is upon us because of the bank of korea decision do and we expect gdp figures and the mas statement in a few minutes. haidi: and the possibility of more moves in the yen as we continue to get that job earning from japanese officials. the question is where the line in the sand remains and we have the bok, mas and gdp data, a lot of it comes down to broad-based weakness we see in asian currencies now. annabelle: it is all about the dollar coming through but the focus on what these numbers tell us about the outlook for the region and singapore has come out with the gdp figures and mas statement and they say no change to the width or center of the currency band, they will maintain the prevailing slope

for the policy band. mas saying the currency will strengthen over the course of the year and they see core inflation at 2.5% through 3.5% through the remainder of the year. the economic growth they say is mas is becoming more broad-based but they need to stay vigilant to risks to it not only to the growth outlook but price pressures and the research and outlook for price pressures we see elsewhere but the current monetary policy settings remain appropriate at this time. mas, no change is coming through to the slope, width, or center. singapore dollar flat as we see the first quarter gdp rising on the quarter weaker than the estimate which had been for a growth of .5% but let's get reaction to this immediately.

i am interested for your take no change coming through at this point in time from mas. >> the blip is expected. given the inflation issues it makes sense to not change any policy for the next quarter and be on hold. haidi: and we are continuing to watch for just some of the commentary around the mas decision the core cpi stepped out before further falling in 2025 is the expectation that settings need a restraining effect on inflation so when they talk about core cpi expected to stay elevated in the immediate quarters, this is the commentary

we are hearing from a number of central banks, we are trending in the right direction with inflation management but there is still a ways to go. how much concern is there given that report is externally vulnerable and open that if we see a geopolitical change or elevated oil prices, it will be a blip for the inflation and growth picture in singapore? >> with singapore there is domestic and global. gst rises as well which we have to get through but that will start to fade in the second half of the year. of course energy prices are a wildcard. our forecast on fundamentals is brent between $85 and 95 dollars and they are firmly in that range. if we break the upside could delay rate cuts but overall we

are in disinflation but it is stubbornly slow and that is i think why people will be cautious near term. annabelle: stick with us because we want to get more views from you but we have the markets coming open and we want to note what is happening with japan, korea, and australia. japanese equities moving to the upside. it tracks what came through in the u.s. section -- session with the focus on big tech and earnings that start later today with the financial names in the u.s., wells fargo among them so that is the state of play here tracking what comes through with that japanese yen closely above the 153 mark and jawboning comes through at this time of the day but the finance minister says the weekend can accelerate input driven inflation which is a big concern in japan at this point and they will not rule out any options against what they could see as excessive fx move so

watching the japanese yen closely holding unchanged at this point but let's shift on because korean markets starting to trade and not is the focus on the boj but the bok given the rate decision that is due and broad expectations we will see rates hold and we had job figures out in the last hour pretty tight labor market was the key takeaway and that gives the bok time to wait a little longer haidi. haidi: looking at the start of trade five minutes or so in the session and australia a little down side and quarter of 1% softer with declines when it comes to aussie bonds and kiwi bonds as treasury features head for a second weekly decline amid ongoing concerns about the state of u.s. inflation remaining elevated. the aussie dollar losing a little ground and much of a move

when it comes to the broader dollar index looking at treasuries it looks like we are releasing downside for the second week as we see brought -- bond traders shift their thinking to a no rate cut world as we continue to hear that sort of management of expectations from said speakers including the latest being susan collins overnight. annabelle: the moves we see on bond yields on repricing coming through, let's get perspective from our guest who is still with us and given the rate pricing we see going on do you think we are in an environment where we have to think about rate hikes again? >> we definitely think about rate hikes but there has been more of a u.s. phenomena of stubbornly high inflation on the services side we saw in the cpi a few days ago. ppi was better overnight.

