♪ >> a very good morning. >> we are counting down to asian market open. >> good evening from new york. the top stories this hour. u.s. stocks hit record highs ahead of friday's jobs report. >> china blasts president biden 's offer of a safe haven for

hong kong residents, saying the u.s. is ignoring the facts. >> australia's covid outbreak worsens, government over fire over border restrictions. this is wall street, we are seeing u.s. futures muted at the open, but this after the s&p 500 and nasdaq cell record highs. energy and financials leading the gains. it was a reflation trade, back and forth with the russell 2000 having its best day in two weeks. wti rising today. for the first time in about four sessions. despite the fact we are again at record highs for stock markets in the u.s., goldman sachs still thinks there is some more ground to be gained. they have upgraded their year end forecast for the s&p 500 to the top of the range of around 4700. the median of analyst forecasts

is around 4300. low rates and optimism about the economy could lead to those gains. there are significant risks in the economy as well. one of them being the delta variant continuing to spread. 200 million cases around the world. listen to what business leaders have to say. >> as far as delta ghost -- delta goes, it is hard to tell except for markets that have closed. >> encouraging them to come back. the delta variant has changed that. new cdc guidelines has changed that. >> we are reinstituting mandatory mask policy. >> we are providing incentives, having good conversations with employees about the benefits and implementing safety guidelines with masking and social distancing. >> we are going to work with governments based on mandates and follow them.

>> with the rise of the delta variant, there is uncertainty as to what to return to normal looks like. more and more big corporate's having to push back their grand return to work plans. amazon saying corporate workers won't need to be back until january. even the -- which have been keen to get employees back. we are hearing wells fargo and blackrock are both saying they are pushing back those plans until october. >> given the delta variant is raising concerns even for the vaccinated. much more for those that are not. we will see what this means for the rest of the economy as we continue to see delays in the return to work environment. meantime, we are going to get that new unemployment report. it is expected to show reopening that vaccinations are continuing to help create jobs.

will that be enough to support federal reserve steps toward tapering? kathleen hays is here with her preview. what can we expect? >> we figure we can expect good numbers. as you said, we've got so much happening. the pandemic, the delta variant, reopening. jobs are seen rising 858,000 in july on top of it hundred 50,000 in june. bloomberg economics is looking for 950,000. that is the kind of again the fed wants to see. the unemployment rate falling to 5.7 percent. jobless claims continue to fall. in the latest week, they were down to 385,000 a week. that is not a big change, but when you look at this chart -- actually we are not going to show you the chart. [laughter]

>> tell us about the chart. what would we see? >> we will see in the latest week, they are so much closer to the 10 year or 20 year average. bloomberg economics says these stronger claims numbers are flashing a green light for a strong jobs report. inching closer to pre-pandemic averages is something else the fed wants to see. now you're going to say, what about this disappointing adp number? exactly. as we look at it, the thing about adp, private payroll, a very large sample. what we saws that they were only up 330,000. last month, 680,000. weibel of forecast. you can see, look to the left, they kind of track together.

if adp goes up, payroll goes up. over time, adp is pretty good at predicting the directional change in the government -- the government number, not magnitude. maybe this means the payroll report won't be as strong as expected, you can expect a pretty good game. nfib, job openings at small businesses climbed to a fresh record. there is job demand out there. >> how does this fit into the fed trajectory? >> we just heard from jay powell, he spoke after the fomc meeting. we heard from richard clarida a couple of days ago, the chair and vice chair are looking for more substantial progress. nevertheless, that's what they

want to see. that is why this is important. one thing we are going to see tomorrow is that while white unemployment has come down, unemployment for people of color have also come down. but, black and hispanic unemployment still stay very high. on the political side, joe manchin from west virginia, who has been such a key vote for democrats, he is urging powell to start tapering, citing inflation risks. there will be a lot of things that come out of this jobs report that are going to be discussed just hours from now. >> kathleen hays. let's get more on the recovery implications. i want to bring in nicole webb, senior vice president of the wealth enhancement group. talk us through the noise. you rightly say a lot of

