anchor: good morning and welcome to deborah kostroun you. >> i'm in hong kong. >> good evening from bloomberg's world headquarters in new york. haidi: these are our top stories. janet yellen says president biden should push ahead with his $4 trillion spending plan even

if they trigger inflation and higher interest rates. g-7 nations secure a landmark deal that could help collect more taxes from big corporations and impose levies on tech giants such as amazon and facebook. bitcoin falls amid concerns there could be more crackdowns in china. his --shery: we are seeing pictures muted at the open. the s&p 500 closed at near a record high, only seven points away from the may 7 record. tech shares led the gains. we have bad and good news again. investors pre-much focused on u.s. inflation data on thursday to see when the fed could start to taper. you're seeing crude now under a little pressure after second weekly advance. plenty of bullish calls on the demand outlook. the travel rush has begun. bitcoin is under pressure.

below the $36,000 level. after concerns china could further crackdown. let's see how we are setting up for asian markets. sophie, what you have for us? reporter: good morning from hong kong. futures are pointing higher. here in hong kong, hsbc and goldman allowing all staff back in the office back -- on this monday. the rbis lowered its growth forecast. over in japan, it is a busy week headlined by the title meeting on first quarter gdp. we do have the yen holding below 110 after we saw the dollar fall on that u.s. jobs data mixed. head of china trade data, the offshore yuan is below, it's the weakest -- the biggest weekly drop in currency since april.

pbi is jumping to a 13 year high but signals are that inflation risk could be peaking. haidi: sophie in hong kong. countries could collect more taxes from big companies. the agreement london satisfies the rest demand for a minimal corporate task -- tax rate of at least 15%. >> the g7 has taken significant steps this weekend to end of existing harmful dynamic, making commitments today to provide tremendous momentum towards achieving a robust global minimum tax at a rate of at least 15%. >> i think the crucial thing for

people to take away is the principle of fairness. that is what we have achieved today to ensure there is a level playing field for all types of companies, whether it is people operating a tax haven or digital companies. we will level the playing field and injects the principle of fairness into the global tax system. haidi: let's get to our d.c. editor. what does this deal mean for global companies? clearly more countries need to sign on and lots of details need to be ironed out. reporter: it is the early days, of course, but it is probably one of these instances where it is billed as a landmark agreement and that is actually a fair description. it ultimately means that governments around the world could start taxing u.s. tech giants, some of the biggest companies in the world such as amazon and facebook. and it could also -- or it will surely start easing a bit of

transatlantic tension over this whole project which is been going on for a long time. if you recall the trump administration was dead set against foreign governments taxing these american digital giants. it could, in fact, if it comes about and more countries joined in and the details are worked out, it could have a major impact in how companies set themselves up globally. shery: what is next for this detailed -- for this deal to actually happen? we know for international treaties in the u.s. you need two thirds of the senate to approve. reporter: and that is of course -- u.s. approval of whatever comes out at the end, which could take years, is just one factor. presumably you have more countries to sign on.

you need to remember this is an attempt to reach an agreement among literally almost all of the world's countries, about 140. you also have to clear up the -- well, the actual numbers, which right now or in the realm of proposals -- are in the realm of proposals. the biden administration could make concessions, if you like, towards countries that think even 15% is too high. but, this is a signal before the group of seven summit this week, at the end of this week, and clearly it is also a broader sign of -- sign from washington that this administration is interested in trying to reach global accords. haidi: we also heard some

interesting comments from janet yellen through the courses -- through the course of these discussions. reporter: yes. yellen was very much on board with this. she used language that it would not have heard from the trump administration less than a year ago talking about multilateralism and addressing this issue. when you come back to the real issue at hand, it is about taxing companies to raise more revenue, including in countries like the u.s. where the biden administration has big spending plans which are more immediate than anything mitch -- which might come out of this. janet yellen is actually driving this and after this meeting, she

also told bloomberg in an interview that higher interest rates or slightly higher interest rates might not be such a bad thing. if that is the result of the spending administration wants to do. so there is a shift going on here. that also includes this global tax and corporate tax. haidi: really interesting. it seems we are seeing a return to multilateralism more broadly. you can get more on janet yellen's comments and the details of the deal as we know it and other stories as well. wilbur subscribers -- bloomberg subscribers can go to their terminals or it is right there on the mobile in the blue board -- in the bloomberg anywhere

