Bloomberg News Now: Tax Bill Battles, Trump's Air Force One, and OpenAI's Hardware Deal

Market Jitters and Treasury Sales

• 📉 Wall Street experienced a downturn with the S&P 500 losing 96 points, the Nasdaq down 270, and the Dow dropping 817 points.
• 📊 Treasury yields rose, with the 10-year at 4.58%, the 2-year above 4%, and the 30-year jumping to over 5%.
• 💸 The dollar also fell, with the Bloomberg dollar spot index down 4/10 of 1%, reflecting lackluster demand for a $16 billion Treasury sale.

GOP Tax Bill Negotiations

• 🏛️ President Biden is pushing for lawmakers to vote on his tax and spend bill, facing resistance from conservative hard-liners.
• 🤝 House GOP leaders and the White House have reached a compromise on increasing the state and local tax deduction to $40,000.
• ⚠️ This compromise is seen as a significant improvement, though not everything the hard-liners wanted.
• 🏥 The bill also includes accelerated Medicaid work requirements, set to begin sooner than the original 2029 date.

Political and International Developments

• 🕊️ Democratic Congressman Gerry Connolly of Virginia, a 75-year-old esophageal cancer victim, has died, reducing the House margin.
• 🗣️ President Trump reportedly rejected South African President Cyril Ramaphosa's arguments regarding land confiscation and violence against white Afrikaners.
• 🌍 Former U.S. Ambassador to South Africa Patrick Gaspard stated there is no credible evidence of genocide in South Africa.

Controversial Gifts and Acquisitions

• ✈️ The Pentagon has accepted a luxury jumbo jet from Qatar to temporarily serve as President Trump's Air Force One, raising conflict of interest and security concerns.
• 🤝 OpenAI is set to acquire the hardware startup I-Device, co-founded by Jony Ive, in an all-stock deal valued at nearly $6.5 billion.
• 📱 This acquisition marks OpenAI's significant push into the hardware market, leveraging its AI development leadership.

Employment and Education Policy

• 💼 Walt Disney has notified Florida-based employees with temporary legal residency that their jobs will be terminated next month following the Supreme Court's decision on Venezuelan protections.
• 📚 Education Secretary Linda McMahon testified about the department's fiscal 2026 budget, emphasizing that the Department of Education cannot be closed without a Congressional vote.
• 🏫 The department's budget request includes cuts to federal education programs but boosts charter school grants, focusing on state and local systems.