police detained the ceo of sun city junket operator. yvonne: it is weighing the impact from omicron, right? we had a couple of days to process this. you are hearing the likes of south african scientists saying, look, the symptoms are quite mild so far, the w.h.o. urging caution as we have to wait a few more days before we get more clarity. but you see the reversal when it comes to risk assets this morning, a bit of that catching down when it comes to equities. the main gauges here, u.s. futures are up. brent crude was down 12% on friday and we are up. dollar-yen, a bit of a reversal as well. we are seeing some weakness into that currency, went 13.66. the u.s. 10-year yield, -- we are seeing some weakness in the

currency, 113.66. u.s. 10 year yield higher once again. a mixed picture in the stocks but asian equities are touching down on the effects of the variant. the hang seng has turned positive, which is quite interesting because we have seen some downsides when it comes to these airlines and the casinos, check as well for meituan. the nikkei 225 bouncing off the lows as we are seeing the panic over the variant received just a little bit. airlines, we are watching air china. still a bit of trouble when it comes to airlines, we had jp morgan downgrading their outlook for some of these stocks, cathay pacific in particular, down 4.2%. china southern also seeing similar downside, risks as we look at what this means for the reopening of the travel lanes in asia. the key question is, will this

be a repeat of 2020 where it will stump global growth, or are we just seeing a brief scare? rishaad: you look at israel closing itself to all inbound foreign nationals for two weeks, philippines instituting new measures, arrivals into the u.k. needing pcr tests as well. let's get back to the themes we are following is a consequence of this. what we saw on friday, a huge move to the downside for yields on the 10 year, something like 16 basis points taken off. but we are up at the moment, yields moving to the upside, six basis points, 1.56% under 10-year yields. also seeing a move to the upside for yields. the bond rally is fizzling out a bit as we can see with these numbers. those are also the virus fears pulling out when it comes to oil. a rebound after that dramatic plunge on friday, brent crude is up nearly 5% right now, wiping

out half the losses we saw in the session there on friday. looking at what goldman described as being an excessive fallback in the fall price. all against this backdrop, right? of the w.h.o. urging caution. and as you were interviewing the gentleman earlier, the south africans have been very transparent about this and saying that symptoms linked to omicron very mild so far. the u.s.'s top infectious disease experts are saying it should encourage more people to get vaccinated ultimately. >> this is a clarion call as far as i am concerned of saying, let's put aside of these differences we have and say, if you are not vaccinated, get vaccinated. if you are fully vaccinated, get boosted and get the children vaccinated also. we now have time. yvonne: all right, let's get more clarity on the situation from our senior medical

reporter, michelle cortez, and our market situation with our markets mliv strategist mark grunfeld. michelle, tell us the latest about omicron. michelle: at this point we know that this variant is very different from what we have seen recently. there is up to 30 mutations with this strain and what that means is that it will have a different impact on the body and on the out rake than what we have been looking at so far. we don't know whether it will be better or worse at this point. having that number of changes could both make it easier to transmit, it could help it evade vaccine protection, it could help increase the number of breakthroughs. on the other hand, it could also make this variant less stable. it could not persist as long in the body. it could cause much milder symptoms. depending on what statistics, what facts you look at this point, you could paint the picture either way, that is what

we are hearing from people at the w.h.o. and countries across the world, we just want to be cautious at this point and make sure we are not taking on any additional risks that we don't need to and we can ease up in the days to come if we find out that this is not particularly a devastating form of the variant. if it is dangerous, we will have already shut things down. rishaad: let's get to mliv strategist mark rant--filled now. yvonne went through some of the -- mliv strategist mark cranfield now. how does omicron play out longer-term? is this just -- i will use the word transitory, or will it have more profound implications? perhaps it is too early to tell, but what are the markets thinking here? mark: what the markets are really looking for is

what does this mean in terms of the risk full lockdowns in countries or big cities? will there be any chance of a repeat of what we saw especially in the early stages of 2020 where countries locked down, stopped moving and it had a dramatic impact on economies? we had big injections of liquidity by central banks and you had the whole work from home rotation that took place across equity markets. people are looking for indications. of course, it is a bit too early to tell as the medical experts are saying. maybe it is just a mad virus. if anything, it is just a timely excuse for people to reassess where they stand in terms of equity markets. when you are about to go into a period of federal reserve tightening monetary policy, indiana, that is a much bigger factor for all risk assets than anything to do with the virus

short-term. yvonne: thinking of the bond market, you are seeing quite a reversal when it comes to yields at the moment. on friday we were seeing the biggest move to the decline on yields since march of 2020. is this something that you think is more of a knee-jerk reaction, or are we getting back to those kinds of moves? mark: you saw at the end of last week, it had a lot to do with positioning particularly in the five-year sector of the treasury curve. we'll well-known that the leverage community had an extreme short base in the futures market, and that tells you that anything which dislocate risk assets as it did across the board on friday, we saw big moves across a whole variety of classes whether it is in commodities, equities, bonds, currencies. there were lots of things going on. there were huge p&l adjustments going on for risk managers so if you were sitting on a large

market profit on your treasuries position or your rates position, you were probably cashing that into before a loss somewhere else. that is where you get an excessive move in the bond market. partly explains what happened in the oil market as well. these excessive moves are partly p&l-driven. . it doesn't tell you much about the underlying fundamentals. rishaad: michelle, is this perhaps underscoring, depending upon what chair you sit on, that we will have to live with covid, live with different variants as they come and cope with them as they come? michelle: the amount of uncertainty still out there is overwhelming. you are exactly right, we know we will not be through this pandemic anytime in the near future. so we are going to see this together variant play out -- we are going to see this particular variant play out. it is a warning signal.

most of the world is still an vaccinated. the vast majority of africa is an vaccinated, especially places like south africa where they have a high. . hiv population we could be creating additional variants. we have heard it again and again, but until the entire world is protected, no one is truly protected. that is the point. hopefully the vaccines that we have now will stand up, but we will have to wait and see how it plays out. yvonne: michelle cortez, and we also want to thank mark rant -- mark cranfield. let's get the first word news with vonnie:? vonnie: japan's retail sales increased, beating economist forecasts. the numbers add to signs that households are resuming spending after authorities lifted the extended state of emergency. japan needs household spending to support the recovery as a global supply chain restrictions

sunk momentum. mohamed el-erian is urging the fed to acknowledge that inflation isn't transitory. he also told fox news on sunday that it is time for a change in policy and a new president in charge at the central bank might have found it easier to change course. el-erian has repeatedly said that the fed is underestimating inflation risks. the women's tennis association says it remains deeply concerned about the well-being of chinese tennis star peng shuai. according to a statement seen by cnn, the ceo is worried about her ability to communicate freely. concerns about her safety caused international outcry after she was not seeing publicly for some time following a post that accused the former chinese vice premier of sexual harassment.

