vonnie: let's get a check on the markets as we head towards lunchtime hour. lower after data suggested perhaps those inflation echo vacations are getting -- expectations are getting troublesome. the for luminary figures, we saw the one-your inflation excitations rise. -- one-year infant tatian expectations rise. another drop in the 10-year yield.

pleasing to treasury secretary scott bessent and the administration. i wanted to point to bitcoin. we saw bitcoin top $99,000 a coin. it has given up all those gains now. it is under $98,000. let's highlight some really interesting individual equity movers in the market. natalia point is now. natalia: i'm watching coinbase. bitcoin is down today. this is potentially one of the reasons why the stock has reversed earlier gains. it was up earlier after the sec dropped the lawsuit accusing the company of running an illegal exchange. another positive element for coinbase. last week you reported strong earnings result. revenue doubled. profit came above expectations. overall we know that crypt over that it's stocks are moving sharply higher this year. coinbase specifically up by around 20% on the year to date basis.

we have lots of movers in the health care space. one company on watching his hymns and hers health. this is a telehealth platform which sells compounded weight loss drugs. it is moving sharply down today. now down by more than 22% after the fda said the shortage of novo nordisk weight loss drugs has been resolved. we know that hundreds of thousands of americans relied on those compounded drugs, which are sold by companies like hims and hers. clients are able to find those drugs at a fraction of the price compared to brand-name drugs. now we see that companies like hims and hers are taking a hit. finally, another company from health care space, unitedhealth group is moving down today after the fda said -- sorry, the

department of justice said he launched an investigation potentially saying patient diagnosis forced higher payments from the medicare program. that is why the stock is down sharply today. vonnie: we will look at that stock now. natalia, thank you for the details on the unitedhealth news. we are joined by john tolley. insurers got billions of payments and that is the contingent in the system. if it is true, how did it happen? john: just to be clear, the news came from the wall street journal. the department of justice has not commented. the issue is that these insurers contract with united states government to take care of people on medicare and private medicare advantage plans. how much they get paid in the plans depends on how severely

ill the people they enroll are. the question being raised is whether companies are inflating the diagnoses, the illnesses they report to the government for payment in a way that crosses a line that inflates their payments from the government. vonnie: that is obviously wrong but this division is a relatively small part of unitedhealth, right? does it have a material impact -- obviously it is on the shares -- but on earnings if this changes or something -- some not ethical activity comes up? john: was reported is a civil fraud investigation, part of -- these kinds of activities have been under scrutiny for a long time. there are other investigations of other insurers, settlements

around the activity that we have heard about and reported on. medicare is a big business for unitedhealth, both in the insurance site and the side where they own doctors clinics taking care of medicare patients. depending on the outcome of this investigation and whether it leads to litigation or settlement, it could be meaningful. the company has said this morning they are not aware of a new investigation or new activity the journal reported. we have a lot of questions to answer about what exactly is going on and the scope of the doj investigation. vonnie: unh saying we are not aware of the launch of any "new activity or suggestions --

this has got nothing to do with the justice department investigation into antitrust, right? it is all bad for unh. john: certainly lots of negative headlines around unitedhealth, including the murder of one of their top executives in december. that set off a bunch of negative criticism of the company on social media. we are still looking for information about the scope and substance of this investigation. how it relates to existing investigations. there is a broader antitrust investigation at doj into the company. doj has filed a legal challenge to one of their acquisitions that is scheduled to go to trial later this year. they are a big company. lots of businesses involved of

lots of highly regulated businesses and scrutiny. this is one more event that investors are trying to make sense of. vonnie: thank you so much. shares down almost 9% now. more than 12% year-over-year. another major company facing potential legal trouble. an investigation into accounting practices at crowdstrike. people familiar and document seen by bloomberg news show the department of justice is scrutinizing at $32 million deal to settle -- to the irs. we are joined by the reporter who wrote the story, jake bleiberg. what do we know about the investigation? jake: back in 2023 crowdstrike and another company, industry reader closed this deal for tools meant to be used by the irs. the irs never bought them and that is what is coming under

scrutiny by regulators and prosecutors. vonnie: who are the investigators and what have they done so far? jake: the southern district of new york's u.s. attorney's office, the manhattan prosecutor, federal prosecutors, and the sec. they have questioned former crowdstrike employees involved in the deal, irs employees involved in the deal, and collect documents and correspondence between the parties involved. vonnie: a volatile stock in general. it's down about 42% on this news -- 4.2% on the news. jake: the company said it is standing by its accounting of the transaction and really not much more than that. they previously told us that allegations by former employees that this amounted to something wrong or misguided -- were misguided. vonnie: in terms of the next earnings report, is that when we

find out more or there will be result of the investigation? jake: we are unlikely to see result of this investigation soon. we will probably learn more about the stock reaction during the next earnings. vonnie: jake, thick you so much. crowdstrike down by 4% now. that is jake clayburgh. coming up, coinbase says the sec will drop its lawsuit against the company. that had shares rallying. like many stocks in the market, they have given of the gains and are lower on the session. this is bloomberg. ♪

