haidi: very good morning. we are counting down to asia's major market opens. shery: welcome to "daybreak: asia." investors await the latest economic update from china. the dollar is steady in order -- in early trading. the japanese prime minister prepares for his first

parliamentary address of 2021. falling poll numbers prompt predictions that suga may be a short-term leader. security of the u.s. ahead of joe biden's inauguration. he is ready for immediate action on the pandemic and u.s. economy. australia coming online. let's get straight to the action with sophie kamaruddin and hong kong. sophie: aussie shares opening to the downside. a third weekly loss in four. we are seeing names like bhp and bluescope weighing on the index. we are keeping an ion woodside this morning. this is the energy player. expands its long-term lng supply agreement and announced it is to collaborate on a carbon neutral lng plan. the yen just holding steady, going into a week that brings us

the boj decision and long-term plans from japan. on thursday, prime minister suga is to deliver a speech at the opening of the new parliamentary session. the head of china's gdp report, we are seeing the off share -- the offshore yuan. haidi: banks are at the forefront of markets minds. here in australia, the recent virus scare hit the labor market and consumer confidence. the key gdp reading amongst that. let's discuss this with a senior economist. it is great to have you with us. it is very vexing for central bankers. you talk about japan, europe, other parts of asia.

how much of a hit will this latest virus resurgence be and will the question also be, what else can they do? >> good morning. i think that, for central banks at the moment, they don't really have many options. we have seen global interest rates continue to hit record lows. central banks doing forms of quantitative easing, ones that do not necessarily target it on purchasing bonds but in terms of other securities as well just to stimulate activity. the pressure is on activity to do more. to put investors in place to ward off virus concerns, they are the ones that need to be compensating consumers and businesses. >> when it comes to china, we are expecting another strong lot of data showing the resilience and recovery. is there also a concern that

with china, we have seen the peak of the recovery? diana: i think for the next six months, the pace still looks to be robust because it is still a tailwind of support from all the fiscal stimulus put in place in 2020. and we are going to see that in the gdp data, the quarterly readings is going to be probably about two times as strong as it would have been if we did not have covid. obviously, china still playing a little bit of catch-up but growth is still above where it was before covid and china is really the first country to get back to pre-covid levels in the economy. i think for the next six months, the outlook still looks pretty good for china especially if the rest of the world, as we expect, continues on this pace of recovery with vaccine rollout, which should really support the

global economy. shery: let's talk about japan. there is not much the central banks can do. we have seen an example of that with the bank of japan. we do have another policy decision coming up this week. if the boj has its hands tied, how much is a third extra budget going to help at this point? >> the fiscal stimulus measures and japan and probably still help at the margin to offset some of the lockdowns that event to be put in place recently because they have had research in covid cases. these things definitely help to offset some of the week this that you are getting to growth from consumers having to stay at home and businesses having to shut down. in the past six months, it will be difficult for japan to

generate the kind of inflation they have been trying to do for years now, given that inflation has taken another hit in the short term, i think it has taken another blow in japan. we will have to wait and see what the details of the fiscal stimulus are. if it is focused toward medium-term, long-term reforms, then maybe there is some good news for japan but that is more of a medium-term story. shery: let's talk a little bit about those reforms. we are expecting prime minister yoshihide suga to give a policy address this morning. given the rising number of cases, some people are starting to speculate that perhaps he will be a short-term leader in japan. i lived in japan for about five years and i saw as many prime ministers during those years. how much does the revolving door prime minister's hurt the japanese economy?

>> i guess we have not seen an example of that recently because we do not know what the counterfactual would have been. the general bases around abenomics, if it works, in terms of the structural reforms put in place, i think the jury is still out on that. i think it may take a few more years to see it in hindsight. obviously, covid dealt a big blow to the economy. japan as an economy has taken a big hit like the rest of the world has. you may not see the benefits like the structural reforms put in place, increased productivity. japan's real problem, without population growth, it is difficult for an economy to achieve positive nominal gdp growth. that is one of the issues they have to tackle, maybe to bring

in more migrants to increase their population. haidi: structural reforms. it is hard to find demographics. the jobless rate, will we be looking at the gap in terms of what the unemployment rate looks like, which will probably not be that bad, but then looking at the underlining what might still be in the labor markets? >> the unemployment rate in australia has definitely been much better than anticipated. currently at 6.8 right now. it was at about 5% before covid. it only peaked at 7.5%. the labor market in australia has performed extremely well. it does not appear like there is enough momentum to keep this

very strong recovery in jobs going. lockdowns across australia, i think the unemployment rate has peaked and it will probably hover between 6.5% and 7% over the next few months, which of course is good news. a lot of businesses, about the 1.5 million employees will no longer be on that program. i think some more upward pressure on the unemployment rate. i doubt it will go higher than 7% in the next few months. shery: thank you very much. plenty more analysis ahead on that big data dump out of china today. we will speak with jeremy stevens and ccb joins us later

to break down the numbers. let's get to karina mitchell with the first word headlines. karina: global coronavirus cases are now approaching 95 million with deaths topping 2 million. emergency use for vaccines as cases surge in south america's largest nation. the u.k. says it is considering all measures to rein in covid-19. singapore will require all inbound travelers to take a virus test on arrival starting next week. citizens and residents will be told to self-isolate in hong kong for seven days. that is in addition to two weeks in a government facility. visitors entering singapore must have virus insurance with a minimum coverage of 22,000 u.s. dollars. india has launched the world's biggest vaccination drive despite conservatively efficacy

and safety. an estimated 155,000 people were given a vaccine on the first day as part of an ambitious plan to stem infections. prime minister narendra modi warned that people should take a shot and avoid what he called the anti-vaccine propaganda. biden's nearly $2 trillion relief pan. economists expect growth of 6.6% this year, two times faster than thought. the upgrade is based on biden and a democratic congress. global news 24 hours a day on air and on bloomberg quicktake, powered by more than 2700 journalists and analysts in over 120 countries. this is bloomberg. haidi: taking a look at some of the stocks we are watching going into the sydney session. we are taking a look at this rally when it comes to policy retail stocks.

higher by close to 7%. a jump of 86% year-over-year. comparable sales growth. online sales jumping, about 14% of total sales. appliance and private products strong. harvey norman jumping in on that rally, up 2.5%. kogan.com, the online retailer, up about 2.4% at the moment. still ahead, we reflect on joe biden's plans for his first days in office. plus, we will be assessing the impact of currency volatility on companies. joining us later to talk about their latest report. this is bloomberg. ♪

so you're a small business, or a big one. you were thriving, but then... oh. ah. okay. plan, pivot. how do you bounce back? you don't, you bounce forward, with serious and reliable internet. powered by the largest gig speed network in america. but is it secure? sure it's secure. and even if the power goes down, your connection doesn't. so how do i do this? you don't do this. we do this, together. bounce forward, with comcast business.