global news, 24 hours a day, on air and on bloomberg quicktake, powered by more than 2700 journalists and analysts in more than 120 countries. i am vonnie quinn. this is bloomberg. ♪ yvonne: still ahead, we kick off our new segment focusing on southeast asia, on asean ahead. look at how the region is faring in its fight against the pandemic, and other challenges, with author and former diplomat kishore mahbubani. rishaad:. rishaad: and this chinese delivery company is posting its biggest loss in three years. . this is the outlook for the region's tech giants, with moody's investors service. that is underway next. this is bloomberg. ♪ this is bloomberg. ♪

yvonne: here is your latest check, mate -- you

are seeing meituan after they recur outlook was forecasted for the company after reporting the steepest quarterly loss since 2018. this goes to show right now, the impact of the regulatory crackdowns is still very front and center. rishaad: also when looking at these platform companies, this is a statement from the market regulation, publishing the rebuke of such companies here, saying that they muscle into community group buying, fueling concerns type of company may well become the next target for the regulator. nevertheless, if you look at what the banks are saying, they are saying that the losses might have peaked -- that is according to citigroup. so let's have a look at what is going on with all these hurco companies as our next guest has

a stable outlook for six out of eight chinese tech companies, lina choi from moody's. what prism do you look through with what meituan is going throughout the moment? lina: good morning, everyone. actually for meituan, when we said we had six out of eight companies on the stable outlook, this is actually one of the two that is on the unstable outlook. we did note that the core business, the food-delivery business has been quite stable, and the user base continues to expand. so we do see steady performance from the core business, and will continue to monitor it in terms

of the investment that they continue to make in the new business and whether it will continue to track the overall story. of the company. when it comes to regulation, the company has already been penalized because of its past practices. . after that, the company has adjusted its practice and been compliant. it has a very stable balance sheet and steady cash flow generation from the core business. for now, we do see ongoing risks for the company, but that is captured in the neck outlook. yvonne: you say you are watching some of these new investments that a lot of these tech companies to deploy a lot of cash, trying to expand into these new businesses. how was that good from a credit perspective? lina: actually, all of these internet platform companies do need to continuously invest, to

cultivate new growth drivers. we see that not only in china but also globally, with alphabet and other global tech companies, they need to continue to invest into other businesses. however most recently, if we talk about the antitrust regulations that have been in place in china since late last year, it actually has been constraining the revenue growth of the market leaders in particular. because the new antitrust regulations aimed at preventing large and leading companies to abuse their market positions, which in essence would have made future mergers & acquisitions a little bit more difficult, especially for the market leaders. rishaad: that is the point i was going to go to, because none of these companies are actually

accused of trying to stymie competition by taking over people who are snapping at their heels, but it does engender competition ultimately, does it not? lina: yes, it does. and if you look at the antitrust regulations that have been put in place, one area that the regulator put specific focus on is they want to encourage continuous competition and, therefore, innovation from the industry. that, in the near term, like we discussed just now, will constrain revenue growth through m&a activities especially for the market leaders. but in the longer term, the intention is really to cultivate a more sustainable growth environment so that more players can get in the overall pie and make it bigger. yvonne: i want to talk more about macro. we are seeing weakness in the economy in china. add that to concerns about

this latest omicron variant. is inflation likely to widen further? where are you seeing the winners and losers? lina: what we have outlined in our just published china outlook for 2022 for nonfinancial companies, we have a stable outlook. but among the stable outlook, we see emerging pockets of risk and we list out on the negative, on the downside scenario, that it could detract from the current stable outlook. it would be an unexpected resurgence of the coronavirus. if that managed to trigger another round of widespread lockdowns, of course that would put a stall into the resuming economic activities and take away from the currently still healthy forecast of 5.3% of gdp rates.

we do see upstream sectors will benefit more from high commodity prices. consumption sectors, if there is no further widescale lockdowns, will benefit from continuous economic activities resuming. on the other hand, we see a bit more weakness in downstream sectors as they face rising raw material input costs and supply chain constraints. last but not least, we talked about the regulatory uncertainties for internet and tech companies and tightening funding conditions for property and low liquidity poe's. rishaad: how does that translate to growth? 5% is pretty healthy. but is it enough to create the jobs that china needs every year to keep employment where it is? lina: in the 5.3% gdp growth rates, we have tried to factor

in the potential of further slowdown from the property sector and its potential spillover. what we have factored in is a 5% to 10% contract sales decline which will be partially offset by infrastructure increase of about 3% to 5%. yvonne: does that mean more downgrades next year or more upgrades? ? lina: i think for emerging pockets of risk, we will need to monitor very closely and the tight funding conditions and associated refinancing risks to stay high for liquidity companies with the large majority coming up. however, we do see still, quite steady performance from what we just discussed about the consumption sector, the upstream sector and the infrastructure

and utilities sectors. yvonne: thank you for joining, us, lina choi from moody's investor service can catch up with all interviews including this one on tv . if you have questions for our team for our guests every hour, we are live and you can send them our way. this is bloomberg. ♪

rishaad: as we look at the latest business flash headlines, mizuho shares are falling in tokyo after the company announced its ceo resigned, following criticism over japan's banking regulator over a series of breaches this year.

the financial services agency issued an improvement order on mizuho, saying that the bank did not. pay attention to risks within its tech sector. and goldman will pay asia-pacific staff $5,000 for quarantine costs. it is a reimbursement program for staff impacted by hong kong's strict quarantine rules. they followed jp morgan and chase. yvonne: take a look at markets. we have stabilized a bit, we are off the lows when it comes to the risk assets. still seeing some downside when it comes to equities in asia. take a look at when it comes to volumes, quite pronounced here today as we try to assess the effects of omicron. when it comes to mxap, we are seeing volumes basically up in most of this index today with a few exceptions which we are

seeing in that pie chart. the volume has come off, but it is still slightly higher. it is too early to tell what everyone thinks about this latest virus strain. will we see a repeat of 20 20? citi came out and recommended cutting risk. we are going to see more lockdowns. rishaad: looking at some of these volumes. the hang seng is 6% or 7% up than it normally would be an idyllic this is markets are seeing a bit of extra back and seeing a comeback take place. the hang seng is still negative, 0.4%, the biggest decline so far is the philippine comp, down over 2%. yvonne: and when you look at central banks, people are

talking about a faster taper, but you are seeing the markets recalibrate when the tapir is going to be and when the rate hikes will be as well, that could either potential issue.

