Midterm Races Heat Up; Milwaukee Brewers Win World Series

0:02 Bloomberg Audio Studios.

0:04 Podcasts. Radio. News.

0:10 Good morning.

0:10 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 countdown to the midterms. We are down to the final five days before the election that will determine control of Congress. President Trump was at Ohio State University last night where Republican gubernatorial candidate Vivek Ramaswamy was is facing controversy over a political ad that features his Democratic opponent Amy Acton's estranged mother. Leaders from both parties have called on Ramaswamy to take that ad down, but President Trump doubled down in his defense.

0:42 The mother said that Amy Acton, the daughter, is a liar, that she's no good, that she lied about the opponent.

0:54 How the hell is that his problem?

0:57 Well, despite President Trump's comments, many Republicans are worried the ad could drag down other candidates in Ohio, including Senator John Husted. The latest RealClearPolitics polling average has Husted trailing former Democratic Senator Sherrod Brown by more than three points, while Acton leads Ramaswamy by one. More than four.

1:16 While President Trump rallied Republicans in Ohio, former President Barack Obama hit the campaign trail for Democrats in Atlanta, Georgia last night, and he doubled down on a joke where he compared President Trump's White House renovations to Saddam Hussein opening a cheesecake factory.

1:31 The president wasn't even mad about the Saddam Hussein comparison.

1:38 That part didn't bother him. But he was very upset.

1:45 About the Cheesecake Factory comments.

1:47 And former President Obama appeared alongside Senator John Ossoff and Democratic gubernatorial nominee Keisha Lance Bottoms. Ossoff has a comfortable lead over Republican Mike Collins in this race, while Bottoms trails Rick Jackson by about a percentage point in the real clear politics average.

2:02 And Karen, the Democrat running for Senate in Alaska is facing a controversy. The New York Times is reporting Mary Peltola's team secretly recruited spoiler candidates to peel votes from Republican Senator Dan Sullivan. That includes a retired teacher with the same name. Peltola's campaign denies she was involved, but President Trump says he doesn't buy it.

2:23 They said they didn't do it and we caught them cold. And Mary Peltola should resign from the race. I think she should be prosecuted criminally for what she did.

2:33 President Trump spoke to reporters on his way to Ohio last night. So-called ballot stacking is common in U.S. politics and is generally considered legal. Still, Alaska's Republican Governor Mike Dunleavy posted on X that he has ordered an investigation into whether Mary Peltola should face criminal or civil charges.

2:51 Nathan, in another legal development ahead of the midterms, a federal judge in California has denied the Trump administration's bid to set aside up to 20,000 mail-in ballots that it says may have been cast by non-citizens. Judge David Carter says doing so would wreak havoc on a vote that's already underway. State officials say the government's list of suspected non-citizens can't be trusted. The Justice Department is already appealing to the U.S. Appeals Court in San Francisco.

3:16 And as we get closer to the midterms, Karen, we invite our listeners to stay with Bloomberg on Tuesday, November 3rd, Election Day. We bring you America Decides. Bloomberg's David Gurra will kick things off at 6 p.m. Wall Street time, followed by a special edition of Bloomberg Balance of Power with Joe Matthew and Kayleigh Lines. They'll take you through the election numbers and give you the context that matters.

3:40 Live election night coverage starts at 6 p.m. Tuesday on Bloomberg Radio, Bloomberg Television, and the Bloomberg Business app.

3:47 Well, staying here in the U.S., Nathan, history was made at the World Series. The Milwaukee Brewers are champions, and we get the recap with Bloomberg Sports reporter John Stashower. John, good morning.

3:58 Good morning, Karen. The Brewers were baseball's best team all season, 103 wins, then 11-2 in the postseason. The night after they lost at Tampa Bay when they were three outs from victory, they came back, beat the Rays 4-1 to take the series 4-1. And then before the champagne began to flow in the clubhouse, manager Pat Murphy addressed his team.

4:18 But you did it for the city.

4:21 You did it for the state.

4:24 And you boys ought to be awfully proud to know that you're the first ever Milwaukee Brewer team.

4:31 To be world champs.

4:32 They'll come home to celebrate in Milwaukee where they last won a World Series as the Braves in 1957. More coming up in sports. John Staschauer, Bloomberg Radio.

4:41 All right.

4:41 Thank you, John. Let's get back to politics with a focus overseas now. Israelis are still awaiting final election results. There is a lack of a majority for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu or his chief rival, Gadi Eisenkot. We get more from Bloomberg's Dan Williams in Jerusalem.

4:59 Netanyahu faces an electoral logjam to judge by the outcome of this election, an outcome that's now pretty clear with some 98% of the votes having been counted. He commands some 53 of the Knesset's 120 seats elected. He's eight seats short of the majority he needs for a credible, relatively stable coalition government. It's just not clear where he could get them. There are 19 seats that have gone to the Arab parties, two parties that cater to Israel's 21% Arab minority. One of them is almost certainly a non-starter for Netanyahu.

