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 is trading another

delay for the european union and ocular asian campaign. child long ones alibaba to sell some of its media. beijing is concerned about the tech giant's influence over public opinion. the u.s. secretary of state is in japan for talks. paul: we have opened the trade in australia this tuesday morning. for a close look at what to expect, let's get to sophie in hong kong. sophie: after australian shares managed to close higher, we are seeing downside pressure for the asx 200. bhp losing ground after the price tag was raised at goldman. keeping an eye on energy after we saw the rotation into value pick up more on wall street. tech names gaining ground.

after pay rising in sydney. check out aussie bonds. the 10 year yield richard. we get australian jobs and home price data later this morning. from japan, a final read on industrial output. the yen is trading above 109. the rsis signaling the yen is looking oversold. the increasing diversion between policy -- of policy between the fed and boj. s&p in minis under pressure as the u.s. stocks closed at a record high overnight. we saw volatility ease and the pickup in inflation. optimism for growth is building. blackrock's research arm is flagging. the size and speed of the rebound.

overweight u.s. equities. they also overweight on emerging-market equities. saying space will benefit from the upswing as well as the stable dollar in higher commodity prices. shery: we have breaking news at the moment. trading platform each oro is planning to go public through a merger with a blank check firm. this according to people familiar with the matter. this deal between the rival to robinhood and fintech acquisition corp. would value the company at $10 billion. the companies are raising 650 million in equity to support the deal. this could be announced as soon tuesday. we do not have comments from the representatives of both companies. we are hearing that is near -- e

toro is nearing the acquisition. the portion to small caps is likely to continue. joining us is the head of investors u.s. equities. it is always great to see you. thank you for joining eyes. we have this ongoing rotation. whether it is from the u.s., broad, from advanced economies. these large caps now going to small caps. the gtv chart showing the surge in yields we are seeing. the russell 2000 powering through. some are saying this may be overheated. >> it may be overheated, but that is in the short-term. i do think we are going to see this strengthen -- this strength in small caps continue. the s&p only up 5%. the russell 2000 if we go back a couple months, up 40%. we have seen an aggressive move. that echoes the confidence

investors are showing in the u.s. market and that things are going to come back to normalcy. we are going to see the economy return. the stimulus package is a boon for the consumer. investors are expecting the consumer to spend some of the pent-up demand and spend the dollars in their pockets. shery: everyone seems to agree if you have an economic recovery, financials will benefit. we are talking of gains of more than 20%. is there more room for gain? >> you have to look at banks as the beneficiaries of an economic recovery and the sector that was left behind. banks did not do well during 2019 and then 2020 with the pandemic. they were really left for dead. banks are showing they have a lot of ability to grow. we have seen a lot of strength in the consumer. the interest consumers have on their savings account is relatively nothing. the spread is increasing on the curb.

banks are back at a point where they can make money on loans. that is a good thing for banks. i think there is still room to go. paul: if we can talk about another dimension of the consumer, we were hearing from the imax ceo. he is optimistic about the long stay at home entertainment sector. i am wondering if that is an area you are looking at along with some of the other beaten up stocks. >> travel and leisure are really good areas to go hunting in right now. we have seen a lot of pent-up demand from the consumer. it is going to be away from home. consumers have had enough of being at home. there is increasing expectation that consumers are going to be out and about whether they are traveling, airfare, hotels, restaurants. i do think we are going to see growing demand particularly as the vaccine rolls out and as

people gain comfort in that vaccine development and the status of the pandemic. we are going to see a lot more action on those names. demand is going to go up. i think companies could be undervalued. paul: we saw apple catching a bid. perhaps another dimension of the consumer story. do you see take as a buy at the moment if you are willing to get along? >> tech is an area where you should keep a careful watch. we tend to overshoot in both directions. we are overshooting away from check and sometimes we can go too far. some of these tech stocks if you have an eye to the longer-term hold, it can be very compelling. we are seeing the market look for places to rotate to. today was an interesting day in the market. we saw utilities and reads gain. a very odd combination. it shows you people are looking

to reallocate funds and want to diversified across the business models they are exposed to. they can over allocate and forget some great things they already own. shery: energy was one of those sectors left behind. we continue to see fears of oversupply. why do you like oil and gas companies? >> i think we have seen some good supply and demand balance in energy. we have seen really good control on the supply side. that balance will hold. that is why energy continues to be an area of interest. as the pandemic fades into the distance and we start to see economy's recover, energy is going to be in demand. we are going to see that price support last. oil has come up a long way from where it was a year ago. a year ago was -$20. we were paying people to hold onto oil. it is still viable because as

the recovery continues, oil and energy will continue to be a focus. the supply and demand balance is what you want to keep an eye on. paul: susan schmidt, aviva investors head of u.s. equities. let's get to vonnie quinn. vonnie: china is -- china's holdings of u.s. treasuries rose $23 billion in january. that is the most since october of 2019. japan remains the largest holder. total foreign held u.s. debt globally surpassed a $7 trillion. that is the second highest total on record. the chinese government is said to have asked alibaba to sell media holdings including the south china morning post. authorities are concerned about the growing influence over public opinion in china. officials i said to be upset about the company's cloud on social media.

alibaba has built up a rolling profile. u.s. secretary of state antony blinken and defense secretary lloyd will meet with japanese counterparts tuesday as the biden administration works to revitalize relations with key allies in asia. blinken and austin will head to korea for talks later under the weight. president biden's administration has reached out to north korea's government. he has not received a response. it is unclear which committee case and channel was used and kim jong-un is no not to respond for month at a time. -- is known not to respond from months at a time. 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'm vonnie quinn. this is bloomberg. shery: still ahead, we will have

more on those meetings in tokyo and discuss the key issues for u.s. and japan relations. first, europe's biggest nations have suspended the use of the astrazeneca covid-19 shot. this amid growing health concerns. we will have the latest on the vaccine rollout next. this is bloomberg. ♪

paul: germany has joined france, italy, spain and portugal in suspending the use of astrazeneca's covid vaccine. this is despite assurances from the e.u. drugs administrator the shots are safe. let's get more from michelle cortez. how do we weigh the safety versus the danger of this vaccine? >> there are a lot of questions

