15/06/2016 BBC Business Live

From gold to government bonds and the Japanese yen, demand is high

right now. We will talk you through the other reasons why, as investors

seek refuge. Here is a clue. The US Federal Reserve is due

to announce its latest decision - the big question -

when will the world's biggest And looking at financial markets,

they are bouncing back. In Europe today, that was the scene in Asia as

well, but how long? We will be getting an expert view.

And you've heard of 'Made in China', but what about 'Made in Greece'?

Could manufacturing be the boost the ailing Greek economy needs?

We'll meet one start-up that's out sourcing its production to Greece

to create jobs and growth after the country's

And as Twitter snaps up a stake in music service Soundcloud,

we'll assess Twitter's battle to stay relevant.

What's the one thing you'd like to see on Twitter?

Let us know, use the hashtag BBCBizLive.

As ever, a completely jammed show. A very warm welcome and let's get

cracking. Financial markets around the world

are on edge with investors looking Today, America's Central Bank

concludes its meeting but the focus Markets across Europe took

a battering on Tuesday as investors weighed up the possible

consequences of next Today we have seen a slight bounce

back but many are wondering for how long. As worries over the

referendum, global growth and slumping commodities give us little

reason to be optimistic at the moment.

Despite Japan adopting negative interest rates in January -

you can see here - its currency - the Yen -

has continued to strengthen against the dollar as investors head

to the relative safety of major currencies.

It has almost been a one-way bet really. The Swiss franc also popular

right now. Gold too has shot up -

it has risen by more than 200-dollars an ounce

since the beginning of the year - with some economists predicting

market uncertainty is likely And of course investors have

also been putting money On Tuesday, the yield on German ten

year bonds turned negative territory for the first time ever -

with investors effectively paying for the privilege

of leaving their money You would think this is

extraordinary, but these are are in at the moment.

He's the managing director with London-based investment

Nice to see you, welcome. Let's pick up on German bond story that Sally

was ending on, turning negative for the time ever. It really does give

us an indication of what investors are thinking. We use that phrase a

lot, flight to safety, somewhere safe to put their cash, if they are

willing to pay to store it at the German central bank there is

something seriously wrong with the world economy. The right number of

things worrying investors, the Brexit vote coming up shortly, the

interest rates on the Fed coming through, which if they don't raise

this time it is likely they will later this year. And China perhaps

coming under pressure. The China story is an interesting one because

it has been there for quite a while. We are coming up to the anniversary

of the big stock market crash in China, that had repercussions around

the world. And I suppose you would question the timing of what it is

suddenly now. I suppose it is all of these things together, that perfect

storm, that is once again scaring investors. The key issue was that

the Chinese devalued their exchange rates this time last year and it led

to some wobbles in the market, about three to -- about three to 4%

devaluation. The very short-term stuff is all about the Brexit

voting. Is it as simple as that flight to gold? Sally touched on the

increase in the price to gold, and it is always the one that well when

stock markets and equity markets are quite jittery. Is it that simple?

Very good quality bonds have been driving it as well. What has been

interesting is that we have the Bank of America Merrill Lynch survey out

yesterday, and it showed that the position in the Fort folios is as

conservative as it has been since 2008, so when things bounce they can

bounce substantially. What makes it go away, is it simply the 24th of

June? I think it is a case of getting used to it, the world grew

at a rapid rate the last 30 years, I think we are in a hangover pays --

hangover phase, I think it will be like this for a while.

US authorities have charged a Chinese national - Xu Jiaqiang -

with three counts of economic espionage for allegedly stealing

The Department of Justice has not name the employer,

but it is widely reported to be software developer IBM.

China and the US have both flung accusations at each other over

state-backed hacking and theft of secrets.

28 international organisations have pledged to tackle

gender inequality at work by reviewing their own

The pledge is part of the first United State of Women Summit,

The 28 signatories include Pepsi, Amazon, Deloitte and sales force.

Each of the companies will assess their salary policies,

review hiring and promotion practices, and include new measures

We will talk about that in the paper review later too.

Retail sales in America rose more than expected in May helped

by an increase in online and clothing sales.

They were up 0.5% last month, after rising by 1.3% in April.

