07/02/2017 Asia Business Report

an unprecedented intervention in the row over Donald Trump's state

He said he's strongly opposed to the president addressing MPs

Now on BBC News all the latest business news live from Singapore.

Better times ahead. Toyota revises its profit forecast. We find out

why. And how much of your household budget goes to your kids? Good

morning, Asia. Hello, world. Guy could you still might go you could

join us for Asia Business Report, I'm Rico Hizon -- glad you could

join us. Toyota is looking at a stronger 2017 after its latest

earnings numbers showed profits are down for the world's second-largest

carmaker. The company raised its full-year profit forecast by nearly

10% on expectations of a weakening yen against the US dollar, that

would boost exports and profits even further. But in the past quarter it

fell from 5.6 billion to $4.3 billion. Why is Toyota feeling so

optimistic? Earlier I posed the question to a journalist from

Automotive News. At Toyota it's all about the foreign exchange rates,

they took a big hit in the last quarter, the depreciating yen hit

their profits in a major way, that's why you see the big tumble but

looking ahead they expect the Yen to weaken a bit for the rest of the

year. Let's not get too excited because although they upgraded their

forecast, they're still expecting their full-year net income to drop

26%. Although it's boring, it's not as bad as they thought. Just like

all Japanese car manufacturers, there's a big uncertainty on the

horizon with President Trump, especially if there is some kind of

tariff that will be imposed. Sure, that's a big topic here in Japan.

The entire industry is a flutter with uncertainty about what Trump

will bring to them. Exports from Japan are big, as our exports from

neighbouring countries to the United States like Mexico and Canada. If he

puts on a tariff then that will take a big chunk out of their profits

going forward. What if they increase their investments in the United

States? What will this mean for earnings for Toyota and the other

carmakers? I think long-term they are making these kinds of

investments in the United States, as the world's second-biggest auto

market, it shows continued stability and growth, last year they had

record sales in the US. That a long-term trend. But doing so is

expensive and it takes time to build these factories, you can't just

build one overnight, it takes several years. This is a long-term

plan they would have to initiate in order to build more capacity in the

US. In other business news making

headlines, a group of 127 US tech companies have filed a legal

document stating that President Trump's immigration ban affects

their operations and inflicts serious harm on business. The

companies include tech heavyweights like Apple, Facebook and Microsoft.

The document is an amicus brief which allows parties not directly

involved in the case but who feel they are affected to give their

views. Toshiba has... The Japanese company has been looking at ways to

raise cash to offset a potentially big loss from its US nuclear

business. Today marks the 25th anniversary of the signing of the

Maastricht Treaty officially known as the Treaty of the European Union.

Back then it was a sign of a feeling of optimism about what the EU could

achieve. Few could have predicted the financial and political

challenges the group would come up against 25 years later. Andrew

Walker has the details. Maastricht, 1992 and a blueprint is

agreed for a new and deeper programme of European integration.

It was here the euro was conceived. This was a moment of hope and

optimism, at least for European political leaders. The dole -- a

quarter of a century on, the flag looks a bit tattered. We had,

arguably still have, the financial crisis, one important member state,

Britain, deciding to leave and the rise of anti-EU political groups in

several countries and perhaps the chance they will take power this

year in countries that were founder members of the European project,

France and the Netherlands. Now the election of Donald Trump to the US

presidency presents new and unpredictable challenges for Europe,

he doesn't think much of the EU. He said the British decision to leave

was so smart. He has certainly rattled Brussels. The president of

the European council Donald Tusk wrote to EU member states saying:

Maastricht was intended to create a new more congenial environment for

business with less uncertainty. It feels like a long time ago. Andrew

Walker, BBC News. Uncertainty over President Trump's

policies, rising US interest rates and slower growth in China, these

are some of the factors in best as are facing when it comes to where to

put their money. But what should be the 2017 strategy? This is what the

chief investment officer for Credit Suisse told me earlier.

We're recommending investors look at their portfolios thematically. We

think the infrastructure story globally is one that should be part

of a portfolio in the same way that emerging markets were in the

nineteen nineties. It's been an under locked investment space for

decades. And that is true in the US, in Europe and across Asia. The types

of money and investment being spoken about now by multinationals is vast.

The ADB are recommending Asia spend $1 trillion on investment by 2025.

That is a huge amount of money that needs to be spent and it will be

reflected in client portfolios in equity and fixed income and

commodities. Looking at interest rates, we are it's picking the

Federal Reserve to raise the cost of borrowing two to three times a year.

Is that a key investment theme? Absolutely. Investing in a rising

interest environment will affect your income portfolios and

commodities and the currency side. We continue to focus on investment

grade credit is one that will attract over the course of this

year. But the financials, healthcare, sectors in the equity

space will outperform and those we recommending clients explore.

The chief investment officer from Credit Suisse, John Woods. Ballet,

swimming, soccer, Mandarin classes, these are some of the activities

many children in the region are signed up to from a very early age.

Each one costs money. But how much is too much? Mariko Oi decided to

use her household budget as a test case for the series the Business of

Kids. Welcome to the life of a

two-year-old. In addition to her childcare during the week, Nikara's

weekends are jampacked with extracurricular activities. Meet her

Tiger mum. Yes, it's me. We think of these activities being great for her

but they aren't cheap. In fact we decided to teach her swimming at

home because we already spend three each month on her extracurricular

activities. And that's on top of over $1000 on childcare. And we have

another one coming! And as the child gets older, the

list only gets longer and longer. Thursdays I'm doing soccer,

Wednesdays I do swimming. In fact, e.g. 'S mother has started a website

that lists extracurricular activities for children. -- Evie's.

We saw a high demand from advertisers and clients to reach out

to the parent market. It has things like coding for kids, soccer,

tennis, such a wide range, ballet, swimming, there's a mini MBA for

children. You heard it right, a mini MBA for children! But are we at risk

of over scheduling our children's weekends? And is there a clear

benefit that a child psychologist sees in children that do

extracurricular activities? I guess the word you're looking for is

positively engage. It doesn't mean a child enrolled in a lot of classes

will do better than a child that isn't. But if the child is at home

not purposefully engaging in any classes but they are doing a lot of

things at home with their parents, they're still doing well. For us

raising our daughter to be fluent in my mother tongue, Japanese, is very

important and many children in Asia are also taking up Mandarin. But the

issue of over scheduling her weekends aside, we may need to

reconsider our household budget once our second child arrives.

Mariko Oi, BBC News. And it gets expensive every year! Let's have a

quick look now at the markets. As you can see, not a good start to the

Tuesday trading session for the Asian financial markets, all dipping

into negative territory after US equities fell overnight lead by

lower oil prices and global uncertainty over Donald Trump's

economic policies and concerns over the French election in April. Japan,

Hong Kong and Australia all in the red. Thank you so much for investing

your time with us. I'm Rico Hizon. Sport Today is coming up next.

The United States Justice Department has formally lodged an appeal

against the suspension of Donald Trump's travel ban

on citizens from seven mainly Muslim countries.