solutions, a lot of things have been thrown at the pandemic. recovery, the delta variant complicating things. what is the path forward? >> thank you for reading through my notes. it has been -- we were faced with an unparalleled obstacle. it took a lot of solutions being thrown at it. we are all very happy to have survived with a v-shaped recovery. same time, investors need to be cognizant of the fact that it is going to be tipsy turvey. i also think the fed is looking at -- the worst thing we can do is ease too quickly. we have conflicting numbers. gdp numbers were massive myths. yes we are on a solid trajectory for jobless claims and payroll, but we are seeing a lot of

indications there are a lot of job openings in small and large business sectors. but we are seeing challenges to coming back to full employment. it is unprecedented to be handling this in a post-covid world. especially if we just talk about the delta variant andrea openings. what seems to have been put on pause is being put further on pause. >> it is hard to sell stocks to buy cheaper stocks. what does that mean for your portfolio if you're looking for ultimately stable assets in an unstable environment? >> i spent so much of my time in the analyst world speaking with professionals like yourself. my fear is that a bit of the conversation we have highlighted transitory inflation, powell's

comments are in the news on a daily basis. if we look forward to jackson hole, more increasing on the day-to-day. i am afraid the retail investor, the individual has decided that what we are seeing is that bonds are bad. that is not the case. we are saying we are afraid of what the real return on the fixed income asset class is going to be in the short term. however, the safe haven is necessary. it helps constrain volatility we believe is going to be omnipresent. we are looking ahead to say instead of all risk on, in fear of what fixed income means, start to get defensive and start thinking forward on the five-year trajectory versus the day-to-day. >> how do you position your portfolio? you have talked about exuberance , and even among analysts,

enthusiasm for stocks at the highest level in years. >> here i am. i lead with the reasons why the fed is probably going to continue giving concessions, and here is this strong labor market of the future ahead of us as we have growth expectations. people feel so secure in their jobs. on the other hand, not necessarily should we all risk on. it seems offkilter. what we are trying to aim towards is there is probably no better time to take a step back and go, while i was getting out of covid, was my portfolio truly diversified across risk? in tandem with that, do i need to start paring back and looking forward? forward meeting not just 12-18 months, but even further.

it is going to be an adjustment back to a global mindset from a diversification standpoint. at the same time, we spoke about it a bit late last fall as the vaccine was coming through, i certainly think taking a value tilt to a portfolio, think about what does well in late stage recovery is helpful. >> nicole webb, senior vice president at the wealth enhancement group. we have seen markets a little on the fence given we have friday's payroll report. so. >> this friday, muted price action. futures mixed but mostly higher in asia. the first trading week in august has been decent. up 2% with earnings in focus. switching to the board, big trading debuts. macao bank and -- in jakarta.

watching for strong demand for both offerings. central banks have been key drivers. we got the -- decision to do this friday. plus, governor low addresses parliament ahead of the quarterly parliament statement. the aussie dollar headed for arise. we have seen the peso under pressure. amid speculation around triple archive. the prospects of easing from central banks in both countries could add to downsized pressure. >> still ahead, president biden will allow hong kong residents in the u.s. to stay for up to 18 months. we get reaction from beijing. this is bloomberg. ♪

♪ >> you're watching daybreak australia. president biden invited big automakers gm and ford to the white house as he signed an ambitious executive order. the goal is to have half of all vehicles sold in the usb emissions free by 2030. notably missing was tesla. the company that sells more ev's than any other. biden says electric vehicles are the only way forward. the faa calling on u.s. airports to arrest unruly passengers and ban people from sneaking alcohol aboard flights. officials say passenger outbursts have soared since mask mandates were brought in. so far this year, more than 3700 cases have been reported. 100 83 inquiries by the in all of 20/20.

