rishaad: this is "trending business." let's have a look at our top stories. on china'sing renewed iron ore. one of the world's biggest buyers could use to drive the market. the fed refuses to be backed into a corner about when rates will rise. we hear from stanley fischer.

greece returns to the negotiating table demanding creditors ease up. the prime ministers says they will refuse any cure that is worth in the disease. follow me on twitter. hashtag which is trending business. first day of the week of trading and hong kong. getting underway there in an hour. they just started off. good morning. reporter: we see a bit of a retreat in asian stocks. we are pushing towards ending those four days of gain that we saw in the asian msci index. the decay to 25 is fractionally up, but the cosby is back online after the holiday. it was down close to .2% right now. it dropped as much as .6% earlier this morning. we are seeing a little bit of a

rebound. expect about .66%. japan is starting to see a little bit of a gain, but falling from a 50-year high back to -- 15-year high back to flat right now. the big one is singapore. we are talking about gdp pictures that came out in the last hours or so. expanded more than a standard -- than expected, 2.4%, beating estimates of two percent. that is thanks to the firm recover we saw in the u.s., europe, and japan. manufacturing rising .2% after expecting a .3% drop from economist rid of thailand trade out today. let's talk about how it looked overnight in the u.s.. falling in the red here. this is a day after janet yellen talked about how rate hikes are

likely this year. we heard from the vice chairman stanley fischer, saying that this rate hike could be data-dependent. it will not be about date. i would to and on -- end on this. cheers are surging right now. it is the biggest gain we have seen in a month. there are some forecasts out there about china putting interest into the company. we will talk about that later on in the show. we will be talking about that. rish, we will send it back you. rishaad: that is exactly what we were talking about. the reported company is linked to china. they are raising their stakes. asia mining has reported. david stringer is joining us. is australia heating up? isid: it looks as if it heating up. if we look at the data in the first quarter of this year we have a value of deals in chinese

mining has had a two-year high. it's not just dynamo. it is across the weekend for commodities, whether it is future project in papua new guinea. gold has had an offer this minig. from dejin iron ore, we saw china's biggest steelmaker had a consortium to buy a smaller australian company to get a foothold in australia's iron rich region where bhp and rio tinto have their high est earning opportunities. it is not only high in ore, it is across the spectrum. rishaad: thanks, david. let's turn to the greek talks.

there is a lot of finger-pointing as to who is at fault. it isnance ministers says clear with the blame should fall. david: he wrote this op-ed in which they say austerity is the only deal breaker. it was published and i suggest reading up on this to our viewers at projectsyndicate.org. it is worth five or 10 minutes because it sums up why a deal has not been reached on the view of greece. it is essentially because greece's creditors have really been -- have really taken the hardline on austerity. they have said they basically have done it and they don't need more of it because it will be worse than the situation. in his words, the major sticking point, the only dealbreaker, is the creditors' insistence on

more austerity. austerity at the expense of the reform government. he is also challenging the perception that greece is unwilling to commit to a reform agenda. he says that is absurd. progressabout how much he has made and i will show you the chart they drawn in the program. it measures two things. structural deficit reduction and nominal gdp production. greece ranks first, or the most in amongst any european countries. he says we reduce our structural deficit so much, you look at nominal gdp and look at the mess we are in right now. you look at the u.k. for example. periphery country. spain, portugal, ireland, cyprus. why are they doing relatively better than greece? it is because they were not made

to take the same painful pill greece has taken. again, it is a problem. we are committed to reform agenda, but then again, austerity we will not agree on because it has not worked. it is based on his op-ed. i will leave it there. back to you. rishaad: we'll have a more detailed look at that back in the program. tweet your thoughts to me. singapore's economy expanded more than i thought last quarter thanks to something in the u.s.. let's go over to singapore. take us through these numbers. q1 gdp numbers coming in at 2.6% year on year but 2.1% the quarter before. economists were looking for 2.2%. exceeding expectation. construction, services, and finance limiting the number.

the gdp was cut for the year between 2% and 4%. singapore is an export-reliant economy. the recovery in the u.s. is providing a shift and we see china's stepping up measures to shore up its expansion. china is singapore's biggest export market. singapore's finance ministers says don't keep relying on global economic recovery. the city have to raise productivity, it has to push keeping ahead with its economic restructuring and innovation, especially at a time when domestic employment is slowing. singapore's manufacturing sector has been volatile in recent years. it has contracted several times and been susceptible to headwinds at home and overseas. for now, gdp is looking pretty good, up 2.6%. someone told me there is a correlation between how the economy is doing and the length of women's skirts.

since the economy is doing well, perhaps i should go to the out theand find skirts are shoulder. rishaad: for longer, as the case may be. thanks. he was osmond chin -- reporter: time warner cable could be snapped up by a smaller competitor in the industry. the price is just over $55 billion in cash and stock. pay 14% more than time warner cable's closing price on friday. this is the second time there has been a bit on time warner cable. they got this offer after a comcast offer for time warner

cable fell apart. through, comcast will quadruple its cable subscribers. the industry is seeing dealmaking heat up with industry competition from amazon, netflix, and other online services. vodafone is considering an ipo for its indian business. it is india's second largest mobile subscribers. it is the biggest unit by customers. it accounts for 10% of become a's total revenue and the growth is outpacing more mature markets. the company will make a decision after an important is put together by the investing bank rothschild. both vodafone and rothschild declined to comment. it looks like it could get a lot easier to buy pepsico drinks in japan. some tourists have been selling

pepsico tracy japan and they have decided to buy 265 million vending machines from japan tobacco. it includes two beverage fans. vending machines are considered the best sale source for soft drinks, according to research for the extra vending machines could help the company -- according to research. extra vending machines could help close the gap and coca-cola. coca-cola still has the edge with vending machines in japan." rishaad: business. has the smartphone cold war come to asia? coming up later on "trending business," we will go live to the consumer electronics show in shanghai and we will find the latest in wearable technology. the debate continues on when the fed may raise rate.