>> we are going to see more frenzied international engagement. >> we are looking forward to focus in this direction. >> i would feel very upset if it continues. >> china can avoid further decoupling if they stop these inappropriate actions. >> it is not enough to conduct your diplomacy with china through megaphones? >> the relationship between the u.s. and china will remain similar to how it is today. haidi: some of our -- shery: some of our guests talking about the outlook for u.s.-china relations under the incoming biden presidency. joe biden wealthy sworn in on wednesday in washington and he

will call for unity in the wake of the attack. biden has indicated a 10 day blitz in executive acts into reverse some of its predecessor most contentious policies. the deputy managing editor, ross crassly. it is our understanding that downtown washington looks like a city preparing for war. how challenging is this unity going to be in real life? >> exactly. washington looks pretty unusual at the moment. really, large cuts of the city cut off from the public. when biden is inaugurated, there will be no crowd on the national mall. they will be hundreds of thousands of american flags instead. it will be very different. the partisanship in washington will not go away.

his speech will call on americans to abandon divisiveness that he says has been stoked by president and will talk about being a president for all americans. he has talked about that a lot on the campaign trail and he was always the most religious of senators for decades. i know that things have. the partnership -- the partisanship in the country is a lot more focused. it will not be easy for joe biden but that is what he will try. surveys today show that the vast majority of republicans still approve of trump and many republicans including lawmakers still do not see that joe biden won the election fair and square. against that kind of backdrop, it will not be easy. haidi: what do we know about these latest executive actions from biden? ros: we expect that probably on

inauguration day itself, there could be something like a dozen executive actions. additional orders will be put out between the middle of this coming week and the end of the following week. they want to space them out and get some more mileage. one of the for the -- one of the first things biden plans to do is negate some of president trump of vs policies like the muslim travel ban to the u.s., and really go full bore about the coronavirus and the economy. he is expected to have a 100 day mask mandate on federal property, encourage americans wear masks and get the pandemic under control. he will offer several popular and useful coronavirus mitigation measures. foreclosure and eviction

moratorium, student loan payment moratoriums. also expected to reverse the trump administration's exit from a pair of climate deals. american presidents in the past decades have relied more and more on executive orders but knowing that their successor can come in and turn it down with the stroke of the pen, -- haidi: a big week in washington this week. blackstone says the u.s. economy is already in great shape with vaccinations setting the country up for a strong second half. the vice chairman of private well solutions says he sees nominal growth of 6% and an unemployment rate of 5% this year. >> the risk would be, if not enough people get the vaccine and we cannot return to normal wear people feel they have heard him unity.

if we achieve it, i think the economy already is doing better than expected. i think we can have good growth this year. we are already about halfway back in terms of employment and three quarters of the way back in terms of income. net worth is at an all-time high. the economy is in great shape. all we have to do is feel that we will not get sick if we resume our normal lives and get back to work, and the vaccines will provide the mechanism for that. haidi: nearly a million people still filing initial jobless claims to last week. do you really feel like we are adding back there labor market wise. and when will we get below 5%

again, particularly for women and minorities? >> women and minorities are the hardest hit. once we get the vaccines widely disseminated, i think we will return back to normal. right now, there has been a surge of cases and a limited number of vaccinations. that is the 1-2 punch that really slows things down. >> i do want to focus, and this may be a canadian bias, but your prediction for oil and energy stocks is a bullish one. $65 oil energy stocks. give me your thoughts on how that comes to pass. >> if the economy recovers, people start driving again, the industrial part of the economy resumes to full activity, and we start flying again, traveling again, theaters open, sports

events take place, the demand for energy will escalate significantly. the energy surprise is totally based on getting back to normal sometime in the second half. >> there has been a lot of discussion about the various shapes of the recovery. you say this second half, one of your surprises that we may get up to 10 vaccines by the time we are done. but what kind of shape of economic recovery do you see? is it a k shaped one? >> i think real growth can be 4%. nominal growth can be 6%. i think the unemployment rate can get down to 5%. my view is the economy is already doing pretty well even with the virus exploding and not

everybody back to work, a lot of people still working remotely. once we get vaccinated broadly, i think the economy could roar back. shery: up next, muted expectations. earnings featured a recurring theme. more uncertainty ahead. we will have a report. this is bloomberg. ♪ ♪ so you're a small business, or a big one. you were thriving, but then... oh. ah. okay. plan, pivot. how do you bounce back? you don't, you bounce forward, with serious and reliable internet. powered by the largest gig speed network in america. but is it secure? sure it's secure. and even if the power goes down, your connection doesn't. so how do i do this? you don't do this. we do this, together. bounce forward, with comcast business.

shery: jp morgan, citigroup, wells fargo, other large banks falling friday after results at showcase, warnings about the economy and muted expectations ahead. what are we expecting this week as we get also warnings -- also get earnings from goldman sachs,

bank of america, and morgan stanley? >> goldman sachs and morgan stanley, we expect, will show strong results on the earning side. that has been the case since 2020 as markets have been exhibiting an avalanche of volatility and trading. at the same time, we are expecting that low interest rates way on the consumer centric banks. we are likely to see that at bank of america as well because it is a consumer facing main street bank. haidi: what do we expect for the possibility of an outsized stimulus page being passed? >> we listened to comments this week and they were all calling for additional stimulus, saying that they all need a bit of a bridge into the future before the vaccine is widely

distributed, rolled out. there is definitely a call for that fiscal stimulus because that is what will help them bridge the gap between this difficult economic period and asked to come. -- and things to come. haidi: coming up next, surging virus cases falling, -- surging virus cases, falling poll numbers. we will break down what to expect from suga's policy address. this is bloomberg. ♪

karina: this is "daybreak asia." thousands of national guard troops are in washington, d.c., ahead of joe biden's inauguration. officials say they uncovered threats including armed insurgents. biden will take office following a stream of action for four overlapping crisis with a dozen executive orders expected on inauguration day. kremlin critic alexie has been arrested following treatment for suspected poisoning. he flew home from berlin and was

