♪ >> its judgment day in seoul. president park geun-hye waits to hear if she can keep her job and immunity from prosecution. >> investors looking at friday's critical payroll numbers, which may realize a pay hike -- a rate hike next week. that it may warning take 15 years to clinch a trade deal with europe. for ak is now looking seventh ceo in just 12 years.

the second hour of "daybreak asia," coming to you live from bloomberg's asian headquarters. it is just after 8:00 a.m. >> it's just after 7:00 here in new york. i am betty liu. in termsof a lead and of equities. we did jump back from the lows. investors are taking a wait and see attitude before the jobs report on friday here in the u.s. >> it seems like the dollar is really helping the move, especially dollar-yen. let's get to the market open with david. talk about dollar-yen quickly. the today chart, as you can see, it's rarely clear that the rates should all be shifting to the upside. that's what traders are telling us at the moment. there is some upside risk ahead of the jobs report later on today. about 30 minutes back you might want to watch this 115-62 there. that's towards the maximum

range. we could see more buying. that has really spurred a lot of these models back into action, more money coming in. , 115.13 is your level now. looking at the open in tokyo and seoul. we will talk about more of what we are expecting in the next two or three hours there. there we go. risk premium a little bit there. .4% on the aussie market. they are getting an upgrade from jpmorgan to neutral. at other currencies we are following. this is really more about dollar-yen. euro, one of 5.83. -- one of the very rare occasions that we are going to hear the governor speak later on, 10:45 a.m. in beijing. 1200 on gold.

nymex crude below $50 of there'll. all about korea this hour. the president will learn in the next few hours whether she can keep her job and immunity from prosecution. the constitutional court is to rule on the legality of park geun-hye's impeachment. the scandal has seen widespread protests. our own shery ahn is in seoul for the ruling with us and live right now. set the scene for us. what are we looking out for here today? shery: to go for that announcement. it's going to be a pretty tough decision. judges have already arrived at the constitutional court. when they were asked if they had made a decision, they did not respond. still, this is a very important ruling for south korea. not only the president's fate

hangs on the line, but basically south korea's political future. also, some of those reforms many people feel they are needed for those conglomerates. we are hearing right now protesters on the streets. you can hear they have been out here since the early morning hours, protesting last night as well. all of this area near the constitutional court has been barricaded. police are guarding the compound. when it comes to the mood on the ground, it's pretty tense. when it comes to the markets though, i have to say, the kospi has been pretty resilient. in dollar terms, the cosby has risen more than 4% since the president's in peach motion kospi hass -- risen more than 4% since the

president has impeachment motion was announced. spi will move higher from here because we think global demand is recovering. korea is a trade oriented economy. that depends on the global market and emerging markets. global demand is starting to pick up and korea next words are doing really good, actually, at this point. in february, we were up 20% year on year. y: it doesn't really matter is notident park is or impeached today after the ruling. my guess is telling me the ruling has happened. that has removed one factor of uncertainty. that means the market will be a bit more optimistic. betty: tell us about the constitutional court, who the judges are, and how the process

is going to happen. ry: out of eight judges, six have to improve the motion for president park to be impeached. even if three of them reject it, president park would not be impeached, would stay in power. the expectation is that she will be impeached today. that would lead to an election within 60 days. the reason this ruling is important is because if she is, in fact, impeached, that means not only that she loses her power, but that she loses immunity and could be charged and arrested. now, the former president cause impeachment case only took about 25 minutes, but people here -- casedent's impeachment only took about 35 minutes, but people here are saying this could take much longer. betty: thank you so much. as you saw, less than two hours away from that ruling in south

korea. you can come to bloomberg for more on this developing story. commentary and analysis from bloomberg's expert editors. lot to follow through here in the morning as we await that decision. first, let's get to first word news with courtney collins. courtney: jpmorgan ceo jamie dimon says president trump has businesse under u.s. and consumer confidence. speaking in paris, he said at least some of the she expects at least some of trump's proposals to be enacted. he expects at least some of trump's proposals to be enacted. >> it seems like he has woken up the animal spirits. the ceos came out of the meeting and said we have never had such a pro-business president ends the founding fathers. im am not sure that is true, but since -- since the founding fathers.

