>> welcome to "daybreak: asia." haidi: we are counting down to asia's major markets. asian stocks set for modest gains after new wall street records, treasuries rebound from a three week low. president biden wins bipartisan support for an infrastructure

bill but it could face a bumpy ride in the house. no commitment from softbank. controversial plans for personal investments in the vision fund. shery: breaking news out of south korea. we are getting the latest, the july unemployment rate surprisingly falling to 3.3% from 3.7% in june. it is a much better rate than analysts had expected. the expectation was that the rate would to cairo gift -- would tick higher. now we have seen it fall. perhaps, it could be that downtick in workforce participation. workers waiting out the latest virus search. bloomberg economics actually expecting the rate to rise further in august given these concerns over the virus.

of course, we are watching very closely the reaction across asia when it comes to that u.s. infrastructure bill. commodities gaining ground, steelmakers gaining ground. the senate finally passing that $550 billion if a structure package. the fight is not over. we still have the vote in the house. for now, we are talking about billions of dollars for new spending for roads, bridges, electric grid upgrades and so forth. haidi: we talked about the crypto element of the infrastructure bill. those lobbyists unable to make changes, the language that will give broad oversight when it comes to cryptocurrency. people are saying this may not be a bad thing. we have just seen this massive hacking when it comes to crypto. hackers stole $600 million in cryptocurrency. tens of thousands of people being affected by this.

we see continuously the fast-moving developments when it comes to the crypto space. shery: of course, we still have those crypto backers. elon musk, cathie wood. cathie wood, her ark investment fund has really unloaded those chinese equities. given the recent crackdown in china. but she seems to be leaving the door open for interesting companies in the innovation space. perhaps we could see the likes of cathie wood and some high-profile investors back in the game. >> there are some interesting signals that perhaps investors are starting to find the bottom. chinese equities, still lagging asian peers. we take a look at the 300, up or than 3% on the year. i want to look at the best performers. what are you looking at? sophie: chinese stocks have

entered the ringer on regulatory uncertain diprete we have seen a tilt toward growth. markets like vietnam, taiwan, singapore. the population at the city state now 7% fully vaccinated. the economy, resilient. we have got that improvement in the jobless rate. when it comes to that export picture, j.p. morgan and hsbc warning that the electronic cycle may have peaked in asia. even with chips very much in high demand. it certainly has taken a hit as well, adding to the uncertain outlook. the recovery in malaysia, for

example. we have seen hospitalization rates there. haidi: let's turn to vonnie quinn with the first word headlines. vonnie: the top u.s. infectious disease expert says state and local governments should require teachers to get vaccinations. dr. anthony fauci told them that he knows his decision will anger some people. hospitals run out of beds for covid patients, while hunting for doctors and nurses. data show covid-19 accounted for 4% of all deaths in the united kingdom and the final week of july. that is the highest rate in three months. the number has come after lockdown restrictions in england were scrapped in july. serious illness and hospitalizations remain low due to a high uptake in

vaccinations. 70% of u.k. adults now fully inoculated. the hong kong government has extended measures allowing them to contain the pandemic. group gatherings, compulsory quarantines, compulsory testing, and max -- and mask wearing. the extension is to maintain the legal framework. lawyers for the hallway ceo have made a last-ditch effort to reject an extradition request, arguing that allowing her to face charges in the united states was overreached. she has been fighting extradition since her arrest in vancouver 2.5 years ago. u.s. prosecutors claim she lied to you -- lied to hsbc as part of an attempt by iran to violate

u.s. sanctions. 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. this is bloomberg. haidi: president biden has gotten his first major infrastructure win. the senate passing that $550 billion bipartisan infrastructure plan, the biggest spending on public works in decades. pres. biden: america, this is how we truly build back better. this bill will put people to work, modernizing our roads, highways, bridges, so commuters and truckers don't lose time in traffic, saving billions of dollars nationally. sen. schumer: senators should expect to proceed to the budget resolution and we will begin the process of debating amendments soon thereafter. democrats will move quickly and decisively through the amendment process.

haidi: a tougher hurdle when it comes to the house. laura, where do we go from here? laura: the house just announced it will be coming back on august 23 two vote on this budget resolution. this is basically the framework that will unlock the rest of biden agenda. this is all the spending for education, health care, childcare, as well as all of the tax increases that would pay for all this new spending. basically, a lot of lawmakers in the house have told pelosi that they are not prepared to vote for the of the structure bill until they are prepared to vote on a budget resolution. they are speeding up the timeline to make sure -- two tracks happening, the infra structure bill, the budget resolution, the $3.5 trillion in spending, the house should be able to proceed on a vote.

it is still not clear if the house plans to use any changes or if there is a second track, that could slow down the vote timing as well. shery: so tell us, what is in this infrastructure bill and what is not. we are looking at these amendments on crypto regulations. what did we get? laura: this is a $550 billion investment into physical infrastructure. things like clean drinking water. there are still lots of lead pipes in the united states. looking at a lot of digital infrastructure. broadband as well. this is one area where congress has a little bit slow to react. we saw this with crypto. it would give the irs access to more data.

the industry really freaked out a couple of weeks ago, said this pulled in more players than it should. they were too late, it did not pass, some procedural hurdles. it is possible that in the house, they could amend the bill to fix this. it is not yet clear if there are procedural problems that come up. that is one thing that is still unresolved and unclear how it will shake out. shery: let's discuss the infrastructure bill's implications for asian assets and other opportunities, with the head of asia strategy at sbc. will there be any broader implications for asian markets, whether it is an uptick in concerns, dollar strength, and so forth? >> while the 550 billion dollars bill is remarkable, just by

looking at the market reaction overnight, it seems that it has already been in the price. more importantly, the impact of this infrastructure bill, which is also muting the impact on the market. clearly, this infrastructure bill is a long-term bill, in which case it would be drip fed into the economy. however, as far as the impact, we have seen that the industrial sector has benefited overnight. but, as i said, it is already in the price. shery: perhaps we could see more of a reaction from u.s. cpi numbers on wednesday. the chart on the bloomberg showing how those bearish positions have been decreasing. a trend when it comes to the dollar strength. goldman sachs calling out the recent rally. where do you think the dollar is

headed? eugenia: in the last few weeks, we have seen a we strengthening of the dollar. that is mainly because of the pullback in the risk sentiment. now that we have seen some stabilization in the risk sentiment, that should be supportive of the other currencies in the g10 space, in particular, the euro. we are expecting the euro to appreciate to 120 by the end of q3. but that is not going to be a long-term trend. we are of the view that as long as the market continues to price in fed tightening by late 2022 or at least early 2023, than that should provide another boost for the dollar which should leave the euro going to 116 by the end of the year. haidi: when it comes to china,

