i am kailey leinz with amanda lang.'s talk about mortgages because a lot of people are looking to buy a home. the freddie mac 30-year lending rate moved lower to 2.8%, the lowest level since february. looking at the mortgage rate market, it doesn't look like one that is all too concerned about inflation. amanda: it does not. of course, that will be supportive of consumer savings and spending. fannie and freddie are also dropping that refinancing fee, the 0.5%, starting august 1, so that will be an additional savings boosting the savings for americans in the mortgage market. one company that will benefit from all of this is lending platform blend labs. tim mayopoulos is the president, former ceo of fannie mae. thank you for being with us. tim: thank you for having me. amanda: let's start with the health of the consumer, health of the market. rates have been low for long. there has been this perennial sense that at some point they turn higher. of course, you can grow old waiting for that to happen. what is your outlook fo

i'm matt miller with amanda lang. u.s.nings season officially kicks off next week with 24 firms reporting in the first week. it is going to hit pretty hard. i think we have been so focused on geopolitical issues, central bank policy, and the bond market, it will be interesting come in my opinion, to see the markets attention turned back to what companies are actually doing in terms of sales and earnings. amanda: of course, those issue we've been talking about, some are macro but there are some micro-ones. how is inflation showing up? how is staffing going to affect certain businesses? the bigger issue of esg will also show up as a cost, hit some bottom lines. matt: absolutely, the supply chain, how that is affecting sales, margins, inflation, comes out in the macro as well. joining us for more is waddell & associates chief investment strategist, david waddell. what are you looking for in terms of what companies present us next week? david: i think the earnings will be absolutely astounding. going into the first quarter, an

i am kailey leinz with amanda lang.t business stories right now and liberty mutual agreed to buy auto financials for $2.3 billion cash. that is a 200% premium to the closing price. the deal will give liberty mutual 3400 independent agencies in 33 states. nordstrom is trying to boost its appeal among younger shoppers. they are investing in one of britain's best known apparel brands and several other labels owned by a-sos. nordstrom will become the only brick-and-mortar presence for the brand. elon musk said he turned down wall street jobs to focus on wall street. he was questioned by his lawyer today in wilmington, delaware about his company's acquisition of solarcity. he founded a company that eventually became paypal and made his first million when paypal was sold to ebay. that is your bloomberg business flash. i want to take a quick take on where the markets are because it is a massive week. cpi data coming up tomorrow, ppi wednesday, and we also have bank earnings. j.p. morgan and goldman sachs kicking off tomorrow m

i'm matt miller with amanda lang.report showed rapidly declining inventories and record high fuel demand in the midst of peak summer driving season. for more, let's bring in rene amirault, secure energy ceo. i also want to talk about what is happening with opec and how that affects your business, north american businesses. what do you expect in terms of the stalemate? rene: there is obviously a lot of politics going on behind the scenes. what i expect is two things. you have russia and opec-plus, permian and canadian producers, that do not want to high of a price, but also not too low of a price. this is the goldilocks pricing scenario whereby there is enough free cash flow, return on investment at these levels. in some ways, we want to increase production around the world to meet demand, so we don't get into the high 90's in terms of the price for wti. we also don't want to overproduce and bring it back into the 40's. this is kind of the goldilocks. it is no different in our business. everybody looks at it from a mar

for amanda lang, i'm matt miller .♪ mark: i'm mark crumpton with bloomberg first word news. tropical storm nate also came ashore -- elsa came ashore in a sparsely populated area of florida today. the national hurricane center is protecting elsa will push into georgia and south carolina, weakening into a depression by thursday. elsa became the seasons fifth hurricane as it moved to the caribbean last week. the delta verne of the coronavirus is still posing a threat in the united states. the centers for disease control and prevention said it is set to become the predominant strain in the u.s. tied to more than half of all npuñ cases. in some regions like the midwest, that number is over 80%. that is raising concerns that could lead to a certain cases in under vaccinated hotspots. prime minister boris johnson faced questions about his honesty during a cross examination by a committee of lawmakers today. the labor leader pressed for