the vice-chairman said it is not about the date. ♪

rishaad: we have this rate hike debate. it goes on and has been of late driving the dollar higher. the fed is expected to raise rates this year but we still have no date. stanley fischer says policy will wait the risk of raising rates to early versus playing catch-up if they wait too long. fischer: we have another phrase. our processes are not date-determined. they are data-determined. wait and see what happens.

we don't have to announce were going to do it in september if the economy is growing very, very slowly. we will wait. if the economy is wrong fast, we will move quicker. rishaad: let's wait into the debate. david is here with us. when we talked in september last, the world -- i will ask you the same questions, but the world has changed. david: it has. has put into two. we are looking to raise rates in the u k and other parts of the world are looking to cut. that is fitting since last september. rishaad: greece goes on. is it just inures and for the market -- is it just an irritant for the market? david: they will have to have an election in greece -- rishaad: for a referendum. david: yes, where they will have to -- or they will have to yield

to the creditors. it looks like that would need a reelection in greece, which i don't think would be good for the market. rishaad: at 2%, and we always mention this, 2% of the eurozone in terms of economy. david: absolutely. the analysis by the starters at the ecb suggested that will not be a huge contagion effect. we do not know if there will be a sense of global creditors being fearful lending to the euro area. could markme say it the beginning of the end of the euro project. you think that is over said? david: i do. this greece situation has brought peripheral europe close to core europe. it has brought it closer instead of less. rishaad: the ecb is the one that is printing money. we have china cutting rates from very high levels. they have a long way to go.

what is the impact when it comes to yields? david: when you look at the economics of the region in china, there are more cuts needed to be consistent with economics. we would like to see more cuts and one more benchmark deposit rate cut. , the economics of the region are slow but not disastrous. we are not in for a hard landing. there should not be any major concerns about bond markets in asia. rishaad: easy money continues, isn't it? that is likely to benefit corporate's, particularly, if they want to borrow money. david: absolutely, which is why the issue made was spot-on. it is about data. ,t is crucial in the sense that does it indicate the end of free money for corporate? that may be a turning point for markets globally. rishaad: how does that play out in your thinking? david: in terms of asia, we still like the bond markets. you look at the situation with

try not -- with china tried to join the sbr. they are making sure their currency does not weaken, therefore making chinese bond markets a hedge a sensible thing to do. rishaad: favorite region? david: asia. rishaad: that's why you're here. david: absolutely. rishaad: it is a broad area. david: yes. i really like china. in particular, i like the fact that this sbr thing is on the horizon. i think because of that we will have a stable currency, which will stabilize the financial markets. , japan has had some good data as of late. australia is still in the doldrums somewhat and that is when i would favor less. rishaad: what about credit risk in china? david: i am quite constructive on that. the property markets and the bonds are -- a lot of the credit there are in tier one cities. that looks quite strong.

i don't think it is as big of a concern as warranted by the yield. rishaad: david, thank you so much for joining us this morning. david buckner. it foundalaysia says 28 suspected human trafficking areas to the border with unmarked graves. mass graves were found across the border in thailand earlier this month. tens of thousands have fled oppression in their home country in recent years. the fbi says two planes have new york's jfkn airport after anonymous threats were made it military jets -- were made. military jets were scrambled after the reports a chemical weapon was on board. nothing was found.

a saudi arabian airline was grounded because of a similar threat. the fbi says both calls were made by the same person. more than 500 people have died during a heat wave in india that has temperatures approaching 50 degrees celsius. the heat has been felt all the way north to delhi. roads and markets have been deserted during daylight hours as people and animals seek a way to cool off. authorities are urging outdoor workers to take precaution with high temperatures forecasted to continue. rishaad: china says they want to raise transparency in the military. the means we could have ministry of defense on weibo. more after the break. ♪

rishaad: this is "trending business." i am rishaad salamat. today marks one month from the devastating earthquake in nepal. it left many injured. bloomberg is saying how people are trying to rebuild their lives.

>> [speaking foreign language] >> this is our bedroom.

rishaad: you can get more on that and all the day's top stories. you can watch us live

wherever you are. to do that, all you have to do is download the bloomberg cap to yourile -- app mobile device. we have to take a break, but on the other side, we look at why china is cutting taxes. their shoppers get better deals. trading day of the week. hong kong was closed for buddha's birthday. we have all the numbers coming up. we are looking at other markets in this part of the world as well and this is right after this. ♪

