China-US Tensions And A Fee For Your Facebook Feed

in need of therapy. Those are the stories we're looking at in today's papers and nine Leanne Gern's plus asking prices head north in North London Camden rises by more than seventeen That's all straight ahead on Bloomberg Daybreak Europe. The business news you need to start your day in just one fifteen minute podcast on Apple, Spotify, the Bloomberg Business App and everywhere you get your podcasts. Good morning, I'm Stephen Carroll and I'm Caroline Hecker. Here are the

stories that we're following today. The top diplomats from China and the United States have traded barbs in a sign of worsening ties in their first in person meeting since the Chinese balloon was shot down above the United States, Secretary of State Anthony B. Lincoln was blunt. I made very clear to him that China sending a surveillance balloon over the United States in violation of our sovereignty, in violation of international law, was unacceptable and must never happen again.

Lincoln there on CBS's face the nation. Shortly after, he met with China's Foreign Minister Wang Yi, who called the balloon incident quote hysterical, just as I would say absurd and hysterical. This is a abuse of the use of force. Wang. He refused to even cool his conversation with Anthony B. Lincoln an official meeting, arguing that the two and he

spoke because the US made a request. The sorrowing mood goes beyond Rhustwick, though, as America is concerned, China is weighing whether to give Russia weapons for the war in Ukraine. The growing sense of unease between the two superpowers comes as Goldman stratagists say Chinese stocks of the potential to

rise by twenty four percent this year. Bloomberg's Bryan Carters has more from Hong Kong Goldman thinks the recent sell off of Chinese stocks will reverse and that MSCI China can at eight five by the end of the year. That's up from around seventy. Now what's interesting about this call is that the strategists say that the rise will

be led by earnings and not just multiple expansion. Some investors might quibble with this given the rise in geopolitical tensions of late and the property crisis, but the banks us a shift from reopening to recovery that will deliver windfall profits for business in Hong Kong. Brian Curtis, Bloomberg Daybreak hero Now, Bloomberg understands that the Prime Minister Ishisunak is preparing to unveil a d deal with the European

Union on Northern Ireland. If an agreement can be reached, it could help to reset relations between the UK and EU three years after Brexit. Speaking to Bloomberg's Maria Today are at the Munich Security Conference, Sooner cautioned that nothing has been finalized. There is still work to do, there are still challenges to work through. We have not resolved all these issues. No, there is no there isn't a deal that has been done that there is an understanding

of what needs to be done. I've been in Northern Ireland talking to parties there about the things that we need to fix. We're working through those. We're working through them hard and we will work through them intensely with the EU. But we are by no means done. There is no deal that has done. The Prime Minister issues soon next, speaking there to Bloomberg's Maria today O Government sources say that any deal is unlikely to be announced

before Tuesday. Facebook and Instagram's parent company appears to be taking a leaf out of Twitter's book by offering verification deals to subscribers. The service will include a handful of additional parks and feature is including account verification, badgers, meta verified, wild Cast eleven dollar month of purchased directly, and is said to be primarily targeted at content creators. And Finally, North London property prices are surging as young professionals returned

to jobs in the capital after the pandemic. Bloomberg's You in Pots reports now. Property website right Move says asking prices in Camden are seventeen percent higher than a year ago and are up by six percent in the past month alone. Neighboring Barnett and Islington also notched up and your gains of about eight percent. The wider picture across the capitol is more nuanced and asking prices are just a snapshot, but the activity in Camden does suggest there's

burgeoning strength in the broader market. According to right Move, average rates for a fifteen percent deposit five year fixed rate mortgage and now about four point eight percent. That's down from five point nine percent back in October after the Liz Trust many budgets. Most economists do expect property parties to be lower by the end of this year than where they are now in London. I'm you and pots Bloomberg Daybreak Europe. Okay, therese are a few of

our top stories for you this morning. You heard from Rically Soon at the Prime Minister there, who was speaking to our own Bloomberg. Maria Todeo, who was at the Munich Security conference over the weekend. This is kind of a hugely important forum where leaders from around the world gather.

