>> this is

fed powell for reassurance that stimulus -- central banks first meeting of the year comes as the covid crisis worsens. the vaccine rollout and the prospects of more fiscal stimulus are providing glimmers of hope. the imf raises its forecast to 5.5%. china delivers more signs recovery is on track. data came out just a while ago. growth for an eighth straight month, signaling demand remains robust. and saudi arabia returns, selling $5 billion of bonds. the kingdom raises -- 8:00 a.m. across the emirates. virus variance and stimulus hurdles, both of these factors still weighing on sentiment. here is the state of play. strong earnings overnight from microsoft. the big tech barrage continues with apple, facebook and tesla. u.s. tens were 103 for the yield. t optionh cyclee $62 a seven-year sale. demand will be a supportive factor. the bloomberg dollar index.

brent crude at $56.17. we had the industry report suggesting a decrease in u.s. crude stockpiles. the secretary-general and opec said we are hopeful for 2021. we believe the worst is over. let's see how the markets are faring in asia pacific. let's get more details with juliette saly joining us from singapore. juliette: a bit of a flat session today with asian stocks drifting, but perhaps not a bad thing considering we have the biggest slide in two months yesterday. we heard comments from the pboc governor trying to calm sentiment after we saw that withdrawal of funds yesterday, reiterating the pboc will not be exiting prematurely from supporting monetary policies. you have the hong kong market going into the lunch break. the nikkei extending a few gains from the morning session. asx 200 is underperforming.

australia it was closed yesterday for australia day, so they are playing catch-up to the selling we saw across the region. even know we had cpi rising faster than forecast in the december quarter. in singapore, they are falling for a fourth day, set to be the longest losing run in more than three months, after china vowed to reign in its steel output. yousef: we will get back to you later in the program, juliette saly. let's get you the first word headlines now with simone foxman in doha. simone: good morning. the world health organization is stepping up its attack on rich nations over covid vaccines, calling on governments to ensure poor countries also have access to shots. the renewed criticism comes as global virus infections top 100 million, with the u.k. becoming the first european country to report 100,000 deaths.

the w.h.o. says wealthy governments must do more to help poorer nations. >> with every day that passes, the divide grows larger between the world's haves and have nots. in my opening remarks last monday, i said the world faced a catastrophic moral failure if it does not walk the talk on vaccine equity. simone: hsbc says it is committed to hong kong and denies it has become a tool of the authorities in china. the ceo was fielding questions from british mp's, telling them the bank had no options but to close the account of an exiled hong kong lawmaker under local laws. hsbc is trying to stay out of politics, while doing the right thing by its customers. >> if the question was, am i willing to walk away from hong kong, the answer is no.

we're too committed as an institution through our heritage and our history. we believe firmly in that the economy and the communities, and we want to help it continue develop. simone: the italian prime minister has carried out his threat to resign, banking on being asked to form a new government. giuseppe conte goes after losing his majority, plunging italy into chaos. the president will nominate a new prime minister. if it is to be conte, it would be his third government in four years. and antony blinken has been confirmed as the new u.s. secretary of state. the long-standing biden aide will be tasked with renewing nuclear talks with iran, restoring trust with u.s. allies, and confronting an increasingly bullish china and russia. he was approved in the senate by 78 votes to 22.

he's pledged a bipartisan approach to the job as america's top diplomat. global news 24 hours a day on air and on quicktake by bloomberg, powered by more than 2700 journalists and analysts in more than 120 countries. i'm simone foxman. this is bloomberg. yousef: let's get back to our top story. the fed's first meeting of the year is upon us. investors are looking for reassurance from jerome powell he will not pay for asset purchases anytime soon as the global virus continues to worsen. but acceleration of the vaccine rollout and prospects of more stimulus are offering some hope. the imf has boosted its global forecast to 5.5%, the biggest expansion since 2007. they credit improvement in the u.s. for much of the upgrade. >> we estimate that if you can get faster end to this health crisis by a faster rollout of

vaccine, we had $9 trillion to the global economy. and everyone benefits, including the advanced economies. this is a very strong economic case. yousef: let's get out to chris weston, head of research at pepperstone group. quite a bit of consensus around staying the course around rates for the fed. what are we going to get in terms of signposts for the future of the repurchase program for the bonds? chris: i do not think we are going to get a lot unfortunately, because the fed are now under their new regime. they want to see inflation high. they are evidence-based. they are more reactive than proactive. they may look at breakevens and inflation swaps.