what is the biggest risk. is it delta, policy missteps, the regulatory crackdown? eugenia: the real risk in china is the easy momentum in growth. to be fair, growth was expected to ease in the second half of the year. that was already expected because of the lowering credit impulse. we have seen the credit impulse peak in october last year. historically, that has a 2-3 quarter lead as far as economic momentum is concerned. however, this easy momentum is being exacerbated by the delta variant, which has seen a lot of restrictions put back in place in china. overall, the expected consumption recovery in 2021 is being delayed. haidi: when it comes to

southeast asia, we see investors pretty quickly losing patience with the likes of thailand. will it be the rollout of the vaccine that will be key in restoring that confidence? >> thailand had been one of the few expecting some return for 2021, and that has not been the case. so, while there has been some return of the tourists, it is not going to happen in 2021. the lack of the tourists has basically wiped out the current account surplus of thailand. for the pandemic, the current account surplus was around 7% of gdp. it is likely by the end of this year, the current account will go into the deficit which would put further pressure down to the thai baht. shery: we got that huge beat when it comes to the jobless rate out of south korea, falling

to 3.3%. will this accelerate the pace where we are expecting it to be ok to start tightening? eugenia: my expectation is that the be ok would be the -- that the bok would be the one to lead. although the daily cases in korea continue to be elevated, the death toll is still very low, which is allowing the domestic economy to remain very resilient amidst the delta variant. haidi: always great to have you with us. coming up next, softbank see sharp earnings drop this quarter. the vision fund delivery its worst performance in a year and his appointment when it comes to buybacks. and the end of the world's fourth largest crypto exchange blasts the crypto rules and that infrastructure deal.

this is bloomberg. ♪

shery: softbank sides profits fall by almost two thirds after its vision fund saw its worst performance in a year. investments outweighed gains. it is looking like the current quarter will see a worse result with china's crackdown on the tech sector yet to make an impact. >> i think things will be much clearer. once things get cleared, we are open to resume an active investment in china. we want to wait and see how things go. but, management should take risks. shery: let's bring in our asia tech reporter. we keep talking about how difficult it is to predict

softbank's results. this spring, they just recorded the best annual earnings for any japanese company. what happened this time? >> softbank earnings have become a lot less of a mystery. so many of the companies are now public. so, we knew that this is going to be a tough quarter, largely because we could absolutely track how the south korean e-commerce giant was constantly falling through the quarter. sure enough, it was the biggest drag on earnings. a record profit in the previous quarter. this quarter, it cost softbank about $4 billion. son wanted to focus on more positive things, how diversified the portfolio across the

technology stack. he said only 23% of the portfolio by value is startups in china. in the previous quarter, didi is the reason why the company was able to remain profitable. in the current quarter, companies are heading steeply south. there was a really good chance that it will be the first loss since the big blowout at the beginning of the pandemic a year ago. haidi: a personal stake in the vision fund. lots of red flags here went it comes to governance and conflict. >> softbank unveiled a co -investment program for management. he will be able to invest up to $2.6 billion of his own wealth into a second vision fund. it will give him about a 70%

equity stake. it will do something similar for the latin america fund. this is not entirely new. we knew that something similar was in the works for the original vision fund. masa said himself that things kind of went south when the stock market crashed and the vision fund went into the red. i guess the problem is that masa will not put in all $2.6 billion at once but use some shares as deposit. it makes things complicated. while he made a point that in a lot of venture capital, management takes 20% of the profit without putting any skin in the game and what he is doing is sharing some of the risk, but it does raise issues. haidi: we will have more

analysis later on what this means for softbank and the share price. bloomberg top rank analyst of softbank will join us. he says lack of a buyback means we will see shares falling further still. this is bloomberg. ♪

shery: andrew cuomo has resigned as governor of new york and apologized to the 11 women that the attorney general says cuomo sexually harassed. he called the report falls but said the decision to leave was in the best interest of the people of new york. kathy ogle will take over the -- kathy hochel will take over the office in 14 days and become the first female governor of new york. so who is kathy hochul?

>> even though she has been cuomo's lieutenant governor since 2014, she has really been cut off from cuomo's inner circle during that time. the new york times reported that hochul has not spoken to cuomo since february. i guess for people looking to weed out a potential scandal, hochul seems to be free of that. she is well-regarded in albany. a lot of lawmakers here spoke highly of her. they feel confident that she will do a good job. haidi: just to clean up after this mess is one of her challenges. what are her policy priorities

as she takes over? >> she is really entering at a difficult time. we have the delta variant happening, all of the talk about vaccine mandates, vaccines needing to go to certain businesses, as well as schools about to reopen. i think the top priority, on top of assuming office and getting her feet wet with everything going on. shery: so what is next for andrew cuomo? >> that is a good question. i have asked his advisors. no one is given a clear answer. based off of our reporting, it is really up in the air. cuomo has no other property. he owns no property, he rents no property.

in 14 days, he will have to leave the executive mansion where he is lived since 2011 and move on. haidi: let's get you a quick check of the headlines. the bank of australia has unveiled a record $4.4 billion share buyback while boosting the dividend. 6.4 billion u.s. dollars, the economic recovery -- loan profits fell. delivering far more than its peers. shipments of tesla's china-made cars plunged last month. exports from its shanghai factory however increased, with most destined for europe. they are facing rising competition from local startups. a tennessee factory after one of

its malaysian suppliers was forced to shut down due to the covid-19 outbreak. it expects production to resume at the end of the month. much more to come. this is bloomberg. ♪ comcast nbcuniversal is investing in entrepreneurs to bring what's next for sports technology to athletes, teams, and fans. that's why we created the sportstech accelerator, to invest in and develop the next generation of technology that will change the way we experience sports. we've already invested in entrepreneurs like ane swim, who develops products that provide hair protection so that everyone can enjoy the freedom of swimming. like the athletes competing in tokyo, these entrepreneurs have a fierce work ethic and drive to achieve - to change the game and inspire the team of tomorrow. in business, it's never just another day. it's the big sale, or the big presentation. the day where everything goes right. or the one where nothing does. with comcast business you get the network that can deliver gig speeds to the most businesses and advanced cybersecurity

