brazil is now the world's pandemic hotspot, while infections in india rise at the fastest pace in asia. it is decision day for the bank of thailand amid concern over a sharp contraction. thevirus has devastated tourism reliant economy. just getting straight to asian benchmarks, we have this optimism at the start of the day waning. negative terrain. markets are all below the gain line. just seeing south korea trading givenit is surprising u.s. futures have been nudging up and we have seen the s&p 500 losing ground in the final hour of trading. ultimately, it is about the modernity vaccine at the moment.

people struggling to maintain that. the nikkeir before gets back up and running. thailand, we got a rate decision. we have wiggle room, if you will for another cut. has been- thai bhat appreciating. deposit index falling back. that is where markets are currently. it bit of caution out there. a bit of aing like summer of hope, but not seeing that much sunshine, let's put it that way. seeing prettyre strong gains in recent weeks on the back of that. taking a look at some of the other commodities.

oil down 0.2%. demand returning. expectations intact. dampeningomment sentiment at the same time. highest and more than seven years holding onto gains. a stronger-than-expected rebound in chinese demand. gold etf holdings rising for a 17th straight day. taking a look at where the aussie is right now. some sentiment in the market suggesting we should go along aussie a recovery that. kiwi, positive.

suggesting negative rates still an option, but there are many hurdles to jump. taking a look at how futures are shaping up, the s&p futures suggesting a higher open. futures up by 1%. adding to some concerns expected to hit the coast of india. india, 10-year yield. we have india saying it will allow more exposure to government bonds. this will help address liquidity problems. bonds have been sold out and investors are looking for the r.b.i. to provide some support. now, let's get more on the

market action with mark cranfield. priced into the market. yes, we are going to have to get used to volatility from various headlines about whether they are working or not working. i think you can see from the response particularly from the s&p 500 that investors are getting used to that there are multiple people looking for a vaccine cure. i think that is why the setback has been relatively modest. from&p is still not far 3000, which is a vast improvement from where it was. frometback is quite small where it was compared to recent gains. has only given up a very small amount of that. we have only seen companies here chasing the antibody, there was

a multi prong to attack going on in the world. whoould really need the before markets are probably going to get really concerned about it. there is hope that somebody is going to beat the timetable. that somebody is going to find the solution. not to mention of course the great stimulus being done in fiscal and monetary terms around the world. there is plenty more room to act if he needs to. rishaad: we saw the australian dollar rally, but that seems to be over with. is it because the risk that china will be imposing further trade restrictions? a huge surprised it has not moved down substantially.

australia is supporting an inquiry against china and that raises their profile when china may be trying to defend itself. atna appears to be looking various parts of the trade relationship with australia, which it could take some action against australia, but so far, it is also position. if you look at some of the things that have been talked about that china might retaliate with, it is fairly surgical. it does not go to the heart of the trade relationship. it does not necessarily undermine the major commodity parts. it does not necessarily cut off the whole relationship. china is making some threats. if there is something coming down the pipeline, it will be something relatively mild, which doesn't affect the overall relationship. , the mpcrtantly

meeting is coming up and there is probably going to be more stimulus announced, particularly for the western side of china. big industrial changes. more infrastructure projects. in the end, australia may benefit from those as more resources are needed. any setbacks are probably going to be fairly temporary as long as the relationship does not down completely with china. rishaad: the gold and the dollar ratio, but there is a gold and copper ratio. what does it tell you about those risky assets? certainly, copper has been one of those metals that has been beaten up pretty bad. it has been dependent on the world health of economy. therally the good state of global economy is a good thing for copper. when gold is outperforming

copper by too much, it can be seen as a sign that the world is in a more defensive place, but there are signs that industrial metals are starting to turn the corner. it is not just copper, it is other parts of the complex, as well. this is partly because china is coming back on stream. lifee starting to see some in some of these industrial metals and that is a good sign because it means that building is restarting and people are starting to put their economies back on normal footing. we are starting to see this relationship change. this could be one of the key indicators that as we try to get whetherimistic about equity rallies are really serious or not, people will be watching this to see how copper performs in the months ahead. mark, thanks. ok, we've got the white house

