Deadly Plane Crash Near DC Airport; Meta, Microsoft and Tesla Earnings
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Bloomberg Audio Studios. Podcasts. Radio. News. Good morning. I'm Nathan Hager. And I'm Karen Moscow. Here are the stories we're following today. Karen, we begin with a deadly plane crash involving a commercial airliner and an Army helicopter at Reagan National Airport near Washington, D.C. Let's get the very latest now with Bloomberg's John Tucker. John. And Nathan, American Airlines Flight 5342 from Wichita, Kansas, was on an approach for landing at Reagan.

When it collided with a Sikorsky H-60 helicopter around 9 p.m. Eastern, Aries Schulman was driving home when he saw the plane falling from the sky. It was illuminated bright yellow underneath, and there was a spray of sparks.

on the underside of the plane. The jet was carrying 60 passengers and four crew members. Three soldiers were on board the helicopter. The first priority has been looking for survivors, however remote the chance of finding anybody alive at this point. DC Fire and Rescue Chief John Donnelly.

The water that we're operating in is about eight feet deep. There is wind. There is pieces of ice out there. So it's just dangerous and hard to work in. The Bombardier CRJ701 twin-engine jet manufactured in 2004 was inbound to Reagan National at an altitude of about 400 feet at a speed of about 140 miles per hour when it suffered a rapid loss of altitude over the Potomac River.

A few minutes before the landing, air traffic controllers did ask the arriving commercial jet if it could land on the shorter runway 33. Less than 30 seconds before the crash, air traffic controllers asked the helicopter if it had the arriving plane in sight. The controller made another radio call to the helicopter moments later. Seconds after that, the two collided.

Members of the U.S. figure skating team are on board American Airlines Flight 5342. There were athletes, coaches, and family members who'd been taking part in the U.S. figure skating championships in Wichita. We have not had an airline crash in more than 15 years in this country, a major one like this. I'm John Tucker, Bloomberg Radio. All right, John, thank you. Well, American Airlines CEO Robert Ice said the airline is working with emergency responders. He issued this video statement.

First and most importantly, I'd like to express our deep sorrow about these events. This is a difficult day for all of us at American Airlines, and our efforts now are focused entirely on the needs of our passengers, crew members, partners, first responders, along with their families and loved ones.

That was American Airlines CEO Robert Isom last night. Shares of American are down about 3% in early trading. The National Transportation Safety Board says they have sent a rapid response air accident investigation team to the site. President Trump criticized events in the run-up to the collision in a Truth Social post.

calling it a bad situation that looks like it should have been prevented. And we will have much more on the plane crash throughout the program, but we now switch to the markets as investors react to the beginning of Magnificent's seven earnings. Shares of Meta Platforms are up 2% in early trading. The stock originally fell after hours after the Facebook owner forecast disappointing sales for the current quarter.

But Meta gained after CEO Mark Zuckerberg's comments about artificial intelligence on the company conference call.

This is going to be a really big year. Most of our long-term initiatives is going to be a lot clearer by the end of this year. In AI, I expect that this is going to be the year when a highly intelligent and personalized AI assistant reaches more than 1 billion people. And I expect Meta AI to be that leading AI assistant. Mark Zuckerberg told investors he thinks Meta will eventually spend hundreds of billions of dollars on AI infrastructure.

Well, Nathan, shares of Tesla are also on the rise. They're up 2.6% this morning. The company revealed plans to begin robo-taxi operations and forecast a sales recovery this year, fueling what Elon Musk predicted would be an epic period of growth for the electric vehicle maker. The comments largely sidestepped the actual sales and profit results.

which missed Wall Street estimates. And on the flip side, Karen, shares of Microsoft are down nearly 4%. The company says growth in its cloud computing business slowed during the last three months of 2024. Microsoft is also ramping up spending on infrastructure for its AI products.

