Small Business Resilience Boosting Growth

[00:00:00] Speaker 1: This is Bloomberg Business Week Daily, reporting from the magazine that helps global leaders stay ahead. With insight on the people, companies, and trends shaping today's complex economy. Plus, global business, finance, and tech news as it happens. Bloomberg Business Week Daily with Carol Masser and Tim Stenevek. Live on Bloomberg Radio, television, and Bloomberg Originals. [00:00:30] Speaker 2: And a very good afternoon, everybody. Welcome to Bloomberg Business Week Daily. Carol Masser, Tim Stenevek across Bloomberg platforms. No, we're not in New York City. We are just about an hour outside Atlanta. [00:00:40] Speaker 3: Yeah, this is the Make Your Move Summit. It's in Georgia. It's hosted by Chase for Business. This is actually the fourth year it's been going on, and it hasn't been in Atlanta every year. In fact, this is the first time it's been in Atlanta. Dallas, Chicago, L.A., and this year in Atlanta for the first time. [00:00:57] Speaker 2: And you've got to think about the Atlanta metro economy. It's the sixth largest metropolitan economy in the United States, generating over $570 billion in annual gross domestic product, accounting for roughly two-thirds of the state of Georgia's total economic output. It's important. And what's fascinating about what's going on behind Tim and me is a bunch of small businesses. [00:01:16] Speaker 3: Right. [00:01:17] Speaker 2: And a lot of the J.P. Morgan Chase community, and it's about the small businesses, so crucial to economic growth. And I think what's really interesting, and we're going to hear from some folks about what that says about the economy. And I think as we count down to the midterms, I love hearing what they have to say. [00:01:32] Speaker 3: So we're talking small businesses, and we're also, of course, focused on big businesses. I mean, just look at what's happening from SpaceX right now. Look at what's happening to Netflix stock. These stocks moving in different directions. This after both of those companies reported after the bell yesterday. We're going to have full details just a little bit later. [00:01:47] Speaker 2: All right, so just a little preview in terms of the J.P. Morgan Chase community. We're going to be checking in with Stevie Barron, CEO of Chase Business Banking. We've got Dan Russell, Executive Director, Market Manager, Business Banking over at J.P. Morgan Chase. We're going to talk the Sunbelt economy with him, and then we're also going to talk about the importance between community and business development. [00:02:07] Speaker 3: Yeah, we've got the National Head of Community and Business Development joining us, the dynamic relationship between the two, as you mentioned. And then also, we're going to hear just about the economy in this area. We've got Katie Kirkpatrick joining us, the president and CEO of the Metro Atlanta Chamber, talking about the economy, the big businesses. Okay, so, you know, the Home Depots, the Deltas, the Coca-Cola's and the like, but also the small businesses that are powering the Atlanta economy. [00:02:30] Speaker 2: Like Rivian. They're also here, or at least their U.S. or their Northeast, I think, headquarters are here. Anyway, we've got a lot coming your way, folks. Let's, though, get a check on the market. We do have a rally in the equity trade, so let's get to it and back to New York. [00:02:45] Speaker 4: Here we go. And to Charlie Kelly. All right, I thank you very much indeed. Best level of the day right now, Carol and Tim with the S&P higher by 50, 77, 63, where we stand up by about six tenths of one percent. Bottom line here, stocks are climbing after SpaceX's earnings rekindled bets on AI coming up after the close of trading meta platforms along with Tesla. But right now, S&P is your baseline up seven tenths, the Dow up five tenths, NASDAQ up 1.2 percent, the NASDAQ 100 index up 1.3 percent. Your two-year, 4.78 percent, the 10-year, 5.10 percent, the 30-year, 5.40 percent. Gold up three tenths, 41.37, the ounce of retreat now for West Texas. Intermediate crude dropping 1 percent, 96.87 a barrel. Barrel of Brent, 108.61, down two tenths of one percent. Briefly, SpaceX after earnings, up by 6.9 percent. Carol and Tim, that's a Bloomberg Business Flash. [00:03:42] Speaker 2: All right, Charlie, thank you so much. We're going to keep an eye on the trade. Don't forget, we have some big earnings coming your way also after the close. We've got meta platforms, IBM, and also, of course, Tesla. So we're going to get to it. Hey, one thing we want to talk about is obviously the small business community. We did get a read on U.S. small business optimism falling to a three-month low in September. A lot of what is concerning small businesses, Tim, is inflation, higher energy prices. [00:04:08] Speaker 3: It matters. It's not just that. I mean, it also has to do with the way the consumer is feeling potentially strapped in this economy. The questions about, you know, how long this geopolitical tensions will continue, not just in the Middle East, but also Russia's invasion of Ukraine. And, you know, we talk about it a lot in the context of economic data, but small business owners are thinking about it, too. [00:04:27] Speaker 2: Yeah, and so, too, is Stevie Barron. He is the CEO of Chase for Business here at Make Your Move Summit in Georgia. And, of course, it is hosted by the J.P. Morgan Chase team. But we caught up with him a little bit earlier. Here's what he had to say. First of all, we're here in Atlanta. This is pretty cool. Actually, outside of Atlanta. Yes. Tell us about this event and what it's all about. Your fourth year of doing this. [00:04:48] Speaker 5: Yes, it's our fourth year. We're at the Make Your Move Summit, which brings together close to 1,000 small business owners. And it's an opportunity, first of all, for them to learn from each other and to talk about all the things you just talked about in terms of how they're investing in their business, the state of the economy, the resiliency plans that they have. So that's one big piece of it, networking. The other piece of it is just educating them on things like AI. We just actually came out of a session where we were talking about the local Atlanta economy and how that's doing relative to the U.S. and to other states. And we also have activations here so these small businesses can learn what J.P. Morgan Chase can do to help support them. Because the reality is a small business owner, particularly the businesses that we're talking about here today, and we're on the smaller end of small business, you know, they're not only... [00:05:35] Speaker 2: 20 million in revenue, right? Like you kind of work towards... [00:05:37] Speaker 5: Between brand new startup all the way to 20 million. So we have 1,000 businesses and they represent everything