Fed Keeps Rates Unchanged, Meta/Microsoft/Tesla Earnings, More
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What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
News when you want it with Bloomberg News Now, I'm Doug Krisner.
Why did the Fed keep interest rates unchanged?
The Fed left its key interest rate unchanged today in a move that was widely expected. Policymakers pointed to improvements in the economy and the job market. Here is Chair Jay Powell.
Since last September, we've lowered our policy rate 75 basis points or three quarters of a percentage point, bringing it within a range of plausible estimates of neutral. This normalization of our policy stance should help stabilize the labor market while allowing inflation to resume its downward trend toward 2% once the effects of tariff increases have passed through.
And as a result, the Fed signaled a more cautious approach when it came to future rate adjustments. Now, away from the Fed's decision, today, U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Besson said President Trump's pick to be the next Fed chair may come in a week. Powell today offered advice to his successor.
Stay out of elected politics. Don't get pulled into elected politics. Don't do it.
Powell's term as chair ends in May, although he can remain on the Fed's Board of Governors through 2028. We move to earnings news next. Tesla's profit for the latest quarter beat analyst expectations. Now, this would suggest the company is making progress toward overcoming rising cost. and dealing with an end to those U.S. tax incentives for electric vehicles. Later, in a call with analyst, Tesla CEO Elon Musk said the company will discontinue the Model S and X vehicles.
It's time to basically bring the Model S and X programs to an end with an honorable discharge because we're really moving into a future that is based on autonomy.
That was Tesla CEO Elon Musk. At the same time, Tesla announced plans for artificial intelligence. The company is planning to invest $2 billion into Elon Musk's AI company, XAI. We also heard from Meta Platforms. The company reported earnings for Q4 above analyst estimates, and Meta raised its guidance for the current quarter. The company said its robust advertising business is making it possible for the company to invest in AI at record levels. We also heard from Microsoft. Earnings and revenue for the latest quarter both came in above estimates. However, Microsoft's growth in cloud sales seemed to slow. Here is Microsoft VP and CFO Amy Hood.
In Azure, we expect Q3 revenue growth to be between 37 and 38 percent in constant currency against a prior year comparable that included significantly accelerating growth rates in both Q3 and Q4. As mentioned earlier, demand continues to exceed supply, and we will need to continue to balance the incoming supply we can allocate here against other priorities.
That is Amy Hood, Microsoft Vice President and CFO. IBM's quarterly sales topped estimates on strong growth for its closely watched software unit, and IBM is projecting revenue will grow in 2026 by more than 5%. We got reaction from Bloomberg analyst Anurag Rana.
What insights did Jay Powell provide about future rate adjustments?
It is a picture. I mean, for them to be, you know, total growth rate of 9% and software in double digits. I mean, we were not expecting that. Now, there's a tiny bit of M&A there, but even without that, I mean, I think this is very good. And the big number for us is that the cash flow is going to go up by a billion dollars next year. So I think IBM's turned them around very well. I think the strategy is executing well.
Anurag Rana from Bloomberg Intelligence. Today, U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio faced questions from the Senate Foreign Relations Committee on U.S. military operations in Venezuela. And Rubio said the U.S. wants to see Venezuela return to a democratically elected government.
But our desire here is to have, it's the end state. We want a Venezuela that has legitimate democratic elections, sometimes elects leaders that are friendly to the United States, sometimes elects leaders that maybe are not you know, the person we would have wanted to win, but that's not unique for us. That happens all over the world.
Rubio went on to say the Trump administration is prepared to use force to ensure that Venezuela's acting president, Delcy Rodriguez, cooperates with the U.S.
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