i am not sure that is true, but consumer confidence has risen. the deputy governor says interest rates are now low enough to boost growth. cut theonesia was -- benchmark to 4.75 percent. since then, the rupee a has -- the and central central bank may raise inflation this year. some officials at the bank of japan maybe concerned about premature speculation on interest rate hikes. sources say officials are considering giving clear guidance on future rate movement once inflation starts picking up. the boj expects the inflation doubt could be around 1% this year thanks to higher oil prices and a weaker yen. staff don't have to worry about annual performance reviews anymore. now they will happen every day. the company is introducing a mobile tool that will let

workers send or receive critiques of their colleagues. jpmorgan says the program is aimed at fostering development staff.more than 240,000 jpmorgan said many people in its company, especially millennial, craves constant feedback. i'm courtney collins. this is bloomberg. thank you. still ahead, investing in myanmar. does the government need to do to liberalize the market? >> the>> the ecb president gavee positive outlook for the economy. more on that next. this is bloomberg. ♪

yvonne: this is "daybreak asia." made noario draghi

change in policy as widely expected at the central bank meeting on thursday. the economy is getting stronger and there is an inflation rise he doubts can last. but we didn the ecb, see the euro strengthened. >> we certainly did. this has much more to do with the subtle shift in the wording of things mario draghi said about the economy, about inflation, about where the ecb is headed next. better balance of risk is a good, positive sign, but there is still downside risk, he said, factors.om global nevertheless, no change is one of the key policy towards -- tools. the central bank said it is going to keep quantitative easing until at least the end of 2017, if not longer. the ecb kept its low interest guidance, rates are

going to stay low at least until it turns around its position on quantitative easing. draghi also said there is a wording change because there is no longer a sense of urgency about the economy. we are no longer in a financial crisis, a great recession. the word was inflation and what it's doing. it has risen in the euro area and risen in germany, but look at this chart. it has two lines. one is headline inflation. that's the blue line. it's up just over 2%. the ecb target is just under 2%. it's clearly a little above area the white line is core inflation. and energyout food prices. let's hear why he doubts that this is going to be sustained. this reflected mainly a strong increase in annual energy , in unprocessed food price inflation. with no signs yet of a

convincing upward trend in underlying inflation. >> this is what mario draghi has been saying for a while, right? it's headline inflation, but a lot of it is energy prices, and that is why the ecb only raised its forecast for this year and next year a little bit, and kept 2019 still under target. he also talked about lower unemployment, but wages aren't rising much. are these baby steps toward signaling some kind of exit? steps. the move that came to the euro was very interesting. thank you, kathleen hays. thank you for joining us. welcome to hong kong. can parity still happen? depending on what you described, what mario draghi's tone was. >> quite the opposite. the monetary policy side could

see 115 by the end of this year. we can talk about political risks, but on the ecb's side, the baby steps we were just talking about, he is actually a lot more hawkish in the second half of the year. 2018 could be the year when we go back from 60 down to zero in terms of purchases. if you look at what happened in 20 13, let's take a page from the fed. is trying to avoid that widening spread. it's unavoidable to some extent. thing we aree watching in asia is dollar-yen. i want to show you the longs and the shorts we have seen. such a choppy, choppy trade here. the longsen kind of and the shorts piling up, and now we're seeing stays when it comes to the shorts on dollar-yen. are the stars aligning? how important is 115?

