♪ shery: good evening. i am shery anh in new york. haidi: i am haidi stroud-watts in sydney. welcome. here are the top stories. president trump turns on china, questioning if the coronavirus was released deliberately. this is a turnaround from his previous praise of beijing's efforts. they are focused on easing the

impact of the virus. we will hear from the investor this hour. western europe loosens restrictions and says infection rates are using. this highlights systemic weaknesses in the global health systems. shery: looking at markets, futures under pressure. u.s. futures are down .4% after the second straight week of gains. this coming at a time we are hearing from government officials in the united states the worst may he over for the coronavirus pandemic. nikkei futures down .4%. we are going to get march trade data for japan later in the show. nikkei futures are already at a six-week high. seeing downside for oil. 4% while brent is trading at $28 a barrel. this of course after we continue to see this gloomy demand

outlook when it comes to oil. president trump is slamming china yet again, suggesting beijing caused the covid-19 outbreak that has killed 39,000 americans, and said there should be consequences if the country was found to be responsible. ros krasny is on the line from washington. we are hearing from vice president pence, they might be looking into this at the proper time. what are we expecting? ros: i don't think you will hear or see anything specifically anytime soon. i feel like this is a line of rhetoric president trump is taking up to appeal to his base and really adopting more fringy .- cringy views tom cotton, senator from arkansas, has been talking about

this for a couple of months. seems president trump, who's back is against the wall because of the coronavirus response, is looking for something that would appeal to his hard-core supporters. i don't think you are likely to see an investigation opened. tois leaving the door open china's leadership and saying what is happened -- what has happened. haidi: we have seen australia saying if there is an investigation into the origins of the virus, they would want to be involved as well. what are we seeing in terms of president trump's culture war against public health, given the threat, followthrough, cutting funding for the w.h.o., and

liberating certain states? do we have consensus of how the states are dealing with how a potential opening might happen? ros: each of the states has been left to its own devices, make certain they are meeting certain and sparks. listening to the governors speaking on tv, they say they don't have enough testing to make this happen. they don't feel they can move through the different phases. at the margins a number of states are taking action. ohio will open up some of its businesses may 1 and restaurants may 15. each state will do what it feels like. we had encouraging statistics from new york. i think you will see regional blocs moving in a certain direction, northeast, western states. president trump's rhetoric has

been curious. he tweeted friday liberating minnesota, michigan, taking aim at states with democratic governors. one democratic governor today, washington state, said trump is sounding schizophrenic, to talk steady,e study -- benchmark driven reopening but then also liberating states. it is something to appeal to his base in a curious way. up.y: rhetoric heating what about stimulus funds? we could get a breakthrough on topping up the small business loan funds. how positive is this? ros: definitely. we heard from the major stakeholders in that, the treasury secretary, e-cig lucy and chuck schumer.

we believe there is an agreement -- nancy pelosi and chuck schumer. we believe there is an agreement late tonight or tomorrow to have something later in the week, talking up theppp -- the ppp program. the hospitals is something the democrats have called out -- have held out for. maybe the republicans have come around to nancy pelosi's condition. we don't have a deal yet, but we believe there has been a lot of talk on the hill today and a conference call with mitch mcconnell, stephen mnuchin and with trump. we may hear about that when the president speaks at his briefing this evening. one thing the democrats want is to try and look at the program that was exhausted in terms of funding so quickly and say, how

can we really get money to the smallest of businesses? a lot of publicly traded companies got got a lot of fines from the program. if it was aimed at helping mom salon or pizzail joint, democrats want to see money set aside for that in the next go around. that will be interesting to see if that emerges from what comes out of congress. thank you for joining us. ros krasny in washington with the latest. bringing you the latest comments as soon as the press conference gets underway. we are getting china's response to trump's criticism over beijing's handling of the coronavirus crisis. we will speak to the asian head of the largest food contract service company about the impact of the virus on his business. ♪

shery: you are watching daybreak australia. virus cases in india have surged with 1400 new infections, taking the total above 16,000 as the nationwide lockdown enters a fourth week. confirmed cases arising and india steps up testing with known infections up 78% in the last week. the true number could be higher with only 370,000 of india's 1.3 billion people tested so far. indonesia is tightening virus restrictions, extending curbs on many people as infection numbers rise. this will affect 9 million more people as the virus continues to spread. indonesia has recorded the biggest daily increase in cases since numbers were first reported in the government has

