[applause] ♪ >> good morning and welcome to daybreak australia. i am paul allen in sydney and we're counting down to asia's major market open. china raises the heat on jack ma telling his ant group to go back to its roots. the senior official says executives must recognize the business model. relief pushed by

president trump. the republicans are unhappy with higher government spending and johnson admits the brexit deal does not go as far as he was like. see how markets are shaping up to start. going to be a thin trading week. markets are closed in australia as they are in new zealand. we are observing the boxing day public holiday from saturday. everyone gets monday off. take a look at the u.s. dollar. mixed. president trump failed to send the bipartisan stimulus package. losing some ground, the u.s. dollar against the pound. the brexit deal waiting for a vote in parliament where it does have bipartisan support. take a look at the yield on the 10 year. it had been creeping up. there was some feeling that it

would get close to breaching 1%. there are three options. catalysts coming up not the least of which is the georgia senate. -- georgia senate races. bitcoin, they could face greater regulation from the incoming biden administration. top story -- jack ma's ant group the yang pulled in by regulators in order to get back to its roots. as a straightforward provider of payment services. it should rectify the services. is in hong kong. what are the details? >> the pressure is ratcheting up on ant group. summoned executives and

said it has to refocus on the payments business which is a business it started from and come up with a timetable and proposal to overhaul its businesses. it is saying that there has been a move away from the payments blasted and it was a over its disdain regarding regulatory requirements and was accused of hurting its consumers and also using its market dominance to exclude rivals from the business. mentionorities did not they were going to ask for the company to be broken up. the focus on payment services could scuttle growth because payments are still a huge part of the business. but it is not the most lucrative. set up ahat it will

special team to create proposals and overhaul the business but business will continue as usual for its users. not escapeda has scrutiny either. regulators summoned alibaba executives as well. what were the tone of those discussions? alibaba executives have been summoned as part of china's efforts to try to curb the influence of internet services and providers which have been growing in the last few years to cover almost every aspect of life in china. -- it had the biggest drop ever after the summons of its executives. withagain has to do

antimonopoly efforts in china so companies like alibaba and tencent in the focus of chinese regulators. we have seen executives like jack ma who will likely have their influence curbed in the next months. and measures have yet to be defined. long-term impact business for alibaba going forward and could face long-term headwinds. and it could affect alibaba long-term. l: we did see alibaba shares taking a beating in the u.s. on friday. the biggest one-day drop on record. keeping a close eye on the hong kong open. let's get over to karina mitchell. good morning. u.k. prime minister boris johnson admits the brexit deal

does not go as far as he wanted and weakens financial services. businesses are waiting for details of the agreement but there has been little clarity on equivalence. members of johnson's own tory party says -- say there is not enough time to read the deal before a vote on wednesday. china's industrial profits road at the -- grew at a slower pace. year to date rise, up 2.4%. new analysis shows the chinese economy will not take over the u.s. economy in five years due to its handling over the coronavirus. virus numbers in sydney's northern beaches have risen to 122. the clusters sent the area to a lockdown in does a blow against australia's fight against covid-19.

and cases reach a record in tokyo amid reports of a new virus variant. state media is attacking the judicial system in hong kong for granting bail for a media mogul. he has been charged under beijing's sweeping national security law accused of colluding with foreigners calling for sanctions on china. the media described him as notorious and dangerous. global news, 24 hours a day, on air and on quicktake by bloomberg, powered by more than 2700 journalists and analysts in more than 120 countries. mitchell, this is bloomberg. paul, back to you. , millions ofo come americans are without unemployment benefits as president trump fails to sign the latest relief package. and market implications with

roderick vonlipsey. we will get his calls. this is bloomberg. ♪

paul: millions of americans stand to lose unemployment benefits and the federal government risks a shut down after president trump fails to sign the relief bill passed by congress. the reaction has sparked bipartisan anger. >> i understand he wants to be remembered for advocating for big checks but the danger is that he will be remembered for chaos and misery and erratic behavior if he allows this to expire. the best thing to do what be for him to sign this and then make the case for subsequent legislation. paul: let's get the latest from

