20/12/2012 World Business Report

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

financial news with World Business Welcome to World Business Report.

More heavy losses are expected from Research In Motion as the company

enters the most important months of its history with the global launch

of the Blackberry 10 just weeks away.

The Bank of Japan expanded asset purchase programme again. There

will be further stimulus to jump- start the ailing economy.

His Nike running out of puff? The sportswear giant faces an uphill

struggle in Europe and up will Will the Blackberry 10 rescue

Research in Motion? That's the question that will be answered

early in the new year when it launches its latest generation of

phones. For the Blackberry maker, it's critical that users are

excited and snap up its new line of smartphones as Research in Motion

is expected to report more heavy losses later today. The company has

seen its market share in the US dwindle to just 4% this year as the

Blackberry struggles to compete with Apple's iPhone and Samsung's

Galaxy smartphone. For Blackberry and its parent

company, the next few months could be make or break. Investors care

little about its earnings reports and instead are focused on what

happens next. Early next year, they will unveil their long-awaited

Blackberry 10. It has new software and a new operating system. It

could be the firm's last chance to buy up -- win back a market it once

dominated. The Blackberry was once the handset of choice for

businesses and consumers around the world. As the pace of innovation

picked up, they were left behind. In the increasingly competitive

market, it is struggling to stand out. It must now come up with

something rather special. If it is to reclaim a slice of the fast-

moving market. This is a big difference from anything they have

done in the past. It is a brand new operating system, rebuilt from the

ground up. There is no other trick they can pall. Nor that all they

can lever. This has to work. They are trying to save to the market,

what you're doing now is not the correct way to do it. We are going

to show you how to do it better and faster. The new Blackberry may

attract customers and win that -- windows to have gone elsewhere,

they must concentrate on their existing customers. The customer

base is still growing, especially in emerging markets. The amount it

makes from each is falling. Alongside cheaper handsets, that is

cutting into profits. So can they win back those more lucrative

customers? That is what the new device is intended to do. The

launch in January could determine not only the short-term success of

the company but also its long-term survival.

Action from the Bank of Japan to stimulate the economy was widely

anticipated after last weekend's election. In the last hour we have

had it. We go to Singapore. Tell us more about the latest stimulus

measure. There was some external pressure.

An action they did. The Bank of Japan seems to have responded by

further loosening its already sued a easy monetary policy by expanding

its asset purchase programme by about 10 trillion yen. That is

around $190 billion. The bank has been facing intense pressure from

the incoming Prime Minister Shinzo Abe to jump-start the ailing

Japanese economy. It has been sunk in stagnation for two decades. The

central bank's move comes two days after the country voted into party

the Conservative Party led by Shinzo Abe. They promised to

improve public spending and pressured the central bank for more

aggressive policy action. The bank kept interest rates unchanged but

said it would look at reviewing its target inflation rate. Shinzo Abe

wants it to be at 2%. Analysts are positive about the move. They said

that at least to today's initiative gives a message to the market that

the bank is willing to do something more.

Sportswear giant Nike also reports quarterly results later today.

There's huge interest on Wall Street in what the company has to

say about global consumer spending. Back in September, it admitted

orders for its goods in China had fallen, causing its shares to

tumble. What are they getting run in China?

We have to remember that the economy has slowed a little. That

is hurting a few companies. You add local competitors that are in

trouble, small and local brand in China have got too much stock of

the market and you are seen extreme discounting. As a result, no brand

can escape that. Especially nothing -- a brand that is the centre of

industry. For Nike, when it comes to issues that is not the real

problem. It is to do with the other clothing that it makes. It was

necessarily the right size for the Chinese or Asian buyer. Again, with

issues, tonight he is able to sell issues on performance. It has a

technical edge. It is a strong brand. It is much harder to prove

that age when you're talking about a T-shirt. When something else is

50% off, it is harder to compete with them not on price. That is

when the night he has more acute issues, in terms of clothing issues

rather than shooting them Tories. The other problem is that many of

these multinational companies, when they tried to push for aggressive

growth, they pushed for just two bidders to buy stock aggressively

so that they can report strong numbers back to US investors. That

has happened here but as a result, it Nike may be suffering as a

result of local competitors, but they have flooded the market.

Nike, China is an important market. As well as the other Asian

economies. How will it recover from this? China is hitting its numbers

significantly. I think it will recover. In terms of shoes, the

brand is doing well in China. It is considered aspirational and is

doing well. The process that it is going through, it needs to get us

to bid is to buy less. It needs to take a hit in terms of growth rate

and we need to see this excess stock be cleared out. I do think

that this is a one to two-year process. They won't see anything

for a few years in China. We will get the numbers later. We have some

other business stories: US budget talks remain deadlocked

with the House of Representatives expected to pass a plan by

Republican speaker John Boehner to raise taxes only on earnings over

$1 million and the White House warning it will veto it. President

Obama wants higher taxes for anyone earning over $400,000. Economists

have warned that a failure to agree on tax and spending for next year

could push the US into recession, the so-called fiscal cliff.

More pressure on UBS. It's being investigated in Hong Kong over

claims it tried to rig the local interbank interest rate, HIBOR.

Earlier on Wednesday, the Swiss bank agreed to pay $1.5 billion in

fines to regulators in the United States, UK and Switzerland for

manipulating London's interbank offered rate, Libor, which is used

to set interest rates for trillions of dollars of transactions around

the world. The cruise liner Carnival is

expected to report earnings do. They are expected to show a sharp

fall. Because of the accident at the beginning of 2012. A fall in

bookings as well as customer confidence has suffered.

The big story for the markets in Asia is the Bank of Japan's

stimulus. You can see in Japan there we are seeing a bit of a

sell-off. Not surprising at all. You buy on the rumour and sell on

the news. We have seen, since Monday, the Japanese market rising

and rising. It is still above 10,000. Let us look at how the yen

is trading. Following that announcement from the Bank of Japan.

It is still relatively weak versus the dollar. Of course, it has been

weaker than that in recent days. It is still helping boost exporters in