:00:00. > :00:08.This is Business Live from BBC News with Ben Thompson and Sally Bundock.
:00:09. > :00:14.Federal Reserve Chief Janet Yellen is expected to announce another rise
:00:15. > :00:19.But the question is how many more and when?
:00:20. > :00:35.Live from London, that's our top story on Wednesday, 15th March.
:00:36. > :00:44.Will the US dollar continue it's onward march as the central bank
:00:45. > :00:51.Also in the programme, headwinds for Hong Kong's national carrier.
:00:52. > :00:58.Cathay Pacific makes its first loss since the financial crisis.
:00:59. > :01:02.All eyes will be on the Fed, but this is how European markets opened.
:01:03. > :01:06.We'll get the details later. And we'll be getting the inside
:01:07. > :01:08.track on all that glitters. The man behind gold mining firm
:01:09. > :01:12.Petro Pav Lovsk is here to tell us how the firm came close to collapse
:01:13. > :01:15.and how he managed to put the shine And here in the UK the top ten
:01:16. > :01:20.weirdest jobs have been revealed, we will talk you through them
:01:21. > :01:45.and we want to know what weird Keep your comments coming in. Some
:01:46. > :01:47.days I think this is the weirdest job in the world.
:01:48. > :01:55.It's the day global markets have been waiting for.
:01:56. > :01:57.The US Federal Reserve is widely expected to raise interest
:01:58. > :02:02.Fed policymakers are tipped to raise interest rates by a quarter point -
:02:03. > :02:14.It's what Janet Yellen says after the meeting that
:02:15. > :02:22.They'll be looking for clues about future rate rises,
:02:23. > :02:24.when and how quickly they might come?
:02:25. > :02:27.And the Fed may talk about undoing some of the measures it
:02:28. > :02:31.introduced at the height of the financial crisis.
:02:32. > :02:37.It bought up over $1.75 trillion worth of mortgage-backed
:02:38. > :02:42.securities, but now it wants to offload them.
:02:43. > :02:45.Janet Yellen is also having to weigh up an improving US economy but
:02:46. > :02:47.at the same time as President Trump's policy of building,
:02:48. > :02:50.infrastructure spending and tax cuts - all of which could
:02:51. > :03:06.Andrew Walker is here. So just fill us in. The rate rises is priced in.
:03:07. > :03:10.We're expecting that. The question is what is she going to say in the
:03:11. > :03:15.press conference? She will be talking about how the US economy is
:03:16. > :03:18.growing reasonably well. It's strong and the labour market is
:03:19. > :03:22.particularly strong and we've got unemployment, the latest figures are
:03:23. > :03:26.4.7%, the Fed's policy makers think that's about the minimum level that
:03:27. > :03:31.it can get without generating, accelerating inflation. It's worth
:03:32. > :03:34.saying it has been at 5% or below for 18 months now, but there are
:03:35. > :03:38.wider measures of weakness, of slack, if you like in the labour
:03:39. > :03:42.market that have also improved, that's looking at people who aren't
:03:43. > :03:46.officially counted as unemployed, but want to get jobs, but aren't
:03:47. > :03:49.actively looking and people who are working shorter hours than they
:03:50. > :03:53.want. If you look at those factors, the labour market has continued to
:03:54. > :03:57.strengthen in a way that's not fully reflected in the headline figure and
:03:58. > :04:00.that's an important consideration for Fed policy makers. What is
:04:01. > :04:06.interesting because I was grilling you before we came on air about the
:04:07. > :04:11.fact that wage growth is good in the States as well? The most recent
:04:12. > :04:18.figure for hourly earning is a 2.8% increase. That's comfortably above
:04:19. > :04:22.inflation. The Fed's target is 1.9% and that's another factor, the Fed
:04:23. > :04:25.has a target of 2%. If you look at their figure they're close to
:04:26. > :04:29.target. If you take out the food and energy prices, it is lower, but it
:04:30. > :04:33.is clearly getting there. So I think the Fed is very much wanting to
:04:34. > :04:37.ensure that inflation stays within its target range, concerned that if
:04:38. > :04:42.it doesn't move soon then it could have a problem down the line of
:04:43. > :04:46.excessive inflation. So with that in mind and also within mind President
:04:47. > :04:49.Trump's plans that he keeps telling us about, although we have little
:04:50. > :04:53.detail on infrastructure spending and tax cuts, what are we expecting
:04:54. > :04:56.the Fed to do the rest of this year, do you think? The general
:04:57. > :05:02.expectation is perhaps two, maybe three more rate rises, but it will
:05:03. > :05:06.very much depend on how the data unfolds and how the issues unfold.