in between. And these owners are the CEOs. Oftentimes they're the CFOs. They're the head of HR. They're the chief marketing officer. And so anything we can do as a bank to make their financial lives simpler and easier, whether it's payroll, invoicing, analytics, access to capital, they can learn all about how Chase can provide them. And the other thing I want to say about Atlanta is we launched the American Dream initiative at J.P. Morgan Chase, and I'd love to share a little bit about that. And we picked a couple of cities. Atlanta is one of those cities that we really want to focus on how we can make the American Dream more achievable, and particularly for small business owners. And so we're really excited about that effort. [00:06:20] Speaker 3: So you mentioned it's the fourth year that you've been doing this. And you were to look back at each of those years sort of in a silo. How would you compare the optimism or the mood this year with the complicated backdrop that Carol began with? Would you say that it's been complicated all four years you've been doing this, or this one is particularly with the geoeconomics, geopolitics, and AI? [00:06:40] Speaker 5: I mean, well, I think the geoeconomics a year ago, maybe you didn't have the Middle East. Well, you did have the Middle East, but a little different with Iran. But you obviously had the war going on with Russia and Ukraine. And obviously you had nervousness about tariffs. I think they all had their own jitters each and every year. I do think what's interesting is we do a survey of all of our small business owners every single month. And small business owners are actually very positive about their individual business and the likelihood that they're going to continue to grow, succeed, and invest in their business. Across the board of their own business. Yeah, yeah. [00:07:15] Speaker 3: I mean, those are all different industries. Right, all different industries. [00:07:18] Speaker 5: However, those same owners are very nervous about the economy. So about 60% of them are excited about where their businesses are heading and they're very optimistic. Only about 30% of those same folks feel the same way about the economy. So there's a dichotomy. Do you get, like, are they telling you energy prices are concerning us? We don't get to that level. I mean, we can. What's great about the survey we do every month is we have the ability to customize. So we ask questions about, you know, AI, obviously. And we've seen, you know, AI comes up a lot. And frankly, we have a session here to help small business owners ensure that they're taking advantage of AI in their business. Because, frankly, if they don't, it's an existential threat for the future of their business. [00:08:00] Speaker 2: Why is this so important to you guys? I mean, I'm kind of playing a little devil's advocate. We talk so much about small business owners. And it really is the backbone of the economy. I know how much we spend on public markets and all the big names and so on. But it is really important in terms of having healthy cities and a healthy country. But talk about it from your vantage point. [00:08:18] Speaker 5: Well, let's just talk about the numbers for a second. Because I want to put some context to your point. Small businesses represent 45% of the GDP of the U.S. economy. So how small business owners are doing is how the economy is going to do. Two out of every three new hires in the U.S. is done so by a small business. So it's not just important to JPMorgan Chase. It's not just important to Atlanta. It's important everywhere. And so we want to invest in these small business owners. We bank around seven and a half small business owners between our small business credit card and our checking and banking relationships. We want to grow that to 10 million over time. That's part of our American Dream initiative. You know, we want to be able to be a bank that they can access capital for. And we have commitments over the next 10 years to get to 80 billion of new originations for our small business owners. And we want a healthy, thriving, small business community. And so we are investing in coaching. And we have a great coaching for impact program where we've already had about just shy of 20,000 small businesses go through this coaching program. Where it could be an entrepreneur that needs help with a business plan. It could be an established business that's looking to open their second or third location and wants advice on how to do that. And we can provide that advice. It's a six-month program. We're going to ramp that up. Our goal is to coach over 115,000 small businesses through this program. And then we're going to add more bankers across the country. You know, we have roughly, you know, 5,100 branches. And we are, you know, in the contiguous 48 states. And we're going to add more bankers and business bankers. [00:09:54] Speaker 2: What about technologists? Well, I mean, I think about Jamie Dimon years ago, right? Like, whether it was cybersecurity, when he laid out a number about security and spending on tech. Yes. And I think it surprised the world. This was a few years back. [00:10:09] Speaker 5: Yes, I remember. [00:10:09] Speaker 2: Right? And so, but here we are with AI. Like, I'm just curious how you help them in that front or how much they're asking you guys about it. What you are doing. [00:10:16] Speaker 5: Yeah, so we're doing that a couple ways. One, as I mentioned, you know, we do a bunch of seminars and we have a bunch of education series to help small businesses think about AI. Cyber. It actually happens to be Cyber Awareness Month. And so we've published a bunch of research and thought leadership for small business owners to really be smart about how they're, who they're sharing their data with, how they're sharing their data. And we actually really, we just did an event in all of our 5,000 branches where we had our head of cyber at the firm come in, zoomed in pretty much into our branches. We invited clients to come in and talk about how they can help prepare themselves. I mean, cyber is a real threat. There's articles each and every day, I'm sure you know. And so we're very focused on just making sure they're aware of how impactful it is. And most importantly, what they, as a small business owner, can do about it themselves. [00:11:10] Speaker 3: Stevie, you said that you work with companies across the spectrum. I mean, from startups with no revenue all the way up to $20 million in revenue. What happens when they grow above that $20 million figure? Do they graduate essentially out of the small business program? [00:11:23] Speaker 5: I wouldn't call it a graduation, and there's no bright lines, but obviously at J.P. Morgan, you know, we, fortunately, our small business owners and our consumers, you can't outgrow us as a firm. Once you