♪ >> hello, good morning. we are counting down to asia's major market open. >> welcome to "daybreak: asia."" our top stories this hour. russian tensions over ukraine after a potentially decisive week. the u.s. promises swift punishment for any invasion. asian stocks may fall as havens rally. investors are skittish about

inflation and the fed. and hong kong warns the city is facing a crisis as record virus cases risk its covid zero strategy. mainland china steps into help. haidi: quite of lot of worry, when it comes to what investors have to contend with. not surprising -- we are looking at the trade at the start of this week. when it comes to japan, strother and hong kong come all playing out there. in the starting three minutes of trading, this open in sydney seen -- about a quarter of 1%. we are watching to see if crown resorts trades as we did get the announcement the board would be recommending shareholders except that $13.00 offer -- $13.10 offer from blackstone bid chicago nikkei futures just pulling back into positive territory so far as we get into the start of trading in tokyo. new york crud continuinge to add gains of 0.6%.

political tensions, as well as carrying around worries of the bond rout and fed expectations. shery: one of the reasons we are seeing a clear direction when it comes to futures at the moment, unchanged and mutes. this, after we saw u.s. stocks falling last week. s&p 500, the nasdaq 100, the biggest slide since 2020. and we are watching treasury yields. and while we may see more pressure right now, given that we saw yields sinking in the previous session, although i got to say about that 192 level, and given the huge global treasury and equity route we have seen last year, haidi. haidi: let's get back to that stock, trump story, president biden has told ukraine that the u.s. and its allies would act swiftly and decisively if russia were to invade ukraine. he made similar comments during saturday's call with russia's vladimir putin. putin says his demands have

not been met. we are seeing this diplomatic push to try to resolve the situation continue, albeit without much result. >> yes, well, biden's national security advisor set the tone in his appearance on the u.s. sunday news shows. he said, and i quote, "there's a distinct possibility that there will be a major military action very soon by russia against ukraine." while, of course, not spelling out or saying it's a possibility -- impossible to tell exactly when that might happen. we need to remember that russia insists it has no plans to invade ukraine. so there is this game of nerves going on, and that is clearly going to head into this week. it'll probably set the tone for this week. there will be some diplomacy. the german chancellor is going to kiev and moscow, and we will

just have to see if that moves the needle. as you were referencing, of course, from last week's events on wall street, the markets are paying attention to these political tensions. shery: joining us from washington. also setting the tone for markets across the world, of course, is the latest on the pandemic. hong kong morning it is facing a crisis with a widening outbreak that threats to overwhelm -- that threatens to overwhelm its health care system. this is a reported 3000 preliminary positive infections on sunday. let's bring in our chief north asia correspondent. where does hong constanza right now? -- hong kong stand right no w? >> officials saying it is a potential crisis as a hospital beds for covid patients have potentially been filled up. 1,347 new confirmed infections

on sunday, in addition to another 2000 or so preliminary positives. so, this is obviously a severe health problem, but also a facilities problem for hong kong, which up until the last month or so, has been dealing with infections in the single or double digits. now they have come of course, more than 1000 for several days in a row, exceeding hospital capacity. we had the chief secretary in hong kong, the number two official after carrie lam, go in saturday to meet with chinese officials. there was lots of speculation in local media and out on the street over whether this would be a harbinger for potential mainland style strict lockdown on hong kong. he did say, however, after he returned to hong kong, they are not planning such a lockdown. they are seeking and have gotten assurances from mainland officials that the mainland will

allow or pledging fresh produce as well as chilled meats and supplies, as well as testing facilities and testing capabilities as well as, down the road, building some isolation and quarantine facilities for hong kong, as they are at capacity right now. they are telling people who suspect that they are positive, if they are healthy and fairly a symptomatically, to stay at home or potentially contact their local doctor. do not go to emergency rooms, do not go to the hospital. priority care will be given to the elderly and children who are not vaccinated, and those come of course, who are severely ill. so, this is where we stand right now. yes, there is a potential shortage of fresh vegetables and other supplies here in hong kong, a border checkpoint that is key for cargo from mainland china has been suspended or, for a short amount of time because several workers did test

positive. so, it is a challenge to the zero covid policy here, but hong kong official so far saying they're sticking to that policy and trying to nip this in about -- nip this in the bud. haidi: our chief north asia correspondent with the latest. central makers meeting in jakarta this week. a busy few days for china as well. we could see movement from the pboc. it cuts its medium-term lending facility rate last month. let's bring in our correspondent enda curran. certainly no lack of topics to talk about this time. enda: no. haidi, it's interesting, it is the first meeting of the year for the g-20, and when they met in october, the commentary that was all about -- now when they meet in jakarta this weekend, they will travel in person or

virtually, we are talking about the biggest energy shortage to face the g-20 since it was set up after the asia financial crisis, u.s. inflation back where it was in the 1980's, you have -- for example, up 50%. there is no doubt inflation and how to respond to that via energy prices and supply problems will dominate the conversation. but there are certainly other issues on the docket, too. it will probably some reflection on the spill over from geopolitical tensions with russia and the ukraine. and, of course, it would be interesting to hear their view on where we are in the pandemic. whether or not policy makers have started to look beyond pandemic measures are whether the endemic -- is the center of their worries. there is no doubt -- this one will be one of the busiest meetings in a long time. shery: christ pleasures. it is not even story around the world -- there are price

pressures. it is not even -- an even story around the world. enda: you are right. we don't yet have an inflation story in china on the consumer level at least. we will have, we have gotten interest rate position tomorrow. money -- operations do by the pboc. the expectations as they will not cut interest rates again because, a, their recent interest rates cuts are flowing through the economy and, b, there was a big increase -- i n january. c, there are objects involved in it. they do not want to be seen to do that to back rate cuts. then there's the final particle point, we're just pulling out of the lunar new year holidays. that is always a bit of a skewed effect in january and february. it will take till march to determine where the economy is going.

