(woman) aerotrainer makes me want to work out. look at me. it works, 100%. (announcer) find out more at aerotrainer.com. that's aerotrainer.com. haidi: good morning, we are counting down to asia's major market opens. shery: welcome to daybreak asia. our top story at this hour, china's crackdown on big tech may not be over. more than 30 forms were told to take note of alibaba's find as beijing warns them against market dominance area the u.s.

recommends a freeze on johnson & johnson's vaccine. they threaten more delays to the global rollout as shots are suspended in europe. in australia canceled plans to buy the single-dose jab. asian equities are declining following gain in the u.s., investors shrugging off higher than forecast inflation to focus on the forecast of a path to a global recovery. we start off with breaking news out of south korea, we are getting the march employment figures of the jobless rates coming in at 3.9%, in line with estimates we are seeing further recovery for the labor market and south korea after the larger than expected drop to rates in february as well. 300 14,000 jobs were added in march, we have seen further relaxation of social distancing. the jobless rate at 3.9%. in hong kong for a check in the

market, sophie. >> building on mondays gains, we are seeing that climb ahead of the debt decision. the central bank is expected to hold a lock with singapore later today. in japan, on a potential bidding war for toshiba underway. three signals are emerging. also keeping an eye on crypto related space, listings in korea. we are seeing bitcoin premiums back and play. we have the yen eying the 109 level. after the dollar fell to a three week low. this as reflation is seen outpacing the potential as a driver in his quarter. a little changed after the index rose to another record high. markets looking through the j&j

vaccine rollout being pause. as well as higher inflation in the u.s.. watch for any ripple effects from the latest arc ago -- the latest archegos. pointing at the chart, the rising risk for china, placing the company on downgrade watch. that is being reflected on credit markets, widening here amid growing concerns, that is also trickled into markets. haidi: we will stay with china, he the example of alibaba. that is the best -- that is the message to big tech. they warned them to rectify practices within the next month. it sounds like the golden years, unfettered growth of the tech

giants might be over. what was that all about? >> the meeting in beijing was quite unusual after the actions taken against the jack ma empire in beijing some of these 34 companies to a meeting where they talk, as you mentioned, about how they need to rectify their anti-competitive practices within the next month. these are the most important technology companies in china. and, what regulators are particularly concerned about are some of the practices that were allowed of the past, for example, companies would lock in one merchant to work with them, a smooth the merchant from working with the other firms. also concerned with investments and acquisitions the most powerful have done to solidify, that particularly affects

alibaba, which became the venture capitalists for many of the startups within china. you so most of the tech starts within china ended up in one of these two spheres, so trying to put an end to that open up the market to more competition. shery: what will the tech landscape look like as we continue to see a broader crackdown on tech? >> well, we have seen this era where growth has been very rapid for the biggest companies. beginning with alibaba, they have not been able to just expand their core businesses of e-commerce and social media, but they have been able to really steamroll into adjacent sectors when they knocked up incumbents. they used in a capabilities to be able to move these areas and solidify power. you will see that slow down a

fair bit after beijing has cast a watchful eye over the industry. companies will be more cautious as they expand and make acquisitions. we will see growth slowed down a bit as they come to grips with the new rules. haidi: we have seen years of incredible growth, what does this mean more broadly for the tech giants of the industry, and how different does the sector look in five years or even two years from now? >> it will vary by firm. and, it will depend in part on the practices they have been using in the past. so, alibaba's core business is e-commerce. we saw they would pay this record find. going forward, when it comes e-commerce, alibaba will not be able to force a merchant into a deal where they can only sell on alibaba platform and not one of

the competitors. it will be a challenge for them, that has been a pretty lucrative approach to e-commerce. also, they have promised they would lower some of the fees that merchants pay at they sell on the alibaba platform. for companies like and, and gets more complicated. it made its reputation as a digital payments company. helping people make payments, it is the biggest provider in that market. the data they get from watching what everybody pays for and the financial resources they had allowed them to expand into adjacent markets like savings accounts or loans, that has been a very lucrative business for them. and, it has hurt some of the other financial institutions in the country, so you will see them face more critical regulation from the central government and they probably need to slow down expansion into some of these areas that have been very lucrative for them.

and, as you recall, it was headed for the biggest ipo in history just a few months ago. now there are questions about whether it will be able to go public at all. shery: let's now turn to vonnie quinn for the first word headlines. >> the white house has reportedly sent unofficial delegation to taiwan that president biden's request. according to reuters, a former senator and two former deputy secretaries of state were sent. one official called a personal signal of biden's commitment to the island and democracy. this comes as the u.s. and taiwan mark the 42nd anniversary of the taiwan relations act which biden voted for as a senator. arend has ramped up in rich -- its uranium enrichment program. it will start to produce highly enriched uranium for the first time, taking it close to weapons grade at close to 60% purity.

it has to tensions as they begin to resume talks on the landmark record. many jobs will be handled by artificial intelligence and they told bluebird the government is to place part in allowing easy movement from one sector to another. he says korean workers will have to increase adaptability and a fast-changing, high-tech environment. >> first of all, korea has a very high rate of automation compared to other countries. in the future, south korea is expected to face a faster change than other countries in terms of social changes due to automation and ai. i don't think humans will be completely replaced by machines, but it is important to learn how to work with machines through job training. it is necessary to increase

adaptability to fit into changes in the labor market and how to move from a declining industry to an emerging one. the korean government, not just the labor ministry, but also other relevant ministries will form a task force to deal with this issue. >> global news 24 hours a day, on-air and on bloomberg quick take, powered by more than 2,700 journalists and analysts in more than 120 countries. i'm vonnie quinn. this is bloomberg. haidi: still ahead, signs of the blank check party is over. the spac index now down 20% since february. a big lineup of guest up next. we will be hearing from the imf asia and pacific deputy director as well as the -- at the japan mission chief. this is bloomberg. ♪

