♪ >> welcome to "daybreak:

australia." i am in sydney where markets have just come online. >> i am in hong kong counting down to asia's trading open and the top stories this hour. u.s. stocks lose esteem near record highs as traders race for data and fedspeak. treasury yields rising after options of two and five-year notes. haidi: tumbling 37% on lower asset prices and $1.5 billion in write-downs. annabelle: and china calls on australia to support entry into a trans-pacific trade block at the wto chief called for reform to revive global commerce. haidi: a cautious session is what we are setting up for this tuesday morning. this is the start of the staggered session coming online. woodside will be one of the last segments to come online in

alphabetical order. woodside profits sliding on lower prices. we are expect in a bit of pressure on how the stock trades today. we had the 1.5 billion in charges with earnings falling a cross 2023 as production increased to a record. taking a look across the rest of the markets, we are seeing a muted start to trading in australia. .1% lower. we are taking not much of a lead from wall street with the u.s. markets losing stream, close to record highs as we see the rally starting to stall. qe stocks down .2% -- kiwi stocks down .2%. we are watching for japan. nikkei futures softer and it is

economic data from the u.s. and fedspeak that will help shape the outlook for markets. dollar-yen firmly above the 150 threshold. more commentary from the ministry of finance later today as well. annabelle: i think it was mentioned -- i think you mentioned a couple of key themes for u.s. stocks overnight. it was range bound. we did not see a lot of trading action in either direction. a little weaker. you see it reflected in u.s. futures coming online. the other point you mentioned as well is what investors are waiting for. there is the favored inflation gauge from the fed. we are expecting that to show the biggest increase in a year. importantly, it will highlight how difficult it will be for the fed to bring inflation back to the 2% target. the core pce imprint there waiting for.

-- the core pce print they are waiting for. also notable is where investors are putting their money instead pretty bitcoin is proving to be more popular. overnight we saw bitcoin rising to the highest in two years. it is also strong etf flows we are seeing is helping to underpin price expectations. haidi: our next guest says -- investors will find opportunities in china if they can thread the needle. let's bring in the head of active equity at wellspring global investments. great to have you with us. when you look at the availability of stock investments, if you look at equity opportunities, do you start to look at less loved markets? maybe that is an understatement talking about chinese assets

given we are seeing a turn in sentiment. >> i think it is a place you have to look. certainly in our outlook piece last year, we talked about where the market was not paying attention or listening for the quiet. we believe the market would broaden out in the u.s. and look down cap. also in emerging markets, places like china and more broadly emerging markets would start to show signs of recovery and maybe some emerging markets more quickly than the u.s. as you stated, china has been a big underperformer. it is difficult for investors. a lot of investors have given up on the area completely which has sent a lot of evenly high quality companies to all-time low valuation levels. for managers paying a lot of

attention and focused on fundamentals, now is the time to pay attention. may not want to load the boat. but as you said, there are signs of turns. it will not be a smooth ride. we expected to be bumpy along the way. but it is an area our investor teams are paying attention. haidi: there are structural headwinds. geopolitics is at the forefront this year. where are you seeing quality and predictability for emerging, including china? >> i think those larger cap names are the names in china that our investment teams are tending to lean toward more. more broadly speaking, across all of the global markets, there are opportunities in a lot of sectors. in the u.s., we like the health care space. that is an area that potentially

has the most earnings growth and was the forgotten market in 2023. it is starting to show some outperformance. as i said, it increased in 2024. that is one area we like as well as small and mid-cap. annabelle: what is it about health that stands out to you? i'm curious when you look at health care, i think one of the key hallmarks of last year was the ozempic trade. we saw a lot of investors positioning around that. it seems to have quieted down, but is there still room to run? >> great question. the ozempic trade really was negative for almost all of health care. while we understand and believe it will be negative for some health care stocks, it will not be negative for all of them. in some cases, is up it

challenges could be beneficial for some health care stocks. the other negative last year is we did see utilization continued to be lower across the board post-covid. we are starting to see utilization trends pickup for services, devices, and other things. that is a positive and the health care space and another reason we like it. thirdly, we are seeing m&a start to pick up. that is typical when you see valuations washed out across the board. those are the three primary reasons. actually, the fourth one is the thing that i lead with, earnings growth shows good signs of growth, probably the best sector for earnings growth in 2024. annabelle: i want to bring up a terminal chart to look at one of the hallmarks of how investors are choosing to get into chip

