Apple China iPhone Sales Tumble | The Pulse with Francine Lacqua 03/05

Newsmakers and Market movers.This is the pulse with friends who like. Well, good morning, everyone, andwelcome to the Pulse and Francine Lacqua here in London with the conversationsthat matter. And here's what's coming up on today'sprogram. iPhone sales plunged 24% in China overthe first six weeks of the year as Apple's troubles in the countrydeepened. China sets a growth target of around 5%that is described as ambitious. As the Premier, Li acknowledges, thechallenges facing the world's second largest economy, plus the Supreme Courtrules that Donald Trump can appear on.

The ballot in November ahead of SuperTuesday. We'll bring you the latest in the racefor the White House. Also, a little bit later this hour, wespeak to Hamdi Okoya, the founder and chief executive of Chobani, the bestselling yogurt brand in the U.S. He's spearheading a campaign along with70 major firms, including Amazon, Bank of America and Bloomberg, to connect,recruit and train refugees in the workforce.Now, let's take a look at the European market map.A lot of the focus, of course, here in Europe is also what we'll hear from thetestimony of Jay Powell.

The other thing we watch for is RafaelBostic, who also on the website and in a speech yesterday, let understand thatit's in the third quarter that he's inspecting cuts, then followed by apause, and he's worried about the exuberance possibly in the businesscommunity. Now, stocks edging a little bit lower.China's new targets have many, many questions from many analysts in terms ofhow much stimulus and support they'll bring together.And of course, it's I guess the market is now shifting from China to Jay Powella little bit later on and then the jobs report also later in the week.So Apple's iPhone sales in China.

Declined by 24% over the first six weeksof the year, pushing it to fourth quarter alone.Smartphone vendors in the country, that's according to the latest data fromCounterpoint Research. Now, the California tech giant lost thetitle of China's best selling smartphone maker to Chinese company Vivo, whoappears to have done a better job of targeting the budget segment of themarket. You can see Apple down 1%.To discuss Apple and China. Let's get straight to Bloomberg's OliverCook in just a moment. But first, let's go to Beijing, whereChina has set its annual growth target.

Of 5%, matching last year's figureraising expectations of more stimulus. Bloomberg's chief North Asiacorrespondent, Stephen Engle is following the story.So good morning to both of you. Stephen, how difficult will the targetbe to be achieved? It will be difficult.And I'm saying that with good confidence because the premier, Li Keqiang, saidthe same thing. He said, it's not easy for us to reachthese targets. We need policy support from all fronts.So there it is. But he didn't really lay out anyspecifics on what kind of stimulus that.

Would be coming down the pipe, becausethere are numerous headwinds, obviously, in the Chinese economy, be it propertywhich is ongoing, be it consumer confidence.And Oliver is going to talk about that and the drop off for Apple.Obviously, big ticket consumer items have been falling all across the boardon the consumer front, whether it's cars, refrigerators, obviously houses.But we'll get to that a little bit later.But there's also fiscal debt issues at the local government level.There is ongoing entrenched deflation across the board.So for Lee Chong, the premier, to set.

The the GDP target as the same target aspreviously a year ago is quite ambitious because of all those headwinds.And we all know that a 2023 was not a pretty picture for the Chinese economy.They also set a target for 3% CPI. We're in deflation here, so they must beconfident that they can reach that 5% growth target and 3% CPI.The big question and why the markets kind of reacted with a ha and a shrug iswhere's that stimulus going to come from?Right. So, Stephen, my question is, how muchstimulus are we actually expecting then? Well, Xi Jinping, for one, has beensteadfast in saying and he said it 128.

Times in various speeches last year.He wants high quality development. That essentially means they're going tosacrifice some GDP growth for more sustainable growth.But we don't know where that's going to come from because he is also launching ahave been launched in right in the middle of a derisking and deleveragingcampaign, in particular in property. We have not seen huge rescues ofproperty developers. We have seen state support, though, andwe saw it in the work report today in the tune of long term, essentiallycentral government issued bonds to the tune of ¥1 trillion.That will help, you know, you know,.

Bridge the fiscal gap, because they alsosaid the ratio from GDP to GDP, the budget deficit to GDP at just 3%.So that indicates they're not really willing to roll out large fiscalstimulus because they don't want to exacerbate those debt burdens at thelocal government level. So they're in a they're in a quandary.And they admitted fully that they is going to be a tough task.They need consumer confidence to come back.They need exports to rebound a little bit.But that's an external situation out of their control.But they don't want to exacerbate the.