>> yet fda's the gold standard for insuring the safety and effectiveness of the vaccine. they show their step necessary. >> we expected to be a matter of days. >> we want this to be worked out as quickly as we possibly can. that is why you see the word pause. we very well may go back to that, maybe with some conditions, maybe not. >> the real thing that is so notable here is it is not just the cerebral kind of thrombosis, or the thrombocytopenia, those two things can occur, it is the occurs together that makes a pattern. and that pattern looks very similar to what was seen in

europe with another vaccine. haidi: the johnson & johnson vaccine delay is another setback to global inoculation and the stakes are even higher for poor countries. the u.s. will cohost an event focused on speeding up the global rollout. we are joined by a senior advisor recorded in covid efforts for international development. good to have you with us. we talk a lot about the nature of the global vaccine rollout, the vaccine inequality that is playing out between wealthier and poorer nations. what is the problem here? is it supply, funding, logistics? >> i think first, to take a step back, this is an effort unlike

anything the world has had to attempt argue we ever on this scale. so, covax is an ambitious effort to try and extend and accelerate the ability of vaccines to countries that without a mechanism like this would really struggle to access the vaccines they need. frankly, the overall vaccine effort worldwide has been set back -- has faced setbacks, inevitably. we saw another one with the j&j vaccine today and astrazeneca recently. these are setbacks, we are going to keep pushing forward. i think what is important and inspiring about covax is it has, so far, raised more than $6 billion for vaccinating 20% of the world's population, with this event we are coasting this week, the ambition is to extend that and raise another $2 billion at least. to extend that to 30%.

we are already looking at what we can do. haidi: we repeatedly get told by public health experts that until everyone in the world is safe, no one is safe. this is not a situation where inequality only place totally when it comes to supply, we know the u.s. is growing stocks on astrazeneca shots. australia is likely to have some as well, given that we have giving that shock to anyone under the age of 50. how quickly can the supplies be donated and rollout? >> we are trying to provide support on different fronts. we are planning over this year and next to give an additional $2 billion. we are also working on expanding the global supply. last month, president biden

announced a partnership with japan, india and china, to scale out vaccine production in india. because, what we do need to do right now, this is not enough supply globally. it needs to be expanded. we are trying to better understand if it could be scaled up and what are some of the pinches in the supply chain, the materials used to produce vaccines, we can maximize the capacity that does exist, you know, the president has said when it comes to sharing that the u.s. intends to do that i point at which we have met our domestic needs. i think that is a very clear priority for him, we have an outbreak here in the united states. we are trying to work on, well we are working on that trip, we are also working with covax and other partners to expand as well. shery: in advanced economies

like the u.s. or australia don't want these vaccines like astrazeneca or j&j, does that mean more supply? >> i would not say those vaccines are unwanted, the u.s. has paused j&j briefly, we are still awaiting a determination from the fda on astrazeneca. so, it would be premature to say we don't want those vaccines. it is clear that we have been fortunate as a world, we did not know will be set out on this effort year ago how many of these vaccines would actually work. so they hedge their bets. i think that will work out to the world's benefit as those contracts continue coming through. we have a lot of vaccines that were, we did not know a year ago we would be in the position. as some of the needs and most critical needs are saturated in the countries that order those

vaccines, those doses are delivered in increasing numbers, there will come a moment when we share with the world and the president said when the u.s. has sufficient supply, we absolutely will share with the world. we will do that with covax. shery: that's the point right? when you have enough supplies. we are already seeing cases of vaccine nationalism reports that exports have been slowed from europe or from india. how challenging has it been dealing with all of that? >> i think, there is no getting around the fact that we have insufficient supply. in the partnership investments in india do that, we are also actively looking for other avenues, the eu has been very focused on expanding production and developing new production in africa. the supply picture is tight right now. it is difficult.

scarcity is always going to be the enemy of equity. our investments have started doing that, exploring. shery: we are not necessarily talking about scarcity. for the astrazeneca shot, there is 20 million the stockpile. up to 90 million manufactured for the u.s., i'm likely to play into the vaccination campaign because there are three other shots that are already authorized, right? it hasn't even gotten fda approval in the u.s.. if -- are they going to delay the donation when there are countries that need it right now? >> i think the u.s. is being cautious. absolutely. as we saw j&j, there are going to be bumps in the road. it's clear that as long as we

continue to face the bumps of the road, we want to make sure with the priority that the u.s. has sufficient supply to meet its needs. we are also making steady progress on that. and, so, as you said, there will be a point coming that the u.s. will be again sharing doses through covax. we have not reached that point yet. in the meantime, we are working with covax through other channels to expand the supply because we have to grow the pie. there is no way around that. shery: jeremy, great having you on. thank you. you can read more about the j&j policy today destined j&j pausing today.

we will hear from the international vaccine and director general drum kim joining us from seoul. this is bluebird. -- this is bloomberg. ♪

haidi: -- shery: the deal with all to their values and $40 million. with major institutional backers. still, investors don't seem overly interested in the opportunities. we are joined with the latest. first of all, talk us to the deal. >> ok, well, this is southeast asia's answer to who burp. the most valuable startup with the biggest bacterial on record. it is a deal valued at nearly $40 million.

and, as you pointed out, through the backing of the likes, it also kind of blows a second-biggest deal out of the water. haidi: why is the record important in this context? >> it depends on what you are saying. the spac world, this is the standout. [indiscernible] this is according to market observers. haidi: crystal, we'll have to leave it there. let's get you the quick check at the latest business flash headlines.

