know, they have factories
in the US, or they're shielded from the kind of
(17:15):
tariff impact to some extent that they are a vital products.
I mean these are really complex, you know, complex products
to make, and some and some elements just can't be
made outside the US, So they're having to think about
how they kind of pass on those costs to customers.
They're also having to think about their investment decisions. You know,
where where are they going to invest? Are they going
(17:36):
to relocate some production to the US. I think that
company in particular said, you know, that's not feasible for
us in the cost of relocating our factories, the difficulty
finding the very specific expertise that we need to make
this complex product over in another country. I mean, so
they are kind of doubling down on their European operations.
(17:56):
But others we spoke to a German medical equipment maker,
for example, who are actually going to, you know, focus
on building up their US operations. But again that's a
really long term project. I mean, these businesses have really
long timelines, and the cost of doing so means that
they will have to divert some some money that would
have otherwise been spent on innovation and research. So that
(18:18):
is again another kind of knock on effect is that
that a lot of the time and the money that
could have been used for growth and for building up
these businesses is being spent trying to mitigate tariff impact
and trying to work out, you know, the logistics of
kind of still exporting to the US.
Speaker 2 (18:36):
When you add all of this up, what are the
macro implications and the impact of.
Speaker 10 (18:41):
This well, I mean, if you ask the European business
le's you know, it's negative. I mean, I think, as
I said, even just that point, you know, the money
that's going that's being spent on these tariff decisions, the
logistics and the time that if that is moving away
from from innovation and kind of dampening grace. If you think,
(19:03):
you know, say say lots of companies in Germany's industrial
heartland start doing the same thing to try and grapple
with the with the tariff impact that obviously would e
road Europe's you know, some of Europe's industrial centers. You've
also got the pricing conversation. You know, if you're having
(19:23):
to pass on some of this cost to US customers,
I mean that eventually passes on to the consumer. Do
you have that kind of uptick in prices for the
end consumer in the US, which obviously could have this
kind of knock on effect on inflation. So if you
look at the mood music overall, you know it is
negative and that broader caution. I mean even today we
(19:45):
saw Trump Trump saying he might impose, you know, impose
tariffs in retaliation for the digital services attacks. You know.
So you think you have this certainty with the deal
that was agreed in July fifteen percent paraphrate for Europe,
But I think there's still concern among European business leaders
(20:05):
that this might not be the end of it. And
actually that certainty, that long term visibility is really key
for their businesses. And if that, you know, starts coming
under threat at scale, well then that that could be
a huge problem for Europe.
Speaker 1 (20:18):
This is Bloomberg Daybreak Europe, your morning brief on the
stories making news from London to Wall Street and beyond.
Speaker 2 (20:24):
Look for us on your podcast feed every morning, on Apple, Spotify,
and anywhere else you get your podcasts.
Speaker 1 (20:30):
You can also listen live each morning on London DAB Radio,
the Bloomberg Business app, and Bloomberg dot Com.
Speaker 2 (20:36):
Our flagship New York station is also available on your
Amazon Alexa devices. Just say Alexa Play Bloomberg eleven thirty.
I'm Caroline Hepka.
Speaker 3 (20:45):
And I'm Stephen Carroll.
Speaker 1 (20:46):
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 (00:09):
This is the Blueberg Day Bakut podcast. Good morning, It's Tuesday,
the twenty sixth of August. I'm Caroline Hepkeat in London and.
Speaker 3 (00:15):
I'm Stephen Carroll. Coming up today.
Speaker 1 (00:17):
Donald Trump says he's firing Federal Reserve Governor Lisa Cook,
but she insists he has no power to do so
and refuses to quit.
Speaker 2 (00:25):
French assets sell off as the country's prime minister calls
a confidence vote that may topple the government.
Speaker 1 (00:31):
Plus the grass Isn't Always Greener? Why an artificial turf
producer encapsulates the US tariff pressures squeezing European firms.
Speaker 2 (00:40):
Let's start with the roundup of our top stories.
Speaker 1 (00:43):
US President Donald Trump says he's firing Federal Reserve Governor
Lisa Cook. In a letter posted on truth Social he
said he had sufficient cause to remove her, citing allegations
she made false statements on mortgage loans. Cook has pushed back,
saying Trump has no authority to fire her and that
she will not step down. Her lawyers say the president's
move is illegal and vowed to take whatever actions are
(01:06):
needed to prevent it. Danielle di Martino Booth is a
former advisors the Dallas Fed.
Speaker 3 (01:11):
Twelve months ago.