Debt problems.Stephen, thank you so much for Stephen Engle there, of course, following thisparty conference very closely. Let's also talk Apple iPhone sales inChina declined by 24% over the first six weeks of the year, pushing it to thefourth among smartphone vendors in the country.That's according to the latest data from Counterpoint Research.Let's get straight to Ali Crook. Ali, is this an Apple story or a Chinastory? Yeah, well, invariably it's going to bea bit of both, like so many companies on the planet.I mean, where I usually sit in Berlin,.

We talk about this with all theexecutives that sell massively into China, whether it's carmakers or chipsor all that sort of thing. It's everyone's been talking about arebound in the back half of the year for two years.It just has not come. And you see that weakness now.You see it in China and you see it in the sales.I mean, down 24% for an iPhone. Sales in just the first six week of theyear is absolutely mammoth. This is the biggest smart smartphonemarket in the world. So, yes, there is this that question.And of course, Apple is selling a.

Premium product when you have a lot ofcompetitors that have a much better price point.I mean, Apple has been eroding, eroding market share.They're down now to about 60% of the market share in China.They were at 19% last year, and they're losing more ground steadily.But overall, you know, the overall market for smartphones was down also 7%.So there is definite weakness that is coming across across the market.So why did rivals in China? What did they do differently thatactually did better than Apple? Well, one of the main issues is going tobe exactly that question of the premium.

There are cheaper phones, but they'realso very good phones. And there's also a huge amount of effortand energy in China to really get that tech independence and to sort of raiseup its own producers of phones. So, for example, you know, there's thisquestion of patriotic buying, right? Huawei came out with this new phone thatthe state media was really touting, saying that this is really a greatresponse to us sort of tech and chip supremacy and Huawei in those six weeks,while everybody was down there, sales were up 64%, which is absolutelymammoth. And we should also say that this is sortof eclipsed the story.

But for Apple, they have a problem inChina. They've got a problem here in Brussels,too, with this huge fine that's coming down the pipeline.So these are all things to watch as Apple will face problems in China andmore regulatory scrutiny here in Brussels.Oh, thank you so much. Oliver Crook there in Brussels.Now, later today, Oliver also speaks to the EU commission's competition chieffollowing that big news of Apple being fined and said to have hit a U.S.government roadblock. Meanwhile, while attempting to sell anA.I.

Chip tailored for the Chinese market,it's part of Washington's crackdown on the export of advanced technologies tothe country. Bloomberg has learned AMD had hoped togain a green light from the Commerce Department to sell the AI processor toChinese customers. The chip is said to have a lowerperformance than what AMD sells outside of China and was designed to meet U.S.exports restrictions. Not to talk about all of this.We're also joined by Arnav Das, global market strategist at Invesco AssetManagement. Thank you so much for joining us.A lot of the focus, of course, is on.

China, on how a lot of the bigconglomerates, you know, actually sell to China, but also what the Chinaconsumer's looking at. How do you view China going forward?Well, look, I think they've had a very different experience of the pandemicthan the rest of the world, particularly the West, right here in the west.We had big fiscal transfers. China had a much more responsibleapproach to fiscal policy. And so ordinary people had to bear theburden of the lockdown. Right.So they didn't have the kind of income effect that we all got from fiscaltransfers.

They had to bear a fall in the equitymarket, a fall in the real estate market.We had the opposite here, right? So you had positive income effect,positive wealth effect. We made out like bandits, right?During during the pandemic, they had the opposite.So I think a large part of what's going on at the moment is kind of macro,right, is that consumers, households are still repairing their balance sheets andnursing their wounds from the pandemic and from the real estate market.What does that mean for policies? Will policymakers really step in?I mean, we've been waiting for some kind.

Of extra stimulus.I mean, there's a fragile real estate market.There's, as you say, also they're suffering from geopolitics between theUS and China. Right.And I think a lot of these things will continue.They're sort of structural, like the geopolitical rivalry.There's also the demographic transition that China is already going through hasbeen exacerbated right by the pandemic. So, look, I think there is some stimulusand they are doing, you know, some measures to accelerate growth.But I think they're they're taking a.

Kind of responsible approach in a way.Right. They don't want to have another debtbinge and other kind of fiscally pushed credit binge that drives the real estatemarket or drives infrastructure right through the roof.I mean, so, you know, one of your colleagues was saying how Xi Jinpingwants higher quality, more sustainable growth.Right. I think that's right.If they get 5%. What do they need to do to actuallyachieve 5%? Well, I think that's going to have tocome.

