Browse content similar to 18/02/2016. Check below for episodes and series from the same categories and more!
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This is Business Live from BBC News with Ben Thompson and Aaron | :00:00. | :00:07. | |
Reshaping Britain's relationship with the European Union - | :00:08. | :00:16. | |
businesses on tenterhooks as leaders of the world's biggest trading bloc | :00:17. | :00:19. | |
gathering in Brussels to try to hammer out a deal. | :00:20. | :00:21. | |
Live from London, that's our top story on Thursday | :00:22. | :00:23. | |
Trade figures from Japan shows exports falling | :00:24. | :00:49. | |
again, squeezed by China's waning appetite for its goods. | :00:50. | :00:52. | |
Is it yet more evidence that the country's Abenomics | :00:53. | :00:54. | |
And higher education and lower prices. | :00:55. | :01:00. | |
We'll get the inside track on cut-price university courses. | :01:01. | :01:04. | |
As the University of the People delivers online teaching | :01:05. | :01:06. | |
without the heavy cost, we'll find out how it works. | :01:07. | :01:10. | |
And since it's a topic we just can't escape here in the UK - | :01:11. | :01:13. | |
the Business battles over Brexit - so we want to know what do | :01:14. | :01:16. | |
Would British business be better off in or outof the European Union? | :01:17. | :01:22. | |
You can't have failed to notice the clamour and excitement | :01:23. | :01:35. | |
European leaders prepare for a summit today on the future | :01:36. | :01:44. | |
For the UK Prime Minister, David Cameron, that means fighting | :01:45. | :01:49. | |
for changes to the way the region is run. | :01:50. | :01:51. | |
It's a big deal for companies, who all want certainty in a time | :01:52. | :01:54. | |
So amid all this Brexit chatter - what do businesses really think? | :01:55. | :02:01. | |
Those wanting to stay in the EU, claim trade and productivity | :02:02. | :02:04. | |
Then there's growth - French bank Societe Generale says | :02:05. | :02:10. | |
leaving the EU could "reduce British economic growth, | :02:11. | :02:13. | |
And that could hurt the currency, Japanese bank Nomura believes | :02:14. | :02:22. | |
"the pound could fall 10 to 15% if overseas investors | :02:23. | :02:24. | |
The voices that want out of the EU club, such as leading figures | :02:25. | :02:31. | |
in the Commonwealth, have cited immigration | :02:32. | :02:35. | |
as an obstacle, saying they face difficulties employing people | :02:36. | :02:37. | |
And small business groups complain about "EU red tape" and want rules | :02:38. | :02:43. | |
that unfairly impact small business liberalised. | :02:44. | :02:47. | |
Others, like white goods manufacturer Ebac, said the UK | :02:48. | :02:50. | |
needed its own trade policy to strike deals with growing | :02:51. | :02:55. | |
Professor Nigel Driffield, Strategy and International Business | :02:56. | :03:03. | |
at Warwick Business School, joins us from there, | :03:04. | :03:09. | |
and David Buik from market commentator Panmure Gordon | :03:10. | :03:11. | |
Let me start with Nigel. Good to have you. Viewers around the world | :03:12. | :03:24. | |
watching this they perhaps are starting to | :03:25. | :03:24. | |
What is more expensive! Bad news from Japan - exports have fallen for | :03:25. | :10:27. | |
a fourth straight month. The value of country's exports fell by 12.9% | :10:28. | :10:29. | |
in January from a year earlier. Ali Moore is in Singapore for us. I can | :10:30. | :10:36. | |
only imagine with all of the other bad news that Japan has been | :10:37. | :10:42. | |
injuring, they do need this like a hole in the head and policymakers | :10:43. | :10:46. | |
must be struggling to reignite the world's third biggest economy? This | :10:47. | :10:51. | |
is the biggest fall in annual exports since the financial crisis. | :10:52. | :10:55. | |
No surprise that it has been put down to weaker demand from China, | :10:56. | :11:03. | |
