goodrx finds free coupons to help you save up to 80% on your prescriptions. - wow, i had no idea. - [announcer] goodrx, stop paying too much for your prescriptions. >> good morning and welcome to daybreak australia, i'm paul allen in sydney. shery i'm shery ahn. paul: the u.s. hit record highs for a third straight day,

president biden is planning the first major federal tax hike in decades, corporate and capital gains as well as high earners. beijing is said to be concerned about the technology giants influence over public opinion. and, we will talk to ceo after the multibillion-dollar deal. shery: let's get started with a picture on wall street with all u.s. stocks finishing at a record high. the s&p 500 being led higher by utilities. tech firms also rose. treasuries, 10 year bonds headed high.

oil, wti, seeing as the deepest since january. really signaling oversupply in the markets, paul. paul: yes, unsurprisingly we are excited to see a risk on day. the futures pointing to an open, nikkei futures also pointing higher. we have also seen yields easing back about 58 basis points, we will be hearing from the reserves later on. now, let's get over to vonnie quinn. >> germany joined france, italy and spain and suspending the use of the astrazeneca covid

vaccine. governments across the continent are holding -- are halting distribution of the shot following reports of serious blood clotting. they still say the benefit of the vaccine outweighs the risk. president biden is planning the first major tax hike since 1993 help on long-term recovery. sources in white house is considering tax raises including hikes for corporate tax rates, and higher income tax for high earners. that is the most since october of 2019. total foreign held u.s.

globally, 7 trillion u.s. dollars, the highest total on record. the chinese government has asked alibaba to sell its media holdings. a source tells bloomberg authorities are concerned about the tech companies growing influence. officials are said to be particularly upset about the cloud consul. global news 24 hours a day, on-air and on bloomberg quick take, powered by more than 2,700 journalists and analysts in more than 120 countries. global news 24 hours a day, on-air and on bloomberg quick take, powered by more than 2,700 journalists and analysts in more than 120 countries. i'm vonnie quinn. this is bloomberg. shery: i would like to welcome in our radio listeners to daybreak australia. after the e-commerce pioneer thoughts best day in years, in e

adr has follow those gains. a $2.2 million stake scale could fund expansion, and finance mobile markets. they give for your time today, great to see you. at least when it comes to your e-commerce business, what prompted you to raise capital now? >> well, we started our mobile service last april. based on something no one has ever done. shery: you have called mobile your keystone of your ecosystem, is that were all of the capital is going? >> well, obviously, we need to do that on our nationwide

network. as you know, we had the world's first nationwide network platform. so, the money will go to network buildout and mobile development. as well as building logistics. shery: obviously, when it comes to building it takes a lot of investments but at the same time, your losses tripled in the last fiscal year. do you have a plan for when you plan to breakeven? >> we cannot disclose our forecast. at this stage, it is getting close to about 50 million u.s. dollars. 20% year-over-year. shery: i have to ask, what makes

you so optimistic and so focused on wireless mobile? especially, now, when you have the japanese government that wants to lower the fees. will this make it tougher in the future? >> not so much. because, again, we have a hundred million registered members. we are not starting from nowhere. we are building on an extremely expensive legacy. is going to be extremely low compared with our operation costs.

the investment is substantially lower, and how we came up with the pricing point, this is amazing. shery: tell us a little bit more about your vision for this ecosystem. within a broader goal, when it comes to actually capitalizing on this change, you have the faster 5g speeds. >> other gigantic companies want to do, verizon, others, we don't look on top in the mobile services.

we are number one in online banking, credit cards, brokerage forms, -- brokerage firms. we have 70 internet businesses. we have the biggest program in japan. combining this with the network services is very powerful. we have the ability to reach to the customer. the users don't need to say anything to get mobile. because they have so many points from other services and can pay the subscription by points. shery: it seems you are going the other way around, basically, you are building and talking about what you already have as opposed to other phone companies. tell us about the main business of e-commerce, how close is that

in one of the synergies that you could build their? >> i think the world's first marketplace, three or four years ago, it was just once in a while. now, even as shopping is becoming an alternative, delivery became very important. what is costing the most, we need to build nationwide delivery. it covers 77% of delivery. and then, we are also going to develop ai to make the most

efficient route to deliver them. shery: i thought you had to scale back plans i thought you o scale back plans for shipping last year, any update on that? >> of course. we are close to 90% of merchants. and then, weand then, we have po convince the rest to follow our guidelines. and so, lots of people, that means everything will be shipping free. what is going to cost us most is the delivery, therefore this partnership is going to be a

