♪ paul: good morning. i'm paul allen in sydney, counting down to asian major market opens. shery: i'm shery ahn in new york. welcome to "daybreak asia." asian markets set to fall as futures point lower on hopes of bigger checks for american households. the dollar declines. $2000 checks stumble in the

senate, mitch mcconnell blocking democratic hopes of quick action. president trump says republicans have a death wish. the e.u. and u.k. finalize a trade deal today, formalizing last week's accords. it will be signed in brussels and then flown to london. breaking out of south korea. industrial production numbers for november. the month on month number missed expectations, but the year on year number beat expectations, growing .5% after contraction in the previous month, a revised upward contraction of 2%. missedth-to-month number expectations, growing only .3%. these numbers have been pretty volatile this whole year. we have a strong electronic industry, exports rebounding in south korea. but we have continuing covid infections around the country muting domestic demand, dampening economic prospects.

the year on year number beating expectations, growth of .5%. paul. markets.'s look at we just open for trade in sydney. we are flat at the moment, but it is early. we have a staggered open your. one index is trading higher at the moment. museum has been trading for a couple of hours now as well, currently higher .1%, nudging record highs. futures for the nikkei looking flat. that brings us nicely to our top higher, $2000or relief checks for american households stumble in the senate. majority leader mitch mcconnell kills hopes by democrats for

early passage. the gop moved it anger president trump and set republicans who don't support the change have a death wish i had of the georgia senate runoff. what is next? >> macconnell hasn't given up necessarily on these $2000 checks. neither has president trump. macconnell said he could potentially see bringing a vote on those checks to the floor, but it would be in a larger bill that would contain opening investigation into potential election fraud and reworking a law that shields internet companies from prosecution on their content. we are seeing some republicans voiced support for these $2000 checks, but other republicans are sticking to their fiscal conservative roots and saying we can't increase the federal deficit by the amount these checks would require. those covid payments are

going to start arriving by tonight, according to treasury secretary steven mnuchin. he said that direct deposit checks could arrive tonight, paper checks being mailed as soon as tomorrow. racesthe georgia runoff paul mentioned, these checks are very critical on what could happen january for. emily: absolutely. we saw the democrats in the race say immediately, yes, we want americans to get more funding. they think it is going to be very popular. it has put republicans in a very awkward position. do they want to support fiscal conservatism or back trump? today, they decided they want to back trump. the republicans in the georgia senate race came out in support of the $2000 check.

which ozone important trump support is going to be in the georgia runoff. shery: our government reporter emily wilkins. get a roundup of stories you need to know to get your day going in today's addition of daybreak. bloomberg surprised -- subscribers go to tv in your terminals. let's get to karina mitchell with first word headlines. karina: the top u.s. infectious disease officer say the country'sinfection vaccination rate is lagging. country'se vaccination rate is lagging and the variant reported in the u.k. is a game changer. the u.k. and eu will sign exit trade deal wednesday, in brussels first, then flown to

london for the prime minister's approval. british lawmakers only have one day to debate the deal before the u.k. finally leaves the e.u. new year's day. the eu and china are set to agree on an historic trade deal and investment deal wednesday after seven years and concerns about human rights. sources in brussels say provisional agreement will be announced after beijing agreed to ratifying rules on forest labor. as a blow toeen america first promoted by president trump. and hong kong media tycoon jim li is getting ready to sell after prosecutors allege he colluded with foreign forces by calling on sanctions against china.

and hibifined to home did from giving interviews. global news, 24 hours a day, on air and on bloomberg quicktake, powered by more than 2700 journalists and analysts in more than 120 countries. i'm karina mitchell. this is bloomberg. ♪ ahead, we speak about the strategy heading into the new year. this is bloomberg. ♪ it's moving day. and while her friends are doing the heavy lifting, jess is busy moving her xfinity internet and tv services. it only takes about a minute. wait, a minute? but what have you been doing for the last two hours? delegating? oh, good one. move your xfinity services without breaking a sweat. now that's simple, easy, awesome. xfinity makes moving easy. go online to transfer your services in about a minute. get started today. you may already know that goodrx can help you save up to 80% on your prescriptions. unfortunately, many americans

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♪ futures under pressure after u.s. stocks retreat from record highs, analysts saying overbought conditions could lead to a pullback in the near-term. is tpw investment management's jay pelosky.

jay: shery i think it is quite healthy. there in the middle of santa claus rally, the best seven-days of the year. and if markets are up during it suggests the first half of the next year is up, on average, 5%. pullbacks are healthy. suggests we are going to do well. i should mention in november and december, the s and p is up over 12%. there has only been seven of the times in history where those two months up and up over 10%. and when that happens, the next january, so next month, averages up 5%. it is important to stay invested and prepare for three big things, a global economic boom

leading to a great rotation, and a golden age for asset allocation, particularly around different thematic's being expressed in the markets. shery: tell us about thematic investments he will be putting your money into, given where we are headed in 221? yes, first off, we are much a have a continued bowl market in,- continued bull market investors need to think about investments outside the u.s., commodities, energy, a bear market in bonds importantly. i am a big believer thematically that covid speed is breaking out beyond health care to climate, cyber and other major global issues and their is an absolute abundance of money and liquidity. and the markets have seen the model. we got a vaccine in less than a

year, where it typically takes less than a decade. that is not going to be focused on climate. you see it already in the markets in terms of very intense investor interest in a very few number of instruments available to express these ideas. and that is where investors should be focusing their attention, not just stocks versus bonds, not just u.s. versus non-us, but pneumatically , where are you positioned in cyber, crypto, electric vehicles, etc.? paul: i want to briefly interrupt, breaking news from texas, update on new virus texas. you can see on the bottom of 26,990 new cases that shatters previous records and dovetails with the warning we heard from president-elect biden earlier, that the situation in the u.s. is getting worse before it gets better. nearly 27 thousand new covid

cases in texas. covid want to return to speed development. we have seen a rapid pace of change in 2020. but does that mean covid style volatility heading into 2021 as well? paul,o, i don't think so because we are not going out to a complete outbreak of the pandemic. we are on the other side. the optics are forward-looking, which is why the news you mentioned doesn't affect the market. in fact,t believes, knows a vaccine is in place, multiple vaccine, knows people are going to get inoculated, bring down the death rate, hospitalization rates, and i believe within six-nine months, a completely different outlook, similar to pre-covid than 2020. and in that environment, investors need to focus forward and think about opportunities in the areas i mentioned a minute ago.

