Latest / Bloomberg Intelligence / Sharp Fall In The Yuan Is Big Risk To Global Growth (Podcast)
Transcript
- 0:05Speaker 1: Welcome to the Bloomberg P and L Podcast. I'm Pim Fox.
- 0:08Speaker 1: Along with my co host Lisa A. Bramowitz. Each day
- 0:11Speaker 1: we bring you the most important, noteworthy, and useful interviews
- 0:15Speaker 1: for you and your money, whether you're at the grocery
- 0:17Speaker 1: store or the trading floor. Find the Bloomberg P M
- 0:20Speaker 1: L Podcast on Apple Podcasts, SoundCloud, and Bloomberg dot com.
- 0:33Speaker 1: So much focus recently has been the relationship between the
- 0:36Speaker 1: US and China. Here to talk about that is Patrick Shavannick.
- 0:40Speaker 1: He is managing director and chief strategist as Silver Crest
- 0:43Speaker 1: Asset Management. Just back from a tour of Denmark and
- 0:48Speaker 1: uh Norway. Thank you so much for joining me here
- 0:51Speaker 1: in our eleven three oh studios. So, Patrick, let's focus
- 0:53Speaker 1: on China here because we are getting more talks that
- 0:58Speaker 1: are continuing to fail but maybe making progress. Today. The
- 1:02Speaker 1: big move is in the Chinese un which is actually
- 1:05Speaker 1: strengthening by the most verses of dollars. Since what's going
- 1:09Speaker 1: on here? Are we getting some sort of progress or
- 1:12Speaker 1: is this just sort of muddling to a new phase?
- 1:14Speaker 1: So on the trade talks um, there wasn't a lot
- 1:18Speaker 1: of optimism that the talks over the past couple of
- 1:21Speaker 1: days would lead to anything, and in fact they took
- 1:23Speaker 1: place amid um the the likelihood and now the reality
- 1:28Speaker 1: of a new round of terrorists being imposed on by
- 1:31Speaker 1: both sides. So, uh, you know, I think I think
- 1:34Speaker 1: the Chinese are trying to figure out, um, what exactly
- 1:38Speaker 1: might satisfy the Trump administration if there is a deal
- 1:41Speaker 1: to be cut here, and I think there's some disagreement
- 1:44Speaker 1: within the Trump administration about what what would be satisfactory.
- 1:48Speaker 1: You know, some such Learric Cudlow h insists that the
- 1:54Speaker 1: that that the trade sanctions are bargaining trip to open
- 1:58Speaker 1: up trade China. Others don't think so, Others such as Navarro,
- 2:03Speaker 1: you know, Uh, the impression that I have is that
- 2:06Speaker 1: he thinks, uh, tariffs are the solution that that China
- 2:11Speaker 1: won't move. It's kind of you know. And then and
- 2:13Speaker 1: the actually tariffs are the way that the are the
- 2:16Speaker 1: way forward, you know. And honestly, we're just speaking with
- 2:18Speaker 1: Garrett Vank of Bloomberg Technology, and he was talking about
- 2:21Speaker 1: the US Postal Service and President trying to push the
- 2:25Speaker 1: agency to renegotiate it's treaty and how it charges small
- 2:30Speaker 1: packages to China versus the other way around, and that
- 2:34Speaker 1: doesn't feel like it do feel like things are easy.
- 2:39Speaker 1: It doesn't feel like cart because it's very specific and
- 2:41Speaker 1: it's highlighting an issue that's been simmering for a long time. Yeah. So,
- 2:44Speaker 1: so I think there's this division within the administration and
- 2:48Speaker 1: I don't know, you know, where Trump falls on this
- 2:51Speaker 1: about whether the goal is free your trade or whether
- 2:55Speaker 1: the goal is protectionism. And obviously, you know, if you're
- 2:58Speaker 1: in the markets, you'd like to know the answer to
- 3:00Speaker 1: that question. Um, But we'll only know in time. Um.
- 3:05Speaker 1: But it doesn't seem like this is heading towards a
- 3:07Speaker 1: resolution anytime soon. You know. I want to sort of
- 3:10Speaker 1: throughout there a theory that a number of big bank
- 3:13Speaker 1: strategists have talked about, which is that President Trump, as
- 3:16Speaker 1: he faces more challenges at home, legally and otherwise, that
- 3:21Speaker 1: he will aamp up the rhetoric against China and Mexico
- 3:25Speaker 1: and other places to seem hard in his convictions and
- 3:29Speaker 1: to appeal to his base. Does that hold water with you?
- 3:33Speaker 1: So you know, how much can more can you ramp
- 3:36Speaker 1: up the rhetoric without actually taking action that then subsequently
- 3:40Speaker 1: has economic impact. And so, you know, I realized that
- 3:44Speaker 1: the rhetoric and even the actions. You know, protectionism is
- 3:47Speaker 1: popular with a certain part of his base, but it's
- 3:50Speaker 1: also deeply unpopular with the business community and with markets.
