Congress Meets to Certify Trump's Victory; NYC Congestion Pricing Begins
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Good morning, I'm Nathan Hager. And I'm Karen Moscow. Here are the stories we're following today. Karen, we begin with the latest from Washington, D.C., where Congress is set to meet on a snowy Capitol Hill today to certify President-elect Donald Trump's win in November. President Biden invited a group of new Democratic lawmakers to the White House last night and urged them to commit to a peaceful transfer of power.

Now it's your duty to tell the truth, to remember what happened, and I'll let January 6th be rewritten or even erased. But the riot at the Capitol on January 6th, four years ago, has turned into a political flashpoint, and President-elect Trump is widely expected to grant swift clemency to the thousand-plus people convicted over the events of that day. We get that story from Bloomberg's Doug Krisner.

The president-elect has downplayed the severity of the attack and denounced its prosecutions. And he's expected to fulfill his promises of swift clemency for the 1,000-plus people convicted and the hundreds more with pending cases. The question is how such a move would impact democracy and the rule of law.

Mass pardons would also set the tone for how Trump might wield the presidency to reward loyalists and, critics fear, punish opponents. This year's January 6th election certification has, for the first time, been designated a national special security event in New York. I'm Doug Krisner, Bloomberg Radio.

All right, Doug, thank you. While looking to our neighbors to the north, Canada's Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is said to be preparing to announce his resignation. The Globe and Mail newspaper says the announcement could come as early as today. It would trigger a race for the party leadership with the winner becoming PM. Trudeau has been under pressure from lawmakers in his party to quit for months.

Scrutiny grew last month after his finance minister, Chrystia Freeland, quit. Let's look at politics around the globe, Karen. South Korea's corruption watchdog has asked a court in Seoul to extend a warrant to arrest President Yoon Suk-yol. The move comes after their first attempt last week ended in failure following an hours-long standoff with Yoon's security team. Secretary of State Antony Blinken is in Seoul. He expressed confidence in South Korea's acting leader.

We had serious concerns about some of the actions that President Yoon took. We communicated those directly to the government. At the same time, we have tremendous confidence in the resilience of South Korea's democracy. And while Secretary of State Antony Blinken's in Seoul, North Korea fired an intermediate-range ballistic missile toward its eastern waters.

Well, Nathan, back here in the U.S., it's the first full workday with the New York City congestion pricing program in effect. And we get this story with Bloomberg's John Tucker. And, John, it's something of a first. Yeah, in fact, this is the first such program in the United States, Karen. Yolanda Morales lives north of New York, and she's the main caregiver for her aging father who lives in lower Manhattan. And her reaction is typical among drivers. She calls the toll an abuse of the working class.

To try and to make more payments just to do that, I think it's hard for a middle class person. Ageno Lieber, the head of the MTA, would rather focus on the benefits. The good news for the core function of firing EMS is one of the principal goals is to make response times faster, and that's especially important for EMS.

1,400 cameras and E-ZPass detectors were switched on Sunday to catch every vehicle traveling south of 60th Street and hit them with a new $9 toll during peak travel times. This is all part of the plan to bring $15 billion to the MTA to upgrade subways and mass transit.

The goal is to coax more people to use mass transit and encourage trucks to make deliveries overnight. One hurdle is that some residents don't feel safe on the subways. The fatal burning last month of a woman sitting in a subway car at Coney Island shocked the city. There have been several stabbings and incidents of people pushing riders onto train tracks.

And looming large over congestion pricing is the change of administration in Washington. President-elect Trump opposes it. In New York, I'm John Tucker, Bloomberg Radio. Well, we turn to the markets now. Futures are higher as we kick off the first full trading week of the new year. This morning, the yield on the 30-year Treasury climbed to its highest level since November of 2023.

Right now, futures again higher. S&P futures up four-tenths of a percent. Dow futures up a tenth of a percent. NASDAQ futures up seven-tenths of a percent. And the 30-year yield, 4.83%. And this first full trading week of the year, Karen, is going to feature a jobs report, Fed minutes, and a smattering of earnings news. Let's get a preview from Bloomberg's Charlie Pellett.

Magnificent seven profit growth this year is projected to slow to 17.9%, while earnings increases for the rest of the S&P 500 accelerate to 10.9%. Emily Rowland is co-chief investment strategist at JH Investments. In order for earnings to see these double-digit accelerations,

estimates that are being baked in right now. You probably need to see bond yields come down a bit here. You probably need to see that cost of borrowing again sort of become a little bit more mitigated here. This week we hear from Constellation Brands, Delta, and Samsung in New York. Charlie Pellett, Bloomberg Radio.

