Watching the Virus, Minneapolis Confronts Its Deep Inequality, Protests Are About Poverty

Business Week on iTunes, SoundCloud, o Bloomberg dot com. You can also listen to our radio show at two pm Eastern on Bloomberg Radio every weekday, or watch us on YouTube by searching Bloomberg Global News. Let's set the Business week agenda because the markets remain front and center, we know for our audience and also as a gauge of where we are both economically and what the reaction is

to all of this that's going on around us. To help us do that, Gina Martin Adams is of course Bloomberg Intelligence chief equity strategist, and Dave Wilson Bloomberg's Stocks editor. They both joined us from New Jersey. Dave, I want to start with you just give us the sense as you look at the contours of this trade, what's driving us up here? Well, it really looks Jason like a lot of the shares that have been beaten down over the past few months are kind of leading the way

up here. I mean, you've got a perfect example in Coty. I mean, given that they've made a deal with kk R for their professional beauty business. We're talking about Claire

All and Wella. Those brands valued in the transaction of four point three billion dollars, and Coty shares are up almost seventeen percent, its biggest game in the SMP five hundred, and then you see the gap after that, I mean, and talking about a stock that's been beaten up lately, you know, JP Morgan getting more positive on the company given the extent of the stocks decline, and it's up

more than twelve percent. You know, you go down the list, you see uh some of the retailers, uh companies, you know, real estate investment trusts actually owned the shopping centers, right you know. You you see uh that the cruise lines, you know, the the airlines to some extent, the hotels. I mean, those are the kind of stocks that are leading the way, you know, as much as anything. I mean, tech shares aren't even keeping up with the s the moment. Yeah,

come on in on this. It's an interesting I think we all thought, you know that because of some of the turmoil that we saw around the nation over the weekend. Also China and US tensions seem to be taking another step forward, China kind of kicking back here or pushing back. I think we thought that there'd be a little bit more nervousness in the markets. How do you see it today? Well, what I see is a market that continues to broaden um.

It's a continuation of leadership into as Dave mentioned, the beaten down names that's really been going on since late March, and it's just continued to gather steam throughout the month of May. We saw this gather seemed significantly, but a couple of really critical technical threshold where LEAs reached last week that are just too tough for investors to continue

to ignore. I mean, I think the first two months of this rally were was a lot about you know, kind of taking a leap of faith, and there were still a lot of investors sitting on the sidelines, sort of poo pooing the rally as a bear market rally that will eventually fade and turnover. But last week we crossed over the tunit day moving average for the first time. We got to the point where nine of stocks in the index were trading above their fifty day moving average.

These types of numbers just don't happen in bear market bounces. They usually signify the beginnings of a new uptrend and

a recovery rally that tends to endure. So I think what you're seeing um, both last week and a continuation of today, is really investors finally capitulating to the trend, rotating into where they see you have the greatest opportunity for continued advance, which many would say are the cyclical laggards, where you probably still have a little bit of room for catchup um and generally starting to put a little bit of money to work in equities despite the fact

that they're kicking and screaming their way in well, it's interesting, you know, also kicking and screaming their way in his Golden Sacks, which rolled back it's pessimistic outlook for stocks, right, David custom Um was predicting the SNP would slum to the level, so that was below the Friday clothes and now they're saying, okay, yeah, we're gonna you know, go all in and like everybody else. Yeah, these kind of

things always worry me. When everybody starts to capitulate, then you want to start to get a little bit more cautious, and that is something that we're starting to do. Actually, we put a report on the terminal this morning talking about you know, while we're very very um, sort of suzed by the idea that finally we get to claim that this is a recovery rally with the technicals that have formed, we also typically find that market advances slow

following those technical technical and you know measures reached. So our view is that we head into a choppier market over the summer we start to really question our economic outlook. We've seen a lot of rerating on policy and optimism that you know, policy will sort of flew been and provide enough cover for us to get through this. Now I think we get into more of a show me market and we start to see, you know, really focus on that economic and earning data a little bit more

for signs of recovery emerging. Yeah, those next earning its reports are going to be fascinating to look at all. Right, Gina Martin Adams, thank you so much. Well, as we know, we talked a little bit about so much going on, certainly on this Monday, but we cannot forget that we're still in a global pandemic, global deaths exceeding three seventy two thousand, lots going on. So let's get an update. Let's head back to one of our you know, top voices when it comes to what's going on in the virus.

