Bloomberg Daybreak: Europe Edition

Bloomberg Daybreak Weekend with Tom Busby takes a look at some of the stories we'll be tracking in the coming week. 1) In the US - It's been a very Merry Crypto-mas with Bitcoin and Etherum surging. Will it continue in 2024? 2) In the UK - 2023 has been a year of inflation, rate debates, and job cuts. What lessons can be learned from the past year and how can they help us navigate the next 12 months? 3) In Asia - After a devastating pandemic and prolonged economic slowdown in China, how has Macau's casino and gaming business recovered? 4) In Washington - The 118th Congress has convened for the year after a session marked with turmoil. What was actually accomplished, and who were the winners and losers?  See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Your morning briefing, the business news you need in just 15 minutes.On today's podcast: (1) UK Chancellor of the Exchequer Jeremy Hunt suggested falling debt interest costs may give him the headroom to deliver tax cuts at his budget in the spring, boosting the governing Conservative Party in what's likely to be an election year.(2) The Czech Republic declared Saturday a national day of mourning after the worst shooting in the country's history left at least 15 people dead at Prague's Charles University.(3) Apple has stopped selling the Apple Watch Series 9 and Ultra 2 in the US on its online store, just days before a ban related to a patent dispute takes effect.(4)  Elon Musk is lashing out at the state of US financial markets. In a wide-ranging talk with ARK Investment Management's Cathie Wood he bemoaned the high regulatory burden faced by publicly traded companies, the pressure from shareholders that limits efficiency, and how passive investing is stoking volatility.(5) The shift away from cars with dirty combustion engines is running into a new hurdle: Drivers don't want to buy used electric vehicles, and that's undermining the market for new ones, too.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

 Your morning briefing, the business news you need in just 15 minutes. On today's podcast: (1) The UK and Switzerland will sign an agreement around financial services on Thursday, a post-Brexit accord to deepen ties between their respective financial centers. (2)  An escalation of attacks on marine vessels in the Red Sea is causing widespread trade disruption as the world's biggest vessel owners take alternative longer routes, sending shipping rates soaring. (3) European Union finance chiefs ended months of wrangling over fiscal rigor to agree on new rules that will aim to rein in debt and define the bloc's ability to invest in key sectors such as defense for years to come. (4) Citigroup has decided to exit the distressed-debt trading business, the latest retrenchment in Chief Executive Officer Jane Fraser's effort to reshape the firm in pursuit of higher returns. (5) With aid from allies increasingly in doubt, companies are stepping in to support Ukraine's war economy. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Your morning briefing, the business news you need in just 15 minutes. On today's podcast: (1) Donald Trump is ineligible to serve as US president because of his actions inciting the Jan. 6, 2021 attack on the US Capitol, Colorado's highest court found, in an unprecedented ruling that's headed for the US Supreme Court. (2) The US and its allies are considering possible military strikes against Houthi rebels in Yemen, in a recognition that a newly announced maritime task force meant to protect commercial ships in the Red Sea may not be enough to eliminate the threat to the vital waterway. (3) Bets on the basis trade are so large that they’ve become central to buying and selling of US government bonds. Read our Big Take on the small group of hedge fund traders who dominate dealings in the tiny price gaps between Treasuries and futures. They’re the driving force behind a wager creating sleepless nights for regulators. (4) UK house prices have plunged by 11% in real terms in just over a year, revealing the true extent of the downturn in the property market, calculations by Bloomberg Economics show. (5) Wall Street's dramatic year of dealmaking drought, collapsing banks and job cuts is ending with a mere whimper for traders' bonuses.  See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Your morning briefing, the business news you need in just 15 minutes. On today's podcast: (1) US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin has announced a new maritime task force intended to protect commercial vessels travelling through the Red Sea from attacks by Houthi militants. The countries involved in the new task force — dubbed Operation Prosperity Guardian — include the US, the UK, Bahrain, Canada, France, Italy, the Netherlands, Norway, the Seychelles and Spain. (2) The Bank of Japan offered little for rate-hike bulls as it stuck with the world's last negative interest rate and kept guidance unchanged on future policy in a decision that pared some of the yen's recent gains. (3) Apple will stop selling the latest versions of its smartwatch in the US due to a patent dispute, taking some of its best-selling devices off the market during the busy holiday season. Engineers at the company are racing to make changes to algorithms on the device that measure a user's blood oxygen level — a feature that Masimo has argued infringes its patents.  (4) Nippon Steel has defended the whopping 142% premium it's paying for United States Steel, as the Japanese company seeks to reinforce its position as a global titan to counter a weak domestic outlook. (5) The UK government has lost close to £300 million ($379 million) on the £1.14 billion portfolio of start-up investments it made during the pandemic to prop up struggling young businesses. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

