Trump Reportedly Weighs War Exit; US Fuel Prices Soar

Bloomberg Audio Studios, Podcasts, radio News.
Good morning, I'm Nathan Hager and I'm Alexis Christophers.
Here are the stories we're following today.
Alexis the first full month of the war, where Iran
is coming to a close and President Trump is ramping
up threats even as he considers his options. The Wall
Street Journal is reporting the President has told aids he
is willing to end the US campaign against Tehran even
if the Strait of Hormuz remains largely closed. The report
says the concern is that a mission to pry open
the choke point could extend the conflict beyond the president's
for to six week timeline. White House Press Secretary Caroline
Levitt says President Trump still wants a deal with Iran.
President is focused on achieving the objectives of Operation Epic
Fury with respect to forces that are on the ground
in the Middle East. It's the job of the Pentagon
to create maximum optionality for the commander in chief. It
does not mean the President has made any additional decision.
Press Secretary Caroline Levitt at the White House, and we
get more from Bloomberg's Jumana Barsetchi in Dubai.
To be clear, this has not come from President Trump himself.
This is reporting in the wool Street Journal. And actually
the latest from President Trump is a true social post
that he put up yesterday suggesting that they are in
discussions with a more quote unquote reasonable regime in Iran
that ad will be probably reached shortly after which and
then he says, if this strait is not immediately open
for business, we will conclude our stay in Iran by
blowing up and obliterating power plants, oil wells, and carg island.
Bloomberg's Jumana Barsecci reports in the meantime, and Iranian drone
struck a fully loaded Kuwaiti oil tanker docked in Dubai
early this morning. Kuwait's state run oil producer says they
al sell Me was in an area packed with ships
waiting to leave the Persian Gulf. Says the strike damage
the hull and started a fire, but no oil was
leaked and all twenty four crew members are safe.
And Nathan analysts say if Iran ends up taking control
of the Strait of Horror moves, it will be a
major military miscalculation by the US. Paul Wallace is Managing
editor for the Middle East.
For Bloomberg, it would.
Be very difficult to argue that it's not a strategic
disaster for the US. This is a waterway choke point
that was obviously very much open before this war started.
And if the US ends this war having lost control
and over that straight to Iran, that's that will go
down badly and look like a major strategic era.
Bloomberg News Managing editor Paul Wallace says Iran would take
in billions of dollars if it were able to take
control of the Straight and Alexis.
Gas prices in this country have officially topped four dollars
a gallon. Triple A says the nationwide average retail price
for regular unleaded roast almost four oh two, the highest
since August of twenty twenty two. One energy consultant warns
that oil will skyrocket even further if the war goes on.
The prices are to go through the roof.
It doesn't matter what present.
What is going through the roof.
I'm were looking at two hundred.
Dollars oil if you're looking at one hundred and fifty
first on two hundred and maybe even more than two hundred.
Beyond eight weeks, it could go anywhere.
Chairman Emeritis Faradune Fesheraki of fg E nex and Eca
made those comments to Bloomberg's Hustlin DA Mean.
A new United Nations study finds the US and Israeli
war against Iran could wipe out nearly two hundred billion
dollars worth of economic growth across the Middle East. The
report says the overall loss could wind up costing some
three point six million jobs and push as many as
four million people into poverty.
Alex has fed Sarah J. Powell says it's too soon
to know what kind of economic impact will come from
the war. Speaking at Harvard University in remarks heard live
here on Bloomberg, Powell said the Central Bank can afford
to wait out the crisis.
You know, it's it's one of those times where you
get a series of supply shocks, first the pandemic, then
the much smaller one from tariffs, and then we're getting
now an energy shock. No one knows how bigot will be.
It's way too early to know. As I mentioned, we
do think our policy is in a good place for
us to wait and see.
Fedcho J.
Pal says the labor market remains challenged, but the economy
remains dynamic and productive.
We now turn to the markets, Nathan, where futures are
higher on that Wall Street Journal report that President Trump
had signaled he was willing to end the military campaign
against Iran. Checking futures right now, SMP futures up nearly
one percent down futures now up four hundred and forty
four points, with Nasdaq futures climbing two hundred five points.
But it has not been a good one for the
bulls as we close out the first quarter. Rob Hayworth
is Senior investment Strategy director at US Bank Asset Management.
It's been challenging because there hasn't really been any place
to hide. The one place we liked to start the
month that has actually worked out for us a little
bit is global infrastructure, with Master Limited partnerships in that
component doing fairly well. But otherwise, unless you owned energy
this quarter, there's not been a lot of places to hide.
US Bank Asset Management's Rob Hayworth so farthest ye, the
Dow is down almost six percent, the S and P
five hundred off by seven point three percent, and the
Nasdaq down ten and a half percent.
Welllexis, we may be closing in on a deal. In
the food industry, The UK's Unilever says talks to sell
most of its food business to McCormick are advanced and
could be announced later today. Maker of Hellman's Mayonnaise, would
offload most of its food unit, excluding some parts like
its operations in India, for fifteen point seven billion dollars
in cash upfront and the rest in McCormick stock. Unilevers
prioritizing its personal care and beauty divisions, which include brands
like Dove Soap. Last year it spun off its ice
cream division, which included the Ben and Jerry's brand.
I Remember That. And a programming note Nathan Markets may
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Bloomberg This Weekend is looking beyond the daily headlines to
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Bloomberg's John Tucker.
Good Morning John, and Good Morning at likexis the head
of the FCC under fire from both Democrats and Republicans.
Let's get more from Bloomberg's Matt Piper.