moderna's final analysis -- 93% effective six months after its second shot. the company did reiterate it believes a booster dose is likely necessary, especially in the face of the surge. the who has called for a moratorium on boosters and tell more people in the developing world are vaccinated. 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. >> president biden said hong kong residents in the u.s. can remain in the country for as long as 18 months. fighting beijing's crackdown -- citing beijing's crackdown on freedoms. what he says is china's campaign to stifle democracy.

jody, how much of this is symbolic and how much is practical? >> we don't know how many people it will actually affect. there are no estimates. i think it is both. there will be people who will stay here and take advantage of this, but it is also symbolic. it is the biden administration sending another message to beijing on their displeasure with the crackdown in hong kong, also the u.s.'s continued response. we will find out in coming weeks or months how many hong kong residents in the you -- in the u.s. taken vintage. >> what is the rationale behind this? >> it is about the crackdown. it is another in a series of moves the u.s. has made against what it says are -- the crackdown in hong kong by the

chinese government. this comes on the heels of the u.s. giving a warning to businesses doing business in hong kong, saying they are warning about potential repercussions against the businesses. beijing has come out and said that they criticize this move. they said it is the u.s. yet again interfering in its internal affairs. it is said this latest move has the chinese government -- the chinese government has called at preposterous and they do not want to see anymore. >> political news director jodi schneider with the latest. and the u.s. reaction. and beijing. the former hong kong exchange -- has told bloomberg a series of tightening measures is a natural

progression of policy. as china tries to rebalance its economy. lee, who had launched a platform, is adding his venture is on the right side of history on policy issues. >> what we are doing is on the right side of history. what we are doing is absolutely on the right side of the political prerogatives. simply because we are not creating any financial systematic risk to china's financial system, we are spending in places where real financing should be happening. our system has become in this massive system floating on top of the real economy, what we are trying to do is put money into the soil come into the deep roots of the part of the economy

that truly supports the gdp and truly creates jobs and truly provides fiscal revenue. >> what is your personal feeling about what is happening with alibaba? you spend a lot of your time is former hong kong exchange ceo bringing a lot of tech giants to hong kong. >> the market -- if you follow china really carefully with a strong analytical insight, you should know this was coming. this is quite consistent with the broader direction of what the government says. they are essentially rebalancing the efficiency unfairness of equity. today, the business has become so big in the sector is so influential in all elements of society, and the government, rightfully, begins to move that

balance towards what is more equitable and what is more fair, and thus create a level playing field. i think that is just the natural progression of policy. >> as the former hong kong exchange chief executive, i have to ask, does hong kong stand to benefit? what is your outlook in terms of the ipo arena? >> i do not think -- i would like to think of hong kong from the perspective that somebody else is having a problem, we are the beneficiary of the problem. even if that might be the case, i do not feel particularly happy so the breading that. that is nowhere -- that is not our strength. our strength is that we fix our problems, we remove barriers, we make it easier for people to come so that they choose to be here. the question we should be asking , why do big companies choose the u.s.? we need to identify those issues

and figure out a way so they don't have to be agonizing between hong kong and new york. >> it has been more than a year since this national security legislation came into effect. what do you make of the business environment? do you get a sense chinese companies or international businesses have confidence in hong kong, or are they increasingly more worried about these invisible moves? >> whenever you experience a new change, a certain big picture shift, people will take time to understand it and absorb it. the national security law is one of those big moments in hong kong history that people rightfully need to think about. but i don't really think this is the one thing people are going to say is not something that is going to fundamentally change the way hong kong operates. it won't. other countries have national security laws.

other countries have similar arrangements. hong kong has the unusual place where such things have not been there before. now we are beginning to embrace the same type of arrangement, given what happened here in two years. i think the business is going to have to find ways to understand it. i personally believe the business has found the rebalancing and has found the right balance. i think the broader consensus is that it is different, but it is not fundamentally changed the fact that it is still the best place to go. >> last year you had to apologize over remarks he made over the political protests you said exposed faults underlying the one country two systems framework. do you still support one country two systems? >> absolutely. one country two systems is what makes hong kong great.

