Bloomberg television, starting at 9 00 p. M. Eastern. Along the gulf of mexico, the texaslouisiana border is reeling after hurricane laura unleashed a wide swath of destruction, with winds reaching 150 miles an hour after coming ashore. It is now churning over louisiana. It could lead to more than 15 billion in insured losses. One of the top talkers on wall street, meantime, news of wall street joining microsoft to make a joint bid for the social media sensation tiktok. Now aligned with oracle. For more, i want to get to scarlet fu in new york. A lot tied to these remarks from the fed. There was a lot of gyration in jay powells remarks. In the case of equities, the fed moved it higher. The dollar moving higher. Bonds falling. In no rush bank is to raise interest rates. It will let the job market run hotter and inflation run higher, potentially overshooting the 2 target, before taking any kind of action. In the end, we saw financials get a boost. They benefit from a higher yield and a steepening yield curve. All members of the bank index finished up. Abbott laboratories was one of the best performers. It climbed 8 to a new high as the government is set to buy all of its 15 minute covid tests. President trump is supposedly going to formally announce when he speaks at the Republican National convention as he accepts the nomination. I do want to move on to hurricane laura. It will be interesting to see if the president addresses in extreme weather across the country. Thankfully the hurricane lost some steam, but still battering the gulf coast. Any impact on assets . Tied toommodity prices hurricane laura moved lower. It plowed through louisiana, but largelytation, spared texas. When you look at cotton prices, they came off of a six month high. Texas is the countrys leading producer of cotton. Declining. Also refineries avoided widespread destruction. Some lost power, but it wasnt the damage it could have been had the storm really hit texas headon. I also want to mention what happening with tik tok. The pursuit is getting a lot more crowded. Walmart is teaming up with microsoft. Want toonale is walmart expand its Online Advertising business, and supposedly it would help walmart grow those units. Oracle is a bidder, as well. It reportedly includes 20 billion in stock and cash, and 50 of annual profit to go back to the chinese parent for two years. I know you will get to this shortly. Emily absolutely. We are talking about it now. Thank you for giving us the update. Tiktok. Thickening with the ceo, who just joined the company a couple of months ago, is stepping down as the bidding war heats up. A huge highprofile executive, he came to tiktok from disney. Microsoft and walmart joining forces to compete with oracles bid for the social media giant. Joining us to talk more about this is kurt wagner. Lets start with kevin mayer. A surprise exit. You can imagine it was him thinking it was his dream job, on top of the world, then suddenly he is leaving. What did he say . The job, you had to understand he would be dealing a lot with u. S. China relations. I dont think anyone expected he would be in this position. It was interesting. I have been thinking about this for a few weeks, he has really two jobs. Hes the coo of bytedance, and the ceo of global tiktok. When you talk him splitting off the u. S. Business, because it is tough. Does he stay with tiktok or bytedance . He pointed to the changing Political Landscape as one of the reasons he is stepping aside. I have to imagine for someone who was almost the ceo of disney, getting half of your job taken away based on any deal was probably a pretty big change for him. About the woman filling that position in the meantime, and who has been running tiktoks prized international business. For a has been at tiktok wild. She was basically running the u. S. Business before kevin joined the company. She is based in los angeles. It was always assumed someone would be coming in his role to take over more broadly. She is someone who understands the business. Employees already know her. So clearly it is a good person to have in the interim. Its unclear if they will officially look for someone to take over the role kevin had. A lot of it will be based on who buys tiktok. Be a matter ofld hours before we know how this deal plays out. Walmart and microsoft teaming up versus oracle, what is the latest . It is going to come soon. It could happen in the next week, for sure, maybe even the next couple of days. Walmart and microsoft are now a team suddenly. That was a big surprise. Walmarts name had not been tossed around much. It sounds like both companies would have some type of equity in this new tiktok venture. But probably microsoft would be a larger shareholder. The idea being that now you have bothmerican companies, wellestablished and very large, that are teaming up to do this. Walmart might be able to bring ecommerce business to tiktok. Microsoft with all of their Technological Advancements and ability to handle the data side of things. Teamnk they see this as a effort that may sway the white house and president trump, who is also considering a rival bid from oracle. Emily a lot to discuss, a lot to continue to watch. I know you will be busy in the 48 hours. We will check in with you later. Bloombergs kurt wagner, continuing to cover the tiktok story. Coming up, the changes in retail and ecommerce as the pandemic drags on. An ceo of visa joins us in exclusive conversation to talk about how tech is impacting payments at this time, including the rise of contactless. This is bloomberg. Emily the pandemic has accelerated a potential years of progress in Financial Technology and payments into the span of just a few months. Some of these new trends are possibly here to stay. Joining us to discuss is the ceo of visa, al kelly. Thank you for joining us. Obviously visa has a unique view into the health of the u. S. Consumer, the u. S. Economy. On one hand, youve seen an explosion in ecommerce, but also tens of millions who have jobs, and we are in the middle of a recession. What are the trends you see in u. S. Consumer spending, and what are they telling you . Al