one of the key trading partners, exports fell by 17.5%. Another | :11:04. | :11:10. | |
headache for policymakers. On Monday we find out that the economy in | :11:11. | :11:13. | |
Japan is shrinking again. Partly because of a very big demand -- | :11:14. | :11:19. | |
decline in consumption, the central bank pushing interest rates below | :11:20. | :11:27. | |
zero, there are not many tools left, remarkably, investors seem sanguine, | :11:28. | :11:35. | |
the Nikkei closed up by more than 2%. Thank you very much. We can show | :11:36. | :11:52. | |
you those numbers. Tokyo shares closed up more than 2% higher today, | :11:53. | :11:55. | |
bouncing back from losses to extend a global rally fuelled by a surge in | :11:56. | :11:58. | |
oil prices. And Yesterday European markets saw some of their best gains | :11:59. | :12:00. | |
so far this year, as financial stocks and commodity prices soared, | :12:01. | :12:03. | |
led by that gain in crude oil prices. Last night's Fed minutes may | :12:04. | :12:12. | |
well have helped, too - they showed that policymakers are cautious about | :12:13. | :12:14. | |
a deterioration in financial conditions around the world. Another | :12:15. | :12:25. | |
factor weighing on the Fed was the response of Chinese policymakers and | :12:26. | :12:26. | |
what they'll do about slowing growth. Michelle Dewberry has the | :12:27. | :12:32. | |
details of the day ahead on Wall Street. If you had to pick one | :12:33. | :12:36. | |
company whose performance stands as a measure for all of the consumer | :12:37. | :12:39. | |
sector in America you could do worse than Walmart, the world's biggest | :12:40. | :12:43. | |
bricks and mortar chain Alyce annual earnings on Thursday and it is | :12:44. | :12:47. | |
possible they would show the first decline in revenue for 25 years. It | :12:48. | :12:52. | |
is not expected to be by much and the company still rakes in nearly | :12:53. | :12:56. | |
500 billion dollars every year. But the profits are also expected to | :12:57. | :13:03. | |
slip slightly. However, shares have been rising in recent months as | :13:04. | :13:09. | |
investors improve the cost-cutting measures and its attempts to lay | :13:10. | :13:14. | |
claim to online shopping. Also out tomorrow, weekly job figures which, | :13:15. | :13:19. | |
as always, will capture plenty of investor attention. We can stay with | :13:20. | :13:28. | |
the markets. Joining us is Brenda Kelly, Head Analyst at London | :13:29. | :13:32. | |
Capital Group.. And happy birthday. Thank you for coming in on Europe | :13:33. | :13:42. | |
birthday! Bonjour? I am trying to keep the European theme going! We | :13:43. | :13:48. | |
were talking about oil, we thought yesterday that Iran will not listen | :13:49. | :13:55. | |
to that freezing. With all of those agreed freezes. We thought Iran will | :13:56. | :14:01. | |
not do that give us the update, Russia says no? They say they will | :14:02. | :14:08. | |
not necessarily keep it frozen in 2016 so we have record levels of oil | :14:09. | :14:12. | |
being pumped by these countries and freezing them is one thing but | :14:13. | :14:16. | |
ultimately demand is not there and over the next couple of years we | :14:17. | :14:19. | |
will see demand for oil dropping back considerably so with supply | :14:20. | :14:25. | |
still very much front and foremost, it is looking very shaky for oil | :14:26. | :14:32. | |
prices to consider -- maintain. The reason for the jump was the weekly | :14:33. | :14:36. | |
inventory which is lower than expected but that could just be one | :14:37. | :14:40. | |
weekly point that we do not depend on, the real driver is supplied, | :14:41. | :14:44. | |
which is high, although possibly frozen, and demand is weakening and | :14:45. | :14:50. | |
China is one of the biggest slowing down economies and that is one of | :14:51. | :14:54. | |
the reasons behind lower demand. Yesterday, the minutes from the Fed, | :14:55. | :15:01. | |
they give packed on the markets. We can see what is happening already. | :15:02. | :15:06. | |
