08/05/2017 BBC Business Live

This is Business Live from BBC News with Ben Thompson and Sally Bundock.

Emmanuel Macron wins the French Presidency,

but that may prove to have been the easy part.

Movement hopes to tackle the huge problems facing the French economy.

Live from London, that's our top story on Monday 8th May.

Emmanuel Macron beats the eurosceptic Marine Le Pen

Following the election result, we're live from a City trading floor

Markets today, in mixed picture opening up across Europe but some

relief for global investors. Is the smartphone set to replace our

doctors and opticians? Later in the programme we'll get

the Inside Track on a tech company which aims to tackle the worldwide

problem of poor eyesight. A new survey has found that online

spending in the UK has fallen Today we want to know

whether your expectations of the future are affecting

your spending decisions? Do get in touch - just use

the hashtag BBCBizLive. So Emmanuel Macron has won

the French presidency, His first challenge will be to form

a government with crucial The outcome of that will determine

how much power the new president has to tackle the lengthy list

of economic problems. France has had a high unemployment

rate for decades: currently around 10% of the workforce -

or 3 million people. That compares with less than half -

4.3% across the border in Germany. The problem is worse for young

people: 24% of those between the ages of 15 and 24 don't

have a job. The other big issue is the size

of the public sector in France - one of the largest in the world -

last year it accounted for over This is something Macron

has promised to tackle With an economy that has seen

faltering growth for years some experts say it will bring

much needed savings. Let's start by giving new market

reaction. Tanya Beckett joins me now

from a trading floor in the City... We had 30 minutes trading in Europe,

how is it going? Very much a sense of relief, the Halo hunt stockbroker

floor. The bars are starting as the markets open, we saw some

fluctuation in the Euro but largely this was priced in, the opinion

polls suggesting this outcome and thoughts now moving to Fort next.

Post-election France. More importantly post-election eurozone

and EU. Can Emmanuel Macron as you've raised the question can he

actually deliver on these reforms or what next for France or is populism

going to be an issue that is going to find itself coming back in a few

years? That's the big question. As you know, Tanya, it typical to know

what happens next but I guess in terms of political risk there was

concern at the start of this year, we've had France, the Netherlands,

Germany is next. Yes, Germany is next but are not facing exactly the

same problems between Angela Merkel and Schultz in Germany because

France has said different economic trajectory from Germany and this is

part of the problems which underlies this move to populism. France if we

come back to France, the problem has been there has been a widening of

the wealth gap of course, we seen that elsewhere, in terms of Germany,

its growth path has been very weak indeed, compared to its larger

European partner and France now wants to make up that gap, there is

a little bit of envy there but whether it can push through these

labour reforms which many see as being absolutely key to achieving

the German side of the border this the German side of the border this

is an excellent outcome. Micron has stated he is a committed to the EU,

committed to the eurozone, he is not committed to the German trade

surplus, there will be a little fire between the countries but economic

it, much more on the same page than they have been for the last decade

in terms of what is required because again, look to Berlin, we've seen

some profound labour reforms, what many see as key to delivering that

economic growth we've seen and particularly that has shown itself

in post-financial crisis, hasn't emerged in France. Whether Macron

can deliver that, he's advocating slow pace to reform but he thinks

that will deliver, we could be talking many years before it does.

Tanya, thank you, we'll see you again later.

With me is Dr Francoise Boucek, Lecturer

at the School of Politics and International

Nice to see you and welcome. Tanya running through some of the economic

issues that Mr Macron has to do with, I suppose the question is

where does he start on fortune be first on his list? Firstly, he has

to win a majority in parliament next month and that will be a tall order.

He is more likely to have to do with a coalition government in which case

he will have possibly some awkward partners who are going to try and

block some of his more drastic reforms that he wants to bring in.

