Transcripts For BLOOMBERG Bloomberg Markets Americas 20240712

Enough clarity on the economy to justify restarting payouts yet. That decision is not yet final. Global news 24 hours a day on air and on quicktake by bloomberg, powered by more than 2700 journalists and analysts in over 120 countries. I am Mark Crumpton. This is bloomberg. It is 1 00 in new york and 1 00 a. M. In hong kong. Welcome to bloomberg markets. I will be speaking with bill ackman. We will discuss the debut of his new Blank Check Company which raised 4 billion in its initial offering. He will weigh in on what kinds of companies he wants to target with the money and other investments. First, lets look at the markets. We are higher. The nasdaq has erased all of its gains. 25 . P 500 is up mark forck at the 70 the you in the. With heating up today expulsion of the envoy from china. I want to point to the fact that we will be talking about in a moment and that is the Blank Check Company that is trading up an ipo today. The expectation was to raise 4 billion and we will be talking more about that in a moment. Apple is out with headlines touting a study defending its app store fees. That is the latest out of apple again, talking a study defending its app store fees. Apple has had to vehemently defend what it charges developers for developing and taking a cut of their Development Even though it says it is an open platform. Once again, lets get to our guest this hour. , want to welcome bill Ackman Pershing Square Capital management ceo. He is also the ceo of the company that made its debut today. Tell us the details. Plus warrants to be executed at 23 . 5l this is a company with billion of o and we designed the most Investor Family structure without any form of compensation for the people doing the work which really aligns our interest with our shareholders. I am really happy with the reception that we got during the road show process and we put together i think one of the fortest collections investors to partner with us and we are trying to provide minority interest in a very high quality Growth Company that we are going to take public. There are still some other bills and things we have done to design a structure that is toor family so that shareholders and merger friendly to our potential partners and that will enable us to make a deal that is good for both parties. Vonnie you are referring to the sea structure c structure. It is a little more like some of the vehicles you see in europe. Talk about how the banks gave those up and while you also give yourself. Bill sure. We are doing this because we think we can create a oneofakind investment opportunity. What is interesting today is we have the largest number of High Quality Growth Companies that are private in the history of the world. There is a 10 billion market cap that is due to the growth of private equity, venture capitol, late stage equity, vision funds and large amounts of o that were available privately. Large amounts of capital. It has become a much more treacherous road in which to go public. Many months. Akes you expose your company to enormous scrutiny. I am raising a cash show for the tocess, get a lead investor search for a great business, negotiate a deal, key it up for shareholders and give them an option in or out. I think that idea is a right one. There have been some troubles in terms of the alignment largely the marketreed or would bear enormous compensation. We did not need compensation. We wanted the opportunity to bring investment alongside our investors and partners. We actually went on the road and our goal was to curate a list of some of the Great Investors of the world that would appear on the shareholder registry and we sat down with super talented ceos and built an amazing business. They would say, this has been a terrific group of people that im going to partner with in my First Experience going public. I think that proposition really resonated with investors. With respect to the underwriters, we have had a great experience here with a broad base of underwriters. We thought about the incentives of all of the various participants and we took advantage of the economy as a scale. What i mean by that is, the overall fees are large, but we pay with the purchase of a warrant. 65 million ghostly big chunk of those fees and the balance spread over a large transaction with basis point. We designed the most frictionfree structure in which to go public and we think that will give us an opportunity. Large, while they sound you have been able to cap it between 2 and 3 . The fees are really low in comparison to those that have gone public in the United States. You have mentioned minority firms. And youre giving them money to split among themselves . Bill sure. A lot of people think is a great thing to bring in minority firms. There are other companies that have gone public that are minority owned, womenowned, veteran owned in the underwriter group. Economics,rnament is one to 3 . When i talked to a friend who is an experienced banker, he said, they dont do very much. There is truth in that. The reason why is they are not given the opportunity. Typically the minority owned firms are invited at the last minute and put on the cover of a deal and get no shares to allocate to their clients. It is a loselose. What we did is we said look, these firms glad value. This is not philanthropy. They will be part of the process. They will introduce us to a broader base of investors. That has been precisely our experience. We have real diversity in our shareholder registry because we have a group of investment banks reached out to a different universe of investors. Some of our biggest orders came through