detained by police as he disembarked. supporters have gathered at the airport. a russian opposition monitoring group says 37 people were arrested. over to hong kong, unemployment expected to top its highest level in 16 years because of the fallout from the virus. paul chan says he sees more business closures after the lunar new year holiday. the latest numbers are due tuesday. and the death toll from the weekend earthquake in indonesia has risen above 50 as more bodies are recovered from the rubble. the quake hit friday. at least 600 people were injured and thousands more moved to safety with buildings badly damaged. the rescue operation is being hampered by a power blackout and mobile phone failure. 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. haidi. haidi: karina, paul numbers for yoshihide suga are falling at -- poll numbers for yoshihide suga are falling. he may be a short-term leader. he is said to give a policy speech later on monday. for what to expect, we have our managing editor in tokyo. it is difficult being a leader in the age of coronavirus, but why are we seeing his support rating following early on in his leadership? >> the handling of the virus situation in japan has come under a lot of fruit me. cases in japan has started to tick up in december and are now hitting daily records. the government in response has declared a state of emergency earlier this month but many felt

that was coming too late. after a little over a week or so since the declaration of emergency was declared, the impact at least when you look at the numbers of the daily virus numbers, it really has not come down so there's a lot of doubt that it was not just too late that also too little. the tricky thing in japan is unlike some of the countries that actually can legally enforce a lockdown, japan does not have that legislation in place. they are looking to trying to penalize some of the restaurants or bars that do not abide by the government instructions, but any legislation change will not come until at least late next month so that's another reason why people feel that the government is constantly behind when it comes to the virus. >> what does it mean when it comes to the timeline to get a new leader? we are expecting a lower house

election before october. kazunori: yes, the government, with the current support rate in the 30% level, is highly unlikely the party will go ahead with suga if it does face on election before that. at the same time, there is no opposition. support for the opposition is very low, so it's not a situation where the government faces immediate pressure to remove suga. the other situation at play is the list of possible successors for the next prime minister. names like the chief cabinet secretary or the reform minister have been ranked relatively high on the polls, however, they are also current cabinet members, so whether they could actually succeed him, and whether the public would see that as a deflection of blame, for

example, because they are responsible for handling of the current situation, so again, it is quite hard to see any immediate change coming, at least in the near term. >> bloomberg managing editor in tokyo, kazunori takada. let's delve into the global pandemic. anthony fauci says joe biden's promise of administering 100 million coronavirus vaccine shots is "absolutely a global thing -- doable thing." >> getting 100 million doses in the first 100 days is absolutely a doable thing. what the president-elect is going to do is, we are need be to invoke the dpa to get the kinds of things we need, whatever they may be. shery: the number of covid deaths in the u.s. nears 400,000. ian fisher, give us an update on

the virus situation right now across the united states. we are two days ahead of inauguration day. ian: the big thing people are talking about is the milestone of 400,000 deaths, which is going to almost certainly come before president-elect biden is sworn in as president biden. we will likely hit that on tuesday. it's important to remember that, you know, it's roughly double the next mission in the world with most number of deaths, brazil, and india is third. today, the new chief of staff for president-elect biden said he really expects the numbers to actually go up to half a billion within the first month or so of the biden administration, and

given, you know, the death numbers right now, the possibility of things created by this new variant, the fact that the vaccines are not going to, you know, start making a difference until many, many months from now. haidi: we are also seeing the u.s. stepping up these claims that the virus actually originated in a lab in wuhan. ian: yeah, no, president trump has always believed -- blamed china for the virus and brought up nefarious claims about, you know, about how it spread about. they had specific intelligence that in fact lab workers at a wuhan laboratory got sick in the autumn of 2019, you know, and

suggested it escape from that lab somehow. again, they have not provided any evidence of it. the w.h.o., the world health organization, spent the better part of a year to get in and investigate the origins of the virus but have been on accessible -- unsuccessful. a team who did manage to get in -- the chinese government identified two people. we will see what kind of access they get. shery: ian fisher. let's take a closer look at the new covid-19 variants being reported around the world. johns hopkins bloomberg school of public health professor, andrew, spoke to bloomberg about the range of new strains and how efficient vaccines are against them. andrew: multiple lineages of

stars coronavirus that we are calling variance -- sars coronavirus that we are calling. -- calling variants. most of the time, these virus lineages come to our attention because they have changes in the surface protein that either will make that protein more efficient at infecting cells or in some cases, there are parts of the protein that we know that antibodies that protect us from infection combined to that part, and so, what we are really now focusing on is understanding how frequently these viruses are occurring in the population and how much of an effect do these one or two changes in the protein have on the vaccine-induced responses? so far, the data looks good. the vaccine seems to recognize all of these variance as -- variants as they come up but this is something many

laboratories around the world are keeping track of. >> andrew pekosz, when you look at some of the logistical concerns about distributing the vaccine, how much progress has the u.s. done over the last two weeks? andrew: it's important to note that the high-priority populations in the u.s., those elderly living in residence facilities as well as health-care workers, those are difficult populations to immunize. i actually just got my second shot of my vaccine yesterday, and you know, there was a staff of 12 to 20 health-care workers that were running the vaccination. that's a lot of people to pull away from a hospital that is really pushing its limits in terms of caring for covid-19 patients, so the rollout initially was slow. i'm hopeful that the vaccine production seems to be continuously increasing, that as we move into the general population, it will be much more efficient and high-throughput of

getting these vaccines into people's arms because a vaccine in a freezer does not do anything. it needs to get into people's arms and it needs to get into people's arms at the schedule that has been approved by the fda here in the u.s. for maximum benefit. >> andrew, when you look at overall the concerns over the next five months to six months, how important is it that we have new vaccines such as the j&j one shot that will come on the market? does that help or is there too much more logistics coming? does it help with the doses? andrew: any vaccine will help with the doses because even though we are increasing the amount of vaccinations we are doing each week, we will need to think that level by a great degree in order to obtain a good number of people who are vaccinated by the end of the summer. a goal i always thought about is the end of the summer because

what we would like to have is a large percentage of the population immunized before we enter the fall season. we all saw how horrific the fall season was and now, into the winter, in terms of covid-19 cases as people moved inside into places where there is more contact between them. what we want to do with the vaccine program is make sure that by the end of the summer, we have a high percentage of people are vaccinated. new vaccines are going to allow us to move into different populations, different storage conditions, different numbers of doses. all those things can be handled by our health care does vaccines will help us broaden the scope and get to all segments of the population so that we can be really comprehensive in terms of who is getting immunized against covid-19. haidi: bloomberg school of public health professor andrew pekosz. that school is supported by

michael albert glared -- michael r. bloomberg. our guest joins us to discuss the latest currency impact report. why the only thing that is certain is more volatility. we have that conversation, next. this is bloomberg. ♪

>> we are 15 minutes away from the start of trade in japan and

south korea. let's turn to sophie for what we are watching. sophie: asian stocks looking to extend last friday's global declines. this as we wait on several decisions including from japan and malaysia. we are looking to see if we might get a lift in sentiment of expectations that china's gdp report will come in a beat ahead of that. the offshore yuan snapping a four-week advance. let's take a closer look at what's happening in sydney. we have shares under pressure with iron ore miners like the hp group leading the decline along with banks. following -- other oil stocks as well. we did have an update from the company saying that it has a supply deal with -- looking to expand its long-term supply agreement. up 6%. this after it was raised to buy at goldman.

