anchor 1: good morning we are counting down to asia's major market open. anchor 2: welcome to daybreak asia. our top stories this hour. asian markets face declines after tech and retail drag on wall street. the sec searching social media for signs of fraud in the gamestop frenzy. alibaba adr is extending gains,

a green to a restructuring plan with china, an announcement could come before the new -- lunar new year. south korea's potential next president seeks that speaks exclusively to bloomberg. relations with japan and hopes for the new administration in washington. anchor 1: let's take a look at how we are faring. what are you watching? >> we are watching miners? , the presiding iron or giant missing estimates in the fourth quarter. we are seeing names like bhp fluctuating this morning. also keeping an eye on agl energy after it booked its first-half charge. broadly speaking little changed at the start of the staggered open. check out what is going on with aussie bombs. the 10 years are rising for a

fifth straight day, climbing above 1.2%, the highest level since march. curve steepening ahead of us billion trade data that is due for december. elsewhere, heavy earnings for japan. pharma and entity data reporting along with japanese banks. nikkei futures in chicago opening, little change. this is after u.s. stocks capped a three-day gain. it did peter out into the close as amazon tumbled. qualcomm tumbled. the commodities, crude, wti at the 56 level here, this after opec-plus pledged talents of the market. anchor 2: let's get more on the

equity side. great to have you with us. looking at the number of companies that have reported, particularly when you take a look at s&p 500 components, it's interesting that it is earnings as well as sales. what is translating is an upgrade to guidance. is that because the markets have priced in the performance of the last quarter and are really looking ahead to the next phase of the pandemic, or post pandemic? guest: absolutely. it has been a good earnings season. interestingly, it does look like the s&p will close the fourth quarter pretty much reported earnings that are flat over the previous year. that is a pretty big recovery given where we came from. certainly, there is a lot priced

into the market. companies that are able to provide some regularity on what their business model looks like post pandemic is being rewarded. haidi: what about the risks for distortion? one of the things you pointed out, distress indices are trading at a higher valuation. what does that tell you about the risk reward scenario that investors are willing to take at the moment? guest: there are a lot of stories within those statistics. one is that the unprecedented amount of liquidity is still in the system. having said that, there are business models that are going to be more challenged, given how the pandemic has affected certain businesses. and ultimately, certain employees more than others. those companies that are hospitality related are clearly going to be challenged. restaurants are going to be challenged.

that is where you see capital having to challenge get into. there is a lot of liquidity. there is a reach for yield. that money continues to come in. business models once again that have a little more clarity and regularity that investors can grab hold of. shery: we are seeing more strategies with these risky bets. we are seeing u.s. junk bond yields sitting near record lows. could this potentially form a systemic risk going forward, given all of the liquidity we are seeing out there? guest: it certainly will come to a point of reckoning at some point. i think the support we have in the market from both monetary, and to a certain degree the amount of fiscal that is being talked about in the u.s. as well as globally, keeps markets

somewhat frothy, but in an environment where valuations can continue to be stable, and/or potentially expand. shery: we are seeing u.s. inflation expectations again rebound. this chart showing that. today of course, we have the 530, the yield curve steepening to a level we have not seen in years. how investable is this environment? guest: there is good inflation, and there are higher yields based on good reason. i think that is where we are right now, in terms of expecting the rebound, expecting growth that is going to bring inflation back to normal. we do have some base effects from inflation that are going to have some pretty, what might be spectacular looking, because it has been a wild since we had three plus percent within the cpi. those are base effects based on

what we saw last year, ultimately making their way out of the numbers. the fed is not going to be faced by that. they certainly understand that. with the monetary support i think a lot of people's -- expect to continue, you can still grab hold of risk even though you have some of those inflation concerns starting to bubble. haidi: you talk about the yield being a theme that will be continuing. with and emerging-market space, where do you see those flows going into? because there are some concerns that perhaps we have seen a peak idiom equities at least. guest: i think the reach for yields remains out there, particular given our outlook on yields remaining all deadly low -- relatively low. historical standards, are quite low.

there are some emerging markets, particularly those that might benefit from a reflation, that will continue to see those capital close make their way into those markets. i have a tendency to like hard currency yields when it comes to emerging markets, a bit more than local currency, given the volatility we have seen on the emfx part of the equation. but i do think you will continue to see investors coming into, again, hide yields as well as some of the emerging-market fixed income assets. shery: the fact that policymakers in china are tightening liquidity change the outlook? guest: that is certainly a risk that is starting to evolve. china is in a better position when it comes to seeing growth last year, versus the rest of the world certainly still is struggling. i think that china proxy is in an environment where the central bank tries to tighten

conditions, just because they are in a position where they are able to do that, it's something you need to keep on your radar in terms of thinking about how much of that appreciation is going to about this year. shery: always great having you with us. thank you so much for joining us. don't miss a big guest later in the week. and excellence of interview to discuss the fallout of the retail trading frenzy, the economic recovery in the u.s., and how the pandemic has had a disproportionate impact on minorities. take a look at apple after hours, we are seeing it gain ground on reports that it is finalizing a deal with kia motors and south korea over electric vehicles manufacturing. we have heard from media, that perhaps this investment would be around 4,000,000,000,001 or $3.6 billion. it would take place at u.s. kia georgia plants. apple rising after hours.

let's get to karina mitchell with the first word headlines. karina: some good news on the pandemic front. the number of people receiving at least one dose of the vaccine worldwide has out you all the total number of infections. one of 4 million jabs have been given, the same as the case total. at present occult is working on a reengineered stock that protects against all mutations, with april out target in the third quarter. but darn rise offering but turn up -- -- moderna is offering -- republican mitt romney saying not a single gop member will support it. the about the plan redrawn and also questions whether providing extra state and local hate, and hiring more teachers makes sense. bombing and other republicans -- romney and other republicans met with biden. financial firms are being warned

to lower expectations after brexit. banking regulators have told industry leaders they are now focused on those diverging, rather than equalizing. both sides are preparing a memo on regulation that is due by the end of march. the myanmar military is strengthening its grip on power, charging civilian laters with breaching, possessing illegal walkie-talkies. the ousted president is accused of violating covid-19 restrictions at an election rally after three years behind bars. washington has announced monday's take over as a coup, and is reviewing sanctions of foreign aid. 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: still ahead, olympic

organizers released a playbook ahead of the delay tokyo games. they will be discussing what they include and what is still missing. but first, chinese regulators have reportedly agreed to an overhaul that will turn the sin tech giant into a financial holding company. we get the details next. this is bloomberg. ♪ (announcer) back pain hurts, and it's frustrating. you can spend thousands on drugs, doctors, devices, and mattresses, and still not get relief. now there's aerotrainer by golo, the ergonomically correct exercise breakthrough that cradles your body so you can stretch and strengthen your core, relieve back pain, and tone your entire body. since i've been using the aerotrainer, my back pain is gone. when you're stretching your lower back on there, there is no better feeling. (announcer) do pelvic tilts for perfect abs and to strengthen your back. do planks for maximum core and total body conditioning. (woman) aerotrainer makes me want to work out.

