haidi: a very good morning and welcome. shery: good morning from new york. haidi: asian markets will bring the first response to a search of block trades that rattled investors worldwide. wiping $35 billion from stocks, raising questions about who was

behind the trades and whether more on the way. the battle over allegations of human rights abuses in china continues. beijing announces retaliatory sanctions against individuals in the u.s. and canada as the corporate fallout spreads. australia's job keeper brings to a close the nation's largest covid stimulus measure. we will take a look at what lies ahead. shery: one of the most anticipated opens in u.s. equities. we are seeing u.s. futures at the moment open slightly down under pressure, .1%. this after the search -- surge that what $35 billion, overshadowing the record close on wall street last week. down .4%, still above $60 a barrel after it fell for a third straight week. it has been a very volatile week . we continue to watch the suez

canal as we head towards the opec-plus meeting on thursday. of course we are watching what will happen asian markets as well as u.s. futures and the u.s. open as we saw that late session boost the u.s. come a jumping the most in three weeks to end at a fresh all-time high. this of course after the block trades really brought a wave of volatility to the markets. let's now how -- let's now see how we are setting up asian market. sophie: early in the asian session this monday we are seeing modest moves to the upside for futures while the yen is trading. the dollar-yen is looking to break it down trend that has been in place for about five years. this monday, indian markets are off-line. in the philippines, the manila capital region will be entering a week long lockdown. sunday we saw australia jobs equity program ending. that is after we saw the asx 200

cap the best week in seven on friday. switching out the board for a bigger picture look at how australian shares have fared this month, utilities are leading gains so far this march, set for the best month since june of 2000. tech is lagging in march but material is the biggest underperformer of the asx 300 so far this month. global recovery is set to push earnings more miner as well as energy producers in australia to an all-time high with iron ore the biggest booze. -- the biggest boost. wind very much in focus. tariffs on australian exports to china will see tariffs extended for five years, putting treasury winds very much in the spotlight. -- treasury wines in the spotlight. haidi: bracing for a continuation of a certain area

voluntarily -- su keenan joins us. bloomberg news learning they were behind the selloff when it comes to chinese big tech. su: we are learning this is a former hedge fund manager who had pled guilty to insider trading. at one point was deemed a risk i goldman sachs and blacklisted, but apparently he got back in the list in recent years. his family office apparently at the center of the major selloff with many market observers are calling the margin call of all time. what we are finding out is banks pressured the fund apparently to sell off huge blocks of major u.s. companies such as viacomcbs

, and chinese tech companies as well from baidu to tencent. what this did was a triggered chaos in the market. a small family office, not well-known but apparently the size of their trades had caused goldman, morgan stanley, and credit suisse who are not responding to questions at this hour, to trade for them. and they engaged in some major trades on friday. bloomberg has obtained a copy of the email that goldman sent to many of its customers, letting them know that it was behind some of the billions of dollars in sales on friday, although we did not mention hwang or his fund. again, this involved some of the biggest companies and caused $35 billion in losses for many of them, as you can see by the charts. shery: any idea what triggered

the margin call, and what we can expect when these bellwethers start to trade again? su: it appears that hwang had heavy holdings in cvs viacom and discovery. these companies had been up in a big way. in fact, they had quadrupled since october, which many say had raised the value of his holding. however, early last week they had started to selloff, and that may have triggered the margin call the banks forcing the sale. that is why global traders are bracing for what they could say could be more block trades in many of these same shares. shery: su keenan there in new york. our next guest sees short-term market selloffs is one of the biggest risks. let's bring in pepper international ceo and founder carol pepper, who received around $1 billion in assets. what are you making of this, as an investor, what do you do the

next few days? carol: i manage money for an active external single family office. this is my 20th year of doing so. in general it is very unusual for family offices be so highly leveraged that they get such a margin call. this is a problem of too much margin rather than anything to do with a family office. my family offices are very prudent. i would say for your typical average investor, your retail investor, i would stay out of this for the next couple days. we have a few things going on. we have the end of the quarter, and there might be some end of the quarter cleanup and dislocation. the only exception would be if you have been walking for a particular stock or etf nuc a this look -- and you see a dislocation, this would be a good time to scoop it up. otherwise let the hedge fund