Speaker 4 (01:11):
I would have never thought that I would have seen
this happen, much less see the head of the Bureau
of Labor Statistics be called down from her post as well.
Everything right now makes us very nervous, including whether or
not there's a next person who mar or may not
be in the crosshairs.
Speaker 1 (01:27):
Danielle de Bertino Booth there who's now CEO of QI Research.
If he were to succeed, the move could give Trump
a chance to name someone to the FED board and
secure a four person majority on the Fed's seven member
Board of Governors. While a president has never removed a
FED governor from office, one can do so for cause. However,
(01:47):
according to Bloomberg Intelligence, the mere allegations of fraud are
likely insufficient to meet the four cause removal standard.
Speaker 2 (01:56):
US President Donald Trump has threatened substantial new tari and
export controls on countries that impose a digital services tax
on American tech companies. In a social media post, Trump
said that he would introduce export restrictions on highly protected
technology and chips unless the quote discriminatory measures are removed.
(02:19):
Polka Mishra, partner at Javelin Wealth Management, says the eventual
impact of the threat still isn't clear, so the thing.
Speaker 5 (02:26):
It's still again about dealmaking. Canada did give in on
the digital tax, but Europe is holding firm. So we
feel that you can't make long term predictions based on
a terror being announced or threatened now and then being
taken off again or some deal being struck. So I
(02:47):
still think that it's probably going to be again a negotiation,
some deals.
Speaker 3 (02:52):
Being struck, but it's not going to.
Speaker 5 (02:54):
Impact the EI rally or the EI story significantly.
Speaker 2 (03:00):
Commissioner partner a Javelin Wealth Management, speaking there, JOHMP has
long argued that digital services taxes discriminate against US tech
jants but to European countries including France, Italy and the
UK have maintained their levees as international talks over how
to more effectively tax multinational giants and a digital age continue.
Speaker 1 (03:22):
French Prime Minister of France Barberoux has called a confidence
vote for the eighth of September that could topple the
country's government. The news prompted to sell off in French assets,
with stocks falling and bond deal's rising speaking to reporters
in Paris, Bayrou says the action was necessary.
Speaker 6 (03:39):
This is why I asked the President to reconvene Parliament
in an extraordinary session on Monday, September eighth. I will
engage the government's responsibility on that day with the General
Policy Statement, in accordance with our constitution. This General Policy
Speech will pose the central question whether the danger to
the nation is serious, whether there is an emergent here not,
(04:00):
in order to choose a path to regain control of
our public finances.
Speaker 1 (04:06):
Fantobarru they are speaking through a translator. France's far right
National Rally party, the leftist France Unbowed and the Greens
also they would vote against the motion, while the Socialists
said they.
Speaker 3 (04:16):
Wouldn't back the government.
Speaker 1 (04:18):
If a majority of lawmakers fail to support Bayeru, he'll
be forced to submit as government's resignation.
Speaker 2 (04:24):
Here in the UK, grocery prices are accelerating as retailers
contend with poor harvests and higher operating costs. The rate
of food inflation hit four point two percent this month,
the highest level since February twenty twenty four, according to
the British Retail Consortium. Retailers have worn the price rises
could hit six percent by the end of the year
(04:45):
as they contend with increase paywell taxes and a higher
minimum wage. They are arguing and urging rather the government
not to raise taxes on retailers in the autumn budget.
Speaker 1 (04:57):
Young people in the UK are facing the worst jobs
markets the pandemic. Youth unemployment reached fourteen point one percent
in the three months to June, a two point rise
from pre COVID levels. Bloombergs James Walcock has more.
Speaker 7 (05:10):
First time job seekers are often the most vulnerable to
hiring freezes. After labour upped payroll taxes, employers are pausing
hiring to cope. That's according to job search website Adzuna,
who say entry level roles now account for just a
fifth of all vacancies. That's the lowest share since October
twenty twenty and well below the post COVID average of
(05:32):
twenty seven percent. The drop comes as experts say AI
is starting to distort the jobs market, with entry level
roles being less sought after.
Speaker 3 (05:41):
In London. James Wilcock Bloomberg Radio.
Speaker 2 (05:44):
Elon Musk is suing Apple and Open AI, arguing that
the companies are harming consumers. The billionaire founder says that
Apple's decision to integrate to open Ai across iPhones is
thwarting competition from others like Musks, X and XAI. Bloomberg's
Mark German says, the question is if Apple actually breached
(06:05):
antitrust rules.
Speaker 8 (06:07):
Elon is right, they do give pretty hot promotion to
some of the other AI companies in the app store.