Particularly -- particularly to reform the labour market and because

he is more likely to form a coalition with parties on the left,

he is lucky to have a lot of opposition there. Plus he will have

to conduct with the power of the street and in France, whenever it

there are any large important reforms of social policy or economic

policy there is usually people coming down on the street. Listening

to you and what you said, you think has he any hope at all because he

will have a coalition, difficult government. Also he has the front

National as the main opposition, the power of the street, can he get

through any radical reform? It's more likely we'll end up with

legislative gridlock, I think, he is threatening to push these labour

reforms by presidential decree and the French President has these

powers because the reforms were already introduced by the Francois

Hollande government that reform the French labour code, which is a huge

already there, people descended on already there, people descended on

the streets and protested. We covered it all, regular protesting.

The issue of voter dissatisfaction is so interesting, looking at the

first round of voting, nearly half of all voters backed a ticket that

was an anti globalisation ticket, they said they wanted something

entirely different, barriers to run free, trade to end, he have to

recognise some of that, wouldn't he? Absolutely, his project is embedded

in the European project as well and he's the only one who's pushed the

European agenda so 40 has in mind for the eurozone is quite drastic,

whether he can get it through. He wants major institutional changes,

he wants a Europe list of finance for the Eurozone countries and he

wants a eurozone parliament and he has a vision of bringing about a

transferring of fiscal federalism which Germany will not go along with

but that is kind of his vision. He's very likely to also come up against

opposition because of his approach, it's almost on a European scale,

what he has in mind. That's all we have time for which is a real shame

but to ask you, which part of France are you from? Brittany. Which is one

of the highest regions to vote for Macron, a huge majority. Very

interesting, thank you for coming in, we appreciate your analysis. I

used to live in Brittany. You did? That is for I am from,! You should

go for coffee. Great coastline. We have a life page dedicated to all of

this analysis. Many leaders congratulating Emmanuel Macron.

Stay tuned to BBC News - we'll have plenty more

In just over an hour, both Emmanuel Macron

and the outgoing President - Francois Hollande -

will attend a ceremony commemorating the end of the Second World War.

Let's take a look at some of the other stories

Facebook has broadened its campaign to raise awareness about fake news,

by publishing adverts in the UK press.

The adverts carry a list of ten things to look out for when deciding

They include checking the article date and website address,

as well as making sure it isn't intended as satire.

Facebook is under fresh political pressure to tackle

fake news in the run up to the UK general election.

China's exports and imports rose in April but missed

analysts' expectations, as domestic and foreign demand

Exports rose 8 percent in April, while imports were up 11.9 percent.

The country's trade surplus last month came in at $38.05 billion,

Reports say the Pentagon has backed a plan to invest nearly $8 billion

to boost the US presence in the Asia-Pacific region.

The Wall Street Journal says the money will be used

to upgrade its military infrastructure, conduct additional

exercises and deploy more forces and ships over the next five years.

Dulux paint owner AkzoNobel has turned down a third takeover bid

from US rival PPG which valued the business at about $29.5 billion.

The firm says its chief executive and chairman met with PPG,

but decided that the business was "best-served by its own strategy

to accelerate growth and value creation".

That means they just didn't agree! Would have saved us a lot of time.

The Dulux dog is leaving. Thanks but no thanks was the message.

The start of a new trading week and as European markets digest news

of the French Presidential election and that victory for

Emmanuel Macron, over in the US it's all about corporate earnings.

Samira has the details of a busy week ahead on Wall Street.

Earnings continue this week with companies that are worth

highlighting. On Tuesday we will hear from media companies Walt

Disney and news coanda on Wednesday when he first century Fox will

report its earnings. This is significant as the company is

waiting on approval from the British government for its 14 and a half

billion dollar takeover bid of Sky News. And on Thursday to hear from

American retail giant Macy's, the companies will close about 100

stores in the next few years, about 15% of all stores. Macy's continues

to face intense pressure from online retailers as well a struggling with

underperforming stores. On Friday will focus on some economic news

with the latest numbers on retail sales in the United States as well

as consumer sentiment on the consumer Price index, inflation.

That this era in New York. -- some era.

