Biden Plans to Warn Putin in Talks

You can also listen to our radio show at two pm Eastern Time on Bloomberg Radio or watch us on YouTube search Bloomberg Global News. So Russian President Vladimir Putin will bring a long laundry list of issues to talk about at his first summit with the US leader. We're talking about President Joe Biden that is happening in Geneva tomorrow, even as the Kremlin says there is a little chance for a breakthrough in relations. So we are expecting it, though, tim to be a long meeting. Yeah to the tune

of four to five hours long. It is long, especially at the tail end of the European trips such as this. Well, joining now is Jordan Fabian White House correspondent at Bloomberg News, Jordan joins us on a phone from Washington, d C. Jordan's set expectations for us going into this For the United States, What is a win for Joe Biden, the

Biden administration in the US. Well, I think the Biden administration is hoping for the President to send a tough message for Vladimir Putin That might not be enough to deter Putent from continuing his malign activities from you know, cyber hacking to less inter parens, but it might have

a political benefit for Joe Biden here at home. He ran on taking a tougher line against the Kremlin, contrasting to Donald Trump's approach of trying to form a personal relationship and getting concessions out of the Russians that clearly didn't work. And so this meeting might just be entirely for domestic political consumption, because it seems hard to see any kind of breakthrough or or even any kind of

concrete agreements coming out of this meeting Tomorrow. Hey, Jordan, understanding is there is no joint press conference after it, So that also kind of speaks to the idea that they're not expecting any big revelations or changes in this relationship. That's right, And each leader is going to do their

own step for press conference. And what White House specials have told us is that they wanted to minimize the chances of some kind of surprise that Vladimir Putin somehow pulls cut some kind of stunt, or find some way to step on President Biden's message. How do you read into the length of this meeting four to five hours. I mean, in some cases it, you know, made some reporters here harken back to when Putin met Chancellor mercle and she brought her his dog, knowing that she was

afraid of dogs. That's right. I mean there's a high problem, high possibility of some kind of stunt here. I mean Putin is a former catered key, should be operative, is known to kind of play mind games with this counterparts. And I also note that this is a four to five hour meeting with out any food. Apparently there's not

gonna be any meals on the agenda, so possibility. Second, by the end of that, I'm just gonna say, if I'm president, I'm gonna put in my rider that I wanted, at least if I have a four to five hour meeting. So okay, So is it just a case of let's hope we walk away and things aren't worse than what they've been. What? What's the goal? What? You know? And I think about our Bloomberg audience who are making investments

watching geopolitical discussions, intensions or lack thereof. I mean, what is it that an investment global investment audience maybe should be listening out for. Is it potentially reviving the Iran nuclear deal? What is it? Jordan's I think it's a couple of things. I mean, One, if I'm an investment perspective, I think the US and the buy administration in particular, wants some more predictability in the US Russia relationship. So

you know, they want more open lines of communication. They want, you know, fewer dust stops, and they're gonna lay out where the President by is gonna lay out some areas where he says it's going to be a red line where the US might respond. And then also they're going to talk about ways they can work together. You name

the I Ran a nuclear agreement is one. Officials have said that they're going to start talking about renewing this nuclear arms treaty called news Start, which is due to expire in So they're gonna try to find some areas for agreement, but those are obviously overshadowed by these big, huge areas where they're just vast disagreements. And what about when it comes to human rights and specifically dissent within the country of Russia and I speak, you know with

the background of Alexei Navalni. He's in prison there, that's right. You know what best officials have told us that they view that as an issue that's on the table. So Biden has said repeatedly that he's gonna raise those kind of issues directly with Bladimir Putin. Uh. You know that's something that you know, Donald Trump said that he didn't directly raise a Putin. He was sort of putting those issues to the side in an effort to have some kind of grand bargain with Putain. Biden is thinking the

