lockdown in china. and politics, a power struggle and the prospects for change. we are joined exclusively by the opposition leader in malaysia, trumpibrahim, later, and posting a letter, threatening freezing, also saying china has been anything but transparent. of course, this is a tit-for-tat, some taking issue -- trump taking issue with the who. trump was saying that china was the place where the virus started, again, trump posting a letter threatening a permanent who funding freeze.

also, the u.s. closing off the borders be at let's take a look where the markets are. asia, gains in the u.s. and europe, that surge overnight, the best day in six weeks, european stocks doing their best in two months, vaccine optimism boosting investor sentiment. the csi 300 is up. if you take a look at china's oil demand, which is set to be back at precrisis levels of consumption, it is said to be fully open as factories open and drivers are back on the road. rebounding, the benchmark opening the door for , whiches of alibaba could prove to be a boost for

investors we have the kospi higher by about 2% -- for investors. we have the kospi higher by about 2%. and in southeast asia, we are keeping a close eye on the jakarta composite index, currently trading higher. indonesia, the governor is expected to cut the benchmark rate by about 25 basis points. gains pretty much across the board for singapore, as well as malaysia. rish? rishaad: haslinda, more on donald trump here, escalating his threats against the who, the world health organization, and demanding significant changes to that body. that coming as he has been taking his own precautions against covid-19. let's get that story and more in our first word news with karina.

karina: he is largely unproven drug, saying he has been taking it for with 10 days, medicating hydroxychloroquine, despite his own government's saying it could have serious side effects. trump: a lot of good things have come out about the hydroxy. a lot of good things have come out. you would be surprised how many people are taking it, especially the front-line workers, before they catch it. the front-line workers, many are taking it. i happen to be taking it. i am taking it. hydroxychloroquine. right now, yes. a couple of weeks ago, i started taking it. a: in other news, international air travel is back, albeit with baby steps as from thetry reels

coronavirus. they opened up travel between shanghai and other areas, with the three baltic states reopening, and new zealand is working on a reopening. najib.le, the trial of they may have been exposed to the coronavirus. -- trial in violence involves 25 charges of the 40 two, including accusations he 42eived bribes -- of the charges, including accusations he received bribes. ma has been a leading figure at meetings in beijing, where they gathered to debate targets for the year, but despite his absence to the upcoming meeting, ma is said to

be preparing proposals for the meeting. global news 24 hours a day, on air and on quicktake by bloomberg, powered by more than 2,700 journalists and analysts in more than 120 countries. i am karina mitchell. this is bloomberg. rish, back to you. rishaad: thanks for that. a bit more coming through on donald trump. the president has been upping the ante and doubling down, as it were, with the world health organization and demanding significant changes to that body. he has also posted a letter to the body, saying he could be permanently freezing funding to that particular body here, all against the backdrop of chinese president xi jinping promising to make any coronavirus vaccine available once it is developed, and that is one of the things that has been irking donald trump, which is the beijing support of the who, with his criticism of the response to the pandemic. respectirus does not

borders. we must have a national cooperation. mankind is a community with a shared future. solidarity and cooperation is our most powerful weapon for defeating the virus. our bloomberg markets coanchor, tom mackenzie. china and their handling of the virus in the early period, are they fending off the criticism? tom: it is possible that commitment to make any progress on the vaccine global, public, and agree intensively to an investigation of sorts might go some way to dilute the criticism that china has faced. we have five vaccine candidates that are already in human trials here in china, so a lot of progress there.

of course, there is some competition between china, u.k., and the u.s. as to who will be first with a vaccine, but again, president xi said it would be made globally available, any vaccine produced in china. he also committed to providing another $2 billion over two who, with the trump administration having cut off funding, and again the trump administration taking a very hard line at what happens at the who, pushing for reform of that organization. again, to what extent xi agrees to this investigation, we will see if china signs off on the investigation later today at the assembly, which is the governing body of the world health organization, so there are still questions as to how far china is willing to go with that. again, they said it is not the right time to push an investigation, and they want the who to lead it. by the way, at the same time president xi was making that

announcement, they were putting restrictions on australian barley. at the global level, they are reminding australia that they remain angry about their push for an independent investigation, and we should tensions between australia and beijing and washington to continue. tom,nda: meantime, lockdowns have been reimposed in china. what do we know? tom: so we have about 108 million people in northeast china who have been put down back in a lockdown situation, because there has been an outbreak, a cluster of cases there, and we have had a few additional cases confirmed and othersilin city in the province, they have seen schools and universities shut and transportation and thousands of people quarantines, and it

has led to some frustration among residents that bloomberg has been speaking to, but it also points to officials are very anxious about the possibly of a second wave and taking, pretty dramatic actions to keep that virus outbreak in northeastern china in check, and we will see if that proves successful in the week ahead. bloomberg markets coanchor tom mackenzie in beijing. now, still ahead this hour, our exclusive interview with malaysian opposition leader anwar ibrahim. a chaotic change of government 2.5 months ago. axt, we will be joined by guest on how easing risk sentiment will affect the bond market. neeraj seth. this is bloomberg. ♪

