>> welcome to daybreak ulcer really a. i am paul allen. >> hi m annabelle rulers in hong kong. our top stories this hour. age is set for a cautious start after u.s. stocks barely extend record highs. china's boldest moves yet to stop a market route facing a wall of skepticism from investors. netflix rising after the bell on its best customer gain since the pandemic surge. and while, texas instruments gives another lackluster forecast. the bird learns that apple is dialing back its decade-long ambitions for a self-driving car , as a release date continues to slip. paul: right. we are just opening for trade in australia. we are little to the upside, a 10th of 1%. we have that staggered open. we will see how the morning

unfolds, but following on modest gains for u.s. markets. not a great deal of movement in the bond space at the moment with yields creeping up slightly. the aussie dollar moving higher as well. 6583 against the greenback. we get some data short time ago. bmi showed some improvement as well and the composite, 48.1 of us that still below 50, but manufacturing pmi above 50 with her, of 50.3, a partial, for the month of january. new zealand has been trading for a little while now with some cpi data out of new zealand earlier too with encouraging numbers, slowing in the fourth quarter, in line with expectations and slowing sharper than the rbnz expected so that suggested the hiking cycle in new zealand is probably over. we have the markets in new zealand moving a little bit to

the downside. nikkei futures setting up for another positive day. the yen very weak at 148.36 china futures in the green. we have seen chinese stocks selling off very heavily. the csi at a five-year low. we are reporting a $230 billion stabilization fund to get on top of this market route. annabelle: yeah, well, we are still seeing a different story for u.s. stocks, because yesterday the s&p 500, nasdaq 100 hitting fresh record highs into the close. you can see that climb in futures. there is the focus on the new hampshire primary. the bigger focus earnings. mixed bag during the session. united airlines, procter & gamble among the gainers but let's look after hours because there is a focus on texas

instruments, pretty weak forecast from the company, so you can see the stock is continuing to slip after hours. netflix is the one to be watching because it is jumping subscriber growth atop testaments, so very strong surge, best number since the early days of the pandemic. the other one to watch was discontinued for ray into video games but also a new direction of sorts because netflix acquired those rights to world wrestling entertainment programming. paul: yeah, netflix very rich news flow at the moment, as you mentioned, acquiring the rights to that wwe programming. this is his first big move into live events. it says new results with the new advertising tier is working as well. strong fourth-quarter from

netflix. the question is can it keep this going into 2024? >> yeah, it was a near scorecard from netflix, whether subscriber momentum and other financial metrics. going into 2024, yes, we will see growth. the one standout from the earnings report was the operating margin guidance. they were guiding initially 22%, 23% for 2024 and move that up to 24%, showing that the stars are line for it to play out in bet is what we will see happen in 2024. annabelle: the big focus as well was on the step netflix is taking in a new direction coming ahead of earnings results, but essentially this $5 billion bet on live events. we heard from the netflix kosi

eo in the earnings call. take a listen. >> live again programming -- event programming has been in the works. it fits inside our programming spend now. i would not look this as a signal of change to our sport strategy. annabelle: so acquiring those rights to raw and other programming from world wrestling entertainment, is out something that helps netflix? >> i think it absolutely does. they have been experiment with different content genres. live sports is something they had not ventured into so far but now that they have an advertising platform and are selling advertising, it definitely makes sense for them to go after sports because with sports you know that content plays well and attracts ad dollars in advertising dollars to the platform. what they need to do now is

invest in their content and that is what this wwe deal helps them to do, invest in content and get the scale up of the ad-based users and then sell that add inventory to the advertisers. paul: it is not cheap content though is it, the wwe deal, about $5 billion? does this suggest there would be a higher content spending going forward for netflix? >> it is $5 billion over 10 years, about $500 million every year and said it would be within their content budget, so this year they are projecting $17 billion in content spending. they said that will encz up into 2025 -- inch up in 2025 and 20 36. they said it would be a cautious and measured manner.

