asia." we are counting down to asia's major market opens. [laughter] haidi: we are both counting down to the start of markets coming online. there, sorry. we are a bit excited. it may be because of the nvidia numbers. there has been a big way of release in big parts of the market when it comes to the bulls being validated by a huge set of numbers there. i suspect that is one of the things you will be watching for in today's session. annabelle: absolutely. as you said, we are very -- [laughs] -- excited about the results from nvidia after the bell today. and i the backdrop of the central banks and economy that you are tracking as well. haidi: and that is the thing, right, with this out of the way, we go back to basics, the bread

and butter, focusing on what the central banks are saying. the fed minutes bringing some of the air out of the recent rally we have seen in the u.s., higher-for-longer has been the narrative from central banks there as well. new zealand yesterday. the bank of korea today. take a look at some of the data processing, gdp numbers from singapore. the 2025 growth estimates being maintained between 1% and 3% permit first quarter gdp rising hotter than expectations. the final first-quarter gdp on a quarter or quarter basis seeing a rise of 0.1%. the estimate was for a small degree of contraction, 0.3%. so a bit better-than-expected numbers. as we get the cash trading session underway. that's right, markets are just coming online this morning for japan, korea and australia. let's look at how japan and korea are getting underway. it's a mix of what we're seeing in the numbers. broadly, we have some upside coming through.

it's a few different themes we are tracking. you have a bit of dollar strength, through which could be impacting asian equities. we have the fed minutes, the emphasis on the fed staying higher-for-longer. and the focus on nvidia. we had those numbers after the bell in the session today. chip giant's saying second-quarter revenue will be 28 billion dollars, beating estimates. the company also saying a 10-for-1 stock split, boosting its quarterly dividend by 150% for $.10 a share. let's look at the nvidia-related suppliers. again, some of them not trading just yet. probably because the bid-ask spread is not matching just yet. it tells us we might see a pop for those companies when they come online. sk hynix and other major suppliers our seeing moving higher.

haidi: timothy moe is the cohead of asian market research and also chief asia-pacific equity strategist at goldman sachs. let's get it out of the way and talk about nvidia. it has been the dominant theme and driving force across much of the momentum trade. what do you read as the pass-through here in asia? timothy: thanks for having me on again. yes, nvidia, very strong numbers. number one, taiwan semiconductor and their adr last was up a couple percent. tsmc makes all nvidia's chips so there is an obvious readacross. that particular stock is the largest component of the msci itaewon index, about over 40% of the index. so that is part of the reason why taiwan is the number one performing market in asia this year, up 19%. it's a very clear readacross there, that is number one.

number two, in addition to tech, hardware and communications services which has a lot of tech component in it, utilities are the second-best performing sector in asia this year. another way to play ai is in the power and energy component, the linkage being that the data servers require a tremendous amount of energy, so there is a spillover effect from ai into those sectors. the third area, we have baskets on various parts of the ai spectrum, both hardware and semiconductors, and those continue to do well. that is one of the areas we are recommending in our strategy for some time now and those are the three linkages i would highlight. haidi: and obviously some of those teams play very well into the fact that you are still constructive on japan and korea

permit for japan, the parts we have seen in the exuberance, do you see that as because investors are putting flows back into markets like china and reassessing what some of the other opportunities are? we have seen flows out of india as well. timothy: that has definitely been a theme that has come up in my conversations. we have seen investors in the u.s. and that has been a topic of conversation that has come up frequently. as china has rallied strongly, up 3% of the january 22 low, that has attracted attention. there has been flows from japan into china. we need to think about things in the broader context. it's not as if we are operating in a closed circle. everything that can go to china has to come from either japan or from india. there are other pools of capital as well so i would just make that point. at the margin, i think it has been some diversion of attention and flows from those two markets into china. for japan specifically, we would regard the pullback we have seen

