DeSantis Drops Out Reaction; Wall Street Record Territory

Good morning.

I'm Nathan Hager and I'm Amy Morris. Here are the stories we're following today.

We begin with the major political news ahead of the New Hampshire primary tomorrow night. Ron DeSantis has dropped out of the Republican presidential race after finishing a distant second in the Iowa caucases, and now he's throwing his support behind former President Donald Trump.

It's clear to me that a majority of Republican primary voters want to give Donald Trump another chance. They watch his presidency get stymied by relentless resistance, and they see Democrats using lawfair this day to attack him.

Ron DeSantis made his announcement in a post on x. Former President Trump says he appreciates the Florida governor's endorsement.

They ran a.

Really good campaign.

I will tell you it's not easy.

They think it's easy doing this stuff, right, It's not easy.

Now.

With DeSantis out of the race, that leaves former South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley as the last standing Trump alternative. A new CNN University of New Hampshire poll shows Trump with fifty percent support in the Granite state. Haley comes in second at thirty nine percent.

And Nathan with the dissentis withdrawal from the race. Nikki Haley is stepping up the direct attacks on Donald Trump. Bloomberg's Ed Baxter with that part of the story.

She is really focusing on Trump's mental acuity. She says, he's not the same man now that he was when she served in his cabinet.

So I always told him what I thought was in the best interests of the country when I was in his cabinet, But this is different. I mean, we're seeing he's just not at the same level he was at twenty sixteen. I think we're seeing some of that decline. But more than that, what I'll say is focus on the fact that no matter what it is, chaos follows him.

Trump has responded that he feels mentally stronger than he did twenty five years ago, ed Baxter, Bloomberg Radio.

All Right, ed, thank you.

While Trump is favored to be the Republican nominee, New Hampshire Governor Chris san Nunu, a vocal critic of the former president, says Republicans need a new voice because.

Of that Trump brand we've lost in twenty eighteen and twenty twenty and twenty twenty two. I'm so tired of losing, and I'm tired of losers, and I think we're.

Just tired of that brand that just drags the rest of the Republican Party down.

Right, what's the point of scraping out a winning the presidency if you lose everything else? Like he has time and time and time again.

New Hampshire Governor Christen you who says Nikki Haley can sustain her presidential campaign into the next round of Republican primaries even without a win in New.

Hampshire, and after tomorrow's New Hampshire primary, gets onto the Nevada caucus and then to South Carolina, Nikki Haley's home state. Bloombergs Laura Davison is in New Hampshire covering the Republican primary.

The question, though, really is what happens after New Hampshire. You're going into South Carolina, which I'll know is her home state. Trump is leading, So this is really a question of, Okay, you can do well on Tuesday. What is the long game here?

Bloombergs Laura Davison reports Nicki Haley is launching a four million dollar ad campaign in her home state the day after the New Hampshire primary to try to convince South Carolina voters her campaign will have staying power and amy.

We're going to have much more on the New Hampshire primary and the rest to the GOP race in just a minute, But we now turn to the latest developments in the Middle East. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Natanyah, who has rejected what he says are unacceptable terms presented by Hamas for a new hostage deal. Here's Natanya, who's speaking through an interpreter, Kamas.

Amas is demanding in exchange for the release.

Of our hostages, the end of the war.

The withdrawal of our forces from Gaza.

Were we to agree to this, our soldiers would have fallen in vain and the next October seven would only be a question of time.

Public and political pressure to bring those hostages back home has been rapidly increasing over the past several days. Over the weekend, family members demonstrated in front of Natanyahu's private residence.

And we turn our attention now to financial markets. Early indications signal the record rally on Wall Street will continue futures are high, or we begin a new trading rate. On Friday, The S and P five hundred index finished at an all time high for the first time in two years. This week's earnings will continue to be a dominant theme. We get a preview from Bloomberg's Charlie Pellett.

We'll be hearing from companies across a broad swath of industries amid questions about how firms and their customers have dealt with high interest rates. Emily Rowland is co Chief Investment Strategistic JH Investments.