annabelle: investors clearly liking these results because netflix continuing to search after hours. let's switch to somewhere going in an opposite direction. china planning to stem the current stock market route, and that move facing a wall of skepticism. we had reported authorities were considering a rescue package backed by $278 billion. paul dobson joins us now. we did see a bit of a move higher for some chinese equities off the back of this, but the big question mark is whether that can be sustained. paul: yeah, exactly. the sort of immediate media reaction is a bit short covering , more optimism towards the market, yes, ok, there are sign

something will finally be done to help the market out at the very least, but after that immediate sugar rush in the rebound yesterday, what investors want to see is confirmation of this news and what else is there. investors don't just want supportive measures for the equity market, but for the economy, in order to get consumer confidence back in china. it breaks the mindset we slipped into over the past few months and to really kind of get growth coming get spending going again. so that is the longer-term plate that investors are looking for. there is also to be honest skepticism about how effective this can be long-term in any case. we have had many efforts by china over the years to prop up the markets previously and we found it is not supported by more fundamental changes and after that runs its course, even

as it is dribbling through, the market could turn against china again. paul: yeah, you mentioned words like skepticism, confidence. it is interesting 60% of stocks in china are held by, l investors. in considering they have not had great expense with the property market, how confident can they be that these measures will work? paul: yeah, i think winning over the domestic audience is important. we have seen so many stock-linked mutual funds closing down in the quick dating in recent months, adding to the selling pressure on the overall gauge, people switching into the safety of government bonds are picking up extra guilt and corporate bonds. the consumer is very burned and the man on the street is feeling pain at the moment and looking for bargains, which is why we are seeing price wars among the car retailers, the sort of big

retail chains as well. so turning that around, flipping got mindset and reestablishing the competences sort of the key to solving this from a markets perspective appellees. now the authorities may think it is still going at 5% a year and this is fine and we are don't need to do more and that is the conundrum. if they feel there is no need to sort of propel markets or consumer confidence further at this point, then probably this stimulus will only last for so long. paul: all right. paul dobson there. a new poll suggests donald trump gained most from the exit of ron desantis from the republican presidential race, opening a 22-point lead over nikki haley. voting is underway in new hampshire's primary where nikki haley is the last major

challenger between the former president and the publican party's nomination. jodi schneider joins us now from new hampshire. why is it so significant and how unusual is it for this to be effectively a two-person brace at such an early stage? jody: yeah, very unusual to be a two-person race. the last time there were about 10 people in it at this stage, so nikki haley said she wanted a two-person brace and is getting a two-person rate but with the challenger like donald trump it is an uphill fight for her. we heard today that reports of strong turnout, particularly among moderate and independent-minded voters, which will help her, because those of the voters she appeals to. she also appeals to voters who did not want to vote for donald trump. we will see the polls close here in more than an hour. and we poke than start getting the results.

she needs to have a very good night tonight to make it really have that momentum behind her that will continue to make this a successful or at least an interesting two-person race. she said today she would stay in the race to south carolina and will not be stopping out, although others who have dropped out have said just days before that they were going to stay in the race. annabelle: yeah, so what do you think will really constitute a success for nikki haley tonight? what is the bottom line going into it? maybe she does not win but gets close? is that something seen as a positive or not? jody: if she wins that sets up a different dynamic and really makes this you know, this continues this battle with donald trump, and of course that is what her campaign hopes. new hampshire is famous for giving, for surprising, for really having a different result

than the polls had shown. however, some analysts we spoke to today said that if, obviously she will be second, if she does not win, but if she comes in a strong second within five percentage points, that is a good showing and she can say that show she can be competitive to donald trump, that he is not that effective nominee at this point. if she trails him badly in second place, that is not a good sign. in the next big race in south carolina, which is her home state, but donald trump is already doing very well there. paul: yeah, so what happens after tonight? nikki haley said she will stick around until south carolina regardless of what happens, but at least one of these candidates has some legal trouble, doesn't he? jodi: he does. donald trump faces legal troubles in a number of jurisdictions and federal and state court, 91 indictment

counts, but he has also been able to make that part of his campaign. he basically goes from the campaign trail to the courthouse pretty seamlessly, and at the courthouse saying he is being targeted, that this is a justice department controlled by joe biden that is trying to keep him out of the race and does not want him to the president, and he fundraisers off of that, so so far we have not seen his legal troubles really affecting his popularity with his space although in new hampshire -- base, although we talk to some voters in new hampshire who said if you were convicted of a crime they might have trouble with that. what is next to south carolina, then super tuesday in march where a number of states that vote. annabelle: polls closing for this primary in just under two, so that was our bluebird political news director jody snyder joining us from new hampshire.