but we are not at that stage. we saw some regional fed presidents recently talked about being open to 2021 being a taper. that was sharply shut down by the fed chairman powell. -- to reinforce that they are reactive. the question we need to ask ourselves is when did that language start to change. for me, given my stance on global markets and reflation, i think the language will probably start to change and become more nuanced and hawkish around probably april time. yousef: you look at what is happening with the yield curve, the steepening that's taking place, and you begin to wonder whether equities are going to face the pull of gravity. there has been a very contentious discussion around elevated valuations. run me through what the thinking

is at pepperstone at the moment around that. chris: i think we are ok with the curve steepening, and we believe the market will continue to rotate, and rotation is the key. as long as we're seeing a situation where yields are moving up in positive, and the fact there is not a taper tantrum is because economic growth is looking good, people are increasing duration bets based on that. it's also made up with breakevens adding to probably what i would consider to be a ceiling of about 225. i cannot see them getting much higher than that, because when i think that trades around 2%, or at least that is the perception. but inflation expectations bring up, we do get back into that regime, and i think taper will be refraining from buying volatility and people will be in

certain sectors that benefit from that. the moment we get breakevens hitting that point, we are talking not anytime soon, but probably halfway through the year we get to a point where tenure breakevens hit 225 and nominal's continue to go up, that's when real yields start moving up, and that has big implications to markets. i think at some stage we will see that. yousef: the other thing i would like you to weigh in on, chris, is on gamestop. the volatility has taken everybody by surprise. the power of reddit and tiktok, out for everyone to see. it kind of also raises the bigger question as to whether it represents a systemic risk, or whether this is just a fad. chris: i don't think it represents a systemic risk. there will be some in market who

talk about free markets. that's an interesting one, given the fed has been buying corporate debt. there's that propensity to -- but no doubt for the first time ever we have seen the retail trading community working as a collective unit targeting shorts. that very well may be viewed as manipulation itself. then we get the gema squeeze which perpetuates them higher. but they have been given a level playing field. to take that away or to limit that could be seen as a way of impending on so-called free markets and the inequality of financial markets. so i'm a bit concerned about how that transcends with the sec does. the fed cannot do anything about this. but this comes down to the sec. it seems to me at some stage,

they may have to be involved, but what does that look like? what does that mean for the perception of free markets? so this is a really fascinating story. yousef: it is. there is a lot to think about and consider. the other front we are all thinking about are these 60/40 portfolios, and whether they are relevant in this day and age, will be able to endure. the 60/40 outlook has once again been cut. basically stocks and bonds now seem delivering just 1.4% after inflation. expectations were for -- it was 2.4%. what do you do about that? does that just get pushed more into equities in these portfolios? chris: that would be the obvious answer, wouldn't it? i'm lucky i don't manage people's money, i just talk about where it goes. the weight of having to

outperform in this year given the backdrop, given so much of this future value has been brought to the present, is going to be very tough. it makes a lot of sense that the fixed income side of town will underperform. which is why a lot of people would say if you want to play reflation in the equity market, you go straight to japan. because they are so overweight that if you get that rebalance, why is why in that steeper curve globally, from that rebalancing trade going forward. my base case unfortunately falls in consensus trade, which is scary, but you have to recognize science is part of the macro trader. i do sydney cap that -- i do sit in the camp that the velocity of money, i think we are going to see a change of that. i do not believe the fed will cap yields. and therefore i feel we are

going to see a steeper curve. yousef: hold onto some of those ideas. we have a lot to discuss with chris weston, who is staying with us. more to come. this is bloomberg. ♪ 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.

yousef: the latest data out of this morning shows the china industrial profits rose sharply in december, signaling demand remains robust. but good news may be bad news for markets. it bolsters the case for pboc to taper amid signs beijing is growing weary of liquidity fueled success in markets. still, the pboc governor told the world economic forum they will not prematurely exit. >> looking forward, i think our monetary policy will continue, and we will keep dedicated

balance between supporting economic recovery, at the same time preventing risk. we will ensure that policy is consistent and stable, and will not exit from supporting policy prematurely. yousef: chris weston is head of research at pepperstone group, still with us. the markets getting a little bit of a sneak peek, a very somber one at that, of what a liquidity withdrawal would look like, and how markets are likely to react. chris: yes. i think the consensus numbers, in the u.s. is where markets are genuinely -- generally focused. the consensus is the fed will come out in q1 of 22 and share that view. i think for markets, as long as