that said, all the suggestions are that interest rate are going in one direction, and that is lower i n order to support the slowing economy. shery: enda curran with what to expect out of g-20 not to mention china's policy decisions this week. let's get to vonnie quinn with the first word headlines. vonnie: russia says world powers have made significant progress and revising the 2015 iran nuclear grim and, as talks in vienna and to their final stage. it seems russia's top diplomat at the talk said is must -- assessments are positive. russia has tended to share more upbeat outlook compared to western powers. candidate is preparing to open the ambassador bridge that links ontario to the united states after a five-day protest against vaccine mandates shut it down. authorities started -- before working to remove barriers. bridge traffic is important to both the u.s. and the canadian economies. as a transport of nearly $14

million an hour in goods. san francisco fed president mary daly is calling for the rate hike path to be data-dependent and measured. she told cbs, an aggressive action can be destabilizing. not pushing for back-to-back races each month. she also says it is too early to put a number on rate hikes after the st. louis present -- advocated for -- the st. louis president advocated for three. global news 24 hours a day on air and on bloomberg quicktake powered by 2700 journalists and analysts in 120 countries. i am vonnie quinn. this is bloomberg. haidi: still ahead, money forward, the second-most valuable start up in japan by market cap tells us about the head when startups are facing in terms of fundraising and going public in the country -- the headwinds company's are facing. south korea's former foreign

minister on how covid has hit the global labor market. this is bloomberg. ♪

>> the pandemic has created lingering effects such as labor -- and supply constraints. let's discuss all of the match a picture with former south korea's foreign minister kang kyung-wha, one of the five candidates being nominated to lead the u.n.'s international labor organization. always great catching up with you. thank you so much for your time. we continue to see the labor shortages brought on by the pandemic. i wonder how much leverage this actually gives to workers in improving their conditions, and if this is sustainable. >> well, i think the ilo has been tracking this very closely.

the loss of full-time jobs still remains about 120 million globally, compared to a situation without the pandemic. and that has meant millions falling into poverty. so, globally, we are talking about job losses that need to be recovered. i think it varies fomr country to country -- from country to country. i know in the u.s, there is a shortage of workers, and that has been a thing that the policymakers have to deal with, but globally we are still talking about shortages of jobs than workers. job rich recovery is what the ilo has been advocating for, and also, some social protection scheme to help those who will follow through the cracks because of loss of employment and income and they have fallen into poverty. job rich growth and social

protection schemes are the two pillars of the ilo's work. shery: a few are elected to had the ilo, we do have the election coming up, of course. what do you plan to prioritize? as you mentioned, we have not seen not a very even recover around the world. not to mention even within countries we continue to see the female labor force being hit, the informal economy also a problem. >> exactly. i think the recovery picture looks very different within countries and a cost -- and across countries. those countries that have been struggling with the informal economy, and we are talking about many countries in africa and southeast asia, that challenge has further deepened, because those were in the informal economy have just, the informality by definition means invisibility. they have been invisible to begin with and further, have

fallen into that invisibility trap. many countries i think have been alert and agile in this -- even with limited physical space. so we have good practices for workers who were in the informal sector with very smart policies and investments made by governments, of transforming the formal sector -- into the formal sector. many country have newly rolled out social protection schemes that were not there before, using digital tools. so we have lots of good stories to build upon from around the world. the path now is of course, scaling that up. that means not just individual countries maximizing the physical space that they have, but also, linking up with the ilo, with international financial institutions that have the financial resources, and this will be the job of the next director general of the ilo

going into the next few years. losses for women have been faster and deeper than for men in the world of work. and we know that many of these informal jobs are taken up by women. and women with formal jobs also had to give them up because of the need for care work at home. so, this -- you know, women have been hit far harder than men, all other things being equal. i think particular emphasis on getting women back into the job market, helping them to maintain that job, and providing them with policy means for the work-life balance, so that they are able to do the work and also keep the family is basically the work of international organizations in support of this agenda. haidi: the problem is so many of those policies are dependent on

domestic governments. sometimes even on domestic states. how do you scale up -- of providing the support and framework to work, women who are working both inside and outside the home, when a lot of that is domestically, politically driven? >> well, yes, certainly, the domestic-political reality is where we need to do the work. but the ilo's unique mandate is the international labor expander that has been built over the past 100 years. the ilo's work is to provide for global norms that some have already reached. other countries will take time and effort to reach that. the distance to getting to that standard is sometimes short. for other countries, it is very long. and that distance between the norms and the reality on the ground is where the ilo needs to

make its intervention. i think that is a far better situation than -- if we didn't have these global -- the common standard that governments should aspire to. i'm encouraged because i think the pandemic crisis has really challenged governments. and many have turned this crisis into an opportunity to strengthen the protection schemes, to strengthen the protection of workers, to bring those workers and the informal sector who didn't have any protection schemes to begin with, by bringing them into the formal economy, have now given them a place in the protection that provides, that is provided by the laws of the countries, many of which are built upon the ilo standards. haidi: the most recent report also focused and nondiscriminatory and concerns they have over these practices

when it comes to labor practices in -- a region. if you were heading up the organization, given that china is a member state, should there be more pressure put on beijing to come in to line with the standard that are expected more broadly -- the standards that are expected more broadly? >> i think wherever forced labor issues arise. forced labor is antithetical to all that the ilo has stood for. i think the chinese at 37 to get it their willingness-- the chinese authorities have indicated their willingness to work with and find conventions when it comes to these issues. the ilo is a technical agency, nonpolitical, technical, and ilo should stand ready to work with governments to further ratify these core conventions related to labor rights. and i think there is --

space for the ilo to work with the chinese authorities, and we are, of course, the ilo is also very aware of the political context in which this issue is being played out, but also, the fundamental mandate of the ilo to be there to work with governments to push for these labor rights. shery: talking about political context, of course, the last time i spoke to you you were the minister of foreign affairs and south korea. let me draw on your expertise on that as well, because of course, we do have the north korea missile issue ongoing right now. we have trilateral talks over the weekend. how do you assess the global response to north korea so far? >> well, i think the latest series of missile launches have been, of course, very worrying, the less one in particular. i think it is only right that

the foreign ministers of united states, korea, and japan have gotten together -- to provide a common response. i think the -- the hawaii meeting was a very good one. it is, of course, very disappointed because -- disappointing because i think the south korean government in close consultation with the americans have really tried to send a message that the north koreans should come back to the dialogue table. and dialogue is the only way to resolve this issue, and i would certainly hope and i'm very confident that the south korean authorities are very much staying with that course in consultation with our very close allies and friends. haidi: if you were to be successful, you would be the first female leader in the organization's history, and also the first asian leader as well. what has been your experience and getting to this point, and what can be done to ensure more

leadership positions go to women and also people of color? >> well, i think we should put ourselves as candidates in these global leaders -- leadership positions, which is why this is one of the motivations that have made me put my name into the running. just being there, i think, is hugely inspiring and empowering to young women who seek to make a meaningful place for themselves in the global scheme of things. and this has certainly been my experience as a first foreign minister in korea. young woman are just inspired to see me in this position, but being in this position, of course, you have to make sure that you deliver. you deliver on expectations. and so, women in leadership positions, i think, really have to try, go the extra mile to do that, you are good at what you're doing, but also make sure

you do not pull up the ladder behind you. you provide that ladder so that future generations of women can aspire to the same. i think men, also, also have to be a part of the equation. men leaders in particular have to have that commitment to promote women and make the playing ground level for women to compete equally as men. work-life balance is certainly, makes a huge difference for women who have that based on the independent -- on the independence to bea s competitive as men in the labor market. international organizations like the ilo, the human rights offices, who set these norms on gender equality have to also advocate more forceful he, more robustly for the standards to be not just adopted but practiced. haidi: right. we so appreciate your time. best of luck with everything.