as refreshing. in other words, the market has done very well in the first quarter that we consider it to be a healthy pullback. it seems like it stabilizes and is beginning to gain some traction. the fundamental underpinnings -- there is fundamental underpinnings in that valuations have come back to slightly below earnings. we think earnings will grow 10% this year, middle to high single digits next year. from a pure multiple to earnings growth perspective, japan is more reasonable and that means you are getting the bottom of corporate reform story which we are very much in favor of. you are really getting that without paying too much for it. so we think there is further upside momentum or potential in japan after the market takes its paws. one thing i would add, however, is that if there is one risk or achilles' heel in the story, it would be the japanese yen. this cycles back to the fed and with that there is concerned about the fed staying

higher-for-longer. in our view, we think the fed will start to ease into light and perhaps a bit later. we think twice this year. if the fed stays higher for longer, it suggests the dollar could stay higher-for-longer and that was his upside risks to the japanese yen and could be somewhat dysfunctional for the japanese equity market story. that is what i would point out in the overall investment case that we need to continue to monitor. annabelle: we are also seeing market reforms in korea. you have been bullish in that market for some time now. we see korea carrying out other reform policies or looking at ways they can mature their market. one of those policies comes down to their shortselling ban. do you have any views on that policy? what are your expectations around it? do you see them keeping it in place beyond june? timothy: good question. i don't have a specific answer.

i think the direction of travel will be in the right direction, although the timing of that is still uncertain. i would just like to go up to one level there, from that specific instance to the broader topic of overall reform. here is where we think the market is being perhaps overly negative or petulant about the direction of travel korea is taking in terms of reform and corporate governance and shareholder returns. we have gone from basically no official program to one. that is a positive change. the market was concerned that there was no specificity and with the outcome of the election and a split government, that a change to the inheritance tax law has come down significantly. that is true, but it's important to know that the opposition is also in favor of reform, very much progressives and liberals

and on the side of the smaller shareholder. so the desire to change corporate law somewhat to engender more shareholder protection is there. the point i am making is that there is actually a very strong direction of travel in terms of positive reforms to corporate governance and shareholder returns and that is something you are not paying for in the market especially when earnings are recovering the strongest in the region this year. we have revised of numbers 60% this year. we have very strong improvement in corporate earnings. if you have an ai exposure team on top of that. and then you have the corporate reform story. all of that will curb valuations , all of that is a pretty good investment case. looking annabelle: annabelle: at your notes now, your contrarian view is that

indonesia is oversold. can you shed more light on that one? timothy: absolutely. i would describe it as a two or three key points, there have been a series of changes that have taken place in march and april, in terms of the higher-for-longer rates. both the short end and the long end. stronger dollar, increased commodity prices, increased geopolitical risks and also increased expectations for the u.s. and china. we did some modeling to see how markets might trade them and then you can see what actually happened in terms of price performance and you could see where markets have either over or under traded their fundamentals. on the positive side, china did better than expected, low prices as well as the positive moves from the policy perspective on property. in indonesia's case, it's infinitely undertreated its macro changes to some extent. one, there is pressure that has come on the indonesian rupiah. there was a cautionary or

reactionary increase in rates by the back of indonesia which our economists were expecting. that has set a weighing effect on the equity market. the second thing is more technical where banks in indonesia, account for 62% of the market cap. there is some selling in the bank because of their were popular trades and with results coming in ok but not perhaps fantastic, there was selling pressure on them. we have actually just gone to a trip in indonesia last week and we are confident in the fundamentals. it is still our favorite banking sector. we think the market has been oversold there and there could be is not back in the next several months. -- there could be a snap back in the next several months. haidi: with the poor sentiment

being bottomed out for china, do you see a correlation with other em's, or is that more of a dollar strength story? timothy: probably more of a dollar strength story. i think there are china-specific positive taking place. we wrote about it earlier this week and raised our forecast for the msci china index from 60-70. it's a function of slightly better earnings, but also a recovery in the multiple from oversold levels to somewhat more normalized ones and the potential perhaps for further multiple recovery if policy continues to come through. it's well known now, there are two main policy developments which people should be aware of. number one is the most to address the property overhang from the supply side inventory adjustment perspective. the second one is with respect to the so called nine measures in the asia index which have to do with improving corporate governance. that cycle back to our earlier conversation on japan and korea where there is an emerging theme across the region of improving

