21/04/2017 BBC Business Live


21/04/2017

Similar Content

Browse content similar to 21/04/2017. Check below for episodes and series from the same categories and more!

Transcript


LineFromTo

This is Business Live from BBC News with Aaron

:00:00.:00:00.

High security in France after the gun attack in Paris

:00:00.:00:11.

that left one policeman dead and two more seriously wounded.

:00:12.:00:14.

It's a tense time for a nation on the brink of an election.

:00:15.:00:17.

Live from London, that's our top story.

:00:18.:00:34.

Yes - it's a historic moment for France as voters go to the polls

:00:35.:00:39.

on Sunday for its closest election in living memory and one that'll

:00:40.:00:43.

have consequences far beyond its own borders,

:00:44.:00:46.

posing major risks for the European project.

:00:47.:00:52.

Also in the programme, we're going to find out why America thinks

:00:53.:00:55.

cheap steel from Asia is a threat to national security.

:00:56.:01:03.

And we will bring to the latest market action as investors wrap up

:01:04.:01:07.

another trading week. And we'll be getting

:01:08.:01:09.

the inside track on global economic challenges and the threat

:01:10.:01:12.

of protectionism - words of warning from the IMF's

:01:13.:01:13.

boss Christine Lagarde. All this and more with our economics

:01:14.:01:16.

correspondent Andrew Walker. Online shoppers in the UK spend more

:01:17.:01:19.

per household than consumers We start in France,

:01:20.:01:23.

where the shooting in Paris has interrupted final campaigning

:01:24.:01:49.

in what was already being called the most unpredictable Presidential

:01:50.:01:51.

election in living memory. Centrist favourite Emmanuel Macron

:01:52.:01:57.

and far-Right Marine Le Pen look likely to go through after Sunday's

:01:58.:02:02.

vote to a run-off on May 7th. But they are closely

:02:03.:02:09.

followed by conservative Francois Fillon and far-left

:02:10.:02:15.

candidate Jean-Luc Melenchon Socialist Benoit Hamon, though,

:02:16.:02:17.

is being given little chance Security is of course right back

:02:18.:02:20.

at the top of the agenda. But there are other huge issues

:02:21.:02:28.

for financial markets. Number one is the fate

:02:29.:02:40.

of the single currency. Le Pen wants to abandon it

:02:41.:02:42.

and bring back the Franc. Melenchon says it should be reformed

:02:43.:02:55.

and the independence of the European Macron and Fillon are supporters

:02:56.:02:58.

of the euro and want to see So does Melenchon unless, he says,

:02:59.:03:03.

Europe agrees to his reforms. Macron wants a stronger EU

:03:04.:03:10.

and Fillon wants more control The other major issue

:03:11.:03:24.

for the business world - labour reform, and France's famous

:03:25.:03:28.

35-hour working week. Melenchon wants to cut

:03:29.:03:30.

the working week even At the other end of the spectrum,

:03:31.:03:31.

Fillon wants to scrap the 35-hour limit altogether and make it easier

:03:32.:03:36.

to hire and fire. Douglas Webber is a professor

:03:37.:03:38.

of political science at Insead. I have to start by asking you, after

:03:39.:03:49.

last night's shooting, what is the mood light in Paris this morning? I

:03:50.:03:55.

think the mood is rather sombre and of course people are asking what

:03:56.:03:59.

impact if any disc attack last night will have on the election result on

:04:00.:04:06.

Sunday. The financial markets are nervous, they really don't know

:04:07.:04:10.

which way this election is going to go and the different outcomes could

:04:11.:04:14.

have a very different impact on the euro, couldn't they? That is quite

:04:15.:04:19.

correct, you have described very neatly and very well the contrasting

:04:20.:04:25.

positions of the major candidates, two on the radical left and the

:04:26.:04:30.

radical right would certainly risk taking France out of the euro zone,

:04:31.:04:37.

out of the EU. Emmanuel Macron is pro-European and wants to strengthen

:04:38.:04:40.