extended this to cities around jakarta. there is a decline in western europe with the fewest confirmed deaths in several weeks. coronavirus fatalities in spain ose to 420 -- italy reported the fewest deaths in a week. and france rose at the slowest pace since the end of last month. germany and the u.k. also show improvement. e.u. regulator so the dramatic falloff in passenger traffic across the bloc. lockdowns and the collapse in demand have slashed flights in western europe amid the coronavirus pandemic. the leading airports are now handling as much as 90% fewer flights compared to a year ago. china has hit back at

u.s. criticism over its handling of the coronavirus. the state media are getting the trump administration of shirking this possibility by blackening china. tom mackenzie joins us from beijing. we saw president trump go-between strong praise to china's handling of it and now string of attacks. tom: beijing is punching back. state tabloid came out with an editorial. it accuses the trump administration, shifts the blame of what he characterizes as a botched u.s. response to the virus, pointing at huge numbers of virus and death. they talk about certain governors and restrict -- arguments with the president. this bythe handling of the trump administration has been miserable and trump and his

team are trying to win reelection in november by stepping on china. and rather than bring the u.s. and china poster, this exacerbates the existing intentions and the lack of trust between the two. we heard from one person who with the world health organization, in a phone call with the head of the tamira job, said attacks on the organization by the u.s. were baseless. china would step up its support. we are trying to understand the complete spread of the disease. how is china doing that? tom: it is carrying out a survey which involves blood samples from a representative group to see if they generated antibodies to fight the virus. that could be a sign they were

infected. and it is hoped scientists could get a clearer picture of the spread of the disease in the broader population. it could give more information how the virus is transmitted about people, including children. there is a lot of unknowns. china is pushing back. , andintelligence reports criticism from other countries, that it could feel the extent of the virus. they had provided data a number of times, the latest last week when they added 1200 that's to the official count. china is trying to show it is transparent. they are trying to control secondary outbreaks on the border with russia which is concerning officials here. haidi: we are getting china's loan prime rates to be announced today. tom: the one year rate, the

expectation is we will see that rate drop. the reference rate, bank loans to companies in china. it is expected to fall. 20 basisdrop of points. they see it probably 3.85%. the loan prime rate could fall as well. this is after the pboc cut lending by basis -- 20 basis points april 15. we saw that with reproach rates being trimmed -- repo rates being trimmed. it is part of this push by officials to loading -- officials to lower funding costs. costs tofunding support the economy which remains in a miserable state as it tries to get back to the second or third year as the virus is controlled in china. -- tom mackenzie

in beijing. unprecedented support from central banks and historically low interest rates are among the factors pointing investment in growth assets like global stocks. our next guest shares his outlook. this is bloomberg. ♪

shery: breaking news, we are seeing oil fall to the lowest level since november 2001. look at what wti futures are doing. we have lost a percent on friday, extending slumps below $20 a barrel, below 19 barrels -- $19 a barrel. it is a very gloomy demand outlook. saudi arabia and russia signaling they could be open to further output cuts, but we continue to see this slump in

demand as the coronavirus outbreak continues. ,.s. futures under pressure .7%. this coming at a time when stocks posted a second week of gains. that would be the longest run since mid-february. joining us now is the executive chairman john hurdle. we see u.s. futures accelerating losses as we are seeing brent, wti take a big hit. i wonder if there can really be sustainable market recovery as we see u.s. stocks rallying last week, the week before that, when we are not seeing a stabilization in oil prices. oil prices are one factor but only one factor. looking at earnings, they are going to be lower than last year. $160 for they were

s&p. today looking at the 2850 on the s&p 500, even if we use earnings at 150, that would be 19 times, which is not -- it is above the average multiple. at this level 2800, we would be trimming some exposure to stocks, even though we think in the long run it is the place to be because interest rates are so low. shery: there is so much uncertainty, but one thing we know, rates will stay low for longer. when you are a long-term investor like you, what do you do with that? -- weis no question that are the chief investment officer. we are working for families and college endowments all around the country and some around the world. they need those growth assets to fulfill their missions, provide

