haidi: welcome to "daybreak: australia." i'm in sydney where markets have just come online. annabelle: the top stories, a cautious start after u.s. stocks erased gains in a final half-hour of trading. haidi: economists expecting a slight uptick. annabelle: we are live to baltimore for the latest on the bridge disaster that has halted shipping at a major u.s. port. want to start our show with at this morning. the baltimore bridge collapse, we start by acknowledging what could be a human loss of life. we know the search is ongoing for six construction workers that were on the bridge at the time of the incident. we do have a reporter on the ground and we will get to her in just a moment. the possible commercial implications given this is connected to one of the busiest ports on the u.s. east coast.

let's get more with our abc news reporter there in baltimore. give us a sense of what is happening on the ground and the latest there. >> people are just holding their breath right, this has been going on for 17 plus hours, search-and-rescue crews are still at it, still trying to find those missing people. eight people total fell into the water when that ship collided with the bridge and of course the bridge collapsed. the family members have been briefed, they have been spoken with by the governor and other local leaders and have been waiting for a positive update. right now the best updates that are able to be provided are just that they are continuing to search for them as we hear helicopters overhead. haidi: obviously there's huge disruptions, what we see as being the impact for business and commuters?

>> for commuters, there may be implications because the state of maryland certainly has a lot of waterways so it may be complicated in that regard. but of course this is a busy port, as you mentioned. there were 850,000 cars and small trucks shipped into this port last year alone so it is a significant part of the economy over here and something that will be disruptive. there are two layers to this, one is to get that port back up and running and to get the bridge rebuilt. both leaders have -- leaders have said they will put every resource possible into this. annabelle: do we have any sense of what exactly happened, why the ship collided with the bridge? >> the short answer is no, but we have pieces of information that paint the picture of what happened at 1:30 in the morning.

there was a made a call made by the captain on the ship and essentially saying they had lost control. you can see in some of the video that the power went out a couple of times and shortly after, that's when the ship collided with one of the columns and then the bridge itself collapse. the bridge is about two kilometers long, so you can imagine how significant that was as an event. the mayday call was made and there were crews that were able to stop traffic from going onto the bridge. of course it is overnight so it is not like it is a high traffic time of the day, but that call alone could have saved lives because it prevented vehicles from crossing over that bridge as it was collapsing. haidi: looking at the impact for supply chains, we know this is a top-tier bridge, but do we

anticipate any expectations being set in terms of how long the closure will be? >> we are working to figure out a timeline, everyone of course is saying two things, one that they are working as fast as possible, and their main priority right now is to find these six people who fell. the six were construction workers, there were eight total, two of them were rescued and they are now in the hospital. that has been the focus, all of the questions are valid but they will take some time to figure out. i would imagine there would have to be adjustments just to carry on in the short-term. haidi: christianne cordero there in baltimore with the latest. we will continue to monitor that situation and the developing story. let's get you to the start of trading across asia as we hit

the midweek session. it is a picture of caution when it comes to the start of trading . here in sydney looking pretty flat at the moment. u.s. benchmarks walking out -- wiping out gains in the last 30 minutes of trading. the caution is passing through to the asian session. the aussie dollar holding steady , we will continue to watch for implications of policy guidelines from japan in particular when it comes to the volatile moves we seen in the yen. this come in ahead of the february inflation number far astray that will be key to paint a better picture in terms of how we view the rba moves given the

surprise labor market numbers we had into the end of last week. expecting little bit of uptick when it comes to the inflation numbers. we're about 45 minutes away from the start of trading in seoul in tokyo. the dollar yen stubbornly holding above the 151 level. we are expecting new zealand budget announcement with kiwi stocks down about .25%. annabelle: this is the state of play for u.s. futures, just coming online. take note of the nvidia stock price because that's the last close we had yesterday in the session and big tech pulled equities down a little lower. that set the scene, that focus on the loss in tech megacap's overall and stocks holding onto earlier gains.

