# Daybreak Weekend: Neflix Earnings, Hungary Election, Spain Prime Minister Visits China

An episode of [Bloomberg Daybreak: Asia Edition](https://invisiblenetwork.ai/podcast/1663863437), 10 Apr 2026, 38 min.

Audio: https://podtrac.com/pts/redirect.mp3/traffic.omny.fm/d/clips/e73c998e-6e60-432f-8610-ae210140c5b1/d15648c4-cee0-4e99-a5ca-af80014d921d/468fb670-4ab5-495c-8050-b42801393ade/audio.mp3?utm_source=Podcast&in_playlist=27143354-63aa-4ac5-965d-af80014dc0d3

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 earnings from Netflix and a focus on three bank stocks for the week ahead. • In the UK – a look ahead to the next election in Hungary. • In Asia – a look ahead to Spain Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez's trip to China. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

## Transcript

[0:00] Speaker 1: Bloomberg Audio Studios, Podcasts, radio News.
[0:10] Speaker 2: This is Bloomberg Daybreak Weekend, our global look at the
[0:13] Speaker 2: top stories in the coming week from our Daybreak anchors
[0:16] Speaker 2: all around the world. Straight Ahead, on the program, we
[0:19] Speaker 2: look to earnings from streaming giant Netflix, and three of
[0:22] Speaker 2: Wall Street's biggest banks. I'm Nathan Hager in Washington.
[0:26] Speaker 3: I'm Carolin Hebke in London, where we discuss the Hungarian election.
[0:30] Speaker 4: I'm Doug Chrisner looking at the visit to China by
[0:32] Speaker 4: Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez.
[0:38] Speaker 1: That's all straight ahead on Bloomberg Daybreak Weekend on Bloomberg
[0:42] Speaker 1: eleven three year, New York, Bloomberg ninety nine to one, Washington, DC,
[0:46] Speaker 1: Bloomberg ninety two nine, Boston, DAB Digital Radio, London, Syrias
[0:51] Speaker 1: XM one twenty one, and around the world on Bloomberg Radio,
[0:55] Speaker 1: dot Com and the Bloomberg Business App.
[1:03] Speaker 2: Good day to you. I'm Nathan Hager. We begin today's
[1:05] Speaker 2: program with earnings from Netflix. The streaming giant reports its
[1:09] Speaker 2: latest quarterly results after the market close on Thursday. For more,
[1:14] Speaker 2: We're joined by Bloomberg Intelligence Senior media analyst Githa ron
[1:17] Speaker 2: Ganathan Great to have you with us, Githa. Of course,
[1:20] Speaker 2: this was supposed to be the quarter when Netflix celebrated
[1:24] Speaker 2: blocking in it's deal to buy Warner Brothers Discovery, but
[1:28] Speaker 2: Paramount Skydance pulled the rug out from under that. What's
[1:31] Speaker 2: that mean for what we could hear from Netflix when
[1:34] Speaker 2: it comes to the results this week.
[1:35] Speaker 5: Yeah, thank you so much, Nathan. This is actually good
[1:39] Speaker 5: news for Netflix, right and this is back to business
[1:42] Speaker 5: as usual. Netflix without Warner Brothers is a much cleaner,
[1:47] Speaker 5: higher visibility business, lower volatility business. They have much better
[1:53] Speaker 5: financial standing now, they have a lot more flexibility. And
[1:58] Speaker 5: you know this is really now us just focusing on
[2:01] Speaker 5: their fundamentals, but their short term as well as their
[2:04] Speaker 5: long term fundamentals as they kind of really focus on content,
[2:09] Speaker 5: as they focus on engagement and really the big numbers
[2:13] Speaker 5: that investors are looking for, the revenue growth numbers as
[2:16] Speaker 5: well as operating margins. So they just height prices in
[2:21] Speaker 5: the US and we're expecting to see that somehow flow
[2:24] Speaker 5: through in their guidance. What they're guiding to right now
[2:27] Speaker 5: for revenue growth for the entire year is twelve to
[2:30] Speaker 5: fourteen percent. We expect them to revise that guidance upwards
[2:34] Speaker 5: and then also kind of revise their guidance for operating margins.
[2:38] Speaker 5: So those are really the two most critical metrics for
[2:41] Speaker 5: Netflix when they're poor.
[2:42] Speaker 2: Yeah, I got to admit I remember that price hike
[2:45] Speaker 2: announcement coming and feeling a little bit of dread there
[2:48] Speaker 2: just for myself. But are we expecting that that's going
[2:51] Speaker 2: to lead to greater churn for Netflix? Is that something
[2:54] Speaker 2: the company itself is concerned about.
[2:57] Speaker 5: I don't think so. So what we've seen historically, this
[3:00] Speaker 5: is actually its second price hike in just over a year.
[3:03] Speaker 5: So last January when they hiked prices, we didn't see
[3:07] Speaker 5: any big spike in churn. You know, it's kind of
[3:12] Speaker 5: been business as usual. People generally absorb these price hikes
[3:17] Speaker 5: pretty nicely, pretty smoothly. We haven't really seen too much
[3:20] Speaker 5: of a disruption in the past, and so we don't
[3:23] Speaker 5: expect that to be the case, especially as you kind
[3:26] Speaker 5: of look across the board, Nathan. So you know, we've
[3:28] Speaker 5: seen Apple TV, for instance, We've seen Disney, We've seen
[3:32] Speaker 5: all of these other rival services hike their prices and
[3:35] Speaker 5: hike their prices pretty dramatically. So just to provide some
[3:38] Speaker 5: context over the past four years. Netflix has definitely increased prices,
[3:43] Speaker 5: but it's been about a thirty percent increase over the
[3:46] Speaker 5: past four years. You compare that to Disney Plus where
[3:49] Speaker 5: prices have gone up seventy five percent, or Apple TV,
[3:53] Speaker 5: where prices have gone up about eighty to eighty five percent.
[3:56] Speaker 5: So you know, yes, you know prices have gone up,
[3:59] Speaker 5: but it seems to be much more digestible and definitely
[4:03] Speaker 5: much more justifiable in the case of Netflix, just kind
[4:05] Speaker 5: of given the depth and the breadth of their content.