for families and fulfill charitable missions. so with the situation where -- there is no alternative. fewerportunities become and fewer. but interest rates are likely to stay historically low. that is a major factor and it will continue to be. the federal reserve and other central banks around the world and treasury department are doing everything they can times creditmake sure the system stays in place. that is a big risk we don't have to worry about. not like 2008 where the financial system was at risk and we were making up response. we can now look back at the last crisis, take lessons and move. the fact they are so aggressive about supporting the financial system is a major positive. interest rates are a major positive for stocks.

there is no asset in the world that is a good investment at any price. it is always about price. $150 earnings on the s&p we don't know what the earnings are likely to be, that is not cheap. you need reason for concern at this level. you said for your plant portfolios, growth matters. growth stocks have done well when you look at tech. but russians are not cheap. would you be -- valuations are not cheap. would you be extending with the long-term outlook? growth i use the term assets, i mean all stocks. certainly growth stocks and things like stock growth as a service and online retailing and so forth have done very well. they are winners, especially the

strong entities. they are not even really down after all of this crisis. .hey are winners and losers they are clearly winners. and in the loser department, energy and retail, there will be winners and losers as well. we need active managers to sort through and figure out who the winners are, the survivors, where all of this disruption is. this is a market where at one level we will have the big, strong companies like microsoft continue to do well. looking at the price, they are not bargain prices. below that among the losers, you need active managers to select from that group, from that group of stocks to find out who will win and who will lose. you make a point about this crisis in different even though there are lessons to be

learned from the financial crisis. being a shock to the system, how useful is that playbook? how much is there a risk to the outside we get an end to the pandemic sooner than expected, that therapeutics improve and we see reopening? we have got policymakers and central banks doubling down on their efforts. how much of that adds to the upside? there is no question the market has been looking past the earnings valley. this is one of the reasons we want to look at asia to see their experience. we see in south korea how well they have controlled the pandemic and in germany. we are looking at singapore to see how they control flareups. we are still dissenting into this valley. -- descending into this valley.

we see land on the other side because we see it in countries ahead of us. when we come out of us, and what we know now, people are looking past that, thinking about low interest rates, we have to buy stocks. one by now? we believe there is too much uncertainty at this point. the depth of the valley in front of us is unknown. we are largely exposed. as long-term investors, we have strong commitments to growth assets like stocks globally. in a portfolio that was 70% stocks, the least we would get down to would be 65%. we are not jumping in and jumping out. that is speculating. that is not a long-term investing. that is rambling. there is no certainty. certainly lives in the land of retrospect. we are looking at modest,

logical shifts that trim around 2800, add around 2200 and we select among the opportunities. thank you so much for your time with us. just an update when it comes to other big lenders in australia, one of the big four banks reporting the first-half earnings will be reduced by several challenges, listing items impacting the first half of 2020 financial results. there is a net increase in remediation matters of $268 million australian, pretax number. there was a change and reduction in earnings. the capitalization policy will reduce earnings by $742 million after-tax. just a bit of an update.

tough times for the aussie banks in a lot of the coronavirus outbreak, all four of them being cut to the various ratings agencies for their outlook as well. the aviation unit of the bank of china will provide 22 boeing planes from united airlines and lease them back. this division group will take six dreamliner's and max jets as the airlines seek to reduce regular outgoings as the pandemic cripples demand for flights. the deal is expected to close before the end of the year but no financial details of been disclosed. in japan arers delaying the launch of the new iphone. the decision is to be driven by the government's nationwide

state of emergency with people order to cut personal contact in a bid to curtail the spread of the virus. this is bloomberg. ♪

teaming a great job, this is. in court -- includes the army corps of engineers, admirals, generals, one of the great admirals here has done an incredible job. you haven't slept much. look at him. [laughter] somebody said to me, president, you look tired. we should all be tired, but we have to win. tomorrow the president, the vice president will lead a call with our nation's governors from fema whatuarters, to review more they can do to develop