the dollar recouped some losses and then trading higher against most of its g10 peers. treasuries, not much movement in the market. oil holding fairly steady, little bit softer this morning. haidi: let's look at some of the other corporate stories we are tracking today. visa and mastercard have agreed to a deal with utep -- u.s. retailers, in agreement that could save at least $30 billion over five years. the deal would allow retailers to charge consumers extra for using visa or mastercard and steer them toward lower cost cards. shipments in china slipped for second month in february. official data showing a 33% decline from a year earlier with foreign brand shipping roughly 2.4 million smartphones for the

month. apple has seen his best-selling products struggling china since september. alibaba calling off its plan, ipo, the chairman described the market is pretty depressed and says it would not have afforded them the capital needed for global spansion. it's a second time the firm has shelved a high profile debut for one of its main businesses. annabelle: sticking with china, it's hosting its annual blowout for -- boso forum. stephen engle joins us now. we just heard the focus is on geopolitics. their economic and market concerns as well. stephen: absolutely. the chinese economy is sluggish, no doubt. that may be a bit of a misnomer. it is hurting, and those apple

numbers in february with sales down 33% for the iphone is a punctuation point on that as far as the consumer. there are bigger issues with the debt loads at the local level, and the ongoing property troubles. that spills into the broader economy and those who are trying to sell into this economy. that is what boao is about, many of them have not been here in five years. this is my first time back in five years, since 2019. this is an event that tries to liken itself to the world economic forum for china. it is slow this year for sure. they're not as many guests, partly because the china developed form was being held over the weekend in beijing and privately, many of the american ceos were told to perhaps stay little bit longer in beijing because they could potentially meet a senior leader.

that was widely believed to be xi jinping. that meeting could be happening sometime today, wednesday, in beijing. some of those who might have come to boao might be saying a little longer in beijing to potentially meet with the chinese leader. we have a full lineup of guests, we will talk to david olson, the national president and chairman of the australia-china business council. obviously there's been a thought in those chilly relations after a three year trade war. -- a thaw in those relations. that's online exports into china, tariffs of up to 218% on some products. we will talk about that and some of the other issues and trade products that come in to china from australia. also at 9:00 we will be talking

with the chairman of fortescue metals. our biggest interview will be the ceo of astrazeneca, the bios -- bio pharmaceutical industry caught in the tug-of-war. we will get his thoughts on that. haidi: some great conversations lined up there and no shortage of issues to talk about. stephen engle is at boao for us with that. this is bloomberg. ♪ calculate sales tax automatically. avalarahhhhhh what if tax rates change? ahhhhhh filing sales tax returns? ahhhhhh business license guidance? ahhhhhh -cross-border sales? -ahhhhhh -item classification? -ahhhhhh does it connect with acc...? ahhhhhh ahhhhhh ahhhhhh starting a business is never easy, but starting it eight months pregnant... that's a different story. i couldn't slow down.

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haidi: our next guest says markets are prosperous soft landing, but he sees risk to the outlook. he's a senior portfolio manager, great to have you with us. do you think the consensus at this point is still underestimating the potential for downside factors to start playing in? >> definitely. if you look back at what the fed were saying last week, they are very much trying to pitch for that soft landing. we still think there is potential on the recession side, but we also see the risk of a

second wind and that is the upside. if you look across those three, that's vastly different policy outcomes. the fed has different implications for the duration of inflation and credit markets are that means investors need to be conscious about some of the risks we think are still out there. haidi: talk me through some of these tail risk. do you see a policy misstep as being one of the main ones? we got australian inflation numbers and labor market numbers , do you think the messiness of the data leads to the potential risk of this not being a straight path forward when it comes to rate policy or inflation? >> that's right, on the labor market you've got several forward-looking indicators pointing to some softening. the jobless claims are still pretty rocksolid. risk there, those indicators are

predictive of what will happen in the labor market, and the fed is slow to react to that. on the upside case, you have pretty loose financial conditions and we think that is having a quick impact or turnaround into growth. at the same time you've got the fed talking about easing all growth is already elevated. that is an environment where we might see some upward pressure on inflation. we don't think that market is pricing the recession risk now, the opportunity for investors and also the challenge is to try and position portfolios that can work out if we get that recession risk coming to light, or that second wind and re-acceleration occurs. annabelle: very different scenarios, so how should you be positioning for those then? >> when it comes to duration, we

think it's pretty fair value. we don't see much value on the front end of the u.s. curve at the moment. in fact with a rallying bond yields, we do see opportunities and credit markets like cdx ig, for example, offering some relatively cheap and attractive hedging opportunities for investors with credit in their portfolios. that helps the downside case. on the upside case, we still think if you look at what is priced, there's not a lot of inflation being priced in, but there's reasons for inflation, you still have fiscal's -- fiscal policy from governance, you've got potential geopolitical risks and still

