Transcripts For BLOOMBERG Bloomberg Markets Asia 20240713

Low for might as well, but the pboc not adding actual liquidity saying things are reasonably apple when it comes to liquidity conditions at the moment. I suppose the big question is will any of this be transmitted given that we know so many still out of the economy, essentially either stuck at home or factories still still, supply chain massively dislocated. Sarah we have seen markets across the asiapacific region turning higher. We continue to see resiliency, at least on the mainland and in hong kong. The hong kong hang seng up about. 5 , and in japan, we have seen markets turn higher as well, holding onto those gains, up about. 6 . The one that is moving to the downside bucking the trend is the south korean cosby after the country did report about 10 new coronavirus cases. You see it falling to a twoweek low, down about. 25 at the moment. Lets take a look at some other risks in the currency and commodities space. We did see copper moving higher for an eighth day and 11. Gold, though, moving a little bit higher, too, holding onto those large against that we saw yesterday, holding on above 1600 a troy ounce. We do see the yen weakening once again and extending losses after two weeks of losses, and we do see the aussie dollar moving a tad bit higher but mostly Holding Steady. Back to you guys. Haidi Holding Steady seems to be a pretty good theme for today that we are seeing in terms of the crosssections across the market. Lets get you set up with the first word news. Su keenan is in su new york with the headlines. Su we start with singapores finance minister who has leverage around 4. 5 billion u. S. Dollars to leverage the economy as it gets hit by the coronaVirus Outbreak. That means the city will post its biggest budget deficit in more than two decades. Singapore will set aside about 600 million to fight the Virus Outbreak and 4 million will be used to provide two packages to assist businesses as well as consumers. I know singapore is understandably very concerned about the impact on our businesses and jobs. I will introduce two special packages with a total budget of 5. 6 billion. To hong kong now, after more than half a year of protests, the outbreak of the coronavirus is adding to pressure on hong kongs economy. The city jobless rate rose for a fourth straight month in january, coming in at its highest level since 2016. After seeing its first annual recession in a decade last year, economists are forecasting a 1 contraction in gdp this year. That would be hong kongs first backtoback recession on record. President trump meanwhile announced a set of clemencys and pardons tuesday including michaelfinancier million and former illinois governor rod blagojevich. Milken, who was dubbed the junkbond king in the 1980s for securities fraud, and he also released locally average from prison, commuting his 14year sentence for public corruption. The president has issued more than two dozen pardons since taking office. In toent trump stepped stop his own administrations plans to stop the sale of gemade jet engines to china, tweeting the u. S. Should not become a difficult place for Foreign Countries to do business securitythe national excuse should not always be used. It represents a rare public rebuke of some of his administrations hardliners on china. Global news 24 hours a day on air and on quicktake by bloomberg powered by more than 2700 journalists and analysts in more than 120 countries. Chinas a death toll from the coronavirus has topped 2000 as global cases climb above 75,000. Still that comes as the province at the center of the outbreak continues to report fewer additional cases. Tom, let me start with you. Please walk us through the latest numbers. Tom it is a sad sign when we get above that 2000 level in terms of total deaths from this disease, but equally importantly, potentially, is the fact that we now have a second day of slowing additional infections out of the epicenter, so a little under 1007 hundred additional cases. The total now, as you say, globally around 75,000, but that slowing pace of infections reinforces what we have been hearing from some of the medical experts, including one who was an advisor to the Chinese Government who says he thinks it could peak, at least in the southern part of china, some were between the middle of february in the end of february as well. Those are numbers we continue to watch on a daily basis. The World Health Organization also praising china for its aggressive quarantine measures saying that it may have led to a window of two or three weeks for countries outside or beyond china to put in place measures to ensure their Health Systems are prepared for the virus, but of course, the impact continues to be felt, and we know officials in that province are stepping up attempts to track down people who may not have or may have escaped the notice of medical experts, by tracking pharmaceutical drugs pharmacies across the province are using, the surveillance officials have, so they are trying to trace everyone to account for each individual and make sure numbers are accurate. The meantime, beijing continue to offer assurances it will beat its economic goals this year. Economistsand many wonder if that is feasible and to what extent additional stimulus will need to come down the pipeline to get to that point, but we did hear from president xi jinping, apparently in a phone call with u. K. Leader boris johnson, saying there was resilience in the chinese economy. Those economic goals, as we have heard already, would be met. We have seen policy adjustments, of course and additional fiscal or Monetary Policy support, but we also see the data showing broad pressure on the chinese economy. If you look at the travel sector, the number of trips that have been taken to the start of the lunar new york, a drop of one point 4 billion compared to 2019, so you can imagine the impact across the travel sector, and in terms of heavy industry, we have seen energy use, electricity use falling off a cliff, and sectors like steel and oil and coal fell below their usual level of output. Ramped up output. The private sector is feeling a lot of pain and will need that adjustment and we are seeing that change, of course, in terms of supply chains and having to adjust to that, companies, and of course, needing to get employees back. Travel members. 2 difficulty of getting workers back to home provinces into the factories around china so we can kickstart the economy again. Shery we are hearing from local media in japan saying the passengers on that cruise ship have started disembarking. What do we know . The quarantine is over. Japan is trying to assure the public it has done everything it can to contain this virus. We are learning that 500 people today will be able to get off this vessel, ending weeks of turmoil, especially as one in seven people on board the diamond princess contracted this disease. We are counting at least 540 cases now. What we have learned is that no has led to preferences as who will be getting a first, but only those who have passed a final that he could check will be able to get off. Some Health Experts say these measures japan has taken so far may not be enough to contain the spread of this outbreak, given the fact that the people that hailed from this cruise line come from 50 Different Countries and as they return home, there is a concern now that this vessel is the source of a fresh wave of global infection. In the meantime, the Economic Future continues to dim for hong kong, the jobless rate rising for a fourth straight month in january. Talk about backtoback fears. On you are painting a pretty grim picture for the economy. That jobless rate is the highest weve seen in four years. We have seen an uptick in the unemployment numbers, and this is not even fully reflecting the impact from the coronaVirus Outbreak. Omberg economics therefore Bloomberg Economics forecasting it could reach 5 . As you mentioned, economists start to think we could be heading into backtoback recessions for the First Time Ever hong kong has seen that. They are forecasting no more than 1 contraction in 2020 following the one point 2 decline we saw last year, which does suggest a bigger impact and slower recovery than what we saw back in 2003 during sars, so all. Yes on carrie lam next week shery joining us for more analysis is sarah lane, a spring s client portfolio manager. Given what we do not know about this virus and what the recovery looks like, how do you, i guess, gild your portfolio . How much are you looking to take shelter in terms of havens, and how much are you being opportunistic about . In reality at east spring, we have not changed our portfolio much as a response to what is going on in the market with regards to the coronavirus. It was this, we thought we would have huge buying opportunities and an opportunity to really go shopping and refresh work folios, but that only lasted for a day or two. The market reopened in china on february 3, and there were some bargains to be had, but in general, the markets kind of