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haidi: asia markets looking set for modest gains. a look at what sophie kamaruddin is watching ahead of the open. >> we are seeing early price action pointing to gains potentially in tokyo. jeffries, they say they are still progrowth, so they are staying bullish. we are seeing futures take slightly lower here. the yen is trading near a one-month low end the dollar is

holding onto a gain. the greenbacks momentum will falter as u.s. growth and inflation slows. dollar strength to be more pronounced, seemed to be burnished by concerns over the delta variant in asia and elsewhere. we have ford reportedly delaying delivery of its electric mustang by six weeks on that ship shortage. that is now topped -- flipping the board, we are a -- we are keeping a close eye on the infrastructure plan. last year, the u.s. imported about 9% of its steel mill products from south korea and only 4% from japan. vonnie: in a win for president joe biden, the senate has passed a $550 billion infrastructure

plan. it represents the biggest burst of spending on u.s. public works in decades. the legislation must now be approved by the house before reaching the president's desk. despite the parties saying infrastructure is a priority issue. pres. biden: america, this is how we truly build back better. this bill will put people to work, modernizing our roads, highways, bridges. vonnie: russia has opened a new criminal case against two of the closest allies of the imprisoned opposition figure alexei navalny. the two could face up to eight years in prison. they say the crackdown is due to russia's upcoming parliamentary

election. kim jong-un's sister has ratcheted up north korea's campaign to hold military exercises set to start next week. it is reported that they said a dear price should be paid by south korea and the u.s. for their destructive behavior. seoul may look to downsize or delay the drills to keep its recent detente with pyongyang on track. global news 24 hours a day on air and on bloomberg quicktake, powered by more than 2700 journalists and analysts in more than 120 countries. i'm vonnie quinn. this is bloomberg. shery: now to what is likely the biggest theft ever in the world of decentralized finance. hackers managed to steal about $600 million in cryptocurrency from a protocol known as poly network. su keenan joins us with the

latest. it is a crypto heist, so who goes after them? su: if you are poly network but you put a bunch of security researchers on the hunt for these hackers, and you post a letter on twitter, basically urging the attackers to get in contact and work out a solution. also, the letter reminded the hackers that theft of $600 million in crypto assets is a crime. it is believed they are beginning to move it to other platforms. poly network let users swap tokens across multiple blockchain's. the hackers are trying to cash the assets out. poly network says tens of thousands are affected by this attack. there have been many in the decentralized finance area but this is the largest we have seen. one expert notes that some of these staple coins can be seized

by the issuer. tether was part of the theft. it has been frozen by tether's issuer. ethereum is another big coin that was part of the theft. it is not clear if ether's issuer can also seize back the coin. some 80 billion in assets, becoming a greater target of these sort of digital robbers. haidi: in the meantime, we are talking about $100,000 bitcoin again. shery: there has been a -- su: there has been a miraculous rebound in bitcoin. bitcoin has roared back some 50% since its low. it has been up about four straight weeks. some calls for it to go to the moon and get to 100,000 by the end of the year are back in full force. we have seen bitcoin have its

fastest 21 day advance since february. many investors see this as positive news at a time when there is talk about regulation, when the lobbying in washington, d.c., did not really work out. a lot of analysts did expect bitcoin to pull back. that is not happening. a lot of confusion has been cleared up. it is clear that it coin at least is no longer an esoteric corner of finance. it is being adopted by mainstream. amc saying the other day that it will allow it to be accepted for popcorn and movies. so, there are a lot of analysts saying there is still room to run. if you follow the percentage gains we have seen in a, then bitcoin could get to 100,000 by the end of 2021. back to you. haidi: we speak -- we stick to

the proposed changes of crypto rules in the u.s. of a structure bill. of course, the lobbyists did not get their way in terms of amending them. a ceo says, "the people in government have no idea what they are doing in this space. " >> this bill as written without the amendment absolutely stifles innovation. it is effectively like saying every time you load a webpage, you have to collect all the personal information of the person visiting your website. it is totally insane. it cannot be complied with as it is written. it completely misunderstands the way the technology works. obviously, decentralized protocols do not have a process to collect personal identifying information from people or even have some way of knowing who the users are. so, it is a square peg in a

round hole. it is kind of mind blowing that at this point, 10 years on, the people in government would still have absolutely no idea what they are doing here. and without having any stakeholder engagement on this, to try to slide this into a must-pass massive infrastructure bill is sort of a back door regulatory effort. it is kind of shocking. >> do you think they are just trying to make it safer? even if it is impractical and impossible because you don't have the data, do you think it comes from a point of not trusting cryptocurrency and bitcoin, trying to make sure they have as much data as possible to figure out who is investing and how much? >> i don't think it is about that. that kind of information is already available through the exchanges. we are adding data to -- we are providing data to u.s.

regulators. the purpose of this bill is to collect additional tax revenue. they believe there are people out there engaged in cryptocurrencies who are not paying their taxes properly. our view is that that is a very small piece of the cryptocurrency user base. obviously, anything you do through kraken is easily reported to the irs. your transactions live on the blockchain for all time. the irs is very good at looking at the blockchain and seeing what is going on. i don't think it is about consumer protection. it is more about tax collection, paying for the infrastructure expenditures. >> if you look at the selloff in bitcoin, he does seem to be more subdued than in the past. do you believe that cryptocurrency is at the margin stabilizing? something that i don't know if

it will plateau but just become up or down in terms of ranges? >> we have seen historically bitcoin move in these four-year cycles. each time, it pops up 10 times to where it was before. we could easily go up to $400,000 per coin in this cycle. i think it will trade within a range for a while. we got up to $60,000, we got back to $30,000. we are now hovering around $46,000. i thing is par for the course when you look at the chart and the cycles. i still think we could see hundreds of thousands of dollars a coin in the next 12 months. shery: planning more to come on "daybreak: asia." this is bloomberg. ♪

shery: we are counting down to the start of trading in tokyo and seoul. here are some of the stories we are watching. in south korea, luminary trade data for the first 10 days of the month out in a few minutes. five consecutive months of double digit gains for exports. samsung will be holding galaxy unpack events where the company

is expected to unveil next-generation models of smartphones. we are watching the tally, daily new cases expected to hit a new record high. in japan, masonic unveiling plans to turn a fuel-cell factory into what could be the world's first hydrogen-based plants. plenty of companies reporting earnings. plus, we are on watch for how softbank shares will move on the back of this earnings result. haidi: especially with that novavax announcement. of course, profit in the vision fund sinking 90% in the first quarter. the ceo also said that softbank has no plans to buy back shares per now -- shares for now. our next guest, atul goyal, bloomberg's top ranked analyst

for softbank. you were surprised, a lot of people were disappointed, and a lot of people were saying this kind of removes a floor for how much these shares could fall now. >> based on the discussions we have had, we believed there would be a very high chance of buyback. what they have said is for now, they are not doing it. but, in response to our questions on the call later on, it was stated that the were actively discussing the timing and sizing of these buybacks. at the same time, quite a few of our investors did not believe they were ready for buybacks. they were questioning about the funding because softbank has been investing funds into vision fund 2 investments. so, we did expect a buyback to be announced.