[4:08] Speaker 2: Well, now that Netflix isn't getting that slate of Warner
[4:12] Speaker 2: Brothers IP like the DC comics and Harry Potter and
[4:17] Speaker 2: all that, where is it positioned when it comes to
[4:20] Speaker 2: the content race. Was it important for Netflix to have
[4:24] Speaker 2: all that Warner Brothers IP as part of its longer
[4:27] Speaker 2: term strategy.
[4:29] Speaker 5: It was definitely a nice to have, Nathan, but we
[4:32] Speaker 5: don't think it was a must have. I mean, they
[4:34] Speaker 5: have been able to build up this tremendous base of
[4:36] Speaker 5: three hundred and twenty five million subscribers with a lot
[4:39] Speaker 5: of original content, with a lot of licensed content, but
[4:42] Speaker 5: without having to pay you know, one hundred billion dollars
[4:46] Speaker 5: for a studio, and so we think that they can
[4:48] Speaker 5: you know, continue to hold that dominance, and they are
[4:51] Speaker 5: diversifying their content strategy. So first it was a lot
[4:55] Speaker 5: of focus on scripted content, on local language content. You know,
[4:59] Speaker 5: they've played this game really well in terms of going
[5:01] Speaker 5: after pieces of content in different territories, whether you know
[5:04] Speaker 5: it's Korean series or you know, a Japanese series or
[5:08] Speaker 5: all across the world. Really but their latest foray is
[5:11] Speaker 5: really into live events. So we're seeing them kind of
[5:15] Speaker 5: now make a push for more NFL games. They already
[5:17] Speaker 5: had Christmas Day NFL games, looks like they're going for
[5:20] Speaker 5: a slightly bigger package. And then we're seeing them do
[5:23] Speaker 5: a lot of other different things in terms of live content.
[5:26] Speaker 5: You know, whether you have the WWE RAW on Monday nights,
[5:29] Speaker 5: whether you had the BTS, you know, first live concert
[5:33] Speaker 5: in three years, we had the New York Yankees versus
[5:37] Speaker 5: San Francisco Giants on MLB Opening Night. We have the
[5:40] Speaker 5: upcoming Ronda Rousi versus Gina Carano in you know, in May,
[5:45] Speaker 5: you have Mayweather Pakio.
[5:48] Speaker 6: You know.
[5:48] Speaker 5: So there's just a whole lot of different things that
[5:50] Speaker 5: they're doing, and I think that will help them with
[5:53] Speaker 5: their subscriber acquisition and retention strategy.
[5:56] Speaker 2: A lot of live content, but we don't have k Pop,
[5:59] Speaker 2: DMA Hunters, we don't have another season of Stranger Things.
[6:04] Speaker 2: In terms of the scripted content, what's out there for
[6:08] Speaker 2: consumers to look forward to.
[6:10] Speaker 5: Yeah, that's an excellent point. So it's interesting they had
[6:13] Speaker 5: some of their biggest pieces of content in twenty twenty
[6:16] Speaker 5: five and obviously that helped. But you know, Netflix has
[6:20] Speaker 5: said over and over again that no single piece of
[6:23] Speaker 5: content contributes to, you know, more than one percent of
[6:27] Speaker 5: total engagement, and if you just kind of look at
[6:29] Speaker 5: engagement on the platform, you know, it's approaching almost two
[6:32] Speaker 5: hundred billion hours here. So really they have a whole
[6:36] Speaker 5: breadth and a great pipeline in terms of content. And
[6:40] Speaker 5: as we just look out to twenty twenty six, I
[6:43] Speaker 5: mean we have some of their they still have a
[6:45] Speaker 5: lot of things that you know, we can get excited about,
[6:48] Speaker 5: you know, whether it is all of that live content
[6:51] Speaker 5: or you know, you have Beef season two, you have
[6:53] Speaker 5: The Last Airbender, you have loupem which is a French series,
[6:58] Speaker 5: and then of course you have Narnia come out in December,
[7:01] Speaker 5: which people are really excited about. Outer Bank season five,
[7:05] Speaker 5: you know Enola Holmes season three. So there's there's just
[7:08] Speaker 5: a lot of different things, and again we think that
[7:11] Speaker 5: they will continue to you know, build their business with
[7:15] Speaker 5: all of these diverse pieces of content.
[7:17] Speaker 2: Of course, investors are going to get some content from
[7:20] Speaker 2: the company itself in the call after the close when
[7:23] Speaker 2: Netflix reports on Thursday. Thank you for this, Keita, as always,
[7:27] Speaker 2: that's Keitha. Rangan Nathan, senior US Media analyst for Bloomberg Intelligence.
[7:32] Speaker 2: Let's take a look now at some stocks making news
[7:34] Speaker 2: in the week ahead. I'm Nathan Hager, joined by Bloomberg
[7:37] Speaker 2: Intelligence senior US banks analyst Herman Chan, and it is
[7:41] Speaker 2: all about the banks this week, with three heavyweights kicking
[7:44] Speaker 2: off earning season on Tuesday. JP Morgan, Chase Wells Fargo
[7:49] Speaker 2: and City Group. Herman, let's start with the big guy.
[7:52] Speaker 2: What are you watching for from Jamie Diamond in company?
[7:56] Speaker 7: Yeah, it's going to be a great and interesting quarter
[7:59] Speaker 7: for Jamie Diamond, JP Morgan and the rest of the banks.
[8:03] Speaker 7: We're an interesting setup heading into earnings with heightened gipetal concerns, stackflation, potential,
[8:10] Speaker 7: private credit worries. That's all been weighing on the group
[8:14] Speaker 7: On the other hand, one key earnings is looking to
[8:16] Speaker 7: be pretty solid, with JP Morgan expecting fifteen percent growth
[8:20] Speaker 7: in trading revenues and also investment banking could be up
[8:23] Speaker 7: that same level as well. We're also seeing a pickup
[8:27] Speaker 7: in commercial lending activity, which is helpful across the group,
[8:32] Speaker 7: and some margin stability and really good performance across the
[8:37] Speaker 7: credit quality as well. So macro concerns, but the underlying
[8:41] Speaker 7: fundamentals still look really strong.