good one for us. shery: let's talk a little bit about your ambitions in china, as we continue to see these regulatory pressures on chinese tech giants, alibaba for example under scrutiny. does this bring you opportunities or do you have to worry about the risk in the future? >> we are attempting to explore businesses in china. china is a very big market for the product. and the content. japanese production and content is very popular in china but it has been difficult for japanese companies. so, this partnership is going to be a very good channel for our

merchants. to letto let them come into chio this is great. shery: can you elaborate on that? what are you doing? >> we know tensions have been developing, it is growing very fast. a merchant can retail to the platform, and we will disclose our partnership strategy and a couple of months. shery: during the pandemic, we have seen japan struggle with the digital economy. i know you have had conversations with the government. what is your vision of what needs to be done in japan when you see people fasting medical prescriptions at a time of rising infections? >> there is, what is imported,

for example, shopping is growing pretty rapidly in japan. and, now the proliferation of internet shopping is about 60% of all consumption. and we are seeing the transition of consumers from stores to online. so, for international services, streaming, and everything. with regards to the distribution of the government, of course, it is not so easy to do. but we would like to cooperate

with the government as much as possible. shery: when it comes to japan or other parts of the world, you are focusing on stable bill -- on stability. you are recently included in the dow jones. give us a view of what sort of plans you have on that front. >> obviously, i am the founder of the company. and i hope we can contribute to the global community as much as possible. and, we need to contribute to the sustainability of the global community as well. this has been one of the most diversified companies in asia. we have employed more than 70 million in different countries. we changed our primary language from japanese to english eight years ago.

shery: it was great having you on, thank you very much for your time in the early morning in japan. coming up, president biden is planning the first major federal tax hike in nearly three decades. we will have that bloomberg scooped next. plus, if markets are still the place to be. this is bloomberg. ♪

paul: president biden is presidg

up for the first major tax hike since 1993. for the challenge of funding long-term economic growth. kathleen hays joins us now, kathleen, the bill is expected to climb for higher income workers, what should we see? >> attacks hike in any country is a big deal because they are the most popular things that can have influence. but of course, this is probably going to hit the wealthy by far the way the most. it will help fund, not just raise debt but help raise money for key initiatives, infrastructure, climate, expanding health care for americans and it will address

the tax cuts. it is likely to repeal part of president trump's tax cut, including two wealthy payers and corporations, those will be changed. again, raising the corporate tax rate to 28% from 21 percent. a lot of people on wall street are going to argue that makes u.s. corporations less competitive than other corporations. who have lower interest rates than that. increasing the income tax on those earning more than $400,000. it is interesting, explicitly president biden has rejected having an actual wealth tax. that is another risk of some of the things that this could be, those income tax increases for people over $400,000. the rate goes to almost 40%

versus 7%, social security tax doubles for them. their taxes on capital gains and dividends, making millions of dollars per year. $7.1 trillion. shery: kathleen, not one republican voted for the last stimulus package. one of the prospects of this getting past? kathleen: first of all, tax increases are not going to be popular even with democrats. democrats, let's member, will need at least 10 republicans to get this bill passed through the senate. you can't go through on reconciliation for current rules. mitch mcconnell, who is the leading senate majority leader, sees discussion on the appropriateness of the tax bill, one thing is for sure, we are

telling the bloomberg news team that any changes are going to take place this year. shery: still to come, china's pressure on alibaba and its media holdings and concerns about influence on public opinion. this is bloomberg. ♪

paul: alibaba is facing government pressure to sell off its media holdings because of concerns about the influence on public opinion. this comes under tight regulatory scrutiny. we have tom mackenzie and big dean, -- in beijing, tom, what

you know. tom: we know they have regulatory issues dating back to last year and they became increasingly concerned about the portfolio of media assets that alibaba owns. they were unaware that have such a widespread portfolio ranging from tv production companies to social media companies. at to newspapers. and the significant stake in the twitter like application. this raise concern amongst regulators, they were particularly worried about social media, the ownership of assets by alibaba and the potential to adjust and change influence social opinion. shery: how does this tie into the broader crackdown on tech we are seeing in china? tom: it is all about control for beijing. controlling financial risks, controlling what regulators say

is monopolistic behavior by alibaba in terms of investments across a number of different companies. it is about controlling the social narrative, about public opinion. in this case, they are very concerned that these assets give alibaba the power to influence public opinion. in fact, there was a scandal last year involving a partner of the e-commerce company. that blew up on way board, very quickly those posts were taken down. they were taken down by, as believed, on the back of these calls by alibaba. that was the assumption. that is the concern for china. they were the ones controlling the narrative, we will see how this plays out. shery: tom mackenzie there with

