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tv   Bloomberg Markets  Bloomberg  January 18, 2024 1:00pm-2:00pm EST

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>> welcome to work markets. let's get started with a quick check on the markets, now in the green. snapping two days of the clients on the s&p 500, up .2%. the nasdaq 100, up about .8%. that is all as yields stay roughly stable. the two year and 10 year are parting ways. the two-year is relatively flat. we will keep an eye on that all week.
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also in oil markets, a lot of repricing. crude up above $74. 2.2% higher on the day. a very volatile market. i want to flip up the board. beside macro it is an earnings day. some green. 's really feeling the s&p 500. up 7% on the day. . also driving up most semi conductors stocks in the nasdaq 100, the s&p 500. semi conductor index. mostly in the green. here is the red. discover financials, operating expenses coming in higher-than-expected for the full year of 2024. down 11% on the day. that is the worst performance from discover since july of last year. humana is down more than 11% on the day.
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it is dragging down a lot of related stocks in that sector. birkenstock now trading below its ipo price at $45 a share, down almost 10% on the day. we will bring in abigail doolittle to see what is going on across the board. abigail: that was a great breakdown on some of the earnings movers. they are part of the roughly $1.1 trillion in market cap reporting. we had the big banks in the past. about $2.2 trillion reported. starting next week is when the big, big companies get going. over the next three weeks we will have $30ed airlines, proct& gamble, halliburton, 3m, at&t just to name a few. the trends so far have not been great because we are in an earnings revision moment to the
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downside more than the upside. this is delving. . into this earnings season starting back in october and this trend of downside revisions goes many weeks prior to this week in october. lots of downside revisions to earnings. just a few to the upside. the s&p 500, there is a real disconnect. we have this earnings recession. we will see it clearly in the bloomberg terminal. the s&p 500 is up 20%. the earnings estimate has gone down from about 220 to right now it is -- excuse me, 215. a revision to the downside. earnings down, stocks up. it usually does not work that way. i think what people are waiting for is mega cap tech in that three week period of some big companies. over the last year, big gains.
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if we put the s&p 500 index on this board, up just 4%. the pressure is really on for some of these companies to deliver big results. apple, their valuation at 27, 28 times, historically very rich. relatives to earnings and revenue, looking for single-digit growth. will not get the job done? it will be interesting to see if we can have revenue down and starts up. sonali: a lot riding on these companies and investors. joining us to continue this discussion is beata manthey, the citigroup pet of equity strategies -- the citigroup head of equity strategies. what is the biggest risk going into earnings seasons for the biggest companies ahead of us? beata: the positioning. the biggest risk is the positioning overall in particular for europe does not
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happen very often, it has gone very stretched. we are almost at a normalized historical highs in terms of positioning. in terms of entering into the earnings season, we think this year will be particularly important and the focus of the investors will be on the eps delivery. many sectors have gone to stretched valuations. even if they can deliver on earnings they can be justified. i think that's rational for delivery is quite high. how much sonali: pressure is there on the bottom lines. . further deceleration of inflation. we are seeing a number of companies not willing or able to meet expectations given the expense line. how much risk is there there? beata: the dynamics of inflation
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could definitely put pressure. we only see proper margin compression in deeper eps for sessions. the set up for this year, the dynamics to watch is eps broadening. last year has been quite subdued growth. let eps -- flat eps. underneath the surface of this fla eps growtht, a lot of differences across the sectors. what we find in europe is out of the sectors, only two have not had a proper meaningful eps recession over the past two years. that is how long the pressures on the corporate sector have been lasting.
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the expectations for europe are lower than they are for the u.s. that is an important dynamic to watch out for. the broadening of eps, sectors that have suffered from recessions like semi conductors that you mentioned at the beginning globally, especially in the emerging markets, they will start picking up their eps into this year. what that means for equity performance means broadening eps issue are moving away from the magnificent seven, very few stocks driving returns for overall equity markets in the u.s. sonali: how do you think about valuation when you have a discount rate that keeps fluctuating? beata: valuations are particularly stretched globally. they are richer in the u.s.