let's flip the page ahead of the japan open, just a flavor of what is going on ahead of the tokyo open. they to be futures, we are seeing them tick lower. there may be struggle for jgb's. the boj could tolerate higher yields, and the yen holding below 104 this morning, this after a weekly rise for the japanese currency. the dollar holding onto -- gold falling to the lowest level since december and of course with a focus on the dollar ahead of biden's inauguration, let's highlight some remarks from the latest fund manager survey, flipping the board. we are seeing calls for dollar weakness remaining the heartrate according to the bfa survey -- b of a survey. they are saying it's too early to call when the dollar drops macy's. shery: asian, -- may cease.

shery: asian yields have stabilized. that suspected to affect economic activity. what game tester is the -- wolfg ang, thank you so much for joining us. if asian currencies stabilize, what are the most impactful currencies when it comes to multinationals? >> one of the things we do, we look at 800 north american companies, or hundred european companies, and we are about to start including asian companies as they are reporting more significantly on losses. what we have seen from the u.s. corporate's is, as they are mentioning the currenci euro being numbere one. s, you are starting to see the outbreak again. a significant trend there.

number five was korea, also mentioned. out of the top 5, 2 asian currencies and the brazilian real. the cfo's called to mention that most during their last earnings call. shery: just as we heard from sophie, we have seen some strength recently when it comes to the u.s. dollar, second consecutive week of gains for the dollar. what are your expectation on the trend here as this gtv chart on the bloomberg shows? and the impact on multinationals?what we are expecting wolfgang: -- wolfgang: what we are expecting is an increase in multinationals. look at what we have seen in the last 48 hours or so. we have seen the dutch government collapsing, the russian government designing, and people anticipating merkel leaving. she was always kind of a stability in the global economy,

having on average seen four leaders of countries on the g10. there has been a lot of that. obviously, this is important. how the chinese are actually starting to see -- you saw vice governor -- from the deep eoc -- dpoc talk about how they are worried about the $1.9 trillion package that president-elect biden is going to issue, how that will increase volatility and lesson stability in -- lesse n stability in the global economy. haidi: how much is china a stabilizing factor for asian currencies? do you look more to that as opposed to what the greenback is doing? wolfgang: what you're going to start seeing is a trend towards unpegging that more. china is the forefront of electronic currency which means will take yuan and start un

unpegging that more. they may further push on the yuan. they must have had some trial issues that did not allow that yet so they did another trial run a week or so ago. haidi: are you looking ahead to what the fed may potentially do? there is been balanced remarks so far from fed chair powell about the tapering and the impacts that we quite often see in asia in the currency sphere. wolfgang: we look at that but what we see is talking to ceo's and cfo's of corporations and what they are saying is investors and lenders are asking them to have a much more holistic view about cash and liquidity. we understand that currencies have an impact on cash and

therefore volatility is not good to cash. how do you manage that? how do you see that cash, move it, protect it, and really create an active liquidity network where they have a holistic view and therefore are management of how to manage the risks and the resulting cash. in your previous section, you talked about covid, obviously, for good reasons. what this covid has done is really required ceo's and cfo's to sharpen their ability to understand where the cash is ongoing. what are we doing? if we cannot pay every day, how much do i have? do i have an optimized payment process? how do i think about my sub played chain -- my supply chain finance? the real question a lot of ceo's and cfo's are being asked right now are where are you from a cash flow point of view? to circle back to that, that's exactly one of the things the vice governor was so concerned

about is that you really are starting to have fundamentals shifting and corporations really need to understand where their cash is and how to manage that. haidi: wolfgang, great to have you with us. wolfgang koester. be sure to tune into bloomberg radio to hear more from the days big newsmakers and get in-depth analysis on the daybreak team. we are broadcasting from our studio in hong kong and you can listen in via the app, radio plus, and at bloombergradio.com. this is bloomberg. ♪

shery: here is a quick check of the latest business flash headlines. starbucks has temporarily closed most of its outlets in new york city amid concerns about possible protests although there are no concrete signs of winter where demonstrations may have been planned. starbucks shot several dozen manhattan cafes on sunday but says it will resume normal business on monday. amazon delivers the latest funding round, raising more than $180 million, valuing the u.k.-based company on more than 7 billion. they are weighing a possible ipo this year in or around april. the boss of parler has gone into hiding, saying he has received

death threats. the platform was brutally hosting supporters of president trump but has now gone silent after apple and google pulled it from there app stores and amazon pulled its web hosting privileges. let's take a look at what we are watching going into the next hour of trading in asia. sophie kamaruddin is in hong kong. what is on your radar? sophie: we are continuing to watch our stocks in the cold snap in asia. japanese refiners have been asked by the government to supply more fuel oil to local utilities. keeping an eye on japanese renewable energy names. this as the development bank of japan reported to be launched a fund to expand the domestic wind power sector as japan moved towards neutral carbon emissions and keeping an eye on korean easy players -- ev players. tesla stock could hit $1250.

another boom for tesla in the -- is the biden presidency. haidi: still ahead, our guest joins us to discuss the chinese economy as we await the latest gdp numbers and for more in the market outlook in asia, we are joined by tribeca investment partners portfolio manager, jim. we head to the opens in tokyo and seoul. we see a little bit of pressure across equity markets in asia. this is bloomberg. ♪

>> welcome to "daybreak asia." i am shery ahn. haidi: i am haidi stroud-watts in sydney. asia's major markets have just opened for trade. our top stories this hour. asian stocks are set to start the week in the right as traders turn -- the dollar study and early trading. the coming hours, a data down from beijing with quarterly gdp growth, industrial production, and retail sales all showing the

strength of the post virus recovery. unprecedented security in washington ahead of joe biden's inauguration. he is ready for immediate executive action on the pandemic and the u.s. economy. shery: equity markets across asia under pressure as japan and south korea come online. let's turn to sophie kamaruddin for a check of the markets. sophie: going into a week that brings us the boj decision and an update from japan on its long-term fiscal update on thursday, you have tokyo stocks under pressure, the nikkei 225 losing 1% at the start of cash trade while we also weigh in on a policy speech from prime ministers to which may outline more plans to provide virus management the yen this morning holding below 104 but losing ground against the greenback. resident moon jae-in is to hold a new year's press conference which comes after the government extended social distancing curbs for another two weeks in the greater seoul area.