app. let's get to our first word headlines. reporter: a man has succeeded -- inc. proved his chances in succeeding angela merkel. . according to projections from public broadcaster arg. the far-right alternative for germany flood in -- flying to a distant second. peru is deciding between and autocrats daughter accused of corruption. he faces the biggest s of his presidency when his party tries to keep a super majority in the lower house of congress. el salvador and president cash the else -- the el salvador he

and president says he is planning a bill to make bitcoin legal tender. he says it could boost the economy and improve jobs. he is planning to submit the bitcoin bill to parliament next week. india has issued a final warning to twitter, threatening unspecified consequences if it does not comply with new rules aimed at regulating social media. the new rules took effect in february and require platforms such as twitter to remove content within 36 hours of receiving a legal order. they also required social networks to appoint representatives within 24 hours to address grievances. global news 24 hours a day, on air and on quicktake by bloomberg, powered by more than 2700 journalists and analysts in more than 120 countries. this is bloomberg. haidi: still ahead, the

australian chamber of congress says geopolitical tensions amid the pandemic has exposed australia's competitive weakens -- misses. there international director joins us. coming up next, another weekend roller coaster ride for bitcoin amid china crackdown concerns. we have the latest on that. this is bloomberg. ♪

>> if you're looking for a safe haven, i see bitcoin as the most secure, most reliable, most certain thing in the entire economic universe. if you're looking for someplace where you can store your life force, your economic energy, there's no real question. >> there are 46 million millionaires on the planet.

only 21 million bitcoins. if you only bitcoin today, you will be a millionaire in the future, for sure. congratulations. >> everything about it is why we are into it. nothing else compares to it. we have no interest other than making sure we are building a native currency for the internet and helping in every way that we can. all the other coins to me do not factor in at all. haidi: big names discussing bitcoin's future at the bitcoin 21 summit. bitcoin and most other top cryptocurrencies saw concern there could be more crackdown on the industry in china. a goldman survey showing many hedge funds are not even hopped on the bandwagon. these are really the two big issues confronting the future for crypto more broadly, right?

regulatory overhang and institutional adoption. >> yes. [no audio] haidi: just want to check you can here make. >> yes. i can hear you. just based on the price, which has been down over the weekend is since friday, it seems like the most important news is investor concerns over further regulatory crackdown from china. the signal for that is over the weekend weibo appears to have blocked some crypto influencer accounts. weibo has crackdown in the various past years, but this move on top of recent harsh chinese regulations made

investors concerned. shery: surveys are showing hedge funds are hesitant to adopt the coin. >> yes. goldman put out a note on saturday based on a roundtable survey dated with cios -- they did with cios. they asked him what are their favorite and least favorite asset classes and bitcoin was ranked among the least favorite. that undermined the narrative that bitcoin is getting institutional adoption which has, in the past, helped bitcoin. shery: thank you so much with the latest on crypto. beijing is also pursuing a crackdown not only on crypto currency but also its tech sector, which has taken billions of dollars off the valuations of its biggest names. our next guest is underway on

chinese tech and beliefs for your markets recover faster. we're joined by the founder of life and liberty, the first freedom waited emerging-market index strategy. great to have you with us. is it time to take tech gains off the table? >> we believe so, yes. we are seeing positive momentum in things like financials, select mining and material. less so in tech names. we have no china tech in our fund. but tech names everywhere are not where we are seeing positive momentum right now. that could be part of the inflation trade. shery: give us a little bit more about your rationale about how for your markets recover faster. guest: freer markets have more flexibility to respond to market trends because they tend to be more creative and innovative. they have more control over their markets versus a government coming in and having regulatory policies and things like that that could intrude

into private market activity. freer markets also recover faster from drawdowns for that reason. and we saw that last year in the recovery. our emerging start -- our emerging market strategy outperformed brought emerging markets and emerging markets is to an emerging markets china. we are not in china strategy. i want to be clear. we have no china, russia, saudi arabia at the time being until they become more free. haidi: how challenging is it to bn em investor nv -- and be x china. guest: it is challenging because that does create a lot of tracking errors. we do not sit here and tried to be mirroring the benchmark. we do not try to benchmark hug emerging markets.