that bodes better for pce but clearly the services side is more stubborn. if you look at the number of components, things like auto insurance, health care, stubbornly up. overall the fed will have to be sensitive to data points and that means short-term or interest rate volatility. yields have repriced for the latest news and now we move the market pricing in just two cuts for 2024. annabelle: how does that affect your thinking around big tech evaluations? do you have to shift away from those names into other parts of the market instead? >> it's about broader diversification. we saw a big concentration in markets, the u.s. or europe in january and we have been

overweight in sectors such as health care, financials in europe, materials, selective energy. he sectors all ahead high single digit, low double-digit returns to date and now they are outperforming technology and the only way you can get a higher market in the u.s. is see a broadening in the market so that is the good news and that is because if you look at u.s. growth estimates they have picked up on gdp so inflation is a challenge short-term but growth is also high so some inflation is driven by higher growth and that means better gdp on corporate profits so that is why equity markets have done fairly well even with the number of rate cuts coming down here to date and that is important to note in terms of equity view but yes we would look at the broader set of sectors rather than have the concentration we saw last year. haidi: i want to get your thoughts on china because there seems to be more of a shift

about feeling positive about the market. is this something that looks more compelling at this point given how cheap valuations are? >> i think we are probably through the worst it. we saw panic loans in january but since then gdp estimates have been cut and china communist party has put in 5% as a gdp estimate and it streaks below the 4.6 percent consensus on the key is how much stimulus we get between now and the end of the year. good news is that pmi is the highest since february 20 three and consumption has lagged but if you look at lunar new year recent festivals consumption per capita is finally above 2019 levels but we will not get a convincing break out until the property market bottoms. but in the pmi uc exports have picked up, manufacturing has picked up so some components of the economy are in recovery so

we think we are through the worst of it. we want to be probably spent along with esso ease that picket dividend yields and's domestic consumption recovery place. annabelle: we have seen the big move coming through partly driven by expectations of chinese demand but for base metals in particular. how do you think about this area of the market? >> base metals we have been overweight. the one we have been focusing on his copper. -- focusing on is copper. with manufacturing picking up that bodes well. copper is geared to electric vehicle growth, to ai, data centers require a lot of copper, and the use is through the grid so electricity grid has to be rewired for renewables and

greater ai use so there are a lot of secular reasons for copper demand. the supply side is also challenged. larger mining areas of the world have disappointed on the production side so between those factors we think copper should recover and continue to rally in 2024. annabelle: we are bang on 10 minutes into the session so far for aussie south korean and japanese stocks but what we are tracking this morning is the price of iron ore, under pressure but think about the run-up we have had because it has been under pressure for four of the five past sessions on the demand from china and when you look at the dollar amount we had seen iron ore last week trade below the $100 per ton market now we are at closer to the 110

levels of that is the state of play as we come on and let's shift on a take a look at a big story we are tracking. apple essentially adding in its own ships to computers or overhauling the back lineup and we are just tracking some of the names and then he vstoxx the other one to take note of in particular given we had -- ev stocks the other one to take note of. at start up selloff we are starting to trap but there are some supplies into that name again a little under pressure so far haidi. haidi: it is a very busy hour it feels like. the bank of korea expected to keep rates unchanged. parliamentary elections delivered a blow to the president. we will get analysis later. maritime security topping the

agenda at the trilateral summit between the u.s., japan, and the philippines. we will have highlights from that meeting next. this is bloomberg. ♪

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>> china's current stance and military actions present an unprecedented and greatest strategic challenge not only to the peace and security of japan, but to the peace and stability of international community at large. president biden: the u.s. relationships with japan and the philippines is under -- is ironclad. any attack on aircraft, vessels in the south china sea will evoke our mutual defense treaty. haidi: president biden and the prime minister of japan speaking in washington and looking at the trilateral meeting between the

u.s., japan and philippines, talking about how they are together for a free and open indo pacific. isabel, talk about the significance of this and how much of it is looking to counter the growing assertiveness we see from beijing. >> absolutely. the trilateral summit was all directed at china. it is about strengthening maritime ties and ties between the coast guard's and naval ties as well and as you saw, president biden is this as an opportunity to underscore the ironclad commitment to the defense of both countries and this comes as tensions grow in the south china sea. and in the east china sea where japan has their own separate territorial dispute with china but very much trying to bring

both of these allies into this network of alliances the biden administration is trying to build across the region to counter the growing strength of china. annabelle: what has been the response so far from china given the rhetoric from the u.s., japan, and the philippines? >> i do not think there has been time yet for china to respond to the trilemma oil -- trilateral summit but we saw that responses about the bilateral summit between the u.s. and japan the previous day and china was not happy about that and said they made formal complaints to both sides and that the relationship between japan and the u.s. should not target other countries. on the other hand this comes ahead of reported summit between japan, south korea, and china

