12/10/2012 World Business Report

province. Those are the latest headlines from BBC News. Now for

the latest financial news with Aaron Heslehurst and World Business

Report. Welcome to the program. Your chance

to catch up on all the latest in the world of business and money.

Let's take a look at the headlines: A massive subprime lawsuit and

multi-billion dollar losses by its London traders threaten to

overshadow improving numbers at JP Morgan.

A contraction for growth in Singapore. It has avoided being the

first major Asian economy to fall into recession. Plus, Europe's debt

crisis takes centre stage as leaders begin talks at the IMF

meetings in Tokyo. JP Morgan Chase becomes the first

of the Wall Street banks to report third quarter earnings later.

Investors are expecting a healthy improvement on the same period last

year. Boss Jamie Dimon will also face some awkward questions about

the so-called London whale, the trader behind a disastrous strategy

that has so far lost the bank almost $6 billion. JP Morgan is

also facing legal action by the New York Attorney General over alleged

fraudulent conduct by failed investment bank Bear Stearns, which

it took over in 2008. The first of the big banks, JP

Morgan Chase, industry watchers are predicting upbeat performances from

the bank. It is the strongest bank on Wall Street. We are looking for

strong mortgage profits. There has been a flurry Jotham mortgage

activity thanks to government programmes. -- due to. That would

be good news for a bank that has been dealing with bad news. JP

Morgan is reeling from the so- called London while, $6 billion

trading last, just last week the US government slapped a lawsuit

against the bank, relating to the management of mortgage securities.

In the coming days, Wells Fargo, Citigroup and Bank of America will

unveil their earnings. The results of other banks will be muted.

Investors love to grow. It is hard for any of these banks to grow when

you have an economy that is very sluggish. On Wall Street investors

are cautiously optimistic. Bankers are bracing themselves for more job

losses and the impact of increased financial regulation. The reality

it is hard to find growth in a stagnating economy. Let's talk to

David Jones, chief market strategist at IG Index. Good to

have you in the studio. JP Morgan likely to give us some upbeat

numbers. Everyone will be interested to find out about this

London trader, $6 billion. When the news broke, the second quarter this

year, it was initially $2 billion. It is now $6 billion. Worse case

scenario, it could be another $1.8 billion. Hopefully we will get more

clarity on this today. What is the total loss going to look like.

Basically, this trader had major deals that went very wrong. Because

the trains are so -- trades are so large, they are trying to get out

of this in an orderly way. Wells Fargo Enmore results next week. --

and more. They have got a rough ride. Which bank is going to be

sued by the government next? They feel it is maybe a little unjust,

but four years after they took over Bear Stearns JP Morgan are being

sued for fraudulent conduct. Back then they thought they were doing

the government a favour. How long are they going to be paying for the

global financial crisis? We'll talk to you in the newspaper review in a

moment. Thank you. Finance ministers and central bankers from

around the globe are in Tokyo for the International Monetary Fund and

World Bank meetings which get under way later this Friday. Europe's

debt crisis will unsurprisingly take centre stage at the talks.

The display of Japanese culture was not enough to distract from the

grim message delivered here. At the annual meeting of the IMF and World

Bank, Christine Lagarde blamed Europe and the US for creating an

air of unease as she called for more action from leaders. If he

were to ask me what we expect from this IMF annual meeting, we expect

action. We expect courageous and Quatt -- co-operative action.

Protests for Angela Merkel when she visited Greece. The IMF and World

Bank are holding their annual meeting in Japan. Most of the money

and efforts are being directed towards helping Europe. In this

part of the world, that is raising questions about the role of the IMF.

We have the changing of the guard. The former beneficiaries of IMF

handouts such as across the Asia, they are being asked to potentially

save Europe. The current economic uncertainty is helping businesses

like this Japanese company, which makes carbon fibre found in many

bikes in the Tour de France. makes it harder to decide on

business investment. There is uncertainty over the global economy.

Finance leaders from the seven largest economies met on Thursday,

Spain's credit rating was downgraded. A reminder of the

challenges facing the global economy. There you go. The eurozone

debt crisis is going to take centre stage. So are some of the US

problems, that so-called US cliffs. Europe and the US combined are

having a negative impact on the rest of the world. Let's cross to

Sharanjit Leyl in Singapore, where the global economic slowdown is

being felt. If I have got this right, Singapore's economy shrank

but it avoided a recession? Yes, would you believe? It has avoided

becoming Asia's first major economy to fall into a technical recession.

It revealed third-quarter figures today. The economy shrank 1.5% in

the third economy. It has escaped technical recession. The second

quarter was 0.2%. This economy has expanded 1.3% throughout the year.

There were expectations it would try and weaken the currency, the

Singapore dollar. They were let it because

because inflation is still a major worry. Singapore uses its currency

to control inflation rather than interest rates. Manufacturing, we

have seen it for three months in a row. The Singapore government has

been trimming its predictions for growth this year. 1.5%, 2%, down

from earlier forecastss of 3%. It is the very trade dependent economy.

-- forecasts. Yes, stories like that will give the leaders in Tokyo

a lot to talk about. Thank you. Time for a quick look at some other

business and economic stories. The number of Americans signing on for

unemployment benefits dropped sharply last week to its lowest

level in more than four years. The weekly figures could give another

boost to President Obama a month before the presidential election.

They follow surprisingly strong job data for September which showed US

unemployment fell below 8% for the first time since 2009. Sprint

Nextel, the number three mobile phone operator in the US, has

confirmed it is in talks with Japanese phone company Softbank

over a potential substantial investment. It's been reported

Softbank wants to enter the US market by taking a controlling 70%