| Trumps says a "complete decoupling" from China is still on the table. China's top epidemiologist says the peak of Beijing's new virus outbreak has already passed. And Australia should consider tapering off its stimulus programs. Here are some of the things people in markets are talking about today. President Donald Trump said the U.S. could pursue a "complete decoupling from China" in response to unspecified conditions, his most forceful statement yet on the souring ties with Beijing. In a tweet Thursday, Trump refuted comments a day earlier by U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer, who said a full decoupling of the world's two biggest economies was not "a reasonable policy option." The tweet comes a day after Secretary of State Mike Pompeo met with Chinese official Yang Jiechi, amid questions over whether the nations' trade pact will remain in tact. According to Pompeo, Yang said China is committed to maintaining agriculture purchases that were crucial to Trump's support of the deal. On Wednesday, Trump told the Wall Street Journal, "I think the trade deal is a great deal. But ever since we got hit with the Chinese plague, I feel different toward everything having to do with China. And I've always been hardline on China." Meanwhile, analysts at Goldman Sachs have warned of downside risks to U.S. companies exposed to China, in no small part due to renewed geopolitical tensions. The peak of Beijing's new coronavirus outbreak has already passed and further infections should be "sporadic," said the country's chief epidemiologist, as China seeks to project confidence over a resurgence of cases that's plunged its capital into a partial lockdown. The 21 new reported infections on Thursday all contracted the virus before June 12 and the "peak" of the outbreak was on June 13, said Wu Zunyou, chief epidemiologist at China's Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, at a briefing in Beijing on Thursday. "The fact that it's contained does not mean there will be no more infections reported tomorrow," said Wu. "We will still see more cases reported in the coming days, but that's a gradual process revealing the past infection period." He did not elaborate on how experts ascertained the outbreak's peak. At least 158 people have been infected in a new outbreak that erupted this week after a two-month lull in China's most important city. Officials are grappling with striking a balance between containment and keeping the economy running in the city of more than 20 million. Asian stocks looked poised for a mixed start to Friday trading after a muted session on Wall Street saw shares end little changed. Treasuries and the dollar rose. Futures in Japan edged higher, with contracts flat in Hong Kong and Australia. U.S. shares had opened lower in the wake of a report that weekly jobless claims stayed above one million, though volume was light ahead of Friday's option expiry, and European shares retreated. Elsewhere, the pound held onto losses and gilt yields rose after the Bank of England expanded its quantitative easing program. Crude oil prices, meanwhile, gained after erasing earlier losses, and OPEC's habitual quota cheat, Iraq, said it will implement its oil-production cuts in full this month and agreed on the details of how to compensate for falling short of its target in May. Australia should seriously consider tapering off its stimulus programs that are due to end in September, instead of ending them with a sharp cutoff. That's according to Reserve Bank board member Ian Harper, who urged the government to come up with a "tapering arrangement" to soften the shock of a sudden stop that could damage the recovery and potentially drive unemployment even higher. "The strongest form of Cold Turkey would be to cut back to where they were before," said Harper, one of six independent directors on the RBA board, who stressed he was speaking in a personal capacity. "That would have a significant negative effect on consumer confidence, on consumption behavior, and consumption's 60% of the economy." Unemployment climbed to 7.1% in May as the economy shed more than 800,000 jobs in the past two months. The RBA board member said ongoing assistance would likely need to be directed to sectors like tourism and education. The only Hong Kong-focused company worth owning is its stock exchange, says a top fund manager who first turned bearish on the city's economy more than a year ago. Mirae Asset Global Investments Hong Kong's Wei Wei Chua has in the past month added Hong Kong Exchanges & Clearing Ltd., the only firm in his portfolio that generates most of its revenue in the city. The stock has rallied 14% since late May, at a time when tensions between Washington and Beijing have threatened to curtail Chinese companies' access to U.S. capital markets, making such secondary listings closer to home more appealing. Chua's China Growth Equity Fund has beat 99% of peers this year with a nearly 15% return. In that same time, the Hang Seng Index is down 13% while the MSCI China Index has gained just 1.5%. He oversees about $1.7 billion in assets - $1.2 billion of that in greater China. They are divided between ADRs, Chinese firms listed in Hong Kong and those on the mainland. What We've Been Reading This is what's caught our eye over the past 24 hours: And finally, here's what Tracy's interested in this morning Wow, Wirecard. For those who haven't been following this amazing story, here's the short version. Years ago, a bunch of short-sellers and investigative journalists began digging into the business model of this German payments company. They alleged fraud, which the company vigorously denied. In fact, Wirecard starting making its own allegations of bad behavior by journalists and short-sellers involved. It also hired an auditor, Ernst & Young, to go through its accounts and prove its innocence. Germany's financial regulator ended up launching an investigation into market manipulation and referred a criminal complaint against two journalists to prosecutors in Munich (a first for BaFin). It also banned short-selling of Wirecard shares.  Fast forward to this week and Wirecard announced that about $2.1 billion has gone missing — roughly a quarter of its consolidated balance sheet, with Ernst & Young unable to account for the money. Wirecard stock promptly tanked, posting the biggest fall on record for a member of Germany's prestigious DAX stock index. More ominously, so did its bonds, with debt due in 2024 sinking to as low as 39 cents on the euro (firmly in distressed territory). Beyond being a fascinating financial drama, the Wirecard saga is worth following for another reason. The involvement of the absolute top of the German business establishment — from BaFin, to the Deutsche Boerse via the DAX, to one of the big four accounting firms — means the outcome of this story could have big market consequences and even political ramifications. Watch it. There's now a Japanese edition of Five Things. 世界のビジネスニュースを毎朝メールでお届けします。ニュースレターへの登録はこちら。 | 
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