reach the complexity, and $20 million is really just a line of demarcation where we think a business may have a different set of needs. So we have our emerging middle market bank that covers, you know, 20 to 100. We have our middle market that, you know, covers companies from, you know, call it 100 million to 2, 3 billion. And then obviously we have our investment banking coverage. So we can take a business from a startup that walks into one of our chase branches, opens up a small business account. We can provide the guidance, advice, the tools and capabilities to help them grow. We love when they mature, and then we can move them to the middle markets as their needs get more complex. And then, you know, if access to capital at that level and capital markets, whether it's debt or equity, I mean, we can provide, you know, M&A activity. So we love seeing this maturation process. I work very closely with our partners in middle markets. We meet all the time, and so we're happy to use your words, graduate a business based on the needs. [00:12:31] Speaker 2: So, again, I want to go back to kind of how we started macro, because you really do have a great vantage point. When you think about the U.S. economy through these small businesses, what are the words you would use? [00:12:42] Speaker 5: To describe it right now? Well, if I was going to use one word, I'd use resilient. Okay. Listen, if you just look at our own data, to your point, payrolls are up. I mean, consumer spending is strong. Where do consumers spend? They spend in small businesses. And so you just see the cycle of, you know, consumers are spending, payrolls are up. You know, small businesses are hiring. They're paying, obviously, through payrolls, increasing payrolls. And it's a nice cycle right now. We are in a bit of a Goldilocks position. And so, obviously, rates are going higher. You mentioned the wars, which are driving inflationary pressure, particularly in, you know, energy. So that's starting to impact businesses. But, again, we've seen a lot of resilience. And even though we are at a three-month low on optimism, we are well above, you know, historical averages in terms of that same optimism. And we're above where we were in the beginning of the year. So, yes, it has dipped from kind of the spring high. But we feel pretty good. And, you know, obviously, no one knows what's going to happen. We have no crystal ball. But... [00:13:43] Speaker 2: Great stuff. Stevie, thank you so much. What a pleasure. Stevie Barron, he's CEO of Chase Business Banking, joining us here. [00:13:49] Speaker 5: Thanks for having us. [00:13:53] Speaker 2: All right, everybody. Of course, that is Stevie Barron, CEO of Chase for Business here at the Make Your Move Summit in Georgia, [00:13:59] Speaker 3: hosted by Chase for Business. Hey, we continue our coverage here from just outside of Atlanta. I want to bring in Dan Russell, Executive Director, Market Manager of Business Banking at JPMorgan Chase. He's also here at the Make Your Move Summit in Georgia, hosted by Chase for Business. Dan, good to have you on the program. You oversee operations in Georgia, Tennessee, Alabama, and Mississippi. From your base here in Atlanta, we talk a lot about this region and the economic growth over the past few years. It's slowed down a little bit just in the last couple of years. What's your view of this region? [00:14:29] Speaker 6: Yeah, you know, first of all, Georgia and Atlanta specifically is an incredible place to start running, grow a business. And, you know, I think there's some cautious optimism still in the market right now. I think businesses are being a little bit more methodical about how they think about growth and, you know, thinking through that next stage of their business, maybe more than they were a few years ago. There's a little bit of uncertainty in the air. We did a recent business leader outlook survey. And, you know, the results of that told us that over 70% of businesses are still very confident in their business and their ability to perform and grow. But about half of them are a little skeptical about what's going on in the economy. So I think that's just causing them to think through their growth a little bit more, which I think is a healthy place to be. [00:15:12] Speaker 2: Dan, one thing we wanted to ask you, because in any of these hot spots, and there's been so much going on in the Sun Belt here in Atlanta as well, we did some reporting out of Bloomberg. And of the 14 southern and western states in the Sun Belt, 12 saw the populations grow by less than 1%, 13 recorded growth below historical trends in 2025. That's U.S. Census data. I guess some of it has to do with immigration pushback. Some has to do with falling birth rates and aging population. I am curious, though, are a lot of the small businesses that you guys talk to in this region that they're kind of fighting to find workers? [00:15:44] Speaker 6: Yeah. You know, I think that has been sort of a lingering challenge over the course of the last few years. I think that they're getting more creative, though, and figuring out ways to either attract talent from outside, you know, different areas, retain the talent that they have, because that's the other side effect of that is it becomes very competitive to retain talent. And so I think they're looking at different ways to, you know, give their employees benefits that really want them, that really make them want to stay. And then I think they're thinking about other ways as well to adapt and, you know, work through those challenges of not being able to find talent. Depending on the industry, every business is a little bit different. But I think, you know, entrepreneurs are super adaptable, and they always figure out a way around these challenges. [00:16:26] Speaker 3: You guys have, I mean, pretty much every industry represented here and every type of small business. But if you were to look out from your perch in this position, is there one sector, one industry, that you think right now is really poised for growth? [00:16:42] Speaker 6: You know, I don't know that there's, again, I think they're all a little bit different. I don't think there's one that just jumps out as something that's, you know, set for major growth. [00:16:50] Speaker 3: It's not like home services is going to be the one to break out. [00:16:55] Speaker 6: Right. More so than it has already. Sure, sure. No, I think, generally speaking, we're seeing growth in a lot of ways. We're seeing growth in a lot of the industries that we serve. And again, I think they're all experiencing the challenges that we just talked about. But I think in the southeast, especially in Georgia alone, I mean, in Georgia, over 99% of businesses in Georgia are small businesses. And so it's incredible. And they employ over 1.8 million people. And, you know, when you