[beeping] ooo come on everybody, i think this is my grandson. [lip syncing] ♪little girl you look so lonesome oh my goodness. ♪i see you are feeling blue ♪come on over to my place ♪hey girl ♪we're having a party happy birthday, grandma! ♪we'll be swinging ♪dancing and singing ♪baby come on over tonight [baseball crowd noise] ♪ ♪ [x1 chime] ♪ ♪ [crowd cheers]

oh! i can't believe it! [cheering] hi, grandma! ♪ rishaad: our top story, greece returns from the negotiating table with the government blaming creditors for the long-running debt. the prime minister elect says a deal can be really -- reached the end of the month. tensioners -- tensions in labor market rules. the government will not connect measures that will deepen the recession. the table forn time warner, saying that charter communications may buy the company for $55 billion, a 14%

premium on the closing price. the deal could be announced as soon as today. rebuffed whenas comcast made an offer that collapsed. faster than anticipated, gdp grew 2.6% from the previous year. this was due to lower demand for goods. -- higher demand for goods. shanghai and hong kong about to start there. a busy month. after the retreat for the holidays. korea and hong kong back online after the trading was stopped due to buddha's birthday. slight falls, shanghai composite up 1%. the hang seng up 1.76%.

we may need to check again. we have been talking about the china rally. analysts, hands in the air. they have had to update their predictions on stock prices that have blown through their charted prices. all the speculation the governments will be doing, simulating measures -- stimulating measures, a mixed bag and disappointing data coming out from the economy. ,he china csi 300 index shanghai and shenzhen rallied sinceor the first time 2008. if you predicted this rally, it went up more than double this year. let's take a look. let's see what is moving markets in china. one of the big things we are

seeing, let's see. shanghai composite right now, not moving. there we go. we are seeing green in all areas. financials up three quarters of a percent. industrials up 1.8%. the movers here, one deal we need to start talking about. thehe korea cherry hill -- de facto holding company from saying sung -- samsung, this is the samsung restructuring of it after pushing the government to do a bit more, change their management style. industries.heil sony financial down 2%. we are seeing a bit of a loss. earthquakeei, insurance premiums may rise 20-30%.

back to you. rishaad: greece and creditors are returning to talks today. the mining -- the money running saysrea the prime minister the money lenders are to blame for the instability. >> one point they cannot agree on -- austerity. >> exactly. the finance minister says, we have done our part. you look as far as structural deficit reductions and you look at the ddp, the charts are telling. two points. first, it is not true that they are not going to reform. second, the deal we did -- the reason why we do not have a deal , the major sticking point is creditors insistence on austerity at the expense of

reform agenda. the second point, how they are committed. just not to this. that said, when you look at this, it is subtle yet steadfast. they are looking at a target of more than 2% of gdp in 2016 as ours the fiscal surplus. it is not sustainable. we will not accept a cure that is worse than what caused it in the first place. that said, this agreement, a bunch of targets, sales tax rates and the labor market. it is a very nice op-ed. rishaad: we get all these deadlines. they are colliding with each other. that overrules deadlines lasting for the next nine years for the imf. david: over the next six weeks, it is critical. euros, 350 million

million euros on june 12, and june 19, -- it is reserved currency. rishaad: thank you, david. you can get that story anytime on our bloomberg app. the thought about shopping for many chinese, forum -- from face creams to cars, import tax cut is not expected to boost spending. what have we got here? this is coming pretty soon? shery: starting monday. china is veering away from their main infrastructure investments. they are cutting tariffs i as much as 50%.

sneakers and boots, for example. babel see tariffs of 12% down from 24%. diapers down to 2% down from 7.5%. the customs bureau saying this will satisfy local appetites for the goods and imports. people may go into hong kong to take advantage of low tariffs. tell me about facial creams. there are changes? changese will be seeing starting monday. most drugs and china will be free of government price caps. now that foreign drugs will be able to compete with cheaper generic chinese drugs, we could see drugs becoming cheaper in china. since last year, many provincial

governments introduced bidding systems to bring down the cost of medicine. for an drugs were put in a separate group. in the bidding process. now they will compete directly with chinese generics. multinationals will be forced to compete here. rishaad: let's look at the other end of the spectrum. , doing rather well. shery: luxury goods. rishaad: a stock market boom having a trickle-down effect. shery: chinese stocks are more than doubled in the past year. mclaren's sales in the last two months was the best ever since they entered the country 15 months ago. mclaren, the maker of the million-dollar p1 supercar, cars $600,000,60,000 --

that maybe a signature that the luxury goods market could be recuperating. rishaad: let's check on the other stories we are following. raising $6 billion to expand mining in mongolia. they will target 20 banks. this a week after the mongolian government entity two-year dispute that affected -- effectively stalled the project. coveria has a deposit of and gold. in what is being dubbed the smartphone wars, between countries not companies. china and korea adopting antitrust policies that may require licensed use of tack to rivals. other countries considering similar policies. indian arms, the business has run 118 million subscribers.

vodafone the second biggest mobilephone operator in india. 10% ofequested -- overall revenue. year since india 's new prime minister rose to power, bowing to improve infrastructure and deliver prosperity and jobs. midnight theories. fuel the hopes that were raised over a victory. there was a weight of expectation? >> there was. if you judge him truly based on what was going on when he took andr, the drift disillusionment that had taken over, he has done ok. he has cleared that up and stabilize the macroeconomic environment.

but the expectations were bigger. people expected him to lay the groundwork for fundamental shift in india's growth trajectory. it is hard to argue he has done that so far. has he told us about how he intends to govern? >> the first thing is, he is not an ideological leader. there are a lot of people who voted for him, imagining he would be an indian ronald reagan, someone who would come in and sweep away the legacy of the socialist era in india. he has governed the way he governed as chief minister, more on a project by project these this. he has gotten many things done, he has lifted diesel subsidies, auction off coal mines, things where his own decisiveness can make a difference. but he hasn't fundamentally changed the way india operates,

the way its land, labor and capital markets operate. that's just not the way he thinks. rishaad: thanks for joining us. later, a special show to review the hits and misses of the past year. singapore time, coming out of mumbai. china says it wants to raise transparency in the military. we can follow the ministry of defense on we chow weibo.

