sonali: wednesday, february 14. top stories we are following -- stocks look for direction, s&p higher after a two day slide. more than halfway through earnings. the latest on airbnb, lyft, and the drama. valentine's day. we speak to the cofounder of this company. ♪

welcome to bloomberg markets. s&p looking to bounce back after a slide. investors, off from inflation data on tuesday. on wednesday, now we have about a point 5% gain in the s&p 500. same for the nasdaq. russell 2000 rising on the day. this is an index yesterday that had its worst day since the summer of 2022. we are watching some cooling. the five points -- 18 basis point surged yesterday. we are still above 460 on the two year yield. back to stocks, it is a tale of two ride-hailer's on the market. lyft explains how a clerical error overshadowed a strong earnings report.

uber announces a share buyback plan. how do these two rivals had up for today? ed: did the clerical error overshadowed earnings? up 35% on what was a strong quarter. the markets are seizing on this idea that if you look at the outlook for the first quarter, even at the low end of that range, lyft is saying they will exceed gross bookings expectations in march. but lyft does not have the diversified business that uber does. does mobility but even within that, it does not have the same premium product. if you are an everyday person -- but what the data point is is the take rate, the amount of money that lyft takes from each transaction.

that is what is happening in the moment, but last night was wild. sonali: speaking of these ride-hailing apps, how are they failing in this market? on the one hand, this buyback plan from uber, what does it mean for investors? ed: uber is coming off of its first full year of profit. i was writing about this. the gig economy -- what we see from lyft's earnings in spite of the clerical error is that ridership growth appears to be intact. same with bloomberg. uber showed that there algorithm is more successfully matching demand with availability of supply. at the same time uber tells us the driver supply is up 35%. there are some worries and that. we know about layoffs, impact of

higher rates on households. all those new drivers going to that pop for. participation -- platform. participation in the economy is interesting. overall, it looks convenient for ride hail apps right now. manus: airbnb --sonali: airbnb down more than 4% today. do you see some pain? ed: for airbnb, it is classic. they had an astonishing quarter a year ago. what is interesting is the guidance they gave for revenue, given the low end of the range was above street estimates. but it is the narrative that we will not grow at the san click in this quarter. but the environment is different. at the same time, brian is

telling investors -- but we think in the future it will be quite different. but he did not go the whole nine yards of telling us. sonali: be sure to keep an eye on bloomberg. lyft ceo joins us at 11:00 a.m. eastern this morning. we are joined by the head of asset allocations at deutsche bank. this week has been chock of consumer data. we are seeing a lot of divergence in how consumers across america behave. what are you most concerned about as we headed to earnings season? mickey: what i would say is that earnings are down through 2023. the -- modestly disappointing is the way i would put it.

the equity market tends to focus on year on year growth in earnings. we try to look also a quarterly earnings in order to make seasonal adjustments. the first three quarters saw strong growth. earnings up about 11.5%. fourth quarter is when the iran year picks up. s&p 500 earnings ran close to 10%. energy closer to 15%. if you look sequentially, the fourth quarter is flat. disappointing. i would add that q4s tend to be noisy.

the signal to is low. if you look at the consensus in response to the earnings for the fourth quarter, it is not changed much. the company now is not taking away too much, even though to us it is a slightly disappointing quarter. i think it as a bump in the road. sonali: the other problem is as we are looking at earnings reports trying to get a read on how companies are faring alongside the consumer that is bound a lot of money, one problem is that the january inflation print came out after that. how do investors look at that complicated inflation story and hope will impact corporate america? binky: yesterday's inflation data, it played a big role.

he looked at inflation coming down, -- risk of the fed having to take too much. but a decline in inflation has been a positive driver of growth. the first thing to note yesterday is a higher-than-expected inflation print. i would argue that if a light is coming from owners equivalent, the good news is it is a price that nobody pays. an idea of broader price trends. but no one pays them. it does not hurt that dynamic tooth yet. -- it does not hurt that dynamic just yet.