. ♪ amanda: i'm amanda lang. welcome to bloomberg markets. matt: i'm matt miller.e our bloomberg and bnn bloomberg audiences. here are the top stories we are following from around the world. all eyes on the federal reserve. we will discuss what investors can expect from the fomc rate decision and jay powell's news conference this week with tapering and inflation in focus. plus, we will discuss the state of the real estate housing market and while the housing boom is slowing. and hasbro's big beat. shares climbed by the most since march 2020 after reporting second-quarter sales and earnings. the full breakdown is coming up in our stock of the hour. amanda: we continue to watch the broad stock market trading close to record levels, climbing that wall of worry. earnings in focus and some of those growth stocks earnings reports are expected to offer a little bit of underpinning of strength. all eyes on the fomc on wednesday. any color that we get in the q&a, that is where it will come, as jay powell is pressed on what tapering signaling may look like. tesla up 3.5% at

i am amanda lang alongside matt miller. we are watching bitcoin.umble but it has studied below 40,000, this as amazon pushed back against speculation that it may soon accept bitcoin. it is just part of the ongoing volatility in the space with every twist and turn of what the future holds for these various cryptocurrencies. richard kay is the u.s. ceo of exmo. i always feel like when we are talking to a crypto expert, i always want to make the distinction between bitcoin and the general crypto space. bitcoin is what people most know, but in some ways it is the least likely to survive, in my view. matt: that is a statement. amanda: fighting words, matt. but let's start with the volatility and what you think of it, what should people be making of the swings that they see? richard: we have had volatility this year, but it has been strange. the last few months, there has been less volatility. as an exchange, we live far volatility as people take advantage of the movement, but it seems to have calmed down between 35 and 45 the last few months. with crypt

. ♪ amanda: i'm amanda lang. welcome to bloomberg markets. kailey: i'm kailey leinz.ome our bloomberg and bnn bloomberg audiences. here are the top stories we are following for you from around the world. we will have more of that exclusive conversation with apollo cofounder mark rowen. his vision for the future of the investment giant. draft legislation to federally decriminalize cannabis in the u.s. is facing tough. we discuss the impacts of the bill with the ceo of tilray, irwin simon. and the group fitness class back by mark wahlberg starts trading on the new york stock exchange. we will speak to ceo adam gilchrist. amanda: we are watching the markets in the u.s. broadly speaking. a little bit soft today. strength is from utilities and financials. energy and tech not helping at all. the nasdaq gathering momentum to the downside. the 10-year at 1.3, so keeping our eyes on the yield but it does not explain why financials are doing so well today. morgan stanley with pretty solid investment banking quarters. one group to keep an eye on in the news because of u.s. lawma

i'm amanda lang. the bloomberg sustainable business summit is underway this week. steel had a chance, about the company's transition to a greener future. in that hydrocarbon base because it is core to our strategy. without those hydrocarbons, we don't get to transition. the hydrocarbons provide the cash flow that is necessary to make sure that our investors get the return they deserve. they have been patient, it's time for them to get the return they deserve, make sure we have a strong balance sheet, and that we can invest in the transition. this will evolve over time, it is not an overnight switch that some people would wish it were. this is a complex transition but is one that i think our plan is hopefully very clear on, and that will play out over the coming years. >> do you think that oil majors like yourself that are making these tough calls on where to invest money, are you setting the oil market up for a super cycle, or do you think you can stay flexible enough to prevent that from happening while also spending capital and time into other investments? bernar

i am amanda lange alongside matt miller.t say about her optimism about the state of the industry? thank you very much for being with us. let's start with how this happened, which as i understand, your previous location, the rent was raised and you moved next door and opened a different restaurant. what are you hoping to do here? >> i am feeling very optimistic. i think as everybody knows, especially now more than ever, very excited to open a new restaurant concept here. i think it is going to be tremendous. matt: it is definitely a vote of optimism. what can we expect in terms of the dining experience? is it going to be different considering what we have just been through? do you want to give people a sense of a turn -- a return to normalcy? >> i don't think there is ever going to be a full return to normalcy. it will absolutely echo restaurants past. i think the city, especially me, i know i am definitely craving a place to go out, get dressed up and really dying. in the past year, we have all been surviving on take out. an