toshiba is facing a possible business -- possible bidding war. they could out band the $21 million proposal. canada's brookfield asset management is also exploring a bid. meanwhile, the nikkei is reporting that the ceo will be stepping down at a board meter later today after coming under pressure from investors and employees. they are expecting to raise more than a hundred billion dollars by 2022, after bringing a record 44 billion last year. speaking at a virtual investor day, the company seeking capital for more than 20 this year, they have been the most active dealmakers among the pandemic. the finance ministry said to be transferring asset management. within the next few months. according to sources, one

investment is that it has more experience. credit suisse is said to have slashed the amount of money set aside for employee opponents -- employee bonuses using the savings to limit the hit from the archegos implosion. it is expected to be just over 3.7 billion in profit. coming up next, the outlook for asia's recovery and a more inclusive economy. the deputy director will be joining us next. this is bloomberg. ♪

>> the ims says as it is likely to benefit from u.s. fiscal expansion, forecasting regional growth. the capital outflows are faster than expected. kathleen hays is standing by with our next guest. >> this is the deputy director for asian and pacific -- this asian and pacific international monetary fund. we will go into what he sees as

what is happening for asia as a whole. the vaccine rollout have been very mixed in the region. viruses are researching in some cases. your calling on the rich nations to help more. is it enough for president biden to say we are going to vaccinate u.s. citizens first and then provide whatever is left over to the rest of the world? >> i think that realistically, we all recognize that the solution to this pandemic requires a global solution vaccination, universal deliveries. countries are going to realistically look after their own first. we hope that can be distributed to the rest of the world. we are already seeing countries in asia like india and china who have made tens of millions of

doses of vaccine available to other countries. >> given where we are now, do you think that rather than saying by the end of the is is back on track is no longer possible by the middle of the year? >> i think our numbers continue to be reasonable. we see there is a lot of uncertainty around them. we hope that will propel the recovery. if we don't deal with the vaccine, that is going to be the downside. >> one of the things you mentioned on your blog today and

in your press conference is a focus on debt and some questions you have about how this will play out including leverage and more. certainly, the pandemic and the need to pay has a lot of these governments in all these economies to set new rules. has this freed up asian economies to rely more on debt issuance? are you seeing the quiddity tighten up for -- liquidity tighten up for agents in this environment? jonathan: the government is looking after the people that are most vulnerable. the businesses that have been chided, the need to have containment measures. we think the world economy would have been in a deeper hole. it would have been three times worse.

it is very good. going forward, this is not something that is going to go away. >> do you see a different between the way that the small asian economies versus the bigger ones are being treated by the markets when it comes to issuing debt? look at indonesia where they are very wary of how their currency might move and china where investors seem very happy to gobble up all kinds of chinese debt. jonathan: i think the message is that companies -- countries need

to keep their fiscal lifelines in place as long as the pandemic is not behind it. they have to focus on fast vaccination of populations and keep us fiscal lifelines in place. advanced countries, emerging market countries, those expectations need to be managed. >> the u.s. has approved, president biden has approved the proposal for the special drawing rights. they will not get the book of the money but they can use this to do with the pandemic and all those kinds of means. is something that is important to you -- is it something that is important to you? jonathan: absolutely. we will provide every country of

the imf with some additional international liquidity in addition to its subscription level. this is to finance essential goods and boost international reserves of all of our member countries. including the most. -- vulnerable regions. >> or an abrupt move to titan by the fed. are you concerned about anything you see in the rising bond yields so far? what kind of magnitude -- what would the fed have to do to cause that kind of problem for asia? jonathan: you're right, we have not seen anything like the previous episodes.

we have not seen that yet in asia. i think for things to really go in that direction, there would have to be some miscommunication or some rise in bond yields much faster than people expect. when that happens, the fact that there is a lot of leverage in this region, across all sectors, that is going to hurt. it is going to take economic management to manage that transition when those higher interest rates to happen. >> how big of a threat is it to the nations in asia? the possibility of a growing u.s. versus china tech war. will it hurt more -- some more than others? jonathan: would we have seen is that the tariff tensions that have been going on for a couple of years now at least have been

costly. costly for the u.s.. something like shaving .4% off of local gdp. that is a big number. if we don't get back to a multilateral system, those costs could easily be in the order of -- an order of magnitude bigger. they are global technology hubs. that is a much bigger deal in terms of global value chains and the costs. if those really get out of control. juliette: -- >> did they have an outstanding impact on growth around the region? jonathan: i don't want to

comment on geopolitical issues. that is not part of my purview. i will punt on that one. >> fair enough. there insightful fleshing out of all of the things that the things that the imf has been talking about. thank you. >> that was kathleen hays with jonathan. we will be hearing more from the imf in the next hour. we will be discussing the outlook for japan's economy. take a look at how markets are setting up your in asia. >> stocks are looking at a steady session ahead. this is also keeping an eye on vaccine. they are gaining some ground.

this should be a faster pace of rising rates. the kiwi dollar is trading around the april highs this morning. switching to check on bond markets early in the asian session. we are seeing bond rise. the 10 year yield trading around 175 or 176. treasury futures, a little change. this is still a big break for investors. now seen at 2.1%. that is up from the 2% that we saw. >> let's turn to vonnie quinn

with the first word headlines. >> the u.s. has recommended a pause on johnson & johnson's covid vaccine after six cases of blood clotting. one person died and another in critical condition. sisi official says the pause could last a matter of days - a cdc official says the pause could last a matter of days. australia has paused johnson & johnson's vaccine over the blood clotting. johnson & johnson and astrazeneca use some of the technology. moderna has released new data from a final stage trial that shows it's two shot regiment is more than 90% effective overall beginning to weeks after the second dose.

it also remains 95% effective over the same period. the results are similar to the pfizer biontech shot after 6 months. the measure is stemmed from fears, wreaking havoc across brazil. there are relatively few known cases of the brazilian strain. global news, 20 hours a day, powered by more than -- global news, 24 hours a day on air and on quicktake, powered by more than 2700 journalists and analysts in more than 120 countries. i am vonnie quinn, this is bloomberg. >> a bidding war may brewing for toshiba. we get the latest details next. this is bloomberg. ♪

