♪ >> a rate hike is even more likely this month. another official sees a positive picture at home and abroad. >> asia-pacific markets pick up the rally after the dow topped 21,000. the nikkei could see up 14 month high. >> australia looks to build a strong gdp figure with strong numbers in the next half hour. >> snapchat valued at $20 billion after pricing shares above the range. it is the biggest social media ipo since twitter. second -- of here,

daybreak asia. i am in hong kong, where it is just pack -- past 8:00. yvonne, it was an extraordinary market day here in the u.s.. thead it records, 21,004 dow. and it was the busiest day of the year thus far in terms of volume. heavy trading volume. here in the u.s., or i should say million a shares trading in the u.s.. a big day as folks were buying. certainly were buying. especially the dow, more than 300 points up on the board. this bike calls for analyst before donald trump's speech. outlook, if we are not getting details of this address and this speech, we will see a pullback. but it is the opposite now. in asia, as well. the followthrough in the region. let's get to the market opening

with sophie. >> to focus more on the fed following what boehner had to say. janet yellen speaking on friday. we did see the dollar-yen rising to a two-week high of about 14.4. say widening rate differentials between the u.s. and japan are helping underpin the stronger dollar-yen. pb to be she does expect j track treasuries lower. we do have a bond reduction that could provide some support. markets aret how faring with at the end of strength. the nikkei rising, now extending gains up over 1%. it look at the equity numbers of the day. toshiba climbing 3.6%. a great increase outlining why taiwan stocks should be considered the top bidder for

toshiba's business. it is willing to cough up the required investment. last week, they held a press conference at a factory, saying he is very serious about a potential bid for toshiba's ship business. kospiea, we do have the extending gains from the wednesday holiday. we will be focusing on samsung electronics. it cut trading by assets. it did have 41 bytes. traders still a liking that stock. miners australia we have leading the charge come up over 1%. overnight we had reports china ordered cuts in steel and aluminum refiners. rising overluminum

8%. haidi: thank you so much. strongly hinting perhaps we could see rate increases sooner rather than later. bloomberg's editor here with the latest. we have a trifecta, a trio now? quadfecta when there are four? >> what julie and i are trying to say, higher profile ones are jumping on the bandwagon getting more and more people thinking they may be getting us to expect an increase in march. let's look at what the governor said. she said this in the very first paragraph of her speech a couple hours ago. >> we are closing in on full employment. inflation is moving gradually toward our target. foreign growth is on more solid footing.

outlook are ashe close to balanced as they have been for some time. likely beit will appropriate soon to remove additional accommodation, continuing on a gradual path. >> what makes these remarks all the more important is that bill, the president was speaking yesterday after the market closed. he said there is a more compelling case now for looking thatnear-term rate hike. today lead to all kinds of things happening. it got crushed. it was at its highest level since 2009. we saw the big wall street banks and firms changing their calls from a may hike or june hike to a march hike. many of them cited with bill dudley, what he already said. let's look at the world interest rate projections. it has so dramatically changed. it let's start with the turquoise line. it looked hyperbolic, doesn't

it? odds jumped to 32%. last week they were 34%. now it is up to 80%. why are we showing the white line? that shows you last year when we were headed toward december. the fed was supposed to hike, but didn't. in the last month they got to 100% and stay there. we might be setting up for something like that now ahead of this march meeting, julie. julie: quite a leg up there. words might have a little more weight here. for the latest data, does that support this move? >> let's say they do not stand in the way of it. we have the institute for supply management, purchasing managers, rising to the highest since 2014 at 57 .7. the key indicator seems to have stalled out. let's jump into the bloomberg.

this is a blue line, the headline number on this very to 1.9% come, up almost to the feds targeted 2%. but we are watching the white line, the core pce stuck at 1.7%. arehey think it is -- they confident it will get to the 2% mark. thelso have the beige book, survey from the 12 districts. the headline from our bloomberg story was modest growth subdued inflation. it does not seem like a big reason to make the move in march. but these signals coming from them, we have to wait for friday -- theyet yellen said will see if it piles on, as well. >> what is interesting, you the monetary policies and the fiscal policy we are still awaiting from president trump. we did not get that many details in last night's speech. can we read anything from these recent fed comments as to what

