Transcripts For BLOOMBERG Bloomberg Markets Asia 20240713

Indonesia as well has been the laggard when it comes to its performance against the dollar. That is also seeing some decent gains. We are up 4. 5 . Yesterday, we saw a stunning rally, jumping the most in 20 years. May just be a technical rebound given how extreme the drop had been before. Brent and crude, we are still seeing some decent gains. We could be in a freefall given the shutdowns we have seen across the globe. Australia. Hing the only laggard today, down about 1. 5 . Still has been a stunning rebound. E. M. Having a good run. Jay powell has been reassuring americans the fed still has plenty of tools and plenty of tools to blunt the economic damage from the coronavirus. He is urging the house to pass the 2 trillion stimulus package. Kathleen hays is here with what happened today and what happens next. Is the stimulus package a one and done deal . It looks like it is going to pass. The Senate Passed it 960. The first vote was 4747. Finally, after days of backandforth, democrats and you do not do enough for workers , you are giving slush funds for big corporations. The senate pushed back and finally this has passed. Tomorrow, the houseboats. Nancy pelosi tomorrow, the house votes. Nancy pelosi seems positive. This is important in more ways than one. Jay powell, where he said the fed has plenty of ammo. 450 billion of the treasury that he can leverage into a 4 trillion worth of liquidity. He did not say that directly. Listen to what he said. We are not going to run out of ammunition. That does not happen. Time atnterest rates in what we think is the right level of support. If we raised Interest Rates more, Economic Growth would have been slower. It would not have mattered in the end. We are always setting her Interest Rates at the level we think is appropriate. Think about how welltimed this interview was. Jobless claims, 2. 8 million in the United States, the highest ever, twice what people were forecasting. The economy may be in a recession, but remember, it was healthy with a 50 year low in unemployment when the coronavirus hit. We have to slow commerce. Rebound. Dicting a with all the fed can do, he seems confident that the underlying strength can be rekindled. Ecb also stepping up the virus fight with a landmark vote towards unlimited bond buying. The ecb also going all in. You bet, yvonne. Talk about boosting your firepower. Country can by all the government bonds it wants to, as much as it can. Before it was limited, there was one third of your total government debt. They will be able to buy shorterterm maturities as well. This allows them to raise more money to help italy. Italy is very hard hit. The largest amount of debt in the whole euro area, the worst suffering nation. Step back a bit, though, and we are hearing from our bloomberg lets look at the government chart that shows you what is happening. Eu,ou look at the u. S. , the and japan, the expectations are for inflation rising. This will be a big point of debate for economists. Some people are saying, wait a minute, this is not a classic recession. Inflation is what some are so worried so worried about. For now, if you want to look at ecb, Christine Lagarde said it is not our job they are doing everything they can to make sure there is enough credit in that area. Yvonne thank you. Open, to mark the jakarta what a twoday rally. We are seeing those gains to north of 10 . Seeing 7. 5 higher. Add on the gains we saw yesterday, we are seeing the best rally since 1989. You wonder how quickly they fell. We were talking about the trading held that was triggered and fell 20 lower. Now we are regaining quite a bit. Some say this is perhaps a temporary rebound for now. There are no positive given the fact that the number of covid cases are rising. A big day for indonesia today. Lets move on to india. They have unveiled a spending plan to mitigate the Economic Impact of the coronavirus pandemic. Asia go to our chief economic correspondent. The latest example of another big economy trying to keep things taking over. Another 23 billion worth of support. Package,airly focused especially micromanagers, support for farmers and insurance contributions and the like. Some commentary about how much economists making the point it is not helping the small and mediumsized business sectors. The government has said more support is on the way. It is the latest step in this global step of fiscal easing that we have seen, somewhere around the 3 trillion mark. Haslinda put that in perspective for us. How does this compare to singapore stimulus, the second stimulus yesterday . Gdp, the second in recent weeks. They are drawing down on their reserves since the first time they do not have much option either. They know the economy is heading for a big recession. The trade story is not very good. Downng partners are locked under the virus crisis. Restrictions on the restaurant and entertainment sector. The government is having to spend more. All that does is cushion the blow. Nothing will replace all the lost jobs. Not until the virus is contained will we see a return of confidence. Sense of give us a what governments are doing globally and how effective they are. We are seeing a big shift, a big rush before i came on, bloomberg, we have been tallying fiscal stimulus at around three children 3 trillion globally. That is unprecedented. They have tied up the monetary side of things. The fed, the ecb, asset purchases of over 6 trillion. We really have this rampant unprecedented rush to support their economy through monetary and fiscal stimulus. Big on the are going spending side of things. Economyhis supports the but it does not stop the virus from spreading. Haslinda china seems conservative in relation to all of that. Thank you so much for that. Lets get the first word headlines with Karina Mitchell. The United States has overtaken china for the most reported cases of the coronavirus. Confirmed cases stand at over 83,500, 2000 more than china where the outbreak began. Italy is expected to surpass china with reported infections in the coming hours. President trump says he is confident that the u. S. Labor market will rebound as soon as the economy reopens after the coronavirus upheaval. The jobless claims is not a surprise and is not the fault of the u. S. He is in contact with his counterpart in china. Is suspending entry of foreign travelers during the coronavirus even to people with valid visas. It comes to affect into effect on saturday. Jinping called for a push of greater coronation to avoid coordination to avoid a global recession. One day after declaring it is virus free, north korea now says it is putting hundreds of people into quarantine. Almost 2300 people are being isolated and tested. It was the countrys first admission that the virus was having an impact. Global news, 24 hours a day, on air and on quicktake by bloomberg, powered by more than 2700 journalists and analysts in over 120 countries. I am Karina Mitchell. This is bloomberg. Yvonne still ahead, a Corporate Credit meltdown that could put an end to the asian boom. Up next, emerging markets rally for a third day on the back of u. S. Optimism, but will it last . Will join us to talk about that. Haslinda welcome back to Bloomberg Markets asia. Taking a look at emerging market stocks in currencies. They are higher today. The question is whether the rally will stay. Our next guest says we are likely to see a deflationary shock. Always good to have you with us. When you take a look at fundamentals, you cannot justify the rally. Good morning. I think what the markets are looking at is what has happened in china and trying to extrapolate the trends, not just in terms of the containment of the health scare, but also what is happening on the economy. Clearly, places like the u. S. And u. K. Are much earlier in the cycle of this covid19 scare. When you look at what the markets have done over the last few weeks, that is excessive on the downside and when you combine that with the situation in terms of the health scare, it is not surprising we are seeing some stabilization. Obviously, it depends on a couple of things. What happens in the u. S. And u. K. In particular when it comes to the revelation of the situation, but how