# Dollar Weakness, Fed Independence, and Tech Earnings

**Podcast:** Bloomberg Daybreak: US Edition
**Published:** 2026-01-28

## Transcript

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There's a lot going on right now.
Mounting economic inequality, threats to democracy, environmental disaster, the sour stench of chaos in the air.
I'm Brooke Gladstone, host of WNYC's On the Media.
Want to understand the reasons and the meanings of the narratives that led us here, and maybe how to head them off at the pass?
That's on the media specialty.
Take a listen wherever you get your podcasts.
Bloomberg Audio Studios, podcasts, radio, news.
Good morning.
I'm Nathan Hager.
And I'm Cameron Moscow.
Here are the stories we're following today.
Karen, we begin with the latest on the tensions in Minneapolis.
President Donald Trump says he is looking to de escalate after the killings of two U.S.
citizens by federal immigration enforcement agents.
The President sent in his border czar, Tom Hallman, to replace Greg Bovino, the Border Patrol commander who had been the face of the crackdown.
But President Trump says he's not letting up with the enforcement.
A man attacked Minnesota Democrat Ilhan Omar during a town hall as she called for consequences over the aggressive enforcement.
We are Minnesota strong, and we will stay with Zillion in the face of whatever they might throw at us.
White House Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller says Gnome's initial statement was based on reports from Border Patrol agents on the ground.
He says they may not have followed the administration's protocols in the lead up to the shooting.
Nathan Apple, CEO Tim Cook is weighing in on the fatal shooting of ICU nurse Alex Pready.
In a memo on Apple's employee website, Cook said he is heartbroken by the events and calls for calm.
Cook added that he discussed the matter with President Trump earlier this week.
Let's get the latest from Bloomberg Meteorologist Craig Allen.
Not again, Craig.
Yeah, Nathan, we're watching that very closely.
We're starting off with the bitter cold this morning and even colder as we go through the west along 90, uh up in Massachusetts.
Right now, listening to us in Boston, it is 13 with a wind chill of minus three.
And down towards DC at Washington National, it's 18.
Dulas, 17, also with wind chills currently in the single digits.
As for that storm, it's developing once again and definitely will form off the mid-Atlantic coastline.
The question we have right now is whether or not that comes up the coast like it did last weekend, or whether or not it'll get pushed just slightly enough out to sea.
Something we will watch right through the next several days, and we'll talk about it more coming up in just a little bit.
Nathan and Karen.
All right, that's Bloomberg Meteorologist Craig Allen.
Thank you.
Craig, we'll be checking back with you throughout the morning.
We want to turn to the markets now, and President Trump will weighing in on the weakness of the dollar.
Bloomberg's John Tucker joins us with the very latest.
John, good morning.
Good morning, Karen.
The dollar suffered its deepest one-day drop since last year's tariff rollout.
No, I think it's great.
I mean, the value of the dollar, look at the business we're doing.
We asked former Dallas Fed President Robert Kaplan about the assertion a weak dollar makes U.S.
goods more attractive.
Yes, it is true.
A weaker dollar boosts uh exports.
President Trump's seeming indifference to the United States has 39 trillion of debt on its way to 40 trillion plus.
And when you have that much debt, I think stability of the currency and accelerate the quiet quitting of assets like U.S.
Treasuries and its dollar debasement pushing gold to a record high.
Gold at 5312 an ounce.
In New York, I'm John Tucker, Bloomberg Radio.
All right, John, thanks.
All this as the Federal Reserve gets ready to make its first rate decision of the year.
That's coming up this afternoon.
And after three consecutive cuts, the central bank is widely expected to leave rates unchanged.
We get a preview from Bloomberg's Michael McKee.
Today's question for the Fed will it be policy or politics?
The central bankers won't be changing the benchmark lending rate, and there's no new dot plot and no new economic forecasts.
For the markets, the issue is whether they get any kind of hints about when or if rates will be cut again.
But for Washington and Wall Street, the overriding question is what impact President Trump's threats might have had on the policy committee, and whether they have convinced Jay Powell to stay on as governor when his term as Fed chair expires in May.