we are different than most emerging-market indexes. when china outperforms, like it did during the covid drawdowns, we underperformed, and then we outperformed the recovery. our fund has been -- are investors have lost nothing by investing in freer market countries versus the brought emerging markets, not only 40% in china but other autocracy exposure. haidi: where does that leave hong kong, particularly when you take into account the political landscape changing so much in the past couple of years? guest: hong kong is a special place for me because that is where i really got to understand the impact of freedom on markets. i spent a year in hong kong after college into traveled to beijing and shanghai, where i grew up before i came to the u.s. and i saw the difference freedom may not only in my life,

but in markets and in these places. what is happened with hong kong -- we launched our fund in may of 2019 and in june of 2019, the protests in hong kong began. what has happened there does not affect our fund, necessarily, because hong kong is considered a developed market. it is becoming more like other cities in china due to everything happening, but it does not affect our fund. but it does not provide me a lot of insight and inspiration into the kind of investing we do. shery: where you down with some of the asian economies where we saw democratic values backtracking, mainly talking about the philippines, thailand, indonesia, as well, to strengthen the central government over all others? guest: a lot of the less free markets will tend to use things like the pandemic to gain more

control over its population. that is one of the major risks in these economies right now. the freer markets tend to be able to kind of respond to that. people tend to have more democratic power positions, more institutions are in place to keep checks and balances. there tends to be more freedom of speech and media and expression to be able to push back on some of these things. it means for example in the u.s. use, anytime the government tried's to do something, we push back on that as a rule. it is almost a cool thing to do, to push back on the government. some of these markets you mentioned are kind of a smaller market doing this. it depends whether their population have these freedoms, the freedom of speech in media? are they allowed to criticize their government?

if they are allowed to do that there is more hope for that to not become a stifling effect on the economy. haidi: what you say to investors that still believe that she that's a is she still becomes with a trade off over return. guest: we do not consider ourselves and esg strategy. those have 40% in china and additional percentages in saudi arabia and russia and turkey. esg strategies and emerging markets is something that we actually try to distance ourselves from. the esg trade is an interesting one right now, especially in emerging markets, because as the environmental movement gets under way and focusing on the e here of esg, there is pressure on the supply side of producers, for example of copper or lithium, because you need copper to make solar panels, lithium

for electric car batteries. that is actually setting up these companies which a lot of emerging markets have a huge allocation and to succeed in the near future and that is part of the esg trade people are missing. haidi: great to have you with us. the founder of life and liberty indexes. plenty more to come on "daybreak australia." this is bloomberg. ♪

reporter: you're watching daybreak australia. the asian for trading day, we are focusing on emerging-market assets. forcing rallying commodities and a tilt towards cyclicals. we have emily whiting at j.p. morgan asset management saying expectations for the year for em remain high.

flipping the board with the ongoing debate of when the fed might start to bring, some investors are looking to em assets less exposed to the potential jump in u.s. yields. bank of america is drawing lessons from its 113 taper tantrum. saying em offers a relative safe haven. shery: we will watch that data on thursday for more clues. here's a quick check of the latest business headlines now. a consortium of private equity firms has reached an agreement to buy medline industries, in one of the biggest live -- leveraged buyout's of all time. they'll take a medical -- a majority stake in the mica -- in the medical supply company in a deal valued $30 billion.

primavera capital buys a chinese baby formula business for 2.2 billion dollars. the deal includes manufacturing plants in an exclusive johnson of the -- exclusive license of the johnson & johnson formula in china. the founder of wumart grocery change is -- grocery chain is said to start to ipo's. they are seeking $1 billion for the operator w amtek and they are taking the e-commerce platform public later this year. a man will speak -- spoke to blow -- haidi: coming out next

we'll take a look at the deteriorating trade relationship between china and australia. the international directorate of the australian chamber of commerce joins us with the findings of their latest report. this is bloomberg. ♪ (announcer) back pain hurts, and it's frustrating. you can spend thousands on drugs, doctors, devices, and mattresses, and still not get relief. now there's aerotrainer by golo, the ergonomically correct exercise breakthrough that cradles your body so you can stretch and strengthen your core, relieve back pain, and tone your entire body. since i've been using the aerotrainer, my back pain is gone. when you're stretching your lower back on there, there is no better feeling. (announcer) do pelvic tilts for perfect abs and to strengthen your back. do planks for maximum core and total body conditioning. (woman) aerotrainer makes me want to work out. look at me, it works 100%. (announcer) think it'll break on you? think again! even a jeep can't burst it. give the aerotrainer a shot.