china recovers from this economic shock. Speaking of china, first in, first out, it seems. The government has shown a lot of measures to prop up the economy. It has. We believe it is first in, first out. In a strange sort of way, we have come full circle in china. The cases we are seeing in china, imported cases. If you go to the epicenter of the original scare, in wuhan, it is a relatively safe place now. The number of cases in big cities is higher than in wuhan. Also, thirdly, when we look at the lockdown we are seeing in economicand u. K. , the shock, the damage, the demand and destruction is significant and way above anything we have seen in history. Strangely, when you compare that with what is happening in china, the levels of activity are about 80 of what we saw in the prelunar new year period when we talk to companies on the ground, there is recovery in activity and the government is focusing on normalization of activity. When we talk to companies, things are a lot better. In a strange way, the damage to china could actually be a lot less than the damage to other major recoveries economies. Yvonne how have you adjusted your portfolio . Have you started looking more at china and looking at domestic consumption . That is an interesting question. There are a few things to say. When you look at the themes that have been driving china, technology, health care, the growth of the consumer, those themes have not gone away. We can debate about a vshaped recovery,r a ushaped confident we are will see the vshaped recovery. Going back to those themes i mentioned, those themes have been reinforced and accelerated by what has happened. What you are saying, ecommerce what you are seeing, ecommerce has gone to a different level. Hospitals. Line ce, and aeen eoffi whole range of other areas, including eeducation. Those are the areas we have been focused on. I think we will see an acceleration in some of those themes. Thinking about what is happening in china, we can broaden it out to the rest of the world on how in 69 monthsike time. If you look back at the precrisis period, the economy was driven by different thanks. Look at the post covid period, it will be a very different set of drivers and we need to be very mindful of that. What happens underneath the headline market indicators will be very different. Yvonne how is this playing out differently from 2008 . I am thing about a market like jakarta right now. We have seen the best rally since 1989. Is this just a bear trap . The truth is nobody knows. Darkbody is stabbing the in terms of what happens in the next couple of months. It is difficult to predict what happens next. How we can do is look at emerging markets, indonesia, india, others, are going to come out of this, and, of course, china as well, and what things look like in the next few months. Policy action is key. We have seen significant policy action around the world. You were talking about it in your earlier clip. Action see fiscal policy at a level we have not seen before. If you take a leaf out of historically,and we know that chinas leadership has been offset by growth indicators, by growth targets. If you observe the language of the leadership in the last couple of weeks, they have indicated very clearly that they will be focusing on jobs rather than growth. That tells you a few things. Economy isyou the much more well structured than before. The focus on the longterm reform agenda is still in place. They also recognize that given what has happened, not everything is within their control and they are saving their bullets. You will see more bullets from china in terms of fiscal policy. He saw what happened in singapore overnight and what happened you saw what happened in the singapore overnight and what happened in the u. K. Yvonne thank you so much for your insight. Bring you some lines coming through from india. Seta Monetary Policy panel to invest earlier this week. Not sure what that indicates. Maybe some kind of action. We still have that are being meeting that rba happening on april 3. This is bloomberg. His is bloomberg. Yvonne here is the latest business headlines. Singapore headlines will raise 10 billion u. S. Dollars to offset the slump in travel demand. The carrier will raise around two thirds of that from issuing bonds. Cutting s P Global Ratings has put nissan and toyota on review for a downgrade. Veryibing what it calls grim conditions for the auto industry. Take a look at markets. With thataling strength. Benchmark. For the emerging markets having a great day as well. The weakness in the dollar we have seen. U. S. Futures still heading lower. Perhaps that rally we saw in the dow not likely to last tomorrow. When it comes to other currencies and assets as well. Jakarta having the best today gains since 1989 twoday gain since 1989. Plenty more to come. This is bloomberg. It is 10 20 9 a. M. In hong kong and shanghai and 10 29 p. M. In new york. Im Karina Mitchell. The Federal Reserve Balance Sheet has topped 5 trillion for the first time as it attempts to cushion the market from the coronavirus follow. However, it says it will continue to provide essentially unlimited support to the u. S. Economy during the crisis. Chairman powell says hes focused on recovery once the threat receipts but acknowledges the u. S. May already be in recession. We will not run out of ammunition. That doesnt happen. We set the Interest Rates in time at what we think is the right level of support given the economy. If we raised Interest Rates more, we would have been higher than Economic Growth, so it would not have mattered in the end. We are always setting Interest Rates at the level we think is appropriate. Reporter the European Union has announced a new fund of 40 billion dollars to combat the virus, saying citizens of the block will remember lawmakers were there when people needed them. The Commission President called for urgent action to stop the outbreak and avert a deep economic crisis. The ecb is scrapping most of its firepower. Ost singapore has delivered a second stimulus package worth about 33 billion u. S. To fight the coronavirus, drawing on National Reserves for the First Time Since the financial crisis a ago. E the extra spending will raise the relief Government Program for almost 11 gdp and will widen the deficit further. The government says this situation calls for extraordinary measures. Inflation in tokyo has hit its slowest pace in two and half years this month. As the coronavirus spreads and oil prices fall. Rosexcluding brent crude from the year earlier, down 1 10 from february. Pricing data from their capital is seen as an early indication of the way nationwide inflation is going. Global news 24 hours a day on air and on quicktake by bloomberg, powered by more than 2700 journalists and analysts in over 120 countries. Im Karina Mitchell. This is bloomberg. Yvonne thank you. What a day. What a week it has been when it comes to markets. Look at the gmm. We have been retracted back in the last five days. The rebound in risk assets has been remarkable. You see the blaring green across the board, thats when things are above average. The likes of indonesia is wrecking up to be one of the lead performers after it fell into a belt bear market at the start of the month. This is the extreme, from panic to a bit of euphoria after this announcement of close to 3 trillion of fiscal stimulus across the globe. The u. S. Stimulus is moving through. The fed says theyve have plenty of ammo. Its enough to out shrug the growth concerns. You have that eyepopping jobless claims number out of the u. S. , 3 million, a record. In china, industrial profits seeing the biggest fall on record. It still seems like governments have to step in at this point. The exception when it comes to crude, that is where we see perhaps a weekly loss given the fact that it seems like Global Demand will be the big one that trumpontinue to fall and may be too late to intervene in the price war between saudi arabia and russia. Haslinda we are looking for the next catalyst to prop up the market. President trump pushing the house to pass a record to trillion dollar stimulus will without delay when lawmakers meet friday to vote. He spoke as the u. S. Surpassed china for the most reported cases of the