pretty high minimum wage growth. you factor in a fed that wants to ease despite still strong growth, that's a pretty interactive environment. inflation going back to a percent or 9%, is just saying that inflation could be sticky for a while. when you look at breakeven inflation markets, is not pricing in any inflation premium. that's an attractive place to be at the moment. annabelle: what are you expecting given the signals we've seen that inflation is a little bit resurgent lately? >> the hard thing about it is that friday markets will be close. is very hard to see how the markets would react to that. you consider it's around .3 on the call, above what the fed and jay powell indicated last week. he was looking for something around .2. that will challenge what the fed

are thinking. if you think back three months ago, the fed was preparing the market for potential rate cut in march. the data has been strong, it hasn't happened. now they are saying we are preparing for three more months. so we could easily see a scenario where a similar position is true. we think investors should keep an open mind, the data will still be volatile and it will be hard to navigate. so investors need to maintain that approach to the markets at this time until there is a clear direction. haidi: if we do get signals of the path to further easing, what is the best way to play that? >> it would depend on if it's a more soft landing easing or in the recession camp. if you're thinking a recession is more likely, there would be

value in bonds, but under a soft landing, fed easing, what is priced in, there's not a value in the u.s. front end. -25 basis points a quarter is quite significant. we're fairly confident the fed will ease dramatically into a cutting cycle. if that's not the case, the way to play it is by hedging in your portfolio and credit derivatives markets which are offering very cheap hedging opportunities at the moment for that downside scenario. annabelle: that's what i was going to ask about, what you're seeing in the derivatives market. are there opportunities you see in that realm? >> definitely, whether it's optionality or via outright in

cx ig. these are close to the lows we've seen over the last decade. the market is not pricing much risk into credit derivatives, whereas if you look at the market, you're so getting a bit of a pickup there. we prefer participating in the fiscal credit market, you can still earn a bit of that carry, but on the others come the hedges are really good too. it's quite attractive at the moment to pair that in the portfolio between fiscal credit holdings. annabelle: thanks for your insights this morning. a reminder that we are live as china hosts the boao form, billed as the asian version of the world economic forum at davos. there is more ahead. this is bloomberg. ♪

haidi: australia is set to release the latest inflation data in about an hour. limber economics expects an increase from 3.4% in january. our economics reporter is here. a slightly higher cpi is cause for concern for the rba, it given there are signs of suddenly higher price pressures. >> that's right, there are two points i'd like to make your. the first is that the monthly inflation in decatur in australia is fairly new and it is a pretty volatile issue. the rba looks at it with a bit of caution and does not necessarily respond to month-to-month changes. the second point is that if you look at the broader inflationary trend, we are seeing moderation,

and that is quite welcoming. that is something michelle bullock said in her press conference last week as well. for today's data which is for february, we are seeing three point 8%, that's the top forecast. if it goes to 3.8% from 3.4% in january, it will definitely lead markets to start paring back bets for rate cuts. it will also probably would've question mark on the rba's timing, especially after last week strong employment report as well. annabelle: so what have been the big inflation drivers of late then? >> this particular data is for february. we are seeing an uptick in gasoline prices.

there's a little bit of swift inflation in there as well, accommodation and travel inflation in february, and education is one component that is updated once a year in february. we will see some price pressures on the education front too i this time. haidi: the broader economy talked about how surprising the labor numbers were into last week. what about the other data points? >> as far as gdp, we saw a big slowdown in the second half of 2030 -- 2023. expectations a slowdown will continue in first half of 20 to four. so we are in the midst of the slowdown, largely driven by weakness of consumption. the labor market is healthy, the report we had last week was surprisingly strong, with unemployment at 3.7%.

that is a big reason for the rba to maintain their cautious stance as far as the outlook for interest rates is concerned. haidi: our economics reporter there in sydney. coming up, lenders are gearing up. we have more coming up. this is bloomberg. ♪

>> it's going to take some time and people of other merck & co.

thomas to stick with them at every step of the way. >> our work is just beginning to rebuild this bridge and deal with the impact in the meantime. >> the preliminary investigation points to an accident. we haven't seen any credible evidence of a terrorist attack. >> what i can tell he is a search and rescue is still underway, so we are very awful. >> the friedman, billings, ramsey has been part of this response from the beginning. we can't -- the fbi has been part of this response from the beginning. >> we are not leaving until this job is done. haidi: president biden and other officials on the downed baltimore bridge as we continue to monitor that story. . we have seen the aussie dollar resuming some declines, largely on the back of some of these commodities prices slipping. we are watching the lights of iron ore, traded in singapore, looking flood at the moment. we saw the boat of fresh selling, traders having renewed concerns that, play over chinese