All right, Charlie, thank you. Well, in deal news, Bloomberg News has learned Paychex is in advanced talks to acquire Paycor, a smaller rival in payroll processing. The acquisition would bring together two major players in the human resources software and services market, allowing for cost cuts and bundled services for customers. Shares of Paycor, they are rising in early trading. They are up almost 19%.

They're up at least 12 percent in early trading. All right. And turning to the economy now, Karen, two Fed officials say the central bank must finish its fight on inflation and reach the 2 percent target. At the American Economic Association, Fed Governor Adriana Kugler said the economy is growing at a healthy pace, but everyone needs to keep their eye on the labor market. It has cooled, but remain resilient.

And it has remained resilient. We still see real wages growing at about 1.5%, 1.6%. And at the same time, though the unemployment rate has been stepping up a bit, it's still at 4.2%, which is a historically low rate.

of unemployment. Adriana Kugler went on to say the Fed is moving toward the 2% inflation target, but there is work that still needs to get done. Speaking separately, Mary Daly, head of the San Francisco Fed, said inflation remains uncomfortably above the Fed's target.

It's 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. Michael, good morning. Good morning, Karen. A major winter blast of snow, ice, high winds, and plunging temperatures are stirring up dangerous conditions across the U.S. Central and Southern states all the way to the East Coast. Bloomberg meteorologist Rob Carroll has the latest.

A significant winter storm will be affecting areas from the Ohio River Valley to the mid-Atlantic today with heavy snow likely in the district in Baltimore. Some areas are probably going to see anywhere from 6 to as much as 10 inches of snow from this system. There will also be heavy rain extending from the system through the Carolinas into parts of Georgia and the Florida Panhandle. Behind the system, very cold air stretching from the Dakotas southward into Texas and some of that will be moving into the mid-Atlantic states later this week.

I'm Rob Carlin, Bloomberg Radio. Thank you, Rob. It's a busy week for law enforcement in Washington, D.C. They are preparing for the state funeral of former President Jimmy Carter. Carter's body will remain in Atlanta through today before making the trip to D.C. for Thursday's funeral where President Biden will deliver the eulogy. Thousands of extra police officers are being brought in with hundreds of soldiers on standby and the D.C. National Guard has been activated.

The FBI says the man responsible for the deadly truck attack in New Orleans on New Year's Day visited the city twice before and recorded video of the French Quarter with smart glasses. Authorities say the attack by Shemdud Dean Jabbar killed 14 people and injured dozens of others. The former U.S. Army soldier proclaimed his support for ISIS in online videos posted hours before he struck.

The Brutalist was crowned Best Drama Film at the Golden Globes last night. Adrian Brody won for Best Actor in the movie. He plays a Hungarian-Jewish architect who immigrates to the U.S. to escape the Holocaust. During the CBS telecast, Brody had a message for real-life immigrants. I hope that this work stands to lift you up a bit and to give you a voice. I'm so grateful.

I will cherish this moment forever. Thank you. Amelia Perez took home the best motion picture, musical or comedy. Global News 24 hours a day and whenever you want it with Bloomberg News Now. I'm Michael Barr and this is Bloomberg, Karen. All right, Michael Barr, thank you. When you're with Amex Business Platinum, you have the card that works just as hard as you do. You give 150% to your business and so does your card. With 1.5 times membership rewards points on select purchases, you earn rewards that can take your business further.

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Time now for the Bloomberg Sports Update brought to you by Tri-State Audi. Here's John Stashower. John, good morning. Good morning, Karen. The NFL regular season ended in Detroit. Lions and Vikings both came in with a gaudy 14-2 record, but only one would get the first round by. Home field advantage. The loser would have to play likely all their playoff games on the road. It figured to be a close game. It was not. All Lions, they won 31-9. There were four touchdowns scored in all four games.

by Detroit's Jameer Gibbs. As for the Giants, the 100th season in franchise history, one of the worst. A club record 14 losses, a 12th loss in a row in Philadelphia. Even with the Eagles resting their best players, Philly led by third-string quarterback Tanner McKee.

won 20-13, and now we'll see if the Giants clean house or decide to keep Coach Brian Dayball and GM Joe Shane. We know the Jets are looking for a new coach and GM, probably a new QB. If this was Aaron Rodgers' last Jet game, it was his best, and it included a career milestone. Shotgun for Rodgers, Brees Hall in motion. He's back to throw. Steps up of the pocket. Sidearm, not arms, one up. Touchdown, Tyler Conklin. And that is career touchdown pass number.

number 500. Wax to Rogers joining the club with only four other members. Tom Brady, Drew Brees, Peyton Manning and Brett Farby through 14. He passes in the Jets beat Miami 32 to 20. The Patriots beat the Bills 2316, but they went just four and 13 for the second straight year and

just after the game ended, they fired Gerard Mayo. He gets just one season as Bill Belichick's successor. We'll see if Dallas fires Mike McCarthy after a season with only two home wins. The Cowboys on a TD with three seconds left. Lost to Washington, 23-19. Commanders went 12-5, their best season since 1991. Denver got the last playoff spot in the AFC. Tampa Bay got the last win in the NFC. The playoffs begin Saturday. The Rangers won 6-2 at Chicago. The golf at Kapalua won by 17.