the latest. china's largest are planning to merge to create a new agricultural giant okra -- ahead of the ipo. trading off with simple the master -- domestic assets and a company that will compete with the four biggest traders. infinity came under scrutiny in china, car owners accuse the brand of vehicles defects including a malfunctioning brake and accelerator. world consumer rights say by calling out foreign and domestic bands for quality and service issues. the philippines targeting foreign expansion as it looks

for more opportunities amid the pandemic. they are planning to open 450 restaurants around the world. there also on the lookout for acquisitions. the ceo expects earnings to return to precode levels by 2022. 20 morehead, this is bloomberg. -- plenty more ahead, this is bloomberg. ♪

vonnie: you're watching daybreak australia. u.s. secretary of state antony blinken and defense secretary lloyd austin will meet with their japanese counterparts tuesday. this as the bite in a to revitalize their relations with asia. biden and alstom will head to south korea for talks later in the week. president biden's administration has reached out to north korea's government to revive dippel medic efforts around the country's nuclear program but

has not received a response. kim jong-un is known not to respond for months at a time. with korea could be one focus of talks scheduled in alaska later this week. the european union has launched legal action against the u.k. for delaying the implementation of a key part of the brexit deal in northern island. -- northern ireland. the move could ultimately lead to financial penalties or trade tariffs being imposed on the unity came to him. the u.n. says at least 138 people have been killed in myanmar during the military crackdown on pro-democracy protesters. security forces have extended full martial law. china's embassy has asked all authorities to protect its investments after factories were attacked but has yet to condemn the military takeover.

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. this is bloomberg. shery: it is time for morning calls ahead of the asia trading day with sophie in hong kong. we are seeing the rotation trade gain traction. what are analysts saying? sophie: over at black rock investment, they are reaffirming their procyclical tilt and saying it is all about the size of the economic rebound. the markets are still under appreciating. they see the u.s. heading for a strong restart. blackrock investment, overweight u.s. equities and emerging-market stocks, which they see benefiting from a global upswing. pulling up hr on the terminal. emerging value stocks have beaten growth peers for five weeks. that is the longest streak since august 2018.

investors consider equity risk premiums vis-a-vis higher yields. paul: ray dalio saying bonds are better. called investing in bonds stupid to he is taking note of chinese paper. where do you buy along the curve? sophie: hvc is favoring chinese 30 year paper. the 10 year expected to get a boost from local government this year. yields are seen coming in on china on slower gdp and credit growth along with stable monetary policy while hsbc does expect rates will rise. they said this will have a bigger impact on shorter dated bonds of three years and below. ray dalio does noted that china's bonds offer relatively attractive yields.

increasing nationalization of the room and be. taking -- of the renminbi. paul: stocks closing at a record high for a third consecutive trading session amid growing optimism of the economic recovery. let's bring in the deputy chief investment officer. vaccines rolling out. no tightening on the horizon. ray dalio is saying by stuff, -- saying buy stuff, any stuff. >> the market is acting like the market -- the path of least resistance is upward. the sharpest recession on record last year. now we are rebounding from that. it is not a typical recovery. we juiced the whole system with nearly truth -- nearly $2 trillion heading into it, which likely will be spent pretty rapidly. paul: the stimulus you mentioned

did not attract any support from attract -- from across the aisle. do you see any and it at -- any unintended consequences? >> sooner or later, we are going to have to pay the bill. the trial balloon released today relative to increasing taxes on appropriations and potentially high income earners would need bipartisan support to get through congress. the market seemed to shrug off the threat of additional taxes, figuring there will be a lot of machinations in place to get that across the finish line. that could be one of those unintended consequences, raising taxes to pay for the deal. shery: we do have more stimulus on its way for consumers. this is what bank of america had to say about optimism on what is going to happen next. >> the consumers at bank of america, which is 50 million

people spending $3 trillion plus a year are spending more money than they did last year and growing at 10% and that was for the pandemic. shery: how do you get exposure to all of that spending on the markets? >> part of it is to look carefully at the consumer goods companies you own and the cyclical trade as well in terms of more and more companies being able to participate. he saw the trade -- you saw the trade. airlines, you will see trades in retail and restaurants as we open back up because this stimulus for individuals comes at a time when there appears to be light at the end of the tunnel. four months ago, we did not even have vaccines approved. now we have three approved in broad spread use. you have money coming into bank accounts and a feeling like we