toflight plans will continue be based on international law

and china should not bully a smaller country. manila is pursuing arbitration to resolve territorial disputes. fly,ying the routes we based on international law, insurance agreements. we will still exercise our rights over our exclusive zones. to be clear, we will defend our rights. >> british prime minister david cameron started his campaign to reform the european union. week oflks launch a negotiations. he wants changes ahead of the u.k. referendum on the eu expected sometime next year. struck a struck -- town in mexico, killing 13 and damaging homes. cars and trucks flipped over, load onto buildings by the force of the storm. it lasted only a few minutes. the mayor said it is the first

tornado recorded in the history of the city, across the border from texas. set to present military strategy at the top of the hour. officials expected to outline strategy in a session, part of an effort to make the department more transparent. david tweed is here. sort of information we get? david: it is apparently more transparent. i don't think we get near the ,enter transparency people like countries like the u.s. insist china provides. out every twos years. the last was in 2013. it did take a slightly different tactic. hadpapers up until then been titled, china's national defense in 2011. the one they came out two years ago was titled, diverse a fight employment of china's armed forces.

it gave insight into how china's armed forces are organized. 18 causes in the pla. they have three fleets in the navy. they have the setup and how it all works in the pla air force. also, detail about how the second artillery force works. that is the one which is responsible for missile defense and the nuclear defense. the other thing that will get from the pla, a better idea of how they view their roles come a what are their objectives, the most important one given the fact that we have issues in the south china sea, is how they view territorial security. rishaad: as you mentioned, the u.s. complains about the lack of transparency in china. you have any idea of the detail they might go into on defense spending? comes to defense

spending, we get an idea every march, they give us a view of their spending. we know it will be up 10% to the number 143 billion. that will be there spending on defense. we don't get much detail about that. that was dropped from the white paper. people are thinking, china will not bargain -- bother to argue the point anymore. the other point i want to make about china, yes, china is the second biggest defense under the world, but it is still only spending about 2% of its gdp on defense. the u.s. spends 60 -- $650 billion. china's spending is morphed by the u.s.. from the papers, we will get incremental increase in some of the strategic objectives of the people's liberation army.

rishaad: david, thank you. coming up, apple's new design chief is generating excitement online. we will find out why when "trending business" returns after the break. ♪

rishaad: this is "trending business" live from hong kong streaming on bloomberg.com. more so than alibaba, j.d..com is considered to be the amazon of china. shanghai's first consumer electronics show. the company wants to be far more than just an online retailer. >> we have created a neck a --tem -- and echoes system

newcosystem to bring m. wects into our ecosyste are not making new products by ourselves. we are working with retail partners. stephen: what kind of reading -- retail product are we talking about? they have made advances in voice recognition technology and they have begun smart home appliances. products on our website. we keep adding new products into the pipeline. for example, we today announced venture, joint speakers, a voice controlled speaking system that enables you to use your voice to give

commands to speakers, and have instantaneous access to millions , andurs of audio content additionally, you can use your voice to talk with this smart speaker, asking what the weather tomorrow, what the stock price is, basically it is a smart hub for your phone. alibaba is your main competitor. they have been criticized for an letter -- allegedly facilitating a platform for the selling of counterfeit goods. j.d..com was -- as the technology guy, what tech is in place to ensure you have a clean platform to sell goods legitimately? >> that question, i am in charge of the smart group. i think our colleagues are

fighting and working every day to make sure everything will product meets our j.d. quality standards. for our smart group right now, in 2014, we sold about eight millions -- 8 million. we are looking to add more into that mix. numbers, by the -- 2013-2014, our numbers grew by 280%. we are looking to grow more in the next year. media,: a look at social here is sherry. shery: a look at china first. the defense ministry has essentially jumped on the social media bandwagon and opened up its own weibo account.

also, instant messaging. it will go live this morning for the first time. a few minutes from now at 10:00 in beijing with a press conference starting at 10:00. white paper entitled china's military strategy. we are interested in that. you can get updates. it is only in chinese as far as i know. it has 38,000 followers. it is following 30 people or organizations, most are official media organizations and military publications. this will help increase transparency about china's national defense issues. of course, whether you want to believe that or not is up to you. this is quite a new and bold the defense ministry. other parts of the chinese ministry have had their own social media accounts for a wild. for example, the people's liberation army opened one in 2011. they are late to the game. shery: it says a lot that they

are doing it. bigou are looking at a icon. promotedhnny i've was to chief design officer. this means he will have more designing, and also for traveling. he will relinquish day-to-day affairs to others. a sickly, he is the mastermind behind the iphone, behind the -- and now, he is getting >> this memo has been circulating on the web. tim cook calls him a talented designer. utility000 design patents to his name. people have commented on that on twitter or read one person says, this fellow may have a promising career ahead of him. lots of people commenting on this. hthoodrson says, knig

isn't enough. he was knighted in 2012. as the indian prime minister delivered on his election promises, we will be headed live to mumbai.

