>> good morning. sophie: i am sophie kamaruddin in hong kong. shery ahn: good evening. the top stories. u.s. stocks record highs. bonds railing. inflation moderated, reducing concern about fed tapering. >> china's regulators have the

next target, ordering insurance companies to curb marketing and pricing. >> but one person tells the hong kong pipeline remain strong, despite the corporate crackdown. we are seeing futures muted at the open, after the s&p 500 and dow saw another record high, and treasuries fell. treasuries have been under pressure given the strong u.s. jobs numbers, but the trend seems to be reversing to we had a strong tenure auction, but also the cpi -- reversing. we had a strong 10-year auction, but also that cpi data. the narrative that inflation will be transitory appears true. we have seen an ad to those concerns, 40% year-to-date. we saw the gains extending in

the new york session. $59 a barrel. this after reversing earlier losses after the u.s. called on opec-plus to revise output quickly. let's look at the basket of inflationary pressures, used cars, airfares, rentals, easing month on month. cpi at 0.5% gain from june. also the narrative has been the infrastructure package, not to mention the $3.5 trillion budget that could add to those concerns protect listen to what he had to say. pres. biden: the primary concern -- those concerns. take a listen to what he had to say. pres. biden: i vote against this plan is a vote against lowering the cost of health care, housing, childcare, eldercare, and prescription drugs for american families. >> we saw that budget plan passing through the senate, but this is not a done deal.

they have to also go to the house. they can't afford to lose democratic votes. the democratic senator who is more moderate, joe manchin, saying he could not support a plan this expensive, but if we do get this at the end of the day, it would really help the economy ravaged by the pandemic. >> yes, and speaking of the pandemic, we watch how companies and workplaces are having to tweak return to office plans. the latest is a requirement for vaccinations for nike. peaches in the state of california will be asked to have proof -- teachers in the state of california will be asked to have proof of vaccines. they are the first to do that. i don't envy these hr departments to come up with policies to hit some sense of

normal, but keep employees safe. >> investors trying to understand what these vaccine mandates mean. today, we saw chinese adrs under pressure because of the crackdown in china, with the state council singh oversight will continue for another five years. -- saying oversight will continue for another five years. >> yes, they're being told they need to rein in improper marketing. they are targeting these sectors and companies that contribute to inequality and affect people's livelihoods. they have been targets for speculative price gains. what we have also seen is the currency, the renminbi has been relatively calm. what could potentially unnerve yuan traders?

sophie: rbc capital shrugging off equities, they point out the virus outbreak on the mainland is the biggest risk to the renminbi, and the delta spread has prompted a flag for pressure on third-quarter growth, with calls for the pboc to ease, this as debt growth and limited financial risk is allowing scope for that potential move at the central bank. flipping the board, moderating price pressures for the philippines could see the bank extend the great today. we have inflation data for japan and india, and expectations for new zealand and australia on thursday. we have the australian dollar range bound. no upside potential in the near-term amid lockdowns in parts of australia, but some

upside for the currency next year. at cba, the chief economist saying they are seeing green shoots next year, factors pointing to growth being supported. on the calendar, earnings, two here. no dividend being declared. haidi: the next guest says we need to respect the price action, using opportunities. he is a portfolio specialist. i want to look at this chart, which goes to the heart of your comment about respecting the price action. this is looking at the dip buying. every selloff, the s&p has not ventured beyond 5% since november, so investors are using opportunities to build back up.

what will be the catalyst to change this trend? >> it is a great point. we have seen a lot of dip buying in the market. i'm not sure there will be a change in that behavior. a big question we get from clients is where is the 5% to 10% correction, 15% correction? since october of last year, since we have had a significant, meaningful pullback in the s&p 500, but what is important and what i tell our clients is beneath the surface, there has been a lot of churn. you have seen rotations and rolling corrections in the s&p 500. most recently, cyclical underperforming, while growth outperforming. earlier in the year, growth underperforming while the trade was outperforming, and that quotation and rolling corrections has prevented the index at a higher level from

pulling back, and when you look at strong earnings, the cpi print today, probably pointing the fact that some inflationary pressures will be transitory, that provides a supportive backdrop for the markets, so i advocate to use downside opportunities, because the trend is your friend, as we like to say. haidi: the opportunities will come in terms of finding companies that have a better outlook. as you say, earnings incredibly positive, very robust, but the guidance and outlook are shaky. >> it depends on the sectors. when we look across the companies across our affiliates, it has been pretty positive. a lot of the companies in more cyclically-oriented parts of the market, levered to the consumer, where there may be worries about