think about the impact that that has on the economy, they're not just part of it. They're the economic driver. And so but but that's true for for all industries. And we're still seeing, you know, progress across all of them. [00:17:34] Speaker 2: I am curious. You've got a Bloomberg business audience, financial, market oriented, looking, thinking about the big cap names. From your vantage point, what is it that we need to understand? All investors need to understand about the small, you know, and medium sized business community. What's important from from what you see? Just got about 45 seconds. [00:17:53] Speaker 6: Yeah. You know what? I would say that they're like I said, they're all looking still to grow. But I think they're looking for that advice. Like they want they want that trusted advisor around them to help them through some of these decision making processes. And we have programs that chase for just about money. No, it's I mean, it starts with capital, right? Like that's where the conversation starts. But how do you turn that capital into sustainable growth? And I think that's what they're looking for right now is that advice on how to how to take that capital injection and turn it into sustainable growth. And our coaching for impact program is a great way to to coach him through that. [00:18:24] Speaker 2: You know, we kick this off with Stevie. As you know, you heard his conversation in a word. How would you describe the economy just quickly? [00:18:31] Speaker 6: I'd say two words cautiously optimistic. I mean, that's kind of what we heard resilience and cautiously optimistic. [00:18:38] Speaker 2: Absolutely. We're going to keep track because it's just you guys just have a great cross section of folks here to tell us what's going on. Dan Russell, hopefully you come back. We'd love to hear more about the work you guys are doing. Executive Director, Market Manager, Business Banking at J.P. Morgan Chase. All right, stick around. Lots more to come right here. You are listening and watching Bloomberg Businessweek Daily. This is Bloomberg. [00:19:04] Speaker 4: It's 221 on Wall Street. We do check markets all day long here at Bloomberg. The Dow, the S&P, NASDAQ continue to advance. Right now, you run the G.I.P. screen on the Bloomberg best level of the day on the S&P. 7768, where we stand, we're up just about 7 tenths of 1%. Dow lagging up 6 tenths of 1%. NASDAQ, the NASDAQ 100 index, they are leading the way higher. SpaceX giving a boost to stocks today. Right now, we got NASDAQ up 1.3%. NASDAQ 100 index pushing higher by 1.4%. SpaceX after earnings up now by almost 7%. Two-year at 4.78%. The five-year, 4.93%. The 10-year, 5.10%. And the 30-year, 5.40%. Gold, 41.37 the ounce, up by about three-tenths of 1%. West Texas Intermediate crude 97.19 a barrel, down six-tenths of 1%. Little change for Brent. Barrel of Brent 108.86, up by just about one-tenth of 1%. Blackstone and a unit of Apollo Global Management are in talks with the NFL to join the league's list of approved private equity firms that can take minority stakes in its teams. Right now, we got shares of Blackstone. They are down three-tenths of 1%. Apollo, up seven-tenths of 1%. For on-demand news, 24 hours a day, subscribe to Bloomberg News Now, wherever you get your podcasts. I'm Charlie Pellett. Back we go to Georgia. Once again, your hosts, Carol Masser and Tim Stanovic. [00:20:34] Speaker 7: It's been around for a long time. [00:20:37] Speaker 2: All right, Charlie, thank you so much. Carol Masser, Tim Stanovic, live here at Bloomberg Business Week Daily. Of course, the Make Your Move Summit in Georgia, hosted by Chase for Business. I have to say, every time we introduce, well, I don't know how many times, but I know a year ago when she joined us, we talked about Coca-Cola, Home Depot, UPS, Delta Airlines, Pulte Group, all in the Atlanta metro area or in Atlanta proper. Mercedes, they house their North American headquarters in the metro Atlanta area. And then you've also got Rivian that I shocked you, their East Coast headquarter is in Atlanta. I know. [00:21:08] Speaker 3: I was like, what? I thought this was like a California and Illinois company, but no, they got their East Coast headquarters here. [00:21:13] Speaker 2: And Mercedes just opened up like a massive Atlanta technology center as well. Like, there's just so much going on. Just a lot of iconic brands and headquarters. Working with that massive corporate footprint is Katie Kirkpatrick. She's president and CEO of the Metro Atlanta Chamber, known as Mac, joining us here at the Make Your Move Summit in Georgia, hosted by Chase for Business. So good to see you. How are you? We did realize it's a year. A lot has happened in a year. How's it going? [00:21:39] Speaker 7: It's great. And I'm so glad that you highlighted all those companies as well. And glad you highlighted Mercedes-Benz because they just located their massive R&D center right here. So now it's the North American headquarters here. Rivian, not only is their East Coast headquarters here, but they also have plans to build a very large manufacturing facility that would employ 7,500 people. [00:22:04] Speaker 2: How do you do that? Because everybody has got to be competing for all of this. [00:22:09] Speaker 7: Well, there is a great formula that we have, not only in Metro Atlanta, but the state of Georgia. So we think about business certainty. So the state of Georgia has had the best business climate ranking for 13 years in a row. We're considered the number one state for business. We also have connectivity. So I bet you all flew in through Hartzell Jackson International Airport. [00:22:31] Speaker 2: It's a big airport. [00:22:32] Speaker 7: It's a very large airport. [00:22:33] Speaker 3: I might have walked to the wrong area to find a car and walked back. But it's okay. [00:22:37] Speaker 7: It's okay. We did. It's okay. You needed your steps. It's okay. But, you know, we have 160 domestic flights that are nonstop every day, 87 nonstop international flights. And then when you talk about talent, right, that's one of the reasons I believe Rivian chose to locate their manufacturing and their East Coast headquarters here was access to the talent. So we have something like 300,000 full-time students in our region. And if you were to draw a circle 250 miles around us, it's 1.6 million. [00:23:07] Speaker 3: Wow. [00:23:08] Speaker 7: So the access to talent, so you think about connectivity, business certainty, and access to talent, it's a great secret sauce. [00:23:15] Speaker 3: Well, with growth also comes challenges. And, you know, you look at traffic in this area, and you're laughing, but, like, this is one of the areas of the country where the traffic is consistently over and over again. Tim, we call it success jams. Success jams. Okay, I like that. I like that. [00:23:30] Speaker 