rishaad: it's tuesday, may 26. this is "trending business". i am rishaad salamat. we are live in singapore, jakarta and mumbai. hearst, a look at what we are watching. australian mining jumping on chinese interests. the world's biggest fire continues to drive the market. 12 months of modi has the prime minister hit the target?

the hits and misses. talks and talk. greece negotiating, demanding creditors ease up. the prime minister says they will refuse any cure worse than the disease. look at what is going on on the trading day. how does it look? in hongit is thundering kong right now. trading-wise, back on track. looking stronger the hang seng after coming back from the holiday on monday for buddha's birthday. the hang seng up one at a quarter percent. there are reports from local newspapers here, mink how saying the quota when it comes to dish engine hong kong coming soon, maybe abolished. this is for when the borscht will start. the trading quota will stay. they are setting -- citing

unspecified sources. we saw a turnover and the hong kong market surged to a record last month. updates on that, we will see if we can get anything confirmed. moving ahead, we will talk about the movers in the hang seng. there is one stock, a lot of question marks. one of the movers here, bell international holdings. up more than 12% on friday, now back down 6%. why this unusual sudden change in movement. the company came out with a statement, saying we are not aware of any reason for the increase in price or have any information which must he announced to avoid a false market in the company's shares. earnings are up-to-date today. we will see what happens for bell.

hong kong shares up 1.9%. , seller oftingyi instant noodles and beverages in , 3%a, they are not looking right now. instant noodle sales fell 13% to $1 billion. beverage sales declined 19% on year. that accounts for more than half of their total sales. back to you. with talks deadlock between greece and its creditors, finger-pointing going on. as to who is at fault. to the finance minister, it is clear where the brave -- where the blame lies. david? --id: the finance minister, to the finance minister, greece is not to blame, but the creditors. you look at which side of

negotiating table, you look at this op-ed piece, i would aremmend this to people who watching, project syndicate.org outlines the view of what greece is and why we haven't reached a deal yet. an excerpt, the major sticking point, he says, and the only dealbreaker is, the creditors insistence on austerity. they keep insisting greece has and shore uponey finances. even at the expense of the reform agenda, our government is committed to pursue. he is touching on two points. first is that it is a fallacy that greece is not committed, he says, to reforms. that said, back to the point of why he wrote this, it it is not their fault, he says, why a deal has not been made. it is become -- because of the

insistence on austerity. look at the gdp over five years. low point, 10.5% up or down 2% at best. he compares grace to its neighbors, spain, italy, cyprus, portugal. the reason why greece, he says, has not done as well as its neighbors is because they did not have to contend with these very strict fiscal measures. detailset you more about later run. in the meantime, back to you. rishaad: another look at the story later in the show. tweet us your shot -- your thoughts. singapore is gp ahead of expectations in the last quarter. listed by improving american economy. southeast asia correspondents have been going through the numbers. where did this come from? financial is the second best

driving growth. different numbers year to year. 2.6 versus 2.1 the quarter before. growth.us 2% estimate supported mainly by the banking sector, resilient in landing construction and services. also worth noting, for the year, the government is confident about its projected -- projection of 2-4 percent. the perceived recovery in the u.s., plus or strenuous measures in china. still, no room to be complacent. singapore's dpm and finance ministers says singapore cannot bank on a global economic recovery. only higher productivity can secure growth -- in the future. singapore has to keep pushing ahead and be innovative with aonomic restructuring in

tight labor market. that is the deal. looking good for the quarter, but looking forward, it needs to do more. rishaad: thank you, haslinda. let's take a look at the other stories. has the lineup. belyn: time warner could snapped up by charter communications, which is nearing a deal to buy the cable company. the price, over $55 billion in cash and stock. they will pay $99 per share, more than the closing price. charter is the fourth biggest u.s. cable company and this is the second time it has made a move on time warner. in 2014, ideal was rejected. charter has a second chance after a comcast offer fell apart. if the deal goes through,

charter will almost quadruple its subscribers. basicwill be 17 million cable subscribers, second only to comcast's 22 million. the industry is seeing dealmaking heat up. competition from netflix, amazon, and other online services, and demand for traditional packages is falling. easy to buy pepsi products in japan. the company has agreed to buy 260,000 vending machines from japan tobacco. the deal is worth about $1.2 billion and includes the vending machines and two beverage brands. beverage machines are considered the best channel for soft drink sales. the vending machines will help them close the gap with coca-cola. has the edge with 980 thousand vending machines. japan is a bit of a reputation

for being a land of vending machines. 2.5 million around the country. more soft drinks are sold through them then all the convenience stores nationwide. go shoppingaper to in china, starting in june. import taxes will be halved on some goods to boost consumption. some types of sports shoes, skin care products, and clothes will see import tax cut my more than 50% according to the ministry of finance. the import tax or diapers will drop to 2% from 7.5%. for facial care products, 2% down from 5%. theilers will need to pass savings on to customers. this is part of a plan to encourage domestic consumption is the economy was away of export and into social investments. china's economy has slowed and economist see a weak outlook for consumption as the slowdown hits wages in government revenue growth. another story, australia betting on coffee to

drive growth. had to bloomberg.com and have a look. coming up, vodafone heads to mumbai to discuss whether this makes sense at all. up next, rebounding from 10 year lows. the games going on. find out why. ♪

rishaad: some of china's biggest resource companies are considering investing on metals and shares. dealmaker andt the country's largest conglomerate applied for permission to invest. the report says it is not a takeover attempt.