- 3:54Speaker 1: And the one thing he's really got going for him
- 3:56Speaker 1: right now is a strong economy. And if I were him,
- 4:00Speaker 1: I wouldn't want to do anything to mess that up.
- 4:02Speaker 1: And if you look in the I s M surveys
- 4:05Speaker 1: um both manufacturing and non manufacturing, what a lot of
- 4:08Speaker 1: companies are saying, Hey, we have a strong economy, we
- 4:12Speaker 1: see a lot of positive new and but boy, these
- 4:15Speaker 1: uncertainty over tariffs, the impact on our our input costs,
- 4:19Speaker 1: We're losing export sales. This is the one big negative
- 4:23Speaker 1: that we see that's making us hesitate to invest more.
- 4:27Speaker 1: And so if that's if that's a reality now going
- 4:30Speaker 1: further down that path, um, you know, I don't want
- 4:34Speaker 1: to sound apocalyptic, like, Okay, it's going to end the
- 4:37Speaker 1: cycle tomorrow, but but it's it's one more thing in
- 4:40Speaker 1: a in a cycle that's fairly mature. It's one more
- 4:43Speaker 1: thing that brings you closer to the end of the cycle. Potentially.
- 4:46Speaker 1: I have to wonder, you know, putting aside the trade tensions,
- 4:50Speaker 1: how much China itself could be the end of the
- 4:52Speaker 1: cycle if it mismanages soft landing, And I think that
- 4:56Speaker 1: people have stopped talking about that to some degree. But
- 4:58Speaker 1: here we had ten Cent report earnings that were highly disappointing.
- 5:02Speaker 1: Ali Baba reported earnings that were better than expected, but
- 5:05Speaker 1: people still weren't that enthusiastic by the start, you know,
- 5:08Speaker 1: based on the stock performance because of concerns going forward
- 5:11Speaker 1: about growth. Are are you learning anything? Are you reading
- 5:15Speaker 1: anything into this that makes you feel like there is
- 5:17Speaker 1: a more substantial slowdown than people are really giving credit to.
- 5:20Speaker 1: So I've always been quite concerned about China's economy and
- 5:24Speaker 1: where it was headed um and the debt issues that
- 5:27Speaker 1: they have in the past. I always took the view
- 5:29Speaker 1: that because China was never really a driver of global
- 5:33Speaker 1: growth because of its because of its surpluses, that a
- 5:37Speaker 1: slowdown in China's economy would would not derail the global
- 5:41Speaker 1: economy the US anymore than the slow down in the
- 5:43Speaker 1: Japanese economy derailed growth in the ninety nineties. Right um,
- 5:48Speaker 1: because it really isn't a driver of global demands. Um.
- 5:52Speaker 1: That said, how China responds to a slowdown could have
- 5:56Speaker 1: a significant impact. So we've seen um, the yuan depreciate.
- 6:02Speaker 1: There's the prospect that they could have a devaluation, either
- 6:07Speaker 1: in response to trade friction or a deteriorating economy, that
- 6:12Speaker 1: would have a global impact. That would be trying to
- 6:14Speaker 1: trying to exports, domestic internal problems globally, and that would
- 6:19Speaker 1: create significant headwinds to US growth. That's a far way off, though,
- 6:21Speaker 1: I mean, clearly you don't think so. Well, we've seen
- 6:25Speaker 1: you know, we've seen the depreciation in the REM and
- 6:27Speaker 1: B and and I'm not saying so. I've never had
- 6:31Speaker 1: the view that China will be forced to devalue, okay,
- 6:34Speaker 1: because I don't think that it would either be good
- 6:36Speaker 1: for them or necessary for them to devalue. But back
- 6:39Speaker 1: you know, two years ago, there were a lot of
- 6:41Speaker 1: people trying to persuade them that that was in fact
- 6:43Speaker 1: the case. And whether it is the case or not,
- 6:47Speaker 1: they could be persuaded that this is the path that
- 6:49Speaker 1: they should go down, particularly if it's a response to
- 6:52Speaker 1: trade tensions, if it's seen as a way of of
- 6:54Speaker 1: defanging US tarraffs by evaluating the currency, you're allowing it
- 6:58Speaker 1: to depreciate. Um, I don't think it's a good path
- 7:01Speaker 1: for China to go down, but it's one that they
- 7:03Speaker 1: could choose to go down that would have global implications.
- 7:06Speaker 1: Just real quick. I mean, perhaps the China slowdown doesn't
- 7:09Speaker 1: necessarily have as big of an impact on global growth
- 7:12Speaker 1: rates to say the US, but certainly for Asia. Yes,
- 7:15Speaker 1: it has a huge impact and it can trickle out
- 7:17Speaker 1: from there. Now. So if you're if you are, if
- 7:21Speaker 1: you have over the past you know, ten years, been
- 7:23Speaker 1: feeding into China's investment boom, if you're Australia selling iron ore,
- 7:28Speaker 1: or Chili selling copper, or any number of Germany selling
- 7:32Speaker 1: machinery to China, yes, it could have the end of
- 7:35Speaker 1: China's investment boom. Could have a very serious impact. Now.