stocks versus the rest of the s&p. we can see chips are getting really expensive. how much does the lack of market breadth concern you? tell me more about the small and mid-cap space and where you are looking for options? >> great question. technology in the chip sector, they have earned the right to play. it has been an area our teams have been involved with. what i do not love is all of the multiple expansion that has gone along with it. earnings have been good. they do deserve to outperform based on the fundamentals. some expansion has been warranted but it has gotten pricey in some cases depending on the company. where our teams are looking for more breadth's across the tech

sector where you are seeing stocks go up based on fundamentals but you have not seen all of the margin expansion happen. we still believe the valuation is good and there is still upside. those are the areas we are looking for for continued market breadth. health care, technology, we still think there is room, but also areas that were considered more defensive that investors stayed away from last year industrials, materials, those areas have started to do much better this year. the signs have continued. if you look at the s&p mid-cap index, that index has outperformed the last 11 of 13 weeks. you can generally see the trend of all companies regardless of sector in the small and mid-cap space, as long as the

fundamentals are improving, they are getting rewarded. haidi: always great to chat with you. taking a look at australia's woodside energy reporting a 37% decline in profit along with energy prices and $1.5 billion in write-downs. we are seeing upside of about 1% at the moment. a 37 percent decline was on lower energy prices with average prices following 30% a year earlier despite strong demand for products according to the ceo. let's get more from the head of the asia energy team. investors see through these numbers. it was the demand side perhaps is more compelling. >> that is probably right.

just seeing the shares up a touch, that probably reflects that a lot of this was expected. 2022 was an exceptional year for energy prices because of all of the disruption from russia's invasion of ukraine. that pushed up lng prices. woodside saw record profit, really benefited from the uplift in prices. we have seen some prices normalize to a large extent. investors were expecting this. even with the 30% decline in underlying earnings, it still beat estimates. it was just above the 3.07 billion consensus estimate so that is positive as well. i think we see investors accept the longer term view. they talk about continued strong lng demand. they are growing the production profile. woodside's assets sit at the

heart of the asia-pacific region where lng is forecast to grow the most. annabelle: there were write-downs on different assets. give us more context on how significant it was. was it perhaps expected by analysts? >> those write-downs were a couple of weeks ago and not hugely unexpected. they relate in part to two specific assets, one in the gulf of mexico. that is an asset bought in a much larger acquisition of bhp's oil and gas portfolio in 2022. the bulk of the write-down relates to goodwill and accounting around the acquisition. early a one off, not massively unexpected. the much smaller component relates to the whetstone lng facility and that boils down to

lower pricing last year. we are seeing that across the results. woodside not only produces lng, it is also a traitor of lng. in the trading, the short-term prices have collapsed in 2023. we are seeing winstone -- woodside take the hit. haidi: do we have an expectation that is still hunting for deals? >> i think we do. we have reported that. we have heard the past couple of weeks and interviews they have indicated growth is still on the agenda. they are advancing a series of existing growth projects. do not discount the idea of deals. woodside is bullish to add

volumes. we would expect they are continuing to look at all of the opportunities including for m&a. annabelle: we will be asking about the prospect of those opportunities when we speak to the woodside energy ceo and managing director about their earnings and the outlook at 2:00 sydney time later today, 11:00 in hong kong. annabelle: big interview later. still ahead, we will have more than 300 decision-makers in business and finance gathering in hong kong for the climate business forum. we will get a preview with the vice president. crane president says the e.u. is falling short on commitments for military support. this is bloomberg. ♪