was the feder, that passing what would happen based on the fiscal side. the market has been disappointed. and now the feds have passed back the buck. i was think it will be 120 by te end of the year. in the meantime, we have the risks around the french election that we have to consider. it's no longer too hikes, it's four. nohink if they were -- it's longer two hikes, it's four. i think the market is taking a view of the fed that might happen in the short-term. in the long term, we think donald trump will target a long-term weaker dollar policy. that's quite important. if the u.s. is targeting a weaker dollar, we cannot get to 120 five. so 120 by year's end, but then we have to think about how trump takes us forward. there is so much push and

pull. i'm going to one of you with another chart here. take a look at this one. it's a zinger of a chart. what ali's explain lines are, but let's bring it up, the bloomberg terminal chart. -- what all those lines are, but let's bring it up, the bloomberg terminal chart. i really want you to focus on the middle of the chart, which is what happened when brexit happened in the middle of the summer last year. you can see the four lines on the bottom are the yen all theions, against other major currencies. they really saw a big jump in the japanese currency because people were very nervous about what was going to happen. that idea oftoward like, well, what is trump policy going to be? this political uncertainty, was going to happen in france? happen in france?

might you see that being then a dollar-yen negative because of what you see here with what happened with brexit? >> absolutely. i actually focus on euro yen is the pear to look at. that's what the market was doing -- as the pair to look at. that's what the market was doing just a few weeks ago. the market got quite nervous about the french election. again, euro yen was falling. on and off sort of market wave impact we have had. remember saying the same words about brexit, same about trump. when it comes to the french elections, we will see. the market prices and higher risk. win,if marine le pen is to they have price for it. betty: very interesting. ok, jordan, let's talk about the overall dollar. as you mentioned, the debate now is are they going to go three or four question mark where do you see that in terms of the greenback? >> the dollar-yen is positive in

the short to medium-term. you have a nice pickup in the euro trade, but with the dollar, we talked about the ecb earlier. the dollar has appreciated 20% in 2013 and donald trump of course helped that with the latest rally he had since november. of there now evaluations dollar that is overstretched. when you think about next year, that will be the weakness trade we have. for now, we like the dollar-yen high because of the fed question. in the second half, the big trade of the year really will be europe going higher. the broad dollar index should we can. yvonne: we have also seen oil go lower. not just oil, but all of commodities are under pressure as of late. when it comes to currencies like would you call this a second commodities boom, or is that premature right now?

>> we expect the aussie to go higher slowly. basis, we favor the kiwi dollar versus utley -- versus aussie. deficite decreased the in australia. it's not enough. in the long, australia and the aussie dollar won't do as well in the commodities race. betty: i'm going to take it short-term. where do you think the dollar is going to trade question mark if we get a jobs report in line with what we thought with -- dollar is going to trade? if we get a jobs report in line with what we thought would happen with adp, what do you think will happen with the dollar reaction? >> i don't think it will change too much. you really need a huge shocker to offset the markets. if you see unemployment ticked lower by surprise, actually, -- people see people

are talking about three hikes this year. for us, it is is june soon enough? the market will have to price that in, too. if you look at the u.s. 10 year term premium, it's at zero and it's been declining. the market is saying yes, it might be hiking in the short-term, but it's not inflation premium or growth premium in the 10 year treasuries yet. if you start to see that pickup, that could affect the dollar. betty: jordin rochester, thank you for joining us. line as the end of the the ceo of hancock quits. we are going to ask where did it all go wrong? this is bloomberg. ♪

yvonne: this is "daybreak asia." betty: just three weeks after

reporting a massive loss, the thingsked with turning around is stepping down. he cited a lack of wholehearted group -- support from shareholders. he was supposed to be not just turning around the company, but carrying on the legacy. what happened? you think it was, like said, a loss of confidence from shareholders. in the last quarter's, aig for losses. in the most recent quarter, they posted a $3 billion loss. that in addition to the pressure he was facing from people at carl icahn and john paulson, it all piled up. how are industry watchers interpreting this? the stock reaction was quite limited. >> the stock didn't move that much today. to some extent, it was expected. speculatedts had