- 7:38Speaker 1: It could also have a positive impact in the sense
- 7:41Speaker 1: that if it helped resolve some of the overcapacity that
- 7:44Speaker 1: China has been creating over the years. So you know,
- 7:48Speaker 1: one thing that China's investment boom is done is it
- 7:50Speaker 1: bit up the price of inputs and it pushed down
- 7:53Speaker 1: the price of outputs. A reversal of that, I think
- 7:56Speaker 1: in the long rum positive for the global economy, but
- 8:00Speaker 1: how you get there could be very disruptive. Patrick Shavannick,
- 8:03Speaker 1: thank you so much for drinking being with me today.
- 8:05Speaker 1: It's a pleasure getting your insights, and China is in
- 8:08Speaker 1: the absolute forefront of a lot of investor's minds these days.
- 8:11Speaker 1: Patrick Shavannick, Managing Director and chief strategist, It's silver Crust
- 8:15Speaker 1: Asset Management. This has been a fascinating season for retail
- 8:33Speaker 1: earnings that has definitely split the halves from the have nots,
- 8:36Speaker 1: with the Walmarts and the targets of the world doing
- 8:39Speaker 1: phenomenally while Gap and L brands fall further, with people
- 8:43Speaker 1: questioning why are they doing badly at a time when
- 8:46Speaker 1: retail sales are going so strong. Here to talk about that,
- 8:50Speaker 1: as well as a slew of other issues facing the
- 8:52Speaker 1: retail industry is Rick Healthenbine, President, chief executive Officer of
- 8:56Speaker 1: the American Apparel and Footwear Association based in Washington, d See.
- 9:00Speaker 1: Although you know you've got a foot in Washington and
- 9:02Speaker 1: a foot in New York. Uh Rick, thank you so
- 9:05Speaker 1: much for being here. Um, so what do you make
- 9:07Speaker 1: so far off the retail earning season? The earnings have
- 9:09Speaker 1: been fascinating. I mean, we're we're finally uh seeing some
- 9:13Speaker 1: relief from many years of agony. You know, we we
- 9:16Speaker 1: we look at two thousand and eight and we compare
- 9:20Speaker 1: that to two thousand and seventeen. We actually have more
- 9:22Speaker 1: bankruptcyas in seventeen than we did in no AID. So
- 9:25Speaker 1: to see a really good earning season like we're having
- 9:29Speaker 1: now is beyond encouraging. But it's really really interesting to
- 9:34Speaker 1: dig into the earnings almost companied by company, and they
- 9:38Speaker 1: I think the cardinal example of who's doing well. I
- 9:41Speaker 1: look at Target, and I look at Nordstrom and nordstron
- 9:45Speaker 1: is fascinating because a couple of years ago they were
- 9:47Speaker 1: trying to figure out who he is Nordstrom, and they
- 9:50Speaker 1: developed a very strong presence in Nordstrom rac, which has
- 9:54Speaker 1: a tremendous millennial appeal. And then they picked up on
- 9:58Speaker 1: their Internet sales, which remarkably good. And to give them
- 10:02Speaker 1: further credit, their in store experience has been good. So
- 10:04Speaker 1: they've been positive over four percent on store traffic. I think,
- 10:08Speaker 1: so everything is going right for them. Before you move
- 10:13Speaker 1: on to somebody else, is there a particular person who
- 10:15Speaker 1: is behind this strategy that has panned out in every facet. Well,
- 10:20Speaker 1: in every company there's usually a leader, but in these
- 10:23Speaker 1: bigger companies, it's usually leadership by committees. So you have
- 10:27Speaker 1: to give a bunch of people credit to understand. You
- 10:30Speaker 1: know that the dynamics of retail have changed. The lennial
- 10:33Speaker 1: customer today. You're really trying to tract would prefer to
- 10:36Speaker 1: shop on their phone. How do you convert that? And
- 10:39Speaker 1: they also love stores like TJ Max. TJ Max is
- 10:42Speaker 1: a huge favorite among millennials. Treasure Hunt. Yeah. So it's
- 10:47Speaker 1: a combination of what works and what doesn't. And and
- 10:50Speaker 1: probably the biggest measure in brick and mortar retail is
- 10:53Speaker 1: foot traffic. The foot traffic is up if you have
- 10:57Speaker 1: a strong Internet component, and if you have a mid
- 11:00Speaker 1: price line like as I said, norstern Rack, that's a win.
- 11:03Speaker 1: But then again, you look at somebody like Walmart and
- 11:06Speaker 1: you know there you have to be a little careful,
- 11:08Speaker 1: you have to factor out the groceries, but look at
- 11:10Speaker 1: their online sales phenomenal. Look at targets online sales like up.