our manager in washington. what have we heard from the white house this weekend? >> we have heard surprisingly little actually. president trump has no press traveling with him. we have had twitter posts on saturday mostly at about unfounded claims regarding election issues. there have been no tweets today and no executive orders. .e went golfing that has created a new vacuum that is being filled by a lot of concern about the stimulus bill. we know that many did not proposalhe president's for $2000 checks. is notcans feel it targeted an off. that it would go to people whether they had lost jobs or

not. we heard the clip at the top of the show from a conservative republican, pat toomey. we have also heard from senator bernie sanders. they are saying that the president should pass the bill as written and then we can come back and talk again. alongump administration with steve mnuchin and lawmakers about erraticalk behavior and misery. time a really unusual because everything is on hold waiting to hear something from the president. paul: and in the meantime, the clock is ticking. there will be consequences. what happens if the president takes no action by monday night? ros: exactly.

absent action from the president , the congress will have to try to sign another stopgap measure but he will need a sign that too. so far, the president has done nothing. actions thatious come from losing out on the stimulus bill even for a day. gettings who would be as many as 11 weeks of an -- of unemployment benefit checks, that would be cut down by a week. consumer confidence would take a hit. there is an important eviction to expire ont december 31. the president has been so

focused on the stimulus checks that the $900 billion bill has includingf measures money for food banks, money for airlines, keeping the lights on at your local movie theater and helping people keep paying their water bill but there is a lot more to this legislation been the stimulus checks. we will have to see what happens in the next 24 hours. krasny in washington waiting to see. let's see how those relief talks into 2021. the move let's talk to roderick vonlipsey. explaining the news vacuum about what will happen with the stimulus package. how best to position for the unknown? roderick: good morning, paul.

wall street does not like uncertainty and this is going to be a potentially very unhappy new year's week on main street. , 40ou were discussing million americans will not be receiving the same jobless benefits and that puts things into question. we will have to see tomorrow -- congress is coming back to override the veto on the defense authorization bill so they are primed to deal with these two other issues but we are really thinking that with light trading activity, you should buckle up for some volatility in the markets this week. paul: what is the best approach? take money off the table when markets open on monday? or do you just buckle up, sit tight, and ride it out? that is: i think

exactly what you're going to see most investors will be doing, writing this out. when we open up the aperture and we look at the longer-term, people have an understanding that there will be some sort of next round of stimulus even though there is a big gap between $600 and $2000 a person, somewhere in there he will have some relief or this continued crisis. we know the congress and the fed will continue to be supportive of the markets. and so buckling up, looking at the volatility, and waiting it out. we think that is going to be the best thing. it is a holiday week so there should be light trading. paul: do you think there will be a government shutdown? roderick: you know, the government shutdown is a challenge. we suspect there will be continuing resolutions that will

allow the federal government to continue to work. it is a holiday weekend. alreadye people who are on travel and vacation. with that type of a thing, one could expect to get past this week and into next week and then the government will be up and running. it is also an ironic point that when we have seen other government shutdown, that has not been a big market mover in the u.s. we have not seen wall street really reacting to terribly -- too terribly to a government shutdown. it is really about whether main street will get some support from the congress and administration and whether we will get a package passed. paul: ultimately, this too shall pass but there are other catalysts on the

horizon. what about the two runoffs in georgia? do you expect more chaos from president trump? roderick: [laughter] i think the fact that the market has tried to take all of this in drop -- in stride, it gives you a sense that we should take a longer view and we will get through this. there could be surprises though all the way up to the inauguration. as you mentioned the runoffs in georgia. in some ways this is not helping the republican party because they are about to have to override the presidential veto on the defense bill. they will also have to see where they come out with the president on stimulus for the covid relief. there is a little bit of eroding for the margin we see in georgia. we still think the outcome will

be a fairly balanced senate and focus, -- it narrows the it narrows the range of outcomes that are expected from a new congress and a new administration in the new year. seen a bit of mixed performance for the u.s. dollar against this backdrop. what are your expectations for the greenback getting into 2021? roderick: we will continue to expect to see some dollar weakness. a little bit of a pause because of the latest fireworks coming from washington, d.c. we are talking to investors and saying that we should continue to see the international, non-us dollar equities doing well against the dollar. that has a couple of implications. first and the equity markets.