♪ this is "bloomberg

markets." jerome powell of the federal reserve is prepared to leave interest rates near zero until the economy is back on track, saying, "we are committed to using our full range of tools." to leave -- maintain interest rates at this level." he hass a remote hearing before the senate banking committee. all right, let's bring in neeraj seth, from blackrock. tell me. what do you make of these comments? of course, he is not going to do anything in terms of being hawkish until things to improve here, but it is the verbiage which is avoiding any mention of negative interest rates. he is trying to push that talk to one side, isn't he?

i think all around, he is, but looking at the fed toolkit and what chairman powell has been doing, he has been very effective in combining rates, policy, liquidity, and the communication, all of the aspects that they have into the .arkets so staying at zero for the foreseeable future, the next year, and from the liquidity side, bringing back the functionality, and i do think the fed will step in as needed to keep the market in check, given the low -- the fiscal efforts, and the communication has been very strong. -- one thingsing important to highlight is the rates are still low in the u.s., which clearly, chairman powell has been pushing back on, so

they are exploring this as a potential tool from the toolkit. rates areeal negative, ultimately. we are seeing in various parts of the world, yield curves steepening. help me make sense of this. i thought that when we had inverted yield curves, we were going into recessions, and clearly, that is exactly what we are heading into now, if not worse than a normal recession, so why? a very,i think it is very different background. typically, when you are going into a recession, use the economic activity slowing down. the rates are at a low level. to some extent, the fiscal deficit should be relatively high. economicid-19 and the momentum, what we are seeing record levels of fiscal deficits everywhere in the world, and

then, ultimately, it comes down to country by country what the curve looks like, but the spike or the deepening of the yield curve is not anything abnormal, because you are looking at very high levels of fiscal deficits that need to be funded, and to some extent, the shape of the curve is very different in every country based on the actions of the central banks and more things. yields atwith historic lows, how do you protect returns? neeraj: that is a very interesting question, haslinda. as a portfolio manager, this is something we debate a lot, and the challenge that you see is using rates as a hedge for your risk before things come down, that only means that overall, from an investor perspective, you probably reduce your overall risk, and you reduce your duration, you still keep your

duration as a hedge against your risk assets, and if you run the correlation, what you do see with the correlation of u.s. rates -- much lower than it was so you have to9, manage the portfolio in the new lower levelverall risk, and managing risk rather than being long risk with long-duration, you hedge it. haslinda: there has been so much stimulus, and that supports bonds, as well. when the music stops, when the pulling back, what kind of distressed do you see in the credit market? neeraj: first of all, the stimulus is unprecedented, but as i said earlier, from an economic perspective, this is not as sharp. the momentum just stopped, and a lot of the stimulus is focused on two things right now, the

functionality of the markets and putting in some of the fiscal stimulus to actually make up for the lost incomes. now, as we get out of covid, and as the economic momentum starts to come back from a natural standpoint, faster growth i would say in the next few quarters, the overall recovery will still be slow and less of a a global economic perspective, so i do not think the fed or the banks will be pulling back soon and 2020 or even 20 21 until we see a more robust recovery on the way -- or see a morentil we robust recovery on the way. rishaad: these tensions with beijing and washington coming to the floor once again, and certainly we have murmurings of that again, haven't we? neeraj: it is an interesting one, because the tensions have

started to pick up, with the and on the sale of semi conductor chips and with huawei. to some extent, this ban is actually stronger than the last one, but as we take a step back and move towards the presidential election in the u.s., i think that the risk of the u.s.-china trade tension is high, and focusing on multiple fronts, including technology, financial channels, and more, and not just on the trade channels -- i think this is something you have to keep an eye on and something that has a risk of something affecting the market, but if i look back starting in november 2018, the first time we had major news around the u.s.-china trade tensions, the market corrected rather significantly, i think more than 20% down, and then in may and last year when we had the news, the corrections were less profound.