price pressures, margins are increasing, and margins right now following this earnings season, 13% on the s&p 500, the highest level of corporate margins we have had since we started tracking these metrics, so that is really positive for the market as a whole and shows companies are navigating some of these challenges with inflation, with supply chain disruptions very well, and again, that is a positive for being able to use downside to your advantage in the market and find parts of the market that have sold off harder than they should given the fundamentals. shery ahn: economic data does not seem to be that supported lately. this chart shows the price index has now turned negative. how important is it defined quality growth and where you go for that? >> yes, quality growth is really important. that is something i advocate to

clients to look for. we have gotten into this notion of peak everything. how do we move past peak everything? we are starting to get some negative surprises with the economic data, but that does not mean growth is not there. it might just mean we are not surprising in aggregate to the upside. we will most likely settle into above trend growth moving forward, supportive for the economy as a whole, corporation starting to redeploy record level cash they had. corporate ceo optimism is very high and stable, so this is part of the trend. when we look at the markets, certain areas that look interesting are small-caps. they have not done anything since february. they have moved sideways. we started to see them form a base relative to the nasdaq, and that is a good reflation trade proxy. we aren't seeing earnings

increase in strong guidance from the management team, and record short interest, so that paints a positive picture. if you see a breakout in the cyclical parts of the market. shery ahn: what do the latest cpi numbers factor into your calls? >> it is supportive we are not likely to see really strong inflation the changes the federal reserve commentary. i think it is supportive of the fed being more hesitant to pull the support we have for the economy, especially when you look at what is happening with the delta variant. if anything, this cpi print in line with expectations, showing some easing that the fed said are transitory pressures, that is positive for markets overall. >> always great having you on. let's turn to vonnie quinn for the first word headlines. >> good morning. reaction has been swift to the

jailing and china of the canadian tour operator, sentenced to 11 years on spying charges. the canadian prime minister called the verdict unacceptable and unjust. the u.s. secretary of state c alled for the release of all people arbitrarily held in china. in a bizarre reversal, hackers returned a portion of the $610 million they stole from a decentralized finance network. the the said they pulled off the heist for fun. about $300 million has been returned so far. the hackers are asking for donations as a reward.

the cdc has updated its messaging to recommend pregnant women get vaccinated against covid-19. new research shows women who received mrna access before 20 weeks of pregnancy have no increased risk of miscarriage or other safety concerns. the fda will amend the emergency use of vaccines to allow those with compromised immune systems to get a third dose. there may soon be more vaccines to choose from. officials will begin assessing five other candidates this month, including novavax and sinopharm vaccine. russia's vaccine is still undergoing assessment by the who . it has already approved vaccines made by pfizer, moderna, astrazeneca, and johnson & johnson. moderna will double enrollment in its trial of children under 12, following a request from u.s. regulators to collect

additional safety data. the study will register thousands of participants, six months to 12 years old. modernity said it would seek to enroll 7000. china's central bank is facing calls to cut interest rates, as fresh virus outbreaks threaten to derail recovery. government-affiliated, argue that success in curbing growth means that pboc can ease. this contrasts with global investment banks, seeing the pboc keeping great study for now. global news 24 hours a day on air and on quicktake powered by more than 2700 journalists and analysts in more than 120 countries. i am vonnie quinn. this is bloomberg. >> still ahead, more insight on inflation risks, the biden spending plan, with our guest

later this hour. next, our interview with the new ceo of the hong kong exchange on the impact of china's widening crackdown on the ipo pipeline. this is bloomberg. ♪

>> the new chief executive officer of the hkex downplayed the regulatory crackdown that has dented ipos and cause stocks to tumble. nicolas aguzin says there is a record pipeline of deals in the wings. nicolas: we are seeing similar type of modifications to how big tech works all around the world. all platform businesses are being scrutinized how they use their data, how they manage

information about their clients, do they have too much power, how will we manage how they deal with the public? so i don't see that as too different from other places. it may be in some sectors like education and a specific way we don't see too much in other places, but if you look at big companies, it is very similar. >> how is it impacting the ipo pipeline? they were down after blasting first quarter. nicolas: that's correct. the first six months, 46 ipos, double last year. it slowed down on the second order, and the pipeline is at record levels. if we look at how many companies have filed and been analyzed, about 200 companies, so a healthy pipeline. >> there is a report bytedance

will go ahead despite the quickly tory scrutiny? nicolas: the first -- despite the regulatory scrutiny? nicolas: 92% were tech companies. they are the ones coming. they will assess the market, where it is too volatile. there are companies listing. we had one last week. the activity has slowed down because some companies are evaluating the market. it has slowed down. the pipeline remains very strong and we have more companies inquiring about an ipo in hong kong, companies that were perhaps analyzing other markets and are now asking a lot of questions about hong kong. >> that was nicolas aguzin speaking with bloomberg. we have earnings thick and fast in australia.