paul: let's talk more about those areas. you nominated quite a few, electric vehicles, clean energy, financials, technologies. any names? etf's.focus on primarily onre are a number of etf's, the climate side, or kars for electric vehicles. opportunities in cyber, things crypto folks know about, the fusing of crypto and fintech. ofks worry about a lack inflation protection given where bond yields are. i think that is the think is going to surprise people in 2021. you are going to get an inflation scare. bonds are going higher. so real yields go lower, and i think there will be an

opportunity in gold and precious metals as well as cryptocurrencies. withusing cryptocurrencies things like fintech and paypal, taking crypto as a payment mechanism. the speed with things, it is like we used to be driving at 55 miles per hour, now we are at 65 miles per hour and we are not going back. the market has seen the model of abundant financing, government focused, intellectual property, and getting a vaccine. that is shifting in the climate space and other spaces and that is going to be the surprise of the next several years, supported by central banks, allowing inflation to go higher, and not epping on the brakes until 2023 or 2024 -- not stepping on the brakes until 2023 or 2024. we have a couple of years, i believe, and abundant wrote in

risk assets. ceo andy pelosky, cofounder of tpw investment management, thank you for your insights. adam posen said it is hard to imagine why mitch mcconnell blocked $2000 higher checks to americans. >> in economic terms, we have to humanon unnecessary suffering and a lot of uncertainty for poor people or unemployed people because of this disruption. the $600 check is out the door. but the stimulus package that is going to get approved or has been approved is really one that includes key aspects you need, which is extending unemployment insurance, extending it to cake workers -- extending it to gig workers, backing a moratorium on evictions, a to school systems. state and local government aid,

mcconnell also blocked previously. in terms of the dynamic you talked about, it is hard to imagine, just like the people writing commentary that may be of trump has to stimulus earlier, maybe he would have won the election. people seem to value a check in their hands, so it is hard to see why mcconnell is blocking it. adam, we spoke about larry summers at the size of those checks you are referring to. he said democrats capitalizing on the rift between senate republicans and the president, it might be good politics for them but it isn't good economics, saying the arbitrary number of $2000 is not as targeted as hi debate. do you agree -- targeted as it should be? do you agree? adam: i disagree with larry on this point. because if the choice was getting out the $600 and adding out the $2000 at that was the

choice, obviously get the $600 out it is more important to get it out timely and more port to get the entire package out. i think larry probably agrees with that. what you will end up doing with $600 versus $2000, a lot of people put it in the savings account, so you won't get maximum stimulus. so if it goes into their savings account, utah accident get it back later. i don't view this as a big deal, versus making sure that the stimulus we have got passes. i wish it would have been even faster. if you had designed it from the start, and i think this is where larry was going and i agree, if you designed this from the more, you wanted emphasis on needs, state and local governments, unemployed people, evictions, loans to small business, not based on giving everybody a check. >> baby boomers are having to

act as childcare centers. parents have to pay for tutors. that $2000 can go along way for the middle class and lower middle last. that should be something everyone agrees on. let me ask you this, in terms of where the united states, in terms of stimulus checks compares to other european countries, for example, how has the u.s. stacked up against other countries in terms of providing stimulus checks to its citizens? out more u.s. has put than most other european countries and risk democracies, but the gap is smaller than the topline number. because in every other rich democracy, the welfare state is much more generous. you have health insurance, you have college paid for, you have various other provisions. this is more what the u.s. calls discretionary spending. even if you take that into account, the u.s. has spent more.

then, there is debate about whether it has done more good or not because a lot of european countries, france, germany, others, have tied their aid toward keeping people in current jobs and keeping current businesses afloat. been more., it has disengaged, it goes to unemployed people, people who may be leaving their jobs. there are pluses and minuses to that. so the u.s. has spent more, but up because weh don't have a big enough safety net that it is definitely be spent -- definitely being spent differently. over the next year or two, we will see what difference that makes. posen speaking exclusively with bloomberg's kevin cirilli and taylor riggs. coming up, the brexit deal being put to a vote. this is bloomberg. ♪ ♪

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the u.k.-e.u. brexit deal will be formally signed later cryy, and even as brits over its failure to get into other issues grows louder. 's are joined by bloomberg kathleen hays. approval process is making great strides. we have a big breakthrough last week on christmas eve when they announced the breakthrough, a christmas present to an extent for people of the u.k. ndu. but where we are now is, european governments have all approved the brexit deal. this is not a surprise. itambassadors approved monday. this is the next step. now, the door is wide open to get the deal in place and time for january 1, when the

transition has ended. today in the u.k., what was very important is that they group of tory hardliners, conservatives in the u.k. parliament, the european research group of conservative mps, also got on board. they say the deal reaffirms the sovereignty of the u.k.. they are referring to laws. they are adamant they want the u.k. to make its own law, they don't want the european court of justice or anybody like that involved and what the u.k. is doing. a lot of people voted to leave the european union, this is what was driving them perhaps more than trade or anything like that. that was a big step forward, victory for boris johnson. so now, when the house of commons votes tomorrow at about 2:30 in the afternoon u.k. time the house of lords votes in

the evening. everyone is expected to vote this through because even the labour party, who criticized it as inadequate, they don't want a hard brexit. that is why they are on board. shery: if it loses out, what are we hearing? kathleen: we saw a big rally in the u.k. stock market today, you got the brexit deal done, but some stocks tumbled and many commentaries have said the u.k. government is going to be hard-pressed starting now to get something settled like equivalents. companies invice the u.k. do not automatically get to do business in the eu. they face all kinds of obstacles. they have only achieved 239 clearances in the negotiations, a not so great position. the brexit deal did not provide credentials to'

be recognized in the eu. that is a surprise. 500,000 people in the u.k. work as an accountant. that is a big complaint. first minister nicola sturgeon says the brexit deal is going to be disastrous for scotland and it will be interesting to see how their move for independence and to rejoin the eu goes. on the other side of the english channel, there are complaints, irish fishermen are going to lose about 15% of their national water in fishing rights by 2026. global economics and policy editor kathleen hays. business flash headlines, apple briefly touched an intraday record as eight year-end surge sends the stock above amazon as 2020's best tech performer.

shares gained 16% in december the iphonetimism on and self driving cars. sweden is bullish on apple for 2021, with the covid calvary seen as fueling demand. loeb is investor dan calling on intel to explore possible breakup of assets. has a significant stake in intel and says he intends to push for change at the board level. dramatically has underperformed, losing more than $60 billion in market value this year alone. a loss of a cheek -- chief executive this week with no long-term investor insight and is also reportedly losing other senior figures. ciao, told the hr had,, left this year from that u.k.

