Smugglers Tell Migrants to Rush to U.S. Before Trump Takes Office
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U.S. stocks fall after a Fed official said a December rate cut wasn't a dunk deal. And farmer stocks took a hit after President-elect Trump picked Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to head Health and Human Services.

Plus, smugglers in Latin America are encouraging migrants to rush to the U.S. border before Trump assumes office. Migrants are in many ways sitting ducks for smugglers and the organized crime networks that control large parts of Mexico's territory these days. So it's extremely dangerous and risky, especially for families who travel with children.

It's Friday, November 15th. I'm Tracey Hunt for The Wall Street Journal. This is the p.m. edition of What's News, the top headlines and business stories that move the world today. U.S. stock and bond prices fell today following a solid retail sales report that could bolster the case that the economy is strong and may not need support in the form of lower borrowing costs.

Separately, Boston Fed President Susan Collins said today in an interview that another rate cut in December is, quote, certainly on the table, but it's not a done deal, indicating it was too soon to say whether the central bank should cut interest rates at its meeting on December 17th and 18th.

In U.S. markets, major stock indexes fell, with the tech-heavy Nasdaq falling 2.2 percent. The S&P 500 was down 1.3 percent, and the Dow dropped more than 300 points, or 0.7 percent.

Pharmaceutical stocks in the U.S. and Europe are taking a big hit after President-elect Trump nominated Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to be the Health and Human Services Secretary. David Wehner writes about health care for WSJ's Heard on the Street column, and he joins us now. So, David, why are pharmaceutical companies so nervous about Kennedy's possible appointment? So this is absolutely the worst case scenario for them, right?

I mean, you have a person who has expressed deep skepticism about vaccines and the usages of drugs in general. And now that person is potentially going to be in charge of the Health and Human Services Department, which would mean essentially he would get to oversee agencies like the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, NIH, National Institute of Health, and the FDA, of course. He also raised the notion of prohibiting pharma direct-to-consumer advertising, which, to be fair, is an anomaly here in the U.S.,

And he's also talking about things like leveling the playing field for Americans on drug costs. I mean, this is scary stuff for pharma.

Which companies would be most affected by Kennedy leading HHS? So if you look at the stocks that were affected, and I mean, it's a volatile market today. Vaccine makers, obesity and diabetes companies, they were all down. Kennedy has questioned the safety of vaccines in general, and he was critical of COVID-19 vaccines. Kennedy has insisted that he is an anti-vaccine, exactly. But investors and companies are wondering what he might do

And it's not just vaccines, right? He's also been critical of obesity and diabetes GLP-1 drugs like Monjaro and Ozempic by Eli Lilly in Nova Nordisk. GLP-1 drugs kind of intersect with two of his big ideas, one being that America has a food and health and obesity problem.

which he's not wrong about. And the second, that drugs are not always the solution. And I think that's where obesity drug developers are a little bit concerned. It's fair to say drug companies have quite still a bit of sway in Congress and a variety of officials throughout the administration. So I think you're going to see a lot of pushback

on some of his views. Investors are still watching very closely to see if he would get approved by the Senate. I think that's still something that's quite up in the air right now. That was our columnist, David Wehner. Thank you so much, David. Thank you so much, Tracy.

And what questions do you have about Trump's campaign promises, how they may be implemented, and what they mean for you? Send a voice memo to WNPOD at WSJ.com or leave a voicemail with your name and location at 212-416-4328. We might use it on the show. And coming up, smugglers in Latin America are urging migrants to get to the U.S. before Trump's inauguration. That's after the break. ♪

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From the dense jungle connecting Panama and Colombia to the banks of the Rio Grande, human smugglers have been urging migrants to get into the U.S. before President-elect Donald Trump takes office. Joining us now is Santiago Perez, our deputy editor for Latin America based in Mexico City. Hi, Santiago. Hi, Tracey. So what are migrants worried will change once Trump is in office?

Well, essentially, they are concerned that there will be a full border shutdown and that there won't be any way to enter the U.S. legally. There are social media groups and WhatsApp chat groups set up by smugglers and migrants. In these

chat groups, they discuss the best possible ways to get to the border. They share tips. And in this case, smugglers are urging migrants to try to get to the U.S. border before Trump takes office on January 20th. Of course, that's easier said than done.

