06/06/2014 World Business Report

havoc on fisheries and crops. Those are the late at headlines. Now for

the latest financial news with World Business Report.

It is a thumbs up from Wall Street as investors cheer on cuts by the

European Central bank. Plus, the hidden rain drain ` how corporate

America is trying to get women back into the workforce.

Welcome to World Business Report. I'm Aaron Heslehurst. We will be

talking about the big jobs numbers outside of the US. Let's start with

the market which had been celebrating the European Central

Bank move to cut its main interest rate to boost the region 's flagging

economy. The highlight of course ` imposing a

negative interest rate on deposits for the first time, effectively

charging banks to sit on their money to encourage them to lend it out.

The news has been going down pretty well with investors. On Wall Street,

US shares hit new all`time highs, with record closes on both the main

indices. The Dow Jones industrial average closed at a record

16,836.11. To put that in perspective, it's now up around 155%

since its low in March, 2009, during the financial crisis, the so called

bear market. If he bought in March, 2009, you did

even better. Is the enthusiasm rolling through into Asian markets?

Let's speak to Rico Hizon in Singapore. What are the Asian

markets doing? Generally upbeat. Stocks from Hong Kong, Australia,

India, all on the move. Emerging Asian currencies also strengthening

versus the dollar and the euro. By reducing negative interest rates,

this will make it cheaper for banks to lend money to businesses and this

cheap money could find its way right here in Asia's emerging economy.

Boral at 0% and invest it in high interest rate yielding products in

Asia. You would be looking at Thailand, for instance. Their

currency depreciated after the coup but things have stabilised.

Indonesia, Thailand, Korea, Singapore to a lesser extent, there

are opportunities to drive a better yield. In a low velocity

environment, you don't have to worry so much about adverse exchange rate

movements affecting the overall yield. Indonesia's growing rate is

17.5%, India at more than 8%, Australia 2.5%. In Brazil, interest

rates are 11%. But there are sceptics in the region. If the cheap

funding makes its way into the market, this could in `` ignite

inflation or push prices higher, in turn pressuring the central banks to

raise the cost of borrowing. Not good news for markets. Absolutely.

There could be a flood of cheap money but it highlights this out of

whack world. In the UK, in the US, the talk is all about raising. When

are they going to raise interest rates? But Europe is rushing to

battle stations. That's right. Moving in separate directions.

That's why there are investors here who are digestive and analysing what

kind of impact it will have four Asian markets. Europe is moving

towards zero interest rates. Then the US federal reserve is winding

down its bond buying programme. What kind of impact will it have on Asia?

If we have a look at the numbers, yes Asian markets are in positive

territory but not surging. There is still doubt over what kind of affect

the winding down of the bond buying programme and interest raising in

the US will have on Asian markets. I call it the big bazooka. Great

stuff. Thank you. Turning our attention from Europe to

the US. In particular, the health of its economy as markets await the

monthly jobs numbers. The month of May is likely to have been good for

job creation in the US because economists think American employees

hired around 218,000 people. Not quite the blow`out figure seen in

April, but still proof that the economy is recovering from its

winter slump. The US jobless rate is likely to have ticked up to 6.4%.

That could actually be seen as good news, showing that more of the

long`term unemployed are starting to look for work again. Remember, many

were simply off the books as they'd given up looking. One group who find

it particularly hard to get back in to the work force, women who have

taken time out to look after children. It's a massive but hidden

brain drain on the US economy, as Samira Hussain reports.

Some questions about your favourite things. Having weekday morning

breakfast with her three children was, until recently, a typical start

to this woman's day. Eight years ago she went from working in finance in

New York City to working at home for her family. It was difficult but

having young kids at home and knowing I wanted to spend more time

with them may bat transition easier. But now she is ready to go

back to work at an office. One company is helping her through an

employment programme for women re`entering the workforce after a

long absence. At the end, the hope is to get people like her back into

work. That means being able to come back and leave at a time that allows

me to tuck my kids into bed. Even if that means I get back online when

they are asleep. But being able to sit down, read to them is imported

to me. As many as 40% of women who are hardly educated and up leaving

the workforce for a period of time. A massive but hidden brain drain.

Retraining programmes certainly help but, for jobs, especially on Wall

Street, where the hours can be gruelling, finding an office culture

that is flexible enough to allow mothers a work and life balance can

be tough. Somebody has to take care of the children and those elderly

parents and that typically falls on women. If you do have family, if you

do have elderly parents and you want to come back to work, you need a

measure of flexibility and that's very difficult to find in many

workplaces. A few other banks are offering similar training. But, with

so many women struggling to get back into the workplace, for there to be

real change these programmes would need to be the norm and not the

exception. Those job numbers will be out in

about six hours. In other news, General Motors has accepted the

findings of a report into recalls of its Chevrolet Cobalt, calling it

"deeply troubling". GM took more than a decade to recall 2.6 million

cars over faulty ignition switches that it admits caused at least 13

deaths. Lawyers suing the firm put the death toll at over 60.

Chief Executive Mary Barra said the Cobalt saga was riddled with

failures and that 15 employees have been fired. GM is launching a

compensation fund for crash victims and their families.

President Obama has dismissed suggestions he may help French bank

BNP Paribas, which is accused of violating the US sanctions and

facing a fine of up to $10 billion. France's President Hollande has

called the possible fine disproportionate, raising the issue

during talks between the two ahead of D`Day anniversary ceremonies in

Northern France. According to reports US regulators are also

pushing for the bank's chief operating officer to be sacked as

part of the settlement Bills `` settlement. Now for a quick look at

the markets. Everybody keeping an eye on those jobs numbers, when they

come out, from the US. The euro dropped slightly after the

announcement yesterday from the ECB but moved back up. Follow me on

Twitter. I will be back later to have a look at the papers from

around the world. Many of us can look up most nights and see this

familiar sight, but have you