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vonnie: this is bloomberg markets. time for the stock of the hour.

looking at coinbase. shares jumped early but are now lower along with the rest of the market after the company said the sec was likely to drop its lawsuit that had accused coinbase of running an illegal exchange, among other accusations. we spoke with the sec commissioner hester pierce to discuss how she plans to change the regulatory approach to crypto. >> we put roadblock after roadblock up against people who are trying to talk to us, as we have asked them to do or register as we have asked them to do. watching what's happening in the last several years has been extremely frustrating for someone who believes government is there to serve the american people, not stymie them with -- when they try new things. vonnie: we are joined by sonali basak. this is something bloomberg intelligence signaled and said it was a 60% chance he might happen. we have to wait for the sec to actually say it but what have we learned?

sonali: when we think about what hester pierce is, she's a part of the change. this is a big deal for this case to soon be closed for coinbase because it has led to a lot of uncertainty, as well as millions of dollars in legal fees. when we spoke to the chief legal officer, he said it was $50 million. that could have been spent elsewhere when it comes to technology and building new products. one question i had for coinbase is what this means in terms of new listings. in particular. it is something they have been gearing up for regardless. what products they might launch on top of that will be interesting. when other -- one of the big question is beyond coinbase and what it means for the industry. there's been a lot of lack of clarity around what it means to register with the sec. do we see that starting to change and pick up in the wake of this? vonnie: how much of this has to do with the administration change? it seems like not really. this was in the works are ready. sonali: from the sec's

perspective it is a big change. gary gensler started this campaign when it came to the crypto industry at large. there were a lot of different suits. it does not completely clear up the tension or rather the outstanding disputes between coinbase and the sec. there are a few that are still outstanding. that includes a rulemaking petition and a lawsuit against the sec against confusing approach taken by the sec. he believes they could address that in his words in short order. what that means, we will see. interesting to see the shares down. the broader market is down but you would think this would be a huge overhang lifted. coinbase's shares were up 40% last year. they are not actually negative on the year. bitcoin's range bound. maybe they are trading more on what the crypto markets are doing at this point rather than what is possible.

vonnie: they had a huge run up after robinhood earnings. the day of coinbase earnings with a blue with a quarter the shares actually dropped and they have been dropping ever since. something like 10% to 15% down from where we had been. sonali: there's been a lot of chatter about how soon the case would be resolved. the fact it has dropped, while it's a good thing for coinbase, perhaps a lot of that priced into the market, including a lot of the gains from crypto trading. if you had the first quarter here where bitcoin prices had been that range bound, what does that mean in terms of trading revenue for coinbase in the current quarter? that matters more for the traders. vonnie: exactly. is the retail trade still there? is the volatility and volume going to be there for the whole quarter? plus, they are up against other exchanges as well. finance -- bynance, they put a similar case on hold for them. sonali: that's one of the bigger questions. will they drop the case?

only spoke to the commissioner at the sec we asked a couple of times. she did not get clarity on that. this is the whale of the case and the koto industry to keep watching. -- crypto industry to keep watching. and the sec versus the rest of the financial industry. vonnie: exactly. thank you so much. keep up-to-date with the crypto, blockchain, and every thing else, stablecoins with sonali basak on bloomberg crypto. coming up, another corner of finance has been a billionaire factory. private credit is the big take. this is bloomberg. ♪