And it's essentially a business pitch from smugglers. And just to be clear, there's no evidence that a migration surge is materializing yet at the U.S.-Mexico border. But are there concerns that one is on the way? There are concerns about it, for sure. Authorities in Guatemala have expressed concerns about it. Things have changed quite a lot.

over the past eight years since the first Trump administration. And the enforcement that we are seeing, especially immigration enforcement in Mexico, is now more sophisticated. And of course, the Mexican government has an incentive to prevent large mass events that sometimes attract a lot of media attention out of other communities like Eagle Pass,

in Texas or large migrant caravans approaching the border. So that may offset some of the risks of a search. Donald Trump has promised mass deportations of migrants. How does that play into migrants' decisions? The first stage within the whole analysis for migrants is related to whether they

you can get to the border and whether you will be able to get in or not. So, for example, if you apply for a CBP-1 appointment, which is a legal pathway these days, if that's dismantled, you essentially have little or no chances to get into the U.S. legally by requesting asylum. So chances are that they will be immediately expelled back to Mexico.

That's somewhat similar to what we saw during the pandemic days under a measure known as Title 42. So that may be a possibility now. Santiago Perez is the deputy editor for Latin America for The Wall Street Journal. Thank you so much, Santiago. Thank you so much, Tracy. Thank you.

Tomorrow morning, we're starting a new series on our tech news briefing feed. In bold names, our columnists Tim Higgins and Christopher Mims are digging into their contacts in interviewing leaders of the bold-named companies featured in the pages of the Wall Street Journal. And they're with us now. So, hi, Christopher. Hello. And hi, Tim. Hello. So, first off, why did you two want to make this show? We talk to some of the world's most interesting people on a regular basis. And we talk to some of the world's most interesting people on a regular basis.

And sometimes those conversations are really conversations. You know, we maybe get a quote in a story or a column, and we just thought it would be really interesting for...

our listeners, for our readers to kind of go into what it's like to talk to some of these people on some of the day's most interesting topics, whether it's the arrival of artificial intelligence, the transition to electrification of the automobile, work from home issues, what it's like to be a founder, what it's like to scale a new company. Tim summed it up. I think I also feel like what we excel at at the Wall Street Journal is asking people

fair questions that are tough. And a lot of folks who are at the top of today's companies might be used to, you know, some softball interviews, but we want to make sure that we ask people the hard questions that we think readers want to hear them answer. Who's going to be your first guest? We have Peter Rawlinson, who is the chief executive of an electric car company called Lucid. Lucid is trying to become...

Peter Rawlinson's especially timely because while he might not articulate it this way, he's kind of building the anti-Tesla. One of the things we really wanted to hear from Peter was how he plans to survive because it's in

in some ways, kind of a bloodbath for independent EV makers. And he gets a ton of money from the Saudi Arabia Investment Fund. But at some point or another, his company has to start making a profit. And investors want to know. So we put that to him directly. And what stories do you have planned next for the show? I think big stories in tech these days are how

The bold name leaders who show up in the pages of the Wall Street Journal are themselves becoming the story. And that's why I think it's more important than ever to hear from them directly. We talk with JB Straubel, who was one of the co-founders of Tesla and who now has his own company called Redwood Materials that's in battery recycling. And we talk with him just how you scale a new business in an industry that is changing and not even really fully developed yet.

Obviously, artificial intelligence is hot right now. So we had some very practical nuts and bolts conversations with Mark Benioff, head of Salesforce, and Aaron Levy, head of Box, another enterprise software company. And they really just got down to basics. And I think that kind of practical knowledge is something that folks are looking for. In the future, we're going to move on to the other big topics of the day. I mean, we could have a trade war soon, at which point everybody we have on is going to be talking to us about supply chains.

Bold Names starts tomorrow on our Tech News Briefing podcast feed. Thanks so much, guys. Thank you. Thank you. And that's what's news for this week. As you just heard, our podcast Bold Names drops its first episode tomorrow, where a Tesla pioneer explains to Tim Higgins and Christopher Mims why the cheap EV market sucks. That's on our Tech News Briefing feed.

And after that, you can look out for our weekly markets wrap up. What's news in markets? Then on Sunday, we'll be looking at whether Donald Trump can carry out his promise to deport as many as 20 million immigrants and how he could go about it. That's in What's News Sunday. And we'll be back with our regular show on Monday morning.

Today's show was produced by Pierre Bien-Aimé and Anthony Bansi with supervising producer Michael Cosmitas. Michael LaValle wrote our theme music. Aisha Al-Muslim is our development producer. Scott Salloway and Chris Zinsley are our deputy editors. And Falana Patterson is the Wall Street Journal's head of news audio. I'm Tracy Hunt. Thanks for listening.