PODCAST · business
Asia Centric by Bloomberg Intelligence
by Bloomberg
Some of the world's largest and fastest-growing markets, economies and companies are in Asia. Every Thursday, John Lee from Bloomberg Intelligence speaks with experts and newsmakers about the big ideas and trends moving money across the region.
Episodes
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The Contrarian Edge in Pan-Asian Equities
In a region where hot themes such as the AI trade dominate the headlines and investors rapidly rotate through markets, playing the contrarian can offer a distinct edge. Steering clear of the hype is uncovering unique opportunities – from South Korean preferred stocks to high-yielding defensive...
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Inside Quantedge's 49% Surge and 20-Year Run
Surviving the cutthroat world of hedge funds is notoriously difficult, with firms facing an average lifespan of just five years. Yet Singapore-based systematic quantitative fund Quantedge has defied those odds, recently celebrating its 20th anniversary and growing its assets under management from...
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Goldman Pushes Back on ‘Short-AI’ India Narrative
While global equities have surged on the AI boom, India's stock markets have languished. With concerns that the nation's large IT services sector is vulnerable to automation and job losses, critics have increasingly labeled India an "anti-AI" or "short-AI" trade. Santanu Sengupta, chief India...
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Private Wealth Boom Defies China's Capital Curbs
Asia's private wealth industry continues to flourish. A Bloomberg Intelligence survey of 100 senior private bankers reveals widespread optimism for double-digit net new money growth, supported by mainland investors seeking diversification and emerging wealth from Southeast Asia and the Middle…
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Why Investors Are Mispricing China in a G2 World
The global economy is structurally shifting from G7 dominance toward a G2 dynamic led by the US and China, yet international investors continue to shun Chinese risk assets. Even as China dominates global manufacturing output and expands its trade surplus toward $1.2 trillion, global capital…
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Japan's Activism Boom Shifts to Small Caps
Shareholder activism is surging in Japan, with 120 campaigns launched in the first half of the year, making the country the second most active market globally after the US. With a record number of companies going private and M&A takeover battles on the rise, activist investors are increasingly...
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Cheap North Asian Currencies Reach Turning Point
North Asian currencies – including the Japanese yen, South Korean won, Taiwan dollar and Chinese yuan – are trading at some of their deepest discounts on record, dropping up to 56% below purchasing power parity. These depressed valuations persist despite strong macro fundamentals, backed by…
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Europe Needs €14 Trillion to Catch US, China
After decades of lagging behind the US and China in economic growth and innovation, Europe faces a stark reality: the era of cheap Russian energy, low-cost Chinese goods and US-backed security is over. Achieving strategic self-sufficiency will cost an estimated €14 trillion through 2035…
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China's AI Firms Locked in Race to the Bottom
While US tech giants such as Anthropic and OpenAI are monetizing at an unprecedented scale, Chinese developers are struggling to turn their technical progress into revenue growth. Despite narrowing the performance gap with US frontier models to just 5%, they face a domestic market flooded with...
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Navigating US Treasury Selloff and Yen Intervention
Global fixed income markets are facing fresh turbulence as 30-year US Treasury yields spike to 5.2% – their highest level since before the global financial crisis – amid policy uncertainty under Fed Chairman Kevin Warsh. At the same time, FX markets are on high alert following coordinated...
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Can CXMT and Kimi K3 Break the Memory Supercycle?
Memory chips have been the standout trade of the AI boom, but July brought a sharp reality check. Global semiconductor stocks whipsawed as investors began questioning the return on hundreds of billions in data-center spending. Market jitters deepened after Chinese startup Moonshot released its...
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Rise of the $300 Billion Prediction Market
Prediction markets are rapidly emerging as one of the fastest-growing asset classes in global finance. Driven by market leaders such as Kalshi and Polymarket, annual trading volume on real-world outcomes — from political elections to major sporting events — is projected to surge to $300 billion...
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Peak Hormuz and the New Oil Order
The disruption in the Strait of Hormuz upended global energy markets, but the feared catastrophic oil shock never materialized. Prior to the Middle East conflict, about 20 million barrels of oil and products flowed through the maritime chokepoint every day. Due to regional bypass pipelines,...