That's Dr Rod Hawkman. He's president and CEO of Providence Health. Of course we've talked to them before, and him specifically the massive health system that's out there on the West coast. Dr Hawkman joining us on the phone once again from Seattle, Washington. UM.

Dr Hawkman, nice to have you back with us. UM. Tell us a little bit about what you're seeing at this point and what it tells you about kind of where we are as a kind true when it comes to the virus, getting control of the virus, and maybe what it helps tell us about what the next few months look like. Sure, I think as all positions and all people in healthcare, besides the tragic events of the

weekend and all of that. We're holding our breath watching all of these people in close quarters, thinking about what's what's going to happen two weeks from now. And you know, because we look at it from a clinical standpoint as well as from an emotional standpoint, we understand. But wow, we just we just see with a lot of the opening up of the country, but then particularly with all the demonstrations across cross the country, what's going to happen

in terms of the spread of this virus. So that's I think collectively we're holding our breath on that one. We were we were comfortable with what were things going. I think now it's kind of a wait and watch where the next few weeks come. And so Dr Hawkman, when you've joined us before, it's clear that you are in touch with state officials at the highest level, talking

to CEOs and and others. I believe you were in consultation with the Business Roundtable and and other corporate groups help us understand what folks at that level are are talking about now, especially as we think about reopening in a very cautious way across the country. So I think there are two things. One is we're giving out a lot of advice on what's the best way to do it.

And I have to say, from the business standpoint, a lot of the studios and companies are doing a great job thinking through how they get their workers back, what's the best thing to do. They're getting a lot of great medical input, so I was really pleased just to see the way they responded. And then the second is specifically with a lot of the pharmas studios talking about

vaccine development. And the thing that I've been worrying about most is not as much about the vaccine development, but are we going to have the delivery mechanisms for those vaccines? Enough glass files, enough needles? And then it's that priority by which we start vaccinating three hundred plus million Americans? Who do we start with? How do we do that?

Those are all the preparations that we need to do now for six months from now, and I was glad to see at least the business community and they I just talked in to the CEO of a major pharmaceutical company said look, we just spent the last three hours on that topic. So I was pleased to hear that do we need fitfull government involvement in order to do it um the way that it needs to be done, so that we are ready in six months perhaps when

a vaccine is there. Yeah, I think the CEOs have gone beyond that and are just saying, Okay, how do we get this done? I think we need to have coordination between the farmer companies and then then each state is going to have to figure out how does it vaccinate its population. And one of the things that we have is that we do the influenza vaccine every year. Might that not be a good starting place to figure out how do we distribute the vaccine mean and everything else?

So I said, what's happened? I think in this next phase people are just moving beyond And so Dr Huchman just staying with with vaccines for a moment. As you're talking to these CEOs and and other folks within the medical community, and I know you're talking to researchers and whatnot. What's the realistic timetable? I mean, is six months still realistic in terms of getting something that is, if not sort of mass available available to the extent that it

really makes a dent and how we can live our lives. Right, So, I think there's two aspects of this. One is, you know, kind of the ethical one where a number of people have agreed to get actually infected with COVID if they've gotten on the vaccine, to accelerate the process to look at the efficacy because ultimately, if you have to wait for you know, the natural progression of the disease, it takes time. So a lot of people are working through that.