I think it's quite interesting that there were protests anti will protests on the streets in Munich over the weekend, and of course it comes as the bathters awarded this German language, real anti warn movie with a whole host of awards, and that's all quite on the Western front, of course, based on on the book around World War One. But I just thought that was kind of an interesting tie. I mean, it's it's the thing that I think people

in Europe are thinking about the war in Ukraine. Yeah, and seeing the focus on that as well, very interesting to hear the commentary outcoming out of that security conference as well. In the terms of the Bathters, I was watching to see the band She's vent A Sharon did

as well for four awards. Martin McDonough did make the joke when he got up to accept the award for Best British Film, Best wat Film because of course the film was shot in Ireland with the Narge the Irish cast and crew, but did have British funding starts how it ended up in that category the BAFTAs as well, But lots of winners to be watched out for, you know, everything everywhere all at once. Not managing to win as

many prizes have been expected. That's a big, you know, front runner for the Oscars as well, just one prize and it's ten BAFTA nomination. There were eleven female directors. So that made quite a splash, didn't it, in terms of across all of the categories. Eleven female diet. That's been a big issue, you know, trying to get more women directors to be kind of noticed by these big awards. Yeah, one bit of glamor for us to bring you on

a Monday morning. All right, up next, Ireland's economic growth is real, insists its central banker Ellen fails to pick up the bill for Twitter and UK retail is a need of therapy. Now the paper review on blue Bird Daybreak Europe. The views you need to know from today's papers. Let's have a look at the papers with Bloom, Basley and Garan's Good morning Leon. So the Financial Times headline the Irish Central banker defends runaway economic growth as real. Yes, indeed, Caroline,

good morning to you. So an Irish theme after the bathtors and now we're going to the ft Now. Speaking to the Financial Times, the Governor of the Irish Central Bank, Gabrielle mcclouf, said that much of Ireland's growth, which is actually forecast to be twelve point two percent last year, that's more than treble the EU average, comes from real factories with real people, even if a lot of the activity stems from these big tech companies and pharmaceutical groups.

Now mcclouth in this particular article is pushing back against accusations that the high level of economic growth is distorted and that's because of big US companies taking advantage of Dublin's low corporate taxes. Now, the debate around this An Island's economic outperformance really took center stage after the country's three point five percent quarter on quarter growth in GDP really single handedly prevented the Eurozone economy from stagnating in

the final three months of last year. Many big US companies, including Google, Apple, Meta, Intel and Fiser have their European basis in Ireland, which has a relatively low twelve point five percent corporation tax. And also recently we heard that the drugmaker astra Zenica wants to move some of its services over to Dublin too instead of investing here in

the UK for the tax reasons. Yeah, I mean, it's interesting to hear what Gary mccluse the argument is trying to make is that it's not this is not just due to intellectual property earning. It's actually there are factories and manufacturing things, particularly when it comes to biomedical sciences,

Island as a massive exporter of that. The IRIS Statistics Office actually has a different measure of GDP that they used called G and I star, which strips out some of the effects of globalization, and that's kind of what's regarded more in terms of the how they measure the performance of the Irish economy from the statistics point of

view in Ireland. But it's an interesting you know when you when you look at the effect that Ireland's economic growth had on the oldall are you reading in in the Yeah, I mean look, but the twelve and a half percent tax um um corporation tax that's been known for a long time. The accusation is sort of nothing new around around Ireland, but very very interesting though to hear those comments from Macliffe. Look the Wall Street Journal

not that Elon Musque story. The wall Stree Journal says that under Elon mask, Twitter faces suits claiming over fourteen million dollars in unpaid bills. What's going on with the bills of Elon Musque? Yes, indeed, Caroline, So since Elon Musk took over Twitter, it's faced a grown list of claims that it hasn't paid its bills as a social media company is aiming to break even this year landlords, consultants and vendors, and recent months have made demands for

payments in at least nine lawsuits now. According to The Wall Street Journal, the complaints against the social media company are said to be a fourteen million dollars plus interests, so no small fee there. Musk career before Twitter included very very close brushes with financial doom, including Tesner nearly nearly, very nearly running out of money, and Elon Musk has

spoken about this on more than one occasion. Now. The newspaper reports that Musk says, we're not behind because we can't pay them, it's just because we're arguing whether the parts are actually right. So he wants to have a look at these deals again. I just want to bring

