Transcripts For BLOOMBERG Bloomberg Markets Asia 20240713

This is the position we find ourselves in. Looking at futures contracts for the s p, those are indicating just about a flat picture. We did have records once again for the major benchmark indices on wall street that should have been given is more of an uplift to the tail end. It is just up fractionally in the msci all country world index , which means we are just about 1 away from a record when it comes to global stocks. This is what we have just at the moment. Just appreciating just a little bit despite the horrible production. The fact that the rba is paused for now with regard to Interest Rates and a ruling out a move toward quantitative easing for the time being, just playing in the yield, just in three basis points. Ok. With that in mind, lets find out what else is happening. Lets get to the first word news. Thank you. We are going to start with the white house. A budget official in the Trump Administration says he warned his superiors that a hold on security aid for ukraine could be illegal. He waited months for an explanation from any response. Mark sandy was at the office of management and budget and has told the house impeachment inquiry that officials learned in mid july that President Trump had directed that the aid be held up. He added that no reason was given for the delay. As surveysekend indicated Boris Johnsons conservative party may be losing its lead ahead of next months election. Investors most fear and inconclusive result and the polls show the labour party making up some of the grounds. Theng parliament raises prospect of the impasse over brexit drawing into the new year. And President Trump says trade talks with china are in the final throes and going well. Last month, he said the outlines of a deal had been reached and the two sides have been discussing how to commit the accord to paper. Negotiations are complicated by u. S. Support of democracy protests in hong kong and chinese accusations that washington is stoking the unrest. The main road tunnel between Hong Kong Island has reopened after being closed for two weeks following protest vandalism. At week long siege Polytechnic University seems to be winding down with a search of the campus finding just one person remaining. The University Said there may still be other people hiding and avoiding arrest. Global news 24 hours per day powered by more than 2700 journalists and analysts. Im su keenan. This is bloomberg. Yvonne lets break out the data we got here early this morning. Monthly profits fell for the most since 2011, down 9. 9 year on year. The january to october figure was down two. 9 . David meanwhile, more good news. This Bloomberg Economic early indicators gauge showing you that Economic Growth likely slowed and softened for a seventh month, but there is some optimism among sectors most exposed to the global economy, especially when you look at the export related frontiers. Rishaad hong kong declining for a 12th straight month, shipments shrinking year on year. Lower than we were expecting. Imports also dropping 11. 5 to narrow that trade deficit to roundabout 4 billion u. S. Dollars. Thanks so much for joining us. What do you make of this not great news . You look at, when the growth indicators, they still look pretty weak. The pmi indicators are showing that they probably have been bottomed, but there are still few signs of recovery and it is still reflected in the hong kong numbers. We are a bit more positive when it comes to the outlook. We do expect a bit of a recovery in industrial cycle and Global Growth next year and providing a better backdrop. David it is going to be too late to buy into the yuan, that is one of the currencies you like at the moment. Macquarrie has had a very view since september, back then it was very nonconsensus and we had a lot of pushback from clients. Now, it has become more receptive and people are more of accepting of this view. You can still get in at this level. Year, second half of next we can still begin. Are still looking ahead at other currencies, are they going to catch up with what you are foreseeing as well . Taiwan,i think korea, rmb will perform themselves outperform themselves in 2020 and that is a change from the past two years of underperformance. My topic is the korean you in given that it is high proxy to Global Growth and sentiment and we are also observing improvement when it comes to Semi Conductor pricing. I think with that backdrop, there is less need for the be ok to ease. Rishaad looking past all this noise, how do you possibly do that . You dont watch bloomberg. Im kidding. Yvonne you should never say that. [laughter] rishaad nice. One strategy would be to favor in either way. My preferred strategy would be to look to the noise and fungus in the fundamentals. Well andthat is all good, but everybody else is listening to the noise. That is how you set yourself apart in this environment. I think when you look at the between u. S. And china to get a phase i deal done, it remains high. It makes it much more achievable to get to a phase i compared to the set up before. David that is partly the noise part. If we dont get a phase i deal, does it change your mind on going long the won, remember yes well . What changes and what doesnt change . Forecast for rmb and korean won are getting to a phase i deal. We are afraid that if we dont get there, then the whole Global Growth concern, recession concerns will come back and very quickly, we will talk about risk of recession instead of chloro growth recovery. I guess the biggest disappointment for 2019 with everybody saying the dollar was finally going to fall and it just never did. Even after three rate cuts from the fed, it didnt. We are saying again that the stars are aligning. The fed may cut again. What ultimately do you think is going to break the Dollar Strength . I think for asia, it is going to be rmb and the trade deal. Every year in the past two years , we always enter the debate, the dollar is going to weaken. We try very hard not to fall in that trap. We are not analyzing all the factors. What we have come to the conclusion is that if we do get to a phase i deal and a gentle global rebound, it is very likely that we get a recovery that will fuel the rest of asia currency. Even there with the dollar at a global level, it may not weaken a lot. Bond when i look at the markets, nothing there seems to suggest that a recovery or at least a substantial recovery is going to take place in the next three months or so. How do you put those two conflicted signals together . I think it is all over the place when you look at Asset Classes. We get to the trade deal. The bond market is still in a very weak stage. Think that the indicators like pmi, we get it from china toward the end of this week, and also from u. S. Next week, and we think that they will start to show a rebound. Rishaad you will stick around with us. Lots more to talk about. Right here on Bloomberg Markets, the debt binge. Why investors are targeting chinas dollar bonds. Surprise . We expect a we will head to look look ahead to earnings later coming up. You are watching bloomberg. David welcome back. We are continuing our chat on em currencies. The mild rebound and the trade war makes it fairly constructive over the next three months or so. We have not talked about india. That seems to be stuck. The call in the rupee. I think if we look more broadly, it is likely to underperform. The way i look about it, the return on that basket actually tracks the u. S. 10year yield very well. Throughout the whole of this year, you see a fall in u. S. Yields. People will worry about growth and recession. People buy into inr and idr because of their carry and now that we see that environment reversing, we see a cap and Global Growth and i think the trade will reverse and we will see inr and idr reverse. There is still no sign growth is rebounding in india. Gdp, do get a subprime concerns on fiscal positions are likely to come back. Back. D the 4. 