they think will happen fiscally? >> that they will ask about that every time they speak, off the record, on the record. the governor was asked about this and she said there is a lot of uncertainty. we do not know how much fiscal stimulus is coming. ,loomberg intelligence team studies what is going on. given the number of time to get this in place, the impact will not be seen until next year. jpmorgan is sticking to their call for a may hike. the most interesting question is, maybe the fiscal impact in terms of hard data may not jump until next year. inflationy see higher and think they can raise their people,nd if they hire possibly on more the animal spirit impact, starting to show up in the economy this year. when you see the dow at 21,000 you have to know that is what

other people are thinking. >> we are seeing the fed move toward hawkishness when there are so many ifs to what you said. an interesting time. think you so much for your perspective. let's get the first word news with courtney collins. >> carl icahn selling the formal inmp taj mahal casino atlantic city to a group of investors led by hard rock international. through ared it bankruptcy court restructuring and 2015. it shuddered the property last october after failing to meet agreements with striking workers over pay and benefits. president trump is no longer associated with the property. the president's new travel order is said to drop iraq from its list of banned countries. the revised directive will still ban people from yemen, libya, iran, somalia, sudan, and syria for three months. the syrian refugees may be accepted after 120 days.

they were banned indefinitely under the previous order. bloomberg was told president trump will delay the order until at least this friday. the british government has suffered its first parliamentary defeat on the draft exit bill. -- thee house of lords upper house voted for amendment to protect the rights of e.u. nationals to protect the u.k. when they leave the block. approvalay wants e.u. by her own deadline of march 31. may file forkata bankruptcy after breaking off into a new company. ata and one of its key safety systems have declined to comment. its faulty products are linked the biggestring auto safety recall. global news 24 hours a day, powered by more than 2600 journalists and analysts in more

than 120 countries. i am courtney collins, this is bloomberg. of snapchat has price of the ipo at $17 a share, which is above the range. that price, a market value of $20 billion. let's look ahead to their new york a view on thursday. we have live coverage from san francisco. give us more detail. is demand going to live up to the buzz tomorrow? gothe company overprescribed for their offerings this evening. at this is a company that could see a lot of demand for its shares tomorrow. technologyirst big offering since twitter think went public. at that is a lot of demand. for the long-term, is snap going to be able to deliver on its promises for revenue? it has mounting losses. >> i feel so old when i talk

about snapchat. i get facebook, i am on facebook, i am on twitter. snapchat has not drawn me in. i am not a loan -- lonester, outside the millennial cohort. what is snapchat doing to expand its base? they have seen slowing down on that front. >> you are not alone. it is confusing to use for first-time people. there was a lot of swiping and disappearing. today just chatting with a friend, a message disappeared and i had no idea what she said. this is a company, that is going to probably not budge from how it designs products. it will expect people to adopted overtime. the same way we felt may be uncomfortable with facebook when it first came out. i remember looking at my old facebook posts. i think that people evolve with new forms of communication.

certainly, the older generation has not caught up with snapchat yet. they, i do not think will do particular outreach. it will evolve over time. >> we will see. thank you so much for talking more about that snap ipo. we will have more in the story later in the show. we will speak to a leading tech investor about how the business could make serious money. >> i have not been converted, as well. investment strategist tells us why he is bullish on the eurozone despite the political risk. ♪

>> this is daybreak asia, i am yvonne in hong kong. julie: and i am julie hyman in new york. a strike at the chile coppermine has turned violent, violence broke out with workers dropped

the pan-american highway north of santiago. its third weekn with unions demanding a pay rise and bonuses. negotiations have scrawled, but they must pay each worker nearly $2500 in next or compensation. >> the second largest coppermine is to resume. they will supply a domestic smelter. dispute with the government. demand for copper appears to be rising. futures in the london metal exchange rose on wednesday. that is up more than 9% this year. >> a rally by the most in the year on reports china has ordered the production of aluminum and steel. they cut aluminum capacity more than 30%. producerthe leading and say it would be a game changer for the industry. that's on a march rate hike

are rising after a string of fed officials voiced confidence in the u.s. economy. joining us from singapore is a chief investment strategist. so great to see you. place, i think we are still scratching our heads on this reaction after donald trump speech. why do you think markets are reacting this way? -- trump theng to seal of approval even though we did not get a lot of details. >> it shows what sentiment is like at the moment. a lot of cash on the sidelines waiting to be invested. you can look it valuations and say we are expensive at the moment. it is an environment where people are still waiting to deploy, breaking into new highs, forcing people to invest. if you look at the speech itself he gave a very little further detail on policies. but he did strike a more conciliatory tone everyone is talking about. so we are still going north for now.

