Deadly Houthi Strike Raises War Risks; Judge Halts Trump TV Ads

0:02 Bloomberg Audio Studios, podcasts, radio, news.

0:10 Good morning, I'm Nathan Hager.

0:11 And I'm Karen Moscow. Here are the stories we're following today.

0:15 Karen, we begin with the latest in the conflict between Russia and Ukraine. President Trump says both sides have agreed to an energy ceasefire. He didn't give details, but he warned both Russia and Ukraine not to break the deal. In a Truth Social post, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky is signaling he's willing to hold up his end. We are ready for energy ceasefire, not to attack energy both sides.

0:37 And if the Russians want us.

0:40 Not attack their diesel, their refineries, and etc.

0:45 we are asking President.

0:46 Trump, give them signal, not attack energy infrastructure of Ukraine.

0:52 It's fair deal.

0:53 Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky appeared on ABC's This Week, heard Sundays on Bloomberg Radio.

0:59 But this morning, Zelensky says Russia.

1:01 continues to hit his country's energy infrastructure and Ukraine will continue to respond with long-range strikes. All this comes as President Trump says he's working with Russian President Vladimir Putin to bring more Russian diesel fuel to the global market.

1:15 Well, Nathan, European officials are cautioning President Trump's deal to increase Russia's diesel sales will boost Moscow's.

1:21 War effort in Ukraine.

1:23 If we go to Brussels and get the latest with Bloomberg Radio and TV host Stephen Carroll.

1:27 Stephen, good morning. Good morning, Karen and Nathan.

1:30 European foreign ministers aren't happy with Donald Trump's latest deals with Russia. The EU's foreign affairs chief, Kaya Callas, is calling on the US to put sanctions in place to finish the war. That, she says, will help ease the effects of the attacks on refineries that have driven up global diesel prices. Callas wants the Trump administration to align with Europe in applying more penalties on some 1,600 people and companies accused of helping Russia's war with Ukraine. Pressuring Moscow has become more urgent for Europe. As officials warn, Russia has opened a new phase of hybrid war on the continent. In Brussels, Stephen Carroll, Bloomberg Radio.

2:04 Stephen, thank you. The fighting in the Middle East continues to ramp up. The Saudi-led coalition that's fighting the Houthis says it's intercepted more missiles and drones overnight. That's after attacks on Saudi airports over the weekend left at least 14 people dead and hundreds more wounded. Bloomberg's Abir Abu Omar reports all this comes as Saudi Arabia is hosting the World Petroleum Congress in Riyadh this week.

2:26 Up until this morning, Saudi Arabia said that missiles were intercepted not just over Riyadh, but over the eastern province in Dammam, where energy facilities for Saudi Aramco exist.

2:37 But again, bringing back the.

2:39 Comments by the energy minister, who also said that Saudi Arabia remains committed to energy security and that there is no way that somebody will break our back. He also mentioned that Saudi Arabia is like a phoenix.

2:53 Still, Bloomberg's Zabir Abu Omar reports several oil executives have pulled out of this week's event in light of the violence, including the CEOs of BP and Shell.

3:01 Nathan, judges ordered the Trump administration to temporarily stop running taxpayer-funded television ads promoting the president. The two-week block also prevents further public payments for the ads, while the court considers a longer ban. The White House says they are public service announcements, but challengers argue they unlawfully use taxpayer money for political purposes.

3:22 And Karen, Catholics around the world are sending well wishes to Pope Leo XIV on word he's having surgery this week to remove a nodule from his lung. The American-born Poniff made the announcement during his Sunday blessing at St.

3:33 Peter's Square.

3:33 He says doctors found the lump in a very initial phase and the operation's already scheduled.

3:38 Leo is 71 years old.

3:40 The surgery will take place weeks before he's scheduled to travel to South America next month.

3:45 Let's turn to the markets now, Nathan, where S & P futures are higher as we begin a new trading week and traders are gearing up for the unofficial start of earnings season with Wall Street's biggest banks reporting. We get a preview with Bloomberg's Charlie Pellett.

3:58 It begins Tuesday when we hear from JPMorgan Chase, Citigroup, Wells Fargo, and Goldman Sachs. Bloomberg Intelligence says bank earnings growth is slowing amid choppier markets. Christina Hooper is chief market strategist at Mangroup. She says she'll be monitoring bank earnings calls closely for hints about the broader economy.

4:17 Quite often what we can hear on these earnings calls from the big banks is, is an assessment of the health of their consumers. And so I think that's important as we go forward because consumers are such a critical part of the U.S.

4:30 Economy.

4:30 Wednesday, it's Bank of America and Morgan Stanley. Thursday, Bank of New York Mellon. In New York, Charlie Pellett, Bloomberg Radio.