full year free cash flow. when it comes to the earnings number, 6.7 billion, feel your total income between 21.6 and 23 billion, more or less in line with estimates. capex is 2.8 billion to 3 billion, and on track to make the 2023 underlying earnings target. we expect to see some resumption of growth in the half due to these issues when it comes to price competition and higher cost production. so telstra. so we're seeing numbers for a bank, 1.7 billion. net is 1.6 5 billion. we are watching some numbers out of another energy company from a

full year net loss of just over 2 billion, slightly better than expectations of 2.1, and underlying profit of $537 million, a touch better than estimates. a pretty big date when it comes to earnings in asia. we are watching closely the china regulatory crackdown story. there have been views on either side suggesting whether this will be a boon for hong kong ipos in the pipeline, or whether china will continue the regulatory scrutiny as well. shery ahn: we have seen that ipo boom. this chart showing inflows totaling more than $30 billion in hong kong alone in 2021. you mentioned the regulatory concerns. that is perhaps helping those

listings, exempting companies from going public before seeking the approval of the cybersecurity regulator, and this at a time when we get more hints that the scrutiny will continue for the next five years or so, according to the latest guidelines. we have a listing in hong kong later thursday. we will hear from the president exclusively as the startup makes his trading debut. coming up, samsung launching new devices for the latter half of the year, including the new galaxy phone, a direct rival to the upcoming iphone. we will get you the details. this is bloomberg. ♪

>> samsung launched its lineup for the latter half of the year with its new flagship model

galaxy being positioned as a direct rival to apple's upcoming iphone release, dramatically reducing the price to $999. let's talk to mark gurman for the details. is the new phone going to give apple a run for its money? mark: this is in a different category from the iphone. the new phones launched today. these are higher end, premium, foldable phones. apple is not in the space. i don't anticipate that for two years or three years. this is a different ballgame. they will not appeal to the same people who would buy an iphone. that price drop on the flip 3 is significant, about $500. the fold, the bigger model with the the larger display is getting a couple of hundred dollar price drop, so the

pricing is most of the story today. >> apple does not have skin in the foldable game. this has been plagued by technical issues and consumers ambivalent going back to the style. is there big demand? mark: i don't think so. i don't think there is huge demand for foldables. most people are starting with, not starting with the foldable phones. it does appear that samsung is trying to transition its phoneline to foldables, so it is possible that samsung will be an entirely foldable device portfolio. the vast majority from a 95% of the funds on the market, are these non-foldable form factors. i think the foldable formfactor is enticing, interesting personally.

if apple did that, i would buy that tomorrow. >> i think i would join you. [inaudible] >> it is the apple effect. stay with us. two big interviews coming up. we have one with the cfo of lenovo, and the latest results. we will speak to the cfo of aft, after first have earnings, and looking at the path ahead for a troubled company. shery ahn: very good conversation coming up. here are the latest headlines. bank of america catching up with jp morgan in asia-pacific investment banking. three years into a business rebuild. it says they are net connect -- tied with him on revenue. converting assets into actively manage etf's, as investor demand

sores, the bank says clients are increasingly adopting active etf's in addition to mutual funds and other vehicles. plenty more to come on "daybreak: australia." stay with us. this is bloomberg. ♪