Well, tech earnings continue today, Nathan, with first quarter results from Apple out after the closing bell. And Bloomberg's Tom Busby has a preview. Despite a real slump in iPhone sales in China and being way behind other tech giants in rolling out AI products, Apple still forecasts to post record results. With strong sales of the AI-capable iPhone 16 here in the U.S., as well as continued strong demand for services like Apple Music and the App Store, Bloomberg is expecting revenues to rise 3.8%.

Consensus calls for total revenue of $124.1 billion, earnings per share of $2.35. Tom Busby, Bloomberg Radio. All right, Tom, thank you. Keeping an eye on shares of IBM, they are higher by about 7%. Big Blue projected strong revenue growth in the new fiscal year and a jump in AI-related bookings.

And turning to earnings overseas, Nathan, shares at Deutsche Bank are down 3.5%. The bank's expenses rose 14% from a year ago. That's overshadowing a better-than-expected performance in its investment bank. Turning to the economy now, Karen, the Federal Reserve voted unanimously to keep its benchmark rate on hold. Chair Jay Powell says the Fed will wait for further evidence of cooling inflation before adjusting interest rates again. With our policy stance significantly less restrictive than it had been,

and the economy remaining strong, we do not need to be in a hurry to adjust our policy stance. Chairman Powell's press conference was followed by President Trump posting online that the Fed chair had, in his words, done a terrible job on banking regulation and inflation. Well, Nathan, let's turn to politics in Washington and a major reversal in the early days of President Trump's second term.

The president has rescinded his order to freeze a wide array of federal grants, loans and financial assistance just days after his White House budget office announced it. Trump defended the order at his first bill signing yesterday. We are merely looking at parts of the big bureaucracy where there has been tremendous waste and fraud and abuse.

President Trump's order had already been temporarily blocked by a federal judge, but this might not be the end of it. A document seen by Bloomberg News says the White House is considering dozens of ways for the president to take greater control of the federal bureaucracy. They include challenging a 50-year-old law that limits the president's control of federal spending, making it easier to fire civil servants, curb pay, and rein in independent agencies.

Well, Karen, President Trump's nominee to lead the Department of Health and Human Services faced opposition from Democrats at the first of two confirmation hearings this week. Bloomberg's Amy Morris reports from Washington. Robert F. Kennedy Jr. repeatedly insisted to lawmakers that he is not against vaccines. I support the measles vaccine. I support the

polio vaccine. But the finance committee's Democrats, led by Ron Wyden of Oregon, were not convinced. Anybody who believes that ought to look at the measles book you wrote saying parents have been misled into believing that measles is a deadly disease. That's not true. Kennedy, who had supported abortion rights while he was running for president, promised to back all the administration's positions on abortion. The hearing featured repeated interruptions from protesters. We want

I am prosafine. But the room was also filled with several Kennedy supporters. In Washington, Amy Morris, Bloomberg Radio. All right, Amy, thank you. Well, two more key Trump nominees will have confirmation hearings today. Tulsi Gabbard, the president's choice to be the director of national intelligence, and Kash Patel, who is nominated to head the FBI. We'll bring you live coverage of Gabbard's hearing at 10 a.m. Wall Street time on Bloomberg Radio and the Bloomberg podcast page on YouTube.

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. The Justice Department is set to be in talks about dropping the corruption charges against New York City Mayor Eric Adams. So far, no final decision has been made. Reports say talks between the DOJ and prosecutors with the Southern District of New York have been preliminary. Last month, presidents said that Adams had

had been treated pretty unfairly by prosecutors and suggested he was considering issuing a pardon.

Former U.S. Senator Bob Menendez has been sentenced to 11 years in prison for his conviction for accepting bribes of gold and cash and acting as an agent of Egypt. Before sentencing, the New Jersey Democrat tearfully addressed the judge, saying he had lost everything he cared about except family. Outside the New York courthouse, though, a defiant Menendez aligned himself with President Donald Trump. Welcome to the Southern District of New York.

the wild west of political prosecutions. President Trump is right. This process is political and it's corrupted to the core.

Two people convicted of bribing Menendez were sentenced to seven and eight years behind bars. Israel Defense Forces soldier Agam Berger, abducted by Hamas in October of 2023 and held in Gaza since then, has been released and is back in Israel. According to the IDF, Berger is on her way to an initial reception point in southern Israel where she will be reunited with her parents.