locally tailored testing strategies. working hard with governors on testing. we will send them a list of the .arge laboratory machines they have a lot of machinery some are not aware of, but they are high-quality machines. the potential capacity of those machines, if they are fully utilized, some of them didn't know they could be utilized in a different manner. many governors are relying on state laboratories rather than the full and much larger capacity that is available to them. commercial laboratories such as these arelabcorp, massive laboratories that can handle a lot more than they are being sent. a few days ago it was only 30% capacity. now probably the same. in addition, academic

laboratories, big research labs, there is tremendous capacity out there. some of them want the past, the it -- instant abbptott machine. these labs can handle much more than the machines, the smallest can handle. we continue to procure millions of swabs, test collectors. i have something here. i happen to have the swab. looks innocent, not very complicated. anybody like to see what it looks like? open it up. i will. i will. this is what it is about. you of something? of this.

one is a swab, one is a q-tip. it is very sophisticated actually, but it is a little bit .ike -- so this is the swab we have ordered a lot of them. some of them, the states, they were shipped in the states don't know where they are. that is it. why don't we give this to karen? this is a big deal. we are working on it and working with the company's, and i think in the end we are going to have a tremendous success. nobody is close to us. no country is close to us. i appreciate it very much. the wall street journal wrote a fantastic piece, highly respected gentleman. his piece was in the wall street

journal, weekend edition. trump rewrites the book on emergencies. that is what is happening. read one paragraph. he has given pride of place to federalism and private enterprise, lauding the efficiency of our mayors. i call them fantastic when it is appropriate. our incredible business leaders and genius companies. i have used those terms when they are doing a good job. heroic doctors and nurses and orderlies and our tremendous truckers. they have all done good jobs. shouting out many of them by name and documenting their deeds on a fully, daily basis, he has revived the american -- the american way of action.

it is hard to get it aroused, but we got it aroused. why, he has not issued lockdowns nationwide, he has said the epidemic varies widely and is best met by calibrated state and local judgments, local people. added pointedly such steps would conflict with the constitution. he is just a very respected gentleman. to see this was a nice feeling, not for me necessarily but all of the people that have worked with us. they have worked so hard. we have developed tests that are so fantastic. we have come up with things nobody had ever heard of, and we did it during this pandemic. we did it under pressure, reaction under pressure.

it is amazing what our people cdc,done, military, everybody including tona s tony and deborah. worked hours. nobody is getting a lot of sleep. we are close to finalizing. i wanted think the writer of this article. that was -- at least what i read , it was a great article. there close to finalizing second partnership through which a u.s. manufacturer what -- for morevert its plant swabs. we should be able to announce this. using, are going to be and we are preparing to use the defense protection act to increase by 20 million additional swabs a month. we have had a little difficulty with one.

we are calling in the defense production act. we will be getting swabs very easily. swabs are easy. ventilators are hard. we are now the king of ventilators. we have so many ventilators. i said nobody that needed a ventilator has been turned down. it is pretty amazing. nobody. and we are working with the world-class team at oak ridge national laboratory to use its injection molding capacity to produce 10 million connection -- collection tubes per week through the supply chain and logistics task force continues to surge testing and needed supplies throughout america. mike's team has been beating -- meeting virtually every day. it is a great team. great. they have been doing a great

job. many governors are doing this incredible work, and they are working with us very closely on testing and working in their states. it should be a local thing because it is all of these points within the state. we are helping them a lot. we will help them more than a lot to think about it. we have done more than all of those countries combined. we are encouraging them to share their successful strategies with other governors. some are doing a better job than others. robust capacity will allow governors to deploy sophisticated strategies to reopen their states. some people believe in testing very strongly and others believe in it less strongly, but it is a good thing to have. some people believe -- can't

exist without testing and other people don't believe in it as much. vacancy how they are doing and feel. they have been vocal i think. you know who i am talking about. if they want it, we should give it to them, get it to them and work with them. you must remember the governors wanted to have total control over the opening of their states. now they want to have us, the federal government, do the testing. testing is local. you can't have it both ways. it is very important, great, but it is a local thing. we are going to get it done to a level in a very short time, because all of these swabs are coming in, necessary materials. a lot of people do not know that yet. we will be doing testing at a

level -- already at a level nobody has done before. we are doing testing at a level -- the biggest tester in the world will be very happy very soon. you don't hear the word ventilators much and -- we have to build thousands of these. we will more than help the governors and we will make sure everything goes well like it did with ventilators, like with face masks on an easier subject. everything is easier than a ventilator. they are tough. i spoke with the president of mexico and other countries. we have tremendous numbers of ventilators. , i understand governor cuomo is sending to massachusetts the excess ventilators that we were able to get. that is great.