2: Even when you're stuck in that success jam? [00:23:32] Speaker 3: But the point is that, you know, infrastructure needs to make sure to keep up. So how do you work with local and regional and state governments to make sure that infrastructure, and even the federal government, to make sure that infrastructure keeps up? [00:23:44] Speaker 7: It's really important to business, right, that they can move products and goods and people around a region and a state. And so it's very important to our business community. And I was telling somebody the other day, we were founded in 1859. And we still have all of our documents from 1859 forward. And we were reading some of the minutes. And guess what was? Congestant issues too? Transportation. Horse? Was it horse? Well, it was. It was about trolleys. It was about how do you move carriages through. But it was also, like, how do you build a modern sewer system? Yeah. How do you make sure you have clean water? So it's interesting. Education was another piece. But infrastructure is really important right here in this state. And so we work very closely with our city and county governments. We don't necessarily have a regional government, but we do have a regional planning organization. And then we have what I think is the nation's best state department of transportation. And they do a really good job of managing the amount of money they have for the investments in our roads and bridges. So it's a very important piece to business. You know that? Yeah. So we're always actively talking about how do we make improvements. [00:24:53] Speaker 3: And look, I asked the question with the acknowledgement that we have our own set of challenges in the New York City. That's exactly what I was thinking about. [00:24:59] Speaker 7: It's because you're growing. And honestly, major metros that have some kind of congestion, it really is a symbol of success. So that's why we jokingly call it success jams. Okay. [00:25:09] Speaker 3: Well, when we're on our way to the airport tonight, and we're stuck in traffic, we'll say, that success jam. [00:25:15] Speaker 2: Where's Katie? Yeah, exactly. Call me. Hey, one thing I want to ask you, and we are thinking about this a lot, Katie, is with the midterms just around the corner, and here is the small business community and just business in general. Yeah, let's talk politics. [00:25:27] Speaker 3: Let's talk politics. Everyone's favorite thing to talk about. [00:25:29] Speaker 2: You know, kumbaya moment. No, but, I mean, I really do think about what are people talking about, and how are they thinking about how that might change in just a few weeks. [00:25:39] Speaker 7: So you won't be surprised when I use the A word, affordability. Yeah. And when you think about small business owners that are here today, they're looking at input costs. What does it take to manage their supply chains to deliver the goods that they are either putting into a manufacturing process or potentially selling to a customer? So they want to understand what the costs are in their supply chain. They want to understand what the impact of taxes in a state, both federal and state, are going to be. And then how much does it cost for labor? Those are your three biggest inputs, and that's what we're hearing from businesses right now, those three core things. And then I have to raise, and this is across the country as well, is housing. How much does it cost to own or rent a home? And affordability in the housing market has skyrocketed. And so we spend a lot of time thinking about what is the role that the business community has in improving access to housing. [00:26:35] Speaker 2: We talked about this with you last time. Yeah. What is the role? And what are the actions that are actually being taken? [00:26:42] Speaker 7: Well, business number one understands their customers and employees better than anybody else. So when you're making plans to either expand or relocate or maybe locate something new, they're going to have a better sense of what their needs are from an infrastructure perspective. And let me tell you, when we're working projects for companies to grow here, their number one question is, where will my employees live? What does it cost for them to live? And what is the time for them to commute to the location? And so we have a role and responsibility. We see it as an economic imperative to address housing affordability because it is such a critical piece of the business pipeline. [00:27:24] Speaker 3: But the thing is, is it's such a local issue. So this is an issue that has to be decided in some cases at the ballot box or with politicians who are willing to rezone. What has the appetite been for that in this area? [00:27:35] Speaker 7: We've just started this conversation with our local county governments. We actually are part of a new housing strategy that they have actually put together about how do you manage this locally from a regional perspective. And we're very excited to be having this conversation with the people that make the decisions at the local level. But they're not the only ones that can impact some of the decision making. You know, you've got the HUD at the federal level. You've got states that also, depending on what state you're in. But here especially, they can also provide incentives to local governments to make investments for these things to go. Like if you're locating a project like Rivian. [00:28:14] Speaker 2: Yeah. Yeah, exactly. Exactly. No, it's interesting because you have Pulte Home here. [00:28:17] Speaker 7: We do. [00:28:18] Speaker 2: I'm just curious. Because we've talked to home builders and they talk about the difficulties in building and all the rules and oversight. But I just, I do wonder what this nut is because I have been talking about affordability. We have been talking about affordability for decades, it feels. Or at least a good 10 years, if not 15. [00:28:38] Speaker 7: Well, you can look at coming out of COVID. That's really when we saw kind of the curve bend in the affordability piece. But look, this comes down to, and you mentioned Pulte Homes, Ryan Marshall, who's the CEO, is our former chairman. And he really did a really good job of reminding us that for every two jobs created, you need one bed. You need one home. And so when we think about growth, we can't ignore housing. And so for them, and when the housing industry across the nation talks about it, we are severely undersupplied. So we have to find ways to remove those barriers. [00:29:13] Speaker 3: How has the labor picture changed in the last couple of years, given the migratory patterns and immigration into this country has changed so much under this administration? What are you hearing from the business leaders? [00:29:24] Speaker 7: Yeah, I think this is an example of a K-shaped curve, right? So if you're a larger home