it is an unusually wide disconnect on the month-to-month basis. it just decreases the noise but we are thinking that this inflation has been happening for a while and the trend continues. not too concerned about that just yet. sonali: let's talk about interest rates in relation to inflation data. you are seeing expectations for the market changed drastically on what investors believe will materialize in terms of rate cuts. how does that impact valuations in the stock market? binky: we are in what i would describe as a minority camp. we do not think that interest rates directly have an impact on equity valuations. a longer, deeper discussion for which we would need more time. i think the key over the last

couple of years has been interest-rate volatility rather than a low if interest rates. for much movement would create volatility. that will impact equities. the is temporary. it can be sticky. but it -- rates are probably still a touch low. if you think about the fact that over the last six quarters, we have had 3% gdp growth, over the last couple of quarters, it is even higher than that. i would argue probably higher than now. sonali: with the market that you are drawing out, what is your favorite sector to be looking at

buying into at this point? binky: what i would argue is that the biggest theme, which still has to play out completely, is the market is focused on a slowdown in the recession. that will go on at the market level, but -- the cyclical parts of the consumer. sonali: thank you for your time. we will take a look at what is moving in markets right now. >> let's go back to airbnb. strong 2023 but that caution on what is coming next is driving the stocks down 4%. we saw an initial positive reaction when the earnings came out.

very solid number. most of the numbers look better than what analysts were estimating. airbnb had -- last year. some of the bookings and experiences are expecting normalization of demand this year. we are seeing similar cautiousness from expedia. the ceo is trucking -- trying to bring positive news to investors. he is talking artificial intelligence, third-party services. sonali: another area where the consumer hits the road is times. how are investors reacting? denitsa: we are seeing some consumer pressure building up. benefits reduction, consumer purchases up. the stock declined 6.5%, one of

the biggest declines in five months. ms on sales over profits were not bad, but high inflation and supplying means the company reduces its range. we are expected now with margins likely to recover. sonali: more inflation issues, heineken as well. denitsa: this is a bigger theme. inflation is putting pressure on demand -- on beer demand next year. heineken saw 4.7 year on year drop in its volumes. seeing the company raise prices as volumes are falling. consumers are bulking of those price increases.

this is an industrywide theme. we saw similar reaction from consumers. we have yet to see if the consumer can keep up with price increases. sonali: thank you for your time and for keeping a close eye on the markets. coming up, barrett gold beat fourth-quarter estimates. we speak to the company's ceo next. this is bloomberg. ♪

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fed unlikely. we are joined by gold president and ceo. the company announced a buyback for investors. mark, thank you for joining us. where do prices go from here? how much can they come off of the highest we have seen in december? how do you talk to investors? mark: it is an interesting time. i have been talking about this for a while. everyone wishes the interest rates will come down rapidly. the bit on the gold comes back on. but i think there is a more systemic problem. the global economy is not in good shape and neither is the u.s. economy. i think we are going to see interest rates higher for longer and run the risk of staring inflation.

that will bring back the upward pressure on gold. it is risk on this far as the global economy goes in the u.s. economy. this is a dynamic that is going to play itself out. at the end of the day, i still believe that the risk is on the upside when we talk about the medium and long-term for gold prices. we allocate capital for the long-term. today's will prices or tomorrow's is not relevant in our business. sonali: do you think it will hit new records at that rate? mark: there is real risk on the upside. but again, i have never been one who runs a company for a specific gold price. we have focused on making short -- sure we can make returns for

all of our stakeholders throughout the cycle. sonali: one question when it comes to gold is not only the industry but how you diversify. at what point would you consider more mergers and acquisitions to get there, particularly in a world of copper? mark: we are owning a company with real organic growth in the short-term term in copper. we set out to expand our portfolio from a gold-focused portfolio to one that includes copper. our big project in pakistan comes with both. it is in its own right it world-class goldmine and equally world-class company. that is the ideal model for us going forward. these big deposits that are yields, both higher amounts of gold and copper.

again, i have repeatedly said that m&a is a tool we can use to grow, given that you can create that opportunity to be able to deliver value other than relying on the commodity prices to lift you above the prices you pay. we have been able to do that consistently throughout the last five years at barrick. i have done it for my entire career. we are hesitant to pay premiums that are difficult to give returns. sonali: are gold valuations is still too prohibitive to make a significant acquisition? mark: what we have seen across the mining industry recently is that the commodities have softened and also the equity prices have softened.

it is a challenging time to do m&a. it is always about relativity. there are relative opportunities between the share price and the share price of the acquirer. it is a complicated question. we have managed to get it right most of the time. we are diligent in how we assist m&a opportunities. sonali: how do you these geopolitical tensions brewing around the world? do you think about this is a boon for gold prices, more movement into gold is a hard asset? or do you think there will be more challenges moving forward in terms of tapping lines for gold? mark: we have seen that.