about this. we all know that carl icahn can get very impatient. betty: absolutely. it's hard to deal head-to-head with carl icahn, as many ceos found out. peter hancock said less than a month ago they were getting along -- that he was getting along with his activist shareholders, that he was managing them, they were talking. do you know what happened here? >> it seemed like they had been getting along, both carl icahn and john paulson are on the aig board. hancock had announced he was going to sell assets like they asked to make the company leaner and also to return about $25 billion to shareholders. it was going well, but again, it's the credibility issue. one big thing was a lot of credit rating agencies started putting aig on ratings watch. a very important ratings agency for insurers put them on watch

and that was something a lot of people had their eyes on. it also made hancock lose credibility. betty: it made shareholders nervous, and may be shortened the time for the turnaround the prove that itto would take some time. this will be the seventh ceo, i .hink, at aig since 2005 are there any names out there of who could succeed him? >> that's the question everyone wants to know the answer to. long potential list. it could go externally or .nternally just from our very long list we externally, dan gleason is a former aig executive now the head of marshall mclennan. that's one potential external candidate. internally, it could come from

someone on the board. potential person is a former ceo of an insurer himself. now he sits on the aig board and his head of the audit committee. really, we are not sure yet, but it's the answer everyone wants to know. yvonne: it's a tossup, it seems like, at this point. thank you so much, lisa. coming some big guests up on bloomberg television and big stories to cover. robin lee talks to us about his plans for his right chair company, including taking on uber. to speak tooing luxembourg's finance minister at 5:30 a.m. in hong kong. then gary cohn joins the conversation at 10:30 p.m. in hong kong. lots to look out for. coming up, investors turn to the

crucial u.s. jobs report and we take a look ahead. this is bloomberg. ♪

>> it is 11:30 in sydney. take a live look at the sydney opera house. a bit of an upside on shares, up 1/3 of %. -- of 1%. let's go straight to paul allen in sydney. paul: it's a beat, yvonne. home loans for the month of january growing by 0.5%. the market had been expecting a 1% decline, but the real jump is in investment lending, up 4.2%, reversing a 1% decline that we had back in september. the news on the owner has/occupier front is not so good -- the owner/occupier front is not too good.

was up 1.3% back in december. the aussie dollar climbing just a tad on the back of those numbers. at thateresting looking discrepancy between the investment lending and the owner/occupier lending. homeownership has become a political issue here in australia. it wishes this morning the treasurer announced a new -- it was just this morning the treasurer announced a new task force. they will provide longer-term, lower interest loans to the community housing sector. that does address what's becoming a political issue. we might see some more about that task force in the budget. just to recap, home loans for the month,we might see some mort that task unexpectedly rising 0.5%. a big jump in investment lending, up 4.2%. betty: we will be watching how that impacts property markets and the economy. thanks so much i'm a paul allen. let's get to the bloomberg first word news. >> south korea's embattled

leader will learn in the next few hours whether she can keep her job. the constitutional court is to rule on the legality of her impeachment in the undue influence scandal, which has seen widespread street protest and embroiled some high -- top business figures. an election would follow in 60 days. the u.k. has been warned that a post-brexit trade deal could take 15 years to conclude. the danish foreign minister set of solution would be hammered out, but it could be years away -- said a solution would be hammered out, but it could be years away. that is the timetable that we are working to, and that's the timetable that the european union is working to. yes, i am optimistic that we can achieve a comprehensive free-trade deal with the european union. why am i optimistic about that?