5:40 And Bloomberg's Dan Williams reports Netanyahu's Likud party has accused Arab-led parties of election fraud, but the election committee in Israel has reported few irregularities.

5:49 Nathan, to the fallout now from Brazil's presidential election.

5:52 The U.S.

5:53 Has allowed Brazil Senator Flavio Bolsonaro to seek refuge in the U.S., issuing visas for Bolsonaro and his family as they arrived to Florida yesterday. President Trump said he's allowing Bolsonaro to come to the U.S., alleging fraud in that country's tightly contested election.

6:08 I thought they were treated very unfairly. And I didn't take a position in the election, as you know. But when I see something that's inappropriate, I bring it up.

6:18 And President Trump put a little distance between him and Bolsonaro's refuge, saying he won't get involved. Sources tell Bloomberg Brazil's President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva is looking to the Trump administration's next moves before assessing how this will affect relations between the two countries.

6:33 Well, let's turn to the markets now, Karen. We're getting a mixed bag of tech results. Let's start with Microsoft. Those shares are higher by nearly 4% now. The tech giant reported better than expected cloud revenue, and that's giving some satisfaction to investors amid a drumbeat of concern that Artificial intelligence spending won't pay off. Gil Luria is managing director and head of tech research at D.A.

6:58 Davidson.

6:59 It's not just that the Azure accelerated from 43 to 48 percent, which is much better than expected. It's that the rest of the business was strong enough for that to translate to upside to the overall revenue and earnings.

7:13 DA Davidson's Gil Loria, Microsoft is the world's largest software maker and it's working to monetize AI by selling enhanced workplace applications along with access to models through its cloud computing division, Azure.

7:25 Well, on the flip side, Nathan, shares of Alphabet, they are down about 10% this morning. Ed Ludlow, host of Bloomberg Tech, says investors are concerned Google is losing round to AI rivals.

7:36 If you look at search query growth, it's at its fastest pace in about five years, but search revenue missed Wall Street's expectations by $ 1. 5 billion. That's a concern in the core bread and butter business. Basically what's happening, according to Google, is that you have this rapid growth in AI mode queries, and that weighs on search revenue growth because simply monetization in AI mode is lower.

8:02 Bloomberg's Ed Ludlow says in addition to Alphabet missing on search and ad sales, their financials show that AI infrastructure investments have sent the firm's capital expenditures to record levels.

8:13 And Karen, there may be a big tech takeover in the works. Bloomberg News has learned Marvell Technology is in advanced talks to buy data center optics maker Lumentum Holdings. The talks between the two Northern California companies underscore how AI development has spurred a blitz of dealmaking as investors bet on the technology's enormous growth potential.

8:32 Well, let's turn to the economy now, Nathan, where the Fed has left interest rates unchanged. But Chair Kevin Warsh has signaled the central bank is on track to raise interest rates again this year.

8:41 Inflation is too high. Energy and related prices have moved higher again in recent weeks. And our job is to ensure that relative price changes in some sectors do not broaden out across the economy and that inflation expectations remain as they are anchored.

8:59 And the decision by Kevin Warsh and the Fed to hold rates steady yesterday yielded dissents from Fed Governor Lisa Cook and Cleveland Fed President Beth Hammack, who would have preferred to hike. 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.

9:18 Michael, good morning.

9:19 Good morning, Karen. Fiery protests have erupted in Madrid. Demonstrators in Spain clash with police demanding government accountability after Wednesday's deadly train crash. Two high-speed trains collided about 60 miles south of Madrid. At least 68 people were killed. Hundreds were on board, including these people.

9:38 Everything started falling apart, absolutely.

9:42 In a split of seconds, it was happening very quick.

9:46 Spain has declared three days of national mourning. New York City fire officials are sharing more details about the deadly E-bike fire in a public housing complex early Wednesday. Officials say the fire began on the 11th floor of the Patterson Houses. in the Mott Haven section of the Bronx. It appears to have started in an apartment where the e-bike's lithium-ion battery ignited. A 10-year-old boy was killed. New York Fire Department Commissioner Lillian Bonsignor.

10:12 An e-bike was placed in a spot in the kitchen that made it impossible to for the residents to leave safely.

10:19 Authorities said the boys' teenage brothers and their parents suffered heavy smoke inhalation and remain hospitalized. In Tennessee, authorities have raised the reward for the capture of an escaped killer from $ 2, 500 to $ 15, 000. Jacob Morley was serving a life sentence for killing his co-worker Cody Birchfield four years ago.

10:38 The victim's longtime friend Daniel Russell says that he worries Morley may kill again in a desperate attempt to remain out of prison.

10:46 I could very easily see him being somebody that tried to go off grid, just because most of us naturally have those instincts, just because we all grew up in the mountains.

