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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 the race to the midterms. We are now just 12 days from the elections that will determine control of Congress and final debates were held last night in two of the states with some of the tightest Senate contests. Let's start in Michigan where Republican Mike Rogers faced Democrat Abdul Elsad in a debate sponsored by WXYZ TV. The hour-long exchange turned personal at times with Rogers trying to link Elsai to the Muslim Brotherhood.
If you are going to go to the United States Senate, we need to know, are you for America or are you for these terrorist groups overseas? Meanwhile, Osai tried to tie Rogers to President Trump in an exchange on trade policy. those playing mega bingo at home. You just heard like three of the buzzwords. I just want to be clear. He literally is on record having said that in the long term NAFTA would be good for the American.
What year was that? Abdulad and Mike Rogers also sparred over immigration policy, rising energy prices, and AI data centers. The latest Maris poll shows Elsai in the lead by just two percentage points. That's within the margin of error. Nathan, there was also a debate last night in Kansas. A Republican Senator Roger Marshall is in a tough re-election fight against Democrat Adam Hamilton. The senator aligned himself with President Trump on the reason for high diesel prices in the debate hosted by Fox 4 Kansas City.
The real problem with the cost of diesel in particular is number one is the Ukraine war and because of that diesel production has gone down and but beyond that why are we dependent upon diesel imports? It's because of the Green New Deal policy that my opponent supports. Senator Marshall's comments drew a sharp response from Adam Hamilton. What you said just now is you're going to sell out our friends in Ukraine. That's not okay. And by the way, our red wheat in Kansas came from Ukraine from people who immigrated here. You're going to sell out Ukraine. That's just not okay. It's indecent.
Polling averages show Roger Marshall and Adam Hamilton virtually tied in a state that has not elected a Democrat to the Senate since 1932. Now, along with the Senate races, Karen, there was a debate in the race for Minnesota governor last night hosted by Fox 9 in the Twin Cities and Gray Media. Democratic Senator Amy Clolobashar tried to tie her opponent, Republican State House Speaker Lisa Damoth to the National Party.
We need a governor who is not a rubber stamp of Donald Trump and we need a governor that's going to focus on you and not just do the bidding of a billionaire from Wisconsin that's paid for 80% of her ads. But Lisa Damoth argued that Amy Clolobashar would be a rubber stamp for the outgoing governor. What we haven't heard from Senator Clolobashar is how she has separated herself from Tim Walls. She never has once come up with a policy that she disagrees with uh Tim Walls on. Well, the latest Real Clear Politics average shows Amy Clolobashar leading Lisa Damoth in the polls by more than eight points.
Along with the debates, Nathan, President Trump is keeping up his midterm rallies. The president returned to South Carolina last night to keep Republican Senator Darlene Graham in the seat left behind by her late brother Lindsay. And after Darlene's brother, I loved her brother. That guy was a great guy and a great he was a seriously good politician by the way in case anyone's wondering. It was good. And President Trump's rally comes with Darlene Graham leading her Democratic opponent Annie Andrews by less than three points in the latest Real Clear Politics average. The president won South Carolina by roughly 18 points just two years ago. And President Trump will continue his swing through red states into next week.
Karen, the Republican National Committee says he'll headline a rally for Republican Senator Cindy Hyde Smith on Monday in Mississippi, a state the president won by more than 22 points in 2024. The party in power typically loses congressional seats in midterm elections, but former Republican House Speaker Kevin McCarthy says he does not think we'll see a Democratic blue wave on November 3rd. It won't be like when we when Obama was in and we won 63 seats or in when Clinton was in and for the first time in 40 years Republican took over. They'll get a majority. I'm not quite sure how big it is, but they will probably win
the majority. The real battle is for the Senate. Former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy spoke to Bloomberg's Hustinda Amin from the Barclay's Asia Forum in Singapore. Well, Nathan, as the midterm elections approach, check out Bloomberg's Washington edition, the newsletter about money, power, and politics in the nation's capital. Our journalists provide reporting and insights through the lens of business, markets, government, and the economy. Sign up now for free at bloomberg.com/newsletters. Well, Karen, let's turn to the Middle East now where the US is ordering some diplomats and their families to leave Saudi Arabia because of the threat from
Houthi militants. The Iranbacked group has been carrying out more strikes from Yemen. At least four people were killed in attacks on an Aramco oil site and an eastern airport in Saudi Arabia yesterday. Russian President Vladimir Putin, Nathan, says Moscow is ready to resume trilateral negotiations with the US and Ukraine on a potential peace deal. The Kremlin says Putin made the offer during talks with President Trump's envoy, Steve Witkov. We get more from Bloomberg's national security editor, Ian Marlo. One thing to stress is also that no one really feels like anything has changed in terms of um the dynamics. Everyone knows sort of what Russia wants, what Ukraine wants, where the red lines are.