European integration, Francois Fillon is somewhere between them and

:04:41.:04:45.

Europe. What about the issue of labour reform that Aaron mentioned?

:04:46.:04:50.

Two opposing views from the main candidates, Melenchon wants to cut

:04:51.:04:55.

the working week, Fillon looking to scrap the 35 hour limit. Here in the

:04:56.:04:59.

UK we are always hearing the French are more productive than we are. If

:05:00.:05:04.

France is so productive, why is the working week even an election issue?

:05:05.:05:10.

Well, France has a very high level of unemployment, around 10%, it is

:05:11.:05:17.

twice the size of countries such as the UK, the US and Germany, and the

:05:18.:05:22.

candidates are competing about which policies could best bring down the

:05:23.:05:31.

high-level of mass unemployment, about 3.5 million, 2.5 million

:05:32.:05:34.

French people have been out of work for more than a year, about 20% of

:05:35.:05:39.

young people, and the contrast between the candidates is strong,

:05:40.:05:43.

the two radical candidates want to take France back to pre-euro days,

:05:44.:05:47.

if you'd like, stimulate the economy by increasing public spending,

:05:48.:05:51.

whereas Francois Fillon on the other side of the spectrum is offering a

:05:52.:05:57.

kind of French shock therapy. You might describe him perhaps as a

:05:58.:06:04.

French Margaret Thatcher. I am not sure if you would be able to change

:06:05.:06:08.

all that much because if you were to be elected then he would still have

:06:09.:06:12.

the corruption scandals around his neck and any attempt he would make

:06:13.:06:18.

to radically reform French labour law would certainly provide major

:06:19.:06:22.

protests and strikes. OK, Douglas Webber, thank you very much for your

:06:23.:06:24.

time this morning from Paris. In other news, online shoppers

:06:25.:06:29.

in the UK spend more per household than consumers in any other country,

:06:30.:06:36.

a report says, amid a shift UK households spent the equivalent

:06:37.:06:39.

of $5,900 using payment cards online in 2015 -

:06:40.:06:48.

that's according to the UK This was higher than Norway's

:06:49.:06:51.

$5,400, and the US at $4,500, Uber has extended its internal

:06:52.:07:08.

investigation into sexual harassment The investigation, led by former US

:07:09.:07:14.

Attorney General Eric Holder, was sparked by charges of sexual

:07:15.:07:17.

harassment by a former female engineer as well as charges

:07:18.:07:20.

of a wider cultural The ride-hailing app

:07:21.:07:22.

says an internal report A fall in sales of Barbie dolls has

:07:23.:07:25.

added to a slump at the world's It reported sales down more

:07:26.:07:32.

than 15% in the first three months of the year -

:07:33.:07:38.

the biggest drop in seven years That is a fascinating story because

:07:39.:07:52.

in the first nine months of last year Barbie sales went up because

:07:53.:07:55.

they brought out a whole new range. We will be doing more on this story

:07:56.:08:00.

at the end of the programme so keep an eye on that.

:08:01.:08:04.

President Donald Trump is chipping away at a campaign promise to tackle

:08:05.:08:07.

His latest - a federal investigation into whether dependence on cheap

:08:08.:08:14.

foreign steel is a threat to national security.

:08:15.:08:15.

What more can you tell us? Cheap steel from China has been

:08:16.:08:25.

blamed for many things, including winding down the market price as

:08:26.:08:30.

well as the loss of jobs in the UK, for example, but President Trump has

:08:31.:08:35.

actually invoked a law from more than 50 years ago which allows the

:08:36.:08:39.

US government to restrict imports if it threatens national security, and

:08:40.:08:44.

his argument is that steel is too crucial to the US economy and

:08:45.:08:48.

military that the country cannot be too dependent on foreign countries.

:08:49.:08:53.