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shery: chinese regulators are said to have agreed to a restructuring plan that will turn jack ma's tech giant into a financial holding company. it comes four months after beijing pulled the plug on ants record audio. let's get the record. it is not necessarily the worst case scenario, the worst-case plan, but not the best one either. guest: there is a lot of uncertainty, what this structure will be like.

a financial holding company. from my understanding, the rules is a fairly new instrument, that is overseen as well by the pboc. the central bank. so how much -- we do know that all of the ant assets, that's just the financial assets like insurance payments, wealth management and the like. but everything, including blockchain technology, as well as food delivery logistics, all of the assets of aunt is going into this financial holding company, which will then be overseen by the pboc. what does that entail? we do know the pboc want to contain financial risk. a big part of aunt -- ant's biggest revenue generator are rem -- lender platforms. just lend. the two vehicles that have been telling out these microloans, so people can go and shop on the

various alibaba platforms. alibaba is not holding much of those loans -- ant is not holding much of those loans on the books. the risk is going off to the banks. the pboc wants to eliminate those potential risks in the financial system. we have to see whether this is going to be, denting ant's ability to grow as it did in the past. haidi: what does this ultimately mean for the business going forward? for jack ma? we are all wondering if that means any future ipo drops. guest: most people are saying when it was going to go public, the ipo was going to be valuing the company around $300 billion. others i have seen $153 billion, but a lot has to be played out. evaluation could absolutely be slashed in half.

this is not the worst-case scenario for alibaba/ant. because it is not a complete breakup. they are going to be allowed to do these other businesses beyond payments, because there was some speculation that they wanted to back down to just a payments platform. it looks as though they will be able to continue on in other businesses. the government wants consumer spending, they want to have that facilitated. they don't want monopolies and they don't want those financial risks with microloans. they want to take the over leveraging out of the equation. we have to see how the management, management is maybe too strong of a word, the oversight of the pboc in this holding company is going to hinder or allow aunt -- ant to go on its trajectory. if it does go to ipo it will be a smaller ipo. we have to sift through a lot of things, and perhaps there will be more regulation coming down.

haidi: our chief north asian correspondent with the latest. coming up next, u.s. regulations are said to be driving -- diving deep into social media posts to look for signs of fraud. we get the very latest. this is bloomberg. ♪ when you switch to xfinity mobile, you're choosing to get connected to the most reliable network nationwide, now with 5g included. discover how to save up to $300 a year with shared data starting at $15 a month, or get the lowest price for one line of unlimited. come into your local xfinity store to make the most of your mobile experience. you can shop the latest phones, bring your own device, or trade in for extra savings. stop in or book an appointment to shop safely with peace of mind at your local xfinity store.

shery: bloomberg news has learned the sec is combing social media posts for signs of fraud. su keenan joins us now. investigators are looking for specific signs of market manipulation, talking about how it is a high legal barrier to reach. but they are still looking for that evidence. >> this appears to be a fairly broad-based search into the social media message boards.

it is also part of a broader base to look into the market to malt -- market to malt that coincides with the market data trading data related to this frenzy. it comes as treasury secretary janet yellen is calling for review of the market volatility. the dizzying heights of gamestop were supported by a lot of online chatter. the sec again, according to those close with the matter, is specifically seeking social media posts that will show signs of market manipulation. and but those close to the matter say is, they are looking for information that would improperly tilt the market. posts that they hope the stock would go to the moon or cheering it on is not considered manipulation. they are also looking at the brokerages role in the frenzied rally. all of these stocks, gamestop, ansi and many others were touted

in reddit sub posts, particular in a post called wall street bets. those apparently are among things that will be scrutinized. the prevailing narrative is that these band of wall street day traders ended up catching a lot of wall street short-sellers flat-footed, and that they push stocks higher that the head cheese had bet against. but there is another view, according to rfid service -- another view, according to some, and that is market professionals may have actually taken advantage of this edit fueled frenzy, or helped height it -- height it. shery: the frenzy has faded a little bit. tell us a little bit about the swings, in the hunt for a new short squeeze. >> if you look at the chart of

gamestop, it again has had a wild run, up 13%, down a little bit. it managed to eke out a gain by the end of the day. there were executive changes at gamestop that helps to support the rise, but the big rally that we saw does appear to have faded. there is some positive chat on the chat rooms and message boards that existed before, and some of that leading to a rebound in the other stocks such as amc and american airlines, and blackberry. all of those getting a little bit of a rebound. we are also hearing that hedge funds, despite being burned by the big run ups in these heavily shorted stocks, are again going back into the market and seeking some frothy stocks where there may be opportunities. hedge funds also looking outside the u.s. for similar

opportunities. shery: su keenan with the latest. let's get a quick check with the latest business flash headlines. spotify fell the most since november after its forecast miss expectations. 2021 revenue of $10.8 billion, slightly below the consensus in a bloomberg survey. spotify remains optimistic but amid uncertainty due to the pandemic. a roller coaster ride for china's most indebted developer continues with ever grand sales off best new year start three years. january revenue jumped 43% to $9 billion, with average prices rising more than 1% from december. ebay jumped in late trade after revenue and profit forecast topped analysts estimates. it sees first quarter sales of three blade dollars -- $3

billion. shoppers have turned to ebay and amazon. haidi: they hope their vaccine will be the third mrna vaccine. the company has just announced a partnership to develop next-generation vaccine for covid-19. the ceo spoke exclusively to bloomberg about the supply chain challenges. >> it is great work for the regulatory authorities. they are looking at something like a flu season, you don't start with a phase one season. to adopt this process, we are all learning in this regard. >> let's talk about the other aspects of logistics that come into taking this all work. clearly, finishing has been a huge challenge for a lot of people in terms of getting their vaccines out. where are you with this?

where are the bottlenecks in the process? >> that's a great question. it is really a cross industry effort. need to adopt the processes. there has been no big mrna manufacturing so far. now we are talking about big quantities, you have to think about the starting material. it was not available at the time because there was no need. these lipid molecules are different components. there is what you need to find them, three vaccine players, at least three, to vaccines are already approved based on mrna.

there are huge quantities and therefore you need to adopt a supply chain. it will take an effort there, as well. that is where you see the bottleneck. >> one final question. there has been a lot of conversation in europe about vaccine nationalism, confusion about restrictions, export monitoring. what is your take? >> you need starting material, which is also produced globally. if you are missing certain parts, and you can't get it out of a certain country because there are export restrictions, this is a bit where it is struggling. it also enters the political level. one thing is quite clear, we need to vaccinate the world entirely to get rid of the virus.