corporate performance and shareholder returns. so china is the latest addition to that overall narrative. annabelle: how are you thinking about the upcoming u.s. election and the impact that any sort of policy shifts or changes could have on those trends that you have been discussing and thinking about, particularly in relationship to the tech sector? timothy: there is a couple of things we can say about this. our markets analysts and strategies have been opining on this specifically. it is fair to say that if president biden succeeds, that that is more of a known quantity in terms of continuation of current events. is candidate trump comes in, then it is obviously less well-known policies that would be less clear. one thing which has been very much top of mind is the threat of much higher tariffs across

the board if trump was elected. that is something that would clearly have a greater impact on china in particular. the recent increase in tariffs which is taking place is something which will not have that much of an impact on the economic fundamentals because they affect only 4% of china's imports in the united states. if you brought on that out to a much wider group of imports with a much higher rate of tariffsm there would be fundamental consequences. that is one angle and one lens to look at things through. the second thing is our market strategists think that if trump is elected, it will be positive for the u.s. dollar and they think it would have a broadly challenging effect to asia because it is a clear and low standing correlation between the u.s. dollar and asia equity market performance. it is statistically relevant in the short-term. so if the dollar remain strong,

it would be more of the headman for asian markets. there are lots to unpack there. there is also the issue of whether after the election, there would be heightened tensions from a geopolitical standpoint. so there are different avenues through which the election may through and through and it is something we will continue to monitor carefully in the second half. haidi: team, always great to touch with you, timothy moe, cohead of market research and chief asia pacific equity strategist at goldman sachs. other things we are watching, we are a few minutes into the start of cash trading in sydney. bhp, seeing declines of 2.7% as we saw anger opening up talks again with bhp after rejecting the offer. it increased the offer from bhp, but it was a more complicated

structure from the angle of the shares are trading below the value of the offer. but we are getting the extension of that deadline mid-week london time. 5:00 p.m. had been the deadline but bhp has an additional week to try to convince anglo about its south african plant. the structure of the deal remains a sticking point with anger wanting bhp to cover the cost of a deal in south africa. so that extra week will be the key as to whether the takeover plan will get over the line. that intractable obstacle about what to do when it comes to south africa will be front and sent her the next few days. the valuation is now closer, is what we are hearing. you can get a roundup of the stories you need to know to get your day going. dayb on the terminal, also on the mobile and bloomberg anywhere app as well. you can customize the settings so you only get the news on the industries you care about. this is bloomberg. ♪ ♪

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haidi: let's look at some key curry assets ahead of the back of career decision. we are expecting a potential upgrade in the economic outlook for the back of korea, but today front-and-center, the focus is ai related stocks. we are seeing quite a bit of

reaction they are given the strong forecast for nvidia. more importantly, weakness across the kospi. a move in the won ahead of the be ok. our guest joins us. there is an advance to keep rates steady and upwardly revised the forecast. it is the steady drumbeat of the central banks having to recalibrate the trajectory of the next part of the monetary policy parts. >> yes. we saw surprising growth in the first quarter. it implies that the korean economy is more resilient than anticipated. at the need to consider that -- at the same time, we need to consider that a greater

contribution came from the external side driven by a growing demand for ai-related chips. and also in the domestic demand side, other factors were important. it suggests that inflationary pressure from domestic demand will remin largely unchanged -- it will not change the appeal case for monetary policy strategy dramatically. but i think at this point, what is important is the uncertainty of the u.s. monetary policy. it is associated with the delays in the timing of a fed pivots. also with the pace of future rate cuts. u.s. monetary policy is a the key factor that determines the global financial conditions. the be ok it needs to recalibrate, change its monetary policy stance. previously i thought the be ok. give -- bok would give guidance

on future monetary policy easing from it but at this point, i think the chances are low. it is more likely to be ok will reiterate the importance of data , the importance of more evidence to have more confidence. there will also probably emphasize the importance of data-dependence in conducting monetary policy. annabelle: what else is a bit of a wild card today is the two board members who said they will be taking part in the decision, two new board members. with that influence the decision around monetary policy if at all? >> it's hard to tell. we don't have much information about the preference of the new members. generally, if a new member joins the monetary policy board, they need more time, a long time to get accustomed to the monetary policy decision process and also get accustomed to all the indicators that the steps