builder in this country, it's probably impacted you far less because you're building at scale. You have the workforce that is probably aligned with you and working with you every day. I think those individual home builders, the ones that might build two houses a year, it has impacted them at a larger scale because finding crews to do woodwork, carpentry, electrician, plumbing is harder for them. [00:29:55] Speaker 3: So it's harder on the small businesses than the big businesses. [00:29:58] Speaker 7: Yeah, I do think the labor side of things, you will find that that's more of the conversation for the small businesses and the home building sector. [00:30:06] Speaker 2: I want to talk World Cup because a year ago we were like in anticipation of it. You guys hosted, I think, eight matches. Atlanta did. [00:30:12] Speaker 3: Did you get to go to any of the games? [00:30:14] Speaker 7: I went to all eight. [00:30:15] Speaker 3: Oh, come on. Yeah. I feel like you went to more games than anyone I've ever met. That's pretty great. Part of a perk of the job, right? [00:30:21] Speaker 7: A perk of the job. Okay. And I didn't hesitate one minute to attend to those matches. [00:30:26] Speaker ?: That's pretty cool. [00:30:26] Speaker 7: Okay. [00:30:27] Speaker 2: But I'm thinking about Centennial Yards and the role that it played in it, that development still, there's more to be done. But what did the World Cup maybe show you and maybe some of your members about what that can do, an event like that? [00:30:42] Speaker 7: So let's start at least at the national level. I loved the unity it brought to the United States in our 250th year. It was such a positive experience for all of us. But Atlanta was consistently ranked the number one location for the World Cup, which is what we were gunning for. And the chair of the chamber this year is Rich McKay, who is the CEO of AMBSC, Arthur M. Blank Sports and Entertainment. We all had a vision for what would happen, and we far surpassed that. So what did it tell us? One, we have a concentrated sports campus in downtown. So you can walk. It's accessible by transit. We have 11,000 hotel rooms within a mile. We have a convention center. We have a large park. We have State Farm Arena. We have this incredible stadium. We had 544,000 attendees in the stadium, 500,000 in the park. And what it showed us was that our downtown core is really reviving itself and living up to the standard. [00:31:41] Speaker 3: Do you have the numbers yet from the economic impact of it? [00:31:44] Speaker 7: Can you ask me in about three weeks, and I will have those numbers? [00:31:49] Speaker 3: But, okay, we only have 10 seconds. Like, exceeding expectations, meeting expectations, you're happy with it? [00:31:55] Speaker 7: Yes. Our initial, our conservative estimate was about $503.2 million to the state of Georgia, the city of Atlanta. Okay. We've exceeded that. [00:32:04] Speaker 3: Okay. By a lot. That's enough for me. [00:32:06] Speaker 7: She's got a big smile. Three weeks. [00:32:08] Speaker 3: Three weeks. We'll tell. [00:32:09] Speaker 7: You're going to have to come back and join us again. Katie. I'm happy to. We love having you. Yeah. Thank you. And thank you all for being right here in Metro Atlanta in the state of Georgia. [00:32:17] Speaker 2: Very welcome. Be well. Katie Kerpaktrick, she's president and CEO of Metro Atlanta Chamber, joining us right here, just outside Atlanta. But when we come back, we're going to talk about the dynamic loop between businesses and communities. Stick around. Tim and I back in a moment. [00:32:35] Speaker 4: It's 2.40 on Wall Street. We do check markets all day long here at Bloomberg. The Dow, the S&P, NASDAQ remain in the green, not just higher, but once again, best level of the day, right to the numbers. We've got the S&P rallying 56 points now, up by about 7 tenths of 1%. That blockbuster earnings report out of SpaceX, spurring a rally in tech names. The NASDAQ 100 index up now by 1.4%. NASDAQ Composite up 1.3%. Dow Industrials up 6 tenths. SpaceX shares now higher by 7.7%. By the way, Tesla reports after the close of trading, along with Meta Platforms. Right now, we've got the two-year at 4.79%. The 10-year, 5.10%. The 30-year, 5.41%. Gold is up 3 tenths of 1%. Spot gold, 41.39 the ounce. A retreat for West Texas. Intermediate crude down 6 tenths of 1%. 97.18 a barrel. Brent, 108.88. Little change there, up by about 1 tenth of 1%. The Trump administration is tapping into an emergency reserve of diesel, set aside to heat homes in the Northeast, as fuel prices are surging in the weeks before the midterm elections. Meanwhile, a tanker loaded with Russian diesel will be setting sail for the U.S. on Thursday. Tomorrow, part of a fuel supply deal struck by Vladimir Putin and President Trump. Among the oil majors, ExxonMobil down 1 tenth of 1%. Again, recapping here, S&P 500 index up 7 tenths of 1%. Back we go to Georgia. Once again, Carol Masser and Tim Stenevick. [00:34:17] Speaker 2: All right, so appreciate it. Charlie Pellett back there in New York City. Tim and I, of course, here in, well, about an hour outside of Atlanta. [00:34:28] Speaker 3: Yeah, it does not feel like Atlanta when you walk outside in the morning and hike on the nature trails. [00:34:33] Speaker 2: I love the nature trail. It was pretty, pretty amazing. All right, let's get back to business. We did mention earlier how U.S. small business optimism fell to a three-month low in September. Economic expectations dimming and a smaller share of firms indicated it was a good time to expand. Inflation, stubborn, borrowing costs elevated. Small businesses are more cautious about expanding. Cap, capital spending plans dropping to a three-month low. We want to talk about, though, that's our backdrop, but the importance of business and how they connect with community and vice versa, community connecting with small businesses. [00:35:07] Speaker 3: We've got Deirdre Porche here, national head of community and business development at J.P. Morgan Chase. She joins us here at the Make Your Move Summit in Georgia that is hosted by Chase for Business. Welcome, welcome. How are you? [00:35:17] Speaker 8: I'm well. Thank you for having me. This is great. I'm so glad you guys are here. [00:35:21] Speaker 3: Yeah, thank you for hosting us. We appreciate it. I want to talk a little bit about what Carol mentioned, the connection that a community has to a small business. Because when we talk about small businesses, we talk about the numbers that we get nationally and the numbers that are here in Georgia, too, which is just an overwhelming portion of the economy, at least in this state, small business powers that. But what is the effect of that on a local community? [00:35:43] Speaker 8: Well, they're inextricably linked. When you think about the health of the consumer, it