circling about this astrazeneca vaccine. the clinical trials have shown us it is unlikely to cause more blood clots than people normally develop every year. it is a relatively common occurrence. you can get it when you are in a long-haul flight and do not get up enough. it can be deadly. th have been some people who have developed these clouds shortly after getting the astrazeneca vaccine. and because those two things happened in close proximity, they are concerned the vaccine might have somehow triggered it. there is not a biological explanation. in the clinical trials, -- just to that proximity is enough to make people and countries, the governments that run them, concerned about continuing the astrazeneca vaccine. shery: the e.u. and oculus and

campaign has seen plenty of delays. how will this affect the drive to get everyone vaccinated? >> certainly in the e.u., they are already struggling with not having enough vaccine. they are trailing the u.k., the u.s. and other places in terms of getting shots into arms. one of the main ways there -- they were playing on doing this is with the astrazeneca vaccine. the fact they are not getting access to the vaccine is putting them even further behind. there is also the concern some people might have already gotten one of the shots and the question becomes, what happens to you if you have gotten just one of the two shots in order to get complete protection? we don't have a great answer. early clinical trials did say pushing out the second vaccine was not detrimental and may have increased the efficacy of the vaccine. paul: when are we going to have

some more clarity around the safety of the astrazeneca shot? do we have a timeline for when this is patient -- for when the suspension my end echo >> the world health organization is going to be meeting tomorrow. we have heard from countries including france and germany they are waiting to get more clarity from those types of groups. we are not probably going to have a definitive answer to this question until more analysis has been done on the 17 million people or so who have been vaccinated with the astrazeneca vaccine. we are not seeing any increased risk we would be able to look at them on the face of the nc immediately there was a concern. we would need to drill down more deeply into the data set. the concern is that what the company has to do and the regulators have to do is prove a negative. they have to prove the vaccine is not triggering the clouds

that occur anyway -- the clots that occur anyway. shery: the issue is that astrazeneca was developing -- developing economies were pinning their hopes on the vaccine. what are we seeing in terms of how fast we are making progress on these emerging countries and these poor economies? >> there is already -- there has already been a lot of vaccine nationalism going on. we are seeing numerous countries are resisting sending out the supplies they have. in the united states, there have been more vaccines purchased than is needed it every person was vaccinated fully. there would still be esther vecsey -- there was still be extra vaccine left over. there are doses of the astrazeneca vaccine the government is not willing to let go. we are seeing problems of other

countries around the world where they do not want to let go of supplies they have. we are seeing companies stepping in and saying, we are willing to help. hopefully we are going to get the bigger numbers we need. shery: bloomberg health care reporter michelle cortez with the latest on the vaccination drive. you can get more on astrazeneca's vaccine and stories you need to know in today's edition of debris. bloomberg subscribers go to dayb on your terminal. president biden is gearing up for the first major federal tax hikes since 1993. he is looking beyond his $1.9 trillion relief build toward the challenge of finding a broader and deeper and long-term economic both plan. let's get more from nancy cook. we have seen bits and pieces of a potential tax hike during his campaign.

what do we know at this point? >> a lot of what he talked about in the campaign, the white house is still planning to move ahead with. that would include a mix of things like rolling back many of the tax cuts president trump white place -- put in place in 2017. raising investments on capital gains. raising tax rates on high income earners. it is not just a tax hike in isolation. it would be tax increases to pay for things the white house views as important like a larger infrastructure package. paul: i can already hear former president trump inside my head repeating the words article socialist agenda over and over again. are the democrats handing the republicans an enormous casual in which to beat them? >> i do think the political

calculus is a key part of it. that is why you will see the light in white house trying to push to do it this year. the closer we get to midterms, the harder it will be. democrats feel emboldened while they control all three branches of the government. they feel like they want to try to find this very ambitious -- to fund this very ambitious agenda. businesses in washington and the united states have long thought if there was a democratic president, they should expect some tax hikes or more strict regulations. it is certainly something businesses have been anticipating. they will be fighting any tax increases quite a bit. i will be interested to see if they can get through congress. it is not unexpected a democratic president is proposing this. paul: bloomberg white house correspondent nancy cook. still to come, from fintech to

media, china's pressure on alibaba shifts to media holdings. details on that just ahead. this is bloomberg. ♪

paul: alibaba is facing government pressure to sell off media assets including the south china morning post because of concerns about its influence over public opinion. it comes amid heightened regulatory scrutiny. we are joined by tom mackenzie in beijing. what more do we know? tom: we know the spotlight on alibaba has expanded. they are not just looking at their fintech affiliate and financial which is being restructured. they are not just pushing ahead with the antitrust probe into the broader group. they are looking at its media assets. this dates back to meetings

regulators have been having with the company since last year when they started to pull the lid on the business and take a closer look at its portfolio. a business -- and assets in the media space. alibaba owns companies including tv production firms, including newspapers like the south china morning post and including social media platforms. it has a big stake in the twitter like social media application weibo. they just added this on to the scrutiny of the company. they are now pressuring alibaba to spin off some of these businesses. shery: this feels like a broader crackdown on tech and what we are seeing across china. what can you tell us about that? tom: that is right. this is all about control for the communist party. it is about control when it comes to the financial services.

it comes down to control when you're looking at businesses as big as alibaba and 10 said on these huge acquisition drives the last few years. that underscores its antitrust probe that is affecting both of those companies. now it is also about the narrative in the social space. the forming of public opinion. this redline. there was this incident last year of a senior executive at alibaba who got involved in a scandal. it was being talked about on this twitter like service. those services began to be taken down. this is the allegation, by executives at alibaba. that was seen as a redline. alibaba could affect public opinion. it is a reminder. they continue to push ahead with

antitrust probe into the company. they continue to look at the restructuring of ant financial. tencent fell under the spotlight as well. when it comes to their technology, their fintech business and the antitrust probe as well. shery: here is a quick check of the latest headlines. news corp. says it has reached a three-year deal with facebook on news access in australia. includes the country's only national newspaper. it follows a similar agreement in the u.s. where news core publications are paid for access for stories to facebook news. netflix's crackdown on password sharing is sparking questions among analysts about how it will impact its market share. market shares have underperformed on the nasdaq 100 for months. analysts say the move may boost

revenue a could also dampen pricing power. it might also increase the risk of users shifting to other streaming services. the philippines larger restaurant operator is looking 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 to acquisitions because with the pandemic, we ended up with a stronger cash position. we are open to opportunities, especially during pandemic. we received more inquiries. shery: coming up, u.s. secretary of state antony blinken and defense secretary lloyd austin meet with counterparts in tokyo.

