>> good morning and welcome to daybreak: australia." we are counting down. shery: good evening from new york. haidi: the top stories. crown resort ceo steps down after a report found that he had facilitated money laundering. signs of thing wall street

approval is standing bitcoin right. crypto is up some 40% this month alone. auckland joins melbourne in a locked down. 6.5 million people under orders to stay home. fearing a new strain spreading rapidly. shery: all u.s. markets are closed on monday with the president's day holiday. still plenty to watch. we have the gamestop frenzy under a microscope this week. robin hood under -- robin hood is one testifying. we have some reports. fed minutes do midweek. we also have some eco-data, retail sales and pmi -- and ppi as others. how are asian markets shaping up? >> those that are open are

shaping up like this -- new zealand has been going for about an hour. kiwi stocks are currently -- give me a moment, in negative territory. a little weaker by about 0.8%. australian futures are going to be lagging. aussie futures -- i am having a little difficulty. aussie futures are currently higher by about 0.5%. we will have the trading later. kospi futures in positive territory as well. we will have trading in australia in a little while. can barton will be stepping down as ceo.

he was under pressure to resign after an inquiry found that crown this allocated money laundering. asian business reporter angus joins us now. there was a feeling that can barton had to go. the report was fairly scathing of his role in all of this. why did he hang on for so long? >> a fair question. there was a sense of inevitability about his resignation given the scale of the criticism in the report. the report came out last tuesday. he has clung on you could argue to his job for almost a week. in a statement today, the chairman said that he had always put the interests of crown first. there was -- they were still assessing his position as recently as friday. but there was little are turned

it if -- but there was little alternative for barton. the regulator in new south wales is overseeing the casino in sydney -- it had already asked for barton to leave. there was not much that barton could do. it falls to the chairman to take crown out of this crisis. it is up to her to assemble a new board and lead crown's reform agenda and put it in position to open this casino it has already built. shery: the report recommends and overhaul of crown's culture. >> we have already had three directors leave the board last week.

barton left today. it is not just a board overhaul that crown needs to do. it has been really tasked with changing its culture, its governance, its controls, the way it overseas money laundering risks in its operation. it is not even just the new south wales regulator dealing with the flagship casino. regulators are responsible for those respective casinos and they are also looking at this report and wondering what the fallout will be for their operations in their states? all of the regulators that oversee these operations are looking at this report and figuring out how to make sure that crown is compliant.

it has a long path of reform ahead of it. paul: angus, in that regard, we have a large and empty building on the sydney waterfront. is there any sense of when that casino may be able to begin trading? >> its gaming floor has been on hold since december. its retail operations are still operating. it is a hotel, luxury apartments, restaurants. those are still up and running. there is no real sign that they can turn this thing around fast. we have seen reports from brokers and analysts just last week saying that this could be up to a year or longer before it can get back up onto its feet. it is a short-term fix. shery: angus whitley with the latest on crown resorts.

here are your first word headlines. new zealand's largest city come auckland has been thrown into a three day lockdown as it -- as authorities investigate three new covid cases. shops in public venues are largely closed. the first regional lockdown in new zealand since august when the citizens of auckland were asked to isolate at home for three weeks. >> at 11:59 p.m. tonight, auckland will move to level three for a period of three days. until midnight on wednesday. the rest of new zealand will move to level 2 for the same period of time. shery: victoria is also back into lockdown. restrictions there began midnight on saturday to stop the potential spread of a strain first found in the u.k.

the australian open tennis is being played with no fans in the venues. 13 cases were found on friday and saturday. a -- attention on capitol hill turns from former president donald trump to the democrat stimulus package with a vote expected next week. donald trump was acquitted in his impeachment trial. the vote was 57-43 with seven republicans joining the democrats. donald trump responded by saying that the make america great movement has only just begun. those were your first word headlines. paul: still to come,, we will get the outlook for the markets with dr. brian jacobsen who joins us next. this is bloomberg. ♪ [ sigh ] not gonna happen. that's it. i'm calling kohler about their walk-in bath. my name is ken. how may i help you? hi, i'm calling about kohler's walk-in bath.