south korea's former foreign minister. kang kyung-wha. this is bloomberg. ♪

♪ >> crown has accepted a bid from blackstone bid the deal could help bring down the current when it comes to this troubled period in crown sister where he has found to underpay taxes and been involved in money laundering. a lot of opportunity for blackstone if this goes right. >> that's right. there were three properties and crown's portfolio, casinos in perth, and melbourne and sydney. each comes with its own

challenges. the casino in sydney has never been able to get a license. the casino and melbourne is operating under very tight supervision. next month, we will learn of the fate of the perth casino's license as well. -- it's involvement with criminal syndicates, underpayment of taxes, all sorts of other legal and ethical issues as well. but this deal values crown at 8.9 billion australian dollars. and blackstone's had a couple of goes at this. it was about a year ago and made an initial bid of $11.85. this offer of $13.10 australian dollars a share, pretty decent premium that we saw on fridays close. a decent pay way for james packer. he owns 36% of crown. this deal would net him, $3.2 billion. in terms of the attractiveness for blackstone, yes, all three

casinos are under a cloud of the moment but two of them operate in monopoly in sydney. in terms of -- it's a pretty attractive proposition, and all throughout the scandals we have seen crown's share price hold up pretty well because of that. shery: we're also tracking the fall of the global supply chain crunch. these are the top stories today. hong kong supplies of vegetables and poultry from mainland china have been hit after some vehicle drivers tested positive for covid. a some of the situation last week has seen rockets and supermarket shelves less bare after a 70% drop in delivery. avocados are price or than ever the super bowl season, and halted shipment from a mexico region to the u.s. won't help. the temporary suspension follows security worries in the world's biggest avocado producing region after the u.s. had one of its inspection officers receive a threatening call.

super bowl sunday is the biggest day for avocado -- functions and u.s. under armour expressed -- expect supply chain issues to affect them through december. it will impact revenue, while gross margin is projected to fall due to higher freight expenses. haidi: let's take a look at commodities now. this is what we are facing, as we continue to see that's exuberant across the board -- that exuberance across the board in the commodity space. really holding above 95 bucks a barrel. we are concerns adding to that with ukraine tensions -- with supply concerns, as we also continue to watch some of the concerns over what $100 oil would mean when it comes to the global inflation shock. we are seeing a full -- when it comes to copper prices.

bloomberg users of the terminal can read more about these stories at nitrade, nl. shery: canadian officials are preparing to reopen the ambassador bridge linking canada to the u.s. after police removed protesters. the five-day protest shut down the key trade artery between the two countries. let's bring in bloomberg's toronto chief. what exactly did these protesters want to achieve, and have they achieved that? >> you know, it's really difficult to say, to say simply what they wanted to achieve, because when you talk to them there is such a vast range of demands. i think it is fair to say in broad strokes that all of the protest that we are seeing in canada reflect a certain amount of exhaustion. as we're seeing around the world with restrictions that in canada have been in place longer than many other parts of the world,

partly because of the vulnerability of our health care system, right? the government has kept measures in place because of concerns about whether or not the hospitals --- the hospital system would be able to withstand it if we got a big surge. when you talk to these protesters, and i was on the ground in windsor all weekend, you hear everything from they want justin trudeau to resign to no more masks to the end of vaccine mandates that are in place right now for truckers crossing the border. to just kind of a different view of canada right now. there's a lot of concern that there were a lot of chances -- of freedom- -chants of freedom and something is somehow being lost in canada that they don't know how to fix. haidi: as you say, the protest may be over for now but a lot of these long-running issues when it comes to inequality, when it

comes to concerns about what this means for the middle class, they run deep. so, what does that mean for the political outlook for canada? >> yeah. it's really difficult, because to some extent justin trudeau is being squeezed by both sides on . on the left, there has been a lot of disappointed with his period as prime minister because he hasn't come through on all the environmental promises, for example, that he made when he campaigned. but certainly on the right, the degree of anger we are seeing right now is something that i haven't seen in canada before. and, you know, when it comes to things, when the conversation -- conversations about widening income inequality, that is something i think a lot of canadians can relate to, but the other parts of the conversation it's like you're talking to people with two entirely different sets of facts. a lot of them have such a deep mistrust of media that they

don't believe anything that is reported on mainstream media with the possible exception of fox news. they are getting all their information from social media. they do not trust doctors. they do not trust the hospitals. you can't say that about everyone who was there but there was a core group that believes that, and that is a very difficult chasm for politicians to deal with, and i think that is exactly what we are seeing right now. shery: our toronto bureau chief at the latest on those protests. we do have an alert on the bloomberg. we have now learned that lockheed martin has terminated a path to buy -- this was supposed to be a $4.4 billion takeover by lockheed, which already antitrust regulators had moved to block. already during the merger developments, we actually saw the board fight continue, as it was revealed that there was the long simmering tension between the chairman and the chief

executive officer. and now we are seeing the lockheed martin has terminated that pact by aerojet for $4.4 billion, as u.s. antitrust regulators have moved to block the merger. haidi: let's get to vonnie quinn with the first word headlines. vonnie: tensions over russia's military buildup near ukraine are entering a potentially decisive week. the u.s. says an invasion may be imminent while vladimir putin accuses america failing to meet its demands. a phone call saturday between biden and putin made no apparent progress. there is a distinct possibility of major military action soon. pakistan has warning that afghanistan could send -- threaten regional stability. the prime minister pointed to the u.s. refusal to recognize the taliban, coupled with sanctions and frozen assets. he says foreign governments have

no choice but to try to work with the group to avert a larger crisis. pakistan has seen more militant and taxes the taliban took control. working on air 23 billion-dollar financing package to counte r'china's reach in africa. sources tell us member states are yet to submit to the financing. beijing promised around $60 billion to africa and 2018 via its belt and road initiative. global news 24 hours a day on air and on bloomberg quicktake powered by 2700 journalists and analysts in 120 countries. i am vonnie quinn. this is bloomberg. haidi? haidi: coming, japan psychologic startup tells us what needs to change in the nations lagging venture capital scene. he joins us next on japan ahead. this is bloomberg. ♪