If that happens, that's going to really accelebrate the development of understanding whether we have an effications of vaccine. So that's going to be a big, big step there. But it's really exciting amount of research that's being done and more thunlikely we'll have more than one vaccine. It's going to be several different ones that we're going to be

looking at. If I can switch gears just for a segment, Dr Hawkman, I think all of us, you know, there was a story, several stories that have come out, and I know Bloomberg News is covered as well about you know, the amount of bailout money that went to different hospital systems and I think you folks got about half a billion dollars. Help us understand because you're one of the more you know, one of the largest systems in the country and one of the more I guess financially solvent

hospital systems. Help us understand how that makes sense? So okay, I'm so glad to asked that question. I think I need to teach the New York Times about numerator and denominator. We have f we have fifty one hospitals, we have a hundred twenty thousand people, and we're in seven states. So obviously when you break that down hospital and household by clinic, it's actually a smaller amount that has happened

in other places. Secondly, you know, we reminded them that they who were printed that we do about a billion and a half dollars of free care each year and community service. And then the third is on a on an ibadah and margin basis. We're a one to two percent margin operations. So I wish, you know, I wish I was a silicon powerhouse and all the words that they used, and uh, you know, I think most of them in healthcare saw how long they got the story.

Uh they were just looking at the you know, the top nine one one was that were given out, you know, and then also weren't working well are the areas of the country that were most affected. Obviously we're in Los Angeles and Seattle that we're heavily affected by COVID nineteen.

So I could go on and on, but it's it's unfortunate how a lot of the stories get editorialized and aren't based on the side, right, Dr Hawkman, we really appreciate your input at as always, Dr Hawkman from Providence Health.

You are listening to Bloomberg Business Week, and I have to say, like many people, I was reading everything I could get my hands on over the weekend and was so happy to come across the story by Peter Coy because we look to him to just put things in perspective, and his peace it's online and on the Bloomberg about Minneapolis, is really a terrific read. He joins us on the phone from New Jersey, as does Joel Webber, the editor Bloomberg Business Week. He's on our remote line from Brooklyn.

So Joel, this was one of these I don't know, it's hard to sort of say it's a gift at a time when there's so much turmoil going on, but it really was some important perspective help us understand what Peter set out to do before we get to him. Uh. Well, I mean, first of all, like the country is just reeling right now. And um, that was even before the weekend started. And Um, I was talking with Peter a little bit and he said, you know, I know Jacob Frey.

Uh and and that immediately just caught my attention because um, you know, I just always respect sort of wherever Peter's mind goes. UM. But the really the angle that he hit on here was UM one that kind of I think is, you know, it's very prescient and that it takes into account everything that Minneapolis has really gone through,

not only on phrase watch, but just historically. And I think that that infused um in the article and it also helps us make sense of what happened in Minneapolis, which then led to obviously a much bigger national moment that we're all watching very closely now. Um, Peter, what was for you when you kind of look at it Frey and Minneapolis? What are the what are the elements that have jumped out to you? Oh, Minneapolis is well

known as really a mecca of corporate philanthropy. You know, they have a really dense concentration of fortune companies and uh, you know, I can go down the list, but three m Best by Target on Non and John t Rockefeller back in the nineteen seventies. The third that is visited Minneapolis partly just to see, you know, how could this one city be so famous for its corporate giving and yet at the same time they have a very bad problem of racial inequality in housing and incomes and so on.

So I just think it's it's tragic and it deserves more study. Partly because the people who you know, subscribe to Bloomberg Re, Bloomberg Business and Blosom Blomberg Radio are the kind of people who work for some of these companies and think of themselves as doing the right thing, and yet somehow the right outcomes are not happening well.

And I'm going to say, you know, we have a guest coming up after this, John O'Brien at Operation Hope, and I want to talk to about responsibility and all of this, because, as you say, Peter, you know the