that is what makes hong kong absolutely unique. especially in this new environment when the two big rivals -- the gravity of the word -- some people think it is unfortunate but i think it is fortunate that we are right in the middle. to be able to help. smooth out that rise in relative change and minimize friction. >> charles li, founder and chairman of crow connect. -- micro connect. bytedance has laid off hundreds and shut off part of its online education to comply with beijing's new regulations. the company had been betting big on education, previously saying they would invest without considering profitability. -- has more than 10,000

employees. it is not clear if more layoffs are planned. smi's siege -- beat expectations the prolonged semiconductor shortage. both revenue and profits surged in the second quarter, exceeding analyst forecasts. china's biggest chip foundries says revenue for the current period will increase 4% while raising its targets for annual revenue growth. to 30%. -- one of the lowest levels. the firm's ranking to four notches above their designation for defaulted borrowers, saying the risk of nonpayment advising its liquidity position worsens. -- ramped up asset sales to meet debt obligations with more than $8 billion raised so far.

backing analytic firmness ra, which closed at $21 million. the deal comes at some of the biggest hedge funds consider waiting deeper into cryptocurrency. operating partner adam carson will join -- as part of their deal. coming up, melbourne and the rest of victoria state looks -- lock sound for a six time as the delta variant spreads. we look at the latest. plus, tokyo olympics ending after two weeks of high drama and high emotions. we will be live on the ground. this is bloomberg. ♪

shery: the tokyo olympics will conclude on sunday as we had toward the finish line. the city reported a record of over 5000 covid cases on thursday and remains in a state of emergency. let's get more fromkurumi mori. japan did pretty well so what is the view among japanese people on whether or not the games were a success? >> we can look at both covid and

the economic impact here. covid, on that front, we have yet to see any new olympic strain. as far as we know, no major clusters so it seems to be going better than feared by some experts. in terms of economic impact, the cost has been estimated as high as $14.99 billion by tokyo 2020 organizers. in a study from oxford, it said it is the most expensive summer olympics on record, even topping the london 2012 gains. it estimates a $15.5 billion direct boost to the economy and that includes all of the virus measures i have been seeing in and around the venue so far. haidi: what does this mean for public sentiment? going into the games, we know that they were deeply unpopular. they shifted? can he going to snap the left -- elections with confidence? kurumi: it seems to be shifting

somewhat for the better. as of last night, japan said a new overall record. generally more positive for helping increasing attention on sports and highlighting japanese athletes. i have been talking to some fans on the ground and so much of what they tell me is mixed feelings of wanting to celebrate these great achievements and the athletes of the world but also being increasingly cautious and worried about the rising covid cases. we are seeing a dip in his approval ratings as low as 34%. not looking great for suga right now. haidi: kurumi mori in tokyo. australia's covid outbreak continues to worsen. sydney recording its highest number of daily infections.

paul allen joins us now. i can almost see the collective sigh coming from our melbourne colleagues. paul: i will get to melbourne in a moment but i will start in sydney. 262 cases reported on thursday, the worst day since the pandemic began. five deaths and the premier pointing out that among the 21 dead from this outbreak, none of those were fully vaccinated, underscoring the importance of vaccines, but the virus now spreading in the state. there was a party attended by a teenager in sydney further up the coast so the virus has found its way into newcastle. getting back to victoria, lockdown number six and this is all because of two mystery cases . the premier looking at the experience of new south wales and how quickly things got out of control here, the setting to go hard and go early but that decision sparking protests on