i think to some extent, the markets are learning to live with that, but i would not ignore the risks coming our way in the next six months from the u.s.-china tensions. go,inda: before we let you your source in the indian bond market, they have been sold off, pretty much putting their hopes -- they have declined to intervene in the bond market. where do you see that headed? neeraj: overall, we do believe we will see a more active role from the r.b.i. with a combination of rate, the community, and communication, and they will use more of the combination and support the bond market. markets, inhe bond india, and i think with highlighting, if you look at the last week with regards to the /fiscaldlines and the gdp

stimulus, the push was much smaller than market expectation, and it is solid for the bond markets but negative for the equity markets, and this is the markets reacting. neeraj seth, from blackrock, thank you so much for being with us today. suitor, the benchmark hang seng --ex -- still do, the bench still to come, the benchmark hang seng index. this is bloomberg. ♪

♪ quick checkt's do a of the latest business flash headlines. india's former number one carrier posted losses. --y reported losses of $690

90ey reported losses of $6 billion for the quarter, but still a leader on the sensex this year. bharti airtel. was made byade moody's for carnival. it makes the company unfit for ingress smit -- investment grade rating for the foreseeable future, they said. and cutting jobs and closing dozens of offices at uber, following the dismissal of staff including human resources earlier this week -- earlier this month. rish? rishaad: all right, let's have a closer look at china, the 10-year yield at the highest level in months. why, and let's get

over to david ingles. david, tell us about this. david: look. neeraj hit the nail on the head when he said that a lot of countries, including china, are looking at budget holes they have never seen, and especially for this week, it will come full circle. attend local governments 10ually issuing bonds -- local governments actually issuing bonds, with infrastructure programs in their jurisdiction. it is an issue of supply as well in china. they are moving up. a lot of the local governments are actually raising debt, as well, and that is something you mentioned, rish, with the steepening of the curve, and it is also widening the spread between china and the u.s., where i think we are now looking at about 200 basis points, something interesting to see,

especially this week. dave, the rebound of these indexes have been announced. what are some of the highlights? david: it is nothing groundbreaking. we were pretty much expecting what they did at the conclusion. i think what was worth noting is that in the event that we do get, say, alibaba, which is a secondary listing, eventually included in the hang seng index, and that will come sometime in august during the index review, that will be capped at 5%. that is one take away. the other is there will be no change to the current -- there isof the no specific ratio. there is no specific limits in hong kong and mainland china companies, but it welcomes development. to make thekets,

index more reflective of what is now a very dynamic economy with the chinese economy. rishaad: all right. let's quickly look at what we have, very quickly. tensions between the u.s. and china. david: you guys broke the news, right? ipo's, potentially making it tougher to list in the u.s. they did not specifically mention chinese companies, but that will affect many chinese companies, of course, and i think the other side of that is that you have jd.com looking to list. i will talk about that next time. rishaad: absolutely. david ingles in hong kong, our coanchor. looking at china markets as we head to the lunch break there, having a look at equities moving across the board, not quite as pronounced of gains as they are

elsewhere, but certainly in the green. that is a look at those equities. also, the japanese markets. interview with the opposition leader in malaysia, coming up. ♪

♪ ♪ let's get these first word headlines. chinae it alone -- moment making a coronavirus vaccine available to all. president xi jinping addressing the world health assembly

calling for greater global cooperation to fight the virus. he promises to billion dollars to help in the fight. backing the world health organization's effort to control the outbreak c >> covid-19 vaccine when globally will be made public. this'll be china's contribution to ensuring vaccine affordability in developing countries. asia's biggest economies are fighting to shore up growth. indonesia, a rapid easing of lockdown restrictions. because of banning travel during the holiday. 77dia being warned its $2 billion relief package falls shy of expectations. for an economy that was slowing before covid-19.

18% tariffs on barley. it includes 74% of anti-dumping duties. 900 millionxporting $ of barley to china and says it will challenge it at the world trade organization. boss skipped china's most important political event this week. amid reports of unspecified health issues. the billionaire has been a leading figure at the annual meetings in beijing where china's political and corporate leaders gather to debate targets. ispite his absence, na preparing to submit several proposals. haslinda: rishaad: let's have a quick look at how far this day of gains is

going to the nikkei 125 now up by 1.6%. a lot of optimism out there at the moment. with regard to this vaccine that could possibly have some efficacy. experimental vaccines barking for speculation if it does work economies could snap back quickly. europeansbig gains on some of the biggest gains we've seen in two months. for the s&p and the nasdaq. certainly feeling it here as well. the kospi 1.8% to the upside. on the day where the glasses certainly nearly full. haslinda: that's right. malaysia's unresolved political drama is back in the spotlight. for the first time they were