and may, buying back at about ¥10,000 per share. other stock is below 7000. for now, it is probably still under pressure, but the buyback is not completely out of question. it could come back anytime. >> the big reveal we got, masa intending to invest in vision fund two. do you have concerns here? >> earlier, we did, when he was investing in a separate fund called northstar, which was actively investing in u.s. equities. on the one hand, you are telling everyone that my company is more like a private equity fund. at the same time, you are doing hedge fund trading on a daily basis. when we look at this new structure where he would also be investing his personal money,

that is a good sign because he is investing in the same place where he is taking the risks directly, where investors money is in the company and the stoxx. so, where the company would be putting in funds into the vision fund and equity, masa would also be putting that money. you could cause some kind of conflict of interest. we see this as a good sign that management is willing to take risk with the money. earlier, what they were doing was a serious issue for us, which we did highlight. >> any idea at this point how big of a hit it will take from the chinese crackdown on tech? atul: they have taken a hit, some ¥8,000. it is now ¥6,800. a lot of china stocks, tech

stocks, are down 30%, 40%. what they did say on the call is, for now, they would not be investing in china tech anymore. so they want to wait and see. that was a big take away from the call yesterday, walking away from any further investment vision fund 1 or 2 in china. the u.s. would remain the biggest place. but, china is a big no-no for now. shery: let me turn to the shortage of chips. we are seeing the latest survey saying that the ship delivery lead times are at about 20 weeks, more than 20 weeks, which is a gain of about eight days from the previous month. for the companies you cover, who are the biggest losers here? atul: the companies which are losing out on opportunity, what

they can manufacture. car companies are the ones on the receiving end because they were the ones cutting back dramatically. within softbank, designs and licenses chip design. sony also manufactures. but, the users of these semiconductors are pretty much considered everywhere. a bottleneck is being created. to that extent, i would be a bit worried about panasonic. especially tesla and toyota. tesla is managing the supply trend very well. shery: jeffrey's senior analyst for equity research, atul goyal.

we do have an alert on the bloomberg,. we are getting earnings, second-quarter net income coming in, the estimate was for about 3 billion. that is a beat of wall street. also, operating profit, $2.69 billion. that is slightly lower than expected. revenue, 272 billion taiwanese dollars. coming up next, commonwealth bank of australia is the latest to announce plans to return money to shareholders after he surge in earnings. this is bloomberg. ♪

shery: citigroup has told employees that they need to be vaccinated if they want to return to offices in new york and other major u.s. cities. for the latest on wall street's return to office push, we are joined by karen. this follows other banks making similar moves like morgan stanley. >> yes, but citigroup is one of the more aggressive wants to come out and say employees must be vaccinated before coming back to the office. jp morgan, goldman sachs, they have called workers back but so far if not taken such a step.

this is the biggest one we have seen. shery: who could be next in terms of what happens with the vaccination drive, especially given that the delta variant continues to spread? kara: every day brings a different company. we had jefferies group coming out with something similar. they have delayed the return to office, as has perella-weinberg. just like with everything with the delta variant, it is day by day, seeing what happens. it has kind of caught everyone off guard and i think investors are struggling to figure out what the best path forward is. shery: our finance editor with the latest. we do have breaking news out of south korea at the moment.

we are seeing a record number of coronavirus cases, exceeding 2200 for the very first time. this of course coming at a time when we continue to see those restrictions on social distancing rules. the latest number was around july 28 when they recorded around 1900 cases. for the first time exceeding 2200 at a time when they are saying they could fall short of their vaccine supplies. we had heard that moderna had notified south korea that they would supply less than half of the planned 8.5 million doses. haidi: and we are watching commonwealth bank of australia when markets open in sydney. they just unveiled that record $6 billion share buyback plan, boosting its dividend after reporting growth in earnings. delivering strong results today.

when you look at the buyback, how does it compare to others? >> this is a huge, unprecedented payday for investors. this is a record for australia's banks. when you take the buyback of $6 billion aussie and you another $6 billion in dividends being paid out. the last time cba did something like a buyback was 2006, about $500 million aussie. slightly higher in 2004. this really does put that into scale. with the beefed-up dividend, it will be $12 billion going back to shareholders. they are already saying they want to do a buyback, and anz doing $1.5 billion. all eyes are now on westpac. haidi: when it comes to the earnings beat, what were the

main drivers for commonwealth bank? >> it was really about the continued strength of the economic recovery. remember that these earnings are until the end of june. we have to put aside the events of the past couple of months in sydney. we have been in lockdown. that does not really count in these earnings. in fact, their loan book is now in a stronger position than a five-year average, given where credit costs are. the deposits grew very strongly and faster than the market. an absolute standout recorded more than three times the market growth in that area. haidi: that really takes us to the outlook, given the uncertain the company continued lockdowns. nabila: they are preparing for a range of scenarios. they are banking on vaccines to

get the economy up and running. the ceo today said the ongoing rollout of the vaccination program and government support packages will be the key to helping australians and the economy on a path back toward full economic activity. on the other point for the bank, he also said that they do expect ongoing economic impact and earnings pressure from lower interest rates. so you have the impact of lower interest rates and then the impact of the lockdowns. shery: coming up, the outlook for commodities with cba analyst seeing brett at $85 a barrel by year end. the market opens in sydney, seoul, and tokyo are next. this is bloomberg. ♪

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in entrepreneurs to bring what's next for sports technology to athletes, teams, and fans. that's why we created the sportstech accelerator, to invest in and develop the next generation of technology that will change the way we experience sports. we've already invested in entrepreneurs like ane swim, who develops products that provide hair protection so that everyone can enjoy the freedom of swimming. like the athletes competing in tokyo, these entrepreneurs have a fierce work ethic and drive to achieve - to change the game and inspire the team of tomorrow.

haidi: welcome to "daybreak asia." i'm haidi stroud-watts in sydney. >> i'm sophie kamaruddin in hong kong. looking at the major market opening from asia. shery: good evening from bloomberg's world headquarters in new york. i'm shery ahn. asian stocks set for modern -- gains. the u.s. inflation print could help revive reflation trade. looking ahead to key earnings

out of hong kong. hks and cathay pacific set to report. a steelmakers get a boost as the biden infrastructure bill passes the senate. haidi: we are getting second-quarter gdp, the final reading for singapore. the number coming in at just a contraction of 1.8%. slightly better than expectations of an extraction -- contraction of 2.3%. gdp year on year for the second quarter, the final number at 14.7%. that is better than expectations, and a bump from the previous reading of 14.3%. looking at the breakdown in particular, we see the manufacturing sector contracted 2.5% quarter on quarter, construction contracting 7.6%. service is seeing a milder contraction. singapore just emerged from the latest round of covid restrictions.