this is bloomberg. ♪

>> this is "bloomberg daybreak: asia" germany has joined france, italy, spain and part of ago -- portugal, suspending use of astrazeneca's covid vaccine despite assurances of the eu regular the shots are safe. governments are holding up on vaccinations after reports but experts say benefits outweigh risks. president haydn is said to be planning the first major federal

tax hike since 1993 to help fund a long-term recovery program and the next economic plan is said to be bigger than the $1.9 trillion pandemic relief bill. sources say the white house is considering a slew of tax increases including hikes for corporate tax rates, capital gains, and income tax for high earners. the eu has launched legal action against u.k., for delaying and limitation of a key part of the exit deal in northern ireland -- the brexit deal in northern ireland. critics argue the unilateral decision by britain for goods shipped across the border is a breach of international law and the move could lead to trade tariffs or penalties imposed on the u.k. 138 people have been killed in myanmar during the military crackdown on pro-democracy protesters. security forces extended marshall are two more areas of yangon, after the bloodiest we can since the february 1 coup. china's embassy has asked authorities to protect its

investments after factories were attacked but has yet to condemn the military takeover. those were the first word headlines. shery: we are half hour away from the start of trading in japan. the bank of japan is expected to unveil small changes after their big policy review this week. this comes at a time when we see rising global bond yields. they have helped weaken the yen and that has aided exporters. nintendo recording a decline in weekly in app purchases, the biggest drop in 10 gaming companies. a record year for switch and game sales. the big story on the geopolitical fund, the u.s. secretary of state, antony blinken and defense secretary light often in tokyo today to meet with counterparts, as america reaches out to key allies in the region.

paul: and for more on the tokyo agenda let's get to our politics reporter. how significant is the meeting in tokyo? >> it is highly significant. the tour takes in japan, south korea, and on the way home antony blinken will meet with chinese officials in alaska. that is the first triple blog for blinken, an secretary alstom since the bided -- austin, since the bided administration took over. added is coming after the meeting of democracies japan, india, korea, in which they agree to cooperate on vaccines for developing countries, the move seemed to counterbalance china's influence on the vaccine

front. holding these events close together drive some the message that asian allies are extremely important to the bided administration -- biden administration. shery: what are we expecting from beijing, then? >> right, as i said, on the way home, blinken will be meeting with chinese officials in alaska. that past a concept has been brought up expressing objection and now that has been brought to leadership level. blinken has that he is going to raise human rights issues, such as the uighur issue, with the chinese side, so we can expect this to be a heated discussion. paul: politics reporter isabel reynolds in tokyo. for more on the application of the visit, wisdom tree investment japan ceo joins us

from tokyo. you see the quad alliance is more important than that tpp? there is no trade to mention to the quad alliance, but in the current to a, does that matter? >> no, it does not. look, the strength of that u.s.-japan relationship, i mean it is bedrock here. that using japan, the unsinkable aircraft carriker -- carrier for americans in asia, using that to build with free democracies, india and australia together japan and the united states, that is the way forward. we have the framework here to contain the rise of china. paul: so, as the quad evolves and develops, it has been raised to leadership status. is there an opportunity to add an economic dimension, particularly when you consider

supply chain realignments? >> you're absolutely right. i think this will broaden out. it started out with security. it is already broadening to energy policy, and economic policy is, a couple of months before it starts to become [--] here. what the japanese want to know from the visit is, what does the biden administration focus on, and future trade policy, here in asia? shery: and they are headed to south korea. tokyo-soul ties were not at their best during the trump administration. how significant is that we have the biden administration engaged in asia? >> it is extremely significant. there may be little the administration can do to notch

along the japan-south korea relationship. as you -- to nudge along the japan-south korea relationship. former president from spoke about withdrawing troops from south korea and that has to be on the agenda and it is a reassurance trip other than anything else. shery: what will japan want to see from the u.s.-china meeting? >> japan is extremely pragmatic care. japan, remember, did pull china into the regional economic comprehensive cooperation zone. so japan, on the trade front, is dependent on the people's republic of china, and they want to make sure that indeed there is not further sanctions or further tariffs in the u.s.-china trade relationship. shery: the economics in japan is very important at it affects the

dynamic with the world. what are you expecting from the boj policy review? we have seen we could get guidance? even more negative, to set the tone? >> i find that difficult to believe. frankly, the framework are operating with is working. here in japan we do have yield curve control. so, long-term interest rates are capped. and for all intents and purposes that framework is working very, very well. i do think there will be focused on the etf purchases, because there is growing criticism the bank of japan is actually doing too much. but i actually doubt we will get significant changes. a fine tuning. shery: wisdomtree investments

japan ceo with his insides. coming up next -- his insights. coming up next, the rocket time ceo. -- rakutan ceo. the company surged with investments by tencent and walmart. this is bloomberg. ♪

paul: we are seeing modest gains

after 40 minutes of trade here in australia, 20 minutes before the open in tokyo. for a look at what is going on, sophie kamaruddin in hong kong. sophie: the state of play for aussie shares, adding a third of a percent hot led higher by tech and real estate. resources are under pressure, energy losing ground with materials, bhp under pressure even after goldman rated the target on the stock with fortescue and rio tinto. the aussie dollar under pressure ahead of the rba meeting minutes. we are seeing a slight moves in aussie bond markets ahead of that. the 10 year yield creeping lower by eight basis points this morning. flipping the board, treasury futures in asia trade, support coming through. we saw u.s. stocks rise to record highs monday.