looking through this, i would say, and a lot of people are extrapolating what happened in a sars in 2003 to what is happening now and assuming that q1 is going to be pretty nasty, but looking forward, you know, the growth pattern we saw in the beginning of this year and late last year should reassert itself , and those Asset Classes that were doing well should continue to do well, so there have not been huge valuation dislocations through this crisis. However, we are looking to buy durable businesses, good businesses where we see a good. Ividend yield and good upside there are opportunities to be had, but you have to be very selective. I think you have to be careful what you pay because the market has not sold off sharply as we had expected it would when the coronavirus first hit the news. Haidi we have seen dislocations when it comes to the earnings forecast. I want to drop a chart in our bloomberg terminal looking at the diversions we have seen in asia depending on the sectors. Commodities assets have been the hardest hit in the selloff post the coronavirus story on the upside, probably also surprising youve seen upgrades when it comes to the health care sector. If you are talking about picking up good companies, what sectors, what names would you be looking at the moment . I think the obvious place for us to look is in the consumer area. The consumer area has been very expensive, particularly in consumer staples, and that is the area at the spring he espring we have been most active in. That has fallen off with sentiment on the chinese economy souring. In terms of earnings, it is a little early to say. We saw apple numbers come out and this will have repercussions on the manufacturing supply chain throughout taiwan, for example, so, you know, these are things to think about, but overall, the longterm picture still seems pretty robust. Shery given that in the shortterm, we really dont know what will happen with this Virus Outbreak and when we could see the peak, how important is it that despite the fact that you are adding new names, you are still staying defensive . Say we are would not staying totally defensive. We have come from a portfolio perspective, we have some positions that are more defensive, some cyclical. I think the key is to be diversified, to look across the spectrum and try to find those opportunities where we think the businesses in a lot of cases, the businesses are priced pretty cheaply. They have good, steady earnings, good, steady cash flows. Solid and sustainable dividend yields, and those opportunities should persist throughout this period and into the future. Shery thank you very much for sticking around. We will go to the source of singapores stimulus as well. Singapores deputy Prime Minister and finance minister joins us in one hour right here on Bloomberg Markets asia. Views of next, more on Monetary Policy and the earnings outlook as well. Here why she says some companies could be using the coronaVirus Outbreak as a convenient excuse. Plus, we speak to an asset manager who still says she is overweight chinas highyield debt despite the fallout from the virus. This is bloomberg. We are hearing from the japanese cabinet secretary, speaking in tokyo regarding the disembarkation of these passengers off the diamond princess, saying that all possible measures are being taken to secure the health of the passengers and measures have been taken since february 5 to theent infections on cruise. We know one in seven passengers on that cruise has tested positive for the coronavirus, a total of 542 confirmed cases on that ship. In fact, 88 new virus cases were announced just yesterday. Japan starting the practice of letting passengers who have been tested for the new coronavirus off the diamond princess cruise ship that is docked in yokohama. That is starting today, and the Health Minister saying he expects all passengers to be off the ship by february 21 and that viral samples have been taken from all passengers aboard this ship. Those that test positive will be taken straight to hospital. It is pretty extraordinary because now we know Something Like 55 of all the coronavirus cases outside of Mainland China far off that ship or come from that ship. Yeah, the largest cluster of infections outside china. What a relief it must be for those passengers who are leaving the quarantine that they were under since february 5 after that passenger had disembarked in hong kong in late january tested positive for the virus. Of course, we have seen many countries also trying to evacuate their citizens from that cruise ship. Lets discuss now the marketable occasions with this ongoing coronaVirus Outbreak. Thank you very much for sticking around. Lets talk about japan, since we are looking at those pictures. Several hundred cruise passengers today to leave over the next three days according to the cabinet secretary, who is talking about those passengers on the cruise ship, but we have seen pretty bad data out of japan. We are talking about fourthquarter gdp numbers slowing to the lowest since 2014. Today, machine orders were so bad, and yet, the boj does not really have that much room to do more, right . What are we expecting in terms of assets when it comes to japan . Quickly have a lot of money at work in japan. The market is cheap. We have great valuation signals, and we see great businesses there. Companies in japan have been operating in a low Interest Rate environment for longer than anywhere else, so they are not counting on the government to stimulate them, necessarily. A lot of businesses we own have net cash balance sheets, are priced as if they are going to go out of business, in fact, and we see good quality, good management, and definitely a much better Corporate Governance type of outlook. I think japan you do need to be selective, but we do see good pockets of opportunity. We have also been active since the coronaVirus Outbreak on the property site in japan. If you look at what has been really hard hit, like hotels, for example, we still think theres some great value opportunities in japan, opportunities to be contrarian. We know the olympics is coming up soon. We have been poking around in japan because we are seeing good value in the property space there as well. Shery many people seem to like the property sectors not only in japan but across asia, even in hong kong. How important are these incomeoriented Investment Strategies . I think it is very important. We have been very focused on property. Our clients have a genuine interest in property, and i think theres a number of reasons. You mentioned the dividend, the more clear earnings streams we see. The property market, when you look at hong kong, has held up really strongly irrespective of what has been happening over the last year, so there are good opportunities in the property space. China property markets sold off a bit, about 20 since the coronaVirus Outbreak, but if you look at it, Hubei Province is less than 5 of the national sails in china last year, so it is a small part, in fact, so if you look at the overall growth picture and overall profile, property is the ultimate middleclass consumption play and we think there are plenty of opportunities. It is a very broad space and an opportunity to get some good value. Central banks saying 2020 will be the time for more heavy lifting. We are hearing that sentiment from south korea. We are seeing that in the blockbuster budget and singapore as well. How much upside does that lift to equities and asset prices, or does it still go back to the pboc and the spread . I think it does lend some credibility. It also enhances sentiment. Lets face it sentiment is a big driver of markets, especially in asia, so i think having that sort of crushed to lean on is giving confidence to the markets, but at the same time, it is kicking a can down the road, not necessarily solving problems, so the market is trying to weigh it somewhat to think fiscal and monetary stimulus is being supported and doing its job, but the issues are not going away. I think we need to work through all of this through time. Haidi thank you so much for joining us. Be sure to keep up to date on this developing coronavirus story. You can run the function on your bloomberg and find our quicktake learning page. Headlines from the Bloomberg News room as well as how specific Companies May be exposed. This is bloomberg. Shery heres a quick check of the markets we are seeing broad outside pressure for markets across asia. We are seeing the hang seng index gaining. 5 after falling the most in two weeks. Asia shares also rising the most in about a week while the nikkei is up. 7 . Only small caps seem to be falling at the moment. Coming up, virus pressure on asian economies continues to rise with hong kong facing recession. This is bloomberg. P. M. In hong kong , we start with the death toll of the coronavirus. Its exceeded 2,000 with beijing reporting another 136 deaths nationwide this brings the total to 2,004. 