Will Powell repeat his angry response to being subpoenaed by the Justice Department, or will he seek to de-escalate?
Any suggestion Powell may stay on to handicap Trump's efforts to control the Fed will have an impact on the rate outlook.
Michael McKee, Bloomberg Radio.
All right, Mike, thanks.
Be sure to stay with Bloomberg for full coverage of the Fed decision on a special edition of Bloomberg Surveillance.
It starts at 1 30 PM Wall Street time on Bloomberg Radio, Bloomberg Television, and the Bloomberg Podcast Channel on YouTube.
Earnings, Nathan, also in focus after the closing bell.
Microsoft Meta Platforms and Tesla all report this afternoon, and we get a preview with Bloomberg's Tom Busby.
Bloomberg Consensus calls for total revenue of $58.41 billion for its fourth quarter on earnings per share of $8.19.
Meantime, Microsoft is expected to report a 15% rise in sales for its second quarter, but also a record $36.2 billion in just three months on server farms and AI chips to run them.
And thanks to expected growth in its Azure Cloud Computing Unit, Bloomberg Consensus calls for revenue of $80.3 billion on earnings per share of $3.92.
Tom Busby, Bloomberg Radio.
All right, Tom, thanks.
Tech earnings are in focus overseas as well.
We heard from chip machine maker ASML.
The Netherlands based company says fourth quarter orders far exceeded analyst expectations.
The rapid development of artificial intelligence infrastructures boosting demand for ASML's cutting-edge chipmaking machines.
The company also says it plans to cut about 1,700 jobs.
That represents about 4% of ASML's workforce, and the shares this morning are up nearly five percent.
Back here in the Snakes, Nathan, another chipmaker soaring after releasing earnings.
Shares of Texas instruments are up more than seven percent.
The chipmaker gave a robust forecast for the first quarter, indicating that demand for industrial equipment and vehicles is recovering from a rough patch.
On the flip side, Karen, shares of luxury retailer LVMH are down more than seven percent.
Sales at its key fashion unit fell over the holiday season as the Louis Vuitton owner continues to suffer from sluggish demand.
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.
New calls to lower the temperature in the Persian Gulf are coming from the United Nations.
It comes as President Trump promised to pressure Iran following the violent crackdown on protests within the country.
Spokesman Stefan Dujaric on the arrival of the USS Abraham Lincoln aircraft carrier in the Middle East near Iran's border.
Meanwhile, activists say more than 6200 people have been killed in Iran's crackdown on nationwide protests, and nine years old.
Their mom, Cheyenne Hangeman, says they were play more are fear a pond in Bonham when the ice broke and the boys fell in.
Hangeman jumped in after them but was unable to get them out.
I tried to fight for my kids where I had to watch them struggle and drown, and I couldn't help them.
First responders and a neighbor pulled them from the freezing water, but they did not survive.
City leaders say the toll plan is cutting traffic and raising millions.
Global News, 24 hours a day, and whenever you want it.
With Bloomberg News Now, uh Michael Barr, and this is Bloomberg, Karen.
Thanks, Michael.
Time now for our Bloomberg Sports Update.
And for that, we bring in John Stashauer.
Thanks, Karen.
It looked like Novak Djokovic is going to be ousted in the quarterfinals of the Australian Open.
Lorenzo Musetti won the first two cents, but in the third, he injured his right thigh, had to retire.
Jessica Pagula won her quarterfinal match over fellow American Amanda Anisimova.
Nebraska and college basketball took its 20-in-0 record to Michigan.
Two teams both ranked in the top five.
The Wolverines won 75-72.
Yukon beat Providence.
The Huskies are 20 and one.
That's your Bloomberg Sports Update.
Stay with us.
More from Bloomberg Daybreak.
Coming up after this.
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They start every conversation with the question what do you want your wealth to do for you?
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BNY Wealth's multidisciplinary active wealth approach employs these time-tested principles to help ensure that every financial decision actively and intentionally powers their clients' goals while uncovering opportunities that may have been missed otherwise.
