Definitely a day where some folks have stepped away from their terminals and moved on to this weekend. Mentioning,you were the bond markets closed already. Worth noting that all the major indexes including the russell 2000 closing at their highs of the session. Theyve managed to close out the week with gains. The nasdaq up 3. 4 over the past five days. We still have met with us. Matt, we heard from central thisrs, jay powell, and at point the fed seems content to sit on its hands and wait to see how things shake out as its programs continue to provide liquidity to the markets. What kind of comments from the fed could spark alarm in investors Going Forward . We are about to enter a slower season. I know everyone is stuck at home, but if todays trading was any indication, we are probably going to see a lot of people not participate as much. What kind of commentary from the fed could set people off in a bad way . Things theyf the said are a little bit concerning. President e boston fed talking about how he thinks the economy is going to have a tough time bouncing back. He was talking about the Unemployment Rate being around 11 . That is tough for an economy that is dependent on the consumer. The worstis saying, is going to take place in april and may. That is fine, but is it going to bounceback . We have a vshaped recovery for a short time, but it is going to level out at a low level. Happens and they continue to talk about this, it could cause the market to take a hit. , in the past, fed they solved the problems of both the market and the economy because those problems were financial in nature. Around, liquidity help the markets, but it cant fix the economic problem because the economic problem is a health care one. I guess the last thing i would say is, the one thing weve learned over the last 12 years, the fed, they are more market dependent than they are datadependent. They are probably going to wait for the market to go back down before they step in and in a major way. Romaine im curious what your thoughts are on the fiscal side of this equation, whether we will see more stimulus, more cooperation in congress to do something more than has already been done to support the economy. Course, what they will do and what they should do can be very different things, but i guess the thing that concerns me the most is they need a shift. The continued handouts. I totally understand why we did it the first time around. We are making a bridge so people get through the next few months. But as people realize the economy is going to have a tough time bouncing back, fiscal policy needs to go to things that will give us sustained income, create jobs, not just a free handout. Recurringstainable payouts. In other words, income. Weve been talking about infrastructure for 25 years. A big infrastructure bill isnt going to solve the entire problem, but it could give people jobs. I hope they will focus more on that. Im not hearing a lot in that area, but people are going to have a tough time getting their jobs back. Scarlet we started off talking about china. I want to end with talking about china. We are ending the day on a high note. But if on sunday night asia opens with deep losses and we see another day of weakness in rattling and the saber between china and the u. S. Worsens overnight and over the long weekend, what does that mean for the u. S. Markets . Is that something that could take us down or do you expect the same pattern to emerge, a weaker open, but we overcome that because of optimism . Know even though we all the economy is going to improve, fairly dramatically, it is going to be tough to get back to where it was in 2019. At some point, i guess it would be tuesday for us, but monday in some other markets, there may be delayed reaction. Had ournd of like, we own reaction to the coronavirus. I think this is a very serious issue and it is something we need to watch very carefully. We need to be very concerned about it. Scarlet matt, really appreciate you joining us today. Have a great long weekend. That does it for the closing bell. Whatd you miss . Is up next where we will continue the conversation on china, looking at the npc policy meeting with Eurasia GroupResearch Strategy and operations head meredith sumter. This is bloomberg. Romaine broadcasting live from new york, i am Romaine Bostick alongside scarlet fu and this is whatd you miss . Scarlet lets get you a snapshot of how u. S. Stocks ended the day. It was a Light Trading day. Nevertheless, u. S. Stocks managing to erase early losses and close at session highs. After swinging between gains and losses, the indexes end the week higher by about percent. One thing that caused some distress is what is going on in china. Upendeding pandemic has the most important political event of the year, the National Peoples congress. Beijing,erway in bringing delegates from across china. Lets take a look at the challenges ahead. The annual two sessions of the National PeoplesCongress Typically bring together 5000 Party Members over at least 10 days. This time, onlookers expect a different format after the convention was postponed amid the coronavirus outbreak. Reports suggest both meetings could run shorter. The number of delegates may also be reduced. We could see strict hygiene measures. Change,agenda may including a shifting focus on the economy, heading for its worst performance since the days of chairman mouth. The customary target for gdp could be abandoned in favor of a more ambiguous goal. Stimulus measures will be another focus. The pboc pledged more powerful monetary policies while the government may further support sectors. The ongoing unrest in hong kong will be in the spotlight, with beijing going for a greater role in supervising its politics. The u. S. Is delaying its report in the lead up as the white house awaits further commentary from china on the origins and management of the virus. With global calls for an independent inquiry, this congress will