next month so we will have to see how that part of the relationship pans out in the coming weeks. haidi: he also gave a speech to congress thursday. what was the main message the prime minister wanted to get through? >> the overall message was that japan is looking ahead to the u.s. election and is concerned about how a potential return to power by donald trump could affect the alliance with the u.s. and the u.s. alliances in general so his message is we need the u.s. on the global stage and we need you to be playing a great part in world affairs but at the same time japan is doing their part so he talked up japan's increase in the defense budget and xavier becerra pair to play a less reticent role in gadget --

increase in the defense budget and that japan is prepared to play a less reticent role on the global stage. annabelle: bloomberg rule additional has looked at how -- bloomberg originals is looking at ship tech. >> without this, the global economy would slow. >> this technology are the reason our iphones are so fast and the reason we have chatbots, chatgpt. >> they cost $200 million each. only a handful are on u.s. soil. these devices turn the dutch owners into europe's biggest technology firm, despite much of the early work in the tech

originated in the u.s. u.s. administrations have had to scramble to make sure it is not sold to china. how did the united states managed to miss out on this important piece of technology? haidi: subscribers can see that documentary right now on bloomberg.com. it will be on the youtube channel a little later. plenty more to come here on daybreak asia. this is bloomberg. ♪

>> if our updated assessment of the inflation outlook, the dynamics of underlying inflation , and the strength of monetary policy transmission were to

further increase our confidence that inflation is converging to our target in a sustained manner, it would be appropriate to reduce the current level of monetary policy restriction. in any event, we will continue to follow a data dependent meeting by meeting approach to determine the appropriate duration of restriction, and we are not pre-committing to a particular rate. haidi: christine lagarde speaking at a press conference after the ecb left rates unchanged. offering more nuance it was really those comments about the fluctuations expected in the inflation outlook that saw the euro hitting those session highs i look at how we are setting up when it comes to you european futures at the moment, positivity with euro stocks futures up half a percent.

we expectations from ecp and christine lagarde and dax futures up half a percent they are and continue to watch to see whether we see another day where euro bond renewable stock seeing more gains as well as well as energy stocks in europe as well hitting record highs the highest since 2010 after the report about potentially imminent middle east escalation taking place bell. annabelle: other global developments we are tracking, stxe on breaker and freed will -- sam bankman-fried will appeal his conviction. the 32-year-old filed a notice in federal court two weeks after his sentencing. it is unclear on what grounds he attempts to appeal. the largest u.s. airlines are

asking the biden administration to block new flights for chinese carriers citing what they call beijing's anticompetitive policies. the trade group and several unions have led to the secretaries of state and transportation. fights between the -- flights between the u.s. and china are growing but they remain below the average from before the pandemic. u.s. fed agencies are ordered to analyze emails and secure microsoft consent -- accounts over concerns of possible russian hacking. the directive was issued earlier this month and made public thursday. the agency a quizzes -- accuses a group called midnight blizzard of trying to compromise microsoft complement -- customers. biden is moving to block oil and gas development in millions of acres in alaska. the initiative could be finalized in days. the administration says it has

to balance oil development with protecting habitats for several animals. armstrong has objected to the plan. fx this morning half an hour into the trading session for equities but fx here's some interesting moves to note with japanese yen very much the one we are tracking given the risks of intervention possibly from japanese government officials so far this morning that watch has really been on any kind of talking that is coming through and the suzuki lines dropping in the past 40 minutes or so essentially talking about the excessive moves they are seeing and also the japanese government officials to remain prepared to act so tracking that closely above the 153 mark. the other to watch is the singapore dollar holding fairly steady we earlier had an mas decision coming through and the key read through from it was

that we saw them maintain the slope, width, and center of the currency band's are not really any changes they are and we do actually see gdp numbers as well growing by 2.7% in the first quarter but below the average economist analyst as well the bok a bit weaker but we have the bank of korea decision that is due perhaps in the next 10 20 minutes and we will check it but certainly watching matt very closely had job figures out earlier suggesting the labor market is saying that the bok has a bit more time to st her uncle's unhappy. i'm sensing an underlying issue. it's t-mobile. it started when we tried to get him under a new plan. but they they unexpectedly unraveled their “price lock” guarantee. which has made him, a bit... unruly. you called yourself the “un-carrier”. you sing about “price lock” on those commercials. “the price lock, the price lock...” so, if you could change the price, change the name! it's not a lock, i know a lock. so how can we undo the damage? we could all unsubscribe and switch to xfinity. their connection is unreal.