supposed to debate a motion of no-confidence against prime but the government blocked it by limiting -- to jump the king's opening speech. joining us for an exclusive chat is president of the malaysia people's party. anwar ibrahim, good to have you with us. thank you very much. haslinda: are you able to hear me? >> yes, better now. clear. haslinda: you like and malaysian politics to hollywood. now it is looking like game of thrones. if we can address the elephant in the room. this motioncceed in of no-confidence, who will become prime minister? willoughby you or mohammed -- will it be you or elijah mohammed? >> i am the leader of the

opposition. [no audio] [breaking up] if we could repeat the question. if you succeed in this vote of no-confidence, who will become prime minister? it is academic now because , and is no motion allowed for now i'm the leader of the opposition. i will have to make sure the opposition remains in force, strong with a clear agenda. haslinda: have you struck a deal

with elijah mohammed? since 2018. on good terms. and clearly we have now moved on to the second phase. succeed, is you do it fair to say he will be the prime minister? just to get it out of the way and just to be sure you will be the prime minister if the opposition succeeds. i am the leader of the opposition. that thet to make sure opposition members remain intact. and committed to the agenda.

-- the reform agenda. people tend to talk about personality. we are here. we have a mandate to undertake clear reforms in the country. --did manage to elect because in the past coalition as we have seen -- audio] on the issues of excesses of past governments, but there were excesses within the administration. and the anticorruption division were not as effective in dealing with the members. are happily enjoying themselves as new ministers in the new administration. with mohammed as prime minister. haslinda: why should malaysians trust you and trust the

abolition coalition given that your capability has been dented giving the shocking fall? off your coalition >> some members, yes. field of the trail -- the betrayal. that is a major part of the coalition. we have nine. this is not new. it has been going for months, more than a year. this was tolerated. is --s not something that a well coordinated, orchestrated event. it was tolerated. andnst excessive corruption treachery is because this was somewhat tolerated by our administration. on their own, they have never -- they would never be able to cause too much damage to the

party. but they were holding key positions in government. and lots of excesses. why was this tolerated? including the anticorruption commission at that time? understand that we are here with a clear mandate to undertake reform. not to condone excesses. you talk about the horse trading, the betrayal, the defections, how confident are you of having the majority because the claim is the current government does not have majority? well, if the current government do actually have that confidence, they would have

conducted the affairs of more, in the a usual manner. they did not. given the excuse of covid-19. fearfulrly, they were of the vote of no-confidence. governmentacy of the -- their agenda, but even then, it is well in knowledge. , a this is a coordination coalition without a manifesto, without clear policies. they are keen to distribute the with three special envoy s with special gifts given to

mp's. it is a fractured coalition. haslinda: at the center of it all, is the malay vote. some say you lost support because your reform agenda goes against malay interests. how do you intend to win back malay support, malay voters? , the reform agenda is not at their expense. malay -- ourof agenda looks at -- respective of race.

it is not to enrich your family members, your children and your cronies. the action must be clearly to assist the general public that -- that requires government intervention. this needs to be explained. but we did not fully explain it in the two years that we had to do so. we will i think have more of a focus on reform. we are successful in that in some areas. but i think we need to make it thatclear to the malays this will be executed effectively and with -- will benefit them in the long run. more than 60% of the malaysian population assume that the malay do not support -- that is not entirely true.

what it means is that we are facing -- they are using the race card. and it is a feeling in many --s, but i do not believe with a clear agenda, with a clear policy we cannot win over the hearts and minds of the malay base. you have talked about the need to rise again in the interest of every young person who dreams of reform. if you were in power, while policies would you put in place immediately to address this? well, it is not easy now because given the economic present, this is a trading nation, dependent on oil. being these sectors are affected.

with clear policies, with a clear agenda. for example, we talk about economic policies it we should move away from the ofditional notion conventional wisdom about trade and tourism and dependence on transition --uld -- andlity of education harness the quality of education and also form a government that would weed out corruption and abuse of power. the no-confidence not only to the locals and the malaysian public but to the national community and investment community. you be moren specific in terms of what policies you would put in place? this is an economy that is reeling from the pandemic.