opposite approach, confronting him over these issues. But again, you know, multiple presidents of try this approach. Your Barack Obama's works of you Bush, Bill Clinton and your lander recruiting has never changed his behavior. Uh, in the way that the US and the West would like so it's hard to see what would come of it, even though Biden is going to be delivering this message tomorrow. What's the China

role in all of this? Well, it's interesting. You know, I think Russia has always had a bit of a contentious relationship with China, but I do think they're also wary of the US. Is their effort to kind of rally NATO and it's a good front China. I mean, I think they would they Russia is a place, Russia is a government that wants to kind of disrupt the West, and you know, maybe they view China as a useful

foil in that regard. So you know, Is made some comments leading up for this meeting that he views this US that effort to try to get topper on China warily, and so I mean that could be something that he could raise the Biden. Of course, you have four or five hours is a lot of time. They could cover a lot of ground. Hey, twenty seconds left here is putting in touch with the former president Donald Trump. Do

we know anything? Yeah, we haven't heard that at all, but I mean, and nothing with Donald Trump with surprises though, but possibly all right, Well, listen, great preview of the upcoming meeting. Really appreciate it. Jordan Fabian, Bloomberg News. White has correspondent on the phone from Washington, d C. What I'm not expecting a soccer ball to be gifted this time around, like we saw in Helsinki, Carrol, I wonder if he'll have like a thermos of coffee, Joe Biden,

just in case, at least a bathroom break ours. This is Bloomberg Business Week with Carol Masser and Bloomberg Quick Takes Tim Stinovic on Bloomberg Radio. So Tim, nice to know things can change. We got some evidence of that today. You mentioned earlier the EU in the US agreeing to a five year trade truths involving the big aircraft manufacturers of the wealth. We're talking Bowing and Airbus, Brooks otherland Is deals in industrial columnists for Bloomberg Opinion. She joins

us on the phone from New York City. Brook It's great to have you back on the show. Take us into the details here and and how big of a winness is not just for Boeing but for Airbus as well. It's really a win for both companies. I mean this has been going on for quite some time. I mean nearly twenty years at this point, and you know, it really put sort of kidding to the point where the fight was not helping anybody. UM. And you know, the the EU had made the same argument that the US

had made against Airbus, against Boeing. UM. You know, both companies relied on some sort of state support to get these uh some of their planes developed. I mean, these are very expensive programs, they're very complicated, they take a very long time, UM, and so you know, it wasn't really helping anybody to keep pointing fingers when when you were doing some of the same things yourself essentially UM.

And then especially you know, as you get into the pandemic, this stat really started to look like a pointless relic. I mean, you had government spending over backwards to really support both the airline and the aerospace manufacturing industry through the pandemic. And so you know, I just think that it's a good positive step forward for all involved. So, Broke, I want to kind of do a Blueberg cricket take

with you. So the problem was there was this disagreement and this spat that went on, as you said, for twenty years, and it really was cumbersome in terms of the global aircraft market. I guess you could say, so, what first of all, why was it put in place to begin with? Well, it's sort of evolved in different um phases, I suppose over the course of the twenty years.

So sort of at the heart of the US complaint had to do with the Airbus A three fifty and the now shuttered program for the AH three A d UM. The US accused the EU of essentially giving Airbus significant subsidies that allowed it to develop a their crash and really sort of break Boeing lock on the market. Um. So there was some thinking that the US just couldn't let this go because it just couldn't believe that it

was no longer the only planemaker in the game. Um. The you of course countered that the US has done it's part to support Boeing over the years. Uh, and you know that they didn't really feel like the US had a ground to stand on here, and and it just sort of became very political and very drawn out. Um. And you know, when that is the nature of these things, they take a very long time to solve. But um, you know, in the end, I think probably the lawyers

benefited the most from they always do. Um Brook China. Where does China come into this, because Airbus and Boeing have it do apperly when it comes to airplanes like this,

at least for right now. I don't never forget. A few years ago, I was in Shanghai and I was driving to the airport in a taxi and I passed what looked like an airplane manufacturing facility similar to what you see if you fly into Seattle and you you know, drive into the city and you passed what Bowing is doing, and I realized this was for for COMAC, the Commercial Aircraft Corporation of China, essentially China's version of Bowing an airbus. How does this play into the agreement that was struck?