singapore revising the 2021 gdp growth estimate range to 7% from a prior range of 46%. really seeing a boost as the country has hit the 70% vaccination level. expecting herd immunity will be reviving the economy after the impact of some of these covid lockdowns. when it comes to the pace we see, singapore is fully on track to vaccinate people by the end of august. let's take a look at the market open with sophie. sophie: looking at the open in tokyo. the nikkei up. ditto for the topix. let's take a look. still seeing across the world. the year on trading your, a one month low. jgb has softened ahead of the 30 year option. plenty of global supply. including u.s. 10 year treasury sale. switching to check in on south korea.

you are seeing extended declines by one third of 1% for the kospi. pressure coming through. the korean won trading at the lowest level since july. the data out this morning. exports rising 36% year on year for the first 10 days of the month. also, a jobless rate improving in the last month, not helping lift sentiment. given the surge is a concern. virus cases now topping 2000 for the first time when it comes to the daily tally. after closing tuesday at a record, the asx 100 continues to climb higher. bancshares, gaining nearly 2% . and we have brent opening higher by 38%. wti steady after the three weeks for crude and dropping u.s. inventories.

gold, some downside pressure continuing. the dollar is holding. it should get another boost if they beat expectations later wednesday. a quick word on softbank. shares higher, even after the disappointing results with the vision fund. we are watching industrial and material sectors in asia on the back of the u.s. infrastructure plan. bloomberg intelligence expecting the related gains will help over the excavator market in china. massive shares rallying nearly 3% at the start of cash trade. shery: our next guest expect earnings growth will moderate in the next few quarters after a solid run. a positive surprise. let's bring in audrey goh. great to have you with us. sophie mentioned the infrastructure bill. we are talking about strong earnings. what are the positive catalysts for the rest of the year? >> good morning.

if you look at the earnings season, a quick result. 85%, 87% of companies beating estimates. an average of 35%. i think there is still room for earnings -- this quarter, the fifth consecutive quarter of double gin earnings since the pandemic. you think historically, that sort of double-digit earnings -- we have had in the last five quarters. with some perspective behind these numbers, we can see there is some degree of analysts for covid management, and just put it in perspective, we go around half where we see the guidance, but the pandemic, many companies

have seen them altogether. 8090 companies out of the priceline getting guidance. it is also one reason why we see strong investor earnings in the last few quarters. shery: we continue to see strength in the u.s. dollar at a three week high. u.s. cpi continuing to go further stronger. not only in the u.s., also asian companies. em's usually benefit from a weaker dollar. >> i think in the short-term, we see some -- but we do believe any strength will stay below the high in early march of this year. if our medium term view of a u.s. dollar reasserts itself, we will have to watch -- at the end of the month. we are likely to hear competing around the set policy, u.s. treasury, risk sentiment.

also recovering very strongly, given the non-fund payroll we are seeing in the last two months. it also signals they will meet substantial progress in the labor markets. if the number were to continue at its current pace. in our view, that will set the stage for a stronger u.s. dollar in the near term. in the rest of the world, allowing growth to pick up. -- on a medium-term basis. haidi: energy is one of the sectors you like as an investment theme. how does the potential impact of delta and the weight on growth impact that? >> it might set back some of the things we have seen in oil prices recently. but we do have a bullish outlook where all of them are concerned. the expectation for oil is around $35 to $80 a barrel.

as it continues to broaden to the rest of the world, we are likely to see increased demand for oil. it is likely to boost energy prices overall. the energy, you look at the gains this year, there was a significant lag -- gains we are seeing in oil prices. we expect room for energy equities to catch up in the corridors ahead. >> always great to have you with us. audrey goh. let's get you to vonnie quin. >> new york governor andrew cuomo will step down in two weeks, bowing to pressure us to leave office are face impeachment over multiple sexual harassment allegations. he maintains he did not harass anyone, but admits to being thoughtless in the way he spoke to and touched women on his staff. the new york attorney general

says he violated multiple federal and state laws, with one allegation under criminal investigation. hackers have pulled off what may be the biggest theft ever in the world of decentralized finance, stealing about $600 million in cryptocurrency. the target was polly network, which let users store tokens across blockchain's. tens of thousands are affected. 33 million -- that was part of the theft, has been frozen, so the hackers cannot access that. china has withdrawn its ambassador from lithuania to protest the nation's move to let taiwan set up a defect oh embassy. beijing -- de facto embassy. beijing's move -- more ties with the island. the chinese foreign ministry is demanding -- leave beijing, saying is undermining its sovereignty. lawyers for huawei's cfo have

made an effort for canadian court to reject an extradition request, arguing allowing her to save charges in. the u.s. with overreach. . she has been fighting extradition since her arrest in vancouver two and a half years ago. u.s. prosecutors claim she lied to hsbc about huawei's operations in iran as part of a scheme to violate u.s. trade sanctions. global news, 24 hours a day, on air and at quicktake by bloomberg, powered by more than 2700 journalists and analysts in more than 120 countries. i'm vonnie quin, this is bloomberg. shery: still ahead, a look at commodities with vivek dhar. he sees more upside on gold prices, with the target at $1730 per ounce. how are asian economies being impacted by the surging delta variant? we look at the numbers. this is bloomberg. ♪

haidi: singapore second-quarter gdp contracted 1.8 percent. less than what analysts were predicting. let's get more insight. we have our chief asia economics president with us. it doesn't seem like things are looking up for singapore. we are expecting perhaps quarantine free travel to be introduced. this is down to the vaccination levels we see. >> the singapore story is all about the high vaccination rate and mapping out the way forward. they are lifting restrictions that will take pressure off of the domestic consumer and services sector. the sink -- sector has been doing ok. the difference to a lot of other economies is the vaccination rates really do lag in comparison. china and singapore are stands out.