otherwise the bars comes back and we are talking about mutations. haidi: still to come, the south korean primus are on the countries virus containment strategy in the future of ties with north korea and japan. they will also have reaction to kathleen stevens. this is bloomberg. ♪

shery: -- haidi: we have some breaking news when it comes to the leadership of parler, the social media platform that saw huge interest by conservatives during the 2020 election where a lot of the conversation leading up to the riots in the capital took place as well. we are hearing that the parler ceo has been terminated by the board this year, also saying that this is not his decision. the ceo saying he did not participate in this decision to be removed from the board.

this is according to a conversation that he had in a memo that he sent to staffers that span obtained by -- that has been obtained by fox news. the parler board has decided to terminate his position as ceo of parler, that he did not participate in this decision and saying he has been met with constant resistance to his original, "-- his original vision. amazon web services made the decision to shut parler down for failure to moderate egregious content related to the capitol riot's. let's get to karina mitchell. karina: we start with the world health organization. it's team is investigating the origins of the coronavirus and have wound up their visit. the institute of virology has been the subject of widespread speculation about covid-19 with china rejecting accusations the virus spread from there.

the team was accompanied by chinese officials and has given no details about that visit. china is cutting capacity at flights on mainland carriers as coronavirus numbers rise. departures will be 10% lower than normal. bloomberg new energy finance sees cutting demand by more than 5%. it means the usual search and demand will not have -- surge in demand will not happen this year. the first tennis major of the year is endowed with hundreds of australian open players, coaches, and event staff back in isolation after a hotel worker tested positive. melbourne had gone 28 days without an infection but everyone staying at the grand hyatt must go back into quarantine. the tournament is scheduled to start on monday. the world economic forum has rescheduled its special annual meeting in singapore due to pandemic travel and quarantine

restrictions. the event was set for late may but is being pushed back to august to ensure delegates can join. the agenda will include discussion on how to tackle the business and social challenges that have been posed by covid-19. 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: south korea has received global praise for its handling of covid-19. it is a strategy partly devised by the prime minister, but it's economy has of course taken a hit. speaking exclusively to bloomberg, he expects growth to speed up this year and also rejected claims that south korea is rolling out its vaccine program to slowly. -- too slowly. >> i can see why people can see it as south korea being too slow to secure vaccine supply but from south korea's disease

control authorities perspective, we are right -- starting february and concluding by q3 seems appropriate. our original stance was just get the right amount at the right time. and we are still on track and it's looking all right for now. >> some people argue that real economies are curating even though exports are increasing. do you agree, and how do you plan to tackle this problem? >> i do not look at it so pessimistically. we need to make the economy rebounds. there are no problems with investment and export, but domestic consumption is an issue. so how do you promote this consumption? even if we normalize social distancing caused by covid-19, consumption will increase a lot so economic growth will not be that slow this year. korea had its first growth last

year but it was that -1% so it means the economy has been operating rather equally in the past year compared to other countries. it had reverse growth of 3% to 9%. because of that base effect, other countries will have higher growth rate this year compared to us, but when compared against 2019 as a base, our growth will not be that bad. >> i know your supporters are pleasing you as korea's biden. do you like that nickname? >> biden? he is a magnificent politician. i respect his philosophy for politics and if that is what people see in me, i will consider that something to be really proud of. i wish president biden the ultimate success and if we are similar in that way, if he succeeds, doesn't it mean that i succeed, too? >> what do you make of additional sanctions on north korea? he talked about additional sanctions on north korea.

you think it will have a positive or negative effect on relations? >> the way i see it, the problem is not being solved because of the sanctions being imposed by the united nations are weak. there is no reason to oppose even stronger sanctions. however, because it will not solve the problem, i think it's right to start the dialogue instead of spending time on korean sanctions and imposing them. >> how do you plan to improve relations with japan? >> there are history related issues and other matters and we are aware that we are the victims of the history related issues. however, i think it is appropriate to approach the issues in a two-track mechanism. the matters of current affairs such as diplomacy and cooperation should be something we work on together, while history related matters are to be dealt with under mutual understanding, even if it takes some time. i think it's especially important to find a measure that is acceptable to certain

victims. shery: the south korean prime minister there. for a closer look at the unique position on the global stage, let's bring in the former u.s. ambassador to korea. she serves as the president and ceo of the korea economic institute and is board chair for the korean society. always great having you with us. let's talk about this new biden administration. they face numerous challenges, both at home and abroad. where does south korea realistically fit into the biden administration's priority list? >> i think president biden has made clear that one of his top priorities, indeed his top priority in terms of foreign policy is reinvigorating and restoring relationships with allies, which have been somewhat bruised over the last few years, so in that context, south korea looms large. south korea looms large because it's geopolitical position in northeast asia, it's, calf, and

south korea is going away as an important partner on some of these global efforts that president biden wants to approach in a multilateral way, whether it's climate change or health, which you were talking about with the prime minister. the new administration, which has people who know korea well, will be looking to korea to do more and to work more closely with the united states across a range of issues, including north korea, but all of these post pandemic recovery issues you were talking about with the prime minister as well. shery: the biden administration is very much focused on human rights and also perhaps a little bit less concerned about pageantry, more on the actual substance of real denuclearization. where does that leave conversations around north korea's nuclear program? kathleen: i would put them in the context of the biden administration also understanding that any north korean policy to get any traction at all needs to be

deeply coordinated with seoul and also with tokyo and other partners. but seoul in particular, and that is something the secretary of state has already emphasized. the administration has a range of experience with north korea. as with most be a -- most people, it has not been very successful. they need to work with seoul. there is a gap, as i think you imply in your question, and we do have a government in seoul, a president and his last term who very much wants to leave a legacy of achieving some progress with north korea, so i think there will be a need for seoul and washington to really consult closely about the way forward and to have an approach that does include pressure as well as engagement as well as attention to some of the broader issues like humanitarian and human rights issues. haidi: ambassador stevens -- ambassador, what about the relationship with beijing?

do you expect a better relationship if we get a more, i guess, at least, a calming of tensions between beijing and washington? kathleen: it will be difficult given that u.s.-china relations are in a very stressed and difficult situation. i see the rhetoric. -- i see the rhetoric becoming more normal and normalized. i think biden has made clear he wants to find some areas where he can work with beijing. north korea would seem to be one. i think it will be quite challenging. haidi: so the prime minister, south korean prime minister that we spoke to in that lengthy conversation, saying he thinks sanctions are of limited use, right? biden has called for more sanctions. what kind of a grand bargaining would actually be more effective? kathleen: what i heard the play minister say is that he did not think that additional sanctions would be useful.