132 of those new deaths were in the province at the ep center of the virus. That was the lowest number of additional cases in a single day since they changed the method for counting cases last week. The u. S. Poimezzed restrictions on five Chinese State Media Outlets buzz theyre not seen as independent. It includes China Global Television network and the publisher of the peoples daily. They say president xi jinping and the communist party are imposing more control over the nations media and stifling heir independence. In incumbent was reelected afghan, the election took place in september but there were technical problems and misconduct counting ballots. The corruption trial of Benjamin Netanyahu begins march 17, two weeks after national leks. Netanyahu is being charged with bribery and fraud, accused of accepting lavish gifts from wealthy friends and scheming with media moguls to trade regulatory favors for positive news coverage. Netanyahu failed to secure victory in a pair of deadlocked elections last year and polls showed him failing to form a government. Global news 24 hours a day on air and on quick take by bloomberg, powered by more than 2,700 journalists and analysts. Im sue keenan, this is bloomberg. Haidi asian stocks broadly positive despite the coronavirus hanging over the markets. Were joined by our reporter in new york. Sarah, despite the positive sentiment in equity marks we continue to see the dollar around twoyear highs. Is this a safe haven place . Sarah it is. You look at the u. S. Dollar, its been a safe haven play for the entire i have to the last couple of years. The idea has been that even if you see Global Growth falter in the asia pacific region, in europe, that quoteunquote, the u. S. Is the cleanest dirty shirt. I should mention, when you look at the dollar index, this index particularly is weighted heavily toward the euro. The euro is also trading at the weakest level since 2017 versus the u. S. Dollar. Weight. 8 we dont necessarily see the gains as high. Still its pretty unexpected, the latest bank of America Fund Managers survey, 54 of respondents see the dollar as overvalued, the second highest level since 2002. What does that mean for other assets . We talk about goal or International Equities . Typically, a strong dollar is not so great for commodities, the likes of oil or gold. But weve seen that relationship start to break down in recent weeks where weve seen gold moving higher in tandem with the u. S. Dollar. This all comes back to the fact that this is a safe haven play, people loobing for hedges, for safety, gravitating toward gold now bf 1,600 a troy ounce. When it comes to equities, its not just rough on emerging equity bus multinationals within the u. S. Any company that do business overseas in which it will make their product more expensive, when you have to translate that into whatever the local currency is but emerging markets will definitely likely face some issues here. Shery that was sarah in new york. Thank you so much. The latest numbers out of hong kong when it comes to the Economic Impact of the coronavirus show more pressure, on top of months of political unrest. It adds up to a pretty ominous outlook for economists. Eric joins us now in hong kong. What are economists expecting in hong kong this year . The jobless numbers at a fouryear high, all this in play baffer we could blame the coronaVirus Outbreak, right . Eric yeah. We had actually seen some tentative green shoots out of the economic numbers for december and first part of january but with the new headwinds from the viers outbreak, the expectations from economists have gone to the downside and we can see that the forecast now for the first two quarters further steeper weakness for the hong kong economy which has been in recession through the second half of the year. Theyre talking about a potential recovery in the hong kong economy. That was perhaps seen in third quarter. Thats being push intad the fourth quarter. Were talking about a steeper worse first half of the year and shallower recovery in the second half. How does it compare to back during the sars outbreak in 2003 . Eric the interesting thing with sars in 2003 was that once we got the allclear, the hong kong economy bounced back very strongly. 2003 ended up being a positive year for growth. The difference this time is, we just came out after 2019 that had an annual recession and economists are forecasting a second consecutive recession for 2020 now. So were talking about two consecutive years of weakness on an annual basis. Thats never happened before in hong kong. Thats certainly unprecedented, uncharted territory. The biggest difference from 2003 until now is that in 2003 china, chinas economy was on the upswing. We were talking about the first of fave straight years double digit growth in china. Were not seeing that now. Chinas focus right now is on restarting its own economy and that is important in terms of tourism, investment spending, that wont be the same level for hong kong. One of the biggest drivers for the rebound in 2003, thats the that support is not likely to be there this time around. Haidi what do we expect for the government to do when it announces the upcoming budget on february 26 . Eric theres a lot of calls for the government to deal with when the budget comes next week. First and foremost, theyre obviously going to be looking at the continued stimulus for the battered economy, the servicing sector, the restaurant, hotels, travel agencies have all suffered greatly over the past year. Now that was first off because of the protests and new with the virus as well. Ow into the budget, carrie lam will be requesting about 28 million hong kong of additional funding ahead of any announcements from the budget itself. Speculation in the city, theres a lot of speculation about what the government is going to announce. One of the big items thats been in the discourse here is talking about potential 10,000 hong kong handout to citizens. Mg put out a press release advocating for this, suggesting 10,000 of electronic cash vouchers to have local spending back into the economy. Theyre advocating for bold action from the government. One of the other big differences now versus 2003, hong kong has an ample fiscal reserve at this point, over 1. 1 trillion hong kong. That cash is for a rainy day its pretty rainy in hong kong right now. Haidi thank you very much, eric. Were getting the latest headlines out of south korea. The Health Authority commenting in a regular press briefing saying the country is seek an entry ban on foreigners released from the cruise ship docked in yolk ha ma, japan. We have seen passengers now disembarking in japan. The chief cabinet secretary is in japan saying that japan has done all possible to secure the health of the passenger bus of course south korea is battling its own coronavirus cases. We have seen their cases rise big about 15. We continue to see more measures coming from Different Countries nord to support their economies. Expectations that Chinas Central Bank will continue the policy to support economy has resulted in the steepest yield curve since 2015. If we take a look at the chart on the bloomberg, you can see that the predspred between the one and the 10year is now the widest in over four years. Lets get more now on the outlook for chinese and asian bonds with triada capital founding monica joining us from dallas, texas. We are now seeing some bond benchmarks zeroing back to previers levels. Will this trend continue if we see these expectations of more support . Yes. I think what we have seen is that throughout this period of this year of the epidemic, our bond markets have continued to stay resilient. We did have some dips but some of the benchmarks, particularly in the shorter dated double b space has rebounded back to almost previers levels. I think that makes sense also in the context of the fact that theres still a lot of liquidity around chasing yields, technicals are quite good with influence continuing every week to come to asia credit. I think in the shortterm right now we do see the markets continue to be resilient. We see also through new issue. We have continueously seen the bond coming into the high yield space have been eversubscribed and perform relatively well after launch. So i think that in the shortterm the market will continue to look past the epidemic right now and look forward to some form of rebound in the Second Quarter as some of the easing policies kick in shery what are we seeing in terms of new issuance . Monica new issuance wise, as of last week, year to date, which was only about a month and a half, we have continued to add a growth issuance of other 45 billion, most of that continues to come from china and within that most of it is coming from high yield. So we still are on relatively good pace and i think most people still expect gross supply addition around 300 billion for this year. Keeping in mind that we have quite a bit of redemption coming up as well. I still think that the gross net upply add wont be that big. Gross we will add around 300 billion. Because of the redemptions. Our net supply add wont be that big, our technicals continue to hold up. Shery how do they balance