- 11:16Speaker 1: So when you take it all, you can see the
- 11:19Speaker 1: picture of having those retailers um who have got it,
- 11:23Speaker 1: really got it and it's starting to show, and it's
- 11:27Speaker 1: great for somebody like me. This is this is like
- 11:30Speaker 1: manna from heaven. I just am hopeful it's not all
- 11:32Speaker 1: going to implode, and when we get we'll get to
- 11:35Speaker 1: why it might implode in a second. I am so
- 11:38Speaker 1: concerned when I look at places like L Brand's, Victoria's
- 11:41Speaker 1: Secrets parent company, or GAP or j C. Penny and Sears,
- 11:44Speaker 1: which have been having a hard time for a long
- 11:46Speaker 1: time and are showing no signs of recovery. You have
- 11:49Speaker 1: to wonder, if these companies are not doing well now,
- 11:51Speaker 1: what will it take for them to revive well. Sears
- 11:56Speaker 1: is sort of in a world of its own, and
- 11:58Speaker 1: it's really hard to comment on how to figure out
- 12:01Speaker 1: how to get them out of their funking, their conundrum. Uh.
- 12:04Speaker 1: J C. Penny, on the other hand, there's hope for
- 12:07Speaker 1: j C. Penny. The question is can they figure out
- 12:11Speaker 1: what works and what doesn't work. You know, we had
- 12:16Speaker 1: Toys r US Kids ar US go out of business
- 12:18Speaker 1: where people are going to buy their kids clothes. That
- 12:20Speaker 1: used to be a strong point of J C. Penny.
- 12:23Speaker 1: So maybe you know they can advance on that. They
- 12:26Speaker 1: have to figure it out. But you know, then you
- 12:29Speaker 1: look at someone like app who reported today um Old
- 12:33Speaker 1: Navy was very strong. Don't look at CAP look at
- 12:35Speaker 1: Old Navy and see what works and then figure out
- 12:38Speaker 1: how to change the dynamic. All these companies are fighting
- 12:41Speaker 1: for market share, but people are buying. You know, It's funny.
- 12:45Speaker 1: In retail, you look at three things. You look at
- 12:49Speaker 1: the unemployment level, you look at the consumer confidence level,
- 12:52Speaker 1: and they're all good, all right. So one thing that's
- 12:57Speaker 1: not perhaps good for your industry are some of the
- 12:59Speaker 1: terps that have been proposed, and you've been lobbying against
- 13:02Speaker 1: some of them. Um, a lot of them will hit
- 13:04Speaker 1: your industry directly. Where are we with that? Well? I
- 13:08Speaker 1: was at the hearings on Monday, our team testified, and uh, frankly,
- 13:13Speaker 1: I was sitting in there what I would call the
- 13:16Speaker 1: peanut gallery, and it sounded a little bit like Clara
- 13:19Speaker 1: belhunking at Buffalo Bob. It was so sad, all these
- 13:24Speaker 1: really strong businesses and trade associations explaining to a panel
- 13:29Speaker 1: of government representatives how raising tariffs would severely impact their business.
- 13:35Speaker 1: I'm curious, were there any representatives from companies arguing for
- 13:39Speaker 1: the tariffs? Yes, there were a few, and I um
- 13:43Speaker 1: put few in capital letters, um and and a lot
- 13:47Speaker 1: of that place to self interest for them. You know,
- 13:50Speaker 1: some protectionism would help. Uh, Well, there's one gentleman tests
- 13:55Speaker 1: testifying actually about right now as we speak, from a
- 14:00Speaker 1: leather company, and uh, he's interest is to protect his business.
- 14:06Speaker 1: Um NICTO the trade organization also testified and they, you know,
- 14:10Speaker 1: they represent textile interests in America. So you know, I
- 14:13Speaker 1: have to give these people credit to the extent they're
- 14:16Speaker 1: fighting for what they believe in. But I have to
- 14:18Speaker 1: say they're in the minority, but they believe what they believe.
- 14:22Speaker 1: Most people who testified hit tears in their eyes. You're
- 14:25Speaker 1: really gonna hurt me. This is gonna hurt my business.
- 14:28Speaker 1: And in this third ranch, we call it of two
- 14:30Speaker 1: hundred billion, they've got hand bags, they've got hats, they've
- 14:33Speaker 1: got baseball gloves, they've got backpacks. You know, I tell
- 14:36Speaker 1: everybody who listen that, you know, it's back to school season,
- 14:39Speaker 1: you better buy two backpacks because you're twenty dollar backpacks
- 14:42Speaker 1: gonna be thirty next time. Do you think that there
- 14:45Speaker 1: will be bankruptcies as a result of some of the
- 14:47Speaker 1: proposed tariffs or do you think it will just be
- 14:49Speaker 1: uh a slower profit margins? Now, you know, the tariffs
- 14:53Speaker 1: aren't gonna push people into bankruptcy. You know, be other
- 14:56Speaker 1: economic factors that do it, that are already in play
- 15:00Speaker 1: the bank. The tarifs will just exacerbate the situation because
- 15:05Speaker 1: you know, remember this isn't percent tariff they're talking about.
