Bloomberg Audio Studios, podcasts,

radio, news.

>> Good morning. I'm Nathan Hager.

>> And I'm Karen Moscow. Here are the

stories we're following today. Breaking

across the Bloomberg this morning, the

International Energy Agency is proposing

a release of emergency oil reserves that

would be the largest ever in its

history. Sources tell Bloomberg that the

IEA has proposed a release in the range

of about 300 million to 400 million

barrels as governments seek to contain a

spike in energy prices driven by the

Middle East war. We get more from

Bloomberg Middle East breaking news

editor Patrick Sykes. That would be a

huge amount of supply potentially to

enter the market at a time when of

course lots and lots of ships are stuck

on the wrong side of the straight of

moose in the Persian Gulf and uh some of

those producers in the Middle East have

had to shut in production or cut it back

at least uh as a result of the crisis

>> and Bloomberg's Patrick Sykes says the

near total closure of the straight of

Hormuz have led to cuts from Persian

Gulf producers that have so far shaved

about 6% of global oil output

>> and As the war enters its 12th day,

Karen, the White House has been sending

mixed messages. First, Energy Secretary

Chris Wright posted and deleted a

message that the US Navy had escorted a

tanker through the straight. White House

press secretary Caroline Levit says the

military is still working on options to

keep Hormuz open.

>> The US military is drawing up additional

options following the president's

directive to continue keeping the

Straight of Hormuz open. White House

spokeswoman Caroline Levit and President

Trump posted there were no reports of

Iran laying mines in the straight only

to announce later that the US had

destroyed 10 inactive mine laying boats.

All this as attacks continue for a 12th

day and we get the very latest from

Bloomberg's owner aunt in Dubai.

Yesterday marked the uh most intense day

of strikes on Iran uh by the US

according to American officials. And

overnight into Wednesday, we have seen

countries in the Persian Gulf

intercepting various uh drone and

missile launches from Iran. some of them

uh headed for again other energy assets

including the Shea oil field in Saudi

Arabia uh as well as the eastern region

in Saudi Arabia again which is home to

some of the uh some of the largest oil

producing uh assets in the kingdom

>> and Bloomberg's own says the UK Navy

reported three ships hit by suspected

projectiles in the straight of Hormuz

and the Persian Gulf this morning. One

of them was a cargo ship that had a fire

on board. And one of the two members of

the Iranian women's soccer team, who was

granted asylum by Australia last night,

has decided to withdraw her claim and

return to Iran. Several members of the

team were branded traitors after they

failed to sing their national anthem

before a women's Asian Cup match last

week.

>> Well, Karen, analysts are weighing in on

whether this will be a short or long

conflict. Richard Hos is president of

the Council on Foreign Relations. The

problem with the US position is it only

took one to start the war, us, but it's

going to take three to end it. And

that's mean, first of all, the United

States is going to have to, shall we

say, lean on Israel, to be blunt, to

bring the war to an end sooner than the

prime minister wants. Even more

difficult is the United States going is

going to have to persuade Iran to bring

a war to uh this war to an end. And that

that I think is going to be the the

biggest challenge for this president who

increasingly wants to wrap this up,

declare victory, declare mission

accomplished. But again, he doesn't have

the power to do that. He's got to bring

Iran around.

>> Council on Foreign Relations President

Emmeritus Richard Hos spoke to

Bloomberg's Roma Bostic and Katie

Grinfeld. You can watch their full

interview on our new video experience on

the Bloomberg business app.

>> Well, we turn to politics at home now,

Nathan. in one of the most conservative

congressional districts in the US, a

special election in Georgia to replace

former representative Marjgerie Taylor

Green has produced an unusual runoff. A

Democrat facing a Republican endorsed by

President Trump. The Democrat Shawn

Harris is a retired Army general and

cattle farmer. He leads Republican

District Attorney Klay Fuller 37.3 to

34.9%

with 99% of the vote counted. Both

candidates will face off again after

neither of them won the majority in a 17

candidate field. Harris spoke with the

Bloomberg's balance of power before the

votes were counted and said he has what

it takes to win.

>> My name is the name that people know and

trust here in the district. And that's

why we actually going to win this thing

tonight. And if we don't win it tonight,

we're going to win the runoff because

I'm getting Democrats, independents, and

yes, Republicans are voting for me. And

Georgia Democrat Sean Harris will face

Clay Fuller in an April 7th runoff to

fill the remainder of Marjgerie Taylor

Green's term this year.