You know, if they're going to hit 5%,it's an ambitious target that's aspirational.If they get close to it, it'll be because productivity is rising ratherthan because of demographics or big increases in capital that associatedwith debt. Right.So I think the question that we have to ask ourselves is where is thatproductivity boom going to come from? And I think, you know, they have in mindI they have in mind the EVs. They have in mind.You know, high tech of various kinds, green technology.And that can help.

The question is whether it's big enoughto move the needle, enough to substitute for real estate and infrastructure.And I would say, you know, probably come in somewhere south of five.Interesting. Ana, thanks so much.Ana stays with us and we'll have plenty more, of course, on China.And we'll talk a Fed as well. Much more to come.We have a full roundup of markets. This is. Well, Raphael Bostic, the Atlanta Fedpresident, says he expects the Federal Reserve to cut interest rates once inthe third quarter before pausing.

His comments also come ahead of atestimony from the Fed chair, Jay Powell, who's set to appear at Congresstomorrow. We're now joined by Noor Al Ali from ourMarkets live team. And we continue the conversation withArnab Das, global market strategist Invesco Asset Management.So thank you both for sticking around or coming on.When you look at the Fed, I mean, there's been last year the markets,frankly, were all over the place where it's been a soft landing, no landing.And they were kind of like zigzagging. Do you feel more confident that we havea clearer path that was committed in,.

You know, communicate in what kind ofinflation will get and what that means for the Fed?Look, I think we're pretty much done with the tightening process.I guess they put the idea, some of them, some of the family members and LarrySummers, of course, put the idea of another hike back on the table.We think that's quite unlikely. We're probably done.The real question is how fast is inflation going to come down?And in order to let the Fed start cutting rates, in order to maintain thereal rate where it is and not have this kind of passive tightening.Right.

So I would say I think we're looking atthat in the second half of the year. Maybe it feels a bit like Waiting forGodot. Right?Because we've been talking about talking about this for a long time.But, you know, the flipside of that is that the that growth resilience, right.The labor market is, as you note, Right. Very strong economy, strong the consumerstrong. The economy overall is strong.There are pockets of weaknesses. And people talk about this kind ofrolling recession. You know, we're in the kind of camp thatsays, you know, everybody tries to come.

Up with a cliche, right?Ours is bumpy landing. Not a soft landing.Not a hard landing. Not even what blinder Alan Blindercalled a soft landing, but one that, like you said, has a lot of volatility,a lot of zig zagging, because, you know, the longer financial conditions remaineasy and the longer the labor market remains tight, the higher, longer andhigher for longer will prevail. And some stuff is going to start to comeunder pressure as that happens. And that I mean, what do you see ascoming under pressure? I know there's there's a lot of chatterabout, you know, productivity, which.

Could also change under some policies.We have a big election. Bitcoin was one of the things thatpeople point at certain Mark. Jp morgan is saying, well, this is asign of frothiness in the market, 100%. Right.And you've seen, you know, those those risky assets come off the highs, youknow, European futures into the morning and as they've opened in U.S.stock futures as well, Bitcoin as well, all have really kind of you know, Idon't want to say, you know, there's sort of a temporary pullback that you'veseen and dare I say it, could it be, you know, on the back of that somewhatdisappointing or lukewarm reception that.

Investors had out of China, but also,you know, preparations for a potentially more hawkish than expected?POWELL Later. And I think that's sort of feeding intothe overall theme that perhaps, you know, that risk asset rally is going totake a breather. Now, momentum is very much there.You know, there aren't a lot of reasons that are stopping these stocks fromrallying, even though we've had, you know, as you said, Waiting for Godot isa very good kind of way to describe the idea that there's not much that's goingto pull stocks lower because all the momentum points to the fact that, youknow, we're pretty much in the rally.

We've had the Fed push back.Now, whether or not Powell kind of sets it up for a more hawkish set up could bequite interesting as well. And that's what we're seeing in themarkets today. What's the good news that's left in theeconomy? Arnab And I guess this is the onlyquestion that markets should really ask themselves.Well, I think you said it productivity, right?I mean, we've had a resilient economy, we've had growth holding up labourmarket, holding up inflation falling. Right.So the residual clearly is that.

Productivity is rising.Some people are even talking about a productivity boom.That may be overstating it, but it does seem that there's something structuralchanging in the US economy and maybe in the world as a whole.Right. Partly as a result of the pandemic,partly as a result of the geopolitics, partly as a result of industrial policy.These are not things that are easy to get right.Right. And it's actually probably much easierto get them wrong if history is any guide.But I think the US has done something.

