countries, and news organizations. there is no evidence the taliban is carrying out reprisals even after the leadership promised amnesty. during a joint news conference today with vladimir putin on her farewell visit to russia, german chancellor angela merkel said it's important to communicate with the taliban in order to help with the evacuations. >> we have seen the taliban got more support than we would wish and we have to now try and talk with them and work toward the point where there are lives threatened and those who worked with germany for example can leave the country. mark: the united states says it evacuated about 3000 people yesterday from kabul's airport. vice president kamala harris will work to bolster economic and military cooperation in china's backyard during what will be the biden administration's most

high-profile trip yet to asia. she starts with visits to singapore and vietnam this weekend. leaders there will look for harris to reassure them that america's role as a major trading partner is still solid. china has taken its next step in taming big tech companies in its country. lawmakers have passed legislation, setting tougher rules for how companies handle user data. no details of the new law were released but earlier drafts require firms to get user content to collect, use, and share information. global news 24 hours a day, on-air, and on bloomberg quicktake, powered by more than 2700 journalists and analysts in over 120 countries. i'm mark crumpton. this is bloomberg.

>> welcome to bloomberg markets. i am lisa abramowicz. here are the top stories we are following from around the world. we are awaiting comments from resident biden on afghanistan, the situation that has gone international attention. electric truck maker xos begins trading on the nasdaq after a $2 billion spac deal. we will talk with the ceo of dakota semler. challenges returning operations to normal as the delta variant spreads. we will bring you the latest. let's get a quick check on the major averages. we are seeing some gains in the nasdaq after starting the day in the red. the nasdaq up more than 1% on expectations yields will remain low and we will get out of this growth scare in short order. the s&p up .8%. oil continuing its declines and

yields going slightly up. still pretty tame going into next week's jackson hole con fab . let's bring in katie cry filled with more. >> i am keeping our eyes on yields. it is pretty interesting to watch but it is hard to reach too much into anything when we are on a summer friday, low trading volume. we are still in that range. what strikes me is how little conviction there feels like behind any move. we have been talking about that bank of america call. 1% range of where we could go. you also have jp morgan and goldman downgrading their year and forecast for the treasury yield earlier this month. if you look across the street, strategist don't know where to go. we debate the same sort of

things, where the variant will take us, what the fed will do. that is clouding the outlook for everyone. lisa: are you seeing a lack of positioning? there was a short position heading into the year. it has gotten somewhat reduced. there are still people who expect yields to go up. >> it's been interesting. there was a jp morgan client survey last week that showed client positioning was the most neutral since february. like you said, there were so many shorts coming in this year, got burned with that 50 basis point drop. where they stand now, it is hard to tell. i like to look at the tlt etf. short interest on it right now is very low, at about 5%. it was as high as 20% in february. not the case now. it feels like people are hesitant to go back to shorting bonds because it has been so

painful. lisa: kind of an existential question, but what fundamental metrics do yields track most closely? >> great question. it feels like every few weeks we care about supply, but i think it is similar to the stock market. we hear so much about the mobility data when it comes to the stock market, whether people are moving around, stopping at stores, booking restaurants, but it feels like we are starting to see some indication that that mobility in the economy is slowing. you look at airline bookings. southwest warrant the other week last minute cancellations are picking up. all of that will way on yields, if that continues, even if there is not official lockdowns, that people do it on their own. lisa: we were talking with greg staples earlier in the hour, talking about how a lot of

institutional investors are on vacation and it is hard to say anything about the trading going on. do you get the sense that most people are just checking out? it has been a tough year, and what we are seeing is not necessarily indicative of what we will see after labor day? >> it has been a tough year. i was talking to somebody from td ameritrade. they pointed out volume was low even by august standards, but it could do with the fact that we have more uncertainty than usual. if you compare this time to last year, in some ways it feels a little more uncertain than now. in addition to that typical august slow down we see and until we get more information, get past jackson hole, people may be hesitant to put new money to work. lisa: i want to put you on the spot. there is a question going forward about which part of the market you find most interesting at the moment. oil was in the forefront after