Twin Cities. I mean, it's like a who's who lists, Who's whose list of of corporate America, Target, Cargill, Metronic, three m Eco, Lapse, General Mills, Best by US Bank, and you know, We've had conversations with so many different executives at different firms about you know, diversity, inclusion, equality, you know, putting you know, programs in place at companies, and yet here we are. Ye, yep, that's the tragedies. So I know Jacob bry the mayor, he was a

runner UM. He actually represented the U S and the Pan American Games in the marathon, and then at a young age he became the mayor. Is very progressive kind of guy. And here he was doing sort of the right things to put Minneapolis on the track to reduce some of this racial inequality. This came along and it's just devastating the city and it's gonna be hard to

rebuild from this, you know, Peter. We wrote a feature UM, which you say in your story last year sort of about UM, this movement that's been happening across the country UM and Minneapolis became one of the most interesting places to watch, which is about Yembi and Nimbi and and

sort of the end of zoning single family housing. UM. What is the role between that and sort of what's happening What's happened in Minneapolis over time, So a lot of cities around the country had basically segregation Blacks are not allowed to live in certain neighborhoods, and that went away, but it was kind of replaced by zoning laws, which were not on their face segregationists, but had some of the same effects. U the residential land in Minneapolis has

has been zoned for single families. A lot of blacks could not afford to buy houses, and they were stuck in apartments and not able to build wealth and of course segregated. Um So, Mineapolis became the first big city the United States in to repeal single family housing, which allows partment buildings to be built all around the city.

This is quite a dramatic event because you can imagine how many homeowners you might have been expected to resist this, and yet it passed the council and proved by the mayor. And it's uh, that's what I'm talking about when to talk about the city trying to move towards, you know, fixing its original sins. And that's why it's so tragic that this happened anyway, when they seem to be on a course towards better at times. And I know it, Peter,

it's impossible to predict anything. These days, and certainly it's it's too soon to make a lot of predictions about what happens tonight, very much less what happens in the near to mid term. But you know, what does Minneapolis do at this point? And knowing what you do know about the leadership there, what do you think the playbook is? I think we have to go back to the nineteen sixties to see how it played out back then, and this is similar in some ways. It's it's a very

slow process of healing. I'm I'm sorry to say that it doesn't always work. I mean, there are cities like Newark and Detroit that we're really lastingly damaged by the riots they had. It was white flight, there was business flight, and there to this day depopulated and poorer than they were before those riots. Are just praying that doesn't happen this time. All right, Well, we're gonna leave it there.

We thank you both so much. Peter Coy joining us Economic Cetera for Bloomberg Business Week, joining us on the phone from New Jersey, and Joel Webber, the editor of

Bloomberg Business Week, joining us from Brooklyn and Carol. It really is one of those stories that reminds us I think something that we're gonna be talking about throughout the course of this show and and I'm guessing throughout the course of this week and maybe longer, which is everything quoting Joe Webber is a business story in many ways, and the economics of a place and the role of corporations. And as you said, we're going to talk about this in just a few minutes with John Hope Bryant. It

has become even more important. And one of the things that that I've been thinking a lot about, and I'm guessing you have too, is this notion of what do we expect companies to do? And what do we expect them to say? And maybe in reverse order we know that they're going to say something, what do we expect them to do? What is their responsibility at a time like this? And I feel like now more than ever, they have to act well, you know, this is no nothing.

You know, it's not dissimilar to what we've been talking about with the virus about you know, these inequalities. It's not like they all of a sudden just happened because of the virus. The same thing, you know, with what we've seen play out in Minneapolis and really you know, elsewhere around the country. UM, not everyone is given the same equal start or you know, or access to opportunities. And we've talked so much about kind of you know,

where you grow up. UM often means what kind of perhaps public education you get, and that means what kind of higher education you get, and what kind of job you get it and what kind of health care you get. I mean, it's you know, it's all connected, and you know, I think it's really remarkable what the Minneapolis mayor tried to do in terms of single family zoning. I mean, this is how you start to change things. And I agree, Jason. I feel like we've been having these conversations. I know

I certainly have in my career for years. And so enough talking and let's actually start to see some action. You're listening to Bloomberg Business Week with Carol Masser and Jason Kelly on Bloomberg Radio Back with Us as John Hope Bryant. He's the founder, chairman and CEO of the Atlanta based Operation Hope. John is also chairman in chief executive officer Bryant Group Ventures and co founder of Global Dignity.