- 15:08Speaker 1: It's twenty on top of what you're already paying. So
- 15:12Speaker 1: if you're paying and you had twenty five, now we
- 15:15Speaker 1: got a forty five percent tariff, what's gonna happen. People
- 15:18Speaker 1: are gonna stop buying, They stop buying, sales go down. Um,
- 15:23Speaker 1: it's a bad cycle. Is there any positive consequence from
- 15:27Speaker 1: some of the post tariffs on retail? Wow? What a
- 15:30Speaker 1: what a great question? Um, two word answer. Absolutely, no
- 15:35Speaker 1: positive consequence except maybe at the end of the day,
- 15:39Speaker 1: perhaps tariffs will just go away and then people could
- 15:43Speaker 1: spend what they really should be spending for product. You know,
- 15:46Speaker 1: you look at the economy and there was an article
- 15:50Speaker 1: this this week about the millennials responding to the next crash,
- 15:55Speaker 1: and you know, how will they respond? It's been ten years.
- 15:57Speaker 1: We'll keep in mind that low quost product in last
- 16:00Speaker 1: recession really helped us out, helped us come back quickly,
- 16:03Speaker 1: and you're not going to have that anymore. So if
- 16:06Speaker 1: you're short on cash, it's going to be harder. Rick
- 16:08Speaker 1: Calforn Byn, thank you so much for joining me today.
- 16:11Speaker 1: Rick Calvin Byn is President and chief executive officer of
- 16:13Speaker 1: the American Apparel and Footwear Association in Washington, d C.
- 16:34Speaker 1: The business of car racing is massive and growing. Joining
- 16:38Speaker 1: us now is Mark Miles, President, chief executive officer of
- 16:41Speaker 1: Indy Car, also the President CEO of Holman and Company,
- 16:44Speaker 1: which owns the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. Mark, thank you so
- 16:48Speaker 1: much for being with us. I just want to start
- 16:51Speaker 1: with an overview. Can you give us a sense of
- 16:53Speaker 1: sort of the state of play of the car racing business,
- 16:56Speaker 1: given the fact that we've seen declines in some list ownership,
- 17:00Speaker 1: viewership at tendership of other other sports. Yeah, there's definitely
- 17:06Speaker 1: headwinds in sport to some extent, in the motor sport
- 17:09Speaker 1: to great extent. But frankly, we're delighted that over the
- 17:13Speaker 1: last few years since probably Indie Car has been growing
- 17:18Speaker 1: in with respect, almost all the sort of fan metrics are.
- 17:21Speaker 1: Television ratings are up in four years, um our attendance
- 17:27Speaker 1: is growing, our social following is up by a million
- 17:31Speaker 1: followers in the last year, and so we feel like
- 17:34Speaker 1: we're kind of bucking the headwinds and and very bullish
- 17:37Speaker 1: about our future. Can you give a sense of why.
- 17:40Speaker 1: I mean you noted also that IndyCar is the highest
- 17:43Speaker 1: percentage of millennials of any of the major sports leagues.
- 17:47Speaker 1: What is it about the sport that is attractive to
- 17:50Speaker 1: younger people? Part of our growth is because I think
- 17:53Speaker 1: we kind of squandered the recent years in our past,
- 17:56Speaker 1: and so we're getting our act together and getting things
- 17:59Speaker 1: together and forward. But inherently we think IndyCar Racing has
- 18:03Speaker 1: a lot to offer. It is the fastest series out there.
- 18:06Speaker 1: It's very technical, and by that I mean on the track,
- 18:10Speaker 1: but also in the way we go to market. For example,
- 18:13Speaker 1: in a two hour race, we collect fifty million data
- 18:16Speaker 1: records and when we talked to UH companies, you're well
- 18:20Speaker 1: aware of that, think about how they can help us
- 18:24Speaker 1: UH convert that data into really interesting content for fans.
- 18:28Speaker 1: We think there's a there's a lot to offer there
- 18:29Speaker 1: and to continue to grow our younger audience in particular,
- 18:33Speaker 1: So UM the sport is compelling. You can start at
- 18:36Speaker 1: the back of the grid and and win a race
- 18:39Speaker 1: with lots of different winners, and yet we've got some
- 18:42Speaker 1: you know, some stalwart competitors like Team Penskey and and
- 18:46Speaker 1: Ganassi and Andretti, and drivers that are veteran champions. So
- 18:50Speaker 1: we've got challengers, and we got UH, and we've got
- 18:53Speaker 1: established champions, and I just think there's lots and lots
- 18:56Speaker 1: of narrative for fans to follow. So Mark, when I
- 18:58Speaker 1: think about what I think about car racing in the
- 19:01Speaker 1: United States, I think about UH, the zooming noise that
- 19:04Speaker 1: I think about, how fast they go, and the sort
- 19:07Speaker 1: of sponsorship labels all over the cars. I also think
- 19:10Speaker 1: of the highly publicized crash that crashes that occasionally happen
- 19:14Speaker 1: from time to time, and there was a terrible crash
- 19:17Speaker 1: just on Sunday, Indy car driver Robert Wickens being hospitalized
- 19:22Speaker 1: for some serious injuries after a crash at the Pocono Raceway.