and we could all un-experience this whole session. okay, that's uncalled for.

haidi: alright ahead of the bok decision we are not expecting any major changes but of course

watching for the nuances, right, ahead of the rate decision where they are expected to hold and we got the job list rate -- jobless rate rising but perhaps a warning of what we see with the broader labor market given concerns already with certain separates of the labor market in korea namely when it comes to youth unemployment. softer trading across korea and downside before australian stocks as well, 3/10 of 1% lower . also watching of course earnings coming through and looking at bank earnings in the u.s. kicking off the friday session but in asia one bellwether when it comes to households and consumption fast retailing and results ms. mainly on weakness on china sales and declines of the most since at least the start of april and may seeing analysts estimates on the weaker

sales in china and further to that the analyst expect the sales slump to continue as they try to ship -- shift the key market to the european market. china's consumer market sector remains a sweet spot despite sluggish economy but they are avoiding ai. we spoke about the current focus in asia and revival in japan. >> asia for us is an area we have been building and growing since 2005 and where we have a really dominant position as a firm peer the largest wealth manager in asia today. the fastest growing part of the world today, 60% of global gdp growth is out of asia. the most exciting consumer trends come out of asia.

it is a natural place for us to focus as real estate investors. japan, it japan is 40% of the business in asia. it is come out of a long economic morass and implications for japan are profound in terms of corporate governance reform, the opportunity for us to buy great non-core businesses from large conglomerates. >> it's not just asset management business. in the u.s. it is a $4 trillion market. in japan, 3 trillion. a massive market across a lot of what we do so we see opportunities to expand in multiple parts of kkr in japan. >> kkr has a dominant position and there is focus on china and what to do with that and a lot of people are saying we are getting out and you have a significant presence in china. given the geopolitics of the moment, which are highly

uncertain, how does that live? >> our approach about china is consistent. we have three offices and we are committed to that. but investing in china is higher today. our focus in the last two decades has been focused on the consumer side it -- segment of china. the growing middle-class. that is the sweet spot of the opportunity for us. we have invested in retail companies, brand and consumer goods, health care. we are not leaning into the high growth areas that are geopolitically sensitive like ai, semi conductors. so we have avoidable a lot of the areas that currently create a lot of turmoil in the market. we are sticking to consumer services. annabelle: that was the kkr co-ceos speaking exclusively with bloomberg in new york. as they said they have exciting

opportunities in japan and the government is pouring more money into the chip industry in the country with one sector getting a boost from the nation's booming chip market and our correspondent joins us from tokyo and it is interesting when you have that boom you start to look for picks and shovels but this one perhaps should be taken a little literally. >> it is almost like a gold rush from the 19th century. we are having a lot of investment in the semiconductor sector. the japanese government is subsidizing building the plant here and there is also geopolitics where a lot of companies now feel it is better to have some production in japan as well. and the end is cheap. so in terms of cost it does not make sense. all of this is helping change

the dynamics in japan's construction sector. a few years ago, no one had thought companies would bring back a semi conductor making factory in japan. what is happening is construction companies have strong bargaining power in terms of price negotiations and that is particularly strong in case of [indiscernible] which generally speaking is not the strongest player in the sector but now they can walk out of a bad deal so share prices for some companies have doubled in the past year. haidi: are we seeing and earnings recovery there? >> that is a good point.

so far earnings have been recovering but not as much as some other sectors. if you look at food companies, they're doing better. on the other hand the conditions seem to be improving quite sharply in the past couple of quarters and if you look at the corporate sentiment survey by the boj you can see the construction companies are now saying that they -- it has become easier to hike prices. that box the overall trend where many companies are saying they are getting less bearish about price hikes so this is really the sector that seems to be in the sweet spot at the moment. annabelle: are there any risks to that optimistic outlook? >> yeah.