-- standouts. many have a long way to go before they get out of the pandemic. shery: where do we see the impact of the delta variant spreading? what metrics are economist looking at? >> it is showing up now across the board. economists are looking at real-time gauges to figure out what is going on. you take flight capacity in china, the number of seats on offer has collapsed. it reflects restrictions being imposed in china. two thirds of the economy then, so when you see that kind of a crackdown on mobility in china, it is a signal for the rest of asia. -- obviously doesn't cover china, but you can get a handle of what is going on with consumers moving around and the work from home story. and you look at australia, the two biggest cities under lockdown. and there are other gauges on electronics exports, peak

electronics behind the asia region. that has been the recovery story part. divergence between north and south, southeast asia. and as we just mentioned regarding singapore, you have the vaccination rate metrics, which everybody is watching closely, because it is about getting the vaccination rates to a very high threshold before the governments can feel confident or ease up on the gas and get their economies on an escape path. haidi: take a look at the growth forecast. four asian economies, singapore is one, that will see growth forecasts being lifted. what does it mean for the rest that are getting downgrades? will we see more government support and policy? >> i think you have to start with china on this. you are seeing economists downgrading the growth outlook. there is expectation the central bank will have to do more. especially for the small and medium-sized businesses. it must be said that the overall

growth story for china and the asia region is holding up for now. it is somewhat robust. most china forecasts are still in the 8% area. a modest outlook for japan, as well. south korea holding up. but i think the key thing will be if the delta variant can be somewhat contained from here, even if economies move away from the zero covid strategy. number two, it comes back to vaccination rates and vaccines. can the thresholds behave? can the critical mass of the population be inoculated? can the economies get on the escape path out of it? i would say right now, the downgrades are modest, but it is a question of where we go in the months ahead and heading into this year. haidi: our chief asia economics correspondent, enda curran. we are watching the regulatory risks in china. investors searching for clues about which industries might be

next in president xi shipping's crackdown -- xi jinping's crackdowns. another question, why now? here to help us answer the question is john new. what exactly is driving the crackdown now instead of five or 10 years ago? >> there's a number of factors. one, the tension between the u.s. and china. there's much more divergence between ideologies. the democratic ideals, capitalism that we see in the u.s.. and here in china, which is run by a government that is communist by name, but very marxist in its beliefs. i think that is part of it. the other part is xi jinping has consolidated his grasp on power. we are headed toward a party congress, where we think it is very likely xi jinping will get another tenure as president. so we think he has an ability to move forward this agenda.

in the last couple of years, beijing has been busy. a trade war with the trump administration, then the pandemic. they may have wanted to do this earlier, but did not have time to get to it until now. haidi: it is interesting, in terms of his playbook. we know the crackdown on corruption, the vested interest is something that has worked out very well and popularly for him. >> the crackdown on corruption, there has been criticism that it has been used as a weapon against political enemies. to the rank and file in china, it has been a smashing success. the threat, the risk of corruption, the per valence has diminished greatly in the last 10 years as he was president. so it has made him quite popular. it's given him the ability to get the grasp on power and move forward with fairly controversial ideas. the crackdown on how didi uses data, how food delivery people

are paid, all of that. it is not something that is easy to get through the communist party. haidi: our greater china executive editor, john liu. the continuing crackdown that we will be watching and reporting on. coming up next, our exclusive interview with the lawnchair ceo about the french luxury plan's sustainability push.

haidi: longchamp is taking a step in reducing its carbon footprint by revamping its signature bag and recycled material. jean cassegrain spoke exclusively to us about their push and broader post-pandemic business outlook. >> we were doing sustainability

even before we knew the word existed. we are artisans and manufacturers. the fact we are in contact with products, the making of the products, gives our company a very different character, as opposed to many other fashion brands who don't manufacture anything nowadays. it comes naturally to us to protect the environment that provides the resources we use. of course, now we are taking a more formal approach. we are developing projects that are pushing the envelope even further. like our green project we are launching. you are familiar with our bag, one of the best selling bags around the world. we are now launching recycled textile version. with this project, we will reduce the carbon impact of each bag by 20%.

>> is it fair to say that consumer behavior has changed fundamentally? have we hit a tipping point? >> repairing was not seen as something noble. now there is nobility again in repairing. it is becoming fashionable again. we stopped promoting our repair salvage, one of the best around among all of our competitors still. so we really promote it. and people are very interested in that. so i see it -- the customers are more engaged in sustainability, happy to have a product repaired than getting a new one. >> we have been going through this pandemic for nearly two years, what is the future of fashion and retail? what trends would be in, what

would be out? if i can get you to look into the crystal ball. >> i'm not sure we will come back to the physical stuff, even after this. with the pandemic, people have gotten used to shopping online even more than before. some of them, they found convenience. they like it and will stay there. also, a direct consequence is it obliges us to give a different role to our physical staff. they need to be even more interesting, even more attractive than before. so we are reviewing the way we design our stores to make more room for experience. >> what do you view as the biggest challenge for longchamp in the next three to five years? >> the number one short-term challenge is is to free

ourselves from the pandemic. pre-pandemic, we were very reliant on tourism. for instance, we were very strong in airports. a lot of the airport stores have not even reopened yet. so we are doubling down on the local market. we are working very much on that. you have that footprint in each market. it is going to take a while. the major challenge is -- in a way, it is almost a change of our business model to add more local business, as opposed to relying on the choiced flows. that is a challenge. and we need to continue digitalizing the company. growing commerce. we treat the e-commerce business -- triple also into our business domestically in china.

so we are making a very big push on the chinese market, as well. >> so what can you expect in the chinese market? china is also leading, in terms of gdp protections. >> the growth we expect from china is 25% in the next year. shery: that is longchamp speaking exclusively to haslinda amin. sources tell bloomberg apples next iphone lineup will get at least three major new camera and video recording features. the new units will include a video version of the portrait mode feature, among other updates, as well as a smaller display cut out and a faster chip. the models are expected to go on sale in the next several weeks. shao me has unveiled new products to arrive of those like samsung and apple, including a new phone featuring the screen with the curved edge and a front

facing camera. the ceo said the company intends to become the world's largest smartphone maker within three years. they have overtaken apple as the world's number two phone maker in the second quarter. -- financial has been explore the potential acquisition of a light just a month after the benefits administrator went public. the new york-based retirement fund manager has recently studied a purchase of las vegas-based alike. it is not clear whether the companies are in active talks. there is no guarantee a new deal will be reached. coming up next, hkx and cathay pacific headline earnings. we tell you what to expect. this is bloomberg. ♪

haidi: let's get you some consumer confidence numbers for australia. the month of august, a contraction of 4.4%. a gain of 1.5% in the previous month. over the past month, we have seen the extended lockdown in a number of major cities, including sydney, melbourne, and greater new south wales being affected. brisbane, the consumer confidence falling as the lockdown really does impact not just consumer sentiment, also business sentiment, services

activity, and the like. let's look at the markets. sophie: focusing on the aussie dollar. around 73. but there is downside risk on the australian lockdown and chinese regulatory crackdown. futures, we see a bit of a backsplash toward 164. dollar strength way out of malaysian -- about 423 this wednesday ahead of the markets reopening. the korean won trading at about 11 against the greenback. daily cases above 2200, outweighing data showing growth. when it comes to equity markets, games being led by japan. nikkei 225 above 28,000. topix led higher by financials. this is the drag from softbank group. -- still happening. haidi: we do have earnings up