So what companies are dealing with now, of course, is a much higher cost of capital as rates have gone up at the same time that revenue growth the shrinking. So those margins are really getting challenged here. And the key for companies from here is who can manage that best in an environment where it's going to become.

A lot more difficult.

Among the names reporting this week, three M American Express, Blackstone, AT and T, Northrop Grumman, Norfolk, Southern Union, Pacific, Team Mobile, and Visa in New York. Charlie Pellett, Bloomberg Radio.

All right, Charlie, thank you now. Two major Wall Street firms are recommending investors start buying five year US notes after they saw their worst route since May last week. Morgan Stanley ces scope for a rebound in treasuries on the idea that data in the coming weeks could surprise to the downside, and JP Morgan says yields have already climbed to levels last seen in December.

And in company news, the Federal Aviation Administration is recommending airlines inspect another type of Boweing seven thirty seven aircraft that also had mid as exit door plugs. That's the same type that ultimately failed in an Alaska Airlines blowout earlier this month. Boweing said in a statement that it fully supports the FAA and our customers in this action.

And we're going to be watching shares of Macy's today. Amy the department store chain, says it is not interested in a bid from arc House Management and Brigade Capital Management to take over the department store chain. The investors made a five point eight billion dollar offer for the company last month. Yesterday, Arkhouse threatened to take its offered to shareholders if Macy's doesn't step up negotiations.

Time alvera look at some of the other stories making news around the world, and for that we're joined by Bloomberg's John Tucker.

Good morning, John.

Amy, Good morning. While Republicans focus on the new Hampshire Amory, Democrats are zeroing in on abortion rights. Let's get more in this report from Bloomberg's Denise Pellegrini.

President Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris will be headlining and abortion rights rally in Virginia this week. Biden's campaign says the event will underscore what's at stake for reproductive freedom in twenty twenty four and communicate the President's commitment to codifying the protections of Row into law. The campaign is also releasing television ads this week to run in battleground states marking the fifty first anniversary of Roe Vwight.

It's an and Biden expressing confidence the Senate could work out an emerging bipartisan border compromise as soon as this week. Democratic Congress and Dan Goldman tails that ABC. Both sides are trying to move forward.

We do need to have a much more orderly immigration process that increases the amount of lawful immigrat through visas and other more routinized scheduled forms, and we also need to fix our asylum process.

Congretional Republicans have demanded a crackdown on immigration in exchange for supporting a one hundred and ten billion dollar package that includes funds for Ukraine and Israel. It faces a rougher time in the House. Former President Trump will be in New York today to appear for his second trial for defaming columnist Ejene Carroll. Last week. Trump was threatened with expulsion from the court making comments about what he

All right, Thank you, John, and we bring you news throughout the day here on Bloomberg Radio. But now you can get the latest news on demand whenever you want it. Subscribe to Bloomberg News Now to get the latest headlines at the click of a button. Get informed on your schedule. You can listen and subscribe to Bloomberg News Now on the Bloomberg Business app, Bloomberg dot com plus Apple, Spotify, and anywhere else you get your podcasts. Time now for

The NFL playoffs are down to the final four the conference championship games. This Sunday, we'll have in the AFC the defending Super Bowl champion Kansas City Chiefs in Baltimore. The NFC title game will be the surprising Detroit Lions at San Francisco. The Lions and one a playoff game in thirty two years now they've won two and two weeks. They get their fourteenth win of the seas in thirty one to twenty three over Tampa Bay. Detroit never trailed

From coast to coast, from New York to San Francisco, Boston to Washington, DC, nationwide on Syrias, exam the Bloomberg Business app in Bloomberg dot Com.

This is Bloomberg Daybreak.

Good morning.

I'm Nathan Hager on a morning where it is now down to two in the Republican presidential race. Florida Governor Ron DeSantis has dropped his bid for the twenty twenty four nomination. He is endorsing Donald Trump, the front runner the head of tomorrow night's New Hampshire primary, But Nicki Haley is hoping an upset in the Granite State will propel her into her home state of South Carolina, just holding its own primary next month. We'll get the latest

Let's start here.