coronavirus, fueled by a surge in new york infections. A chief north asia correspondent Stephen Engle joins us. It has to be a done deal. Reporter yes. And it looks as though they will burn the midnight oil and get the house to vote. Of course, it is a democratically led house of representatives. The senate of course passed it late yesterday. Urging urgency and says he will sign it immediately when it comes across his desk. Rejoiced. Arkets have to trillion dollar stimulus plan, but the markets did not necessarily react reflect the reality on the ground of the growing outbreak. We are staying seeing stimulus in this region, but the outbreak has not reached its apex according to epidemiologists. New york state has 43 of all the cases in the United States. New jersey is catching up and other states are catching up. We have 85,500 five confirmed cases in the u. S. That is 4000 more than what china is reporting. Of course, chinas numbers, at least what they are reporting, plateaued. Much china is seeing about 55 new cases since yesterday. Imported, they are saying. The death toll, 24,000 worldwide. The u. S. Has more than 1100 deaths. Of stepso see a number from the u. S. Government not just on the economic stimulus to get the economy going, but also getting manufacturing going and procurement of supplies. We are also hearing that donald trump and president xi jinping of china were due to talk on the phone within the last hour or so , 9 00 p. M. New york time. No word on the extent of their conversation. You talk about reality. The reality in japan is that its considering a nationwide lockdown. What are the leaders saying . Nobody really wants to do that right now. Shinzo abe basically is saying a lockdown would have severe effects on the economy. We already know the economy was in a recession in the Fourth Quarter of last year before the effects of the coronavirus hitting. That was because of the typhoons, the vap increase, the decreased trade of the u. S. China trade war, and decreased trade of korea. Now they have the coronavirus and the postponement of the olympics. They will not get that springboard. They are looking at various economic stimulus in addition to the big 235 billion announced in december to counter other headwinds. Now they are discussing more economic stimulus coming down the pike. Again, the postponement of the olympics is probably going to have to postpone the economic Recovery Plan in japan by a few quarters. Yvonne thank you. Stephen engle, our chief north asia correspondent from hong kong. These lines coming in from toshiba machine. A shareholder there has adopted a takeover defense measure. This is after weve heard for battleow the very tough with the activist investor urakami, whenm shareholders would announce the outcome of one of the highest takeover battles in years. It looks like they have adopted Takeover Defense Measures including adopting a poison pill aimed at activists. That was something under consideration. Meeting over was 50 of shareholder votes in favor of the companys socalled poison pill, a plan to issue new stocks to fend off the takeover bid. We will continue to watch that one. Toshiba shares down 3. 5 before the close. We will see how things open up once they are done with that lunch break. China also ceiling exporters and suspending entry of foreign travelers during the coronavirus and halting admission to even people with valid visas. Lets go over to our china correspondent selina wang. How is this going to work . Reporter china getting increasingly concerned about a second wave of infections coming from International Travelers. Even those saturday, with valid visas and work permits cannot enter the country. This is temporary. People coming to china for specific activities including urgent humanitarian needs are included. This follows other countries taking this action, but until now, china has resisted and criticized these nations. We are seeing a change in stance as china has started to almost completely eliminate domestic transmission according to official data but now it is struggling to deal with these imported cases. The 50 five new cases announced for march 26 coming from imported cases. China up until this point had already been significantly cutting the number of foreigners that could come into the country, or only allowing a few to have flights and also had been stepping up screening of international passengers. Yvonne thank you. Selina wang, our china correspondent. Coming up next, the earnings for the big for banks in china set to release results in the coming days and they will get outlook creditsights jason tan. This is bloomberg. Yvonne big day for lenders in china. Among the major banks to report earnings so far with more expected to follow today and next week. Joining us to discuss the outlook and result is jason tan, creditsights chinese Financial Research analyst on the phone. Thank you for joining us. Given the shock china is about to see, how are you factoring in the damage for the quality and margins for the big banks . Sayirst of all, let me just ashave a cautious outlook covid19 has had structural challenges for the bank. We will see interest margins coming down that will impact lower revenue because the banks are being asked to lend lower Interest Rates to support the economy. The banks are being asked to lend to Small Businesses and cover more areas of the economy such as credit channels and businesses. Reliefandings will have down the line. They arention inherently more likely to become nonperforming. As you mention, these banks have been basically pushed do to lend out now and make bad loans on economical loans and because they are staying back, it is their turn to almost give back as well. Have the rrr cuts in any way relieved margin pressure, or do we knew need a deposit rate cut to change things and be more effective for the banks . In china, they have net interest revenue. If you have small rrr cuts coming and you lead banks back to the economy and the banks are able to push out loans, aased volume of loans deposit rate cut would help because it would ease funding for the banks. For the big for banks, the banks have large pools of demand deposit. These banks will benefit from rate cuts. It definitely will help. People with money and savings accounts will be the ones with enough. A sense thatres perhaps trainees banks may need to raise capital chinese banks need to raise capital. Share. Even the talk of covid19, some of the banks are seeing less capital level than they are comfortable. To shortenig steps the weaker banks for more capital funding. They allow onshore to be issued in china and it helps to start capital. Another way to shore up capital would be true private share placement which is usually bound to investors. These are some ways the Chinese Government is supporting banks. Haslinda are there particular for chinese, paying banks, looking at singapore banks for instance, it is the Energy Related sector that could cause damage . Yes. For china, the area in the industry would probably still remain manufacturing as well as wholesale and retail because these are sectors that typically require outlay. The Companies Involved in these sectors tend to have larger loans with the banks. Even before covid19, they were suffering from higher than proportionate mpr levels and will continue to do so. By geography, i think we understand the North Eastern part of china, where the industry comes from, it was a factor by the ongoing structure of development and china. Not sisters early caused by covid19 but exact not necessarily caused by covid19 but exacerbated by. Yvonne thank you. Jason tan, creditsights chinese Financial Research analyst. We want to mark these big things seen when it comes to philippines stocks. We were talking about how the stimulus bets are helping to saw benchmarks, but we just in the last couple hours or so, maybe half an hour, a swing to the downside of some 6 . We are now lower by 2 . Goes to show how volatile it really is still that perhaps we really has been not seen the worst of the selloff yet and we could see the bear market rallies now. Certainly we are watching the p comp, the benchmark. Lets look at the this nist flash headlines. Hsbc is warning higher credit losses due to the covid eight outbreak even as regulators are looking for a way to deal with unpaid loans. The bank is saying it must account for the wider impact of the pandemic. Hsbc admits they may have what it calls an adverse impact on the value of its assets. Citigroup is pausing planned job tests of its suppose it workforce amid the upheaval. Sources tell us the move is only temporary. Earlier this week, they said they would hand out thousand dollar bonuses to staff and told workers that sick days will not count toward paid time off. Morgan stanley has told employees it will not cut headcount this year. Back to thets get markets. We are counting down to the opening in india. Lets go over to mumbai where our asia credit reporter has what to expect. Indian stocks gaining for three days. Are we headed for a fourth . Reporter yes. Before i begin, let me give a quick update. The 21 day lockdown in india. 