paul: i am paul allen in sydney. shery: i am shery ahn. we are counting down to asia's major market open. ♪ paul: here are the top stories, hong kong braces for a citywide general strike as chinese state media warned beijing will not allow the unrest to continue. stocks are set for a losing streak. investors are preparing for a bumpy start in the terror threats and tensions in the gulf.

great decision -- rate decisions this week. and gun control on the u.s. agenda after shootings leaving 30 dead in texas and ohio. let's get you started with a quick check of market close. it was another day of risk off, not just a day but a week of risk off. we have not seen such losses this whole year. in fact we have not seen such massive selloff since december 2018, before the fed did a u-turn and turned dovish grid we have taken energy leading the declines, the dow at the lowest level in six weeks, the nasdaq losing a percent or we have the lingering impact of new tariffs on chinese goods imposed by president trump. we had decent jobs numbers but thel 10-year yield around lowest since 2016 as there are more rate cuts factored in. u.s. futures down .2%.

let's see how we are setting up in asia. given that context it won't surprise anyone to see we are looking at a down day in new zealand in a couple of minutes. off a shade, a quarter of 1% but out of pointing lower chicago. nikkei futures down .5% -- .2%. we get a reset 10 minutes before the open. a lot of earnings worth watching this week, hsbc today, midday hong kong, the hang seng bank, mitsubishi heavy, suzuki motor and five central banks in the region having meetings this week. let's check in on first word news with selina wang. control may be back on the u.s. election agenda after two shootings left 30 people dead and more wounded. a gunman was killed by police

after he shot nine people in dayton, ohio. there is no motive and the victim included the victim's own sister. this is 24 hours after 20 people were killed at a walmart in el paso. police arrested a 21-year-old texas man on suspicion of carrying out the attack. the justice department describes this as domestic terrorism. a new bloomberg survey says the british pound will fall to its 1985 as the u.k. crashes out without a deal. the poll of 13 banks says there is a 30% chance of a no deal thant, three times higher levels seen in a similar survey. the average response said no deal could drive sterling down 10%. reports from tokyo's they japan and the u.s. -- tokyo say japan and the u.s. are going to strike a deal in september. progress has been made and an

announcement could come at the g7 in france later this month. president trump wants better access for u.s. farmers to japan's lucrative market. shinzo abe hopes to reduce tariffs on u.s. -- on japanese automakers. the inventor of the hoverboard said a successful flight from france to england is the most amazing of his life. he completed this journey from one city to another in 20 minutes. the first test crashed when he tried to land on a refueling boat and destroyed his board. he felt -- he flew over paris at the bastille day celebrations. global news 24 hours a day, on air and @tictoc on twitter, powered by more than 2700 journalists and analysts in more than 120 countries. wang.elina this is bloomberg. hong kong is bracing for a general strike monday after more protests and disruptions. the call follows peaceful marches and violent clashes in a

ninth straight weekend of unrest. kamaruddin.sophie the clash has happened over the weekend. it is a weekday. how big are we expecting the strike to be? is to kick off at 1:00 p.m. across the city. it is unclear how many will participate but thousands are expected to attend. we have 20 industries that are going to participate. thousands from finance to aviation. there have been calls to disrupt train and bus is. -- and buses. cathay pacific has canceled a hundred flights to and from the city. oaks are planning to travel, better check arrangements. alongside that shrek there have been several rallying cries amled it one is for where i

ground zero for this. , that willty today follow on from the weekend that flash points where police used tear gas and several people were affected -- arrested. protests planned for saturday and sunday here on the island as well as the new territories. longer this drags on, anything? vites some kind of there is commentary the central government would not stand back and allow the situation to continue. it did express it would commit to the one country, two systems regime. i want to highlight with the hong kong government says in a recent statement expressing regret over the "radical and

violent actions by protesters, saying the city is reaching a dangerous point and the government saying the strike could hurt the economy and increase the risk of recession. but it is worth noting we have yet to hear from the embattled chief executive carrie lam who has not made an official statement in two weeks. paul: thank you very much. sophie kamaruddin in hong kong. two mass shootings in the u.s. within 24 hours, putting the gun control. a 21 euro texas man is under arrest accused of killing 20 people in el paso, followed by a shooting in dayton, ohio where a gunman killed nine more. washington --the latest on this with our washington editor. does this change the democratic i very context? ros: it has -- primary context? ros: it has great we have not