The news will provide some cheer in the US after employers added just

38,000 jobs last month, the fewest since September 2010.

Let's head to Asia, where the world's biggest

stock index provider, MSCI, has again failed to include

mainland China's domestic shares in its emerging markets index.

If it had, it would have been a major step forward

for Beijing as it attempts to open up its financial markets

Fill us in. That's right. As you said, investors were looking to dip

their toes a little bit further into the Chinese market. Might just have

to wait a little bit longer. The MSCI stock index has made

significant steps to Word inclusion, but they have said investors need

significant action -- axe and to aid shares in China, that are purchased

and traded on the Shanghai and Shenzhen stock exchange is. -- a

that need to be removed, more that need to be removed, more

accessibility of the global investors. These were some of the

reasons behind MSCI's decisions. The reason why would have been important

to these Chinese shares to be included is because MSCI is the

world biggest stock index provider. China has recently increased its

efforts to reform its very volatile stock market, but the MSCI said that

global investors were looking for more and analysts essentially saying

they were not surprised by this move. They say it is a long-term

possibility and Chinese authorities will take a little while putting in

place the regulations allowing A shares to be brought by foreigners.

It had very little impact on sentiment, Shanghai shares closing

up at a two week high, shrugging off that negative news. Hong Kong you

can see up higher and also Japan. But let's not forget, heavy losses

at the start of the week in Asia, so maybe a little bit of people seeing

stocks looking cheap at the moment and buying them today. That is last

night in the States. Let's look at Europe to show you today's bounce

back. The FTSE 100 still below 6000. It has not been below that since

February of this year. And the scene across the board in Europe slightly

higher. We will talk you through the sentiment in a bit more detail for a

moment, but first Samira Hussain is in New York. Just a few weeks ago,

Wednesday was going to be pretty much a sure thing is the day when

the Federal reserve would raise rates again. That was before the

last jobs report, with its indication of an alarming slowdown

in job creation in the US. So now it would probably stunned investors if

the Federal reserve finished its meeting on Wednesday afternoon with

anything other than a decision to keep rates on hold until later,

possibly much later in the year. And aside from more of the same from the

Fed, investors will look to industrial production and wholesale

prices data for clues as to whether the US economy can pick up steam

again. In particular, they will be hoping industrial production shows a

rise after falling 0.2% in May. Joining us is Simon Derrick,

Chief Markets Strategist, Good morning. Let's look at the

numbers, they are all green today, things are looking OK but how much

longer? It has been a pretty tough couple of days. It has. As we heard

earlier, it is a multitude of things, not just the referendum,

about what the Fed is going to do, Japan, in part the China story. We

still have a degree of uncertainty out there, even without the US and

story. I think today will be important, we have the Fed meeting.

It is very unlikely that we will get a rate move, in fact extremely

unlikely, so what will be really interesting is the signalling we get

from Janet. If she is cautious, which is the most likely outcome, it

might cause things in the markets. It could be supportive. While

talking about Japan, quite interesting, the policy chief of the

Japanese ruling party, a lady who is seen as Shinzo Abe's right-hand

woman, she said that she is closely monitoring the referendum next week

and the impeccable have on currency markets, ie the Japanese yen,

because a lot of the economics has been about weakening the yen, but it

is getting stronger and stronger. This has been a major story because

a number of other than nations around the world have been upset

about the fact that they see Japan as a manipulator in this currency.

There has been a lot of pressure to them not to do anything, but the

reality is the stock market in Japan follows closely the strength and

they will do something. Maybe not they will do something. Maybe not

tomorrow, but I think they will do something over the course of the

next few months to help weaken the yen, bubbly with monetary policy

rather than intervention. Something I'm sure we'll talk about again --

probably with monetary policy. Made in Greece, a term you are familiar

with? We will meet the start-up moving its production to Athens in a

bid to boost the economy. You are watching BBC live from BBC News.

First, here in the UK, one man will be taking centre stage.

The Former owner of BHS - Sir Philip Green -

is to appear before MPs later to give evidence about

Sir Philip sold the department store chain for just ?1 last year

The collapse of the firm has left an uncertain future for its 11,000

staff and many more pensioners who saved into the BHS scheme.