As you said, this is one of many election promises that he wants to

:08:54.:08:59.

put America first but it does send a mixed signal to Beijing because just

:09:00.:09:05.

last week when the two Presidents, President Trump and President Shi,

:09:06.:09:11.

met, President Trump avoided labelling China as a currency

:09:12.:09:14.

manipulator, despite his repeated pledge that he would do so during

:09:15.:09:18.

the election campaign, so those of us who brought tensions might not be

:09:19.:09:24.

rising might have to think again. There we go, thank you. I wanted to

:09:25.:09:26.

ask what she bought online, if she ask what she bought online, if she

:09:27.:09:30.

shops online. Let's stay with the markets.

:09:31.:09:35.

That is the Dow from yesterday but mostly on a positive note, shrugging

:09:36.:09:39.

off the US trade report into cheap imported steel, but investors with

:09:40.:09:45.

their eyes on geopolitical concerns, quite a few of them, in several

:09:46.:09:52.

corners of the world. If we look at Europe, we expected it would open

:09:53.:10:01.

more muted so no surprises there. The French election is a focus,

:10:02.:10:05.

dominating a lot of the European markets. The euro remaining on edge,

:10:06.:10:12.

that is quite volatile, so again all eyes on the first round of

:10:13.:10:15.

presidential elections on Sunday in France. What does the US have in

:10:16.:10:28.

store? Here is similar insane. -- here is Samira Hussain.

:10:29.:10:30.

A few companies will be reporting earnings on Friday,

:10:31.:10:32.

including General Electric, Honeywell and Schlumberger -

:10:33.:10:33.

the world's number one oilfield services provider.

:10:34.:10:35.

Now, although the price of oil is back up, the company

:10:36.:10:38.

was hurt in the last quarter because of the cost associated

:10:39.:10:40.

with reactivating idled rigs and equipment.

:10:41.:10:42.

And the stabilising of oil prices will help Honeywell long-term,

:10:43.:10:44.

but earnings for this quarter will suffer because of some

:10:45.:10:47.

Investors in General Electric will be looking for the company

:10:48.:10:50.

to cut costs and lift profits in order to hit targets

:10:51.:10:53.

Finally, happening in Washington, will finance leaders will be

:10:54.:10:59.

gathering for the spring meetings of the International Monetary Fund

:11:00.:11:01.

Trade protectionist policies will likely be a major team.

:11:02.:11:15.

Joining us is Jane Sydenham, Investment Director,

:11:16.:11:17.

Thank you for coming in, let's look at the market in context of the

:11:18.:11:25.

French presidential elections. The euro could be vulnerable, couldn't

:11:26.:11:30.

it? It could, stock markets have been relatively stable, where we

:11:31.:11:34.

bond markets, said the yield on bond markets, said the yield on

:11:35.:11:39.

French government bonds have risen, so people are a bit nervous... So

:11:40.:11:42.

the return on investment has gone up? Yes. But if we saw a second

:11:43.:11:49.

round run-off between Melenchon and le Pen, the markets would be worried

:11:50.:11:53.

because the implication is possibly an exit from the eurozone. At the

:11:54.:11:57.

moment the polls are saying around 11% probability of that and you

:11:58.:12:02.

think, well, that seems rather low, but go back to last year, the same

:12:03.:12:07.

poll said 30% probability of Donald Trump winning at the same kind of

:12:08.:12:13.

stage. -- is 13% probability. One thing we have learned is that we do

:12:14.:12:17.

not listen to the polls any more! Let's talk about Tesla, voluntary

:12:18.:12:19.

X and Model S, they say only 2% of global recall of the

:12:20.:12:38.

X and Model S, they say only 2% of cars are struggling with this

:12:39.:12:42.

problem but they are recalling them all voluntarily. Yes, they seem to

:12:43.:12:46.

be aware of customer service, recalling 53,000 cards is quite a

:12:47.:12:50.

task and you can argue it is the way to handle customer service when you

:12:51.:12:54.

think about what happened with United airlines recently, they will

:12:55.:12:57.

preserve their brand value by doing that. Even some of the big recall is

:12:58.:13:03.

previously from car companies, like Toyota, some of them have mishandled

:13:04.:13:06.

the recall is and they have been dented. Some of them have been quite

:13:07.:13:11.

slow and have waited until problems have arisen. Tesla are trying to be

:13:12.:13:16.

on the front foot, get out there and do this. We will have the bag at the

:13:17.:13:22.

end of the programme, have a think about what you spend online!