heard about gun control so far, mostly because they are all on the same page and maybe it is more of a general election campaign for democrats but it gives them a talking point now especially since this shooting spree in el paso seemed to have racist overtones and an alleged manifesto by the shooter that may show he had views some people think would be stirred up by rhetoric from donald trump. it is more than your comment garden mass shooting in the u.s. which we have so many -- common garden mass shooting in the u.s. which we have so many of. the people go on with their lives and there has been so many shootings over the years, is this a tipping point? we don't know what you can expect to hear a lot about it, gun control measures and the rhetoric from white nationalists and the extent to which rhetoric

from senior politicians plays into that. it will hear a lot. shery: president trump spent the weekend at his golf club in new jersey. what do we expect when the president does speak on monday? club toleft his golf fly back to washington, spoke briefly with reporters getting on the plane. he said i will talk about this on monday, i will make a statement. we don't know what he will say or what measures he is thinking of taking. he said he had spoken to the attorney general and others. we assume he has spoken to senior lawmakers. in those few words he mentioned mental illness three times. it is a talking point among gun rights activists, the kind of people who do mass shootings are mentally ill and there is a systemic need for change to policy.

it could be president trump talks about that on monday. set your watch and we will see what he says. paul: washington editor ros krasny, thank you. still to come, chinese electric vehicle makers human horizons launched their first car. our interview with be founder comes up later in the show. shery: no summer break in sight for the markets. a global advisor joins us to preview a busy week. this is bloomberg. ♪

paul: i am paul allen in sydney. shery: i am shery ahn. let's get you a quick check of the hang seng bank reporting income at $13.66 billion hong kong. this coming at a time when they are announcing their second interim dividend per share and

$1.40 hong kong. the ratio 16.4%. we know some deals and margins in china and the rest of asia are under pressure as we continue to see the u.s. fed loosening policy after the first rate cut in july for the first time since the financial crisis. eight holds, one cell. let's go to the latest numbers here interesting a meme -- robust economy with unemployment benefits going up and remaining at historically low levels. joining us from l.a. is a global advisor. we have seen this solid u.s. jobs report. does it change your valuation for the fed given we continue to have trade tensions between the u.s. and china? at this point we have new information on both fronts. we have seen this jobs report

coming through, remained solid, good trends, it will start , sensitive to trade and then we have information about the trade war further escalating september 1 potentially, but we don't really know what this is going to do for the u.s. economy in between. it is a data dependent thing watching the data before it makes the next decision. was quite nervous of course because it factors in new tariffs will further hurt the u.s. economy making rate cuts needed. from the fed perspective this will be data dependent episode before they make that decision. the markets are pretty confident we will see rate cuts. after the newing tariffs next week, markets pricing in 25 basis points rate cut in september. given the uncertainty, what are investors going to do?

will we see a shift into liquid assets? >> i think that is the case because this latest development was the real risk hanging over the -- the remaining balance of 300 million, it could really be impacting the u.s. economy. it seems to have been insulated from the weakness we have seen in the global economy. if the u.s. economy shifts further, it is the real change we are going to face with and it will drive investors more into liquid assets, gold, etc. until there is resolution. now we are learning this resolution has become very abandoned in the sense that it takes a lot of time to get to this real deal even though there could be agricultural process this -- agricultural purchases happening in between. so it is a conservative stance. paul: we talked about the fed

and trade, but another big piece of the puzzle is hurting's. how do you see earnings season playing into this so far? expectations weren't terribly high. ben: they were not high. it was a year on year factor after the tax reform last year in the third-quarter markets with a sense that earnings slowed down this year. there have been some surprises though, performing better than people thought. going forward from here the big question remains is how the global economy fares after this latest development because if they have factored in the rebound based on unnatural rebound, there will be adjustments to get to. i think this week, the new information will be digested in earnings goals, investors will look for factoring this in, or

are we going to stay in a situation where you expect eventually a rebound in earnings and therefore investors will continue to extrapolate that out? potentially seeing higher returns in the future? paul: you mentioned liquid assets before. with the equity markets we were hearing from warren buffett over the weekend. he is sitting on a huge pile of cash, saying he does not like the valuations in equities at the moment. do you see value? ben: there is always value. it has to do with the fact that you have earnings that are solid in terms of like you said, companies have highly liquid balance sheets. corporate leverage balance sheets have built up has not really been unbound. companies can access capital. that is not the issue. this example you mentioned from a major investor like warren