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that is part of the story where we are pushing the eps broadening market performance. it will be a catch up for other sectors or companies that do not look as rich as some. this is the key dynamic to watch for this year. sonali: how do you think about the global year? you look at valuations of the magnificent seven in the u.s. and you have investors linked to put on risk globally and international equities. where do you think the most opportunity is? beata: we have this model that tries to capture what type of eps model is priced by different parts of the market. if you were just buying analyst predictions for the eps growth, you would go for the highest growth, the u.s. and emerging markets. all the regions around the world outside of australia are
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expected to grow. the u.s. and emerging markets are expect to grow the most. what matters is also market expectations. this model tells me european markets expectations, eps growth are far below analysts' consensus. the market is pricing in flat eps growth. 5% to 10% contraction a few months ago. it is still just flat. conservative eps growth assumptions. for the u.s., it is a double-digit eps growth expectation. the u.s. is -- the markets pricing agrees with the analysts expectations for eps growth. this is quite an important point of differentiation. equity markets are more bearish for the outlook on europe versus
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the u.s. sonali: certainly an important moment for corporate earnings to set the tone for the rest of the year. coming up next, we are just learning google will invest $1 billion into a new u.k. data center. part of our interview with u.k. chancellor jeremy hunt from davos is up next. this is bloomberg. ♪ thanks to avalara, we can calculate sales tax automatically. avalarahhhhhh what if tax rates change? ahhhhhh filing sales tax returns? ahhhhhh business license guidance? ahhhhhh -cross-border sales? -ahhhhhh -item classification? -ahhhhhh does it connect with acc...? ahhhhhh ahhhhhh ahhhhhh how am i going to find a doctor when i'm hallucinating?
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constant contact delivers all the tools you need to help your business grow. get started today at constantcontact.com constant contact. helping the small stand tall. sonali: this is bloomberg markets. i am sonali basak. we learned in the past few minutes that google is investing
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$1 billion to build a new data center in the u.k. jeremy hunt spoke with francine lacqua in davos about the news. chancellor hunt: it is a big sign of confidence. what i'm detecting in davos is -- one of the great technology centers in the world. the third-largest tech economy after the u.s. and china. -- size of anywhere else in europe. companies like google are reflecting that in their investments. this is $1 billion to improve their data processing. people who use google facilities like gmail will get a faster service. sonali: for more on the investment we are joined by ed ludlow. what does google gain from expanding its presence in the u.k. at this point in time gekko ed: continuity for google cloud. it is a 33 acre site in north london. data center infrastructure.
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$1 billion is about right in terms of the type of investment needed to build out infrastructure like that. the line from the u.k. government and google is it will add new roles. for context, it is great to hear my hometown, london, is being put on the map in terms of global technology markets. google has around 7000 people in the u.k. it has more than 182,000 people globally. that gives you a sense of where the u.k. sits in its priorities. sonali: even if there is a general amount of head count that is not expensive given elsewhere in the world, what does it mean for regulation for google? it probably has interesting ramifications for property pricing. ed: that is a very interesting point. there are a number of companies
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making u.k. investments and have a footprint there. in the ai context, do not forget there is a long history of google and google deep mind having a footprint. nvidia, for example, has been working with the u.k. government to build out the computing infrastructure the u.k. helps will support infrastructure in the country. the ukcma showed in the activision deal there will be a presence in antitrust in the post-brexit world. that answers your question on the regulatory standpoint. the way that hunt bills it is u.k. is becoming the third biggest market, it is probably a distant third. i do not know what data he is basing that on but probably a pound or dollar value. he talked about wanting to
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attract u.k. listings. that has not been the case. they chose to do a u.s. listing during cambridge u.k. talking to sources, most of their activities in the bay area around the u.s., not the u.k. it is an interesting dynamic. sonali: $1 billion certainly does not hurt. thank you to ed ludlow for the context. jeremy hunt spoke to francine lacqua about the u.k. economy and the global risks that investors face ahead. take a listen. chancellor hunt: i think when investors look around the world at the instability in other countries, the rise of populist far right parties in many parts of europe, they say even with elections -- we are a democracy -- the u.k. is a stable, long-term bet. they are seeing something to have not seen before. the technology sector is so vibrant in the u.k. that they
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cannot afford not to be there. francine: will you tell investors that we will see a corporation tax cut? chancellor hunt: they have already seen a huge corporation tax cut. capital allowances. for investors investing capital, they get 25% discount off their corporation tax bill, which is more attractive than any other major country. we will continue to do everything we can to get the tax burden down. that is a choice we have of the country because other parties would increase the tax burden and increased borrowing. we think that way we grow the economy is reducing taxes. francine: will that happen in the next budget statement and will that be the last financial event before the election? chancellor hunt: early days for the budget. it is on march 6. i have not seen the final figures. the headroom i will have to play with i do not know.