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paul: investors are in wait and

see mode on u.s. stimulus, lot downs and progress on vaccine distribution. hereto discuss more is brian jacobsen. we have vaccines on the way. qe, pretty much forever. where do you see the risks? brian: what is there not to like? the only thing that we are wrestling with is the extent to which investors might already have this baked into the cake so to speak. obviously, everyone knows the progress of the vaccine rollout. the federal reserve and global central banks seem to want to keep the party going. additional fiscal stimulus on the way. it is interesting how, despite the trifecta of good news, longer-term expectations of

growth for 2021 into 2022 still seem relatively muted. there is still some risk to the upside. holding onto an idea that it eventually has to turn down or slow down and the economy has proven to be more resilient than people expected which is probably why risk after -- risk assets seem to be moving to the upside. paul: do you have a sense that money is flowing into some assets that under different circumstances would look marginal? brian: i think that is one of the consequences of quantitative easing. it is almost by design. ben bernanke, when he was first articulating some of the economic rationale behind quantitative easing when he was fed chair coming he talked about the portfolio rebalancing

affect. heart of that was to push government bond yields and risk-free securities -- push their yields to such an attractive levels that it forced people into taking more risk rebalancing their portfolios. i think that we do see some of the excesses that that can create. it is one of the dangers. i was watching bloomberg the other day and listening in on bloomberg surveillance when alex said kaplan was on and they said they want to monitor things but none of those moves in the marginal assets have raised to the level of what they would consider to pose a systemic risk. shery: to your point, we have seen incredible rallies in certain assets. we are also seeing this gamestop frenzy. we have a hearing coming up.

how close are we or how much are we risking a minsky moment? brian: that is a good question and something we are trying to monitor. we have a multi-asset fragility indicator we like to follow -- a composite that looks across the major asset classes. right now, it is not indicating that it has gotten to that minsky moment type of risk. it is still in the more marginal areas. some of them you could argue that whether it is the mean stock phenomena -- it is the difference between wrestling a teddy bear and a grizzly bear. it is one thing to push up the price of security where there is massive short instance and low liquidity. it is different to do it on the broader s&p 500 or any one of the s&p 500.

bitcoin tends to be more -- i think churchill what call it a riddle inside of a mystery wrapped inside of an enigma for some of us but as long as it is statement contained and you see pockets of big price moves but it is not popping up in the broader market, i don't think we are close to one of those minsky tight moments. shery: let us delve deeper into the markets. especially equities and small caps in particular. we continue to see that it is all going to be big tech or small caps. the gtb chart on the bloomberg has small caps but we are also seeing the battle between growth and battle -- growth and value. how do you position yourself in this market? brian: when we put on our

tactical trades, we try to diversify across a number of them. markets are going to do what markets do and it can be unpredictable at times. we do think there is value within the small caps states. you think about the classic drivers of why small caps should outperform small caps or why value should outperform growth -- it is where there is heightened inflation uncertainty, heightened growth uncertainty but it seems to be turning towards where the uncertainty might be resolving more favorably with slightly higher inflation and faster growth. positioning our portfolios in anticipation of that uncertainty, resolving itself, such that we will see that surprise to the upside with growth and slightly higher inflation. perhaps we could see march,

april, may -- last year we saw deflation. we could see some persistent, above target inflation in the united states. we do think that should be favorable for small caps. on any given day, growth in large caps could come roaring back which -- it is a must like driving where you are clenching the steering wheel with white knuckles because it is a little treacherous. paul: in terms of uncertainty, i know you are keeping your eye on a few geopolitical wildcards as well, do markets really care about this kind of thing? brian: that is one of the problems with geopolitical issues is that markets don't care of until it matters. that is why we are trying to monitor it as closely as we can. thanks to the wonderful service that bloomberg provides with

reporting that, it is a window into the world, the world of geopolitics. that is something that can tend to throw markets for a loop. the classic drivers of a market correction would tend to be something around fears of growth and inflation or fears of a geopolitical issue. one of those three. when we are looking across those three dimensions of what could drive a correction, we think where it is most likely to happen would be on the geopolitical side as opposed to the growth or inflation side. shery: brian jacobsen, great to have your thoughts. coming up, new zealand's largest city goes into law down over three new community cases of covid-19. we get the very latest

paul: new zealand's largest city, auckland, has been ordered into a snap locked down as authorities investigate three new covid cases. matthew, what do we know about this case and what are the new developments? >> the ministry of health has concerns that the new cases are infected with the more transmissible u.k. strains of the virus. the prime minister said they have to assume they are dealing with the variant that can spread more easily. the worry is that these people have traveled. last week, they went to another city and visited several destinations. shery: they raised the alert levels around the country. what does that mean in terms of

restrictions for new zealand? >> new zealand has an alert level system with number four being the strictest level. auckland has been raised to level three where people have been asked to work from home. rather earnings are restricted to 10 people. businesses cannot operate with any customer facing activities. aucklanders also cannot leave the region. the rest of the country has been raised to level number two. schools and shops though remain open. paul: new zealand has had something of a golden run in terms of dealing with covid. has that come to an end? >> it is a bit of a reality check for new zealand. we have not had any restrictions here since august of last year so life has been back to normal for a long time.