later on wednesday from two big hong kong companies. they will be reporting during the lunch break. we will speak about the outlook for the exchange in a moment. air travel is starting to see a bit of a recovery from cost-saving measures, as well, hoping to pare back losses for cathay. what do we expect? >> we expect losses to be smaller than last year, given cafe has done a lot of restructuring -- cathay has done a lot of restructuring. and efforts for whatever they can. we are expecting markets to be smaller. that is the guideline champion has given us. it looks better. -- is also doing very well. the fact passengers are not --

shery: encouraging june traffic numbers, what do we expect in terms of new delta variants across asia and the challenges cathay pacific still faces? >> it is going to be a very big challenge for them. they have shared some encouraging numbers that come out in june. increasing to the likes of europe. it has to do with the students returning to those countries to study. it seems like they are doing better -- but i think right now, the uncertainty surrounding this with the delta variant, it seems it is having a bigger impact with china, with a restriction at the moment.

lockdowns and such. so it is going to be a big challenge. haidi: we are also watching hkex, second quarter for listing. it could be weighing on the stock exchange -- when it comes out. i want to bring out our equities reporter. what is the street saying about the numbers and what they will be like? >> many analysts are expecting 20% for hong kong earnings in the second quarter, because it was the period when the stock turnover plunged by almost one third from the first quarter. and ipo's in hong kong slumped, just one third of the first quarter's total, because the market crashed from the february high. shery: what do analysts think about the share price of hong kong exchange? >> because the turnover

derivative market performance and ipo performance is already known to the markets, what analysts are expecting really hinges on their plans, for example, the msci shares launch, and other initiatives, it could start soon. many traders are waiting for more clues from that to decide on the investment strategies for hong kong ex. haidi: our china equities reporter and asia transport reporter. hkex's ceo will be joining us. you can see the interview live on surveillance -- bloomberg surveillance at 6:45 p.m. we will take a look at the plan on asia. the outlook of the commodity markets and spread of the delta variant. vivek dhar will be joining us.

this is bloomberg. ♪

>> this is "daybreak asia." i'm vonnie quin. the top u.s. infectious disease expert says state and local governments should require teachers to get covid vaccinations. dr. fauci told msnbc he knows his position will anger some people. his call comes as hospitals

across the u.s. run out of beds for covid patients. while hunting for doctors and nurses as the disease outstrips any mitigation efforts. data shows covid-19 accounted for 4% of all deaths in the united kingdom. in the final week of july, that is the highest rate in three months. the numbers come after lockdown restrictions in england were scrapped in mid july. infections have risen steadily since, both serious illness and hospitalizations remain low due to a high outtake of -- 70% of all u.k. adults are now fully inoculated. russia has opened a new criminal case against its closest allies of alexei navalny. they are accused of raising money for an extremist group. organizations set up by him that russia deemed as extremists. they could face up to eight years in prison. the crackdown is linked to russia's upcoming parliamentary election, which has spurred

increased opposition on supporters. kim jong-un's sister has ratcheted up north korea's campaign to hold south korean u.s. military exercises next week. the state news reports she said "a dear price should be paid by south korea and the u.s. for their self-destructive behavior." this all as she says they seek to downside or delay the drills to keep the risks on pyongyang on track. global news, 24 hours a day, on air and at quicktake by bloomberg, powered by more than 2700 journalists and analysts in more than 120 countries. i'm vonnie quin. this is bloomberg. haidi: asian infrastructure stocks are trading higher. the u.s. senate passed a $550 billion infrastructure bill expected to still demand. let's bring in vivek dhar. we are seeing some of the usual suspects.

the steelmakers seeing a bit of a lift. how much of it has been priced in, and how much of it foll -- how much of the follow-through benefit do you see frazier? >> it is an interesting question. you look at a bill, $550 billion in additional spending, how much of it will actually go to output? looking at what component of the u.s. fixed index goes into the space, it is only about 5%. most of the money will go into the labor component. it is quite a small component, but it is not just the size that is of concern, it is the duration. how long it will take to get deployed. historically, we have seen years to plan a project, and five years to actually deliver. we are talking incrementally, a

very small output. for us, the demand from a structure like -- infrastructure bill like this isn't going to be a game changer. what we are way more optimistic about is the $3.5 trillion economic package, in terms of what the democrat party is really looking to do. the $3.5 trillion package, which involves more climate change policies, and what that means for certain metals, it can change the dynamic when you talk about models like copper, nickel, lithium. those are the commodities at risk of shortage one really talk about the $3.5 trillion package. shery: -- haidi: for iron ore, it seems the catalyst will continue to be

china, especially with worries about the environmental crackdown going into the olympics. is there a downside for iron ore? >> we have seen iron ore prices capitulate over the last few weeks. what is driving that is the output cuts. it is something which if we see the implied cuts take place in the second half, to get total steel production in 2021 at 2020 levels, it means a dramatic falling in china demand. that is quite concerning. we saw 12% in output this year in the first six month of this year. we need to see an equivalent 12% reduction in the second half. and that is something that can be very concerning when it comes to the iron ore demands that they have. our view is -- for now, this policy has a lot of -- but our concern is the

contraction level will result in a shortage. that may result in higher steel prices. for us, like we saw in mid-may, policy makers may start focusing on inflation concerns. that may see the policy relax a little bit. that is something we expect to play out as it progresses. but for now, as you are looking at 12% reduction in the second half, that implies iron ore from where we are today. shery: more downside for gold, especially given what is happening with the dollar and real yields? >> absolutely. our forecast for gold is about 7800 dollars an ounce by the first quarter of next year. that forecast is really underpinned by a hawkish fed policy. it will help guide the idea for a stronger u.s. dollar and higher yields.

and both are really playing a role, in terms of weighing on the precious metals. in terms of the key events and how we see the market's -- the markets, we will see the -- that will take place sometime in q4. that will be the tipping point for the bullish argument for gold to come under pressure. we see that downside -- so the hawkish stance remains in the u.s.. haidi: you are putting -- shery: you are putting brent at $85 a barrel. what will take us there? >> it is a good question. that forecast was made before the break of covid. but if we are going to get to $85, we will need to see two things.

one is a quick recovery out of the current outbreaks in china and asia, particularly china, given -- 15%. but it is also going to need to see opec-plus, and potentially even reduce the supply increases this year. so those are the two moving parts we managed to get to 85, but we see downside. what has happened with covid-19, especially with china, a change by supply and demand. haidi: vivek dhar, always great having your insight -- shery: vivek dhar always great having your insight. a big exporter of metals. despite indonesia being closed on holidays, today has been its bond market. we are constantly seeing a regular inflow of foreign money into the bond market.