[8:43] Speaker 2: What has you thinking those underlying fundamentals still look strong
[8:46] Speaker 2: given you know so much of the concern we have
[8:49] Speaker 2: in the market right now around all the uncertainties and
[8:52] Speaker 2: the economic impact from the warn Iran.
[8:55] Speaker 7: That's right. I would characterize the economy right now as
[8:58] Speaker 7: really resilient, so we're seeing that resiliency flow through into
[9:03] Speaker 7: the bank's earnings and profitability. On the other hand, really
[9:07] Speaker 7: what we're focused on going forward is what's going to
[9:11] Speaker 7: happen next and guidance will be key for across the
[9:14] Speaker 7: banks that we cover. Are we seeing any sort of
[9:18] Speaker 7: cracks and credit due to higher energy costs that consumers
[9:24] Speaker 7: are facing today? Are we seeing any cracks and credit
[9:27] Speaker 7: on the commercial side as well? And it is the
[9:30] Speaker 7: market volatility affecting some of the backclogs for areas like
[9:35] Speaker 7: investment making and IPO. So those are questions that the
[9:39] Speaker 7: bank management teams will need to answer on the first
[9:43] Speaker 7: quarter earnings calls.
[9:44] Speaker 2: And when it comes to Wells Fargo Herman, how are
[9:47] Speaker 2: they doing now that they're not under that asset cap
[9:50] Speaker 2: restriction anymore?
[9:52] Speaker 7: That's right, So that's going to be one of the
[9:54] Speaker 7: growth stories for the banking group. And in the first
[9:58] Speaker 7: quarter reporting where another quarter outside of the asset cat
[10:03] Speaker 7: we're going to see some strong balance sheet growth for
[10:05] Speaker 7: for Wells Fargo continuation of what they were reporting in
[10:09] Speaker 7: the fourth quarter. That's really going to be reflected in
[10:12] Speaker 7: areas like trading assets within the investment bank and also
[10:18] Speaker 7: in areas like lending in the markets business lending to
[10:23] Speaker 7: these non bank financial institutions that I alluded to earlier.
[10:27] Speaker 7: So it's one other thing that we're looking for is
[10:30] Speaker 7: maybe a renown in the capital markets results relative to
[10:33] Speaker 7: its peers. I would mention in the fourth quarter they
[10:37] Speaker 7: lagged a little bit, so hoping for a rebound there
[10:39] Speaker 7: in the first quarter.
[10:40] Speaker 2: And when it comes to City Group, we had some
[10:42] Speaker 2: recent reporting from Bloomberg News that they might be thinking
[10:45] Speaker 2: about buying a regional bank to grow their business further.
[10:49] Speaker 2: How real is that? Do you expect that to come
[10:52] Speaker 2: up in the call?
[10:53] Speaker 8: I do?
[10:54] Speaker 7: I think analysts will probe on that. I think in
[10:57] Speaker 7: the near term probably Jane Frasier, their CEO, pauses that
[11:05] Speaker 7: potential in the near term. I think that's really reflected
[11:11] Speaker 7: due to the fact that their evaluation is relatively weaker
[11:14] Speaker 7: than peers, and they're going to need to improve in
[11:17] Speaker 7: order to make an M and a deal work financially.
[11:21] Speaker 7: I mean said, they have a investor day coming up
[11:25] Speaker 7: in May, so we'll hear more about that in the
[11:29] Speaker 7: first quarter reporting, and we think first quarter results really
[11:32] Speaker 7: lays the groundwork for some positive news heading into the
[11:39] Speaker 7: investor day.
[11:40] Speaker 2: Yeah, really interesting kickoff to earning season, particularly around what
[11:44] Speaker 2: we've seen around the war with Iron of course, thank
[11:47] Speaker 2: you for this, Herman, great having you with us. That's
[11:49] Speaker 2: Herman Chan, senior US Banks analyst for Bloomberg Intelligence, and
[11:54] Speaker 2: coming up on Bloomberg day Break weekend, we'll look ahead
[11:57] Speaker 2: to the election in Hungary. Is it Orbon's Last Stand?
[12:02] Speaker 2: I'm Nathan Hager, and this is Bloomberg. This is Bloomberg Daybreak. Weekend,
[12:17] Speaker 2: our global look ahead at the top stories for investors
[12:20] Speaker 2: in the coming week. I'm Nathan Hager in Washington. Up
[12:23] Speaker 2: later in the program will look to Spanish Prime Minister
[12:25] Speaker 2: Pedro Sanchez's upcoming visit to China. But first, voters in
[12:29] Speaker 2: Hungary are headed to the polls. We find out on
[12:32] Speaker 2: Sunday whether the EU's longest serving leader, trump ally Victor Orbon,
[12:37] Speaker 2: will keep his grip on power to much of the world.
[12:40] Speaker 2: Orbon is best known for his support for Russia and
[12:42] Speaker 2: his opposition to the European Union and Ukraine. But what
[12:45] Speaker 2: are the issues that will decide this election for Hungarian
[12:48] Speaker 2: voters and what to expect from a new government? For more,
[12:52] Speaker 2: Let's go to London and bring in Bloomberg Daybreak. You're
[12:54] Speaker 2: a banker, Caroline Hepger Nathan.
[12:57] Speaker 3: For sixteen years, right wing Prime Minister Victor all Ban
[13:00] Speaker 3: has been building what he calls an illiberal laboratory in
[13:04] Speaker 3: the EU state. Hungary has been the European Union's black sheep,
[13:08] Speaker 3: cozying up to the Kremlin and obstructing assistance to Ukraine.
[13:12] Speaker 3: But now Auburn faces a serious threat from leadership contender
[13:17] Speaker 3: Peter Maggiar, who leads the pro European Teaser Party. Some
[13:21] Speaker 3: voters are losing patients with a stagnating economy plus allegations
[13:26] Speaker 3: of government corruption and Russian interference. In the last few weeks,
[13:31] Speaker 3: EU leaders accused Victor Auburn of disloyalty and blackmail after
[13:35] Speaker 3: Hungary moved to veto the bloc's ninety billion year alone
[13:39] Speaker 3: to Ukraine. Here's Bloomberg's Oliver Kruk.