provide. so it is more likely that new members will follow the leadership of the governor for some time. so my view is that the leadership of the governor will become more influential from today's meeting. annabelle: that was our korea economist hyosung kwon in seoul. thank you so much for your time. we ahead on "daybreak: asia." ♪

do you want to close out? should i? normally i'd hold. but... taking the gains is smart here, right? feel more confident with stock ratings from j.p. morgan analysts in the chase app. when you've got a decision to make... the answer is j.p. morgan wealth management. annabelle: taking a look at how nvidia is faring in after hours. still holding around that 6% jump, really counting down to the earnings that we had after the bell today. a strong sales. bullish outlook. we also had a stock split.

just some of the key headlines. key on the other said of the screen, you are seeing the suppliers to nvidia mostly moving higher today. let's get more on nvidia's numbers and bring in an executive editor for asia technology, peter elstrom, in tokyo. it's been the focus for some now, nvidia. the bar was set so high, but once again, nvidia seems to jump over it. peter: exactly, nvidia has become a proxy for the ai boom. it's worth emphasizing the point you made, expectations were very, very high for this company. the stock more than tripled last year and it is up already 90% this year and its market valuation before this report was 2.3 trillion dollars, number three in the world behind only apple and microsoft. yet, nvidia came out and beat those expectations.

it also gave the forecast for the current quarter that was above what analysts had been expecting. as you pointed out, in late trading, shares are up pretty handily. very strong financial performance. one note of caution is that the company said it gets about 40% of the sales from only four companies, amazon, meta stock, alphabet and others. it's a concern because that is driving the revenue growth rate. the point to be made in their conference calls is they wanted to diversify that and have a broader spectrum of customers so the demand they are seeing is more sustainable. haidi: there is also concern sorry -- there is also concerned that there will be some overlap between the better product offerings they have been teasing or whether that might cannibalize what they have already. peter: it's a very good point.

we haven't watched the progression of semiconductors as closely probably since intel and the pc boom a couple of decades alone. no nvidia has the h 100 accelerators that are very popular, the next generation and chips. the question was whether that would slow down demand as people waited for the new chance. looks like that's not happening. the h 100 chips they have got our inside strong supply that customers are scooping those up as quickly as they can get him and he will buy them, the next generation, when they get the opportunity. haidi: executive editor for asia technology peter elstrom. m

annabelle: you're watching "daybreak: asia."

just taking a look at some economic data that just crossed the terminal. we have ppi -- pmi data from japan. looking at those results, we have actually had the manufacturing reading expanding above that 50 line for the first time since may 20. this is the private survey that comes through. we are tracking that permits the manufacturing pmi coming in at 50.5. these are the preliminary numbers for may. first i would have seen it above 50 in a year. we have services. a slight deterioration from the month prior but still above the 50 mark, 53.6. it was 54.3 in the month prior. the confidence reading pretty much study, 52 .4. but the focus is very much on the services pmi -- manufacturing above 50 since may of last year.

haidi:. haidi: let's look at how markets are tracking at the moment. it has been a mixed session. it was a mixed session overnight. the pass when it comes to those of nvidia numbers is not immediately clear other than when you look at the tech-heavy markets. the nikkei 225 up 6/10 of 1%. some of the most across the ai and chip-related names, not managing to get a broader kospi up. it's a bit softer there as well. u.s. futures are a bit higher. in sydney, declines of 0.6 percent. the rally in copper prices starting to pull back a bit. oil is softer. also seeing declines in bhp as we get that extended deadline for reaching a potential deal with anglo over the line in the next week. kiwi stocks are flat after we saw the rbn said's hawkish hold.

this company reported full-year revenue that missed estimates. jetting as is chief financial officer of singtel. give us your impression of how much these pressures will be ongoing. arthur: i from everyone. we announced this a few weeks ago. i think it is really a lot of fixing our business in the last three years, transforming it, they're looking forward. i think if we look forward, we are very optimistic about our prospects because all the hard work and transformation has been done. we have fixed costs, got rid of loss making businesses. that is why revenues decreased. we sold off businesses that contributed to revenues, i didn't contribute to profits.