the fed are communicating this with genuine skill, and they show a consensus view, and we listen to the right people in the fed, and we are seeing the signs of the data and look at the fed's weekly economic data point, i think that is fine. yousef: i think he might have misunderstood my question. my question was around the pboc, not the fed. like, the pboc's withdrawal of liquidity. chris: i think there is a balancing act there as well. the market has been focused on the fed, but what is really important for me as a traitor is out dollars in asia trade. the big influence happening between chinese government debt relative to what we have been seeing in u.s. government debt. and therefore you have seen inflows into chinese assets. so i think you will see a situation where the chinese yuan

would strengthen and dollar cny has been the most influential currency for the global influential trade. there has been a big downdraft we have seen into the 640. it's been so influential for copper, base metals, industrial metals. if we do get a situation where we get earlier liquidity, it will be net yield advantage on chinese debt increases. we see more inflows and it may break 640. that just means commodities will be incredibly well. yousef: chris, thank you for joining the program. chris weston, head of pepperstone group. more ahead. this is bloomberg. ♪ is bloomberg. ♪ are you frustrated with your weight and health? it's time for aerotrainer, a more effective total body fitness solution. (announcer) aerotrainer's ergodynamic design

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yousef: saudi arabia sought $5

billion in bonds, marking a return to foreign capital markets after staying away the last half of 2020. simone foxman has the details. how was the offering received? simone: extremely well, following well received offerings elsewhere. two tranches here, 12 year bedt -- debt. i will show you what the comparison was. 2060 bonds that were outstanding already. the 40 year bonds to mature, just about that time frame. we saw a yield of 3.45%, roughly in line of what you see here, after the initial talk of 3.75%. this bodes very well for saudi arabia. likely to tap that market a lot

this year. they expect to raise something like $14.5 billion to fund their operations. yousef: another recent participant has been turkey. the imf raised its growth forecast for the country. what is behind this reassessment? simone: a couple things. mainly related to coronavirus. so, four things off the bat. vaccine rollout, recovery and trading partner growth, carryover from strong growth in 2020, and the imf really praising the turnabout we have seen at the home of the various finance ministry as well as essential bank. as you know, rates were hiked which has caused investor confidence. that is why we have seen rising demand for foreign interest in that country's bonds. the imf though also warning the

country needs to stick to the program and ward off high inflation. likely to potentially unsettle things. but overall seen the gdp estimate go from 5% to 6% for 2021. so, better-than-expected outlook here in turkey. yousef: and a new deal could bring two rare investment novelties to the region. a cannabis listing and -- simone: i put this out because this deal has everything. this is a cannabis company currently listed in tel aviv. its chairman is a former israeli prime minister. it's going to be merged with a canadian called subversive --

they recently brought on board jay-z as a special chief visionary officer. anyway, the merger is intended to ultimately bring this company to the nasdaq. thinks they can get more liquidity there. value in the company at $300 million. trying to take advantage of what they see as strong recreational use, and growing acceptance around the world. yousef: absolutely. simone foxman in doha. i would like to recap some earnings we got. a big beat from microsoft help set a floor in u.s. stock trade overnight. other highlights from the likes of amd, giving an update -- an upbeat forecast against rival and kyle -- rival intel.

the company has struggled for decades to make a sustainable impact against intel, which remains the world's largest chipmaker. now they have brought a lot of information -- innovation and outsourced production. early market share gains. texas instruments, another story in the broader tech space. they are seeing strong demand. the forecast that came for the current quarter, they are seeing a rebound for semiconductors for vehicles particularly. personal electronics and industrial use as well. let's flip the board and talk about zinc. this is one of the standouts in the commodity space. really, this is a story that is driven by the inventory, which has jumped. and virus variance weighing on sentiments. this is a two month low because of a surge in inventory.

metal used to galvanize stainless steel. a bit of a short squeeze. that is really leading to a massive repricing across the board in this space. broadly in terms of market sentiment, it's really about a lack of detail on the stimulus in the u.s., and still quite an opaque picture around the world dealing with the coronavirus effectively, because cases are still increasing and there are questions around these variants. whether the vaccines can handle these variants in different parts of the world. relative caution as we count down to the fed decision later in the day. currently down .1%. more earnings around the corner with the likes of apple, facebook, and tesla. what are we going to see in terms of iphone sales with the iphone 12? that will be something to watch out for. treasuries, paring some small

losses. 1.43 for the yield. look out for a major option cycle on thursday. the bloomberg dollar index, .1% higher. coverage continues shortly. this is bloomberg. ♪