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>> you're watching daybreak australia. i'm haslinda amen with the first word headlines. the g7 nations have secured a deal for a corporate tax rate of 15%. it is a step towards rewriting the global tax system which has been criticized for allowing big companies to avoid taxes by shifting jurisdictions. key details have yet to be nailed down. it could take years for nations to sign on to make it viable.

janet yellen says president biden should push ahead with its $4 trillion spending plan even if they trigger inflation and higher interest rates. she told bloomberg news that higher rates would be a positive for american society and the fed. she also said she will keep fighting for spending packages which cc -- which she sees as an investment. the bided an insurance set -- the bided administration has said that u.s. trade ties with china have posed a significant imbalance. the trade representative was responding to a question about the future of a trade deal with beijing. >> the trade has been marked by significant imbalances. that is in terms of performance, but also in terms of opportunity and openness of our markets to each other. in light of this significant

imbalance, i would say that there are parts of this trade relationship that are unhealthy and have overtime been damaging in some very important ways to the u.s. economy. >> asia-pacific trade minister say they will speed up the distributing of coronavirus vaccines and other essential supplies. at the weekend meeting, apec officials said they would continue moving unnecessary barriers to essential goods but stopped short of commitments to new terrace. meanwhile, you end officials have completely visit to myanmar. unrest has gripped the country since the february coup. they called for the pulley -- for the release of all political prisoners. hundreds of people have been killed after the crackdown on

pro-democracy protesters. global news 24 hours a day, on air and on quicktake by bloomberg, powered by more than 2700 journalists and analysts in more than 120 countries. this is bloomberg. haidi: the tier rating relations have made operations for exporters impossible. that's according to a new report and it's made worse by news of the australian government in action when it comes to trade reform. i want to bring in the international director at the australian chamber of commerce -- commerce. the syria ration between the relationship of canberra ants beijing is nothing new. in your report, what was most noteworthy about what you heard from industry participants? guest: it was repeated across the five surveys we have done now is international competitiveness is really striking australian businesses

hard. we had to do things to improve the costs of doing business in australia so they can be competitive in many markets around the world, not just the high-priced markets. haidi: how hard is that competitiveness going to be, particularly when you talk about diversifying to other x china markets. guest: order closures are a real issue. people cannot get into the market. they cannot build relationships and shake hands of people and meet them face-to-face. but they have improved going online, the experience has been great, and many firms are extrinsic more demands than they have ever seen. we're seeing really interesting dynamics around some of that, too. the brand australia has shrunk down to local brands like tasmania or regional brands and people are seeing real value in that. we have to build on some of those things, those assets that we can accelerate our growth post-covid and fingers crossed we can get out and travel again into new markets.

shery: one markets are australian businesses optimistic about? guest: the china story was a mixed one. many businesses are doing very well in china and still we have some trade tensions there. people are looking forward to the trade agreement we are trying to negotiate with europe and the u.k., india was a very strong focus for many countries. of course, africa and latin america. we do not have a lot of understanding. we have to improve that quite dramatically? shery: what do policymakers need to do to support businesses diversifying markets? guest: there's a lot of respect for the services we provide but

it seems to be a confused landscape. there is so much information and so much competitiveness between the organizations. we have to build a better team australia approach. we have difficulties with the states, the australian states. how they work together. the different rules and the complexity of doing business in australia. our tax system and industrial relations system. we have many areas we can work on. but the story should be we have a bright future. we just have to harness it. shery: -- haidi: a lot of people say we should focus on an fta with europe. when you look at that and you look at canberra as an action -- canberra's inaction with beijing, how frustrating is it that the politics come into disrupt the trade? guest: the australian government and european government have

been -- european governments have been negotiating this for sometime and we look forward to a successful conclusion. we think the u.k. will be quicker than the european market. all of these demand are interesting -- demands are interesting and important. the australian government has been dealing with the coalescence around the ideas of the technology, not taxes as a way to address climate change. our india's away to do that. australia has been developing very strong new market opportunities around hydrogen and alternates sources of energy. we are exporting solar energy from northern australia into southeast asia. i think it is a bright future. we will address the futures -- the issues being raised, but we have to concentrate on the traditional trade areas, as well. haidi: i wonder what kind of sentiment you've gathered in this report. if you a wind exporter, how are they feeling about what is going