>> we are entering a bit of a risk-of time. >> the warning signs for governments. >> i can understand why financial markets are worried. >> it could not have come at a worse time. >> on the back of the thanksgiving holiday. >> it makes sense for investors to take risk off the table. >> the time it takes to analyze the virus. >> leaders of every major nation, stop dealing with this as though it is an issue just for their nation. it's not.

it is a world issue. >> delay rather than the fundamental development. >> still seeing some underlying strength. >> this is not the first covid strain we have seen? >> we should not imagine that all is lost, it is not. yvonne: some of the reaction to the new covid-19 strain from our guests as we try to reassess what this means for markets. let's look at how things are looking at the moment, a bit better. from what we saw in the early part of the social and much better than friday, though we haven't recovered the steep declines we saw. airlines still seeing quite a lot of pressure. air china is down 4.3%. you have jp morgan downgrading their calls. air china, china eastern and cathay pacific are scrambling to cut. what are they doing right now to try to fight off omicron?

rishaad: getting a hit from this, also the oil prices. brent crude is coming back, up 4%. wti crude is up 5%. this deluge of travel restrictions almost over the weekend will be playing out. in the fears that what is going on -- the thing is what happens next? joining us with more, asia transport editor katrina nicholas. walk us through some of the changes that have been made today. katrina: the impact will be seen over the coming days, but the countries are already taking steps to limit the spread of the virus. and while travel restrictions are not popular, they are more palatable than hard lockdowns. we have seen the u.k. reintroduce mandatory pcr tests

for all arriving passengers and all those people might isolate until after receiving a negative test result. israel has closed its borders for all inbound foreign nationals for two weeks. the philippines has restricted travel from switzerland and the netherlands for several weeks. in this morning singapore suspended the start of several vaccinated travel lanes with the uae, qatar, and saudi arabia. we are starting to see the knock-on effects. sporting events being delayed. big conferences shifting to hybrid. and bookings for christmas also looking pretty shaky. yvonne: it is pretty depressing just how quickly things changed in one weekend. just when investors are also putting this whole covid concern in the back burner -- we were trying to think about coming out of covid and here we are once again. what does this mean for 2022? what is the outlook? katrina: the world is looking

for greater clarity on how the vaccines stand up against this new variant as well as its severity. this is a major blow to the msci asia market which was just starting to find its feet. the ceo of the asean group said he stands with the w.h.o. on: for borders to remain open. shares of airlines are heading south. that will make it order to raise fresh capital to prepare tattered balance sheets just as we were on the cusp of recovery. very grim news for airlines. yvonne: thank you. let's look at oil now. quite a decent rebound when it comes to crude markets as well as the whole commodities

complex. 1 we saw some of the steepest losses for oil since the pandemic began. we are talking double-digit losses on friday. mliv is talking more about how where you see the most exposure to any lockdown news. let's get to our reporter elizabeth with the latest. after this crash on friday, what is next? elizabeth: it is really early days. markets are assessing the situation. many feel that the fall for oil last friday was excessive. i think in the short-term, it is looking that way. oil on the study rebound this morning. i think the biggest and most immediate injection for oil would peak demand -- would be

demand with the holiday season coming up. at the moment, travel bans are being applied to mostly south africa which fortunately does not comprise the biggest part of global aviation. but the biggest risk would be if it extends to the current vaccines, which would mean we would see wider lockdowns. that is what we're looking at the moment. rishaad: elizabeth, you have the upcoming opec meeting. does this move the dial for them in any way? elizabeth: this changes things. now there is much more expectation that there will be a modest reduction hike november 2. -- december 2. this notion was already being

seen in the market after numerous releases. all of these major oil buyers discussed releasing their petroleum reserves. so there was already that notion in the market. i think this weighs a bit more heavy on that decision right now. it is looking much more likely. rishaad: elizabeth, thanks. a quick look at news from evergrande, a new energy vehicle group selling some of its assets as it tries to shore up its balance sheet. we are seeing the share price down 10% right now as it is in talks to sell some of these. negotiations remaining in progress. the company has completed already the disposal of the majority of assets held by a german subsidiary of theirs. and the group's equity interest in this other company as well.

more news for evergrande, this time from energy vehicle group. yvonne: let's get to the first word news with vonnie quinn. vonnie: profit growth in china's industrial firms rebound for a second month driven by the companies in sectors including mining and manufacture of raw materials. industrial profit claimed 24.6% to 128 billion dollars in october from a year earlier. bloomberg economics essays the exhilaration was boosted by the surge in factory gauge prices, and recovery in output from the country's power shortage troubles. president biden says americans will see prices at the pump fall but it will take some time. he said this after the u.s. and other nations including japan, india, and the u.k., announced they would release reserves. opec-plus will be meeting this week to decide whether to go ahead with a supply increase that was planned for january.

india's prime minister narendra modi will push to repeal three controversial farm laws when the reconvenes on monday. farmers postponed a planned march to new delhi as a result, however, year-long protests are set to continue as farmers push along with their demands. they want a minimum support price for produce, and compensation for families of farmers who dried really addressed. global news, 24 hours a day, on air and on bloomberg quicktake, powered by more than 2700 journalists and analysts in more than 120 countries. -- compensation for families who died during the unrest. davos powered by more than 2700 journalists and analysts in more than 120 countries. rishaad: southeast asia is in focus. asia research institute distinguished fellow kishore mahbubani will join us to discuss the outlook for the region. it is our new focus on "bloomberg markets: asia. "bloomberg markets: asia head -- asean ahead is next.

rishaad: where the impact of the new omicron variant is still being assessed, malaysia and singapore took another step towards reopening. we have the causeway bridge link

beginning travel this morning for the first time since last year? yvonne: yes, that is good news. southeast asian nations are reopening, realizing that they can no longer afford the economy-crippling restrictions related to squash the virus. rishaad: we are marking the changes and opportunities for the part of the world. let's get straight to juliette saly in singapore. take it away. juliette: our first guest for this new segment has been a career diplomat and academic and now distinct fellow at the asia research institute. kishore mahbubani is also the author of several books including the asean miracle. thank you for joining us. the one thing we are dealing with now is this new variant of the coronavirus. no doubt that the reason this has come to fruition has been vaccine in equity around the globe.