demand. we saw the tumble in singapore stretch over what has been volatile trading amid the deepening anxiety over how that structural slowdown in china is going to play out, as well. taking a look at crude at the moment, we are seeing anyone dollars a barrel. we saw when it comes to crude markets, extending a modest decline, we had an industry report pointing to a not inconsiderable build in u.s. inventories, belle. annabelle: and of course, the moves we have seen in the community space very much reflecting the concerns around china's economic health and the property sector really being front and center. the real estate could show up and factor into bank earnings. we have a lot of major chinese banks reporting earnings this week, kicking off today with the bank of communications and icbc. joining us in home-court is shujin chen, head of china's financial and property research

at jefferies. what are you watching for in the numbers today? shujin: we will look at profit in soe bank results. we don't expect much of a surprise, but what i would watch for is first we would sleep that ratio regarding the property development loans. second, we will look at the net interest margin breakdown and see whether there could be more pressure in the coming years. annabelle: you mentioned the property sector. you think the impact from the woes in real estate are being fully reflected as yet? shujin: definitely not yet. we have already seen quite a lot of developers devoted in the past two years. i would say that among the top 100 developers, most of those developers, especially almost all private developers have already defaulted on public bonds. currently, most of their

projects are still going on and therefore, the banks have not recognized those loans. but going forward, if there is a suspension of construction increasing, there could be more m.t.r. recognition in the future. decides that, we also see that -- besides that, mortgages which are also related to housing delivery, may also increase in the future as well. annabelle: we just had a chart looking at real estate loans. they started to decrease in the second half of last year. you see that as a positive signal? shujin: yes, banks have relocated their results to other sectors rather than real estate loans, but from another perspective,, while banks lower their exposure to the property sector, those developers are also facing more severe liquidity issues. haidi: where do you see releasing more cash into rrr cut

to this year. how is monetary policy loosening and potentially more fiscal support going into how these banks do? shujin: brilliant question. first regarding the fiscal policy. we actually don't see that -- i mean, for china's deficit ratio, it remains at 3%. $1 trillion government bonds. it's not very different from last year. for local government special bonds, it's about 3.9 trillion, a bit higher than last year at 3.8 trillion. we think fiscal spending is largely ok. for the monetary policy, regarding the two rrr cut's, we still see it room to cut. for the five-year lpr, there is still some room. for the more important rates like the one year lpr, we don't see significant room to cut, mainly due to banks' net

interest margin can barely cover the operating expense and credit costs. haidi: you spoke about the risk of deteriorating asset quality. in the past when we have talked about nonperforming loans, we had to talk special category loans as well. is the reporting of these special category loans more transparent now, or is there still a question of how they are treated in the portfolio? shujin: i would say that quite a lot of investors doubt these numbers. that was due to the recognition of problematic loans, and also that lpr ratio. it seems mainly focused on projects rather than on the main body, for example, the first. but investors are concerned that if developers already defaulted on public debt, it is possible for them to not be able to pay

their debt onto those contractors. and also to suspend construction. these could be gradually reflected in banks' balance sheet and lpr recognition. haidi: chinese banks are often on the frontline worker, expectations of how they will playa, -- play a part in government's support of households. do you think that runs an idiosyncratic risk for their balance sheets? shujin: first, regarding banks supporting -- banks doing -- bearing social response ability, we definitely think that will be the trend for china banks. we do see the pboc, we expect that will provide more support to banks via these social responsibility. for example, last year the pboc

extended its balance sheet more than 4 trillion and injected liquidity to banks via mof and other lending tools. this year, the structural tools used by the pboc could be expanded more than last year it was almost 2 trillion. this year could be even higher. this could help banks when they are doing their civil duty. , on the other hand, for banks' net interest margin, there could be more pressure on the net interest margin when they tried to reach aggressive loan growth targets, while demand is actually quite weak. annabelle: something that has been encouraged by regulators as well is increasing dividend payouts. we have another chart looking at this. when you look at dividend payouts for chinese banks, the yield is more than double the yield of the csi 300. what impact do you see that having on the bottom line for

lenders? shujin: first regarding banks increasing the dividend payouts, we actually think it is a positive. the situation is that credit demand is quite weak. considering shareholders' interest, especially return on investment, it is better for banks to lower their loan growth and only focus on high-quality borrowers while increasing your dividend payout in order to increase the roe. as you mentioned, we see quite a number of banks increased their dividend. out of this year. it also helped their stock performance in the past week. annabelle: that was shujin chen, the head of china research and property research at jefferies. we will have more ahead on "daybreak: australia." this is bloomberg. ♪ you don't have to worry about things like changing tax rates or filing returns.