literally feeds businesses. So when you have a consumer that has confidence in their spending, has knowledge about how they can get to their next steps, it feeds the business community and the ecosystem. It's also partnerships that make a really big difference there as well. Because when you have a healthy consumer, you also have a healthy not-profit base, and they work together with businesses. So then the business system, the ecosystem of the business is richer. The other thing I'd mention is a lot of folks are somewhere on the path to becoming business owners. So when we do our workshops and help them improve their financial health, oftentimes they're thinking about becoming business owners or they're at some stage of that. And so the extent to which they're healthier, they're more confident, have stronger cash buffers, that feeds the small business ecosystem. [00:36:44] Speaker 2: You know, Deidre, one thing I wanted to ask, what do you spend more time on, working with the small business community or is it the community itself and making sure that it's a supportive and financially stable environment for these small business owners [00:36:57] Speaker 8: or those to come? Well, I will say, particularly smaller businesses, we spend a lot of time with. And when you think about it, oftentimes those businesses are at some stage, of solving for their personal finance needs, leading up to becoming a full-fledged business. So we work with consumers on how to budget, save, and plan for retirement. And then we help businesses start, run, and grow. So you can see how those would overlap. And oftentimes in a workshop, we'll have a wide range. We'll have someone who has a gig business or a hobby that they're thinking about scaling. We'll have someone that just sort of just stepped away from their corporate job and they're sort of taking the plunge. And then we'll have a more mature business that's really starting to get its legs under. So it's great to be able to offer those resources to both consumers and businesses. [00:37:49] Speaker 3: So community investments that support the local communities and business investments that do that, too. When you look at what you do, how do you measure success and make sure that the strategy that you're helming is one that is leading in the right direction? [00:38:05] Speaker 8: Well, it's all about those indicators of financial health, and it's the basics. Do you have a consumer that has a cash buffer that can get them through three months of expenses that they otherwise didn't have? Do they have access to credit? Do they have a healthy credit score? Are they prepared to invest in the business that is budding? So it's all of those indicators of financial stability that we're looking for. [00:38:36] Speaker 2: What's harder, getting a small business started or working on a show like the Drew Barrymore? Nothing about her, but working on a show. [00:38:43] Speaker 8: It's hard, without a doubt. I have so much admiration for the small business owner. It takes grit and resilience. [00:38:52] Speaker 3: I have so much admiration for the television host. [00:38:55] Speaker 8: Well, you do, too. [00:38:55] Speaker 2: You are a financial expert on the Drew Barrymore show. [00:38:58] Speaker 8: That was a lot of fun. That was so much fun. But to your point, it takes so much for businesses to start, run, and grow. And that's why the ecosystem that we support is so important. We want to be with businesses at every stage. [00:39:14] Speaker 2: We've heard a lot about the ecosystem, and I know that there's mentorship and so on and so forth. But just dig into that a little bit deeper, because we hear it. But tell us the specifics. Somebody comes in, and you guys are doing what? [00:39:26] Speaker 8: Yeah, absolutely. So we have workshops that we do in our branches and in our local community. We partner with chambers of commerce and other organizations that are focused on supporting the business owner. And we put on workshops. We teach them about cash flow. We help them figure out when it's time to scale their business. We help them with any technical assistance that they may need. But we can't do it alone. So we also work with local nonprofits that are focused on helping businesses thrive. And then oftentimes, civic and governmental entities are also looking to support. So no one industry or entity can do it alone. It's really about creating that entire system. [00:40:10] Speaker 3: But the thing is, is a bank only has so much power. I mean, there's so much else that goes into a local community that determines whether or not this is a good place or conducive to actually starting a successful business. You can't control for that other stuff. [00:40:26] Speaker 8: Absolutely not. And we have this thing we say, we do this work together. And that means we do our part. So the extent to which we can provide education, information, access to capital, access to tools and resources, that's the bank's role. But then we also have to come alongside our governmental entities that may be doing redevelopment of a particular zone or investing economically. And then nonprofits are also mission-based, focused on helping the economy locally. It's all of us working together that really create the right system to make sure those businesses have what they need. [00:41:06] Speaker 2: Well, coming off of our last conversation, I mean, it feels like this is why Atlanta makes so much sense. I mean, is it safe to say that there are cities that you guys might think about working with, but it's just the community, isn't there? There's a lot of things that go into making it a really great community for small business. [00:41:25] Speaker 8: Oh, 100%. And listen, Atlanta with over, we bank over 165,000 businesses here, but there are millions of businesses here. And so there's this sincere focus on making sure that the resources that are needed for businesses are located here. But to your point, it does require great partnerships with the local chamber, with the government, and also with nonprofits who do a really big job around making sure that they can lock arms with businesses and take them through the cycle. So it's important. [00:42:02] Speaker 2: Yeah. We know it's not easy being a small business owner, and a lot of them don't make it through. So there's a whole, as you say, ecosystem that's got to be behind it. Deidre, thank you so much. My pleasure. This is so much fun. Thank you. Yeah, we're having fun, too. Deidre Porche, she's National Head of Community and Business Development at J.P. Morgan Chase. We promised it was going to be a slice of life. [00:42:21] Speaker 3: Yeah, and our slice of life continues, too, in the next hour here on Bloomberg Business Week Daily. Before that, though, we are bringing you stocks on the move. There are some big stocks making big moves. That's next