yousef: this is "bloomberg daybreak: middle east." investors will look to jay powell for reassurance that stimulus will not be tapered anytime soon. the central bank's first meeting of the year comes as the covid crisis worsens. the vaccine rollout and more fiscal stimulus are providing glimmers of hope. the imf forecast for growth, 5.4%. more signs the recovery is on track, profits rose in december. saudi arabia returns to the dollar debt market, selling $5

million of bonds. they look whether to lower oil prices. juliette saly from our singapore studio, how has the session developed? juliette: we are seeing asian stocks at least not as dire as the selling we saw yesterday when asian stocks had their biggest drop in two months. the nikkei is showing signs of strength in the afternoon. south korea's kospi is being sold off. australia's market trying to play catch-up to the slowdown yesterday. it is an underperformer even though we saw australian fourth-quarter cpi rise faster than forecast, due to the government amending funding to stimulus programs like childcare. and a look at watching china with industrial profits continuing to increase sharply

in december, up for a seven month -- seventh month in a row. bloomberg economics says the double-digit industrial profit number supports the pboc tapering. the central bank might be exiting prematurely from its monetary policy. yousef: meanwhile, goldman sachs is -- what are the details? juliette: nearly doubling here to 95 billion, they are expecting mainland investors to buy into the hong kong market, up from previous forecasts. they had underestimated the positive low impact driven by what they are calling the support for the u.s. restricted names. goldman listing the price earnings target for msci to 16 times by the end of the year from 15.6 they had earlier. and when they look at stocks

they think mainland traders will target, solar. yousef: thank you very much, juliette saly with nuances in the asian markets. the equity story now with our reporter, saudi arabia is considering the initial public offerings for some of the companies it owns according to the governor, what is the context and the details? felipe: i think it is interesting to hear the governor talk about ipo's of company they own, because this goes in line with what we have been hearing saudi arabia in the past, which is a lot of smaller ipo's from what we have seen in the past, many attracting a lot of interest. especially from local investors. we do not know a lot or have a lot of details of what the ipo's

could be, but he was quite clear when talking to journalists in the briefing in riyadh yesterday that they do consider moving on with some of the company's. this came yesterday after the big player within the kingdom saying they are conducting studies for an ipo off of their unit. we have reported that in the past, and we should keep this deal in mind, it should happen soon. we also had news about another company, a smaller player of water and power technologies that confirmed they are coming to the market next month to sell a 30% stake in the company in an ipo in riyadh. yousef: saudi arabia's medical services is seen likely to attract over $80 billion as soon

made. why is that? filipe: that is an interesting figure. within the health care segment in saudi is because it is another index play. we had a report yesterday saying the company meets the requirement, the technical requirement to the main a margin -- emerging-market. the popular gauge most em investors look at globally. this would attract around $80 million to 100 million dollars. this could be announced as soon as may, that is the next time there is a major review. there should be a lot of activity with this before the announcement. the share is up 80% this year so far. yousef: what is on the radar for

earnings today? filipe: quite busy day, we have investors reacting to the posted profit that was higher than analysts were estimating last year. the share was capped at 74. reaction to the national bank of kuwait and the kuwaiti market, and the big-name posted a beat and profit for the year. within those names that we are expecting to see, their numbers, we have important players here in dubai and in qatar. yousef: thank you very much. let's talk about the bridgewater associates ceo, david mccormick. he says the u.s. lacks a clear plan for global leadership. speaking to erik schatzker.

>> china has a plan for global leadership. many companies have a plan. what is our plan? what is our plan to ensure global leadership across the dimensions of power? i do not think that plan is clear and it should be the focus of policy makers in the coming months and years. erik: it is probably fair to say the economy of the 2010s was defined by monetary stimulus, rising asset prices, and widening inequality. now we have a pandemic. should the federal reserve the juicing markets this aggressively, or is now the time to put the genie back in the bottle? >> it harkens back a little bit to my time in 2007-2008, very similar in some ways and different in others. we are in a moment where we have

the health crisis and economic crisis. we are at the end of an era in the midst of a paradigm shift, where our ability to respond to that economic challenges with monetary policy alone is limited because of the enormity of what has been done and the low interest rate environment we live in. as a consequence, we think we will see more of what we refer to of the combination of fiscal and monetary. unfortunately at this moment there has to be a lot of policy intervention to get us through this patch. the consequences of not responding in a forceful way are dramatic. look anything else, taking big steps in public policy have enormous second and third order questions, -- consequences, and we will have to deal with those and the added indebtedness, and eventually we will have to begin to transition to normalcy in

monetary policy. the time to do that is more in the future than the immediate. erik: you are not one of the investors at bridgewater. but you are an astute observer of financial markets and any student of markets in the economy. there is a lot of talk about a bubble. do you think we are in a bubble? >> i think we are at a moment of enormous uncertainty where public policy is having more of an impact on markets than at any time in my adult lifetime. that has a number of consequences to it. what we are seeing is a divergence of how the real economy and the markets are responding to what has happened, and that divergence will have to be reconciled.