4:38 Thanks, Charlie.

4:38 And investors are also waiting for a key report on inflation this week.

4:42 And Bloomberg's John Tucker joins us with more on that.

4:44 John.

4:45 Good morning, Nate. Investors are going to look to the Consumer Price Index. That's Wednesday for clues on the pace of further rate increases from the Fed. A stronger-than-expected September inflation reading may rekindle the recent bond yield surge by putting pressure on the central bank to tighten policy more aggressively.

5:01 But Laura Cooper at Noveen suspects it's going to take a pretty hot print to move the needle.

5:06 We have heard from Chair Warsh that he's looking at kind of the trend of data.

5:11 So they really need to see more than one or two data points to have conviction.

5:15 Federal Reserve Chair Kevin Warsh is going to speak Thursday in a discussion at the IMF's annual meeting in Bangkok, Thailand. Bloomberg is there. We also take the pulse of the consumer on Thursday with the release of retail sales. All this against the backdrop of the benchmark 10-year treasury yield that approached 5.4 percent last week, its highest since 2002.

5:37 In New York, I'm John Tucker, Bloomberg Radio.

5:40 All right, John, thank you. Well, as John just mentioned, world financial leaders are gathering in Bangkok this week for the annual IMF meeting, and Bloomberg surveillance co-host Lisa Abramowitz is there and says oil prices will be a prime discussion, especially for exporting countries.

5:55 Competition for capital clearly is very much front and center, especially for the developing countries that are trying to keep up.

6:01 It's not just good enough.

6:02 To have robust economies. They need to protect their economies from artificial intelligence, from becoming obsolete.

6:08 So for example, if they're.

6:10 Doing all of the call centers, they need to diversify to have a broader base of talent and to upgrade their talent so that they're not left behind or rendered obsolete by some of the technology. So there's a question of how to access that capital and at what cost.

6:25 And that's Bloomberg's Lisa Abramowitz, who says the U.S. is the biggest funder of the IMF. And Federal Reserve Chair Kevin Warsh will be there, likely discussing the Fed's focus on price stability amid ongoing inflation.

6:36 Karen, Amazon is reportedly in negotiations to acquire artificial intelligence startup Descartes AI. That's according to the Wall Street Journal, which says the deal could be valued at around $ 7 billion. It comes after Anthropic decided against acquiring Descartes AI last month.

6:54 Time now for a look at some of the other stories making news in New York and around the world. And for that, we're joined by Bloomberg's Michael Barr.

6:59 Michael, good morning.

7:00 Good morning, Karen.

7:01 The remnants of Hurricane Isaias have brought heavy rain and flooding risk to parts of the Central Appalachians and the Mid-Atlantic region. The storm, which hit Florida as a Category 2 hurricane, has caused at least four deaths. In North Carolina, rivers overflowed, leading to water rescues. This man lives in Raleigh.

7:21 A tree fell on his house, but he's okay.

7:23 Thank God these are just material possessions that insurance will cover and me and my dog are okay, but man oh man this is It's pretty tough.

7:31 In Florida, hurricane-force winds caused significant damage, leaving many without power. Hurricane Simon pounds resorts and vulnerable towns along Mexico's Pacific coast. Meanwhile, what was Tropical Storm Rachel has pounded Southern California with rain and heavy surf. You would think the storm would bring relief to Santa Clarita, where residents were evacuated after a fast-moving brush fire erupted around 1.30 Sunday afternoon. It did not. Los Angeles County Fire Department Fire Captain Aaron Caden.

8:02 It did dump quite a bit of rain on the other side of the mountains. But as that storm impacts the mountains, with that increase in elevation, it causes that storm to drop all its precipitation. And so by the time it reached here, then it was a dry storm.

8:16 L.A.

8:16 Captain Caton says they dispatched two air tankers and helicopters trying to contain it. President Donald Trump and Secretary of State Marco Rubio are considering firing U.S. Ambassador to Greece Kimberly Guilfoyle after reports of improper conduct. The reports allege Guilfoyle engaged in questionable conduct, including an alleged threat to host a country official, accepting improper gifts and services, and offering to use her influence in return for payment of a large credit card bill. Gil Foyle's lawyers have denied she did anything wrong. Global News 24 hours a day and whenever you want it with Bloomberg News Now. I'm Michael Barr and this is Bloomberg, Karen.

8:55 Thanks, Michael.

8:55 Time now for our Bloomberg Sports Update. And for that, we bring in John Stashower.

9:00 Thanks, Karen.

9:01 The big NFL game was in Seattle. Playing for first place in the NFC West, the 49ers led by eight, then trailed by five.

