Stocks Rally Into Christmas Break; Biden to Decide US Steel Fate
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Good morning, I'm Nathan Hager. And I'm Karen Moscow. Here are the stories we're following today. Thank you. We begin with our focus on the markets this morning as we head into the Christmas holiday. It is going to be a short trading session on Wall Street today. The stock market closes at 1 p.m. Wall Street time. Bond trading wraps up at 2. Yesterday was a familiar scenario. The Magnificent Seven stocks led the charge. A gauge of the Mag7 mega caps rose almost one and a half percent.

Gene Munster, managing partner at Deepwater Asset Management, says it may be choppy, but 2025 will still be another good year for big tech. There's an important nuance to how the market, I think, plays out in 2025 is that during

During that run from '96 to 2000, there were 10 pullbacks. There was 12 pullbacks from '95 to 2000, so 10 pullbacks. So about two per year is what we saw of 10% or greater on the NASDAQ. And I would just say this is, it's really healthy for these multi-year runs to have these pullbacks.

And so I'm anticipating, as I said, a couple of those. And what's the catalyst that does that? It's always hard to predict, but we're going to get those. And I still continue to believe we're going to end 25 much higher on the Nasdaq than we started. Deepwater Asset Management's Gene Munster notes the S&P 500 has risen 25% this year with the top seven big tech stocks accounting for more than half that advance.

Well, Nathan, as for individual stocks this morning, shares of Honda soared 12% in Asia. The carmaker's announcement of a $7 billion stock buyback is offsetting concerns about its plans to acquire rival Nissan. Bloomberg News automotive editor Craig Trudell says shareholders in both companies may be questioning the move.

Real questions about just how happy shareholders across the various companies involved are going to be with this. To put it plainly, I mean, this is really Honda coming to Nissan's rescue. Honda will, you know, take the lead in forming this holding company that Nissan will be a part of. Maybe Mitsubishi Motors will join. And the big question is, you know, where does Renault stand in all this as Nissan's biggest shareholder?

Bloomberg's Craig Trudell says the agreement will create one of the world's largest car makers, helping the firms compete with Chinese manufacturers and Japanese heavyweight Toyota. Well, Karen, another well-known brand on our shores is in the news this morning. The Nordstrom family is joining forces with a Mexican retailer to take its namesake department store private. It's going to be an all-cash transaction valued at about $6.25 billion, including debt. Dana Telsey covers retail for Telsey Advisory Group.

The privatization of a family-run business that's been around for over 100 years is definitely a spark of change. I think the new environment today is different than it was in the past. And you have to give Nordstrom credit for all that it's accomplished. But the go-forward environment requires big changes. And whether it is a reduction in the number of full-line stores they have, the acceleration of what may be for the rack,

the continuous pursuit of new and curated brands in their assortment. For all that we know about Nordstrom, the service element and the loyal customers they have is something that needs to be expanded and accelerated, go forward after all that they've accomplished.

Retail analyst Dana Telsey notes Nordstrom's annual revenue peaked at nearly $16 billion in 2019. The company was hit hard by COVID-19. It's never returned to its pre-pandemic highs, and Nordstrom shares fell 1.5% yesterday.

Well, Nathan, a U.S. national security panel has deadlocked in its review of the sale of U.S. steel to Nippon Steel. Let me get more with Bloomberg's Doug Krisner. We're told the Committee on Foreign Investment in the U.S. delivered its final evaluation to the White House late Monday. And as of that moment, President Biden has 15 days to announce a decision.

Now, he's long indicated his opposition to this deal, and he's repeatedly said U.S. deals should remain domestically owned and operated. Even so, the White House has never said flatly that Biden would block it. The companies have signaled they plan to challenge any refusal in court. President-elect Trump has said he would block it, but the timeline means it would be resolved before he takes office.

In New York, I'm Doug Krisner, Bloomberg Radio. Okay, Doug, thank you. Former President Bill Clinton is in a hospital in Washington, D.C. this morning after developing a fever. An aide says he was admitted to Georgetown University Medical Center for testing and observation. The aide says the 78-year-old former president is in good spirits. Bill Clinton has had a number of health issues since he left office. He had quadruple bypass surgery in 2004.