Earlier, she was handed over to the Red Cross in Gaza, who transferred her to Israeli forces in the Gaza Strip. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth says the U.S. had the right to do what is necessary to ensure access to the Panama Canal, adding to President Donald Trump's threats around the crucial trade waterway. Hegseth, speaking to Fox News last night, also says he is establishing a task force to eliminate diversity, equity, and inclusion policies in the U.S. military.

I think President Trump said it perfect in his inaugural address, which is what we're reinforcing in our directive as well. DOD will be colorblind and merit-based. Colorblind as it has been and merit-based as it should be, because as you know better than anybody, DEI sends the opposite signals. 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.

Time now for the Bloomberg Sports Update brought to you by Tri-State Audi. Here's John Stashower. John, good morning. Good morning, Karen. Knicks and Nuggets at the guard. The Knicks got an early break when Denver star Nikola Jokic picked up his second foul just 90 seconds in. He only played nine minutes of the first half, though. Denver in the third quarter.

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And when you play like that, that gives your team a really strong spirit and togetherness. And I thought we were really connected, and that's important to get those shots. They'll look to keep it going Saturday night at the Garden against LeBron James and the Lakers. Knicks remain game behind the Celtics for second in the East. In Boston, Kristaps Porzingis scored 34 in a rout of Chicago. Rare win for the Nets, just their third.

third of 2025. 104-83 at Charlotte. Cleveland won by 20 at Miami. And Newark Devils with a 5-0 blanking of the Flyers. Jake Allen, 24 saves so they split the home and home with Philly. College Hoops top-ranked Auburn 1 at LSU. UConn beat DePaul. Rutgers won at Northwestern. New Jets coach Aaron Glenn, who coached the defense at Detroit, has hired as his defensive coordinator Steve Wilks, who didn't coach anywhere this past season, but Wilks has coached

16 years for six NFL teams, including two short stints as a head coach. Giants offensive coordinator Mike Kafka seen as one of two finalists to be the new head coach in New Orleans. His interview with the Saints lasted nine hours, but the favorite to get the Saints job is Eagles assistant Kellen Moore. Tommy Canely leaving the Yankee bullpen to pitch for Detroit. The Mets re-sign reliever Ryan Stanek. They start play today at Pebble Beach. The season debuts for Scottie Scheffler and Rory McIlroy. John Stachauer, Bloomberg Sports.

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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. We return to the breaking news from overnight. A regional jet flown for American Airlines crashed with a military helicopter last night on approach to Reagan National Airport near Washington, D.C. It was on its way from Wichita, Kansas.

It has sparked an all-out search and rescue effort in the Potomac River nearby. 64 people were on that American Airlines flight. Joining us now is Benedict Kammel, who heads up Bloomberg's global aviation coverage. Benedict, good morning. What is the latest that we know about this crash?

Good morning. So the latest is that we're still very much in the sort of salvage part of the operation. And this is a difficult exercise. We heard a couple of hours ago from some officials who had gathered at the airport and gave an update. There were members from the fire service. There was the mayor, the senator from Kansas where that plane originated, as you said. He was also there. And there's about 300 people on the ground, boats involved, ambulances, fire engines and so on,

So what we know at this point is that the incoming regional jet collided with the helicopter as it approached the runway. We don't know why that happened. We don't know who was to blame. So that's too early to say. The other thing, crucially, that we don't know at this point is whether there are survivors involved.

The head of the fire brigade gave a fairly grim assessment of the scene. He said, "This is very difficult to operate in. It's cold. It's icy. The water is murky. The plane has broken up." So it would really come down to a miracle if you find many, if any, survivors in this tragedy.

It has to be said that this is some of the most closely monitored and secure airspace in the United States, just across from the Pentagon, only a few miles from the White House and Capitol Hill. It has to raise a lot of questions now about how something like this could have happened so close to the seats of power in the United States.