of two ain't bad. and that statement about trade, pertains a little more to this part of the region, right steve? alsonts free trade, but fair trade. does this change any of your conviction in this part of the world? are these concerns about u.s. protectionism softened by now? steve: i think we have seen a trend over the last couple weeks. it is not everything pointing the same direction as we had on the chinese renminbi. the trend has been to backtrack a little, allow the rest of his administration to backtrack on his behalf. we have seen a more conciliatory tone in emerging markets. everybody is focused on the u.s. treasuries report on the chinese currency manipulation question. the reality is, china does not

meet the requirements to be labeled a currency manipulator. that in theory should go smoothly. it is a perspective, big contrary and call within asia. markets are underway at this stage. further we could see strong gains in the next three to six months. >> whether you are looking at chinese stocks or specifically, u.s. stocks, is there anything, given what appears to be this overwhelming animal spirit optimism in the market, anything that would derail the rally we have seen? there is always something that could derail it. you have the unknown unknowns. if you look at the economic data, it has been strong coming out of the states over the course of the past three months. a lot of that is business confidence.

but it is feeding into real data. we have seen personal data income coming in strong last night. if we were to see economic extremes, seasonal or that could dampen sentiment to some degree. any 12 month of view, weakness, we expect to be limited, is a buying opportunity. julie: what is the deal with the u.s. dollar? we see it continue to rally. we saw a bounce in rate. the dollar had a downfall, but still well below where it was at the end of last year. is it do now to catch up? we took the view at the end of last year, a contrary and call. most people said the dollar 7/10 strengthen into the of 1%. the main argument there, while it is easy to argue and talk

about nominal interest rates, it is real interest rates differentials that matter. and that is more muddy. we're expecting a reflationary story to take affect. difficult question to answer is, will inflation pick up faster than interest rates? or vice versa? in our view it will be in lockstep, this year at least. with two rate hikes from the fed. from that perspective, the dollar gains are likely limited. julie: it is a debate that has a shifted from reflation to fed at normalization. would it be dollar positive and commodities negative? for the broad dollar, it is the interest rates that matter. when you look at emerging markets, clearly the key factor is, what is causing those

interest rates. inflation, orbout a more optimistic economic growth picture? from that perspective, we believe we will see the environment is getting more constructive on growth. it is difficult to ignore. medicate, that does the negative impacts this could incur on emerging markets. we preferred to develop markets. to the downside risk you were highlighting earlier rather than saying we are bearish on emerging-market equities at this point in the cycle. >> great to have you, chief investment strategist. coming up, gm and nissan beat estimates despite concerns about falling inventory. you will find that what is driving the market. ♪

>> and this is "daybreak asia."

i am julie hyman in new york. forhe figures are out february with general motors any sun beating estimates. demand for pickups and suvs. ramy inocencio has the details now. some think we have reached the peak of auto sales in the u.s.. this is better news. >> yes, it is better news. a couple reasons. gas is cheap. it is at levels last had in 2008. confidence is high. 2000 one.high from loan repayment the liquid see at a record low. this is coming together and people are shelling out money to buy cars. not exactly cars, but larger cars, pickups, suvs, etc.. let's see what is been going on with total auto sales number on an annualized basis. 17.5 million is what analysts expect. off of this relatively good

news, 17.8 million is what they expect once the numbers are said and done. let's take a look at the surprise estimates, surprise returns, it in terms of three carmakers, gm, nissan, and ford. nissan, -2%, it flip to the positive. ford, -4%, but expecting to be worse than that. -4.3%. help, passenger cars. ford gm and nissan, we are talking incentives to get those numbers. chevy silverado you are seeing, a huge incentive on the order of several thousand dollars. nissan offering $5,000 for its smaller cars. boosted u.s.r incentives in february except bmw. you can see those in the bar charts. a february 2017, higher than the

orange, which was last year. julie: versus some of the winners, what were the weak spots? , chrysler, toyota, and hyundai kia were missing estimates. chrysler was down by 10%. -8%.ther was a huge sales drop in their jeep division. jeep compass saw a redesign. a lot of consumers did not like that, with toyota, the lexus laundry line plunging 20%. you see a structural shift across the board. where people are buying more into bigger cars and away from passenger cars. 35% of the industry deliveries were passenger cars. several years ago that accounted for 50%. we are seeing a shift and it looks like it will continue to go. >> thank you.

australia's january trade figures across the bloomberg and a couple minutes. analysts are expecting another record. ♪