this . We know theyre committed to financial stability. In that sense i think youre expecting probably a muted or conservative approach to local Government Bond issuance . Monocamplet actually, you know that the government is, i think, theyre quite determined to maintain the stability of the economy, particularly with this epidemic right now, the deleveraging side of the policy is definitely on hold. You can see that through several ways. Recently, they have extended the deadline for the banks to be forced to outlay from their portfolios some of the shah debanking financing. I think that the leveraging now is on the back burner and priort the economy back on track. So they are willing to front load fiscal stimulus through issuance of local Government Bonds. In addition to special purpose bonds approved prior, they have approved another additional 850 billion local Government Bonds to help in stimulating the economy. So i think that, you know, that the government right now is ok with allowing for some debt expansion and in fact, the pboc has mandated that the new bank loan for First Quarter should maintain the same amount of addition in rate as last year. Quarter over quarter. So i think that goes to show you the priorities of the government have shifted. Haidi what about the rest of asia then . Are you still seeing Pretty Healthy flows when it comes to asia credit even after coronavirus . Monica if you talk about flows in terms of trading liquidity, trading liquidity is ok right now. Youre seeing healthy demand come into the market beyond ina, i think, all of asia, although everybody is prepared to see a drag on the economy as well as Growth Numbers but i think in the credit space, you know, there is this expectation and it is happening of Central Banks being accommodative across asia, not just in china. Theres a coordinated effort to overcome this and for now i think, you know, people are looking to some kind of normalization as production comes back online. Certainly we are looking at a lot of disruption in the supply chain. Were looking at disruption on the growth side. But on the credit side the governments are all maintaining healthy liquidity in the interbanking markets, china continues to inject liquidity, you know, as and when needed. So i think credit is quite different from the equity utlook for growth. Haidi monocharacter thank you very much. Coming up, well bring you part of our interview with the cofounder and managing partner of arbor ventures. Shell be discussing chinese giants and female entrepreneurs this is bloomberg. Shery for our latest edition of bloomberg equality, we take you to the world of fintech. Plus, representation of female entrepreneurs in vepture capital. 50 of the purchasing power in the world is in the hands of women. It makes great business sense to have a womans perspective. So why does it remain stubbornly low . Most people come to the v. C. Industry having done a starred startup. If you look at the number of women who have startups or head of marketing, its verying very low. You dont have the flow of women coming up through the ecosystem you have had with men over the years. Its changing but its changing very slowly. When you talk about funding, i think its almost 80 , around 80 of mungos to startups funded by men. And women get a very small piece of the v. C. Pie. How do we address that . I think its two things. One i think just the number of startups founded by women is significantly lower than those founded by men. So you just dont have the core coming through the system. I think also when youre sitting in a room, youre a young woman, youre presenting to a group of men, i think, you know, perhaps youre not somehow connecting with them or maybe the Business Plan that you have is more geared toward women than maybe men. Whatever it is, we need much more diversity inside the partners room in venture capitalists. I think that will help. I get become to fundamental we need more women in startups today. Again, if we take a step back, to get more women many startups, do we need more women studying computer science, studying tech, studying different subjects, a variety of subjects and in schools an colleges . How do we encourage more women to create startups . We look at coding. Encourage them to start young. We need women who are studying math and science as well. Computer science, statistics, math in college. The other part about it is, we need women who want to take risks. Women tend to be much more risk averse than men are at that age. And we need tone courage women that its ok to take the risk. Its ok to fail. Its ok to trial trie again. And that, you know if you try and dont succeed thats, you know, a badge thats very honorable in silicon valley. I think we need to encourage not only what people study but also what they strive to achieve and also be able to take the risk to go to a startup which ultimately can lead to becoming a venture capitalist. One area, one market where women have been successful in the v. C. Industry is china. What lessons can we learn if the ecosystem there that allowed this to happen . I think its historical. China being a communist country with far was far more genderfree than the United States or europe. Women were in positions of influence and power. So you didnt have as much gender bias in china because of that i think where were going now in the u. S. And europe is trying to mandate equality. But equality actually comes from great leadership. So a great c. E. O. In a startup will make sure he has a well balanced team and i think the more and more people are educated that having diversity in a company is very important, youll naturally see the progression happen, at least in the u. S. And europe. In Southeast Asia particularly and in china we dont have this barrier to entry you have in the u. S. And europe. Speaking of china, i know youre focused on fintech, do you think chinas fintech giants baba can evolve into bigger giants . They havent been dependent on global expansion. When you think about the u. S. , the reason that venture returns have come out of the sust because its a big market. The same for china. Its a big market. You never need to leave china to become a highly valuable company, which has been proven. I think with the fintech giants what has happened is china led the way when it comes to payments and mobile banking. Regardless of whether they go regional or not, which is yet to be seen, and they are trying, their influence on the rest of the world has been tremendous. The fallout from the coronaVirus Outbreak continues to affect all aspects of life in china. A growing number of the private companies have been forced to cut wage derks lay paychecks or stop paying staff altogether. Lets get details from lulu chen in hong kong. The private sector is the Fastest Growing part of chinas economy. How serious is the situation . Yeah, shery. Its happening across hong kong, beijing, across various sectors right now. You are seeing employers essentially in private sectors stop paying their workers on the premise that theyre not starting business, that these workers are not going back to work. Some are in quarantine. Hence Business Owners think they do not have to shoulder the burden of the finance burden but what it means is so many workers right now in china are struggling for their next meal or their next rent payment. And that situation is pretty widespread. In fact, according to a survey by a survey they say among the 9,500 people theyve interviewed, at least a third have heard of or are witnessing uch cases. Shery where do the uighurs stand legally . In choo in a youre required as an employering youre required to pay a full pay cycle which means most employers are obliged to pay the salary before they know before they notice their employees that they want to delay their salary payroll in march or pay minimum wage. But theres a lot of legal dispute right now and the real issue is that Migrant Workers or even a lot of foreign people, foreigners who are working in china, just dont have the Legal Expertise to fight back. So theyre kind of getting bullied into situations that are not ideal. Shery really interest, lulu chen, Senior Reporter there, and also writing about how some companies are offering restricted stock instead of payments. More ahead, this is bloomberg. Haidi we have some great interviews coming up in the next hour. Singapores deputy Prime Minister, following a pledge of fiscal stimulus to confront the coronavirus epidemic will be speaking to us at 12 40 p. M. Hong kong time. The c. E. O. Of meadows rallying after beating earning estimates. Shery at 1 30 p. M. Hong kong, the c. E. O. Of west farm is joining us after gaining ground following his earnings release. Haidi therell be lots of conversations about the coronavirus. Lets check in on how were seeing markets performing at the moment. The hang seng up about. 