i mean, this is a sector that has been basically stagnant for many years and there is good reason for that. the population of japan has been declining and is continued -- expected to continue declining for the foreseeable future so basically there will be fewer building projects, fewer homes, fewer bridges and roads, etc. so the overall picture is not that great. that said, they have found a steady stream of cash flow which will at least mitigate the risks for the sector. haidi: investors are gearing up for first quarter earnings from jp morgan, goldman sachs, and city all reporting friday. iran at the end of last year

wall street players took turns predicting a slowdown after a record hall of more than 250 billion dollars on expectations the fed would start adding interest rates. three months later, it has not happened. economists are reducing the amount of expected rate cut. so when it comes to net interest income, jp morgan is set to win big, partly because of the size compared to peers. earnings of 20 $3 billion in the first quarter, seven times more than the estimated average. investment banking has benefited from strengthening u.s. equities and dealmaking and jp morgan has the edge again with a projected $1.8 billion, up 10% from a year before. bank of america is a rival likely to report 1.3 billion dollars from investment banking, up 14% from a year ago. for updates on how big banks plan to counter exposure, wells

fargo is the one to watch as the share of lending is the highest versus the largest peers. a 2% right down of cre loans would reduce by 13% before accounting for reserves that have already been satisfied. haidi: from wall street banks to india's lenders we are scouring for trading talent as the economy booms in the employment market is so strong that stories are circulating about private bankers demanding 50% pay hikes. our reporter joins us with more with today's big take so we know the india economic boom success story has been one of the biggest drivers across the region and then we see that play through to financial labor markets and labor conditions. >> absolutely. a signs of expansion are everywhere from big names like

blackrock, ubs, who left india in the 2010s, these names are coming back to the country now and looking at expanding at a clip they have never expanded at before. even from market makers, they are expanding to india for the first time. some setting up offices here in mumbai. examples are everywhere and banking sector overall in india grew the headcount by the most in over a decade last year. this is accompanied with pay hikes. firms on strategies getting paid $1 million annually and $1

million goes a lot further in mumbai than in new york. then private bankers getting 50% pay hikes so there is a lot of exuberance right now in the market around expansion, hiring, and pay. annabelle: $1 million should go far wherever you are in the world. given the salaries coming through and the pay hikes, how sustainable is the trend? >> that is a good question. i think authorities are well aware that there are pockets of over exuberance in the market. in the ipo space, they have been clamping down on over financing. the reserve bank of india is coming up with measures that affect certain parts of the currency derivatives market and

speculation there and stop taking fresh money for investing overseas so you can see authorities coming into sort of control the optimism in the finance sector because they do not want unbridled growth or paid to get to a point where it becomes unsustainable and then you see the cycle turn and that obviously would not be good for jobseekers or those looking to move. annabelle: and then there is the risk perhaps that india may be does not open up perhaps in the way that has been expected by some of those people moving in. is there risk of that happening and also perhaps we start to see china picking up again that market we see fund flow shifting back. >> absolutely, you are right,

that is a risk and india has flip-flopped on the opening up in the past where it eases currency restrictions and brought them back on for good reasons but it still has reintroduced controls on capital. there are a lot of things moving in a systematic direction toward opening up for india such as gift city, a financial hub where they have gotten rid of currency controls completely and other forms of ease of doing business have improved in ways we have never seen in india really and all of that is leading to finance professionals in india with a pay hike this year and that is more than the rival hubs in singapore and hong kong and this is really new so you are seeing a lot of trends that are fresh and coming to india for the first time so this is a

exciting space to be in in the near term at least. haidi: let's look at other corporate stories. annabelle: morgan stanley shares fell the most in five months on wall street after a report that u.s. regulators scrutinizing the firm's efforts to prevent potential money laundering by wealthy clients. wall street journal says sec and crimes enforcement network saw information on certain clients outside the u.s. that raised red flags. the federal reserve was already known to be looking into the money laundering controls last year. taylor swift's music is back on tiktok despite an ongoing dispute between her record label and social media platforms. the timing coincides with the upcoming release of her next album which is due next week. universal music group pulled the music from the platform in