and i think that there is an understanding in seoul that the u.n. sanctions put on north korea are in the context of international norms and those are going to have to stay there until some movement is made towards complying with those international norms. but i do think that there will be a push from seoul, from the seoul government to the u.s., to send some early signals to pyongyang that the biden administration wants to get into a dialogue with north korea to achieve some progress and to not keep things from getting worse while we see if we can open up some kind of dialogue and that it will include other regional actors, and again, although china is difficult, i think there's a recognition that was not there in the trump administration. this cannot be an america do it alone or donald trump go it alone saying. it has to be a more concerted effort. shery: we saw the u.s. sort of stepping away from these relationships including perhaps

playing the mediator role between south korea and japan, right? can we expect that relationship to sort of improve now that we have a more engaged biden administration? kathleen: i certainly expect that the biden administration -- i would expect quietly, to try to use the offices to see, as a new administration coming in, by emphasizing the importance that this administration does want better relations and cooperation between japan and south korea, can help to find a way to bridge some of these differences and to move forward. and i took from the comments that the prime ministers signed as well as some of the other things we have seen in the press recently from seoul and tokyo, that perhaps they want to get off to the right start with the biden administration, too. that maybe this will open up a little bit of space, but it's not a foregone conclusion. certainly, relations, as you and your listeners know well, relations between seoul and tokyo are as bad as they have

been in decades, and i think diplomacy, kind of like in medicine, the oath of do no harm is important. the u.s. will try to do this in a careful way. haidi: ambassador, great to have you with us. kathleen stephens, former ambassador to korea and the president and ceo of the korea economic institute. we will stay on south korea. the government has bowed to pressure from its dominant retail investors and extended the ban on shortselling until may 2. korea has become a major battleground over trades and stock markets. our asian stock reporter joins us. talk us through the decision-making behind this extension. >> share. koreans financed -- sure. korea's situation with the regulator, they held a meeting and decided to extend the ban on shortselling.

the expansion -- another expansion was pretty expected in seoul and even among the global investors. it is becoming a political issue in korea because we have two important elections in april and korea retail investors are dominating the stock market and it's hard to ignore for lawmakers here -- we also have the election, as you now. because of all of these reasons, the regulators say that they need to improve the current system, which they say is favorable towards those professional investors only, so they are now -- they say they are now facing more punishment against the nikkei shorts, monitoring those nikkeis or

other illegal shorts like that, but the point is there will be still, you know, more than, i guess -- in korea stock market, even after may 2, when the shortselling ban is finally -- 150 members. yes. shery: even if you are allowing shortselling, it is not of all of those stocks, right? it's really a fraction, so what sort of impact will this have on the market, may 3 -- market come may 3? heejin: overvalued stocks in the kospi 200, you know, i guess they may be corrected, such as the biontech stocks, but we are not sure because the decline can affect sentiment in korea's

stock market, so the other stocks, they are not shorts. they are not that safe. shery: asia stocks reporter heejin kim in seoul will keep us updated in that shortselling ban . coming up, olympic organizers released the first set of rules, offering an early clemson to covid measures, but crucial questions remain over the fate of the games this summer. this is bloomberg. ♪

haidi: let's take a look at how the markets are going. let's get over to sophie in hong kong. sophie: in sydney, stocks are mostly lower, but energy, we are seeing a mixed session. towards $56 a barrel on the opec plus pledge to speed up rebalancing of the market, but check out agl energy. it announced it is expecting a first-half charge on soured windfarm deals. an energy company slipping after it cut its guidance on the continued covid impact. the asx heading lower. credit suisse seeing australian stocks are among the top inflation bets alongside south korea and singapore. flipping the board, checking in on what's going on with

australian bonds. yields higher for a fifth straight session with the 10 year above -- it's trading at the highest level since march. the curb steepening as well. tracking the overnight move we saw in treasuries after reflation trade are back in view, pushing the u.s. by 30 spreads. treasury futures are ticking lower. jgb traders are looking at an option later. strategists saying the sale could draw appetite to the sector and also pointing out that expectations are receding for the doj to take action to steepen the jgb yield curve. shery: let's head to japan because olympic organizers have published a set of rules for the delayed tokyo games, offering an early glance at measures to handle the coronavirus. however, they failed to answer the crucial question about whether the games could go ahead as planned. sophie jackman joins us now. does the publication of this

sort of safety playbook make the tokyo olympics any more likely to go ahead? sophie: games are not guaranteed to go ahead. it is still possible that the situation in japan could spiral out of control, but it does give us a peek at what it would look like. it does pave the way for games in the middle of a pandemic, and what does that look like? covid testing before departure to japan and upon arrival, regulatory -- during the event. and curbs on where participants are allowed to go. no johnson out to the -- jaunts out to the countryside. whether they are vaccinated or not, they will have to play by the same rules. haidi: what about spectators? if the games go ahead, is it going to be competition in empty stadiums? sophie: it could be. there is no information on spectators this time. one official did say the organizers will make decisions

in the coming weeks about the number of spectators in total, whether people will be allowed to come to japan from overseas to watch the olympics. this latest playbook is the first of four. it only tells us what federations are expected to do, the bodies that manage each country and team. if you are attending as part of these, the current -- they must attend as a spectator. that gives us a hint. as for what is expected of individual athletes, the press and broadcasters, those will be in the remaining three playbooks and these will be released in the coming weeks and months. shery: what is the mood in tokyo? how do locals feel about the olympics in july? sophie: most do not want it to go ahead, at least in july. opinion polls have been pretty consistent. they have shown about half of respondents would like the games to be postponed again, beyond the start date of july 23. one third of respondents say to

just cancel it. coronavirus cases are decreasing in tokyo, but not fast enough for the central government to end its state of emergency for tokyo. that has been extended until march 7. i think the dream of the olympics is certainly dead now and locals might be more concerned about whether it is safe to go to work, safe to ride the subway, rather than what is happening with the games. haidi: at a time when so much effort is being made to try and get gender representation across traditionally male-dominated sports in the olympics, we had some pretty controversial comments from the tokyo olympics chief. sophie: that's right. this was the organizing committee chief. it appears he was making a joke, talking about how meetings with a lot of women participants would never end. it could be a joke from his perspective but it does speak to

the underrepresentation of women in positions of power in this country. it was the policy of shinzo abe. there was a lot of talk about that but the material goals of that policy have been missed by a country mile. the original target was for women to make up to 30% of management positions in one a 20. last year, big japanese companies reached just under 10%. with the latest comments, keep in mind, this is a former prime minister speaking in full view of reporters. it if you can say that and no one tries to -- if he can say that, imagine what it's like for women behind closed doors in this g7 country. haidi: our reporter, sophie jackman, in tokyo. staying with sports and turning to the australian open, the tennis grand slam has been thrown into doubt again with 600 players and officials being told to isolate after a hotel quarantine worker tested positive for covid-19.