Here which is which is working right.It may not be winning the election for Sleepy Joe.Right. But it is it does seem to be working forthe economy and for labour. Do you worry that actually the economyoverheats? And if there is a mismatch between, Iguess, what President Biden has put in place, why are Americans not feeling it?Well, I think there is a risk, but I think it's just a tail risk.I think the big picture here is that inflation is coming down.Labour market is tight, but wages are not taking off.Right.

So I think it's working generally verywell. Why is it not working politically?Well, I think that, you know, sort of levels versus rates of change.Right. We're all talking about how inflation iscoming down. Right.The rate of growth of prices is coming down.What people have been hit by is a big a big shock to real incomes and realwealth. Right.They're feeling the level as being much higher of prices.And other kinds of pressures that.

Ordinary people feel.And of course, for ordinary people in the US, the margins are not very big.Right? So I think you can sort of understandwhere the average Joe is coming from. Right.Yeah. And I don't know how this feeds into themarkets, but of course, we look at kind of the repercussions across the board100%. And to your point about the US consumer,you know, that resilience of the US consumer has been something that'sawfully noted, you know, especially in the tax season.That's why a lot of people say, well,.

You know, you see that risk sentimentreally pouring into those, you know, riskier assets than normal.That's what's been driving, you know, the tech gains.Of course, there's also that momentum of it.Right. You know, AIG and its impact on theconsumer and job habits and patterns have really changed the dynamics of theconsumer today. And I think, you know, we've had a lotof pessimism coming out of 2023 now, and there's so much of it that's beenmisplaced that I think the rally can continue into stocks.You know, I'm I'm the resident pessimist.

In my team, and I'm always the onethat's looking for the contrarian view. But it's really hard for me to look atthe data out there today and say, oh, that's going to be the thing that'sgoing to drive us out there. But unless you get a steady stream ofdata that really points to that pain that you're talking about, there is nopoint for markets to stop rallying. At least that's what traders see.That's what traders see until they're wrong.Thank you both for joining us. Noor Ali from our market live team andArt Das, global market strategist at INVESCO Asset Management.Coming up, the most important day so far.

In the race for the White House hasarrived. Yes, we're talking Super Tuesday.That's next. And this is Bloomberg. Now the US Supreme Court says DonaldTrump can appear on presidential ballots this November.The unanimous decision overturned a Colorado Supreme Court ruling barringhim from running again due to his efforts to overturn his 2020 electionloss. Now it comes as Colorado and 14 otherstates hold primaries today on Super Tuesday, the biggest day so far in the2024 race for the White House.

Now let's bring in Bloomberg's criticGupta. Good morning.So was the Supreme Court decision a shock?Good morning, friend. It wasn't a shock in terms of the actualresult. There is an expectation.There's so much momentum here for President Trump.It would have been a real shock if he had had been allowed to run.The shock comes in the fact that this was a unanimous decision.At the end of the day, both liberal and conservative justices both ultimatelyagreeing that this actually doesn't hold.

In court, but for different reasons.Fran, the liberal suggesting here that's actually a question of whether or notstates even have the right to enforce the Constitution when at the end of theday it is a federal declaration and that is a power that only Congress can do.Conservatives, on the other hand, are saying that that's actually more of astory of whether or not Trump is actually criminally indicted at the endof the day. So, again, two different takes on whatif at the end a unanimous ruling in that President Trump can actually run on theballots and if he does indeed need to be taken off the ballot, that's onlysomething that Congress can enact.

And pretty frankly, Donald Trump isexpected to win big today. So what happens to his only challenger,Nikki Haley? Well, that's going to be the question,right? Does she end up dropping out?Does she run as a third party candidate? The issue with Nikki Haley is she has somuch donor backing, far more donor backing than President Trump has andgiven the legal fees that have really amounted to him.He needs that donor backing. So it's not just about the 64 pointmargin of victory, by the way, that he has in the polls right now against NikkiHaley on a national basis.

It's also about the fact that if NikkiHaley drops out after Super Tuesday, is he able to kind of scoop up some of thedonors that she had? And does she actually endorse PresidentTrump for the general election at a time when she's been very outspoken aboutreally being the anti-Trump candidate, being the fiscal conservative candidate?On the other hand, you've got President Biden, for example, also trying to seeif he has the backing of Democrats. Remember, in the Michigan primary, itwas a great example of the fact that several people came out and said theywere uncommitted simply as a protest of a foreign policy stance.Both could be longer term trends in the.