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annabelle: ukraine says the european union has only delivered about one third of the artillery and ammunition the bloc pledged to the country. as the war grinds into the third year, kyiv is looking for weapons lifeline with the u.s. military aid package still stuck in congress. nick is with us. i think it is worth pointing out the appraisal from zelenskyy does appear to deviate from the figures given by the european commission. where does the discrepancy lie? >> there are a few things going on. i think what you are seeing is president zelenskyy trying to impress upon the west, europe, but more specifically the united states the urgency of the situation given the bill is

being held up in congress, more than $60 billion in aid. president zelenskyy can perhaps be forgiven for rounding up or down the numbers a little bit to make his message even more urgent. when you get right down to it, what we are hearing is ukraine is going to be facing critical shortages in the coming weeks. you are already starting to see that with russia making gains on the battlefield. the intent is to force the u.s. to pay attention and try to get the aid unlocked. haidi: we also heard from german chancellor scholz closing the door on sending long-range missiles to ukraine. i wonder with the aid package in limbo, what are the expectations we could see that released? as we get closer to november, what is the potential change in leadership -- what does the potential change in leadership mean for the war? >> great question.

germany has consistently budged off of its previous positions not to supply advanced weaponry. a few months ago, it was tank spread there was a lot of discussion and they eventually went ahead. this was a shock for ukraine. they had been seeking the long-range missile. if you get to long-range, they can go into russian territory and that opens up a host of other problems. in terms of the u.s. aid, this is something democrats want to do now. they are putting a lot of pressure on speaker mike johnson to say the votes are there, just allow the vote to go ahead for the package to be approved. it is not a question of there being insufficient support, it is him not wanting to go ahead because donald trump has given the signals he opposes the aid package. this is something the democrats want to get done urgently but

certainly before november because there is a real feeling that after that, this is not something president trump will even sign if he were president to allow the money to go through, or he would only allow a much reduced number to go to ukraine. haidi: you can assign some of this to the feed teague -- fatigue of the conflict of the last three years. wonder how much of this is coming down to the stretch bandwidth with the war in gaza. >> i think the u.s. is still very committed. there is the question of president biden's undermined political support at home, particularly in states like michigan with a large arab-american population where they feel the embrace of benjamin netanyahu has been too great and there is concern over the humanitarian fallout that

has not been as strong as they would like. you're seeing the aid package that has been hung up does include several billions of dollars in aid for ukraine. i would say the need is less urgent there. president biden has shown no appetite to ease off giving israel the weaponry it needs. certainly, in congress, there is no lessening of that appetite. that has broad support even from trump. i expect it would be likely they would unlock that. ukraine a very different matter. that is something democrats are doing everything they can now to get through. haidi: we did hear from president trump speaking in new york earlier saying he hopes the gaza cease-fire can commence as soon as monday, saying he hopes negotiators would secure the temporary pause in fighting in gaza, describing the talks as close and that the cease-fire

could potentially start by next monday. that is president biden's hope hicks rest earlier today. much more to come on "daybreak: australia." this is bloomberg. ♪

annabelle: the fast fashion company is said to be considering the possibility of listing in london instead of the u.s. after it's judged unlikely u.s. regulators would approve the ipo. what is it exactly that our reporting has found they could be unlikely to get green light? >> has been a lot of

geopolitical tension between the u.s. and china, as we know. a lot of chinese companies listed in the u.s. have not been well received. in the last two years, they have set bad examples. even if they do get the regulatory approval they need, there could be a shareholder issue, whether they can generate enough interest and enough confidence for another adr listing. our colleagues reported they are now considering a london listing, potentially more politically friendly, to see if they can raise capital there instead. haidi: would hong kong be in the mix? in a lot of ways, that seems to make sense. >> i think they are still looking at the u.s. as the most preferred location. hong kong and singapore may also have been in their

consideration. but london seems to be sitting at number two at the moment after the u.s. we should bear in mind this company generates almost all of its revenue in the u.s. despite headquartered in singapore and founded in china. it would make the most sense to do it in the u.s. but the political concern may be a huge hurdle. annabelle: do we get any sense about the valuation? this is a company that could have been worth at one point up to $90 billion. we know that has come down significantly. >> we have been tracking some of the private secondary sell in the company. we have seen some holders assigned privately at 30% discount, sometimes as low as a $45 billion valuation. that is still a huge number. it is nowhere close where it used to be that was thrown

around a year ago. that in some way solves the liquidity issue for some shareholders. the biggest liquidity event shareholders are looking for would be the ipo. where will this happen will also make a huge impact for the venture capital holders. haidi: the latest on the shein i.p. of. china calls on australia to support its bid to join the trans-pacific trade i think he's having a midlife crisis i'm not. you got us t-mobile home internet lite. after a week of streaming they knocked us down... ...to dial up speeds. like from the 90s. great times. all i can do say is that my life is pre-- i like watching the puddles gather rain. -hey, your mom and i procreated to that song.