while new look at the vaccine efforts here, do you think the nations could have worked better together, given there is also in equity around "bloomberg markets: asia nations -- given there is also in equity around asean nations? kishore: the message covid-19 is sending us is very simple. we used to live in a very huge planet. now we live in a small, global village where until every house is vaccinated, every other house is vulnerable. there was an imf commission study which showed that if the world just spent 50 billion dollars, which is not a lot of money, because $50 billion is what china just contributed on its own to the 2008-2 thousand nine financial rescue package of $1 trillion. if the world spent $50 billion to vaccinate everyone on planet earth, the return to the global economy is $9 trillion. a return of 180:1.

so the big message we should get from omicron is that we should really make an effort to vaccinate the whole world and certainly make an effort to vaccinate all of "bloomberg markets: asia. and i think in 20 22, i think asean will make significant progress in vaccinations. juliette: how do you see that happening? which countries do you see leading the movement? we look at indonesia, only 35% of the opposition is vaccinated. sure: as part of the china geopolitical contest that has begun between the u.s., it is interesting that both china and the u.s. through the quad, proposing more vaccines to southeast asia, if that comes about, i think southeast asia will be in a better position, if both china and the u.s. compete

to give vaccines to the region. juliette: what impact do you think this new environment is having on the region? we are looking at further tightening in singapore just as we were looking at opening up. we know that the poorer nations that have really rely on tourism, how does that impact them? kishore: no question that this will be a major setback if we close down again after taking many steps to open up. in the case of covid-19, there is no expert in this field. everybody is guessing in the dark and trying to figure it out. if it looks like you can control or macron and make sure that it does not spread too far, then i think with all the experience of the last two years, i think we learned how to open a few windows here and there to get things moving without necessarily opening all the doors.

juliette: you mentioned the u.s. china relationship, one of the biggest defining moments of this century. you have written a book, called "has china won?" is china winning? kishore: if i give you the answer, you will not buy my book. [laughter] but i will give you the answer, anyway. the answer is no, or more accurately, not yet. but the big difference between china and the u.s. which i document in my book is not china has a comprehensive long-term strategy on how to manage this geopolitical challenge from the u.s.. the u.s. does not have a strategy. this is also what dr. henry kissinger said to me and i cite him in my book. that is the challenge. the u.s. tries to think logically and rationally about this contest, it has got to ask

very simple questions, can the u.s. stop china from becoming the number one economy? it cannot. can the u.s. isolate and contain china in the way it succeeded with the soviet union question mark it cannot. because china trades more with the rest of the world than the u.s. does. can the united states overthrew the chinese communist party? it cannot. the u.s. needs to define what it is trying to achieve, because many countries in the region want to see a strong presence. juliette: how do "bloomberg markets -- how do asean nations compete? kishore: asean geographically is right next to china. one of the main theaters of the u.s. china competition. if you look very carefully at the 10 asan countries, they have

made it clear that they want good relations with the united states of america but they also what good relations with china. as the prime minister of singapore has said, countries in southeast asia don't want to choose. i think that is something that people in washington dc have not fully understood yet. if they understood it, they would stop playing a zero sum game and play a positive game in the region. juliette: what are some of the benefits from working with both parties and also looking at trade in the implementation of assets? kishore: as you know, 2022 will be an important time for our region. you will see the launch of the regional economic partnership which involves 10 countries of the asean, the world's

largest free-trade agreement. thisr is a big deal -- this rcep is a big deal because the three main effluent economies of southeast asia, china, japan, south korea, if they try to sit down among themselves to negotiate a free-trade agreement, they would fail. the japanese and south koreans cannot even talk to each other now. but under the umbrella of asen m you created the rcep, effectively a free-trade agreement among china, japan, and south korea, the three most affluent economies, and that will give a significant economic boost to growth in the region. juliette: are you bullish about that umbrella of asean moving forward? what does it like in 10 to 15

years? kishore: the reason why i wrote my book "the asean miracle," it has delivered results that are miraculous. our area has 200 50 million muslims, how many billions of christians, yet it is so peaceful. that is amazing. asean has also created the possibility of a larger framework like the rcep to bring the countries in the region into larger corporation. u.s.-china contest, if asean is courted by both the u.s. and china, this might give another economic boost to asean. juliette: great to have you with us in our study. we will still buy your book. thank you so much for joining us, kishore mahbubani from asia research institute, with me in the singapore studio, yvonne. yvonne: great interview two of

asean ahead. we have got to read the book. take a look at the markets. we are looking at mxap, asian equities looking more resilient. taking the latest threat from omicron in stride, a bit better from friday. covering the losses from today after the steep drops at the open. still zero .4% lower, but the havens are losing havard -- losing favor today. u.s. futures also looking positive. we are still seeing a bit of recovery from the south african rand, seeing a strand of 0.9% for the currency. still seeing some weakness in the lira and the thai bat as well. also remember he seeing some strength the dollar rally seems to have paused. look at commodities, brent is up 5%, as well as wti as we count down to the opec-plus meeting. will they do anything different?

it could change the dynamics, the variant concern. europe, a pretty good setup for the european session. keep in mind, they have a dire situation when it comes to omicron, so we could be seeing more volatility there. the euro-dollar has some downward pressure. plenty more head. this is bloomberg. ♪

rishaad: let's quickly check in with macau casino, gaming stocks having a torrid time after plunging in the session, on the back of the sun city group ceo alvin chau,'s detention marking the first time such a high-profile figure has been targeted in this industry. let's cross to our reporter. surely, this was justice of -- shirley, this was a surprise. shirley: this has been a surprise, although we know that china has been cracking down on the sector for years, and chinese state media have been writing articles criticizing the sector in 2019 and way before that as well. but the arrest of such a high-profile figure,

macau's largest jacket operator, it is an acceleration in china's crackdown. macau is also revising its local gaming laws and proposing increasing oversight on casino operators, suggesting china is becoming more serious in wanting macau to diversify and cut its reliance on casinos and gambling revenue. yvonne: the timing is interesting. we are getting close to the renewal of these junket licenses. what does it mean now for those? shirley: sun city is the largest jacket operator that accounts for 40% of the businesses and 15% of macau's overall gaming revenue in 2019. it will be a huge blow on the sector, the arrest of alvin chau. some analysts estimating that this could result in a