bk futures in singapore opening to the upside -- nikkei futures in singapore opening to the upside. central bank divergence when it comes to monetary policy is in view with the boj up to about this week. we have seen a pickup in u.s. nominal and real yields denting appetite for risky assets due in part to a rebound in the dollar, some strategists expect a setback for stocks will be short-lived. and peak capital sink em equity should read turn -- regain bojo with rising yields and rearview mirror. like roxanne use the selloff to at em stocks, benefit -- blackrock saying, use the selloff to get em stocks. at franklin templeton they are

betting on em equities taking note of higher quality earning trends with better cash flows and stronger balance sheets. shery: not an em but also value place across japan these days, we are expecting japan to open in less than 20 minutes. e-commerce pioneer rakuten, the company's thoughts best in 20 years. with avr following those gains. rakuten announced a 2.2 billion dollars sell at which could fund expansions into ai, finance and mobile markets. we spoke to the chair and ceo about why he's decided to make this move now. >> we are growing so fast and started our mobile service from last april, based on innovative, fully virtualized networks which no one has ever done. so we still need growth capital for our e-commerce, logistics

and mobile investment. shery: you called mobile your keys turnover ecosystem, so is that were all of the capital is going -- you called mobile your keystone of your ecosystem, is that were all the capital is going? >> we need that for our nationwide network and as you may know we developed the world's first fully virtualized network platform which we intend to export to other countries as well. so that money will go to mobile network buildout and mobile system development, as well as building logistics networks in japan. shery: when it comes to building, it takes a lot of investment, but at the same time, given that losses tripled in the last fiscal year, do you have a plan for breakeven? >> we do not disclose our forecast, but even at this stage, our revenue is getting close to 15 billion u.s.

dollars, and we are growing 20% year on year. i think this is very fast growth. so we still have huge room for growth, and to make a huge profit later on. >> i have to ask what makes you so optimistic and focused and wireless mobile? especially now when you have the japanese government led by the prime minister they want to lower the mobile fees so will this make it tougher for rakuten in the future? >> no, not so much. because, again, we have about a hundred million registered members so we are not starting from nowhere. we built the world's first virtualized network, meaning that we are not depending on extremely expensive legacy data gated hardware's like others. so are capital investment is

going to be extremely low compared with our income. an operation is almost all fully automated, so our operational costs will be lower. our customer acquisition cost and operation cost and capital investment is substantially lower than others, and then we came up with a very aggressive pricing plan, last month. and the subscriber senate is amazing. -- and the subscriber sign up is amazing. shery: tell us more about your vision for this ecosystem because it seems this is what your broader goal with rakuten has become, when it comes to capitalizing on this change making use of faster speeds, what is the plan? >> if you take a look at what other big gigantic telecom companies want to do, including

reliance, verizon, and others, they have tried to build eco systems on top of their mobile services. we have those services from the beginning. we are the number one e-commerce company. the number one and online banking. number one travel agent. number one credit card. brokerage firm. we have 70 competitive services already japan. we have the best world program in japan at home. combining this with network service is going to be very, very powerful. and we have the ability to reach the customer. and some users don't need to pay anything to get mobile conductivity. because they get some any point smart services, and pay the system by points.

-- pay the subscription by point. tom: the rakuten chair and ceo mikitani. on tv you can see the conversation and dive into any of the stories and send messages, this is for bloomberg subscribers only. this is bloomberg. ♪

tom: the biggest restaurant operator in the philippines, jollibee, is eyeing international expansion ending 2020 with higher cash levels than before the pandemic. the company plans to open hundreds of restaurants worldwide. the ceo spoke exclusively to bloomberg. >> as you know, the pandemic last year was the most challenging year we experienced in our 42 years of history. while our business has been hit hard by the pandemic, especially in q2 and q3 of last year, our company has been generating positive integer -- ebidta, and we ended with higher cash balance in the previous year. q4 showed strong recovery and register profit of $40 million.

sales fell and some international markets but are back to pre-covid level or higher, while others are slowly recovering. despite covid-19 challenges, our mission has not changed, to become among the top five restaurant companies in the world. david: your revenues in 20 19, hundred 80 billion dollars net income with $4.2 billion. in terms of recovery, when you expect the company to achieve those same numbers or surpasses numbers? >> we expect to recover by next year. but as i mentioned for other markets we are already achieving the pre-covid levels. for some markets we are exceeding. david: understood.

and in terms of quickly looking back at last year can you give us an indication of what the impact was beyond financials? in terms of number of store closures? number of people who lost her jobs or got laid off? kent -- lost their jobs or got laid off? can you give an indication of ask the group had to take in the key markets? >> last year we had to embark on a business transformation program of 7 billion pesos and that included rationalization of nonperforming stores. some supply chain facilities, and main office support restructuring, and digital technology. so we closed 486 stores, the highest in the history of jfc. we also allocated $1 billion in emergency funds for employees and donated $240 million worth

of food to front liners and families affected by the pandemic. david: you mentioned the medium-term target is 50-50 revenue local market and philippines and the other revenue would come from outside. could you be more specific, do we get there the next three years, five years or a tenure plan? -- 810 year plan -- we get there and 3, 5, or 10 years? >> philippines sales can tribbett at 58% -- contributed 58% of revenue. our foreign markets contributed 40 market -- 40%. we expect a 50-50 ratio in five years. in the philippines market there is a temporary setback but it will come back soon, matter of time and we expect the

philippine market to continue to grow. david: to have a dollar amount in mind that you have set aside or would like to set aside at some point, for acquisitions moving forward? >> we are open to acquisitions, because with the pandemic we ended up with a stronger cash position. we are open to opportunities, especially during the pandemic, we received more inquiries that asked for us to be strategic partners, so we are to this and we will continue exploring all possibilities. shery: that was the jollibee food ceo. china's largest food company is planning to merge several businesses to create a new agricultural commodity giant, ahead of a planned ipo. bloomberg understands costco plans to merge its international

trading arm with several domestic assets. the ipo could value a new company at $5 billion. for the nissan infinity, came under scrutiny in china's consumer show. car owners asserted -- malfunction breaks and accelerators, the show calls out foreign and domestic brands for quality and service issues. bill ackman giveaway shares now worth $1.3 billion. he tweeted that he donated 26 point 5 million shares in a recently listed korean e-commerce giant to the pershing square foundation. the tweeted not say when he donated the shares but a tax filing showed the coupang stock donation in 2015 worth $40 million of the time.

paul: the market here in australia seems to be losing steam after the first hour of trade. we have to pan opening in a few minutes. sophie: in tokyo we are keeping an eye on takeda shares as the company plans to manufacture johnson & johnson vaccine at facilities in germany. shimomura raised its earnings forecast on nintendo, after it reported on in a purchases. reports there ramping up capacity for charging infrastructure for ev models. and a telecom company is reportedly considering a bid to buy the career business of ebay, one of 10 bidders in the ring. shery: coming up, rabobank joins us to discuss outlook for the

markets as trading begins in tokyo and seoul. this is bloomberg. ♪

shery: welcome to daybreak: asia. paul: and i am allowing in sydney. asia looks set to lead from the u.s. after the s&p was lifted s&p 500 to record highs as europe's biggest countries suspend use of the astrazeneca

vaccine the ceo of moderna tells us what his company is doing. china cracks down on alibaba again, this time targeting the company's media assets. we have japan and korea starting their trade. let's get to sophie and hong kong -- sophie in hong kong. sophie: antony blinken begins his diplomatic talks with japan. japanese talks with little change, rocco 10 under pressure after surgery on monday after we got the news of tencent and japan investing in e-commerce players. began trading around a nine-month low, still in oversold territory from a boj policy review. japan belly starting its vaccination campaign while the u.s. is pulling ahead.