So China is uh. There has been very clear that Komak is the priority, that they would like to have a commercial aerospace competitor to Boeing an airbus. They are not there yet. Um there, there's not really a plane that can rival um you know the seven thirty seven Max or you know the E three twenty. Those are really the marquee jets for Boeing and Airbus, and China can't do that yet. But they are clearly making this priority.

They are investing a lot um. They clearly enjoyed being able to be the first ones to ground the Bowing

seven thirty seven Max. Because you know, one of the big questions about Comac is whether it will be a space is what Boeing and Airbus can offer UM, and you know whether China has the reputation for safety and quality control necessary to you know, sell airplanes to the West, and so for them to stake that stand to be the first one to do so, I think was sort of a pivotal moment in their aerospace journey, if you will, UM. But like I said, they don't have a plane just yet.

I think what you're worried about was Bowing an airbus. Is not necessarily whether Komak will start flying or will be sold to to Delta UM. But you know whether the Chinese airlines will predominantly choose Comac airplanes. And if you look at the future growth trajectory for planes, a significant chunk of that future demand is coming from China,

UH and from other parts of Southeast Asia. So you know, Comac doesn't really need to win over Europe in the US, they need to be able to win over these these Chinese airlines. Um. And you know, especially if those airlines fly domestically, that that is an easy or hurdle to clear pay. Does it make sense that we're seeing a little bit of a pop in bowing today it's up about one percent airbus a d r s or just

up about half a percent. But does it give some clarity, some ease if you know you're an investor in Boeing shares to some extent. I think it's helpful. I mean we've been trending in this direction for a while now. So in March, you know, the two sides agreed to suspend the terrorists that were put in place as a result of this UH dispute over aircraft subsidies. Um. While they've worked to an agreement, and so it's definitely a

positive to get this cleared. I mean, the last thing Boeing needs right now is another reason not to buy airplanes from it. So, um, you know, it's it's certainly helpful.

What about when it comes to resolving lingering trade wars that the United States has with many different areas of the world, and we only about thirty seconds broke sure, I mean I think it's definitely a positive step, and I think just the mere fact that we came to some sort of an agreement, and it is certainly a change from the Trump administration, where you know, they actually were raising the stakes and it's going an airbus dispute, and so to be sort of I guess taking a

setbacks from the battle line and and focusing on cooperation and coming to agreements, I think only has to be interpreted as a positive sign. Now the steel and the womenum terrorists issues a little bit stickier, but we'll see. So why don't she's safe though, I hope for now. Okay, just getting priorities straight here, at least mine, I've been worried about stealing a luminium. I don't know where your head is, Tim Stanovic, good stuff, brook Thank you so much,

Brooks Sutherland. She is deal with an industrial's columnist at Bloomberg Opinion on the phone in New York City. Check her out at b L s U T H on Twitter. You're listening to Bloomberg Business Week with Carol Messer and Bloomberg Quick Takes Tim Stinovic on Bloomberg Radio. Well, the cover story this week. It's also Today's Bloomberg big take the story though, in the upcoming issue of Bloomberg business Week magazine, Airbnb spending millions of dollars tim to make

nightmares go away. Joining us now is Joel Webber, editor of Bloomberg Business Week. He's here with us in the Bloomberg Interactive Broker's studio. Also, Olivia Carville, technology reporter at Bloomberg News, joins us from here in our Bloomberg New York City bureau. Joel, as soon as I started reading this story early this morning, I could not put it down. What who is on the safety team and the sort of first responders at Airbnb, and and what do they

do when it comes to crisis management. I believe it's called the black box. So Olivia's story uh brought many things to light, um, one being that the real bedrock of Airbnb's business model is trust. You check into someone else's apartment sometimes or house, sometimes that person maybe occupying that same space or in a different room. Um. And the whole thing that makes the business work is is