The ranking members of the Senate Commerce Committee questioned the
head of the Federal Communications Commission, criticizing his approval of
Nexstar's merger with Tegna without a vote of the full commission.
Republican Ted Cruz and Democrat Maria Cantwell jointly told FCC
chair Brendan Carr that he improperly allowed agency staff to
greenlight the merger. According to a copy of the letter
reviewed by Bloomberg, the merger involved waving major anti consolidation rules.
Senators say significant questions of policy must be addressed by
the full FCC in a vote. Matt Piper, Bloomberg Radio.
DSA workers speaking out after receiving their first paychecks in
more than a month. Agent and union leader Cameron Coachim says,
they're still struggling to keep up.
It's been nice that we got these paychecks, but at
the end of the day, you know we are still
going to be behind with our late fees and all
these different things.
Well, the continuing dh shutdown has lent to mass resignations
and a record number of sick calls at airport lines
still persist. Soren Buondani was elected mayor of New York
City in part on a promise of free childcare, and
now the city has announced its first free childcare pilot
program for municipal workers. A ten million dollar renovation project
currently other way to build a four thousand square foot
childcare facility in the city's municipal building. It's extended to
be completed this fall and serve about forty children. Global
News twenty four hours a day, whenever you want it
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It happens fairly off for the NCAA women's tournament that
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and South Carolina. The Longhorns obliterated Michigan seventy seven to
forty one. The game cotch be TCU seventy eight to
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More from Bloomberg Daybreak coming up after this.
Coast to coast on Bloomberg Radio, nationwide on Sirius XM,
and around the world on Bloomberg dot Com and the
Bloomberg Business opp This is Bloomberg Daybreak.
Good morning, I'm Nathan Hager. Coming to the end of
the first full months of the war, where Iran President
Trump may be weighing his options for an exit. The
Wall Street Journal is reporting this morning that the President
is considering winding down the fight even if the strait
of Horror moves remains effectively closed. Here's White House Press
Secretary Caroline Lovett.
The President Commander in chief the Pentagon has always stated
four to six weeks estimated timeline for Operation Epic Fury.
We're on day thirty today, so again you do the math.
It was White House spokesman Caroline Levitt in comments heard
live on Bloomberg Radio. Joining us this morning from Jerusalem
is Bloomberg News reporter Dan Williams. So, Dan, we have
this Wall Street Journal report coming after the President renewed
his threats to destroy Iran's energy infrastructure if it doesn't
reopen the strait.
What do we know this morning, Good morning.
Good morning. Very little.
We do know.
The president is voluble. We know he's unusually unvailable, available
to members of the press who managed to reach him
on the phone. We know that much of what he
says is contradictory, sometimes within the same day. There is
some evidence that this has been in the past, an
effort to create successfully tactical smoke screens, perhaps to calm markets,
perhaps to muster support, as you noted his comments about
potentially making do with US achievements US and IS raally
achievements in this war, despite Iran's de facto control of Hormuz,
that has very much energized or should we say, worried
many in the Middle East. It could be an effort
to bring Arab partners militarily into this fight. However, it
is worth remembering, and one can easily find his opening
speech his statement on February twenty eighth when this war began.
There is no mention of Hormos there among the US
objectives in this war. The objectives, as stated is to
destroy counteract imminent threats by iron to the United States
by demolishing its nuclear program and its missile program and
its navy. The Americans are sticking to what they say
is success in this matter. The President has said previously
that just three percent of US petroleum products come through Hormuz.
That's as opposed to the fact that the Hormoz straight
accounts for around twenty percent of energy for the rest
of the world. So it would appear that the United
States did not set out looking at a change in Hormus.
It did not set out looking to improve its energy status.
Given this war, and I imagine by his own account,
Trump can walk away saying that he satisfied his own objectives.
That is not something that his partners in the Middle
East would agree with. Certainly, Iran would hold up a profitable,
lucrative de factor control of Hormuz as a result of
this war as a major strategic success. So I think
time will tell in the coming days. We already know
that the US and mustering ground forces for potential threatened
actions on the ground in Iran, including potentially a takeover
of Hargate Island, which is of great importance to the
Iranians in terms of energy output. So we will find
out very soon whether that was yet more smokescreen our
whether the rubber will now hit the road in terms
of a ground operation by the Americans to try to
take the fight to the enemy and win this at
least when it comes to freeing up the whole moves straight.
Well, where would this potentially leave Israel? Those objectives, those
early objectives you mentioned, do they line up with Israel's objectives?
I think they do. We have these ready Prime ministers
saying in a NEWSMACS interview yesterday that these Raelis have
achieved or pass beyond their halfway points of this war.
The Israeli military this morning saying it can continue sustaining
those operations in Iran for weeks. It has the targets
remaining for that. Keep in mind that we are now
in week five of a war that the partners, the
allies said from the outset could last four to six weeks.
We're still within the framework, the time envelope they gave
from the outset, and it could well be that the Israelis,
who apparently this week, in fact, in these very hours,
shifting targets away from what they describe as vital defense
industry targets in Iran toward economic targets, are now looking
at second tier targets, basically destroying whatever they can against
an enemy of almost five decades standing before Trump calls
an end to this war. If he does call an
end to this war, keep in mind there may be
parity on the ground or in the air in terms
of the military mission sharing, but it's clear that it's
the United States which calls the shots in this war,
quite literally and also figuratively in terms of when it
will end. Should it end in Iran, the Israelis will
still have their hands full with a second front in
Lebanon against Iran's allies in Hesbala that is likely to continue,
and that's likely to be a preoccupation of Israel no
matter what happens in Iran.
This is Bloomberg Daybreak, your morning podcast on the stories
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