in the immediate term because of the policy response, we will see market behaviors that are broad ranging in terms of how things play out. the reason for that is, you have the dynamics of the pandemic and the uncertainty around that, that dynamics around policy response, and politicization, and what that means is the range of possible outcomes for investors is extremely broad. you can have a japan style recession-depression over the next decade, or a 1970's stagflation. if you are an investor or policymaker, you need to think about that broad continuum of possibilities. that creates a lot of uncertainty in markets and for policymakers. yousef: that is the ceo of bridgewater associates, david

mccormick. still more to come on "bloomberg daybreak: middle east." this is bloomberg. ♪

>> by the middle part of this year we will get systems back to normal, the vaccination rollouts will continue, and we will accelerate our growth in the back half of the year. >> [indiscernible] >> we favor the tools, but we

will make covid like flu. this will not disturb our lives or the economy. >> the light at the end of the tunnel, we have a political cycle with a new administration, and intense focus on getting us through the crisis in terms of what is going on with the rollout of vaccines. >> we have treatment protocols that most of 2020 we did not have. we have more testing availability, and rapid testing and more accurate testing, will -- we have a much better understanding of the virus. yousef: those are health and business leaders. breaking lines hitting the bloomberg from dubai's biggest bank, a red headline on impairments. they are booking $2.16 billion in impairments with profits dropping 52%.

let's break that down in more detail. fiscal year profit numbers at 6.9 7 billion durham's is the nominal amount. total income slightly higher, compared to -- there was a question mark in terms of how aggressively some impairments had been booked in prior quarters as dubai struggled with the impact of the coronavirus. it is an economy dependent on travel, tourism and trade. a $2.16 billion impairment and a profit drop of 52%, they are keeping their dividend for the fiscal year. the stock has been performing relatively well, in line with the broader market, up 12.6%. this will be interesting for the market to get its head around in

terms of how businesses are exposed with the repayment schedules, and we will break this down in more detail in the hours and days to come. back to the story of the imf, they raised their forecast for global growth this year, betting that vaccines and fiscal stimulus will offset the immediate challenges of the pandemic. >> the u.s. ended 2020 with an additional stimulus provided, and that is an important fact for the upgrade for the u.s. 2020 also ended in a less worse place than what we projected. in the case of the euro area, we still have containment measures in place. the virus resurgence leading to a decline in mobility which is

more than what we have seen in the u.s. that is part of the reason why we have downgraded for the first quarter in the euro area. jonathan: on the stimulus effort, the 900 billion is in the outlook. the 1.9 trillion, is that a little extra for you? what would that do for the outlook? gita: it still has to be completely settled, so it is not in our focus. we have a preliminary estimate that says 1.9 trillion stimulus would raise the level of u.s. gdp by 5% over three years. that is between 2021-2023. we are in the midst of the health crisis and there is a need for faster vaccine rollout,

and health spending including testing. and also, providing support to vulnerable households and businesses. in all of those important pieces that have to be addressed, those are support measures that should be provided. jonathan: do you base the numbers on the size of the program, or are there specifics the imf would like to see more of? gita: i'm making a statement about what our estimate is, and it is a fiscal multiplier that we know from previous data on how much. based on the package that was talked about, the details have to be worked out. we will see what shape it takes. jonathan: one thing you said

from the outlook is the new mutations and strains. brazil, the united kingdom and africa raise the bar for reopening. how do you think of these at the moment? gita: while stay at home is difficult and social distancing is difficult, we know the chances of the virus mutating is higher when all of us are out there mixing. this is an additional reason for being cautious, and it is very important to wear masks. we have to continue to vaccinate a high percentage. we still need to accelerate the rate of the vaccine rollout, and make it available to the world as a whole. we know the virus mutation can come from anywhere in the world. jonathan: what you are building up is critical, the conversation

i have with market participants, differentials between the united states, the vaccine rollout is good here and bad there, one will do ok, the other terribly. would you make the argument that if we do not make a bigger effort to vaccinate those outside the developed world that that will drag down the global economy at some time anyway? gita: absolutely, the arguments are obvious. on the health side, because of the new variants, we should know the pandemic is not over until it is over everywhere. we estimate if you can get to a faster and to the health crisis -- faster end to the health crisis, we would add $9 trillion the global economy between 2020 -2025, and everybody benefits. this is a strong economic case for doing more now.