looking forward, i think we have significantly increased dividends, a message that we are optimistic about the next leg for our business. the last few years, we transformed it. now we are focusing on growth. haidi: i wanted to get some commentary when it gets to the broader macro environment. what sort of pressures are you seeing within singapore, and the other markets that you have assets in. arthur: i think the biggest pressure is the stronger singapore dollar relative to many of our other businesses, because we have over 70 plus percent of our businesses that come from outside singapore. with the strong singapore dollar, we have actually incurred in the last few years, fx losses because of businesses in india, indonesia, australia and other places.

so that is one big issue. the second one is interest rates. interest rates continue to be high. but with our recycling program, we have sold $8 billion of assets. we actually paid down debt in an environment where in the last three years, interest rates tripled. we saw a decrease in interest expenses. so i would say more macro type of risks. of course, are on -- internally, we are also watching our own business pressures that we are seeing in the industry, it is facing a significant amount of challenges. but we are fairly optimistic about the future because the last three years, we have come up with a leaner cost structure and really set the business for the future. annabelle: where i think a lot of investors are interested to know more about is your plan for

the telecommunication stand in australia, optus. the brand is tarnished after outages, we have had co changes. what are your plans for this part of the business? arthur: an adult, great question. we are taking the bull by the horns. we need to really win back customers' trust. we had two incidents in the past that happened to the company, first was the cyberattack almost two years ago. then last year there was the outage. so we have to do better. and what we need to do, is to really focus on winning back customers' trust, focusing on network resilience, making sure that the business will actually serve customers well. you are right, optus is a giant in australia and we need to do better. from singtel's perspective, this is an important business for us. we are here for the long-term and we have to turn this business around.

annabelle: but what are your plans exactly then, how are you going to win back customers' trust or do better? arthur: it is a real hard-nosed approach to the operations in the business. we need to go back to the basics, ensuring our network i.t. systems are secure and resilient. we need to make sure that we win back the customers' trust, ensuring that people want optus to win. it's a very back to basics type of approach. the capital structure, the balance sheet is strong. no concerns there. it is really an operational focus, making sure that we don't go back to the two incidents of the past and really look forward to that. of course, with the new ceo coming in in the few months' time, i think he has good plans for optus. that is the approach.

a very hard-nosed approach. we hope for the best for the future office. -- for the future of optus. haidi: how ambitious is that future? i wonder if what happened with optus has made you cautious about expansion. arthur: we are absolutely ambitious for growth. growth in a profitable way. we are very focused on the digital infrastructure business in data centers. you are seeing the announcements . we intend to grow that significantly with the capital partnership we have with kkr permit we are focused on thailand. in australia, it is really i.t. services. in i.t. services, ncs, two years

ago, we made significant acquisitions in australia on the i.t. services are in. so you are right, we need to strike a balance between the developed markets, and emerging markets. but australia is still an important market for us. we see the potential of macroeconomic costs just like every other country in the world today that it facing challenges, but we believe in australia and we are putting our capital to work in australia. we have to execute, that is the critical part. haidi: arthur lang, cfo at singtel, great to have you. you can watch us live and catch up on past conversations on the air with our tv function, tv . you can also dive into the securities and the bloomberg functions we talk about. and you can join in on the conversation as well by sending us instant messages during our shows. it's for bloomberg subscribers only. check it out at tv . this is bloomberg. ♪

haidi: : saudi investment conference returns to hong kong on thursday. most of last year's bullish features are doing well. japan is set to return to center stage capturing investors' attention from china. in the year when ai and energy

transition were the bowel words, the stock has more than tripled since last year's conference. annabelle: we will speak with one of the main people headlining the event. this is wendy chan, founder and ceo at an equity fund seeking to identify transformational businesses in asia. i will not ask you to stock pick, but i want to start off with the bigger picture. japan will be center stage perhaps again this year. you have called japan perhaps the most underappreciated turnaround story for global equities. it does not mean that you see further upside in the rally from here? >> yes, we do. we think japan is probably the most underappreciated story in a global equities. this year japan exited deflation for the first time, there is a 5% wage increase and also a moderate amount of price inflation. for this positive cycle of wage increase and price inflation