7 would go is a rebound expected next year. If you are going to look at the noise, then you look at the banking side of things. Those things might align the stars. What are your thoughts . I think the key challenge , howit comes to the rupee we can get to the fiscal position. We still have a week wrote environment. The problem is that the cuts have not transmitted. It is something i think they would need to focus on and work on next year if they want the growth rebound to materialize. Growth is very driven and inr would not be one the benefits from it as much as the others. Why you areh is saying unconventional policy is ever more important. When you look at e. M. Asia, can they rule it out . Qe. I think unconventional policy will continue to be the focus of Central Banks over the coming years. It is increasingly creeping into if you look at korea, taiwan, and thailand rates. I think all of the Central Banks will look at australia. They had close trade links to china and the economic structures mirror that of the em Central Banks. Whatwill look at not only kind of shape conventional policy will take, but what is the trigger point . David what criteria what criteria would you use to determine which Em Central Bank would be a candidate to take on qe or Something Like qe . Simply just rates. When you look at policy rates, it is that a historical low. Any further rate cuts would stimulate the economy very little, you start to think they would need to go to unconventional. David is that the only option for the Thai Central Bank . [laughter] rishaad i was getting to that. I dont think so. Thai, they do have the option to intervene more aggressively in the fx market. Currency strings have been a key issue for thailand. Rishaad why . The key is that people have been talking about the persistent surplus cuts and thailand, but i dont think that is the only reason. If you look at korea and taiwan, they also have consistent cuts. Taiwan is above 10 of gdp and still there currency is not strong. The secondbest performer that we saw on that chart, the bhat. David next to the ruble. Rishaad 9 up. Your target is 431. That is not exactly brave, that call. Cant we stick in a little bit more on that . Theou need to consider environment. Why i think it is very difficult to drive dollarbaht higher, the domestic investors are not there when there is so much and certainty in the market. When uncertainty receded and domestic investment would be more keen to recycle the current account surplus, so it is riskcult to get to a baht off scenario, but it is much easier to get to baht underperformance in a risk in scenario. Yvonne before we let you go, our question of the day. Thanksgiving in the u. S. Tomorrow, so we have a little bit of a turkey type of thing. What should investors be most thankful for this type of year time of year . Are there any positives or surprises that you view as success . Very good question. [laughter] i think what investors should be think for four and because im speaking from an fx perspective, rmb has broken several barriers and everything is still fine in the world. Second, many thought it would be the end of the world, and we are actually forecasting strength for next year. Investors should also be thankful for the fact that volatility is still very low. If you want to hedge your risk, it is cheap to do so. Yvonne thank you so much. Up, xiaomi is down about 33 this year. Would todays results bring any good news for the stock . This is bloomberg. Yvonne softbank is under more scrutiny over it start up investments. Announced shes was leaving the company. Timeoined around the same that softbank invested 300 million in the start up. Wag has been exploring a sale that would likely reach less than that according to people close to the move. About 1 billion being raised to invest in startups in Southeast Asia and india. They will focus on the Online Finance world to strengthen their position in mobile internet markets. They already holds stakes and have invested in 160 companies over the past five years. One of chinas biggest Drinks Companies is weighing a Hong Kong Ipo that could raise 1 billion u. S. Dollars. It is working with Financial Advisors for the potential share sale and the offering could happen as soon as the first half of next year. They make bottled water, juices ,tea, and soft drinks. Last year, they scrapped a decadelong plan for an asia listing in china. Rishaad xiaomi is set to report earnings after the bell. The smartphone maker may have missed sales estimates. David yes, and the prime suspect is here. Senior analyst tell us why you guys think they are going to underperform. Because of what happened with their chinese shipment. China is the most profitable market for xiaomi. Not only for hardware, but also for Internet Services. With what happened with market share, the Third Quarter coming to ibc, they lost more than 30 of shipments in china, where as more thanceeded with 60 growth, you can see that xiaomi is still really way behind in terms of catching up, not just in the brand recognition, but also in premium. It is very hard for xiaomi to do well in the Third Quarter. Rishaad the thing is, when it came to the markets, we all questioned that it was coming out as a software company, as opposed to a hardware company. But that Software Side has actually been getting a bit of traction. Do as, the company does good job in diversifying its international business. It still relies a lot on advertising revenue, but we know that overall macrowise, china has slowed down significantly, said the company tries to innovate services. The ecommerce website is doing quite well. The data is very small. It has generated a lot of revenue coming from advertising and online games. These two factors continue to slow. What is more worrying is we mentioned the china user base is not growing as strong as they want. That would eventually hurt the internet revenue because overseas internet revenue still represents low Single Digits for the whole internet revenue base. Yvonne what is your take on margins . Marginwise, xiaomi the supplies in the quarter, but this is not what investors want. Investors want highvolume, high topline growth to drive the highmargin internet revenue. I think the company currently,hey are just taking a strategy trying to defend their margin, but at the same time, they need new drivers to help drive the volume and eventually the internet revenue. Rishaad thank you so much. Bloomberg intelligence senior editor. Xiaomi coming up after the close of the trading day right here in hong kong. David lets have a look at some of the movers, speaking of corporate stories. A couple of things to tell you about. You look at these big movers. We are still trying to get to the bottom of it. Rishaad the bottom is all you want to talk about, isnt it . David it is something we are still investigating. News that one of the companies did not actually get a breakthrough. They said they had a Gastric Cancer treatment named the best over the European Society for medical oncology. They say they won an award, but apparently they didnt. A nonprofit award nonprofit said. That has affected all the biotech companies. That is what we have at the moment. David i would just mention mtr corpus, that is one of the gainers in hong kong off the back of the Goldman Sachs reflection on the underlying theme of do you get into hong kong now . They are sayingbuy the mpr stock. Rishaad the japanese lunch break. Looking like a miserable day there. When it comes to using data, everyone is different. Which is why Xfinity Mobile is a different kind of Wireless Network that lets you design your own data. Choose unlimited, shared data, or mix lines of each and switch any line, anytime. Giving you more choice and control compared to other top wireless carriers. And now get 250 off when you buy a new Samsung Phone during Xfinity Mobile beyond black friday. Plus, you can save up to 400 a year. Click, call or visit a store today. Su we start with profit in china. Profit slumped the most in almost a decade for Chinese Industrial companies this year. Official figures show a drop of nearly 10 . The National Bureau of statistics claims blames a bigger drop. The rba now the reserve bank of australia has dispatched unconventional policy, but says best conditions are still a way off. The threshold for stimulus has not been reached yet. Turn tomay be forced to unorthodox measures. The threshold undertaking has not been reached and they dont expect it to be reached in the nearterm. Continuumot a smooth from Interest Rate reductions to quantitative easing. Su new zealand has