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>> all right, you are taking a look at a shot of tokyo. we are getting breaking data

coming out. this is the national cpi readings for japan. it is coming better than expected. this is a pretty interesting read so far. i'm going to kick it off with the core reading. that has come in at 2% growth on the year here. the survey had been for 1.9%. that would have marked the first time since march 2022 that it undershot the bank of japan's 2% target. still a softening from the month prior where it was 2.3%. that is in line with the boj target of 2%. that is the core reading. at the headline level, it is coming better than expected. growth of 2.2%. the survey had been for 1.9%. it is the same trend of a softening for the month prior.

the core reading came in at 3.5%. the survey had been for 3.3%. in aggregate, the inflation numbers are a little bit better than had been expected. it is still against that backdrop of pretty weak data we have out from japan. the country is in a technical recession at least. certainly something that is going to be tracked closely because we want to get a gauge of the health and the boj wants to understand whether the economy is weak or strong enough to end negative rates and its program of yield curve control. notcoo much reaction off the japanese yen. it is a little bit firmer versus the greenback here. certainly an interesting data point. coming in better than what had been expected. taking a look across the markets, you are seeing a bit of weakness across the board. just looking at those numbers,

it is not very noticeable or worth really pointing out too much the moves today because it is trading as we await the fed. >> of course so much to parse through when it comes to economic data and fed speak through the course of this week that could realign some of these expectations. a big focus when it comes to trade and the geopolitical overlay of some of these trading relationships as we have the ministerial meeting of the wto. china wants australia to actively support its efforts to join the cptpp trade block. they have met in abu dhabi. we were talking yesterday about the momentum to try to get this. is it likely china could become a member? >> it is certainly likely in terms of one we are a very long way away from that.

it would require unanimous supfall members. china has been actively courting members as well. the chinese trade minister met with the new zealand trade minister on the sidelines as well. australia has previously said it doesn't object to china joining the cptpp. china wants australia to actively support its bid. it is also urging australia to address issue chinese businesses face in the country. the statement, which was a few sentences, did not go into specifics of that, but the relationship has had a tough few years. so many hurdles remaining. there are till straight -- still trade strikes in place. we talked about the wind tariffs. tariffs on lobsters remain. then there is the australian academic who has been handed a

suspended death sentence in china. that is obviously a stumbling block as well. the phrase can of worms springs to mind. >> paul, what about the main stage at the wto? what are we hearing about the process of reform? paul: as usual, a lot is getting said and the challenge is to translate that into actual action. we did hear from the director general of the wto, she was speaking about the need to repair the multilateral trading system, calling it strained. i'm sure everybody at the conference probably agreed with that perspective. doing about it is another story. she also talked about global demand. she set apart from india and the u.s., global demand is looking pretty sluggish. war is waiting on growth, climate issues are weighing on

growth. the 3% prediction the wto made was before the israel-hamas war. they are saying that is now looking a bit optimistic as well. india's commerce minister arrives today. uncertainty around subsidies and opposes the inclusion of gender, labor rights. that is an issue for other members. australia for example is opposing the shielding of subsidies. this underscores the difficulty of finding agreement between 164 members. new members will have their own agendas as well. finding goal alignment is incredibly difficult. annabelle: all right, that was paul allen. the trade minister says the economy will feel the impact of slower local growth and the turmoil in the red sea.

>> it always concerns us when growth is undershooting what people are forecasting what they want. higher growth need means greater prosperity, greater tax revenues for governments. there are strong reasons why we want local growth to recover. that is why the u.k. for example is taking strong action in the red sea in concert with our allies, to make sure trade continues to flow and that the world does not suffer unduly from events in the middle east. >> you did mention developing countries should benefit as much as richer nations and that this particular conference has been about that. what about the digital goods tariff moratorium? >> this is essential for the wto. this would be really going backwards for it not to be renewed. this would mean that there would suddenly be the potential for

