29/01/2016 BBC Business Live

Hallo everybody. This is business life.

In a surprise move the Japanese central bank takes emergency action

introducing negative interest rates in a bid to stimulate the economy.

Live from London, that is the top story this morning.

Like many other central banks around the world the bank of Japan has been

battling sluggish growth, stubbornly low inflation and some volatile

markets. What will the latest move bring any results? Coming up...

Changes at the top. James Murdoch takes over at sky just four years

after his resignation at the height of the phone hacking scandal and we

show you the markets. China is up, all is up, Tokyo is up... Stay with

us. How much tax should multinational firms pay? It's a

dispute dominating the headlines this week and it's not going away.

Today we want to know if you think enough is being done to make

companies pay what is due. Use the business life hash tag.

What's going on. Welcome to the programme. Let's go to Asia, a

surprise move, the bank of Japan narrowly voting to introduce a

negative interest rate policy. Like many other central banks as I

mentioned, Japan has been struggling with sluggish growth, stubbornly low

inflation and volatile market sentiments. By doing this, what it

means, it will cost of the banks, the commercial and retail banks in

Japan, when they park their money in the central bank, it will charge

them 0.1% to hold that money. The hope is that it will encourage

commercial banks to lend Bor and stimulate investment and

consumption. Of course, all of this in response to global market

turmoil, on the slowdown with to get growth back up and running.

Let's go to our it out there in the economy and get

it working. Indeed, that's definitely the aim, to encourage

people and businesses to start spending money again. It is 0.1%,

that remains to be seen whether it will work other economists are

sceptical. A huge surprise and a huge symbol that the bank of Japan

is dry to boost growth. Because, as you say, Japan's economy which was

recovering quite gradually, has been seeing slowdown recently because of

the Chinese slowdown. It caught the markets off-guard, negate rising by

3% and the Japanese yen falling sharply against the major

currencies. Everybody is getting a bit of a hit from the slowdown by

China. Wide Japan in particular? It seems to be taking a bit of a

hammering? China is a major trading partner for Japan but also, as you

mentioned, Japan has been struggling to beat deflation or falling prices,

that has been the main challenge for the governor over the bank of Japan.

This is a move aimed at beating deflation but as recently as last

week he said he was not going to introduce any more stimulus so this

came as a surprise. It's been dubbed in Japan because he is known to

surprise the market, it's the third time he's done it and markets react

positively, whether or not it will have a real impact on the economy,

that remains to be seen. Good stuff as always, we appreciate that. Talk

to you seen. -- soon. We are joined by Bill Blain, and we will talk

about what this means. Is there any evidence from the European

experiment that negative interest rates work? This is a very good

question to ask. I am afraid they are not working at all. What we have

seen since the double financial crisis in 2008, or a series of

overhasty regulations, new rules on capital, interference with the

invisible hand of the market, markets have become less efficient,

less good at allocating resources but we've also seen zero interest

rates do not stimulate growth. It's very simple to see why. If interest

rates represent something cold the time value of money, you give

someone money and you get something back by lending that, if that amount

is zero tells you that you have no expectations for the future. As a

result, what we have seen in the last eight years of zero interest

rates has been global business, going out and borrowing some for in

the region of $25 trillion from the global bond markets and banks. What

have they done that? Have they invested it in new factories, new

infrastructure, creating jobs? No, they are going to the stock market

and they bought their own start back that pushes their stock up for a

short while and what we now see is the world in serious economic

crisis. Global trade is crashing, Japan throwing yet another kitchen

sink into the equation this morning. The economy is still not reforming,

the important third arrow and this afternoon we will get the US saying

the global growth in the US, GDP, is lower than expected. Just a few

months ago, the US Federal Reserve, the central bank, started to hike

interest rates, telling us all they were confident that global growth

was about to resume in now, it's looking like it's not. That's a

major credibility smashed. As a result, the global markets are

looking very weak, confused and slightly panicky. I think we will

get to the stage for growth comes back but it's difficult to see where

at the moment. Positive note... Thank you. I'm sorry, a bit of a

round. Thank you very much. OK... Let's have a drink! I am joking.

Let's look at all the other stories making headlines. We call costs and

sluggish sales weighing on Honda. The third largest order group in

Japan says its three-month profit to December is down 19% year-on-year

and short of what the experts were looking for. And how about this. I

ran has signed a deal to buy 118 Airbus planes worth $225 billion at

list prices of the biggest deals since western sanctions against

Tehran were lifted. The agreement was signed during a visit by the

Iranian President France and it includes 73 wide and over 40 narrow

body jets. Airbus needs those sales. What have we got? You have the

tablet. I do, Barbie has a brand-new body, apparently. Mattel is making a

bunch of other Barbies with tube body types, Kirby, tall and petite

and she is going to be available in seven skin tones, 22 eye colours...

