haidi: a very good morning and welcome to "daybreak australia." we are counting down to australia's major market opens. if it official hints it is time to consider easing bond purchases, and blackrock's ceo

hints that investors may be underestimating rates. a trump era policy face legal challenges and confused investors about its reach. and meme stocks to the moon. amc shares doubled as the retail army comes back in force. this time, hedge funds are not backing down on their bearish bit. shery: we are seeing u.s. futures muted at the open, but this after the s&p 500 managed -- managed to cling to some gains, but it actually faded from an early gain after concerns about markets. the fed raised book showing moderately higher prices when it comes to inflation concerns. energy stocks and real estate leading the gains in the new york session. after extending gains in the new york session, we continue to see

demand recovery in the u.s. and europe really pushing sentiment higher. the bloomberg dollar index really did nothing, not much movement, but it was all about the oil-linked currencies. take a look at after hours trading because we continue to see amc rallying. more than 3000% gains for amc this year, and they are leaning into the retail frenzy, announcing some goodies for small investors, such as special screenings, not to mention free popcorn as well. amc has now surpassed its market cap, which is under pressure after hours, but it was all about bed, bath, and beyond. it face pressure in the after-hours session because it really soared. if you thought amc was something, you should have see the trading with bed, bath, and beyond. haidi: the fed is planning to wind down a portfolio debt

corporate purchase. policymakers said portfolio sales will be gradual and orderly. the announcement comes as markets look for any signal to start taper talks -- any signal of the start of taper talks. >> this is perfect for us to slowly, carefully move back on our purchases at the appropriate time. when that is is something we need to start discussing. we have to be careful in removing accommodations so we do not create any kind of taper tantrum, and that is why we need to communicate very early and very often what we will do. haidi: meanwhile, blackrock's ceo has warned investors that higher rates will be a shock to investors. shery: he said he does not

excite to see any move on rates until 2022. let's bring in the president of world markets at tiaa bank. we continue to see a lot of talk about tapering. for example, the philadelphia fed president today. markets are not taking this to well. >> know, and the fed is trying their best to really take away any taper tantrum, any chance of a taper tantrum, so they are going to come out and reinforce the fact that yes, we will pull back on qe women time is right. right now, the 10-year, as you can see, trading in a very narrow range. that, to me, signals they do not expect a preemptive move by the fed. the taper, when it comes, when they do start pulling back, it will be well positioned, and the

market will know about it before it happens. shery: we are seeing this pull and push on the dollar as well. >> we have seen that in some of the central banks that have announced interest rate increases for those central banks that are thinking about interest rate increases. norway is another one, and bank of new zealand. if the fed is able to remain stable on interest rates and keep interest rates lower for longer, that is going to put pressure on the dollar, and we saw that last year. i think we will start to see that again with the dollar starting to decline compared to those currencies where central banks are going to start making moves higher. >> we saw meme stocks on fire again. when you look at a stuff like amc up by 2500% this year, and this just keeps happening.

is this just retail investment boredom, the sort of gambler mentality? >> it is absolute speculation. it is not a difference in cash flows. it is purely speculation. i think it is right to dismiss, quite honestly, and it is not a signal for larger markets. certainly need to be aware of it if you are invested in those securities, but we try to look at the longer-term impacts to the markets, and we don't feel like the m stocks really have a longer-term impact on them. shery: longer-term, if you're thinking about inflationary hedges or at least hedging against perception of inflation, where are you finding opportunities? >> i sit on a currency and

precious metals trading desk, so we think there are opportunities in commodity currencies. those currencies in those countries are export commodities. we have seen a lot of increase in those commodities, and we think those will be around for a while. with that, i think those currencies have opportunities. at the same time, we have seen a big surge in demand on physical metals. that is something that typically is used as an inflation hedge by individuals and also perhaps a de-risk of a portfolio. those individuals looking to buy -- shery: --haidi: a pleasure to have you. let's take a look at how those meme stocks are trading. amc now up 2900% this year,

surpassing even the original reddit darling, gamestop. amc continuing to see new gains. amc beating gamestop when it comes to the top russell 2000 performer this year, surpassing the height of retail media in january. we are seeing shares move higher for a ninth straight week. we are seeing some of these hedge funds at this time standing their ground. shery: yeah, not backing down. you can see how the volumes have talked every other stock trading on this wednesday. more than apple, tesla, amazon, microsoft combined. meme stocks making up three of the top 10 traded by value. you can see all those names trading there as well.