:13:23.:13:26.

Still to come, riding the economic cycle.

:13:27.:13:28.

The IMF says global growth is finally moving up a gear -

:13:29.:13:31.

we'll find out what issues will be on the agenda as the world's finance

:13:32.:13:35.

You are with Business Live from BBC News.

:13:36.:13:53.

Tomorrow marks the 10th global annual Record Store Day,

:13:54.:13:58.

the event that celebrates the culture of independent

:13:59.:14:00.

Hundreds of record stores around the UK will be holding parties

:14:01.:14:08.

There are now over 380 independent record shops in the UK.

:14:09.:14:18.

And vinyl sales are worth ?65.6 million, up over 5000%,

:14:19.:14:23.

over the last ten years, representing 14% of total spend

:14:24.:14:26.

Let's get more with Jon Tolley, who runs Banquet Records.

:14:27.:14:33.

That is quite a turnaround! What do you think has prompted it? Might

:14:34.:14:42.

immediately is it is just a reply to how much MP3s and streaming is our

:14:43.:14:46.

big disposable, and if you really love something you want to own it

:14:47.:14:49.

and keep it and have it for ever, make it an emotional experience.

:14:50.:14:54.

Have we reached a balance between the digital music and physical

:14:55.:14:58.

music, so downloading and buying albums? I don't think they are in

:14:59.:15:02.

competition with each other, I download and stream but also want to

:15:03.:15:07.

buy CDs and records, there is another space in the market for all

:15:08.:15:10.

a bit but we are seeing that vinyl is on the up for the reasons I

:15:11.:15:12.

mentioned. I am being told in my ear that you

:15:13.:15:20.

have some records in your hand. What are they, and what is your

:15:21.:15:27.

favourite? I have my favourites here, and all-time favourite of mine

:15:28.:15:30.

that I only got on the CD when it first came out. It is rereleased

:15:31.:15:34.

with special coloured vinyl. Here is The Cute, acoustic kits, acoustic

:15:35.:15:45.

versions of the classics you have heard from The Cure. And Toto,

:15:46.:15:55.

Africa, a continent shaped disc. I know you said it was not in

:15:56.:15:59.

competition, but which is most affordable? This is not comparable.

:16:00.:16:04.

That is my point. It is not just about price, it is not about the

:16:05.:16:08.

cheapest option. You cannot compare a beautiful piece of art, like a

:16:09.:16:15.

record, with a stream or MP3. A new vinyl album would be ?16 or ?18. We

:16:16.:16:20.

will have to leave it there. Thank you very much for your time.

:16:21.:16:29.

Hello! I didn't think I was in vision, there.

:16:30.:16:32.

You're watching Business Live - our top story...

:16:33.:16:34.

France prepares for the closest election in living memory,

:16:35.:16:36.

posing major risks for the Euro and the EU itself.

:16:37.:16:40.

A quick look at how markets are faring...

:16:41.:16:47.

It is all about France and the presidential elections. You can see

:16:48.:17:00.

the FTSE is up, as is the market in France.

:17:01.:17:05.

We are waiting to see what will happen. Far left, far right, that is

:17:06.:17:12.

my prediction. It is going to shake up the markets. Like Trump. There

:17:13.:17:13.

you go. This week, the IMF Spring meetings

:17:14.:17:15.

in Washington have us clues The IMF's boss Christine

:17:16.:17:19.

Lagarde warned about Of course the French economy

:17:20.:17:22.

is in the headlines as voters head to the polls at the weekend,

:17:23.:17:28.

but there a political Let's get more with our economics

:17:29.:17:30.

correspondent Andrew Walker. Thanks for joining us. What did the

:17:31.:17:43.