the swoon that is continuing, copper in the forefront. what is indicative to you of the shift that we saw? katie: crude oil down again today, seventh straight day, still, you are seeing energy stocks fight back. if i were to say what interest me the most now, i'm curious to see if we see the same sort of clean dichotomy we saw at the beginning of the year between reopening and stay at home stocks. you could argue that you are starting to see airlines and energy taking it on the chin, but i hear a lot of cases being made that it will be messier, not as easy as dividing the market in those two buckets going forward. lisa: thank you so much for taking the time, katie. seems to be a constant tone, people coming out saying we don't know what will happen but it will get harder. folks along the coast will be

keeping their eyes on the weather this weekend. tropical storm henri is expected to become a hurricane before slamming the east coast, bringing heavy rain, storm surge, and strong wind to the region starting on sunday. henri's ultimate destination remains uncertain, but if it reaches new england, it would be the first erect hit since 1990. the past 18 months have not been hard enough, welcome hurricane season. electric truck maker xos begins trading on the nasdaq after a $2 billion spac deal. we will discuss with co dakota semler. this is bloomberg. ♪

lisa: this is bloomberg markets. u.s. equities are seeing a bounce back this friday, and that includes tesla. this after the company held its ai day. they highlighted their progress on making semiconductors in-house to its driving features. but the one thing everyone is talking about is the humanoid robot designed to take the drudgery out of everyday life. the tesla bot is designed to eliminate dangerous, repetitive, and boring tasks. xos trucks is likely to be sticking to its bread and butter. xos made its trading debut today on the nasdaq. ceo dakota semler joins us now. today is the first day you are trading under the ticker xos.

how did you get into electric truck making? how did you get involved into that based on your background tour operators? dakota: my background was in fleet operations. i started very young and early with my family's business, then went on to start my own trucking fleet. that is what prompted us to explore this industry and learn more about it. as fleet operators, we were experiencing a lot of the challenges that operators are seeing around the country now, shifting emissions regulations, increasing complexity in the maintenance of their vehicles, and the increasing volatility of the fuel price and driver shortages. that prompted us to look at how we could solve those problems and ultimately deliver a solution that would be relevant for fleet operators. lisa: to piggyback on the ai day, how much of the fleet will

eventually in your mind be autonomous or partly autonomous to reduce the pressure from driver shortages? dakota: we think there is a really big use case for driver assistance technologies like autonomy. when it comes to our vehicles, we focus on class five through class eight regional haul vehicles. these are the trucks that you see in your neighborhoods, delivering your packages, might be delivering food at your grocery store. there is an importance to improving the safety of these vehicles because they operate around where we live. we have already started by integrating some of those advanced safety tools like collision avoidance, lane departure warning, all of these sensor technologies that are improving the safety of vehicles, but also improving the actual cost for the fleet operator. as we start deploying new technology, it allows them to reduce their premiums, collision

cost, and ultimately run a more efficient fleet. lisa: i'm looking at trading in the shares and after raising quite a bit of money, shares are down about 14%. talk about the valuation in this kind of environment, how you cater to investors at a time when electric vehicles and anything related to the greener world seems to be trading at a premium. dakota: we have been focused on the commercial sector. we looked at what brought investors to the table. some of the largest fleets in the world, including parcel delivery companies like fedex and others, indicated they have demand and have committed to transitioning to a full zero emissions fleet. each operator has different deadlines and guidelines. i wish they would make the transition to zero emission vehicles, but we have been focused on the commercial vehicle sector, which is what drums of investor interest.

as we came to market, we focused on how we already deliver trucks. we have trucks operating in customer hands today, including large fleets like fedex and others, have demonstrated that technology we have developed in our battery systems, modular chassis, vehicle software and controls, are solving the problems that fleet operators are having every day running their diesel fleet. lisa: it's a great story and a lot of people are keen on it. you have a lot of competition, including tax law, making -- tesla, making electric trucks and dealing with intellectual property. how do get the scale needed, especially with applied chain disruptions and delays? dakota:. great question we have really been focused on building something that is valuable.

