scarlet: welcome to "bloomberg markets," i am scarlet fu. the latest read on inflation possibly giving the fed room to move forward. let's get a check on markets. the s&p 500, little changed at the moment. energy stocks rallying 1%. tech is a drag and that is putting dragged on the philadelphia semiconductor index. not to mention the nasdaq overall.

building on this week's gains. not much movement in treasuries. they have given up some of their gains. the 10 year moving down for basis points. a lot more move coming up at the short end of the curve. individual movers on the equity side. abigail: one stock dragging on the s&p 500 and the nasdaq is costco. after they put up an earnings report where they beat earnings but there was a small sales miss. these shares trading at an extraordinary 49 times forward earnings, 116% above the average. walmart is trading at 30 times, even with the stock up more than 20% on the year. target trading at 15 times. these shares at 49 times.

moderating after a quarter that was less than perfect. as for a few stocks moving on possible news. echostar trading the most on this board, up 13%. it looks like directv and dish may be nearing a deal to finalize a merger. echostar owns dish, at&t, directv. nice gains around that possibility. weight watchers, not so much. the stock. $.82. a few years ago that was not the case. with weight loss drugs, the relevancy of this program seems to be dropping. down 3.6% after their ceo has been ousted. she was with the company for 2.5 years. the competitive landscape with

the weight loss drugs. scarlet: it has been on a very difficult path ever since oprah left and ozempic came along. for investors, it is about the macro backdrop. earlier today we spoke with a chief economist about how the fed will view today's data. dana: i think they need to see the labor market. i think the labor market is doing fine. you do not need to have 300,000 payroll additions a month when you are pretty much at full employment. wage inflation is still elevated. still a lot of good news about the labor market. scarlet: for more on the data we got today let's bring in mike mckee. bloomberg correspondent. we got a lot of data points but the centerpoint was core pce, but the fed lice a look at the

most. mike -- what the fed likes to look at the most. mike: good news for the fed if they want to keep cutting interest rates. we are almost back to the fed's target, 2.2% for headline. the fed's target is based on the headline. 2.2% is within touching distance. you could reach out and touch that level. scarlet: within spitting distance. mike: personal spending was slower. people had been worried we would see a drop off in the economy. the personal income numbers also slower. wages and salaries up by .5%, a strong number. bigger than july. it was dividends and interest

that cost people money. focus on wall street not doing as good but they will keep spending, anyway. here is the really interesting thing -- the savings rate. yesterday we had the big gdp revision. savings rate almost doubled because of that for the year to date. month after month is basically what we saw was two percentage points higher. consumers have money in the bank and their wages are going up so the odds are we still see continued expansion giving the fed the opportunity to do whatever they want. scarlet: that sounds like a soft landing. mike: i have always argued to just go out and claim it. [laughter] scarlet: it is a soft landing. dana peterson was talking about how the fed would focus more on jobs. they are both equally important but the focus had been on inflation.

jobs is a big centerpiece of next week's data but there is a lot of data we have to get through first. mike: most of it is jobs related. monday, jay powell will speak and everyone will be focused on that. hopefully we get some thoughts from him on the way forward. adp on wednesday, jobless claims, and then on tuesday and thursday we get numbers for manufacturing and services. there will be a lot of focus on the labor market next week. it is getting everybody's attention. we have jobs day on friday. before the fed meets again we have another jobs report, pce report and cpi report. it will be important next week but it will not be the final word. scarlet: we have five or six weeks before the next fomc. mike: we have to get through the election before the fed meets.