the Diversity Inclusion syndicate. One of the largest Family Offices in the country, the most wealthiest families in the one of thee through largest managements in the world from one of these firms. It is just really a winwin that credits all of the banks. Jeffries and ubs for working alongside the firms. If i were a Public Company of any kind looking to do a transaction, it is just Good Business to have a broader base of firms and super talented right relationships and great experiences. Vonnie it seems phenomenal that that kind of precedent has to be set in 2020. Now you have an perhaps that will be the norm going forward. Talk about anchor investors or the investing cast that you managed to visit with during the pandemic. Can you tell us anything about who has invested or how long they will leave their capitol for or what kind of rejection lls . Mption to is thehat we did instead typical spac is designed in a manner that attracts to kill her investors but they are not entered in the ultimate target but they get a lot of upfront rewards. What we are referring to is for uy, you get aou b share. A lot of investors are known for buying every share and splitting off the warrants creating either cheap stock or free warrants. For many of them, that is a different game. I am not diminishing investors rights. We want to include a group of partners that would work alongside us. Provide i mean introductions, connections, would their presence actually attract potential counterparties. We did not need to drive them with a pile of warrants. Get one third we warrant for every share you buy , but only if you invest in the target company. The shares will always trade with at least 2 9 of a warrant per share. By the time he identified target announced the transaction, the stocks should trade up because we are going to buy a Great Company for the minority interests that we are purchasing. Two because the shares are attached to warrants. As long as the stock in trade is above the redemption price, no one redeems and we eliminate the biggest problem with spacs is because they are scrabbling to raise capitol. Here we raised 5 billion and the money will be there at the time you do a transaction. Vonnie potentially up to 3 billion and maybe the on that. There are extra totals written into this particular ipo. We are speaking with bill ackman of Pershing Square capital whichment of a new spac is up above 9 in trading. First of all, do you have time to target . We know that you can add to that. I imagine that you are using this time where the pandemic has maybe given you more of the discounts on certain assets potentially to do your Due Diligence now that you can and get to some kind of target. And then what kinds of areas are you targeting . We know that you have given a list with elements that you really want to see and that you are looking at. Can you give us any more details . Bill absolutely. We think the target universe is probably 150 companies total. 10 billion plus private companies. There are more that we are not including in subsidiaries of large corporations. We are not including Employee Owned businesses in that list. The list is broader. The top third will lead need quality thresholds. We are looking for a company with very high barriers to entry with minimal exposure to what we call risks we cannot control. We are looking for the super durable business that we can own for the next decade. That is kind of the target. The list is a list that we have in mind. There might be others were not aware of. We welcome a phone call. We are going to look at every deal. We are going to see every deal over the next six months. What is interesting is every investment banker around the globe is aware that we just raised the largest Blank Check Company in the world with 5 billion of capitol that we are looking to committing to hi a minority common stock interest. A minoritys common stock interest a minority common stock interest. There is a very attractive unicorn on the other side that meets our characteristics and we have designed ourselves to be a really attractive partner and that is what we are going to do. In terms of specific companies, id rather not name them. Vonnie some companies do not meet all your criteria. Companies that are not exposed to risks. Will that be taken in the other equation . Bill every company is exposed to risks but if the risks are catastrophic, or, if you are an energy company, that is not for us. We own hilton today. It is exposed to pandemic risk. But it a business that survives through a crisis like this and becomes a more dominant business after this. We would look at a company like airbnb. I have always admired the business. I know a friend who makes a large amount of her income by ting out the ground floor has had amazing is. With the company. Very attractive in terms of characteristics had amazing experience with the company. Pretty highct with confidence how those cash flows will grow over the longterm. That is the kind of business we are looking at. Vonnie i am also curious if you are expanding your universe. We know you have been involved in hospitality and transports and those kinds of areas. Technology, would you be interested in learning about it now . Some of what you bring up tends to have Silicon Valley language. I wonder if you would not be looking at a Silicon Valley company. Bill absolutely. Theresue for us has been are a number of businesses we have enormous admiration for and only brief moments have they got into a price that we were excited about transacting. Some of the greatest businesses in the world are the amazons and googles of the world. We would love to own them. Vonnie there are some. Air