Episode summary
Bloomberg Businessweek Weekend: July 24th 2026 | Bloomberg Businessweek
Bloomberg Businessweek Daily
· · 38 min · Hosts: Carol Massar, Tim Stenovec
Summary
The episode centers on how retail trading is changing as Robinhood and Charles Schwab both describe customers leaning into more products, more volatility, and more ways to speculate. Robinhood’s Johan Kerbra says the firm is not seeing crypto trading weaken because of prediction markets, and argues the company is building toward an all-in-one platform that spans crypto, banking, credit cards, retirement accounts, and tokenized assets. He says clearer U.S. regulation would let Robinhood launch products more broadly, including crypto perpetuals and more institutional blockchain use.
Charles Schwab’s Rick Worster strikes a similar tone on retail engagement, saying clients are still bullish even as they trade more cautiously. He points to stronger assets, heavier trading on down days, and renewed interest in AI names, tax strategies, and pledged asset loans. He also says Schwab is working with Cboe on binary options tied first to the S&P 500 and eventually other market-linked events, while its spot crypto offering is now live and transfers are planned by year-end.
The episode also includes Bloomberg auto reporter Keith Naughton reflecting on four decades covering Detroit, from Japanese competition in the 1980s to today’s EV retrenchment and the coming threat from Chinese automakers. His argument is that U.S. carmakers need to reinvent themselves quickly, because EV demand has not matched early ambitions and the competitive pressure is only getting stronger.
Key takeaways
- Robinhood’s Johan Kerbra says the firm has not seen crypto engagement fall because of prediction markets, and expects sentiment to recover.
- Kerbra says Robinhood wants to be an all-in-one financial platform, citing its gold card, retirement accounts, banking rails, and tokenized assets.
- Rick Worster says Schwab clients are still bullish, but are trading smaller and more frequently because of geopolitical uncertainty.
- Worster says Schwab saw a record day of interest around the SpaceX IPO and is still seeing one-sided retail demand after the listing.
- Keith Naughton argues the U.S. auto industry faces a perilous reset as EV demand cools and Chinese competition approaches.
Notable quotes
“we haven't seen that in our data when we look at our customer engagement on the platform”
“I think for us the main goal has been to be this all-in-one platform for all your financial needs”
“I still think clients are bullish”
“The heaviest day of call volume we've ever seen in the history of the firm was SpaceX”
How the episode opens
Bloomberg Audio Studios, podcasts, radio, news. — 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. The Bloomberg Business Week daily podcast with Carol Masser and Tim Stenc on Bloomberg Radio.
Hi everyone, welcome to the Bloomberg Business Week weekend podcast. This past week it was largely about the news flow from Washington to Wall Street that included an escalation in Middle East hostilities as the US and Iran signaled a renewal of peace talks is unlikely in the near term as military attacks continued from both sides. Also, volatility in the equity markets around semiconductors and AI related names as the start of the mega cap earning season got underway thanks to results from Tesla and Alphabet.
Many other companies came out with results this past week. We were pretty busy pouring over them, but we are really getting ready for this coming week's biggest drop of quarterly results including four of the seven, Tim. So, we're going to be busy.
Oh, we're going to be busy because we also have a Fed decision. — Oh, yeah. There is that. — Yeah. It's the second meeting under Fed Chair Kevin Worsh. Inflation concerns being fueled by the ongoing war in the Middle East that has continued to push up oil prices. As always, you can find the latest updates and coverage on the Bloomberg terminal and at bloomberg.com.
When it comes to earnings this past week, though, we did get a read on investors thanks to Charles Schwab, which benefited from last quarter's market volatility and the SpaceX IPO. We talked about it all, plus the push into prediction markets with Charles Schwab CEO Rick Worester.
From the episode’s captions: roughly the first two minutes, lightly cleaned. Keep watching on YouTube →
Topics
- business news
- finance markets
- technology
- politics
- economics
Watch the episode
Watch “Bloomberg Businessweek Weekend: July 24th 2026 | Bloomberg Businessweek” on YouTube
Summary, takeaways and quote selection by Octagon. Quotes are short excerpts; the full conversation is in the episode.
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