21/11/2011 World Business Report

Al-Qaeda sympathiser. You are with World Business Report.

Here are the headlines: 1.2 trillion reasons to be worried. The

West sued the committee failed to agree on a buzzard -- budget terms.

Six regions to be cheerful. The way was cleared for urgent economic

reforms and Spain. Not so cheerful and Asia. Exporters are starting to

be effective in the region. Have -- affected.

US politicians looks set to admit failure to agree on 1.2 trillion

dollars worth of essential budget cuts. In recent weeks the US has

called on European counterparts to act swiftly to end the eurozone

debt crisis. They now face a crisis of their own. The US has a budget

debt of 15 trillion dollars. It is 99% of its national wealth.

The US Senate's chaplain tried to summon divine help. The 12 member

panel has just a few days to come up with 1.2 trillion dollars worth

of cuts. Guide the super committee in its challenging work. But it

might just take a miracle to allow the divided lawmakers to agree. The

Democrats wanted balance of taxes and government cuts. The opposition

Republicans have refused to give much on taxes. They faced a similar

to -- their lock in July. That political gamesmanship has really

hurt businesses. It could happen again. How politicians are not

doing what they were elected to do. It is turning into nothing. I feel

that heads consumer confidence. It has hurt businesses. Those sales

are not coming in. It is not just a hit to consumer and business

confidence. Some say the US is treading a dangerous path. If we do

not do something we are heading down a road that could lead to a

crisis situation. A really terrible sovereign debt crisis. We do not

have ten years. It could occur next month. So far the markets have not

punished America for their fiscal problems as they had in Europe.

With another political failure so close there is some point where the

markets will lose patience. We will stop being part of the

problem and become part of the solution, those are the words from

Spain's new Prime Minister let. He warned there would be no miracles

ahead as the country came to grips with its huge debts. There are

signs of optimism on the market. We will now get some perspective on

this result. It was a result we for all expecting. Tell us a bit more

about this man in charge? market has been looking for this

sort of assault. It is in line with market expectations. The party has

been responsible in the past for helping to reduce budget deficits

during the time of the march of the euro. This has become mass of the

more complex. He would seem to be the right sort of pro-European

after within the context of the widespread political change that we

need. Tell us about Spain and the challenges he faces. There is a

terrible statistic that Spain about the young people, 40% of them out

of jobs. Youth unemployment is significantly higher. The question

in Spain is competitiveness. There is the need to reduce the budget

deficit. The current trend is quite bad. It is significantly better

than its European neighbours. 70% to GDP. Compare that to Greece

which is 140 %. The markets are not reacting to the overall debt to GDP

levels, the other in that the problems that Spain has with

unemployment, competitiveness, the banking system. Other areas where

it has been going to have a very difficult time getting its credit.

Thank you for coming in. We will be keeping an eye on how the new Prime

Minister takes the helm. Time to go to Asia. We are on to the bad news.

The region's second largest economy has not particularly healthy trade.

Tell us more about Japan? Exports from there are forming --

performing worse than expected. Down 4%. This is the first fall in

three months. That is worrying analysts. Just last month we got

strong figures from Japan. People thought that things were going back

to normal. The debt crisis in Europe is starting to affect demand

for products in Japan. We also heard from authorities in Singapore

revised their growth forecast to just a few %. The economy here grew

more than 15% last year. It was expected to grow more than 5% this

year as well. Indonesia and Thailand are also revising down

their gross figures. It seems like economic problems in Europe are

starting to affect Asia. understand the yen has gotten

stronger as the result of this news? That is right. Exports have

fallen because of this news. In the currency markets the yen has been

strengthening. The move has been quite limited because traders have

been quite cautious about potential intervention by the government.

Authorities have intervened three times this year. Most recently at

the end of October. That is why the news has been quite limited. But

the new -- yen has been run at -- Stephanie. Time for some corporate

news. Hewlett-Packard has -- is going to rip reveal its earnings

later on. Its stock market has plunged more than a quarter in the

last few months. Its third chief executive in 15 months is having

some success in turning around to. The company was started in a small

garage in 1939. Walt Disney was an early customer. The disarray and up

he'll be in the boardroom since last year would not have the look

out of place in a car up to. -- cartoon. Meg Whitman believes there

is still money in making PCs despite slim profit margins in a

sector that is very competitive. The shareholders need reassurance

and there will not be distracted from the profitable business of

manufacturing services. Another key challenge for her leadership will

be encouraging innovation. The very essence is very important to the

company. That is innovation through internal research and development.

She needs to restore that. Page p at its most successful has done a

lot from within it rather than shopping innovations. A successful

innovation as executive of it eBay has shown that she has

understanding of this. Her decision to ensure that Hewlett-Packard

remains a builder of computers has reassured investors. But it is a

very competitive industry. The real challenge for HP and the board is