- 19:27Speaker 1: What does a crash like this do for the sport?
- 19:30Speaker 1: Is it something that sets you back? How do you
- 19:32Speaker 1: address it? I think the sport, first of all, everybody
- 19:36Speaker 1: recognizes that it's it is extreme sport and it's dangerous.
- 19:41Speaker 1: So our our obligation is to do everything we can
- 19:43Speaker 1: to to manage the technology and to continually improve safety
- 19:48Speaker 1: and to be a better able to minimize the effects
- 19:52Speaker 1: of accidents. Um. You know, psychologically, we're all human beings
- 19:57Speaker 1: and when a guy like Robbie Wickens has a serious injury,
- 20:01Speaker 1: you know, it sort of takes your breath away. But
- 20:03Speaker 1: he's getting great medical care. He gets great medical care
- 20:06Speaker 1: at the track we have. We're the one sport that
- 20:09Speaker 1: for some years has had the same safety crews on
- 20:13Speaker 1: the tracks, the same doctors, the same nurses that travel
- 20:16Speaker 1: um and so there's great continuity, a very high level
- 20:19Speaker 1: of care. We work with our car manufacturer, that d
- 20:22Speaker 1: Lara in italyite to improve the physical aspects of the
- 20:27Speaker 1: car that make it safer all the time. So it's
- 20:30Speaker 1: a never ending process. We hope next year we'll be
- 20:32Speaker 1: introducing a cockpit for the first time in years and
- 20:36Speaker 1: will help protect the drivers from debris and around the track.
- 20:41Speaker 1: We just got to keep doing the best we can.
- 20:43Speaker 1: Racers sign up for it and there they insist that
- 20:48Speaker 1: we do all that we can. But they're very resilient
- 20:51Speaker 1: group and it's kind of what they what they love
- 20:53Speaker 1: to do. Yeah, indeed, I'm wondering. You know. One of
- 20:56Speaker 1: the big headlines in the sports industry this year has
- 20:59Speaker 1: been the lead ization of sports gambling and I'm wondering
- 21:03Speaker 1: does that affect you at all? Well, it will, for sure,
- 21:07Speaker 1: but to be frank at this point, it's a little
- 21:09Speaker 1: hard to know, you know, sort of how high is up.
- 21:12Speaker 1: I think that, first of all, like all sports, will
- 21:15Speaker 1: do everything possible to amp up kind of the integrity
- 21:18Speaker 1: aspects of the governance of the sport. But I do
- 21:21Speaker 1: think there's a commercial side to it, and whether that's
- 21:24Speaker 1: making our data available, uh basically licensing it for for
- 21:29Speaker 1: scoring and timing um and other things that that we
- 21:33Speaker 1: think we can be engaged in yet to be determined.
- 21:36Speaker 1: It's obviously complicated because you're gonna have this patchwork of
- 21:39Speaker 1: legislation by state and we race seventeen times a year
- 21:43Speaker 1: in a number of different states. But it certainly, you know,
- 21:46Speaker 1: drives fan attention to the sport, and at one level
- 21:50Speaker 1: that that can only be a good thing. Yeah, thank
- 21:53Speaker 1: you so much. Really interesting, especially really interesting what you
- 21:56Speaker 1: say about UH fans data and how that sort of
- 21:59Speaker 1: allowed you to be more targeted in your approach with
- 22:03Speaker 1: both advertisers as well as attracting new fans. Mark Miles, President,
- 22:06Speaker 1: chief executive Officer of IndyCar. We really appreciate you joining
- 22:10Speaker 1: us He's also the president CEO of Home and Company,
- 22:13Speaker 1: which owns the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, i MS Productions and
- 22:16Speaker 1: the Indiana based baking goods brand Clapper Girl. We really
- 22:20Speaker 1: appreciate you being with us. Really interesting. Also, the Indie
- 22:24Speaker 1: car is the highest percentage of millennials of any of
- 22:26Speaker 1: the major sports leagues. So even though you are seeing,
- 22:29Speaker 1: for example, UH, the viewership of baseball, for example, decline,
- 22:35Speaker 1: there does seem to be some growth among the younger
- 22:39Speaker 1: generations in the United States. One interesting thing about the
- 22:58Speaker 1: tip for TAT or if war tariff tension that is
- 23:03Speaker 1: brewing between the US and China is just how much
- 23:06Speaker 1: of the infrastructure of trade is actually getting unleashed uh
- 23:09Speaker 1: and sort of exposed and highlighted every day. The latest
- 23:13Speaker 1: is fascinating looking at the universal Postal service and postal
- 23:17Speaker 1: rates and how they're set. Garrett Devenk joining us now
- 23:20Speaker 1: currently technology of Bloomberg News here in our eleven three
- 23:24Speaker 1: oh studios. Garrett, just walk us through what this is
- 23:27Speaker 1: that President Trump is proposing to do in order to
- 23:30Speaker 1: give a competitive edge to US companies. So I think
- 23:34Speaker 1: from his perspective, it's not so much necessarily about giving
- 23:36Speaker 1: it a new competitive edge to US companies, but to
- 23:39Speaker 1: sort of getting rid of what he sees as an
- 23:41Speaker 1: uncompetitive edge for the U. S. Postal Service and US companies.