the companies are interested in increasing in -- current stakes. prices have been recovering some of their losses, jumping above $60 her tongue. our guest sees it falling below commodities -- i dan.ined i dan -- by let's start off with, what is the rationale here? we have so much supply right now. it is actually stunning that we have seen prices recover as much as they have. >> one of the biggest reasons is a supply, difficulty over the past month and a half. out of australia, we saw exports fall in march even more than april. this was due to pricing by alice, who has resumed production. partly it is due to other factors.

the other factor that led to the rebound was chinese steel production. this is a function of margins. as iron ore prices came off, steel prices stayed higher and i -- steel mills inc. increased production. this reversing. steel margins have increased, production is coming off. at the same time, temporary disruptions has hit australia, are coming out. you are seeing supply mu stronger. of 60 million tons in march. a huge clip. even in boom times, we are talking about iron ore falling 40 million tons of month was incredible. producing twice the amount, getting half what you use to get. when is the endgame? it doesn't make sense. a the problem is, you have

disconnect between the low-cost and everyone else. at the very bottom, you have producing at cost. for them, it makes good economic sense. rishaad: are they trying to put the smaller players out of business? targets?stake over >> at $40, these products make sense for them. we forecast them to add 50 million tons in terms of production. we are not done yet. you have our rio's extension. with a long pipeline of additional expansion still to come. rishaad: less about cash costs and more about the situation of where they are and who owns them. traditionally, the industry was broken up into two camps. one was a small private iron ore miners. the other was owned by steel

mills. the private miners have left the market. steel mill owned, as a wheeze until they are more price insensitive. as prices fall further, the additional costs will be hard to find in china. assetsexample, their worth, speculation at the moment, about whether or not chinese companies are looking working with that company. would the tie up, do they ignore the price and simply guarantee supply for their own producers? >> there is an argument in terms of securing supply. you are seen iron and steel buying out of khalili -- buying out of the largest mine curtailed this cycle. it has been bought out 100% with the intention of restarting it to some cure the supply --

secure the supply. they are keeping producing out of the price. there is an argument. you are likely to continue to see the steel mills in china. rishaad: let's look at copper. up is this market shaping the? >> the copper price variation this year so far has been driven more by macro and positioning rather than the fundamentals. you have seen volatility. right now, there's uncertainty regarding china, creating a two-way market flow. the short-term prices are likely to be relatively range bound, but with volatility. rishaad: we haven't seen a recovery take place. >> it sold off strong in january on the. morepeople have been come -- on the theory that people have become more concerned.

now it has moderated. people are more uncertain on china. there is a lack of conviction. lots of the blur out of the market. --t industries are leaving leaning bearish. rishaad: is that possible looking at shanghai stockpiles -- over a million tons sitting in a warehouse in shanghai? are talking about the exchange, you have a seasonal pattern stronger this year with build coming off. if you compare where inventories are today compared to this time last year, it is similar. i wouldn't say it is especially high or low on the exchange. in the warehouses now, it is was a yearer than it ago. on a longer historic basis, go back a few years, again, i would say if anything, italy's high. is there anything you

see as a decent buy when it comes to commodities complex? >> to be honest, it is difficult to find a strong bias these levels. we think nickel has been sold off to aggressively. we are not forecasting returns of -- at 13,000 or below, that is too low for most producers in china. they have been bringing production off-line. it should rebound from there. we are slightly short-term positive on oil. as well. we are going into the driving season. also, cooling season in the middle east, which is increasingly important from a seasonal perspective. rishaad: but it is summer. >> is starting to become an important season factoring into the market. much.d: thank you very

>> these are the stories making headlines. 28aysia says it has found suspected human trafficking camps near its border with thailand, with more than 100 graves containing an unknown number of bodies. police don't know who the deceased are, but local media reports they are muslims from myanmar. of people haveds fled oppression in their home country. the fbi says two planes have been searched at new york's jfk airport after anonymous threats were made. military jets escorted the aircraft into the city after callers claimed chemical weapons were on board. the plane landed safely and the search found nothing. later, a saudi arabian airlines flight was checked because of a threat. the fbi says it appears the calls were made by the same person. rish prime minister david cameron has started his campaign to reform the european union,

and the talks launch a week of pan-european efforts by cameron to renegotiate terms of britain's membership. he wants changes ahead of a u.k. referendum on the eu that is expected sometime next year. up next, a promotion for the man behind apple design. taking a look at the online buzz being generated.

with we -- are back with a look at what is trending on social media. shery: china's defense ministry opening up its first weibo account and instant messaging, which went live a while ago. 10:00, 20 minutes ago. already, we can see the number of followers have gone up by 1000. last 20 minutes. you can see, it is gone live with the press conference about china's military strategy. you can see pictures from press conferences, various people speaking, and also some journalists filling the room. this is the china defense intotry's first foray social media with its own

account. previously, it was using the account of the pla, the people's liberation army newspaper, the pla daily. they had a weibo account in 2011. now, it has its own so it can directly talk to the people, as it were. and also through to instant messaging account. it is considered a way to increase transparency of what is going on in china's military and defense. it could be interesting, especially for china watchers to be able to come to this and see what they are posting. what the government wants you to be seen, but still, it is a channel by which you can take a look at what is going on. shery: everything in chinese? chinese.verything in you are looking at a big promotion. shery: we are talking about jony ive becoming the chief design