on in canberra? guest: a lot of exporters would prefer it to be a different landscape. haidi: they are saying there is not a much -- not much firm to firm negotiation. guest: it is very difficult to get out of australia before you can get to anywhere else. political machinations -- the businesses just want to get on with it. we saw australian firms do very well in some of the single day sales and other online names to address the marketplace. the wine industry has pivoted. some have come back on shore and are much more focused on the domestic market. some have looked for new markets and been very successful in gaining some of them. the gap being left from australia is not being left in china, him means other nations

product might ship in there and there are gaps in other places. we are seeing shifting trade diversion action going on. some of the figures are showing australia will actually improve trade out of the situation, as opposed to a completely negative outcome. haidi: have we seen much impact when it comes to labor shortages and the other flow on effects of borders closing migration? guest: piercing companies indicate they cannot get this -- we are seeing companies indicate they cannot get this feels -- the skills they need. not having backpackers around is impacting the agricultural industry and tourism industry that rely on those workforces. saving with students. not having students numbers we are used to. we will see increasing tension and that while the borders are closed. we urge the government to open

the border up. obviously in a safe way where countries can depend on health systems but we will look at novel ways we can approach this. shery: it was great having your thoughts. international director at the australian chamber of commerce and industry. still had will access the outlook for australia's property sector with our exclusive interview of daniel hendler. we zero breaking news out of australia right now. we are hearing from the national australia bank and also from crown about australian authorities it or serious concerns -- identifying serious concerns among the anti-money laundering team. they are being advised to the australian transaction analysis

center and enforcement team. we are hearing from crown as well, saying australia identified potential noncompliance with the aml and ctf program. they are to regulatory compliance. we will keep you asked to and watch as the market opens for the stocks. staying in australia, another to locally acquired cases of covid-19 were detected in the australian state of victoria. in the 24 hours since sunday, making it one of the lowest daily infection counts since the latest lockdown began 12 days ago, raising hopes the lockdown could be lifted as planned this thursday. paul, what are health officials say now? paul: the deputy health officer put it best, saying contact tracers in the state are running neck and neck with the virus.

5% of the population in victoria has been tested. that is giving health officials confidence there is no undetected community transition -- transmission of the delta variant going around the community. judgment will be made in a couple of days whether to extend the lockdown beyond to current deadline of thursday. the acting premier says that if health advisors advised to continue with the lockdown, there will be no political pushback. we have those two cases you mentioned. a nurse and an elder care resident. 85 cases now in total in the community in victoria. that does not sound like a great deal, but it is the delta variant, which is circulating in india and that country has been something of what -- something of a case study of what can happen if things get under control. -- out of control. haidi: we are starting to see a bit more momentum in the vaccine rollout. paul: more vaccines will be made

available for the state of victoria. hundred thousand pfizer vaccines and doubling the allocation of astrazeneca vaccines. a little pushback from some of the other states saying it should be population-based, but victoria is in the thick of a serious problem. saturday was a record day for vaccines, 88,000 shots were given, that's 5,000,001st doses now given across australia out of a population of 25 million. it is accelerating but there is a long way to go. shery: paul allen there in sydney. australia is very much dependent on commodities exports, especially when it comes to iron ore. we have seen a pressure on it since reaching its record high around mid-may but while supply concerns are again boosting the metal we heard that iron ore operations are being held. supply concerns already

abounding. copper saw the biggest weekly decline since september, but we are talking about, of course, this pressure upside gains for copper prices. weeks ago. we are now seeing it very close to those highs that we saw since mid-may and also not surprising as copper gaining -- given the economic recovery around the world. gold futures were steady but we have seen signs of indian demand softening. india of course a big buyer of gold in the physical market. we saw that covid infections are really hurting prices. wheat really surging after we consider you -- we continue to see the drought in western u.s. regions growing. haidi: coming up next we take a look at how china's tech crackdown is upending hong kong's market. this is bloomberg. ♪

haidi: hong kong ipos are tracking at their slows pasted -- slowest pace since the aftermath of the market meltdown. stephen engle is taking a closer look. he joins us from hong kong. this is a confluence of factors. reporter: it is.

