:00:00. > :00:00.of the Grenfell Tower disaster. Combustible cladding and
:00:00. > :00:07.installation has now been found in around 200 high-rise buildings. --
:00:08. > :00:14.installation. Let's get the business news from Singapore.
:00:15. > :00:21.US banks will release second-quarter earnings later today. How do they
:00:22. > :00:30.benefited from the improving US economy? -- how they benefited. And
:00:31. > :00:38.find out why a Japanese giant is investing big in football.
:00:39. > :00:46.Hello, and welcome to Asia Business Report. I'm Sharanjit Leyl. The US
:00:47. > :00:50.economy has improved. The banks have passed their stress test and the
:00:51. > :00:54.Federal Reserve chairman Janet Yellen, has said any rate hike will
:00:55. > :01:01.be permitted gradually. So will all this translate to higher profits for
:01:02. > :01:03.US banks? Che Citigroup, JP Morgan and Wells Fargo will all be
:01:04. > :01:06.releasing their second-quarter earnings later today.
:01:07. > :01:13.Friday marks the big kick-off of rank and earnings, when three big
:01:14. > :01:17.financial institutions report. What can we expect? Analysts are not
:01:18. > :01:22.expecting this past quarter to be much amazing. You'll remember when
:01:23. > :01:26.Donald Trump was elected, US markets were downright euphoric. The tax
:01:27. > :01:31.reforms and infrastructure spending were going to boost the economy.
:01:32. > :01:35.Fast forward to July, and not much has happened. That is leading many
:01:36. > :01:42.to believe the Trump ump may be dead. What does that mean for banks?
:01:43. > :01:47.Bank stocks were a big winner when it came to be Trump bump. They were
:01:48. > :01:54.one of the best performing spec is -- sectors. Now the reason for the
:01:55. > :01:57.bump, Trump's legislative agenda, is no longer looking as plausible as
:01:58. > :02:02.before, that has analysts wondering if this will mean the gains made by
:02:03. > :02:06.tanks may start to come down. -- banks.
:02:07. > :02:15.In news just in, the latest growth numbers from Singapore show that its
:02:16. > :02:18.economy has dodged recession thanks to a pickup in the second quarter
:02:19. > :02:22.and strong gains in manufacturing. The trade reliant economy grew 2.5%
:02:23. > :02:26.in the three months to June, compared to the same period one year
:02:27. > :02:31.ago. Let's go live now to our reporter in the heart of Singapore's
:02:32. > :02:38.shopping district. Were these numbers pretty much in line with
:02:39. > :02:44.forecasts? No, the numbers that you just cited, that 2.5% growth, missed
:02:45. > :02:48.market expectations by 1%. We have narrowly dodged a technical
:02:49. > :02:54.recession. To get some reaction I am joined by an economist. Thank you
:02:55. > :02:59.for joining us. What do you make of the numbers? We can expect this,
:03:00. > :03:03.primarily driven by the services sector, we expect it to do better
:03:04. > :03:09.but it was not as strong a rebound as expected. First-quarter read both
:03:10. > :03:17.-- growth was revised down for the same reason. So what are some of the
:03:18. > :03:24.factors dragging on consumer spending on the services sector?
:03:25. > :03:29.Uneven growth, obviously. Some sectors are doing better, led by the
:03:30. > :03:34.exports side, which is why trade related to transportation and
:03:35. > :03:38.logistics did better. But the labour market growth has been much softer
:03:39. > :03:42.than any time over the last ten years. We have seen far more
:03:43. > :03:46.cautious sentiment on the ground from local households. Generally
:03:47. > :03:52.that causes constraint on the growth, and we have that foreign
:03:53. > :03:56.worker policy as well. All of that contains sentiment on the ground. As
:03:57. > :04:00.a result, the spending side constraints services in general. We
:04:01. > :04:04.have seen a slight uptick in global trade, as well as Singapore's
:04:05. > :04:12.manufacturing sector, at the government here is really concerned
:04:13. > :04:16.about certain world politics factors like protectionism. How will that
:04:17. > :04:19.impact Singapore going forward? In the near term, the rebound in trade,
:04:20. > :04:27.at least for Singapore, certain exports and certain many faction
:04:28. > :04:36.sector related chemicals -- certain manufacturing sector related...
:04:37. > :04:44.Apologies about that, we seem to have lost that interview.