- 23:45Speaker 1: So there's um international treaties judge, you know, sort of
- 23:48Speaker 1: saying that, you know, one country's postal service has an
- 23:51Speaker 1: agreement with another one, they agree to help each other out.
- 23:54Speaker 1: These things go back, you know, for as long as
- 23:56Speaker 1: we've had postal services, decades and hundreds of years. And
- 23:59Speaker 1: so we are sort of in the situation right now
- 24:01Speaker 1: where it's actually cheaper to send small packages, big things,
- 24:04Speaker 1: not but small things, letters and things up to about
- 24:07Speaker 1: four pounds from China to a US city that has
- 24:09Speaker 1: to send it domestically. And that's because of the international
- 24:12Speaker 1: agreements between the Chinese Postal Service and the U. S.
- 24:15Speaker 1: Postal Service. And so what Trump has said is next
- 24:18Speaker 1: month at the meeting of the International Postal Union, he
- 24:22Speaker 1: wants the US representatives to go and sort of changes
- 24:25Speaker 1: or pull themselves out of that agreement somehow. How big
- 24:28Speaker 1: of a deal is this for the Amazons of the
- 24:30Speaker 1: world and the Ali baba Is of the world. So
- 24:33Speaker 1: the companies that could be hurt by this any change
- 24:36Speaker 1: are anyone who's shipping a lot of small things from
- 24:39Speaker 1: China to the US. So Ali Baba, although you know,
- 24:42Speaker 1: obviously the bulk of its business is in China, is
- 24:45Speaker 1: trying to grow that service in the US, so this
- 24:48Speaker 1: could put it definitely put a damper on their US growth.
- 24:50Speaker 1: Another company to look at is Shopify, which a lot
- 24:54Speaker 1: of people see us as sort of shopifies this kind
- 24:57Speaker 1: of back end provider. If you want to sell something online,
- 24:59Speaker 1: anyone can set up It's like YouTube for selling online.
- 25:02Speaker 1: And there's this perception that a lot of Shopify sellers
- 25:05Speaker 1: are just sort of packaging small cheap goods from China
- 25:08Speaker 1: and selling them and sending them internationally. Shopify kind of says, well,
- 25:11Speaker 1: you know, we're diversifies business, but that's a stock that
- 25:14Speaker 1: you should be watching as well. On this, how big
- 25:16Speaker 1: of a deal is this? I mean, are we talking
- 25:18Speaker 1: about a couple of cents here and there that add
- 25:20Speaker 1: up to uh some money but not a tremendous amount,
- 25:24Speaker 1: or are we talking make it a break? Well, the
- 25:26Speaker 1: USPS has lost billions of dollars of the last years,
- 25:29Speaker 1: I mean the last several years they run and operating,
- 25:32Speaker 1: you know, shortfall every year to do their difficult job
- 25:34Speaker 1: of you know, sending packages to every single address in
- 25:37Speaker 1: the United States. You know, they are sort of operating
- 25:41Speaker 1: at loss when it comes to this kind of international shipping.
- 25:44Speaker 1: But they also agree to step deeper into these agreements
- 25:47Speaker 1: with the Chinese Postal Service because they want a piece
- 25:50Speaker 1: of that e commerce international trade pie, much of it
- 25:53Speaker 1: flowing from Chinese manufacturers to countries in the West, such
- 25:57Speaker 1: as the United States and Canada, and so they actually,
- 26:00Speaker 1: you know, there's a few different things going on here,
- 26:02Speaker 1: but you know, from Trump's perspective, it's about you know,
- 26:05Speaker 1: trying to kind of control those costs. And um, you know,
- 26:10Speaker 1: we'll see, we'll see how those discussions go in September.
