Trump Says Iran Reached Out on Deal as US Blocks Hormuz | Bloomberg Businessweek Daily 4/13/2026

Watch on YouTube ↗  |  April 13, 2026 at 20:02  |  42:31  |  Bloomberg Markets
Speakers
Marc Champion — Bloomberg Columnist
Todd Gillespie — Banking Reporter, Bloomberg News

Summary

The video covers the U.S. naval blockade in the Strait of Hormuz amid tensions with Iran, its impact on oil prices and markets, Goldman Sachs' quarterly earnings highlighting a record equities trading performance, and investment insights from a multi-asset macro investor on portfolio positioning in response to geopolitical uncertainty. Mike Contopoulos discusses maintaining cyclical tilts, underweighting duration, and avoiding private credit, while markets react to evolving news.

  • U.S. imposes naval blockade in Strait of Hormuz, escalating tensions with Iran.
  • Oil prices volatile, initially surging then paring gains as markets assess conflict dynamics.
  • Goldman Sachs reports earnings with record equities trading but weakness in fixed income.
  • Mike Contopoulos shares views on maintaining cyclical international and sector tilts.
  • Investment strategy includes underweighting duration due to Fed policy outlook.
  • Avoiding corporate private credit due to liquidity and redemption risks.
  • Increased cash allocations to account for geopolitical uncertainty.
  • Discussion on Fed policy and interest rate outlook amid inflationary pressures.
Trade Ideas
Michael Contopoulos Director of Fixed Income, Richard Bernstein Advisors 24:54
Maintain cyclical international and sector tilts for upside.
We maintain overweight positions in cyclical international markets, emerging markets ex China, and U.S. sectors like industrials, energy, and materials, based on the view that the macro outlook hasn't significantly deteriorated and these positions will benefit if the Middle East conflict resolves, as the landscape from January and February could reemerge.
XLE EMXC XLI XLB MED
Michael Contopoulos Director of Fixed Income, Richard Bernstein Advisors 28:30
Underweight duration due to Fed policy outlook.
We are underweight duration in fixed income because we believe the Fed is not in a position to cut interest rates, and if it does cut, it would be a mistake leading to higher Treasury yields, which would hurt growth and long-duration assets. We have brought down duration meaningfully and remain underweight until comfortable with the outlook.
TLT HIGH
Michael Contopoulos Director of Fixed Income, Richard Bernstein Advisors 31:37
Avoid corporate private credit due to liquidity risks.
We prefer to stay on the sidelines in private credit, especially on the corporate side, due to concerns about liquidity, redemption troubles in some funds, and potential product-contingent events that could affect public markets. We see risks in levered corporate private credit and avoid it for now.
PRIV MED
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This Bloomberg Markets video, published April 13, 2026, features Michael Contopoulos discussing XLE, EMXC, XLI, XLB, TLT, PRIV. 3 trade ideas extracted by AI with direction and confidence scoring.

Speakers: Michael Contopoulos  · Tickers: XLE, EMXC, XLI, XLB, TLT, PRIV