guys do get out. then go back into the market in a few days into april things will have calmed down. shery: where are some opportunities you could find in the next few days sec perhaps these market dislocations happening? carol: in general this is the time to look at the consumer stocks. obviously people have already started to look back i consumer stocks but i am excited particularly about luxury stocks, or even tapestry, lower end luxury. these companies really know what they are doing, and there is a great amount of pent up demand from consumers who are ready to start spending their money. i think that is all very interesting. you might have a chance to get into names like delta or marriott. this -- my favorite is always amazon or qqq. when you see your favorites go down, jump on in if you have a long, full-time ahead of you. haidi: i want to get your views

on where there -- on whether you think the inflation optimism we are seeing is overblown. i want to throw out this chart and look at the u.s. ten-year year and 30 year breakeven. inflation hitting new highs after we had the -- there was not much in that print to warrant this reaction, arguably. is this just a case of over enthusiasm when it comes to the reopening trade? carol: i think it is. again, i think inflation will not really be a problem for the next two or three years. my clients are fundamental investors. we look to take positions for three, five, or 10 years. try to look at what is intrinsically good about your stock and what trends are intrinsically doing now. that is how you make money in the long haul. that is what family offices generally do. haidi: in terms of growth, you

are saying this is a longer-term story? post-pandemic you would still continue to buy some of the growth a on any further dips? are there levels you are looking at for opportunity? carol: i think in the next few days, and i think we could see another 2%, 3% down days, i do not necessarily think we are going to have a big correction, even with these black trades going on in the market. so, i do not see a massive -- it could be something that could happen. for example that poor ship in the suez canal could break apart, and that could cause panic in the world. we could see a new vaccine variant really getting aggressive and causing panic. but other than that, there is not any bad news lurking that will truly cause a major correction, in my opinion, at least for the next three months out, unless it is completely unexpected. therefore the dips will be modest, and you should be building positions for long-term. there are a lot of great names

have not recovered yet and will start recovering as the markets open. keep in mind that in the u.s., we have 26% of the population already having one vaccine shot. the general consensus is once we hit 50%, we start hitting herd immunity. let me project forward to june or july, we should be at that level. that means we should have significantly larger openings because of travel. there is a lot of reasons to be optimistic and not fearful right now. fear is not your friend in this market. deciding fundamental trades to believe in and getting in at a decent price and holding on, that is how to make money. haidi: always great to have you with us, carol. let's get you to vonnie quinn in new york with the first word headlines. vonnie: the container ship, digging up part of the suez canal bank to loosen it, saying

the next 24 hours away crucial. they managed to move the ship 30 meters on saturday. the president of egypt says if it is not afloat by tuesday, the my -- more than 450 ships are backed up, as the academic toll grows. more than 110 protesters were killed over the weekend in myanmar in the deadliest clashes with the military since february's coup. the hunta marched in the capital. the dead include several children. the use of lethal force sparked condemnation from governments around the world. german chancellor angela merkel is threatening to assert federal control of the country's pandemic measures amid a surge in infections. she expressed exasperation with what she calls broken commitments. kerle -- merkel says tighter

restrictions are needed after more than 28,000 new cases were reported saturday. china has picked the uae as is middle east vaccine hub in a deal that will see the country produce up to 200 million shots a year. vaccines will be produced by a joint edger between sinopharm and abu dhabi-based g42, which starts production at a new plant next year. it will make the uae the first company to produce the sinopharm shots outside of china. 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'm vonnie quinn. this is bloomberg. haidi: next, australia's job keeper program is put to bed, bring in the nation's largest covid stimulus measure to a close. up to 150,000 more jobs though could be lost. plus, tensions flare. corporate fallout also continues to mount. this is bloomberg. ♪ is bloomberg.

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shery: a geopolitical tussle over allegations of china's human rights abuses have continued, with beijing imposing sanctions on individuals in the u.s. and canada. the corporate fall has also spread. for more, let's bring in tom mackenzie in beijing. so what is the tally so far, and how has that impacted business? tom: we saw the action from china from beijing on saturday, targeting a canadian lawmaker and a number of entities there, including a parliamentary committee on human rights. they also sanctioned basing as the u.s. commission on international religious freedom. this after china imposed penalties on the european lawmakers and bodies there, as well as u.k. lawmakers including the former head of the opposition, then, conservative

party. this is china's broad-based response to sanctions and penalties that were put in place by the eu, the u.k., canada, and the u.s. in a coordinated attempt to punish beijing over what they say are examples are forced labor and abuses in xhin jiang targeting the wighur minority. china says these are rumors, and that they will always stand up for their territorial sovereignty. u.s. secretary of state antony blinken saying the u.s. stands with its allies and say that beijing's actions will ramp up the scrutiny on what he says is ongoing genocide and crimes against the amenity in xin jiang. a number of h&m stores have been taken off of e-commerce platforms. i visited an h&m store on friday and it was essentially empty.