>> it is 8:30 a.m. in hong kong. a gloomy look outside the sydney opera house this morning. we are seeing off some of the lows here. we are getting through with the trade balances. paul allen has the latest. >> a bit of a lift. we are talking about a record, a january trade balance of 1.3 billion dollars. of that is one third of what was estimated. billion.xpecting $3.8 we had a record in december of $3.5 billion. january imports rising 4% from a month earlier. exports following 3% from a

month earlier. this is perhaps why that figure coming in weaker than expected. steep, ie dollar qualify that, it is off a little bit. iron prices oil and continue to surge. a that drove the strong december number that we got. and a strong fourth-quarter gdp figure on wednesday. just to recap, that trade balance coming and far weaker than expected. still a surplus, but only $1.3 billion, yvonne. yvonne: i will take it, paul. paul allen giving us australian trade balances numbers. the aussie dollar falling 4/10 of 1% in the wake of that. let's get to first word news. confirmedt parent has it is pricing its ipo above the marketed range. shares will be $17. giving snap a market value of at least $20 billion.

snap is the first technology company to go public in the u.s. this year in the biggest social media offering since twitter. the stock will start trading on thursday, listed on the new york stock exchange under the ticker, snap. saysboard member brainard a rate hike is likely to be appropriate soon. she is the latest official to bet on rising costs as early as this month. the fed the latest economic report reports modest a moderate growth in the u.s. economy. the beige book's sees further tightening in the labor market. that no significant increase in inflation. shares rallied to a six-month high as they extended a rally on merger expectation. 1% to the 8/10 of best close since september 8. the governor said it was unclear if india needed so many public sector banks or if they should

be consolidated into fewer, stronger operations. we are told blackrock cut annual employee bonuses for the first time since 2011. the world's largest money manager reduced payments by an average of 2% to 4% over last year. 2016 gave blackrock the first climb in revenue in seven years. performance drop by more than half. money managers are responding to headwinds about layoffs and other cuts. local news 24 hours a day, powered by more than 2600 journalists and analysts in more than 120 countries. i am courtney collins, this is bloomberg. >> thank you. it is time to see how the asian markets are shaping up. we are seeing some of the buying continue that we saw here in the u.s.. here is stacy cameroon with the details. global is the case, the stock rally not halted in asia. the weaker yen. at that rally on wall street helping japanese benchmark surge to a 14 month high. 1560 points.

it could get to 1600. taking a look at what is going , up 8/10 of 1%. on a monthly basis. the ministry says the recovery is spreading to production, electronics, take a look at some of the movers today. shipping, down over 17%. it has fallen from 97% in the past year. the kickoff services in asia next week. sydney, weaker than expected trade numbers not putting a dent on the rise there. the koreanioned stocks, they are tracking the gains in the region. but the yuan is taking on the

chin right now with the currency. >> we see it slump, down over 1.2%. the biggest fall in nearly two months. that despite the stronger data we saw this morning. it has been the best performer so far this year. to,use of the vulnerable go they said to expect a lively day for the dollar yuan. 11.8, aa move toward prime technical target. they also have geopolitical tension. korea threatening to take action, as the u.s. and south korea begin their military drills. appreciate it. the parent of snapchat has price that ipo as -- at $17 a share. market value, about $20 billion. shouldt guest, says it follow other startups. it could be profitable in three years.

he invested early in facebook and in twitter. he joins us from our san francisco bureau. you say it should, if it does see the same growth rates. will it see the same growth rates? they have been going in the opposite direction recently. >> that is the $100 billion question for this company. their growth is decelerating. at that is a concern for a company going public to read if you compare it to facebook and twitter it is growing only half as fast. at the same point when they were going public. >> when you look at the demand for this ipo, are you surprised we are seeing oversubscription for this deal that we have seen? >> it is not so -- surprising. there is only one types of these superpremium consumer names that come along every two or three years. if you are a public market investor you need exposure to this opportunity, with an expectation it can become a substantial media company that

has a significant audience. the millennial audience is a valuable and snapchat has a tremendous amount of engagement with that audience. >> what we know about snap terms ofitter in insider holdings and how long they have to hold their equity once it becomes public? and whether that could become an overhang for snap, as it did for twitter? has a substantial number of investors. they have raised a lot of money in private markets. that lockup for most of them expires 150 days after the ipo. of the period to watch is shortly after the lockup period. how does the stock perform? in the case of facebook, a lot of stock was distributed around $20 a share. those investors distributed way too early. runstock then went on to $135, $140 a share.