>> taking a look at the day had for japan and south korea. citizens must learn to work alongside machines to thrive in a post-pandemic world. he spoke exclusively, showing the jobless rate edging lower. the imf also saying they should monitor future spending plans.

this is called a friend the restructuring plan. in japan, machine orders are in focus. we will get the quarterly numbers for february. they may as the government to step up restrictions. the first japanese company amid forced labor concerns. nikkei news is reporting that the food processor is no longer importing tomatoes from the region. haidi: we do have another big conference story. toshiba is getting more private equity interest now. what do we know about the level of interest in this company? >> it was only a matter of time

that other citizens late into this. what is interesting about the bid is that they are willing to offer more than the cdc. the cdc value the company at any $1 billion. that is not entirely surprising. one of the major toshiba shareholders, oasis said that the cdc undervalues toshiba. the cdc is also not going to be going along with this. it is definitely just the beginning. >> as we speak, toshiba coming out and saying they will have a

board meeting today on zach it if appointments. they would discuss the appointment of executive officers. does this add credibility to the report that they could be resigning today? what does this mean for the future of the company? >> just earlier this week, we broke news on an internal survey that showed the confidence in this field. all of them sort of showed that people are increasingly lacking trust in their management. just last year, they barely held on to this position.

he is also facing questions from the outside as well. it is likely that the former ceo and chairman will return. all kinds of questions about this. also, importantly, toshiba is thinking about its stake. collects the story that keeps on giving. we will also be watching this one it starts up. su keenan joins us with the latest.

give us the details on the move to curb risk here. >> the restrictions include curbing leverage for some clients that were previously granted exceptions. this is according to a person close to the matter. this seems to be part of a broader base move. this will reign in risk. again, another of the group of high-profile lenders that were forced to impose an epic margin. this incurs the largest loss of the banks, up to $5 billion. it is also tightening the lending of hedge funds. it is important to point out

that this kind of lending is some of the most lucrative areas. including the chief risk officer and head of investment banking. now, we are hearing that a large second round of block trades is being offered. it shows that it is still trying to unwind his position. >> tell us about this. >> those are two things that bloomberg news has learned. there is a new round of stock offerings that includes discovery and some of the other shares that are tied to the collapse.

it is worth about 2.1 billion. it is based on tuesday's closing prices. it caused a negative reaction in those shares and extended trading. this is set aside from employee bonuses for hundreds of millions of dollars. the plan -- this cuts to staff compensation, other one-off items. it adds up to about 600 million to the underlying profit for taxes. we also understand that the bank could set aside more and conversely, it could also reverse these types of bonuses. back to you. >> su keenan with the latest. we do have breaking news out of japan.

we are getting the core machine orders for the month of february. we are seeing a big mess. the estimate was that it was going to the green. we are talking about a second month of contractions. the year-over-year is a big mess. down 7.1%. that is surprising given we have that state of emergency being extended to march and companies pushing back on investment plans. month over month, a contraction of a percent. delays in japan -- of 8 percent. delays in japan's rollout. we will have more, this is bloomberg. ♪

>> let's get a quick check of the latest business flash headlines. pledging to keep any data collected in china in the country over concerns of sensitive information. china officials says the company abides by chinese laws. they have denied the equivalent of spying after they were banned from china's military and

housing complexes in march. says the company abidessurging asian sales -- the review added fashion and jumped 52% on organic basis compared to last year. the division was key in driving growth during the covid crisis. europe was weekly where revenue slumped by 9%. one of the first times that tesla has used computers. compared to 49% of those in december. that was the last time it was ever offered on paper. these two will be able to offer the exam. >> we are headed toward the open in japan. south korea and australia. let's turn to sophie for what to watch.

>> we are keeping our eye on sk telecom. over in tokyo, watching nomura on a report that it is starting to tighten financing for some hedge fund clients. the financial conglomerate in japan all watched as the plan to spend $1.8 billion as companies expand digital services. toshiba is very much on watch. they could give shares -- >> we will get more work analysis with the chief investment strategist, stefan. of course, we have the market open in sydney, soul and tokyo -- seoul and tokyo. lots more to come, this is

bloomberg. ♪

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pain and stress is the only thing you have to lose. get it and get it now. your body will thank you. (announcer) find out more at aerotrainer.com. that's aerotrainer.com. shery: welcome to daybreak asia. i am shery ahn. haidi: asia's major markets have just open for trade. our top stories this hour, patient benchmark separate steady open following gains in the u.s.. investor shrugging off higher than forecast inflation and focusing on the path of global recovery. china's crackdown on big tech by not be over just yet.

patient warns them against market dominance. the u.s. recommends a pause on johnson & johnson's vaccine, blood clot worries threaten more delays in the global rollout at the shot is suspended in europe and australia cancels plans to buy the single-dose jab. we do have breaking news when it comes to singapore. the first quarter gdp is a beat, were expecting a contraction you're on your of a half a percent, we are seeing first quarter 2/10 of 1%. we are seeing the 2020 gdp coming in at a contraction of 5.4%. when you break down some of those components, manufacturing so growth of 7.6%, construction of over 8%. the services industry eating at a gain of 4/10 of 1%. the fourth quarter, 3.8% quarter on quarter. we had been expecting that imports to gain momentum, as

well as seeing a construction and consumer spending -- contraction in sumer -- in consumer spending too narrow as well. we are getting the decision as well, saying that core inflation should rise gradually, 2021 gdp growth topping the upper end of the range, ultimately keeping zero currency appreciation as expected. they used to currency settings in its policy stands, and they were not expected to change any aspect of that currency ban setting. we are seeing accommodating policy maintained, seeing 2021 gdp growth topping the other -- upper end of the fort sent to 6% range. " we are seeing the outperformance continue.