>> And Karen, it was also a primary

election day in Mississippi. And

incumbent Republican Senator Cindy Hyde

Smith will face Democratic challenger

Scott Column in November after they

easily won their races. Hyde Smith was

endorsed by President Trump and with 93%

of votes counted, she defeated Sarah

Adladka 80.8 to 19.2%.

Column received 73% of the Democratic

votes and House incumbents including

longtime Democratic Congressman Benny

Thompson also easily won their

Mississippi primary races. And we are

hearing now that the International

Energy Agency is proposing a release of

reserves oil stockpire release of about

300 to 400 million barrels. Still, NEX

crude oil remains higher this morning up

4.8% 8% up $4.3 at $8748 a barrel. Brent

is up 4 and a4% it's at $9141.

>> And Karen futures are lower this morning

ahead of a key reading on inflation.

Before the opening bell, we get the

consumer price index for the month of

February. It's projected to show core

inflation stripping out volatile energy

and food prices rose 210% last month.

>> And right now taking a look at Oracle

and company news. Shares are up 10% in

early trading. Revenue topped analyst

estimates and the software maker gave an

outlook that suggested there is little

let up in demand for AI computing and

covers Oracle for Bloomberg

intelligence.

>> It's actually very clean numbers. I

think the things that sticks out most is

capital expenditure is not going to go

up. I think people are worried about a

lot of these uh cloud providers adding

to capex. So that's a good thing with

revenue slightly higher, capex remaining

flat, the backlog is growing. So I think

this is a good print from you know

multiple facets.

>> And Bloomberg Intelligence's honor notes

that before the report Oracle stock had

lost more than 50% of its value from its

September peak as Wall Street grew

worried about its high AI costs.

>> Wall Street's biggest bank JP Morgan

Chase Karen is restricting its lending

to private credit funds after marking

down the value of certain assets in

their portfolios. Sources say the

devalued loans are to software

companies. That is a sector that has

been in the spotlight in recent weeks

due to investor concern over the

potential impact from artificial

intelligence. This news is the latest

sign of stress in a once booming segment

of the credit market.

>> And a programming note, markets may

close on Friday, but the world does not.

That's why we bring you a new live radio

and TV show. Bloomberg this weekend is

looking beyond the daily headlines to

the bigger themes driving politics,

business, and culture. Join David Gura,

Christina Ruffini, and Lisa Mateo for

smart conversations and in-depth

interviews that help make sense of the

week that's been and what comes next.

Get Bloomberg This Weekend live

Saturdays and Sundays from 7 a.m.

Eastern on Bloomberg Radio TV and the

Bloomberg Business App.

Time now for a look at some of the other

stories making news in New York and

around the world. And for that, we're

joined by Bloomberg's Michael Bar.

Michael, good morning.

>> Good morning, Karen. The Department of

Homeland Security remains without

funding approval from Congress as TSA

agents are working without pay. That

means long lines at security with

increased sick calls. The former

governor of New Hampshire, Chris

Cenounu, is now president and CEO of the

trade group Airlines for America.

>> Is this the new norm? Is this the new

populism politics where airlines and the

American public are penalized every time

these don't guys don't agree on

something? Meanwhile, some US airports,

including San Francisco International

Airport, use private contractors for

security screenings. The private

contractors pay comes from a federal

contract. So, it continues even when the

government shuts down. First, responders

are searching beneath the rubble of

structures leveled by what appears to be

a tornado that ripped through Newton

County, Indiana, minutes after one was

reported over the border in Illinois.

Newton County Sheriff Shannon Catherine.

We're still trying to assess damages.

Uh, injuries so far have been minor that

have been reported.

>> Sheriff Catherine says there's about a

three mile stretch of damage. New Jersey

Governor Mikey Cheryl says she wants to

scale back the state's new property tax

relief program for senior citizens to

help close a $3 billion structural

deficit. In her first budget address

since entering office in January, Cher

proposed $2 billion in spending

reductions. The largest reduction would

come from the shrinking size and

eligibility of the stay New Jersey tax

benefit for homeowners age 65 or older

who make below $500,000.