it is going from sizzle to fizzle. because the first quarter was a blistering start and 2020, even through the pandemic, was pretty strong for the ipo pipeline here in pop -- here in hong kong. the second quarter has posed a different situation. there are some inflation concerns on the markets and many investors are selling out on high valuation tech companies. by large part, the tech crackdown on alibaba / ant, as well as others, the 34 countries that were summoned to regulators to crack on their perceived anti-committed -- anticompetitive ways as a bit of a chill to the ipo markets. we all know that if you have that prefaced alibaba or tencent backed company, e usually do pretty well on day one of the ipo.

not so much anymore. investors are cautious. just seven comedies have gone public so far in hong kong -- just seven companies have gone public so far in hong kong in the second quarter after a blistering first quarter. the first quarter had billy billy and baidu, but since then, the biggest names we can mention in may have had fairly lackluster opening days, jd logistics, china central management, there -- they may listings were the worst-performing in 12 months. some enough this way, -- summit up this way -- investors are no longer going to pay sky high valuations for these companies. i did talk last week at the j.p. morgan global china summit to the head of asia-pacific

investment banking. he is bullish on the hong kong capital raising market for ipo's and the like. however, the pipeline coming up in the next few weeks or months is going to be telik. you see the names on your screen here. this company is backed by one of the biggest dairy companies in china, but it is an old economy company. then there's angel alignment technology, invisible orthodontics. that will be a key one. probably the biggest name coming up is easy cloud music arm of the big internet gaming company. that filed for hong kong ipo in late may. we have to see what the appetite will be like for these companies. shery: stephen engle they are joining us from hong kong. china supermarket giant has ambitions to become that countries answer to walmart. the owner has been working to

boost the business after spending five years in prison for being cleared of financial misconduct charges in 2018. he spoke exclusively to tom mackenzie. guest: the market is huge. but supermarkets are so fragmented compared to the u.s. i think the total market size is similar. but in the u.s. we have seen walmart, i saw their sales. cosco, kroger, target, sales easily over $100 million. in china it is hard to find companies with 100 million -- 100 billion renminbi sales.

so i strongly believe this market needs to be consolidated. >> would like to replicate that market share. >> i hope. walmart has i think over 10% of the u.s. market for food. if you predict china will have a retailer with solid roman be sales -- renminbi sales, i would not be surprised. it is reasonable. it is happening. >> the ipo should happen this year? >> i hope so. >> when would you expect consumption to get back to pre-pandemic levels? guest: maybe another half year?

a year? >> so in six to 12 months? guest: yeah. the pandemic is really under control. people feel relaxed. >> an important part of your personal biography was the seven years you spent in prison for a crime he did not commit. you were cleared of that and exonerated. how did that time in prison shape the way you look at business? guest: this is a tough question. everything can suddenly happen to you. however, if you really have a strong heart, you can really survive that kind of hardship. you will become stronger. haidi: that was the wu-mart

founder speaking exclusively to tom mackenzie. more ahead on daybreak. this is bloomberg. ♪

haidi: there are serious compliance failures at australia bank and crown resorts.

crown has had regulatory struggles as takeover bids continue for its assets. let's get over to our finance editor. tell us more about what we are seeing when it comes to this. reporter: really, haidi, what we have learned is that nab is under investigation by austrac. it's to do with what they call serious concerns with nab's compliance around money laundering and counterterrorism financing. austrac said they provided the referral to nab. it is really them fighting potential serious and ongoing noncompliance. nab is very clear in their statement. they say they already take their obligations towards financial crimes very seriously.

the bank is aware they need to further improve their performance and relations with them. this is in outlining of the initial response. the austrac investigation is currently underway. shery: what will the time like -- the timeline look like? reporter: it's unclear where they go next. at the moment austrac is not issuing civil penalty orders. this is really flagging from austrac to nab. so it is up to nab to say what they are doing to get these problems under control. shery: we will watch the stocks open in australia. that's it. we have "daybreak asia" next

to so stay with us. this is bloomberg. ♪ we know how much you count on us...

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haidi: welcome to daybreak asia. sophie: -- shery: our top stories this hour. janet yellen says higher rates could be good for the fed and america as she urges president biden to push on with his massive spending plan. g-7 nations agree on a