to $24 billion, for a company yet to profit, is that valuation to lofty? not think so. it compares favorably to other companies that have 150 million daily active users. valuing the company at $20 billion today are not value waiting it on profits it does not have today. they are looking at the forward opportunities the company has to continue growing in that very, very important section of under 30 mobile users. people who do not watch tv. they do not listen to linear radio. there are not many ways to reach them from an advertising perspective. advertisers will look at snapchat is a primary channel for reaching that demographic group. was interesting in your notes. you mentioned the two major questions for snap, one, can it break out of the under 30 demographic? and two, can it break into asia?

we have seen similar clones here in asia, which have gotten the attention from facebook. how big of an uphill battle is it for snap to break into this region? really: it is significant. one of the biggest challenges facing the company. to read accelerate girth they need to break into asia and other geographies, which currently they are not strong. snow is a strong competitor led by an entrepreneur with funding. they have taken a concept and extended it very well and made it culturally appropriate for the asian user. that is something snapchat has not done particularly well right now. question.t how do you think the stock will do tomorrow and what will happen six months later? chi-hua: that is the question on everyone's mind. i have no idea how the stock will do tomorrow. facebook had a really tough time

holding its price after the ipo. in fact, it went down by a lot and has since performed well. twitter when up 75% on the first day and since has underperformed. the question is, looking at the long-term. can they reignite growth? the first day of trading will not have anything to do with that fundamental question. can they get user growth growing and can they monetize well? >> another question we posed earlier, yvonne and i are not snapchat are's -- snapchatters, or whatever the terminology is. we are the over 30 group here. how does the company plan to expand the user base? chi-hua: probably through publisher stories. while you may not be a content creator on snapchat, they are bringing a lot of interesting content, particularly from professional content creators into the platform. it is something you can easily browse and consume the way you might a magazine, the way you

might twitter. contentnot be active at creation but consumption is how they will secure you as an active user of the platform. >> do you see in terms of the versuswitter question facebook question, where does snapchat end up being in that social media universe? chi-hua: that is a great question. my guess, snapchat ends up being more niche then mass. facebook is an identity platform. each of the 2 billion active internet users in the world are likely to be able to use a product like facebook to connect with friends. snapchat in twitter, those are media properties that have a niche use base. twitter as a broadcast platform, snapchat as a content and disappearing content platform. if you compare it to an espn or hbo, those have between 100 million and 130 million active subscribers. and those are very valuable

subscribers. time,nk you for your giving us perspective on that hotly anticipated snap ipo. to bring to your attention, our interactive tv function. you can find it on the bloomberg. you'll not only be able to watch us live, but the previous interviews, dive into any of the securities, or bloomberg functions we talk about as we talk about them. all on the right side of your screen. you can send us instant messages during our shows. this is for bloomberg subscribers only. you can check it out. it is pretty cool. then are more about tv go snapchat. is history repeating in south korea? how tables have had run-ins with the law.

>> this is "daybreak asia," i am

julie hyman in new york. >> and i am yvonne man in hong kong. india's largest listed developers had to be in exclusive talks to sell 40% of its rental property units to singapore's sovereign wealth fund, gic. it will help them reduce the net debt, which as -- shares have risen nearly 40% this year. outperforming their benchmark gauge. >> the online marketplace for handcrafted roddick's had in earning forecast that tell short of analysts' estimates. also facing competition from amazon, which launched its own handmade store. >> facebook boosting virtual-reality sales by slashing prices.

oculus now $499. the motion sensing controllers, oculus touch. they made a big bet on virtual-reality, buying oculus. so far, high prices have limited options to serious video gamers. battle for return of sharp. he may turn his attention to toshiba. he is serious about getting toward memory chip business. let's bring in our columnist in taipei. why does he think he has a good chance of buying the unit, because there are so many bidders out there? >> there are many bidders. but there are three reasons he thinks he is a better prospect. one, they need the memory technology. faceecond, they won't antitrust issues. crucial,hird, this is

a can help build factories. the memory chip industry, like any part of the semi conductor industry, is expensive. it costs millions of dollars to build factories and you have to keep doing it every few years. they have the money. and as we saw with sharp, they have the wherewithal to do that. it is arguable whether any of the out bidders have done. i would argue it does put them in a poor position in this race. >> some of the names that have been listed so far, being capital -- bing capital. is it a sure bet for winning this bet -- bid? tim: no, we do not know what the criteria are. at some point the board will have to decide who they have to sell it to. we know from previous takeovers, sharp is a great example.