kospi under pressure, 1% this morning. the korean won back above the $1100. kospi continuing to fall after it snapped a 10 week again on friday. our guest see is the silver lining for korean stocks pointing to the structural growth expected for the hardware sector. flipping the page, we are seeing shares under pressure as banks and miners are weighing. this after u.s. stocks fell on friday while treasury futures, we are seeing a slight tick higher with little activity giving cash markets are closed for the martin luther king jr. holiday and oil extending losses, heading towards the 52 level while gold is eyeing 1800, trading at the lowest level since december as the dollar is thing on to gains after clocking

its first back-to-back weekly advance since september. haidi: our next guest says the coming year will be driven by a broadening of the reflation trade. sophie mentioned some of them is reflecting that. joining us now is portfolio manager jun. we saw that, roaring back with expectations of a bigger than expected stimulus package in the u.s. to what extent do you see the broadening of the market and what are the valued opportunities in that space? jun: absolutely. we have absolutely seeing that that is going to be a theme to drive the -- we have seen a quarter of it and there is sectors that have benefited meaningfully including cyclical sectors that are exposed to that sort of rising inflationary expectations. however, as we are heading into the reporting season, as it just kicked off over the u.s., we

expect investors to focus near term on what the earnings mean, what do some of the flow-through earnings coming from the latest lockdown, as well as how quickly this recovery is going to be -- we know it will recover. it's just a matter of time. for the near term, we do see that markets are focused on the reporting and however, moving forward, we do think that is meaningful return opportunities in those cyclical sectors. haidi: as we see these virus cases store and -- soar, when do you think is a good time to start repricing these pandemic sensitive stocks? jun: look, absolutely. so there are two things. home and returning to work type of sectors. the company that has benefited from consumers being locked in their houses continue to deliver

very strong results as we have seen from some of the retailers benefiting from stimulus packages as well as online players. however, as we move through the next six months, we should begin to see the sectors being impacted because of the lockdown, we should begin to see earnings upgrades coming through. if anything, we already started seeing bottoming of a lot of those sectors in terms of earnings expectations. shery: we are expecting china's gdp numbers later today at a time when we have seen consumer strength in the economy. what has been the narrative across the rest of asia when it comes to consumption and how has that affect did what you buy in the markets when it comes to different asset classes? jun: look, absolutely. we do think china is one example of -- one example to look to for the western economies of what it looks like, when things do

return, when consumption -- when reopening does take place. it has demonstrated incredible growth and i think the consumption will continue to be strong and we do believe there will be definitely more capital being allocated into the emerging asia space. haidi: emerging asia, a very diverse space. what in particular are you looking at? jun: yes, let, i think in general, we do look at the sectors and spaces being impacted by the lockdown and the like, whether it's -- within china, we are seeing a significant amount of pickup in the travel sector, the domestic travel industry. international is still yet to return, but it's just a matter of time to you see some of that, so that is certainly looking interesting. , asia is representative of a consumer and tech heavy sort of

space, and it's important investors do not throw some of those tech names out just because we are moving back to more normalized sort of environment. some of those companies will continue to deliver structural growth in the environment where interest rates will be very low for quite some time. shery: always great having your thoughts. tribeca portfolio manager. let's get to karina mitchell. karina: lots of pandemic news to get to. global coronavirus cases are approaching 95 million with deaths topping 2 million. brazil granted approval for the emergency use of astrazeneca and sinovac vaccines as infections surge in south america's biggest nation. the u.k. government says it is considering "all possible measures" to reign in covid-19 after 1200 related deaths five days in a row. singapore will require all inbound travelers to take a virus test on arrival starting

next week and citizens in permanent residence will be told to self-isolate at home for an additional seven days on top of two weeks in the government solidity. visitors entering singapore must have virus insurance with 22,000 u.s. dollars minimum coverage. meanwhile, india has launched the world's biggest vaccination drive despite concern about the efficacy and safety of the shots. an estimated 100 62 5000 people were given a vaccine on the first day as part of an ambitious plan to stem infections in a country of 1.3 billion. trimester modi warned people -- prime minister warned people against anti-vaccine propaganda. hong kong expects unemployment to surpass its highest level in 16 years due to the fallout from the coronavirus restriction. paul chan says he sees more business closures and layoffs after the lunar new year holiday if covid-19 is not brought under control. the latest numbers are due

tuesday. six point 4% through october, the highest since january 2005. 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. haidi. haidi: still ahead, china's growth rate is expected to be back above the half decade average in the fourth quarter. a preview of the gdp and activity data dump is later. we are watching chip stocks in asia after reports trump administration -- huawei suppliers. we have details on that story, next. this is bloomberg. ♪

- [announcer] imagine having fuller, thicker, more voluminous hair instantly. all it takes is just one session at hairclub. introducing xtrands. xtrands adds hundreds or even thousands of hair strands to your existing hair at the root. they're personalized to match your own natural hair color and texture, so they'll blend right in for a natural, effortless look. call in the next five minutes and when you buy 500 strands, you get 500 strands free. call right now. (upbeat music)

shery: joe biden's inauguration" america's united -- inauguration will focus on the theme "america united." they will ban the divisiveness

stoked by trump. how challenging will it be for joe biden to bring this message of unity at a time when even the american capitol, washington, d.c. downtown, looks like a war zone? derek: we have never seen inaugural security and washington, d.c. this type. -- in washington, d.c., this tight. the downtown parts of washington are fenced off. typically, the inauguration in non-covid times is something that brings in hundreds of people to washington, d.c., to stand on the national mall, and all of that is basically gone. the security is there because we had, you know, people storm the u.s. capitol, trying to get the election overturned.

two weeks later, those words ring unusual to even say out loud. such a thing, you don't expect to happen in the united states. i think the divisions in the u.s. are as big as they have been in some time. it's quite a challenge. joe biden has said that he wants to basically have a return to normalcy. he wants to get back to normal and he's going to bring a style of politics that is very focused on trying to just kind of be more boring and get the work done. shery: perhaps a lot of people might be thinking it's good to be boring at this point when we have so many challenges on so many different fronts and in order to tackle all of these challenges, what are we expecting joe biden to do in his first few days in office?