>> let's take a look at the crypto space and we have had that really stunning news with the hackers and one of the biggest known crypto heists to

date, returning almost all of what they took. take a look at the downside. close to 1.5%. we have demand for funds affecting some of these etf's in particular. ethereum off by 2% and we are continuing to watch that space in terms of -- lots of people saying a day ago that 100,000 per bitcoin was in review again. so much volatility and uncertainty when it comes to flows in crypto. haidi: especially -- shery: especially if you track the crypto gains that ethereum has achieved. now, they are asking for a reward. >> they are trying to portray themselves -- the hacker is trying to portray itself as a

and yes, they asked for some money for a reward. when they were hacked, we discussed that all they could really do was post a letter which they did on twitter and nicely ask for the money back. please be in touch with us. the hacker -- this would be an international crime because so many people were impacted. now they have received 260 million dollars. we are told the rest is going to be returned and we also have information that messages are being sent with the unidentified hacker or hackers who say they have dumped all the assets. they also wanted to "keep things safe." they are clinging to have identified with his or her vulnerability in the platform and they are offering tips to keep it secure. it is a decentralized finance platform that operates in the smart chain and the ethereum and polygon blockchain's and it is where people can exchange, trade, buy tokens without any

intermediary. these insights becoming more and more popular. as this incident reflected, it is also perhaps making them more a target although it appears that as one expert says, it is really not that easy to liquidate the money once you steal it and that may be why the money is returned. haidi: such a plot twist. as we have been checking, broad downside trading when it comes to the crypto space. did the heist fundamentally hurt the value of the coins that were stolen? >> the trend is still intact for bitcoin and ethereum. you have to realize that there were 11 different cryptocurrencies impacted by this according to those that run the site. 93 million in ether. bitcoin also impacted as we can see bigger picture. there has been some ups and downs in recent days but it is

nearing a three month high and on a bit of an uptrend. many are pointing to the strength of ether as continuing to have a greater percentage gain than it coin but it is the expert that pointed out that this failed heist, if you will, since they have given the money back, demonstrates that if you can steal the assets, laundering them and cashing out is extremely difficult due to the transparency of the blockchain and the use of blockchain analytics. in this case, it looks like the hacker concluded the safest option was to return the stolen asset and it is important to note that there is a team of various crypto exchanges, experts, researchers, that are tracking down these hackers. it has identified three different addresses and asked them to blacklist any tokens coming from those addresses so it looks like this is a message at least to the crypto world that it is difficult to swoop in

and be the wild west crypto bank robber. it is a lot more complicated when so many can see your digital footprints, apparently. >> let's get you the first word news with vonnie quinn. vonnie: china has marked its last target in a broad-based regulatory down. beijing's banking has ensured the watchdog is stepping up scrutiny of technology platforms, ordering companies and global agents these to curb improper practices and step up user privacy protections. they had been projected to grow through hundred $85 billion in a decade. joe biden is urging opec and its allies to unleash more oil onto global markets, stressing the importance of affordable energy as the world pushes towards green energy and climate

controls. the appeal comes two days after class from the world health scientists to shift away from carbon emissions as swiftly as possible. i says keeping prices at the pump flow is important now. pres. biden: we are taking action to address gas prices as well. prices are earlier than they -- lower than they were earlier in the decade at high enough to create a pinch on working families. vonnie: the taliban has seized three more capitals in afghanistan and a local army headquarters. officials say they control about two thirds of the nation as the u.s. and nato finalize it with drawl after a decade-long war there. while the capital has not directly been threatened, it raises questions of how long the afghan government can maintain control of its countryside. 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. jerry. -- shery. shery: victor says for the most part, he is not interested in asia and emerging markets. in his exclusive interview on bloomberg's front row program, he explains why. >> i was brave or stupid, depending on your point of view. we set up small investing teams in asia. one year into it, we shorted that. it was the way the laws work. the laws may exist on a piece of paper in some of these emerging markets. they are really not followed in practice. if we want to fix these businesses which get troubled, we are trying to do a lot more than just vapor investors, and

your ability to make those changes operationally has really stymied -- is really stymied. we look at asia and say we look at large parts emerging markets and say, for the most part, not really for us. >> do you think china will become a viable market for credit investors like yourself? >> there are some credit investors already in china. some of them have operations out of hong kong. they have significant investments out of china. we just agree to disagree. over the next 10 years, it is not changing. you just look at the headlines coming out of china every day. in the u.s. papers, it does not feel so welcoming. if you are a u.s. investor, trying to restructure companies and improve businesses. >> that is the founder and chief investment officer of strategic

value partners speaking with erik schatzker in an exclusive front row interview. coming up on "daybreak australia ," our guest joins us to take a look at the latest inflation numbers out of the u.s. as well as giving us her views on president biden's infrastructure plan. this is bloomberg. ♪