one of the real supporters at the bottom end of the gold price is the risk profile across the global economy. in particular, we have seen a big move toward de-do llarization. at the same time, the deglobalization of this world, which is a tragedy, really, is driving inflation, making it more complicated as far as assessing risk. we are a global business. we operate in all continents. we met -- manage and operate in that dynamic all the time. but without a doubt, there has been the biggest -- a big shift.

the biggest purchases of gold recently have been emerging-market central banks as they moved to rebalance their asset portfolio in the face of reducing the exposure to the u.s. dollar. sonali: thank you for your time. still ahead, we take a look at the companies making the most buzz on social media today. this is bloomberg. ♪ rude. who are you? i'm an investor in a fund that helps advance innovative sports tech like this smart fitness mirror. i'm also mr. leg day...1989! anyone can become an agent of innovation with invesco qqq, a fund that gives you access to nasdaq-100 innovations. i go through a lot of pants. before investing carefully read and consider fund investment objectives, risks, charges, expenses and more in prospectus at invesco.com.

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instacart falling short of earnings expectations. online grocery delivery company also cutting 250 jobs as part of a restructuring that would emphasize advertising and e-commerce technology. you can follow the latest on your bloomberg terminal. coming up, consumers battling higher costs as couples set out for valentine's day. we will discuss that with the major food groups co-owner next. this is bloomberg. ♪

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sonali: we are bringing you in with a check on the market. the s&p 500 back in the green. they are looking to hit the highs of the day. we are looking at the s&p able and hot -- the s&p 500 up .7%. the nasdaq 500 gaining even more stream. -- steam. the dow jones industrial average up .3%. this is after the market got caught flat-footed yesterday after inflation data that was worse than it -- worse than

expected, rising more than expected. we will talk about that and how it is affecting different stocks these indices. we will be back any minute. this is bloomberg. ♪ hey! sarah! if you had to choose would you listen to elevator music all day or deal with payroll compliance? payroll compliance, for sure. gusto automatically calculates and files my taxes for me. hold up, compliance? easier? choose payroll compliance without the ups and downs.

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sonali: a little bit of green on the screen and we will get a check on the markets with abigail doolittle. abigail: we have a rebound rally and you cannot see it because this is a three day chart. here is the gain up about .7%. volume is anemic, 20% below the

20 day average. stocks are lower after yesterday. stocks yesterday closing well off of the down. 2% closing at 1.3% on the hot cpi report. if we look at some of the other indexes and asset classes, the nasdaq 100 getting a nice bed. 3.6%. the vix was flat. it was at a 17 handle and now it is back at a four handle. crude oil a little bit up. 10-year yield, take a look at that up 37 basis points. traders going into the cpi report, some of that information getting out early. yesterday a the 10 -- yesterday the 10-year yield up. yesterday's move on yields surging higher was not all about yesterday's cpi. we have been working on that and the idea that the fed will not quit -- cut as quickly or as soon as expected.

the s&p 500, we have been looking at this for weeks talking about the bearish divergence. as stocks have been climbing out of december we can see this nice rally. look at the rsi momentum indicator. we are seeing a set of lower highs, three in a row. meaning that the record jaime recently is made on less bullish momentum than back in december. that tells you that it is making the open for more action similar to what we saw yesterday. sonali: abigail doolittle, we thank you for your time. higher inflation hurt the market but will it be a cupid killer. we will ask the mind behind storied restaurant brands. here with us now is jeff. there is expected to be a lot of spending for this valentine's day, but with people still

hurting from inflation, are you seeing the same kind of bookings and excitement around eating out, particularly on the higher end. jeff: it is crazy, we are. i think that we have not seen -- everything in our luxury portfolio is only going up. and people seem to really be choosing to spend their money and time with their loved ones and people that care about -- people that they care about. and more specifically but also celebrate themselves at a level that we have not seen before as one of the largest restaurant groups in the world. we keep being surprised, but also thrilled by the way that people are behaving, and the way that people are celebrating themselves in our restaurant and other restaurants. and to be honest, i wish that i could say that these things were a problem, but they are not.