Yes, you're absolutely right. I mean, it's not unusual for helicopters to be operating in this area, but clearly one of the aircraft was out of position. President Donald Trump weighed in a couple of hours with a message on his social media platform saying this is an occurrence that should not have happened. He put, shall we say, blame, or at least he pointed to

to the tower as being an area that should be investigated. But again, we are not in that phase of the investigation yet. The NTSB, the FAA, they're all on site. They have teams deployed that are there that will...

try and retrieve whatever they can, be it the black boxes, be it footage. As you said, this is a very heavily surveyed part of the country. There is somewhat murky but still footage of the mid-air collision, so that might provide some clues as to who was out of position. There's the radio back and forth between air traffic control and the

the aircraft in the sky. So all of those clues will help paint a picture and provide better clues as to who is to blame and what can be done about this going forward.

Benedict, stay with us. We want to bring in Bloomberg's chief Washington or chief political correspondent, Anne-Marie Hordern, who is with us now from Reagan National Airport, as I understand it. Anne-Marie, good morning. What can you tell us now about this search and rescue effort that, as I understand it, has been going on since last night when this crash first happened?

Yes, more than 300 individuals, hundreds really, part of the search and rescue team. What we know, according to CBS, that 18 bodies have been recovered after this fatal, deadly crash around 9 p.m. last night. What I could tell you is that

Now that we move into this rescue mission, a lot of questions are being asked. The National Transportation Safety Board will lead this investigation. Of course, it will be aided by the FAA. Last night, we did hear from a number of officials, including the just sworn in Transportation Secretary, Sean Duffy.

And Mayor of D.C., Muriel Bowser, is saying that they're going to provide another briefing this morning at 7.30 a.m. at DCA. So we will get another update from officials, from local authorities, this morning at DCA. The airport at the moment is closed until 11 a.m. Potentially that can change.

But that is the latest we have right now, as of course the nation is waking up to this heartbreaking news. Yeah, it's going to be a crucial update coming up in just the next couple of hours here. But as you know, Anne-Marie, the Potomac River is murky. It is cold. This is going to be a very difficult search and rescue operation. It raises a lot of questions about just what kind of survivability we could see following an incident like this.

Absolutely, which is why this is so devastating to the entire nation, to everyone involved, families that were coming here last night with tons of questions, wanting to know whether their loved ones were, is anyone safe. The divers and first responders that are out a part of this rescue mission are operating under extremely difficult conditions.

It's obviously dark. It's very cold. The water is very muddy. It's incredibly icy due to the frigid temperatures that D.C. had last week. Remember last week, the inauguration had to be moved inside because of those weather conditions. So it's incredibly, incredibly difficult right now. And there's just so many questions and just not enough answers.

of answers. And for a long time Washingtonians, this is going to raise memories of the Air Florida crash into the 14th Street Bridge that happened in 1982, more than 40 years ago. But Anne-Marie, in this case, it doesn't look as though the weather, the ice on the wings back then was the culprit in this situation when we have a regional jet crashing into a military helicopter apparently on a routine test flight. But obviously this, anything but routine.

No, not anything but routine. I mean, this is Washington, D.C., so you do have tons of military aircraft. We are just south of DCA from the Pentagon across the river from the nation's capital. And there is

that go on and go on at night. And that seems to be what this Black Hawk helicopter was doing with three U.S. military personnel on board. This was training. But even the president of the United States, after the White House put out a statement last night that he was briefed on the matter, he

May God bless their soul. He talks about the individuals involved. He then took to Truth Social later in the evening. And really, you can tell his frustration about how he's asking the question that President Biden said, Donald Trump, why didn't the helicopter go up or down or turn? Why didn't the control tower tell the helicopter what to do instead of asking if they saw the plane?

You know, and he's saying it's a bad situation and it feels like it could have been prevented, which is why there's going to be a ton of questions on what kind of radio frequency channels are these two individuals, were these two the helicopter and the passenger plane on? What was the air traffic control telling them at this time? You would think that this could never happen. But obviously, a devastating tragedy did just 9 p.m. last night.