are close to over. there may be a tendency to push more of that into goods and services and participating in some of those things we have not been able to for a year. shery: bad news with great news. once you have all of these economic news and encouraging data, you are thinking inflation. how do you hedge that? >> you hedge that by understanding first we are anchored toward an abnormally low rate over the last six to 12 months and despite the back up in rates, we are not back to where we were pre-pandemic. a bit of inflation is good for the markets as long as it is observed. this sort of inflation would be indicative of the fact the growth rates are really strong and they are reflecting the strength in the economy. if you had inflation because there is lack of supply, you created different and negative

scenario. stock investors should not fear a bit of orderly inflation. paul: inflation still a long way from the fed's target. when you anticipated might get there and what in your opinion does too hot inflation look like? >> the first part of your question, we could get there sooner rather than later and probably sooner than the fed or the treasury has currently projected. they are leaning on the fact there is a lot of slack in the labor system, which there is but there are certain parts of the system where we are already seeing pressure on price. maybe we touched 2% inflation rate at some point this year. again, the rapidity with which we entered the recession and the historic sharpness of the session mean that popping out of it is likely to be historic as

well. we could see many more people put to work once we hit toward herd immunity on the vaccinations. as we start reopening things, putting people back to work, people are spending the stimulus checks, you could easily see bigger increases than we have ever seen on the backside. they would not necessarily be you lasting increase at -- be lasting increases. they would be a short snapback. equity markets need not fear that. we need the fed and treasury to make sure it does not get out of hand. shery: we'll be watching the fed decision closely. it is great to have you on. deputy chief investment officer. coming up, germany is the latest nation in europe to halt the use of the astrazeneca covid vaccine amid a health scare. we will have the latest. this is bloomberg. ♪

>> the decision which was taken in accordance with our policy to suspend vaccinations with astrazeneca as a precaution. hoping to resume them quickly is the opinion -- if the opinion of the ma allows it. the german government is suspending coronavirus

vaccination of the astrazeneca vaccine. the background for this is the newly reported cases of thrombosis. shery: the french president emmanuel macron on the suspension of the astrazeneca covid vaccine. it's get more on this from the bloomberg health care reporter. astrazeneca said this was not a concern. why are we seeing these countries hope the vaccination? >> even what micron said, they are acting cautiously. they are going to wait to hear from the european medicine agency and follow the advice of regulators. as we see more of these countries, germany, france, the netherlands, other places across asia halting the vaccines, nobody wants to be seen as putting their citizens at risk. that being said, there is not any clear evidence or even a good biological rationale as to

why this vaccine would have triggered blood clots. we know thousands of people do develop these clouds averie year. it is called the economy classed syndrome. people on long-haul flights. if you do not walk around, you get these clots in your legs. there is not a rationale for it. people are just worried and nobody wants to put their people at risk. paul: here in australia, authorities are reassuring people about the astrazeneca vaccine. it is going to be made in melbourne. when are we going to have some more clarity about what the risks are? >> the world health organization is going to talk to the european medicine agencies tomorrow. we are expecting to get more

clarity at that point. more than 17 million people have received this vaccine. we are not seeing large numbers of deaths related to this or even that many blood clots. in the clinical trials were thousands of people receive the vaccine, more people develop the clot then perhaps had gotten the vaccine. we need to look even more closely at the data that is out there and make sure there is no time. many countries do not have access to other vaccines. the astrazeneca was coming up first in a lot of voices. it is important -- a lot of places. it is important to get the virus under control because that is killing thousands of people a day. shery: astrazeneca was aimed more toward developing countries because it was cheaper. what happens next? do we have enough vaccinations at this point for the entire world? >> we don't have enough

vaccinations for the entire world. with the advent of the new variants, coming up with new vaccines and have to give them on an annual basis means we might be in the situation for a long time. we don't have the space to waste vaccines that are not going to be productive. the questions become, who gets the one that might have some kind of issues about questions, whether they are safe and effective? that does need to get ironed out. we need to make sure everyone is getting safe and effective vaccines and we need to put arrest's concern about the astrazeneca shot. -- we need to put to rest concern about the astrazeneca shot. paul: michelle cortez. the bank of america ceo says u.s. consumer spending is up 10%

compared with this time last year as the recovery continues. he spoke to david westin about the risk of inflation and his forecast for growth. >> our team has the u.s. growth predicted. they do a terrific job. have the u.s. growing at 6.5% for 2021 and 5, 5 .5 for 2022. that is an economy basically the same size it was coming into the end of 2018. predicted to go at three times the rate. an interest rate environment that is probably half or lower than it was. at that point, it was 2.5 and moving to three. the fed funds rate was much higher. then you add the one point $9 trillion stimulus on top of it. when you put that altogether and

the stimulus from people going back to work as the economy reopens, the team is at 6.5% in huge economy. the u.s. growing faster. if you think about that, that is a pretty powerful engine that has already recovered 97% of where it was and is now growing at three times the rate. our team is convinced it is all there. >> people are asking, is it possible we are overheating the economy? it has been held down, the inflation because people are at home. what happens when they come out? some of the deposits, they have it sitting in the back account. are you worried we could get inflation that would be troubling? >> that is part of the discussion.