 Your morning briefing, the business news you need in just 15 minutes. On today's podcast: (1) Israel's foreign minister said any call for a ceasefire with Hamas is a "prize for terrorism," after France, UK and Germany urged efforts toward halting the war as the civilian death toll mounts. (2) Egypt's Suez Canal Authority said it's "closely following" tensions in the Red Sea and any impact on canal crossings, after Yemeni militant attacks on vessels hundreds of miles to the south prompted major shipping lines to temporarily avoid the region. (3) Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago President Austan Goolsbee said it's too early to declare victory in the central bank's inflation fight, and decisions on interest-rate cuts will be based on incoming economic data.  (4) The White House has taken aim at former President Donald Trump for saying immigrants are “poisoning the blood of our country,” portraying his comments as inflammatory fascist-style rhetoric that’s anathema to American democracy. (5) Lengthy court backlogs are a symptom of a criminal justice system that appears to be at breaking point. The crown courts of England and Wales, which deal with the most serious offenses, are buckling under a record backlog of almost 67,000 cases, a figure that has doubled since 2019, according to government data. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Bloomberg Daybreak Weekend with Tom Busby takes a look at some of the stories we'll be tracking in the coming week. 1) In the US - US retail sales unexpectedly picked up in November as lower gasoline prices allowed consumers to spend more to kick off the holiday shopping season. 2) In the UK -  It's crunch time for last-minute shoppers ahead of the holidays in London - with retailers hoping for a last-minute surge in spending, despite the general economic gloom. 3) In Asia - Bank of Japan officials see little need to rush into scrapping the world’s last negative interest rate this month as they have yet to see enough evidence of wage growth that would support sustainable inflation 4) In Washington - Anticipation of a new wave of investors has Bitcoin booming once again. Key to the newfound optimism are indications that the US will soon approve exchange-traded funds that invest directly in the cryptocurrency.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Your morning briefing, the business news you need in just 15 minutes. On today's podcast:(1) Europe’s central bankers are in no hurry to join the US pivot toward interest-rate cuts: the Bank of England kept interest rates at a 15-year high, sticking with its message that borrowing costs will remain elevated for some time despite growing bets on a wave of cuts in 2024. And European Central Bank policymakers are largely united in expecting to cut interest rates later than financial markets currently anticipate, according to officials familiar with their thinking. (2) Hungary has blocked a new 50-billion-euro EU financial aid package for Ukraine. (3) China's central bank has injected a record amount of cash into the economy.  (4) Citigroup Inc. will shutter its municipal business, one of the most dramatic moves yet by Chief Executive Officer Jane Fraser as she seeks to squeeze better returns out of the Wall Street giant.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Your morning briefing, the business news you need in just 15 minutes.On today's podcast: (1) The Federal Reserve held interest rates steady for a third meeting and gave its clearest signal yet that its aggressive hiking campaign is finished by forecasting a series of cuts next year. (2) Virtually no corner of financial markets was left out of Wednesday's cross-asset advance: Global shares spiked higher. Front-end Treasuries posted their best day since March. World currencies surged against the dollar and corporate bonds rallied. (3) Traders have ramped up bets on interest-rate cuts by the Bank of England next year after soft GDP data reinforced the view that policymakers won't be able to keep monetary policy tight for so long. (4) Today's European Central Bank decision is also being watched for how forcefully policymakers push back against bets on interest rate cuts. (5) Republicans in the US House voted Wednesday to formally authorize an impeachment inquiry into President Joe Biden, escalating a probe that has been underway for several months.  See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Your morning briefing, the business news you need in just 15 minutes. On today's podcast:(1) The UK economy shrank more than expected in October as elevated borrowing costs and wet weather took their toll, setting the stage for another quarter of stagnation that is widely forecast to persist through 2024. (2) The COP28 climate talks in Dubai ended in a deal that saw a commitment to transition away from all fossil fuels for the first time. (3) Germany’s ruling alliance has sealed an agreement on a revised 2024 finance plan, pushing past internal divisions laid bare after a critical funding tool was struck down by the nation’s top court. (4) Argentina devalued the peso by 54%, overhauled its crawling peg and announced massive spending cuts to eliminate its primary fiscal deficit next year as the first steps in President Javier Milei's shock-therapy program.  (5) Netflix has released global midyear viewer data for every title on its service for the first time. The political thriller The Night Agent was the most-watched title globally in the first half of 2023, generating 812.1 million hours of viewing.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.