it's impacting other western corporations as well. japanese companies as well, including inl -- uniqlo, nike. so the corporate fraud continues. these companies have said they are concerned about allegations and were of forced labor in changing -- in xinjiang. they are real looking at supply chains which has led to a backlash in china. hugo boss as well, they have seen three chinese celebrities pull their endorsements from the company as well. as we said, the fallout in terms of corporate fact is considering the geopolitical impact as well. beijing responding on saturday. haidi: china and iran have inked a another deal. tom: this is a 25 year strategic ridership that will involve

chinese investment in the private sector in iran. iran will support china's belt and road initiative. it is seen by many as china thumbing his nose at the u.s. at a time when the biden administration says it wants to renegotiate. it takes leverage away from the u.s., because china will be supporting iran's economy. haidi: tom mackenzie in beijing with the latest. increasingly fraught relation, imposing tariffs of more than 200% on australian wine for five years as to the australian uncertainty. it brings to an end the -- this is a major part of the economic recovery in australia that has not been removed. data so far has been very encouraging. we are expected to see this play out in the labor markets. paul: treasury is clear i'd about the implications, setting

up to 150,000 jobs could be lost. australia had seen the hiring firm since the pandemic began to settle. bloomberg sees removal of job seeker, unemployment could creep up again to about 7%. this program did have to be wound back at some point. it was very expensive. estimated cost was $68 billion over the one year this has been in place. treasury secretary stephen kennedy has been defending the decision, saying it is creating incentives. it was paying employers to keep staff on. we saw some encouraging signs. jobs surging in february. new south wales easing resections on the hospitality industry. so, the rebound could potentially becoming, but there is still plenty of slack in the job market. shery: adding to the economic

uncertainty, china announced they will impose tariffs on australian wine for five years. what are the implications? paul: these tariffs of more than 200% are going to be in place until 2026. this will likely be resolved by the wto. china says antidumping levies, which is unusual because there was a premium price for australian wine in china. the trade minister here says it is extremely disappointing and completely unjustified it all comes back to china's list of 14 grievances against australia, including the decision to ban china from the -- to ban huawei of the 5g network here, and the ongoing inquiry into the origins of coronavirus. but the u.s. says there will be no --

this move suggests china's not blinking. shery: paul allen in sydney. next, the mission to free the massive ship blocking the suez canal enters a critical phase, as diggers remove part of the canal's bank. this is bloomberg. ♪ ♪

>> it is widespread. time will tell. hopefully they'll get this cleared up soon. >> time is of the essence here. having a key shipping took want physically coming to a complete stop will have ripple effects to many more industries. >> every day longer, obviously that will grow. and the disruption of the supply chain will only intensify. >> we think there will, eventually, be some kind of a

global speed limit through these canals. >> as the ships get bigger, we hope they also get more efficient. it may be that over time there are changes to the trade flows. shery: earlier guests on the suez canal. salvage teams will now try to refill the massive container ship blocking the canal and the canal and becoming hours after diggers removed partly canal banks. the number of ships waiting to enter the waterways now exceeds the size of the entire u.s. navy fleet. let's get the latest from james thornhill in sydney. how critical is this phase? james: we're entering an important phase and time is of the essence as they try to dislodge the ever given. the latest we are hearing is there is no timeline set by the

canal authority. they hoped possibly the ship will be free today, monday, monday our time here. that will be good news. it might take a bit longer than that. we are expecting high tides in the area which will help. haidi: of course the longer this stays stuck, the more implications we see for global trade. anything from energy prices to live animal stock trade that has been stuck on the ships as well as possible supply shock. james: that's right. by our estimates, $10 billion worth of world trade is being affected daily as this impasse goes on with the ship being stuck. we had a report a couple days ago saying for every week of no

traffic here, it chops 0.4% off global trade annually. 12% of world trade goes through the suez. 450 ships are waiting to get through the shipping lane. you cannot underestimate economic impact. what i could say is if they do minutes to get it free in the next day or so, things can get back to normal, and maybe we can see the backlog clear, and the impact will at least be contained. i guess the risk is the issue is complicated and it goes longer and ships have to start navigating around which takes over one week adding to the dress rotation time. that will cause all manner of chaos in the shipping industry. haidi: james thornhill there with the latest.