let me tell you what we are seeing in our customer base. if you think about last year up until march 9 through 10th, that was before any activity had taken the shutdown and we are hearing about this virus and learning about it. it was march 15 until now that people started taking significant action. if you look at that time, 2020 over 19 grew. 20 to 21, we are growing at 6%. from the month of march, it is growing above 10%. that is pretty unbelievable. what you are seeing is the credit card charges, which had been depressed because the traveling is back and growing and growing over your. pre-pandemic shutdown. you're going to see massive year-over-year comparisons. the consumers at bank of america, which is 50 million

people spending three trusts -- three plus trillion a year are spending more money than they did last year and growing at 10%. that was before the pandemic. on a credit card, seniors and boomers are getting vaccinated. that is up 50%. charges in terms of travel, the tsa statistics, by the way, grocery stores are down. people are shifting more to restaurants. that bodes well for normalization of the economy. paul: that is the bank of america ceo brian moynihan. thousands of women rally in cities across australia, anchored of the government's handling of rape allegations in the parliament house. this is bloomberg. ♪

paul: a look ahead for what is on the agenda for today. the rba will release the minutes from its march meeting. we'll bring you the top lines from that. ubs says it will pay for top talent to rebuild its team in australia following a poaching spree from rivals. news corp. says it has reached a three-year agreement with facebook to provide access to news and information through the

facebook news product. shery: thousands of women rally in cities across australia monday, anchored by the government's handling of rape allegations in parliament house. the issue had dented the prime minister's policy. -- prime minister's popularity. we continue to see this growing backlash against prime minister morrison. what is the latest? >> it is great to be with you. what has been happening in the streets these past 24 hours can only be described as politically charged and very emotional for thousands of australians. what it could signal as a reckoning in the way of sexual harassment and systemic issues. on monday, thousands of women rallied across australia to protest against sexual violence and print -- and specifically scott morrison's handling of two

rape scandals. there has been a growing backlash against his handling that a former government staffer was raped by a fellow staffer in a ministers office. and its failure to investigate claims that the current attorney general raped a member of his school debating team in the 1980's. you do not have to go far back in your history books to see some questionable behavior from elected officials. julia gillard has faced sexist attacks. in the years since, and under the liberal national coalition government, we are seeing a bumpy relationship between women in public life. shery: what is the government doing to improve the situation for women? >> a couple of things. the important point to note is

many of the strategies are being -- that are being used have been suggested before. the government has ordered four new inquiries. from the brittany higgins case to the culture inside parliament. one of the people tapped to lead the inquiries is the sex discrimination commissioner. she handed down a report a year ago on this very topic. she made dozens of recommendations, which have been left in their wrappers so far. it remains to be seen what will come from the reviews. we will be watching closely. paul: our millburn bureau chief, rebekah jones. thank you. -- our melbourne bureau

chief, rebekah jones. the philippines largest restaurant operator is targeting foreign expansion as it looks for opportunities amid the covid pandemic. the fast food chain is planning to open 450 restaurants around the world. the ceo expects earnings to return to pre-covid levels by 2022. >> we are open. with the pandemic, we ended up with a stronger position. we are open to opportunities, especially during pandemic. we received more inquiries. paul: you can catch the rest of our exclusive interview with the jollibee ceo.

news corp. says it has reached a three-year deal with facebook on news access in australia. that includes the country's only national newspaper plus publications in capital cities and online. it follows a similar agreement in the united states. we are about five minutes away from the open in australia. let's get over to sophie for a look at what to expect. sophie: watching sky news reaching a deal with facebook. signing a letter of intent. keeping an eye on texas, which has entered a path. we do have aussie bonds rising. we are keeping an eye on bhb after goldman raised price targets for the miners. protecting 135 a ton in 2021.

shery: we'll be watching those stocks as the market opens in sydney. that is next. this is bloomberg. ♪

paul: good morning. we are counting down to asia's major market open. shery: welcome to daybreak asia. asian stocks look set to follow the u.s. higher after the s&p 500 sets another record high on the back of fading virus fears. europe's biggest countries to spend use of the astrazeneca vaccine amid a growing health

scare that