on Bloomberg Business Week Daily. [00:42:34] Speaker 1: This is Bloomberg Business Week Daily with Carol Masser and Tim Stenevec on Bloomberg Radio and Television. [00:42:44] Speaker 2: All right, everybody, we are back on Bloomberg Business Week Daily. We are at the Make Your Move Summit in Georgia. It is hosted by Chase for Business. We're going to get back to some conversations here in just a moment. In the meantime, we do want to remind you where we are trading on this Wednesday. You are seeing stocks just move off their highs of this session. What does that mean? S&P 500, it is still up about 46 points, up six-tenths of a percentage point. Dow also up about half a percent. And then leading the charge, the NASDAQ 100, up about 1.2%. We've talked about some names, whether it's SpaceX that has really taken off, Supermicro. We're going to get into some of this in just a moment. And then we've got some big earnings after the close. We've got Meta, we've got IBM, we've got Tesla. [00:43:27] Speaker 3: It's not just SpaceX that's pushing the NASDAQ 100 higher right now, Carol. The NASDAQ 100 up about 1.2%. Strategy is actually the best performer on a percentage basis, percentage basis, we should note, up about 8%. But on a points basis, indeed, SpaceX, NVIDIA, AMD, Tesla, Apple, Micron, Palantir, Meta, all pushing the index higher today. Yeah, Meta is up by, wow, close to 2%. [00:43:53] Speaker 2: All right. So, yeah, so moving in a big way. I'm Carol Master along with Tim Stanovic. Let's get to some stocks on the move. And we are going to start with SpaceX. If I take a look at the S&P 500, I'm looking at the NASDAQ 100. SpaceX is the number two gainer in the NASDAQ 100, up the most since August. And we are seeing that stock right now up about 7.4%. Elon Musk endorsing the prospect of a combination of SpaceX with Tesla. So, unite assets from, think about the range, electric cars to AI data centers to rocket and satellite capabilities. So, it would be a lot of stuff, to put it bluntly. Musk did say the boards of both companies had formed special committees to consider the idea of a combination, but cautioned that getting enough support from Tesla shareholders may be tricky. The other thing we've got to do, I don't know which was the lead. I feel like that might have been, but SpaceX also posted $4.4 billion in net income for the quarter, ending in September, far better than analyst average projections of $1.88 billion. Revenue increased 161% from a year ago. That was a beat. Revenue from SpaceX's AI business, now going by superintelligence, or SI, soared to $7.56 billion in the quarter. That was more than nine times what the company generated a year ago. So, again, that stock, 7.3% higher. [00:45:11] Speaker 3: And we'll get Tesla after the bell today and see if there's any additional commentary on a potential tie-up between these two. But hearing Elon on the call yesterday essentially saying we're going to form committees to actually look at the viability of this, but, you know, it could work out really well. I think that giving a vote of confidence to this idea that has been banded about for, at this point, years. Okay, SpaceX is one of the stocks on our radar. Let's get to the next one. Netflix, NFLX is the ticker. Netflix shares under pressure, down right now by 4.7%. It's a top decliner both in the NASDAQ 100 and the S&P 500. We heard from the company after the bell yesterday. The company reporting its slowest sales jump in three years. It forecasts a fourth consecutive quarter of slowing growth. The concerns, though, are about what actually powers, from a hits perspective, this company that really invented the way that we watch content online right now. [00:46:07] Speaker 2: Yeah. [00:46:07] Speaker 3: One of the challenges for Netflix is those younger consumers are so used to watching stuff on YouTube and on their phones on TikTok, Instagram, and the like. Also, there's been some turnover over the last few days at the top of Netflix with the firing of two essential people at the top, Netflix's chief content officer, and then also bringing in Peter Rice over from Fox and Disney. So trying to figure out. Trying to figure it out. [00:46:32] Speaker 2: I mean, listen, we've talked about, right, that we haven't seen kind of a major big draw, right, to kind of drive you to Netflix as of late. So maybe that is certainly some of the concern. Hey, got to bring up Supermicro. MCI is the ticker, and we are seeing this one top in the S&P 500 today. Stock is up about 8.6%. Shares of Supermicro computer jumping after the company reported preliminary quarterly results that topped analyst estimates. It's, of course, a maker of servers. They said sales will be $18.5 billion to $19.5 billion in the quarter that ended September 30th. Analysts, on average, have been looking for, like, $15 billion, according to our data here at Bloomberg. So this is way above expectations. Gross margins will be in the range of 12% to 12.5% also from Supermicro. But the company benefiting from surging demand for gear to train and run AI tasks. So there's a lot going on. And this one definitely outperforming here. I have to say, there's a couple of companies that have come out, like, giving some juice to that AI trade. Once again, we will certainly see what we get a little bit later on. [00:47:41] Speaker 3: Okay. So maybe we do meta platforms for a little bit of an honorable mention. Let's do it. If there is time. Watching shares of meta, they're actually higher on the day, close to 2%. META is the ticker. The company is on my radar because they were ordered to pay a groundbreaking $25 billion civil penalty to the state of New Mexico in a consumer deception case. That was spurred by the Cambridge Analytica scandal. You remember that from years ago. Shares of meta up right now by 1.9%. But I think more, I don't want to say more importantly, but, you know, more urgently on our radar is what happens after the bell and the check on spend today that we get from meta. What they say about the AI spend, what they say about CapEx. [00:48:16] Speaker 2: Yeah. It's massive. It's massive. We're going to be all over those numbers, breaking them with complete analysis. All right. That is a look at some stock movers for more conversations. Be sure to check out our stock movers podcast. Five-minute episodes, big winners and losers in the stock market. You can find it on Apple, Spotify, or anywhere. You can get your podcasts. [00:48:32] Speaker 3: Hey, our coverage continues from Atlanta. We're going to be speaking with Leslie Wimms-Morris, the CEO of Chase Auto, about the environment when it comes to buying a car. Here's a little bit of a hint. Cars are very expensive. People have to finance a lot of them. [00:48:48] Speaker 2: They're not inexpensive. All right. If you're watching on TV, the close is coming your way.