with more analysis, we have bloomberg's expert editors. let's get the market reaction. so, what are you watching? sophie: we have news that j&j vaccine distribution be paused. usa inflation against recovery outlook. 10 year treasury looking steady earlier, reports seeing supply wrapping up with a strong sale. the yen trading below 10 nine as stocks in tokyo moving to the downside. may be looming for japanese stocks, saying that there is a statistical possibility but indicate to fall towards 25,000. we are taking a look at toshiba, but eventually a company throwing a bid in the ring. potential changes in management at toshiba.

turning to south korea, the jobless rate fell for a second month, seeing a pickup in exports and consumer spending. that is a lift for hiring. but a looming fourth virus wave may be a dampener, risk sentiment is moving to the upside, korean won trading at a high, the kospi adding a third of a percent. a growing ipo pipeline is in the mix. first timeshare sales in south korea, seeing companies raise $2.6 billion a year to date. we will keep an eye on crypto just ahead of the coinbase listing. checking on the open and australia, the asx, start of the staggered open, adding about 2/10 of a percent. we are seeing bonds gain ground, the nzx adding a 30% ahead of the policy decision later this wednesday. coming up on the terminal, while equities are looking at a fairly

common session, we are watching asian credit markets very closely amid fears of contagion giving the bond fallout we have seen for china, which led moody's to place the company on downgrade watch. shery: from our market analysis let's bring in the chief investment strategist at lgt bank asia, joining us live from hong kong. always great having you with us. sophie just mentioned those credit risks spreading across asia, given the volatility we have seen in china, how big of a risk is this? >> largely contained, although the story is still in the early days of development. long-term and short i think systemic risks on the credit side remain very welcoming. haidi: what about credit risks in china, we continue to see the shift coming from beijing, perhaps they are trying to wean off the bond markets from their implicit guarantees. >> that is a very important issue.

it is still an individual issue, so investors will be discovering which ones have more strong guarantees, and which have less strong guarantees. in terms of the macro picture, in terms of china, the growth outlook, echoed again by strong e-sports. the micro picture remains very robust. shery: how about the macro picture across asia more broadly, as we get hiccups in the vaccine rollout? >> investors are looking for leadership from the united states, europe and other larger economies in terms of the rollout. we basically are on track for herd immunity in the united states very soon. as well as the third quarter for europe. asia maybe a difference, that is

why investors are looking for strong returns this year on the equity side. haidi: the chief investment strategist at lgt bank asia. let's get you to vonnie quinn in new york. vonnie: the white house has sent an unofficial delegation to taiwan at president joe biden's request. two former deputy secretaries of state went and what one of official called a personal signal. the visit comes as the u.s. and taiwan mark the 42nd anniversary of the taiwan relations act, which biden voted for as a senator. iran has vowed to ramp up its uranium enrichment in response to what he called israeli sabotage. they will start to produce highly enriched uranium for the first time. the move will add to tensions as iran resumes nuclear talks in

vienna aimed at reviving the landmark 2015 accord. south korea's labor minister says they must work alongside machines, where many jobs will be handled by artificial intelligence and robots. they told us the government needs to play its part in allowing easy move into labor from one sector to another, but he says korean workers will have to increase their adaptability. >> first of all, korea has advanced i.t. and a very high rate of automation compared to other countries. in the future, south korea is expected to face a faster change than other countries in terms of social changes due to automation and ai. i don't think humans will be completely replaced by machines, but it is important to learn how to work with machines through job training. it is necessary to increase adaptability. how to move from a declining

industry to an emerging one. the korean government, not just the labor ministry, but also with other relevant ministries will form a task force to deal with this issue. 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, we discussed japan's economy with the imf chief for the country, as tokyo struggles to complain a surge in new virus cases. the global vaccine rollout suffers another blow as a blood clot he feared forces johnson & johnson to take a pause. we have the latest. this is bloomberg. ♪

haidi: heed the example of alibaba, that is what beijing is

telling tech giants. morning them to rectify the anticompetitive practices within the next month. let's get more from our greater china executive editor. john, what was the meeting all about and what are the changes expected in the short timeframe? >> they called them the who's who's list of tech in china. there was a bit of a silver lining, the regulators are giving everyone a month to fix any problems they might have. the cloud that that is surrounding is quite large. regulators are saying things you can no longer do. you cannot use acquisitions to stop that competition. you have to protect the data of your users. you cannot evade taxes. you cannot go around burning tons of cash to grab market share. that is going to force these companies to do quite a substantial change in the way they operate. shery: what could the tech

landscape look like after all of this, given it seems to play into that broader crackdown? >> i think the days of big tech giants in china, alibaba and tencent, those are over. it seems pretty clear from the meeting yesterday, from what actions have been taken against alibaba, against and, that regulators are now more sensitive than other -- then ever against actions that are seen as anti-competitive. i think that landscape is changed significantly. haidi: it seems pretty clear, unfettered growth looks to be over. what are the growth implications for the industry? >> i think there are pros and cons. if you remove these impediments to competition, impediments to the market working as it should, then potential you open up a

space for new companies, for startups to grow and flourish. on the others, if there is a lot more regulation over how these companies operate, you can also be something out innovation. it is a little bit hard to tell right now, but obviously the change is significant. shery: the greater china executive john in beijing. let's get the latest on vaccines. johnson's shot this tradition has been paused as u.s. officials probed a rare lead clot complication tied to the single shot dose. >> the timeframe will depend on what we learned in the next few days, however, we expected to be a matter of days for this pause. shery: the temporary halt represents a setback for the u.s. inoculation campaign which still needs to overcome wider vaccine hesitancy and fast growing coronavirus variants. let's get more from our u.s.