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i can tell you what i want to do because i look around the world and i see that north america, asia, were generally countries have lower taxes in europe, they are growing faster. in europe, our taxes tend to be higher and we are growing more so the. if i can i want to reduce the tax burden and make the u.k. more competitive and dynamic. francine: will you deliver a statement or we willie have an election before the -- or will we have an election before that? chancellor hunt: this is a decision for the prime minister. what i have to do as chancellor 's make sure i set the economy on the right track. the main reason people vote conservative is a trust us with the economy. they can see our record and see we brought inflation down from 11.1% to 4%. we have aborted a recession although many people predicted we would get one. -- we have afforded -- we have
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avoided a recession although many people predicted we would get one. sonali: still ahead, we will speak with the founder about their ipo. this is bloomberg. ♪
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sonali: this is bloomberg markets and i am sonali basak. palmer square capital management has started trading today. it focuses on leveraged loans and has $28 billion under management. we are joined by chris long on a day when your listing of bdc -- the ipo market has been fairly closed. there are a lot of questions around credit. how did you get through the door of this ipo market? chris: it is a momentous day for palmer square. our strategy is different from
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the traditional bill market bdc. we have an opportunistic credit strategy where we can be more active on a risk-management basis. we can navigate markets and see the stresses and opportunity and do step to generate yield and total returns. investors saw that and we are so pleased to be here now. sonali: if you think about the opportunity and stresses, there are certainly both. people are starting to get less worried about a severe recession. they are diving into riskier parts of the credit market. how are you sourcing opportunities right now and where is the issuance coming from given how weak the leverage loan market has been of late? chris: we play in multiple markets. from a sourcing perspective we are in a broad syndicated market which is about $1 trillion in value. we are doing large direct private credit which has taken off over the last 12 to 24 months. we can move within markets and
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navigate as things ebb and fl between stress andow animal spirits. have it keep going. sonali: where are the stresses most profound? chris: we believe if you look at the smaller market lending community, you are seeing interest coverage ratios which range from one time to maybe 1.5. if you do have an economic slump and people around those companies will be under stress. it will be interesting to see how private credit firms react. for us, strategically, we place ourselves in the large loan category. there are a lot of healthy fundamental backdrop to them. sonali: speaking of a fundamental backdrop, we are getting questions from viewers about geography. what else are you avoiding? there are fears under the surface about credit. chris: great question.
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one thing for us is overweight noncyclicals. it is a challenge when you look at certain industries. you take a chemical type space. you add-on leverage and uncertainty around rates and the global nature of an industry such as chemicals, it is hard to forecast. we find ourselves more in recession resistant revenue businesses like software. some elements of insurance brokerage, business services. sonali: you mention private credit earlier. the buzz word of 2023. going into 2024, it got so big that people are worried about systemic risks. where do you think risks lie in the private credit industry and how do you navigate that from where you are sitting echo chris: we think the risk lies in the middle market transactions that have occurred over the last 3, 4, 5 years. there has been a lot of froth in underwriting due to how much
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capital has been raised in that particular area. from our vantage point, one thing we like is that is an opportunity for us if that stress does unfold. there will be different constituencies, direct private credit, the banks, to see how this all unfolds. we stand ready with a more liquid strategy that we could take advantage of some of those. sonali: when it comes to private credit there are questions about the money pouring into the space. is there too much money chasing too few deals? chris: there is no doubt there is so much private equity dry powder. financing is picking up as people want to get in front of the upcoming maturity wall. there are already a lot of activity you see as far as general strategic behavior, not even private equity backed by strategic. we believe the growth is healthy
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but it is something to stay on top of. sonali: really quickly, do you think this is the return of the private credit megadeal and do you want in on it? chris: we are company specific. i think you will see megadeals. we would obviously look at it. sonali: our thanks to chris long of palmer square capital management on the first day of trading. we will talk about the senate voting today on a bill to avert a government shutdown. we will discuss that with greg valliere. much more on that and the markets, up next. stick with us. this is bloomberg. ♪
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jon: this is bloomberg markets. sonali: let's get a quick check on the markets because we're snapping two days of losses but not by much. s&p 500 up about .1%. the nasdaq 100 up about .6%. both indices heavily impacted by the excitement about semiconductor stocks as we saw results from tsmc. the two-year yield a little movement, under the hood we know a rapid repricing of those
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expectations for march rate cuts. also new york crude, take a look, up about 2%, now over $74. jon: let's dig into some of the stocks on the move today. you referenced the bullishness in the chip sector today. at the top of the stocks index we are seeing continued outperformance from taiwan semi, setting the stage for this tech advance we have seen today. some encouraging outlook comments, ai-fueled of course these days. we are seeing investors give apple a fresh look. the stock has been struggling this year but bank of america bullish on the vision pro product. they think that can be a window into selling more hardware and services and they are more optimistic on iphone demand than some analysts have been recently. outlooks are going to be very
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important to stock performance. we are seeing that play out with these names as well. fasten all at an all-time high as the tool player really delivered come up more than 5.5%. health insurers have been to a certain degree struggling. hume anna has been dealing with higher costs. sonali: a third commodity carrier has been hit in the red sea in the course of three days. the chaos from the houthi attacks in the area has only seemed to escalate since the u.s. and u.k. decided to back to back airstrike. kailey leinz has the latest. kailey: the u.s. of course is trying to go after the houthis capabilities to target vessels in the red sea. we have seen three consecutive days of strikes, the latest today targeting to missiles the u.s. says were ready to launch.