:04:45. > :04:52.In other news:, there are reports that Singapore warehouse operator
:04:53. > :04:58.global logistics properties has decided to start negotiations with a
:04:59. > :05:02.Chinese consortium, in a deal that would value the company at $10
:05:03. > :05:05.billion. If an agreement is reached it would mark the egos buyout of an
:05:06. > :05:11.Asian company by a private equity firm. E-commerce companies like
:05:12. > :05:17.Alibaba are driving a boom in demand for warehouse space here in Asia. A
:05:18. > :05:20.proposed class-action lawsuit has reportedly been filed in New York
:05:21. > :05:24.against the American aluminium company which supplied cladding
:05:25. > :05:31.panels used at the Grenfell Tower in London. Dozens of people died in a
:05:32. > :05:35.fire there last month. The complaint against Arconic says that
:05:36. > :05:38.shareholders suffered losses as a result of its failure to properly
:05:39. > :05:44.disclose its use of the highly flammable panels. Arconic shares
:05:45. > :05:49.recently suffered their biggest intraday all sense it was spun off
:05:50. > :05:53.from Alcoa last November. The head of Japan's largest e-commerce
:05:54. > :05:57.company is broadening his reach to football, and not just any old
:05:58. > :06:03.scene. These are the European champions, FC Barcelona. He has
:06:04. > :06:09.signed a sponsorship deal signed $58 million to have his name, his
:06:10. > :06:13.company's name, Rakuten, prominently displayed on their jerseys. Who is
:06:14. > :06:15.the man willing to play such a premium? We caught up with him in
:06:16. > :06:26.Tokyo. Did you purchase anything online
:06:27. > :06:33.before you found the Rakuten? I did, yes. What was your first ever online
:06:34. > :06:42.purchase? I think it was Japanese udon noodles. There was a very
:06:43. > :06:48.popular online bookstore. What is your most recent online purchase.
:06:49. > :06:55.Most recent? What did I buy... I bought some screen. Do you actually
:06:56. > :07:01.go to any stores to buy anything, or do you buy everything online? I do,
:07:02. > :07:06.I go to supermarkets. Some people think everything will be online. I
:07:07. > :07:11.am more of a believer of the hybrid. Drones. When will we get everything
:07:12. > :07:20.delivered by drones? Not everything, but it will start taking place in
:07:21. > :07:29.2-3 years. This is what I think. I never expected anything would be --
:07:30. > :07:32.never expected there would be 100% autonomous driving cars. Nobody
:07:33. > :07:36.imagined that ten years ago. Attic is going to take place. So we are
:07:37. > :07:39.seeing the impossible becoming possible. You have introduced in
:07:40. > :07:46.which is the official office language. How has it been? Do you
:07:47. > :07:53.think you made the right choice? Definitely. Already, 80% of new
:07:54. > :07:58.engineers and scientists we hire a non-Japanese. 60% of existing
:07:59. > :08:05.engineering and scientists a non-Japanese. Many of them do not
:08:06. > :08:08.speak Japanese at all. I think it is very difficult, if you want to
:08:09. > :08:11.compete against global companies, to be just Japanese.
:08:12. > :08:28.That was Mariko Oi speaking to the CEO of Rakuten. Now, au and is
:08:29. > :08:32.tempered two -- now, tuktuks and tuktuks can be found all of India,
:08:33. > :08:37.but now they are being found more in Africa. An Indian manufacturer is
:08:38. > :08:41.building assembly plants across the continent. We spoke to managers at a
:08:42. > :08:48.factory in the South African city of Port Elizabeth.
:08:49. > :08:56.Behind me are the vehicles on the condition in which they arrived from
:08:57. > :09:01.India. They flow into a full manual assembly line
:09:02. > :09:13.Here. It creates employment and gives us the necessary controls in
:09:14. > :09:20.the assembly line. Coincidentally, after doing this, this little
:09:21. > :09:25.vehicle tick Sorbus important boxes. We want to tackle unemployment, we
:09:26. > :09:29.want to empower people to start small businesses, not only locally
:09:30. > :09:36.in metropolitan areas by General areas as well. And thirdly, Vic
:09:37. > :09:41.contribution -- the contribution to society. The idea is to get a
:09:42. > :09:46.different vehicles to provide specific services to these
:09:47. > :09:52.communities. What we are trying to do with these vehicles is ensure
:09:53. > :09:55.that in those communities, what you do not have that infrastructure, we
:09:56. > :09:58.have smaller vehicles that can penetrate and navigate those areas.
:09:59. > :10:00.This is a response to these problems that we have seen. This happens all
:10:01. > :10:16.over South Africa. That was a manufacturer of tuktuks
:10:17. > :10:21.in South Africa. Let's look at the markets. This is how the Asian
:10:22. > :10:26.markets have opened. The Nikkei making some gains. They are taking
:10:27. > :10:29.their cues from Wall Street, where the Dow Jones closed that yet
:10:30. > :10:31.another record high. That is all from this edition of Asia Business
:10:32. > :10:32.Report.