Trump's Davos Address; Zelenskiy Calls for Continued US Support
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Good morning, I'm John Tucker. And I'm Karen Moscow. Here are the stories we're following today. Karen, President Trump takes center stage in Davos this morning. He's going to be addressing the world's financial elite by video link. Bloomberg's Amy Morris brings us a preview of what global Wall Street is expecting. People are on the move.

optimistic in pockets. New York Stock Exchange President Lynn Martin at Davos says most everyone there is already optimistic about the Trump administration, but they do have some questions. The geopolitical landscape is probably the biggest one, tariffs in particular.

And obviously the knock-on effect of questions around tariffs is going to be inflation. The forum says President Trump will address the gathering. That will be followed by a dialogue. Amy Morris, Bloomberg Radio. All right, thanks, Amy. And in a dialogue, he's going to feel questioned from several executives, including Blackstone's Stephen Schwartzman, Bank of America's Brian Boynahan, and Banco Santander chair, Anna Boten. You can catch the entire conversation at 11 a.m. Wall Street time on Bloomberg Radio and television.

Well, John, President Trump is downplaying the national security risks posed by TikTok after offering the social video app a reprieve from legislation that would have forced it to shut down. And Trump spoke with Fox's Sean Hannity. People want to buy it. But those that say they know say it's a...

a spying app for the communist Chinese. But you can say that about everything made in China. Look, we have our telephones made in China, for the most part. We have so many things made in China. So why don't they mention that, you know? The interesting thing with TikTok, though, is you're dealing with a lot of young people. They love it. Is it that important for China to be spying on young people, on young kids watching crazy videos and things?

And under an executive order signed during his first day in office, the president delayed a TikTok ban in the U.S. by an additional 75 days. And in that same Fox interview, Karen, President Trump doubled down on his decision to pardon people who attacked police during the January 6th riots. He said the Capitol convicts were treated like the worst criminals in history.

Most of the people were absolutely innocent. Okay, but forgetting all about that, these people have served horribly a long time. It would be very, very cumbersome to go and look. You know how many people we're talking about? 1,500 people. Almost all of them are, should not have been, this should not have happened. On Monday, Trump pardoned and commuted the prison sentence or ordered the dismissal of charges in all of the 1,500-plus Capitol riot criminal cases.

The acting defense secretary is deploying 1,500 more troops to comply with President Trump's declaration of a national emergency at the southern border. John Roberts-Salesas says he had also approved the use of military aircraft to assist the Department of Homeland Security with deportation flights of more than 5,000 illegal aliens detained by Customs and Border Protection. And Secretary of State Marco Rubio plans to travel to Panama as part of a trip to Latin America as soon as next week.

This trip underscores President Trump's seriousness about taking back the Panama Canal. Sources say Rubio also plans to visit Guatemala, El Salvador and Costa Rica. Well, John, Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky says any effective peacekeeping force deployed in his country will need to include U.S. troops. In an interview with Bloomberg's editor-in-chief, John Micklethwaite at Davos, Zelensky said that his European allies don't have enough soldiers to pose a realistic deterrent to Putin.

It can't be without United States. I will explain you why. Even if some European friends think that it can be, no, it will not be. First of all, nobody will risk without United States. The second, that what can divide NATO, divide EU and USA, that is a goal and dream of Putin, to divide this unity.

And Zelensky's comments come as Trump threatens to impose financial penalties on Russia if it doesn't end the war soon. For the full interview, head over to the Bloomberg Talks podcast feed featuring our most important conversations from Bloomberg Radio, television, and the Bloomberg Terminal. And, Karen, let's turn now to the wildfires in Los Angeles. Fire crews are making progress on stopping the threat from an enormous new blaze. This one's north of Los Angeles. It forced students to evacuate. It prompted inmates to shelter in place.

The Hughes fire has expanded to more than 10,000 acres, but the blaze is now 14% contained. Los Angeles County Fire Chief Anthony Maroney says quick mobilization of resources, including aircraft, had given fire crews a fighting chance. The situation remains dynamic.

And the fire remains a difficult fire to contain, although we are getting the upper hand. Los Angeles County Fire Chief Anthony Maroney. The wildfire stoked fresh fears in a region already devastated by two weeks of deadly infernos.