buffett who has been in this position for some time is a reflection of and certainty people continue to see hanging over the global economy? we are back where we were three years ago, dealing with a very sluggish global environment, uncertainty that is hard to calculate and now the trade war, low inflation environment as well. this is what investors will look at, margins and pricing powerful companies will be driven by the prospect of future inflation. that seems to be muted. shery: how will the u.s. dollar play into those calculations if we see not only the fed but the rest of central banks being dovish? ben: it has picked up quite some strength. we have learned from previous episodes dollar strength tends to be negative for global markets. that is really to do with the amount of dollar debt outstanding and the dollar

funding. there are some tentative signs in the money markets that this funding could become pretty tight. that will be an underlying factor alongside dollar strength that will pressure markets. on the dollar itself, they are upsetting tariffs in the u.s. economy, not entirely because dollar strength does ultimately not benefit the manufacturing sector here. that is filtering through the data we saw last week. paul: ben emmons, thank you. you can get a roundup of stories you need to debt -- need to know in today's edition of daybreak. go to dayb on the terminal and is also available on the anywhere app. you can customize settings so you only get news on industries and assets you care about. this is bloomberg. ♪

paul: i am paul allen in sydney. shery: i am shery ahn. but get a quick check of business flash headlines. facebook plans to stamp its brand on instagram and whatsapp. they will rename them as instagram from facebook and whatsapp from facebook. the company says it wants to be clearer about identifying facebook products but this is sparking controversy since both were created independently and the federal trade commission is investigating whether facebook has two big a monopoly. paul: tesla giving its -- two big a monopoly. tesla had scrapped the offer earlier this year as part of a cost-cutting initiative, but at the shareholder meeting in june, the founder described the charges as being key to sales. shery: warren buffett is turning

his back on stocks, reinforcing traditional detest -- distaste, but markets are on all-time highs and berkshire hathaway's old $1 billion more stocks then they bought last quarter. that was the biggest selling spree since 2017, leaving them with a record of $122 billion. they have a big stake in banks and apple. paul: samsung could face investor exodus according to a korean brokerage or they estimate there will be a net outflow of $400 million of shares as a result of an msci weightings review. the global brokerages expect south korea's waiting will fall .3% as china's a shares and saudi arabia and stocks were included in emerging-market indices. news, we have breaking

with a man stepping down. hsbc holding appointment with no mcqueen as entering chief executive saying john flint has stepped down. now noah quinn will become the interim chief executive. we are getting latest breaking holdings onom hsbc the new interim chief executive asked john flint has stepped down and -- as john flint has stepped down. we will get you more as we get more details. hsbc is reporting at midday hong kong time, so we will get more detail from the announcement. noah quinn will be stepping in as interim chief executive. paul: a chinese company led by a former gm executive has launched its first production ready electric smart car. human horizons discusses how he

aims to beat the competition in the crowded ev space. we designed this for the future. also we engineer this based on swiss market strategy, small role, smart transportation and smart cities. we have [indiscernible] they can help us to have a more smart features in our vehicle. after receiving the car, consumer can use software and hardware to develop something they like like the way they opened the door, music, atmosphere inside the vehicle. tom: what segment of the market are you targeting? >> high-end and middle sized.

we can develop for our five vehicles, different size but all premium suv. that support us, have a strong case because the cost and investment [indiscernible] tell me about fundraising. it has become difficult for startups. how much runway do you have in terms of this? aboutaccumulate capital $5 billion already. we are planning to raise another $5 billion. tom: another 5 million renminbi in what timeframe? >> along 2020. tom: around 2020? >> we are not very rushed in fund-raising. tom: there are 500 vehicle startups in china in the looks like a bubble to many people.

-- in china and it looks like a bubble to many people. when does that burst? >> maybe 2020. shery: we have second-quarter earnings out of hsbc at the moment, pretax we are seeing $6.19, $6.19 billion. 14.3%.io at we are seeing they are planning buybacks up to $1 billion. this is coming out of hsbc. we have seen them announce john flint will be stepping down and they are now appointing noah quinn as interim ceo. we are getting the latest earnings numbers out of hsbc saying the first half adjusted jaws is up 4.5% and the buyback is up to $4.1 billion.

second-quarter pretax $6.19 billion. we will get you more details as we continue to get those numbers from hsbc. this is bloomberg. ♪ ♪ hey! i'm bill slowsky jr.,

i live on my own now! i've got xfinity, because i like to live life in the fast lane. unlike my parents. you rambling about xfinity again? you're so cute when you get excited... anyways... i've got their app right here, i can troubleshoot. i can schedule a time for them to call me back, it's great! you have our number programmed in? ya i don't even know your phone anymore... excuse me?! what? i don't know your phone number. aw well. he doesn't know our phone number! you have our fax number, obviously... today's xfinity service. simple. easy. awesome. i'll pass.