calling on the world's top health body to demonstrate independence from china. that story in our first word news. >> thank you. china says president trump's threat to quit the world health organization is an attempt to shirk responsibility for america's failure to control the coronavirus outbreak. the president tweeted a letter for attacking the organization for being a chinese puppet, saying he is prepared to end support. beijing says it is an attempt to slander china and that it won't work. >> the u.s. leader's letter is full of language like maybe and possibly trying to mislead the public to slander china's efforts to control the pandemic. this is futile. virus cases in india have topped 100,000, rising at the fastest pace in asia. india now among the nations

worst hit by the pandemic with a 28% rise in cases. singapore says it has the outbreak under control and will allow more businesses to start reopening from june 2. that would mean about 75% of the city states economy would be back to active work. taiwan's president has been sworn in amid continuing tension from china. she is enjoying record ratings having had success containing the pandemic so far, as well as seeing an wing and support from the u.s. and its allies. china says the virus presents opportunities. the coronavirus has changed the international community's perception of taiwan and wider geopolitics. this changes our talent -- challenges, but also an opportunity. news 24 hours per day

powered by more than 2700 journalists and analysts in more than 120 countries. this is bloomberg. speakda: coming up, we with southeast asia's biggest online marketplace for real estate to find out how the coronavirus is affecting its business. the ceo joins us later this hour. ahead, the world's second-biggest reinsurance company telling us why it is expecting a much deeper recession than the one following the 2018 -- 2008-2009 crisis. ♪

stocks in asia losing some steam. that optimism about a vaccine

draining away. fed chair jerome powell saying he is ready to use all of the weapons to help the american economy under the pandemic. our next guest thanks the united states will experience a drop. thank you so much indeed for joining us. i want to get a sense about what the world will be looking like post covert about what is going on with the insurance industry. how hard-hit is it? i ask that question with some trepidation because pandemics are not in a lot of insurance policies, are they? it is very good to speak about the world economic outlook. markets,of insurance it is hotly debated and the

situation is evolving as we speak. [indiscernible] rishaad: also, let's have a look at a broad sweep of the globe and the recovery. we have never seen anything quite like it and we could be heading for that dword come -- that d word, but depression. >> thanks for asking the question. my advice would be, i wouldn't look.

we are expecting, i think depression is a risk, it is a baseline scenario. i think that is not to expect a depression. covid-19, we are going to get out of this decreased mode for the global economy. letterally had to pick a would putlphabet, i aj in front of a member. really counts, then a staggered recovery which will be

protracted. is a nikeeven if it the downside given the unemployment we are seeing come of the lack of demand, if you wish? >> thank you. i think you're right, absolutely right. to me, the risks are not to the downside. theuse i would see recession being for three or four quarters instead of two quarters and we do expect this recession to be the strongest recession in our lifetime. the bigger shock and happening quicker than anything we have seen before. as the global big financial crisis and it is

happening twice the speed. however, even as we get out of this recession and i do believe it is going to be extremely protracted. when i also listen to mnuchin and spousal -- and powell speaking yesterday in their testimony, i think one of the keywords which i'm concerned is permanent losses on the job market. i think that is something we need to watch. it is another thing to restart and restarting is much more difficult. haslinda: how encouraged are you by china's recovery? somewhere expecting a rebound in the second order, already. and china we really do have grounds for optimism. perspective, we are

a global company. china has the best starting ground going into 2020, also from the economic resilience. china was the first country experiencing covid-19 and was the first country out of covid-19, if you look at the latest economic capacity with allon figures this mobility, it indicates china is running at around 90-92% of its capacity. if i look back over the last , the only growth expectations for 2020 was china. think is very grounded for china and i do think china is going to be

strong relative to the u.s. boosting consumption, hoping to see at the upcoming meeting, what are you hoping to see? >> i think it is two things. physicaling the support and also making sure it reaches households, as well as companies. if you look across the fiscal timelinesthere are and not all have reached. the u.s., that was a discussion piece. with treasury secretary mnuchin. in terms of what i would like to spending, i fiscal

would really like to see more fiscal spending going into measures at improving economic principles. we see much too little activity at improving and making sure. statistic, if you , it is all about that. compare it relative to the fiscal stimulus into you see eight and 2009, the spending going into is near 2008 and 2009 and we need more infrastructure spending because israstructure spending something we really need. haslinda: we have to leave it there.