next, australia's job keeper program is put to bed. we will be discussing the implications for the labor market with jeff borland. this is bloomberg. ♪ is bloomberg. ♪

haidi: you are watching daybreak australia. we are 30 minutes out from trading at the start of a brand-new trading week. let's take a look at what lies ahead. we are watching wine as one of the big movers, as chinese tariffs are more than 200%. they will be gone for five years. utility shares are another want to watch, they posted their biggest month since june of 2000. being supported by the global

bond yields an area. the gas outlook improving compared to a year ago according to australia's energy market operator. assuming they begin operations by 2023. mr. lee is job giveaway is -- it ends the nation's largest covid stimulus measure. up to 150,000 jobs could be lost with the end of the program. for more analysis, let's bring in one of australia's most respected professors. do you think this was a policy mistake to let this support expire already? jeff: no. it's about the right time to allow the job keeper program to end. we've had really strong labor market recovery since last may.

the employee population rate now is back to where it was in march last year before covid. so i think the need for a broad program like job keeper, quite an expensive program because -- it was time for it to finish. now the need is more for targeted programs that industries which are still catching up, and particular groups of workers whose employment has not recovered as quickly as overall. haidi: so there should be targeted relief, i am imagining for all the industries and sectors being affected. international borders still being closed. would you support more targeted support for the airline industry, hospitality, and tourism? jeff: yes. i support the type of programs the government has introduced to

try to provide support to those industries which are still feeling the effects of covid. and so yeah, aviation, accommodation are two of those. my own industry of higher education also continues to be impacted by international borders, with less international students being able to come to australia. so yes, i think now it's time to really look at which industries are still behind and to target the support of those industries. shery: we still have a very accommodative policy when it comes to the rest of economy in australia. what are some of the adverse impacts that we could see if this continues for a long time, especially on the monetary side of things? jeff: well, i think it's important to say that there is still capacity for the economy

to expand quite a bit without causing major inflationary problems. the unemployment rate is at about 5% in the last week or so. both treasury and rba have said they think the full employment rate of unemployment is probably 4.5%, maybe a bit below. i think they are right about that. so i think far from -- in terms of the labor market, i think there's a lot of benefits of continuing accommodative macro policy stance. because i think we can have low unemployment without causing major labor market inflationary pressures. i guess the main danger being

pointed to at the moment in australia with the policy is what is happening to housing prices. and i guess the danger that could flow into asset price inflation. the banks seem to be saying that they can handle that through other means, than pulling back stimulus. shery: we will be watching the housing price numbers this thursday as well. i know in australia, infections have not been as rampant as in the rest of the world, especially as here in the u.s., but i have to wonder how closely will vaccinations be linked with an economic recovery. because australia does not seem to be inoculating its population as fast as other parts of the world. jeff: i think there is an effe ct. for example, i was talking about these international borders. that would depend on vaccinations in australia, but

also the international take-up of vaccinations. but i think probably because australia has been very successful from a health point of view, our recovery does not depend as much on vaccination as in other parts of the world. in february and us trillion, the employee population -- in february in australia, the employment population was where it was in march. shery: just before we leave the conversation, there's one specific demographic you are perhaps more concerned about. what we make of the higher than overall average when it comes to youth unemployment? is that something you see improving, or do you see more time to the services industry,

hospitality, and the border closure issue as well? jeff: i think young people, for me, are the group who have been left behind in the recovery so far. even more specifically, it's young people, we make a distinction between young people who are full-time students, young people who have any full-time education. young people who are full-time students, their employment has bounced back really strongly. it is young people who have completed their education whose employment is still well below where it was last march before covid hit. and that seems to be mainly a loss of full-time employment, and it seems to have mainly impacted young people who have completed their education with lower levels of education. and so, it raises the concern

that while there's been a really strong overall labor market recovery in australia, the group who are usually impacted in boosting downturns, young people trying to make the transition from education to work, are going to feel some impact from covid-19 recession. so i think addressing the situation of that group is one of the targeted policy issues that i referred to earlier. shery: right. as we speak, australia's brisbane is entering a three-day lockdown due to the virus. of course we will continue to watch the impact of the pandemic on the economy there. professor of economics jeff borland of the university of melbourne, thank you so much for joining us. let's stay on the global economy. in the u.s. we are expecting a blowout march jobs report as they recovery picks up steam, as treasury just a the worst quarter since 2016.