And certainly a huge test for this young Trump administration, not just for the brand new Transportation Secretary, Sean Duffy, but for Pete Hegseth, who's in charge of that Sikorsky helicopter that's involved in this. Absolutely. Sean Duffy was just sworn in yesterday. He had been on the job for not even 24 hours. He was here at DCA last night.

briefing reporters. When it comes to Pete Hegseth, he's only been on the job for a few days. So of course, this is a huge test for this incoming administration. And we also know a number of individuals are just not in place yet because this is a transition. So they're dealing with a crisis when a lot of members of their team are just not yet in place because they are second week into a new administration.

Bloomberg Chief Political Correspondent Anne-Marie Hordern with us this morning from Reagan National Airport. Now the scene of a search and rescue operation following that deadly plane crash between the flight out of Wichita and the military helicopter out of Fort Belvoir, Virginia. Thanks for keeping us updated on that. We'll be looking to more of your reporting throughout the day. But now we want to bring back in Benedict Commel, who leads our global aviation coverage team.

for Bloomberg News, raising so many of the questions now, Benedict, for officials, for rescuers, as far as how something like this could have happened. What are you looking for in terms of what could be gleaned out of this?

Well, to Anne-Marie's point that she raised just now, I think a lot of the focus will be on those fateful last moments and the sort of intercom between the tower and the aircraft. You know, what was said to whom, who was participating,

potentially out of position, that will potentially provide an early clue as to who's to blame for this. The aircraft is equipped with what's commonly referred to black boxes. Those are two devices, one that records anything that's said in the cockpit as well as noises, and the other one is for sort of flight data metrics. And those will be very consistent

closely scrutinized to any clues in terms of who might have been out of position. We do have a little bit of footage from the ground. It's blurry somewhat, but again, that might be pulled in. We've seen in the past that you have all these different metrics that you can draw on, and the NTSB is obviously a very professional body, knows how to deal with these kinds of incidents.

As Anne-Marie said, there's a huge amount of political pressure on this. The president has weighed in. It essentially happened, dare I say, in his backyard. This is a test case for the new administration, for Pete Hexeth, for Sean Duffy, who spoke last night at the press conference and who said himself, look, I've been in the job for a day. So,

This is really going to be a test case for him on how they handle this. The truth will come out, but I think everyone was very clear at this point that we're not in that phase at the moment. This is about trying to find potential survivors, trying to race against time, essentially, because the cold water will be a very difficult environment for anyone to survive in. So that's sort of where the focus is right now. And then throughout the next day, maybe even at that 7.30 press conference that Anne-Marie mentioned,

we will get a little bit more

And it has to be said that this is the first time that we've seen a regional jet crash like this in just about 15 years. It speaks to the rarity of something like this. And when it comes to Reagan National Airport, the flight patterns, they pretty much follow the Potomac River, whether you're coming in from the north or the south. And that raises a question, doesn't it, Benedict, about how something like this could have happened when we have such routine flight patterns?

in and out of Reagan National Airport.

Yeah, you're absolutely right. And, you know, to widen the lens a little bit, we are coming out of a phase of extreme safety in terms of airspace. It might not feel that way off the back of a tragedy like this. And we've had a couple of similar tragedies in the last couple of weeks even and throughout the last year. But longer term, aviation safety has improved tremendously. If you look at 2023, there was not a single civil aviation accident reported.

throughout the entire year. You had 37 million movements and not a single loss of life. So that gives you a sense of where we're coming from. So obviously every tragedy after that really puts the spotlight on safety. We had that incident about a year ago that people might remember.

about the collision in Japan, Tokyo. There was a large aircraft that plowed into a stationary plane. Miraculously, everybody survived on that aircraft, on the large plane. The people on the small plane died tragically. And then we had the incident in South Korea a couple of weeks ago where...

the plane attempted an emergency landing and then plowed into a concrete wall and tragically everybody died on that. So I'm raising these incidents because they are rare, they don't happen often, thankfully, but there's an eerie similarity because they're all somehow involved in collisions, in approach and so on. So this is something that will be very much watched.

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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