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China's Shoppers Still Buy Luxury, But Selectively
Chinese consumer sentiment isn't collapsing across the board, but retail sales growth is projected to hit a four-year low. While big-ticket categories like home appliances and autos crumble under subsidy fatigue, highly resilient segments are holding ground, particularly cosmetics, luxury, and...
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How AI and Energy Security Fuel a New Supercycle
A massive convergence of artificial intelligence, energy and security is sparking what is likely to be the largest and longest energy investment cycle in history, according to Morgan Stanley. Driven by the demands of AI data centers and a strategic shift from "just-in-time" cost efficiency to...
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Why Global Capital Is Pouring Into Japan Stocks
What's driving Japan's historic bull market? And why are global investors finally returning to Tokyo after years on the sidelines? According to Goldman Sachs, it’s a rare convergence of factors including the global AI trade, inflation, corporate governance reform and an evolving macroeconomic...
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How Leverage ETFs Are Shaking Up Asian Markets
The rise of single-stock ETFs, especially CSOP's 2x leveraged SK Hynix ETF listed in Hong Kong, is reshaping market dynamics. The daily rebalancing of these massive funds is contributing to higher volatility in equity markets, creating new challenges for investors. At the same time, high...
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China’s Rise as the World’s First Electrostate
China is rewriting the global energy playbook, rapidly transforming into a clean energy powerhouse and emerging as the world's first "electrostate". While the Iran war has rattled global commodity markets, Beijing has successfully absorbed the shock due to a decade-long pivot toward domestic...
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Is China's Property Market Finally Recovering?
China's property market is showing signs of life after a five-year slump, prompting some analysts to call for a long-awaited rebound. Price declines for newly built homes are narrowing, while transaction volumes are finally ticking up, particularly in top-tier cities. But is this a significant...
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AI to Make Australia the Lucky Country Once Again
Australia is emerging as a surprising beneficiary of new technological shifts, even as the country faces a growth hit from the Middle East war. Rapidly accelerating data construction is driving an unprecedented demand for copper, while battery solutions are fueling a massive consumption of…
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Korea's AI Boom and the Rise of Leveraged Trading
South Korea remains the world's hottest stock market, surging more than 250% over the past 18 months led by semiconductor giants Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix, which together account for over half of the entire Kospi index. Fueled by the global AI infrastructure buildout, retail investors have...
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BlackRock on Crypto, Tokenization and Future ETFs
Exchange-traded funds are fundamentally reshaping how capital is allocated, skyrocketing to a $22 trillion global industry that Bloomberg Intelligence estimates will surpass $50 trillion by 2035. Investors no longer view them simply as vehicles for broad passive exposure. Instead, ETFs have…
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A Veteran's Warning on Asia's Private Credit Risks
The post-pandemic era transformed private credit into one of the hottest areas in finance as investors chased double-digit returns, creating a multi-trillion-dollar industry. Now, the narrative is quickly shifting as default rates climb, high-profile bankruptcies expose hidden leverage, and some...
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Beijing Auto Show Heralds a Brutal EV War
The war in Iran and high oil prices are driving a surge in demand for China's electric vehicles abroad, with sales in March jumping more than 50% in countries such as Australia, Brazil and Germany. However, the domestic market paints a bleaker picture. Total domestic auto sales slumped 17% in the...
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Asia's Tech Giants Are Now Challenging the Mag 7
Earnings season is officially underway and Asia's technology giants are setting the early pace. TSMC, Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix have all delivered strong numbers, prompting analysts to significantly raise earnings expectations for South Korea and Taiwan – two of the world's best-performing...
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Singapore Bets Big on AI, Equity Market Reforms
Singapore's stability and business-friendly environment have long made it the regional hub of choice for tech giants such as Amazon, Google and ByteDance. However, the city-state's traditional role as a bridge between East and West is under pressure. Rising protectionism, technological decoupling...