exchanges, and a full-time chief executive will be named later. we have an exclusive interview with charles lee. about what transformed the city into the world's top fundraising venue. this is bloomberg. ♪

karina: this is daybreak: asia. checkss to boost relief for american households $2000 stumbled in the senate with majority leader mitch mcconnell blocking democrat hopes of a quick action. this move triggered anger from president trump who tweeted republicans may have a death wish by failing to act. higher checks it would cost $460 billion, which worries a fiscally conservative republicans. russia is stepping up pressure on opposition leader alexey navalny opening up a criminal

case. prosecutors say he spent $8 million on personal use from political donations. putin wants him in jail after a failed nerve agent assassination in august. panthers tackle has become the first nfl player to be paid in part, at least in bitcoin. salary his $13 million to the digital coin. it facilitates payments translated into bitcoin from traditional currencies. changer -- a fashion game changer has died at the age of 98. he broke with traditional design houses and offered ready to wear clothes in department stores. he made his name with a space-age look. fashion was only part of his

empire. he also designed eyeglasses, umbrellas, and even skis. global news, 24 hours a day, on air and on quicktake by bloomberg, powered by more than 2700 journalists and analysts in over 120 countries. i'm karina mitchell. this is bloomberg. announced itdo has has found the first known u.s. case of the reported virus variant that emerged in the u.k. it comes after president-elect joe biden attacked the current vaccination plan, criticizing the slow rollout under the trump administration. >> the trump administration's plan to distribute vaccines is falling far behind. with only a few days left in december, we have only vaccinated a few million so far. vaccination-- the program, if it continues to move as it is moving now, it will take years and not months to

vaccinate the american people. shery: let's start with the u.k. variant already in the u.s.how concerning is this and we continue to see the surge of infections around the country? just now, texas logging almost 27,000 new cases. shattering its previous record. >> that is exactly the issue. is fact is that this variant up to 70% more transmissible than the previous variant. it doesn't look like it is more dangerous. it is not more likely to kill you. you're really trying to lock down and stop these cases from spreading. we have these vaccines that are arriving. it does appear they will be effective against this variant, but really we want to shut it down. we don't want this variant or any other strain to be spreading because that is why mutations can happen. we want to avoid it entirely. easier to spread version of the

virus is here in the u.s. it is a worrisome sign it could accelerate the pace of the outbreak. criticismden's of the pace of the role of a fair criticism? is it all the trump administration's fault? >> it is now all the trump admission occasions -- the trump administration's fault in that when you're getting started, there are going to be challenges. certainly, things could have been done better from the beginning. there could've been a national federal policy in place for how to roll this out. we have known these vaccines were coming. we do not know they were all going to be as effective as they were. we are seeing these vaccines get out to the states. most states have tens of thousands if not millions of vaccines already available in their location. it is a matter of getting them

from those packages and from the frozen state into the arms of their residents. there could be -- there could have been more money put toward this. more could have been planning. so that we would not just be trying to handle all the nursing home residents, all the first responders, all the health care professionals and leaving everyone at the beginning. there could have been a more federal organized approach. that being said, no one has ever done this before in the history of the world. shery: we continue to see vaccination rollout across the world. of taiwan andt argentina. just started inoculating its citizens with the sputnik shut. theticism on not only russian vaccine but the chinese one. >> we do not have an awful lot of information on either one of these vaccines. that is what is making people in

the u.s. and other western countries concerned. like to be able to look at the details and know what kind of side effects are emerging, how effective the vaccines might be and who is going to respond to them best. when you don't have that kind of information, it is hard to gauge how safe and effective they will be. that being said, there is no doubt we need vaccines. we need them all across the world. hope that the chinese and russian scientists who developed these vaccines and the public health officials rolling them out are putting their own health and their own protections on the line and that they would not be bringing anything to market that would be causing damage to people who are receiving them. that being said, we are having to take it on faith and we will know in the next couple of weeks to months how effective those vaccines are going to be. michelle cortez.

usohns hopkins scholar told why more approvals of the astrazeneca vaccine are going to mean for the world and the challenges health care workers are going to be facing. >> i think it can only get easier as we get more candidates on the market, especially if they don't have really strenuous requirements the way the vet -- the pfizer vaccine does. the astrazeneca vaccine is going to be a win for the world. if you think about trying to keep it in tact in other parts of the world where there is not electricity, i think this may be the vaccine for the world when it does get approval. >> what are the big challenges -- one of the big challenges at the moment appears to be stepping. i keep bringing this up. there appears to be a zero-sum game. on one hand, we have the need for staff to deal with the ongoing spike in cases we are seeing around the world. on the other hand, we need staff to vaccinate people. is it a zero-sum game?

at the moment, are we finding ourselves in a situation where we don't have the people to deliver the vaccines that have already been delivered? >> staffing in health care centers has almost been something that defies what happens in other markets where there is an increased demand for labor and more people joined that because there are so many barriers to becoming a health care provider. it is unfortunate because we have had a long time. we knew there was going to be the surge of cases in the winter. many hospitals did not have the resources to increase their capacity. if your hospital is busy dealing with so many covid patients and you'ree staff out sick, going to have a much harder time having people to vaccinate. we are seeing vaccinations ramp-up. it was something that trickled out in the first days. i waited a couple of days before i was able to get my vaccine. now, it seems to be moving at a

much more rapid pace. as it moves away from hospitals and nursing homes, we are going to need a lot of community vaccinate or's to get enough shots in the arm of people to get hurt immunity. this is something we have to think about. a sustainable approach to vaccination. >> in terms of what you are expecting over the next few weeks, are we going to see a spike in cases as a result of the holidays? how big a spike do you think we are likely to see? one of the front pages of the newspapers this morning, we have seen post pandemic records in terms of air travel over the past few days. >> it is inevitable we are going to see a spike in cases. you have to remember this virus thrives on social interaction. many people traveled from one state to another and went to private gatherings where likely they let their guard down. we are going to see some level of transmission. hopefully it is not something that puts us on a surge on top

fauci --e to bar dr. to borrow dr. fauci's phrase. took some level of precautions so we won't see -- the worst case scenario? i think that happened in some parts of the country during thanksgiving. some states, we did not see increases. hopefully that will happen again. we do have to be prepared for more acceleration of cases as we get into the next few weeks. >> are you expecting more transmissible variance to now be a feature of the landscape in the united states? if so, does that push the herd immunity point even further into 2021? >> i do think based on what we are saying in the u.k. and south africa and what we know about the lack of sampling and sequencing we do in the united states, these variants likely

have been here and should not be a surprise when they detect these variants are here. everything weif know about this variant -- i think it has not all been proven. if we can actually show this is what is happening, that this transmissibility is due to these mutations and i think that is a fair hypothesis, i think it does raise the herd immunity threshold. the more contagious something is, the more your population has to be protected against it. that ratchets it up closer to 75, 80 5% needed for herd immunity. we will see benefits for the vaccine once we get our vulnerable populations back. that is what is putting pressures on hospitals. it is the nursing home patients taking up hospital beds that are using -- that are in the icu and are a big proportion of our deaths. if we can get that group protected, you will see a difference in the way we perceive the risk of the virus because of those vulnerable

populations being immune. that school is supported by michael r. bloomberg, founder of bloomberg lp and bloomberg philanthropy's. here is the picture across equity markets in asia. the asx 200 under a little bit of pressure. we are seeing real estate and technology stocks leading the declines after three sessions of gains and kiwi stocks at the moment reversing some of those earlier gains. kiwi stocks were at a record .igh already u.s. futures unchanged after stocks fell from record highs. nikkei futures under a little bit of pressure. this after closing at the highest level of august 1990. let's take a look at what the key drivers this year for japanese stocks have been. we are joined by the asia equities editor. inhave seen this huge rally japanese stocks. especially with the rotation