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bridge collapse are not likely to be found alive. as rescue efforts suspended at 7:30 p.m. tuesday. this, as you continue to monitor the remainder of those who are still missing after the bridge collapse after the cargo ship lost power in a collision with the bridge. maryland's governor saying the crew issued mad before the impact. we wanted to bring you live updates as we watch these breaking developments in baltimore. let's get back now to the forum for asia. our chief north asia correspondent stephen engle is there with us and there is a lot to talk about when it comes to this year's event, it comes as a crucial time for china's economy , not to mention a lot of the geopolitical concerns at play. we have some great conversations coming up well, including of

course, a lot of the major ceos and business leaders who are converging on china. but if that's required or, perhaps a bit more fraught with anxiety -- it does seem quieter, perhaps a bit more fraught with anxiety than in recent years. annabelle: we also had the china development forum, take place and that attracted the likes of tim cook, for instance, who said he is doubling on china's economy, even though we asleep in iphone sales at the start of the year. there are some discussions of the economy and the new growth drivers. the ev space is one of those, china is taking its dispute with the u.s. over electric vehicle subsidies to the wto. beijing says elements of. biden's signature climate law passed in 2022 discriminatory, and will not restore the global ev supply chain. u.s. trade representative katherine tai says china continues to unfairly undermine competition and donate global

markets. chinese ev giant byd reported record profit that narrowly missed analyst estimates, but came in nine with the company's own forecast. net income for 2023 was 4.1 6 million dollars. byd sold just over 3 million electric and hybrid vehicles last year, beating its annual target. this year it has intensified a price war in china as it seeks to convince drivers to switch to evs. we will have more ahead on "daybreak: australia." this is bloomberg. ♪

annabelle: ashlee is coming off its plan her -- hong kong ipo citing a depressed market. the company, which owns 60% of the logistics unit also says it plans to buy out the remaining stock held by investors and employees are nearly $4 billion. numeral intelligence is the move fortifies the group's global e-commerce push. for more let's bring in catherine lim in. we know that alibaba has a huge spinoff plans, but this is not playing out perhaps as it has been forecast to do so.

is this withdrawal of the apo a surprise at all? >> not a surprise at all, because back in february, the company was already highlighting that the market conditions were not favorable for the actual realization of values for the number of assets that are inflated. and to be honest, since last month, we have not seen a significant uptake in the market conditions. clearly i think the stock exchange -- it's not a surprise at all to me. haidi: not a surprise, and in a lot of ways, it makes sense strategically} what are you expecting from alibaba after this?

catherine: absolutely. look at the way they are buying out the rest of the 36% of the minority stakes. that highlights the company's commitment towards growing the logistics business which is a very integral part of the company's goal to actually go back market share not just in china, but globally, as well. we have heard the company talk about aliexpress, aliexpress choice which is making waves in markets like europe as well as middle east, et cetera. going forward, i expect al limberbutt may heston -- alibaba may history and the overall middle east expansion. they highlighted in last night call that they are committed will be very supportive of the expansion going forward.

haidi: how much integration, and how quickly do we expect to happen between you two companies. catherine: that is the million-dollar question. firstly, it looks like the entire share repurchase from the cainiao authorities are looking to close the deal before july itself. so clearly the minority shareholders have the option to sell to alabama or not. it will take a couple of months for that to close. but going into may when the company reports there full-year results, we might get some detail as to how they plan to actually integrate and expand the logistics business and the specifics of that. haidi: catherine, i wonder, does

this give competitors, the likes of jd, an edge? catherine: my personal view is that the rest of the logistics companies probably have to watch out for the investment moves from alibaba. you're talking about a company with $54 billion net cash and liquidity assets that they can very effectively put into the market and expand in a very fast way. that could take some of these logistics companies by surprise. if you add up the market caps of jd.com's all the way up to zto itself, they don't even match up to what alibaba has in their cash holdings. haidi: catherine lim, bloomberg intelligence asia-pacific analyst with the reaction. let's get back to the forum for

asia. our chief north asia correspondent stephen engle joins us with the next guest. kathleen: kathleen: let's talk about australia, china commercial ties, we have the national president and chairman of the australia business council, david olsson. thank you for joining us. you met with the foreign minister of china. we are getting closer, at least the chinese have telegraphed that, to remove the final big piece of the tariff puzzle that china imposed after the three trade trade war between china and australia. how close are we to some sort of normalization of commercial ties? david: very close, certainly in relation. we had an interim draft release that came out a few weeks ago, a month ago, which indicated that by the end of this month, china will have completed its full review. we anticipate that will be a successful review and tariffs

