14/12/2017 Asia Business Report

Theresa May has suffered a narrow

defeat on a key vote

on the Brexit bill.

It means terms for a final deal need

to be approved by a new law passed

by parliament.

Now on BBC News all the latest

business news live from Singapore.

A third rate hike in 2017. The US

Central Bank raises interest rates

at its final policy meeting for the

year. And the head of a key vote

over the Internet, we tell you why

the new net neutrality rules matters

to American businesses. Good

morning, Asia. Hello, world. It is a

Thursday. Glad you could join us. We

saw the world's most powerful

Central Bank is continuing to

tighten monetary policy, the Federal

Reserve raising short-term borrowing

costs or the third time this year,

this time by 0.25%. Janet Yellen

said the decision was made following

a set of positive numbers.

Following

a slowdown in the first quarter,

economic growth stepped up to a

solid 3.25% pace in the second and

third quarters of the year.

Household spending has been

expanding at a moderate rate.

Business investment has picked up on

favourable economic conditions

abroad have supported exports.

Overall, we continue to expect the

economy will expand at a moderate

pace.

Investors in the US market is

excited about this latest

development with the Dow Jones

industrial average soaring by 80

points to a new record high. As the

US currency, it is up against the

majors. As for Asia, not much

movement in Japan or Australia.

Earlier, I spoke to our business

reporter in Washington who said

while the decision was expected,

questions remain over whether the

Federer can reach its inflation

targets. -- whether the Federal

Reserve.

This was the third rate

hike this year on the fifth since

the GST and the reasons for it

according to Janet Yellen are

addressed a press conference some

time ago are essentially a continued

confidence in economic growth in

America so we've seen economic

growth of more than 3%. Also, good

news from the Labour market.

Unemployment at a 17- year low and

those are the reasons why the

Federal Reserve decided to go ahead

with this rate hike. It's keeping

with the policy to gradually

increase rates and try to return

with the situation as it was before

the crisis.

Continued economic

growth. There is speculation that

the Federal Reserve could raise

between three and four times in

2018. There are projections of three

rate cuts next year and three in

2019 but of course, there are

uncertainties for Janet Yellen's

successor, John Powell, who takes

over in February. One uncertainty is

that tax bill. Eventually there will

be one consolidated version that

Donald Trump signs on but what kind

of impact will that tax bill have on

the economy? That is the uncertainty

that will hang over Jerome Powell

when he takes over the chair. Janet

Yellen steps down in February. Her

legacy?

In many ways, she has

already made history as the first

woman to be the chair but apart from

that, and economic legacy. If you

just go buy a survey done with The

Wall Street Journal were they asked

economists how they would rate hurt

more than 60% rated her, they gave

it a great which means she has done

a good job. Certainly the economy,

strong economic growth. Unemployment

at a 17- yellow. But there have been

problem areas. Below the 2% target

that the Federal Reserve sets.

Hong

Kong's de facto Central Bank has

raised interest rates. The monetary

authority raised points to 1.75%.

Hong Kong tracks US rate moves

because its currency is pegged to

the US dollar. The US communications

regulator is expected to vote to

overturn net neutrality. If this is

overturned it might mean Internet

service providers could charge

companies more for their content to

be accessed at better speeds

creating something like Internet

fast lanes and slow lanes. A

controversial topic but how much is

the American public know these

issues? We asked the people in

Washington, DC.

Have you heard of it before? No. The

more you pay for Internet, the more

you've got the past year and it will

work.

I do not know anything about

neutrality.

Companies like Commcast or the other

Internet providers are going to put

a higher premium.

I just heard the term. It's so

corporations can make it slower to

connect to certain sites.

I did see the piece on John Oliver

but I don't remember.

Net neutrality is actually hugely

important.

In India they have tried to do this

also had a lot of people don't like

it.

All Internet traffic is treated the

same matter where it's come from,

where it's going or what it's doing.

That's something we call net

neutrality. Internet service

providers might be able to

intentionally slow down your

Internet connection unless you pay

more for things like video streaming

or they warn that could be some kind

of Internet fast lane where big rich

companies could pay to make sure

their sites loaded quickly while

other smaller sites would be stuck

in a slow lane instead.

OK,

interesting.

It should be fair and equal for all.

Basically, it's taking down our

freedoms.

The same amount, it shouldn't be

different different websites.

As far as larger companies being

able to pay more to have access to

your content little easier, I'm not

sure I agree with that.

It's the Internet. Everybody should

have access and actually have the

same speed no matter what side you

are looking at all going to.

Well, this is the house of Mickey

Mouse. It's now the sole bidder the

21st Century Fox's entertainment

assets after Commcast dropped out

and according to some reports,

Disney Fox could announce a deal as

early as later today Thursday in the

United States. For more on this

potential megadeal I'm joined by

Timothy McDonald. Will it happen?

It

is anybody's guess. Even if it does

go through, the regulators will look

at it quite closely. This might be

the house of Mickey Mouse but they

are not Mickey Mouse players. It is

very as is this. Potentially a $60

billion deal. We are talking about

potentially 30- 40% of US box

office. 30% of movie-goers see a

product from either company. This

seems to be driven by streaming. The

entrance of big players like Netflix

on Amazon. You might render the CEO

of Disney decided to pull Disney's

content of Netflix in advance of

launching their own streaming

service. With this deal potentially

Sydney would also gain control in --

the controlling interest in another

streaming service, Hulu, in addition

to the one it is launching for

itself. It would be taking on the

Amazon and Netflix types on two

fronts. I guess the other thing is

what it might mean for Fox because

they would be selling off a lot of

deadbeat assets. Potentially Fox

Studios are some of the Crown

jewels. Maybe Rupert Murdoch is

going back to his first love, the

news business.

Looking forward to a

potential megadeal in the industry.

The South Korean President, Moon

Jae-in is in China improving

relations. China was upset so it

banned travel agencies from selling

packaged tour is and that really

hurt South Korean businesses because

visitors from China made up nearly

half of tourists last year. China

partly lifted the ban last month but

the damage has been done. The

tourist industry is estimated to

have lost $6.5 billion. Earlier, I

spoke to an economist who said the

economy of South Korea continues to

do pretty well despite a dent in the

tourism industry.

South Korea has

been doing a lot better than most

analysts expected at the beginning

of the year. A lot of that has come

from government support. The

government has been quite

accommodating. With that fiscal

stimuli since 2014 and its obviously

perked up domestic demand as well.

Talking about frosty relations

between China and South Korea. And

as if this edition of Asia Business

Report. Follow us on Twitter. Great

to have you with us.