it is a wait and see policy for the markets. nothing for them to grapple with when it comes to all that. it is certainly wait and see. we are all waiting. it is the hong kong open. let's get to sophie. opening slightly lower. set for the third day of losses. we had taiwan leaving the advance for asia. a lot of interest in the area around the supply chain. on the agenda, we do have afternoon aso this well. fluctuations.some take a look at the equity

numbers. pharma following, rising almost 10% here. forecasting a rise in the annual operating profit. -- outlook reflects better improvements in japan. a carter ceo -- hitachi ceo commenting on donald trump. just a taste of how the earnings are heading out in japan. rishaad: now let's go to first word headlines with heidi.

has warned english of growing global tensions. he noted an increasingly assertive russia and china, brexit, and rising nationalism. have developedey an approach. >> we will be open to people migrating to our country. immigrant is causing problems. thiel involved in a dispute showing he was approved

as a new zealand citizen. mr. english has denied selling citizenship to wealthy foreigners. frenchnt runner of the prime minister refuses to withdraw as concerns grow about .im employing family members the poll is three months out o from the election. he denies giving his wife and children nonexistent jobs. iran confirms they carried out a missile test over the weekend, and warned the world to not metal -- metal in its affairs -- meddle in its affairs. the launch is the first of the night test for the trump and mr. asian -- administration. global news, 24 hours a day, powered by more than 2600 journalists in more than 120 countries. this is bloomberg.

the new u.s. defense secretary will seek to smooth asian alliess with as he toured the region. frombeth reynolds joins us turkey. how important is james ma tthis's trip. >> as you say, this is the first make aabinet member to trip. korea and japan relieved that they are still important. like was saying things south korea and japan were having a free ride, not paying

enough for the presence of u.s. trips -- troops here. he even said he might be comfortable with the country going nuclear at some point, and pulling troops out. donald trump has, on the phone, recommitted his commitment to the alliances. i think it is very different to have a member of his close advisers ship in the region and saying these things on the ground. rishaad: indeed. concernrea is the chief , not south korea or japan. also, a resurgence in the south china sea. >> right. the two major issues. he is set to arrive in south korea and approximately two hours. he will not be speaking in public there, but will probably the u.s.ssurances of

commitment to protecting south korea stands. he is expected to talk in tokyo on saturday. what they are looking for in japan is really a commitment to agreement,al defense and particularly, that it covers the islands between japan and china. tensions could rise further if america does not step up and save publicly that it stands by with thoseent islands. rishaad: let's find out what has been happening in the automotive industry in the u.s.. december was the best in a decade. let's kick things off with the top line first. ramy: it was better than expected, the number for january. 17.6 million automotive --

automobiles sold. expectation was 3 million. it is still a fall of about million last17.9 year. december, 18.4 million. what contributed to the fall? let's take a look at the biggest losers so far. that includes toyota and fiat chrysler. toyota missed the estimate. estimate was a fall of about 2%. beat only by was three percentage points. toyota is getting hurt by cheap gas. probably down one dollar over .he past three years or so because of that, people are opting for larger trucks, larger

suvs because they can afford the energy there. that is also hurting fiat chrysler. upin, the truck, year-over-year. other big-name falls. gm and ford. .ord, not that -- bad g.m., worse than expected. there was some good news. threeod news was for specific companies. one was for volkswagen. in january,rose 15% year on year. the expectation was for 20%. is not a said, 50% to meettwo sneeze at -- at. you can also see nissan and honda up about next percent, or so. because of all the cheap gas

around, people are driving into the suvs as well as the higher end trucks. rishaad: thanks very much indeed for that. ramy inocencio going through all indices. look also at what has been going on with macau. hub.is the largest gaming casino revenue growth has slowed down. up.ing revenue we were all touting that there would be a recovery. where are we? analysts i spoke to were looking at between 5% and 12% year on year growth. we thought, in january, it was only up 3.1%.

that was quiet disappointing for people. rishaad: better than the decline we were having. but, they should be doing better than this? last year, it started in february. we did have analysts that were hoping the chinese new year affect would have an impact on the generally revenues. it was disappointing, but what some analyst said to me if there are some highrollers who come after the chinese new year. we could see some better numbers in february. rishaad: what are they saying about the next few months as well? >> in february, that will be a big -- rishaad: lift up? what are we talking about here? you say the high rollers might be coming, so that could provide a boost. >> that's right. we will have a better idea of

where the recovery is coming. aheadliday is still going . whether or not this will have a good bump up. rishaad: we had two years where macau was in the doldrums, a real slump. we have asked month, briefly, up. is that a recovery? some think there are choppy waters ahead. rishaad: still ahead, according ourtning the consumer. we will hear from the chief marketing officer. ♪

rishaad: a quick check of the business flash headlines. pay nearlygrees to $8 million to settle the lehman brothers bankruptcy. the new deal requires bankruptcy court approval. the hearing is set for february 16. lehman, the biggest bank or in history with dickstein billion dollars in debt and -- eckstein billion dollars -- 16 billion dollars in debt and liability. pushing a ban against generic sales until an