paul allen joins us now. there's been criticism of the australian open going ahead and these players and their entourage is coming into australia -- entourages coming into australia. what is the latest we have seen just a couple of days out from the opening matches? paul: it's not good timing. there was a quarantine hotel worker at the grand hyatt where 600 players and officials were staying. the hotel worker developed symptoms on tuesday and has since tested positive, so it turns out there were 520 players and officials now considered casual contacts, so they have been told to get a test and self-isolate until that test comes back negative. there has been some encouraging news this morning. two close contacts of that hotel worker have tested negative, so there is some hope that maybe this can be kept under control, but in the meantime, six warm-up tournaments have been canceled. the atp cup, two other men's events, three women's events,

not canceled, but there will be no play in those tournaments today, and some players are confused about whether or not they will be playing for the rest of the week as a result of all of this, but the premier of victoria daniel andrews say -- daniel andrews say there will be no impact but that has been delayed as well. the open happening much later than it should be. we had 1200 players and support staff required to quarantine for two weeks when they arrived, and some of those players who came in, they have positive cases on their flights and were put in hard locked down and could not practice at all, so there's been a lot of complaints, a lot of blowback around this whole tournament that's being played in front of reduced audiences. the government of victoria being understandably cautious because they do not want the same kind of resurgence they saw late last year. shery: paul allen in sydney. let's now turn to sophie for a check of what to watch as we head to the open in south korea

and japan. sophie. sophie: watching japanese lenders. stable profit expected despite narrow margins. a company raised full-year outlooks on bets that gaming and smartphone sales will rise. one start saying ps five sales will surpass ps for -- ps4. as the industry bets on the ev future, there's a lot of chatter around kia pulling apple card. keeping an eye on the south korea space, the korean regulars will take over the country's largest food delivery app. shery. shery: we will be watching those stocks, coming up on "daybreak asia." we will be discussing emerging-market equities and investments energies for asia with the capital partner. the market opens in tokyo and seoul are next. this is bloomberg.

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shery: welcome to "daybreak: asia from bloomberg's headquarters. i'm shery ahn. haidi: i am haidi stroud-watts. asia's major markets have just open for trade. stocks face declines after drugs on wall street. reflation trades are returning as a main theme in market. well extends demand, rapidly approaching pre-pandemic highs. shery: alibaba as extending

gains as and group agrees to restructuring plans with china. an announcement can come before the lunar new year. a playbook for the olympics. tokyo draws up rules for the delayed games, including regular testing, no singing. shery: japan and south korea coming online. let's turn to sophie kamaruddin sophie: stocks under pressure at the start of cash trade with earnings do today. we are rating on results from musg as well as cicada and konami and sony very much on watch after it boosted its profit outlook. an indication businesses will pick up across this division, be it music, pictures, as well as gaming and smartphone. keeping an eye on that stock. jp markets keeping an eye on the 30 year option to out later today as well. let's check in on south korea this morning where a shortselling ban has been

extended. this amid pressure for retailers to do so. kospi stepping a three day gain, lowered one third of 1%. kia shares continuing to rally, rising by 2% at the start of trade after a heavy wednesday session, at the highest level in 12 years. keeping an eye on the vaccine related players. a company gave a nod to the visor vaccine with front liners expected in february. also waiting on government announcements to curb home prices to -- this after the president said extraordinary steps must be taken. let's see what's going on in australia. markets under pressure with utilities leading that slide. energy stocks mixed as resting wti trades near a one-year high end with reflation back in the mix, austria, south korea, and singapore are among top bets in

asia given the high correlation to tipped even rates. you are seeing the aussie 10 year yield gain. u.s. yields have been climbing on rising inflation expectations. 530 curve climbing above 146 for the first time since february 26 holding steady around that rate. while you have the 30 year yield for treasuries holding around 192. haidi: emerging market stocks have rebounded following their worst week since march but analysts at morgan stanley safety the stocks may have already pete. -- peaked. we bring in nippon capital partner, pooja malik. we have seen rebound gains in the space were equities. do you see this continuing? there is a number of recent morgan stanley gives as to why these have peaked but one of

them is a correlation to copper prices as well as expectations of balance sheet deterioration. >> [indiscernible] reasons for equities to trend high. it is up above 12% in the region but trading at 16 times the kiwi. recovery is still playing out. we have more to see their. institutional flows have flooded them back into the market in the big way. the abundant liquidity in the global market place. rising equities have more room to grow. haidi: what about where the u.s. dollar goes from here? are you banking on further weakness? >> as the u.s. stimulus package comes into play, that is likely to have some impact on the u.s. dollar. your point about copper prices, copper prices were at an eight year high just a few weeks ago.

just because they have been down the past few days i do not think there are long-term implications for em economies. shery: what about the fact that we continue to see a liquidity squeeze when it comes to china? >> china has been tightening, and i think that is prudent. china is also concerned about increasing defaults in the private sector. i think they are doing it at a very measured and controlled pace and you might see more stimulus being announced around the end of the year. i think that slow control and there is more upside on that dimension as well. shery: what are you seeing in terms of volume so far this year? >> volume has been at an all-time high. we have seen volume speak --

peak. we are seeing retail investors as well as institutional investors come together in the market. shery: we have been talking about retail attention, the regional trading frenzy. south korea extending its shortselling ban. is this something we could see across asia given different regulations at a time when we have more retail investors in asia that we do in the u.s.? >> we have always had a more retail investors in asia. we could see other countries put in place a ban like korea as dumb. a shortselling ban lowers the [indiscernible] of markets, increases the cost of equities, and in the end and in the end it hurts the retail investor. they are not correcting for some of the other sides, and that is what leads to big market crashes like we saw in 2015 in china.

haidi: one take away from the past couple of weeks that the reddit driven story has been the influence of slopes. is that something you can continue to monitor, investor sentiment and flow dynamics above fundamentals even as the retail story dies down a bit? >> that has been very important in asian markets. even before this retail frenzy started, and that is because asian markets do not have the same debt as global market, and so flows can impact your stance in a big way. small volumes can have impacts on prices. we monitor flows not just in the region but domestic institutions, foreign institutions, and a variety of markets because we find it relevant to predicting market value. shery: pooja malik, always great

having your thoughts and thank you. we want to look at two stocks across japan. sony rally in, 8% at the moment after predicting a record year profit. they reported quarterly profit nearly double expectations and they lifted their forecast far above consensus. we are seeing some gains. nomura under pressure after hitting a 19 year high. the company rising 1.2 4.5% gains in the japan session after the nine a month profit hit a 19 year i. let's get to karina mitchell. karina: good news on the vaccine front. the number of people receiving at least one dose of vaccine worldwide has now equaled the total number of infections. one hundred 4 million jobs have been administered. astrazeneca and oxford university are working on a

reengineered shot that protects against new patients. moderna is offering its vaccine to south africa in the first deal with that continent. the first tennis major of the year is in dealt with hundreds of australian open players, coaches, and event staff back in isolation after a hotel worker tested positive. melbourne had gone 28 days without a new infection and everyone at the hyatt is now considered a potential contact. at the tournament is scheduled to start on monday. the world economic forum as rescheduled and special anyone meeting in singapore due to pandemic travel and quarantine restrictions. it was set for late may but is being pushed back to mid august to ensure delegates can join. the wf says the summits agenda will include discussions on how to tackle business and social challenges caused by covid-19. the myanmar military is strengthening its grip on power,

charging a civilian leader with a bridging import laws by possessing illegal walkie-talkies. the ousted president is accused of violating covid-19 restrictions at an election rally and could sell for three years behind bars. washington as announced the takeover as a coup. global news 24 hours a day, on air and on quicktake by bloomberg, powered by more than 2700 journalists and analysts in over 120 countries. i am karina mitchell. this is bloomberg. shery: let's get another stock check. we want to show you nomura holdings, it is seeing its best day in about two months after posting their nine month profit of around $2.9 million, highest 19 year and best annual results in years. sony also getting ground, predicting a record four your profit. haidi: we have an exclusive coming up neck.