contraction of the jacket market by up to 50% in the coming weeks. rishaad: and a lot of pressure. you have renewals of the licenses coming up, then there is criticisms about the dividend programs and have some of these companies are not returning very well the money they have been making. shirley: yes, the impact on casinos may not be as big as junket -- the vip sector, high rolling gamblers mainly from mainland china, for covid in 2019, that accounted for half of macau's gaming revenue. now it is more like one-third of the gaming revenue. the ibitda proportion is even lower. but macau casinos are facing more oversight from authorities. rishaad: we have news coming through from japan, it is withholding business visitors and effectively banning all foreigners from entry following

what we heard from israel as countries assess the omicron risk. yvonne: er seeing that play out in the markets. equities are low in asia. but markets a bit higher today with u.s. futures very much in positive territory, up 1%. this is bloomberg. ♪

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juliette: it is almost 11:00 a.m. in singapore edging i. welcome to "bloomberg markets: asia." i am juliette saly. rishaad: i am rishaad's a lot read u.s. futures gained,

traders evaluating the risk posed by the omicron variant of covid. juliette: blackrock and goldman sachs say they prefer chinese equities of her pricey indian stocks. rishaad: india -- whether to ban all private cryptocurrencies. juliette: we are getting breaking news out of japan as we see how countries around the globe are reacting to omicron, and we are hearing japan is bannin all foreigners from entry. we have this risk often in asia, but markets not being sawed off as bad as they were earlier as we see a pickup in u.s. equity futures and wti crude, goldman sachs think the selloff we saw by 30% was executive -- accepted. we are seeing a pickup coming through in yields on the u.s. 10

year, different from what we are seeing in asia where we are seeing gains coming through in the bond market. still trying to assess how traders are moving in this new variant situation and what it is going to mean for a number of countries in this region, which as we know are more hesitant to close their borders, just hearing japan will effectively ban all foreigners from entry. rishaad: let's check in what is going on because omicron is having itself felt in thailand, hugely relied on tourism. more weakness for the thai baht as well, looking at the nifty prospects we could see an increase in the rupee. a lot of this down just to outflows taking place, 74 and

87. juliette: the w.h.o. urging caution after experts from south africa say symptoms linked to the omicron strain avenue bit about so far. cases have been found in several parts of the world and the nation's top infectious disease experts as it should encourage more people to get vaccinated. dr. fauci: this is a clarion call of saying let's put aside all of these differences that we have an say if you are not vaccinated, get vaccinated, if you are not boosted, get boosted and get the children vaccinated also. we have time. rishaad: let's get more clarity on the situation and get to michelle cortez. so far we know that this variant may not actually be stopped by the current vaccinations. they are on the case. >> we know that in south africa

we are seeing an increasing number of cases coming from this variant in the context of delta. we note this variant is outperforming delta in south africa. at they are not sure if that is because it is more transmissible and reaching unvaccinated people work ugly or to your point if we are seeing breakthrough infections of people who have been vaccinated or have had natural immunity. the biggest unknown at this point is how severe at particular infection is going to be. the concern if you are evading vaccinations and natural immunity is we go back to the beginning, masks, mandates, that is something no one wants to do. juliette: that really is what we are starting to see in terms of travel restrictions, japan to ban entry for all foreigners and a number of nations in this part of the region do not have the appetite for risk. >> there are so many places

where there has not been a lot of infections, a lot of outbreak at this point, and they are very concerned omicron is going to come in and create a new set of traffic for their people. we have learned that these bans do not work. this variant is likely to be in every country of the world at this point, and the things that work are these mitigation measures nobody wants to take at this point, so they are hoping by doing bans from the southern african countries where they are most likely to have this variant spreading widely is able give them time to potentially prepare for outbreaks, hopefully vaccinations hold up. we do not know for sure whether that is the case but they went to at the time to prepare. juliette: plenty of people hoping they do and we can get home for christmas. let's bring in our guest, blackrock investment's institute

chief strategist and we are seeing an appetite when it comes to risk because asian markets under pressure but you have got u.s. equity futures starting to rise. is what we saw on friday last week, low liquidity as well, was it an overreaction or is this the beginning of something quite worrying? >> good morning. i think what happened on friday it was at least in part to do with positioning, and obviously being the thanksgiving holiday at relatively low liquidity. the shock is real. omicron is something to worry about. it happened in a particular market set up, and what we are seeing now with some of the positions that were busy have been cleared out to some degree just because people are unwinding some of their positions in the face of this

uncertainty. that is more to do with market positioning than the market taking a clear view on the variant itself. there is still an awful lot we do not know about the omicron variant. juliette: does it complicate the picture for the fed given that we were looking toward this tapering? >> i think so, yes. we have got powell and yellen giving testimony to congress on tuesday, so we will be watching that carefully. powell is quite likely to remind markets of the fed's new framework that they adopted august 2020 and the voting limits he placed on the employment side of the equation, diverse and inclusive growth leading to maximum employment, so any threat would be a huge

threat, something powell and the fed will have to talk to, so there is some risk that some of the market implied hikes will need to come out, but we will get some more guidance from chair powell as soon as tomorrow, and that is a very important -- in terms of what we can learn as to how the fed is reacting. rishaad: can i get to the question of the day, which is about how this variant may affect markets long-term and a lot will be contingent on what you are talking about. give us a sense -- maybe it will be far too early, but there is a danger of long-term impact. >> what i think is this reveals

structural fragility, not just about market positioning but in terms of policy direction. for us at the institute there is been a policy revolution where i guess the focus is much broader, incorporating growth rather than a much more narrow focus on inflation. they shock is further evidence in that direction, and probably what we will see over the next several hours, days is evidence in that direction that the fed and policy makers more broadly are going to be much more supportive of growth, employment and broader social aims than has been the case for the last 20 or 30 years. that is a continuation of the same theme. over the last few weeks we have seen concerned about the fed's relative thoughtlessness and that could come out over the next days or weeks as we are reminded that policymakers are

more fragile in the direction of growth. they are more focused on growth than they have been for several decades. rishaad: also what happens on the supply side of things, supply-side disruptions as well. what really is happening market wise? the brittleness of the rally that we do see in some ways? >> i think that is right. there is no such thing as no risk at least if one once to be invested. -- wants to be invested. negative real rates are likely to persist because inflation is a bit higher and interest rates are bit lower. negative real rates are supportive for real assets. it is strange, but i want to