really interesting how the quarter dollar bonds have rebounded more than asian peers. average spreads tightening the most since february. much more than for the other em asian dollars. the cause a sovereign dollar debts seem to be a sweet spot for what investors -- haidi: i like the idea that there is a twist. they pay more than sovereigns but are less riskier than corporate bonds. especially with a great deal of uncertainty when it comes to the economic outlook for indonesia. it does seem to be a bright spot as people get vaccinated. they are really preparing, with other countries, to live life with the virus and a gradual opening up and allowing the vaccinated population to get back into shopping malls and the like. interesting part of the market. haidi: plenty more to come on

"daybreak asia." this is bloomberg. ♪

haidi: a quick check of the latest business flash headlines. a record $4.4 billion share buyback.

reported a surge in earnings. 20%, 6.4 billion u.s. dollars. the economic recovery on pace. one third of australia's biggest banks 2 -- capital management plan, delivering far more than its peers. american express postponed its return to office planned in october. taking a more cautious approach as new covid cases surge across the u.s. they originally planned to invite staff back in september. now they prepare to delay the return beyond october if the virus situation worsens. citigroup has told employees all need to be vaccinated if they want to return to offices in new york and other major u.s. cities. it was announced in a memo and affects chicago, boston, philadelphia, and washington, d.c. they expect staff to work from the office at least two days a week starting in september. employees will not be required to get vaccinated, but mass

wearing is mandatory. shery: the pandemic, we have been speaking to guests about the outlook for recovery in the travel sector. >> people are desperate to travel. there is a demand and hunger. >> there is a big appetite to travel. everywhere people can travel, we see bookings coming in immediately. >> demand i a strong among guests who want to come back. >> hotels, resorts, all of the usual cases. >> we have seen an increase of demand in the future for leisure, business demands. >> in the cruise industry. we have among the best protections. >> while the variant is out there overall, and we see bookings and the experience accelerate. >> we will continue to see that. i don't see delta having a particularly large impact on it. haidi: plenty in the coming months. bloomberg launched its travel

reopening tracker, watching more than 150 travel combinations between 40 major business and tourism destinations. it takes things into account like coronavirus restrictions, vaccination levels, and public health rules. our senior editor work on this story and joins us. i was having a little play, kind of pointless, because you go anywhere and it comes up with the angry stressed face, needles in my face thinking about the next time i might get to travel for work or leisure. for the rest of the world, when there is more resumption of travel, this is a cool tool. >> thank you so much. it has been a real labor of love over the last couple of months. it really involves a global effort around the world from six continents and dozens of bureaus. so it is really a big collaborative thing. it tends to answer the questions of where you can go. if you can get in, if it is safe

to be there once you are there, in terms of vaccination rates, and getting on the ground, what you can do. and what we find is there is a real discrepancy. some places are quite open. new zealand is a great example. when you get there, it is just you can't go. some other places, people are more lax and you can get in, but maybe you can't do all the things you would think you would want to do once you are there. so it is kind of intended to help you figure out what your next major destination is to a global business and financial capital. we started about 40, we might add some over the days, weeks, months. but it's sort of acts as a collection of these reopening economic indicators, if you will, because we find that when we put out headlines that say dining in will be opening in singapore, for example, you will see currencies move, stocks will

move, airlines will move. if there is going to be reopening, up. down if it is tightening again. looking at these things that are economic indicators, it is important to track those from a market perspective. shery: when it comes to traveling, it is not just the destination, it is also the process it self, how painful it is to get there, especially with the restrictions and mask wearing on flights. >> that is really true. one thing i should point out is our tracker is assuming that you are vaccinated. i have my little unvaccinated sticker that i wore here. that is because there is a real bifurcation we are seeing in a lot of these situations, where if you are vaccinated, you can do a lot of beings you can't do if you are not vaccinated. if you are looking at this and saying half of the destinations

are on here, and it is hard to get into them, yeah. if you are not vaccinated, it is even harder. as you say, all around the world, people are making a distinction between whether or not you are vaccinated. that can show up with getting into a country, or it can show up with what you can do when you are there. maybe you can't go to a play or concert if you are not vaccinated. maybe you can't go to a sporting event. maybe you can't get on the plane in the first place. shery: our senior editor, derek wallbank, with this great tool on the bloomberg. i've been looking about where i can go from new york, where i want to go first, and i'm thinking hong kong. i miss the daybreak team, i miss you guys. it has been ages since we met. but then i get this super angry face on the tool. not looking great. haidi: just a little angry face that gives me more anxiety, to be honest.

honestly, daydreaming where i would go, i would love to go to new york to see you, catch up with everyone in hong kong, go back to beijing. but in the meantime, -- the problem is not just being able to get out of australia. even if you can, it is having to get back in and do quarantine. shery: it has been two years. so frustrating. haidi: speaking of places we are allowed to go to, -- not allowed to go to, thailand. sophie kamaruddin is looking at the stock when it comes to the delta outbreak. sophie: wish we could take advantage of the sandbox. the optimism of reopening for tourism in thailand will be affected. daily cases back above 20,000 after staying below that level for three straight days. watching airport and airline stocks in bangkok. still top of mind in china, regulators calling for

heightened monitoring of afterschool tutoring. keeping an eye on -- we saw piers rallying on investor optimism that consumer customer -- companies ahead of the surge. chinese auto news on watch. the latest sales figures we got showing the growth has hit the brakes on the spread of the delta and the chip supply shortage. china could fall as much as -- in the second half. shery: coming up, market insights from hsbc private banking. and more chinese equities from j.p. morgan asset management portfolio manager. our markets coverage continues as we look ahead to the start of trade in hong kong, shanghai, and shenzhen. standby for "bloomberg markets: china open." this is bloomberg. ♪

>> it is remarkably compounded in the damage that it does. we are at 1.2 degrees today. you see what happened. imagine what happens when you're at three degrees or so. that is the track we are currently on. >> julie was always a voracious reader. she carried two novels on an airplane because she would read one. at some point i began to notice that she would read a page and couldn't remember what you just read. she would have to go back and read it again. >> i don't member much these days after i read.

>> we are providing supplies and stipends for vaccinations. that is something we take very seriously. >> 9:00 a.m. in beijing and shanghai. david: i am david in glass. yvonne: i am yvonne man. david:david: let's get you your top stories. the u.s. senate is saying the $550 billion infrastructure plan that they key part of washington's plan to compete with china. >> now turning to u.s. inflation numbers.