Joining us is James Bevan, Chief Investment Officer at CCLA

We've touched on Europol ready, a quick take not, we have seen some

reaction the other way. This is unambiguously positive for the Euro

project and the next big test is Italy, not Germany. For the moment,

great news. Interestingly the price of oil edging up today, news from

Opec which is helping oil stocks on the market. Oil price is pretty

bumpy and I'm not expecting it to go up in any trend basis because every

time Opec says it will cost maintain low production the US pond is more.

In terms of the announcement at the Saudi Arabia of saying they will

extend lives as Opec generally is doing everything it can... But when

we look at the rig count in the States, last week it was up again,

every time there is a little bit of relaxation from Opec US is straight

in. Big week for corporate earnings, what are you watching? For me it's

not just a big week for corporate earnings, bigwig in terms of

statements about Central Bank policy because we all know the central bank

will want to tighten up at some point, were going to be looking for

early signals in press briefings, in announcements as to think that is

likely to be. Give us your take on the company we mentioned saying no

to PPG. That has an excellent engine for delivering shareholder growth

and on that basis it doesn't believe that combine will add value, the

shareholders who corporate are told we will not do that and they will be

grumpy but I think the April statement that Akzo but I'd is clear

for the generation will come from and I think the bulk of investors.

For that, they are discounting this will go away. Thank you, James will

be back later. More to touch on with James in the programme.

Is the smartphone set to replace our doctors and opticians?

Later in the programme we'll get the Inside Track on a tech company

which aims to tackle the worldwide problem of poor eyesight.

You're with Business Live from BBC News.

The Halifax has just released its house price study.

The research has found that annual house price growth

Let us go to Leeds now and speak to Martin Ellis,

an Economist from the Halifax for the rest of its findings.

Talk us through the numbers because it is watched closely this. We're

obsessed by house prices, but this gives us an indication what's

happening out there at the moment in the real world? We have seen house

prices fall slightly. Just down 0.1%. And that comes after a couple

of months where we've had no change in house prices at all. So, we're

seeing a state here where house prices have really plateaued and

actually if you look at the latest three months, they're down slightly

on the previous three months. That's the first time we have seen a

decline in house prices on a quarterly basis since the end of

2012. So the first time for quite a while. It is very, very fractional.

Just a slight decline. Martin, if we look at different parts of the UK,

what stands out to you? A story we had last week on this programme was

estate agents offering a free car with a house sale in London. They're

having such a tough time? Well, that's right. There are parts of

London, typically the more expensive areas where we are seeing lots of

incentives now to try and get people into buy. We are seeing falls in

house prices in some parts in London. In outer London, we are

still seeing house price growth, but the main story here is really that

we have seen a period where house prices have risen very rapidly

particularly between 2014 and 2016. And much more sharply than average

earnings. People's earnings really doing very little. So, it has just

become incredibly ex-expensive for a lot of people to be able to afford

that home. That's putting a natural constraint on housing demand and

that's really why we have seen this sharp slowdown in house price

inflation. Now if we look backment we're talking about an annual rate

of below 4%. That's unchanged from last month, but over a year ago, we

were seeing double digit house price inflation. House prices were 10%

higher than a year earlier. Martin, thank you. Martin Ellis at

the Halifax. There is more on the Business Live

page. More reaction to events in France.

You're watching Business Live. Our top story:

All the reaction to the victory of Emmanuel Macron in France in the

French Presidential elections. Markets are mixed. It had factored

in a victory for Emmanuel Macron. A fact will markets. So since the

first round of the presidential election in France the CAC has gone

up by 7%. Today, down 0.5%. No surprise. No.

Now, does the future of medical diagnosis depend on the smartphone?

Peek is one social enterprise hoping to change all of this.

The company's portable eye examination kit contains

a 3D-printed adapter that clips onto a smartphone camera and allows

Estimates suggest that there are currently 2.5 billion people

in the world with poor vision and no access to treatment.

The Peek School Screening programme has already test more than 84,000

children in developing countries such as Botswana, India and Kenya

as part of the Peek School Screening programmes.

With me is Dr Andrew Bastawrous, co-founder and Chief Executive

I've got your name wrong. Andrew, you have brought your device in.

Just quickly show us how it works. To being able to see inside the eye

is hugely beneficial for diagnosing eye problems and other problems.

