March 18, 2025: NASA Astronauts Return to Earth, Bank of Japan Holds Rates, More

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:01):
News when you wanted with Bloomberg News. Now, I'm Doug Chrisner.
We begin with return of NASA astronaut Sunny Williams and
Barry Wilmore. Both returned today after being stuck in orbit
at the International Space Station for nine months. Wilmore and
Williams were seated inside a SpaceX Dragon capsule with two
other crew members. They splashed down off the Florida coast

(00:23):
around six pm Eastern time. Joel Montabano is the Deputy
Associate Administrator for NASA's Space Operations Mission Directorate.

Speaker 2 (00:32):
I want to tell you we want to thank the
crew nineteen and the ground teams for their dedication, the excellence,
their resilience, their flexibility during this expedition, everything they did
to have a successful expedition. As you have all witnessed,
SpaceX has been an incredible partner for us and it

(00:53):
shows the benefits of the commercial public private partnership that
we have. So they've just been a huge, great partner
throughout all this.

Speaker 1 (01:02):
That is Joel Montabano from NASA speaking there now. Williams
and Wilmore arrived at the ISS last June on a
Boeing spacecraft with plans to spend roughly a week in space,
but that brief trip turned into a nine month stay
when NASA decided in August that the pair would come
home on a SpaceX capsule instead due to technical issues

(01:23):
with the Boeing vehicle. The Japanese yen is weaker against
the dollar after the Bank of Japan held its target
interest rate at fifty bases points. So now the focus
will be on Governor Kazu Ouweita when he makes comments
later today and whether he prepares markets for a raid
hike as soon as May first. Earlier today, President Trump

(01:44):
and Russian President Vladimir Putin spoke on a phone call
about a ceasefire in Ukraine. Now, Putin did commit to
limit Russian attacks on Ukrainian energy and infrastructure assets. However,
he declined to accept a broader cease fire. President Trump
says the call with Putin went well. Here is Trump
speaking earlier on Fox News channels. The ingram angle.

Speaker 3 (02:05):
Russia has the advantage. As you know, they have encircled
about two five hundred soldiers. They're nicely encircled, and that's
not good, and we want to get it over with. Look,
we're doing this. There are no Americans involved. There could
be if you end up in World War three over this,
which is so ridiculous, but you know, strange things happen.

(02:25):
And I think we had a great quote lasted almost
two hours, talked about a lot of things and toward
getting it to peace, and we talked about other things also.

Speaker 1 (02:35):
That was President Trump speaking on Fox News channels. The
ingram angle now the Kremlin's account of the phone call
included conditions for a lasting ceasefire, such as the suspension
of arms and intelligence support for Ukraine. The Trump administration
has released previously classified documents related to the assassination of

(02:55):
former President John F. Kennedy. The release consisted of approximately
eighty thousand pages of previously classified records being published without redactions.
More documents are to be unsealed and released in the future.
Chief Justice John Roberts issued a rare statement earlier today
that was after President Trump called for the impeachment of

(03:16):
a federal judge who tried to pause the deportation of
hundreds of alleged Venezuelan gang members. Roberts said the impeachment
of federal judges is not an appropriate response to the
Trump administration's disagreement with their rulings. Bloomberg Law host June
Grosso believes John Roberts wanted to put an end to
the impeachment conversation.

Speaker 4 (03:37):
Not even final orders. It's preliminary orders that they're saying
are so bad that the judges should be impeached. It's
just not the way the legal system is supposed to work.
And I think the Chief Justice just said, let me
stop this right now if I can.

Speaker 1 (03:51):
Bloomberg Law host June Grosso, there now. The comments from
Roberts follow weeks of scathing criticism from the administration of
judges who have halted parts of the president's far reaching agenda.
Morgan Stanley has planning to cut about two thousand employees
later this month, right across the firm except for Morgan
Stanley's financial advisors. We are told this move is aimed

(04:13):
at keeping a lid on cost as Morgan Stanley executives
grapple with minimum attrition. The latest survey from Bank of
America today shows that investors have slashed their holdings in
US equities by the most on record. Cash levels at
the same time jumped. I think it's fair to say
there are a lot of concerns over tariffs and a
possible economic slowdown as a part of that story. Now,

(04:36):
today's losses for the equity market came in front of
tomorrow's decision from the Fed on interest rate policy. Here's
a preview from Stuart Paul of Bloomberg Economics.

Speaker 5 (04:47):
Beyond what we actually get from the media, FOMC member
is expectations for the path of interest rates, we're also
going to get a few clues about what they expect
for the economy and what's going to be guiding their
interest rate decision. So we're also probably going to see
a downward revision of their expectations for twenty twenty five growth,
and we're also probably going to see an upward revision
of their estimates for core PCEE inflation for the year ahead.

Speaker 1 (05:08):
That is Stuart Paul from Bloomberg Economics. And needless to say,
tomorrow's statement will be looked at very closely for any
signs of how the Fed is assessing President Trump's trade
policies and the degree to which they may affect the outlook.
And that is news when you wanted with Bloomberg News. Now,
I'm Doug Prisner, and this is Bloomberg