that you have trusted in this system. And what Olivia's reporting revealed was that oftentimes stays don't go well, and that could be uh more run of the mill things of like just a trash department, or it could go very, very very bad. And there have been cases a rape that was previously unreported that Olivia found out about, murders,

violent crimes, and when that happens. There's a safety team that Airbnb has assembled around the world, um one hundred agents that basically the worst of the worst situations end

up going to that group of people. And Olivia basically was the one that has revealed that this team exists, that they're under mental dress for all the different types of cases that they have to deal with, and that you know, this is the thing that for investors this company is now publicly traded, people haven't known that this is a dark side of this company in quite this way. UM So, so, Olivia, how about you bring us up to speed on on you know, how how you went

about reporting such a remarkable story. It's sure, thanks so much for having me on. I feel like the story really the crux of it was to understand, you know, to get inside the safety team and to really get to the bottom of what happens inside to a B

n B when things go wrong. Initially, when I started reporting this piece, it was about trying to find insiders at the company who would be willing to talk to me about the stress of the job and just the process of when something happens inside a listing, like a violent crime, and a call comes through to the Airbnb customer service rep, what actually happens, how does the company handle it, who does it get transferred through to, and what do they do about handling? You know, public image,

reputational risk, brand risk. Given that Airbnb's entire business model really risks on that idea of trust between strangers to them, public image is just so crucially important too gross and revenue. So, Olivia, how does it work when things go wrong? And often issuell mentioned horribly wrong? Right, Well, it's it's a call is to come through to Airbnb related to anything concerning safety.

So when I say that, I mean anything involving a child, ass of, human trafficking, drug trafficking, kidnappings, hostage scenarios, sexual assaults, rape cases, murder, anything that enters that kind of like significance of a real safety crisis. It will immediately be transferred through to an internal safety team of agents. And as Joel mentioned, the BnB has about a hundred of these agents based all around the world who are trained in trauma. You know, they specify and specialize in how

to handle cases of trauma. Be a taught how to deal with suicidal ideation. Be are taught to know how to how to help talk with a sexual assault survivor and the best way to support her in that moment. And UM, for these safety agents, it's all about doing what they can to protect the individual in crisis, and also they do have a dual role to protect the company's public image. At the same time, Joel referred to

the arrest that these safety agents experience. What is the toll it takes on them and how do they deal with it. A lot of the safety agents I talked to UM expressed vicarious trauma. They say that they suffer from PTSD from the job. I mean they willingly walk into it. They want to do this kind of trauma work, and I think it takes a certain person who's attracted to this particular role. A lot of them comes from backgrounds of emergency services work or even from the military.

They've you know, as I see, had gone through a lot of trauma based care training. They have counselors on site to help this team. They have specialized call down rooms with dimmed lighting to help them answer those really

tough calls. And for these agents, you know, when you handle a case of an individual who has been assaulted, raped, who has lost a loved one, maybe lost a child in a listing, you form a bond with the individual over the phone, and a lot of these safety agents walked about cases where they're still in touch with those families years after the crime has happened. You know, it

stays with them. One safety agent I talked to handled a case of a missing person who just disappeared from a listing, and three years after that occurred, he was still googling that individual's name to see if there was,

you know, if they were either found. So you can you can feel when you're talking to these individuals just a heavy personal toll it has on them, and you know how much they they care for the people that they're trying to help, but also how they were so torn when it came to their role in trying to keep these cases quiet or trying to do what they could to protect the company's public image at the same time.

They really had to wrestle with that difficulty. And you know, the opening of The story is rooted in New York City in near Times Square on New Year's Eve, and there's a case that Olivia found in her reporting um that the company Airbnb, following this um uh, this rape, the survivor was paid seven million dollars um, which was you know, a huge number when you think about it, right, like a clearly very bad thing, but a huge number. Olivia.

