| Bloomberg Evening Briefing Americas |
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| Some Wall Street investors and strategists see Donald Trump's pick of Kevin Warsh to lead the Federal Reserve as an odd choice. If confirmed by the Senate, Warsh—despite a track record of supporting higher interest rates because of fears of inflation—will need to navigate a president who has insulted and attempted to fire central bank members in a bid to lower rates and boost a wavering economy. Having won Trump's very public beauty contest with a promise of "regime change" at the central bank, Warsh, 55, has pledged to shrink the Fed's balance sheet and argued that a productivity boom driven by artificial intelligence will keep inflation low. Some see his arrival as a salve for the "Sell America" craze. "Warsh is a data-dependent, Fed-credibility choice, so Fed watchers can breathe a bit of a sigh of relief," said David Robin, an interest-rate strategist at TJM Institutional Services. "Conversely I'm hard-pressed to think Trump would appoint anyone that didn't commit to lower rates over time starting in June. But I think any definitive longer-term market reaction needs time and data." Here's your markets wrap. —David E. Rovella | |
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| Trump turned the search for a new Fed chair into a game show, Jonathan Levin writes in Bloomberg Opinion. The winner is the most curious possible pick. Choosing Warsh is bound to add to market volatility and satisfy no one—probably not even the president. The choice will be a source of tremendous cognitive dissonance across Wall Street and policy circles. While Trump pledged to pick a Fed chair who would usher in easier monetary policy, Warsh has been regarded as a hawk since his five-year stint as a Fed governor ended in 2011. That profile, Levin writes, will make it hard for Warsh to build credibility. | |
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| Earnings reports from some of the largest US manufacturers and transportation companies this week drove home how Trump's policies on trade and energy are putting a squeeze on the sector's profits. Caterpillar, which imports raw materials and parts for construction equipment, said it expects the Republican's levies to cost about $2.6 billion this year. Railroad Norfolk Southern said trade policy is eroding demand for some of its business lines, and shipping giant United Parcel Service said trade flows are shifting in a way that's pressuring margins. Meanwhile, on the energy front, power-equipment company GE Vernova took a hit last month after the Trump administration required work to stop on a wind farm off the coast of Massachusetts. Its wind business recorded a wider-than-forecast $225 million loss last quarter. | |
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| On a day when demonstrators across the US attacked Donald Trump and his deportation campaign in a national day of protest, ICE raids have continued unabated in Minneapolis and Maine, where agents allegedly shattered glass over a 1-month-old baby. At the same time, the White House was engaged in some very mixed messaging.  Demonstrators protest outside the Bishop Henry Whipple Federal Building in St. Paul, Minnesota, on Friday. Photographer: Bridget Bennett/Bloomberg Trump resumed his public attacks on Alex Pretti, using words like "agitator" and "insurrectionist" to describe the 37-year-old ICU nurse who masked Border Patrol agents shot 10 times in the back. Trump echoed previous attacks by aides like Stephen Miller, who called Pretti an "assassin," and Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, who made false statements about him shortly after his killing. Trump's attorney general, Pam Bondi, meanwhile ordered the arrest of journalists who covered a protest at a church whose pastor works for ICE, raising grave First Amendment issues. But also today, the administration said it was reversing a decision not to order a civil rights probe into Pretti's killing. The White House has refused to open a civil rights probe into ICE agent Jonathan Ross's killing of 37-year-old Renee Good, instead choosing to investigate the dead victim's partner.  Alex Pretti and Renee Good Photographer: Michael Pretti/AP Photo; Saul Loeb/AFP/Getty Images The Justice Department's civil rights division, however, has been gutted, former employees have said, with a majority quitting over the past year as its new leadership orders probes of diversity initiatives and alleged voter fraud. Voter fraud, as it turns out, was ostensibly the focus of this week's FBI election records raid on Democratic-leaning Fulton County, which includes Atlanta. State election officials meeting in Washington yesterday warned that the White House through the FBI may intend to corrode public confidence in upcoming midterm elections. Fulton County Chairman Robb Pitts said on National Public Radio that he believes the FBI raid is part of a broader Trump plan aimed at both the 2026 and 2028 elections. | |
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| After flouting a Congressional deadline, the Trump administration released some more of the Jeffrey Epstein files today. The late sex offender it seems considered buying a private jet from Apollo Global Management co-founder Marc Rowan a decade ago, according to emails released Friday by the US Department of Justice. "Jeffrey is asking if he could get the details of Marc's plane for sale ... the hours, photos, any pertinent information!" a representative for Epstein said in a Jan. 12, 2016, email to Rowan's executive assistant. "Possible?" Bloomberg had previously reported that Rowan, who succeeded Leon Black as CEO, attended a meeting at Epstein's Manhattan townhouse roughly a decade ago. The latest cache of files shows Rowan arranged to meet with Epstein multiple times over the years, including at least two gatherings in 2016. | |
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| With Prime Minister Mark Carney preparing to visit India in the coming weeks, Canada's energy minister sees potential for boosting his country's liquefied natural gas exports there. "India has huge demand for new LNG," Tim Hodgson said Friday, shortly after returning from his own trip to what he described as "one of the most important energy markets in the world." Canada is looking at new terminals along its Pacific coast that could bring export capacity to 50 million metric tons of LNG annually by the end of the decade. That's up from about 14 million metric tons today through the LNG Canada terminal in Kitimat, British Columbia, which opened last year. | |
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| Colombia surprised all analysts by raising borrowing costs more than expected as a record minimum wage increase stokes inflation pressure. The central bank lifted its benchmark rate by one full percentage point, to 10.25%, governor Leonardo Villar said after the meeting. That was higher than expected by all 31 economists surveyed by Bloomberg. The move was the first rate increase since 2023, and traders in interest-rate swaps expect the move to be the start of a new monetary tightening phase. "Inflation expectations in January increased sharply," the bank said in its statement. "Economic activity indicators for the fourth quarter of 2025 suggest that GDP maintained a good dynamism." | |
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