yousef: that is the imf chief economist speaking to jonathan ferro earlier. bankers at morgan stanley and goldman sachs are set for the biggest bonus jumps in asia. their peers at citigroup may receive a smaller amount, but -- what are the main drivers behind the hefty increase? >> it is all about deals. we saw last year and 87% bump in acquisitions, and m&a deals have risen in asia. they were down in most of the rest of the world. morgan stanley and goldman were at the top of this. they led an equity underwriting in asia pacific. the bonuses are across sectors.

we will see the biggest payouts for bankers who worked in health care. the trading side has been busy. we are hearing the bonus 20% at morgan stanley in asia pacific. yousef: is it happening at all banks in the region? jonas: the bonuses will be smaller with that same group, and j.p. morgan, the and the more traditional banks, if you are looking globally, some are temporary payouts. it does not look good to have massive paydays in a difficult time for many people around the world because of the pandemic. yousef: we appreciate your time, thank you for that. jonas bergman. every day we break down our coverage, and today's number is

158%. here to explain is simone fox. >> truckers are spurning the trip between france and the u.k. while the crisis may be gone in the long lines of trucks that we saw around the end of last year, this is a real issue for those carrying goods between the countries. right now rejection rates, freighters saying they will not carry goods across the border. they are 158% higher than last year, that he equates to one in five shipments of goods being rejected by the carriers. there are a lot of issues in terms of moving these trucks across the border, higher import duties, simply waiting time 3%-5% longer, and most of this data comes from the german firm that tracks this freight data.

another big deal for the shippers because margins are tight. yousef: how are truckers responding? simone: in addition to simply not going, they are hiking the rates of taking cargo across the border, they are about 50% higher than in the third quarter. we ignore the fourth quarter because there was stockpiling going on. volumes are lower, 38% of where they were last year. some of that has to do with coronavirus, but some clearly has to do with brexit. shippers are trying to bypass the u.k. route altogether. a new route open between dublin and amsterdam on monday, that is a possibility for folks trying to move goods. margins are tight for the shipping companies.

this could be redundancies getting out of the business overall. yousef: thank you very much, simone fox in doha. i want to get back to dubai's biggest bank, a red headline moments ago, a major move in terms of impairments. they are looking to $.16 billion in fiscal year impairments. -- $2.16 billion dollars in fiscal year impairments. the market had been looking for 6.4 billion -- it appears to have -- they are siding higher provisions from the sale of international shares that are not repeated in 2020. that excludes the network. profit was down 31% year on year. they are giving that bigger

context. payment allowance, they are siding weaker credit environment and the impact of covid-19 with net cost of risks, and 163 bits. this is a very important metric to understanding uae economic activity in dubai in particular after the damage done from covid-19. a bit of guidance from the bank, and we will see how the market digests these results as we count down to the open. i want to get back to the global matters as we count down to the fed decision. it is a day of relative consciousness, and we see that reflected on the s&p. microsoft came in with a big beat, and there will be plenty to look forward to with apple, facebook, and tesla. it is about the virus variants,

and the hurdles to stimulus that are drawing a cloud over positive pockets in the earnings season, that includes texas instruments. a lot of strength in tech. treasuries are paring smaller losses. the bloomberg dollar index comes under pressure, down 1%. excuse me -- the bloomberg dollar index is up 0.1%. brent crude is up 0.3%. overnight we heard from the secretary general who said that they believe the worst is over, and they are hopeful 2021 will be a good year. technical factors are part of that line of thinking. we are also seeing good moves, interesting moves rather depending on whether you are

long or short, in the commodity space outside of oil. things like gold and zinc. the short squeeze and zinc helping propel gains around inventories. coverage continues. this is bloomberg. ♪

>> the following is a paid program. the opinions and views expressed do not reflect those of bloomberg lp, its affiliates or its employees. announcer: the following is a paid presentation brought to you by rare collectibles tv. ♪ >> the california gold rush is considered to be one of the most impactful events to affect america's young economy during its first 100 years, and it has certainly had a long-lasting impression in numismatic history, as well. the people of california soon needed a way to standardize the value of the new gold, so they