>> it is time for japan ahead. we are watching japanese markets that will open in just under 18 minutes' time. we are seeing some pressure on markets broadly, although nikkei futures are gaining ground at the moment. we saw the japanese yen strength

and during a long holiday weekend, that depends is just coming back from. but what we have been really -- really been watching is the jgb space. we saw 10-year yields creeping up to the -- boj tolerance. it has eased a little bit in the last couple days. that will be a key sector that we will be watching, haidi. haidi: as you know prime minister -- the crime it is to has made startups one of his key areas of growth -- the prime minister has made startups one of his key areas of growth but the nation is struggling to shake off interpretation as a lagging technological hub. the fintech players provide services and platforms for personal and business budgeting and it seems that strong topline growth of a market cap of $3 billion after listed in tokyo at a $500 million valuation. i want to bring in the chief a

public affairs at money forward. he joins us now from tokyo. great to have you with us. so, one of the things that as i was researching the company that really struck me that you guys, despite being successful by any other account, you're really struggled to fund raise within japan. why do you think that is? what does it say about the appetite for risk there? >> yeah, so, this, thank you very much for having me on the show today. the huge difference between let's say the u.k. and the u.s. market and japan is the depth of the largest rounds that venture companies can raise after thay have th -- they have to ipo. last year we raised more than $300 million mainly in foreign markets. although there are ample japanese assets inside japan, there-- it does not have the capacity to raise the risk capital above let's say $100

million. we have to go outside of japan to reach investors who can actually wait for a few years before a typical -- company can reach into the black. haidi: you also said you have a non-japanese-style growth model. what does that mean, and how does, does it, i guess fit with the ability to have growth within japan? >> like, i think there is a trend within the last three or four years where finally some of the japanese venture companies after going through the ipo have been able to raise money outside japan, but this was under the condition that many companies were including us, kind of hi tting the revenue growth of more than 40% rate. i think there is, still a strong trend that supports claims of companies that can actually deliver continuous

growth. but that wasn't as evident there in the traditional japanese markets. finally, some of the japanese investors are starting to understand, but we still have to go abroad to raise that kind of money right now. shery: let's talk a little bit about japan's digital transformation or the lack of that transformation, because of course, we are talking about a society that i remember living there was very much attached to its physical -- renting books, not to mention that even during the pandemic we kept hearing about these instances when they still have to fax prescription medications and so forth. do you believe that a cashless society is possible for japan? >> so, i think there's a strong change within this -- so, during the last three or four years, japan has actually -- informed a lot of citizens with the digital transformation both in the public and the private

sector. in the public sector come of course, many people know that in last september we created the digital agency which is the pan government initiative to transform the government itself and, not only that, but also to advocate the private sector's becoming digital. no more faxes, no more cash, no more stamps and no more physical communications that it needed. shery: what change does japan need the most right now? >> so, i think there are two things. one is again about abolishing the physical constraints. so, in japan, many of the laws, i remember there are more than 4000 rules in the government which actually restrict many of the private transactions to be done in a physical manner. there is a strong union by the japanese -- right now,

transforming everything single o f those 4000. the other is cashless. so, japan used to make like only 20% of the consumption via cashless transactions. after five years of government initiatives, now it has turned to 29.7%, but we need to change that into 40% by five years from now. with these two very -- but digital level initiatives, we are taking a strong change with -- regarding how low it was in japan. haidi: i'm just chuckling at the ads we are running for money forward. shery just went through some of the ways, some examples that we see the entrenchment of tradition within japan, still even at this point. what do you think is the most detrimental in terms of the way that business is still being done, or that technology is being used that could be a big

hindrance to your business? >> so, from our point of business, internet banking is only used by 25% of households and businesses here in japan. these figures are like 70% in other different economies. so, like, this restricts a lot of like financial -- or fintech related innovations, because many of the innovations in finance -- -- appears on the peripheral side and not just in the center. as a company which has advocated financial api's, we have connected to almost all the japanese banks' api's three years ago, but this is on the, but use api's people need to have internet banking. only a quarter of the population has that. we have to turn that into twice or triple that amount in the

near future. shery: so, how does the government play into this environment in terms of public policy? has it helped or hurt when it comes to innovation, fintech, venture capital, th startup culturee - the startup culture overall? >> so, the japanese financial service agency has been very, very supportive to the fintech scene over the past six years since commissioner morey was in charge. so, initially like many of the government officials thought that financial information -- innovation should come from financial institutions, but there was a strong change in the regime. so, nowadays many of the government officials, and also the -- of industry put high expectations -- rathe -- rather than internal innovation. that is been hugely supportive.

also, the measures to change the 25% internet banking russia. -- banking ratio. we haven't set targets, but there is a very different measurement going on inside the government. everybody understands it just cannot get worse. shery: there is only up to go from here. it was great speaking to you. the money for chief of public affairs. you can watch this interview and other conversations on the tv go function available to all bloomberg terminal subscribers. tune in for japan ahead every week to hear from the leading names in japanese business. that's mondays at 8:30 a.m. tokyo time on bloomberg tv. ♪

haidi: >> the board of corona has agreed to blackstone'-- of crown has agreed to blackstone's bid to take over the casino. gps group reported fourth quarter profit that top estimates. the head of expectations for -- ahead of expectations for $1.6

billion. dbs got a boost from higher loan profit. the indian government is planning to sell a stake in the insurance company of india. according to a drug perspective, they would sell about -- shares and won't offer new stocks. indian wants to compete, complete what is said to be the largest share sale by march to bridge a widening budget deficit. shery: as we speak, the super bowl is ongoing right now. every american will be glued to their television not because of "daybreak: asia" but because of the super bowl. betting is up in all forms, expected to rise 80% this year. $1 billion of that total would be legal betting outlets, really wagering to see who will win, the rams versus the bengals in the sofi stadium, the final

showdown of the nfl season. wagers through pools and gambling with bookies as well. and we have seen a huge rise when it comes online betting as well. haidi: the economics of the super bowl are just so interesting. not least of which is what consumers are looking up. let's see if we can bring up what we had up before when it comes to spending on super bowl, on the big day, the amount of takeout food, food. delivery that is being ordered 60 apparently -- 60% apparently is pizza. not to mention the kind of revival of some of these big names, maybe a little bit of a throwback, like some of these music names, like snoop dogg better specter to take front and center when it comes to that performance. eminem is another one that i know that a lot of people of our generation. shery: yeah. i remember listening to him a lot when i was growing up.