He joins us on the phone from Atlanta. John, It's nice to have you back with us, but I do wish it was under different circumstances. I do feel like, you know, like the virus, there are things that persist in our society and equalities and justices, lack of accountability. You know that we're there, but we're seeing them once again front and center. It's it's horrible. I do wonder you know, what happens as a result of what's happening

in Minneapolis right now? What changes? Uh, you know, consciousness. It's like a rubber band that has expanded, you know, it never returns to its original side. First of all, thank you and your colleagues for all that you do. Thanks for being a light on the heel in a

moment of darkness. The media is playing an outsize role in our consciousness these days because some of our national leaders are not stepping up in a way that it's holistic, that's bridge building, that's bringing us together, that's providing a light and a way forward. So thank you guys for doing that. Thank you. You You know, you know, a rubber band has expanded doesn't return as it was original size. It's forever extended. And so when things like this happened.

You star of having black people saying I feel discriminated against and white people saying I have no idea what you're talking about. As Will Smith said, the racism did not get discovered, it got filmed. And now when something like this happens, it just becomes undeniable. It's like that people of good will, which are most people, just because that's just that's just ridiculous, Like that's that's disgusting that

we can't. We can't, that's not that, that's not our nation, that's not you know what if that's my child and we started having a week conversation and not a MEU conversation, and then you can begin to do something about it. I over the weekend, I've had a problem with the looting, and operation was founded in the after the rhne Cking rise in so this strikes me very close to home. Um were the largest what we do in the country because we responded differently to the riot after it was over,

it decided to respond, not react. But this rioting and the looting of that continues. We will destroy the moral authority that George Floyd's gave us to honor his can see this weekend though, I was, you know, talking to some young people, and they said, John, you get to be at the table. You know, you you get to talk to people, You get to do media, you get to go to the White House, you get to go go and you know, CEO's offices and source. They listen

to you. We've been listen, We've been talking. My grandfather was talking, my father has been talking. I'm talking. They don't listen to us. No one listens to us until we tear some stuff up. So he said, look, we don't want to tear stuff up. It's primarily not with us tearing stuff up. We've been infiltrated, so and so forth. But what stuff gets torn up, people are actually listening

to us. So now we can hand the the time back to you to go talk for us in these board rooms and and hopefully cut a deal to get me an internship, to stop the poverty, stop increase the peace, and Greece some legislation to get us some fairness. And I think that goes back to that Dr. King quote. He said that the violence is the language of the unseen,

and they unheard. Dr King wasn't endorsing violence, he was acknowledging the pain Well and Johnam, I'm glad you brought up Dr King because you're there in Atlanta, and I think a lot of us saw your mayor, and I'm from Atlanta, as you know, and so I was paying very close attention, even closer attention to it, the legacy of Dr King and the legacy of so many others, whether it's former mayor and a young whether it's obviously Congressman Lewis and so many others like you who are

down there in Atlanta, which has again such a rich legacy here. What have you learned and what are we learning there that maybe we can taken in a broader sense because Mayor Bottoms, you know, spoke so passionately about the that legacy, and I wonder how that translates, especially to a business audience. Yeah, so that's a very good question. I think that this goes back, you know, by the way things are calming down here where things are popping

off and heating up other places. We're starting to transition a bit here. And I think it's part in part because the mayor, who's a black woman, said stop the looting, like you're not honoring our legacy. This is ridiculous. She she behaved like a parent, and a lot of our national leaders are not behaving like good parents. She behaved like a good parent, and you had you had that. Then you had corporate leaders step up, yes, but you had moral leaders like Andrew Young ambasslor Andrew Young my

mentor say you're breaking my heart. I'm crying now. We didn't give our lives for this. Then you had t I and Killer Mike from the hip hop generation saying hey guys, hey, hey hey, we owned property over here. Like you know, this is not the way, This is not the way right, so you so it becomes culturally unum un sexy, culturally unacceptable for for for those who want to deal in this world we lived in after