They haven't done a lot of that promotion for Grock,
and so maybe we'll see more of that from Apple.
But all in all, I find this lawsuit to be frivolous.
I don't personally consider it an anti trust situation, but
it's obviously not up to me to decide, and it
is a little surprising that Elon Musk actually went through
(06:28):
with this.
Speaker 2 (06:30):
For Mark German, the case sets up a high stakes
legal battle between the richest person on the planet and
one of the world's most valuable companies. A spokesperson for
Open Ai told Bloomberg this latest filing is consistent with
mister Musk's ongoing pattern of harassment.
Speaker 1 (06:47):
Those are your top stories on the markets. The Bloomberg
Dollar Spot Index a tenth of one percent weaker. The
tenure Treasury yield up three basis points in trading this morning.
Looking at the European session, we're going to be watching
the euro currently a tenth of one percent stronger against
the dollar one sixteen thirty two, one sixteen thirty two.
Speaker 3 (07:05):
This morning.
Speaker 1 (07:05):
The catcrant in power has finished down one point six
percent yesterday, and European stock futures are pointing half a
percent lower for the Eurostox fifty today.
Speaker 2 (07:14):
In a moment, we'll bring you details on President Trump's
escalating attack on the Federal Reserve and a special report
on the fallout of US tariffs on EU exporters. But
another story is caught my eye this morning. This is
the new craze, what it's been going on for a
few months, but it's really crazier than ever. This is
Le Boo Boo's pop marks, plush toys that are sold
(07:39):
in these mystery boxes. They're kind of blind boxes. They
are being bought, sold, resold for astronomic sums.
Speaker 3 (07:47):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (07:47):
I mean, look, if you've managed to escape this trend
so far, I congratulate you for hiding on a corner
of the Internet that I certainly haven't found.
Speaker 3 (07:54):
But look what I'm really interested.
Speaker 1 (07:56):
In the piece of that our collegues are written about this
this morning is how it can pas too because there's
a lot of people join the comparison to beanie babies,
remember them?
Speaker 3 (08:04):
Yes, is this the same as beanie babies?
Speaker 1 (08:06):
Apparently a much faster and much more dramatic increases in
sales because that's the way the internet cycle works now.
But a lot of people who are buying and selling
them now. Because the story is a lot about the retail.
The resale is going on as well, and the secondary
market for lebubus. I don't think there's a ticker for
that yet, but we may have one a couple of weeks.
(08:28):
But the idea that people realize is something that's not
going to last. This is not the buy keep for
twenty years and then buy a house sort of fantasies
that people had about beanie babies.
Speaker 3 (08:37):
No, but it's also.
Speaker 2 (08:38):
About intellectual property, and it's interesting that this is a
Chinese cultural phenomenon that has actually broken through into Europe
and into the US. You know, is it a rival
to Disney. Look on the way back to London. I've
got on the plane with my kids and of course
the person in front of us in the queue had
(08:58):
a beautiful Louis Vuton bag with dangled Yeah.
Speaker 1 (09:02):
Was it at a boobo or was it at aufu
which is a faker boo boo?
Speaker 3 (09:05):
She even more of it anyway.
Speaker 1 (09:06):
There's also some very interesting thoughts about how this isn't
necessarily a very deep trend. There isn't a huge market
behind it if you compar it to the likes of
Nintendo's Pokemon as well. So that's a whole other question
of kind of how you actually developed this into a market.
A great deep dive into the business behind pop Martin
the Boo Boos. You find it on Bloomberg dot com
and we'll put a link to the article in our
podcast show notes as well.
Speaker 2 (09:27):
Now, President Trump says that he has sufficient cause to
fire Federal Reserve Governor Lisa Cook. In a statement, Cook
says Trump has no authority to do so and she
won't quit. Joining us now to discuss is Blomboogs Chief
Asia correspondent Roslyn matheson to talk about the story dominating
this morning. Ros I think we should start just by
talking a bit about who Lisa Cook is and what
(09:49):
President Trump's allegations against her are.
Speaker 9 (09:53):
As You're saying she serves on the seven member Board
of Governors, and they, alongside some of the Reserve Bank presidents,
make up the FOMC, which is the committee that sets
interest rates, and obviously interest rates are very much in
the crosshairs for the US administration led by Donald Trump.