customs duties on anything from netflix through to potentially anything that could be transmitted digitally could be subject accustomed is -- customs duties. we think this would be a retrograde step to go back 20 years or more. we think it benefits the whole world and developing countries in particular to not have duties on digital transactions. >> nonetheless, some developing countries might see it as a chip to use in their favor if they can bargain with that for example. >> our own estimates are that developing countries, whatever they might gain from the tax revenues from this, would be dwarfed by the losses to gdp. 20 to 30 times as much loss in gdp compared to what they might gain out of tax revenues. it is strongly against the

interests of developing countries. it is against the interests of everybody to put these customs duties on something with people to expect to flow pretty freely around the world. >> can your delegation convince everybody else? what are the odds this doesn't get done? you have to convince indonesia and possibly other countries. >> i think we have 130, 140 countries now have agreed to not put customs duties on e-commerce transactions or to rollover the e-commerce moratorium. that is a pretty good position. the large number of developing countries and some very large developing countries agree with us that it would not be a good way forward. >> talk to us about the free trade agreement with india. is it going to get signed before india likely goes to elections? >> that the deal is important -- we have always said that the deal is important, not the date. the negotiation is live at the moment. >> what are the sticking points?

>> there is a huge amount you can do with india. as so much can be done on a trade agreement with india. it wouldn't be right for me to say where are the areas that are more difficult? obviously, we are putting a lot of time and effort into it. >> u.k. trade minister greg hands with vonnie quinn. coming up, the asia-pacific business forum is getting underway in hong kong. the international finance corporation tells us what they are expecting next. this is bloomberg. ♪

>> the hong kong monetary authority and international finance corporation are hosting a climate forum as the city looks to raise its profile for green for finance. nice to have you in the hong kong studio this morning. let's start with what we are expecting out of this event this week. >> this is a great opportunity for hong kong to showcase its position in the world of

sustainable finance. if you look at the data over the last five years, hong kong has steadily raised its profile. back in 2019 if you look at all across the different instruments come all the different types of instruments, the total numbers only about $3.1 billion. in 2020, the number raised to $4.7 billion. 2020 two, almost $29 billion. it looks to have already had a bit of a healthy growth of 16%. this is in contrast to the broader market were the last two years we have seen sustainable finance decline. in many markets measures that were in place during the pandemic have expired. >> against the backdrop of that, where are you seeing opportunities? >> i see a lot of opportunities here to develop the knowledge of all financial products linked to

energy transition and financial gains. enhanced regulation, make sure that acquisitions -- accusations of greenwashing are not going to be there anymore, and make sure that investors and issuers alike are going to be comfortable with hong kong. i think it's the right place to do it. hong kong has the knowledge, it's the right place where this kind of product can be built in a credible way. >> ricardo, what are you most excited about in terms of the types of tech knology -- technology and the different geographies looking out from hong kong? >> listen, in terms of technology, we have to develop all kinds of technologies. some are more advanced than others. we are big investors at ifc in emerging markets in asia and other regions. we are very much supporting

stationary batteries, batteries for cars, electric vehicles. that is the kind of change which is working very well. of course, renewables. digitization of the whole system. ineyshould be thinking about systems, not about a technology by itself. needs to be integrated for the best solution both to meet the energy demand in asia and for meeting the climate change demand. we see a lot of growth in india. we recently invested in the equity of electric vehicles. the company is doing very well. we have very long partnerships in india with cleantech to develop renewables projects and we have developed 10 gigawatts in 10 years. then we have all the work with

the world bank's all over asia. i would like to mention the first green bond in mongolia, i think it's very interesting. then we have to deepen the knowledge and go from a green bond., ocean bond, there's a real issue with marine plastics so we have to pay attention to everything. >> obviously, hong kong when it comes tradition edition -- through -- when it comes to traditional capital markets is well-established. how about green finance? >> as he mentioned, hong kong has had a lot of experience and as a result of that, it has taken a very balanced approach. it has taken a voluntary approach in other cases. as it is the financial gateway to mainland china, it supports

the companies there. mainland china is the world's largest market for deployment of energy transition technologies in the manufacture of these technologies. many of the solar wind manufacturers in the mainland, when they are looking at raising capital as a source of primary funding if not secondary or tertiary, they look at utilizing opportunities in hong kong. >> there are still some pretty significant financing gaps in the asia-pacific region. how exactly could hong kong look at that? >> i think you're absolutely right. it's not a matter only for asia. we see it far more here because the climate change challenge and gap is bigger, but it is a problem all over the world, so it is really the work of multilateral development banks. not only investing our own money