health care reporter. what does this mean in terms of having enough vaccines to reach that u.s. target. who will it impact the most? >> the u.s. will be ok. federal officials today from the white house sign -- saying that the u.s. has plenty of pfizer and moderna shots to cover americans who want to get vaccinated, and pfizer same -- saying that it can produce more shots sooner than expected, so it will have more shots ready to go than we were expecting to help cover that shortfall from j&j. haidi: what about how these vaccines are working against variants? we know that every -- does the reporting of these events contribute to problematic levels of hesitancy? >> that is something that we are

watching out for. the headlines sound scary, this vaccine that is new and people are already on edge about his being paused. -- is being paused. that might make some people think twice, people who want to wait and see anyway. you can see that the message from public health officials is still that this is a normal part of the process, this is the process working. health officials caught this early, they are reviewing the data and checking on it before they continue vaccinating people. hopefully, that message gets out there, but there is of course that risk that people take this and are afraid of the vaccine. haidi: we do have some good news when it comes to moderna and the effectiveness of that shop over time -- that stock over time. -- that shot over time. >> moderna saying it's vaccine

continues to be over 90% effective after six months of vaccination. that is very positive news. haidi: we do have some breaking news. the increasing amount of private equity and the company, shares rising to 7.1% in the earlier part of the tokyo session. we are hearing they are mulling bids, we are seeing that stock up off session highs. still up by about 5%. we did hear that a private equity firm is looking at an offer for toshiba according to a person familiar, this coming after a $21 billion buyout proposal it already received from cvc capital partners. we are hearing that canada's brookfield asset management is in the plural marriage stages of its lori and offer as well. this will get really

interesting. we are hearing reports of a potential change at the top in terms of the executive shakeup expected at a board meeting later today. coming up next, brazil is trying to put a lid on rising inflation without hampering the economic recovery. we will hear exclusively from the central bank president next. this is bloomberg. ♪

haidi: we are seeing the dollar gaming -- we also had the first quarter gdp data at the top of the hour. let's get over to our senior asia economic reporter. what were the highlights? anything surprising given that there were expectations that policy settings word remain accommodating? >> good morning.

the main headline was not so surprising, policy unchanged, the currency band means the same as at the last meeting. second straight meeting of unchanged policy, that is what all of our analysts expected. the interesting part, it's governments appropriate, we were looking for a possibility they would look at a tightening later this year. that did not happen. they are staying on an easy policy for now, they also had a fairly interesting read on inflation. they did say court inflation still remains low, that is the one they are focused on. raw materials and food and energy prices. growth, coming in greater -- better than the 4% to 6% government forecast range. they do not provide a new estimate, but did say it should exceed that range for singapore which would be a good mark. it remains to be seen how the

dollar will perform the rest of the day, but the initial calm reaction makes sense given that this is on target. shery: does this mean that the days are numbered for extremely loose settings from monetary policy, and we should expect a return to the gradual appreciation bias? >> we will have to see. they put a pause on that for now, did not give any sort of signal for new tightening. they did flag significant uncertainties again. this is a phrase you are hearing from central banks all over the world, they have cited further virus incidents and possibility of premature relaxation of social restrictions by other governments that could get in the white of a recovery. they did say that trade and services sectors were doing well, expanding, and should remain firm. travel is obviously holding a lot of those sectors back. especially here in trade reliance singapore, that is going to be a big factor.

they did also cite vaccination drags lovely, and stimulus by governments that have helped. they did say that negative outlook is narrowing this year. core inflation remains below the historical average, that is one factor they will be watching. shery: our senior asia economic reporter. a bit of a different picture when it comes to inflation in brazil. the head of the central bank saying it was forced to intervene and tighten monetary policy last month, spiking energy prices accelerated inflation. despite raising rates, policy makers they could go even higher, even as the economy reels from the pandemic. i spoke exclusively with the brazil central bank president. >> we don't forecast where rates are going to be. what we are saying is, we understand there is a process of inflation going higher.

a lot of this process has to do with components that are temporary. we had an increase afflicting brazil and inflation and other places. you have food items that are very important. energy, and food items, ethanol, this also increases prices in the industry. on top of that we have the depreciation. we understand that this process is taking place. we understand that this process has some contamination into the inflation numbers. this is why we think it is important to do the modes -- moves that we did in policy. we moved it 75 basis.

we are looking at all of the process of contamination from current inflation. shery: will another 75 basis points help? >> we look at what is the horizon that we need to act. for now, it is 2022. we look at what needs to be done , part of it is temporary, and we think that towards the end of the year inflation is going to go back lower. we are adjusting rates so we have that target. we also see a convergence of things in 2022. those things are aligned. shery: you are not planning to take the neutral rate, go back to the neutral rate this year? you are still planning to leave some stimulus for 2021. >> the question is, do we need stimulus conditions? the answer is yes, we do.

we are still facing a pandemic, a country that has many problems. the question is, how much does it need to be? remember, when we place interest rates at two, we were envisioning something that never happened. negative growth in the magnitude of 8%, 9%. some people were saying inflation would be as low as 1.5%. none of these things materialized. it is not just adjusting inflation for what we think it should be compared to the neutral rate, it is recognizing that the interest rates we have now were set up for conditions that never materialized, and if we need to move rates, it should be on similar grounds. shery: central banks in developing economies have pledged low interest rates for longer. how much time do you expect brazil and other developing nations to have before big

central banks start turning the tide? >> i think we have a process in place in which all of this new stimulus and everything that is happening is repricing inflation. that has an impact on emerging markets. it does not mean you will see inflation developing in advance markets. it means when you look at markets, things are starting to happen in the same window of time. you have more stimulus, you have to vaccination which enabled countries to reopen the economies. at the same time, people? more about and organize exit strategy. what the market is doing is replacing inflation -- repricing inflation. what that does has an impact on emerging markets, because commodities are rising.

you have an impact on inflation. now you have commodities rising. without the currencies appreciating. [indiscernible] ♪