There's also a policy element to this because that case basically happened at almost the worst possible time for Airbnb, because of its battle with New York City. Can you talk about why New York has always been so important for Airbnb and why that case was so significant and forgive me, Olivia, you have to be quick. Just got about twenty seconds here, sure, I mean New York is

one of airbnba's biggest market. The regulatory recipe was huge because it could lead to a Domino feat for the company needed to do what it could could to try and keep this case. Um, you know, to try and do what they could to handle this case is as well as they possibly could, knowing the potential regulatory rest of the incredible story. It's out on Twitter, it's at Bloomberg dot com and it's in the magazine the upcoming issue. Olivia Carvil who wrote it. Joe Webber, the editor of

the magazine. Thank you. This is Bloomberg Business Week with Carol Masser and Bloomberg Quick Takes Tim Stinovik on Bloomberg Radio. So TikTok everyone, the policy setting arm of the US Federal Reserve. We're talking about the FMC. They're kicking off their two day meeting today. We are expected some changes. We are I'm we don't ye projections, but you know

we're still waiting on headlines for tomorrow exactly. So let's see what Steven Skanky is expecting, his chief economic advisor at kill Point, former U S Treasury and White House National Security Council staff member based in Washington, D C. And that's exactly where we find him on this Tuesday. How are you. I'm great. Thanks, it's always going to be back to you. Well, it's great to have you here, Steve.

So what are you expecting? We are, at least to our economics team and others are forecasting that that dot plot we're going to see some changes and that we'll get some expectations of interest rate changes in versus after I think that's a fair assessment. The the indicators are positive generally, which gives that confidence. But at the same time, you know, it is an excellent position to be able

to do absolutely nothing and feel good about it. At this meeting, the the good employment number that the good jobs numbers UH for for May and April were positive but well below expectations. UH. The inflation number headline is a little bit of a surprise, but from April to

May is down a little bit. And what it was from March to April, and when you when you look at where the impact is and what are the subcategories that that had the biggest change other than energy, it's things like used cars UH, rental car prices, whereas the food costs for people eating at home was up point seven percent year over year, housing up two point two percent year over year, medical care services at one point or five So so not something that threatens to build

inflationary expectations. And I think that's that's what the FED sees here. So it sounds like you are somebody who's not concerned about inflation being persistent. It sounds like you're somebody who thinks that the data is pointing to this being transitory. Well, at this point, the biggest impact on pulling the index up has been in categories, say for energy, UH,

that are largely transitory. Um, you can you can go to a number of the different categories when you when you're looking at what the BLS put out last Thursday and UH and really understand what it was that was going on. And that just provides confidence as to it not being something that's turning into a problem. Um, will will the fled FED revised it's a summary of economic projections, maybe to to notch it up a little bit for the year. I doubt it, just because there's no reason

for them to do that. Yet. You don't think the dot plots Steve, You don't think they'll change it at all. Oh, I think they. I think they may change the dot plot a little bit, just because that's that's the nature of being together and trying to express some thought about what might be happening with the data that they're receiving.

But we are still very much within that that window of of burning off twenty COVID low base effects, and so they don't want to seem concerned, but they certainly want to seem aware that was brilliant still in the window of burning off COVID low base effects. I mean, that's the point. I mean, you just look at the labor market, right, and it's over seven million jobs in the US that we still have to get back to get us to the point of being at pre pandemic levels.

Look at it globally. I was looking at some numbers globally, and it's over seventy millions, some seventy five million jobs that are short of its pre crisis path. So that's a big one. The labor market. Steve well and and and Carol three and a half million fewer workers in the labor force. People of people who just went out for for a whole host of reasons, of course, but many of them related to COVID. Time to retire, felt greater exposure, not motivated by the wages that are that

are being paid. You know, when the FED looks at this, uh um it, it wants to see wages rise. Uh and before they call the labor market tight, they want to see that the businesses are actually offering to pay higher wages and still people are not coming. So wait, let me ask you something on wages. Because Tim and I talked about this a lot. We've seen Chipotle and others. I mean, there are instances where wages are going up. Why is it that we are so dismissive of it?