In 2021, he was in the hospital for six days due to an infection. Well, now to the latest on the Trump transition, Nathan. Two top advisors to Donald Trump's campaign are joining an outside group to promote his agenda as president. Chris LaCivita was the campaign's co-manager and Tony Fabrizio was its pollster. They'll now both be senior advisors in the Building America's Future Super PAC. The group?

has already been influential. Last year, it gave $28.3 million to a pair of super PACs that ran ads against Vice President Kamala Harris. Now the group is airing ads aimed at boosting President-elect Trump's contentious defense secretary nominee, Pete Hegseth.

And elsewhere on Capitol Hill, Karen, the House Ethics Committee has released its investigation into former congressman and former attorney general designate Matt Gaetz. The 37-page report accuses the Florida Republican of regularly paying for sex with women, including a 17-year-old girl he didn't know was underage.

as well as buying and taking illegal drugs while he represented Florida's Western panhandle. Here's Bloomberg congressional reporter Billy House on where this case goes from here. There still remain no charges criminally or even civil at this point against him. So there's really no criminal reason why he can't run for public office. If he were to return to the U.S. House,

And there's no indication he's thinking of that. There's been rumors he might run for governor of Florida or some other post. There right now is no reason why he can't do that other than the voters could read this report and, of course, respond in a negative way. Obviously, Bloomberg congressional reporter Billy House says Matt Gaetz has repeatedly denied wrongdoing. He says the ethics committee relied on witnesses that federal prosecutors deemed not credible.

It is 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. Luigi Mangione appeared in a New York State courtroom to enter a plea of not guilty to state murder and terror charges in the fatal shooting of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson. The 26-year-old is charged with 11 counts in the indictment, including first-degree murder in furtherance of terrorism.

Mangione's attorney, Karen Friedman Agnifilio, says she is concerned on her client's right to a fair trial. Like every other defendant, he's entitled to a presumption of innocence. But unfortunately, the way this has been handled so far, his rights are being violated. More with Bloomberg's Missy Egofopolo.

Bloomberg's Missy Agofopoulou.

We're learning more about the suspect in the grisly death of a woman who New York City police say was intentionally set on fire while sleeping in a subway train. Officials said 33-year-old Sebastian Zepeda has been charged with first-degree murder and arson. According to Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Zepeda is an undocumented immigrant from Guatemala.

An ICE official says Zepeda was detained and deported shortly after crossing the border in Arizona in 2018, but later sneaked back into the U.S. A major storm has pounded California's central coast, bringing flooding and high surf that was blamed for fatally trapping a man beneath debris on a beach and later partially collapsing a pier, tossing three people into the ocean.

The storm brought hurricane force winds and waves up to 60 feet as it gained strength from California to the Pacific Northwest. Officials are urging the public to avoid the area. Santa Cruz Mayor Fred Keeley says he fears there could be more damage. I'm very concerned that we will lose additional portions of our municipal water. Some California cities ordered beachfront homes and hotels to evacuate.

President Emmanuel Macron appointed Eric Lombard as France's finance minister. Lombard has the task of repairing the country's finances.

Finally, American astronauts on the International Space Station are sharing holiday wishes. Suni Williams, one of the astronauts who have been stuck in orbit since June due to problems with Boeing's Starlink spacecraft. It's a great time of year up here. We get to spend it with all of our family up on the International Space Station. There's seven of us up here, and so we're going to get to enjoy company together. Global News 24 hours a day and whenever you want it with Bloomberg News Now. I'm Michael Barr. This is Bloomberg, Karen.

All right, Michael Barr, thank you.

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Take your business further at T-Mobile.com slash now. Time now for the Bloomberg Sports Update brought to you by Tri-State Audi. Here's Dan Schwartzman. Dan, good morning. Good morning, Karen. The Packers clinching a playoff berth with a dominating win over the Saints. Wilson again. He is no signal yet. Touchdown. He got in.