definitely something to watch, and also when it comes to foods, apparently avocado, the biggest consumption of the year happening today. yeah. i mean, delicious. so that's -- haidi: it's not avocado and toast, like here in australia. it's guac. that's what it is. shery: chips. let's take a look at some of the stocks that may move as well. we do have the japan reopen after a holiday on friday. an ipo could be affected by legal battle out of china. we're water softbank. we are also watching -- holding. abc mars acquiring -- japan. nasdaq boosting the operating income guidance for the full year to just under $710 million, beating estimates. we are also watching hino motors after a deal for norway to make battery packs for we'll be watching the stocks at the open in seoul and tokyo.

they are next. this is bloomberg. ♪

>> welcome to "daybreak asia." >> asia's major markets have just opened for trade. geopolitical worries crowd the market. investors are skittish about inflation and the prospect of an aggressive fed. russian tensions over ukraine. the u.s. promises swift punishment for any invasion. hong kong warns it is facing a

crisis of virus cases, risk, and covid zero strategy. mainland china stepping in to help. >> japan coming online after a long weekend. we are seeing downside pressure with financials and health care leading the declines. we continue to see oil prices higher. we continue to watch travel stocks. japan will consider raising interest amid foreign arrivals. we are keeping an eye on anything related to travel. japanese yen reversing gains and trading at that 115 level. we keep a close eye on what is happening with japanese yields because jgb yields at the 10 year rose to a six-year high. we are seeing a little bit of pressure right now, but still at around the 0.211 level. take a look at the kospi. it is moving around more than 1% after already the worst day in

about two weeks. the korean won holding about 1199 after getting past the 1200 level against the u.s. dollar. we have of course u.s. yield surging last week. we are waiting to see jobless numbers later in the week. >> we continue to watch the global bond markets. we see australia early on, the 10 year yield dropping amid concerns over ukraine. we see the start of the safe haven trade friday, not to mention pushback when it comes to fed officials and ecb officials as well against rising rate hike bets. we are also seeing kind of a split when it comes to where inflation is expected to be in the short-term versus the long-term. the bond market thinks things will come down in the long term. when it comes to the equity front we are seeing sydney stocks recouping losses from friday. still a very split session. nice gains when it comes to

energy. crude prices continue to push a bit higher, but significant losses when it comes to information technology as well as health care. we have seen health care amtek the biggest losers as -- health care and tech the biggest losers. the bond market is showing mixed signals when it comes to the inflation outlook. the two year yield as well as the two-year holding. pretty steady at this point. s&p futures pointing to mildly positive territory. concerns over supply-side shocks with ukraine continuing to the upside when it comes to pressure on crude prices. let's get to the market analysis. great to have you with us. we see repricing across the bond market. where do we end up when it comes to how much of the fed i guess aggressiveness is already baked

in after last week? >> we actually do seem more selloff in the treasury markets. markets are choppy in the near term driven by inflation. the reason why we think treasury markets will be off current levels, we expect inflation to keep to current levels. unless markets will get more jittery and prices and more hikes. -- price in more hikes. with the fed turning hawkish on their rhetoric, we expect to prices and more hikes. >> the divergences and policy settings is actually china. >> yes, financials as well as

afghan equities. china, we expect to see plot as well as strong growth. china specifically, we like offshore china as well as onshore. offshore china has large exposure to regulatory areas that have been the focus. we feel right now a lot of debt has been priced in and there will be clear guidance on pricing that. we see upside from current levels, onshore china especially, quick note, there's a lot of policy support coming in. the government is focusing on stability. we expect the pboc to come in with additional support, rrr cuts, repo. >> does that translate to positivity for the bond space as well? we continue to see this unraveling of the chinese

property sector affecting the bond space. >> yes. the bond space, especially in china, we expect policy support to favor that. international investors will also look to some form of safe haven purchasing. within asia, not always going to experience the same trajectory. we see the bond markets facing a bit of stress. the government is like the to spend more as far as take more from public funding to help this budget push. >> continuing the policy divergence theme, is that why we see weakness on the japanese yen? >> yes. we expect the boj to be one of the last to actually lift. the policy divergence will likely slow appreciation in the

end. we are actually looking for the end to weaken -- the yen to weaken. >> what is interesting also right now is that both sectors are under pressure in japan and korea, but the energy sector given of course rising oil prices, has really to do with what is happening with the ukraine geopolitical tensions. is there anywhere else in terms of asset classes in asia we are going to feel that impact? >> in terms of energy, yes. you will likely see downward revisions in earnings on the back of increased energy. we expect to see both energy feeding into inflation and trying to execute reacting to contagion. the flipside would be financials. all is and always the aussie on

equities -- asean equities doing well. >> let's get you a look at some of the moves we are watching in terms of just the saga. hopefully coming to an end. we are seeing crowd trading after a trading halt was announced this morning. blackstone winning crown resorts with the takeover bid. now they will try to reform the troubled casino group as well as the deal giving james packer a clean exit from crown group as well. that $6.4 billion takeover offer has been accepted by the board. evolution mining we are watching, given we are in the thick of earnings season. that huge profitability boost has been expected when it comes to how commodities have been priced. evolution mining up by 8.0% --

0.8%. regis resources as well. gold miners, amid worries about ukraine. let's get you to vonnie quinn. >> hong kong has reported a record 2000 for luminary positive covid-19 infections that threatened to overwhelm the health care system. according to authorities, the number of cases exceeds hospital capacity. the priority will be given to the elderly and children. the government also warns supplies of fresh food will be hit due to closures after some divers tested positive. synthesis go fed president mary daly is calling for the rate hike path to be data-dependent unmeasured. she told cbs abrupt and aggressive action can be destabilizing. she still favors a price increases and march but is not pushing for banks to back rises necessarily each month. she also says it is too early to put a number on rate hikes this

year after the st. louis fed president jim bullard for three by july. world powers have made significant progress on reviving the 2015 iran nuclear agreement. talks in vienna entered their final stage. assessments of the current situation are positive. russia has tended to share more upbeat outlook on negotiations compared to western powers. pakistan is warning that afghanistan could descend into chaos, threatening regional stability. the prime minister pointed to the u.s. refusal to recognize the taliban coupled with sanctions and frozen assets. foreign governments have no choice but to try to work with the group to avert a larger crisis. pakistan has seen more militant tax -- attacks since the taliban took control of afghanistan. chinese officials arrested a former development bank official for alleged corruption. documents show charges against

him include accepting bribes and issuing loans illegally. he was placed under investigation in september before being expelled from the communist party. beijing is conducting a campaign that has ensnared 20 finish -- officials in the finance sector alone. 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 quinn. this is bloomberg. >> still ahead, we will discuss the commodities run with ubs global wealth management's dominic schnider. next, the latest on the deepening tensions for ukraine after u.s. president biden's inconclusive call with vladimir putin. this is bloomberg. ♪