the philadelphia fed question explained -- is playing down concerns over the recent rise in longer-term yields. he spoke exclusively with bloomberg's mike mckee. >> we are seeing a certain pockets like manufacturing, they are seeing price pressures. what they are not doing is passing that along to the consumer. so i think the inflation story is complicated. as you said, march and april are going to drop off. they were low months because we were shutting down the economy. so we are going to see a spike in inflation. but our forecast is creeping up to 2% and our goal is to be above 2% this year. our forecast is around 2.1%. but we do not see it running out of control. mike: what about the idea that on the spending side, people are reluctant to go out? in philadelphia, we are getting more jabs in arms, yet we see

personal spending decline in the month of february. patrick: it has been choppy because the virus is variable. we have had good months, bad months. we are seeing numbers rise now in this region. and so, until we get through this period, we are going to see a lot of voluntarily -- a lot of volatility in all these areas. that makes it hard to read. as a policymaker, i want to hold steady, make sure we get through this period, then we can start to normalize once we get through this. mike: mortgage rates have gone up, car loans have gone up because the market is pushing rates higher, not the fed. are people more sensitive to that when they have been so low? is it more of a risk that we see activity slow, because the markets have pushed up rates some? patrick: let's start with this discussion. i have not heard anyone say they are not vesting because of rates. just don't hear it. it is because the demand side or

the uncertainty they are facing. we need to resolve this uncertainty so that people can make correct decisions. the consumer, maybe. but we are not talking about massive increases in rates. if you really step back, we are talking about 100 basis points maybe. historically this is not really something that has really affected people's decision by a car. maybe on a home -- to buy a car. maybe on a home. but we don't know exactly why the 10-year is going up. one of the plausible reasons why israel rates are going up. -- why is real ratres are going up. haidi: that was patrick harker speaking exclusively with michael mckee. we will get you more details on the lockdown beginning in brisbane today, beginning at 5:00 p.m. local time monday. queensland has reported four

additional transmissions overnight. we heard 12 hours ago that authorities there were existing the idea of another lockdown. they were saying the state was more experienced in managing this more contagious u.k. variant than back in january when they went into the last lockdown. but we have seen states including new south wales and tasmania leasing restrictions. we are now hearing queensland health is putting in place a three down lockdown due to more transmissions overnight. three cases have been reported. of course this comes very close to the easter four day long weekend. incredibly concerning for the airlines as well as hospitality and tourism-related businesses. let's get some morning calls now with sophie kamaruddin in hong kong. goldman is looking beyond the

hope phase for markets now. sophie: that's right. goldman saying markets are transitioning from the hope phase two a goldilocks growth scenario which will be driven by earnings momentum. they are seeing overweight stocks. forecasting a near 15% rise over the next 12 months. they are also shifting presence from industrial to consumer cyclicals sectors and things which do not yet fully flecked the recovery goldman is anticipating. analysts also neutral on credit, underweight bonds. but they do know rising yields remain a risk. goldman warning returns will be considerably slower from here. shery: of course we are headed towards the china open as well. what are you watching? sophie: keeping an eye on banking stocks after we saw solid report cards from tcb and bo, on friday. after that, analysts predict 45% more upside potential for

chinese banks listed in hong kong over the next one to four quarters, knowingly sector has just started to see a recovery in earnings and valuation. stocks are still trading supercheap, but staying near record lows. also noting loan growth, still expected to be slow for chinese banks on the mainland as a stimulus is being paired back on the mainland. haidi: next, dozens of protesters in myanmar were killed in clashes as a country sees its deadliest weekend since the february coup. the man fast becoming myanmar's main opposition voices calling for more pressure from the international community to oust the military. you will hear our interview with him next. this is bloomberg. ♪ ioomberg. ♪

vonnie: china has announced retaliatory sanctions against u.s. officials and a canadian lawmaker as the row over alleged human rights abuses in xinjiang escalates. the sentient individuals are prohibited from entering china, beijing and macau, and from doing business with them. tensions between china and western countries flared over forced labor in xinjiang. china will impose anti-dumping tariffs on 200% on australian

wine over the next 500 years -- over the next five years. it comes after a range of products. ties between the countries have been strained since they banned huawei and called for an investigation into the origins of the coronavirus pandemic. according to local reports, australia is investigating a potential cyberattack involving government issued smartphones and tablets. the department of parliamentary services was shut down over the weekend due to the potential breach. the defense ministry says the fault was linked to an external provider and connections to government systems were severed immediately over an abundance of caution. at least 14 people were injured after a suspected suicide bombing at a catholic church in central indonesia. the blast happened sunday morning just as sunday mass finished. three people on a motorbike attempted to enter the churchyard but were stopped by security, and the explosion happened.