Is it because it's on the lower end of kind of the wage scale. I think that's part of it. Um. You know, when when we look at what people in the I'll just call it broadly hospitality restaurants, UH, lodging Uh, people who interact with the public in some way or another. Uh, they additionally have been paid lower wages and at wibble of the fifteen dollars an hour. And now is there's been pressure and publicity about several of the big companies saying, well,

we're gonna pay people fifteen dollars an hour. We're just gonna step it up and do that. Uh. These other folks say, well, wait a minute, I'm not getting fifteen dollars an hour, and I'm really on the front line being exposed where this virus still tracks, and uh, I'm just not interested. I'll do something else. I'll wait out my unemployment benefits until they've fully run out. And and that that can happen really without causing alarm when you

look at it from the FEDS perspective. But when you when you sort of just read the headline numbers, of course, that that attracts a lot of attention, and that's the sort of thing that that will generate some interest and maybe some adjustments to the doptments. Even just in ten seconds. What's the piece of data that that worries you, that says that inflation is not transitory, that we continue to see increases in in some of the basic core area Okay,

the basic core areas. Dr Stephen Skanky, chief economic advisor at keel Point, also former U. S. Treasury and White House National Security Staff Council staff member, always great when he joins us. Thanks so much, Steve. I'm a journal Yeah, but you let me drive. Oh no, no, no, no, honey, please, I'll do the right revel. Excuse me, I want to drive, Just drive, baby questions trying. This is the drive to

the globe that community well drying us radio. All right, just about ten and a half minutes left in today's trading session. We're bouncing around a little bit app here on this Tuesday. Let's get to it with Brad McMillan, chief investment officer at Commonwealth Financial Network. He is on the phone from Waltham, Massachusetts, approximately two hundred thirty two point five billion dollars in assets under management. Brad, good to have you back with us. Uh, what's on your

radar today? Well, just watching the recovery continue. There's a lot of headlines, there's a lot of scary things, and right now I think the FED is going to be the next data point to drop. What are you expecting with that data point and what are you watching for tomorrow? I think they're gonna do nothing. And I think that for a couple of reasons. First of all, inflation is not going to be a problem. Yeah, we got headlines, but they'll pass. Employment is still a problem, and they've

said that's what they're focused on. So hey, they have no reason to be they have no reason to the whole type, Well, that's what we just talked about. There's still more than seven million Americans out of work. If you take the global snapshot, there are more than seventy million Americans, I mean seventy million folks around the world

that are out of work. And so that is to some extent an insurance policy that when it comes to monetary policy and policy overall, it's going to be stimulative and easy until we see those numbers correct or at least get closer. I think that's exactly right, Carol. And you know, I think one of the things out there is there's this huge problem is to disconnect with the

with the labor market. There's a labor shortage. What's interesting is if you go when you look at the number of people who are out of the labor force but who want to get a job, that pretty much fills that labor gap. So we know what's going to happen, but we also know it's going to take some time. And that's what we That's what the bet is watching how long is it going to take? Brad? What what changes your mind? You say that you know inflation is not going to be a problem. Uh, employment is still

a problem. What changes your mind and says that inflation is a problem. What's that data point? I think it's nothing but time. I mean, right now, if you look at the two year numbers as opposed to the one year numbers, we're still within the range. The one year numbers are the bounce back up and we're forgetting about to drop down during the early part of the pandemic. Now if that stays up once the year on year comparison start to normalize, that says we've got a bigger problem.