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haidi: we have the consumer confidence index crossing for april. we see a significant improvement coming in at 118.8, up from 111.8 in the previous month. we have seen consumer confidence steadily recovery here in australia as activity resumes, and state borders have reopened. the slow pace of the vaccine rollout, the issues with the astrazeneca shot not being administered to under 50's is causing concern when it comes to economic sentiment.

consumer confidence is seasonably adjusted, 6.2%. again, a big jump from march about stress 6.6%. turning to japan's data. virus restrictions in the country continuing to weigh on economic activity. machine orders are a leading indicator, let's get more from our bloomberg global economic symposium editor, a guest with the japanese outlook. >> the imf chief ford japan, assistant director of the international monetary fund, we are very happy to have you. the timing is great because we just got machine orders, second month in a row machine orders are down, they were supposed to rise modestly. 7% year-over-year. that is after the survey was optimistic for the first time since 2019.

is this another sign at how damaging it is to not get the virus under control? in this case, it could help -- hurt new investment? >> good morning. it is a concern, particularly related to the first quarter growth numbers in japan. this is a period in which japan was in a state of emergency. we still have a relatively positive outlook on japan. that is based on a very strong rebound late last year, along with the stimulus efforts that japan put in place in december. finally, we expect stronger global growth. [indiscernible] the potential issues related to the evolution and control of the pandemic. i think these numbers reflect the fact that japan was in a

state of emergency in the first quarter of this year. >> it would be the extent of the emergency, that certainly had something to do with it. broadly speaking, vaccine rollout in japan has been slow compared to other rich nations. now it has the j&j usage being temporarily haunted, six out of 6 million people developed blood clots. now we wonder about taxing hesitancy, if that increases. does the slow rollout of vaccines and perhaps the populace being reluctant, does that the way the risk of a full-fledged recovery? >> the rollout is quite important, and that is one of the main factors that would mitigate some of the downside risk related to covid. japan is behind many of the developed, advanced industrial countries. about 1% of the population has received at least one dose of the vaccine.

what we understand is primarily due to supply constraints. one vaccine approved so far in japan is the pfizer one. japan needs to import the pfizer vaccine, primarily from the european union. japan did have predestined -- production agreements for moderna and astrazeneca and novavax vaccine, but those are not yet approved. we do understand that starting in may, the number of doses available will increase substantially. we hope to see that come through. >> in the meantime, do you see japan putting together an additional budget, given that there has been the reintroduction of stricter measures? >> right now, we are assuming

that the economy recovers starting in the second quarter, which is right now. we are monitoring the situation with a potential fourth wave. if it fourth wave does occur, we think there is hope for further measures, similar to what happened in december. [indiscernible] in the december budget we had digitalization, climate change issues. something similar, targeted towards the most vulnerable. >> you are saying that another budget is possible depending on how the recovery goes. looking a little further down the road, the other side of the budget coin. once the recovery is solidified, do you see any tax hikes that japan could make to improve its fiscal position? >> once the pandemic is over, i

think the focus right now is to ensure that the pandemic -- we get through the pandemic. we do not want premature withdrawal of the measures taken. but once the pandemic is over, we do believe consolidation is important. that would require mobilization of revenues, as well as reprioritizing expenditures. >> when we look at the debt levels, japan's debt to gdp ratio is up to something like 257%, the highest in the world. does that put importance on the bake of japan's yield curve control and their ability to maintain that over the long run, to keep the cost of financing that debt under control? >> japan's yield curve control is more focused on raising inflation and inflation

expectations. we think that should be the focus of it. in this context, yield curve control does help that. before the covid shock you saw inflation gradually rising, expectations rising. that should be the focus of the boj in its monetary policy, to ensure support for the economy, monetary accommodation. >> do you agree that this is an important part of the ability of the government to finance the debt? >> i think the way to think of it is to raise inflation expectations, you need all macroeconomic policies working together. i guess in recent years, you have flexible fiscal policies adjusting as needed to any downside risk. we saw that in 2020 with

monetary policy, and structural reforms are quite important. boosting japan's growth prospects. all of that together leads to a more sustainable -- one of the benefits japan has is that most of its debt is held domestically. the standard worries people have in terms of emerging markets. japan does have a relatively elderly population. that is a negative part of a relatively high debt distribution. [indiscernible] >> broadly speaking, what do you think of their current stance? what do you think some of the recent weeks they have made to their policy -- tweaks they have made to their policy? >> the bank will remain very accommodative until inflation rises substantially. in terms of the changes they

made, the changes they announced in march, we think those will make monetary policy, the accommodation more sustainable and flexible. that is needed, because with the covid shock, we have declining inflation. that means we will have inflation targets for a longer period of time. you do need to make monetary policy more sustainable, and they did that immediately in terms of looking at accommodation in terms of -- [indiscernible] making it more flexible, as well as more flexibility on 10 year bonds. or yields. in case if needed sometime in the future, have an

interest-rate scheme that reduces the impact of banks. all of these are good. >> one more quick question. the imf said today that japan can whether the cancellation. will it suffer any reputational damage, that could in a more subtle way affect their economy, people's willing to invest? >> i don't think -- i am not an expert on that issue, but i do not think -- it is related to contending the pandemic. concerns when the population is not fully vaccinated. we have had limitations on sporting events globally over the past year. i think that is not so much of a concern, right now japan is

expected to hold the olympics, not allowing foreign spectators. >> we can assume that the athletes are glad they are having the olympics, whether there is spectators are not. thank you so much. the imf japan mission chief. shery: great conversation. this as we are 40 minutes into the trading session. let's turn to sophie for what to watch. sophie: a mixed session in asia, downside in tokyo. we are seeing some gains, this as we see tech provide a boost for sydney shares, while banks are under pressure. kiwi stocks are getting 2/10 of a percent, the kiwi dollar is rising with bonds. switching out the board to check out some movers. in tokyo you have a retailer,

the biggest drag, this after its forecast missed estimates. the stock falling more by 7%. toshiba to the upside, to companies throwing their hats into the ring for bids. there is talk of a potential shift when it comes to management. hyundai motors gaining ground. the company restarts production at one plant which saw suspension on the global chip shortage. we also want to highlight another company, shares surging this morning. this with a chatter of their new probiotic drink, how that may be playing into the covid theme. . . let's check in on emerging markets we are seeing stocks in the e.m. space nudging higher, jp morgan flagging a bleaker outlook for e.m., increasing domestic challenges the city a rising rate environment.