>> there is a distinct possibility vladimir putin would order a military action and invasion of ukraine in this window, in this time period. that could include the time period before february 20, before the old and picks have been completed. >> i want to be crystal clear. we are not saying a decision has been taken. what we are saying is that we have a sufficient level of concern based on what we are seeing on the ground and what our intelligence analysts have picked up that we are sending this clear message. >> national security advisor jake sullivan warning russia could take action in ukraine as early as this week. russia has publicly denied its plans to attack. president biden has also told ukraine the u.s. and its allies would act swiftly and decisively of russia were to invade ukraine.

comments during saturday's inconclusive call with russia's vladimir putin. let's get the latest from our reporter bruce einhorn. start us off with what is happening with putin and biden in that one our conversation they had. >> as you said, it was an inconclusive call. i do not think anyone was expect a major breakthrough. we do know a russian official afterward said president putin told president biden that the responses to russia's demands were not satisfactory, had not addressed key concerns. as we heard jake sullivan went on tv the next day on sunday and said there is a distinct possibility there will be major military action very soon. the significance of that is i think there has been an assumption that russia would not do anything during the winter

olympics, would not want to distract from those and embarrass president xi jinping of china. jake sullivan is saying that is not necessarily so. we also know president biden spoke the next day on sunday with ukrainian president zelensky. the ukrainian president invited him to visit kia -- visit kiev. no word on whether president biden has accepted that invitation. >> we see quad talks in australia or efforts in europe as well. are they coming to any kind of fruition or effectiveness? >> well, it is true there is a lot of activity. clearly it is not possible to say anything has had any sort of a breakthrough at the moment. talks are going on. german chancellor olaf scholz is going to meet with president putin today.

actually president zelensky today and then president putin tomorrow. the israeli prime minister naftali bennett has offered to host a meeting between the leaders. this according to axios. a lot of talking still going on. to be clear, rush of course has said it has no intention of invading and has dismissed talk of innovation as hysteria from the west. -- of an invasion has hysteria from the west. >> tensions are charting that spark -- stark rally after bond markets were whipsawed by u.s. inflation. price pressures at a fourth-year high is nothing to panic about according to the nobel laureate economist paul krugman who told bloomberg there is no need for shock therapy.

>> i have never thought qe was effective. i think qe is -- there's not much evidence it matters as a policy. i would have no problem with ending it. on the other hand, i am not sure it would make much difference and i am not sure exactly -- it is weird, the fed doing this, but how important it is to make an issue of that -- the important questions are going to involve interest rate hikes. i think we are in a situation where the fed needs to start hiking rates and probably not shock therapy. the question is whether they want to get people's attention. we are in a situation -- this is a very hot economy. it is the fed's job to cool it off a little bit. >> i did talk to larry about the rate hikes issue. he did not think there should be a special meeting on rate hikes.

he was not sure about 50 versus 25 basis points. where are you on how fast they should be raising rates? >> i am not sure it makes that much difference. i think trying to not convey a sense of panic says do it by 25 points a hit. but i think they need to start raising rates consistently until there is clear evidence in the data that the underlying overheating is fading away. we are clearly at that point. the fed's mandate, appropriate policy is appropriate, calls for rate hikes. it is not a crisis. at this point, we can talk about that, but i don't see any sign yet that inflation has gotten entrenched in the economy. the fed still has room for a

soft landing but it needs to start engineering that. >> i'm interested in the time question. do you have any sense because you are an expert on inflation -- do we have any sense how long we have? how much of a rush is there? do we need to move faster because we took too long to get started? >> i think it actually makes -- as long as the fed is on a consistent policy, it is not going to matter too much. two reasons we don't need to panic, one is the question of is there any sign anything has gotten entrenched yet? one thing i look at, we don't have great measures on this, but we look at either inflation expectations in the bond market or what consumers are telling surveys. every but he expects a lot of inflation -- everybody expects a

lot of inflation. but longer-term expectations have risen much less, which says both investors and consumers and presumably people actually setting wages and prices believe in what some are calling elongated transitory. they think inflation will remain elevated for a long time through a lot of this year, but not beyond that, which means they are not going to be setting prices, doing wage contracts based on the expectation we are going back to 1979. that is a reason to say, look, no need for a panic. always important to remember that the fed does not actually directly control interest rates relevant to business decisions. investment spending, overall spending, housing, that is long-term, not the short-term interest rate. long rates are going up.

the market is pricing in a lot of fed rate increases. >> paul krugman speaking with bloomberg's david westin. plenty more to come. this is bloomberg. ♪

>> the board of grand resorts has accepted a bid from blackstone and the deal may bring down the curtain on a troubled period in crown's history. joining us now for more is paul allen. what is blackstone getting for this third bid? >> finally got there. there are three properties in the crown portfolio.

sydney, melbourne, and perth. each of them have their problems. the sydney casino, a glittering building on the wharf front, failed to get a casino license. melbourne is operating under tight restrictions and the casino of perth, we will find out next month whether it is allowed to keep operating. there are all these well-publicized problems around crown. failure to play taxes, money laundering. it was found the criminal underworld was well embedded in the casino. there were other legal breaches. this deal does value crown at about 6.4 billion u.s. dollars, and yes, blackstone has had a few goes. about a year ago, their first offer went in. when we finally got to this point, it is a d.c. -- a decent premium. james packer is the biggest shareholder in crown or certainly one of the biggest.

he will get 3.2 billion australian dollars out of this deal. the hope would be perhaps crown can start putting difficulties behind them. crown shares have held up well throughout these scandals. those properties in melbourne and perth have a monopoly. and in sydney, if it gets going, it is going to have just one competitor. still an attractive portfolio. >> here is a quick check of the latest business flash headlines. ubs group reporting fourth quarter profits that top analyst estimates. southeast asia's biggest lender saw net income climb to 1.3 9 billion singapore dollars for the quarter ahead of expectations for $1.36 billion. dbs profit got a boost from higher loan growth and increased income. the indian government is

planning to sell 5% stake in the ipo of a life insurance corporation of india. according to a draft perspective, the ministration will sell 315 million shares. it is set to be the largest share sale and will help bridge a widening budget deficit. $3 billion in losses to banks. the central bureau of investigation says that should building company cheated a consortium of 28 banks and diverted loans in what is being considered india's largest bank fraud. incurred losses include the state bank of india and icici bank. coming up next, hong kong looks to beijing for help as officials warned of a covid crisis overwhelming hospitals. we will have the details next. this is bloomberg. ♪

