Bloomberg News Asia

Alibaba’s bringing its teeming Taobao internet marketplace to Singapore. Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. and Lazada Group SA are teaming up to sell select Taobao products direct to shoppers in the affluent island-state, striking their first partnership since the Chinese company took control of Southeast Asia’s largest e-commerce operator a year ago. Lazada is launching a dedicated website that links directly to Alibaba’s largest shopping platform, said Alexis Lanternier, chief executive officer of Lazada Singapore. To start with, the new site will add 400,000 Taobao products that aren’t available now to an existing lineup of about 5 million products, he said. It’s another small step abroad for Alibaba, which has ambitions to expand beyond a slowing Chinese home market. The company and Lazada are now preparing to deepen their operations in the fast-growing region, anticipating Amazon.com Inc.’s entry in 2017. The Southeast Asian company has been expanding its delivery network and exploring n...

Asian equities futures pointed toward losses after U.S. stocks fell the most since Donald Trump’s election as reflation trades that bolstered the dollar and Treasury yields faltered. Futures on benchmark gauges in Japan, Australia and Hong Kong indicated declines of at least 0.8 percent when trading begins. The S&P 500 Index sank more than 1 percent for the first time since Oct. 11, with the selloff deepening in the final 30 minutes of trading after Reuters reported North Korea would pursue an acceleration in its nuclear program. Treasury yields tumbled and the dollar slumped for a fifth straight day. Oil retreated and gold held gains. Financial shares sank and volatility soared amid the biggest drop for U.S. stocks since the November election as concern grew that pro-growth policies won’t sail through Congress. Trump met with House Republicans Tuesday morning to rally support for the repeal of Obamacare as investors look for signs that his plans to cut corporate taxes and boos...

China’s bankers and corporate leaders are more confident in the economy than any time since 2014, a central bank survey shows. A gauge of banker confidence in the economy rose to 64.9 in the first three months of this year, according to the quarterly People’s Bank of China survey of about 3,200 banks and 5,000 enterprises nationwide. That was the highest reading in three years. Confidence among entrepreneurs climbed to 61.5, a two-and-a-half year high. Anything above 50 suggests respondents are optimistic. The good vibes come after the economy accelerated in the fourth quarter of last year as a credit-fueled rally in smokestack industries gained momentum. Outstanding credit at year-end was equal to about 258 percent of gross domestic product, up from 160 percent in 2008, Bloomberg Intelligence estimates. The stronger economic performance is giving policy makers more maneuvering room as they try to rein in leverage and bubbles without derailing growth. In a third survey tracking u...

Mason Baxter says it is to begin offering bursaries to underprivileged students as part of a revamped corporate responsibility program. SHANGHAI -- Mason Baxter announces that, as part of an update to its corporate social responsibility program in 2017, it will begin making a number of bursaries available to underprivileged and disadvantaged students who are attending or planning to attend universities in Shanghai . The Shanghai, China -based broker-dealer adds that, as an expansion on the plan, it will offer internships and, possibly, full-time, permanent employment to students demonstrating exemplary performance in their studies. Mason Baxter's Corporate Social Responsibility Manager, says he regards the company's corporate social responsibility program as an extremely important investment. "There's little doubt that the investment management and financial services industry can be highly lucrative. It generates wealth, contribut...

BEIJING -- There is no doubt that the world's second-largest economy is stabilizing -- the most recent data confirms this, but the same data shows the economy is heavily reliant on government policy. The data, released by China's National Bureau of Statistics, reflects a resilient economy. Industrial production rose 6.3% during January and February combined, while fixed asset investment surged 8.9%. Growth in both sectors came in higher than market expectations as polled by Thomson Reuters, which foresaw a 6.2% increase in industrial production and an 8.2% lift in fixed asset investment. The data suggests policymakers are committed to achieving this year's growth target of "around 6.5% or higher," as announced earlier this month by Premier Le Keqiang during the opening session of the National People's Congress. The government has more or less set the target below last year's 6.7% growth as it pushes ahead with difficult economic reforms. ...

As disillusion sets in among U.S. Treasury traders about the Trump administration’s mixed progress on reflating the American economy, one major beneficiary is becoming apparent: emerging Asia. The world’s fastest-growing region offers higher yields and stronger domestic growth stories that are already attracting a renewed influx of capital, with yield premiums on junk-rated bonds hovering near the three and a half year-low reached last month. Herald Van Der Linde, HSBC Holdings Plc’s head of equity strategy for the Asia-Pacific region, said shares in China, India and Indonesia could see gains of at least 10 percent this year should a “reality check” set in among investors over U.S. President Donald Trump’s policies. In the U.S., benchmark 10-year Treasury yields have been whipsawed this week, slipping to 2.34 percent on Wednesday, only to rebound last session to 2.40 percent as Trump promised a “phenomenal” plan to overhaul business taxes. Treasuries were boosted earlier in the wee...

Many technology startups, especially the best and brightest, are avoiding an IPO like a trip to the dentist. Prominent young companies like Uber Technologies Inc. keep finding rich investors to help them delay a debut on the public markets. Among tech companies that sold public stock for the first time in 2016, the median time from their founding to an IPO was 10 years, according to research by University of Florida professor Jay Ritter. During the dot-com peak in 1999, it was four years. And then there's Snapchat parent company Snap Inc., the Bizarro World tech startup when it comes to IPO timing. If Snapchat goes public in the next couple of months as expected, it will be about six years from its founding. It's a Silicon Valley mystery why Snapchat is bucking the trend and going public before it has to. In addition to the peer pressure of IPO avoidance, going public also seems out of character for a company that revels in secrecy. If Snapchat needs more money to expand, it co...