I magine if you're the former president and your own party, you can barely get fifty percent of the vote.

That's why Trump's in trouble, right.

So now that you have somebody new on the scene kind of building that kind of momentum is huge.

And the key is that it's a one on one race.

So if Trump can barely hold fifty percent or keep them under fifty percent in a one on one race, well, the mass says that there's fifty one percent to Nikki Haley, and that's what you need to win a state.

Now.

I don't think any of these early states are must wins for Hailey. I don't think that's ever been the case. They're possible, but they're not must wins.

I think when you get to.

Super Tuesday, okay, now you really have to start winning states. Obviously, But as long as she keeps building on that momentum, I think there's a lot of opportunity. She has money, she has resources, she has you knows how to win in New Hampshire, knows how to win in South Carolina, so all the wind is at her back.

Any Custer set in this chair a short time ago and said, we want you to write in. Joe Biden does a write in campaign for the president of the Creunited States which is remarkable. But she said if not vote for Nicky, just don't vote for Trump. When you have a Democrat talking like this and Donald Trump across the streets saying Democrats are infiltrating the process here to vote for.

Democrats cannot vote. Democrats cannot they vote in the course, well, you say, of course, I had other stations.

I mean, you guys get it, But I had other stations being like talking about democrats vote, Democrats are not voting in the Republican shrimery.

This idea that Democrat leaning independents are going to make a difference here in New Hampshire and there aren't enough New Hampshires to keep doing that across the country.

Well, independents have always been able to vote ass both Democrat and Republican, and they're not independence in New Hampshire.

They're undeclared.

So you could have hard Trump supporters and hard Bertie Sanders socialists within the undeclared spectrum. This year, they're more likely to play on the Republican side because there's no nobody cares about the Democrats side.

So that's all.

So you're just going to see a lot more folks play there and they tend to want change.

That's it.

They want the next new thing, they want the like. There's the Republicans that are within that independent group really are Republicans, right, they understand Trump doesn't carry Republican values.

Was he fiscally conservative?

No, he had tax cuts that supposedly helped the economy, but then vote seven trillion dollars to do it. That's like saying to your family, Hey, look at this wonderful new house we're living in, and you just paid for it on a credit card.

Right, it's a falsehood.

He doesn't believe in limited government, he believes in this kind of dictatorship. He doesn't believe in local control. He believes in Washington. So those are not Republican values. So I think a lot of the Republicans within that undeclared and those conservatives are very much coming over to nicky side.

Would it be fair, Governor to say the Republican party that Trump represents is not your Republican party, not the Republican party of your father.

Put it well, put it this way. I saw a bumper stick or the other that says I don't vote Republican, I just vote Trump. He's his own entity. He doesn't define the Republican Party at all.

But you have said because he if he were to be the Republican nominee, because you are a Republican, you would support it.

Most people would. That shouldn't surprise anybody.

Yeah, even though he don't think he actually carries the values of the Republican Party.

Look, Joe Biden, that's how bad Joe Biden. I mean I always say that. I mean, this is what has happened with inflation and all of that. The one thing I suppose that I'm hopeful again, I'm hopeful it's Nikki.

I think she can do it.

Any Republican would build a much better team than Joe Biden. I mean the team that Joe Biden has put in there, and with the rules and the regulations that are just crushing families, they're just crushing locals and state governments, and nothing can be developed, nothing can be built, nothing can move forward. So no, I look, I'm excited about Nikki Haley being the nominee. That's why we're here in New Hampshire.

You talk about Trump team building, of course, most of Trump's team has come out against him following the administration, many of them.

Let you tell me something, Yeah.

But so you know the quality of its team might only be as strong as long as you can keep it together. But I want to hear the argument, though, you're prepared to vote for Donald Trump if it's a Trump Biden election, you've made that.

Of the polls, you know most of America would, I mean, he beats bile.

But keep that from happening.