Hideki Matsuyama with a PGA record score of 35 under par. John Stasch, Bloomberg Sports, Karen and Nathan.

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. Good morning, I'm Nathan Hager. Memories of January 6th, 2021 are hanging over this January 6th as Congress gets ready to gather today to certify Donald Trump as the next president of the United States. Outgoing President Joe Biden says it is a day Americans should never forget.

It's a day that most of our history we took for granted the 6th. But I hope we never take it for granted again. You know, four years ago, January 6th, this Capitol was attacked.

By violent moms. And as President-elect Trump considers clemency for his supporters that day, President Biden told new Democratic lawmakers it is their duty to uphold the peaceful transfer of power today. Joining us this morning is Bloomberg's Kevin Whitelaw. Kevin, we really are expecting this to be a much different January 6th than four years ago, aren't we? Good morning. Yeah.

I mean, yes, thanks. We are. And I think you're seeing, first of all, it's being taken much more seriously as a security risk and many, many more precautions being taken. There was no fencing around the Capitol last time. It hadn't been declared a major national security event. It had up to that point always been a reasonably –

pro forma kind of thing where it kind of went and people didn't even really notice it. This time it's a very different thing. But you also have an administration in the Biden administration that is committed to a smooth process, taking part in it and making sure that they set an example for what a peaceful transfer of power is supposed to look like.

And I guess we're seeing elements of that example in an op-ed from the president in The Washington Post this morning talking about his determination to uphold the peaceful transfer of power, even to return to the Capitol on January 20th to attend President Trump's inauguration, something that the former now president-elect did not afford President Biden four years ago.

How likely is it, though, that President-elect Trump moves quickly on clemency for his supporters from that? Yeah, I mean, he certainly has promised he's going to move very quickly to, you know, if possibly even on the first day to do some kind of clemency. I think the only question really is sort of how broad it is. And is it a pardon? Is it clemency? Is it for is it selective? Is it?

Does it sort of encompass all of the prosecutions? There's obviously a lot of concern among sort of the Justice Department folks and prosecutors and even some judges who have made it clear this was obviously a very serious event. There were people who were injured. There was even one who was killed. It was an event that

did also tear apart the country a little bit. And the notion of a mass pardon has a lot of people worried about what that says about sort of potential future problems. Should there be another kind of similar moment where someone –

in power resists the peaceful transfer of power. It's really unclear exactly what Trump is going to do, and it is possible that there will be a somewhat more, you know, he could, for instance, separate nonviolent versus violent offenders and handle them differently. That's a possibility. But the broader he goes, the more controversial it's obviously going to be.

Just 30 seconds left, Kevin. But if the president-elect does do like a blanket clemency, a wide move like that, what does that mean for setting his agenda? I mean, he's talked about trying to pass a whole bunch of things in one fell swoop.

Well, it does. And obviously, a lot of what he's going to have to do if he wants to really be broad is to do it through this process called reconciliation, which is a way of doing it without the votes of Democrats. But it's going to be extremely hard. His margins in Congress are very narrow. And the broader a clemency movement goes, the less Democrats are going to be willing to give him space on it.

on other parts of his agenda that will indeed need their votes. This is Bloomberg Daybreak, your morning podcast on the stories making news from Wall Street to Washington and beyond. Look for us on your podcast feed by 6 a.m. Eastern each morning on Apple, Spotify, or anywhere else you listen.

You can also listen live each morning starting at 5 a.m. Wall Street time on Bloomberg 1130 in New York, Bloomberg 99.1 in Washington, Bloomberg 92.9 in Boston, and nationwide on Sirius XM Channel 121. Plus, listen coast-to-coast on the Bloomberg Business app now with Apple CarPlay and Android Auto interfaces.

And don't forget to subscribe to Bloomberg News Now. It's the latest news whenever you want it, in five minutes or less. Search Bloomberg News Now on your favorite podcast platform to stay informed all day long. I'm Karen Moscow. 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.

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