because it's not just about what's in the u.k.'s interest. it's also about what is in the interest of the european union. >> a draft statement from finance ministers suggests the u.s., china, and other members may scale back budgets to flight climate change. the document sites, quote, "scar ce resources." last july, ministers called on their governments to quickly agreement on paris greenhouse gases by mobilizing $100 million per year. yale university's stephen roach says many of the trump administration's climbs -- claims about china are highly dubious. while beijing is actually burning through reserves to prop up the u.n., rather than keeping it -- the yuan, rather than keeping it partially -- artificially weak. >> you can't fix a problem like that just by getting up on one country -- by gangin g up on one

country. we don't save. savings, weost our will have a profusion of deficits well over half the countries in the world. there is no chinese solution to america's macro imbalances. exit polls just released after february elections in india's boot are protests -- suggestuttar pradesh narendra modi's party may have won the most seats. the elections are being seen as modi's success halfway through his term as prime minister. global news, 24 hours a day, powered by more than 2600 journalists and analysts in more than 120 countries. i'm courtney collins. this is bloomberg. betty: time to see how the asian

markets are shaping up so far this morning. david inglis has more. david: let me get started with the bond markets. are we really there yet? we have been talking about the 2.6%. german 10 year bonds pushing closer to two -- 220 basis points on that spread. on the aussie 10 year, japan -- yields were lower. generally speaking, the bond selloff -- quick snapshot of the equity markets. these three markets pretty much look range bound today. australia, new zealand, and all the concerns over in south korea. i can't really see anything that breaks us out of this. nothing i see at the moment, any sort of catalyst. japan is one market to watch. 90% of stocks.

on their way up in japan a lot of stocks on -- their way up in japan. a lot of this comes down to dollar-yen. this takes us to 19,600 there. on the nikkei 225, have a look at the currency markets. the pboc governance speaks later on. live at 10:45 a.m. local time. below 1.22. the low 1200 for gold. have we peaked in oil? looking at the current macro settings, if you will, stronger dollar, this whole tangle between opec and u.s. shale producers. have we peaked at $55? betty: thank you so much. we will certainly be watching the price of crude very closely. the final piece of the fed rate hike puzzle falls into place hours from now as the u.s.

releases of february jobs report that is expected to show a labor market that is picking up steam. we got that indication from the adp report. kathleen hays joins us with more. probably not quite as strong as the adp employment report suggested. there was a net gain of workers in the private industry, which of course is the vast majority, everything but government jobs. u.s. payrolls, by contrast, are seen rising by 200,000 in february. as you can see from this chart, that's a very respectable number , not as strong as january, but the six month moving average is 183,000. it is well above that. other signs of strength -- for example, average hourly earnings, that is a measure of paychecks. that is supposed to rise 2.7 percent year-over-year from 2.5% in january. the unemployment rate falling to 4.7%, down from 4.8%.

saying afteready the adp report there's 100% probability of fed rate hikes in march. look --is going to also issue its summary of economic projections. it lasted did it in december. that's when they got the dot--- when we got the dot-plot forecast for three rate hikes this year. the market will be turned into whatever we get and whatever janet yellen says in her press conference. yvonne: will we see a change? leen: it would have to embody a lot of things. maybe some comments from janet yellen about more certainty about fiscal policy, but that doesn't seem likely. do they boost their gdp forecast? do they lower their unemployment forecast? do they see inflation rising even more? let's remind ourselves of what the dots are showing.

you can see in that diamond, just in from the left-hand side of your screen, across the middle of the diamond, there are six dots. 17,said officials out of narrow consensus -- six fed officials out of 17, narrow consensus. does the consensus for three get even stronger? this is the kind of thing people will be trying to anticipate and then react to once we get that decision on wednesday. nowomberg intelligence" is in the camp seeing a hike in march, june, and december. they do see some obstacles in the way of that, including fiscal policy and how that's going to turn out. the atlanta fed -- we haven't talked about in a while -- that they have a tracker gdp -- but they have a tracker gdp. they call it the now cast. it is down to 1.2%.