IMF tell us? In terms of their general assessment of the shape of

:17:44.:17:47.

the global economy, the tone is a lot more positive than I have heard

:17:48.:17:50.

for several years, perhaps going back to the financial crisis. It

:17:51.:17:56.

wasn't long ago that Christine Lagarde, the IMF managing director,

:17:57.:18:00.

coined the phrase the new mediocre. She was worried we were in for a

:18:01.:18:03.

period of protracted sluggish performance, with little prospect of

:18:04.:18:08.

improvement of living standards. The tone has changed quite differently.

:18:09.:18:14.

The report earlier this week was called Gaining Momentum. There was a

:18:15.:18:19.

question mark on the end of that title, I have to admit. But they do

:18:20.:18:23.

think something has possibly changed in the last six months or so. The

:18:24.:18:27.

chief economist was saying that maybe we are at a turning point.

:18:28.:18:33.

There are risks, of course. But do we even care about the IMF!? They

:18:34.:18:37.

are constantly changing. They say one thing, they said Brexit will be

:18:38.:18:42.

the worst thing for the UK, the UK economy is going to come out. Then

:18:43.:18:45.

they go, actually, it is doing better than we thought. On the UK

:18:46.:18:48.

economy, they described two different scenarios. One was

:18:49.:18:53.

recession, one was a significant slowdown. I think they would argue

:18:54.:19:01.

that what we saw was slightly slower performance. In the forecast, we are

:19:02.:19:08.

one of the fastest-growing economies in the G20? Yes, but slower than the

:19:09.:19:13.

IMF was forecasting a year ago. What do we do with these forecasts? I

:19:14.:19:17.

don't understand, why should we care about them? Do institutions... Well,

:19:18.:19:27.

in a way, it is a fair question. The fact is, we do need to have some

:19:28.:19:32.

idea of what we are expecting in the coming years. Is the IMF any worse

:19:33.:19:36.

than anybody else? I would say absolutely not. And protectionism,

:19:37.:19:42.

right? That is the big worry. We are not seen that, even though we

:19:43.:19:47.

thought with Trump... The Trump administration has certainly been

:19:48.:19:50.

making a lot of noise is. In terms of concrete action, the things that

:19:51.:19:54.

people like the IMF were concerned about have not happened. What we had

:19:55.:19:58.

last night, and you have already been talking about this review of

:19:59.:20:01.

steel, the way in which it might bear on security issues, clearly

:20:02.:20:07.

there is the possibility of the end of out of measures to restrict steel

:20:08.:20:11.

imports. I think the IMF would be worried about that. So far, all they

:20:12.:20:15.

are doing, all President Trump has called for, is a review of the

:20:16.:20:20.

situation. There is certainly nothing in the WTO rules, which I

:20:21.:20:24.

happen to have brought with me. Your holiday reading? Yes, which prevents

:20:25.:20:29.

them from doing anything. These are the 500 pages of the basics of the

:20:30.:20:41.

rule book. HE SNORES. That is the core of it. If you want to get

:20:42.:20:51.

across it... The results of the Euro negotiations. Their coffee stains

:20:52.:20:57.

you do read is on holiday? I would not be allowed to take it on holiday

:20:58.:21:01.

with me. Donald Trump, overnight, about steel, at the minute it is

:21:02.:21:09.

just about a review. Can he do anything about it? Under US

:21:10.:21:14.

legislation committee can. World Trade Organisation rules,

:21:15.:21:15.

restricting imports beyond what you have committed to in WTO

:21:16.:21:21.

negotiations is generally inconsistent with the rules. There

:21:22.:21:25.

are some exceptions on national security issues in this book. I

:21:26.:21:29.

emphasise I am not a lawyer. But having read them, I would be quite

:21:30.:21:32.

surprised if they are much use to President Trump, if he wanted to

:21:33.:21:39.

impose restrictions. If he did, you might face action within the WTO and

:21:40.:21:43.

the possibility of retaliation from trade partners. Having said that, if

:21:44.:21:46.

he wanted to do it, there is no question he could. It is a question

:21:47.:21:50.

of whether he would be able to pay that international trade price for

:21:51.:21:52.

it. Thank you, enjoy your reading! Let's go to Shanghai,

:21:53.:21:57.