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An Activist Investor’s Playbook for Southeast Asia
Corporate governance reform has acted as a major catalyst for stock markets in Japan and South Korea. Now, Southeast Asia is eager to get in on the action, with countries from Vietnam to Indonesia rolling out new measures to entice foreign capital back to the region. But is Southeast Asia – a...
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How TSMC Powered Taiwan's Remarkable GDP Growth
Taiwan's economy defied all expectations to post a staggering 8.7% real GDP growth in 2025. This unprecedented expansion was driven by a boom in semiconductor sales, with Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. (TSMC) fueling a current account surplus of nearly 20% of GDP. The tech giant is so...
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Iran War Drives New Global Urgency for Rare Earths
The Iran war is refocusing global attention on the critical supply chains that power modern military arsenals. Rare earths are essential components in advanced weaponry, from fighter jets to interceptor missiles such as THAAD and Patriot. However, with Chinese export restrictions increasingly...
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Energy Threats Expose Korea and Taiwan Chip Hubs
Manufacturing the world's most advanced semiconductors demands a massive, uninterrupted supply of electricity. In Taiwan, the technology sector alone accounts for a staggering one-quarter of the economy's total power consumption. However, the war in the Middle East is exposing deep…
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Central Banks Face a $100 Oil Dilemma
The Iran war and the effective closure of the Strait of Hormuz have triggered one of the largest energy supply shocks in modern history, sending Brent crude surging past $100 a barrel. With nearly 80% of the trapped crude and LNG destined for Asia, the region is exceptionally vulnerable to these...
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Can China Pivot to Consumption-Led Growth?
China has long relied on massive infrastructure spending and an unstoppable export engine, leading to a record $1.2 trillion trade surplus last year. However, this investment-heavy strategy is testing its limits as global trading partners increasingly push back, making Beijing's transition toward…
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Fixed Income Enters A Golden Age, Says BlackRock
Opportunities in fixed income are the best in over a decade, according to BlackRock. Investors can now build a 6% yielding portfolio without taking on the substantial credit or long-duration risks required in the past. Meanwhile, central bank policies have become desynchronized globally, creating…
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Geopolitical Risks Are Sinking The Dollar Again
The US dollar is under pressure again as shifting geopolitical risks – from uncertain tariff policies to the Greenland controversy – drive a renewed case for currency diversification and weigh heavily on the greenback. This is being compounded by a widening global policy rift: the Federal Reserve...
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Hong Kong's Property Market Roars Back to Life
After hitting a nine-year low in early 2025, Hong Kong's residential property market is showing concrete signs of a turnaround. Home prices have rebounded 9% from their recent trough, fueled by the removal of all property cooling measures and a surge in transaction volumes. Even the commercial...
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How AI Created an Unprecedented Memory Chip Crisis
A surprising new bottleneck has emerged in the global AI infrastructure build-out: memory chips. Major manufacturers including SK Hynix, Micron and Samsung Electronics have effectively run out of capacity, sparking a scramble among customers to secure supply. Contract prices for certain DRAM…
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Is the Global Defense Supercycle Sustainable?
Global military budgets are surging at a pace unseen since the Cold War, fueling a defense-spending supercycle. NATO allies are aiming to spend up to 5% of GDP on defense by 2035, while Asian powers such as Japan and South Korea are also boosting spending. This environment has been a boon for...
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Decoding the Multi-Billion Dollar Humanoid Market
Humanoid robots have become one of the hottest investment themes, with a basket of Asian-related stocks rising more than 70% over the past year. The technology stole the show at CES 2026 with eye-opening demos from Boston Dynamics and Unitree, while expectations for Tesla's Optimus are increasing...
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Gen Z, Women and Rural India Drive Trading Boom
India's stock market has seen an explosion in retail participation, skyrocketing to more than 125 million registered investors from 20 million pre-pandemic. While 70% of these new investors are under 30, the boom is broad based: female participation has surged to nearly a quarter of the market…
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Does the World Need Another Multi-Strategy Fund?
Launching a multi-strategy hedge fund has never been tougher. Giants such as Millennium, Point72 and Citadel dominate the space, while spiraling pay and a fierce "war for talent" have pushed entry barriers higher than ever. So why leave a top role at one of the world’s biggest funds to start a...