[13:42] Speaker 9: We should say that this was an issue, this ninety
[13:45] Speaker 9: eight billion year alone that was settled back in December,
[13:47] Speaker 9: and as a consequence, with Victor Ormond pulling out of this,
[13:50] Speaker 9: it has upset very greatly all the other European leaders,
[13:53] Speaker 9: not just on the principle of not supporting Ukraine, but
[13:56] Speaker 9: on the fact that it reduces the credibility of the
[13:58] Speaker 9: European Union.
[13:59] Speaker 3: Bloombergs chief Europe correspondent Oliver Crook there, who went on
[14:03] Speaker 3: to say that Auburn has been tough on Ukraine in
[14:06] Speaker 3: order to bolster support among his own voter base. But
[14:10] Speaker 3: could the focus on foreign affairs be a short sighted
[14:13] Speaker 3: strategy with the electorate at home increasingly preoccupied by domestic
[14:18] Speaker 3: concerns and the cost of living. Joining me now is
[14:21] Speaker 3: Sultan Shimon, Bloomberg's Eastern Europe editor and formerly are Budapest
[14:26] Speaker 3: bureau chief and Bloomberg's Brussels bureau chief Suzanne Lynch. Welcome
[14:30] Speaker 3: to both of you. Thanks for your time, Zultan. Can
[14:33] Speaker 3: I start with you just to focus in on Hungary.
[14:37] Speaker 3: First thing, I want to ask about the opposition party
[14:40] Speaker 3: Peter Maggiar emerging as a serious contender in the election.
[14:45] Speaker 3: What do we make of his chances in this vote?
[14:49] Speaker 8: Well, yes, Peter Modor founded his party two years ago
[14:53] Speaker 8: and really came out of nowhere. Actually he came out
[14:56] Speaker 8: of inside Prime Minister Victor Bahn's ruling elite to essentially
[15:01] Speaker 8: call out corruption and mismanagement in Hungary, and he has
[15:07] Speaker 8: found that his message has resonated incredibly over the past
[15:11] Speaker 8: two years. Pro government posters as well as some skeptics,
[15:16] Speaker 8: say Orbond, who has been in power for sixteen years,
[15:20] Speaker 8: still has what they tend to call the quiet majority
[15:24] Speaker 8: on his side. We'll find out soon enough.
[15:27] Speaker 3: Yeah, indeed, what do you think are the issues then
[15:31] Speaker 3: facing all Band? You know, if you see and agree
[15:34] Speaker 3: with the polls that favored the opposition leader, what would
[15:38] Speaker 3: you see as Allband's main failings.
[15:41] Speaker 8: Well, Mojar has really tried to focus on Orband's domestic failings,
[15:45] Speaker 8: which included the economy, which has been in bouts of
[15:50] Speaker 8: recession over the past four years. The economy has barely grown,
[15:54] Speaker 8: There's been a cost of living crisis during the pandemic,
[15:57] Speaker 8: Inflation was the highest in the year Union. There's also
[16:02] Speaker 8: rampant corruption, with Transparency International now ranking Hungary in last
[16:07] Speaker 8: place in the European Union for graft. The European Union
[16:12] Speaker 8: has in response suspended we estimated is about still about
[16:15] Speaker 8: twenty billion euros worth of fund due to the erosion
[16:19] Speaker 8: of the rule of law and graft. So that's been
[16:23] Speaker 8: basically Modiar's focus, as well as sort of the effects
[16:27] Speaker 8: of all this, which is seen in social services, in healthcare,
[16:32] Speaker 8: in education, in public transportation, especially dilapidated rail network. So
[16:38] Speaker 8: he's saying, essentially to Hungarians, please look around you see
[16:44] Speaker 8: if you think we can do better.
[16:46] Speaker 3: What has been the focus of Urban's campaign, then, Urban.
[16:51] Speaker 8: Has really campaigned more on foreign policy since his return
[16:55] Speaker 8: to power. He has essentially held up a sort of nemesis,
[17:02] Speaker 8: a rotating cast of characters really which he suggested post
[17:07] Speaker 8: threats to Hungary and to their lives going back to
[17:11] Speaker 8: twenty ten, when he returned to power, from the International
[17:15] Speaker 8: Monetary Fund, to the European Union, to multinational companies to
[17:21] Speaker 8: George Soros, the Hungarian born US financier and philanthropists. In
[17:27] Speaker 8: the past several years, but most recently, he held the
[17:31] Speaker 8: Ukraine interestingly up as the biggest threat to Hungary. He's
[17:37] Speaker 8: saying Ukraine wants to drag Hungary into its war with Russia. Now, obviously,
[17:44] Speaker 8: Urban has allied himself quite significantly with Moscow over the
[17:49] Speaker 8: past several years, doubling down on energy contracts with Russia
[17:54] Speaker 8: even since or especially since Russia's invasion of Ukraine.
[17:58] Speaker 3: Well, Hungry, of course, is a member of the European
[18:01] Speaker 3: Union and the NATO member too. So let's bring in
[18:05] Speaker 3: Nasuzanne Lynch's Bloomberg's Brussels Bureau chief for a perspective on this.
[18:09] Speaker 3: I mean, Victor Auban has been a thorn in the
[18:12] Speaker 3: side of the EU for many years. It's got to
[18:15] Speaker 3: be said, So what do you think is going to
[18:18] Speaker 3: be the response? So what do you think is the
[18:20] Speaker 3: thinking within the EU about the possibility of a change
[18:24] Speaker 3: in leadership in this election? We don't know yet. But
[18:27] Speaker 3: what do you think the EU is thinking.
[18:29] Speaker 10: Well, look, I mean, as you say there, I mean
[18:31] Speaker 10: Orban has been a presence here in Europe for such
[18:34] Speaker 10: a long time. He's been sixteen years in power. At
[18:36] Speaker 10: this time, he's the longest serving EU leader around the table.