China now where the annual It's a huge event -

:21:58.:21:59.

China has been the world's top car market for almost a decade and well

:22:00.:22:03.

over a thousand new But Volkswagen told Robin Brant that

:22:04.:22:06.

combustion engines are not dead. We just saw the Cedric

:22:07.:22:16.

unveiled to Shanghai. A man talked about air

:22:17.:22:19.

purifiers inside the car. I live here with my three children,

:22:20.:22:26.

there are plenty of cars in China, lots of them yours, the place

:22:27.:22:30.

is smog hit. Isn't the problem that there are too

:22:31.:22:32.

many cars in this country? The pollution is a big problem,

:22:33.:22:38.

it also has climatic reasons. In China, we have some problematic

:22:39.:22:44.

areas. We have one of the most modern car

:22:45.:22:47.

fleets in the world. The government is really

:22:48.:22:52.

driving down pollution. It's a really big city, the public

:22:53.:22:55.

transportation can't cope. What we have to do is make our cars

:22:56.:22:58.

more environmentally friendly, and electric cars are,

:22:59.:23:03.

it looks like, the chosen option for the local authorities and it

:23:04.:23:06.

will be also by the customers. Even though it is a huge market,

:23:07.:23:11.

everyone here wants an SUV. I mean, in terms of sales,

:23:12.:23:18.

they are going through the roof. People just love the riding

:23:19.:23:21.

height of these vehicles, So we have a trend

:23:22.:23:26.

towards SUVs worldwide, Now was the first month, I think,

:23:27.:23:35.

that SUVs with the most We are going to look at the papers.

:23:36.:23:58.

We start with the UK spending more money online shopping than any other

:23:59.:24:03.

country in the world. Thank you for your tweets. Ryan says I buy most

:24:04.:24:06.

stuff online, something like clothes, I would go into the store.

:24:07.:24:12.

He uses Amazon Prime. Don't we all? These figures don't even include the

:24:13.:24:22.

spend on Amazon. That is even more. Another says I buy my model trains

:24:23.:24:30.

online. This is from Johan, I buy books, electronics and appliances.

:24:31.:24:38.

What do you buy? Cat food! Do you have cats? Can I just checked? You

:24:39.:24:43.

can buy a kind of cat food online you cannot get anywhere else. Why

:24:44.:24:51.

you buying more than anywhere else? Maybe we do not like sitting in

:24:52.:24:56.

queues, in car parks, crowds. It has definitely taken hold. Culturally,

:24:57.:25:00.

it has taken hold. The convenience is a premium. Let's talk about

:25:01.:25:09.

Mattel. Barbie sales were up, they have had a dismal performance? The

:25:10.:25:13.

introduction of more varieties, tall, curvy, petite, it seemed to

:25:14.:25:20.

work. But the battle with screen -based toys for children, they seem

:25:21.:25:23.

to be struggling. They lost a contract to Hasbro to make Disney

:25:24.:25:31.

princesses. If you think about the popularity of the dolls from Frozen,

:25:32.:25:35.

Christmas time, that is what my nieces want. Sales related to films

:25:36.:25:39.

are so important. Losing anything like that will have a huge impact.

:25:40.:25:45.

Then there is stock overhang, and life gets more difficult. Thank you

:25:46.:25:50.

for joining us. Aaron, please do not wind in your online spending. Are

:25:51.:25:56.

you supporting the economy? I've been buying razor blades online. You

:25:57.:26:04.

can get anything. Moisturiser. When did you last go to a shop? I'm not

:26:05.:26:09.

saying anything. Things have been fairly quiet of late, that is what

:26:10.:26:12.

we take into the weekend.

:26:13.:26:14.

Download Subtitles

SRT

ASS