if we can drive value for fleets, we expect the demand to grow above and beyond our existing demand for vehicles this year and next year. we have been focusing on the areas that drive the most cost and complexity for the fleet. we have been able to engineer areas of the vehicle that deliver on that. the battery system, as well as our modular chassis, we design and engineer ourselves. when you look at our peers, they have been procuring these systems off the shelf. in these times of supply chain disruptions, they are at the mercy of their suppliers that are not able to provide them with their systems. by controlling more of that supply chain, engineering and denying -- designing for this commercial use case, we can be proactive about planning for disruptions and working with suppliers to go well beyond the planning horizon and think more long-term, 18 to 24 months and beyond. that has been a focus for several years. we have been building trucks since 2019 and we continue to build today. having those relationships with the supply jays will allow us to

plan proactively. lisa: who do you think is your biggest competitor? dakota: there are a number of different folks out there. there are not very many in our segment that are solving the problem for class five through class 8 regional haul service providers. we do anticipate that some of the legacy players will come into this landscape and ultimately be competitive in several years. lisa: do you think the u.s. will be the primary market for the foreseeable future, do you see other markets adapting more quickly to the electric future, particularly in europe? dakota: no question, the u.s. has no shortage of demand. fleet operators around the country are looking to go electric. that being said, there is also demand coming from other locations. we have customers in canada, interesting tractions and other

locations. for the immediate future, the u.s. is our core focus area. over the next several years, we are interested in those markets that offer similar regulations. lisa: we are speaking with dakota semler, ceo of xos trucks after they viewed on the nasdaq for treating today. we are awaiting comments from president biden who will be speaking about afghanistan, especially after a number of criticisms. he is in the white house, appears to be walking out now. our thanks to dakota semler. president biden is expected to give some sort of explanation for the u.s. response. president biden: secretary austin, national security advisor sullivan, other members of the national security leadership team, the situation room, we discussed our ongoing efforts to evacuate american citizens, afghan allies, and

vulnerable afghans. i want to provide the american people with a brief update on the situation in afghanistan. since i spoke to you on monday, we have made significant progress. we have secure the airport, enabling flights to resume, not just military flights but civilian charters from other countries, and the ngo's taking out civilians in vulnerable -- and horrible afghani's. now we have almost 6000 troops on the ground, including the 82nd airborne providing security, the 10th mountain division standing guard around the airport, and the 24th marine expeditionary unit helping the civilian department. this is one of the largest and most difficult air lives in history. the only country in the world possible protecting this power on the far side of the world with this degree of precision is the united states of america.

we have already evacuated more than 18,000 people since july and approximately 13,000 since our military lift began on august 14. thousands more have been evacuated on private charter flights, facilitated by the u.s. government. these numbers include american citizens and permanent residents, as well as their families. it includessiv applicants and their families, those afghans that have worked alongside us, served alongside us, gone into combat with us and provided valuable assistance to us such as translators and interpreters. the united states stand by its commitment we made to these people. that includes other valid -- vulnerable afghans including women leaders and journalists. working in close coordination with the management of the new york times, washington post, wall street journal, we have successfully evacuated all 204 of their employees in afghanistan on u.s. military

aircraft this week. we established the flow of flights and have increased the number of people we are moving out of the country. we paused flights in kabul for a few hours this morning to make sure we could process the arriving evacuees at the transit points. but our commander in kabul has already given the order for outbound flights to resume. even with the pause, we have moved out 5700 evacuees yesterday, and we are working on a variety to verify that number, american still in country as we work on this, because we don't have the exact number of americans who are there, and those who may have come home to the united states. we want to get a strong number as to exactly how many people are there, how many american citizens, where they are. just yesterday, among the many americans we evacuated, there were 169 americans who got over