8:30 in monday, the market open 19 minutes away, futures currently pretty flat although it will change as we get closer to the open. i am paul allen in sydney. shery: i am shery ahn in new york. that's to first word news with selina wang. thank you. hong kong faces major disruption monday with a mass strike to disrupt all forms of transport and cathay pacific canceling 140 flights. the strike follows the ninth straight weekend of violent unrest with protests spreading all over the city. shenhua news issued a warning that beijing would not stand

idly by if this continues. advisort trump's trade joint's attack on the fed, saying jerome powell and his colleagues are the biggest threat to growth in the u.s. he spoke after powell cited trade tensions as a reason for the fed's rate cut. he said powell is responsible for undermining u.s. gdp growth by raising interest rates last year. ceo john flint is stepping down. they are appointing know what quinn as -- appointing noah quinn. they plan a buyback of up to $1 billion of shares. we will bring you more throughout the morning. europe's busiest airport has avoided a disruptive strike at least temporarily. union leaders have agreed to talk with mediators over a pay dispute. security, firefighters and

engineers planned to walk out sunday with 170 flights already canceled. they rejected an offer of 7% over 2.5 years. global news 24 hours a day, on air and @tictoc on twitter, powered by more than 2700 journalists and analysts in more than 120 countries. wang.elina this is bloomberg. let's check on what we can expect on the markets as we begin a new trading week as we saw the u.s. close pretty much in the red on friday, not expecting great things, nikkei futures flat in sydney, new zealand off .3%. by kospi futures are weaker .23%. -- .6%. let's get more on what we should be watching as trading gets underway in asia with asia across assets editor.

looks like a rocky start to the week. we have trade tensions ramping up the banks across china. it is a big week for central banks in asia, and given how the fed was less dovish than the market expected last week, this could very well be critical. let's have a quick run through. australia has cut twice and will hold. new zealand is pricing in a rate cut and more to come. reserve bank of india expected to cut as well. thailand and the philippines will be on hold. it could set the tone for how a lot of markets in asia will perform for the rest of the year , given last week changed things with the fed and the ratcheting up of trade tensions. markets in asia are sensitive to trade.

themkey week in terms of bank meetings. any signal for how asian markets will perform going forward. markets will be the spotlight. they had a tough week. morgan stanley, turning bearish. tom: enda: that is white -- andreea: that is right. morgan stanley is bearish. they say a more hawkish fed and escalating trade tensions back not goodre, they are for emerging markets. that comes after last week they dropped a bullish call on emerging-market currencies. sharplyhe yuan dropping , further down this morning, the lowest since november. a gauge of how the u.s., a gauge yuan risingy in the

sharply. for a makes probably quite volatile trading in asia with this market here, a lot more sensitive to what is going on with trade. it is a very different thing from where we started last week. shery: thank you so much for that. -- cross assets reporter to reporter. you can find her charts on gtv. pushing back if the u.s. tried to impose sanctions for trading with china. bloombergn spoke to in bangkok on how the government is positioning amid rising tensions. would like to trade with both the u.s. and china, and the thing that we are most worried about is should there be unilaterally sanctions by the u.s. against us, if we continue

to trade with china. our position is we want to continue trading with china. reporter: china has already or the u.s. has taken action against some of the countries it deems as having trade deficits, the likes of china, germany, canada. thosea, malaysia is among . it could mean india. are you concerned the u.s. will take action against that? >> yeah. if this were to happen, we have to tell the u.s. you are being unfair. you are being a big bully. reporter: do you think the u.s. will buyback? >> yes. reporter: have you had conversations with the u.s. about it? >> know and i hope this will not and i hope this

will not happen because we are a believer of fair trade. hurting for any country to declare any kind of trade war with another trading country. we really hope that this will not continue. what is the biggest concern among you and your counterparts if you are -- with your conversations at this meeting? couple of things besides trade war here there is so china sea. it is a political issue and security issue. member states have the same concern. we keep on saying we want to safe and it isis for trade.