haidi: still had, plans -- still ahead, plans for chinese companies trading on the u.s. exchanges. this is bloomberg. ♪

vonnie: you are watching "daybreak australia." the u.s. is pulling out all the stops, trying to have 70% of americans at least partially vaccinated by july 4. president biden says free childcare will be provided during vaccination appointments. biden says 52% of american adults are now vaccinated.

president biden: because of that, america is headed into a summer that is dramatically different than last year's summer. a summer of freedom, of joy, of that together's and celebrations, an all-american summer that this country deserves after a long, long dark winter we have all been through. vonnie: jbs has begun partially reopening most of its meat plants in america and australia after a cyberattack or stay to halt operations. the company says its canadian facility in alberta has also resumed production. separately, the fbi confirmed an italian group responsible for the attack. israeli officials said they found a probable link between pfizer and beyond tech -- biontech's vaccination and side effects in young male adults.

pfizer says there is no indication of a causal link. global news 24 hours a day and on bloomberg quicktake powered by more than 2700 analysts in more than 120 countries. haidi: president biden planning to amend investments in companies linked to china's military this week after the trump-era policy. it really left investors confused about the extent of his reach. what do we know about the state of play now? tom: this is about trying to inject some clarity and avoid the kind of confusion we saw last year as a result of this blacklist. what we know from our reporting out of d.c. is that the treasury department would draw up a list of companies with connections to

military sectors in china. the previous list was a congressionally mandated report from the defense department, and they had a blacklist of chinese companies that were either owned by or controlled by the chinese military. the criteria have changed. as you say, this is about ensuring there is some legal companies after a number of companies -- two in particular, notably show me -- notably xaomi -- challenged this order. we are expecting more detail in the next few days. what we do know is many of the companies on the original blacklist will remain and others may be added. haidi: --shery: we know that huawei is a long black listed company by the u.s. they are sort of adjusting expectations according to this? tom: they saw an almost 1% drop

in sales this quarter, the second straight quarter they have seen a drop in sales, presumably as a result of that cut off from the u.s. we have seen an adjustment in expectations of shipping, which is sort of a competitor of apple's ios but also android as well. while way trying to compete in the space where china is the largest market, connecting everything from smartphones to earbuds and smartcars and devices. that's everything huawei is targeted, but, yes, it is part of their shift. in the internet of things space, they do have competition from the likes of xaomi, so it may not be plain sailing for the company, but this is important -- this is an important strategy for them. haidi: up next, we speak to

panama's minister of foreign affairs about the plan to turn mining into a key economic driver. this is bloomberg. ♪

haidi: we do have an update when it comes to president biden's meeting with republicans when it comes to infrastructure. talks to continue. we are hearing from republican senator shall be more -- shelby moore that there were frank discussions. they will be talking again on friday. no breakthrough yet when it comes to a bipartisan compromise, but plans to speak again on friday. that oval office session lasted

more than an hour. we are seeing, i guess, some movement toward incremental progress on infrastructure talks. shery: the prime minister of panama says he expects a strong economic recovery from the covid-19 pandemic, but that any plan depends on a solid rollout of a covid-19 vaccine. at this stage, only about 9% of the population is fully vaccinated. at this time, the woman in charge of the rollout, before an affairs minister, joins us. let me start with some of the things happening in panama. give us an assessment of where we are at. >> we are very proud of our vaccine efforts. we embarked with experts on who