stronger jobs, said seeking a new rate hike, but gdp -- fed seeking a new rate hike, but gdp -- that will be is the subject of a lot of debate, particularly when we get closer to the june meeting. right now we will just deal with march. spells out the hawkish sentiment we have from some fed officials. we have a lot to look forward to next week. just ajust -- it's matter of hours before south koreans will find out if there suspended president will be kicked out of just -- of office. eight judges will start rolling at about 11:00 a.m. local time in seoul, about an hour or two from now. editor,ing in our asia joining us on set. it all comes down to the court. are they going to confirm her in peach met? >> it -- her impeachment? >> it remains to be seen. it's more in favor of

impeachment than not. there are a couple of signs. one is the timing of the decision. next week they will lose one of the eight judges, so that would bring them down to seven judges. you need six. it's easier if you do it with eight judges than seven. people are reading the tea leaves and thinking it's going to go against park this morning. yvonne: live pictures out of soul -- seoul. near the constitutional court. you can see the tension leading up to this decision. take us back to how we got here. what has she been accused of and will she be be -- be prosecuted? it all comes down to will she lose her immunity. >> while she is president, she has her immunity. prosecutors can bring charges if she loses her immunity. they have said she colluded with basically,to,

solicit donations from companies for her foundations in return for business favors. essentially, it amounts to bribery. it amounts to this unelected figure, who is seen as controlling park, setting government policy. this really and raged a lot of koreans and brought -- really raged aed -- really en lot of koreans and brought people out into the street. yvonne: tell us more about the person likely to succeed her. >> the polls have been all over the place. the only consistent thing is the former leader of the opposition party, the main opposition party, is leading in polls, about twice as far ahead as everyone else in the moment -- at the moment. he was the runner-up to park during the last election. he favors softer policy toward north korea. he is looking to review the missilent of the

defense system, for instance. he has made noises about breaking up the family-run conglomerates, like samsung group him of those big companies that dominate south korea's economy. betty: we are counting down, a little over an hour away from that ruling. just ahead, thailand's stock exchange operator has some advice or its counterpart in myanmar -- advice for its counterpart in myanmar. this is bloomberg. ♪

is "daybreak: asia." i'm betty liu. yvonne: i'm yvonne man. myanmar needs to move quickly to change its law. they have to learn from us.

we have 40 years of experience. what we are seeing, their markets have to open for everyone. it means that foreigners should be able to buy and sell in the exchange, and also that the companies -- the richer companies have to open up. because right now no foreigners can own the company's. >> realistically, when can that happen? i speak to a lot of companies in myanmar wanting to ipo, but the environment is not conducive. is it'sse what i heard, already in the parliament. i think the parliament might have a lot of laws that have to change. that's why we are hoping that this year they will -- there will be a change of the law. haslinda: there is a lack of a bond market to speak of in myanmar. thailand has the experience. you are trying to encourage myanmar to do the same.

>> right. laos already issued bonds in thailand. they are very well received. myanmar to issue bonds in thailand. we already support our agencies to look into the myanmar companies. once they get the rating, they can be issued a bond in thailand. haslinda: we know that -- has been doing really well, but it's still not quite on par with its peers. what are you doing to address that? >> i still believe that we are competing yet, but we compete with every exchange in the world, because the investor can buy or sell. what we are going to do is -- we are going to do the quality of our listed companies and expand -- the products and services of the thai

exchange. and for the small company, we are going to introduce another -- try newgoing to technology. haslinda: you're embracing -- in a big way. >> it is. we have to create an environment for access. haslinda: a lot of expectation that there will be fund outflows once the u.s. starts raising rates. are you anticipating that as well? >> i believe that one thing that we can control and one thing that we can do is how to make our listed companies -- 30% year on year.

i believe that is the highest among the asean region. we are very attractive to the investor. haslinda:, so you are not -- so, you are not concerned about the rate hike and what impact there may be on the time markets? -- thai market? >> we have a lot of opportunity in the stocks that we offer, and we also have new stocks coming into the pipeline. we are the highest ipo for the four years consecutively. haslinda: what do you view as a key risk for the market? would it be the trump administration? would it be the elections in europe? -- for us, we know that ocal factorng the l regarding government. we will have new elections very soon.

