Bloomberg Businessweek

The people, companies and trends shaping the global economy.
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US President Donald Trump called on other nations to wrest control of the Strait of Hormuz as Iran maintained missile fire across the Persian Gulf, expressing his frustration that the monthlong war remains unresolved.

Countries that can’t get energy supplies due to the effective closure of the vital waterway should “go to the Strait and just TAKE IT,” Trump said in a social-media post on Tuesday.“You’ll have to start learning how to fight for yourself” as the US “won’t be there to help you anymore,” he added, the latest sign he’s looking to exit a conflict that’s triggered a surge in oil and gas prices and stoked fears of a global economic crisis. “Go get your own oil!” he added.

Stocks climbed and oil prices fell on hopes that both US and Iran might be looking for a way out of the war. WTI Crude was trading around $101 a barrel, travel stocks climbed and the S&P Energy Index turned negative, giving up an earlier gain of as much as 1.4%.

Those moves came after Iran’s state news agency reported a phone call between European Union Council President Antonio Costa and President Masoud Pezeskhian, who said the Islamic Republic has “the necessary will to end this war,” but only with guarantees “to prevent the recurrence of aggression.” It wasn’t immediately clear if his comments represent a change in Tehran’s position.
Tehran kept up strikes on Israel and countries around the Persian Gulf, including the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia, with one attack hitting a large Kuwaiti oil tanker off the coast of Dubai. That was one of the most significant assaults on shipping since the US and Israel began bombarding the Islamic Republic on Feb. 28.

Today's show features:
Jennifer Welch, Bloomberg Economics Chief Geoeconomics analyst on state of ongoing Iran negotiations as Trump calls on allies to seize Hormuz as frustration mounts
Peter Atwater, Financial Insyghts President & Adjunct Lecturer of Economics at the College William & Mary on K-Shaped economy amid Iran shocks
Loren Grush, BN Space Reporter on Artemis II launch
Stew Leonard Jr., Stew Leonard's President & CEO on consumer pressures in the grocery aisle amid Iran, pricier Easter & Passover tables
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Mandy Oser is the owner of Ardesia in Hell’s Kitchen, a neighborhood wine bar she opened in the Fall of 2009 as a place where both those with a deeper knowledge of wine as well as novices can find a selection that will satisfy. She discusses the wine industry, how many are male dominated but highlighting women wineries owned and made by woman. And the increase of wine sales this month.
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The people, companies and trends shaping the global economy.
Watch Carol and Tim LIVE every day on YouTube: http://bit.ly/3vTiACF.

The White House threatened further escalation of attacks on Iran, including critical civilian energy infrastructure, as the fifth week of war jolts global markets with little sign of relief.

President Donald Trump earlier on Monday posted on social media that if Tehran doesn’t re-open the Strait of Hormuz, “we will conclude our lovely ‘stay’ in Iran by blowing up and completely obliterating” electricity plants, oil facilities and “possibly” desalination infrastructure.

Trump has regularly vacillated between saying a deal with Iran is imminent and warning he’s prepared to increase the military tempo. The threat to water facilities would constitute a war crime as defined by the Geneva Conventions. White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said the US is “conducting more intense, targeted strikes with devastating combat power with each passing day” and the US operations are proceeding “according to plan,” even as she echoed the president in saying talks are on track. The administration hasn’t identified which Iranian officials it’s dealing with, directly or indirectly.

Despite the mystery surrounding peace talks, Leavitt said the Iranians were “increasingly eager” to negotiate and agreed to “some of the points” that the US has put forward to end the conflict. Iran has consistently said peace talks aren’t progressing and has signaled it can carry on fighting for much longer.

Today's show features:
Maj. Gen. Mastin Robeson, Academy Securities
Florian Ielpo, Head of Macro at Lombard Odier Investment
James Walker, CEO of NANO Nuclear
Drive to the Close with Rob Haworth, Senior Investment Strategy Director at US Bank Asset Management
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In 2017, a small crew gathered in a windowless Pentagon room to put AI at the heart of how America makes war. Led by Drew Cukor, an unyielding Marine Corps colonel driven by the deaths of US troops and the prospect of war with an AI-equipped China, the Project Maven team raced to send AI into combat, igniting controversy and forever changing the US military. Summoning the mayhem of a tech startup, the Maven team wrestled Pentagon bureaucrats and each other. They enlisted an initially reluctant Silicon Valley, supercharged the growth of Palantir, and sent algorithms made by Amazon, Microsoft, and others into hot wars. Maven fielded technology to identify targets at speed and scale, developed AI-infused command systems, and learned where AI fails.

Katrina Manson, Bloomberg News Reporter covering technology and national security, talks about her book Project Maven: A Marine Colonel, His Team, and the Dawn of AI Warfare.
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If you want to build a diversified portfolio, you need to assemble assets that respond to different return drivers. Digital assets can play a central role. For starters, cryptocurrencies like bitcoin behave differently than traditional equities or commodities, giving portfolios exposure to unique sources of risk and return. And within the crypto universe, you can find coins, protocols, and equities that all behave differently under different market conditions. By investing in a wide range of digital assets you can potentially both mitigate risk and improve returns.

This episode is sponsored by Coinbase.
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