General election.Fran. Great.Thanks so much, Kirti Gupta there with the very latest, of course, on the U.S.election. It's a big day.Super Tuesday, stay what? Stay with us for special coverage ofSuper Tuesday. That starts at 9 p.m..New york times. It's middle of the night.I would still get up and watch it on Bloomberg TV.Coming up, we'll look at the launch of Tent U.K., a partnership where leadingcompanies committed to actively.

Supporting refugees and theirworkforces. Now iPhone sales plunged 24% in Chinaover the first six weeks of this year. As Apple's troubles in the countrydeepened, China sets a growth target of around 5% that it describes asambitious. As Premier, Li acknowledges thechallenges facing the world's second largest economy, plus the Supreme Courtrules that Donald Trump can appear on the ballot in November ahead of SuperTuesday. We'll bring you the latest in the racefor the White House. Well, good morning, everyone, andwelcome to The Pulse.

I'm Francine Lacqua here in London.Now, this week is also the launch of the UK coalition, where leading companiescommit to actively supporting refugees in their workforces.70 firms are backing the initiative to connect, recruit and train refugees,including Amazon, Bank of America and Bloomberg.The Global Ten Partnership is made up of more than 400 companies worldwide acrossdifferent industries. Spearheading the campaign is HamdyOlukoya, the founder and chief executive of Chobani.Now, after moving to the United States, Hamdi launched Chobani in 2007, whichbecame $1,000,000,000 brand and is today.

The best selling yogurt in the US.Mohammed Ulukaya joins us now. Thank you so much for joining us.This is an exciting day because it's also the launch of 10th UK.How did the initiative actually start? I mean, this is trying to give refugeesa chance, but also economically to be financially independent.Have companies been forthcoming? I mean, I have to say when the lightlaunched that it was in the back of Chobani success, which I tried to dig inand f ind out what happened here. And in my journey, I realized that whenwe start Chobani from this old factory in upstate New York with few people, andas we grew and hired more, one of the.

Most remarkable thing that we've doneafter hiring everybody local is letting refugees was settled legally nearbytowns to come in and be part of Chobani. And the question was then, and same aswhat it is today, what are the what are the obstacles for a refugee to be partof a job? It is language, it's transportation,simple as it is not having a driver's license or cars or not having theperfect right training for the job that is available and the unknown.Who are these people, where they come from, what's going to happen?And I think job answers all of that stuff and what happens the minute theyget a job, that's the minute they stop.

Being a refugee and companies benefitfrom it, as Chobani did. And I, I, i credit most of the successof Chobani has been diversified workforce, but everyone can come in andput their best to it. But how important is it, for example, todo so? I know you've had initiatives around theworld. You started in the U.S., you had oneFrance and now in the UK. I mean, the UK is a small open economywith an extremely tight labor market, right?How much of a difference could this make?Well, here we are.

This is the last the biggest lunch thatwe had. We had Mexico, 50 of them.We had other countries, we had 11 countries, 400, as you said, 400multinational, large companies. This is the biggest coalition we lunchto the day, which is 70 companies. Some of them are British iconic brandslike BP and and and and some of them are, you know, international Marriottand Bloomberg. We have we have data that 20% of thecompanies, ten, ten or more employee companies are having a shortage oflabour. Can't fill it.And some numbers, over a million.

We have 500,000 refugees here in UK.Half of them are Ukrainian. Some of them are from Hong Kong, some ofthem from other countries legally saddled, ready to work and having a hardtime to find jobs. So what it does is connect them togetherand share experiences globally, and we connect with each other partners of thecompanies and work tirelessly through the years.And our office here in UK, in the service of companies to make sure thatit's a success. Why do you think chief executives wantto do this? Is this because they want to do goodbecause it's the right thing to do?.

Or is it really to fill a vacuum in theworkforce? I think we call this win win, win, winwin, and it never ends. It continues to win.I mean, is good for the refugees. It is the minute they have their back totheir life. Second, companies benefit from thisdramatically, dramatically. Culture, productivity, innovation, youknow, commitment for long term. Massive, massive effect.But what you see is you get rewarded by the population.We did a study in UK. Most of the population rewards companieswho are higher in refugees and young.

Talent want to join the companies whoare high refugees and be part of this humanitarian crisis.So we have this global humanitarian crisis, but yet companies are leaningforward, is really creating an environment for everyone to join and bepart of the solution. In the end, you have a companies who areleaning forward now and doing that for business to right for humanity andcommunity are the ones who are going to berelevant in the future. And long time.We speak to a lot of chief executives that say, look, it's actually harder,much harder to push a social agenda, to.