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political rhetoric. bloomberg spoke with sebastien bazin about these issues. >> this is a commitment made a year-and-a-half ago. yes. you can still make it if you end up in the radiography. you will be going -- geography. you will be going at a 12% to 15% base in the middle east or asia pacific it will be slower. pretty good in south america. middle ground in america. as long as you basically get fast to the growing economies, you will be just fine. >> it's about providing new hotel space and those geographies? >> it is getting lower cost, better distribution, better ai, having a better loyalty system. it is a condition of many good things and having the right timing. we will deliver on it. >> you are confident about the construction environment and the

regions you are talking about? >> i'm confident. they have the financial ability to invest. there's only three places in the world will they have vast amount of money for hospitality. america,, singapore, and the middle east. >> you mentioned the labor issue, getting the staff. when it comes to u.s., do you think donald trump's policies will make it harder to get those workers are impact the business more broadly? >> to could. it's only a 5% exposure to u.s. pretty significant in terms of contribution. labor is back in america. they could have an impact on all immigration in america but the ceos will know better when it comes to america. labor is not an issue for us. what is the issue is training. accor, the people we hire

in sub-saharan africa and asia pacific never had a job before, never went to university. we welcome them every single year. we train them, teach them a job and they are very good. it's a question of apprentices and welcoming people. >> in terms of the international portfolio, donald trump pushing for a rapid end to the war in ukraine. would you start investigating -- investing again in russia if that happens? >> give me the benefit of time before everything settles down. we -- russia was a big market for us. we were the leader in russia. >> that is why i ask you. >> our hotels exist but we don't have distribution systems. they are not open. the minute the war has ended, and if my board of directors is come to bow, and the sanctions are lifted from the europeans because i am a european national so i will follow the rules of the europeans. with time it will come back, but

it is not for me to assess. vonnie: that was sebastien bazin. today's big take looks at how the rise of private credit is shaping up the ranks of billionaires on wall street. look at the stock moves for a reason blue owl -- ares and blue owl. tom maloney joins us now. private credit has been around forever. how did it become so mainstream? tom: a lot of it came about during the financial crisis. following that, a lot of things had to retreat from lending to these smaller companies and private credit companies have stepped into that reach. -- breach. we identified 18 billionaires of these firms. a staggering amount of moneycol1 billion. vonnie: also they get themselves

involved in other things as well, right? leon companies, these -- they own these private credit firms. tom: we think about having a private equity heritage for places like apollo. what was surprising to me is how much apollo has really moved into the private credit space. it's a majority of the assets under management now. it is what they are all about. they are enthusiastic about the sector. they also do it differently to a lot of these other private credit firms they are lending to. at&t, softbank, intel. not what you would traditionally think of as a private credit space but it's a massive opportunity for them. vonnie: apollo lends to intel, softbank is a massive company. companies can't even borrow in the junk bond market because they are too small. you can make money across the spectrum. how much of the success of these

direct lenders has to do with the fed's rate hike and cutting cycle? tom: that's part of it. the reason we are seeing a lot of billionaires in this space now is that decade and a half since the financial crisis, the sector has seen tremendous growth. $1.6 trillion industry now. asset managers they don't have a foothold in the space are desperate to get in. we saw that last year when blackrock bought hbs or agreed to for $12 billion. it is trading massive wealth for the founders of these friends. vonnie: hbs, blackrock bought them. stephen nesbitt wrote the book on private credit. if we read it, i'll be able to do it? tom: possibly. i have not read the book so i cannot tell you that. it was an interesting one. he's been doing this for a long time, right about 25 years. started off just kind of advising high net worth individuals and institutions on

making investments in the space. round about five years ago they started offering their own funds. following an external investment he's a billionaire as well. vonnie: give us more names of billionaires. there are a pair of brothers that are quite fun. tom: the golubs. they are running the firm. not one i was really aware of but they have $70 billion in assets under management in the private credit space. doing very well. worth $3.3 billion each. vonnie: congratulations to them and congratulations to you. great story. everybody should read it. i note on that, next thursday, sonali basak will interview the ares ceo here on open interest. some breaking news now. a federal judge declined to immediate lead dismissed corruption charges against new york mayor eric adams. once again, if federal judge

declined to immediate lead dismissed corruption charges against eric adams, the new york mayor. instead appointing a prominent lawyer to examine the governing -- law governing the justice department's move to drop the case. we will follow the ins and outs of the mayor's case. this is bloomberg. ♪ 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

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

live from washington, d.c. joe: otto terrace will be 25% if they are implemented. welcome to the fans a show in politics as president trump speaks to republican governors gathered at the white house as part of their winter meetings. making a lot of news while he is at it. i'm joe mathieu alongside kailey leinz in washington. thanks for being with us on the friday edition of "balance of power." we are going to hear from the president any moment. making a lot of headlines but still unclear whether these tariffs will see the light of day. kailey: right now it is just the threat that is out there, april 2 the date he is looking at but also looking at how behavioral changes is what he is looking to inspire with tariffs, citing a meeting with apple's tim cook,