agreement is reached. to provide in-flight food. the chief executive says the accord marks a big step. policynt trump's first decision and appointments causing problems around the world. there is also discussion that he will spark growth around the world. prospects of blowers have -- lower taxes, even higher spending on infrastructure. that bumping optimism. one company buying into that story is mastercard. it's is that trump's election is

net positive for the economy. let's get perspective from the mastercard operating officer. when you take a look at happenion, it can only in an unrestricted environment. out againstas come immigration and also free-trade. >> i think there are multiple facets. president trump believes that there is a tremendous amount of immigration burdening the businesses. whether they are large businesses or small businesses. action.ying to take if there is to malaysia for the businesses, that will be positive for the economy. the same thing for the investment in infrastructure.

rosalind: how exactly do you see itrosalind: benefiting? how will that translate to earnings going forward? technology company. we enable movement of money and data. impact mastercard on the consumer side as well as the business side. cut consumers -- consumers will be sending more. that is how we make our money. whether his infrastructure spending happening and there is ,ess of a burden on regulation i think that is good. rosalind: talent is an issue. immigration, putting a lid on it. mastercard favors diversity. you think that trumps policy --

trump's policy will hold you back from recruiting talent question mark -- talent? aret is something we concerned about. it's an area we are watching. treat diversity and inclusiveness as a competitive advantage. competition is really enabled by the talent you have around the world. rosalind: i want to talk about your earnings, released this week. investors did not like the numbers. .our stocks are down 3% basically, revenue missed estimates, possibly -- partly because of the strong dollar. what are the prospects given that the dollar is expected to get stronger from here?

.> the dollar has an impact more importantly, if you look the fundamentals of our business, we believe we had a solid year in terms of transactions. we have had solid growth. had investing in digital, in safety and security, a lot in innovation. each one of these will have -- help drive mastercard be ahead of the game. when you look at the penetration of cash a month most sectors, the penetration is small. 80% of transactions are cash-based or check based. marketd: india is a big

for you. you are betting their big. when you take a look at the millionpeople, only 950 with proper access to the internet. fromo you then benefit such a population? >> the opportunity out there is gigantic, as you have identified. rosalind: what are the challenges question mark -- challenges? >> we are enabling unique technologies in the distance -- in the ecosystem. for example, the traditional there.f sale points out and beingovating optimistic. we partner with the banks, with merchants.ce -- the we action had programs that stimulate consumers getting

more their using cards. this is where we believe there is a huge opportunity, as much as there are huge challenges, and it will not happen overnight, it is a gigantic opportunity. it will continue to march along and generate optimism. rosalind: we thank you for your insights. forf operating officer mastercard. upbeat: not particularly . sony. theirant set to release quarter earnings. tough times. ♪

rishaad: sony said to report its first quarter earnings later

today. trying to provide the -- revise the troubled movie business. what are we looking for in this quarter? >> they have already preempted earnings by announcing a ride out in the movie division. i would ignore the net income number, or not pay too much attention to it. i would focus on the top line at operating profits. see how the core business is doing. specifically within that, i think there are two things to look at. biggesty, games, the -- division. ae holiday quarter is when law is released. they released their virtual

reality headset. they also upgraded the playstation 4. you want to see how those things are doing. aside from that, look for the components. they supply a lot of camera sensors for apple. we saw the apple earnings were not that bad. for the last year, the global smartphone industry has been worrying about a slowdown. apple figures were good. .ames and smartphones i would look for those things. the net number, the bottom line, maybe not so much. rishaad: what about this. there always seems to be something biting at the heels. there was the battery cells, now, movies. >> exactly. it seems that every corner there is something biting at the heels of sony, even though the core

business is doing well. there is always some sort of rite down. -- w the earthquake was very unfortunate last april. it stopped production. it is frustrating for investments. they are in a much better place now. it looks like they're not completely out of the woods yet. hopefully next year we see a much cleaner sony. rishaad: great talking to you. use -- see you soon. inhad a dramatic volcano hawaii. stream,powerful lava pouring into the sea and sending plumes into the atmosphere.

the lava currently poses no threat to nearby communities. i will leave you with these images. ♪

♪ it is almost 10:00 a.m. in singapore, one :00 p.m. in sydney, 9:00 on the eastern seaboard of the united states. i am rishaad salamat coming to you from bloomberg headquarters here in hong kong. this is "bloomberg markets: asia." ♪ rishaad: steady as she goes, the fed notes rising confidence in the economy, but leaves rates on hold, at least for now. jumping, anollar unexpected record trade surplus. facebook hitting a high as left, markt sales i

zuckerberg pockets and next to $3 billion. trading session getting underway in jakarta at the moment. is having a look at what is going on so far, mixed bag, right? inhie: certainly a mixed bag asia, jakarta coming online, slightly higher, but some of the big movers, we have the taiwan exchange leading. lower, down .4%. movement in the yen, and the kospi up .2%. nomura raising south korean equities, coming from rising earnings and improving