a potential ex-president weighs inaugurations with north korea and japan as well as his hopes for the new administration in washington. syracuse university sports management professor joins us with his views at on this hour. this is bloomberg. ♪h■ñsrú ■nga■■

haidi: south korea is received global praise of its handling of covid-19 and it was a strategy designed by the prime minister. its economy as taken a hit. speaking discursively to bloomberg the prime minister says he expects growth to speed up this year and rejected claims south korea is rolling out its vaccine program too slowly. >> i can see why people can see it as south korea being too slow to secure vaccine supply but

from the disease control authorities perspective we are on schedule. starting inoculation this year in february and concluding it by q3 seems appropriate for our situation. our original stance on vaccines was get the right amount at the right time, and we are still on track and it is looking all right for now. some people -- >> some people argue the real economy is deteriorating even though exports are increasing. do you agree and how do you plan to tackle this? >> i do not look at it so pessimistically. we need to make the economy rebounds. there are no problems with investment and export but mr. consumption is an issue. how do you promote this consumption? even if we normalize social distancing consumption will increase a lot so economic

growth will not be that slow this year. korea had reversed growth last year but it was at -1%, so the economy has been operating equally relative to this year and other countries. because of that base effect other countries will have higher birth rates this year compared to us, but when compared against 2019 our growth will not be that bad. >> they are praising you as korea's biden. do you like that name? >> biden is a terrific politician. i respect his philosophy and if that is the fact people see in me i would consider that something to be proud of i wish president biden all the most success and if we are similar in that way, does that not mean i succeed too? >> blinken talk about additional

sanctions on north korea. do you think it would have a positive or negative effect? quite the way i see it the problem being solved -- >> the way i see it the problem is not being solved. if it was a issue that could be sold by sanctions there would be a reason to impose additional sanctions. i think it is right to start the dialogue instead of spending time on agreeing on sanctions and opposing them. >> how do you propose to resolve relations with japan? >> there are a few issues and other matters and we are aware we are the victims of history related issues. i think it is appropriate to approach the issues in a two track mechanism. the matter of current affairs, diplomacy, defense, cooperation should be something we work on together, while history related matters are to be dealt with under mutual understanding even

if it takes time. it is important to find a measure acceptable to certain victims. shery: the south korean prime minister speaking exclusively to bloomberg. let's turn to the south korean markets because the government is bowing to pressure from its increasingly dominant retail investors and extended a ban on short selling until may 2. our asian stock reporter joins us. this is one of the longest bans on short selling. the imf if this continues it will be difficult to hedge markets. markets will become less efficient, and yet the government went ahead. >> that is correct. the korean regulators announced they will extend the ban and this was widely expected in seoul. it is until may 2, even after may 2, there will still be more

than 2003 in stocks. they will be riveted from being shorted. all of the background from this decision is becoming the only country in the world with such a ban. reach out and investors are critically important not only for korean regulators, but for lawmakers because we have elections this year. the presidential election next year. they have called for more than half of the total trading value for markets, so it is hard to ignore the demand. [indiscernible] they think it is pretty unfair for retail investors. haidi: what does that mean for the outlook given the spectacular rally we have seen in korean stocks? >> after may 2 is when the ban

is lifted for the kospi. one of zero index members -- 150 index members [indiscernible] it may be corrected but there is controversy. liquidity and korea is really abundant. borrowing money for trading stocks, so no one knows. it could be a matter of liquidity. haidi: our asian stocks reporter there. coming up the bloomberg scoop on ant. the giant as struck a restructuring deal with chinese regulators. it will turn into a financia

shery: a check of the latest headlines. day trader darling gamestop enjoyed another roller coaster day after creating the new role of chief technology officer. met francis was most recently at amazon services and will be responsible for overseeing e-commerce and tech projects. gamestop surged as much as 27% in the session. qualcomm fell after its sales forecast disappointed analyst after apple's result. sales will be as high as $8 million through march and even though that beats estimates some investors were hoping for more. the outgoing ceo blames the price on qualcomm's outsourced production to taiwan which has struggled to meet demand in some sectors. ebay's jump in trade after

revenue profit forecast topped analyst estimates. it sees first quarter sales at a fraction under $3 billion. some items could reach $1.08 a share. shoppers have turned to online marketplaces including ebay and amazon will avoid stores in the era of social distancing. spotify fell the most since november after its full-year earnings forecast missed expectations. it sees 21 revenue of $10.8 billion, slightly below the consensus. spotify remains optimistic but admits uncertainty due to the pandemic effect on subscriber and revenue growth. haidi: we are hearing and group as stuck a deal with chinese regulars to restructure into a financial holding company. there also telling us ant is

reviewing possibilities to renew its ipo. in terms of what we know, is this a harsher result than what ant and additionally proposed? >> investors bid up the stock overnight not because this was the best case scenario. it could have been much worse. we had already been praising the market for some holding company scenario as it has been reported in the past. bloomberg news are now confirming that is what alibaba and ant has proposed and is what is going to happen. treating a financial holding company. under the new rules drafted back in september, the financial holding companies will be overseen by the central bank, the pboc, so there are questions

about what kind of oversight the pboc will have over ant's assets. all essence will be put in. there was speculation these would be just financial assets, payments, wealth management and the like, but it will be all the essence. blockchain technology unit as well as delivery, logistics, and other businesses. it is going to also require ant basically abide by the rules that govern banks. much higher capital buffers and risk management, and they do not want to see the continuation of their lending platform going on where about 2% of their loans are on their books and big banks are assuming most of the risk. there is a lot to be seen as how this will be playing out on an operational basis, but at least there is more clarity on the

immediate fate of ant. they will not be pared down to just their route this is payments. they will be allowed to do these other areas because the government does one consumer spending. they will not try to squelch that off completely but they want to contain financial risks. shery: any clarity on what is ultimately it means for the business, not to mention for jack ma? >> dear biggest revenue generator -- there biggest revenue generator is no longer payments. no single entity can have more than 50% -- i cannot remember the exact rule. they are well above it. no two entities that have more than 50%. then and wechat pay avenue dominance. something will have to happen there. on the micro lending front, that is their biggest revenue generator.