>> growing covid cases leave hong kong hospitals struggling to cope. officials have turned to beijing for support on several fronts including building isolation facilities and supplying test kits. let's get the latest from michelle cortez. how bad is the situation in the city? >> hong kong is in a crisis at this point. it feels like the early days of 2020 quite honestly, when we are looking at what is happening here. the used to report every detail of every case they had.

yesterday we learned there are going to be 2000 per limitary positives. we expect that number for more to be diagnosed tomorrow or later today. until this week they were hospitalizing every single person with an infection. now they know they cannot do that. the numbers are just overwhelming the city. so only the elderly and children are going to be hospitalized at this point and all the other rules, quarantining in an solution facility are out. they asked china for help -- to build hospital like they did in wuhan. we will see how it goes. >> there are so many places around the world that are trying to move on from the virus. with a lot of intensity. what would the next phase look like, and can we assume that further variants are going to be like omicron or milder? >> there is a divergence happening across the world this point when it comes to the virus. when you look at developing

countries, certainly the u.s. and europe, many places are moving along anyway. they are removing any sector of trying to get the virus under control. mask mandates are gone. travel is opening. you don't have to test to do anything, you don't have to prove you have been vaccinated. they are ready to move along with going back to normal. other places, less so. the question is exactly as you said. we know the virus is going to virus. what they do is they try to mutate. infect one person to another to another. we know there will be mutations happening, obviously in the developed world, that is where the risk is highest, or vaccinations are lower. until we get everybody vaccinated, the risk is still there for everyone. >> the pandemic among the top issues for g20 bankers meeting

in jakarta this week. it is a busy day on the eco-front. the pboc, key inflation data. the central bank cut rates last month. a lot to talk about when it comes to central bankers and finance ministers at the g20. what's going to dominate? >> it is going to be all about inflation. the first meeting of the year. the last time they met back in october they were still talking about transitory. that is all gone now. we are talking in the u.s. with inflation in the early 1980's. inflation rates of up to 50%, the biggest synchronize inflation shock this group has had to face since they were set up after the asian financial crisis in late 1990. listening to michelle's conversation, you have to wonder

what will be the diversions. the pandemic is a feature and certainly geopolitics. it will be interesting to see what spillover risks might be if there is a conflict between russia and ukraine. >> inflation going beyond russia and china. are we going to see a change in monetary settings this week? >> most economists -- the one-year lending rate we see coming out of that. that is because we will see how interest rate cuts will flow through the economy.

if the pboc raises rates two months in a row that could raise a panic they are losing control. we are in a strange period in china because of the lunar new year. it is hard to get a read on how january and february have gone. most economists think keep an eye on april at the potential window for when the pboc might lower interest rates. >> enda curran there. let's get to vonnie quinn with the first word headlines. >> negotiations over russia's military buildup in ukraine are entering a potential crisis. the u.s. says invasion may be imminent while vladimir putin accuses america of failing to meet his demands. a phone call between biden and putin made no apparent progress. u.s. national security advisor jake sullivan spoke to cnn. >> the buildup in forces makes it a distinct possibility there will be military action very soon.

>> canada is preparing to open the bridge that links ontario to the u.s. after a five-day protest against vaccine mandates. authorities started working to remove demonstrators. bridge traffic is important to the american and canadian economy. the european union is working on a $23 billion package to counter china's reach in africa. funds will support transport networks as well as energy, digital, education, and health projects across the continent. sources tell us member states have yet to commit to financing the plan. beijing promised around $50 billion to africa in 2018 via its belt and road initiative. 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 quinn. this is bloomberg. >> coming up next, we will be

hearing from dbs global wealth management on expectations for further gains in aluminum. this is bloomberg. ♪

>> we are looking at options, looking at what can happen. gas is the primary concern.

gas prices are very high. europe is very reliant on gas from russia. but of course, as the third-largest crude producer in the world, russia is a big export to europe and the biggest exporter of crude to europe, a big exporter of product. we think the increase geopolitical risk is contribute into the higher price level today. >> the iea. we saw brent crude surpassing the $95 level for the first time since 2014. we are just below that, still gaining ground. we are seeing a bit of a reversal of the rally we saw in base metals. we could see stockpiles of aluminum really drying up by 2024, given the demand picture we are seeing right now, prices near record highs. copper also seeing a big rally

last week given we have seen a lot of commodities traders really crowding the space in order to hedge for inflation after the very strong uscp i print coming the fastest -- u.s. cpi print coming at the fastest in four years. ukraine tensions really putting uncertainty on the outlook for grains coming from eastern europe. let's discuss the outlook for the commodities market in more detail with dominic scheider -- dominic schnider. always great to have you with us. how do you get exposure to the commodities rally? directly through oil, or through energy companies? >> the best way if you want to benefit from uncertainty, specifically on the supply, his investment. there is exposure you can take, and for those who do not follow the commodities space on a daily

basis, a broad exposure is highly warranted. there is upside income, not just energy and financials. >> you are still favoring the metals. why? >> global growth should still be above trend. that has improved the environment for industrial metals. we all know about decarbonization. we think the markets are going to miss probably half a million tons of copper in terms of deficit this and next year. that may be small in percentage term, but it is sufficient to try -- dry up inventories. as for aluminum, 2 million tons this year and next year, that aggravates the situation.

>> how do you play that volatility? >> two things. if you have the right risk appetite, you can look for the broader sector index. that is one way to play it. if you have more of a cautious posture, you think global growth's getting toward a plateau, i think you could sell volatility, aluminum below $3000. you could see some yields actually. downside risk is one way to actually benefit. >> we are seeing haven demand coming out of nearer terms -- nearer term concerns over russia and ukraine. what trades are you favoring when it comes to fx? >> clearly the ukraine-russia

tension is something that is going to affect the market in the near term. what we like to focus on the right side, what we have seen in the u.s.. i think if you look at the fx market, it does not reflect where the dollar is trading. i would expect the dollar to trade on the firmer side. looking at 0.96, 0.97 at some point. the swiss franc will be under pressure with the dollar. if you think about a relative scale, if you think commodities are high, what asset has not followed the commodity trajectory -- there has been an rbi on the dovish side, but when they shift, there is upside of 5% to 10% at close to 24 months. i want to belong against the euro. -- i want to be long against the euro.