They've killed 28 people and destroyed nearly 15,000 structures and left thousands displaced. The Palisades and Eaton fires, which caused the bulk of the destruction, they're still burning, but now more controlled at 70% and 95% containment.

And there, John, there's more details emerging involving President Trump's plan to make the U.S. an artificial powerhouse. The information is reporting SoftBank Group and OpenAI each plan to commit $19 billion of capital to the $100 billion project known as Stargate. So that would be an artificial intelligence powerhouse.

The tech outlet says the two companies would then both own 40% of the endeavor. Tech industry players, including Elon Musk, have questioned the lack of details around the venture and its financing. And let's turn to the markets. This is where futures are lower following yesterday's gains on Wall Street. In fact, the S&P 500 closed near a record propelled by optimism over artificial intelligence.

Also, a batch of strong earnings. In every single trading session since last Monday, more than 68% of the S&P 500 stocks have closed higher. That's the first time that's happened since at least 2000, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. And John, we are less than a week from the Fed's first rate decision of the year. Michael Gape and the chief U.S. economist at Morgan Stanley thinks tariffs could have an impact on monetary policy. I don't think there's a

tariffs cause the Fed to hike rates story. Obviously, it's possible. We just don't think it will get that far. But certainly, there's a world where the Fed shifts on the sideline for an indefinite period of time as tariffs gradually get imposed on our trading partners. I'm Morgan Stanley's Michael Gape, and the Fed rate decision is next Wednesday.

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 House has passed a bill to require the detainment of unauthorized migrants accused of theft and violent crimes. It marks the first legislation that will reach President Donald Trump's desk in his second term.

The Lake and Riley Act is named after a Georgia nursing student who was murdered last year by a Venezuelan man, Republican Senator Katie Britt of Alabama. It's huge. I mean, it means that we are making good on the promises we made to the American people, promises made, promises kept, and it's exciting. We're putting the safety and security of Americans first with this common sense piece of legislation, so it's a big deal. The measure passed with bipartisan support in Congress. The

The ceasefire agreement between Israel and Hezbollah in Lebanon is likely to be extended beyond its January 27th deadline. Despite accusations of breaches, Lebanese, Israeli and French government officials involved in the talks say both sides are unlikely to resume full-scale fighting and negotiations are underway to extend the truce. Philadelphia is seeing its first suspected case of bird flu in a snow goose.

The Philadelphia Department of Health says it was found near a park two weekends ago. Leah Stallings with ARC Wildlife Rehabilitation and Education Center says that pet owners need to be aware. It's here. It's everywhere. We can't tell everybody to stay home and just lock themselves indoors.

As concerns about bird flu rise in the U.S., a recent Texas Biomedical Research Institute study suggests a strain found in Texas has mutated in such a way that it can more easily replicate in human cells.

Dr. Amish Adalja, an infectious disease physician with Johns Hopkins, says, though, while it can infect humans, it still isn't able to spread from person to person. What it means is any time that this virus gets into a new host, like a human, it's going to face evolutionary pressures and start to change so that it's more efficient, more able to be viable in a human host. Dr. Amish Adalja with Johns Hopkins.

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. Your customers are important to you, but they won't feel that way if they're stuck messaging a clunky chatbot or waiting on hold for a representative. Estimated wait time is 25 minutes.

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Get TenCheck. Visit TenCheck.com now. Time now for the Bloomberg Sports Update brought to you by Tri-State Audi. Here's John Stashower. John, good morning. Good morning, Karen. Jets fans are hoping Aaron Glenn turns out to be as good a Jets head coach as he was a Jets cornerback for eight seasons starting in 1994. He was the Jets' first-round pick. He's still fourth in team history in interceptions. His post-playing career began as a Jets scout.

worked his way up to be defensive coordinator in Detroit. Now Glenn is the 22nd head coach in Jets history. Only two of the previous 21 ended their tenures with a winning record. A week after St. John's at the Garden came from 14 points down, second half to beat Georgetown. The Red Storm again at MSG rallied from 16 down, beat Xavier 79-71. In overtime, the crowd fired up about the Red Hot team coached by Rick Pitino. We got a roller right now, and winning does that. Look, this is New York.

It's all about winning in New York. If you win, it'll show up. And we know that.