for example. Spacex. Also we know you are interested in elon musks business. Have you spoken with him . Bill i have not spoken with him. I think he is targeting austin, texas at this point. We have a spot for him in nevada and houston. It is the Howard Hughes company that i employ and currently chair. We have a lot of admiration for elon musk. We have a very open mind about the business. Private companies, they dont have the financials and dont know the details about the economics of the various businesses. But we take a hard look at pretty much every name that you mentioned. They have to be a great business with a wonderful management team. We have to be able to understand the business and predict with a high degree of confidence what the future looks like. We are not speculative investors. Ae not going to buy Pure Technology company is not for us. We are looking for a business with established characteristics. Those are the key characteristics of what we are looking for. Vonnie you say it does not have to be profitable yet as long as there is a vision for that and maybe the Business Model needs to be tightened up or maybe Something Like spacex which might end up being a tourism company. Let me talk to you about the markets. Are the holdings that you have had for a long time. You cycled in a couple of new ones including when you made that comment of companies that were going to go to zero. The privater said Equity Companies will go to zero. Vonnie some of them. Bill what i said was, if we mishandle this crisis, we end up in a very dark place. That is why we cannot allow that to happen. Shut down the country. I made a pretty bullish case that had we taken a hard shutdown, we would have a better economic outcome. We are going to get through this. There is going to be a vaccine. Of meaningfulmber candidates. Colleagueom a trusted on the board of a Company Called a chinese vip. He was recently vaccine along along withcined 40,000 others. 40,000e vaccinating the was important highprofile citizens. They are far along in developing a safe vaccine. Tonie i was actually going cite your letters in march when you said about people have become very sick. At the end of that quote you said we must learn lessons from this. I was actually going to mention that you you called it in many ways. Obviously that quote did happen for 150,000 people. Can i ask you questions about the environment very briefly because we are almost out of time. Are you thinking about relations with china and does that concern you . Bill of course. I think a globally connected world is a better world and a bigger pie for all to share. A breakdown in relationships with china is not a good thing. At the same time i respect the administrations china has been aggressive on issues of intellectual property. I dont know the details of the issues concerning the houston consulate, but you read about document destruction, burning documents in the courtyard. It does not look good for china. I have in normal is respect for the chinese. I think they have built an incredible country, economy. Like all of us, they are not perfect. I think the Trump Administration has been stronger with china than any Previous Administration and i think that strength is very important to be demonstrated. Vonnie just because you have a history with hong kong, i want to ask you about reports that circulate that the administration is very concerned about. Does Something Like that happen in our lifetime . Bill i really have no idea. Vonnie what about the idea that the economy is not going to come out of recession anytime soon . That the market is not really reflecting that we are seeing record of some cases. What interests you regularly about the market right now . Bill i think the economy is going to be a mixed experience. We had a sloppy closure of the economy and a sloppy opening and it will lead to a sloppy economy. I think we need some hope and confidence that comes with improved therapeutics which are already happening. I think that comes with a vaccine which hopefully is approaching in the relative short term. That would give people confidence that we will get through this. It will be a middling experience. It affects Different Companies differently. The biggestrket is most dominant capitalized in america. The ones that are mom and pops are the ones that are suffering. There is not a public index of momandpop companies. Were, that market would be down today and that is the tragedy of the crisis and those are the people that need collective assistance. When you sit home and look at your screen and say everything is fine, the answer is everything is not fine for a meaningful percentage of america. That is why we need to support people and that is why we need to come out of this as soon as possible. Everyone when they were in contact with others, if they would wear a mask, we would have less death and a better economy. I am glad to see the president promoting the wearing of masks. I think a lot of people follow his lead and hopefully that will help mitigate the recent rise in cases in florida and california, texas, etc. Vonnie there was a store were within 10we million square feet of being vacant what would you do with wiwork right now . They have a very capable ceo that i know well. If anyone can turn this around, it is him. He has been handed a complicated deck of cards. I do think that company was run in a not particularly good manner. There is a huge opportunity for improving the efficiency of business. I think in the long term and maybe in the intermediate term, space is going to be part of almost every company. When you think about office space today, the conventional office, i think we are