stress that there was an awful lot we do not know about this variant, but if we have negative real rates persisting structurally that should be supportive for real assets, including equities. while we need to frame risk carefully, and part of that is staying invested even through trials and regulations -- tribulations. juliette: we went to get more of your thoughts on how you stand. we went to bring lines, we are talking about japan, according to ntv banning entry to all foreigners and the prime minister will unveil measures. we will keep you updated on all of the latest news at a reaction -- and reaction. vonnie: president biden says americans will see prices at the pump fall but it will take time. he tweeted a message after the

u.s. and other nations including china, japan, india, and the united kingdom announced they will release millions of barrels of reserves. opec-plus will be meeting this week to decide whether to go ahead with a plan january increase. prime minister modi's government will push to repeal three controversial farm laws. farmers postponed upland planned new delhi. the part does love to continue as farmers push on with the rest of their demands. they want the government to include a minimum support price for produce and compensate families of farmers with document education. firms rebounded for a month driven by companies and sectors including mining and manufacturing of raw materials. it climbed 24.6% in october from a year earlier. bloomberg economics is at the acceleration last month was boosted by factory prices at a

recovery in output from the struggles. that women's tennis association says it remains deeply concerned about the well-being of a chinese tennis star. according to a statement the ceo is worried about her ability to communicate freely. concerns about her safety because international outcry after she was not seen publicly for some time. following a post that accused a vice premier of sexual harassment. australian's premise is proposing new legislation that would for social media forms -- forms to disclose the identity of trolls. as companies -- if companies refuse, they would have to pay defamation cause. social media companies are not considered publishers arbiter on their platforms and are not held responsible.

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 vonnie quinn. this is bloomberg. rishaad: silicom this hour, india's modi administration is set to introduce a bill restricting or banning cryptocurrencies. i will -- we will speak to one of the founders of the country's biggest players. ♪

rishaad: you are back with bloomberg markets have a look at what is going on, equities with the new covid variant wreaking havoc on stocks, worst post-thanksgiving day in living memory.

having a look at equity markets in right now and looking at chinese stocks and how they are being preferred by blackrock and goldman sachs, quite easy on valuation terms. juliette: it's really is easy, msci china indexed rate about 13 times under its one year forward earnings estimates while its indian peers have a multiple of 22, putting a gap of two standard deviations of the average of the past decade. let's get more on this a return to our guest. you are modestly positive on china stocks, but tell us more broadly about micron's call favoring china over what they are calling pricey india. >> that is right. johnny -- china we have a modest overate -- overweight.

it seems to us you have had a completely understandable huge decline in sentiment of positioning and evaluation. that is not enough in and of itself, but it is also true policy has flexed more progrowth in china. that combined is somewhat more encouraging and leads us to dipping our toes back into china equities with a small overweight position in china equities. rishaad: india as always been a very expensive. it is not a bit of a surprise really. >> the performance of india over the last several months has been amazing frankly, right? it has been very resilient to

bad news, very responsive to good news and lonely that continue. valuations have changed and it is become less attractive perhaps and it is not so much a negative call in india. we just feel there are better opportunities elsewhere in the region, and china seems to us to be flexing policy. that will only start to show up in the data with a lag. the data at the moment is not so good reflecting where policy has been but where it is. given where valuations are currently in china that combination of negative sentiment valuation and growth policy flexing more progrowth we think it is enough to dip our toes back into chinese equities. juliette: more broadly quite neutral on em. how do you play this into what

we are seeing from central banks and potential knockoff effects from slower growth in china? >> that is right. em unfortunately almost by definition suffers disproportionately from shop, true by definition -- shock, true by definition. we have had a few shots led by the or dominated by the virus but more potential for august banks globally. we have seen better opportunities in european equities, recently upgraded japan to neutral so we are looking for beneficiaries where we could see the restart. even with the omicron news over the weekend we still think the restart is the right story. we are big believers in the efficacy of vaccines and the ability for vaccines to adjust very fast and for new vaccines to be created in a matter of weeks.

if there is a delay it will be a relatively slight delay. when we look around the world we are looking for economies that are geared into that activity restart and can benefit accordingly. rishaad: would you be interested in credit, the corporate bond market in china? i am talking about not necessarily offshore but onshore in particular, because it does seem what we have but hearing it witnessing his reluctance for the offshore creditors to get credited, i guess. >> that is right. it has been a little choppy in china high-yield over the last six months or more, but when we started to apply default rates in chinese high-yield, 45% around there, that seems a little too high at the blackrock investment institute.

if that were to come to pass it would be talking about a genuine systemic problem for china, which seems to me at least something authorities would rather avoid. we have reached the situation in chinese high-yield where one can assume relatively high by historical standard default rates and still be bullish. when we look around the world, yield is still very hard to come by, both normal and will yield very low around the world. asia high yields and asia yield in general is worth exploring because it is a place of geography that has got some yield to the plus side, and we have seen policy flex more supportive that implies these default rates that can come down, which can be a tailwind not just for chinese high-yield directly but for broader asset classes as well, because china very important for the region and indeed globally. rishaad: thank you so much for

joining us. if you are a bloomberg subscriber catch up with all of our interviews by using our interactive function tv . join the chat by sending instant messages to our team and our guest during live programming. do check it out, tv on the bloomberg terminal. ♪

juliette: still watching "bloomberg markets: asia." a check of business flash headlines as we look at selloff across asian equity markets, down by 1%. goldman sachs in the asia-pacific will be able to clean a one-time subsidy of up to $5,000 to cover because from a mandatory quarantine starting

december 1. goldman is the third global bank to introduce a reimbursement program to staff impacted by hong kong's strict oriented rules following morgan stanley and j.p. morgan chase. the city's strategy is making it harder for banks to retain top talent in the region. evergrande's german has cut his stake in the company for the first time since it went public in 2009, selling 1.2 billion shares last week reducing his holdings along with those of his wife to 68% from 77%, the latest sign he is liquidating personal assets to stave off a default by the world's most indented developer. shares of the world largest junk operator after -- were suspended after its ill was arrested. chao confessed to is averaging overseas gambling platforms and carrying out illegal betting. 40% of macau's hydro many

volumes -- hyperlink betting volumes. rishaad: the rest take place in the casino junk space, down to all of these gaming stocks under severe pressure as we do have several headwinds coming through, airlines downgraded to a couple of banks as well. not helping things as they scrambled to see what they can do in order to deal with the latest: beta variant -- covid variant. china, 3.1% down. cathay not being spared. chinese benchmarks looking like this as we had -- head out to the lunch break. some of these markets are seeing volumes which would be lower

than they might beat normally. volumes way ahead of what are going at the moment from where they normally would be. csi, .1 of 1% it's another day. and anything could happen. it could be the day you welcome 1,200 guests and all their devices. or it could be the day there's a cyberthreat. only comcast business' secure network solutions give you the power of sd-wan and advanced security integrated on our activecore platform so you can control your network from anywhere, anytime. it's network management redefined. every day in business is a big day. we'll keep you ready for what's next. comcast business powering possibilities.