first of all, its great to be with you. The state of the consumer in the u. S. Is mixed between unemployment and the fact of categories like travel being depressed. A lot of businesses are not back at 100 capacity, which is challenging for those businesses and the consumers that utilize them. On the other hand, we have seen almost a v shaped recovery in Consumer Spending since the low point in the middle of april. Thats been driven by a combination of ecommerce and debit card use. There has been certain categories, like food and drugs, where people have been hoarding paper products, and shopping in supermarkets, as opposed to going to restaurants. Incredible growth in those categories. I would also say the stimulus money has played a Critical Role between the federal stimulus money, the unemployment checks people have gotten, we have seen a lot of that drive the spending increases and recovery. It truly is mixed. We will have to see where unemployment goes, and if businesses like restaurants can open at full capacity. Home, just like work from a technical logical a technological shift, in terms of productivity. You also see shifts when it comes to payments. What are the shifts you are seeing on your end that could potentially be here to stay . The single biggest is the adoption of ecommerce. Its been a tremendous first time activation in ecommerce over the course of this 25 or so covid19od of descending on the u. S. A lot of people shopping in various new categories. A lot of people doing an online payment and going to pick up the item at a store or restaurant. A tremendous increase in people ordering food online and going to pick it up in person. Contactlesseen the use go up tremendously. People concerned about currency being something that can carry germs. We still have 18 trillion spent on cash and taking in the world. An incredible adoption of contactless. Outside the u. S. , two thirds of transactions are on tap to pay. During the pandemic, we have worked with 55 different governments around the world where they raised their limits, in terms of the amount of transaction that would be allowed to be utilized to pay. That has driven a tremendous amount of volume. Path to pay is here to stay. For the u. S. , it is behind. Prettythe u. S. Is dramatically behind other countries when it comes to contactless payments. How far behind . Havee we catch up, it can huge consequences, especially in a pandemic, when that technology is very useful. From the beginning the u. S. Has been behind, but it is making great strides, particularly in the last year or so. Past six months of the pandemic. We have seen 80 million new cards being put into the marketplace in the first six years that are able to pass to pay. I expect 300 million. Thats out of a little less of one billion in the u. S. 85 over the top 100, 255 of the top 300 sellers are already enabled. Nine of the 10 top banks are pushing it. Today, we are probably in the midsingle digit range. Thats probably where everybody else started out. It takes off when you get a 10 level. It really starts to take off and you see 3 to 5 increases each quarter. I expect the u. S. To play fast catch up, driven in part by the pandemic. Out tapisa was rolling to pay across new york city buses and subways, but since the pandemic, you have the Transit System in dire financial straits. I assume it is the same in other cities. Could that technology be on the chopping block if mass transit is bound to rebound more slowly than any other industry . Is that one place where this technology moves more slowly . I dont think so. The reality is it is generally positive for the Transit Authority. The Transit Authority has been hammered with people who dont want to work and the fears of socially distancing in a subway or bus. But where we have put it in place, where we were in discussions to put in place, probably 50 different transit authorities around the world. People found it to be convenient. It takes the Transit Authority out of the business of having to create their own card. This is a much better arrangement for organizations. Clearly the mta has a lot of challenges, because ridership is down. I expect all of this to turn into some form of normal at some point, just a matter of what it will be. It is certainly depressing, the number of transactions we are seeing, that happen when people commute to work every day. A lot of that is being made up i people staying home, getting on their computer, or ipads, and shopping ecommerce. Emily as you mentioned earlier, the u. S. Has had a thriving cash economy. It still sometimes baffles me how many people still pay with cash. Do you think that changes post covid . Do we see a lot of cash changing hands . Do all habits just take too long to die . We see some of it already. I havent been out a tremendous amount myself, but i have seen a number of merchants that will only take cash. I know when getting takeout food, people either do it online, on their website, or on the phone, give them a card number. They wont accept cash. Seeing a very big shift. I think that shift will be much more of a permanent shift as people get concerned, most concerned about whether cash exchanges hands multiple times a day and can be the source of germs, but people realizing it do Digital Payments and not have to worry about carrying cash or having enough cash. Emily interesting. Visa was a major sponsor for the olympics. The fifa world cup. Professional sports. Many huge sporting events not happening. Some slowly starting to come back. How big a setback is that, in terms of Marketing Advertising and Sponsorship Opportunities . It is certainly a step backwards. Sports are one of the great uniters of people around the world. To sponsor these big, global entities. And the fifa world cup, olympics. It is certainly disappointing us, and other sponsors where we cant act at this moment in time. But the consumers and citizens come first. Regardless, we would be cutting back on our market at a time like this, anyway. People will spend what they have to spend, but theres not a lot of Discretionary Spending going on. Very little travel. We would probably