the streets of melbourne. police being called to break up hundreds of protesters late last night. interesting development today from spc, a fruit and vegetable company which announced it will be mandatory for all of its employees to get vaccinated. that created some backlash amongst half and that will be very closely watched by both the government and other employers over whether that is legal or not. shery: also some backlash when it comes to rule changes for australians who live and work overseas. how tough are these new measures? paul: that's right. this is something the health minister moved to very quietly address on thursday. there was no media conference. he never brought it up when he faced the media yesterday but it just got quietly tabled in parliament. he says he is closing a loophole which means australians who live and work abroad and are in australia are going to need an

exemption to leave the country again. previously, that was not the case. ex-pat australians needing an exemption to leave australia to prove that they work abroad. australia is the only country in the world that bandits citizens from leaving and the only country in the world that has a cap on the number of people allowed to come into the country each week. that number is currently 3000. this is designed to take the pressure off hotel quarantine but it will also make life a lot harder for ex-pat australians that need to come and go for whatever reason. haidi: paul allen with the latest. vonnie quinn with the first word headlines. vonnie: china is authorizing more shuttered coal mines to restart production as policymakers seek to rebalance climate goals with surging demand. operations will resume for a year at 15 coal mines across northern provinces. delivering up to about 44

million tons of coal. beijing is attempting to tame record high prices. bill gates has called his relationship with jeffrey epstein a huge mistake, saying he regretted having dinner with the sex offender. he told cnn he had seen met to discuss a philanthropy project. the pair met in 2011. epstein died in jail in 2019 while awaiting trial on sex trafficking charges. in greece, a resurgent wildfire is burning homes north of athens, threatening ancient monuments. fueled by the worst heatwave in decades. officials say firefighters are working around-the-clock to save the former summer palace outside the capital as well as a site that was the birthplace of the olympics. greek and european officials blame it on climate change.

a soccer superstar will leave the only club he has played with since he was 13 years old. sb barcelona says it could not sign him due to financial and structural obstacles. he had been expected to sign a new contract on thursday. his most recent deal was worth almost $675 million. 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 have vonnie quinn. this is bloomberg. shery: plenty more to come on "daybreak australia." stay with us. this is bloomberg. ♪

>> time for morning calls ahead of the asia trading day. at barclays, the chief strategist is weighing if it is worth catching a falling knife when it comes to chinese stocks, which have been on a roller coaster ride. that is going to be tricky. barclays saying positioning for a possible rebound while hedging for protection seems to be the smarter move and one option is to invest in companies that have large china exposure that are not listed there with the luxury space particularly relevant. we have, exposed stocks sparking

the local selloff we have seen in china. the peso did stumble on thursday amid speculation for a rrr cut in light of the limited fiscal space. at hsbc, you have joseph saying the strips lockdown as well as moderating inflation is likely to prompt them to deliver a 50 basis point rrr cut at next week's meeting while rate cuts off the table given the real policy rate is close to -2%. shery. shery: here in the u.s., we had jobless claims improve slightly after the july adp private payrolls #a significant mess. let's discuss what to expect. we are joined by an economist at wells fargo. shannon, great to have you with us. we have been getting mixed signals on what to expect tomorrow. what are you seeing? shannon: we are forecasting the employers added 835,000 jobs in

july. considering that pace on top of the gains with june, we are expecting it to continue and we expect some of the labor constraints that have really been plaguing them your today will continue to ease. we are confident is pretty outside -- on top of that already strong -- shery: already, we are seeing the participation rate well below pre-pandemic levels. the latest with the delta million spreading across the u.s. and more and more companies delaying the return to office planned, what does that mean in terms of hesitancy of going back to work? shannon: you bring up really the biggest risk to the labor market recovery right now, the delta variant. while we were confident we would get, you know, significant

progress in these labor market constraints in fall when you have the expiration of -- children returning back to school, which will help parents return to the labor force, we are expecting the cessation rate to come in. this delta variant that you mentioned is kind of -- it puts the whole trajectory at risk and clouds the view in terms of the outlook for the labor market. even if schools do reopen in the fall, there is a risk for parents because of the return to the workforce because students could be sent home if they catch the virus, if there was outbreak in the classroom. shery: so many anxious parents with kids going back to school in these uncertain times. does it feel like peak growth is behind us and does the buildup of risk coming is it starting to