toward cyclical stocks purity who have been the biggest winner? -- biggest -- cyclical stocks. who have been the big as winners? as a video known game makers. they came to the fore with the stay-at-home lifestyle trend driving up demand for home entertainment. three of the big game software prices -- solve share all solved their shares double on the year. nintendo jumping 50%. 70 climbed 40%. climbed 40%.- 70 also, online retail did very well. here in japan, virtual fleamarket operator so i 100% gain. saw a 100% gain. another interesting scenario is online health. on thegest advance

nikkei 225 was a company called n3, which does telemedicine. they have a service that allows pharmaceutical makers to virtually market their drugs to doctors, which was helpful this year with all the social distancing measures. about those stocks that did not perform so well? which ones were the biggest losers? >> this slide in oil hurt three decliners.est nikkei companies involved in energy, exploration and related engineering projects. stocks dropped by around 40 to 60% on the year. another big loser was luxury and travel goods. suffering from lockdowns and other restrictions. the camera maker nikon, watchmakers.

those stocks all slid about 50% on the year. anything to do with transportation and retail saul saw some -- retail substantial losses. tookepartment stores all big hits as well. paul: all right. thanks very much for joining us. that is the asia equities editor. still to come, traders at the biggest u.s. banks are bracing for bonuses despite soaring revenues. we will have that stories in moment. wthis is bloomberg. ♪

shery: the biggest u.s. banks are tempering expectations for bonus this era -- for bonuses this year. a finance reporter has this story. traders crushed it, but that does not mean the rest of the business did that well. >> that is right. the traders this year appeared to be carrying water for the rest of the banks, particularly in banks where there is a large consumer division, which may be constrained from the pandemic. it looks like this year, bankers and traders may be disappointed by their bonus checks despite trading revenue going up significantly. paul: if we consider a scale of the most generous to the least

generous, were to the banks stack up? >> it looks like j.p. morgan and goldman sachs will be among the more generous. their trading revenues were up more than 40%. can expectid traders bonus pools to rise by about 20%. citigroup and bank of america are going to be more on the conservative side. bank of america may have a flat bonus pool. citigroup may also be flight in the equity division. -- maybe flat in the equity division. shery: could we see them jumping ship? >> it is difficult to jump ship in an environment like this. this is not a good time to be interviewing for new jobs. jobs in banking are scarce anyway. it is highly competitive. the banks have been making cuts for the past few years. performersighest will be able to command new offers from competitors. it is a question of like it or lump it here.

paul: and if the last few years, the banks have been facing a lot of scrutiny when it comes to pay. play whenoes politics it comes to making these bonus decisions? >> it is partly an excuse because the banks face a lot of scrutiny when it comes to pay. it is not a good look this year when so much of the economy is doing poorly and so many people are struggling to pay make a bonuses to bankers and see bankers driving around the city in for hours. it does play into this. veryes -- the optics are important. it makes sense for banks to be conservative because it helps them to conserve their capital, but it also does not set up an embarrassing situation where they paid someone so much and the rest of the economy is hurting. our bloomberg finance reporter. coming up next, how the pandemic is changing the oil trading industry and how banks are more

wary of small companies making bold bets. be sure to tune into bloomberg radio to get in-depth analysis from the daybreak team broadcasting live from our studio in hong kong. you can listen in via the app, radio plus or bloombergradio.com. plenty more ahead. stay with us. ♪

paul: let's check in on some of the stocks we have been keeping an island in sydney. we have seen the iron ore price easing a little bit overnight. are of the big miners easing as a result. bhp kind of flat right now. of 1%.you off by half rio tinto gets the bulk of its revenue from iron ore. i geo recently purchasing a lithium mine from a chinese developer. that is easing a little bit. the broader asx index is also a little weaker right now. we have a look at the oil price. that is performing slightly better. currently finding some strength for a barrel of west texas. making ain particular wrong way bit earlier in the year in the -- and the fallout

from that. our asia energy reporter has been looking into this. that shocking collapse of singapore oil trading legend still reverberating from -- reverberating in the world of commodity merchants. how have other trading houses been impacted by that? a it has made a little bit of dichotomy. larger trading firms are doing quite well while the smaller ones are hurting. that is mostly because of access to financing. the larger trading houses are still at the coffins of banks. they are still getting the money they need to do their business. they have been able to profit off the wild swings in oil prices that sold prices drop as much as 70%. smaller firms are getting squeezed out because banks see what happened and they are worried these smaller companies

might have the same sort of rest. they are seeing less money and having their credit squeezed. shery: why is financing so important to the commodity trading business? >> that is a good question. the economy trading business requires a huge upfront amount of capital. a single cargo could run from millions of dollars to more than a hundred million dollars. these commodity merchants have to have constant turnover and be running lots of trade at the same time. if they do not have access to financing, they cannot make the money to make the operations possible. paul: what are the implications of this for commodity financing in the future? >> it is a scary question. the industry is looking into this right now. that forbility is these smaller sized operations, they could switch over to something a little more digital.

there is a firm in singapore called trade capital finance that uses blockchain technology to digitize a lot of the paperwork involved in making sure that certain traders own the commodities they are buying or selling. that lowers the cost and that allows them to do some of the financing for smaller companies that the banks are overlooking. as the big whales get out of the pool, there is room for smaller fish to really grow. editor reporter dan murtaugh. ellen 737 max has returned to american skies with the first domestic flight since it was grounded worldwide almost two years ago. american airlines plane flew from miami to new york after u.s. regulators lifted the ban last month. boeing'sn is key to attempt to repair a balance sheet battered by the grounding and the collapse of air trial during the pandemic.

airbus is close to delivering 500 50 planes this year after covid-19 derailed air travel and demand for new jets. it remains comfortably ahead of boeing. neither is anywhere near where they hoped to be a year ago. airbus delivered 863 planes in 2019 before the pandemic -- singapore is setting up support for aviation, allocating 63 million u.s. dollars to support companies and workers in the industry. the aide comes on top of existing support and will be used to help development and deployment of technology to protect airport workers and aircrew from covid-19. asia, up on daybreak openn joins us as markets in seoul and tokyo. this is bloomberg. ♪

shery: welcome to "daybreak asia ." i am shery ahn. allen in sydney. asia's major markets have just opened for trade. asian markets look set to fall as futures point lower. wall street slipped as hope fades that bigger relief checks -- for bigger relief checks. stimuli is stepping down --

is stepping down. beijing's increasing influence has hit tech hard, slumping stocks, slashing valuations. jack ma has lost $12 billion since october. japan and south korea coming online. this after the nikkei closed at the highest level since august 1990 and surpassing the 27,000 level for the first time since march 1990 one. japanese yen has been range bound in the past two weeks. watch out for jgb's. we could see some dip buying after some recent losses. take a look at korean markets. kospi under pressure but again, it was at a record high after four sessions of gains. we saw the korean won leading gains across asia in the past session on risk sentiment, but we have the surging infection