this is over, to continue with this. So we we acknowledge the pain, We acknowledge of that, but it manages a very To me, Atlanta is a moral center of America because of the civil rights legacy. This to me

speaks to going back to the sixties. You know, Birmingham, Alabama and in Memphis could have been Atlanta, say actually, more population, better location for an international airport, but they fought over race, and we decided to fight over money, and that and and that became the conversation that this time is hey, you guys, right, you can't destroy the center, right, you can't destroy them all right, this is where this is where our friends work, is where your cousin works

on Monday. You can't. You can't destroy it on Sunday. You gotta go to work on Monday. No, that's a really good point. John just unfortunately only got about forty seconds left here. I mean Atlanta, Minneapolis, you know, the Twin Cities. These are all cities that are, you know, home to a lot of well known corporations. What's the responsibility of CEOs and companies in all of this? A lot of them have diversity programs. They talk a lot, but what do we need to see in terms of action?

And my apologies only got about thirty seconds. Reimagine your budget. Look at your annual budget. If your budget would be attached to it realized, we imagine a budget. Where are your interns going, where your apprenticeships going, where's your advertising dollars going? Where you know where your subcontracts going? And see if you canna empower, minorise and and underserved in women with those opportunities, because that's going to create piece. That's what you saw. The bullet is a job. This

is about poverty. This is about poverty. Alright, Well, we really appreciate your time. We wish we had more. We're gonna have you back really soon. What a treat John Hope, Brian, as Carol said, we wish it were under different circumstances, but there are a few voices who are as clear as yours. We really appreciate it. Founder and CEO of Operation Hope joining us on the phone from my hometown Atlanta. Uh. And it does have a very rich legacy protests though

they are nothing new. UH. In China and specifically in Hong Kong. We've been talking about it for months and months. They have restarted with a vengeance and it's all because of a continuing conflict between Beijing and Hong Kong. Andy Brown has been following that incredibly closely. Editorial director of course for Bloomberg New Economy. He lived in that part of the world for many, many years, and he's been following it for us and sharing his conversations with us,

and we love having him back. He's on the phone from New Hampshire. So Andy, we've all been sort of domestically focused. I think rightly so over the past seventy two hours. But you know, meanwhile, this issue with China and with Hong Kong and involving the relationship between the United States and China has continued to escalate. What's the most important thing we need to know here, Well, there is actually a direct connection between protests in the United

States and UH and protests in Hong Kong. UM. You know, the Chinese government of course, UM gloats at UH whenever the United States gets into trouble and is able to UM tell a domestic audience that look, our system is is superior, America is in is in decline. UM. Lots of talk about you know, US hypocrisy, criticizing the response to pro democracy demonstrations in Hong Kong and then noting the behavior of some of the police against protesters and

the media UM here in the United States. But UM, the immediate connection with with Hong Kong is that you know, every June fourth, UM many many protests of thousands of protesters in Hong Kong take to the streets UM to commemorate UM the the the anniversary of the crushing of the pro democracy protests in Beijing's Gentlemen Square on June

the fourth in uh In nineteen eighty nine. And you know, this is the first real test of this national security law which China's parliament ran through over the heads of the Hong Kong Legislature and the Hong Kong Police. Of the band that that protest, a lot of people say, well, you know this, uh, this national security law won't have any any impact. It will just sort of be pop to one side, never get used. And already you're you're you're seeing, um, you're seeing the effect in terms of

a political tightening uh in Hong Kong. Of course, the police say this is a a COVID nineteen restriction, um. But very clearly this was the pretext to to prevent commemoration this year. What do you make of the continued andy, you know, escalation between the two as you said, you know China, you know, kind of pointing out to President Trump's own domestic woes because of these protests and talking about double standards, you know, between what's going on here

and versus Hong Kong. At the same time, we have China, you know, um, halting some US farm imports, so that threatens that phase one of the trade deal. So what what how do we put that all in context? Kind of those together. Yeah, I mean it was interesting when Donald Trump on on Friday when he announced the the the official response US response to the passage of this national security law, and he promised a, you know, a very tough response, and then we were all wondering what

that might be. And uh, in fact, um, it was a very watery, vague sort of statement that was sort of long on anguish and outrage and short on specifics um and and very importantly, um, he did not say that the US would abandon, um, the Phase one trade deal.