decided which vaccine we should go for. it was not about which was more convenient on pricing but literally based on expertise. about 70% of our portfolio is based on what is comfortable with that. even though we had a slower rollout at the beginning, we are expecting a massive vaccination plan in the next quarter. we will have 5 million doses arrive in less than 2.5 months, so we will be one of the first countries in the continent, we expect, to be completely facing herd immunity in october. i think that being proactive and starting early -- this was a

year ago when we started in this process, and it was initial, and i think the bilateral negotiations also were challenging for many countries, that this was not the normal way of doing and acquiring vaccines. i think panama's approach of keeping it on a commercial or corporate basis, you get the people that know about the vaccines. i know other countries are acquiring different types of vaccine. there are reports that pfizer has given, and we think that an economic recovery will play an equal role. haidi: have you spoken to the biden administration to see if more vaccinations can be secured? do you think other countries can do more? >> we have reached out to every

other country, but we are cognizant there are countries that are worse off than panda, and many others looking for those vaccines, so we have actually said we are not interested in donations of vaccines. we want other countries that are in much greater need to get those vaccines. we do think it is important to address this at scale and not individually. we have to make sure everybody comes out of this. until we get everybody fully vaccinated, we will not be able to recover. >> what's the plan to rejuvenate growth? is it possible to have panama be an economic leader in the country again? >> we have confidence in our work with the imf, with the

economy. we are certainly confident that as much as we took a hard hit on the covid pandemic, the recovery is going to be a steady one. there are a number of plans for infrastructure, from tax credit, from making sure to address unemployment, and frankly, in the region, panama is coming out moderate with a system that is attracting a lot of investors in the region. shery: at a time when the region faces many challenges, and as you said, there are so many countries worse off than panama, which is also facing a migration situation. we have vice president harris headed to mexico to talk about the infrastructure plan next

week. >> we are trying to get focused on an infrastructure migration. these are migrants from haiti, from cuba, from africa, including senegal, nigeria -- they all arrived in south america and start making their way up. this is a type of migration that can be addressed we think in an easier and more straightforward manner than the northern triangle manner. we have seen exponential growth during the pandemic. we are reaching out not only to the biden administration but to all the countries that are involved. they need to play a role, to be accountable for what is happening and to actually do something about it rather than looking the other way. shery: what would you like to see from vice president harris

next week? x we hope she visits panama and sees firsthand this type of migration. panama is the only country that provides not only food, health systems, covid testing, i mean, a number of services, but it's fairly easy to understand, this is our terrible situation to put the migrants through, the darwinian jungle. dealing with it properly now before it becomes a humanitarian crisis is the way to go. haidi: you mentioned the need for greater infrastructure project investments. we had downgrades for panama when it comes to all major rating agencies last year. how much does that affect foreign investments? particularly when it comes to

big infrastructure investments, like the $2 billion project for the panama canal? >> the financial community believes in panama. it is sort of like the proven and reliable partner. it is not me saying this. you can see communication from the government, from government banks, has been oversubscribed five times. as we are hoping to come out of it, we are fairly confident of the outlook in our way. shery: at the same time we have those environmental concerns, you were at the united nations on protecting water. can you tell us how panama intends to project this? >> panama is one of the only

countries in the world that is carbon negative. a lot of people do not associate panama with this. there are countries trying to be carbon neutral in 10, 20 years. we are already carbon negative. part of it is 30% of the country is reserved land. you cannot build, construct, mine anything. we just announced monday we are doing even more. we are surrounded by oceans, but for us, it is sort of the natural way to go. shery: it is great to have you with us. we appreciate your time. panama's minister of foreign affairs. we will be life -- live at the china conference speaking to beijing's banking ceo. we do have much more ahead. this is bloomberg.