633 coronavirus cases and 16 deaths of this morning. We are likely to see that the global rallies, as contagious does the virus, if not more. No one knows how long the rally in india will be, given that you mentioned earlier it could be turning around. It is so volatile. Given that the virus is spreading in the country and there is a long lockdown ahead, we still headed to a fourth day of gains. We also saw india has announced a 23 billion package. All eyes on the central bank to come to the rescue of the economy. You talked about the 23 billion fiscal stimulus to contain the fallout from the pandemic. How is that playing out for the indian currency and bonds . Reporter after the package was announced, investors are building bets that Interest Rate cuts are inevitable. The rupee is expected to open stronger. Some bonds headed for gains p or the focus will be on the Central Bank Governor addressing the media today at 10 00 a. M. India time. Our Bloomberg Asia credit reporter in mumbai, thank you. Plenty more to come. Up next, how the Banking Sector is faring with the coronavirus and part of exclusive conversations with the ubs cbo. Dont miss that. This is bloomberg. Yvonne ubs Ceo Sergio Ermotti says the virus response by governments and Central Banks has been effective. He spoke exclusively to bloomberg about policy action and the role of banks in the global market. Arehe actions that unprecedented, they have been quite effective in calming down the markets, particularly on the dollar side, and i do think there are more technicalities that need to be addressed, but i think the Central Banks and the governments are acting very efficiently at this stage. Of course, there is little anybody can do about fear. Fear is probably one of the most injurious sentiments you can dangerous sentiments you can add in this environment. Its not fear about market, its fear about health and their life , and therefore theres only so much a central bank or government can do to alleviate that feature. Reporter that has given rise to a huge explosion in risk assets and haven assets. If you look at the markets recovering in the past couple days, and i emphasize the past couple days, because we have seen these reprieves before, are we moving from fear in a rationality to perhaps slightly more rational moves . What is your interpretation of this recovery . To call itficult rational moves and percent option down on the s p every day. Assessments, the market is starting to stabilize and trying a new level after a major correction. Worldwideost down 30 and across credit and all the Asset Classes is moving so rapidly, that its normal for the market to try and find a new level. Predicty too early to which direction we will go next. Reporter mario draghi wrote an updated oped this morning that i know you have had a chance to glance at. The banks need to lend funds at zero cost since this is a way of becoming a Public Policy vehicle. The regulation of collateral ruse should stand in the way of creating all the space that is needed and the bank Balance Sheet and the guarantees should not be based on credit risk of a company. Of a ask you, as the ceo major bank doing Major Lending around the world, would you sign onto this prescription . Would this gather momentum . In principle, yes, but we need to develop the details. Timethink banks at this are not part of the problem and are part of the solution. We want to be part of the solution. We are actively working with all governments and agencies that are involved in these initiatives worldwide, particularly in switzerland. We are supporting what the swedish government has implemented. For us, its very clear that out of this program, we will make no profit. We dont want to make a single cent of profit. Therefore, we are there to function as a mechanism for policymakers to transmit the liquidity that is necessary at this stage to act. What we have to Pay Attention is whatactly making sure banks are coming in strong to the cycle, that we dont infect the Banking System with problematic problems that need to be resolved in the future. We take very seriously our role and we are well prepared for that. And that was the ubs Ceo Sergio Ermotti speaking to manus cranny. Lets do a market check. Seems like we are off from highs, but still on course for the best weeks in asian stocks since 2011. Outperforming,y given the dollar weakness we have seen. That still seems to be the case with the exception of the philippines. 6 swing to the downside in the last halfhour. Goes to show how volatile these times are. Futures, still lower here today, the dollar still on the back foot. Fx certainly seeing gains. The japanese yen more than 1 . 108. 37. Plenty more to come. Reporter its 8 30 a. M. In mumbai. Im yvonne man. We are entering the last hour of the morning session in the city. The coronavirus backs up morgan numbers with the u. S. Surpassing china and reported cases. Half a million reported cases worldwide. China bars foreigners to stem any import of infection. President xi tells the g20 there must be global cord nation to fight the virus. Navigating a course through the outbreak. We assess the outlook for world shipping as Global Demand wanes. This is Bloomberg Markets asia. To be a pretty happy friday, but we are off when it comes to risk assets. Asian stocks still stand to gain. Best Weekly Performance in about nine years or so with the exception of australia and the likes of manila. We are seeing downside of 2. 8 in sydney. The likes of jakarta, the best twoday rally since 1989. And for the week in terms of policy measures, fiscal stimulus, about 3 trillion worth across the globe. That seems to be enough to overcome growth concerns we are seeing. U. S. Jobless claims at record 3. 3 million. Industrial profits and china contracting the most on record. Banks and see central governments to the rescue. We see that in the japanese yen. The ringgit actually seeing a decent rally for malaysian currency at 4. 25. The won also continuing a rally. Commodities, mixed when it comes to wti crude. Also it comes to President Trump, might be too late to step into the price war between saudi arabia and russia. Taking a look at bonds, we continue to see a rally. The ecb going all in. They are scrapping bond buying limits. The fed says they will not run out of ammunition. Certainly thats underpinning this rally. India futures as well, looks to bp during out. Still seeing gains about 1. 