the number of new hospital admissions is down. is a good thing to see. we also know how people have been ravaged by this curse, this plague. scourge, it has got many different names. in many other hotspots including 50% decline over a nine day time in new york city. that is a beautiful thing to see after going through the opposite. we continue to see improvement with declining trajectory of orleans,seattle, new houston and metro areas, more evidence our aggressive strategy is working. i think the american people. the american people have done a hell of a job. we are saving countless lives. i will say it, because i always

wanted to say, can you leave it open? not but -- nobody heard of anything like this since 1917. in those days they had no real communication so you could not say go inside. people just died, 100 million it is reported. it is tough. the american people, what they have done is incredible. , theye people picketing want to get out and get back with their lives. they have learned a lot, distancing, even now, until this goes away. they have learned about washing their hands and the different things we have been talking about ad nauseam. they get in. in some places the governors are ready to go and others they can't yet. they have to have it safe. it has to be safe.

i can't say this, can't emphasize it strongly enough, i will show you charts in the countries that are having trouble. one in particular is having a massive problem where they said let's go. we will keep going. the lines that you were famous for, some are flat, some are up, this is like a rocket ship. and they didn't, they decided let's go and wing it. they thought it was ok. big problem.em, there is another one, people think did it but the people are staying in. the head of a country doesn't have to stay -- say stay in. the people see what is going on. they can say they are not doing that, but the people are staying

inside. not a lot of people at cafes despite what the mode of a country is great most countries have do this -- italy tried not to, spain tried not to. they went that way. france. nobody wants to do this. it is a brutal step. we are going to close down your country. whoever heard of a thing like this? we would have had millions of people die, millions. in looking at things we have been looking at the list couple of days and really the last couple of weeks, from the time we did it, shortly thereafter, i said we made the right decision closing down, closing borders, banning people coming in from china, from europe. we would have had millions of about 60,000d of

mark which is 40,000 than the lowest numbers thought of. this is not a case where people say we would have had that number similar to a flu. it is not the same. if we would have done anything long, 27, 35, 40, over a time frame, much different. much different death to be honest. this is violent. guidelineslizing new for doctors and patients to resume elective surgeries. a lot of hospitals were closed. they could not do any elective surgeries. they will be able to start doing that. procedures in medical care that needs to be done in person, as long as the rate of infections remains low, we want people to go to doctors, get clinically tested, have work done,

surgeries, receive treatment for corona and preventative care. we will be allowing that to happen soon. -- ill have had capacity we had no capacity to do it. if your doctor believes you need a treatment in person, you can get a treatment now, and should you we are asking health care -- and should. york, news like new jersey, it will be tougher. they have done a great job, but they were a center. i was watching that. they are leveling off. they will be coming down very soon. the administrator will be telling you about it. mike will say a few words.

the administrator will tell you about that. my administration continues to execute our massive military operation to supply hospitals with equipment they need and beds if necessary that we are totally covered. we have plenty of beds. highly unlikely. it would be bad news. looks like it is going just the opposite direction. cuomo,to thank governor relationship for this whole thing. we are building hospitals. we built more than needed. us.as worked very well with the governor of louisiana has been great on that whole situation with the beds. the governor of michigan was good with us on beds. it is a complex subject. , a lotd buildings, tents

of different things. the army corps of engineers was fantastic. florida, likewise. governor desantis. i should name probably six other locations. i will tell you one, california was fantastic. he was really good. i appreciate the fact he said what he wanted to say and he wasn't letting the press force him into saying something he didn't want to say. governor of california. he worked very hard. we worked together. the federal government is currently procuring 100,000 ventilators through new production with thousands delivered. we have delivered thousands of brand-new ventilators all throughout the country. new york would be the biggest user. they are now taking some of