outweigh going forward? we are seeing consumer spending and confidence pretty strong. shannon: if you look at our forecast, we have surpassed the peak of growth but going into next year, a pretty strong case of growth. we are expecting well above potential growth next year even with the delta variant. we are not expecting renewed restrictions for any government mandated restrictions. consumers might pull back on some activity overall as well as a return to the labor force but we are still expecting a pretty exceptional pace of growth into next year despite these risks and i think it is definitely worth considering. haidi: we have heard similar views from the likes of joe manson. -- joe manchin.

he says pretty soon, they will not have the opportunity to do that because we are in and everything bubble. is that sort of systemic risk still a worry? shannon: our expectations of the fed, specifically, is that they are tapering at the end of this year and kicking it off to the end of next year. the fed is really -- rather than just making policy based on forecasts. we have seen them emphasize that with the inflation outlook. we are waiting for inflation to settle before they make any policy adjustments based on transitory inflation we're seeing today and i think that we will also take that approach on the return to the jobs outlook. it is not until fall that we get clearer signals in terms of labor constraints. that should help ease constraints. i think the fed is waiting to

see how this falls before they move accommodations. shery: how much of the progress are receiving then factor in -- them factor in? shannon: the focus for the fed really is the inflation and employment outlook. that goes hand-in-hand with monetary policy but again, i think they are really focused particularly on these labor constraints throughout the session today. depending on if those constraints last for too long, some of the typical things we expect to ease, if those constraints are longer-lasting, that is a bigger concern for the fed than the delay in getting that infrastructure bill through congress. haidi: so great to have you with

us. shannon seery, economist at wells fargo. the bank of england warned that modest tightening will be needed with concerns that inflation will peak at around 4%, twice the 2% target. andrew bailey spoke with guy johnson in london. andrew: we are more confident about the recovery. our view has not changed since may. one reason for that is the impact of covid on economic activity has reduced as time has gone by so when we see the waves, we see the economic impacts have reduced over time and that gives us greater confidence about the path of the economy. there is still a lot of uncertainty in the world economy and the u.k. economy. guy: you talk today a great deal about how you want the process to be predictable. you used that word time and time

again. how confident are you that you can start the process, complete the process of the unwind, without causing market turbulence, without causing an unwarranted tightening of financial conditions that such a temperament can cause? andrew: we emphasize that we plan to start with ceasing to reinvest as guilt that -- gilts that we hold my chair. that is the best way to start over the impact and that the impact will be understood and therefore will not cause disturbance. that is transparent. very transparent about what we have got, what we hold, when it matures, and therefore, the flows as it were that will result once we start with the no reinvestment policy. it's also a much more gradual reduction in the balance sheet then you could get from active

sales but that is the right place to start. the other thing i would say is when we talk about the whole process, i would emphasize this point that we are not going to be selling the whole stock because the level of reserves demanded by the banking system now is higher than it was pre-financial crisis. so we don't know because it's going to be very contingent and judgmental at the time when we will hit that steady state but we know it will be quite a lot higher than where we were before kiwi started. -- qe started. guy: you significantly upgraded where you think the peak will be. given the scale of that revision, how confident are you in the shape of how inflation is going to develop? is it possible that we could see a number of prints about 4%?

what is your tolerance for above average -- above target inflation over a significant period? i would be interested to get specific here. andrew: we have a hump in inflation around 4% at the peak, around the final quarter of this year, first quarter of next year. we can see it coming now in the sense of base effects, annual base effects. sometimes administered price increases. we know they will be an announcement on the energy price caps. we know it will happen. those sorts of things, you can see. to be precise on your question, the big issue is inflation expectations and that gets us to the question of are we going to see second-round effects? all right going to see it built into wage marketing?