be watched especially closely. Scarlet geopolitics will be in the spotlight as beijing confirms that it would effectively bypass hong kongs legislature to implement legislation for the city. Joining us now to discuss that and the National PeoplesCongress Overall is meredith sumpter, Eurasia Group head of Research Strategy. So good to see you. Thanks for taking the time to speak with us. Clearly theres a lot on the agenda for chinas leadership. We mentioned hong kong. We mentioned Economic Growth targets. What will you be looking at as potentially the most important policy announcement . Meredith i think what we are watching for has largely been confirmed by the reading of the work report by the premier today, essentially, beijing is opting for maximum flexibility amid an uncertain outlook. Not aw that there was release of a gdp growth target for this year. Instead, we expect that beijing is going to focus on employment and related indicators. Really, beijings economic goals for this year are broadly consistent with our expectations. We dont think that chinese leaders are focused on a large stimulus. More sothey are focused on stabilizing the economy and achieving a reasonable level of growth rather than a sharp rebound in growth. Romaine when you put all this together, what is the ultimate ambition coming out of this Peoples Congress this year . In the past, we tended to hear things that were much more global and grand in nature with regards to chinas reach. This year it seems a little more inward looking. China, while it is still one of the first economies to emerge from lockdown, to a greater extent than other economies have been able to, you still have a government that is trying to put a floor under the economy. Recognizing there are a great ,any challenges on the horizon as they are watching global considerably, again, they are trying to put a floor under that economy so it gives policymakers as much flexibility as possible to adjust to these shifting circumstances. Scarlet what is your read on whether xi jinping has come out stronger or weaker from the coronavirus pandemic . Theres a lot of domestic anger at him and leadership overall for the way china covered up the , certainly the officials in Hubei Province were to blame, but it felt like for the most part china wanted to brush it under the carpet. What is your read on that . Meredith we dont see any alternative to xi jinping at this point. Even though there has been criticism about the way china has handled the pandemic, we do think there is relative political stability in beijing. Delivering forn the chinese people. That largely explains the focus on employment and Poverty Alleviation even in this challenging environment, rather than trying to make some kind of targeted growth number two direct the localities and investments. Xi jinping has to deliver domestically in a very challenging environment at the same time that you have a more assertive chinese external policy that is not necessarily winning china friends despite its diplomacy efforts. I am a little curious about that. When you look at the pressure theyve been putting on hong kong and taiwan, i guess this sort of made sense precovid19, but given the economic out turn downturn, the fact that they seem to be putting more emphasis on those issues seems a little out of sync. Im wondering how they square the circle. Meredith the work report on the one hand reiterated support for the phase one trade deal with the United States, which we still place about a 60 probability that we expect to continue to get more intense this year, still a 60 probability that the phase one trade deal stays intact because of the political incentives in both washington and beijing. At the same time, there is a warning to washington and taipei by dropping the traditional language around a peaceful reunification with taiwan. That language on top of the decision to press ahead with hong kong, it captures the challenges of the u. S. China relationship, growing tensions over geopolitical flashpoints even as the sides try to keep that phase one deal intact. Scarlet what do you expect to happen in hong kong with beijing moving forward with this National Security law . Theres a lot of concern it is going to reignite those violent street protests. How does beijing respond . This has been quite a week for those of us watching china and u. S. , china, hong kong relations. Aheadgs decision to move with this National Security law, bypassing that legislature, spells the end of that one country, two systems framework. We think it is likely to trigger mass protests in the territory as well as a sharp reaction from washington. The Trump Administration is due to issue a report to congress that assesses hong kongs. Utonomy from china but while a determination that hong kong is insufficiently autonomous does not carry an automatic penalty, there is a significant risk that the u. S. Imposes sanctions for mainland or hong kong officials. We do think that we are expecting the democracy protesters in hong kong to make another stand. A lot of it will depend on the timing of when this will be considered and pushed through. It could be as early as june. It could be along the lines of july or august as well. To the with regard international response, is this a situation where the u. S. Is on its own with regards to the pressure it tries to exert on beijing or is there a possibility that we would see more coordinated response by the major countries out there . Meredith this is a really hard one. This gets to the politics of how beijing is using this moment to try to press ahead with its objectives for hong kong with minimal external pressure. This is a case of beijing taking advantage of a pandemic when all these other countries are distracted by domestic concerns and considerations to push through this controversial legislation. Washingtonng to see move on its own. You might see some actions by other democracies who are looking to put