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that is after yesterday they targeted 14 missiles central command says were posing an eminent threat to vessels in the waterway. that is what the u.s. is trying to do. but the thing is the houthis are still attacking ships which means their capabilities have not been fully wiped out. that raises the question of how much further the u.s. is going to go. president biden with him the last several hours was asked how effective the strikes has been and his quote to reporters was, are they stopping the houthis? no. are they going to continue? yes. the u.s. will continue until perhaps there is more security for vessels in the region. but the houthi chief was speaking in a televised address saying the houthis are in direct confrontation with the u.s. and the u.k. because the u.k. has been involved in some of these u.s.-led strikes. also saying their capabilities have not been impacted and they are working to improve their military capabilities. no sign from the houthis that
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they are going to let up here. jon: the white house has been very careful in his language to try and focus the conversation on the disruption in the red sea as opposed to this being part of a larger tension in the middle east. of course we have seen different language from the houthis. i wonder how the white house is going to navigate further commentary on that front. kailey: they will certainly continue to be careful because you are right, on the one hand while they want protection for vessels in the red sea considering it is so important for trade, on the other they are trying to tread carefully and not escalate this into a broader regional conflict. keep in mind the houthis are an iranian proxy, backed by tehran. drawing into direct confrontation with iran is a much scarier proposition. n iran dismissed-- iran striking a militant group in pakistan. pakistan returning the strikes on iranian territory, seeing the
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direct strikes on the borders is something that may add to this concern about what is happening between israel and hamas in the middle east and what these -- and widening into something much larger. sonali: our thanks to kailey leinz for keeping an eye on all matters washington. meanwhile in the u.s. we are going to talk about the senate because it will vote today on a stopgap funding bill that would continue government funding through early march and avoid a partial government shutdown this weekend. for more we are joined by greg valliere, agf investments chief policy strategist. talk us through the dynamics of this negotiation. and as we all know, one negotiation only sets us up for the next negotiation. so what are the complications? greg: lots and lots of complications. the same old dysfunctional story of being unable to get a budget done. i think the senate today will pass its version which kicks the can down the road until early march. but the house is not there yet.
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they might pass something tomorrow but i don't think house conservatives are ready to get a final deal. so for our allies, they are looking at the u.s. being averse to getting really involved in spending more money on defense. sonali: what does this mean also for the fiscal state of the united states as well? all of this is happening against the backdrop of increasing treasury issuance, some of which is creating hiccups in new funding. greg: you have a lot of conservative republicans who say enough is enough and we had a deficit in the last fiscal year of nearly $2 trillion. so certainly they have a point. but the other big issue that has to be resolved is the border, immigration. and right now i do not see a bill making much progress. jon: now greg, obviously there is this short-term budgeting reality coupled with a long-term
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plan that also has to come together. and it gets messy, as you alluded to. for speaker mike johnson, who was clearly brought in to try and navigate some of the previous uncertainty, what task lies ahead for him? greg: he is on a very short leash, jon. and i do think that if he decides he is going to get some stuff done by banding together with democrats, there are some conservatives in the house were looking at johnson the same way they looked at kevin mccarthy. if johnson strays too far away from the pack, he could lose his job. jon: now, republicans obviously are very busy in the dialogue right now but they're all saying -- also watching the campaign trail and we will be shifting our attention to new hampshire. what are you watching after how things played out in iowa? greg: i still think trump is going to win new hampshire. you might see nikki haley finish a close second but trump is going to pull out all the stops.