, which is really a drop in the ocean, but really to attract all kind of investors that can come to emerging markets in energy transition projects. i always say the number which is important for me, middle income countries attracted $850 billion for climate change in the last decade, while less-developed countries attracted $12 billion. we really have to mobilize private sector and we need to mobilize their knowledge and funding and make sure that we develop rules that are strong and transparent and predictable. >> ricardo, when you take a look around the region, where do you see the strongest regulatory frameworks and what would you propose is required more from regional governments to be able to facilitate more of this financing and more of the public-private partnerships we

have been talking about? >> you are absolutely right. i see that from the viewpoint of attracting financing, i can see india is a good framework. it can be improved in many things of course, china as well. i think it is really necessary that we are able to attract private companies. maybe we are able to develop better progress to make them bankable, as we say. this i can tell you from the ifc and world bank viewpoint, we are really going to take more risk in order to attract private investments. we will have more equity, more quasi-equity instruments, more guarantees. working with governments to

develop their farms and put our money where we think the forms are good to make the private investors comfortable. >> thanks for your time. coming up, we discuss the gender pay gap in australia as the government releases company level data on salaries for the first time. details next. this is bloomberg. ♪ something amazing is happening here. retailers are moving inventory quickly and securely. that's because cdw designed and built a solution with cisco security. end to end protection, defends against attacks and makes better decisions in real time.

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>> the australian units of morgan stanley and ubs typically pay male staff over 40% more than women. it underscores how compensation discrimination is deeply entrenched in the finance industry despite years of diversity initiatives. amy, does this show that any progress has been made or simply that more efforts, more policy work needs to be done? >> it certainly does show that there is an enormous amount of work ahead to equalize pay in the insurance and finance sector, which ranks second to construction in terms of pay disparity. this is the first time countries

have had their individual pay gaps made public by the workforce gender equality agency. the data released overnight. the gender pay gap when you look at the median salary of bonuses as well as a base salary, that is at 19%. if you look at the finance and insurance sector, the pay gap is 26.1%. nationally, it means that women are getting paid 18,000 dollars australian less than men each year. when i have spoken to the banks, and a lot of them have said they are making a lot of efforts in terms of getting women into more senior management visions and reeling in the gap in the individual workplaces, but it is fair to say that some of the big names in the finance sector have pay gaps that are pushing 40%. that is similar to what is being reported in japan since wage transparency measures came in over there.

it does show that there is much work to be done. >> to your point, i feel like every time we get out this data, on the international level, you need to have more women being developed and retained and promoted to senior leadership positions, but is this really a gender leadership gap or could this also be a case that women are just being paid less? >> so, what all the banks have basically told me when we approached them ahead of the release of this data is that when you look at like for like in the work lace, that is not what the issue is. it is more that there's an issue in terms of certain workplaces. some banks will say they have a large proportion of women working in local branches and customer-service roles and those are particularly lower paid. some banks say they are making an effort to elevate women to senior leadership positions.

it should be mentioned that in this round of data, ceos are not popped into the data set. that will come out over time. there is an argument that like for like, but it questions how much work these companies are doing in elevating women to their senior workforce and what changes need to be made to even out those work gaps. >> u.s. regulators have faulted boeing for ineffective procedures and a breakdown of communications between senior management. they also found a lack of awareness for the safety-weighted metrics. the report comes after a fuselage blowout in january. chinese carmaker says it has been contacted by the italian government to bring some of its

auto productions to the country. the need for a second european plant demands on sales volume. they are looking to attract as they may move production to lower cost countries. taking a look at stocks we are watching, watching as bitcoin climbs above $54,000 as there is growing optimism that it could bring the price back to record levels. this is bloomberg. ♪

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♪ >> this is daybreak asia,

counting down to the major market opens and ahead of trade what is standing out is inflation data. the beat on what economists have been expecting, hotter than what readings had suggested. haidi: how does that fit in with the bank of japan's timing, the rate structure. one driver has been the japan stock rally. annabelle: back to those hike bets and we have seen a lot of economists predicting we could see something as soon s8 role but whether we will see anything away from