we want it to be a sea of trade, friendship, cooperation and we want to ensure no religion rise asian activities will alter it. we want everybody involved to ensure you do not escalate should there be any incidents. we have been reminding everyone that even though warships are allowed to pass by because it is something we have agreed upon, it is also administered through the u.n. law, but we want to ensure also you limit the presence of warships. can'tlimit because you stop people from passing by but youoo many were to pass by, increase the tension. paul: that is the malaysian foreign minister speaking to haslinda amin in bangkok.

tension is rising in the gulf after iran seized a tanker it claims was smuggling oil. that is the third since july. it adds to -- after president trump's terror threats. james is hereitor with more. thank you for joining us. let's start off with this seized ship. ownership is in question and the amount of oil is just symbolic. james: it was a small vessel. it is a reminder nonetheless that tensions remain very tight there and could flare up at any minute. that is partly the reason why oil is starting soft this morning. it remains to be seen how this will impact on europe and the u.s. about this particular ship which seems like a minor incident. we will wait to see how things

develop. it is a reminder once again tensions flare up and all of the investors have been wary of this for some time now. shery: iran has dropped restrictions on uranium enrichment. have we seen any progress on relations between the u.s. and iran? james: none at all. there is little dialogue going on which is kind of a concern. seems iran is focusing its intentions on europe and to divide and conquer. they are trying to get europe to ort of split from the u.s. doesn't seem likely to happen, but europe is under pressure under these sanctions. will they remain in the deal the u.s. broke away from? so yeah. it is uncertain, the situation and the u.s. is trying to ratchet up pressure on iran and they will continue to do that.

it is interesting to see how europe reacts in the current situation. they have been clear on their tensions and are trying to forge a path. not too many development student report. paul: it is a curious three-way dance because of the tensions with trade between the u.s. and china. is that opening the door for iran in terms of exports? to go on.de continues it is hard to speculate on the level of it, but certainly iran will be targeting that as a destination and alternative route for their oil and clearly the iranian economy is struggling. they are looking for any potential outlet they can find. shery: thank you so much for that. the asian energy editor. we will look at the other major trade is good weighing on the region. the korea economic institute

joins us to discuss the tensions between seoul and tokyo. this is bloomberg. ♪

shery: i am shery ahn in new york. paul: i am paul allen in sydney. the trade dispute between seoul and tokyo rumbles on. the south korean prime minister is urging japan to correct its decision to curb exports, saying it is an economic attack against seoul. joining us is the korea economic institute senior director. thank you for joining us. a very curious situation. we had japan's economy minister on friday saying none of this is retaliation for the south korean court decision on compensation for forced labor victims during the colonial era which was 70 aars ago, but is that

credible statement? it is hard to see this as anything else. >> what we look at the announcement with restrictions on three chemicals that south korea needs for semiconductors and displays, you had this issue tied in right away. it was in the press release. if you listen to japanese government officials, they are constantly saying how they have lost trust in south korea but they don't provide any other real rationale other than this vague reference that five times goods went to south korea. it is difficult to see it is about anything else. terms of being removed from the white list, this justification about national security, we are hearing this argument a lot these days. is it cause for concern? >> i think it is. in this case we are seeing a weakening of the international trade rules.

the national security exempt and was designed in cases of actual national security, the threat of war. we have no such situation between south korea and japan but now they can use this and it has become a get out of jail free card for countries that want to take and use economic pressure to coerce other countries. shery: who has more leverage, japan or south korea? >> in the short-term, japan. short-term, japan. if you look at most of the critical components needed for south korean electronics, a lot of them come from japan. moving to the median term, if you have delays in shipments and things you start seeing it ripple into to other countries, you see impacts because samsung, sk moving to te median hynix produce 60% of dram chips, so it is disruption across the thetronics supply chain and leverage starts shifting because other countries will have concerns as well. shery: we are talking about two

of the closest u.s. allies. when they are feuding, how does this risk america's strategy in east asia as it contends with a growing chinese influence and north korea threat? troy: it is a significant concern for the u.s., -- the u.s. not only does it mean trouble with north korea but we could see south korea withdraw intelligence sharing your you have concerns north korea might try to exploit divisions but even on a technological level, samsung is one of the key 5g equipment makers. anything that we can samsung addresses concerns over 5g development around the world. the u.s.a lot at stake should be concerned about. shery: no wonder we saw secretary company a meeting his counterparts from both countries. why didn't that yield any results? troy: both sides are digging in.