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Goldman Tips Asia To Outpace The US Again In 2026
Geopolitical risk is often seen as a market threat, yet the rivalry between Washington and Beijing is driving a wave of investment opportunities. The US push for re-industrialization is boosting demand for Asian exports in sectors such as shipbuilding, power generation and semiconductors while...
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SoftBank's AI Gamble – Bold Vision or Risky Bet?
SoftBank is doubling down on artificial intelligence with a $30 billion commitment to OpenAI and ambitious plans for Stargate – even as risks mount. After a 200% surge earlier this year, shares tumbled 40% in November when Google’s Gemini 3.0 gained traction, threatening ChatGPT’s dominant…
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2026 Lookahead for Stocks, Bonds and Currencies
It’s time to look ahead and make bold predictions for Asia in 2026. After a standout year, Asian equities are on track to beat the S&P 500 by the widest margin in eight years. Can the rally continue, and which markets will lead? Are investors overlooking US funding stress, potential QE, and the...
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Hong Kong Defies Global IPO Slump
Regulators around the world, from the US to Singapore and Australia, are trying to revive initial public offerings. The London Stock Exchange raised less than $2 billion since the beginning of 2024, its worst drought since 1998, while the number of publicly listed companies in the US has halved...
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Takaichi's Growth Agenda Collides With BOJ Policy
Inflation has returned to Japan after decades of near-zero price growth, with consumer prices rising close to 3% – the fastest since the 1980s. The cost-of-living squeeze, driven by food prices, helped topple the previous administration and propel Sanae Takaichi to power as Japan's first female...
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Can Korea's World-Beating Bull Market Continue?
South Korea's Kospi Index has surged about 70% this year, driven by AI-linked tech stocks such as Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix. Retail investors, who poured more than $100 billion into US equities since the pandemic, are now turning their attention homeward. President Lee Jae Myung's…
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China's Pragmatic AI Strategy vs US Spending Surge
China's AI rollout diverges sharply from the US, favoring open-source models and broad adoption over high-cost infrastructure. China's top tech firms including Tencent, Baidu and Alibaba will invest less than 10% of the $370 billion that US hyperscalers plan to spend on AI capex this year. This...
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Inside the High-Stakes World of Commodity Trading
Some of the world’s largest companies by revenue – such as Vitol, Trafigura, and Cargill – operate outside the public eye, trading oil, metals and grains at scale. These private firms have quietly become central to global supply chains, recording substantial profits since 2022 as wars and…
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Goldman on Aging’s Upside and Why 70 Is the New 53
The world's demographic shift is often framed as a looming crisis, but new data suggests a more nuanced outlook. Hong Kong leads the longevity frontier with an average life expectancy of 86 years, having steadily increased by 0.25 years annually for over 150 years. Meanwhile, a landmark IMF study...
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Special Live Recording With Apollo's Michelini
In this live episode, recorded at Bloomberg's Investment Management Summit in Singapore, we sit down with Matthew Michelini, head of Asia-Pacific business for Apollo Global Management. We explore his optimism about Japan, driven by its corporate governance reform and the vast $7.5 trillion in...
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ABOUT THIS SHOW
Some of the world's largest and fastest-growing markets, economies and companies are in Asia. Every Thursday, John Lee from Bloomberg Intelligence speaks with experts and newsmakers about the big ideas and trends moving money across the region.
HOSTED BY
Bloomberg
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Asia Centric by Bloomberg Intelligence currently has 153 episodes available on PodParley. New episodes are automatically indexed when they're published to the podcast feed.
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Some of the world's largest and fastest-growing markets, economies and companies are in Asia. Every Thursday, John Lee from Bloomberg Intelligence speaks with experts and newsmakers about the big ideas and trends moving money across the region.
How often does Asia Centric by Bloomberg Intelligence release new episodes?
Asia Centric by Bloomberg Intelligence publishes regularly with 153 episodes available. Check the episode list for the typical release schedule.
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Asia Centric by Bloomberg Intelligence is created and hosted by Bloomberg.
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