there have been protests. there is all kinds of infrastructure. it has been constantly improving. that's why we can ensure that companies can deliver on demand. betty: a quick check of the latest business flash headlines at this hour. bhp billiton carrying out maintenance edits escondido line as the pay strike continues. management plans to restart two construction workers -- projects and use backup workers. friday is the 30th day of the industrial action at the minds. bhp -- at the mines. bhp can now negotiate directly with workers and not the union. yvonne: toshiba wants to offload u.s. nuclear unit.

it aims to turn westinghouse into a non-consolidated subsidiary. korea electric power may be an investor after it inquired about buying into a u.k. project involving toshiba. bank of nova scotia is in talks with cathay financial to sell its malaysian operations. the canadian lender has worked there for 44 years. the taipei-based cathay united banking life insurance units have exclusive bidding rights until the end of april. the chicago stock exchange wants to become a hub for what? chinese stock trading. details on that, next. this is bloomberg. ♪

betty: -- yvonne: this is "daybreak: asia ." i'm yvonne man. betty: i'm betty liu. rish, you are watching this ruling coming out of south korea. aad: just a few hours before we will know the fate of south korean president park geun-hye. we will have live coverage of all of that. we have shery ahn on the spot there. an exclusive interview with the founder and ceo of baidu and other companies as well. first unicorn

getting ready to talk to the two main protagonists there, joining us in the studio in about an hour and a half from now. that's what we've got coming on. tonne: we will look ahead that. chicago has its share of the bulls and the bears. we're not talking about -- we are talking about the basketball and american football teams, of course. the chicago stock a change is trying to take a bigger role in global equity markets -- the chicago stock exchange is trying to take a bigger role in global equity markets. they are ready to invest billions of dollars. ramy: who would have thought they would have gone to the midwest versus the new york stock exchange or the nasdaq? it has to do with the money and the cost involved. chicago is trying to make a move here. this consortium is based in mainland china.

it is a group that is a conglomerate that has its hands in a bunch of things. for example, real estate, , industrial, and infrastructure. for example, they make sewers. the deal is valued at $27 million or so. they don't have any experience with regards to running an exchange. it will be interesting to see how this works out. they have two goals. one is for the u.s. and one is for china. they want to help small and midsized companies go public. those costs prevent them from going to bigger forces -- forces -- bourses. about 800 chinese companies are waiting in line in china to get listed. they are thinking maybe they can help them get a leg up in the united states. are on board. they are saying this helps them to grow and higher. it is just up to washington to

see what they want to see. betty: is this going to pass regulators' muster? now. it has been up until the biggest critical test was just back in december. that was with a committee for ford -- foreign investment in the united states, and they have the power to block any deals, foreign deals that concern national security. let's take a look at the timeline. back in february, that's when the deal actually came up. donald trump had criticized this. congress had criticized this. in december, they cleared it, saying there are no national security concerns. that's huge. we are looking ahead to the future. we don't know exactly when. but the securities and exchange commission is the next and possibly final step to save whether this can happen or not -- to say whether this can happen or not. if it does, that china's -- chinese consortium would hold

49.5% of the chicago stock exchange. betty: very interesting story. that's it from us. plenty more still to come. "bloomberg markets: asia" is up next. you're counting down to major market opens and counting down to the judgment that will be held -- sent out by the constitutional court in south korea. yvonne: we will get the latest out of seoul with shery ahn in a couple minutes. one hour away from that constitutional ruling. good to hear -- set to hear from the pboc governor later as well. meantime, taking a look at markets, looking fairly upbeat on this friday morning. ♪

rashaad: crowds growing bigger and noisier in the korean capital. it is 10:00 a.m. insole korea -- in seoul. >> within the hour judges will enter the courtroom to begin their ruling on whether or not the president should be impeached. this is being closely watched at every level because it could force an election and further turbulence. ♪