decided against loosening mortgage lending curves. Banks loanr says the to value will remain at current levels. Boeing prepares to finalize Software Fixes for the troubled plane. The faa says that even relatively routine approvals of jets off the Assembly Line will now be done by agency officials. Boeing hopes the plane will be allowed to return to service before the end of the year. Global news in the air and on twitter powered by more than 2700 journalists and analysts in more than 127 countries. This is bloomberg. January the latest dollar bond offering after investor offerings have resulted in a price cut of some 25 basis points. David joining us now to talk more about this deal is the Global Markets china had head of strategy. I want to talk about demand and ask you about that. Local demand is given. How was foreign demand for the deal . Yes, of course for the details, we need to wait, but bond issued earlier this month, we had seen that there had been very good demand for the currency bonds. That demand also did well. Of course, we see that the bond is in very high demand. David right. I want to ask you a little bit more about that. Do you think demand was then strong more because it is a reflection of confidence in china or is it more of a function of we just dont get a lot of these deals from china very often . Yes, i think both are important. The one other thing i want to is households accumulating more and more fx in their hands, so they want to buy more foreign, so this kind of bond issued by the Chinese Government is one of the best quality assets they have acquired. Secondly is that we know that china is opening Financial Markets and the investors from other countries are more issuers. With chinese them, the china dollar bond issued could also be very possible popular. The high probability of results. Several factors. Rishaad what are we looking at in duration . That is quite telling. The actual debt profile. Now, we can see issuing ofould be dollar bond. We see that the whole curve will build up gradually and now we have the 10 year, fiveyear like for each issuance 2017, 2018, 2019, so i can totally imagine in the future that it would be regular every year. Issue forcould be one several years, but that would be something for regulating in the future. So muchthere was demand, it seems like they have lowered the spread by a couple basis points. I think it was around 35 basis points for some of the lower trenches. Does that actually narrow the big gap we see between the u. S. And china 10year yield, which is now in the triple digits . Does it narrow it . Yes, actually for the china has, if we look at that, it sort of influenced by the fed rate cut and also the chinese actions. Rates, thatthe there has been some stabilization for the Chinese Government bond and the dollar u. S. Treasury. I think the narrowing of the spread between the china Government Bond yield and the treasury is influenced by the good demand. Fromad lets move away dollar. That does go to the idea that china is diversifying not just as investor base, but making. Ure the deliberate is a i think so. I think europe will be very interested in chinese issuers and investors. We can see if we look at the data, chinese investors are more and more active in euro bonds. The investment in the european market. Also, we see that chinese issuers are more interested by the euro bonds because they think the yield is quite lower and they also think that the euro may not be as strong as the dollar, so the dollar remember the could be going up and down, but they think euroremember the could go lower. They think the euro bond could be a good choice. We see price momentum on the other side. Yvonne we have been following this whole saga with sso we that could be close soe defaulting that could be close to defaulting on the sovereign bond. Highprofile soe default, how do we change the pricing of these types of bonds . That could be a game changer if we see Something Like this. Defaultlly, i think the is seeing more and more frequently. I think people are gradually getting used to that. They analyze the profiles of each issue are issuer rather than relying on just the type. Of course, for china dollar bond , we see a lot of players in this market. But i think that the market is quite mature. Investors know that, so the credit premium is sufficient, the market is quite sufficient. I wont say that we will have that default. We will have a very fast consequence for the whole china dollar market. I think the market will keep growing and developing. David right. I would imagine that they are also doing this to establish a yield curve, not just for the government, but for corporate, as well. Do you think supply then continues to go on like this . We have seen massive supply this year. If the renminbi weekends weakens . I think we are still in a trend to diversify the funding. This is not only confined to the financial sector, but also people diversifying their supply chain. Mentioned that there are more and more chinese investors. You can see a pickup of the demand of funding and people know the issuers more and more. Market the fx hedging could help. I would say that the bond market has its own logic and people can decide if they want to hedge the risk. Cup the wrong side of it if you basis points and you can actually find yourself in a lot of trouble. Is it a good idea to let yourself let some of these corporate state owned enterprises go under and default finally . Does that set of separate the wheat and the chaff . Actually, i think that defaulting is a good sign for the credit bond market. This is why they can have those analyses on the pricing and the background. I would say on this side, i would not be surprised to see more bailout, more default or this kind of thing to happen. We can have a new perspective that for those who invest in the , still thend popularity is high. The 10 women be is a bond market that is increasingly international and the prospect is still very bright in my view. Yvonne thank you so much for joining us. Bnp paribas Global Markets china head of fxlm markets. Coming up, trying to level the Playing Field across the gender pay gap. It is as much of an issue in hollywood as the corporate world. We will ask an actress and martial arts artist. This is bloomberg. Ofnne does the success films like crazy rich asians and the farewell, has that been a turning point . Can make aories profit and there is interest in the stories. It definitely helps a lot. Know, there is a proven success. One issue i want to talk about is the issue of socalled whitewashing. Pattern ofas had a nonasian people play the roles of asian characters and that seems a pattern that seems hard to break. How far are we from a time that it is a given that asian people will play asian characters . It is really going back to the producers and the casting. Eople and the investors why they are having caucasian actors playing these roles are because of the star power they believe these people can bring in the money. Sacrificey they will casting some people who are ethnically correct for the role, but they cast someone who has a star power name. Correct, it is a bank ability factor. But after ghost in the shell people are talking about that they shouldnt cast Scarlett Johansson for the role. There was a lot of controversy around that. After that and producers now are more careful. They will try to find people who are ethnicity correct for the roles before reaching to a star name. The best thing will definitely be getting a star name with the right ethnicity for the role. Correct. That is the goal, isnt it . One issue that affects women working in various industries is the issue of the pay gap. Many actresses in hollywood have been fairly outspoken about it. Inre do you think we stand that fight and the fight for pay and Wage Equality . Changing right now. There are a lot of male actors even stepping up and saying they wont take a job unless their female costars are being equally paid. I think that is a start. People who are working in the top level, who make those decisions and set an example for equality. China is a country and a market we cant ignore. Beenhinese industry has behind a lot of films recently and experts are predicting it will be the largest market for International Films by 2020. Hollywood