19/04/2012 World Business Report


19/04/2012

Similar Content

Browse content similar to 19/04/2012. Check below for episodes and series from the same categories and more!

Transcript


LineFromTo

in the fight against terrorism. Now it is time for World Business

:00:05.:00:15.
:00:15.:00:19.

Report. Hello, and a very warm welcome. The

:00:20.:00:23.

headlines: It market nerves ahead of a ten-year bond auction in Spain,

:00:23.:00:27.

seen as a vital test of investor confidence.

:00:27.:00:32.

And here in Asia, a sharp rebound in Japan's exports, thanks to a

:00:32.:00:36.

surge in car shipments. Plus, the numbers keep getting

:00:36.:00:40.

worse for Nokia, as it is left further behind by the smartphone

:00:40.:00:50.
:00:50.:00:50.

boom. Good to have the reverse. Will

:00:50.:00:55.

Spain become the next eurozone country to be forced into and the

:00:55.:00:59.

EU-IMF bail out? For some, the question is not if, but when.

:00:59.:01:03.

Increasing market nerves about Spain's ability to control its

:01:03.:01:06.

finances amid a worsening economy pushed the country's ten-year

:01:06.:01:11.

borrowing costs about 6% this week, approaching the levels that forced

:01:11.:01:17.

Portugal, Greece and Ireland to seek aid.... Some of it in ten-year

:01:17.:01:21.

bonds which are seen as a key test of investor confidence. To tell us

:01:21.:01:28.

how this is likely to go, I enjoyed by Bill blame. Today is quite

:01:28.:01:32.

critical, isn't it? In terms of measuring the sentiment about

:01:32.:01:37.

Spain? Today's auction is fairly small for Spain, but I think it

:01:37.:01:40.

will give us a good indication of what is going to happen long time.

:01:40.:01:45.

I am afraid that if this goes on and on and on, the problem for

:01:45.:01:48.

Spain will be the banks. The banks have invested so much in the

:01:48.:01:53.

property bubble, and they need to be recapitalised. For Spain to

:01:53.:01:57.

recapitalis recapitalis need to find more money, which I suspect,

:01:57.:02:01.

long-term, means they go to the drone mac bail out fund for that.

:02:01.:02:07.

But the trigger for that could be knocked down the road. Some are

:02:07.:02:11.

saying that Spain might not necessarily need a bail out in the

:02:11.:02:14.

terms of Greece, Ireland, Portugal in the near future, but they may do

:02:14.:02:18.

something to rescue the Spanish banks? Absolutely, I think that is

:02:18.:02:23.

the most likely thing. If Spain does resort to the bail out fund,

:02:23.:02:26.

it would be something specifically linked to the banks which would

:02:26.:02:30.

give the illusion that there is nothing wrong with Spain itself.

:02:30.:02:33.

terms of the longer term refinancing operation by the

:02:33.:02:38.

European Central Bank, that was be, the second round of that was in

:02:38.:02:42.

February, there was a huge take-up of that. Will that help today at

:02:42.:02:47.

all, or is the impact of VAT fading? No, I'm afraid the literal

:02:47.:02:53.

effect is very much done and dusted. When the first one announced it had

:02:53.:02:56.

an aspect of shock and awe, and that gave the opportunity for

:02:56.:03:00.

investors to look and see, well, bombs were going to rise on the

:03:00.:03:04.

back of that. They all piled into that rally and now it is very much

:03:04.:03:07.

over. I think if they did a third on the effect would be very much

:03:07.:03:11.

less. Also today, France is looking to raise of what on the bond

:03:11.:03:16.

markets. A significant amount, actually. For investors it is not

:03:16.:03:20.

really clear what is a head for France be there? I think the French

:03:20.:03:23.

auction today is probably the more interesting one. On the weekend we

:03:23.:03:27.

have the first round of the French presidential election, and the

:03:27.:03:30.

markets are beginning to get a bit nervous about what a change in the

:03:30.:03:34.

French government is going to mean. I suspect that all those French

:03:34.:03:38.

rates have started to edge up in the last few days, which will

:03:38.:03:42.

probably make today's auction quite attractive, we are likely to see

:03:42.:03:48.

French government bond yields rise in the next couple of weeks.

:03:48.:03:52.

Possibly even around today's auction. As people get more and

:03:52.:03:55.

more concerned about the new French government, and the end of the

:03:55.:03:59.

Sarkozy era, we will see French bond yields rise, and that reflects

:03:59.:04:03.

fear not just about the future of Europe when you do not have such a

:04:03.:04:06.

close link between Germany and France, but also where France is

:04:06.:04:09.

going to go in trying to make the structural adjustments that never

:04:09.:04:16.

happened under Sarkozy. Thank you for your perspective on

:04:16.:04:20.

that. We will talk some more about the French elections as well to

:04:20.:04:22.

date in the newspaper reviews, because it is of course the big

:04:22.:04:27.

story in the French press. March saw the first rise in

:04:27.:04:34.