leads us to project a nominal gdp growth rate of 22.5 percent for japan for the next few years which is very good. on top of that, we see corporate governance reform. japanese corporations used to have very low returns of investment. it has increased to 9% as of last year and we project not through share buybacks and cross shareholding sales, the outlook can increase to 12% by the end of 2025. the sustained are only increased can lead to a rereading of japanese equities, in our view. annabelle: a lot of investors had been optimistic in japan and we have seen inflows into the market and it rise in stocks as well. if you say it's the most underappreciated opportunity, is there significant upside potential from here?

arthur: we think there is a lot more upside from here. we think the regime change in japan is sustainable this time. every 10 years or so, people tend to get excited about japan and then it fades away. this time because of the boj's efforts in getting japan out of deflation and raising interest rates to positive territory, we think the wage increase and the price inflation is here to stay. we also think that every rating will continue to happen in japan, which will lead to further upside for japanese equities. haidi: of the other thing which is quite intriguing is definitely bland -- brands going global. evs are facing pressure from western markets because of overcapacity claims. do you mean the dominance of chinese in the brands will be in markets that are not in the u.s. and not europe? arthur: yes, we do think that if we look at the chinese domestic consumer brands such as evs, 10 years from now, out of the top 10 ev companies, we estimate

five of them will be chinese. if you look at the product competitiveness, you look at the supply-chain cost advantages, the speed of that happening will actually be faster than the market believes. obviously, there is a lot of tariff worries to watch out for. but given the cost advantages are more than 50% compared to the global players even with some level of tariffs, we still think the price difference an advantage is still here to remain. haidi: at the same time, and i understand these things are not partially exclusive, are there concerns about the overcapacity issue for you? arthur: yes. one of the sectors we are cautious about is the manufacturing sector in china, we think there may be potential overcapacity in the chinese manufacturing sectors and there is a path to downsize in the next few years.

, for example,, china accounts for 18% of global gdp and its share of the global investment is an astonishing 32%. if china's gdp were to grow at 4% to 5% in the next decade, china would become 21% of global gdp in 10 years. its share of global investment would grow even more to the 37%. it means the rest of the world will have to reduce its own share of investment by one percentage point to accommodate china. can the rest of the world absorb such an increase? we think the u.s. and e.u. have already voiced concerns about the trade imbalance with china and the u.s. has already launched various measures to move manufacturing back home. it may be very challenging for the rest of the world to continue to consume more while allowing china to continue to manufacture more. therefore, we think china manufacturing capacity may need to downside in the next few years and that has profound implications for credit growth,

consumption, and the global supply chain. haidi: can you share some insights into hedge fund -- hedge fund thinking in this region. traditionally they have been long-biased. chinese equities in particular have outperformed of late. do you see the trading strategies needing to shift as a result? arthur: that is a very good question. we saw that in the past 10 years, a lot of asian hedge funds had been writing on the positive data of china and now that the beta has turned negative in the past three years, some of the performances have been challenged in the sector. given this new world order, volatility has increased and the next generation hedge fund managers need to show alpha generation of growth the lawn and the short side. for example, at sigmoid capital, we compare -- our goal is to achieve a larger than 5% of alpha generation on a consistent

basis. so in the future, it's important for hedge fund managers to demonstrate alpha generation and strong risk management. annabelle: wendy, thanks. enjoy the conference later today. wendy chen is founder and ceo at sigmoid capital. we will have more tomorrow with some of the hedge fund managers joining the conference. we will be hearing from them tomorrow and "daybreak: asia." and be sure to tune into bloomberg radio to hear more from the day's big newsmakers and get in-depth analysis from the "databricks team." -- from the "daybreak" team. they are broadcasting live from that radio in hong kong. stay with us. ♪ get leaffilter. it's as easy as one, two, three. call or click today. get your free gutter inspection on your schedule and get leaffilter installed in as little as a few hours.