jt g is fairly steady, buyers likely staying on the sidelines ahead of the boj policy review. turning now to south korea, the kospi, slight gains by about half a percent. resuming games while we have some speculation about the be ok looking to boost its bond buying , provided temporary relief on monday but rising bond yields and south korea have been giving appetites for corporate credit as well as the korean won, trading at 11.33 this morning against the greenback. one half hours ago. stocks have been fluctuating, higher by 2/10 of 1% while bonds are climbing on the 10-year in australian, ahead of the fed meeting, under pressure after u.s. stocks rose to a record high on monday while cass treasuries, seeing the 10 year yields trading around 160 this

morning. the breakevens topic 2.6% with markets to simulate patient over the fed outlook, but lift off given gdp expectations. while the u.s. economy is improving, we do not the likelihood of china losing steam in the coming months. that could weigh on the yuan, the offshore trading around 650 this morning. pulling up a chart on the terminal, economic data out of china is already lagging the u.s. based on economic surprise, that is reflected in the underperformance we have seen of chinese stocks, about 3%, compared to the 6% for the s&p 500. shery: we have seen a boost for japanese markets, especially from cyclicals. the big rotation and essential theme. this as the bank of policy

review is set to lend this week, rising bond yields causing angst for central bankers around the world. let's bring and michael, the head of asia-pacific research. always great having you on. we continue to say that the boj has reached the limits of its monetary policy, yet we have such a big focus on what they are doing. will this impact markets? michael: i don't think so, not very much. far more attention is going to be on the fed this week. ironically, the attention will be how japanese they get. japan really have to do something quite remarkable to out fed the fed when the fed is becoming the boj. shery: we are expecting the fed to stay dovish and convey a dovish message. the question is what will markets think about it? what are you expecting? michael: i think the fed,

actually as we say in english english, on a very sticky wicket, a varies tricky position here. the markets are racing ahead and getting excited, with this policy we may or may not be seeing. you are seeing that action at the longer end of the yield curve. the fed wants to encourage that optimism on one hand, but does not want to yields to go up. we still think that if you look at the longer run picture, the fed effectively is on guard rails, moving it towards job earnings, and quite likely some form of yield curve control just like in the boj case. on one level, the markets are going to like that, but it is less likely that the fed is going to be ahead and give them all their christmas presents this early in the year. there probably going to have to throw attention for the fed to

give it to them. paul: i want to get a few more of your thoughts on bonds, particularly one analyst thoughts who was sharing ideas today. it was saying the economics of investing in bonds has become stupid, rather than getting paid less than inflation why not just buy stuff, any stuff. by any stuff, does that sound like an investment strategy do you? michael: one could argue that most of the market has been doing that for the past few decades successfully. [laughter] ray is not short on ideas. big theses that are occasionally dropped into your inbox. i would have to say it depends on how the big picture pans out. near term, it is not particularly easy to be bullish on bonds. but i think what he is missing is the paradigm which does seem to be approaching, whereby bond yields will be forced artificially lower by some kind

of yield curve control. that is one thing. that would give you one more big leg up before a debt market. -- dead market. on the other hand, we could still have a billy bush is downturn after this u.s. -- downturn from this u.s. sugar high. if we don't get further fiscal stimulus, at which point, we will plummet new lows in treasury yields and other bond yields. i think that is a very premature call from ray, but it's not the first time he has some that. paul: i am wondering what your outlook for china is, particular tightening and how policymakers are going to balance that against a strengthening you warm? -- you warm -- yuan? michael: that's a key question. the u.s. is looking more and

more china in terms of the fiscal and monetary policy, and pedal to the metal, and at the same time china is looking more and more prudent or attempting to try and tighten its belt and deliver, and the regulators are starting to crack down. there are all manner of interesting implications on that. certainly one of them is that the world's largest economy is going all in and the world's second-largest economy, which up until now has been the main marginal growth driver of everything, is actually retreating. it will be interesting to see again how bonds hold up against that kind of background, and fx to. o. women imagine the market is bearish, that's actually deflationary. shery: we do have the u.s./china high-level meeting in alaska. let be bullish for the yuan? -- will that be bullish for the yuan? michael: i'm sure that the market will try and look at it as being bullish.

i say quote unquote because that is the most political of all crosses. they may try to achieve something, but if you look at the geopolitical moves in the background, i would be very surprised if anything substantive can be achieved on that front didn't really argue for the type of stability we are seeing on the exchange rate to be sustained going forward. shery: when you took a look at the economic numbers out of china this week, what was your first impression? it looks great from the top, but if you look deeper, perhaps we could see some unevenness there. michael: [laughter] shery: we continue to talk about the uneven recovery, uneven growth.

when does that get better? michael: that is very true. i do not think it does. that is a political question, to comes down to politics and how well they can manage to clear that circle. as i have argued, in order to square that circle, it's guide dutch -- it's going to involve deglobalization. quite specifically on the china data, the base effects are going to be so all over the place because of what 2020 look like. we really -- i will be much more interested another couple of months from now. paul: michael every, thank you so much for joining us. let's get to vonnie quinn for a check at the headlines. vonnie: germany has joined france, italy spain, the netherlands and portugal in systemic the use of astrazeneca covered vaccine, despite assurances from the regulator that the shot is safe.