3 . This despite concerning news of the second coronavirus death, it was an elderly man admitted to hospital there. Elsewhere around the region, seeing a bit of caution. This is bloomberg. Ery its almost 1 11 00 im paul alen in sydney, were entering the last hour of the morning in hong kong. Here are the top stories. Death toll passes 2,000, the number infected worldwide is bf 5,000. Mass quarantines help buy the world more time. S linda the Virus Outbreak, singapore pledges more than 4 billion to lessen the impact of the slowing world economy. And a look at the broader impact it will have on the broader economy. This is Bloomberg Markets asia. Haslinda on that, singapore cash infusion to cushion the economic blow of the cree in a viers, ill speak to singapores deputy Prime Minister and finance minister in just a few moments. Right here on Bloomberg Markets asia. First up, lets see where the arkets are headed right now. Sarah, it does seem like theres some concern in the marketplace, generally it does seem like markets already judging with the impact of the coronavirus may be short lived. Sarah temporary has been the focus word. The idea that any declines we see now, any hesitancy we see now, once this is all over and done, once we get to that point, we should see a return in Global Growth and the economy, also corporate profits. We see markets trading near the highs of the session right now. Ou see the csi 300 up. 2 . Nd the nikkei up. 75 at the moment. Some of the suppliers to apple we saw falter yesterday are rebounding today. The one area that is underperforming today that is the korean cost pee down. 2 . This after they did say they have found about 10 new con filmed cases of the coronavirus. Lets look at the board to get a look at sector checks as well as across the asia pacific region. Your two best sectors is health care, your best performing sector so far this year across the region, and tech, tech up a half percent. This after major delines of a half a percent we saw yesterday. We do see real estate underperforming once again and materials acting as a trag. Ack to you guys. Paul sarah, thank you very much. Some breaking news on to bloomberg now. China is considering a bailout of its Airline Industry which has been crippled by the coronaVirus Outbreak. Measures could include injecting billion into air carriers and allowing Bigger Airlines to merge with smaller ones. We have seen the Airline Industry, particularly in china, royaled by the epidemic. Global car rirs carriers stopped about 80 of their flights. Well have more on this, but again, bloomberg understands china considering measures such as cash injections and mergers, to bail out its Airline Industry. Lets check in with sue. Sue were starting with singapores finance minister which pledged around 4. 5 billion to boost the economy there as it gets hit by the coronaVirus Outbreak. The city will post its biggest budget deficit in more than two decades, but the gap has been widening. 1 of g. D. P. In 2020. Singapore will set aside about 600 million to fight the Virus Outbreak and 400 billion used to provide packages to businesses as well as consumers. Understand were very concerned about the impact on our businesses and jobs. I will introduce two special packages with a total budgets of 5. 6 billion. After more than a half year of protests and political unrest, the outbreak of the virus is adding pressures on hong kongs economy. The citys jobless rate rose for a fourth straight month in january, coming in at its highest level since 2016 at 3. now after seeing its first annual recession in a decade last year, economists are forecastsing a 1 contradiction in g. D. P. This year that would be hong kongs first backtoback recession on record. To the u. S. Now, President Trump announced clemencies and pardons tuesday including one for financier michael mill kin and former illinois governor broad blagojevich. Rump pardoned milliken who was dubbed the junge bond king in the 1980s. He released blagojevich from prison, commuting his fouryear prison sentence for public corruption. President trump has issued more than two dozen pardons since taking office. President trump has alsostepped in to stop his own administrations sale of jet engines to china. The president tweeted the u. S. Should not become a difficult place for Foreign Countries to do business and the quote National Security excuse not always should not always be used. It represents a rare public rebuke of some of his administrations hardliners on china. Global news 24 hours a day on air and on quick pick by bloomberg, powered by more than 2,700 journalists and analysts, im sue keenan, this is bloomberg. Haslinda thank you so much for that. Now to our top story. Japan allowed passengers of a cruise ship quarantined in joke ha ma to disembark while reassuring the public its done all it can to stop the coronavirus from spreading further. The death toll from the viers in china has topped 2,000. Lets bring in tom mckenzie in beijing. Our markets anchor in hong kong. Lets start with you. Whats next for the cruise passengers . At least the quarantine on the cruise ship is over and ending weeks of turmoil for thousands of passengers where they were on the diamond princess and one in seven people contracted this disease, we were counting at least 542 people coronavirus on that cruise ship. This is what were learning. About 500 people today will be able to disembark. The vessel. And this is going to go on basically up until friday, until all passengers on board have left japan. As you mentioned, they said they did everything they could to secure the health of passengers. The government has been under fire over the handling of this, whether its the efficacy of quarantining this many people in the cruise ship doesnt do enough to contain and also when it came to Testing Operations as well. Health official saysing the measures may not be enough to stop this virus from spreading because they have been able to say that those tested negative will be able to take a final medical check if they p theyll leave. But thats because weve got people on the cruise ship that are coming from 50 Different Countries and there is concern now that this vessel is the source of a fresh wave of global infection. You heard from south korea seeking an entry ban on foreigners released from this cruise ship. Weve heard that some governments as well urging residents to get on charter flights, dont try to take a commercial flight because there could be difficulties in doing. So of course theyre off the ship but more quarantines ahead. Were seeing similar policies out of the u. S. , canada, australia, and here in hong kong as well. Paul tom, we have, as we do, get the latest numbers of the coronavirus out of china today. The rate of infection seems to be stabilizing. Whats the significance of the latest report . Tom absolutely, it is significant, its the second day where weve seen the rate of additional infections slow, as you say that underscores the kind of commentary we have heard from medical experts here who have said they may now start to see a peak in this disease by the mid or end of january, february, potentially. The usual caveats around that. We do have the World Health Organization experts on the ground here still assessing data and patients. In terms of total global infection rate, youre talking about 75,000. So a huge number of course and the death rate unfortunately has raisin to about 2,000. But it is that trend of seeing to give some optimism for policymakers and experts. We have heard from the World Health Organization saying the quarantine measures put in place did help give a window of maybe two three weeks for other countries to prepare their health system. More positive commentary from the w. H. O. In terms of how china has handled this. In terms of the additional measures were seeing in that province, we are now hearing that officials are leaning on pharmacies there to provide data an information about people who may have gone to buy drugs and pharmaceutical it is to help them with coughs or solds or fevers because theyre worried that maybe some people fell through the gaps. Way tonight make sure theyre accounting for everyone who may have caught the virus. Haslinda speaking of positive comments from beijing, continues to comment it will hit its 2020 conomic goals. Tom key question. They said china would meet the economic goals, there was resilience in the economy. How and to what extent these additional measures, the finance ministry, Commerce Ministry are putting forward to support the economy, how sig can an impact those will have is still to be seen. We did get more news out in the last few hour there will be cuts to Social Security payments, pension payments and insurance payments. S. M. E. In the country as well. Between february and june. Those pames will be waivered. So again another measure to try and support s. M. E. But employees and workers here being felt as well. Weve got a story on the bloomberg about companies ranging from neo, the electric vehicle maker, which has said to employees they have to delay their wages by a week, ken urging them to take stock in the company instead of bonuses. You have foxcon who told employees that are quarantines theyll be paid about a third of the theafment