What we have been able to do is put this device... Put it up higher so

our viewers can have a look. We put this device on to a smartphone so

you can see inside the eye while looking at the screen. You can

record the image and share it with someone else to review. The medical

practitioner, the trained person, has the smartphone. They need to buy

the extra add on bit and that's $200 and that means clearly, it is much

more accessible then for anyone around the world to be able to

travel out. They need the smartphone and the kit that sticks on the top?

I can give you an example of where it has been used recently. I was

living in ken why for a couple of years and there was a lady in her

90s, one of our field workers went to her home, it was a typical old

mud village and they found her and did a vision test on our app and

found that she was blind in both eyes. As soon as they identified she

couldn't see, the information was sent to the hospital three hours

away. She was taken to the hospital because she was geotaged, she she

haved treatment and had her sight restored having been blind for over

20 years. When she was taken home, she started to see things that she

hadn't seen in over two decades and stood at the doorway to her house

with her son, but she didn't know that was her son and he was looking

at her with great anticipation until he spoke and said, "How are you

doing?" It was only in that moment that she realised it was her son.

She recognised his voice. That's incredible. There are millions of

people who are unnecessarily blind and what we're trying to do is

increase the access to that community. To those who can provide

services. You're blind, aren't you, and your story and your background

is why you're involved? Yes. Although a lot of people are blind

from cataracts, you can be blind from needing a pair of glasses. I'm

short-sighted, but with contact lenses in I have perfect vision and

the estimates are 2.5 billion people can't see as well as they could if

they had basic treatment like glasses. You can use technology as

well to explain that. Many parents of young children might not know

that their children are suffering and I don't know if we can show this

to viewers. This is part of the app and it gives parents or anyone else

an understanding of what it is their children can actually see and what

they should be able to see and that really paints a picture then of why

that help is so needed? It is hugely important. If you tell someone that

your vision is 6/60 that means something if you're in my world.

This image there on the left, obviously you can see it blurs

according to the prescription of whoever is suffering from the sight

loss and that would be normal vision on the side. So that gives a really

visual indication of how problematic it is for people who don't actually

know they're suffering from sight loss? Exactly. I was one of those

children. I didn't know I couldn't see. I knew I was doing well at

school. When I got my first pair of glasses, I could see stars and

leaves on trees and it changed my life. That's why we're empowering

teachers, teachers are screening in schools, but they understand what it

means. So rather than just having a result they're empowered on

following up and making sure the child gets treatment and we are

close to having screened 100,000 children to make sure they get the

right treatment. Andrew, thank you very much for coming in. It has been

great to hear the story about Peek. You work with other companies with

similar technology and advancement to help people see around the world.

Yes, best of luck with it. Thank you for coming in.

In a moment we'll take a look through the Business Pages but first

here's a quick reminder of how to get in touch with us.

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Volkswagen is in the news again. Now they are in the papers talking about

a US turn around plan? It is a very grand plan indeed. They are saying

they're going to get costs down and productivity up and they want

margins of 4% by 2020 and in 2020 they're going to shift focus into

becoming dominant in electric vehicles over the period that then

follows to 2025. That's a big ask. Yes, they have got their work cut

out anyway, image wise after the emissions scandal? What they have

done well is launch sports utility vehicles, popular in the American

markets so they have been increasing sales and we learnt that from the

numbers last week. I guess they're trying to ride the popular,

enthusiasm that's been engendered. Let's look at the consumer spending

story. This is UK spending consuming spending dipping. Online is dipping

because people have been spending on things like chocolate and hot cross

buns and leisure. But there is a bigger issue here which is that we

are having higher import prices, poor wage growth and since Brexit,

the consumer has been borrowing money and clearly their preparedness

and appetite to borrow money is diminishing and that's not good news

for the UK economy. James, thank you very much for rattling through those

stories. Thank you for your company today. We

will do at the same time, same place tomorrow. Yes, do join us. See you

then. Bye-bye. Hello. It's a new week, but it's not

a particularly new weather story. At least not in the first part of the

week. We have the high pressure