members so watch out for more social distancing and restriction measures outside of south korea. have been trading in australia for a little over one hour now and every single sector is in negative territory. materials lower by .75%. rio tinto lower. dollar reasonably well. over in new zealand, the nzx off by .1%. let's keep our focus on the markets without next guest, macquarie wealth management division director martin. we have seen an amazing rally over the course of 20/20 and there seems to be a fair bit of optimism among most of the people we talk to about equities heading into 2021 but do you wonder how this momentum can be

maintained? a pause in this momentum. obviously, the big picture and medium-term environment for global markets still is very positive towards equities given the very low interest rate in the fiscal response by governments around the world but you have to ask the question -- a 12% rally generally speaking around the world since the u.s. election. how much of all this positive sentiment is being factored in? a pause would not necessarily surprise. we don't see significant downside although there remains key risks, no question about that. monetary policy likely to remain supportive but how about fiscal policy? are we getting a taste of this in the u.s.? republicans reluctant to back the stimulus checks that would have added nearly $.5 trillion to the stimulus bill.

governments around the world are starting to get a bit more debt averse? >> there comes a point in time where they have to be weighing out the balance between the benefits of additional spending and the balance sheet component for government. on our calculation, we have seen -- if we compare this, the fiscal response has been double so a clearlye saw, breathtaking response by government so there has to be some sense in regards to fiscal responsibility but obviously, each country is running its own game in this regard and you know, at the end of the day, lawmakers are going to make decisions they need to make in regards to that responsibility around the balance sheet but also assuring make and keep economies afloat. shery: we could see more stimulus coming next year. market inflation expectations at two-year highs. do you have any concern that next year you can see

overheating and policymakers being forced to tighten? possibility. you cannot say it's not but if you look back at the example, since kiwi was invented back was as an experiment -- qe invented back then as an experiment, the emergence has not existed. australia,ere in very little pressure from a wages perspective which is obviously a very big component of driving inflation. although we see asset price inflation around property values and the stock market, wages look set to be pretty flat for quite some time. although we are monitoring that closely and gauge that as a potential risk, we don't see that emerging at the moment. shery: asset value inflation. we continue to see asset prices rising, especially across asia. new hires when it comes to equities.

where do you position at a time that we have a lot of exuberance? again, if we sort of follow where the money is going, we saw net outflows out of emerging markets globally in the first eight or nine months of this year and that started a reverse since the u.s. election. we have seen positive inflows in emerging markets outside of china. to $30ion dollars billion. we are seeing that pick up. it's a bit of a focus on some cyclical markets so we have seen a pickup in the likes of indonesia and thailand. we have seen pickups in the likes of brazil and turkey, but our overall focus is towards growth but we certainly value willockets of start to be focused in on by investors going forward and that

will drive performance. paul: where would you see better opportunities? ? emerging -- emerging markets or developed markets? martin: that has got to be a big focus in this low interest rate environment as well. expecting emerging markets should do ok in a weakening u.s. dollar environment. for us, it's very much a focus on growth at this stage so we tend to have -- for our portfolios but we cannot ignore what you talked about in regard to the value side. cyclicals have run pretty hard already and again, it fits into that category for whether we see a pause or pullback that any sort of pullback in markets is what we see as a buying opportunity. still very much that growth focus. that is the case on the growth side once again, the rebound in

the u.s.. the one caveat for us is the emergence of a new strain of covid. again, if this takes hold, this is on the time upon economic recovery and global financial markets will not like that. seen the have commodities rally that some have even called a super cycle. where do you stand on those mining and energy stocks? can they continue to be supported by the commodity search -- surge? martin: it will run harder than most had forecast. australia is benefiting significantly from the rally in iron ore and that is very much driven by demand side, particularly out of china, and obviously, the supply side where brazil is struggling on the production side. australia is in the sweet spot at the moment but it will not last forever. we are forecasting lower

commodity prices into 2021 but where wevated from most anticipated even in march so again, the major producers of iron ore such as bhp will continue to do particularly well. the low cost of production and with the iron ore forecast from us to be about $110 a ton by the end of next year, that is still at a level -- these companies are extremely profitable. would not be surprised to see some sort of pullback in commodity prices, but not a significant one at all. paul: macquarie wealth management division director, martin, thank you so much for joining us. get you across and alert on the bloomberg terminal. the premier of new south wales boarding a press conference at the moment about new coronavirus cases. sydneycases reported in in the past 24 hours. in the grand scheme of things, it does not sound like much,

particularly when you consider what's going on in the united states and the u.k., but the concern is this is no longer confined. there are now clusters outside of that in greater sydney and the concern is that this looks a lot like how things got going in sobourne during the winter 18 new cases of covid-19 reported in sydney and some concern growing over the spread of that. let's get to karina mitchell for a check of the first word headlines. topna: in the u.s., the infectious disease doctor says the vaccination plan is lagging and repeats his worry about a post-christmas infection surge. anthony fauci said he hoped more people would be given a shot by now. takehere, the e.u. will 100 million doses of the biontech vaccine with the virus variant described as a game changer. will findnd the u.k. their brexit trade deal,

formalizing the accord they agreed upon last week. it will be signed in brussels and then flown to london for the prime minister's approval. berdych lawmakers will have one day to debate the deal with thes johnson wanting it on book before the u.k. exits the e.u. on new year's day. set to. and china are agree on a deal after seven years of intense discussion and concerns about human rights. sources in brussels say a provisional agreement will be announced later after beijing committed to ratifying rules on forced labor. the deal is seen as a blow to the america first campaign promoted by president trump. softbank is rolling out low cost at home virus tests, having previously only offered them to companies and local authorities. kits will be made available starting in march for $20 plus shipping. users can request kits online

and send them back to an inspection center outside tokyo or in hokkaido. via as will then return dedicated mobile app. global news, 24 hours a day, on air and on bloomberg quicktake, powered by more than 2700 journalists and analysts in more than 120 countries. i am karina mitchell. this is bloomberg. shery: still ahead, it has been the worst financial year for airlines on record. will we see a rebound next year? bloomberg intelligence has crunched the numbers. up next, jack ma's net worth has tumbled by $12 billion since the end of october and he is not alone. the details, next. this is bloomberg. ♪ when you switch to xfinity mobile, you're choosing to get connected to the most reliable network nationwide, now with 5g included. discover how to save up to $400 a year with shared data starting at $15 a month, or get the lowest price for one line of unlimited. come into your local xfinity store to make the most of your mobile experience.