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vonnie: you are watching "daybreak australia." bloomberg has learned president joe biden plans to amend a ban on u.s. companies linked to china's military, including companies with ties to the technology and surveillance sectors. the u.s. may seek data on foreign currency investors in an attempt to crackdown on

speculation. it would try to exchange information with foreign governments in return for details on americans evading taxes by using offshore exchanges. the u.s. has implemented tariffs on six nations in return -- in retaliation for taxes on u.s. tech companies like facebook. including italy, austria, spain, turkey, and australia. negotiations are ongoing. malaysia reported a record number of covid deaths on wednesday, entering the second day of a hard lockdown to contain the virus spread. meanwhile, singapore says it is

allowing china's sinovac vaccine accurate health organization approved it. i'm vonnie quinn. haidi: canyon partners founder josh friedman has been acquitted , and he is certain of one thing -- that every boom ends in a bust. he is concerned over the impact of easy money. >> as i look at the markets today, i think some of the most important characteristics are that there has been a frenzy of acquisition activity, driven in part i these low interest rates. you have private equity in a dominant presence in the market. venture capital, dominant

presence in the market. specs, which are facilitating public offerings, etc. you are in a -- you are imitating a transaction-rich environment, one in which many of the participants are in business with the sole goal of buying and selling companies, and when they do this in a hasty way and use aggressive lenders who are dying to give them money, there are always two kinds of opportunities in the market that exist. one is at the point where those acquisitions take place. people need capital, and that is not always an efficient process. it is not always a neat process, but it is a process where sometimes there is a lot better risk/return than simply buying commodity high-yield product, if you will. the other thing that happens when you get in an aggressive market is people make mistakes, but it takes time for those mistakes to be apparent in the market, so you have to be patient and wait for those mistakes do happen, and that is what creates the stress and distress and other things. >> is this a recovery you play

like any other recovery, or is this one different? >> we saw huge outflows right after covid. we saw the market sees up, and everything was cheap. now we are in a market where people are generally comfortable. they feel like the economy is coming back, unemployment is low, so everyone is trying to put money out, but in a world of very low rates. what is different this time in my view, and it will take a while for it to play out -- is just the magnitude of the government's programs, both treasury and fed, in stimulating an economy that already is on the uptick, so it is procyclical. erik: does it appeal to you or frighten you? >> it frightens me. i think the economy has plenty of room to improve even without all the stimulus going on. we are really entering the land of the unknown with the extent of stimulus going on, both fiscal and monetary. we started to see some awfully bright people pulling the alarm

hard. my own concern is not that we necessarily are going to have rates spiked to the moon. i think the economy will do some self-correcting, and as long as there's a lot of money chasing opportunities, that will cause competition for lower rates, and maybe that does mean we have lower real rates for a time, negative real rates for a time, because of the inflationary issues, which is almost art and parcel of this, but i think the longer-term thing i worry about is the hangover from all this stimulus. when you add this much debt to the federal debt balance, and when you project out 10 years or 15 years or 20 years and you figure out what percentage of the federal budget is likely to go toward servicing interest, it does not leave a lot of room for other activity. i worry that we are limiting our flexibility in a way that puts a bit of a damper on the economy in the medium and long run.

shery: not to the latest gravity defying moves -- now to the latest gravity defying moves of amc, hitting a record in the regular session and the rallies continuing in the after-hours session. su: first, it is hard to make bitcoin look boring, but amc's wild week does just that. the stock continuing to rise after hours after it closed at a record 62.5 and has had a very wild week. in fact, if we look at these gains for not only amc but other meme favorites on the day, there -- they are extraordinary. not only was amc at a record, but you had blackberry, which has added 78% in the last

session. bed, bath and beyond a new short favorite. it reported the biggest gain ever in this latest session. what is behind this wild week? again, the money-losing theater chain has been up several hundred percent in the last week and is now up over just three -- just over 3000% year to date. one investor has really embraced the meme stock ready crowd pushing stocks higher. he tells bloomberg these people should be heard, urging people to pay attention. amc offering them special treatment, free popcorn, saying they are essentially the owners of the chain. meanwhile, a big investor turned

around and sold the stock, saying he thinks it is overvalued at this point. haidi: professional traders are holding on. su: goldman sachs shows that sort positions have been rising for the last week and while we see the amc rally continue to rise, we are not seeing the short interest dropped. bear in mind that what you had was very different in january where the rise in aim stock shares, some 1600%, forced a bailout. many lost millions. the word is that the professionals are holding strong, but if you go on the memes, using hashtags like "to the moon" or "dimon hands,"