scarlet: let's step away from the markets and the economy for a moment. earlier this hour new york city mayor eric adams pleaded not guilty at his arraignment for corruption charges. miles miller joins us. he has covered new york city for years. miles: his quote was, "i am not guilty, your honor." adams in court recording -- according to our reporters -- his expression was very grave. he was taking in the moment, the severity of the charges. the judge read for four minutes some of the volume of charges. she said it involved a free driver and travel perks. scarlet: these charges date back

to when he was president of the brooklyn borough. myles: this esteem, according to prosecutors, started back when he was brooklyn borough president. his attorney said today they want a speedy trial. we thought that was eric adams posturing. that would mean within 70 days. that is the speedy trial window. there is so much evidence it is unusual to see a speedy trial. scarlet: he has made clear he does not plan to resign. can anything forces removal? myles: the governor, as does the inability committee. the deputy mayor, the queens borough president and the comptroller, who can say he is not able to remain in office. we know the one person on the committee has already said she supports him and wants to see

where the case goes before they make a decision like that. scarlet: you mentioned the governor, kathy hochul, has she said anything? myles: she is exploring her options and wants to give the mayor the opportunity to make this decision. if you know anything about eric adams, there is no quit in him. he works all day and all night so he will continue. scarlet: myles miller, thank you so much. he is bloomberg's managing editor for the americas. coming up on "bloomberg markets ," chinese stocks soaring. we will break it down for you, next spirit this is bloomberg. ♪

scarlet: this is "bloomberg markets." i am scarlet fu. time for the stock of the hour -- really the stock of the week -- it is fxi. it is up 18% this week. it rolled out a wide range of stimulus measures. joining us is our bloomberg news editor who writes about china in a saturday newsletter. this week long release of china's stimulus measures has been a long time coming. i recall people talking about this for months. does this package deliver the goods? chris: it certainly promises to deliver the goods. we are shifting toward a "show me the money" type of stage. this week was shot and awe.

it is -- this week was shock and awe. it started with interest rate cuts. a bailout package for the stock market to recapitalization, a pledge to stop the decline in property prices, promises to help lower income families. it was broadbrush. it spanned the full range of policy makers from the central bank to communist party leadership. i do not think anyone was anticipating quite the breadth of announcements we have had. scarlet: we are talking about monetary and fiscal stimulus. i mentioned fxi being up 18%. chinese stocks on the mainland

surged as well. david tepper saying he is all in on china. people being under exposed to china because they have not been looking at the market in a serious way for so long. chris: it has been an attention grabber. david tepper even saying he has thrown some of his previous limits out the window for now. 10%, 15% type of limits on china. he said i am rewriting my limits as he looks up on chinese equities. with the chinese market standing out against global backdrop of record highs in the u.s., europe, china kind of sinking down to five year lows as recently as earlier this month, it has not been an attractive market.

when we have the leadership now saying we will stop this decline. we will address some of the major problems in our economy, it definitely is an attention getter. scarlet: absolutely. in terms of timing, you said the breadth of these stimulus measures are wide-ranging, how much can we tied to the national day holiday next week? how much is linked to the federal reserve cutting rates? chris: there is a lot of moving pieces on timing. certainly there is a strong case the federal reserve's interest rate cut last week and pledge to keep on cutting rates gave the chinese central bank some scope to also lower rates. they have been mindful of the exchange rate and the potential

for decisive rate cuts in china to feed through currency weakness. the fact the fed has shifted was definitely a help. in terms of the golden week holiday you mentioned, there was one little announcement about some money for orphans that was tied to that. may be a bigger calendar event in china is the upcoming 75th anniversary of the founding of the people's republic. you do not want the narrative of economic decline at a time when you want to showcase how great the communist party has been for china and the chinese people. scarlet: you want a little bit of a tailwind heading into the anniversary. appreciate you joining us. coming up on "bloomberg markets ," a strike of courts is planned to begin next week.

next up we are joined by the ilo's director general. this is bloomberg. ♪ [spenseful music] trains. [whoosh] ♪ trains that use the power of dell ai and intel. clearing the way, [rumble] [whoosh] so you arrive exactly where you belong.