Push a, you know, climate change agenda.Right. Because of politics right now.Would you agree with that, that it's actually harder to be a chief executivethat does good? Yes, this is a big question, and I thinkno one questions this tomorrow's question are going to raise companies.They are pure purpose of to make money for their shareholders.That idea is an old idea. Everybody knows it.Now, when you are for common humanity and community and environment, these arenot against the business or success of business.The only question is you have to look at.

All dimension of the business toimplement, to truly not just check the box and you have to commit for a longtime. And that is basically come down to theshareholders of these companies need to ask the CEOs to commit to these valuesfor a long time. And everybody I would say we broke allthe records. I will tie it back into commitment tohumanity. Do you do worry?I mean, it's very difficult to not to look at, you know, American televisionwithout talking about the US-Mexico border, about, I guess, anger or evenhate in certain cases, also in certain.

Parts of Europe against immigrants.How does this end? Well, the saddest part and I am I'm aKurd from Turkey, and I moved when I was 21 years old from Turkey to New York.And I didn't want to move. And I had to move.I had to move. And I got a new life for myself.And I hope that I created some better world surrounding me.Migration is a reality, is going to be here and be here for better.If it's not conflict, it's going to be, you know, famine, it's going to beenvironment. And it has been throughout the history,throughout the year.

And every single study shows and I'mtalking about orderly migration shows that the communities andcompanies and the cities and towns who welcome and create an environment foreveryone to be proud of, they get the benefit in the end.Innovation happens. I mean, look at this country.This country is on the backs of migrations and it creates so muchthroughout the world and there's always leading.And and that's a reality. Unfortunately, politics is politics.And you look at the reality in the US right after the last election and afterpolitics, all the cities and, you know,.

The states that they know how therefugees and and and illegal immigration does in their communities.They want them in their towns and villages because always something newcomes up and it's the reality. Politics is going to happen.But we have to do what's right for the long term for people and forcommunities. And I also wanted to talk to a littlebit about Chovanec. So people look at you as really, youknow, the poster child of a clever businessman that's made it in not thatmany years. You've also recently done anacquisition.

So now you have coffee.A coffee is an Italian. It really speaks to me.But how are you expecting that market to grow and how do you expect the two toplay, you know, yogurt and and coffee? Yeah, I think in the US and I had anattempt in the UK people don't know I was talking to the my drivers werecoming here I tried to enter in this market and the market in Australia wehad number one in Australia and one day I might have my cup.I love this country. Food is an exciting place.Back to natural back to good grades, especially the post-pandemic reality.And, you know, ingredients, of course,.

Accessibility, these are major, majorthings. So we built Chobani with a very simpleidea. Good food is filled with goodingredients and accessible price and available for all.And that idea worked. And now we're expanding.So we added oat milk. We added coffee creamers, which is foodand design in in Italy, in Florence. My friends, they designed the packagingand now we're adding coffee. I think the food and beverage is havingthe second spring, in my opinion. But is it changing?I mean, we speak a lot, you know, also.

To Novo Nordisk because of Cmpc and someof these, you know, weight loss drugs. What's the relationship going to be?I think I think post-pandemic people understood the food is extremelyimportant, how they consume, what they consume.I think it's hard to break it true, becausethese companies are major, big companies.They've been around for a long, long time.For a startup to stay independent and break through it and disrupt a categorylike coffee. I mean, you're talking about ready todrink coffee.

In the US, the major brand is got 43grams of sugar that's 30 sugar cubes in a bottle of cup.And that's just that's just wrong. Real innovation, good innovation.That's what people bring with lack along is coffee that people drink cold.Now, just like in Italy, you know, you have your expresso, but there's this newtrend. 75% of the people they consume theircoffee called even in the wintertime, even in New York.But can this can it be wholesome ingredients, very little sugar, Not nottoo much. And it can be a daily habit because 90%of population, adult population drinks.

Coffee almost every day.This is benefits that more and more coming out by giving something that's alittle bit more, I guess, fitness conscious.You know, you'll get through. This is the way the trend is going.Exactly. And, you know, we're all busy during theday. You know, we're busy moms, busy dad,busy workers. You know what is feeling you naturally Ithink it's it's food, it's well-being. And it's surrounded, you know, withfriends and family. These are all important.But stuff like food, we can make it.