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haidi: let's get the latest on the corporate front. some of the headlights we are following, shares of live nation are falling. bloomberg revealing that the doj is seeking a breakup of the business over antitrust violations. sources telling us the case is related to its unrivaled control over ticket sales. the merger of live nation and ticketmaster has been subject to several antitrust investigations. bloomberg learned: they sell its minority stake in a subscription

to be a broadcaster to india's tata group. the steak values tata play at $1 billion. tata group will take full control of the unit allowing disney to focus on the merger of its indian unit with mukesh ambani's media arm. annabelle: we have breaking news crossing the terminal. the back of korea's policy decision coming out. it will keep rates steady at 3.5%, a decision that was predicted by all 21 economists in the survey. the bok staying steady for an 11th time. the bank last hiked in january 2023 it restrictive since then. what we will be tracking is that press conference later. we want to know more about the bank's growth forecast on the currency implications. we have seen the korean won in particular, that trading level adding two reasons why the bok

is cautious about signaling a policy pitvot. we also have two new board members taking part in the decision monday so that could factor in to the press or afterward. but this is the outlook here, haidi. haidi: let's bring an hour -- annabelle: executive editor for mliv mark cudmore joins us. we are getting a few more headlines here that the bok is forecasting api at a similar level to what they saw in february, two .6%. but they upgraded their gdp forecast. now it is two point 5%. 2.5% versus 2.1% in january. the bok seems a bit constrained at this point in time by the actions of the fed as well. mark: you are absolutely right that they are constrained. constrained on two forces. first we have the hawkish minutes from the fed last night, general dollar bullishness and

global yields rising. it is putting pressure on the korean won. on the flipside, part of the reason we are seeing u.s. growth stay strong, part of the reason we are seeing the fed having to turn back their earlier dovishness is because of the chip sector, because of the ai boom. it's a key market in korea and it is providing support to the economy. that is why it is unsurprising that their growth forecasts have been upgraded. but it doesn't mean that even though their growth forecasts have been upgraded and they sound devilish, it doesn't seem that korean won will escape the pressure from the strengthening dollar. haidi: this is sort of joining the core, the chorus of major central banks talking about staying long -- staying higher-for-longer. is this just waiting for the fed at this point? what are the implications for these markets that started out the year with such high hopes that we would see easing by this point?

mark: look, i think definitely higher-for-longer is the case. the rba made the point of this week, the rbnz that, even the fed minutes came in slightly hawkish. jay powell has a different reaction function here to try to cut rates, but there is no justification to be talking about rate cuts. financial conditions in the u.s. are extraordinarily easy, growth is strong, the stock market and labor market is strong. it is bonkers to be talking about easing at the moment, unless you see some crisis in the horizon. it isn't obvious, it may be one will come at some point. but it is not just unwinding bets on rate cuts. i think the idea of will stay on the radar until we see the growth roll over in the u.s. the fed is one of the most

important components. but the fact is that inflation around the world is sticky. that makes sense. we lost control of inflation a few years ago because excessive monetary stimulus and excessive easy monetary policy. you don't get control of it until you severely curb demand, that is what economic history teaches you. that severe curbing of demand is essentially a recession. so until growth rolls over, the central bank will not be able to cut rates as aggressively as they were talking about six months ago and that is further exacerbated by the rise in commodities. annabelle: can we move to the broader market outlook? i am a bit confused a bit by nvidia's numbers. we are seeing that stock 6% higher in after hours. there was so much anticipation around it, we've got u.s. futures looking higher, nasdaq futures moving to the upside. still today in the session, we are seeing weakness. is that perhaps a story around the fed meeting minutes? what is driving the dynamic

today for asia trading? mark: it's a good question because i have actually -- i am surprised we are not seeing more exuberance given the nvidia numbers. they really have delivered and it shows the expectations were so high. we went into those results with u.s. stocks by the record high. nvidia has delivered. i think it encourages the bullish backdrop we have had all year and we expect that to continue in the next few month. it might be more volatility just because valuations have gotten more expensive, but the backdrop stay strong. haidliv exive editor at mark cudmore there. the bank of korea as expected, leaving the key rate on hold at 3.5%. much more to come. this is bloomberg. ♪ ♪ do you want to close out?

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