Yesterday there was a big boost for the US markets and Asian markets | :15:07. | :15:12. | |
from what we heard from the Fed. Yes, the fact that there are | :15:13. | :15:18. | |
different headwinds, not necessarily just domestic, preventing this hike | :15:19. | :15:23. | |
in interest rates. We have seen something of a balanced but we are | :15:24. | :15:26. | |
still in this tightening all Aussie when it comes to the Federal Reserve | :15:27. | :15:30. | |
so any up the news might well make them rollback on what they said at | :15:31. | :15:34. | |
the last meeting. And we could well see interest rate hikes in the next | :15:35. | :15:38. | |
year but the market is not pressing anything. It is pressing a cut from | :15:39. | :15:43. | |
the Federal Reserve, albeit a small probability. That would mean a big | :15:44. | :15:50. | |
change in the picture. He must come back and take us through the papers. | :15:51. | :15:51. | |
Higher education, lower price. We will see you shortly. | :15:52. | :16:04. | |
We meet the firm offering university courses for a fraction of the price | :16:05. | :16:07. | |
And it's aiming for students in the developing world. | :16:08. | :16:10. | |
We look at the rise of online learning - | :16:11. | :16:12. | |
can you really get higher education at rock bottom prices? | :16:13. | :16:15. | |
You're with Business Live from BBC News. | :16:16. | :16:23. | |
There has been a sharp fall in profits at Centrica, | :16:24. | :16:25. | |
But it's a different story for British Gas itself. | :16:26. | :16:33. | |
Our industry correspondent John Moylan has the details. | :16:34. | :16:42. | |
They up, down, can you explain it? British Gas is the residential arm | :16:43. | :16:55. | |
of Centrica and profits soared at ?574 million, the best performance | :16:56. | :17:01. | |
since 2014. The two main reasons the company are stating is that the | :17:02. | :17:05. | |
customers used more gas in 2015. Temperatures at the beginning of | :17:06. | :17:09. | |
2015 were more normal whereas the previous year they had been slightly | :17:10. | :17:13. | |
milder so customers used less gas. The second thing is that the company | :17:14. | :17:18. | |
has to insulate people's homes, the equal scheme the Government insisted | :17:19. | :17:22. | |
on, and the cost of that were less than the previous year. However, I | :17:23. | :17:30. | |
sat down in front of the boss of Centrica, Iain Conn, and put to him | :17:31. | :17:33. | |
that surely this is because the companies have not been passing on | :17:34. | :17:37. | |
the big pitfalls we have seen in gas to customers over the past few | :17:38. | :17:43. | |
years. This is what he had to say. Because we buy some of our gas and | :17:44. | :17:49. | |
head of time, her cost of gas is down 24% -- our cost. People need to | :17:50. | :17:54. | |
remember nearly 60% of the bill is not the actual commodity, and as a | :17:55. | :17:59. | |
result our costs have come down just over 10% and we reduced prices -- | :18:00. | :18:04. | |
reduced prices by 10% last year. Furthermore we made a third | :18:05. | :18:07. | |
production at the end of this year making a total of 14% so we really | :18:08. | :18:10. | |
are trying to pass everything onto the consumer to be as competitive as | :18:11. | :18:20. | |
we can be. Profit up at British Gas but down at the parent company, | :18:21. | :18:22. | |
Centrica, which has been really hit by the falling global oil and gas | :18:23. | :18:25. | |
prices and it also has a lot of pirate stations and the price of | :18:26. | :18:28. | |
power, electricity, has fallen in the UK as well. As always, thanks, | :18:29. | :18:32. | |
our industry correspondent there. The number of UK homes worth more | :18:33. | :18:47. | |
than ?1 million, set to triple by 2030. Look at that. That is just | :18:48. | :18:50. | |
yours? Yeah right! Unbelievable. In or out - we're not talking | :18:51. | :18:56. | |