derek: i think you are going to see a lot of executive orders that are going to come out. a lot of presidents say i will do this on day one, and what they really mean is i will do this in the first couple months, but joe biden actually does mean on day one. inauguration day will not be as much pomp and circumstance as people are used to. there will be a little. but you can expect executive actions to come reversing some of president donald trump's most controversial actions. additionally, the first big legislative push that joe biden is making is going to be stimulus. biden has unveiled a sweeping revival plan calling for $1.9 trillion in spending that would include an additional $1400 to most americans in cash, and so, you can -- you know, some of these will be things that the white house can just do. some of this is going to be things that congress will have to do. but we are still learning and

still getting details about what some of these plans are so stay tuned on it. >> we are seeing asian chip stocks falling in the early part of the session after we heard that the trump administration in its last days certainly still hitting out at china's 5g ambitions, halting these licenses to huawei suppliers. derek: that's right. we are understanding, there is a reuters report that says current licensed suppliers have been notified. they include intel. there's indications -- still learning about how big this move might be but let's be really clear, donald trump and his administration said very clearly that they wanted to be as tough on china as possible on the way out, partially because they wanted to accomplish their own objectives, but partially because they wanted to try and

box the biden administration in to this tough line on china because their assessment is that biden will not want to reverse all of these things and be seen as soft on china so this is very much -- i mean, look. sometimes, people made a mistake over the last four years if trump would say something. maybe he won't do it. this is one thing that we have known that trump really wanted to do and that nobody should be surprised to see coming, frankly. what will be critical to watch i think, with this and a whole line of other things, is in these next days, what does the biden administration do? do they keep this line or do they immediately start to pull it back? just as easy as trump puts it on, biden, in most cases, can take it off if he wants to. >> derek wallbank. it will be interesting to see

the approach when it comes to some of these measures against china from the biden administration. sticking with the inauguration this week, joe biden's nearly $2 trillion stimulus package could be better spent. scott minerd spoke to bloomberg about that and what he is buying right now. >> it's really amazing to have watched this recovery in crisis are rapidly against the backdrop of the pandemic, but you know, at this stage of the game, we are still remaining positive on credit. we recognize there could be setbacks near term, but given the new paradigm that we are living in after the fed corporate bond purchase program, we think we could continue to see credit spreads tighten relative to treasuries, maybe back to levels that we have not seen since late 1990's. >> after the unveiling of the 1.9 -- this call at $2 trillion that will be spent from -- let's call it $2 trillion that will be

spent in the rescue plan for america, does it go far enough and what does that do to assets? scott: 85% of americans will receive a check as a result of matt program, but you know, approximately 20% of americans are unemployed. you know, it would seem to me that a more focused attempt -- 10% of americans are unemployed. it would seem to me in focused attempt to target the money to the sectors that need it more and would have a more positive outcome for the economy. but nevertheless, you know, that is a lot of stimulus. a lot of it will get spent. some of it will get saved. once we get past the pandemic, some of that savings will get released. people are building precautionary balances. and you know, we could be entering a you know, a golden age. >> bank earnings come out this morning. we are seeing pressure still. there are a lot of risks ahead

still and it is something jp morgan has pointed to. if you look along the horizon, what is the number one risk you are concerned about? scott: it's a longer-term problem and that is the gross extreme of income and wealth inequality in the united states and a lot of the policies that are being put in place are not really doing anything to address that problem. as a matter of fact, in some ways, they are exacerbating the problem. and we are starting to see the effects of social unrest. we saw it in the capital last week. we are, you know, in my mind, still in a period of anarchy right now, and this is the sort of stuff that ultimately leads to revolution. you know, when i say revolution, in the 1930's, we had a revolution. there was a massive change in government policy. huge tax increases, lots of

federal programs to create jobs. you know, so revolution does not necessarily mean we change the form of american democracy, but it does mean that policymakers can abruptly make changes to the structure of free enterprise and i think that is a real long-term threat to the economy unless policymakers come up with something quickly which addresses these critical issues. >> the last time you were on bloomberg television, you talked about bitcoin. you talked about the ability for bitcoin to push higher. not sure if you went out and printed hats and t-shirts with 400,000 on it but we have seen bitcoin double in price basically since that call there. we are wondering what will drive crypto higher. scott: one thing that we are seeing is the sudden interest in retail. in a story that appeared yesterday on bloomberg, there

was a discussion about how a lot of the crypto outlet are being overwhelmed. they are starting to limit the orders because they cannot handle the demand. now, in the short-term, what that is telling you is, you know, we are moving into a speculative renzi, and that was one of the reasons for my tweet on monday to say, you know, perhaps it is time to take some money off the table here. >> scott minerd speaking to caroline hyde, and romaine bostick. coming up next, it's a day of reckoning for jay y. lee, who will be sentenced later monday. the ruling can reshape the electronics giant and the rest of conglomerates. the details ahead. this is bloomberg. ♪ so you're a small business, or a big one. you were thriving, but then... oh.

ah. okay. plan, pivot. how do you bounce back? you don't, you bounce forward, with serious and reliable internet. powered by the largest gig speed network in america. but is it secure? sure it's secure. and even if the power goes down, your connection doesn't. so how do i do this? you don't do this. we do this, together. bounce forward, with comcast business.

>> jay y. lee will be sentenced later today on a bribery charge in a ruling that will have ramifications not just for him and his company but all of south korea's conglomerates. always a tech reporter -- what are we expecting from today's trial? >> today's the big day for jay y. lee so you will find out whether he goes back to jail or remains free. this is a trial related to bribery charges that has been dragged on for four years and a judge at the high court will hand down a new sentence in the corruption case. impeachment of the south korean president. it ignited a backlash. he served one year in prison. he was released after his previous five-year prison term. in 2019, the supreme court ruled

that -- acknowledge that bribery. alongside the new sentence, we are expecting to hear how the high court did the amount of total bribery. >> south korean prosecutors, having requested nine years, what is the most likely scenario that we will see play out today? >> right now, it's really hard to figure out whether he will go back to jail or not. as the total amana bribery went up -- amount of bribery went up, lee was expected to face a minimum of five years in person with no possibility of a suspended and in spirit however, experts view a decreasing chance. he followed the request among the group. such efforts will be factored into this ruling and some are expecting he could get a

suspended prison term. shery: what is -- haidi: we were talking earlier about -- shery: -- all of the large conglomerates in south korea? >> well, so, samsung is the largest -- it has a huge influence among the south korean businesses as well so what samsung is doing right now is also impacting other businesses like any efforts to improve corporate governance or have outside directors that would be followed by others as well. such efforts will be also making changes among investors. that is the case.

