Trump’s Plan B

Donald Trump's Plan B sounds a lot like his Plan A. Thousands of protesters took to the streets again in Hong Kong. And Bitcoin goes on an epic roller coaster ride. Here are some of the things people in markets are talking about today. 'B' is for Billions Donald Trump took to the airwaves to reiterate his warnings to China, suggesting he'd impose "substantial additional tariffs" if  there's no progress on a trade deal after his planned meeting with Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping at the G-20 Summit in Japan. "My Plan B with China is to take in billions and billions of dollars a month and we'll do less and less business with them," the U.S. president said on Fox Business. Trump accused China of devaluing its currency "like a ping-pong ball," and called Vietnam an "abuser" when responding to a question about companies relocating production there from China following U.S.-imposed tariffs. Asian Stocks Point Higher Oil jumped 2.7% as U.S. government data showed the biggest crude stockpile drop since 2016, adding momentum to a market already rallying on the standoff between Washington and Tehran. U.S. stocks edged downwards, Treasuries fell and the dollar was broadly lower against its G-10 counterparts.  Gold dropped for the first session in seven. Bitcoin surged as much as 22%, topping $13,000 for the first time since January 2018, before plunging in late trading. Asian equity futures are headed for a mixed start. Iran Scorns Talks With U.S. Iran rejected talks with the Washington after the latest round of U.S. levies. Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said plans to sanction him demonstrate that the White House's claims of wanting negotiations with the Islamic Republic are a lie. Iran is set to breach the 2015 nuclear deal that the U.S. walked away from for the first time on Thursday, which could strain European ties.  Hong Kong Protests Thousands of peaceful protesters rallied in Hong Kong ahead of the G-20 summit, seeking democracy and the full withdrawal of a proposed extradition law. Some demonstrators later moved on to blockade police headquarters for the second time in a week. Meanwhile, Hong Kong graftbusters arrested Eugene Yeoh, an official responsible for vetting IPOs at the city's stock exchange, people familiar said. He'd retired in May, citing family reasons. The ICAC announced the detention earlier, without identifying the target by name, along with two of his associates on suspicion of corruption and misconduct related to two listings. The SFC is conducting a review. Singapore's Not-So-Sanguine Forecast Singapore's heading for a recession. According to Maybank Kim Eng Research, the city-state's economy will probably experience a "shallow technical recession" in the third quarter as the global trade outlook worsens. Maybank downgraded its projection for Singapore's economic growth for this year to 1.3% from 1.6%, below the government's forecast range of 1.5% to 2.5%. A report on Wednesday showed manufacturing contracted 2.4% in May from a year ago, worse than expected. A recession increases the chance of the central bank easing monetary policy in October, Maybank economists said. What we've been reading This is what's caught our eye over the last 24 hours. A Trump-Xi summit at the G-20 could save the world $1.2 trillion. The FAA finds a new risk on the Boeing 737 Max. China stock pickers are winning big with liquor and pork in 2019. These are the world's most expensive cities for expats in 2019. How 24,000 tweets tell you what the U.S. Democratic presidential candidates care about.  A colonial quirk gives some Hong Kong men houses on the cheap. 7-Eleven to wrap 2 billion rice balls in plant-based plastic. And finally, here's what Cormac's interested in this morning With current headlines dominated by central bank pronouncements and expectations for this weekend's key G-20 trade meeting between Presidents Donald Trump and Xi Jinping, investors could be forgiven for overlooking the upcoming second-quarter earnings season. They should prepare for bad news. The pace of profit downgrades is exceeding upgrades by the most since January, according to Citigroup Inc.'s global earnings revisions index. Amid the uncertainty over the Sino-American trade war, analysts have been busy slashing estimates. A series of disappointing earnings outlooks from FedEx Corp. to Daimler AG will have done little to improve optimism. Analysts are still pricing in 4-5% profit growth for U.S. and European companies this year, and 9-11% growth for next. The next few weeks will show if that is optimistic, particularly if a U.S.-China trade deal is kicked into the long grass this weekend. Cormac Mullen is a Cross-Asset reporter and editor for Bloomberg News in Tokyo.   Even before Trump's trade war, China was the world's biggest story. It's reshaping the global economy — but its ascent hasn't come without major problems. Sign up to get Next China, a weekly dispatch on where the country stands now and is headed next. Before it's here, it's on the Bloomberg Terminal. Find out more about how the Terminal delivers information and analysis that financial professionals can't find anywhere else. Learn more. FOLLOW US SEND TO A FRIEND You received this message because you are subscribed to Bloomberg's Five Things - Asia newsletter. Unsubscribe | Bloomberg.com | Contact Us Bloomberg L.P. 731 Lexington, New York, NY, 10022