Seven skin tones? Really? I mean, I am flummoxed as to how you make 22

eye colours. You have brown, blue, green... And 24 hairstyles. There

you go. One more story before we go. Some data out from France today

about economic growth. Growing its fastest in four years according to

official statistics. Would a turnaround after years of

stagnation. -- what a turnaround. Good news for the Eurozone. We are

getting Eurozone inflation numbers. Sheraton Amazon have tumbled in

after hours trading, after the results from the online retail

giant, they disappointed. You can never please Wall Street, can you?

Not unless you give them cheap money. Amazon racked up quarterly

sales of more than $35 billion in the three months to December, up 20%

in the previous year, taking annual sales above 100 million for the

first time but investors had expected more, sending shares down

more than 13%. Say what I did there? I have moved. Let's talk about the

markets, the Chinese markets, closing up for the first time in

more than four days, some suggesting the Chinese sell-off has been

played. The central bank throwing more money into the market ahead of

the public holiday. Or is up $35 a bowl, boosted by possible talks

between Russia and OPEC. Let's look at Europe. Will that play into the

ECB, hinting about more stimulus? If Bill is right, they shouldn't be

doing that, but the Russian interest rate decision, the big number... The

latest gross number from the US, the world's biggest economy, worries

that that is stalling. From the US, let's join Michelle Fleury. In the

week when the US central bank said the economic outlook was teary

rating investors will look to the latest growth figures for evidence

of how sharply at slowing down under, the commerce Department

issued its first let's must fourth-quarter gross domestic

product this Friday. The earnings parade continues. Chevron, the

country's second largest oil producer reporting quarterly

earnings. Profits will likely take a hit from the fall in oil prices and

the strong dollar is also expected to put a bit of a dent into

MasterCard's fourth-quarter profit. Markets will get a chance to react

to results from Amazon and Microsoft. The tech giants reporting

results after the market close on Thursday. James Murdoch, big story

today, becoming one of the most powerful figures in European

television by becoming the chairman of Skype. It is the British

subscription broadcaster. It comes after four years after he resigned

as chairman of what was then known as BSkyB. He quit after news car,

his father Rupert's business failed to push through a takeover of the

broadcaster. Our economics editor joins us. Good morning. We should

forget about Leonardo DiCaprio, the big ribbon and this year is James

Murdoch! Very good. James Murdoch was also Chief Executive of Oxford

makes revenant... A very big move. -- of Fox. When Rupert Murdoch tried

to take another four years ago, sky television in Britain merged with

sky Italia and sky Deutschland, numbers out this morning show

profits are up, the number of subscribers is up across Europe and

Fox is one of the biggest movie makers in the world. James Murdoch

now German of sky, Fox has a 40% stake in sky. It will resurrect the

notion of will Rupert Murdoch owns Fox wants to try and read takeover

sky in its totality? Nothing imminent. That is a very expensive

move. What we are getting is a reflection of the big double media

players wanting to consolidate and have a real world presence, movies,

television, of course, part of river border's Empire includes newspapers,

the Wall Street Journal in America, the Times and the Sun newspaper in

Britain and I think it's about consolidating. James Murdoch

certainly has resurrected his position in Britain and European

television which did crash and burn to an extent over the phone hacking

scandal in Britain. He resigned, not only as chairman of sky but also as

news International Bridge on the newspapers that were embroiled in

the scandal. I am really sorry but we will have to leave it there. Can

I talk to you later? Good on you. Thank you. Still to come. How much

tax should multinational firms pay? It's in dispute and has dominated

the headlines this week and isn't going away any time soon. You are

with business live from BBC News. I like this... It's the famous four

by four, a symbol of British carmaking. It certainly is. Today,

after 68 years, the final Land Rover defender will be rolled off the

production line. Ben Thompson has been assembling quite a line-up.

That's right, an historic day today, the last Land Rover defender rolling

off the production line in Birmingham. This is one of the first

built in 1950 and one of the 2 million or so and have been built

since then. Today marks a milestone in the history of the company. But a

lot of questions about why they feel the need to end production of the

defender given its popularity. Steve is with me. Good morning. Why are

the ending production when it has a loyal following and dedicated fans?

A number of reasons, it's a brilliant design, perfect for what

it needs to do but time has caught up at that. Emissions problems, it

could be re-engineered but that's expensive, it's expensive to build

on an old production line and there are safety issues, it doesn't have

the latest safety so it can be sold on the markets like the US. We say

it's the end of the road but we are expecting another incarnation in the

future? Like every great soap opera, the character will be re-born, we

will see a new defender and new family of defenders. Thank you. We

say it's iconic and an important part of the people who are fans of

that so I've been joined by loyal fans of the defender and they will

give me a quick sense of why it's important. In one word, what does it

mean? Useful. Utilitarian. Adventurous. Different. Timeless.

Lifestyle. Versatile. Legendary. Historic. Part of the family.