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he is making fun of her name and saying she is not qualified to be president because her parents somehow were not u.s. citizens. that is despicable. but the second thing is interesting. trump is making social security an issue, saying that hailey's advocacy of reform could hurt senior citizens. sonali: what does this mean for what a potential budget could look like in even a republican administration? there has been a lot of conversation around both parties flying away with fiscal responsibility. greg: i don't think we are going to spend as much of this fiscal year as we did the last money. it is still a ton of money but it is not quite as much. the conservatives in the house have a real problem with the spending. whether it is for ukraine defense or whatever. i do think the final product, which may not come until well into the spring, may not spend quite as much money as last year. sonali: i think a lot of investors are looking around
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thinking about how to think about the run-up up to the election. what do you tell them? greg: well, it's about money, it's about momentum, it's about donald trump. trump, despite the fact he slipped a bit in the polls in new hampshire, is still the clear favorite. i have been saying for weeks that by march 5, super tuesday, i think the race essentially will be over and trump will be the presumptive nominee by that day. jon: i guess on the campaign trail, we have to continue to observe how trump's legal matters impact his ability to be on the campaign trail. but an additional question based on what you are watching in washington right now, is the shutdown risk something to consider in terms of having an impact on the campaign trail as well? greg: i don't think it will have a big and packed. the big policy impact continues to be immigration. it has not been quite as heavy as it was a few weeks ago, but
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it is still the dominant issue. it was in iowa. i think it will be a big issue in new hampshire. from all i can tell, there is not a deal that is close. i don't see the white house with a plan, i don't see mike johnson with a plan. sonali: our thank you to greg valliere. a seriously complicated road ahead, and stay with us for our coverage of the new hampshire primary with special coverage monday and tuesday of next week. coming up, we are going to talk about discover, because the stock is tumbling today as it posted a huge drop in profit. it is our stock of the hour up next. this is bloomberg. ♪ (upbeat music) there's more to business
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jon: this is bloomberg markets. time now for our stock of the hour segment. we're watching discover shares, on pace for one of their worst days in recent years. the company quite literally paying the price for years of not investing enough in areas like risk management and compliance. lapses there has forced the company to beef up those areas of spending and ultimately that is taking a big bite of discovers bottom line in the market is responding to that today. sonali: joining us to talk more is been elliott, bloomberg intelligence credit card analyst. how much does discover have to contend with in terms of issues going into this year? ben: look, discover is historically a very conservative country put they like to give asymmetric guidance which means they aim low and try and exceed
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the bar. what they have done this time around is maybe they have set the bar a little too low for themselves. so they have a lot to contend with. but there is a clear guide path through the first half of the year for them to get a lot of this wrapped up. what they wanted to set up was sort of a recovery and a series of catalysts. in the back half of the year with the market is focusing on is what went wrong this quarter. sonali: also some of these issues they had cited late last year, ms. classifying credit card accounts, merchants being overcharged, suspended share repurchases. this is all of course leading to operational costs higher because of more costs. at what point does a reputational hit also matter? ben: that is a good point. they are sort of well known as being a high client service business. so i don't know necessarily that
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there reputational risk is going to be a huge drag. these are things that are in the past for them. a lot of them were mostly focused on their relationship with merchants and processors. and they have done a lot of work and there has been a lot of ongoing negotiations with their merchant network and so that is improving relatively quickly. the real reputational risk was on the student lending side. one of the bigger stories of 20 will be discover is dumping their student loan portfolio. that will free up a lot of capital and should reduce some ongoing reputational risk they have been dealing with since 2020 and structurally improve their profitability. jon: what about on the ceo front? we have been tracking this story in canada as well. the new ceo had been a senior executive at td bank, which has a big presence in the u.s. as well, but he was seen as a possible successor at td. he is stepping in.