we will have special coverage of the primary beginning at 8:00 p.m. eastern time, midday in sydney, 9:00 a.m. in hong kong, so special coverage coming. apple pushing back at self-driving car ambitions as it continues to delay a launch date. plus, we were here on why make a caps have returned to the driver's seat. this is bloomberg. ♪ when you automate sales tax with avalara, you don't have to worry about things like changing tax rates or filing returns. avalarahhh

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annabelle: you are watching "daybreak: australia." taking a look at the big movers in the session intraday. futures pushing higher. the focus on earnings and what companies are signaling about the outlook. united posting and outlook that be. procter & gamble is well, offsetting sales growth for the company. both of those among the gainers enter day. johnson & johnson for instance, it slid. device margins dropping. drug sales as well falling.

3m, that is the most we have seen it down in five years. it was a disappointing outlook for the company. after hours, a mixed bag but two ones we are watching. netflix rallying because user numbers indicating further support for the company. most subscribers have signed up to the streaming giant since the days of the pandemic, the early days as well. texas instruments, a weaker forecast, a one to be watching, especially with those chipmakers in asia, but nasdaq futures pushing higher, so it indicates how much optimism is being priced into stocks. our next guest says the recent moves in u.s. equities show megacaps are back in control, particularly tech. she is with us now. lots of moves starting in october last year. do you think that it will lift up this earnings season to some of the hype and the positivity

that has been priced in at this point? dana: i think so far that we are seeing may beat we are not getting that. it is early days to make predictions, of course, but thus far is a little more lackluster than where we started the year with growth expectations for the s&p 500. i'm not saying we will not get 2023 double-digit's by the end of the year. i think that is a foregone conclusion, but certainly not surprising greatly to the upside, and you know only a few sectors kind of possibly maybe beating where the estimates were in january, so i think it's not a bad earnings season by any stretch and front of us, but nothing that is surprising people in a positive way. and if you think about the fact that we came into this year with a pretty high earnings multiple in the s&p 500, 19 times, there is not that room in there

and the pricing other than fantastic surprises to possibly impact the market. annabelle: yeah, so when you couple that and you have expectations for fed rate cuts pushed back. what does that tell you about the trajectory of the bull market? is it something that will fade? dana: there is a case to be made that for sure. we came into the year with a lot of evidence, right? so with multiples being where they were and you're right on it, expectations have dropped dramatically. we were looking at six plus likely and march and that has come down. pretty significantly. it should not be that shocking right? the fed notwithstanding some of the dovishness we heard at the last fomc meeting, they have expressed the desire to stay higher for longer, and when we look at what is going on in the

economy,, certainly unemployment and inflation is kind of coming in as a mixed bag, a little bit may be higher than expected, the core where we expected, ppi lower, i think to a certain extent that that is what they would do to sit where they are and that is said that is what they would do, so it should not be a markets in march, but it does seem to be taking the edge off the excitement we entered the year. paul: uh, in terms of markets, we have seen tech leading the gains, again, small-caps lag again. how long does this trend continue before the rally broadens out? dana: it is all around multiples. we have to see where tech comes in with earnings. it is this asymmetric possibilities. with tech, there is this possibility you get great news around ai that blows out

expectations, and you really don't have that kind of potential upside with other sectors, right? there is nothing hovering that could potentially boost other sectors the way some of the tech companies could come in and talk about ai and we have this massive boost, but i do recommend a tilt toward small-caps. small-caps came roaring back and got a lot of the return they have gotten for all of 2023 at the end of the year and there is a strong case to be made that whether you think they will win in the short run, they do over the longer haul, particularly if you stay away from the low profitability, lottery-ticket-like stocks if you stay away from that, small-caps outperform over time and are a nice hedge against inflation, which we really don't know for sure we completely