sonali: i am curious about the difference. you have options at the very high end, but you other -- but you also have more options that are more affordable. are you seeing a difference between the luxury consumer that is eating out, and the folks that would spend more money every day on eating out? jeff: yes, i do. i think that the luxury market right now is at an incredible place and i think that you see more of a difference. we are fortunate that at p arm which is a sandwich shop and the rest of our restaurants which is our entire portfolio over 60 restaurants globally with a higher price point closer to 2000 $200 a person, the things that we have seen is that those things work. and i think, unfortunately i

think that the middle is where things are getting hurt. because what you have is people saying i really want to spend money and spend it the right way and do this the right way. i think that is a combination of not only what is going on with the marketplace, but also still a psychological reaction to covid and everything that happened. and people realizing that there is a time and place and they are going to spend their money and go out and they want to do with the right way and they will not wait for the special day, but especially on a special day like today, they are going to enjoy themselves. and i think that the middle is where there are a lot of issues right now in the restaurant business. i think it is a difficult time for that sector because of the marketplace and because of what we are talking about today. sonali: with the luxury brands

doing well there are a lot of questions about whether you have plans to open another club like zz's somewhere else. this is a club with a $50,000 membership in new york? jeff: we will keep opening them. zz's was packed and was packed last night and tonight. it has been an incredible success and we are super excited about it. we are definitely going to bring it into other cities but we are focused on what we have in new york city as well as miami. and we are definitely looking to expand. listen, for what we have done, we have focused on -- we focused on food and beverage and service, and not just a place to hang out, which is what most private clubs have become. they are a nice place to hang

out. the food is an amenity, not the focus. and food and beverage is a focus at our club. we focus on service and hospitality. and of course there are beautiful places to hang out. we have multiple restaurants. you can call us two days ahead of time and just tell us what you want. you could give me your mother's chicken soup recipe and we will make it for you in two days. we are really focused on being different in terms of the club space and what food and beverage means in the club space and what the future means. sonali: what is the most exciting food city if you are looking at opening. i know you have carrbone in london in the works, but what is the most exciting place for you would open a new location? jeff: miami. miami continues to be incredibly exciting. new york is always going to be

exciting. we are looking at, we are very focused on london and the middle east. and i think also some exciting cities are tokyo, souel --soe -- and singapore. sonali: what brands are you looking to partner with and what brands are you in talks with? jeff: a lot. sonali: break some news. jeff: i am in a lot of talks all the time, but maria has been an incredible brand to partner with and to bring to the major food family. and we are incredibly excited about announcing a few new locations for the brand. i literally got off the phone for a discussion about that. you should expect a lot more of one thing we are adding to our already incredible lineup is

bringing great brands into our family that fit the feel and the dna of the major food groups and helping them expand around the world. and i think this will be the first of many, and we will have not -- lots more to talk about soon. sonali: you are talking about how much excitement over these consumer luxury brands. our costs going to rise. the membership alone seems eye-popping, but the reality is that wealth has grown a lot on the higher end of the spectrum, can you charge more? jeff: we try to charge appropriately for what we are serving and where we are in the market. we are not trying to overcharge. it is not different than any luxury retail company in general. we are pricing things accordingly. there is always going to be room

for pricing if cost of goods and labor goes up. and we will continue to adjust accordingly. we do not look to price just to price. we price based on the services that we are providing, and what we are serving. and the topic of labor and cost of goods, they are definitely rising and prices will continue to go up. and i think that, at this moment, this does not affect the high end luxury field. sonali: where are prices going up? labor, real estate or the cost of food itself? jeff: labor will always be the biggest because the competition is -- it is just labor plus competition for the best people equals cost. and you know, i think that cost

of goods have gone up significantly. but, we have been able to adjust pricing, and i think that customers have understood because people that generally eat at restaurants, they understand the macro and micro economic conditions of what is going on. you know, we are not -- when we raise prices, for example, we do not raise them just for fun. we raise him because our costs go up. and i think that we are fortunate to have a customer base that understands that and understands what is going on in the world and if costs go up. sonali: what about the ozempic craze? do you see an impact of how people engage on restaurants with a focus on these obesity drugs? jeff: i think they are the greatest things that ever happened to restaurants because

-- we did have to tell our restaurants there used to be a rule in the restaurants where if the plate did not come back fully eaten, you would bring it to the chef and look at it and wonder why and you would maybe talk to the customer. and i think that the only change has been that i have now been going to say when the play comes back half-full that is not a problem. that means that everybody is taking those drugs. and i think that it is a miracle drug. i think it is an incredible thing. i think that it has zero effect on how much people spend. i think people spend more because they do not want to miss and they do not want people to think they are on it. so they order more and they eat less and it does not affect us whether they eat the whole or half portion. so, i think it is a great drug,

and i do not think it has any effect on our seeing patrons order. if anything people are saying -- i think that at the end of the day it does not affect ordering. people order more and they eat less and they feel better and they are healthier. that is a great thing. it does not affect the check. the average only goes up because maybe they now taste 10 things instead of eating two. and it is totally counterintuitive to what anyone would ever think would happen, that it is actually true. i watch it personally all the time. sonali: i hope you have great plans for your own valentine's day. thank you. coming up we will talk to stephen meyer and hear from wall street week and that new york