>> the asian tech reporter with the latest. here is a quick check of the latest business flash headlines. starbucks has temporarily closed most of its outlets in new york city amid concerns about possible protests. however, there are no concrete signs of when or where demonstrations may have been planned. starbucks shut several dozen manhattan cafes on sunday but says it will resume normal business on monday. parler has gone into hiding -- the boss of parler has not into hiding, saying he has received death threats. parler has now gone silent after apple and google dropped it from their app stores and amazon pole bits -- pulled its web hosting services. kidnappings off the coast of west africa.

the appeal comes as a number of attacks on shipping jumped 20% last year with 135 through taken hostage. it accounted for 95% of hostage taking. plenty more to come. this is bloomberg. ♪

shery: breaking news out of singapore. we are getting nonoil domestic export numbers. a gain of 6.8% year on year. the estimate was for a contraction of .7% so this is really beating estimates. when it comes to export numbers month on month, it is also a gain, rise of 6.6% also beating expectations. it is a big surge from the previous month. we have seen for the year on year numbers, two consecutive

months of declines. finally gains 6.8% year on year. month on month numbers rebounding and accelerating into expansion territory. electronic exports year on year is a huge beat, gain of 13.7% after contraction. the previous month, interesting because when it comes to export numbers to china, it was a decline of more than 24% year on year. perhaps we are seeing a little more strength in the rest of the region as we saw the electronic exports year on year rising 13.7% in the month of december. to see how things are shaping up across the markets, here is sophie in hong kong. sophie: a quick look at the dollar, looking to test the 133 level. this is after a two-week decline. i want to highlight a note, favoring currencies like the seeing dollar as well as the aussie.

this is after reinstating shorts dollar recommendation. they want exposure to open trade focused economies like singapore. looking at a spread check of the bottom portion of the region, losses of more than 1% for the nikkei and kospi earlier. korean stocks are seeing the weakness consider new think -- consent ewing -- continuing. samsung is the biggest drive of the index. also the white house has revoked licenses to huawei suppliers like intel. even batteries and lg are under pressure despite the bullish call from tesla, on growing chinese demand and greenwood investment -- green investment in the u.s. the korean won leading the clients across asian fx, back

about 1100 against the greenback this morning. the offshore yuan holding just below 649 i head china's gdp report. and with jgb, yields picking up somewhat this morning and golden seeing more room for upside as the mist demand for japanese bonds is seen waning. it is supporting curve steepening. a quick check on gold, it is pressured lower, eyeing the 1800 level at december prices right now. haidi: let's get to karina mitchell in new york for first word headlines. karina: gearing up for a big day in the u.s. thousands of national guard troops in washington dc ahmad -- before the inauguration on fears of threats. official said they have

uncovered plots. about a dozen executive orders are expected on inauguration day. joe biden's treasury picked janet yellen is expected to commit to a market determined dollar and will not seek a weaker currency for a trade advantages. the wall street journal sites source to yellen as she awaits the confirmation hearing. if asked about the fed rate policy, the former fed chair says the dollar and other currencies. should be set by markets. meanwhile, credit -- critic of the kremlin alexei navalny has arrested following his treatment for suspected poisoning. he flew home from berlin. his plane was moved. a russian opposition monitoring group says 30 upper -- opposition players -- people were arrested. more bodies have been recovered

from the rubble of the indonesian flight. at least 600 people were injured. thousands more were moved to safety. buildings were heavily damaged and the rescue operation is being hampered by a power blackout and mobile phone failure. global news 24 hours a day and on air with bloomberg quicktake, powered by more than 2700 journalists and analysts in more than 120 countries. i'm karina mitchell. this is bloomberg. shery: let's turn to china because this economic recovery, with other activity, the gdp set to post the fastest expansion into years calling for 6.2% growth and i discussed this with economist jeremy stevens who joins us from beijing. it is great to have you with us. give us your take on what to expect in the gdp numbers and activity data we are expecting

today, not to mention what is driving the recovery. >> good morning. i don't think you need to be a genius to know that the recovery in china has gathered momentum in the last couple months. that is obvious. promising will be the recoveries so we obviously know at the start of the year or at least in the post covid recovery led by the industrial sector and investments that we have seen in recent months. some momentum is coming from the demand side of the economy, so that is good. last year at this time, importantly, things like fixed asset investment and infrastructure investment was actually pretty low. i think it was $1.9 trillion for the month. compared to 3, 4 or five we were used too, the pressure on that

part of the economy to perform well in december is less. so i am pretty optimistic. obviously it's a bit of a disaster to be an economist and be 20 minutes before the data to say what you think, but the truth is i am pretty optimistic. i think it can be close to 7% for q4 which is more than most are expecting at this point. shery: i didn't mean to put you on the spot, but there seems to be consensus that china is really doing well. let's talk about that side of things, the demand side. we have talked about consumption and perhaps this side of the chinese economy recovery, but it has not been really that even because we have talked about consumption recovery in the upper side of things. how about lower income? how even or uneven has the recovery been? >> you are right.

it has been a symmetric recovery and luxury has done incredibly well. i was on holiday in december and i can tell you the high non-province -- hainan province is going gangbusters, every shop has lines for as long as you can imagine for luxury brands i think because people have not been able to travel. a lot of disposable income at has been spent mystically and they have done relatively well -- domestically and they have done well in the post-covid era. on the lower end, because of government transfers and support , rebates and credits and coupons and so on with the government running out to support low-end consumption, my real concern is the middle income households, the people reliant on wages and business income. they have seen pressures this year and we have seen hundreds of thousands of businesses go

bust. the outlook for them was already relatively concerning for me before covid. the reality is it has become more difficult to generate income. there is a structural slow down. when you look at the survey data from the pboc, like intentions to post -- purchase a car or durable good, they are not relatively powerful and that suggests that it is a complicated situation because you take consumption away from the economy last year when you are forecasting what to expect. you will obviously see consumption coming back online and be strong in 2021, but the basis is because of structural transformation? my expectation is this is not

necessarily a structural thing, it is basic. even if you get anywhere close to normal consumption this year, you will be seeing rapid headline growth rates in consumption and more growth driven by the consumer side rather than the investment side. haidi: i'm curious as to what you observe when it comes to consumer willingness to take risk. when you take a look at some of the things happening, like the lockdown recently, do you anticipate it will impact the amount of risk people take into the spring festival and how much travel we see? you take a look at the u.s. where the virus deaths are nearing 400 thousand, but people are still getting on planes and traveling and doing things. >> people are very conservative here, to be frank, and the manner in which the government

has responded to covid is also far more i would say, nerdy to my friends and clients. they are very conservative in how they respond. we have seen the most impressive feet probably out of china in 2020 was the effectiveness of the policy response on the spread of covid, and real-time economic data is a function of how successful you are able to slow and prevent the spread of covid. china has done an incredible job and i feel blessed to be here during the endemic. in recent months, what we have seen is the government proven itself relatively effective at imposing the limits of lockdowns. before we go to her very province, we saw in beijing and shin jong -- local authorities have been pretty effective at halting the spread and tracing

contacts and so on and giving people confidence that whatever rise in covid we see, the authorities are managing prevent the spread. the reality is the government's policy is also going to prevent people from being able to enter spring festival like they would have normally. we've already seen big companies instruct the staff not to travel at the chinese new year. spending will be affected negatively or there will be a headwind from that, but remember, we are talking about going back to somewhere near normal levels. even if it doesn't get to 100%, but 75 or 80%, you will see a significant tailwind from the consumer side of the economy. it is very difficult because all

the data out of china will be incredibly positive for the next six months and it is about navigating that. a lot of the commodity clients for example say we understand the data will look amazing, but in the second half of the year, the real structural story will start manifesting itself. that is where i think we need to be looking. it is easy to get overwhelmed by 20 per -- 27% consumer sales, but is that real or base effect? haidi: we will just take the good news for now. [laughter] jeremy stevens, we appreciate your time. more analysis on the day. expecting a strong and to the year for the chinese economy. china is accelerating growth along with president-elect joe biden's stimulus.