conquered, right? so i think not that you will have a small-cap portfolio, but when you think about having tilts in the portfolio, having that in your holding make sense. paul: just very quickly, 30 seconds, what is your cash allocation? dana: i think cash should be coming off a little. obviously you hold what you need to hold, but i think a lot of people held way too much cash last year. they saw the opportunity and rates but did not come anywhere near what equity markets did. paul: thanks so much for joining us. we have plenty more to come on "daybreak: australia." this is bloomberg. ♪ at cdw, we get the importance of clear communication. and when your teams are spread out, that's not always easy. our experts can help by implementing poly audio and video solutions to keep you connected. from headsets to collaboration tools, poly solutions offer simple setup

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paul: all right. let's take a look at what is happening in the currency space.

the bloomberg spot index strengthening, some positivity for the australian dollar. the yuan strengthening off the back of the report of a $278 billion stabilization fund to stem the market route in china. 148.28 for the yen. a lot of boj commentary priced in. staying on hold, as expected. and that expectation around the possibility of normalization of rates in japan in april, alive and well. next, netflix best gain since early days of the pandemic. more. this is bloomberg. ♪

>> let's take a look at how we are doing on markets at the

moment in australia. modest gains to the upside, about -- also in positive territory after having a rough week. we are getting data out of australia, the leading index for december. a slight contraction there. there is slight of .04 of 8%, reversing the game for that index we saw in november. new zealand stocks are backing off a little by .3%. cpi numbers out of new zealand a bit earlier and inflation slowing to 4.7%. that was in line with expectations. nikkei futures looking kind of flat at the moment. it has been performing very strongly of late and s&p futures are trading modestly in positive territory at the moment also. let's get back to one of the top stories out of the u.s. in terms of earnings. netflix signing up more than 13 million customers in the final

three months of 2023 and that is its best quarter of growth since viewers were stuck at home in the early days of the pandemic. let's bring in jamie, senior analyst at third bridge. thank you so much for joining us. take a look at some of the highlights. strong driver of growth. that was a beach on sales as well. what were the key takeaways for you? jamie: the key takeaways on this is really that netflix knocked it out of the park. if we break down the various sets of numbers here, netflix saw double-digit revenue growth, it saw an operating margin which other streamers are going to be envious of and the subscriber number, as you highlighted, this is one of the best quarters and years, seeing growth not only in its core u.s. and canadian markets but also in europe, asia-pacific, latin america, all seeing remarkable year on year improvements and also demonstrating that the initiative, such as the launching of the ad supported tear and the crackdown on password sharing, has taken --

for the company. annabelle: where is the rest going to come farm in future quarters --come from in future quarters? will we see some price increases? jamie: with thing about pricing, netflix looked at it a couple different ways. that was due as a price hike by management or another way to do that and then the announcements in q3 that they would be driving up prices so this is something which could perhaps temper growth, certainly more cost conscious customers, may be less inclined to go with some of those plans. the ad supported tear at seven dollars a month is a fairly competitive -- tier at seven dollars a month is fairly competitive. so while there could be some, you know, impact from price hikes, given what has already

happened in the landscape, it is not necessarily going to be a major net win for the company going forward. annabelle: you mentioned the crackdown on password sharing on how that help to boost subscriber numbers but how much more can netflix mine that sort of strategy as well? jamie: it's a great question and if we think back to before netflix started this off, they estimated that there were 100 million households which were sharing netflix accounts and if we look at the growth numbers over the past two or three quarters, it still has not gotten close to 100 million total. what we have been hearing from the experts we speak with is netflix could likely tap into 50% of those households. if we think about the progress the company has made, it is still only scratching the surface in terms of that subscriber growth potential. annabelle: and then there's the question of other revenue streams. we know one of them is the