pressure is on felt workers here, the pressure is being felt on businesses as they try to get back up to capacity and how and to what extent these measures will be supported is something we have to wait and see. Paul weve heard reports of a second death from the virus in hong kong. What are the details . This is a 70yearold man who tide after being infected with the coronavirus. He did have an underlying condition, not sure of the exact cause, thats not been confirmed, but he also may have also traveled to china back in january as well. So this as you mentioned is the second death here in hong kong. The fourth Death Outside of china. The total infected cases here in hong kong, we did see a bit of a pickup, were at 62 cases here in the city. And the fear itself has really reeled the economy. The latest numbers of unemployment, ppt 4 . Fouryear highs, concerned we could be seeing becometoback recessions for the First Time Ever here in the city. All eyes on carrie lam and her government set to announce that budget last week to see if they can offset the ble to the economy. Paul thats yvonne in hong kong and tom. We are seeing Airline Stocks rise in hong kong. China is considering a bailout of its Airline Industry which has been crippled by the coronaVirus Outbreak. Measures could include injecking billion into carriers and allowing Bigger Airlines to merge with smaller ones. You see some of the gains that have occurred just in the past couple of minutes. China up 3. 5 . China southern up almost 4 . Air china and cafe pacific also higher. Well kept y well keep you upkated oen that story as we get more details. Still ahead this hour, the deputy Prime Minister and finance minister of singapore joins us to discuss singapores latest fiscal efforts to confront the coronavirus. And later, the future of vodafones com as limb approaches. Paul youre watching Bloomberg Markets asia. Lets get you a look at whats happening in chinese equities markets right now. Mostly higher. The shanghai composite up almost a fifth of one percent. The heavy index weaker by almost a half percent. Chinese airlines performing reasonably well. China surgeon up almost 4 right now this after news that china will consider bailouts and potentially emergenciers to support their Airline Sector which was struggling from famout of the coronavirus. Haslinda singapore will pose the biggest budget deficit since at least 1997. The gap is due to a pledge of to support billion an economy slammed by not only the coronaVirus Outbreak but also slowing global trade. Joining us is the deputy Prime Minister and minister for finance. Good to have you with us. Some say its a bold budget that shows financial firepower. Why is there a need to have such a huge budget at this point in time . I think the economy is already in the effect of the global slowdown. And this Virus Outbreak will have fairly negative impact on the Global Economy as well. On this singapore economy if you look at chinas integration in the Global Economy it accounts for a much larger share of the global g. D. P. Our economy is a lot more integrated with chinas. Haslinda how dire could it potentially be . It depends very much on the duration and stability of the outbreak. Today the Global Markets are more integrate and the ripple effects of whats happening in china will have an impact on the rest of us. Thats why we think its important to stabilize the economy. Haslinda you said during your budget announcement that there is funds to spend if needed. Are you concerned at all the kind of signal on fiscal prudence you may be sending . Luxury that we can use in our internal government. At the psalm time we also have reserves if we have to call on it. In which case wed need the approval of the president. But for now, the government has been prudent in the few years of our term. Haslinda prior to the budget, Singapore Cut its projections to within a range of a con trox 1. 5 . Given that the budget you announced yesterday how confident are you that the worst is over, that the con strax of. 5 can work . We will have some positive growth this year. And this budget will provide fairly large fiscal boost to the economy but as i said, it all depends on what happens to the Global Economy in the coming months and that depends on how far the Virus Outbreak spreads and how severe it is. Haslinda so the gross projection was on the premise of the budget announced yesterday. No. The growth projection was a separate baseline. We had the stabilization package for the economy. Haslinda are you ed about the po tenable recession, theyve said that the possibly of a recession is there. We must always be open to upsides and downsides. Haslinda could the budget help singapore to do better than the aseline case for 2020 . It is intended to. Again it depends on the economy. The thing that were doing is to make sure we support our people. We support them, support our ople and our enterprises and we restructure. There are things we need to deal with. We are dealing with a budget not just in the short term but using civilization measure, having part of it to also work on transformation. Haslinda you talked about how the Global Economy is more reliable, has china done enough to ensure it doesnt see a protected i think china at this stage is very important in the last few weeks has been to contain the outbreak. Theyve had very, very effective measures to deal wit. In particular when they put out the virus, it allowed the Global Research committee to find ways in which we could provide better detection. We have been able to come up with coronavirus protection kit. I think thats the right priority. Now we are also signaling a weak point in the economy which is positive. Haslinda were seeing how governments in asia in particular have had fiscal stimulus. That balance between fiscal and monetary is there less pressure now on Monetary Policy given how big the fiscal boost is from yesterdays announcement . The Exchange Rate is toicient for us to for it ove. It is sufficient for the currency to move. They work in complementary ways. Monetary and fiscal policy. Its not just monetary and fiscal policy, we are building into this structural policy for us to manage not just the shortterm but also the long term because, when you see a huge wave come, we need to provide the huge wave. When we focus just on the wave come, by the time you get over the wave you lose a sense of direction and youre completely offtrack. Thats not good. What were hoping to do is to both negotiate the huge wave coming and also maintain our course. Haslinda part of the longer term challenge is the disruption in supply chain were seeing right now. What changes in the Global Supply chain are you, i guess, preparing singapore for . This is complicated. This will take time. The Global Supply chain has also been disrupted by a more all tionist were calculating how to reconfigure the supply chain. Also one of the challenges for singapore is the change and talking about how it needs 100 billion over the next 100 years to overcome the challenges. What would be coveted in i guess the medium and longer term . We have set up a protection fund. Its a small, lowlying island, its important for us to take Climate Change seriously. Our estimate is that it will cost at least 100 billion over 100 years for us to take mitigating measures and protect the island. But if we start early and spend longterm we can. Thats why in this budget ive allocated 5 million into the fund which well set up, which will allow us to take measures that are necessary and at the same time i think we also have a to promote asures the green economy. And youre phasing out vehicles powered by fozz ill fuels by 2020. Whats mind the change in thinking . They were t, reluctant to buy into e. V. s, elon musk himself complained about that. We believe in taking a longterm position. We need the option. It,idnt think it was worth as we monitor more carefully we decided this is the direction we want to go. Once we decide on this, we can then take decisive action. So we are going to clean up and facing more utility. I think thats the right direction for us to go. Any response to what elon musk said that singapore is unwelcoming to tesla and unwelcoming when it comes to e. V. . We welcome good options. If tesla comes up with even better options, theyre welcome. Not just tesla but any company doing any of this. Because i believe that there will be innovations coming out in this sector in the coming years. Haslinda property is a huge part of singaporian psyche. They look at it as a barometer of how theyre doing economically. Im just wondering because the government removed Housing Development restrictions recently and some are concluding that its the first step toward the unwinding of measures. Are they right . Are they misguided . I think theyre reading too much into that. They are reading too much into that. For this island state, it is important for us to monitor the property very carefully. Dont forget that the Global Financial crisis was caused by property and in fact property that was subprime and that were