a lot of u.s. on sure investors have been really rewarded or the last few years for having a u.s. equities only focus. them toncouraging diversify into global equities. around the world, as we look at the low interest rate being paid by the dollar and the yen, and we look at the potential for covid recovery, there are other currencies that look important and strong relative to the yen and the dollar and that includes the chinese currency, we also like the export and commodity currencies like the aussie dollar, the canadian dollar relative to these low interest trades, dollar and yen trades. paul: ubs private wealth management, roderick vonlipsey. thank you. the european, vaccination program gets

underway but there are setbacks in germany. case number is beginning to slow in the u.s. this is bloomberg.

paul: concern in the u.s. about a post-christmas jump in coronavirus infections. numbersnformation shows slowing. a setback in germany. we have the latest virus developments. the united states has been vaccinating people now for two weeks. your business getting going. how is progress? reporter: there have been well over a million vaccinations given. quite a bit more. modernaaccine and the vaccine are both in the u.s.

europe just started today with the pfizer vaccine. italy, the, france, scandinavian countries all vaccinationsg the to the elderly and front-line workers, people in long-term care facilities. going pretty well. germany has been the only spot of a snag. the pfizer vaccine has to be kept at very low temperatures. a bunch of doses were not at that temperature. suspend vaccinations in a number of cities. they did not want to take the risk. paul: the past couple of weeks, we have been hearing a lot about this reported mutant variant in

the united kingdom. has that been contained? ian: we have not learned a lot more about it. it does seem to be much more contagious. but it does not seem to be more deadly. or that vaccines that are available will not be able to do -- to give you some protection against it. says there are questions about whether the vaccines will work but he felt but he saidus -- that viruses change all the time tweaked.nes can betwee it has been spreading though. , which suspended

, and therom the u.k. most concerning is probably canada. virus in afound the couple that had no known type of travel or high risk behavior. paul: and in the meantime, we have numbers down in the u.s. over the past few days which is encouraging and yet everything goes quiet between christmas and new year's. has the virus gone quiet as well? ian: that is hard to know. numbers are significantly down but so is the testing. new york is a perfect example. day.did 200,000 tests one with 10,000 positives. they did about 130,000 yesterday and came up with 7000. it shows you the relationship

between testing and cases. what still will go on is hospitalization and sadly, fatalities which have no relationship with testing. north carolina hit a record today with very high hospitalization numbers. fisher inright, ian new york for as. still to come,, we still have less than a week before the final brexit bl and boris johnson is admitting that the deal does not go far enough. this is bloomberg. ♪ '

"bloombergwatching daybreak: australia." jack ma is under increasing pressure in china, with regulators telling his ant group to go back to its roots. regulators to quote regulate ants lending and insurance and wealth management services, though they stopped short recommend a breakup of the company. ant has been ordered to do a timeline as soon as possible. a vote later monday on bigger covid relief checks, pushed by

president trump, setting up a class with government -- with republicans unhappy classic class with republicans unhappy with republic -- with government spending. speaker pelosi wants bigger checks. supportident tweeted to a bigger checks the decline to note the gop halted support. indonesia will keep his pledge to return to fiscal discipline, after being forced to raise that deficit cap this year amid the pandemic. data suggest little progress in stimulating domestic demand in the current quarter, implying economy may shrink by 3% on the air. the countries -- on the year. the country's fiscal leaders say the deficit cap is vital. >> in 2022 and 2023, we would like to do, and we would like to export, reforms. revenue,crease our tax relative to gdp. because, comparatively, we are also among the countries with

low tax to gdp ratio. economic growth expanded if on the fourth quarter as exports and manufacturing extended recovery from covid-19. -- gdp rose 4.5% compared to a year ago topping that mean estimate in a bloomberg survey. even so, the pandemic sent vietnam's growth to the lowest since after the financial crisis. --global news 24 hours a day on air and at bloomberg quicktake. powered by more than 2700 journalists and analysts in more than 120 countries. i am karina mitchell. this is bloomberg. just days tore now go until the final brexit split. boris johnson is admitting his last-minute deal with brussels does not go far enough. he said he wanted more. the accord thrashed out with the eu will limit the influence of london, britain's vital financial services sector.