2 . Singapore really raising the bar when it comes to fiscal sites. Ended the day with a decent rally yesterday with the nifty and send sex. Sensex. The u. S. , jay powell has been reassuring americans the fed still has plenty of tools to blunt economic damage from the coronavirus and has been upping the ante, urging the house to pass an historic to trillion dollar stimulus package. Lets bring in Global Economics and policy editor Kathleen Hays with what happened today and what will be happening. Is the stimulus package all but a done deal . Reporter reporter certainly seems to see that way. ThiSenate Passed it 960 bill, that will send to trillion dollars, a record stimulus, out to businesses and consumers, to help offset the damage from the coronavirus to the u. S. Economy. Tomorrow, it will be voted on in the house. Of the where a lot tension was and a lot of the wrangling. House democrats in particular saying you are not doing enough for workers. We have a 500 billion slush fund to help corporations Like Airlines that bought back their stocks when they could. We dont want that to happen again. Republicans gave enough ground. The speaker of the house nancy pelosi seems confident it will go through and President Trump is urging them to act quickly, saying he will sign the bill immediately. When jay powell goes on the today show, a popular morning show, and says the fed still has ammo, he might be thinking of 454 billion dollars the treasury will give to the Federal Reserve to finance bank lending and provisions of liquidity. Steve mnuchin, the treasury secretary, says it will create around 4 trillion worth when you add it up. Lets listen to what jay powell said if the fed still has what it takes. We are not going to run out of ammunition. That doesnt happen. We set the Interest Rates in time at what we think is right, given the right economy, the right level of support. If we raise rates more, it would have been higher and Economic Growth would have been slower, so it would not have mattered in the end. We are always setting Interest Rates at the level we think is appropriate. Reporter very welltimed on a day when u. S. Jobless claims had an alltime high. 3. 2 8 million, the highest on record. Twice as high as theyve ever than 1982. Ct higher but jay powell is upbeat and said the u. S. Went into this crisis with strong fundamentals and unemployment at a 50 year low. Moving forward with help from the Federal Reserve he feels there will be a second half rebound in the u. S. Economy about three months away. Yvonne the ecb also stepping up the virus fight with a landmark move. Reporter absolutely. 750 billion euro bond buying program. The Pandemic Emergency Program will pull out all the stops. In the past, euro area nations were limited to buying no more than one third of outstanding government debt. Now they can buy as much as they want. This definitely ups the firepower. Just two weeks ago at the last anding, Christine Lagarde the cabinet declined on cutting rates to zero bond spreads. Now with the panic worsening, particularly in italy that already has a high debt, Christine Lagarde and colleagues are moving ahead. I want to throw in a chart because some Bond Investors are getting a little nervous that all of this government stimulus could be a problem down the road and could cause inflation spikes growing. Theres also a lot of economic damage and if Central Banks do enough, you could have a recession that gets deeper and longer and this could make the problem even worse. Looks like all the Central Banks, not all, but at least the big ones around the world are moving had to make sure that doesnt happen. Yvonne thank you, our Global Economics and policy editor Kathleen Hays. President trump is pushing the house to quickly pass the record two trillion dollar stimulus bill. Surpassed china for the most coronavirus cases fueled by a surge in new york cases. Stephena correspondent engle joins us. Jay powell seemed to contradict the president s idea of reopening the economy by easter. Reporter that will be a big challenge of course because the number of states are getting different opinions and different epidemiologists saying to be careful. We had the World Health Organization and g20 cautioning a surge in infections if you go back to work or school. To quickly. Im sure this is being put to the test, but we have to see what happens overnight first. Stimulus package, 2 trillion u. S. The house is democratically controlled, it might be a little more rancorous to pass, but donald trump is urging urgency on the vote and he would pledge to sign it almost immediately. We have seen how the markets have responded in anticipation. Meanwhile, the situation in the u. S. Still looks fairly dire u. S. Se now we have infections surpassing china. More than 85,000 cases in the u. S. Out of 531,000 globally. If you look at u. S. , china, italy and spain, the four main epicenters, that accounts for 57 of the total worldwide. Bit of a harbinger for other nations perhaps. Not give up your precautions because it can easily switch to those countries that dont necessarily have surging numbers and that is something the World Health Organization warned about yesterday. More, thesere and countries are on lockdown. Japan is considering that as well. Reporter i just got an email from a friend in tokyo who says they are preparing for a national lockdown, even though in the diet this morning we heard from shinzo abe saying a National State of emergency, that could be a precursor for a national lockdown, is not necessary at this moment. Sentiments were echoed this morning as well by the economic ministers. At least two top officials in japan are saying we will not necessarily do it now, but we Economy Ministry also has established a task force to bring up its recommendations on whether to do a National State that would enable the National Government to declare various lockdowns. De factothere is a lockdown for tokyo this weekend as the governor has urged people to stay indoors. Friendsmost part, my email says most people are adhering to that. However, the economy, no doubt trouble. Severe if you are locking down the nation at a time when you are trying to recover and get past the delay of the olympics, thats tough. Yvonne it sure is. Our chief north asia correspondent joining us. Just want to flag moves when it comes to currency markets. The aussie dollar on a tear, rising as much as 1 . Back above . 61 u. S. For the aussie dollar. Obviously this is reflecting the dollar weakness we have seen. The green back on track for the worst week since 2009. We saw that with the young as well. Gains as much as 1 earlier in the Asian Session as well. Very much as the weaker dollar theme playing out. Lets get you caught up with first word news with corrina mitchell. Itsrter china is stealing borders and suspending entry of foreign travelers during the coronavirus, halting admission even to people with valid visas. This comes into effect saturday with the ministry of foreign is ars saying this decision already taken by other countries. President xi jinping used a g20 call to push for greater coordination to avoid a global recession. President trump says hes confident the u. S. Labor market will rebound as soon as the economy reopens after the coronavirus of people. He says the surge upheaval. He says the surgeon jobless is not the fault of the u. S. And he says hes enclosed contact and counterparts in china that deploying troops to the Canadian Border is equal justice with regard to the frontier with mexico. Singapore delivered a second stimulus and that package worth about 33 billion dollars u. S. To fight the coronavirus, drawing on National Reserves for the First Time Since the financial crisis. The extra spending will raise the governance Relief Program to almost 11 of gdp and widen the deficit further. The government says the situation calls for extraordinary measures. Global news 24 hours a day on air and on quicktake by bloomberg, powered by more than 2700 journalists and analysts in over 120 countries. Im Karina Mitchell. This is bloomberg. Thank you so much for that. Still ahead, we will look at how the global down is stifling vital trade. The chairman of International Chamber of shipping joins us. Up next, market views from daryl liew, just ahead. This is bloomberg. Yvonne this is Bloomberg Markets asia. Most stocks in asia have come off session highs and the dollar on track for a sharp weekly decline. Lets bring in david in gles to talk about what has been truly a crazy week. Really . Haveulls going for them it seems like when it comes to the fiscal stimulus, it has been i think the undertones david i think the undertones, because of all the injections of liquidity, the concern last week of funding stress, dollar funding stress, has largely gone away and some areas of the market. The eurodollar market is a good example of that. People are not anymore offering to pay massive premium to go to u. S. Dollar as well. That allows investors to focus on things like price recovery. The inverse correlation to em assets is now at in eight month high. The weaker dollar helps more than it doesnt when it comes to em as well. Of course, you