packaged in c. E. O. s. It is important for us to look at the linkages across the economy and how in particular linkages to the Financial Sector and the real economy and to make sure we do the right thing. And of course in singapores context, property is not just an investment. Its a home for people. And we must make sure that we get that right. That everyone must feel that this is my home. This is something which i, an ordinary worker, have something to look forward to. Haslinda what would it take for ou to remove the 0 which is considered punitive to those in the industry . If people stop speculating. Haslinda which you cant control but what are you looking out before you would tweak that . Its not on our radar at this point. I think as i said we need to make sure that we stabilize the economy and we address longterm structurele structural issues. Longterm structural issues will be techling in and innovation. This is not just singapore but for the Global Economy. We want to make sure that we are. Very importantly i would like ingapore to be a Global Center of technology, innovation, nterprise. There will be many around the world. We would like to link up. With that is why we are sending our Young Students so that they understand asia and when we understand asia we can play a role. Global companies can come to singapore, Asian Companies can come to singapore to access the world. Haslinda one final question before we let you go. Youre slated to be the next Prime Minister. Any sense you can give us in terms of when the transition of power will be . First and foremost, it is important for my party to win the support of our people. Haslinda what are the chances of that . Well, you must take every election, never take any election for granted. Therefore we will let singapore decide on which is the party best able to take them forward, to legislate specific time. Then we can discuss details later. Haslinda thank you so much for your time. Thank you. Deputy prime mipster and finance minister ginning us for the first interview here on bloomberg. Now lets get headlines from sue in new york. Sue thank you. Well start with the late thoennes death toll from the coronavirus. Its now exceeded 2,000 with beijing reporting another 136 new deaths nationwide. That brings the total to 2,00. 32 of those new deaths were in hubei, the province at the center of the epidemic which also saw 1,700 now infections on tuesday. That was the lowest number of additional cases in a single day since the province changed the method for counting infections last week. South korea seeking an entry ban on foreigners released from the cruise ship quarantined in yolk ha ma. This as passengers aboard have begun to leave. China said diamond princess passengers who have returned negative test results will be able to leave the ship. All will be off the ship by friday. Those sharing rooms with infected passengers face further quarantine time as medical facilities. Meanwhile the bad news just keeps coming for boeing. A source tell us the mane plane maker is inspecting more than 700 undelivered 737 max jets after discovering debris such as tools an rags left in the fuel tanks boeing has been working to rectify the jets, i should say recertify it, to end a grounding that began after two fatal accidents. They say the latest problems wont create new delays for the max. Boeing expects it to be cleared to fly again by mid year. To afghanistan now. The incumbent president has won a second term in office. The countrys Election Commission says ghani got just over 50 of the vote. His challenger received 39 . The election took place in september but final results were delayed amid accusations of misconduct and technical problems with counting the ballots. Global news 24 hours a day, on air and at quick pick by bloomberg, powered by more than 2,700 journalists and analysts in 140 countries, aisle sue keenan, this is bloomberg. Paul thanks sue. Were joined by sarah in new ork. Sue it is persistent. The dollar is considered a safe haven trade. The u. S. Should be able to power through this. If you look at the dollar index right 2017. A lot of this index the year has been under a lot of pressure lately. After we got some more weak Economic Data out of germany by way of that zoo expectation number. A strong dollar has implications two. Any other aspect last believe that the dollar is now overvalued and that is the secondhighest amount since 2002. Looking at cold, finally getting past 1600. What does that mean for others . It is pretty amazing. We have gold holding above 1600. There was one point earlier in the year when we were dealing with tension between the u. S. And iran. Here. See a move typically, you dont see gold moving higher nor the dollar moving higher. Typically they have endures an inverse relationship. We see both moving a little higher. When it comes to the equity space, International Equities can come under pressure. Even u. S. Multinationals. You can see here, some early this is entirely is in early 18 early 2018. In 2020, emerging markets will outperform. Part of that call is also that we will see dollar weakness. There has been this . Thrust over that trade. Question thrust over that trade. What does that mean about Global Economic markets . If you look at the rate markets in the United States, overnight, we saw a flattening. If you look at the spread between twoyear yields and 10 yields, lightning to 15 basis points. Not in negative territory, not inverted. The flattest level since november. That has been driven by the longest. That is drawn by immigrations of inflation and growth. If you were to look at this chinese treasury curve, if you look at the spread between one year and tenure yields, it is the highest in four years. The difference is that this has been driven by changes on the short end of the curve as investors and traders try to price in further policy moves and further easing. There is a difference between how these yield curves have been changing over time. Thank you so much for joining us. Airline stocks are climbing as china is said to be considering measures to bail out its Airline Industry that has been crippled by the coronaVirus Outbreak. Have a look at Airline Stocks right now, China Southern and china eastern are the bestperforming. Pacific finally seeing a bit of green on the screen there. This news. N the details, Asia Business angus joins us now. What other details of what china is proposing . Authorities are considering either direct cash infusions or mergers. This allows them to absorb more carriers or directly failing airlines in some cases. I think this goes to show the pressure that the industry is under. We have seen Global Airlines cut 80 of china flights. If you look at china itself, the interior, some of those have carriers those big have chopped almost half their flights. If china is feeling the pressure, it is in one of the Worlds Largest aviation markets. It is a significant development. You have to question whether it will work and whether further help would be needed down the road. I guess that really depends on how long this crisis extends. China will do what it has to do state on enterprises. It orders the Big Three Airlines to do so. I imagine they do it. The question is how much they are willing to inject and how much is required to soothe the pain and how broad that bailout is owing to extend. We dont know yet. How much the smaller players are suffering, it is unclear. We know the big three are chopping in huge proportions. The Market Reaction we have just seen shows a bit of investor relief. The declines they suffered in the last few weeks wont go on forever. Ofcan you give us a sense what the chinese Airline Industry has been doing here . I saw a statistic yesterday that shows china is the second or Biggest Airline market right now. That is right. For years, we have been forecasting china to overtake the u. S. As the Worlds Largest aviation market. That was supposed to happen in the middle of this decade. The cuts we saw were banks behind portugal. Is rankedhe cuts, it behind portugal. They have taken Something Like 10. 