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what will you be watching for? ben: it is not impossible that this overly pessimistic guidance discover came out with is related to the leadership change. a lot of the problems discover has had in the last 18 months was related to previous leadership. so this could be a way to reset the bar, clear the field, let him come in and put some regulatory issues to bed. and if everything goes well, discover it would like to see buybacks resumed sometime after results in july or august. that would be a big win for the new ceo. jon: one thing that you had been writing about is the fact if we are going to compare this to other financials being branch less, something that could be an advantage when it comes to the financial outlook from here, can you walk us through that? ben: discovery, usually their
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efficiency ratio is in the 30's. some peers are in the 50's or 60's or higher, for some regional banks. discover makes a lot of money, it is a very efficient business model. as soon as they work through some of this compliance-related spending, the court thesis generates high teens, mid 20's roe's, and that doesn't seem set to change in a long-term. jon: ben elliott joining us, covering the discover story for bloomberg intelligence. we will keep tags on that. when we come back, warning u.s. growth could slow in the coming months. we will hear from the ceo next. this is bloomberg. ♪
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>> 2024 is starting off from a banking but if quite well. >> we are quite strong in 2024 as all of those investment are going towards nato. but the direction of travel is the same. >> we are conscious because the economy is slowing down. >> the regulatory environment is uncertain in the u.s. the rules. >> capital does not seem to make sense. >> regulators are looking in the wrong place. >> looking to over regulate the banks. >> it is going to be a bumpy year. but more than anything else we have got to be resilient. we have got to be prepared to react. >> i am concerned about small and midsized banks. >> there are always concerns. but today the regional banks are stronger. sonali: a number of bank executives speaking to us throughout the week from the
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world economic forum in davos. jon, a very mixed picture of caution about the economy and regulation ahead, while some optimism that clients are going to stick around hopefully enough to pick up some investment banking activity and other things that they do. jon: it sounds like there is a desire to see that. i guess the overall shape of the economy going forward is going to be something worth watching. ken moelis warning that economic growth could slow as consumers grapple with dwindling savings and the impact of risks of moves in recent months. he spoke with francine lacqua at the world economic forum in davos. ken: i think right now, going into the november fed meeting i think people are still worried about how high is up. now most of the conversation is how quick do we come down.
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i think people are different on that. some people think june or march, but most people think it is a matter of when, not if. and really that will unlock a lot of deals. francine: where are the opportunities? ken: i think there will be a lot of things coming out of private equity. the amount of capital that has been locked up. it has been two years really that the market has been going through this on rates. i think you will have a bunch of port folios that want to liquefy. also strategic's have their plans. what is amazing especially in the united states is how active and how aggressive strategic's want to be on fulfilling their plans and their five, 10 year desires. francine: regionally, or sectors? ken: sectors. i mean, the energy in the health care sector is stoning.
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the technology sector continues to create opportunities. during the year we took advantage of a situation and doubled size of our technology team. when silicon valley bank went down, we hired the whole team. when we went to the coverage universe, there were literally hundreds of companies that i probably never heard of that have been created and are sizable and have addressing markets that are very interesting. francine: you have hired 27, right, in 2023? how many more this year? ken: i think we are going to keep going. last year was the year to do it. we are in a funny world. the best talent in the industry is not available and you want it. it is available when they are available. it is hard to remember, we started the company in the 2008, 2009 crisis. the reason we were able to grow
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so fast is because in that market everybody was shrinking and scared. and we felt 2023 felt like a similar moment for us. big banks were shrinking, pressure from their shareholders, capital needs. and we decided we were in a good position, we are unlevered, have great culture, and we decided to grow. we expand the firm by almost 20%. francine: but unexpectedly. you basically swoop up good talent when they get laid off? ken: it was unexpected because we didn't know silicon valley bank was going to happen until 24 hours before it happened. i was very proud of our team. we got together, i think we heard about it thursday in the middle of the day that it was done. we were onto the -- we were on the phone to that team by 5:00 and we were trying to lift the whole team and bring them down to join us by the weekend. took a little longer. but i was very proud. when you talk about culture, the ability to move quickly, see an
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opportunity. and in the face of what was not the greatest year for m&a, expand and move and get everybody on the same page. we will see. sonali: that was ken moelis, moelis and company ceo and founder. pretty classy, because you have him being greedy when others are fearful. his stock was up 43% last year. they are also benefiting from restructuring. is it too soon to call this a barbell economy? jon: questions that will be asked. i will tell you another question since you think the consumer might be out of gas. is ken moelis out of gas? clearly not. the succession story there long-term will be want to watch. sonali: he has a couple deputies, i was thinking of calling him to join us on the show very soon. s&p 500 really hang onto the
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gains, gaining a little steam, up .3%. looking like we might close today up on the green. this is bloomberg. ♪
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romaine: clinging to optimism. live from new york, i am romaine bostick. scarlett: we are kicking off to the closing bell. the s&p 500, clinging onto gains, the first advance this week, the holiday shortened week. big tech, leading the way with the nasdaq of .9%, the chip sector getting a boost in particular thanks to tsmc's outlook. the 10 year yield, down slightly by 10 basis

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