Cheryl 6 uh Cheryl's $60.7 billion

budget proposal would lower the

qualifying income threshold for the tax

benefit to $250,000

and reduce the maximum annual benefit to

4,000 from 6,500. Global News 24 hours a

day and whenever you want it with the

Bloomberg News Now. I'm Michael Bar and

this is Bloomberg. Aaron,

>> thanks Michael. Time now for our

Bloomberg sports update and for that we

bring in John Stashour.

>> Thanks Darren. Bam. Attabaya was only

the third leading scoreer on the Miami

Heat. The 38th leading scorer in the NBA

at least going into last night when

Adabio exploded against Washington. He

scored 83 points. That's two more than

Kobe Bryant scored in 2006. It's topped

only by the 100 points that Will

Chamberlain had in 1962. Upset in the

World Baseball Classic, Italy beat the

US 8-6. If Mexico beats Italy and scores

four or fewer runs, the US is out.

That's your Bloomberg Sports Update.

>> Stay with us. More from Bloomberg

Daybreak coming up after this.

Coast to coast on Bloomberg radio,

nationwide on SiriusXM, and around the

world on Bloomberg.com and the Bloomberg

Business app. This is Bloomberg

Daybreak.

>> Good morning. I'm Nathan Hager. As the

war with Iran enters its 12th day, major

moves may be on the way now to calm an

energy market that has been whipsawed by

the fastmoving conflict. Bloomberg News

has learned that the International

Energy Agency is now proposing the

largest ever release of emergency oil

reserves. For the latest, we're joined

from Istanbul by Bloomberg News Middle

East breaking news editor Patrick Sykes.

And Patrick, before we got this latest

word, we had already heard that this

could be the biggest release since uh

Russia's invasion of Ukraine. What's the

latest we're hearing now?

>> Yeah, indeed. That would be a huge

amount of supply potentially to enter

the market at a time when of course lots

and lots of ships are stuck on the wrong

side of the straight of full moons in

the Persian Gulf and uh some of those

producers in the Middle East have had to

shut in production or cut it back at

least uh as a result of the crisis. I

think we'll be watching potentially

later to today later today for a final

decision uh on those reserves but

potentially yes some release to the

market in the form of supply

>> 300 to 400 million barrels a day is what

sources are telling us. Will that be

enough to calm the market as we are

watching uh NYX and crude both spiking

still this morning?

I think the market will quite quickly I

mean I'm sure it'll uh it'll it'll

provide some limited relief but I think

longer term the market will get quite

quickly back to question of duration in

the straight of foremost this is an

emergency measure it'll provide some

relief at the front end but for

longerterm calming of the market any

return to the kind of price levels we

saw before the start of the war I think

you need a resolution uh to the conflict

and particularly to the security

situation and homeless.

>> What does the security situation look

like right now? We've heard reports of

uh some ships being hit potentially or

targeted.

>> Yeah, by my account, today has been one

of the worst for attacks on shipping in

the region. We've had three separate

incidents reported by the UK Navy agency

uh that looks at these. I think a cargo

uh a bulk carrier. Um, so it just

underlines, you know, I think hours

after Trump and and his administration

were talking about uh targeting Iranian

mining capabilities to secure the

strait, Iran appears to have responded

with an uptick in attacks.

>> It raises a question about whether the

US is ready to fulfill President Trump's

promise to uh escort ships through the

straight of Hormuz. Uh what's the

situation there?

Yeah, there was some confusion

yesterday. One US official had said that

that had hap that had begun. One ship

had passed and that was later denied by

the White House and the the post in

question was deleted. Uh I think if and

when it comes, yes, perhaps similar to

these reserves, right? It'll provide

some relief uh in that traffic will be

able to start moving again. On the other

hand, those uh convoys are going to be

themselves a target and the rate of

transit is still going to be very very

low with the kind of uh hardware you

would need to commit to get them

through. So you're looking at

potentially resumption but at a much

lower volume still.

>> This is Bloomberg Daybreak, your morning

podcast on the stories making news from

Wall Street to Washington and beyond.

Look for us on your podcast feed by 6:00

a.m. Eastern each morning on Apple,

Spotify, or anywhere else you listen.

>> You can also listen live each morning

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>> And don't forget to subscribe to

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informed all day long. I'm Karen Moscow.

>> And I'm Nathan Hager. Join us again

tomorrow morning for all the news you

need to start your day right here on

Bloomberg Daybreak.