gaming offering. so how much is netflix really committed to that area, do you think, so far? jamie: gaming is definitely interesting because if we think about this -- and leadership highlighted this during the earnings call -- gaming represents a very small fraction of overall spend that netflix and also is still relatively low in terms of the percent of its base which engages with games. this engagement has been growing. it tripled in 2023 although it is coming off of a relatively limited base and those are still remarkable numbers. what we have been hearing from our experts is that it is unlikely netflix will make any major moves in gaming in the near future, preferring to either build internally or growth through smaller acquisitions, picking up small studios versus something major and really continue to figure out the best way to continue to engage its base while also capitalizing on the ip they have to create just another way to monetize, you know, the hit

shows and films that that platform brings to people. paul: we were seeing netflix rising after hours about 8%. over the past year, netflix shares are better by 35%. how much more upside is there here? jamie: well, they think about where the company is today. it seems to have picked up a lot of momentum in terms of revenue growth and subscribers at the end of 2023. as we head into 2024, if we look around the industry, profitability is still key and netflix is definitely far and away above the competition. players like disney, warner bros., discovery, paramount are still trying to crack the code on getting profitability to work whereas netflix is there and working on optimizing their margins and as they look forward, changing the content mix, moving from their traditional scripted shows into live programming, changing how they are thinking about their investments and content, this

could have an impact on their cost structure so if we think about what is in store for netflix, they are still -- there are still levers they can pull to really continue to improve their positioning as a company. annabelle: you mentioned live programming because that was the big news ahead of the earnings was that they were paying $5 billion for programming from wwe. was that a prudent decision, do you think, again, to sort of diversify its content or do you think it is something that is a very, very expensive price tag? jamie: the wwe is definitely interesting and it's a big deal. $5 billion over 10 years, starting in january of 2025, but also on top of that, it is getting international rights, rights to a couple of other different shows from the wwe, and it is a lot of programming. weekly shows for an entire year, many hours of content that it will be able to bring to its platform which is also quite

different from the type of content that they have so from netflix's standpoint, this could be an affective play to appeal to a widening breath of people while finding new ways to engage its existing customer base because at the end of the day, subscriber growth is certainly incredibly important for netflix but keeping the existing subscribers there and not having them become serial churners, switching out, having this recurring content, this live, must watch tv, is something netflix think will be -- things will be a good investment for the future. annabelle: thanks for your insights. that was jamie lumley. we also heard from the wwe president, nick, about that deal. he says it will benefit both companies. >> we are pleased with the deal and we love the fact that netflix was willing to take a bet on us. they had said previously that they were not into sports

rights. the good thing about wwe, it is sports entertainment. as you said before the quick break there. we are an entertainment property as much as we are a sports property. 52 weeks a year, live, consistent programming, and an audience which is quite global. if you look at india -- which is not part of this deal -- we are the second most popular sport in and yet. if you look at the united kingdom, we are the fourth most popular sport there. this will take effect in the u.k. in addition to the united states, it allows us to gain a greater global footprint as we look to expand the business. >> i want to talk more about the decision to go with netflix, go with a streamer versus staying with a comcast, for example. did this come down to numbers where you were going to get the better deal or is this a bet on where the future eyeballs are going to be? nick: we continue to love nbc you. we have smacked down on usa, premiering this october. we have our premium live events,

formerly our papers use like wrestlemania on peacock exclusively in the united states. they have been tremendous. for us with raw, it was another test for someone new in the space. obviously, an established streaming entity, the streaming entity, if you will. it was a good bet by us and by them. katie: let's talk about ad pricing. does this give you greater add pricing power -- ad pricing power, this deal? nick: we think so. we have seen what amazon has been able to do. netflix is going to have great success in that space. wwe, three hours a week on rock, every week, allows netflix to month -- raw, every week, allows netflix to monetize this. >> raw has this super loyal and sizable audience. it must be a part of this deal where you are like, ok, we have to think about the future in growing a new audience and i wonder if there's any terms in the deal where ethics goes away and produces a behind-the-scenes