moving to a world where some people work in the office a certain number of days per week, some people work from home, and some people wiwork remote offices in locations. Why would you lease property in 100 countries when you can make iwork. With w i think there is a Business Model that makes sense. This is a challenging period. Home,eryone is sitting at they have a wiwork lease. If they have the sufficient capitol to make it through, i think there is a sufficient Business Model there that can earn attractive returns for investors. Vonnie i want to ask you one last question on the spac. Someone you have worked with is martin franklin. He does not get involved in bidding wars. Would you . Bill no. There will not be a bidding war. We created the only 5 billion Blank Check Company in the world. The next largest is less than 5 billion. Today, you could be competing against others looking to do deals. We are the only such 5 billion entity in the world with the lowest cost of capitol, least frictional cost. If you were in an investment banker, what you are doing today is picking up the phone, calling your favorite 10 Million Market Cap Company and saying isnt just an interesting way for us to go public . Maybe we should call bill first. We welcome the call. Vonnie thank you for joining us today and giving us so much time. 49. 50 i found you good job. Now im gonna stay here and you go hide. Watch your favorites from anywhere in the house with the Xfinity Stream app. Free with your xfinity service. Now any room can be a tv room. Stream live tv, on demand shows and movies even your dvr recordings. Download the Xfinity Stream app today to stream the entertainment you love. Xfinity. The future of awesome. But what if you could stdo better than that . K. Like adapt. Discover. Deliver. In new ways. To new customers. What if you could come back stronger . Faster. Better. At comcast business, we want to help you not just bounce back. But bounce forward. Thats why were helping you stay ahead and adapt with a network you can count on, 24 7 support and Flexible Solutions that work wherever you are. Call or go online today. Mark i am Mark Crumpton with first word news. Trump and Senate Republicans are discussing a shortterm extension of unlimited insurance. Lawmakers and the white house appear unlikely to reach a stimulus deal before the benefits lapse at the end of the month. Bloomberg learned the possible deal would extend funds provided to millions by the rescue package. Several republicans did not support the original 600 a week Unemployment Insurance provided under the cares act saying it provides an incentive not to go back to work. The brazilian president is still testing positive. Jair bolsonaro confirmed he had a case july 7. At least four other members of his cabinet have been diagnosed. The president repeatedly dismissed the disease as a little flu and mingled in crowds, sometimes without a mask. And sign of the worsening relationships between china and the u. S. , the consulate in houston, texas is to be closed. It is to protect private information. China calls the move unprecedented escalation. Houston firefighters went to the consulate after reports documents were being burned outside. Global news 24 hours a day on air and on quicktake by bloomber. Powered by more then 2700 journalists and analysts in over 120 countries. I am Mark Crumpton. This is bloomberg. Amanda i am amanda lange. Vonnie i am vonnie quinn. Here are the top stories we are following. China vows retaliation. With fromans to close countermeasures after the u. S. Forces the closure of a consulate. Start your engines. Tesla earnings are due after the bell. Will the valuation hold is the Company Reports Financial Results . Fighting the pandemic. The u. S. Agrees to pay almost 2 billion to secure 100 million doses of a vaccine made by pfizer. Amanda we get a quick check on the markets. There is an increase in tensions between china and the u. S. And that could be weighing on sentiment. We are seeing enough in their earnings story to create a bit of cross information for these markets. Good news on the vaccine front, but we have also got continued bad news on the covid19 front. We continue to get Economic Data points that show we did get a rebound in may. We expect one in june. Pretty flat markets and the rate sensitives are leading higher. Real estate is the real strength. The nasdaq is weak. Pfizer is one to watch. 2 billion in the preemptive purchase of vaccines which has a 4 boost to that stock rate overall, these are markets that seem to be treading water amid some big earnings. Vonnie funny you should mention that. Let us talk about the shares of tesla. That will face a test when the report today after the bell. Joining us from new york is oppenheimer senior analyst, colin rusch. What are you looking for out of earnings this quarter. Colin it is important to see where the earnings shakeout. See where the cost structure ends up. Think that is a critical end to indicator. We are also looking at earnings power. Lot of investors, where they could produce 2. 