city retirement system cio about changes in the pension funds asset validations. stick with us. this is bloomberg. ♪

sonali: new york city pensions are boosting allocations to investments in areas like private equity and alternative investing. david westin spoke with steven meier about the changes. steven: from a private markets perspective we are increasing the private assets anywhere between 6.5 and seven point five on average and that means over the course of time we will go through a pacing plan process so we get diversification. we are looking to increase our exposure between 15 and $20 million. we are about 60 billion now

taking us between 75 and $80 billion over time. we actually think those are key performance drivers. we look at those as bringing interesting diversification away from public markets. to the legislation, we had a constrained opportunity said previously and we have more flexibility to generate returns that the portfolios need. david: i notice that you say private assets, it is not only private equity or credit. you have a breakdown within the category? steven: private equity are anywhere between 10% and 12% with new allocations. alternative credit, 6% to 7%. infrastructure, five to 7%. core or non-core real estate has not had a change but it is up at the margin. two of the five pension plans we manage for police and fire invest in hedge funds.

we are about flat. david: where is the money coming out of that it would have been elevated -- allocated to? steven: for the most part public equities, u.s. and non-us. actually because of the legislation to can train -- to can stain the -- constrain the opportunities they had a slight overweight between 43 and 46%. that is coming down. fixed income given the backup in base rent -- base rates and credit spreads, that has been maintained. anywhere between 6% and 7% reductions over the entire 260 $5 million portfolio over time. sonali: i am -- david: i am wondering what effect. you said 7%. it can be 5% in fixed income. it was that you could not get anything. 5% is good. you allocate more towards fixed income? steven: a little bit. one of the things that we have

done as a result of the t.j.: allocation review we eliminated tips. tips as you perform the lower allocations, they barely outperformed nominal's and they respond more to long-term inflation expectations at about 10 years which really does not look -- does not work as a short-term hedge. in terms of allocations and holdings of fixed income securities you are absolutely right. the base rates provide a good balance to the per for leo. david: one of the things is esg and people do not like that term, but ever -- but whatever you want to call it. even in some litigation -- we even had litigation over it. how do you take into account some of the risks as you make your investments? steven: we have never invested in any products that have the esg monaco are -- moniker or

labeled esg. every investment we make we look through an esg ledge, -- lens which means we look for those factors in her portfolio companies driving long-term value creation and mitigating risk such as mitigation -- litigation risk and reputation risk. we think that the funds and the companies that we invest in and the underlying funds that adhere to esg standards will have better long-term results can be better investments for us over a long period of time. we look through everything through an esg lens but we do not invest in anything with an esg monitor. it is not with fiduciaries investing solely in returns for pension beneficiaries. sonali: you take into account -- david: do you have enough of a historical experience that you can get better returns by taking into account some of those risks? steven: i think so.

the company is with a long-term perspective will look at the potential impact and consider the safety and well-being of their workforce. they will look at the impact of climate associated with their operations. they will be better positioned to reduce exposure to reputational damage and litigation, regulatory risk and drive long-term value creation over time. we actually have demonstrated effectively that looking through that lens is very beneficial to the portfolios. sonali: that was steven meier retirement system cio. we are joined by david westin. it is interesting, there are a lot of money managers that are excited to hear that he has boosting allocations. david: right now we hear that private equity is not the place

to go because they have problems returning the money and he is saying i am wanting to go more and more into private equity and credit. sonali: interesting that he is taking it out of public equities to get there. why exactly? david: he thinks he can get better returns over time and they tend to be less volatile because it is not traded as fast. i asked about the liquidity issue and he says there has been an issue but that has been relieved over the long term. sonali: when i speak to the apollos of the world they would be rather -- they would rather be seen in the fixed income button -- bucket rather than alternatives bucket. is this too little money? david: exactly. he has $260 billion. and that is where he wants to go. so tomorrow we are going to have control from pimco. and what it would mean for policies involving wall street tomorrow.

sonali: thank you so much. coming up we will talk to david risher joining bloomberg technology up next. 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

>> from the heart of where innovation, money and power collide, this is bloomberg technology with caroline hyde and ed ludlow. caroline: i am caroline hyde at the world headquarters in new york. ed: i am ed ludlow in san francisco and this is bloomberg technology. caroline: we sit down with the ceo of lyft to run through the results and break down the clerical error that led to