And that's really critical. I mean, we we've talked about this before as being one of the few slender threads that now hold the relationship between the US and and and China together, so much so that you know, today in Hong Kong, yesterday in Hong Kong, the markets took um pronouncements on Hong Kong as a as a as a reason to buy. And you know, we saw we saw stocks going up. Yeah. I mean that's the amazing thing.

And I'm glad you went there because amid all of this, I mean, we're looking at this here in the United States, but also in China. This notion that the investors say, all right, like we can deal with this, like we're just getting to keep buying folks. How do you square that as someone who looks at the newer Yeah, look, there's probably more sound and thunder in this than than

than anything else. Because the truth of the matter is that, you know, the there's a lot of talk will Will will Trump uh you know renee or will we'll we'll we'll ump uh, you know, throw Hong Kong out of this sort of special trading relationship with with with the US.

The truth is that, you know, Hong Kong, that the United States runs a very large trade sublus with with Hong Kong, and if it actually did away um with with Hong Kong special trading status, it would hut the US and US companies, you know, far more than it than it would Hong Kong. So the fact is that there isn't a whole lot that the US that Trump can do, um, you know, to hit back against China

over Hong Kong without hurting its own interests. I mean, it's quite a it's quite a dilemma that the White House now faces. Yeah, it is interesting and uh as complicated as it is, there are some very clear economic consequences or or lack their up depending on where you're looking. All right, Andy Brown, thank you so much, editorial director for Bloomberg New Economy. We're so happy to catch up

with him every week because it's a story. There are a lot of connections to occur well, and you've got to really understand trade and what the consequences are because in many ways, US companies are ultimately the ones that get hurt in this process, so you really have to understand the details and nuances the journal. Yeah, but you let me drive. No, no, no, honey, please, I'll do the right rival. Let me. I want to drive, Just drive, baby, the question trying. This is the drive to the globe.

Give me thanks, we'll dry up to dawn. On Bloomberg Radio, it is down for the drive to the close. Emily Rowland is back with us CO Chief Investment Stredges at John Hancock Investments, based in Boston. That's exactly where we find her on this Monday. Emily, nice to have you back with Jason and myself. So tell us a little bit about kind of where we are in this market.

We kicked off our broadcast a couple of hours ago, are Gina Martin Adams saying, you know, um, looking at the outcome, we're seeing broad based gain stocks, you know, a lot of them, a of their two day moving average, the S and P above it. Um, I don't know when you look at the market, what does it tell you? Well, thanks Carol for having me today and Jason, and certainly there's quite a bit of optimism that's being priced in

by the markets today. And you know it seems that we wake up every morning and futures are higher once again, you know, despite some of the really negative headlines we're seeing. And it's certainly you know what the country is struggling right now. Um, you know that's a challenge. Um. We may see, um, some recent events, you know, start to dent some of the green shoots that we've we started

to see from an economic perspective. But really at the end of the day, what it comes down to is markets are reacting to this incredible amount of fiscal and monetary stimulus that we've seen. You know, the said balance sheet is now sitting near seven trillion dollars, that's at increase in just three months. Europe's getting attacked together in terms of providing stimulus Japan. So we continue to see this incredible support that's really outweighing all these challenges and

uncertainty that continues to face the market today. It is really remarkable. I mean, I have to say, I mean that it's just a measure of cognitive dissonance that we're all kind of learning to live with. Here, Emily, I also wonder, you know, looking at my Bloomberg terminal here and looking at here to date, and there it is standing out in the green the NASDAC. It's just it's just remarkable to to look at. And you know, we've been talking about this with Dave Wilson. Are stucks guy