5 million vehicles, and we want to understand the earnings power at that point. Vonnie musk unlocking another billion. Is it worth the money hes getting paid . Colin that is certainly a question for a lot of folks. Given the way the stock is performed in his leverage, i think he has made a bet on himself and he is reaping the reward. We have been talking about these tensions between china and the u. S. And tesla is counting a lot on chinese registrations, but also on tax treatment. Is it possible it could be one of the companies, or do you worry, about the effect these tensions could have on tesla . Colin when you see that geopolitical tension you worry about all your companies. Something that is interesting to us and a testament to how Tesla Technology goes from geography to geography is that they have subsidiaries in china. That is unique for the format of a company. With think it is because they are bringing technology into the country. They may not be subject to the same things as the other Companies Based in the u. S. Because they are bringing a certain amount of value into the economy. Vonnie what if we see more damage done to the middle class in the u. S. Then we are hoping . We do not know what is going to happen yet. We dont know what unemployment is going to be. With that put a dent in the amount of orders tesla would see . Colin anytime you have brought economic damage there is concern for every consumer. So far what we have seen with the target market is that state higher. Tends to be they have been able to keep their job and incomes through this pandemic and work from home. There is also a tremendous demand for the vehicles. Basis,rs on a broader and people are spending much time at home and looking ahead to the longerterm future, sustainability is the thing we think consumers are going to spend dollars on. Amanda it is still hard to ignore the lofty valuation. Howed to perfection is folks have put this quarter. Do you think there will be a negative reaction regardless of what tesla can say based on the run up in the stoxx . Colin i do not think so. Is a big deal for the stock as is the volume of capital that looks to be leveraged. Think there would be a broad base of buyers for this quarter. It is moving 60 from where it was july 1st. Significant amount of capital changing space. I think if we see a shortterm chance thehere is a stock will go up. Vonnie colin rusch, thank you for that. We appreciate your time. Coming up, china vowing retaliation after the United States ordered the consulate closed in texas. Discussessident obama escalating tensions. This is bloomberg. Vonnie this is bloomberg markets. I am vonnie quinn. China vows retaliation after the u. S. Ordered the closure of the chinese consulate in houston. Mike pompeo spoke to reporters earlier on the issue. Mike we are setting up expectations for how the Chinese Communist party will behave and when they do not, we will take actions to protect the american people. Vonnie joining us is Asian Society Vice President Daniel Russel and former president obamas point person on asia matters. Forel, how serious is it the staff of a consulate to be expelled . Daniel this is a huge deal. Shutting down a Major Chinese consulate and evicting diplomats is dramatic, unprecedented, and no question it is going to prompt some form of retaliation from beijing. We have the explanation, but what do you make of the rationale behind the move . Daniel i do not think the administration has been able to explain either what the problem was and secondly, and more importantly, how shutting down the consulate is going to be the solution. Why was the announcement so thin on details . Vague andy been a inadequate justification. There is a big question. What is at the chinese could do in houston, texas they could not do from their facilities in san francisco, boston, new york, or washington . Maybe we will hear more. The deputy secretary is scheduled to testify before congress today. Mike pompeo is giving a big speech at the nixon center tomorrow, but if this consulate has been engaged in illegal operations, why would the fbi or Justice Department be able to supply some of the facts . Clear thaty not there is a rationale and it is even more unclear that shutting isn one of many consulates any sort of solution. Vonnie it does feel like we turned a corner sorry, amanda. Icy. Ions are a bit more that seems to be a front, but now that might be the reality. Daniel well, i think that is an understatement. When you think about the irony in 1979 at the outset of u. S. China relations, ping went to houston where he famously wore a cowboy hat and attended a rodeo. Although the relationship developed over the decades, in the last three or four years it seems to be in freefall. Do theseto ask, actions by the administration, including periods of increasingly vitriolic, antichina speeches, do these actually change chinas behavior and the way we want . It certainly did not stop the chinese from clamping down on hong kong. More like a double day or than it does a strategy unless it is a political strategy. That thise accusation move has more to do with president ial politics than it does with protecting American Intellectual property, that accusation is a little hard to argue. Dog action has a wag the quality to it. Amanda we should note the 72 hour eviction is fairly unusual in the circumstances, even in situations where there is a widespread understanding of why a consulate or embassy is closing. Give me your thoughts on what retaliatory measures the u. S. Might face . What is on the others this trade . Yourl first, i agree with point about the abrupt 72 hour eviction deadline. It begs the question of where the urgency was and feels a little bit like it was calculated to add salt to the wound. The chinese have shortterm and longterm retaliatory options. The u. S. W end, consulate in wuhan closed at the outset of the epidemic and it would be easy for them to declare that consulate finished in retaliation for houston. End,broadly, on the higher the chinese could close down the consulate in hong kong. That would be a dramatic move in very damaging to u. S. Interest. Bear in mind that the chinese have a lot more access to the United States than u. S. Government has in china. We are in the process of reducing our