And we're winning right now. We're bringing St. John's back to where it needs to be. They're atop the Big East at 8-1. At Barkley, another Nets loss, beaten by Phoenix, 108-84. Nets have lost 10 of the last 11. In L.A., Celtics beat the Clippers in overtime. Oklahoma City now 36-7 in its win over Utah. Shea Kilgis-Alexander scored 54 points. And Newark Devils, with a four-goal second period, beat the Bruins 5-1.

Women's semifinals at the Australian Open, a big favor to the two top seeds. And right now, Irina Sabalenka leads Paola Bedosa 6-4, 5-2. They'll be followed by Iga Shiantek against American Madison Keys. John Stanshauer, Bloomberg Sports, Karen Lee and John.

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. And it's now 5-12 on Wall Street. We continue our coverage of the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, in conversation with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky. In an appeal to President Trump, he said any effective peacekeeping force in his country must include U.S. troops.

Zolensky making his comments in an interview with Bloomberg editor-in-chief John Micklethwaite. And let's go to that discussion right now. It's great if we will have troops, but we have to understand that the troops will not be in the center of the capital. They will not have relaxed time. Yes, it's very important because

I heard that some allies said that, yes, but it's okay, we can be in the center of some city, and then, no, no, no, we don't need such contingent. You want the front line. Yes, without our people, of course. Yes, because this means security, and that's it. But it can't be. It can't be without the United States. I will explain to you why. Even if some European friends think that it can be, no, it will not be. First of all, nobody will risk it.

without the United States. The second, that what can divide NATO, divide EU and USA, that is a goal and dream of Putin, to divide this unity. And that can be, if only Europeans will be, first of all, they don't have some hundreds of thousands, be honest. No, they don't have.

They don't have such troops. You know that our army is more than 800,000. It's very big by the standards. Second France, 200, a little bit more, 200,000.

and all our partners are there less and less and less. So where they will get some hundreds of thousands. It means that the idea is about to have 10, 20, 30. It's not enough. Do you think Trump will allow? No, I don't know. Do you think Trump will let American troops be in Ukraine after the peace? That is a big thing for him. He is always about taking things back to America. Yes, it's true. For example, if...

For example, it's interesting about it, once with him, not about contingents in Ukraine, but I spoke about our people, I said we have a big army. Look, if we are the part of NATO, and you know Europeans always counted on a big number, like now something more than 80,000 of Americans here, yes, in Europe, NATO soldiers. So something like that, I said,

is that I'm thinking maybe, you know, he always wants his soldiers to be in the United States. Yes, but I said that after the war, we will have hundreds of thousands, hundreds of thousands of people. And if we are in NATO, they can be, they can...

...borders of other countries, if we are in need. But if we are not in need, we are not. Yes. You mentioned China. How important is China in these negotiations? I mean, China is the backer of Russia. They seem to have had an impact on things like...

Putin not using nuclear weapons, those sort of things. Can China push Putin? And do you have any contact with the Chinese? I had some contacts with Xi Jinping. We had phone call during the war. Not much, not enough, I think.

Yes, he can push Putin to peace, I'm sure. I think that only President Trump is the strongest and Xi Jinping. I think that there is no other allies who can really do it. Yes, because his economy, Putin's economy, after everything, depends very much on China and Chinese decisions, decisions of the leader of China. And of course, I think that, who knows, maybe, I don't know, but maybe more spot.

to make a decision and to have dialogue, President Trump with Xi Jinping, about how to together push Putin. You would like Donald Trump and Xi Jinping of China to work together to push Putin? Yes, I think yes. Yes? Can I ask you a bit about the actual war? But not without us. Not without you. It's important.

Can I ask you about the actual war? As you know, the background to this is Russia has been gaining territory. Gained above 4,000 square kilometres last year. What can you do militarily to stop that or reverse it? What do you need from your allies, regardless of peace? It doesn't depend on decisions. We need financing of our internal production of drones first of all.

We are good indeed, but now we want to accelerate and increase the production. We need a lot between us. I don't want to go further to number. And equipment, because we have some brigades, as I said previously, we have some brigades and they are really empty. So they don't have, I mean, this, you know, troops are, when you have people and equipment, not just people,

Yes, or not just equipment. And that's why we need to equip some brigades. This is what's important for today. 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. I'm John Tucker. Join us again tomorrow morning for all the news you need to start your day right here on Bloomberg Daybreak.

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