kathleen hays is here with what did get achieved and what lies ahead. neither side got what they wanted? kathleen: how many times in life does anyone get fully what they want in any divorce? let's put this on the table in some perspective. when thene 23, 2016, u.k. voted to leave the european union. it has been for years to get to this point, nine months of almost nonstop negotiations. yes, weeks and months when they were not at the table. since last week, 2000 hours spent by 200 negotiators. what they did get out of this, is an agreement that hinged on one thing, fishing rights. -- the eu finally agreed to drop a cross retaliation clause, where they could have punished the u.k. with higher tariffs, at the u.k. tried to reduce their fishing rights further. drop johnson agreed to 25%

in the u.k. fishing rights. they are not going to get 100% back fishing rights and both sides to give something up. wednesday, boris johnson was praising the deal. i am pleased to tell you that we have completed the biggest trade deal yet, worth 660 billion pounds a year, a comprehensive, canada style, pretrade a deal, between the u.k. and that you. -- the eu. a deal that will protect jobs across this country, that will allow u.k. goods to be sold without tariffs, and without theas, in the market - in eu market. kathleen: when he talks about a canada style free trade agreement, this is what the u.k. wanted, not to have new tariffs

on trade between the two countries, and financial services is still a big question. that is why boris johnson said in an interview after they reached this deal it is not exactly what he wanted. he wants more. they want equivalents for u.k. banks carrying on business with that eu. they are concerned and more broadly services are not covered in this deal. that is 80% of the u.k. economy. commissions, eu president ursula von der leyen, when she was asked about this, wary, she said, it is a great landmark. she said it is fair and balanced from both sides. agreement is in the united kingdom's interest. it will set solid foundations for a new start with a long-term friend. we can finallyat

put brexit behind us. if you are a negotiator in this, a lot of people were hoping to be home for christmas and they were, that u.k. flying people back to london so they could be with family. more broadly, something had to happen. aboutming, the clock just picked down, like when it hits midnight on new year's eve. they have a deal, it is not perfect, some talks may continue. but at least they u.k. and eu have gotten this far. paul: that sums up the past four and a half years of this whole process, then did get there in the end how that reaction to the deal? -- how about reaction to the deal, kathleen? kathleen: not surprising, many voices saying they do not like it. this ishermen say sacrificing their interest in order to get a deal done.

that looks like to an extent, and dead. labor is calling for conservatives to get an agreement that protects jobs. they specifically mention the banking sector, what is going to happen to this important source of employment for many rats -- brits, and accountants. the irish prime minister warrants any reduction in u.k. standards when it comes to the environment, or workers rights, etc., could trigger a clause or lack of a clause, where the u.k. can retaliate by starting to impose tariffs. there are not free of that. the u.k. parliament, house of commons, is voting on the brexit deal december 30, days away. the thinking in the house of commons is, everybody will vote

for this because they do not want to risk a divorce without an agreement in place, that would be too dangerous. but you can look all around. look at scotland, the scottish national party saying this is tearing them apart, tearing them out of the eu. surely again they will be talking about, leaving that u.k., that conversation has been going on for a long time now, paul. a lot remains to be said and done. bottom line, many would be surprised at the u.k. does not say yes to this deal. and already be saying, we have to talk more and start talking now. global economics and policy editor kathleen hays. city struggles to contain its coronavirus outbreak as the number of cases continues to climb. -- sidney. details ahead. this is bloomberg. ♪

paul: the number of covid-19 infections linked to sydney's northern beaches increased to 122. a decision later as to whether the traditional new year's eve fireworks fly can go ahead. ed, how large is the cluster getting now?