access, reducing our diplomatic interaction. I think the bigger concern is not the shortterm response, but what, in the longerterm, chinas behavior will look like based on a conviction that the enemy states is now an and not aiming to solve problems. Vonnie daniel, what if, in a hypothetical scenario we have a different president , what does joe biden do presuming it is joe biden in relation to this . Rule is whenirst you find yourself deep in a hole, stop digging. Administrationen could make a point of avoiding gratuitous actions that are designed to antagonize the chinese as opposed to those actions that are designed truly to protect u. S. Interests. Holed that, this is a deep and quite difficult to get out of. Do not get me wrong. The chinese are anything but blameless. The chinese behavior across the spectrum of issues has been damaging and, in some cases, truly abhorrent such as the human rights practices. Is whether a new administration, a biden in administration, could have a coherent and consistent strategy that makes sense. Whether that would find partners throughout the International Community so that america was not standing alone. Strategy, byr that combining both firm actions on the one hand and practical problemsolving and engagement on the other hand, made a difference in the behavior of china. Amanda we are going to leave it there. Great to have your thoughts. Formerrussel is the assistant secretary of state for barack obama. Coming up, u. S. Health officials are spending big to lock down vaccine supplies. We get the latest on the pfizer deal after this. This is bloomberg. I am amanda lange alongside vonnie quinn. Billion is spending 2 to lock up 100 million doses of a vaccine that is being made by pfizer. Is money well spent . We have our health columnist. Max, it feels a little bit sight unseen to lock up a vaccine that is in the race for a vaccine. What is your take on the deal . Max the nice part about this deal is that that money does not actually get spent or go to pfizer unless the vaccine actually succeeds in Clinical Trials and is approved for use. It is kind of a guarantee of a anure supply as opposed to effort to fund efforts. I do not think that makes it better or worse, it just cuts down on the wrist. Risk. I think the u. S. Government and others should give money directly to Drug Companies to work on covid vaccines because you want as much supply as possible and as few constraints on speed as you could possibly have. If there is an area where you you might be willing to lose money, this deal will only pay out for a successful vaccine. Vonnie what if people have to get vaccinated more than once . What if the vaccine does not last long . Is it wise to strike a price before we even know how many times when individual would need it . Know, that is definitely an important question and something we do not know. I think you want to at least secure a price for this initial pandemic wave, this most important wave of vaccinations where you are trying to get a base level of immunity so you have time to build up more capacity, different vaccines, to support an ongoing program. I think securing the price in advance no matter what is the way to go just because the United States, historically, is awful at negotiating drug prices effectively. Doing so in advance when there is still some question, you have a little bit of leverage because youre committing to something that might not work, i think that is worthwhile. Tor therestill the spec might be a higher price than the one contracted. Amanda what are we hearing from pfizer . What does the data looks like so far . Caveat it is quite difficult to do cross trial comparisons of any drug or vaccine, especially at this early stage, they did provide what looked like robust immune data both on the antibody and tcell side and more data on t cells than others provided. There may be some reason for optimism. On the safety side, a relatively high rate of not severe reactions but some kind of reaction. Being a well end up cause for concern, but at the end of the day you really do have to wait for a verdict from these larger trials. We are talking data from by the hundreds of people. You cannot extrapolate that much and if it is encouraging. Vonnie when will we have a test where we get results in 24 or 48 hours . Again,pefully soon, but that is something where there needs to be the same kind of spending on innovation as we are seeing on the vaccine side giving the test failures we are seeing. Vonnie thank you. Nisen joining us. A quick look at the markets. The dow jones is basically unchanged, s p 500 erased all gains, and the nasdaq is down one third of a percent. The ipo of 8 , so going against the market. Toronto and from me in new york, this is bloomberg. Hike Simon Pagenaud takes the lead at the indy 500 coming to the green flag, racing at daytona. Theyre off. In the kentucky derby. Rory mcllroy is a two time champion at east lake. Touchdown only mahomes. The big events are back and xfinity is your home for the return of live sports. Caroline i am caroline hyde. Romaine i am romaine bostick. Taylor i am taylor riggs. Caroline Senate Republicans are weighing an extension after it is unlikely they will reach a deal before the benefits expire. 500,s may stagger the s p just holding onto a fivemonth high on a hopes of a spending deal. Laggard, tesla and microsoft earnings on deck. China barring retaliation after the u. S. Forces the closure of the houston consulate. This move was to protect intellectual property. What it means for diplomatic ties and the market. Romaine a lot going on in the market. Seven out of 11 s p markets are in the green. The s p 500 flat on the day