>> lots of trading ideas. great to have you with us. bp facing political and public pressure over rising energy costs even as they rake in the highest profit in almost a decade in the fourth quarter. francine lacqua spoke to the ceo about these challenges. >> there is a great debate at the moment about the windfall tax. the first thing to say is when you do hear the stories, and you and i are in a position, but when you hear stories about people having to have to choose, it is a terrible situation. you say, what is your role in that and what can you do to help that? i feel that our job is to make sure the energy is there as best

as possible, as much of it as possible. what we would say is you need two things. more natural gas production in the u.k. because one of the reasons we have an issue is because there is an imbalance. we should be incentivizing investment in natural gas, not just incentivizing. the second thing we should be doing is trying to excel or the transition. that is why we said this week that actually this decade in britain, for every pound we make , we are going to invest two pounds and that is going to go into accelerating the transition to wind and hydrogen and uv charges -- ev chargers. >> are you confident we will get to the targets set out by cop26? if not reversed, at least stop climate change? >> we have to be optimistic, we have to have context. what i would say is i come back to something we talked about,

greening companies. a greening company's carbon positive today, you might call it a heavy polluter. what we need to do is back and encourage those companies to get tuna zero. we need -- get to zero. we need when companies, battery companies, but we will not be able to build enough of them and scale them fast enough. but we need to do is to companies like bp and get them to transition to know zero and that is what we are doing. carbon intensive today, no zero tomorrow, a greening company. >> that is bernard looney. you can catch the full conversation on leaders with lack -- leaders with lacqua. next, the infrastructure spending binge in china. which sectors have more room to run. this is bloomberg. ♪ this is bloomberg. ♪

>> we have got to figure this out. there is a difference between trying hard and getting results. commitment at the highest levels , the commitment is real. the intention is real. but good intention is not enough.

roger said this perfectly, being reflective about the procedures that are in place. >> we don't live in a perfect society and never will. how do we make progress toward perfection and how do we mark those milestones of acknowledging, is the sexual process, or not -- is this actual progress or not? i think you can get caught looking at something and saying this feels like progress, and actually it is not. >> race issues within the sport world. very close to having the halftime show sponsored by pepsi starting very soon. all eyes on some of those big performances, right? even you and i recognize come a dr. dre's new song, eminem, our generation, it's going to be a big one. the trailer for this show has been seen 13 million times, more

than 70 spots for ads have been sold, going as high as $70 million for 30 seconds of advertising time or so. >> how old do you make a sound? that even you and i would recognize -- >> i cannot recognize the newest ones. those are the only ones i can actually pronounce. >> there is a hint of throwback nostalgia around when it comes to the lineup and i'm looking forward to it as well. it is so lucrative and the other thing we were talking about is this is the first super bowl in the proper online betting era. that side of the business is looking to heat up as well. that is not to mention the consumption side. look at these stats. 19 million people will be attending super bowl parties. hugely extravagant spreads being put out. 48 million will order take-out food, 60% of that will be pizza. maybe you go along dominoes at

this point. -- go along dominoes at this point. >> especially with all the prices above a cotto's going up at this -- prices of avocados going up at this point. this is the second highest they have food consumption in the u.s. after thanksgiving, so a big night. >> let's get you a quick check of the other headlines we are watching. japan's second largest startup money fall says more work needs to be done to boost the nation's venture-capital sector including the depth of funding rounds. the fintech firm's chief of public affairs pulled is the lack of willing risktakers means promising companies still need to look abroad for capital despite prime minister keisha making -- kishida making startups the main vector for future growth.

>> some of the japanese investors are starting to understand, but we have to go abroad to raise that kind of money right now. >> a chinese battery maker has alerted about a series of online rumors that it believes have misled targets and hurt its reputation. the company says they include groundless claims the company was subject -- would be subject to u.s. sanctions or see a breakdown of its supply deal with tesla. share prices slipped more than 25% from a record high in december. >> intervention by state funds and cheap valuations for chinese stocks after they plunged into a bear market are not proving to be enough to calm nerves for global money managers as we enter a fresh week of trade. let's bring in our asia stocks managing editor. how are global fund managers position for china?

>> caution is the word. as you mentioned, chinese stocks went through a wild week. a wild couple weeks. we have bear markets just before the chinese new year and also there was state fund intervention last week. but the year to date, the csi 300 is still down nearly 7%. the second worst-performing asian benchmark this year, just behind south korea. the global fund managers we spoke to have told us they are not going to buy. they are waiting for evaluation to drop further. the valuation -- the forward p/e ratio is already at the lowest since mid-2020. we have also spoken with mark mobius who told us the monetary easing recently showed desperation among policymakers to bolster the economy, and he is looking more at taiwan and

india, and also we've got people saying volatility will continue. no one is in a rush to buy chinese stocks right now. >> we are looking ahead to potential infrastructure spending binge. how are investors looking to play this? >> that is really the brightest spot on the mainland stock market right now. the csi 300 infrastructure index was up 8% last week. really beating the csi 300 benchmark gauge. people are picking up stocks related to construction come materials, infrastructure related shares. china mobile went up 16% year to date. a huge gain. overall i think people are betting the frontloading of china's 2020 master plan into new infrastructure projects,

which will amount to about 1.4 trillion u.s. dollars through 2025, that is bolstering the confidence among investors, but we don't know again how long this kind of trend will last because we all know on the mainland investors are quite single-minded. they liked green shares last year and look at this year. >> let's get you some stocks we are keeping an eye on ahead of the open in hong kong and mainland china. telecom cloud computing firms are lightly to benefit from the infrastructure push. china will increase support for agriculture in spring in an effort to ensure the nations stable and healthy economic development. in singapore, dbs group reporting income for the fourth quarter that beat the average analyst estimate. we are watching some of the other lenders alongside dbs as

well. coming up, markets in china and hong kong start their week. we will be speaking with goldman sachs and grow investments about pboc expectations and the broader market outlook. markets coverage continues, looking ahead to the start of trading in hong kong, shanghai, and shenzhen. ♪

>> good monday morning from hong kong. 9:00 a.m. in beijing and shanghai. let's get here top stories today. tensions over russia's military buildup near ukraine enter a potentially decisive week. the u.s. warns of an invasion that may be imminent. political tensions are pushing oil toward $100 a barrel threatening to