their access -- excess ventilators to massachusetts. it is 400. the total supply continues to , total expected demand. governor cuomo said no one who needed a ventilator was denied a ventilator. that is the beautiful statement. all governors are in the same position. we have a clip i felt would be appropriate to put up today. it will take two minutes. you will find it interesting. let's see if we can do that. turn out the lights and see if we can do that. you have been listening brief thent trump press about his handling of the run a virus outbreak. you are watching us as a

conference by andrew got -- andrew cuomo. new york has seen a slowdown in the number of hospitalizations and drop in deaths as well. president trump is getting close to a deal for stimulus. pelosi mnuchin and nancy were optimistic about this. there seems to have been, continues to be tension with the states and federal government. the president insisting testing is a local issue, not a federal one. >> acts of mobilization. you those lines -- china's catering industry was one of the hardest hit sectors when the coronavirus brought business to a standstill.

contract foode servicing company. the director has been standing by patiently. thank you for joining us. give us an indication how much of the pandemic and associated global lockdown has affected your business? we have a business in the asia-pacific. we have certain countries we work in. we sell 300 million meals a year across a spectrum of sectors. we have seen a lot of effect in terms of countries, some countries just in the early stages of dealing with covid-19. others like china are emerging. we see recovery. in china we have 4000 people on the ground. we serve 35 million meals a year at 200 sites. it is mainly corporate and industrial clients.

withve 90% back operating 75% people back. those numbers are mirrored by mcdonald's and kfc for example who have 95% of their stores open. apple and starbucks have 90% of stores open, limiting service. what is encouraging last week is there were reports in march, resurgence of automobile sales in china. there will be setbacks with the chinese government putting in a strong consumer stimulus and australia has actively aided food logistics to asia. i'm confident this will continue. we are taking the opportunity to strengthen business and relationships with china based on what we have learned through the crisis. australian business should be looking to do the same.

is there almost an opportunity to start afresh with the reentry into the market? there is an earlybird opportunity while the economic rebound is still on foot. how confident are you that will result in more opportunities for australian companies? >> frost really companies it is unprecedented right now. you take a sector i of familiar with, food, but asia is the epicenter of economic growth, on our doorstep. hospitals -- it will be in the region. what is frustrating is the large ingrained middle-class. by 2060 them middle-class will be in asia. 88 of the next 100 consumers are being born in the region. consumers in asia are no

strangers to food health and security squares -- scarce. it is a great opportunity for my business, but for other producers that use food -- .reen with provenance there was a growing focus on health in china even before. there was unprecedented level of gym openings. this could serve to create reader demand for quality food systems and quality food clean and green. australia has potential to produce that. the asian task force that i ensuringfocused on australia takes this opportunity and gets more than if fair share in all three sectors. we are on the doorstep. there is a realignment i think geopolitically in terms of traditional trading

relationships, and australia has the opportunity to seize that as china and the region in general comes out of covid-19. shery: are you positioning for a change in the industry? we continue to hear potentially we could see fundamental changes in consumer behavior given the ongoing social distancing measures. answer is you have to adapt. i think that i am optimistic about our business in the region . while this has been terrible experience for everybody, it has made us adaptive as a business and innovative area i have been impressed by the innovation our people have demonstrated. quite frankly that is why i am optimistic about our potential coming out of it. we have been encouraged to do things we have never done before

and faster. social distancing is accelerating our use of contactless payment which is a great reassurance for consumers. we will be able to serve food that is prepackaged and allows consumers to really eat within a social distancing framework. the much more fundamental is encouraged to move into service areas, partnerships we have never done before. we are working closely with the government in india now. when modi locked down india for the first 21 days which was a key move, there was a group of migrant workers who were unable to secure food in that situation. our business repurposed our central production kitchens and put up a program where we were feeding 100,000 migrant workers at a. -- a day.

shery: thank you very much. this is bloomberg. ♪ ♪ because you can't get to the theater, we're bringing

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♪ shery: welcome to daybreak asia. i am shery anh in new york. haidi: i am haidi stroud-watts in sydney. we are counting down to asia's major market open. top stories this hour. president trump overly questioning if china deliberately released the coronavirus. oil extends its slide in asia, trading