there micro lending units will require higher capital requirements, capital buffers like banks. there will be less lending, and that means less ability to grow as fast as they have over the last few years. it means the valuation of any potential ipo might come down the pipe is going to be much smaller when it was going to list at the end of last year with a valuation of $300 million, perhaps more. it is probably about half that. shery: steve engle there with the latest on ant, alibaba, and jack ma. we speak exclusively with india's largest mortgage lender. another exclusive interview tomorrow. we discussed the fallout from the retail trading frenzy and the economic recovery in the

west. myanmar's former leader faces up to three years in prison on charges of possessing illegal walkie-talkies up next. this is bloomberg. ♪

haidi: we are getting breaking news on australian trade data. the december balance coming at $6.9 billion australia for less than expectations of $8.75 billion surplus. imports falling to percent from a month or they are, exports rising 3% from a month earlier, half of what the survey and been expecting and unchanged from november. the contraction of 2% when it comes to imports coming in line with expectations and a big fall

from the 10% gain in the previous month. this as we do see exports pretty strong for australian goods particularly on the back of the commodities rally and global demand for iron ore, staying strong but leaving that trade surplus slimmer. let's look at a reaction on markets with sophie. sophie: the aussie dollar edged toward the 76 level, a bit of pressure after those numbers in asia stocks are headed mostly lower but the regional index is often relate session lows. sony, the best performer in asia, it stock jumping the most intimate 2019 anymore rising after it nomura jump to a 19 i. tokyo and seoul etf trading at a high amid chatter they may build the apple card but that not being conveyed in broad markets with kospi losing 1/3 of 1%.

asx 300 losing avenue percent of utilities. let's look at what is going out with the aussie dollar. we have it .2 of 1%, 33 for the march low. there is room to run higher but yield differentials and current levels with the u.s. will likely put cap on gains. export treasuries, we are seeing the u.s. at 30 year yield climbed, surpassing the top we saw in march 2020 as inflation bets are rising, seeing a steepening of the yield curve, at 53 zero gap above 13 six as inflation expectations arise. as charles evan at the fed pointed out that remains an open question about whether inflation pricing is justified given what has been going on with stimulus. shery: let's turn to karina mitchell for first word

headlines. karina: president biden's virus really plan as city block with senior republican mitt romney saying that a single publican was supported. he wants a plant we drawn -- the plan redrawn. republicans met the president on monday. democratic leaders were at the white house on wednesday. the world health organization team investigating the origins of the virus have wound up their visit to a lab. china is rejecting accusations the virus spread from there. the team was accompanied by chinese officials and has given no details about that visit. china is cutting capacity into flights on mainland carriers over lunar new year as coronavirus numbers rise. they will be at least 10% lower. bloomberg finance these cutting

demand of jet fuel for more than 9%. -- as the aviation sector struggles to stay viable. london-based financial firms are being worn to lower expectations after brexit, with so-called equivalency as a recently unlikely to offer an easy opening. britain's topic at a regular as told industry leaders talks with the eu are focused on rules of diverging rather than equalizing. sides are preparing a memo on regulation due by the end of march. global news 24 hours a day, on air and on quicktake by bloomberg, powered by more than 2700 journalists and analysts in over 120 countries. in karina mitchell. this is bloomberg. shery: let's turn to myanmar, its former defector -- de facto leader facing up to three years in prison after being charged with possessing illegally imported walkie-talkies.

at the former president is accused of a separate offense and may also be jailed. let's get more from our southeastern asia government reporter. criminal charges over walkie-talkies, what exactly is this? >> the viewers can figure that out quickly. they were charged with breaching and import-export law advances up to three years in prison. the police incident report indicating an authorized military equipment was found -- communication equipment was founded oh on the back of eight military coup on monday that saw her along with top officials put into detention. since then the military as made moved -- moves to install people in cabinet positions as well as the courts and has tried to provide some form of continuity by keeping business is open, the

stock exchange going and with nightly updates on government activities. haidi: are we starting to see signs of dissent across the country? historically purchased have been violently quashed the military. >> there are a few campaigns we have seen start and the last couple of days. most notably there is one being organized by now former officials calling for vocal protests. people are shouting, banging pots, honking garlands, banging water bottles out on the streets. it has happened the last two nights. it :00 p.m. last night was especially loud. there is a separate campaign -- 8:00 p.m. last night was especially loud. there are calls online for civil

this obedience. it has gauge 100,000 followers in just one day and that as a in hospitals pledging to close their doors to people. this is a country where the pandemic as taken hold, gotten out of control. that is another factor to consider. haidi: what do we know about these reports that some people have been unable to access facebook into myanmar? >> this is just coming in. the military run government has ordered providers to temporarily block facebook and services are made at the protest. in a letter posted by the ministry of munication it said services will now be unavailable until february 7 in order to maintain stability. facebook is aware and is calling on the authorities to avert a

strike on that course. -- reverse track on that course. haidi: our southeastern asia reporter with the latest on bmr. a shift away from a military dictatorship could be seen as a signal democrat progress has been faltering. a bloomberg columnist is now on the line. of course we come into this conversation after many years of strongholds by strong men leaders across the region, as well as across the world. what is the data plate when it comes to democratic norms in southeast asia? -- state of play when it comes to democratic norms in southeast asia? >> myanmar never had a shift to democracy. it did have a power-sharing

agreement. the military always had significant control. ministries were assigned to them. they never really moved completely away from that. generals and their right to refusal in myanmar, which obviously they have gladback. what we have seen is even countries traditionally on the board democratic end up shifted away from that. the philippines, which did have recently democratic systems moved away from that in part because of this trend toward strong men leaders. if you think about malaysia in 2019 with the shock election. and a lot of that reform, those people leading democratic reform in malaysia have been sidelined. this is a dark time in the neighborhood exemplified by what is happened in bmr. shery: how much does this have

to do that the previous u.s. administration was not focused on upholding democracy and human rights and other countries? we even saw undermining of democratic institutions within the election in the united states. >> it is not very helpful, but a lot of dynamics, we tend to over played the role outside powers play. most of the nations that have pushed governments have been domestic. it is important to think about southeast asia in a sense as countries that have not finished dealing with existential problems. most of them f separatist movements, ethnic tensions. compromises have to be made and the trajectory has been anything but linear. while the u.s. is not helpful, the obama administration in myanmar did play a great role in pushing for openness.