governments across the continent are halting distribution following reports of serious blood clotting. the european medical agency says the benefits outweigh the risks. president biden is set to be planning the first major federal tax hike since 1993 to help fund his long-term recovery program. his next economic plan is expected to be bigger than the 1.9 trillion dollar pandemic really felt. sources say the white house is considering a slew of tax increases including hikes for corporate tax rates, capital gains, and income tax for high earners. the u.s. secretary of state and the defense secretary will meet with their japanese counterparts enter tuesday as the biden administration works to revitalize relations with key allies in asia. the discussions will center on ways to counter security threat from china and north korea. blinken an -- we'll head to south korea for similar talks. biden is -- total of almost $1.1

trillion. that is the most since october, 2019. japan remains the largest holder of u.s. debt, the holdings there rose to $1.3 trillion. total foreign held u.s. debt globally surpassed $7 trillion, the second-highest total on record. 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 vonnie quinn. this is bloomberg. shery: still ahead, volatile markets may prompt investors to shift away from active equity strategies. one advisor stands to benefit. we speak to their ceo later this hour. up next, more pressure on alibaba with beijing set to want jack ma's e-commerce giant to sell some of its media assets. he tells ahead. this -- details ahead. this is bloomberg. ♪

paul: alibaba is facing government pressure to sell off its media assets including the south china morning post because of concerns about the company's influence over public opinion. it comes under heightened scrutiny. our chief north asian correspondent joins us. what do we know about this? reporter: this is a very interesting twist to the saga involving jack ma and his sprawling media empire, again, when alibaba did by this south china morning post was seen as i way for china to brand its soft power through the english-language newspaper here in hong kong. of course that is an allegation if you will that executives would dispute, however, it is

interesting to see the reasons these sources are telling us why perhaps beijing is growing nervous or upset at the sprawling media portfolio that jack ma has accumulated not only the south china morning post, the large stake in the twitter like company. which is rife with opinions about everything. officials that are being cited by the source are saying authorities are concerned by the swift nature of deletions of posts on the company when there was a scandal involving a high-ranking alibaba official late last year. there was lots of posts on the site that suddenly disappeared. the government has said to be very concerned that someone else other than the party and the very powerful propaganda apparatus would be able to censor the internet in such a

way. it is a fascinating story that perhaps we have to see how it will play out, or if they will be order to divest in media holdings. shery: alibaba is not the only one that has media holdings. tencent has we chat. what are we expecting in terms of a broader crackdown on tech? stephen: that is the big question. in november will we have the scrapping of the aunt ipo and the subsequent anti-monopoly laws, you so that alibaba was the first one across -- caught in the crosshairs. we learned late last week that tencent is caught up in the regulatory crosshairs, and that could be their financial assets put into holding, much as we are hearing will happen to ant. alibaba might be the poster

child. i do not have proof of that. you would think it the government is concerned by the practices of alibaba in the media space, and that others are doing a similar thing, that would fall under regulatory scrutiny as well. we have to see how this one plays out. shery: you will keep us updated. coming up next, astrazeneca's woes deepen as europe's biggest countries suspend use of its vaccine. calling at another delay in the global inoculation campaign. -- another delay in the global inoculation campaign. this is bloomberg. ♪

shery: the asian stock market is probably higher. let's turn to sophie for what to watch. sophie: the ev battery maker

taking a hit, sliding to a december low. this after volkswagen announced a plan to switch to a new unified cell design, starting in 2023 to reduce battery costs. they are at to invest in six large battery factories. to make demand on the continent and take control of the supply chain, investors are selling down battery makers this morning. shery: let's turn to the latest on the global vaccination drive. germany has joined france, italy, spain and trickle in suspending the use of astrazeneca's covid vaccine. this despite assurances from the eu's regulator that the shot is safe. let's get more from our health care reporter, michelle. what do we know at this point? reporter: there have been a handful of reports, about 30 reports of lead clots forming in people who had recently received the astrazeneca vaccine it is

important to remember that blood clots to form in thousands of people every year. it is not an unusual event and it is in fact a pretty leading cause of death and disability. the fact that they happen so close to people getting the vaccine have made them concerned that that vaccine was the cause. scientifically, there is no plausible explanation for it. there is no biological reason the vaccine would cause that. in clinical trials, we saw fewer clots developed in people who got the vaccine that people who got the placebo. we have a little bit of tension between what the scientists are thinking and but the governments are saying. nobody wants to not take these risks seriously. everyone wants everyone to know that vaccines are going to be safe and there aren't going to be any shortcuts. that being said, even saying that there is a potential risk is making people around the

world nervous about getting the astrazeneca vaccine. paul: if the astrazeneca vaccine is suspended, if there are enough vaccines to go around in the meantime? michelle: we don't have enough vaccine to cover the world at this point, and there are places that are still wanting and using the astrazeneca vaccine. there are some stockpiles of it in the united states and other countries, especially now that it is not being used. still, these governments are wanting to hold onto the supplies they have while the review is going on, and then we will see as the days and weeks progress whether or not they are going to be rolling out these vaccines. paul: our bloomberg's -- bloomberg health care reporter. does it mean other health care makers like moderna will have to fill the void?

the cofounder gave bloomberg his timeline for the rollout. >> moderna has said that working with the fda and other regulators, we have in fact increase the doses per vial which will mean more efficiency. we have announced trials starting for the younger cohorts, but 12 to 18 range, even younger folks from six months on beginning to be tested. and we also have announced we have just begun dosing the very first variant booster shots, a different version of the vaccine. hence just today, moderna announced we have started testing a different version of the vaccine altogether called 1283, more efficient from a story standpoint, easier to

handle, potentially a next-generation version of our vaccine. our r&d engine, albeit working on different issues than last year which was all about can we even make a vaccine in that timeframe, now we are working on multiple versions, multiple target audiences. we are doing everything we can. >> i have four children and every parent is wondering when children will be vaccinated. when do you expect your pediatric trial to read out the data, and can you give us any indication of what a shot for kids might look like? could you get to in one? >> i do not want to get ahead of the company in the sense that we are working hard to advance our program, so we can put out more concrete information.

