Chapter 1: What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
News when you want it with Bloomberg News. Now I'm Karen Moscow. Sources tell Bloomberg the State Department will suspend processing visas for people from dozens of countries. It marks one of the Trump administration's most extreme moves yet in its immigration crackdown. A department memo says the U.S.
is freezing visa processing indefinitely for 75 countries, including Afghanistan, Iran, Russia and Somalia.
Chapter 2: What recent changes have been made to U.S. visa processing?
However, what may be more surprising to some is other nations on the list, which include Brazil. The U.S. Supreme Court did not rule on challenges to President Trump's tariffs today, leaving the world to wait until at least next week to learn the fate of his signature economic policy. We get more with Bloomberg's Anne-Marie Hordern.
We don't have an opinion yet again today. The president spoke about this last night in Detroit. He was saying, could you believe, could you imagine the Supreme Court is trying to rule that my tariffs are illegal? But then he did say, we'll find another way. So for financial markets concerns, although everyone does want to know whether or not This is going to be deemed illegal.
There's going to be a time period, if it is deemed illegal, where your companies are going to line up for refunds. About 75 percent of Trump's tariffs are tethered to IEPA. So they're going to have to find different avenues to legally have these justification for some of these tariffs. So that is why everyone is so concerned.
But, yes, the Supreme Court really leaving us in the dark once again, unclear how they're going to rule on this.
And that's Bloomberg's Anne Marie Hordern. Now, the court has not said when it will issue its next opinions, but could schedule more decisions on Tuesday or Wednesday when the justices again are in session. President Trump has repeated his demand for the U.S.
to take control of Greenland for national security reasons before a meeting of top diplomats in Washington and called on NATO to support his efforts. In a post on Truth Social this morning, the president said, quote, NATO becomes far more formidable and effective with Greenland in the hands of the United States. The Danish foreign minister is meeting with Vice President J.D.
Vance and Secretary of State Marco Rubio in an effort to convince the U.S. administration that there's no need to take over the Arctic island. The Iranian government continued its crackdown on protests that have swept the nation despite President Trump's threat of action over mounting fatalities. Bloomberg's Laura Dozenski has more from Washington.
Yesterday, he said that he was going to get a briefing from his advisers and decide what to do next. He had very harsh words toward the Iranian leaders about violence against protesters, and Trump encouraged protesters to continue protesting. We're just going to have to see what happens there.
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Chapter 3: What impact does the Supreme Court's decision have on Trump's tariffs?
And that's Bloomberg's Laura Dozenski. The U.S.-based human rights activist news agency says nearly 2,600 people have been killed in Iran. Demonstrations remain difficult to track with an Internet shutdown in effect. Some observers say the actual toll could be significantly higher.
Citigroup Chief Financial Officer Mark Mason is saying the lender wants to cooperate with President Trump's affordability push, but does not support his proposed cap on credit card fees. In a call with reporters this morning, Mason said a cap would likely result in a significant slowdown in the economy.
The comments came after Citigroup posted an 84 percent surge in financial advisory fees in the fourth quarter, capping a year in which the firm's revenue from handling mergers rose by more than half to a record. Meanwhile, Bank of America Chief Financial Officer Alistair Borthwick was also asked about the credit card cap in a call with reporters today. And here's Bloomberg's Danny Berger.
As you would assume, it was the very first question. How do you feel about this proposed or attempted enforcement of a 10 percent credit card cap for interest rates? CFO Borthwick goes on to say we're supportive of what the administration is doing around affordability. He goes through the Bank of America history saying that we do things like trying to limit overdraft fees.
We have various product suites to help Americans exactly with this, with affordability. And we are standing by the administration to help them. On this specific issue of credit card caps on interest rates, they say it is firmly in the public debate arena and that the issues are well understood and nothing more to add.
And that's Bloomberg's Danny Berger. Bank of America's equity traders posted their best fourth quarter ever as the company reaped the benefits of volatile markets and net interest income topped analyst estimates. Wells Fargo missed analyst profit estimates as severance costs drove up expenses and shares slumped the most in six months. We did have some breaking economic news with U.S.
previously owned home sales climbing in December at the fastest pace since 2023, a welcome sign for a housing market that has lacked momentum for several years. Contract closing rose 5.1% last month, the highest since February 2023. Borrowing costs have been easing and price growth has slowed, helping to fuel home purchases in all major regions of the U.S.
US retail sales rose in November by the most since July. It was fueled by a rebound in auto purchases and resilient holiday shopping. US wholesale inflation picked up slightly in November from a month earlier on a jump in energy costs, even as prices for services were unchanged.
A slide in tech mega caps is driving stocks lower amid an uneventful round of economic data and earnings from big banks with geopolitical risks keeping a lid on the market while lifting oil and gold. The S&P 500 down 0.6%, the Dow Jones Industrial Average down 0.25%, NASDAQ down 0.9%, the 10-year Treasury yield
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