10:58 Morley broke out of prison Sunday night. Cornell University faculty have voted against delaying a proposed no-confidence resolution in the university's administration. There were questions whether to wait until an independent investigation into its handling of sexual assault allegations is complete. Faculty Senate members are now moving forward with an electronic vote on the resolution. The meeting came a day after 20 female faculty members called for President Michael Kotlikoff's resignation.

11:25 Global News 24 hours a day and whenever you want it with Bloomberg News Now. I'm Michael Barr and this is Bloomberg, Karen.

11:32 Thanks, Michael. Time now for our Bloomberg Sports Update, and for that, we bring in John Stashower.

11:38 Thanks, Karen.

11:38 Someone was going to win the World Series for the first time in their franchise history, either the Brewers or the Rays, and it was Milwaukee, who won Game 5, 4-1 at Tampa Bay and won the Series 4-1. The Brewers had the most wins in the regular season, 103, and they went 11-2 in the postseason. Their slugging catcher, William Contreras, was the World Series winner.

11:59 MVP.

11:59 Big injury in the NBA, Anthony Edwards, who's the second-leading scorer at 33 points a game. Arthroscopic knee surgery out two months for Minnesota. That's your Bloomberg Sports Update.

12:10 Stay with us. More from Bloomberg Daybreak coming up after this.

12:18 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.

12:28 Good morning. I'm Nathan Hager. More than a day after Israel's election, it is still too soon to declare an outright winner. But with the votes still being counted, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is in a strong position after a better than expected performance. against rival Gadi Aizenko. Joining us from Jerusalem this morning is Bloomberg News reporter Dan Williams. Dan, it's good to speak to you. When will we know which of these two candidates is going to be the one to form a coalition government? Good morning.

12:56 Good morning, Nathan. That will take at least another week. By convention here, what happens next after the votes are counted, Israel's president, a largely ceremonial role, but here he is very important, assigns one of the lead candidates to have first dibs at forming a coalition. This is done after a week of consultations with party leaders, each of which is submits a recommendation who he or she believes should be given that first swing at coalition forming, given that the bulk of parties appear to have voted, or I should say, the bulk of parties in Parliament, as reflected by the vote count, appear to be aligned against Netanyahu, if not ready to join a coalition against him, it would seem that they will, by and large, recommend Gali Eizenkot,

13:53 the lead challenger, and that therefore he will have the first go. Although the numbers would suggest he's going to find it harder than Netanyahu would to form a coalition. So if he fails to do so, it would presumably fall to Netanyahu to have the second chance, the second crack at forming that coalition government.

14:10 Why does it appear that Eisenkot would have a tougher time? We had heard from at least one of the Arab party leaders that they'd be willing to form a minority government with Eisenkot.

14:21 Indeed, but that would still leave him short. The last count I saw gave that party eight seats in parliament. He has 48 seats in Parliament, his current presumed block, meaning that would bring him to 56. The larger of the two Arab parties is one which has clearly irreconcilable differences with both candidates. its position on the Jewish character of Israel, its position on the military draft, which Arab citizens are generally exempted from. That's something that Eisenkot, as well as Netanyahu, would like to see reversed. The small Arab party has given indications it might be pliable on such issues. The larger Arab party has not. Therefore, unless there's a big turnaround by Eisenkot here, ideological and in

15:09 terms of promises he made on the election trail. And keep in mind, he suffered personally in this war. He's not just a former top general. He lost a son and two nephews in the service, in the army, serving in Gaza. So the idea of him sitting in coalition with the larger Arab party, which certainly has members who have expressed their Sympathy for the Palestinians during this war.

15:32 In general, members of both parties refused to deem Hamas a terrorist organization, though it's deemed such by Israeli law and by most Western countries. That's something I think he would find impossible to accept, and it's something I think both of his constituents would feel similarly about.

15:52 In our last minute, Dan, while the votes are still being counted, we're seeing reports that people are being arrested on suspicion of vote buying. Tell us more about this.

16:00 Yes, indeed.

16:00 That's the drama today. So far, authorities and official documents are being quite careful about naming, identifying specific people behind suspicions. But if you add up the various statements, what you have is the Central Elections Committee announcing or ordering an investigation of alleged foreign-funded tampering, vote rigging in this election.

16:25 That follows closely on allegations by Netanyahu's party that those allegations, those acts took place in the Arab sector. There's no direct confirmation of Arab involvement. It would appear that that is the focus, including of those arrests. This investigation has been welcomed cautiously by Eisenkot. He's also warned against a political exploitation of this investigation. This points to the possibility, the possibility that he thinks that he could, is hoping to find a way for Arab votes to be disqualified such that they will remove Eisenkot's potential partners in this coalition building exercise.

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17:54 I'm Karen Moscow.

17:56 And I'm Nathan Hager. Join us again tomorrow morning for all the news you need to start your day right here on Bloomberg Daybreak.