your attention to one outstanding invoice. It's for seven thousand dollars and it was a swag bag gift box for Elon Musk now included sand blasted logo on Japanese whiskey bottle, an extra large bomber jacket, and more than two hundred and fifty dollars worth of socks. I know, whiskey socks and warmer jackets bag but in all honesty, it's you know, other people are suffering because of these out these outstandings, And I was going to say, you can't argue with

the bill by not paying it. Certainly not for the landlords in London who are pretty frustrated by the sounds of things. But yeah, that's an inter swing, the one in the Wall Street Journal. Let's turn next to the Guardian. The headline there last of nearly fifteen UK retail jobs, a brutal start of according to a report. Yeah indeed, and this is according to the Center for Retail Research, and they're saying a majority of job losses are at these big large retailers such as both Tesco and Asda.

Some of the main supermarkets that we shop in now national retailers we do know this, including paper Chase, the clothing chain, EMM and Co, a Chile giant, have all gone by in recent weeks, well Wilco, new Look and supermarkets.

Tesco and Asda have all announced these job cuts. Now, we do know that retail job losses have been mounting for several years, and that even came before those lengthy closures after repeated COVID lockdowns, and according to The Guardian, large retail chains which have ten or more stores across the UK High Street are doing the biggest cuts when

it comes to jobs. And a reevaluation of business rates, which are among the largest operating costs for retailers, is taking place from the first of April and looks likely to reduce the rateable values used to determine bills. So we are hearing about these massive job losses across the

high Street. We've seen lots of department stores closed. Here Caroline, that was so used to seeing Debonym's and many of them, and now we're just seeing these job losses across the retail More pressure on the chances Jeremy Hahn to do something about those. Business rates are a complaint of old really for businesses and how they are affected. Thanks so much, Lean.

Going for a look at the newspapers. Well, let's get more down the weekend's diplomatic maneuvers at the Munich Security Conference, the US Secretary of State Anthony B. Lincoln and China's top lip amout wang E mess but failed to calm tensions after the shooting down of that suspected Chinese spy balloon. For more, let's speak to Bloomberg's Bruce Einhorn in Hong Kong. Bruce, did this meeting change anything in this ratcheting up of

tensions that we've had over the balloon incident? Well? I think, Um, you know, you have to look at the glass half full version of it, which is at least they're talking to one another, right, Um. But Um, aside from that, no, there wasn't. There wasn't a whole lot to point to to show that tensions are easing. Of course, this is um the first time that that there's been a high

level meeting between the two sides since the balloon incident. Um, US Secretary History to Lincoln was supposed to be going to China. He called off that visit. Um. They haven't said that it was canceled. They said it's postponed. Um, but we haven't heard anything about when it will take place. And given the exchanges that took place in Munich, Um, it's unclear when the two sides will be ready to

have that kind of a high level meeting. Okay, look on the balloon issue, though it's in the past, and it's kind of finger pointing. I think the bigger issue surely is Ukraine. The kind of blunt statements that b. Lincoln made about what China may do with Russia. Yes, so, the Secretary of States said that the US has intelligence that China is preparing to provide military assistance to Ukraine,

something that China has denied. China has said that far from that, they're actually trying to arrange for some sort of a peaceful settlement in Ukraine. Um. So again two very distinct, very different views of what's happening between the US and China when it comes to the Chinese role in Ukraine. And meanwhile, Wangi seeking warmer political relations it seems with the European Union. Uh, well, that is part of a Chinese effort to try to split off the

Europeans from the Americans. Um We've seen that before, say, with China's attempt to try to get the Netherlands to not go along with U S sanctions when it comes to semiconductors. That didn't succeed. We'll see if they have any better luck this time. This is Bloomberg Daybreak Europe, your morning brief on the stories making news from London to Wall Street and beyond. Look for us on your podcast feed every morning, on Apple, Spotify, and anywhere else

you get your podcasts. You can also listen live each morning on London D A B Radio, the Bloomberg Business app, and Bloomberg dot Com. Our flagship New York station is also available on your Amazon Alexa devices. Just Say Alexa played Bloomberg thirty. I'm Caroline Heitka and I'm Stephen Carroll. Join us again tomorrow morning for all the news you need to start your day right here on Bloomberg Daybreak Europe eight