cannot ignore china anymore, can it . I dont think hollywood has been ignoring china, they have always been trying to work with china. Of course, there are censorship things they need to deal with for having a project that can work in a film with chinese stars or being released in china. There are a lot of things they have to work out. Hollywood has been trying to work with china and that is why there are the films that you mentioned and also the great , whether they are a successful film or not depends on story and the cast and a lot of stuff. The meg was really successful, but the other one, the great wall was a flop. About the story at the end. That was bloomberg lives senior apec editor speaking with juju chan. Dont put me in the ring with her. Its is eliminating 50 of test 15 of its workforce in is eliminating 15 of its workforce in germany. The turnaround is aimed at regaining ground lost to luxury car leaders. The counter pressure from tesla. Audi aims to cut almost 10,000 jobs by 2025. Rishaad australian banks, westpac facing more pressure. Advisors tell institutional shareholders they are being urged to vote against the banks remuneration report and the election of two Board Members for risk failures after the ceo resigned. David citigroup has been fined 57 million for years of inaccurate reporting about liquidity levels. The Prudential Regulation Authority said that between 2014 and last year, three u. K. Units have significant flaws in the system of giving Financial Information to regulators, as well as failing in the turnover to governments. Rishaad looking at the start of the session in india. Tell us how we are looking. Well, yesterdays session, we did see record highs, so that was away from yesterdays trade. We did not manage to sustain yesterdays highs. We lost out from those highs of the day and came back down to closing somewhere to 12,000. That is where we are seeing immediate support level in the index. In the bank as well, the upside now stacks up closer to levels after making new highs of 31,796. Banks did well. You saw some drag coming in from the larger nonbanking, which caused the drag on the index. In todays session, expect a slightly more muted trade, not too much in terms of activity. David right. The question for retail investors, any specific names that might deliver more action today . Vanke bank for one, there is the report that the promoter is completely off the bank. We got the report in the evening that said that the banks meeting on november 29, which is friday, to consider fundraising. They have been talking about how there has been interest in almost 1. 2 billion dollars is what they want to raise. Stanley, one is morgan the stock is slightly underwhelming, they have put a the big upside in the icici. Then Six New Hotels will open across india, adding to their overall portfolio. Yvonne thank you. Joining us out of mumbai. Still ahead in bloomberg, you dont want to miss this one. We will hear from the Incoming European Commission president , as well as the incoming executive Vice President for the economy. Dont miss those interviews coming up later on today. This is bloomberg. Turning our attention discussba, they did unconventional policy because of the necessary conditions being still some way off. The governor saying a bond Market Program is an option, but the threshold force touch such stimulation has not been reached. Or 0. 3 . E cash rates when he said he said when we get to 0. 25 , that is when we can talk about that. We might be a little bit further away. Is didstion i guess then he rule it out . Or was he more nuanced . Outt is not close to ruling qe. He did say it was some way off. It was not necessarily a dramatic way off. He did rule out negative rates, which was one point of speculation. He also ruled out the prospect of buying anything other than Government Bonds and state Government Bonds. A little bit of something there for everyone. Muted the qe discussion in australia. If we take a step back, the Australian Business economists annual dinner is one of the set piece events in the calendar of every rba governor and has been for a number of decades. Just last year, the idea that this speech could have been devoted to unconventional policy in australia would have seemed ludicrous. Yet, here we are. Rishaad absolutely. Your piece that you wrote was the model economy stops drinking its own koolaid. What was that koolaid . And does the economy and the state it is in currently warrant unconventional policy, that is the rub of it. Events i the last attended in new york before leaving for this assignment in singapore a year ago was fed chair jay powells address to the Economic Club of new york. About asked during q1 day business cycles. Which neveralia, seems to have recessions. He was semijoking, but that captured the mood. It is a way that people have talked about the australian economy, not just abroad, but also at home for a while now. It has been this magic mix of geography and policy, of immigration, a sense that the place was in the right place at the right time. Dont forget those 28 years without a recession, but that does not mean growth has not waxed and waned. A year ago, nobody thought there would be three rba cuts in australia. That has happened. To get to 0. 25, which he talks about is a threshold, that is only two quarterpoint cuts away. It is not that far. Yvonne thanks for your perspective on all this. I get is guess it is not the end of the debate about unconventional policy. This is bloomberg. Everyone uses their phone differently. Thats why Xfinity Mobile lets you design your own data. You can share 1, 3, or 10 gigs of data between lines, mix in lines of unlimited, and switch it up at any time. All with millions of secure wifi hotspots and the best lte everywhere else. Its a different kind of Wireless Network, designed to save you money. Switch and save up to 400 a year. And now get 250 off google pixel 4 during Xfinity Mobile beyond black friday. Thats simple. Easy. Awesome. Click, call or visit a store today. Whether youre out or here on a wifi hotspot. Xfinity mobile has more coverage to keep you connected to what matters most. Thats because its the only Wireless Network that automatically connects you to millions of secure wifi hotspots and the best lte everywhere else. And now get 250 off when you buy a new Samsung Phone during Xfinity Mobile beyond black friday. Plus, you can save up to 400 a year. Click, call or visit a store today. It is almost 11 00 in singapore. I am juliette saly. Rishaad i am rishaad salamat. This is a look at our top stories. Chinese industry taking a tumble, the economy continues to slow, profits down for a third month, following the most since 2011. Negotiations for trade talks are going well and will continue. Rishaad and President Trump invited to testify when the impeachment inquiry starts a new phase next week. This is Bloomberg Markets. Juliette another day, another headline on the trade front, and the comments from President Trump have lifted asian equities for a fourth session, led by the likes of japans market. Australia with another good showing. You can see the csi 300 underperforming today, down by about 1 10 four tens of 1 in the latter part of the session. Factories down a whopping 10 . I want to show you what is happening in the bond and currency markets, because bond traders have been a little is appointed from commentary from the rba governor essentially saying qe is not on the table unless cash trade gives to a quarter of 1 . The aussie dollar pretty unchanged, caught in a range between optimism on the trade front and the likelihood we could see another rate cut from the rba next year. Look at the divergence between onshore and offshore currencies today. 1 ,ore rising by 1 10 of while the offshore is the worstperforming currency today if youd today. We had a call yesterday from Goldman Sachs saying you should buy onshore currency. Looking at this record day for stocks, but it waned, and we saw the nifty ending of negative on tuesday. A little bit of weakness in the future contract in the last three or four days, but kind of flat down a tad. The banking side of things, it could do well after recent problems. It could come to the support of what is going on with the nifty. In the last three trading days, the market up by two thirds of 1 , and we were approaching that. Showing ahe moment few signs of strength, the dollar dropping back 4 10 of 1 . 