february after failing to come to terms on a new licensing agreement. we will have more to come on daybreak asia as we go through the session and a big count down to the bok decision that could be due just in the next two minutes. this is bloomberg. ♪

annabelle: we are just over 45 minutes into the session so far and looking at korean assets on a countdown at this point given the bank of korea decision is expected to keep policy settings unchanged and that is something being forecast by all 23 economists in our survey ahead of that again some sectors we are watching the tech stocks are rising with the tech heavy because stack with the gains we had an big tech overnight in wall street and the korean won a little under pressure but let's get more on the bok decision as we said the countdown to the release and bring in our guest, senior south korea economist. something we are hearing from a lot of central banks cautious about pivoting away too soon. >> it is the same case for w ok.

inflationary pressure has increased and survey data showed inflation expectations. in the meantime and in korea the overall growth conditions remain [indiscernible] however offsetting domestic growth so in that sense the bok we believe will keep a hawkish stance for a while until they see how bumpy the inflation path ahead is but we believe they continue to express their confidence and that the inflation path is slowly converging to that target of 2%

but the last mile will be bumpy so in that sense we believe that today's decision will be more likely to leave the policy rate at 3.5% as it is. annabelle: i guess that sort of backstrap then perhaps it puts more emphasis on the press conference that follows the decision on what sort of signaling would you expect to hear from that? >> as i said, inflation has come up so i do not think the bok governor will pre-commit to any policy direction yet. we have seen minor views open up to already three months of time that is the one thing that we have to monitor and also second df there will be any changes in the statement should be another

thing but and -- haidi: we have the decision coming through. bok leaving unchanged at 3.5%. the nuances the communications around their reasoning will be more key what else are you looking out for in terms of the balance of risks for the bank of korea? >> actually because of the recent price pickup and the government effort to curb inflation must continue and monetary condition we believe will come to play however this recent price pickup is mainly due to on the supply side issues rather than [indiscernible] side so bok can down play a little bit on ricin -- recent price pickup however they will be very cautious and also they

acknowledge the upside risks for the inflation for the year to come and also in addition that you know there will be some reshuffle in the committee members though the terms for to members which are considered the hawkish members, their term will expire soon after this april meeting than you know we have to see how this reshuffle will play out in the future is's monetary policy. -- bok monetary policy. haidi: in the timing with the fed how significance do you see that pass through in terms of the impact through the wind and trade and financial conditions for what the fed does? >> yes we believe that the bok yes it is one of the major

factors however more important thing is conditions for two countries [indiscernible] and bok will more focus on domestic growth issues so we believe the rate cuts will begin in september but we still believe that if the bok can act first before the fed start they are cutting rates. haidi: the lawn holding losses against the dollar with that rate unchanged key interest rate being left at three point 5% and i want to get your views about the labor market we data we had an we see in a lift when it comes to unemployment and how concerned are you particularly with the legacy of youth unemployment in the country? >> overall the unemployment rate

is below 3%. so probably at this point it is not a big concern for the bok -- bok. however the unemployment rate for youth is pretty high but also partially due to the timing of the season that you know you know it comes down to the market and then [indiscernible] so we see that the unemployment rate will gradually rise a bit in the second half of this year but still we believe that you know the conditions for unemployment remain quite solid. annabelle: we want to get your views on japan given we have been monitoring the weakness in the japanese currency and the jawboning coming through we

heard from japan's finance ministers saying a wiki yen can accelerate import driven inflation -- weak yen can accelerate import driven inflation. how closely are you tracking that? >> i think the week japanese yen has been working as a positive factor for the growth because you know the corporate earnings were boosted by the weaker japanese yen but at the same time yes the japanese yen is pushing up inflationary pressures but in japan's case it is in a way that you know is more they want to see more inflationary pressures to sustain and that is why unless there is the pace of the japanese yen decreases too fast [indiscernible]

they will be more interventions of course however these are some high level of japanese yen will continue remaining until the rate cut begins so that will have some positive impact on the gdp side but also have another you know [indiscernible] push up the inflation for japan's inflation numbers. haidi: great to have you with us . this is bloomberg. ♪

i think we made it. i think it is friday. 30 minutes away from the opening bell in hong kong and shanghai. you are watching the china show. i'm david ingles. >> stocks in asia and to a tech