we have not yet done that. we are working hard to ensure we get vaccines for younger ages as soon as we can. probably not going to happen in the first half of this year, but we are working hard for that to be the case in the second half. just as soon as we can run through the trials and ensure safety and efficacy, we are testing different doses because on the very young it may be that a smaller dose could suffice. we are working on all aspects of those questions and recognize that many have young children, and it is our responsibility to make sure we get everyone covered. emily: when it comes your next-generation vaccines, i know i'm asking very detailed questions, can you give us any more detail on the timing of what we might see progress? >> the fda provided guidance

saying we are not going to be required to do the same type of trial we did with the original vaccine, what is going to be important is to show neutralizing antibodies. that we expect we will be able to see over a short period of time, in months, not many months. once we have that data, and if we can show a robust production of antibodies, particularly to the strain, the south africans train, i think will be in a position to talk to regulars about the potential use of boosters. we expect that the original 12 73 vaccine maybe supplemented if needed by the booster. shery: the moderna co-founder speaking to bloomberg's emily chang. you can get more on the vaccine in today's addition of daybreak. go on the terminal, and it's

also available on the bloomberg anywhere app. coming up next, we discussed what is on the agenda as the u.s. and china had for high-level talks. this -- head for high-level talks. this is bloomberg. ♪

paul: just getting some breaking news from the reserve bank of australia, minutes from the match meeting, saying that they will consider a shift to november 2024. it says very significant monetary and political support is going to be required for some time, and wages are unlikely to be consistent with the target before 2024. we did have an adolescent pushing back -- and analyst, saying things will be stuck at a

tent upon percent until at least 2024. the minutes reinforcing that view. right now, 1.7 on the australian yield. the aussie dollar right now at 77.4 estimates of the match meeting drop. let's get a closer look at what is going on. let's get to sophie. sophie: continuing with the focus on australia, the aussie three year yield we are seeing it stay within range, 10 years coming in at 829 basis points. we also wait on the som c meeting. check out stocks in sydney getting a third of 1%, a modest gain with real estate and tech climbing while energy names are lower at the oil future curve shows signs of strain. wti this morning we are seeing a boost to downside for new york crude, losing ground by about a half of a percent, creeping towards that $65 level. we are seeing gains for japanese

stocks looking to extend the advance for a sixth straight day, using some earlier drop we saw. this as we are seeing some names like advantech gaining ground after searching on monday after an investment from tencent. the kospi is let higher by chip makers and financials, we have korean ev battery makers very much under pressure. lg the biggest drag on the kospi, this after volkswagen unveiled plans to boost its ev battery supply. shery: let's turn to geopolitics. antony blinken and defense secretary but often are in tokyo. this as we continue to see america reaching out to key allies in the region to curb china's growing influence. for a preview of what is on the agenda, let's go to our politics reporter.

quite tricky for the biden administration to avoid that perception that they are reaching out to asia only to counter china, right? what can we expect from these meetings? reporter: first of all, there are a lot of firsts. the stop in japan, a stop in south korea, then on the way home the meeting with the chinese officials in alaska. the fact that this has been chosen as the first trip aboard for blinken is it -- is significant. it also comes after the leadership of the quad countries, which they agree to cooperate on vaccine supply for developing countries. holding these two events so close together drive some the message that asian allies are extremely important to the biden administration, as it needs to figure out a strategy be savvy china. -- vis-a-vis china. paul: what are we anticipating

from the second of those meetings? the meeting with the chinese officials in alaska. one imagines that could generate quite a bit of news. reporter: indeed, this is the first opportunity to talk in person with senior chinese officials. i think the reaction to the tour could be somewhat negative. in the past, beijing has expressed opposition to the quad as a concept, and now that it is being elevated to leadership level, we can expect that opposition to strengthen. blinken has already said he is going to raise human rights issues in this meeting. imagine the reaction could be somewhat heated on the chinese side. paul: our politics reporter isabel in tokyo. still to come, volatile markets may prompt investors to shift away from active equity strategies. global advisors stand to benefit

including hong kong based companies. we're going to speak to the ceo next. this is bloomberg. ♪

paul: market volatility could prompt investors to shift away from active equity strategies, and advisors stand to benefit from that shift including a hong kong based company. it already has about 2 million

users and is planning to raise more funds for expansion onto mainland china. joining us now, the ceo and cofounder. first, describe to us how the company works. guest: it is a unique platform. our mission is to help everyday people to invest in growth. we are using algorithms to help them to invest in this platform. this is 100% transparent, 100% in real time, and everything is automatic. we are using a lot of r&d procedures, such as machine learning. we could have a very comprehensive platform and this tool. -- in this tool. paul: as we mentioned, you have a reasonable uptake in hong kong, 2 million losers i

believe. -- 2 million users i believe. do you think the opposite is true, to people trust robo advisors more than real humans? guest: i think the progress is -- back then, it is pretty hard to persuade people to trust the machine. later on, people start to go online and find more knowledge, how to use algorithms to help them to do long-term investments. i think in the past few years, we have seen tremendous growth in this area. for example, we see 300% growth last year. this year, it is growing very fast. shery: what makes you different from other services in the u.s. and europe that have struggled in the past? guest: i think the biggest

difference is we have the dna of a research background. we started at a university. five years ago we had licenses in hong kong, china and the u.s.. we have 130 people in these areas. 80% of them are from the r&d background, so we have more than 10 phd's. you have a midterm investment platform, which we call my stock. that is very popular in hong kong. we expanded the definition, with some other machine learning, other investments in the platform. shery: what about expanding into

men then china at a time where we are seeing the government tracking on on fintech -- cracking down on fintech? guest: our goal is clear. we want to be number one, not only in the better china area, we want to be number one in asia. the first step is we are expanding our footsteps into the greater bay area. for example, we have a well-connected scheme which is very good for us. we have two ways to get capital, onshore and onshore -- onshore and offshore. the crackdown in fintech is in some areas. i talked to the regulators all the time. we think long-term investments and discipline, and portfolios are good for the investors. paul: can you explain to us your revenue model? how do you make money? guest: we have to business --

[indiscernible] we provide a platform to hong kong citizens, and we have more than 100,000 investors in our platform. we provide a long-term investment, such as global asset location, and smart socks. we charge subscriber fees. on the other hand, we provide the engine to institutions, such as insurance companies, banks, asset managers. we have more than 100 partners in h already -- in h already. -- in asia already. paul: you are also seeking 50 million series -- 15 -- $50

million in series b funding. what is your plan for the blind that money? guest: last year we raised money, one of the largest fundraising in the industry. this year we are aggressively expanding our industry. we are opening new offices, hire more people. shery: it was great having your thoughts. aqumon cofounder and ceo. vonnie: the eu has launched legal action of the u.k.. brussels argues the unilateral position by britain is a breach of international law. the move could ultimately lead to financial penalties or a trade tariff being imposed on the u.k..