thank you so much for your insight today. coming up, tensions between washington and beijing spillover into the world health organization as president trump threatens to pull out from the agency altogether. we will look at the global response. this is bloomberg. ♪

rishaad: this is bloomberg markets. president trump saying the u.s. may quit the who altogether unless it embraces radical change. president wrote that the who does not commit to major substantial improvements in the next 30 days, i will make my to every reason of u.s. -- temporary freeze of u.s. funding ouranent and reconsider

membership altogether. >> we did not really hear much. the president did not elaborate any changes. with thest grievances who, calling the group to demonstrate independence from china, so doubling down on the complaints he made and calling for an impartial, independent, and comprehensive review of how the who handled the crisis. the organization did pass that resolution, but trump did post to that letter hours after chinese president xi jinping address to the who, promising to devote $2 billion toward fighting the pandemic. fundinged to cut off the country. leaves increasingly isolated from the global stage. if trump does make good on his global threat, it does leave china open to have more influence on the who.

what happens now to flatten the curve in asia? >> let's start in india. cases are escalating at the fastest pace in asia. now 101,261. toerts say the focus is prioritize low income areas and you have to have containment measures done district by district to flatten the curve. brazil is another world's new hotspot. the country saw a record number of new cases and deaths on tuesday. 17,000 or more new cases and now brazil overtaking spain, italy, and the u.k. and now only trails behind russia and the u.s. in confirmed covid-19 infections. a lot of troubles in president trump saying he is considering a ban on brazilian travel to the u.s. rishaad: thanks.

joining us from right here in hong kong. let's get equities. for its lunch break. this is bloomberg. ♪

looking atou are live pictures of the lion city. this is how we are looking in terms of the market. almost 1%. trading was the same today. for the downsides to the economy despite recent gains showing improvements. now, for the first word headlines. global coronavirus cases approaching 5 million with fatalities above 300 20,000. brazil is now the world pandemic

hotspot. india arections in rising at the fastest pace in asia. pasts linked to covid-19 40,000, the first country in europe to reach that threshold. new zealand's central bank governor says he is open to taking interest rates negative at some point in the future, but only of conditions pass a number of tests. qe bank is currently using to fight the economic fallout from covid-19 by buying bonds. he said he expects retail banks to pass on low rates to consumers, but he isn't ruling outgoing negative if necessary. >> it's got to jump the hurdles and seem to be necessary. it has to be seen to be effective, efficient, and operationally capable. a residential peace in for less ass sold

developers turn cautious amid the city's weakening economy. for the equivalent of it $640 million u.s. dollars, 10% less then even the lowest analyst evaluation. last week, the government failed to sell another large site because the bidding did not meet. india is bracing for its strongest storm in around 20 years. the cyclone is expected to make landfall near the bay of bengal later wednesday. millions of people have been moved from the coast of northeastern india and bangladesh as the system approaches and assistance efforts have been made more difficult by india's national lockdown and social distancing rules amidst the coronavirus. having a look at the indices. starting off with japan, tokyo returning from their hour-long

lunch break. extending gains unlike other parts of the region. we were very much off the high of the session, looking at the markets down by 0.5%. you see that we are just too away from the strongest and of that band of the currency actually trades with against the greenback. down a moment. we have that under pressure as well. we have bhp saying they have temporarily halted and iron or mine over some safety concerns weighing on that stock. governmentup as the is seeking to restructure the airline. and the bankruptcy law. one of the biggest gainers in bangkok up at the moment nearly

15%. after a botched ipo last year, leading his company is that we were a listed entity. the propertyguru chief is sticking to his word and disclosing the company's financial performance. they say revenue rose for a fourth consecutive year in 2019. he joins us now exclusively from the lion city. good to have you with us. the question is whether those numbers are sustainable given the uncertainty today. thank you for having us, clearly 2019 was a tough period where we had sustained, strong growth, very heartening improvements. things are very good measures. we started the year honestly quite strong.

q1 was in our budget for the year. with all these shutdowns happening in our markets, april was rough. storyk may it is still a of recovery and opening up. it is going to be about the results we have been able to deliver the last three or four years. haslinda: quantify for that -- quantify that for us. what kind of thing are you anticipating -- what kind of drop are you anticipating? >> things are dynamic and moving. the singapore governor talked about opening up. other parts of the business are not quite ready to go. i think if you look at some of the demand-side metrics, so traffic just here in singapore, january through may, it is up 6%

over the same period last year, so you are seeing growth in demand. people are interested in participating. they are seeing asking prices beginning to drop. so, the buyers are ready to go. the challenges the agents, the developers are not able to open up their offices. we need to see how bad it gets in may and june before we look at the whole year playing out. having a very strong recovery in the last 2.5 weeks since that recovery -- country reopened. rishaad: i'm just going to take , it has only been

remained open. confounded with these markets that you cover with the exception of vietnam? marketlieve the property is going to be very strong. if you look at the underlying conditions, refinancing your prices,u have asking you have many markets, bangkok a buyer'sa, so from perspective, there is a lot of real estate. , that is prime conditions to participate. see is are beginning to that is a great time to refinance homes, so that is not quite buying new real estate, but they are refinancing their homes, managing their homes and cash flows, as well.