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paul: china's crackdown on alibaba has caused jack ma's fortune to tumble by $12 billion since the end of october.

he is at the center of the scrutiny but he is not the only one feeling the squeeze. asia investing editor lulu chen is in hong kong. jack ma appears to be facing the most heat, getting the most headlines, but he is not the only one, is he? lou: not the only one indeed. is a crackdown on china's internet sector and we are acrossthe pain spread platforms. those grocery platforms that are facing clearly value -- crazy valuations in china. and his fellow billionaire others are all under great scrutiny right now. shery: what do we know about his ant group? what is happening on that front because they were asked to overhaul their business, right? lulu: they saw what we reported

yesterday. i do think people are relieved that it's not the nightmare case scenario where the company is facing immediate breakup or a halting of all its financial businesses. instead, what we are hearing is that the company has been told to fold its financial operations into this financial holding company. that entity will be regulated more like a bank. it's a curb on growth but not the worst. shery: lulu chen. if you have a bloomberg terminal, check out rich go. you can find jack ma, where he ranks among the world's richest, and he has fallen to 20 fifth place already. if you check the asia region, you can see that he is only trailing tencent -- he is number five at the moment. being up next, we will talking about another tycoon. the mediasigning from

company he founded. details, ahead. this is bloomberg. ♪ (announcer) do you want to reduce stress? shed pounds? do you want to flatten your stomach? do all that and more in just 10 minutes a day with aerotrainer, the total body fitness solution that uses its revolutionary ergonomic design to help you to maintain comfortable, correct form. that means better results in less time. you can do an uncomfortable, old-fashioned crunch or an aerotrainer super crunch. turn regular planks into turbo planks without getting down on the floor. and there are over 20 exercises to choose from. incredible for improving flexibility and perfect for enhancing yoga and pilates. and safe for all fitness levels. get gym results at home in just 10 minutes a day. no expensive machines, no expensive memberships. get off the floor with aerotrainer.

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shery: hong kong media tycoon jimmy lai has resigned as chairman of next digital. he's currently on bail, awaiting trial after being charged under beijing's national security law. our reporter is on the line from hong kong. give us an update on the trial. in augustarrested him under the new national security in juneh was passed bypassing the local legislature. prosecutors charged him with colluding with foreign powers which potentially carries a life sentence. lasts released on bail wednesday. the communist party is

calling the defendant unbelievable but the judge who made that decision defended it this week. there appear to be comments and criticisms rather than requests for foreign interference. his crucial bail hearing is tomorrow morning. we are watching that closely. what is the impact of this going to be on next digital? >> it is probably fairly limited. he is confined to his home. he had to surrender his travel from givingrevented interviews for publishing to social media. some sense in about one hour's time. there has been a bit of a roller coaster this year. people have tried to buy the shares and that has resulted in 15 arrests by police and fraud charges.

trading searched again after bail last week. we will get clues on that soon. continue to see beijing's tightening grip on hong kong, what is the state of press freedom there? it is one of the most high profile arrests this year and it has a steep decline in hong kong's position in the world press freedom rankings. it was 80th out of 180 countries this year. in two thousand two, that figure was 18 so it has fallen sharply. the national security law will mean hong kong is watched more closely. it has imprisoned more than any other year on record.

jailed to the most reporters for the second year running. reporter. let's get a quick check of the latest business flash headlines. hong kong exchanges loses its chief executive this week with no long-term success or insight and now, it is said to have lost other senior figures in recent months. we are told the general counsel and hr head had left this year. it has appointed calvin as the interim replacement. the full-time chief executive to be named later. do not miss our exclusive interview with charles lee. he opens up about the reforms and he hints at what he will do next. get more on a conversation with charles lee on bloomberg television. on intel tocalling explore new strategies including a possible breakup and the sale of assets.

it has built a significant stake at intel. he says he intends to push for change. he adds intel has dramatically underperformed in recent years, losing more than $60 billion in market value this year alone. apple briefly touched an intraday record. the stock is above amazon as 20 20's best tech performer. shares gained 16% on strong demand for the iphone 12 is optimism about its venture -- wall street is increasingly bullish about apple's prospects in 2021. the covid recovery fueling even more demands for its products. reportsord is saying that apple is working on an electric car project is neither a surprise nor a concern. marc kaufman spoke to bloomberg about his outlook for the ev sector. >> anyone who works in a traditional manufacture were

essentially going to expect disruption from anyone that might be out there. a couple years ago, when dyson was considering getting into the business, you realize any consumer product company could come into this space. it is very difficult. it is very expensive, to the --nt where, you know, global globally dominant companies like ford and volkswagen are getting together, pooling resources. can you tell us a little bit about your work with the german carmakers? >> scale is so important in the auto business. in a case where we have a platform, most platforms have a range of products that it can be suited off of and in the case of our partnership with vw, we had the european market a little smaller than the u.s. market so we found there was equal

opportunity for both of us to get more off their platform and for ford, it give us an opportunity to have a product that will be slightly smaller than the product off of our dedicated platform within our company. matt: one of the big problems here is that there just are not enough charging stations and although we hear from, you know, partnerships that they are building them as quick as they can, they are certainly not building them quick enough to be ready for the demand that is coming in the next few years. how do you think that issue gets solved? mark: that's a great question. a combination of both range anxiety and the ability to charge your electric vehicle are top of mind for consumers. -- over 300 miles is helping out range anxiety. at the same time, charging for structure continues to get built out every year, especially for

the high-powered d.c. fast chargers. it depends on where you are at in the world. a lot of consumers are still charging at their residence if they have the opportunity because that adds to the convenience of owning and ev -- an ev. tosafe to say, it is fair kind of respect what tesla and elon musk did that could have woke up the auto industry and showed you can, you know, maybe move faster than everyone anticipated and i do wonder, in terms of strategy, when you look at what happens next year, how has kind of the timetable changed dramatically? could it change even more so, meaning sooner rather than later? mark: as i look back at 2020, the biggest surprise is how quickly the european market has moved. it was higher than what we had forecast at this time last year and part of that is you are

seeing more products come out so as that ev offering is expanding from other manufacturers, both renault and vw having products in the market, that has accelerated the growth and at this point, we are seeing in europe and china, there is a clear race for leadership in the ev space. not was owns director marc kaufman speaking to carol and matt miller. let's take a look at the auto price right now. wti continuing its slow grind higher. a barrel of for west texas. a have an industry report little earlier. third straight weekly drop with optimism for energy demand in the u.s.. if you take a look at the year-to-date chart, oil not where it was at the start of