our authorities closer to finding the source? >> good morning, paul. we are waiting for the latest figures out in an hour. figures show the cluster has grown to 122 people. it has been rising gradually by six or seven a day. thankfully, a fair proportion of those are positive cases, people who have already been self-isolating. by international standards, those nubbers are tiny. but you have to remember we are coming off a different baseline than the u.s. or europe. had virtually eliminated covid-19. that was down to stringent testing, contact tracing, and closing are international borders. life had pretty much returned to normal for us here, particularly in sydney. cases, it this rising

has shocked people. the only cases we had for weeks were returned overseas travelers forced to quarantine in special hotels. authorities are still investigating the source of the sydney cluster. previous outbreaks in victoria, where melbourne was forced into a three-month lockdown. and more recently south australia, the source was lapses at quarantine hotels worst cleaners or security guards became infected. paul: how about restrictions in place over christmas? have people been obeying those? >> i would say it, by and large, yes. 250,000 people in the northern beaches region have been ordered to stay home, except for essential work professions or exercise. while they were allowed a reprieve over christmas, allowed theypeople in their homes,

were told until december 30, they cannot have visitors in their homes. of 5 millionty people, residents have been urged to limit activities. to avoid the boxing day chopping sales in sydney for instance. everyone -- not everyone has been complying. we saw instances on christmas day were hundreds of revelers gathered on a popular beach in the eastern suburbs and police had to break up crowds. it was described as appalling behavior, and said to have the potential to be a seating event -- seeding event. paul: a question for international viewers used to watching city ring in the new year, one of the first cities to do so. is that going to happen i new year's eve? >> good news, yes there will definitely be fireworks. we will have a seven minute is

flat midnight with the usual backdrop of the harborhar this year will be a simla pope that 2021 will bring better news than this year. we are still waiting to hear what kind of gatherings will be allowed. before this cluster, authorities were planning a scaled-back event, we were not expecting the hundreds of thousands of people who gather across the harbor for of you. the work they have done this year, taxing the bushfires that start of year here down under. and the health workers, working so hard throughout the pandemic. whethernote later today the limited gatherings will be allowed to go ahead, and how strict police will be in

stopping people lining the harbor on new year's eve. paul: add, one thing we were hoping to hear news on, in the first quarter of 2021, was a potential travel level with new zealand. how we heard how the latest outbreak in sydney may have affected those plans? >> the travel bubble has been on-again, off-again, hasn't it? optimistic ang couple of weeks ago, that new zealand was beginning to look more favorably at the bubble. of course, new zealand -- has had a better track record that australia and containing community transmission. and while new zealand has been allowed to travel to australia without quarantine, the prime minister there has been clear any people returning or us joins making the other trip would quarantine, one

can only imagine this cluster in sydney has thrown a spanner in the works and delayed preparations at least. in our own country here at, in australia, this cluster has seen state and territory across the nation, queensland, west australia, tasmania, pull up the drawbridge and renew those border restrictions, technically 5 million people across greater sydney are not allowed to leave the state and travel anywhere else and australia. it would probably be unrealistic to expect new zealand to welcome us with open arms at the moment without quarantine. paul: managing editor for a soy and new zealand, and johnson. -- for australia and new zealand, ed johnson. millions of americans will see their funds expire because president trump has refused to sign a still is package.

more on that story now. >> we are better off with stimulus that we are without stimulus. i do not think that $2000 checks make much sense. the real issue is going to be sustaining this expansion. you think about it, the $908 billion stimulus bill would probably pay out to hunter $50 billion per month for the next three months. $250b per month the next three months. the level of compensation is running below what we would've expected. gdp is running $70 billion below what we would have expected it would. so, in a way, it is unprecedented. muchve stimulus already, more than filling out the holes. and, given lots of the whole is from the fact that, not the people do not want to spend, but that they cannot spend, they cannot take a flight or go to a restaurant, i do not necessarily

think that the priority should be on promoting consumer spending, beyond where we are now. so i am not sure i am enthusiastic about the $600 checks, and i think taking into $2000 would actually be a pretty serious mistake, that would risk a temporary overheat. i would like to see more assistance to state and local governments. i would like to see more money put into testing. more money put into accelerating vaccines. but, gosh, david, i think it would be a real mistake, to be going to $2000. that his former treasury secretary larry summers speaking on the stimulus situation, saying that to thousand dollars check number does not make sense. conversation, our