the context of these cases will be tested them we will have to see if there is any community transmission. if there is, these restrictions could be scaled up for a longer period of time. shery: matthew brockett but the latest on those infections and new zealand. the white house has issued its strongest criticism yet of the world health organization's investigation into the origins of covid and china's involvement. the u.s. and the ok are calling on beijing to release its data from the earliest days of the outbreak. last week, the eluate joe sounded that they had just wrapped up their investigation and they were done with it. they seem to be backtracking. what does the white house want and what is the u.k. saying? >> in these last few days, there was a report in the new york

times that was a blockbuster saying chinese scientists have refused to share certain raw data with the who investigators. and it got nasty. after that, the national security advisor is calling for more transparency from china to make its data available on the early stages of the outbreak and not to interfere in the investigation. we have a new administration in the u.s. now that is certainly engaging with china in a different way from the trump administration. i think they want to show that they will hold china's feet to the fire on this and other issues. the national security advisor issued that statement from camp david this weekend after a meeting with the president. today, we heard boris johnson, the u.k. prime minister,

amplified that call for china to be transparent. the who has walked back its conclusions and is saying that we still don't really know. paul: the unsurprising news over the weekend that the former president trump was acquitted at his impeachment trial. what is the role of former president trump in the republican party going forward? >> we get the impression that president trump is emerging triumphant from his acquittal even though seven members of his own party voted for his conviction, the highest ever for an impeachment of a president by his own party. there are those that want to end

the trump era and move back toward the center. we did hear from senator lindsey graham, one of president trump's staunch allies, he said the former president is well. statements we had from other republican lawmakers at the conclusion of the impeachment trial including mitch mcconnell show that there is a real sense that the party would like to move away. in the last few weeks, we have seen a small group of breakaway republicans wondering if we should start our own party. the two party system is so entrenched that it is hard to see that happening. i think you will see the party try to come back together but it will be quite difficult and it

could be a nasty fight. paul: let's get a quick check of the latest business flash headlines. mining powerhouses including rio tinto and bhp are expected to report bumper profits. they also face increased scrutiny from investors. fallout continues from last year's distraction of ancient aboriginal sites. and for bhp, there is still questions about proceeding with a project in canada. sources say discussions were initiated by softbank which is a backer of bytedance and tiktok. india has banned it indefinitely. bitcoin is heading to a new high after receiving more backing from the financial services market.

morgan stanley is said to be considering whether it should own the cryptocurrency. plenty more here on daybreak: australia." do stay with us. ♪

>> you are watching "bloomberg daybreak: australia." u.k. prime minister boris johnson is telling significant progress in the fight against coronavirus. 15 million britons have had the inoculation, meeting at target set for priority groups for the 15th of february. 25% of the population has been given at least one shot. in the u.s., infection rates have fallen to their lowest levels in four months. the bbc is reporting myanmar will cut all internet services monday, as the military

increases its presence on the street. armed vehicles have been seen rolling through the city as the generals look to crush protests that followed the fed roy cooper. -- the february coup. secured he forces have been firing tear gas and rubber bullets at protesters. mario draghi begins this weekend after being -- this week after being sworn in over the weekend. he inherits a pandemic that claims 90,000 lives, a debt load and the worst recession since world war ii he held his first cabinet meeting saturday and is calling for political unity to back his team of professionals and politicians. the former argentine benefit has died at the age of 90 -- the former argentine minister died at the age of 90. he took over with inflation running at 5000%. he had been ill for some time

and needed hospital treatment in december for kidney failure. those we are first word headlines. shery: let's turn to bitcoin climbing to another record amid signs of a widening embrace across the financial services industry. the cryptocurrency is on the verge of breaking $50,000 for the first time. let's cross toward global markets editor. adam this comes on the back of plenty of gains this year. the gtv chart on the bloomberg is showing another year of 20% gains. how much room just have to run given the gains? have seen so far? >> in many respects a lot of people have not been surprised by the pace of the increase you are seeing in the price of bitcoin. going into last year we had this ongoing story of institutional adoption of the cryptocurrency. the last week is characterized by specific developments, the first being the tesla purchase,