also reeling from the slump in oil prices. what would you do differently to revive the economy? >> for example, we need to focus -- our economy, we depend so much on 52 billion ringgit of exported products. on our needs,ocus to modernize agriculture. these are the things we said at the commissions of the patient -- the fishermen. and the farmers which had been somewhat marginalized. the economyissue of we talked about it but -- there was a problem of infrastructure. we need to refocus on that. and last on education. it is the quality of education. schools,arguing about

whatever. i think the focus should be quality education, including and housing -- harnessing the level of education. economy,us on the including agriculture, those on -- theywe depend need to support them in a major manner. all of these big companies, focusedrates, they are on the big conglomerates. e'sneed to refocus on the sm because there is n -- enormous potential t rebound the economy. haslinda: you are huge proponent of the rule of law. i want to get your thoughts on 1mdb case, with them

dropping the case. do you think that will set the precedent for other cases? >> it is a disturbing precedent. the lack of understanding and commitment to actual reform. you have, for example, the rich and the famous. the ruling elite. and the poor is given a different set of rules. law is at the expense of the poor. case, there isc so much resentment. of scott with scond with-- ab

billions. it is prove this present government, they deny the fact not -- except against the past administration. imdb. my point is that it must be seen to be open and clear. cg makes a very convincing and reassuring them about judiciary reform. this issue has been given all the support to make sure these excesses in the legal system must be given additional clarity. i think the issue must be reopened. and they will not accept this. power,a: if you are in

how would you resolve the 1mdb issue to do with goldman sachs? what would you do? by the measures were in that direction. although, i think first with goldman sachs we have to be courtsdepositions to the here and in the states. to get support from countries including the united states. help assimilate the process. definitely, it is the rule of law. are failed in this regard, particularly in this case. before he let you go

one final question. do you see the current government staying in power until the next election? >> very unlikely. opposition, what is important is our commitment to a reform agenda. people do not just want us to take over. take over for what? to replace members -- ministers? or take over for effective reform and to make sure enough of corruption and enough of cronyism and enough of compromise on the issue of the rule of law. that thinksa system of the welfare of the majority. -- not having this just jostling for power, who gets what and when? that isnt a government both responsible, that is more comfortable -- accountable to

the masses. and i talk about the vast majority of the people and the top cronies. haslinda: malaysian opposition leader anwar ibrahim. thank you for joining us on bloomberg. let's get a check on where the indian markets are right now. whether it is rallying like the rest of the region. it is up by 1.5%. for the sensex and the nifty. joining in the rally we are seeing across all of asia. so much optimism that a vaccine could be seen pretty soon. ino earnings season underway india. bharti trading up by 5%. five of the seven nifty companies have eaten expectations so far. still to come, india and bangladesh. are bracing for what is forecast

to be the worst cyclone in more than 20 years. details next. this is bloomberg. ♪

haslinda: welcome back. india and bangladesh's are bracing for what is forecast to be the worst storm over the bay of bendel in 20 years. authorities are making preparations to evacuate more than 5 million people.

the cyclone hit could cause more wo countriesn for t dealing with the virus laden lockdowns. for more on this we are joined by our south asia government editor. what is new in this stage of india's lockdown? stage of thes lockdown they are doing what they have been doing over the last two weeks which is because theadually economy cannot take the lockdown any longer. even though infections are surging an overnight we crossed 100,000 infection mark and the new virus hotspot in asia. there is some interstate travel, wrote travel that is allowed. a few more businesses are about to be open. it is not only essential services now more shops and businesses will open. in the cities.

hot -- non-hotspot areas they are allowing limited public transport. again, overall the country continues its lockdown. there will be no domestic or international travel. government from the is you cannot do this anymore. rishaad: this is rishaad. both of these countries, bangladesh and india, have taken years to develop fairly decent evacuation measures. how well prepared are they on this occasion, as they brace themselves? so, over the last 20 years, -- bothe last cyclone

india and bangladesh may good strides for evacuation processes. we have evacuation centers. gone -- but this year is different. afford they can , andmic -- the plantations other laws. -- andvacuation centers both countries are fighting the fires. ,000 marketrossed 100 and it will be a very complicated process because are behind in virus efforts. and now they have to handle this. stridesast, they made in both countries. haslinda: south asia government editor. in new delhi there.

just to recap our interview with amphan moments ago. anwar saying the current malaysian government will not stay until the next election. he doubts it will. he says his opposition coalition has 107 lawmakers. he is confident he will have that majority in parliament. he also says his reform agenda is not at the expense of malay rights. remember, some have said that his reform agenda goes against what the malays stand for, especially the policy which favors the malays. rishaad: thank you. we got a big interview coming up on bloomberg television. the reserve bank of new is the lead governor. on daybreak asia, talking quantitative easing, negative

rates and the coronavirus recovery. that is at seven colleague -- that is at 7:30 a.m. and half past 11:00 in auckland. ♪ staying connected your way is easier than ever.

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manus: this is "bloomberg daybreak: middle east." .ousef: stocks surge sparking speculation economies could snap back quickly. china throws its weight behind the world health organization, saying any vaccine success will be shared by all. lender egypt's largest