:05:07. > :05:09.We don't really know what he's going to do, what President Trump is going
:05:10. > :05:15.to do by way of tax cuts. Infrastructure spending. The
:05:16. > :05:19.preliminarications for that for demand depend on how he's proposing
:05:20. > :05:24.to finance that. There might be a lot of private sector money coming,
:05:25. > :05:28.if it boosts the deficit that has the potential for being inflationary
:05:29. > :05:32.and they will be important factors that the Fed will take into
:05:33. > :05:36.consideration in the months ahead. Thank you very much indeed, Andrew
:05:37. > :05:37.Walker. And we will be across the news from Washington when it breaks
:05:38. > :05:45.later today. Lorry drivers moving goods
:05:46. > :05:48.in Western Europe for Ikea and other retailers,
:05:49. > :05:50.are living out of their cabs for months at a time
:05:51. > :05:52.as they cannot afford to live According to a BBC
:05:53. > :06:01.report, some drivers - brought over from poorer countries
:06:02. > :06:04.by lorry firms based in Eastern Europe, say
:06:05. > :06:07.their salary is less than three Ikea has said it is
:06:08. > :06:13."saddened" by the report. The Australian Transport
:06:14. > :06:15.Safety Bureau has warned against using battery-powered
:06:16. > :06:17.devices on flights after a passenger's headphones caught
:06:18. > :06:19.fire during a flight It says the phone's lithium-ion
:06:20. > :06:25.battery was the likely cause. The incident follows several
:06:26. > :06:28.incidents of Samsung Galaxy phones and hoverboards exploding
:06:29. > :06:36.and being banned on planes. Cathay Pacific has reported its
:06:37. > :06:39.first full-year loss since the 2008 The Hong Kong based airline,
:06:40. > :06:48.like many of its peers has been struggling with overcapacity and hot
:06:49. > :07:09.competition from carriers Simon, tell us more about Cathay
:07:10. > :07:12.Pacific. It is a very tough environment for this company? This
:07:13. > :07:16.is Asia's biggest international airline. 2016 was a very difficult
:07:17. > :07:25.year and today it revealed how difficult. It lost $74 million last
:07:26. > :07:31.year. That compares to the profit of ?6 billion the year before. It is
:07:32. > :07:34.struggling to fill space on its planes, but in the holds of its
:07:35. > :07:37.cargo planes and there is competition from mainland China.
:07:38. > :07:43.These are airlines who are flying direct to the US and to Europe. So
:07:44. > :07:47.they're hovering up the Chinese passengers who might have flown via
:07:48. > :07:53.Hong Kong. It no longer makes sense for many of them to do so Cathay
:07:54. > :08:00.Pacific is losing out. What are they going to do about it? They said they
:08:01. > :08:03.would make job cuts. And there were no more details. Today, no more
:08:04. > :08:07.information and that's one of the reasons why the shares have fallen
:08:08. > :08:14.sharply in Hong Kong. Simon, good stuff, it is always good to see you.
:08:15. > :08:23.Stocks in Tokyo fell with energy firms down on weak oil prices
:08:24. > :08:28.and investors are waiting for news from the Fed meeting.
:08:29. > :08:35.Shares in Toshiba also down sharply on fears over its future.
:08:36. > :08:39.While the US Central Bank is considered odds-on
:08:40. > :08:42.to tighten borrowing costs, traders are most interested
:08:43. > :08:44.in what its plans are for future hikes, with boss Janet Yellen's
:08:45. > :08:46.post-meeting comments the main focus.
:08:47. > :08:53.In Europe, here's how the numbers are looking.
:08:54. > :08:56.In the UK, unemployment rate expected to rise to 5% from 4.8%
:08:57. > :09:08.We'll also get eurozone jobs numbers too.
:09:09. > :09:15.In the corporate world, the UK Government has reduced its stake
:09:16. > :09:18.in Lloyds to just below 3%, putting the lender on track to be
:09:19. > :09:24.back in private ownership within the next few months.
:09:25. > :09:27.But over in the US, the headlines are dominated by the tax
:09:28. > :09:34.The American TV network, MSNBC, has shown two pages,
:09:35. > :09:38.of what it says, are Donald Trump's federal tax returns for 2005.
:09:39. > :09:56.Mr Trump has always refused to release his returns.
:09:57. > :09:59.The Pulitzer prize winning journalist David Cay Johnston
:10:00. > :10:01.told MSNBC he'd received the documents in the post,
:10:02. > :10:05.The White House response - is that the documents
:10:06. > :10:11.demonstrate Mr Trump paid - $38 million in taxes.