2020. covid case is continuing to keep a lid on demand. plenty more to come on "daybreak asia." this is bloomberg. ♪

karina: this is "daybreak asia." attempts to boost relief checks for american households to $2000 stumbled in the senate with mitch mcconnell blocking democrat hopes of quick action. president trump tweeted the republicans may have a death wish by failing to act. cost $460 billion which worries fiscally conservative republicans. treasury secretary steven mnuchin saying $600 checks may be sent out starting eminently. in other news, russia is

stepping up pressure on opposition leader alexey navalny , opening up a criminal case against him for alleged fraud. prosecutors say he spent $8 million on personal use from political donations. president putin wants him in jail after a failed nerve agent assassination attempt in august and the latest move against him is kremlin hysteria. the left-leaning mayor of tel aviv is forming a new political party for israel's upcoming election as the blue and white opposition faction begins to collapse. -- a fourthof election and the veteran says he can no longer stand by on the sidelines. to result last week failed pass the national budget. he says his new party will be called the israelis. carolina panthers -- has become the first nfl player to be paid in part at least in bitcoin. the team will continue to compensate him in dollars but he says half of his $13 million

salary is to be sent in digital coin. paymentsfacilitates that are translated into bitcoin from traditional currencies. his twitter bio reads "i've, liberty, #bitcoin. a fashion game changer has died at the end of 98. he broke with traditional design houses and offered ready-to-wear clothing in department stores. he made his name with the slow, pioneering bold, geometric patterns. fashion was only part of his empire. he also designed eyeglasses, umbrellas, perfume, luggage, even skis. global news, 24 hours a day, on air and on bloomberg quicktake, powered by more than 2700 journalists and analysts in more than 120 countries. i am karina mitchell. this is bloomberg. shery: let's take a look at how equity markets are trading across asia. we are seeing downside pressure for the nikkei, which is falling from the highest level since

august of 1990 as weak continue to see a mixed picture as u.s. stocks fell from record highs. the kospi recouping earlier losses and again at a record high and gaining ground for a fifth consecutive session. we have the korean won leading the gains in the previous session on risk-on sentiment although for both countries, japan and south korea, watch out for those covid infections. the asx 200 lower. text leading declines and kiwi stocks reversing earlier gains and falling from that record high after four sessions of gains. take a look at some big movers in japan. fast retailing extending gains after hitting a record high on tuesday. recoupingapan tobacco losses from the previous session. ana holdings also up more than 1%. this after falling in the previous session. japan has banned the entry of foreigners, given the rise in

covid infections. let's take a look at one company in particular right now, softbank, offering a low cost covid test in japan which can be done at home according to the nikkei news. this coming in a week where restrictions on entering the country were tightened as virus cases reached record highs. cominginfectious strain from the u.k. also detected in japan and other nations. let's get more from lisa. very surprising that softbank is giving -- getting into cobit tests. how are they doing this? offeringy will start this at-home test for the general public in march. ¥2200, which is about $20. there have been cheaper options popping up across japan.

the thing to know about these tests is it will not be overseen by a doctor so if people test positive, they still have to get another government approved test which offers another option for those that are worried they may have the coronavirus, especially as the spread is getting worse in japan. heard anhave announcement from chinese authorities. what are the details? lisa: chinese authorities are saying the scale of the covid-19 outbreak in wuhan, which was the initial epicenter of the coronavirus spread earlier this year may have actually been nearly 10 times the reported tally according to a study they have done based on antibody testing of wuhan citizens in april so the ratio of those who tested positive for antibodies suggests as many as may be 500,000 residents may have been thected, which was 10 times

50,000 confirmed covid 19 cases at the time. what are we hearing on the latest on vaccines in indonesia? lisa: the indonesian government is set to sign an agreement with pfizer for 50 million doses of its vaccine it developed with biontech, which is coming after they announced a separate deal for 50 million doses. this week, with astrazeneca. both deals include the option to procure an additional 50 million doses from each company but just kind of continuing that trend of these companies that have very promising vaccines, continue to sign deals with countries. bloomberg's japan health care reporter. the ceo of the russian direct investment fund says the sputnik five vaccine is safe and many people want it. that is despite the negative narrative being put forward.

-- on vaccines and distribution. >> lots of people do want to get the shot. our estimate is more than 42% of the people would like to get vaccinated in the near term and this is similar as many other nations. we believe that as people see empirical evidence that their neighbors have good immunity, the numbers will increase but again, lots of people want to get vaccinated. in russia, there is negative narratives that some of the russian media are trying to portray about the russian vaccine that's done for geopolitical reasons. it's highly unethical. we have a great vaccine and we will be a major player in vaccines and we will be saving lots of lives in russia and outside of russia already this year. >> why won't you get published peer-reviewed data? >> we did publish phase one and phase two.

we will publish phase three in the next two or three weeks. the data has already been submitted. basically, we have full transparency. that's another part of fake narratives that some of the western media are portraying. on 31e done studies thousand people. we have done clinical studies in uae, india, venezuela, belarus, so this is just part of the fake mayor to haves propagated by people who want to contain russia and we actually want to be partners. the astrazeneca deal you mentioned is an example. one of our components will be useful to astrazeneca vaccine and we offered it right away so time will tell and show that we have a vaccine that is very safe, very efficient. a major solution for many countries in the world. >> there was a poll published this week that said only 38% of

russians want to get the vaccine. do you think that is totally made up? showed 42%.r poll again, it's clearly that you see, and you will see in january as well, our vaccine is demanded by many people around the world. in russia, people are beinated. we have lots of people vaccinated. i myself got vaccinated. -- we sensingee her questions that narrative trying to portray, for competitive reasons, russian vaccine in negative -- in a negative way. do blind winetasting, we have a much safer track record. we have better price than many vaccines, very importantly, we believe our shot, because we used two different factors for delivery, will last longer. clear to manyery

nations, but once again, we want to cooperate with other vaccines. we will announce a major partnership in the next couple of weeks as well. we are setting a trend of cooperating and cooperation between different vaccine producers. much more on the virus, still ahead on bloomberg. we will discuss how asia is tackling the latest infections across the region and where is likely to see the next hot spot. -- hong kong university of university professor of epidemiology is up next. the airline industry is on its knees as international travel all but came to a halt in 2020. we look at what next year may bring and wear bright spots in asia can be found. and we have reports of an earthquake shaking buildings across tokyo. that's a live picture of tokyo right now and the japan meteorological agency saying earthquake magnitude was 5.1,

debts of 60 kilometers, no tsunami threat but of course, we know the quake has been shaking and intensity of four on a scale of seven according to the national research institute for earth science and disaster resilience. no tsunami threat as of yet. plenty more to come on "daybreak asia." this is bloomberg. ♪

paul: it has been the worst

financial year for airlines on record. indexerg's aipac airline is down by almost 20% this year. asian carriers have embarked on massive restructuring efforts, cutting thousands of jobs, grounding fleets, but the vaccine could provide a path to recovery. thes has been crunching numbers on the sector. as to -- is 2021 going to be any better than 20/20? be a: i think 2021 will better year, but at the same time, full recovery is quite unlikely because international travel is going to be heavily restricted still, especially in the first half of next year. with the vaccination programs already underway, we think we need a large amount of the world population to be vaccinated