boards want japan, to know their stocks are looked after. they want to preserve jobs and keep the business alive. even after things selloff they want to make sure that happens. whether or not it is going to the highest bidder or a company they think will keep the name, the brand, the technology, the employees, will be a key issue. there will be strong bidders, some that may bit higher than foxconn. it will come down to, what is the board looking for? another thing to remember, this is why antitrust is a key issue. they want to close the deal and get the cash as quickly as possible. if they announce the bitter and they have to go through antitrust concerns and regulatory approval, that could slow down the transaction and slow down the transaction to toshiba, which needs the money. if we wanted to look for a bitter that could process it very smoothly. >> what does the current timeline look like for them beating?

ding?d how would it play out if foxconn was successful? they can raise cash pretty quickly and would be able to get -- it is a pretty long time line. toshiba would want to get it done as quickly as possible. that is what we are looking at right now. they would collect various expressions of interest. and at some point in the process toshiba would let it be known more clearly who they are looking for, what type of bidder. some will drop out and we will see it whittled down to final names. >> thank you, joining us live from taipei. those familiar with south believe history

is repeating itself when it comes to samsung jay y. lee. it is good to see you. there is a sense of deja vu when you talk about these indictments. >> we have seen this before. there was a long history of chaebol executives from korean conglomerates. arrested, indicted, convicted. the usually do not go to jail. they quite often get pardons. to keep still do manage on running their companies. so they are quite resilient. >> is there anything different in this case? saying, we have received calls before in south korea. there seems to be opposition this time to push for this movement. >> that is correct. there are a strong feeling among many people that are nothing is enough. it is tough to change. that said, there has not been for many years, decades even, calls for reform of the chaebol

s. that is the refrain in korean politics. politicians will come into, we are tough this time, this time we mean it. but here we are. that this time may be different. the we should be a little skeptical. >> what about what happens at samsung now? looking at the shares, they have performed pretty well over the last year in the face of all this happening. what happens with the company? >> that is a good point. even since vice-chairman jay y. lee's arrested mid february, the stock has not suffered much. it has held its own. outperforming the benchmark indices. a case of, it is not just the vice-chairman who has been indicted. but, four other top executives.

this will go on for a while, probably. it is also quite possible that to stille will be able call a lot of the shots from his prison cell. >> giving us details on what is going on at samsung. coming up to my nintendo has made bold steps for global gaming. its recent that in recent years hits the market tomorrow. ♪

>> of this is "daybreak asia," i am in yvonne man in hong kong. >> i am julie hyman in new york. nintendo, switch, its new console goes on sale friday. here is our reporter in tokyo. your story says the development process was different for nintendo this time around. how was a different? tell us more. >> the company has been going through a change of guard. if you think of the three iconic names behind the wii, you have mario,, the creator of and the software guide. they have also taken a step back.

they are in their late to mid 60's. switch was a push toward a much younger team. a team that is far more diverse, that included more voices from the younger members in the company, as well as various skill sets. it was actually unprecedented and a company where typically, hardware is being developed by software people who were then told to make something with it. divine,e, this sort of whether it works or not, it will be up to consumers to decide. >> quite a big bet for nintendo. we saw the shares fall. there were concerns about the switch. is not a concerns, it phone, it is not really a console, a cannot fit in your pocket. will it be a hit? >> it will sell tomorrow. we are getting an early look at it.

they just published reviews. so far it is a 50-50. the good is, people like the social aspect, that you can play with people in different locations. they also like the controllers and the overall design. but people think it is underpowered for what it promises. ultimately, the consumers will be the arbiter. >> how does that fit into the company's global strategy? they still have a 3-d handheld, right? >> of that is right, and it will go on. for the longest time they have had a dual strategy of having a hot console and a mobile headset. with the switch you have both. the question is, what synergies can be created through that? what isas connecting to now becoming a mobile smart phone platform, with three games out in one more coming on the

way. that is something the company has not made clear. reporteryou, our tech in tokyo, talking about the much-anticipated nintendo switch . the new york times today called it the first must try gadget of 2017. we will see. let's take a look at what is going on with markets in asia. continuation of the buying going on here in the u.s.. the nikkei up better than 1%, as are the s&p 500 and the kospi, up three quarters of 1%. plenty more still to come. i am stuck in nostalgia with nintendo. ♪

>> 9:00 a.m. in hong kong, 8:00 p.m. in new york. this is "bloomberg markets: asia ." ♪ a rate hike is even more likely this month is another top fed official sees a positive picture at home and abroad. unpredictable australia again, trade remains positive, but smaller than forecasted. snapchat valued at $10 billion. w