She had a short term that ended in twenty twenty four,
(10:13):
and she's been nominated for a new term, which is
not due to expire until twenty thirty eight. She came
in at a time when rates we're being height We
know that she's held concerns around inflation, although we don't
know what her intentions might be for the next rate
setting meeting in September. But obviously she is someone who's
(10:34):
drawn Donald Trump's eire. I mean, she did serve on
Barack Obama, the former President's Council of Economic Advisors. She
has also worked at the Treasury Department, and she has
a doctorate degree in economics, so she does have the
credentials there obviously for her position. Donald Trump's accusation is
that she essentially took out mortgages on more than one
(10:55):
property at the same time, declaring those to be her
primary residents, so she had double mortgages on alleged primary residences,
and that's the accusation that is being leveled against her.
She obviously has denied that. She said she'll bring out
her evidence against her. She's obviously also refuting Donald Trump's
efforts to fire her.
Speaker 1 (11:17):
In terms of the legal machinations here ras what exactly
can Lisa Cook do to protect her job or what
standard does Donald Trump have to prove to be able
to have the sufficient cause to fire Lisa Cook?
Speaker 9 (11:34):
Well, right now there is the possible doj investigation against her,
but she's not been charged with anything. So what she
could do is immediately look for an injunction to reinstate
her while court action goes on, and court action could
take quite some time. As you said that, the question
(11:54):
is can Donald Trump fire her for cause? And there
are various things that make up that description for cause,
including inefficiency, neglect of duty, and wrongdoing in office. And
the question is in any of that you know, does
she meet does she meet the bar with these accusations.
But really what she can do is draw this out
(12:15):
quite extensively to a litigation and all the way up
to the Supreme Court. And the question is what does
the Supreme Court see as the issue of full cause.
So this could become a protracted legal issue either way.
And as I said, no charges have actually been laid
against her.
Speaker 3 (12:31):
No, indeed.
Speaker 2 (12:33):
But this is also a present Trump pursuing a goal
that we know he has in terms of wanting lower
interest rates. What does this mean for FED independence and
for the rate path?
Speaker 9 (12:48):
Well, that's right, so obviously you know this is a
key part of Donald Trump's efforts to reshape the FED
and especially the Board of Governors and have a majority
of people on that board actually who share his points
of view about interest rates. I mean Aaron Klein who's
from the Brookings Institution describes this as a kill shot
(13:08):
quote at FED independence, and basically he's trying to reshape
the FED into his liking and the markets obviously do
not like that. You can see the reaction so far
in financial markets in the aftermath of Trump's announcement in
terms of the dollar and treasuries, and really this could
raise further fundamental questions about the independence of the FED.
(13:32):
You even had SMP Global Ratings recently warning that you know,
this could be a factor for the US sovereign credit
rating if you have the idea of the perception of
the erosion of an independence of American institutions. The question
is would it have any impact on the next interest
rate decision? Unlikely, especially if she's still in place, And
(13:54):
as I said, we don't know how she intended to
vote or would intend to vote in that meeting, but
certainly in the longer term there are fresh questions about
the independence of the FED as a result.
Speaker 1 (14:05):
Okay Rasler Maths and our chief Asia correspondent, thank you
very much.
Speaker 3 (14:10):
Stay with us.
Speaker 1 (14:11):
More from Bloomberg Daybreak Europe coming up after this now.
Speaker 2 (14:16):
The European Union agreed a tariff deal with the US
in late July. It has meant some predictability for businesses,
but also hard choices and lingering doubts about whether the
US will stick to this tariff rate of fifteen percent.
Joining US now is Bloomberg's report in Amsterdam, Charlotte Hughes Morgan,
who's been doing some deep dive reporting on this. Charlotte,
(14:36):
welcome to the program again. What have businesses been telling
you about this fifteen percent tariff being imposed on most
European products?
Speaker 10 (14:47):
Thank you for having me. Well, yes, I mean it's
safe to say that there is a lot of gloom
amongst European business leaders at the moment. There's this kind
of gloomy resignation and the sense of frustration that obviously,
you know, these trade tarift are outside of their control,
but they have a huge impact.
Speaker 8 (15:03):
On their businesses.
Speaker 10 (15:04):
I mean for a lot of these European companies. And
we talked to companies kind of outside of the major
sectors that you tend to think about when we read
about trade tariffs, you know, we tend to think about
s we conductor's farmer. We spoke to really wide range
of companies that are still really important for the European economy,
and so many of them have really complex supply chains
(15:25):
and the US is a really significant market for a
lot of them. So this is a real headache and
I think what we wanted to do with this reporting
is really dies a deep dive into the day to
day decisions that these business leaders are having to make,
and it's really tough. I mean, for some this is
kind of yet another headache after the supply chain disruptions
(15:45):
of the COVID years and then you had inflation, and
now these tariffs are kind of muddying the waters again.