:10:12. > :10:17.On an income of more than $150 million.
:10:18. > :10:19.Our correspondent Tulip Mazumdar in Washington says there
:10:20. > :10:23.is still massive interest in President Trump's tax returns.
:10:24. > :10:33.These are just summary pages from his 2005 tax returns with two main
:10:34. > :10:40.headline figures. He earned $150 million in 2005 and paid $38 million
:10:41. > :10:43.in taxes, around 25%. So nothing hugely controversial or revelatory
:10:44. > :10:47.there, but this is significant because Donald Trump has been asked
:10:48. > :10:51.for many months now both as a candidate and now as president to
:10:52. > :10:56.release his tax returns and he has so far refused to do saying he can't
:10:57. > :11:01.because the internal revenue service is currently auditing him and that
:11:02. > :11:04.prevents him from doing that. Now tax experts say that's not
:11:05. > :11:08.necessarily true and if he wanted to, he could release them, but all
:11:09. > :11:12.this caused a lot of anger at the White House. They sent out a
:11:13. > :11:17.statement shortly before all this information came out on American TV
:11:18. > :11:22.over here and they said, "It is totally illegal to steal unpublished
:11:23. > :11:25.tax returns. The dishonest media can continue to make this part of their
:11:26. > :11:30.agenda while the president will focus on his which includes tax
:11:31. > :11:37.reform and will benefit all Americans."
:11:38. > :11:41.Joining us is Jane Sydenham, Investment Director,
:11:42. > :11:52.Give us your take on the Fed? The markets are expecting a rate rise
:11:53. > :11:55.and if there wasn't one, we would see surprise, but what we're
:11:56. > :11:58.expecting is rate rises in the second, perhaps the second quarter
:11:59. > :12:02.and maybe the third quarter. As Andrew was saying, you know, it is
:12:03. > :12:06.that look ahead that really matters, but I think today's move is
:12:07. > :12:11.certainly priced in. So that priced, a bit of certainty there, but there
:12:12. > :12:16.is a lot of political uncertainty in Europe right now, we talked about it
:12:17. > :12:19.at the start of the week. We've got the Dutch elections and the French
:12:20. > :12:24.elections later in the spring and obviously the German elections in
:12:25. > :12:28.the autumn and the issue actually, what is interesting is the way that
:12:29. > :12:32.risk manifests itself for investors is through Government bonds and
:12:33. > :12:36.actually at the moment, they're calm. Yields are very low. There is
:12:37. > :12:41.no expectation in markets... That's always worrying, is it not? It is.
:12:42. > :12:45.When you say investors reaction to risk, just explain how that works
:12:46. > :12:50.because we assume, OK, bonds are seen as a safer investment Yes. But
:12:51. > :12:52.if there is political risk in certain countries presumably their
:12:53. > :12:56.bonds are not as attractive? That's right. How does it work? The way
:12:57. > :13:01.that investors look at this, they actually look at a country and say
:13:02. > :13:04.I'd rather not have French bonds because I'm worried about the
:13:05. > :13:09.election so I'll sell them so the yields on those bonds will rise, it
:13:10. > :13:14.is a view on that country and its credit worthiness. It is all about
:13:15. > :13:18.the bond market. Jane, we'll return soon because we're going to talk
:13:19. > :13:26.about the UK's top ten weirdest jobs! Yes. So, Jane have a think.
:13:27. > :13:29.Maybe she had one in her career. The comments are coming in. I'll save
:13:30. > :13:35.them for later because some are great. What is your weirdest moment?
:13:36. > :13:39.It didn't have a title. I just had to water hanging baskets for weeks.
:13:40. > :13:42.I worked in a pie factory. I was at a conveyor-belt and I did this for
:13:43. > :13:48.eight hours. Pies from there, over to there. Wow. I was very good at
:13:49. > :13:53.it. Where they good pies? I can't eat pies. It put me off for life. It
:13:54. > :14:03.is a well-known retailer, but I won't reveal.
:14:04. > :14:10.We'll talk about that and we'll talk about digging gold.
:14:11. > :14:15.You're with Business Live from BBC News.
:14:16. > :14:18.The owner of fashion chain Zara has reported its full
:14:19. > :14:26.Inditex is the world's biggest clothing retailer and also owns high
:14:27. > :14:29.street brands such as Bershka and Pull and Bear, it said that
:14:30. > :14:32.sales were helped by new store openings and online growth.
:14:33. > :14:36.Theo Leggett has more from the Business Newsroom.