Let's get more with Tom McPhail, head of pensions research,

I would imagine you and many others would be glued to what Mr green has

to say later? A fascinating session in store. Sir Philip Green account

of the story, what happened to the business, the pension scheme, MPs

will be looking to drill into what went wrong, whether Sir Philip Green

critically should now be putting more money into the pension scheme.

The pension's regulator is very keen to see more money put into the

scheme, I'm sure. Ultimately the members of the pension scheme

members, who were the ploy ease, will want to be reassured that

tensions were safe. Sitting behind it all is the pension protection

fund, which acts as a lifeboat in a situation, but the critical test is

to see her how much money Sir Philip Green might be prepared to put into

the pension scheme to top it up before it probably goes into the

pension protection fund. What responsibilities he has, that is

what people will want to know. He is famously quoted as saying if I

soldier an airliner and you crashed it into a mountain, that is not my

fault, but surely he has some responsible at either the pension

fund? He can and may well argue he sold the business, it is not his

problem any more. The question is did he leave it in a fit state,

should he have put more money in the pension scheme before he passed it

on? Will he willingly put his hand in his pocket haps to salvage his

public reputation again always end up in the courts? Today's session in

front of the MPs will be a very strong indicator of how this might

play out. Thank you so much for your time. Of course, we will be across

that questioning session for you, join us on the BBC for that. A quick

look at the BBC website, another big company coming out in favour of

remaining in the EU, joining the long list. BT gave an up date last

week. Rolls-Royce says Brexit will heighten the investment risk.

Details on the website. You're watching Business Live -

our top story - Growing unease over the global

economy leads to a big sell off on financial markets around

the world. European markets opening up in the

first few minutes of trade, the FTSE 100 up 0.9% so far this morning.

Now - it's a question that's been debated

How to get Greece's economy working again.

Amid a deep recession, mounting debts and soaring

unemployment, Greece is struggling to shake off its economic crisis.

In the first three months of this year its economy shrank

But help could be at hand, in the unlikeliest of places.

A UK-based start up called Nima Composites - has

moved its manufacturing process to Greece -

in an effort to help create jobs, and boost the local economy.

It makes high-tech covers for laptops and tablets

And it won support from a group called Re-load Greece,

which works to provide mentoring, legal advice and expertise

Evangelos Zympeloudis is the Chief Executive of Greek

So, you have got some examples of the product that you, as a company,

have come up with and are going to manufacture in Athens? That's

correct. Our RMT is based in Bristol and we will outsource our

manufacturing facilities in Greece. We have secured a partnership with a

company there and they are going to allocate space in their facilities

to set up our production. Essentially carbon five casing? 100%

carbon fibre casing. We will start with the Apple MacBook, but in the

future we want to expand the range to consumer electronics. It's

interesting. I'm looking at this. This is a very unlikely saviour of

the Greek economy. Talk us through that process. You've been encouraged

to move production back there to create jobs, create a bit of growth.

Just talk us through what it's like being able to do that and also the

help that you've got along the way to be in a position to do that? Yes,

so in missionary it was something important to us, we wanted to give

back to our country. Hearing all the things about Greece and I realised,

what's the point in complaining? I will try to do the best with the

means that are available to me, to give back. And that's something, we

serve this philosophy across Nima Composites and we have been

fortunate to find like-minded people through Re-load Greece. Is it

somewhere you would have considered manufacturing without this about?

Most people would assume you would go to China, for example? Yes,

especially for carbon fibre, the market in Greece is not well

developed and I think that's most important to us. We will not only

create new jobs but by transferring skills know how there is the

potential to spark off a new industry in the country. From a

personal point of view, you lived and grew up in Greece, but came to

the UK to study. Yes. The other founders of the company, mostly

Greek. Apart from one Brit from Bristol. Most of the founding

members are doing research with carbon fibre composite at Bristol

University. And that's something that was important to us.