have massive stimulus coming out of the fed helping to weaken the dollar as well. Moving into next week, that is a plus. Not that all the negatives have gone away, but at least one massive overhang has hopefully us yvonne . Ind for the next couple hours or even looking ahead to early next week, but what will be the top aspects . David chinese banks in the last couple minutes or so, the r. B. I. Governor is set to speak. The capacity of markets to simply accept oh my god types of data, thats another. And moving into the weekend, do gains hold . And on monday, the potential for a big surprise out of the Monetary Authority of singapore. Haslinda david, thank you so much. Lets take a look at asian markets. Asian stocks climbing after a Third Straight day of gains. Wall street, with investors seemingly encouraged by unprecedented stimulus action. Is it a bear market or something more sustainable . Our next guest thinks its too early. Lets bring in daryl liew, cio investments at reyl singapore. Looking at the markets, they were highs. Now they are off their highs. The peak after the stimulus surged and now it is in negative territory. It does seem like fear is still there despite trillions and stimulus. Is it fair to say that there is more downside from here . I echo what david was saying earlier. Effectively, when you look at the different measures taken so far, the market dislocation because of funding stresses, all of it has eased. Now we need to look at fundamentals. You really cant get away from covid19 and the impact regards because effectively all the containment strategies being implemented across the world are having severe Economic Impacts. I think everything depends on how much longer containment strategies will take. Just looking at the situation in singapore, it looks like a couple weeks ago that things were under control to a certain extent, but a number of cases upwards because of imported cases and a lot more restrictions are being put in place. Case andalso been the other asian. Countries the big question is, when will things ease . In the data from china, there is a severe economy looking at the pmi numbers from china, record low figures. We see that in europe as well in the months to come. Recessionhow much risk has been priced in . If you take a look at the u. S. , overnight we saw 3. 3 Million People file for claims, jobless claims. How much of that news has affected things already . I dont think the market is really pricing in the full recession yet. The way i look at it, i look at earnings. I know you were talking about the chinese earnings that are indicative. Japan, for example, i dont think we have fully priced in the downturn. Earnings have been revised downwards but it can be another 10 more downside to come. I think thats true for european and u. S. Markets as well. That could put more pressure on stock markets and negative downward revisions getting impacted. The oilits probably sector, that pretty much a lot of the bad news is put in. Not surprisingly, that sector, with this correction. Yvonne comely find some solace that at least the dollar is down . That has put a little more calm into these markets. Yes, definitely. We know a strong dollar for example is bad for emerging markets economies. It actually took so long for the fed to actually increase these lines with all the Central Banks. There was a playbook that they effectively used in 2008 to kind of stem the u. S. Dollar shortage and a lot of emerging markets. That is one of the stressors that has been moved because of the central bank activity. We look at the situation today, i think theres a limit to how much Central Banks can actually do. What they have been doing is definitely helping reduce funding requirements, reducing funding costs. While that helps to a certain extent, that doesnt compensate for loss demand. The loss demand aspect is one that i think has not been factored in the art in market cases. Chineseat, from china, authorities have been reticent taps. N up the fiscal what they have done so far is mainly counteract supply chain disruptions. I dont think they really factored in the demand destruction because of the slowdown in the u. S. , for example. Upbably that means coming from china and other parts of the world as well to compensate for loss demand. Yvonne have a great weekend. Thank you. Daryl liew, cio of investments at reyl singapore. Theset to take a look at snp, taking a look at the casino section, they are expecting visits. Investments will drop 60 to 80 in the first half. We have already seen a down drift day when it comes to casino stocks. Mgm china down some 6 . We have seen more cases of infections in macau of late. Even though they did go through that 15 day shutdown, it seems like business is still slow to return to normal given the restrictions we have seen. Still seeing downsides with casino stocks here today. Plenty more ahead. This is bloomberg. Yvonne lets have a quick check of the latest headlines. Singapore airlines planning to raise 10 billion u. S. Dollars for travel demand amid the coronavirus p or the carrier will raise about two thirds of that from issuing convertible bonds and the rest will be via a rights issue. State investors say it will back the plan. Petro china profit fell 14 last weaker refining chemical segments. Dropped more than 1 billion from the year before. Profits, but 69 drop in refining and chemicals. Has beens richest man buying shares of its own conglomerate after the coronavirus sparked a plunge. Months of protests and now the pandemic has seen both companies tumbling by more than 30 . Take a look at the Chinese Markets here as they get to a lunch break here. We havent seen highs. Holding on for steady as she goes when it comes to chinese equities. Shenzhen seeing gains of 1 . It seems like investors have cooled off a get a bit when it comes to trading at turnover that actually has more than half from what we saw from february peak as activity starts to slow. It seems like we are getting a bit of exhaustion here in this rally we have seen of late. Plenty more to come. Open. T down to the indian we are expecting the r. B. I. Governor to address the media pretty soon. This is bloomberg. Yvonne lets bring your pictures out of canberra right now. Scott morrison speaking with the media, after meeting with the banknal cabinet, that the will be changing behavior due to the virus and saying australia has the worlds highest coronavirus test rate. It seems like they are testing more people, but they mention the country is really battling crises on two fronts, not just the health, but also economic. We will focus on that a little later on, but it is the latest coming from the Prime Minister of australia. Lets get first word news with Karina Mitchell in new york. Reporter for the first time, the United States has overtaken china for the most reported coronavirus. Confirmed cases in the u. S. Now at over 83,500, about 2000 more than china from one the outbreak began. Italy is also expected to surpass china for the number of reported infections in the coming hours. The Federal Reserve Balance Sheet has top 5 trillion as it attempts to cushion the markets from the coronavirus fallout. It says it will continue to provide essentially unlimited support to the u. S. Economy during the crisis. Chairman powell said he focused on bolstering recovery once the fed receives, but acknowledge the u. S. Might already be in recession. We will not run out of ammunition. That doesnt happen. We set Interest Rates in time at what we think is, given the economy, the right level of support. If we raised Interest Rates more, we would have been higher than what we thought and lower,c growth would be so we are always setting the Interest Rate of what we think is appropriate. Reporter the eu has announced a new fund of 40 billion to combat the coronavirus and they say citizens of the bloc will remember that lawmakers were there when they needed them. The commissioner called for urgent and Massive Action to stop the outbreak and avert a crisis. Nomic the ecb is scrapping most bond buying limits to boost virus firepower. Global news 24 hours a day on air and on quicktake by bloomberg, powered by more than 2700 journalists and analysts in over 120 countries. Im Karina