:14:37. > :14:42.Nice to see you, Theo. This is the company that seemingly can do no
:14:43. > :14:47.wrong, but what's going on today? I'm looking at that graph behind you
:14:48. > :14:57.and I see a drop. This is, I think, managing expectations. Inditix, its
:14:58. > :15:00.profits were up 10%. Sales up 10%, dividend increased by 13 percent,
:15:01. > :15:04.you'd think investors would welcome that. What we saw was a brief spike
:15:05. > :15:09.this morning and then the share price dropped very rapidly. It is
:15:10. > :15:13.nudging back up again. I think that is because this particular company
:15:14. > :15:16.expectations are always very, very high so even if it does well,
:15:17. > :15:20.sometimes people are selling off shares, maybe taking a bit of profit
:15:21. > :15:23.if the share price has been rising recently. So you don't always get an
:15:24. > :15:29.automatic bounce, but it is creeping back up a bit.
:15:30. > :15:38.This company has an unusual business model producing small amounts of
:15:39. > :15:42.clothes quickly, not bulk producing. It waits to see what consumers are
:15:43. > :15:46.buying and then starts to produce and distribute them which allows
:15:47. > :15:51.them to react quickly to what people on the street actually want to buy.
:15:52. > :15:57.If you compare what is happening with them with French connection
:15:58. > :16:04.which a result of yesterday it is doing better. It is also growing
:16:05. > :16:09.rapidly. It has 7300 stores around the world, give or take a few, and
:16:10. > :16:13.it is growing. It has opened several hundred new stores this year and is
:16:14. > :16:25.opening stores in 56 markets. Bent on expansion. Thank you. There is
:16:26. > :16:37.lots more in terms of the corporate stories on the Business Life page.
:16:38. > :16:40.Lorry drivers moving goods in Western Europe for IKEA and other
:16:41. > :16:49.retailers living out of their caps for months at a time.
:16:50. > :17:04.The European Council president Donald Tusk has been commenting on
:17:05. > :17:10.Brexit saying Britain would mostly hugged itself if it left the
:17:11. > :17:15.European Union without agreement -- hurt. He has been tweaking we will
:17:16. > :17:25.not be intimidated by threats that now Brexit deal is bad for everyone
:17:26. > :17:29.above the UK. Interesting the rhetoric fighting back and forth
:17:30. > :17:33.between London and Brussels. Expect more of that as we approach
:17:34. > :17:40.Article 50 and two years of negotiations. We will watch it. .
:17:41. > :17:42.Now, let's talk gold, because the man behind gold mining
:17:43. > :17:45.The firm, formerly called Peter Hambro Mining,
:17:46. > :17:48.has been operating in the far east of Russia since 1994.
:17:49. > :17:53.But it has been on a bit of a journey over the past few years.
:17:54. > :17:55.The falling price of gold nearly pushed the company
:17:56. > :18:01.But the firm's boss and founder, Peter Hambro, says the company has
:18:02. > :18:03.gone through a transformation since then, and come
:18:04. > :18:15.Joining us now is Peter Hambro, chairman of Petropavlovsk.
:18:16. > :18:25.first met you in 2002. You were a tiny company and you have gone from
:18:26. > :18:42.strength to strength, five men in Russia. You have a bullion in your
:18:43. > :18:52.pocket. -- mines. And I hold it? You may. I am not taking this home.
:18:53. > :18:59.Worth $38,000. If I drop that it bounces. Give us a sense of the
:19:00. > :19:03.story of your company because it has gone from something very small to
:19:04. > :19:08.wear back it is today but on the verge of collapse two years ago. You
:19:09. > :19:14.are at the mercy of what their cells for in global markets. We started
:19:15. > :19:19.the company in 1994. Me and my partner. We built it up into a major
:19:20. > :19:26.operation and have produced 7.5 million and Susan Gold, $8 billion
:19:27. > :19:31.worth of gold in 23 years, just a little bit more. One of the largest
:19:32. > :19:36.taxpayers in the Russian Far East where we operate on the borders with
:19:37. > :19:41.China. Very popular because we have created huge amounts of jobs there
:19:42. > :19:43.where there are not any other jobs. Get on very well with the
:19:44. > :19:53.administration who have been helpful to rise. The Russian state? Yes. I
:19:54. > :20:00.am thrilled to have done it. I started my training career in the
:20:01. > :20:04.Soviet Union. When I was a gold trader. It was a natural progression
:20:05. > :20:09.to go and join that side of the world in production. You touched on
:20:10. > :20:16.the roller-coaster ride. We saw the show pros on the screen. Shares went
:20:17. > :20:23.down to about 8p. Talk me through how you cope with that. And how you
:20:24. > :20:33.get the business by contract. Talk me three how my wife got through it!