the wall into the airport using military assets.we are also facilitating flights for our allies and partners, working in close cooperation with nato on this evacuation. for example, we provided overwatch or the french convoy, bringing hundreds of their people from the french embassy to the airport. these operations are going to continue over the coming days before we complete our drawdown. we are going to do everything that we can to provide safe evacuations for our afghan allies, partners, afghans who might be targeted because of their association with the united states. let me be clear, any american who wants to come home, we will get you home. make no mistake, this evacuation mission is dangerous. it involves risks to our armed forces and it is being conducted

under difficult circumstances. i cannot promise what the final outcome will be, or that it will be without risk of loss, but as commander in chief, i can assure that i will mobilize every resource necessary. and as an american, i offer my gratitude to the brave men and women of the u.s. armed forces for carrying out this mission. they are incredible. as we continue to work the logistics of an evacuation, we are in constant contact with the taliban, working to ensure civilians have safe passage to the airport. we are particularly focused on our engagements, making sure every american who wants to leave can get to the airport. where we have seen challenges of americans, we have thus far been able to resolve them. we made clear to the taliban that any attack on our forces,

or disruption of our operations at the airport, will be met with swift and forceful response. we are also keeping a close watch on any potential terrorist threat at or around the airport, including from the isis affiliates in afghanistan who were released from prison when the prisons were emptied. to make everyone understand, the isis in afghanistan have been the sworn enemy of the taliban. i have said all along, we will retain a laser focus on our counterterrorism mission, working in close coordination with our allies and partners. and all those that have an interest in ensuring stability in the region. secretary blinken is with me today, met this morning with our nato allies about the way forward. afghanistan cannot be used in the future as a terrorist base of attack, to attack the united

states or our allies. for 20 years, afghanistan has been a joint effort with our nato allies. we went in together, and we are leaving together. now, we are working together to bring our people and our afghan partners to safety. the past few days have also -- i have also spoken with the british prime minister, mr. johnson, chancellor merkel of germany, president macron of france. we all agreed we will convene the g7 meeting next week, a group of the world's leading democracies, because together we can coordinate our mutual united approach on afghanistan moving forward. we are united with our closest partners to execute the mission at hand. we have also discussed the need to work with the international community, to provide humanitarian assistance, such as

food aid and medical care for refugees that have crossed into neighboring countries to escape the taliban. and to bring international pressure on the taliban with respect to the treatment of afghan people over all, including afghans, particularly women and girls. the past week has been heartbreaking. we have seen got wrenching images of panic people acting out of sheer desperation. it is completely understandable. they are frightened. they are sad. uncertain about what happens next. i don't think anyone of us can see these pictures and not feel that pain on a human level. now, we have a mission to complete in afghanistan. it is an incredibly difficult and dangerous operation for our military. we have almost 6000 of america's finest men and women at the kabul airport, putting their lives on the line, in a

dangerous place, to save other americans, afghan allies, citizens of our allies who went in with us. i talked to our commanders on the ground every day, as i jested a few hours ago. i made it clear to them, we will get them whatever they need to do the job. performing to the highest standards under extraordinary circumstances. our nato allies are strongly standing with us. their troops are keeping sentry along hours in kabul, as is the case whenever i deploy troops into harms way, i take that responsibility seriously. i carry that burden every day, just as i did when i was vice president and my son was deployed to iraq for a year.

there will be plenty of time to criticize and second-guess when this operation is over, but now, i am focused on getting this job done. i would ask every american to join me in praying for the women and men risking their lives on the ground in the service of our nation. as events evolve over the coming days, my team and i will continue to share the information and update the american people on exactly where things are. we will use every resource necessary to carry out the mission at hand, bring to safety american citizens and our afghan allies. this is our focus now. when this is finished, we will complete our military withdrawal and finally bring to an end, 20 years of american military action in afghanistan. thank you. may god bless our troops, diplomats, all

>> and do you also promise to help bring out those who helped america and its were images -- war efforts. you see these images of people who cannot get to the airport. you made a commitment to get american citizens out. we you make the same commitment to those assisted in the american war effort? what is your message to america's partners around the world who criticized the conduct of that withdrawal and made them question america's credibility? pres. biden: i have seen no question of our credibility. i've spoken with nato allies