[18:41] Speaker 10: And I think it's fair to say there is an
[18:43] Speaker 10: argument that the European Union has chosen to a large
[18:46] Speaker 10: extent over the years, maybe to look away to kind
[18:49] Speaker 10: of hope Urban will one day be voted out of
[18:52] Speaker 10: office and that the Hungary will step back into line
[18:55] Speaker 10: and become a good member of the European Union. Now
[18:58] Speaker 10: that policy has not really worked until now, because he
[19:01] Speaker 10: has managed to survive politically this long. It's extraordinary term.
[19:06] Speaker 10: Even in the last few weeks they resulton has alluded
[19:09] Speaker 10: to we've seen an even more kind of brazen attempt
[19:12] Speaker 10: by Hungary to undermine Brussels. At the end of March.
[19:15] Speaker 10: There we saw an extraordinary phone call, has leaked. Other
[19:19] Speaker 10: media outlets in Hungary reported this, and it alleged that
[19:23] Speaker 10: as Sergai Lavrov, the Foreign Minister, spoke to the Hungarian
[19:26] Speaker 10: Foreign Minister asking for individual to be removed from a
[19:31] Speaker 10: proposed EU sanctions list. So you know, we now have
[19:34] Speaker 10: the situation where the Hungarian government is talking to Russia
[19:38] Speaker 10: about the EU sanctioned list, and it has worked at
[19:42] Speaker 10: various points since the start of the Russian War against Ukraine.
[19:48] Speaker 10: It has worked against the EU on a number of levels.
[19:50] Speaker 10: So it has again and again blocked sanctions packages. We're
[19:55] Speaker 10: now at the twentieth sanctions package from the EU against
[19:58] Speaker 10: Russia and Hungary's block that. And also it's currently for example,
[20:02] Speaker 10: blocking a ninety billion loan to Ukraine. So it's quite
[20:05] Speaker 10: obvious that the European Union and the European Commission in
[20:09] Speaker 10: particular has become a lightning rod for Urban He's actually
[20:13] Speaker 10: campaigning heavily against this, against what he sees is overly,
[20:17] Speaker 10: you know, an intrusive European Commission. He's obviously campaigning heavily
[20:21] Speaker 10: against continued to support for Ukraine. That is part of
[20:23] Speaker 10: the election playbook.
[20:24] Speaker 6: Yeah.
[20:25] Speaker 3: In terms of then, the opposition parties in Hungary seemed
[20:29] Speaker 3: to be, you know, thinking about Hungary's place within Europe
[20:33] Speaker 3: and maybe accessing more funding. That seems to be part
[20:36] Speaker 3: of their drive. How much do you think, though, if
[20:41] Speaker 3: there were a change of leadership in Hungary that that
[20:43] Speaker 3: might change the level in terms of the big support
[20:46] Speaker 3: package for Ukraine.
[20:48] Speaker 10: Yeah, it's interesting. I mean Mayer, who has emerged as
[20:51] Speaker 10: this serious threat now to Urban, is a member of
[20:54] Speaker 10: the European Parliament. He's here, that's his full time role,
[20:57] Speaker 10: if you like. So he's already a known figure in Brussels.
[21:01] Speaker 10: He was, as aulto An explained, part of the Fidees fold.
[21:04] Speaker 10: He was married at Stitude at Varaga, former Hungarian justice minister,
[21:07] Speaker 10: who for example, was very well known here in Brussels too.
[21:10] Speaker 10: So you know, I think there is a wariness here
[21:12] Speaker 10: that it might not just be as simple as a
[21:15] Speaker 10: more pro EU person taking over if his party is successful.
[21:20] Speaker 10: So let's see. And I suppose it is true to
[21:23] Speaker 10: say to Urban yet he is using the European Union
[21:28] Speaker 10: as a foil in this election. But you know, there
[21:30] Speaker 10: is some sympathy for his view, particularly when it comes
[21:33] Speaker 10: to among people in Hungary about support for Ukraine. So
[21:37] Speaker 10: it may not be as simple as that.
[21:39] Speaker 3: Yeah, it's very interesting, is it as Altan? In terms
[21:42] Speaker 3: of Oban's brand of sort of populist illiberalism and Christian nationalism.
[21:48] Speaker 3: I mean there is already across Europe this is being examined,
[21:52] Speaker 3: you know, the rise of more right wing parties maybe
[21:56] Speaker 3: across different European countries. Is it really weighing in terms
[22:01] Speaker 3: of appeal? And what do you expect the opposition parties
[22:05] Speaker 3: might do if they come into office. What kind of
[22:08] Speaker 3: voice would they bring to Hungary. I mean Teaser is
[22:10] Speaker 3: a conservative party.
[22:12] Speaker 8: Yes, Now when it comes to the opposition because of
[22:16] Speaker 8: our bonds is sort of what he calls the sovereign tests,
[22:19] Speaker 8: very nationalists, you know, rhetoric. If Mother were to come
[22:23] Speaker 8: to power. It's not like he would switch that off
[22:26] Speaker 8: from one day to the next. He very much wants
[22:30] Speaker 8: to say, and very much says that Hungary will remain
[22:34] Speaker 8: or will be truly he says, truly independent. He always
[22:39] Speaker 8: says the Hungarian's history is not going to be written
[22:44] Speaker 8: in Brussels or in Washington, nor in Moscow. He tends
[22:48] Speaker 8: to say at rallies, it will be written here in Hungary.
[22:52] Speaker 8: So he says he will stand up for the interests
[22:54] Speaker 8: of Hungary, even if it were to go against, for example,
[22:58] Speaker 8: the EU mainstream. But more broadly though, he says he
[23:02] Speaker 8: would bring back Hungary to the European fold and especially
[23:07] Speaker 8: away from Russia's orbit Yeah.
[23:10] Speaker 3: I think that's very interesting, isn't it. I mean, Suzann,
[23:13] Speaker 3: is it going to be a free and fair election?
[23:16] Speaker 3: There are worries, always persistent worries around Russian interference or
[23:20] Speaker 3: influence in the election process in Europe, and that has
[23:24] Speaker 3: become more acute since the war in Ukraine.