the bank has cut emerging currencies with russia, ukraine tensions along with the master policy. jp morgan saying near-term prospects -- [indiscernible] [indiscernible] haidi: much more to come on daybreak asia. this is bloomberg. ♪

shery: mounting concern has fueled a record tumble in one companies dollar bond, stoking peers of contagion. a reporter joins us. why are investors panicking? >> this has been a pretty extraordinary event for chinese markets. huarong is a borrower, it has seen as essential to beijing's ambitions to shaping up its financial market. if bonds are trading and stress territory --there are two

things happening. investors were spooked. investors have complained that there has been no insight to what is really happening, and that has stokes panic. the second thing about haurong's it has been seen as an important part of china's financial market. it manages one fourth of asset management to help manage the state npl's, and what that has stokes is concern whether or not there is any sign that beijing may be pulling support from some of its key state firms. haidi: that's k2 vonnie quinn.

sophie: the u.s. has recommended a poll of the johnson & johnson vaccine while regulators review rare cases of blood clotting. six women developed a severe form of clotting in the brain with one dying and another in critical condition. cdc officials say the pause could last a matter of days. australia is opting out of purchasing the vaccine amid doubts over the length. officials say both the j&j and astrazeneca vaccines use similar technology. earlier this week, australia up and its goal. china ordered 34 tech firms to curb anticompetitive practices, a sign that scrutiny continues. comforters including bytedance, baidu, and jd.com were summoned and pledged to end abuses.

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: homeowners looking to go green by looking to solar power may be facing a moral dilemma. nearly half of the world's supply and a key ingredient comes from china's province where the government faces accusations of human rights abuses. beijing denied any forced labor, but as bloomberg discovered, the factories operate under a veil of secrecy. ♪ >> they are definitely following us. this can put an end to our video very quickly. >> the security apparatus was pretty intense. before i went to the province, i

was saying things like, is probably exaggerated someone. it was actually a little bit more. >> those are two of the cars that have been following us for at least a couple of hours. >> they have traveled to china, the region at the heart of the countries solar ambitions, and but critics say is the center of a crackdown on minorities. factories like this one turn out best quantities of the roman tillary -- rome material and solar panels all over the world. >> nearly all solar panels are made from this. essentially almost any is likely to have a small amount. very few are actually pure. >> chinese companies dominate the industry and collectively patrol at least 60% of global

capacity at every step in the supply chain. here alone, these four factories are expected to produce nearly half of the global supply. in total, china is expected to produce over 80% of the worlds polysilicon. the region attracts this industry because of electricity. >> the province has a lot of cheap coal. cheap electricity means cheap polysilicon. >> so the capacity is set to grow by about one quarter this year. 2020 so record installations back by almost $150 billion in investment, bringing solar panels to energy forms and homes around the world. the problem is that this industrial boom is reliant on china's troubled region, and almost no one outside china knows what goes on inside the factories.

consumers, companies and governments are growing uneasy. the companies have been thanks to a state run employment program, that according to some foreign governments may at times amount to forced labor. shery: james joins us now. haidi: what did you see when you got there? did you get very far? >> we were able to visit the four factories that are producing poly silicon. we were not able to see any. the company said we cannot visit. we went to the gates and they said we could come in. the police followed us the whole time we were there, there were in our hotel. they met us on the plane when we arrived. the police were following us the

whole time, monitoring what we were doing. the police and the government and companies were stopping us from seeing anything. it was incredibly difficult to get any access to see what is happening on the ground. shery: but does this mean for the broader solar industry? >> countries are looking to expand solar, to have cleaner energy. investors who want to invest in this industry, people want to buy solar panels, they can't know whether the solar panel or company they are investing in is linked to forced labor. there is no proof that there is forced labor, but the company is going out of its way to stop us from investigating that. people have to make a choice whether they want to be linked to something that is objectionable. these questions are going to grow and grow. the u.s. house is now looking at

sanctioning poly silicon from the province. it is a question investors and consumers are going to have to answer. shery: given how necessary and dependent the industry is. >> good question. 50% of the world's policy is coming from these four factories and people want to expand production right now. it is almost impossible to imagine you could cut that off. the u.s. is sanctioning tomatoes, cotton. that is not the case with poly silicon. it is not possible for the u.s. to say we do not want the poly silicon or solar panels linked to these companies. over time, there will be a bifurcating of supply chains which would allow that, but it

is not going to happen quickly. shery: we have more to come on daybreak asia. this is bloomberg. ♪

haidi: a quick check of the latest headlines. shares are rising amid a possible bidding war, private equity firms said to be waiting offers the could outbid the $21

billion proposal. a source tells us that brookfield asset management is also exploring a bit. kkr expects to raise more than $100 billion after bring in a record $40 billion last year. investors bought high-yielding assets. speaking today, the firm's copresident said the company is seeking capital for more than 20 strategies. the asset manager has been among the most active dealmakers during the pandemic, focusing on technology. the csa institute says that 49% past the exam in december, the last time it was ever offered on paper. with computer-based testing, the

institute will be able to offer the test more time throughout the year. our markets coverage continues next. this is bloomberg. ♪

david: good morning. welcome to bloomberg markets china open. the cash market open, chinese mainland. let's get to your top stories. the top internet companies in china remain on notice even after alibaba's record fine. beijing is continuing to

ow