which means hold onto your stocks, or even "diamond fists." it is fascinating to watch as the suit and professional sellers face off against the meme squad. shery: the battle continues. su keenan with the latest on meme stock moves. it is time now for morning calls at the asia trading day gets under way. we are looking at oil. one analyst says there is plenty of room for upside. he sees summer and the reopening of the economy as bullish for demand and at the same time says it is looking much less likely that supply from iran will be coming back soon. haidi: iag's market advice chairman is predicting oil

demand will continue. he sees prices this year in the $60 range to $75 range, though they could actually touch $80. this is bloomberg. ♪

haidi: time to take a look at the day ahead for australia now. we will be watching the rba. the deputy governor says it is too early to tell but notes that growth numbers are marginally larger than a month ago. trade numbers also do in the next hour to round out the growth picture. we are also watching the world's largest producer, -- the world's largest meat producer, jbs, beginning to reopening. we will get more details on the latest on that a little bit later. authorities struggled to contain a growing covid cluster that is more infectious than previous outbreaks. the move may seem harsh with other places that have many, many more cases and have not

locked down, but this is the elimination strategy, right, that australia is pursuing? >> and asked if the measures are working, the answer is yes and no. if we look at the lockdowns from 2020, we can see. relative to last year when we got up to the 700 mark, the daily case numbers are still quite low, but what is making this forth lockdown a more complex proposition is we are dealing with a more infectious strain of the virus, and this is how the government is justifying this latest extension. haidi: how is the federal government supporting the state of victoria this time? >> the government is under increased pressure from various sources. they have been asked to help relocate quarantine facilities away from hotels into city

centers. about three of australia's 26 million population have received their first job. in morning papers this morning, we are seeing additional pressure for the morrissey government to help the state of tory out more. -- to help the state of victoria out more. >> --haidi: we have heard that these snap lockdowns do not necessarily work, that it may take four to eight weeks for the effects to play out. what is the government looking for? >> when we look first to what this will be like for the people in victoria, those in metropolitan areas, the stay-at-home orders will continue with a slight reaction. again, this will depend on the latest data. what the government is looking at, what they are really worried

about is the fact that one in two cases has actually caught the variant of the virus now spreading through australia. this could be as simple as people brushing against each other, grabbing coffee from the same cafe, and this report is very concerning because it could mean the virus is jumping onto a whole new network. i will keep the both of you updated on the situation here in melbourne. haidi: always great to have you. we do have that update from victoria today, the health department saying there have an three new local virus cases in the past 24 hours. it is encouraging those numbers are starting to come down. sticking with the vaccine rollout, president biden says he wants to reach a 75% shot goal by july 4 when the u.s. celebrates independence day. president biden: america is

headed into a summer dramatically different from last year's summer, a summer of freedom, a summer of joy, a summer of get-togethers and celebrations, an all-american summer that this country deserves after a long, long dark winter that we have all endured. haidi: the bind and administration is reportedly close to announce which countries will receive the first doses of vaccine donated from the u.s. stockpile. we are joined by an associate at the bloomberg school of public health. how worrying is complacency now, particularly as the cdc has dropped some of its masked guidance? >> it is a great question. i think as joe biden just

mentioned, 52% of adults over the age of 18 are fully vaccinated. we are starting to see that there are disparities at the state level. you are seeing states that are able to vaccinate over 70% of their population over the age of 18, but on the flipside, you have some states in the south and other parts of the country that are not doing that well overall. i think there is some complacency. a lot of governors and state governors are starting to relax different types of guidelines -- masked mandates, for example -- and i think until we can get those numbers up, we will continue to be at risk for an extended outbreak scenario here in the u.s. haidi: what is the risk as we continue to hear about, as you would expect, adverse effects and side effects? is the mentality that the

risk-benefit is turning against vaccines in the u.s.? how dangerous is that? >> i think so far, the people who have been vaccinated in the u.s. wanted the shot and were willing to get the shot. i think we are at the point in the pandemic that it will be really important for us to try to persuade people to get the vaccine that are hesitant. that being coupled with complacency, as we mentioned, people have been in a lockdown situation since last march, and people are ready to get back to their normal lives. you couple all of this together, and it is really concerning because we do have pockets where there are large numbers of unvaccinated individuals even if at the population level, the numbers look good. if you have clusters that are unvaccinated that really do not allow the virus to find a hold, replicate and continue to spread