it is largely domestic. when you think of indonesia, some of the compromises the president as made by -- has made by internal demand. shery: our bloomberg opinion columnist there with her take on democracy across southeast asia. we will have more on myanmar i had, the content -- ahead, the country expected to fall more under the role of beijing with a return of military rule. coming up, covid era rules for the olympics in tokyo. we suggest the commissions under which the rules can take place. rick burton joins us next. this is bloomberg. ♪

shery: organizers of the delayed tokyo olympics have released federal rules on how athletes move about and interact to avoid spreading the virus. olympians will be tested before and after they arrive in japan and every four days, but many questions remain about what games will look like. joining us now is syracuse university professor of sports

management rick burton. great to have you with us. thank you for your time. we keep getting the signals from the ioc they are determined to hold tokyo olympics in july. i do wonder from a branding perspective given the risk of covid-19 is it worth the risk to the olympic's reputation here? >> right now it is. and they want these games to happen. they will move heaven and earth to make them happen. right now no one is on the verge of potentially dying. the question is when we get to 30 days out what does japan look like and the countries where the athletes are coming from look like? we went on the air from myanmar which could send an athlete or two but it is a country where no vaccines and a lot of risk. one of the things the ioc will face is can they get athletes

into tokyo safely. shery: one of the things that was clear in this playbook was that vaccinations will not be mandatory. given this huge divide that we have between wealthy and poor nations and the fact that athletes have been challenged when it comes to training during the pandemic, will this widen the gap? >> it has the potential to do that. you would hope it would not and i would think with the elite athletes they will be doing everything they can to make sure they will be there. they have trained all this life for this moment and they do not want to be taken away from them. what they do not know is that they get there and into the setting safely and not be at risk at any point during that journey. shery: what does it mean -- right now what we do not have clarity what it means for spectators. will this be a fan list --

fanless olympics and what would be the benefit of tokyo holding the olympics without anyone coming from overseas to watch it be? >> it will still be great because games will be televised and that is where the largest revenue stream lies for the ioc is certainly being able to broadcast or transmit these games. i think what you will see is even if there are no fans in the arena that the games will go on just as the mba did in their bubble with no fans. what was important was creation of the content. haidi: here in australia we are about to start the australian open and it is been a tumultuous lead up in terms of getting players and their entourage here. there have been a number of covid infections. just the latest one resulting in around 600 players and related staff having to self-isolate

just two days away from the start of way. what does this teach you in terms of lessons learned? what could have been done better? we see the likes of nadal pulling out of the atp cup for safety concerns. are we likely to see athletes refused to go or make that decision if they do not feel safe? >> i think there is that chance. i lived in sydney when i worked with the national basketball league and the australians are among the best in the world in staging world-class events. when you see the problems they are having by having that many more athletes going to tokyo. you do have athletes decide not to attend the games. and your bread is so wrapped up in appearing. there will be other tennis

tournaments, wimbledon, the u.s. open. in the case of the olympics if they do not compete in tokyo for 2021, for many of them they may never compete again. this is their only shot. in the past there used to be research reference. would you be willing to take drugs that will allow you to win a gold medal if you knew it would possibly kill you. if the research was accurate there were a large number of athletes for whom olympic gold or olympic heroism was something they were willing to achieve even if it cost them their life. there probably will not be that many olympians who will back out because it is too risky for them. what they will demand is stringent protocols that will allow them to get in and out of tokyo safely. haidi: that is interesting, the comparison. we have heard a lot of complaints from players going into the australian open that if

they knew they got to quarantine for two weeks they would not have come. this despite being the first grand slam we have had during the pandemic. it sounds like you are saying athletes training see it as a higher calling then perhaps a grand slam or other world championship titles. >> that is really well said. the higher calling piece is a component many of these athletes have trained all of their lives for these three minutes they may be involved in their event, and for them, their life loses a lot of its purpose if they do not compete. it is to a certain degree all they have ever known. i believe they will think the tokyo organizing committee and the ioc will guarantee them that safety they will need and they will not care whether there is anyone there because they will be forever an olympian.

to have achieved that status is something that many of them -- that is the highlight of their lives. haidi: we appreciate your time. we all hope that the tokyo olympics can come off successfully. we will be assessing how china to -- sector is recovering from the public. we are joined exclusively by our guest. we will take a look at the private jet sector. a global founder is here for another exclusive interview. sony surging in tokyo after boosting its profit to a record 14 ¥9 billion -- 14 ¥9 billion. this is bloomberg. ♪

haidi: a check of the latest headlines. or cities been -- mercedes-benz is putting itself into separate cars and trucks. the plan is to spit off the commercial break up, the most significant shakeup since chrysler 14 years ago. it is likely to be welcomed by investors who have long called for such a move. stock search in frankfurt to their highest close since may of 2013. china's most -- developer

continues with evergreen cells after the best art interviews. january revenue jumped 23% to $9 billion with average prices rising more than 1%. ever grand add 120 billion dollars of debt last year and is targeting more than 150 billion in property sales this year. -- delivery here in phase a delivery loss from the takeover of south korea's guess we delivery app. nsk plans to take majority control of [indiscernible] but it's search engine or dramatically increased the cost of the deal. korean regulators also for ash to sell its unit. shery: sony surging to a 20 year high after it boosted its profit outlook on the back of stronger than expected a holiday quarter results. the company expects to make a record $8.9 billion in the

fiscal year, up 34% from its previous work as. joining us now is edwin chan. there is a strong stock reaction here. is this justified given the results? >> i think so. one of the things this underscores is the continuation of what we saw during the pandemic. the covid era boom in home entertainment and mobile electronics and in gaming. this underscores sony's confidence will extend into the new year and once that is coupled with the new iphone 12 boosting demand for imaging sensors that sony makes, i think it is a pretty rosy outlook and the market is reacting accordingly. haidi: how are the console roars -- wars shaping up?

>> that will be key for sony this year. is there biggest profit and revenue contributor. microsoft xbox is selling well. the switch surprisingly is an aging console. it is still selling well and part of this as it is well documented, the popularity of animal crossing during covid-19. it will be interesting to see how it shapes up. sony is saying they have confidence in ps5 sales thanks to a strong lineup of games. sony is always known for being able to stock its pipeline with attractive blockbuster titles. shery: what does the pipeline look like? what can we expect this year? >> and terms of the overall company we are going to see significant petition not just in consoles but in the mobile electronics space.

sony did call out a recovery in film and music that have been hit particularly hard during the pandemic. it will be interesting to see how this plays out during 2021. haidi: our asian tech editor edwin chan with the latest on sony. we have big interviews coming up but i want to get breaking news. we are hearing mckinsey is close to reaching a settlement with state attorneys of her that it had previously provided to the likes of purdue pharma and other manufacturers of opioids. they have agreed to a $550 million settlement in this case. that potential deal is still being worked on. we are waiting for some of the details but mckenzie, one of the biggest corporate consulting firms in the world has previously apologized saying it

played a part in boosting sales of oxycontin and a number of other opioids. it has resulted in the opiate crisis in the u.s.. we are hearing a settlement is close there. lots of big interviews coming up next. this is bloomberg. ♪

♪ tom: it is 9:00 a.m. in beijing and shanghai. welcome to "bloomberg markets: china open," i'm tom mackenzie. david: i'm david ingles. counting down to the open of trade here and on the chinese mainland. alibaba and and group -- and ant