>> time for morning cause ahead

of the asia trading day. speculation over the pboc trajectory is likely to pick up after the soft money and credit data we got from china for the month of july. while this number did disappoint, she is not stressing too much because trends have seemingly turned a corner, noting that households are sitting on piles of cash associate not expecting easing although a cut could be seen before year-end. macquarie sees scope for a rrr cut but is not expected easing as they expect china's delta outbreak will be quickly brought under control. with the government seeing sticking -- record calculating that could trim gdp growth by 1% to two percentage points. at bloomberg economics, flipping the board, they expect monetary and fiscal policy support will be stepped up has growth risks rise which they say --

inflation, shery. shery: here in the u.s., decelerating consumer price increases in july reinforce that's that u.s. inflation is peaking. why are two top federal reserve officials saying it is time to reduce monetary stimulus? kathleen hays is here with us. what is esther george saying? kathleen: she is thinking it might be time to start making a move. this is not one-sided. we know that the monthly number eased to 0.5% on a month in the month of july from 0.9% in june. but the year-over-year cpi is unchanged at 5.4%. if some of these things are pushing up inflation like the things that were scarce in the reopening, these kinds of things, if those prices are starting to ease, which they did in the latest report, maybe that means we have seen things coming

down. bloomberg economics pointing out that look at this chart. goods prices have been really driving the cpi higher. services prices have been flat. they think that as the economy is shifting and continues to reopen, you will see services prices are starting to rise as goods prices cool off and that will keep inflation in a 5% to 5.5% range towards the end of the year. there are some doubts about inflation and what it will do but she does see the labor market picking up and she says that even acknowledging the risk of the delta variant, it is time to start dialing back stimulus. >> now with the recovery well underway, the transition from the extraordinary monetary policy accommodation to more neutral settings must follow. today's tight economy, as i described earlier, does not call for tight monetary policy but i think it does signal that the time has come to dial back the

settings. kathleen: esther george went on in these repaired remarks. this is no accidental payment. she thinks tapering should be looked at now. that has to get in the mix as well. rob kaplan, we knew he was in favor of tapering. he says the fed should make the taper plan announcement at the september meeting, start tapering in october, do it over eight months, be done by june. george had not said anything like this so far so another fed official is on board. shery: kathleen hays, let's discuss this with our next guest to assess the evidence shows some of the upward pressure might be easing. let's discuss with the chief economist for robertson stephens wealth management. great to have you with us. what stood out for you in the latest cpi print? >> the different behavior for different sectors in the economy definitely stood out. top line, as kathleen said, is

very noticeable. it caught everybody's attention. the year-over-year, not dropping , decelerating, i guess i should say. it really was not expected. the concern was that it would move in the other direction, which it did not. there is a lot being read into the month over month numbers that were presented but one month does not make a trend. for the points made earlier, it is a little too soon to say that this is conclusive evidence that we could see some of the heat on prices coming off. notably, we had different things going on mike rental car prices. which were skyrocketing earlier. on the other hand, you have this

concept over occupied homes. that will probably continue to be the case. some of the heat is off but not all of the heat is off. cap that is why we are stepping up from the kansas city fed although there is real interesting positioning going on. >> in fact showing you how the prices, the inflation concerns over those factors that were pushing prices higher have been easing month on month but that me ask about the fiscal plans. we have the infrastructure package. we also had the budget plan, three point $5 trillion budget package. this gtv chart on the bloomberg showing you how the u.s. budget deficit has grown over the course of the pandemic. how does this factor into the macroeconomic picture? >> the infrastructure bill that is going to the house factors in because the hope is that that

will pass and that is going to be some stimulus that will come in as the coronavirus package phases out and we will keep economy rolling at a good clip. and most significant everybody, keep the employment numbers looking good as jobs continue to open up. i just wanted to emphasize, there is so much going on here. the package that was passed this morning at 4:00 a.m., my dear, the $3.5 trillion, which the house has said they wanted to see that action before the infrastructure plan, which everybody wants to see happen, that is a budget resolution, a blueprint. it is not a budget. the resolution has passed but it is not quite the same thing as saying this is what is going to happen and when it is going to happen. the thing that is focused in

right now is the $1 trillion infrastructure bill, if that passes, that will keep money and spending in the economy and i want to emphasize, it will be very important, many of us think that is an important bill from the standpoint of doing things to help raise productivity in the united states and the u.s. economy because productivity has been lagging. there are many things that should help productivity growth improve. >> does the widening budget gap worry you? >> i am an economist. you have to be worried about that in some way, shape, or form. the question is going to be how we are going to address it down the road. right now, i think it is tolerable. economic growth is tolerable. we need to have economic growth continuing to patch up with the