scarlet: this is "bloomberg markets." i am scarlet fu. we are four days away from a dock worker strike. port employers in the union disagree from a number of issues. members of the international longshoremen's association threaten to walk off the job on october 1 if there is no new deal on a six-year contract. to address global challenges facing today's workforce is gilbert houngbo, the director general of the international labor organization. it is good to speak with you. gilbert: thank you for having me. scarlet: i want to start with

this potential strike that could take place in boston and all the way down to miami, houston and new orleans. talks have been at a stalemate since june. what is your read on this situation? is there room for a last-minute deal or is a strike inevitable? gilbert: i really want to keep hope alive that there will be a deal before october 1. step up the social dialogue. we have to be very clear -- for the workers to get to the point of threatening to walk out october 1, it gives you a fed up feeling. scarlet: there is talks the white house might need to intervene. is that helpful or harmful to the workers' side?

gilbert: we live in a situation where you have the government, the party and the workers. if we can avoid, the government does not have to step in, it is better. scarlet: one of the key issues is the union wants and 80% raise over the next six years. i am curious whether using covid as a rationale still resonates with employers in the public when so much of the world has returned to pre-covid norms. gilbert: returned back to the pre-covid situation. we do have some situations where you consider the gap.

seeing as shared by everybody. particularly when we talk about again in productivity. that caused by productivity. scarlet: the more issue is automation. the union in particular wants more restrictive language on automation while the other side wants to keep the same language in the current contract. when you step back for a moment, how do you advise or formulate language on a moving target like automation? it is evolving at will look different in six years' time than it does now. gilbert: first of all, on that one, given the conversation is ongoing -- scarlet: sure, just speaking generally. gilbert: there is still a way for them to come to an agreement to take into effect that ai is moving fast.

clearly, we all know that automation is there to improve. the positive side of it, we need to capitalize on that. we also need to see what are the unintended consequences on the protection of workers? scarlet: how do you balance technological advancement and job creation? do hard quotas need to be installed? gilbert: that is a good discussion for next june. we do think the objective is to see how we use this powerful automation so it has a positive impact on productivity, job creation, wealth creation. at the same time, be human-centered. protection for workers.

scarlet: the labor market was very tight during and immediately after the pandemic. employers were desperate for workers. that is no longer the case. as the u.s. economy and global economy slows down it feels inevitable that workers have lost leverage in these disputes. gilbert: i am less worried about the workers losing some of that influence in the short-term than on the medium and long term. my worry is the medium and long term. the unionization rate is moving down. therefore the workers need to re-strategize. scarlet: last question for you. one reality for management across every sector is organized labor is not going away but not every senior executive has experience dealing with them. what would be your most

important word of advice with executives on how to work better with unions? gilbert: i remain positive. i have more seen ceos at the global level working on dealing with issues. the best thing i can do is to be talking to the workers and representatives. it is the way forward. scarlet: you are seeing plenty of good developments when it comes to the willingness of management to engage? gilbert: yes. i have to say that. . from ceos, here in new york, davos, i have confidence. things are moving in the right direction. scarlet: gilbert houngbo, thank you so much for joining us. director general of the

international labor organization. i am scarlet fu and that does it for "bloomberg markets." "balance of power" is up next. ♪ am i just gonna take what the markets gives me? no. i can do some research. ya know, that's backed by j.p. morgan's leading strategists like us. when you want to invest with more confidence... the answer is j.p. morgan wealth management ♪ ♪ when with so much greatwith entertainment out there... wouldn't it be easier if you could find what you want, all in one place? my favorites. get xfinity streamsaver with netflix, apple tv+, and peacock included, for only $15 a month.

>> from the world of politics to the world of business. this is "balance of power." ♪

live from washington, d.c. ♪ kailey: welcome to "balance of power on bloomberg tv and radio. i am kailey leinz in washington where we have you covered from d.c. to new york to the middle east. new york mayor adams has plead not guilty to bribery and fraud charges. our political panel will have more including on the new morning consult poll showing kamala harris ahead of trust by three points across battlegrounds. plus, the news in the middle east as it is really hit its hezbollah's headquarters in beirut. we will have more with hagar chemali in an important conversation. and an exquisite u.s. deputy attorney general lis