japan went through an election. shinzo abe wasn't going to back down during that time, and i think he is in a position where it is difficult him to do it. in south korea 80% of the public is in favor of boycotting japanese goods. it makes it difficult for president moon to back down so domestic politics are difficult for either side. politics aside, we have explored the impact it will have on the south korean industry but to what extent will it damage japanese industry? if this drags on, eventually the supply chain will get diversified for things that are difficult to find like hydra joint -- hydrogen fluoride engine gas? troy: you can see south korea looking for alternative or domestic suppliers. it damages japan in that it makes japan appear to be an unreliable partner so other

countries will have to look and say if there are chemicals or other parts critical to our industries, can we be certain japan will supply them if it is doing this to south korea? you have the immediate issue on these chemicals that have been restricted and also long-term trust with japan. paul: is this going to be an impact in the way companies do ? siness, warehousing the just-in-time approach, the risks connected with that become more apparent. try to stopies will the warehouse more but you will also see basically a lot of these supply lines start to shortening. you will not see the type of lines we had where fedexcup from korea to japan to southeast asia and china for final assembly. you want to shorten that and make sure they have better control over production in the future. normal whenis a new

you have the united states against huawei, american chips have become politicized where japanese exports to south korea, economic and political issues become interconnected and how much more challenging does that make resolving geopolitical issues? troy: we should be concerned about this becoming the new normal. each time a country does this, it makes it more acceptable for another. that is the real danger. you don't have a one-time exception. if you look through trade, you could see something similar but it is all of them coming together at once, reader lack of respect for the rules and it makes it difficult for it to take and resolve broader geopolitical issues because they are tied up in economic issues. much of the u.s. goal had been trying to separate these so you have geopolitical disputes but economic issues could go on a separate path. now they are blending together. that will make it hard in the

future. shery: the korea economic institute senior director. extremists that conversation, tv is your function. -- extremists the conversation -- if you missed that conversation, tv is your function. send us into messages during our shows. this is for subscribers only. check it out at tv . this is bloomberg. ♪

a chinese company led by a former gm executive has launched its first electric car. speaking to bloomberg in shanghai, the human horizons founder says how he plans to beat the competition. designed this vehicle for the future. and also we engineer this vehicle actually based on three

smart strategies, smart road, smart transportation and smart cities. we have a very advanced architecture. that can help us to have a more smart artificial features on our vehicle. car, theeiving the consumer can use our software and hardware to develop something which they like, like the way open the door, music, atmosphere of the inside of vehicle. tom: what segment of the market are you targeting? >> we are targeting high-end and medium-sized premium vehicle. we can do list for to five vehicles, different size for suv or sedan. that support us, have a strong case because the cost and

investment we can share. tom: it has become difficult for more startups in this space to fund raise. how much runway do you have in terms of fundraising? are you looking for additional funds? capitalcumulated the about 5 billion renminbi already. we are going to get another 5 billion renminbi. tom: you have planstom: to raise another 5 billion within which timeframe? >> along 2020. toare not very rushed fundraising. tom: there are around 500 electric vehicle startups in china now. it looks like a bubble. when does that burst? 2020.bably if we are talking about developing this area, probably 10 to 15 new company.

-- but they are not real player. hand, the vehicle that converts to new energy vehicle, bigger chance. tom: tesla is planning to start production this year. how do you assess their prospects at this point? duringnt to their plant my career, i build [indiscernible] which about 100 million. and i build three [indiscernible] not newing plant, it is news. it is normal phenomenon. the utilization that plant capacity. utilization, that capacity very

much driven by self power. we have more on that developing story from hsbc. we have heard the ceo john flint is stepping down, after being on the job for 18 months. he will be replaced in the quinn. by noah he has been a group manager. he will be the interim ceo. this coming at a time when we see a lot of management reshuffle with reorganization of its north american business. we saw the sudden retirement of their u.s. chief, michael roberts. this coming at a time when the bank is also saying they will begin a buyback of up to $1 billion, announcing pretax profit for the quarter of $6.2 billion, paul. have more on the

hsbc story as that unfolds. that is a lost it for daybreak australia. trading -- almost it for daybreak australia are you in new zealand is underway. futures around the region looking flat. all the action in a moment on daybreak asia. ♪

>> good morning, i am paul allen in sydney. we are under an hour away from the open. joey: -- >> i am shery ahn. welcome to daybreak asia. paul: top stories, hbc shots investors with the departure of john fund. he leaves after a few months on the job. hong kong braces for general strike.