But right now it doesn't look like that's going to happen. Some of the higher frequency stuff, lumber, for example, is already starting to roll over, and we're going to see that with most of the other stuff as well. Right lumber, copper, we've seen that as well. Uh. And and those are the kind of metrics, uh, that you really follow in terms of inflationary pressures because they can often be If they tend to stick, that's when you start to get

a little bit nervous. So in this environment, then what do you advise investors to do? I mean, it's hard to kind of beat the US equity market. But having said that, we are seeing E t F flows increasingly. We've seen money flowing into Europe and e t s versus U S e t s because the US prices and valuations have gotten a little bit lofty. US valuations, if you look at it, are actually down a little

bit on a forward earning spaces. Now they're still not cheap, don't get me wrong, but they pretty much held around twenty two and now they're about twenty one or thereabouts, because earnings are growing faster than expected and there's probably still some upside there. So I like emerging markets. I think they're going to catch up with US at some point. I like US markets developed, foreign markets not so much. UM, yes, specifically,

what are you what are you referring to? I mean, can you can you be more specific with those markets that you're that you're excited about? I like the US, I like um India. India has had a terrible experience with the pandemic, but they just like the United States, their democracy, they will get through this. They'll have some resilience. So I think there's some opportunities there. I think if you look at some of the Southeast Asian economies, there

are chances. You know, they are still going through the pandemic, but again, they supply the United States, so they're going to have a demand driven push once they get through the Once they get through the pandemic. Again, that's not going to happen immediately, but anybody who's in a position to benefit from the U s reopening once they get their own house in order, is going to do very well.

Hey what about consumer discretionary My understanding is that is an area that you like, specifically some confidence and disposable income that's out there. Having said that, the retail sales numbers today, we did see a shift out of some of the things that people have been buying, like things for their home and the auto sector. So where within consumer discretionary brad do you find opportunity. I think you're gonna find a lot of people as they move back

into the workforce. And I mentioned to all of the people were out of the workforce who are coming back, We're going to be going for small luxuries, you know. I think companies the cater to you know, the average person, we're going to do very well. I think companies that cater to the average shopper who's going to be coming back, who's going to have some discretionary income, we're going to do very well. I think main Street America retail is

going to do very well. Main street retail. Because it's interesting. Someone was telling me anecdotally being at a mall in a northern New Jersey suburb and said the lines were just out of the boutiques like the Chanel boutique and the you know, the high end luxury is high end luxury something on your buying list as well. Yeah, I think when I when I talked about main Street, I think I'm talking about the average person, which would include malls, you know, So I think that's um. The average person

has been sitting at home. They still have a lot of money set aside, and they want to go spend it, and they want to go have a good time. And part of that is shopping is an experience. When you say experience, I mean, are you thinking more about moving away from what we've had over the last sixteen months and the idea that we've gotten so used to shopping online and going back to what we were seeing before the pandemic when retailers and other other stores we're trying

to create experiences that you couldn't get online. You think Americans are going to go back to that. I do think that there's a reason to go back to that. In fact, I think they have to go back to that, because if you can buy anything easily, wouldn't So, for example, if Walmart is competing against Amazon, what can Walmart offer that Amazon can't. Now you say that's not necessarily an experience, but it is an experience to go out to a shop. If you look at Target, same thing, what can they

offer specifically that Amazon can't. And then of course at the high end you have the high end retailers, but you can create that experience at all levels, and I think increasingly you're seeing all retailers try and make that happen. So one place you would not want to be as an investor right now, one place I would not want to be as an investor right now. On the hot seat there, Brad, No, I think it's a great question. Um. I think I would say I would say some of

the I would probably say crypto. There's been a lot of volutility out there, there's been a want of Um. It's basically a story asset, and my question is how much more good news can go out there? I mean, we I'm just not sure I see the upside from here from a sentiment point of view, I'm not sure where I see the marginal buyer. All Right, We're gonna leave it on that note. That's good to know, uh

and great to get your perspective. Brad McMillan, Chief investment Officer, Commonwealth Financial Network, joining us on the phone from Waltham, Massachusetts. They've got roughly two two point five billion in asset it's under management. Thanks for listening to Bloomberg Business Week. Download the podcast on iTunes, SoundCloud, or Bloomberg dot com, and you can also listen to our radio show at two pm Eastern on Bloomberg Radio or watch us on YouTube. Search to Bloomberg Global News