pressure on china to show signs of displeasure. Beijing is essentially making the gamble that these other countries are too distracted to be able to mount a sufficient pushback that would stop beijing or hong kong from moving ahead with this law. Really major changes going on. We have to leave it there. We appreciate you joining us today. Ofedith sumpter, head Research Strategy and operations at Eurasia Group. Coming up on this program, with millions of parents working from home and millions more out of work, we are going to talk about childcare providers. This is bloomberg. Romaine welcome back. Cities and states across the u. S. Attempt to restart their economies. Lack of childcare could be the wildcard. Shelley covers technology for us here at bloomberg and she wrote a story about this that provided a relatively illuminating look at some of the challenges. Lets start off with what every parent seems to already know. If you dont have schools and Day Care Centers and other childcare facilities, it is kind of hard to get back to work. For a long time, we kind of ignored the fact that workers have families and the pandemic has brought that into focus. Even as states and cities start to reopen, some are not reopening childcare services, and even if they do, a lot of parents dont feel safe. Women have been impacted by this, the burden has predominantlyomen more. Women end up being in a similar situation as before covid19, having to do a lot of the housework and watching of the children while balancing that with their work from home situation. Give us a read into what that means in terms of the gender balance of the workforce overall as we slowly reopen the economy. Already women have been disproportionately affected. That,ou add on top of mothers are spending about 65 hours per week on childcare on health care duties, or 15 hours more per week than fathers. Since women earn about 80 of mens wages, they become the lamb in these families. If you think about, somebody has to be with the kids, you are going to probably look to the person who makes less money. That has become the women. Also, more women are opting to take leave or quit altogether. Women aremeans is going to be part of the workforce. Made up halfmen the workforce. The fear is that this is going to erase all those gains. Is all hope lost here . Are there alternatives out there other than the traditional day care system that women and families can rely on . Up you this ends are seeing people who have these that has become very popular among rich people. But not everybody can afford that. Endede to one woman who up taking leave. Andwas a single mother someone needs to stay home with her kids. You are seeing some Companies Taking a lead. Pandemic has announced related parental leave. Companies that are saying, we get this. Still arest majority not really changing their policies to offer more flexibility for parents. Scarlet as Hillary Clinton said, it takes a village. Villagee dont have the resources to draw on right now. From new york, this is bloomberg. Staying connected your way is easier than ever. Youre just a tap away from personalized support on xfinity. Com. Get faster internet speeds with a click. Order xfi pods to your home in a snap. Or change your Xfinity Services with just a touch. All in one place. Youre only seconds away from all of that on xfinity. Com. Faster than a call. Easy as a tap. Now thats simple, easy, awesome. Romaine welcome back. You are watching whatd you miss . I want to talk about what is going on in emerging markets, specifically with brazil. Financial assets over there going through a lot of tremendous losses in value and many say latins largest economy and Fastest Growing virus hotspot wont see a respite anytime soon. Joining us now, alene a. Great to have you. Lets start with a general sense of brazil, who have seen a lot of losses, but some folks think this could be an opportunity to buy. What are you hearing . Is a delicate moment. Lows,prices are at record not everyone is encouraged to buy right now. This is a combination of factors. Brazil became a hotspot for the virus right when a crisis had blown up. Spiraling, a cases Health System that is increasingly overloaded, a government that has lost to Health Minister, and an investigation for trying to interfere with federal police. Investors are saying that there are too many negative drivers to ignore, but prices at a record low can be seen as an opportunity. Scarlet but it might just be a value trap. Andmentioned the government weve had Health Minister is dismissed. President bolsonaro promised all kinds of things to his constituents. How much of that is a possibility now . The agenda that everyone expected this year, this has disappointed investors a lot. Lawmakers in the government are focusing on the crisis right now , the coronavirus, and also the political infighting because of social isolation measures. Plans, theall the good ones were put on hold. Brazil became a hotspot for the virus and we dont know yet when the peak will come. When you look at brazils economy, it has been through challenges before and has always bounced back enough to satisfy some investors. When you look at the economic landscape, does it offer a little bit of hope that maybe the downturn will be relatively shortlived . Anyone is think expecting a very strong rebound. One of the problems in brazil is that the fiscal situation was very delicate. Brazil was trying to do a lot of reforms. Now, without the reforms and more spending to fight the virus, this became deteriorated. The we are hearing is consensus that brazil gdp will contract this year, but we have which from j. P. Morgan expects a 7 contraction. The outlook is gloomy so far. Scarlet what about on the monetary side . The central bank has been cutting Interest Rates to stimulate growth. That doesnt help things like the real. Exactly. The real is already the worstperforming currency in the world this year. In the last meeting