naturally be cut back on our marketing anyway. Doing thet we are not marketing for these sponsorships okaych, it is probably an aspect of things at this point. Emily thank you so much for joining us. Really interesting to see your view on all of these trends, given that unique perspective visa has. , thank you for joining us. Well be right back with more bloomberg technology. Emily u. S. Commerce secretary wilber ross says chinas decision not to block travel to the u. S. During the outbreak was deliberate. Speaking with david westin in an exclusive interview, take a listen to what he had to say. China, a lot has been accomplished. On the enforcement side, we really have been enforcing quite vigorously. You are familiar with the actions we have taken on huawei, the actions we have taken on zte, two Major Telecom companies. Most recently, we have been working very hard on the Semiconductor Part of things. While china does have technology, we still have the best Software Design and fabrication equipment for semiconductors. Avoid themrying to taking unfair advantage of our technology. Technology is really important, because while protecting things like steel and aluminum help take care of todays world, technology is tomorrows world. Thats a big deal. Very recently, we put on the since list 500 companies 2017. A lot of those are chinese companies. Thats because they are the ones that seem to be doing the most to violate sanctions, to violate human rights, and most recently, to create problems in hong kong. Thats been a big series. Then you have the tariffs. The section 301 tariffs that ustr imposed on china. The cumulative effect of all of this is an enormously greater than the longterm cumulative effect of everything done pretrump. Speaking of china and technology, we have the tiktok issue that is pending. Various companies have expressed an interest. Microsoft, walmart, and oracle all expressed an interest. As you look at these alternatives, what are the criteria you use in deciding, if any make sense from the u. S. s point of view . The fundamental idea is we dont want detailed, personal information on all of our teenaged children, who are the main users of tiktok. We dont want that information to become part of the big chinese database to use to infiltrate our country. Thats the principal objective. Whether it should be microsoft, oracle, or someone else, thats really more for the private sector are to decide. People are essentially operating in the u. S. And a couple of other nonchinese countries. It, doess i understand not really operate in china, so there will be no particular as at on chinese app result of whatever we do with tiktok. My own personal preference would be to have tiktok acquired by one of these american companies. I think that would have the fringe benefit not only of helping from a National Security point of view, but creating more competition in the areas of facebook and social media. Thats a healthy thing. Competition is a very good thing. Its kind of what makes american industry thrive. Emily u. S. Commerce secretary wilbur ross. Coming up, a series of extreme weather events happening across the u. S. In different regions over just a matter of weeks. Coincidence or no . We hear from a stanford expert on climate. This is bloomberg. Emily welcome back to bloomberg technology. Im emily chang in san francisco. As hurricane laura battered the southern gulf coast with nearly 150 mile an hour winds and water levels rising almost 10 feet above normal, wildfires continue to burn in california, raging across more than one million acres. In other parts of the country, storms in the midwest and new york darkened several homes. Those are some of the extreme weather conditions testing our country this month. Are they part of the same crisis . We are joined by the director of the climate of energy of policy program. Thank you for joining us. You are in california, where i am. You have been experiencing some of the bad air because of the fires in northern california. Are all of these extreme weather events related somehow, or is it a coincidence all of this is happening at the same time . Thanks for having me on. What is safe to say about this is the effect of Climate Change anyo increase the odds that of these weather events happen. Summer are seeing this is a coincidence of multiple bad outcomes occurring at the same time. That was a much less likely thing prior to emissions of Greenhouse Gases. As the planet warms, we are likely to see these kind of events happening more. Coincidence, is a the odds of was happening right now. We see different weatherrelated catastrophes across the u. S. With thets start fires. What do climatologists think will happen in california . It seems anecdotally that fire season gets worse every year. What happens Going Forward to californias climate . Do we get more rain even if we get hotter . The most dangerous part of fire season is yet to come in california, the late call. The science has been done to date that suggests we are more likely to experience hot, dry falls that have been so catastrophic. That means we need to be better forces andave bitter firefighters, and also learn how to live with fire more effectively. Do the things we need to do ahead of time to keep people and communities safe. The longterm future is this is also not a problem theres is not a new normal coming. What we are entering into is a ande of constant change, probably worsening of some of these problems. Thats was particularly challenging. Even though we are prepared today, that doesnt mean we are pair paired prepared tomorrow, next year. Emily what about hurricanes . Some Research Shows they are increasing in intensity in the atlantic, but not in other oceans. Does that match what you are seeing . What is to come . Around Climate Change impacts on hurricanes is complex. Hurricanes themselves are complex. Evidences seem to be ocean, a warming atmosphere that can hold more ,ater vapor, does, in the net result in stronger hurricanes. Especially the kinds of phenomena we have occurred, rapid intensification. More orer there are fewer hurricanes, it does seem as we a