. haidi: we continue to see these side effects in younger people. >> one thing i will say is that the benefits greatly outweigh the risks for the current vaccine products we have on the market here in the u.s.. that said, it does not mean there is no risk to getting a vaccine. it's like any other therapy or product where there is some risk, but definitely in this case, the benefits outweigh the risks, and we know that younger people as well as children are going to be part of the solution in regards to making sure we have enough people that are protected by antibodies either through natural exposure for vaccination so the virus does not have a chance to replicate. the data shows even if you are younger, it is still important to get a shot, again, making sure that you have an evidence based decision. and there's no reason to think

you are making that decision based off of misinformation, for example. haidi: we had pfizer applying for full approval that goes beyond emergency use. what does the next generation of vaccine look like? where do we go from here? >> it is amazing these mrna vaccines were built on technology built on something else, and scientists were able to leverage that technology to quickly bring a safe and effective product, which is pretty incredible if you think about it. the good news is this will help us think about innovation from a vaccination product perspective, to continue to think about ways in which we can rapidly develop these vaccine products based on these new technologies. many of us in this space have been very heartened by what we have seen with these vaccines. they are incredible with regards to efficacy as well. hopefully, moving forward, this

will pave the way for other infectious diseases that do not currently have vaccines. shery: really appreciate your time. the johns hopkins bloomberg school of public health funded by michael bloomberg, the owner of bloomberg lp. we are getting news just crossing the bloomberg. staff are being asked to return three days a week starting in september. and email was sent out informing staff of the change saying that something essential has been missing this past year, and that is each other. most employees are being asked to come into the office on mondays, tuesdays, and thursdays, and the option to work remotely will remain on wednesdays and fridays. we have seen a variety of those options in silicon valley. google recently expanding options for employees to work

from home. coming up next, the world's largest meat producer begins reopening operations after being hit by that cyberattack. we have the latest on jbs next. this is bloomberg. ♪

shery: some of your favorite

foods may be getting pricier. we used to make pizza dough and bagels just saw its biggest gain since 2013. futures surging at one point 15% in the past four days. the are seeing again almost double digits, this as a drought threatens. prices at the highest in almost a month, and the increase coming at a time when everything from cheese to delivery boxes is also surging. haidi: we have been talking about steak as well as poultry around the world's biggest meat producer, which is starting to partially reopen plants in america and australia after a slew of factory closures. our correspondent joins us now. what is the latest when it comes to restarting operations? >> we know the union and the company are telling us that they

are making significant progress in reopening. one union official said they expect to be fully operational within a couple of days. we also know that we are hearing anecdotal reports from some workers here and there that some things they used to do barth automation they are having to do manually because of computer problems. things like sharpening knives, purchases, and other things. the u.s. da told us today that 100 were slaughtered in the united states, which is about 15,000 fewer than the same day last week -- the usda told us today that 100,000 cattle were slaughtered in the united states, which is about 15,000 fewer than the same day last week. a lot of people in washington and around the country have been talking. one thing we know a u.s. official told us shortly ago is

that at least u.s. department of agriculture has no cybersecurity regulations or requirements for meat packers, so there is not some federal standard making them be tough. it is up to them. haidi: a bloomberg congress reporter with the latest on jbs and what washington is doing about food security concerns. coming up, we will get more information from christina hooper. that is it from "daybreak australia." "daybreak asia" is next. stay with us. this is bloomberg. ♪

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haidi: good