you are seeing people participate in the real estate market. business are our depended on physical access to the site. well, this -- you will have to visit properties when you are out there shopping for one. ,ooking at the post-covid world ,ell us about the fast key talking about having to go there briefly? >> what we expedite it in the covid world with one of our solutions that we spent up to get fully ready for the market. it allows people to remotely view and visit property under construction real estate, which are normally just construction site. through anw it

immersive virtual experience and you will be able to see the availability of units. developers are not just able to walk-throughs, but they are able to display what is available for sale. they are able to see. real estate buyers may not be flying in and out of the region. they may be able to view what is available and what are the floor plans. , that is what we are calling the storyteller. >> there are expectations that more and more people will decide to work from home post-covid.

that is a great question. ush the history has taught is that if people can afford it, if household incomes have not been impacted, people will try to upgrade their homes. what is unique as you will have a lot of people working from home and the need to have workstations for multiple people , it means as long as the budget is accommodated, people would look at larger homes, as well. i think developed markets, we fully expect that to happen. it is likely to happen if people can afford it. it is interesting to see how it plays out in other emerging economies, as well. haslinda: do you think that would have an impact on property developers? >> i think they are looking at

everything into end. it is a long gestation cycle for them. next year is already well into planning stages. what you are going to see is developers look at ways to manage technology and then for some of this data to inform them about new developments they haven't started yet. they might look at larger floor nots, more units these are solutions they have had to think we willfully anticipate see these changes in the homes of the future. haslinda: if you talk about property, you have to talk about property prices. singapore have remained resilient despite the pandemic. what are you anticipating for

home prices post-pandemic. do you expect a surge? >> i think the prices have started to come down. by 1% in q1. we saw a glut of listings. listings went up significantly. asking prices starting to come down. supply was much higher than demand. we fully anticipate that that combined with the fact that there are a lot of new construction projects that will come online means that there will be a slight downward pressure on that. robust because it is a dependable rate economy, so you have foreign buyers coming in, as well. despite the measures that have been put in, luxury real estate still has strong demand coming from china and other places outside singapore. remains one ofe the most attractive asset

classes for investment. i do believe there will be some downward pressure because of the measures i mentioned earlier, but it won't collapse completely because demand remains in singapore. question is from me. if you look at the countries that you do cover, which housing market do you think offers the most promise looking ahead and i'm talking about value, perhaps upside potential, and also legislation which supports you buying property as well is a foreigner? >> yes, i think that's a great question. one of the markets where it is really a good buyer market would be thailand. i think there is a lot of supply in bangkok. high-quality developer. it tends to be more expensive. for those who are willing to

take a little bit more of a risk , i would encourage them to look at vietnam. you see 100 thousand people move to ho chi minh city every year. it is quite possible they might become a tenant for you. i think that is a very attractive market you should keep your eye on. thank you so much for your insights today. some headlines to tell you about. amazon saying it will invest $4 billion within the april-june word on covid related initiatives. perhaps suggesting it is responding to its outbreak in a warehouse in the foothills of the poconos. than any of9 cases amazon's other locations after missing early opportunities to protect its workers. amazon planning to invest 4

billion dollars on covid-related initiatives. just ahead, we speak to one of the few economists who predicted the bank of indonesia would hold off on cutting rates. giving us her outlook for southeast asia's biggest economy next. this is bloomberg. ♪

indonesia unexpectedly left its key interest rate unchanged for a second month. the face of a flagging economy. only six of 25 economists expected the bank to stay put, including our next guest. -- good tos from have you with us. that at this say point in time, bank indonesia is putting its priority on stabilizing the rupiah as opposed to growth? >> yes, hello, thank you. yes, we can see that the rupiah currently under pressure. especially during march, when the capital flow is quite heavily going out of the country. , we are seeing it getting some ground. it isly that is because