Manufacturing carbon fibre is very difficult. But because we studied

for so many years in Bristol which is the leading institution at the

moment, we had all the skills and the know-how and confidence that we

could deliver. So the important thing is the difference between

this, which is carbon fibre, and this which is plastic. This is a lot

easier to do and does not need much skill, but it is this one that

people can see there, it is not about pure manufacturing and low

cost, it is about high skill and innovation, which is the crucial

thing? Exactly, that's the key point. Briefly have Re-load Greece

spoken to you about the economic risks increase? Yes. The main

purpose of Re-load Greece is to set up UK-based companies which would

have a social or economic impact on Greece. Because they have come

across similar situations in the past, they had all the experience to

help us set up our business. Ice to see you, thanks so much for coming

in and good luck with it all. Thanks very much, really nice to see you.

Rolls-Royce has written to its employees this morning saying

it wants Britain to stay in the European Union,

and that a 'Brexit' would "limit any company's ability to plan

Speaking to the BBC, the company's Chief Executive Warren East said

Brexit would give the aero-engine maker's big American rivals

It's all about uncertainty and our position in Europe. We have a very

interconnected operation around Europe. Half our employees are in

the UK, a quarter of our employees are in mainland Europe. We have some

big customers in mainland Europe, airline customers. A big airline

aircraft partner, Airbus, in Europe. We have a lot of our external

suppliers. What you are seeing here is people assembling that engine

made of many components, some of which we make ourselves and some of

which we buy in. Collectively there are thousands of companies around

Europe that contribute to that engine. We are making investment

decisions all the time about where to place different parts of our

operation, where to place business like that. And uncertainty created

by Brexit puts a lot of those decisions on hold. That's something

our US competitors do not have to cope with.

Responding to other letters Vote Leave said Some of Britain's

leading firms have been clear that if we Vote Leave trade across Europe

Of course pro-EU voices want to talk down the economy but the same hollow

threats were proved nonsense over the referendum and the euro.

Big firms take the limelight when it comes to this debate but what about

small and medium-sized companies? We have been talking to them as well.

I am John Hancock, I have been involved in the fishing industry for

45 Years, I was a skip over 30 years, managing director of a

company called charisma UK Limited imported frozen and fresh fish from

Norway. When I first started here there were 400 boats. There is now

five, six. This is all down to government policy and of course the

EU and the ever increasing bureaucracy that's involved in the

fishing industry. Because the stocks have recovered, I think we will be

able to rebuild the fishing industry piece by piece once we are outside.

We will never get back to the halcyon days of what we had, but you

are going to regain the core traits that are needed to run the fishing

fleet. Engineers, welders, Fish Packers, ice machines. Everything

involved which means that the community thrives. Not just about

Grimsby but the whole of the UK and the coastal communities.

What other business stories has the media been

Simon Derrick, Chief Markets Strategist, Bank

of New York Mellon - is joining us again to discuss.

This is a great story in the Huffington Post, a picture story. It

says this photo tells you everything you need to know about corporate

boardrooms. White, middle-aged men, not very diverse, despite their best

efforts. The chap in the top left is a bit older, but it is quite

shocking. And they actually pride themselves on their diversity policy

as well. It clearly shows that there is so much more that needs to be

done. I think it is interesting to the course of my career how things

have changed. Certainly progress has been made, not just the board level,

but more underground floor level as well, but still clearly a lot to be

done. Interesting because in the United States it is seen as behind

when it comes to boosting the number of women on the boards of companies.

One fact I learned earlier this year which cracked me up, fewer large

companies are run by women than by men named John. That is S and P 500

companies. John is my middle name! That explains a lot, Simon. There is

an event in the White House with 28 companies becoming signatories to

say they are going to improve their gender equality policy. So there is

change going on. Let's look at this story, Twitter, sound out, we

mentioned it, Twitter buying a stake. It is their attempt to get

more people to the site, live streaming, that sort of thing. Love

Twitter. Middle-aged bloke who likes music, so no big surprises there. I

don't quite see how they tie up. I don't see what Twitter wants to get

out of this. Looking at Soundcloud, it was great for unlicensed music,

new artist. It seems they are trying to go down the same streaming route

as Apple, Spotify. I don't see what differentiates them from everybody

else and why Twitter wants to get into bed with them. We asked you

what one thing you would change. Caleb says fewer adverts. This one

says change the management team. We had the boss of Soundcloud here a

few weeks ago. That is it from us. See you soon, goodbye.