[23:26] Speaker 10: Yes, the European Parliament actually has been a big voice
[23:29] Speaker 10: on this about issues like rule of law, about free
[23:32] Speaker 10: and fair elections, and of course about media freedom in Hungary.
[23:37] Speaker 10: There have been countless reports about the real challenges for
[23:42] Speaker 10: independent media and Hungary and how that is driving the
[23:44] Speaker 10: political conversation in a certain way in Hungary. But I
[23:48] Speaker 10: think there will be a strong interest in this election
[23:53] Speaker 10: how it's monitored when those results come in.
[23:56] Speaker 3: Suzanne, thank you so much. That was Bloomberg's Brussels bureau
[23:59] Speaker 3: chiefs Lynch and Zultan Shimon, Bloomberg's Eastern Europe editor. We
[24:05] Speaker 3: will bring you all the latest on the story from
[24:07] Speaker 3: Hungary as it develops. I'm Caroline Hebge here in London.
[24:11] Speaker 3: You can catch us every weekday morning for Bloomberg Daybreak
[24:14] Speaker 3: you at beginning at six am in London. That's one
[24:16] Speaker 3: am on Wall Street.
[24:18] Speaker 2: Nathan Thanks Caroline, and coming up on Bloomberg day Break Weekend,
[24:22] Speaker 2: we'll look at what to expect when Spain's Prime minister
[24:25] Speaker 2: visits China. I'm Nathan Hager, and this is Bloomberg. This
[24:40] Speaker 2: is Bloomberg Daybreak Weekend, our global look ahead of the
[24:43] Speaker 2: top stories for investors in the coming week. I'm Nathan
[24:45] Speaker 2: Hager in Washington. This week, Spain's Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez
[24:50] Speaker 2: heads to China. For more, we bring in Doug Krisner,
[24:53] Speaker 2: host of the Daybreak Asia podcast.
[24:55] Speaker 4: Thanks Nathan. This will be Sanchez's fourth trip to China
[24:59] Speaker 4: since twenty t twenty three, and it follows a visit
[25:02] Speaker 4: by King Philippe the Sixth back in November. Incidentally, that
[25:06] Speaker 4: was the first visit to China by a Spanish monarch
[25:08] Speaker 4: in eighteen years. Now we're being told that Sanchez will
[25:12] Speaker 4: travel with a group of business leaders and to help
[25:14] Speaker 4: us understand some of the dynamics. I'm joined by Bloomberg's
[25:18] Speaker 4: ros Matheson ras is our chief Asia correspondent, and she
[25:21] Speaker 4: joins from our studios in Singapore. Thank you for being here.
[25:25] Speaker 4: It seems like there is a strengthening of economic ties
[25:28] Speaker 4: right now between Spain and China. It certainly has been
[25:32] Speaker 4: the case in recent years. I'm wondering if you're getting
[25:35] Speaker 4: the sense of this move becoming even closer right now.
[25:38] Speaker 11: Well, certainly there's been a warming of the relationship between
[25:42] Speaker 11: Spain and China for a while. And you know, Sanchez,
[25:47] Speaker 11: as you say, is making his fourth trip since twenty
[25:50] Speaker 11: twenty three, and he's been slightly to the side of
[25:54] Speaker 11: many other members of the EU in a way on China.
[25:57] Speaker 11: He's repeatedly said that Europe needs to set its own
[26:01] Speaker 11: terms for its relationship with China and not just follow
[26:05] Speaker 11: what the US is doing. And he's been a little
[26:09] Speaker 11: less willing to sort of talk about some of the
[26:11] Speaker 11: frustrations that other member states have about Chinese dumping of
[26:16] Speaker 11: goods in Europe, for example, or keeping control of technology in.
[26:20] Speaker 8: All of that.
[26:21] Speaker 11: And the trade relationship has been growing between China and Spain,
[26:25] Speaker 11: although it's very asymmetric because China exports a lot more
[26:29] Speaker 11: to Spain than it buys from Spain. So they tend
[26:33] Speaker 11: to sell cars, electronics, green energy to Spain because Spain's
[26:37] Speaker 11: very big on renewables and Spain sells things like machinery.
[26:41] Speaker 11: They're a big exporter of pork actually also to China,
[26:44] Speaker 11: but this trip seems to be about, you know, less
[26:47] Speaker 11: about that trade dynamic and more about attracting investment, because
[26:51] Speaker 11: Spain is really keen to get more significant Chinese investments.
[26:55] Speaker 11: So Sanchez is taking a business group with him, as
[26:58] Speaker 11: you say, he'll be looking to get some deals on
[27:02] Speaker 11: the table as part of this trip.
[27:04] Speaker 4: So it's interesting that you point out that Sanchez has
[27:06] Speaker 4: essentially differentiated himself among a number of European leaders who
[27:10] Speaker 4: have been very strongly critical, especially when it comes to
[27:14] Speaker 4: war in Iran between Iran and the US in Israel.
[27:18] Speaker 4: Does that necessarily strengthen his connection with Beijing.
[27:23] Speaker 11: Well, certainly. He's been very vocal about his views on
[27:26] Speaker 11: the war in the Middle East, and he barred American
[27:29] Speaker 11: forces from using two military bases, and he's put himself
[27:33] Speaker 11: in the crosshairs again with Donald Trump directly. They're ready
[27:36] Speaker 11: sparring over things like Spain's contribution to NATO defense spending,
[27:41] Speaker 11: for example, collective spending. You know, Sanchez has been critical
[27:45] Speaker 11: of the US administration for its policies on immigration and
[27:49] Speaker 11: critical of the move to pick up the then Venezuelan
[27:53] Speaker 11: leader Nicholas madeiro So there's been those strong tension points
[27:57] Speaker 11: between the US and Spain already, and Sanchez has certainly
[28:00] Speaker 11: been quite vocal in his views about the war. He
[28:03] Speaker 11: just says their position is no to war, and so
[28:06] Speaker 11: perhaps there'll be some conversations between China and Spain about
[28:10] Speaker 11: that while he's there, because China does like to exploit fishes,
[28:16] Speaker 11: they like to find gaps, and they like stirring a bit,
[28:20] Speaker 11: including with the US. So it's handy to have a
[28:23] Speaker 11: leader coming who's been very critical of the US over
[28:27] Speaker 11: the war. But the interesting thing will be how much
[28:30] Speaker 11: he moves, if any, out of alignment again with the
[28:33] Speaker 11: EU on China, because obviously that's a relationship that everyone's watching.