kind of documentary exclusive to netflix that introduces wwe to that new audience. when i thinking of? drive to survive with formula one and the success that had, bringing a sport to a new audience. nick: it would be a mistake by us at wwe to not do that with netflix. so assume that what you said is exactly what we are all thinking, we are all thinking, weeping netflix and wwe. you saw what drive to survive did for formula one, as you just mentioned. think the wwe audience, already big on a global level, only gets more big with a show like that. paul: that is nick khan. you can watch us live and see our past interviews on our interactive tv function, tv , and there, you can dive into any of the securities were bloomberg functions that we talk about and you can become part of the conversation by sending us instant messages during our shows. this is for bloomberg

subscribers only. you can check it out at tv . this is bloomberg. ♪

paul: a group of are sending oil and gas tanker owners say the u.s. has advised ships to continue to -- that continue to transit the red sea to do so with great see her -- with

great caution. michael heath has been following developments. suffice to say, despite the security operations going on at the entrance to the red sea, it doesn't seem like it is a whole lot safer there. michael: the shipping owners are very skeptical of the u.s. suggestion to exercise great care. they are just avoiding it altogether and frankly, outside of the oil tanker industry, which is obviously seeing huge increases in fees here, it's not really good news for anybody here. the u.s. and the u.k. have conducted some pretty strong strikes on houthi areas. they targeted underground storage facilities and those sorts of things but as we have been saying in recent days, it's very difficult to get a handle on this. they don't have boots on the ground. they are trying to do it all via surveillance. these guys are pretty nimble. the houthis are being supplied by iran. it is difficult to intercept

those ships. the u.s. lost two commandos recently, this month. so again, it's a real needle in a haystack kind of thing and in the meantime, trying to get shipping through there. shipowners are basically avoiding it where they can. annabelle: and it's not just the sort of present-day shipping that is really at risk here because we do understand that the u.s. did have a sort of plan in place or projections to try and sort of counter china's belt and road initiative and we also understand that that is now being sort of stalled or pushed back quite substantially. michael: that's right. it's a really interesting initiative. the u.s. and europe have this corridor, basically to be a rail corridor linking europe to india and it would go across the middle east and this sort of highlights the reverberations from this conflict. israel, very small country.

gaza, even smaller. just the global implications of these sort of issues where it feeds into u.s.-china competition. obviously, trying to build a railway or road connections across the peninsula now is out of the question with so much violence around. the whole project, which as you said was to counter china's belt and road, it was also premised on an incentive to saudi arabia to recognize israel's right to exist and set up diplomatic ties with the two, that that corridor would go across both nations. saudi arabia would have no interest in that while this fighting with the hamas-israeli war is going on, while the palestinian civilians are suffering, and while there is no prospect at this age for a palestinian date. saudi arabia is willing to open a lot of doors on these issues if that comes to pass and the u.s. is very keen for it to happen but israel has to be on board as well. there is a really interesting project to counter china and to open a new trade routes, a new

direct root. it's on ice while this conflict goes on and until we can get some political settlement in the end as well. annabelle: certainly need a lot more clarity and a resolution of some sort. that was michael heath there. let's take a look at some of the other geopolitical stories we are tracking today. turkey's parliament has approved sweden's nato membership and that leaves hungary as the lone holdout to the alliance's -- erdogan has back to the move and is expected to give final approval. it puts sweden on the cusp of becoming the 32nd member after a change in its defense policy following russia's invasion of ukraine. finland joins nato in april. the russian politician campaigning to and the war in ukraine has collected the 100,000 signatures required to challenge vladimir putin and this year's presidential elections. russian of woody's --

authorities still need to approve the campaign evocation before he secures a place on the ballot. putin is seeking a new six-year term in elections to be held in mid-march. israel and hamas have reportedly agreed in principle to exchange israeli hostages for palestinian prisoners during a possible month-long cease-fire. reuters cites unidentified sources saying a deal is being held up by differences over a permanent truce to end the war. the report says civilians would be freed first followed by soldiers. south africa's justice minister says upcoming elections have nothing to do with his country's move to take israel to the international court of justice. israel has denied the allegation that it is committing genocide in gaza. ronald meanwhile told us the case is not about scoring political points. >> there was no political consideration. we have been winning elections and campaigning on this matter of israel and palestine for many