about the hokey kokey. European leaders are in Brussels | :18:57. | :19:09. | |
to try to agree a deal on key reforms, that will ultimately decide | :19:10. | :19:13. | |
whether Britain stays or leaves Full coverage of that across the BBC | :19:14. | :19:16. | |
today. Now - if you've been | :19:17. | :19:19. | |
to university or college - But many believe such an education | :19:20. | :19:21. | |
should be available for all, And one man has set up the first | :19:22. | :19:28. | |
non-profit, tuition Shai Reshef, founded | :19:29. | :19:34. | |
the University of the People. Its open to students around | :19:35. | :19:41. | |
the world and currently has more than 3000 students | :19:42. | :19:44. | |
from 180 countries. It's not completely free, however - | :19:45. | :19:50. | |
there is a small charge for most students, with a payment of $100 | :19:51. | :19:53. | |
for the exam processing fee. And it's already attracting | :19:54. | :19:57. | |
the high-calibre staff with academics from Harvard, | :19:58. | :19:59. | |
Stanford and Yale. And Unesco estimates | :20:00. | :20:09. | |
that by the year 2025, there will be | :20:10. | :20:11. | |
98 million young people seeking seats in universities that don't | :20:12. | :20:13. | |
physically exist. Shai Reshef, president and founder | :20:14. | :20:15. | |
of University of the People, Shai, great to have you with us in | :20:16. | :20:25. | |
the studio. This is amazing that the first question that comes to your | :20:26. | :20:28. | |
mind looking at the numbers, how do you make money? We don't. It is | :20:29. | :20:34. | |
nonprofit, however we rely on everything free on the Internet, | :20:35. | :20:38. | |
open source technology, open educational resources and | :20:39. | :20:42. | |
volunteers. We have 4000 professors who jumped on board to help achieve | :20:43. | :20:46. | |
our mission and as such we are able to beat tuition free. Moreover, by | :20:47. | :20:50. | |
the end of this year we are sustainable -- be tuition free. You | :20:51. | :20:58. | |
are not for profit, but I mean it must take money to run what you are | :20:59. | :21:04. | |
offering. Yes, as I said, we are going to be sustainable but until | :21:05. | :21:10. | |
that point we are supported by foundations, with many great | :21:11. | :21:14. | |
individuals and corporations standing behind us to make it | :21:15. | :21:18. | |
happen. If I fancied a change of career and came to you and I wanted | :21:19. | :21:22. | |
to study to be an astrophysicist or something... What would it cost me? | :21:23. | :21:28. | |
What would I need to subscribe to, to pay, to join the University? We | :21:29. | :21:33. | |
only offer a business administration... | :21:34. | :21:36. | |
LAUGHTER However, as I said, $100 per exam, | :21:37. | :21:41. | |
$100 a year for the students who study full-time. How does that | :21:42. | :21:48. | |
compare with cost around the world? We know that depending where you | :21:49. | :21:50. | |
study the cost can be very different. Give us sense of how that | :21:51. | :21:56. | |
compares? That is a good question. Compared to the USA, it might be | :21:57. | :22:01. | |
about 1% of the cost, in other countries it varies, and a fraction | :22:02. | :22:05. | |
of the cost here in the UK. In other countries, however, I think the most | :22:06. | :22:08. | |
important thing to say is it is a remission that no one will be left | :22:09. | :22:18. | |
behind for financial reasons and as such we offer scholarships who | :22:19. | :22:20. | |
cannot afford even this amount. Yes, I wanted to ask about that. Speaking | :22:21. | :22:22. | |
about developing countries as well. $1000 is still a lot of money for | :22:23. | :22:26. | |
many people, particularly in developing countries full stop what | :22:27. | :22:29. | |
opportunities do you have four people their? We have scholarships. | :22:30. | :22:33. | |
It is our aim that no student should be left behind for financial reasons | :22:34. | :22:38. | |