4 million seats out of the network. It struck hard. We saw Global Airlines chop off a portion of china. They stopped flying out and connecting as well. They are being attacked on both fronts. That was Asia Business reporter angus whitley. Looking to be on the brink of bankruptcy. It is now weighing his options to stay afloat and the outcome could have wider implications for the indian economy. Joining us in singapore is the founder and editor of twin bed. Twinbid. This has implications on the indian economy. It has to survive. I believe it should. India is such a large company. You are ending up with two operators. For such a large country, especially as we move into the 5g area, it is critical that you need more than a couple of operators. Enterprise that needs them to run on this. The bigger issue is the government has a lot of banks that have lent money. About 22potentially billion. Any bankruptcy will have huge implications on the economy as a whole. A lot is at stake. We know that the government has met about saving. What are the options out there and what is a likely option . What vodafone is hoping that they can have delayed payments. Ofy agreed to it a couple months ago but the challenge is the interest fees. The interest pays 40 . Even when Interest Payments are this high, the company will continue to struggle to make it. It needs more than delayed payments. It needs some other intervention. To idea hasas to sustain in the market. Do you think the government has to do something in terms of taking a closer look at the spectrum fees that are pretty steep . It is sad. Ago coveringrs telecom. No Telecoms Company ever goes to bankruptcy. Career 23 years ago covering telecoms companies. No Telecoms Company ever goes to bankruptcy. Clearly the government needs to intervene varies wrongly very strongly. Put more pressure on the government to go and recover these moneys from Vodafone Idea and the other companies out there. It is a political decision. The government needs to be Strong Enough to take that bold position and potentially, it has on other political equations in the country. You mentioned earlier the liabilities that the banks might end up holding. There are other down effects as well. What about Foreign Direct Investment in india . It is a very wrong signal to foreign investors. It washave jet airways, very dominant airline in the country that has been bankrupt. Now vodafone is one of the world s largest communication companies. It sends really wrong signals. They need to grow and innovate on the telik medications industry in media india. Telecommunications industry in india. What happens to the cuban vendors . They all have to have their opportunity to sell to one company. Reliance geo is working with samsung exquisitely. Speaking of huawei, has india taken a position . They have not. They are still evaluating whether they can continue to do business in 5g. People have not focused on 5g because we have other bigger issues to face as of now. 5g is an issue for all governments. In terms of the rollout of 5g in india, when will that happen . Case for 5g is relatively more clear then when you go to markets like singapore, japan and korea. It is easier to justify. You can see that it is done on investments especially as enterprises are willing to build the services of the future. These cases are a lot more challenging in markets like india. I dont see the compelling reason for us to move into 5g and india in india in the next couple of years. Maybe we wont see 5g evolving in india in the next 35 year timeframe. We could see some deployed in somehigh dense areas to specific industrial applications, Enterprise Solutions and the in different parts of the country. There has been a bruising price war for providers of telecoms in india. They are likely to see some ballooning costs as well. What does this mean for consumers . Will prices rise . Yes, there was already a little price increase in the last quarter. All three companies will increase the price and that is showing some positive impact on the margins of these companies. Somell definitely see price increase. Seen subscriber numbers are beginning to slow down. We have seen some people who had multiple sims going ahead and canceling their stem connection. Sim connection. Side, if Vodafone Idea does end up filing for bankruptcy, other companies can improve their margins. So much at stake. Thank you, manoj. Lots more to come. Including the indian open. Y with this is bloomberg stay with us, this is bloomberg. Indias markets have just opened. Lets get right to mumbai. Our correspondent is standing by to take us through what to expect today. The early numbers . Extremely positive start for the markets. The recovery we saw in the second half yesterday, i think it continues today. Trading very close to 1200. It is a gain of about 90 points. Opened with gains of nearly 300 points. Nifty bank has gained as well. They are getting momentum now. Seen the volatility cooling off. That is a positive sign. Majority are sitting with gains. Which stocks will you be watching at the open . This industry is in focus after the bloomberg report that the company is talking with saudi aramco to sell a minority stocks. Its oil the stocks had come off the level of 1600. They were concerned that the deal might not go through. The deal will be valued at about a 20 stake. At 16ll be valued billion. They are conducting Due Diligence this month. Saudi aramco is conducting Due Diligence this month. Cement shree up 4 . And nifty bank comes out of the index with that. Back to you guys. Thank you for joining us. Lets get a quick check of the latest business flash headlines. Downgraded been after the carmaker posted its first annual loss of the decade and indicated operating margins are set to strake shrink. Renault is still rated above junk. Tesla latest rating of may be related to its financing amendment and china. Billion dollars in financing that tesla received to pay for its shanghai plant may have helped delay the recognition of capital expenditures. The report also says that is white tesla could have spent 1. 3 billion last year. Space x is paying the way paving the way for tourists to fly into space on its dragon aircraft. Through buy booking this website. The Company Previously arranged several flights on russia sawyer russias sawyer spacecraft. Up next, first the protest, now the virus. Hong kong expats eyeing an exit. That is next, this is bloomberg. It is the straw that broke the camels back in many cases. People are looking to get out of hong kong and looking to get out in a hurry. People are making quick decisions and want to get out quickly. Andhe Americans International businesses realize that once they leave these markets, it is difficult to get back in. The protests were a big stress on our membership going on for over a year. Now we have this. Not the straw that broke the camels back but it is a double whammy. There you have it. Expats are fleeing hong kong. This could damage an economy plunge ineen a huge visitor numbers, rising unemployment and forecasts of its first ever backtoback recessions annual recessions. Is there a surprise that people are unsettled with people are hong kong . It is not a surprise that people are unsettled in hong kong. The question is why are they leaving now . There are many expat families that have the means to move elsewhere now. Many are concerned because their kids dont have school. Some of them have gone elsewhere, waiting out the school closures. Thele go to australia, u. K. , thailand. Arere also seeing some who taking a bigger step, enrolling their kids in schools overseas. Some taking the bigger step of just deciding that we are moving for good. Potential the what is the potential impact of this on hong kong . The concern is that people who are not from hong kong rolenally do play a large in Industries Like banking finance, law, logistics, other things that make hong kong the Global Business center it is. As some ofs that these people leave, they may not come back. That could we can hong kong competitiveness. Isnt it true that it is likely to get worse from here given that the peak of moves happen during the springtime . Our Relocation Company relocation companies, this is not a busy season for them. They typically do it in june. They are reporting they are getting a lot more inquiries now. The prevailing sentiment among the analysts we summer is coming. Hong kong is still a Major International hub. Over fear is triumphing rationality . True, hong kong has gone through some difficult times. People refer to the sars outbreak as the best example of what we are currently going through. The big difference now is we have this on top of the political unrest. That is something that may go on for quite a while. Einhorn in hong kong. Thank you for joining us. Lets get a quick check of how we are trading. We have hong kong stronger at the moment by. 5 . Notwithstanding the concerns. Hong kong reporting its second death of the day. China is offering assistance to andines for bailouts mergers. The nikkei is higher by almost 1 . That is it from Bloomberg Markets asia. I am paul allen in sydney. Bloombergslinda, middle east is next. This is bloomberg. Hi were glad you came in, whats on your mind . Can you help keep these guys protected online . Easy, connect to the xfi gateway. What about internet speeds that keep up with my gaming . Lets hook you up with the Fastest Internet from xfinity. What about wireless data options for the family . Of course, you can customize and save. Can you save me from this conversation . That we cant do, but come in and see what we can do. Were here to make life simple. Easy. Awesome. Ask. Shop. Discover. At your local xfinity store today. This is bloomberg daybreak middle east. , hangories, coronavirus seng, china, beijings strict quarantine measures brought the world more time to prepare. Risks posed by the rizzis by the disease. The administers of russia and saudi arabia speak on the phone to counter the impact of the coronavirus. We will be live in riyadh this hour. We speak to