data that we put on the books. it is a large increase and it started back in 2017 when the tax cuts came into effect. a lot note that the congressional budget office, which is the expert on this, when the coronavirus package past, concluded that it would effectively pay for itself by raising economic growth and raising tax revenues that way. this infrastructure bill, they did not say that. they said it would be a net add to the debt situation. the budget resolution, that's going to be a sobering message. shery: chief economist for robertson stephens wealth management, always great having you on. thank you. we are discussing in ration area here in the u.s., but this is a

problem around the world, especially for emerging markets in latin america, where we continue to see these inflationary pressures surprising to the upside as this gtv chart on the bloomberg shows. the inflation supplies index now at the highest level since the early to thousands and this coming at a time when we are headed towards the bank of mexico rate decision tomorrow. on thursday, we are expecting it to hike for a second consecutive month because prices now are at almost double the bank's target of 3%. haidi: a lot of this has to do with fuel prices as well as food price inflation as well. the headlines, no matter where you look, uruguay lifting their key rate inflation above target, across africa, ghana, inflation stopping forecast. here in this part of the world, indonesia, we are seeing inflation nudging higher again on the food and fuel prices so it is a complicated situation

for policymakers because a lot of these economies are still being hit by delta. shery: even this morning, the problem is growth. if you have inflationary pressures accompanied by growth, it should not be that much of a problem but brazil's retail sales falling within 1.5% last month despite the fact that we were expecting them to recover with restrictions starting to ease. always that dynamic between inflation and growth, right? haidi: yup. we continue to of course watch that as one of our top stories and you can get that and more top stories on bloomberg radio as well. you can are more from the days newsmakers and get in depth analysis from the daybreak team, broadcasting from our studio in hong kong. lots more ahead. this is bloomberg. ♪

>> earnings season is getting underway in australia. a wealth manager announced a 57% lift. paul allen joins us now with more. improved set of numbers but still no dividend. what is the recovery path -- what does the recovery path look like? paul: things have been troubled for amp but these numbers were ok given the context. underlying profit of 181 million

aussie dollars. that was an improvement of 57% on the same period a year ago, a revenue of $1.71 billion, down 5% on year. there was no dividend back in february given the trouble they have been having. that is not surprising either. they were one of the hardest hit companies from the royal commission investigation into misconduct in the banking industry and there was an internal sexual harassment candlewick laid bare all sorts of cultural problem inside the company as well and that led to an exodus of management including the ceo. this is the first set of results under his replacement. a deal to unload the whole company fell through. making strong progress, allowing them to run as their own private business. a relisting in the first half of 2022, expected.

shery: it is a busy day on earnings. how did the numbers look? paul: pretty much in line for them. total income, $23 billion. the dividend made expectations. there were a couple of bonuses of three cents special dividend. a buyback of $1.35 billion. $3 billion of capex as well coming down the line. underlying profit was down ready for percent to 537 million, a net loss of $2 billion was not as bad as expected. agl is dealing with a few problems, not the least of which is weakening wholesale energy

prices and agl also in the midst of looking at a merger itself for the generation and retail arm. we might get more news later on. a dividend of $.34 so there is still something in it for shareholders. quite a slide in the past 12 months. shery: paul allen with the latest corporate results out of australia. we will be speaking with the cfo later on "daybreak asia." tune in for that. we have a quick check of the latest business flash headlines. hong kong exchange's new ceo downplayed a regulatory crackdown by china which dented the pace of ipo's and lead to a profit drop in the second quarter. net income missed estimates, falling 7% to $356 million. in his first earnings statement since taking over, he said the macro backdrop will stay challenging but firms are still showing strong interest in hong kong listings.

a chinese electric vehicle startup is said to be exploring a u.s. ipo as soon as this year. shanghai-based company is working with underwriters ahead of a listing in which it could raise about $300 million. this is bloomberg. ♪

haidi: hello and welcome to "daybreak asia." sophie: i am sophie kamaruddin in hong kong. we are counting down to asia's major market opens. shery: i am shery ahn. our top stories this hour commission stocks set for early gains after new wall street highs, moderating u.s. inflation easing concerns about eminent fed tapering. kansas city's esther george is the latest to