>> i don't think people should panic. i think it is important we are cautious and that we don't panic. >> what we are doing doesn't necessarily derail things. >> the diminishing shock value. >> i would not expect them to change how they think it is happening in local economies. >> we don't see a big stumble at all in the liquidity program will continue to support the market. rishaad: just some direction from our guests about the new

covid-19 variant ohmic crown. -- all mccron -- omicron. here's vonnie quinn with a first word headlines. >> we are talking about urging the fed to acknowledge that inflation is not transitory. he also told fox news sunday it is time for a change in policy and the new person in charge at the central bank might have found it easier to alter course. jerome powell has re--- was renominated as a fed chair last week. japan's retail sales increased for a second straight month, advancing 1.1% from september and leading economist forecasts. . this add to signs that households are resuming spending after authorities lifted an extended state of emergency. japan needs household spending to support the recovery as global supply chain disruptions

stop and momentum from the export oriented industries. honduras's dominant political parties both declared their candidates victorious after the sunday election. electoral officials say announcements are prohibited. this may upset the national parties 12 year rule and end the nation's alliance with taiwan. president biden says americans will keep prices at the pump falling but it will take time. many nations announced they had released millions of barrels of reserves. opec-plus will meet to decide whether to go ahead with the january supply increase. global news 24 hours a day on air and on bloomberg quicktake, powered by more than 2700 journalists and analysts in over 120 countries. i'm vonnie quinn and this is bloomberg. >> let's check in on asian equity markets because we are seeing an upside in u.s. futures, but still some downward

concern in asia, particularly as we looked to the nations that tend to be very cautious about reopening. we have heard that japan will effectively ban all foreigners from entry. down by about 7/10 of 1% against a weaker yen. a lot of these countries that have tried to reopen like singapore, also coming under pressure. one of the weaker performance -- performers. we have seen a rebound in the oil market. goldman sachs calling that 13% decline on friday excessive. you've seen wti crude climb more than 5%, brent up more than 5% as well. having a look at the airlines as japan comes back online, we are seeing weakness in the reopening trade. what does this mean for travel as we start to see curves being imposed, and and tv reporting it japan will effectively ban all foreigners from entry?

we will hear from prime minister kishida at 1:00 p.m. eastern. rishaad: getting more on oil here, a big comeback taking place. that's what's going on, five point 5% up for new york crude. there's also a bit of movement in the metals space as well, iron ore futures rebounding, climbing almost 8% right now. metals rallying amongst all this other depressing news. let's keep the focus on oil and bring in editor andrew james. oil very much the moment and focus, particularly with the news last week with the strategic reserves of various countries that will be released gradually, and on top of that, the opec-plus meeting that is upcoming and how they respond to that move as well. tell us about these moving parts. reporter: hi, rish.

to a certain extent, the big plans we've seen friday has given opec-plus a bit of cover i think to pause the restoration of supplied to january. we were already getting indications that they were intentionally going to pause it in a response to the coordinated reserves. we saw the massive jump friday. it is looking increasingly likely they will pause that. some people say, i think ubs was saying they would cap supply to january. that's where -- where it is at at the moment. >> when we look at these calls that it was excessive and an overreaction, we have to take into account low liquidity at the end of last week. how do you think oil will trade this week? reporter: that's right. a lot of those losses friday came within the last couple of hours. there were less traders on deck

in the u.s. because of thanksgiving. there were key technical levels that were breached from computer-generated and algo- driven trading. so we are seeing a comeback today by around 40%, read -- recouping 40% of those. i don't think it will recoup all of that plunge because there is still so much we don't know about omicron. it is just going to be a case of wait and see until we get more details on the ohmic crown variant. juliette: and everything in terms of risk assets. bloomberg editor andrew james with us. thank you. coming up next on "bloomberg markets: asia" a look at india's show market.

that's next. this is bloomberg. ♪

rishaad: you are looking at pictures at the moment of mumbai, looking at a part --

positive start of the trading day, given that everywhere else was a sea of red with the new variant of covid affecting sentiment. we will look at what else is out there. india prepares to introduce a much awaited cryptocurrency bill. narendra modi's administration racing to finalize legislation in time for the last parliamentary session of the year which starts today. india one of the fastest-growing markets for cryptocurrency trading. should investors be worried? how worried should they be? this is a cofounder of indio's first crypto unicorn. thank you for joining us. it is such a great area when it comes to crypto, how do you actually navigate this and is this legislation going are enough? >> it has been a great year for -- in india, it has been a great year for almost three years now.

the bank of india first added this, but after this supreme court was in favor of the industry, the market has been growing exponentially for the past year. we have seen -- been on boarding thousands on a daily basis. the good thing is that the banks have been supporting us for the past several years and we have been building good relationships with the banks. this has helped us. now is a good time for the government to start figuring a

build of cryptocurrencies and the market to protect small investors, especially -- rishaad: will this remove ambiguity? are you confident that it will be crucial, not just for your business at coindcx, but also the little investor, too? >> that is what we are expecting. we have yet to get clarity on the bill and how it will shape up, but we are positive the bill will have an positive impact. the faster and clearer the defined parameters are laid out, the lesser uncertainty there will be. there was still an inkling to better understand the digital

platforms. at the same time we believe the future of technology is very much bright and there's a fair degree of sense in india that crypto is indispensable for the indian market and indian economy to grow in the future, it is bound to remove a lot of ambiguity and uncertainty in that way. juliette: so what does this mean for investors? you say the future there is bright, you are not worried about a bubble bursting given the quick adoption of crypto in india? >> i think the focus is more on how the conference surrounding the crypto, typically the government, which includes money

laundering, finding anything on a flight, those are the main concerns. for the bubble, that is not the focus at the moment in discussions. essentially, the bill is bound to boost the morale in india and show the directions and allow us to build more robust listing mechanisms with what checks and balances to put in place to save investors. juliette: boosting morale, what does that mean for your overall business, what changes do you see? to the upside, do you have chan -- plans to raise more money? >> the goal of investing in the

crypto market has been phenomenal in 2021. coming up at this junction, it signals progress and acknowledgment from the government by the policymakers. in india, we are the largest in the world with a lot of room to grow. and i think the bill opens up, when the crypto markets grow, with the help of the government, there is a large opportunity for job creation in india and it is important for the economy. i'm confident our economy will transform accordingly.