before international travel can return to normal so what we expect his domestic travel recovery continuing to lead the way followed by regional travel and we might see a couple of travel bubbles starting. singapore, hong kong was already announced but did not happen, unfortunately, this year, but we hopefully will be able to see it start next year. maybe australia, new zealand. -- to recover. it will also be the last to recover, in our view. shery: at least the cargo side of things has not been as badly hit as the passenger segment. which sectors could recover quicker or slower than others? ? james: cargo is a bright spot because there's a shortage of capacity with all the passenger flight center grounded. the space that was there before

with passenger aircraft, a lot of that has been suspended or lost so this'll -- that shortage of supply has given -- driven rates up significantly and we are continuing to -- especially with vaccine distribution going to play a part in the demand as well. demand will be pretty strong or almost the same and supply is significantly down for cargo so that will be a bright spot for the airline. willll, the cargo revenue not be enough to compensate for the loss of passenger revenue so for 2021, we might see revenues down 12% to 63% but the pre-covid levels, depending on the airlines, different airlines, international exposure. paul: how about airline stock valuations? that has been a trade but is the recovery priced in? james: airlines stocks have rallied a lot since the phase 3

vaccine results were announced in november. we think further upside in 2021 could be limited as the market has largely priced in the expected recovery and has run ahead of the expectations. believe most airlines are already near or above their pre-covid valuations so there are some value gaps. we see some chinese and japanese asriers offering more value they remain priced at a slight discount to historical valuations. there are a number who have already reached their pre-covid valuation. cash flowhave seen and liquidity being key problems. what is going to happen next year? james: airlines have substantially reduced their cash burn rates to cost-cutting measures and also we have seen domestic travel recovering as

well so that has helped cash flows significantly so our analysis shows operating cash flows could turn positive if the mystic traffic returns further to around 80% of pre-pandemic levels and international travel recovers to about 40% and we have seen that happening with the chinese carriers. the operating cash flows are already turning positive so hopefully the rest of the asian airlines will be able to follow in their footsteps in the near future. not to forget, many airlines have carried out multiple rounds of that and equity fundraising so with the reduced cash burn rates, we estimate that the major asian carriers have sufficient liquidity to last 86 months, assuming that the recovery trend continues. so is the industry forever changed? one of the longer-term trends we have seen happening in 2021 and beyond that? james: we might see a little bit

more consolidation. the merger between korean air and another being announced. the one to look out for perhaps would be there india. interested in a bid for air india and it would be interesting to see how the in begin aviation landscape changes after that. air asia,nvolved with india, singapore airlines as well as. it's still a huge market. a lot of potential. it will be interesting how that shapes out. time, despite consolidation, we believe cost competitiveness of the asian carriers are likely to improve post this crisis because of the restructuring initiatives they have carried out for early retirement of older, less fuel-efficient aircraft, renegotiation of packages with pilot unions.

usually very tough to push through. these will have lasting impacts and potentially improve margins when demand recovers. we have seen them go through this restructuring phase to become much more profitable after that. this will be the asian airlines turn in our view. previous events like the financial crisis were short-lived. it did not bring them down to their knees like this one. shery: our analyst, james. we have some more aviation stories in our business flash headlines. toing 737 max has returned american skies with the first domestic flight since it was grounded worldwide almost two years ago. american airlines plane flew from miami to new york after regulators lifted the ban last month. to attempt tokey repair a balance sheet battered by the grounding of the collapse of air travel in the coronavirus pandemic.

deliveringlose to 500 50 planes this year after covid-19 derailed air travel and demand for new jets. it remains comfortably ahead of rival boeing, although neither is anywhere near where they hoped to be a year ago. airbus delivered 863 planes in 20 before pandemic crushed airlines. the company abandoned its full-year forecast of 880 deliveries back in march. singapore is stepping up support for aviation, allocating more than 63 million u.s. dollars to support companies and workers in the industry. the aide comes on top of existing support and will be used to help the development and deployment of technology to protect airport workers and their crew from covid-19. singapore will also continue offering rebates for fees related to certificates. come, it has been

a year of turmoil and upheaval for hong kong and it's markets but one constant stands out. inflows continue to sweep into the city. what does that mean for the year ahead? we will explore that in a moment. this is bloomberg. ♪

paul: it has been a year of turmoil and upheaval for hong kong but one constant does continue to endure and that's

inflows pouring into hong kong. for a look at this, we are in hongow by catherine kong. what are you seeing? >> thanks for having me. investors are really bullish about 2021 for hong kong. they were pretty bullish and had some pretty good optimism coming into this year despite some setbacks given covid and political tensions. they are saying 2021 is the time to buy hong kong. where are the bright spots? for one, the inflows are incredible. year-to-date, we are seeing inflows of more than 660 billion dollars come in and that's the most since hong kong sort of started is trading link with onshore exchanges in 2016. the ipo market is also really hot.

caps of large chinese mega are choosing to have their secondary listings here, choosing to do their ipo's here, and that comes even after the abrupt setback with what we saw with ant group and the abrupt pole of their ipo. even after that, we have seen ipo's that are 400 times oversubscribed. is just on euphoria scene here. shery: the key concern is the regulatory scrutiny we are seeing in the changes in the landscape on that front? is a concernat investors have in the back of their mind. they are seeing all this money come in. of course, with capital, that's giving them a boost of confidence so they are trying to push that to the back of their mind but always looming is what is going to happen on the political front. recently, china instituted some new antitrust measures and

that has hit a lot of the big tech companies like alibaba and that is still sorting itself out. that is definitely a worry. it's push and pull. in many ways, you are seeing a lot of euphoria and demand in the back of the mind, it's, you know, should i be concerned, should investors be concerned? right now, it's a particular tension within an investor's mind about how to do it. but at the end of the day, with more stability, they are still seeing valuations -- saying valuations and the market looks very strong. shery: tell us more about the valuation side of things. we continue to see the rally in mainland stocks. appeale see this increasing given how cheap they are compared to other markets? catherine: yes. back in october, we saw that the premium for chinese equities over hong kong equities, that was the highest in many years

and it hit a multiyear high. in many ways, you can consider hong kong stocks being battered down this year given covid and the national security law so investors are saying it's cheap. it's time to buy. it's wide-ranging. they are not just looking at inflows. they are not just looking at ipo's. they are saying the property market, the valuations are good. the dividends are good. the five key market, the margins that players in that space are getting are the best across asia. credit suisse had a big report out recently that said they think that the hang seng index is going to top 30,000 points next year. and so it's really across the board. they are saying hong kong stocks have been battered down and beaten and this is the time to buy because they are really greatly valued, especially compared to a-shares. shery: kathryn i.

before we hand over to china open, here is the picture across markets in asia. a bit of a mixed picture although the kospi was trying to recoup those losses and and at another record high. -- and at another record -- end at another record high. this is bloomberg. ♪

♪ tom: it is 9:00 a.m. in beijing and shanghai. welcome to "bloomberg markets: mackenzie." i'm tom counting down to trade. asian markets decline after wall street retreats from all-time highs. hope is fading for bigger relief checks for american households. china and the