Dependable. The view of the Land Rover defender. Marking an important

milestone, the last one off the production line. But from all the

guys here, it is by no means the end of the road.

Just want to show you this. A little comment but we've heard from sky

about this story. The current chairman says he's been in the role

since Mr Murdoch stood down and is delighted by the appointment. His

deep knowledge of the media will make an even greater contribution.

Obviously they are delighted by the prodigal son returning. They are

indeed. He is back. The top story, the bank of Japan has slashed

interest rates. It is a move that has shocked the markets. Let's get

the inside track. How much tax should multinational firms paid?

We've heard about this dispute and it keeps rearing its head. It does

not look like it is going away at all. The tax authorities struck a

deal with Google. George Osborne described the agreement as a victory

but John McDonnell said the sums were trivial. Meanwhile, 31 OECD

countries agreed new rules aimed that tax avoidance. It aims to stop

playing national authorities off against each other. The EU are

targeting aggressive tax planning. Among the proposal is a plan to

share more information across multiple countries. With us now is

our economics correspondent. Shall I go? We need you! Thank you for

coming in. We threw a question out, how much should corporations be

expected to pay? This person says his company pays corporation tax and

those operating in the UK should do so as well and any argument

otherwise is baseless. What do you think about that? The general

principle is the idea that company tax should be paid in the country

where the value added is generated. The kind of things they have been

worried about our accounting devices, extra companies that have

no purpose other than to shift the prop it is -- shift the profits.

Much of the kind of thing, those things we are reporting about, the

EU proposals, the underlying idea is to make it easier to pin down with

economic activity really takes place. I want to move on, you have

done this so many times, I am bored of tax. I want to talk about

Azerbaijan. We have talked about the consequences to the oil-producing

countries, Azerbaijan, 95% of the money it rakes in comes from oil and

gas. This is a serious situation for

these guys. It is not the biggest player in the oil market but will it

does stand out is it is the first to get a visit from the IMF and the

World Bank where they are talking about possible assistance.

Has just arrived in the capital and what we've seen is a dramatic

deterioration in the government's finances because of this drop in the

oil price. It is a quarter of what it was at its peak. We have been

reporting things like the Saudi Arabian budgets being changed

dramatically. There are growing concerns that some might do. They

already have capital controls in place. They have been taking steps

to sort the problem out. One of the striking lessons we learned in the

course of the financial crisis is how quickly, if you get an external

shock of some kind, the position can deteriorate. We saw that with

Ireland and Spain. We are seeing the same thing happen with suppliers,

things have changed dramatically. Thank you so much. In a moment we

will take you through the business pages but first, here is a reminder

of how to get in touch with us. You can stay ahead with all the day's

breaking news. You can keep up-to-date with all the latest

details. We want to hear from you. Get involved on the BBC business

live web page. You can find us on Facebook.

We are going to talk through some of the... We need to talk about Brazil,

the worst recession there for almost a century. They are looking at

lifelines for the state-run banks. It is a relatively small gesture,

maybe in exchange for a political deal for the president who is

obviously trying to avoid impeachment. It is desperately

needed by the economy but you've got to question what is going on. Some

people think you should spend your way out of a crisis and others that

you should save. It seems like Brazil is trying to do both at the

same time. It seems like you send conflicting signals and businesses

do not know whether to take those risks or not. I'm not sure how much

time we have left... Actually, we've got three minutes. We spoke about

Azerbaijan, we often talk about Russia. But here is a perfect

example of when that cheap money that flooded in, all the

commodities, it is hard to see light at the end of the tunnel. It is. Was

only to undertake some pretty serious reforms, there is the

question of corruption, those investigations going on at the same

time, it is hard to see life getting easier for them. Shall we talk about

Mark Zuckerberg? We share a birthday. We were born on the same

day. However, I am not the sixth richest person in the world, which

is the story here. To be honest, it is everywhere. Mark Zuckerberg

making a lot of money during his maternity leave. He's done a lot

better than I did, I just came back to a lot of e-mails. Does it say how

much he made? An extraordinary amount of money, the value of the

shares has gone through the roof. That mobile advertising platform is

really engaging and consumers are starting to use it. It is actually

quite a difficult period for Facebook and is starting to pay off.

We had a lot of naysayers, people saying that Facebook needs to learn

how to monetise things. It is raking it in. It is beginning to happen.

You're seeing that from competitors trying to roll out a similar

platform. It is sucking a lot of advertising money away from other

organisations. Have we got time for the other one? When the Facebook

stock spiked we had Mark Zuckerberg is getting an extra $5.5 billion

from that news. Here we are sweating it out on this show. We were going

to talk but we will focus on it next week. The possible torque between

Russia and Opec. That is it from business live. Plenty more business

news throughout the day. See you next week. Blustery day today for

many of us, storm Gertrude will sweep across the