[28:38] Speaker 4: Closely, particularly when you think of the automotive industry and
[28:41] Speaker 4: where Germany is in that. I'm wondering, because Sanchez is
[28:44] Speaker 4: a member of the Spanish Socialist Workers Party, whether that
[28:49] Speaker 4: kind of intersects with the politics that Beijing has in
[28:52] Speaker 4: a very very friendly way.
[28:54] Speaker 11: It does, or China likes to talk about it. I
[28:57] Speaker 11: mean they cast it as a very stable relationship. They
[29:01] Speaker 11: like to talk up the leader to leader rapport that
[29:04] Speaker 11: they see there, and they do cast Sanchez as a
[29:06] Speaker 11: leader on the left and therefore somewhat like minded, although
[29:11] Speaker 11: in reality they're probably not that light minded. They do
[29:14] Speaker 11: note him also as one of the few outspoken voices
[29:18] Speaker 11: against what they call US policies harming European interests, and
[29:23] Speaker 11: they talk about Sanchez being a good example of the
[29:26] Speaker 11: need to diversify your relationships, your trade relationships, particularly around
[29:32] Speaker 11: the world. But it's not just Sanchez who's kind of
[29:34] Speaker 11: looking at this now more in the European perspective. I mean,
[29:37] Speaker 11: we've had a parade of European leaders through China in
[29:40] Speaker 11: recent months, Kiir Starmer from the UK, the German Chancellor
[29:44] Speaker 11: and others, And there is this recognition in Europe too
[29:48] Speaker 11: that you need to diversify your trade relationships, particularly given
[29:52] Speaker 11: the tensions the EU has with the US. They're just
[29:55] Speaker 11: more cautious than Sanchez about how to go about it
[29:58] Speaker 11: and how far to go with it.
[30:00] Speaker 4: He inviting a little bit of risk here if he's
[30:02] Speaker 4: trying to strengthen the relationship with the Chinese.
[30:06] Speaker 11: Well, he'll probably get another call out from Donald Trump
[30:09] Speaker 11: potentially on it. An interesting not everyone within Spain is
[30:14] Speaker 11: happy about this. I mean last October when the Spanish
[30:18] Speaker 11: Foreign Minister was in China. They met with some Spanish
[30:22] Speaker 11: business CEOs who said, hang on, you know, please be
[30:26] Speaker 11: careful in terms of, you know, we need more stringent
[30:29] Speaker 11: demands for companies to hire local workers rather than parachuting
[30:33] Speaker 11: in Chinese staff to Spain. For example, Let's make sure
[30:36] Speaker 11: we're in alignment with the EU on trying to stop
[30:38] Speaker 11: China dumping low quality goods into our markets. And let's
[30:43] Speaker 11: watch how we're handling the issues of key technological secrets
[30:47] Speaker 11: when you're operating inside the EU. So there is that
[30:51] Speaker 11: element in the Spanish business community who's slightly concerned about
[30:55] Speaker 11: sort of being all in in a way with China.
[30:58] Speaker 11: So there is that risk as well. But Sanchez has
[31:01] Speaker 11: kind of planted the flag when it comes to Donald Trump,
[31:04] Speaker 11: I think is pretty clear about how he sees that relationship,
[31:06] Speaker 11: and he doesn't necessarily mind having a bit of sparring
[31:09] Speaker 11: with the US because it also helps him domestically in
[31:14] Speaker 11: terms of his own standing, because you know, he does
[31:17] Speaker 11: have an election in the wind, and you know, it
[31:21] Speaker 11: does help his narrative that he's standing up to a
[31:24] Speaker 11: big power like the US.
[31:25] Speaker 4: But China is offering Spain a great deal in terms
[31:28] Speaker 4: of investment, dollars, and I think that cuts to the
[31:30] Speaker 4: other side of the story, right, Spain would be a
[31:32] Speaker 4: big beneficiary.
[31:34] Speaker 11: Well, that's right, and that's certainly how Sanchez is casting it.
[31:38] Speaker 11: He's saying this is very good for Spain in terms
[31:41] Speaker 11: of having direct investment from China, particularly again in the
[31:45] Speaker 11: automotive sector, which is a big one for Europe as
[31:48] Speaker 11: a whole, and also in the renewable sector, because China's
[31:51] Speaker 11: got a lot of expertise as we know, on green
[31:54] Speaker 11: energy and is keen to utilize that around the world,
[31:58] Speaker 11: of course to China's own benefit, but that's something that
[32:01] Speaker 11: Spain can certainly benefit from as well. So he's talking
[32:05] Speaker 11: up direct investment. He's also talking up the potential to
[32:09] Speaker 11: have even more tourists come from China to Spain. They're
[32:12] Speaker 11: keen to have the tourist dollars come their way. I mean,
[32:15] Speaker 11: China in turn has been issuing visa waivers for Spanish
[32:18] Speaker 11: tourists to come, so it's a two way street there.
[32:21] Speaker 11: So Sanchez is trying to basically find all these ways
[32:23] Speaker 11: to maximize the relationship, particularly again when it comes to money.
[32:27] Speaker 4: So Roz, I'm wondering if there are any announcements that
[32:30] Speaker 4: follow this meeting. They would cover automotive renewable energy and
[32:34] Speaker 4: I'm going to include battery technology.
[32:37] Speaker 5: Is that fair?
[32:39] Speaker 11: Well, that's right, and China's got increasing expertise in battery
[32:43] Speaker 11: storage in fuel cells. I mean these are fairly nascent
[32:47] Speaker 11: industries and a lot of countries and still quite expensive
[32:50] Speaker 11: for companies if they're looking at purchasing these to secure
[32:54] Speaker 11: their own electricity supply. I mean, Spain has had a
[32:59] Speaker 11: significant power outage that's still probably in the minds a
[33:03] Speaker 11: bit and some questions over how good renewable energy is
[33:07] Speaker 11: as a result. But you could see some new technologies
[33:10] Speaker 11: emerging from these conversations, for sure.