Better.It's be proved that Chobani it's simple without preservatives, something that wecan name and pronounce the ingredients. Even myself, who I learn English later,it's extremely important. I think it comes down to one simplethings is maybe coffee doesn't apply to that, but any food, as I see we make, ifwe don't serve to our children, our family, we shouldn't be serving anybodyelse. Good benchmark.How big do you want to grow? And actually, I know there was talkabout a possible IPO. Yes.Is this something that's still on the.

Cards?Still in the cards? We have not made that decision.Companies in a very healthy place. We grow double digit volume and and anddollar gained shares. And it's pretty amazing what's happeningat Chobani. I contribute to all the people that thatpassionately work at the place. We have no pressure our employees are10% owner of company and I want them to get an access to the wealth that we havegenerated and that would be a reason I would do it.And second is to grow this company further.I personally believe I'm not big into,.

You know, making what, 3 to 6 billion.But as you grow, your impact get grows and you get to do more things and itgives me a little smile. So we'll see.I mean, we have quite a bit of options. One of them would be that.And what do you attribute your success to?People are really, of course, America, upstateNew York, Idaho. I mean, America is a magical place,but the people people I work with every day, refugees, immigrants, people comefrom what backs of background and do the right thing.Everybody wants to do the right thing.

And the business is a great environmentfor everyone to come and join and focus on the common goal, make good food,build life around it, and make the world a better place.That's not war. It's just having fun.And I could talk to you for another hour, but we do.I thank you. Look at you are the founder and chiefexecutive of Chobani now coming up. But we talk geopolitics and Gazaceasefire talks stall as Israel delay sending negotiators until Hamas answersqueries. We'll have the latest on the war next.And this is Bloomberg.

Well, hopes for a cease fire in Gazahave been dampened as Israel delay sending a negotiator to Cairo for talkswith Hamas. Now Israel says it will not do so untilHamas provides a list of the Israeli hostages it intends to free in returnfor a pause in the fighting. Bloomberg's EMEA news director, RoslynMatheson, is here. So where are we with the cease firetalks? Well, the ceasefire talks as much asthey are a very much bogged down in Cairo.Israel has not, as you said, decided to send a delegation for now.There is a Hamas presence there.

There are conversations going on, butit's very difficult to get any traction with that Israel present, as you say.The major sticking point seems to be that Israel wants an update on thestatus of all its hostages inside Gaza, who they are, where they are, theirhealth and so on, before it agrees to have the proper conversation around aceasefire. Hamas says that's too difficult at thispoint in time. And so we can't even get to the pointwhere we've got people properly around the table having that conversation.We knew the talks had been bogged down for days.The question is, is there any kind of.

Way through in the next few days?Is there a path forward before we get into Ramadan, into the into the Islamicholy month, a holy period when Israel has indicated it might be prepared to goforward with its offensive inside Gaza? The real impetus is to get this ceasefire done before we get into Ramadan itself.We're also the U.S. says the situation in Gaza is simplyintolerable. Israel denies that people are starving.How is that possible? Well, what we've seen is a lot ofphotographic evidence that people are in quite desperate states inside Gaza.Of course, when you've got a war and.

You've got a lot of people moving aroundquickly, you've got people fighting, you've got aerial bombardment, there's alot of disruption. And that just means that people's dailylives are affected no matter what their ability to access food, water, medicine,shelter and so on, regardless of anything else.Israel's point is they say there is actually a decent food supply, watersupply and so on inside Gaza. They accuse Hamas of deliberatelydisrupting those supplies and not allowing people to be properly fed.International aid agencies, those who have some kind of look inside what'shappening inside Gaza say the situation.

Is, in fact, very, very dire.Some aid is getting in, but it's not getting distributed well.Of course, we know they're now resorting to air drops as well.You know, it's very clear that there is a significant humanitarian problem goingon inside Gaza, regardless of where the supplies are going at the moment.More developments also in the Red Sea. What can you tell us about that?Well, we know the Houthis say they've hit another ship in the Red Sea.Of course, they sank one, their first ship that sank recently after driftingfor several weeks. We know the Houthis are keeping up thatcampaign of targeting shipping in the.

Red Sea.It does seem to type it a bit, but it's enough that most ships are still optingto take the long way round. So they're achieving that goal, really,which is just to force shipping to make those major diversions.We also have reports that some undersea cables may have been damaged in the RedSea. It's very unclear if that's due toHouthi action or perhaps the ship just dragging its anchor.But either way, again, how on earth you repair undersea cables at the moment inthe Red Sea is a very difficult question.So, again, further disruption for supply.