That's courtesy of ABC. Packers knock off New Orleans 34-0 in Green Bay. Packers recording the first shutout of the NFL season. Green Bay holding Saints rookie quarterback Spencer Rattler to just 153 yards passing with an interception. Running back Josh Jacobs gaining 107 yards from scrimmage while scoring a touchdown for this sixth straight game. Green Bay improves to 11-4 on the season. The Saints fall to 5-10.

NBA action, the Knicks win their fourth straight, outlasting the Raptors 139-125. Karl-Anthony Towns and OG Anunobi combining for 62 points. Elsewhere, Nets lose at the Heat 110-95. Celtics fall on the road at the Magic 108-104. Wizards get blown out at the Thunder 123-105. Shea Gilgus-Alexander scoring 41 points for OKC. There were fireworks in Philadelphia. Sixers star big man Joel Embiid ejected in the first half.

after picking up two quick technical fouls after arguing a charging call with the referee. Embiid was just playing his eighth game of the season and just his second since coming back from a sinus fracture. Sixers, though, beating the Spurs 111 to 106. In the NHL, Rangers continue to struggle. They lose their 13th game out of 17, 5-0 to the Devils, as Rangers could only muster 12 shots on goal. Elsewhere, the Islanders get blown out at home 7-1 to the Sabres, who snap a 13-game losing streak,

while the Bruins knock off the Capitals 4-1. That's your Bloomberg Sports Update. I'm Dan Schwartzman. 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. President Biden has a big decision to make in his final weeks in office. He will have to decide whether to follow through on his promise to block Japan's Nippon Steel from taking over U.S. Steel.

The secretive national security panel that's been reviewing this deal for just about a year now has deadlocked on its recommendation. For more, we're joined by Bloomberg News senior editor Bill Ferrys. Bill, good morning. We've talked about this before, that President Biden has said he wants to keep U.S. Steel U.S. owned. But have the circumstances changed since this deal's come under CFIUS review?

Well, uh, good morning, Nathan. Yeah. It's been a, basically a year long saga, uh, that for quite a while looked in doubt, mostly because, uh, or at least in large part, because it was still wrapped up. It was getting wrapped up in the presidential campaign cycle. Uh,

U.S. Steel, kind of an iconic American name and brand. So we're past the election. But really, you know, President President Biden has long suggested that he would he would oppose this. He wants to keep the company in U.S. hands. Donald Trump has effectively said the same thing. So it's it's looked pretty grim for Nippon Steel to conclude this takeover. But

You know, I guess there's still, we have 15 days for President Biden to make a decision. The companies, both the companies have vowed to fight a rejection of this deal. It's a $14 billion deal.

And so it's you know, I don't think we're at the point where we can say it's over yet because there's still there's still options available if President Biden decides against supporting this deal. And in the meantime, Bill, Nippon Steel has made a lot of gestures to try to assuage any of these national security concerns. The president, Biden says he has about a Japanese company taking over a U.S. deal. Could that be enough to to sort of sway him here?

You know, the company has tried to they've tried to work with the local union, even when the United Steelworkers, the broad umbrella union, has been opposed to the deal. They have worked with local politicians trying to to win some some support. They've promised, you know, they've promised a lot of things to the workers there. Nippon Steel even hired former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo

who obviously worked for Donald Trump closely to help help persuade them or help advise them on this deal. So they've done a lot. They refiled their proposal, I think, back in September. Whether that's enough, I don't know. I mean, President Biden has obviously passed any election worries, but there are going to be a lot of Democrats opposed to this deal. I think it's it's it's

It's hard to say. I mean, I think the fact that CFIUS, this committee that was looking at the national security implications, kind of deadlock tells you that it's it's kind of a coin toss at this point. Interesting. Now, if President Biden does go ahead and block this and Nippon Steel challenges this in court, does it become an issue for President-elect Donald Trump? And could he handle it differently? Got about 30 seconds left.

Yeah, I think for sure. I mean, listen, President President Trump has always been someone who says he likes to make a deal. So is there something that Japan could do as a as a government and that Nippon Steel could do to maybe make this something that's more appealing to Donald Trump? I would definitely not rule something like that out after he takes office.

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.

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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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