And making it really hard to make those long term
decisions that are crucial for for kind of any well
run business. I think another thing to add is obvious
the macro uncertainty this kind of caught and that's crept
in to the market. I mean, some people we spoke
(16:07):
to said that's almost more painful than the tariff rate itself.
You know, so many customers are holding back on investment,
and that is really kind of having an impact on
these European companies.
Speaker 1 (16:18):
Charlotts among the companies that you spoke to for this
story as well are makers of artificial turf underlay and
grass used in the United States and other places as well.
I mean, talk to us about how these businesses are
adapting to these changing tariff rules.
Speaker 10 (16:34):
Yeah, I mean that was a really interesting business. Again,
as I said, not something that always springs to mind
immediately when you think about the tariff conversation. But yeah,
this turf business that manufactures your artificial turf the stadiums
around the world, but particularly in the US. Seventy five
percent of its revenues come out of the US, and
so they're having to do some really kind of hard thinking.
(16:54):
When we spoke to them, I mean they said they
have a laser focus on pricing, constantly thinking about, you know,
how much of the of the kind of tariff cost
can they reasonably pass on to their customers in the US.
How much can they absorb you know, they have factories
in the US, or they're shielded from the kind of
(17:15):
tariff impact to some extent that they are a vital products.
I mean these are really complex, you know, complex products
to make, and some and some elements just can't be
made outside the US, So they're having to think about
how they kind of pass on those costs to customers.
They're also having to think about their investment decisions. You know,
where where are they going to invest? Are they going
(17:36):
to relocate some production to the US. I think that
company in particular said, you know, that's not feasible for
us in the cost of relocating our factories, the difficulty
finding the very specific expertise that we need to make
this complex product over in another country. I mean, so
they are kind of doubling down on their European operations.
(17:56):
But others we spoke to a German medical equipment maker,
for example, who are actually going to, you know, focus
on building up their US operations. But again that's a
really long term project. I mean, these businesses have really
long timelines, and the cost of doing so means that
they will have to divert some some money that would
have otherwise been spent on innovation and research. So that
(18:18):
is again another kind of knock on effect is that
that a lot of the time and the money that
could have been used for growth and for building up
these businesses is being spent trying to mitigate tariff impact
and trying to work out, you know, the logistics of
kind of still exporting to the US.
Speaker 2 (18:36):
When you add all of this up, what are the
macro implications and the impact of.
Speaker 10 (18:41):
This well, I mean, if you ask the European business
le's you know, it's negative. I mean, I think, as
I said, even just that point, you know, the money
that's going that's being spent on these tariff decisions, the
logistics and the time that if that is moving away
from from innovation and kind of dampening grace. If you think,
(19:03):
you know, say say lots of companies in Germany's industrial
heartland start doing the same thing to try and grapple
with the with the tariff impact that obviously would e
road Europe's you know, some of Europe's industrial centers. You've
also got the pricing conversation. You know, if you're having
(19:23):
to pass on some of this cost to US customers,
I mean that eventually passes on to the consumer. Do
you have that kind of uptick in prices for the
end consumer in the US, which obviously could have this
kind of knock on effect on inflation. So if you
look at the mood music overall, you know it is
negative and that broader caution. I mean even today we
(19:45):
saw Trump Trump saying he might impose, you know, impose
tariffs in retaliation for the digital services attacks. You know.
So you think you have this certainty with the deal
that was agreed in July fifteen percent paraphrate for Europe,
But I think there's still concern among European business leaders
(20:05):
that this might not be the end of it. And
actually that certainty, that long term visibility is really key
for their businesses. And if that, you know, starts coming
under threat at scale, well then that that could be
a huge problem for Europe.
Speaker 1 (20:18):
This is Bloomberg Daybreak Europe, your morning brief on the
stories making news from London to Wall Street and beyond.
Speaker 2 (20:24):
Look for us on your podcast feed every morning, on Apple, Spotify,
and anywhere else you get your podcasts.
Speaker 1 (20:30):
You can also listen live each morning on London DAB Radio,
the Bloomberg Business app, and Bloomberg dot Com.
Speaker 2 (20:36):
Our flagship New York station is also available on your
Amazon Alexa devices. Just say Alexa Play Bloomberg eleven thirty.
I'm Caroline Hepka.
Speaker 3 (20:45):
And I'm Stephen Carroll.
Speaker 1 (20:46):
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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