no group has claimed responsibility for the attack. 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'm vonnie quinn. this is bloomberg. haidi: in myanmar, more than 110 protesters were reportedly killed over the weekend in the deadliest clashes with the military since february's coup. the killings saturday place as the -- the dead include several children. of course the use of this lethal force has sparked condemnation from governments around the world. haidi: yeah. the man fast becoming myanmar's main opposition voice since february and the coup has called for the country's minority to be integrated back into society, and for more pressure from the international community to oust the country's military.

he describes himself as the envoy representing the parliament to the u.n. spoke earlier with our haslinda amin. >> we take targeted action and sanctions, both economically and diplomatically. these bloody will stop. china, neighbors like india, and our dear brothers and sisters, they have the power to stop it. they have the ability to stop it. so we are asking them to stop it because -- before it is too late. it will become out of control. haslinda: how about china? what is china's role in this, and what role would you like to see china play?

dr. sasa: i think china has the power to stop the generals if they really want to. they want to see myanmar be stable. they want to see a stable myanmar economy, a stable myanmar politics, because that is good for china to have a stable neighbor. i have no doubt they want to see that happen. this military coup serves no interest for china, for india. that means that we all have to come together. haslinda: u.n. envoy to myanmar is urging people not to take up arms against the junta, as that may perhaps justify the use of violence against the people themselves. what is the risk to people of myanmar may end up taking up arms to defend themselves? dr. sasa: that is why we are

asking, the united nations security council, to quickly escalate. there is a u.n. charter that calls -- we're asking the u.n. secretary general's, the un security council, to activate. so that my people -- these protectors, who should be protecting the people of myanmar are not protecting the people of myanmar. on the other side you are saying please don't protect yourself. it is not going to work. my people should be given the chance to protect themselves. and they have the right to protect themselves. of course i'm not saying take up arms and fight. that is not the way. of course reforming the military institution as a whole is

important. that means the army of emr -- that means all this military will be asked to come to the army, not attacking people anymore. haslinda: there seems to be a reversal in terms of the attitudes towards the rohinga. the people of myanmar used to stand the army on the issue of rohingya. is there regret now that the situation has reversed? dr. sasa: i have been waiting for the time to call our rohingya brothers and sisters my family. we're one family, we're one nation. enough is enough. we now have only one enemy. that is these military generals. everybody will be free. everybody will have a future.

but we have no future as long as there is a military dictatorship. the people of myanmar, including our rohingya brother and future -- brother and sisters, have no future as long as there is military dictatorship in our country. shery: speaking with dr. sasa there. plenty more to come on daybreak. this is bloomberg. ♪ his is bloomberg. ♪

haidi: here's a quick check of headlines. shery: backlash against h&m in china is growing with chinese landlords closing their doors. at least six stores in some lower tier cities were shot after h&m expressed concern over the alleged use of forced labor in the province. other western brands like nike have also drawn chinese ire. sinopec posted a full-year profit of $5.1 billion following a strong rebound in the second half of 2020. it was a slump of 42% from the year before. sinopec managed to scrape profit on the back of gains in the third and fourth quarter. europe's biggest insurer is said to be studying the feasibility of a counter offer after a takeover bid for the hard-core

financial services group. deliberations are at an early stage, and they seem to lack the heart for it. haidi: let's look at some stocks we are watching heading into the start of trading this monday morning and sit-- in sydney. sophie: we are watching an electricity retailer after it signed an agreement to use a u.k. energy supplier as part of efforts to upgrade services at households and sell more solar panels. amp shares in focus after ares management is interested in buying 100% of its private market business. china extended tariffs for another five years on australian wine imports. shery: we will be watching those stocks when the market opens in

sydney next. this is bloomberg. ♪ s bloomberg. ♪

haidi: good morning. we are counting down to asia's market open. shery: welcome to bloomberg asia -- our top stories this hour. asian markets are set -- losses started on wall street. the unprecedented move wiped 35 billion dollars from bellwether stocks. haidi: china expands its