the 1.5 blade dollars. -- 1.5 alien dollars. -- billion dollars. also bank of new york mellon. in the consumer space, mastercard say they're going to allow cardholders to transact in certain cryptocurrencies. it is part of this ongoing narrative which is now delivering, in terms of the corporate space and institutional investors getting behind this. and the prices continuing to show that it has more room to run, even though we have had such meteoric gains. the question now from a trading perspective becomes whether you get some kind of short-term setback if you have a week or so without incremental positive news. that might be something that will allow some people to book profit in positions. you still have a very great

number of long-term holders prepared to see prices go well beyond $50,000. it certainly looks like the bull trend is intact for the moment. paul: adam, we have a lot of a lot of markets shut monday including the u.s. and china. what is the latest thinking on the reflation trade and whether it is sustainable after the recent run-up in risk assets? >> two things were clear as we ended last week. if you look at the morgan stanley or country world index of global shares, that ended the week at a record high. then, if you look at the steepness of the treasury curve, people pricing in future, longer rates being higher, that difference between the long end of the curve and the short end, is now the steepest and five years. then you have the indications from commodities markets, where oil back up toward almost $60.

there is a few indications across lots of different markets that are all speaking to this idea that the reflation trade is very much intact at the moment. and investors are prepared to give a benefit of the doubt for a continued cyclical recovery in equities markets, for a continued recovery in the global economy itself. a lot of that premised on vaccine rollout continuing to play well. and the fact that when we do see variants at a resurgence of cases in some places, you can get to grips with them reasonably quickly and still move on with the vaccine rollout. so a lot of that is already priced in. i think de-risk now is unless you continue to see the follow-through from a corporate point of view, you might see ro for pullback for risk assets. shery: our global markets editor with his take on the rally we have seen and bitcoin. time for morning calls ahead of their asia trading day.

i think the u.s. dollar weakened for the first time on a weekly basis and three. i have been watching the u.s. dollar after golden sachs said there also see it we can so on the back of strong global growth and vaccination campaigns around the world. goldman saying also cyclical forces will dominate some degree of u.s. outperformance and that would result in dollar downside for most [indiscernible] . paul: yes, i am looking at another currency pair, the aussie-yen. the aussie looking like it will extend its rally against the yen, as rba [indiscernible] overshadowing its efforts to restrain the currency. and reducing the yen's haven appeal. quantitative easing might limit upside for the pair,

recovery in the also a market should lend support. an scope are further modest gains in the coming weeks. rio tinto and bhp should report bopper profits as they reap the benefit of a 70% surge in iron ore prices last year. both mining giants are under scrutiny. rio from the gorge fair. -- af fair. and bhp over whether to proceed with its potash projects in canada. the fate of both of these companies tied very much to the price of iron ore. georgina, what is your outlook for the coming year? >> good morning, paul think you for having me on the show. ubs sees another strong year after the iron or market, price for 2021 isusd $125/ton on the back of continuing strength in china, and rest of world recovery. as you pointed out, it has been

a very strong second half calendar year for the miners, with iron ore lifting from averaging in the first half of $91 a ton to $126 in the second half, so this should drive strong results. but as you pointed out, tuesday and went to our big days for the miners. paul: what sort of dividend payout you expect from the hp and rio that would surprise the market? -- bhp and rio that would surprise the market? >> we are going into very different sets of results. four bhp this is an interim result with an existing ceo on site for your now. we are looking at the dividend of 0.$.91. where's for rio this is a full

year with a new ceo coming back from a turbulent year in 2020 for the company. usd $3.70 per share. both have clear dividend policies, we expect things to be in line. we are not expecting special dividends or buybacks, but we are expecting a solid payback to investors. shery: what will investors be watching when it comes to regulatory scrutiny? we have had a couple of scandals for both companies last year. >> yes, so like i said, it is an interesting time. bhp has the benefit of having my can rate for over a year and he has been very clear with the vision for the company and the transition he is moving toward, more future focused commodities and a greater embedding of technology in the way the company undertakes operations. we do have this overhang around janssen. advancers -- investors interested to see the movement

going forward. fort rio -- for rio, everyone is well aware of the turbulent year had was unprecedented in what unfolded. with the new ceo, there is a long way for him to go with rebuilding relationships, and western australia, with traditional owners, and also trust with the community. we have also seen him outlining his changes with the management changes announced last month. we have seen a chief executive appointed for australia. we have the new chief executive for iron ore announced. he is very clear about the leadership team going forward in australia, to rebuild relationships. but it is also, it has put the miners on edge in western australia. shery: when it comes to the commodities outlook, are the risks on the supply side? in particular when it comes to iron ore what equity exposures would be best for iron ore?