9:07 They kicked a field goal with two minutes left.

9:08 They beat the Seahawks 32-29.

9:09 The Niners are 5-0.

9:12 The game last night went to overtime after the Ravens scored a touchdown and two-pointer in the final minute. They beat the Falcons in OT, 30-23. Game one of the NLCS won by the Brewers, 2-1. They got swept by LA in the NLCS last year. They'll play game two this afternoon, and then it's game one in the ALCS, Cleveland and Tampa Bay. That's your Bloomberg Sports Update.

9:32 Stay with us.

9:33 More from Bloomberg Daybreak coming up after this.

9:40 Coast to coast on Bloomberg Radio. Nationwide on Sirius XM. And around the world on Bloomberg.com and the Bloomberg Business App. This is Bloomberg Daybreak.

9:50 Good morning. I'm Nathan Hager.

9:52 Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky may be finding himself on a collision course once again with President Donald Trump after the U.S. leader announced an energy ceasefire between Ukraine and Russia. Zelensky says the deal has to cut both ways.

10:06 We are ready for a ceasefire. We are ready to.

10:10 begin from any kind of steps of de-escalation.

10:13 Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky was on ABC's This Week, heard Sundays on Bloomberg Radio, and we're joined now by Bloomberg News Senior Editor Jill Desis. Jill, it seems like there's a big difference this morning between the president saying a ceasefire is in effect and it actually being in effect.

10:30 What do we know this morning? Good morning.

10:32 Yes, good morning, Nathan. There's certainly a lot of tension that's belying this entire interaction. I think, you know, in the run-up to Trump apparently kind of springing this announcement on social media, he had actually been lashing out at Zelensky, at one point suggested that he should consider stepping aside as Ukraine's president. This all leading up to, obviously, that post that we got on Truth Social from Trump announcing this energy ceasefire. After the fact, it was Zelensky who said he would be willing to accept it, as you said, only if Russia does as well. But I think, you know, in just, you know, in the day since then, we've also, you know, continued to hear from Zelensky. He was speaking

11:13 at the Warsaw Security Conference via video link, saying that, They would continue to strike if Putin rejects the energy truce. So, you know, despite that announcement coming from the president of the United States, it does seem like there's still, again, a lot of tension here as to, you know, how exactly this plays out in reality.

11:31 Well, we've certainly seen the Ukrainian president try to navigate this tension over the last really year and a half since that Oval Office blow up back in February of last year.

11:42 Could we be heading back to a point like that between the U.S. and Ukraine?

11:47 Yeah, I mean, I think that, you know, it's it's really been interesting watching the dynamic between Zelensky and Trump over the last year and a half or so. Obviously, after that blow up, there was a period of time where it did seem like the two were cooperating. But I think, you know, the thing that you really have to kind of look at, at least, you know, through the lens of Donald Trump himself, is the idea that, you know, the U.S. term elections are just under a month away. There's a lot of concern from the president of the United States about energy prices. Again, he brought up this idea in this Truth Social post about an energy ceasefire. So certainly, at least when it comes to the president, Donald Trump, You know, he's fighting conflicts on

12:27 numerous fronts, not just, you know, kind of grappling through U.S. support for Ukraine, but also you've got, you know, conflict in the Middle East. And so all of this kind of coming to a head maybe in just three weeks times when he's got to deliver to U.S. voters in these midterm elections.

12:44 And talking about that conflict in the Middle East, you've seen ramped up attacks claimed by the Houthis on Twitter. Saudi Arabia, including airports, and at least one American killed.

12:54 Is there a risk that the U.S.

12:56 Could find itself back in an escalating Middle East conflict with just about three weeks to go before the midterms?

13:04 Well, certainly the events from over the weekend in Saudi Arabia raising a lot of concerns about that risk. You had a couple of strikes on the airport in the capital of Saudi Arabia, Riyadh, by the Houthis, killing at this point at least 14 people, wounding hundreds of people. Some continued concerns about the Saudi-led military coalition fighting the Houthis, saying that they intercepted missiles and drones aimed at Saudi Arabia overnight. So there's a lot of concern about how much the Houthis are backed by Iran or sort of pushing into the heart of Saudi power there and whether, of course, that could get the United States involved at some point. Donald Trump did say last week, denied reports

13:47 that the U.S. was considering an attack on Iran before the midterms. But obviously, you know, that was before some of this escalation. So we'll have to see how much the Houthis kind of really press here.

13:59 This is Bloomberg Daybreak, your morning podcast on the stories making news from Wall Street to Washington and beyond.

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14:44 I'm Karen Moscow. And I'm Nathan Hager.

14:46 Join us again tomorrow morning for all the news you need to start your day right here on Bloomberg Daybreak.