Mitchell. This is bloomberg. Yvonne thank you. Just take a look at crude right now. Brent crude around 2667. Losses,llowing steep after a warning that Global Demand is in a freefall. Our global reporter has more. It seems like oil is still able to eke out a gain for the week for now. What should we focus on the most . The monetary and fiscal response , or the collapse in demand . Think the oil market is focused on the collapse in demand. We are eking out slight gains on the week, although the way oil has been trading lately, it is little or early to give ourselves a pat on the back. The fundamentals are whats driving the market. You had saudi arabia and russia getting set. Is monday petroleum Reduction Alliance officially ends and they can start flooding the market with oil. You are already at a loss of about 20 Million Barrels a day of demand. Oil storage is filling up fast. Sayingorted overnight global storage could fill up in 90 days. Producers will have to start shutting in. We are seeing that already in canada. Nd parts of the stimulus measures are great for the economy and eventually it will be good, but right now, people are not driving, not using oil, not getting out of their house. That will continue to be a bearish full on the oil market. Haslinda chinese factories are resuming activities. How much comfort is there in that . How much support can it give to demand . Reporter theres a little good demand coming out of china. Refineries are starting to boost rates again. Athink the problem is, back couple months ago in late january and february, the market is looking at all these demand numbers. China is an important player. We are talking about china losing 2 million, 4 Million Barrels of demand. Thats coming back. But you are losing so much more in other parts of the world that it is completely overwhelming. Between the u. S. , italy, europe, they are talking 12 Million Barrels a day for the quarter, 20 million at the peak right now of demand lost. The chinese regaining is a little drop in the bucket. Haslinda our asia energy reporter, thank you for that update the. Coronavirus shutdown has forced ships to be quarantined for up to two weeks with crew in isolation. The National Chamber of shipping represents over 80 of the global fleet at is calling on the g20 to allow vessels to keep sailing. s bring in as been polson poulsso hown. Impacting thend container sector . There is actually a slight uptick because after the Chinese New Year and the coronavirus, there was a sharp reduction in movement. At the moment, it is up in relation to february. Is there clarity on the outlook of freight rates Going Forward . The container segment i think looks difficult because it will be a demand question. And suchand grain commodities looks difficult us well because the fleet is plentiful and demand is down. , perversely,dustry you could say it is doing a little better because a number of traders are taking the opportunity to charter for aorage and then having pricing opportunity whether it goes up or down. About the collapse in oil prices . Does this in any way help when it comes to the industry and when they transition into this new world of im overregulation mo regulation . In itself, there is a loyal , bearing in price mind that fuel is the single biggest expense. We have been into this regulation for about three month ago. How is compliance going . I think compliant as far as we can tell has been generally pretty good. We have had of course, operational problems with building up engines and tech uncle problems, but overall i would say the changeover has gone better than many doomsdayers would have predicted. Yvonne you mentioned that there is in terms of containers a bit of a pickup in activity but of course we are still not seeing the full effects of the outbreak across the globe. Are you expecting more players in the industry to go bankrupt . Does it mean a bit of a bailout from government . Shipping has traditionally always been a free industry and has never been one that has enjoyed any form of subsidy. Shipowners are generally speaking very resilient. While there will be companies that are a normal sleep challenged in the circumstances, i think looking to governments for bailouts at the moment, we have not gotten to that, but we may reach that point. The world has been so focused on the coronavirus pandemic that we have forgotten about the trade war. Is the trade war still a risk for the industry this year . The trade war is always a risk and it is very bad particularly for sentiment that the reality of crude is moving. My view and our view, we call upon governments to call a truce to this trade war. This trade war needs at the moment to stop because we should be focusing, in particular focusing on coordinated action in helping to provide global solutions, global rules for all ships so we dont have these oneoff situations where ships are sitting in ports for 14 days and other ports are allowed to trade. We need global rules for this global industry. We are concerned, shipping is a key industry. The cruise on board the ships are key workers and should be treated as such. We arehaslinda such challengis and we are staring at a possible recession. Some say it will be deeper than 2008. What would that mean for oil demand . What it would mean for tanker rates . At the said before, moment, the outlook is actually ok. The thing making all these predictions is always how long will the crisis last . This is what no one knows. If it doesnt last more, as bill gates said this morning probably until july, then the impact would be quite limited. Make one quick point, all these financial channel acts, i want to make the point that 1. 2 million seafarers in the world, every month 100,000 make one quick point, all these are supposed te and go home and then some are replaced. The crew changes. At the moment, this has become a huge problem because many ports will not accept the seafarers so they have to stay on board the ships much longer than necessary than they are contract to do. This is a plea for governments to recognize that these are key unsung, these are the heroes of global trade, doing a great job, and should be treated accordingly. Yvonne thank you for your poulsson,e, esben chairman of the International Chamber of shipping. We want to check on the india open. It looks in the premarket, solid gains. Ensex up more than 2. 5 and the nifty close to 3 gains. At the get go, keep in mind monday we saw a record meltdown, so we could still be on course for a fifth straight week of losses, but its pretty unclear if we can snap out of it. That would be if we see five straight weeks of losses, the longest streak of weekly decline since the Global Financial crisis. This is bloomberg. Yvonne dollar weakness still very much the big theme. We are watching the korean won. Rallying as much as 2 against the dollar and leading the broad em asia advance we are seeing when it comes to em currencies. We saw it with the japanese yen and the aussie dollar as well. The korean won, the leader on the board this morning. Lets go to india now. Planning a stimulus package worth 22 billion dollars in spending to fight the coronavirus outbreak at the economic followup. Lets bring in our Mumbai Bureau chief, jeanette rodriguez. Lets talk about one of the more significant measures of the package. Can you hear me . Right, looks like we have lost jeanette, but of course, earlier we were talking about the fiscal packages. Weve seen the likes of singapore and india joining in on big spending packages. The market was initially disappointed but we still saw a decent rally at the end of it and today it seems like we are poised to extend the rally given what we are seeing in the premarket. Keep in mind we are expecting to hear from the r. B. I. Governor speaking at the bottom of the about r. B. I. Talk monetary panel, some sources telling us they actually met unscheduled earlier to find a way to tackle the virus. The r. B. I. Still set as we know of to meet april 3, but perhaps we are seeing a little more preemptive measures from the central bank. We will see how that plays out on the fiscal side as well as the r. B. I. Now that weve seen a pretty decent and massive stimulus package from the government to cut rates. Mumbai, taking us through the early trade. Lets take a look at the nifty futures suggesting a positive start. What are you tracking . Reporter absolutely. I must say some reprieve into indian equities closing with strong gains. Recovered from a few days back and the opening as to seeing the futures suggesting. I think all eyes now, scheduled bloomberg has also. Eported that they met earlier the government of singapore had announced fiscal measures and monetary measures announced today. Market expecting forbearance considering the 21 day lockout. It remains to be seen if rate cuts are needed. Markets opening pretty much in the green. Motors that had fallen 50 in the last one month, some reports say the reading for the company will be towards downgrade. Haslinda thank you for that. Like we said earlier, india is planning a stimulus package worth 22 billion dollars in spending to fight the coronavirus outbreak and its economic followup. Lets bring in again mumbai rodriguesef jeanette lets go through some of those significant measures. Reporter thank you. We have more than 600 diagnosed with the virus including 16 deaths. The government is trying to ensure no one violates the lockdown. The entire country is in a lockdown. 