6. 48 . Yields, we have an eye on what happens day after tomorrow. Friday, we get gdp figures from the Indian Economy, looking at a 4. 7 read on that. If that does transpire, we will see the Indian Economy growing at the slowest rate we have witnessed since the first three months of 2013. Lets get over to new york for the first word news with su keenan. Su we will start with President Trump on trade talks. Areays the talks with china in the final throes and going well. Last month he said the outlines of a deal had been reached and the two sides had been discussing how to put it on paper. It is complicated by prodemocracy protests in hong kong and chinas accusation that washington is stoking unrest. Bank ofba, the reserve australia has discussed unconventional policy, but says necessary conditions are still a bit off. The governor said that a Government Bond buying program is an option at a cash rate of a the stimulus, but has not been reached as of yet viewed yet. This amid speculation that the rba will have to turn to unorthodox methods. The threshold has not been reached and i dont expect it to be reached in the near term. In my view, there is not a smooth continuum running from Interest Rate reductions to quantitative easing. It is a big step to engage in purchase by the central bank. Tunnelg kong, the main connecting the island has reopened after being closed for two weeks following protests vandalism. Meanwhile, the siege at the Polytechnic University seems to be winding down, with a search of the campus finding just one person remaining. The University Said there might be other people hiding in avoiding arrest. White house a white house budget official says he warned superiors that a hold on security eight for ukraine could be illegal and he waited months for an explanation to any response. He was at the office of management and budget and told the house impeachment inquiry that officials learned in mid july that President Trump had directed that is the eta be held up. He also added that no reason was given for the delay. Global news 24 hours a day on air and on tictoc on twitter, powered by more than 2700 journalists and analysts in more than 120 countries. Im su keenan. This is bloomberg. More signs of a slowdown in china, industrial profits slumping the most in almost a decade this year, a drop of nearly 10 in october compared to 2018 viewed National Bureau of statistics blamed Producer Prices and slowdown in production and sales. Rishaad we have early indicators of the mainland economy not looking great elsewhere. The slowdown continuing for seven straight month after growth was already the slowest in almost three decades. Data shows a worsening picture for trade. Also for factory prices in consideration of your consideration. Juliette lets bring in our guest here in singapore. With all of that good news, really kind of bad news. Also the trade deal not ironed out. Do you see the environment as somewhere that you take on risks even further . And think we are seeing some easing in terms of the expectations of the relationship between the u. S. And china. Sentimentterializes, will improve, even though a lot of it is factored in. We also saw quite a bit of easing in terms of Monetary Policy, whether it is asia or other Central Banks like the fed and ecb. We are seeing easing on two fronts. I think it is important to keep in mind two things, one is that even if we see a phase one deal between the u. S. And china, which in my opinion is going to address low hanging fruit and i dont think its going to be as broad as a lot of people are , the relationship continues to be complex and i think we will continue to see negative headlines out of the u. S. China relationship. The other thing is even if we do see a solution in terms of phase one, we think there could be an update in terms of the economic to bebut it seems reasonably lethargic given there are other headwinds in play. Juliette what does that mean for the bond market . I have a chart showing the steepening gathering pace. In august, we had the inversion. Do you see further steepening in the curve . Omar i think the curve has normalized a little bit and if we see a resolution in phase one, it will normalize it a bit more. But we think it will continue to be extremely well anchored and rates will continue to be low because Monetary Policy is quite accommodative. Even though they pause, they acknowledge the risk is on the downside and they are continuing to be ready to intervene. I think its going to be range bound and well anchored. I dont think theres going to be a massive selloff or anything of that sort. Rishaad if we got a phase one trade deal relatively soon, what impact does that have on 10 years . Do we see yields ticking up to 2 , and if they do, what does that tell us about optimism . Omar i think its very hard for us to get to 2 sustainably when you have some of the other safe haven bond yields close to zero or below zero, and when the expectation is even if you have a trade deal, it will be reasonably narrow. The expectation is the Economic Data will continue to be mixed, at least that is what we think. I think 2 might be ambitious, at least sustainably viewed i think we are more in a desk sustainably. I think we are in a range bound environment and we continue to be there for the next quarter or two. Rishaad when you look around at what is happening in terms of the fixed income side of things, where are you finding the most reliable juice, as it were . Too strong might be of a work, but in an environment you have accommodative Monetary Policy that will continue to be so and you have relative scarcity in terms of high credit quality issuance, and you have fundamentals that continue to be reasonably ok, i think the ig universe is interesting, particularly when you go to triple b in particular. It is important this needs to be duration manage because we things rates will wobble in terms of the range dimension. In terms of high yield, i think there are opportunities, but very importantly and this is something people say every year, but this year we are starting to see it we will see more dispersion. When we look at the highyield segment, when you look at the u. S. Highyield segment, there is a clear dispersion between , and tripleiple b c. Triple c in europe up more. We have much more dispersion and we continue to expect that to continue to exist. In highyield, it is more idiosyncratic than before. Juliette that is one of the calls, another that the u. S. Dollar remains strong amidst what we are seeing, toward the phase one trade deal. If we get across that hurdle, are there any beneficiaries in asian currencies . Omar i think some will benefit. ,hen you look more mediumterm particularly against the u. S. Dollar, the Interest Rate differentials continue to be strong, the differential in terms of Economic Growth also with the u. S. Outperforming, we think this will continue viewed keep in mind will continue. When you look at asian Central Banks, they have all eased. I think this will continue to anchor strength and terms of the u. S. Dollar even though we might see a tactical improvement in terms of some of the asian local currencies, particularly if there is a phase one deal, which leads to them crossing the dollar. Be annminbi will not anchor currency if that happens but as a broad trend, the u. S. Dollar is rather strong. Juliette the call seems to be getting conviction we could be seeing more strength in the yuan if there is some more positive fronts on the trade deal. I wanted to ask the question of the day, gearing up to thanksgiving in the u. S. , what should investors be thankful for . Im thinking along the lines that we are not seeing and inversion in the twos and tens. Omar this year investors have a lot to be thankful for an Monetary Policy is the main area to be thankful for, a complete reversal of 2018. If you recall, essentially most of the Asset Classes were down precisely because Monetary Policy was more hawkish. We saw a reversal of that in 2019. I think the two main drivers tensions, the trade between the u. S. And china and other major economies, a reduction in terms of corporate spending, capex and so on, mitigated