- 26:13Speaker 1: So is the logic here from the US societe as
- 26:16Speaker 1: to why they agreed to this arrangement where it's cheaper
- 26:19Speaker 1: to send small packages from China to the US and
- 26:21Speaker 1: vice versa. Is a logic here that China said to
- 26:25Speaker 1: the US Postal Service or you know, we just won't
- 26:28Speaker 1: do business with you otherwise if you don't accept these
- 26:30Speaker 1: fees were out, well someone is going to be shipping
- 26:34Speaker 1: those things, you know, either way. And the USPS, I
- 26:36Speaker 1: think that they wanted to sort of they didn't want
- 26:38Speaker 1: someone else. They don't want a private ship or to
- 26:40Speaker 1: be you know, getting the bulk of that e commerce revenue.
- 26:43Speaker 1: So they said, well, let's step into these agreements. You know,
- 26:46Speaker 1: we'll take a loss in the actual um shipping them,
- 26:49Speaker 1: you know, from once they arrived to the US to
- 26:51Speaker 1: their end destination. But then what we can do is
- 26:53Speaker 1: we can layer on other costs. We can layer on
- 26:55Speaker 1: tracking costs, we can layer on premium services, we can
- 26:57Speaker 1: lay on rush shipping. And so they said, if we
- 27:00Speaker 1: can grab some of this market share, all of these
- 27:02Speaker 1: packages coming from China, you know, we'll we'll we'll deliver
- 27:05Speaker 1: them at a loss to us. But then if we
- 27:07Speaker 1: can sort of try to add some premium services, that's
- 27:10Speaker 1: where we're going to make the money. And that's kind
- 27:12Speaker 1: of has not been working out for them yet. What
- 27:14Speaker 1: do people in the markets say, I mean, do people
- 27:15Speaker 1: think that that President Trump is right on this? I mean,
- 27:18Speaker 1: it's definitely one of those things that seems to be
- 27:20Speaker 1: sort of a holdover or a quirk from international treaties.
- 27:24Speaker 1: I mean, you know, very few of us spend a
- 27:25Speaker 1: lot of time thinking about international postal service treaties and
- 27:30Speaker 1: the agreements between countries when it comes to the mail,
- 27:32Speaker 1: and so it does seem to be one of those
- 27:34Speaker 1: issues that has sort of, you know, continue to go
- 27:36Speaker 1: on and sort of been kind of subtly controversial to
- 27:39Speaker 1: a very few group of people. But now that President
- 27:42Speaker 1: Trump obviously is very focused on trades, focused especially on
- 27:45Speaker 1: China and his perception that China is beating United States
- 27:48Speaker 1: at the international game, this has suddenly become you know,
- 27:50Speaker 1: at the forefront. Is this encouraging to technology companies that
- 27:54Speaker 1: this is the tack that President Trump is taking, which
- 27:56Speaker 1: is nuanced. It's actually very nuanced, and it's a perhaps
- 28:00Speaker 1: highlighting issues that have been long simmering. It's not necessarily
- 28:04Speaker 1: hit you over the head at least when it comes
- 28:05Speaker 1: to tech in the same way that it has been
- 28:08Speaker 1: with say other areas. Perhaps, I mean, it's it's it's
- 28:11Speaker 1: definitely you know, someone definitely sort of proposed this idea
- 28:15Speaker 1: to him and something that he's gotten interested in and
- 28:18Speaker 1: has sort of, you know, decided that it's something he
- 28:19Speaker 1: wants to talk about. Companies like Amazon they are happy
- 28:22Speaker 1: about this because you know, they would imagine anyone whose
- 28:27Speaker 1: business is not primarily sending things from China to other countries.
- 28:31Speaker 1: Is well, okay, this level as the playing field, you know,
- 28:34Speaker 1: and even Shopify, which is perceived as a company that
- 28:36Speaker 1: handles a lot of volume from China to the US,
- 28:39Speaker 1: said well, you know, this will lay level the playing
- 28:41Speaker 1: field for our users who are in the United States
- 28:44Speaker 1: and sending to other Americans. Really really interesting. I did
- 28:48Speaker 1: not know about these treaties, the international treaties that governed
- 28:52Speaker 1: the price at which you sent packages internationally. Garrett de Bank,
- 28:56Speaker 1: thank you so much for being here. Garrett de Bank
- 28:59Speaker 1: is technology reporter for Bloomberg News, joining me here in
- 29:02Speaker 1: the eleven three oh studios in New York. Just really
- 29:05Speaker 1: interesting that there is going to be this potential renegotiation
- 29:09Speaker 1: of rates. A lot of renegotiations going on right now.
- 29:15Speaker 1: Thanks for listening to the Bloomberg p m L podcast.
- 29:18Speaker 1: You can subscribe and listen to interviews at Apple Podcasts, SoundCloud,
- 29:22Speaker 1: or whatever podcast platform you prefer. I'm pim Fox. I'm
- 29:25Speaker 1: on Twitter at pim Fox. I'm on Twitter at Lisa
- 29:29Speaker 1: Abramo wits one. Before the podcast, you can always catch
- 29:32Speaker 1: us worldwide on Bloomberg Radio.