officer at apple. he is known of being the mastermind behind the iphone and ipad. he is known for being a bit low profile. he tries to keep a low profile, avoiding public appearances. but he is definitely making headlines today. the internal memo by tim cook has been circulated on the web. here, tim cook calls and one of the most talented and accomplished designers of his generation. jony has 5000 -- patents to his name. jobs,he loss of steve jony ive continues the vision. to lose jony ive, that would be to lose the vision. others are talking about management at apple, saying this is great the troubling, because look atl have time to

design. they are introducing another management layer. we know lieutenants have been promoted with him. is a title change? shery: he will focus on design and traveling. he is overseeing the development of the building of the campus at apple. lots of things he is doing now. roslin: a look at china's military operations going public on weibo and jony ive. back to you. rishaad: the euphoria primending any -- india's minister is evaporating. whether he has delivered on his prophecies.

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♪hey girl ♪we're having a party happy birthday, grandma! ♪we'll be swinging ♪dancing and singing ♪baby come on over tonight rishaad: greece returning to the negotiating table today, blaming its credit for the long-running got. the prime minister says a deal can be reached by the end of the month despite disagreements such as labor market rules. the government will not and measures that would deepen the recession. greek shares down the most in three weeks on monday. cigna for releasing a growth forecast after growing faster than expected. gdp was up 2.6% from the

previous year. singapore is forecasting growth between 2% and 4% for the full year. a good day in sydney. they are not aware of any third applications to the review board. we have a lunchtime break in tokyo, but hong kong was on last time we checked. barely making any games right now. ng extending gains 1.4%. europe we did see the

stocks overnight pretty much ending on the red. especially the athens stock exchange, closing down 3%. we are seeing stocks up in the air at this point. the interior saying no deal, basically. no imf payment in june at this point. let's go back to asia. hangseng, gains in all sectors except for consumer services and goods. oil and gas up 2.25%. financials up 1.8%. talk about the's aussie dollar. a little bit of a reversal of fortune. seems like pressure has shifted for the reserve bank of new zealand to cut interest rates. that is because we have been seeing the prices of no caps on down. iron ore seeing a rebound in the past few months. about 30%.

trade ineing a bit of favor of the key we cutting interest rates. that is according to traders out there. aussie-kiwi,or the it has been the biggest rally against the kiwi in four years. we will see what happens over whether they will cut again. they already cut to a record low of 2%. i will send it back to you. rishaad: greece and its creditors return to talks today with money running out and bills coming up. the finance minister again saying those who let athens money are to blame for the impasse. david is here. david: we are talking four areas afour --

where they agree on, all of which revolve around greece spending less, austerity in other words. s is saying is the reason we have not had a deal is because of them, not us. rishaad: both sides are going to blame each other. that. this highlights our government cannot and will not accept more austerity. together with what he said, he included a chart, which we also have. to highlight his point that austerity has not worked in greece. spain ande have ireland. the irish economy is on the recovery, spain and portugal as

well. david: bottom of the screen, structural debt reduction. how much greece has saved since consolidation. on the left is growth. what he says it's because of the bottom, you get the left. rishaad: greece has contracted 20% since 2009. david: he has a point that it has not gotten better. that said, the reason creditors would say is behind the budget restraints is you have a bigger problem than spain or italy, ireland and so forth. thates not change the fact there is no leverage in the negotiations. greece has important obligations in the next six weeks. rishaad: it gets confusing. the imf is owed 20 billion euros over nine years. all these different dates get confusing. david: there are payments to the

, external obligations and internal obligations. government salaries and so forth. for pensions, they can meet obligations no problem. these are the tricky ones coming up. i have highlighted the dates. 5, 12, 16 and 19. the first one is $340 million. that is the u.s. dollar equivalent. june 16 is a fairly big one. these are all a approximate. are a virtual currency. these conversions are based on exchange rates now. rishaad: thank you very much, indeed. indonesia driving its campaign

to tap into a $2 trillion industry being dominated by malaysia. tommi joins us now from jakarta. h?y ace >> good morning. for this montht includes a roadmap to double up industry with total assets of 72 trillion rupee. ringgits. they are seeking to boost their regional profile with a bid two post a bank who shareholders include libya, iran, and nigeria. aceh has the highest proportion

of muslims at 98% and is one of four regions that has implemented sharia law. it has seen growth in islam and banking assets passed the conventional market. 17.6%.wth reached 2.5 trillion rupee in 2014 topared with a 9.8% growth 36.7 trillion ruby in contrast to the nationwide trend last year in a country with the world's biggest muslim population. the central bank office added firstank aceh will be the to transform to a sharia compliant entity. shareholders will vote this week on converting the bank's 64 4 trillion rupiah of assets.