by Monetary Policy. The direct answer to your question is it is really Monetary Policy we need to think. Rishaad a final question for me. 2019 might be marked by some as the barriers to entry for chinese fixed income market were raised. What demand have you been seeing and how much interest have you had in particular looking there . Interestings an point, and we see this trend continuing, and we see it not only with investors looking at the chinese bond market, but also the chinese bond market is entering major indices, it makes it hard to ignore. The fact that Monetary Policy, offshore china anchors the Government Bonds and some of the quasialso make it interesting. The interest is there. It also depends on the view of the renminbi. If the view, particularly if trade tensions subside, that the men be will be stable the renminbi will be stable or depreciate, i think appetite will increase. The short answer is the interest is there, its not overwhelming, it will depend on the direction of the remember the the renminbi. But global allocation is here to stay viewed stay. Juliette thank you for being with us in singapore. Still ahead, merging mania. The buyout frenzy gripping order rooms around the world with an expert. Rishaad plus, the European Union with a demanding timeframe for a postbrexit trade deal with u. K. We have an interview with the irish finance minister, next. This is bloomberg. The house judiciary has invited President Trump to defend himself in a public hearing next week as the impeachment inquiry shifts into a new phase. In a letter to trump, the judiciary seeks to define the framework. Derek, what happens next . Derek i think this is massive trolling from democrats. President trump had said he would be opening to may be testifying, and we have seen comments from the white house that maybe people will testify at the right moment, even as the white house is blocking. The democrats said cool, we will call your bluff, come in and have a chat. The chances of this happening i think are somewhere below zero. I think the idea that donald trump will march into a hearing room and answer every little question they have for him, come on. But i do think that where we are proceeding is into a consequential gain or the white going to have to be seriously concerned about who is talking and where they are talking. So far they have said they dont want people who may or may not have firsthand knowledge of some of Donald Trumps decisions there. They left democrats to rely on people who are one step removed, and that has frustrated democrats quite a lot. And really, democrats dont have any republican support to show for their impeachment push at all right now. It might be an effective strategy. Rishaad will the president send his lawyer . Derek i am not sure, honestly. Ifk President Trump you are thinking the lawyer theyredy giuliani, obviously our efforts for Rudy Giuliani to testify. There are also investigations giulianisrudy involvement in ukraine more broadly. That is very much a live question right now. But democrats, we have been reporting for a while that democrats are sort of at a pivot point in their investigation, that pivot point is rapidly approaching. Do you quit keep going down this line and get testimony or do you wrap it up and say this is what we have, we think we have a pretty good link between President Trump holing up ukraine eight over a push to get information on one of his democratic rivals, we think we have a case and were going to try to make it to the American People right now, come what may . Thats kind of the point across are at and they will have to make a decision very shortly. Rishaad thank you, derek. Lets look at the irish finances. They are saying there is a long way to go if the ireland of ireland is to be reunited after brexit. There is speculation that the split from the eu will increase chances for irish unity. Paschal its a unique agreement , unique circumstances on the island of ireland. Thebritish government, irish government, the European Union have played roles to come in come up with an agreement hard developing of a border on the island of ireland. I believe an agreement has been reached between the eu and u. K. That delivers the insurance policy. I hope it is not needed and we can reach a trade agreement and a future political agreement that means the Insurance Plan is not trigger, but if it is, i believe it will work. We get all kinds of commentary in the u. S. About what all of this might mean, and the idea that the british may cause a problem with the border has just raised, as far as we hear, the odds of a united ireland. Does it play that way over there . The idea of the u. K. Breaking up and maybe the two halves of ireland uniting again . Paschal i think we are many phases away from that happening. The good friday agreement is very clear. There would have to be a agreementy of an being reached to trigger a poll. Le a border the view of the government is that the timing is not right for that, and would be very counterproductive. What we now have to do is all worked very hard to see if we can come up with a new agreement, a closer relationship between the u. K. And European Union, and thats where the majority of our efforts now need to go for the foreseeable future. We have a really strong insurance policy that has been negotiated between the eu and u. K. We want to avoid the insurance policy being triggered, as i said, and engage with northern upland and the institutions and running all over again. Its not been a place now for three years, and our focus is on getting those institutions in place now. Rishaad our exclusive interview with the irish finance minister. Plenty more ahead, including a look at our stock of the hour. This is bloomberg. Lets take a look at the business flash headlines. Raising a billion dollars to invest in startups and Southeast Asia and india, we are told they will focus on the Digital Payments and Online Finance world. It already holds stakes in key indian payment giants and has invested in 160 companies in the last five years. One of chinas biggest Drinks Companies is considering an ipo that could raise 1 billion. It is working with Financial Advisors and the offering could happen in the first half of next year. It makes bottled water, juices, tea, and sufferings. Last year it scrapped a decadelong plan for and a share listing in china. The now for the stock of hour. You are looking at quite a mover, china First Capital group. Tell us why. In thee a huge fall morning session in hong kong before trading was suspended, falling the most on record, down more than 75 , the most since it listed in november 2011. Holding at the lowest level since 2015. We are looking into reasons why the Investment Holding company has fallen so significantly, particularly in the last couple of days. Volume in the stock has been more than 40 times the daily average. A lot of interest in this stock, which has been suspended from trade in hong kong. To get a glance of this and other stocks of interest today, your terminal. Rishaad the Chinese Markets as we had to lunch break, shenzhen and shanghai up. Story, we werey down. Horrible news coming out of the economy, industrial profits down 9. 