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To learn more about how BNY Wealth can help power your wealth goals, subscribe to their podcast, Your Active Wealth, where they offer guidance for building and sustaining wealth in any market.
Again, that's your active wealth.
This is Caroline Hyde.
And I'm Ed Ludlow, inviting you to join us for Bloomberg Tech, a daily podcast focusing exclusively on technology, innovation, and the future of business.
Every weekday, we bring you the top headlines from the world's biggest tech companies.
From finance to defense, AI to entertainment, and from startups to the magnificent seven.
We highlight the latest stories of the people and companies pushing the tech sector to new frontiers and the politics that shape global tech markets.
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This is Bloomberg Daybreak.
Good morning.
I'm Nathan Hager.
After two deadly shootings of U.S.
citizens in less than a month, President Donald Trump is looking to a leadership shuffle to turn around a volatile immigration enforcement surge in Minneapolis.
We have Tom Holman there now.
We put him in there.
He's great.
And they met with the governor, the mayor, everybody else, and we'll we're gonna de escalate a little bit.
That was President Trump speaking to Fox News in Iowa ahead of a rally on the economy.
Joining us now is Bloomberg News National Security Reporter Nick Waddham.
So Nick, it's early days now with Tom Holman in Minneapolis, but are we seeing signs the tensions are cooling now?
Good morning.
Morning.
Uh yeah, I think what you're seeing right now is President Trump essentially saying he wants to uh climb down a little bit after uh the two shootings.
I mean, this issue uh has proven to be so divisive, and and you have seen some conservatives, some members of Congress, uh, even some members of the MAGA base, particularly on the issue of gun rights, because the second uh American who was killed, uh Alex Predi had uh was carrying a gun that he was permitted for.
So it's a it's a very complicated issue for the president that's sort of uh you see the clash of two of his priorities.
Obviously, uh Republicans have tended to support this very strong immigration crackdown, but there is a sense right now that when you when you when you see the the federal agents who uh killed Pretty and the video evidence suggests that he had already been disarmed by the time he was shot, the president.
I mean, it's it's an extraordinary situation to hear President Donald Trump say he wants to de-escalate a little bit is in that quote you just played.
So very much a reflection of of where his uh mind is right now.
And now on Capitol Hill, we're hearing even more calls for her to resign.
Yeah, I mean uh that again, two very competing interests from the president.
One is uh you may see a certain amount of displeasure from him uh against Christy Noam, but at the same time, it has been very much a a policy of his in the second term where he does not want to fire his uh cabinet secretaries and his top leadership.
So in the first term, it was basically a carousel of officials.
He had several uh defense secretaries, chiefs of chief of staff was a rotating job, national Security advisor.
There was there was so much turnover, and he got a lot of critic criticism from that.
This time around, he has really almost uh to a person not fired or replaced anyone in his group because he wants to project an era uh uh an aura of stability.
So what you're sort of seeing more is that officials will stay in their posts, but they might get sidelined.
We're still waiting to see some evidence of that with Christy Noam.
Uh, but uh for the moment at least, he uh um really a determination not to uh have have as high turnover as he had in the first term.
Uh and how high can we say tensions are now when we saw these videos just last night of Democratic Congresswoman Ilhan Omar apparently getting attacked at a town hall.
Right.
So I mean uh the the immediate tension and anxiety around that stepped up enforcement action seems to have eased somewhat.
You are not seeing the open clashes between protesters and federal agents.
They have pulled back a little bit, and you're seeing a lot of uh uh conversations between state leaders who were Democrats and uh the Trump administration.
But when you see that Ilhan Omar attack, what that really reflects is the much deeper and broader sort of tension and anxiety around her in particular, uh, given the degree to which the administration has vilified her.
Now I should say we don't really know much about the person who uh uh sprayed that liquid and and was involved in that incident.
Uh and he is Ilhan Omar has really been a longtime target of the president's, but that also reflects this much broader issue where Congress people have been going out, and some are even reluctant to do town halls because the atmosphere is so charged, and there is so much tension and anxiety uh between the right and left in in the United States right now.
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