>> so, you know, for so much of the global recovery, it is a vaccine rollout and the shutdowns that could potentially occur globally, as mobility returns. iron ore benefited from the strengths of china but the future growth is premised on the rest of the world mobility returning, the return of europe, the return of southeast asia, to continue to feel that growth -- two fuel that growth. the risk is around the vaccine effectiveness and rollout an additional lockdowns. we saw two weeks ago in western australia, there was a snap lockdown because the covid concern. that sock risk to iron ore output from some of the -- that saw risk to iron ore output from some of the miners, and we are cognizant of that. in iron ore you have the big traditional player in bhp. in rio, you have fortescue, the

pivot to the fortescue future industries shows they are looking to diversify business long-term. another through mineral resources with its growing iron ore portfolio and growth projects. paul: your thoughts on australia's second most important commodity, call? we have a-- coal? we have a lot of power plants in retired are reaching the end of their life. china not taking australian coal cargoes at the moment. what is your outlook for that community -- commodity? >> the outlook for coal is really tied to the rest of world recovery this year. with the ongoing tensions with china last year, that was huge destruction to australian coal miners. a number of australian producers had already diversified away from china, so there focus, and their growth will be predicated on the continuing return of

activity in southeast asia. again, that risk of reemergence of covid, lockdowns, etc., will be a risk to that. it is worth noting, skip talked about it a lot, we are in a a lunar new year. that have an impact on supply and we have seen that in supply. in australia coal exports were down 12% year on year in january due to weather disruptions. an interesting year in terms of balancing the supply side with weather-related impacts that are going to impact not only coal, but also iron ore and producers out of brazil, australia and south africa. and then also what happens to the rest of world recovery, as australian coal producers diversify away from china to protect themselves from any ongoing risk there. shery: 70 uncertainties, great having her insights, thank you. ubs money analyst, -- mining

analyst with her thoughts. we will be hearing from ceos throughout the week including bhp. next, uncertainties the olympics as the tokyo 2020 chief resigns over sexist remarks. for the temple university -- with the temple university director of asian studies we will discuss the evocations. this is bloomberg. ♪

shery: take a look at japanese future pointing higher now. we have had cyclical weakness in the japanese yen marginally close to the 105 level. tons of things to watch out of japan this week including today, fourth-quarter plumber neri gdp growth numbers expected for rebound -- fourth-quarter preliminary gdp growth numbers. machine orders and cpi nevers out of japan this week. in the meantime today we are watching the head resigning as the president of the tokyo olympics organizing committee friday after sexist comments and what he said women talk too much. the resignation comes before the olympics are to open in the middle of a pen summit -- of the pandemic. let's discuss this with jeff in tokyo. how much will the resignation help here? >> i mean, i think the

organizers must be thinking, what else could go wrong? i mean, it has just been one scandal and gaffe and problem after another so, yes, his exit will help. but i think it has done damage and the way he went was messy at first, the old guard circle the wagons trying to protect him. 20 years ago they probably would have gotten away with it, just no longer, it was unbelievable. his comments say, we already have enough board members, and those women another place. human rights watch awarded him the gold medal for sexism. clearly it was time for him to exit. just think back, two in japan got the elliptic bid in 2013 -- the olympic bid in 2013. the stadium design, the logo

plagiarized, after that it turns out they spent $28 billion. then the pandemic derailed the olympics last year. now, new strains may raise? 's -- new strains may raise question marks this year. the head of the olympic committee had to resign. it has been one blackeye after another. the olympics is supposed to be branding showcasing the strengths of the country. shery: exactly and everything you mentioned seems like a lifetime ago, because so much has happened since tokyo got the olympics, right? this is supposed to be a coming out party, the light at the end of the tunnel after the