years. we have always believed in a two state solution. >> why now? why escalate this? ronald: i already told you, it's not now. we have been doing it all along. even president mandela has done it. it has been a long project and campaign. as you have said yourself, a long-standing relations between the anc and the people's organization of arafat in palestine, so there is no consideration of elections at all. and the fact is that there is an ongoing genocide which needed to be attended to. it has nothing to do with elections. we are campaigning in south africa, is true. we have a number of issues. obviously, even international issues. but the matter was taken to the court on the basis of principal and on the basis of our

signatory to the genocide conviction. >> there has been a lot of opposition to this case in particular. we heard from the united states that called it unfounded. france saying it crosses a moral threshold. israel is of course in opposition to it. are you surprised at the level of criticism that you got to bringing this case forward? ronald: we are not really surprised. the only thing that surprised us is that it was not dismissed by substance. you can't dismiss and 84 page document with just three lines that it has no substance and so forth. they need to provide a compelling argument, substantive documents, so that everyone can be able to see what is their point, what is their argument? it can be engaged upon by both academics, intellectuals in the space, even the court itself. anyone who has got a different view, that is what they must do.

that is what south africa has done. follow the rules of the court. we have forensically submitted our submission. that is what we expect. show respect to other states. you cannot just dismiss it with three sentences. engage it. we continue to engage with all the players in the space and we believe that superior logic is what must prevail. annabelle: that was the south african justice minister speaking with bloomberg's jennifer. let's take a look at some breaking data that just came out for japan. we have had the trade balance numbers coming through from december and we saw a significant narrowing for the trade deficit so coming in at 62,000,000,001 in december. that is significantly lower than what we had in the month prior here. experts, meanwhile, we saw those rising, nearly 10% on the year, so an increase as well from

november and then also we saw imports in contractionary territory but narrowing from the prior months so down around 7%, down nearly 12% in november as well. really, that focus on semiconductor exports, providing perhaps a bit of a boost here with the numbers. more ahead. this is bloomberg. ♪

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>> we have learned that apple is dialing back its ambitions for a self driving car and delaying the launch for it. for more, let's bring in bloomberg technology reporter, mark gurman. apple in reverse on the car. why? mark: that's a good one. yes, sort of. their initial plan was to release a level four car, autonomous vehicle that can self drive with level four capabilities. that means the car can drive almost entirely on its own in almost any condition. they are scaling back, moving to something called level two plus. that is in line with what tesla has today, maybe a little bit better, and they are doing that because getting to level four, getting to these more advanced levels of self-driving and self-driving autonomy is very difficult, very challenging. they are scaling back and they are tilting the debut of the car. they had planned to launch it around 2026 and that is now going to be between 2029.

a bit of a revamp or shakeup here. annabelle: if they are delaying the launch to 2029, as you said and it will have this level two plus plan, similar to the cap abilities of tesla today, why does someone want an apple car in six years from now or five years that has got those capabilities? mark: there's going to be a big focus on safety systems, a big focus on interior and exterior design that apple believes is going to be far superior to what tesla and other car companies are offering at this point. it's going to be a bit of a higher end vehicle and a much more advanced infotainment system, internal systems. the display, the gauge is, what have you. it will be much more advanced from what you are seeing from tesla. there will be key differentiators here and there is a belief that 2029, 4 or five years from now, you are not going to see level four autonomy

or level five autonomy being a big part of daily conversation, being a big part of daily driving. the belief is that level two plus will be with -- where the industry lands in four years from now. annabelle: great context. that was bloomberg's tech reporter, mark gurman, there. some of the stocks we are going to be watching, chipmakers and supplies of texas instruments after the u.s. company's disappointing revenue forecast. it tells us demand is perhaps a little bit sluggish. we can also take a look at asian swimming related companies and producers of korean shows in focus following netflix posting its best subscriber growth since the start of the pandemic. ♪

>> we're counting down to the asian market opens. the focus is on what happening in mainland equities. reaction coming through, beijing trying to stabilize a failing equity market. paul: we have been reporting talks of a huge packet, china has a bit of a mixed history. let's see if it can turn things around. annabelle: we have seen those measures falling short in the past. some eco-data, trade numbers are coming out for japan. the trade surplus is narrowing.