The issue is the political will to get there and I don't think anyone is saying that political will has changed either in, you know, Putin's eyes or in Zilinsk's eyes in terms of compromise. Bloomberg's Ian Marlo. Yesterday, the Trump administration praised Putin as a humanitarian for releasing a detained US citizen. Turn to markets now. Karen, NASDAQ futures are plunging. They're down nearly 2% but they rose after hours after better thanex expected earnings from Meta Platforms and uh those shares in the pre-market are down nearly 2%.
Meta's third quarter revenue did rise 26% to more than $64 billion that topped estimates. CEO Mark Zuckerberg told investors a pricey wager on artificial intelligence is paying off. He touted the success of Meta's new Muse agent during the conference call with analysts. We are building out the capacity to serve more than a billion people over the next few years. In the near term, Muse is very compute inensive to run. Uh but we expect to improve its cost efficiency by more than 10x in the next year, which will enable it to be profitable once the revenue lines are at scale. Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg also boosted the company's capital spending plans for the year. After threatening to move Meta's headquarters from California because of
a proposed California wealth tax, Nathan Meta has struck an unusual bargain with its billionaire chief executive. The Facebook and Instagram owner is giving him non- voting shares that he can sell to cover a multi-billion dollar tax bill without relinquishing control of Meta. In return, Zuckerberg has committed to staying in California or wherever Meta keeps his headquarters for the next eight years while he remains a full-time leader in Europe. Karen, one of the world's biggest banks is cutting jobs and it's because of AI. Bloomberg's Euan Pototts is in London with the latest. Ewan, Nathan and Karen, 5,000 jobs are to go at Barclays. The Londonbased Bank says it's cutting about 5% of total headcount
as it adopts artificial intelligence across the group. About 60% of the job cuts will be in support functions, including among developers. Barklay says it's focusing on simplifying the organization and increasing efficiency. The CEO telling investors the bank will employ AI at scale, but the AI is the icing on the cake and not the cake. In London, I'm Yuan Pots, Bloomberg Radio. 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 John Tucker. John, good morning. And good morning, Karen. The annual cost of a family's employer provided health
care plan has now reached an average $28,300 this year, 5% more than last year. These are the latest findings in the annual survey conducted by the health policy nonprofit KFFF just out this morning. While employers put most of the bill, workers still contributing 9% more than last year. A retired police detective has been charged with murder for that shooting on the George Washington Bridge. More from Bloomberg's Courtney Dano. 62-year-old Victor Romero was arrested in what police described as a road rage incident. He's a retired narcotics investigator for the NYPD. The victim is identified as 46-year-old Corin Irvine, a worker from Coned, who was on his way
home after an overtime shift. He died from a gunshot wound while driving on the George Washington Bridge. A bullet hole could be seen in the rear passenger side window of his car. 25 years ago, Romero was shot during an attempted robbery and what police described as a furious close quarters gun battle. Courtney Dano, Bloomberg Radio. Your New York City schools are facing tough choices due to dwindling enrollment. New York City is the country's largest public school system. The city's schools chancellor now says they may have to merge some schools. Pope Leo greeting the faithful in St. Peter Square yesterday for the first time since his cancer surgery. And final testing shows the Pope's cancer was
localized and an evaluation confirmed no further treatment is necessary. Global News 24 hours a day and whenever you want it with Bloomberg News Now. I'm John Tucker. This is Bloomberg. Karen, thanks. John, time now for our Bloomberg sports update. And for that we bring in John Stash Hour. Thanks Karen. Game three of the WNBA finals. A blowout win for Atlanta 97 to 71 over Golden State. Angel Reese 21 points, 12 rebounds, and the dream lead the series 2 to1. Among the NBA season openers, Minnesota with a blowout win at Miami. Anthony Edwards scored 45 points for the Timberwolves. Gianniso scored 35 in his first game with the Heat. The NFL game tonight, Patriots and Bears in Chicago. Both teams come in four and