9 , suggesting we could be seeing a continued slowdown into the fourth quarter. Economic growth already the slowest in three decades in the fourth quarter. This is bloomberg. This is bloomberg. Juliette it is almost 11 30 a. M. In singapore, in the middle of the trading day and the trading week my it is pretty flat on the singapore times index. Seeing some upside and some of the commercial trust today, n among them, Singapore Exchange also quite good, but youve seen Singapore Airlines under pressure. The dollar trading lower against the dollar. Lets get the first word headlines with su keenan in new york. Su we start with the profit at the Chinese Industrial company. It slumped the most in almost a decade this year. Official figures show a drop of nearly 10 in october, compared to 2018. The National Bureau of statistics blames a big are decline in Producer Prices and the slowdown in production and sales. Moving to the u. K. , sterling weakens as the conservative party may be losing its lead ahead of next month selection. Investors most fear and inconclusive result next month, and polls show that labour could be making up ground. A Hung Parliament raises the possibility that the impact of brexit could drag on into the new year. Sterling has gained nearly 8 since december 3 year low. Malaysia has won a victory in the u. K. That will allow public hearings in a dispute between one mvb in an investment fund. The legal battle is about how millions of dollars went missing. Judges in london back to malaysias argument that private arbitration hearings are unsatisfactory because it means a case would be determined without public scrutiny. U. S. Aviation regulators say they are determined to retain control over the grounded 737 max jets. This as boeing prepares to finalize Software Fixes for the troubled plane. The faa says even relatively routine approvals of the just off the Assembly Line previously done by boeing will now be done i agency officials. Boeing hopes the max jet will be allowed to return to service before the end of the year. Global news 24 hours a day on air and on tictoc on twitter, powered by more than 2700 journalists and analysts in more than 120 countries. Im su keenan. This is bloomberg. The markets, on the economic front, chinas industrial profits coming in weakest since 2011. That has raising that is raising alarm bells. Slightly. Equity up Chinese Markets have recovered somewhat from the news, the hang seng flirting with the gain line premuch all morning. Pretty much all morning. Up, andthe nikkei 225 the lospi on the upside. Kospi on the upside. Donald trump saying they are near getting a deal on the table. The dollar pretty much unchanged but that optimism is also propelling the global stock market to near alltime highs, msci world index less than 1 away from a level never seen before. That has one factor been helping fueled the global stockmarket market rally is merger mania. More than 70 million to 70 billion worth of deals were announced this week alone. Burstvestors, the sudden of activity is seen as a vote of confidence in the economic outlook. Lets jump into my terminal, this chart shows that ceo confidence is been has been on the rise. Rishaad our next guest has 20 years of mergers and acquisitions experience in the u. S. And asia and with continued activity into next year. Thank you for joining us. What is driving this . The normal thing at this stage of the economic cycle, if we can identify where we are, is quite often marked by m a activity reaching a frenzy. We are getting so much of it, does it indicate we are late cycle . What does it tell you . Thank you for having me. Its an interesting phenomenon whats happening overall. I think m a is a product of global phenomenon, so what happens in the u. S. , at least for m a in europe and he asia and asia particularly, we are seeing a combination of structural drivers, whether that is the need to grow the top line, need to cut costs, it can be offensive and defensive, a technological component driving m a which is new in the last couple of years, and we are seeing availability and cost of funding at attractive levels. Funding levels driven by Central Bank Liquidity or the hunt for yield, corporate is making much of it. As you mentioned, stock prices are at these levels and csuites are available stock prices and using that currency to drive m a. I think its a confluence of events. I dont think it is particularly now, i think weve seen elevated levels last couple of years, and we will continue to see Going Forward and less there is a Material Change in confidence. Rishaad you get all of these deals announced as they have done the last few days, and these things have been concocted a few months ago. What prism were they looking at then . Manoj exactly. M a deals come years and months to come to fruition and come to announcement in the Public Market. This could be a simple as to o chairman meeting a couple of years ago to make an announcement today. That could be a function of where the markets are, stock prices are, where companies are in their lifecycle. You have a generational change happening in asia. It could be a time to consummate an m a deal. In terms of timing, i dont think it is year ended driven, but i think there is a drive to announce deals because they are also taking longer to complete. Juliette on that point, can we expect more announcements coming through by the end of the year and into the beginning of next year . Manoj sure. I think there would be no reason to see a slowdown in activity Going Forward the same drivers present that led to announcements this week will prevail into next year unless theres a change in circumstances. I think the reaction of the market to the deal so far and the last few months will give for the confidence to announce further deals. Juliette what impact have you seen the trade war have on m a, particular given the u. S. Market is shut down for u. S. China deals . Manoj i think there can be no debate that the trade war is having an impact on the number and type of deals happening. Where that particular resonates is u. S. Activity, china activity in u. S. Activity. Youre seeing the chinese activity focused elsewhere, in europe, latin america, and the rest of asia. I think when there is further resolution to the trade war, that will increase confidence, and in fact that will probably lead to another surge in activity given the overhang will have gone from the market. Rishaad this is it, the trade war juliette was asking about, its creating uncertainty, should it be making people more wary . Where youtalk about are geographically seeing this, and what are the trends in terms of Industry Groups as well. Manoj sure. As i mentioned, m a is a global phenomenon. Transactions that happen in the u. S. Lead to transactions elsewhere. If you think about it if you look at china a couple of years ago, corporates are reactionary as well, and thats arguably a function of other companies they are linked. ,here are mergers in the sector and they look at what we should be doing when things are changed. From that perspective we will continue to see activity, i think in the tech sector, anything asset heavy, infrastructure like. Rishaad exactly, what are the Industry Groups, the areas where there is a need for consolidation . Manoj in reality i think its across most industries. Why that is is Different Industries have different pressure points. It out of offense or defense . Rishaad its often offense because of the big players taking out some of the minnows, but carry on. Manoj from tech perspective, you have larger players taking out the smaller players. It is a combination of offense and defense. Private equity have raised an abundance of capital, i think the number is 200 billion globally. It has to find its way to Public Markets. Theyre looking at companies where the Public Market valuations are low and the asset valuations are higher, and has to find its way to Public Market and get to shareholders. Tech, i staying on wanted to get your thoughts on alibaba and the hong kong market, a strong debut yesterday. Manoj sure. Example,t is a great and a great outcome for shareholders of alibaba. I think it was a great outcome for the hong kong exchange. What it has done from alibabas perspective is create a secondary market, a differentiated sourcing capital pool to access outside of the u. S. , is positive. Its a testament for other companies to follow, should they look to do it. Companies or china related companies can follow the lead. For investors, it gives them choice, existing investors and new investors. Rishaad thank you so much. Just going through the trends in m a and what to expect ahead. Going out, why the rba sees no qed for qa for the time for the time being. That is ahead. This is bloomberg. Juliette the reserve bank of australia has unconventional pause policy. The threshold for qe in australia has not been reached and i dont expect it to be reached in the near term. In my view, there is not a smooth continuum running from Interest Rate reductions to quantitative easing. It is a bigger step two engage in money finance purchased by the central bank and a bigger hurdle. Economist joins us from sydney. Is the rbas reluctance to rule out qe for australia, the governor provided what could trigger it, if it gets to a quarter percent cash rate . Thats right. The rba governor was quite firm in suggesting that qe was not