exports from asteria will be removed. there is still more to go, we have australian lobsters still wanting to come up to china, as well as some meat. they are the remaining items out of a very long list of items that have been subject to a range of trade barriers. kathleen: what did wang yi specifically tell you guys? david: he met with members of the australia china business council we had a small in-house meeting squeezed end the meeting with the foreign minister and who particularly wanted to send a message that china is opening up, that it is welcoming forward investment, that trade investment is welcome and we, of course, acknowledge that. the key issue for australia busines, we understand the importance of the market but we need predictability uncertainty. so we are very pleased with the

announcements. but of course when we are talking about long-term investments, we need that certainty, and we are just letting that play out at the moment. kathleen: how much of good means is this for the wine industry, which is having historically high in levels right now? david: some white exporters no that we have good relationships -- some white exporters have good relationships here and it is a powerful, good story. it is preferable to both sides. there are a number of australian wine producers that have been exporting wine to china in bulk to take over the edge of the higher prices and the volume, which can't be found anywhere else in the world. over the last few years doing these. barrier, issues they have diverted their markets elsewhere. so we expect to see significant amount of wine exports coming back to china, but not a lot of it. how about some of the other communities like iron ore and

cool, we will have andrew forrest on later to talk about it. he is still bullish on the chinese economy and the need for steelmaking raw materials. but again, the chinese economy is slowing, and we have seen extreme volatility in iron ore prices. or the good old days over, and you have to accept the new norm? how do you see it impacting demand? david: we are not going back to r.b.i. were before. the demand for australian iron ore and coal in particular was at a higher level and prices were high for a long time. china is going through a major restructuring at the moment. it will still need iron ore for steel, they have to build a lot of ev cars and that is another source of demand as well as more broader infrastructure, but i think i'll australian experts are far more pragmatic and looking at the long-term. they realize that china is going through cyclical change and that demand will decline, although

having said that, at the moment, demand remains very strong. stephen: we have seen american companies push the pause button, we know the fbi was down to the lowest in two decades -- the gain in fdi in 2023. how do estrogen business people look at the geopolitical concerns and the possibility there will be more geopolitical trapdoors arising? david: australian business owners are under no illusions that we will get back to the good old days. those things have gone past. geopolitical tensions will remain. there is always a possibility that something will happen geopolitically that will result in an adverse response by china that reverberates in australia. so our story are far more pragmatic, and far more new west in the understanding of what is going on. the reason australian businesses are here is to try to put australia in a context where we are looking carefully at what is going on in the region, because

china is the number one trading partner in the region as is australia, with many of those nations, so we are trying to work out the context. work out the game plan for australian businesses in the decades ahead. stephen: we will be watching the potential announcements from china as far as relaxing tariffs on australian wine, as high as 218 percent, quite punishing. thank you so much, david olsson for joining us and bloomberg television. david: my pleasure. annabelle: that was our chief north asia correspondent stephen engle there. you can cut our conversations with these guests at the forum, at those times on the screen. more ahead. this is bloomberg. ♪

her uncle's unhappy. i'm sensing an underlying issue. it's t-mobile. it started when we tried to get him under a new plan. but they they unexpectedly unraveled their “price lock” guarantee. which has made him, a bit... unruly. you called yourself the “un-carrier”. you sing about “price lock” on those commercials. “the price lock, the price lock...” so, if you could change the price, change the name! it's not a lock, i know a lock. so how can we undo the damage? we could all unsubscribe and switch to xfinity. their connection is unreal. and we could all un-experience this whole session. okay, that's uncalled for.

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annabelle: this is "daybreak: asia." we are counting down to asia's major market opens, and haidi, setting up for some neutered trading open. it certainly seems like we will get a bit of red across the screen today. haidi: maybe a continuation of the u.s. equity investors, of how much this rally has gone and a bit of a pullback. we also have caution in australia ahead of monthly cpi data. we could see an uptick. it tends to be a volatile data series. certainly, we could see some repricing ahead of rba expectations of the timeline towards easing. annabelle: it is that over all narrative, higher-for-longer, for australia at least. we have got japan and south korea coming online. this is what we're seeing so far, the nikkei 225 opening fairly flat. with kospi, a few seconds until we see