the nation's largest islamic bank had $61 billion of assets at the end of last year. back to you. tommy.: thank you, aboutnto aiming to raise $6 billion to expand their mine in mongolia. they tapped third-party financing, about 20 thanks for that. the mongolian government and rio tinto and did a two-year dispute that stalled the project. is one of the world's biggest deposits of copper and gold. next monday, the chinese government will resume price cuts. provisional governments have been introducing new fittings to

bring costs down. reallyhers estimates $350 billion in prescription drugs were sold in china last year. a new front in the smartphone wars that involves countries and not companies. korea adopting antitrust policies that may require apple and microsoft to license tech to local rivals. consideringazil are similar policies. it could alter the balance of power in the industry. since arks one year narendra modi became the indian prime minister. he campaigned on improving jobs and prosperity. we go to mumbai for more analysis. how are people there rating his performance so far? modi was backed by a

historical mandate. never has a prime minister enjoy these numbers. gave him the opportunity to radically transform the economy. has that happened? let's take a look. his arrival in new delhi coincided with a falling commodity prices. that made the economic heartlands -- headlines look good. deficit came under control. but what has modi done? he has taken small but important steps. she has opened up foreign investment in insurance. process toansparent sell deficits. these are incremental steps. perhaps that is where the

problem lies. you do not see large economic statement ship -- statesmanship. radical transformation? as of now, not so far. rishaad: what has been the feedback of global investors and big business, i suppose? >> in the last year, foreign investors have been bullish about india. $15 billion of foreign capital has come into the markets. since then, markets have cooled off. the irrational exuberance that welcomed modi has been replaced by grounded optimism. big business has been waiting for modi to deliver. you are not seen growth catch up with reality. people are waiting for him to deliver. you are seeing small,

incremental steps that will take a lot of time for earnings to catch up with the expectations that have been built in the last year. rishaad: what has not worked? what lies ahead for narendra modi? worked is modi had a poor record at protecting religious minorities. a series of attacks on churches have him battle the prime minister and sullied the secular fabric. the biggest problem has been modi has been quiet and not taken steps to quite these elements. therefore emboldening them in a sense. there is a land acquisition bill

that will be an important step as far as india is concerned. is alsonational tax law an important game changer. thank you for that. will have more analysis on narendra modi's first year in office so far. ihat is the 12 months of mod special. next, we will take you to the consumer electronic show in shanghai. why people believe this car will be the next mobile device. ♪

rishaad: convergence of cars and consumer electronics at ces

asia. the car is being touted as a mobile device. stephen engle asked tim pinsky for his views. >> what is a car doing at an electronic show? >> it is a convergence of all electronics. how many semiconductors? >> you're talking millions in his vehicle. we are seeing the convergence of technologies. this is one more of those. are wer: how far away from having pilotless cars on the road as a mass product like the smartphone? look at global trends, we are seeing urbanization, congestion. when you take those problems and look at how you solve them, a

vehicle like this does fantastic. because every time you stop, the engine is not running. the braking energy is going back into the battery. it is available the next time you accelerate. looking at trends globally of these cars with congestion, this is a vehicle that does very well. reporter: as we get more interconnected with our appliances, whether it is a kitchen, living room, garage with smartphones? how secure is it? better security than a bank. encryption is everywhere. reporter: what are you doing as you lead the innovation at ford to reduce range anxiety and get faster charging? >> batteries are getting lower cost and more capable. we have been finding ways to charge those batteries faster. i think we are going to see that trend. these larger batteries, see them charging faster.

that will be an enabler for more electrification. people can move the vehicle as far as they need to go. to recharge in a reasonable amount of time and keep going to their destination. reporter: there are solar panels on the roof up here. ax concept, youcm are going to put solar panels on the car. is that feasible? >> putting solar on vehicles is feasible. the question is, when does it make sense to do it? there is some expense involved. can you get enough energy to make it worthwhile? i think we are still deciding on that. you look at solar in general, prices have come down. we need to make sure the customer gets the benefit. we are continuing to look at that angle. let's get a check of

stories making headlines around the world. 500 people have died in a heat wave in india with temperatures approaching 50 degrees celsius. southern states have been worst affected. the heat is being felt all the way north to delhi. roads have been largely deserted during daylight hours as people and animals seek a way to cool off. authorities are urging outdoor workers to take precautions with high for 10 -- temperatures forecast to continues. a tornado has struck mexico, damaging hundreds of homes. and trucks were flipped over and blown onto buildings by the storm, which lasted only a few minutes. says it is the first tornado recorded in the 100 year history of the city across the border from texas. philippines says it's aircraft will fly usual routes in the south china sea.

plans will continue to be based on international law, and manila is pursuing arbitration to resolve the territorial dispute. , we had live to mumbai. ♪

rishaad: 50 minutes to go before the start of trading in india. we go to mumbai with the latest.

this is probably the best time for waterfront to list a business in india after a hugely successful telecom auction here. winnerse one of the big in the world's biggest growing telecom market. vodafone has appointed ross sure to work on the deal, valued at $3 billion to $4 billion. this is after accounting for $11 billion worth of debt. it has also learned that ro thshire is likely to submit a

report this year. vodafone will decide whether to proceed with the ipo depending on market conditions. ipo would let vodafone cash in on assets in one of the world's largest wireless markets. rishaad: let's find out more of what is trending. reporter: we have been taking a look at the chinese investment industry. accountned up a weibo and have been going live this morning at a press conference at 10:00 this morning. strategyed at military , as you can see there. one of the leaders of the military holding up white paper. they have been updating it with live updates and pictures of the press in the room as well.

this will be a channel that the chinese military will be able to communicate with the public. be have been looking at johnny , former apple senior vice president of design. she has been promoted to chief design officer. he has been responsible for designing most of apple's's big products, the iphones, ipads. .e have had some comment he may have a promising career ahead of him. this new role means you will not just be designing devices. he will have more time to work campusects like apple and retail stores as well. rishaad: that is it for trending business.

it is asia edge coming up next. we will be recapping the top stories. says today's high-tech cars are the true mobile devices. good night. ♪

♪ little anthony: hi. i'm little anthony.