Yeah, why is Nicki Haley? Let's talk about your candidate better for New Hampshire than Donald Trump.

So in the latest polls, New Hampshire hasn't gone Republican in the general election about twenty years. And then the latest polls show that Trump gets crushed in New Hampshire against Biden. Nicki wins, right, Nikki allows the Republicans in New Hampshire to win this state again in November, and that would happen in a lot of states across the country.

That's New Hampshire Governor Chris sa Nunu speaking with Bloomberg Balance of Power hosts Joe Matthew and Kaylee Lines ahead of the New Hampshire primary coming up tomorrow night. And joining us now from New Hampshire is Bloomberg's Laura Davison, part of our political team covering the first in the nation primary coming up on Tuesday. Great to have you with us dark and early this morning. Laura, give us a sense of where this race stands now with Ron DeSantis bowing out.

So this is really a two person race. Nicki Haley predicted last week coming out of Iowa would be She was a little bit mocked because people were like, wait, you came in third in the Santras's and seconds. It turns out if you wait a couple of days, it turned out to be true. Haley is across the state all day with a series of events. Trump, for his part, will have a one rally tonight. He's been getting long lines and big crabs with those.

So it sounds as though both sides are finding some support depending on their supporters in this race. Where do you see the momentum is it behind former President Trump? Is it behind former Governor Haley in this in this New Hampshire race.

Yeah, so Haty has been in recent days. You've seen sort of a climb in some of her poll numbers. The two poles that just came out last night were not the best for Haley. She was coming in, you know, roughly, you know, mid to high thirties percentage and Trump was just at fifty or fifty one percent souse. That's a fifteen point gap. That's outside the margin of air, and that is the kind of gap that is hard to make up all on election day with just having strong turnout.

Well, there is this idea in New Hampshire that they have an independent minded electorate. There are a lot of independence, a lot of undeclared candidates who can vote in this race, as Governor Sanu New noted, obviously Democrats who are registered for the party cann Could that kind of support, that sort of independent, undeclared support give Haley the kind of momentum that perhaps the polls don't show at this point, it certainly could.

I was speaking with a Republican strategist who all note, was working to back Haley's campaign but he noted that the polls in New Hampshire are notoriously not great because of the system where you have undeclared who can come off the sidelines and vote on either team, vote for

That would be interesting to see whether some of that support for DeSantis does peel Nicky Haley's way, because as we heard from DeSantis on his ex announcement yesterday, he is getting behind the front runner, Donald Trump. We have a number of former candidates in this race who have gotten behind Trump as well, including Senator Tim Scott from Haley's home state of South Carolina. I mean, how much do endorsements matter in this New Hampshire raised.

You know, for New Hampshire, these endorsements don't matter a whole lot. But you look forward to states like South Carolina, one of the next states on the map where it is it is Haley's home state, but Trump is ahead by a lot and Scott is very popular there, So you know, Scott endorsing for her competitor Trump is likely to be a headwind for Haley. This is really kind of the issue for Haley. Even if she is able to pull out a win on Tuesday, what happens next.

So the calendar could be a headwind for Haley coming up here, but we are hearing as well that there are going to be a lot more fundraisers for Nicki Haley, a lot of Wall Street backing for her campaign as well. How could that add to her momentum? Potentially?

This certainly helps her, you know, to be able to advertise, to be able to hire door knockers and tandbursers and have the operation that she needs to go forward. You know, we've seen a lot of Wall Street interests from Haley really pick up in the fourth quarter of last year. She had some really strong debate performances and after that we saw a lot of fundraisers from a lot of

Got about thirty seconds left, Laura. So what kind of a finish is Nikki Haley's campaign really hoping for? Here we heard from Governor Sanu News saying she doesn't necessarily need a win to propel her campaign. But what kind of a margin does she need to carry her into South Carolina and on into Super Tuesday.

She needs it to be really, really close. We're talking a couple points, you know, a near virtual tie for her to be able to make the case that she could take on Trump.

This is Bloomberg day Break Today, your morning brief on the stories making news from Wall Street to Washington and beyond.

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