two. That's your Bloomberg sports update. Stay with us. More from Bloomberg Daybreak coming up after this. Coast to coast on Bloomberg radio, nationwide on SiriusXM, and around the world on Bloomberg.com and the Bloomberg Business App. This is Bloomberg Daybreak. Good morning. I'm Nathan Hager. Nearly 5 years after the full-scale invasion of Ukraine, Russian President Vladimir Putin now says he is willing to resume three-way talks with Ukraine and the US to bring the conflict to an end. This came after talks with White House envoy Steve Witkov that had the US envoy calling the Russian leader humanitarian for releasing an American prisoner after four years. President Trump was asked if he agrees.
I wouldn't say anything one way or the other. you know, we're negotiating with Russia to stop the war with Ukraine. Well, that was President Trump speaking with reporters at the White House yesterday. Joining us this morning once again is Bloomberg's head of Russia economy and government coverage, Tony Halpin. Great to speak with you, Tony. Of course, we've been talking about the pressure that Ukraine's president says he's been feeling over the last several days and weeks. Now, with this meeting between Putin and Witoff ending with this possibility of new talks, what's the setup for what those talks could look like? Good morning.
Morning, Nathan. Well, yes, as you've noted, um, President Putin agreed to resume these talks uh, with US and Ukrainian officials. It looks like they'll be at a technical level between lower level officials discussing things like uh security matters uh questions about where front lines are going to be drawn um issues uh such as um air defenses. But um the bigger question about uh a meeting between the three leaders um still has to be addressed and and that's very important. The Ukrainian President Zilinski has made clear that he doesn't see a resolution to this war being possible until he and Putin get to sit down and make final decisions. And that's something that's not on the table
and it wasn't offered by Russia yesterday. And there's still a lot of disagreement as well, isn't there, on what the parameters for a ceasefire would look like, especially after that energy ceasefire that President Trump said was happening, but uh it seems like it kind of fell by the wayside almost from the get-go. Yes, that's right. Um Zilinsky has said very clearly that he's willing to have a ceasefire on any terms pretty much immediately. But um Putin has made clear that he doesn't want to abide by any ceasefire while negotiations are taking place. He thinks that will give Ukraine and its European allies an opportunity to regroup and rearm. And so he wants to continue the war even as he says he's
now willing to resume negotiations. So it doesn't look really very hopeful that there would be a ceasefire while talks take place and um that means that the war goes on. What to make of this announcement that the American teacher uh Steven Hubard has been released after 4 years in custody. President Trump had said there wasn't anything that the US gave in return. But of course uh there's also the deal on diesel and the waiver on sanctions. Uh what's the takeaway from that? Yes, it's clearly very welcome to Mr. Hubard's family, but in terms of the bigger picture, it seems to be part of some kind of flattery strategy that the
US has adopted to coax and encourage Mr. Putin to end the war and come to the table for negotiations. But Ukraine is very clear that it doesn't see appeasement as the best way forward here. Last night, for example, just hours after the talks, uh Kiev was hit with what Ukraine says were 21 ballistic missiles and more than 200 drones. So, um, they think that the only way forward really is to bring Putin to the table through a show of force rather than trying to flatter him, though. 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 6:00 a.m. Eastern each morning on Apple, Spotify, or anywhere else you listen.
You can also listen live each morning starting at 5:00 a.m. Wall Street time on Bloomberg 1130 in New York, Bloomberg 991 in Washington, Bloomberg 929 in Boston, and nationwide on SiriusXM 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 5 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.