president biden's administration has reached out to north korea's government to revive devlin medi-cal for its around the nuclear program, but has not received a response. it is unclear what communication channel was used. north korea could be one focus on u.s./china talks. the you and says at least 138 people have been killed in myanmar during the militaries crackdown on pro-democracy protesters. security forces have extended full martial law. after the bloodiest weekend since the february 1 two, china's embassies have asked authorities to protect its investments. the chinese government has said to have asked alibaba to sell its media holdings, including the south china morning post. the source tells bloomberg authorities are concerned about their influence. particularly upset about the companies clouds on social

media. alibaba has built up a sprawling portfolio including a stake in a twitter like platform. 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 vonnie quinn. this is bloomberg. paul: still to come, the ceo of eight filipino fried chicken chain talks about his ambitions. the inclusive conversation is just ahead. be sure to tune into bloomberg radio to hear more from today's big news newsmakers. forecasting live from our studio in hong kong. you can listen via the app, radio plus or bloombergradio.com. plenty more ahead. stay with us. ♪

shery: the philippines biggest restaurant operator says it is i international expansion, after ending 2020 with higher cash levels than before the pandemic. but some markets back at pre-covid levels, the company is planning to open hundreds of restaurants worldwide. the ceo spoke exclusively to bloomberg. >> as you know, the pandemic was the most challenging year we have experienced. while business has been hit hard by the pandemic, especially in

q2 of q3 of last year, our company has been generating positive income since june of last year, to be end of the year with higher cash balance versus the previous year. our q4 last year showed strong revenue, and registered profit of around $40 million. back to pre-covid levels, or even higher, while others are slowly recovering. that is despite the covid challenges, our vision has not changed. we want to become among the top five restaurant companies in the world. david: i think your revenues, investors, net income was 4.2 billion in pesos. when do you expect the company to achieve those same numbers or even surpass them?

>> we expect to recover by next year. as i mentioned for other markets, we are already achieving pre-covid levels, and for some markets exceeding. david: understood. very quickly, looking back at last year, could you give us an indication of the impact beyond financials? number of store closures, number of people who lost a job. could you give us an indication of a step back? >> last year, we had to embark on a business transformation program of about 7 billion pesos. that includes closing nonperforming stores, some supply chain facilities. main office support restructuring.

as well as digital technology. we closed about 486 stores, the highest in the history of our company. we also allocated one million emergency funds for employees, and donated 240 million worth of food to front minors and families -- front liners. david: you mentioned briefly that the medium-term target is revenue, local market in the philippines, and other revenue coming from outside. could you be a little more specific? do we get there in the next three years, five years? >> we are looking at achieving that ratio in four to five years. at the end of 2020, sales contributed to 50% in the philippines of revenue. that means our foreign markets contributed to 42%, and be

expect that to achieve the 50-50 ratio in 45 years. -- 425 years -- four to five years. it is a matter of time, and be expect the philippine market to continue to grow. david: do you have a specific dollar amount in mind that you have set aside or would like to set aside for acquisitions? >> we are open to acquisitions, because with the pandemic we ended up with stronger cash positions. we are open to opportunities, especially during the pandemic, we received more inquiries. we are open to this, and we will continue exploring all possibilities. paul: that was the ceo.

the company has set a very good year on the stock exchange, up 50% over the past year, easily outperforming the philippines broader index which has been about 25% higher over the last year, one of the worst performing stock markets in the asia-pacific. but that company, strongly outperforming. however, you still can't buy any chicken or young burgers in this part of the world, even other is a big filipino community. that could be about to change. shery: can't believe you know the names of those dishes. there is one a few blocks away from here, but i still have not tried it. that is my go to for take out this friday night. they are trying to expand hugely around the globe, we are talking about 450 restaurants plan for this year.

of course, you can't get in australia because the plans were delayed given the pandemic. we are seeing they are getting 58% of their revenue within the philippines, but they want to actually expand that to about half of that sales coming from abroad by 2025. we know that other units like smashburger and the coffee bean, there in a reasonable position to start generating profit in 2021, according to analysts. we will be watching the company very closely, it is now making me hungry. more food news. the largest food company there, cosco said to be creating a new agricultural commodity giant by merging its international trading division with some of its semester businesses. sources say that it will take the new company public with a share sale that could value it at over $5 billion, our asian

commodities reporter has the details. what do you know about this deal? reporter: the deal is in line with cosco's long-term plan. the company has been planning to combine the market savvy international chain venture, which is already a large exporter with its domestic assets, including china's biggest capacities. in essence, farmers around the world are the biggest consumers in china. here's what happened. paul: who would be the key competitors for this company? >> we think the market will be more competitive. [indiscernible] does will be the main competitors. cosco has said -- cofco has said

it wants to be the largest trader and global trading communities. even though we witnessed a good year for many commodities trader, they paid quite well last year, we think the market will be more competitive going forward. shery: does this move reflects geopolitical environment at a time where we are seeing higher food prices? sophie: well, -- reporter: best year, we saw a surge in a global food crisis. china, as we know, has helped drive food prices higher. the new trading company would expand from central asia, europe, south america, basically

in every economy in the world will help secure key food supply chains, in line with beijing's ambition and targets to secure food safety and china. it could be another geopolitical move for global commerce. we will see. paul: our bloomberg asia commodities reporter. let's get a quick check of the latest business flash headlines. a trading platform, rival to robinhood is said to be going public, but they firm led by a serial dealmaker. the deal with -- would value the combined company at around $10 billion. bloomberg understands the companies are raising about $650 million in equity which would support the deal. shares are given a right now worth $1.3 billion, the

billionaire tweeted he donated 26.5 million shares. the pershing square foundation. it's we did not say when he donated the shares, but a tax filing shows a stock donation in 2015 worth $44 million have the time. he sounds infinity came under scrutiny, accused of vehicle defects. the program known as the 315 show called out foreign and domestic brands for quality and service issues. shery: here is the picture across markets in asia. broad gains for the nikkei, the kospi, kiwi stocks. we are seeing commodities and utility stocks eating the gains in japan, energy though, a big decliner in most markets as we continue to see wti plunging and below that $65 a barrel level.

we continue to watch south korea, the korean won reversing some of those declines we saw yesterday. the china open his next. this is book -- the china open is next. this is bloomberg. ♪

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>> it is 9:00 a.m. in beijing and shanghai, welcome to bloomberg markets: china open, i'm tom mackenzie. david: counting down to the open of trade in the chinese mainland and here in hong kong. let's get your top stories today. china wants alibaba to posit sprawling media empire. beijing is said to be concerned about the tec