[33:12] Speaker 4: So you mentioned a moment ago that not everyone in
[33:15] Speaker 4: Spain favors deepening this relationship, and I'm wondering whether Sanchez
[33:19] Speaker 4: at some point could face a little bit of political
[33:23] Speaker 4: blowback domestically.
[33:26] Speaker 11: He could, although right now there's a bit of a
[33:29] Speaker 11: rally round the flag moment going on in Spain into
[33:32] Speaker 11: that national election next year. I mean, he's under pressure
[33:37] Speaker 11: at home. He's been the head of a quite fragile
[33:39] Speaker 11: coalition government. His party was hit by corruption scandals, so
[33:44] Speaker 11: support was going down in the polls. But people in
[33:48] Speaker 11: Spain also remember the US led invasion of Iraq in
[33:53] Speaker 11: two thousand and three, and Spain kind of went all
[33:55] Speaker 11: in with the US that in terms of supporting it,
[33:59] Speaker 11: they were quite ally of President Bush at the time,
[34:03] Speaker 11: and that triggered a big backlash in Spain. That was
[34:06] Speaker 11: sort of protests across Spain. The slogan note to war,
[34:10] Speaker 11: which Sanchez has now kind of adopted, that's what he's reviving,
[34:13] Speaker 11: and so he's really tapping into that very long running
[34:17] Speaker 11: anti war sentiment in Spain and those memories of two
[34:21] Speaker 11: thousand and three, and so that's something that he can
[34:23] Speaker 11: probably find a good support based on going into that election.
[34:27] Speaker 4: Ros will leave it there, Thank you so very much
[34:29] Speaker 4: for helping us look at the visit of Spanish Prime
[34:32] Speaker 4: Minister Pedro Sanchez to China. Roz Matheson is our chief
[34:36] Speaker 4: Asia correspondent, joining from Singapore. We go to New Zealand next,
[34:41] Speaker 4: where in the last week the Central Bank held its
[34:43] Speaker 4: benchmark interest rates steady at two hundred quarter percent. The
[34:47] Speaker 4: RBNZ said inflation is likely to accelerate in the second quarter,
[34:51] Speaker 4: and that's where we begin our conversation with Anna Bremen.
[34:55] Speaker 4: Anna is the governor of the Reserve Bank of New Zealand.
[34:58] Speaker 4: She spoke with Bloomberg's Heidi.
[34:59] Speaker 12: Stru What I can sort of begin to really fully
[35:03] Speaker 12: appreciate the complexities of making a policy decision in this
[35:06] Speaker 12: sort of global macroeconomic and geopolitical environment, Right, can you
[35:10] Speaker 12: talk us through some of those challenges, particularly as changes
[35:13] Speaker 12: to the outlook with the ceasefile was happening almost in
[35:17] Speaker 12: real time.
[35:20] Speaker 6: Of course, we are seeing and expecting higher near term
[35:23] Speaker 6: inflation and somewhat weaker growth in the New Zealand economy,
[35:26] Speaker 6: and then what we are really focused on is the
[35:28] Speaker 6: medium term inflation and ensuring that medium term inflation is
[35:33] Speaker 6: at target, and of course in this environment it's very
[35:36] Speaker 6: hard to do forecasting. We had the meeting at nine
[35:39] Speaker 6: am in the morning. It was announced at two pm,
[35:41] Speaker 6: so there was a lot of information in between, but
[35:44] Speaker 6: we knew that that could happen, so we had taken
[35:48] Speaker 6: that into consideration, of course, at the time of the meeting.
[35:52] Speaker 12: If in fact we see global energy supplies restored, some
[35:56] Speaker 12: of the risks to global supply chains minimized in the
[35:59] Speaker 12: coming days or weeks or months, and we accept that
[36:02] Speaker 12: the risk inflation is a near term and a temporary one.
[36:06] Speaker 12: Do you foresee a scenario where easying is back on
[36:08] Speaker 12: the table.
[36:11] Speaker 6: Well, we are more focused on ensuring that medium term
[36:15] Speaker 6: inflation does not increase. We see that the balance of
[36:19] Speaker 6: risks have shifted in terms of inflation and more risk
[36:22] Speaker 6: on the upside because already right now we're New Zealand,
[36:27] Speaker 6: fuel prices are gone up considerably, both petrol but in
[36:30] Speaker 6: particularly diesel, and that's important inputs into transport in general,
[36:35] Speaker 6: but also into the agricultural sector that is speak here,
[36:38] Speaker 6: and that risk getting passed on than into food prices
[36:42] Speaker 6: and other kinds of prices. So we are expecting somewhat
[36:46] Speaker 6: weaker growth, but we are concerned that medium term inflation
[36:50] Speaker 6: pressures could be higher. And if we start seeing inflation
[36:54] Speaker 6: expectations moving up, if we see the core inflation is
[36:57] Speaker 6: moving up, we see wage growth picking up, then we
[37:00] Speaker 6: said that we will act decisively to ensure that medium
[37:03] Speaker 6: charm inflation goes back to target.
[37:06] Speaker 4: That's Aa Bremen, Governor of the Reserve Bank of New Zealand,
[37:09] Speaker 4: speaking with Bloomberg's Heidi Stroud Watts. I'm Doug Prisner. You
[37:12] Speaker 4: can catch us weekdays for the Daybreak Asia podcast. It's
[37:16] Speaker 4: available wherever you get your podcast.
[37:18] Speaker 2: Nathan, Thanks Doug. And that does it for this edition
[37:21] Speaker 2: of Bloomberg Daybreak Weekend. Join us again Monday morning at
[37:24] Speaker 2: five am Wall Street Time for the latest sun markets,
[37:27] Speaker 2: overseas and the news you need to start your day.
[37:30] Speaker 2: I'm Nathan Hager. Stay with US top stories and global
[37:33] Speaker 2: business headlines. They're coming up right now.

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