necessary in the conditions right now, but he said in two cases they could see it up lloyd. It deployed. A disruption of the markets disrupting credit in the economy, and they could act to circumvent met to ensure the economy was not disrupted. The second was if they found that while remaining on hold, what they see is zero lower bound a long time, if it was clear it was not, the recovery was not shaping up or moving away from policy goals. It would take them a while, and if it would persist of the medium term, they would deploy that program. Rishaad tell me something as , they are taking qe off the table. What does the rba do next . Redundant,e of being what would australian qe look like . Governor told us both, essentially. A need to remember there was recent study looking at qe or unconventional Monetary Policy expenses around the world, and that governor is the chair of the committee that issued the report. He took us through what had been happening overseas, and what would apply to australia. He was firm that the rba, if they were called to do qe, if they saw the case was made, which they dont right now, but if they did, it would be purchasing Government Bonds, a very vanilla program. Government securities or Government Bonds in the secondary market. They did not think they would need to be purchasing private assets unless there was a clear case of a disruption in those markets. What would the rba do or what are they likely to do from here . I think not just in the governors speech but the speech earlier in the day yesterday from the Deputy Governor, we had both his officials both officials delivering important speeches yesterday, and the Deputy Governor was talking howt the labor market and circumstances in the labor market, very strong supply coming into the labor market m rising partisan participation rates was keeping and theywage growth, were negotiating outcomes that wasnt consistent with what they needed for the inflation target. What they could do from there, or what the governor suggested, it is not qe, but an unconventional tool, or explicit forward guidance. Saying the cash rate will perhaps be the zero lower bound, if they get there a long time, while it would not be purchasing Government Bonds, it would still have an effect on the prices of yields on the markets. Mcintyre from Bloomberg Economics, thank you so much. Undere westpac again pressure even after the resignation of the chief executive. Powerful Shareholder Advisors calling for more changes to the board. We have been watching this. Matthew, what is being recommended . Overnight, Institutional Shareholder Services issued a report to clients saying to vote against the Companies Pay report and the companys pay report and against two directors. That was a significant move given the proxy has fairly big cloud in australia with about 50 of institutional holders for westpac among their clients. It is a slap in the face against westpac, they thought the chairy with retiring early, that it would soothe investor return, but its not the case. Juliette probably just a quick reprieve. As you mention, the recommendation has a lot of weight. What is next for westpac . This, westpac are going to have to go back to their Institutional Investors and keep talking with them. They had a meeting on monday morning, they also had a chat with the body that looks after a ,ot of the governance issues regarding a lot of the listed companies in australia viewed australia. It was already scheduled, but given the allegations over the past week, the conversations turned to Money Laundering discussions and what the bank would be doing with that. They are going to put out a recommendation we believe sometime later this week. We have not seen it just yet. They have already called for next year, they will be king looking for more. The bank has about two weeks to soothe investor nerves and get the remuneration report. Juliette looking like it is giving back yesterdays gains. Thank you for keeping us updated on westpac. Indias markets have just opened, lets get to mumbai. Take us through what to expect from the session. We saw fresh highs, and it looks like on the nifty, more highs today. We certainly are expecting that, because what happened yesterday is after the benchmarks hit lifetime highs, we saw selling pressure coming through. After that, we are once again looking at more strength in the benchmarks are now and today, a lot of the gains on the nifty nx, led by the automotive sector,. Sector. We have a lot of help as far as the banking index is concerned, only seven on the index are in decline at this time. Broader market index, the msa 500, also moving in tandem with the benchmarks. It doesnt seem like traders want to let go. Keeping an eye on that one very closely. Prestigetell me about estate, and a bank announcing some funding. Agam thats right. We are watching out for yes bank because it will be making a decision. We know a lot has happened about its need for funds, but the question is what well do without. But it is up 6 . Prestige estate has signed up to build six hotels, and thats why we are looking at strength of as well, up 6 . A good day for relatively smaller names. We will have to keep an eye on whether we see a lifetime high on the midcap index as well. Rishaad thank you. , will todays results bring that are news . We will preview numbers coming next. Juliette a quick check of the latest business flash headlines. Audi is to eliminate roughly 15 of its workforce in germany to lift earnings by more than 6 billion. It is pushing ahead with a costly transition to electric cars. Turnaround is aimed at regaining andund lost to mercedes bmw viewed bmw. Ubers24 hours after u. K. Future was put in doubt, another company has the intention of launching a ridehailing service in weeks. They had wanted to open in london for the end of the year but now it will be in january. It will be in other u. K. Cities including liverpool, birmingham, and bristol. Softbank under more scrutiny over is the start of investments after the coo of a dog walking app announced she was leaving the company viewed she joined the Company Early last year around the same time that softbank invested in the startup. Wag has been exploring a sale that will likely reach less than that. On afterearnings later the bell in hong kong, shall me a smart phone maker may have missed sales estimates. They are losing almost half of its market value since listing. All sorts of issues with this company. 2018, at oneember point, valuations as high as 100 billion had been touted. Since then, i think the market has woken up to the fact that xiamoi is not what it was advertised as, an Internet Services company. Its beginning a gradual video,ion to music and online content. Business is predicated on hardware, which is not doing well at all, it is on its homet share turf. How does it regain its former glory . Acrossi think discipline, the product mixes better. Xiaomi used to have a reputation for being amongst the better priced gadgets in the market. It is moving slowly upscale, expanding abroad into india and europe. Europe especially did particular well last quarter. Alsos to continue that and trying to grow the user base, which is a challenge when youre competing against people like alibaba and tencent for internet usage. Rishaad always a pleasure, thank you. Its earningsth after the close in hong kong. To tell you a few things about what is going on on bloomberg television, we will hear from the Incoming European Commission president. We will also be talking into the incoming executive Vice President for the economy about economy. Dont miss those interviews later today right here on bloomberg. Juliette we are getting some rating lines out of westpac, seeing the rba now cutting to a quarter of 1 in june 2020. This is on the back of the qeernor saying they would do if they got to that rate. They are expected to do quantitative easing in the second half of 2020. That is it from Bloomberg Markets asia. This is bloomberg. Taylor i am taylor riggs in san francisco, in for emily chang, and this is bloomberg technology. Coming up in the next hour, strong debut. Shares of alibaba begin trading in hong kong, ending the trading day more than 6 above the list price. Plus, check the books. Startup bookkeeping draws scrutiny. We have details