a lot? How do you sort of think about that? And it is this just a few names that dominate the the index there or what do you make of it? Yeah, I was just listening to Dave's commentary and I think his his chart is spot on and it's so relevant right now. And what we've seen start to happen as the as the reopening and this positive news is priced and more, as we have seen a broadening of participation in the market and a lot of inks been build

on that in recent days. But we think it's really important because there have been some parts of the market that have just been left behind on this rally. I mean tech being up uh, you know, seven percent year today, meanwhile financials up around you know down excuse me, uh, twenty year to date. That's a huge mismatch here between

the winners and the losers. We like technology, it's an area of the market that we've been overweight, but that's really been like the only trade of and you know, it's it's kind of like congratulations to folks that have

been overweight there and have have maintained those positions. But we think that if we do continue to see markets rally on this sentiment and we see more and more investors coming off the sidelines, which is what you're seeing, you couldn't see this broadening participation in the markets play out with areas like small and midcaps coming back. You kind of staging some games here as well as potentially

seeing some ultimate participation from the international side. We're not totally sold on the rotation two cyclicals yet from a somatic standpoint or a longer term standpoint, we think you actually need to see some real meaningful re acceleration and economic growth besides just the data getting less worse. So we think from a tactical perspective here, investors may want to reallocate assets into those parts of the market that

have been relatively beaten down. And just to press that, Emily and keeping what you just said, so your advice is trim tech for financials at this point, that's right, and again it's a it's likely a bit of a tactical trade for now until we get some confirmation that we're really going to have this this re acceleration and economic growth, and frankly, we're not totally convinced it's there yet. Lots of uncertainty still. Economic data is going to get

you know, still challenged. I mean, I know we're seeing um a bounce off the bottom here and a potential bottoming process this play out and things like t m I data, and that's great and we're optimistic because of it. We still think that there's a lot of uncertainty. This reopening could be uneven, it could be controversial, we could see another way of the virus. Those are all things that are just absolutely impossible, are nearly impossible to handicap

at this point. So we want to stay balanced. We want to participate in the market because we want to respect the rally here, but we want to do it in a really disciplined way. So that means owning some quality growth still but potentially thinking about leading more into value in order to keep those portfolios balanced. And Emily, just before we let you go, I mean, I do wonder, you know, as we're into this week, Carol and I spent so much of our time every day talking about

how various businesses have changed. How's your business changed? You know? I mean you work with a big group of people, uh, with a very well known company, and of course the saddest thing about reading the name John Hancock is the cancelation of the Boston Marathon. We can dwell on that another time. Um, but but I do wonder how your day to day has changed and how you think it's going to change going forward. Yeah, that's a great question. Um,

you know many life John Hancock's big company. I think we responded really well, um to some of the challenges that have been presented. But just like so many other people, you know, I've had to adjust to this new environment of seeing my time more working from home. I used to spend about two thirds of my time out on the road meeting with financial advisors. I've tried to replicate those conversations, um by doing zoom meetings, but frankly, there's

just nothing that beats that face to face contact. So I am personally really looking forward to re engaging and getting back out there. But for now, we're going to stay home and do our economic analysis from here and also help our kids do their homework. At the same time. You sound like you're ready, I'm just gonna put it out there, Tom, I have done teaching first and fourth grade. I can tell you that us to you right, yeah, exactly, all right, Emily Rowland, thank you so much. Co Chief

Investment Strategies for John Hancock Investment Management. Joining us on the phone from Boston, and you know, doing a lot of juggling as many of us already, like everybody, and uh, you know, we're seeing some sort of return in site. We've been talking about it very tentatively, um, but you know, it is amazing how much, you know, how long folks, especially those those of us who are used to you know, being out there, have not been out there at all.

It's really it's really think about how many trips that we didn't take. I was thinking it's about probably like a half a dozen, easily, at least in terms of being home these last few weeks. Thanks so much for listening to Bloomberg Business Week. Download the podcast on iTunes, Southcloud, blooberg dot com, or wherever you get your podcasts. And of course you can always listen to our radio show at two pm Eastern on Bloomberg Radio, or watch us on YouTube by searching Bloomberg Global News