realizing confidence from the government. for the decision of the bank, i think yes, at some point, they are quite focusing on the currency, but i also think they already have injected a large amount of liquidity to the banking system. i think they will want to see how that will be affecting the economy first. considering that currently we are also still under stricter social restrictions, so i think it is timing. i'm guessing we may have room to lower rates further, but it is about timing. i think about the massive liquidity that has already been injected, i think they wait a while before lowering rates. haslinda: the governor has said

repeatedly he thinks that the rupiah is undervalued. what is the fair value for the rupiah, do you think? >> the beginning of the year, we are seeing it strengthening. i'm certain that that is a fair value. the value was before the economy has our just been ready to revise, ready to improve at the beginning of the year before the covid-19 started to make an impact. we also have some structural reform coming up. i think people are starting to , the improving of the economy. i would guess that the current actuallythe rupiah is

undervalued. i actually agree with the statement. haslinda: why are you more pessimistic than the government in terms of projections of gdp for the year? you are forecasting a possible contraction of 0.5% to a growth of 1.1%, when the government is looking at 2.3% growth. what is contributing to your pessimism? well, the q1 gdp number. it is showing faster economic growth, way below expectation. i do think for the overall year, we are going to have a good amount of pressure on the economy especially because covid-19 has not shown any clear sign to receive yet and the government also has expanded social restrictions, so

basically, economic activity is very low. if the social restrictions continue for a longer time, it could have a more significant effect on gdp, so i think we are a bit pessimistic. rishaad: ok, you've got that, then you have the debt double whammy with the oil price. oil prices get weaker again. you could even see more of a downturn. i'm sorry, the oil price? rishaad: yes, i'm saying that is a double whammy for the indonesian economy. ps, from the perspective of the coronavirus, i think we are

under better footing. the oil price is actually a net positive. we are importing a high amount of oil, but with the oil price declining, it is also declining. , the number has been released. it is showing an improvement it is a balance side more positive factor for the economy. from the external balance perspective. rishaad: thank you very much indeed for that. resolution, the bank of thailand up next with its decision just a few hours away. we will be finding out what to

expect. optimism over reopening and the eventual return lead to a rally for the currency? this is uber -- bloomberg. ♪

the bank of thailand is set to put its benchmark rate down.

why -- forreasons the reasons why, our economics reporter joins us. what are the factors contribute into that decision? >> well, first off, i should say looking at the bank of indonesia decision yesterday, we got a hold, so we shouldn't be too confident in this survey estimate, but an overwhelming majority are seeing a cut of 25 basis points. they have only done two cuts of 25 basis points this year each already. they are getting closer to the zero bound. there is a benchmark interest rate view that we are looking at, but also other ways of dealing with the virus outbreak, we will soup in thailand discussing different liquidity and other options that we are going to need to keep the markets stable, keep the economy on a healing trajectory every it they talked about discussions over large-scale asset purchases , other ways of stabilizing the bond market, so we will look to see that.

a lot of the second-quarter data have not come in yet. that will look worse than what we have seen so far. we are seeing the gdp revision down -6% this year. this is really looking bad in the tourism sector is special. about a fifth of the economy, it is continuing to be battered with a lot of the lockdown measures. a lot to look out for. we are going to look at what other options and how much deeper they can reach into their toolbox today. haslinda: speaking of growth, what are the main challenges thailand faces in terms of an economic recovery from covid-19? >> yes, well, you talked earlier today with the trade minister here in singapore and it is a message we hear from policymakers all over the world, that so much depends on testing,

a vaccine, those two elements in terms of getting this outbreak under control in so many different economies, so that will certainly take up a lot of the economic discussions. at the same time, they are trying to figure out how they can get some parts of the economy, certainly for thailand the tourism sector, back on baby steps toward a recovery. they flattened the curve on the outbreak over the past couple weeks at least. they have seen just single digit cases and's him days zero cases of the virus and that is promising. international commercial flights , they still have a ban until june 30 and they are still under a state of emergency largely through the end of may. we will see how comfortable policymakers will be in taking off some of those restrictions and helping the economy get back to normal. michelle in singapore. speaking of thailand, taking a look at the sep on rate decision day.

the governor expected to cut by 25 basis points. the sep up 0.3%. that is it from "bloomberg markets: asia." "bloomberg daybreak: middle east" is next. ♪ staying connected your way is easier than ever.

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