and we have scholarships to enable students to go. Right now, I mean, | :22:39. | :22:45. | |
lately we announced 500 scholarships for Syrian refugees. We have | :22:46. | :22:50. | |
scholarships for different genders, nationalities and different cultures | :22:51. | :22:53. | |
who need help and we bring them to study with ours. Tuition free. It is | :22:54. | :22:59. | |
really nice to see. I am sorry time is against us. But good luck with | :23:00. | :23:08. | |
it. An amazing system. Shai, the founder of the University Of The | :23:09. | :23:09. | |
People. Lets take a quick look | :23:10. | :23:13. | |
at the stories making business The Wall Street Journal has | :23:14. | :23:16. | |
"Overproduction Swamps Smaller Chinese Cities, | :23:17. | :23:19. | |
Revealing Depth of Crisis". Above a photo of stored | :23:20. | :23:20. | |
cement mixer bodies, it says that Beijing had hoped that | :23:21. | :23:22. | |
smaller Chinese cities would help drive the expansion of the middle | :23:23. | :23:25. | |
class and sustain economic growth. The New York Times says the battle | :23:26. | :23:29. | |
between Apple and law enforcement officials over unlocking | :23:30. | :23:33. | |
a terrorist's smartphone is the culmination of a turning | :23:34. | :23:34. | |
of the tables between the technology And the Daily Telegraph claims | :23:35. | :23:37. | |
new research shows home sellers lose out on thousands of pounds | :23:38. | :23:41. | |
if properties lack 'kerb appeal'. It says what people need | :23:42. | :23:43. | |
to do is tidy the garden, Brenda Kelly, head analyst | :23:44. | :23:46. | |
at London Capital Group, Where shall we start? Let's start | :23:47. | :24:02. | |
with this amount. China three years prior to a year ago, the use more | :24:03. | :24:06. | |
cement than all of the native state of the 20th century. That is not the | :24:07. | :24:13. | |
case? It is not the case, and certainly the way China has been | :24:14. | :24:17. | |
restructuring its economy it has been trying to reorganise our lot of | :24:18. | :24:21. | |
the rural parts of it and create a more reformed middle-class, building | :24:22. | :24:24. | |
itself from within rather than depending on exports but because of | :24:25. | :24:28. | |
the cheap credit and the fact there has been overproduction domestically | :24:29. | :24:31. | |
it has created a slowdown in growth in China. A very interesting story | :24:32. | :24:37. | |
here based on small city, which is ultimately seeing slower growth at | :24:38. | :24:43. | |
the moment. Did you know that China actually provides 80% of the global | :24:44. | :24:48. | |
supply of shiitake mushrooms? Which I did not know! No! There you go. | :24:49. | :24:56. | |
They are trying to provide growth because there are so many other | :24:57. | :25:01. | |
growers in the sector, and it is producing havoc. The smaller farmers | :25:02. | :25:04. | |
are starting to feel the bite so the global slowdown is starting to get | :25:05. | :25:09. | |
into regular people's lives. Let top national obsession, global | :25:10. | :25:14. | |
obsession. House prices. This statistic. You stand to lose this | :25:15. | :25:23. | |
money if you do not keep up, and if you have a BMW in the drive? Yes, | :25:24. | :25:28. | |
people prefer a mini Cooper or something. They don't like BMWs. I | :25:29. | :25:33. | |
don't know why. There must be some kind of connotation to owning a BMW. | :25:34. | :25:37. | |
You could lose up to 20% of the value of your house if you do not | :25:38. | :25:41. | |
pay the upper around it. That makes sense to an extent but 20% is a huge | :25:42. | :25:46. | |
amount for just one thing that of paint on the door and weeding run | :25:47. | :25:52. | |
the front. But this amounts up to about ?100,000 loss. Wonderful | :25:53. | :25:55. | |
stuff. Happy birthday again. Thank you for coming in. | :25:56. | :25:58. | |
There will be more business news throughout the day on the BBC Live | :25:59. | :26:02. | |
webpage and on World Business Report. | :26:03. | :26:05. |