Bloomberg Daybreak: US Edition

Today's top stories, with context, in just 15 minutes.

On today's podcast:
1) Republican opposition to President Trump’s deal with Democrats to end the partial US government shutdown began to crumble late Monday despite the ongoing a standoff over the administration’s immigration crackdown. Trump implored House Republicans in a social media post to pass the spending measure immediately and with no changes. Soon after, two conservative holdouts — Anna Paulina Luna of Florida and Tim Burchett of Tennessee — said they agreed after a talk with the White House to end their threatened blockade, clearing the way to a Tuesday vote on the bipartisan agreement. House Speaker Mike Johnson had faced a tricky path to clear a Senate-passed spending package — the product of a negotiation between Trump and Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer. That measure would fund most agencies through Sept. 30, and the Department of Homeland Security through Feb. 13, preserving funding for immigration raids while both parties negotiate changes to enforcement policies.
2) President Trump said he’s seeking $1 billion in “damages” from Harvard University after the New York Times reported that his administration had backed off demands for $200 million to satisfy accusations of wrongdoing by the Ivy League institution. Trump didn’t specify under what authority he would seek the $1 billion. Harvard didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment. In an article earlier Monday, the Times reported that administration officials had dropped their demands for the $200 million “amid sagging approval ratings for Mr. Trump, and as he faces outrage over immigration enforcement tactics and the shooting deaths of two Americans by federal agents in Minnesota.”
3) Former President Bill Clinton and his wife, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, will appear before a congressional committee investigating the disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein, their lawyers said Monday. A full House vote had been planned this week to hold the Clintons in criminal contempt if they continued to defy subpoenas in its inquiry into Epstein and his activities. Bill Clinton has previously said that he parted ways with Epstein many years before his death in a New York jail cell in 2019, and that he had no knowledge of his crimes.
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Today's top stories, with context, in just 15 minutes.
On today's podcast:
1) The US government stumbled into a partial shutdown Saturday while waiting for the House to approve a funding deal President Trump worked out with Democrats following a national uproar over Border Patrol agents’ killing of a US citizen in Minneapolis. The funding lapse is likely to be short, with the House returning from a week-long break on Monday and the Republican president fully supporting the spending package. Many Americans may not even notice since most federal employees working on weekends, such as military personnel and air traffic controllers, are deemed essential and aren’t furloughed in a shutdown.
2) The Justice Department’s latest release of material related to its investigations into Jeffrey Epstein offers fresh details about the rich and well-connected people who circulated in the orbit of the late disgraced financier. Officials said Friday they were releasing some 3 million pages of material, including more than 2,000 videos and 180,000 images.
3) Gold extended losses, after its biggest plunge in more than a decade on Friday, while silver’s year-to-date gains were wiped out as a record-breaking precious-metals rally unwound at breakneck speed. Spot gold fell as much as 10% on Monday and is now down almost a fifth from an all-time high reached in the last-but-one session. Silver slumped as much as 16%, following on from an intraday loss on Friday that was the steepest on record.
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Bloomberg Daybreak Weekend with Host Nathan Hager take a look at some of the stories we'll be tracking in the coming week.
In the US – a look ahead to the January jobs report and U.S tech earnings.
In the UK – a look ahead to the 2026 winter Olympic games.
In Asia – a look ahead to Japan’s snap election and a monetary policy decision from the Reserve Bank of Australia.

- Michael McKee, Bloomberg International Economics and Policy Correspondent, to preview the January jobs report in the U.S.
- Mandeep Singh, Global Tech Research Head at Bloomberg Intelligence, to preview U.S tech earnings.
- Tommaso Ebhart, Bloomberg’s Milan Bureau Chief, to preview 2026 olympic games.
- Paul Jackson, Bloomberg EcoGov Editor for Japan/Koreas, to preview snap Japan election.
- James McIntyre, Bloomberg Economist for Australia and New Zealand, to preview RBA decision.

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Breaking news from the White House.

President Donald Trump said he intends to nominate Kevin Warsh to be the next chair of the Federal Reserve, according to a post on his Truth Social platform.

“I have known Kevin for a long period of time, and have no doubt that he will go down as one of the GREAT Fed Chairmen, maybe the best,” Trump wrote. “On top of everything else, he is ‘central casting,’ and he will never let you down.”

Warsh, who served on the US central bank’s Board of Governors from 2006 to 2011 and has previously advised Trump on economic policy, would succeed Jerome Powell when his term at the helm ends in May. It marks a comeback for Warsh, 55, whom the president passed over for the top job in 2017 when he selected Powell.

If confirmed by the Senate, the former Fed governor will take charge of US monetary policy at a time when many economists and investors see its traditional insulation from elected officials as being under threat from the White House. Warsh aligned himself with the president in 2025 by arguing publicly for lower interest rates, going against his longstanding reputation as an inflation hawk.
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Today's top stories, with context, in just 15 minutes.

On today's podcast:
1) The Trump administration is preparing for the president to nominate Kevin Warsh to be the next Federal Reserve chair, according to people familiar with the matter. President Trump said Thursday he plans to announce his pick to lead the US central bank on Friday morning. The people, who requested anonymity to discuss matters not yet public, cautioned that the selection is not final until Trump makes a formal announcement. The White House and Warsh did not immediately respond to requests for comment. Warsh, a former Fed governor and one of the four finalists on Trump’s shortlist to be the next central bank leader, visited the White House on Thursday, one person said.
2) President Trump and Senate Democrats have reached a tentative deal to avert a disruptive US government shutdown as the White House continues to negotiate with the Democrats on placing new limits on immigration raids that have provoked a national outcry. Trump announced that an agreement had been reached and urged both parties to vote for it. However, lawmakers are almost certain to fail to enact the measure before a Friday night deadline. While a short funding lapse and partial government shutdown is now seen as the most likely scenario, the effect on federal operations would be minimal if it’s swiftly resolved within a couple days.
3) The Trump administration is seeking to scale down the number of federal officers in Minneapolis after the killing of two US citizens during immigration raids sparked a nationwide uproar and weeks of protests. Tom Homan, the administration’s “border czar,” said Thursday at a press conference in Minneapolis that officials from Customs and Border Protection and Immigration and Customs Enforcement are working on a “draw down plan” that hinges on cooperation from local, state and federal officials.
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