Japanese exports in six months. Tell us more about Japan? This is

:04:34.:04:39.

good news, isn't it? Indeed, and it is in fact the

:04:39.:04:44.

strongest growth in over a year. Exports rose nearly 6% in the month

:04:44.:04:48.

of March from that Lovell's one year ago, which is much stronger

:04:48.:04:53.

than what economists were expecting. -- that levels. It is largely due

:04:53.:04:59.

to a surge in car shipments, which rose 1/3 in March. Exporters also

:04:59.:05:02.

benefited from the Japanese yen, which has been weakening quite

:05:02.:05:06.

significantly in recent months. The Japanese yen actually jumped soon

:05:06.:05:10.

after the trade data came out, but it is still trading at 81 against

:05:10.:05:16.

the US dollar, which is much weaker compared to the 77 or 78 which we

:05:16.:05:20.

saw for nearly a year after the earthquake. I should also mention

:05:20.:05:24.

imports, which rose nearly 10% in the Mont of March. That is because

:05:25.:05:29.

Japan is now having to import a lot more liquified natural gas and

:05:29.:05:33.

other fuels in order to supply electricity. Of course, almost all

:05:34.:05:37.

of its nuclear power plants have been shut in the wake of Fukushima.

:05:38.:05:44.

The government has been negotiating with local bomb-makers, as well as

:05:44.:05:52.

the government, to restart nuclear power plants. -- local lawmakers.

:05:52.:05:57.

Nokia, for years the world's leader in mobile phone handsets, brings

:05:57.:05:59.

out its first quarter results for 2012 later. They are expected to

:05:59.:06:04.

bring more bad news. The company issued a profits fall last week and

:06:04.:06:08.

just a few days ago had its credit rating cut to just a notch above

:06:08.:06:12.

junk status. It's not phones had been selling poorly compared to the

:06:12.:06:16.

iPhone and Android, and it is starting to lose the market share

:06:16.:06:24.

I am so excited and proud. So set Nokia's boss as it launched its

:06:24.:06:29.

latest smartphone. But Nokia sold only 2 million smartphone handsets

:06:29.:06:33.

over the past six months, much lower than the forecast 3 million.

:06:33.:06:39.

In the West, Nokia has a market share of any 1%. The crucial

:06:39.:06:43.

customers for not yet to win over other mobile operators. In Europe

:06:43.:06:47.

and America, they sold two-thirds of all the handsets produced, in

:06:47.:06:51.

their shops - along with contracts. The operators had been looking

:06:51.:06:54.

forward to Nokia bringing out its new smartphone, because they

:06:54.:06:57.

thought that it would reduce the dominance in the market of the key

:06:57.:07:04.

players. That is appalled's iPhone, and Samsung's Android.

:07:04.:07:07.

Unfortunately, too few people are walking into the shops and asking

:07:07.:07:15.

to look at a Nokia smartphone. nutshell, they are too expensive.

:07:15.:07:20.

It is just too rich for the competitive pricing market,

:07:20.:07:25.

especially in the US. Unless your brand happens to be apple mac.

:07:25.:07:28.

some years, Nokia has dominated the low end of the market, selling

:07:28.:07:34.

simple phones. But cheaper handsets, especially Chinese ones, hitting

:07:34.:07:40.

its sales. So Nokia is looking to develop a middle ground. They are

:07:40.:07:46.

pushing their own operating system. A range of devices that are not as

:07:46.:07:50.

expensive as the low-cost smartphones, even Android have not

:07:50.:07:57.

got an down to this price. Yet, but they offer an element of smarts.

:07:57.:08:01.

But Nokia's handset sales have fallen 30% in the last year. They

:08:01.:08:06.

are hoping the slim segment of the market will make good on that loss.

:08:06.:08:12.

It was awesome! Nokia executives are desperate that this year, high-

:08:12.:08:15.

margin smartphones grab the attention of the all-important

:08:15.:08:21.

American market. Did you hear what he had to say

:08:21.:08:25.

they? It was quite loud. Let's take a look at some other business

:08:25.:08:29.

headlines today. Shares in Eade Bay jumped more than 8% in after-hours

:08:29.:08:32.

trading after better-than-expected first-quarter results from the

:08:32.:08:42.
:08:42.:08:56.

online auction giant. -- the day. - - eBay. And... Yum Brands is

:08:56.:09:02.

continuing to cash in on a growing middle class in China and India. It

:09:02.:09:07.

has helped shares jumped 45% in the last year. And Germany's top

:09:07.:09:10.

economic think tanks give their growth forecasts later. They are

:09:10.:09:13.

likely to underline the growing gulf between struggling southern

:09:13.:09:18.

Europe and the region's biggest economy. According to Dow-Jones,

:09:18.:09:21.

they will upgrade their estimates for Germany 2.9 % growth for this

:09:21.:09:28.

year, and then 2% next year. Markets today, treading water in

:09:28.:09:33.

Asia ahead of that auction of bonds in Spain and France. You can see

:09:33.:09:40.

the currencies as well. The yen, as mentioned earlier, has been gaining

:09:40.:09:44.

Download Subtitles

SRT

ASS