rishaad: let's face it, you want this bill to go through because it helps your business ultimately. how much will it help your business ahead? >> it will help a lot. frankly, meeting the indian market, most investors, they have not put in a lot of money at all simply because there is a lot of concern. most importantly, the bill brings certainty, certainty on vaccinations for example, certainty of investors' predictions that at the same time they are putting their money in the right place. so it brings that certainty. that bill eventually also leads

institutional investors to jump into the market. juliette: there have been claims some of the ads and promotions used including ball he would stars touting crypto is part of the reason the government has moved to dutch here. what changes are you making to your promotions and ads at coindcx? >> that's the reason i think regulations are very important. without regulations, advertisements can go without any rules or guidelines. regulations are very important for this very purpose. the change would have to be implemented industrywide, not just one company.

typically, we will -- we are certain that a newspaper or television ad might not be the best idea going forward, but in time we will have a brokerage network, india has a large network of people, so that is one of the areas we plan to explore to grow the company forward. rishaad: your crypto unicorn, when are you going to ipo and what is your evaluation? what valuation are you looking for? >> we are not really much focused on the valuation, but in terms of ideals, as soon as the government situations allow us, mainly that would be a morale booster for the economy and crypto markets in india.

just like coinbase, it gave confidence in the crypto market. we will wait for the regulations and how it shaped up from the government. based on that, we will design the valuation. we will look at that in order to grow the industry forward. rishaad: i thank you very much indeed, neeraj khandelwal, cofounder of coindcx, india's first crypto unicorn. the market did open about two minutes ago. let's check in with some of those companies. vodafone idea shares gaining about 24% before the start of the session. overall the -- declines. at the moment, there are fears surrounding the new covid variant.

the company queried the chief executive the past for the companies to profit as well. looking also at spice jet, 6.3 percent down, what's going on largely in the aviation space. idea cellular moving to the upside as well. juliette: aside from the cryptocurrency bill, india's government will push to repeal controversial farm laws when copart reconvenes monday in response to protests from a crucial vote that shows little side. here's our asia reporter.

the law is set to be repealed. why are the farmers still protesting? reporter: today is the first day of india's parliament winter session and the government has announced plans to repeal these laws so the prime minister will introduce a motion. over the weekend, they are pushing for guaranteed prices for all farm produced by the government and they want the government to step back on reforms. they said this will not stop until demands are met. they say some of these demands had already been made in the government has not worked on that. these are not easy demands to agree to. the federal government, it looks

like the farmers will continue to protest until they get a sign from the government. rishaad: absolutely. do you think they will carry on and continue the protest? the thing is, if this confrontation continues, what happens politically speaking? >> that's one of the great problems going forward to look at, what kind of impact it has on these crucial state elections coming up. these could affect the -- prime minister modi and political leaders in the biggest region. it is seen as a sign of whether

moody can retain power in the general -- narendra modi can retain power in the elections. juliette: thank you for joining us, asia government reporter. we have plenty more head on "bloomberg markets: asia." we look to the reaction of the new omicron coronavirus variant. stay with us. this is bloomberg. ♪

rishaad: you are back with "bloomberg markets: asia." we are looking at alphabet now. it says it is improving its search function, being the biggest opportunity amid the world's rapidly changing demand for information. the ceo spoke with emily chang about the ambition and why they are embracing flexible work. >> i've always felt the market cap valuation is an effect of the value you provide. i think fortunately our mission is timeless. there is more need to organize information than ever before. i still feel search is our biggest moonshot as a company. people will want radically more conversational experiences.

they will want what we call both -- multimodal experiences. they may look at something and ask what the information is. being able to adapt to all that will continue to be the biggest opportunity. we are so excited about youtube, hardware products, google play. we are building a diverse set of businesses, but underlying all of it is the investments we are making in ai. we invested $100 million in the last five years. applying ai in a deep way is to create the biggest opportunity. emily: google is famous for its campuses where you could go and never leave, you have everything you ever wanted. now you said they can be flexible, work from home, from the office, be hybrid or work remote privately permanently. are you committed to really letting them do this forever, and if so, how does that change the future of work in society?

>> we really embraced the fact that the future is going to be flexible. at google, we have always tried to give agency to our employees, but we realize the importance of bringing people together, the collaboration that comes with her. the balance we are striking is this notion of -- we have more locations than most companies so we are giving people a chance to move anywhere in the world. they can work from anywhere. we can accommodate 20% of the workforce to be remote over time. we will embrace that flexibility. emily: forever? >> forever. we have committed to it. it forces us to design better products. since people use google workspace, it gives us a chance to innovate and bring the -- all that out.

there's so much value in bringing more flexibility for people's professional and personal lives. i think it will make people happier. we are trying to get the best of both worlds but embrace flexibility and see where we go. juliette: that was the alphabet ceo sundar pichai speaking to bloomberg's emily chang. watch the full conversation on "studio 1.0" on bloomberg television. let's look at how traders are assessing the impact of the omicron variant and what it means for the countries that will submit further caution in terms of the borders. we hear from the end tv that japan is going to bar all foreign entry. some pressure on the nikkei and here in singapore. prime minister lee saying potentially singapore could ease restrictions with seeing the yen under pressure to and the who

urging caution saying it will take time to assess the pathogen. traders pushing back on the expectation of the first rate hike from the fed. . that is it for "bloomberg markets: asia." this is bloomberg. ♪ every day in business brings something new.

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>> this is "bloomberg daybreak: middle east." your top stories this morning. the who urges caution after two african health officials indicate that symptoms linked to omicron variant have been mild so far. currency stabilizes and u.s. equity futures rise as an ester is a way to more clarity on the new covid variant. the uae starts administering booster shots,