with the monetary authority of singapore on the future of digital banking, after it awarded ant one of its first licenses. you can always find in-depth analysis and today's newsmakers on bloomberg radio, broadcasting live from our studio in hong kong. listen via the app, radio plus, or bloombergradio.com. plenty more ahead. stay with us. ♪

group's fate in china hangs, but in singapore, ant is making progress as it clinched just one of four digital licenses. fintech officer told bloomberg what went into the decision-making process. >> we are looking at what value proposition they are bringing to the market. you take an example, we are focused on how they can bring the wholesale banking, financing into a digital [indiscernible] so i think that what happened in china did not have much bearing on the digital, to give license. a greatnk ant is company and technology platform and they have done a fabulous job and truly driving a real end

to end digital services for the segment. so we look forward to them being successful in singapore and beyond. >> to be at is not surprising financial regulators, banking regulators around the world will continue to look closely at fintech companies, because they are a slightly different entity, not as well tested. the regulations apply, than they do not apply. how have you guided this process in singapore? where have the potholes been that have been tripped on? and how have you gotten through the? >> look, there is confusion here. about ayou are talking big tech bank or financial services. in singapore, all this entity will be regulated. and they will follow exactly the same level playing regulatory applications every institution has today in singapore. so there is no difference between a tech applying for a bank license and --an existing bank here. you mustnction

understand if you want to compare singapore the markets. the question is big tech because most of the was running financial services without much regulation, that was a big concern out there. but in singapore they are going to be regulated. they'll be subject to the same regulatory expectations we have for banks. so i do not see much issues for this. kathleen: obviously, singapore is getting it right, as part of your answer. where do you think this because next? what does this infusion of new models due to the traditional bank? or is tomorrow the case where ultimately, everybody as fintech? wherever but has to adopt this model? >> absolutely. i think the drive is not to have every platform driven out, there is a data-driven finance. there is a huge surge to come to this model. licensehis digital bank operating in singapore's market competition, much more faster,

acceleration to this new model. good news and consumers are going to benefit a lot. ant financial services will become wider, more available in terms of segments, who can access financial services. the inclusion part, the expansion of financial services, the new way of thinking about how to provide finance without being present, this whole new business model could see a lot of growth in this sector. monetary authority of singapore's chief fintech officer mohanty there. get a round up of the stories you need to know to get your day going. bloomberg subscribers can go to terminal, andhe you can customize your settings so you only get news on the industries and assets you care about. listen to daybreak asia on bloomberg radio.

kong, you can listen to them via the app, radio plus, or bloomberg.com. let's get a quick check on bloomberg flash headlines. tesla's elon musk said it would be impossible to take the company private, responding to a tweet calling on him to spend more time on innovation. tesla shares surged eightfold this year, twice the next best performer on the index. is space business, starling, a likely ipo candidate once revenue growth becomes protective of. bmw aims to increase electric cars by a quarter million models with ev's to account for 1/5 of its sales numbers. ups currently make [inaudible] percent of sales. the limitation is germany's

charging structure. with a higher percentage expected on the road by the end of the decade. next year, a different firm, what is expected to see a decline in deliveries, expects sales to a fallen .8% from 2019 levels all overall deliveries to china rc rising about 27 million care. cac told the shanghai exchange it foresees sales over 2 billion units in 2020 what. astrazeneca says his purchase of us lexion will put up the top of the ftse index in london. the ceo told the sunday times that deal will help astrazeneca work in technology, and a chance of becoming the most valuable, the on the london stock exchange. some question the logic of the $39 billion deal that does not seem to fit with their current focus. coming up in the next hour, japan makes the strongest virus measures yet.

joined by wisdom tree's head of key industrial production data. stay with us. "bloomberg daybreak: asia" is coming up next. this is bloomberg. ♪

paul: i am paul allen in sydney. we are counting down to asia's major market open. kathleen: i am kathleen hays in new york. welcome to "bloomberg markets: asia." jack ma go back to its roots as a simple payment

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