07/03/2013 World Business Report

Now for the latest financial news with Sally Bundock and World

Three of the world's most powerful central banks meet to talk stimulus.

Sportswear brand Adidas is tightening its grip on where and

how it sells its goods - but will this boost future earnings? We find

Welcome to World Business Report. I'm Sally Bundock. Also in the

programme: The markets in Japan have hit a significant milestone.

We'll go live to our team in Singapore for the latest.

Markets across the globe continue to rally with the Dow Jones

Industrial Average in the US setting a fresh record again last

night, in anticipation the world's largest economies will be boosted

by central bank action. Well, today we've got three of them meeting.

The Bank of Japan has just gathered and, later today, the European

Central Bank and Bank of England meet to decide on stimulus measures.

We now speak to Christian Schulz, a Japan has made its decision. At the

banks will keep rates near record lows. What else are they up to?

is about printing money, injecting more liquidity into the markets.

The Japanese are expected to do that. The Bank of England might be

edging closer to expand in ordering something else. The ECB, some

people expect they can react to the Italian elections by doing

something to support the economy. The markets are looking at this

action as a reason to be cheerful. In the US as well. Comments from

the Federal Reserve said they would be more and more to help the US

economy. Do you think the market of overplaying this? Is this really

hopping the major economies in the world? It seems to be hoping asset

prices.-Holdings. It is a boost to But you are right. It is not like

the economies that print the most money are doing the best that the

moment. The UK is in the flatlining part. There is no relationship

between the economy to inventor and his central bank printing money.

But the central bank pushes down interest rates. That means bonds

are less interesting. Equity becomes more interesting. That is

why people switch from one day into the other. How long can central

banks do this for? In Japan, they are saying the new nominee that is

yet to be said in properly, he has been implying that they will do all

they can for as long as they can to help the Japanese economy get out

of deflation. In the US, they are committed actual unemployment

figures change. How long will this happen for? As long as inflation

stays under control. It used to mean the 2% target. Now it is

slightly higher. Central banks can do things to support employment,

growth. In Japan, that even have deflation. They have some room

inflation is low. In US as well. Inflation is not getting out of

control. Rates are very low. There is some room for stimulus. The

Federal Reserve said they do not see themselves increasing rates for

instance. Thank you. He is up very early for us. His colleague will be

here soon and he -- the lights will work.

Well, it's been a week of significant milestones for

financial markets with the Nikkei in Japan making the headlines

earlier today. Mariko Oi is at our Asia Business hub in Singapore.

It is the middle of the day when you are. Tell us more about Japan.

It is back to where it was before the financial crisis. Yes. The

Nikkei has been rallying for six days in a row this Thursday. At one

point earlier today, it surpassed the 12,000. That is not the level

we have seen almost 4.5 years. It means Japan's index has recovered

to the levels before the crisis shook the world back in 2008.

Japan's stock markets have been rallying significantly, basically

since the middle of November, when the election was called. It is up

40% since than because of the new prime minister. He is a very vocal

advocate over a limited monetary easing, printing more money. --

Unlimited. That is great news for companies that export their

products. It means he produced a more competitive abroad. As you

were talking about earlier, the new government is supporting monetary

easing. That is partly why the Japanese Nikkei continues to rally.

Thank you. Last year was a gift for sportswear

makers. Euro 2012 and the Olympics inspired millions to splash out on

a new tracksuit or pair of trainers. So how was it for Adidas, the

second-largest sports brand in the world? They release full-year

results in a few hours time. It's thought it will have boosted profit

margins by almost 10%. To drive them up further, Adidas is

tightening its grip on how its products are sold. Jeremy Howell

reports. Adidas son $116 million into

sponsoring last year's summer of sport. -- sunk. It sponsored the

winner, Spain. The reward at was a 15% hike in sales. Towards the end

of the year, revenue slackened, thanks to problems in the sporting

arena. Prix Bloc, a subsidiary of Adidas, lost the contract, worth

about $100 million a year. -- report. It also had problems with

its National Hockey League deal because of the Lockhart of National

Hockey League players. Those games have not been happening. -- look

out. A Adidas has been held back by trouble in China. Sportswear firms

have been flooding the market with goods, collapsing prices.

biggest issue in China was that local brands saw the same

opportunity as Nike and Adidas. This thought they could build up as

big as a business as these companies. They underestimated

demand and flooded the market on the sporting apparel side. These

were being discounted. Nike and Adidas were being brought up in

that as well. Adidas tried to tighten up its products. Every

retailer in UK could cut suppliers -- supplies unless they buy $40,000

worth of its products next year. Adidas is opening up more and more

of its own-brand stores across the board. That is so it can sell

products at full price. This is proving much more profitable.

Adidas hopes they can continue to do that, despite the downturn in

consumer spending on continent like We have some good news for Boeing.

The National Transportation Safety Board in the US says it will

release what it calls its interim factual report into a battery fire

later today. But what Boeing is really waiting for is the FAA to

sign off test flights. That is expected within the next few days.

The battery fires seven weeks ago have grounded the entire fleet of

787 Dreamliner jets. Media giant Time Warner has

announced plans to spin off its Time Inc magazine unit into an

independent, publicly traded company by the end of the year.

Time Inc is the company behind publications including Time, Sports

Illustrated, Fortune and People. Last month, Time Warner reported a

rise in profits but said revenues at Time Magazine had fallen 7%,