will we see this becoming more persistent? that is where we have to act. monetary policy cannot solve a shortage of semiconductor chips. i'm afraid that is not something we can do. we cannot solve that problem. the key question is do all of those things feed into second-round effects? we have chance. we very clearly signaled today that of course we will ask. shery: andrew bailey there. be sure to tune into bloomberg radio as well. you can hear more from the day's big newsmakers, get in-depth analysis from the daybreak team. now broadcasting live from our studio in hong kong. listen via the app, radio plus, or bloombergradio.com. plenty more ahead. stay with us. ♪

shery: here's a quick check of the latest business flash headlines. several u.s. firms are delaying the return to office plan, citing rivals. employees will not have to work from the office until early october. amazon set a january target, joining microsoft, apple, and google to push back the return to office plans

earlier this week. mizuho financial group is said to have raise pay for junior bankers in the u.s., becoming the latest lender to boost compensation to retain that. first year analysts at the bank will receive one hundred thousand dollars in wages. mizuho joins lenders such as jp morgan, citigroup, deutsche bank, and barclays in raising junior bankers salary. robinhood's markets tumbled after early investors filed to sell nearly $100 million of their shares less than one week after its ipo. none of the proceeds will be received by robinhood with sellers getting all of the proceeds. the move comes after the stock went stratospheric. one story that, my eye today that has to do with investment but also with south park, because i am a huge fan of the

show, apparently, the creators are signing a $900 million deal with viacom. they will be able to create a movie. it was years ago, the last movie that they released. what was it, the 1990's? i don't remember seeing a new movie from them. haidi: when i saw this headline, i was like that is a throwback. this is such a clear sign of the commitment we have seen from viacom/cbs when it comes to paramount. in terms of streaming content, they are trailing, but huge fans of south park. we will be so excited to hear about the new content and i am sure that they will come up with some controversial content as well. shery: i just hope kenny dies less. he keeps dying and he is my favorite character. i think we have seen the back of his head but not necessarily the front. we can only imagine the character. i love all of those characters. some of the controversial topics

that they are able to tackle, i love them. apparently, this new deal runs through 2027 so it covers six more cycles of south park so we will be watching that closely. haidi: i wonder what covid variant we will be up to and if we will still be under lockdown. shery: the latest episode was about the vaccination, the elderly getting the vaccination first, which was really great. for those who have missed some of the latest episodes, go wash them. south park will be getting a few more seasons as well as movies. haidi: always topical. share a is excited. -- shery is excited. i love it. coming up on "daybreak asia," we will be speaking with luis lau. he will be talking about the risk out of china and we will also be speaking with senior lecturer michelle o'shea about olympics and gender issues. this was meant to be the most gender equal olympics ever.

we will get her thoughts as to whether it has lived up to that claim. we know that there have been so many issues related to gender, to inequality over the past couple of weeks as we count down to that closing ceremony this weekend. shery: at least when it comes to the numbers, we are talking about 48.8% of competitors said to be women. aside from that, we will try to delve deeper into what it actually means and when it is about how diverse and gender equal the games were. it has been an exciting number of games. we are taught about the u.s. getting the most total number of medals but china really topping the gold medals count with 34 there. haidi: japan coming in at 22. that is really contributing to a little bit more popularity and enthusiasm for the host nation, hosting these very controversial, unprecedented,

and incredibly challenging 2020 summer olympics. australia coming and forth with 17 gold medals, 40 one overall, and the swim team in particular doing just the well for us. this is bloomberg. ♪ and there you have it -

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haidi: hello and welcome to "daybreak asia." i'm haidi stroud-watts in sydney. sophie: i am sophie kamaruddin in hong kong. shery: good evening. i am shery ahn. our top stories this hour. asians box set to gain ahead of friday's u.s. jobs report with wall street hitting new highs as earnings overshadow virus worries. the delta variant is