:20:34. > :20:39.It was a horrid thing to happen. We decided to process the new and
:20:40. > :20:49.harder to process called which exists in larger quantities in
:20:50. > :20:52.Russia. We did not finance that properly. We borrowed money to do it
:20:53. > :20:59.and the back to place well before we could get it into production. That
:21:00. > :21:04.has changed again and we will be in production from 2018. How hard is it
:21:05. > :21:07.not to focus on the share price? You basically want to carry on running
:21:08. > :21:11.your business and do what you do every day and you also have an eye
:21:12. > :21:15.on the share price and you think investors do not like what we are
:21:16. > :21:20.doing, I going to have to do it differently? It is certainly a
:21:21. > :21:23.factor. When I was interviewed by you years ago and the share price
:21:24. > :21:27.had fallen she asked what I was going to do about it and I said
:21:28. > :21:31.there's nothing I can do because my job is to produce this. You have
:21:32. > :21:36.been operating in Russia for many years. We have reported on the
:21:37. > :21:41.difficulties that companies have trying to operate in Russia, BPB in
:21:42. > :21:51.one of those. I've have Ukip the state on board? -- how have you
:21:52. > :21:59.kept. How does it work? With sanctions on Russia how has that
:22:00. > :22:05.affected your business? One of their main players has become a friend,
:22:06. > :22:07.one of the few British companies who have succeeded in Russia. The
:22:08. > :22:14.problems they faced and we faced problems they faced and we faced
:22:15. > :22:18.occasionally was a low level of interference not by the state but by
:22:19. > :22:23.competitors effectively which we have overcome. We have paid our
:22:24. > :22:29.taxes, worked at the highest level of environmental, very good health
:22:30. > :22:36.and safety, done it how you have to do it. Russia is a very well-managed
:22:37. > :22:39.country now. We are going to have to leave it there but there is so much
:22:40. > :22:45.more to discuss. I know you will keep in touch with us. We will make
:22:46. > :22:48.sure he takes that, him. There is security as well. I was
:22:49. > :22:56.going to suggest he leaves it. In a moment we'll take a look
:22:57. > :23:00.through the Business Pages but first here's a quick reminder of how
:23:01. > :23:07.to get in touch with us. You can stay ahead with the business
:23:08. > :23:11.live page. We will keep you up-to-date with details with insight
:23:12. > :23:16.and analysis from the BBC's team of editors around the world and we want
:23:17. > :23:29.to hear from you. Get involved on the BBC Business Live page. You can
:23:30. > :23:35.find us on Twitter and Facebook. Whenever you need to know.
:23:36. > :23:39.Jane Sydenham is joining us again to discuss.
:23:40. > :23:50.A report in the Independent about people who have very strange job
:23:51. > :23:56.titles. Some of then I cannot mention because of the connotations.
:23:57. > :24:00.I definitely fits into the customer happiness hear bracket because I
:24:01. > :24:03.used to work in the management complaints department in a store so
:24:04. > :24:07.complaints only reached this department of someone had not had
:24:08. > :24:16.their goods after six months. They were really happy. On the verge of
:24:17. > :24:25.litigation. A handbag stuffer who had to roll up to shoot paper and
:24:26. > :24:36.put them in the bags -- tissue. Watching ants in and colony. After
:24:37. > :24:41.A-levels, artificial insemination of goats. I should have taken a
:24:42. > :24:50.checkout job in hindsight. He needs counselling, I am sure. Acoustics
:24:51. > :25:01.consultant. I have no idea. Air cartographer. Brexit, the Irish are
:25:02. > :25:04.complaining about rivals in the Brexit race. Different countries
:25:05. > :25:11.vying for the top spot of London loses out. Luxembourg seems to be
:25:12. > :25:16.the place that ARG seem to assign itself to have a reserve position as
:25:17. > :25:21.a result of Brexit and the Irish are unhappy about that. You are going to
:25:22. > :25:26.see these areas vying for business effectively. They will be staffing
:25:27. > :25:36.up banks and operations. Dublin has done very well. Since June's result
:25:37. > :25:39.last year, lots of banks, sorry businesses, some banks, businesses
:25:40. > :25:47.have registered places in Dublin. Yes. Not necessarily moved anyone
:25:48. > :25:51.but have registered. Yes, and they have infrastructure and capital
:25:52. > :25:56.adequacy and all the things that businesses need. Thank you.
:25:57. > :26:17.I pressure is dominating the weather is so largely fine and dry before
:26:18. > :26:20.things turn more unsettled later in the week and into the weekend.
:26:21. > :26:22.Bringing wetter and windy weather and feeling