Chains, possibly for the Internet and soon because of what's been happening in the Red Sea.Well, thank you so much, Ross Mathison there, head of our news room here inEMEA. Now, coming up, evidence that investmentis returning to the UK. As chief executives tell us they're moreoptimistic than a year ago. Be looking at the bullish case forBritain. That's next.And this is Bloomberg. Now, the UK's reputation as a globalinvestment destination hit a low last April, when Microsoft president BradSmith said the European Union was a more.

Attractive place to start a business.Yet ten months later, 4100 chief executives tell us confidence isrecovering for all the talk of British decline.Official figures actually suggest the UK remains the world's top investmentdestination after the US trumping even China or Bloomberg Radio anchor CarolineHabiger has been talking to Britain's business elite over the past few monthsand she joins us now. Caroline, there's been some greatreporting. You've been speaking basically to anyonewho's anyone see. So what's changed is is sensible Britainback?.

Well, perhaps last year, if youremember, it was pretty dismal for the UK.I think we did hit rock bottom in terms of sentiment.It wasn't just Brad Smith. Lots of other businesses were verycritical of the business landscape in the UK, from Dyson to AstraZeneca.Listed in the US, if you recall. By the end of the year though, the dataand sentiment did seem to shift. And so Philip Baldrick and I did anothersort of deep dive. Berenberg Deutsche Bank economists werelooking at the silver linings for the UK economy and asking whether there'sactually a more bullish case to be made.

For the UK.So the WPP chief executive Mark Reid saying that actually this year could beone of those years where we feel a little bit better as the yearprogresses. We also had a lot of positivity fromother CEOs, for example, the CEO of British Land, the Legal and GeneralInvestment Management CEO Michelle Scrimshaw, and also the Lloyd's ofLondon CEO John Neal. He was saying that actually theinsurance business is looking really positive.He was looking to the US where most of their growth is saying that there is abig business, that what we do here in.

London is really unique in terms ofinsurers. He was a bit more worried aboutfinancial services overall, but even he was saying that he does feel much morepositive now. Have a listen to what he said.Now we've seen a wealth of de-listing on the footsie.We've seen real challenges around investment funding in the UK.We need to get that back on track. You know, part of the livelihood andwell-being of UK PLC is as a global financial services centre.So that was John Neal, the CEO of Lloyd's of London, speaking to me.He was saying that the backdrop is.

Better.He was more positive because of the government's Mansion House reforms, theWindsor framework when it comes to the UK's relationship with the EU.He does also, and this is quite important want to see a two termgovernment. So there is very much a realisation atthe heart of business in the UK that we need policy making for the long term.And as Michelle Scrimshaw said, something that transcends government interms of policy making. So I wonder whether when you speak tochief executives, whether they think, look, actually the UK is a good house ina bad neighborhood because of everything.

That's going around the world or whetherthey really think there's real progress. Yeah, I think that's a big question,isn't it? I do think the positives are inflationis coming down. There could be an interest rate cut.Wages have been improving for the past six months.We've seen wages gain. The Marks and Spencers chairman, ArchieNorman, who spoke to me last year when we did the reporting about Britain beingadrift and on investible, came back to speak to us at the start of this yearand he was saying, look, people are genuinely better off.That's better for the customer.

But also that does signal that actuallythere may well be recovery. Business investment also went up lastyear and longer term, there is more positivity about artificialintelligence. Maybe that could deliver bigproductivity gains for the UK. WPP CEO Mark Reid was saying they werealready implementing it and it's creating 20 to 25% greater productivityfor some of their employees. Here's what he said about A.I..I think it's a massive opportunity for us.I mean, at one level you could say, well, we're large language models,they're all being created in America.

But actually what you can do with AI isget access to these models extremely cheaply because we're a service basedeconomy. It could make our service structuremuch, much more productive, much, much more efficient.And I just think we have to lean into it and embrace it.So that was the WPP CEO, Mark Reid. Look, there is a bit of a disconnectbetween business people and investors. We didn't live pulse survey oninvestors. Almost half of them think that the UK'sliving standards are going to go down in the next five years.Only 17% were positive.

So there is still a bit of a disconnect,but some more optimism ahead of the budget.Caroline, thanks so much. Caroline head there from BloombergRadio. Up next to bloomberg brief Dani Burgerand Manus Cranny in new york. We have a lot of news.It comes to bitcoin super tuesday, so us politics and of course the fed in china.This is bloomberg.

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