coronavirus and economic downturns. what happens to the prime minister yoshihide suga? politically. >> he has dropped like a rock. you know, he backed the domestic tourism campaign. it was a clearly between that and the third wave of the pandemic care and he got blamed -- pandemic here and he got blamed for. and the diet is like a monty python parity, he is so wooden and that's awake question see this not want to -- and he just bats away questions he does not want to answer. he is a bad committed caterer who does not show empathy but does show determination to go on with the liv-ex -- he is a bad communicator who does not show empathy but does show determination to go on with the olympics. amid all the uncertainty and risk i guess people are hoping

the vaccination rollout which starts this week will be that magic wand. paul: we were saying earlier -- seeing earlier on the screen that 80% of japanese what the elliptic postponed -- want the olympics counsel to postpone. -- what the liv-ex accounts -- want the olympics counsel or postpones -- canceled or postponed. >> everybody was saying, we are going on last year and finally they pulled the plug. now it looks similar. the vaccination campaign for the general public is probably not going to begin until june. half of the japanese people do not want to be inoculated. as you pointed out, 80% are pre-much fine pulling the plug. so, public support is weak, but they are hoping that if they do

stage the games safely, the public will rally. a lot of uncertainties out there , so i would say chances are less than 50-50 that it is a go. paul: the cost of staging the games i watering, how important is it economically that they do go ahead? >> well, you know, the money has pretty much all been spent, you know, there will be a lot of on sold -- a lot of unsold [indiscernible] and hotels will be empty. principally the government wants us to be out coming out party, the end of the pandemic, let's celebrate. and let's wrap up tourism. -- let's rev up. tourism they had gone up to 32 million visitors in 2019, 20 the level in 2010.

so they are hoping -- quadruple the level in 2010. they are hoping they'll be ebix to millis for the japanese hospitality and transport sectors. right now they are all in trouble. paul: thank you for joining us. be sure to tune into bloomberg radio to tune into bloomberg radio tahini -- to hear more from the newsmakers and to get analysis from the team broadcasting live from our studio and hong kong. this is bloomberg. ♪

shery: the chip shortage hounding carmakers around the world is not a major concern for general motors. the president of gm tells bloomberg how it is making impact on gm's ev targets. >> i think the pandemic really did not help a lot of our chip suppliers, who do a great job in normal conditions. they rent right -- they run right to our supply and forecast to our scheduling. when the pandemic hit, the whole industry brought all of the factories down. a lot of that supply was still going into, was shifted frankly probably into the consumer electronics piece of that. and the thought was, that the auto industry is not going to maybe recover as fast as the other industries.

so i think that -- and you know it takes well to grow and do the silicon chips, themselves. so once the industry came back faster than a lot of people, than a lot of other industries thought they would, we gotta hole. and we have to work through that, it is not a long-term supply issue. i think that is how you have to think about that, if that makes sense. the other piece of an, on the precious metal piece of it, we as a ton of precious metals in our catalytic converters and other antipollution devices inside the internal combustion engine powertrains and drive lines of our vehicles in the industry. so we are using those today and they're expensive because their countermeasures at the end of the day. if you look at what you are talking about as the anode and cathodes, the mixture and

composition of those in our cells over a long time, i can tell you if you own your own chemistry, and you are making those anodes and cathodes your own, you can really do a substantial amount of r&d to eliminate those. that is all i'm going to say about it. those materials used today will not be the materials we use tomorrow. paul: that is the president of general motors speaking with david westin. crown is one of the stocks we are watching as markets open in australia in the next few minutes. we did have the news earlier that the ceo can barton has finally stepped down -- ken bart on has stepped down after the scathing report into crown casinos from an independent review, the reap port now on its way to the regulator -- the report now on the way to the regular. crown will now be run by helen coonan as executive chairman.

also keeping an eye on jb high-fived, and futures in australia currently putting higher by .3%. markets closed today hong kong, china, vietnam, taiwan, enjoying the lunar new year. market open in sydney in a moment. this is bloomberg. ♪

>> it is 10:00 a.m. in sydney and 7:00 a.m. in hong kong. we will have them market open in sydney just now, off to a sluggish start. new zealand bouncing back from early losses, currently higher or weaker, from .4%, it was off .8% at one point. futures in japan pointing to a positive open as well. let's get to our top stories this hour. new zealand's largest city, auckland, has been in a three-day lockdown as authorities investigate three new covid-19 cases.