90 of the workforce does not enjoy any Social Security or job benefits. The government is basically dealing with this in two ways. One, transferring cash. Packages. Giving out [indiscernible] the goal is no one should be hungry during the lockdown in india. We are also hearing that the r. B. I. Will be holding an unscheduled, unreported meeting. B where expecting what are we expecting . Reporter around 10 00 a. M. India time. Theres a chance it may include a rate cut. We know from sources that Monetary Policy actually met earlier this week. Next in line, there may be a cut, for banks. The market is speculating. There are speculating about more forbearance. You, our Mumbai Bureau chief joining us on the phone. Coming up later, dont miss our exclusive interviews with fed president Robert Kaplan and raphael bostic. Of course, after we heard from their boss, jay powell, saying they are running out of ammunition. We will see what more the fed could do. Make sure to check out those conversations. This is bloomberg. Yvonne china is ceiling borders and suspending entry of foreign travelers during the coronavirus, halting admission, even to people with valid visas. Lets go to our china correspondent selina wang. Tell us how this will be implemented now. Starting saturday, all foreigners will be banned from entering, even those with valid work permits and visas. The only exceptions are diplomats and people here for to fix specific activities and urgent humanitarian activities. China is increasingly concerned about a second wave of infections coming from International Travelers. Statistics, theyve almost completely halted transmissions, but they are seeing increasing numbers from people traveling from abroad. From before, china resisted any outright ban and had even criticized other countries for so. G this is as the u. S. Overtakes china as the country with the most reported infections. Global case is now top more than half a million. Even before this latest move, china had been dramatically cutting the number of flights coming into the country from abroad and dramatically stepping up the checks on International Travelers at major hubs. Chinese president xi jinping called for Stronger International cooperation to fight covid19 at the virtual g20 meeting. What more did he say . Jinping calling for Greater Unity and Cooperation Among the g20 leaders to try and fight off a Global Economic recession. This was through videoconferencing, given that we are in an ongoing pandemic. This was a very extraordinary video call. He asked for countries to step up stimulus x are efforts and keep Exchange Rates stable and reduce barriers to trade although he declined to directly call it the u. S. For ongoing tensions. Coordination between these g20 countries were critical in stabilizing the Global Economy during previous crises including the u. S. And china working together in lockstep to shore up the economy during the global crisis. L the backdrop of the current pandemic is that u. S. And china relations have been fraying over years of trade and technological tensions. We did get some progress from the g20 with the leaders promising to inject over 5 trillion into the Global Economy. Yvonne we are continuing to hear more cases in the u. S. And europe. How is that going to hit chinese manufacturers . Manufacturersese are dealing with a second shock here after just getting back onto their feet. Firms are saying they are dealing with canceled orders, uncertain logistics, delayed payment. These are just some of their headaches. We spoke to a company that exports metal tools and hammers. They say they expect a 40 sales drop in the coming months. We spoke to another company that exports souvenirs. They say right after returning from Chinese New Years, they saw orders disappearing one after another. In a famous east coast part of china famous for textiles, they said 78 of companies have seen reduced orders and 65 have had to deal with canceled orders. Thats according to an industry survey. Even as policymakers and china are toting a fast recovery and stimulus efforts, economists continue to downgrade their outlook. Yvonne thank you, our china correspondent selina wang in beijing. Haslinda thank you so much for that. Lets get a quick check of the latest business flash headlines. Indias troubled bank has plans to raise 2 billion to improve Capital Buffers and revise growth even as the coronavirus is bringing Economic Activity to halt. Their biggest bank has already seen an injection of 1. 3 billion from eight local lenders led by state banks. The government seize control of this bank earlier this month. Hsbcs warning it expects higher credit losses due to the coronavirus outbreak, even after regulators allowed greater leeway to deal with unpaid loans. The bank is putting the job Cutting Program on hold as it prepares for results saying it must account for the wider impact of the pandemic. Disruption has had an effect on the value of assets. Coronavirus upheaval has prompted dimon house debeers change. House debeers to the shutdown of cutting in india has effectively halted the diamond market while retailers are Closing Stores around the world. Debeers holds a sale in botswana next weekend is allowing customers to put off paying. Yvonne before we go, we have to take a look at markets. Still quite a bit of green. Back to session highs when it comes to asian equities, on course to hit the best week 2011. Indonesia on fire here. The best two day rally since 1989. Not sure our producer ryan was born around that time. We are watching the dollar story once again with the likes of south korean won punching higher, gaining more than 2 right now. Strength in the malaysia ringgit, japanese yen, aussie dollar punching higher by more than 1 . It really has remained the dollar weakness that is underpinning a risk off session here. Stay safe indoors as much as you can. That is it for us here on this edition of Bloomberg Markets asia. And we have the best of Bloomberg Markets middle east coming up next. This is bloomberg. Shouldnt you pay less when you use less data . Now you can. Because Xfinity Mobile gives you more flexible data. You can choose to share data between lines, mix with unlimited, or switch it up at any time. All on the most reliable wireless network. Which means you can save money without compromising on coverage. Get more flexible data, the most reliable network, and more savings. Plus, get 300 off when you buy a new Samsung Galaxy s20 ultra. Thats simple. Easy. Awesome. Call, click or visit a store today. Is a payllowing program. The opinions and views expressed do not reflect those of bloomberg lp, its affiliates, or its employees. Announcer the following is a paid presentation brought to you by rare collectibles tv. In a letter dated back to december 27, 1904, to the secretary of treasury, president Theodore Roosevelt wrote a short twosentence letter. And this was in typical Theodore Roosevelts direct bravado style. My dear secretary shaw, i think our coinage is artistically of atrocious hideousness