the firm says this will be very different from the one that followed the 2008 financial crisis. our head of global asset -- their head of global asset spoke with bloomberg ahead of the bond purchasing program. >> the tapir is off the table right now. i'm not sure how they can agree with that because i think we will have a strong economy in the second half, but that's the message from the central bank which is they will continue to buy $80 billion in treasuries and $40 billion in mortgages and keep the foot on the accelerator. reporter: you have a bullish outlook for economic growth. tell us about it. >> i think there are a couple underpinning's to that. one, we do a lot of business in asia and china is quite strong. we saw exports in asia, they were actually up, near $2.6 trillion. it was a record year.

also, people are underestimating savings. it's about double where we were going into the pandemic. we have seen a huge surge in china as well. the third is fiscal stimulus. we think based on last night's comments from president-elect wyden that -- president-elect biden that disposable income could be up almost 5%, and that's on the heels of a recession in 2020 when disposable income was up 3%. there's a lot of firepower in the tank. we need to get the vaccine out in a thoughtful way, but this is a recession that is quite different and the recovery will be quite different. in 2009, 2010, we were worrying about qe taking off. right now, the economy will make it and it will be strong. from a global perspective, asia will lead us. reporter: are there policymakers

at the fed who see what you see, who see the potential for acceleration of growth, and at the same time who are perhaps concerned that risks of bond buying and debt monetization -- how powerful are the voices at the fed? >> that's a good question. ultimately, i think the fed is committed to keeping rates low. my gut is there is some discussion about the base of tapering. i think the taper tantrum created an unsettled market, but let's put things into perspective. real rates are -100 basis points. that is an incredibly accommodative situation. in 2018, before the pandemic, real rates were positive 100 basis points. we had a lot more room to maybe not have the accelerator quite as much on the bond buying so we

have to wait and see. it is certainly something i think the fed will do but when we get into the fourth quarter of this year, we will have fast, nominal gdp. let me say that again. very fast, nominal gdp growth. the way you deal with that recovery from a central bank perspective has to be different. clearly the bank is taking these inputs and from our standpoint, 150 to 250 companies around the world globally, what we see is an economy that will be poised to grow quite strongly into the second half of 2021 and up to 2022. shery: that was henry mcveigh speaking to erik schatzker. coming up. , approval ratings for japan's prime minister dropping as coronavirus cases surge. the latest over there. this is bloomberg. ♪

haidi: whole numbers for -- poll numbers for the japanese prime minister are falling sharply after rises in coronavirus cases. he is set to be giving a policy speech at the opening of a policy meeting monday. so why has his popularity slipped so quickly given he has

been in office for such a short period of time? reporter: yes. people have grown more and more dissatisfied with his virus response, especially as cases have spiked this winter. the government this month declared a state of emergency for tokyo and other prefectures. but the perception is that he has always been a step behind. emergencies came only after the regional governors requested them. also, the soa this time around is seeing -- seen as a watered-down version this time. keep in mind the government does not have the legal power to enforce strict lockdowns, or businesses refusing to cut hours, which the government is trying to change. at the moment, we are not seeing virus cases come down and we are seeing frustration among the

public, saying that yoshihide suga is doing too little and the response is slow. also the controversial go to travel subsidy last year is also getting blamed for the rise in cases in virus this year. that, among other practices related to the virus response is dragging his support. shery: so will that be reflected when it comes to lower house selections we are expecting before october? what do we expect next? reporter: we have a few key events. one is the olympics coming back, coming up. that's another very sensitive area. we are seeing the public is increasingly opposed to having the games or rising doubt that it can happen. and the lower house selections that needs to happen by october. he needs the backing to stay on

after september, but looking at the low support rate, it is difficult to see the party continue ahead. the question becomes, who will be his successor? the main thing brought up including the chief cabinet secretary and minister, since they are both current cabinet members, they could also be blamed, so it is hard to see any sort of clarity in the future. shery: i tokyo bureau chief. now we turn to the virus situation in india. the country has kicked off the world's largest vaccination drive over the weekend. how smooth has the rollout been so far? reporter: india kick started the vaccination drive with fanfare across many major cities and towns.

the overall activity, it went smoothly. there were hardly any side effects or any sort of problems. the prime minister launched the program addressing 3000 centers across the country, given mainly to health-care workers. on the first day, on the first day it says that they were able to vaccinate about 165,000 health workers and the doctors, nurses, medical staff started lining up early in the morning across the designated centers and they are basically using this app to reach the people who

need vaccinations. the app itself gives them a particular time and designated vocation where they need to go to get their vaccine shot. so a lot of doctors and nurses and staff we spoke to had some apprehension on the side effects of the vaccine, but most of them were very happy afterwards. they did not have any side effects or reactions to the vaccine. most of them were not showing any signs after the shots were given. i would say the first day went on quite smoothly.

haidi: are there concerns about safety when it comes to this very quick rollout? reporter: at this moment, they have approved two vaccines basically. the first one is called -- it is developed by the institute of india. the other one is produced by an indigenous company. india's drug regulation has given the go-ahead for the vaccine before the final stages of the trial were over. even on saturday on the first day, there were certain centers were doctors were already apprehensive about getting that vaccine shot. but at this moment, they have

gone ahead and none of the doctors who got the shot had any reaction. shery: our reporter in mumbai. breaking news at the moment. joe biden is expected to pick gary gensler for the sec, the u.s. securities and exchange commission. when he comes to the consumer financial protection bureau, joe biden is picking a commissioner on the federal trade commission. we are getting the latest picks for the sec and the cfpb. gary gensler to the sec while chopra will be leading the cfpb,

or consumer financial protection bureau. coming up, ubs tells us why they are adding bonds -- chinese bonds to perform leo's. plenty more to come. this is bloomberg. ♪

>> 9:00 a.m. in beijing and shanghai. welcome to bloomberg markets, china open. i'm tom mackenzie. >> we are counting down to the first session of the week. stocks across the region down along with u.s. futures, awaiting delays of numbers out of china and the markets comes le